Ted’s (Excellent?) Adventures

We had a doubly great baseball day today in Bangkok, Thailand. For starters, we got up early and watched the first part of a Red Sox blow-out win against Cleveland. On to game #7 tomorrow! And then we drove out to a set of fields in the suburbs of Bangkok for an extraordinary morning of baseball.

Through the great stateside assistance of Kristie Jochmann, along with help from the Red Sox and the Little League is identifying teams, we contacted a group in Bangkok, Thailand, that plays baseball. The last thing I expected, though, was to find about 125 players at an “off season” practice on a Sunday morning, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The team holds its practices at fields at the site of a Japanese-based company, Minebea, that has a big facility in Thailand. Minebea, which makes electronic components and ball bearings, sponsors the team, which includes several very qualified coaches (Isao Aoyama, Koichi Suzuki, and Sugie Masatoshi) and a large number of talented and enthusiastic young boys and girls, from age 7-18. They compete in the Little League and take their baseball seriously.

The teams include both children from Thailand and Japanese children in Thailand in conjunction with the company Minebea. The coach indicated that about 1/3rd of the kids playing were Japanese, and the other 2/3rds were Thai. The mix was interesting to observe, and we found that the Japanese players were particularly tuned into professional baseball, and knew a fair amount about Major League Baseball.

They play on a huge field, and divided up into the four corners, with different ages playing in groups. The oldest kids played on a field with three parallel batting cages, all used concurrently! We didn’t play with this group, but my sense is that they were quite good. I chatted with one of their players over lunch (who spoke perfect English), who said most of them have been playing together for several years.

Since this was an off-season practice, the coaches focused on conditioning. So the kids ran — a lot. Gibson said he’s never run so much in his life. And they did all sorts of stretching and other physical exercises. It was a hot morning (Bangkok is in the tropics), and the kids all played pretty much non-stop for three hours.

At the end of the practice, we said a big thank you to the coaches and players for letting us play with them and learn about their program. And we gave them all Red Sox hats — over 100 in all! The kids were incredibly polite and thankful, and they looked like dream kids to coach. And many of them were aware of the Red Sox, especially Daisuke Matsuzaka. So we asked them to root for the Red Sox and Dice-K the next day in Game #7 against Cleveland. Let’s hope Thailand can send the Red Sox a little added kharma!!

We then joined the team for lunch after the practice. Several parents were there, and they (and it looked like Minebea may have made personnel available to help with lunch) prepared a great meal for a large group. We also got a chance to spend some more time with the players and their families, which was really fun. It was impressive to see so much interest in baseball here in Thailand, as well as a major corporation like Minebea doing so much to help the program!

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For our photos from this fun day, go to:

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/454924/633526

When we planned our Asia leg for our trip, we thought it would be fun to spend a couple of days and nights on the Orient Express (or, the Eastern and Oriental Express, to be precise). Well, it was, in all senses, a once in a lifetime experience, mostly because we’d never do it again! It had it’s interesting aspects, but it won’t skyrocket to the top of our list of trip highlights, that’s for sure!

We flew from Cambodia to Singapore, where we spent almost no time. We got in late on a Wednesday night, and were on the train departing at 11:00 a.m. the next morning. We did have time for a quick walk around a very impressive Singapore. The city, just one degree of latitude north of the equator, shimmers.

We then hopped on the train for a 60 hour, 1,260 mile trip from Singapore, through Malaysia and Thailand, terminating in Bangkok. They claim the train’s maximum speed is 35 mph, but they’re being modest. I’m sure it goes twice that velocity in rocking side to side! But the cabins were cozy, and we all slept really well, despite the motion.

On our way up, we stopped briefly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysis, which looked big and interesting. I did my best to get a picture of the towers there (two identical, and beautiful, buildings), but the best I could come up with was of one. You’ll have to trust me that another lies right behind it. But, having heard the name “Kuala Lumpur” for years on NPR, it was fun to actually be there. And it looked beautiful at night.

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The next day we stopped for a couple of hours to explore a place called Panang, Malaysia. Well, Panang makes just about anywhere look like a fabulous tourist destination by comparison. Honestly, the picture at the right was by far the most interesting I took of Panang, and I know it’s boring. It’s just one of those places. It’s tag line is “It’s a City … It’s an Island.” To which I’d add “It’s a Bore.”

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That night, though, we got a great treat when our kids put on a shadow puppet show for us. Shadow puppets are big in Cambodia. We didn’t get to see any shows there, but we did buy a few of the puppets. Our kids wrote a story and acted it out for us in our train cabin, while we chugged our way north through Malaysia. .

On our last day on the train, we made a morning stop at the town where the famous Bridge on the River Kwai is located (a film made about it garnered seven Academy Awards). They had a “Death River” Museum, and we went on a brief river tour. This visit was more interesting than the stop in Panang, which says nothing. The bridge itself is not all that interesting, but the museum,and the World War II history it relates, was fascinating. We then visited a cemetery across the street with graves of thousands of Allied troops who died as prisoners who were driven beyond belief to build a 250 mile railway in eighteen months. In all, some 12,000 captured troops and 100,000 conscripted Asians died, but the railway linking Rangoon, Burma, with Bangkok was finished on schedule. We read the inscriptions on many of the tombstones, and it was so sad to see the emotional messages from the families who lost their sons (most in their 20’s).

We then dragged ourselves back onto the train, where we met our restaurant point person (below, left), who we nicknamed “Dr. No.” And we recalled fondly the Thai dancer on the train, who without a doubt was the clumsiest dancer we’d ever seen perform in front of a group. When the train pulled into the Bangkok station, we were thrilled to arrive. .

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The train ride wouldn’t be something we’d recommend, but we actually had a great time on the train, despite the challenges (including no hot water for a morning shower in a stall the size of a shoe box, rocking back and forth!). And, for us, it was one of those “You only go around once” experiences, which will give us lots to talk about for the rest of the trip. And seeing the sacrifices of the troops in World War II put it all in perspective for us, underscoring how lucky we all are that so many brave people fought in such an important cause.

We flew from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Phnom Penh is the hardest capital to spell of all the world’s countries, so coming here should be helpful down the road in spelling bees. Our stay in Cambodia was short (five days), with a day in Phnom Penh and then four days in Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. Maybe it was our hotel situation, maybe it was our guides, maybe it was the Red Sox losing three straight to Cleveland, but we somehow never got super-charged about our time here, despite some really interesting things to see.

We spent a couple of hours at the Royal Palace of Phnom Penh, which was spectacular. For most of its recent history, Cambodia has been ruled by a king, and the palace is the king’s residence. The country is so poor, and the palace so opulent, that you wonder about priorities. But it has many buildings that were just beautiful in architecture and workmanship.

While in Phnom Penh, we also took in the National Museum (moderately interesting) and drove around the city. At any point, you could see a new building, a run down building, and an ancient Buddhist Temple all next to each other. We also learned a fair amount about the hardship Cambodia went through in the 1970’s (rent the movie “The Killing Fields” if you’re interested).

The next morning we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the location of the amazing Angkor Wat. Built in the 11th Century, this is best described by going to our slide gallery and taking in the vastness and beauty of it. At its peak, the enclosed city had a population of 1 million, larger at the time than any city in Europe. The city was protected by an eight-meter high wall and a moat well stocked with crocodiles.

As we walked around these areas, we could only imagine what it was like it its glory days. The entire compound, once one of the largest and most impressive cities in the world, fell into complete disrepair. It was overrun with fichus trees and other plants, which not only hid it, but destroyed much of the stonework. We got the sense that considerable progress has been made in stopping the rate of deterioration, but there is still so much to be done to try to recover what this temple used to be like. And if the photo setting on the left looks familiar, it played a prominent role in the Angelina Jolie movie “Tomb Raider.” The cast at left is unlikely to be hitting Hollywood anytime soon.

As we walked through the ruins, the walls literally told a story. Many of them were covered with extensive story-boards, relating some interesting aspect of the history of Angkor Wat and the civilization that built and occupied it. And as religious wars took place over the past millenium, various “edits” have taken place, from eliminating all buddhas to covering parts with red paint (courtesy of the Khmer Rouge).

While touring the Angkor Wat complex, we had lots of encounters with wildlife. The area is full of long-tailed macaques (monkeys), and they bordered on being pests (although our kids never felt that way about them!). And we took a great ride around the temple on an unusual All-Terrain Vehicle — an elephant. It was hard to believe our kids are now old enough to drive (an elephant, anyway). The whole time we were all just laughing at how we’re actually on an elephant in Cambodia!

On our last day of touring Siem Reap, we went out and explored a local fishing village, which ended up being quite different from what we expected. We saw so many tiny shacks along the water’s edge, or houseboats, all inhabited by large families with almost no resources. These families all depend on the Tonle Sab lake for their livelihood, which is fed by the Mekong River. And the Mekong, the world’s eleventh longest river, has its source in China, where it is being dammed for hydro power. The downstream impact on the fish in the lake and river, and indirectly on these families, has been huge. As the couple on the right are doing, we saw many fishing nets come out of the water empty while we were boating on these waters.

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Unlike China and Vietnam, where the economies are booming and lots of development is underway, Cambodia is still struggling to determine how to move forward. The people seemed very nice (except for the staff at our hotel, Raffles, not one we’d recommend), but it’s still very much a third world country, with no sign of hitting its stride.

For our photos, go to:

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/448839/624262#imageID=28956879

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/448839/624703#imageID=29160547

[Note:  This posting is more political in nature than any of my other postings.  Some readers may not wish to read it, especially if you’re supportive of our current policy in Iraq.]

While I didn’t fight in the Vietnam War, I’m of the age when people my age were drafted (or volunteered) and did.  And my high school and college years were colored with intensity and conflict over the War, complete with protest marches and a fierce debate about the strategic urgency for the U.S. to battle Communism in Vietnam and prevent the “dominoes” from falling.

Well, we fought, we lost (some 58,000 U.S. lives and the war, to boot), and the “dominoes” did fall.  So thirty years later something catastrophic must have happened in Southeast Asia that damaged our country to the core.  Right? 

Today, Vietnam has an awful lot going for it.  The people seem industrious, productive and happy.  Their economy is based on good old free market capitalism, with lower tax rates than in the U.S.  And the economy is growing rapidly.  And, despite a one-party Communist government, we didn’t have the impression that the Vietnamese are looking over their shoulders, worried about the heavy hand of “Big Brother.”

When we came here, I expected to encounter occasionally someone who would shout, “American, go home!” or at least shoot us a nasty look.  I was surprised that the people here seem to harbor no ill will towards Americans.  The North Vietnamese we talked to generally expressed a view on the U.S. involvement in the War along the lines of, “Your government was wrong to interfere in our affairs, you created a bad situation here, and we are proud that we defeated you.  But we have no hard feelings toward the American people, since it was your government that did it, not you.”  The South Vietnamese view tended to be, “You encouraged and even pushed us into a major war, escalated the fighting, and then pulled out.  You left the Vietnamese with ties to the U.S. to face horrible consequences once you left.  It would have been better if you had never started something you weren’t prepared to finish.” 

While Vietnam has largely put the War behind it, we saw many Agent Orange victims — young and old — as we toured the country.  Until recently, the U.S. has insisted that the millions of liters (some 74 million, by one estimate) of Agent Orange dropped on Vietnamese jungles had minimal impact on the Vietnamese population, while the Vietnamese claim some 3 million of its people currently suffer from Agent Orange-related troubles.  I’m in no position to offer a definitive point of view on this, but we saw many badly-deformed adults and children everywhere we went in Vietnam. 

So are there lessons learned from Vietnam relevant to our current foreign policy fiasco in Iraq?  There’s the obvious set of insights about how difficult it is to fight a war in some remote country where you’re never sure who is on your side and who is against you, but that’s something we should have focused on in 2002.  Going forward, there are both near-term and long-term issues.  

In the near term, I suspect there have been some (not as many as we’d like) Iraqi’s working in a committed way with the U.S.  When we ultimately pull out, we shouldn’t repeat what we did in Vietnam and leave them high and dry.  They’ve been our friends, and we need to protect them from the retaliation that will be directed at them after we leave.  And I just hope that, years from now, the Iraqi’s can be as gracious and forgiving as the Vietnamese we met.

I think the long-term implications of what’s going on in Vietnam (and China, as well) are all about capitalism.  It’s been amazing for us to see this blend of a Communist state implementing policies that foster education and capitalism, complete with low marginal tax rates, in these countries.  Successful entrepreneurial economies bring all sorts of benefits, not the least of which is raising the country’s standard of living.   Educated people who see a way to get ahead through personal initiative are our best ally going forward.  If we want to help developing countries (even ones with repressive regimes), we should be figuring out ways to work with the government in power to improve the country’s educational and entrepreneurial infrastructure.  Lots of good things will then follow —  for a lot less than $1 trillion and many, many lost lives.

We completed our stay in Vietnam with a couple day visit to Saigon. The highlight of this visit was a Friday night dinner with Mr. Trung Ha and his great family. Sheila Marcelo, founder and CEO of Care.com in the Boston area, was kind enough to make an e-mail introduction for us with Mr. Ha. Amazingly, our first e-mail exchange was on Thursday morning and we were having dinner together on Thursday night!

Mr. Ha and his family were not only kind hosts, but incredibly interesting. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Mr. Ha was Minister of Finance for South Vietnam, the youngest Minister in the history of the country. Meanwhile, his wife and her two sisters (all three were at our dinner) started a pharmaceutical company in the 1950’s, called OVP Pharmaceuticals, and grew it to a successful market position by the mid 1970’s. Then, the bottom fell out for them and many, many others in South Vietnam as the U.S. withdrew and North Vietnam took control of the south.

Mr. Ha and his family were fortunate to be able to leave South Vietnam (many weren’t) and come to the U.S. They (including his wife’s two sisters) spent three months in a stopover camp at Camp Pendleton, California. It was hard for me to imagine this educated, refined, and kind family going through this experience. They lived in the U.S. for twenty years, living in Newton, Massachusetts. He went to the Kennedy School at Harvard, then got his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School. He and his wife had several children there (and one of their sons joined us for dinner).

In 1995, they were approached by the government of Vietnam and asked to return, which they did. The sisters — Mrs. Nguyen Cao Thang, Mrs. Ha Truong Bich Tuy, and Mrs. Truong Bich Diep — started a new pharmaceutical company, also called OPV Pharmaceutical (www.opv.com.vn), which has now grown to about 700 employees!! You can read about the history of this fascinating company at http://www.opv.com.vn/eng/index.php?page=about_5. And Mr. Ha serves as an advisor to many companies, including OVP, as well as managing private investments. It was so interesting to hear their perspective on their time in Vietnam and the U.S., and their views of Vietnam’s potential in the future. It was inspiring to hear of a family that in many ways started three times (Vietnam, then the U.S., then back to Vietnam), and have done so well, so consistently. And it was impressive to hear about three sisters who’ve worked closely and productively together for fifty years!!

After our dinner with the Ha extended family, the rest of our stay in Saigon was destined to be a bit of a letdown. We did go out to the Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour and fifteen minute drive from downtown. The drive is far from memorable, but it’s fascinating to see how the Viet Cong (South Vietnamese rebels who fought against U.S./South Vietnam side) were so effective. There is a vast system of underground tunnels, not one of which big enough for me to navigate. Our nine and eleven year old could make it through, with difficulty, and Elizabeth barely survived her experience. And the Viet Cong would spend all daylight hours in these tunnels, for month after month.

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The engineering behind these tunnels was ingenious. They had work spaces near the surface, and areas to retreat to further below. They had longer tunnels that led to the river for access to boats and supplies. They did their best to cover every entry point to avoid detection. They were booby-trapped throughout with nasty spring traps (see video at http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/440303/619697#imageID=28699927), almost all made from the residual of U.S. weaponry (for instance, the metal from a shell was turned into barbs in a spring trap). The entry points were disguised (see video http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/440303/619697#imageID=28699927), and even the chimneys were structured so that the emitted smoke was dampened and clung to the ground. As we walked through the surroundings, I could only imagine how unnerving it must have been for the U.S. soldiers responsible for patrolling the area and searching for the enemy.

During our stay in Saigon, we also went to the War Remnant Museum, which was a very emotional experience. The displays were much less propaganda-ized than I expected. And many of the visitors were in tears as they walked through the museum. One interesting statistics (I haven’t verified it) is that the U.S. dropped about 2x the number of tons of explosive in Vietnam as it did in WWII and the Korean War combined.

We did a few other sight-seeing things in Saigon (a visit to the Post Office and the Cathedral of Notre Dame). And we met with representatives of C.A.R.E. who were helping support a volunteer group focused on AIDS education and prevention. They were very dedicated, and helping considerably in the battle against AIDS. And, like everywhere we have gone on the trip, we were shocked at how kind and thoughtful people are. At the end of our visit to this non-profit (which is working miracles on no budget whatsoever), they gave us a very nice present for visiting!

My take on Saigon is that it’s a very energetic, up-and-coming city. For Americans, particularly those with any interest in the Vietnam War and its aftermath, it’s worth visiting Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. If you have little interest in the Vietnam War or the economic future of Vietnam, though, you might not find the attractions of Saigon worth the trip there.

For our photo gallery on Saigon, go to

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/440303/619697#imageID=28699567

Prior to our trip, I’d never heard of Hoi An, Vietnam.  Never.  Maybe I’m just clueless, but this town wasn’t on my radar screen.  So if you had asked me the likelihood that the most amazing beach location we’d ever stay in would be in Hoi An, I would have responded with something a bit stronger than “No way.”

We flew from Hanoi to Hue, about a two hour drive from Hoi An.  Hue was a nice place to visit, although an alternative is to fly to Danang, and have a fairly short drive to Hoi An.  While in Hue, we saw a beautiful pagoda, and an interesting fortress called the Citadel.  We only spent fifteen minutes at the pagoda, since we were pressed for time, not wanting to make a long drive to Hoi An after dark (which happened anyway).  The Imperial Citadel was first built in 1804, and it’s an interesting structure.  It has an outer wall and an inner wall, with some 3,000 residences lying between the outer and inner walls.  Anyway, not much to add about this place, which was fine to visit but not worth going out of the way for.  I don’t think years from now we’ll look back and say, “Wow!  Are we ever glad we went to Hue.”  Admittedly, we breezed through, and there may be more there than we took in (for instance, we missed Tu Duc’s Mausoleum).  But it wasn’t a lifetime memory, that’s for sure.

We arrived at our lodging in Hoi An well after dark, and that night had no idea what kind of place we were staying in.  But we sure found out in the morning.  We were in this fabulous complex, Nam Hai, right on the Pacific Ocean — China Bay to be exact.  The water temperature was ideal, and we stayed in this terrific cluster of buildings with its own swimming pool.  Given that we had just had a few weeks of fairly packed travel, often staying in fine, but not particularly large, rooms, it was great to have room to spread out and time to just relax.   While we were there just three days, it felt like a month, and really gave us a great respite on our trip.

All I can say is that the cost of construction in Vietnam must be quite reasonable, because this was an awesome place, and very few people were there.  They have developed the complex, and then sold off most/all of the units (none to us, although it’s tempting!).   Anyway, it was great to be right on the ocean, and to see lots of things from the Vietnamese fishing economy.

 At left, one of the many fishing boats off the coast of Hoi An, which are often used as houseboats, as well as means to earn one’s livelihood.  Also, boats such as these were used in the 1980’s to take refugees (about 100 or so might cram onto a boat this size) to other countries as the Communist government took over.

We went out on the local river, and observed lots of interesting things.  In this picture, we saw a couple of women out on a fishing boat, and here we “captured” them casting their net.  At the markets along the shore, you could smell the fresh fish, including crab, that was being sold by the local fisherpeople.

We did lots of great things while in Hoi An — seeing local craftsmen at work at a marble quarry, watching women make silk — from A to Z (baby silkworms through beautiful finished items), observing women sifting through the sand on a beach to get and bag shells for sale to the local concrete company, visiting a local orphanage and seeing all the children born with severe deformities from Agent Orange, or hunting for frogs in the grasses around our villa.  But mostly we played in the pool and on the beach, and caught up on our laundry!  If you’re ever in this part of the world, make this place a can’t-miss destination.  We could have spent a week here and had a great time.

For our photo gallery on Hoi An, go to

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/440303

The highlights on a visit to China for us were not what we saw, but what we experienced.  Sure, China has its share of interesting museums, pagodas, and the Yangtze and its Three Gorges were beautiful.  And the Terra Cotta warriors deserve to be a “Wonder of the World.”  In this posting, though, I’ll focus on  how our visit affected my view about China’s role in the twenty-first Century.

I didn’t spend time in China on business issues.  Today, though, China is a hotbed of entrepreneurship.  The “Silicon Valley” of Beijing (at right, photographed from the Emperor’s Summer Palace), has lots of start-ups, many quite successful.  Chinese entrepreneurs are talented and dedicated.  In Silicon Valley (U.S., not Beijing), some 1/3rd of all start-ups involve Asian-American founders, and many of the most successful start-ups in the U.S. were founded by Chinese entrepreuers.

We met many young Chinese and learned a lot about their education.  Over and over, we observed smiling, confident, and very bright kids, many of whom speak excellent English (note, China will soon have more English-speaking citizens than the U.S.!).  And school schedules go far beyond what U.S. schools require.  The school day in China typically calls for 45 to 85 hours a week in the classroom.  United States, take note!

I have long taken it as a given that a capitalist system is efficient, while a Communist system is bumbling and corrupt.  I don’t have enough new information yet to completely throw out that view, but I saw some impressive things in China.  Everywhere we went had a brand new (less than ten year old) airport, and flights were always on-time — far better than our free-market air transportation system.  Need a fast way to get people to the Shanghai airport — build a magnetic levitation train that goes 431 kilometers/hour!  Need a major source of clean electricity — dam up the Yangtze River, displace and re-locate 1.3 million people, and complete the project way ahead of schedule!  In contrast, U.S. public works projects are often dumb things like the $400 million bridge to nowhere in Alaska, or the ineptly-managed $20 billion “Big Dig” in Boston, reflecting all the negatives of “pork barrel” politics.

China is investing a higher percentage of its GDP in education or national R&D than the U.S.  Their investments in core R&D have increased 17% per year for the past decade, the fastest increases in the world.  They graduate three times as many engineers as the U.S. does.  Their economy has been growing much faster than the U.S. economy, running a trade surplus – without piling up a huge deficit or pouring endless resources into foreign-policy quagmires.  Make no mistake about it, China is locked and loaded on becoming the world’s biggest economic power.

While China is a Communist country, it’s clearly a new brand of Communism.  Government entities are being privatized.  Individuals can form and own their own businesses, and realize most of the gains from their efforts (the tax rate is around 16%!).  Somehow, it’s ok in China tor an individual to make a billion dollars on something (e.g., Baidu) — which sure isn’t the Communism I studied in college.  Yet people in China can only lease, not purchase, land, so we never once saw a “McMansion” as we traveled throughout in China.

China has its challenges, though.  Everywhere we went, people were amazed that we had TWO children.  Most of China has in place a “one child” rule, and it’s become increasingly expensive to “buy” the right to have a second child.  So the basic math of population dynamics says that, over time, China’s 1.3 billion population (level for years) will include an increasing number of elderly, and they’ll have to be supported. 

China, while moving fast, still has a long way to go.  We got a great introduction to primitive toilets (see right for a good example), and the combination of cigarette smoke and toilet stench was often unbearable.  And smoking is ubiquitous — some 1/4 of all Chinese die from lung-related diseases. 

We went through many neighborhoods, and even the better-off people still live  basically.  The dominant mode of living in many of the big cities is an apartment in a high-rise, and we talked to many people who lived pretty high up in a building (up to ten stories) without an elevator.  So while their standard of living is on the rise, it has a long way to go. 

The quality of the environment in China is abysmal.  In most of the locations we traveled, the air was constantly hazy, and everything seemed blurry.  I’ve never been anywhere in my life with such a total lack of wildlife.  After the fifteenth person told me that the reason there are no birds in China is because they’ve all been hunted and eaten, I became convinced.  After three weeks in China, we were excited to see a house sparrow!  At China’s growth rate, especially as more and more of its population convert from bicycles to cars, their pollution problems will become even more acute.

In many parts of China, we couldn’t access our own website, the highly-subversive www.dintersmith.org, or lots of other sites censored by the Chinese government (wikipedia most notably).  It was an emphatic reminder to us throughout our stay of how intrusive the Chinese government is in the daily lives of its people.  It was eery to have to whisper in our hotel room about what we observed during the day, for fear that our room was bugged.   Our children definitely picked up on these issues, wondering why no one in this heavily-Buddhist country has a picture of the Dalai Lama in their home (he was expelled from China in 1959, and anyone caught with a picture of him can be — and often are – put in prison).   

I’m old enough to recall a period in the 1970’s when the popular press in the U.S sounded alarm bells that Japan would soon eclipse the U.S.. economically.  Well, it never happened.  So is China the next “Japan”?  I don’t think so.  Many Chinese have an entrepreneurial drive that is rarely seen in Japan.  With a deep and technically-skilled workforce, and a hunger for achievement, China will be the world’s next superpower.  Can the U.S. stay ahead?  I’d love to say yes, but I doubt it.  Our educational system is badly broken, our governmental priorities bollixed up beyond belief, and our population is far too complacent.  Our strength is that we’re a nation that responds to challenges.  But China may bolt past us so quickly that by the time we respond, there’s no chance to regain the lead. 

Oct. 5-8: I’m old enough that the Viet Nam War was a major part of my high school and college years. So I came to this country with a great deal of curiosity. We arrived in Hanoi on a short flight from Hong Kong, arriving on the tail end of a tropical storm. We proceeded to our old-style hotel, the Sofitel Metropole in downtown Hanoi. The service was impeccable there, although at times we felt we were on the set of a movie harking back to a century ago.

The first thing that struck us about Hanoi (or didn’t strike us — fortunately) was the traffic. I haven’t seen anything like it since my first visit to Boston! Automobiles, buses, trucks, bicycles, cyclos (pedicabs), and motorcycles all share the road in a haphazard manner, and at any point in time, a major collision seemed all but certain. Hanoi, with a population of about 4 million, has some 2 million motorcycles — and they get lots of use! But somehow, nothing bad ever seems to happen, despite lots of horn honking and many close calls.

We headed out early Saturday morning to prison . . . fortunately, just as tourists. The Hao Lo prison is a famous one. It is quite old, and its history includes being used in the Viet Nam War to hold U.S. pilots shot down over North Viet Nam, including John McCain. While I don’t agree with many of his positions, I have a huge amount of respect for the Senator, and seeing where he spent five years of his life only increased that admiration. It was so interesting to read the descriptions on the signs in the prison. Not surprisingly, the signs told us that the French would torture Vietnamese in these prisons (probably true), while the Vietnamese were exceptionally kind to U.S. personnel held there during the Viet Nam War (hard to believe). Anyway, most of this prison has been torn down now, and it’s the site of a major new hotel, while a small part of the old prison has been retained for use as a tourist attraction — a symbol for what’s happening throughout Viet Nam.

There’s an interesting contrast between the countryside landscape of the Hanoi area, and its downtown. Downtown was just plain jam-packed, with people, stores, apartments, you name it. The scene on the left was pretty typical for downtown. The countryside, though, had this odd assortment of beautifully-architected multi-story houses next to rice paddies, a few run down huts, a beautiful stream, and several piles of garbage. Much of the landscape of North Viet Nam was destroyed during the War (which they call the American War), and there’s lots of new construction. Anyway, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before, and while I wouldn’t call it stunning or beautiful, it’s certainly quite interesting to see the country rebuilding in front of your eyes.

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And speaking of downtown, it’s just bustling with commerce. Viet Nam is a Communist country, but, like China, Viet Nam seems to have figured out how to unlock to power of capitalism while not straying too far from its Communist roots. Both countries have low marginal tax rates and many emerging businesses, but somehow it seems ok for wealth to be created and retained in these societies. But Hanoi is filled with a mix of places of commerce — from this Louis Vuitton store to the people selling bananas on the street! And, for the most parts, blocks are organized by stores — so there’s the shoe block, the electronics block, the art block, etc. Makes for efficient shopping. And prices are quite low. Our first dinner out was $18 for four (and fabulous). A one-hour cyclo tour of downtown cost $2!

We toured Ho Chi Minh’s residential and office compound in Hanoi, right near his mausoleum. The mausoleum was closed for repairs, so we missed viewing his body (still preserved and on display). But the grounds of his compound were quite beautiful, including the garage for his car collection. Our guide explained that HCM was a simple man who only wanted what is best for the Vietnamese people, after which our kids asked, “So why is it that someone so ’simple’ lived in such a fabulous place?”

On a Sunday morning, we drove out to a village on the outskirts of Hanoi that specializes in pottery production. It was interesting to see so many people hard at work early on a Sunday morning. The Vietnamese people are incredibly industrious! Their goal is to be a middle income nation by 2012 and a developed nation by 2020 — and I wouldn’t bet against them. And we ended up making our first purchase of the trip — a pair of large urns (a la John Singer Sargent) which we have shipped to Elizabeth’s very understanding sister and brother-in-law in Seattle — wait until that box arrives!!

I wasn’t immediately taken by Hanoi, but it grew on me over our stay. The food is outstanding — our entire family now loves Vietnamese food. The people are really nice, and we didn’t see a single sign of ill will toward Americans, even though I kept thinking that many people we met may well have had a relative killed or hurt during the War by U.S. actions. As one person we talked to explained, “We know quite well that the actions of a government don’t reflect the feelings of the people, so we hold no grudge against the American people.” Let’s hope people in the Middle East feel that way toward the U.S. I remember all too well the intense emotion (in many cases ripping families apart) in the U.S. over the Viet Nam War, and the many senior policy-makers who insisted that our nation’s security depended on stopping the “dominoes” from toppling. Well, it’s mind-boggling to reflect upon these policies in light of the friendly and industrious Hanoi we just visited.

Our Hanoi photo album is at

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/440303

Oct. 3-5:  I’ll start by reviewing a running debate our family has been having about Hong Kong.  Should we view Hong Kong (HK) as a distinct country, or as part of China?  Sounds like a simple question to answer, right?  Well, there are some good arguments to view HK as a separate country — it has its own currency, legal system, customs policy, and immigration policy.  On the other hand, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has sovereignty over HK, controls its government, is responsible for its defense and foreign policy, and plans to completely absorb it into the PRC in 2047.   Separate country??  You’re guess is as good as ours.

One thing that isn’t ambiguous is the spectacular beauty of Hong Kong — surrounded by lush mountains, the China Sea, and a gorgeous harbor.  It consists of some 262 islands and peninsulas, the largest of which are Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island, and Kowloon Peninsula.  Hong Kong literally translated means “fragrant harbour.”  The city is a center of finance and tourism, with a population of about 7,000,000.

A highlight of our stay in HK took place some 8,005 miles away in Boston, MA, where the Red Sox opened their series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  While we would have loved to have been there live, we were able to watch the game in our hotel room.  It started at 6:30 a.m. HK time, and we watched a gorgeous sun rise over HK harbor and an even more gorgeous game from Josh Beckett.  I also traded e-mails with my good friend Jeff Bussgang, who was at the game.  He kindly e-mailed me back a delicious Fenway Frank using a revolutionary attachment technology developed by one of his portfolio companies (another good investment, Jeff!). 

A highlight of our time in Hong Kong was a trip out to Mai Po Nature Preserve.  After a dreadful lack of wildlife in China, we saw almost 50 different types of birds, including this grey heron sunning itself on the edge of one of Mai Po’s marshes.   It was terrific to spend time at such a protected spot just a short drive from downtown.  After three weeks in China, we had seen a shockingly anemic grand total of three different species of birds, so it was great to see some beautiful birds in HK.

At night, HK is alive with activity.  Each evening there is a laser show at 8:00 p.m. which we observed one evening from a boat in the harbor.   HK lies in the tropics, and the weather in early October is balmy; it was a fabulous night to be out on the water.

The architecture of the buildings in HK is varied and interesting.   In the photo on the left, the larger building on the left hand side with the two antennae and the criss-crosses running up and down is an I.M. Pei design and was one of our favorites.  At night, the cross-hatches were lit, and it was pretty jazzy.

We managed to squeeze in a bit of baseball while in HK, but it wasn’t easy.  We ended up walking fifteen minutes from the hotel to the nearest “park.”   As far as I can tell, “park” in Chinese means “tiny amount of land that is mostly cement, and anything grassy is strictly off limits, with a policeman ready to stop you in a matter of seconds.”  So we threw on a little sidewalk area.  The guy on the left was running very small laps around the park, and passed us every 180 seconds — like clockwork.  Gibson was tempted to use this opportunity to work on his brushback pitch, but decided to keep his pitches away from the “runner.”

The contrast between HK and some of China’s (other) cities couldn’t have been more stark.  As one person put it, in Beijing you see lots of bicycles being used for transportation by a relatively poor population.  In HK, the only bicycles you see are in fitness centers, of which there are many.  It’s cosmopolitan and multi-cultural.  HK was as diverse as any place we’ve ever been, with a very educated population.  It has great culture, museums (we didn’t make it to any, unfortunately, since we only had two days there), shopping, and restaurants.   We’ve generally allocated the right amount of time to the places we’ve visited, but we would love to spend more time in HK.  It gives us a great excuse to return!

If you want to take a look at our Hong Kong  photo album, go to http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/394279/605896#imageID=28097166

I have to admit to bringing little enthusiasm to Shanghai. A couple of people had cautioned me about the pollution and crowding, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be too excited about this city. I was wrong.

Shanghai’s population of 19 million makes it one of the ten largest cities in the world. We all take for granted to numbers and rankings presented about “city size,” but even a little digging shows that there’s a high degree of arbitrariness around what actually is a city’s “population.” We talked a couple of postings ago about Chongqing, China, which claims 32 million people, but that encompasses a very large geographical area (think, Los Angeles). So a city’s population is subject to differing definitions, and rankings will shift accordingly. But almost every list of the world’s biggest cities includes Shanghai, and there seems to be little doubt it’s China’s biggest city.

The first thing that struck us about Shanghai was this round yellow sphere in the sky. In most of China, the haze had obscured the sun, but Shanghai’s air was good . . . at least by China’s standards. And, even though we were there during China’s national holiday week, and it was unusually crowded, it was a fabulous place to visit, and a world-class city.

Someone told us that, in visiting China, if you want to understand its past, you need to visit Beijing. And if you want to understand China’s future, you need to visit Shanghai. One glance at Shanghai’s skyline underscores that insight.

The first thing that you can’t miss is the sheer size of Shanghai. It’s massive. And mostly very new. Unlike Beijing, it appears that architects were actually involved in designing some of the newer buildings. Several were breath-taking, and in aggregate it makes an indelible impression. If you love big cities (we do!), you’ll love the feel of Shanghai. A must stop is the Urban Planning Museum, which gives a history of Shanghai’s evolution, and has a great model of this giant city. This model seemed bigger than a lot of the cities we’ve been to!

Shanghai is this interesting mix of the old and the new. In the shadow of the new skyscrapers is an area called the Bund, along the Huangpu River. BTW, Shanghai lies on this river, about 40 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean and not on the near-by Yangtze. The Bund in the early 1900’s was the center of foreign enterprise in Shanghai, and the architecture looks far more like an older European city than like noveau China. Foreign enterprises were forced out after the Communist victory in 1949, and many of the buildings are now occupied by government offices, banks, or have become historical or tourist sites.

We also took a trip out to an ancient river town, Zhujiajiao, which reflects simple and elegant Ming and Qing dynasty architecture. You get around the city through a combination of quiet stone streets, and canals with boats powered by boatsmen. We had lunch at a great Ming Dynasty private residence that is now a museum. The kids spent time feeding goldfish in a pond, and nearly grabbed one for lunch! Nothing like Goldfish Sushi!!

We went to the Shanghai Museum, which has a world-class collection of ancient Chinese jade, hand-carved furniture, and bronze. We had a great visit to this museum. But our visit was also fairly brief (about an hour). One challenge to our trip for us is that we could spend ten hours a day visiting museums, temples, cathedrals, and shrines of various sorts. We have put a limit on the number we’ll visit in any week, and and how much time we’ll spend in any given site. Given that we’re traveling for over ten months, we’re concerned about “museum burn- out” and have organized our schedule accordingly. So I’m sure we missed many interesting things at the Shanghai Museum, but we had a great time there, learned a lot, and got back outside to watch some of the kites being flown over Shanghai!

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Our Shanghai highlight was an evening at the Chinese Acrobatic Show, which had act after act which we just couldn’t believe. These performers were so acrobatic, it often took our breath away — whether it was juggling with 100 pound ancient Chinese vases, or balancing on a large (20 meters in diameter) spinning steel wheel blind-folded, we just loved watching them. I managed one picture (no flash) and probably risked spending the rest of my life in jail to do it, but wanted to capture the show’s energy.

A not-quite-highlight of our Shanghai visit was the Opening Ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics. We did get a chance to meet some of the event’s organizers, as well as athletes from Canada, Ireland, and Chinese Taipei. We tried to get tickets to the opening ceremony, which were harder to get than Red Sox - Yankees tickets. We came close (too long a story), but ended up watching the opening ceremony on television (the first time we have watched television on our trip). Elizabeth and I kept saying, “Oh, it’s probably better that we’re not there live. There are 80,000 people, it will be jammed, and our kids wouldn’t get home until too late.” But we both know we would have LOVED to have been there live, and even on television it was very inspiring. Given that historically China ignored its handicapped (believing a handicapped child was somehow punishment for a family), so it was inspiring to see the Chinese Government and its Special Olympics contingent showcased, with over 600,000 Chinese participating in the games across the country. China is changing, and it’s changing fast.

We had another really fun baseball outing in Shanghai , and it was great to meet some college students in Shanghai who share our enthusiasm for this great sport. There were about fifty college students playing at a university in Shanghai (East China Normal University), and — despite having no real field to play on — they brought lots of enthusiasm and energy to the game. See my http://ted.dintersmith.org/2007/10/04/baseball-in-shanghai/ posting for more about this fun afternoon!

We left Shanghai for its airport, and got there through its Maglev train. The train operates entirely on electro-magnetic forces (no wheels, no mechanics) and peaks out at a speed of 431 kilometers per hour (267 mph). I couldn’t help but think how great it would be to have this same train (based on German technology) running from Boston to Washington, instead of continuing to limp along with Amtrak.

For our slide show from Shanghai, check out

http://dintersmith.phanfare.com/album/394279/603184#imageID=27977720