Is Beijing Ready for the Olympics?

February 26, 2008 at 6:10 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, Knowledge and Experiences, Tourism

Global news media has widely discussed how well (or not) Beijing is preparing for the Olympics with regards to pollution control and infrastructure/superstructure development, but what about less widely publicized aspects of the preparation?

Beijing doesn’t have the same problem Athens had, where its infrastructure and superstructure construction for the 2004 Olympics was so far behind. Beijing has been able to complete all of its massive-scale construction projects on-time or ahead of schedule with cheap, migrant labor imported from the countryside. Thousands of workers have come in from rural areas across the country to build roads, subway lines, hotels, even the Olympic stadiums themselves. These people just float from job to job, staying in whatever barracks are provided by the employer. When the job finishes, the employer tears down the barracks (again in preparation for the Olympics) and the employees are forced to move on. So when Olympics construction is over and thousands of construction workers are left jobless and homeless in Beijing, what does the government plan to do? Remove them, preferably using incentives, but forcibly, if necessary. The government can’t have migrant workers cluttering the streets and sidewalks because Beijing has to have a clean, clear appearance for the Games. The government also can’t risk protests and complaints from these under- or unpaid workers during the Games. These workers need to be out of Beijing by August 8.  Removing the workers is just another task to be completed in time for the Games.
Beijing has absolutely sprouted luxury housing developments in the past few years. Advertisements around the city, particularly in elevators, display the glamor and wealth that living in these new places convey. But will Olympics visitors see these advertisements? Nope, they are being removed so as to minimize the obviousness of the wealth gap. Beijing doesn’t want to make the difference between those who build the luxury accommodations and those who live in them any more apparent.

Beijing is also requiring all on-going construction projects to at least ‘look finished’ by the time the Games start. The government doesn’t want a city that still seems to be under construction. Though there will be construction projects within the 3rd Ring Road that won’t be finished by the time the games start, they are required to appear completed from the outside. Will this actually be the case? Questionable. More than once such a mandate and associated deadline have been issued; however, contractors have failed to comply and Beijing still looks like a construction site (think new CCTV building). It remains to be seen whether the completed look will be intact by August.

In an effort to reduce vehicle pollution and congestion on the roads, Beijing will take more than a million cars off the road during the Games. Whose cars are those? They’re all government cars. Beijing residents said that a test run made traffic move so much more smoothly; they got to where they were going in half the time. They also said the air quality greatly improved.

A large steel factory near Beijing was permanently closed and moved to the nearby port city of Tianjin. Other industries and factories will also be shut down either permanently or temporarily to improve air quality for the Games.

Beijing will of course be ready for the Games in terms of infrastructure and superstructure, but what about culturally and linguistically? Only a very small percentage of Beijing’s residents can speak English at a level as to be useful to tourists. Taxi drivers are a lost cause. For all that Beijing boasts to have invested in English training for taxi drivers, only a handful even have basics such as ‘hello,’ ‘bye,’ and ‘you American?’ said with a greedy look on their face. Most can’t understand “Olympics stadiums” and couldn’t speak English to save their life. What about other languages–French, Spanish, Arabic? Nope, not in the least.

The answer to whether Beijing is ready, culturally, to host more than half a million foreigners is complex, but the simple answer is, no. A few examples: spitting, smoking indoors, public urination and defecation, cutting in line, pushing at crosswalks. A more detailed example: any Chinese with a business mind (and they all have one) see the Games and this many tourists as a huge money-making opportunity. They can already envision themselves rolling in the cash that they’re going to make. How do I know this? Accommodation prices. Apartment owners won’t sign a new tenant lease that extends past July because they want to rent the apartment for more than $2000 per night during the Olympics. Crap hotels no foreigner would even consider other times of the year plan to charge upwards of $200 per night. What does this mean in the long-term? Olympics visitors will leave with such a poor impression of China they’ll tell everyone back home how horrible of a place China is thereby dissuading others from going to China. This will lead to a decline in China visitor arrivals and a decrease in tourism spending. This mentality of ‘why make $10 tomorrow when you can make a $1 today?’ is perhaps the prime example of how China is not culturally ready to host the Olympics.

Some aspects of the preparation for the Olympics almost seem too controlled, but other areas that are more meaningful to visitors can’t be made ready even by an authoritarian government.  Will Beijing host a successful Olympics?  Most likely.  Will China receive long-term benefits including increasing visitor arrivals as a result of a positive feelings and good will created during the Olympics? Doubtful.

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All 7 Continents

February 17, 2008 at 4:15 am · Filed under Uncategorized, Knowledge and Experiences, Tourism, Learning through Foreign Cultures, Traveling, Peace Through Tourism

In the past 3months, I have eaten more bread than I have in years. I started out in Chile and Argentina, 2countries that eat a lot of bread, meat, and cheese. Then I went on to Egypt and Jordan both of which eat a lot pita bread with cheese. Then on to East Africa where the staple breakfast is toast with either jam or egg on it. Living in rice-eating China, I’d forgotten that bread is the world’s staple. The majority of the world, aside from East and South Asia eat bread. I think I’m ready to go back to eating rice.

There should be direct flights between Asia and South America. With the increasing amount of cross-continent travel (I met a number of Chinese in Argentina and many South Americans live in China) and the large trade volume between the 2 continents (notably Brazil and Japan), I believe a direct flight is necessary. Perhaps Air China, JAL, Cathay Pacific, or LAN Chile should think about offering that service. Here are some examples of current inconvenient routings: Shanghai-Beijing-Los Angeles-Santiago, Chile; Beijing-Amsterdam-some random islands-Guayquil-Quito, Ecuador; Hong Kong-Kuala Lampur-Cape Town-Buenos Aires-Ushuaia, Argentina.

Having now traveled to all 7continents, I can say Europe and South America are my favorite. (This probably leads you to the question of why do I live in China? and leads me to the goal of living Buenos Aires after I’ve accomplished all I intend to in China.) I love Europe for its history, architecture, and progressive, forward-looking ideas. I love South America for its contemporary culture, particularly its music and dance, and the color and vibrancy of the culture as well as the people’s relaxed nature. South America’s natural scenery from high, snow-covered mountains to sun-baked beaches is also amazing. The United States, Mexico, and Asia, in my opinion, have the best food. Asia also has an unrivaled entrepreneurial spirit, which at times I love and other times I hate, but is certainly to be admired.

I’m very proud to have accomplished my goal of traveling to all 7continets, even a year earlier than my deadline! 90 days, 29 blog entries, and 18 flights later I’ve returned to where I started from, Shanghai. Concluding a major trip like this can be challenging but trying to sum it up is proving to be even more difficult. I saw some amazing places, met some great people, found some countries that I might like to live in and some that I wouldn’t dare live in, and learned some things that can only be understood through traveling. While I won’t be going traveling again for a long time, I’ll always be a traveler, whether that’s through my memories and photographs, through other people’s stories and photos, or far into the future when the opportunity is right again. I hope you have enjoyed the stories and pictures from my travels over the past months and I welcome you to continue reading my blog as I transition back into blogging about China, as well as tourism and business within this most populous nation on earth.

P.S. Before I leave the topic of traveling, let me again post my alphabetical list of countries visited (original post 10-23-2006) to see how I’m doing now.

A: Austria (Republic of Austria), Argentina (Argentine Republic)
B: Brazil (Federative Republic of Brazil), Bahamas (Commonwealth of The Bahamas)
C: China (PRC), Czech Republic, Canada, Croatia (Republic of Croatia), Chile (Republic of Chile), Cambodia (Kingdom of Cambodia), Columbia (Republic of Colombia), Costa Rica (Republic of Costa Rica)
D: Denmark (Kingdom of Denmark)
E: Estonia (Republic of Estonia), Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)
F: France (French Republic), Finland (Republic of Finland)
G: Greece (Hellenic Republic), Guatemala (Republic of Guatemala), Germany (Federal Republic of Germany)
H: Hungary (Republic of Hungary), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC)
I: Italy (Italian Republic)
J: Jamaica, Jordan (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)
K: Kenya (Republic of Kenya)
L: Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)
M: Mexico (United Mexican States), Malaysia, Monaco (Principality of Monaco), Macau (Macao Special Administrative Region of the PRC)
N: New Zealand, Norway (Kingdom of Norway)
O:
P: Portugal (Portuguese Republic), Poland (Republic of Poland), Panama (Republic of Panama)
Q: Qatar (State of Qatar)
R: Russia (Russian Federation)
S: Singapore (Republic of Singapore), Spain (Kingdom of Spain), Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Sweden (Kingdom of Sweden)
T: Taiwan (Republic of China), Thailand (Kingdom of Thailand), Turkey (Republic of Turkey), Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania)
U: United States (USA), United Kingdom (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
V: Vatican City (State of the Vatican City)
W:
X:
Y:
Z:

Guess I need another trip through the Middle East and Africa to finish off O (Oman), W (Western Sahara), Y (Yemen), & Z (Zaire or Zimbabwe). That will just have to wait…

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Tanzania

February 13, 2008 at 11:55 am · Filed under Uncategorized, Tourism, Learning through Foreign Cultures, Traveling

Nairobi, Kenya
Getting off the plane in Nairobi (yes, I know, I’ll get to Tanzania in a bit) we were greeted with just perfect weather–Egypt and Jordan were too cold, Zanzibar was just a little too hot and humid, but the temperature in Nairobi was perfect. We had a very pleasant flight experience with Kenya Airways and most likely due to the turbulent situation in Kenya the flight had many extra seats so we got plenty of room. The Kenya visa process was also very quick and painless and a lot cheaper than Tanzania’s, only $50 this time. A bit nervous about being in Kenya, we opted for a taxi hired within the airport to take us to our hotel, Kivi Milimani, for 1200Kenya Shillings, about $18.

The hotel had beautiful grounds and a swimming pool. Each room had a private balcony. Despite all the worry about being in Kenya, I went out for a wander and to buy some water. In Nairobi I found nothing to indicate there was so much violence going on in other parts of the country. The Kenyans I met were mostly all very genuine and helpful. Except for the violence that’s shattered the country and the reputation Nairobi has for theft (”Nairobbery”), Nairobi seems like it would be a very nice city–it has a lot of potential.

Intrepid’s Overland trip Serengeti Trail into Tanzania
That night we met our guide and group to start our 8day/7night safari into Tanzania. The following morning we left bright and early, like we’d do every day of this trip. Our transport for the next week would be a large custom designed Bedford truck that would carry essentially everything we needed for a week: food, cooking equipment, tents, sleeping bag, etc. First thing in the morning, our guide taught us how to store everything in our personal lockers by first unpacking everything from our bags and then laying it flat in the space. All 19passengers plus guide, cook, and driver and everyone’s stuff had to be stored away and carted around in this truck for the whole week. While it wasn’t uncomfortable, I’d say this big of vehicle is less than ideal for a safari. We were sure bounced and shaken and covered in dust/dirt all across Tanzania. With the rerouting of the itinerary due to the situation in Kenya our 8day/7night safari was really more like 3days of safari and 4days of a lot of driving to and from the Serengeti.

Serengeti, Oldupai Gorge, and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Driving into the Serengeti the first day we saw countless grazing animals in the pastures on either side of the road: zebra, giraffes, gazelles, impalas. It was a great start! That afternoon we went to the Oldupai gorge, one of sites of ancient man in the Great Rift Valley. We learned about different species of humans that had passed through the area millions of years ago and the particularly noted discovery of human footprints that had been preserved for over 3million years in volcanic ash (think Pompeii). It was very neat to be in the place where humans might have developed from their ape-like ancestors. I’ve always found this topic very intriguing, particularly as a result of reading the Earth’s Children’s Series.

During the 2 or 3days in the Serengeti we saw Vervet Monkeys, baboons, African Elephants (as opposed to Indian Elephants), rock hyrax, zebra, warthogs (think Pumba from The Lion King), hippos, ostrich, giraffes, impalas, Thompson and Grand Gazelles, lots and lots of wildebeest–the supposed backbone of the Serengeti, hartebeest, topi, waterbuck, African Buffalo, mongoose (think Timon from The Lion King), Spotted Hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and of course, lions.

As if this wasn’t enough, after the Serengeti we descended down into the Ngorongoro Crater, a sunken caldera (my third of the trip), where we saw almost all of these animals again, though in much greater numbers and closer. Highlights of the Crater were seeing our 4th of the Big 5–black rhino, 3 adult and 1 baby rhino; and pink flamingos! The Ngorongoro Crater has to be one of the most spectacular places on land for sheer density and variety of large wildlife.

As part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Masaai tribespeople are allowed to live and heard their animals within the conservation area.  We had the opportunity to visit one of their villages.
An unexpected delight of the safari part of the trip was the bird3-life which was very diverse in size, ranging from sparrows to ostrich, and very colorful including bright yellow and shiny turquoise. I had not expected such amazing birds in addition to all the large animals. The Serengeti is very mesmerizing and anyone could stare out at it for hours trying not to let their eyes trick them into seeing animals that are really only bushes. While I went to Tanzania with this picture in my head of very dry empty plains with one tree just off to the side and clear skies at sunset, that was not our experience. There were a lot of trees, even at times thick high brush, and lots of clouds and rain. It rained both nights we camped at Seronera (an area within the Serengeti) and even rained on one day. Apparently we were there at the start of the rainy season.

Tanzania Observations
Tanzanians are incredibly polite and friendly. Everyone greets you with a cheery ‘jambo’ or ‘hello.’ Greetings are very important in Tanzania, particularly Zanzibar. That’s one of my favorite things about Tanzania–that everyone shows so much courtesy and greets you. They also say ‘karibu,’ welcome, a lot and they truly mean it. Tanzanians are very open and welcoming.

Primary school in Tanzania is taught in Swahili but secondary and college-level education is conducted in English. Students in secondary school who are caught speaking Swahili outside of Swahili class are punished. Many people speak English in the country, though the actual level of spoken English varies greatly; still, I have to give credit to the education system. In fact, I was a bit surprised that the woman next to me on the 9hour bus ride who was buying 3 whole pineapples through the window and throwing her trash out the window spoke such good English. TIA!!! (This is Africa)

Tanzania was a lot more developed, though not in an industrial sense, more in an infrastructure sense, than I expected. It was not nearly as poor as I expected either. People seemed to be doing alright. Everyone, including many of the Masaai people, had cell phones.

What surprised me even more was how expensive Tanzania is! A night at a Serengeti lodge is $225/person full board. Its difficult to have meal in any restaurant for less than $5. Mangoes cost the same in Tanzania where they’re grown as they do in the US, $0.50/mango. There a 20%VAT at most places thereby increasing the cost. Tanzania basically throws all ideas of a cheap Africa out of the window.

Tanzania seems to buy everything from Asia. But not in the same sense that Asia is the world’s manufacturer for products shipped to the US. Tanzania seems to buy things meant for the Asian market. Everything from cars to boats to rice cookers had Chinese or Japanese writing on it. The ketchup was made in Malaysia. Tanzania seems to buy all of its cars, minibuses, and ferry boats used from Japan or Hong Kong as all have those countries characters on them.

Tanzania’s Influences
Everyone seems to have their hand in Africa. Everyone wants to ’save Africa.’ This is no less true in Tanzania. From the Dutch started health center in Mto Wa Mbu to the Lutheran Church doing developmental and social projects to the British Council with its Team Dreams to the Indians running all the hotels to the Chinese and their infrastructure building. I first noticed the influence of the Chinese and Indian from the Chinese Inns and Chinese and Indian restaurants scattered about. As I started exploring more, I found the others. And this is all just in northern and coastal Tanzania. (Seven to 10% of the country’s population is Lutheran.)

I wonder if all these varying influences are actually doing any good. Is Tanzania’s rather decent economic situation (by African standards) a result of, or in spite of, all of these groups having their hand in Tanzania? Are all these parties pulling Tanzania (and Africa) in different directions, leaving the country (and the Continent) without a cohesive plan for development? Or are these groups helping the people of Tanzania bring themselves out of poverty and raise their standard of living? Its hard to say, but Tanzania seems to be doing better than other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

——All pictures from Tanzania——-

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Egypt, Jordan, and Tanzania: Other Commentary

February 3, 2008 at 4:25 am · Filed under Uncategorized, Tourism, Learning through Foreign Cultures, Peace Through Tourism

Treatment of Women
Most of us have some idea though not a good understanding of the poor treatment of Muslim women in Muslim countries.  That is a lengthy and complex topic and I could write about some of the rumors I’ve heard, but lacking concrete evidence I will not venture there.  Instead, I will use our stories to discuss the treatment of western woman in Muslim countries and from there you can imagine how it much be for other women.  One of the girls on the trip was walking with her brother in Aswan, though he easily could have been her boyfriend.  An Egyptian guy came up behind her and grabbed her butt.  She turned around freaking out at him.  The brother told the guy to go away but the guy continued to badger her and follow them.  Eventually the brother had to aggressively push the guy in order to get him to leave the sister alone.

I was in a bread shop in Jordan and these young, perhaps 10-year old boys walked by me and said hello, so I responded hello.  Then one of them made a kissing noise at me.  I was thinking ‘how old are you!?! you insolent little rat.’  Throughout Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar, whenever Andrew and I would approach a male (usually in a service role), the man would almost totally ignore me and direct all conversation to Andrew.  This was rather shocking for me since I’m older and more well-traveled and therefore have always been relied on to deal with things.  More than 1time the man would address a question regarding me to Andrew and expect Andrew to repeat it to me before I’d tell the answer to Andrew who’d then repeat it to the guy.  It was as if I was deaf or dumb or speaking a completely different language.  And perhaps what freaked me out even more was, Andrew went along with it! until I cut in and answered for myself.  How demeaning.  I understood the situation as a cultural act and was willing to tolerate in short bouts for the limited time I was these Muslim countries but I could not stand it long term.

Traffic Lights
Egypt and Jordan have almost no stoplights. There are a few stoplights in Egypt, however these are mostly ignored. Drivers only really wait at intersections if a policeman is directing them. Otherwise round-a-bouts are the main means of managing traffic. Jordan is largely the same way. Its really quite amazing that a city as large a Cairo can function with out traffic lights.

Retail
From Egypt to Jordan and into East Africa, the retail sector is very underdeveloped. This was a bit bothersome as I wanted to buy fruit, snacks, water, packets of tissue, and maybe laundry detergent. Finding all of these in 1 place in Egypt was nearly impossible as almost no shop sold fruit; in fact, we saw very little fruit throughout the country at all. The shops were all tiny with maybe 1 refrigerated case for Coca-Cola; even Cairo didn’t seem to have any large shops. In Jordan the situation improved with larger, better-stocked stores.

East Africa’s, specifically Tanzania’s retail sector was much more developed than either Egypt’s or Jordan’s. Even fairly small towns had decent sized stores, as well as local markets, that may have multiple refrigerated cases for drinks, frozen meat and/or ice cream.

Living in Harmony
Egypt while being predominantly Muslim has a large Coptic Christian population. Jordan bills itself as center of the world’s 3 major religions. Churches containing ancient biblical mosaics stand beside Mosques in Madaba (Jordan). Tanzania is 40% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 20% tribal religions and other. All of these countries, particularly Tanzania have maintained peace and stability despite difference of religion and in case of Tanzania, tribes. (Tanzanians are very proud of the fact that all their tribes can live together peacefully, particularly in the wake of the Kenya violence.) Each should be held as a showcase of how people can and do get along if they just respect each other.

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