Mt. Sorak and amenities.

After my busy schedule in China, I planned some down time on the East coast of Korea in the popular weekend vacation area of Mt. Sorak.

This beautiful mountainous area contains Korea’s burgeoning relaxation industry. Complete with Chim Chil. Bang, hiking trails, beaches, condominiums, water parks and spas. As Korea evolves further into its industrialized personna, finding time away from work will continue to occupy the Korean mindset.

Mt. Sorak itself is a series of mountains and peaks that are covered in thick green vegetation. Many from Seoul travel to this rather famous place to go hiking. In looking around one of the trailheads, most people there were decked out in their modern hiking gear.

Another unique Korean recreation phenomena is the numerous spas and water parks. Waterpia is a highly diversified water extravaganza. Not just one or two spa pools for those seeking comfort and relaxation, but more like 30 plus pools with themes like, “couples pool” wellbeing pool, aromatherapy pool, etc. etc. etc. Varying temperatures on these pools provide an experience that delivers variety and diversification of therapy. Also, there is a wave pool and water maze that allows different stations of water enjoyment as you move from station to station.

Mt. Sorak is a relaxation mecca. For those busy Seoulittes who work their fingers to the bone as well as intrepid travelers like myself it is an oasis of spirit rejuvenating calmness.

Pudong Airport Shanghai, China

This monstrous international terminal is….brusque!

Upon landing in Shanghai one is greeted by this massive wedge shaped beast that juts out into the atmosphere of Chinese airspace. There is really nothing elegant about this structure. The concept is based on high tension wires that are stressed like a hunting bow by these rather odd looking suspension pins reminiscent of the clothes pins used to hang laundry out to dry. (Which by the way is a very common Chinese phenomena, see photo at bottom)


This theme is repeated again and again on the interior of the roof overhead . There are intermittent pillars that anchor more high tension wires that connect the floor of the terminal to the roof. These turnbuckles contrast the curves of the “bow” ceiling and do nothing to add beauty or visual appeal to a space that is supposed to be welcoming and calming to weary travelers.

Must of Shanghai’s architecture is build to last. I will give one comment that is positive. The sense of scale is truly large in Shanghai. Big roads, big subway station hallways, big trains and big factories. Big, big, big.

Wuxi success stories

I am here now in the “Mixed Area” lounge at Pudong airport waiting now to catch my flight back to Seoul, Korea.

Yesterday was a complete success in terms of meetings and execution of my itinerary. My meeting with Wuxi Industrial Design Park members went well and I sense a potential possibility of partnering with them as they now transition to a more “value added” economy in China. We had an interesting lunch where the most interesting taste on the menus was fish brain dipped in vinegar. I was given a tour of the stunning display of Wuxi tax revenue and given a glimpse into their plans to build an Industrial Design Disney Park complete with housing, recreation and work facilities. A very exemplar display of centrally planned government activity.

After lunch my afternoon contact was waiting for me back at the office and we introduced ourselves and he sat in on the presentation by the WIP people. A bit dry and stale but none the less fruitful in terms of getting an idea of how we could potentially partner together in the future.

Afterwards, my afternoon contact and I departed in the rain and headed over to his hotel to meeting his associate with whom I had set up the meeting with originally. We decided to forgo our original plan to take the train to Nanjing and see their offices. It proved just too far away to allow me to return to Shanghai afterwards at a reasonable hour. So we got in a cab and headed over to a private lounge for what turned out to be a 6 hour meeting.

Drinking tea in the Desert or Wuxi in my case…

I had read recently that one of the reasons that the US is despised in the world is that their business acumen sucks. The evidence of this assertion is when US oil companies would go over to the middle east to negotiate oil pipeline deals, they would zip in for a few hours, long enough to get their legal documents signed and then quickly exit the country without bothering to stay awhile and sip tea and get to know their new partners.

In my time here in China, I have made an effort to spend as much time as possible to build relationships that will hopefully bear fruit in the near future. To illustrate this point I spent 6 hours in a meeting with 2 designers from Nanjing yesterday, talking about design, business, economics, consumer tastes and ways in which to grow business and derive profit from the design industry. We were in a very unique setting selected by the local Chinese designer who is native to Najing. It was a private lounge with comfy sofas and pretty girls coming in every 10 minutes to pour more tea and make sure we men were happy.

There were a few lessons learned about the Chinese style of hospitality. They will always try to get you to stay longer. The more you delay after saying it is time to go is a qualitative measurement of your interest in doing business long term with whom ever you are meeting with. Smoking! Smoking goes a long way to lubricate conversation and provide the necessary male bonding needed to feel comfortable about spending more RMBs on your new potential partner. The three of us polished off 2 packs of Korean and Chinese brand cigarettes in our time together meeting. I suppose we could have been more efficient in the use of our time, but the mechanical engineer in the group spoke very little English and I know next to no Chinese, so we had to have much of his ideas and inputs interpreted by his partner.

Getting up to use the restroom is an opportunity to create a little drama when you are asked a fresh and introspective question. I used the opportunity to say, “may I answer that after I use the restroom?” It was a tactic utilized well to create a little tension when I was asked some intimate financial questions.
So you see….drinking tea with the natives has many advantages to both business and ones relationship to those providing the tea.

Wuxi, China

wuxi train station

This video was captured on my way to Wuxi, China from Shanghai. Notice the polution and gray skies...

So…I’m positioned on the train now enroute to the city of Wuxi where I will meet my contact at the Wuxi Industrial Design Park.

As I look around at this amazing city, I cannot help but feel and uncanny sense of “future.” The energy level is potent, and the hoards of Chinese are as diverse as I have ever seen a group of any.

My pretense to this place has been pleasantly dismissed due to the rapid pace of life here. So many projects and creativity going on as far as the eye can see. From new housing along the ride from Pudong airport to the dozens of small construction vehicles digging and clearing the way for a more modern and efficient China. There is no sense of settled relaxation as all here are involved in coming or going on their way to becoming “rich.”

Visually, there is a distinct lack of chrome. There still exists a patina of old Shanghai as I looked at the old Bayer building outside my window at the Shanghai Panorama. Its architecture is pure Nazi Germany and its logo sits atop the pyramidal roof line that extends into the Shanghai skyline. Stone is everywhere and the dust from its use a building material is everywhere. The new of Shanghai is contained in the ___ communications tower the has become an Icon of this cities image. Lurking in the smog it towers above the bund and gives a rather unique sense of scale to an otherwise claustrophobic city experience.

Interruption….

I’ve just been bumped from my cozy window seat on the lower level to the upper level of the train due to my inept reccognization of my seat assignment. I’m now sitting in the middle of a 3 seat row and am without a table to use my what now is being true to its design as a “laptop” computer.

So…I am now on my way north. The only “gweilo” on board as far as I know, I stick out like a well manicured thumb…

Shanghai baby!

Whoa!

This place is big!

Eastern China Airline....delay!

Sitting here at Incheon after learning of a delay to my flight to Shanghai.

I guess my good omens have run out temporarily and I am now in "dues paying" mode as I prepare for my first trip to Shanghai. It is not surprising to experience such a snag as this will be probably the first of many trips to China in the near future and will need to experience a few bumps along the way to toughen up my Chinese chops.

I cannot get over how wonderfully this nation keeps everything so clean and well maintained! As I was standing in line waiting to check in there was what appeared to be a 50+ year old woman down on the floor with a razor blade removing some stuck on chewing gum. You would never see this in the states. It appears lately that no one is interested in such work. Whereas here in Korea, there is much discipline in keeping what they have in tip top shape for years to come.

Arriving in Korea

So here I am, Seoul!

I arrived last night comfortably around 6 pm and passed through customs with flying colors. I actually had some interesting conversation with a guy that sat next to me on the flight. He was an undergraduate student from New York attending school in Illinois and traveling to Seoul to work an internship at the Justice Department for the summer. I usually never enguage in chatting on long haul flights. So a good omen none the less.

I was accosted by the usual suspects as I emerged from the international terminal at Incheon.

"Taxi" "you need taxi?"

These guys will charge you equal to $115 just to drive you in their private car to Seoul. So I asked a few questions at the sidewalk transport area using my new Korean skills and boarded the limousine bus without being charged at all. Sweet! Good omen #2.

Seoul is foggy! I guess there was much rain the day before so it is remianing in the air and preventing me from seeing all of the vistas that Seoul usually has to offer on a sunny day.

Not staying here long, I'll hop a jet after breakfast to Shangahi today to persue the first phase of my trip and meet with several design related professionals in Shanghai and surrounding cities. Never been to Shanghai before, so am looking forward to some emperical exploring.

Memorial Day

So I'm down in the laudry room this morning doing a few loads before my trip, and I find this card pinned to the tennant bulletin board.

It then occurred to me that in today's climate, the so called war in Iraq has had quite the opposite effect as this card's sentiment portrays. Because of American foreign policy in the world today, my freedom has diminished and become inhibited. Others look at the US with disdain and we are not as well received when we move about the planet as Americans. I am concerned to travel abroad and tell others where I am a citizen of.

It is sad and tragic to consider how we are the most powerful nation in history, and we are choosing to !@#$% up our good name with such incompetence in the White House.

To the Veterans that fought the good fight and the ones who have fallen due to poor decicion making skills, I honor you this Memorial Day.

Intensive Blogging coming soon!

I leave for my trip to Asia next week, and will be blogging intensively throughout my travels to document the landscape, culture, personalities and food I encounter.

Cities on the intinerary include: Seoul,Korea Busan,Korea Changwon City,Korea Shanghai,China Wuxi,China Nanjing,China Wonju,Korea and Kangnung,Korea.

Half will be design oriented business travel and the other will be pure pleasure.

Topics of curiosity will be: Korean spa culture, Transportation options in Shanghai, Just what is an Industrial Designing Park, how do ODM firms partner with domestic and international resources to innovate and produce in the Shangahi area, what is a "serviced residence inn" in Seoul, how is Changwon City a city of industry and what floor could our new offices be in the Jin Mao tower.

All these questions and more will be answered in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

The safe harbour of a big brand client

As everyone in the consulting world knows, having a big brand client as a cash cow is definite security for your business.

They demand a lot in return for thier budget dollars that go into your firm. Setting the bar higher from a professional, design, innovation, intelligence or efficiency perspective is your responsibility as a consulting firm or individual. Sometimes the pressure is on, I mean really on!

The most fun and satisfying work to be had however is in the small startup or unknown branded company that does not have what I call "media neurosis" which is when large brands suffering from such ailment, have extended themselves so far into the propaganda world that they become victims of thier own image, thus unable to change to meet the new markets direction or keep pace with what is shaping the trends of the immediate future.

So when you feel yourself being sheltered from the storms of the globalised economy where there basically are no rules it seems, cast off your lines and get out there to see what is going on. Your BBC (big brand client) will appreciate you getting out there and taking a few rounds in the ass to benifit their existence as a giant.

Additionally, you will be able to actually create something new after such emperical research is completed, rather than regurgitating what you learned at the conference in NYC or Las Vegas last month. Creating your own trends or innovations for your small as well as larger clients is why you went off the radar and chose to plunge into the black hole of consulting....right?

Its a larger risk I know...but the rewards are equally as large.

The simple pleasures of life

The berries that make me smile...

The berries that make me high...

It is these berries I often wish would fall,

like raindrops from the sky.

Team Renault.....yo!

On his home turf, Fernando did it with flair and panache.

As this season gets underway and establishes a tone and a rythm, the rivalry between Alonso and Schumacher is getting a bit boring already. Let's get Button or someone from McLaren-Mercedes in there to mix it up and rub someone off the apron.

Too much predicatability borders on the banal.

Hopefully, Monaco will charge the savage beast in Weber or Raikkonen if there is one. Will be interesting to see the the air in Monaco will do to amp it up a bit.

The fear of never wanting again...Hunting the opposite sex.

In considering marriage as I do from time to time, I've thought a lot about the joys of the hunt. The first dates, the surprising discoveries, the mutual interests, the points of disagreement, the love and the love making.

When persuing a woman, it is always enjoayable for me, those first moments or dates that you both find out there is a spark of interest and then both agree to persue it further to light a fire.

In my past, inevitably I have moved on to hunt again due to my inability to "kill" my prey or "propose marriage", as the hunting analogy would go. One reality that I find in todays modern era is that the "prey" or females have gone to school on us men and have graduated from the hunting lodge themselves. Nowadays our manly tactics of hunting have been turned against us by some women only to produce a whole new generation of Femme Fatales, PMPs (Precious Metal Prospectors) or Hoochie Mommas to borrow from popular lexiconal usage.

These women enjoy the hunt just as much as men did and still do today. Perhpas I have just shed some of my naivete, and these women have been around forever. I contend however that the hunting landscape has indeed changed and is much more level and filled with emasculation mine fields.

So be careful when out on the plains, or in the urban jungle, or diving for clams gents, the prey you seek to kill is willing to bite back with cunning and ferocity, and in some cases will eat you alive and then move on themselves.

If you do find someone with whom you can drop all of your defenses with, and continue to explore eachother without offense, ridicule, cliches, sterotyping and other banalities, then put the elephant gun away, and lay down in the grass together only to sip wine and exchange stories from childhood.

If you do, I contend that it is always possible to go from hunter to King of the land with your new muse.

Christening the stick

So I ventured out into the surf yesterday on my new board.

Simply put....It was a magical experience for me.

I entered sea and paddled out near 1st break in Santa Cruz. The water was warm and the sun was beaming in a cloudless sky. I quickly realized that my tricepts, lats and rear deltoid muscles need more work if I am to increase my confidence level and stamina.

I managed some relatively good wave reading skills and was able to manuvre myself in and out of the surfzone as well trying to avoid getting buried by cresting waves. It only happend once, and I was thrashed about beneath the powerful wave that sucked me down about 10 ft moving at about 20-25 mph wave velocity. It was an adrenaline filled moment to look up at the wave moving overhead as I was sucked down into the blackness of the sea. There is no other feeling that can compare to being pulled under the water by a crashing wave while you are tethered to your board.

I did not catch any waves and was content to just make it out and back to the beach without and drama. A successful first reconnaisance mission if you will. By mid summer I should be ripping it up on Ocean Beach.

The best part of the day was when I walked by a Santa Cruz local dood carrying my spanking new unwaxed board in hand. As I passed him he yelled out,

"You know you got to put wax on that thing!"

The comment was priceless. As I must have looked the part of a true newphyte to his eyes. Little did he know I had a cake of wax hidden behind my hand.

Priceless!

The US continues its hardline

Of concern is the new shakeup within the CIA.

Ever since its conception, the CIA has had a civilian at the helm directing the intelligence or lack there of for the citizens of the US. Now we are considering a military general for the position. RED FLAG!!!

In order to carry out its foreign policy directives now, the current administration is needing military might within its own government to combat the forces of civility and diplomacy that are in place. This is extremely discouraging as a US citizen.

As I continue to develop my career as a professional, I am continually dismayed at the hurdles I will have to surmount overseas as a foreign businessman due to my governments insistence on using force instead of reason and diplomacy to solve problems and continue the good work of the US.

It is bad enough that my options are limited these days in the US due to globalization, and now I have to conduct business and build relationships with the additional task of defending where I am coming from and what I bring to the table.

Brace yourselves America. The world is watching as we become what we have for so long fought against! Tyranny and fascism.

Take a closer look...

The Galahad prayer

So...When I was a wee young lad, my mother instructed us in the wise prayers of Sir Galahad, Knight of the Round Table.

Oh God, give me clean hands, clean words, & clean
thoughts. Help me to stand for the hard right against
the easy wrong. Forgive me when I am unkind and help
me to forgive those who are unkind to me. Send me
chances to do a little good each day & so grow more
like my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

Sir Galahad is a bit of a candy-ass looking warrior to me now.

He no doubt had to fight doods like this guy.

Its Ferrari at Nuremburg

So it was Michael Schumacher at Nuremburg who took the checkered flag.

Alonso of Renault took second which earned him 8 points.

Scott Speed of the US finished at least but earned no points.

There is a delayed viewing down at Zeke's toady at 1pm but....kind of hard to enjoy knowing the results already.

The Chinese Consulate

So I was down at the Chinese consulate bright and early this morning to apply for my visa to visit Shanghai. I was talking to a woman who was standing in line for her brother who lives in Seattle. Evidently because there are only 5 offices in the US, you can have someone act on your behalf to process your application. I am fortunate that it is just down the street from me.

The line extended out the door and down the street indicating a rise in demand for entry visas into China. Although the majority of people standing in line were probably Chinese, many faces were of other ethinicities including mine. Demand for entry is up!

I tried for the 2 year $150 multiple entry visa, but was shut down and reduced to just a one year application due to not owning a business in China....yet.

We'll see if my plans to visit check out with the athorities. I was surprised to learn that I can pick up my visa in only 4 days.

Cal's offshore oil issues - part II

So I was in Huntington Beach over the weekend to buy a surfboard.

I was amazed to walk the streets of this mecca for surfing. Incuding the blight on the landscape provided in the above photo, just a block away from the main drag were small oil derreks pumping away right next to residential homes and near the modern retail establishments such as Starbucks, The Long Board restaurant and Diane's bikini shop.

All of this modern resort style living on the Pacific Ocean sharing the same realestate as Chevron, Exxon and others. I am sure no doubt that these smaller residential oil pumping stations are privately owned bt the citizenry of HB who in tern sell their precious black gold at market rates to the big oil companies.

I had to wonder the cancerous effects of having oil extraction and transportation so close to where the locals and so many touristas get their morning cup of coffee.

In driving around this southbay area of LA including; Newport Beach, Laguna and Costa Mesa there is tremendous wealth as indicated by the plethora of marinas housing beautiful works of naval architiecture. My guess is most of this wealth is closely tied to the oil industry.

Need to dig deeper and get more facts....