The electronics giant Samsung has a lot of catching up to do with the more established players in the enterprise IT market, in terms of its notebooks and printers, for example, but this trip has shown me it certainly means business here; there is a ruthless streak running through the company that maintains “if we can’t dominate an area, we won’t get into it”. This desire to be the best also makes great demands on staff, some of which, I was told, regularly put in 12-plus hour days and six-day weeks for the cause. We heard lots of grand statements and fighting talk then, but little in the way of answers and concrete product roadmaps, which is a bit of a nightmare for a news reporter.

You can always tell us apart from the other journalists on a trip like this; the freelancers will be relaxed but attentive; the feature writers laid back to the point of being horizontal; and we will be rushing around in a state of near-panic, checking and rechecking facts, sourcing pictures and generally getting very stressed and frustrated. There’s always one tiny detail on which hangs the entire story that can’t be verified until the last minute, but on the positive side, when all is done and filed, we’ll be the ones in the bar on the last night drinking soju (Korean vodka) until the sun comes up. Cheers.