30 April 2018 // Serena Asselman //Rotterdam

//CHINA

Visiting China for work was no punishment at all. Landing in Shanghai in the morning, our driver picked us up to bring us to Shenghzou. During this 2.5 hour drive I unfortunately fell asleep, I really enjoy lurking outside during these long drives. Arriving at our suppliers factory, we had a quick lunch and started working, it's always a pleasure meeting the people making our garments and create our patterns, it really helpful and good to communicate face to face. For hours we studied patterns and discussed all points of improvement. After a long day's work we went to the hotel to have a nice dinner together with our supplier. I was asked if I would like some Chinese wine, ofcourse I said yes, not knowing this is real strong booze and has nothing to do with wine at all! 

The rest of our stay was quit similar, visiting factory's and sample rooms in various villages. For lunch and dinner we went to super nice places with fresh fish and other funky items that I just didn't dare to try. Eating with sticks was a big challange, we were eating with a big group of people in a Chinese opera, the table was filled with different dishes looking awesome. I was looking at fried balls, very nice I thought. When I finally grabbed one tiny fried ball with my sticks and almost put it in my mouth, Karen (Chinese supplier) started shouting NO, NO, NO it's a duck feet!! 

Shanghai was our last stop, we had one afternoon and evening to do a tour, my colleague who visited Shanghai many times before was my tour guide. We visited Yuan Garden, The Bund, we went to a fake market and a Korean market to shop a little and in the evening we had a great dinner at a place called 'Seventh Heaven' and had cocktails in a rooftop bar. It was a great experience all together and China has a special place in my heart now, feel really blessed to make these kind of trips for work.