Tag Archives: China

World’s loneliest Starbucks?

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OK, first let’s be clear about something. If you want coffee in the morning, and you’re in China, “local” is irrelevant because there is no “local” morning coffee-drinking ritual here. Just trying to rationalize an American going to an American place while in China instead of taking in something culturally Chinese.

Clearly, if the Chinese don’t do coffee in the morning, they have no culture. :-)

Yesterday, on the way back from the Terra Cotta Warriors, we found a Starbucks imitation here, King Coffee. Only it was better! They knew exactly how to prepare coffee, each cup personally as if it were special and not just another Mocha Latte. Sadly, the King Coffee locations aren’t open in the morning, forcing me into something from the Twilight Zone. A totally-empty Starbucks. At what would be rush hour back home.

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We need King Coffee in the US. Give Starbucks some real competition!

The iPhone5 is real! I saw it!

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You are looking at a real, honest-to-goodness iPhone5. Really! Says so right on the box!


The Pearl Market is a pretty amazing place. Hundreds of vendors almost yelling at you as you walk through the aisles, making pitches for scarves, hats, bags, and, if you’re walking through the electronics section and they see you have a camera, then it’s lenses, lens caps, camera bags, batteries, memory cards, you name it. Some of it at unbelievably-cheap prices! For example, check out the time-teleported iPhone5 in the picture.

That’s right, someone in China paid to have them sent back in time, and here they are. And cheap? You can’t believe the deal they’re offering! It stats at just 880 yuan (about $135). And here’s the problem… something that says iPhone5 on it… well, you just gotta check it out, right? And the people behind the counter seriously have no idea that an iPhone5 hasn’t yet been released, so they think you’re a real customer bargaining with them. The price goes down to 600 yuan. They offer to show that it’s real by asking for your simcard to try in it. But the last thing you want to do is risk damaging your sim card, so no-go on that (even though you are a bit curious). And as you leave, the price goes down to… under 400 yuan, with a spare battery! Now, at 400 yuan, it would almost be fun to have it just as a souvenir from China. I mean, how many times have you spent that much ($62) on something to remind you of a fun trip? And let’s face it, what could be more “China” than something as fake as an iPhone5? But I passed, mainly because I was concerned it might not get through customs, and partly (albeit a much smaller part) because I’m sensible.

I know this place!

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So what do you do when you wake up constantly because the hotel room is too warm and it’s difficult to get back to sleep and you’re 6000 miles from home in a country whose language you can neither read nor speak?

Obviously you get up, try to be quiet because your wife isn’t into this sort of adventure, grab your stuff and head out to see the flag-raising ceremony with about 50,000 of your closest friends, not one of whom appears to be non- Asian (seriously, to say I stand out is an understatement) and whom, thankfully, are all pretty short. Is it still a stereotype when it’s true?

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At 5:30am, there aren't many people on the Beijing subway

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I'm not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination, but have to admit that the streets of Beijing were quite beautiful at 6am (and the iPhone4S camera captures it quite well)

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Chinese Army soldiers keeping the crowd at bay prior to the flag raising ceremony

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Creating blog entries from an iPhone has some challenges; this was supposed to be the same size as the others, and show the soldiers beginning their march across the plaza to raise the flag.

Oh, right, how do I know this place? By seeing it countless times during the cold war, when they would parade the huge nuclear missiles and 100,000 troops in front of the world, similar to Red Square in Moscow.

Funny to think how scared we were of China back then, with missiles pointed at us and fiery rhetoric about the Capitalist world. Funny because people seem incredibly friendly and curious here in Beijing, with an immense desire to know what it’s like in the United States.

Why/when did time stop for flying? (+ Planes vs Trains vs Cars vs Cycling)

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In 1960 we could fly at 39,000 feet, above the rough stuff, at darn near 600 miles per hour. And the sky was literally the limit. We dreamed and read about a future with supersonic and even hypersonic planes, and had wondered if we even wanted planes to go faster because the flying experience was so much fun. Comfortable seats, legroom, and your family and friends could see you off at the gate. Oh and if you were arriving late for your flight you could race through the airport without anyone calling in the national guard and they would sometimes even hold the plane for you.

But today (or is it tonight or tomorrow or even yesterday as we fly across the Pacific and the International Date Line, not to be confused with the regional versions), I’m packed tightly into what’s essentially a bus with wings, flying slower than planes did 50 years ago, after having been dropped off at the curb by my daughter who, if she’d taken more than 11.6 seconds to say good-bye would have been given a ticket.

Trains? The golden age for trains had come and gone before my time so I’ve actually seen improvement, especially overseas. Cars? Seem about the same to me and I’m actually willing to admit they have more creature comforts (or at least cup holders) than before, but good luck finding that “wide, open road” that we used to crave so much. Bikes? Definitely improved; more comfortable, easier to use and more choices.

But air travel… What happened? Ok I understand the argument you get what you pay for and the $1105 round trip San Francisco to China would probably be the equivalent of $5000 back in the day. But shouldn’t technology have offered us something, or was Popular Mechanics pure fiction and pipe dream? (And what is a “pipe dream” anyway? Guess when I’m on the ground I can look that up).

No flying cars. Slow planes. Movies that didn’t make the grade in theaters being shown on first gen LCDS hanging down from the ceiling. We can go places, but aside from bikes and high speed rail, the experience doesn’t match the desire.

I guess I’m coming back to that thing about the world going by at just the right speed on a bike. The experience is delivered at a pace that your mind can fully appreciate in real time. The sights, the smells, just the change of pace when you come to a hill or ride through a town breaks up the monotony of the journey, and the journey itself becomes as important as the destination.

Not so for flying. I’ve been in this metal tube for 6 hours and have another 6 to go before reaching Beijing. Trust me, this trip is all about the destination, not the journey. And the funny thing is, this is a pleasant flight with a good crew so it will end up on a relativistic scale as being considered a good flight which, in fact, means it’s simply tolerable.

Can’t we do better? If this was the experience cycling delivered, I wouldn’t be selling many bikes! I am truly fortunate that I get to make a living helping people get out and enjoy the world, instead of having to use wildly deceptive advertising to convince people that you’ve got enough legroom to really stretch out in economy+ when the reality is that, if the guy in front of you reclines his seat, your laptop screen could get smashed and never mind the difficulty of trying to use it 6 inches in front of your face.

I hate riding on a trainer, but if they could set them up on a plane I’m sure the time would pass by more quickly and comfortably! But maybe they’d have to put me out on the wing so I’d at least have a decent view. :-)

And that brings us to a good conclusion. If I were out on the wing, getting to watch (but hopefully not smell) the world go by, 520 miles per hour might be just about right. But inside the cabin, anything less than Warp Speed is too slow. A severe mismatch of desired vs realized experience.

Cycling really wins out in that light. Desired vs realized experience.

It’s all about Google, isn’t it?

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On Wednesday, it drove past our Redwood City store. “It” being the Google Car, the one with the weird ball poised atop a derrick maybe 6 feet above its roof, with multiple cameras recording the view from every angle as it drives down the street. So what do you do when you see the Google Car? You run out to get a better look, of course! Although the truth is a bit different; you hope to gain the digital age’s version of immortality by being viewable yourself on Google Maps. That’s part #1.

Part #2 concerns Egypt. Google marketing executive Wael Ghonim became known as a pivotal figure in the democratization of information access in Egypt, even being held in a jail for a number of days (and thankfully released unharmed).  Having recently been to Egypt (this past December), with images of the country still fresh in my mind, I have pictured the unthinkable, something corporate Google must publicly fear and secretly think yeah, that would be pretty cool, but could never be allowed. A drawing of one of the Pyramids of Giza with a Google corporate flag flying on top.

Clearly, that would be in poor taste for so many reasons, not the least of which is that Google’s marketing guy was simply a facilitator, someone who helped establish corridors of communication that helped give voice to dreams and ideas. It was a revolution of the people, not the media.

Or so I desperately wish to believe. Without the images shown to the world on TV, without the instant gatherings fostered by Facebook & Twitter postings, might Mubarak still be in power? Is Egypt an example of what China fears? Perhaps I shouldn’t fear the role of corporations in giving voice to a people, but embrace it. I’m really conflicted on this issue. It certainly puts any petty concerns about the manipulation of Yelp reviews in perspective.  –Mike–