Ready to go HOME!

No place like home. As much fun as this trip has been, I think we are all ready to go home. We are at the airport right now, everyone is tired, but excited to be heading back to the good ole USA.

Yesterday saw much of our Fellows class head over to the island of Macau. They island is about 1 hour away by hydro boat. We had an adventure trying to make it to the boat on time. No one knew where to pick up their tickets that were ordered through the web, then we had to clear immigration and board. Some people missed their original boat at 11am, but were able to take the next one. We arrived in Macau to find the craziest immigration line that I have ever seen.
It was like those scenes of the Mexico/USA crossing, you see in movies.

It took us about 45 minutes to get through and then we had to wait for the other members of our party to join us. We spent the time waiting getting hounded by taxi cab drivers and tour operators. An hour or so later, we met up with the rest of our party and proceeded to take a free shuttle to the Star World Casino.

Upon arrival at the casino the group broke up a bit, with some people choosing to go inside to get lunch/gamble, while others decided to head to a tall Tower building they had heard about.

About 4 of us decided to have lunch and we found a nice small buffet, that featured many interesting items, such as salmon sushimi, octapus, japaneese noodles, and some of our favorite American staples. We then headed down to the casino, where we quickly realized that this part of the world definitely loves their gambling. It couldn't have been past 3pm, but the casino was rocking! We quickly were taught a lesson in Macau gambling, and I proceeded to spend about $50 USD on 2 very expensive drinks.... ;-)

The people that headed to the Tower bunge jumbed off the tallest bunge jump building in the world. We have pictures and video to document their amazing flight....

We then went to the show at the Venetian, which interestingly enough is built identical to the one in Las Vegas. Every detail is identical, even the layout is the same. Its so big, they had to give me a map in order for me to find the theater. The show was great, I only took a short nap. We then headed back to the boat terminal to return to Hong Kong. During our travel to the boat I managed to lose my return ticket only to find it moments before arriving. The day was great, and we got to relax a bit before our return.

I can't wait to see everyone...

Greg

Farewell dinner

On Friday night we had our farewell dinner with the entire group. We went to some restaurant where we were offered a choice of beef or fish, salad or soup, and one free drink. Needless to say, things did not end there. We said some nice things to the professors, thanking them for their efforts at ensuring a successful trip for us.

We put our heads together to come up with some sort of funny way to thank the professors.

We decided to give each of them a special reward.

Octavian - Friendliest Professor of the Year (new professor)
Marriane - Best Use of Student Feedback for Not writing the assignments award (she really gave out vague assignments and directions last year)
Fred - Best Use of Sticky Fingers and Managing to stay out of jail award (Fred accidentally took someone's shoes at a temple and didn't realize it until he got to the next one)
and Harsha - Iron Man of the Year Award (Harha's feet swelled up from all the flying and walking, but he toughed it out all week)


We are now off to Macau.

A little Hong Kong flavor

As I write this blog, I feel this great adventure almost coming to an end. Hong Kong has been amazing. We definitely feel more comfortable here, as there are many things around us that we have become accustomed to in the USA. Everyone has been having a good time, getting to know different people and making new friends.

We had meetings with HSBC and the Economist, and both offered valuable lessons on the ways of doing business in South East Asia.

Today we visited Viktoria's Peak, where you can see the entire city of Hong Kong below. We went to a fishing village and took a ride on a water taxi. We then visited the "Standing Market" where everyone got to shop for various momentos to take back home with them. Don't worry baby, I didn't forget you. I think you will be very happy with what I am bringing.... Myself!!! ;-) I got gifts too..

We are now heading over to a group dinner and then over to Hong Kong Island for some more fun. Tomorrow many of us are headed to Macau - a former Portugese island, which was returned to China a few years ago. This is sort of like the Vegas of Asia..We are going to a Cirque Du Soleil show called Zaia at the Venetian.

Another blog from Asia

Well its Thursday night in Hong Kong. We had another long day of meetings. More detail later. There is someone else on this trip doing a blog. His name is John and the link to his blog is:

http://www.southeastasiatripnotesandpics.blogspot.com/

He's got a bunch of pictures.....

First Night in Hong Kong

Last night some of us took the ferry over to Hong Kong Island, which is about a 10 minute ride from our hotel. As you're taking the ferry across the water, the skyline is dotted with high rises which have laser lights on them. About 50 buildings participate in the laser light show, and the scene is indescribable. The island itself resembles downtown Baltimore, with huge high rise buildings and a big business district. Once there, we took a cab to a part of the city that is similar to Canton. We had dinner at some cafe and then headed over to a local watering hole to relax and have a few drinks.

We just had our first business meeting with an International Law firm Hogan and Hartson, which was founded about 100 years ago in D.C. They now have offices all over the world. It was very interesting to get a lawyers perspective on the challenges and barriers to doing business in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Now headed over to Starbucks and to another business meeting...

We have arrived in Hong Kong!

We have arrived in Hong Kong and are headed out for dinner soon. A HK blog will follow shortly, but what a country!!!!!!!! The flight in is incredible, it feels like you are flying over an island from Lost and Manhattan combined. Hong Kong has over 260 islands. Its just simply amazing....

Very westernized, compared to Bangkok. Starbucks everywhere, Outback, Ruth Chris..etc...

Last day in Bangkok

Tuesday morning saw us wake up to a Bangkok awash in demonstrations by the political party PAD, all wearing canary yellow shirts. They are protesting againt the current prime minister and are hoping to drive him from power. For more correspondence, here is Loyola's own Eric Welty with his take on today's events. See video below.

The protesters were out in full force, with thousands of them gripping the city. Most of them were centralized around the United Nations building in downtown Bangkok, which we happened to visit on this day.

The day began with a presentation at the hotel from a Mercer Senior Consultant, Tony. Tony is a Thai that has traveled across three continents and has many years of experience working as an HR consultant. His current role is to advise organizations on HR issues, as well as benefits and pension packages.

At this point the trip to the United Nations was up in the air, as the protests were gripping traffic in the city. After a few tense phone calls by one of our professors Fred Derrick to the tour guides and the UN, the decision was made to proceed to our scheduled visit.

On the ride to the UN we were expecting stifling Bangkok traffic, but the protests actually had the opposite effect. They discouraged drivers from entering the city and as a result our ride was brief. We still arrived about 20 minutes late, and due to the strict schedules of the UN, each of our speakers had to rush to complete their speeches. We were greeted by the public relations representative, who actually spent time in Lebanon, in the same capacity working for UNIFIL. For those who don't know, UNIFIL is a program that provides peace keepers to monitor the state of relations between the terrorist group Hezbollah and the State of Israel. His experience with UNIFIL was obvious to me from the start, as he danced around almost every question, and avoided any sensitive topics. I think as a whole, we were disappointed at the information he was able to provide. Again, for those of you who know UNIFIL, this is typical.

After this we had presentations from a number of UN organizations. UNICEF, ESCAP, ILO, etc. The theater type room was kept extremely warm, in order to comply with new UN Green initiatives. As you can imagine in a room that is kept at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and about 50 people, it reached unbearable levels. At one point I thought i was going to faint. The speakers were all very informative, and some were really impressive. As a result of our shortened time line, most were not able to make it all the way through their presentations. Each fielded questions, and our class did not disappoint by firing off some really thought provoking and tough questions. This group has been really great at pressing all of our speakers, in a polite and respectful manner, to explain and elaborate on their statements.

Most very able to answer every question, but in many cases seemed resigned to the public perception and perhaps reality, that the UN cannot fix all the problems, and in most cases is just a forum for dialogue. Hey, at least they are trying.

I have gone back and forth the last few years on my views of the UN in general, and I am at the point now where I think its a necessary evil. If all we get out of it is a place for talking, than that is better than not talking at all. But I am a firm believe that the UN in its current state is in need of major renovations and process improvements.

Ok, so that is my rant for today. During these last few days, a fellow MBA student Heidi Boan has been helping me write this blog and edit my entries. I tend to go off on tangents sometime, and Heidi has been doing a great job of keeping me in check. I actually was going to ask her to write the UN entry, since I wasnt sure which of my opinions I wanted to express in this public forum.

Back to our visit to the UN. After all the speakers finished presenting, we were able to visit the main meeting hall, where we took an class picture on stage. After this we were served lunch there and headed on our way to our next stop.

Our next stop was so far my favorite of this trip. We visited a Thai jewelry factory that is family owned, 4 share holders total, and had revenues last year of about $650 million USD. The company is the largest jeweler in Thailand and has various holdings, such as insurance companies, golf courses, and restaurants. During my travels around the world I have been fortunate to visit many of these types of factories, so I was a bit skeptical if I would enjoy it. I mean, once you've seen one, you've seen them all! I couldn't have been more surprised. This was the first time we were actually allowed to interact with the employees, who were gracious enough to take time away from their work and demonstrate to us what it was they were doing. We were allowed a level of access that I had never before experienced in a jewelry factory. We got to watch designers using software to make new designs, rings being cut, pressed and finished. After this we were led to a presentation room where our hosts treated us to cake and coffee. To top it all off, we met the president of this company, INSERT NAME HERE. This gentlemen was kind enough to speak to us about his experiences and answered every question to the best of his abilities. I will allow the group that was responsible for this meeting to write the exact details of our conversation. But it was a treat! The guy has studied in America at Pepperdine University. He received his MBA from a Thai university and is currently doing his PhD in Philosophy.

The conversation with him was incredible as he provided interesting insights into doing business in Thailand and in general.

After our meeting, some of us headed over to their retail location where they have all their custom jewelry. The items that we saw were incredible, but quite expensive. After some of us headed over to the night market to purchase some souveniers. Upon return to the hotel, we had 10 minutes to turn around and head over to Thai boxing. What an event! I will edit the blog later to include some more details.

What an incredible experience this has been so far. We have all grown closer together and have forged many new friendships. I hope you are all enjoying reading this blog/journal as much as we're enjoying our time here.

I can't wait to come home and see my wife. I love you Viki! :)

Monday in Bangkok

Monday morning we began the educational portion of our International Field Study experience with a breakfast meeting at our hotel with the President of GM in South East Asia, Mr. Steve Carlisle. GM, outside of US, is the fastest growing brand. There many Thai government sponsored initiatives to reduce pollution, and as a result GM is fast developing cars with alternate fuel solutions. There was a really big GM display right near our hotel, with about 10 different model GM cars, expected to be in production by 2010. Steve talked about how fast the GM brand has taken off in South East Asia and about their plant in Thailand. Average age in the plant is 32 years old, and the automation level is much lower than in USA.

After the GM meeting, we met with a representative of the US Embassy, Mr. Nalin, at the hotel. He talked about the various ways the Embassy can help someone adjust to life and business in Thailand. The population of Thailand is 66 million people, with 6 million in Bangkok. The average per capita income is $4,500. Thailand's key industries are tourism, agriculture, automobile manufacturing and computer manufacturing. The top exports are rubber, rice, gems and jewelry. The unemployment rate is an amazingly low 1.5%.

After the US Embassy meeting we boarded our buses on the way to DP University. I could spell out the name, but nobody would be able to pronounce it anyway. ;-) The ride over was about an hour, and on the way you see many pictures of the King and Queen. As you're driving through the neighborhoods you see some that are very nice and brand new looking and then right next to those are old and dirty buildings. Apparently 20 years ago the tallest building in Bangkok was 4 stories, and now you see high rises and top class hotels everywhere. But right in front of the hotels are street vendors, selling just about anything you can imagine. Some parts of Bangkok remind me a lot of Manhattan, while others are a copy of Brooklyn NY. According to some of the Thai speakers we have had so far, the Thai's are not very innovative people, but are really good at copying things. Therefore you see a lot of similar looking infrastructure and a ton of various knock-off items, such as Rolex watches, Armani belts, etc. The streets and roads are modern looking with a wide variety and A LOT of vehicles, ranging from Honda Civic's to Lexus SUVs.

DPU is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, and currently has about 20,000 students total. There are approximately 1200 students in the graduate programs. They offer and MBA and have recently began a DBA program, which stands for Doctorate of Business Administration. They served us a traditional Thai lunch and them we met with some of their former graduates and entrepreneur's. We met a gentleman who works for a telecom company, and he talked to us about the way the telecom industry works in Thailand. Every company has to lay its own telephone lines!

We met a lady named Nicky, who used to work as an airline attendant, and now owns a software company that specializes in health services software. She has 40 employees and is one of the biggest health software companies in Thailand. She is also studying to receive her DBA from this university. The DBA program is a challenging one, with an intense focus on International Business. The instructors are all from over-seas and the program is very intensive. They have very strict requirements for completion, and currently have about a 40% drop-out rate.

After our DPU meeting we returned to the hotel and met as a group to de-brief our scavenger hunt lessons learned. It was very interesting to hear the different perspectives and the various proud moments experienced by the groups. Although we ended up not having time to see what everyone was able to find during their search, I think the overall objective was met. This concluded the educational portion of our day.

Last night I went out with some of the people in the executive class and we went to a Thai restaurant and then to the “Patpong” district, which is also known as the “Night Market”. This place is really crazy and indescribable. There are go-go bars and massage parlors on each side, and boutiques all in between. The merchants are selling lighters, t-shirts, luggage, fake watches, etc. They are easy to approach, but seem to have a slight problem with counting money. Either that or they must think we are dumb tourists. Every price that you get, you have to divide by 5 and begin from there. Having been in Bangkok for 3 days now, I was very worn out and returned around midnight to the hotel.

Sunday in Bangkok

Well it was another cultural day in Bangkok. We started off at 7.30 am, and after breakfast headed to the summer palace of King Rama IV with its mixture of Thai, Chinese and Gothic architecture. The palace is a well-preserved "museum", providing a glimpse into a time when Thailand was known as Siam. They were huge grounds with beautiful landscape, bushes cut out to resemble elephants, and of course another temple.

After this we headed to the ancient capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. It is about 50 miles north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was a thriving Siamese kingdom from 1350 until 1767, when it was captured by the Burmese. Today, Ayutthaya is know for its spectacular ruins and temples. Many of its temples are still intact.

At this point, some of us were a bit worn out by all the temples we had been seeing for the last 2 days. So when we noticed the elephants walking around, we got really excited, at the possible opportunity to do something unique. At first the faculty was hesitant to allow us to ride the elephants and skip the visit to the temple. After some negotiation and the fact that we are executive MBA students, and generally considered adults, our desires won out. So about 8 of us rode elephants for about 30 minutes.

Very unique experience, however, it was not as comfortable as I thought it may be. There were 2 people on each one, and I constantly felt like the seat was going to tip over... However, all ended well and we were able to safely exit the elephants...

We then headed over to a boat, which we rode for about 3.5 hours and eventually reached Bangkok. Lunch was served on the boat, and I managed to spend most of the time on the top deck, observing all the water front property and enjoying an interesting conversation with another MBA student.

Sunday night I met my USA friends again, and we headed out to a local nightclub. It was just like back home, except at one point they put on a show where transvestites danced and sang on stage.

Saturday in Bangkok

Today was one of our cultural immersion days, and we truly were immersed! The day began with a buffet breakfast stocked with a few Western comforts such as bacon and omelets, but a few Thai specialties, such as Kiwi juice, dragon fruit, provided an interesting experience for all of us.

We then took a small boat across the river and enjoyed a traditional Thai lunch. We were greeted by smiling Thai waiters (Thai people smile all the time) with trays of ice cold Singha Beer. I wonder if I can arrange to be greeted like this at home, daily! (probably not). Noodles, spicy chicken, hot and sour soup, and fish dishes were on the menu and the general consensus was it was delicious.

From there we went to the Grand Palace. We had to be sure we were all dressed respectively, no shorts, no bare shoulders to even enter. The detail of the Palace is indescribable... best to look at the blog video. The various buildings were built over different periods by the various kings of Thailand. It was here we saw the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha to the Thais. Its said that no matter their home, all Thais try to make it to this Buddha at one point in their lives.

Next we went to the reclining Buddha, which in contrast to the Emerald Buddha, was overwhelmingly large... Easily the length of half a football field.

During these travels we drove through Thai neighborhoods and had the opportunity to see things like small local markets and shops. There are a ton of small food stands, selling everything from grilled chicken, to fried worms (yes, worms), scorpions, and other things for which I have no way to describe. You have to see it to believe it! We observed average Thais moving about their daily lives, and the streets of Bangkok. One of the things you notice right away is the vast amount of pictures and paintings of His Majesty The King. The King is revered in Thailand and his birthday in December is a national holiday. He makes very few political decisions anymore and is mainly a symbolic figure at this point and is the Head of State.

From there we went to the weekend market, which is huge and sells many different things, ranging from live chickens, pets, household items, silk scarves, etc.. During our drive to the market we were given the task of a scavenger hunt. We broke into our teams hunting for various items including a duck bill or head, thai herbs, thai tea, thai poetry and thai candy, to name a few. We are all at various points in accomplishing the full list, but we're enjoying the journey. It took my team a while to find the head of chicken, but eventually we were successful. You can imagine how strange we must have seemed to the Thais asking where to find a chicken or duck head or bill...

We all have different stories and adventures in our pursuit of the scavenger hunt list. It challenged us to do what we may have not done, walk one block further in the market, try to explain to the non-English speaking butcher that you just need the head of the chicken, and figure our way back on public transportation. Something tells me this was the point ;)

We then ventured to the small shopping mall across the street, where our team decided to get a massage, as a team bonding exercise. We each got an hour long Thai massage for $250 Baht (which is like 8 dollars). The massage was fantastic, a perfect remedy after 23 hours of flying.

Our team settled on taking the Sky Tram back to the hotel, which was very nice. We were able to take the tram to within 1 mile of the hotel, at which point we decided to ride a “Tuk Tuk”. A tuk-tuk is 3 wheel motorcycle with a cabin. See picture or google Thailand tuk tuk to get a better idea. Given the Thais habit for a lot of traffic and crazy driving, this was an experience that I think we will all remember for a long time. We finished the night off with dinner at a local restaurant and some drinks at the bar. I managed to meet up with some friends of mine from the USA who happened to be in Bangkok at the same time, and after a few hours, finally went to sleep, at 4am. We are scheduled for more cultural immersion on Sunday, so stay tuned for more updates. Video of this day may come later, as it is becoming more and more time consuming to edit and produce for internet download.

Our adventures continue, we'll see what tomorrow brings. I miss everyone, especially my wife – Love you very much!

Thailand here we come

As I write this, I'm not exactly sure what time it is, as we've travelled across multiple time zones, and everyone in our group seems to have selected a different method of keeping track of time. Some have set their clocks ahead to the Asian time, and others have chosen to switch to West Coast time, while others have just maintained East Coast Time.

Well, we arrived at the airport in Baltimore (BWI) way too early, 5am to be exact, for a 7.45am flight. The travel agency screwed up the seat arrangements, as to be expected, but we all boarded the flight on time and departed on schedule.

We managed to find about an hour and a half in San Francisco to grab lunch. We are now in flight to Tokyo, and there are unsubstantiated rumors that our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is cancelled, due to typhoons. What's the worst that can happen, we spend a night in Tokyo. Oh NO!

The flights are long and the coping methods vary. Some are catching up on all the movies we've missed over the past two years of the program, some have medicated themselves (through sleep aids, liquor, or a combination of both) and some are just milling around the cabin socially, of which the stewards seem to actually be quite tolerant. Our first leg of the trip from BWI to San Fran was a five hour stint... child's play in consideration of the eleven hour flight we are now enduring. Next, we look forward to a five hour layover in Tokyo (if we do ever leave, that is) and then we head off to Bangkok, which is another seven hour flight. We'll see what happens with our flights... that may prove a whole new topic for our next blog entry.

It is now 4am, and we arrived at the hotel in Thailand a few hours ago. Its very hot, and raining. We have checked in, and are now in the rooms. Since all the bars and restaurants here close at 2am, we were only able to have a few beers at the hotel bar.

Tomorrow we are traveling to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple and the Chatuchak Market...Now we are going to try and go to sleep.

Till tomorrow,

From Asia with Love

The day is almost here

Well, its almost a day before we leave for Asia, and I am starting to get excited.

So many things to do, so little time left, before I have to leave for the airport at 4am....

I will try to blog from the airports during layovers...