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[ishouldbepresident]

Fond Farewell - Beijing Day 6

We had yet to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, so I was really excited when we got to make a quick stop near the Olympic Village before our final meetings on my last day in Beijing. What a treat!

Business Meeting 8

Up next on our last day in Beijing was Red Hat – that old Raleigh favorite! Many of us were really excited about this trip, seeing as how it was a unique opportunity for us to see how a Raleigh business operates overseas.

I'm not going to talk much about this trip, as frankly it was disappointing. We were supposed to meet with the head of R&D, but instead we got the office manager, recruiter, and head of HR. Granted, they had some good advice, but it was really anything out of the ordinary that provided much insight into the Chinese culture since they pretty much still operate like an American company (but within te Chinese regulations). Overall, the lesson was learned: in China, nothing is a sure bet.

Business Meeting 9

Our final business meeting of the trip was Hill + Knowlton Strategies, who works with companies to develop strategic initiatives, such as marketing, crisis management, etc. We met with Peter Headden (Account Director), Gabri Sha (Senior Account Executive), and Manting Zhang (Account Coordinator). For some background, as part of WPP (one of the world's largest communications firms, if not the largest), it has 90 offices in 52 countries. In 1984, they were the first public relations firm in China and represented China in developing their bid for the 2008 Olympics (and, interestingly, their current global digital lead was the digital lead for President Obama's 2004 campaign).

By this time, we again hear some of the same themes, mostly. For instance, the constant restructuring of the government is a challenge (the politburo restructuring is the 6th in 3 years), as well as the importance of building strong relationships with companies, the government, and media.

A new issue brought up was the difficulty in stimulating consumption (i.e., getting people to spend their money). In the Chinese culture, people are more likely to save their money for healthcare safety nets (even with the socialized healthcare), or save their money in other ways (such as buying realty, which is part of the reason the housing bubble in China is becoming a major issue).

his was also the first time we heard a direct discussion of the Communist “repression” in China. My classmates and I had already had several discussions of how it seems to be way overblown in the Western media. Walking around Beijing, you don't really see much of the impact of Communism as portrayed in the west. With modern shopping outlets, name brand stores, blooming tourism, long lines to see Mao's tomb, etc., the Chinese people don't seem to much mind how the country is being run, and the Hill + Knowlton employees seem to agree with this assessment. However, you have to take that from the perspective of being in a booming city with lots of opportunities. If you were to read Rob Gifford's China Road, he also makes this connection. It is only after he leaves the city limits and truly starts to see the struggles of the more rural areas that he obtains a sense of the inequality, repression of minorities and hardship that is so rampant in the Western view of China.

Getting back to Hill + Knowlton directly, you can imagine how important it is for a strategies and communications firm to be closely tied with both the government and the media. Before releasing any statement to the media, there is a specific government regulator that must approve all advertising and review all releases. In a crisis situation, it would be very important to be close with this regulator to ensure that the statement is released efficiently and with the correct message. There are even times when members of the Communist Party of China are on staff to help speed up the process and ensure all releases and advertising are in compliance before being submitted for review.

There are also other media-related issues to consider. For instance, Sina Weibo (China's version of Twitter) is usually the first to have any news leaks, and even if it's something that the government eventually takes down, by that time millions have seen it. Thus, the government has its own struggles in trying to maintain the status quo while simultaneously giving its citizens the freedom to access news that is so necessary to fitting in with the Western culture.

Furthermore, when publishing ads to social media, it is still important in this high-context society to ensure that ads are not portrayed as ads, themselves, but are more informational and contain the intended message. It can also be hard as a communications firm to convince Chinese companies of the importance of investing in social media. Not only is the barrier of providing a value-added service, to which the Chinese cannot seem to relate, but it is very hard to measure the returns of utilizing social media, anyway. It's all about determining what the image of the company will be and then using that on which to base your choices of which social media to pitch for use.

Finally, we also had some discussion on what it is like to handle a media crisis in China. Just like with many other countries, some companies will retain a firm like Hill + Knowlton to be on top of crises, and the major source of new business for the firm is through companies that reach out to the firm while already in the midst of a crisis. Therefore, it is definitely stressful to both handle a crisis (about which you may have very little information since it is already taking place) while simultaneously trying to provide top service for a potential retainer. As for actually preparing for crises, it is again important to maintain strong relationships with companies so that you are already aware of potential issues as they arise (or of issues that may be arising on a regular basis).

And the best way to handle to a scandal? Be completely honest, have a strong customer service representation in place, and be sure to include a detailed plan for how the crisis will be addressed in your messaging.

To kind of tie this all together to one of our meetings earlier in the week (with Ashley Howlett at Jones Day), I asked how often the company actually gets paid for its services. Much like with Jones Day, there are times when companies will not pay their full balance or will utilize contractual loopholes to get out of paying anything at all. Once again, it's all about getting as much as you can whenever you can, and keeping the cash flowing.

Back to the Fun

That evening was our farewell dinner at Lost Heaven, a swanky restaurant in Ch'Ien Men 23. Ch'Ien Men 23 is across from Tienanmen Square, and it used to be the United States embassy compound before it was moved to the new location. Again, a very delicious family-style meal (though the meal just outside the Great Wall was still my favorite). Once dinner was done, it was time to gather outside for a wonderful farewell speech from Dr. McCreery, as well as offering our thanks to Wendy for all her great guiding throughout the week.

Once back at the hotel, a bunch of us went out to Sanlitun Bar Street, Beijing's most expat-friendly night scene. Walking down the street was just like walking through a market, with doormen trying to pull you into their bars with promises of “happy hour” (which didn't seem to have any sort of time limit). Most of the bars had a few people onstage doing karaoke, but this was not the crowd-participation karaoke to which we Westerners are familiar. No, each bar has their own specific performers onstage, which was kind of a let down.

After experiencing a couple of these places, we decided we wanted to dance. We kept asking around to find a place and would get directed back to the karaoke bars, but eventually we found Club Max, which had a DJ (DJ Shintaro) performing that night as a special event. Once we got inside and waved away the guys trying to sell us table and bottle service, we grabbed some drinks and hit the dance floor. It was an awesome time until we were pulled off the dance floor for having drinks in our hands (oops!), and since it was so crowded we decided to head back to the smaller bars. We finally settled into one that had a great DJ and was filled with other expats like us, and it was there we finished our evening. A fun end to an amazing trip!

Some Final Thoughts on China

As my first international experience (not withstanding the week before in Japan), this was truly an eye-opening experience. I don't know what I expected from China, but it wasn't this! I guess I had fallen into many of the Western stereotypes that I half-expected everyone to be wearing more traditional dress and be transported by rickshaw everywhere. In the end I was really surprised by just how Western Beijing actually looked and felt (besides the language barrier).

I want to take a moment and address where Beijing goes from here. You often hear two sides of the coin. One is that China is about to surpass America, and if we're not careful we could fall to the might of their economy, which seems disingenuous considering that, technically, China is not Capitalist. On the other side, you hear how Communism cannot work and China will fall, yet with a booming economy that is still growing (albeit slower than it was, though still much faster than the United States), it seems things are working just fine.

I think in reality we really can't predict any sort of future. America tends to be so black and white, but China is way more gray. I think in a manner Communism works for China because they are so lax with it: they only apply it when they need to, and if things are working then why muss it up with something like enforcement of regulations? This is where my classmates' observations on how free the people seem for all the “repression” of Communism.

In conclusion, Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China have done some great things for the country, and some horrible things. They have pulled the country into the modern world, but at great sacrifice to life and culture. I think the best thing policy-wise that the West could do in regards to China right now is just to support the endeavors we see as beneficial to their citizens and the rest of the world, while keeping a watchful eye and prodding advancements in human rights where we can. We already depend on China for so much in our economy, but so, too, do they depend on us. Keep in perspective that we went through our industrial revolution a hundred years ago, and China is not only still undergoing theirs but pretty much every other stage of cultural advancement the West has seen all at the same time, instead of spread over hundreds of years. Such a process is going to be painful and have its issues. We already see great change coming through in leaders like Xi Jinping, and the country will evolve as it will on its own good time.

[ishouldbepresident]

Big in China - Beijing Day 5

Business Meeting 6

Our first stop this day would be NBA China. In case you didn't know, basketball is HUGE in China, with more than 300 million fans (that's about ¾ of the population of the United States) and “NBA” is one of the most-searched words on China's #1 search engine, baidu.com. NBA China's purpose in China is basically to market the NBA to China and make money off it. They mainly do this through TV and Digital Media, marketing partnerships, merchandise, and events, with retail sales and arena development as smaller operations. Furthermore, they have extended their NBA Cares program to China as a means of corporate and social responsibility outreach.

Greg Stolt, the Senior Director of Basketball Operations in Beijing, and Steve Toronto, General Counsel, led us through the office and discussed some of the key issues facing the NBA when doing business in China. We basically heard the same things we'd heard before: the developing legal system has a haze of regulations, there is a lot of intellectual property infringement, the business environment is based on relationships, the government is pervasive in business, and the economy is rapidly growing and changing. However, this was the first time I heard that, at least for the NBA, knowing how to speak Mandarin is not that important. They said it was 20-25 years ago, but now it is not as needed due to the number of Chinese who now speak English.

On the issue of intellectual property rights, we heard the same thing we he3ard before, which is that the higher level government is more interested in protecting rights than local. However, the NBA has a good relationship with the government (as we've seen is important), and they are usually able to get things shut down by the government. Furthermore, it is actually easier dealing with legal issues in China because it is monolithic; that is, the structure is top-down such that the top only dictates the laws (it is enforcement that varies at the local level). This is in contrast to the U.S., where you have federal, state, county, etc. that all create a maze of regulations. However, the NBA does find it important to make sure they stay out of the courts as much as possible, as it is better to know the law and not get tangled in it than to risk an unpredictable court.

We then met the Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Jin Xiao, who discussed corporate development in China. He stated that NBA China is currently undergoing a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. NBA China has a sort of monopoly on basketball in China with a strong brand such that they could really only lose market share at this point. They also have the best pool of talent with few competitors (soccer would be the greatest threat, but is far behind), and they have great ratings (though those have slipped now that there are no longer two native Chinese players in the NBA). They do face issues with timing games (since time zones are crazy), and they are experiencing a drop in “casual” fans (as opposed to “core” fans) since it is hard to keep fans engaged when they can't easily attend a live game. Also, the government-controlled CBA poses some threat (though its main focus is to develop and Olympic gold-medal team), and working with the CBA as a for-profit is hard since the CBA will mainly ask how any endeavors will further advance their Olympic endeavors. NBA China would also like to see more Chinese players in the NBA, which is logical considering their highest ratings in China were when they had the most Chinese players (two), and they are continually trying to develop new ways to engage the audience.

Basically what I learned from this business meeting is that, even though the NBA is a drastically different company than what we had previously visited, they experience all the same hurdles as any other company. The focus on relationships and government involvement is ever-present, as well as the well-established need to defend your market share and keep the customer engaged.

Business Meeting 7

After lunch underneath the Beijing World Trade Center and exploring the mall (which has every name brand store you can imagine, as well as an ice skating rink), it was time to meet with the Carlyle Group in the World Trade Center Building 1.

We met with Tian Ai annd Leo Ding with The Carlyle Group, two guys who are very sharp and know their business! Dr. McCreery described them as two sharks, and despite their very friendly appearance and demeanor you could tell these guys were very good at what they do – private equity investment. As a bit of an overview, The Carlyle Group was established in Washington, DC, in 1987, and it is one of the world's largest and most diversified asset management firms with 1,400 employees in 33 cities. They currently manage 4 growth capital funds in Asia worth $2 billion.

Strategically, the company is a generalist in that it looks at investment opportunities in pretty much all industries. They also have helped list Chinese companies on major stock exchanges. They noted that their investment strategy focuses on value creation; this was something a bit different as at this point we had only heard that the Chinese really don't understand value creation as it applies to physical goods (though I guess if you count individual companies as goods, then it still applies). Tian and Leo mainly focus on investing in companies likely to benefit from the major growth currently being experienced in China, India, and South Korea, with no pre-defined limits and a focus on minority investing (investing enough to exert some influence on the company without having majority control of the business' operations).

It was really refreshing to hear that they take a hands-off approach regarding managing a company in which they've invested, instead relying on the expertise of the majority holder and management to steer the company's growth. However, as stated before, they will try to exert some influence to ensure a company changes course if they don't like the way it is headed. They also will help the company with initial public offering (IPO) preparation, setting up accounting and financial standards and systems, recruiting, etc. The entire process of establishing an investment undergoes an extensive vetting process that usually takes about 5 months, it can sometimes be canceled mid-process if something turns up they don't like. With such a sensible approach, it's no wonder these guys are doing so well!

We again heard some of the same themes we'd heard previously with other companies. There are obvious intellectual property issues, and they try to focus on protecting their brand as well as avoiding knock-off companies. They noted that they not only have a strong relationship with the government to assist with issues, but also the media – this was the first time I'd heard that mentioned! In this case, it means being able to work with the media to ensure messaging about deals is in line with the company's wishes, making sure information is not released prematurely, sensitive information is not released, handling delicate issues, etc. I was surprised that no other company had yet mentioned this, but I assume it must also apply to them (at least I hope it does, for their sake). 

Back to the Fun

After our meeting with the Carlyle Group, we went up to the bar on the 80th floor for a quick drink and pictures of the view.

As you can tell above, the smog was pretty bad that day. It just got worse and worse as the week went on, but the locals say there are times when you can't even see the building next door, so I guess we had it easy!

Our “entertainment” for this evening would be the pearl market. Now, don't let the name fool you, there are not only pearls here! Of course, there were a lot of pearls (several floors full of different pearl vendors), but this is also where you can go to shop for knock-off, well, anything! Clothes, electronics, souvenirs, you name it and it's probably here! They also had a building called Toy City (or, as I like to call it, the place where children go to disappear). It's all pretty shady, but it was a ton of fun haggling!

That evening dinner was on our own. One of our classmates had previously been to this awesome dumpling place, so a bunch of us head out to check it out. After walking through some pretty shady areas (“shady” was the theme this evening, apparently), we found this little restaurant. They led us into a back room, which thankfully had an air conditioner they turned on. And the dumplings... I'm going to dream about these dumplings forever. They were so good! The staff was also a lot of fun, too!

It was overall a great night. We headed back out and explored the city a little, watching some break dancers draw a crowd in a nearby park. We then headed back to the hotel to hang out at the bar for some more bonding time. It was a great night I'll never forget!

[ishouldbepresident]

Dog-Eat-Dog - Beijing Day 4

Today would be a big day. After one business meeting, we would be headed to the Great Wall of China! This is a big item on my bucket list, and I just couldn't wait!

But first, the business...

Business Meeting 5

Today's meeting would be at Philisense to meet with the Deputy President, Yue Lu. Mr. Lu first discussed the history of the company and how its 16-year history parallels the book Network of People Power. The company first began as an agent for Philips distributing meeting and conference products while also conducting independent R&D projects on the side. This meant that the 5 employees acted as Philips agents by day and then conducted R&D activities at night. When Bosch bought out the Philips product lines the company serviced, their customers still had R&D demands to which the company decided to dedicate their time and efforts.

In 2006 the company made the switch from developing analog products and go digital – this would be the moment when the company first began to truly dedicate themselves to innovation (at which we saw in a previous post is not something the Chinese are not skilled). We wondered how the company could drive such innovation, and Mr. Lu was very frank about their recruitment process. Only 1 out of every 10 applicants is considered to have the creative skills needed by the company, and then only a small portion of those are hired. They also put a major emphasis on developing creative management skills, and employees are often switched around within the company into new and uncharted waters to develop new skills. For instance, someone with a software background may be dropped into a hardware position and driven to excel. It certainly seems to be working! He also stated that there are invention competitions among the employees every with prizes, and the leadership also leads innovation by example by consistently shifting their own roles to grow.

After they finished developing their digital products in 2009 and switched from a Microsoft to a Java platform (J2EE), they made the preparations for their initial public offering. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, raising capital, and reorganizing management, the company went public in 2012 with 700 employees. They are now involved in smart conference systems with three areas of business: R&D, manufacturing, and conference systems, ad they have won major projects with China's People's Congress and Ministry of Human Resources. A rags to riches story, indeed!

As for the make up of their industry and market, they are among the top 20 companies in the industry and are controlling 15% of the market. Just some of their statistics: 

5 patents held for products out of their R&D efforts

30 products are in computer software

9 different kinds and 360 different products in conference systems

Philisense currently only operates in Chinese domestic markets, but if they entered the international market then they believe Bosch would be their major competitor (and just like any proud Chinese, they feel their products are at the level to compete internationally with such large companies). In fact, all the conference technology we used in the meeting were products of Philisense, including their major product, a system of microphones with various features at each seat of the conference table.

Mr. Lu attributes their success to following the teachings of a specific Chinese cultural book, Book of Changes, which was written 3,000 years ago. The Book of Changes has 3 principles main principles to which the company tries to adhere: 

Change is constant: This has been the driving value of their technology and management innovation

There are some things you never change – after 16 years of development, they found they should always do their own R&D

Changes should be toward simplicity – they try to target product development to make it as simple as possible for customers

Going forward, Mr. Lu stated that he would really like the company to start to target the international market as they feel they have a lot of brand awareness domestically. However, they are currently not very familiar with the international market and would need to investigate how their current products would do before introducing new products. They state that they would like to focus on mergers with and acquisitions of other international companies in order to shore up their position. For all this, it certainly seems like some pretty big talk for a small company! Even if they were #1 in the smart conference systems industry, it would not be enough to drive an international bid.

To counter this issue, they would like to enter the smart city market, which is currently a hot new and trendy market being piloted by the likes of Oracle, IBM and Accenture. Mr. Lu feels that the smart conference system is the perfect springboard for smart city systems, and indeed Philisense is already involved with several Chinese government projects in the industry. The smart city system is especially important for China, which is seeing a growing number of youth move into urban areas, leaving an aging farming population. Therefore, this urbanization of China is going to call for new ways to handle the challenges presented by this scenario. In fact, China has already invested ¥44 billion (approx. $7.33 billion USD) into 90 cities for smart city projects, which has driven a 20% growth rate for Philisense alone in mostly R&D projects.

Again, it seems like such big talk for such a small company! With competitors like IBM leading the way in smart city innovation (the idea was pioneered by IBM), how can a 700-employee company possibly hope to compete? The answer: government assistance. China is definitely in need of the systems, but they are also very focused on developing within their borders. Indeed, Philisense already has several projects with the government (though Mr. Lu was not at liberty to discuss which or how much money was involved). The unique aspect of these projects is that they were not won via a bidding system like you would see in the U.S. Instead, we again see the importance of focusing on relationships in businesses within China. Philisense has been working tirelessly to develop government relationships, and indeed they were able to win the projects but also investing some of their own capital into the projects (which is not uncommon, we have seen such companies like Accenture use a similar model). Also, the government will often work with several companies on the same project.

We asked Mr. Lu to expand on some of the challenges the company faces in developing their market. A major issue brought up was the cultural differences between Chinese and Western cultures, which is a definitive barrier to entering the international market. We experienced this ourselves with Mr. Lu, as sometimes we would have to ask a question several different ways before getting the answer to our initial question – which is another example of why it is so important to develop relationships that will help break down those communication barriers! Finally, there are also issues with intellectual property rights, as with all the other companies we have seen in China. However, Mr. Lu feels they don't have to worry as they protect their investments. However, he did let slip that they have employees who work in the R&D offices of their competitors, so it seems they might have an intricate network for keeping tabs on their competition (I'll refrain discussing the merits of such a practice, when in China after all...).

After this meeting, the main takeaway I have is in relation to my previous comment from Rob Gifford's book, China Road, about how the Chinese are just looking for respect. Beyond the conversation I mentioned in a previous post, Gifford had many other conversations with the Chinese that seemed to show that not only do the Chinese want to be respected, they want to be accepted into the global culture. They have this undying need to show that they can be just like us Westerners. This is the exact sense I get from Mr. Lu and Philisense. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and Philisense is working in a culture that will take no prisoners, even on a national level. Innovation is a tough thing to manage, and they seem to have the best grasp of that than any other company we visited on this trip (even Red Hat). They also understand their weaknesses and how they need to approach them. All of this is driven by their desire to play on the same field with the big boys like IBM and Accenture. They long for the day when they can say that they are the leaders in their field, and with the Chinese government's full backing, they just might be able to compete, even now.

Back to the Fun

After a quick change into more comfortable clothing within the Philisense building, we were off to the National Stone Place (i.e., the jade market). We could watch the craftsmen sculpt jade into a number of amazing sculptures, and then of course we had to buy some! I bought a few small things, as well as a painting made entirely of different colored jade dust recovered from the sculpting process. I can't wait to hang it in my house!

Then, after another family-style lunch (the best one of the trip, in my opinion) at this little restaurant just before you get there, it was time for the Great Wall of China (we also probably cleaned them out of all their beer, it was so cheap!).

I'm a dork and couldn't help humming tunes from Disney's Mulan along the way(perhaps the beer had something to do with that). Our destination was the Mutianyu section, which is supposedly less crowded and more scenic... and boy, was it!

If you didn't know, though you can walk up a ton of steps to get to the wall from the parking lot, the main way to get up is via a chair lift. This was my first chair lift experience, so I was a little nervous, but of course Wendy wouldn't let anything bad to happen to us and everything turned out alright.

Once we got to the top... boy, what a view! It was absolutely stunning, and I thoroughly enjoyed the hour-and-a-half we had to run around – I mean, explore it as adults (of course we didn't climb on things we shouldn't... beer).

Once our time was done, it was time to head down the toboggan before it closed. That's right, to get down you have to ride a toboggan ride. It's basically a sled with wheels and a handlebar for breaking. It was a ton of fun!

Once at the bottom, it was time to haggle for souvenirs. Again, this was a new experience for me. I'm not much of a haggler, but I feel like I got a fair price for the t-shirt I bought. That was, until some of the salesmen in the group were able to get the same t-shirt for about $1 USD. Boy, did I feel embarrassed! Then we headed back to Beijing. It would be an early night again to head to two more companies and then the pearl market the next day.

[ishouldbepresident]

Just Do It, China Style - Beijing Day 3

Business Meeting 3

Tuesday morning we headed out to the Li-Ning headquarters for a meeting with the Brand Initiatives Director, Mr. Tor Petersen. Li-Ning, a sporting goods and apparel company, was founded in 1989 by the Chinese Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (1984) of the same name, Li Ning. You may remember him as the man who flew around the Bird's Nest at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to light the torch. As far as I am aware, it is the first sporting goods and apparel company started by an Olympic gold medalist (I'm not including individual clothing lines and such, here).

Li-Ning is sometimes called “the Nike of China.” It should be noted that Nike, Adidas, etc. all operate in China (and have much larger stores within Beijing than Li-Ning does), but that doesn't stop them from posting over $1 billion in profits annually! I would also like to state that I bought a pair of Li-Ning shoes, and they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever worn (they didn't even have the usually painful breaking in period that all shoes I have ever bought have required).

Our visit began with a tour of the facilities designed with several sporting design elements (such as a courtyard with masonry designed to look like a cross-section of muscle fibers and a marble “track” coursing around the site), which included several full-size gyms (basketball, badminton, swimming pools, etc.), as well as a bronze statue of Li Ning himself on the pommel horse. Though the primary purpose of the gyms is for product testing, it was noted that the 700 employees onsite (with 14,000 employees worldwide) have full access to the gyms from 12-1pm and 6-8:30pm everyday.

Mr. Petersen spoke a lot regarding the current hurdles the company is facing as far as growth and branding are concerned. In 2005, Li-Ning had revenues of $125 million in 2005 and grew to $1.2 billion annually by 2010. However, now the growth has slowed to $1 billion last year, part of which is due to China's own slowing growth (which at 7% annual GDP growth, is not too shabby). Most of Li-Ning's growth can be attributed to expansion of the company via acquisitions and mergers, as well, but the market has gotten to the point where expansion via that method no longer generates a significant return on investment, which is pretty much to be expected.

Some other considerations outside the control of Li-Ning include Chinese consumers' growing desire for international brands. With China's exponential growth in the past couple of decades (and indeed the several decades before), the Chinese consumer has become obsessed with international brands. International brands are more expensive, and owning expensive brands are a sign of wealth and power, which are highly desired in the Chinese culture. I know that sounds pretty obvious: isn't everyone like that around the world? Well, sure, but it's still different in China. It's not just about buying expensive things, but about buying into an image that you are worldly. In China's drive to become a world superpower (to which they are already well on their way), they wish to integrate with the rest of the world and show that the “Chinese way” works, that the Chinese people are so successful that they can travel the world, own expensive watches and cars, and do everything else that Westerners do.

As Rob Gifford notes in his book China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power (a great introduction for anyone wishing to see a broad cross-section of modern Chinese culture and how it varies across the country), during a hot bus ride across Route 312, he asked a group of people what they wanted from Western cultures. Their answer: respect. The Chinese people have had so many hardships and fought for so long, all they want is to be respected by Westerners as the smart and hardworking people they are. I think the 2008 Olympics opening ceremonies really proved a springboard for that image, and it's the exact reason why they strive so hard to fit into the Western image.

Anyway, I digress. How is this relevant to Li-Ning's struggles? Well, when you're billing yourself as “China's national brand,” it would certainly be difficult to steal market share away from Western brands when that's what the people want! The company had also overestimated how much being Olympic-branded would impact sales (answer: not much). Li-Ning has recently re-branded recently with the message “Make the Change.” This is Li-Ning's attempt to try to pull some of the international market share in China back home by asking consumers to make the change from the international brands to support homegrown products. Will it work? That's still unsure with such a recent change.

Thus, what should Li-Ning's strategy be?

To begin with, the company still feels there are huge growth opportunities due to a large segment of the population that still can't afford the international brands. However, having a middle-range price point poses its own challenges; namely, the dozens of competitors that already exist selling products in the same price range. Li-Ning's first focus has thus become to stop trying to compete with Nike and Adidas and focus on out-competing the middle-range competition, such as Anta, and they have seen some success in that area, having beaten out Anta on a major bid.

However, in discussion with classmates, we wonder if this is the correct strategy. Shouldn't you always strive to be the best, even if the best is out-competing you 10-to-1? Wouldn't it make more sense to try to steal some market share away from Nike and Adidas to build reputation and value? In many cases, yes, but I remain skeptical. Though Li-Ning is continuing to focus some effort on building their brand internationally to compete with the “big guys,” they really are pulling back their efforts to focus locally. There is more flexibility in the middle-range market, so if they can continue to have success there, maybe even make a few acquisitions of competitors along the way to shore up their current market share, they could build a rather solid platform from which to launch a more aggressive campaign later on the larger Western competitors. However, there are risks there, too. What if they get outdone at their own game by the other Chinese competition? Or, even worse, what if Nike or Adidas (or both) launch a more middle-price brand in China (think how Levi has Denizen, or Honda has Acura) that takes off? Both strategies have their weaknesses, and only time will tell if Li-Ning has chosen the correct one.

Beyond competition, Li-Ning has some other challenges ahead of them. Firstly, they have some trouble in distribution. In China, almost nothing is sold in a major supermarket, at least not name-brand items. Mostly, all you see are specific-named stores for Li-Ning; there are no Footlockers, Finish Lines, etc. that provide easily-tapped distribution channels. Instead, a significant amount of investment must go into their own stores, or finding dealers willing to set up their own stores. Currently, Li-Ning has only about 300 of its own stores that it runs directly, and the rest depends on dealers or internet sales. Thus, it is hard to make your brand be widely-distributed, even though production of Li-Ning products occurs all over China.

Furthermore, finding the talent to develop quality products is difficult. As you can imagine, apparel design requires a significant amount of creativity. Chinese fine arts education focuses more on replication of a current technique, as opposed to developing innovation and design talent. Therefore, it is hard to find talent to produce new, appealing products that do not simply mimic existing styles and processes. This especially becomes a problem in developing the creative designs that include a certain amount of “bling” to which the Chinese consumer is most attracted. Add to those problems the 18 months start-to-finish it takes to develop a new style of shoes, which can be shorter for other products, and efficiency becomes an issue when trying to release a new, innovative product.

Marketing is also tough in China, for any company. In the Chinese culture, it is generally a rule of thumb that expressing an opinion is rude. Indeed, even in social gatherings Chinese people will usually opt to play games instead of having conversations in order to avoid situations where expressing an opinion is needed. Therefore, focus groups have to adapt to a “show me” attitude, as opposed to a “tell me” attitude, which is much more difficult. Furthermore, as previous speakers noted, it is very important to establish a relationship with someone before “getting down to business,” which takes some extra finesse (and costly time). It is also not a matter of slapping your brand on a celebrity and have spokespeople tote your brand: in the high-context culture of China, that just won't work. Though they do have some celebrities (like Dwayne Wade) modeling their apparel, there's just not the same level of return on investment as you would see in Western countries with something like Air Jordan. It also doesn't help that there's not much emphasis placed on university sports teams in China, so an entire marketing channel we use so much in the West is simply not available in China.

In the end, it could be said that Li-Ning is taking a cautious approach to its growth. They still have some wiggle room, so at the moment they appear to be safe. Will the slow-but-steady approach win this race? Only time will tell.

Business Meeting 4

After a hectic lunch in a mall food court (which wasn't much of a food court and most of us ended up buying chips, cheese, and/or cookies from a supermarket that also didn't really have any meals), it was off to the United States Embassy to meet with Mr. Dale Wright, a Standards Attache (aka Commercial Officer) for the U.S. Commercial Service. No electronic equipment was allowed inside (so no phones and cameras), and we weren't even allowed to take a picture of the outside of the building (though I managed to snap an almost-picture of the building from the bus).

Mr. Wright first reviewed the current political climate in China and the impact of Chinese politics on doing business in China. The current leadership is relatively new, but they have been very active in restructuring many governmental agencies due to the duplicity of regulations and struggle for power amongst the agencies that make it so hard to do business in China, especially for foreign companies.

The current General Secretary Xi Jinping (who also holds many other titles, such as the President of the People's Republic of China) is all for reform in China (within the confines of the Communist Party of China rules), saying, “No stop in reform, no stop in opening up.” This is strongly in contrast with other CPC leaders like Zhang Dejiang who is a strong advocate of state-owned enterprises (SOEs – companies under the control of the central government). The 117 SOEs in China tend to restrict growth by creating a barrier for entry for any competition, which is a problem. Xi Jinping would tend to side with the idea that these industries (such as the steel industry) need to open up more, whereas Zhang Dejiang would tend to believe that the SOEs operate in the best interests of the State. Certainly in America we would tend that a free market with plentiful competition is the best, and the protectionism fostered by SOEs is a barrier to that.

Mr. Wright also discussed several issues with running a business in China. As I've noted in another blog, retaining talent is a major hurdle with loyalty being a major issue. This tends to lead to issues with labor costs – as much as we in the West like to harp on “cheap labor” in China, outsourcing to China and other countries is actually a drop in the bucket when compared to our overall jobs crisis – as it not only costs more money to keep up with hiring and training workers in an environment of high turnover, but also in providing the competitive pay and benefits to keep retention high.

Side note: Just to partially dispel a myth, even though we import way more from China than China imports from the U.S., most of those products are actually those we requested. That is, we shipped these jobs to China to produce the goods we in turn sell back in the U.S. (you'll note that there are really not many China-based name brands, other than Lenovo, that operate in the U.S., despite all the products made in China that are sold here). Thus, the onus is on us to figure out how to deal with those issues.

As stated earlier, another issue is the unclear regulatory environment in China. This is pretty much the same as the U.S., except that China is actively working to consolidate agencies to ensure consistent regulations (if not less). Furthermore, meeting certifications and approvals (especially to ensure non-competition with SOEs) is especially hard for Western companies, where local officials tend to control approval and will favor local companies over foreign ones.

This touches on a big contrast with trust in government between China and the U.S.: as Rob Gifford noted in China Road, the Chinese tend to place more trust in the central government over local, whereas in the U.S. there is a general trend to trust the local government. For the Chinese, in large part they have a lot of beneficial regulations that could, in theory, greatly improve the quality of living in China. However, due to the major corruption at the local level (where you often have companies and judges working hand-in-hand to make a profit), the regulations do not work. This direct contrast with American trust in local officials, who tend to have a greater connection with and vested interest in the local economy, with the greatest of scandals occurring at the national level. Indeed, China is starting to have its own spike in scandals with local officials getting into car accidents in Lamborghinis or their children living in $5 million condos – local officials should not have that much money in a Communist society (Mao would be rolling in his tomb, who himself was know for living a very modest life).

As noted in our meeting with Ashley Howlett in Jones Day, Mr. Wright again emphasized the greatest disappointment in business ethic in China. Intellectual property rights (that is, patents) exist but are often not enforced (and it is very difficult to win a lawsuit due to the corruption). Not only that, but industrial espionage is rampant. If a U.S. company (or even a Chinese one with little bureaucratic connections, for that matter) enters into a joint venture with another company to develop a product, it is not unusual for that second company to build its own factory and start producing the product on its own without ever informing the original company that invented it. Sometimes they will even rush through their own patent in the courts so that you are out of luck in defending yourself, so it becomes much more important to protect your invention. Many U.S. companies will not even ship vital components to China in deference to assembly somewhere else to ensure that the design cannot be copied. We will see the results of such corruption in a later blog post.

Mr. Wright also discussed China's response to the 2008 financial crisis. Just like the U.S., China's response had some major flaws that tended to benefit the individual instead of the community at large. China invested $1.45 trillion dollars in stimulus funds, of which $250 billion has been deemed “unrecoverable” so far. You can see the result of this all around China in the form of empty and unfinished apartment and office buildings. Many of the companies pocketed most of the money, built the buildings as a show, and then abandoned the projects as a non-recoverable investment, writing off the costs and further pocketing more stimulus funds. You see this in the U.S., as well, in the form of companies that accepted funds and went bankrupt with no paper trail to show where the funds went. It's a basic economic principle, really: when you give people an incentive to cheat the system, they will exploit it every time. Every. Time.

The question is, even with the flaws, was the stimulus worth it? There seems to be $1.2 trillion of the stimulus that has been beneficial, and with a 7% annual growth in GDP, China is doing just fine. In fact, China consumes 25% of the world's luxury goods and services, a clear sign that the money is flowing, money that is increasingly flowing to international markets. And Mr. Wright also expressed optimism that the corruption is getting better, not worse, as the CPC is embarrassed by each scandal and works to crack down on corruption as it attempts to continue to solidify China's status in the global marketplace. Again, for all its flaws, only time will tell whether China's economy continues to prosper or hits a brick wall. There are already signs of a possible housing bubble burst, but China, unlike the U.S., is already implementing strategies to slow the growth of the bubble. Will it work? Again, only time will tell.

Back to the fun!

Whew! If you've made it this far, good for you! Needless to say, it was a very exhausting, though intriguing, day for the class. I find myself really thinking differently about the actions of companies and how they would play into an overall strategy of the company (but I suppose that's the point of this trip, eh?). After all that intense discussion of marketing, branding, and governmental regulation, it was time for some fun!

After a quick meal on our own (I believe this was the night a small group of us had a Cantonese dinner of roast goose, frog leg stew, and vegetable curry, yum!), it was off to see the Chinese acrobat show! Now, they were no Cirque du Soleil, but the skill displayed at Chaoyang Theatre was very impressive! Ballet dancers on point on a guy's forehead, guys balancing on 9 stacked chairs, and 8 (that's right, eight) motorcyclists spinning around inside a metal sphere made a great show!

Note: the next section is not for the squeamish! Especially if you don't like arachnids... This is the last section of this post, of this applies to you, feel free to stop reading now!

Following the acrobats show, it was time to experience the food market were you can sample all kinds of delicacies. Fried seahorses, starfish, snakes, bats, geckos, spiders, scorpions... they had it all (on a stick). Some of it you could even see still wriggling on the stick before being fried. I was hesitant to try anything, but after seeing this teenage girl from Canada chow down on a tarantula, what choice did I have? I tried the scorpion, and it basically tasted like an old potato chip. It seems everything else tasted the same way, based on the comments from the rest of the class, so I didn't miss much by not trying other items. After the market shut down on us, it was back to the hotel bar for drinks before bed. The next day would be one business meeting before heading to the Great Wall, so rest was needed!

[ishouldbepresident]

It's the Government, Stupid! - Beijing Day 2

Our second full day in Beijing would kick off with a tai chi legend from a master, followed by a pedicab ride through the hutongs (the narrow streets and neighborhoods of Beijing) to see the hutong lifestyle. The tai chi had us all worn out, and the master said one of my poses was beautiful, so that was a win!

Also, during the pedicab ride the pushy vendors actually got on their bikes and rode next to us to try to sell their wares. They seem to really understand the idea of opportunity costs!

Hutongs are actually dwindling, as they can no longer support the large population. In China, the government owns the land, and citizens are able to negotiate land-use rights for their homes. Usually you can get it renegotiated (especially if you have the right connections and can pay the right amount), but it is hard to renegotiate in a hutong when the land could be used to build a high rise to house hundreds of families instead of 7 or 8. We actually stopped in and visited one house of a family of 3, though at times the house had accommodated up to 8 people (and I only saw one bed, so that would have been very hard, indeed). Many of the hutongs were actually confiscated by the government in the early part of the 20th century, but some families were able to get their traditional homes back after Mao came to power (as this one did).

Note: Going forward, my postings will also reflect back on lessons learned from business meetings in China. Feel free to skip over the boring stuff, which will have the “Business Meeting #” label. :)

Business Meeting 1

After lunch on our own we headed to our first business meeting with Ross Warner, a turnaround, buyout, and merger specialist formerly with HiSoft. He discussed five life lessons he had learned from working with companies on many levels, including local, growing companies as well as large, multinational companies.

#1 – Invest in Language. Mr. Warner relayed to us of how he came from working in Japan to work in China, and how he had thought at the time that he was fluent in Mandarin. However, after arriving, he realized that he needed much more work. He stressed the necessity of learning language not just in the context of being able to communicate, but also as a means for understanding how thoughts are processed in a culture. The way words are pronounced, the number and variation of dialects, and whether stress is given to plurality or gender all convey some sort of meaning for a culture, and being able to process that meaning is very valuable in forming relationships, especially business relationships.

#2 – Follow the Government. This should be rather apparent, as Mr. Warner put it, “It's the government, stupid!” Where the government goes, so follows the money, and this is especially important in China, which has many state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly run by the government. For instance, the Chinese government had developed a five-year plan to “Go West,” the development of which is continuously being reworked even today as the lesser-developed western regions of China are exploding with growth, especially in factories. At the time the Go West movement was introduced, Mr. Warner had been in IR for a small steel mill with General Steel Holdings. The mill was perfectly positioned on the cusp between eastern and western China, and the development of the west would need steel in large numbers. Thus, by building relationships with the government and following its plans, General Steel Holdings was able to explode its earnings. Some might say this was just good luck, but it would still take a great deal of work with the government to ensure that it worked.

#3 – Build Trust Relationships.

This is something we often take for granted in the West. China is considered a “high context” culture, meaning that they require a lot of information in order to form the context of a message. For instance, in America you can have an advertisement with very little text, maybe just a picture and a catchphrase. In China, you would also need a lot more text to frame the ad so that it's full meaning is conveyed to the audience. Furthermore, the environment and relationships help build the context of the message. If you aren't understanding something, the relationship can help fill in the gap. This is especially true in China. In America, when you need something you cut through the bull and go straight to the heart of the issue. This doesn't work in China, and can even completely destroy a business opportunity. Instead, in China you go out with potential clients for dinner, maybe play some tennis (golf isn't as popular), that sort of thing and build up interpersonal relationships. It may take days or weeks of massaging a relationship before you can safely bring up a business topic. However, if you do it right, you can build really strong, lasting relationships, which then build trust to frame communication going forward.

#4 – Communicate, communicate, communicate! In cross-cultural relationships, and especially so in China, communication is always key. Furthermore, in China there can be no such thing as over-communication. In fact, it is better to over-communicate than not communicate enough, particularly when there is a need to protect yourself from shady business practices (of which there is no shortage in China). If everything is spelled out and communicated many times, there is far less chance of claims of misunderstanding, and it furthers the previous point of developing relationships to create context for your message.

#5 – Expect the Unexpected. There is no end to the lengths Chinese will go to in order to ensure they come out on the best side of a deal. That is why it is very important to try to plan for as many outcomes as possible. As someone great once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Business Meeting 2

Our second meeting of the day was with Ashley Howlett, a partner with the global law firm Jones Day. Mr. Howlett focuses on construction and engineering issues connected with infrastructure and major projects. He literally wrote the textbook on construction issues, being the author of the only English-language textbook on Chinese construction law, Chinese Construction Law - A Guide for Foreign Countries.

Mr. Howlett relayed how there is always room for negotiation and confrontation when dealing with construction issues in China. He also expanded on land-use rights, and how the length of time your rights are granted for land will depend on for what the land will be used. Though people will assume that their rights will be fixed, they cannot be certain of that and they also cannot be certain that the government will not arbitrarily end the rights earlier than the full term. This causes a lot of construction issues, as companies will shy away from investing a lot of money in quality work that lasts decades and will instead opt for cheaper work that will only last about 50 years.

To compound the issue further, contractors often have incentive to not use the best materials. Even though there are very strict building codes, corruption in local government is a major issue in China, and building inspectors (and even judges) can be bribed. This leads to contractors using sub-par materials, which makes a building designed to last 50 years have an even shorter life. There is rule by law, but no rule of law, meaning that contractors will often manipulate the legal system (through corrupt means) such that it works for them. For instance, one building burned down because the flammable insulation used was ignited by a local fireworks display, even though the design specifications called for flame-retardant insulation. And even though the contractor was found at fault (because the architect had clearly planned ahead and documented all specifications and agreements), the contractor still was hired to re-build the building and, thus, pocketed double the money (for essentially building it twice).

On the flip side, as a contractor, you often have issues with companies not fully paying for the projects. In many (if not all instances), it is best to get as much money out of the company as possible once the building is completed (and I later discovered through other business meetings that this applies to other industries, as well).

There is hope, however, but you have to be crafty, and it only works with contractors that have operations in other countries or have contracts with other companies with which you have a much closer relationship. If you have a dispute with a contractor, you can often apply pressure on them by exerting pressure on their relationships. Do they have contracts in countries that actually strictly enforce their building codes? You might be able to get a judge to halt all payments to the company, or create a scandal that causes their other clients to pull out their business. In that way, you can exert some control to assure they are following the letter of all agreements.

Mr. Howlett also touched on some other issues faced by the construction industry and other industries. For instance, once recent “president” said that the party should be first, then the people, then the law. Why would it not make more sense for a government to stress law above all others? This is the general them in China: the law is often ignored in favor of the benefit of political parties or personal gain. Mr. Howlett said the feeling is, “Who is in front has right of way.” It's exactly the same as we saw with Chinese driving earlier: whomever is in the lead is able to direct the course of action.

Furthermore, the Chinese people do not seem to understand the value of services as a product (as opposed to physical goods). They will often expect much cheaper rates than Western cultures for services, even though those services mght be considered very valuable. Also, they cannot grasp how adding quality service (such as support) to the development of goods should raise the price of those goods.

Finally, the last tidbit of the business meeting I gleaned would also frame the rest of the week: there is very little loyalty among Chinese employees. If you develop an employee and give them all the tools they need to become great, they will still leave you at the drop of a dime. Literally, they will leave for a salary that is only a dime more, as long as the title is more prestigious. Titles and respect are very important in Chinese culture, especially when greater titles can lead to even greater rewards.

[ishouldbepresident]

Scratching the Surface - Beijing Day One

When I arrived in the Beijing airport, I was met by a travel agency representative from World Strides (the company NCSU dealt with to arrange our study abroad trip)and was whisked into a car for the hour-long car ride to Park Plaza hotel. I was immediately struck by the run-down nature of the airport. Also, the air quality was visibly horrible (as expected).

Traveling through Beijing as compared to Japan is night-and-day. The Chinese people are pushy, as opposed to the Japanese people who seemed to go out of their way to ensure foreigners were not hassled. Furthermore, I noted before how in Japan drivers are very courteous. In contrast, Chinese drivers seem to have to method to the madness (though as the week wore on I would figure out the method, but it would still be madness). People merge at will, and traffic signals and lane lines seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule. This is just one aspect of the culture cultivated by the Communist party over the last 75 years or so since Chairman Mao passed away, and I will comment more on that in later posts.

As soon as I got checked into my room, it was immediately to bed I went, falling asleep before my roommate, Chad, got in and not really meeting him until the next morning. In the morning we woke up, made our introductions, and went downstairs to have breakfast before setting out for a full day of sightseeing as a class. We connected with old classmates and new, and met our guide for the week, Wendy, a very knowledgeable and personable lady who went to school for medicine and now makes a killing as a tour guide. We also met our driver, Yu, who would later earn the nickname Yu-Turn Fu for his prowess at navigating the cramped Beijing city streets.

Speaking of the driving (which also involves the pollution problem), Wendy informed us that Beijing as reaching new levels of 1 million new cars on the road per year, and to combat the problem the government now only allows 240,000 new license plates to be registered per year through a lottery system. In Beijing and the rest of China, owning a car has become a status symbol, which is very important in the Chinese culture for attaining respect (and a spouse, with the subsequent one child). Drivers go to driving classes for 3 months and must pass a rather extensive exam with at least a 90% grade, though you would probably never be able to tell. This is likely a result of the Chinese culture that has lots of great legislation but with very little enforcement, such that it is probably pretty easy to pass the exam if a little under-the-table transaction is involved.

Anyway, onto the sightseeing. The first stop was Tienanmen Square, the burial location of Chairman Mao and the site where any thoughts of democracy were crushed in 1989 (possibly forever). It's a pretty impressive courtyard, able to hold millions of people and the site of many government buildings, including the Chinese congress, which has over 3,000 members (compared to 454 in America). As we walk through the square, we are approached by numerous street vendors hocking cheap souvenirs. “Herro, herro,” they say in broken English. “You want fan? You want chopsticks? Whole bag, ten dollars! What you want?” This would become the theme of the entire trip, as vendors are everywhere selling just about anything an unsuspecting tourist never even knew they wanted. Capitalism exists at all levels in China.

After taking the obligatory pictures in the square, we were to head under the avenue and into the Forbidden City. The city is very impressive, and took over 100,000 workers 20 years to build. It is currently undergoing renovations in many areas, which is expected to take 15 years to complete. Everywhere we looked, there were workers repairing paint, cleaning and replacing roof tiles, and digging up floor stones to replace them with new ones. However, for all the work being done, we still had some pretty amazing sights to see (my favorite part was the garden).

After the Forbidden City we were off to a tea house to see a demonstration (NOT a tea ceremony, which I was kind of bummed about) and taste a bunch of different kinds of tea. Of course, this was all a lead up to getting us all to buy hundreds of yuan (which converts to about ¥6 for every $1) worth of tea and tea cups/sets. For all the talk of communism, Capitalism is certainly very alive and well in China.After tea was lunch, served family style (as were all of the meals that were arranged by the travel agency). All of it was delicious. In fact, I ate everything put in front of me all week, no matter what was in it (more on that later), and with the exception of a couple of rather sorry soups it was all delicious (and not once did I get sick from it).

After lunch we headed to the Summer Palace. We went on a boat ride to the palace (though there is a bridge you can walk across, but what kind of bland experience would that be?). The palace is where the Emperor would spend 3 months of summer, basically “on vacation” as, even though the Summer palace was across the street from the Imperial Palace, visitors calling on the Emperor would be told that he is unavailable for an audience (basically on holiday) if he was staying in the Imperial Palace. Wendy told us the history of the Dowager Empress Cixi who, after the palace was burned down once by foreign invaders, decided to spend the money set aside to build a new navy on rebuilding the summer palace so she could have a place to celebrate her 60th birthday (a milestone age in the Chinese culture). This would subsequently lead to the Chinese being defeated three times by invasions from the sea, but at least the Dowager Empress got her fancy celebration!

After the Summer Palace, it was back to the hotel to freshen up and head out to dinner at the China Lounge, a very retro restaurant that, again, had amazing food in a family-style atmosphere. It was then back to the hotel to socialize, and Wendy also set up some tailor fittings for anyone that wanted to get a Chinese-tailored, quality suit at an amazing price. This was our first experience haggling with Chinese businessman. I didn't get a suit, but it was a real treat watching some of my classmates haggle hard core! Once again, capitalism on display in China.

[ishouldbepresident]

Last Night in Tokyo - Shibuya & Shinjuku

The past week-and-a-half has been quite the whirlwind. I know y'all will forgive me for not being current on my posts, but I promise I will continue my day-by-day accounts (though not so much in real time). I have now finished my Japan tour, as well as Beijing, and as I write this I am sitting on the rooftop of the City Resort Hostel in Sydney as my laundry is drying downstairs (but more on that to come in its own post). I have had tremendous luck when it comes to weather, and pretty much every day has been sunny and warm (but not too warm). I'd like to think I am travelling the world bringing sunshine with me wherever I go. :)

But for now, it is time to discuss my last day in Tokyo!

When I got back from Kyoto, I had all these grandiose plans of crossing the Rainbow Bridge on foot, exploring the Imperial Palace and surrounding areas, then checking out the nightlife in Shibuya and Shinjuku. However, after the packed couple of days in Kyoto, I was simply too worn out. So, I decided to work on my blog posts, finishing several which I set to post automatically one day at a time (so by the time the last one posted, I was already enjoying the Forbidden City in Beijing). By evening time, I had rested up enough to strike out for Tokyo nightlife.

My first stop was Shibuya (after navigating the Yamanote Line on the JR all by myself). This is the place you will usually see in movies and TV with all the tall buildings, crazy lights, and huge TV screens on the buildings. There were restaurants, karaoke bars, and tourists everywhere.

After exploring a bit and coming to the conclusion that for all the lights and grandeur it was still just a tourist area for collecting large amounts of tourist money, I decided to check out a much-less toured area, the gay district in Shinjuku. Along the way, I got a little lost and made friends with an Indian named Sahed, who was equally lost and looking for the same area. Exploring together, we eventually found Ni-chome (“Second Street”) in Shinjuku, which is where all the gay bars are.

Note I said bars, and not clubs. This was the major striking factor to both Sahed and me, as we were expecting the usual large clubs with big dance floors to which we were both familiar. Instead, if you have these several-story buildings with many floors, on which there are several bars. Each bar typically has a theme (muscle, twink, etc.), though you wouldn't be able to tell by the clientele. Also, the bars are VERY small, most holding 5 people, max. We did find a couple of bars that could hold around 30 people, but they were also mostly empty, even though this was on a Friday night.

Thus, Sahed and I had to resolve ourselves to just getting a drink here and there with no real dancing or anything. We chatted with a few bartenders to inquire about the scene (mostly using gestures and a mix of broken Japanese and English), and it just seems like there was no real scene here. We did find one bar, however, called The Advocates, which was frequented by a lot of foreigners. But again, as it could only hold about 5 people most of us stood out on the street to converse. We had some nice idle chatter, but all-in-all is was a pretty uneventful evening. Around midnight I headed back to catch the last train back to Minatoku, and Sahed decided to stick around a little longer just to see if things might heat up a little more as the night wore on. I, however, had to be up at 6:30am to catch the train to Narita airport, so it was to bed I went.

Next post will be about Beijing!

[ishouldbepresident]

Kyoto

Kyoto has probably been my favorite location on this trip so far. As the former capital of Tokyo, it has the richest history and highest concentration of both Shinto and Buddhist temples. We had a new tour guide, Mikki (who introduced himself with a sign of Mickey Mouse). Our first stop was Nijo-jo (or Nijo Castle), which was the original castle of the Shogun.

Before going in, we had to take off our shoes.

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside (or even sketches, for that matter). It was interesting to see how the Shogun operated and the ornate paintings on the walls. One of the first things you notice is the squeaky floors. This is not due to old age but is actually intentional. The floors are called "nightingale floors," and "chirp" so that you can always hear if there is an intruder walking through the halls.

Once back outside, we were able to view the gardens, which were gorgeous.

After Nijo-jo it was on to the Old Imperial Palace (the current one is now in Tokyo, which is where the emperor resides). Even though no one lives here any more and the buildings are largely empty, security is still high. Only a small number of tour groups are let in each day (I'm so lucky!), and we were constantly followed by a policeman throughout the tour.

This is where the imperial coronations used to occur (we weren't allowed inside the courtyard).

We then headed to the Kinkaku-ji, or Golden Pavilion Temple, a Zen Buddhist temple. The temple is covered in gold leaf and is gorgeous. We didn't get to go inside, so mostly we just walked around and took pictures.

It was then time for Western-style buffet lunch at the Heian no Mori Hotel. We had some extra time after lunch, so I headed out to find a Lawson to pick up more batteries for my camera and just generally explore. I was rewarded by finding the Okazaki Shrine (conveniently next door to the hotel). Here's a sign I found with a description.

Inside the shrine were many statues of rabbits, as you can probably figure out from the above description. At the one particular marble statue below, I watched a number of women (some of them visibly pregnant) walk up, pour water over its head, and rub its belly. I assume this is to pray for easy childbirth (or fertility, if any of them were not pregnant).

After lunch, we had a new tour guide, Yumi. She was probably my favorite, as in addition to history she was also well-versed in Shinto and Buddhist customs, which came in handy for the temples we visited. Our first stop of the afternoon was Heain Jigu Shrine, a Shinto shrine and the site of the gardens where movies like Sayonara and Lost in Translation were filmed. Yumi first showed us how to purify ourselves before entering.

You first pick up the cup in the right hand and pour water over then left, then switch hands and do the same, then switch back and pour water in the left hand to pour into the mouth, swish, and spit out. You then scoop some water up and hold the cup upright so that the water pours down the handle and cleanses it.

We then went into the courtyard and crossed over to the shrine.

Once inside, pictures are again not allowed, but we did go through the prayer ritual, which involves throwing a coin into a box, bowing twice, clapping your hands twice, making your wish, and then bowing again.

Once outside, we headed into the garden, which again is only open to a small number of tour groups (so glad I signed up for this tour). We went through the garden and crossed the stone steps, much like Bill Murray did.

If you want to see more pictures of the garden, just check out my Facebook!

Once through with Heian, it was on to Sanjusangendo Temple, a Buddhist temple. Again, no photos or shoes allowed inside, but I can assure you the 1,000 golden statues of Buddha were quite impressive! So was the garden outside.

Finally, it was time for our last destination, the Kiyomizudera, or "Pure Water" temple. This is the one you're likely to see in guide books for Kyoto and on posters. It's pagodas are impressive, as is the construction that is completed without any nails.

It was a large compound and I had a ton of fun exploring. One part is the three fountains. If you drink out of them, you are granted good luck, either in love, education, or just luck in general (but to drink out of all three is greedy). The line was much too long and full of kids for me to drink, though.

The temple is situated on a hill side, and the pathway leading up to/down from is full of shops. It was fun to peruse them, but by this point I'd been hit by so many souvenir shops I had no cash left! Still, great times.

After that, it was off to the bullet train station and back to Tokyo!

[ishouldbepresident]

Mt. Fuji, Lake Ashi, & Mt. Komagatake

After sleeping for 13 hours, it was time to head off to Tokyo. Miguel was also heading out to work, so we set off together. While walking, he pointed out the little kids (couldn't have been more than second graders) walking on the way to school without an adult. He told me how the older kids lead the younger kids in a line, and how adult volunteers act as crossing guards for the kids. He also pointed out how clean the city is (which I had also noted), and told me how neighbors volunteer shifts to clean up (though it's not hard because nobody litters). For me, it was a stark contrast to my own neighborhood where people are always throwing their garbage in my yard and even breaking pieces of wood off my deck. The Japanese seem to have a much better sense of community and personal responsibility than many Americans. I could also see this in how those who do drive cars always use their turn signals, let each other merge in their lanes when someone does have their signal on, and stop for pedestrians even when they are jaywalking. They also obey crosswalk signals, even if no traffic is coming and they could have danced in the middle of the street if they wanted (though, there were times I would cross if no traffic was coming, and anyone else would follow as long as I was the first one to make a move).

Anyway, cultural differences aside, I stopped in at a Lawson while Miguel continued on his way to work so I could buy some breakfast and send a postcard to my Aunt JoEllen. I then walked to the bus station when my tour bus bound for Mt. Fuji was leaving. One interesting thing I noticed was in the restroom at the bus station:

Not only do all the public toilets (at least, in modern areas where tourists would likely be found, you don't even want to know the horrors I saw in the restrooms at the top of Mt. Fuji and other places that were not as modernized) have heated toilet seats with built-in bidets, but notice the button on the far-right above. That's a button to play background music so people don't hear you flush. Yup.

Anyway, it was onto the bus and heading for Mt. Fuji! During the entire trip I sat next to Kathrin, a lovely lady from Germany who currently lives in Switzerland and works as a food production plant manager (if you check out my Facebook pictures, she's the blond one in the red scarf with white polka dots). Like me, she was travelling solo, and we were instant pals.

Toko, our tour guide, gave us lots of interesting info on the way to Mt. Fuji, punctuated with the type of corny jokes you would expect from someone who has been a tour guide for over 30 years. She pointed out lots of interesting sites and Japanese history during the hour-and-a-half journey to Mt. Fuji.

We eventually arrived at the Mt. Fuji Visitor Center to take some pictures at the base of Mt. Fuji. Toko said she had called Fuji-san that morning and asked her to welcome us warmly, and boy did she! The day was warm and sunny, which is apparently rare (according to Toko and several others, you are usually lucky to catch glimpses of Mt. Fuji through the clouds).

Once we were done with the visitor center (with Toko keeping us punctual), it was time to head up the mountain. You can go all the way up to the 5th step (there are several routes with several "steps" on the way up) by bus on the route we took. The view was absolutely amazing, and it was easily 10-15 degrees F (if not more)colder up here than at the base. Lots of pictures were taken, and we each received a lucky bell from the Shinto temple at this location.

After spending some time up here taking pictures, checking out the temple, and perusing the souvenir shops, it was time to head back down for lunch. We stopped at the Highland Resort for an amazing lunch with an awesome view.

The view

The lunch

It was then time to head off to Hakone and Lake Ashi. When we arrived at Lake Ashi, we had some time to peruse another souvenir shop (which was full of local craftsman products made with inlaid wood, for which Hakone is known) and then hop on the boat to head to Hakone-en, a local tourist trap on the lake with an aquarium and petting zoo (which we didn't have time to check out). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Our vessel

Near Hakone-en

A Shinto gate in the water

From Hakone-en, the plan was to hop on a cable car up Mt. Komagatake. This was my first time on a cable car, and I was a little nervous, but everything turned out all right.

Once at the top, we had time to take tons of pictures of the views. There was also a shrine at the top, providing for some amazing photo ops. You could also see the Pacific Ocean in the distance, and the day was so clear Mt. Fuji just seemed to follow us everywhere.

The temple with Mt. Fuji

Pacific Ocean

The cable car building (looks like a fortress)

We then headed back down and it was off to Odawara to take the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto for the night. We had some time once we reached the Odawara station, and Kathrin really wanted a bento (boxed lunch) for the train ride, so it was off to find food. The station was like a maze, and while we were searching for the food court we stumbled outside to see this:

That's Odawara-jo (Odawara Castle). I kind of wish we had had time to explore more, but we didn't. We eventually found the bento Kathrin wanted, jumped on the train, and made it to Kyoto and much-needed rest before another full day of tours.

If you would like to see more pictures from this day, check out my album on Facebook.

[ishouldbepresident]

Tokyo on Foot

My first full day in Japan, I woke up to a gloriously sunny (though windy and sometimes chilly) day. Mt. Fuji was in all her glory. According to Miguel, she has a lot more snow on her than she usually does at this time of year, a testament to the unusually cooler temperatures Japan is currently experiencing right now (just as we are in good ole NC).

I did what I like to do anytime I'm in a new city: pick a direction and go. That direction this time was toward Tokyo Tower, and iconic building in the heart of Tokyo that is constantly destroyed in anime and film. So, with just me and my camera, I left the apartment and headed in the direction of the tower.

On my way, I noticed the many places where scooters and bicycles were parked. Scooters and bicycles seem to be the local choice for transportation, and not once have I noticed the long lines of traffic so common in America, even during rush hour! And, it should be noted that many of the bikes and scooters aren't even locked up, a true testament to the trusting and respectable Japanese culture. Many bikes are just left on their sides on the ground, though some people did at least wrap a locking cable around the handlebars ad front tire (though as anyone who has ever lived on NC State's campus will know, that doesn't necessarily provide any protection against thieves).

Now, I don't just go straight toward my destination. No, I look for interesting detours and follow them. I have a pretty good sense of direction and am usually not worried about getting lost (though I do have GPS, it was not needed this day!). The first detour was this lovely path:

I came out on the other side having spent a tranquil few minutes enjoying the little path. I would soon come to learn that many such paths exist in Tokyo, perhaps an attempt to balance the hectic and often cramped city life with a little nature. Reflecting on it now, I suppose many such types of places also exist in America, but we tend to take them for granted. As there were no other people around on this path, I assume the same can be said of the Japanese people.

I continued on my trek, taking a couple hours for what would normally only be a 20-minute walk. Along my way, I notice an interestingly-shaped building. It's almost like a pyramid with two golden rings on top. You can see it in the center of this picture:

Of course, that means I just have to go check it out. After some exploration and a couple of dead ends, I finally make it to the entrance. I circled the building a bit trying to find a good place to take a picture of the entire building, but I wasn't able to find a good vantage spot.

There are very few people around but a couple of other tourists taking pictures, so I decide to ascend the stairs and take a peek. Once inside, I discover that pictures are not allowed but visitors are welcome. It turns out this is Shakaden, the main temple of the local Reiyūkai Buddhist sect. The inside temple is massive, the ceiling completely adorned with ornate wooden tiles. There were about five Buddhist followers inside praying and chanting, but the hall could have easily held thousands of people on the low, red pews. I sat down on a pew toward the back and just soaked it all in. It was a very humbling and awe-inspiring experience.

I eventually tore myself away from the peacefulness and headed back out into the city. I explored the area around Shakaden and found a temple. Finally, this is why I came to Japan! I've always wanted to experience the temples nestled amongst the tall buildings. The clash of old and new is such a unique experience in Japan, which has only recently (relatively speaking) joined the rest of the modern world. Each temple provides a peaceful reminder of the Japanese cultural heritage amongst the bustle of city life.

I explored the temple for a bit and continued on my way. Outside the temple I realized I hadn't eaten yet today, so I looked for some food. I realized I had stumbled into one of the many areas that has a lot of French restaurants (the Japanese seem to be very fond of French and Italian cuisine, especially French desserts), but why would I eat those when I'm a tourist in Japan? I eventually stopped at a street vendor and ordered some tonteki (literally, "pork steak"). The vendor was very nice and grilled up everything right in front of me, ensuring optimum freshness!

I then continued on my way to Tokyo Tower and went down this wooded path to sit on a bench and enjoy my lunch.

The tonteki was delicious! I was topped with some sort of soy/teriyaki cabbage and also had some ginger radish, all on top of rice. I ate it all up!

Once I was done eating, I had been walking around for a couple hours so I decided it was time to finally strike for my destination. I could see Tokyo Tower looming right above me, so it wasn't hard to find the entrance. I just followed the wall of blooming rose bushes (which smelled absolutely heavenly) and was there!

I bought an $8 ticket and was on my way up into the tower. From up top, you have a complete 360 degree view of Tokyo. I took some amazing pictures, including of Shakaden from above and the "look down" windows, which are clear places in the floor you can walk over and look down at the ground below.

I also learned that Tokyo Tower becomes a dance club at night (Club 333, as in 333 meters high), though I won't be able to experience that in this trip. After taking tons of pictures and a quick stop in the souvenir shop to pick up some omiyage (souvenirs, duh), I was on my way back down.

On the way down, they let you out on the third floor, where there is a mall of shops, as well as an arcade, wax museum, and other tourist trap-type stuff. I skipped all of that (though I did look around the shops and buy a couple more souvenirs). The main thing I found interesting about this section of the tower was a specific shop full of American/Western music and concert tour t-shirts from Megadeth, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, etc. It very much resembled a head shop like Curious Goods, without the paraphernalia (though I could smell "incense" coming from somewhere...).

After that, I headed back to the apartment, again taking a couple of hours as I explored more temples and parks in the area. It was an exhausting day, so once I got back to the apartment around 4:30pm I decided to take a nap. Jet lag must have kicked in, as I didn't wake up until 5:30am the next day. It was probably a good thing, though, as I found I would need all that energy for the next two days. Read all about those days in the next couple of posts!

If you'd like to see more of my pictures, just look me up on Facebook, they've been posted publicly!

[ishouldbepresident]

Mission: Bucket List Countries.... BEGIN!

As some of you know, I am embarking on a whirlwind three-week trip hitting 3 countries on my bucket list: Japan, China, and Australia. It all started bright and early Sunday morning with a 7am appointment for K9 Solutions to pick up Cricket. Then, after a rushed packing (the previous day had been Out! Raleigh, and I was too pooped when I got home to finish packing) I was off on my first-ever international excursion.

The plane trip was fairly uneventful. I watched Anna Karenina and Oz the Great and Powerful, played some video games, and slept a lot. This was the first time I had experienced airline food (for three meals), and I have to say it was not bad at all. I was also surprised by how much leg room I had (though I still wanted more), but it wasn't like my knees were pressed up against the seat as they have been on so many domestic flights. I had one stop at Chicago O'Hare airport, during which time I did the first part of my MBA 504 (Data Analysis & Forecasting Methods, aka Statistics for Managers) final exam, and I will complete the second part tomorrow morning before heading out to explore Tokyo (big shout out to Dr. Townsend for giving me an extension on it since this past week was too crazy to get it done).

The craziness really started when I arrived at Narita International Airport. Haneda is much closer, but the Narita plane ticket was a couple hundred dollars less (plus a ¥1330 – or ~$13.30 train ride, as $1 is approximately ¥100, but it does fluctuate daily), so it won. By the time I got through immigration and customs, baggage claim for my flight had already ended (go figure), so then I had to deal with finding my suitcase, which thankfully I did. I also had to stop at the ATM to withdraw some yen. Did you know that the Seven Eleven corporation of convenience store fame runs a rather large bank in Japan called Seven Bank? I didn't until I used their ATM.

I then lugged my luggage onto the train and headed to the apartment I'm staying in the Minato-ku neighborhood within Shibaura in Tokyo. I helped a nice Japanese lady named Misako who was returning from San Diego load her luggage onto the train and we were instant friends. She studied English and taught Japanese at San Diego State University a while back and was visiting old friends from her time there. During the 30 minutes we were on the train together (I had another 30 minutes more than her), she helped me pick back up some of the Japanese I had forgotten over the years. I gave her my email address and we will likely be pen pals in the future.

Though arriving in Narita meant extra time before settling into the city, I am very glad I did it. On the way into Tokyo, I was able to watch the countryside pass by and change from expanses of rice paddies with small clusters of villages into the bustling Tokyo metropolis. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of the awesome views due to not having a single hand free holding onto luggage ad making sure it didn't fall into other people (I'm hoping I can take those pictures on the way back to the airport on Saturday). The only other notable event from the train was the guy who peed in the corner, effectively explaining the overbearing urine smell on the trains.

Once I reached the train station near the apartment, it was off to find my accomadations. This is where I learned two things: never trust Google maps when abroad and the Japanese don't seem to need to label their buildings with address numbers. I walked around in circles forever until a nice couple noticed my lost face and helped me out (the GPS on their phones was right and I was off by about two blocks from where I needed to be). Once I got to the apartment, my host confirmed that the Japanese really don't use address numbers, including taxi drivers who will insist that you direct them which turns to take (and apparently they will only use GPS if their passengers are obviously foreign, so lucky me!).

Speaking of my host, Miguel is awesome. Thanks to my ole pal Lindsey cluing me into airbnb.com, I found his awesome apartment right in the heart of Tokyo. I have an amazing view of Tokyo Tower lit up from my balcony. I should also be able to see Mt. Fuji from the living room balcony, but according to Miguel the clouds usually lie lower in the sky and block it, so we'll see. It's okay, though, since I will get to see Mt. Fuji up close and personal on Wednesday.

After I got settled in, it was a beautiful evening out (and I needed food), so I decided to take a stroll around the block. The first thing I noticed is that there are literally vending machines everywhere. As soon as I walk out of the building, there are five scattered within eyesight on the sidewalks. Most of them contain Coca-Cola and various other items whose labels I can't read but appear to be energy drinks, coffee, water, and juice. The second thing I notice is all the bikes chained up outside each residential building, a testament to how much Tokyo residents bike around town. I also noticed that the streets did not seem to be as busy as I thought they would be, but according to Miguel I came on the last day of Golden Week, a week of Japanese national holidays, so a lot of businesses were closed today, hence the lighter foot traffic. I stopped in at a convenience store called Lawson (they also have a branch right across the street called Natural Lawson, which provides all-natural products but closed right before I walked in, and the regular Lawson is 24-hour) and bought a couple of these very tasty curry-filled buns, and then I used the coins I got in change to buy a couple sodas from one of the many convenience stores.

I should get the full Tokyo experience tomorrow. Miguel suggested I use the Tokyo City Guide app from TripAdvisor, so I downloaded it to my phone and will check it out tomorrow. I only get 100MB of international data through the international plan I purchased from Verizon, though, so I'll have to be careful to only download stuff while on Miguel's Wi-Fi! Also on the plate for tomorrow is Tokyo Tower, some of the temples in that area, the gay district in Shinjuku, and possibly Shibaura Island, which you can apparently hop on a yacht right close to the apartment and take it out to the island for only ¥500. It should be an exciting day of exploration!

Sorry for no pictures in this post, I did try but the batteries died right before I could take a picture on this evening's walk and I had left the extras in the apartment. I promise to take a bunch tomorrow!

For now, I need to watch a couple of TED talks to prep for taking the last part of my final exam tomorrow and then go to bed. Big day tomorrow!

[ishouldbepresident]

My Guide to Bonnaroo Survival

Whew, what a few months this has been! Now that all the craziness with OutRaleigh and the amendment has died down, as well as the completion of some major projects at work, I have some free time to focus on the really important things in life... like Bonnaroo!

Okay, okay, so maybe not so important in the grand scheme of things, but since this will be my 5th straight year attending, and I may not get to go again for a while once I start grad school in the fall, it's pretty important to me right now. So now I present to you, my guide to surviving Bonnaroo:

Arrival

When you arrive can make or break your experience. If you arrive too late, you end up really far away from Centeroo, and you may even miss some of the first acts (I missed Miike Snow one year due to late arrival, and it was really sad). However, if you arrive too early, you can end up cramped in with no way out if you have to leave before Monday. There's definitely a trade off, though, as those who arrive early don't have to walk as much, whereas those who arrive late tend to have more room to spread their campsite. It really depends on you to determine what your priorities are. You may not even have a choice if you can't work out work schedules to allow you to arrive when you want.

Once you do arrive, you could be greeted by a long line, or no line at all (depending on how late you are). Just in case, make sure you get gas/groceries about an hour before reaching Manchester. When you pull up, they'll check your tickets, give you garbage/recycling bags, and should give you a map (if they don't, make sure you ask for one, it's pretty important). Also, about 80% of the time they will search your entire car. They're mostly just checking to make sure you don't have any weapons, fireworks, or things you're planning on selling without buying a vendor pass. The key point here is to make sure everything is securely packed before you arrive, and don't leave any loose items laying about. The searchers are generally pretty good at packing everything back in, so don't worry about whether or not everything will fit back into what is probably a pretty packed trunk.

You'll then embark on the trek of following people with flags to your campsite. If you plan on leaving early (like Saturday), make sure you ask the flag person who directs you into the campsite if it's possible to wait to get a spot near the exterior. This can save you a ton of hassle of trying to ask people to move their tents so your car can get out.

Once you get parked, your primary priority is staking your claim to precious camping space. Make sure you have the big stuff (tent/canopy/tarp) packed last so that they can be pulled out first. Your objective is to spread our the tent and any canopy/tarp to reserve the space you need. Once you've claimed your space, you can take a step back, introduce yourself to your neighbors, and get to work setting up camp.

Camping

Focusing on your camp site, in my opinion, is the most important part of the whole music festival experience. Let's not play around here, it is HOT at Bonnaroo, and your camp site, if set up properly, can provide your best hope for respite from the heat.

When you've been in Centeroo partying your face off until 6am, your worst enemy is the sunrise. Getting through any long ordeal like Bonnaroo requires sleep, and that's hard to do in the early summer Tennessee heat. Once those wonderful life-giving sunbeams hit your tent, it becomes an instant sauna. Paying attention to the layout of your campsite will help dilute the problem.

Your best hope is to have some sort of canopy/tarp situation in addition to your tent. They're essential to protecting your campsite from both the sun and the rain.

I really like this canopy, but really any will work as long as you can stake it into the ground. Whether you use a canopy or rig up a tarp, the important message is to make sure it's very secure, meaning it should be staked down. The winds on the farm can get very powerful, especially if a mid-afternoon thunderstorm rolls through (we'll discuss weather later).

You should set this up to the east of your tent. This will buy you precious sun-free moments in the morning. Even better will be to put up some sort of sun shade or second tarp on the east side of your canopy, from roof to floor. This will keep the sun off your tent well into the morning, giving even more time before your tent starts to bake.

Once the sun hits the tent, you can buy some more precious sleep time with a tent fan. Seriously, you may go through 8 D batteries over the course of the weekend, but it's a great investment on the return it provides in comfort. Tent fans are a must, and each person will need one individually.

Campsite Set Up

Once your tent and canopy/tarp are set up, next comes the rest of camp. Camping chairs are a must, but anything else is really up to you and how much time you plan on spending at camp. Will you be spending a lot of time at camp, are you more inclined to just pass out in Centeroo (it happens)? Will you be cooking any meals? Do you have food and beverages? Do you want to decorate? Knowing how you will utilize camp and how much room you have to pack will decide what you need for your campsite.

For me, personally, I like to spend a good amount of time at camp. Frankly, unless it's windy, overcast, raining, or unseasonably cool, Centeroo can be pretty miserable 2-4pm. Don't get me wrong, if there's someone you really like playing at that time, seeing that show more than makes up for the miserableness (especially if it's in This Tent or That Tent). Therefore, I like to hang out and visit at camp until 4pm, when the temperatures get bearable again. That most likely means I'm sleeping/napping, drinking, or otherwise keeping myself occupied.

Keep your cooler in the shade. Seriously, ice is precious, and this may seem like a pretty basic concept, but a lot of people forget it. It's also a constant battle, as the shade is always shifting, so you have to keep moving your cooler to keep up. Avoid opening it as much as possible. I like to keep two coolers, one to keep the bulk of my ice & food, and another for beer and water. That way there is one cooler that is barely ever opened and less chance of your food going bad, and the ice melts much slower. The other will obviously see a lot of action, and hopefully the contents will be depleted fast enough to not need to replace the ice too much.

Keep all your valuables in your trunk. Anything worth more than $20. Also make sure you have space in your tent to store other items when you're not there. For the most part, people keep an eye out for each other, but there are some bad eggs out there. You don't need to completely pack up camp every time you head into Centeroo, but you do need to protect your valuables.

I like to put a tarp down on the ground in the sitting space. The grass in the field is usually about 4 inches tall and uncomfortable, and it's nice to have a dry place to sit if it has been raining.

A table is only necessary if you decide to cook or like to have a place to sit food, drinks, play games, etc. There are some great folding tables out there for camping. Of course, they do tend to take up some packing space.

I am a fan of decorating my campsite. However, decorations get kicked to the curb if packing space is needed. Also, people get jealous and try to steal them. However, you do need to have some sort of flag or something to mark your campsire. We'll go over why in the next section.

Navigation/Exploration

Now that you've set up your campsite, it's time to get the lay of the land. It's really easy to lose your campsite, and I've experienced on more than one occasion instances where people give up and just pass out on the ground near my campsite until morning. That's why it's important to really get a handle on where your campsite is.

First, put up some sort of flag. Try to get it as high as you can. Then, look up at the sky around your campsite. Try to avoid reliance on balloons, as they may not last all weekend. Note where you are in relation to other people's flags and the big balloons that Bonnaroo floats noting the different pods and first aid stations. Try to remember your location.

It's now time to do a little exploring. Head out and find the nearest port-a-johns, water, ice, and food (in that order of importance). Try to figure out where you are in the map you should have obtained upon entry, and mark your location. Also note the name of your campsite (as noted on the map), so you can tell a cab driver if you happen to decide to spend the money on one (they start looking pretty tempting the longer you're there, trust me).

Visit some of the nearer pods, or, if you're feeling really energetic and adventurous, take off and explore all of the grounds around Centeroo. The different pods have some great activities and art installations, and it's a great way to meet people and really feel like part of the Roo Family!

Port-a-Johns

Obviously, these are a necessary evil. Don't be afraid of them! From experience, they get cleaned pretty regularly and even have hand sanitizer in them. Use the ones outside of Centeroo as often as possible, as the ones inside do get dirtier the fastest.

Water

Water is everywhere at Bonnaroo, but the wells do tend to start to lose pressure later in the weekend. I like to freeze a bunch of water bottles beforehand and keep them in their own cooler, not be be opened before Saturday. Otherwise, fill up as much as possible before entering Centeroo. Some people like to use CamelBaks, but I personally prefer bringing in a couple of extra bottles in my camo shorts or a backpack. It really depends on how much water you drink and how much you care about waiting in line for water. The lines are much shorter outside Centeroo, though.

Keeping Cool

Water is important to keeping cool, sure, but there are other ways to help lessen the impact of the sun. There's the usual advice of wearing light, breathable clothing (or very little clothing, in some cases), and it's not unheard of for lots of people to just wear bathing suits. Whatever works for you. Also do not underestimate the value of a wet washcloth on the back of the neck. Some people also like to get mist fans, which are great and are also a great way to be popular amongst the other Rooers!

Otherwise, there's very little shade in Centeroo, so use the hottest part of the day to hit up the activities in the shade. Shows in This Tent, That Tent, or The Other Tent, as well as the Broo'ers Festival, are great places to start! Some people also like to carry umbrellas, but I find that cumbersome and needlessly tiring. Also don't underestimate the use of your car's AC.

Finally, two words: Gold Bond. That stuff really is worth its weight in gold.

Sunscreen Tips

Use it. A lot.

Food

People have many different approaches to Roo food. Some people like to take advantage of the vendors and food trucks. The important thing is that you get lots of carbs and protein to keep up your energy throughout the weekend. I like to start off the day with boiled eggs and energy bars, with a lunch of pasta or hamburgers, and then buy dinner inside Centeroo. Pasta and burgers are really easy to prepare at camp, especially if you have a camping stove and disposable grills on hand, and they're very satisfying. Other easy, satisying items are PB&J (or Nutella) sandwiches, tuna, trail mix (no chocolate, it will melt!), dry cereal, and of course fruit and vegetables.

Weather

The weather will always be unpredictable (other than the heat). Thunderstorms are a possibility, and even several days of rain, so plan on bringing some rain gear. Bring a poncho or jacket, as carrying an umbrella can be tiring, as noted before, not to mention the increased chances someone will lose an eye. Also bring some rain boots, as even if it doesn't rain there are areas where the mud can get treacherous.

Pray for rain, at least a little bit. Without it, the place becomes a dismal, dusty wasteland. In that case, make sure you have a bandanna to cover your face and lessen the impact of the dust cloud that forms when 70,000 people descend on a dusty farm.

Schedule

Check out the schedule beforehand and make sure you know when and where the shows are that you just can't miss. Don't be afraid to separate from your group if you can't agree, but make sure you have fully-charged cell phones and a meeting time/place before separating. Also make sure everyone knows how to get back to the campsite. Otherwise, if you want a good spot, make sure you arrive at least 30 minutes before a show, but don't feel like you need to commit to an entire show. Bonnaroo is as much about experiencing new artists as it is about partying with the ones you know.

It's also okay to miss a headliner or two. If you think you're in for a long night, it sometimes helps to head back to camp for a couple hours to recharge. Sit down in the comfort of your campsite, eat, have a few beers, and plan out the rest of the evening. Be wary of taking a nap, though, as you might not wake up until the next morning. It might help to have a 5 Hour Energy or your choice of energy supplements.

Centeroo

Explore and enjoy Centeroo. There are lots of great activities and things to experience. Take it all in and enjoy the ride. Make sure you check out Bonnaroo's web site for more advice and all the rules and junk. This is just how I make the experience less stressful, but whatever you do, you'll still have a great time with wonderful memories to share!