The Feinbaum Chronicles

James and Kim work in on the dance floor at Sticky Fingers.

Today we visited the Port of Hong Kong. The pictures attached just can’t portray the size and scale of this operation. It was quite amazing! The Hong Kong port is the second busiest port in world behind only Singapore. We were given open access to most of the port facilities and had a chance to tour the docks, warehouses and the top floor dispatch operation. Click on the photo to see a more detailed look.

This photo is of one of the high-end residential areas of Hong Kong. As you may know, Hong Kong has some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Very few people can afford a 4,000 square foot house but if they could it would cost them about $30 million US dollars (yes three zero).

Here is a picture of the Hong Kong $100 dollar bill. It’s worth about $12.85 in US dollars.

Late this afternoon we split up into three of these boats and took a tour around the fishing village. Click on the picture to see more photos.

Well, we made it to Hong Kong safely. The picture is the view from our hotel room overlooking the harbor. We all feel like we’ve gone from a Motel 2 ½ to a Ritz Carlton. We’re staying at the InterContinental Grand Stanford a huge step up from our India accommodations.

Hong Kong is not much different than New York City. It’s truly the opposite end of the spectrum from Bangalore. Yesterday (Sunday) was a free day to explore the city and do a bit of shopping. I was unfortunately under the weather and spent the whole day curled up in bed. I think my body had a hard time adjusting to our visit to Morton’s Steakhouse on Saturday night after barely eating anything the week prior. Today I’m pretty much back to normal.

I’ll have to keep this post short since I have to get back downstairs for our next presenter. We have a guy coming in from Proctor and Gamble’s China operation to talk about doing business in China. Tonight, we’re going out for some cultural visits and an off-site dinner.

McAfee Corp visit

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

On our last day in Bangalore, we visited both McAfee and Hewitt. McAfee is the anti-virus software company and Hewitt is a Human Resource outsourcing firm.

McAfee has about 700 employees in the Bangalore office with all of them on the same floor. They shared with us that compensation hikes are far higher than in the US and Europe. Because of the competitive nature of retaining employees, they typically give between 15% – 18% annual salary increases for the Bangalore staff. Of course, don’t forget a typical Bangalore IT employee is only making about $15,000 US dollars per year, so they still have a great competitive edge on costs to develop products

India Target office for offshore operations

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and other big box retailers all have offices in Bangalore. They typically have the nicer facilities which focus on product sourcing, IT development, billing and other back-office functions.

India- lunch, last day in India

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all quite happy to having our “last lunch” in Bangalore. Indian food again.

India-last day

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

Darrel and I decided to venture out for some trinket shopping. It was quite an experience and words can not describe the honking, traffic and controlled chaos on the streets of Bangalore. Matt, Lori, Lee and our guide Raj were also brave enough to follow in their own taxis.

We all head out tonight on a midnight flight to Hong Kong. It’s about a 9 hour flight with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. We arrive in Hong Kong around 1 PM HK time after traveling all night. All we know is that they have a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Morton’s Steakhouse near the hotel in Hong Kong. Many of us will be making a mad dash for a steak upon our arrival!