Day 8, Zai jian Shanghai, Ni Hao Hong Kong!

We officially ended our class at breakfast so we had the afternoon free to do what we wanted.  I didn’t have to catch my flight to Hong Kong until 3 so we decided to be tourists and check out the Hunpong River sightseeing tour.  The day was sunny and not completely freezing so it worked out well.  I took lots of pictures.

Then I had to say good-bye to the classmates and make my way to Hong Kong.  The flight was delayed and I didn’t land until 10pm.  Hong Kong has an amazing logistics structure.  Hong Kong was a British colony up until 12 years ago. Which means they are very catering to the English language?  I wouldn’t go as far as to say they all speak English well, but all signs/announcements/educated people were in English as well.  Oh and unlike mainland China, they drive on the left side of the road, like the English! 

Aside from the delays and normal amount of anxiety of traveling solo, I didn’t have much of a problem finding the hostel/apartment I would be renting for the next few days.  They have a wonderful subway system (travels above the ocean) and among the 3 main islands that make up Hong Kong.  The first thing I noticed once I was there was the wonderful temperature.  Aww… I have decided that anywhere that palm trees can survive- I want to be. 

I caught a taxi from the subway and handed him the instructions in Chinese to the place I want to go…after a bit of confusion we took off.  Then after a bit, he points and tells me I am there.   Uhhh….i get out and look around and clearly I am not there.  Hummm.  Now with my luggage and probably 11:30 at night, I don’t know where to go.  UGHH.  I find another taxi and try again.  Finally I get to the right place.  Then I realize in order to get inside the the building you need a keycard and that the office is closed because I have arrived so late.  After holding back panic and I stood there for a bit, eventually some guys let me in as they are coming back to their apartment. They took me to the common room and called someone to let them know I was there and wanted to check in.  The problem with the situation was that hotels in Hong Kong are CRAZY expensive, so booked this place through a hostel website because it had good reviews.  Now it’s not really a hostel , but a serviced apartment for mid to long term leases and when they have vacant rooms, they rent them by the night.  So they don’t really have a 24 hour check in/out service.  After waiting a bit, a lady showed up and told me I had to pay in Cash….wha?  I only had about 50 in Hong Kong dollars (lucky I even had that).  After agreeing that I would put a deposit down and pay with CC in the am, she took me to my room.  Now I can finally pass out, Oh but WAIT it couldn’t be that easy.  The room was not cleaned.  So by this time, it was almost 1 am.  This is the only vacant room and I was tired and stressed.  As I was standing there the smell of pot was filling the hallway, apparently my next door neighbor was a Chinese stoner.  When she offered to help me find somewhere else to stay, I couldn’t hold back tears of annoyance any longer.     And if you read my earlier post, you would know crying in Chinese is absurd- it’s just not done.  I tried not to, but the tears came out.   I think out of shock from the crying, she offered to clean the room.  Yes please, just give me some clean sheets and put me to bed.  SIGHHHH.  After all that though, the place was nice and fitting for me. 

  

Day 7, Diamonds are a girl's best friend

Thursday’s class began as a lecture.  Our guest speaker was a Middle Eastern guy in his late 30s who imports diamonds from S. Africa.  He was a fascinating speaker.  He arrived in China only after attempting to import diamonds into the US about 10 years ago.  He was dressed to the Tee and on his ear he sported the fattest rock I have ever seen.   He told the story of how he pretty much developed the diamond market in China.  Before he arrived, the Chinese did not buy diamonds, there was no demand or understanding for what diamonds represent.   He had to build relationships, teach people the desire for diamonds which would create demand for his product.  He said he spent lots of time at dinners and late night karaoke bars earning “Guanxi”- the central idea in Chinese society that represents a person’s networks of influence through relationships.  Understanding guanxi, is crucial for anyone wanting to do business in China.

After class we headed out for some shopping. We checked out the fake market.  As we arrived, the shop owners said it was the day that the police were having a surprise visit so all the “good stuff” was put away.  Hummm……..I like how they schedule it out.  A classmate got a couple of the rosetta stones for like $10. I keep meaning to email them and ask if they actually worked!

Then we were off to “Old town” or Nanshi.  I loved old town there were pagodas and traditional Chinese style buildings as far as the eye could see.  It’s exactly what I pictured China to be like.  I could have spent several hours there, but like everywhere else we were on a tight schedule. However we did have time to walk across a famed zig zagging bridge and take a peek into the local temple, were I snapped a pic of the monk secretly texting by holding his phone in his desk- BUSTED!!

 

That night a few of us checked out the Shanghai Circus World.  Chinese are known to be very flexible and this was certainly the case at the circus.  It is crazy how many people they can fit into a basket- seriously.  OMG, then there was the motorcycle stunt that took place inside a mid-sized sphere thing… they put in 3 people on motorcycles and had them drive around inside the locked bubble thing, not just driving but going as fast as possible in circles upside down.  Then right when I was thinking, god they have to be getting motion sick, they pulled in another motorcycle.  And then another.   I couldn’t even look- there was 5 motorcycles in the ball only about 6 inches apart, tire to tire, flooring the gas, flying in circles….nail biting.  No pictures allowed and just like everywhere else, we were highly under watch so I didn’t get sneak any shots. 

Day 6 Spitting Buckets

I woke with my throat very scratchy and I was afraid I was catching cold so I took a Musinex in hopes it would prevent anything from starting….probably not the best way to start the day…...  

Now let's talk about the spitting. Anybody who has been to china knows of this dreadful Chinese habit.  It's DISGUSTING.  Anywhere and everywhere it is acceptable to cough up a big one and spit it out. EWWWW.    Not just spit, but really hack up the biggest loogie and clear your throat down into your lungs.  In general, indoor people will use a trashcan or SPIT BUCKET, but outdoors or public areas- the ground is a free for all.  It is such a hard thing to ignore because some people are SOO loud when clearing their business.  After being in China for a couple of days now, I can comprehend where this comes from- the crappy air!  China has always had a bad reputation for poor air quality and we all know why…it houses all the factories that makes all of the world’s stuff.  All that crap that gets dumped in the air and then dumped in people’s lungs which leads to hacking and waking up with sore throats….no good.

Now, our day was to start in the classroom, which was good because the classroom was just a few stops from the hotel and it was chilly and spitting rain outside. Once I got off the subway with my nice warm coffee I began fighting with my shitty Chinese umbrella that I bought the day before.  The stupid thing didn't want to open and when it did it was inside out, as I was trying to turn it right side I was unknowingly dumping my coffee all down my coat and purse- nice.  Then to top it all off, I look up and everyone was gone.  I kept walking hoping I would remember or stumble across the right path to the classroom.  But not so lucky, after walking while I turned back toward the subway and found my teacher and a classmate looking for me!!  So embarrassing.   I am going to blame the musinex, which all goes back to the shitty air.

But once I made it back to the classroom, we started the day with a lecture on different market entry strategies.  Our class has 3 different professors.  One is from St. Louis and she is primarily in charge of the online portion of the class and the other two are expats living in Shanghai for about 10 years, one a lawyer and one a full time teacher.  The lawyer really made many of the lectures very interesting because he has so many real first hand experiences. One lesson was on communication pitfalls.  One funny example he gave us was when he sent his assistant out to pick up a seedless watermelon, poor girl went out bought a watermelon and picked all the seeds out by hand.  Lol.  Another communication challenge is that there is NO word in the mandarin language that means NO.  So getting a straightforward answer is really difficult. 

After our lecture we had a little time to hit up some shopping.  We went to the fake market and checked out some stalls.  There weren't too many people there so all the vendors were hawking us. 

That night we had a business dinner with a leader from GE avionics.  China is now looking to enter the aerospace market and GE aerospace is looking to supply their engines.  We had a very traditionally Chinese dinner, lots of dishes spread out on the lazy Susan.  I was exhausted from the shopping, smelt like coffee and was ready for bed so I headed back after dinner.

Day 5: Nanking, China

We were off on the fast train.  China has an amazing transportation infrastructure.  With so many millions of people, I guess China has to have efficient mass transportation.  The newest addition to this system is bullet trains, or “fast" trains.  I heard about them in the news a few months ago- and if I heard it on our American news it wasn’t for a good reason.  My teacher said they had slowed the speeds down after the accident and that they are now safe.  They travel about 195 miles an hour.  The high speed didn't feel weird; the train was nice, with comfy seats. 

Once we arrived in Nanking, we rented a bus and We headed off to our first stop- a tour of K.O. smith's factory.  The company makes water heaters and water purifies.  An interesting thing about the Chinese appliance industry is that that design and branding plays a significant role in buying decisions.  Because the homes are so small and it’s very unlikely there is a basement or garage, these appliances will sit out in the open in the kitchen or living areas so they need to look less intrusive and name brands signify status.  I couldn’t even tell you what brand my water heater is, but I do know I wouldn’t want it sitting out in my kitchen!

The factory was clean and the people looked happy.  I am sure this is the best of best factory setups in china; otherwise we probably wouldn't be invited in.  The company leaders talked about how they try to retain employees.  It's very common for companies to provide living quarters (dorms) and transportation for employees near the factory.  This company did both.  They also spoke about how they encourage employee innovation- a quality that is not common in the Chinese culture- they tend to be more group focused vs. individual creativity.  We had lunch in their cafeteria and were off to our next stop.

Although not directly business related, our next stop was at the holocaust museum to give us some Chinese history.  Many of the American students didn’t realize there was a Chinese holocaust, but the museum explains that during World War II (the peak o f Japanese imperialism) Japanese invaders raped and murdered millions of Chinese civilians and prisoners of war.  The museum exhibits were graphic and truly saddening.  To think this was only 70 years ago is mind boggling.  There were some areas that gave remembrance to foreigners living in Nanking who tried to protect civilians and bring to light many of the tragedies occurring during this time- including American missionaries Minnie Vautrin and John Magee.   I like to think something like this couldn't happen in today's world b/c of the ease of communication brought on by modern technology; I hope that if we know of something that we could stop it, but I'm sure it's never that easy.

Oh and did you know Jesus had a brother?  Yup, and he was Chinese- Hong xiuquan ! He also led the Taiping rebellion against the Qing dynasty- a civil war were about 20 million people died.  All this we learned at our next stop the imperial palace in Nanjing, a place of long history because before Beijing became china's capital, this is where the emperor resided.

The one on the left

After the long day, we took the train back and were in desperate need of food and drinks.  Our bellman named "trainee" sent us off to a random country/Irish/karaoke/brewery.  It turned out pretty good; we had bar food, sampled some of the home made beer, and were entertained by the house karaoke band.  

Day 4 Monday, School Bound

We began our class with an introduction over breakfast at the hotel.  We met the balance of our classmates, teachers, and some students from the Webster Shanghai MBA program. 

We took the subway to go visit our first business and take a tour of SAP's Shanghai’s office.  It was the same as something we would see in any office in the states- cubicles, cafe, meeting rooms, company memorabilia.  After a presentation on the company, we had lunch in their caferiteria with the employees.  I noticed that everyone working there looked soooo young.  Yes, Asians generally age well, but none of the employees looked over 35.  I asked the guy and he said yes, they were all very young b/c only the younger people have had the opportunity to study computer technology so older adults aren’t really in this field.  Our school day was completed back on campus with a lecture on Chinese history and common business practices.  It is very common for Chinese business relationship be built on a foundation of dining, heavy drinking, and late night karaoke bars.  Our instructor said this strategy was based on the belief that when drunk, people show who they really are and have a harder time hiding true intent.  The next couple of nights as I was in the lobby using Wi-Fi, I did see several Chinese businessmen stumbling in and even so wasted his two colleagues were practically carrying him to his room . 

I also found it interesting when my teacher said that many of the Chinese are still very immature when they enter the workforce.  He said that dating is not allowed in high school and very rarely in college.  WHA???   Also, most Chinese do not get their first job until after college.  So in many cases when they graduate, they have no work experience and may be preoccupied with finding a mate.  I can't even imagine-   What in the world would you do as a teenager with no boys or jobs?

After the long day of learning, a one of my classmates and I went to see the TV tower and grab a bite to eat.  The TV tower is to shanghai how the arch is to St. Louis.  It was pretty neat, all the China. All the buildings were lit up and glistened with Christmas décor-YES Christmas-LOTS of it and obviously not for religious reasons, but more as an event.  We had dinner at a Brazilian restaurant called Latino.  The weather was quite nice (especially in comparison to Beijing) so we ate outside.  When we headed back to the hotel we learned Dominic had 500 stolen out of his hotel room.  Grr, that stuff makes me so mad...It made me remember what if felt like when the housekeeper in Thailand accidentally threw my ring in the trash. Stuff like that makes it so hard to trust anybody.  

Off to Shanghai

The morning began just as cold as the night before and our room’s space heater seemed to be more like an prop.  And as unhealthily as it is, I almost would have preferred to burn some coal and ditch the space heater, BURRRRR!!  

Beijing was great, but we were ready to see what Shanghai had to offer.  Travel to Shanghai was pretty smooth.  After we got checked in, we were off to find some food (seemed to be the reoccurring mission).   The bellman pointed us in a direction and we wandered into an area with several restaurants.  We walked into one that a looked like it had good ambiance, but when we begain to approach the hostess stand they began snickering and giggling.  They pointed and said "fee~ish" then walked us over to a fish pond/aquarium and took the net to scoop a large flappy fish out if the tank and shake it towards us – knowing we would not be interested in that dining experience.  We scuffled out….Um, no thanks. 

Next door we found the Mongolian BBQ restaurant that turned out to be a great choice.  They didn't have English menus & didn't really speak English, but they seemed to know exactly what we should order.  It turned out pretty good.  The tables had little grills on it for us to cook our own food.  It was entertaining and nobody got hurt (or sick).  I am not real picky with food, but I can't eat anything that is looking at me or resembles the live animal- weird yes, but just can't do it.   So it was big steps when I had to cut a shrimp’s head off it eat it. L

The Great Wall

  Our day began at 530 am as we began with a 3 hour bus ride to Guebekou Village.  After the journey, our bus pulled over on the side over a major road and pointed down a half gravel/pavement road and said walk 10 to 15 minutes that way!  Another reason why packing is stressful- the lighter the better because now we have to lug all of our luggage down a half paved half gravel road while trying to figure out where to go.  We finally arrived at the Great Wall Box House and was greeted by our sweet host, Monica.  She had a certain happy karma around her that seemed infectious.  Once we settled, we got directions to the local village for an ATM and food stop.   

This village was VERY small and there was hardly a person in sight. It had a simple life feel to it.  Since we had been in Beijing, the sky had been grey- similar to what fog looks like and there had been a mild bonfire smell in the air.  Once in the village the bonfire smell became more potent and I realized that it was the smell of burning coal.  People here use coal to warm their homes and businesses.  This also explains why they leave their doors cracked (in the butt @ss cold), use plastic flaps or simply hang a blanket in the doorway - to avoid deadly buildup of carbon monoxide.  Twice during our time in the village we saw a truck driving through the village and heard the drivers were making announcements on a megaphone (in mandarin, of course).   Initially we joked that they were telling the villagers to hide because there were foreigners, but I realized it was the coal truck letting the people know that there was coal for sale so come and get it.

We got to a restaurant and ordered our new "go to" dish "Kung pow chicken".  The food was delicious and our sever warmed up to us after we poorly attempted to tell him the food was good. On our way out we ordered 6 beers to-go so we could each enjoy one on the wall.  It was already 1:30 when we began our journey up the wall.  The dirt path up to the wall had some steep sections, but also had some uneven stone steps.  The climb up began with a crew of 6, but within 15 minutes we lost 3 to their fear of heights. 

As we were planning this part of the trip we decided to avoid the highly populated tourist sections and go a more authentic area of the great wall.  Unlike what I had previously thought, the wall is actually broken into several sections - not one continuous wall. Several of the sections of the wall have been restored, but this section had not been- it was the real deal with missing bricks and half standing fortresses.  It is so amazing there was anything left after all these years.

So the three of us, Jana, Dominic and myself, journeyed onward. Nothing like getting to know strangers while sharing a hike on a little 'ol wall.   Once at the top, the view was breathtaking. It was fascinating how such a structure could be built so may years ago.  The pictures do not do it justice.  It really worked out that we didn't get started until the afternoon because the weather really warmed up and it became quite enjoyable. After about 3.5 hours, we were journeying down just in time to see the sun set disappear behind the mountain.