random thoughts on my asia travels

I'm back now--got home last night, close to midnight.

- Working in sales in China would be awful. The Chinese concept of hospitality far exceeds that of America's, so Chinese salespeople are always taking their customers out to dinner, or out around town, or whatever. Both weekends I was in Asia, I had representatives from my suppliers take me around the cities I was staying in, and not for 2-3 hours, either. It would be tough to not have a life.

- The Chinese idea of hospitality can get pretty old after a while. It's nice to have people look after your every need, but at the same time, I was never able to get any alone time, other than when I was in my hotel room or the bathroom. Between the general lack of privacy and having meetings every day of the week, I got to the point where I was tired all the time by the time I'd been there a few days. I'm still feeling pretty exhausted now.

- Anything goes in Taiwan. ANYTHING. From unusual fashions to crazy haircuts to the scooter phenomenon, Taiwan isn't the most orderly place in the world...but that also makes it a very cool place, too. You just have to make sure you don't get hit by a scooter or car.

- I'm glad I grew up in a place where the value of food is typically determined by how good it tastes, rather than by how difficult it is to obtain, how exotic it is, or how nutritious it is. I ate some downright nasty food, including pig blood, seaweed and abalone. I managed to avoid some even nastier things, like jelly made from seafood parts, but I won't always be this lucky.

- Like Mexico, the sodas in China taste better. Since I don't drink tea, coffee or alcohol, my Chinese colleagues quickly learned to request Sprite for me at every restaurant we visited. It wasn't always available, though. In Chinese areas, restaurants tend to specialize in certain foods/drinks. So, if you go into a teahouse, don't expect to get any soda, bottled water, beer or anything else. Fortunately, they don't care if you bring in stuff from the outside.

- HK is still a really cool place. Being there again was a big thrill for me, even if it was for less than 48 hours. I got plenty of chances to use my Cantonese and eat local food, included a blessed plate of bbq pork over rice with choi sam vegetables (no idea what the English name is), with the ginger/green onion sauce on top. Man, do I miss that stuff.

- Business class rules. Going back to coach for my non-business travel will be a major drag. No wide, reclining seats. No lounge with free food and internet access. No 12342134897565 offers for drinks during the flight.

- The Chinese need for group interaction and decision making is incredibly inefficient. Seriously, do we need to talk for 20 minutes just to say "no"? Do we need to bring 18 people to a meeting when two will do? Do we need to recap every decision five times in the course of a three-hour meeting? China will be a major powerhouse when people learn to think and act independently.

- I have some really cool co-workers in China. It was great to put faces with names of people I've been having conference calls and trading emails with for as many as two years.

- The Chinese need to learn to accept air conditioning. I'm sorry, but keeping every room at 80F just doesn't work for me. It's so uncomfortable for a big white man like me to wear slacks and long-sleeve shirts and sit in meeting rooms at that temperature all day long. When I got back, I hopped on a scale and was expecting to find that I had gained like 10 lbs, but I'd actually gained no weight. I'm sure the lack of A/C was a big contributor to that, as were some other...er...unmentionable problems.