Thailand

I mentioned in the previous post that I was in Thailand recently.  For those that watch the news, Thailand has been flooding for the past few MONTHS.  The government is now making decisions on who gets the floods as Bangkok is between the southern moving flood waters and the ocean.  Not good...

Anyway, on the whole we didn't see much water other than the below few pictures.  It was steadily creeping into the area in the picture though, as we noted the water level rise while we were in a 3 hour meeting...

Right inside the gate is a 2 foot concrete wall that was just poured to keep the water out of the front door.  A lot of convenience stores also had these.

The demand for sandbags has sky rocketed there, apparently there was a shortage early on.

We did get to try a new type of dining (for me anyway).  Below are a few pictures of the seafood market that we had dinner at.

First step:  select your food.  Main items available were seafood and vegetables.  You put everything in your cart and then specify how you want each thing cooked.

Picture of the open kitchen.

What the heck is this?  No, sadly, we didn't get one.

Business Golf

I've played golf three times since the end of the last golf season (September 2010), twice last week while on business.  I'm not complaining at all as on my death bed, I don't think I'll say "man, I really wish I'd played more golf".  It did make for an interesting round when I finally got out on the course, but not as interesting as seeing two monitor lizards and two cobras!

A view of one of the holes, lovely!

The lizard, right after emerging for the water.

This one was definately over 4 feet long from tip to tail.  A larger one (at least 6 feet!) had run under the bushes right when we pulled up so I missed a picture.

The snake is in the brown patch of grass at the foot of the tree. 

Below is the conversation I had while trying to get a shot of the snake:

Caddy (after seeing our interest in the lizards, stopped suddenly and pointed):  Look, a snake!

Me:  Ooo cool, get closer so I can get a picture.

Caddy (with a "you're an idiot" look on her face):  No, that snake can kill you if it bites you!

Me:  Really, what kind is it?

Caddy:  I don't know the English word.

Thai host (just as he pulled up behind us):  Oh, that's just a small cobra.

The caddy was on "snake watch" for the rest of the day whenever I was close to bushes or trees of any kind.



Beijing Bizzare (and Awesome) Food

While in Beijing, the typical day was to wake up at 5am - work out, catch up on emails from the US, then make it down to breakfast meetings by 8 or 8:30, 9 at the latest.  Then we were in conferences or meetings until 5 or 6.  At that point we would head off to dinner until maybe 8 or 9pm.  Of course I would have to catch up on China emails before bed!  Not complaining, just wanting to note it for posterity's sake...

We did have some awesome food while in Beijing:  Beijing duck (of course), Hong Kong duck, Korean twice and many other succulent items.  There was some number of beers washing it down too as I recall.  Below is my favorite dish!

Yes I ate it.  Yes it was good.  Of course I had to have another, stinger and all!

The carving of the duck.

I wouldn't be caught dead eating an uncertified duck...

A crazy few weeks

Sorry for the lack of posting - my last few weeks looked like this:

Oct. 31 - fly to Bejing for a conference.
Nov. 4 - fly back to Suzhou in time to see Rowan throw up on Friday night.
Nov. 5 - drive to Moganshan (about 3 hours from Suzhou) with Reid and Riley for an overnight camping trip with the Boy Scouts of America.
Nov. 6 - Get home from camping at 12pm, leave for flight to Bangkok at 1:30pm.
Nov. 11 - 1:30am flight back to Shanghai for customer meetings in the morning.  Customer cancelled, so I took off work after lunch for Reid's assembly for Remembrance (Veteran's) Day.
Nov. 12 - Begin cooking Thanksgiving dishes for church Men's dinner (more on that later).
Nov. 13 - Finished cooking and served men's dinner.  We totally cooked 3 turkey's and food for 50 - stuffing, pies (Rebecca rediscovered making pumpkin pies from pumpkins and hand shelling pecans), mashed potatoes, gravy, etc.

Anyway, I will begin entering the backlog of pictures ASAP!

Happy Birthday Reid!

Last Saturday we celebrated Reid's birthday with a Mad Scientist Party.  Rebecca went over the top and set up many "experiments" for the kids.  Below are a few of the pictures.

It all started in the Engineering Department where the kids built towers using molecules of gummy candies with bonds of toothpicks.  Prizes were awarded for tallest and then best design.

The old baking-soda-and-vinegar-in-a-bottle-that-blows-up-a-balloon experiment.  Maybe there's a shorter name for it, I don't know.

Our friends were very helpful, in this case running an electronics station where we were testing conductivity.

Rowan making slime.

Reid getting some covert help with his candles.

The group - 15 in all.