My pictures

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

And done. . .

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. . .

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

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.

The 4.5 fingered man awaits

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. . .

River of Gold

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. . .

Going to Nam

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. . .

Staying close to home

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."

Football and Scrambled Eggs

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.

Living the TaiTai life

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. . .

Bo - Po - Mo - Fo

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.

Bleating out your favorite hits

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. . .

Negotiations, Part Deux

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.

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

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.

I really need to take negotiations class

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.

Being Shanghaied

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: