Shanghai is shaping up for EXPO overload.  Everyone is scanned as they enter the hotel.  If you forget your key to your room, they check your birth-date to re-enter.  Shangri-la have shipped in their best staff from around the Asian region to cope with multilingual guests.

I spoke to Grace at breakfast from the Philippines who said it was a great opportunity to relocate to Shanghai and learn how to manage a world class event.  The hospitality industry is buzzing.  Last night I spoke to a young Chinese lad who worked at an international club.  He has migrated from rural China to Shanghai – that is like time travel from 1850 to 2050.  He has taught himself English and chatted eloquently to me about the Kenyan names Obama has chosen for his daughters.  A big fan of Obama since his Shanghai visit, he could quote Obama speeches verbatim.  Guests at his club were from around the world.  Now that he has globalised his attitude and mastered English, he wants to seize the opportunity to travel by joining an international hotel chain.  Back at the Shangri-la, I asked Grace how he could apply to work there.  No problem she said, we are recruiting rapidly for global expansion; give me his CV and I will contact HR.  That is Shanghai.  Able, opportunistic and a launchpad for tomorrow’s leaders.