Wednesday, April 2, 2008

April 2nd Home with Lessons Learned and observations

The 9 hour trip back home gives me a chance to reflect over all the memories of the last 32 days. Somewhere over the Atlantic, south of Greenland, I realize the people I have gotten to know are just as important as the sites I have seen. I have also had time to know myself better too.
Here are some general observations. Mobile phones are everywhere; from the rural fields of Southern China to the skyscrapers of Dubai.
What started as an interesting vacation became an adventure and a learning experience.
It's hard to hide the fact that you're a Westerner. When they see what you are the marketing technique gets very aggressive and prices go up 500 percent,
English is the second language of the world and almost everybody knows the words "hello", "Coke" and McDonalds.
Most people like Americans and hate our President.
When you go around the world you never see the same place.
Here are some country specific observations.....
CHINA
Now everybody is into business and entrepreneur ship.
The environment takes a back seat to commerce;. even air quality.
Shanghai seemed like the fastest growing city I had ever seen until I got to Dubai
INDIA
It doesn't take a flashy corporate campus to make someone a global competitor
Not much has changed in the last 50 years except for cars. mobiles, and computers
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Dubai)
This is the focal point for FABULOUS oil wealth; more opulent and outrageous than I ever dreamed possible.
They are building Dubai into a magnet for finance through exotic projects and buildings, but 50 years after the oil runs out it will be a ghost town
EGYPT
The Nile is everything to this country. Someone there told me, "if there was no Nile, there would be no Egypt.
Tourism and to a lesser extent the Suez may be their biggest resource.
They don't do enough to protect their antiquities for the next generation.
ITALY
This is a wonderful mix of modernity, friendly people ad old world charm.
Ted Northrup
704-332-5557

www.mapshop.com

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