Hong Kong, From a Westerner’s View

There is no doubt that Hong Kong was the best place for our class trip to begin.  As the city is the most westernized, we all felt as though we had just revisited New York City.  The bright lights, the hustle and bustle, and the extensive subway network reminded us of the Big Apple. 

Needless to say, there were also many differences between the United States and Hong Kong.

1.       The fact that there could be multiple locations of one store virtually across the street from each other, for example, 7/11 and Swatch.

2.       Speaking of Swatch, the people of Hong Kong were obsessed with watches and golfing, as stores lined the streets.

3.       In Central, everyone is carrying around a shopping bag, whether it’s Louis Vuitton, Coach, or Giorgio Armani.

4.       Everything is backwards – the driver is on the opposite side, they drive on the opposite side, they walk on the opposite side.

5.       There is order to everything.  If you’re going to walk up the escalator, you go to the left.  If you will be enjoying the ride, you move towards the left.  You exit the subway through the middle while others enter on either side. 

6.       A mini Hong Kong lies underground in the subway. 

Unplanned Serenity

Everything moves so fast in Hong Kong:  the people, the subways, and even the escalators.  Sometimes I feel as though I'm just a fish swimming quickly through a stream, trying to keep pace or else knowing I will be eaten alive by swarms of people.

Yesterday, my classmates drove to Shenzhen, a city in mainland China.  They visited the 5th largest harbor in the world with Vincent Wu from West Chester Holdings. 

Unfortunately, due to a slight (or not so slight) issue with my passport, I was not able to enter the mainland.  While this was a bit disappointing, I was given the opportunity to explore Hong Kong with Ashley and Roger, the Hong Kong native helping us with the passport problem. 

We went up to Hong Kong University, which has an interesting mix of old and modern buildings.  In terms of student population, HKU is about the size of UC's undergraduate enrollment.  The campus is pretty compact, but it is literally situated on a mountain.  Killer leg workout...

So at HKU, we visited an art collection, and it was pretty cool to actually see the real objects from the Qing, Xia, and Shang dynasties, instead of just viewing pictures in a history book.  The weird thing about the campus was that for a Tuesday morning, it was pretty much empty.  The bookstore was even closed! 

We then ventured into SoHo, where we rode up the world's longest escalator and had lunch at a small cafe.  The shrimp and spinach cream soup was amazing, and the Pad Thai was great, too!  After refilling our stomachs, Ashley and I wanted to check out the small street vendors.  It was great having Rober along for the ride because he was able to tell us what the Chinese symbols meant and he was pretty upfront if he thought the goods were of cheap quality.  Ashley got a couple fun trinkets, and I picked up some post cards.  On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in the Swatch store and found the most adorable watches.  while we didn't walk out with a watch, we were given a catalog so we would remember to stop back.

All in all, it was great to have a bit more relaxed free time in Hong Kong to just explore the not-so-touristy areas, and I'm so glad Ashley and I had tour guide Roger along with us. 

And yes, of course selfies were a huge part of the day... Roger was laughing at us.

 

 

Hong Kong, Thus Far

Howdy readers!

Well, we're here!  We arrived in Hong Kong on Friday evening, and took a bus to the hotel.  Remember how you were always confused about the song "YMCA" because it talked about staying at one?  Well, you guessed it... we are currently residing at the Salisbury YMCA in Hong Kong! 

It was great to have a free weekend before diving into company visits.  Here are a couple of sights we visited:
- Ladies Market - rows and rows of purses, jewelry, t-shirts.  Had some very interesting smells, and the amount of Nike stores was ridiculous! 
- Star Ferry - the cheapest way to get around Hong Kong, but beware of sea legs!  We had a couple scary moments jumping off the boat, and the waves were crashing up against the dock.
- Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery - the world's largest Buddha, man was he HUGE!  We also stopped at the monastery and the "fun walk" and "wisdom walk", but of which had their quirks.
- The Peak - the whole gang was up at The Peak on Sunday evening where we grabbed some food and enjoyed the awesome views! 
- Avenue of Stars - the YMCA is literally in the best location!  We walked down to the Avenue of Stars, and while we didn't know any of them, we certainly enjoyed the view of the entire city skyline. 

You really cannot miss the Buddha!

This morning, we visited with Li & Fung, an operations/logistics firm, specializing in apparel and consumer-packaged goods.  I'm pretty sure they had millions of dollars in products displayed in the office, so it was great to see a variety of what they could offer clients.

In the afternoon we visited with the David Joseph Company and learned about the scrap metal business here in China.  The main takeaway - China needs to start recycling cars and the US needs to start recycling cans. 

We also met with Jones, Lang, LaSalle and a Bearcat, Brian Brenner.  He spoke to us about new developments in Hong Kong, the outrageous retail/residential rental prices, and life as an ex-pat. 

More to come soon, I promise to keep you better informed!

A Month Away...

It's hard to believe that we depart for Asia in exactly one month today - thank you February for being so short!  Amid all this snow, I surely do hope you have been staying warm.  Not to brag, but here are the temperatures at our destinations...
 

 
My class has certainly been keeping busy this semester, going to classes, giving presentations, assisting at incoming freshmen interviews, and planning our trip! 
 
So here's the breakdown:

• Depart Cincinnati on 3/6
• Hong Kong 3/7 - 3/12, flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Chiang Mai 3/12 - 3/20, flight to Singapore
• Singapore 3/20 - 3/25, flight to Beijing
• Beijing 3/25 - 3/29, flight to Shanghai
• Shanghai 3/29 - 4/5, flight to vacation destination or Cincinnati

Here's where groups are vacationing:

• Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
• Sydney, Australia
• Koh Samui, Thailand

Have any suggestions on places to visit in any of these cities?  Comment below!

帮助 [Help]

Hello there friends!

It's been too long, and we really need your help.

We have received a few details about our upcoming trip to Asia!  We will be flying in (March 6th) and out (April 14th) of Hong Kong and need some help planning the extra 10 days.  We will finish the required portion in Shanghai.  So here's where you come in...

Have you ever traveled to Asia, whether it was for business or vacation?  What are the best places to visit?  We searched hotels, resorts, and spas in Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and even Australia.  In fact, we've collectively viewed more hotel websites than hotels we will actually visit in our lifetimes.

So tell us, where would you go and what would you do if you could spend 10 days anywhere in Asia?

The Big Apple

One post for all of NYC?  I think so.  Sorry for the huge delay, we had a bit too much fun hotel hopping and ended up without internet. 

 

So we arrived in NYC Wednesday night, and after a few hours moved from one hotel in the Upper West Side to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square... Why yes in fact we could see the filming of Good Morning America from outside our window.  Needless to say, the hotel was awesome!  We all ate some good New York food Wednesday night and explored the city a bit.

 

Thursday morning - visit with CBX and Adam Hildebrand.  It was so exciting and the atmosphere of CBX was so much different from all of the other visits we had.  We learned about the different brands CBX works with through a variety of case studies, and I can assure you that you will never find a store more uniquely New York than Duane Reade.  The number of Duane Reade stores in NYC:  TOO MANY to count.  We had a delicious lunch and got out picture taken with Adam (see below).

 

Thursday afternoon - visit to Apollo with Adam Eling.  At Apollo, we learned how the company saved everyone's favorite childhood snack - the Twinkie!  We also learned about the investment process and how competitive the market is.  We then spoke with Mr. Stein who was head of investor and media relations where he stressed the importance of integrity and credibility for the corporations and ourselves.   

 

On Friday morning, we went to Jefferies to meet with Robel and some of his coworkers.  We were able to speak with the HR team and went through the Manchester United case study, which was extremely interesting and made us all want to go invest in the soccer team - not something you hear everyday!  We also got our picture taken with Robel outside the Jefferies office at the Berlin Wall.  The picture with Robel will be posted soon, but below is a picture of our class before the visit.

 

On Friday afternoon, we met with Deloitte to learn more about their advisory group and their Washington D.C. policy advisor.  We also had a tour of Rockefeller Center, thanks to Deloitte.  We all had a great time learning about the history of Rockefeller Center, looking for men in walls, learning about the significance of the architecture, and playing with our headphones. 

 

Friday night - some went to Julianna's (next to Grimaldi's) for a good slice (or two) or New York pizza.  They chatted with Grimaldi himself about his business decisions and pizza cooking history.  Others went to Newsies on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre and went out for sushi after meeting the cast members.

 

Saturday was a free day in New York City and the possibilities were endless.  I went with a couple girls to the Plaza Hotel for breakfast (obviously we pretended to be Eloise) and then walked through Central Park, where we almost adopted a child.  We then took the subway to The High Line, as it was suggested by Mike Magazine.  It was such a beautiful urban park, and we followed it up with shopping in Chelsea, the Meatpacking District, and SoHo before hopping in a cab to go sit on the steps of The Met. 

 

We wanted to try out one more hotel (this is #4 in case you lost track) before heading back to Cincinnati, so we travelled on Saturday night to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to rest up for the long journey home on Sunday.  Have you ever heard of Bethlehem, PA?  Yeah, neither had we.

 

Some members of my class went to the 9/11 Memorial, walked through Grand Central Station, and took a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. 

 

Number of macarons eaten by a certain group of four ladies (you know who you are):  30.

Number of slices of pizza eaten:  76.

Number of stops at the 200+ Starbucks in New York City:  121.

Number of last names we can create to replace Rosfeld:  The limit does not exist.

 

 

Yes, we did have to wear those headphones out in public... Looking good.

 

The random kid we almost adopted in Central Park... before he had to leave for his 2 year old birthday party at the Central Park Zoo.

 

 That's it for now readers.  If I hear from any classmates who want to chime in, I will certainly update.  Otherwise, you'll hear from us again as we near the #Asia2014 trip!  Thanks for reading along with our journey!

 

 

Monday in Washington DC - Morning

Submitted by:  Betsy Emmert

 

The Lindner Honors-PLUS Class of 2016 hit the streets of DC bright and early Monday morning to begin our first of many company visits of DC/NYC Domestic Trip. After a
quick breakfast, we hopped on the Metro a block from the hotel to McPherson Square
where the US Chamber of Commerce is located. There, we met with the Chamber’s
Executive Vice-President and COO David Chavern. Mr. Chavern, a graduate of the
University of Pittsburgh, shared his insight on the Chamber’s interactions with
business leaders around the nation and world, and how the Chamber affects policy in
the nation’s capital. Mr. Chavern spent an hour with us answering our questions
concerning topics such as the ongoing tax debate, border security, and membership
growth and challenges facing the Chamber. We discussed at length the importance of
free enterprise and taking principled stances in effort to maintain its broad base of
300,000 members. Since the 1970s and 80s, the Chamber of Commerce has
shifted from serving as simply a voice to the public about business, to playing a
critical role influencing important policy in Washington. While Mr. Chavern
touched on the primary functions of the Chamber, he also shared his personal
perspective on management, team work, and organizational trust. As the first
visit of our trip and the first time in DC for many of us, the Chamber gave us a
taste for the kinds of issues that dominate Capitol Hill and our nation, setting
the scene for the remainder of our trip! After we finished with Mr. Chavern,
we took a short lunch break at Founding Farmers and Pike’s Place Market
before heading to PwC for our second visit of the trip!