Day Thirty-Five

This morning started out bright and early again. Fiona's aunt woke me up around seven o'clock to go to the Macau Lighthouse and park right up the street from Fiona's apartment. We got to the top of the hill that the lighthouse is on and I took a couple pictures.

When I got back to the house I finished packing up my stuff and got ready to leave Macau to go to Foshan/Guangzhou. Once we got across the border and into mainland China one of Fiona's dad's drivers picked us up again. The drive to Foshan took about two hours.

Once we got to Foshan we went to the Foshan Hotel to meet up with Fiona's dad and some of his business associates for lunch. The first dish that was served for lunch was quite interesting. It was a soup with fried bees and seahorses in it. I didn't eat either but I did sip on the broth, which was actually quite good.

After lunch I went with Fiona's family to the Foshan Hospital. At the hospital Fiona spoke to the director about a substance abuse rehabilitation treatment that is being developed to replace methadone treatment. Fiona may try to hook up the director from the hospital with researchers at USC so that they may collaborate.

The next stop in Foshan was at Fiona's dad's factory. I mentioned it in another blog but in case you forgot, Fiona's dad makes thermostats for various companies. The building in Foshan is where the company began. Since 1991 the business has grown exponentially. The company started out on one floor but now occupies an entire nine story building as well as a newly built satellite factory outside of the city that supposedly is even bigger than the first. The conditions seemed very clean and safe, however, the work looked extremely difficult, (even in the face of the manual labor I've seen at dad's packing house). A majority of the employees, most of which are migrant workers and haven't gone to high school, aren't even over the age of eighteen.

After visiting the factory we drove around Foshan so that I could see the city. About an hour later our driver took us to meet back up with Fiona's dad for dinner. The most interesting dish of the meal had to have been the crocodile soup. Although I didn't eat any crocodile meat the broth had a distinct and unique flavor. We're staying at a hotel tonight and probably just hanging out in the city tomorrow. Night everyone.