The business of procurement and cultural exchanges by BuildDirect Co-Founder Rob Banks
Ducks in a truck. What else can I say? At a road stop at the side of a highway driving to who knows where, rural China. I heard this crazy noise (and smelt an odd smell) and, well, here is what I saw. Ducks in a truck. What else can I say? Lunch anyone???? … [Read more...]
After visiting a factory in Chengdu (Sichuan province China) we went for lunch in a small country restaurant. It was smokin' hot out so we decided to go for smokin' hot local food! Sichuan is of course the most famous region of China and one of the most famous in the world for very spicy food. The location was a gem of a 'hole in the wall type' restaurant. I love this, I don't need fancy restaurants, I want to see what it is like to live like a local and what they enjoy to eat. A 'day in the life … [Read more...]
If you follow my blog, you obviously know I do a lot of travel to Asia. Living in Vancouver is a brilliant location to do business with Asia as we are the gateway to the Pacific Rim. The best airline in the world, in my opinion, is Cathay Pacific Airways , and they actually became a global player due in part to the success of the Hong Kong to Vancouver route. That has now extended to New York, Vancouver, Hong Kong. So the flight is more popular than ever. To get to Hong Kong from … [Read more...]
Xiamen, China is a beautiful city, one of my favorite cities in China. My BuildDirect peers and I travel here primarily for the stone business. The region is famous in China for natural stone used for flooring tiles, counter tops and landscape. When asked why I feel it is such a beautiful place, I find that I describe three things. First, Xiamen, China is a coastal city looking out on the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and I love harbor cities. Second, Xiamen has a cool … [Read more...]
As I wrote in my last blog post, I was in Wuxi, China last year, a city a few hours drive outside of Shanghai and the attraction I went to see was the ‘the Big Buddha’. The Grand Buddha at Ling Shan is approx 300 ft tall (88m) and I believe is top 10 largest Buddha statues in the world. Take a look! The area around the Grand Buddha was massive and absolutely beautiful. It was kind of a Disneyland for promotion of the religion. The location in the mountains gave you … [Read more...]
Traveling is China for myself rarely means I get to experience tourist type attractions. But when I was in Wuxi China last year, one day a factory owner took me out to see some of the local tourist attractions. The video is the key attraction of this blog as the area is really a beautiful part of the world. I start the video over looking Lake Tai and then most of the video is the area surrounding the Grand Buddha. Wuxi is nicknamed ‘the Pearl of Lake Tai’ as it sits on … [Read more...]
I love this series as it really does reflect my life of element to when I travel, especially in China. I do not get to experience what a tourist would. I rarely see beautiful things, museums, the Great Wall (I've been to China dozens of times, and I still haven’t seen it!). But I do get to have experiences that are amazing and pretty unique. Now having been to China as many times as I have and reading about my experiences on this blog you might think…. “Wow, all Rob does in China … [Read more...]
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...]
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