Most every company in China goes on a company trip annually (nice perk if you ask me). The biggest challenge is where to go. If you have a big budget you can fly someplace most people haven't been. If you don't have the big budget you take a bus or a train. But then everyone complains that "they've been there before."
So along with my GM and CFO we tried to come up with options that would work. However we didn't have a huge budget and have an office of 57 people so it was tough. Every idea that I threw out was rejected. Either they had been there before, didn't want to go there, etc.
I even suggested what if we went someplace within an hour of Shanghai and took spouses and kids? Just went for a day, played in the park, hiked, BBQ'd, went to a nice dinner, whatever. That idea was shot down faster than I could get it out of my mouth. I guess they all want to get away from home and their family!
In any event I finally made the decision and we planned on Nanjing. It's about a 4 hour bus ride from Shanghai. So not close but not like a 12 hour overnight bus ride that was suggested to me.
As soon as the decision was made many were not happy. I heard it all from "I've been there before" to "we don't want to go to a city, we want the countryside" to "we don't like Nanjing because of what the Japanese did there." (More on that when I post the update on the trip).
Bottom line you can't make everyone happy. But I was shocked to see the very selfish side of folks. For goodness sake it is a FREE trip, free hotel, food and sightseeing. Get over it! You can make what you want of it and be happy or make everyone miserable. There were some who chose to try and make everyone else miserable...
More on the trip later...
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Vacation - Cambodia/Vietnam
As usual I have gotten out of the habit of posting on here. Will try and do better for those who occasionally check it out.
In early August I needed a break. So I bought my tickets and went off to see the cultural wonders in Cambodia and then to Hanoi, Vietnam. Both places I had never been to.
Cambodia was amazing. It started a bit tough to handle as the first stop on my trip was to The Killing Fields where tens of thousands were slaughtered and buried by their own countrymen back in the 1970's. From there the rest of the trip was uplifting. Up to Siem Reap where Angkor Wat and all the temples were, then the floating villages. It was hot as all can be hiking everywhere. Felt like I lost 10 pounds a day just sweating like in a sauna.
You had to stay on the paths though in Cambodia as there are still land mines throughout the country from the war. They can't clean them all up fast enough. Be careful!
The trip ended with three days in Vietnam. Up on the north part of the country. Most of my time was spent in Halong Bay which is a World Heritage Site and features nearly two thousands islands made of limestone. So impressive.
A link to my photo journey is below...
http://picasaweb.google.com/nolanmitchell14/CambodiaVietnam#
In early August I needed a break. So I bought my tickets and went off to see the cultural wonders in Cambodia and then to Hanoi, Vietnam. Both places I had never been to.
Cambodia was amazing. It started a bit tough to handle as the first stop on my trip was to The Killing Fields where tens of thousands were slaughtered and buried by their own countrymen back in the 1970's. From there the rest of the trip was uplifting. Up to Siem Reap where Angkor Wat and all the temples were, then the floating villages. It was hot as all can be hiking everywhere. Felt like I lost 10 pounds a day just sweating like in a sauna.
You had to stay on the paths though in Cambodia as there are still land mines throughout the country from the war. They can't clean them all up fast enough. Be careful!
The trip ended with three days in Vietnam. Up on the north part of the country. Most of my time was spent in Halong Bay which is a World Heritage Site and features nearly two thousands islands made of limestone. So impressive.
A link to my photo journey is below...
http://picasaweb.google.com/nolanmitchell14/CambodiaVietnam#
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