(Kashgar, China) Time to move on…

I left Xinjiang by train to see Dunhuang and Xian, taking the advice of the Shanghai-nese I met in Turfan to travel back eastward. I left at night, so that I could save on the hotel expense by spending the night on the train. On the train, I met two northerners who just married, and were having their honeymoon. They were heading in the same direction and we decided to travel together. With characteristic Beijing-Shanghai rivalry, the northerner mentioned that what my Shanghai friend said about heading to Dunhuang was right; the northerner added that it was probably the first time a Shanghainese told the truth!

There is always plenty of time to think and remember on the train, or on a trip. My thoughts first shifted to the toilet habits I observed in Xinjiang. At the lake of heaven, there were temporary cubicle toilets installed at the mountain top. To the indigenous people, locking the toilet door was an alien concept! I opened one door and faced a lady with her headscarf squatting over the toilet bowl. She slammed the door close. Thinking this was a freak accident, I opened another door and found another lady squatting over the toilet bowl! I opened a third and received the same response. I gave up, and waited for someone to walk out of his or her cubicle.

(Kashgar, China) Is Nobu’s liver still alive?

For some reason, I wondered about Nobu halfway through my trip. Nobu is a Japanese friend whom I met in Korea. He was attending a masters program at Sookmyung Women University, and is an alcoholic. I remembered how he told me he shared drinking as a hobby with his girlfriend, and how I would drag a drunken Nobu back every night from the pub only to have him tell us at the hotel gates that he really had to go back to drink more. I also remembered how he mentioned his English improves when he is drunk. I wondered if Nobu had finally succeeded in killing his liver.

(Kashgar, China) Will you let capitalist determinism make your choices?

Before I slept, I thought about capitalism. For the market economy to efficiently allocate resources, people have to subscribe to a monetary ethos where earning money (preferably lots of it) is a key indicator of success. If this ethos does not exist, there will always be unsavory jobs that cannot be filled even if the market pays a lot (think rubbish men or women). Without the ethos, the market will be inefficient. In this way, capitalism survives by forcing people to subscribe to this ethos. Alternatively, it could be that capitalism is built on the back of an existing acquisitive ethos. This pushes us to live double lives pursuing personal and professional interests separately. Taken to extremes, our job choices are purely dictated by the wage, and this could be irreconcilable with what we want in life.

The strange thoughts running through my mind came to an end as we reached Dunhuang. I went to wash up at the basin, and the incredibly welcoming train conductor screamed at me for using the ice-cold tap water. She said it was too cold for me. She tried to bathe me in scalding hot water instead.

(Dunhuang, China) And the journey continues…

In addition to having a PLA General as a host in Xinjiang, I was also assigned a tour guide in Kashgar. I am still not too sure what my guide did, as he seems to be involved in a mish-mash of smuggling, selling insurance, and bringing people around. When we went to visit a vineyard, I waited as he took time to examine a nondescript car which he was going to buy. The examination took an hour as he dug under the side paddings, car seat, and boot to uncover hidden compartments. Satisfied, the people he was talking to drove the car away, and we continued on our journey. I kept quiet as I was unsure if that was a suitable conversation topic.

(Kashgar, China) The best hotel you can find here

On my last night in Kashgar, he put me in a “five star” hotel. Normally, you discount by one star hotels in China. In Kashgar, you have to deduct two or three. At the breakfast buffet, one tourist was so annoyed by the pianist’s amateurish music, he started screaming at her to stop. She paused, looked at him, and blankly played on unsure of his request. I could have translated but I was too amused. It did not help that the breakfast consisted of “rice gruel,” “mush,” and “potato with acid and hot.” Lovely translations that reflected how bad the food was.

(Kashgar, China) So long and farewell

I waited at the hotel for two hours for my guide to show up on the last day to take me to the airport. Apparently he was held up by work, and his friend came in his place. He sped through the city, and we rushed to the airport with 15 minutes left to take off (yes! Take off, not check in). Luckily, he knew the staff at the airport, and they waved me past the check-in process. At the security check, the lady examining me was taking longer than usual. She was making small talk (must be boring in a small town like this), leisurely examining me for any terrorist implements, and her hands were resting on my bottoms for far longer than I was comfortable with. Thankfully her colleague told her my plane was leaving. I smiled and ran out onto the runway. It was one of my most exciting departures as I ran down the dust-covered concrete runway and hopped onto my train. I wondered if it would have left without me.

I arrived in Urumqi with a cold and spent the next two days in bed watching television and drinking milk tea. Still not fully recovered, I made my way to the train station after that to catch a 12 hour train to Dunhuang and begin my return journey – this time eastwards.

(Between Urumqi and Dunhuang, China) She wanted me to be an informant

I always have problems with transportation girls. Aside from the plane incident, I was sitting comfortably in my cabin in the train when the train conductor came in and sat across me. She asked “are you a university student?” I nodded and was wondering what was wrong. She said I had been “appointed” a monitor to watch for people smoking in the cabin. How communist! Despite grave misgivings, I agreed. She had a pretty smile…and I was not given an option. She left and came back to take my name. I showed her my passport, in English, and she said “Aah! I was about to take your name…Tsk! Tsk!” I managed to wriggle out of my informant role, only to become an exhibit. I could hear her gossip about the foreigner sitting in cabin 7 with her colleagues just round the corner. They were laughing. I had no idea what was going on. Various train conductors frequently walked past, “just passing by,” to see me as if to check if this foreigner was doing foreign things, or would suddenly change to look more foreign.

(Beijing, China) From capitalist Wharton to communist Choson.

When I was staying in Seoul, I would normally be up to the wee hours with my Seoul National University roommate talking about North Korea. This was the period last year when they tested a nuclear device. I also met a Czech who stayed there for five years when Czechoslovakia were still part of the Soviet bloc. Those experiences piqued my interest, and drove me to study the Korean language. From those conversations, I became obsessed with visiting North Korea, and most importantly, to have an opportunity to work there to really understand the place.

To that end, I collected a lot of information on staying and visiting North Korea. I did not want to do the usual touristy stuff, but wanted to really work there to really get a feel of the place. I recently contacted the North Korea embassy in Beijing to find out if any teaching opportunities existed with Kim Il Sung University. The first call was answered with a ‘yopuseyo’ thick with the North Korean accent. I made the mistake of asking if this was the “Hanguk” embassy and was answered with the sound of the phone slammed down on me. I had for a moment forgot that they refer to themselves as Choson instead of Korea (Hanguk) which the south uses. The second time I called, I introduced myself and my intentions, but got nowhere. He would not give me the contact information for Kim Il Sung University.

I told myself I had to be less of a prestige whore, and settled for contacting a newly built university in Pyongyang instead of their elite communist institute of higher learning (receiving a great capitalist education at a good business school, I obviously had to have an equivalent commie experience) . I was told that whether an opportunity appears depended on progress on the six-party talks as this was an inter-Korea project. I will follow up with them to lobby for this job, and will visit North Korea some time next month to see if I can network for some opportunities to work there. I should have gotten Iranian President Khatami’s contact when Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach introduced me to him. Maybe he’s pals with Mr. Kim.

The Singapore Connection to North Korea

In the course of my research, I found several links between Singapore and North Korea. I was curious about this since several years ago, when I first came across an article about a Singaporean law firm operating in North Korea. The name of the firm and the article escapes me, but it remained at the back of my head. More recently, Apex-Pal founder Douglas Foo, who runs the Sakae Sushi chain, announced his intentions to open up stores in North Korea. He also mentions a visit in 2001 as part of a Singapore Manufacturer’s Federation delegation.

There is also a North Korean embassy in Singapore which I once tried to contact (I think its near Beach Road). I only tried calling once but never got a response. However, I believe that Singapore maintains active diplomatic ties with the Hermit Kingdom perhaps for business reasons. South Korean daily Dong a Ilbo talks about how its Washington sources point to North Korean money banked in Singapore with a small bank called “O Bank.” It points to two visits by the North Korean Foreign Minister to Singapore last year, which North Korea claims were for medical dialysis.

Anyone else knows of any other connections?

(Urumqi, China) Asian Crisis Never Again?

I did not realize that the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s essay competition awards ceremony had passed until my friend emailed me about it. I had forgotten about it, and could not be bothered to return for the event as I was busy with work in Beijing, and just got back from another conference in Switzerland. I think the organizers definitely put in hard work to organize the competition, but I feel that if they are serious about giving meaning to this competition, they should invite prize-winners to present their work. Even the World Bank Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics I attended last year allowed the authors of winning papers to present briefly to the presidents and vice-presidents of the World Bank, Nobel Prize Winners, leading academics and government officials present.

That said, the learning experience writing a paper on the Asian Financial Crisis, which ties tangentially into my interests in development economics, was enjoyable. Also, US$625 for the 8 hours I spent on the paper amounts to US$78 per hour. Not too bad. I will need the money to survive on my Chinese wages in Beijing. I was supposed to do the background research only but my co-author (yes Pinquan! You!) bailed out two days before the submission deadline while I was in between two mid-terms. I pulled an all-nighter and somehow managed to finish and submit the paper in between my caffeine-overdose induced stupor.

The Economic Society of Singapore and Monetary Authority of Singapore are pleased to inform you that your essay has been awarded the third prize for the Pre-University Category of the MAS-ESS Essay Competition 2006/07. A certificate and a cash prize of $1000 will be given to you.

We cordially invite you to the ESS Annual Dinner 2007, where we will also be having the essay competition prize award ceremony. The Dinner will be held at Pan Pacific Singapore on 13 June. Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be present to give out the prizes. There will be a group photo-taking at the end of the award ceremony.

This makes my third year winning this competition. Frankly speaking, the paper I am most proud of was the one in 2005 with Pinquan. I enjoyed learning how to work with a co-author, especially one more well-read and educated than me, and instead of the broad overview that the MAS-ESS seems to like, we put out a paper on the specific topic of currency liberalization and gave an interesting twist to a stale topic. We only got third then, instead of the first I got the first time I took part, but that shows that true learning does not correlate with ranking.

The paper.

(Beijing, China) Opportunity - Will I accomplish my dreams?

I just started work with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Beijing. I can’t say much about my work for confidentiality reasons. But I can definitely talk about the organization in generally. I think I have bought into the mission and vision of the WEF. After learning so much more about their work, their attention to details, and their interesting method of building partnerships, I feel much more excited and proud to be a part of the action. I can see myself wanting to do this in the long-term, and hope to continue assisting them even after the summer is over. Building partnerships between the private and public sectors for development purposes is definitely a mission that strikes a chord with my core values.

On the downside, I expected to be doing more interaction with the community members, although I believe that will come later. My current work is exciting enough as it requires me to think about the broader direction of WEF instead of focusing on a narrow research component. I am also looking forward to seeing a WEF event in action. After hearing how thorough they are in choosing speakers, designing the venues, and selecting participants, I can imagine the quality of a WEF-organized discussion. I look forward to learning a lot through my work with the WEF, contribute what I can to their mission, and see if I can turn this summer involvement into a long-term relationship.

I guess that is about as much detail as I will give on my work. Its nice being away from school for some time as much as I love my activities and academics on campus. Getting away reminds me that the world is a much bigger place than the pettiness and bigheadedness of school life.

Update: I admit there are some moments when doubt creeps in on whether I made the right choice when all my friends are telling me about their consultancy or I-Banking internships that they are doing now. I could have walked down that path, but I promised them I will have a summer filled with responsibility and impact. I hope I fulfill that promise.

(Kashgar, China) In the home of a local…

The city that endeared itself most to me on my travels was Kashgar. Considered one of the most inland cities in the world and surrounded by deserts and mountains, it is highly inaccessible. Visiting Kashgar provided an experience akin to standing at the edge of the world: I was disconnected from everything, and for a few days, lived in a slow-moving world of dust, donkeys, and bazaars.

The Xiangfei Tomb

The “official” tourist attractions at the edge of the world are the mosques and the Xiangfei tomb dedicated to a concubine of an emperor. Each of these attractions comes with a display showing how that attraction symbolizes the Muslim majority’s (they make up 80% of the city’s population) desire for peaceful co-existence with Chinese rule – a reminder of the delicate security situation here. It is also a stretch at times. While talking to my driver, I found out that there was a “terrorist incident” in the city last year. Slogans shouting “Harmony in Unity” also line the streets just in case people did not visit the attractions often enough.

Read the lines…or read between the lines

Aside from the “real” tourist attractions, there are the more tacky recently built attractions such as a temple to Banqiao and the mosque dedicated to a local Wiseman. Banqiao was a Chinese soldier who conquered the region ages ago. My guide went into a heavily memorized litany on how the locals adored Banqiao and begged him to stay when the Emperor called him back to the capital. I did not realize that the attraction dedicated to the Wiseman was newly constructed until I saw a portrait of the Wiseman. I asked my guide if human representation was allowed in Islam and she said no. I asked about the portrait, and she shrugged saying she had no answer. Probably some administrator trying to (unsuccessfully) curry-favor the local population…

Don’t tell that to me

My flight back to Urumqi was supposed to be in the night and I was prepared to pay to have it changed to the next day. Thankfully, sand storms reduced visibility in Kashgar to only a couple of meters, and my flight was postponed at no extra cost. I could feel the sand forming a layer on my face and hair. The sight of the city blanketed by sand; people appearing out of the fog as if they were part of some magician’s reappearing trick; and the evening glow reflecting off the sand and illuminating the city was strangely magical and surreal.

The city of sandblocks!

What I loved most about Kashgar is that its winding streets and unusual houses make for a great place to wander until I was lost. People here live in apartments that seem carved out of a giant block of sand. Out of this block would be a tangled maze of narrow paved mud roads, misshapen houses that lean into each other and children who popped out of random doors. This housing arrangement has been in place for hundreds of years. I would occasionally walk into a small corridor into a house, and find that the place was actually six stories high, or discover a cow waiting on the other side, or find a pottery factory behind an unlikely door.

You never know what to find behind a door here

Kashgar is amazing, and I am glad to have visited before it becomes another bland concrete urban landscape buried under development.

(Kashgar, China) The joy that is friends.

So just after I return from the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland, I learn that I have to go for another conference in New York City. I heard that this conference is pretty decent, although the St. Gallen Symposium is probably by far the best conference any student can go to.

Dear Business Today Conference Applicant,

CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the 33rd Annual Business Today International Conference, “Sustainable Growth- Taking Responsibility for the Future”. After a long process, the admissions committee and I are pleased to offer you a spot as an attendee at the conference to be held November 17-20, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in York City. You were selected out of an applicant pool of over 1,000, so there are high expectations for you, but we feel confident that you will rise to the challenge. The conference will be a fantastic experience for you in that you will have the opportunity to meet, speak with, and learn from over 75 Fortune 500 executives. The agenda is still being finalized, but the current version is attached for your perusal. We are in the process of securing seminar leaders and are beginning to create the case study project, so you should expect more updates about the executives who will participate in the event as the summer continues.

Your experiences helped you stand out from the crowd and you should be proud of yourself, but please begin to think about how you will take full advantage of this opportunity. Get ready to ask questions, to participate in discussions, to look at business situations from entirely new perspectives, to have your previously held ideas challenged, and to meet some incredibly talented students from around the world. The conference will be an experience like no other, and we are pleased to offer you the chance to participate.

We will be back in touch with you as the summer continues to begin to arrange travel details and so that you can sign participation contracts.

I look forward to meeting you all in November!

All the best and congratulations,
Julio Rojas