Tuesday, May 25, 2010

上海之旅 – 18 May to 21 May 2010

The four days in Shanghai passed so quickly and this trip had been an amazing experienced for me.

Day 1 – Tuesday, 18 May

Departure – SQ 828 Singapore to Shanghai

Upon arrival, I took the Maglev Train from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the Longyang Road Station. From here, I took a local taxi to the Renaissance Yu Yuan Shanghai Hotel. The Maglev train is similar to the “Bullet Train” in Europe/Japan and its speed can run up to 443KM/Hr. I was really impressed with its speed and it took me about 10minutes ride.

Upon checking in to the hotel, I met up with my UK Manager and we had a quick chat before proceeding to our 1st client visit.

After the meeting, we went back to the hotel and checked function room that we would be using for the following day Full Day meeting were set up in order.

In the evening, we had a quick meet up with the meeting facilitator and walked through a few pointers before heading off for dinner.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest.

Day 2 – Wednesday, 19 May

8 am to 4 pm was our full day meeting at the hotel. It was a very good meeting I was tasked to assist the facilitator in the notes taking. It was my 1st experience taking notes for such meeting and it was a great learning experience for me.

After the full day meeting, we had another client appointment at 5pm till 6pm in Pudong. As we were near the Financial Centre, my Manager suggested we take the chance to view the World Tallest Building - Shanghai World Financial Centre. Yes, we took the tour and went all the way up to the 100th floor of the building. It was a magnificent feeling when we were at the top. The only drawback was the view was a little cloudy due to the mist in the air.

Shanghai has all these supertall skyscrapers and each building has its unique “crown” to top the building and it’s an eye-opening experienced. Now I know our buildings are “small & pale” in comparison. : P

We had dinner at Tin-Tai-Feng at the mall in the building. As my Manager is a British and it’s her 1st time in Shanghai, I know it would be good to let her try as many Chinese dishes as possible. She truly enjoyed the 拉面和小笼包。

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and called it day. I went to the hotel pool to take a quick dip and at the same time took some photos of the pool, as requested by Anthea. At night, I had the chance to skype with Adrian and we updated each other on our happening in our respective S countries…haha. I also had the chance to talk to both Anthea and Anders on skype. It was assuring to know they were getting on fine and logistic had worked out fine too.

Day 3 – Thursday, 20 May

We had 3 meetings from morning till afternoon. It was a good exposure for me, especially to meet all these Clients in person and a simple handshake with everyone makes a difference.

As our last client’s office was based in an industrial part about an hour from city, so it took up our whole afternoon. Thank goodness, we had a very patience taxi driver, whom was willing to wait for us while we had a meeting with our Client. (He didn’t charge us for the waiting time…hehe.)

After the meeting, we went back to the hotel to change and freshen up before our next assignment. Yes, we visited another hotel recommended and took a quick look at the meeting rooms. After the viewing, we went to The Bund and had wanted to have our dinner there. However, some of the restaurants needed prior reservation and the one that was available cost a bomb, so we decided to find an affordable dinner venue.

The Bund night scene was simply beautiful with all the buildings of colonial designs. It felt as if we were walking in a part of Europe and it was also kind of romantic with the special lighting. However, the human traffics is equally BIG…haha. Just like what I heard before – 上海看人头。


As we were walking back to our hotel, we discovered a Chinese restaurant named 老北京and it was famous for 北京烤鸭. I brought my manager in and we had a very good meal of Peking duck with other small dishes. She enjoyed the dishes as much as I did.

Day 4 – Friday, 21 May

We had our final client visit at 11am and after the meeting, we went back to the hotel to do our checked out.

Then we headed off to the airport in the same taxi. My Manager was going to Hong Kong for other client’s visits and also to meet with her daughter who is doing internship in Hong Kong.

At the airport, we bade each other good bye and look forward to our next meeting…Singapore, Shanghai or London….just maybe…: )


Dep : SQ 833 Shanghai - Home Sweet Home.

Overall, I had truly enjoyed this working trip. I had the chance to learn so much and my best take away from the trip would be the Personal touch and saying hello to all my subscribers. Nothing beat this compared to all the nice flowery words on the emails.

Also another good take away on home ground is that they had learnt to be independent during my absence and logistic was all under controlled.

The doors are open and the opportunities are plenty. I look forward to my next challenge in the job.


Also finally i bought my own set of the 嗒嗒球!

4 comments:

cre8tone said...

Lovely trip...

ShanZen - Brightsong said...

that's table tennis set, right? Shanghai has indeed changed much since I visited in 2000 (wow, 10 years back!).

Anonymous said...

wah....you have been a busy girl...how's the kids?

Aces Family said...

Hi P&P,

Thanks...

Hi BS,

It's a hybrid of Table tennis and badminton.(as in shuttle cock). Yes, shanghai is undergoing major changes and it's quite an amazing city.

hi MLR,

Yes, has been quite a busy month but am really enjoying it, esp the exposure. The children are getting on just fine too : )