Welcome to Bengalaru…

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I arrived in Bangalore, known officially as Bengalaru, last night around 8pm. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India due to the large number of IT firms here including Wipro, Infosys, Tata, SAP, Talisma, and HP (many located in Electronics City 30 minutes to the south).

It’s Saturday afternoon here in Bangalore, the third largest city in India with a population of 6.2 million people (twice the population of Chicago). I’m watching “A Taste of Iran” on BBC World News. I’ve re-fallen in love with BBC News while here. I happened to come here on the weekend of the Aero Show 2009, the largest annual military air show in Asia. They are due to fly over at 4pm. I had enough time between my business meetings today to venture out.

I just returned from a journey to buy Saffron (a spice) for a friend. I found it at the market on Brigade Road, a popular shopping area in town. After a stop by Bangalore Palace and the Karnataka High Court, I went to the Cottage Industries Exposition, where I learned all about traditional mountain rug making before coming back to write this post.

Here are some observations and pictures of Bangalore so far.

Bangalore has a new airport built one year ago that is very nice. It gives the impression that Bangalore is much more modern than Delhi. The National Highway 7 runs the 37km from the airport to the city, although it can still be congested at 9pm at night. The city seems to have much less litter than Delhi. There are millions of motorcycles, often with 3 or more riders. I was amused to see Iron Maiden concert ads everywhere. Also common are recruiting ads for the Indian Air Force.

The most amusing thing I’ve seen has to be the police, many of which wear cowboy hats as part of their uniforms. The car horns remain busy here and the traffic is just as chaotic as Delhi and Kampala. The city commission have made many of the roads one way to attempt to help congestion. There seems to be much less pollution than Beijing or Hong Kong.

There are so many brilliant people here in India. If they can get investments in rural education and infrastructure right, this country will boom.

Beware: The Beijing Tea Ceremony Scam

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The fireworks are blasting outside my window as I write. I happened to have arrived in Beijing on the night of the Festival of the Lanterns, which involves hours upon hours of continuous fireworks all over the city. Today is the 15th day after the Chinese New Year on January 26, and thus the fireworks. Here’s a photo from my hotel window about 20 minutes ago.

On the way from Chicago this afternoon, instead of flying West like I expected we would, our plane flew North to the North Pole, and then South down to China. Here’s a photo of what the map looked like from the video monitor on the plane seat. What an interesting way to view the Northern Hemisphere.

So after flying over Canada, the North Pole, Siberia, Russia, and Mongolia I landed in Beijing at 4:30pm this afternoon. I got into my hotel around 5:30pm and although tired decided I’d go out. I decided to go see Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City and walk around a bit.

Here’s where the scam begins.

Walking right in front of the Forbidden City, two English speaking Chinese students came up to me and asked if they could practice their English with me. Having seen plenty of pickpocketing during planned distractions throughout travels in Europe (especially in front of the Coliseum in Rome), I was very aware and was skeptical of what these two young girls were after. They were dressed conservatively, so it didn’t seem like they were trying to sell themselves.

I said sure to them practicing their English. They explained they were in Beijing for two weeks studying English and had decided to come out to see Tiananmen. They asked lots of questions and gave lots of compliments. After about fifteen minutes of talking and them explaining the Festival of the Lanterns and their backgrounds they frankly had gained my trust. Seemed like they were actually two 22 year old college students named Jing Li and Ling studying English. Since I didn’t have anything to do until the morning I said yes when they asked me to get tea with them.

We walked for about ten minutes and ended up at the Si Zhu Xiang Tea House at 15 Nan He Yan Street in the Dong Cheng District. We were led into a room where 10 very small sample teas (less than an ounce) were poured (without ever being provided a menu). When I got the bill for my tea, it was of course in Yuan. I foolishly didn’t know the exchange rate. So I paid the bill thinking to myself, OK 10 small tea samples adding up to about one full cup of tea, this can’t be more than US$20.

When I got back to the hotel, I checked the exchange rate and found out $1 was equal to 6.7 Yuan. They had charged me 2112 Yuan or in U.S. Dollars, $308.90 for the tea.

I then Googled the name of the place, Si Zhu Xiang Tea House and found that I wasn’t even close to being the first to get taken by the now infamous Beijing Tea Ceremony Scam. Those “friendly college students wanting to work on their English” are paid by the tea house. It seems that ‘entrepreneurship’ is alive and well here.

Yep, I was taken on my first night in Beijing. In the very first hour too. Here’s to Visa’s fraud protection.

And hey, I even got a picture with Jing Li in front of the Forbidden City. Here she is, the girl who scammed me with a victory sign…

At least I’ve got a good story now. . Here’s to the Festival of the Lanterns and to “becoming a more experienced traveler.”

Tomorrow, the real work begins.

Quick Observations from Beijing, Hong Kong, and Delhi

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I got onto Air India 315 in Hong Kong and arrived in Delhi tonight around 10pm. After police checks, gates, and baggage screenings I arrived in my hotel around 11. I wanted to post some quick observations so far from Beijing, Hong Kong, and New Delhi…

Beijing

Spoken language is Mandarin. Written language is Simplified Chinese.
Need to know 3,000 characters to be literate.
13.3 million residents
Massive highways, drive on right side of road, steering wheel on left, road signs like America
Modern and developed in the business district
Few people know English. Taxi drivers mostly don’t. But numbers are growing.
Overexpanded airport due to Olympics, too much capacity
3G coming in May
Give and receive anything (especially business cards) with two hands
Pollution restricts view
Nuclear power plant visible from airport to downtown
Poor villages clearly purposely hidden from view from highway with new fences
Lots of luxury shopping, cafes for expats
Known for roasted duck
Free speech reduced, political speech against the government not allowed. You would likely be deported (as a foreigner) or arrested (as a local) if you held up a sign in Tienanmen Square saying, “I believe in Free Speech”
Newspapers very thin (4-6 pages), little actual analysis or transparency. Owned by State (Communist Party). Same exact picture of Wen Jiabao watering crops in drought-filled West was on front of every single newspaper.
Massive internet firewall stops anything even close to crude or anti-government on the Internet
Use pinyin (phonetic spelling in Western alphabet) and stylus character drawing to input text into cell phones and computers
Major websites are: 163.com, Sina.com, Tom.com, Baidu.com, Netease.com, Sohu.com, Google.cn, Joyo.com, Dangdang.com, Alibaba.com, TaoBao.com

Hong Kong

Spoken language is Cantonese. Written language is Traditional Chinese.
East meets west (eastern and western cultural melting pot)
Culture toward ‘making money’
Road signs like those in Britain
6.9 million residents
One country, two systems (same country as China but different currency, more political freedom)
Was under British rule until 1997
No internet filter like in the mainland
Drive on left side of road, steering wheel on right
Can get any type of food
Lots of high-rise condos
Safe to walk around
Double Decker buses
Ferries from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island
Lots of Karaoke clubs
Business dealings often happen late at night at Karaoke clubs
Waiters will not come to take your order or bring the check to you unless you ask them to come (the culture is ‘do not chase’)
Business dinners tend to occur in private rooms at restaurants
Lots of Tapas restaurants
Good dim sum (small Chinese plates)
Some roundabouts
Give and receive anything (especially business cards) with two hands
Lots of product sourcing expos (for every imaginable product, produced in Shenzhen or Guangzhou (The World’s Manufacturer) in SE China
Pollution haze ruins the beautiful view. Can barely see 300 yards in front of you.
Beautiful mountain behind the Hong Kong Island skyline
2nd largest skyline in the world after New York City
One of the most beautiful skylines in the world at night, at 8pm every night have light show, best viewed from Kowloon
Gets extremely excited, decorated for Chinese New Year
Billionaire Li Ka Shing seems to own half the city

New Delhi (early observations, only been here 3 hours and it’s night)

Official languages are Hindi and English
Hindi is written in Devan?gar? script
Men who are friends commonly hold hands like in Uganda
Men with rifles at car checkpoints leaving airport
11.9M residents
Main religion is Hinduism
So far, seems to be more like developing country than Hong Kong or Beijing (the chaos, dirt, and guns reminded me of Uganda), but will post more observations tomorrow once I can see the city in the light
Have to go through gate and metal detector and luggage screen to get into hotel
Lots of green and yellow rickshaws
Fewer highways (at least from airport to hotel)
LOTS of roundabouts, thanks Britain
Avoid touching anyone’s head, as it is sacred
Don’t shake the hand of a women unless she offers to shake yours. Instead say Namasté and bow with hands under chin
Namasté roughtly means, I honor the spirit in you which is also within me.

———————-

Comments/corrections/other observations are welcomed!

Oh, and go Tar Heels tonight!!

Reflections on South Dakota, Beijing, New Delhi, & Bangalore

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It all started with barbeque wings in a bowling alley in South Dakota. We were playing “dares” over drinks after a speech to the University of South Dakota on for their annual entrepreneurship event. So there he went, dared to do a swan dive onto the slick bowling lane. And then, she, dared to exchanged shirts with the guy at the table next to us. Next, he was given a dollar for every belt he could get from someone he didn’t know within 120 seconds. He got 6. Ahh it was fun to act my age for once.

After a late night of dancing and fried cheese balls in Vermillion, back to Omaha we went for a 4:30am arrival at the hotel. The next morning, I flew the common Omaha to Chicago and then Chicago to Beijing route.

7,000 miles and an Excedrin with caffeine later, I took a taxi to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I walked around, only to be duped and fooled by two Chinese students wanting to practice their English as they led me into a unexpected $300 tea ceremony.

Ego humbled, I had six meetings the next day in Beijing with some brilliant EO expats, only to hurry to the Olympic-sized overexpanded Beijing International TC3 terminal. Next stop: The most beautiful skyline in the east, Hong Kong Island.

I checked into my hotel in Kowloon at 10pm, just a Star Ferry ride away from HK proper. I met up with my old friend David Sui, who proceeded to show me what a traditional Chinese massage was (yes, they do step on you) and then what it was like to do business in Hong Kong. Yes, it involves lots of Karaoke.

After five meetings with customers and EO members and a three hour meal of Dim Sum, I was off to New Delhi, India.

The orphans in the dirt under the highway surprised me, but shouldn’t have. The beggars in beautiful Saris didn’t. The four person motorcycles and the green and yellow three-wheel taxis allowed three lanes to be made into five. The kid entrepreneurs in the streets were omnipresent. The hotel security at code red. And the chaos. It was expected, but not at that level. The roundabouts confused. The traffic was *almost* as crazy as Uganda—and nothing can hold a candle to Ugandan traffic.

The complex disparity of rich India and poor India was clear. Only clearer was the need for continued large investment in education and infrastructure and what was possible for India. The subcontinent was bursting with intellect and potential. Sachin Duggal of Nivio (the desktop OS in the cloud), Sanjay Gupta of Mobisolv, and Mohit Maheswari of New Media Guru represent the future of India. As does Raul Gandhi, the 37 year old future prime minister so many believe.

After seven meetings in New Delhi, off to Bangalore I went. From the old domestic airport of New Delhi to the shiny Bengalaru International. The Aero Show 2009 pierced supersonic while the horns chorused. The police protected in their cowboy hats. After meeting with Kunal David of Directory Maximizer and the brilliant young Sudeep Aditya, I was ready to sleep—but Kunal insisted we go out. It was Valentines Day, and we had to protest the banning of dancing in Bangalore clubs (yes, they actually have banned dancing in Bangalore pubs and clubs). The hip hop dancer in me shed a tear.

A fundamentalist conservative Hindu group called Sri Rama Sene led by Pramod Mutalik had attacked couples holding hands in public and trashed greeting card stores that day. They had already banned dancing and wanted to ban love. The 15 year old rebel with red hair inside wanted to start a protest with an organically organized street team.

The flight back from Bangalore to New Delhi was on the “Good Times” airline Kingfisher. But an unexpected challenge followed for me in Delhi. The flight from Bangalore arrived at the domestic terminal. I had to get to the International terminal and had four hours to do it. No big deal, right?

Unfortunately the International Terminal of Indira Gandhi International airport is 20 minutes away from the Domestic Terminal and they wouldn’t let me on the transfer shuttle as I didn’t yet have my ticket printed out and couldn’t as there wasn’t an American Airlines desk in the domestic terminal.

And so, back to the streets of Delhi I went with my ‘pre-paid taxi’ driver. This guy was exceptionally aggressive. You must know, these taxis in Delhi don’t have seatbelts, making the ride exceptionally adrenaline-filled. He in fact hit another car after running a red light and it didn’t seem to phase him.

After passing the sandbagged automatic rifled soldiers and machine gun turrets on top of armored vehicles, I attempted to enter the International Terminal, but they wouldn’t let me enter without a ticket, which I couldn’t get without going inside to get it. A logical circle of death. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this policeman.

They directed me to an office building across the street, to room number 23 in corridor number 2. I found a shut padlocked door. They told me to wait until the representative came back. I found this to be bad advice, so I kept asking and finally found the actual American Airlines office in another building, with a sign on the front that said open from 1000 to 2000 hrs. It was 9:30pm (2130 hrs of course), but they let me in and I finally got my ticket printed. I wonder how many people this happens to.

And so I sit, on the last hour of the 15 hour flight from American Airlines from New Delhi to Chicago, glad, yet somewhat nostalgic, that it will be some time before I ever again get asked for my meal choice, “Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian?”

Ahh America, the land of non-roaming 3G and potable tap water.

Here’s to having a fuller perspective of two other cultures, appreciation of the complexity of life, and awareness of the great potential of these countries. They are two rocks held back in a giant slingshot.

The Great Challenge of Our Generation

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I write as my roommates watch the sci-fi movie Anti-Body through the amazing new Xbox/Netflix partnership in a cold and icy Chapel Hill…

This weekend I had the opportunity to speak at StartingBloc’s Greater New York Institute for Social Innovation at Yale University in New Haven. I had the chance to speak after Tom Szaky, the 27 year old CEO of TerraCycle, who is good work on upcycling waste into usable products.

In attendance were 150 of the smartest, most ambitious, and most caring individuals I’ve met, all from age 19 to 30. 25% were undergrads, 25% were grad students, and 50% were young professionals from firms like Goldman, JP Morgan, Acumen, Ashoka, McKinsey. They were all social entrepreneurs or future social entrepreneurs. If you’re under 30 and interested in social responsibility you should apply for their future Institutes in New York, Boston, or London.

StartingBloc has now reached 1000 fellows who have gone through their program. I first met their founder, the 27 year-old ebullient Kenyan Jo Opot last May in New York. She and their Director of Programs Taryn Miller-Stevens are examples of committed, driven, caring world changers.

I challenged the group to over the next 50 years, work together to create a world in which…

1. There is no killing of humans on a mass scale (genocide or warfare);
2. All humans have access to the basic human needs of clean water, nutritious food, shelter, and primary education;
3. We end preventable diseases like malaria, TB, and measles; and
4. We are environmentally sustainable

This challenge was based on the key simple principle from the Gates Foundation that all lives have equal value. I first shared the great challenges we face in the world including the most difficult economic news we’ve seen in our lifetimes, then the great opportunities (subsequent post on these coming soon) to frame the debate.

So, can we actually end genocide, warfare, starvation, and preventable disease in our lifetimes?

And can we actually provide accessible clean water, food, shelter, and primary education to every human in our lifetimes?

Your thoughts?