Hello ,
Greetings from China
Now I'm in China, but last week I was telling you about interesting people I met in Kathmandu, you can read about it here.
I'm looking forward to getting our first shipments from Nepal directly, it seems there is a huge wealth of authentic handicraft products there. The Buddhist culture, the altitude, the gentle creative people make for an authentic and exotic range of products.
So I'm excited to be taking the first steps in developing proper supply lines from this country, it's a new adventure.
Whilst I was there, there was a major regional political conference going on, with the heads of seven Asian countries in town, including Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India. I didn't find out until on a trip to the outskirts of Kathmandu, to see a supplier my taxi came to a halt in a back street traffic jam. The problem seemed to be VIP movements, which means that all lesser mortals are simply blocked from main roads of Kathmandu. So the whole city stood still for two hours. The taxi driver put the radio on and we learned that it would be a while, gradually all the traffic switched off the engines, and it became peaceful. It was kind of interesting, there we were trapped up against a neighbourhood temple, a simple brass bell attached to a wizened old tree draped in prayer flags marked the entrance, a steady stream of devotes, rang the bell as they entered and then I could hear them ringing other bells inside, the process taking only a minute as all sorts of folk, from businessmen in suits, to old ladies, to school children took a few seconds out of the day to be - to be I guess mindful.
Later at the airport, which is very basic more like a bus waiting room. We were again subjected to "VIP movements" - lots of guys in suits and shades, security for various heads of state all trying to look cooler than the others, cars with blacked out windows, all on the other side of windows looking directly from our waiting room shed, directly to the tarmac. Only three hours late and an apology for the delay caused by "VIP movements" - I was happy to even get the flight, as many had been cancelled altogether.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, a container from Indonesia came. A big problem, as they opened the door, a massive spider crawled out. Probably a huntsman spider, the size of your hand (so they said). They guys all freaked out and went into peak Health and Safety mode.
These containers are all fumigated (supposedly) at the port, we pay for the best fumigation, so a bit of investigation going on there. After googling dangerous spiders of Indonesia, and finding that there are none, the container was finally unloaded by our super brave goods in the team (well-done lads!) without to much further drama.
I'm pleased to report the trade-show for our Agnes & Cat brand went down a storm, so much interest and orders we are a bit overwhelmed.
Well done to all the team who made it happen, it's a first for us (we never do trade shows). Tomas and Tiphanie - I know are knackered - physically and emotionally, I think today they deserve a well-earned rest. It's a new adventure.
It's all happening at AW...
Not to mention, it's September and already super busy, orders are slipping behind a bit, not least because that trade show sucked up some resources, but hopefully will be back on track soon.
Take care.
David
