Tuesday Fanfare

The Chinese really know how to bring on the fanfare. Perhaps it's because they have so many people and they have to keep them all busy. Nevertheless it certainly adds to the day, and Tuesday was a new high.

We started with a formal checkpoint meeting for our project. It's acutally a protocol that we follow in the US, but the Chinese added there own flourishes. They had the usual fresh flowers, green tea and fruit platters (killer lychees!) but also added a lead-in soundtrackc and a formal round of voting.

After lunch at the hotel, we boarded the mini bus again for a drive to the another Hefei branch office. On the way we got a more scenic glimpse of the International Peace Hotel.

Upon arrival we met the branch office head, Mr. J, and his leadership team. They provided an overview of the branch and its recent growth. We then toured some of the branch operations and talked to some of the employees.

At 5 we boarded the bus again and drove over to what I think was a hotel. Mr J was host and had clearly ratcheted up the fanfare quotient.

The room itself was over the top with the biggest banquet table yet and self propelled central turntable. There was an ice sculpture and a huge spray of fake flowers in the middle and a Lawrence Welk-like soundtrack playing in the background. Granny and Papa would have loved this place!

The food array was huge and I was encouraged to sample the sliced pigs ear and turtle stew. The pigs ear was tasty -- a bit chewy but kind of like bacon. The mushrooms from the turtle stew were also very good but I had problms with the turtle chunk itself. The saggy trutle skin was still hanging on in places and I couldn't really tell the meat from the turtle bones (or cartilage?). This was definitely a pass item.

Mr J. had ordered up a lot of VLL and he quickly ditched the tiny toasting glasses, challenging us each instead with the larger staging pitchers. Our project manager was going to try and replace his with bottled water but was fearful of being caught by the watchful Ms Phan.

As is customary, once the dumplings and fruit were consumed we were out the door to our bonus destination for the day, the foot massage palace:

They divided us into groups of 5 and sent us into individual rooms with large TV's. The foot massage ladies then came in with tubs of scalding soapy water to soak your feet in. Then they worked them over for about 15 minutes each and finished the process off with a back massage and searing bags of hot matter. Despite the periodic pain, it was a nice way to end the day.