Finishing the job

So, the kiln is ready for running test-trials. It was 2.5 weeks very hard work, and things worked many times against us. But we got the thing going (like always.....)





Here Leon is working at the thyristor panel.












The Yinli hotel restaurant was closed tonight (never had that before) because of Chinese new year. So we decided to go to the Japanese restaurant in the Grand Howard hotel. Since we had to work hard last weeks we decided that it was time again for our most favourite food: sushi/sashimi. It was superb and we enjoyed it very much. Look at Leon that is anxiously waiting for me to finish the photo so he can have a go at this super dish!

A day in the factory

Because of Chinese newyear many of the operators in the factory go back to their homes. Today I went past one of the flats on the plant where they live and saw a huge amount of suitcases and bags. It looks like the whole factory will be empty next week.
There is one small problem however, in the middle of China is very bad weather, with big walls of snow. Many north-south train connections are canceled and many flights also. This night they tried to supply a stranded train with cup-noodles, but they forgot that the people didn't have hot water.......Here is China it is the most normal thing in the world that you have hot water standing by to make their most favorite drink: tea (tsjah)........Hope we can leave from Hongkong this wednesday without much trouble.....

Our machine is more or less running ok now, in the meantime we're solving small problems on other machines, like this one. We needed to install a new PC on it because the old one almost broke down. But there was a special interface card that connected the process computer to the PC. We got it working again.

A day off in China

Today, after 2 weeks of work, we decided to take a day off. Here's a view of the hotel where we are normally sitting in the evening.....










I decided to take a walk around the hotel. There was a guy waving at me through the wall...if you look carefully you can see his thumb.










There was this Chinese scrapyard, with a very old bulldozer.








Where two cats were even making more cats.....







I walked onto the golfcourt, it is normally not allowed and strictly only for members......... but I thought, let's give it a try and see how far I could come.









Not far, just after 5 minutes, this golfcaddy lady came after me...........








Here Chinese road construction workers are making a new road in front of the hotel.





One of them saw that I was taking pictures, and decided to also make a picture of me photographing him!










Here's a naughty little Chinese boy.

Working at the factory

This is the exit sluice of the kiln that we are working on now, it gave us many trouble, broken motors, broken sensors, strange control software. But after 5 days hard work we were able to get it working.









Here, one of the technicians is opening the nitrogen mainvalve for the sluice and the kiln. Since it is high in the factory, he's just standing on the forklift to reach it. Dangerous working, but Chinese men are not easily afraid of something dangerous......

Here you see the kiln from the side. It is very long. I walk this distance about 100 times a day...........a very nice walk in total.








So, the kiln is more or less running, now it's time for a shake. You know, this stuff really got me going these days. It was sometimes very difficult, but at least this gave me the energy to go on and try again.







Here is the computer screen of the Allen Bradly PLC control system. We never worked again before with this system, so we really had to re-invent the wheel. But it is WORKING!!!!!









Here is the same screen -live-. You hear the loud noise of the big fans of the kiln in the background.

Boton restaurant menu in Qingxi

Look and read carefully the translated menu's.......................

The Lee family on 1 bike

Yesterday, the whole Lee family came by on 1 bicycle, incl. Ko (he's behind Michaels wife).

Our "factory garden"

Here we are after lunch in our "factory garden" at the pool with the koi.









Here the Koi fish are swimming around....









And here Harry is feeding the fish.

Mountains outside the hotel

In the morning, when I walk to the part of the hotel where we have breakfast I saw for the 1st time the mountain in the back. Normally there is so much fog/smoke you don't see it....

Pizza in China

Today we found a nice small quiet restaurant. After checking the menu we saw that we could order pizza. Since Leon and me are the type that will eat almost anything we decided to order. Leon ordered a tuna pizza (his favorite, I know) and I ordered a "meat" pizza. Both were quite good. They even served the beer in large glasses.

Steak restaurant in Qingxi

Here Leon is deciding which steak he will take together with the one he already ordered....





This is the beer bucket, 2 down, 1 to go!

Nice dinner with our Taiwanese friends

We went for dinner in a dim-sum restaurant. In the back are some very noisy guys that drank many beers and are starting red.
Nice to see!








And here is Fred eating fried chicken feet!
See, he likes them very much!







And here you see the table with the dim-sum meal.
It was very nice, around 30 euro for 7 people.







And together with a nice cold Tsingtao beer, it cannot go wrong.












And here's Fred buying some very special Chinese tea in a special shop. The girl is showing where he has to pay.

In this shop I also saw a bottle of 1 liter of cognac that cost 12.000RMB, that is close to 1.200 euro!!!

Big problems, but many are solved

This is the Allen Bradley USA PLC system we're working on. It is very old, and the software we have to use also.
But step-by-step it seems to get going again, after all these years.









Oh man, and this, Chinese built, control station caused us many trouble (at least, the input/output modules inside it).










And this is our Michael, our Taiwanese project leader in his office.

Chinachinachina

The first "real" meal for some people in 1 week time. A Real (Chinese) steak, with a side order of fries!





And with a BIG side order of fries!!!!







And a few Tsingtao beers of course!







And a few beers more, here Jose, Mario and Patrick are discussing very important things.....






And here I'm discussing VERY important things with Leon....







And..........there side order of fries were SOOOO tasty, that we ordered another side order of fries!!!!

Trip to China

This is the CX270 from Cathay Pacific that flew me to Hongkong.






And then with the bus to "mainland China".









Nice artistic view on the roof (you get these pictures when you have to wait and feel boring.....)






A view on the big bridge in Honkong. This is a shot I took from inside the bus....











And then, after a bus trip of 2 hours, I arrived at a big hotel in Qingxi, from there I took a taxi to the hotel where I'm now.

Going to Qingxi China again!

Next 2 weeks I will be in China for the startup of 2 big tunnelkilns......This time I fly with Cathay Pacific to Hongkong, after that with the bus to mainland China.

Check this website for pictures that I will post quite soon after arrival in China.

Patricks new guitar

Patrick bought a new Fender guitar with an awesome sound! It is an original USA Fender stratocaster, of the famous Sambora type. With special pickups that create a very long sustain. The sound is awesome compared to that of a normal standard Fender stratocaster.

Dutch national champions ballroom

At the new years party of our dancing school we got a nice demonstration of the Dutch national champions couple ballroom.

M45 Pleiades

Here are the Pleiades (the 7 sisters) in constellation Taurus. It is a open cluster of stars 440 lightyears distance from us.
They are young stars with large nebulae surrounding them, since they are so bright these nebulae also light up. It was actually the 1st test with my autoguided telescope. The exposure was 2x 5min autoguided on ISO100, and 1x32s on ISO800.

B33 and NGC2023 Horsehead nebula

In the night of 2-3 January I shot a very difficult object in constellation Orion. It is the Horsehead nebula (red line) and NGC2023 nebula (green line).
These nebulae are 1600 lightyears distance from us. It was the first time I tested autoguiding with my telescope. It is a composed picture with a total exposure time of 1hour17min on ISO400.

Challenging object, I hope to try it again, and better, next time.

Walk in Oisterwijk

Today we walked around the "Oisterwijkse vennen" again.....

Here's one of the lakes.





And here are 2 horses with carriage.











And here's a tufted duck (kuifeend).











And a lonely cormorant (aalscholver). It was diving into the water all the time, and popped up again 10 meters further all the time.










And here it is "ready for takeoff".











And here it is in "full flight".