Some of you are not aware that I’m traveling again, so this may come as a surprise to you, but I am now in China. Scientific Instruments has sent me here to do an equipment installation. I’m here in a small town which I think is called Da Peng, about 40 minutes from Shenzhen, which is just across the border from Hong Kong.
If you’ve read any of my previous travelogues, you know that this is not going to be short, but I hope that you don’t find it too long and boring. I know that some of you like more details, and some like fewer details. To those that like fewer details, I apologize in advance. I’m trying to let you feel some of what I felt as I entered China for the first time. If you don’t like reading about airport adventures, you can skip down to the next section.
An Airport Adventure
I have not always comfortable taking a trip to a foreign country by myself, but as I have begun to travel more, I have grown more and more confident and willing to face new situations and decisions and work through them (not without several prayers). So it was with a little trepidation, yet with a willingness to make a choice and stick with it, that I faced my first decision of the trip.
I flew from W.P.B to New York, and then from New York to Beijing. In Beijing I cleared customs and then went to check in for my next flight. After I found the right terminal and the right desk, the agent told me that there was an earlier flight than the one I was scheduled on that I could take if I wanted to.
This sounds like a simple decision, but you have to realize that I have no idea who is meeting me at the airport and of course I have no contact phone number for that person. I can’t speak the language, and I’m not sure exactly what to expect in China. On the one hand, it could be a good idea to stick with the original schedule, since that is the flight number that person has, and he would be able to follow any changes in that flight. On the other hand, I know that many times flights get delayed, and it would be better to be at the destination and have to wait until my scheduled arrival time than to be delayed on a later flight. So I decided to go on the earlier flight.
(It turned out to be a good decision.) My original flight was scheduled to arrive at 11:40 p.m. and instead I arrived about an hour and a half earlier. So there I was in the airport, waiting to be picked up… but now… how to connect with the meeting party?
The first thing I wanted to do was make sure that I was operating on the right time and not in a different time zone. I thought this would be an easy thing to enquire about.
In the countries I have traveled in before, there has always been a significant number of people that spoke at least one of the languages I know—English and Spanish. But I realized that things were different when I asked a lady waiting by the security guard for the time, and no amount of sign language or pointing to my watch or anything else could get my question answered. She and the security guard had seen me waiting and invited me into a cordoned area with chairs. About then, I spotted a computer running Windows and I looked down in the lower right corner and saw the time—I had the correct time after all—good old Microsoft Windows XP!!!
As my original arrival time approached, I ventured out to where people were waiting. At different times there were people holding signs, but I couldn’t see what was written on them from a distance, so I had to walk up close to see if my name was written on the sign. I didn’t find my name and they probably thought I was a little strange, but I didn’t care. After each excursion near the waiting crowd, I would retreat to the cordoned area behind the security guard.
Finally at about my arrival time, I saw people walking toward the baggage claim, and I decided to try to communicate again and ask if that was the other flight from Beijing that had arrived. I figured I could put across one word and make them understand Beijing. I was successful—they did understand, and they told me that no—that flight was delayed until 1:10 a.m.! At that point, I was very glad that I had taken the earlier flight. But now… how do I connect with my greeting party?
They figured that I was waiting for my baggage on the later flight, so with the success I had in communicating that time, I decided to try and explain a little further. But then I ran into trouble. It was a fairly complicated concept to communicate that someone was expecting me on that later flight, because there I was standing there! No matter where I pointed and no matter what I said, they didn’t seem to get it.
Then I noticed that there was a new person standing out there with a sign. I asked for my ticket and itinerary back (well actually, I gently grabbed it out of their hands), and I pointed over there, then took my luggage and started walking. Sure enough! “Mark Sheats†is what I saw. That was a very nice thing to see on a sign! I walked up to him and said, “Yes, yes.†He seemed a little surprised. He pointed up to the schedule board. “I know,†I said. “I came early!†I don’t think he understood me, but he seemed willing to accept that it was me. I don’t know what possessed him to stand there and hold up the sign when he knew my flight was delayed, but I’m glad he did. I waved to my airline employee friends, and they waved back. (I think they finally got it.)
Driving in China
My driver took me out to a minivan and we headed for Da Peng. It was mostly on roads similar to our freeways, but not quite a pure Interstate highway. There were some signals along the way and I saw something I’ve never seen before. Some of the signals have what looks like a big digital clock on them, but is actually a timer that counts down, showing you how many seconds the light will be green, and then it resets and shows how long it will be red. I like that a lot! (The picture was not taken that night, but it shows what I’m talking about.)
We all know that just about everything we buy now is made in China, and as we drove along approaching a port, I could see all the stuff leaving China to come to us. We passed dozens of trucks. Maybe they prefer to drive at night, but it seemed like there were more trucks than anything else on the highway. The funny thing was that every time my driver approached a truck, he felt it was necessary to flash his lights at the truck driver to let him know we were coming. And I have seen this more as I have continued to travel. The poor truck drivers! Here they are, minding their business, driving along slowly in their own lane, and every car that passes them has to flash his lights at them! They must get tired of seeing flashing lights! We continued on, and I was watching eagerly, trying to absorb and understand the driving habits of China—more on that later.
We finally arrived at the hotel about 1:30 a.m. I was very glad to check in and see if I could get some rest. The driver came all the way up to the room with me to make sure I was all set. I was at the job site by 9:00 a.m. that morning, but I didn’t feel too bad. Fortunately I had enough sleep on the long airplane rides over that I was not totally exhausted.
Familiar Faces
When I checked in they made me understand that breakfast would be served 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. on the 8th floor. So after my brief night’s sleep, I got ready and went up to breakfast. The experience reminded me a little of what it was like when I studied engineering at a University in Puerto Rico. I was usually the only American in my classes, and I just felt a little out of my element. It’s not that I didn’t like it—it was just a little uncomfortable.
When I walked in the breakfast room, I was the only American, and the (small) room was full of Chinese. The lady bringing the food out asked me if I wanted coffee, but as you may know, I am not a big coffee drinker, so I thought—“I’ll take the easy alternative.†“Tea,†I said. But it was like I was asking for something from a foreign land. There was a Chinese man there and he helped out a little, but nobody knew what I wanted. Finally, I gave up—I didn’t really want it anyway. “Water.†That was understood and they pointed to a water cooler in the corner.
The breakfast that was laid out was nothing like an American breakfast. There were noodles, little plates of beans, and little plates of something like olives chopped up. There were hard boiled eggs floating in soy sauce and there was rice soup. That’s exactly what it sounds like—rice in water. I finally got everything I needed and started chowing down. Actually, it was quite good. I didn’t find anything that I didn’t like. The rice soup doesn’t have a lot of flavor, but I don’t mind eating it. I’ve been having all this every morning and it takes me through to lunch quite well.
I only thought about how I felt out of my element because while I was eating, in walked another white face, and I just thought about what a relief it was to have someone that I can identify with more. He was from Italy, and his English was not that good, but I could understand him just fine. He seemed quite happy to see me, and we talked for a while. Of course in this small town, he was going to the same LNG project that I was going to, and we had things in common being in the same industry, and I told him that I had been to Italy.
When we went down stairs to go to the site, there was another vendor there. (That’s how they refer to us. The LNG plant uses equipment from all over the world, and when someone comes from any of the companies to help install the equipment, make sure it is working right, and provide training, we are the vendors.) This man was from Denmark, but he has an English father and he lived in England for a while, so his English is perfect. A driver was waiting for us, so we went together to the site.
I won’t even attempt to bore you with any details of the work on site at this point, but the basic schedule is that we get picked up by buses from the site about 10 minutes before 8:00 and we are there by 8:00 (it’s very close). We get back on the bus and come back into town at 12:00, and the bus picks us up 10 or 15 minutes before 2:00. Then we work until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.
The three of us arrived on the same day, and we’re basically on the same schedule, so we’ve been eating together most of the time. It’s been very helpful to have others that are fairly experienced travelers, and we’ve been enjoying things together. Actually, we’ve been having a lot of fun!
Once I got over my initial sense of unease and learned more about what is safe and what is not, I have felt much more at home. (Actually, there is basically only petty crime here—no muggings reported.) An American who has been here about 9 months gave us some restaurants to try, and we’ve been trying them out. I have never been in a restaurant before where the staff could not understand one word that I said, and I could not understand one word they said, but it has been a lot of fun to try and make them understand us. Actually, we’ve been having a blast!
Fortunately, they have one menu which has some English pages inserted and we can point to what we want. After that, it’s more of a challenge. The first day, the Italian was able to say Coca Cola and get what he wanted, but it didn’t work at the same restaurant the next time. Now they know us pretty well, and they bring my water to me when I sit down. We’ve settled down at that restaurant because the food is so good, and the prices are so cheap. The three of us can have lunch or dinner and not pay more than about $8 (for all three).
We’re starting a new phase this week, because now our local Chinese reps are here, and they are joining us for the meals. They can explain things, translate, etc. Now, I’m learning more about the way things are supposed to be done.
That’s all for now, but there will be more to come! Until then, thanks for letting me share with you, and keep me in your prayers.