Jet Lag



The restaurant owner and I wishing everyone a wonderful holiday!



After a grueling 24 hour flight starting in Hong Kong, with a stop at Tokyo and Seattle, I finally got home after being up over 30 hours.  Although I claim not to be able to sleep on the plane, I am sure there were a few doze off periods that got me through the whole ordeal.  Coming back takes 4 hours less than going as the airlines take full advantage of the trade winds that blow from west to east.  I noticed once we left Tokyo  to Seattle our ground speed increased to around 680 mph, which is about 150 mph faster than from Seattle to Tokyo.  Never the less it seems like forever.  You do get 2 square meals on that particular leg of the trip as well as free beer if you want.  The problem with beer is that sitting in the window seat, the guy next to you falls asleep, its a long hold if he doesn't wake up...........if you know what I mean.  Saturday I was fortunate enough to get a Taiwanese portal for last weeks post and after we left work it was off to our favorite restaurant in Qingxi (shing she) to pig out on Tsing Tao and delicious Taiwanese food.  The restaurant is actually off the main streets, about 2 blocks back in a darkened portion of town.  I have been there many times and is probably my favorite "local" place to dine in China as the food is simply outstanding.   The owner of the restaurant recognized me and brought over a few bottles of beer to celebrate.  He did not speak English however was pleased when I toasted him with the word Gambay!  In Chinese this means bottom up, a challenge he did not take lightly.  I am pretty sure he was half in the bag when he joined us and significantly in the bag when he left.  Like I've always said in China, don't screw with a Cheesehead when it comes to beer!  The food was everything I expected and I left with a belly full of food, beer, and great memories.



Hong Kong Island and Kowloon from Victoria Peak



Sunday afternoon found us in Hong Kong exploring the sites.  Our guide was LT Koo, a gentlemen we know from a business relationship we have entered with.  Now LT lives in Hong Kong and knows all of the touristy spots.  We stayed on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong's business district with the exact location known as Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced Shim Shy She), at the edge of the harbor.  Hong Kong Island was on the other side and the best way to get there is by the Star Ferry Company LTD.  The ferries run every 15 minutes and take about 15 minutes, so there is one heading each way, all day long.  Interesting as it's a great way to travel, is the most direct route to the other side, and the cost is under $1.00USD.  From the ferry we hopped on a single car/double decker train that followed the main streets then onto an open topped tourist bus which took us within walking distance of the tram which ran to the top of Victoria Peak.  Our initial thoughts were to go to the peak during the day but LT stated it would be much nicer at night.  He was right!  I took this picture overlooking Hong Kong proper from the beautiful vantage point 1400 feet above the city.  The area in the forefront is the main area of Hong Kong Island.  The area across the water is Kowloon with the tip being Tsim Sha Tsui.  It always seems hazy in this part of the world and that night was no exception yet the view was stunning as pictures dimply do not do it justice.  Like everything in Hong Kong, there was a shopping center at the top of the peak, complete with high end stores and restaurants.  I was surprised how many people there were yet in reality everyplace is crowded in Hong Kong.  It certainly is a world city.



View from the Star Ferry Harbor in Tsim Sha Tsui

 So returning home meant back to reality.  While I was gone a number of things arrived, specifically my new pulley for the alternator on my Ferguson tractor.  The tachometer is driven from a cable that came from the generator.  I did convert it to 12 volts and found an alternator with a cable drive adaptor.  After hooking it up and using my neighbor Tim's dwell meter I determined the tach was running 25% higher than the true engine RPM.  The alternator has a 3.2 inch diameter pulley and I needed to increase it 25%, to a 4 inch pulley.  I found one on the Internet and when I returned it was ready to go.  It is spot on right now as I am a stickler for certain details and that on would have bothered me till I was dead!  We had 14 inches of snow while I was gone setting me up for the last few days of giving my new in 2011, 47 inch snow blower for the John Deere its first real workout in over a year.   In addition, I put the tire chains on the Fergie and using the 7 foot blade plowed my back area where the trailers are parked.  It brought me back 40 years ago when I used to use the same tractor to clear the snow from my grandparents house.  Funny thing is that it simply doesn't feel like it was that long ago.   I will leave you with a picture that is opposite the previous one, looking over to Hong Kong Island.  If you look closely you can see the correlation of the two views and get some idea of the scope of Hong Kong.  I am still amazed at the amount of lights and holiday decor going on, maybe a simple reminder of how small the world really is. 

The fishing itch is pretty strong and this snow isn't helping things.  My friend Keith claims he is starting to catch fish north of Brainerd, MN.  Maybe I can sneak out on Sunday!

Ni Hao from China

Pink Mary Kay Chevrolet in Foshan

Ni Hao (pronounced Knee How) is the standard greeting stated when you meet someone in China.  The literal translation is "you good" and if you say Ni Hao Ma (Knee How Ma) it means "How are you?" a response of He Hao or Very good is appropriate.  I am writing this from one of my Taiwanese suppliers office through his Taiwan portal as "Fishin With Dave" is banned in China.  That's right, my corrupt and subversive articles may cause the next cultural revolution in this country of over 1.4 billion people.  Therefore I am limited in time and will post just a few thoughts and pictures.  My first area to visit is on the west side of the Pearl River Delta, just on the other side of Hong Kong.  In the town of Foshan (Fo = Budda, shan = mountain) we stopped to have a flat tire fixed at a combination repair/car wash.  Waiting for tire, they pulled out a pink Chevy Impala with a Mary Kay license plate holder.  I found it amusing as the request from our 2 employees in China on what they wanted from the United States and both gave me a list of cosmetics for their wives.  Clinique and Fresh brands, apparently in China the duties are close to 50%.  I brought over $500 worth in the form of about 10 small bottles of eye cleanser, foundation, and other stuff that is priced higher than gold.  At least Samuel and Dragon agree that in China they have the same saying as in the US, a happy wife is a happy husband!  Here's a hint boy's.....Mary Kay is much cheaper and it certainly looks like you can buy it somewhere in China.




My adorable friend in Qingxi

 It has been 2 years since my last visit and a favorite place to go is the tea shop in Qingxi (shing she) City, near our hotel.  The owner has been a subject of my blog a couple of years ago and when we walked in, he immediately shook my hand and said DaWay, my name in Chinese.  Obviously he has few Americans come in and the welcome mat came out.  We spent at least an hour drinking various types of tea, mixing in stories, pictures, and allowing his daughters to practice their English.  It is an interesting situation as this gentlemen has 2 daughters and a son, the last born.  Boy's are coveted and are desired to carry on the family name so having 2 daughters meant one more try.  Having the inside scoop on why, I am told that he has paid penalties and knows the government officials well enough to do work around the official 1 child policy.  She's simply adorable and was anxious to pose for a picture.  Her older sister had the honor during my last visit but she's getting too big.  Things have changed a lot in China during the last few years as the people become more affluent.  As you travel you see the run down areas and right next to them are modern, well kept neighborhoods that seem a world away from a block away.  My first trip to China was in May of 2001, 12 1/2 years ago.  Back then one thing I noticed were all of the construction cranes and buildings going up.  Today I see the same thing, just as many cranes and buildings being built today.  The people of China are not much different than we are, just a half a world away.  They are certain more like us than different.

So, with my Taiwanese portal closing soon I need to finish!  Yesterday I did buy some special bobbers at the tackle shop for display in my office and a couple of holding nets for my friend Bill's bait shop.  The food is simply fabulous and I am just starting to get used to the time, providing my friends stop calling me at 3:30 in the morning.   The weather back home looks to turn cold after Saturday, maybe we'll have fishable ice by next weekend.  I sure could use a break!

Quick Post from Hong Kong

Having arrived in Hong Kong, we are keeping our fingers crossed that our flight in the morning will leave on time.  The hotel slid a report under the desk warning of the pending tropical storm due to hit about the exact time we are to take off.  The last few hours it has moved more west, which will work in our favor.  Although Hong Kong is now controlled by the Chinese, they still allow a full access to the Internet.  In celebration of getting back to some sense of freedom, an update was appropriate!  Keep your fingers crossed my flight doesn't get cancelled and soon I will be drinking a beer at the Tokyo airport.  I leave you with a picture of the eels available for dinner from the restaurant we were at on Thursday night. 

Pigging Out in China

Well as I had heard, China's censorship has blocked Fishin'' With Dave or any Blogspot address from the common people of China!   Apparently the Chinese government is worried about the political slant of walleye fishing in Minnesota, go figure.  Checking on http://www.youtube.com/, this too enjoys the proverbial, website not available.  There is a way through my work desktop however that connection is incredibly slow and impossible to utilize. Today I am in Dong Guan, Guangdong, China, north of Hong Kong at one of my closest manufacturing partners.  They are a Taiwanese company and can link their Internet through the home office in Taipei.  Because Taiwan has no restrictions on web surfing the blog is coming in clear and fast.  This allows me to post an update from this far away place. 

A great topic and one of the things I always look forward is the food in China.  Our first real restaurant was in Wuxi, a city west of Shanghai.  Chinese food can differ greatly based on geography.  In the US Chinese food is usually Cantonese style (chow mien, egg foo young, moo goo gai pan) or the spicer Sichuan style if you like it hotter.  Cantonese foods have their origin in the south of China, north of Hong Kong.  In China their are subtle differences that transforms a variety of foods into completely different dishes.  In Wuxi the sauces are darker and sweeter than in in Shenzhen.  All items are served family style and often are put on a large Lazy Susan to eliminate reaching over the table.  Appetizers include bamboo spouts, dried fish, pickled vegetables and chicken feet, pictured here.  Most of the chicken feet (a very popular dish) in China comes from the United States.  I have previously wrote about growing up in Eleva where the chicken processing plant was the main industry in town.  Digging through barrels of entrails to pluck chicken livers for catfish bait, we encountered thousands of chicken feet, cut cleanly off and headed for the rendering plant.  Today those feet are cleaned, packed and sent to China where they remain very popular.  I have tried them and although they have a nice flavor, it is like eating pure gristle.  As they say, when in Rome............

In more fancier restaurants, one can often pick your own food which are swimming, crawling, or walking around.  It almost has the feel of walking into a pet store.  This trip saw everything from Ring Neck Pheasants to turtles.  It is kind of interesting to look at and of course you are assured that your main dish is extremely fresh.   Breakfast in the hotel's is usually served buffet style with a cook assigned to create omelets and eggs to your liking.  Often it is a mixture of traditional cereals, breads, bacon (called smoke meat), rather bland sausage with a good variety of fresh fruits, mainly watermelon, banana's, and oranges, with some exotics like Dragon Fruit, Lychee, and Longan.  The picture on the right is Longans for sale at a grocery store next to the hotel.  They are almost grape like with a hard skin that needs to be peeled off to get to the translucent fruit inside.  Mixed in with the traditional American style breakfast food are more unusual Chinese dishes.  Dim Sum (a number of small individually dough wrapped foods), smoked fish, porridge, steamed vegetables can be present however this dish caught my eye.  If you look closely at the small sign explaining the dish in English it says "Mouth watering and authentic drug".  What the hell is that!  The best that we can deduce is the mouth watering part is the chopped green vegetable and the authentic drug is the strips of mushrooms mixed into the dish.  Mushrooms have been known to have medicinal properties in China, but then again who knows! 

Tonight we will go back to the restaurant we visited last night.  It serves Taiwanese food, somewhat different than the surrounding area.  Last night we had cold squid with pickled red onions, salt pork with vegetables, a spicy chicken dish (the chicken was mostly bones as my comments were translated to the cook, he sent a new dish with more meat!), squid balls (no, not what you are thinking), bamboo shoots with mayonnaise, fried oysters, fried rice, and plenty of Tsing Tao beer.  I can't wait!

Summer's Flying By!

Summer seems like it's whizzing by at 150 mph.  It's as though trying to get out fishing is almost work these days.  My landscape project is sort of in a holding pattern until I get my design done from the local nursery.  Having had to replant my sweet corn as I think I burned it with starter fertilizer, it almost made the "Knee High by The Fourth" requirement.  My raspberries have almost come and gone, and the two whitetail bucks have made a smorgasbord out of the majority of plants that have been growing in the garden.  I have been enjoying fresh blueberries as I beat the birds to them.  With over 2 inches of rain the last 3 weeks, my John Deere has been racking up the hours as well.  With all that is going on I got a hair up my you know what and bought a motorcycle.  A lot of us used to ride when we where young, then either stuck with it or abandoned it for "safer" activities.  I had always wanted to get into it as I enjoy the outdoors, understand the risks, and have lived past those crazy years!  Near the house was a 2007 Honda VLX600 Shadow for sale.  It had 325 miles on it and it looked like a good bike to get re-established again, so I bought it.  Lacking a motorcycle endorsement, I did get my permit and plan on taking a riders course next month.  It's one of those things, if it becomes enjoyable I can always move up and if not, it will cost me little.

Sunday saw me back up on Mille Lacs with my friend Tom and his friend from Colorado Springs.  The wind was set up to blow exactly like the direction last week be by the time we got set up it had died.  We fished Sherman's again and picked up a few before heading to the 7-Mile Flat.  I don't remember marking so many fish and catching so few.  We did try bobber fishing for a while and caught a few over the slot but nothing really big.  My other friend, Tom and his son Cory were parked on a deep reef I suggested as we headed over to see how they were doing.  Corks were going down left and right but they were pretty small.  My guests were ready to leave a little early so I dropped them off at the landing and headed back to the reef.  Having caught a few more fish, the bugs descended on us like the plague and we headed out early.  Ending up with a couple of meals worth of fish we did ok.  A few days later I learned that my friend John had done real well on a flat just north of us.  Because I had 3 in the boat it was a little tougher to make the right presentation.   Hopefully the bite continues for another week.  Here is Tom with one of his larger walleyes. 

Next week I have the pleasure of returning to China for 10 days of business meetings.  It is extremely hot and humid this time of year and frankly I do not look forward to it,  however these things must be done.  It is a 22 hour flight to Shanghai with our return flight out of Hong Kong.  I should have stories of my adventures as there is always something interesting a half a world away!