Well for anyone who is really paying attention to the details of what I have been writing, it should have been quite obvious that I mentioned the fact that I am on a business trip yet I have spent an inordinate amount of time sightseeing. In all honesty, it hasn’t been all play and no work and a considerable amount of work was getting done, it just wasn’t the primary focus for the first few days. When the organization that I work for books our travel it is done in such a way that allows us to acclimate to where we are working. This is largely because once we get going we are literally on for twelve-to-fifteen hours per day so we need to be rested, pleasant and focused, hence a we are given a few days where there is work to do but more task-related types of things that allows us to work in short bursts.
Today was the first day that I had a number of commitments that had to be attended to. For the large part my work begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, but there are pre-meetings and face-to-face discussions that have to take place, if for no other reason than the convenience of getting to spend “face time” with people we work with via email and over the phone.
I had breakfast with our I.T. guy at one of the hotel restaurants. From there we headed to our “war room” or operations center to see what work had to be done. For me the work was largely focused on preparing materials for the conference / leadership meeting we were holding and I had to put together folders for each attendee. Most of the work that is done in preparation for our meetings is in no way related to what I actually do, but part of the obligation of being on site is doing whatever needs to be done. Considering the fact that developing the type of learning program that I am responsible for, switching gears to something a bit more operational is always a nice change. Plus, I am someone who likes to see if he can overlay a process on everything, so putting together folders that requires a number of different components is always a great challenge.
After completing that work, I was asked to sit in on a meeting with my manager, our director and one of our members who has been playing a very key role in one of our initiatives. This is more consistent with the type of work that I do on a regular basis, and while the topic of conversation was very engaging and interesting, the location was even moreso. Instead of meeting in a more sterile meeting room or one of the board rooms that we have access to we met on the 30th floor of our hotel in the Executive Club. From there you not only had a wonderful ambiance but also had a commanding view of the Kowloon skyline! It was hard to stay completely focused on the meeting because I was totally enthralled by the view.
The meeting lasted a few hours and by the time we were finished it was almost dinner time. Since I had no plans for the evening, I figured it would be a great night to get some additional preparation work done on the presentation I would be giving over the weekend and perhaps order some room service. So much for that idea! I no sooner got back to my room that I received a call that a bunch of my colleagues were heading over to Kowloon to have dinner at the Hard Rock. Since I love going to the Hard Rock, and have done so in a number of other locations, I couldn’t resist.
We met in the lobby of the hotel a few minutes later and we worked out our logistics. Half of our group decided to take the ferry across the bay, while the other half opted for a cab ride. I was one that decided to take the ferry as I had already experienced a number of cab rides and really wanted something different, plus I simply love being on the water. Now I have been on a number of boat rides in my life, and this was really no different except for the absolutely stunning view of Hong Kong that you had as you made the crossing. Hong Kong is a beautiful city, but it really comes to life at night because most of the buildings are lit up and actually change color as part of the informal light show. And while I have a pretty commanding view of the city from my room, seeing the entire city at a distance was pretty phenomenal.
Once we got over to Kowloon we were off and running to meet up with the rest of our group since we knew they made it to the restaurant far more expediently. Despite our desire to hurry we couldn’t help but be taken in by the sights and sounds and spent some time just looking around. Another interesting coincidence happened as well, it turns out that the ferry station is located on Salisbury Road, which also happens to be the same name as the street that I grew up on and where I live to this day. After taking our time and getting our bearings we were able to get the restaurant pretty quickly.
Our other group had been there for 20 minutes so we proceeded to sit down and order our dinners. The one beautiful thing about going to a place like the Hard Rock, especially if you have been to it before, is that the menu is pretty similar regardless of where you are. I ordered my usual, the Pulled Pork sandwich, largely because I wanted some comfort food after eating food more common to the Asian culture for most of the week. After dinner we hit the gift shop and picked up some great souvenirs. No trip to the HR is complete for me until I add a new shot glass to my growing collection so it was a nice addition.
It was already quite late when we wrapped up so we decided to call it an evening. Of course we could have taken a cab along with our other group but we decided to experience the underground. While not too different from any other subway I was on, it was remarkably clean – almost spotless – and added yet another type of transportation to my growing list of modalities that I used while in Hong Kong. It also gave us a chance to see more of the city at night because the train station we needed to get off at was quite a few blocks from our hotel.
I promised myself when I left for this trip that I would really take in all that Hong Kong had to offer. With a few days remaining, I feel like I have already accomplished that, but I really am excited to find some more things to do.
Hong Kong Trip – Day 3
Well for anyone who is really paying attention to the details of what I have been writing, it should have been quite obvious that I mentioned the fact that I am on a business trip yet I have spent an inordinate amount of time sightseeing. In all honesty, it hasn’t been all play and no work and a considerable amount of work was getting done, it just wasn’t the primary focus for the first few days. When the organization that I work for books our travel it is done in such a way that allows us to acclimate to where we are working. This is largely because once we get going we are literally on for twelve-to-fifteen hours per day so we need to be rested, pleasant and focused, hence a we are given a few days where there is work to do but more task-related types of things that allows us to work in short bursts.
Today was the first day that I had a number of commitments that had to be attended to. For the large part my work begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, but there are pre-meetings and face-to-face discussions that have to take place, if for no other reason than the convenience of getting to spend “face time” with people we work with via email and over the phone.
I had breakfast with our I.T. guy at one of the hotel restaurants. From there we headed to our “war room” or operations center to see what work had to be done. For me the work was largely focused on preparing materials for the conference / leadership meeting we were holding and I had to put together folders for each attendee. Most of the work that is done in preparation for our meetings is in no way related to what I actually do, but part of the obligation of being on site is doing whatever needs to be done. Considering the fact that developing the type of learning program that I am responsible for, switching gears to something a bit more operational is always a nice change. Plus, I am someone who likes to see if he can overlay a process on everything, so putting together folders that requires a number of different components is always a great challenge.
After completing that work, I was asked to sit in on a meeting with my manager, our director and one of our members who has been playing a very key role in one of our initiatives. This is more consistent with the type of work that I do on a regular basis, and while the topic of conversation was very engaging and interesting, the location was even moreso. Instead of meeting in a more sterile meeting room or one of the board rooms that we have access to we met on the 30th floor of our hotel in the Executive Club. From there you not only had a wonderful ambiance but also had a commanding view of the Kowloon skyline! It was hard to stay completely focused on the meeting because I was totally enthralled by the view.
The meeting lasted a few hours and by the time we were finished it was almost dinner time. Since I had no plans for the evening, I figured it would be a great night to get some additional preparation work done on the presentation I would be giving over the weekend and perhaps order some room service. So much for that idea! I no sooner got back to my room that I received a call that a bunch of my colleagues were heading over to Kowloon to have dinner at the Hard Rock. Since I love going to the Hard Rock, and have done so in a number of other locations, I couldn’t resist.
We met in the lobby of the hotel a few minutes later and we worked out our logistics. Half of our group decided to take the ferry across the bay, while the other half opted for a cab ride. I was one that decided to take the ferry as I had already experienced a number of cab rides and really wanted something different, plus I simply love being on the water. Now I have been on a number of boat rides in my life, and this was really no different except for the absolutely stunning view of Hong Kong that you had as you made the crossing. Hong Kong is a beautiful city, but it really comes to life at night because most of the buildings are lit up and actually change color as part of the informal light show. And while I have a pretty commanding view of the city from my room, seeing the entire city at a distance was pretty phenomenal.
Once we got over to Kowloon we were off and running to meet up with the rest of our group since we knew they made it to the restaurant far more expediently. Despite our desire to hurry we couldn’t help but be taken in by the sights and sounds and spent some time just looking around. Another interesting coincidence happened as well, it turns out that the ferry station is located on Salisbury Road, which also happens to be the same name as the street that I grew up on and where I live to this day. After taking our time and getting our bearings we were able to get the restaurant pretty quickly.
Our other group had been there for 20 minutes so we proceeded to sit down and order our dinners. The one beautiful thing about going to a place like the Hard Rock, especially if you have been to it before, is that the menu is pretty similar regardless of where you are. I ordered my usual, the Pulled Pork sandwich, largely because I wanted some comfort food after eating food more common to the Asian culture for most of the week. After dinner we hit the gift shop and picked up some great souvenirs. No trip to the HR is complete for me until I add a new shot glass to my growing collection so it was a nice addition.
It was already quite late when we wrapped up so we decided to call it an evening. Of course we could have taken a cab along with our other group but we decided to experience the underground. While not too different from any other subway I was on, it was remarkably clean – almost spotless – and added yet another type of transportation to my growing list of modalities that I used while in Hong Kong. It also gave us a chance to see more of the city at night because the train station we needed to get off at was quite a few blocks from our hotel.
I promised myself when I left for this trip that I would really take in all that Hong Kong had to offer. With a few days remaining, I feel like I have already accomplished that, but I really am excited to find some more things to do.