After two days of mediocre breakfasts, we decided to skip the meal at the hotel and get some food at the airport. I checked out, signed away about $60 (mainly for hotel laundry) and we waited for the ride. It arrived in time, and off we were to the airport. Unfortunately, there was some incident on the expressway, so we ended up taking the old road to the airport. Since we were flying business class, it wasn't much of a hassle; we were able to check in expeditiously and get ready to fly. We got some basic refreshments in the business class lounge, and I checked in on the Duke score. At the half, we were leading North Carolina, 40-35.
Our gate was changed, it turns out that our 747 was not at a jetway. We had to wait in one of the runway level waiting rooms, then take a 10 minute shuttle bus ride to the plane and climb stairs to board. Add to that, we were in the bubble. With the hassle of the shuttle bus, and remote loading, our flight was late. We took off nearly an hour late. Their business class seating was not so hot, either. On China Airlines, they put 32 seats into the upper deck, on Thai airlines, it was 40. If the person in front of you reclined their seat, you couldn't open or close the tray table, and the person on the window had to climb over the person on the aisle.
The food, however, was excellent. It was much better than China Airlines; we started with dim sum, and opted for a seafood stir fry. They even had a chocolate cake for dessert, but by then I was full.
There ought to be an age limit on passengers in business class. (OK, maybe not an age limit, but a maturity limit, but how do you test that?) A German couple, obviously with more Euros than sense, had two very young children with them, and they were in the row in front of us. One of them soiled the bathroom, so it stank of urine for the entire flight. Another one (or maybe the same one) kept running up and down the aisle, and disrupting the food service.
On landing at Beijing, we ended up sitting at various spots on the tarmac for about 20-30 minutes before finally reaching a jetway. While it was a bit of a walk to the immigration, it proceeded a lot faster than in Bangkok. Our bags were quickly off the aircraft, and I visited an ATM for my Yuan. Our ride was waiting for us, so we set off for the Capital Hotel.
This hotel is a legitimate four star hotel. If I didn't know that from the décor and room sizes, I could tell from the prices. Once we settled in our rooms, I decided to check out their Internet connection, to get the final score. They charged RMB 2 per minute, that equates to $15/hour. Worse, the connection was very slow. A lot of sites did not respond (The Great Firewall of China?) including CNN and Yahoo. I eventually found the score was Duke 87 North Carolina 83, so I was happy. Until I paid 20 Yuan for 10 minutes of searching, that is.
Dinner was at Quan Ju De, the famous roast duck restaurant. One guess what we had for dinner? It was its usual excellent self. After dinner, we decided to go walking in Beijing. We walked up to Tiananmen Square, which was roped off for some reason. We walked up to near the gate on the museum side, looked across at the Great Hall of the People, and then strolled in Beijing. Alas, my geography was a little off; I missed our hotel by a block as we continued to stroll towards North Korea. Fortunately, we decided to check, and took a taxi back.
We got back to the hotel, and I fell asleep quickly.
I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I don't know if it is the cold, or the smog, or just exhaustion, but I decided it was time to purchase some of the Fisherman's Friend throat lozenges, and they did the trick. Every time I come to Beijing, I get a sore throat.
Kun Tian, a friend of a friend, was unable to meet us to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu, so I had to hire a car at the hotel for the trip. My first trip to the Great Wall was in 1996, when I went up to Badaling, and saw it was a tourist trap. Still, it was a great wall, as I commented at the time. I came back in 2001 for a visit. This time, we went to Mutianyu, which was a much nicer experience. You had to take a cable car to the top, but once you were there, you were away from merchants, and could just experience the wall.
It was in 2001 that this trip began. I called my father on a cell phone from the Great Wall, and he said he was jealous. I then promised him that the next time I went to China, I'd bring him to see the wall. When I was at the GEMBA first term, I learned that we'd be going to Beijing, so I let him know the trip was on. I booked his ticket on frequent flier miles (business class) to Bangkok, and back from Beijing. I planned on a trip before the residency, since it worked better, schedule wise.
Today was the culmination of the trip, the visit to the Great Wall. Our car picked us up at 9AM, and we headed north through the cold to Mutianyu. It was a 90 minute drive, and we arrived. I had to pay more money to get the cable car tickets and wall tickets, and we set off. One only had to climb a hundred feet or so to reach the base of the cable car station, and then a mere fifty feet to reach the cars themselves.
Did I mention it was cold? In the city, it was -3 centigrade when we left, and it was colder at the wall. Add to that, a constant, strong wind, and my estimate was a still temperature of -6 (20 Fahrenheit) and a wind chill of -23 (-10 Fahrenheit.) So, it was cold. This, after 36 degrees in Bangkok (97 Fahrenheit), it was quite a shocking change in temperature in two days.
So, after taking the cable car up, and climbing a mere 30 feet more, we found ourselves standing on The Great Wall of China. My father was very impressed. I was cold. We ventured along the wall to a fort, and looked around. I took pictures of my father on the wall, so he could prove he was there. I got windburn on my cheek.
All told, we spent about 45 minutes on the wall, which was a surprise to me when I looked at my watch. Had it been warmer, we'd have certainly spent more time, exploring. Still, my father was very impressed with the wall, and I received my money's worth in seeing him happy.
On the way down from the wall, I bought a pair of hats. One is practical, it is a Chinese army hat that folds down over the ears and nape of the neck to stay warm. The other, with a fox tail, is somewhat impractical, but definitely looks unusual. We got our ride back, and got to the hotel at about 1:30PM.
We went to lunch at the hotel's Cantonese restaurant, where I had bird's nest in almond juice, my father had braised bird's nest with minced chicken, and we split a fried duck in lemon sauce, chicken with peanuts and pepper, and Yang Chau fried rice.
Following lunch, we went on a shopping expedition. My father finally decided on a gift to get my mother and sister, a pair of Chinese chops. A chop is a stone, with a name or symbol etched, that is used as a seal. I got a chop on my first trip, and was presented with a fancier chop on my second trip, so I'm chopped out! My father got a rectangular chop with a dragon for my mother, and a smaller square chop for my sister. We stayed to watch them get etched, which was an interesting process. It's a good thing we stayed, because if we hadn't, my sister's middle initial would have been backwards! For my mother, all her initials are reversible, so there was no risk of that.
We then headed back to the hotel to arrive at 4:40PM, and to rest before dinner at 7PM. We got in touch with Kun, and we met her and her husband for dinner at a restaurant run by the government of Sichuan province that specialized in Sichuan cuisine. This is a place that is known only by the locals here; My father, Kun's husband, and I were the only westerners there.
Dinner started with a pair of appetizers, one was green bamboo shoots in chili, the other was a cucumber preparation. We had two types of noodles, a regular Dan Dan Mein, and a Xiefang (?) cold noodle. The cold noodle dish was wonderful, very fiery. After the appetizers, we had a Sichuan poached fish, Kung Bao chicken with peanuts, chicken wings, and spicy green beans. Yes, we had a lot of food! We went home sated, and fell asleep quickly.
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Great Wall |
The Summer Palace Dragon |
Chairman Mao |
Mao's Tomb |
Tiananmen Square |
Basketball Hoop |
Today I spin off from my father to go to the Kerry Center, for the GEMBA program. I still have my Beijing throat, but it is no worse. I took a long, hot shower since my muscles were sore from all the walking yesterday. We've been comparatively lucky, since the pollution isn't as bad as it can be. The winds have blown away a lot of the coal smoke, so we can see the sky.
We started late, Kun was to pick us up at 9:30 to visit the Temple of Heavenly Peace. After some discussion, we opted instead to just visit the Summer Palace. We were going to attempt to use Beijing's public transportation!
I rode the subway before, back in 1996, and it was efficient then, and even had signs in English identifying stations. This time was more of a challenge, since we did not know the correct station, nor did we know which bus to take once we reached the closest station. Unfortunately, the signage was no help, not even the Chinese signs for a native speaker. This was a big surprise to me, and I can't image how difficult it will be for visitors in 2008 for the Olympics. Either that, or a boon for the taxi drivers.
We made it to the subway station that was closest, where one was allegedly capable of taking a bus, but we could not find the right location from which to take the bus. Since it had taken an hour to get this far, it made sense for us to throw in the towel and take a taxi the rest of the way.
The Summer Palace is being cleaned up for 2008, so areas were fenced off, or under scaffolding. Still, the long corridor was there, and was still long, and my father was amazed by the marble boat. My father also took the opportunity to purchase a couple more gifts.
When we were walking back from the Palace, we ran into three friends from GEMBA, is this marked the beginning of the transition from vacation with my father, to the GEMBA classes. We saw Armin Eiche, Pam Anderson, and Larry Donoso at the Summer Palace. They informed me of the dinner plans that Daphne Li set up.
After the Summer Palace, we went to the Beijing Institute of Science and Technology, and we walked across campus to a dumpling restaurant for lunch. We had a lot of dumplings for lunch: egg & tomato, pork & leek, fried seafood, beef, and a sweet dumpling. After the late lunch, Kun went to see her family, and we went to the Capital Hotel to transfer to the Kerry Centre Hotel.
The Kerry Centre Hotel had a smaller room than the Capital, but it did have the Internet in the room, so I logged in while my father slept. After a while, we went down to the bar, where a diet coke was the equivalent of US$5, and met with other classmates. After a while, 15 of us headed off to a hotpot, where we had lamb, beef, and other goodies. It was delicious, but one of the party had his camera disappear. My father left for the Capital Hotel a little early, since he was tired, but we only stayed another ten minutes or so.
I slept well at the Kerry Centre, and Saturday continued the transition. I went to the Capital Hotel to meet my father, where we had some dim sum for breakfast, and we walked over to Tiananmen Square. Being a Saturday, we were regularly accosted by people who were offering to be "guides" or who wanted to sell things to us. It got to be frustrating after a while. We did get to watch the changing of the guard, and we waited a bit for the GEMBA group, but we left about 10 minutes before they arrived.
We walked through the gate, and to the Forbidden City. The basketball courts ate still there. Some have been replaced with vendors. The entire area was crowded with people, despite the cold.
My father was very impressed. He saw the lines of people waiting at Mao's Tomb, and was surprised. There were people flying kites, and people just hanging out. We did some hanging out ourselves.
The next stop was the Forbidden City. This place is vast, but this time they were refurbishing the place. The main throne room was closed, but the auxiliary thrones were not. My father was very impressed with the area, and we spent some time looking around. There were side rooms, where there were treasures of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. We visited a few of these, but mainly concentrated on the architecture and the thrones.
After this, we headed to the hotel where my father and I made our farewells, and he returned to his hotel.
At 4PM, the program officially began, with the introductory meeting, and the welcome dinner.
By this time, I was starting to feel unwell. I was concerned it was flu, or it might have been a head cold. I had a stuffed up nose and very sore chest. I debated skipping the welcome dinner, but it was at Quan Ju De, and I love duck, so I went for duck. Did I mention I love duck?
The dinner started with various duck treats, and then came the duck. The chef started carving the skin, and I took some pictures of it for one of my friends. They served the duck, and since I've had Beijing duck before, I just started making my duck. (Did I mention I love duck?) The server was a bit surprised.
Most of the people at my table did not like the skin, which is the real delicacy in the duck. So, they made their pancakes with duck meat, and I feasted on the skin. What can one say? I was happy, and they were happy, so who is to say any of us were wrong, besides the spirits of over a hundred years of chefs of Beijing duck?
Back at the hotel, I tended to my nose and lungs, and tried to sleep. The sore throat made the sleep restless.
Today is team building day. We all boarded a bus at 7:30AM and set off for team building. The entire day was spent outdoors, which did not help my lungs one bit. It was quite cold, too, so if I had a cold or flu, it was not a good idea to spend the day outdoors.
Our first stop was a market, where we had a scavenger hunt. We spent 40 minutes looking for various items, such as a single black feather, 10 five fen coins, etc. We were going from merchant to merchant trying to negotiate with pigeon Chinese, to meet our hunt needs. I suspect they were bemused by these westerners looking foolish.
We finally got to the wall around 11 AM, having made good time from Beijing. The team center, "I Will Not Complain," was an open courtyard, and there were three activities. My group took them in this order:
The bike building involved a lot of interaction with children. We spent time playing games with the local children, then drawing pictures, and finally, building some bicycles. I'm not very child oriented, so this wasn't exactly a pleasure for me, but I did what I had to do.
After two hours, we moved on to the maze. This involved memory games, and other team activities. While the hand clapping was a bit much, it was educational, and once again, I persevered.
By the time it was our turn on the wall, though, I was knackered. Had I not seen the wall in 1996, and 2001, and three days previously, I'd have been a bit pissed at missing the wall, but I did not make the climb. Some other people did, and the wall was its usual magnificent self, but we were running short on time, so our turn there was limited, anyway. We really stayed a long time, and then we drove back.
Beijing's weather made this a particularly bad day for the smog; the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was disgusting. Visibility was less than 500 feet.
We got back to our hotel at 8PM, where my father was waiting. I took him to a hotel restaurant for a farewell dinner. We had roast duck, pork in bean sauce, dan dan noodles, hot and sour soup: We had a feast. My father was well fed, and I wished him luck. He also suggested an alternative cause to my ill-feeling. He noticed the pollution on his days activities, and thought it might be causing my breathing problems. It turns out, his was a better diagnosis.
I said good bye to my father, and wished him a safe flight. I tried to go to bed, but the coughing was a bit painful. At about midnight, I received a phone call from my mother telling me about the Blizzard of 2006, suggesting the flights will be delayed. I passed on the hotel number for my father, and he was informed.
Classes began today, and my lungs were in bad shape. I decided to test the pollution hypothesis by staying in the hotel all day, including dinner.
Our three classes are The Global Economic Environment of the Firm (Macroeconomics), Financial Management in a Global Economy, and Global Marketing. The lecturers are all pretty good. We have John Coleman for Macro, Stephen Grey for Finance, and Preyas Desai for Marketing. Preyas is a DBR reader. Stephen is Australian and a sports fan, but I've not yet got a read on John.
Lunches during the class are at the hotel restaurant, and the joke is that we went to Bangalore, as it is an international buffet with a strong Indian influence.
For dinner, I joined my new team (Brian Fisher, Eugene Terekhov, Scott Vanlandingham, and Carlo Zorzoli) at another, less expensive, Chinese restaurant in the hotel. We had a few too many dishes, including a standard chicken and chiles with peanuts, crispy duck in sweet sauce, Mandarin fish in sweet & sour sauce, cool spicy noodles, Chengdu sour dumplings, and a bunch of vegetable dishes.
I was feeling a bit better as I went to bed.
This was not the case for my father. Although he had left my immediate presence, his flight wasn't until late afternoon, as scheduled. His ride to the airport left his hotel at 1PM. The blizzard resulted in his flight being delayed close to 9 hours, and he ended up spending 11 hours at Beijing airport.
He left after 1AM. I was struggling with sleep.
The second day of classes has helped me gell my interests. I realized this course in macro explains why those who accept this interpretation of economics view unemployment as a good thing. Marketing is a bit more difficult for me to picture, as I am used to thinking of variables with all their degrees of freedom, and it attempts to reduce problems from multiple dimensions to two. Finance is common sense so far.
Our guest speaker, at the end of the day, was the general manager of Corning in China. He spoke at length about how Corning entered the market, and how they're managing their business in China. It is interesting to see how they've worked their culture in China, and adapted to China.
I met a teammate and his former teammate for dinner at Papa John's pizza. I'm still clearing out my lungs, and we were saving money. Oh well.
I am now certain my issues were the pollution, exacerbated by my recent pneumonia. My father's flight should have landed, but I have no word.
When I woke and checked my email, I found my father had arrived home safely. His flight arrived in the wee hours of the morning, and spent some time at the airport before making his way to Toms River. There, he was met and they drove home, where he shared his pictures, my pictures, and a bunch of stories with my mother and sister.
I'm glad he's home safe, and I can concentrate on my MBA.
Today, we had a plant visit at Lenovo, one of the largest PC manufacturers in the world. For my current business, this did not bring good news. The VP in charge of global manufacturing answered a question from me concerning Linux in China, and he told me that it has effectively stalled, and Lenovo sells no PCs packaged with Linux. This is somewhat concerning, since Lenovo has 40% of the Chinese market, and even with the Chinese government's dedication to Linux, Lenovo has very little interest in that operating system.
Lenovo was educational, if depressing.
The classes in the afternoon did not include finance. In macro, we learned that currently our intuition provides the opposite answer to what is expected. To me, it sounds almost like voodoo.
For dinner, I got together with my old team and we went for a Sichuan meal. We had lamb with chiles, kung bao chicken, smoked duck, chrysanthemum fish, smoked bacon, dumplings, fried crab, jellyfish with vinegar, and other dishes. It was wonderful. I slept better.
Classes in the morning were finance and macro. Macro really is starting to seem like voodoo, but I am understanding the may they are thinking. Some of it makes sense, some of it doesn't, and some interpretations are flat-out odd. Finance is much more clear.
Mid-day we had a guest speaker form Citibank to talk about Wealth Management. This wasn't quite as good as the other two speakers, although part of that may be because I am not too likely to be involved in managing wealth any time soon?
Marketing had us perform an exercise on a paint company's efforts to expand into mining, we spent the two hours just brainstorming and discussing implications. It was an interesting process.
For dinner, I met two present and one former teammates at the local Chinese restaurant, where we had chicken, pork, and beef. Filling. I also found "Green Tea" flavored potato chips, which is even more odd than the Beijing duck flavored chips I found earlier.
No guest speaker today, only the three classes. Nothing special happened, although it was a bit difficult to stay focused at times. Since it is the last day in Beijing, it is farewell to the Kerry Centre Hotel. It was an OK conference facility, nothing special. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was that the lunch buffet was too International; there were more (and better) Indian options than Chinese. For example, for lunch today I had some lamb rogan josh over pullau rice, and a taco. The Chinese dishes tended too far towards the "mystery meat" consistency. I'd have expected a bit better.
After the last class, we had some networking for people who are or might be interested in changing jobs in the near future; I was surprised who was there.
I wanted to go to a hot pot for my last dinner in Beijing, but too many people were already paired off, or were going somewhere on foot I couldn't go, and some of my team had other interests, so my last dinner in Beijing was a power bar in my hotel room as I packed. Mildly disappointing, to say the least, but since the options for food in the hotel are very expensive or very bad, I guess I get what I can get.
I've decided in Bangkok, where I should be more mobile (not as much cold air to irritate my lungs) I'll go eat where I want, when I want.
All images are © Copyright 2006 James C. Armstrong, Jr.