Category Archives: Travel

I'll Endure Pain While Traveling, En Route to Pleasure

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In a first-person reflection in the SF Chronicle Travel section, Sue Dickman misses India because there you never know what could be around the corner: "When turning a corner at home in the United States, I can be pretty certain that an elephant or a herd of water buffalo or a wedding procession led by a marching band will not be coming in the opposite direction, but there is no such certainty in India."

I see her point. The surprises and uncertainty of travel can make for some fun. But what I’ve learned in my extensive overseas travel is that I’m willing to tolerate cows wandering down the street, impoverished conditions, kooky toilets, and other odd surprises…assuming it’s a means to some other ends. That is, I have no interest in throwing myself into a shithole to "have an experience."

I’m willing to tolerate pain while traveling, assuming the pain isn’t supposed to be the pleasure, even if the pain provides a new perspective or a delightful surprise.

I was fine being stuffed in a smelly, rickety train leaving Bombay, because the pain of being in that train wasn’t the point. The point was to use the most efficient transportation possible to arrive at my next destination — which meant a smelly, rickety train.

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What I Learned About China: On the Ground Impressions and Lessons

Posted inGlobalization, Travel8 Comments on What I Learned About China: On the Ground Impressions and Lessons

If you’re like me, you’re trying to sift through the hype around China.

I was lucky to spend two weeks there and meet people who really illuminated where I was and the issues I care about.

In Shanghai I met super high quality people in the businessworld. I chatted with people who do market research on Chinese companies, somebody who helps European companies assess the Chinese market, a journalist who covers IT companies in Shanghai, a guy who manages the China division for a multinational semiconductor company, a couple ex-pats, a venture capitalist, an analyst in the finance industry, a boutique management consultant, and an entrepreneur. All great people. I also read two books on China while here (China CEO: Voices of Experience From 20 International Business Leaders and The Coming Collapse of China – a terrible book) which offered add’l color.

Our conversations covered all bases: China’s history, current business, economic, and social situation, its education system, the mentality of the people, its rich culture and whether it’s being lost in the 21st century transformation, food, traveling, globalization, and life philosophy.

I think it’s definitely more complicated than, “China is going to rule the world!” as many business magazine covers would like to suggest. China faces many challenges, in addition to the endless opportunities its promoters remind us of daily.

Here are some things I learned while there:

  • 5,000+ years of history. This is a LONG time. Spend some time in Beijing and you’ll discover how integral imperial history and tradition is to China’s present culture. To think that for thousands of years emperors ruled the land and now, suddenly, they have a republic, speaks to the challenges of accelerating their political system to something more open and free. By contrast, the United States broke free from Britain and set up a democracy with a totally clean palette. We enjoy the fruits of virtually no historical baggage.
  • “China is different”. I heard this a lot from locals. Because of all this history they feel like trying to box China into a theory of political development or to compare China to any other country fails due to the uniqueness of their situation.
  • Indifference toward political/emotional/intellectual rights. No one cares about human rights, censorship of the internet and press, corrupt judicial system, and essentially authoritarian rule. “People just want a better life,” I was told over and over again. A better life meaning a better economic life. The Chinese government says there is too much poverty to worry about human rights for the percentage of people who have clothes and a house. There are a billion farmers who are trying to get by. People want bigger houses, more money, bigger cars, opportunities to travel. Political freedoms will come in time, they say. They will come, but over generations. Also, no educated person here believes in communism. They tell me even members of the party don’t believe in communism. The communist party is simply a power play. If you want to have influence in the government you join the party and subscribe to an ideology that no one still believes in.
  • Variance in Geography — the difference between the west and the east is astounding. The needs and priorities of people in rural China and people in the big cities are so different that it makes nation-wide change difficult. There’s a movement to develop the west.
  • Optimism — This country runs on national pride. Everywhere you go there is a poster showing Chinese kids looking up. Always up. In taxis there is a mini TV and it plays a nationalistic advertisement over and over again, always with low camera angles looking up at kids and adults, releasing red balloons into the sky, and generally jumping with joy at…being in China. There is no question this kind of unabashed optimism makes for an energetic workforce, but it can be a bit scary. Especially when the optimism is retroactive. My Beijing college aged student tourguide sings the praises of Chairman Mao, while I would characterize him as the implementer of the most disastrous economic policies in Chinese history and responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese. So long as the central govt maintains its grip on the media, I don’t see this rosy optimism fading anytime soon.
  • Chinese workers. They work hard. They’re driven to make money and succeed. Work can come ahead of family sometimes, which is interesting given the Confucian themes of balance. By the same token, such ambition can mean everybody wants to be mega rich and patience is in short supply. Employee retention is difficult. Also, Chinese workers tend to fit in a box. The educational culture breeds kick-ass conformity, not creativity.
  • Language. For westerners who want to live here, learning Chinese is a must, in my opinion. There are some expats here who don’t speak Chinese but they’re usually too removed from local culture to rise to the top or enjoy the cultural immersion. The problem is Chinese is among the toughest languages to learn, mostly because if you’ve never seen a character before there’s no way to know how to pronounce it. When learning Spanish or English you can try to sound out a word and you can get close. In Chinese it’s sheer memorization of 4,000-6,000 characters to become literate. English is compulsory in elementary school and still widely spoken in business circles, although I hear some of the most talented Chinese managers don’t speak English, so you can’t judge intellectual acumen by English mastery.
  • Networking. If you think relationships are important in the States or in Europe, wait until you get to China! “Guanxi” is a term that refers to the importance of quid pro quo relationships. It’s kind of like an old boys network philosophy that rewards insiders. Relationships supercede written contracts.
  • Money. Imagine that your parents barely had enough money to live each day. Imagine growing up in a rural farm with few life prospects. Then imagine yourself given the opportunity to move to a city, where wealth is being created at an astonishing pace, where buildings and infrastructure are appearing in ways your parents could have never fathomed. Now, you have the opportunity to make lots and lots of money and enjoy a lifestyle your parents always wanted but could never have. This is the case, I think, for many Chinese men and women. The resulting outlook on life is natural: make money. Do it ruthlessly, if that what it takes. It’s a totally normal reaction, given the circumstances, but if you think the United States or other wealthy western nations are materialistic and greedy to a fault for the green stuff, you haven’t seen China.
  • Legal Infrastructure and Intellectual Property. What are those?
  • Contradictions. China is a country of contradictions. Make money at all costs on the one hand, embrace Buddhist / Confucian thought on the other. Build long term relationships in the spirit of “Gaunxi” on the one hand, but don’t be afraid to screw a stranger for short term benefit.
  • Tourist Misperceptions — Many tourists visit Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, and leave thinking China is a developed country. It’s not. It’s still developing, in many respects. And this on-going development is the government’s rationale for not pushing for the emotional/intellectual rights of the citizens as much as the fulfilling the physical needs (which comes from economic development) of the poor people.
  • Lifestyle — This should be a major consideration for any Westerner thinking about living / working / studying in China. There’s no doubt there are sizable business opportunities. It’s growing like gangbusters, the people are optimstic about the future, and with moderniz ation more and more consumers will be buying goods and participating in the global marketplace. All the hype around China rightfully focuses on the tremendous opportunity to ride their wave to the top. But as I’ve experienced firsthand and as other ex-pats from the U.S. or Europe tell me, there are lifestyle tradeoffs:

    – Pollution. Simply put, if you like clear blue skies and fresh natural air you won’t get it in the big cities.

    – Noise. If peace and quiet means a lot to you, forget it. Although people say you acclimate to the honking and shouting…

    – Getaways. Many ex-pats told me they wish they could take weekend getaways. Get in a car and drive somewhere out of the city where it’s a little less bustling and a little more tranquil. The problem is it’s dangerous to drive a car, since traffic laws are non-existent. And serene getaway destinations (such as Napa Valley or Santa Cruz) are elusive, if they exist at all.

    – Materially. It’s a step down. Lower quality of service, dirtier streets, dirty water, fake clothes and watches, etc. Don’t get me wrong — major cities seem to be equipped with world class restuarants, hotels, fitness gyms, transportation infrastructure, broadband internet, and so forth. If you want 5 star everything, you can get it. Still, on a day-to-day basis, a lower material standard should be expected (and I’m only talking about the cities).

    – Chaos. This sums up many of the above points. China is growing and changing at mind boggling speeds. This creates chaos in every setting, from trying to cross a street and order a dumpling to closing deals in an office building. Some people thrive on this raw energy, spikes and all, others find it exhausting and discouraging. Me? I learned that I like certain kinds of chaos. Not this kind.

I can’t say “I get China” after two weeks living in the mainland. In fact, I know I won’t ever “get China”, as any local will gladly remind me. There’s a truism here that says you can write a book about China after one week here, write a magazine article after one month, and you keep your mouth shut after one year in China because you realize how vast and complicated this country is and how little you actually understand.

I hope to visit China again and explore different parts of the country and continue to try to understand the psyche of the people. I have no choice — for my generation, China will be a player, if not a leader. But, I also know that living, studying, or working in China is not something I’d be terribly enthusiastic about. The lifestyle tradeoffs are meaningful for me. This attitude may change. People say things have gotten much better in only a few years and the trajectory is only going up. Still. I think it’s important for people to realize how much of the country is still developing before they run off and devote 10 years of their life learning Mandarin and then moving to Shanghai to “do business in China” – whatever that means.

As always, your thoughts, reactions, and impressions of China are welcome in the comments to this post!

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The Psychological Beating of the Third World

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The first thing you’ll notice about riding in the back of an auto-rickshaw is the silent voice screaming in your head: “Watch out for the car! Don’t hit the bike! Slow down!”

After dozens of close calls you realize your physical existence is assured but the psychological beating has just begun. The crushing poverty. The brutal heat. The dust that seems enjoined with the air in just the way you imagine it would in a third world country.

After arriving at my destination, I stepped out of the rickshaw and the pleasure I thought I’d feel from escaping the piece-of-shit golf cart turned into something else: fear.

Little time to ponder this emotion. A homeless man — barely covered in clothes, horribly skinny — grabbed my left ankle. I broke free of his weak, helpless grip and then dodged one of the hundreds of stray dogs which roam the street.

I snuck a wistful glance back to see if my rickshaw was still there. It was not. It had rejoined the chaos of the city.

I turned and faced the street and the overly curious, aggressive stares of the dozens of people standing or lying on the sidewalk.

Bombay, India. Day 1.

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Step 1: Respect It. Step 2: Demolish It (If Necessary)

Posted inTravel2 Comments on Step 1: Respect It. Step 2: Demolish It (If Necessary)

Isn’t everything in life a balancing act?

One balancing act that’s come alive in my travels is that of respecting an idea versus advocating for its demolition.

All ideas should be respected. If someone puts forth an idea, it should be respected on the grounds that a thinking human being produced it. Even if I totally disagree with someone’s point of view, I try to preface my response with, "I think I understand your idea and I appreciate you articulating it to me and can see how it could be compelling."

I would argue that most negotiations (in life or business) leave the rational world (and enter an entrenched game of ego and emotion) when one side feels like the other side doesn’t appreciate or respect the other side’s POV.

3M has famously integrated this notion of respecting all ideas into their corporate culture. During group brainstorming meetings, any idea put on the table has to be followed by a supportive remark. If I say, "We should open a store in Canada" the next person to speak must in some way positively support this idea, so that no new creative burst dies on the first try. I think these next-person-to-speak supporters are called "idea angels".

Not all ideas deserve to live — an idea angel just breathes on flickering embers, it doesn’t guarantee a fire. I’ve said before that some ideas are better than others and bad ideas deserve to be demolished.

I’m in Asia right now…Some foreign governments and foreign cultures subscribe to ideas I disagree with. The best thing a citizen diplomat from another country can do is respect the idea and express an appreciation for its resonance in the foreign culture. Sometimes, that’s all you can/should do. Other times, and hopefully most of the time, you can advocate for your conception of a better idea. But this is step two.

I want to emphasize that you can and should engage in active debate when traveling. I don’t believe in the idea that "if your mouth is open your ears are closed." For me, when I’m exploring different cultures, I want to understand and respect how it operates, and then present the way my culture operates, and really dig in to explore the differences. I’ve found that foreigners like hearing and debating different approaches to government, markets, cuisine, and so forth, assuming it’s done in a respectful and not condescending manner.

It’s amazing how far R-E-S-P-E-C-T will get you! (Yes, that’s your cue to start singing the song…)

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The Morality of 5-Star Visits in the Developing World

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I got a private email from a friend who expressed sympathy about my malaria medicine / Dalian disaster but also suggested “Some attitude adjustment may go a long way to making you realize how fortunate you are to see the world from this perspective and how enriched your life will be from doing so.”

His email and my response made me think of a larger point I wanted to raise, which is the supposed correlation between the difficulty of adventure and the resulting cultural experience.

When Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times gave a ringing endorsement ($) of gap years he said:

A student might, for example, start off teaching English and studying Latin American history in Ecuador, then learn Chinese intensively in Chengdu, then work at an AIDS clinic in Botswana while reading African literature on the side, and finish up by studying Islamic history in Istanbul. In each place, the students would live with local families.

Since the best way to learn about public health challenges is to endure them, I would also suggest offering extra credit for any student who gets malaria…

As a student backpacker myself in India two decades ago, I once lined up with the beggars and lepers of Amritsar to get free gruel from a Sikh temple — but that embarrassed even me.

In any case, all this suffering builds character…

Over a year or so, the kids would figure out how to catch rides with trucks north over the Sahara, then hitchhike through the Middle East and across Central Asia. After a temporary job in Calcutta to earn a few rupees, they could migrate through East Asia and then make enough money as tutors teaching English in China to buy cheap air tickets home.

I agree international travel builds perspective and character. Hell, that’s why I’m here in Asia. But I want to hone in on Kristof’s assertion that suffering builds character. So if I went to a really shitty 3rd world country and hung out with beggars would my character be strengthed more than if I stayed at a four star hotel in Beijing? Would bouncing my way through an African war zone provide more culture and perspective than walking through the backroads of a safe, quiet Italian village? Would riding a shitty five hour bus in Ecuador provide something “more” than a guided tour of Hawaii’s volcanoes?

It’s clear to me that these are all very different experiences, but I’m not sure you could argue that one is better than the other, or that somebody who roughs it is more moral or cultured, or is to be held in higher esteem than someone who “plays it safe.”

My attitude is: do it. Travel. Go somewhere. Explore. Grow because of it. But don’t feel bad if you can afford the loveliness of Zurich and that strikes your fancy. It’s not an AIDS clinic in India, but it’s not home, either. I feel the same about philanthropy: do it. Giving to needy causes is better than giving to the opera, but giving at all is good in itself.

Unfortunately, I think many young people hesitate when pondering an international adventure, because they feel like if they’re not sleeping with lamas they are somehow letting down Kristof and the rest of society’s adventurers.

I was born in arguably the richest region (Silicon Valley) in the richest state (California) in the richest country (US) in the world. Each day at school we were reminded how privileged we were and often presented with a picture of a starving baby in Africa. This creates an enormous sense of guilt — the intentions are pure, but the effect is often counterproductive. This guilt can mean we don’t take certain actions for fear of exacerbating our uncomfortable feelings of first-world privilege.

When I was in Florence over the summer I got hooked up through an organization with a host who lived in a dump, was dirt poor, and told me to sleep on a mosquito infested futon. The next morning I left his shack and checked into a hotel which served a warm breakfast, offered a comfy bed, and had wireless internet. Guilty as charged: I like modern accouterments. I like internet and warm showers and warm beds. I’m lucky enough to afford to check into a low cost hotel in Florence. And yet why did I not qualify as a “student backpacker” in Europe? Because I wasn’t sleeping in parks, wasn’t wearing shirts 4 days old, wasn’t sharing meals with a beggar.

Which brings us, after some rumination, back to my Dalian adventure. The food I ate there was terrible. I suppose I could have reacted, “This is the local food, learn to enjoy it, appreciate it.” I didn’t. My reaction was, “This is the most processed, vile lamb I’ve ever sunk my teeth into.” Am I selling myself short with this response?

To anyone from a first-world country pondering an international adventure into the developing world, I say, “Do it” and don’t feel bad if you’re not as courageous as the next guy to live and eat just as the middle class locals do. You’ll get a different experience, but it will still be mind expanding in many ways.

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