Thursday AM here. I'm going on day 9 and getting ready to check out of my hotel in Shanghai. My crazy week of travel started 2 days ago. We took about 7 hours worth of taxi's and buses north to a "very small city" of Tiazhou. Small city my ass! There are 1.6 million people in Tiazhou. I guess my colleagues meant small in compared to Shanghai, which is a ridiculous 18 million. Anyways, during the trip, I left my blackberry and finance book (I was doing hw) on one bus as we made a hasty transfer to another bus. I thought they were long gone. Foretuneately, Stephen was able to make some magic happen, went back to the bus station and recovered both items. Whew! We stayed in a beautiful hotel for $50 USD. The next day we visited a supplier, and then took the long ride south back to Shanghai.
Tonight, we are taking a flight from Shanghai to Shenzen. Tomorrow we'll take a 2 hour car ride from Shenzhen to visit another supplier. Tomorrow night we'll get on a train to take us to Hong Kong. We'll be in Hong Kong Friday night and Saturday night before catching a flight Sunday to head back to the US.
It's going to be a busy 3 days here, but I'm looking forward to being a tourist in Hong Kong on Saturday. Apparently, it was more cost effective to stay in Hong Kong through Saturday and then fly out on Sunday. So I'll get a free day in Hong Kong. Should be fun.
I'm not sure if we'll have internet access the next 3 nights. If so, I'll try to get more pictures uploaded to flickr. If not, I'll see you back in the central time zone!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Joe in China - Update 3: Acrobats!
It's a lazy Sunday morning over here today. The humidity is insane, so after a long day of being tourists yesterday, we taking it easy today.
Yesterday, we took a taxi to People's Square on Nanjing Road. We walked around the square, taking a look at quite a few of the art exhibits that were outside the art museum. Afterwards, we visited Kohler's Design Center. It just opened up this year, and it was beautiful. Not nearly as many products on display as the Design Center in Kohler, but the building itself was gorgeous. Next, Stephen Lu (colleague here in China) drove us to a restaraunt for some dim sum. I forget the name of the restaraunt in Chinese, but it translated to something like 'Rice Heaven'. So far, it was my favorite meal. From breaded/fried fruits that I never even heard of before, to shrimp dumplings, and even chicken feet! I have to say I tried the chicken feet, and I wasn't a fan. They were way to hard to eat with chopsticks!
After lunch, we took the subway and visited the underground "ripoff" markets. I was expecting something like a flea market, but I was wrong. It was set up just like a mall in the US, but it was in the subway. The "fun" part was that everyone is expected to barter. So I did a bit, got a deal on 2 items, notsomuch on a third, but oh well. After shopping, we jumped into a taxi and took a short break back at the hotel.
That night, I wanted to be a little adventurous and find something fun to do besides go to some restaraunt/bar. With the help of google (and no help to the hotel staff), we found Shanghai Acrobatic show that happens every night. We jumped back into a taxi, back to the subway, and then walked a bit and got to the theater. We were able to get 5th row seats for $30 USD. Before the show, we got some quick sandwhiches and smoothies at a local restaraunt. The acrobatic performance was great. It was like a lower budget Cirque de Soliel. The music wasn't live, but the performers themselves were excellent.
I'm not sure what we'll be up to tonight - but it likely will just be me and Pete. Stephanie heads home this afternoon, and Erich arrives from California this evening. Next week gets quite hectic for me as I start to travel to various suppliers. I'll blog about that tomorrow. For now, I'm going to try and finish my homework for the week so I don't have to worry about anymore until I'm back in Wisconsin.
Later!
Yesterday, we took a taxi to People's Square on Nanjing Road. We walked around the square, taking a look at quite a few of the art exhibits that were outside the art museum. Afterwards, we visited Kohler's Design Center. It just opened up this year, and it was beautiful. Not nearly as many products on display as the Design Center in Kohler, but the building itself was gorgeous. Next, Stephen Lu (colleague here in China) drove us to a restaraunt for some dim sum. I forget the name of the restaraunt in Chinese, but it translated to something like 'Rice Heaven'. So far, it was my favorite meal. From breaded/fried fruits that I never even heard of before, to shrimp dumplings, and even chicken feet! I have to say I tried the chicken feet, and I wasn't a fan. They were way to hard to eat with chopsticks!
After lunch, we took the subway and visited the underground "ripoff" markets. I was expecting something like a flea market, but I was wrong. It was set up just like a mall in the US, but it was in the subway. The "fun" part was that everyone is expected to barter. So I did a bit, got a deal on 2 items, notsomuch on a third, but oh well. After shopping, we jumped into a taxi and took a short break back at the hotel.
That night, I wanted to be a little adventurous and find something fun to do besides go to some restaraunt/bar. With the help of google (and no help to the hotel staff), we found Shanghai Acrobatic show that happens every night. We jumped back into a taxi, back to the subway, and then walked a bit and got to the theater. We were able to get 5th row seats for $30 USD. Before the show, we got some quick sandwhiches and smoothies at a local restaraunt. The acrobatic performance was great. It was like a lower budget Cirque de Soliel. The music wasn't live, but the performers themselves were excellent.
I'm not sure what we'll be up to tonight - but it likely will just be me and Pete. Stephanie heads home this afternoon, and Erich arrives from California this evening. Next week gets quite hectic for me as I start to travel to various suppliers. I'll blog about that tomorrow. For now, I'm going to try and finish my homework for the week so I don't have to worry about anymore until I'm back in Wisconsin.
Later!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Joe in China - Update 2: Authentic Chinese Food
I am just about to step out the door here to get some breakfast and get to work (Friday morning over here). But first, I wanted to share this picture with everyone. Last night, Pete, Stephanie and I went out with some of the guys from the SKE team here in Shanghai for an authentic Chinese meal. The item I enjoyed the least: deep fried jellyfish. It was really chewy, and I took my time chewing it so I didn't gag. The item I enjoyed the most: fried duck skin. It wasn't anything like I've ever had before, and it was quite tasty. Maybe I can convince Allison to make it for me back in Sheboygan...
Besides that, things are going well. I'm looking forward to the weekend to get to do some touristy things. Stay tuned for more!
Besides that, things are going well. I'm looking forward to the weekend to get to do some touristy things. Stay tuned for more!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Joe in China - Update 1: The North Pole
Well it is just past 7:30 am, Wednesday, September 16 here in Shanghai. The flight wasn't as bad as everybody told me that it was going to be. I watched some movies, some tv on my ipod, and read. I am about to head out the door here for breakfast and then off to work, but I wanted to pass along this picture of the North Pole I took from my window seat on the plane. I thought that we were just going to head west from Chicago to get to Shanghai, but instead we went north, and went right over the north pole. The picture isn't the greatest because of the massive glare from the sun, but I probably won't have many opportunities to take this picture, so I'm happy with what I've got.
Stay tuned for more!
Stay tuned for more!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Getting Ready for China
Well I'm starting to pack up this weekend for my business trip to China. I will be there for 12 days. I'm pretty excited about it. I am leaving Monday morning from Chicago and flying directly to Shanghai, China. It is a fourteen hour flight, but with the time change, it will be Tuesday afternoon in China. I will spend 8 days in Shanghai, before heading south to the Guangdong province. I will be spending a couple days visiting various suppliers in cities before spending a weekend in Hong Kong before flying home. I've never been overseas, so this will be quite the experience for me. I'm told I will have internet access in my hotel room, so I should be able to provide updates while I am there.
On a different note, Allison and I signed a new lease for a house in Sheboygan. If you recall, the apartment that I have now been in for almost 10 months, is quite small. It was in a beautiful area, close to downtown and right across from Lake Michigan, but we have sort of been living like college students. Besides our bed, we have an Ikea love seat, a K-mart kitchen table, 2 book cases, and 2 desks. - that's about it. Moving to this house will allow us to finally bring our furniture over from Michigan, which will make things a lot more permanent.
With that said, I better get going. I'm taking 3 classes this semester (Engineering Optimization, Corporate Finance, and Conversational Mandarin). I have to get some homework done and get back to packing. Next time I'll post will be from the other side of the world. Zaijian!
On a different note, Allison and I signed a new lease for a house in Sheboygan. If you recall, the apartment that I have now been in for almost 10 months, is quite small. It was in a beautiful area, close to downtown and right across from Lake Michigan, but we have sort of been living like college students. Besides our bed, we have an Ikea love seat, a K-mart kitchen table, 2 book cases, and 2 desks. - that's about it. Moving to this house will allow us to finally bring our furniture over from Michigan, which will make things a lot more permanent.
With that said, I better get going. I'm taking 3 classes this semester (Engineering Optimization, Corporate Finance, and Conversational Mandarin). I have to get some homework done and get back to packing. Next time I'll post will be from the other side of the world. Zaijian!
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