November 3rd

As I look back, this was a long day. Pingping and her parents picked me up at 9:30 am, first to take me to Mr. Lai’s office where he had some of the product he sold: solder; then to their apartment on the 25^th floor, and then to the dim sum restaurant in the Palace Hotel (Pingping said that it was the best dim sum in Shenzhen.

Since that time, I have discovered that solder is made from lead and tin. Mr. Lai owns a factory that processes ore in order to make tin. The raw material comes from Yunnan Province. Mr. Lai also owns a factory that makes the solder “wire,” and also then wholesales the coils of solder out to wholesalers and also to his many little retail shops. He started in this business some 15 years ago, and with solder in every motherboard, every cell phone, every computer, and every other piece of technology, he has become a rich man. But, down to earth.

Pingping's dad is in the solder business. His factory makes ingots and then puts the ingots into solder wire.

Pingping's family. Her parents and her younger sister, Feifei. She also has an older sister (unmarried) and a brother who's still in high school.

At the dim sum restaurant, they ordered Beijing duck especially because I had indicated in a response to their request for what kinds of food I might like, Beijing (Peking) duck. We had plenty to eat. I shared with them a maple bowl that I had created for them. They were so happy about it that they showed it so several of the waiters who were near our table.

After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Lai both had appointments, so Pingping and I went out for a loooooong walk, We walked to the business district, to Pingping’s skyscraper where she worked, to the beautiful Sheriton Hotel, to a few of the shopping centers, and to Coco Park (another shopping area). Then we hopped a taxi and traveled to one of the botanical parks located along the water. A cypress swamp, lots of trees and bushes, and simply hordes of people lounging in the park or picnicking on the grass. It really was crowded.

Just so you know that I was there. Karol would love the "fig leaf" position of my hands - I'm such a photogenic guy.

We headed back by bus to Pingping’s apartment (different from their country home where they sometimes go on weekends) for a piece of dessert. And soon, Mr. and Mrs. Lai were waiting downstairs to drive us to the Mr. Lai’s cousins restaurant. A great meal.

Returned to the Vandercook’s apartment about 8 pm with tired body and very tired feet, and a mighty full stomach (Mr. Lai kept adding food to my plate).

It was a good day, and to any of you who know Pingping, she says “Hi!” She just started working in a securities company as an assistant to one of the consultants. She’s in training now, but hopes to become a consultant next year when her consultant leaves for the States.

And for you Selles:  today I ate fish, duck, pork, beef, two kinds of meatballs, chicken, carrots, three kinds of greens, and a whole assortment of other things. Had hometown Shenzhen beer. I feel like I’m stuffed enough to go on a spit to be roasted!

Crabs of some sort at the dim sum restaurant. They had a whole variety of live crabs, shrimp, clams, fish, and snails that you could choose (better than dog).

 

Construction creates and ever changing landscape in most areas of China. Here the steel is in place for another very high rise tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a beautiful flower on a bush. I had to stretch high to get this shot.