I highly recommend reading David Leonhardts In China, Cultivating the Urge to Splurge in the New York Times on the 24th, Its long, but spot-on, with great photos (the left sidebar, not so much the slide show) and goes beyond what youd think given the title. My experiences align directly with the observations David Leonhardt makes, particularly one I havent highlighted: the odd...
The alarm woke me at 5a, but I didnt get up until 6, when I rode the bike in the most beautiful (and least populated) gym I’ve even been in Then I met Claire for a day of sightseeing. We started off at the Jinsha Site Museum, which was terrific, way better than I had anticipated. Its comprised of an active dig site with a soaring modern building over it and a museum with tons of artifacts...
I was excited about meeting Joey Rennert, lho works at the American consulate and is a budding entrepreneur. I had seen him at startup weekend and asked Andy Mok for an introduction. Ed met in the hotel lobby, where we were served hot water with lemon. Joey is in Beijing now because his wife works for the State Department. He has worked for the Olympic Committee three (or four?) times well as...
Happy Thanksgiving! (not so much in China)Up at 5 this morning after a solid 8 hours (yeah!), quick visit to the gym then breakfast and off to South Station for the high-speed train to Tianjin. After missing photos of kids on the way home from school on the backs of bicycles, mopeds, etc yesterday, I missed them this morning on the way to school the same way. Here’s the best one I got: On...
Unfortunately I went back to my jetlag schedule and woke at 3a. At least I had time to work out (which I regretted later!) and watch some Mad Men before a conference call. Then it was off to the Great Wall of China.I had a private car, which is pretty standard, for 700 RMB (or $100). It took about 1:45 to get there, an hour of which was fighting through the Beijing traffic. At about Ring Road 5...
After some work, I took a Taxi to see the CEO at Gridsum, a company not unlike my own. We had a terrific sharing of ideas and perspectives and identified four potential ways to work together. I was very happy at that point not to have a dinner and was in bed at 10:30.
Supposedly, I was quoted on the radio about the Eisenhower Womens Leadership Conference and the transcript is posted, but I cant get to it. I dont know if thats because its not there or because its blocked here. Click at your own risk.
After 8 hours of sleep, I enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, then met Claire for an amazingly long taxi ride to Baidu. The traffic is horrible much worse than in August and much much worse Im told than a couple of years ago. On one stretch of the ride the driver said that what now takes 45 minutes used to take 10. Bill Bishop told me the drive to pick up his daughters has gone from 20 to 45 minutes...
I spent the last few days of my time in Philadelphia in my closing seminar, which happened to also overlap with the Eisenhower Fellowships Womens Leadership Conference. On Thursday the USA Fellows joined the 19 International Fellows for a day of leadership seminars. The International Fellows are an extraordinary group I wish I had more time with them. I did get to have lunch with Jane Shaw...
My dates were set and I got plane tickets and hotels this week! Weve made a major change and (m going to China twice rather than split between China and Korea. Although Im disappointed that I wont get to Korea, it makes more sense to concentrate my limited time in one country. Ill fly direct from Newark to Beijing on August 14th, spend a week there, then fly to Lhasa for a couple of days, and...
