by Brittney Kerbo | Jun 9, 2010 | News Slider
“One country, two systems” became real when we arrived in Hong Kong. Practically everything from our surroundings to the spoken languages to the standard of living had drastically changed. DAY FIVE – Sunday, May 23 We left our hotel in Beijing and headed to the airport at 4:30am. We met our new guide, David, at the airport and loaded the bus to head straight for our hotel. We immediately noticed that we were boarding the bus on the “wrong” side. Since Hong Kong was under British control until 1997, European influences can be seen, namely driving on the left side of the road. In addition, the landscape wasn’t what many of us expected. We were surrounded by water and lush, green mountains. Our first stop after dropping our things at the hotel was Victoria’s Peak. Since we were staying on Kowloon Island, we took our first of many 5-minute ferry rides to officially reach Hong Kong. The ride up the mountain was steep and curvy, and the view from the top showed us the skyline in which we’d be spending the next four days (including The Dark Knight building). That night we gathered at the shore to watch the Symphony of Lights across the water. The show occurs every night across the Hong Kong Island skyline and includes synchronized music, lights, and lasers. It’s definitely a spectacle in itself, and all the colors reflecting off the water only make it more spectacular. DAY SIX – Monday, May 24 We began our string of company visits with Prudential Asia. “Pru” is a 160 year-old international retail financial services group headquartered...
by Brittney Kerbo | May 25, 2010 | News Slider
Our fourteen hour flight to Beijing landed four days ago. Life since then has been everything we never could have imagined… DAY ONE – Wednesday, May 19 Our company visits began with CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Company). CITIC is a state-owned entity with 418 branches in China, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand with total assets valued in excess of $70 billion US. We had a panel presentation and discussion from several Vice-Presidents, CEOs, and Chairmen within the company and its subsidiaries. Lehman Brown, an international accounting firm with over 300 partners in 100 countries, was actually just a few floors up the elevator in the same building. They hosted us for lunch at the Capital Club, an exclusive “member’s only” establishment on the 50th floor. With a wall half-filled with windows, the view of the city was phenomenal. When we finally stopped taking pictures, Russell Brown, a managing partner of the firm, delivered a presentation concerning the positives and negatives of operating in China and their ability to sustain the current growth numbers. We spent the rest of our night sampling a very interesting selection of dumplings at a local restaurant and enjoying an acrobatic troupe performance. DAY TWO – Thursday, May 20 Our itinerary for Thursday was shifted a bit to accommodate one of the company’s we planned to visit. Consequently, we had an entire day of sightseeing! The morning was filled with pictures in the center of Tiananmen Square and a few hours of meandering about the Forbidden City. Our tour guide Yalin, or “Amanda,” narrated our walk via headsets and...
