After having some drinks with the Dutch guys earlier in the evening (see post below this one), I went to a dinner party that Qi had organized for some close friends (mainly INSEAD graduates). I took David and Thijs along to the dinner, the more people the merrier right? We went to our favourite Thai restaurant, Coconut Paradise on Fumin Lu: authentic Thai food in a great location. The restaurant is located in a nicely decorated old villa, and in warmer weather you can have dinner in the garden.
Jim Feldkamp was back in Shanghai, and it was good to see him again. He used to be with Carrier in Shanghai, and is now setting up the China office for BBK consulting, a mid-sized management consulting company that specializes in helping manufacturing clients, primarily in the auto industry, on financial and operational issues. Also Matthew Peregrine-Jones joined the dinner, and impressed me with his Chinese skills by talking the whole night in Chinese to Gary’s girlfriend. I still have a long way to go…
After dinner we had some cocktails at South Beauty 881. The manager got us a cosy lounging area in the back of the bar, where we enjoyed a couple of B52’s. One interesting topic we talked about was sailing. Jim just sailed two regatta’s, one from Hong Kong to Hainan Island (where he got stuck because of a typhoon), and then one from Singapore to Thailand. And sailing freak Matthew (he competed in the world championship) just bought a 470 that would be shipped from Hong Kong next week. He still sails in open boats at the moment, even at temperatures just above zero degrees!