I’m working this week in China and staying in Suzhou. Out my hotel window is a huge building called the Gateway to the Orient or as the locals call it the Pants Building. It is nearly finished now after ten years of construction. I expect in another ten years all this development maybe complete and a huge mall will be located at the base. Construction is a never ending process here.



View outside my hotel room window on a sunny and fairly warm Saturday. Two more heavy work days then a long flight home on the upper deck of a 747.

This morning I when to breakfast with several hundred of my local friends. The hotel is in a vacation spot and makes deal to fill it on the weekend when most business traveler head home. The young kids are so funny. They have never seen a big guy with a full beard. So, watching their mothers try to get them to eat is a real job. Most just give up.

This is the view out of my hotel room window. Standard apartment building that upper class Chinese would live in.

I’m working in Suzhou this week. We move to the new plant in Kunshan in August. Next Monday, I move to Shanghai for an Asia Staff Meeting. Weather is in high 80’s to low 90’s and very sticky. Air quality is poor with lots of smoke. Flying in yesterday, it looked like snow on the ground but was just seeing the ground through the white smoke in the air. Everything turned green by the time we landed.

Annette and I have spent a month living in Suzhou, China. I’m working to open a new facility in Kunshan in August. We are setting in the airport lounge awaiting our 14 hour flight into Detroit. It will be good to be home and relax over the memorial day holiday. The boat is now launched and the plan is to use it this weekend. This picture is the view from our apartment in Suzhou.

Lasts weekend Annette & I went to Shanghai for lunch with two of the manager from JBT Asia Headquarters and their wives. Shanghai has 16 million people and is the largest city in China. It is two New York Cities put together. Even on Sunday, the traffic was totally stopped in many places on the express way. The picture of the park has a Cadillac setting in the lake. The other picture is of Annette on a shopping trip to the local Shanghai mall. Everything is negotiable in China and much of the challenge is getting a good bargain.

Annette and I will be living in Suzhou for the month of May. I’m opening a new manufacturing site in Kunshan. We are doubling in size in less than one year. Freezers built in China for the China market are sell very well. We open the doors last year at full capacity and never slowed down.

We stayed in the same apartment building for two months last year. It was mid-summer and over 100 degrees F each day. May is cooler in the 70/80 degrees F. Below is the view from the 37th floor apartment at the Fraser Suites in down town Suzhou. It is May Day Holiday and fireworks are flying everywhere. Tomorrow is Sunday, but it is still a normal work day in China. So, I’m heading back to work in the morning.

My driver picked me up in a Buick van the second day in China to take me to work. Soon after we left the building, he started driving very fast and making fast turns. We nearly hit several electric bikes in the cross walk. It felt like a runaway cab ride and we weren’t heading for work. Then a police car pulled in front of us very fast and forced us to the curb. A second car pulled in behind us and 4 officers jumped out of each car. They grabbed the driver an pulled him from the car and a police officer jumped into the front seat. He started going through the drivers things and found a log book. He said he was a traffic control officer and need to ask me some questions. He said did this driver and van pick up up yesterday from the Airport? I answered yes. He then wanted to know who rented the car. I answered Lili Yao from my company in Shanghai. He then wanted to talk with Lili. So, I found her phone number and he called her up. Lucky for me Lili answered and they started talking in Chinese. When it was all over, Lili told me I have done nothing wrong and where did I want to go. The van was not licensed to carry paying customers.

It took 2 police cars and 8 police officers for my first arrest in China. It was just like in the movies because my driver ran from them. I was really concerned when I left my passport and visa in the appartment. But, the officers didn’t ask for it. I did make it to work two hours late.

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