Haian

On Monday morning I got up at 5.45am and took the subway to the bus station. It took me a while to find the bus station again even thou I was only there the day before. I finally found it and then played match the Chinese characters to find the bus going to Haian. No one at the bus station could speak English but I check with a few people if I was on the right bus and then off we went.

At the bus station. Once again the only foreigner

I slept most of the 4 hour bus ride to Haian. However about 1 hour away from Haian the bus was stopped by police. The Police officer wanted to see the bus driver's licence however it did not appear he had one. I normally base my level of concern on however one else reacts on around me. Once on the subway in Shanghai the train stopped in a tunnel no one even looked remotely concerned so i didn't even stress at all and the train started again 5 mins later. This time however everyone on the bus was freaking out and I assumed that this was not a normal event. I wasn't stressed as i was so stuffed if the bus driver didn't get back on the bus that it was just funny. I had no idea where I was and only a rough idea of where I wanted to be. Ha ha!

Lucky the driver gave some cash to the cop and we headed off again. I was greeted at the bus station in Haian by 3 guys from the factory. One of them could speak really good English. We went out for lunch with the company chairman and I managed to avoid most of the drinking contests.

After lunch I got to have a look around the factory. The factory was huge. It contained 6 workshops that where each 500m by 500m. They were still in the process of moving into the factory so not all the workshops were filled with machinery yet.

Inside the factory

After looking around the factory one of the guys took me to the local museum called 7 battles 7 victories. It was all about how fast Mao and his army over thrown the KTM in the area. It was really interesting and full of Chinese propaganda.

After the museum we headed to the old area of town. It was like the Hutongs. They were really great. I loved seeing how China once was.

My guide from the factory in the old part of town


We then went to textiles factory so my guide to see a friend. It was the biggest place I have ever seen. I was on the outer region of town and cos it was so big it even had it's own power station at the factory!!! Crazy! Inside i got to see how sweat shops in asia work. There were just so many machines the photos just can not show how big this place was. i estimate the factory was at least 1km wide and the same long. And there where 4 of them. Just nuts!!

I then headed by to my hotel for a rest until dinner. My hotel room had cigarette burns all over the carpet and smelt a bit like smoke but other then take it was fine. I was meet at the hotel by another one of the guys from the factory who then took me on his scooter to dinner.

Dinner was filled with important people from the factory including the chairman and a few government officials. I was already told by the guy who could speak English earlier that day that their company was trying to get on the government committee so they could have more influence over the running of China. He also told me that all Chinese school students and high class business men had to read these politically books produced by the government and even sit exams on them. The book outlines the aims for the future of China and talks about where the country is heading (the prefect "solicits society") and what they need to get there. I was surprise but not really shocked and exampled however one seems fine with having little rights.





Anyway back to dinner. It appeared my attendance at the dinner was going to help the company's relationship with the government. So for the next 3 hour we ate and drank. They first started me on really strong rice wine but a quickly got onto American beer (it does not taste great but at least i was going to be able to walk.) At dinner everyone wants to make you drink and you don't just get to take a sip you have to drink the whole glass. Being the only foreigner getting me drunk was everyone's aim. I was ok as the glasses are really small. After a few too many drinks I got a lift back to the hotel on the scooter.





The next morning I decide to take a bus to Nanjing to meet up with Amy and Adam my mate I meet in Guangzhou.