The trip was a training trip to learn up a new instruments that we were introducing. 
I was on a train-the-trainer as I had committed to deliver the training in March next year. There was this girl that I have known since she was knee high to a grasshopper (okay okay - since she was a baby). She is married now and stays in Shanghai with her mum and 2 kids. 
Charmaine's hubby works in another province and is home only on weekends (i.e. a weekend husband). 
The reason they stay in Shanghai is because that province does not have an International school for the kids.
I was on a train-the-trainer as I had committed to deliver the training in March next year. There was this girl that I have known since she was knee high to a grasshopper (okay okay - since she was a baby). She is married now and stays in Shanghai with her mum and 2 kids. Charmaine's hubby works in another province and is home only on weekends (i.e. a weekend husband). The reason they stay in Shanghai is because that province does not have an International school for the kids.Life is not too bad for Charmaine. She got her driver to pick me up from the hotel, went to her apartment for dinner and then had the driver send me back. 2 weeks before my visit, her Malaysian cousins visited her too and spruced up the place with a lot of live flowers and plants.
It must have been at least 2 years since my last visit to the factory in Shanghai. There were some new faces and a whole bunch of old ones. I am glad they still remembered me. At one time, there were 4 of my previous reports in the same room. It just goes to show that organizational relationships can and will change with time. I also managed to FINALLY meet up with another lady who helps me in my work.
Pham - if you are reading this and you want to know who is Helen Sun and what she looks like - tah dah!!!
Pham - if you are reading this and you want to know who is Helen Sun and what she looks like - tah dah!!!And Mark P. was in Shanghai a few days earlier than me - conducting interviews for Khoo WK's replacement.
Last but not least - I managed to meet up with my "niang" on the first day before she disappeared to Beijing.
Niang means mum in Chinese. How did this lady become my niang? It happened about 2.5 years ago when both of us were on a high achiever trip sponsored by the company. 
She had brought her daughter along for the cruise from Singapore to Phuket and back and her daughter just took an instant liking to me and stuck to me throughout the trip..That's how I got a "niang" much younger than me!!
One last comment - Shanghai is not a destination you want to go to now. Most of the tourist spots are under going renovations in preparations for EXPO 2010 which will happen from May 2010. The bund is a mess!! The old temple complex next to the Yu Yuan gardens has half the shops closed for renovations. Even the famous Nanxiang Xiao Loong Bao has half it's capacity as they work on upgrading the restaurant.
Be fore-warned!
And they had a series of thank you meals for the key players. Yours truly got invited to all 3, I guess because I am neither here nor there in terms of department or function. Or maybe just coz I am regional. In any case, i appreciate Soh's invitation to all those thank you meals.
Maybe it's because of the ladies in the team, but despite being full to the jaw with food, there was still quite a bit of leftovers. 
After that, we adjourned to Francis Kanner on another street for a round of drinks. 
We had our photos taken before, 
during and after the beer and it was obvious that as the drinks went in, 
the inhibitions went out. 
I even managed to get a shot with one of the patrons who was (in the opinion of the group) bigger size than me.
The place offers buffet dinner as part of the package.
Yes, everyone enjoyed themselves. 
Only one comment that I have about their beer- I think it is diluted with barely an essence of alcohol. 
It must be because NOBODY got drunk or even looked drunk despite many rounds of beer (except for maybe Danny)!!
The last appreciation dinner was with one of our key distributors. 
For that, our distributor also invited a local politician who is a frequent patron of Unique Seafood 23 located at Jalan Kemajuan. 
Why? 
Because Jason would know what were the good/great dishes to order. We also had a few lessons from him on the art of drinking wine, 
as well as the good parts to eat on certain fishes. That was certainly an eye opener!
For example, I never knew (and neither did most of the rest) that the best part of a Chat Seng Ban (7 star garoupa??) was not it's meat. It's the maw and areas around the head. And for that we pay RM40 to Rm80 for a reasonable sized fish at the market!! Wow!! Give me the flesh anytime. I am okay with that. 
This was one of those rare occasions when Izan joined us. The place is halal. 
Dinner ended with karaoke as we had a private function room.
But as I was driving into a shopping mall's car park in Kuala Lumpur, Elaine C pointed to this strange vehicle which has cartoon figurines stuck all over it - both inside and outside the vehicle. 
It is stuck on every conceivable space that does not create an obstacle for access.
They can be found in the 4 corners fo the top of the vehicle, on the side mirrors, even on the exhaust.
his/her kids pissed him/her so much that all the kids collection were stuck onto the vehicle to prevent the kid from playing with them.
Just about a week or so after my last visit to Singapore, I found myself there again for a couple of days of management meetings. 
I have just been transferred back to the Asia Pacific operations and this was a good forum for me to update myself on the who's who in SAPK. 
First observation - while there were some new faces, most of the others that I knew from 2 years ago were still there. Admittedly some were in different positions. 
Obviously we have gotten more breadth in terms of instrumentation. We also have a lot more processes in place - with more to come. One of the senior managers put this into perspective - we just love acronyms and processes!!
Obviously, I cannot blog about the meeting. I am just glad for the opportunity to reconnect with the people that I knew and the people that I need to work with in my current role.
