2016 – China

We are looking forward to our next adventure in 2016: China! In conjunction with the drinktec exhibition and the China Brew China Beverage show in Shanghai, we will set off for a seven months tour throughout the PET industry of China – again all by road! Starting in March 2016, we

Our China Road Tour is underway. Once again, the hurdles we faced seemed insurmountable. First among them, how do we get our Editourmobil to the Celestial Empire? We undertook intensive research. The necessary permits alone would have taken us 6 months and would have cost €30,000, and there was no guarantee

Beijing is behind us, and we are now on our way to Shanghai. We have visited Sidel’s factory as well as premium supplier Red Bull. While Sidel is up against a stagnating market for beverages in China, RedBull by contrast has invested in new PET lines to cope with growth in

We have now completed the long haul from Beijing to Shanghai. We allowed almost 3 days for this 1200km journey. Our first stop was in Qufu. Confucius was born and died here. He was active more than 2,500 years ago. His real name was Kong. Right up to the present day,

Our next appointment has been made and still in the greater Shanghai area. As we have previously mentioned, we are not allowed, with our Beijing number plate, to use the inner city motorways during the rush hour. This complicates the logistics a bit. Another problem was that after our departure from

Now I am sitting in the cafe on packed suitcases. In a few hours I will be going to the airport for the flight home. It was with a heavy heart yesterday that I got out of the motorhome. Nic is taking it back to the rental company in Beijing. For

After the editorial journey of Alex’s team and the subsequent tour break I am now virtually the lone warrior in charge of the next stage of the tour. The almost insurmountable obstacles placed in front of the Editourmobil have still not gone away. The way ahead seems to be strewn with

Hong Kong is breathtaking. This vibrant city with its skyline and the nightly light show that always starts at 20:00 immediately had me under its spell. Once I had just about got over the jetlag, I took the ferry over to the island around Central. Again, this is a magnificent cityscape

A quiet start to the week for a change, because my next appointment is not until Wednesday. This is a welcome break in the programme, because with all the interviews and meetings packed into the last week, I have got a lot of catching up to do in writing and researching.

China has me under its spell again, and I am looking forward to the food, the people. This time however, there is no Editourmobil, because I had to re-arrange some appointments from our tour which for various reasons did not take place. These appointments were spread across the entire east coast,