Jake-Post 12- Journal, Notes, and Facts from the Trip

Hey everyone, these are just a bunch of notes and journal entries I wrote about the whole trip. Figured could help everyone remember some of the days. Some of the writing is a bit crude so bear with it, just notes. See everyone tonite.

Day 1, March 12th

Drive to airport at 7am, get dropped me off at Terminal 5, ride back to Terminal 1. Arrive with group. Depart on Flight 0835. First Pictures on airplane are over the Verkhoyanskiy and Cherskogo Mountains.

Day 2, March 13th
Cool, Foggy

Arrive in Shanghai at 2:50 pm, China time. Meet with Molly at Airport terminal. Proceed to take bus to Broadway Mansions Hotel. Throughout the ride Molly gives random facts of the City of Shanghai. Pass the World Expo Center and really awed by the city of Shanghai. 100’s and 100’s of high rise buildings.

Enter Broadway Mansion’s; the front desk can not speak great English. They do make an attempt with broken dialect. Proceed to go up to room and unpack. Initial perspective of hotel room; room is beautiful, bathroom is great, beds are good, over all cleanliness of room is up to standards, but the view sucks. The view is of heating and cooling ventilation pipes. Proceed to walk down to the bellhop area and ask about local nite spots. He is very pleasant and gives me a local address to a bar.

We meet back up with Molly; go to a local restaurant for tourists. Dinner is ok, very bland and lots of vegetables. A wedding is going on at the same restaurant, we presume to believe that we were served left over food from the wedding. Take a few pictures, load bus, and head back to hotel.

Walk down to the local Family Mart. Buy some snacks, soda, and beer. The prices are very cheap and we are impressed. Head back to the room and proceed to fall asleep within 10 minutes.

Day 3, March 14th
Rainy and cloudy. Probably mid 40’s

Woke up fairly early. No jet lag symptoms. Go down to breakfast around 730 and join the group. Breakfast was buffet style, but different then a western buffet. They had breakfast sausage that was completely white and looked like a red hot sausages. Their bacon looked like strips of ham and was just as soggy. They had hard boiled eggs, a rice dish, these steamed buns, a pork/eggplant dish, and several other cultural dishes. They also made fresh noodles with soup and omelet’s. There omelet’s consisted of mushrooms, peppers, onions, and parmesan cheese. They also had a fruit/deli meat section, toast section, yogurt, and several juices. I thought the coffee was better than America, strong.

Took a walk around the block after breakfast, stopped into Family Mart again. The city seems pretty busy, but relaxed. Joined group for first Destination.

Arrived at Nanking Road for McDonald’s visit. Walked up and down the strip. Reminded me of Las Vegas, marble sidewalk and streets, and busy for Sunday afternoon. Arrive at McDonald’s, greeted by several executives and ushered into a seating area. They begin to introduce themselves, their titles, and the McDonald’s store. I was very impressed by the way the executive group presented themselves and with the overall store appearance. They served us coffee from the McCafe, took us on a tour, and explained several operating procedures. The store was much cleaner the US storefronts, the workers seemed much happier, and the overall food quality was much better. Overall, I was very impressed by the McDonald’s operations and felt very comfortable in a fast food restaurant, which I found surprising. The meeting concluded with a free meal and the purchase of the collectible bears.

Upon completion of meeting we head to the Silk Factory. The Silk Factory is located in a general city area, some beggers outside. We get a tour of the factory and explanation on how silk is produced from the silk worm. Then they take us into the bedding and linen store. Purchase a comforter for 730 RNB’s, probably taken on the price. (Seems as though we are always gonna be shopping above cost when i look back at it). They then take us into the other store front, which has clothing, ties, purses, and everything else made out of silk. I purchase 3 ties for 80 RNB a piece.

We leave the Silk Factory and head to the Shanghai Museum. The Museum line is a few hours long, do to it being free and Sunday. We decide to venture towards Nanking Rd. Upon entering an underpass/tunnel to cross the street we lose then main group. It is now Langston, Danielle, Kelly, and I. At the first traffic light, two Chinese women walk up to us and begin to speak English. They state they are students and are currently studying English. They want to know if they have an Australian, English, or American accent. We walk with them several blocks, in hopes to see a Tea Ceremony. Upon arriving at the destination, our group decides we do not have enough time and part ways. We then set sights for the Nanking Rd; we get there and immediately find a dealer of imitation purses. The individual takes us down a back alley to a storefront that has a false door. This is our first bartering experience. They start high, we go low, and purchased 3 purses at a price that we come to find wasn’t low enough. We set back walking to the Museum to meet with the original group. We find that they had been waiting for us over the last few hours and never left the bus. We decide to pass out phone numbers and come up with a plan if ever separated again. We take the bus back to the hotel and on the way see several small storefronts, including a meat market located next to a china shop. Very interesting.

When we get to the hotel we shower and head for our next destination, the family visits. Rick and I arrive at a University where we intend on meeting Rosaline. We venture around some of the campus, which is very beautiful. Rosaline meets us at the front gate and we begin our tour together. We come to find that this university is one of the oldest in Shanghai and the only that has a river through it. Her grandmother studied and taught geography there. The Chinese students only have one chance to pass a test that gives them the opportunity to attend a university. The schooling itself does not seem to be that expensive, approximately $5000 per year. We finish the tour in a school building that had been bombed out in world war I We then proceeded to catch a cab and ride to her house. We arrive at a neighborhood with multiple high rise buildings. It seems like a fairly nice area and is secure. We climb 5 floors and arrive at her front door. Her grandparents are running around and you can see the excitement in their eyes. We enter and proceed to talk and have tea in their family room/kitchen. Rosaline’s family seems very loving and caring, which is shown through the opening of their door to us. We sit at the kitchen table for dinner with Rosaline, her uncle, nephew, grandmother, and grandfather. The grandmother proceed to bring out dish after dish. Rick and I proceed to eat dish after dish, well into us being overly stuffed. We discuss things as travel, politics, education, jobs, and etc. This evening was one of the most enjoyable evenings of the trip, and reminded me very much of my family. We concluded our dinner and her Uncle drove us back to the hotel.

We then decided to go out to a bar called Bar Rouge. This bar was on the 7th floor atop a shopping and dinning center. It faced the cityscape and river front. It was foggy at night but still had a great view. We had drinks and conversations that could last. The staff was very friendly and trustworthy. From there we walked back to the hotel and stayed at the hotel bar.

Day 4
Cloudy, Foggy, Chilly

Went down to breakfast once again around 730 am. From there we started off to our first business visit, Ctrip. We arrived 30 mins late, do to traffic. Traffic was always horrible and always ran 30 minutes behind.

Upon arriving at Ctrip, we were ushered to a conference room with a middle level manager and an ex student if Prof. Chaundry. The manager ran through the key points of the business. Customer service, six sigma standing, health car, and other hr policies. From this meeting we went up to the top floor and met with the head of hr, which coincidently was a female. She had us watch a video on the company and answered a few questions. This company seemed very guarded and uncooperative. The view of the office seemed like they were locked behind doors, seated at very small cubicles. Trying to take the elevator from the top floor down was a nightmare. We waited over 15 minutes. The company gave off the feel that they were trying to control all aspects of their employee’s lives. They seemed to employ young, inexperienced workers which I assume was because they were uneducated. At the end of the meeting tried to buy a chocolate mocha, ended up with a mocha and hot chocolate—language barrier once again.

From the Ctrip meeting, we went to an area close to our second meeting. The area was kind of an outdoor mall that had multiple food options. I went off by myself to a Chinese restaurant. Tried to order a soup that have never tried. Succeeded and still do not know what type of soup it was. It had a pork bone/meat of some sort, mushrooms, and a broth. Was fairly good. Went shopping and met back up with group. Also tried some fried dumplings.

Walking into Koehne and Nagel was a totally different feel then Ctrip. Our school name and logo was displayed, they met us with a warm greeting and immediately started a tour. The first person we met was Steffan, he was a warm, kind hearted German. He led us around the building and eventually dropped us off at the computer lab to Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu had a 270 slide power point prepared for us. Was very nice and intelligent, but kept to his powerpoint. He never veered from the company’s HR plan and always related his answers to this point. Steffan joined the Q and A and was able to shoot from the hip, more or less. It seemed as Mr. Wu lived up to his cultural stereotypes, structured, narrow minded, not free thinking, only one sensible answer. With that being said enjoyed both individuals and was very impressed by the company.

From the company visit we headed back to the hotel and then to dinner. Dinner was the same tourist food. It included Langston, Brittne, Bukky, and me. There was an incident on the restaurant side of the establishment, which involved two really drunk Chinese men. This was fairly entertaining. Upon dinner we went to the river and took a cruise around the cityscape. It was freezing out, but enjoyed the sites. We ended the night at Nanking Rd, which was closed. Headed back to the hotel for a drink at the bar and then bed time.

Day 4 Part 1
Sunny, clear skies. 50’s

The last day in Shanghai and it’s beautiful outside. Ended the trip with breakfast the same as it started, Healthy and hearty. After breakfast headed down stairs for one more look at the neighborhood, jumped in the bus, and headed off to Grainger for our last company visit. On the drive over there was a field that was once bar with dirt and rocks is now filled with grass and shrubbery. Amazed within 3 days they were able to do this. This might also explain why the set a goal of reworking most of the roads within 45 days of the World Expo.

Arrived at Grainger and was met by Jeff, VP. We then went on a tour with Brian through the warehouse facility. He seemed very intelligent and wise to the cultural norms of Chinese business. We then had a Q & A session with Jeff, where he answered anything from info on the company to general cultural questions. He advised us to go to the Pearl city, but our tour guide stated she could not take us their do to the obligated trip in Beijing.

We instead went to a very suburban style area. Langston, Kelly, and I walked down a small walkway to a area that seemed to be of German influence. We enjoyed a nice German meal, schnitzel, fries (mayo of course), and a Erdinger dunkel. Finished lunch and shopped in a mall. Second experience with bartering. Thought I got a good price on a North Face, but Kelly beat me on her’s. Was satisfied.

Said are goodbyes to Molly and checked into the Airport. Got tickets went to security to be denied access they misspelled my name. Had the gate attendant fix the info, then sent to a security official to stamp. After waiting for a few minutes and several patrons who cut in front of me, Prof. Chaudry gave me a sort of pep talk. High context people, loud, in your face, and get in there and get your ticket. Everything worked out and made it to our gate. Boarded a bus to bring to our plane and endured a 15-20min trip across the airport. If that wasn’t enough waited for approximately an hour on the runway before takeoff. Eventually made it to Beijing, unharmed.

Day 4, Part 2
Very cold, dark

Beijing, nite time. Cold and Bright lights. We meet with our tour guide Nelson and head to dinner. Dinner is more spicy and seems better than Shanghai. We finish dinner and head to the hotel. Nelson informs us that it is approx a 3 hr ride from one side of Beijing to the other. Checking into the hotel, Best Western. This hotel is no where as nice as Shanghai. Rooms are dingy and dirty. Try to talk to the front desk, not help whatsoever. Take a brief walk outside to see if any other local establishments. Nothing.
Day 5,
Cold, Snowing

Wake up early and head down to breakfast. This breakfast seems more Westernized than the hotel in Shanghai. They actually have real bacon and sausage. They also have a spread of the Chinese rolls, buns, rice, noodles, soup, beans, and other dishes. They serve omelet’s and fried eggs, same as the previous ones.

Get dressed and head down to the bus for the first corporate visit. Hotel elevator waits are ridiculous. At least 15-20min wait to go up and down. Grab a mocha from the coffee shop, intrigued at the method in which the make it. They have a Bunsen burner with a glass beaker above it filled with water. Then a funnel shaped glass with the coffee grounds in it. Turns out fairly well.

Tour guide, Nelson, is upset that everyone is late getting to the bus. We eventually head off to our first visit, ABB Voltage. Get there early and drive around looking for a Starbucks or something nothing. Impression of Beijing at first is not to good.

ABB Voltage representatives, Jackie, president, and few others meet us at the door. They lead us back to a conference style room. Have candy, water, and tour ready for us. They seem very nice and genuine. They show us a tour of the history of the company and eventually the plant. Everything seems very clean, automated, and controlled. Workers seem to be working hard but have good conditions. We had back down where the female president addresses us. She goes over a PowerPoint with the company history, financial, etc. We get into the Q and A portion and she hits a homerun on this one. She talks about basic principles she lives by; first being that she must continue to educate herself in all aspects of business. This includes management, financials, technology, etc. She also states that she must surround herself with respect, which means respect everyone around her including herself. She then talked being confident with her decision and ensuring confidence within her company, considering she is the first female president. We leave this meeting and was pretty impressed by a circuit breaker manufacturer.

We head to a place called the silk market. It is a building that is about 6 stories tall and reminds me exactly of a flea market. Kelly and I go, but immediately head across the street to McDonald’s for lunch again. McDonald’s is packed, they do not take visa, but they have an American menu to point at. I try the spicy chicken sandwich and hot wings. Decent as before. We head back to the market. Walk around for quite a while, until we reach a purse section on the top floor. We haggle with a girl for a while and get her down to a legitimate price. We then look for other stuff and look at a clock which states we are an hour late. We sprint to the bus to find that we in fact are an hour early. We head back in and I haggle for a Coach wristlette. Kelly and I shop for a few more minutes and then head back to the bus.

We set off to meet with Scott at Allied Pick fords. Get dropped off in front of a large building and take the elevator up to the 11th floor. Greeted by Scott and a staff member. He leads us to a small conference room and talks about allied Pickford’s. The company basically is a relocation service for expatriates. Located schools, homes, communities, pretty much anything that involves moving a family. He went into more detail about the Chinese customs. For example, how there is only 1 page of rules for a certain aspect of his industry. But this page is open to interpretation by various government officials. You have to use Fung she to work the system. You make connections through customs, government and other various officials. Eventually, you are able to conduct business as usual. He also discussed the struggles foreign companies encounter because they do not know how to deal with these types of situations. He went onto to talk about China in general. That if you want privacy and quiet do not move there. He believes that their school system is useless. It does not promote problem solvers and free thinkers, which eventually leads to workers who are unable to make a decision or take responsibility. Scott was very informative and really enjoyed the meeting with him.

From there we went to a restaurant that served Peking duck. The restaurant was supposedly the #1 Peking duck restaurants in the area. The food was unbelievable and tried it all. You can see more from the pictures. From there we head back to the hotel for a massage. Langston and I both got one. When the massage therapists arrive we are both nervous. After a few minutes the mood is more relaxed and really enjoyed the full 90 minutes of it. It is amazing to me that it only costs $25. The one thing I will say that surprised me is the punching and cupping of the hands. I received a massage when I got back to the states and the therapist there informed me that the reason for this is promote good energy and release bad energy. All in all I enjoyed it very much and as most people know received one again before the flight.

After this Danielle, Rick, Brittne, Langston, and I walked around to the local gas station and store. Amazed once again at the cost of the local foods, beverages, etc. We purchased a few beers and headed back to the hotel to relax and go to bed.

Day 6
Foggy, Cold 30’s

Temple of Heaven
Nelson advises us that we should be at the bus at 830am today. We are headed to the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City.

Walk down to breakfast again around 7am. This time get dressed and ready so I don’t have to use the elevator because it has been a nightmare in the morning to go up and down it. Board the bus and head off to the Temple of Heaven. We get to the grounds and begin to tour the area. When we initially walk in there are several people doing Salsa Dancing. Nelson talks about the retirement community coming here to exercise, relax, socialize, network, etc. I did not expect what I saw there. People of all generations practicing Tai Chi, Sword fighting, Hackie Sack, cards, singing, and other various activities. I am very surprised to see the age of some of the participants and even more surprised of the athletic ability some of them have.

Upon arriving at the first prayer sight, there are a group of locals singing and dancing. It amazes me that it is about 20-30 degrees outside, yet all these people are outside participating in these activities. We tour the first building where the emperor would pray for a good harvest and then head to the next temple. This is where the emperor prayed the rest of the year. Nelson advises us that only the emperor, demons, and the dead walk up the middle stairways, which is why we must always go up the side steps. While heading back to the bus from the temple, we are accosted again bye several locals trying to sell us souvenirs. This time I actually witness several of them trying to give us fake money, while swiping our real money. We eventually make it to the bus.

We head off to the Pearl Factory. They give us an intro to the river oyster and how many pearls are within the shell. We shop for a few hours and board the bus for the Forbidden City. When we arrive I am somewhat awed at the size of the structure. There are 999 ½ rooms within the city. The historical significance and magnificent size of the city are just amazing to me. We tour the city for several hours and I feel the Nelson did a decent job with the background. He talked of the concubines, the emperor’s chambers, and some of the significance in the other buildings. We walked down several bridges and giant gates to come to the exit/entrance. We now were entering Tiananmen Square, while walking across the exit bridge Nelson informs us not to take any pictures. We walk through the square and tour it briefly. Nelson states that it can fit up to 500,000 people and doesn’t really go into much detail of the protesting in late 80’s. States that the media may have talked up the conflict more than it was. We board the bus and head off to the acrobatic show.

Upon arrival at the acrobatic show we head off to McDonald’s, again. We all get coffee and some get a meal. Kelly, Brittne, Danielle, and I head off to a supermarket. The supermarket is huge, like 4 stories. It is like a Super Walmart, but with flea market stores surrounding the outside gates. I found it pretty interesting. This is the first establishment where the workers spoke some English and helped me with my transactions. A nice young lady helped me pick out alcohol souvenirs. I purchased them and headed back with Brittne to the show.

The show started off slow with simple artistic acrobatics and some dancing. I was really impressed by the show at the end. George brought to my attention that all the participants were in the age range of children to teenagers in the show. It culminated with 5 motorcycles within a globe shaped frame structure and was just down right awesome. I have never seen something like this. We headed back to the hotel from here.

We decided to go out to a place called Beer Mania. It took a 30 minute drive to get there, which only costs 24 RNB’s. The bar was a small European style type. Had many beers and a good hearted owner. It was pretty fun and if you look at the website below you can get more info. Apparently the Travel Channel is there filming this weekend, so look out for it in upcoming shows.
http://www.beermania.cn/#Home

Day 7
Still Foggy, not as cold

Head down for breakfast and off to the Ming Tomb.

We visited a Jade factory on the way to the Tomb. We shop for about an hour, haggle for a little bit of it, and take off to head to the Tomb. We arrive on our bus about 1hr 30 mins later. It is in the mountainside, very rural area. As we pool up, there is an adorable dog in the parking lot. Our group, other than Langston, surrounds the dog and proceeds to give it food/water. I need to find out the breed of this dog.

We head into the Tomb, and it has the same feel as the Forbidden City. Same golden arched buildings. We tour the main buildings which has a small exhibition of the Ming Dynasty. We walk around for about 30 minutes; I haggled with the locals a little bit, and headed back to the bus. We boarded and headed to lunch. This lunch they served a certain type of rice wine, which was very strong. Lunch was good again, which one thing I have no complaints about is the food in Beijing. We board and head for the Great Wall.

We arrive in the middle of two mountain peaks. When you look up, you can’t even see the end tower of the section of the wall we are climbing. So it started with people jumping off the bus and just getting to it. The first few sections of the wall you don’t realize how steep and how high it really is. My one observation is that some of the sizes of the steps are the entire length of a shorter person’s entire leg. As we go farther and farther up, you begin to recognize people by face. People begin to slow down and take more and more breaks. All the while looking at each other, making exhausted faces, laughing, and just communication without talking. We continue and continue you up, the people who started out ahead of us are now dead even or falling back. We continue to ask each other how much father, where is the end, but all the while sort of pushing each other to do it. When we finally reach the top, you can see the exhaustion, excitement, accomplishment, and just joy in everyone’s face. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life and definitely will not forget the experience. The walk down was an experience as well. It seemed as though the view was better, you could take more pictures, and just admire the overall scene a little more. I believe it took us somewhere around an hour to get to the top and about 20 mins to get down. When we reached the ground, I found an artist at the bottom. He had some portraits of the Great Wall in different seasons; a bunch of us purchased them. They were very beautiful and impressive. We board the bus exhausted, heading off for the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube. When we arrive there we jump off the bus and just do a brief walk around the sites with a few pictures.

We board the bus and head for the Night Market. The Night Market is an area in downtown Beijing that has various shopping around. There are department stores, local restaurants, bars, and just about anything a normal downtown scene would have. On top of this, there is an open air market that serves exotic foods. Anything from, starfish, scorpion, sea snake, silk worm, lotus, enteron, eel, grass hoppers, squad, kidney’s, goat testicles, and many more exotic items. Several of us decided to try the Scorpion items. We really had to sike ourselves up for this moment and in the end it wasn’t horrible. They pretty much deep fry every item on the menu. This item tasted like friend chicken skin or pork grinds. Brittne and I decided to try the Sea Snake, which wasn’t horrible as well. Langston tried a meat product, that I would like to believe is not dog, but it probably was. From here I ran over to KFC because even though this food wasn’t horrible, I still needed something to settle my nerves for the evening.

When decided to go out again from here. Google’d bars near bye again, and found the Tun Bar. This taxi ride was a little more difficult. After turning off the main road and several sharp turns down the side alley ways we eventually made it. This place was incredible, it started off fairly crowded but turned into a rave style. The DJ played unbelievable music all night, the crowd was great, the drinks were great, and had awesome time dancing.

Day 8
The last day

Incredibly windy, apparently there is a sand storm from Sibera or Mongolia blowing in. Head down to the lobby for one last breakfast and massage. Start packing our bags, check out, and sit in the coffee shop for the bus. We head to the airport and the bus is blowing all over the place, but we make it. We check in, go through several security checks, which was quite annoying. Stop at a few shops, get to the gate, and basically board the plane. Where once again our bags are searched, person’s searched, and SWAT dogs are around. We eventually board the plane and head home.

What a trip. I would never pass this opportunity up again in the world. The group was unbelievable, the people were unbelievable, and the cultural/experience was just great. I really learned a lot of about their culture and how it differs from ours. I would say I appreciate America more, but I have always appreciated the freedoms and way of life we have here. This is the reason I live here, I would be interested in working there for a short stint, but I come to love the norms of the Midwest. I want to say thank you to everyone who joined me on this voyage. And I hope we stay in touch.