The business of procurement and cultural exchanges by BuildDirect Co-Founder Rob Banks
Some of the best feedback I get on my Twitter account and blog posts are around my 'What you see in the middle of nowhere' topic. I do a lot of traveling around the world and I honestly enjoy my travel in China. The people are amazing and the experience with the culture and local customs is remarkable. That said, I really don't enjoy some of the food. I've described business trips in China like an episode of Fear Factor and a drinking game all wrapped into one. I keep expecting … [Read more...]
Taipan of the Noble House; Ian Dunross Struans. If these names mean anything to you you'll probably enjoy this blog post. James Clavell (of Shogun fame) wrote a fabulous novel called Noble House. It was a sequel to the equally impressive novel, Taipan. These are my two favorite books. I read them as a young adult and have re-read them several times. My wife thinks I'm crazy since I read them so often, but they are inspirational and entertaining for me. They definitely influenced my career path. … [Read more...]
Check out the little frogs I found running around the outside of the wood flooring factory. I always envisioned that these are what would come in the millions if there was a biblical plague. I said something to that effect when I saw them, I couldn't believe how small they were, approx the size of a quarter (coin). One of the people at the factory said that in Sichuan, around the time of the earthquake disaster (May 12, 2008), that there were hundreds of thousands of these seen on the streets. … [Read more...]
One of the coolest things I get to experience in my role at BuildDirect is seeing things that many others wouldn’t see. This little video shows one of those moments. I was flying from Shenzhen airport in the south of China up north to Shenyang airport on a Chinese domestic airline call Shenzhen Airlines. Other than the obvious differences in the service, language, food and ‘movie’ selection (I’m a little concerned that the general population that fly domestic Chinese airlines may all end … [Read more...]
I attended Shanghai Domotex from March 24th to 26th. The show was effected by the global economic times. It is still a very, very big show (10 airport sized hangers full of booths) but number of booths were probably down 30% from last year. I’d estimate traffic was also off approx 30%, but the interesting conclusion drawn from many of the companies that had booths was they figured foreigner traffic was down 90% from two years ago. 90%! That is a huge decline. The local domestic traffic was … [Read more...]
Many of you have had fun and unique food experiences while traveling. Here are a few of mine. After flying all night to Southern China (a 14 hour flight), driving 2 hours to a remote hotel for a breakfast meeting, I walked in and within 2 minutes I was served this: That's a turkey foot. In gelatin. I was in the outskirts of Beijing in a Sichuan restaurant. Authentic Sichuan food is fire hot. I love spicy food, but I had no idea that food could be that hot. Some people must have an iron stomachs, … [Read more...]
This is part 1 of a series of posts that discuss things I see on my travels. I say that they are in the middle of nowhere. The title should read more like 'things you see in places that you, the majority of the population, wouldn't normally visit on a vacation'. But that seems like a mouthful. For the most part these photos or videos will come from my travels while on business in Asia. Some are intended to be educational. Some will surprise you. And some are just good for a laugh. This … [Read more...]
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