Peking duck tastes better in...

Beijing (Peking) of course!



Between meetings today, colleagues took me to a famous Peking Duck place that's been around for more than 100 years. Ok, I didn't actually take the pic above but it looked just like that, chef and all. Tasted great. Was also served the duck's palm, which I wasn't that fond of - kinda like cartilege is all- gross. And had duck soup.

Meetings were a mix of good and ok. Learning a great deal about the China online advertising market and it's starting to become apparent maybe the market is not mature enough for our research. Kind of a bummer.

I can't wait to head back to Tokyo. I am tired of traveling and meetings and work.

This evening I decided to go to McDonald's. I know I know, but I have a my reasons. 1) I like to try McDonald's in different countries to see the differences 2) I am tired of eating alone at restaurants and tired of the lost in translation feeling with staff.

So what I discovered at McD's is that the fries and cheeseburger taste the same. Fries are more similar to US taste than Japan. They also serve these ice cream floats as drinks with meals instead of soda. This is the advertised pic I took with my camera phone:



Judging by the pic they come in different flavors but somehow I got the peach one without them asking me. Guess they figured I wouldn't understand anyway. It was a little sweet for my taste at first but I ended up liking it in the end. Of course now I feel gross and have heartburn.

On the way back to the hotel I bought 2 dvds on the street for like $2. Who knows if they are in English or any good but we'll see. I just couldn't resist checking.

One more day of meetings in China!

The Forbidden City

Yes, another blurry camera phone pic from the Forbidden City. A colleague took me there today. It's a nice cloudy day so wasn't too hot. Of course it was crowded. It's much bigger than I thought. Pretty cool palace buildings and I liked the Imperial Garden with the crazy shaped rocks and trees. The Starbucks is definitely gone. I personally don't think it should be in there anyway.

I still cannot believe the traffic, the way people drive, and how people deal with the pedestrians, bicycles and other cars just dart into the middle of the road. I find it so hard to just run in front of cars. I'm not trained to do that. And I am really started to get aggravated at how Chinese people like to push. I'm sorry, they really are rude. I mean I don't understand how people can push you and shove you out of the way, can't they wait TWO SECONDS?? Is there absolutely no sense of politeness, patience, or just plain being civil?

Anyway, I feel satisfied with the bit of sightseeing I got to do here. My colleague also took me to and old shopping street and we had a good lunch by a lake.

I might venture over to a shopping center by here after relaxing a bit. Then 2 more days of client meetings before I head back to Tokyo on Wed. I go back to the office for one day on Thurs and then Kenn and I are going to the Fuji Rock Festival. We actually bought tickets like 2 months ago. Artists include The Cure, Beastie Boys, and Chemical Brothers. It's going to be a blast and I truly will be looking forward to some rest after akk this traveling and then Fuji Rock.

The Great Wall

Kinda blurry pics from my cell phone but still looks grand. The Great Wall was truly great and I'm glad I got to see it. I do hope to go back again. Kenn definitely wants to see it so it's likely. I am in Beijing now if you haven't guessed. Shanghai at the beginning of the week was ok. From the very very little of the city I got to see, I liked it. Lots of skyscrapers and pretty modern where I was. I stayed at the Radisson by People's Square. I only got to walk around a few evenings around the area, down the famous Nanjing Road, and to the Bund by the Huangpu river. I had to work much of the time, had client meetings and a client event at the office that I presented at. It's so much more lonely traveling by myself. It's not much fun to be honest, it's tiring walking around alone, no one to share insights with. I hate eating alone and the real shame of my trip to Shanghai is that I really didn't get to eat out anywhere good. Oh well, maybe next time. Oh at it was sooo hot. Just like Guangzhou, maybe around 90-100 degrees. I don't know how people can deal with the weather. I was sweating like crazy, how uncomfortable.

I am in Beijing for 5 days and colleagues here took me to dinner Friday night. Today one colleague took me and another person visiting from a different office to the Great Wall. She was so nice to drive us there in the terrible traffic here. It took at least 2-2/12 hours with the traffic. Great thing about going with a local was that she had a good plan. Her husband happened to also be taking colleagues so snagged us a parking spot. Then we took the cable car to one section that was less crowded. Most people don't take the cable car because 1-it's a little expensive (for China that is - I think it was like $6) and 2-many of the tour busses go to a specific area and 3-many people like to walk up. It was hot and personally I didn't find the need to walk too much of the wall. It's pretty steep, I was surprised at how steep some areas are. What an amazing structure, it's hard to imagine how people built it. Tomorrow another colleague is going to take me to the Forbidden City. How nice of the office folks here to be such great hosts.

I now realize just how differnt Tokyo is from other cities in Asia. Tokyo and Japan really is very orderly and efficient. People are polite and restrained. In China it's a whole other story. Spitting, shouting, pushing, walking around with your shirt up or off (men) is all acceptable behavior. I've never seen people yell into the phone so loudly before. What a contrast from Japan where people don't really talk on the phone loudly in public and it's taboo to do so in a subway. Traffic and driving seems crazy to me.

I am looking forward to getting back to Tokyo. Funny how that idea feels much like "home" to me and so much more comfortable. Will write again soon.

Oh one more odd thing. I cannot access any blogs here in China, no pages will load from Blogger including my own. I can write to my blog though. Weird, I wonder if it's a government block thing. I just did a search on it and think that's what it is.... crazy. You guys can read this though right? Judging by some comments that got sent to my email, it seems so.

Chinese food is better in (Greater) China

Come on, you saw that subject line coming....


This was my dinner in Shanghai today. I stopped in a mall and ate at a food court to sample the local food court food. A few too many dumplings for one person but boy were they good. I was confused though because I had to put money on a card and use the card to pay. I had to go back twice because I didn't put enough on at first. In the end it only costed $2.60 though. I seem to be always lost in translation.

It's been really tough keeping up with my blog posts. So much running around and meetings and traveling and when I do have a moment, I'm exhausted and just want to relax or sleep.

Taking a step back... Phi Phi islands in Phuket were gorgeous. We'll post pics when we get the chance. The day tour was good despite poor weather. It was cloudy all day which perhaps was a blessing so no hot sun or sunburn. But the winds were high and waves up to 10 feet! The boat ride was rough but I found it kind of fun. We did some snorkeling and went to a few different stops. We couldn't go to the cite of the movie The Beach because the water was too rough to get into that cove. Oh well, it was a worthwile day trip anyway.

Hong Kong was good. I had a lot of client meetings plus had to train some folks in the local office. It was so freakin hot and humid there too. I don't know how people can deal. One of the days a freak occurance happened. A girl fainted during my presentation. At first, I saw her nodding off so thought she was just sleepy or I was boring. But then she fell over on the couch and didn't get up. We had to call paramedics. Craziness. Turns out she was allergic to some medication or something. But her coworkers said it's happened before too. Despite that drama, it was a good trip. Kenn explored a little days, shopping mostly. He did some work from the hotel too. Then I would meet him for dinner and one night we went to the Peak which overlooks the city. Gorgeous skyline, I must say one of my favorites. We had a very clear night but of course forgot our video camera (our only camera source these days). We had dinners and drinks in Soho during the week as well and on Saturday took a 30 minute ferry to Lantau island to visit the Great Buddha statue. Overall, Hong Kong is a lot more international than I remember it. Of course i vacationed there almost 10 years ago. When I went last year it was only for a day. Although a lot of the meals we had were actually not Chinese (I know, it just happened that way), we did manage to have a great dim sum.

I took the train to Guangzhou on Sunday while Kenn flew back to Tokyo. Flights for him to China were just too expensive to justify given that he has a ton of work these days too. So for him to come to China and stay in the hotel would be a waste. It's a bit lonely traveling on my own now but I have plenty of work to keep me busy. I was only in Guangzhou for 2 nights and a day. Again, SOOO hot. Too hot to walk around besides my last trip there was enough for me. I'm not that impressed by the city. After a day of client meetings, my colleague did take me out for a nice dinner. The first night I ate at the hotel seafood buffet (which was actually a really nice spread). I also had a slight lost on translation incident at Starbucks when I tried to pay with Taiwanese money which I had left over from my last trip and I thought was China Yuan. Oops.

I have a lot more insights about culture of these cities and my experiences but I'm going to have to save it. Getting tired of typing....

2 more days in Shanghai and then I'm off to Beijing!

Thai food is better in Thailand

We really did have some good Thai food. My tolerance for spicy food has definitely increased drastically.

I've been slacking on the blogging but was so busy with the conference and then relaxing on the beach in Phuket and then flew back to Tokyo for a day before repacking and leaving for Hong Kong for work....

Don't even have the time to write much now as I am exhausted after a day of meetings in HK.

Here is way we stayed in Bangkok: Pan Pacific. Nice for Bangkok and got 2 nights payed by the conference and a discount on the rest.

Here is where we stayed in Phuket: The Chedi. Recommended by friends of friends and it was a little pricey but worth it. Gorgeous, great beach and cool cottages.

More to come about the rest of our Thailand trip including day tour to Phi Phi islands and then also on Hong Kong. Kenn is here with me as well, we found a good flight deal for him.

Hello from Bangkok!

We arrived safely on Friday night. Thai Airways was roomy, had a good curry dinner. Movies were medicore. One stupid Disney movie about 2 teenagers and an indie film called Namesake about and Indian American family, which was pretty good. For some reason the flight attendant didn't like me though and she was rude.

The weekend in Bangkok (both our first time in Thailand) was spent sightseeing at the major sights - Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, Wat Arun temple, longtail boat tour on the river, and eating Pad Thai (which really does taste better in Thailand!). We also went to the weekend market and the IT Center (Pantip Plaza) for some software and movies. Yup, "legal" software of course. Hehe.

My impression of Bangkok is that it's too hot (it's not even the hot season) and it's a combination of modern and non-modern. There are skyscrapers and businesses and nice hotels on one hand. And it's dirty, run down and poor on the other. Riding around the back river canals was a real eye opener for me. It really put into perspective how privilaged we are compared to some people in the world. It was so weird to ride in a boat with my $200 sunglasses, Prada wallet, and diamond ring through where people live in run down shacks, looking into their homes and private lives. It made me feel bad but at the same time I know I cannot feel guilty for where/how I was born as that was not up to me. At least I am aware of how lucky I am and I'm glad I have that awareness.

Near our hotel the streets come alive at night with night markets and restaurants. There are a shady few streets with I think strip clubs, "massage" parlors and gay bars. Truthfully that is what I expected all of Bangkok to be like. Right in the middle of the night markets where vendors sell fake goods (sneakers, bags, watches, etc) there are venues that advertise (excuse my language) Pussy Pong and other such interesting entertainment acts. They even come up to you with menus of items of what "shows" they have and some with drawn pictures or diagrams on them explaining.... Uh yea.. shady is all I can say about that...

The first day of the conference I'm at was somewhat a disaster. A lot of the speakers cancelled at the last minute and I even had to cover someone's presentation. Ridiculous that I presented someone else's deck on Corporate Social Responsibility, something I know nothing about. I basically read the slides but I guess I did it with such enthusiam that people asked me questions about the deck later. Ha! Tomorrow the chairperson won't be there because a movie camera fell on his foot and they asked me to chair in addition to my workshop. It's a small conference so I don't mind but how crazy.

Off to Phuket on Wednesday, looking forward to relaxing on the beach, unwinding and massages. :)

By the way, Livia's boyfriend is in Thailand: