After the Pig Planet, we headed north of Jiaxing to visit a farm, a real farm this time, where there was some land for rent. My friends were interested in renting 30mu for growing potatoes and other vegetables to sell to local businesses.
One of the men was an agriculture expert and the other is the proposed operations manager. And my friend Sean was the broker – the one who does the negotiations, finds the contacts and does the deal.
It is nice to have some real Chinese friends – people who have interesting jobs – not just teachers. It’s refreshing to meet people who work in agriculture. 
It’s nice to be out of Shanghai and driving through unfamiliar territory in a car whch is not a taxi.
At the end of the negotiations there was the obligatory round table meal with the farm owner, assorted managers and our little gang from Shanghai. I was only thinking a few weeks ago that I had not been to one of these big round table meals for years. I used to be invited to so many. I had to remind myself of the rules, who to toast and in which order.
The seating plan (boss facing the door, VIPs next to him, lowly people near the door) is a bit tricky – I got a seat next to Sean who acted as interpreter for the tricky bits I could not understand.
After a mammoth lunch of pork I was hardly able to make a dent in my portion of the feast but I did my best. I ate mostly vegetables and half a bottle of (half decent) red wine. By the time we got the car, I could barely walk I was so full.
A lovely day in the countryside around Shanghai was just what I needed – a little pick-me-up.