A trip down memory lane

Michelle with her new friends Annie and Fiona
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Zhongshan does not make a very common stop for most tourist, but all people familar with Fluidmaster will understand that it is a very convient stop, as it is the home of Fluimdaster China.  We stopped here to visit old friends and check in to see how Fluidmaster is doing.  We really owe a big thank you to David, Annie, Fiona, and Tommy who took a large part of their weekend to give us an introduction into China and Chinese foods.

We took the ferry from Hong Kong, however the ferry we had planned to take got canceled, so we hung out in the ferry terminal / mall for a couple hours before our boat ride.  The combining of a mall with various transportation terminals seems to be a very common thing in China as we have seen a number of different combinations during our travels.  During our extended wait we ran into the contestants from an international bueaty padgent that were on there way to Macau.  They were all crowded together trying to avoid the stares from the onlookers walking around them.  The boat ride thankfully was very calm and did not pose any of the problems we encountered in South East Asia with the boat bouncing and sea sickness.

Bill feeding the gold fish
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When we arrived in Zhongshan Annie, Fiona and Tommy were there waiting for us and took us to our hotel to get settled in.  Then we went to one of the malls where Michelle allowed herself the indulgence of getting a manicure and pedicure, while the rest of us strolled through the mall.  That night we were joined by David and introduced to Chinese food.  After being seated in our own private room including a TV (so it feels like home) and a private bathroom we  started trying the various foods unique to southern China including but not limited too Chicken Feet.

The water in the garden in the mansion outside Zhongshan
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The next day we were taken on the grand tour of Zhongshan.  We started out in a light rain to go see the old mansion on the outskirts of town.  This mansion is not much of a house because the area dedicated to sleeping and eating is quite small.  But when you walk in there are three buildings dedicated to entertaining guests.  Once past this you get to the garden which has small buildings scattered about through out the lake and river that wander through the well manicured garden.  Here we ran into another fortune teller, who with the help of David's translation skills read our palms and gave us our fortunes.  Fortunately I am going to live to 103 and I will have a lot of success in business in the future.  Michelle was not so lucky, she is only going to live to be 97.  But she also has a good life left infront of here.  There is also a stage hidden in one corner of the garden where guests were entertained.  We saw a chair juggling acrobat and a magician, both of which are entertaining in any language.  At the back of the garden there was a real river, not a man made one like in the gardens, with a bridge crossing it.  This lead to the actual living area of the house which had another smaller garden.  The bed rooms, kitchen and dinning room were all very small for a normal house so they were tinny for a mansion of this size.

The river seperating the entry from the living area of the house
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Next we went to see the childhood home of the "Father of China" Sun Yat-Sen.  His house is not remarkable as in this is what it takes to build a great man, but rather ordinary for turn of the century China.  Infact they have preserved much of the neighborhood he grew up in, because many of his friends growing up supported him through his rise to power and also hold important parts in Chinese history.

Next we went to the town of Zhuhai which is the main land town that serves as the gateway to Macau (or the Las Vegas of Asia).  We did not go to Macau or even see the lights of the casino, as the close island is mostly apartments.  But we did walk along the water with a couple thousand Chinese all enjoying the end of their weekend.  We also visited a large knock-off mall that was conviently located in the ferry terminal to Macau.  I guess people take the ferry go shopping and return to Macau, without ever really visiting China.  Anyways we walked around and tried on some clothes.  Though I do not think that I am really Chinese sized as the extra large pants looked like capris and did not quite button in the front.  As for shoes forget about it, they stop at about size 10 so there was nothing there.  But it still was an interesting experience to see the crazy number of people all surging through the mall looking for deals.

The small garden infront of the living area
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That night we went to eat at a fake boat that was in the harbor.  They had really fresh sea food, as in so fresh that David took Michelle and I downstairs to walk through the aquarium where we picked out what we wanted to eat.  The food was fantastic, and the presentation was unique.  We had some lobster sashmi and it was served with the body of the lobster still there.  Then they took the body and stewed it in cheese.

After the long day on our feet, we ended the day and the weekend by going to get a foot massage.  Though it was unlike any I had had before as once the soaking and rubbing was done they oiled my feet and brought out little cups and a lighter.  They started the cups on fire and stuck them to my feet (though she had a very hard time getting them to stick on me).  Essentially the oxygen burned and created a vaccum that held the cups to our feet.  Definately interesting if not scarry to watch.  It was a great cap on a great weekend, even if my massuse kept telling me to relax (fire on my feet does that too me).

The crowd of Chinese in the "knock-off" mall
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The next day we headed for the Fluidmaster plant to see what is going on there.  This was really weird for me as I have not given much thought to Fluidmaster for some time.  I had never seen the new facility only the old one located in Meitu.  I was suprised to see that little had changed except for the fact that there was now a lot of extra space.  I was also disappointed to see that many of the things that were being worked on prior to my leaving are still not resolved and in place for Fluidmaster China.  Overall it was just a really weird feeling to go back and not be working.  As we left to go get our train, the thoughts of Fluidmaster drifted out of mind as we were now on our own without a guide to take care of us.

Macau from across the straight
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Thanks David, Annie, Fiona, Tommy and the whole Fluidmaster China crew as you helped us to start the China portion of our trip in the best way possible.

Bill