Tuesday, July 5, 2016

BACK FROM MY WORKING VACATION IN ASIA

I'm back from my Asian working vacation, and should be posting on a regular schedule after today.

For those who asked (or just wondering), I participated in three conference presentations, with one in Singapore and the other two in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to meeting a few academics and practitioners who will be helpful on a book project I am co-editing, I was able to find some time to enjoy what Singapore and South Korea have to offer with my wife. While we enjoyed South Korea, we are definitely looking forward to going back to Singapore.

Singapore skyline.

For those of you unfamiliar with Singapore, know that it's an island nation-state just south of Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It's one of Asia's most developed states, and is currently ranked #2 - right behind Shanghai, China - when it comes to the world's busiest sea ports (China has 6 of the top 10 busiest ports, and 7 out of 10 if you count Hong Kong; the U.S. doesn't have one port in the global top 10).




While I had to concentrate on our presentations in South Korea, we did find time to visit the DMZ, or the "demilitarized zone" between North Korea and South Korea (an ironic name since it's one of the most fortified military zones in the world).



If I get around to it this weekend I'll post some pictures of that visit. I'll also spend some time discussing the Unification Bridge that was built between North and South Korea by the founder of the Hyundai Corporation, or the Hyundai Groups of South Korea. It's an interesting story.

- Mark 

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