8 posts tagged “john bell”
So from Asia, I get a short business trip to Barcelona to take part in my company's board meeting. The best thing I did on two separate days was meet up with some new friends and have coffee in the Plaza near Boqueria (but not in tourist central). Nicest people, blue skies, warm in the sun. I saw Guadi's La Pedrera which is the large apartmnent building with all those wonderfully organic curves, swrils and dollops. The building seem like a live organism. The building on the left is another Gaudi building on the way to Pedrera.
I love graffiti in other cities...
The Museum of the City near the Lomography Store..
La Pedrera in all its glory.....
My last stop on my Asia tour was Sydney. Wow. Tremendous city, tremendous beach town. I took the ferry to the zoo where my colleague drove me around his beach community. It reminded me of California but nicer. The last day of my stay, Suzanne was nice enough to take me to Bondi beach to swim. then I got on a plane for 18 hours back to DC where it snowed. It was sweet relief to see my family but tough being back in teh country. Asia is spectacular.
The view from the restaurant entrance where I gave a presentation..
The beach a short drive from the zoo....
Me at Bondi, the day that I leave...
Bondi and all it's beauty and glory. And then I leave...
Okay, I have finished my tour of Asia and am now actually in Europe. Towards the end of the first trip, I ran out of blogging steam. But from Tokyo, I went to Singapore where I had been once before twenty years ago. Singapore is a relatively sedate city/state. Most who live there say that it's safe and that the food is great. Both of which are true. The beauty of my trip there this time was spending 2 nights of Chinese New Year with Kathy and her family who were gracious enough to invite me over along with a fraction of her extended Chinese family. One of her uncles was in the leadership of the Singapore police and corroborated the safety record of the island (while sharing one grisly story about a man who killed his wife, cut her up and distributed her in some food - after all he was a butcher by trade).
Kind of what you think about Singapore before you get there and then your there...
One of two spectacular meals from Kathy's family. This one her Auntie made.
Why do the cats all have short tails?
I am already in Tokyo as I write this. I could not post on VOX while in Beijing as the service was blocked by the censors. I did post my experiences on the Great Wall at my other blog.
Later that day, I went to the Forbidden City with Wendy. Here's some pics:
Forbidden City Outside
Forbidden City Inside
Wendy
The Mao
Details, details, details....
There is no way to be in Hong Kong and not fall in love with the signs. The neon makes nightime into a permanent dusk by beating the darkness back into only the blackest of alleys. It is a vertical city. Not just the hillside that ramps up through the midlevels to the actual peak, but the walkways and the buildings themselves. popular restaurants exist on the 17th floor of a 23 story not-so-modern highrise.
Even the trolley is a giant 2-story vertical like a giant piece of toast slicing through the streets.
And the signs! they are all so beautiful!
Near my hotel
Ogilvy's Advertising HQ in town :-)
All-in-all I only spent 4.5 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia. But I loved it. I loved the compressed little city, the marketplace with rows and rows of stalls selling the same great t-shirts, silk scarves and brass or silver statues. The intense motorbike, car, bus and bicycle traffic. The masked women who swept dust from the streets.
There is extreme poverty. I am far from insensitive to this. But while a fact and heart-wrenchingly so, it doesn't come close to defining the coutry's experience.
TukTuks at rest which is like almost never. Attached to motorbikes, they are great way around town.
Internet cafes are everywhere. Homes are not wired to any great degree and bandwidth is expensive (I kept having to negotiate with my hotel for more access as I would suck up 100 Mbs in a session)
Typography and signage to die for!
Our final Ogilvy dinner was far outside of town at temple ruins. A full moon, dramatic lighting, and four elephants in complete elephant outfits (you know - noble, gold, tassley stuff, made it a pretty special event.
I attended some of the Ogilvy team's regional meeting today in Siem Reap. They have a theme of flying pigs called the Festival of Ideas borne on banners throughout the city. Clearly a nod to the Year of the Pig and the "until pigs fly" adage. Since I am only here till Sunday morning and am jammed into sessions for the next two days, dawn till dusk, I ducked out to visit Angkor Wat and the surrounding ruins.
Meet Say. He was my guide. Mr. T was our driver. Thank God (or more appropriately, thank Buddha or Vishnu), for these two guys. They shuttled me around and were ever so helpful. A series of kings from about 800-1400 built the various temples and cities around Angkor Wat. There are three kings in particular that stand out from the crowd. One of them - Jayavarman II - is responsible for building the best preserved ruin - Angkor Wat in just 37 years. I also visited Angkor Thom and The Bayon. These last two are the handiwork of #VII. At some point the kings moved from Hinduism to Buddhism which is evident in symbols through the ruins.
Anyhow, I always picture the ruins deep in the jungle. They are of course right beside the main roads here. Still, for me, they are a tremendous sight to behold. Say tricked me into walking up to the third level of AW. He didn't come. Let me tell you - it is steep and high and I am afraid of heights. I was like a granny clutching the flimsy handrail on the way down.
The precision of the engineering, the relentless bas-reliefs, and the scale are tremendous. So much to see in this world. Makes me feel like a part of the human race again.
Big heads.
I will be traveling on business over the next few weeks in Asia and using my fan blog to share my experiences with family and friends. I am not sure if I will use the family privacy features or not.
Here we go:
Part 1:
I am liking Korean Air. The people are so nice. I got moved to the "upper deck." That means I am on a 747-400 which is an absolutely huge aircraft. I am in business which may not be as plush as first class, but I am all alone in a "row" of four pods. These pods - I could live in one for a week.
What's cool:
- the very nice people (women mostly) of Korean Air
- the sleep pod and the multimedia system
- the fact that I am flying over Hudson Bay right now (look it up) on my way over the North Pole!
4 hours in:
I remain totally comfortable. I had a three-course meal and begged off on the desert and cheese cart.
What's cool:
- I just watched the sunset over the frozen tundra of the Artic Circle below
- I feel protected from the rest of life - no one can reach me, I am quietly getting interesting work done, listening to music , thinking about my family.
5 hours in:
What's cool:
- cookies!
10 hours in:
Despite the comfort of my pod, I find I cannot sleep. The sun has come up outside and I still have 3.5 hours to go on this leg of the journey.
What's cool:
- we are now flying over Russia (I forgot to tell you that I can watch our progress on satellite display.
18 hours in:
Yeah, that's right, just about 18 out of 19 hours in the air. I am on my second flight this one from Seoul to Siem Reap on Asiana Airlines. Technically I am now flying back in time by about 2 hours whereas my overall flight is into the future. Hurst to think about it. I have flown over China and am now probably over Vietnam.
what's cool:
- the very nice women of Asiana Airlines
- the fact that I have flown over half the world and not exploded in a ball of flames from sheer exhaustion
I miss my family. That's cool because I love them and that's all there is.
