I'll be back (I hope)

But it wasn’t really over and I spent Friday supporting IT Services and Library Services colleagues adapt to a new and different way of working; also addressing some minor teething issues. In fact, this was still the case at 5.30 when the taxi was due to take me to the airport and I said farewell to Ningbo campus and a tremendous group of colleagues who work there and have a genuine can do attitude.

The 3-hour return trip to Shanghai Pudong was a little more sedate than Sunday's journey in the opposite direction and the driver was more communicative, which was great because I learned a few more interesting (to me anyway) facts. He still demonstrated excellent weaving skills as we moved continually from one lane to another.

As we drove across the coastal plain and approached the 35km long Hangzhou Bridge, he explained that the high rise development towards the coast, across what looked like marshland, was an embryonic  new city. And when you consider how large cities are in China (Ningbo at 14m people is considered to be a medium size city), it’s quite astonishing. Apparently this new city will attract a lot of new factories.

Shortly after crossing the bridge, the driver (I’m sorry but I didn’t get a name) explained that we were entering Shanghai. I thought we must have made exceptional progress until I saw a road sign that read 56km to Shanghai city centre and he explained that it was still a further 88km to the airport. This was compounded by the fact that that the road surface changed quite dramatically to one that, at best, can be described as undulating. I’ll never complain about travelling to work again.

The drop off point at the airport was chaotic with vehicles 3 and sometimes 4 abreast. No problem though as he pulled in and I jumped out. This was followed by the usual check-in, immigration (you have to complete a departure card when you leave and have your visa stamped) and security. It was a close run thing because I only arrived at the departure gate with 2½ hours to spare. Still, it gave me plenty of time to type up most of this drivel.

I’m now sitting by the window looking out at the Airbus A-380 jumbo that will take 9 hours to Dubai followed by another 7 hours to Birmingham and (it seems) rain and 15 degrees – I’ve really appreciated not being cold for almost two weeks.

I think I’ll be convinced after the journey to come that a direct flight would have been better but Birmingham is convenient and I’d prefer to avoid Heathrow. Of course there might not be another opportunity but I hope so because China is a fascinating, energetic and vibrant country. And a visit is a truly stimulating experience.

Thank you for joining me on this journey (it’s starting to sound a bit Alan Whicker for my liking) and putting up with the prattle; also for any comments that you posted, which are always welcome. Apologies for any duplication of last year's blog.

Since preparing this at Shanghai Airport, I've managed to navigate my way home courtesy of two flights, two trains and one bus. I've added a few photos I took during the second flight from Dubai to Birmingham. I've managed to last until 9 pm and really need to catch up on some sleep so it's time to hit 'Publish' and say goodnight.

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And finally

After a successful rollout on Thursday (although not without its complications, a slight delay and late finish), some of our Ningbo colleagues joined Chris and I on a night out. This involved a Thai meal at InCity and then a visit to the centre of Ningbo and the bar area called Laowaitan. The crew below (from left to right) are Harry, Michael, Sherry, Jacky and Baker.

Apparently, Thai food is expensive in China but as the meal (for 7) came to only 420RMB (the equivalent of roughly £42.00), Chris and I did the decent thing and paid the bill.

We visited the bar area in Ningbo and I hadn’t appreciated before that it’s located next to the river that flows through the city. Actually, it’s the confluence of two rivers and is very attractive, especially at night with so many buildings lit up. The following is a great example and it was quite mesmerising – I spent some time just watching it change from one colour to another. However, my colleagues and the beer were calling and so I had to drag myself away

As with KL, beer can be expensive but Harry knew where to get an Asahi at two thirds of the price (at 25RMB of £2.50) in the trendy bars, most of which were banging out live tunes.

We played pool, drank some beer and raised a glass to Supportworks (no, really!). And Harry and I (with me in ‘defence’) were destroyed 10-0 at table football by some apparent (Western) locals. As last year, it was a good end to an intensive but enjoyable visit.

I've added a few more pics of the campus, including some from Thursday when selection exams were being held for about 1400 prospective students.

I just keep on training

It's been a hectic few days with long days and then much still to prepare in the evening to accommodate changes that have been identified at the eleventh hour. The speed (absence) of connection in the hotel doesn't help.

Still, spare a thought for my colleague Chris who yesterday had to visit a data centre in Shanghai with Harry Hua (Deputy Director for IT at Ningbo). He left shortly after 6 am and didn't return to the hotel until 11 pm. And that included travelling on the bullet train. Shanghai is a big place (but then I suppose it would have to be to accommodate 34 million people) and it can take several hours to travel from one side of this enormous city to the other. Missing the return train and then having to wait for one that wasn't fully booked already (standing is booked as well as seated) didn't help I guess.

Tomorrow is technically go live day although the migration won't practically take effect until the beginning of Friday because we won't migrate the email until 3.00. Also, it's an important day of entrance exams and most staff will be assisting with that.

The past three days have consisted largely of training the IT Services and Library Services staff who will be using Supportworks, which has been hard work but fun. As last year, it was recorded and I'm just thankful that YouTube (along with Google, Facebook, Twitter and others) isn't available in China.

It's still raining and remains warm and muggy but I've resisted the temptation to take the hotel-supplied pink brolly in to work with me. I'm just getting wet instead.

So, little to report I'm afraid and the Citrix connection (I can't access Blogger directly because it's the work of the Devil aka Google) keeps dropping out, which is doing my head in so I'll leave you with a few pics of the campus, which is a green oasis amidst the surrounding development (some of which is being undertaken by the university). This includes Canteen No. 1 (and my returned and packaged laundry!). Also, I've just had my nightly supply of cake, milk juice and apples x 2 delivered. I notice they've stopped delivering the Chinese language newspaper.

It just keeps on raining

Apparently, we arrived on the first day of the rainy season and it hasn't stopped since. It should last 4 weeks before the really hot weather hits in July and has put the pink brolly supplied by the hotel to good use. And yes, it's an especially bright shade of pink. There have been times when it has poured but at least it's warm (although less so today).

Sunday was a day to recuperate before the week ahead, which mean't I slept in until 1 pm (something I haven't done since I was a student) and would probably still be asleep now if it wasn't for a knock at the door from Mr Nottage (we'd agreed to meet up at 12!!).

So, a wander down to Wanda (Plaza - shopping mall) followed. It's another impressive centre with many expensive shops and was a welcome retreat from the rain (I'm afraid this is going to be a recurring theme). It also has many cafes and restaurants and, well it would have been rude and discourteous not to, this led to lamb noodle soup (too sloppy for me especially when using chopsticks to scoop up the slippery noodles) and a milk fruit smoothie, which seems to be popular round here. Incidentally, I've no idea what the lad in the third photo below was doing but I think he did a pirouette at an opportune moment.

I needed some bottled water and spotted a Wal Mart. A fairly narrow entrance opened out in to a truly cavernous supermarket which was like no Wal Mart I'd ever visited (and I've been to one, maybe two). The range was staggering and included live fish in tanks and crabs that had been trussed up. Also, a wide range of fruit and veg. Oh, and no guns. I felt a bit inadequate with my two bottles of water.

Chris then discovered an indoor fair complete with roller skating rink, dodgems and an array of amusements. Everyone was having a great time but my rollerskating days are over I'm afraid. It didn't stop Chris mind you and he's being medivaced back to the UK tomorrow.

And back to Teckon Ciel (that's the hotel by the way) in between the showers to prepare for what was to come in the week ahead.

Ni hao Ningbo

As arranged, we were picked up at 5.45 by Mr Lim (one of Mr Mok's cronies). Two things here. The first is we had to miss a Prince Hotel breakfast (I'll stop mentioning it now) and I have never actually met the Taxi Godfather (Mr Mok). I am beginning to wonder if he actually exists and is instead a mythical creature. Or maybe it's an acronym: 'Man Of Kuala'?

We arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in good time and then proceeded to use the self service booth to generate our boarding passes before checking in our luggage, and then jumping on the monorail to the departure gates, which are located away from the terminal. All very efficient and calmly organised.

KLIA is an modern and very impressive airport. Much like Dubai, it has some very up market shops and the inevitable Starbucks. A coffee and one of the largest pain au chocolat I've ever seen followed.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH388 (a little too close for comfort) transported us north west to Shanghai Pudong Airport. It was a pretty uneventful flight, which is fine by me, and we landed through the now familiar haze that hangs around this area. In fact, the air has a certain industrial quality about it and a metallic 'taste', which is noticeable as soon as you step off the plane.

We soon navigated immigration control and customs, and were met by Mr Mok's Chinese cousin who took us at breakneck speed from Shanghai to Ningbo. It's about 130 miles and much of the time we were travelling at 150 km/h.He also displayed some mad (and, Lou, I mean that in the old sense of the word) lane hopping skills. So much so, that I was utterly confused as to which was the slow lane and which was fast.

After circumnavigating around Shanghai for some considerable time (it's a very big place), passing the now familiar rice paddies, polytunnels and new developments en route, we reached the bridge that crosses Hangzhou Bay. That's 22 miles and the bridge halved the journey time from Shanghai to Ningbo when it opened in 2007. Just to prove this, I've included a photo of the sat nav which clearly shows water, and the sat nav never lies.

After two and a half hours we arrived at the Teckon Ciel Hotel and checked in at the very ornate reception desk. The rooms are much the same as last year but are located away from the busy junction (I imagine you get used to the backdrop of car horns).

The rooms have mod cons but connecting to the wired and wireless networks has been challenging to say the least (as you may gather from the pic below). I had to enlist the help of reception to get connected to wired and have still to get hooked up to the wireless network. And the instructions did not reflect what you had to do to connect, which is all part of the experience - now there's a lesson for us all.

Within 90 minutes of arriving, Chris and I (although Chris mainly) got involved in an MI relating to the China website, which followed us to a traditional Chinese hostelry (O'Reilly's) where we sampled typical Chinese food and drink (pizza and Guinness/Carlsburg). A 20-minute taxi ride returned us to the hotel after the bewitching hour (well, it was Saturday night) for £1.80.

Short but sweet

Friday morning dawned bright and sunny again and I managed to take another pic of the view from my room before heading down to the restaurant for a sumptuous Prince Hotel breakfast (have I mentioned before how good it is?!).

And then it was off on the 45-minute taxi ride to campus for the last time. The day sped by (much like the taxi rides in and around KL) and I finished with a presentation to the Estates team about the potential that Supportworks has to meet their requirements (they currently use a combination of Outlook and Excel to manage work requests). In fact, I had to call a halt at 5.30 because our taxi had arrived.

Of course, we still managed a break for lunch and this time tried the campus restaurant, which consists of multiple outlets offering Malay, Chinese, Thai and western food (to mention just a few). And pretty good it is too. You do have purchase tokens which you then exchange for the food (and drink) but a meal card service is due to be implemented later this year.

The lunches provide a great opportunity to learn more about the university in Malaysia and Malaysia in general, which is utterly fascinating, and to see more of the campus. Lotus explained that the hazy season will shortly arrive and that this is caused by farmers to the South (mainly in Indonesia I believe) burning their crops, which causes a pall of smoke to hang over the region for several weeks during July and August. This attracted worldwide media attention a few years ago but is an annual and predictable event, and is maybe a time of the year to avoid.

The late finish of my meeting with Estates meant a rapid farewell and round of thank yous to Khan, Lotus, Vivi, Masrul and the team when it deserved something more because they have all, once again, been gracious hosts.

The final night in KL also meant a farewell to Tiger Beer and so Chris and I availed ourselves of the (not so) Happy Hour to slake our thirst. And very nice it was too especially as the bar provided an iced jug and two iced glasses. However, an early night was required because of the early start the following day (to be continued....)

They got big menus out here

The day started bright and reasonably clear, and I took a couple of snaps through my bedroom window of the dawn although it doesn't quite do it justice. It's now almost 8.30 pm and there's a spectacular electric storm circling around KL - especially good from the 27th floor and behind glass.

After another great breakfast (sorry to keep going on about it but it really is, which makes the fact we'll miss it on Saturday morning due to an early start especially hard to bear), it was back on the reverse commuter trail out of town with Mr Mok's mate at the helm.

As it was such a bright morning, I decided to have a wander and update my collection of Seminyeh campus photos as it's such a photogenic place. And pretty quiet currently because most of the students have finished for the year - only a few Foundation and Postgrad students remain. It's also alive with mynah birds although they're too quick for me to capture them on 'film'. They're very vocal and seem to spend much of their time scrapping with each other.

When I visited last year, a new, private development directly opposite the main gates had barely started. It's now nearing completion and will provide accommodation for students from September as well as a range of shops, eateries and, I believe, a cinema. It represents serious competition for the university-run student accommodation in Seminyeh.

Again, Khan and Lotus (our fantastic hosts) took us out for lunch; this time to a new development that only has two units occupied and they're both restaurants, which sounds like the right kind of priorities to me. The striking thing though was the size of the menus, which must be the largest....in the World. I certainly didn't need my glasses and I wondered at one point if it was a wind-up. I do like menus with photos - it makes it much easier to decide and will be an imperative next week.

Tomorrow is our last day on campus. It's been short but sweet and I feel very comfortable in KL (as a frequent visitor you understand!). It's a colourful, cosmopolitan and bustling place but relaxed and welcoming. It can be expensive but if you know where to go, you can eat well and within budget. And, of course, it's close to the home of Tiger Beer (Singapore, in case you were wondering).

The storm is still raging outside and the rain is battering on the window. I may have to forgo a Tiger this evening (and I'm not paying hotel prices).