Travel Archive
How Emerging Markets Are Like Dating
I've been with my husband for about 11 years, so I haven't dated for a long time. Instead, I have--bizarrely-- substituted emerging markets for that crush/first-date-euphoria/ew-that's-an-ugly-quality/OK-I'm-sick-of-you-now cycle of emotions.
For instance, as discussed here and Tweeted one million times, I have a raging crush on Kenya right now. Sometimes I'm just daydreaming and people say "What are you thinking about?" and I'm like "Oh, Kenya." I hope to go early next year. Like many crushes, I may find I've just built Kenya up in my mind, and it's not that great. But I almost guarantee you for the first 24 hours I WILL LOVE IT.
How can I say that with such certainty? Because I love any emerging market for the first 24 hours. Singapore is no different. I've been here a day and I'm just blown away. I wonder if there's an endorphin link between jetlag and loving a new country? Anyway, I'm in sponge-mode asking a jillion questions and taking it all in, so I'm not ready to write much intelligent about it yet. But soon.
Meantime the worst and best part of my day:
Best: This is HANDS DOWN the easiest country for getting local mobile access. That's a little unfair, because China is pretty damn easy. But in China, I have to at least point and guesture because I don't speak Chinese and I usually just get basic voice service. Here I walked into a 7/11, and within a few minutes got a local SIM card and week's worth Blackberry service for less than $20. WHAT!? That's amazing. It took an hour to set up, because I have a brand new Bold, and they hadn't set one up before. Indeed, Blackberry has made some stupid changes to its operating system, and I've even been confused by how to do anything on the phone. I was late for a meeting, so I just left the Blackberry, came back and it was done. Wait, I don't know anyone in this country and I just left a new several-hundred-dollar phone with a clerk in a 7/11? Yes. Singapore.
Worst: The streets are almost too clean. It's raining constantly and people are just hosing down the pavement everywhere I go. I walked out of my hotel this morning and promptly slipped and fell. It looked about as cool as it sounds. What's more: I've slipped and almost fallen three more times. Upside: Streets are so clean my scrapes probably won't get infected.
How Do I Care Enough About Soccer to Have a World Cup Delimma?
Damn you, emerging markets!
Americans just hate soccer. It's boring. And I say this as someone who goes to 20+ baseball games a year. (When I'm actually in the US that is)
And yet somehow I am not only excited about the World Cup, I feel like a total nerd for coming-to-and-then-leaving South Africa just before the World Cup. WORSE: I am really having some angst about who to root for.
A few problems:
1. I really don't understand how the World Cup works or know what countries are still in contention.
2. I fall in love with every country and have been to too many countries this year.
3. Entrepreneurs from different countries keep asking in passing if I'm rooting for them. I don't know how to answer. (See also #1)
If you can help me with any of these, please leave it in the comments.
I'm Back. And I'm Leaving Again.
Hey everyone. I am back from Rio. I was totally MIA while I was there, again, because of threats from Brazil. So I've been posting stuff to TechCrunch about my trip and FRANTICALLY trying to get a chunk of the book drafted before I leave again....Sunday.
First off, Rio was simply wonderful. I stayed on the beach in Leblon and found if i could run jump in the ocean for even 10 minutes before or in the middle of a day of meetings I felt completely reinvigorated. I also loved wandering around the neighborhood (during the DAY of course.) Aside from that, I met some cool companies and had some really life-changing experiences. I flew and then trucked out to the basin of the Amazon where BS Construtora is building a 1,600 house village. (More on that here.) And spent a day exploring the slums around Brasilia with an entrepreneur who grew up amid drug runners and now is starting and Internet company in Sao Paulo. Then flew back to Rio and spent some time in a pacified favela with a company that's spent a decade building computer labs in the most hard-core slums. What I don't write about on TechCrunch in the next week will be in the book. Oh, I also met a couple who own a trout farm. They said I could come work on it if this whole writing thing doesn't work out. Mr. Lacy says he's game.
One of the cutest things ever happened in the favela, by the way. A little girl-- dressed like an Indian for "indigenous people's day"-- just came up and grabbed my hand like we were friends. (See photo above.) Kids are always fascinated by foreigners. I've had them giggle, point, show me around, shyly ask me where I'm from, but none has just come up and hold my hand like we'd known each other for years. The level of trust from a child in a community that can't yet trust the city's pacification efforts showed how much things could change in a generation if the city stays committed to this. And thanks to the pressure from the World Cup and the Olympics coming to Rio, there's reason to be optimistic. I was so caught off guard and charmed and wanted to scoop her up and take her home. Wouldn't you?
Second off, the book. I've been talking with my publishers about titles and cover art so it's nice evidence I will actually have something tangible to show for all this work. I am somehow, amazingly, ahead of schedule. I spent the last week finishing drafting the section on India, and I'm drafting the section on Brazil now, hoping to finish it before I go. That leaves only Indonesia, Rwanda (which is half written) and the Epilogue and a TON of revising before my August 1 deadline. I can't actually believe I'm going to make it. The publishers do not want it over 70,000 words so I am really pruning and pruning each chapter. A lot of great stories are getting cut out, but I do think it's making the book stronger in the end. You will quite literally get a world of entrepreneurship in less than 300 pages.
Third off, I'm leaving again. For a long time. Five weeks. The longest trip yet. I have no idea what I was thinking, but now, barely recovered from the last trip I'm looking at this schedule and wondering if I'm going to make it. Fortunately, I'm equally as excited about it. Adrenaline don't fail me now... I am going to Cape Town, South Africa first where I'm speaking at the Net Prophets conference. Then, I head to Indonesia where I'll report around for two weeks and hopefully find some cool stuff. (Mr. Lacy is meeting me for the second week in Indonesia.) Then, I head to China for the last time. I've been to China more than any other country and somehow that section of the book has the most holes because so much has been off the record. I'll be a bit all over the place, including some smaller cities. Smaller being the operative word-- nothing is actually small in China.
Fourth off, reading list update. I am reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography now which is pretty great and I plan to finish before my flight. Taking with me "A History of South Africa," "A History of Modern Indonesia," "Asian Godfathers" and "China: Fragile Superpower." Amazingly I'll only have eight books left in my INSANE stack of reading once I knock those out. I have so much stuff about so many places coursing through my head I am forgetting basic things like, phone numbers and names.
Fifth off, packing. I haven't yet done five weeks out of carry-on luggage. There's going to be a lot of sink-washing going on...
My Favorite Books about Emerging Markets
I find the most helpful thing to do while writing a book is to read lots of books. Not only do you learn a lot about whatever you are reading about, but you see what works and doesn't work when it comes to voice, structure, tone and other dorky things authors obsess about.
Here's my current pile of reading-- the ones on the left are still to be read, the ones on the right are done. Actually both piles have gotten higher since I took that photo, and the pile on the right is just a bit taller now. But that won't last. Like Sisyphus, I stupidly keep buying books once the to-read pile starts to look remotely manageable.
I usually refrain from writing about books, because it's not much of a review if you only write nice things, and as an author its hard for me to write bad things about something someone worked really hard on. Just getting a book DONE can feel like a Herculean task and no book is going to be perfect for every reader. But someone asked me for a list of my favorites so here you go.
1. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. It's really hard to write one compelling book about large, disparate chunks of the world (trust me on this) and Zakaria is one of the few that pulls it off. He's incredibly gifted at pulling together lots of strands to make one compelling central argument. My book mostly starts with the assumption that emerging markets are where the most economic growth is going to take place in the next few decades, but Zakaria's book explains why and what America's place in that world will be.
This is my only quibble: Indian nationals are incredibly patriotic and Zakaria is no different. There was a subtle shift in tone when he wrote about India and I felt like-- on the margins-- Zakaria cut India more slack on certain things. For instance, he praised the legal system put in place by the Brits. It may have been set up well back in the colonial days, but no one in India would tell you the legal system is anything to brag about today. Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, told me that it would take 320 years to try all of the pending and backlogged cases in the Indian courts. "Can you imagine?" Murthy said laughing at the absurdity.
Still, this is hands-down the best overall book I've read on globalization and I highly recommend it.
2. India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. I wish there was a book this good on the history of every country I'm visiting. It's whopper at some 800 pages, but Guha, a historian, takes you on an unbiased, thoroughly researched and riveting journey through India's first fifty years or so of independence. I came away understanding modern India a lot better and wondering why an over-the-top biopic had never been made about Indira Gandhi.
3. Democratic Brazil Revisited. I wish there was a book this good on politics like this for every country I'm visiting. This book is a collection of essays by academics that break down every aspect of Brazil's democracy-- from education to violence to economic and social policy. It's the update to an earlier edition that predicted some choppy waters for the Lula administration. Surprisingly, when they revisited the topic four years later, the researchers found that overall Brazil's democracy had outperformed their expectations. For what's essentially a text book, it's also amazingly readable.
4. Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang. I mentioned this one in my last post but it bears mentioning again because it is one of the best books I've read over the last year or so. It actually makes me a little angry at how good it is. Factories in China are one of those topics everyone feels entitled to have an opinion on and it's usually: They treat workers like crap and make low quality stuff. What Chang uncovered by living among the girls powering China's factory boom was quite different. It was the story of empowered, ambitious young women taking low level opportunities and creating whole careers out of them. It tells you so much about the culture of modern China and is engrossingly written. As a writer, Chang doesn't get carried away with the sound of her own voice. She lets the stories of the girls unfold simply and beautifully.
There's not much info on Chang online. She doesn't appear to have written another book and I can't tell if she's even still a reporter. I hope she is. I also hope this book made her a lot of money because she deserves every penny.
5. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With our Families by Philip Gourevitch. The world's longest and most confusing title, I know, but this is the definitive book on the Rwandan genocide. It's heartbreaking, eye-opening and frankly, will make anyone in the world with a soul embarrassed at how much we let Rwanda down some 15 years ago. Gourevitch did a follow up piece last year in the New Yorker about how Rwanda had rebuilt itself, that only barely scratched the surface of the strength and almost super-human forgiveness of the Rwandan people. Not only do I highly recommend this book, I highly recommend that anyone travel to Rwanda to see this amazing country for themselves.
Of Silence, Fear and Feats of Strength
Yes. This is my first blog post of 2010. Well, first post here anyway. I've done plenty for TechCrunch and I've written more than 35,000 words from my book since January 1. I've also -- not surprisingly-- been traveling. I spent a few weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil came back to San Francisco for about 23 hours then hopped on a flight to Delhi. I spent a few weeks in India traveling between Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and half a dozen villages. I flew back to San Francisco for about 22 hours then went to Hawaii for a speaking gig and interview with eBay founder Pierre Omidyar-- an unassuming billionaire who has pledged to give 90% of his wealth to charity, much of which is flowing towards entrepreneurs in the poorest parts of the developing world. (One of my favorite days in Sao Paulo was spent taking a graffiti tour of the city, which is where I took the photo above.)
I've been home for a few weeks now, long enough to get over my jet lag, lose a few travel pounds and get a long-needed haircut, but not quite long enough to get as wrapped up as I'd like in some exciting new projects at TechCrunch. It's not nearly long enough to do as much book writing as I'd like and not nearly long enough to see my husband and friends.
But it's time to hit the road again. My book is due on August 1, and I've got tens of thousands more words to write and seven weeks left on the road. Up next is a place I can't disclose, followed in May by South Africa, Indonesia and my final trip to China.
I can barely contain my excitement about the things scheduled for these final trips. But at the same time, travel is getting harder. For one thing, I'm physically tired. I've lost exact count, but I know I've spent more than 30 weeks in other countries in the year-plus I've been researching this book. Eating in hotels, packing the same suitcase over and over again and navigating through security in hundreds of domestic airports, trying to gain trust of sources when I only have a few weeks in a country, negotiating cabs and public transportation in more than a dozen languages I don't speak-- it's all weighing on me.
Worse is the idea that it's all almost over. The last year on the road has changed me as a person. I've done things I never thought I could. We all live such coddled lives in America and yet live in such a fear-based culture. This book has utterly changed my relationship with fear. Riding an elephant through ancient ruins, hiking amid a family of silverback gorillas in Rwanda, weaving through Beijing traffic on a bike, or even just waking up to find a spider crawling on you and merely smashing it and going back to bed-- these are all things I never saw myself doing with ease. I've become a great problem solver in my home-life because doing business in emerging markets is a constant game of problem solving. Everything is a negotiation: Every hotel booking, every cab ride, every meeting and as the outsider I am *always* at the disadvantage.
But the biggest reason the travel is getting harder is that my head and notebooks are so packed with phenomenal stories of entrepreneurship and human strength that I'm not sure I can absorb anymore. That sounds really pandering and cliche, but when (hopefully) you read my book you'll understand exactly what I mean. You could make twenty movies out of the various stories I've found. We're so used to thinking of emerging markets and the chaotic push from poverty to middle class-- or in some cases poverty to extreme wealth-- as a story of desperation, but it's really the story of strength.
Over the past few months, I've read about 20-or-so books on politics, history, economics and culture about the countries I'm visiting and this morning I started "Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China" by Leslie T. Chang. It sums up what I'm trying to say about strength better than I can. China has more than 130 million migrant workers-- the largest migration in human history. Chang writes about these women working in factories:
"But suffering in silence is not how migrant workers see themselves. To come out from home and work in a factory is the hardest thing they have ever done. It is also an adventure. What keeps them in the city is not fear but pride: To return home early is to admit defeat. To go out and stay out--chuqu-- is to change your fate...
...Earning money isn't the only reason people migrate. In surveys, migrants rank 'seeing the world,' 'developing myself,' and 'learning new skills' as important as increasing their incomes. In many cases, it is not crippling poverty that drives migrants out of homes, but idleness."
That kind of strength and life-changing determination puts my journey-- as hard as it's been for me-- into stark and humbling perspective. And as I process all I've seen and done and turn it somehow into a book, I guess that realization is a big reason I've been so quiet the last few months. Anything I can tell you about my journey just pales next to the journeys of those I'm writing about, so a big part of me would rather just wait until you can read that.
This Made Me Feel Horribly Guilty
As regular readers know, I'm one-third of the way through reporting a book on entrepreneurs in emerging markets that has me spending at least half my time in other countries. I'm spending about six weeks in the U.S.-- and it's the only stretch in the 18-month project where I have such a break. My poor cat, Vinnie, who I've had since I was 20 (pictured here in a sadder moment) has been alternating between being excited to see me and moping around the house the entire time. He's started acting out and gaining weight too.
I've been pretty annoyed. After all, he's got Olivia and Mr. Lacy to lavish him with attention, right? Then Mr. Lacy showed me this MSN report on noisy cats:
I'm a total jerk.
Staying Put for a While
I'm about one-third of the way through my 18-month death-march around the world seeking its best entrepreneurs, or as I call it in polite conversation, work on my new book. It's time for a break. Aside from a few day trips here or there I'm sticking in San Francisco for the next six weeks where I'll try to be a better blogger for TechCrunch, a more reliable columnist for BusinessWeek and get more actual writing on the book banged out. I'm going to keep working on learning Portuguese and Mandarin. I'm going to cook dinner for my husband. I'm going to reintroduce myself to my much-stood-up Pilates trainer. And I may even attempt to have a social life again.
I feel mixed about it. Most of me is screaming out for a break from 20-hour flights, endless meetings and the frustration that comes with interviewing someone from a totally different culture, who is frequently speaking a totally different language. (See photo to the right-- just moments before a speaking gig. See sadder photo below. Human rights groups are investigating.) On Thursday as I was packing up to leave my hotel in London, scouring for every stray sock or earring, wondering what I'd leave behind this time (sunglasses as it turned out), and hoping I'd allotted enough time for customs, security and the like-- I had a crushing feeling of I desperately, desperately need a month off!
But as I reflect on everything I've seen and experienced during the 10 weeks I've spent in Israel, Rwanda, China and London, another part of me can't wait to get back on the road. When I set out to write this book, I didn't totally know what I was getting into, aside from the hope that it'd be important and the certainty that it'd be life-changing on a personal level. The first few months I felt a bit lost and concerned, but now, six months in, it's coming together. I've written several thousand words, discovered stories so dramatic they could be made into films and the big macro themes of book are shaping themselves in my head every day. The book is becoming less of an epidsodic travel narrative and more of a, well, book. As much work as there is ahead, I know now I've got something, and that's a huge relief. (See photo to below taken in a happier, more rested moment. Although note my sad, tired computer is missing an "R" key.)
So as I pause for a bit, I wanted to thank everyone who's made the whole thing possible thus far: Dan Nova for introducing me to Rwanda, Roi Carthy and Orli Yakuel for being my den mothers in Israel, Tom Limongello for, well, everything in China, and Paul Carr for being my unofficial personal assistant in London, while Rachel Bremer set me up with some of the most impressive companies I've seen in the UK to date. Huge thanks also to Endeavor-- the experts in emerging world entrepreneurship, and to BusinessWeek and TechCrunch for being endlessly supportive of this suicide-mission. And, of course, Olivia for taking care of the kitties in my absence, and Mr. Lacy for somehow putting up with all of this.
After the break, I'll finish the year with Brazil, China, India, and back to Israel. As always, let me know anyone I must meet.
[PHOTO CREDITS: Ayelett Noff, JD Lasica, Craig Newmark]
Life in London: Does Fun Have an ROI?
I did very little blogging while I was in London, but it wasn't because I didn’t find anything interesting to write about. It’s because I was talking, laughing, eating or drinking nearly every moment of my two-week trip. I proudly announced to my husband that I hadn’t taken a single Ambien during the visit. Unfortunately, it wasn't because of some no-jet-lag magic, it was because I only got about two hours of sleep a night.
Every time I visit London I find a city with zero downtime filled with entrepreneurs, investors and the like who are offering to take me for afternoon tea or a drink to talk about the industry or well, just talk into wee hours of the morning. One Oli Barrett even serenaded me with several songs from Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang late after the TechCrunch Europa awards. After all, that’s how we Americans all think the British talk, right? That’s pretty accommodating stuff.
And look no further than these pictures to see how much fun Scoble was having. Even Last.fm had a sense of humor when a TechCrunch editor stormed their offices somewhat unannounced. (Michael Arrington? Less of a sense of humor about that post. Sorry, Mike.) People are intense about their companies, but there’s a sense in the UK that it’s not the only thing that matters.
The joviality is all the more surprising given the rough times UK start-ups are having, as I detailed today on TechCrunch. Money available for early stage start-ups is perilously low and good many entrepreneurs I know have already closed their companies or sold them on the cheap. But here they are all still hanging out, supporting one another, having wild parties and enjoying life. It’s as if (gasp!) the world doesn’t revolve around the Internet.
As a business reporter, I’m of two minds on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. I’m a big believer that there’s no such thing as work-life balance when it comes to start-ups—a view that frequently gets me in trouble especially when I’m talking about why there aren’t more women in the business. But sometimes the Valley takes the macho-look-at-me-working-24-hrs-a-day thing too far. Startup or no, I’m not sure I know anyone who works just 40 hours a week here, and I know I don’t know anyone who isn’t checking their email every minute of the day. The debate about whether that’s healthy is one thing—but does it actually make us more successful?
International Travel Tip #3: Cheapoair.com
Editor's Note: I suck, guys. I wrote this on the flight to Rwanda and forgot to post it. But good news! You get another tip tomorrow when I head to London!
Here I am in seat 20A embarking on another long day of international travel. This time I’m headed to Rwanda. It’s my second trip this year, and I cannot wait to get back. Only about 28 hours to go! Mr. Lacy is joining me for the second week of my trip. This cute guy pictured here is one of the famous Rwandan silverbacks. I snapped this on my last trip. We’ll see if Mr. Famous-Photographer-Geoffrey-Ellis can do better…
But let’s get down to business. Another flight means another travel tip for you. This one is a site called Cheapoair.com. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t before a few months ago. I found it because it was one of the only sites online that would sell me a plane ticket to Rwanda. In fact, when I booked my first ticket to Rwanda on it, I worried whether it was actually legit.
Cheapoair doesn’t have the best interface or functionality, but unlike most online travel sites that basically show you the same fares, Cheapoair has a way broader selection of international flights, including ones operated by niche foreign carriers. (I’m on a Brussels Air flight now, for instance.) Downside: A lot of times there are steep foreign taxes, so make sure you look at the taxes (in parenthesis on the main listing page) before you get excited.
And although the fares are frighteningly expensive, both my flights to Rwanda were far cheaper on Cheapoair than ones I saw elsewhere. The one I got in February was thousands of dollars less than the competition. (Not quite so lucky this time around…)
Up Next: London
God forbid I sit still for more than two weeks. I've still got my Africa jet lag, but I'm already planning my time in London July 4-16.
The first week I'm traveling with a group of videographers, bloggers and authors called "The Traveling Geeks." I went on the first Traveling Geeks trip last year, which was also my first trip to Israel. Most people know I usually like to travel alone, but every once in a while experiencing another culture's tech scene with people from slightly different media disciplines can be eye-opening. Plus, they needed someone in charge of pub crawling. (Ahem, London readers, leave your suggestions in the comments...) I'll also get to present an award and do my best Michael Arrington impression at the UK TechCrunchies, or as they're actually dubbed the "Europas." I'll be blogging here and on TechCrunch, as I try not to step on Mike Butcher's capable TechCrunch Europe toes.
If you want to hang with us, get your ticket to the UK Crunchies or come to our Tweet-up. Tweet-up tickets are half-price until Friday, if you say you read about it on SarahLacy.com. (Just kidding, they're half-off for everyone until Friday.) Our full agenda is here in case you want to just STALK us the whole time.
Our statement of ethics is going up on the site soon, and I wanted to bring it up since I've been pretty harsh on Pay-Per-Post. No one on this trip is recieving any payment in exchange for coverage. We do have sponsors paying our travel costs, so we could get a diverse group of attendees without worrying about income or travel budgets. We disclose those sponsors here. Our only obligations are to go to the events we've committed to and write about whatever we find interesting.
I love London and spent a good deal of time there last year, so I padded five extra days onto the trip so I can reconnect with friends and meet new ones. I've always got a list of startups to meet, but this trip, I'm particularly interested in ferreting out some London investors who are doing deals in China, India, Africa and South America. Most of the ones I know do more Western-centric early stage tech venture capital. Would be great to mix some European investing perspective into the book, so please let me know any suggestions.
Also, in case you were about to comment about the un-American-ness of my leaving on INDEPENDENCE DAY to go see the very people we declared independence from in the first place, Mr. Lacy has already beat you to it.
New Book
An unforgettable portrait of the emerging world's entrepreneurial dynamos Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky is the story about that top 1% of people who do more to change their worlds through greed and ambition than politicians, NGOs and nonprofits ever can. This new breed of self-starter is taking local turmoil and turning it into opportunities, making millions, creating thousands of jobs and changing the face of modern entrepreneurship at the same time. To tell this story, Lacy spent forty weeks traveling through Asia, South America and Africa hunting down the most impressive up-and-comers the developed world has never heard of....yet.
Buy it from these sellers
Sarah Lacy is an award-winning reporter who has covered high-growth entrepreneurship for fifteen years. Based in Silicon Valley where she's a senior editor at TechCrunch, Lacy travels the world looking for great entrepreneurs.
Updates
Sarah's Latest on TechCrunch
On the Blog
- Africa
- Argentina
- Blogkeeping
- Books
- Brazil
- Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky
- China
- Food and Drink
- India
- Indonesia
- International Travel Tips
- Israel
- Media
- Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good
- Silicon Valley
- Singapore
- TechCrunch
- the always controversial sarah lacy
- Travel
- venture capital
