Pictures... Roll Call

Welcome home everyone. I think we all had a terrific time in Asia... what a great experience! I know that many people took a TON OF PICTURES. Several of us have uploaded our photos to the Internet to share. Here are the links to some online photo albums:

SHAWN SPENDLOVE
http://picasaweb.google.com/spendloves

BEN RITCHIE

http://picasaweb.google.com/benritchiephoto

BRAD BALL
http://picasaweb.google.com/brad.ball76

NATALIE BLACK
http://picasaweb.google.com/nataliecblack

SETH MALLEY
http://www.themalleys.com/The_Malleys/Asia_Trip/Asia_Trip.html

TRAVIS ISAACSON
http://www.picasaweb.google.com/travis.isaacson

TAMMY MCQUISTION
http://picasaweb.google.com/tammcquiston

If you have an online photo album that you'd like to share... please just send me the link and I will post it here on the site. If you'd like to create a free online photo album... visit http://www.picasa.com/

Bangkok Oriental City

For most of us… our tour of Asia ends today as we leave Bangkok, Thailand and head for home. We’ve got a long day of ahead of us (travel time from Bangkok to Salt Lake City will take about 24 hours when you include the flight layovers). While a small group of 4 headed down to Phuket for another day vacationing on the exotic beaches of Southern Thailand… and one couple (Ben and Mickelle Baker) head to Taiwan for a few days… the majority of us will be arriving home in just a few hours and everyone is excited to see their family and friends.

Bangkok was a WONDERFUL place to end our foreign business excursion. When we arrived on Wednesday some wondered how Bangkok could possibly out shine the other magnificent places we’ve travelled over the past two weeks… but the exotic atmosphere in Thailand certainly exceeded expectations… and for a few… Thailand ended up being the favorite destination altogether. We were all a little concerned about Doralia, who was left behind in Hong Kong due to a problem with her visa. Fortunately the problem was worked out and she joined us in Thailand a day late.


The atmosphere and culture in Thailand is different than we’ve experienced anywhere else in Asia. Sanjay Sharma remarked at the large number of Indian influences he saw all throughout Bangkok and mentioned that Thai culture (to him) seems to be a unique blend of Chinese and Indian influences. Sanjay even took a few people to a Hindu temple to experience share some of his own culture. Certainly Thailand is more exotic and tropical than other places we’ve been… the people have a different heritage, different ethnicity, different language, and even a different look than the Chinese and Japanese people we’ve visit with on this trip. Many in our group remarked at how the Thai people seem so pleasant, relaxed, and eager to serve. In Thailand we also saw more poverty than anywhere else we’ve been. Thailand is a developing nation and doesn’t have the same infrastructure as Japan or Hong Kong. Certainly China has problems with poverty… but we saw very little of it while prancing around the capital city of Beijing… especially just weeks before the Olympics. In Thailand we saw many poor people right in the heart of Bangkok… some lived in little shacks near our resort hotel… yet virtually everyone in greater Bangkok (poor or rich) seemed to own a motor scooter (the traffic was horrific).


One thing is certain… Thailand seems to be a much more religious country than anywhere else we’ve been. Upon our arrival we took a canal tour and stopped at a Buddhist temple where we climbed up some pretty intense stairs. There are literally thousands of Buddhist temples in Thailand… a stark contrast to China where we saw very little religion. The people here also love their King… who is a revered figurehead that is extraordinarily popular among all Thai people… you can’t go anywhere in Thailand without seeing pictures of the King… the Thai people love and respect their King much like we love and respect our prophet.


Our polite tour guide “Su” showed us some of the major sites around Bangkok during our stay and may have been our most pleasant tour guide of the whole trip… we all enjoyed being part of “Su’s Group” and following him around Bangkok. On the first night in town Su took a number of us to a custom tailor shop on our first night in Bangkok and those who went felt as if they scored a great deal on a wool & cashmere blend suit (with 2 pants and a tie) for only $250… it was a fun experience getting all measured up for a custom suit and having it personally delivered to our hotel room the next day. Some of us wonder aloud what’s the problem with tailors back in the USA… they speak worse English than the tailors in Thailand and typically take more than a week to do minor alterations… whereas the Thai tailors had no problem whipping up a customized suit in just a few hours!

Su also took us to the Royal temples and palaces and we were impressed by their beauty and glamour. The Buddhist temples in Thailand can’t match the Chinese palaces in size and scale… but they have beautiful craftsmanship and seem to be more fancy and ornamental when looking at them up close… lots of gold and jewels. Many in our group were surprised at the small size of the famous emerald Buddha statue. This particular Buddha (considered one of the most holy statues in all of Thailand) has a famous temple all to himself and yet he stands only two feel high on the top of a throne.


Our accommodations in Bangkok were excellent… we stayed at the Marriott Resort and Spa located on the beautiful riverfront and our hotel (while not as lavish as the China World Hotel) was absolutely beautiful had thick gardens, a wonderful swimming pool and really felt more like an exotic resort than anywhere else we stayed.

We had a couple of great business visits in Bangkok including the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and Mattel. At AMCHAM we had a good Q&A session with some people familiar with doing business in Thailand. Then we drove out to Mattel where we had one of the best business visits of the entire trip. Each of us had a thorough tour of the toy factory that makes Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. The plant leader we met with mentioned how his factory was “the largest producer of automobiles in the world… if size doesn’t matter.” It was interesting to see how the toy cars were made and most of us were amazed at the efficiency of the plant and the temperature inside (working conditions inside the plant were about 95+ degrees but none of the workers seemed bothered).

HIGHLIGHTS and LET-DOWNS of Thailand? One of the greatest highlights of Thailand was the amazing food… for those of us who love Thai food every meal was a delight. The food is inexpensive in Thailand and we enjoyed everything from Pad Thai, Yellow Curry, Massaman, and Moo Yang… to Saku Sai Moo and the delicious mangos and sticky rice. The highlight for many of the spouses was participating in a Thai cooking class sponsored by the resort.


There was some frustration in Thailand… but it had nothing to do with the location or the people… only the burnout many of us were starting to feel. By the time we reached Bangkok we had already been travelling for 11 days. While the experiences here have been great… most of us are weary of travelling and ready to sleep in our own bed. The majority of us have family waiting back at home that we long to see again. Almost all of the enthusiasm and energy that we had in Kyoto and Toyko those first few days has left and it’s time to go home. At the end of the day we all had a wonderful time and it’s been a great opportunity to experience the different cultures of Asia. What a wonderful way to end a MBA program!

HONG KONG... New York of the Orient.

Our group had a great visit to Hong Kong and the experience was completely different than China. We arrived Sunday afternoon and head directly to our hotel located on the Kowloon waterfront. The first evening we had a walk down the promenade just behind our hotel and everyone was awe struck by the Hong Kong skyline. The buildings here are magnificent and the skyline is truly one of the most impressive in the world… most of us had trouble getting our cameras to the right setting to capture the beautiful night scene.


Hong Kong could easily be an American city… Western influences are everywhere and English in widely spoken. The city looks, sounds, and feels so much like New York. The people here take pride in their English heritage and the culture feels nothing like we experienced in mainland China… the money is different, the language is different, they even drive on the other side of the road.

Here in Hong Kong we stayed at the Renaissance hotel in Kowloon… just across the bay from the magnificent skyline. Though our accommodations were probably a step down from the opulence we experienced at the China World Hotel in Beijing… we were located in one of the most centrally located and accessible places in Hong Kong… many of us took the opportunity to visit the nearby shops, hop on the super-modern subway system, or just walk the promenade to take pictures.

Our feisty tour guide was named Maria and she did a very good job of telling us about the features, facts, and history of Hong Kong. She was also very insistent making sure we left to our business visits on-time and telling us to “get off the bus”.

We had three business visits in Hong Kong that all went pretty well. First we visit Chinese University Hong Kong and heard some interesting prospectives from Dr. Foster and two professors that teach at CUHK. Afterwards we visit a business incubator next to the University known as the Hong Kong Science and Research Park. It was interesting to see the investments Hong Kong is making in research and technology to stay ahead of cities like Beijing and Shanghai as they become more competitive in this part of the world.

Another business visit that we experienced here in Hong Kong was Disneyland. We met with a BYU graduate and ex-pat that runs the operations at Hong Kong Disneyland. He showed us around the park and gave us some insights that were very interesting. Some stayed at Disneyland for a few hours to ride the rides (though most who stayed were surprised that park was only about half-the-size as the Disneyland in California). Many others took a ride on a tram to the top of a nearby mountain to see the famous Big Buddha and get some pictures.


Perhaps the highlight of Hong Kong for many of us was visiting the LDS Temple. The temple is very beautiful and is located on the peninsula not too far from our hotel. Many of us went inside to experience a temple session or participate in sealings. Though some were caught in a rainstorm… it was well worth the experience to visit a special place that serves over half the worlds population (the Hong Kong Temple district includes both China and India).

UPDATE: We’ve now arrived in Bangkok and we’re entering the twilight of our trip in Asia. Most of us are excited to come home and see our families. I’ll post once more about our exotic experiences here in Thailand.

A Busy Blitz through Beijing

From Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning we were in Beijing. Here’s a journal entry highlighting some of our activities while in mainland China…


Our itinerary has been packed from dawn to dusk each day. China is an interesting place… there’s so much to see and do and the culture is so different from what we experienced in Japan. Beijing itself is a huge sprawling city with smoggy skies. Some of us were reminded of Las Vegas in a strange sort of way. The downtown streets are abnormally wide (even by Utah standards) and there are extravagant hotels and government buildings towering over the sidewalks. The city isn’t as clean as Tokyo… but it’s not especially dirty either. The Chinese people tend to keep to themselves more than the Japanese… and the influence of 60 years of communism seems obvious.

Our accommodations at the China World Hotel in downtown Beijing were first-rate. The hotel itself was lavish, the rooms were clean and comfortable and the beautiful lobby had a pleasant aroma. On Thursday morning some of the spouses were having breakfast together at the hotel buffet and spotted a celebrity… Donald Trump’s (Don Jr. from the TV show The Apprentice) was sitting at a nearby table. Although our accommodations were fantastic, we really didn’t spend too much time at the hotel… our tour guide, Vivian, kept and busy from dawn to dusk each day. Vivian spoke excellent English and made sure we got to see all of the key sites in and around Beijing – we were blessed to have such a wonderful guide. Here are some of the things we experienced in and around Beijing…

THE SILK MARKET
After checking into our hotel we spent two hours at the famous silk market located just blocks from our hotel. Most of us were unprepared and surprised by the aggressive selling tactics used by the street vendors (most of them are Chinese girls in their late teens). The girls speak surprisingly good English and drive a tough bargain… all of them seem to use crazy hard-sell tactics (think of an aggressive used-car dealership and multiply by 50). If you don’t buy they will grab your arm and beg… or play a guilt card on you. The silk market was a crazy experience… much more like playing a game than actually shopping… but there were deals to be had… designer Jeans can be purchased for just $15, fake Rolex watches for about $30, and silk ties for only $3. Most of us purchased some things… some, like Shayne and Lindsey Howell, loaded up a few bags.


CHINESE FOOD
The food here is spicy and flavorful… some of it is like the typical American Chinese that we have back home… some of it is not. Meals are served on a round table with a lazy-susan… anyone can choose to have as much or as little as they desire. One night after finishing dinner we decided to sing a few songs to our Chinese servers… it turned out to be an interesting (and mildly embarrassing) experience singing “popcorn popping on the apricot tree” to some bewildered Chinese folks. One Chinese girl really got into the song and started to dance around while doing the popcorn popping motions with her hands… when Kelsey Ruse “took and armful to make a treat” she misunderstood and gave Kelsey a giant bear hug… it was a LAUGH OUT LOUD moment for those who saw.

SUMMER PALACE
A beautiful place located on a man-made reservoir near the outskirts of Beijing. For many of us it was our 2nd favorite spot in China (next to the great wall). The palace had some unique structures and beautiful bridges. A few of stopped near the end and dressed up in traditional Chinese dress for photographs.

BUSINESS VISITS
We had some good business visits in Beijing including Daimler, GE Healthcare, and the US Consulate. Daimler was a very interesting contrast compared with Toyota (who we visit in Japan). On the whole, most of us seemed far more impressed with the operations at the Japanese plant. Daimler was a much lower volume operation and the workers seemed more distracted and less organized. The US consulate office was an interesting visit… we didn’t have a tour of any sort, but the Q&A session focused on doing business in China and most of us found it rather interesting. GE Healthcare was also an interesting visit, we toured a production facility for high-end medical scanning devices.

TIANANMEN SQUARE AND FORBIDDEN CITY
On Friday we had an enjoyable visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace. Tiananmen Square is a unique place… it’s big, beautiful, and stately… and also a shrine to communism and the late General Mau. There are soldiers and lots of people walking along the square. Many of us have recollections of the Tiananmen Square incident that occurred in 1989… but (as expected) we didn’t hear or see anything about the 1989 situation and our tour guide (Vivian) knew very little about what happened.


Forbidden City was spectacular… almost too spectacular. There were probably 50 good photo opportunities in the Forbidden City… we would take pictures and make our way through a gate or palace to find that a bigger more spectacular building was on the other side. Thank heavens for digital cameras… anyone could easily burn through 3-4 rolls of film in that place. Definitely a must see.


THE GREAT WALL
On Saturday we had a wonderful time at the Great Wall of China… most of us had never been to the Great Wall… and we were able to check it off of our list of things to see in serious style. The weather was fantastic as we visit a mountainous region about 90 minutes North of Beijing. The wall exceeded our expectations… the Chinese built it up on the very top of a rather intense mountain range and the size and scale of the wall is absolutely amazing. We walked about ½ mile down (on the wall) then took an alpine slide to the bottom of the mountain. The manpower required to build the great wall is almost unfathomable… you don’t realize it until your actually there to see it in person.

UPDATE: So we arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon and we've been enjoying the sites and sounds of the big city for a couple days. Internet access at our hotel is still not great and we haven't had a whole lot of time... but look for another update and some new pictures very soon.

"Official" Japan Pictures

Here are some selected Japan pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/spendloves/JapanFBE08

Offical Photography Post in the dark

I am trying to post all of my selected pictures on the Asia FBE blog but I can't see what the results are so they might not work. Behind this Red wall I feel really disconnected. Shawn

Here are the Beijing Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/spendloves/BeijingChinaFBE08

Beijing China.... A Few Pictures

We're still here in Beijing, China and loving every moment. We've only got four days here and our itinerary is overflowing with things to do. Today we saw the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City... then most of us went to the theater to see a flying acrobats show that turned out to be quite amazing. Our hotel here in Beijing is rather lavish and the food has been mostly good. The only real problem with Beijing is the Chinese government likes to censor online material and will not allow us to view our own blog.... I seem to have no problem reaching the administrative site to post material... but none of us have any access to any blog site whatsover... or any news site for that matter... The Chinese block access to USA today and other mainstream american media web sites... pretty crazy!

I have uploaded a web album to Picasa... the pictures should be in chronological order from the time we arrived in Japan to now.... I'll continue to add more photographs so check back every so often. Sorry I don't have too many group pictures! Shawn Spendlove... our group photographer... is supposedly going to have more photos available soon... and his work will certainly be of higher quality than mine... so keep watching for more pictures. Meanwhile... I'll post a more comprehensive journal entry of our stay in China once we leave Beijing.

http://picasaweb.google.com/brad.ball76/AsiaTripChina

Tokyo... The Perfect City?

Monday morning we got up early and took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, stopping for a few hours along the way at the Toyota plant where we saw some amazing droid-like welding robots. By late afternoon we arrived in Tokyo and had the evening to ourselves. Our hotel was in a business district but we had easy access to some cool places with a whole lot of shopping and restaurants.

Tokyo is an incredible city… it’s very big and has some impressive skyscrapers. The city might remind someone of New York or Chicago… lots of traffic… lots of people… an elaborate mass transit system (the subway map looks more like a super complex board game)… there’s even a Times Square district in Tokyo with all sorts of dazzling lights (not far from the hotel we stayed in). But there is one BIG difference between Tokyo and other mega-cities… Tokyo is SPOTLESS! There is no litter or trash to be found anywhere in the city… in fact… there are not even trash cans on the city streets… everyone takes care of their own trash and it’s really quite remarkable. The Japanese people are impressive… they’re extremely kind, hard working, and they appear to be a very trustworthy people. We were told that crime is extremely low in Japan… and it shows… no panhandlers or bums anywhere to be found. Bicycles are left unlocked and unattended all across Tokyo and street vendors have products displayed on the sidewalk like you would never see in the United States for fear of shoplifting and theft.


So is Tokyo the perfect city? The BYU alumni that we met with during our business visits seem to think so. On Tuesday morning the spouses went shopping while the rest of us went downtown and visit with Todd Budge of Tokyo Star Bank and Mitchell Mason of Deutsche Bank. Both gentlemen went on their LDS mission to Japan and found their way back after college when their companies assigned them to Tokyo because the spoke fluent Japanese. The business visits were interesting and it was fun to hear from two alumni who were raising their family in Japan. Both men had nothing but wonderful things to say about life in Tokyo.

For most of us it seemed only DOWNER about Tokyo was the language barrier. Nobody in our entire group spoke fluent Japanese and it was very difficult to communicate. Most of the native Japanese who do speak English speak it in a very broken dialect that is hard to decipher…. So at the end of the day… Tokyo might be the wonderful city… but without some serious Japanese skills… it might be a tough place to live.


The language barrier was responsible for one hilarious incident that happened to a few of us on Monday evening. About 15 of us met in the lobby to go to dinner. Meanwhile Travis Isaacson and Laura Ball had spoken with the concierge and supposedly found a Tepenyaki restaurant in a nearby skyscraper that overlooked the entire city. While the menu was expensive, the concierge had assured Travis and Laura that it would be well worth the 5000 yen-per-person ($50 per-person) it would cost to dine at the highly recommended restaurant that overlooked all of Tokyo.
When we arrived at the restaurant we were ecstatic… the view was truly amazing and several hostesses escorted us to our own private room. We all ordered drinks, took a few pictures and began congratulating ourselves while the servers put bibs around our neck. Then everything came to a crashing halt a few moments later when the chef brought out the menu… The least expensive dish was priced at 17,000 Yen ($170)… even the appetizers cost over $80 each! The concierge back at the hotel had somehow told Travis and Laura about the private room charge of 5000 yen…. And not the average meal price… which would have cost around $250 per-person. We all had to untie our bibs, put our napkin down and make a rather shameful walk to the elevator. The whole incident made for a good story… sadly we ended up eating at a mediocre cafe in a windowless room… the food was very forgettable… but the night certainly was not.

UPDATE: We arrived in Beijing, China yesterday afternoon and we've already experienced the wild-n-crazy silk market... look for another update soon... but the Internet accessibilty here in China is limited... so be patient... I'll get more up soon!

wasabi-licious

Shayne Howell will do anything for a free meal. If there is anything crazy/gross/nose clearing that needs to be eaten, he's your man. But it will cost you...

Kyoto Japan

Here is a quick video of the Temples we toured in Kyoto

Sunday in Japan... Temples and Sushi

What a great day to start off the trip! Most of us had a decent night of sleep after yesterdays travel marathon and this morning the hardest decision anybody had to make was whether the wanted strawberry jam or orange marmalade spread on their breakfast roll. The food served at the hotel was excellent and once finished we had a perfect sacrament meeting (reverent, spiritual, and brief) before catching our tour bus to see the sites around Kyoto, Japan.

Kyoto seems to be a nice, clean, modest city, about the size of Salt Lake with some rolling hills surrounding the area. It’s a religious center and we spent most the day visiting various Buddhist temples and shrines. The first place we visit was an enormous wooden structure (supposedly the longest all-wood building in the world). Inside we saw 1001 gold plated statues guarded by some freaky mean looking Buddhist deity. Afterwards we all gathered together for a group picture and John McPhie won the hearts of a dozen or so school girls by posing like the super-hero we all know he really is (John spent about 10 minutes signing autographs for the dazzled Japanese kids afterwards).

Our afternoon was spent temple hopping all around Kyoto and waving to hordes of Japanese school kids who loved to flash us the two-fingered peace sign. We visit the Kiyomizu-dera temple up on a hillside and browsed through a cool market place on the way down to the bus. Lunch today was fantastic, we enjoyed traditional Japanese food and had to cook up our own steak on a sterno fryer… a little bit like cooking up fondue… all while sitting indian-style on the floor. Most everyone enjoyed our lunch and it may have been the highlight of the day.

Also this afternoon we made a visit to Nijo castle and walked through the never-ending maze of dark hallways with squeaky floor… a little bit like a spook alley or a first-person-shooter video game. The final place we visited was the Golden Pavilion temple named Kinkaku-ji– a beautiful structure with some lush gardens surrounding. We were lucky the weather cooperated perfectly today - overcast and cool with no rain.

Tonight we all met up for dinner… but then split up into several factions based on our preference and willingness to have sushi for dinner. Some went looking for a McDonalds… some made it to the top of the Kyoto tower… while others found some good sushi in a nearby mall. But certainly the bravery award for the day goes to Shayne Howell who, after finishing off his sushi, devoured a heaping spoonful of wasabi to win a bet for 2500 yen.

Planes and Rain: Arriving in Japan

Day one of our trip was a long and tiring travel adventure. Many of us started out the morning waiting an extra hour in the Salt Lake airport because our flight was delayed. Fortunately we all arrived in San Francisco with plenty of time to spare before our international flight to Japan.

The flight over the Pacific ocean went as good as you might imagine. We flew across the big pond on a JAL 747... and our entire group occupied the last 7 rows of the plane. The kind stewardess seemed a little bewildered that nobody in rows 60-67 would taker her up on some coffee or green tea. Most of us passed the time away by reading and watching the movie Bucketlist 2-3 times. The Japanese style meals were interesting as well: Salmon noodle surprise with grapefruit, yogurt, and a roll was my personal favorite. Our flight lasted about 10 hours before finally touching down at Narita airport near Tokyo. We soon made our way through customs and then caught our connecting flight to Kyoto after kicking around the terminal for another couple of hours.

By the time we arrived in Kyota it was well past dark and the rain was coming down pretty hard. Though it was only around 8:00pm local time, most of us had been travelling for over 24 hours. We all made our way into our hotel, the New Miyako, located in the Southern part of the town near the train station. Looking at the itinerary this morning some of us figured we would have some spare time when we arrive do browse around Kyoto.... but fatigue after a long day of travel can put a damper on late-night tourist activities. Virtually all of us immediately head off to bed where we experienced the firm support of a Japanese style mattress.

Welcome to the ASIA F.B.E. Blog

This blog will follow the adventures of the 35 students, faculty and spouses on the 2008 EMBA Foreign Business Excursion trip to Asia. We've all been excited about this trip for months and it's finally here!




Here's where we'll be travelling:

May 24 - May 26: Kyoto, Japan
May 26 - May 28: Tokyo, Japan
May 28 - June 1: Beijing, China
June 1 - June 4: Hong Kong
June 4 - June 7: Bangkok, Thailand

** Extension
June 6 - June 9: Phuket, Thailand