A week of traveling

I have not been in the office this week at all!
Monday was my BD. we had an off-site department meeting. It is also the first time I arranged the training portion of the meeting. It turned out quite successful. I hope to keep that up.
Tuesday, I went to Shenyang on a day trip. Shenyang is in the northern part of China. It is closer to Seoul than to Shanghai. The high of its January temperature is around -15C (5F). The city was covered in a thick layer of winter smog. All construction stopped for winter back in Nov. My meeting ended a bit early, so I decided to stop by the construction site to check out the location. The guy who escorted me suggested we walk to the site, which is only 10 blocks away. It was fine when we walk in the -19C (-2F) weather. Once I jumped into a taxi after the walk, I then realized how frozen my toes were under 2 pair of socks and boots.
Day trip is tricky. The reason for doing a day trip is that my Wednesday destination, even though, is in the northern part of China again, has no direct flight from Shenyang. In fact, it is easiest to just come back to Shanghai first and fly back up the next day.
I made the trip a lot more interesting by waking up an hour later than I should in the morning. For an 8am flight from Pudong Airport, I should have woken up at 5am. Instead, my alarm was set wrongly and I got up at 6. I quickly got ready and jumped into a cab. I told the taxi driver I was late, and please drive faster. He immediately turned into a F1 driver. He managed a trip that usually take 50 minutes in 35 minutes. And when I arrived at the airport, I was lucky with the queues and made it through check in and security in 15 minutes. I was sitting at the boarding lounge as if I was never late to begin with. Taxi drivers in Shanghai are great at speeding. The drive I took was heart racing, especially when he weaved between other cars. I didn't need coffee that day.
Wednesday, my colleagues and I went to Shijiazhuang. As mentioned, it is also in the northern part of China. I was told a story once my boss and a few people were heading to Shijiazhuang via Beijing by train. They were hit by a major snow storm and were stuck in the train for hours! That was why I was discouraged from going there from Shenyang via Beijing by train. The meetings were painless. But we ended up in a local hotel arranged by the client. It was a subpar place. They have the heat on so high that my room was like a sauna. It has to be in the 40C (100F) range. The thermostat was just plain broken. So, I turned it off and opened a window in the -10C night. Yet, I was sweating through the night.
We returned on Thursday pm at a decent time. But I started immediately preparing for our Friday trip.
Friday, my company has decided to have the annual dinner at a resort hotel in Hangzhou Qiandao Lake. This is a 4.5 hour drive from Shanghai. A 9 hour trip for a dinner! It is a new hotel that we opening in the fall. They had better have given us a great deal.
Lucky draw of the evening was actually quite fun. Our department practically got 70% of the prizes. I won a 2 night stay and 2 return tickets to Guangzhou Tianhe Hotel. It is a great prize. I was excited. It is a reward for putting up with 9 hour of bus ride. :-)
More has happened this week. But it is about Jim. Wednesday night he got pick pocketed. He was approached by 2 young girls propositioning for sex. They touched him and proceed to take his money clip, card case, and his mobile phone. This is very common, but you only believe it when it happens to you. Jim was pissed. He was most upset about loosing his phone. Phone provide the comfort of connection, especially when I am away. Luckily, we have a spare sim card from our Internet service, and a friend has a spare phone for his use temporarily.
Off to the gym and breakfast before heading back to Shanghai for the remaining weekend. One more week to go before Chinese New Year. How exciting! 1 more trip next week and I am ready to close the stove (an old Cantonese saying referring to ending the year as families do not cook for the first few of days of Chinese New Year.)