Yesterday I took off on my first business trip post pregnancy - to Guangzhou, in China!
Given that this involved my first flight with no baby tagging along, ever since the little one came by, I had made up my mind to enjoy it thoroughly.
And I did too - I enjoyed the Indian Vegetarian food that was served, I enjoyed the movie I watched - a Bollywood flick called "Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana", I enjoyed reading my book "The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken - A Vish Puri Mystery" (I had SO missed buying books from the airport during business trips, which was something of a routine!), I enjoyed the cab ride from the Guangzhou airport to Westin where I was put up...enjoying the sights around Guangzhou on my way there, I enjoyed my check in to the hotel and feeling so happy to be inside a 5-star business hotel once again, I enjoyed tucking away into that super comfortable bed, I enjoyed it all!
Today, the first day in Guangzhou, turned out to be packed with a lot of authentic Chinese experiences.
a) Enjoyed the buffet breakfast which had the regular continental and american breakfast items, but also the Chinese fare like noodles and dim sum!
b) Walked through the streets of Guangzhou, as if I were a part of the regular office going crowd in that massive Chinese city, to get to the P&G office which about 800metres away.
c) Attended a few interesting meetings learning about the Chinese retail channel as well as eCommerce landscape, all of which were rather eye opening.
d) Had one of the best meals ever at a.. believe it or not... 100% vegetarian Chinese restaurant, right in the same building as that of the P&G office! There was all sorts of mock meat - mock pork, mock chicken, mock beef, mock fish and they had managed to make them all taste as close to the real deal. We, my team and I, ordered quite a vast variety of dishes and even the hard core vegetarian in the group agreed that the food was mind-blowing!
e) Sat in a Chinese taxi with a Chinese taxi driver who drove his taxi in a way that the Indians of India would be pretty proud of. It is nothing short of a miracle that we didn't bang into something. But all's well that ends well and I am still in one piece.
f) Walked around a ton of different kind of shops that sell beauty products, as part of our "store research". The weather was hot and humid and the polluted air didn't help, but we strived on with determination and were on our feet for about 4 hours. Four extremely productive and insightful hours, I must say! It was an inspiring market research indeed and at the end of it, I was totally spent but felt good about the whole thing.
g) Almost got lost in a Chinese Metro and got completely jammed into a mass of humans inside one. It was a fascinating experience! Here is the full story - Due to the unavailability of cabs, we decided to take the metro back to our hotels after the store visit. Great idea but just that I wasn't prepared for the huge wave of humans that I would get caught in. All of us got our tickets and made our way to the train that had just stopped at the station. This one was relatively empty, so I got in. Only to turn around and realize that the door closed behind me, leaving the rest of my colleagues outside! But no, I didn't panic. I just told them, in sign language of course, that I will wait in the next stop. I got down in the next stop and waited, and when the train came by, it was jam packed... and I mean JAM PACKED... .with humans. I couldn't spot a single familiar face. But after a few seconds, all of them toppled out of a compartment, one after the other. I was relieved. We decided to take the next train, since we had to go further down the line, but there was no way we could all get back into this train now. So we waited and the next train came by. This one too was packed to the brim. And by that I mean that the few who get to stand next to the door, are actually plastered on the glass doors. It's a rather unsettling sights to see human beings looking like 2D stickers against a glass door. But we managed to squeeze ourselves in this time and in the process might have looked like 2D stickers ourselves, from the outside. After a few more stops we reached our destination. Getting out of this brimmed-to-the-doors train, was an equally exciting challenge and I was most certain that I might not end up getting out of the train in time. Thankfully one of my colleagues decided that she will need to ensure that I get out this time and not carry on with the train. So she held my hand and pulled me out with all her might, regardless of what that meant to my fellow commuters. And all of sudden, I was out... safe and sound... fully intact... and able to breathe.
The first day in Chinese thus came to an end. It was chaotic, fascinating, educational and super fun!
Given that this involved my first flight with no baby tagging along, ever since the little one came by, I had made up my mind to enjoy it thoroughly.
And I did too - I enjoyed the Indian Vegetarian food that was served, I enjoyed the movie I watched - a Bollywood flick called "Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana", I enjoyed reading my book "The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken - A Vish Puri Mystery" (I had SO missed buying books from the airport during business trips, which was something of a routine!), I enjoyed the cab ride from the Guangzhou airport to Westin where I was put up...enjoying the sights around Guangzhou on my way there, I enjoyed my check in to the hotel and feeling so happy to be inside a 5-star business hotel once again, I enjoyed tucking away into that super comfortable bed, I enjoyed it all!
Today, the first day in Guangzhou, turned out to be packed with a lot of authentic Chinese experiences.
a) Enjoyed the buffet breakfast which had the regular continental and american breakfast items, but also the Chinese fare like noodles and dim sum!
b) Walked through the streets of Guangzhou, as if I were a part of the regular office going crowd in that massive Chinese city, to get to the P&G office which about 800metres away.
c) Attended a few interesting meetings learning about the Chinese retail channel as well as eCommerce landscape, all of which were rather eye opening.
d) Had one of the best meals ever at a.. believe it or not... 100% vegetarian Chinese restaurant, right in the same building as that of the P&G office! There was all sorts of mock meat - mock pork, mock chicken, mock beef, mock fish and they had managed to make them all taste as close to the real deal. We, my team and I, ordered quite a vast variety of dishes and even the hard core vegetarian in the group agreed that the food was mind-blowing!
e) Sat in a Chinese taxi with a Chinese taxi driver who drove his taxi in a way that the Indians of India would be pretty proud of. It is nothing short of a miracle that we didn't bang into something. But all's well that ends well and I am still in one piece.
f) Walked around a ton of different kind of shops that sell beauty products, as part of our "store research". The weather was hot and humid and the polluted air didn't help, but we strived on with determination and were on our feet for about 4 hours. Four extremely productive and insightful hours, I must say! It was an inspiring market research indeed and at the end of it, I was totally spent but felt good about the whole thing.
g) Almost got lost in a Chinese Metro and got completely jammed into a mass of humans inside one. It was a fascinating experience! Here is the full story - Due to the unavailability of cabs, we decided to take the metro back to our hotels after the store visit. Great idea but just that I wasn't prepared for the huge wave of humans that I would get caught in. All of us got our tickets and made our way to the train that had just stopped at the station. This one was relatively empty, so I got in. Only to turn around and realize that the door closed behind me, leaving the rest of my colleagues outside! But no, I didn't panic. I just told them, in sign language of course, that I will wait in the next stop. I got down in the next stop and waited, and when the train came by, it was jam packed... and I mean JAM PACKED... .with humans. I couldn't spot a single familiar face. But after a few seconds, all of them toppled out of a compartment, one after the other. I was relieved. We decided to take the next train, since we had to go further down the line, but there was no way we could all get back into this train now. So we waited and the next train came by. This one too was packed to the brim. And by that I mean that the few who get to stand next to the door, are actually plastered on the glass doors. It's a rather unsettling sights to see human beings looking like 2D stickers against a glass door. But we managed to squeeze ourselves in this time and in the process might have looked like 2D stickers ourselves, from the outside. After a few more stops we reached our destination. Getting out of this brimmed-to-the-doors train, was an equally exciting challenge and I was most certain that I might not end up getting out of the train in time. Thankfully one of my colleagues decided that she will need to ensure that I get out this time and not carry on with the train. So she held my hand and pulled me out with all her might, regardless of what that meant to my fellow commuters. And all of sudden, I was out... safe and sound... fully intact... and able to breathe.
The first day in Chinese thus came to an end. It was chaotic, fascinating, educational and super fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment