It has been awhile

Tuesday, September 23rd, I experienced my third typhoon, Hagupit. I awoke to a cloudy day with light rain. The TV had a T3 posted (which means within 12 hours the typhoon will pass over land). I received an e-mail around noon from my colleague Vivian saying the typhoon center will issue a level 8 between 6-8 pm. (Level 8 typhoon - Gale or storm force wind is expected or blowing generally in Hong Kong near sea level, with a sustained wind speed of 63-117 km/h from the quarter indicated and gusts which may exceed 180 km/h, and the wind condition is expected to persist)

When a level 8-10 is issued, the city basically shuts down. Offices close, transportation is shut down, and the only the brave (or stupid) venture out. I stayed in, worked, and went to bed at a decent time. It was difficult sleeping because of the noise (wind). At first I thought it was one of my neighbors playing guitar loudly but I realized it was the wind. I live on the 20th floor and outside my windows are these large steel cross bars which hold "decorative" curved steel bans about a foot thick. It was the wind "plucking" these steel cross bars which I was hearing. I put my earplugs in and went to sleep after about a half an hour. The city/area of Guangzhou (2 hour train ride south west of HK) took the brunt of the typhoon, causing severe damage.
Thursday, September 25 - Ningbo
I flew to Ningbo, arrived around 8 pm (my flight was delayed 1.5 hrs), went out to dinner with Henry, one of my vendors. Dinner was interesting, we had our own room with a chef cooking in front of us. For dinner we had duck liver in an egg which was cooked in its shell (steamed) the egg tasted like custard with fish roe on top. Interesting but not my favorite. We also had a thin slice of beef lightly grilled with fish roe inside, steamed scallops, more duck liver, veggies, and dessert was grilled bananas with fire ice cream (they place the ice cream on the griddle, pour alcohol over it and light it on fire. It all was very French. After dinner we went for our foot massage which was nice but I think my masseuse massaged some new areas because I was so sore that night I couldn't sleep. I was also up late watching the US news and was fixated on what was happening to the economy.
Friday, September 26 - YiWu
Today we drove to YiWu to check out some new factories. I was with Andy and Sally who work for one of our contacts in China. The drive was about 2 hours north of Ningbo and the plan was to start out at a large market to search for stationery vendors. This market was the size of two football fields in length and 5 stores high. You can find anything you ever wanted and more...After a couple of hours walking the market, we found a couple companies we wanted to visit. we stopped off for a quick lunch and then to the first factory. I have to explain about the driver Andy, he has only been to YiWu once before so he would call the factory to get directions and then stop every 5 minutes or so and ask people along the rode for directions. We visited 6 different factories and Andy had to ask directions for each factory at least 5-10 times. I swear, God was looking down and smiling knowing that he had not blessed me with the virtue of patience. The worst part of the whole day was trying to find the interstate to go back to Ningbo, this took us 1 hour and probably stopped 20 times to ask for directions. After 9 hours of being tested, all I could do is laugh because there was nothing I could do.
Saturday, September 27 - Whenzhou
Robert picked me up around 8:45 (he was a little late) and we hit the road for a supposedly 3.5 hour drive. The first 1/2 hour was no problem then we ran into a traffic jam, which was caused by semis pulling over for the diesel truck stop exit 5-6 miles ahead. We sat there for about 20-25 minutes. This happened 3 times during our trip there but a 3.5 hr drive turned into 5.5 hrs. We arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. We quickly visited 7 factories, had dinner and started back to Ningbo around 7 pm. About 1 hour into our drive we run into a traffic jam which we sit in our cars for 2 hours. Can you image sitting on a highway for 2 hours waiting for an accident to be cleared? Again, God was testing me. And the driving, 150km/hr in the dark weaving in and out of traffic. Needless to say, I could not relax or sleep. We arrived back to Ningbo and to my hotel around 1:30 am.
Sunday, September 28th
I had a meeting in the morning with one of my vendors and flew back to Hong Kong. I was very happy to be home. Picked up sushi for dinner and crawled into bed around 9 pm.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Sunday, September 14th

The weather has been warm, 90+ temperature but feels like 100+ degrees and the air pollution is rather high.

Just got home half hour ago from Stanley Market.

I met Lihui, Belinda, and Rachel around 4 o'clock, we took the bus to Stanley Market and celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival. We strolled the little shops, walked down to the beach, and had a very nice dinner. After dinner we lit our lanterns (actual candles inside) and walked along the water under the full moon. Most people carried battery operated lights and had some really fun "lanterns". After our stroll we shared a Moon Cake which is part of the tradition. I gotta tell you, this is will not make my favorite things list.

A little history regarding the Festival:

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in October in Gregorian calendar.

The festival has a long history. In ancient China, emperors followed the rite of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and to the moon in autumn. Historical books of the Zhou Dynasty had had the word "Mid-Autumn". Later aristocrats and literary figures helped expand the ceremony to common people. They enjoyed the full, bright moon on that day, worshipped it and expressed their thoughts and feelings under it. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Mid-Autumn Festival had been fixed, which became even grander in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, it grew to be a major festival of China.

Folklore about the origin of the festival go like this: In remote antiquity, there were ten suns rising in the sky, which scorched all crops and drove people into dire poverty. A hero named Hou Yi was much worried about this, he ascended to the top of the Kunlun Mountain and, directing his superhuman strength to full extent, drew his extraordinary bow and shot down the nine superfluous suns one after another. He also ordered the last sun to rise and set according to time. For this reason, he was respected and loved by the people and lots of people of ideals and integrity came to him to learn martial arts from him. A person named Peng Meng lurked in them.

Hou Yi had a beautiful and kindhearted wife named Chang E. One day on his way to the Kunlun Mountain to call on friends, he ran upon the Empress of Heaven Wangmu who was passing by. Empress Wangmu presented to him a parcel of elixir, by taking which, it was said, one would ascend immediately to heaven and become a celestial being. Hou Yi, however, hated to part with his wife. So he gave the elixir to Chang E to treasure for the time being. Chang E hid the parcel in a treasure box at her dressing table when, unexpectedly, it was seen by Peng Meng.

One day when Hou Yi led his disciples to go hunting, Peng Meng, sword in hand, rushed into the inner chamber and forced Chang E to hand over the elixir. Aware that she was unable to defeat Peng Meng, Chang E made a prompt decision at that critical moment. She turned round to open her treasure box, took up the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. As soon as she swallowed the elixir her body floated off the ground, dashed out of the window and flew towards heaven. Peng Meng escaped.

When Hou Yi returned home at dark, he knew from the maidservants what had happened. Overcome with grief, Hou Yi looked up into the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife when, to his surprise, he found that the moon was especially clear and bight and on it there was a swaying shadow that was exactly like his wife. He tried his best to chase after the moon. But as he ran, the moon retreated; as he withdrew, the moon came back. He could not get to the moon at all. Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.

Moon Cakes

Today, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, feasting and moon gazing. Not to mention mooncakes. While baked goods are a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival. One type of traditional mooncake is filled with lotus seed paste Roughly the size of a human palm, these mooncakes are quite filling, meant to be cut diagonally in quarters and passed around. A word of caution: the salty yolk in the middle, representing the full moon, is an acquired taste. Definitely an acquired taste!!!! Not one of my favorites.