glazed noodles upwards with my chop sticks, the further it goes without breaking the stringy glaze, the better the chance that our business will succeed. But I guess everyone forgot about this as they were too focused on my screw up. The following day, my host, who was the CEO of one of the hospitals, took me to his favorite park to show me the town’ s highlights. He and my interpreter walked in a line with me and the entourage followed. As we were talking and still having a bit of a chuckle from the previous night’ s dinner, I took out my breath spray and shot a couple of puffs into my mouth to freshen up. I then handed this to my host and he looked at it and then sprayed his face a couple of times! Now, I was the one laughing and so was my interpreter. I got him back!
I liked to go to the markets to watch people and see the various food on offer which was quite varied. But one memory will be with me forever. I saw a cage filled with puppies and I was intrigued. A woman had presented in front of the counter and had pointed at one of the puppies. Within one fell swoop, the person behind the counter had taken the puppy and put it into a net and the net was put into a tank of water where the dog was drowned. It was then gutted, skinned, chopped up, wrapped up and given to the woman who then exchanged money. I was stunned as this happened so quickly and efficiently. At each hotel restaurant, dog was on the menu and I understand that they eat the big dogs in the winter and small dogs in the summer.
On my trip back to Perth, I had a long layover in Hong Kong which gave me time to write an article on my adventures. The photo article was then published in a national business magazine in Australia that supported Australian and Chinese business. The front cover used my photo of a temple in Beijing and the title of my article was- The adventure of the toilets in China. The uncertainty of the toilets led to anxiety on a regular frequent basis. I never knew what was going to be next and it always frightened me.
Class Photo, China Photo by Barry Epstein
Tractor, China Photo by Barry Epstein
Chef, China Photo by Barry Epstein
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