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THE LEXAR 30TH ANNIVERSARY BEHIND THE BUILD MEDIA TOUR
Karen and I were very fortunate as we landed in Shanghai, China, a few days before the Monday evening Lexar briefing and dinner. Our hotel was right on ‘The Bund’ which is a waterfront to the Huangpu River and very historical district in Shanghai. This area has been shown in many movies to include Mission Impossible III, Skyfall, Looper and empire of The Sun.
To say that the local people were friendly is such an understatement. No scheduled tourist visits. No tour guide. We spoke no Chinese whatsoever… and we felt right at home. We toured the city to include an excruciating 7km walk of the Bund, Nanjing Road which sees over a million shoppers daily, Yuyuan Road which is the historical district as well as a food fair where I tried (and loved) shrimp stuffed chicken wings, if you might believe it?
All of this was within walking distance of our hotel. The only regret was that our visit to the historical district was on a day that Yuyuan Garden was closed as I had visited this several years prior on a prior visit and Karen hadn’t seen this. The garden was established in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty by Pan Yunduan, a high-ranking government official. He built this private estate as an act of filial piety, taking nearly 20 years to design and fund a tranquil sanctuary where his aging father could spend his retirement years in comfort.
Just as a side note. Using pocket currency in China has become very rare and some refuse to accept bills. Alipay is the common digital wallet and one simply clicks on a QR code for payment. It takes a second. For example, when I asked for an order of shrimp stuffed chicken wings at the local food fair, I simply highlighted the QR code from the paper hanging at that stand and paid. It took only a second or so to be approved.
Our introduction with the Lexar team on the first night was held at a dinner event. A background of the week was provided and all journalists introduced themselves as well as their background.
To say the meal was incredible would be an understatement.
Totally unexpected were the welcome gifts that included one of my most treasured things these days, a Pingu USB-C rechargeable fan.
After dinner, informal conversation carried on and the group was shown to the restaurant terrace for what was to be an incredible view.
Next up… our trip to Suzhou and Longsys’ subsidiary Longforce.