Timmy at the chicken market Courtesy of Burton

I went running a couple of mornings in Kunming. This was a great way to see the city. It was weird to run for an hour in a city and not see another Westerner the whole time. But I saw plenty of people washing their hair in the street, vendors cooking and selling omelets out of grills on the sidewalks, bike traffic jams that would lock up entire intersections and people playing badminton without a net, anywhere they could find some room. When running I saw a super nice-looking park so I started to run into it until an armed guard brought his rifle up to the 'I'm getting ready to aim this thing at you' position. When I turned and headed out of there he flashed me a big smile. Turns out I was entering the residence of the local party (Communist) official. That would be a no-no.

Our next stop was Li Jiang, up in the mountains of southwestern China. There, we saw our first snow since entering the northern hemisphere. Riding was not on the itinerary, but it was cool to see some snow and start thinking about winter. Once again we were in the area of the Yangtze River, and after spending three weeks looking at this river, I insisted on going for a swim. Our guide was sure I was going to die, but it was so mellow and nice that George, Timmy and Donna jumped in as well. The locals just laughed. Li Jiang is an area known for its ethnic tribes and matriarchal (where the women run the show and the men do the laundry) societies. There is this one matriarchal village where the women live in houses and the men just wander from house to house. If the woman likes the guy, she has the option of letting him in for the night. To sum it up, no one in this village has any idea who their father is, and that is how it's supposed to be.

From Li Jiang the family went to Beijing to check out the city, hang with a local family and climb the Great Wall. I flew to Hong Kong for a week of Burton meetings and supplier visits (check out the greeting we got at one factory). On my way to Hong Kong I had a layover in Kunming and I got my ears cleaned for US $3. What an experience that was. This guy starts sticking tools so far up your ear you're ready to see it come out the other side. Then he sticks this one tool in which makes a ringing sound of different tones. It was pretty sketchy, but my ears felt great once he was done, and I swear I'm hearing better as a result.

"Hong Kong resembles a combination of Shanghai, San Francisco and Las Vegas rolled into one."

After a week of business with Edward Giard and Greg Dacyshyn of Burton, the family arrived in Hong Kong. Hong Kong resembles a combination of Shanghai, San Francisco and Las Vegas rolled into one. It's as alive a city as I've ever seen and it is a lot of fun, even if it is expensive. We ate some great food and hit one Russian restaurant where they gave you a mink coat to wear in a walk-in freezer where they served chilled vodka. It felt good just to cool off.

I tried to go surfing one day in Hong Kong. There were a couple of typhoons spinning out at sea, so I was pretty optimistic. We went out in a friend's boat to get to an island where the surf is best, but we couldn't get there due to the size of the ground swell. We settled for a nearby beach, and despite the size of the swell, by the time we got close to the break it was nothing more than waist high mushy shore break. In fact, the most exciting aspect of the session was paddling to and from the boat on the wrong side of the shark nets. They haven't had a shark attack here in a long time, but paddling back out to the boat over the net got my imagination going full speed.

From Hong Kong we went on to Taiwan to do some more business and check out the island. We had a great time in Taiwan and had the best Japanese Teppanyaki meal (where they cook on the table) I've ever had. That evening was made more interesting when Timmy asked Greg to shave his head. Never a dull moment.

We leave China with a much better understanding of what this country is all about. Despite being Communist, it is a country whose economy feels way more entrepreneurial than ours. Things have opened up a lot and are continuing to do so at a frantic pace. Sixty-five million cell phones were sold in China last year alone, making it the largest cell phone market in the world. While we were there, it was announced that individuals would soon be allowed to own real estate, something that has never happened before. Sure, they have some catching up to do, but with their approach to getting things done, it will happen fast. While we were in China, they successfully sent their first man into space. The national pride stirred up by this event was impressive.

We are now off to Vietnam, Thailand and Hawaii before catching the beginning of the snowboard season in Japan.

— Jake Burton, Burton Snowboards