Happy New Year - 2011 already

Ok maybe a little late with my Happy New Year salutations but still got it out !

Ok getting ready for another trip, depending on approvals from the high ups of course.
As much as it all sounds like fun , it is for work and does need to go through proper channels.
Someone has to pay for it in the end.

So the plan right now is......

Start with a weeks vacation in Tokyo, Japan for the first week of April.
Ya Japan (haha) for vacation. (haha)
A friend in Shanghai works for a travel agaent and is arranging a group trip for friends from Shanghai.
And I was asked if I wanted to join, how could i refuse.

That first week of April is the Japanese Sakura Festival - Cherry Blossom Festival , when all the cherry blossom trees bloom in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami
My tour guide asked if I wanted to try different things than the usual tourist spots. Though I woudl like to see Mount Fuji, even if from a distance.
Also on tap is to experience is Japanese Puffer Fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takifugu
Basics are if not done right you die haha - certain parts of the fish are highly toxic and you have to have special training and be certified to cook and serve this fish.

Will I do it ? what the heck haha

Then after hanging in Japan for a week its off to China. Back to Shanghai office , meet up with all the great people there, re-establish relationships and get settled for 2-3 months of work in China.

We will go visit alot of the same customers, spend more time reviewing their process and operations and really push to help them recieve the maximum life of their rubber belt.

Either way am excited to be returning to China. I really like it there. And look forward to sharing what I see and experience, with everyone.

updates to come.

That Time of Year

Well its here !

And your asking what ? Well if you've been watching the news then you know.
For those of you who dont....

Snow and then some.

Got back from India it was cold out but tolerable.
Then days later all heck breaks loose, and we get a months worth of snow in about 3 days.
So been a few snow days here. Some places got nailed big time.

View from my office window - Hyde Park Rd and Gainsborough Rd, London,ON

Well to get in the spirit of things , seems i have become Mr Xmas Tree Decorator - go figure.

Assisted with one in Brantford

And then me being christmassy spirited setup and decorated the one in the office.

And for proof of life, here is me all dressed up for our Company Xmas diner tonight.

Time for a new suit, or some severe alterations. This one was bought 20lbs ago. LOL
Sorry for the harsh lighting and lack of photo quality, hard enough taking my own pic without hauling around a bunch of gear to take one. Will have to do the company headshot at some point just for the fun of it.


Other than that no excitement. Scheduled photo sessions have been rescheduled due to the wonderful driving conditions in the last few weeks, and now with Xmas almost here people get busy.

Will have to venture out for some Xmas light pics around town.

Later !

Back to Reality

Well made home in one piece !

From the hotel bed in Mumbai to my bed in London took 24hrs - long freaking day.
Thankfully the plane is big enough to you can actually go for a walk from one end to the other, so at least you can stretch your legs.

I will take a few months in China over a few weeks in India , any day lol

For anyone in to Camera's all the photos for the India trip were either taken with the Canon T1i with Sigma 17-70mm, 2.8-4.5 Crop Sensor lens. or the Canon G11.
I think I could have easily brought just that lens and left everything else at home. It covered just about all my photo needs.  Also with the battery pack/grip attachment I never changed batteries for the whole trip. Though as a note i dont review pics on the camera very much and don't use the built in flash - that saves batteries big time.

Only exception are Hotel room pics when I mount the Sigma 10-20mm Wide Angle.

All other pics were taken with the Canon G11, specially when in places like airports, planes and offices,  its not so in your face when you pull it out. A little pricer for a point and shoot style camera, though it gives you all the functions of the big camera with a few limitations. Only issue has been humidity, going form air conditioned car or office into a textile mill where the temp is running around 100f and humidity is off the charts.  I used it to take the pic of the camera above, as it has a hotshoe for using external flashes. So if your looking for high end P&S without all the fussing of a DSLR (big camera) then this is the one to choose.

So now begins the task of writing reports for each customer visited, plus overall report on the trip.
We use this information to track what we have instructed or recommended our customers to do , so that they can a get maximum life from our product.

Of course Xmas season is rolling up fast along with winter - yipppeeee to both !!

Only plans so far for this month are a scheduled day with my Brazilian Super Model - Miss Vicky.
If you have checked out my Flickr site , she had been posted up there for while. Young girl with ambitions of taking over the world.

 
She has changed since this pic was taken , almost a year older and changing from young girl to young lady. She does make it easy for the camera. Will be interesting to see what changes the camera picks up.

ok time to head out 

Headed Home

On the road again !!

Ok its Monday Nov 29th around 8:20am Dubai time.
Left Mumbai at 4am this morning.
Unlike Toronto, these airports never seem to stop.

Found some juice, a muffin and a comfortable chair to sit and wait for the next leg of the journey, and the longest.
Dubai to Toronto.
Wandered around for a bit. They are having a a lotto to win some cars or money.
Got a pic of the Porsche sitting there, all shiny

 

and to balance the shiny off some metal work in the Duty Free Shop waiting for unsuspecting tourists to spend the last of their vacation or travel money.

I bring home pictures, ok and maybe a bottle from the duty free.

ok time for another walk around, next leg is a good 13-14hrs in the air. At leats its on a big Airbus so more leg room and seats a little larger.

Work is done !! Its Saturday

Well after 2 weeks of running around the country, missing a flight, 3 hr drives into the country side and delays at the airports, its all over with.

Our last excursion was to Ahmedabad, about 1hr flight from Mumbai.
That city is growing fast with the very old being over taken by the very new. It is obvious that the two clash , especially here were expansion in industry is forcing change.

anf of course with all the increased industry and money coming into the town, you know a shopping mall or 2 or 3 or 4 would pop up.  I saw at least 5 major shopping malls. We went to a smaller one, as our agents wife works their on the management team,.

One surprise by our agent was a trip to the historical home home of Mahatma Ghandi here in Ahmedabad. So was somethign to see. He brought spinning of yarn to Indai and of course now India is one of the largest textile manufacturers in the world (compeating with China).  Ahmedabad is also home to Arvind , largest denim manufacturer in the world (lee, wrangler to name a few) and top shirting manufacturer (Arrow shirts).

This gentleman was spinning yarn using a very old device, same as used by Ghandhi.

so that was a treat , seeing some really signifigant piece of Indian history.

So for our last few days we are "stuck" at the The Leela Hotel in Mumbai. This is all about relaxing after running around and staying in less than favourable hotels, and taking a chance on food in places that maybe the travel people warn you about.
our agents were the stars of the show here, they really take care of us. In fact one thing that was repeated by all of them is that having "Foreigners" here , even now, that we shoudl be treated like gods. Hard to digest, though when you think about it, this country relies on the likes of you and I to buy goods manufactured here. And if your not sure , check out the labels on clothing you wear, mostlikely says India, CHina, Bangladesh, Thailand etc. All countries struggling internally to survive based on our greedy habits (gotta say it)


Speaking of greedy
We are stranded at The Leela Hotel in Mumbai until about 1am Monday morning when we leave to catch our flight back to Canada and the freaking cold !

Its +31c here today by the pool. Life is tough.

The advantages of traveling with the VP of the company who is female !! Not that I am complaining lol.  Typical room charge for The Leela is around 12,000R per night or about $300 Canadian. The staff is wonderful , the place is wonderful, wonderful break at the end of a few weeks.  They even do personalized airport shuttle in cars with a driver, amazing service.

ok time for shower and diner.

Sunday is our last day here, we will go tour Mumbai

OK Where are we today ?????

Alright will admit to forgetting what day of the week it is !

Its November 24th and we are in Boisar, about 150km from Mumbai (Bombay).
we arrived last night after flying out of Bhopal, into Mumbai and then driving.

Now just to put the drive in perspective.
It is aprox 200km from London to Toronto, for us thats 2hrs without pushing to hard.
Well our little 150km journey last night took 3hrs. and this is considered normal timing from an Indian perspective.
Basically the roads are under construction and have been for years with no end in site for anything to be finished.

so by the time we cleared the airport, found our driver , it was 3am before getting into the room in Boisar.
We are in the best hotel in town.  thankfully cause we dont want to see whats considered less than this.
its clean, the towels are grey and has that typical kicked in the teeth look that we have experienced here.

ok now whats been up since last update and Boisar ??

Last update we were in Delhi for two nights and barely saw the hotel.
We had arrived in Delhi Friday into the hotel around 1am - totall ybeat from a day on the road and of course some flying, from Bangalore.
Then it was up for 8am to meet our agent to head into the wild blue yonder.

The Claridge Hotel was our spot fro two nights, our only regret is not really getting to enjoy the place.

Big screen Sony, King size bed, hardwood floors with rugs, wood panelling !!

and a bathroom that was really nice !!

the only enjoyment of that room was being abel to sleep in Sunday and try and catch up some slep as we had arrived back in Delhi around 11pm. Both of us passed out big time.


After our much need rest, we got some tour time in Delhi on the way to the airport.
Of course as per previous update first stop was the Lotus Temple. Fantastic looking place, beautiful gardens , well maintained, entrance is controlled.  The temple is a Bahai House of Worship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Temple

Next stop Humayuns Mausoleum  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humayun%27s_Tomb

There was a wack of school kids out in their blue uniforms. all very happy to say hi to us foreigners. I think I said "hello" to every kid there !!

Then it was off to the airport for our next port of call : Bhopal !!
By the time we reached the hotel it was 11pm before we landed once again on a bed.

Our only issue this trip was getting a hotel room in Bhopal. There was apperently various conventions going on, 3 Bollywood movies being filmed in the area and its Wedding Season in India.
 so our only choice was the Arch Manor, even our Indian agent was not happy with the choice.
Was clean bed was ok , restaurant was brutal. basically didnot look like htey had cleaned since opening. So after a coffee and some toast it was off into the wilderness once again.


Fun was seeing an elephant along the road .

and later on monkeys hanging out on the side of the road.

Lucky for us we finished early and headed back to our hotel during daylight.
For a treat our agent had us sotp at an ancient Worl Heritage Site located in this region.
So for first time got to see cave men drawings on the rocks high up in the hills. as per the tour guide they have survived because the rock overhang has protected them from the elements.

There is also a small temple that is located at the site and inhabited by a few people.

Then up the next morning for visits to more customers out in the boonies.
a few on the side of the road - life is different in some parts of the country here.
These girls were doing road work - laying new pavement , they worked all day (we passed them twice)

For some people life is not so easy.

you see that rough living on the road and minutes later you see some high tech palace.

and you catch some neat pics out the window as we fly along. this one I like.  took me a minute to figure out how to get some good shots driving along. basically set it in TV mode at 1/1000sec and let the camera decide. Sun is bright enough to get some good apeture.

ok so off we flew once again into the sky and landed in Boisar.
tonight we are back tot he hotel early, tired and now relaxing with a great internet connection and some vodka.

Off the Grid

Folks have been off the grid for a few days and no internet where we are last 2 nights.
Will be in Mumbai Nov 23rd evening and will get some updates done.

proof of live - every trip needs one !!
this is me in Front of the Lotus Temple in Delhi - spectacular building !!

sorry had to borrow our agents internet stick to write this update and dont want to abuse
updates coming soon.