By Colleen Surridge

Parsons Sun

Michael Godbey walked across his spacious living room, past the fireplace, small manila envelopes in hand, and sat at his dining room table.

"You're not going to believe this," he said, as he unfastened the metal brad from the first envelope marked "Beijing" and pulled out a stack of pictures and a package of postcards. He tossed the postcards aside.

"Most people visit these places and bring back pictures of all the tourist attractions, like the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, but that is not the real China," Godbey said. "That is not how people really live."

For many years, Godbey, owner of D&M Associates Inc. of Parsons, has worked as a buyer and consultant for businesses across the U.S.

One of those businesses is First & Main, owned by Brad Holes of Chicago. First & Main makes teddy bears and owns a plant in Cambodia, where Holes invited Godbey to visit recently in conjunction with a business trip to the Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair.

"The Chinese are pretty innovative with colors, fabrics and trends," he said. "The fair in Hong Kong was my reason to go. I go to trade fairs and look for products."

Godbey had worked for Holes for 15 years and agreed it was time to visit the plant. He began his visit to China in Beijing, then traveled on to Qingdao, Guangzhou.

Across the ocean separating him from his Parsons home at the end of "Godbey Drive," he was shocked by what he found and documented in photos.

At his first stop, behind the 30-foot-deep line of trees surrounding the tourist area, Godbey found the real life of Beijing.

Businesses operating from small, deteriorated shanties, crammed side by side, block after block, drew his camera lens.

Dumpsters overflowing with garbage were within a block of a beautiful Buddhist temple.

"It was very dirty and filthy," he said. "They plant the trees as a barrier, so you can't see the real conditions."

The camera then turned to the apartment buildings lining the city skyline behind the businesses. Snapshots displayed laundry hanging from one balcony after another.

"There aren't any houses. Everyone lives in these small apartments, and most families share an apartment with two or three families," he said.

"We then flew to Qingdoa. It's a rural manufacturing area, and agricultural area. Everyone is in apartments, even out in the country. You won't see any houses. Even in the country. And everywhere you go, hanging from the balconies is laundry,"

The busy streets are packed with a few very small vehicles, but for the most part, the pictures showed bicycles and small scooters, many holding two to four passengers squeezed tightly between the seat and a rack mounted above the rear tire.

"A liter of gasoline is 90 cents ... in China, and in Cambodia, it is 60 cents a liter, but the pollution is terrible and you don't see any big gas guzzlers either. It's mostly bicycles and these scooters," he said.

Godbey then opened another envelope marked "Guangzhou." It is where another product fair was taking place, and Godbey was looking forward to saving 25 to 30 percent on products.

"This picture was taken from my motel room. It is 7 a.m. and the sun is up, and you can't even see the sky," he said. "Even in Los Angeles, you'd be able to see blue sky below the smog, but not here, and I was on the 48th floor. Here's another picture at 10 a.m., and the pollution is no better."

He opens another envelope marked "Phnom Penh," the capital of Cambodia, where Holes' plant is located. A picture of oxen pulling a large wagon filled with market goods travels down the busy street beside bicycles and scooters.

"Cows are sacred there. You will see a lot of cows roaming around all over ... and eating the garbage off the streets," he said. And again there are pictures of shanties, with rusted, corrugated tin propped up with sticks above the fronts of the small buildings where the people of Cambodia make their living.

While not much to look at on the outside, the inside of Holes' plant is clean and bright. Workers sit side by side at sewing machines, each sewing the 25 pieces of fuzzy material together that will become a teddy bear, possibly a gift for a child in the U.S.

Godbey explains that Holes is a Christian and ensures good working conditions for his employees. Many companies in the U.S. require top working conditions and humanitarian efforts or they will not purchase products from there.

Still, he said, inexperienced workers in Cambodia earn about $45 a month, and an experienced worker can earn $65 a month. That is 26 cents or 36 cents hourly. In China, while the inexperienced worker still earns the same, and experienced worker can earn upward of $128 a month.

Both are considerably more than in some areas, he said: "Vietnam is half the Cambodia wage."

Sitting there at his dining room table, the pictures - not of elegant temples and gardens, but of everyday life - before him, Godbey shook his head.

"I just thought people should see how it really is. It makes you feel bad," he said. "You can't begin to appreciate the song, 'Born in the U.S.A.'"