My last week in China ended up being very busy. I spent the day Sunday preparing my presentation for the training I was providing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I worked from morning until night on Sunday then went to dinner with co-workers each of the following nights.
The trip out to the training facility was interesting. Cooper had chartered a bus to pick up attendees. I met the bus in front of the hotel each morning at 7:45AM. On our way out to the office park we passed numerous newer neighborhoods with huge homes. The strange part was that most of them looked empty. There were also tons of apartment building being put up and additions made to the office parks in the area. My co-worker Dennis and I met a German named Marcus in the hotel lobby who had lived in Shanghai for several years. He told us that the ex-patriot community there was on the order of about 400,000 people. I guess Chinese builders are trying to take advantage of the influx of foreigners. The problem with the housing that is being built is that it's very expensive. Not many people can afford it on regular Chinese wages.
For the most part downtown Shanghai seemed very modern. There were lots of tall office buildings and plenty of restaurants and places to shop. One pair of buildings had some flashy architecture at the top that made them look like a pair of giant artichokes.. In contrast to the modern city on some blocks you'd also see tall apartment buildings that looked kind of worn with metal rods strung from every balcony so that the apartment dweller could dry their clothes. And everywhere, everywhere there was something constantly under construction. It seemed the work crews worked well into the night.
On Monday evening I went out with Lucy from our Shanghai office, one of our salesmen James, and two people from a local distributor. Lucy had a van pick us up and it looked like something out of a movie. Dangling from the ceiling were a bunch of ornamental tassles and the van had definitely seen better days. It was nice to have the ride though and good to get out and see a little bit more of the city.
We went to a very good restaurant that served a variety of different dumplings. They were delicious. The trick to eating them was to pick one up with your chopsticks, put it on your spoon, bite a small hole in it, drink the broth inside, then eat the dumpling. This was a regional specialty - unfortunately I don't remember the region!
Dennis and I went to dinner with the entire sales group on Tuesday night. We went to a typical Chinese restaurant where a variety of dishes are served on a Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. There were plenty of meats like beef and lamb, seafood including jellyfish and whole cooked fish, and a variety of vegetables. There was actually (no joking) dog on the menu! Our Chinese hosts tried to order it, but they were out of it. At dinner the drinking got a little rowdy. When someone toasting with you says the words gan bei, which means bottoms up (literally empty glass), the proper thing to do is to drain your glass. We went around the table several times offering up toasts.
After dinner we went out for some karaoke. Unlike karaoke bars at home - or bars that host karaoke - we went to a place that rented out private rooms for karaoke parties. The guys stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on beer and liquor then we headed to the karaoke room. Dennis and I did scorching renditions of "Tears in Heaven," "Take It Easy," "Constant Craving," "Always on My Mind," and more. It was fun. After we hogged the karaoke machine for a bit the Chinese contingent got on board and sang some songs in Chinese. Everyone was cheering and having a good time.
On my last night in China I met Dennis for dinner in the hotel lobby. We just chilled and called it an early night. I think we were both feeling pretty exhausted. Me from being on the road for three weeks and him with the monumental jet-lag of a 13 hour time difference.
I didn't have enough time to get to see the major attractions of Shanghai - an area called The Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower that is in every picture of the skyline ever taken. I don't know if Dennis got out to see them or not. He was staying through the end of the week before heading off to Australia. It would have been neat to see them and see the spectacular modern places in the city.
Here are some pics..
The Shanghai skyline on a nice day.
Gloomy Shanghai - this is what it looked like while I was there.
A typical construction site in the city.
Me and Dennis (center) with the Cooper China Team.
No comments:
Post a Comment