This last August work was taking me to our office in Chengdu, in the heart of China. We are working on building out a front-end software delivery practice there, and part of that is establishing the relationships and getting to know the ways both sides work and what the cultural differences are, in order to strengthen our cooperation. Needless to say, I didn't complain about this assignment, and off I went!
Traveling in business class is pretty much a necessity when traveling such long distances. So great to actually get some proper sleep on the way. Especially since my flight took off at midnight. Having a real meal instead of hospital food is appreciated too. And access to the lounge during a 6 hour layover in Bangkok certainly helped kill the time. Although... Veronika helped a bit with that too. Since she was living in Seoul, South Korea, for the summer, we took the opportunity upon us to meet in Chengdu since flights between Soul and Chengdu cost very little. However she unfortunately missed her flight from Seoul, because they refused to check her in 55 minutes before departure. This meant we had to scramble to book some other flight while fighting with both our intermittent overloaded airport wifi connections. In the end she managed though, thanks to her amazing comprehension of Mandarin.
After I arrived in Chengdu I checked out my hotel, which was a nothing-special price for western standards, but for the middle of China it provided an experience that was well above and beyond. I dare even say extravagant. I was a bit blown away, because I didn't expect this at all. The bed in the room was absolutely massive. Big enough for 3 or 4 people. And the hotel was surrounded by little streets that were made to look authentic., but were clearly very new.
Later in the evening I went to meet Veronika at the airport. We stuck her suitcase in the back of the taxi, and drove back to town. But halfway, the driver stopped on the motorway, got out, took the suitcase from the back, and put it on the front seat. We were both looking strangely at the driver, and Veronika asked the man if everything was OK. He said all was fine. But I noticed that the taxi meter had suddenly jumped from 16 to 126 RMB. The trip was supposed to cost about 42 total, which I knew because I had already taken it twice that day. We decided that as soon as we arrived I would jump out and take the suitcase, while Veronika would stay in the car and talk to the driver, making sure he wouldn't be able to hold the luggage hostage. Nearing the hotel, which has a private car entrance for taxis to stop right at the front door, the driver was reluctant to go in there. We ordered him to go anyway. As soon as we were there I jumped out, grabbed the suitcase and at the same time called hotel security over. The driver got very nervous and hammered on a key to reset the meter, which now showed 174 RMB, to 0. Given that the meter now showed 0, I was inclined to not pay anything, but decided to just pay the real fee while the driver was still trying to convince us it had to be 60 RMB. Tough luck, dude. You picked the wrong customers to try and cheat.
After I arrived in Chengdu I checked out my hotel, which was a nothing-special price for western standards, but for the middle of China it provided an experience that was well above and beyond. I dare even say extravagant. I was a bit blown away, because I didn't expect this at all. The bed in the room was absolutely massive. Big enough for 3 or 4 people. And the hotel was surrounded by little streets that were made to look authentic., but were clearly very new.
Later in the evening I went to meet Veronika at the airport. We stuck her suitcase in the back of the taxi, and drove back to town. But halfway, the driver stopped on the motorway, got out, took the suitcase from the back, and put it on the front seat. We were both looking strangely at the driver, and Veronika asked the man if everything was OK. He said all was fine. But I noticed that the taxi meter had suddenly jumped from 16 to 126 RMB. The trip was supposed to cost about 42 total, which I knew because I had already taken it twice that day. We decided that as soon as we arrived I would jump out and take the suitcase, while Veronika would stay in the car and talk to the driver, making sure he wouldn't be able to hold the luggage hostage. Nearing the hotel, which has a private car entrance for taxis to stop right at the front door, the driver was reluctant to go in there. We ordered him to go anyway. As soon as we were there I jumped out, grabbed the suitcase and at the same time called hotel security over. The driver got very nervous and hammered on a key to reset the meter, which now showed 174 RMB, to 0. Given that the meter now showed 0, I was inclined to not pay anything, but decided to just pay the real fee while the driver was still trying to convince us it had to be 60 RMB. Tough luck, dude. You picked the wrong customers to try and cheat.
