I had rain for most of last week – a short window of dryness for the daylight hours in Amsterdam on Saturday – a deluge of rain in the evening and (shock!) blue sky yesterday. Interesting thing about Amsterdam; whereas most capital cities are defined by the massive numbers of ‘Macdonalds’ eateries, Amsterdam is different – Argentinian steak restaurants – everywhere…
Should be back home late on Wednesday.

Friday was picture-postcard perfect weather. At this time of year you finally get the mix of red and yellow leaves on the vines that delineate the vineyards so well – perhaps it will last as long as this pleasant 20° heat before the leaves will finally fall – it’s very pretty while it lasts. The late heat of this Indian Summer can be seen with renewed growth on many vines – new green shoots showing on the top of many.

Tasting mainly 2006’s but a few early 2007’s for good measure too, we started our day in Fixin, had a short visit in Gevrey, moved to Morey for lunch, then there was Nuits before stopping just north of Ladoix and finally in Beaune. It wasn’t planned that way, but the last call saw us leaving the cellars at 8:15pm…

Lunch was a simple affair sat, watching the world go by in front of the Boulangerie/Cafe in the centre of Morey – it’s where many of the locals eat at 6 Euros for the ‘warm plate’. Here you can also join in a little sport; counting the potential routes for cars to circumnavigate the small cross that acts as a tiny roundabout in front of the shop – then as part B you can count the apparent ways to park too – it seems anything goes!

Today is work – meetings followed by a train-ride from Shanghai to Nanjing for customer meetings.

The train is some super-duper new 250km/hr (155 miles per hour) model that has reduced the previous 3½ hour journey to 2½. I didn’t quite get time to take a picture of the sleek engine, but for my train ‘enthusiast’ friends here is one I whipped from ‘the net’ and I will try to add an obviously more professional one tomorrow when I make the return journey.

For those interested in the ping-pong news, match 1 was won, and because match 2 was more closely won against the local club ‘coach’, they brought the local professional to the table – in my defence I can say I didn’t at any stage get on my knees and beg, but justice was swift: 7-11, 7-11, 7-11…

He did invite me back to play again – but that was probably just so he could have another easy win !

I had a really great day with an old friend yesterday (Saturday).

After a week where there was never (apparently!) enough time for sleeping I had the luxury of a late start: an 11:30 hotel brunch of spicy chicken and Shanghai-style rice – the rice is more like a soup – in preparation for a 2:00pm pick-up.

First destination was a place called YongFoo Élite . At various points in it’s history this place has been the consulate for Vietnam, Russia and most recently Britain. Today it’s a restaurant plus private club, and during the guided tour I could find only one descriptor – cool! The decor is wonderful/eclectic – but not worth becoming a member for one visit to Shanghai per year and that’s despite Sharon Stone being a prominent visitor the week before.

Afternoon tea was taken but no scones, preserves and cream as brunch was still too close behind…

Next a taxi downtown and a walk through an electronics arcade – digital cameras were quite attractively priced – I’m considering a Panasonic LX2 as a pocket camera (most pocket cameras have terrible wide-angle performance, but this has 28mm equivalent) – the ‘sticker’ saving was ~100 Euros vs Swiss prices and perhaps another 50 by negotiation but it’s a long way to return it if there’s a problem! Anyway I only walked away with a universal CF/SD/MS USB card reader for 45RMB – that’s ~4.5 Euros but fully functional, hence the photos!

Next step was a few shops in search of a jacket/suit with a Mandarin style high, round collar – I’d seen similar in an ‘in-flight’ magazine but couldn’t remember the brand. We took the undergrown rail even deeper into ‘downtown’ and checked a few shops but failed to find anything – well, not exactly true, we did find a almost good Häagen Dazs rum and raisin ice-cream! Anyway we continued our walk through this main shopping area with the Shanghai TV Tower growing larger in front of us until we reached the ‘Bund’ and a quick touristic walk by the bank of the river to see the towerblacks across the water and the floating ‘TV Ships’ and their advertising.

But now it was getting close to 6:30pm and our dinner reservation.

Dinner was at M on the Bund, on the top floor of a building that afforded unbroken views across the river – we planned to sit outside, but after walking all afternoon it/we, was/were too hot – so we took advantage of air-conditioning and still rather excellent views. It’s a ‘western-style’ restaurant and my first of the trip, but was chosen by my friend. Food, service and even the wine-list were very good. My friend could only be ‘forced’ into a single glass of Champagne – a passable Tattinger – so no bottles were purchased, fortunately the there was a decent selection by the glass and I chose a Torbreck Shiraz which frankly jarred with my slow roast lamb – but hey,…

As we were leaving we happened upon a cordon of Ferraris parked outside the restaurant, but as we found no drivers we had to take a taxi to Xintiandi – an up-market bar area of smaller brick-built buildings. Guess what; here was my suit/jacket brand – the shop of Shanghai Tang – only one problem, the jacket was 500 Euros – these designers! My friend laughed and said try it on, I’ll take a photo and we can take it to a tailor and have one made for 50 Euros – Chinese practicality for you! Anyway, following a leisurely orange juice, it was back to the hotel after a super day.

Today (Sunday) will be tougher; after two wins on my ping-pong tour of customers – I couldn’t let the last one win as I didn’t know the score as they did it in Chinese, anyway it meant he didn’t get a discount! – I think this afternoon they may wheel out some ‘bigger guns’!

It’s been hard to post the last days – just too busy with customer visits in China. I doubt that my audience of two dogs and a fish would be interested in the latest developments in PFOA free leveling agents for both wood and general industrial coatings, but today at least there is something worth sharing with them:

We split a 5-6 hour drive from Dongyang to Shanghai with an hour or so stop-over in the old picturesque part of Hangzhou – the West Lake area.

The names are rather poetic; in addition to this title you could add ‘clouds scurring over the Jade Emperor Hill’ or ‘three pools mirroring the moon’ or one of my favourites – ‘precious stone hill floating in rosy cloud’. Unfortunately I didn’t bring the connection for my camera so it will be next week before you can see whether the names fit the place. Suffice to say it was very pretty indeed – fine-plus you might say despite the 38°C temperature – shame I didn’t get to see ‘tea inquiry at Dragon Well’.

The broken bridge is related to stories of broken hearts – apparently if you walk the bridge with your umbrella you have the chance to meet ladies also with umbrellas and can even meet in private under the umbrellas! I can confirm that many ladies were walking under umbrellas just in case Mr Right came along – but just in case my domestic management is reading – I was umbrella-less!

Anyway it’s late in Shanghai and maybe I can hear the ‘heavenly wind over Wushan hill’ – or is it the ‘evening bell ringing at Nanping Hill’…

A very wet and grey day, but who needs the sun when it can pour from the glass!

Tasting highlight of the day was clearly at Domaine Liger-Belair; Louis-Michel’s wines attest to the ascendency of producer over vintage – at least in the recent vintages – his 2006’s are stunning, truly stunning. Of-course that causes problems; the old mixed case was expensive enough – but now with another 7 cuvées – I am lost!