chinese business partners

About 1.5 years ago, H left a note on an internet portal for companies shipping stuff to China. Shortly afterwards, he received an email from David. David said his company would be interested in buying PET lumps (material that is waste when something goes wrong during the production of plastic bottles). H replied that he was about to fly to Taipei anyway, and he'd consider a short detour to Shanghai. David said, fine, but he'd bring his wife because she spoke English. H said, fine, and that he'd bring his wife who spoke English and Chinese. So we met David and Jenny, newly-weds my age. They picked us up from the airport and, very un-Chinese, started talking business as soon as we got in the car. They took us out for Shanghai food, and, even more un-Chinese, the whole deal was settled before the main courses arrived. The first container was due to leave Germany shortly after H's return. It's been about 20 containers since.
Of course, we saw them again when we went back to Shanghai last October. Again, they treated us to lunches and dinners and a coffee in the bar of the Hyatt in the Jinmao Tower, a climb up the tv tower, a tour through the Yuyuan, and, for H, a day in Zhouzhuang including a rickshaw ride, something he had begged me to do and I would never have taken him to. In return, we invited them to a dinner with all my German friends in Shanghai, their Chinese spouses and some visitors. I think they really enjoyed themselves (and were surprised to see so many Germans speaking Chinese).

Last week, Jenny called and said she was coming to Frankfurt for a trade fair. And if we could see each other. So we picked her and her colleague Cici up from the airport and took them to the hotel they had booked through the internet. I think they were a bit surprised, the old family-style run villa didn't quite look like the kind of hotel they're used to. Jenny's first question was about checking emails: "What, no DSL????" - Sorry, Jenny, Germany is a bit backwards in this regard :-S. The second thing they noticed was: "Window panes and anything else made from glass is soooo clean - much cleaner than in Shanghai."
The girls spent all day at the fair, so we only had some time in the evenings to do some Frankfurt sightseeing and take them out to dinner. Not surprisingly, they weren't too much into the (really good) Italian food. And preferred the Germanized Chinese food we tried the next day in the only Chinese restaurant I walked in in Germany so far that was actually run by Mainland Chinese - the food wasn't much better than in the Vietnamese- and Hong Kong-run places, though :-S I took them to the main sightseeing areas (and patiently waited while they took their time posing in front of whatever was worth having oneself pose in front of). And H thankfully offered his sister (in whose place H and I were staying) to pick her up from the airport and thus escape the inevitable shopping trip to the Zeil (basically spent in Esprit and H&M where we were the last ones to leave, about 15 minutes after they had closed). German shop opening times including the concept of everything being closed on Sundays, were, of course, a little bit puzzling to the two of them. We took them to the airport again and made them promise to bring more time for their next visit so that we can really spend some time together and take them to places that are much more interesting than Frankfurt and where we know our way around. Like Heidelberg and the Odenwald. Mind you, I guess there is a greater possibility that the next time we see each other might be in Shanghai. I MISS Alex...