A quick post before boarding a plane from Shanghai to San Francisco, because I just heard that unitedstyles was named one of the most innovative companies in the world by Fast Company.

And not just in one, but in two categories: unitedstyles is the 3rd most innovative company in China and the #10 most innovative company in fashion. Fast Company is a pretty impressive publication in the fields of tech, business and design, so I am very happy with this kind of recognition!

Today is Valentine’s Day once again – loved by some, hated by others. But whatever you think of the day, because of it you can find a lot of new nice designs on fashion sites. One of unitedstyles employees designed a great mood board on Polyvore for Valentine’s Day that I want to share here as well. Thanks for making this Shen!

Like the mood board? Then also check out other unitedstyles mood boards on Polyvore.

If you live in Shanghai you know that this is not one of the healthiest cities in the world to live in. Not only does work go on 24/7 here (well, at least when you run your own business), but also the air quality is quite bad. It’s actually so bad that it’s very likely that unitedstyles will be the last company that I set up in China, and that I will eventually move somewhere else. I am sure I will be in China regularly for my investments and other business related issues, but at least I want my family out of here.

Nobody really knows how bad the pollution is, because the government data seems to be “adjusted” and data for PM2.5 (the smallest, most dangerous, particles) are not released. For sure downtown it’s much worse than out in the suburbs where I live and where unitedstyles has its office. But also there it can’t be too good. I hardly ever run outside where I live, for example, because I feel the air does more harm than sports does good. And if I do, like during the Shanghai marathon, I normally feel it in my throat for several days after the run.

Today Shanghaiist has an overview of how dangerous it is to live in Shanghai. Although they play down the risks a bit (by for example saying that the city may be gradually killing you, but that Beijing is worse), the article confirms that living here is far from healthy. It’s a pity there is not more data available, but I am sure that is something that will change soon: the government will install PM2.5 measuring devices this year, and because they may not be trustworthy, likely private organizations may also start measuring this.

So, should I move to Hong Kong then? No, probably not. It seems pollution there is not much better, mainly because of all the smog coming from Guangdong province. The School of Public Health publishes an index showing the effects of the air pollution there (thanks for the link Marcel Ekkel), and they do it in a pretty radical way. Not only do they show the actual and past air pollution index, but also the economic loss because of this and the number of premature deaths and hospital visits. Not a pretty picture either. I hope the government will start working on a solution soon. I am lucky to have the option to leave, but many people can’t do so.

I don’t mention Tudou a lot on my blog since I am not involved in the company anymore, but the latest Tudou news is quite significant, so I decided to share it here.

Tudou announced on Friday that it is launching an improved platform for Sina Weibo users to seamlessly share and upload Tudou videos. In case you don’t live in China: Sina Weibo is the Chinese Twitter and has over 250 million users, and mother company Sina owns a significant share in Tudou.

In addition, Sina Weibo users who are not registered with Tudou, but who wish to share their videos with Tudou’s users, will automatically become a registered Tudou user. Their user account names at Tudou will be identical to their Sina Weibo account names. Sharing functionalities enable users to sync comments and discussions on both platforms.

In the press release that was sent out about the deal Gary comments on this:
“We are building a more powerful video user ecosystem. The Internet’s core strength lies in creating and sharing information. Sina Weibo creates strong interaction between its users, and Tudou generates deep emotional connections between Internet users and content. Creating and sharing content is at the core of the Internet, and Tudou’s cooperation with social networking sites such as Sina Weibo is a powerful combination which will deepen consumers’ online video and sharing experience.”

An excellent deal for both Tudou and Sina IMHO. Tudou’s stock shot up after the news and ended up over 16% higher than Thursday’s close.

This afternoon I was talking to a colleague who told me that he felt that it was stil unusually quiet in Shanghai after Chinese New Year. I told him I had the same feeling, because there were hardly any traffic jams on the highways today. Chinese New Year’s Eve was last week Sunday, so 12 days ago, and most people should be back to work by now, but I wonder if maybe more people decided not to return to the big city.

I have no proof for this (well, except that Scott’s nanny decided to stay in her hometown), but it feels it is more quiet than other years. And high inflation plus more opportunities in inland China may lead people to decide to stay closer to their hometowns. I assume it will be much more busy again next week (the picture above was taken at 5 PM today from my office, normally a time with traffic jams), but I would not mind too much if people stay away a bit longer.

Delays are quite common when you travel by plane, especially in China or with Chinese airlines. Over the years I had many bad delays, including one 28 hour delay on a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Shanghai (it seems the blog post about that one has been lost in cyberspace) and many 6+ hour delays because of air traffic control in China. You can’t change it, so I try not to get too upset about it, it’s just part of the deal when you fly a lot.

Last night we planned to take a 0:55 AM flight from Singapore back to China. The flight would get in around 6 AM, so I would just be home in time to wake up the kids, have breakfast with them and take them to school. But no, that did not happen, because the flight was delayed. Instead of leaving at 0:55 AM the flight would not take off until an expected 3:15 AM. During daytime a delay is a nuisance, but in the middle of the night it’s a lot worse I feel, especially when you are tired.

So what do you do in that case? Well, I went to the business lounge, found a good recliner, put on my sleeping mask and put in my ear plugs, and slept for 2 hours straight. I was sleepy after a day of meetings and was still a little jet lagged from the New Zealand trip, so I was asleep right away. I put my alarm to wake up on time (getting up after 2 hours of sleep was not too easy), found out that the flight was even more delayed and eventually boarded the plane around 3:40 AM.

The China Eastern flight that we booked was operated by an old Shanghai Airlines plane with terrible 1980s-like business class seats (a bit better than economy ones, but a far cry from what you normally get in business these days). But despite that I managed to fall asleep before departure already and only woke up around 8:15 AM, while we were starting our descent into Shanghai. All in all I had a decent sleep, despite the non-optimal situation.

The kids were not happy that Grace and I were not there to wake them up. We had talked to them over Skype video the night before, and they were very disappointed that we had not arrived yet. Scott even refused to get up until I would be there, because I had promised him that… Next time I probably won’t tell them that I will be back early the next morning, because I feel really bad about it.

Tuesday and Wednesday Xander and I were in Singapore for business meetings. I had not been to Singpore in almost 2 years (except for stopovers on the airport) and it was good to be back for a few days.

Next to the busy meeting schedule we also managed to see a bit of the city, especially because our meetings were scattered all over the place. During most of my recent trips I stayed in the city center, so I noticed that the city changed quite a bit since I last spent more time here (which was probably back in 2003 when Grace did a semester at INSEAD here, almost 9 years ago already).

My parents were also in town, so I had drinks with them at Boat Quay and of course my favorite Pepper Crab at Jumbo on the East Coast. The East Coast never changed, simple chairs and tables on a concrete floor next to the beach and excellent food (and cold Tiger beer!).

The area around INSEAD had totally changed. We had a meeting at Fusionopolis, and when we arrived there I realized it was right next door to the INSEAD campus. I think that in the old days there were just some fields around the INSEAD buildings, now there was a nicely looking building towering over the INSEAD grounds (see picture above).

On Wednesday after our meetings were over we had a late afternoon drink on Sentosa island with my parents. I used to like Sentosa a lot, but the place has become a kind of amusement park. It’s a pity, but I guess that’s what people want. The (man-made) white sand beaches were still there, but all of them now had bars with music and on the other side of the road there were all kinds of attractions to keep people busy, including among others the biggest indoor skydiving place in the world… It doesn’t fit to the island, but people seem to like it.

Also the Singapore skyline changed dramatically because of the addition of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort area. When driving into town from the airport it looks okay, but from other places in town it is just plain ugly. I decided not to take a picture of it but to only put the old skyline in the picture below!

Last week I spent 6 days in New Zealand to learn as much as possible about local wines. We traveled with a small group of family and friends (among others with Gary and my parents) and tried to combine visits to wineries with some sightseeing activity as well.

After a day in Auckland and Waiheke we traveled to the Bay of Islands, a beautiful subtropical area about 40 minutes north of Auckland (by small plane – by car it would take many hours). A very nice place for a holiday and still relatively undeveloped. That’s the nice thing about New Zealand: because not so many people live there, even popular tourist areas are still very quiet and unspoiled. And because New Zealand is so far away from the rest of the world I don’t think there will be a lot of new tourism soon either.

The down side is that NZ still feels a bit backward, in many rural places you feel like you’re suddenly back in the 1960’s. That has its advantages and disadvantages of course, but coming from a 21st century 24/7 megapolis like Shanghai it takes some getting used to. Trying to get a coffee at Starbucks in Nelson at 6:30 PM was not possible for example because every single shop including coffeeshops close by 6 PM at the latest. Trying to visit a real estate agency on the weekend? Forget it, they only work on weekdays when most people who are in the market for a house probably work.

But the upside is that you can arrive at the airport 30 minutes before your plane takes off and that there is not even a security check for domestic flights. At a local market a knife maker (yes, you still have those in NZ) had an advertising sign saying that you can bring them on board of airplanes. Quite a difference with the rest of the world where every passenger is a potential terrorist… And while on a helicopter trip the pilot told me to just leave my phone on, because of course he did not believe in mobile interference. That’s the spirit I like!

The Bay of Islands also had some wineries, especially around Keri Keri. We had dinner at one of them (Ake Ake) after a wine tasting there, and enjoyed both their food and drinks. Most wineries there are quite small operations, without any export sales, so you likely won’t find these wines in Europe or China.

After one day in the Bay of Islands we flew to Nelson on the South Island. A nice small town on the waterfront, surrounded by a beautiful nature. Also here we visited several wineries and did a lot of wine tastings. After having sea food for several days in a row we decided to check out the local Chinese restaurant. The food there was not bad (even the Chinese in group said so) and we had a big meal with some bottles of local Gewurztraminer (excellent!).

The next morning we rented a helicopter to fly to Marlborough to visit a winery and get a feel for the area from above. It’s a nice ride from Nelson to Marlborough, especially because you have to fly over some mountains and also get to see the Marlborough Sound from above. Close to Marlborough it was a bit cloudy and there was even some rain, so we had to descend to below the clouds in order to see where we were going.

The winery we visited in Marlborough was Highfield, one of the best wineries in the area (there are a lot of good wineries there). We got a tour of the winery and some of the vineyards and got to taste all of their wines. We were quite impressed, especially with their Sauvignon Blanc and their methode traditionelle Champagne-like wine Elstree Cuvee Brut. Because of our busy schedule we had to fly back to Nelson for other appointments and could not do a lunch at Highfield.

In the afternoon we among others visited another winery (Kahurangi), where the winemaker let us try some of their new wines directly from the barrel. After that we visited the house of another INSEAD almuni living in Nelson. His villa was built on the top of a hill and he had an amazing view over the coast line, nearby islands and the sea. We were all quite impressed with it! The next morning we visited a local farmers market in Nelson and walked around the town, before taking a flight back to Auckland in the afternoon.

In Auckland we stayed again at the Hilton, which is located right on the harbour. It’s a nice hotel in the best location in town, but has one big disadvantage: in summer visiting cruise ships moor right outside the hotel (arriving 6 AM, leaving 6 PM), meaning that you have no view at all from your balcony during the day time. If that happens once it’s still acceptable, but during our stay at the beginning and the end of the trip there were cruise ships every single day. If you manage to get a room on the top floor closest to the harbour (which we did during the 2nd stay there) it’s okay, but otherwise I would not advise anybody to stay there during the summer months. Ah, and they also charge NZD 30 per device per day for Internet, which is a rip-off (as regular readers know I hate paying for a commodity that should be free).

On Sunday Gary, my dad and I went back to Waiheke to visit 3 more wineries for wine tastings, but we were not too impressed with the wines after tasting so many other good wines over the past days. The wines were generally good, but nothing special. Waiheke’s best wines for me are Te Whau and Cable Bay, those were the ones we visited during our first ferry trip over the week before and those I highly recommend (but they are both relatively small wineries and may be difficult or impossible to find outside New Zealand).

Looking back we had a great trip where I had a lot of fun, learned a lot about the NZ wine industry and tasted at least 60-70 different wines. I already was a big fan of New Zealand wines, but now my appreciation for their wines is even higher. It’s a pity that many of their wines are not available for sale in China yet (or only at very high prices), but this may be a question of time. Once Chinese start to appreciate white wines New Zealand may be country that can deliver them. Especially the more fruity varieties may do well (Riesling, some Chardonnay wines, and of course Gewurztraminer). I will keep on following NZ wines closely from now on. I’ll be back!

A selection of all the pictures I took during this trip is here in a set on Flickr.