Back from China & Off to Seattle

Well I got back into Guelph yesterday morning and spent the day learning more about the “restructuring” that happened at my work. While I currently have my job I lost 95% of my team due to “cutbacks” and am left wondering what the future will hold for me and the rest of the team.

Anyways on a positive note China was eventful and fun, met up with the Jianfei Zhu, who is the Yao Ming of the search world. Also had some really good meetings with Alibaba/Yahoo! China and maybe will end up sending some of my ex-team members into China to help Alibaba/Yahoo! China succeed on their SEO goals. The trip was a little long and I am glad to be back but sadly I have only 2 days here in Guelph and I have to fly off to Search Marketing Expo in Seattle.

Seattle is a city I haven’t spent much time in but will be good to go up for this event as it’s the first SMX and it should be very educational and full of interesting people. Will have a chance to meet up with Matt Cutts again at the event, it’s been a awhile since we met face to face as being in Asia all I could do was email with him.

As for Guelph it is getting warmer and prettier all the time, I am looking forward to this summer being able to walk around and enjoy some of the outdoor activities. I haven’t fully moved into my home yet, also my stuff from Singapore hasn’t arrived so won’t post any photos of my place just yet. Hopefully this month my stuff will arrive and my home will be ready to have a nice housewarming party as well as take some photos.

To all my ex-staff and to the editors and writers, I will do my best to help you find work within the industry as your knowledge is very valuable and if I had my own company setup in Canada I would be happy to take some of you in myself. The next 2 months you all will have many offers but take your time and don’t rush into the first job your offered. As while change is always difficult this might just be a really great chance to focus and find that dream job. If anyone has interest to work in China, either for copy writing, editing or SEO please drop me an email, but note that while it’s a job it is not going to pay a lot of money but will be a great personal and working experience.

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Search Engine Strategies China

I am back in China for the next 10 days, will be speaking at SES China on the Advanced SEO track, my presentation will be posted here once its finished. I am really looking forward to meeting up with some old friends at this year’s event. This will mark the 2nd year for SES in China and thanks to Inway and TimeV sure it will have many more years of great success.

Later today will be fun as I will meet up with several executives from the largest Internet company in China for some dinner and talk about the future of that company within the International marketplace. This dinner also happens to include an old friend from Singapore, she happen to leave Singapore to join this company and now landed herself a sweet directors role and an even sweet chance to meet up with me again tonight. I’ll try and post comments back from the dinner, but it should be interesting as a lot of great minds will be at the table.

Right now I am in Hangzhou but will be leaving for Xiamen on Thursday so if any other SES’ers are out there and are in HZ drop me a quick email and maybe we can grab some dinner or just say hi if we pass each other around town. I am staying at the Hyatt on the lake.

Its 6:30am here, which means its 6:30pm back in Guelph and surprisingly my body has been able to shift over to the new time zone relatively easy. Part of the easy of switching time zones came from the flight as it was non-stop from Toronto to Shanghai which meant it didn’t really feel like you where traveling. But sadly the flight was on Air Canada and boy even though I was flying “Executive First Class” it was far far from first class service.

To give you a basic idea of how old and poor the service was our leading stewardess was cerebrating her 40th year flying with Air Canada this week. Makes me almost embarrassed to say that I used to date a leading stewardess, but she was far away from doing anything for 40 years and looked far better then the staff Air Canada pulled out of the retirement home and gave a uniform to.

On a funny note related to domain/company names, the gentlemen sitting beside me on the flight was the CEO of a company which I thought was a really cool name, eSteve (ie electronic steve) or at least that is how I read his company name. Turns out it’s really Esteve and is a pharma company based in Spain. He did laugh when I told him I thought is company was eSteve and he said that it’s very often people don’t know how to pronounce the name. Got me thinking about eStephen.com, but sadly some damn domain parker has registered it so not much chance of getting that one anytime soon.

Ok its off to have some breakfast and then a quick nap so that I can make it though the day as want to make sure I am fresh and alert for tonight’s dinner.

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South Korea Marks #48 for Me

Well I just finishing up a 2 day stay in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is interesting, very costly, along the lines of Japan costs, but minus the Japanese system and cleanness. I for the most part enjoyed the city/county. I managed to get a tour of the DMZ, which was interesting. I’ve seen the boarder between Mexico and the US and while not exactly the same the DMZ shares many characteristics, like long fences, barb wire and a general sense of displaced people.

The most notable thing from this trip was in my hotel room. Now we have all seen mini bars and I had though the most advanced mini bar system was those that as soon as you take the bottle out of the fridge a computer send notice to charge you for the item. Well here in Seoul they’ve gone further, as in Seoul they have installed actual vending machines within the rooms (see the photo). These 4 and half feet by 2 and a half feet machines sit in the rooms just waiting for you to get hungry or need a bottle of wine and the get this when you turn off all the lights they come on and wish you a goodnight sleep. While not something I expect in a 5 star hotel these hotel room vending machines are effective. My only problem was I didn’t have any money small enough to buy a drink and it doesn’t give back change.

If anyone is coming to Seoul and going on the tour of the DMZ, bring along a large marble. You’ll understand when you are walking back out of the tunnel and if possible record the event and let me know how far it goes down.

Got to go, as I am just at the airport waiting to get on the plane and head to Vancouver and within 48 hours I will be in Guelph and hoping to stay put for at least a few weeks. As for why South Korea is #48 for me, well it is the 48th country that I have traveled to. I am hoping that #49 is Cuba as really interested to see that country and understand better about its culture and government. Will keep you posted as to which country becomes #49.

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Singapore Airlines New First Class

It has probably been said before but I will say it anyways, the new first class with Singapore Airlines is like having a hotel room at 35,000 feet in the sky. Actually since there are only 8 seats/2 rows on the 777-300ER you also feel like your in some really small jet as the rest of the plane stays oblivious to you. On my flight there where only 6 people in first and with 3 dedicated staff we always had someone close by to help out.

My flight from Singapore to Seoul was 5 and a half hours, so I had a chance to get in a movie and a couple TV programs on the 24 inch LCD TV built into my seating area. While they didn’t have an actually IR remote for the TV it did have a nice controller attached to the seat, that also had a full keyboard. The keyboard is used to create/edit basically any office documents on the Singapore Airlines version of Microsoft Office. Note out to the Google guys that read the blog, should partner up with Singapore Airlines and offer up Google Apps in all their seats.

The seat which is huge, 35 inches wide and tall enough that even I can’t see over/around the side skirts also has a desk in front of you, where the TV and other things go. This monster of a seat at request also gets transformed into a bed, while at first glace I couldn’t figure out how they did it I did end up asking for turn down service to catch a nap. So what they do is the back of the seat folds down and then folds out to cover the area. Now I was told that this was 7 feet long, but I’m 6 foot 2 and my toes could brush the other end while I was sleeping.

Food and drink wise nothing really interesting, they service the typical caviar, champagne and fine meets but I have had better presentation at many restaurants, but I guess none of the staff are trained at that level of dining. Also no they didn’t let you just milk the champagne bottle, but they gladly where there to fill you up when you got low, but for me I was hitting it hard on the apple juice (champagnes little brother).

One thing amazed me the most out of all the things they had up in the first class cabin and its something I’ve never thought of or heard of before. It was that in the first class cabin on the seat belts they have an airbag safety system. This is something now that I’ve seen makes logical sense as the safety warning card with the people crunched up in weird positions for a crash could all be avoided with the installation of airbags on all the seats. We never got the chance to try out the airbags on the plane but I would rather hit an airbag then slam into the desk or TV in front of me. Probably see more Air Bag Belts if someone like Al Gore gets on a tantrum on airline safety.

Another notable item is the view as the seat takes up 4 windows and since you can see perfectly out of 2 of them you really get a sense of the sky around you. Just take a look at the photo, what a great view can be had and I am talking about out of the window. The feeling of space and freedom is always nice to have, too bad they can’t make longer/wider windows in this section as it sure would be nice to have an even wider view of the sky. Maybe in the future Airbuses this will happen as even though the view was great it felt kind of funny having so many windows to one seat.

Well overall I would say that the new Singapore Airlines first class is something really amazing but since it is so darn costly and also maybe at times not available with only 8 seats the business class is just as amazing. As the business class also has 35 inch seats and fully reclining beds, but is just not as finished and glamorous as the first class seats. Would I fly this first class again, well I will say hopefully not as I hope that in the future I can travel with colleagues and friends, which would make flying first class incredibly unfeasible, unless of course I was traveling with some of the Google boys after the vesting period.

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Eventful time in the Philippines

Well after a few eventful days and nights in the Philippines I am on the plane heading back to Singapore for my last couple days there. The Philippines was great and it was made even better by an incredible bunch of people.

My first evening in town Mr. SEO of the Philippines took me out with his group of buddies, which included Abe who is one of the top bloggers in the Philippines and the rest of his close blogging pals, who by the way are the organizers of Philippine Blog Awards. Also out for the evening was Google Philippines new county manager and a couple of her stylish friends. So all in all it was a restaurant full of SEOs, Bloggers and general Internet geeks. It sure was nice to see that the Internet community in the Philippines is very close both in business and in friendships. If they keep it up, I can see the Philippines being the leader in SEO/Internet market for the Asian region. The Philippines already well known for Internet content developers and outsourced customer server centers.

After the night on the town I did what comes naturally, I left my hotel at like 6am to get on another plane. See there was some management of a very large (but unnameable) Internet company out from the United States and Marc scheduled at the last minute a weekend away from Manila for all of us. So my buddy and I with these two managers headed off to Boracay an amazing Island way the heck in the middle of nowhere. It was funny as one of the American managers noted that he had to take a taxicab, bus, plane, van, boat, and finally a motorbike all within 2 hours just to get to our resort. My trip had one addition to that adventure, as my route to the airport included a visit with the local police as it turns out a one way street in Manila really means a one way street.

But it was all worth it as we all had a great time, racing around in dune buggies, parasailing and generally enjoying sitting on a beach doing nothing. My personal favorite was the racing around with the dune buggies, as they let us loose on this small town/village and I more then enjoyed myself while I helped out the civil engineers by clearing some tree’s and other debris from the sides of the roads (you can sure get a dune buggy sideways at 40km/h).

Sadly it all had to come to an end, but a couple of us including myself will be feeling the effects of a little too much sun for the next several days. Its strange to think that this time next week I will be walking into the office of my new job, probably wearing 4 layers of clothes and having no idea when the next time I will be laying on a beach just watching the world go by.

Well to the Philippines and the all the great people supporting the Internet industry there I hope we all meet up again but till then keep up the good work. Ok inside joke time, to our wonderful tour guide, I hope that with our next trip we can complete the James Bond tour, minus the fitness section.

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Last Weekend in Asia

After nearly 6 years of weekend fun around Asia this weekend will be my last one as a resident of Asia. So I am heading off to the Philippines to see my buddy Marc and spend some time on a beach, as something tells me the only thing white under my feet in the near future will be snow.

Have to say sorry to my Thailand friends as while it would have been great to spend a few days together again, I still haven’t finished packing and this trip to the Philippines is long overdue. I’ll see all you in Thailand in May as I will swing by on my way to SES China.

Oh some public shame being sent to Troy over in Thailand as dude for a guy that doesn’t have a “job” you work more then Marc and I combined. So while we are on the beach catching sun I hope your hard drive crashes. Ok no I don’t as that would be bad, but hope you can get that Mac project finished and looking forward to seeing you in Guelph later this year.

Philippines will be great as I need a break, for me as all I seem to be doing here in Singapore is packing, eating and sleeping. This move has really been tough as it was a little rushed but it will mean once I land life will seem a lot more stable and smoother.

Well I am off to get on my plane, blog with you later.

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Venting on Singapore Airlines

So my deal on an upgrade turned into a nightmare of service and I haven’t even gotten on the plane. What happen was really strange, since I booked my flight using Air Canada instead of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines didn’t want to give the first class seat to Air Canada.

Add to the confusion that while Air Canada has a 24 hour reservation/support line, its based in the US (so much for national pride) and they can’t call the 24 hour reservation service at Singapore Airlines as its located here in Singapore. They “say” their phones aren’t allowed to call international. I was like I spend nearly 5 grand on a ticket and you can’t make a phone call to solve a problem for me, well the answer was a long drawn out no. So had to wait till Singapore Airlines office in the US opened and Air Canada could “discuss” this issue with them further.

So finally this evening Air Canada called me, not in Singapore, but via my US office number and confirmed that they where working with Singapore Airlines to resolve this issue and I will be able to fly as I requested and paid for. Then 15 minutes later another call back from them saying that Singapore Airlines had given them the seat and all was good. Now I haven’t been able to confirm with Singapore Airlines, but at this point I need a good sleep, if I drank I would be in a bar about now, but I don’t so I blog. I wonder what’s worse, hmmm in few years from now I will be on a 12 step program and at a “BA” meeting saying, “Hello my name is Stephen and I am a blogaholic…”.

So what’s the big deal, well I fly a lot with my job and even more as a hobby and for me I can get really ticked off with bad service. I just don’t see the reason to hire staff that isn’t personable in such a people/service based industry. Some of the nicest people work in the sky (no Helen, I have no biased opinion) and can make a 12 hour flight feel like spending 12 hours with friends. But that’s not always the case and this issue brings me back to the days when I used to own and run SingapoorAirlines.com (notice the spelling). Surprisingly it got traffic, and even type in traffic but it eventually pissed Singapore Airlines off enough that they sent their legal thugs after me.

The site was very professional as it gave my feedback from flying with Singapore Airlines as well as feedback from other not so happy travelers. I did give the name to them along with SingapoorAir.com without getting my legal counsel involved (didn’t want to spend anymore then the $17.90 which was what the domains cost) but still felt bad and used. They didn’t even apologize for the poor service that spawned the sites creation or even say thank you for me giving them the domains. Oh well that’s the corporate world for you, life goes on and I still fly with them.

UPDATE: When I checked in for this flight they still didn't want to give the seat to me, had to wait while the check in staff talked with management, what a mess...

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Differences between Singapore & Guelph

Some of my friends back here in Asia don’t really understand how big the difference to life in Singapore is compared to life in Guelph and to tell you the truth I don’t know how much different it will end up being either. But what I do know is some of the statistical differences, such as:


Population
Singapore 4,492,150
Guelph 127,009 (138,183 including the surrounding township)

So Guelph has the population size of around 3% of Singapore's, but this is probably higher then actual as in Singapore there are hundreds of thousands of illegal workers and tourists that are not included in the official population.


Land Size/Area
Singapore 699.4 km²
Guelph 86.66 km² (378.45 km² including the surrounding township)

Amazing that Guelph is about half the size of Singapore but with 3% of the number of people. To give you anouther aspect to land/people ratio, here is the home I am looking at getting in Guelph: http://www.virtualproperties.ca/r5007/photogallery.htm this land use would be something that only the president of Singapore would be able to acquire, but in Guelph its just another house on the block.


Weather
Current Temperature in Singapore 32 °C / 89 °F
Current Temperature in Guelph -5.6 °C / 21.9 °F

While I did find an average temperature for Guelph, it is somewhat useless as the temperature range in Guelph goes from -11.0 °C to plus 25.7 °C depending on the time of year, but anyways the average temperature in Guelph is between 1.8 °C and 11.6 °C.
Where as in Singapore there is a constant temperature year around, which ranges from 24 °C and 30 °C, even on some of Guelph’s warmest days it won’t reach the average temperature I’m used to in Singapore, oh boy…

That is why after living in Asia for nearly 6 years my biggest fear is how my body will adjust back to not only colder temperatures but also variation in temperatures. One thing I do know is that I will have a much larger wardrobe in Guelph, which will include lots of long johns and parkas.


Housing/Rental
3 Bedroom Condo in Singapore $1,450 CAD / $1,900 SGD
3 Bedroom House in Guelph $1,200 CAD / $1,550 SGD

There is no point trying to compare renting a house in Singapore to renting a house in Guelph as in Singapore you can expect to pay at least $4,000 SGD / $3,000 CAD for a house. The Singapore prices are not higher due to western style of living this is the actual average cost of a place in Singapore. If you wanted western style living you can expect to pay at least $2,500 to $4,000 a month for a condo.


Cars / Automobiles
Singapore entry level 2007 Honda Civic: $56,250 CAD / $73,000 SGD
Singapore fully loaded 2007 Honda Civic: $62,400 CAD / $81,000 SGD

Canada entry level 2007 Honda Civic: $16,980 CAD / $22,000 SGD
Canada fully loaded 2007 Honda Civic: $23,630 CAD / $30,650 SGD

In Singapore a combination of government corruption and local dealership greed has made owning a vehicle almost impossible. As the price of the same car in Singapore can buy you 3 in Canada, not to mention that in Singapore you are only allowed to own the car for 10 years. After 10 years you have to re-buy your car from the government otherwise it becomes scrap metal.

Me being a car nut this has really been one of my biggest problems living in Singapore as sadly to say I haven’t owned a car during my life in Singapore, but I can assure you I will own one (maybe even two or three) when I am in Guelph.


Food / Mc Donald’s
Big Mac in Singapore $3.00 CAD / $3.85 SGD
Big Mac in Guelph $3.76 / $4.90 SGD

Ok right now all those who know me in Asia are probably laughing and can add to that list the lady who answered the phone at the Gordon Street Mc Donald’s in Guelph, but I had to compare the cost of a Big Mac. So it looks like its going to cost me $1.05 SGD more to bite into a Big Mac, maybe I should have held out for a bigger salary or maybe I should just buy more shares in Mc Donald’s. (The price was updated as someone mentioned to me that the Tower Street Mc Donald's originally used in the quote was in Fergus)


Those are the current differences I could find, but will add more once I am in Guelph. Hope to make note on the taxi cost, bus fare, silly things like power costs as I know my friends back in Bangkok are always talking about how much power costs them, as well as anything else I come across that would make a good comparison.

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Most Unique Mass Transit System

For those of you who haven't been to Hong Kong, this story will be of interest to you. As in Hong Kong they have come up with a very unique and useful mass transit system.

While lots of cities have implemented trains, buses, and shuttle services I think Hong Kong is the only city to install moving walkways & escalators within its downtown core to move people to and from work. Yup in Hong Kong instead of getting into a bus or a train and heading off to work you just simple stand still and let the escalators take you where you want to go. Another nice feature is there is no cost to use them, but maybe in the coming years you would have to put a 10 cent toll to enter, hehe the subway of the future.

I am enjoying my time in Hong Kong and it helps me remember that while there is a lot of money here in Asia it is really not for me. As with a little too many people and way to much variation in wealth within one place can make a lot of upset/grumpy people.

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In Hong Kong for the Weekend

Living in Asia for many years its been really easy to fly to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, but this weekend I will make one of my last trips this year to Hong Kong and see a couple friends and see more of the city.

This move to Guelph got me thinking about how nice it was having so many cultures and countries within a 3 hour flight of Singapore. While I will miss that I am sure I will spend enough time down in the Bahamas, Mexico and hopefully Cuba that it will all make up for what I am missing here in Asia.

I will know very soon, but being in Guelph from what I understand is very convenient as Toronto's airport is so close, they even have a shuttle service from Guelph to the airport with a company called Red Car Service. I am sure that I will become a regular client of theirs.

Well I packed lite on this trip and when I get back I have to see about getting quotes from movers and start really packing my stuff as I start work in 24 days.

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