Tim attends the Shenhzen Mayor's Report to the People

Our team, (Eric, Cliff, Becky, Britt, Theresa, Tim) After the speech, lunch and with our gift.

Our Badge to get in

The Expat Staging Room, we were served tea and sat on big couches

Lots of marching

Very Unique Building Design, and very big

Many photographers took pics of the Mayor and the odd looking Americans

Those in the audience

Mayor Xu Zongheng spoke for two and half hours straight!

Other Major Party Officials were on the stage

Before the dinner, the wine was symbolic and used for toasting, small glass but refilled often

After the dinner and many changes of dinnerware and lots and lots of very fancy Chinese dishes.

Yes we were dinning in one of the VIP rooms, the regular dinning hall was huge.

I am reading not sleeping,
I was afraid if I nodded off it would be on the front page of some newspaper.

Britt with our interpreter greating our Very important lunch host and doing the business card exchange.

On Thursday I along with the school director, Britt Brantley, his wife and three other QSI teachers attended the Mayor's Report to the People held at the Citizen's Center in Shenzhen. We were treated extremely well. We had a personal attendant. We were given special badges and taken to a large private room prior to the meeting to have photos taken and talk to reporters.

The mayor's speech was very long. We had a typed English copy and headphones to hear it translated into English. It must have lasted over 2 hours. That is a lot of talk. The text was 44 single spaced typed pages. It contained a lot of statements about Harmony and a lot of Deepening of the reform of a variety of things, as well as focus and accelerations and seeking or striving to improve people's livelihood. Here is a typical statement:

"We will handle well the relationship between efficiency and equity, strengthen revenue adjustment means, establish gradually a more rational income distribution system, and improve the labor remuneration in the proportion to the initial distribution."

Overall it was very interesting. We had a fantastic lunch and got to see and do things that expats rarely get to do. Here are some pics. I am sure we were in many Chinese newspapers as we had our pictures taken hundreds of times by many reporters. We were the odd Americans that came to hear the important speech of the Mayor of Shenhzen.

My Memorial Plaque
(click the picture for a larger readable image)

News Article

HK Fish, Flowers, and Birds

So many good choices

Make your own selection

Or buy a bagged fish

Many saltwater fish also available ( I had to grab this pic as they told me no photos!)

Turtles sold by size

One of many shops in the more than two blocks of flower and flower related businesses

Orchids

This man was looking to trade up

Is there a legal limit to how many birds can be in a cage?

Thought provoking bird choics

Just another tourist

Bev and I took a daytrip to Hong Kong this weekend. We had planned on going to some museums, but as we rode the KCR above ground metro, we looked at our passes and realized that they had expired the day before. So, quick change of plans and we went to some of HK's famous outdoor markets. We visited the goldfish market, flower market, and the bird market. They are all within a short walking distance of each other.

The fish market is unique, interesting, very small shops have huge numbers of fish to buy. There are many varieties and kinds of fish . Many are bagged with water and an ample amount of air. The price is on the bag. Saltwater tanks, supplies and other pets are all available. Quite fun.

The flower market is only a few blocks away. Much of what is sold here is wholesale to the restaurants and other flower shops. We were amazed by such color with lilies, orchids and many more varieties of tropical flowers. We did buy a small glass vase for the apartment. But bringing live plants through customs is risky, Tim already did it once without incident!

Right next to the flower market is the Yuen Po Street bird market. It is fun but has that outdoorsy bird smell. The buildings and design of the area is traditional Chinese. All bird accessories and bird cages are available. Many older men keep a bird and bring the bird to this area to enjoy the outdoors and the company of other birds. They like to sit and have conversations in this area, I guess about birds. We saw some men out walking their birds for the day.

Fish Market info: HK Goldfish
Flower Market info: HK Flower
Bird Market info: HK Bird

Shenzhen Daily, Articles on Bev

Click on the picture to see a larger view.

Wow Bev has been a celebrity here. She was in the Daily Expat Newspaper today! She was also in in it last month.

Hong Kong, Just Some Grab Pics

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Typiical Street Scene

Musician plays to a crowd in a mall, (there were many more on multiple levels)

Metro (Subway) escalator

Inside Metro train the length seems to go on infinitely

What part do they Massage?

Putting out the chopsticks

Nick and Susan, Yes they are French Canadians

Nick singing with the corn

SoHo District

Just some pics from this Saturday's day trip to Hong Kong. Lots of fun. The couple are our good friends Nick and Susan that were celebrating their anniversary.

SoHo restaurants