Meeting Balkende and enjoyed a little holiday in Chengdu

In the plane going back to Shanghai after three very nice days in Chengdu. This city in the West of China is famous for its delicious spicy food. I must admit the food I ate was definitely great. Especially the food in the cheap street places was extremely good. So if you ever go to Sichuan province get your food at the street shops (you won’t regret it). Today we had malatang – very tasty (haochi). This dish is a hot boiling spicy soup in which you boil your meet and vegetables. Then you dip them in oil to ‘cool’ it down and it’s ready for your mouth. It is nice and I miss it already. It’s very similar to Hot Pot in Shanghai, so I will be alright (but I’ll probably never find it that good in SH). But I can conclude that the story about the delicious food in Sichuan turned out to be very true.

From back in Holland I know Meimei. She is a very nice Chinese girl, who lives in Norway, but is now in Chengdu for a couple of months to take care of her sick mother. She was so kind to have me as a guest and show me around town. I totally love it to be guided by a local: you go to all the good places, hear all the inside stories and get a better understanding of the local way of live. Meimei brought me to see Panda’s which was great (next to food Chengdu is famous for it’s Panda’s). It’s such a beautiful animal and we where in luck to see many baby-panda’s. Further we went to some nice old beautiful streets that resembled Xitiandi in SH. So also many bars and shops around here – stick to the winning concept (it works!). Meimei and I had a lot of fun and she also gave a lot of feedback on my Chinese – my pronunciation needs work (but she was impressed with my achievements so far). So, after three quiet days I’m hooked up to Chinesepod.com again. Let the language just flow into my brain (that’s my strategy and it worked out quite fine so far).

The three days in Chengdu went extremely quickly. We didn’t make it to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful nature that is surrounding Chengdu. No time! I just have to go back again. However, I’m very happy to have spent this weekend in another context /city. I want to see more of China now I have the chance. And after four weeks of Shanghai I felt I needed a little break. My time with Meimei and the Sichuan food were a perfect break from the busy Shanghai-life I’ve let the last four weeks. Now I on my way home to Shanghai – it doesn’t really feel like going ‘home’, but it will probably feel like that once I enter my apartment.

Last Monday to Thursday I worked in Shanghai. I get more and more control on my work and made scheduled a lot of meetings for the coming week. It’s time to go out again and connect to the business that’s floating through Shanghai. I’ve been here now over a month and done so many many things I can hardly imagine it’s just been a month. I spend quite some time the last two weeks on getting the strategy and projects for de Baak in focus, which is important to do, but doesn’t bring real results. Like always great results requires devoted preparation. Although I needed to spend many hours alone behind my computer, there’s always time if there’s a special happing. And this week there was definitely one special happing here.

The happing I’m referring to is the visit of your Dutch leader Prime Minister Jan-Pieter Balkenende. He and Frank Heemskerk were in town for two days. I joined their program on Tuesday. I went to a speech of Frank at the CEIBS and after I went to the opening of the Dutch Pavillion for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It was quite a formal meeting, but I was happy to attend. A lot of Dutch people were attending this happy moment, so I got a change to meet many new people. Like everywhere in the world you soon find that even though the networks can seem big and inaccessible at first glance, they are mostly quite small and very open. This is also the case in Shanghai and I start to be in a position were in can begin to connect the dots – a good sign. Event likes the Balkenende-one this Tuesday are a big help when you want to connect dots. I didn’t join the formal dinner of the politicians and other ‘official’ guest. Instead I dined whit a group of Dutch correspondents, which was very nice. We later joined the official party at the Cotton’s bar, close to my home. Around 23.30 hour the officials let to their hotel, and I tried of drinking and talking so went home. When I arrived at my house I found my bicycle stolen. Shit! It’s not all happiness and bliss here in Shanghai. But you can still find a nice smile here on my face. I’m ready for my second month here in the booming EAST.