| On one of our first journeys to Boshan, we went | | | | of us were using for our 'Coke'. |
| with our friends from the glass bottle and | | | | By the time our hosts tried to intervene it was |
| Storage jar factory. We flew into Qingdao | | | | too late, we looked at our hosts, our driver was |
| Airport, not the nice new one, the original one | | | | singing, laughing and trying to stay in his chair all at |
| very small and quaint where you carried you own | | | | the same time. The manager of the glass factory |
| luggage from the plane through the single | | | | and I helped him out to the vehicle, where he |
| customs gate. Everybody is very excited to have | | | | tried to get into the driving seat. The girls and my |
| some 'round eyes' coming to visit their city, as | | | | companion had gone very ashen and all looked |
| this was a long time ago. | | | | very worried. The manager and I decided to get |
| We walk out of the airport back into the | | | | him in the rear compartment and the manager |
| sunshine, and are greeted by our two young lady | | | | decided to drive. This meant he was directly |
| hosts along with their manager. They are like two | | | | behind us with intermittent loud snoring then |
| characters out of a Jane Austin novel, and have | | | | awakening and waving his thump in a 'Thumbs Up' |
| clearly never had any foreign guests visit them | | | | gesture to all of us. |
| before, as Boshan has only just been opened up | | | | We had now reached the factory area, it was an |
| to Westerners. They fuss and flap, like two old | | | | area of old factories, slag heaps, smoke, steam |
| maids trying so hard to please us, trying to help | | | | and coal everywhere, reminiscent of the pictures |
| us carry our heavy bags. This is the last stage of | | | | of the Welsh Valley Towns in the early 1900's.The |
| our tours of our factories, we have been in China | | | | industry had been based on coal, which could be |
| a month already. | | | | dug up on the surface, and water, far removed |
| They are so proud, they have one of the earliest | | | | from the Boshan of today with its clean air, |
| Toyoto People Carriers. We load our luggage into | | | | hospital complexes, leisure and health facilities. |
| the back, and get into the carrier> It is a | | | | Once we were at the factory, we decided to help |
| squeeze, the two girls, the factory manager and | | | | our driver into the offices with us, rather than |
| the driver, who smiles at us all the time. | | | | leave him in the vehicle, as there steep drops |
| They have booked us into the best hotel on the | | | | around the factory. This is where the fun really |
| seafront, gone now, a great shame as it had | | | | started. We sat him at the directors desk in the |
| great colonial character. It was left over from the | | | | padded leather swing chair, while we started |
| time when this part of China was German, hence | | | | trying to work out the moulds needed to make |
| the Qingdao Beer, made from rice as there was | | | | the bottles, the designs we had drawn up from |
| no barley available, and where the recipe for | | | | Victorian Reference Books and 50's American |
| Budweiser must have originated. The front was | | | | Designs. Then we continued to work out the |
| not built up then, and we enjoyed our breakfast | | | | designs for the hand made section of the plant |
| overlooking the sea, the people out collecting shell | | | | and the mouth blown glass items. It had only |
| fish in their buckets.Our hosts arrive and we all | | | | recently introduced stable colours in Cobalt Blue |
| clamber into the vehicle, with great excitement | | | | and Emerald Green to our ranges, and we were |
| for our adventure, and what an adventure it was | | | | trying to get the purple colour, and the bright |
| to be! | | | | orange and lemon yellow. |
| The road, which later was to become the | | | | While all this was going on we were all trying to |
| Expressway was just starting to be built, the girls | | | | concentrate on our work, while our driver still |
| had loaded us up with bottles of water, and | | | | intoxicated, was trying to telephone all his friends |
| carried on there conversation in text book BBC | | | | and have a loud and garbled conversation with |
| English with my female designer companion. They | | | | them all, raising his thumb to all of us, when we |
| wanted to know about England and all about | | | | looked across at him, when he was not this doing |
| where we had been in China. I enjoyed looking | | | | this he was singing and laughing. We worked well |
| out at the scenery and the many villagers both | | | | into the evening, and another car was arranged to |
| working on their lands and heaving their carts of | | | | collect us from the factory for our evening meal, |
| stone. The donkey engine piston driven carts | | | | and take us to a small hotel, which had no |
| laden with stone, people raking, flattening the | | | | heating, and a large cockroach living in the |
| tarmac by hand. Our over laden truck bumped | | | | bathroom. There was the smell of petrol spirit, |
| and bounced, creaked and groaned. The big driver | | | | where the hostelry had tried to remove our |
| picking the least bumpy path, if there was one, | | | | friend. It was obvious that our friend in the |
| soon we were back on the old small winding road, | | | | bathroom had not seen any guests for some |
| as we started to climb towards Zibo or Boshan. | | | | considerable time. We were given the normal |
| When we eventually arrived it was nearly 12 noon | | | | flasks of hot water, to make our tea, this was |
| and our hosts were desperate for something to | | | | the only hot water, as there was no boiler |
| eat, and it had been arranged for us to start to | | | | working at the time. In the morning, it was |
| visit the Cardboard Box Factory, to arrange the | | | | obvious that a long time ago the hostelry had |
| display box sizes, colour, our company design and | | | | been a nice place to stay, with lots of overgrown |
| costing. The manager, we soon found out, was an | | | | roses and shrubs in the garden. |
| old friend of our driver and a lavish spread had | | | | Our driver had miraculously recovered by the |
| been prepared with the very strong white spirit | | | | morning. He picked us up and we returned to the |
| baijiu used for toasting 'Gambe', I told my hosts | | | | factory to continue our work. We returned back |
| that we would 'Gambe' with 'Coke'. Our hosts did | | | | to our Qingdao safely, and said farewell to our |
| not seem to mind. It was then that we all realised | | | | hosts, who sent us off with the flurry of activity, |
| the 'baijiu' was being toasted by our Driver and in | | | | similar to our arrival. Nothing was ever said about |
| his friend, our host, not in the small traditional | | | | his interlude.. ever. |
| glasses but in the large drinking glasses. The reat | | | | |