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A Quick Trip to Colonia, Uruguay

After flying from London to Houston and then on to Buenos Aires. I had a morning to recover before the ICSB conference started. To be honest it was a long morning, as the opening event did not start until 8pm, following a late dinner Latin culture.

This gave me the opportunity to use most of the day to explore. I was keen to get across to Uruguay being so close. So I decided to use the day to take the express Buquebus ferry in the morning to Colonia and return in the afternoon. Being outside of peak season it was possible to get tickets in the morning at the terminal. The crossing was easy enough, the ferry terminals are like mini airports with check in desks, where big bags are checked in the hold and returned on belts at the other end. Plus hand luggage is screened and you have to pass through a mental detector, before getting your passport checked and stamped for the country you are going to arrive at before boarding the ferry. The Argentinian side is more organised so was a breeze, whilst the Uruguayan side took a little longer to clear.

The Buquebus Ferry Docked in Colonia
Portón de Campo City Gate
Long Deserted Beach in Colonia

Colonia’s old town is an UNESCO world heritage site. However, due to its size (and my walking pace) 5 hours was enough time to explore it. The old city is only a short walk from the ferry terminal. At which point you can pass through the old gate and follow the tree lined streets to the main old square and church. The old town is full of cobbled streets and is surrounded by the sea on three sides. The city swung between being a Portuguese and Spanish colony, so contains features of both Portuguese and Spanish architecture and design. The city layout within the old city walls follows a Portuguese layout and the city outside of the walls follows a Spanish grid layout.

Colonia’s Old Lighthouse
Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento
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Enterprise Education Workshops in Wuhan, Qingdao and Changzhou

My trip to China gave me the opportunity to visit four higher education institutions across three Chinese cities to deliver workshops. The workshops were a mix of enterprise education pedagogy and enterprise curriculum design workshops, both of which were designed around practical participation and input.

I had only once previously been to Wuhan to visit the Chinese University of Geosciences, so it was nice to get the opportunity to visit the city again, this time to visit the Wuhan City Polytechnic. It was great to see the support and development of an enterprise agenda at the college, having recently opened a state of the art entrepreneurship and innovation school. Luckily my worries of visiting Wuhan, a notoriously hot city in June did not play out. The new entrepreneurship and innovation school had great facilities and great air conditioning. Whilst, there was not too much time to explore Wuhan itself, it was great to see many of the bridges and urban development being created around the numerous waterways.

Wuhan City Polytechnic – School of Entrepreneurship
Workshop Activities

The second stop was Qingdao, which is a city despite being told many times I should visit, I actually never have had the opportunity to do so previously. So it was great to be able to visit the city and the China University of Petroleum and Qingdao Technical College. The trip finally offered the opportunity to drink Tsingtao in Qingdao and also the opportunity to explore the coast. I learnt that Tsingtao produced in Qingdao can be identified by a slightly different label compared to Tsingtao produced in other regions. The China University of Petroleum as well as having wonderful facilities, was located adjacent to the beach so it was possible to walk along the seafront and explore the bars along the seafront. I also found time to have a quick swim at the beach on the final morning before we left, which I think is actually the first time I have ever gone swimming in the sea in China.

China University of Petroleum Group Photo
Workshop in Qingdao
Qingdao Coast

After leaving Qingdao we flew to Wuxi and then drove to Changzhou in a terrible storm. The flight from Qingdao to Wuxi was delayed and very bumpy, although after my early morning swim I managed to sleep through most of the flight, so only heard stories of terrible flight. It was the first time I had ever been to Changzhou, excluding passing through it on a train. It is located between Shanghai and Nanjing; two cities I have been to numerous times. Although Changzhou itself, as could be expected is a lot sleepier than its loud and busy neighbours. Its city centre and ubiquitous tower does not have the same impact and lasting impression as Shanghai. However, it does have some nice parks and a Buddhist temple (Tianning Temple).

Changzhou City Centre
Changzhou College of Information and Technology

After the workshop in Changzhou the fun started. Our flight from Changzhou to Beijing was first delayed and then cancelled and rescheduled for the next day. Booked on the early morning flight out of Beijing to Zurich and then on to London meant that I missed this flight and had to be rebooked on to a later evening Air China flight to London. With an already tight schedule before heading to the US for the OBTS conference, it meant only a McDonalds at Heathrow and a few hours’ sleep before heading out again. As always, I seem to never accurately know when I will go to China and when I leave.

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Beijing: But not home anymore

It seems you can leave China but you can’t get the China out of you. It has been only 3 and a half months since I left China. But I had the opportunity to return to facilitate some enterprise education workshops. The process of getting a visa was complex as I had to get my last visa cancelled before getting a new one. This made for 3 trips to London, which allowed for the opportunity to explore places I hadn’t visited in London for several years and dovetailed with attending the Aviva Premiership rugby final last weekend.

Getting back to Beijing offered me the chance to visit some of my favourite locations and bars. Although, I only had one evening in Beijing, which made for quite a rushed late afternoon and evening. I found myself walking around familiar streets and locations looking at the changes and similarities and feeling nostalgic. But I managed to find time to visit Jing-A like old times for some, so this made for a nice evening before starting the next 14 days of adventures in China. It seems with China I never know when I will return or when I will leave, but it always finds a way to return.

 

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Research Methods in Bielefeld: It does exist (honest)!

I spend this weekend in Bielefeld, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia Germany. A city which is not so well known to many outside of Germany, and maybe not the first port of call for many within Germany. So much so, a satire conspiracy exists (the Bielefeld Conspiracy) claiming that the city does not exist but is an illusion or fake place. This conspiracy theory is based on the premise of:

Do you know anybody from Bielefeld?

Have you ever been to Bielefeld?

Do you know anybody who has ever been to Bielefeld?

Well at least I can say I have been to Bielefeld (in fact this is my second time), plus I know other people have been. The city itself doesn’t have as much to offer as other German cities, although it does have a castle and some nice streets.

Bielefeld
Bielefeld: Does it exist?

The purpose of the visit was to teach on the Worcester Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program. Completing the second and final teaching block of the second module, focusing on research philosophy and methodology. It is always a pleasure to teach this module with an engaged cohort, as there is so much discussion to be had. Plus, it is great to see the development of research ideas and plans from an embryonic stage to something action ready. Unfortunately, I lost my voice the night day before the teaching, so my presence was somewhat muted. Although, this didn’t seem to affect the sessions too much.

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Helsinki – Final EBBD Project Meeting

At the start of the week I ventured to Helsinki for the final European Business Baccalaureate Diploma (EBBD) project meeting. The meeting brought down the curtain on a three-year EU funded project, which focused on developing a European award which recognized business and international skills and competences. The final meeting was focused on reporting and evaluation and discussing the sustainability of the project. The meeting took place at the lead project partner Suomen Liikemiesten Kauppaopisto (Helsinki Business College). Running next door in the national exhibition center was the Taitaja -skills competition, the largest vocational education event in Finland, which brought together more than 500 competitors and 80,000 visitors and exhibitors. The event promotes vocational education, highlights key skills required in the economy and connects vocational education with entrepreneurs and companies. This made it possible to dip into the event in the afternoons and during breaks. It was nice to explore all the stands and workshops focused on a range of industries and skills, including a typically Finnish Rovio Angry Birds stand, highlighting programing and coding skills.

Helsinki Exhibition Hall
Rovio Stand

The evenings provided the chance to explore Helsinki a little, a city which seems to have some similarities to Moscow but with a coastline and harbor. The similarities include a love for the sun when it emerges and some of the architecture. Helsinki is a relatively low rise capital city and one evening we found the time to have a drink at the Torni hotel’s Ateljee rooftop bar, which has an uninterrupted view over the city from the 14th story.

IMG_4330

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Star City: As close to space as I will ever come

A few weeks along whilst in Moscow I had the opportunity to visit Star City. Which is the cosmonaut (astronaut in the US) training center. However, as the US are no longer sending people into space directly, we will acquiesce to the term cosmonaut. As space shuttles are no longer in use, it means everyone going into space trains at Star City. As the training center offers the training on the soviet era rockets, which are still in use. It was fantastic to visit Star City to seeing the apparatus which is currently still in use and cosmonauts are still training on. They have replicas of the rockets used and the international space center components for the cosmonauts to train on. It is not a regular tourist opportunity; indeed, it was previously a closed Russian city and it still has this feel being situated in the woods away from other development and with no road signs.

Star City Sign
Star City Foyer
Russian Rocket Capsule

It was incredible to see where cosmonauts train in real life and to see the items used for space travel. It really drilled home that some things are really made to last! Plus, it is important to have a balance between proven technology and new technology. It was explained that the original rockets are still used, just with newer systems integrated into them, which makes the travel more comfortable as the systems are much smaller.

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ICSB 2017 All Booked

Conference booking seasons continues. I am delighted that my paper has been accepted for the International Council for Small Business World Conference in Argentina. The paper is focused on the perceived entrepreneurial attitudes and characteristics entrepreneurs think are required during the business start-up phase. The paper was submitted to the ‘Methodological challenges and new research methods applied to SME and Entrepreneurship research’ stream, which gave me the chance to learn and play with a new methodology.

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Booked for OBTS 2017

I am all booked and ready for the OBTS 2017 conference in Providence, Rhode Island. This will be my first OBTS conference experience and my first time in New England, excluding a connection at Boston airport on the way to Nova Scotia for a conference. The conference is a teaching conference for management educators and is focused on practical teaching ideas and demonstrations, so I am looking forward to seeing and exploring some new teaching ideas. I am set to give a 30 minute session entitled ‘Flying High in Innovation Space: Exploring innovation opportunities’. June looks set to be a month with lots of travel, but I am looking forward to the adventures and the development of my teaching and research practices.

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Myanmar

One of the great things being based in China is the opportunity to explore the countries around. This summer it was time to explore Myanmar. It was possible to get a direct Air China flight to Yangon from Beijing and a flight from Yangon back to Beijing via Kunming to return. Two weeks to explore Myanmar offered a fantastic opportunity to visit many amazing places.

We started with half a night in Yangon before getting a flight to Mandalay for our first full day. Visiting the Yangon domestic terminal was a fascinating experience. The building was an old colonial building where the bags were checked in by hand and ticket details stamped by hand. During the course of the two weeks we took numerous flights between destinations and whilst the airport processes where relatively primitive, the planes themselves often ATR 72’s were clean, reliable and efficient. They often ran like buses, landing, getting bags and passages off and then getting bags and passages on again and then off again in 20 minutes.

Whilst in Mandalay we visited the Kuthodaw Pagoda, Shwenandaw Monastery, U Bein Bridge and many of the pagodas on Mandalay Hill. The next stop on our trip was Peik Chin Myaung Cave on the way to Pyin Oo Lwin. Pyin Oo Lwin was much cooler as it is located at an altitude of 1,070 meters. The town because the summer capital for British Burma with the Governors summer estate and a large national garden (Kandawgyi) located there. After some time exploring in cooler temperatures, we took the train to Hsipaw in the Shan state. On the way the train broke down for a couple of hours just before the Goteik viaduct, this allowed us to walk across the viaduct by foot and look at the structure in more detail. It is an impressive structure, which is starting to look pretty dated.

Goteik viaduct
Hand Stamped Tickets
Kandawgyi National Garden

After Hsipaw we went to Monywa, Bagan and the Inle Lakes. Bagan is often indicated as one of the highlights on a trip to Myanmar and it didn’t disappoint. During the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains, of which there are now over 2,000 to explore. It is amazing to be able to explore them at your own pace. As with much of Myanmar it is possible to explore at your own pace and is not overpopulated with tourists. This meant that often we had the temples and pagodas to ourselves, particularly when exploring smaller ones. The Inle Lakes were also very impressive to see the floating villages and the fishermen paddling with an oar using their leg to hold it. The scenery around the lakes was also beautiful.

Bagan
Friendly Monkeys
Inle Lakes

Finally, we had some time back in Yangon to explore the Shwedagon Pagoda and the city. The size of the Shwedagon Pagoda is very impressive. Although Yangon itself is neither the most peaceful nor beautiful city. After such a busy few days we used the final day to try and relax and not race around the city. The trip to Myanmar was fantastic and it was a great place to visit. The sights were not busy compared to Cambodia or Thailand and the sights and locals were very relaxed. The food was also very nice with interesting curries and food full of taste and spice. There was so much to do, it is not possible to describe it all.