Left house at 8 AM for an 11 AM flight from JFK to Narita Airport in Tokyo. Flight arrived right on time at 3 PM (1AM EST). Couple of hours in the Fuji Lounge to replicate email and then back to a brand new 747 bound for Singapore. I thought it was a 4 hour flight but then discovered that there is an additional 2 hour time zone difference so it is actually a 6 hour flight. Flight arrived in Singapore at 12:30 AM Wednesday morning (12/1) which will then be 11:30 AM Tuesday morning at home. So by the time I got to the hotel and checked in it was about 28 1/2 hours. Makes for a long day especially when you can’t sleep well on airplanes. After a late arrival at the hotel, some light dinner in my room, and a decent night’s sleep I was all set for a very busy day in Singapore. It started with a press roundtable and then a TV interview on CNBC’s dot com program with Keith Liu (see summary of all the press activity). Then a visit with the IBM Emerging Technology Center which is doing some interesting work with Quality of Service which is a key ingredient of the next generation of the Internet. From there to visit SingAren where some very interesting NGi work is also going on. The day was capped off with an evening presentation and then panel discussion with about 75 “netGen” companies and venture capitalists at Wong San’s Eastside.
Unfortunately I didn’t get much chance to see the sights of Singapore except that early this morning I had a breakfast meeting with the Singaporean Information Technology Council, a group of a dozen executives from various companies. We met at The Tower Club which is on the 62nd floor of a very modern skyscraper in downtown Singapore. The view was spectacular. Singapore is the busiest harbor in the world and the skyline is beautiful. For a country with a small amount of land I was surprised to learn that there are seventeen golf courses! I learned a lot of interesting things in Singapore. One was that at age 60 a person has to get a complete medical examination in order to renew their driver’s license. After three years they then have to do this every year. Makes sense and quite different than America! Then a few press interviews and then a delightful luncheon with a group of IBM customers from Singapore and Malaysia. I talked about NGi and then we had a lively Q&A session.
The Cathay Pacific flgiht to Hong Kong was superb. Cathay is a long standing IBM customer and is noted for their great service. This was my first flight with them and I see why it is such a successful airline. After another late night hotel arrival and room meal I rested up for another really busy day. Started off with a presentation at a large conference on e-business hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Then an interesting luncheon with the Efficiency Unit of the Hong Kong government. I gave a presentation on NGi and then we had an interesting Q&A session about people and government issues. Then a press conference with a dozen Asian journalists and a one to one interview with ComputerWorld. The day finished with a dinner with a group of executives from Cathay Pacific, one of our fine customers in Hong Kong. I was pleased to be able to report to them about the great flight I had on their airline from Singapore.
Saturday was mostly a day off. It is very rare that I have any spare time on my business travels but this was an exception since I had to be in Taiwan on Monday. It would have taken me more than a weekend to go home from Hong Kong and then back to Taiwan!
Karen and Alfonso Jim must be two of the very nicest people in Hong Kong. They spent a whole day showing me around Hong Kong. We started by taking a train to Tung Chung on Lantau Island. There are over 300 islands that make up Hong Kong and Lantau Island is the biggest. Bigger than Hong Kong but with not nearly as many people. The island has many beautiful parks. The most impressive thing is the Budda at the top of a mountain. It is more than massive. See the pictures in the Photo gallery.
Another delightful flight with Cathay Pacific to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Some IBM colleagues met me at the Taipei airport and took me to center city where I visited the Information Month Exhibition (where I would be speaking later in the trip) at the Taipei World Trade Center. This is an incredible event that lasts for about two weeks and draws 1.5 million visitors. It is focused on all dimensions of information technology and is aimed at better educating people about the future. Monday morning started out with a visit with the chairman of the National Science Council. Then a luncheon was held with a couple of dozen CEO’s of various financial services companies in Taiwan. A presentation about NGi and discussion followed. Dinner that night was very special. It was hosted by General Kuo who is the president of the Institute for Information Industry. It included all the speakers for the next day at Information Month. About 2,000 people attended the presentations. At lunch I presented to a large group from the American Chamber of Commerce. Normal subject and discussion.
Taiwan’s culture is a blend of its distinctive Chinese heritage and Western influences. Fine arts, folk tradtions, and popular culture embody traditional and modern, Asian and Western motifs. One of Taiwan’s greatest attractions is the Palace Museum, which houses over 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting, and porcelain. This collection was moved from the mainland in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party (KMT) fled to Taiwan. The collection is so extensive that only 1% is on display at any one time. I was fortunate to tag on to a short English tour enroute to the airport on my final day of the trip.