The sun is finally out! The gods heard our prayers and the sun graced us with its faint presence. We somehow worked up the confidence to visit “Le Spa” downstairs at “Le Meridian” for Paul to get a haircut and me get a shampoo and blowdry. A classic “lost in translation” in the making. Paul very carefully gestured to the hairdresser what he wanted…short in the back, smooth it out with the sides, and texture it on top. He looked at him and said, “yes, yes, sir” in total confidence, as if he had understood every word. He then proceeds to grab his scissors and go straight for the front and chop chop, it was gone! Picture time standing still and in slow motion I run from the waiting room to save Paul from the scissors, but it was too late. When I got to the chair, I could see tears in Paul’s eyes, but he handled it like a champ. We somehow got it together and salvaged what was left and both realized that things could have very quickly gone terribly wrong, especially since we would be on our way to a business meeting in less than an hour.

I went up to the room, did my own hair, we got dressed and went down to the lobby to meet with the Zoom clients. Ten minutes later, they arrive and we are off to lunch at M on the Bund. The couple were in their late thirties, early forties, but both very nice and we very quickly connected. May said she did her schooling in Syria, then Canada, and she just had a five month baby girl and is just starting to get involved in her husband’s company by doing public relations and sales for the company. Serges is Armenian, has an engineering degree from Switzerland, and spent most of his early career engineering manufacturing machines for Rolex.

Had lunch, out on the patio and talked a little about their capabilities and told them a little bit about Zoom. My understanding is that their company is somewhat of a middle person. They are a liaison between the client whose objective is to save money by going to china, and the manufacturers in china. The biggest selling point they offered is that they are hands-on with quality control and that they are reliable because they have relationships established with vendors here in Shanghai and this helps with quick turn-around and with better pricing.

After lunch, they gave us a tour of their office, which is about ten minutes away from the French Concession. Nothing special here…just an office space with about eight cubicles and two glass offices. Serges brought out some samples they had done that consisted of several leather watch boxes. This gave us an idea of the quality, some pricing, and some materials they use. The general impression that I get is that they just started out and have only explored gift box manufacturing, but are willing to expand into other objects.

We stopped by their apartment, which was about five minutes away from the office. They live on the 20th floor, in a three bedroom apartment that looks out onto a small park. The exterior of these large buildings looks old and worn, but the interiors are brand new. The apartment came furnished with new hard floors and recessed lighting in the ceiling. Their rent is a shocking $1200 a month, which is how much we were paying in Houston.

Came back to the hotel to change and head out to dinner at T8 Restaurant. It was the perfect way to end the day. People were out walking and the caffees were packed with people. The weather was clear, the vibe was hot, and the city pulsated with red lights. This is what Shanghai is all about, red lights reflecting on people’s giggling faces in the night.

So we were back in Zaozhuang today. Woke up at 5:00 a.m., got breakfast and were on the way to the airport at 6:00 a.m. We boarded the plane and arrived to Xouzhou at 8:30 where we got picked up by Victor and the driver, who was cacking the flem from his flu all of over us. Found out that it’s flattering in China to burp and cack and spit loogies. After a long hour and a half, we were at Lawrence at just after 10:00 a.m. and waited for the crane til about 11. This crane arrived with a team of government officials and army guys. We set up our shots and within an hour were done with Lawrance.

When we arrived to Armanda, it was lunchtime and Mr. Ahmad insisted that we wait for the workers to finish. We went up to his office and waited for about fourty-five minutes and without asking, they brought us two Pepsis. Armanda was so difficult to shoot…half the factory was under construction and the roads surrounding it where we could park the crane were either on the edge of the building or very far away. We started the first shot with the side view, but it was too close. Mr. Ahmad suggested that we do it from the front. We moved the crane to the front and we ran into power lines and a lot of construction on the front. We found a side street a little further on the side of the factory and managed to get a pretty decent shot.

Paul came up with me the last time I went up. It was his first time to face his fear of heights. He wouldn’t look down, but I was happy that he had the courage to get up there with me.

We got done with the crane at around 3:30 p.m. and went with Victor and the driver to lunch at a place where you choose from pre-prepared dishes in a fridge and they cook them for you. Instead of reading the menu, you basically look at a live menu. Ordered some dumplings, fried fish, fried rice, and shrimp on skewers. The food was surprisingly decent, but very salty as always.

We went back to Lawrance to pick up our ticket reimbursements, which had to go through a series of signatures and thirty minutes later we were back on the road to catch our flight from Xouzhou airport. The same lady who charged us for extra pounds in our luggage last time gave us our boarding passes. By now we practically felt like death. Apparently China has no environmental regulations outside the big cities where all the factories operate, so the air is dense with chemicals and pollution.

After the trips to these small towns, we began noticing that most chinese people are completely ignorant to sanitation, viruses, germs, etc. People in China are constantly coughing, sneazing, and clearing their throats. The cities are crowded with people and germs, and the suburbs outside the city are crowded with factories and pollutants. The past two weeks Paul and I have been taking turns getting sick, even though we’ve been going out of our way to make sure we don’t. It’s everywhere and inevitable.

Woke up and had breakfast buffet, read the Shanghai Times. We got a phone call from Mohammed, the CEO of Lawrence the night before that he wasn’t able to arrange the Crane and that the whole photoshoot was called off. Although we were somewhat relieved that we wouldn’t have to go back to Zaozhuang, we had an uneasy feeling all day that it wasn’t over yet. There was nothing we could do now, except pass the time, so we decided to visit the Jade Buddha Temple. Turned out to be the perfect escape. The only quiet place we had been to in the entire city. The courtyard was swaying with incense and calling us. We got to the highest step and sat for over an hour watching people and resting.

After we filled ourselves with some quiet space, it was time to explore a new part of the city we hadn’t seen. We headed down to explore blah blah (more to come here).

Before dinner, we went up to the 44th floor were they serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks in the afternoon. Had a Martini, called Elie, looked out onto the Shanghai skyline, talked, and decided to go down to the room and rest before dinner. As soon as we walked in, we got a phone call and sure enough, it was Muhammed saying he found a crane. This meant we went from sipping martinis to catching a flight and waking up at five in the morning.

For a complete slideshow of Suzhou go here.

We spent two days in Suzhou, China. The first day there was a blur, as I was focusing on not completely collapsing. It wasn’t until the next day that all the soreness got ahold of me. Every inch of my body hurt, so paul suggested that we get a massage. Bad idea! I woke up the next day with bruises and feeling worse.

Crowded streets in Souzhou.
Originally uploaded by Carcura

Other than the few historical sites, the city was a big disappointment. The beautiful gardens that were meant to be a refuge from the noise of the modern world have become a hub of tours and big crowds of people. It was almost more peaceful to walk on the streets, but not after dark. So, basically there wasn’t much to do.

View from our room in Souzhou.
Originally uploaded by Carcura

We stayed at Sheraton Suzhou Hotel & Towers, and from our hotel were beautiful scenic views of Panmen. The highlight of the hotel thoigh really was their all-day buffets. We haden’t eaten a decent meal in days, so it was a relief to have some good food. Fattened ourselves real good!

Pagoda "Illusion".
Originally uploaded by Carcura

On our first day we walked the area and took pictures. The next day we visited The Humble Administrator’s Garden which was packed with people. Took a few photos and walked the area around the park which was lined with small shops selling souvenirs, silk fans, and robes.

Humble Administrator’s Garden.
Originally uploaded by Carcura

We ventured into the markets our second day there and had dinner at an authentic historical Chinese eatery called Deyuelou Restaurant which dates back to The Ming Dynasty over 400 years ago. The food here was delicious. I ordered a delicious Mandarin fish and Paul got dumplings and their famous hedgehog shaped pork buns. We were surprised to have had a decent meal outside the hotel. Stopped for dessert and after dinner drink and headed back to the hotel. After two days, we were very ready to move on.

Hedgehog Pork Buns at Deyuelou Restaurant.
Originally uploaded by Carcura


Famous Mandarin Fish Deyuelou Restaurant.
Originally uploaded by Carcura

Waiting for us at the airport at around 8, was a sign that says “Bill Martin” and two drivers from the factory. Two hours later we got dropped off at our hotel, which was a hair nicer than the one in Zaozhuang. We did not even attempt to eat dinner at this one and went straight to bed.

Woke up at 7, went down to the breakfast buffet where I had a few slices of watermelon and Paul somehow managed to make the guy at the egg station cook some scrambled eggs for him by waving his hand in a whisking motion.

More to come here…

We arrived to Lawrance in the morning and the crane still wasn’t there so we waited in Essam’s office til after 1:00 p.m. When the yellow crane arrived we went to the courtyard and spent time finding the right angle and talking to the driver about where to park. After we got situated we climbed into a grey plastic bucket and got lifted up into the air by the crane. Other than the bucket being paper thin and wobbling, the lift wasn’t terribly scary and once we got up there, we snapped our shot and signaled for the driver to bring us down.

We drove to Armanda, went through the same procedures, and were done with our photos for Zaozhuang. We drove through town, which according to our guide was very rapidly urbanizing to sustain all the factories, (there was even a KFC scheduled to open by the end of summer) stopped in a small market, and headed to the airport. Two hours later we arrived and caught our evening flight back to shanghai.

Following 5 hours of intensive photography, we headed to Aramanda to finish off all the interior shots of the factories in zaozhuang.

We entered into an office and through a haze of cigarette smoke, we got introduced to Mr. Muhammad, the CEO of the factory. After talking for a few minutes, we found out that all the factory CEOs went to the same engineering school in Alexandria. Management at these factories consists of Egyptian men, in their thirties and forties, very focused on high number production, but not at all on their health or appearance. The veterans have been doing it for over five years and the newbies can count the days they’ve been at the factories.

Mr. Muhammad is very nice and hospitable to us. He even has his workers go out and buy us 2 pepsi, which is quite a commodity out there. Of course, they were hot…they don’t believe in drinking anything cold in China. Some of these people have never seen ice cubes in their life.

Aramanda is about a quarter of the size of Lawrance and much dirtier, smellier, and the exterior is hideous. The main focus for Mr. Muhammad was how the fabric went through the bleaching process going from a dull cream color to a bright, crisp, consistent white. The process was actually somewhat interesting, but the photo part of this factory was not very fun. Getting anything to look decent took alot of effort and we were glad when the day was over. Looking back, shooting Lawrance and Aramanda was one of the longest days we had in China.

Following a very interesting hotel breakfast experience, which a included a buffet of very traumatizing dishes such raw chicken feet, and other various animal organs, the driver picked us up promptly at 9:00 a.m. and took us to the factory for a whole day of shooting. We entered through a large metal gate into a large courtyard with a fountain in the middle and the main building in the front. We got introduced to Mr. Mohammad Abdul Aziz who took us on a tour of the factory and went over his expectations of the photoshoot. It appeared that his plate was full so he handed us to the marketing director, Essam and translator, Victor who stayed with us throughout the shoot and advised each department to prepare thirty minutes before our arrival. Once we arrived to the departments, the head of each department greeted us and worked with us on what we aimed to capture.

We began in the knitting department, which was the most futuristic of all. It was filled with machines that were surrounded with thread spools that the machines spooled into the cloth material that made the underwear. There were no workers here. Got some great fisheyes of the space.
In another building was the dying department, which was a large room full of large washer-like machines churning the fabric, then machines drying it. This room was very wet, dirty, and extremely hot. Only men workers here, moving large bins of fabric in and out of machines. Also managed to get a few fisheye shots here.
Then came the drying and the pressing machines, which took in the fabric and dried it on hot wheels, so it came out paper thin on the other end.

Then the cutting department. Here stacks of fabric are cut into the separate shapes that make up the undergarments.
Then loose pieces are sewn together in the sewing department which is a large room filled with girls between ages 15 and 30 working 24 hour shifts. lthough the working environment felt very sterile under the bright lights, the workers seemed focused on their tasks and unaffected by their surroundings.

This factory felt like a miniature city. Within its gates were dormatories where the workers lived, a cafeteria, gymnasium, park area. People here spend most of their hours, weekends included working in their posts at the factories.

Took a cab from Grand Palace Hotel in Shanghai to the small domestic flight airport, Hang Chaio. Got checked in and boarded a one hour flight to Xouzhou where a driver with a sign “bill martin” picked us up for a one hour and thirty minute drive to the small town of Zaozhuang, Shandong. The freeways were imaculately clean and landscaped the whole way into town with locals riding smokey two-wheel trucks and bicycles trailing loads of crops. We arrived to the only hotel in town, GuiQuan Hotel at around 9:00 pm and after an hour of hand signals and gestures with the hotel staff we were checked in and asleep.