Nov 11-14 – This trip will not be near as full of travel as the first trip. I spent the remainder of the first week after arrival in the Beijing developing many of the aspects of the business enterprise solutions program I am assigned to in China. This included better defining the program, services offered and developing presentations and forms that will be used in introducing Cargill to prospective clients and gathering information about the prospect. It was pretty much a matter of getting up, going to the office and returning to the hotel.

Nov 15-16 – Weekends are always the hardest time when traveling alone. There is a lot of time to think about and miss the family. Fortunately, on this trip I was able to figure a way to use Skype to call home on a regular basis over the Internet for no cost. This has been a real blessing. The quality of the calls is amazing when you realize you are talking halfway around the world. Over the weekend, I went walking and then spent some time in the hotel room reading a book about China. It is truly an interesting country, especially of you put aside the biases we may have from things we have heard or read in the U.S. I also went to the China Nationalities Museum. This is an anthropological museum as well as a complex to reconstruct, collect, display and study the ethnic cultures, histories and social life of the 56 nationalities of China (http://www.emuseum.org.cn/eindex.htm).

Nov 17 – We met with the director of the U.S. Grains Council, and his assistant. We discussed ways we could collaborate with them and also the services we were taking to the field. It appears that they have an interest in working with us in the future. They said they would like me to participate with them on the dairy training programs they put on at a dairy near Beijing.

Nov 18 –19 – I am still working in the Beijing office to develop the business plan that I am assigned to in China. It seems to be a moving target as we try to develop and define the different segments of it.

It is interesting that during the workday, once mid-morning, right after lunch and again mid-afternoon, many of the workers go for a walk around the block. It is kind of refreshing. Perhaps it is something we should do on a regular basis in the states. It would be good for us.

The weather has been much different this trip. It has been much colder with temperatures dropping down in the low 30’s and even 20’s at night. The weather during the day is still very cool in the 40’s to 50’s and sometimes quite windy.

They decided that my name was too hard for the Chinese to pronounce, so they sent an email around the office to have everyone suggest a Chinese name for me. This is what they came up with for my Chinese name. It is 郝福德 (pronunciation: Hao Fu De). Each character of 郝福德 means “good + good fortune + good morals.” It is a real compliment to me to see how they view me by the name they have chosen for me. For some of you that have known me for a long time, I know you probably disagree.

The food this time around has been pretty basic, nothing exotic so far. However we did go to a Pizza Hut for lunch. They serve a lot more than pizza. We did have pizza, with half of it being seafood and the other half sausage. It wasn’t bad, but the taste was blander than what we usually have in the states. The whole concept of pizza and the taste is totally foreign to the Chinese. The Pizza Hut seems to be popular and as it filled up quickly at lunchtime.

Nov 20 – Today we flew form Beijing to Wuhan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan), about 2.5 hours south of Beijing. It is the capitol of the Hubei province. We met with the local sales team to visit a farm. On the way to the farm we stopped at a place to eat. I am not sure I would call it a restaurant in terms of what we are normally used to in the States. It was a complex of sorts, built around a pond. There were several buildings, each with several rooms that turned out to be serving rooms. Most of the food served was apparently grown in the pond. The lunchtime fair included a fish stew, fried fish eggs, whole small fish (about 1 to 2 inches long) and a variety of cooked greens, including cabbage and mustard greens. The whole small fish had a very light batter and then sesame seeds stuck to them. There was no mistaking what they were. You simply picked them up with you chopsticks and ate the entire thing. Many of the larger fish eaten here are of the carp family so they are very boney compared to what we are used to. One thing I am really learning working over here is that we have an abundance of food all around us in the states if we needed to eat. While it may not be our traditional fare, it would definitely keep us alive and healthy.

After lunch we visited a dairy operation. The farm currently milks about 600 cows but plans on expanding to 2800. We met with about 20 employees from the farm. Dr. Wu, my translator and Chinese counter-part, gave a presentation on management to help improve production. He then had me answer questions from the group. They are very interested in the western way of dairying. After the presentation, we toured the dairy. The owner is apparently quite wealthy and seems to be more concerned with the facility looking like a show place rather than being a good dairy operation (the words of one of his managers). The buildings and grounds we beautiful, but the cows were not very healthy and production was quite low compared to our standards, around 40 lbs/hd/day. Forage quality was poor and the cows were very thin and were not in good health. They are having serious problems with their calves. So much could be done here if they would let us help them. The manager said the owner was happy with the people he is working with, but he will talk to the owner about doing business with us.

Tonight we stayed in Ezhou (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezhou) at a place called Phoenix Resort. It is a resort built on an island in the middle of Younglanhu Lake. At one time it was a four or five star facility, but it appears it has a few fallen stars. It has gotten used without being kept up as well as it should. It has a beautiful setting. This website has a little information on it so you can at least see the setting of the facility (http://www.timesharegiant.com/Resort/Phoenix_Resort). I had some interesting experiences during the night. I went to bed about 10:45. At 11:45, I got a phone call on the room phone. The voice was a woman’s voice saying something in Chinese. I told her I did not understand and hung up. About 10 minutes later, there was a knock on my door. I looked through the peephole and could see a woman standing there. I just ignored it, as I had been told that call girls would often call you on the phone or just knock on your door. She finally went away, but about 10 minutes later, a different girl knocked. When I did not answer, she went across the hall and tried them. They answered, but sent her on her way. My traveling companion said they called and came to his room as well, offering a “massage”.

Nov 21 – Today we attended a feeder group meeting, in Huanggang, Hubei province. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huanggang,_Hubei). About 40 people attended. There were several speakers, including my travel companion Dr. Wu and myself. I spoke on how to improve herd health through proper nutrition. At least that is what I assume I spoke on since Dr. Wu translated for me, as he and I were the only ones that spoke English. I realized that he could make me look really good or really bad, especially since I couldn’t understand what he was telling them as the translation of my talk. He must have made me look good as there were many questions directed to me. However, many of them did not even relate to the topic of my talk. I don’t know if he told them I have all of the answers or what.

After the meeting we drove for almost 3 hours back to Wuhan to catch our plane to Beijing. For dinner tonight, I had pig stomach soup. It actually was very tasty. We arrived back in Beijing about 9:30 PM. I was quite tired by the time I got to the hotel and checked in.

Nov 22 – I was amazed. I got no phone calls from the states during the night so I was able to sleep through the night uninterrupted. I actually slept in a little with it being Saturday morning. After breakfast, I did some reading and relaxing before a noon meeting with a co-worker that is going to go to the states to be trained for a year. He will then come back to China to head up the program I am working to develop, working with large dairies. He is actually Korean, but has now lived in China for several years. He and his wife will live in the Ogden, Utah area. When I am back in the states, I will work some with him to help him better understand how to work with large dairies. During the afternoon, I worked on the computer and then went for a walk in the park that is not far from the hotel.

Nov 24 – Today, I was able to attend church for the first time since being in China. It was an adventure getting there and back. When I got a taxi at the hotel, the doorman had the address of the church, which is in an office building, translated into Chinese, as many of the taxi drivers know no English. Such was the case with the taxi I got. We headed off to my destination, but when we got close to where the driver thought it should be, it was evident he didn’t have a clue where the exact location was. I noticed from the street sign that we were close, at least on the correct road, but no idea as to how close. The driver and I could not communicate at all. He finally made a phone call to someone that could speak English; at least I think that is what it was supposed to be. After about 10 minutes of getting nowhere, the driver stopped and asked a person if they knew where the address was. The person did and so in about a block, we were there. I wouldn’t have had a clue, as it does not look like where we go church. However, people getting out of taxis with strollers, diaper bags and scripture cases were obvious signs. I asked a couple that had just gotten out of a taxi if they were here for church. They were, so I followed them to the fourth floor where we met.

They have a full 3-hour block program as an international branch. Today was the Primary program. The theme was “I am a child of God”. It was very interesting to see the many nationalities of the children. Many of them said their parts in English and they repeated them in Chinese. It was very exciting, yet frustrating for me to see them speak Chinese so effortlessly. Oh, if I could just have the gift of tongues. The people are very friendly. There are all ages as many of the younger families are young professionals that served Chinese-speaking missions. There are also several older couples that are in China teaching English at the university. Phil and Donna Coleman had been here teaching English but had returned to the states so Phil could have back surgery.

There are very specific rules that have to be followed by Church members in China. Printed right in the branch bulletin is the following from the branch presidency –

“It is important for foreign members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in or visiting China to be aware of the unique restrictions on religious activities here. While China permits freedom of religious belief, it requires all religious activities in China comply with relevant laws and regulations. We would like to remind you of the following: (1) no active or passive proselyting is permitted among local nationals in China, (2) only individuals who hold foreign passports, and their spouses, may attend meetings or other activities of this branch, (3) no foreign nationals are permitted to participate in any activities of any kind with Chinese nationals who are members of our church, and (4) religious materials may not be disseminated to Chinese nationals in China. Your strict observance of these rules enables us to build a foundation of trust with government authorities and enables us to continue to meet together as the government permits us to do so.”

The following was published in the Church News June 28, 2008, just before the Olympics in Beijing to help church members understand what they could and could not do –

With many visitors traveling to the People's Republic of China for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, it is important for visiting members of the Church to be aware of that country's unique restrictions on religious activities.
While recognizing freedom of religious belief, China requires any religious activities to comply with its laws and regulations. Church members visiting China should follow these important guidelines:
• Do not take religious literature or electronic-media materials into China, and do not distribute religious materials there. You may take your own scriptures for personal use, but do not leave them behind or give them away while in China.
• Do not participate in proselyting activities of any kind with Chinese nationals.
• Avoid religious discussions with Chinese nationals while in China. Answer initial inquiries with basic facts and try to end the religious conversation rather then encourage it.
• Do not conduct your own worship services while in China. If you desire to participate in worship services or religious activities, please attend the international branches in China.
• Do not invite Chinese nationals to participate in religious activities with you or to join any religious meetings you attend in China.
• Be an example of goodness through acts of kindness.

In the same issue is another article that has some more information and a picture of the building the branch meets in -
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/52216/Olympics-guests-should-comply-with-Chinese-laws-and-regulations.html

After the block meeting, I now had to try to get back to the hotel. Fortunately, there was a card in my room that said in Chinese “Please take me back to Holiday Inn Lido Beijing”. I had put it in my pocket just in case. It was a smart thing. The taxi driver I got again spoke no English. I showed him the card and it did the trick. It got me back to the hotel.

After getting back, I decided rather than just sit in the room, I would go over to the park and just walk a little. This assignment has been good for me, as it has forced me to slow down some and look at things much differently. As I was walking, noticed things that I may not have seen before or at least not thought much about them. As I entered the park, the first thing I saw was a man playing ball with his son. Both were laughing and having a good time. As I continued on around the walk, I saw a granddaughter pushing her elderly grandfather in a wheelchair. I saw a wife, tenderly helping her husband who apparently had suffered a stoke walk to try to get strength and rehabilitate his stricken body. I saw young lovers smiling, laughing, kissing and holding hands. I saw a mother patiently trying to teach her young daughter to rollerblade. The common thing I noticed through all of this was the great international language of play, smiles, laughter and love. I was touched as I walked and soaked in the emotions of my observations. Perhaps this is because I have been away from my loved ones, but it has helped me to stop and think more about the little things and not be so caught up in hustle and bustle of those things that are not near as important of those we love.

Oct 13 – We caught a flight very early out to Harbin to visit more dairies. The first dairy had a total of about 900 head (they count everything, including the chickens I think). Milk yield and paying their bills is their biggest challenge. Milk price is roughly $19 per CWT, but production is very low, often in the 30 to 40 pound range. Labor costs are high as they have so many bodies to work. There are workers everywhere. Feed costs are also very high. I saw some hay that was being sold as alfalfa for over $300 USD per ton. It was so poor I wouldn’t even want to feed it to heifers. The next dairy was a collective dairy with 17 different farms and about 2000 head of cattle. The smallest dairy is about 50 cows and the largest is 200 head. These farms feed only dried corn stalks, some corn silage and concentrate. Production was about 40 pounds on one of the herds we visited, but the owner said he is only able to almost breakeven at that point. Forage quality is a big issue over here. Boy, to have our old Ferndale TMR plant over here.

For lunch today we had a very traditional Korean lunch. The main meat dish was dog. It tastes like a cross between mutton and dark chicken meat. It is very dark meat and somewhat stringy. It was not bad if you didn’t think about it as we normally do, as a pet.

The dairy industry here is struggling just like the US industry, and the melamine issue didn’t help. It has caused consumer confidence issues. The good that will come out of this is the regulatory control that will be implemented that will help prevent this from happening again in the future.

We then drove about 300 km (180 miles) to Kendong, to meet with the next dairy, a new large dairy being built. It is just starting out and they have just heifers right now. We had dinner with them and the secretary (head) of the milk association for this province. We will go to the farm in the morning.

The hotel we stayed out was a very traditional local hotel. It did have electricity and running water, but no hot water in my room. The toilets in the restaurant were the traditional porcelain slit in the floor. I did at least have a Western toilet in my room.

Oct 14 – This morning we went out to the dairy site. They are in the process of building a modern Western style dairy, including flush system. Currently they have only 46 head milking, all heifers. They will grow as the heifers come fresh, planning to have 5000 milking cows. While they are building a nice facility, in watching the workers, it is apparent they have absolutely no experience in how to do chores on a modern dairy. There will have to be considerable training to help they become proficient and efficient. After we toured the dairy, we went to their milk plant where we were served lunch. We were not able to tour the plant so I have no information what it was like.

On the way back to the airport, we stopped at a gas station to use the facilities. The facilities consisted of a brick building with concrete floors and stalls. There were no doors on the stalls and the “toilet” was an opening in the floor that dropped in a trough that was accessible from the back of the building for cleaning. Yes, we are very spoiled in the US. We flew back to Beijing tonight.

I also had my first Imodium required episode of this trip. I was certain it was going to happen sometime, considering the areas of the country I was in. When you see the locals sanitizing their glasses with boiling water in the restaurant, you know there may be challenges ahead. They even sanitized their toothpicks before using them. Hopefully it will pass quickly.

Oct 15 – This morning we drove from Beijing to Sanhe in Hebei province to visit a large dairy, currently milking over 900 head. They have imported cattle from New Zealand and Australia, and have been using semen from Canada and the US to breed the cattle. Production is good for this area at about 65 pounds of milk per head per day. There is a tremendous American influence on this dairy since most of the management is Chinese Americans that actually reside in the US, but travel back and forth. The venture capitalists are also American. They have huge plans to grow to over 100,000 cattle in 5 years on several different facilities. The CEO offered to hire me as a consultant. They are looking for good help to meet their growth goals. They insisted that we stay for lunch. They brought food from their cafeteria facility to the conference room where we ate. I was setting next to one the Chinese Americans managers and he asked me if I was sure that this was my first time in China. I assured him it was and asked why. He wanted to know why I could eat so well with chopsticks. This made me feel good, as it is difficult to eat with them with the dexterity that the Chinese have. I felt like I had made the grade so to speak.

This afternoon we went to another dairy in Wuqing District, Tianjing. They are in an old facility now, but are building a new facility right next to it. They will move into the new facility and rent out the old one. They are building it totally them selves, including headlocks and free stalls. It is interesting to watch that. They can copy just about any thing they see. They were very confused about the free stall dimensions and a few other things so they were waiting for us to get there to proceed on some issues. I was able to give them the dimensions they needed and show them why they needed to be that size. They will have roll-up curtains on the side. They will also have a very modern waste handling system and will have cameras that the governmental agency will be able to logon to over the Internet to check the facility.

We spent the night in Langfang. We stayed at a beautiful 5 star hotel. For dinner tonight I had turtle soup. They bring the turtle out for you to approve of before they chop it in half and throw it into the cooking pot. They add a bunch of spices and some vegetables, cook it and bring it out. The meat, what little of it there is, is very dark. The taste isn’t bad, but I don’t think it is something I would order on my own.

Oct 16 – This morning we met with the technical director of a large dairy farm in Beijing. This company has their own feed mill and complete line of technical services. We are trying to figure out how we can show them we bring value to them and bring them on board as a client. They are currently involved with 27 dairy farms, comprised of about 18,000 milking cows. We visited one of their older farms. The cows looked good and are doing quite well. The farm manager said they are being pushed to move as the neighbors often complain about the smell and flies. They are right next door to a residential/business area. When asked what his major challenges are, he replied manure management and forage quality. We found this, and just trying to pay the bills, were the common issues among all of the farms we visited.

This afternoon, we returned to the Cargill Beijing office for a debriefing meeting. We discussed this visit and then my assignment for future visits to China. My assignment is to personally be responsible for procuring business from the top 10 prospects they identify that we are not now doing business with. I will then need to train the local team on how to service these accounts and develop and train a team that will be able to procure this type of business in the future. In addition, I will be responsible for developing a new business model for going after the large accounts in China. In my spare time, I will develop training tools and aids and help train the dairy team in China to become more knowledgeable and proficient in their work.

Oct 17 – flew back home. The trip was very interesting and I look forward to going back, but it was also good to be home. In our 40 years of marriage, this is the longest Merilee and I have been apart.


Unusual foods I have eaten on this trip –
Pickled pigeon, eel, pork ankle soup, duck soup, pickled chicken feet, liquid yogurt, strange sausages (I was told not to ask what was in them, but they weren’t bad), Chinese fried bread, various fruits that we do not have in the states, crispy chicken bones (the gristle from the top of the leg bone deep fried), dog, fermented tofu (stay away from this – it is stinky and nasty), roasted barley drink, turtle soup and many unknown bacteria.

October 5 and 6 – On Sunday morning I flew from Boise to San Francisco on small commuter jet. In San Francisco, we boarded a 747 for the flight to Beijing. The plane was very full, especially of Chinese returning home. My first impression of the Chinese people are that they are very impatient and pushy, almost to the point of being rude based on our culture. I found this out as we were loading. One older Chinese man actually physically pushed me down the aisle when I would stop to let someone put luggage overhead. As I watched others, I observed the same behavior.

When I got to San Francisco, I switched my watch to Beijing time. They fed us lunch right after we left San Francisco and then I tried to sleep as long as I could. I napped with a few sound ones until about 6:30 AM Beijing time. I tried to watch several movies, but oftentimes, people were standing and blocked the view. I did see most of Speed Racer, thinking of the grandkids a lot. There were other movies as well, but I did not really get into them. They played 3 full movies and part of the 4th. All were free.

The flight from San Francisco wasn't too bad. The route took us up over Anchorage, Alaska, then over Russia, then Korea and finally into China. We crossed the International Date Line so we lost part of a day and I actually arrived in Beijing on Monday afternoon. The weather was nice and sunny and unusually clear for Beijing. I was able to see a lot as we flew in.

Once I arrived in China, I was met by one of my main contacts that I will be working with (his name is Yuqun Wu, with an American name of Wilson) and a driver. We went to the Cargill office and I met with the GM of China. After the meeting we had dinner and went to the hotel. I am in just a regular hotel, the Beijing Holiday Inn Lido.

I then basically stayed awake until I went to bed last night at 9:30 Beijing time. I slept fair, other than I woke up at 1:30 AM and thought it was time to get up. I forced myself to stay in bed and napped until 5:30 AM when I got up.

Oct 7 – We went to look at housing this morning. They have some fairly nice one bedroom apartments associated with the hotel I am staying at. They are small, but functional. They even have a combination washer and dryer. They offer housekeeping 3 times a week. We then went to the office and had a meeting and made our travel arrangements for the week. The office staff took me out to a big lunch as their guest. It was a traditional Chinese lunch with many different foods. The Chinese food here is much different than what they sell us in the states. Some was good and others were not things I would not necessarily try again. One was pigeon. They pickled it in vinegar before they cooked it, but served it cold. It didn’t make the grade. After lunch they took me to a grocery store so I could see how dairy products are marketed. The shelf space for dairy is quite small. Fluid milk use is minimal. The one thing they consume the most is drinkable yogurt. I had some for breakfast and it was good. They eat very little cheese or ice cream. I didn’t see any butter.

In observing the people in the stores, I was amazed with the Western influence on the clothing. The teenage girls dress just like the teenagers at home. The adult women also showed the Western influence in styles and colors. If I didn’t look at the faces, I would have thought I was at home. There are very few overweight people, much different than in the states.

This country is definitely different. It is hard to not just go to the faucet and get a drink of water. None of the water is potable. When you ask for water in the restaurant, they bring you hot water unless you ask for water with ice. The drivers are nuts. You couldn’t pay me enough to drive over here. The pedestrians have NO rights. The cars will run right over you. You have to be very careful. Also, the percentage of people that smoke is quite high and smoking is allowed in many places.

The weather today was cooler and cloudy. It was also quite hazy today, more typical of the normal conditions.

Oct 8 – We flew to Jinan in Shandong province. There we met with the dairy team and visited a dairy farm. They are trying our feed and have not been with us long. We toured the dairy and then met in the office to discuss what we had seen. This reminded me a lot of Japan. Forage quality is very poor and there some real traditional biases about not feeding forage or feeding certain levels of concentrates. It will take some teaching, but there is so much to be gained. The opportunity to help is so great over here. After riding in the car with the locals, it is scary. Take the worst cab ride you have had in Las Vegas or Mexico and they look like safety instructors compared to the drivers in China. All of the intersections are like figure 8 races with cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, mopeds and pedestrians. It is absolutely crazy.

Oct 9 – We drove up to Taian and visited some more dairies. One was very interesting. It had about 700 to 800 cows, but there were 34 owners. They took their cows to a common milk parlor and weighed the milk through weigh jars. Some of the owners had as few as 10 cows. As we drove into the dairy compound, there were several small plots of ground being worked by what appeared to be a husband and wife. They were planting winter wheat. Also along the roads we would see cobs of corn that were drying. The people would shuck the grain and then spread it out to finish drying. Some of it will be ground for their own use and they will sell the rest. As we flew over some small villages, you could look down and see where they spread kernels along the side of the road to dry. It is amazing to realize they basically do all of the planting and harvesting by hand.

For lunch, I had eel. It was good, but not as good as what we had in Japan. For dinner tonight, we had a big variety of food, from oysters to duck soup. I am really getting an opportunity to taste a variety of real Chinese food, not the stuff we buy in the states. The hotel we stayed in was a Ramada and was very extravagant.

Oct 10 – We drove out to the Taian fed mill. I spoke to the sales staff for about an hour before we had to drive back to the airport to fly back to Beijing. We got to Beijing in the afternoon. I am scheduled to do some sight seeing tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I get to see.

Oct 11 – Today, Christina Chen, the Assistant Manager, Marketing Communication, China Coordinator, Public Affairs, a young lady that works in the Beijing office, took me on a tour of Tiananmen Square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square), The Forbidden City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City) and the Olympic Village. We started at 10:00 AM and I got back to the hotel at 8:30 PM. I was tired, as we had walked a tremendous amount during the day. It was very interesting seeing some of the areas that I had seen on television – Tiananmen Square during the protests in 1989 and the Olympic Village during the 2008 Olympics that were just held. The Forbidden City is the area where 24 different emperors resided during the Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching) dynasties. It was a great lesson in history. I was really tired when I got back to the hotel. I actually slept through without waking up due to the time difference. The Chinese do not understand personal space. They push and shove and try to get as close to you as possible. It is that way in line, on the planes, on the trains, for that matter everywhere. It is taking some getting used to.

Oct 12 – Today is Sunday. I looked around Lido (pronounced Lidoo) Place, as this is the area we will most likely be living while in Beijing. It is a fairy decent area, not what we are accustomed to in the states though.