Ohhh Chiner...

I never get bored of some of the signs that I see.  Unfortunately I can't take credit for this one but it sums a lot of things up here...nice finger huh?

Taiwan

This weekend I made my first trip to Taiwan, unfortunately not for fun but for work but still worth it.  Taiwan is considered by China to be essentially property of China and by Taiwan standards they consider themselves a free and independent democracy.  It wasn't until just a year or two ago that direct flights were allowed between the two countries.  Before that if you went between the two you had to fly to Hong Kong.

In any event we went to see our partner supplier there who handles predominantly outdoor fabrics, for patio furniture, umbrellas, etc. 

My first impression was how clean it all was.  Organized without millions of folks pushing, arguing and getting in my way.  Driving on the roads (no I personally didn't drive) was pleasant.  If not for the Chinese characters on road signs and store signs you would think you were in any other western country.

After two long days of work, on Saturday night we visited a night market near a University.  The market was very much a local one with very few tourists.  We checked it out, did some shopping and tried some local street food.  The worst was chodo fu.  Basically that means "stinky tofu."  I've had it once before in Nanjing and it was awful.  As the name states the chodo fu smells awful.  The first bite isn't so bad.  But after it sits in your mouth the aftertaste just gets worse and worse.  The version in Taiwan was also spicy so I think that eliminated some of the taste.  All in all not terrible.  A few from the night market...

One of the best parts of Taiwan was how peaceful and organized it was.  The sign below is one that is NOT followed here in China.  Might be a good idea if they put some of this up all around China...

A great couple days, for sure need to go back and spend some downtime there...

Through the eyes of a newbie...

 Since I have spent a couple years getting to know China and Asia, I have probably gotten a bit jaded on things.  I don't see things through eyes as open as I once did.  That's not bad all in all as I have certainly acclimated to things.  But it does mean I see it differently.  So the below is an excerpt from a work e-mail from a NY colleague visiting China for her first time.  She has very much enjoyed her visit to Shanghai and then out to the mills we partner with in the Hangzhou/Liping areas.  Take a look at how she describes the more rural areas.  By the way Hangzhou is a city of about 9 million people give or take...

"Well- hangzhou is very interesting!! I thought I was mentally prepared to see certain things, but then when I was actually put right in front of them, I
found them shocking and heart breaking. The amount of poverty is really crazy and the number of bike contraptions carrying heavy loads was out of control!!  I was really excited to see Elite, but holy crap the smell!! How do the workers work without masks or the ones by the looms without ear plugs!!  But, I finally got to see my first jacquard loom and (this is nerdy), I almost cried! It was so amazing and beautiful. We haven't had a chance to really see the area- we were hoping to walk around last night, but it was late and raining. So maybe tomorrow I will get up early and explore. 
We had a traditional Chinese meal last night and I will never forget pigeon
egg as long as I live! I know that doesn't sound daring- but in my eyes
pigeons are flying rats of the world, and I ate its egg! Yikes."

Triathlon

I do miss my triathlons back home so as some know I'm going to try and do one here, specifically the 70.3 in Thailand in early December.  70.3 basically is the designation for a 1/2 Ironman  or 1.2mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.

My training has been less than ideal.  All my swimming takes place in my apartment complex pool so no open water swimming.  My biking takes place indoors as well on my bike that is set up on an indoor training machine.  Then running outdoors.  Add to it that I'm working like a dog and I feel terribly unprepared for the pain I will feel.

Today I read an article about the race site.  It's a first ever race and they did a training camp there last weekend.  Sounds like the bike is going to be brutally difficult.  Lots of hills and technical riding to be done.  Here's the article hopefully the link will work, just cut and paste...

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/asiapacific70.3/laguna-phukets-new-ironman-70.3-asia-pacific-championship-course-has-been-given-a-seal-of-approval-by-the?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ironman%2Ftopstories+%28Ironman.com+Top+Stories%29#axzz15Aul1YmF

In normal training mode this would be my last serious week of workouts, then start to taper down a bit.  Problem is I haven't had time for the serious workouts and won't this week either.  Oh well all in fun right?

Material Costs

I try and keep this site full of the fun and interesting stuff.  This won't be so fun, at least not for me, but maybe interesting.

Since I have been back in China from my trip to the US we have been negotiating price increases.  As many of you know the US gov't is pushing China to allow the RMB (Chinese currency) to increase in value more.  Well when it does that it makes the goods we sell more expensive back to you.  So far YTD it has changed about 2%, nothing major so far.  There are rumors that it will go 20% in the next couple years.  That means in essence I will take an automatic 20% decrease in salary because I get paid in USD and not in RMB.  So that sucks...might be time to renegotiate that.

In addition to a rise in the value of the RMB there are MAJOR material cost increases going on.  I won't bore you but cotton has gone up to the highest level since the US started following commodity prices.  Then on Monday I come in to the office to find that the cost of Polyester has gone up 35% in just 3 days.  Today being Tuesday it went up an additional 10%.


Long and short we have negotiated with mills and they are coming back saying they need another 5-20% raises effective now.  But that isn't the worst part.


The worst part is that even if you agree on a price, no matter how high it is, you can't get the materials.  The actual suppliers are not selling, they are hoarding the goods and hoping that prices will continue to rise.  Already in 2 days numerous mills have shut down completely because they can't get raw materials.  They will reopen when they get materials but right now it doesn't even pay to bring employees to work.


I've had mills in the past 2 days and they want more money from us but don't know how much to ask since it changes on a daily or hourly basis.  I personally see the mills in survival mode right now.  They will take not making money as long as they don't lose money in the short term.  But they can't get the materials.  I've heard stories of far Western China, near Pakistan where the Chinese Army is protecting cotton fields from people pillaging in the night!


For anyone I've talked to who has been in this business for years, nobody has ever seen anything like this.  It is insanity.  Talk about every day being different!  If you don't think this will affect you, I'm sure it will it if continues.  There is no way cotton t-shirts are going to be so cheap next season or the season after that.


Let's see what tomorrow brings...

To the US and back...

Well since I last wrote I've been back to the US with stops in NY (company headquarters), CT (to see mom), North Carolina (for a trade show) and then to Chicago to see friends and family, pick up some stuff and generally hang out.  It was a busy 12 days or so and compounded by being sick with a temp nearly 103 for a while.

Now back in China for a week or so and settled back into the insanity routine we call life here.  The weather is cooling off quickly just like Chicago fall weather, except no football to watch here. 

I've got just about one month left before I do my first triathlon outside of the US.  This is a 1/2 Ironman race also called 70.3 series.  Consists of 1.2mile swim, 56mile bike and 13.1mile run.  Down in Phuket, Thailand.  My training so far to say the least has been piss poor!  Although this past week since being home I'm surprised my body has done as well as it has on some of the long workouts.  Trying to get workouts in with my schedule work wise simply is tough.  Oh well, at least I have a goal and a timeline to follow...