This morning I had breakfast with my boss Irene and colleague Dani. We discussed work a little but there was really not much for me to do as an event company was handling the registration and the function rooms were not being set up yet. The reason I am in Guilin is for an APAC customer conference, though majority of attendees will be from China.
So I cleared some mail in my room (below is the view from room), before we went out at 11am plus to recce the site for our group dinner tomorrow evening at the Seven Star National Park. Dinner was going to be in a cave!
The weather was cold, around 12 or 15 degrees. Before I left, I bought a bunch of winter wear online from Old Navy and Victoria’s Secret, plus essentials from Marks & Spencer and OG. Maximised the winter wardrobe allowance we are given!
The park was nice, but it was misty so you don’t get to see the colours of the trees as vividly. There were waterfalls and peacocks, very tranquil – like being in a Chinese watercolour painting.
After the inspection, we headed out for lunch at a Guilinese restaurant. Though I love Chinese food, am not a fan of the food here. Things are either oily or bland, and meat dishes are not marinated well.
Was supposed to have had a conference call in the afternoon, but it was cancelled at the last minute. In the late evening, I got to sit in on the food-tasting session for tomorrow’s dinner. Irene and Dani had already gone through one round earlier and today was supposed to have been an improvement. We were served poached prawns, baked salmon and bread and butter pudding.
I found out we were only serving red wine, but seeing as to how the menu was mainly seafood, I pointed out we should have white wine too. Something my colleagues had not thought about.
Also, for a fine dining meal, we were not using fish knives for the salmon. I pointed it out and the hotel claimed they did not have enough.
Since I don’t eat salmon, I enquired about the vegetarian option. Was told we would be served a vegetable lasagna, and my stomach got psyched for that!
Thereafter it was a rush to prepare for our on-site staff briefing, run-throughs with interpreters, last minute vetting of slides etc. I was nervous because my boss made me speak through some parts of the staff briefing, despite declaring before I took on this job that I don’t do public speaking!
Had dinner with Irene and our boss from London, Chris and another colleague Ken from the States. Dinner was more palatable than lunch and it was pretty cheap, just about 225 yuan for the 4 of us for 5 or 6 dishes.
When we got back to the hotel to test everything ahead of tomorrow, that’s when things started falling apart. Nothing was really ready. Projectors and switchers were unstable, there had been miscommunication on the translation process, LCD panels were too low, audio system had feedback, confusion on roles etc etc. Everything was only sorted out past 1 am. Sooo tired…
So I cleared some mail in my room (below is the view from room), before we went out at 11am plus to recce the site for our group dinner tomorrow evening at the Seven Star National Park. Dinner was going to be in a cave!
The weather was cold, around 12 or 15 degrees. Before I left, I bought a bunch of winter wear online from Old Navy and Victoria’s Secret, plus essentials from Marks & Spencer and OG. Maximised the winter wardrobe allowance we are given!
The park was nice, but it was misty so you don’t get to see the colours of the trees as vividly. There were waterfalls and peacocks, very tranquil – like being in a Chinese watercolour painting.
After the inspection, we headed out for lunch at a Guilinese restaurant. Though I love Chinese food, am not a fan of the food here. Things are either oily or bland, and meat dishes are not marinated well.
Was supposed to have had a conference call in the afternoon, but it was cancelled at the last minute. In the late evening, I got to sit in on the food-tasting session for tomorrow’s dinner. Irene and Dani had already gone through one round earlier and today was supposed to have been an improvement. We were served poached prawns, baked salmon and bread and butter pudding.
I found out we were only serving red wine, but seeing as to how the menu was mainly seafood, I pointed out we should have white wine too. Something my colleagues had not thought about.
Also, for a fine dining meal, we were not using fish knives for the salmon. I pointed it out and the hotel claimed they did not have enough.
Since I don’t eat salmon, I enquired about the vegetarian option. Was told we would be served a vegetable lasagna, and my stomach got psyched for that!
Thereafter it was a rush to prepare for our on-site staff briefing, run-throughs with interpreters, last minute vetting of slides etc. I was nervous because my boss made me speak through some parts of the staff briefing, despite declaring before I took on this job that I don’t do public speaking!
Had dinner with Irene and our boss from London, Chris and another colleague Ken from the States. Dinner was more palatable than lunch and it was pretty cheap, just about 225 yuan for the 4 of us for 5 or 6 dishes.
When we got back to the hotel to test everything ahead of tomorrow, that’s when things started falling apart. Nothing was really ready. Projectors and switchers were unstable, there had been miscommunication on the translation process, LCD panels were too low, audio system had feedback, confusion on roles etc etc. Everything was only sorted out past 1 am. Sooo tired…
1 comment:
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