During one of the meals on my 2006 trip to China, I talked about music to some of the guys that we were visiting. They found out that I write and sing songs. I found out that some of our hosts were into karaoke. They thought that I would enjoy going to a karaoke bar. Why not? I didn’t know anyone that could say they had sung in a karaoke bar in China.
In previous posts, I have talked about my weekend in Hong Kong in 2006. In addition to shopping for a Fake Rolex, I spent this weekend being attacked by monkeys and a handicapped boy. While we were still looking for a fake Rolex vendor, we were standing at an intersection next to the street market. The vendors had their booths set-up in the street, so it was no problem for us and everyone else to be standing in the street.
I have shared my story about being attacked by monkeys on Monkey Mountain during my 2006 trip to China. Later that day, we were visiting more places around Hong Kong. We needed to travel to the other side of the harbor, so we took the Star Ferry. My traveling companion Mike told me that this ferry is the oldest in Hong Kong. He said it might be the oldest in China or maybe even the world. It is a famous Hong Kong tourist attraction ranking along side of the Eiffel Tower on some lists.
Back 2006, I went on a two-week trip to China, with a side trip to Singapore. Before I went, I talked to several people who had taken this trip that mentioned buying fake Rolex watches in Hong Kong. I considered picking one up as a gift if I could get a good deal on one. I was travelling with a guy named Mike who traveled regularly to China. He knew several of the people that had bought these watches and knew the market area where we might be able to find them. We spent the middle weekend of our trip in Hong Kong and I shopped for gifts for my family then.
Back in 2006, I was traveling for business in China. I had been in a city called Xiamen for a week and was traveling back to Hong Kong before coming back to the US. This was one of the last legs of a two week trip through Asia. I had gone through several different security checks during the trip. One of the things that was different from security in the US is that everyone was screened with the wand style metal detectors. They would also hold these wands against your body as they moved it up and down your body. This would be done to everyone regardless of age. It was also done in addition to going through a walk-through metal detector. In the US, you would probably get an apology from the security person if they even touched you with the wand. In China, it was the way things were done.
When you work with people from China, it is not unusual that they give you tea when they visit. Here is a picture of some of the packages of tea that I have been given by suppliers and coworkers from China during their visits over the years. When I went to China, I spent 2 weeks there and drank Chinese tea at many meals. I didn’t think it was anything special. It is served hot and I thought it was weak. I always drank it at any meal when it was offered mainly because I thought it was something that I could trust. During the week that I was in Xiamen, one of the guys from the supplier we were visiting asked me if I liked the Chinese tea. When I told him I did, he said he wanted to get me some really good tea to take home with me.
In spring of 2006, I had the opportunity to go to China. I was there for my 44th birthday. I was also there on April 1st which was a Saturday. We had a free day that day and spent it in and around Hong Kong. We had several adventures that day including a trip to Monkey Mountain. I was travelling with a guy named Mike who asked me if I was interested in going to Monkey Mountain and I had never heard of it before. He told me that it was a park with walking trails and monkeys were free to roam on the trail. I was game. Here is an excerpt from the journal that I kept during the trip: