Yesterday we had our last working session with our client. I asked our coordinator a few times to check the satisfaction of our meetings, which were all very positive. From today on we work on our final recommendations, to be presented mid of next week. We tweaked the TV set in my room and connected a laptop, which allowed us to work together while watching the same screen. We made already progress. So far, the easy stuff of the day ...

#ibmcsc china

Tweaking the TV set in the room

During the entire week I still regretted that we couldn't go to Wuyishan Mountain. On Thursday Megan and I were discussing the planning for the weekend. I mentioned that I would like to get away, but I did not wanted to leave the rest of the team behind to work on the final recommendations whilst I would be hanging around. Megan was also keen to do something different, so we came to the idea to split the weekend in two: taking a day off on Saturday and continue the work on Sunday. When going together through the different options only one was our real favorite: Wuyishan Mountain. We I came to the crazy idea that we could go to Wuyishan mountain with the first flight in the morning and coming back the same day with the last flight in the evening, she said immediately: 'yeah, why not? Let's do it Bart'. After dinner with our client we asked Cecily to lookup costs of local flights. That evening several team members were also questioning around if somebody is aware of any weekend plans. Walking outside we met Elizabeth and she was in on the idea going one day to Wuyishan Mountain. We were almost sure that the same die-hard travelers from last weekend would join. This morning, whilst working on the final recommendations, we started looking up for flights. Around lunchtime Megan and I took our passports and credit cards and booked our flights. End of discussion, WE GO! Mail, calls and text messaging to the team did the rest; five more team members booked also the same flight during the afternoon. Going there will be the surprise of tomorrow.

After the CSC project I planned going to the roof of the world, Tibet. Last Wednesday night I got very bad news, my application for a Tibet Travel Permit was refused based on the invitation letter being in English and not in Chinese. Yesterday I requested our staff in Beijing to re-issue the letter in Chinese. Cecily translated immediately the letter and I hoped having it the same day signed and stamped. Unfortunate, I did not get it. This morning my travel agent in Lhasa kept asking for the Chinese version of the letter as she really needs it today. Many calls, chats, text messages from me and our DOT program manager to made it progressing. The letter was signed in the morning, but the required stamp was only available from 15:00! Thanks to our Beijing staff I got me signed and stamped letter in Chinese at 15:30. I forwarded it directly to Lhasa, which should be just in time. Let's cross fingers I got my Tibet Travel Permit next week!

What a day ... work progressed, weekend scheduled, application issue for Tibet solved! Thanks to everybody to help me out!