Day Thirty

Well blog boys and girls, this will sadly be my last post. I am nearing hour 10 on my 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Detroit (trust me, there have been several jokes as to how we ended up with Detroit as our first steps back onto US soil) and thought I would take this time to reflect on the last four weeks and what major takeaways I have had from each country. I have really loved blogging and it makes me happy to know that you are all still reading from your various corners of the world. It truly is a global society and I cannot believe that I have had this incredible opportunity to travel around Southeast Asia.

Looking wayyyy back to Singapore, it seems like forever ago that Virginia and I were hauling it through various airports just trying to get there. This was definitely the easiest city to get around by far and possibly the safest city on earth. It's worth reading up on Singapore's political system if you aren't familiar with it, they just had a reasonably groundbreaking election where although no power really changed hands, it sent a clear message to the ruling party to watch out and not get too complacent. This was definitely the country that I felt the most pressure from the government, for better or for worse. All in all Singapore was a beautiful city but intensely regulated and probably not somewhere I'd ever live. Just visit every now and again.

Borobudur after sunrise

Indonesia was next. Our experience in Sunda Kelapa and the Kota slums was really life changing for me. Understanding how people live and what types of backgrounds they come from is extremely fascinating to me and I feel that I leaned way more walking around that day than I ever did sitting in some executive boardroom. We would always talk about the amazing growth that these markets are seeing but I can’t help but think it’s a bit isolated and superficial when huge city centers are being built around the impoverished areas and just scooting them aside. Our weekend in Jogja tacked on to the end really made Indonesia come to life for many of us, specifically while watching the sunrise on Borobudur and interacting with local students. At this point in the trip I think we needed to get away from the city lights and see the real country for what it is. You cannot teach this stuff, you have to see it with your own two eyes and it’s amazing when you do.

watching a dance performance at the hotel

Vietnam was the country I was most waiting for. The company visits have all kind of blurred in my head but I will always remember everything we learned about the war during our brief stay. I'd like to be able to visit the north someday just to see the difference between the two that we were only exposed to through broad discussion. Crawling through the tunnels and walking on the same ground that so many soldiers before had was a weird feeling. I think we tend to get so detached from history that it starts to seem like a story and not a real life event that actually occurred and affected people around the world. Saigon was such a youthful, vibrant city and although Vietnam most certainly still has its problems, I would consider living here one day to try it out for a while.

 

And finally Hong Kong. I said it before and I’ll say it again, what a beautiful city. Our professor always said this might be his favorite city on earth and now I understand why. I didn’t even get to scratch the surface in seeing things around the islands so I will most certainly be back if not to work than simply to play for a while. There were so many things to do and see in and around Hong Kong that I don’t know how you couldn’t have a fantastic time. There was a part of me that thought while I was packing that I might just stay for a while. I mean why not? I don’t really have any solid reasons to come back to the United States so why not enjoy some time abroad? 

Me and Lena

At the end of our stay in Hong Kong we had a brief, makeshift commencement ceremony since technically this is the end of our careers at McIntire. It’s a weird feeling finally being done with school- graduating last year was hardly sentimental since I left most of my friends behind to graduate this year and I knew I still had one year left of school. It was almost like a preschool graduation or something sandwiched in-between the real events. They rattled off all of our names and we watched a slideshow of events from the past four weeks from both the China trip and the Southeast Asia trip. It definitely all started to get very real, very fast and I think frightened some people about what’s to come.

Rooms at last, me and Katrina

Our final event Saturday night was a cruise out to Lamma Island where we had an incredible seafood dinner on the water. We then came back to the main island for an evening of drinking and dancing until slowly one by one people peeled off and said their goodbyes as we were all off to our next stop starting early in the morning. Goodbyes are always tough, especially when they are chaotic and you are all just hanging out on a street in Hong Kong after four long weeks of travel. There were many tears and laughs and just utter chaos as people headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready to go. My group was supposed to leave at 9:10am but got delayed until 7:40pm which has now gotten us stranded stateside in Detroit of all places at the ever lovely Quality Inn.

final night

I did manage to fit in some quality entertainment on my plane ride, seeing as how I cannot sleep in public places. I started with ‘How do you know,’ which was decent, ‘Country Strong’ which I LOVED, tried to nap for an hour unsuccessfully, decided to watch ‘gone with the wind’ since I had never seen it and I had some serious time to kill, next I watched ‘wall street 1&2’, then ‘rabbit hole’, and finally the E! True Hollywood story on Katy Perry to round out the final hours in the sky. My seatmate spoke zero English and had a problem with staying upright in his chair which was really irritating the passenger on his other side. By the time we finally got here to Detroit, we were all so delirious and disastrous that we could barely drag our luggage through the airport. 

If I’ve learned anything on this trip, it’s to expect the unexpected. I have made so many wonderful friends traveling around Asia and I look forward to staying connected to all of them in the near and distant future. I don’t know what’s next for me yet, but I have never been so excited and refreshed to see where my world is headed next. Signing off - Becca

Day Twenty-Seven

Sorry blogworld- I’ve been neglecting you! It has been such a busy week in Hong Kong that I haven’t had too much time to sit down and write. I don’t have a whole lot of new news, most of this week has been spent in class/boardrooms where I can only look at Hong Kong through a glass box but here goes anyway. You will notice that most of my pictures are of skylines given my general distance from the ground. Not many up close yet.

Sunday was our first night here in Hong Kong where we met up with our China friends who had been traveling throughout that country for the last three weeks. We all went out to dinner at a local Mexican place (something we had all been craving) where we shared stories and got caught up to speed on what each of the groups had been doing for the past few weeks. Some people stayed out for fun, I headed back to the hotel to unpack and get ready to go for this last full week of chaos.

Monday started off at the US Consulate where we listened to a few people talk about Hong Kong and Macau. In case you were wondering, there are roughly 7 million people here and they have an interesting relationship with mainland China and how they are governed. We then spent the next 5 hours with E&Y Hong Kong where we listened to various speakers talk about Asia-Pacific as a region, capital markets, investing in China, and finally a close-out session on how to start a career in Hong Kong. I’d tell you what I learned except sitting in classrooms from 9-6 doesn’t bode well for the memory and it is all starting to blur together as the entire trip becomes part of my memory.

Monday evening we had another UVA Alumni reception at the Garden Lounge. If I have learned anything from these receptions it’s that there are a ton of UVA alums all around the world which is pretty neat. It’s a very tight knit community which has a pretty impressive footprint in a lot of different industries and professions

Tuesday was another long class day from 9-4 where we heard about things like investment banking, private equity, and a brief marketing break-out session which was much appreciated. This week has been real heavy on the finance which means half of us have had no idea as to what is being said in class. Yay for the marketing and management track?!

I haven't been taking good pictures, down at Stanley

Tuesday evening we went out to a place called Stanley that has a lot of fun shops and bars to wander in and out of. Hong Kong is a lot like San Francisco with windy streets that run up and down the coastline. We were planning on walking along the beach but it’s probably worth mentioning that all week we have been in a tropical cyclone warning. Excuse me? So this was a rainy outing that was cut short when people were tired of getting wet/wanted to get back to the hotel and get some sleep.

Wednesday morning we listened to a few people from Walmart Asia speak for several hours about their supply chain and retail strategy when entering foreign markets. This was kind of a strange session- the speaker was highly defensive and pretty much turned and twisted any question we asked into something completely different. We had a fantastic speaker after lunch, Mr. T.L. Tsim who spoke broadly about China and its role in the world. Sometimes you can just tell when someone is going to be brilliant and this man most certainly was. 

Taking the tram to the races

Wednesday night was one of the best outings we have had in a while. Most of us went to the Races at Happy Valley where people could bet on various horses and just hang out and have a good time. The only other horse race I have ever been to is Fox Field which hardly counts when you compare it to something like this. It rained off and on, given the whole cyclone issue, but for the most part we stayed dry and watched several races where most of us just picked our winners based on their fantastic names like Majestic Heart or Sleep Well. Once we had exhausted all of our betting skills, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Thursday.

Katrina and I at the races

Way cool venue

Watching one of our horses get ready!

Thursday morning we were back with a professor where we learned a little bit about De Beers diamonds and how consumer marketing varies between eastern and western cultures. Thursday afternoon we had a few hours of free time that were supposed to be for fun but we were all so tired that many of us decided to go home and nap in order to get ready for our evening session of class. Whoever thought that was a good idea was sorely mistaken. We were all so ill-prepared for class, the professor had to drag us through the discussions a bit which included firestone tires expanding into Asia and a pipeline being built between Myanmar and Thailand. Interesting topics, just not on one of our last nights in Hong Kong you know?

Thursday evening was the first night I really went out; it’s been a struggle this week. We went to an area called wan chai where we floated around a few different bars. I didn’t last long and came home around 1:30 leaving most of my classmates to fend for themselves. Now that it’s the end of the trip I have conflicting feelings- I am so tired and run down that I want to sleep all the time yet we are almost done so maybe I don’t need sleep?

at the top of the peak

So, today, easily one of the most fantastic days of my life. Pegged as our one and only free day this week, I was thrilled to sleep in for once and rolled out of bed around 9:30 and unconcernedly got ready for the day. I had ambitious plans to fit in as much as I possibly could during this day but that immediately flew out the window when we decided to charter a boat to take us around to all the islands in the region. Best decision ever. Before boarding the boat, Matt and I decided to go to this place called the peak which gives you a 360 view of Hong Kong. We didn't time this terribly well and only made it halfway around the peak before we had to meet our friends at the pier. For a measly 40 dollars a person, we chartered this fantastic ‘junk boat’ for about 6 hours where we just hung out, drank some beer, and floated around possibly the most beautiful city on earth. I know I said everyone needs to go to Jogjakarta but you really need to go to Hong Kong. It is incredible. 

hanging out on the boat

top deck of the boat, got a little wild walking around, lots of falls

our boat from the shore

floating around the many islands

At one point we all were in the water swimming, in the South China Sea I think, and all these tiny fish started to leap out of the water. This was one of the funnier things I have ever seen- twenty college kids floating around on noodles and plastic inner tubes while trying to stay calm/not drop their beer in the water during complete and utter chaos. Next thing I know people are cannon-balling off the second floor of our boat and pretty much all hell breaks loose. Such an unbelievable afternoon.

swimming in the sea with the tiny fishies

Now we are all back at the hotel, sun-kissed and exhausted, trying to decide what’s in store for this evening. The more I sit here the more I think I may just put on pj’s and call it a night. Rooming alone in Hong Kong is good for space but bad for motivation to do anything. Our final night is tomorrow where we will do final presentations on our projects and have a farewell cruise/dinner out on Lamma Island. After tomorrow I will officially be a UVA McIntire graduate. Cheers! - Becca

Day  Twenty-Two

It really just keeps getting better and better. I am currently on my flight from Saigon to Hong Kong where we will join up with some classmates that have been traveling through China for the past three weeks. We have left the budget airlines behind (thank the lord) and are now flying Cathay Pacific who has a fabulous in-flight entertainment system. We are also on a much larger plane with probably 300 some people. Must be a highly traveled route between the two cities to warrant a plane this big.

Backtracking through the last few days in Vietnam, on Thursday we went and toured a waste management factory which as you can imagine smelled like the sewer. They tried to explain to us that garbage here is much more wet given the poor infrastructure and amount of fresh things that go into it like fruits and whatnot that make it so disgusting. Don’t take our dry trash for granted in the United States anyone because we do NOT want this type of trash floating around our country. The center recycles what plastic and cardboard it can since there is really no other recycling across the city. I don’t really know what happens to everything else, all I know is there is trash everywhere and I could have done without this particular class visit.

After this was one of the best experiences of the trip. We went to cu chi and crawled through the tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the Vietnam War. This entire area was wooded and jungly with several tunnel entrances still intact as well as trap doors hidden throughout. You can see some of the pictures below that show us crawling through the tunnels (which I am told have been widened a bit to accommodate tourists but you can still see how small they are) as well as people going down through trap doors. We also got a lesson in booby traps which was all kinds of frightening and disturbing. So barbaric and simple yet effective. Who needs modern technology when you can just get em with wood and nails? Our tour guide all week actually fought for the South during the war and had some fascinating stories to tell us about his time spent in reeducation camps and his experience with training and fighting and capture. It was truly riveting.

tiny tiny trap door

Garrett going though such hole

part of the tunnel system

Yeah, you can shoot AK47s and M60s..

Julia and Laura crawling the tunnels in front of me

Thursday evening we had a girl’s dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant as we were in much need of anything not Asian. We tend to have segregated dinners for whatever reason, boys one place girls the other and then meeting at some chosen spot thereafter. From here, we went to a rooftop bar at the Caravelle hotel where we listened/danced to Latin music. Lots of dancers on this trip, we always have a fantastic time when we get anywhere with live music and any version of a dance floor.

Caravelle Bar

Friday morning we visited a bakery/food company, Kinh Do, as well as a pharmaceutical company. It’s interesting how regulations are different in different parts of the world. The pharmaceutical company literally let us wash our hands, wear doctor-like getups, and wander around the facility where they were processing and packaging drugs. In our child-like state, we called each other Nurse Ramirez or Dr. Fan as we walked around looking at enormous quantities of pills and other drug components. I get the feeling that would never fly in the United States…

Friday afternoon we had some time off and Lisa and I covered some serious ground shopping around Saigon. It is really popular to get clothes made here because it is so cheap so naturally all of us found tailors in the area to get random things made. Lisa got a few dresses and I got a silk robe that’s white, and magenta, and green. So lovely and fun because it is truly my size. That evening we had another girl’s dinner at a popular Thai place and met up with the boys at our favorite Vietnamese bar- Saloon 17. It was just as entertaining the second time around because not only did the band remember us but many of my classmates sang along with them giving the entire bar quite the show. After this, we went to a bar called Apocalypse Now (how fitting) where we stayed out until 3:30 or so dancing and being crazy kids.

loading the boat for the river cruise

Saturday morning was a rough one as we all rolled out of bed around 7:30 to go visit the Mekong Delta which is known as Vietnam’s ‘rice basket’. Here we took a nice boat ride down the river where we could look at the coastline and enjoy a nice morning. We got off at a few different places where we rode canoes similar to the one’s in Indonesia down a canal and another where we watched them make coconut candy and snake wine (super creepy). We then got off at a third stop to enjoy a nice lunch complete with an entire fish placed in the center of the table. It decided to pour rain while we ate so most of us got wet due to our beachy hut not quite being adequate for blowing water. We ultimately had to buy ponchos just to get back to the boat/bus to begin the long ride home unless you wanted to ride home in damp clothes. Steven and I had to relocate to the front of the bus because our seats had crazy amounts of cold air blowing at us which we dealt with on the way there but were in no mood to deal with on the way back in our tired, damp state.

Riding in canoes

snake wine, creeeeepppy

Our lunch

Saturday evening we had a nice big group dinner in honor of Garrett’s birthday at a local brew house. I need to be better about keeping track of names; this was a really neat place with twinkle lights and kind of an open air feel. I wish I had pictures- many of the boys ordered full liters of beer while Laura and I had to settle for our baby half liters. We have been really good about ordering a wide variety of dishes at dinner so everyone can sample different things. I ordered crab spring rolls which unfortunately came with the claws poking out of them. If you know anything about me, you know that I do not like to eat things that look like they were when they were alive (think peeling shrimp, clams, etc.) it really weirds me out so this was a stretch. From here some people went out for one last night on the town, my crowd decided to go bowling which turned into a boys against girls match. Naturally the boys won, I am convinced bowling is kind of like golf where it is just a totally different game between the boys and the girls and it’s tough to compare. 

Packing sucked per the usual. Kermit is sooooo extremely heavy. I think I am still under the weight limit but just barely. I’ve started to transfer weight to my carryon bags which doesn’t do me much good because then I have to cart them through the terminals. I seem to be collecting things that I’m worried will get broken in a checked back so I hoard them in my purse through the airports. We are beginning our final descent into Hong Kong- it is absolutely beautiful. The runway literally starts at the shoreline which is making me anxious. The plane has a camera on the bottom of it so you can watch what’s happening on your tv as we fly through the skies which is pretty cool. It will be weird to mix in with familiar yet distant faces from the China crew today and see how the group dynamics change. Here’s to one last final hurrah - Becca

Views from my hotel room

so cool

Hello Hong Kong