Shanli Lohas

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Shanli Lohas is another ancient village in China.  It is about 120 kilometers from Beijing, however, it takes approximately 2-3 hours to drive their depending on traffic.  The last 15 minutes is up a very narrow and winding road. The current owner built the road when he purchased the city.  Take your time driving. Watch the mirrors provided for your to see around the corners. And, above all, observe Chinese tradition by honking your horn as much as humanly possible.

It was originally occupied by soldiers building the Great Wall of China. In 1933 the city was a non armed area.  This meant the Japanese would not allow the Chinese army to go there. This plunged the people of the village into deep poverty and despair.  The Chinese army finally liberated the city In 1938.

In 1942 it was a center of the anti-Japanese leadership by the communist party. Consequently the city erected a health center.  There are stories of villagers sharing their houses with the soldiers.  They would help the red army by using the doors to their homes when there was not enough stretchers. Or tearing out their cabinets to make coffins for the fallen.

The amenities include a Chinese restaurant and a Western restaurant.  The Chinese restaurant is buffet style while the western restaurant is à la cart. At the top of Shanli Lohas lies and infinity pool. It has amazing views of the mountains and the valley you drove up.  If you look hard enough you can even see some of the towers of the great wall of china. It also has its own brewery as well as a playground and petting zoo.

About 4 kilometers up the road the new owner built, you will find the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall spanned an impressive 21,196 km (13,171 mi). All of the Great Wall is not a tourist destination. And unlike the Great Wall we see in pictures, and are familiar with; the majority has not been restored.

Here you can find one of the untouched sections of the wall that offer some of the greatest views in the world.  As a note: I’m originally from Colorado, so making a statement like this guarantees you one of the best views you will ever see.

Experience the Great Wall as you have never dreamed of experiencing it. Walk either direction for as long as you can. Without all the tourists fighting to get to the top and invading your personal space.  Take a selfie with the Great Wall with no one else around. This is a great opportunity to experience and see how the great wall was originally built.

There is also a tent area that will consist of over 100 tents’ when completed. This offers a way to experience what it must have been like to live in the ancient city hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

China’s Ancient Cities

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There are many ancient cities in China.  The most famous of these cities is the forbidden city and is located in Beijing. This city kept the Emperor shielded and secluded from the main city and served as city within the city. It’s a giant palace that’s like an outdoor outlet mall in America.  Although the forbidden city is one large complex, it features many individual stores or palaces.

It had housing for the emperor’s family as well as for the hundreds of concubines they were well-known for.  There are meeting halls and palaces as well as elegant court yards. The city served as a ceremonial and political center for the Chinese government for almost 500 years. The Ming Dynasty gets the credit of building this architectural wonder during the 1400’s. It is an amazing accomplishment that took almost 14 years and millions of laborers to build.

It featured amazing rock carvings that seem to be carved from only one large stone as well as cisterns that tourists touch to bring them good luck.

We visited this historical site right before the Chinese New Year in 2012. It was cold and required several layers of clothing but there wasn’t mass amount of tourists visiting.

In China, there is no personal space as we have in America.  Americans have a three-foot diameter space surrounding them that they don’t want people in.  With China having 1.4 billion people living in densely populated cities, there is no personal space.  Walking with their chest in your back or rubbing shoulder with you during an hours sight seeing excursion doesn’t mean anything to the Chinese.  It does to Americans so I have always tried to see these sites during the off time.  There are still a lot of tourists, but as the Chinese say, it is not a mountain of people, sea of people.

At the forbidden city there are headphones that will translate all the sites into English or other languages, so it is not as important to have a translator with you. It can, However, take a day to see everything and to listen to the translations.  Make sure to wear warm clothes if you are going in the winter, and bring all the patience you have if you go in the summer.

There are other options to visiting ancient cities in China than the ones turned into tourist destinations.  There are many of these in the mountains of Beijing as well as in some of the other cities in China.  The following posts will guide you to some of the more unknown and less populated ancient cities.

Travel in 2018

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So after a five month hiatus in America my wife and I have decided to travel back to China. A large company offered me a good position, so it seems the right time to go back.  A lot has changed in the word of air travel and even though their has always been a big difference between Asian and American flight companies, things have even gotten worse.

While I was leaving America, one of my bags was a half a pound over weight. They charged me 100.00 dollars for the half pound misjudgment.  My other bag was actually 5 pounds over. I knew this one was over and was hoping they would let it slide. But I was willing to pay a charge if I had to. That one cost me another 100 dollars. So, the total after my 3000 tickets for me and my family was 10% higher.  When I told the woman at the counter that the airlines must really need the money, she looked at me and said “one more comment from you and you won’t be going anywhere today!” 

I guess after Delta and United decided its okay to beat passengers that don’t want to give up their seat, American Airlines wants to have a go and use the power they hold over us too. So when we’re at their counter we keep our moths shut as to not upset them and end up in jail or stranded in some airport, paying another 3000 dollars to get to our destination.

The plane ride from America to Asia is grueling.  We were in a different state and had to layover in Chicago. The flight was at 7 am and my daughter is only 4. I was hoping they would at least have a pastry or something for her to eat.  The flight attendant offered us nothing.  Chicago was, of course, delayed.  Not by much but by about a half an hour. 

We’ve been delayed in Chicago before and American Airlines always gave food vouchers to keep their clients happy.  Not this time.  In fact when I went up to enquire about the layover, They expand  in a very stern voice that the plane would be there soon and I should just go sit down and wait.  I joked to them that we had been delayed in Chicago before and was then told that this delay was obviously my fault because I was bad luck and that I should go sit down.

The food on the way to Asia was terrible. It was a 14 hour flight. They gave us lunch and a snack that was a spicy sandwich.  When I said my daughter was 4 and couldn’t eat a spicy pimento sandwich, they responded with that’s just the way it is. She would have to go without until the brunch that would be served a few hours later.  

We landed in Shanghai and spent the night in a hotel. The next day we returned to the airport in the hotels free shuttle service.  My wife was flying to her hometown while I go to Beijing and get us set up in a house.  I went with her to check in on her china airline.  Both of her bags were about 2.5 kilos over weight.  That’s about 5 pounds.  The woman behind the counter looked at her, smiled and checked the bags through.  I watched the two of them walk through security and walk to terminal 1 to get my flight. 

I have two bags. One of them is the same 2.5 kilos overweight.  I asked how many bags I could take.  The woman said I would have to pay an overweight charge on a second bag if I wanted to take it but that the 2.5 kilos she wouldn’t charge me for that.  She then said that I could carry the other one.  I said but that will give me three carry ons.  She called her manager and he said that’s fine you can carry all of them.  I am waiting in the airport now to board but I am sure they will serve breakfast on our 2.5 hour flight to Beijing at no extra cost.

American Airlines has really gone down hill. I’m sure I speak for a lot of us when I say I will not fly with them again. Not that my 3000 dollars a year will make a difference but then again with them stealing every dollar from us they can, who knows, maybe they’re on their way to bankruptcy anyway. In all my years of flying internationally I have found that asian airlines have friendlier staff, laxer rules, food on every flight and just a generally all around better atmosphere.  The also seem to have more experience of flying us to those destination we all crave for. I guess if you want to know why China is becoming a larger economy than Americas, one only needs to look at the airlines and the services you receive on them.

 

Life Experiences

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Everyone residing on our planet has the same basic life experiences, or so I remember someone telling me once.  Some are more extreme than others but basically, we all have the same emotional experiences.  I didn’t give this much thought and might have even thought that it was not true.

And then the other day, while we were in America, We were eating in a McDonalds.  There was a man sitting on a breakfast bar in the middle of the restaurant speaking loudly on his phone.  He was an older man whose nourishment didn’t seem healthy.

HIs clothes were obviously that of someone that hadn’t changed them in a few days. And he wore a green, Saint Patrick’s day, hat on his head. The best way for me to describe him is as being homeless. But he did have a cell phone and in a couple of instances spoke about having a job that would last for a few years.

“I just got something to eat,” he said into the phone, and bought me a little hat so you tell them if they need anything I will be willing to pay for it.”

The voice on the speaker of his phone came back muffled and inaudible but it was obviously a woman voice.

“I think I”m feeling better,” he continued, “and after this, I think I am going to need a bottle.”

His conversation continued like this for some time. Then he started speaking to the woman on the phone about her being his girlfriend. “Because we are in love…” I heard him say.  and the reason you love me is because I am amazing.”

At this, I was a little surprised. From the way he looked one would never have thought that he thought of himself as amazing.  I believe that most people have a very high opinion of themselves and that most would describe themselves as amazing.

His conversation then turned to God.  “George Burns smoked every day and he lived to be 105. He smoked because God told him to smoke and God allowed him to live for that long. I believe God has done all of this for me and I’m one of the most fortunate people that have ever lived.”

Now I believe that all people, no matter of circumstances consider themselves amazing and fortunate. But for some reason, I never thought someone like this man would have thought this about himself.

The people around him were not happy about his presence in the restaurant.  One even commented that the woman he was on the phone with was a “Lucky Girl”. The manager eventually asked him to leave. He was very courteous after this and left after cleaning up his mess and bringing the trays from the trash cans to the manager.

I sat there looking at this man that never got angry about being asked to leave or about the people talking about him.  A man that believed how fortunate he was.  I thought about what I had been told and I guess that on an emotional level we do all experience the same things.

 

On Being Unemployed

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For those of you that don’t know me, I believe the old adage that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. A few months ago I sold my share of a company in China. After 8 years of living and working in China, my wife and I decided to take a break and spend time in America. I was unemployed.  I looked around at some timeshare and real estate opportunities but haven’t found anything that really interests me.

Honestly, I’m 56 and have spent the last 15 years of my life living abroad. When I go to talk to companies, it feels like they have a hard time relating to me, believing me, or they think I’ll be senile in 4 more years. So maybe I don’t interest them either. I believe I’m one of the best and most knowledgeable salespeople in the world, but don’t we all believe that about ourselves? I don’t believe situations like this are either right or wrong. They just are what they are.

After sending out almost 100 CV’s, I’ve had a couple of interviews over the past week. I must say things are very interesting on the interview front now. After being told for at least 15 minutes how great the guy interviewing me was, I had a chance to speak.  So I see on your resume’ (Americans always call it a resume’) that the places you work, you only stay for 2 years at a time, can you explain that to me?

“Uhm… because I love to build and it only took me 2 years to double sales revenue/double marketing efforts etc. After that, they felt they could do it themselves or wanted to cut my pay so I left”; was the truth and what I should have said. Instead, I said, “for the last 15 years I’ve been in travel mode and the lure of working in new cities and or countries appealed to me.”

About that time his partner the marketing manager walked in. I was introduced and the next 15 minutes was spent telling me how great of a marketer he was. And of his accomplishments. He asked me when I started selling timeshare. “1980,” I said.

“Old school Timeshare,” he said. “OG of timeshare”. They laughed and gave themselves high fives as he walked out of the room.

I sat there thinking. “What the hell does OG of timeshare mean? And “Old School Timeshare?” Do they not do a greeting or a warm-up anymore? Is the closing process different or maybe they don’t do a proper discovery or read body language? “What the hell do those two things mean?”

I remember when I first got into this business we were taught there are 5 steps to a sale. These are attention, interest, conviction, desire, and close. The emphasis back then was on KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid. Now its Keep It Simple Superstar.  I guess in our day and age of political correctness, the word stupid offended someone. Hey, if the shoe fits…

I didn’t have time to ask if this was what they meant as the original interviewer explained to me again how great he was and how great this project was going to be. I was then dismissed and told they would call me if they were interested. They called. I told them I wasn’t interested.

The other interview went well but after calling back and never getting an answer one way or the other I decided to abandon the thought of working there. How in the world can someone so weak that they can’t tell someone they aren’t interested in them become a boss? The world has gone crazy.

So I decided that I would send my CV in for an evaluation because after sending it to so many places I just couldn’t imagine not getting calls. I mean how many people out there have over 35 years of direct sales experience and have trained thousands of salespeople to be successful? Apparently, more than I thought.

The evaluation for my CV came back and one of the things that it said was instead of using passive words to tell what I did, to use active words and to talk about my accomplishments. I thought it was good advice. Then I thought about it for a while. How can you have accomplishments in every job you have ever worked?

Here’s what my CV would look like if I included my first job.
Sales Rep.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
1980
I was 18 and couldn’t give the product away for the first 6 months I worked there. The only reason I kept my job was because the project director was my fathers best friend. But after I sold the first one I progressively got better until I became one of the best!

Now I think it should read: “I floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee and no one was as pretty as me. I was the greatest on my first day of sales and I’ll be the greatest on my last.”

Or what about the off-site office I worked for where I learned what a love line is and couldn’t give the product away to the clients I was given?
Sales Rep.
Denver, Colorado
1992
I just left a regional directors job and went to work for this company with high hopes. Here is where I learned what a love line is when I had to tour a homeless guy. I gave him 5 dollars for a bus ride back to his bridge. I also learned about humility when I couldn’t give away this product in the 6 weeks that I worked there.

Now I think it should read: “My butterfly wings broke and my stinger fell out, but I rose to the top, Was there ever a doubt?”

How do you tell the truth and tell about your great accomplishments in every job you ever had? Has everyone had amazing accomplishments in every job they’ve ever worked? Does No one fail anymore? Do we have to have someone besides ourselves to blame these days?

Is not being able to sell and study and learn your craft an accomplishment or is it determination?

When you learn about a love line for the first time. You are on the bottom of that love line, and have to tour a homeless man that lives under a bridge. Is that an accomplishment or is it a learning opportunity?

Is not being able to sell an accomplishment or is it a lesson in humility?

As a man that has hired hundreds if not thousands of salespeople. If someone came through my door touting about how he was the greatest or of how he closed 40% in his last job my question would be; “Then why did you leave?” Or, “Why were you let go?”

If his answer was blaming everyone but himself, I wouldn’t hire him. Isn’t this like sales where some negatives make you more believable, and more human? Has our country really changed that much in 15 years?

I guess it’s like our court system and government. The winner is the one that can lie the best or blame someone else the most. I just have a problem with lying or blaming and have a hard time lowering my standards at this stage of my life.

I guess it explains my interviews.