Welcome to Shanghai China

To escape Shanghai’s Pudong Airport the best place to go is into the heart of Shanghai located near the crew hotel, the Shangri –La Hotel. Here you will find a lot of happenings. 

I opt to stay around the hotel. I walk and take-in the view of the cities beautiful architect. Nearby is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, The Shanghai International Media Center, Shanghai Natural Wild Insect Kingdom, Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, Pudong Customs Tower, Super Brand Mall, Wan Xiang Tower, Aurora Tower, Disney, Shanghai Center, Jin Mao Tower, China Marine Tower and the list goes on and on.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is a high tower and is the world's sixth and China's second tallest TV and radio tower. It is one of the most attractive places in the world. The night view is the best view in my opinion. The colors changes every minute or two and give the appearance of pearls shining on a jade plate.

Shanghai has a lot to offer in terms of shopping, eating, things to do and see, nightlife, art galleries, and performances events. 

There are many tea shops in China. Tea is as important to China as coffee is to America. It is woven into their culture. I had tried it from all categories and love all the tea brands.  I generally frequent my colleague's family Tea Shop in the Science and Technology Building in Shanghai. 

If you want to venture out you can take the subway for a little of nothing.  A round trip fare cost 4 RMB. You can purchase the Subway card and load it to eliminate buying a pass for each trip.

The hot spot for bargain shopping is at the Science and Technology Mall. Here you can find just about any thing for yourself or anyone else fairly cheap.  The Silk Market is the place to go if you want something custom made. However, if high end is what you are looking for then the Super Brand Mall across the street from the Shangri – La Hotel is the place to go.  Plus, there are many nice boutiques in Shanghai.

There are many eateries in Shanghai. What ever your taste bud calls for you can get it.  If you want American food it is right at your fingertip, If French, European, Cantones, Italian, Japanese, Latin American, Thai, Chinese, etc., is what your taste acquires, there are chefs that can and will accommodate you. This applies to drinks as well.  

If you are not into dinning out you can go to Lotus the neighbor groceries to buy a nice meal for less than ten dollars and to stock up for your return home. It is next door to the Shangri- La Hotel. You can purchase fruits and veggie, cold plates, salads, hot meals and all.

For exercising and then relaxation you can take the jogging trails in the parks or go inside the hotel to the gym. The gym features a number of workout machines. Afterwards, you can go to the steam room, the sauna, the swimming pool or the whirlpool.

Lastly, one cannot leave Shanghai without seeing one of the famous landmarks of Shanghai called The Bund. It was the financial district in the 1990’s but today it is frequent by many travelers for its architect. It is located in Lujiazui. The best way for me to travel to The Bund is by taking the Shanghai Ferry. It is three blocks from the Shangri-La Hotel. It is a ten minutes walk. The cost to ride the Ferry round trip is 2 RMB which is equivalent to $0.31 USD (thirty-one cents). The ride takes exactly five minutes. It takes you directly to The Bund.  If you take The Bund Sightseeing Avenue you will get an up close view of the exquisite buildings.  The Bund is known for its Art Center! Across the street from the Art Center is the Shanghai Public Park and behind the park is a neighborhood with many street vendors that sells all types of inexpensive merchandise and local food. The people are very nice and kind.

Enjoy your stay in Shanghai.

A hearty welcome to Buenaventura, Colombia!

11/5/2011
Bienvenido

A hearty welcome to Buenaventura, Colombia! 

This journey starts in Cali and end up in my second home, Buenaventura. 


I visit Buenaventura monthly. I began visiting Colombia in 2008 to see my significant other, Victor Renteria Caicedo. My first year in South America was spent in Bogota, the capitol of Colombia. Since my first visit to Buenaventura, not much has changed. If you want to imagine Buenaventura, picture any third world country. The town is poor and is in need of significant contributions and supporters. Other than the port, there is no other viable industry there; therefore there are no viable jobs according to the Chamber of Commerce. The infrastructure is in desperate need of improvement.

Because Buenaventura does not have a large airport, I have to fly into Cali, Colombia.  I arrive in Cali via Avianca Airlines.  Avianca is one of the largest airlines in South American.  I choose Avianca for many reasons but the main reason is the crew is magnificent and it is a great airline.   Even though I work for Delta Airlines, I jump seat on Avianca. On board the aircraft and at the airport, I feel like I am a part of this family.

Cali is the capitol of the State of Valle. It is the third largest city in Colombia. From the airport we take a bus to the bus station. At the bus station we have dinner at Restaurant Las Delicias De Aquivoca. The cook prepares a stellar dish for us: robalo fish, sweet plantain; Cameron rice with french-fries, salad and a sugar paste juice. We stay overnight in Cali at a nearby hotel.   

Buenaventura is two and a half hours away from Cali. There are three ways to get there by land: car, taxi, or bus. The most popular is the bus. Generally, we travel on the Metro Express.  It departs around the clock until10 o’clock p.m. transporting passengers back and forth without veering off to pick up passengers in rural areas. The Transmar is a big green and white bus that takes you into small towns picking up and dropping off people that comes from the countryside and the city to do different types of activities. Some are carrying their products home and some are going to sell their products. They have chicken, cow parts, raccoons, armadillos’, all kinds of birds, grain for the cows and horses, shovels, machetes, clothing, etc. you name it. I stay away from this bus when travelling because it is basically carrying workers back and forth. It is the cheapest mode of transportation if you are travelling by bus.   

  

Travelling from Cali to Buenaventura is very calm and relaxing. The mountains and landscape are magnificent. As an avid traveller and lover of photography, I have a serious interest in photographing the people and the landscape.

There are hundreds of vendors along the way. Everyone is pretty much selling the same products.  As the bus approaches its stop, the workers race out to the bus to make their sales. The products include peanuts, bee honey, fresh pineapples, plantain chips, mangoes, arepa bread, masamoarra (made from corn, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk and water), chicken, pork, borojo juice, coconuts, etc.

Bee Honey

Borojo fruit: it was opened and placed inside the plastic bag.  Victor’s mother blended it and served it with lunch.

Currently the highway is undergoing major construction.  Several tunnels are being built and the roads are being enlarged to accommodate new development, due in part to the Free Trade agreement (FTA) that is being considered between the US and Colombia. This agreement will link the United States with Colombia. Recently President Obama and President Santos had a meeting to negotiate on a free trade agreement. “At their April meeting, presidents Obama and Santos announced that Colombia was committed to implementing a Labor Action Plan as a part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The plan would strengthen the prosecution of perpetrators of violence against trade unions, improve protections for threatened trade unionists, address abuses related to the associative cooperatives, and criminalize anti-union behavior. It would also reestablish the Colombian Ministry of Labor, which was dismantled under the previous Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe”.

President Obama said, “I am very pleased to announce that we have developed an action plan for labor rights in Colombia, consistent with our values and interests, but more importantly, consistent with President Santos’s vision of a just and equitable society inside of Colombia, and we believe that this serves as a basis for us moving forward on a U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.”

Sure it will!  This is incredible news and hopefully a one way ticket out of poverty for the people of Buenaventura. It will create jobs and allow for fair treatment amongst the workers, open the doors for major industries and bring Buenaventura into this borderless new world of technology and such. The relationship between business and government will make a huge difference here in Buenaventura!

On many occasions, while travelling to Buenaventura, the road have been blocked off and backed up for thirty minutes to an hour or so because of construction. In this area there are high mountains that go on and on. To collapse these mountains the workers use dynamite. This causes the debris/ dirt to slide into the road, therefore the traffic is held up to allow the workers to clear the road with bull dozers and dump trucks. The road from Cali to Buenaventura is only one lane and need to be widened before the FTA bill is passed, logged, documented and filed so there will be an immediately free flow of traffic to and from the cities and the port. There is already a large flow of buses transferring people back and forth and ’mucho’18 wheeler tractor trailers bringing in construction materials and/or taking out raw materials (iron, copper, and platinum, gold) produced from the mountains or transporting different products to and from the cities.

While we are waiting for the construction crew to put up the ‘Verde’ sign giving us permission to pass on through, I get out and begin taking photos of the scenery. Between these mountains there is a river that flow quite a ways and drop right into the ocean of Buenaventura. There is an old railroad track on the other side of the mountain that was built in the late1800 and used in the 1900 but is no longer used as a means of transportation. It is rarely used anymore. There’s fruit trees that bear fruit I had never seen before, and trees with bee hives as large as the tree itself.

     Comegen Casa(house)

Between Cali and Buenaventura is a little town called Cisneros, the people here lives mostly off the cultivation of crops, such as coffee, cacao (chocolate) mangoes, plantain, corn, sugar cane, and on lumber and gold mining.

Once in Buenaventura:

People: 90% of the people in Buenaventura are Afro- Colombian. The other 10% are European – Indian mix. The people are very humble.

Indigenas of the Pacific Coast of Colombia from the Mayan branch of the Indian tribe. 

Airport: is located about thirty minutes from the port. Buenaventura’s port is the first Colombian port and one of the most important ports on Latin America Pacific Ocean. The town of Buenaventura is older than Cali. The development was taken to Cali years ago and Buenaventura was left undeveloped. Watching the ships going in and out of the port one would think that poverty doesn’t exist. But this is far from the truth. The jobs at the port are not given to the people of Buenaventura. The citizens currently do not benefit from the revenues from the port at all. Only a hand full of the people that live in the community works at the port. My hope is that the new Labor Action Plan presented by the President of Colombia is carried out effectively.

Language: Everyone here speaks Spanish. A common misconception is that because the majority of the people here are black that they speak a different language. No they speak Spanish. A few of them that worked near the port or spent a period of time in the U.S. speaks a little English. 

Weather: There is really two seasons in Buenaventura, it is either hot or raining. Generally, the weather is usually around 85 degrees.  In the summer it is from 85 -87 degrees, it is not very hot but it is hot. It doesn’t rain everyday in the summer but it is sunny. In the winter months it pours down raining practically every day. There are winters that last two months, three month and six months.  It goes in cycles. Three months are summer; three months are winter, three months summer and the last three months winter. Or, six months summer and six months winter. In the winter the moment the rain stops the temperature drops down from 84 degees to as low as 72 degrees. In some instances the sun will be out when it is pouring down raining. There are also times when it is raining on one block and not a drop of rain falling on the next block. There are different shapes of weather. For example: when it rains for three or four days in a row, the fifth day is like a cool grey day and the temperature is approximately 72 to 74 degrees. The following day the sun comes out fully and it goes back up to 85 degrees. At night it really gets hot and air conditioners are not common here. Very few people have fans.

Time: Buenaventura time is two hours ahead of CST. There is no day light savings time observed.

Telephone and Internet: When dialing from abroad, use 011 and the country code (57) + area code + phone number. There are no public telephone booths that I have seen. Some homes have telephones but the majority does not. There are quite a few people with cellular phones but the mass majority does not have a plan so they use cellular vendors.  Cellular vendors are located on every street and in every neighborhood and on every corner and are the most popular way to make telephone calls. You pay by minutes. As an alternative, you can go to one of the many computer centers or internet café which provides computer and telephone service.  The rates for calling international are very competitive and the use of the computers are reasonable. If you are familiar with Skype, Fringe or Gmail you can make these calls free or at a pretty decent rate. If the parties you are calling have access to Skype this will be a free phone call for them.

Drug: Drugs are not legal. The law forbids selling and buying drugs. Period!

Security: About 2,000 soldiers and police officers, who also wear combat uniforms and carry semiautomatic weapons, patrol Buenaventura.  Our neighborhood is located near a bridge; therefore they patrol this area all the time. It was common to set bombs to bridges.

Money:  The currency in Buenaventura, as in most Latin American countries, is the Peso. The exchange rate is about U.S 1.00 = .86 Peso.  To simplify things multiply the peso by two and this is a rough estimate of what the U. S. Dollars is. Another example is to divide the Colombian price of your products by two and you get an estimate of what it will be in U. S. Dollars.  ATM machines can be found throughout the city. Most of them accept the major credit cards. You can use your cards to withdraw cash from cash dispensers. If you have US dollars, there are Western Unions that can exchange your foreign currency into pesos. The coins are in the hundreds and the bills are in the thousands.  Western Unions are opened Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. until 7p.m. and Saturday from 12 noon until 2 p.m. These are the hours of operation for most of the businesses here.

Tipping: Although it is not required, it is good Carmen to tip. Any amount will do and they will certainly appreciate it and say, “God bless you”.

Public Transportation:  Buenaventura can be best travelled by public transportation. Public transportation is organized and you can either take a Metro bus or taxi. It is inexpensive and it can get you everywhere. You do not have to purchase a ticket just climb on board and pay the driver. Some of drivers even speak a little English. There are no trams or trains. The Metro bus runs until midnight in some areas.

Motorcycles: The fastest way to travel is by motorcycles and scooters. There are several throughout the city. This is one of the cheapest and most dangerous ways to get around. The motorcycles like some of the other vehicles are not adhering to signs. They squeeze between cars left and right trying to get ahead of the traffic and they travel at a high rate of speed. It seems as if they are not concerned about others safety as well as their own. You will see a lot of business women on their way to work on scooters and motorcycles. They usually come in twos.  

Cars: There aren’t many people driving cars in Buenaventura. Motorcycles, scooters, metro buses and taxis outnumber the cars.

Taxi: Taxi is considered one of the safest ways to travel besides your own personal vehicle. You can hail a taxi from any parts of the city. The taxi runs all night and they are plentiful. To take a taxi from down town to the end of the city will cost you roughly10,000 pesos. At the hotel you can ask them to arrange for you a taxi. Oh, and a lot of them speak English since they transport tourist.

Shopping: El Exito is the major shopping center here. Inside they also have a movie theater, bars, restaurants and game shops. There are many small stores in the downtown area of Buenaventura as well as in the many neighborhoods’. I find that the stores are very pricey and the quality of the clothes cheap looking. Equally, there are a lot of vendors set up alongside the street.  They sell fruit, bakeries, juices, coconut, sunglasses, cellular minutes, belts, ice cream, etc. There is a mixture of all kinds.  Here you can see and feel the history of Buenaventura. I enjoy shopping with the vendors on the street, especially the food vendors because the fruits, vegetables, fish and breads are fresh and the people are super nice. Shopping at the grocery store is very costly. Depending on what you want to buy, you can always find it cheaper at the corner stores, market or neighborhood stores.  Right on the street you can get pretty much everything you need for a meal.

Fashion:  It is always 85 degrees here so neither a sweater nor a jacket is needed. The majority of the people wear blue jeans and a light weight top. Boots are universal so you will see them from time to time.  For walking, I suggest tennis shoes. The streets in Buenaventura are in much needed repair. The streets have a lot of pot holes and the sidewalks are cracked up. So it is best to wear comfortable shoe and you should be okay. In the daytime, I suggest wearing something for a warm climate. Now for the night life, the people are hip and fashion conscious. High heel shoes, tight pants or jeans and low cut tank tops or blouses with cleavage showing for the women. This is what I call making a "fashion statement”. Designer clothes are not necessary, just nice, cute and form fitting. The men will have on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt. Uniforms are worn in all of the schools regardless of the ages.

Dinner/Lunch:  Is served between 1 and 2 o’clock. The food is delicious and colorful. A typical lunch or dinner in Colombia consists of meat; beef, chicken or seafood (fish, octopus, calamari, oysters, crabs, and tender shark) served alongside frijoles (kidney beans) or lentils, fried plantain either sweet or regular, rice, soup and a small salad. Can goods are not used. The juice that is served with the meal is full of nutrients. Usually it is a fruit picked from the tree that day or brought from one of the vendors on the street. It is blended with water and a little sugar is added….you talking about a royal treat. Each day you have a taste of a different fruit.  My favorite is the mango juice. Sometimes the drinks are made from ginger or sugar paste.

Breakfast: Bread and coffee is served in the morning. The bread is fresh and the coffee is smooth. I have yet to find a better tasting coffee. Colombia have many types of exotic coffees.

Culture: Colombia is a place with rich natural resources and cheap skilled labor. It suffers from unemployment, corruption and bureaucracy. The people are largely Catholic. The racial makeup of Buenaventura is Afro Colombian and a European – Indian mix. It is a Spanish speaking community. Family takes priority.

Events: From time to time there are live concerts in the downtown park, the city’s main park, Parque Néstor Urbano Tenorio. There is a diversity of music: vallenato, salsa, currulao, meringue, hip hop, raaggaton and reggae. In the back of the park are small bars that look out onto the ocean.The place has a festive feel. At Christmas time, downtown is beautifully designed and lit up.The atmosphere resembles that of a big delightful street party. Everyone from Cali and afar come on the 16th of July and celebrate the Virgin Mary Day.

This is all for now. I will continue writing about Buenaventura so please check back from time to time.

If you have any questions or concerns send me a comment via my blog and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! www.livinganddoingbusinessincolombia.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy your stay!

Adios

Mary Roach Armstrong

Please note: If you would like to purchase any of the Colombian brands of coffee, just drop me and email or send a post in my comment section of my blog and I will ship it to you whether domestic or International. Jan1mra@gmail.com

My Trip to Osaka Japan

My Trip to Osaka Japan

09/2/2011

Welcome to Osaka. My home away from home in Japan is Hilton Osaka.  It is an excellent facility; the rooms are specially prepared for you.  From the balcony you can get a sky line view of the city. The landscape in Osaka is breath taking. They have the most beautiful modern buildings I have seen thus far. This is one of my favorite places to visit.

My first day here was a day of relaxation, catching up on emails and watching CNN. Day two my co-worker Jonah and I decided to visit the Rose Garden and the Osaka Museum of History. In the Umeda area, there are three major railway lines, a subway and buses to get you around the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara.  We decided not to use the railway line, the subway or the bus, but walk. We spoke with members of the concierge team to get directions to walk instead of taking the public transportation.  We were told “long way, no walk”; however, this was a way to get our exercise in, so we got a map from the hotel desk and walked.

Our pathway to the Rose Garden

The Rose Garden is a garden of many different varieties of roses planted by various people. It is a magnificent site with thousands of roses.

After leaving the garden, our intensions was to go to the Osaka History Museum, however we walked for hours going in the wrong direction apparently. There weren’t any American signs around as far as we could see. The map wasn’t helpful and very few people spoke English. Along the way we met a nice man coming from the Temple; we asked him for directions but he did not understand our question. He took us to a grave site nearby where some of his family members are buried and where his sister was planting flowers and cleaning the tomb stones.  She was 83 years of age and spoke English fluently. She lived in New York for three years back in the day. We conversed for a while and took pictures together.

This is the entry to their home and located on the right hand side is the Temple in which they worship and pray.

We finally got on track and shortly after we were off track again.  As I stated earlier, all of the signage is in Japanese. We were pointed in the right direction by a senior gentleman that was walking from the market. He took us to a main street and told us to walk about twenty minutes straight, turn right and walk another thirty to fifty minutes and straight ahead is the Museum.  I must admit there is more to this story.

 As we were following along behind this man, Jonah thought for some reason or the other that it was no way this man could be walking with us to the Museum because it was very far and it had to be totally out of his way. So, he decided instead of us continue following him; since he was in fact walking several steps ahead; we should keep straight.  Looking back, isn’t it their custom to walk ahead of the women?

As we veered off and walked maybe a block or two ahead we heard someone shouting and we turned around and it was this gentleman waving us to stop so he could catch back up with us and continue to show us to the Museum. I felt absolutely terrible! This is what I call culture illiteracy!!! Once he caught up with us, in English of course, I asked him to stop and catch his breath and then I began apologizing over and over for not following along. He said no, and with a genuine smile proceeded to show us to the Museum.  He was a short statue elderly man in perfect shape obviously.  To no surprise, I find walking and eating healthy to be very common amongst the Japanese people.  Somewhere I read they have the longest life span in the world. I can believe that. Add very friendly to this as well.

Finally we made it to Osaka Museum of History.   We walked for hours to find this place; so it better be good. The admission fee was 600 yen which is equivalent to $7.82 in the US. We took the elevator to the 10^th floor. From here we began walking through the History of Osaka. Four periods are introduced. Each are laid out on the 10^th F, 9th F, 8th F and the 7^th floor.

Two courses have been laid out for touring the Museum. One is the “Highlight Course,” which allows you to take in Osaka history by drawing attention to the reconstruction, models, key photographs, videos depicting ancient court life and movies.  The other course takes you through the museum so you can see all the individual exhibits. 

The 10^th floor is the Ancient Period Floor.

Mannequins in period court dress.

The 9^th Floor is the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period Floor. From this floor you get a perfect view of Osaka, one of Japan’s most famous Castle, and Ote-mon Gate.

Osaka Castle: There is a lot of history behind this castle. It played a major role in the unification of Japan.

Ote-mon Gate: One of the structures on the grounds of the Castle.

Ote-mon Gate

The 8^th Floor is the Archaeological Floor.

The 7^th Floor is the Early Modern and Contemporary period Floor.



In the Museum we had our chance to explore, feel and think about the history of Osaka. What a great time we had. I must admit it was well worth the walk.

On our way back we didn’t chance the walking. We took the subway which took less than 10 minutes to return to the hotel where we called it a day.

Mary Roach Armstrong: Inside the Rose Garden

Note: I have no right posting these pictures before putting my finishing touch of Adobe Photoshop on them, but the architect in Osaka is so beautiful you can pretty much get away with not touching up any of these pictures. Excuses, excuses. lol

Enjoy Your Stay In Osaka!