Coronavirus Shut Out & Stuck Between China & Thailand with Zack Franklin

There is so much happening in the world at the moment that has affected everyone not only in the Cross Border e-commerce industry that it is almost a hassle deciding what topic to talk about. But this one today will keep you on the edge of your seat as we listen to Zack Franklin – a regular on the show and a really good friend of mine share his horrible experience with the whole Coronavirus nightmare and how he ended up stuck outside of China. Let’s tune in.

√ Zack’s company – AMZKungfu
√ Cross Border Summit
√ Zack Franklin’s GFA VIP profile

Thanks for sharing your Zack, on the ground, real time experience and we got to follow along. He always puts global information high on his list and we appreciate it with his lack of sleep and everything. This is what our podcast is all about, helping share these updates.

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[00:00:00] Episode 297 of Global From Asia. This one is a buddy of ours stuck outside of China, stuck outside of his apartment with this whole coronavirus nightmare. It’s a good one on the edge of your seats. GlobalFromAsia.com/stuck for photos and notes and images. Welcome to the Global from Asia podcast where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down into straight up actionable advice.

[00:00:32] And now your host, Michael Michelini. Thank you so much for choosing to download or stream or I dunno. Where are you getting this anywhere? My wife’s pushing it all over WeChat and uh, it’s in iTunes. I think it’s on Spotify, I think. But, uh, however you got to get this show online. I hope you’re enjoying it.

[00:00:54] There is so much happening in our world of this cross border e-commerce, Asia business, whatever you want to call it, just insane. Ah, it’s almost trouble deciding what episode to put which week. But this one, I had to sneak it in. Zack Franklin a regular on this show, a really good friend of mine, speaker at our Cross Border Summits and other events and a, and a guru at Panda Leap and AMZ Kung Fu.

[00:01:20] And I’ve been keeping up with him. He was also in our coronavirus round up quote, and he fled China when, when he started seeing masks everywhere. Guess his girlfriend Cherish where he talks about in the show, said goodbye for a while and went down to Bangkok. His lease is up on the 15th of March, so actually I think this show goes online right after his lease expired.

[00:01:48] It’s not really funny, but, uh, so he goes back early morning, get some taco bell, gets a taco bell mask and he goes to China to try to move his stuff out. Settle up his lease and go back to Thailand. Something I’ve been thinking about doing, cause I’m separated from my wife and kids. I’ll leave it at that.

[00:02:09] He gives an amazing insight. He had not slept for 48 hours. I think you’ve got a little bit of sleep for our interview, but I think it’s our job here at Global From Asia to get these kinds of, kind of stories. And this is what our advantage is, we have amazing people in our community that give us insights of what’s really happening on the ground.

[00:02:28] And after the show, I’ll, I’ll give you some of my updates about where I think I’ll be going. As of this weekend, I’m meeting my team, Alvin, our amazing video editor, Mindy, Stephenie, LJ. We will be meeting in Bohol. So I really hope to even make our content better and improve. Your feedback, always appreciate it. Also, thanks to those that voted for last week’s show about the name change.

[00:02:53] I had a feeling a lot of you guys like the Global From Asia. But if you didn’t vote yet, I’m still looking at them. I’m still refreshing it. Or I’m getting the email alerts globalfromasia.com/poll for that one. P. O. L. L. I’m switching the numbers to the words, and this one is globalfromasia.com/stuck.  S  T U C.

[00:03:13] K. And, we’re gonna put some pictures in this one. Zack gave me some pictures, so if you want to see some things, this is audio only podcast, but we do have some images and notes and always, we actually spent a lot of time making these notes. You can check it out at globalfromasia.com/stuck.

[00:03:27] All right, let’s dive into the interview with Zack Franklin.  Are you an accredited US investor looking for exposure and the Amazon FPA E commerce space, or are you somebody that wants to get exposure without having to get your hands dirty with launching and all the other stuff we talk about on this podcast and many others.

[00:03:46] As you know, I’m a partner at Alpha Rock Capital and we are raising money in the spring. And if you are interested to get more information, connect with our investor relations team and others. I would love to hear from you. Check it out. I made a little landing page for listeners at globalfromasia.com/arc, Alpha Rock Capital, arc. globalfromasia.com/arc. Thanks again.

[00:04:12] I’m trying always, as a podcaster, to keep my ears open. And, you know, Zack Franklin from Panda Leap and also AMZ Kung Fu. Which one is it? Good. Both? Panda Leap is kind of a brand of AMZ Kung Fu. Got it, got it. So, yeah, I mean, you’re, I mean, you’ve been on the show a couple of times, at least, probably even more. You know, you always, so, you know, you speak at our events and we always appreciate everything you do for us.

[00:04:39] And I mean, your WeChat group for Panda Leap and you know, I try to keep up with all the groups and I can’t. I was catching up. We’re here in the middle of, mid-March, 2020. And you’re like telling your, your group, you’re like, okay guys, heading back to China from Bangkok. And, we also had you on. We also, you know, he also recorded on the coronavirus update here.

[00:05:02] You, you may, before you jump into your China return and exit in one day, let’s talk about you know, your experiences, you know, as we quoted you in the coronavirus podcast a couple weeks ago. You, you saw everybody wearing masks. You read the news. You were in Shenzhen, and you just kind of went immediately to Bangkok when it was like a month ago or so.

[00:05:25] Yeah. Well, I flew to Phuket and then spent some time on the beach and then made it up to Bangkok. And then things didn’t look like they were getting any better. So I just got an apartment here. Yeah. Yeah. So you got an apartment there. And, yeah, I mean, there’s been a common trend in all the different, in the, in our communities and everybody in this industry and down here in China, Asia. A lot of people are leaving China.

[00:05:50] It’s happening before the virus, but now it seems like it’s escalating. So it seems like almost nobody’s left in China. I mean, a couple of brave souls have like, gone back, but you know, the community that’s there is not there. Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, my speaking of my listeners and you know, my situation. My wife is up in North China with her parents before this outbreak, and I’m here in Manila.

[00:06:19] I was thinking of going back and I’m of course curious to hear your story. So, so basically the story was, yeah, you basically are in Bangkok, rented an apartment, your lease is up in a couple of days. So it’s basically this Sunday, the 15th. The show will be online on the 17th so it’ll already be passed. So you went back trying to move out.

[00:06:41] So you’re in your group and you’re like, okay guys, I’m going to go back to China. Is it okay or do you want to just give us this idea of your process, experience? Yeah. So I woke up in Bangkok day on my flight, went to get some Taco Bell at the grand opening. My life mission is to go to every Taco Bell in Asia and other than the Philippines, I’m all good.

[00:07:04] Yeah. So what’s cool is I got like a Taco Bell promotional mask. So now that’s the new swag of choice for these companies. And you need a face mask to do anything in China. Otherwise they’ll kick you off the subway. You can’t get in a taxi, all this stuff. So, I flew back to China. I was really excited to get back home, see everything and see everyone.

[00:07:33] And overall things were smooth when I got to the airport. I mean, it definitely felt, you know, off. Everyone’s wearing masks. You had like, I had my temperature taken at least 15 times before I left the airport. Like some of these temperature checks, like three of them are like five meters apart. So it’s like really, is my temperature kind of intense?

[00:07:58] Um, so you know that like, China’s basically going to war against this thing. I mean, everyone is just like, like after someone walks through, they’re just like sanitizing the air spray stuff. You know, there probably is not a safe place to be than China. I got in my taxi, the taxi driver had a huge plastic wrap between like the front of the taxi and the back of the taxi.

[00:08:24] That I hope that you knew where I was going cause there’s no way I think you could hear me. Gave the money through the side window. So I finally get home and Cherish, just waiting for me outside. And she, the first thing she does is she squirts me with like Lysol or something, like everywhere, you know, after I haven’t seen her in two months.

[00:08:50] And, you know. Cherish is Zack’s girlfriend for who knows how long. Yeah. They called the apartment complex beforehand, like the boss, the boss’s boss, the boss’s boss’s boss. Hey. You know, my boyfriend’s coming back from China or from Thailand, like, you know, is he going to be able to get in? And then they’re like, Oh yeah, no problem.

[00:09:11] You know, he’s got to register, he’s got to do this stuff. And so I thought, you know, okay, we cleared this with my apartment. I’m going to be able to get in. And I see all of the packages. Cause now logistics just started working in China. Like it’s like a mountain of packages outside the apartment complex ordering through.

[00:09:31] It’s like every single person has a mask. The one second I didn’t have it on to smoke a cigarette, people are yelling at me. Geez, do people smoke through the mask. I don’t know what they’re doing. But, so yeah, so I’m walking in through, through the line and then they’re like, Oh, you got to register. And I’m like, of course, no problem.

[00:09:51] And it’s like a three step app registration. Okay. So you need to scan three different mini apps and you need to do it. I don’t have internet right now because my SIM card broke the last time I was in Thailand. For China, and I had that one for four years. And so, um, I tried to register with one of our extra phones that’s tied to one of Cherish’s SIM cards.

[00:10:12] And then I fill out all of the information, all my travel history, you know, basically every piece of identifying information about me possible. I have to take pictures of my passport, picture of my boarding pass, everything else. And then they say, you know, after like 10 minutes filling this out, Oh, you can’t come in.

[00:10:33] And we’re like, Oh, why? Um, and they’re like, Oh, well, the number that you used isn’t registered to his passport. You know, even though it’s all the same data, but if your number is not one of the big three Chinese characters for your personal identity, um, you will not be able to get in. So they said any way he register, isn’t valid.

[00:10:56] And I’m like, okay, can I try my Thai number? And by the way, none of these apps are in English. Your security guards probably don’t speak English if you do not speak like, fluent Chinese, like you do not have a hope in this process. And so like, they don’t have, they don’t let you put in Thai numbers or any other type of phone numbers.

[00:11:15] So even if you have like any non-standard phone numbers situation, your number will probably be invalid for this process. And if you are arriving to China without internet, you will not be able to get in. You can’t just get like a SIM card in the airport or anything else. And so we call the boss of the apartment complex, and that takes about 30, 40 minutes.

[00:11:40] You know, I, I have to send selfies, I have to send my passport again. I have to send all my, my stamps in my passport. I have to send my boarding pass, I have to send everything else. And they’re like, Oh. Oh, no. So then we called their like, boss, like their, basically like the head of the entire brand of the apartment practically.

[00:12:06] And they said, okay, but he needs to stay in his room for two weeks, like absolute quarantine. And I see other foreigners walking in. I don’t know what the, how the fuck they got this. So then I asked them, I’m like, okay, what’s going on with any of the other foreigners? Cause I live in a complex that has a lot of foreigners and they’re just saying, Oh well, three of them had to go to like deep quarantine.

[00:12:32] And I’m like, what’s deep quarantine? Like the government like, took them out to an apartment room somewhere else. Yeah. And so I said, okay, let me think about this quarantine thing. Let me go have a beer and think about it. Because as long as I haven’t locked into this apartment yet, I haven’t agreed to anything I haven’t given, you know, like the police, like my stuff, I haven’t signed up for any quarantine.

[00:13:00] And you know, I’m having a beer with Cherish and we’re trying to figure this out. So remember I got to my apartment at about 7:00 PM and already at about 10:30. Crazy. 30, 11 and so we’re, we’re thinking, we’re talking and we play rock, paper, scissors. That’s the deciding thing, because I have three options at this point.

[00:13:25] One is I go to a hotel, which will start the quarantine process. I will have to be in that hotel for two weeks. All we have to see, this was, my wife was telling me I have to pay 300 RMB a day for 14 days. I don’t know where she got thoughts about a hotel. Yeah. So, yeah, that’s not what I signed up for. So option two, I do quarantine in my apartment.

[00:13:47] My lease is up in five days, so they basically said, I can’t really do that or something. And that’s like a huge complicating factor. It’s like, what happens after five days? Can I leave China during a quarantine? How do I do this? Like, there’s just no information for foreigners that’s been published by official guidance.

[00:14:07] And every apartment complex has their own rules and their own style of enforcement. Kim Walker brought up a really good point, which is mostly like, they’re just trying to do whatever will get them less complaints by the Chinese residents. And this is true because while they were saying just, you know, like Mei Ban Fa,  other Chinese residents are just like clapping them on the back, like literally clapping them on the back, like keep us safe from this foreign invader.

[00:14:37] You know, even though I’ve been living there longer than they have. I was one of the first people in the complex, you know. And so you can tell like what get echoes and the Chinese news, which is now China is safer than everywhere else. These foreign devils are going to come in.

[00:14:56] This is the main Chinese talking point that I’ve heard echoed to me everywhere from the airport to the taxi, to my apartment complex. So, I go have a beer and I say like, okay, we’ll try the quarantine. So these security guards have switched shifts by the time I get back. And the apartment, the big boss has gone to bed at this point.

[00:15:23] This guy is super uncooperative and he’s the only guy. So he goes Mei ban fa, mei ban fa, mei ban fa, which means like no way, no, no ability. And so basically like, you know, it’s midnight. I’m stuck outside my apartment. I have no idea if I can get in at all. I’m not, I’m not allowed in at all. There’s nowhere that I can go to sleep.

[00:15:53] I’m like chain smoking on a bench outside, like just trying to figure out the options. But at this point, I’m not thinking like super clearly, like I’m very frustrated. You know, I just flew 2000 kilometers. I want to go in the, my house. I can see my house. This is like the most frustrated, I think I’ve ever, ever been in the last couple of years.

[00:16:15] And I haven’t been able to just think clearly. Like maybe I could have like snuck in through the parking garage or something. I don’t know. So my only other option at this point is to have sheriffs go and pack up some of my stuff and then fly back and I start looking at flights and the flights back to China or back to Thailand are insane.

[00:16:39] There’s almost no availability between China and Thailand right now. And when I’m looking at all of the flights. Normally a flight to Thailand from Shenzhen, how much do you think it is? Normally or now? I mean normally, normally it’s a couple hundred bucks or less. Usually I think one way. Normally I get it for like a hundred or a hundred, roundtrip for like 100 bucks.

[00:17:05] Every flight was at minimum $500 and the ones that, and every flight except one, we’re going to take more than 25 hours with layovers in like Shanghai or, or something else, 25 hours for what’s a two hour flight. And so I’m getting frustrated at this point to where I see, I see there’s one direct flight.

[00:17:33] And I might need to take that. So I have Cherish go and I packed my stuff. We keep trying to negotiate with the guy and at four in the morning, because there’s nowhere I can sleep, I’m still outside. I’m just drinking coffee and it’s raining, you know? It’s like all colors. And so I’m just like, okay, this is it.

[00:17:54] I’m just going to go back. So book the ticket and got all my how’d cherish go and pack my stuff? I was like guiding her through video call about what’s important and what’s not. And so then after that, just left back for the airport, you know. That’s a have a couple of choice words with the security guard.

[00:18:17] Like, dude, you cost me like 800 bucks round trip. I had to travel 4,000 kilometers. Like there’s really nothing. So I mean like obviously I understand China’s need for, you know, a security, there’s solidarity against. There’s this disease and it’s really admirable, especially compared to the stance a lot of other countries are taken, but they do need to think that there are like hundreds of thousands of people that are not going to fit some of their strict requirements.

[00:18:48] The Chinese system, and it wouldn’t have taken, cause I, I do development, I know what it would have taken. It would have taken about three hours for them to create the system needed to use other phone numbers. Or it’s a make an alternate system for foreigners. It would have taken a couple hours and maybe a hundred bucks, um, of development time, which is what makes the situation so ridiculous.

[00:19:14] And so within one day, I flew to Thailand from Thailand to China. Absolutely got denied for everything, and I didn’t want to just be like homeless in China for like days, like sleeping on the street. You get stuck and 14 days in a hotel or in your apartment, which at least was up there. Yeah. So without like proper guidance to foreigners about like what is entailed by all this stuff, like I wasn’t able to make any proper decisions at this point, you know?

[00:19:47] I just didn’t have, like, I was just completely emotionally exhausted. Like I came all this way. I see my house, I can’t get in, and I just grabbed my stuff, paid this 500 bucks for a direct flight back and came back. So I spent about 800 bucks for this flight. Like both ways, just to be in China for about like.

[00:20:13] 14 hours, got to spend some time with Cherish, like at the airport and stuff. But, this is one of the most frustrating things I’ve had to experience in a really long time. And I would say that unless you know for a fact that your apartment is going to let you in, that you have like everything tied to your official passport, you have a work permit that you are like as official as you can be.

[00:20:40] There’s no way you’re going to be able to get into your apartment. And the, just to be clear or just for listeners, I think, I know you flew to Shenzhen, in Hong Kong, cause if you went home, he wouldn’t even enter mainland China, right? The border or I don’t even know. We don’t know. Like I couldn’t get a flight from Hong Kong because I mean as far as my knowledge, I mean I might be wrong on a lot of this stuff guys.

[00:21:05] Yeah, I mean, nobody is that I don’t think that there’s any way for me to go at that time because I know that, I think there is one border thing open, but I don’t think you can go directly to the airport from it. And I know Hong Kong also does like a quarantine process, so I didn’t want to get like a double quarantine, you know where I’m alone.

[00:21:27] What if I’m in like China? I’m quarantined for two weeks. I go back to Thailand, let’s say in the two weeks I’m in China, Thailand, implements quarantine, and then I would have like a whole month of, of my life taken away. So I think it just really underscores the need for being pandemic proof in your business.

[00:21:49] If I was not still making money from different online businesses while I’m going through this massive period of just disruption everywhere. I don’t think I would make it. I think I would end up in really, really tough situations. I really feel for everyone that’s caught up and kind of a nine to five that a lot of people don’t know if they’re getting paid.

[00:22:14] You know, I was talking to some English teachers in Vietnam and their school is just canceled for months and months and they’re not getting paid. ame thing with some Chinese teachers, but I think they’re getting paid. I ran into a couple in Cambodia and it’s just, if you are not focused full time on creating this, this online independence lifestyle, it’s not just so you can sit on a beach.

[00:22:39] It’s so that if, if the world goes crazy, you’re still okay. And so I’m really thankful that I’ve been able to have a, to make that because otherwise I don’t know what would happen. Yeah. This has been a wake, wake up call or just, I think everybody’s gonna be different,you know, have different adoptions, some their life, their business, their, their, everything from this and, yeah, I mean, I guess you and I are pretty, pretty blessed to be able to work.

[00:23:10] Online, more simpler. So, so, as long as you have internet and electricity, which sometimes it’s even hard, but, well, yeah, I know you’re still exhausted. This is literally just happened, but I’m glad you shared over, basically, I was basically up for 48 hours to. Yeah, yeah. I see you had some taco bell.

[00:23:32] I’m going to be curious. I think you have a picture. Maybe we can add a picture. Did you have a taco bell logo on the mask? That’d be good. I’d love to see, maybe we can add it into the show notes, a picture of it with you, or just a mask, or you got a taco bell to use. Or two. And I’m a couple of fun facts about me.

[00:23:48] Taco bell was my first ever job when I was 16. Not only that, the reason Panda Leap and all my other brand colors are purple and white is because of my love for taco bell and my personal mission is to go to every taco bell in Asia, and the only ones I have left are seven in the Philippines.  Soon.

[00:24:10] Mike. I guess, I guess one more little question pop in my mind maybe our listeners have is, I was scared you can get stuck in the middle. How can you see go into China and then reenter Thailand? Thailand didn’t quarantine you or anything. Oh my God. So when I got back to Thailand, I actually almost got deported.

[00:24:32] I was thinking, I spent an hour with the immigration official, and this was not because I was coming back from China. Although I did have to go through kind of a different line and I had to wait for like this health declaration stuff. And of course they check all my stuff. But I had just been in Thailand too much because in December I was there for Affiliate World and I stayed like a couple of weeks.

[00:24:58] And then January. I flew in and then I just did an extension there. But basically they saw just too many Thai stamps on my passport over the last, like 90 days. And so, I had to like, basically say like, look, I’m trapped because of Coronavirus. I can’t go to my apartment in China. Here’s the card for my apartment in China.

[00:25:20] I had to speak Chinese. We’ll get enough to like convince them. I had to, basically say like, look, because I just came from China, I can’t go anywhere else. Where do you want me to go? Indonesia won’t let me in. Like Vietnam will let me in. Like Korea, Japan, America with me. And so basically you’re like, the entire reason I was led into the country was because I was just in China and they wouldn’t be able to send me anywhere else.

[00:25:46] Okay. So yeah. You just couldn’t go back when you came. Well, uh, I guess you’ve kind of answered my question. Not to go back. I mean, I really want to see my wife and kids. It’s been a couple of months and, uh, you know. My plan was, you know, I was down here, you know, business development, alpha rock and other stuff.

[00:26:03] But my plan was to hop back and forth, obviously before this outbreak, but mine, mine too. And uh, yeah, I don’t think it’s ready to go back unless you are the model foreigner in China. You know, if you have a work permit, you have a business visa. Now, I don’t even think business visa is going to cut it if you have ’em.

[00:26:28] It’s any abnormal phone number situation. You know, like I said, it’s going to be the small, random things you don’t think about that’s gonna ruin your, your chance. I realize that the security guards have this incentive to keep the thousands of Chinese in their apartment happy and not you. And it’s this kind of, this may bond thug culture, which is just, you know, they’re just gonna not make the decision and not.

[00:26:57] Give you to the person that can make the right decision on. If you don’t have anyone that can speak Chinese with you, you are really, your chance of getting in is pretty low. So think very carefully. I think right now before going back and also there’s a lot of just kind of nationalism where you are not on the right end of it.

[00:27:23] I respect sign a lot and I think that they’re doing better than, than anywhere else could be doing, but it’s going to catch a lot of us up in the middle of it. Agreed. I know it. I don’t want to say it started in . It didn’t start there in China. Now somehow, but I don’t want to get into the origin, but you know, a heck of a lot of people had it there first, and it got out from there and no, we can’t go back.

[00:27:50] It’s unbelievable. Right. It’s actually really unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, I just feel really bad right now for Cherish because we have to move out. But here’s the thing. They won’t let movers into the apartment. They won’t let friends in to help you move. You know, how is she gonna move out? Bedrooms are going to do, get a new tenants.

[00:28:15] Who’s going to move in? I guess people can move in, but it’s just hard to move out. And they can’t bring in movers and stuff. So like, while I was sitting in the outside, I saw people taking like, what’s the word for it? Like these little carts with boxes in and out. And what also sucks is that I was like the only person that they stopped, like, know so.

[00:28:44] It’s just insanely frustrating at least. Um, I was able to get a lot of my stuff from, from the apartment. I mean, a lot of stuff still there. Um, but it’s, uh, it’s been an absolute mess of 48 hours. All right. This kind of my report from on the ground. Thanks for sharing, man. This is what our podcast is all about, helping share these updates.

[00:29:10] And of course for you, let’s plug your stuff a little bit. I mentioned it, but what’s some ways people can find you in the business? Yeah, that’s a really good question. So basically if you’re an Amazon seller, go to www.panda-leap, well panda-leap.com. You can find me through any of Mike’s wechat groups or anything wechat is a way you can add me at.

[00:29:34] Wechat at, Zack that’s Z A C,K , J F and then 2-4-0-1. Oh yeah. So that wechat is the best way to say, Hey, I heard you on Mike’s podcast and if you are an Amazon seller, there’s plenty of stuff we can help you out with. Yeah, exactly, man. Always sharing at our conferences and, and a podcast in the past.

[00:29:57] So, and thanks for on the ground. Real time updates. We’re like a new, I guess this is what the part is, is, is new, but this is a, this is also really helpful for even me personally. I was already thinking of delay, but now for sure, uh. I’ll tell the wife to listen to this and just keep in mind like maybe you got into your apartment easily, but every apartment is going to have different rules.

[00:30:22] So if you’re holding out, I would keep holding out. Before going back, you just extended 60 more days. So visa here in the Philippines, 60 in my tourist visa for another two months. So. All right. All right, well thanks and great to be on and uh, yeah, get some rest. Well, dude, see you later. Bye. Save the date! It’s going to happen.

[00:30:50] I’ve been talking to them. Amazing speakers and our attendees and sponsors and cross border summit, fifth annual, 2020, still on the calendar. Still still got things rolling ahead. Not opening tickets right now because of this whole virus mania. It’s doesn’t seem to make sense. So we would love to hear from you.

[00:31:10] Please save the date. November 19 to 20th, 2020 Chiang Mai, Thailand. It will be hopefully back there with my wife and kids. Before to prepare, but we’re really excited to bring it out of China, bring our amazing speakers and our community out to share their knowledge, share experience, connect with others, and really just get quality relationships.

[00:31:30] Make some business deals and more cross border summit.com/thailand well, thank you so much, Zach, for sharing with your lack of sleep and everything. I know you always put global information high on your list. I really appreciate it. I got to follow along in that real time. Wechat group of his, and, uh, I hope you enjoyed that.

[00:31:53] A little adventure, that nightmare. I mean, seriously, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I mean, I, uh, I think I would have, ah, man, I don’t know. I would have broken something or would have freaked out. I don’t know. I mean, I’m trying to explain to my wife, it’s already hard enough communication with, you know.

[00:32:12] Cross border culture, marriages, and relationships. So can imagine him trying to explain to Cherish what’s his important stuff on like a video call and wechat and move out of your apartment. You have all of your belongings in like seriously. The stuff that we do here, I guess, you know, pioneers with arrows in our backs, you know, I mean.

[00:32:36] It’s definitely a boring life, but, uh, you know, I think we should get a bonus one of these days for surviving this nightmare the last couple of years. Trade Wars, Hong Kong protests, viruses, volcanoes, what is going on in Asia, but it’s going on around the world now. I mean, seriously, it’s scary. I mean, everywhere.

[00:32:54] Even my parents in Florida, I mean, are talking about it. It’s going in all around the world. I hope everybody stays safe. Maybe China’s right. Like Zack said, maybe, maybe it is better. Locking everything down, keeping people out. But now they’re like Colin foreigners. Like I said, treat, treating like dogs are like, we’re like dirty people.

[00:33:12] I mean, started in China, you know, like, okay, you guys gotta kind of keep it into perspective. I think, you know, come on here. But you know, they are trying their best to take care of their people and their communities and their car. An apartment complex is a little mini community villages, I guess like olden times.

[00:33:32] But as far as me, even before the Zack nightmare, I was already talking to my amazing wife, Wendy, and kind of saying, let’s wait till may or so to, bring me together with the family. Maybe even just skip it and go right into Thailand together. Skip China together if they can even go to Thailand. But at this point, I have my two months extension on my tourist visa in the Philippines.

[00:33:58] I’m good till mid may. I don’t know. I was talking, you know, I got a wall street journal, John one, one of the amazing editors there is like, invite me to Singapore. I’m talking to Andrew Henderson to go out to Malaysia, KL, you know, it is a good chance for me. I’m not single. I’m a solo solo traveler now. I mean, I could hop around a little bit, but, uh, just, you know, this whole travel nightmare.

[00:34:24] Just seems like it’s better. I don’t really go outside too much, but, so basically I’m, the wife and kids are gonna have to wait to meet their poppy, meet me, and, I wonder what my kids are thinking right now. But yeah, I mean, I was thinking similar, like what Zack, if 14 days I’m on a tourist visa, I don’t know a business visa, but a 30 day stay, I’d have to fly to North China 500 600 or $700 one way, multiple stops, two or three stops.

[00:34:56] There was no direct. So it’s a similar, like what do I really want to stay in like? And then if I go to Korea, Canadian connecting Korea and going to China, then I go to like. I seriously look, you can look it up yourself. Manila to Shenyang. Okay. Put it into one of your favorite travel apps and let me know, but I, for one, I looked it up one way is like $600 a hundred dollars.

[00:35:17] Like a lot more than it used to even. And uh, there was like three stops, so it was already a nightmare coming down here, if you guys remember on that show, I had a delay and I basically slept sitting up in a chair in a chair in a Shenzhen airport coming to Manila from Shenyang. It’s not an easy place to get to.

[00:35:35] No direct flights. So, yeah, this is the blah, blah, blah session. But basically the plan is, I’ll just stick it out in Manila, or at least Philippines. I think I want to go down, Davao. Maybe Cebu, maybe travel around a little bit here. Eh. There’s just so much, and there’s so many amazing interviews. I seriously have trouble deciding which show to put next.

[00:35:57] We’ve got a whole amazing lineup for the next few episodes. Don’t want to keep saying it’s coronavirus, but men were in Asia. This is really fascinating. If this freaking story of Zack and some taco bell getting a mask flying to China, can’t getting into his apartment, flying back, like that is a nightmare, man.

[00:36:13] None that, that is crazy. So, I hope everybody enjoys this. As far as cross border summit, it’s still on the, penciled in November, but you know, even other events, you know, I mean, global sources canceled April, you know, I don’t know. Canton Fair. We rank in Google for Canton fair canceled and there are certain, nobody’s contacted me from there, but I have an official Wechat letter about it from there.

[00:36:35] We chat that they deleted, but I think they got to cancel. I mean, things are getting canceled. I’ve heard shows in America getting canceled. Amazon events in Europe getting canceled. It’s going to be a rough, rough year. I guess we just got to work online more. Focus on our learning. I’m studying, I’m studying, I’m taking online courses, studying personal branding.

[00:36:55] I’ve been building out my own personal website, Michael michelina.com so long one if you want to check it out, it’s a little bit more about my consulting and coaching services to work closer with some people that want some VIP treatment from yours truly, but basically study more, learn more, stay home.

[00:37:13] More. I’ve been washing my hands like a germaphobe. I had been using my knuckles to push the elevator buttons. Try not to open doors. I’m like a germaphobe, but I think the other thing is maybe you won’t die, but maybe you’ll make some old people die or weak people die. You know, you can still spread it around.

[00:37:32] So even if you might not die from it, you can spread it in like more people. Risk. So you know, I don’t know how many more episodes. Next week show is similar, but a different angle of what’s happening in the industry and some trading. Some masks. We got masks. We’ve got a whole show about masks next week. I was going to put it up this week, but we got masks.

[00:37:56] Everybody’s talking about masks. It’s insane.  and I’m already recorded some of it. We’re going to add some more to it, but it’s just a lot of stuff happening. If you want to check out this show global from asia.com/stuck if you want to vote for last week’s name, change global from asia.com/paul P. O. L. L. I’m using words now, not numbers, and I hope you enjoy this show.

[00:38:21] Let me know. I’ve been, it’s been nice to hear from some you. We also have an email newsletter. We try to keep you all up to date, but that’s about it. Have a great day. Stay safe. Wash your hands. Don’t push your fingers on buttons and doorknobs. Let’s all be germaphobes and let’s stay safe. Take care, bye bye.

[00:38:40] To get more info about running an international business, please visit our website at www.globalfromasia.com that’s www.globalfromasia.com also, be sure to subscribe to our iTunes feed. Thanks for tuning in.