We went to Tokyo-Narita airport on Sunday, and spent the night at the Hilton Hotel. Our original plan was to go into Tokyo that night, but it was an hour away by train, and we were all pretty beat, so we decided to go into the town nearby, called Narita.
It was a neat little town, and you'll see the pictures of it. Everything in Japan, or in Narita I should say, seems like it's a bit smaller than in the U.S. Interestingly the people in Narita, whom we had assumed would speak English, didn't seem willing to do so, if they knew it at all.
We had dinner at a restaurant where we ate various dishes, including raw horse meat. That was good.
That wrapped up the trip, for the most part, and we headed home Monday. I wrote most of the blog entries posted today on the plane from Tokyo to Dulles and updated some at lunch.
Here are the last pics, and stay tuned for more pictures from classmates:
http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/JapanSunday
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Saturday in Hong Kong and Macau
Link to Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/MacauAndHongKongSaturday
Saturday was a free day, which I started by going to Macau with Dave, John, Chris, and Lenny from Fellows. I was a little tired that morning, and uttered a classic line. We thought we were going to be on a hydrofoil, which floats above water, but we ended up on a boat. Part of the way in, it happened…I asked no one in particular, “aren’t we supposed to be on a boat that floats?”
Lenny was right on it with his answer, a deadpan, “John, most boats float. That’s why they’re boats.” We got a kick out of that all day.
Macau was hot and we started out by going straight to the Venetian, the largest casino in the world. One of the group gambled a bit and won 1200 HK $. We walked around a bit and were generally unimpressed. Then, we went to the Sands and checked that out. It was another casino, nothing special.
I had signed up to run in a race, and boy, it was some race. I had tried to get others in the group to do it, but no one went for it. Andy was smart, he’s a detail guy, and pointed out that there was a significant hill. I didn’t notice that, and thought it couldn’t be so bad. It was a monster mountain/hill, and going up was a lot better than coming back, which scared the crap out of me and was the slower part of my race. LOL!
It was in Discovery Bay, which is a neat community out on Lantau Island. They allow no cars that I saw, and you get there by subway and bus. They had plenty of bikes there, and the people looked to be largely expats. I’m sure there were cars somewhere, but I saw none, unless you count the golf carts and a delivery truck.
Returning to HK after the race, I came out of the wrong exit from the subway, and ended up walking down a street called Hanoi, and glancing into a restaurant, I saw my friends and classmates eating in a noodle shop. Amazingly, Eric, who is very picky, was eating there, too. What a change! It’s a great example of how we all grew and changed during this trip. Coming in, Eric was kind of antsy about the food thing. By the last day, he was eating in a hole-in-the-wall noodle shop in the middle of Hong Kong. I was happy to see that.
Later that night, a bunch of us hung out at the bar outside the back of the hotel. While we sat there, I smoked a cigar, John H. created a cheese and fruit plate by asking the waitress to combine elements of 90 different menus (small exaggeration), and people from the tv show amazing race went by…. Andy came out and introduced us to his friend Tony, who’s with the US government in HK. Nice guy. I went up at 11ish, and others stayed much later.
Saturday was a free day, which I started by going to Macau with Dave, John, Chris, and Lenny from Fellows. I was a little tired that morning, and uttered a classic line. We thought we were going to be on a hydrofoil, which floats above water, but we ended up on a boat. Part of the way in, it happened…I asked no one in particular, “aren’t we supposed to be on a boat that floats?”
Lenny was right on it with his answer, a deadpan, “John, most boats float. That’s why they’re boats.” We got a kick out of that all day.
Macau was hot and we started out by going straight to the Venetian, the largest casino in the world. One of the group gambled a bit and won 1200 HK $. We walked around a bit and were generally unimpressed. Then, we went to the Sands and checked that out. It was another casino, nothing special.
I had signed up to run in a race, and boy, it was some race. I had tried to get others in the group to do it, but no one went for it. Andy was smart, he’s a detail guy, and pointed out that there was a significant hill. I didn’t notice that, and thought it couldn’t be so bad. It was a monster mountain/hill, and going up was a lot better than coming back, which scared the crap out of me and was the slower part of my race. LOL!
It was in Discovery Bay, which is a neat community out on Lantau Island. They allow no cars that I saw, and you get there by subway and bus. They had plenty of bikes there, and the people looked to be largely expats. I’m sure there were cars somewhere, but I saw none, unless you count the golf carts and a delivery truck.
Returning to HK after the race, I came out of the wrong exit from the subway, and ended up walking down a street called Hanoi, and glancing into a restaurant, I saw my friends and classmates eating in a noodle shop. Amazingly, Eric, who is very picky, was eating there, too. What a change! It’s a great example of how we all grew and changed during this trip. Coming in, Eric was kind of antsy about the food thing. By the last day, he was eating in a hole-in-the-wall noodle shop in the middle of Hong Kong. I was happy to see that.
Later that night, a bunch of us hung out at the bar outside the back of the hotel. While we sat there, I smoked a cigar, John H. created a cheese and fruit plate by asking the waitress to combine elements of 90 different menus (small exaggeration), and people from the tv show amazing race went by…. Andy came out and introduced us to his friend Tony, who’s with the US government in HK. Nice guy. I went up at 11ish, and others stayed much later.
Friday
Link to Friday Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/HongKongFriday. Note that I appear in some of my pics, thanks to my teammate Aaron. Thanks!
On Friday we had our last meeting; it was an early meeting with a representative of The Economist Economic Intelligence Unit. Great stuff…he basically is a leader in their Asian sales, I think, and had lots of good perspective from that regard. After that, we had our group debriefing for the entire week (we divided into different teams for that), and I though that some of the groups really came up with some excellent “takeaways.” (THERE’S A BUZZWORD)
Seriously, I think everyone on this trip had at least one experience that provided them with great motivation to change or do something differently. Lots of eyes were opened, and those that were already open were perhaps opened farther.
Friday afternoon, we had a tour of HK, and saw Victoria’s Peak, which was nice, had a ride on a sampan, and visited a great market (too bad I was already spent out). The market was outside of the city in a really nice area, and they had some really good stuff.
That night, the entire group ate at a restaurant called the Quarterdeck, which was good. We walked back to the hotel, and that night the group hung out around the hotel, mostly. I actually went up to the room after dinner, where I stayed for a while. Then, I wanted to smoke a cigar (it was around 11 pm) so I went down to see what was happening. People were just getting ready to go out, and I suddenly felt tired and the cigar didn’t mean so much anymore. I went back to the room and went to bed.
Disclosure: I smoked a few great Cubans on this trip. Not sure if I’d mentioned that yet, but I did.
On Friday we had our last meeting; it was an early meeting with a representative of The Economist Economic Intelligence Unit. Great stuff…he basically is a leader in their Asian sales, I think, and had lots of good perspective from that regard. After that, we had our group debriefing for the entire week (we divided into different teams for that), and I though that some of the groups really came up with some excellent “takeaways.” (THERE’S A BUZZWORD)
Seriously, I think everyone on this trip had at least one experience that provided them with great motivation to change or do something differently. Lots of eyes were opened, and those that were already open were perhaps opened farther.
Friday afternoon, we had a tour of HK, and saw Victoria’s Peak, which was nice, had a ride on a sampan, and visited a great market (too bad I was already spent out). The market was outside of the city in a really nice area, and they had some really good stuff.
That night, the entire group ate at a restaurant called the Quarterdeck, which was good. We walked back to the hotel, and that night the group hung out around the hotel, mostly. I actually went up to the room after dinner, where I stayed for a while. Then, I wanted to smoke a cigar (it was around 11 pm) so I went down to see what was happening. People were just getting ready to go out, and I suddenly felt tired and the cigar didn’t mean so much anymore. I went back to the room and went to bed.
Disclosure: I smoked a few great Cubans on this trip. Not sure if I’d mentioned that yet, but I did.
Thursday in HK
Link to Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/HongKongThursday NOTE: comments for this album appear only if you look at the pics one at a time. i put them in the wrong place, sorry.
Thursday we were back to working again. And we had a great meeting with two representatives of the international law firm Hogan and Hartson, based in Washington, D.C. and one of the top 5 law firms in the world. This was a great meeting for me personally because the speakers are attorneys in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and they gave me a lot of insight into doing business in China, including owning your own factory. I really enjoyed that segment.
Next on the agenda Thursday was Invest Hong Kong, and the speaker was very good, too, giving us a pretty frank overview of HK as a business or employment destination. A word of caution—remember the cost of living is way high, and that a lot of the good schools are filled already with expat kids. However, there still seems to be lots of opportunity.
We at lunch, and then the groups split into two groups, one who met with Maquare Bank and one that traveled to the HSBC building in HK; since my group was a presenter for that one, I got to go. They have a very cool building that I’d heard about and seen from the outside, and part of our briefing was to include a tour of the facility, which we really enjoyed. The building is actually a series of bridges and columns. Lots of glass, and very ecologically friendly. The briefing was pretty good, too.
Thursday night, we went to the Hong Kong night market, a whole big contingent including fellows and EMBAs. We had a good time there, and Aaron, Rita and I ate Chinese in a “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant (we walked through hanging plastic to get in). I love these types of restaurants, and we ate like kings. Also, I got to have Milk Tea, which I love. I drank a lot of this in Hong Kong, usually buying it at 7-11 or in restaurants if they had it. Chris, Dave, and Aimee went back to the hotel to eat at Outback.
We returned to the hotel, and before I went up to bed, I saw a group of folks in the bar near the elevators (Pete, Andy, John, Jeff, Aaron, Rita, more?). If I remember correctly, there were still a bunch of people in the lobby hanging out, too.
I popped in to say hi, and asked Pete if our mutual friend Paul had responded to a text Pete had sent him. He said, no, but let’s call. So, we did and I talked to Paul, whom I haven’t heard from (to be fair, nor have I reached out) in quite a log time. So, we chatted a bit, and then I went up to the room.
Thursday we were back to working again. And we had a great meeting with two representatives of the international law firm Hogan and Hartson, based in Washington, D.C. and one of the top 5 law firms in the world. This was a great meeting for me personally because the speakers are attorneys in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and they gave me a lot of insight into doing business in China, including owning your own factory. I really enjoyed that segment.
Next on the agenda Thursday was Invest Hong Kong, and the speaker was very good, too, giving us a pretty frank overview of HK as a business or employment destination. A word of caution—remember the cost of living is way high, and that a lot of the good schools are filled already with expat kids. However, there still seems to be lots of opportunity.
We at lunch, and then the groups split into two groups, one who met with Maquare Bank and one that traveled to the HSBC building in HK; since my group was a presenter for that one, I got to go. They have a very cool building that I’d heard about and seen from the outside, and part of our briefing was to include a tour of the facility, which we really enjoyed. The building is actually a series of bridges and columns. Lots of glass, and very ecologically friendly. The briefing was pretty good, too.
Thursday night, we went to the Hong Kong night market, a whole big contingent including fellows and EMBAs. We had a good time there, and Aaron, Rita and I ate Chinese in a “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant (we walked through hanging plastic to get in). I love these types of restaurants, and we ate like kings. Also, I got to have Milk Tea, which I love. I drank a lot of this in Hong Kong, usually buying it at 7-11 or in restaurants if they had it. Chris, Dave, and Aimee went back to the hotel to eat at Outback.
We returned to the hotel, and before I went up to bed, I saw a group of folks in the bar near the elevators (Pete, Andy, John, Jeff, Aaron, Rita, more?). If I remember correctly, there were still a bunch of people in the lobby hanging out, too.
I popped in to say hi, and asked Pete if our mutual friend Paul had responded to a text Pete had sent him. He said, no, but let’s call. So, we did and I talked to Paul, whom I haven’t heard from (to be fair, nor have I reached out) in quite a log time. So, we chatted a bit, and then I went up to the room.
Wednesday
Wednesday was a nice day. We woke, ate, went to the airport and then to Hong Kong. It was also my 41st birthday. I tell you, 41 sure seems young to me. I joke about being old, but I don’t really feel it.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, we were picked up by motor coach and guides. This was the first time I’d made the commute from the airport into town in anything other than the airport express train, which runs from downtown to the airport. The perspective from the bus, although it follows pretty much the same route, was quite different, and I enjoyed the ride.
Our guide told us a lot about Hong Kong. It’s interesting how different the people are in HK vs. Thailand. HK people are a little less friendly; perhaps it’s the further Westernization they’ve experienced, or perhaps it’s because the people at the lower end of the economic scale there live in 200 sq ft spaces, with 4-6 people in a unit. They have a huge population, and real estate costs from $400-900 a sq ft. Ouch!
There’s a ton of wealth in HK—more Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, Rolls Royces, etc., than I’ve seen anywhere; the first time I saw it was no more special than this time. I really get a kick out of seeing all of these great cars. And of course, there are tons of BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis, with some Toyotas and Hondas lumped in. Notably, there are a few American cars to be seen, albeit mostly pick-up trucks.
The expatriate community in HK is rather large, too. It’s a pretty diverse culture, and though I’d been there 3 times, I had not explored it much. Most of my time there was spent with my colleagues (and friends) from our Geddes Shanghai office, and our activities usually centered on Chinese restaurants and just walking through neighborhoods. This year, however, we did the expat scene. We started that Wednesday night by going to Lan Kwai Fong, an area on Hong Kong Island that resembles a mish-mash of San Francisco, Fells Point/Canton, and also my picture of European cities (I’ve yet to go) based on pictures.
Ironically, we (Andy, Chris, Dave, Jeff, John, Pete and I) went to LKF but ended up eating in a place called Bulldogs. It was on my list of things to do, but I had planned to eat at the one next to the hotel. I’ve eated in that one before, usually when I get jonesing for some U.S. type food. In fact, it’s an Australian pub, and they make the Great Aussie Burger, which is outrageously good—a gigantic burger, lettuce, tomato, beet root, a slice of pineapple, bacon, a fried egg, and cheese (I think). It’s got to be 6-7” tall, and it took me less than 10 minutes to wolf it down. From there we went to a few bars in the area for a little bit. As usual, I was in the early departure group, and was back at the room by 11, working on pictures and stuff. The other guys came back shortly after us. I think it was about at this point that the week had started to catch up with people.
A funny side-story: Dave and John H bought shirts from Bulldogs. The sizing in Asia is definitely different from the US. Neither of them is “big” or anything, but they each wore shirts that were 2-3 sizes bigger than they’d wear in the US. Remember that if you travel—try things on. I guess it’s not so funny now, but watching them get shirts, try them on and send them back was a little humorous at the time.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, we were picked up by motor coach and guides. This was the first time I’d made the commute from the airport into town in anything other than the airport express train, which runs from downtown to the airport. The perspective from the bus, although it follows pretty much the same route, was quite different, and I enjoyed the ride.
Our guide told us a lot about Hong Kong. It’s interesting how different the people are in HK vs. Thailand. HK people are a little less friendly; perhaps it’s the further Westernization they’ve experienced, or perhaps it’s because the people at the lower end of the economic scale there live in 200 sq ft spaces, with 4-6 people in a unit. They have a huge population, and real estate costs from $400-900 a sq ft. Ouch!
There’s a ton of wealth in HK—more Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, Rolls Royces, etc., than I’ve seen anywhere; the first time I saw it was no more special than this time. I really get a kick out of seeing all of these great cars. And of course, there are tons of BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis, with some Toyotas and Hondas lumped in. Notably, there are a few American cars to be seen, albeit mostly pick-up trucks.
The expatriate community in HK is rather large, too. It’s a pretty diverse culture, and though I’d been there 3 times, I had not explored it much. Most of my time there was spent with my colleagues (and friends) from our Geddes Shanghai office, and our activities usually centered on Chinese restaurants and just walking through neighborhoods. This year, however, we did the expat scene. We started that Wednesday night by going to Lan Kwai Fong, an area on Hong Kong Island that resembles a mish-mash of San Francisco, Fells Point/Canton, and also my picture of European cities (I’ve yet to go) based on pictures.
Ironically, we (Andy, Chris, Dave, Jeff, John, Pete and I) went to LKF but ended up eating in a place called Bulldogs. It was on my list of things to do, but I had planned to eat at the one next to the hotel. I’ve eated in that one before, usually when I get jonesing for some U.S. type food. In fact, it’s an Australian pub, and they make the Great Aussie Burger, which is outrageously good—a gigantic burger, lettuce, tomato, beet root, a slice of pineapple, bacon, a fried egg, and cheese (I think). It’s got to be 6-7” tall, and it took me less than 10 minutes to wolf it down. From there we went to a few bars in the area for a little bit. As usual, I was in the early departure group, and was back at the room by 11, working on pictures and stuff. The other guys came back shortly after us. I think it was about at this point that the week had started to catch up with people.
A funny side-story: Dave and John H bought shirts from Bulldogs. The sizing in Asia is definitely different from the US. Neither of them is “big” or anything, but they each wore shirts that were 2-3 sizes bigger than they’d wear in the US. Remember that if you travel—try things on. I guess it’s not so funny now, but watching them get shirts, try them on and send them back was a little humorous at the time.
Thailand Tuesday--A coup is underway
Link to Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/ThailandMondayAndTuesday
Thailand Tuesday
On Tuesday, we met with several representatives from Mercer Consulting, a global provider of talent and workforce strategy solutions and a number of other specialties and services. They have a lot of experience in Thailand in guiding US companies through various issues, including labor relations, etc.
More and more companies seem to be outsourcing some of their HR functions in Thailand as they gain trust in the ability of the 3rd parties. I guess it’s all part of the “flattening” of the world, or globalization.
One of the more interesting facts I learned in this meeting was that no banks from outside Thailand can have more than one headquarters in Thailand; in other words, the outsiders can not have retail branches. It’s an example of how some of the countries that seem to be somewhat free trade still clamp down on certain areas for protectionist purposes or for control reasons.
Of our two speakers, one clearly did almost all of the talking. He was somewhat atypical of what I’d come to expect from Asian business people as he did not portray himself very modestly; I thought that was interesting. Perhaps it is the new generation, I don’t know.
Overall, the meeting was very informative. Another nugget is that there’s an American company in Thailand who is struggling with its Thai labor union, and there were several arsons set in the factory.
I think there’s an interesting parallel of sorts in this—when the US was developing its workforce rights, this type of thing happened. Likewise, in earlier times, as in Asia, the US used lead in our products, polluted rivers and oceans (oh, right, we still do), and had kids working in factories.
The cessation of these types of activities happens as countries further develop, and while we may think it’s horrible that some of this happens “in this day and age,” we need to remember that this day and age is not quite the same everywhere. And really, when this day and age is everywhere, the COGS is going to be really high. So, in a sense, we need to appreciate what we have today, because tomorrow, it won’t be here.
The U.N. trip was quite an adventure. WE’d be warned on several occasions about “the protestors.” Apparently, there was a group of people who’d been protesting for a long time and voicing their opinions about the current prime minister. I think it was on our first day that our tour guide said something to the effect of, “over in that area are the protestors, they keep them contained. The only problem they create is traffic.” (That’s a pretty close-to-accurate paraphrase. Anyone who was present, please feel free to post a comment if you have a better recollection).
But, by the time UN day (our visit on Tuesday) had arrived, things were changing. Almost all of the unions had shut down their production and encouraged their workers to go to the protest area on Tuesday. It was shaping up to be quite an event. And, it was just our luck that the protest was in the same area as the U.N. building in Bangkok. However, that morning we felt that it was safe and departed for the UN.
Along the way, the streets were filled with people in yellow shirts. Thailand has a neat custom of having a different color each day, and on those days you can see people wearing the color of the day. Monday is the king’s favorite color day, and that is yellow. However, on Tuesday, the day of the protest, all the protestors wore yellow. They really love their King in Thailand, or at least that’s what most say (we didn’t find any dissenters, but one classmate (or someone from fellows, I don’t remember) found someone that said, “we’re supposed to say that.”
However, it did seem to me that people feel the current monarchy is genuinely interested in the good of the people. And, most people believe that the King ordered the first coup that happened about 2 years ago or so (forgive me, I’m on a plane and I don’t have the date). That coup ended in the latter part of 2007, and the new PM was installed in December. Unfortunately, the people believe he’s a puppet of the former PM, who was a crook. You can see the pictures that show he is wanted in Thailand (and is now living in exile in England).
So, back to our trip into the UN: We had a somewhat slow commute (traffic there generally is pretty bad, but the protest made it worse. As we got closer, the amount of people in yellow shirts increased, until we came to a blockade in the road. The protesters (Or the police?) had blocked off access to all roads leading in and we were stopped, along with the other bus carrying Loyola students and faculty, at the blockade.
We on the bus were abuzz with comments—some were probably a little nervous, some were joking, some were enjoying the experience, and a few were wondering how the hell we were going to get to the UN. That’s when one of the most amazing things happened; our tour guide grabbed her cell phone, talked to someone in Thai for no more than 5 minutes (and I really think it was much less than that) and then, lo and behold, the blockade was opened for us. Not sure who it was, military, police, or protestors, but nonetheless, our two buses were ushered in to the protest area. The only other vehicles in this area were water cannon (one of whom escorted us through the area), and other official vehicles.
Not knowing what to expect, we rolled through at 5-10 miles per hour, stopping here and there. And the protesters, who hadn’t yet cranked it up all the way, were quite friendly! They all waved at our buses. Ah, it’s the Thai way. If I haven’t said it yet, I should have, but they smile all the time. They’ll tell you that sometimes the smile doesn’t mean anything nice, but in this case, I think a bunch of obvious tourists rolling through in buses was OK with them. After all, it’s still an important part of their economy.
Without any incident (but this isn’t the end of the coup/siege stuff, read on), we made it to the UN, where we had a series of meetings with various speakers, most of whom had some great information for us about UNESCO. We received some briefings, and some general references to the inferiority of the U.S. government (due to our LACK OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT! LOL). It’s interesting to hear mostly liberal European speakers talk about our weaknesses. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of the UN’s work is good, but I also am not a huge fan of central government.
After the briefings, we were fed a delicious lunch at the compound, and then we walked outside to the buses. The crowd had grown over the 4 or so hours we’d spent inside; and as I walked through the gates back into the open area, I thought that this was really something to see.
As we rode back to the hotel (we left with no incident), we made plans to meet in the restaurant/pub in the bottom level of the hotel to eat and plan our next steps. A group of us convened and decided to go back to the night market to finish up the souvenir shopping. They really had everything there from a product standpoint, and some other stuff that I guess is a product, but is also a service. Thailand has a reputation for this particular thing, and I’d been led to believe I’d see it everywhere, but really, I just saw it here.
I went to the lobby to exchange some money and take care of room charges. While I was doing that, I bumped into Brad from the fellows class, who told me he’d just been told by two Thais that the protest was turning into a coup that night, and that the protesters had taken over the TV station. They further told him that the rumor was that “word had come down from the top that today is the day.” I was kinda like, “W T F?, a coup?” He just said, yea, do with the info what you want.
We talked to a few other people about it and went our separate ways. Brad’s a cool guy, he asked me to sit down with him one day at breakfast. And, he warned me about the coup. Can’t beat that….
I asked 3 or 4 employees of the hotel what was going on, posing questions such as, “did you hear that they took over the tv station?” and “I hear that the protest is now a coup…did you hear?” and “is it safe to go out?” and “didn’t a bunch of bombs go off during the last coup, one right out front?”
The answer I received from all of these people was the same…a big smile, a shake of the head, and some variation of, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t understand what you are saying” or “I can’t hear what you’ve said.” So, I repeated it once or twice to the first two, and realized that they heard and understood everything, they’re just not talking about it. That was kind of interesting, and it went along with some of the “we’re supposed to say that” and “we have many meanings behind our smiles.”
The guide that was hosting our group came into the lobby, and I asked her about it. She wouldn’t answer my questions about the TV station or the coup, but she did finally say that it should be safe to go out, just avoid the area around the protest.
By this time, most of the group had left me behind because I wasn’t around when they left. Did I tell you about the tuk-tuks? They’re 3-wheeled motorcycles with carriages that carry 2 optimally, but up to 4 (Team APEX is truly insane) people. That was our mode of transport for distance travel because it was faster and cheaper than the cabs. Usually you could negotiate a ride for 100 or less baht, which is about $3. I shared a tuk-tuk to the market with Rita from Fellows, and we caught up with the group there and did some power shopping. Ben, Rita and I got some good Pokemon cards, and I think Nitin got some power rangers.
No problems from the coup, I didn’t even think about it again, until the next morning when the newspapers trumpeted the news of the occupation of the Prime Minister’s compound and the news station. Well, actually, when I got back to the room that night I looked online for some news, but there was very little.
Thailand Tuesday
On Tuesday, we met with several representatives from Mercer Consulting, a global provider of talent and workforce strategy solutions and a number of other specialties and services. They have a lot of experience in Thailand in guiding US companies through various issues, including labor relations, etc.
More and more companies seem to be outsourcing some of their HR functions in Thailand as they gain trust in the ability of the 3rd parties. I guess it’s all part of the “flattening” of the world, or globalization.
One of the more interesting facts I learned in this meeting was that no banks from outside Thailand can have more than one headquarters in Thailand; in other words, the outsiders can not have retail branches. It’s an example of how some of the countries that seem to be somewhat free trade still clamp down on certain areas for protectionist purposes or for control reasons.
Of our two speakers, one clearly did almost all of the talking. He was somewhat atypical of what I’d come to expect from Asian business people as he did not portray himself very modestly; I thought that was interesting. Perhaps it is the new generation, I don’t know.
Overall, the meeting was very informative. Another nugget is that there’s an American company in Thailand who is struggling with its Thai labor union, and there were several arsons set in the factory.
I think there’s an interesting parallel of sorts in this—when the US was developing its workforce rights, this type of thing happened. Likewise, in earlier times, as in Asia, the US used lead in our products, polluted rivers and oceans (oh, right, we still do), and had kids working in factories.
The cessation of these types of activities happens as countries further develop, and while we may think it’s horrible that some of this happens “in this day and age,” we need to remember that this day and age is not quite the same everywhere. And really, when this day and age is everywhere, the COGS is going to be really high. So, in a sense, we need to appreciate what we have today, because tomorrow, it won’t be here.
The U.N. trip was quite an adventure. WE’d be warned on several occasions about “the protestors.” Apparently, there was a group of people who’d been protesting for a long time and voicing their opinions about the current prime minister. I think it was on our first day that our tour guide said something to the effect of, “over in that area are the protestors, they keep them contained. The only problem they create is traffic.” (That’s a pretty close-to-accurate paraphrase. Anyone who was present, please feel free to post a comment if you have a better recollection).
But, by the time UN day (our visit on Tuesday) had arrived, things were changing. Almost all of the unions had shut down their production and encouraged their workers to go to the protest area on Tuesday. It was shaping up to be quite an event. And, it was just our luck that the protest was in the same area as the U.N. building in Bangkok. However, that morning we felt that it was safe and departed for the UN.
Along the way, the streets were filled with people in yellow shirts. Thailand has a neat custom of having a different color each day, and on those days you can see people wearing the color of the day. Monday is the king’s favorite color day, and that is yellow. However, on Tuesday, the day of the protest, all the protestors wore yellow. They really love their King in Thailand, or at least that’s what most say (we didn’t find any dissenters, but one classmate (or someone from fellows, I don’t remember) found someone that said, “we’re supposed to say that.”
However, it did seem to me that people feel the current monarchy is genuinely interested in the good of the people. And, most people believe that the King ordered the first coup that happened about 2 years ago or so (forgive me, I’m on a plane and I don’t have the date). That coup ended in the latter part of 2007, and the new PM was installed in December. Unfortunately, the people believe he’s a puppet of the former PM, who was a crook. You can see the pictures that show he is wanted in Thailand (and is now living in exile in England).
So, back to our trip into the UN: We had a somewhat slow commute (traffic there generally is pretty bad, but the protest made it worse. As we got closer, the amount of people in yellow shirts increased, until we came to a blockade in the road. The protesters (Or the police?) had blocked off access to all roads leading in and we were stopped, along with the other bus carrying Loyola students and faculty, at the blockade.
We on the bus were abuzz with comments—some were probably a little nervous, some were joking, some were enjoying the experience, and a few were wondering how the hell we were going to get to the UN. That’s when one of the most amazing things happened; our tour guide grabbed her cell phone, talked to someone in Thai for no more than 5 minutes (and I really think it was much less than that) and then, lo and behold, the blockade was opened for us. Not sure who it was, military, police, or protestors, but nonetheless, our two buses were ushered in to the protest area. The only other vehicles in this area were water cannon (one of whom escorted us through the area), and other official vehicles.
Not knowing what to expect, we rolled through at 5-10 miles per hour, stopping here and there. And the protesters, who hadn’t yet cranked it up all the way, were quite friendly! They all waved at our buses. Ah, it’s the Thai way. If I haven’t said it yet, I should have, but they smile all the time. They’ll tell you that sometimes the smile doesn’t mean anything nice, but in this case, I think a bunch of obvious tourists rolling through in buses was OK with them. After all, it’s still an important part of their economy.
Without any incident (but this isn’t the end of the coup/siege stuff, read on), we made it to the UN, where we had a series of meetings with various speakers, most of whom had some great information for us about UNESCO. We received some briefings, and some general references to the inferiority of the U.S. government (due to our LACK OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT! LOL). It’s interesting to hear mostly liberal European speakers talk about our weaknesses. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of the UN’s work is good, but I also am not a huge fan of central government.
After the briefings, we were fed a delicious lunch at the compound, and then we walked outside to the buses. The crowd had grown over the 4 or so hours we’d spent inside; and as I walked through the gates back into the open area, I thought that this was really something to see.
As we rode back to the hotel (we left with no incident), we made plans to meet in the restaurant/pub in the bottom level of the hotel to eat and plan our next steps. A group of us convened and decided to go back to the night market to finish up the souvenir shopping. They really had everything there from a product standpoint, and some other stuff that I guess is a product, but is also a service. Thailand has a reputation for this particular thing, and I’d been led to believe I’d see it everywhere, but really, I just saw it here.
I went to the lobby to exchange some money and take care of room charges. While I was doing that, I bumped into Brad from the fellows class, who told me he’d just been told by two Thais that the protest was turning into a coup that night, and that the protesters had taken over the TV station. They further told him that the rumor was that “word had come down from the top that today is the day.” I was kinda like, “W T F?, a coup?” He just said, yea, do with the info what you want.
We talked to a few other people about it and went our separate ways. Brad’s a cool guy, he asked me to sit down with him one day at breakfast. And, he warned me about the coup. Can’t beat that….
I asked 3 or 4 employees of the hotel what was going on, posing questions such as, “did you hear that they took over the tv station?” and “I hear that the protest is now a coup…did you hear?” and “is it safe to go out?” and “didn’t a bunch of bombs go off during the last coup, one right out front?”
The answer I received from all of these people was the same…a big smile, a shake of the head, and some variation of, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t understand what you are saying” or “I can’t hear what you’ve said.” So, I repeated it once or twice to the first two, and realized that they heard and understood everything, they’re just not talking about it. That was kind of interesting, and it went along with some of the “we’re supposed to say that” and “we have many meanings behind our smiles.”
The guide that was hosting our group came into the lobby, and I asked her about it. She wouldn’t answer my questions about the TV station or the coup, but she did finally say that it should be safe to go out, just avoid the area around the protest.
By this time, most of the group had left me behind because I wasn’t around when they left. Did I tell you about the tuk-tuks? They’re 3-wheeled motorcycles with carriages that carry 2 optimally, but up to 4 (Team APEX is truly insane) people. That was our mode of transport for distance travel because it was faster and cheaper than the cabs. Usually you could negotiate a ride for 100 or less baht, which is about $3. I shared a tuk-tuk to the market with Rita from Fellows, and we caught up with the group there and did some power shopping. Ben, Rita and I got some good Pokemon cards, and I think Nitin got some power rangers.
No problems from the coup, I didn’t even think about it again, until the next morning when the newspapers trumpeted the news of the occupation of the Prime Minister’s compound and the news station. Well, actually, when I got back to the room that night I looked online for some news, but there was very little.
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