This is getting harder to write. So many things have happened, and we
have been to so many places and met so many people that I'm struggling
to remember where we started this morning...!
...ah yes, in the
posh hotel in central north Seoul city... I remember! Once again it was
a crap night's sleep. I didn't go to bed until late, partly due to
writing the last novel, but also because I expected to lie there awake
anyway... which I still did even after climbing into bed late and
tired... rubbish!
When the alarm went off this morning it felt
like I was dreaming it... it's ok, I thought, it's not really going
off... oh bollocks, it really is going off... So, forced myself into
the shower to wake up. This bathroom was much nicer than the last place
and had a movable shower head which was nice, although it wouldn't
reach all the way between my legs which was a little disappointing...
(just kidding, calm yourselves!)
This morning I took the risk of
dressing in the tidy clothes which we were going to wear to the
meeting, which I had not risked on previous mornings for fear of
throwing some dodgy breakfast items down the nice white shirt and
leaving myself short of clothes. Being a little later getting up and
wanting to be in the lobby on time after breakfast I decided to take
the risk...
I had to go down two floors to knock on SJ's door,
not sure why they couldn't house us next door to one another, not that
it matters...his room had a much better view than mine, he could see
some of the city from there and had taken a couple of snaps. We had to
do some searching for the breakfast room, but it was worth it...
freshly prepared omelette's and fried eggs, bacon, sausages, toast,
beans, scrambled eggs, they had the lot! About time, a proper breakfast
instead of last nights savory Chinese left overs... this place was way
better already.
We loaded up two pretty much identical plates of
breakfast, grabbed a deep glass of fresh orange juice and took a pew.
Breakfast was great, they even had salt and pepper on the table,
something that did not happen in China. The BBC news was on on the big
plasma tv on the wall and it showed the terrible flooding in Gloucester
and Oxford areas, what a nightmare! After breakfast I had a proper
cuppa, and SJ had a coffee, which must have been good as he stood and
waited by the machine for about 5 minutes for it!
We went back
to our rooms to clean teeth etc and get our bags. I flicked the tv on
as we had ten minutes and managed to catch the goals and action from
Man Utd's tour of Asia which was cool... it'd give me something other
than printers to discuss with the Korean's today, as they are sure to
love Manu! ;-)
I grabbed my bags, put back the few things I'd
stolen from the room(I always get a guilty conscious!) and left to meet
downstairs.
We checked out and waited in the lobby for our lift
to arrive. The nause alert bell boy was loitering again... what a knob
he was! I was determined to not let him carry my bag, that'll learn
him... ;-/
Our lift arrived and we walked out into the warm
Seoul air. I assumed that it was just the guy who dropped us off who
was coming to pick us up, and unbeknown to me he had brought the boss
of the company with him to collect us, who I thought was another
busybody bell boy (albeit in a different uniform to the others!) and
refused his help to load my bag into the car!! LOL! What a dick...
anyway, he didn't bat an eyelid luckily. I jumped in the back of the
car, and wondered what the hell matey-boy the bell boy was doing
climbing in the front... bloody cheek! Obviously I quickly learnt that
this was the main man... hehehe.
The city looks even more
impressive in day light, and the trip to their printer factory took a
while as it was super busy, so SJ and bossman began discussing things
on route, which in hind site was a good thing, as the day was short and
we were going to run out of time fast in the afternoon.
Part way
along one of the main roads a car pulls up along side and is beeping
his horn and waving at us, turns out we have a flat tire on the back of
the car... this trip seems littered with mishaps! Luckily we are not
far from the factory, and after a quick stop to check it out and find
that it is not completely flat, we decide to press on to the factory
and get it sorted from there.
The boss had made excuses for the
factory being only small, but he was so humble about everything all
day, and it may have only been a small space they occupied, but it was
exactly as I'd imagined it to be. The office space was tidy and orderly
and the factory was immaculately clean, well tooled and laid out and
looked the part. We sat in the meeting room and were introduced to the
partners who make the machines and began discussing what we were there
for... there also followed a tour of the assembly area, where we had a
good nose at everything and took a few pictures. The new A1 printer
looks good by the way to those that care! (you know who you are)
We
were then going to hop across town to the main offices and have lunch,
which was to be followed by a visit to the inks factory and then onto
the airport where we were off to Taiwan!
We got to the main
office block of the company and went inside and straight to the
restaurant. At this point, neither SJ or myself were feeling like
eating particularly, we had eaten a big breakfast and were getting fed
up with constantly being fed by everyone we visited. But, we could not
say no to the hospitality and generosity of these guys, they were very
nice people and the day was going well... I decided to try and do my
best and I assume SJ did too.
We walked in the restaurant and
SJ's face was a picture, the tables were all about 1 foot high and the
diners were sat on the floor eating... lol! Fortunately they had dining
tables around the corner and we were going to use those... the bossman
told us that he would order a traditional dish, which would be the
small traditional dish of the country, and that this was a special
treat... here we go again!
I can't even begin to recall exactly
what we had, but it translated to about 9 courses! They were mostly
really nice too, they eat a lot of veg, and like it fooking hot, it is
much healthier stuff than the Chinese food we've been eating. SJ gave
up pretty early into this meal, he was not feeling to good.
From
here we went upstairs in the building to their offices and chatted with
the new sales guy they had just taken on (we'd met the rest before in
the UK). From here we were supposed to go and see the ink factory, but
time had flown by and we needed a good hour to get to the airport to
check in in time for our flight to Taiwan, so we had to go. Hopefully
we'll get to come back some time and we can see it then. They might
even be in the new office block opposite their current place, which
they aspire to. All the top companies work from this other block, and
they want to make a statement! Lol! Hopefully we (Identify) can help
them achieve it... :-D
We got a lift with the tech guy and the
main sales guy to the airport as they were off to Singapore for a show.
So we had a good chat on the way about nothing much in particular,
myself and the sales guy making fun at the tech guys slightly poorer
English vocabulary. To be fair though, it is still superb, a whole lot
better than my Korean! Both SJ and I were very tired and he was nodding
in and out of sleep for most of the journey. It is really catching up
with us now...
We got to the airport and very easily found where
we had to check in. One of the Korean guys stayed with us while the
other parked their car. SJ was now starting to look really rough, going
pretty white and he had to spend some serious time in the bathroom
before we checked in. We said goodbye to the Korean guys and went to
check our bags in. SJ was looking more unsteady on his feet and whiter
now... we checked in, and after my bag problems we hung around nearby
to make sure they went through the scanner ok. They did and no alarms
of lights went off! We went and sat down and SJ was now looking green
and not well at all. I went to get some bottles of water for us while
he sat near to the check in desk.I bumped into the guys from the
company when walking for water, and they walked back up with me to
where SJ was.
SJ pointed me to a door near check in, and said
that a security guard wanted to see me in there... the fucking Sure had
set their alarms off again!! Stupid bloody stuff... I went in there and
the security guard was very young, we actually had a bit of a laugh
about the cans setting off once he'd seen them. It isn't bloody funny
any more though, I've a good mind to write to sure and complain about
their sodding tins!!!
Anyway, sorted that nonsense out, repacked
my bag and went back out to where the guys were sat... by now SJ looked
seriously ill, and the guys were pretty concerned too. One of them went
of to see a chemist and try to get something to help, which was handy.
I was worrying that we might have to stay here at this point, it didn't
look like SJ could fly and we might have to find a doctor... :-/
When
our man came back with some medicine, SJ was back in the bathroom. We
waited about 10 mins and I had to go check he was ok. He was barely
audible from inside the cubicle, so I waited nearby for him to come
out. He tried the stuff that the chemist has given us, and I'm not sure
that it worked. We sat and waited now, hoping that it might help out,
the clock was ticking on our flight too...
After a bit of a
chat, SJ decided that he should probably attempt the flight. At least
if we got to Taiwan, even if we couldn't make the business meetings the
next day, we were within touch of our very expensive flight home... We
went through the security checks and walked slowly to the departure
lounge. By the time we got there, they were ushering the last of the
passengers on, and SJ needed one more visit to the loo. By now there
was nothing left to come out, so this was obviously just making it all
more painful, what he really needed to do was curl up into a ball and
go to sleep, some where warm. We went to board and I asked one more
time if he thought it was best to get on the plane, he didn't really
deep down, but at the same time I think he wanted to try and get to
Taiwan. It also meant he might get some shut eye and would at least be
sat down!
We got on board, stowed are hand luggage and sat down.
It must have been a welcome relief for SJ, and after using a sick bag
before take off, he was at least secure in a chair and didn't have to
move for a while. I sat there through the hole flight, pretty much
bricking it hoping he would do ok, watching his breathing, which was
sporadic at best and keeping some water nearby. They brought out the
smelliest meals ever, which didn't bloody help. I refused mine, that
would have been horrible for him with it sat next to him! He drifted in
and out of sleep and we eventually landed in Taiwan. By now he had some
colour back in the his face and hands, and although it was skant
consolation for someone feeling shite, I think he was glad to hear that
at least there was some colour now... I know I was relieved!!
I
think partly due to the fact we were safely in Taiwan, he perked up
enough to get off the plane, through baggage claim and through the
customs malarkey. Gladly this all went smoothly and even the heat
scanner(!) at the quarantine screening was clear on him... phew, fuck
knows what we'd have done if they'd impounded him for carrying a bug or
something! :-/
The lovely lady from the laser company we're
visiting tomorrow was waiting for us, and after a quick explanation of
SJ's predicament, we were in her air conditioned car out of the intense
heat of Taiwan, and on our way to the hotel. It was an hour drive and
SJ was snoring nicely in the back while I employed my best small talk
with Lu lu (dunno if thats how its spelt!) on route to the hotel. She
even stopped to buy us a bottle of water each, as we'd had no time to
sort any cash out...
Not sure what will happen tomorrow, it
largely depends on how SJ is feeling, I'll get up about 7:30 and talk
to him to see how he's feeling. The people we're meeting changed our
schedule yesterday and we are supposed to be undertaking an impromptu 4
hour round trip by train to see a machine in action! I seriously doubt
he'll be fit for that one...!
The hotel is fantastic by the way,
really posh. They have a massive atrium the height of the hotel, with a
restaurant at the bottom of it and the lift shafts running up inside it
and the room doors all around it on every floor, mega! The room is very
nice with a luxury bathroom with gold fittings and separate walk in
shower and bath. The company we are visiting insisted on paying for it
too! Can't be cheap... I accidentally added a burger and a cold coke to
that bill too once SJ was safely tucked away in his comfy room, I
haven't eaten since the lush lunch in Korea, bleedin' starvin! I also
broke the damn window in my room...! I opened it to get a better
picture of the night view over Taipei and the bastard thing would not
close! I fiddled with the catch and hinge for ages and couldn't make it
close, I think I had to pull this lever thingy up, but it felt like it
was going to break off in my hand... I had to call house keeping to
sort it and they sent a little Taiwanese lady up who closed it easily
using the lever I thought I was going to break...what a twat! Lol.
Anyway, I got one picture of the night view, and a nice smell of the
city... hehehehe
My burger turned up soon afterwards and was
lush. Western style food is so nice after eating that Chinese stuff for
so many days... it is nice, don't get me wrong, loads better than
anything Chinese you can pick up in England, but when it is repeated
like it has been, it gets a bit much!
The aircon in here is freezing, lol.
I really should go to bed now...
Hope SJ is doing ok...
Who knows what tomorrow will bring!!!
Ciao!
Sloggs
Picture album from this trip on Facebook