May 1999 (reminisced Nov 2024)
The trip was fairly standard for me by now. South East Asia, working our way to China, with a Yangtze cruise, ending up in Beijing. One thing Brad Hannam and I did was to cross the border into Malaysia for a look at the palace of the richest man in the world (at one time), the Sultan of Johore. His outrageous behavior led the British to station a “minder” in Johore. What I remember most about the palace was his use of elephant legs as waste baskets and umbrella holders. But we did get a stamp for Malaysia in our passports, which was an added benefit.
The other “different” event was a monkey wrench thrown on May 7, 1999, when we received news that the US had “accidentally” bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and that anti-American protests had erupted in response in the China. With the safety of our charges in mind, Dr. Jin spent a lot of time contacting his friends in China to make sure we would not be endangered. We cautiously entered China, prompting our students to downplay their American identity (e.g., no Cubs shirts). At times it was tense, and we were known to say, “Ottawa is lovely this time of year”.
The only place I caught some flak was in Xi’an, on my extended trip. When I got a haircut, the barber talked about bad Americans. I told him, in Chinese, I was in China to see where my dad had fought for China against the Japanese. That put paid to that discussion.
We were lucky enough to connect with two of our alumni–at opposite ends of the expat spectrum–in Shanghai. One was Omar Sadeque, son of a Pakistani diplomat, who had gone to Baylor for an MBA. Hired by Cargill, at this point in his 20s, Cargill gave him $25 million to establish a chicken processing plant. He hosted our class and talked about his career and his opportunity. At the other end was Tuan Nguyen, who had come to China with me in 1995 as his last class at IWU before his January graduation; Tuan was so smitten by China that he resigned the job he had lined up and went to China to take his chances. When we met him, he was married to a Chinese woman and living a la Chinese. Omar, by contrast, lived in a gated community with a driver, a cook, and several servants.
We still managed to visit a number of business sites: Ringsit contract manufacturers of running shoes in Bangkok, Caterpillar Logistics in Singapore, always a treat given Cat’s 
insistence of supplying parts anywhere in the world in 48 hours, City University in Hong Kong, with my friend Eleanor, and Omar’s plant in Shanghai.
And we did the sites as well, including the Yangtze cruise, with a stop in Chungking at a museum featuring Vinegar Joe Stillwell, Chiang Kai-shek’s World War II
nemesis.And we had time to eat. In those days, I built the meals into the trip, realizing hygiene was not always a consideration, especially in China. Later, when I realized students preferred Mickey Ds to dim sum, I set one banquet 
per city–so I could eat real Chinese instead of watered down French Fries. But not before we had snake wine. I insisted on having the reptile brought to the table where the venturesome sat, and prepared for us–bile in alcohol, among other things.
And Deng Xiao-ping said, “To be rich is glorious,” but a sign reminded us …
.so true…