tales from "studying" abroad

What's so Funny?

2007-04-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

One day while in Yangshuo China sis, the German, and myself had a throughly entertaining lunch at a hostel/restaurant called Lisa's. We chose this particular establishment because our Lonely Planet described it as a local institution whose owner had a penchant for wearing Mao jackets. Based on this description there was no way we could go wrong!

We sat down, and started thumbing through the menu. As a hostel/restaurant Lisa provided a number of services meant to help their guests enjoy their time in Yangshuo. Most of the services were simply making booking for tours and transit, which is actually a pretty valuable service in a country where you can't speak the language. However when we read #7 both sis and I started laughing for obvious reasons. Granted they meant Laundry service, but in the land of the "special massage" you never know what kind of service they could offer sis and I. . .

As all of us start laughing at the Landry service, our waitress comes over and goes "What's so funny?" We try to explain the joke to her, but it flew over her head and she looked at us like we were crazy gweilos. Another example of how humor translates poorly. . .

Well moving on from the services page we start noticing intresting things like dog, snake and bamboo rat intermixed amongst the standard chicken, beef and pork. For those of you not familiar with a bamboo rat, let me provide a visual aid:

Sis, recently arrived into China, started looking very squeamish at some of the options available before her. The German and I were not so squeamish and figured when in Yangshuo do as the Yangshoians and decided to order something exotic. Sis put her foot down at the dog(as a former subscriber to Dog Fancy magazine I can't imagine why) and bamboo rat, but we were able to convince her to order a snake dish along with the more normal chicken and pork.

We get our chicken and pork dishes pretty quickly, but the snake is taking a long time to come. Just as we were starting to wonder what was going on this guy comes into the restaurant with a bag that is moving. Apparantely when we ordered the snake an employee went to the local market to buy our lunch. Our waitress sees this and goes "Your snake is here, would you like to see it?"

Well, Sis instantly turns green and goes "No, no, no, no!!!!" The German and I of course say "Yes!" and start laughing as Sis shoots us a death glare. This was enough for the waitress and she fishes the snake out of the bag for our inspection.

Sis squeals and cringes since she is actually afraid of snakes. This of course causes the German and I to start laughing hysterically which prompts another "What's so funny?" and puzzled glance from our waitress. . .

Well shortly thereafter the snake arrives on our table. The German and I dig in. The snake was actually only okay, it tasted like a boney chicken with a squid like texture. . . Sis, only takes a couple of bites before she calls it quits. The German was more than happy to eat her share.

After stuffing ourselves the three of us decide to hit the bathroom before we leave. There were only 2 bathrooms, so I have to wait while the German and Sis do their thing. As I hear the toilet flush I hear sis squeal. Then I hear the German go "Holy #%#%" in his room. He comes out and goes "watch out for the flush on that thing mate." Sis comes out and confirms that the toilets erupt like a geyser when flushed. Apparently this caught both of them by surprise. . . Well my curiosity gets the better of me and I decide to test this flush mechanism before I do my thing. Sure enough it's a verifiable Old Faithful that hits the garbage can with its spray. . .

Again we all bust a gut and our waitress sees this and again goes "What's so funny?!?" We point to the toilet which only gets us a blank look from her.

I guess misspellings, slithering snakes, and exploding toilets are only funny to crazy gweilo like us. . .

My pictures

2007-04-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

So, I've given you a taste of my pictures from abroad through my posts. However if you want to browse the motherload point your browsers to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SloopJohnBSLW

I passed!

2007-04-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got my grades for my time abroad. . . 2As and a B+.

Damn it, I worked too hard in Asia!!!!

Back Home

2007-03-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well after 3.5 months of traveling, er I mean studying, I'm now safely back in Chicago. I have to admit it's kind of weird being back and

Being able to eavesdrop since I can understand the language being spoken around me.
Not seeing teeming masses of humanity on city sidewalks.
Not being a minority anymore.

It's now back to work. . . I had a case due yesterday for the first day of class, 2 classes today, and a case due for class tomorrow. No easy rentry for me, damnit!

Anyways, I've fallen a bit behind with the blog and have quite a few destinations I still need to write about. Provided that classes don't get in the way I'll write about them as I have time. . . I may be home but the stories will continue.

Adding to the collection

2007-03-18T01:52:00.000-07:00

Well as promised, here is a continuation of the sign collection with some of the signs sis and I found in Yangshuo. . . Enjoy!

While I find them funny, I give mad props to the Chinese for trying. Even though they're not perfect, they do get the point across. All of us greatly appreciated the effort in making our navigation much easier.

Anyways, I consider this payback for how my HK friends laughed at my attempts in Cantonese and Mandarin. See it's a 2-way street! We all get a kick out of non-natives trying out our native tongue. :)

3 signs of beauty

2007-03-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

So, Sis, one of the germans and myself are in Yangshuo China admiring the scenery and having a very good time. A full travelogue will be forthcoming when I can add pictures, but here was today's gem:

We all went on a daytrip to see the dragon's backbone rice terraces 4 hours north of Yangshuo. Really beautiful and well worth the trip. On the way there our guide explains thet the terraces are the home of the Yao people and goes on to explain about their rituals and customs. She then goes on to explain the "three things that make a wife attractive to a husband in Yao culture:"

"Big Feet so they can climb up the mountains easier."
"Big Voice so that they can call their husband down from the top of the mountain to eat. this was before cell phones."
"Big Ass because it means lots of babies."

Of course her choice of vocabulary caused all of us gweilos to laugh. We would have used wide hips. . .

30 Hours in Disney with the Death Penalty (Now with Pictures)

2007-03-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

Our hopscotch through SE Asia ended with a 30 hour layover in Singapore. Plenty of time, according to many here in HK, to see a city dubbed by many to be the "Nanny State" or "Disney with the Death Penalty." When I asked people in HK to give me their impressions of the city the first words out of everybody's mouths was "It's so clean!" Not a ringing endorsement for the city in my mind. I mean Milwaukee and Omaha are clean too, but this does not make them awesome tourist destinations.

All in all, Singapore lived up to its reputation and hype. Indeed it was extremely clean, and it did indeed feel like a giant Disney World. That impression began forming immediately when the immigration officer noticed I was staying on Jeslan Basar street and recommended I visit a computer market near my hostel. Normally you're lucky if an immigration officer responds to your hello, let alone act as a tourist information service.

Once we left the airport it suddenly felt like we had entered a British Commonwealth Epcot with Indians, Chinese, Malays, and Gweilos all represented. It's a very diverse city but, in the interest of keeping things orderly, everybody has their own neighborhood (like Epcot!) where they recreate a touch of home complete with restaurants and architecture.

Little India is filled with Hindu Temples (sorry didn't take pics)

Arab Street (Yes there is an Arab Street) has mosques,
Chinatown (which is the cleanest Chinatown I've ever seen) has a roming group of Chinese musicians and lion dancers.

Colonial District has all the old british colonial architecure and western hip restaurants

Yes, many other cities, including Chicago, have ethnic neighborhoods. However it all seemed a bit artificial, a bit too planed and very sterile. Plus we would never name a street "Arab Street"

However there was more than just Epcot!

There was Animal Kingdom in the form of the Singapore night safari, which is incredibly nice and fun but incredibly touristy. The main attraction there is a tram tour where you can see nocturnal animals actually doing something, while the guide narrates in a cheesy way. Thankfully she didn't say "lions and tigers and bears oh my!" but she got damn close a couple of times.

There is the Magic Kingdom in the form of Sentosa Island, filled with modern tourist attractions like a skyride and motion simulator rides, but we skipped that part.

Continuing the Disney theme, the city had an imaginary "mascot" in the form of the merlion (half fish and half lion) that guarded the waterfront and posed for tourist pictures.

After visiting the above sights, I notice that the Lonely Planet Singapore (bought on the streets of Vietnam for US$2) wrote up the GSB's Singapre Campus as a tourist site because its in an old chinese mansion with beautiful roofs. (goes to show how little there is to see huh?) Curious about our campus, I drag the reluctant Spaniard to check it out. For some reason he had no desire to visit the Asian Exec MBA campus for a school he didn't attend. I can't imagine why. . .

Well LP was right, it's a great building with beauiful courtyards and roofs. However, more importantly we both got to check our email and get a couple of drinks for free in air conditioned comfort. Free internet and pops made the Spaniard suddenly glad we made the stop. He even picked up a cople of copies of Capital Ideas and GSB magazine for the plane ride back.

After our stop at the GSB our layover came to an end and we went back to the exit gate of the park, er I mean airport, where we were treated to a bit of Singaporean propaganda. We were flying Tiger Airways, an Asian version of Southwest, so we had to fly out of the "Budget Terminal"(yes that's what they called it). Basically it was an old hanger that they made into a bare-boned terminal with few ammenities. Think old Midway with a couple of layers of bright paint. Despite providing an inferior product, the government tried to work the PR angle by plastering the slogan "Budget Terminal . . . Enjoy the Difference!" all over the building.

It was kind of insulting really. At best the governement thought people were stupid enough to think they were getting something better. At worst they were rubbing our noses in the fact we were flying budget carriers and didn't deserve anything better.

Oh well, I did "enjoy the difference" from HK that Singapore offered, but I was still very happy to get on a plane to return to my more character-filled home of the last 3 months. One can only take so much Disney before they need to leave.

And done. . .

2007-03-10T02:41:00.000-08:00

I just finished all of my classes today with my OB final and Buyer Behavior presentation. With that my educational career in HK has come to an end. I'll wait to give the synopsis of my classes until my grades are in the GSB's hands. . . I might not need As, but I still need to pass.

Now that everybody's all done all of us students are going out for one last dinner and party tonight before we all head our separate ways. In the meantime I'm packing up my room, and getting ready to leave for Yangshou with sis and one of the Germans tomorrow night. I'll be back in HK for 2 nights before I leave for Japan, so this is not really good bye to this great city, but it's still kind of sad. . .

Fall of Saigon

2007-03-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

The last part of the Vietnam series involves some misadventures we had in Saigon.

We arrived at our hostel in Saigon at 1am after flying in from Hue where we had a good time seeing temples, tombs and the old Vietnamese imperial palace.

We had parted ways with the Spaniard's friend in Hue since she was interested in seeing more of the center of the country, and had little interest in visiting another big Vietnamese city after living in Hanoi.

Before we left Hue, we had booked a ticket for a Cu Chi Tunnel tour from a travel agent recommended by our guidebook. The agent told us that we needed to be at the pick-up site by 7:30am. Given our late arrival into Saigon we weren't too happy about the timing, but we were willing to do what was required in order to see the tunnels.

Like dutiful tourists we arrived at the preordained time to catch the tour. Imagine, our anger when we found that the 7:30 time was only to pick up our tickets and not for the tour, which actually left at 8:30. We were pissed off about losing an hour of sleep, but what could we do but wait an hour?

We walked around the area to kill some time, and returned to the pick-up site (the Sinh Cafe) to find a scene that can only be described as the fall of Saigon (I hate to use that cliche but seems highly appropriate no?)

Turns out there were like 20 tours leaving from this 1 block stretch of sidewalk and there was no organization to the madness at all. 8:30 passes, then 9 with no tour but continued promises of only 10 minutes more from the staff in the ticket office.

I start talking, no really I was bitching, about the situation with a family of 6 from England who are living in Beijing but vacationing in SE Asia who were on our tour. We decide to abort and take a taxi together to the tunnels (which given 8 people would only be slightly more expensive than the tour). The family is able to get their money back easily,but for some reason the staff resists my efforts to get back our US$10. It was also amazing how quickly their english deteriorated in the face of an unhappy customer. Sleepy, undercaffenated Sloop is pissed and busts out the "Ugly American" in all of us against the managers of this sorry excuse of an operation:

"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!! YOUR OFFICE IN HUE TOLD US TO BE HERE FOR THE TOUR AT 7:30 AND IT IS NOW PAST 9 WITH NO WORD OF WHEN IF EVER WE WILL GET OUT OF HERE. I WANT MY MONEY BACK AND I WANT IT NOW!!!!!"

Despite the guidebooks warning against losing your cool (and thus your face), the managers relented and I got our money back. They did curse at me in Vietnamese, which I of course couldn't understand (my guess is "I hope your sorry mother^%$&^% ass falls in some of those traps at Cu Chi), but I got my money back and couldn't care what they thought.

I've already covered the Cu Chi tunnels and the War Remnants museum, so no need to rehash old news.

The rest of our time in Saigon was fun, reflecting the rest of our time in the country. However, the trip ended on one big sour note. As we were leaving the Nga Hoang (I put the name in so that people googling it might be able to find this post) hostel in Saigon (where we had a private room) I looked in my backpack to make sure I packed my camera. I quickly noticed that the iPod nano I got for Christmas was missing, which was odd since I hadn't taken it out of the backpack my entire time in Vietnam. My mind immediately went "Oh Shit" I was robbed, and instinctively looked through my neck wallet which had been packed in the same backpack during our time in Saigon. Sure enough the HK$500(US$65) I had stored there was missing as well.

I run back to our room, which we left 2 minutes before, to find the maid already "cleaning up." I start scouring the room in search of my missing possessions. I of course couldn't find the $500, but somehow the maid did underneath the mattress. I of course didn't put it there, and my guess is that whoever rifled through my stuff hid it there hoping I would check-out without noticing my loss until I was well out of the area.

Why wouldn't they just outright steal it you ask? Well, my hypothesis is a HK$500 bill is easily transported, untraceable, and unlikely to be noticed until I got back to HK and needed some local currency. However, my iPod might be traceable or identifiable and might be noticed before my departure, in which case she could get caught. Better just to hide it in my room in order to mitigate this risk.

Anyways, at least I got back my iPod, which was much more valuable, but losing the equivilent of US$65 still stings. Though what bothered me more is that somebody actually went through my stuff to rob me as none of this was laying out in the room.

So, if you ever have a chance to go to Saigon, be very careful with what you buy and where you put your stuff. . .

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

2007-03-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Allright back to Vietnam. . . We happened to be in Vietnam for Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, which is their biggest holiday of the year. (Also, the holiday that gave its name to the Tet offensive, but that was the topic of another post) After witnessing the holiday first hand, I wholeheartedly agree with the guidebook's description that it's like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year's all rolled into one 4 day holiday.

We were in Hanoi for the run-up to Tet and the city was abuzz with activity. So much so in fact, that the Spaniard's friend commented that this was the most animated she had ever seen the population. Everybody was buying gifts for family, food for the big meals, and flowers and mandarin trees for decoration. To accomidate the crush of commerce, impromptu markets sprung up everywhere, especially along the side of major highways (and sometimes in the middle of major highways) which made getting around very slow moving.

This proved to be a significant hassle as we prepared to leave Hanoi to go to our next destinations, Hoi An and Hue in the center of the country. We had heard really good things about both destinations and thought that they would be good places to pass Tet since their beach access would allow us to while away days without worrying about things being closed for the holiday.

Given the aforementioned markets, our cab was caught in a lot of traffic on the way to the airport, and we had a tense ride where we worried about missing our flight. Luckily we got to the airport with enough time(5 minutes to spare), only to find the flight overbooked and the Spaniard's friend was designated the potential bumpee. The check-in lady explained that since it was Tet the flights were overbooked with Vietnamese returning home to their villages and preference was being to Vietnamese wanting to get home for the holiday. This was not the first time we had been discriminated against.However there was still 1 unclaimed seat and we only had to wait 5 minutes before the flight closed for check-in and she could get it. We anxiously watched for signs of any Vietnamese people, but luckily for us (and for them because the Spaniard was talking about blocking their path). Luckily nobody showed and we all made the flight with no problem.

We arrive in Hoi An 2 hours later to begin the Tet eve celebrations which included everybody in the whole town (and every tourist within a 100 mile radius) on the waterfront partying in anticipation. There was also a carnival set up where people could win various food items at various games along with bingo for bigger prizes. We all try our hands at one game and the Spaniard's friend wins a box of cookies. She asks "What am I going to do with this". . . well actually it was "Que voy a hacer con esta" but that's a small detail. . . Well she gives a cookie to one kid and soon that was no longer a problem.

At midnight the fireworks went off and we were treated to a 20 minute show. Everybody oohed and aahed at each firework. We're too spoiled in the US to get worked up over fireworks anymore, so it was kind of cool to see everybody really get into it. After the show we fight our way with the throng of humanity towards the heart of the party. Almost every store we passed along the way had opened their doors with offerings for the new year, which I assume was to bring good fortune.

Also along the way local kids were jumping behind the Spaniard, without him knowing, to see if the jump as high as the top of his head. Luckily he didn't get smacked, which from my vantage point almost happened 3 times. Our journey ended to find the party in high gear.

However we had to cut the festivities short, since somebody wasn't in a party mood:

The next day we toured around Hoi An, which is a great little town to spend a couple of days.

It's famous for its custom tailoring where people can get suits made in 3 hours for US$60. However given it was Tet most of the stores were closed. There were a few open, where I was able to buy some souveneirs for back home. Despite being double priced for the holiday, it was still very reasonable. However given the dearth of shopping we quickly decamped to the beach for some R&R.

While sitting in a beachside restaurant enjoying some lunch and a few drinks, a local girl approaches to offer her goods for sale. She really nice andfriendly but guilts us into buying some things by giving a sob story about how business hasn't been good lately and thus she needs to work on Tet. We buy some peanuts and Tiger Balm for about $3. As she leaves she says Chuc Mung Nam Moi which means Happy Tet (or lunar New Year in Vietnamese).

However, if it has a similar meaning to Kung Hei Fat Choi (Happy Chinese New Year in Cantonese), which literally translates into something like "Congratulations on getting wealthy" then our Vietnamese friend is off to a good start.

PS: Given their new years greeting, how the Chinese (or the Vietnamese for that matter) ever thought they were communist is beyond me and Tripper.

Some more Chinglish

2007-03-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

My Dad has asked me to take pictures of the Chinglish signs I've encountered along the way in China. He wants me to "preserve history" before the linguistic police get rid of the funny. Although in a country of 1 billion+, I'm sure it'll be around for a while.

I've definitely been a little lax on documenting the signs, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to catch up in Yangshou. However, in order to appease my Dad I'll post what I have in my collection so far:

In Shenzhen as I'm leaving a store:

Courtesy of ChickenMan. . .Not one I've seen personally, but Chinese speakers I've asked said it's plausible since that is the literal translation in Chinese
An interesting way of saying "Do not enter" on the Great Wall...
These are from HK. Not exactly Chinglish but still interesting.

Some very erudite graffiti:

Why not just say clean up after your dog? Anyways I didn't know dogs played baseball.

The 4.5 fingered man awaits

2007-03-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

My sister just got here from Chicago to visit and travel with me as I take the long way back home via SW China and the GSB Japan trip this Sunday. Unfortunately she arrived just at the point where I actually have work to do for projects and finals. Oh well, I'm sure she'll be able to keep busy. . . there are many malls here in HK and she has brought a pretty empty extra suitcase.

Anyways the real reason for the post is to share the email I received from the hostel I reserved for us in Yangshou China via hostelworld.com. . .

Hi, SloopJohnBSLW:
We are warmly welcome you to the Yangshuo Culture House!
This is Wei who come from the Yangshuo Culture House, thanks a lot to book your room at the Yangshuo Culture House and your reservation XXXX-XXXX is good now. the room cost you pay that it's already including the three Chinese meals a day, the clean bed and the Chinese Culture experience as well.
Please give me a call when you are arrived in Yangshuo and we will have the free pick up in the Yangshuo city, you can call XXXX,XXXX if you use the Yangshuo local telephone.
And if you are use the foreign phone you can call as below:
XXXX,XXXXXX.
One thing that I would like to mention you that there are some people will try to cheat you, they will say they come from the Yangshuo Culture House, but they are not . there are only four and half finger in my right hand. so please just give me a call yourself directly to me and we will have the free pick up in the Yangshuo city.
All the best wishes and kind regards from the Yangshuo Culture House

Eventhough I'm leaving HK soon, the adventure will continue. . .

Getting a Different Perspective on the American War

2007-03-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

Some people go to Vietnam for the beaches, culture, or because it's cheap. However, I'm not going to lie, much of the reason I wanted to go to Vietnam was to visit the various Vietnam War, (American War depending on your side) sites around the country. We all know that I'm a nerd, but unfortunately the Spaniard didn't completely catch on to this until we were already in the country. Much to his chagrin I dragged him to various sites relevant to a War he didn't know or care much about. His friend made the comment, which he agreed with, that us Americans are obsessed by the War whereas Europeans don't really care. . .

The tour of sites started in Hanoi where we went to what remained of the "Hanoi Hilton." Most of the prison has been demolished to make way for a high rise development, but there is a museumin what remains. However most of the museum is about the atrocities and barbaric treatment the french conducted against the anti-colonial freedom fighters of Vietnam. The history I was most interested in reading comprised only 2 rooms. Despite the lack of content, it was worth the journey to read about all the "good treatment" the Americans received despite being agents of an Imperialistic aggressive government. They showed pictures of Americansat church, playing sports, eating, etc. They also showed what they claim to be John McCain's flight suit.

The next stop on the tour was Ho Chi Minh's tomb. Given I've seen Mao's pickled corpse, I wanted to continue the dead man's tour by visiting Uncle Ho. Unfortunately it was closed for Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), but we did get to see the house he lived in while president and from which he gave orders regarding the war. Instead of living in the mansion of the former French governor, Ho instead lived in a simple construction he had built on the mansion's grounds in order to project a certain symbolism of having power but still being an egalitarian man. However, despite his wishes, that symbolism changed upon his death:

Former French governor's mansion, now presidential palace used for ceremonial events:

Ho's former house:

Ho's current house:

In the center of the country we passed by China Beach of TV fame. Granted we only saw it from a nearby mountain, but this is where US GI's got they're R&R not too far from the DMZ. . .
We also went to a museum where captured US military equipment was on display like trophies:
All of the previous sites were interesting but the highlights of the magical history tour were in Saigon where we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Remnants Museum. The Cu Chi Tunnels were really cool and surreal at the same time. They are a network, of over 100kms, of tunnels about 1.5 hrs outside of Saigon where many Viet Cong hid and lived during the war. It was an engineering feat to say the least, and drove home how determined the Viet Cong were to win and how intractable the situation was for the US. The guide leading us around told us, with a lot of patriotic pride, that:

The tunnels were designed very modularly so that destruction of one section wouldn't harm the others.
People had enough drive that they lived in the claustrophobic tunnels for months on end in order to serve the cause.
They provided away for the Viet Cong to conduct military operations out of sight before sneaking off and blending into the population.

Just to give you an idea of how small the tunnels are (Keep in mind they expanded them to accomidate the larger sizes of western tourists):

They also had replicas of the various booby traps they used to maim and kill American soldiers in the field. Here's a rather tame one that would be hidden in a covered hole waiting for an unsuspecting leg (yes those spears are barbed):

On a lighter note, after visiting the traps you can play commando and shoot an AK-47 for US$1 a bullet. Of course I bit, but I did find it ironic that a location originally designed and built to expel shooting Americans from the country would be inviting Americans back to shoot weapons. Ah the power of the all mighty dollar.

As for the War Remnants museum. . .keep in mind that it used to be called the War Crimes Museum before the government began actively promoting tourism. Despite the name change, the tone of the exhibits remains the same. There were pictures of deformed and burned people, a jar with a deformed fetus, and children with all sorts of birth defects supposedly from the use of Napalm and Agent Oragne. My Lai was also given a lot of space.

Stories of shooting civilians were also discussed at length. Given the Viet Cong's tendency to slip into the population, I can't say American's were completely to blame but there was no mention of that at the museum. Plus, we don't know if they truly were full-time civilians or whether they moonlighted in Cu Chi. . .

There were also exhibits showing 60s peace demonstrations from the US and around the world that showed "solidarity with the Vietnamese people and cause." (of course the protests was active support for the Viet Cong and not simply disapproval with American involvement.)

Visiting all these sites was great, if only to get the perspective of a population who viewed the US as invadors and not liberators and what happens when you fight them in a guerrila war where it's hard to distinguish the combatants.

Going to all these sites spurred the Spaniard to want to learn more about the War's history as being there made the history come alive. It's too bad President Bush only went to visit Vietnam last fall since it would have been good for him to gain a similar interest and learn some of these lessons earlier . . .

You know what they say: those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. . .

River of Gold

2007-03-05T01:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm going to take a break from recounting my travels to share today's events in Shenzhen. I went there yet again to pick up some clothes I was having tailor made. Unfortunately I left the PRC sans those clothes because A) the suit was too tight and thus needs further alterations and B) the shirt tailor was closed despite promising to be open today. . . Mother(*&(*@#&!. Oh well, such is life when you cheap out and go to Shenzhen for clothes. . .

Anyways, I decided to venture further into Shenzhen to do some souveneir shopping away from the more expensive "Commercial City" at the Lo Wu border. In order to leave the border I had to take Shenzhen's metro (which is very nice). I actually had a good excursion, which saved the day from being a complete wreck, and bought some gifts for family back at home and for my sister who's coming to visit me in HK in a couple of days.

On my return ride I was on guard for pickpockets, which are plentiful in Shenzhen. So, when I saw a seat open up I sat down in order to better protect my wallet. I thought nothing of sitting next to a father whose toddler was standing on the seat next to him. A minute or two later I saw the father jump out of his seat. He then starts tapping me on the shoulder with some urgency, but given I didn't speak Chinese I didn't know what was wrong. I was also a bit afraid it was a ruse to distract and pickpocket me. He then starts pointing to the seat next to me, and I look at what has him all worried. That's when I notice a yellow river being propelled my way due to the mometum of the train. Yes that's right his son pissed all over the bench.

He suddenly has my attention and I leap out of my seat. Luckily I escape getting wet by an inch or so. Meanwhile everybody in the train is having a good laugh at me, and does not seem to mind that the toddler has turned the train car into his own urinal. There were no looks of shock or disgust. For them it was another instance of a foreigner overreacting to something common over here. Although they did give the father tissue to help clean up after his son, which he dutifully did. They offer them to me as well, but thankfully I didn't need them.

I look to the kid and notice that his pants are not wet. As I'm contemplating how the hell the kid pissed all over the seat . . . I mean did he drop trou? . . . I notice that his pants have a slit open in the front and in the back and that there is no diaper (or anything of any kind for that matter since I saw flesh). He just let loose and his clothes were designed not to catch it.

What the ^%$&$^&?!?!! Do his parents let him make the world his bathroom?!?!?!

If so, I realize there could have been a much messier situation on the metro. . .

Bumper Boats

2007-03-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

So, now that I've given you all the overview of the country from my eyes, it's time to begin with the travelogue. . .

Our journey through Vietnam began in Hanoi. The Spaniard's friend graciously offered to host us in her apartment before traveling with us through the center of the country for Tet (or Vietnamese Lunar New Year). She was a great travel companion and helped us book various tours, hostels, and plane tickets which made our journey so much easier. She was also able to give us a bit of perspective on the country given her work for the World Bank.

However we weren't in Hanoi for long before we were on a trip to Halong Bay (which she booked for us) which is a little over 100kms away from Hanoi. Sounds like it’s close huh? Well given that the highway is not that good and it’s choked with motos, the trip takes about 3 hours by bus.

However, it’s worth the journey because it is a beautiful bay punctuated by hundreds of small limestone outcrops jutting vertically out of the ocean. The only way to see the bay is via a cruise, and the most popular option is a 2 day 1 night cruise on board a junk-looking vessel that includes everythingbut drinks. The tour was a pricey(by Vietnam standards) at US$39 per person . Here is the postcard scene of the bay. . .

However that beauty does attract a crowd, and there were tons of boats at every destination we went to. Add to that the lax regulations and it was kind of a free-for-all. At the various dock we would occasionally bump into the other boats as we tried to muscle in to the docks. Here's us nonchalantly drifting into our neighbors.

Despite the efforts, we'd often still be 4 boats away from the dock and we'd have to climb from boat to boat to get off and on. (Our boat is the one on the second from the right)

The various ports of calls that required me to bust out my nautical gymnastic moves allowed us to kayak, visit caves, climb to the top of the islands for the views, and go to the beach. After travelling through cities, communing with nature was very nice.However, it wasn't a complete escape as we still had to us to hear the pitches of locals looking to sell us something. However given the relative isolation of the bay I had to give them credit. In many ways it was the picture of entrepreneurship.
Yes both the Spaniard and I entered another country that's nominally communist despite the best efforts of their citizens. . .

Going to Nam

2007-02-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of entries over the last couple of weeks. After we got into Vietnam I found it hard to both find the time to write and also to simply log-in to Blogger (hmm, the great chinese firewall caused me similar angst).

Anyways, the Spaniard and I had an incredible time in Vietnam. It's a great country with tons to see that definitely lived up to expectations. While there we traveled to Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I'll get to a detailed travelogue later, but before I do here are some of my overall impressions of the country.

There are plenty of tourists, but the country still feels a bit unspolied. They know how to deal with tourists, but it hasn't gotten too commercialized. For example, there were virtually no western stores or restaurants. In fact, restaurants and stores were often extensions of a family's home.
The Vietnamese, on average, definitely tend to be on the smaller side (I'd say even smaller than the Chinese), maybe it's all the healthy food they eat. . . The spanish language has institutionalized this observation as I discovered that the spanish word for vietnamese is "vietnamITAs." For those of you who know spanish, the suffix should mean something to you. I was told by the locals a few times that I was Vietnamese sized (yes I know I'm short why did they need to point that out), but we as a group tended to stick out a bit due to the Spaniard. One of our guides provides an excellent example of how much he stuck out.

The people in Vietnam, by and large, are extremely friendly. Given the history between our two countries I expected more of an undercurrent of hostility or at least stand-offishness. However people were generally friendly and smiling, especially when they had something to sell. Although, even when they didn't they would say hello as they passed us on motorbikes or on the street. The Spaniard's friend, who traveled with us and works at the World Bank in Hanoi, explained that the leader of the communist party, who lost many family members in the war, posted online to a citizen's forum (which apparantely is pretty big there) a response to a question about whether he held any ill-will to the Americans. He said something like "Yes the american government was imperialistic, but we should not hold that against the citizens of the country. Plus that was the past and we need to look to the future."

Two types of architecture predominate and battle it out on the streets, french colonial and chinese. The influences are everywhere.

(a tomb outside Hue)

(the post office in Saigon. . . oops I mean Ho Chi Minh City)

There is no doubt that the country is poor. The Spaniard's friend, said that the governments goal is to lift GDP/capita from $650 to over $1000 in order to be considered a "middle income" country. That being said, it appeared that people's basic needs were being met, it was more that things were less developed. This is especially true of their infrastructure. To get between Hanoi and the center of the country and then to Saigon the options were two 1 hour flights or a total of 40 hours on a train. . . (We definitely chose the more civilized way).
The entire country is cheap, incredibly so actually. At 16,000 Dong to the dollar we had to get used to a completely different price level. Good meals where we'd order appetizers, entrees, beer, etc would be $5 per person. Opening bids at markets and stores would be $3 for a T-Shirt, $4 for a tie, $5 for a shawl (and quoted in dollars which are accepted as easily as dong). Even overpriced tourist bottles of water or coke would be $0.66. It almost made haggling not worth it, but fear not I still did it (remember cheapskate here.) However I would request that we negotiate in dong. I don't know. . . getting a discount of 5,000-10,000 dong felt better than a discount of $0.33 - $0.66.

Despite being incredibly cheap, the food was incredibly good. Full of fresh healthy ingredients stir fried with tons of exotic and great flavors. It's also pretty healthy (as long as you stay away from deep fried spring rolls. . . ) I've grown a new appreciation for Vietnamese food, which I will be indulging on Argyle street upon my return.
Traffic is a nightmare . . . everywhere. The only cars you see are mostly buses, taxis, and official vehicles. However the lack of cars is more than compensated by an abundance of motorbikes. Everybody in the country seems to have a motorbike which they seem to drive 24 hours a day. We read a statistic(in the inflight magazine upon departure of all places) that says there are 25 (unofficially 50) motorbikes for every car and despite the source we have no reason to dispute this. Moreover, these motos are always overloaded. . . dangerously so. . .You will see families of four perched on 1 moto all the time (Yes that little head you see is a child standing on a moto).

Unfortunately, despite the massive amount of motos at every turn, there are few traffic lights. Supposedly they've only started installing them in the last few years. As a result, crossing the street was always an adventure and I felt a little uneasy everytime I did it. The local trick, which is very disconcerting, was to just start crossing the street at a constant predictable clip and let the motos avoid you. The spaniard's friend employed a modified technique of directing traffic (ie using hand motions to tell them to tell them to stop or go). As you can see it took a bit for me to get used to either method.

Despite my concerns, I ended up being a street crossing pro by the end of the journey. Needless to say I survived to have plenty of adventures in the country. More on those later. . .

Long Live the King (Now with Pictures)

2007-02-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

So, the Spaniard and I began our hopscotch through SE Asia a couple of days ago by catching a ferry from HK to Macau to connect to a flight to Bangkok for an eventual flight to Hanoi. Quite the journey to save just a couple of bucks, but it did allow me to spend a couple of days in Bangkok on the way to Vietnam.

Bangkok was great, and we saw all the requisite sights, including the royal palace and various temples. We also ate great Thai food, and visited the nightlife areas, including Khao San Road and Si Lom. All in all a full couple of days.

One of the most memorable things about Thailand was the admiration the king has amongst his people. Every where you turned, including the airport, there were pictures of the king and signs proclaiming "long live the king!" Before getting here we had read that he is held in such high esteem that after the fall coup the new military leaders went to him for his blessing. By granting it, the king gave the new regime legitmacy and the people went back to their normal business.

One manifestation of this esteem was that over half the Thais we saw were wearing yellow shirts with some weird crest on it yesterday.

The Spaniard noticing this decided to buy one for himself and put it on. Turns out the yellow shirt is a sign of solidarity with the king and the crest was the royal crest. Everybody happened to be wearing it yesterday because this is the 60th anniversary of his reign and his 80th year of life. To celebrate this Thais wear the yellow shirt every Monday because the king was born on a Monday.

Well this action by the Spaniard endeared us to the locals. Many people came up to us thanking him for wearing the shirt, and asking how he knew to wear it. Others asked us if he worked in Bangkok since he was doing something local. This was then followed by is this your first visit to Thailand and how long have you been here?

While, all in all the Thai were a very friendly people, but after a while we figured that there was a more sinister motive for some people behind the line of questioning. Basically it was there way of determining how fresh off the plane are these tourists and how much can we overcharge them. We fell for one scam when a friendly local, who we asked for directions, told us our destination was far away and that we should see this other destination as well. Before we knew it we were in a Tuk Tuk(thing motorized rickshaw) going to our destination for only 20 Baht(70 cents). However we were also taken to a Jewelry store, ticket broker, and custome tailor where the tuk tuk driver received commissions. We only escaped the longtail boat trip after the Spaniard used his height and a loud voice to intimidate the driver into taking us to our final destination. (Note picture is before the detours. . .)

Damn it we were had, especially since we were dropped off where we started and our final destination ended up being a 10 minute walk away. Of course on the way another friendly local came up to us telling us the Sleeping Buddha, where we were heading, was closed along with the temple across the river were closed for ¨Buddha Day.¨ Instead we should go to other sights via tuk tuk which he could help us with. . . Of course, we didn´t fall for the ruse a second time and we headed to a very open Sleeping Buddha and very open temple. (Proof that the Sleeping Buddha was open)

After these stops we hopped into the taxi to head to the democracy monument just to walk around the area in which it was located. Of course it was ¨closed¨as well and the driver wanted to take us somewhere else. Yes there was a coup, but we knew the democracy monument was still there as we had driven by it several times. Plus, its just a statue in a traffic circle, so it´s always open and we got to view the now ironic monument.

I guess even though you dress like a local, you still wear a target on your back when traveling.

Staying close to home

2007-02-11T03:03:00.000-08:00

Ever since getting back from Beijing I've been in Hong Kong, or the environs like Shenzhen. Part of it has been forced on me, since I needed to get visas for my upcoming trip to Vietnam with the Spaniard (via Bangkok and Singapore - got a love how the student budget forces some unique itineraries and connections), and a GSB sponsored trip to Bangalore India to interview applicants to the Class of 09. No Passport = No travel, so HK it has been.

Not that it has been a bad thing, as I've gotten a chance to better know this amazing city(seriously everybody should put HK on their list of places to see). The most fascinating thing has been the contrasts and blends of east and west that I've been noticing on a daily basis:

The street markets springing up outside Louis Vuitton stores.
Buildings with dilapadated facades sporting beautiful lobbies.
Modern skyscrapers being built with bamboo scaffolding
HK Chinese sporting perfect English/Aussie/American/Candadian accents (Hi Josekin and Ivan!)
Walgreen type stores selling chinese folk remedies, etc.
Whole-Food type supermarket seafood sections selling live(well live before you purchase) fish swimming in tanks

Another thing I've noticed has been a subtle sense of insecurity amongst people here. Not insecurity on whether this is a great place, everybody seems to know that. More a sense of insecurity that they'll lose what they have. It takes many forms:

The HK tourism board and government has plastered "HK: Asia's World City" on everything they produce. I've been to other "World Cities," and none of them make such an effort to proclaim their worldliness. It's like the kid who joins the popular crowd and has to remind everybody he's cool in order to reaffirm his position.
By extension, the news reports I've heard, and been able to understand, talk about improving city services in order to "continue our status as a world city."
People aren't shy about criticizing the Mainland, seemingly to distance themselves. In an almost reflexive manner, anytime I mention visiting the Mainland the conversation turns to how provincial and sleazy it is, esp when compared to Hong Kong. Not that they're completely off-base, but there can be some exagerations. For example, everyone here loves to cite either that everything is fake or that the need to be careful what you eat in the mainland since they have "fake eggs." Nobody themself has seen such a creation, but everybody knows of somebody who did. I find it a bit hard to belive since I've never seen these myself, and I mean why would you fake an egg when you can fake Adidas jackets?
Anything that shows HK as anything less than miles ahead of the Mainland gets undue press. For example, the front page of the South China Morning Post had a front page article, and requisite commentary, that HK students in Australia were failing English proficiency tests at an equal rate as those in the Mainland. The tone seemed not so much to be aghast at the high faliure rate of 45ish%, but that the Mainland student failure rate was only slightly worse.

In a way, I can understand where this insecurity is coming from. HK has come so far so quickly. Recently I went to the HK History museum and saw exhibits highlighting Japanese occupation, the extremely overcrowded tenanments, unrest in the population that occurred not that long ago. In the pictures HK looked more "3rd world" than the modern metropolis we see today.

I guess the appearances were reality back then because during the fall, my grandmother's best friend, who is originally from China, heard I was coming here and got concerned enough to reach out and give me a lot of advice like: "watch out for kidnapping, because during the Japanese war(i.e. WWII) it happened a lot. Don't wear anything valuable at all, because during the Japanese war . . " She painted a picture of an extremely dangerous place, so much so that my grandmother's first question when I talked with her a couple of weeks ago was "Have you been pickpocketed yet?" A lot has changed in 60 years, but after having been to the museum I can see where her concern came from.

Having come so far so fast, I can see why HK might be worried about losing their position, especially since they are beholden to those North of the border.

One worry is that the government in Beijing starts meddling too much or worse abolishes the special status HK enjoys. Not that anybody I know sees that as too much of a risk, China would lose too much face by going against the agreement. More importantly having a vibrant HK benefits China through having an open port to the west, and meddling too much would make "one country two-systems" an even harder potential sell for Taiwan.

More worisome is the renewed competition from the Mainland. I keep hearing the word "marginalization" which highlights the HK anxiety. A lot of HK's success has been its status as entrepot into China. However as China, particularly Shanghai, booms there's concern that people will go directly to China instead of going through HK when. That's a definite worry, but HK has a lot of expertise and as many here like to say "it's all hardware and no software" up there. It still has advantages but HK can't rest on its laurels, as the mainlanders are catching on quickly.

However, competition will do HK good, and HK has overcome many challenges in the past as it will in the future. It's a dynamic place that will always find the next opportunity. As professor Young said in International Commercial Policy last spring. "The lesson from HK is that the talented will succeed no matter what."

Happy Valley

2007-02-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

I've been interested in coming to Hong Kong for a long time. I think my interest sprung from pictures of the city that showed the glittering skyline and crowded chaotic streetscapes. Another iconic image of Hong Kong that I always saw in National Geographic-like magazines was that of expats and locals taking in a horse race at some track in the middle of the city. Given my uber-tourist status I made it a point of going to a horse race while here.

After arriving I discovered that there ate two racecourses here in the territory, one in Sha Tin about 5 minutes from the University and one in Happy Valley near Causeway Bay in downtown. I almost went to the one in Sha Tin given its proximity to the dorm and the fact it has more races, but upon further research I discovered that the one in Happy Valley was both more historic(the site has been used for racing virtually since the British arrived) and more scenic since it was right in the middle of the city. Going to Sha Tin to see a race would be like going to Chicago and catching a baseball game at Comiskey, er I mean US Cellular Field.

Well, I got a bunch of CU students, Faisal and Saeeda to come with me to catch a race. General admission is HK$10 ($1.29), but I had read that as tourists you could show your passports and pay HK$100 ($12.90) to get access to the "member only" places in the racecourse. I thought that it would be cool, and, somewhat foolishly, convinced everybody to pony up the cash. With our badge, we kept walking into rooms to be told it was for "members only" or even more exclusive "owners only." When asked what exactuly our access to "members only" areas bought us, we were ushered to a grandstand on the second floor. Yes it allowed us to see the race better, but I'm not sure it was work 10x the admission.

Despite the dubious admission benefits of the badge, it did give us more insight into the Asian's love of gambling because in the "members only" area it almost exclusively Asian. As the only place in the SAR to gamble, the place was crowded. Like in Macau, everybody was deadly serious with racing forms and books in hand intently watching the races. Very little chit-chat and virtually no drinking. The environment was actually a bit tense, especially after the race when the losers cursed loudly in Cantonese and threw whatever paper was in their hands.

As we were all taking in the scene, and enjoying the cool view of the buildings surrounding the racetrack I got a call from the Tuck student saying she was at the racecourse near the beer tents. She didn't buy the member pass(smart) and I told her one of us would be down to smuggle her up to where we were sitting. However, she has refused to buy a cell phone while here (how 20th century) so finding her was going to be quite the challenge.

I went to find her, and lo and behold I found a gweilo corral around the beer tents. Even more amusing, there was a McDonald's right next to the beer tents. Like moths to a flame, the beer tents and McDonalds attracted every last gweilo in the place into this concentrated area and turned the area into one giant bar. No Asians in sight, because they were here to gamble the gweilos to drink. It was as if the Jockey Club wanted to sequester the riff-raff from the serious gamblers. Frankly it was a good place to drink, it was outside with a cool view and the beer was cheap compared to LKF.

Given that it's Asia, the Tuck student normally sticks out with her long blond hair, but here that was not a defining characteristic. Almost every girl had long blond hair, and finding her was like playing Where's Waldo, but without the red and white striped hat. Since I couldn't call her it became an exercise in futility and after about 10 miuntes I gave up. Not having a cell phone is a serious handicap in this age. . .

However, it did clue me into the existance of this area, and we eventually decamped to the gweilo corral and had a beer.

The Spaniard started to play his luck and for the last race decided to bet HK$10 on horse number 9 to place which in the US normally meant a 1st or 2nd place showing. Well guess what, horse 9 came in second place, so the card was a winner or so we thought. While in line, the German read the card and said:

- "If you wanted horse 9, why did you bet on horse 8?"

Turns out, the spaniard had the window employee mark his betting form and the guy misunderstood him, because the card clearly showed horse 8 was marked. The spaniard was pissed, and we left the line to avoid the embarrasment of having the employee laugh in our face as we presented a losing card for payment. However, I went over the board to see that horse 8 was in third. I showed that to the spaniard and said that he almost won. The German then said

"wait a second it shows that a place bet on 8 wins $23, and a place bet on 9 wins $19."

Turns out, the spaniard won more than he would have because place bet means both 2nd and 3rd here in HK and horse 8 had longer odds.

Lucky bastard. . . well he became so excited that he said "who wants to jump on my back and ride me like a horse for a victory lap."

The place was called Happy Valley, but he was a little too giddy after winning US$2.50. I wonder what he would say if he won more.

Football and Scrambled Eggs

2007-02-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

Nothing reminds you of how removed you are from your home life as trying to recreate familiar traditions in a foreign places. There are familiar elements, but it's never quite the same. Eating Christmas and Christmas Eve dinners at chinese restaurants in Hangzhou and Shanghai was my first taste of this, but going to a Super Bowl party this morning was another such instance.

Yes, that's not a typo, I woke my ass up at 5:45am this morning in order to see the Super Bowl. Given the nasty time difference, the 6:30pm EST kick-off was 7:30am here in Hong Kong. Given the timing I normally would have forsaken seeing the Super Bowl since I'm not a huge sports fan, and I'm an even lesser fan of early mornings. However, given it was the Bears I felt obligated to show some Chicago pride here in the South China Sea. I didn't have any Bears gear, so I Chicagoed up by wearing my Cubs cap and Chicago GSB T-Shirt.

Our destination was a Super Bowl party being hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce here in HK at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong that another American exchange student found out about. A number of us went, including some of the Germans and French students. Here's how early it was, LKF was deserted:

The weirdness began the minute we walked in. Given the hour, the food spread consisted of your favorite breakfast foods and the beverages of choice was coffee and OJ. Not your normal Super Bowl party spread. There was some beer, but you had to wait until 8 or 8:30 given the liquor laws here. . . Not that anybody was too eager to booze it up, especially since most of the crowd had to go to work after the game. As students though, we had no such constraints:

Not that we drank that much, I had the equivilent of one pint. I drank much more coffee, so much that somebody said "You really are an addict."

Another difference was that we received the international feed on ESPN Asia, so no Super Bowl ads!!!!! I never realized how important they are to enjoying the game until they weren't there. Also, when there are no ads you begin to realize how many commercial breaks there are in football. I guess ESPN Asia couldn't sell any super bowl ads, because during breaks for US ads we kept seeing the same promos for other ESPN Asia sports programming: Rugby, Soccer, SportsCenter, etc, on an infinite loop. The only paid ad I saw was for AsiaExpat.com . . . Amazing to consider that in the states 30 seconds go for $2MM, and here they can't sell any time.

Plus the commentary was different, a lot more educational. As in "10 yards equals another 1st down for the team with possession." "Let us explain how both teams arrived here," and then proceeded to explain the playoff system.

However, that commentary was better then the Chamber of Commerce's emcee who wouldn't shut-up. There were prizes for trivia and he used it as an excuse to constantly talk. Imagine some middle-aged meathead blowhard getting control of a microphone and living out his dream of being a sportscaster on a captive audience. BTW did you know the turf make-up of Dolphin stadium? Well I found out because his company, for which he is regional VP, made the turf for the game. See what I mean? Plus, when he found out that there were non-Americans in the crowd he took the opportunity to say we were watching real football and how it was infinitely better than rugby and cricket and soccer. . . Way to show some hospitality!

All in all, I had a fun time, depsite the Bears loss which was extremely painful, but without Doritos, beer, and Bud Light ads it wasn't a Super Bowl party. Plus, I'm missing out on the civic grieving, which, I learned after the 2003 Cubs debacle, is an important part of the healing process.

HK's western facade can lull you into a sense of being close to home, this morning reminded me of how far away I really am.

Event Planning 101

2007-02-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the term the CUMBA office sent an email inviting me to attend their gala 40th anniversary dinner at the HK Convention Center. I was tempted, but after looking at the HK$700 (~ US$90) price tag, I balked and passed.

However, when I received another email saying they were discounting the price for students to HK$350, myself and a number of students decided to go, thinking it would be a great opportunity to newtwork and meet new people. Boy were we wrong. . .

Last Saturday was the event, and after class ended at 5:15 we rushed to change and get to Wan Chai to partake of the "cocktails" from 6-7:30. When we arrived we noticed servers circulating with glasses of what looked to be screwdrivers, gin and tonics, and rum and cokes. We figured it was odd to have such a structured choice, but hey those were 3 of the most popular tipples out there, and as students we weren't picky.

Imagine our surprise, when we found that the drinks were sans alcohol. That's right, they weren't screwdrivers, G&Ts, and Rum&Cokes, they were OJ, Sprite, and Coke. We go over to the bar, but all the bartender is doing is pouring more of glasses of these non-alcoholic drinks. At this point we were kind of upset, I mean to advertise cocktails but not provide them was a party foul of the highest degree. Especially at a mingling event, where alcohol is a necessary social lubricant. Its event planning 101. OK Strike 1 for the evening

Someone suggested that maybe it was a translation error, but us westerners disagreed vociferously. Yes, a cocktail doesn't have to be alcoholic, but it does require a mixture of two different beverages and none of the options were mixed. . . Well, the Tuck student wouldn't accept this situation (ah glad to see that Dartmouth trains its grad students just as well in the fine art of drinking), and took matters into her own ends by asking the bartender if there was anything with alcohol. The bartender pulls a can of beer from under the table and purs her a glass. Of course, we all then ask for the same since it was better than nothing though we found it weird not to advertise this option.

Next we noticed that all the students were assigned to the same 2 tables. . . Basically we were at the postgraduate kiddie tables, and none of us were happy about this. We came assuming that we'd be able to meet new people and now we were going to eat with the same faces. Not that we disliked each other, but we could have spent much less than HK$350 to have dinner together. OK Strike 2 for the evening.

Realizing that I wasn't going to meet anybody new at the dinner table, I tried mingling during the OJ reception, but breaking into circles is hard when people are speaking Cantonese. . . I did meet one person, and we had a good conversation butI was hoping for more than 1 new contact.

Upon sitting down, things looked up momentarily. The menu was filled with all the traditional Chinese banquet foods that I hadn't tried before. Shark Fin Soup, Abalone, Steamed Garoupa, etc. However we got such a little amount of each delicacy that many of us were hungry at the end. Plus, Shark Fin and Abalone are WAY overrated. OK Strike 3.

Strikes 4, 5, and 6 occurred when the program started. Since this was an anniversary dinner there were lots of speakers and videos about the history and future of the program. It lasted 4 hours (WAY TOO LONG) and much of it was in Cantonese. Now I understand many of the alums were Cantonese, but there was a fair number of non-Cantonese speakers in the audience as well and leaving us out for 1.5 hours was not acceptable. Especially since serving the dinner paused during this portion of the program, and I was starving.

Anyways, what promised to be a great night ended up being lackluster. I was pissed about spending $350 on the meal, but even more that I wasted my Saturday night. Anyways, yesterday, my buyer behavior professor asks us what we thought of the dinner. A few of us answer truthfully. Of course it was us westerners, as I've discovered that many of the Chinese will remain silent (or lie) when not pleased with something.

He was a bit surprised and said we had valid points, but also said that we weren't the target market for the dinner. Yes that was painfully clear, but then why in the hell were we marketed to in the first place? Wasn't that the first rule of marketing, don't waste your resources on the non-target market, shouldn't an MBA program know that?

Living the TaiTai life

2007-01-31T20:04:00.000-08:00

One of the vocabulary words I've learned in Mandarin class has been TaiTai which means Mrs., as in "Zaoshang hao Wang taitai" or Good Morning Mrs. Wang. However, I've also learned that TaiTai has a different, somewhat pujorative, connotation here in Hong Kong where its used to describe the wives of rich businessmen whose life of leisure revolves around shopping, spa treatments, and mah jong.

One of the defining characteristics of a taitai are trips to Shenzhen to get their treatments cheaper than they could in Hong Kong. I guess even though their rich, the taitais don't want to waste money needlessly. One such spa is literally over the border with Shenzhen, and somebody in the MBA office(a HK native) had taken a couple of the girls in the program a month ago, and these girls in turn organized a return trip, attended by both girls and guys, while I was in Beijing.

Everybody raved about this place (one girl from Paris even bought a membership for future discounts), so I felt like I missed out. As a result, when the email was sent about another trip I jumped on the chance for this, um, "cultural experience," and I went last night after a really boring "CEO talk" in Central about how Six Sigma was like Mah Jong. . . Please don't ask. . .

Well after our ride to the end of the KCR line, we found ourselves at the spa at 10pm. It was definitely very chinese looking, but you could tell this was a nice place. Everything was written in chinese characters, but luckily there were a couple of English speaking staff members who could help us. The girls and guys parted ways into our respective locker rooms, and I quickly changed ready to get pampered.

I asked one of the german guys, who came the last time, what we did next, but before I could answer one of the staff members motioned for me to follow him. He pointed to my back, and I figured they wanted to clean my back so that the masseur would work with clean skin. I nodded, and next thing I know I'm on a table and this guy is pouring buckets of water on me and scrubbing my back hard. It kind of hurt, but everytime I tried to leave, I was told to stay put. After 15 minutes I was allowedto get up, and the guy smiled and pointed to all of my skin that was now on the table as if this was a good thing. Seriously, I think I left 5 layers of epidermis behind. . .

As I leave the locker room the other students point and laugh and ask to see my back, which apparentlyis now beet red. Turns out the treatment was extra, but for HK$30, I wasn't going to quibble. Plus, now my back was as smooth as a baby's. Ha!

We were hungry and wanted to eat, but the buffet wasn't starting for 40 minutes, andwe couldn't read the menu. In order to kill time a couple of us went to get foot massages, and I go over just to chat. One of the girls breaks out her Mandarin book, and the staff starts laughing at us trying to practice our Mandarin on them. One of them, good-naturdely, joins us in going Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma (in different tones meaning Mother, Hemp, Horse, Swear. . . It's funny how Swear and Mom have the same sound. . .).

After eating, we go for our 2 hour massages, which felt really good. All the knots in myback were kneaded out and I felt completely relaxed. So much so that I fell asleep in the middle. Afterwards we then went to bed in the massage rooms, where we were allowed to stay until we felt like getting up.

Grand total for the back scrubbing, dinner, 2 hour massage, and ability to sleep overnight: HK$220 (US$28), this place was quite the find. You can't even get a 30 minute massage in the states for that.

However I don't know how much pampering I can take in the future, my back now hurts whenever I take a shower. . .

It's Official

2007-01-30T03:57:00.000-08:00

I'm going to BCG in Chicago after this crazy B-School experience is over. I definitely procrastinated this decision, because it was a hard one to make. There were things I liked about each firm, and I didn't want to make the trade-offs. Plus, signing on the dotted line symbolized that I'm that much closer to graduation and having to work again. . . Scary. . .

Anyways, time to continue blowing the signing bonus on visits to LKF, "brand name" clothing, and building the movie collection.

Bo - Po - Mo - Fo

2007-01-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

I hate to feel dumb and helpless, but that is exactly how I felt in the mainland when I would:

Have the hotel write in Chinese Characters where I wanted to go and take on faith that I would get there.
Point to things I wanted to eat, or point to the chinese characters conveniently printed in my lonely planet guidebook
Play charades with random people by pantomiming airport by sticking out my arms in the form of wings, eating by pointing to my mouth, or bathroom by pointing to . . . well you get the idea.

Not content to repeat these events on my next foray to the Mainland, I've started taking Mandarin classes both here on campus on Tuesdays (when the travel schedule permits) and on Fridays at a private language school with a couple of other students.

Not only do I want to learn the language, but also learn the answers to such mysteries as:

When a Chinese speaker sees a new character how do they attempt to sound it out? Ans: by asking somebody or looking in a dictionary. . . which begs the question
How do you alphabetize things in a language without an alphabet so that you can look things up? Ans: You sort by the number of strokes.
How do you communicate time in a language with no tenses? Ans: You say I go yesterday
When translating English names into chinese, the chinese will often use chinese characters that sound similar to the English sounds just like we translate chinese names into things like Tsim Sha Tsui. . . However, given that each character represents a word, does that lead to some interesting translations (i.e. does Chi-ca-go translate to old smelly feet in Chinese)? Ans: They didn't understand the question.

Now yes, I realize that they speak Cantonese here in HK, but there are more Mandarin speakers in the world and I'll get a bigger ROI. Plus, given that I studied in Barcelona (where they speak Catalan natively) to learn Spanish, I figured I should continue the trend of studying foreign languages in inappropriate(notnative speaking) places. If English wasn't my native language I'd go to Montreal to learn English to complete the trifecta.

Anyways, I have good teachers, but any hopes of feeling smarter evaporated during the first class' phonics lessons. . . Repeating sounds over and over just makes you feel like a stupid child. Especially when the teacher goes "not SHI its ZCHI!" and I can't tell the difference or even repeat the sound coming out of her mouth. The feeling of regressing back to childhood was complete when I had to supress a giggle when we repeated the intial (consonant) sounds of Bo - Po - Mo - Fo (hee hee Mo - Fo!)

Added complexity ensues when you add in the tones. For those of you who don't know, Chinese is a tonal language and sound/word can have drastically different meanings depending on which tone (flat, falling, rising, or falling and rising) the word is spoken with. A lot of these homophones make you stop and go, how in the hell did these concepts get associated together. For example:

Ma can mean: Mother, Horse, or be a question word
Ai can mean: Love or cancer
Si can mean: Death or Four.

Given my tone deafness (all of you who saw Follies know what I mean), this language is going to be hard. . . I know I'm going to say something like your horse has cancer and completely confuse the hell out of the listener.

Well, after the first week I can now say Ni Hao (Hello), Zaoshang Hao (Good Morning), Xie Xie (Thank You). Unfortunatley, given the complexity of the language this is probably about as far as I'm going to get.

That's not true, I can also say "Shi Mei Guo Ren" (I am an American), but learning that was a waste of time. I was already able to communicate that concept very easily without language class.

Some more from Beijing

2007-01-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Before I continue, I'm not the only one who has noticed certain chinese habits:

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070123/od_nm/china_spit_dc_2

Now back to the regularly scheduled blog entry:

Just because I was traveling by myself in Beijing, doesn’t mean I was always alone. By booking my tours at the hostel I met up with some other travelers. The most interesting was a Chinese girl, my age, from the Sichuan province who was on her way to Cameroon (yes in Africa) to be an English-Chinese translator for a Chinese manufacturing company with operations there.

We met on the trip to the Great Wall, and I learned she had been in Beijing for a week trying to get her visas settled and she was flying out the next day for Cameroonbut wanted to see the sights before she left. She bemoans the fact that she has to endure an 18 hour layover in Paris on her way to Cameroon the next day. Turns out she couldn’t get a French visa in time so she can’t leave the airport during her transit. She explained it was because:

“China is 3rd World”

- “I disagree, it may not be first world but it’s not 3rd world.”

“Yes it is, you have only seen best cities and not the country. In the country we’re 3rd world. That’s why I couldn’t get my visa.”

Touche, she had me there. I take this as my opportunity to ask about the changes she’s seen in her life.

“Well, when I was young my family cooked and heated with wood, had no hot water, and no TV. Now my family has 3 digital cameras, computer with internet, TV, and heat. Plus, the provincial capital now has 8 Starbucks.”

That my friends is China for you. Despite it being "3rd World" it is developing at an astonishing rate. That's not to say there aren't problems, but despite these advances she was still pretty pessimistic.

Earlier as we were walking. . . I mean climbing. . . she said: “The old Chinese were so smart, unlike the Chinese of today.”

- “Why do you think that?”

“The older Chinese were able to build something like this. All we do now is copy.”

- "True, but don't you think you'll innovate, once you learn everything you need to from copying?"

She gives me this weird look, as if I were dumb, and says no without further explanation, and I drop the topic.

Later on, I met a couple of friends of friends who also happened to be in Beijing. Both were friendly Mandarin-speaking expats (I consider someone from HK as an expat), and we had some interesting conversations. I bring up this last conversation to one of them, and she agrees, but elaborates on how the younger generation values making money and consumption above all else and aren't too concerned about how it is achieved.

These are just 2 data points, and whether this sentiment will evolve over time is an open question, but if true it does pose some interesting implications for the future if Chinese society is content only on immitating advances made elsewhere. First it means foreign companies will have to continue to be careful about their IP in China as there won't be a momentum to strengthen IP protections. There will be too many people profiting from the status quo and there will be little Chinese IP to protect, so there won't be an impetus to change. Secondly it poses some interesting questions for Chinese growth. Without strong innovative/entrepreneurial forces, China will achieve a limit as to the growth it can achieve. At some point, the growth coming from getting more labor force participation and basic development will cease and growth will have to comefrom innovation and prodcutivity improvements which will be hard to copy. . .

Other interesting points I learned from my conversations included:

The infrastructure (legal system, financial markets, etc.) for full market reform isn’t there yet.
Despite your perceptions, there is sometimes talk on Chinese TV about becoming a democracy. It doesn’t get too radical, but talk happens.
The Chinese value stability and are worried that liberalizing too radically would undermine that stability. They worry about following in Russia’s footsteps. I'm not sure whether this is a common view, or just one held by elites...
The managers of the state owned businesses can be shrewd businessmen.
They get CNN and western media, but sometimes when a sensitive topic comes up the signal will get lost or pages will be missing. However, that is relatively rare.

Another topic that came up involved Hong Kong's competitiveness in the new China. One of the
friends of friends mentioned that she had a conversation with a Chines businessman who said that HK and Taiwan used to have an edge and that he sees that edge being whittled away. In that businessman's eyes the HKGese are too demanding of institutions(like the government) and rule-following (i.e. pollyannaish)to succeed, unlike those from China or Taiwan who are willing to use a little Guanxi(connections) to do what needs to get done. Don't know what to think on this point, but it does give me caution about business in China. . .

Another nerdy post, but again I am supposedly here to get an education. . .

Bleating out your favorite hits

2007-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

It turns out that 2 of the full time students had birthdays within the last week, and to celebrate the entire class, and us exchange students, celebrated by going to Karaoke!

For those of you who have never done Asian style Karaoke, it's a bit different than what we're used to back home. You go to a karaoke parlor which has dozens of studios of various sizes where you and your friends sing in the privacy of your own private room.

Here's a picture to give you an idea of what karaoke here looks like.

Unlike in the US, where it's all about public embarrasment, karaoke here is an intimate thing you do with your friends. . . and apparently something you do to close business deals. I guess making an ass of yourself in front of clients builds trust since if you screw them they'll have blackmail material. . .

Well, I arrived late to find the party well in progress. The social lubricant of choice was Chivas and Green Tea, which apparantely is a a quite popular concoction here in Hong Kong. It's a very potent blend of east and west, a very apt drink for this city, no?

Anyways there was a lot of Chivas fueled singing going on, and I was being implored to join in. Since I was still sober, I was not ready to make an ass of myself, so I protested . . However, another exchange student then asks me "well, what about your Backstreet Boy moves?"

How in the hell did he know about my performance at Follies? That was something I had not shared at all to anyone over here.

I looked at him in utter shock and with my mouth agape. When I didn't respond he continued "I found something on the GSB website telling me about that, so I know it's about you."

Yup, turns out he found out from the trusty internet. I had mentioned that I was blogging to keep in touch with friends at home, and suggested he do the same. He tried to find my blog by Googling my name. He didn't find the blog, but he did find an article from the Chibus (the GSB's student newspaper/gossip rag for those of you not in the GSB) telling people to ask me "to show you his Backstreet Boys moves." DAMN YOU FAISAL!!!!!!!!!

Well that was blood in the water and other students pressured me to sing. Thankfully, I was able to dodge "I want it that way" by singing "It's my life." However that's the beautiful thing about Asian karaoke, you're not singing by yourself. After singing a couple of lines everybody else started joining in, and we all made asses of ourselves together.

Well the Chivas kept flowing so thus the singing continued, with plenty of canto-pop (which I left to the chinese since I couldn't read the chinese character lyrics) and western music being butchered. Not that anybody minded since we were having a great time.

That and the Chivas dulled the pain signals our eardrums were sending. Unfortunately many of us felt pain of a different sortthe next morning, but I digress. . .

In once forbidden places

2007-01-20T04:21:00.001-08:00

Well a couple of weeks ago, as I was supposed to be paying attention in managerial accounting, I realized that Asia was a big place and I wanted to see a lot of it while I was here. I had planned my schedule with classes just on Friday and Saturday, to give me maximum flexibility, and it would be a shame to squander the opportunity.

So, I thought what better time than the present to make some plans and went to a travel agent and see what packages were available. Beijing for HK$3200 (US$420) with 5 days 4 nights Hotel w bkfst and Air . . . Sold! I tried getting a couple others to join me, but others didn’t have a similar schedules and I couldn’t convince me to play hooky. They cited classes, but the real reason for their reluctance was that “it was cold in Beijing right now.” Well, being from Chicago, that didn’t stop me, and away I went. Plus, if it’s above freezing (the highs were in the upper 30s), it’s chilly, it ain’t cold.

Overall, the trip was amazing. Shanghai was great, but Beijing much better. It was the picture of urban China I had in my head before I arrived: Historical sights, Chinese architecture, Stalinist (or should I say Maoist) architecture abutting wide boulevards, the contrast of old Chinese hutongs (alleyways) and modern skyscrapers. Beijing did not disappoint, and I really recommend a visit sometime. Beijing has a palpable history unlike Shanghai which has already paved their history over. Unfortunately, I hear Beijing might do the same. That would truly be a shame.

Most of my trip involved the tourist circuit, which included a tremendous amount of top-notch sights. I seriously made some tracks and saw much of the city. My itinerary(including requisite shots of me in front of the landmark!) included:

Tianenmen Square: Absoultely huge square but very totalitarian in appearance. 1984 anybody?

The Forbidden City: Huge, overwhelming and absolutely beautiful. There are countless buildings to explore. I spent 4 hours there and barely scratched the surface. It's amazing to see the opulence the Chinese emperors used to live in.

Temple of Heaven: A huge beautiful Chinese Temple where the emperors used to pray for good harvests and luck.

The Great Wall: Truly magnificent and a great workout (I walked 4km of it). It is at the top of a mountain ridge, and truly snakes away from you to the horizon.

Summer Palace: A lakeside palace 15 miles from the Forbidden City. As if the emperor didn't have enough real estate in Beijing. . .

Lama Temple: An active tibetan monastery with worshippers and monks. It was very interesting to see Chinese burning incense and praying at the various temples within the complex

I paid my respects to Mao’s body: Kind of creepy to see Mao's corpse (or is it a wax replica), though interesting at the same time. The Chinese were very reverential. Many bought flowers to place in the mausoleum. However the reverence ended when you entered the gift shop located not 20ft from his body. Mao's face on a plate anyone?

Unfortunately some of the sights were being renovated for the Olympics. Imagine my disappointment when I pulled into the first courtyard of the Forbidden City to see what the audio guide described as "the most beautiful building in the palace."

Part of the circuit involved a couple of shows, booked at the hostel down the street for 100 RMB ($12.90) vs. the 300 RMB my hotel wanted. I ended up at shows geared for tourists, in effect “lao wei” theater. The acrobatic show was good, not great. The Chinese Opera was interesting to see, and they of course chose a tourist friendly production “Havoc in the Dragon Palace.” It had lots of colorful costumes, singing that was very high and loud, some acrobatics, and some fighting. The translations were fine, but I still couldn’t follow the plot. It involved the monkey king visiting the undersea castle of the sea god to borrow weapons where he created “havoc in the dragon palace.” There was something cultural I was missing. If somebody could explain it to me, I would appreciate it.

I also did a lot of walking around to get a sense of the pulse of the city, and because distances are vast. In my walking, I had some other observations about China:

Chinese society is freer than you would expect from western media. I had heard my mom’s stories from studying abroad in Franco’s Spain where people were afraid to break any rule, and figured China would echo that. However, those perceptions were unfounded, like in other cities around the world people go about their business and largely do what they want. You might even say they sometimes take this to an extreme(The sign says Don't step on the ice):

Personal space is a not a Chinese concept. You have to get used to being jostled and not having people get out of your way. In stores, from market stalls through high end dept. stores, sales people will not let you shop in peace. They literally stand next to you and follow you as you browse. Somebody mentioned that this could be a side effect of the cultural revolution when there wasn’t much privacy.

Similarly, the Chinese will not respect your place in line unless your body is pressing up against the person in front of you. If there is enough room for a body between you and the person in front of you, you are not in line, and somebody will claim that spot. This has happened to me countless times. This does not apply in HK where the British trained their former subjects very well in the art of queuing.
The Chinese really enjoy spitting. . . a lot. On any walk within a Chinese city you will loudly hear "HAAACKKKK PITCHOOO" countless times as people dredge their throats and deposit the results at a high velocity on the sidewalk. People will try to avoid hitting you, but there is always the chance for collateral damage.
Traffic lights only apply to cars planning on going straight. However if they’re turning, left or right, the light is only a suggestion. If you fail to remember this nuance while walking you might find yourself splayed on the hood of a turning car even when you have the walk signal.
Traffic laws do not apply at all to anyone on a bike. Bicyclists can run through lights (even when going straight), ride on the sidewalk, go the wrong way down one-way streets, etc.

As to the last 3 points, you have to always pay attention and keep your wits about you in China at all times, or else you might miss something vitally important.

Negotiations, Part Deux

2007-01-18T02:13:00.000-08:00

As part of my walks through Beijing, I came across an indoor market, filled again filled with your favorite "brands," and I decided to try my luck again. Not to belabor the shopping in China topic, but here it goes. . .

After some browsing, I got in lost and I stumbled upon a bulletin board for the staff. This picture should show you what I'm up against:

Well, now that I knew my enemy it was time to start the battle. I needed a light jacket and soon found an “Adidas” one I kind of liked. I tried it on, and asked her price:

“New design. Very popular. For you special price. 680 (US $80).”

- “Come on! That’s the US price and I’m in China.”

“OK! OK! 300! Still very good price.”

- “I’m sorry I’m a student. I don’t have a lot of money I can’t afford that.”

“OK So what you pay?”

- “150”

“200”

- “Well I gotta go.” And I start leaving

“OK! OK! 150” and she starts wrapping it. . .

- “Actually I don’t want it anymore, thanks for your help.”

She gets angry. “Come on! You being naughty! You bargain with me and I give you your price! You play me! You waste my time!”

- “I’m not playing you. Sorry, I just changed my mind.”

“You evil mean boy! You waste my time! I in business and need to make sale.”

- “Who’s playing whom here? Plus, just because you want to sell me something doesn’t mean I have to buy.”

I try to leave, but she physically blocks my way and her associate, another small Chinese girl, comes to help impede my path. I was not intimidated mentally or especially physically.

I start pushing through, and she goes “OK! 140,” I break through and she goes “120!” I start walking away and she screams “OK 100!!!!” Meanwhile the other stall-keepers turn to look at the commotion.

I probably could have gotten her down further, but decide to throw in the towel and give her the money. Plus, I actually liked the jacket.

Just like me to create a scene to save a few bucks.

**Sorry this somehow failed to post originally***

As she's bagging the jacket. She says "Tell all your student friends what good deal you get, so they come buy from me."

- "Don't worry, I'll definitely tell them all about it" I respond.

Done and Done, I've kept my word. I guess I'm not such an "evil mean boy" after all, though I doubt this is what she had in mind.

No Hablo Ingles

2007-01-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm quickly learning that Caucasian features are a magnet to touts of all types in Mainland China. I'm constantly hearing "Hello DVD/Mah-Sah-Gee/English guide/Rolex/Taxi/Tour, etc. At first my midwestern politeness would take hold and I'd acknowledge the person and say "No Thank You." However many people here are pretty persistant, and that wouldn't shake them. Then I started just ignoring these touts, but that didn't work wither. Lately, I've been pretending I only speak Spanish, which has worked most of the time.

Now, everytime I hear the "Hello Lookie Lookie," I do my part to re-erect the language barrier and say "Lo Siento no hablo ingles." Which always confuses the tout. I can see it in their eyes, they're thinking what kind of lao wei doesn't speak English. Then when they persist, I respond "Lo Siento no te entiendo." with a look of utter incomprehension in my face. Nomally, they then get the point and leave me alone. Some even mutter something under their breath. . . I get the point they're thinking "how useless, a lao wei who can't speak English." Mission accomplished! I'm left in peace. Who knew those many years of spanish education would come in useful?

However, today that strategy met its match. In the walk up to the Forbidden City(yes I'm in Beijing, I'll write more about it when I get back to HK) there were tons of touts. . . The same routine and then I go "No hablo ingles." Then she responds "Ah espanol! Como Estas?" Now she's trying to engage. She quickly realizes the ruse and says "You American! Why you lie!?!" and won't leave me alone. I shake her, but the damage was done and everybody realizes I'm about as American as they come and I'm being pitched everything again. Dammit! I'm going to have to refine my technique for next time.

I am a nerd, N-E-R-D

2007-01-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

So, while I'm over here in HK having a good time exploring the region, and Lan Kwai Fong, I am ostensibly here for school. Moreover, I truly do want to make the most of the opportunity to learn as much about China as I can in the 3 short months I am here. Part of the education will entail travelling around, but I do hope to make the most of the resources CUHK has to offer.

To that point, and given my well documented addiction to coffee, it should be no surprise that I attended a lecture from the Starbucks VP of Greater China that the B-School organized. He discussed Starbucks' expansion in China, and gave a real interesting talk. Some of the most interesting points included:

The fact that China is a tea culture did not scare them. They had already succeeded in Japan and England which are also tea cultures.
Starbucks is expensive here, a Grande Coffee is 20 Yuan ($2.25 US), which is even more expensive than it is back home, and Lattes are 35 ($4.25) . However for the Chinese its even worse given the average salary of 4000-10000 Yuan/month for professionals here in China. As the VP put it, if you made $4000/month would you spend $20 for a cup of coffee? (I wouldn't. Actually that would cause me to break the habit. . . my frugality would win out.)
That being said, most Chinese when they think of Starbucks don't think coffee. They think "good environment," which is the hook Starbucks uses here. People here like getting their latte and lounging at the store. Unlike in the US, which is 80% take-out, China is 80% stay-in. As a result, Starbucks has to invest in more comfortable furniture than it does in the US.
Apparently in Chinese culture, invitations to visit one's home are reserved for only family and the closest of friends. Invitations to offices involve a lot of protocol over who out-ranks whom, etc. Restaurants had normally been the place to have casual gatherings with acquaintances and business contacts, but those were only good for mealtime, The "good environment" filled the void for these casual meetings in between mealtimes.
To adapt to local tastes they have things like Green Tea frappucinos and put more of an emphasis on food(given the long lingering times).
Hu Jintao, the president of China, was seen toasting with a Starbucks mug when he was in Seattle. He is also quoted as saying if he were'nt president he'd spend a lot of time at Starbucks. Thus, mayors around China are petitioning Starbucks to enter their cities seeing it as a sign that their city has made it.

Besides the obvious lesson that getting the public endorsement of the head of state of a semi-autocratic country will help business in said country, Starbucks' experience does underline the importance of understanding the local culture of the markets you're entering. It will allow you to highlight and amplify the relevant aspects of your product/business that appeal to the new market, while adapting the other aspects of your business that either are unimportant or potentially negative.

Along similar lines, I heard about an academic conference about China on campus last week and crashed a whole bunch of seminars. The school brought scholars from all over the world to talk about the research on China they were conducting. Some of the talks I went to included:

Sino-Japanese Relations : Ups and Downs
To Lend or Not to Lend: A Case Study of the Transformation of a Chinese Commercial Bank’s Decision Making on Corporate Loans
Marketization Without Privatization: The Politics of Partial Reform in China’s Public Service Units (PSUs)
Tax Controversies and the Development of Tax Procedure in China
Commodification of Welfare in Shanghai: Managing Risks and Opportunities in a New State-Society Relationship

Most were about as interesting as they sound, but I did learn some interesting tidbits. For example, the state of China is devolving a lot of services (ie. health, education, welfare) to quasi governmental agencies. These agencies are also where 60% of China's educated class work. This allows the government to retain control while minimzing public funding. These agencies are in the process of being reformed to benefit "millions of people," not hundreds of millions so they're being reformed for the employees. . . not those being served.

I'll stop there before I continue to further convice you all of my nerdom.

Mistranslations

2007-01-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Everyday I'm being reminded of how hard it can be to translate ideas from one language to another, even amongst those who are very proficient in another language. Not that I can complain, their English is infinitely better than my Mandarin/Cantonese/German/Spanish/French. . .

I can usually understand what writers/speakers are trying to communicate, but it does make me pause and go, huh that's a unique way of putting it. . . the Mainland is notorious for this (rightfully so from my experience), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish, but there's still a bit of it in Hong Kong. For example:

The head of the dorm is the Warden, I live on Block A, and the staff goes on patrol (though given all the rules and regulations I think it can be appropriate at times)
There's a clear sports drink called Pocci Sweat. (Why on Earth would you name a drink "Sweat?" Gross)

A different, phenomenon occurs in class sometimes when the professor stops abruptly and goes "Hmm, I don't know how to say this in English." and will bust out some chinese to which the chinese members of the class will nod or laugh. Meanwhile I'm sitting there not getting in on the joke.

Not to say this is just a Chinese phenomenon. It's pretty universal. . . For Christmas dinner in Hangzhou we met up with some additional Germans through the other Germans on the trip. It was a great family style meal and we ate like kings. I ate a fair amount, but no more than the others. With 7 out of the 10 people at the table being German you can imagine that a lot of German was being spoken, and I ended up tuning out a lot of the conversation and conversing in Spanish with the Spaniard.

However when all the dishes on the table were nearly clean, one of the germans we had just met unsolicietedly yells, in English, across the table to me "Do you need us to order you more food!" Which I interpreted as a pointed remark implying I was being a pig. I got a little defensive and started getting cagey and this only prompted further cross-examination. Turns out he meant to say "Are you still hungry?" and wanted to gauge whether there was interest in ordering more food, no veiled insults implied. . .

Finally, I wasn't going to share this experience given the public nature of the web and the fact a wide audience is reading, Hi Mom and Dad, Hi Grandma and Grandpa! But here it goes. . .

In Hangzhou (on the Shanghai trip), 2 of the Germans, the Spaniard, and I go out for some beers at a bar. Being a weeknight, the bar was very uncrowded. This girl takes an interest in us and comes up to our table and we try to get her to teach us this Chinese dice drinking game we've been seeing everywhere. Her English is pretty poor, so we have no clue what the hell is going on. After a while she tries to get us to leave the bar with her to go dance somewhere else. We decline and she leaves. . .

Then one of the Germans goes "I think she was a bitch."

To which I respond "Huh? Yeah her English was bad, but I actually thought she was pretty friendly. Maybe overly so and a bit forward."

He responds . "Exactly my point!"

I must have given him a perplexed look because he goes "You know, bitch. . . prostitute."

"Oh you mean whore not bitch, and I don't think she was."

"Whore? What is this?"

This then sparks a lesson from me on the interrelated meanings but subtle nuances of bitch (and by extension son of a bitch), slut, whore (and by extension corporate whore which I used to describe myself), and ho. I also explain the etymology of bitch as meaning both female dog and how that evolved to its current usage. I also explain words with stronger connotations and how they should never be used. As I'm explaining, I notice the Spaniard furiously taking notes.

A couple of days later on the train back to Shanghai, he pulls out these notes and says "I learned so much good vocabulary from you this trip."

I'm so glad I did my little part to break down the language barrier one obscene word at a time.

I really need to take negotiations class

2007-01-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

I've been haggling a lot recently for purchases, and I seem to always come out the loser. Well I now know a class to take this spring. . .

A couple of weeks ago I went to Shenzhen, which is just over the border, just to say I went to the Mainland (this was before Shanghai). Now, other than business, one goes to Shenzhen for 3 things: to take cheap domestic flights to the rest of China, get massages and manicures cheaper than you could in HK, or shop for all your favorite "brands." Given that I've been tasked by my sister to find some purses, I decided to partake in the latter. I quickly realized that I had no clue what she would like, so I decided to shop for myself.

In the first store I start looking at watches and quickly zero in on one. After some haggling, I get him down from HKD 500 (US$65) for an "A" quality watch to HKD 250 (US$30), which is what I was told was the normal rate. Well when walking around the mall I was able to hear another gweilo get HKD 150 (US$20) for something similar. D'Oh.

Next, I seriously needed some sunglasses and bought a pair for HKD 70 (US$9) after some negotiation down from HKD 300 (US $40) . . . Well, as I'm walking through the mall, another shopkeeper sees my glasses, points at them and say "Another pair? Special price for you! Only HKD 20 (US$2.)" This happened many times through the rest of the day. . . Double D'Oh!

After that I gave up on Shenzhen shopping and vowed I wouldn't return until I improved my skills. Last night I happened to be visting some travel agencies in Mong Kok and decided to do some practicing at one of the famous night markets there (the "Ladies Market" to be specific but yes they sell plenty of mens clothing).

I see this "Billabong" shirt I like in many of the stalls and start haggling. A few stalls advertised the shirt at HKD 39, I try 10. She says 35, I say 15. She says "No more. best offer." I start leaving expecting her to follow after. Nope. Next stall I raise my price to 20 and get a dismissive hand wave and "Harrmph" sound as if I just called her baby ugly.

Next stall the opening begins at $60 (she really wanted to soak the gweilos), when I mention others were offering 35. She says "These Hong Kong shirts, others cheap china crap." Well I doubt her story, I mean its the exact same shirt as the others, I'm sure they have the same supplier. As I turn to leave she says Fine 35, to which I say no 30. We start bickering for a minute or 2 and then I leave. Now, I know its the equivilent of 60 cents, but its the principle of thing, I need the practice!

I try one last time in the last stall before the market ends. Same song and dance, 39. I offer 30, expecting a big fight. Nope, he goes "OK" without any counter or protest. It was too easy, and I'd been had. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Like in Macau, you never win at somebody else's game.

Across the Pearl River Delta

2007-01-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

I noticed that my passport gathered a speck of dust, which signalled to me that I needed to travel somewhere else. The obvious destination was Macau, a short 1 hr ferry ride away from Hong Kong, and I went there with another exchange student from St. Gallen. For those of you that haven't heard of Macau, it was a former Portuguese colony, that like HK is a city-state that is a Special Administrative Region of China. The real reason though to go, is that its being billed as the "Las Vegas of Asia," and of course due to my grandmother's influence I can't pass up an opportunity to gamble. . . or so I thought.

"Las Vegas of Asia" is definitely appropriate to describe the city. However, it's more like the Vegas of the 1970s(or so I've heard) with most of its emphasis on gambling and smaller casinos. However that is rapidly changing, the city is one massive building project with huge in-process casino resorts everywhere. In a few years it will definitely look a lot more like its Nevada cousin whether it will act like it is a different story.

Case in point, after getting my latest passport stamp, we immediately made a beeline for the Sands, one of the newer casinos which is owned by the Venetian in Vegas. However realizing this is too good a market, they're about to open a huge Ventian Macau location this year.

The Sands was a nice casino designed in western style decor, but it had a different feel than any western casino I've been to. Namely,

The casinos was a bit hard to find within the building, you had to go upstairs go through a metal detector, etc. A far cry from Vegas where you always know where you can place your bets.

There were hardly any slot machines in the casino, those that were there were off to the side in their own special room/area.

Baccarat was by far the most popular game, consuming tons of floor space. Next came Sic Bo. There were only a few tables for Carribean stud, blackjack, and roulette. Craps was nowhere to be found.

It was kind of quiet and subdued, without that many slot machines there was no clanking, beeping, or "Wheel of Fortune!" to be heard. Moreover, there was no music being played over the loud speakers.

There were a lot of people there, but nobody looked like they were having fun. Everybody was very intent on the game at hand. No time for chit chat, laughter, or drinks.

The minimum bet was HKD 100 (US $12.90). Given this, we figured we'd move on. It is called gaming for a reason, so if I'm going to lose my money (and lots of it given that minimum) I want to have a good time. Well we tried the Wynn and Casino Lisboa and found similar situations. The Wynn in Macau looks very similar to its Vegas cousin, a bit smaller but still as opulent. It even has some dancing fountains(though on a smaller scale than the Bellagio).

The Casino Lisboa was kind of dumpy and seedy. I now see where the Imperial Palace in Vegas got its inspiration. Up until 2-3 years ago all the casinos in town, including this one, were part of the same monopoly. I guess when you're the only game in town you don't have to give your guests that much.

Since neither of us were feeling the gambling we decided to explore the cities sites, which included some mediocre museums, a pretty nice old town with Portuguese architecture, and then went go-karting. We also tried some of the local food specialties, and had a nice dinner at a restaurant one of Josekin's friends recommended to us. All in all it was a pretty good day.

On the way back to the ferry terminal I realied that a certain group of friends would kill me if I didn't place a bet before I left. . . So, we went to another Casino Lisboa proprty. . . The Golden Dragon Casino right by the ferry terminal. Again, an Imperial Palace look-a-like, and I played some video blackjack. I lost 5 hands in a row and was out the HKD 50 (US $6). Wasn't happy about the loss, but now I can say I've gambled on 4 different continents.

Anyways, the last part of the adventure was getting home from the ferry terminal in Hong Kong. Since, we missed the last KCR back to campus we had to take the "red minibuses of death" that Josekin told me about. After a lot of searching, and somehelp from a friendly local, we found one thatwas heading towards the university...Well we get on and notice this big display next to the driver. Apparently it tells the speed the driver is going and beeps when he is going over the speed limit. . . Well, there was quite a bit of beeping going on in our journey back to campus. There are also no set stops, you yell to the drive when you want to get off, so it was kind of funny when the other student yelled stop in Cantonese and we went from 80+ km/hr to full stop in 2 seconds. . . glad I was sitting down for that one. . .

Being Shanghaied

2007-01-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Before I continue, I got rightly called out for my first blog entry. That somebody who suggested I start a blog was Goldenchild. If you all don't like what I have to write, then you can blame him!

Upon arrival to Hong Kong, I learned that some of the students who couldn't go home for the holiday break (yes despite starting classes before Christmas, the school did throw us a bone and give us the week between Christmas and New Years off) were travelling to Shanghai. Anyways, I had only been here 1 week and my innate wanderlust kicked in, so I joined them on the trip. It was 3 Germans, a Spaniard, and me all traveling through China, so it was quite the collision of cultures. English was of course the common language, but I took the opportunity to practice my Spanish. I have to admit, I never thought I would be using Spanish in China, but I'm not complaining.

It was pretty cheap too for such a last minute decision. $380 for flight + 3 nights hotel. I guess Shanghai isn't a popular holiday destination. In fact, when I told somebody I was doing "Christmas in Shanghai" they said it sounded like the title to a bad B movie. . .

We visited Shanghai, Hangzhou (2 hours from Shanghai) and Suzhou (1 hour from Shanghai). All in all it was a great trip. We visited tons of Pagodas, gardens, parks, and just did a lot of walking and exploring of the 3 cities. I say cities, because that is what all 3 of them were. Before arrival I had never heard of Suzhou or Hangzhou, so I thought they were just small towns. Nope, this is China, so while "smaller" they are huge cities in their own right. I mean both have populations of around 6 million people. . . About the size of Chicago and nobody has ever heard of them! Well any westerner that is, every Chinese person I told said they were both beautiful cities, which I wholeheartedly agree with. Hangzhou especially which is centered around a really pretty lake. It also has quite a bit of money, we saw Bentley, Masarati, and Ferrari dealerships and tons of luxury boutiques. . . Apparently Hangzhou is a popular domestic vacation destination for the Chinese . . .

The sites were fun, but the best part of the trip were the only in China experiences we had. . .

First, getting around was extremely difficult without knowing Chinese. I've travelled through non-English speaking countries before, but the language barrier here is on a whole other level. It's just hard to navigate a place which uses a completely different writing style as you.

We would have the hotel write our destination in Chinese characters so we could hand it to a cab driver. However, if there were any hiccups or detours we were toast. . . One time after a particular disastrous time trying to find a bus to take us to the island of Putoshan (which got dropped from the itinerary since we could never find the bus to take us to the ferry), our Spanish friend had to resort to writing "HELP" on a piece of paper and walking through the streets. Although, it did work it took a while to find an English speaker. Once we found her, we did not want to let her leave.

Hopefully this shows you our dilemma:

Second, the rate of progress in at least the major coastal cities is astonishing. Part of the reason we couldn't find the bus to Putoshan was because the bus station was moved to make way for another development. Frankly, in Shanghai, every other block was a construction site. There were so many skyscrapers being built at every turn. However, there does seem to be an element of haste in all the building so it makes you wonder if bad investment decisions are being made. . . Case in point, the maglev to the airport. Awesome train ride, it went 300+ km/hr and travelled 30km in like 5-6. However it was still a 20 minute cab ride to get to downtown from the city terminal. Cool to say I've taken a maglev, but not ultra convenient. Additionally the development is causing so much pollution. Again what you hear is true. We went to the top of the tallest building in the city(4th tallest in the world after the Sears Tower) on a clear day and couldn't see very far due to all the haze.

Third, while in Hangzhou we met up with a German classmate of one of the Germans on our trip who was interning there. He took us to a Chinese club, run by the city government, where we were the Lao wei(gweilo in Cantonese or foreigner in English). Because we were such a novelty, we didn't pay any cover and were ushered to a table in a private room. Although the funniest thing was the dance floor, it was on springs so it bounced under the weight of all the dancing. Plus, the place was teeming with cops who were there to make sure the partiers were having fun, but not too much fun. We saw multiple forced evictions from the dance floor for infractions such as kissing, dancing too wildly, or standing on the platform with the cops(which my friend was allowed to do because he was lao wei). I think it was a pretty good metaphor, the government letting the population have fun but keeping a close eye to make sure it didn't get too out of hand...that being said we found plenty of people finding ways to do what they wanted.

Fourth, while in Hangzhou we became the center of attention again. The group of us was trying to figure out what to do when an old man approached me and started speaking to me in English. Turns out, he learned English by working with all the foreigners in Shanghai back in the 1940s. His English was pretty good, and we started chatting. Next thing I knew there was a crowd of 100 Chinese surrounding us watching our conversation. For some reason they found us more interesting than the singer a few steps away. Then the old man suggested we sing for the crowd some English songs. It took some cajoling, but eventually he got us to sing Jingle Bells and Auld Land Syne (which for some reason he had the English lyrics in his pocket). We butchered the songs, but for some reason the crowd loved it. The old man said that if we waited or returned later he would get us coverage in the Hangzhou newspaper. We didn't take him up on the offer, but it struck us as funny. Why would the paper want to cover us, were we that much of a novelty? This is the type of thing you hear about in a small Kansas town, not a 6MM person city. Plus, this was a pretty major city close to the coast. . . what would happen if we went to a smaller town in the interior? That's not even metnioning the fact that one of the Germans, who is blond and over 6 foot tall, kept getting asked to take pictures with the locals.

Fifth, our package included a 3 night stay at a Shanghai Holiday Inn which was pretty nice. Much better than any Holiday Inn in the USA. In the hotel, we stumbled into the hotel "sauna" when looking for the gym. It turned out to be a massage parlor that asked us if we wanted "special" services here or in our room. Let's just say it boggled our mind that a Western hotel chain would offer such services to us. . .

Sixth, copying is rampant in China. We were constantly asked if we wanted Handbags, watches, DVDs which were all pirated. Even when not outright copied, there are plenty of firms that have been "inspired" by western companies. Case in point:

Finally, I will leave you with additional proof as to why dining in China is always an adventure:

And so the adventure began

2007-01-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

So, in the midst of all the emailing and skyping back home, somebody suggested I start a blog documenting my time here. Namely, so I could keep everybody up to date about my time in Asia without repeating myself multiple times. Well, even though I've never been one for writing, I thought it was a good idea, so without further ado here it goes. . .

Well I arrived here 3 weeks ago after flying business from Chicago via Tokyo on American and Cathay Pacific. Definitely the way to go for such an interminably long flight. . . Before, I go on I'd like to thank Citibank for providing me the 25,000 miles that made the pampered journey possible. :)

I then went from travel luxury to my home for the next 3.5 months, a dorm on the CUHK campus. . . After living for 5 years in an apartment it has been quite the shock to go back to a dorm. That being said it's not too much smaller than a HK apartment. I'm not kidding, one of the exchange students who is renting in Central has such a small apartment that the bed comes out of the ceiling at night and hovers over the dining room table.

The worst part, is that I'm about 45-60 minutes via public transit to go to downtown and all the excitement. Don't worry I've been making the commute often, but its a pain in the ass! I'm living in the Hyde Park(w/o the crime) of Hong Kong. . . which is ironic since at home I purposefully chose to stay in Lakeview so I would be close to fun and would commute to classes. Here I reversed it. Although, it's the right choice since I'm paying 1/10th of what I would for an apartment. . . Just more money to spend on travel.

Classes have already began. I'm taking Managerial Accounting, Buyer Behavior, and Organizational Behavior. So far, they haven't knocked my socks off. Better than the worst classes I had at the GSB, but in no way near some of the best classes either. Well everybody said classes were not the reason to go on an IBEP. . .

I do like the other students though and friends of friends I've met. One plus of living in the dorm is that I've gotten to know a bunch of them, and make friends. it's definitely quite the international crowd here. We've got HK, Mainland China, Germany, France, Spain, USA and Canada represented. I'm also in a part time class and that group has already invited me out to eat with them a couple of times. Once to the Royal Yacht Club which was really nice, and another time to the on-campus staff restaurant for dim sum where I tried such delicacies as duck tongue and chicken feet. . . I'm glad I tried them but they're definitely acquired tastes. . .

I'm starting to get used to Hong Kong. It's a very cool city. Definitely Asian, but with enough familiarity that it's not a true culture shock. That being said, there have been some things that have caught my attention. In no particular order, here are some observations on life over here:

Shopping is so pervasive. Not including the multiple story malls, I swear every last inch of street facing property has a store on it. Even though caveat emptor reigns there are some good deals. My mom and sister, who kept mentioning how they heard the shopping was good here, would not be disappointed.
Eating is always an adventure and is generally cheap. HK has got some great restaurants and there is some great street food here. Even the canteens on campus, where I mostly eat, are pretty good. However, I never exactly know what I'm going to get. . .The English descriptions are usually very vague (i.e. chicken with Chinese vegetables and noodles/rice) and there are usually 5 dishes that sound similar. It's always food roulette and I never know if I'm going to come out the winner.
Similar to above, when ordering any meat product expect parts of the animal that in the US would be cut away and thrown out to be placed on your plate. Fish often come whole with bones head and tail for your inspection. When ordering pork, you get the skin and fat at no extra charge. There is no such thing as boneless chicken breast. Many restaurants, including the on-campus canteens, have whole cooked birds hanging in the window and they chop up the bird for you.
Christmas, while celebrated, is the most secular thing you will ever see. Not that I'm the most religious person out there, but it was weird to see no mention of Jesus during the holiday season. There was Christmas spirit, it was just all about Santa Claus and presents. I'm sure it was the merchants of Hong Kong realizing how good it would be for business if they "imported Christmas" to Asia. Ah, got to love unbridled capitalism.

Well that's it for know. I have to get to bed. . .