A Retail Academy workshop for heads of retail and new store opening teams from the Asia Pacific region. My workshop was a sheer success and all delegates were surprised and amazed by the methodology and science unpinning layout and space planning.
Thursday, 2 June 2016
An Oriental Adventure: Return to Shanghai Part #2
SATURDAY 9TH APRIL - FRIDAY 15TH APRIL 2016
A Retail Academy workshop for heads of retail and new store opening teams from the Asia Pacific region. My workshop was a sheer success and all delegates were surprised and amazed by the methodology and science unpinning layout and space planning.
A Retail Academy workshop for heads of retail and new store opening teams from the Asia Pacific region. My workshop was a sheer success and all delegates were surprised and amazed by the methodology and science unpinning layout and space planning.
An Oriental Adventure...Return to Shanghai Part #1.2
SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY - SATURDAY 19TH MARCH 2016
DAY TRIP
Two whole weekends were at my disposal during the duration of my stay and number one on my list, Beijing. The plan: travel by high speed train after work on the first Friday, stay until Sunday and visit the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square and the Great Wall of China as a minimum. Disclosing my plans to the team, I was recommended to save this trip until the second weekend and instead visit the popular destination of Xi Hu (West Lake) in Hangzhou, an hour by train south-west of Shanghai. Diligently, Pearl complied a set of maps, directions and instructions for my visit.
Saturday arrived with an early start, helped along with a wholesome breakfast and an extra cup of coffee to help evade the effects of long distance travel mixed with the challenge of performing my normal duties with many additional tasks for work. Without issue, I alighted the metro at Shanghai Indoor Stadium and headed in the direction of the station.
Wandering back and forth passed the station, I started to feel a sense of uncertainty. The lack of pedestrians, the surrounding suburbia and the calm and quite atmosphere suggested a station for local travel, not national. Convinced all was not right, Pearl's instructions were carefully examined to shed light on the situation and a eureka moment was quickly to follow: I had travelled to the bus station and not the train station.
Realising this careless error, I set to correct the course of the day. Arriving back at the metro I noted the purple line was a direct route to the station, found the platform and boarded the metro. Although I was on my way again, the feeling of uncertainty persisted as the journey was taking longer than anticipated, the view from the window continued to be suburbia and was in fact above ground whereas the journey should have taken me underground.
What I had failed to spot was the metro has 2 purple lines, line 4 and line 10, and I had boarded the wrong one. Correcting my journey once again, I eventually arrived at Shanghai Railway Station two hours after I had set off. But success would not last for long.
Reviewing Pearl's instructions once again to ensure the next part of my journey would be without hindrance, I realised the train station I required was not Shanghai Railway Station in the north of the city but Hongqiao Railway Station in the east! At this point, I decided to defer the trip until the second weekend and forgo Beijing until another visit.
The following weekend soon arrived and the feeling of uncertainty was replaced with a sure sense of success. Triumphantly, I navigated my way to the train station, accurately decrypted the information boards, confidently conversed with the teller, bought my tickets, found my platform and patiently waited for the train to arrive.
I assumed the smog of Shanghai was confined within the city limits but this assumption was to be corrected. The grey haze that screened the sky scrappers continued to hide the horizon as I looked out over the countryside. The train was followed by a further hour on the number 28 public bus when the hustle and bustle of local tourists signalled my arrival at West Lake and the smell of smog was replaced by the sweet sent of flora and fauna.
Walking along the northern edge of the lake, a series of landscapes with rocks, trees, grass and lakeside buildings all shimmered in the lake's waters which was framed by the wooded hills of the north and south, mountains of the west and the city to the east.
One such building was the Tomb of Yue Fei with its impressive entrance way leading to the shrine surrounded by peaceful gardens.
Further along the north edge is Lianheng Memorial Hall, a totally tranquil setting away from the hubbub of tourists.
Crossing the waters north to south and east to west are 2 causeways, built as early as the Tang Dynasty and originated from work to take control of the waters with dykes and locks. The shorter of the two causeways is Bai Di which crosses east to west and is the more popular of the two stretching 1500m in length. In the middle of the causeway is Gu Shan (Solitary Hill).
Traversing the lake from north to south is the Su Di causeway consisting of embankments planted with banana trees, weeping willows and plum trees, linked by six stone arch bridges.
The Leifeng Pagoda located at the southern stretch of the lake.
TEAM OUTING
For my penultimate evening, Pearl and the team took me to wine and dine at Yas Paridise, a traditional Chinese restaurant on The Bund which served an eclectic mix of dishes.
THE JOURNEY HOME
Following the cancelation of my flight, additional night in an airport hotel which had the look and feel of booking rooms by the hour and an untimely early morning get up, my fortunes changed after being befriended by a gold member of BA who invited me to sit with her in the first class lounge and gossip while we waited for our flight home.
DAY TRIP
Two whole weekends were at my disposal during the duration of my stay and number one on my list, Beijing. The plan: travel by high speed train after work on the first Friday, stay until Sunday and visit the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square and the Great Wall of China as a minimum. Disclosing my plans to the team, I was recommended to save this trip until the second weekend and instead visit the popular destination of Xi Hu (West Lake) in Hangzhou, an hour by train south-west of Shanghai. Diligently, Pearl complied a set of maps, directions and instructions for my visit.
Saturday arrived with an early start, helped along with a wholesome breakfast and an extra cup of coffee to help evade the effects of long distance travel mixed with the challenge of performing my normal duties with many additional tasks for work. Without issue, I alighted the metro at Shanghai Indoor Stadium and headed in the direction of the station.
Wandering back and forth passed the station, I started to feel a sense of uncertainty. The lack of pedestrians, the surrounding suburbia and the calm and quite atmosphere suggested a station for local travel, not national. Convinced all was not right, Pearl's instructions were carefully examined to shed light on the situation and a eureka moment was quickly to follow: I had travelled to the bus station and not the train station.
Realising this careless error, I set to correct the course of the day. Arriving back at the metro I noted the purple line was a direct route to the station, found the platform and boarded the metro. Although I was on my way again, the feeling of uncertainty persisted as the journey was taking longer than anticipated, the view from the window continued to be suburbia and was in fact above ground whereas the journey should have taken me underground.
What I had failed to spot was the metro has 2 purple lines, line 4 and line 10, and I had boarded the wrong one. Correcting my journey once again, I eventually arrived at Shanghai Railway Station two hours after I had set off. But success would not last for long.
Reviewing Pearl's instructions once again to ensure the next part of my journey would be without hindrance, I realised the train station I required was not Shanghai Railway Station in the north of the city but Hongqiao Railway Station in the east! At this point, I decided to defer the trip until the second weekend and forgo Beijing until another visit.
The following weekend soon arrived and the feeling of uncertainty was replaced with a sure sense of success. Triumphantly, I navigated my way to the train station, accurately decrypted the information boards, confidently conversed with the teller, bought my tickets, found my platform and patiently waited for the train to arrive.
I assumed the smog of Shanghai was confined within the city limits but this assumption was to be corrected. The grey haze that screened the sky scrappers continued to hide the horizon as I looked out over the countryside. The train was followed by a further hour on the number 28 public bus when the hustle and bustle of local tourists signalled my arrival at West Lake and the smell of smog was replaced by the sweet sent of flora and fauna.
Walking along the northern edge of the lake, a series of landscapes with rocks, trees, grass and lakeside buildings all shimmered in the lake's waters which was framed by the wooded hills of the north and south, mountains of the west and the city to the east.
One such building was the Tomb of Yue Fei with its impressive entrance way leading to the shrine surrounded by peaceful gardens.
Further along the north edge is Lianheng Memorial Hall, a totally tranquil setting away from the hubbub of tourists.
Crossing the waters north to south and east to west are 2 causeways, built as early as the Tang Dynasty and originated from work to take control of the waters with dykes and locks. The shorter of the two causeways is Bai Di which crosses east to west and is the more popular of the two stretching 1500m in length. In the middle of the causeway is Gu Shan (Solitary Hill).
Traversing the lake from north to south is the Su Di causeway consisting of embankments planted with banana trees, weeping willows and plum trees, linked by six stone arch bridges.
The Leifeng Pagoda located at the southern stretch of the lake.
TEAM OUTING
For my penultimate evening, Pearl and the team took me to wine and dine at Yas Paridise, a traditional Chinese restaurant on The Bund which served an eclectic mix of dishes.
THE JOURNEY HOME
Following the cancelation of my flight, additional night in an airport hotel which had the look and feel of booking rooms by the hour and an untimely early morning get up, my fortunes changed after being befriended by a gold member of BA who invited me to sit with her in the first class lounge and gossip while we waited for our flight home.
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