These pretzels are making me thirsty

Here's a list of some observations from my trip thus far (in no particular order):

• American tourists in China use a camera just as much as the cliched Japanese tourists in America.
• It's fun to listen to a conversation in Mandarin because you can make up your own subtitles.
• In Beijing, you can easily get the weather report by looking out the window. If you can see the sky, it's windy (and all the pollution is gone).
• Any Chinese intersection is a perfect display of organized chaos.
• You haven't lived until you see a very elegant Chinese woman hock a righteous luggy on the street.
• American tourists are always trying to equate things in China to things they know in America. Seeing something solely as Chinese is difficult for them.
• Vendors at the night food market in Beijing try to shock tourists by telling them certain food is dog (although they actually have it!).
• When dealing with vendors in the markets it's highly effective to speak German when you want them to go away. They already know English so they don't know what to do for anything else. Although I would imagine someone eventually will call my bluff...but not yet.
• It seems that a lot of beggars in Beijing have seen Eddie Murphy in the beginning of Trading Places.
• China has a bank for everything. The Bank of Construction, Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Commerce, and the lesser known Bank of Pollution and Bank of Entirely Too Many People.
• Shanghai has taller buildings but smaller roads than Beijing which translates into a more cramped feeling.
• They have a Chinese version of the Price Is Right and yes, it's spectacular. (Video forthcoming - oh yes, I took a video and it's mainly me laughing in the background.)
• Seeing Chinese symbols in different fonts would be (and is) confusing. Still can't tell if there's Helvetica (Wheeler). In fact, I'm not sure if anyone can.
• I have an entirely new appreciation for the phrase "big city." After all, Beijing is 18 million and Shanghai is around 20.
• This trip has solidified the fact that I prefer to travel alone.
• There is always someone cleaning something...everywhere, in the lobby, on the street, in the restaurant. Remember, everyone works (read Communism).
• In Mandarin, there is no tense other than the present tense. We say, "I went to the beach yesterday." They say, "I am at the beach yesterday." This difference is one of the reasons that Chinese say English (or any Western language) is very hard to learn.
• I went to the top of the highest occupied floor in the world (as of June 1, 2008) in the new World Financial Center in Shanghai. The observation deck has some glass floors. That makes it incredibly difficult to walk (or hold in lunch).
• China has been nothing like I expected. You don't feel the difference in government. It's very behind the scenes but when you hear stories about, for instance, how difficult it is for people to get home for the Spring Festival (their Thanksgiving and Christmas put together) because scalpers have purchased all the rail and bus tickets and how the government says that they will begin to arrest those same scalpers, you become rather impressed with the efficiency of action as arrests started the next day (and something like 8,000 in the last 4 days). In the US, it would take weeks if not longer for such action to take hold and ironically, it would no longer be needed. Where we threaten action, they act. I could go on and on but I'll save that for dinner conversation (and grad school papers).

That's all for now. I hate that I haven't had much time to blog. We've been running around so much and this is really the first night I decided to stay in and document at least something. Pictures might be posted after my return.

Fortune of the day - if constantly saying, "what?" get hearing checked. (Deep, huh?)

In a country where Jack will have to do

I just wanted to post a quick note and not the whole deal because this "5 star" hotel in Beijing charges for high speed internet and doesn't have wifi. Anyway, despite my best efforts and searching for 5 days now, there appears to be no Maker's Mark in China. To compensate for this atrocity, I guess Jack will do.

I want to post about everything we've done in the last two days but having to pay for high speed is forcing me to wait until at least Wednesday when we check into the hotel in Shanghai (which, as I understand, has free wifi). So until then, I'm out but stay posted for a lot more then (pictures and videos if all goes well). But I would like to say that today we went to the Great Wall and I have to tell you this was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Later.

Fortune of the day - when invading a country and you come to a big ass wall, don't make the decision to go around. You will more than likely be disappointed in your decision.

"Massage and more"

So after I did all my work stuff on Friday, I finally got to become a tourist. I was awaiting the arrival of my classmates by having a beer and finishing a book (Born Standing Up - Steve Martin, good book actually) in the hotel lobby. By my estimation, they were supposed to arrive by 7 p.m. but by 7:30 they hadn't shown up yet...or so I thought. I was heading back to room to drop off the book and I ran into a couple of guys from my class. Turns out they got in about an hour before and somehow, still a mystery to me, they got past me in the lobby (like I said, it was a good book).


Anyway, they had all agreed to head to this restaurant called "Peking Duck" (I'll let you figure out what the specialty was) on Friday night instead of the next night. Anyway, we were bused over and sat down at our large table. The table is really cool and in China, when eating with a large party, there's a huge lazy susan in the middle. All the food is placed on this and moved around when you want to have something. So we started with some appetizers and tea then the food started coming. And then more food. And then more food. And then the duck (which was awesome). And then the soup. By the end of the meal, the lazy susan was completely full with plates. They even combined some plates to make some room. It was an incredible meal aside from most folks in the group who greatly struggled with the concept of the chopstick (and travel abroad for that matter).



After dinner, we came back to the hotel and sort of decided to walk off dinner and explore around the hotel a little. On the way back, everyone wanted to stop in this hat store and since I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do less, I just headed back to the hotel by myself. It was only a few hundred yards to the lobby from where the group split off but looking very American and being by myself, I guess I was a walking target. A target for what you ask? Well, I was propositioned by this nice looking lady who was holding a card with a picture of a girl on it and the promise of "a massage and more." I've been propositioned before...maybe some of you remember my psychic hooker story from Vegas...but it's still funny to me.



Being my first night in Beijing with my Elon classmates, it was fairly uneventful. Tomorrow, we'll be touring all day by starting at Tiannamen Square then on to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and finally, the Olympic Village (which I very much look forward to). I imagine I'll be posting some pictures then.



Oh, I should mention that I got a drink in the hotel bar before I headed to bed . It just so happens that this bar has karaoke. Fulfilling a promise I made to a friend, I wanted to check their book and see if they had the song. Sounds bad but they did...David Bowie's China Girl. Yeah, that might have to happen.



Fortune of the day - some people don't deserve to travel to Milwaukee much less China.

All bull...no joke

I found this in the hotel room mini-bar this morning. I had no idea it was even there. It was hidden in this little cabinet next to the fridge. I didn't try it (too early in the morning) but I will. Oh yes, I will.

That's it for today. I'm still at the plant this morning. After lunch, I'm traveling with our Chinese sourcing manager to a die casting house here in China. They are the company that he is working with for a project we are doing for the States. After that, I'll be meeting my Elon mates at the hotel after they fly in this afternoon. So basically, this afternoon, the real trip begins (i.e. not related to work).

Fortune of the day - eat more bacon.

Clarification of previous post

Okay, so maybe you didn't get the hostage joke. Well, that's because some of the words didn't make it through because I used the greater than/less than symbols and they are meant to include...hell, I don't know what they're supposed to do. All I do know is that it didn't work. Here's the joke in its original form:

They are *blink* treating me *blink blink* very well *blink*.

I don't know, it was funny when I thought of it.

Anyway, I had just one addition thought this morning as I sit here in the Gilbarco plant in Pinggu, China freezing my butt off (no heat) so here it is:

There is apparently no such thing as jaywalking in this country. Sure, there are signs for the crosswalk just like we have (walk/don't walk) but they must not translate. They seem to mean, "Go ahead. Walk if you want to. That bus may or may not stop for you." I'm trying to find the translation for "Hey, I'm walking here!"

Just an observation. Later.

Stranger in a strange land

Well, I'm finally here. After all the preparation, after all the anticipation, I'm here. And they're taking really good care of me. Sorry, bad hostage joke. Seriously, Beijing so far is really cool (and I mean that literally). It's cold here y'all. I haven't seen much of the city yet because I'm over here for work at the moment but that should change this weekend. Here are the highlights thus far in bullet form:

• one of the stewardesses on the short flight to Chicago sounded exactly like the soft-spoken female cop in the Police Academy movies and yes, she's the one that gave the safety speech. I'm not sure if people understood why I was laughing. I was just hoping Steve Guttenberg wasn't on the plane.
• the Beijing airport is the biggest thing I've ever seen (and the cleanest).
• it's perfectly fine to not say a single word to your driver of the past 45 minutes except "bye bye".
• real Chinese food is really good (and Alex, they actually have more than just Chinese - in case you were wondering (and I know you were)). Check that one off the list.
• there is a complete disregard for all driving rules in this country and a honk doesn't mean someone pissed you off...it means you're about to do something crazy as if to say, "Hey, watch this." This, of course, through the terrified eyes of the passenger in the back seat.
• 10 deg F sounds a lot better than -12 deg C but it's still pretty damn cold.
• jetlag's not that bad when you have no idea what time it is.

No pictures yet unless you want to see a fuel dispenser factory in China and I'm sure that's not the case. I'll post more once I get into the more fun part of the trip (and I've caught up on my sleep). Until then.

Fortune of the day - praying in a speeding car does no good unless you're driving.

So far west it's actually east

It's now the day before my trip out to China. For those that don't know, I'm heading to Beijing and Shanghai for a two prong trip. First, this all started with the Elon MBA program announcing that their big trip this year was going to be to China. I was immediately interested and told myself that I would buck up and do it. Round about the same time, my work tapped me for a project that involved me going to China a few times in the coming year. I was able to convince my upper management that I could combine the two into one mega-trip where I spend a few days at our Beijing facility and then meet up with my Elon classmates later in the week for another 9 days. It all came together quite nice and at the moment, I can't believe the trip is already here.

It's been a little stressful getting ready for in essence two trips. I've had a ton of up front work to do for work to get myself prepared for that portion of the trip. At the same time, I've had even more work to do for the school part of the trip. For the past month and a half, I've been completely submersed in all things China. If there's anything you want to know, just ask...I've probably read something about it (business, culture, etc.). Although, my Mandarin is a little rusty (which is to say non-existent). I'm sure the language difference will prove to be the most difficult aspect of the journey. But I know how to say "hello" and "beer" and I know the sign for the men's room so I think I'll be okay.

I'm pretty excited to finally see everything I've been reading about. I just want to get there and see everything for myself. Obviously, the tourist part of the trip will probably be the best. We're going to see the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square (less the tanks I'm sure), the Summer Palace, some tombs, and what will be super cool, the Olympic Village. And that's just in Beijing. I've been told Shanghai is like Times Square times 10 with all the lights (and people).

So I just wanted to document some pre-trip thoughts to get this off on the right foot. More when I'm over there unless the Chinese government has something against blog sights (which I've heard they might).

Fortune of the day - man who packs too much has heavy bag.