El Presidente Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Well I have only been away 10 days and the FOH neighbourhood has gone to hell. As I assumed I am unreplaceable as head of this fine table ;-) Thankyou and big hug to Lisa for holding everything together in my absence while at the same time planning our premises move.....talk about irreplaceable. China was a real eye opener. 8 fellow FOH members with seperate business interests travelled to the Guangzhou (old Canton) trade fair. Guangzhou is a city of 6.6 million residents who never see the sky. The smog / pollution render the sky to a brown/grey where you can look directly at the sun for as long as you like. Every day is the same and when it rains the pollution forms a brown sleet like mush on the streets and footpaths. The people are friendly and helpfull and the food both good and varied. The most adventurous meal we had included a frogs fat and Lotus Ball desert....which was to die for The fair is held in an exhibition centre which is approx 600m long and accomodates up to 250,000 people. Truly amazing piece of architecture. Each of our members found the experience to be usefull but for our lighting boys at Q Electrical, their trip to their new suppiers factory was mindblowing. 24,000 employees in the factory with the factory (modern) complete with on site accomodation, schools, caffeteria's and shops, golf driving range , pools, cinema, health care and 7 modern showrooms or 250m2 to display their products to international guests. Now I plowed through a hell of a lot of cigars which I will review shortly and Guangzhou is a cigar friendly place. However Habanos prices are extreme and highly regulated by the state monopoly......take your own :-) I have arrived home a tad ill but don't worry as I am not coughing feathers. Some of those exotic meals have come home to haunt and our medicinal plan of "Spirits kill all" appears to have had a minor flaw. Pictures to follow shortly. Looking forward to catching up!
Phailure Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back! Sounds like a great place... except for the whole raining pollution bit.
wasch_24 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Man, sounds like a good trip overall but the environmental issues sure do sound disgusting!
El Presidente Posted October 24, 2005 Author Posted October 24, 2005 Todd...Our FOH travelling group could have fun in Baghdad Guangzhao is an enviromental disaster as is much of China. I have no doubt they are and will continue to be a major economic superpower but their challenges at home are immense. Between the enviromental repercussions of population demand and industry accelaration, one of the fastest aging populations on the planet (thanks to the one child policy) and the necessity to equalise economic benefits across all the population to maintain harmony.....they have their hands full.
dysfunctional Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Did you get to Singapore ?? Waited for yer here.....
El Presidente Posted October 24, 2005 Author Posted October 24, 2005 Spent 36 hrs in Sing and just ran out of time :-( I need an excuse to go back sooner rather than later. With a little bit of planning would a cigar lunch or dinner for Singapore Cigar Lovers be a possibility? December/January would be great ;-)
cvm4 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Glad to hear you had a great time. I didn't know the environment in China was so bad.
GoatLocker Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back El Prez. Sounds like Guangzou has gone down hill since I was there many years back. Too bad. Glad you had fun anyway, and get well soon.
strayvector Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back Prez, good to have you back on the board.
jay8354 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome Back El Prez! China is like any other parts of Asia, Environment is not an issue at the forefront of everyone's mind. Which is a pity. China do have some amazing places but will have to see if they are going to be around in the long run. It is good to have you back to the forum. Hope to hear from your inputs after you recover from illness.
JMH Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 I hope you and Ken have had time to catch up and script the upcoming weeks dialogue ;-) He hasn't known what to do with himself
jay8354 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 » hadn't realised you'd gone. Oh the irony!! :-D
skid11 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Ladies and Gentlemen ELvis PRESley is back in the building Thank you very much.......................................(Lisa)
CIGARHead Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Glad you had a great time in China. Gotta love the thick smog...its like you're walkiing through a nice puffy cloud.
Loki Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back Rob. Did you happen to see anyone from Walmart (destroyer of small town American business and our economy)?
ironman Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Glad they let you out...LOL Welcome Back!!! Ironman
Freefallguy Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back esteemed El P…. I’m hoping though that the photos to follow are NOT of the flawed “Spirits kill all” episode!!
habanolover Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Welcome back Rob, hope you get to feeling better soon!
Mel Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Heck man you have no idea what you really ate. If you're ok in three more days all should be well(done turned to ****).
habanohal Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 » Heck man you have no idea what you really ate. If you're ok in three more » days all should be well(done turned to ****). Welcome back! True to not knowing what you ate. My wifes mother is from the Phillipines and tells me that in countries like these, know one has pets. WHen my wife was a young kid . her and her brother had a dog for all of about 7 hours. They let it outside and later it wasnt their. That evening for dinner they went to the home next door , and guess what was for dinner? Yep it was their new pet dog.
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