2011 Company Trip - Qiandaohu

Every year in Chinese companies it is customary to take a company trip (wish that happened in the US too).  Now getting an office of 60 people to be happy and excited about a free weekend is tougher than it should be.  They all figure we have unlimited money and resources, which obviously we don't.  To try and help ease the challenge, this year we had a committee of 5 organize and plan.  This way there are others to blame than me!  

Everything was planned for Labor Day weekend, knowing our NY office would be closed on Monday as well.  We were off to Qiandaohu also known as "Thousand Island Lake."  The plan was some rafting, a boat ride, hikes through some of the islands, and then to an oxygen forest.  But first we had to get there...and for that we had to take the bus about 4-5 hours from Shanghai.  I brought along an afro-wig for some laughs.  Below is our GM, Paul and his massive head of hair.  Hard to believe under there he is bald as an eagle!

Unfortunately I have no photos of the rafting but it was a blast!  I wasn't sure it was a good idea given that most Chinese in my office can't swim!  But everyone had to wear a helmet and life jacket.  Below is a photo from a bridge on Qiandaohu.  

Here is a different view of the bridge.  It's actually more like wooden planks that move all over the place, making walking across the bridge an adventure.  Especially when folks start to have fun and shake it!  Below is one of our drivers (Mao) and the woman in purple helps run our testing lab.

Some people also did some sort of reverse bungee jump.  The smaller the person obviously the higher they went and the more they flipped.  Most everyone enjoyed but there were a few who did not.

My goal on this trip was to make it super enjoyable so that next year everyone would want to go.  Because a few people backed out on this trip we had more room in the budget.  So we switched plans about 4 days before it started.  For our second night out we moved to a Sheraton hotel right on the water with unbelievable views and accommodations!  Most of the team had never stayed in a western hotel so this was a big treat.  Even better was that the weather cooperated.  We took advantage of the pool, taught some of the Chinese to swim even and all in all had a great time.

I've tried to include nothing but the good fun photos.  There are others of course.  Like some of the god awful food we ate, especially at lunches.  You know it is bad when the Chinese tell you the food is terrible even the rice!  Plus we had challenges with buses breaking down, running out of air conditioning, etc.  But we had an amazing time.  One final photo of the sunset view from the hotel...