UGLY. UGLY. UGLY.

I really don't get the whole crocs phenomenon. I know what I'm saying may be done in bad taste since they're somewhat of a competitor... But seriously, they are UGLY. i don't care whether they're comfortable... THERE ARE OTHER SANDALS WHICH LOOK WAY WAY BETTER WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN INVENTED. Crocs make your feet look ugly. Please... Save yourselves from being fashion victims.

Haggling for my Mao Tse Tung figure

2pm at the drum tower

Day 5, part 4: The Forbidden City

I posted this last night, but something went wrong with the HTML coding and I totally lost what I wrote...

After walking around T-Square, we took an underground passageway to teh Forbidden City - which earned its name because it was forbidden for ordinary citizens to to see the emperor's face. Well, I'm not sure exactly but I kinda deduced from what my travel buddy Agustino told me... I don't know which emperor was the greatest, but I'm quite sure it ain't Mao... So why is his face plastered on the outside wall??
The Forbidden City is where ancient relics such as treasure, artwork and instruments are still kept. Here's a set of early writing instruments which caught my eye.
The Forbidden city is also famous for having kept 9,999 concubines for the last emperor of China. The number is kinda puzzling, that's because the emperor didn't want to exceed his father's number of 10,000. What a horny family ey? I bet this was his favorite hall Long Xi Guan - the Hall of Intensive Happiness!!!
Hmmmm... I wonder why it's called as such... This must have been the ancient version of today's Air Force 1. Here's a picture of one of the beds located in this Hall.

Day 5, Part 3: Tiananmenn Square

We just got dropped off here by a cab... Apparently, cars are not allowed to cross T-Square into the Forbidden City. One would really have to go on foot to get there. Might as well get some exercise... What sucks are beggars asking for your plastic water bottle... EVEN BEFORE THE DRINK INSIDE'S FINISHED!
That's the gate to the forbidden city!

Day 5, part 2: The Drum Tower

Right across the Bell Tower is the much more useful Drum Tower. During ancient times where watches were not yet available, 25 drums atop this massive structure would sound off to signify the change of each hour in day. The beating would resonate across the whole city, serving as a guide for telling time for Beijing's early residents.
Of course I had to have gotten the info I wrote above from somewhere...

Holy Shnit!!!! That's a long way up!

These are some of the replica drums found at the top.

One original main drum has been kept above, damaged by an invader's knife.

Day 5, part 1: The Bell tower

I really wanted to go see the Great Wall of China today. However, it's 2 hours away from where I am in Beijing... And that would totally kill my chances of getting inside the Forbidden City. And since the Forbidden city is just across the road from Tiananmenn Square and near the Bell and Drum Towers, we decided not to go to the Great wall to see more of the city... Even though it's one of the 7 Wonders of the World... =( OK, I have to let it go... hopefully there'll be a next time.

Here I am with our Area head of Sourcing, Agustino, who thankfully, knew how to speak Chinese and wisefully brought a map along. Thanks so much Agustino! Without you, I would not have survived! We got to Udong (really really old neighborhood 5 minutes away from the T-Square) at 12:30. I was soooooo hungry, so we stopped by a Chinese restaurant where the lapu-lapu was great!

First stop was the Bell Tower... But before getting there, I took a picture of all these bikes parked outside the tower.... I don't know what's with my fascination with bikes...
Drum roll please.......................... Behold, the Bell tower! Not really sure what the bell is for, but inside it lies a big ass bell. We decided not to go in since the Drum tower sounded more interesting. I'll get to that in a bit.
And more bikes!!!

Day 4: WangFu!

Today, we ended the sessions at about 7:20. We had a short dinner at the hotel, then the Southeast Asia boys asked me if I wanted to go out with them for some sight-seeing / shopping... We rode a cab to WANGFUJING, which by the way, sounds a lot like my nickname during my Hiphop days! Great ad!
Boo....

Faster slave!
After walking around, we entered a small road leading to a number of tiangge-looking shops. I bought one of those things Pat Morita played around in Karate Kid for $15, but Agus of Indonesia told me to always haggle for a 70% discount. Cool...

Day 3: Golf night

The day started with a walk from Traders to the Kerry Center for Day 3 of our Collaboration summit... Best practice cases were presented in the morning of how Reebok was set up in China, and how new Reebok stores were designed and built in a very short period of time in China as well. I was really impressed with how quickly China was able to do it, given that it was such a big company to integrate into the more established adidas company, and that they were only given 8 months. We got a really great team up there. For lunch, we went down to the hotel's coffee shop where I had loads and loads of salmon sashimi and...
ROTI AND CURRY!!! YUM YUM!!! Baby o! Let's dig in!!!

The afternoon session was such a humbling experience, having been included in a room with some of the region's big shots such as the President of adidas Japan, the head of Reebok Asia, the region's Sales Director and the region's head of Retail. I really made a point to listen to what they had to say to take back to the sub and my team, plus I also made sure I contributed some ideas... It was gratifying to see Japan's president nod his head in agreement! But man, I've got te get myself an MBA... I don't want to look stupid in front of these guys!

After a long afternoon, we took several buses to TaylorMade's golf night event! I took pictures of people riding bikes... Not as many as I had expected from pictures I've seen.
This was an odd-looking one... Thank God our tricycles look nothing like this!
We got caught up in rush hour traffic, but finally made it to the driving range at around 7pm.

This is me taking a few practice swings... I hit 4 of 6, not too shabby! I'm actually thinking of taking it up when I get home! The big bosses looked really good with their swings... I guess you could pretty much tell what their ranks were with how their swing looked...

That's my roommate Wash...

Then we had an outdoor barbeque dinner and a few drinks after a hitting a few... Naks! Sounds professional!

Day 2: Media Training and Beijing Duck

Day 2 started with an early breakfast and a dust-filled morning walk from Traders hotel to Kerry. During the morning sessions which started at 8am, we sat put for presentations on upcoming developments with our three brands, Reebok, adidas and Taylor Made. We broke off for lunch and came back for an afternoon session called Media Training. Coming into this trip, noone really knew what was going to happen. Apparently, regional HR prepared a few collaborative workshops for us. One of them, this Media Training, was a simulation of how a news team researches, develops and reports a story. I played the cameraman in our team (where the head of Reebok Asia Pacific played our producer by the way) and we were to report on a mysterious food poisoning incident at a big golf tournament event. Too bad I left my camera phone's cable in Cubao... So I'll have to upload the pics once I get home.

After a recap session, we had a free night to go around town to have dinner. A group of Indonesians, Thai and Filipinos went to this authentic Beijing Duck place. This is the small group posing for the camera:

The waitress, who struggled understanding my order for a Coke light, gladly made up for it by preparing my Beijing duck lumpia for me.

Yum yum yum...
Cool chopstick holders!
That was it for Day 2... Here I am blogging in the hotel room, while my roommate Wash is busy singing a chorus of snores...

Good night!!!

Paying homage - Day 1

It took a while (8 hours I think in total) but finally, I've made it back to my ancestors' homeland - China!!! Your lost son has come home!!!

Here's my passport and the Chinese immigration form I filled out while on the plane. We took a Cathay Pacific flight to HK and a connecting flight via Dragon Air (how very Chinese...).

After exiting the airport, we got onto a cab to get to the airport. I rolled down the window so I can take my first breath of authentic China air. I felt revitalized! Like Superman visiting his simulated home made of crystals!

Of course we were taken to the wrong hotel. We were told that the China team had booked us in Kerry Center Hotel. When we got there, we were redirected to the (less-prestigious) Traders Hotel right across. Booooo.... They're both managed by Shangri-La so I guess it's okay... Here's a shot of the road we passed to get to Kerry since all events are to be held there.

Day 1 ended with a speech by our Region Asia Pacific CEO and some cocktails. Onto day 2...

Paying homage - Day 1

It took a while (8 hours I think in total) but finally, I've made it back to my ancestors' homeland - China!!! Your lost son has come home!!!

Here's my passport and the Chinese immigration form I filled out while on the plane. We took a Cathay Pacific flight to HK and a connecting flight via Dragon Air (how very Chinese...).

After exiting the airport, we got onto a cab to get to the airport. I rolled down the window so I can take my first breath of authentic China air. I felt revitalized! Like Superman visiting his simulated home made of crystals!

Of course we were taken to the wrong hotel. We were told that the China team had booked us in Kerry Center Hotel. When we got there, we were redirected to the (less-prestigious) Traders Hotel right across. Booooo.... They're both managed by Shangri-La so I guess it's okay... Here's a shot of the road we passed to get to Kerry since all events are to be held there.

Day 1 ended with a speech by our Region Asia Pacific CEO and some cocktails. Onto day 2...

The playoffs are upon us

My predictions? The Suns vs. the Heat in the Finals... And the Suns in 6 games if Wade doesn't shake off that shoulder injury. Oh, and Steve Nash will be a 3-time MVP. There is no way Dirk will get it over Stevie Wonder.

I really hope Houston goes deep into the playoffs this time. Good luck TMAC!

Friday nights at Dusit

I never thought I'd find myself watching a show band. Back in the 90's , we considered show bands as sell-outs - Musicians who've degraded the industry by playing old hits with no creative stamp or compositions of their own. We felt embarrassed when people thought we were part of one. We'd cringe when an audience member requests for "September" ... eeeyuuuuck....

But Jigger's band in Dusit is different. (I don't remember what their band's name is...) They CRACK me up!!! Look at how wide open my mouth is! I mean, I've never seen myself laugh that hard! Thanks Raqraq for capturing this moment. Thanks Carlo for telling us about this band! And thanks Bianca for always being there to enjoy the music, comedy and the fine beer with me.