Guangdong Update Day 3: Touch base with friends

Guangdong Update Day 3

Pre-Day 3

Last night, I went to that drugstore at the back of Oriental Ginza, the one I think you’re referring to. Wala dito ang sketch ni Cecile. No signs that there’s a second floor, unless I missed it. But there was nothing in the drugstore that indicates an entrance to a second floor. So malamang, hindi yon ang drugstore na tinutukoy mo. But it’s the only one on that street, facing stalls of fruits, kalinya ng stalls ng mga hardware, cheap clothes, beauty products, Chinese medicines, and isang maliit na sari-sari store. Dito sa huli ako nakabili ng noodles and rice crackers (na hindi ko pa nabuksan ngayon so hindi ko actually alam kung the same ito sa Wan wan).

On my way back, I looked around for some place to eat but the prices advertised outside didn’t look enticing. A place that looked like a fastfood had its menu displayed outside. RMB18! Sabi ko ok ‘to. Pagtingin ko sa picture, 4 pcs of siomai. No thanks. Baka maliit pa yung pieces na yun. I looked around a bit sa mga tiangge-type na tindahan before deciding to have my newly-purchased noodles for dinner. Kasi super laki ng lalagyan. True enough, maraming laman, at busog na busog ako. Sulit yung RMB 3.50 ko. Nalimutan ko nga pala banggitin na nung naglunch kami yesterday ni Tyler and Mr Déjà vu sa KFC (of all places), nabusog na ako sa sandwich kaya ni-take home ko yung shrimp “shots” (fun shots pero shrimp, parang mini-tempura. Do we have this in Mla? Parang wala.) Ito ang partner ng noodles dinner ko kaya busog ako. Masarap yung shrimp shots.

Day 3

This morning nagmadali ako sa breakfast, kaunti lang nakain ko kasi feeling ko late na ako. 8.20 na yata ako nakaalis ng hotel. Ang usapan naman namin ni Tyler 9 ang alis sa office so before 9 ako dapat dumating. Pero para sure, buti na yung maaga-aga. Bago ako nag-breakfast, I emailed Talline and Marion na I’m in Shenzhen. Pareho silang sumagot but I never got around to reading it dahil umalis na ako. Later ko nalang nalaman.

No special incident in the subway this time. Proud ako. =) Pagdating ko sa office, busy pa si Tyler. So naghintay muna ako ng matagal. I later learned na nag-cancel pala yung unang company na naka-schedule (gas detector company) kaya naghahanap si Tyler ng replacement. Pero no success. Umalis kami past 10 papunta sa 2nd company for the day.

After the interview, Tyler dropped me sa may tapat ng office building kasi may next appointment pa siya. I found my chance. I went up to 34th floor instead of 36th, and went straight to Talline. Tamang-tama naghahanda siya for lunch. From there, tinawagan ko si Kevin. Nung una, panic siya. Sabi niya “May, why are you in office?” Pero nung inexplain ko na tapos na yung interview namin sa morning at iniwan na ako ni Tyler, nagrelax na siya. Pero nagtatanong pa rin kung bakit ako pumunta daw kay Talline. Sabi ko binisita ko lang siya. So, nagset na kami ng time na dapat akong bumalik sa office to meet Dean, the 2nd AE for the day. 1.30 ang call time namin.

Talline, Melvin (from CM) and I went down to lunch. Sa lobby ng building, na-meet namin sina Rina, Marion, Anna and another one. Hindi ko pa alam non na nag-email pala sa akin si Marion. At 9am, she said daanan ko daw siya, pwede ba kami mag-lunch together? Then at 11am, nag-email siya uli na medyo masama pakiramdam niya so magha-halfday siya para makapagpahinga muna. So nung nakita niya ako marching out to lunch with Talline and Melvin, nakasmile siya na medyo confused. Siguro akala niya dedma ko lunch invitation niya.

Talline, Melvin and I went to the Norway Place in Coco Park mall. Ang tawag nila dito Chinese na Norwegian kasi kahit Norwegian ang menu, lasang Chinese. Trulyly. Pero buffet siya at mura lang. Doon din pala ang punta nila Marion. Maglalunch muna bago siya uuwi. Buti naman kasi doon niya sinabi sa akin na nag-email siya at hindi ko nga nabasa. Chikahan blues. Excited sila malaman kung kumusta yung xmas party. Sabi ko masaya, magulo ang mga tao.

Hindi makakauwi si Talline and many other Filipinos for Christmas break coz they don’t have annual leaves left. So they’re already planning their menu. Cordon bleu, boiled and grilled chicken or pork something, creamy corn soup (yata), may dessert pa. I forgot the items na, basta the works. Reminds me of Lou, when she hosted special holiday parties in her flat in HK.

We went back to the office at 1:15, enough time for me to freshen up before 1.30, when AE Dean and I met and went down to wait for the car sent by the next company on schedule. We went to Bao’an district. 1.30 kami umalis, 3:00 na kami dumating sa factory ng supplier. Full speed pa ito, no traffic. Sa kakasilip ko sa landscape and sights habang nasa car, I fell in and out of sleep. Nakakaantok pala yun. With us in the car was the international sales officer, a girl, who kept watching me in the rearview mirror. Nung nahuli ko siya, she put on her sunglasses. Para di halata. So tumingin nalang ako sa labas at yun, nakatulog na ako.

She turned out to be a nice girl, though. When she saw my business card holder, the one with shifting pictures of a pretty Chinese girl, she said she loves it and she’s very pretty (referring to the girl). Then she asked me, “Do you know the story?” I didn’t know that this particular picture had a story. Unfortunately, she didn’t get around to telling me, because we were summoned by the GM to his office for the interview.

The lady acted as interpreter for the GM, who doesn’t speak English. The quote for the day came from her: “We have three flowers.” (Err, flowers?) She gestured above her head. “We have three flowers, all production by our own self.” Oh! She means they have three floors and they’re doing all the production processes in-house. A pronunciation “glitch”. ;-)

After the interview, we toured the factory. And then went back. The sales officer stayed in the factory so only Dean, me and another employee of that company went back to Shenzhen. I slept again. I could hear Dean talking to the other person almost ¾ of the way. Matatag ha. But in the last ¼ of the trip, he dozed off.

Shortly before arriving to the office building, Dean woke up suddenly and realized he was hungry. He asked me if I was also hungry. I said yes. And he said, ok let’s have supper. We arrived in the building at 7pm and went up to get Dean’s laptop. While he was packing up, I went to the ladies room. On the way out, I passed Louie Pilapil’s desk and talked to her. She asked about the party too. The xmas party in Shenzhen office is Dec 22 but she’s leaving for Manila on vacation this Saturday and will be back Dec 26. So malungkot siya kasi wala siyang xmas party sa office this year. First party pa naman sana niya sa Shenzhen. Pero late na na-schedule kasi late din yata na-reserve ang venue. Masama loob niya.

Tomorrow, if the AEs let me off the hook at lunch, Louie asked me to pass by her station so we can dine together.

Dean and I went off to Coco Park for dinner. Josko, of all places na pipiliin niya, Norway Place. I tried to say that I ate lunch there today but he doesn’t speak much English so he missed the point. Surprisingly, the a la carte dish I chose tasted well. Pieces of Norwegian salmon in fried pasta. RMB 24 lang.

Dinner turned out to be an English and Chinese tutorial session as Dean tried to coach me on Chinese and I tried to teach him English. By 8.30, we were making very slow progress and were both tired. We parted by the subway station entrance and I took the subway home.

All smooth on the subway. Am proud. =)

Guangdong Update Day 2: First day high and low

GUANGDONG UPDATE DAY 2

I'm back from my double calls today. Did 4 companies with Tyler: 3 DVR makers and 1 gas detector maker. Everything went well with the interviews. The companies were accommodating. Hirap pala ng trabaho ng writers natin -- not for the volume but because it gets boring after asking the same questions to more than one company. The advantage of doing LRs on DC rather than supplier interviews is that you get to see the differences of the companies of the same product line. Sa SI naman, may variety pero limited yung nakukuha mong knowledge sa products.

Ces, sorry ha, yung mga anik-anik na binigay ni Lynnie, yung maps lang ang tiningnan ko pero clueless ako sa connection ng Swisbel at office kasi hindi naman clear yung subway station doon (naka-box kasi). Di ko agad nakita yung sketch mo, kagabi nalang. Malinaw pa sa salamin. Kaso, as usual, tanga-tanga ako (why do I have a problem with coins?). Sa subway kanina, I tried getting a token in the vendo machine, nilalabas yung coin. So kinausap ko na yung guard, na hindi ako naintindihan. Nirefer ako sa booth lady, at hindi rin kami konek. So pinakita ko sketch mo at sabi ko "Guoguangyuan" (I pronounced it as is). Blanko ang tingin sa akin. So I tried signaling to her na niluluwa ng machine ang coin ko. Sabi niya, "Do you have renminbi?" Pinakita ko coin na hinulog ko. "This". Nag-smile siya. "That's not renminbi." Pagtingin ko sa coin, wala ngang Yi Yuan na nakasulat. Napabulalas ako, "Huh? What's this?" Siya sumagot. "I think it's Baht."

Mama! Pano kaya nagkaroon ng baht yung renminbi ko? Anyway, galing ito sa mga pile of coins ko na tira-tira ng past trips, so malamang naisama ko yung tira kong baht sa rmb, but I was very sure i checked the coins isa-isa bago ko nilagay sa wallet. So ayun, balik kami ni guard sa vendo machine with the proper coins this time, at ok na. Panay ang ngiti ng loko sa akin siguro sabi niya eng-eng naman ng batang 'to. Nasa subway train na ako nang malaman ko ang proper pronunciation ng coco mall station, nung i-announce ng voice-over. It's go-gang-yen. Kaya pala blanko ang tingin ni booth lady sa akin.

Na-meet ko na si Kevin. I didn't have time to see anyone else kasi naghintay lang ako sandali then umalis na kami ni tyler. Yung 2nd company na pinuntahan namin, na-deja vu kami nung supplier. Nagkatinginan kami then sabi niya "Have we met before?" Sabi ko, "I think we have because you look familiar." Whoa! Haha! Matanda na po siya so no excitement here. Pero sure ako nainterview ko na siya pero parang hindi sa company na yun. Matagal interview namin at naglunch pa siya with us, pero di namin talaga ma-trace kung san kami nagmeet. Basta sabi niya imposibleng before siya magjoin sa company na ito kasi nasa Canada siya. So baka nga napuntahan ko na ito before.

Sa fourth company, grabe ang smell ng usok. Habang naghihintay kami sa contact, medyo napansin na namin ni Tyler na parang galing mismo sa aircon yung smell ng yosi smoke. Habang tumatagal, nagkoconstrict na yung throat ko. Sa kalagitnaan ng interview, naallergy na talaga ako. Parang hirap ako huminga. Runny nose na, at nagsa-sound ngongo na ako. So I was talking with my hanky in my nose. Napansin na rin ni Tyler na yung usok nga yon. Bigla kasi siyang hinatsing. Pero pag-alis namin sa company, unti-unti na nagclear ang nose ko at ngayon ok na.

Plano ko lumabas sandali sa likod ng Oriental Ginza. Tingnan ko lang if I can find some cheap dinners na clean naman. May grocery ba dito, Ces?

Lynnie, I brought my T1s so I'll try to work on them tonight. Will let you know by morning kung ano yung hindi ko nakaya tapusin. But definitely yung Overview ko hindi ko na kakayanin in time for DTP. On our way to a supplier, nakita ko yung Windows of the World. Mukhang cute. Pero di ako sure kung mapupuntahan ko siya. Medyo tamad ako maglibot ngayon; tsaka marami muna akong tatapusin.

Ces, yes, sumasayaw talaga ako pero pang-xmas lang ang mga presentations hehe. I love to dance, kaya nung nag-vertigo ako at medyo na-limit ang paggalaw ko, nalungkot akong isipin na baka hindi na ako makasayaw tulad ng dati. Jazz kasi ang favorite ko. Eh baka mahilo ako. Pero babalik din yun, gradually, I hope...we missed you at the party. You're right, it was much more fun, not just our dance and the presentations but everything in general. It was a good party, and Armando was a great sport. If only for that, I admire him more.

Mel, manageable ang lamig. Parang Baguio/Tagaytay. Pag may araw, mas maganda kasi halo ang cold at warm. Iniwan ko sa car yung coat ko most of the time kasi ok lang just to wear your blazer. Hindi masyadong maginaw. Wag lang uulan, tulad ng sabi ni Lynnie.

Ok, nakapag-pahinga na ako. Labas lang ako sandali then go back and attack these T1s. Till tomorrow!....or later, baka andiyan pa kayo pagsend ko.

Guangdong Update Day 1: The arrival

I haven't had time to upload my journal entries for my recent trip to China on a daily basis. So I'm uploading them now as Guangdong Updates: the 2006 Winter double-call series.

GUANGDONG UPDATE DAY 1

I am now doing research for my company assignments tomorrow. My trip was relatively uneventful, except for one incident where I became momentarily absent-minded. I went through the usual security process in our airport and was already lined up for check-in (ako na next in line), when I felt that there seemed to be something missing in my luggage. My jacket!

I forgot to get it from the x-ray line. Since ako na sunod, I remained in the check-in queue but was worried that someone else might have picked up the jacket and I will have to endure the cold without one. So after checking-in, takbo na ako pabalik sa x-ray machine. Bago ko nilapitan yung mga guards dun, sumilip silip muna ako kung saan yung jacket. Hindi ko makita! So lumapit na ako. Nilagay pala nila sa taas nung machine, still in the blue plate.

Sabi nung isang guard "Mukhang malamig yata sa pupuntahan niyo, mam." Ang kapal kasi nung jacket, pwede akong magtago sa loob. Then pinasa nila to a group of police huddling at the end of the x-ray line for inspection. Naghintay pa ako, nagpapacute lang pala yung police na nag-iinspect. Yung tatak ang tinitingnan niya. Gusto kong sabihin "cheap lang yan no, NT$200 sa Taiwan night market" pero binalik na sa akin. Yun lang.

After that, my life as a traveler became relatively boring. I slept almost throughout the flight to HK, waking up only long enough to gobble a chicken sausage, 2 pcs of hash browns, mushroom omelet, a blanched tomato, and a finger-sized slice of watermelon (my finger size, Marco). After half a glass of orange juice, I'm back to slumber, not minding even my seatmate who snored for most of his sleeping time. Hindi lang snore, SNORE talaga. Feeling nasa sariling kama. Pati yung mga service crew, nagugulat.

Pero ako, dedma, tulog agad. Ganun pala pag isang oras lang tulog mo. As in 3am na ako natulog, at 4am dapat gising na ako dahil 5am dapat sa airport. Anyway, nagising nalang ako na parang may "thud". Lumanding na pala kami, di ko man lang namalayang bumaba plane.

Tama ka Lynnie, 2 options nga ang coach service. Yung diretsong coach, HK$200. Yung sasakay pa ng bus, HK$150. Siempre kinuha ko yung 150.

Grand Mercure Oriental Ginza (Swiss Belhotel) -- kapatid na niya ngayon ang Novotel, hindi ba under sa Accor management din ang Novotel brand -- is not so bad, Lynnie, at least pagdating ko. Hindi naman siya amoy ulam nung pumasok ako. Medyo type ko pa siya ngayon kasi ang theme ng xmas decors niya violet and gold. so heaven ako sa dami ng violet. may malaking xmas tree sa harap ng puno ng violet and gold balls. ganun din sa loob ng hotel.

Gusto ko nga sana tour yung hotel kanina pero talagang pasarado na ang mata ko. I still had to unpack and prepare my things after arriving. US$300 ang hiningi na deposit sa akin for my 4 days stay. For the first time, hindi ako nagdala ng extra cash para mapilitan ako magtipid, assuming na $100 lang ang deposit ko. So goodluck nalang sa akin in the next few days kung paano ako magsusurvive with my remaining per diem. hehe. Buti nalang may dala akong extra HK dollars and renminbi na tira sa past trips ko. Pag akyat namin, sira pa yung unang key card na binigay. Yung corridor ang hindi ko type dito, dahil may amoy yung carpet.

After unpacking and preparing stuff, I went to bed at almost 6pm and woke up at 11:30pm. Nagpa-alarm ako ng 8 pero pinatay ko lang pala. Hindi naman ako antok ano. Yun. so hindi na ako nag-dinner, kinain ko nalang yung mga ninenok ko na bread and cupcake sa plane, plus a cup of noodles. Maya-maya matutulog na uli ako.

Hindi na ako naka-reply uli sayo Mel. So far, hindi naman ganun kalamig nung bumaba kami ng bus at Long Chok Ma (HK border immigration), parang Baguio or Tagaytay lang. Di lang ako sure pag nagtagal ka sa labas kung gaano kalamig.

O sya, tuloy ko muna itong research ko tapos tulog na uli ako in about 20 mins. Goodnight everyone.