上海之旅和放风箏

After my last Shanghai business trip in May, my company had assigned me to make another trip to Shanghai for the RoundTable meeting. It was like going “Home” feeling as this will be my 2nd trip.

The only difference was this time round I am alone in managing the 2 days meetings. So it was quite a new challenge to me especially in a foreign land.

The meeting venue was the same as previous and thus getting from the airport to the hotel was a breeze for me since I had the 1st time experienced.

The 2 days meeting went by smoothly and I enjoyed the discussions so much and I had great takeaways from the sessions.

In the evening, I had the chance to explore 豫园 which is one of Shanghai famous tourist area. Also this time round I managed to try their Metro (MRT system). It is very similar to what we have in Singapore.

One of my friend commented that I am very brave to be alone on this business travel. I shared with my friend that Shanghai is a very easily accessible place and there are many similarities as Singapore, so moving around in Shanghai is not a problem for me. Especially when Language is not a barrier but a joy to use for me.

The new experienced I had from this trip is the RED-EYE flight I took from Shanghai to Singapore. As I purchased a very economy fare during the UOB Credit Card – Singapore Airlines joint promotion, I had no choice of the returning flight except for this flight.

The flight was scheduled to depart Shanghai at 0010hr, so I had to check in around 9pm in the evening. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the flight was FULL even though it was at such odd hours. Guess many people also enjoyed the special fare, like I did.

Overall the 3 Days 2 nite trip has proven to be another fruitful trip for me and I really treasure all these opportunities that the company is giving me.

On Sunday, there was a Kite Festival at the Marina promenade and my 2nd BIL’s family had gathered all of us for a families outing to Fly Kite.

When we arrived at the venue, the place was packed to the rim with people and it was very hard to find an empty space on the field. Since we were there, we decided to have a go at the Kite Flying session. My Fil became the trainer for the session and he taught the children and my 3rd BIL how to fly kite…: P

After a few failed attempts to fly the kite high, we decided to call it a day and adjourned for early dinner at the nearby restaurant.

It had been a fun experienced for the children, even though they didn’t really get the chance to uplift the kite, they had fun running around with the kite. We are now planning for our next 放风针 session and hope that this time will be better.

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!

I am “OFF”

We had a very good weekend and enjoyed the bonding times with the families.

On Saturday evening, we had dinner at New York New York in Sembawang shopping centre with the extended families. We were all so amazed with the revamp of the whole building. Everyone was asking “what happened to the “lok-lok” place since we were there donkey years back…hehe.

After dinner, we explored the building and discovered there were many specialties shops in the building – there was even a Daiso in the mall…not bad.

I know we will go back again – to explore the children play area as I had seen via some mommies’ blogs.

On Sunday, Anders had his swimming lesson and Anthea went along for her swim too. The instructor brought him to the deep pool and advises him to use goggles. This was his 1st time swimming with a goggle and after using it, he told me: “mommy, it’s very good leh, I can see Uncle Julian’s legs in the pool. I want to use goggles for my next lesson.”…haha. Finally, I had been encouraging him to wear goggles whenever we go for water play but he refused because he doesn’t like the feeling. Now, he has grown to like it and I am really happy for him.

In the evening, we had dinner at my parent’s home. As usual, it was a good spread of western dishes. Roast of lamp was the main course and we ate to our heart fullest contentment.

Starting tomorrow I will be officially “OFF” for my business trip and my role as a Mother for the few days. So Adrian decided last night that he and the children will start their morning routine as of today.

At 6 am, he woke both of them up and had them to drink their milk. Anthea had her normal bread & butter breakfast, Anders decided that he will have breakfast at the childcare.

Then they changed into their school uniforms and left home at 6.45am. Adrian will fetch Anthea to school 1st and then dropped Anders off at the childcare centre at exactly 7am. We had been joking with Anders that he will be the 1st to arrive in school for this week.

I take it as a “warm-up” exercise for Anders as comes 2011, he will be going to Primary 1 and he will be in morning session for the following 6 years. I am really glad that both Anthea and Anders had no problem in waking up early in the morning…phew.

Now I am all packed, checked in my airline seat, bought my travel insurance and booked my transport for tomorrow morning.

Yeah, I am going to miss all my 宝贝from tomorrow onwards. Last night at bed, Anthea even told me: “mommy, if anyone bullies you, you called home and tell us.” This really melts my heart…hehe.

Meanwhile, I will make the best out of this trip and hope to prove my value to the meeting. Likewise to gain as much knowledge as I can during the trip.

My 1st Business Trip

Last week while corresponding with my Manager at work, she made a request for me to join her in a Roundtable meeting and other client’s visits in Shanghai. I was thrilled with her invitation and started making flights enquiry. At the same time, I also asked Adrian of his opinion and he was all out for the trip. : )

After some discussion and arrangement, I am finally confirmed for my 1st business travel in this new decade. Yes, I am going to Shanghai…: )

Last Friday, I went to the agency to pay and pick up my documents for both our family vacation and my Shanghai trip.

Then I went to The Planet Traveller store in Ion Orchard and made a trade in for a new luggage bag. One of our old luggage bags is damaged and so it’s a good time to get a brand new one at the discounted rate.

I am now all set for the travel and will start packing on this coming weekend.

Looking back, I had not done any "solo" travel since my last business trip to Shenzhen in March 2007 with my ex-ex company. It was a team building event and after that I had an extended holiday in Hong Kong with Anthea and my Mother In law.

This business trip, however, will be a much different scale compared to the one I went in Shenzhen. Beside a Full Day round table meeting event, the other days are all packed with Client visits. As I am taking care of the Asia Pacific members, so this will be a good opportunity to say Hello to most of them face to face rather than just over the phones. It will be a good chance to build up the rapport too.

A few friends and families had asked if I am visiting the Shanghai Expo but judging at my meeting schedules, I doubt that I will have the FREE time to visit it this round. Anyway, I believe I will have more chance to travel once I cross this 1st trip…hehe.

Logistic wise while I am away, we had “sub-contracted” my role to 3 people – Adrian, my mother in law and my mom. Yes, I was joking with Adrian that my role as a main caretaker of my children seems so minute in its daily role. But once there is such a circumstance, then we realized the important of the role and it should not be taken for granted -The Greatness of WFHM...: )

Will I miss the children – YES… definitely. Like what my SIL always said “it’s a no brainer answer”…haha. I had never been away from them, even during our own holidays. So this will be my “official” 1st time without them on an oversea trip. I know it will draw significance emotion from all of us and i know it's a good time for them to learn to be independent.

Both Anthea and Anders have been telling me: “you are going away for SO LONG…” when I told them I will be away for only 4 days…haha.

I asked them “why when daddy goes for his 3 months working trip, you guys never said SO LONG…and now I am only going for 4 days to Shanghai? “ they just gave me the most cheeky smiles on their faces.

In about a week time, I will be travelling and I am really looking forward to this opportunity because I know that it will build up my profile and also hopefully – bring my career to it next level.

(Anthea, Anders & their cousin Faith; we celebrated Mother's Day @ Sze Chuan Court in Fairmont hotel)