(no subject)
ok, so have been very lazy with the journal...
the one month in Tokyo flew by too quickly. It'll be silly trying to even write some of the highlights so I will get back to that in a week or so when I'm settled in here in China.
So I arrived in Beijing on Monday and was surprised to have a driver waiting for me at the airport with my name plate. straight to the new Ritz Carlton in a nice ride and I'm of course in a deluxe room. Met up with some ANU prof, including peter, and some other colleagues I'm gettin gto know quite well from around the region for a one day conference on an ongoing project. Anyway, the conference goes well and for the dinner the organiser, who's an uber famous economist who led the agricultural reforms and implemented all the reforms here in the 80s, took us to the State banquet hall for dinner. This place was amazing, normally reserved for heads of state, 20 of us had a 5 star plus meal in a massive hall fit for royalty. So interesting because throughout dinner they are all talking about the future of China and we had 3 of the top 4 China specialists in the world there.
So after that left for Shanghai with Peter and Yiping. Now, Yiping is quite a character. mid 40s and he's been the chief economist for the biggest bank in the world (Citigroup) and he's an old ANU grad who's baby-faced and is far too down to earth considering he's advised more fortune 500 CEOs than anyonoe in the world. You can imagine the style of travel I'm getting used to. So we're here in Shanghai now for closed door Asia Development Bank meetings of just 6 people. All I can do is take notes because I'm out of my league to contribute but I'm getting a fair bit out of it.
Back to Beijing on Saturday where I start my life in China proper. Have to learn the language, interview many people and meet some people on campus. Cannot wait.
one fantastic development has been a drink i discovered in Japan that reduces your hangover. May be full of crap but I went on a 6 night in a row bender last week and am still alive. ok, just quickly, last Wednesday, my mate's dad took us to tokyo's number one strip club where the girls were rediculously good looking, thursday Fib visited for 24 hours on the way to chi-town and we had a fun night out and then on Sunday Tomo's wedding reception. too much fun
the one month in Tokyo flew by too quickly. It'll be silly trying to even write some of the highlights so I will get back to that in a week or so when I'm settled in here in China.
So I arrived in Beijing on Monday and was surprised to have a driver waiting for me at the airport with my name plate. straight to the new Ritz Carlton in a nice ride and I'm of course in a deluxe room. Met up with some ANU prof, including peter, and some other colleagues I'm gettin gto know quite well from around the region for a one day conference on an ongoing project. Anyway, the conference goes well and for the dinner the organiser, who's an uber famous economist who led the agricultural reforms and implemented all the reforms here in the 80s, took us to the State banquet hall for dinner. This place was amazing, normally reserved for heads of state, 20 of us had a 5 star plus meal in a massive hall fit for royalty. So interesting because throughout dinner they are all talking about the future of China and we had 3 of the top 4 China specialists in the world there.
So after that left for Shanghai with Peter and Yiping. Now, Yiping is quite a character. mid 40s and he's been the chief economist for the biggest bank in the world (Citigroup) and he's an old ANU grad who's baby-faced and is far too down to earth considering he's advised more fortune 500 CEOs than anyonoe in the world. You can imagine the style of travel I'm getting used to. So we're here in Shanghai now for closed door Asia Development Bank meetings of just 6 people. All I can do is take notes because I'm out of my league to contribute but I'm getting a fair bit out of it.
Back to Beijing on Saturday where I start my life in China proper. Have to learn the language, interview many people and meet some people on campus. Cannot wait.
one fantastic development has been a drink i discovered in Japan that reduces your hangover. May be full of crap but I went on a 6 night in a row bender last week and am still alive. ok, just quickly, last Wednesday, my mate's dad took us to tokyo's number one strip club where the girls were rediculously good looking, thursday Fib visited for 24 hours on the way to chi-town and we had a fun night out and then on Sunday Tomo's wedding reception. too much fun