robertrankin.org

My Job in China is different than in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, we, as tour leaders have loads of support. My company’s main Asian office is there and if I have any problem’s I just call Queen Hang in the Saigon office and miraculously she fixes everything. I gave her that nickname because she is that good.

In China we, as tour leaders are on our own. We don’t have an office here and it’s expensive to call to Saigon. So we have to think on our feet. Our suppliers provide our local guides and transport, but not much else. In short, in China, we have to be proactive and manage everything. In Vietnam if we forget to do something, someone will catch us on it. In China, if we forget to do something, no one will catch it, and it usually means some very unhappy passengers!

The main difference though, is commission (shopping) stops! The local guides are so eager to push the group into a silk shop, or a pearl shop, or a wood carving shop, or an antique shop and so on, where they get anything from 10% - 40% commission! Sometimes it’s hard to actually find time for the touring itinerary with all the shopping stops! OK, it’s not that bad.. but it’s annoying.

A small city by Chinese standards, Xian is home to 8 million people. It’s on the map because of its Terracotta warriors. 2000 years ago, Emperor Qin Shi Huang decried that several thousand life size Terracotta warriors be created and buried near his tomb to protect him and his treasures in the afterlife. Some years after his death, the tomb was raided and the crypts where the soldiers were buried were burned and destroyed. The soldiers were destroyed and buried for centuries. In the 70s, a farmer was digging a well and struck oil and wealth in the form of some bits of Terracotta. The People’s Government took control of the land and his discovery and started unearthing and piecing together the bits and pieces. (The farmer now signs books for a living, earning hundreds of yuan a day). Today it’s a HUGE tourist site, with restaurants and shopping plazas. There are even government-sponsored Terracotta warrior factories where one can buy life-size warriors and have them shipped home.

More interesting to me, Xian is also the only city in China to still have intact its original surrounding wall and moat (though original in China is a bit misleading, since rebuilding and repairing happen often, while still retaining the original tag). The wall stretches for 14km around the city and can be walked or cycled. The gate-houses and sentry towers are also intact and quite beautiful. Indeed the whole thing is lit up at night and is spectacular.

“The wall is only as strong as the weakest man”, said Genghis Khan about the wall. Indeed, the great wall, planned to defend China from the Mongols, never really worked. Guards along the wall were easily bribed and passage was granted. The wall did function well as a line of communication, where messages could be sent from east to west, over the 5000km length of the wall at great speed, considering the distance. Today much of the wall is in disrepair, given to time and the harsh elements.

There are several spans of the wall which are open to tourists (and have been repaired to nearly their original conditions). I saw the wall at Mutianyu, the name of the small town nearby. It’s about 90km Northeast of Beijing.

From the bus park, you need to climb to reach the wall. It’s a 45 minute climb up some steep steps, so naturally the Chinese have built a cable-car, which for 35Y whisks you effortlessly up the mountain. Not bad!

Once on the wall you easily spend half a day on this span. There are a dozen or so sentry towers to explore, and loads of postcard-photo ops with vistas of the wall snaking up and down over the mountain-top. It’s huge.

Now that you’re at the top, how should you get down? Why not try the toboggan? 45Y will get you a ticket for the 2 minute toboggan ride to the bottom!

Like a flashy, sparkly, technicolor dream, the skyline of Shanghai’s Pudong neighborhood comes to life at dusk and commands notice. Currently home to 2 of the 5 tallest structures in the world, when the World Insurance building is complete later this year, the skyline will hold the tallest, the 4th and 5th tallest buildings — The World Financial Center at over 550m, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower at 468m and the Jinmao Building at 421m, respectively.

Shanghai, one of China’s 4 municipalities (along with Beijing, Chongqing & Tianjin; municipalities are an administrative division on the same level as a province) stretches nearly 100km east to west and 60km north to south. It’s home to 17 million Shanghainese.

Its central area is situated on both sides of the Huang Pu river. The western side is the older section, and contains the area known as the Bund. The Bund is a stretch of riverfront where the French, British and American businesses set up their East-Asian operations (after the 2nd opium war). The buildings are all sort of 1920’s style neoclassic buildings and look remarkably like the buildings in downtown New York City. Today they house China’s biggest banks.

Pudong, the Eastern side of the Huang Pu River was all farmland and undeveloped until the early 1990s when the People’s Government decided it would be a good idea to put some buildings there. Seeing it today, it is simply amazing to see how much development has happened in less than 20 years. Today it has the tallest buildings (see above), a huge international airport, huge shopping malls and millions of residential units.

One Grand Adventure
(Or Rob’s report card)

Okaaay… This little verse will take 5-10 minutes to read
At the end you may visit the “happy house” if you feel the need

We, as a group, wish to express our sincere appreciation
You have attended to our needs for the past 21 days with dedication

Born in the year of the snake, and still in your youth
You shepherded us north to south, a group quite long in the tooth

Our start together at the Wild Rice Cafe was a little shaky
Your knees that night might have been somewhat quaky

But you got us all sorted out by the following morning
Took us off to Halong Bay and conducted a maritime rescue with no warning

Very early we learned to trust in your leadership skills
Especially when it was time for our tummies to be filled

We explored caves, markets, temples and villages galore
When we thought we’d seen it all, you still found more

You accommodated the needs of each member of the group
Diets, pictures, trains, special options and quizzes became part of the soup

Sometimes one of our band would feel a desire to linger
You’d have us back in line with a crook of your finger

You worked with three local guides, each with a different style
You accommodated them, too, with grace and your trademark smile

Our unceasing questions were treated as if each one was new
That’s something I’d really like to learn how to do

You seem to have friends wherever you go
And we benefited both from what and who you know

You have been heard on occassion to say
“This job has good and not so good days - this is a pretty good day”

But I’m sure when it came time to deal with the Palace Hotel
You might have a different quote: “some days this job is hell”

So now the time has come for us to part ways
And you’re start back in Hanoi with a new group in a few days

You can tell them from us you are highly recommended
They can rest assured that with you their comforts will be well attended

And as we take with us many fond memories of our Grand Adventure
Know that you’re welcome to visit any of us should you choose to in the future

March 13 ‘07

Rob:
This poem was written by one of my passengers and presented to me at our farewell dinner. Sweet isn’t it?

When we started, I had to deal with pax who were ready to quit the tour because the office screwed so many things up, like selling them last year’s itinerary instead of this years.

The maritime rescue on Halong Bay was a rescue by me of two pax whose kayak had sprung a leak. With my kayak, I towed them to safety at a nearby boat, then ferried them back to our big boat which was anchored a few hundred meters away.

The Palace Hotel has a disco on the first floor. When I checked in my group, we were given rooms on the 2nd floor. The floor and walls shake because of the bumping music below. Not so much fun to manage… the cranky pax and the hotel staff.

Have been working a lot over the past 2 months. I started a tour just before Christmas, which took me from Hanoi to Saigon in 18 days overland. During this tour I spent Christmas in Hanoi and New Years in the small town of Quy Nhon.

Christmas eve in Hanoi was awesome. On christmas eve, I was out with pax attempting to walk from a restaurant in Hanoi’s old quarter to our hotel about 1 k away. Now you must understand that in Hanoi there are 4 million people, and probably 2 million motorbikes. On christmas eve, everyone in hanoi came out on their bikes to cruise around Hoan Kiem lake, the center of town, to see and be seen. What would normally be a 10-minute walk took us well over an hour. But it was awesome seeing so many people out just for the sake of being out!

My colleagues were teasing me about being stuck in Quy Nhon for New Year’s eve. And they’re right. The town in dead boring. Luckily, on tour, we stay at a pretty posh hotel, the Saigon Quy Nhon, and I was able to rely on them for New Year’s entertainment for me and my pax. We jumped on the hotel’s NYE party. $10 for buffet dinner and free flow rice wine. The was entertainment, including singers, dancers, games and even a magician. Of about 200 people in attendance, my group of 15 + me were the only foreigners. It was a uniquely Vietnamese and pretty cool New Years.

That tour finished in Saigon and a few days later I picked up a new bunch, 12 Aussies and 1 Canadian, and led them back up to Hanoi in 14 days. This was my best tour yet — the most fun, and the one where I most felt at-ease. My confidence in my role, and my local knowledge is getting much better. And I’m still having fun.

On this tour, among other flights, we fly from Nha Trang to Danang early one morning. Like usual, we check out of the hotel and load everyone’s luggage on the bus. We arrive to the airport and one suitcase is missing! Shit! The passenger swears he saw it get loaded on the bus. We phone the hotel and nothing. They check the rooms, the lobby, the street outside and nothing. We’re 35 minutes from the hotel and 30 minutes until the flight leaves. No time to go back, and no idea where the bag is anyway. I call my office and get them on the case with the management of the hotel, and get the passenger to start making a list of contents for insurance purposes. We have to keep moving so we board the flight and land in Danang as usual. We all gather around the baggage claim, as you do, and guess which suitcase was first off the plane? Yup, the missing bag. I have no idea how the bag got on the plane, how it passed security, or how it made it, but it did. It didn’t go through check-in with anyone in my group. A happy and potentially scary occurrence considering the unaccompanied baggage aspect!

All was good, until the hotel rang me. While they were searching the my group’s rooms for the missing bag, they found a wallet and sunglasses belonging to another of my passengers! The pax hadn’t even realized they were missing yet! This was easier to solve, since I could simply have the hotel post them to my Hanoi office, where we’d be in a few days.

Thailand!

After a few days rest here in Hanoi, I’m heading to Thailand to do my first Thailand tour. It’s called the Trails of Thailand. I’ve been to most of the places before, on holiday a few years back, so I won’t be completely blind, but I’m still a little anxious about working in a new country! But more than anything, I’m excited to get out of Vietnam for a breath of something different for a few weeks.

A passenger on one of my tours had an aphorism he repeated often: “Aren’t we lucky?” I like that. I’ve lifted the adage and put it in my personal list of things to remember. Aren’t we lucky to be alive and to have the opportunities we have? I think so.

I’ve been off-duty for over 2 weeks, splitting my time between Danang where I have a couple friends and Hanoi where I’ve been living with and spending time with my fellow tour leader colleagues and friends. It’s been a great, refreshing break from touring. I feel rested and motivated to get back on the road and lead some tours again. I start my next tour on Saturday evening — fourteen pax for 18 days in Vietnam. I’m psyched.

Last week, we had a two-day tour leader training seminar, led by our senior tour leader. The seminar was great, not just for practical lessons of what we should be doing in our roles as tour leaders but also because it was a great motivator. For me, it clearly showed that I know shit all about the country in which I’m living and working, and that I should get off my ass and start learning.

To that end, I’ve been doing some reading and watching all the Vietnam movies I can get my hand on… The Scent of Green Papaya, Three Seasons, The Quiet American, Vertical Ray of the Sun, Platoon, The John McCain Story, etc. Still have to watch Cyclo. Obviously, movies are an easy way to learn more about the culture. While not as in-depth as a reference book, it leaves more time for that other important aspect of Asian culture –Socializing..

Right, then…. Seasons greetings from warm-ish Hanoi. Hope the season finds you happy, healthy and wiser than last year.

Aren’t we lucky? (Unless of course, you are unlucky.. in which case please disregard appropriate parts of this post.)

Some new pics in flickr

Almost exactly two months ago, I was with 3 good friends on a small boat off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and I had a realization about my life: My office job was slowly killing me, and I had stopped enjoying what I was doing for a living. I decided that I needed something else. I don’t know where that will lead me in the long term, but in the short, it’s leading me back to South East Asia. Specifically to Saigon, Vietnam.

A couple days before my realization on the boat, I got an email from my friend K, a Londoner I met last year while traveling in Nepal and Tibet. She just landed a job as a tour leader in Vietnam. Her company was hiring new Tour Leaders for South East Asia, and she was putting out the word to her friends.

I didn’t really consider it at first. I’ve spent considerable time in SE Asia, but am I really qualified to lead other people around? I didn’t think so. K mentioned that the training program with her company was great, and that new leaders didn’t necessarily need to be experts. Passion, dedication, leadership and organization are important. I have those things.

I sat on it for a few days, but before I got back to NYC, I had made up my mind. I was going to try and get the job.

My first 2 days back in the cube, I ducked actual work and wrote my CV and edited my cover letter countless times. I had my friends look it over for ideas, and before the end of the week I sent it off to the appropriate contact at TIC, my new company.

Thus began a very long interview process. And a lesson in patience.

Lately it seems, when I decide on a direction for my life, it’s impulsive. In my time spent traveling, coming back to the US, finding my apartment, my life, essentially, right now. Luckily, that spontaneity (recklessness?) has worked out for me. I decided I wanted the job in Asia, and naturally I thought I was ready to leave the very next day. The world wanted me to stay in NYC a bit longer however.

About a week after I sent my CV and Cover to TIC, I got an email saying I’d been successful in gaining an interview and someone would be in contact with me in a few days to set up a phone interview.

A few days later, I had my first interview with TIC. I was nervous. I had a very few short lines of coaching from K, and little idea what my interviewer would ask. The phone connection with Vietnam was not good - our voices would cut out, and there was a half-second or so delay. The line was disconnected twice during our conversation. When asked about customer service, I mumbled something about interacting with various in-company departments in my career. True of course. I think I actually said the word “interface” in terms of interacting with others. WTF is that about?

By some strange stroke of luck, and thanks in no small part to my association with K, my interviewer asked if I could meet face to face with TIC’s Marketing Executive who would be in NYC on holiday. “Absolutely”, I said, “When”? “In 2 weeks” was the reply. This was around June 25.

Following was a very long two weeks.

My horoscope said things like: “you’re in for some big, big beginnings soon, but you have to wait for something to pass. Give it two weeks”. “An unusual and beneficial development in your personal life could have you contemplating moving. Things will clear up in a couple weeks”. “You are going to meet new people”. It was as if, as in The Alchemist, the world was conspiring for me to be in NYC for a little more time.

Other clues led me to think this as well. At work, I was nearing the completion of a project I’d been working on for 6 months or so. My apartment lease was not up for another 2 months (Aug 31). And my personal life was not ready for an immediate change.

Being a tour leader was not a life-long dream of mine. Indeed I never truly considered it until K told me last year she was applying for positions. But when I decided to apply to K’s company, I also decided I needed some fall backs. What would be my #2 school, should TIC not pan out? I hadn’t even researched other companies yet, couldn’t even tell you the name of one. So I spent some time over these weeks researching companies, and sending off my CV and cover letters. I applied to 3 companies formally, and sent my CV to 7 or 8. I’ve successfully interviewed with another company last week. (They were checking my references this week)

Finally July 11 came around and I was to meet with JC for breakfast here in NYC. This was a great, great interview. It was a meeting really. And a conversation about the practicalities of the job of Tour Leader, and why I want to do it. I think I asked more questions than he did. I left the interview with a great feeling.

Another week of waiting. I was busy bringing things closer to completion at work. The light at the end of the tunnel was within sight. Finally it seemed as though everyone at work was onboard, and willing to stand accept a “shudder” change.

Finally an email from M at TIC, the person in charge of hiring the Tour Leaders. He’s heard good word from JC about our meeting and wanted to have a phone interview with me. We set something up for later in the week.

July 20, I have my third interview with TIC. It goes well. Not as well as my face to face interview with JC, but pretty well. Again, lots of conversation, and discussion of the daily life and duties of a Tour Leader. Did I think I would have any problems fulfilling them? “No, I don’t think so”. We ended with M saying he’d get back to me at the beginning of the next week.

For the next week, I checked my email on average, oh, every 5 minutes. Seriously. I get email on my phone, and I slept with the damn thing. I checked it constantly!

Finally a week had passed. I emailed M to touch base, and to keep my name in front of his eyes. I was nearing the launch date (Aug 31) of the new project at work, and I was anxious to hear some good news from Asia.

I got nothing for a couple days. Then M emails saying he had a delay, but would be able to let me know the next week, the week of July 31.

Finally, in the wee hours of Tuesday Aug 1, just hours before the successful launch of my project at work, I get an email from M offering me the position of Asia-based Tour Leader for TIC. Incredible.

The world works in strange ways.

In mid September I’ll fly to Vietnam to embark on a new career. Travel.

It’s been a few weeks, here, huh? Sorry about that.

In the past couple weeks, I have worked more hours than a normal person should ever have to. I’ve had the worst week of my career and professional life. We launched a new site and it didn’t go well. The site looked great, but unrelenting pressure and late-night/early morning requirements changes led to some undetected, critical, programming bugs in the system. The minute we had real-world traffic on the site, it choked and died. We had to roll back to the old site. Never had a project fail like that and let me tell you it’s not a good feeling. That was the end of the week before last. Then my lead programmer left, my boss lost faith in me (deservedly, albeit) and brought in some real experts (great, actually) and the last week has been spent fixing what was wrong. And trying to be humble. I’m learning.

The new and improved site will relaunch soon. It’s really ready to go this time.

That is all there is to report. I have done nothing in regards to a personal or social life in a while.

Today I got a call from my friend Tom from England, who you’ll remember I met in Nepal and then again on the subway in NYC. He’s coming to town next weekend. Nice!

GTD
Over the past 2 weeks, my GTD system crapped out as my email box grew from a tidy one or two messages (everything should be organized into task lists and prioritized as it comes in) to well over a hundred. I just couldn’t focus enough to clear it out, which of course led to a greater inability to focus, since my inbox was always nagging and nowhere did I have a clear list of what I had to do. Toninght, I spent 3 hours getting back to zero. That feels good.

18 days till spring.

Nice little error, here. Thanks to MSoft Visual Studio.net.