My Mental Vacation

Thoughts on Hangzhou, Part 1

From Liyang, we went on to Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province, which is a beautiful city that we have visited before. On our previous trip, we explored West Lake, which is the historic center of Hangzhou because of its cultural significance. There is a famous story about star-crossed lovers that draws romantic tourists from throughout China:

From China Daily: "'The Butterfly Lovers' has often been compared to the tale of Romeo and Juliet, except with a considerably greater degree of cross-dressing. Here a young woman disguises herself as a boy in order to secure an education. She spends three years sharing a room with a male classmate who never guesses her secret. She, however, falls in love with him. When the truth is finally out, the two decide to marry, but their happiness is short-lived. The girl's father insists she marry another and the young man dies of a broken heart. The two are ultimately united when the girl visits her dead lover's tomb on her wedding day and the couple are transformed into a pair of butterflies."

But I digress... our October trip was memorable, but not quite so romantic. We toured the new Hi-tech Industry Development Zone, and the new Central Business District (CBD.)

The Hi-tech zone was originally formed in 1990, but it has seen tremendous growth during the past few years. We had a very interesting meeting with Madame Wu, who is the Vice Director of the Administrative Commission. Companies located in the zone belong to many tech sectors, including communications, electronics, alternative energy, integrated circuits, animation, and gaming. Outsourced services are abundant. The famous Chinese e-commerce leader, Taobao, is headquartered here, along with Alibaba. We toured a Astronergy's plant, the company that is building China's largest rooftop solar power base.

Needless to say, I was quite impressed, and could not help but walk away with the impression that China's aggressive policies favoring investment and economic growth are paying off.  More later.

Li Yang and Tian Muhu Lake

After a flight out of Beijing in the early morning, we spent yesterday in the City of Li Yang, which is about one hour away from Nanjing. What a beautiful resort city it turned out to be. We met with the city administrator, their director of international relations, and a marketing director. My friend Meiling was with us, too.

Li Yang is a progressive city, with thoughtful planning. Tian Mu (or Tian Muhu) Lake is quite beautiful. It is a reservoir with a number of dams, and it is the focus of the resort area. Because it is the source of drinking water for Li Yang, they are very careful to keep the water clean and healthy. We saw blue skies there, and less smog.

The lake has a number of small islands within it, and we took a boat tour to see the lake and take a hike on one of the islands. The vegetation was lush, and a wooden boardwalk traced a path around the perimeter, and up and down some of the hilly areas. We even saw a waterfall - manmade, but designed to bring oxygen and keep the water flowing through the ponds and streams. Recycle bins were everywhere.

It was really nice to see such concern for the environment in country where we saw none of this only three years ago. Lots of other changes, too, which I'll talk about another time.

It is an unspoiled and beautiful park in a modern, small city of over one million people. Definitely worth a visit! Quiet and serene, with a five star resort (even by MY picky standards) and an inspired chef.

Day Two in China

It has been a while, but here I am posting on my blog again. Just some quick random comments about our day in Beijing. Our schedule is packed, and there is little time for thoughtful writing.

• Culture shock does not begin to describe it! How funny to find that I cannot even access Facebook here.
• Today, we visited the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City. I think we walked for eight hours straight. Very interesting... we are going to watch "The Last Emperor" again when we get home, now that we have seen everything firsthand.
• The Temple of Heaven is a truly beautiful park. I love the way the Chinese people hang out in the park. We saw ballroom dance lessons, elders singing revolutionary songs, card games, and a strange kind of karaoke that involves old ladies singing opera.
• Putin is in town. We had to pass through security to get into our hotel today. Hmm...
• Traffic is awful and the sky is almost brown. Our guide says that people are becoming more conscious of global warming and protecting the environment. They are building another nuclear power plant, he said.
• Yes, Peking Duck is excellent. We enjoyed the food here very much.
• Oscar Zhang is our guide.... If you ever come to Beijing, he is an excellent guide. He has taken care of everything, and his knowledge of history is quite good. Even better, he knows all the tricks and shortcuts, so we never, ever wait in line.
• Yesterday was the last day in which the floats from China's 60th National Day parade were on display in Tian An Men Square. They were pretty amazing. They put so much into this celebration. I'm glad we had the chance to see them, along with millions of other tourists, mostly Chinese.

QUEST CREW Help Union City, CA Celebrate 50th Anniversary!

QUEST CREW Help Union City, CA Celebrate 50th Anniversary!.

QUEST CREW Help Union City, CA Celebrate 50th Anniversary!

Murphy-Goode Winery Dream Job / Campaign

I have really enjoyed watching Murphy-Goode's campaign to hire a social networking expert for their winery. (See A Really Goode Job.) $10,000 a month for six months, PLUS you get a house to live in, up in the California wine country. Qualifications: Blogger. Good tweeter. Video. Wine lover... Wow! Talk about a fun job... Their wine is pretty good, too.

I admit it. At first I was fooled and thought it was a "real" job, which, of course, it is. But I was totally surprised by the originality of this as a marketing campaign, and the depth of thought and planning that went into it.

There's a promo site. There's a "contest," where applicants submit a 60-second video of their qualifications, and where viewers watch the videos online and vote for their favorites. Want to be notified when more of these really creative videos are submitted? No problem... just provide your contact info, sign up for the mailing list, and they'll keep you posted. (They will no doubt ask you to join the wine club, too.)

To get to the top 50 candidates, popularity carries a lot of weight. Kind of like the American Idol of job hunting. Only the top 10 will get interviews, and we will be the first to know because we'll get the announcements, and we'll see it tweeted on #winewednesday, #areallygoodejob, and #murphygoode. And, we'll watch their videos to make sure we didn't miss anything goode.

I can't wait to see how this plays out between now and September when the hire takes place. I know we'll read, see, and hear about it... the top 10 will be going to Healdsburg for a week, where, "...in addition to the interview, you must participate in various activities during the interview process. Activities may include tasting wines, commenting on wines in writing, on camera screen tests, attending media dinners, and other similar events. " Yup. Media dinners. I guess that means we'll read about the candidates in the wine section of the Thursday Chron.

If you don't know Murphy-Goode's culture, poker plays a huge part. Wine names include Snake Eyes, Liars Dice, and All In.

My favorites so far:

Best at telling the story:
Alyssa  (AND gets the poker connection!)

Best food/wine cred:
John (Wine Spectator award winner, and plays Liars Dice)

Most talented (tie):
Carolyn (who can hula hoop and drink wine at the same time, without spilling a drop!)
Vince (two heads are better than one.)

Best closing:
Diedre ("...and I have great wine country outfits.")

Most dubious qualification:
Julie (from Marietta, GA, "Home of the Big Chicken.")

Intrinsically qualified:
Sophie VINOgrad (the name says it all.)

10 Practically Free Things to Do

I keep asking myself... Is this a blog about marketing (to promote my company,) or is it about filling the need to escape from work? Hmmm... The mental escape is 100% necessary in order to be creative and productive. So, I guess this is going to be some strange combination of both. If I actually have any readers, I do hope they won't complain!

It is going to be a hot day today, and it is the first really gorgeous weekend of "summer." It would be a great time to get away, but we just paid income taxes, property taxes, and my subs, so we're pretty broke. I'd like to clear some work off my desk, but I just can't seem to get my head around it. So...

10 Practically Free Things to Do in SF Bay Area:

• Head over to Half Moon Bay. Take advantage of the fog-free days.
• Drive to the top of Mt. Diablo. (You may actually have to pay to enter the park.)
• Visit the new EB Regional Park at the the Meyers' Estate. Dry Creek Regional Park. Hit Garin Park next.
• Go to Mt. Tamalpais (Never been there. This is still on my list of things to do before I die.)
• Watch the ocean and a beautiful sunset. Baker Beach, Lands End, Marin Headlands.
• Wine tasting in the Livermore Valley. (Closer, and less expensive than Napa.)
• Read something that has no redeeeming social value. (Just fun and/or enjoyable.)
• Walk around Lake Elizabeth. (Don't feed the geese.)
• Hang out on Main St. in Pleasanton.
• Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I could go on and on...