New Office In Da Hu

 (Click Image To Enlarge)

This is a post-dated entry. We have since moved into our new office last month.

That's the 360 panoramic view of the new office (above) a week before we were to move in. You may want to click the image to get a proper look at it.

Our office in Da Hu was, in my strong opinion, a bladdy disgrace. Calling it a dump would have been an insult to the latter.

All because some dumbass upstairs decided that there is no need to spend too much money doing up the office as it was deemed as a waste of money.

I fell off my chair the other day coz one of the wheels decided to take a holiday, despite securing it with masking tape.

Yes.

I needed masking tape to keep the wheel from falling off my chair.

Ptui.

The place was a mess with office modular furniture haphazardly put together.

Remember the "tent" in my entry "Champion Staff"?

The curtain was for us to keep the cool air-conditioned air in.

Yeah. We were even too cheap to afford wall partition.

It was so bad that I never allowed any of my guest to come to the office. I would make all sort of excuse to either meet them at their office or some cafe in town.

I lobbied for a proper working environment and I pushed hard for it.

After a lot of banging tables and threatening to throw the chair (with a wheel missing) across the office, the corporate assholes finally relented and gave the green light.

Sure, we will have to burn a bit more money per month for rental but can't anyone see that with a decent  working environment at a decent address*, we actually save more money albeit intangible like lower staff turnover, reduced transport claims from sales staff?

* the old location was so ulu that it takes me 2 hours to commute each way and we had countless candidates rejecting us because of our location?

At present, I have been transferred back to the head office. It was a pity as I too, like this new office very much.

Anyway, I was glad I gave my Shanghai staff something good to remember me by.

• JayWalk Online (03 May 2013) - Champion Staff

- Voxeros

Plane Vs Train

When I was in Singapore, we used to have this debate whether it is faster to fly to Kuala Lumpur or just take a coach.

On paper, it appears to be a no-brainer since it is merely a 45-minute flight but since 9/11, the whole airport checking + security process take a much longer time. Coupled that with the fact that airports are located further away from the city i.e. your final destination, the 5-hour coach ride up the North-South Highway may not be any slower.

We figured that it takes the same amount of time to get to KL via both modes of transportation. The coach's advantage is that of a more comfortable ride, mobile broadband access throughout and cheaper fare, while the good thing about taking to the skies is that air travel is the safest mode of transportation.

So anyway, I decided to put the same test on my Shanghai to Beijing trip back in November 2013.

To be honest, I was secretly hoping that the train will win with Ch1na being infamous for flight delays.

I booked the 10am train where the station is only 10 minutes away from me. However, due to the morning traffic, I needed 40 minutes to get to the train station.

Unlike airport where you are advised to arrive 2 hours before departure, the train boarding gate opens 15 minutes before departure and security check is only putting through your luggage through the x-ray which takes about 5 minutes.

Counting back, I booked a cab and left my place at 9am on the dot.


What I like about the train is that the seats, as you can see from the photos below, are more spacious and there is on-board power outlet even in second-class cabin.

Like the coach, there is cellular signal available for your mobile voice/data use. However, since the tracks are laid in remote parts of civilisation, signal coverage can be very spotty. I am not sure if the speed of the train has an effect on the quality of signal as well.

In short, voice call is terrible and data signal is few and far between. I gave up trying to pick up signal eventually.


The whole journey was 1200km and at a cruising speed of 300 km/h the journey was completed punctually in 4 hours 55 minutes.

The estimated arrival time of 14:55pm train was spot on as picture in the schedule above.

So we now move on to flying.

For the sake of comparison, I tracked 4 flights that I would take if I were to leave me place at 9am as well.

The cab ride to the airport is the same as the train station as both buildings are located side by side.

Following the 2-hour before departure rule, I should be taking the 11am flight. So the 4 flights that I earmarked were CA 1832 (departing at 10:55am), MU 5139 (departing at 11:30am), HU 7608 (departing at 10:55am) and MU 5107 (departing at 11:00am).

As it turned out, one of the four flights was canceled. So score one for the rail. Two were punctual (Surprise! Surprise!) and one was delayed albeit by a mere 20 minutes.

The punctual flights were about 1-1/2 hours earlier than the train and even the delayed flight arrive an hour ahead of the train. Factoring in the journey time from airport to final destination, flying still come up on top.

Verdict?

Anything above 4 hours (or 800km) and flying will have an advantage over rail, even with a slight delay.

Rail would only be the ideal choice if time is on par with flying.

- Voxeros