Here's a quick preview of tomorrow's blog. I'm too tired to write it all right now.
-Street research went great! -Got some AWESOME new purses....I think one of them is even real! -Tried some Spicy McWings at McDonalds...McWings, that's so funny -Bought DVDs (MI III, Failure to Launch, In her Shoes, etc.) - ended up with lots of Chinese porn -Rode in a rickshaw -Went to bar street by the Embassy and saw a sweet singing group (that will have a video!)
In Beijing there are many highways with only three lanes, but the drivers here make it a six lane highway. Absolutely crazy, sounds like something Klayton would do :-)
We got up early and had our briefing meeting to prepare for the day. We took a cab in the pouring rain to meet Cisco. We actually had a meeting with the President of Cisco in China in addition to the HR director for China. It was amazing. They were both so open, gave a great presentation and answered any and all of our questions. They also gave us flash drives as a gift to take home!
We stopped by the Pacific World Trade where the Office of Economic development for Indiana is located. This office helps Indiana companies that want to come to China (and those that are already here). The state seal is outside the office in the hallway. Here's Sean and the seal.
We then went to Baker and Daniels, LLC. It's a law firm that is actually based in Indianapolis. They have several offices here and was one of the first US firms to come to China. They bought us lunch, take a wild guess, yes, Pizza! This time it was Pizza Hut. But they eat pizza with waffle cut french fries. They reminded me of the fries from Chik-fil-a but with the curly fry seasoning from Arbys. Interesting none-the-less. Venki, my classmate had me take a picture.
They gave us a lot of great insight to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in China (which is my group's paper topic!). Here's a group shot (some were not there). Notice one of my new pearl necklaces ;)
We went to Motorola after lunch and met with the head of the PR department for China and a woman from the R&D institute. Again, really great meeting. We got more info on IPR and had a great conversation about challenges facing the department in China when having to work with the HQ in the US. It gave me a lot of good things to think about for my UK Expansion paper for my other class. That's due when I get back.
We took a cab about an hour away to Peking University to meet with a Professor of Strategic Management and the Associate Dean. We had a good discussion about issues facing the education system in China. The professor confirmed what businesses have been telling us since we arrived, MBA students in China are NOT prepared to work right away. They are missing the soft skills you would learn in say, AKPsi! The schools teach theory but not practical information. The students don't work in groups, don't know how to lead or make decisions. Again, more great things for my UK Expansion paper. I also got a school tshirt for $1.70! My skills are sharpening!
SO YES, I'm learning lots! :-)
We were at the Guanghau School of Management - it is ranked either #1 or #2 in China.
This is a pretty lake in the middle of campus.
The professor took us to a Chinese banquet at the faculty club. There is where I had my first encounter. My first encounter with a non-western toilet! It was an experience to say the least...squatting over this hole in the ground! I had to chuckle to myself, the Business school had western toilets, nice soap and hand towels. This nice restaurant had holes, no soap and no towels. (that's why you bring that stuff with you!)
The food was good. We left during a down pour and had to walk in the rain (and flooded) streets across campus to get a cab. The campus is closed so cabs can only drop off inside campus, not pick up (unless you happen to be there when someone gets out of it).
We have two free days and then we're off to Wuxi and Suzhou. My group is going to do street research tomorrow for our paper. We're going to visit all these vendors at the Silk Market (a.k.a. bargain and shop) and then look for Mao's chicken, apparently it's very similar to KFC and might be considered the McDowell's of McDonald's (Coming to America). We're also going to visit the purse lady - known for her great replications of purses. Then we'll hit up the Wal-Mart behind the Forbidden City (ha-ha) to see what it's like. I'll be sure to report back!
BTW, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but blogspot is blocked in China. I can update it, but can't see it. Luckily, I still get comments through my email....thanks! They make me laugh and feel closer to home.
The cage around the driver in the taxi that I talked about earlier:
The duck we ate:
One of the company's we're visiting today is Cisco. They let us use the internet phones to call people....hum, who will be the lucky one to get the 2am phone call from me?! I think my parents would be delighted.
Have you ever seen one? I can now say I have. I'll get to that later.
I took my first subway ride in Beijing. Much different from HK. They give you paper tickets and there is someone that collects the ticket stub. They have to create jobs here in China for everyone so they keep things non-automated for that purpose (my best guess). The subway isn't as clean but is 2xs as crowded, I thought HK subway trains were packed. That was nothing compared to Bejing.
We met with the US Embassy and the director from the Economic office. Very informative and interesting. It was nice to see an American flag in the conference room. I have never appreciated it more. There were also awesome glass drawings of different US monuments.
We then met with Cummins. They were very nice, one of the ladies had even worked in Indiana (they are HQ'd in Columbus IN). They bought us pizza, who knew there was Papa John's in China. It was pretty good, there was one with mushrooms and shrimp, everyone's favorite.
Then we met with the President of the IU Alumni Association in Beijing. Very nice man that owns two businesses.
I went with a few people over to the Pearl Market to look around. I bought myself some beautiful black pearls and a matching double strand bracelet...and much more. I bought two more necklaces and some gifts. Very reasonable, actually very cheap. My bracelet and matching necklace would easily be $500 or more and I got it for $50. Our professor swears by this place. There was a lot of stuff in the basement so I bargained for some more gifts.
We went to dinner at a place called A Fun Ti Carnival. It was a dinner show with awesome inner Mongolian food and fun entertainment. They even had a male belly dancer. A lot of my classmates and I were pulled up on stage.
There were chinese business men around us, they were pouring beers for Fraiser (Jason) and I. Apparently, they pour you beer, they toast you and you chug together. We decided to do the friendly thing and play along - free beer!
Click twice on the arrow to play - enjoy! It was like car accident, you didn't want to watch but you couldn't take your eyes off him.
We drove to the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. Tian'anmen Square is much larger than I expected.
There is a building on each side of the square: The National Museum of China
Chairman Mao Memorial Hall - where tons of people wait in long lines to go in and pay respects.
The Great Hall of the People
And the South entrance to the Forbidden City (That's Mao on the building)
We went into Forbidden City, unfortunately most of it is under construction for the 2008 Olympics. This place is HUGE. You could easily spend several days inside of it. There are lots of small vendors inside, hidden in little shops with very small signs. I hear there is a Starbucks, very well could have been. If there is, it doesn't have any signs outside. It is was called the Forbidden City because it was only for Emperors and its family and staff. Common folk were never allowed in.
Here's me & Mao
The main building in FC. This is the most important building in the FC. And it was closed! They were nice enough to paint what it would look like for us.
It ends with a beautiful garden. I was very tired by then so it was nice to see the end!
There are four guard houses on each corner of the Forbidden City.
It was amazing to walk through, it really is big enough to be its own city.
We went back to the hotel to shower and then we went to our Peking Duck dinner. It was AMAZING (and cheap!). I think we had at least 7 courses, the duck had wonderful flavor. You dip the skin in sugar and it is surprisingly fabulous (and full of fat!). We went to the most famous (and best) restaurant in town. It was only about $150 for 13 of us to eat!
(I'll try to post more duck pics when I get them from my peers)
We had a class meeting to prepare for today and then I passed out as soon as I hit the pillow. But I was happy that I was able to sleep until 6am this morning.
Today we're going to the Embassy and then to visit with Cummins. We are having a pizza lunch with Cummins and I think we're all ready for that. After we are visiting with the President of the Indiana University Alumni Group here in Beijing.
We left early yesterday morning for the Great Wall. It is about 2 hours from our hotel. We hired a tour bus and guide to take us around to the sights. I was in amazement at my first in person glance of the wall. It is incredible.
There are three places where you can climb the wall outside of Beijing (it is 6,000 miles long). We stopped at #2. At first glance, it seems like a pretty easy hike. It's a paved path, doesn't look too steep. Wow, wrong!
At the start of the wall, it's not too bad. The wall is about 10-15 degrees cooler than the city, but it's still about 85 degrees. Sun blazing I take off for the top. We are climbing to the highest point of the wall anywhere (or so I'm told). 880 meters, straight up. This portion of the wall is very steep, with not very many flat stretches. Other parts of the wall go steep and then have equally long parts that are flat in between.
About a quarter of the way to the top Erin decided to turn back, so I was on my own. It was getting very tiring climbing as the pave stones are not even and there are bumps in the path every few feet.
It gets rather tricky making your way through the traffic. Every type of person is on the wall climbing it, old, young, skinny, plump. People will randomly stop right in front of you and sit down. You have to wade through the crowd. You can feel your calves burn as your feet are meeting the ground at a 30 degree angle in some spots. I made it half-way and took a rest to take in the scenery.
This is what I was left to climb.
The rest of the way are steps. These steps are very steep and very uneven. There are random gaps between the steps and the stones sometimes curve in. You have to take these steps slow and steady or you can easily trip. I saw many people bite it.
Finally, I made it to the top. There were a few times when I wanted to turn back around, but I kept on going. I was very proud as it was harder than it looked.
The walk down was just as hard. The stairs down were brutal. The steep paths took a toll on your feet and back. I decided to start walking in diagonals to take the stress off my feet. I was actually able to go a lot faster this way. I made it to the bottom and our professor greeted us with a cold, creamy pea popsicle, yes pea. It wasn't too bad.
We had our sack lunch in the official Beijing 2008 Olympics souvenir shop and then took the bus ride to the Forbidden City. To answer your burning question....NO, I didn't fall! I don't know how I managed not to considering all the obstacles, but I did! :-)
I went to bed last night at 9pm, I was totally zonked out. I woke up at 3am. I couldn't go back to sleep. So I got on the computer and started chatting with friends.
I never left the hotel last night. I had Erin bring me a coke (I was craving something besides water). It had a pull tab! I don't remember ever seeing a pull tab before.
I don't have any other pics so here they are. I'm goofy, I know.
Things are so cheap here compared to HK. Two 1.5 L bottles of water, 2 cokes and a snickers bar was only 45 RMB (~8 RMB to 1 US$). In HK that would have been 200 HK dollar (~7 HK to 1 US$).
I did some laundry last night in the sink. That was an experience. You sweat so much here you have to wash your clothes so they don't smell. It is also very humid so they take forever to dry! I'll never take a washing machine for granted again.
Well I can't fall back asleep and I'm sick of the internet so I'll go watch HBO - the only Enlish channel I could find.
Keep your fingers crossed that I don't fall off the wall tomorrow :-)
REVISE - Superman is on for the 3rd time since I've been here. I think it plays on repeat.
Or so it feels like it. It feels like we went from heaven to hell, all in a 3.5 hour flight. But I'm not going to judge it based on the few hours I've been here.
We got up this morning and took a cab across the harbor to East Kawloon to meet with the general manager at CH Robinson. We got there about 45 minutes early so we went to the Starbucks and had a coffee and a McDonalds egg mcmuffin. It was a much needed taste of home on an early Monday morning. Erin and I tried Watermelon juice, it was fabulous!
We met with the Hong Kong office manager and the Asia manager (he oversees all the offices in Asia). The Asia manager was a graduate from the Carlson School of Business at Minnesota. He couldn't be more than 6-7 years out of college. They were both very nice and helpful. They even sent an associate with us on the bus stop to make sure we got there okay and he checked to make sure we had enough cash.
We had a lovely chat and got a great insider's view on business in Asia and Hong Kong. We hopped a bus from their office to the airport and got on our flight to Beijing. Here's some last minute shots from Hong Kong:
The shipping yards with lots of containers stacked high!
A view of the water and mountains outside of the city.
Our flight was pretty good. The plane was empty so we could stretch out, I'm glad I didn't pay extra for business class. When we landed it looked very overcast outside, I soon realized it is the pollution! We got through customs pretty quick, exchanged some money (or hit up the ATM) and got a cab.
The cabs are tiny compared to those in Hong Kong. So Erin and I took one together and Mike took one alone. The ride was insane, it ranks up there with my crazy ride in Houston for the Board meeting. I actually thought I was going to die more on this ride than that one. First the cab driver didn't open the trunk, finally the cab attendant got him too. Then he watched Erin and I struggle as we had to figure out how to make our luggage fit in the back and load it, he just observed. The cab driver is cagged in, so the backseat is pretty cramped (it is a cage around just the front driver's seat). Erin took the back seat and I got in the front. Big mistake! I could see every near miss up close and personal. Everyone drives like a maniac here, the worst I've ever seen it anywhere in the US. When we pulled into the hotel we literally almost hit a girl on a bike, she was about 2 inches from the hood. We both got out and felt like we were going to throw up right here on the curb. I found it interesting that they drive on the same side as the road as the US.
We arrived at our hotel and they told all three of us something different about our room rate. I got charged a 3500RMB deposit, Mike and Erin were charged 4000RMB. Erin was told she got breakfast, I was told it was 69RMB. Then I look at the exchange board and realize the exchange rate was far better at the hotel, which surprised me. I was told it's all government controlled and would be the same :(
We start asking about our classmates and the front desk tells us that no one has arrived and everyone's reservations are cancelled. WTF, when we call from our room we get room numbers from everyone.
It took two smart people and a call to the front desk to get the internet to work, it's 5RMB every 10 minutes with a maximum of 50RMB a day.
Erin and Mike are looking for cold bottled water while I'm feeling a little funky. I feel like I'm rocking back and forth, like how you feel on stable land after being on a rocking boat for a while. We've all felt this way at one time or another...I'm sure it will pass.
We leave tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. for the Great Wall and Forbidden City tour. Then we go to a peking duck dinner. Sounds like a long, hot day!
I'm sure I'll like Beijing, just a huge change from Hong Kong. The Asia manager at CHRobinson told us we'll definitely notice a difference, I guess we just weren't expecting night and day! We were very spoiled by our awesome hotel in Hong Kong, we'll adjust.
We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the Jardines Noonday Gun. It is right on the harbor and the gun is shot everyday at noon. They ring the bell for charity now.
We then took the MTR to the Central station and went on the world's largest escalator. Which is kind of a crock since it is a system of 23 escalators. It takes up half way up Victoria Mountain. It took about 20 minutes to go up (it's an escalator then you walk about 100 feet to the next one) and we took a taxi down, the ride down the steep mountain was an experience.
We took the MTR to North Mongkok so Mike could see a church he had read about. We then took the MTR back to South Mongkok so Erin could get a bag in the Ladies Market. She was whisked away to the "secret" room, they would only take one person.
Then we went back to the hotel to rest. We took the Opal of the Orient - a night harbor dinner cruise around the harbor. It was interesting and very entertaining. It was a buffet dinner, the food was okay. We didn't eat very much. We went on top of the boat to take pictures of the beautiful Hong Kong skyline. Pictures do not do the city justice, it is gorgeous. There was a live band, it was pretty funny to watch. They sang all US songs, from the 70s, 80s a one recent song - one by Kylie Minogue. I had to laugh when the lead singer burst out with "Can't get you out of my head."
A sketch artist came to the table and sketched Mike. It looked like him, only the Chinese version of him!
There are nightly fireworks on the Harbor water.
Here's a video of the fabulous entertainment. Click the arrow button in the middle of the screen twice to get it to play. Make sure your speakers are on, she is singing "I will Survive!" They even had a fog machine, it was a hoppin' place!
We are going to meet a business contact at CH Robinson and then we're off to Beijing! Overall, Hong Kong was awesome!
