Chilly Qingdao I: Enter the Dragon

Work gave me a chance to visit China in mid-April. It was my maiden trip to the 'motherland'. Never had I considered travelling to China on personal trips. Due to a recent investment my group chairman made in a Chinese IT company, my company was roped into some engagement activities. So for a whole week before the trip, I had to compile pre-sales materials, and some of my colleagues had to help out with the translation. Truth be told, it was practically useless for me to be in an IT product conference in China since I could not read nor write, much less do a presentation in putonghua. And yet, I was flying there with my GM to be a 'unqualified vase'. LOL. And at the last minute another colleague actually pulled out with a doctor's letter claiming sinus problems. Alamak. Regardless, I proceeded with the flight tickets and visa. Two other colleagues would be flying from Singapore.



My ticketing department got us 'great' tickets from Cathay Dragon where we had a long transit at Hong Kong. The flight was pleasant, and the in-flight meal was the usual Cathay standard. Spent most of my time watching in-flight movies. At Chek Lap Kok, I had six hours of 'bonding' time with my GM. He refused to sit down at a proper restaurant citing the cost, and rather loiter at the super busy food court where it was quite obvious that we were misusing the tables, and there were no power sockets. I was quite well-fed on the plane, so I took a late lunch. The queue was crazy at Tsui Wah, so I ended up eating a rice bowl with fried chicken and mushroom gravy from Popeye's (I had to choose based on credit card acceptance). Good grief. Somehow I survived and we boarded the connecting flight to Qingdao.



By the time we arrived at Qingdao (Liuting International Airport), it was already past midnight. Cold winds were blowing. Our local partner arranged an airport transfer for us. The driver dropped us off at Oceanwide Elite Hotel. Chinese hospitality was really amazing-- even at that hour, one of the managers from our local partner still took the trouble to meet us and make sure that we were checked-in. The front desk was meticulous in checking our identification documents and visas. She was pretty perturbed that my Singaporean colleagues 'illegally' entered without a visa.



Once I was in my room, I was only interested to shower and sleep! Way past my bedtime! More about the room in my next post.