My journey to the far east.
To understand the history of our company first you should understand how it is I met my wife. I was a struggling art student at Ulster County Community College. I crammed 18 credits into two 14 hour days and commuted 3 hours on Mondays and Fridays to do carpentry. I was studying Aikido, Tai Chi, and also trying to make a feature film. I discovered the community college had an exchange program to China, so I grabbed the opportunity and flew with it. I left for China in September 2003. The exchange was with Shandong University of Technology in Zibo, Shandong Province.
I met Sun Na my first day on campus and on our first night out I told her I was going to marry her. I stayed until Spring and then went back to NY to work.
I opened a DBA for Chinese Connection in 2004 and sold at Mower's Market in Woodstock from June until September and returned to China to Study another semester and teach English. While in China I studied Chinese culture, Mandarin, and traditional Chinese painting. I also took advantage of my time by shooting 3,000 black and white pictures and countless hours of video, and traveled a few thousand miles on trains, buses and bikes.
​
I did another summer on my own at Mower's Market, Stormville Flea Market and a small market in High Falls NY. Finally after two summers apart the paperwork went through and Sun Na was granted a fiancé visa and we were married in the Fall of 2005. We are a perfect couple. We live and work together in harmony. Our relationship is one thing that sets us apart from other businesses.
We returned to China in February and shipped our first 20' container. We purchased a school bus and cleaned it up for running around to various markets. Every year we have made leaps and bounds with our inventory and display. Now we are into our 14th year together. We've had countless pop up stores and are currently landscaping our yard at The Traveling Buddha HQ in Olivebridge, New York. Be on the lookout for our opening when the gardens are finished and we open the yard to the public.