A walk through Pasar Badung, Denpasar, Bali

Along the side streets towards Pasar Badung in Denpasar, off Jl. Gajah Mada, you’ll find a small curry shop passionately preparing the foundational ingredients to many local dishes.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

The daily trading activities in Southeast-Asia (SE-Asia) are still focused around the centrally located wet markets. Located as they often are at traditional crossroads of land and waterways, they are the natural center of the community with space for religious ceremonies as well as today, offering convenient parking lots for cars and mopeds. Around these markets are also the arteries of the supply chain of all kinds of supplies that will go into the products offered at the market.

Pasar Badung in Denpasar, Bali’s capital, is one of the largest wet markets on the island with four storeys of goods that range from ready cooked food sold just outside the building, to fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, preserved foods, spices, cakes, buns, biscuits, up to and including almost all items for the kitchen and household should you need them.

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At the west end of the Lesser Sunda Islands

The trade winds blow cool in the mornings in the tropics of Sanur, Bali, where the full flavoured smaller apple banana variety is abundant and pleasantly enough included in abundance in the breakfast buffet.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It took five security checks through the various airports from Scandinavia to Indonesia and though it has been about ten years since the Kuta bombing in Bali, security on the tourist island remains tight, the islanders looking apologetic for yet another security check even at the roadside. Considering the peaceful island’s serene philosophy and religion that is 80% Hindu with visible Buddhist influence, and that the small island’s main livelihood is tourism, one feels a tinge of sombre even as tropical sun rays streak across azure skies in this beautiful and untainted Southeast-Asian island paradise. Continue reading ”At the west end of the Lesser Sunda Islands”

The Blue Frog, Shanghai World Financial Center SWFC

The Blue Frog restaurant, Shanghai World Financial Center.

The Blue Frog at the Shanghai World Financial Center.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Even before my first visit to Shanghai, friends were recommending I visit two places, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Blue Frog restaurant that as a friend put it, served ”very good fusion food”. And I couldn’t have done serendipitously better than by dining at the Blue Frog at the Shanghai World Financial Center! Continue reading ”The Blue Frog, Shanghai World Financial Center SWFC”

Lulling hours in Shanghai, where old meets new

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Yuyuan, Shanghai 2011.

Along the streets at Yuyuan, Shanghai.
Text and Photo © CM Cordeiro 2011

Waking up in China’s largest city that is Shanghai, amongst its more than 24 million inhabitants certainly puts a perspective on how much of an impact you might make during a single day in your life when you finally step out the door and make your way around with your errands.

In just about twenty to thirty years, Shanghai as a city has grown at an amazing speed. The skyscrapers seen today along the Huangpu River, The Bund and Lujiazui were non-existent just a stone’s throw back in time, where it would’ve been difficult for most anyone to recognize the landscape and skyline of the central finance district between these decades if you were not at first shown pictures of the landscape from then till now.

The past decade alone has seen a paradigm shift in Shanghai from a city with Communist ideals to one that is cosmopolitan with a global outlook. Much of this is the fruitful result of the Chinese government’s efforts at economic reforms in China beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

If any organization could trace and reflect an aspect of Shanghai’s modern history in global trade and the resulting impact of the Chinese government’s efforts at bringing China and its state-owned enterprises to the global scene, then Baosteel Group Corporation, the second largest steel producer in the world with approximate annual revenues of around USD $21.5 billion would be a good case study to examine. With 45 wholly owned subsidiaries in markets across the world, in countries with as diverse cultures such as Brazil, France, Germany, Russia and in Asian and Southeast Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore , Baosteel reflects the speed and tenacity at which Chinese organizations are able to make themselves visibly global whilst simultaneously catering to their very demanding and highly competitive domestic market.

Still, amongst the city’s global ambitions supported and run by its busy inhabitants who seem to maneuver through the city via just as many noisy and exuberant vehicles that never cease their honking, you’ll find in Shanghai that some waking hours beckon a certain lull to the senses, and are in effect… quieter than others. And it is in these hours that you can sit, think and breathe the calmer soul of the city as a mist that invites you to contemplate its living as an artfully drawn landscape, one perhaps seen in Chinese watercolour on silk or paper. It is these brief lulling hours of Shanghai, at dawn or just after dusk, that paints a picture of the place both past and present, juxtaposed in front of your very eyes in material form.
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Yuyuan street eating and daily practicalities, Shanghai

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro 7 Dec 2011 Shanghai 03a

With the quick glances of distraction observed from tourists and a slight quickening of their pace past the local lunch scene at Yuyuan in Shanghai, where the local people seemed perfectly at east sitting along the roadside with their bowl of rice in one hand and chopsticks in the other, eating whilst waiting for their next customer to walk into the shop, I understood with clearing clarity that for most of Northern Europe, dining was a much more formal affair around a set table.

And the Northern European concept of dining was quite a contrast to this fairly common aspect of people eating on the move or simply eating outdoors in Asia in general. Whether in India or the various equatorial countries of Southeast-Asia such as Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, or the more temperate regions of China, food sold along the streets in wheel carted food stalls and eating along the streets is as practical and nomadic as having all your goods for sale stacked onto a single bicycle or motorcycle and sold wherever you found a customer along the street.

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Lujiazui by night, Shanghai

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro at Lujiazui, Shanghai 2011

Lujiazui by night. In the background, lit blue, the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Text and Photo © K Meeks and CM Cordeiro 2011

When in Shanghai, the last place I expected to find myself exploring come sundown is Lujiazui, the city’s financial district, as the more popular of nightspots would include Xintiandi or even the quieter street of Hengshanlu lined with all sorts of eateries from Turkish and Thai to Hunan cuisine.

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El Xalet de Montjuïc, Barcelona 2011

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, El Xalet de Montjuïc 4

IFP 2011 Graduation Dinner, Montjuïc El Xalet.
The IFP 2011, IESE Business School, University of Navarra saw 41 participants from 26 different countries gather in Barcelona for three weeks of intense studies for executive management faculty.

Photo: JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2011

The last day of the the International Faculty Program (IFP) at the IESE Business School in Barcelona saw the Class of IFP 2011 gathered for a farewell dinner at Montjuïc El Xalet, a restaurant with a picturesque view of the city of Barcelona!

For three weeks I enjoyed the company of some of the world’s most interesting academics and professionals, from more than 26 countries across the globe.

The Class of IFP 2011 had a broad variety of backgrounds even if the syllabus of the program was specifically designed for faculty members of business schools. The course had a distinct focus of IESE’s brand of case studies as a method of teaching and learning in higher education, in particular with MBAs and EMBAs. The lectures and sessions with various cases proved highly motivating and made for numerous memorable learning experiences.
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The new Barcelona

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro Nilsson, Hotel Arts, hammock, Barcelona.

At Hotel Arts, Barcelona, the sundeck with rocking hammocks on the lawn.
Photo: JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2011

Barcelona proceeded to unveil its many faces as we continued to explore the New Barcelona, that in many respects was created thanks to the 1990s olympic sailing event. Barcelona had previously much of its focus directed towards harbour works and shipping, but is today opened up towards the sea and its possibilities as a conference, business hub and tourist resort. Here now, you’ll find a sprawling, fashionably back to back establishment of beautifully designed hotels, restaurants and bars that line the city’s beach and hot spots.

Futher up along the beach, when you hit La Rambla, political protests continues at the Catalunya Square. I was right at the square when a helicopter circled overhead and policemen surrounded the area, cutting off all traffic in an attempt to clear the square before the European World Cup that begins in Barcelona today.
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A small part of Sweden in Wilmington, USA

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The two first Swedish ships – we know of – to arrive in America, were the Kalmar Nyckel and Fågel Grip. In Wilmington, Delaware, USA, docks a sailing replica of the Kalmar Nyckel, where the first settlers landed.
Photo: JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2011

Kalmar Nyckel calm beyond reeds.

The Kalmar Nyckel replica is a smaller cousin in design to the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III replica.

We visited the Kalmar Nyckel at what seemed to be at its most quiet and resting period. Beneath the apparent quietness however, were all kinds of repairs and upkeep being done inside and out, with parts of the rigging being indoors undergoing new lacquer treatments. Over the whole area lingered the sweet fragrance of linseed oil and tar.
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A Red Dot meet-up at Penn

LOVE at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

On University of Pennsylvania campus ground, a replica of American artist Robert Indiana’s iconic Love sculpture whose original is on display in the ’Love Park’, near City Hall here in Philadelphia. The girls to the left? Haven’t a clue.
They were just there. Beautifully draped all over the thing.

Photo: J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2011

Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the University of Pennsylvania has consistently ranked one of the world’s top universities, with its business school, Wharton, being legendary. Even now as my work brings me side by side with faculty drawn from this ivy league university, I was happy to visit the actual campus, especially during Cherry Blossom season! Continue reading ”A Red Dot meet-up at Penn”