First stop was Hong Kong – I used to live in Hong Kong over ten years ago when I worked for Lehman Brothers. The Microsoft office is located in the building next to my old office. The Country Manager for MSN Hong Kong, Leslie Chu, was our local host and organized all of our meetings with ad agencies and gaming companies in addition to coordinating all of our travel logistics. We received VIP service, so it was stress-free. Leslie also organized six Chinese banquets – here is the first one. By the end of the week, none of us wanted to eat any more Chinese food!
After two nights in Hong Kong, we flew to Shanghai to meet more local gaming companies. A quick snapshot of the Massive team in the lobby of the Hyatt on the Bund, one of the new hotels in Shanghai (and the nicest place we stayed).
Last stop was Beijing – upon arrival at the Beijing airport, we noticed some interesting billboards that were translated into English: “Dares to surmount” and “Pursue to be remarkable.” I suppose they were meant to be inspiring messages?
After one of our meetings in Beijing, we stopped on the side of the road to take photos of the new Olympic Stadium, “Birdsnest,” which was still under construction – only 150 days to go before the Summer Olympics begin!
On Thursday afternoon, three of us got sick – likely from one of the Chinese banquets. I barely made it through the last meeting on Thursday. Luckily I felt much better on Friday morning – what a relief. After getting sick, I was ready to go home, but there were still two more days to go. Bummer.
After our last meeting on Saturday, we went sightseeing at the Forbidden City –there were so many tourists, but the grounds were quite impressive.
After walking around for a few hours at the Forbidden City, we took a break for some coffee at Starbucks – check it out!
I am flying home tomorrow so I cannot wait to see you all. One more day until we’re reunited.
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