Thursday, May 10, 2012

Non Stop !

Ok was barely checked in and it was off once again.

Next day headed out to Surat, about 250km north of Mumbai along the coast.
Though realize that 250km in India is like 500km in Canada , so yes expect a few hours or more on the highway.

Interesting things you see on the road.

Like this shot of typical goods carrier on the India highways.
100km/hr no seat belt and door wide open.


Safety ? We don't need no stinking safety haha !!

First stop Vapi, to visit a few customers.
one of the least expensive hotels i have stayed in was here.
Just a room, clean , functional, similar to Hotel 168 i stayed in while in Shanghai last year.

Bathroom was kind of unique with that blue and white tile, and no barrier between shower and the rest of the bathroom, haha.

Some more of that awesome contrast you see here, as the new fits in between the older and beaten down.

Then we moved on.

Just when I thought Ahmadabad was out there, I found myself in Surat.
Its a dirty place, very dirty.
The reason coal burning for the textile plants. The cost of Natural Gas has risen high enough that the plants switched back to coal, much to the chagrin of the environmentalists.
This town is swimming in haze and dust.
at the end of the day you could smell it in your clothes, feel the grit in your hair.

not pretty

Hotel for the night was s surprise, the Agent was really concerned that i might not like it.
Actually even though the least expensive of the places i have stayed was not bad.

The Bellevue Hotel , Surat.

Actually the local Agent contact has been staying in this hotel for over 8 yrs now, as he is on town once per week. Has in own room booked and waiting for him. This room was $51/night and came with breakfast buffet. All that wood you see there is actually wood, not some pictures of wood or cheap particle board stuff.

Only hard part was that it was across the street from the Main Rail Station

So about 5am things were rolling there, yiipppee more loss of sleep.

Would say that's the biggest challenge when doing this kind of traveling.
Between changing hotels every few nights, hopping on planes, getting in cars, sleep takes a back seat.
that's 3 weeks of surviving the day on a few hours the night before and then catching naps while strapped in to a seat somewhere.  Wears you out !!!

Snack on the way out of town, burger i was told the thing to have here.
Vegie burger that is.

This was really good.
Unfortunately came with a liberal sprinkling of "Colon Blow" which i found out on my Sunday day off (next day)

Ya i should have known better getting something from this place, but they did have Diet Coke.


Oh well live and learn !! haha

its Mango season in India, every where you turn you see a stand selling various types of Mango.
This one on the drive home or at least back to Mumbai.

Finally a day off from travel, though am kind of hotel bound as that sandwich works its way through me.
Damm I hate good tasting food gone wrong.  I saw gum from 3rd grade !!

Monday once again, with me spending my sunrise not in bed.


Off to Nagpur today, this will be an in/out kind of day with back to Mumbai tonight.
I will have my last days in India at my favorite hotel the Sun and Sand,Juhu Beach, Mumbai.

Cool things you see, like these little 3 wheel delivery vehicles, this one with a trailer, they are all over the place here in India.
Got give them credit, even with the dirt and grime of living here, they make things like cars and trucks last. No idea how old this is. Was sitting out side textile plant, waiting for a pickup.


Alot of textile factories might have stores attached to them. experience left me feeling prices are not always as expected and never had desire to make a puchase.
This particular plant sells their fabric from small store front, basically 2m of shirting material up to 400ruppee or $8, that's $4/metre

pick a style or color its here.

now the fun part

My good friend and agent Mr Patil tells me he then takes this and has his tailor make shirts for him.
The cost ?
How about $4 to have along sleeve shirt made to order !!!!!
So do the math , $8 + $4 = $12 to have a made to order shirt form good quality fabrics. Expect this fabric would end up at Tommy or Geofrey Beene or some known brand name and be selling for $50+ finished.
Needless to say next trip to India , we goto Nagpur first , visit the customer of course and then pickup 10 or more packs of fabric and have shirts made while in India, figure $120 for 10 custom made shirts !!

Well India all done, bad man all gone !! haha
Few sleeps and on the next plane headed home, via Dubai.

This time we do a layover in Dubai to experience this part of the world at only a few extra dollars, since the plane ticket is covered already.

Wow wow wow is only thing I can think of !

No idea how to describe the shear magnitude of this building !!
The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa at 829metres and change, do the math , that aint far from being 1km tall.


 The world famous Dubai Mall.
More on this one later as I will check it out the next day.


Behind the Dubai Mall is a large pool, that has huge fountain display in the evenings.

the skyline dotted with endless designs, each one trying to out wow the other.


Hand hel night shot of that crazy building.


A short video of that Fountain in Action.



ok time for some rest. Thursday is my last official day of being on solid ground for 12 hrs or more as I fly back Friday morning.
Thursday is about seeing more of Dubai, and then going on a Desert Sunset Diner Tour at 4:30pm.

Doug the tourist , go figure haha

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