Trip to Persimmon Kingdom - Jinhae

To complete one of my sourcing goal, it was my mission to visit the production area for Korean Persimmon. I took a plane to Seoul and transit to Pusan. The next morning, I visited the pack house in Jinhae, which is about 2 hours drive from Pusan.

Buckets of persimmons are being packed. The operation is a rather small one, they only have 5 ladies packing the fruits, plus another 5 for boxing, QC, and stuffing. All these fruits are for me and the fruits are being checked randomly with my presence. 
Since the season just started, we are only loading 1 x 20ft. And this is the truck waiting outside. 

Later, we went to the growing area. It was my first time to see persimmons on trees. It was quite cute because the hill has persimmons growing everywhere. It is pretty hard to tell on this picture because it is too small. But literally, there were orange dots everywhere on this hill. 

It is a joke that I have never really eaten persimmons in my life considering I have been in fruit business for 10 years. LOL... Since I am in the land of persimmon, the fruit taste fantastic. It taste like a blend of apples and pears with sweet honey taste. The host kept on feeding me persimmons, and I think I have like 4 big ones in the entire afternoon. 
This is Mr. Kim, my exporter. He is the same age as my dad and is my dad's old friend. This trip was valuable for both of us because it was his first time to visit the pack house in years, and my first time. We also met people from the government export department as well as the chairman of growers association. It was a eye opener for me to see how Korean conduct business. Everyone was very formal, warm and polite. I had a great time here in Jinhae!

*DOE Check Point*

One more month to go. 50萬的目標在中秋節前有達不到的可能性很高。南非橙 becomes the weakest link. 收不到好的貨是主因。進了幾櫃雖然有做公證沒有賠錢，但是達不到目標，覺得自己在上面沒放夠精力，今年閏五月，市場一直都不好，就算進了貨，也很難賺到錢，水果生意就是這樣，有時候做也是，不做也不是。除此之外，整個8月其實花了絕大多數的時間在創立衣服的品牌。直到8月底跟老婆討論後才獲得一個總結，就是在浪費時間和金錢。因為整個模式都不對，自己的角色也不對。所以，收。專心在自己水果的領域，在中秋這段時間內加緊腳步將火龍果，台灣的釋迦，西柚，還有澳洲的柑，趕上市，並拓展北京，上海，廣州市場。佈局是現在的重點。9月展覽的這段時間將拓展更多的線路。努力引進更多不同的種類，力求獲利。

攝影10組，只完成了一組。會在10月前完成。

媽媽在北京待了10多天。感覺她來的這段時間滿開心的。雖然甚麼都要別人照顧。但是知道她開了開眼界，讓她一個人在北京逛來逛去，甚至半騙半哄的讓她爬到了長城的最頂端。我想，這將是她生命中難忘的一刻吧！

健身真是徹底的失敗啊，連安排的時間都沒有安排。

總之…  還有1個月。努力吧！

I am a fruit trade - part 3

冷庫的事從3月份就開始東奔西跑的找。我想我整個廣州的冷庫都差不多跑遍了。跑來跑去折騰了幾個月，拿出了我LP的本事，最後終於找到了中山的冷庫。真他媽的遠。現在到的貨櫃櫃做公證，這段時間水果生意虧的扑街。80塊的貨到處都是。我想果農會哭著看sales statement吧。看著後面十幾櫃貨進了冷庫，心中還是有小小成就。雖然價錢不一定起的來，但是今年這樣跑來跑去認識了許多人，也吸取了很多經驗。無論賺錢與否，都是寶貴的一年。不過我想以後還是不要進冷庫了，跑的跟隻狗，賺不到錢不說，還要承擔品質的風險。真是沒事找事做啊... 冏... 

I am a fruit trader - part 1

從不覺得我的工作令我驕傲。這是一個亂七八糟的環境。忙起來的時候，早上6點就得到市場，一直到午夜才回家。懵懵懂懂，入行都已經快要10年了。十年來如一日，總覺得自己格格不入。直到今天這個清晨，我才對這個市場有另一種看法。從來沒有想過拿著相機在市場拍照，因為市場不准被拍攝。但我今天拿著我的小數碼相機，放在我的肚子前面，一邊逛市場，一邊猛按快門。我只能說這短短的10分鐘內 - priceless! 我深深的被這市場里的點點滴滴感動。當我一路走的時候，眼前所看見的一切好像慢動作般的，驅使我的右手拇指不斷的按快門。另我驚奇的是，原來這個市場是多麼的有生氣。各式各樣的人在各種不同的狀態，琳琅滿目的水果種類，大大小小的搬運機器及冷凍櫃子，成千上萬的破腳踏車到令人眼紅的雙B名車，各省地方及不同國家的生意人，千元到千萬元的年收入，200塊錢及100塊錢的葡萄，人人搶還有沒人要的貨...等等。仔細看看這個地方，原來這麼多年來，我miss掉了這一股與眾不同的動能。I have to say, it was the perfect moment.