I got to the airport today at 3 pm and my first impression was where are all the people? The airport was really nice and huge with basically only the people from our flight in there. I got in the taxi and we drove into town. The two things I noticed were that there were tons of buildings and everything was fairly clean and orderly. It is now my opinion that everyone should have to go to India or Egypt so that where ever they go after seems calm by comparison.
I got to the hotel after a 30 minute 12 Dollar taxi. I put up my stuff and hit the streets. I walked down the street out hotel i
s on Wangfujing St. which is one of the most famous shopping streets in Beijing. There were tons of nice stores from Gucci to Nike with big outdoors billboards and signs. It was a really cool feeling to be half way around the world by myself.
I walked around feeling like I was about 6"5 and stuck out as one of the only white people I saw all day. After I got finished walking around Tiananmen Square and back down Wangfujing St.
I walked through the open air food stalls and had dinner of noodles and a pork biscuit. It was delicious very spicy and only 4 dollars total. 
After that I headed back to the prime hotel and met 4 other Owen students. We were all pretty jetlagged so we hung out, watched TV, and got to bed pretty early. So far I have been really impressed with Beijing. It is less crowded, cleaner, more orderly than I imagined
Beijing day 2
During my time in Beijing I stayed in a room with two classmates. The three of us woke up about 7 after going to bed really early. After checking email, we headed to the gym with some old school workout equipment we worked out and ran for a bit and then headed back to the room. Then we went down to the lobby to have breakfast which was a great buffet for $12. After that we walked to raffles hotel and met a few other Owen students. We then walked to Tiananmen Square. It was huge and really surreal to think that the tank man incident had happened there but most of the Chinese around us had never heard of it because the government suppresses that information. After that we walked across the street to the Forbidden City.
It was pagoda after pagoda, which were huge and extremely intricate. They were all very similar and it took 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other. When we finally exited we walked to Jingshan Park to a pagoda on top of a small mountain. After a steep hike of steps we could see a stunning view of all of Beijing. It was actually a very clear day and we could see buildings as far as we can see. Everywhere we walked there were tons of Chinese tour groups, but hardly any U.S or European tourist. We then took a $1.50 cab to the hotel and got ready for a late lunch.
The lunch was at Beijing duck restaurant where we ate some great duck. It was roasted in a process that takes over an hour and has made it become one of the most famous dishes in China. It was about $20 per person, bit felt well worth it
After lunch, we went to the silk market which had every product you could ever want. We let Tina (our friend who spoke fluent Mandarin) do our bargaining for us which was awesome because as soon as she started speaking in Chinese it was like we had won the negotiation. We bought our cashmere scarves as a group and got an awesome price. We walked around the rest of the 6 story mall and found everything: polo shirts, iPhones, Rolexes, and even Titleist golf clubs.
After we were done shopping we came back to the hotel and walked to the night food market. It was really cool to show it to the people in our group that had just gotten there. On a dare a friend and I ate scorpions of a stick. I was mentally prepared for an awful taste, but they actually weren't bad and tasted a lot like a salty potato chip.
On the walk back we stopped in a bar. As our group sat and relaxed from a non-stop day we noticed that the only music playing was non-stop Shania Twain videos from the early 90's. With those great tunes stuck in our head we walked home and headed to bed
Beijing day 3
We slept in a little bit and began the day by heading to the Olympic stadium called the Birds Nest. It is a massive stadium and it was cool to see it and all of the other Olympic area surrounding it.
As we bought out $7 ticket to walk inside we were amused by the 50 or so Chinese people trying to sell us Olympic trinkets. We got the tickets and got to walk on the field and take pictures.
After that we got a ride back to the hotel and then walked to lunch at a restaurant close to the night market called Sechuan house. It didn't look like much but we had a feast of awesome Chinese food for about $7 a person. After that we took a taxi to MySpace china. One of the other group’s projects is with a musical artist and they had set up this meeting to learn more about how to promote am artist in China. I got to tag along because I knew it would be cool to hear what they said and see the offices. They were in a cool office tower and we got to have an hour meeting with two young execs who gave is a great overview of the industry.
After that we headed to the hotel and took an hour break before our next event. We sat in the lobby and 13 of us headed to see the Chinese acrobats.
The show was similar to Cirque du soliel and was completely out of control. We saw everything from back flips through hoops to 15 Chinese girls on one bike. We ended up with front row seats so it really felt like we were right in the middle of the action.
After that we headed to try to go to a restaurant, but ended up defaulting to the night market again. It is solid every time! I had a chicken and rice noodle wrap, dumplings, pork sandwich, and fried banana ball. All of which added up to about $4 and were delicious.
After that we walked the 15 minutes in the freezing cold to the hotel to go to bed. We are going to the great wall tomorrow so it will be another big day.
Beijing day 4
We woke up and ate at the hotel's breakfast buffet out of convenience. The 20 of us then got on a tour bus and took an hour and a half ride to the Mutainyu portion of the great wall. It was a cool ride and we got to see a lot of Beijing as well as the suburbs. We even saw a golf course lines with huge homes in addition to the endless condo towers that house Beijing's 16M residents.
Once we got to the town we walked pas t 50 or so vendors trying to sell great wall memorabilia. After that we reached the steps and man, were there were tons of them. I was glad that we didn't work out in the morning because the 2,000 or so steps did the trick.
We had been warned that it gets very cold there, but we worked up a sweat and had great weather. I ended up carrying my jacket and hiking in a long sleeve t-shirt. We finally reached the top and the reward was well worth it. As far as we could see in every direction was the wall and the guard towers.
It is unbelievable how much effort it must have taken to build it. We walked about a mile or so once we were on it and took tons of pictures to commemorate the occasion. For me it was my fourth of the Seven Wonders of the World in the past year which made it especially cool. After an hour or so up top we made our way down. We chose to walk but others took a gondola and there was even the option to take a metal slide which actually looked really fun even though it was really touristy. There were not that many other tourist at the wall which made the day that much better.
On our way down we stopped at one of the vendors and had the Chinese equivalent of French crepes filled with chocolate which were only a dollar and were delicious.
We then got on the bus back which seemed to take forever in the Beijing traffic. Once we finally made it to the hotel I hopped in a cab to some of our other group member’s hotel with the intentions of going to the Summer Palace. We found out that it was going to be closed by the time we could make I there so that put a halt on those plans. I walked the 20 minutes down Wangfujing Street to our hotel and enjoyed taking in the sights as well as grabbing a bite to eat from a street vendor. Once I reached the hotel I realized how worn out I was so I joined my other 2 roommates and we took a couple hours to chill out.
Then we met back up with the group at 6:30 for Hot Pot dinner which is similar to melting pot meaning you cook your own food in a pot of boiling water and spices. After Dinner, we headed to three different local bars which were really fun. The first two were really authentic Chinese and the last one was filled with expats from all over the world.
Beijing Day 5
We woke up and headed to the Temple of Heaven which is a long area filled with pagodas surrounded by a really nice park.
It was another cool area and in a different part of Beijing than we had seen before. From there we walked to the pearl market which again was filled with about anything you could imagine. We shopped for a while and laughed at the aggressiveness of the vendors. There were tons of fake bags and souvenirs to choose from. The rest of the group stayed there longer to keep shopping, but Rachel hadn’t seen Tiananmen Square or Forbidden City so I went with her to show her around. We took a cab back to the hotel and then walked the 30 mins stopping to eat some great noodles and beef along the way. It was really fun for me to be able to act like a tour guide (this was my 3rd time since I’d been there) of something I barely knew what it was a week before. We walked around Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and then all the way back to the hotel.
One thing to be aware of are the scam artist in Beijing. They will come up to you and ask you about the US and tell you that they are students at the local University. It all seems legit until they tell you that they are art students that want you to come see their art exhibit. This is a scam where they will try to force you into buying some really overpriced art. Since we knew this, we decided to turn the tables on them so when they asked us what we did in the U.S. we told them that we were art students who had come to China to sell our art. This caught them really off guard and basically stopped the scam in its tracks. After walking the 4 or so miles that day we were pretty wiped out by the time we got back to the hotel and decided to get a good night’s rest before heading to Shanghai.
Beijing/Shanghai
We all headed to the airport and then flew 2 hours to Shanghai. Once we were there we took the Maglev train which is one of the fastest trains in the world and goes over 400 kilometers an hour. It is only a seven minute ride, but was a really cool experience.
Then we took a thirty minute taxi ride to the hotel, which was awesome. We had 23 students in our group so we got an a good deal on the swanky 5-star Le Meridian on Nanjing Rd. right next to People’s Park. After getting my stuff to the room, we spent some time walking around Nanjing Rd. which is a very colorful shopping street packed with people. We ate dinner as a group and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest for our first day of meetings.
Shanghai Day 2:
All of the meetings that I mention are for the project part of the trip. We worked for a Nashville based company called Baden Bath that manufactures their high-end bath products in Foshan China and sells them in the U.S. We were charged with three things: trying to figure out the best shipping process, if it would be possible to sell their products with-in China, and whether they could use the internet to sell products to Chinese consumers.
The day started a little hectic. We called homemart with our translator and they acted like they had never heard of us or Vanderbilt. We decided to go to the office anyway and got lost on the way in the miserably cold, rainy weather. We finally made it in to the office and were pleasantly surprised when the purchasing manager agreed to meet with us. It was never clear whether he realized who we were or just did it anyway. We met in a small, very plain conference room for a 30 minute meeting using our translator. We learned a lot of valuable information for Baden Bath and just participating in the all Chinese meeting was one of the most unique business experiences I've ever had. We got directions from him to a homemart retail store. We took a 30 minute subway ride and toured the store which carried all of the major lined of bath fixtures.
After that, we took the ride back to people's park and walked to a restaurant near our hotel on the main Nanjing road strip. We ate some delicious dumplings all for about $4 a person. We then went to the hotel and met Dave Rizzo for a meeting with his company called Zephry Logistics which under a parent shipping company called Seiko. He took us to his office and gave us a 1 hour crash course in the global shipping industry. We learned about every way to ship products from China to the US and how it would be best to design a custom solution for Baden bath based on the size of each load and how quick they wanted it. After the meeting we spent an hour or so debriefing within the group of what we learned in our two meetings and how it could help Baden bath. At 6:00 we met up with all of the other project teams in the sheek le meridian conference room to hear about everyone's days. It was great to hear about the variety of companies people met with and the good and the bad of doing business in China.
After the meeting we met in the lobby for dinner. We went to a all you can eat all you can drink tapenyaki restaurant for $25. It was well worth it and would have been $75 if we were in the US. They cooked in front of us and served a fantastic variety of food. After dinner, everyone was ready to go out so we went to a karaoke bar near the hotel. It was one of the most bizarre places I've ever been. You rented rooms by the hour and then got drinks from a grocery store within the bar. It had long hallways with silver walls and rooms full of people singing karaoke. We hung out there for 3 hours and had a great time.
Shanghai Day 3
After a late night, I woke up and joined the group for our meeting with Good House Design. The owner is an Owen alum so we spoke with her about the best way for Baden to break into the Chinese market. She was really helpful and help us indentify a few must-do's like having a local sales rep, a store in the construction street, and participating in trade shows. After the meeting was over she joined us for a tour of the stores of the construction street. We had envisioned a ratty street or open market. In reality it was a really nice set of shops that carried all the major brands. When we were done we went to a nice lunch at a tai restaurant in Xin Tan Di which is a trendy area that is similar to SoHo in New York. After that we headed back to the hotel.
Since we were done with our meetings we spent some time walking around. We walked through people's park and down Nanjing rd to the Bund which is the famous river that separates the two main areas of Shanghai.
After that and a little bit of shopping it was time for the 6:00 pm update. It was filled with another round of really interesting updates from meetings all over the city. Following the meeting we all went to a restaurant that was from a really unique region of china that has a strong Middle Eastern influence. The workers were basically a gypsy family that spoke a mixture of several languages. We sat in our own room and were served a feast of all kinds of amazing food. We were entertained by dancers and music as we enjoyed one of the most unique meals we've ever had. When we left we headed to the Hyatt in Pudong and hung out at the bar on the 88th floor.
It offered an awesome view of the city lights and was a great place for a chill night. We made it to bed earlier than the night before but it was still after midnight. Everyone here is pushing themselves hard to make the most of their China experience.
Shanghai Day 4:
Today the whole group spent the day together and we started it off with one of the coolest meetings of the trip. It was hosted by an Owen alum at McKinsey & Co which is the most prominent consulting company in the world. They have 500 consultants in this office that serve some of the biggest brands from all over the world. He went through several extremely in-depth presentations detailing the preferences of Chinese consumers. One amazing stat was that only 1 percent of the people in china make over $30,000 a year. Another is that of that 1 percent most of them are ages 20-40 and 42 percent of them are self employed.
Following the meeting we took a bus to the electronics mart where we split up into our teams to do the same bargaining competition that McKinsey & Co does with CEO's that are visiting. We were given a list of 5 products including a flash drive, fake ipod shuffle, laser pointer, memory card, and a pirated version of Microsoft vista. The showdown began and teams used all kinds of different strategies. We didn't win overall, but we were one of the only 2 teams to get the Microsoft vista which took some coaxing to get the vendors to sell us the copy version for $5. We grabbed a quick lunch and then got back on the bus to head to DuPont.
After getting lost for a while we finally made it and got to watch a presentation by the president of their Asia operations. It was cool to see how they did business hear and much their sales have dropped due to the bad economy. Then we went to Wal-Mart china to see if it was different than at home. Man, was it different, we met with the store manager who after doing the Wal-Mart cheer told us that 95 percent of the products are local. The fresh food section was especially interesting to see the eels, skinned chickens, and live frogs. There were tons of unique items, but we could still get the staple products like a can of mountain dew.
After sampling tons of unique products we headed back to the hotel for a quick pit-stop on the way to dinner. We met back up with the alum from McKinsey for a really nice dinner at a restaurant world famous for their soup dumplings. They were delicious!
After dinner we went to the cotton club which is a local jazz club. We were there because one of our teams was working with a music artist from Nashville that is trying to make it in the china market. In-between the sets of some really cool, eclectic jazz we quizzed the horn player on his experience being an American playing in china. He offered some great insights and we stayed to watch them play until about midnight.
Shanghai Day 5
The day began fairly early with another great breakfast at le meridian. At 9:00 we met Fred who works for MLO a global shipping company. He picked us up in his Plymouth minivan and drove us the hour and a half to the newest port in shanghai. On the ride he told us his amazing life story of a career all over the world and how he was one of the first visitors to china in 1981. He came on a school trip and said that sometimes he would have 100 Chinese people following him because it was the first time they had seen a tall white person. On the ride he also told us more about the global shipping company and what a dramatic effect the economic downturn was having. The cool thing about the port is that it is actually located on an island off the coast of china. We took a bridge for 18 miles completely surrounded by ocean before reaching the shipping yard. It was really foggy, but we could still see the mass amounts of containers on the mile long platform. It was in full action with cranes moving and a huge ship docked on the side. After taking in the views we walked in to the port's visitor center and Fred showed us a large scale model of how the port works.
We stayed for a while and then rode back to shanghai. When we arrived we walked down Nanjing rd to a noodle shop. Based on one of my friend’s recommendations I got the chili spiced noodles which tasted great and were burning hot.
After lunch we set out on our next adventure....getting a tailored suit.
My friend had gone earlier that day and used his negotiation skills to get us a price of $58 per suit. We took a taxi 30 minutes to the fabric market which is 4 floors of nothing but fabrics and tailors. We went to Jacky’s shop and each wound up buying a couple of suits and a jacket. He did our measurements right then and told us that amazingly they would be ready in 24 hours. We then walked around the rest of the market and picked up some cuff links, ties, and a belt for next to nothing.
When we were done we headed back to the hotel just in time for our final group debrief. Again, we heard really interesting stories about everything each group had accomplished in the last 2 days. After the meeting was over we headed out to a nice restaurant for a Vanderbilt alumni dinner. There were 25 of us, 15 alums, and 15 prospective students so together we had a huge group. We had a great meal of a variety of local dishes. After dinner the party walked down the street to a Mexican bar which was the first time that I saw a large number of expats. It was really big and offered a good area to continue mingling with the crowd. With some of the young alumni leading the charge we got cabs to karaoke and spent the next few hours laughing at each other’s attempts to sing. We finally left at 1:30 in the morning which gave me about 4 hours of sleep before starting our Friday activities.
Shanghai Day 6
The day began way too bright and early for me. I ate breakfast at 6:30 and we met our translator Helen at 6:45. We took 2 cabs to the shanghai train station which is an impressive building bustling with activity. We bought $8 tickets to Hangzhou and boarded the train, which was really nice with individual seats for everyone and plenty of legroom. The hour and a half ride was really interesting because the views offered the transition from huge city to farmland back to more large cities. The farmland was mainly large ponds for fish farms or wet fields for crops. They are bordered by 2-3 story houses that ranged from very run down to pretty nice with decorations on top. Another thing that was noticeable is the scale and impressiveness of the infrastructure. From what I've seen in both places, china looks at least 15 years ahead of India in the quality of the roads and overall cleanliness of the cities. When we got to Hangzhou we exited the train to find a comically packed hallway. There were Chinese people smoking cigs everywhere, it was so overwhelming that I actually thought it was really funny instead of annoying.
We left the station and took a cab towards the office where our meeting was. On the way was the first time I felt like I was in legit China. We had to go down some back alleys, avoid construction, then get out and walk the last quarter mile to get to the office.
Just as I thought we were in the middle of nowhere we found a huge building with store after store of bath products.
We got our meeting with the owner of a 5 person company that is an online broker for bath products. They served us all jasmine tea and he spent 45 minutes telling us about the ups and downs of his business all while talking through our translator.
Again, it was very surreal for me to be leading a meeting in Chinese half way around the world. At the end of the meeting he explained that it was amazing to him that we had found out about his small company and come all the way there to meet with him....I just gave credit to the power of the internet. He was so blown away that he cancelled the rest of the day so that he could tour us around the city. We walked through a green grass filled park on an island surrounded by mountains.
This and the West Lake are what makes Hangzhou famous for being one of the most beautiful cities in China. After that we walked to a ceramics museum which was really nice and detailed how everything was made. There were 2,000 year old vases and even the remains of a giant kiln that was probably 50 yards long. When we were done there we took a cab to the main shopping street.
This was one of the coolest markets I've ever been to with shops lining both sides stocking high quality, but cheap items many of which were unique to Hangzhou.
We walked the length of the street stopping quickly to by some fresh tea, homemade peanut candy, and handicrafts. Then the owner of the company took us to lunch. It was an amazing 4 course spread that had an excellent and unique presentation. After lunch we said bye to our host and hopped in a cab to make our 2:50 train. I definitely wish that I had more time in Hangzhou and would definitely go back if I get the chance.
We got to the train station and fought the crowd to our seats. I didn't take in the ride as much this time, so I got an hour nap to add to my whopping 4 hours from the night before.
When we got back to shanghai we split from our group and 2 of us headed to the tailor to get our suits. They looked great and we shopped around the rest of the market while Jacky made the final adjustments. The workers at this market were awesome; they had the most energetic personalities of any I've seen and were a blast to bargain with. They all seemed to know each other and as some of our negotiations got animated other vendors came over to watch and laugh. By that time, I knew several of the vendors to so it made shopping there a fun experience. Overall we got great deals and left the market very happy. It was rush hour in Shanghai so it took about 15 minutes to catch a cab. We took the ride back to the hotel and met 4 other people from our group for dinner. We walked down Nanjing rd and went to Aijesen Noodle shop. This is a more casual restaurant, but one of our favorites in China. The food was amazing and even though we ordered 5 appetizers, full meals, and drinks the total was only $8 each. It was my second time to eat there and some of our groups 4th. They have locations all over the world including Boston, NYC, and LA so definitely go if you ever get the chance although I can't promise your bill will be $8.
After dinner we walked down the always buzzing Nanjing rd to the hotel. I spent the next hour or so packing which was made increasingly difficult by all the stuff I bought on the trip. After finally squeezing it all in we headed out to meet some our group. We went back to the French Concession area and attempted to find a bar called the shelter. We didn't know it but we actually were dropped off right in front of it but didn’t know it. We walked around for 45 minutes asking people in broken Chinese if they ever heard of it or knew where it was. On the way we stopped at an old mansion that was turned into a bar called the yung foo elite. It was located across the street from the German consulate. We had walked up to ask for directions and they mistakenly thought this was our destination. it is a really cool and extremely nice bar/lounge and was surrounded by a gorgeous green garden outside. It would be a great place to go with a group for a trendy night out on the town.
We left there and started walking back to where we were dropped off. On our way back we ran into a Frank who was a US guy that had graduated Mizzou and just finished teaching English in Korea for a year. He was looking for Shelter too so together we found it.
Shelter is easy to miss from the outside. It is behind bamboo scaffolding and looks like it is under construction. You will see a blue light and then stairs that lead you down to where you pay a $5 cover to get in. Then you walk down a 40 yard tunnel into what is literally an old bomb Shelter built probably 50+ years ago. It was probably the coolest entry into a bar I've ever seen and the inside has been retrofitted with a huge bar, DJ booth, and a long hallway with little rooms with couches on each side. The scene was very cool with about 50, 50 mix of locals and people from all over the world. We hung out there for about an hour and met up with the rest of our group.
Then we took a cab to a club called Muse to meet the other 3 of us that were still out. This place was insane! You walk up the steps and all of a sudden you are in a jam packed 2 story club that is rocking. Downstairs there are tables all around the back and a dance floor up front. The style I'd really trendy and it felt a lot like being in NYC. We headed upstairs and spent the rest of the night hanging out right in front of the live band. They played all American music and even played Sweet Home Alabama. It was crazy to think that right then I was in a crazy club in Shanghai and the next day I would be bordering Alabama in TN. When 3:00 finally rolled around we headed home and even that late we were leaving the party early. The cab home and 3 hours of sleep ended my 2 weeks in China. Overall, it was an amazing trip that overwhelmed me with the culture, business style, and unique history of this remarkable country.
Shanghai Day 7
I woke up at 6:30 and was in the lobby by 6:45. We took a cab which felt more like a rocket ship since we were going about 100 MPH the whole way on the interstate. We made it the airport and then hopped on a plane to Tokyo, then Minnesota, then finally home to Nashville.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and I definitely learned more about China in the past two weeks than in my entire life before the trip.
