actually most anything not liquor falls into the 'soft drink' category

The invite to the plant was from a local prominent person, which is always important in China. The guards did not want to allow us in until he said we were with him. However I've done pretty well just by asking too, it never hurts to ask!

Last month I did a tour of a flight kitchen in Beijing. Very nice, was treated like royalty even with a personal greeting by their staff when I got there.

(with thanks to United for coordinating those arrangements)

Also no, didn't see Ordos advertising at all, but did meet some people in the area that were/are geologist and consulting for a lot of the mining operations.