steven.haven: shanghai motivational trip...

i really agree that i'm really one damn lucky guy. exactly just 1 month after joining novartis, i had the chance to travel with them to shanghai for the company's annual cycle meet. this trip was supposed to be in may, but was postponed due to H1N1. the last time i went to shanghai was 14 years ago with my family. i'm sure it had changed tremendously. let me take you through a brief snapshot of what i've done in shanghai over 5 days...

it was free and easy on the first day. shijie and i went out on foot to explore the whole stretch of nanjing road to the bund. unfortunately, many parts of shanghai including the bund was undergoing major construction in preparation for EXPO2010

we stayed at royal meridien hotel. it was fantastic!

in the evening, we had dinner at a posh chinese opera house where they showed traditional chinese opera show while we feast...

on the 2nd day, it was the corporate event in the morning and team bonding session in the afternoon. everyone of us had a calligraphy of our names framed up as door gift... kudos to michelle for the wonderful work done in superimposing the photos of our big boss and managers

the 3 emcees for the event: keith tong, peggy yong and myself...

every team had to come up with a short performance...

be afraid, be very afraid of... the original axe gang!

the CVM team...

on the next day, we travelled to suzhou and visited the 100 year-old water village: zhou zhuang

in the afternoon, we visited cheng huang miao and did some shopping. it's a pity that i didn't get to try the food at this famous nan xiang restaurant where they serve excellent 'xiao long bao', coz the queue was suuuuper long!

at night, we sang at shanghai ge cheng ktv till 5am!

the next day, lee kien's husband's friend, ray, showed us around and we got to try many different types of local delicacies...

in the evening while waiting for marie, i head to the hotel pool for a dip. it was excellent as the pool had an excellent view of shanghai city. the gym was fantastic and well-equipped. the locker room had sauna, steambath and jacuzzi facilities as well, great!