Visit to Dongguan

Last week I went by Dongguan, which is in the south of China to check out two factories and the market. What I enjoyed about going down south is the tropical weather and lush green scenery. Palm trees, and bright flowers are everywhere, thick and healthy. (I feel like they over prune the trees in SH, and they look a bit like a freshly sheered sheep)

Crocodile for lunch!

We lunched at a local seafood restaurant- the type where the entire front area is devoted to tanks of fish and seafood in multiple layers. Its basically an edible aquarium if you will. So while one of the ladies went to choose seafood, she came with this croc hand snapshot, giggling. Eeek! Then we proceeded to eat lunch- snails, prawns, scallops, salt and pepper spare ribs. And a meat dish- my sourcing partner insisted I try it, even though I was full. It was tender juicy and fatty. "Is it pork belly?" I asked. "No, just meat- it's good! Try it!" she encouraged.

It was crocodile.

After the meal was complete, I went to see the table of ice, where the crocodile had been chopped up, with skin still on the flesh.  The tail was about arms width long! kinda creepy and fascinating at the same time. There were also some duck billed fish that were pretty cool.

The main factory we visited- working on new samples and product development, quality checks, and learning more about the production process. They had 4 of these huge fume hood like machines that suck all the bad fumes out in into a pool of water, which was super nasty. But it was actually breathable on the production floor, so I'm not complaining.  This was a pretty well established factory that does business with Kohl's, Target, etc, and has indoor plumbing (SCORE) its own canteen (cafeteria) dorms, and basketball court (pictured above). It was in a pretty developed neighborhood off the main road too, which meant a decent hotel, and choice of restaurants!

What was interesting but I wasn't able to snap a pic in time- was corner stores would put a TV on a stand on the sidewalk facing the street, and 20-30 plastic stools for people to sit and hang out on. Several cyclists and people with dogs would also stop by to watch tv for a bit, a neighborhood gathering watching the news or some movie.

The production line, making a set of ceramic wastebins I designed (in stores now!)

 Some fabric swatch cards that I picked up from the market: a cotton/linen set and a PP and paper woven set- cool combination of materials, in a nordic meets resort look. It can see this material in lots of uses.... bags, bins....

Late afternoon sunlight in a creepy vacated factory - this one focuses on wood.