Back in the States

The China trip is over, and I had an incredible time.

This morning I uploaded over 800 pictures to Facebook; I still have seven videos to upload.

The jetlag has been somewhat murderous. I slept almost all day today with random bouts of wakefulness.

So. That is that. Hopefully I can go to Brazil in the spring.... that should be an awesome trip, too.

I climbed the Great Wall today! We had near-perfect weather for it, too! It wasn't too hot or humid and there was a good breeze at the top. We hiked up to the base of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall and the group was given the option of going up via ski lift or by hiking up the stairs. Five people went ski lift, everyone else went stairs.

I went stairs and sweet baby Jesus, my legs were like jelly half-way up.

The pain was worth it, though. The views were undeniably gorgeous and I can say I legitimately climbed the Great Wall. Once up top, we decided to climb up some MORE to a tower even higher up. There was seriously a stair that went straight up!

Some of my pictures (before my camera died):

Company Visits: Recapping a Couple of Days

At this point, about six hours before we leave for the airport, I should write some stuff about the companies and people we've visited in the last few days. I realized I haven't actually done that.

So where I last left off was Capsugel in Suzhou, China on Friday. That was about a week and two cities ago. Clearly, more time needs to be dedicated to blogging about this trip.

Saturday we boarded the bus to go to Shanghai, but we were temporarily waylaid. Our tour guide set up some sort of tour of a silk factory in Suzhou without telling anyone; even Dr. Watson & Richard seemed to be confused by what was happening. Part of the group toured the factory, part of the group remained on the bus. I'm skeptical about the factory-ness of the factory (as in, how legit was it) because they were letting tour groups get almost on top of the equipment and touching the raw silk threads as it was being spun into hanks.

However, once in Shanghai, we visited Fudan University to meet with some of their IMBA students. One guy was a Chinese-American student, studying in China. He came over without knowing a word of the language and said he's gotten a mixed reception. Another student was from Chile and she didn't know a word of Chinese when moving here, either. I really liked those two students because they were very open -- the Chilean student even answered our questions about the squatty potty and her experiences with them! The Chinese students had been in Boston this spring and were taken to a lot of parties; they wanted to know if we partied like that too.

...

Of course we don't.

On Sunday we went to the International Expo, which I've already covered.

Monday morning was the only day this trip we got to sleep in! Our company visit in the morning (Covance) had been rescheduled to the afternoon, so we got to sleep an extra hour. Right after lunch we visited one of 3M's R&D centers in Shanghai. One of the best experiences on this trip! We got to see some of the cool things 3M's had a hand in creating.

After 3M, we went straight to Covance. At Covance, the mayor was visiting, so we were put off for about forty minutes (we were also thirty minutes early). Not a problem for us MBA students -- we just found the closest Starbucks and parked! Downside: the Starbucks didn't have the coffee blends for frappacinos. Therefore, most of us wound up with caffeine-free beverages contrary to our initial goal of dosing ourselves with caffeine and sugar. Once we were able to get into Covance, we met with one of the Vice Presidents.

I've said it before, but there's a definite difference between people in China that have been Western-educated and those that haven't. The ones that have are more gregarious than those that haven't. This man was funny and informative. I didn't realize that companies can contract out their drug research or clinical testings. I also found out that stomach and liver cancer are very prevalent in China!

No company visits on Tuesday since we flew to Beijing!

Since this is already pretty long, I'll do Mr. Fu's company and our politician visit and the dinner with ex-pats tomorrow. :)

Last Day!

Today's our last day in China! 24 hours from now, I'll be in an airport, waiting to fly back to the States.

I think I might sleep for days when I get back.

Of Course!

My roommate's sick.

I, being the loving and caring person that I am, told her that if I catch what she's got and I'm physically ill on the plane on Saturday, she might have to sacrifice some eyebrows.

Places!

In the last two weeks, I've been to some pretty awesome places: the Westlake area, the International Expo, Tianamen Square, and the Forbidden City. No Terra Cotta warriors. :( They were on the original itinerary, but got cut.

So! My impressions, and some pictures, in chronological order:

The Westlake Area

This is a GORGEOUS area! We took pictures with the Confucious statue (that were picture bombed) and then walked around some and took a boat tour. As beautiful as the area is, it's apparently not too much of a foreign tourist attraction, based on the number of stares we received. In Shanghai and Beijing, we haven't gotten that much attention and no one has asked to take a picture with anyone in our group in a couple of days (well, except for Katie today at the Forbidden City).

The Confucious statue at West Lake! Before we were photo bombed!

Not entirely sure why there's a bridge on an island, but whatever.

Dr. Watson.. he did one of these pictures on the Brazil trip, too. That's a VERY large Koi pond behind him.

The International Expo

Shanghai was NUTS about this thing. Everywhere you looked, there was Blue Gumby (or Haibo, as he's actually named). The expo itself was over a ridiculous amount of land that will apparently become the new business district when the expo is done. Most of the buildings constructed for the expo will be torn down to make way for new skyscrapers.

Security at the event was controlled by entrance times. You were given a window to arrive in and if you didn't get to the expo by the end of your window, your ticket was no longer valid (and they keep your money). So our window of arrival was 10AM - 11AM. We had 7PM reservations at the China pavilion. We had almost eight hours to kill in a park twice the size of the Magic Kingdom. After lunch (at Papa John's, in the Americas section) the group split into two and my group conquered about five pavilions including one that gave out beer in souvenir glasses.

My favorite was probably the Brazilian pavilion; the screens were omnidirectional touch screens! LOVED IT! The Chinese pavilion was interesting but since we were there so late in the day (and we were cold and hungry) that we didn't really appreciate it. Also, it was all in Chinese.

This is Haibo. Or, as we called him, Blue Gumby.

At the Netherlands, there were sheep you could move around and sit on. We all took pictures with this one!

Some of the pavilions at the Expo. The big fuzzy cube thing is the UK and the net is either France or Italy.

The inside of the Russian pavilion. It was sort of like what I imagine an acid trip is like.

Tianamen Square

I was probably not as impressed as I should have been. It was a huge square with a 'people's hall,' an obelisk, and a very large building for Mao's crypt. I didn't realize that the man was buried in a crystal tomb! Crazy! People were literally wrapped around the building - at 9Am - to see him. They did have some very large TVs that we were making vaguely inappropriate jokes about, though. I will note that I was shocked that we could clearly see the image.

Taken in Tianamen Square. Look at how hazy it is!

The Forbidden City

It was HUGE. It took us two hours to walk from end to end, without going into any areas of the city. I have a lot of pictures, but I realized towards the middle that a lot of them are going to look similar; I'm going to have issues identifying what they are. Also? The pollution here is AWFUL! There's visible haze EVERYWHERE~~

Forbidden City! Central building. I asked when it was last repainted. Answer: for the Olympics.

More Forbidden City! At this point, we were getting tired and cranky.

Bonus Pictures!

Some of the group... what's that vaguely hidden skyline?

THIS!!!!!

Drinking in Foreign Cities

Okay so, I have to say the best part of being drunk in a foreign city is that the cab drivers don't know what you're talking about when you and your friends start drunk-talking.

Also? The bartenders TOTALLY let Riley and Lindsey DJ, so we listened to Callin' Baton Rouge, Party in the USA, and some other normal bar music.

Two more days in Beijing until I fly home to Louisiana!

Mary & Amanda Time

Tonight Mary and I are taking some 'Mary and Amanda Time' and catching up with journaling and, in my case, online forms for internships.

This trip has been an interesting experience in terms of people, places, events, and things seen around town. That being in mind, this is the first of generalized summations. People up first!

People on the trip

I lucked out; the group of people I'm traveling with is pretty awesome. The majority of us (7/12) are first years-soon-to-be-second years, with two just-graduated second years, a lawyer, a PMBA, and the director of LSU's Flores MBA program. We've naturally broken into smaller groups: the picky eaters, the people that like to go out at night, the people that like to try weird things, etc. We've bonded over the imminent threat of someone getting the Big D and China's unique attachment to the "squatty potty."

People met on the trip

Our tour guides have kept it real. We didn't have too much time with our Shenzhen guide, Lynn, because we were only there for about forty eight hours. Our Hongzhou/Suzhou/Shanghai guide, Joyce, was a trip. Every time she wanted to address the crowd, she began with "Boys and girls,..." it was amusing at first, but annoying towards the end. She knew a lot about the size and history of the areas we were in. Our current guide is Jade, and she seems to be a lot of fun. We'll see how this works out. Our permanent tour guide, Linda, is hands down awesome.

Thus far, we've met a lot of managers, CEOs, and VPs, but it's interesting to note that the two most well received ones were the two that were Western-style educated and that have worked in the Americas. They were both charismatic and out going with a presentation style that was familiar. Ironically enough, both work for pharmaceutical-related companies. We still have four more days in Beijing, where we're meeting with more people, but I'm interested to see if we'll find any more people as well received as the previous two.

People in China

Okay, the Chinese people make me equal parts amused and equal parts frustrated.

The amusing:

• The staring. In certain places we've been (Shenzhen, Hongzhou, and Suzhou), people were completely taken in with us. They'd stop and blatantly stare or take pictures of our group as we walked by. At Westlake, a girl even crashed our picture. Outside of the Modern Toilet in Shenzhen, some people asked to take a picture with Katie and a picture with Will. At a gas station on the way into Shanghai, people on other busses stared as we got off for snacks.
• The public urination. I get that little kids can't always verbalize when they need to use the bathroom, or that they do so at an inopportune time. However, I'm always shocked and amused to see a mother tug her son's pants down in the middle of a busy street, aim her son at a tree, and let him pee there (or, as I saw last night, on the side of a building at a really busy intersection).
• The driving. Oh my God, traffic here in China need to televised and narrated by the same guys that do soccer. It would be HILARIOUS. The traffic signals all seem to be suggestions, and a left on red appears to be a completely legal thing to do. Either televise it as a spectator sport or use it in defensive driving class, but the Chinese are either the best or worst drivers anywhere on the planet.

The frustrating:

• The food. It's all swimming in oil and boiled. Let's bake something!
• The pushing. Pushing wasn't too much of an issue until the International Expo. I don't understand why people here feel it's acceptable to push in a line that is NOT moving and is going to the same place, regardless of time, to get the same unlimited resource. Or when we're walking on the sidewalk or through the airport and there's six inches between me and Mary and someone shoves right through.
• The bathrooms. I get that people think the "squatty potty" (someone please tell me the proper name) is cleaner than a Western toilet, but it's a redundant point when the bathrooms are covered in urine and smell awful. More on the bathroom situation later, but I will say this: we saw American Standard "squatty potties" at the Expo. Somehow, I don't think those things are up to the American standard.

That's it! Four more days in China! Tomorrow: all the really cool places I've been with pictures. Here are some from the last couple of days:

Pictures!

Since I haven't really put any pictures up, I thought I would rectify that situation. Today was a horrendously long (but really awesome) day that included something like ten miles of walking and very little nourishment. It's 11:26 PM and we just had McDonald's delivered since everything else is closed. That's right... McDonald's delivery. Anyway! Pictures below in collages because I'm a little too lazy to upload all of these pictures individually. :)

People!

From the top left and going clockwise: Billy rolled his pants up at the Shenzhen Celebrity Club during lunch because it was Louisiana hot and he was sweating, Lindsey trying a boiled yeast ball covered in honey and peanuts, Mary tasting a fruit in Sam's Club that required gloves, Richard giving us some egg-based custard from KFC, Dr. Watson on the Westlake tour boat (and all of the cameras!), Riley and Erica on the same tour boat, Will in front of the Confucious statue in Westlake, Jose at the Sam's Club, and Chad trying the same gloves-required fruit at the Sam's Club.

Things We've Done:

From the top left: Strolling through a mall during our free time (and while being tailed for SIX FLOORS) we spotted this advertisement in a KFC: a shrimp-filled chicken patty sandwich, the 'Times Square' of Shenzhen, all the beer we consumed at a little bar/restaraunt in Shenzhen for RMD $20.00!!, Mary and Riley at the Modern Toilet restaraunt (delicious pineapple fried rice), Mary's chocolate ice cream dessert at the Modern Toiley, and Erica on the bus to Suzhou from Hongzhou.

Suzhou:

Starting at the left and going top to bottom: Group shot in front of the Confucious statue (Asian people were taking our picture, too, and crashing it), a farmer's house along the freeway between the airport and the hotel, a dragon boat we thought was awesome, Dr. Watson, girls' group shot on a bridge in Westlake, Chinese man taking a picture of us (we get a LOT of stares, photo requests, and comments), a bridge on an island (I didn't understand why there's a bridge on an unihabitated island), koi pond, and another shot of the koi pond (but the branch got in the way).

SPICY! Dinner in Suzhou:

Joyce, Linda, and Richard (our resident Chinese guides and student) trying to order dinner for fourteen people, Will and Chad about to consume some Chinese liquor best described as gasoline, Jose and Mary about to take a shot of the same stuff, Katie with some chopsticks.... or maybe those were Jose's?, Lindsey and Katie before we got our eating on, Mary on the phone with Sprint for the FOURTH time trying to figure out why we can't text anyone, and finally: Erica with one of her first ever beers!! (She's a wine drinker)

Two Cities, Two Companies, Free Beer!

It's about 11:40 PM here in Suzhou, China so I'm going to make this REALLY quick! My roommate is asleep and I should probably follow her lead... we have to be downstairs and checked out in about eight hours.

Today we went to a Chinese animation studio. It was really cool, especially the server farm right by the entry. We got to see some interesting renderings they're working on/worked on, including little sculptures of characters that look like the Tar Baby. There was even one of the pseudo Tar Baby crucified and molded into a pencil holder. Several people in my group were astounded. Pictures coming soon. The animation studio had some Korean workers. Interestingly enough, the Korean employees don't speak Chinese but they do speak English. One of the guys said that they learn Korean then English or Russian or Chinese. The US needs to pick up on this second language thing stat.

After a three hour drive from Hangzhou (which included a really ridiculously amusing trip to a Chinese KFC), we arrived in Suzhou. In Suzhou, we headed immediately to the Capsugel China headquarters. I'm pretty sure it was the GM that spoke to us, but I'm a bit hazy on that as several different titles were thrown out. He was personable and funny and imparted some really interesting information. For example, in countries like China, the high tech equipment has to be balanced out with a low tech workforce because of costs. After the lecture, we went on a factory tour.

They didn't let us take pictures in the changing room, but I wish they would have. We all looked so silly in our booties, hair nets, face masks, and lab coat things. The tour itself was awesome. They make a lot in a very little space.

After the tour, we got stuck in traffic but Richard and Oscar kept us going with show tunes.

Dinner was the best: LEGITIMATE Chinese buffet. Legitimate how? Because it's in China. it was like a cross between Great Wall and Texas de Brazil. Buffet meets wandering meat. HEAVEN. Best part? The FREE beer. Oh yes. Free beer + Chinese Buffet = Happy American Students. The fact that it was only $10 USD made us even happier students. Then came the foot massage, which I'm leaving to a post all its own.

WalMart!

Yesterday was our first business visit -- to WalMart's headquarters here in Shenzhen. It was kind of crazy; the Chinese have a different sense of 'business casual' than we do. It's crazy casual! The meeting room we were in was very bare bones; the ex-pat VP we met with told us that it was a WalMart thing: focus the money elsewhere.

After listening to the VP (and learning some interesting things... did you know that the average basket of goods at WalMart in China is US $9?), we visited the Sam's Club. Now here's an interesting conundrum: the Sam's Club here is targeted at the upper middle class to the upper class folks. For example, they sell 3D TVs and a 103" television and US $50,000 bottles of Cognac. Very odd indeed.

We walked around the Sam's club and saw the monster TV and the expensive liquor, but we also got to see live shrimp in a tank ready to be picked, a cut up alligator on display in the seafood section, and we got to try some monster fruit from Thailand.

At the moment, I can't find my camera's cable, so all these pictures will be up later.

The Work Arounds

Been in China less than six or seven hours and I've already found a work around to the fact that blogger is, in fact, blocked in China.

WHOOPS.

How did I miss that? WordPress, however, appears not to be. So if this work around fails me later on in the trip, you guys can find me at http://my2010chinatrip.wordpress.com.

So here's a list of things that have been interesting (in the last six hours):

The bathroom! -- Mary and I can't see each other in the shower, just shadows, but still... creepy.

The McDonald's -- At 2 AM we went to get McDonald's since it was open and we were hungry. Did you know people here don't throw away their own trash?

My amazing showerhead -- Can I bring it home with me?

Day 2 or 3? FINALLY in Asia!

So cultural differences are already pretty glaring -- the airports in both Tokyo and Hong Kong were silent. While waiting in line to go through immigration, the whole line was silent. Someone, Chad I think, pointed out the complete and utter silence; that wouldn't exist in the United States. Also, on the flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, very few people reclined their chairs. Erica met some resistance when she wanted to recline hers (and ultimately couldn't). Fortunately, I was under the influence of my concussion drugs (naproxen and cyclobenzaprine) taken several hours earlier and I was able to sleep nearly the entire flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, I had a small luggage snafu. My suitcase had been sent ahead of me but they couldn't easily find it. I got it, thankfully, and we went through customs. No declarations custom was pretty awesome - we just walked through. Actually, security at the Narita airport was pretty cool too - you don't have to remove your shoes! This could be because we were doing an international connection, but still. I was glad to keep my shoes on.

Also -- why do the Chinese seem to run everywhere?

Day 2 - More Traveling Misadventures

After turning the plane around (we were apparently over Canada, near Alaska when that happened), battling through Delta's red tape and somewhat inept gate/ticket agents, getting to the hotel, and back to the airport -- I thought I was done with traveling misadventures. We were back at the airport, got through security without an issue, and secured a flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong. No problem!



...until about 9:30 AM, one and a half hours before departure, when Delta began to check passengers onto the new flight. Imagine it. There are approximately 400 disgruntled passengers that, at that point, should either be in Tokyo or en route to their next destination (i.e., Hong Kong). There are four gate agents. One gate agent per 100 people.

Clearly, this is an instance of mass chaos and nobody is happy.



Then there's the announcement: everyone must check in and receive a new boarding pass with a new seat assignment -- BUT SIT IN THE OLD SEAT ASSIGNMENT! Unfortunately, this turned out to NOT be the case, but I wound up sitting between Erica and Jose (and across an aisle from Mary), so it worked out.

The plane was not fully boarded until approximately twelve forty-five and we probably didn't leave until about 1:15. Of course, while waiting we got treated to an extra special affair: the overhead bin not closing. Mary, Erica, and I being the enterprising young ladies we are took pictures of this event:

Traveling Misadventures

After leaving ATL, my group embarked on an eight-and-a-half hour adventure. Things were going pretty well until about hour number six. During hour number six, the pilot came over the speaker and announced, "We are safe, but,..." and then proceeded to say that we were going to backtrack an hour and a half to Minneapolis, MN.

So that is where I am right now: Minneapolis, MN at the Mall of America Ramada.

The flight was delayed until tomorrow (or today!) morning until 11:00 AM due to curfews in effect in Tokyo.

After spending two hours trying to find someone that could give us hotel and meal vouchers (without waiting in line with 400+ people), the group made it to the hotel wherein we had food and drinks.

In about seven more hours, we'll try this whole get-to-Tokyo thing again.

In ATL!

China trip begins today!

After waking up late, showering in under fifteen minutes, and hurriedly packing my electronics for the trip, my ride picked me up. At the BR airport, I managed to contact all my banks/credit card companies to tell them I'll be in China... maybe I should have done this a week ago.

We met Lindsey and Katie at the BR airport (and a few others) but it's important to note that Lindsey's never been on a plane before today. So we photographed this momentous event!

Getting Ready

We're leaving in four days for China and between closing the complex, packing things to take home, and packing things to leave in my apartment it's been a very hectic time!

The weather forecast in Beijing for the time we'll be there is highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. I'm ridiculously excited because it was about 90F today between torrential downpours! Lots of light weight sweaters are making their way into my suitcase, along with some long pants. I bet those clothes thought they were packed up until November!

Tomorrow I'm going on an adventure to get an adaptor for my laptop. I checked my MacBook's power supply and my cell phone's cable and they can handle up to 240V in wattage, so I'm good! No converter needed so far. Tomorrow I'll check the digital camera's charger and the nook's plug and then I'll be good electronics-wise.

I'm kind of ridiculously excited.