Blog #246 I talked about China trip starts off at the China office. In this blog I want to talk about the FACE golf tournament for charity.

We had one stop before the FACE (Footwear Association Charity Event) Golf Tournament. This was to meet up with Stanley who helped us with a lot of the factories we did business with. We were to go over the factory list and what we needed to do for each one. In the meeting we met Teddy, his mini-Poodle. This poodle was so well trained he could do just about anything. Stanley would give the commands in Chinese and Teddy was very obedient. While we had lunch Stanley put some food in front of Teddy and I assume he said wait. Then the ok command and Teddy started eating the food. It was incredible.

Fast forward to 2020 Linda and I decided to get a puppy and Teddy came to mind. We searched far and wide for a breeder and found Mystical Poodles in Las Vegas. I knew right away We were going to search for a mini poodle like Teddy of the 2008 trip. We found a chocolate one and after tossing around a few names decided Teddy was appropriate for our new puppy. He is a fast learner and hopefully he will be well trained one day too.

The tournament was in Zhongshan which was not too far from our usual area we spent most of our time in. We stayed at the Shangri-La hotel which the tournament people set us up with. It was a beautiful hotel. The shops and restaurants were all top notch. We picked up a beautiful dragon statue for our home in Las Vegas.

Charles and I represented Zappos along with Linda and Richard our Italian agent at the time. Richard was always good for some laughs, so we were anticipating a good time. Both Richard and Charles were excellent golfers, I was ok, and Linda was learning. The great thing about China is you get Caddies to help you decide which clubs to use and that was really helpful for Linda and I.

They started the tournament with a row of golfers teeing off and as they hit the balls they exploded in an array of colors. Kind of like the gender reveals of today but without the mishaps. We got into our carts with our caddies on the back and played a very beautiful 18-hole course. There were beautiful waterfalls, and the view was spectacular. One thing I haven’t seen before was the “Beware of Snake” signs scattered throughout the course. Any ball that went into a bush I let the bush have it lol.

It was a great day and for a good cause. That evening there was an amazing dinner and auction for the charity. It benefitted children and they had many stories of how the charity has helped children in need. Of course, there was the “Royalty robes” we had to don for a photo-op. They brought some of those children on stage as well. It definitely tugged on the heart strings.  It was a good feeling to be involved in this charity and Zappos was a main sponsor so definitely a proud moment.

After the amazing dinner we all went for a foot massage. Richard wasn’t used to the degree of firmness as he hadn’t been to China as much as the rest of us. His facial expressions said it all, so I asked the gal to lighten up a bit for him. We all had a great time and a nice ending for a very long day in the sun.

The following day we said goodbye to Richard and flew out to Shanghai where we were going to meet up with Michael and Rob in Shanghai. We were to meet with a factory that was doing our wide shaft boots and then Charles, Linda and I were going to take some Personal time to visit the Great Wall & Forbidden Palace in Bejiing.