AlbertaTime
in China, China visit #3, Post #13 - covering July 1st to 5th/2014... Beijing, Li Wei, Liu Shuli, Robin Tallendier, Panjiayuan market, Beijing Watch Factory
All good
things come to an end, it seems, and my far too short month in China was
coming to a close. As always, photos in blue border courtesyy Li Wei.
I arrived in
back in Beijing from Shenzhen/Guangzhou very tired, very happy but with my
head spinning from everything I'd seen...and not just in
Shenzhen/Guangzhou. My entire trip had been steady and very fast-paced,
and everything I had seen was pretty much new to me.
So it was
somewhat calming to be back again in familiar territory, the LiShi Hutong
and the hotel that I call home, the Xiao Yuan Alley Courtyard Hotel. I
wandered around the hutongs for a bit, then...
...headed
over to see Liu Shuli at his store on the Dongsi Bei Da Jie. I wanted to
thank him for his hospitality before I went back to the hotel to get ready
for tomorrow's activities. Liu Shuli and I went to diner with afriend of
his, then back to the store for some photos and just chatting tilll about
10:00. Time to sleep.
The next
morning, galen (btgalen at WatchuSeek and Watchlead technical admin) and
his wife picked me up to go shopping...
...then
Galen dropped off his wife and toomk me sightseeing a bit...First to the
compound of Patek Phillipe
The cat
seems to be a fixture, and he has a buddy, but I missed getting a photo.
We went
inside to the Patek Museum and spent about a half an hour lookinga round
but photo aren't allowed :-(. Still, you have the adress now, so go
yourself :-)
Then Galen
took me to a tourist area near the Imperial Palace, but I don't know the
name of the area. It's a great place for shopping; I could have gone broke
in a few minutes, but managed to stay solvent somehow...
A very nice
surprise was dinner with Galen's Mom, who came over to Galen's apartment
to make supper and visit with Galen, his wife and I.
Doesn't get
much fresher :-)
Which gets
us to my 2014 China trips' greatest coincidence, running into a fellow
collector, a WatchuSeek buddy, Robin Tallendier, nicknamed Fandegrue on
the forums.
Robin was in
Beijing studying on exchange. I was going to pick up my beijing Behai
(original version) that had been arranged for me at the flagship beijing
Watch factory story at oriental Plaza.
Robin walked
in and...I'll let him tell the story from his point of
view...here's the link:
Robin
did a great job describing everything about the time we spent together
over the next couple of days, my last two days in China, so -- if you want
the story chronologically --
open his post in a second window,
read it then come back here...
These two
photos are from when Robin and I hunted for a cab to get to Panjiayuan
market...
The next two
photos are from when I walked around my Lishi Hutong home territory at the
end of the first day with Robin...
And yeah, I
was still taking photos of my new Jintuofei tourbillon...
before
meeting Robin again the next night, LiWei and I had an appointment with
the Koncise Watch Company Chairman, Mr. Kong Lingjun at the Luxury China
show at the Beijing International Convention Center...
And, again,
the notice of inclusion of a Koncise watch on exhibit at the Musee
International D'Horlogerie in La Choux-de-Fonds, Switzerland...
The
next photos are from the apartment of 郑怀宝 (Mr. Cheng Cheng Huai Bao) the
calligrapher that, among other things, accompanied LiWei and I on the trip
to Tianjin and Yantai, taken before Robin met us that evening, as
he
describes in his very thorough report.
The next day
was my trip home, and this is the last photo I took in China this trip.
And posting
that last photo puts me right back in...
...well, I
tell people that the three worst days of my life are the days I've had to
leave China. I'm not really joking, and yes, I'm homesick for China, every
day. Especially seeing that last photo of the airport kinda emotionally
knocks the wind outta me some.
So these
next photos are included in this post partly they mostly didn't make any
other posts in this years series, and more mainly because I miss my
friends.
My miserably
insufficient thanks to everyone who made this trip so
memorable...
Very very
special thanks to Li Wei of the China Horologe Association who went far
above and beyond to make this trip spectacular for me. I will never forget
all he did for me, and I very much look foreard top seeing him again as
we've arranged for July 2015 in Bejixing for the Polaris 100th
Anniversary, Li Wei.
And very
many thanks to all the forum mebers who have joined my on this trip, and
especially those who took the time to comment or otherwise let me know
they found something worthwhile in these posts. It's a pleasure sharing
what I'm so lucky to have seen and done, and I have to admit that I have
some guilt for sometimes forgetting to take photos because I've gotten so
wrapped up in what I was doing.
And my last
paragraph in this series is going to be about my brother Ma Rong in
Shijiazhuang, and his wife Qi Ran.
I'll never
have enough, or good enough, words to express how grateful I am for their
presence in my life. Ma Rong and his wife and I are making arrangements
for some non-watch related sightseeing next year. We agree that we didn't
get to see each other near enough this trip, and so next year the three of
us are planning visiting a few cities and spectacular spots together. I
can hardly wait.
