Wrapping Up

The final days of our China trip left me with little time to get to the computer and update the blog, so here are a few days at once...

My only full day in Shanghai started with a factory tour at a place that makes garments for Marmot, Adidas, Nike, Fila, Pearl Izumi, etc. Conditions in the factory were just fine and as expected, it is not the sweatshop that was rumored to exist years ago in China. It's still not a job I would desire as workers do not shift between different skilled positions and are stuck sitting on the line 40 hours a week (the maximum number of hours they can work in a week). Minimum wage in the area comes out to about $0.54/hour, the workers in this factory get paid about $0.72/hour. A typical garment has a 4 hour throughput time so the labor cost behind a garment comes out to just under $3.

After the factory, we visited Fudan University for a series of speakers from Nike, Wieden & Kennedy, IMG, Zou Marketing, and others. I had some interesting tidbits to share from those talks but of course my notes are buried in some bags that I'm not with at the moment. That wrapped up the educational portion of the trip. One of the more interesting facts about the University is the $100M building that was built to celebrate their 100th (I think) anniversary. However, the university has no use for the building and it currently sits empty.

My final night in China was another opportunity for us to roam Shanghai. Again it was an amazing modern, cosmopolitan city. There is still tons of poverty, but there are lots of others in the city who are wealthy. Beijing allowed us the chance to check out the historical side of China, but Shanghai is the destination you want to visit over and over, like New York.

Thursday morning meant it was time for me to leave a day early to stand up in a wedding in Madison. The trip home was a LONG day of travel. Started out by taking the Maglev train to the airport in Shanghai. Rumors were that it tops out at 430 km/hr however, it only hit 301 km/hr while I was on it. Maybe the rainy conditions slowed it down but we still arrived at the airport in the 7 minutes that are advertised alongside the 430 km/hr so I'm not quite buying the 430 number. Flights from Shanghai to Tokyo to Minneapolis to Madison left me arriving during the beginning of a football weekend in the best city in the country for college football. Being back in town on a football weekend is brining back lots of good memories.

All in all, the China trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know that I've ever learned so much in a week and the trip was just plain fun. The company I was traveling with of course only helped. Spending 24 hours a day with my classmates for the week reinforced what a great group we have in Eugene.

And as the China blog wraps up, a special thanks to Lori and Paul for putting together such a phenomenal trip and to everyone else in CAPS and the LCB for all their help.

I may look for other subjects to keep this blog going from time to time, so feel free to check back.

Surreal...Shanghai is unbelievable

Day 6 of the trip started out by meeting with Adidas China and NBA China. More valuable insight into their brands as well as doing business in China. After a flight from Beijing to Shanghai we arrived at our hotel in downtown Shanghai. I have traveled a fair amount in life and this is by far the most amazing city I have ever seen. It is so modern and has a combination of every kind of architecture you could imagine. It appears that they are in such a rush to keep building that everyone goes in their own direction on architecture.

I wish I could better describe how cool this city appears to be, but if you ever give remote consideration to visiting Asia, Shanghai appears to be a must see. Once my camera battery charges, I'll get some pictures up but I really think you have to be hear to get the idea. The size is more than twice the size of Manhattan, there are more lights than Las Vegas, and the 'People's Park' has the most scenic bar ever that seemed to be a melting pot of more cultures than you can find in Europe.

I'm not sure if the Beijing pollution issues exist here as well since it has been overcast/rainy since we landed, but the city seems somewhat clean. I have never heard so many people come up to me before saying "Lady Bar" and "Lady Sex". Traffic still follows the if I'm bigger, I'm coming through tactic but there aren't all the bikes and rickshaws to get in the way like in Beijing.

On the food front, lunch was once again a lot of new and different Chinese foods. Tasty yet again, however our palettes we're dying for something different so a few of us finally got Pizza Hut and then Haagen Dazs. Beers are cheap here but the ice cream was about $3 per scoop, ridiculous, especially in China.

Can't believe how much I'm learning about the world and I'm sure there's much more to come in the final few days....

First Day of Business

September 11th, five years later, started out with with a trip to Octogan. Very insightful trip as far as sports interests in China. Increase in interest in golf and tennis among the educated and high HH incomes was dramatic.

Went to the Chinese National Training Center next. Pretty interesting to see some of their best athletes in training. They even have a western food cafeteria so that athletes can get used to that "good food" before they travel for competition. Very crazy to think about how not too long ago there is probably no way a group of Americans would be allowed to tour these facilities. The trip as a whole is really shaping up to be the most amazing learning experience you could have. Emersing yourself in a culture that is so different from your own teaches you a ton.

Lunch was once again Chinese food (but from yet another province). The Chinese food is great, but a large pizza would be wonderful after eating more Chinese food than you could imagine. The quantity of food served at these meals is amazing and so much is wasted. You'd think they would save the food to give to the poor in Western China.

The afternoon included a trip to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. Pretty interesting to hear their perspective and to see models of all the Olympic facilities that are in progress. Their slogan "New Beijing , Great Olympics" seems very approriate. They really appear to be trying to create a world class city while at the same time preserving the old traditions.

Late afternoon provided us with some free time during which 5 of us headed off the beaten path and found a nice Chinese restaurant. They weren't open yet but didn't want to turn us down so we sat down and had 2, 630 mL beers each...And each one cost about $1. Fascinating how many neighborhood people came to stare at us while there, apparently white people aren't around there too often.

The evening took us to the opening round of the ATP China Open. First tennis match I have attended and it featured the top ranked Asian player in the world and a German who was once #5. Tennis was pretty entertaining too watch. Not sure if the Chinese we're into it or not but they were at least more polite/quiet/respectful than a few people in our group.

The pollution is becoming unbearable. I'm really not sure how the tennis players we're breathing out there and I don't see how the Olympic Committee can figure out how to actually reduce the pollution.

Great Wall Day

The 4th day of our trip started by booting up the computer to see how everyone's football teams had done. Badgers came away with a 34-10 over a very week Western Illinois. The morning included a trip to the Great Wall. Yet another piece of China that amazes by how much time was spent to build such a thing. After walking the wall, I started to gain experience in haggling. Beck and I were after some water...they were willing to give me one for 5 RMD (less than $1) and I made sure she knew that was too high and eventually got both of our waters for 5 RMD.

A major headache settled in for much of the day as the air pollution and sun combo was killer. The pollution made me long for the chance to spend a night in Gary, Indiana.

Meals once again included tons of stuff that we weren't sure what it was. Dinner was a Beijing Duck and also included some lettuce rolls with "Duck Treasures". Not sure what that means.

My successful haggling was also put to use at a large shopping center. Found a polo shirt that they wanted to sell for 250 RMD. I said I only had 100 and after she offered the "friend" price of 200 and then 150 I finally acted like I was walking away at which point she gave it to me for 100. Lots of fun, wish they had that game in the states...

First Full Day in China

Day 3 was full of numerous observations. Traffic is INSANE. Trucks, buses, cars, rickshaws, bikers, pedestrians all share the same space. Observing traffic signals is not always common practice, everyone just keeps driving and will run anyone over in their way. The pollution in Beijing is everywhere, the air is not pleasant. The lack of dental and medical care over the years is painfully obvious. Tons of people trying to sell you a "Rolex", "Gucci" bag, postcards, dragons, Olympic tees and hats, etc. They'll just grab your arm and keep trying to sell things to you. Even a few women with babies in their arm that try to push their baby onto you.

First stop in our busy day was at Tiananmen Square. We saw the Olympic Countdown Clock and were then on our way through the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is enormous and it was amazing to see how much time was spent during construction and in adding all the details of Chinese architecture.

Lunch was down the street from our hotel - the start of eating random foods where you are not always sure what they are. I won the prize for eating the most liver dumplings or something like that. The meal including Pepsi came out to the equivalent of about $12 for 6 of us and there was probably enough food for 12-15 of us.

The afternoon took us to the Summer Palace. More of the same as far as the quantity of detailed architecture.

We went to the NBA Jam Van late afternoon. Interesting to see all the Chinese were most interested in some boring games that weren't even fun enough to have at a local carnival. Worked out for our group though since that left the one-on-one pop-a-shot open. We are thinking they loved the boring games because of free giveaways. I missed the best photo op of the trip thus far. The Toronto Raptors mascot was jogging to a van after performing and was being escorted by a handful of police officers - a red dinosaur chased by Chinese police officers - hilarious.

Drove by construction of The Cube and The Nest (aquatic center and Olympic stadium) - two of the most unique buildings you've ever seen. Also stopped at a silk factory...pretty interesting to see what they can do with cocoons. I bought a silk tie there with Chinese characters...I'm sure it says something about being a stupid American who bought a tie.

Dinner was at the night market. The strange foods were things you never would have imagined...starfish on a stick, dog testicles, not sure what the other stuff was. Good thing is that is was just as cheap as the lunch food.

Day 2 of the Trip

...day 2 is basically a continuation of day 1. The flight continues. First stop was in Tokyo and the first thing I saw in that airport was a McDonald's. Final destination was Beijing and Starbucks was the first site there.

We were finally riding a bus to our hotel around 11 pm, 26 hours after waking up. During the drive the amount of workers out doing random jobs was fascinating...the jackhammer guy was at it hammering about 12 inches away from our bus tire as we rode by. Firepits on the sidewalk of downtown streets was a strange site. During the drive, I already saw numerous homes that people were living in, in spite of half the building being torn down.

Driving in China first became commonplace among the average person during the 1980s...but of course they still have toll booths.

The long day ended with a luxurious Crowne Plaza. Service at the hotel bar was amazing - three servers working our table, IMMEDIATELY handing us a new beer as we finished the previous.

China Trip Day 1

Day 1 of the trip had to be the shortest day of my life. Wake up at 6 AM to drive to PDX and catch the Portland to Tokyo to Beijing flight. Days fly by when you travel 15 time zones ahead of the one you woke up in...