Juice

China

Mr. Zhu, or "Juice," is the ultimate BD Asia utility player. While his main job is driving the BD bus to and from the office each day, he spends the time in-between running errands, pitching in around the office and generally keeping the vibe positive with his ever-present smile. During lunch, he is the first guy on the slackline and always willing to throw on a harness and give you a belay. Originally from a village in Anhui Province, Juice and his extended family have been in Zhuhai for over a decade. The entire family is in the transportation business. Their car pool includes taxi cabs, private cars, vans, buses, and a couple of Sherman tanks.  "Juice, Inc." —THE name in corporate transportation.

Birthday? 14th day of the 2nd month in the Year of the Tiger.  Valentine’s day? No. that is 7th day of 7th month on lunar calendar.

Year you first started at Black Diamond? Three years ago in the Year of the Dog.

Memory/story of your first week at Black Diamond? I remember Mark Ritchie and another guy in my van talking. That was the first time I heard people communicating in English in real life. I thought it would be cool if I could say some English words. So after 3 year’s hard work, my English vocabulary has grown to about 25 words… my favorites are "sketchy" and "pitiful."

What does working at Black Diamond mean to you? Loads of fun plus a little bit of RMB to feed my family.

If you weren't working for Black Diamond, what would you be doing? Cirque du Soleil slackline walker.

Worst job you've ever had? Never had a bad job—I wouldn’t stay for a second …

Do you have any pets? Not at the moment, but I’d like to get a couple of mini piglets—the kind that never grow up. They’ve found one type only 25 cm high just a few days ago, somewhere in the US?

Favorite sports/activities? Definitely slacklining…

Favorite climbing area and why? Climbing is not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t mind hiking Mount Fenghuang north of Zhuhai though, it’s about 125 meters high… Goal is car-to-car in sub-8 hours.

Best climbing experience? Will share with you once I’ve conquered Mount Fenghuang…

What's your dream trip? Where? With who? You know, it may sound pretty sad, but I’ve never been to Shanghai although my home town is only 3 hours away by car. It was our (me and the beautiful girl with whom I grew up with in my village) dream to go there together one day. It will be my fantasy forever. You know why?... You got it, my wife will never let this happen…

Guilty pleasure? I can eat a dozen chicken feet if I’m REALLY hungry…

BD gear you use every time you go climbing? I use BD headlamps when I hunt mud crabs in a stream five minutes walk from my home.

What/who inspires you? My parents and my kids.

What's in your iPod? I don’t have an iPod but I like disco music while I’m driving. I love the rhythm and it keeps me awake.

Strangest place you've ever woken up? I can sleep anywhere so I don’t feel strange if I end up in someplace unexpected.

Strangest person you've ever woken up with? I’m quite disciplined in terms of whom I sleep with…

Three things you'd never travel without? Wallet, cell phone and good spirit.

Superstitions? Don’t ask me why but the number 17 doesn’t work very well with me.  I try to avoid it if I can…

What's your dream job? The job I have in BD now.

If you could steal one thing and not get caught, what would it be? I love money, but if I could steal happiness from somewhere in this world that would be cool…

If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive) who would they be? Don’t like dead people. As for living people, anyone is welcome as long as they can handle chicken feet…

Do you have any tattoos or piercings? WTF is that? No! No! I don’t like those things on the body my parents gave me.