After the southern China dash was the mad week-long conference including one day of workshops from companies about how they are responsible companies, which I organised. This went well and the rest of the conference went very well too. In fact it ended quite emotionally...and I had to tell myself to shut-up!
Conferences are great things...intense, hard work and lots of fun. Its a great way of getting to know more about Chinese culture (specifically from the youth perspective) -from sex to tiananmen square to entrepreneurship and so on. I hope I have a better understanding of Chinese culture now...but still lots to learn, and language issues to overcome. I had 1 day to sort of relax in Shanghai before flying off to Thailand in beautiful weather; arriving at 2am totally exhausted from not having slep for 7 days and then woke up to see the pool and then explore Bangkok.
Yes, its interesting and yes, its very, very Asian. Its great, but also quite predictable. Its quite laid back and quite cheap. There are the little tuk-tuks (3 wheeler open sided taxis) and boats speeding along the canals and rivers. The city is an interesting mix -a huge number of foreigners working and travelling, a big mix of new and old housing next to each other and a massive number of temples and other buddhist things right next to backpacker bars or expat bars.
After being taken for a ride, literally and figuratively on a 'see 4 temples for cheap cause its governmnent promotion day (Chinese New Year being the reason given to us), we had a fantastic seafood meal last night and this morning continued to not sleep in order to wake at 6.30 and do a bike tour around the local countryside. It was 1 trip that was absolutely fantastic with over 50 photos taken, several bums hurting and more by the end. We really felt like we were off the beaten track; be it on the boat or the bike. Photos will be up when i get some time (2007, maybe?).
First impressions are of a country that caters very much for the middle and upper classes with a pretty expensive subway system and few eating places that are as budget as you expect to find hidden in alleys for the locals.. i guess they must be there somewhere. Me, Echo and Evelyn are having a great time, and Echo's family are great hosts...20 of them have flown in for Chinese New Year so we have lots of eating and other traditional stuff to do before doing a 6 day dash around the country (of sorts).
We did not come across the supposed demonstration against the prime minister by his former political openent/currently a talkshow host but did enjoy some wonderful 'pad thai' and local beer. There is always an incentive to go to sleep when the next day you will go to the pool, an imperial palace, eat at the Hyatt and arrange tickets to see watefalls, elephants and the most perfect beaches in the World.
For now, work shall wait, sleep shall beckon and...zzzz
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