Wanderlust Heaven!

Moved over to friend Sam’s flat afte checking out of the Merdien Cyberport. Felt good to be back in the heart of the city – Sam and his family, with whom I stayed back in July 2006, live a couple MTR (metro) stops away from Wan Chai so they’re near everything. Dropped off my stuff, said hi to their kids Ken and Dexter (how they’ve grown), and went over to Wan Chai to do my usual slew of errands.

Picked up a bunch of Lonely Planet guidebooks – the spanking new Mongolia book, as well as the Russia/Belarus and the Trans-Mongolian Railway books. Yes, LP has a book devoted to riding the TMR – although I suspect it’s largely a rehash of the good bits from their Russia, Mongolia and China books, with a bit of trainy customization in there. Now I really feel weighed down with crap…

Worked on my Mongolia bookings – that promised to require more work in the week ahead. Was somewhat concerned about the usual hitches – visas, flight tickets, etc. But I’ve been through this process so many times (albeit not for Mongolia) that I wasn’t too concerned. Somehow, with a bit of foresight and some hard cash, things would work out…

Went to dinner that night with Emmett, my old boss at Monitor in Asia. Emmett’s very personable and always good company. Grace, his assistant, had emailed me the restaurant name and location. When I got there, a few minutes early, the address was not a restaurant but a boutique shop. I didn’t have a working mobile with me, so had to track down a payphone, which proved difficult. Finally found one, called Emmett, and got his voicemail. Called Grace, got her at home, she was clueless (as usual), and promised to get back online and figure out the problem. I told her I’d call back in 5 minutes.

I called back…no answer. Tried Emmett again…voicemail. I was now annoyed, sweaty, and thinking of punting. Called Grace again…got her, but she was no help. She had called the restaurant directly (as I presume she had earlier, when making a booking – couldn’t she have checked the address then?), but told me the person she spoke with was Filipino and she couldn’t understand him well. Torture. I asked her where Emmett now was – the restaurant. Bingo. I said bye to Grace, with a snarl, then tried Emmett again. Got him – got the street address – finally. Walked up there in a few minutes and there was Emmett. I silently (well, not so silently) cursed Grace and went inside with Emmett. I swear I’ve been through this shit with Grace dozens of times before – what kind of assistant can’t make a simple restaurant booking and get the address straight??

Enjoyed chatting with Emmett, who left Monitor about a year ago and who’s now with a Japanese private equity firm. Had the usual Monitor gossip, talked about travel spots, and polished off a good bottle of red. Emmett put the fear of god in me about my pending China visa…told me that China was really busting balls these days. I crossed my fingers – my passport had a few old China visas in there and I assumed that would be helpful in the current process. We said our goodbyes and took off. We tend to see each other about once a year and it’s good to catch up that regularly.

Went to Wan Chai for a few cocktails before heading back to Sam’s. Sam had told me he’d be working till midnight, at least, so I had some time before then to check out the latest Wan Chai offerings. Went to old standby Boracay – saw old friend Annie the waitress – listened to ‘Neither One of Us’ by Dionne Warwick, sung with precision and heart by the in-house Filipino band. Then I went back to Sam’s – but he was nowhere to be found and I assumed he was still stuck at work, so I dozed off, dreaming of double-entry China visas and pleasant Immigration officials in Mongolia…

Went over to Lantau Island the next day – hadn’t been there in ages, and was dying to spend an hour or two at The Stoep, a fantastic little South African restaurant on Lower Cheung Sha Beach. Got on the ferry, got to Lantau, and got on the local bus. The Cheung Sha Beach stop was a little confusing, but managed to figure it out, and find The Stoep. Hadn’t been there in 7-8 years, they’ve put some money into it, but the basic layout, overlooking the lovely beach, is unchanged. I ordered a Windhoek Lager from Namibia, then a Tafel Lager from the same country, an order of huge meatballs, and an ostrich steak with green peppercorn sauce. South Africans do love their meat. Read my new Mongolia guidebook and dreamed of wide open spaces with mountains and deep blue lakes.

Got back to town – went over to Monitor to see Jessica and check in on my visa, which was still top of mind. She hadn’t heard anything from the travel agent, which was good news. I’d see her later that night, and she’d bring my passport with new visa, if all went according to plan. Later that afternoon she emailed me and said the passport came back with a double-entry visa – brilliant. With that, I could always return to China if I couldn’t get to Russia or other lands. My backstop was now in place.

Kept working on my Mongolia flight ticket. Booked a room at a guesthouse, Zaya, in Ulaan Bataar. Things were falling (well, getting pushed) into place. Coordinated with friend John in Shanghai, as he was joining me in Mongolia. Went back to Sam’s flat…his wife Genvieve was there, with her a cappella group, practicing. They were trying out the James Bond songbook – Nobody Does It Better, the opening tune from the movies, and a few others. Every guy loves the Bond stuff so I hummed right along and ate the onion soup she fed me for dinner. I do envy Genvieve and Sam – they’re both quite musical and involved in singing groups – it’s a really nice hobby (or whatever you want to call it). Later that night Sam and Genvieve told me music stories, including one about a fellow they knew who had perfect pitch – apparently a talent only 1 in 10,000 people have. Daunting.

Went out that night, Friday night, with a bunch of Monitor alumni – Sam (and Genvieve), Yuhin, and Jessica (who’s back at Monitor). Met at Mes Amis in Wan Chai – a very convivial spot. It was Yuhin’s birthday so I treated him, and the gang – we had a great time chatting and trading old stories. Yuhin had a wedding the next day and was best man, so we didn’t stay out particularly late. Also, I was flying up to Shanghai and had had a few big nights recently, so was happy to turn in before an ugly hour…

Next morning, said bye to Sam & family, and flew up to Shanghai, double-entry visa in hand. I still didn’t have my Mongolia flight booked, so had prepared, as a contingency, a bogus e-ticket showing me flying out of Urumqi, China to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in a few weeks – a piece of paper with real flight info, cribbed from the online sites. I’ve done this before, just in case someone (in HKG or in China) wanted proof that I wouldn’t be spending the rest of my life in China. Of course, whenever I go to the trouble of doing something like this, I’m never asked for it. Still, piece of mind. And, of course, no one in either HKG or China gave me any trouble, so I didn’t need it.

Friend Craig’s driver picked me up at Pudong Airport. We stopped at Carrefour en route to Craig’s house, to pick up a bottle of wine, which I’d neglected to deal with in HKG. The Carrefour in Pudong is massive, with probably 30 checkout lines. I wasn’t thrilled to kill an hour in line, but a woman in front of me, who had a zillion items, let me cut in front – in fact, it was her idea. Very kind of her – who says the Chinese aren’t pleasant and polite folks? I thought it was a very nice gesture and thanked her profusely.

Got to Craig’s place, which turned out to be a real palace in a gated community in far Pudong. Hadn’t seen his wife since they got married back in 1996…and hadn’t ever seen their adorable daughters Ally and Anna. Craig heads up a consulting outfit in Shanghai and is working his balls off, but somehow still finds time to exercise and spend time with his family. We went to b-school together in the States, worked together on the school newspaper, and have had more than our share of laughs together. Truly criminal that we hadn’t seen much of each other over the years – since his wedding, we’d only met once, in Tokyo, 3-4 years ago. Gotta remedy that.

We went out that night to Mediterraneo in Puxi, and met the balance of my friends in Shanghai – quite a few, surprisingly. John, my Mongolia sidekick, Jake my old fraternity brother and his wife Abby, Derek, Yichung, and Miriam, all former Monitor colleagues. Sat around a big table out in the garden (a large garden, perhaps the largest in Shanghai) and told stories for 4 hours. Craig was exhausted from working till 4 a.m. that day, so we called it a night around 2 a.m. and his driver Stephen took us back to Pudong. Craig actually did a bit more work that night – I had flashbacks to my consulting years. Jeez…

Noticed how slow Internet access was. The ‘Great Firewall of China’ was most likely to blame – everything goes through their filters and objectionable stuff raises red (no pun intended) flags. Really annoying – you do feel like Big Bro is watching you. I couldn’t access Al & Janine’s blog to catch up on their wanderings, and that’s probably because it didn’t get through the firewall. I could access my slog, which makes me wonder if I’ve been too nice in my jottings. Maybe in a few weeks this entry will get me blocked as well?…

Had to get some camping gear before flying to Mongolia. Had heard from friend Nigel about Decathlon, a branch of a French sporting goods maker, and the store was right near Craig’s house. Biked over there with Craig and Madeleine. The store was terrific – got a nice pair of hiking shoes for about US$50, a sleeping bag for about the same, and a few other items too. Madeleine bought a good bike for about US$100. Incredible value. Went out to ride the bikes back home – it was pouring out. Decided to go for it – had some close calls with autos at traffic signals, but made it back in one piece and only 50% soaked. Already having adventures even before setting foot in Mongolia!

Craig continued to be plagued with ‘fire drills’ at work – he was able to work from home (it was a Sunday), but was glued to his computer. He likes to listen to music while working on slides, much as I did back in the day. He’s incredibly good-natured about having to work so hard – he’s been with the same firm for 15 or so years and is probably used to it, although I suspect he’s getting closer to being fed up. All consultants have a shelf life…

Read a book that I’ve been sitting on for years, The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. He writes a column for The New Yorker (which, John later told me, isn’t allowed in China – give me a fucking break), and he’s a witty and accessible biz journalist. I enjoyed the book – partly because I was happy to finally tackle it and get through it, but mostly because it was so practical and interesting. His thesis is that the right sort of group – large enough, diverse, with independent thinkers who have some way of aggregating/sharing their opinions – almost always makes better decisions than a single or a few brilliant individuals. His case studies are fairly compelling. He does not claim that a group is good at invention or product development – history is strewn with great examples of solo inventors – Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, etc. – but his point is that once something is made available, groups/populations are the right mechanism for deciding success and failure. Individuals invent, groups sift.

Lots in the book about the 2 NASA space shuttle disasters. Surowiecki points out that groups make lots of bad decisions, if they’re poorly configured and don’t have independent thinkers. The Columbia crash in 2003 (I think), was instructive, in that the group leader chaired meetings in which she basically said, ‘We don’t need to worry about the damage caused by the piece of foam that broke off and hit the protective panels because anyway there’s nothing we can do about it, right?’ Really, she said something along those lines, and the team fell right into place. Sub-teams analyzing the data had found potential for disaster, but the overall group’s dynamics were so top-down and guiding that there was not much room for argument and dissent. So nothing got done and the shuttle burned up upon re-entry. A far cry from Apollo XIII in 1968.

His point there is that groups are complex in nature, and can easily go astray. Having diversity, independence, decentralization, and a means of aggregating opinions is critical – and by inference he claims that it’s critical to have a well-educated, opinionated populace. I’ve always felt that way – if we educate our people poorly, we’ll all pay – we’ll wait in long lines because cashiers can’t count, products won’t work because line workers can’t read, crime will be higher because people won’t have job skills, etc. So let’s get on with it, people.

Craig’s travel agent hooked me up with surprisingly cheap flight tickets to Beijing and onward to Ulaan Batuur. Half as much as I expected to pay. Not something that happens to me often enough – I was gleeful as I imagine spending the balance on other stuff, perhaps a flight to Kazakhstan to hang out with Borat if my Russian visa didn’t come through in UB.

Went for a run around the housing complex – it was very hot and I didn’t last that long. Craig was putting me to shame – sleeping just a few hours a night, doing ‘core strength’ exercises on a Sunday morning, biking for a while, then running. I don’t think the guy wastes a moment – in contrast to my usual sloth and lying about.

Went over to the Carrefour complex for lunch with Craig and Madeleine – in the basement floor there’s a food court stuffed with fantastic Chinese food joints. Craig and I split a plate of dumplings – Madeleine made the mistake of sitting across from me, and when I bit into a dumpling the innards squirted across the table onto her shirt. Slightly shocking – I had in fact tried to puncture the dumpling to allow the soupy contents to drop out, but hadn’t done it thoroughly. We all ended up laughing about it – Chinese food can be very messy stuff.

Craig and I then went to JinMaio Tower, where he works. His travel agent was sending over the flight tickets and I’d pay for them there. Craig disappeared into his office and wasn’t seen again till 8:30 that night when he got home. I got the tickets and his driver took me back to Craig’s house, where I read my Surowiecki and Mongolia books till dinnertime.

En route to Craig’s, Stephen handed me a note – it said ‘National Crisis Day.’ By that he meant that it was a day of mourning for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake, the body count’s now well above 50,000 and the country seems to have come together impressively to commemorate the tragedy. Stephen pulled the van over to the side of the ride – as did all other cars on Century Avenue. Then they all started honking their horns at precisely the minute of the day the earthquake had hit, right around 2:30 p.m. It was extremely loud, yet touching as well – they honked for 3 straight minutes, then stopped and resumed driving. These are the sorts of experiences that stay with you – I kept Stephen’s little note, here it is:

Switching gears now – Madeleine is quite a cook, and puts out a very nice table from breakfast through to dinner. Their family eats quite well, and healthily, under her watchful gaze. I didn’t have one piece of junk during my 3-4 days there and I felt great as a result. Perhaps I really should get married one of these days? Sorry if that sounds sexist, I think you know what I mean…

Next day I went over to Ye Gardens in Puxi, largely to get my fix of dumplings at Nanjing Famous Steamed Bun House. Longtime readers might recognize this place from my blog entries from mid-2006, the last time I was in Shanghai. This place is a classic joint that serves only xiao long bao, the famous Shanghainese dumplings filled with crab and soup. Delicious little pieces of heaven. Got my little styrofoam container of these after waiting for nearly a half hour on line – the norm. Considered getting two orders, but that would have been too much. There was a small uproar – a tiny feral kitten had wandered into view and someone picked it up and got it out of there. The thing was absolutely miniscule and scraggly, I don’t think I’d ever seen such a sad feline in my life, not even the wild scar-faced kitten I’d seen while waiting for a bus to Hampi, India.

The takeout window clerks were all wearing smiley face buttons – perhaps to counter their generally surly/can’t be bothered attitudes. Inhaled them while walking around the Huxinting Tea House and circus of humanity around it, then went back to Pudong to pack and say bye to Craig’s family. I do hope it won’t be long before we meet again, somewhere.

As I sat in the van en route to John’s place in Puxi, for a night, I thought about Shanghai and what a terrific city it is. Sure, China can be a real pain, with the constant censorship, occasional nationalistic xenophobia, language challenges, hygiene, etc. but Shanghai has such vitality that I can imagine myself living there. But the place has gotten to be nearly first-world very quickly and if I were living there I’d probably want some sort of daily routine and job to give me a purpose.

Went out to a couple bars with John. He’s full of the most exotic stories – about our former employer, about living in China, you name it. I couldn’t stop laughing the entire night, except when the stories were so shocking I couldn’t believe it. Let’s just say that some senior people we know have very checkered pasts…more checkered than our own.

Stopped into Manhattan Bar, where I had wanted to go. Years ago I dated a waitress there. But the Manhattan Bar we walked into wasn’t the one I knew…apparently they moved an entire street of bars from Mao Ming Nan Lu to a new street and are ‘refurbishing’ the old street. The new Manhattan Bar is far more posh, and less grimey and fun, than the previous incarnation, and I didn’t see my old squeeze Michelle there. I imagine when they moved house, they also shook up the staff. Anyway, after resisting the charms of a few working girls, John and I took off to get some rest. 2 a.m. had snuck up on us quickly, we were telling so many stories that the time just flew.

Next morning, got up, had breakfast with John, and went to Hongqiao Airport to fly to Beijing en route to Mongolia. I’d need to spend a night in the capital, as Ulaan Bataar flights depart at 8:10 a.m. every day. I got into my taxi and was somewhat saddened not to hear the old recorded voice that the taxis used to play when a foreigner got in – something like ‘Welcome foreigner to DiaJong Taxi. We hope you have a pleasant trip.’ This was said in such a diabolical tone that I used to laugh like crazy…apparently they stopped using this recording, or the taxi I was now in was from a different company. Not sure. Anyway, uneventful ride to Hongqiao, the domestic airport.

Checked in. Air China just joined the Star Alliance so I could get some points from the flight. I’ve been to so many weird places lately, and have used points for so many flights, that I’ve almost gotten out of the habit of ensuring I get my points every time I fly, stay in a chain hotel, or rent a car.

Security in China is just crazy. They went through my bags at check-in…then again, thoroughly, at X-ray…and when I got on the flight a security man was there checking tickets, after the Air China people did so. Worse than Manila – I don’t like that aspect of China at all, it really can feel like a police state.

Quick flight to Beijing. Landed at new Terminal 3, I think Sir Norman Foster designed it. Supposedly it’s the largest airport building in the world, larger than all 5 Heathrow terminals combined. At first glance it didn’t seem that large, just dragonlike and cool…but as I got more perspective and moved around the place I realized it is massive. There are something like 50 baggage carousels…by contrast HKG has less than 20, maybe around 15 or so. At the same time, I question parts of the design – at one point everyone was basically forced (not by guards, by traffic/signage) onto a downward sloping ramp that took us downstairs and outside to the taxis – it took a few minutes just to make it onto the ramp. Something to work on…

The ride into Beijing was pretty painless. Got to the Beijing Hilton, where I’m sitting now finishing this posting. Am wondering whether to pay the outrageous Internet connection fee here in the room, or deal with posting this later. Anyway, my mind is wandering and I’m wondering what Ulaan Bataar will be like, I land there tomorrow and can’t wait. Time for me to go and soak in the tub just yonder. See you next week, or whenever my trekking schedule allows me to write and post the next entry. Could be delayed by a few days or so…I will be in Mongolia, after all. Over and out.

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