China: Daily Re-Cap
Prior to my trip, I had intended to write a journal entry for each day and post it here. Once in China, however, I quickly realized the futility of my goal due to internet filtration as well as a distinct lack of free time. On the upside, my classmates and I were assigned group journal entries on our class blog, so the detail for each day of the trip is well covered. If you are interested in reading what we experienced each day, you can find the journal entries linked below (linked to calpolymbatrip.com):
- June 15-16, 2006: Travel from LAX to Shenzhen
- June 17, 2006: Shenzhen
- June 18, 2006: Shenzhen
- June 19, 2006: Shenzhen and Shanghai
- June 20, 2006: Shanghai
- June 21, 2006: Shanghai
- June 22, 2006: Shanghai
- June 23, 2006: Shanghai
- June 24, 2006: Shanghai and Wuzheng
- June 25, 2006: Hangzhou and Suzhou
- June 26, 2006: Suzhou
- June 27, 2006: Suzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing
- June 28, 2006: Beijing
- June 29, 2006: Beijing
- June 30, 2006: Beijing
- July 1, 2006: Beijing
- July 2, 2006: Travel from Beijing to LAX (no entry)
This entry was posted on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 11:08 pm and is filed under CalPoly MBA, China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
July 4th, 2006 at 4:34 am
Great to know you are back, Peter. Although the trip had plenty of official meetings arranged, I am still glad you saw some of the poverty and contradictions of modern China. I look forward to reading your class’s entries in greater depth.
July 4th, 2006 at 7:38 am
Jack,
I’m still a bit out of sorts from the trip and travel home but am itching to get my thoughts out while they are still fresh. I thought about our various conversations about China quite a bit during my visit and wished many times for the energy and freedom to post on my blog about interesting things I encountered during the day.
The poverty and wealth contrast was highly visible and manifested in many ways. I have seen some very distinct gaps prior to this trip, such as a million dollar waterfront condo and humble shanty in Mexico separated only by the width of a residential street, yet I think my experience in China takes the cake. The divide was everywhere we traveled.
I’ll be sifting through all of the photographs I took over the next day or two, as well as organizing my thoughts, and intend to cover more extensively this issue as well as many others.
July 5th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Peter,
I’m glad to see that you all had fun while being in China and got to see the many different things it has to offer. I do agree with you though about seeing the juxtaposition China has to offer with the filthy rich versus the average poor person trying to make it in life. You know, if we keep things up the way we do here in the good old USA, we might end up like that soon as the middle class dwindles down to nothingness. I hope that never happens though and that we get our act together as a country so that scenario will never play out here. It’s good to see you back up on your blog, I kept checking it over your trip to see if any entries were up but I’m sure you were way too busy to keep logging on. Well, hope you get some rest and we’ll keep in touch. Oh, and I’m still trying to work out a trip to the east coast so that way I’ll be able to visit you when you are there. Take Care.
July 5th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Paul: It’s great to hear from you! I’m glad we got a chance to IM that one day (I think I was in Shenzhen, right?) and I kept looking to see if you were online for the rest of the trip. We only were able to hang out with JingWei for a few days but were very glad to have had the opportunity — by the way, his girlfriend/fiancé (I don’t think he has proposed yet) is very sweet.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to access my blog at all while in China. I had intended on making daily entries, but in the end am somewhat grateful for the inability to write. The little bit of down time I had (er…allowed myself…) was spent trying to get in touch with Megan and my son, and usually in the wee hours of the morning. Anything I may have had time to write on the blog would have been rushed and somewhat incoherent. I’m going through all of my photographs right now and intend to make posts for each day with images and extra commentary (in addition to what was posted via the team journals on calpolymbatrip.com). Hopefully I’ll have the first one up by the end of the day today.
The trip wasn’t the same without you — we’ll have to plan something out for the future.
I leave for Boston in a few weeks and am still unsure about what the next few months to a year will look like. Azad planted a seed in my head about traveling to Tehran, and to various other areas of Iran, and I am very seriously considering it. The one thing holding me back is missing such a big chunk of my son’s life — he changed so much in the 2-3 weeks that I was gone. We shall see…
Let me know what kind of plans you have to head out east. I look forward to hanging out, having a bit of wine, and contemplating the complexities of society with you again soon!
July 6th, 2006 at 10:06 am
You know, the coolest thing about this trip in my opinion is that you guys got to meet up with JingWei while you were in Shenzhen. I mean how many times are you able to meet up with a friend you met at school in a country about 6000 miles away from home? I haven’t met JingWei’s girlfriend but maybe soon if they get engaged or even married in the future. It sounds like you guys all got more than maybe you were hoping for on this business trip to China. I would have loved to have gone with you all as well but knowing my work schedule, it would have been really tough to make all those meetings held every week to prepare everyone for the trip itself.
As for Boston, when exactly are you going to arrive there? Are you still driving across the country? I have vacation coming up at the end of the month starting July 23rd. I’m not sure if you will be there by then, but I would still like to visit Boston and New York anyways. I think it would be a nice experience for me to travel to the other side of the country since I have never been past Nevada but have gone to Thailand twice.
Like you said Peter, being able to communicate vis-a-vis the Internet while overseas is a great thing since it is instantaneous communication and dirt cheap to free. It was cool talking to you on AIM that one day but I think I might have missed you the other times you probably logged on and I wasn’t there. I would go on for a little bit and if you didn’t pop up, I left, but maybe I should have just left the computer on?? I don’t know about the Iran trip, it would be a trip of a lifetime for sure. Is Azad going to take you around if you go??
Well, it was nice to hear back from you and as soon as you know when you’ll get to Boston, let me know, because I’m trying to head out that way this summer as long as one of my friends can get time off, but he’s not sure about it yet. Say hi to Megan and Caleb for me when you get a chance. Talk to you later.
July 8th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Paul: The database that runs my blog has been a bit temperamental the past few days, so I apologize for taking so long to reply. I agree that it was a wonderful experience to meet up with JingWei while we were in Shenzhen. I still remember rolling into the hotel, haggard from our very long day of traveling, and seeing his smiling face greeting us in the lobby. I regret that we didn’t get more time to hang out and travel with him.
The trip was definitely a powerful experience. Truth be told, I am still decompressing and reflecting on things. I don’t think I felt this way during the trip, but in hindsight, I don’t think I would change anything. We had a great mix of business, culture, fun, challenging moments, and a host of “human” moments as well.
I am not sure when I am scheduled to arrive in Boston. We are in the process of selling our photography business, and depending on how long that takes, I could arrive in late July or early August. Right now, early August looks more likely. I have been planning on leaving July 24th, and will probably stick to that date, giving myself about two weeks to make the drive and have enough time to explore as well. If we can’t hook up during a time that coincides with your vacation, please know that you are always welcome and have a place to stay wherever I am.
I’m still tossing around the trip to Iran. I’d most likely fly into Tehran and spend some time with Azad and then take off on my own, perhaps traveling around by train. I read the various State Department notices, which seem to indicate that much of the country is okay to travel in, as long as you steer clear of the border areas. I don’t look (or hopefully act) like an American, so I doubt I’ll have too much trouble.
How’s work treating you? When are you scheduled to head back to SLO?