Sam Takes Us to Dinner with the Chairman
/Author: Sam Yacob
A small group of us had the opportunity to have dinner with Mr. Stanley Ho, President and Chairman of the LH Group. Our delegation met Stanley at the 5th Annual Sino-Canada Forum held at the Ritz Carleton in Chengdu.
After the event, he graciously invited five of us to have dinner at a Hot Pot restaurant. The LH Group is looking to develop tourism focused real estate in Canada, making this was a very important meeting.
Our delegation arrived early at the restaurant. Upon arrival, we struggled to communicate with the staff. We tried to use symbols at first but had to settle for Google Translate. Eventually, Stanley arrived, to our great relief. He ordered drinks, and some spicy Hot Pot, and we proceeded with dinner. The food was Sichuan style - very spicy (maybe a bit too spicy).
After dinner, we went out for ice cream at the IFS Mall and took a walk along the famous Hongxing Road.
This meeting was fruitful as it gave our tourism partners an important contact. It was also educational. I assumed that our meeting would take place in an office where we would present, discuss and then go home. Instead, we shared Hot Pot - we didn't even only talk about business.
As a FutureLink member would later tell me:
“Language is not the only barrier to trade. one cannot forget culture.”