Rats in the ceiling

Bangladesh

The trip to Bangladesh is a little more interesting for me.  It is only my second trip to Dhaka and the last time was over two years ago.  I fly via Singapore and the second leg is on Biman the national Bangladesh Airline.  It is definitely an experience.  The waiting area is filled with people returning home (and me).  Each person seems to be carrying a box with a remote controlled helicopter and several bags for carry on.  I have never seen so much carry on luggage before and doubt that it can possibly fit.  The passengers don’t seem to follow any of the instructions and before long a loud Indian gentlemen (?) is yelling at them and pushing them away.  I believe they were trying to board before their seat was called.  I begin to worry that there is no business class section as I am required to line up and board with all the others, and picture myself spending the next 4 hrs with boxes of helicopters on my lap.  However, my fears are unfounded and I am seated in a very small business class section.  But the service is lacking and the attendants don’t appear to want to serve me anything – including no alcohol which is not served on this national airline.  Later on during my visit the local CEO asks me how my flight with Biman was, with a smirk on his face.  “My God man, why did you fly with Biman!”  You were lucky to arrive when you did.  Normally the flights are delayed by hours.

I have to obtain a visa upon arrival, which usually involves long lines at the wrong counter and a delay that puts you at the back of the line at immigration.  But this time I am personally guided through the process (the local company had arranged this) and it is done with minimal delay.

My hotel room is one floor below the restaurant which is on the top floor and I have trouble getting to sleep as I hear the scurrying of little feet above my head all through the night.  I put in ear plugs to block out the sound and try not to think about a fat rat dropping on me through the ceiling tiles.  This sound disappears in the morning but then returns the next evening.  I don't know how the rats find their way up to the 10th floor in this modern hotel.

On Tuesday, I am picked up at 6:45am to drive to the plant which is 45km away and I am told that it takes about 2 hrs.  Yes two hours to travel 45 km, that’s an average of 23km/hr.  Two years ago it took about 3.5hrs.  The route is incredible. Most of the way we are on dirt roads and driving down alleyways and through most of it there are shacks and houses on either side.  The traffic is terrible and the roads very narrow.  There are a lot of rickshaws and not that many motorbikes, which is interesting as it indicates that most people can’t afford them yet. (in India and Sri Lanka, they are all over the place).  The driver manages to get me to the site in 1.5hrs so it was good that we left early before traffic picked up.

If you look at Bangladesh on google earth it is misleading because the green bits that look like land is water - green water.  It looks more like a big swamp from the air flying in.  With small patches of dry land connected by roads and water all around, it is little wonder why so many die when it is hit by flooding.  Each person should be issued with a life jacket, because it is only a matter of time before the next flood comes

The CEO shows up at the plant at noon and informs me that we have to leave by 3pm because the demonstrations will be starting soon. And if we don’t leave it will take a lot longer to get back and could be dangerous.  It seems that the high court had just passed the death sentence verdict on one of the leaders of the 1971 war for crimes against humanity.  The opposition is upset about this verdict and was going to call a general strike and get demonstrations going.  I make it back to the hotel by 5pm and it seems that we got out before the roads were closed.  The next day the hotel informs me that the general strike is on and they don’t recommend guests leave the hotel except to go to the airport, which fortunately is where I am heading. 

My driver is kind enough in the morning to wake me with a call at 5:30am to inform me he has arrived at the hotel.  I have an 8:30 flight and the hotel is 10min from the airport and I was planning to get up at 6am.  I was less than polite to him on the phone for waking me, but after meeting him and discovering that he is a complete moron, any suggestions on how to improve would be lost on him.  It is sooo hard to find good servants these days.

The airport is slightly larger than the Saskatoon airport. Dhaka is a city of 16 million people, so I’m surprised it is not that busy.  Except for the entrance for people traveling to Saudi Arabia where the line is quite long.  The devoted’s journey to Mecca must keep the Saudi’s airlines quite busy.  The line is much shorter at Biman airways and once again I see that local’s are a little inexperienced in flying and reading English.  Signs and lines are ignored as they wander around a bit in a daze.   

My flight leaves on time and my opinion of Biman air improves.

Haircut in Surabaya

Surabaya Indonesia

On Friday I have a long day with flights from Wuhan to Hong Kong to Surabaya.  I land at 7 pm and only make it to the hotel at 10:30 pm after a long drive through the country side.  My two days on site are uneventful and not worth writing about.  On Sunday afternoon I am driven back to Surabaya and on the way, I see a truck load of children being transported  and try and get a picture but I’m not fast enough.  This medium size truck had 20 or more 6 to 8 yr olds standing in the back of his truck.  Must have been a school outing.

I stay at a Sheraton hotel next to a huge shopping mall and this gives me the opportunity to get my hair cut at the mall.  One has to be open minded to get your hair cut at these places.  Cleanliness is not a priority and personal space in the shop is tight.  Hair from the previous customer is evident on the scissors, comb and electric razors.  If a comb is dropped, it is not replaced or cleaned.  However, my hair is cut for 20% of the price in Switz. and of equal quality – they even wash my hair before and after cutting it.

In the evening, I eat at the hotel restaurant and it is full.  It looks like a wedding party as there is a big cake and the women are really dressed up.  Upon closer examination I don’t notice a groom and the “bride” looks quite young.  I find out that it is a B’day party for the girl who is turning 17.  I guess this is a big deal here for the rich kids.  It is quite over the top with the cake and the dress. 

Fast train - 300 K/hr in China

Fast train for 700 km

The next day we visit two cement plants – the first one 700 km away.  To reach it we take the high speed train for 3 hrs.  I am quite impressed by their train system, with very modern train stations, and the train hitting a top speed of 305 km/hr.  On the train you hardly notice the speed, the ride is so smooth and the scenery isn’t passing by that quickly to make you think you are going 300 kph.  Unfortunately the scenery is not that interesting.

The construction is still going on everywhere is incredible.  In every city that we pass through there are major apartment buildings under construction as well as new business parks.  I hear two stories however to make you think that all this growth is an illusion; One lady bought an apartment in a new building and after moving in found that despite all the apartments being  sold (bought on speculation), the building was only 10% occupied. This created a problem for her in the winter, when the management wouldn’t heat the building due to its low occupancy.   In the other example,  a company moved offices from one building to another after only 3 yrs due to a new one being built nearby and was in better condition.

The air quality during my visit was fine, or rather it didn’t stink. The sky was never blue and had a grey colour to it the whole time.  The greyness was referred to as “Beijing Blue” meaning that that is as blue as it gets in Beijing.

At the plant visit, the only thing that stands out for me are these motorcycles that have umbrellas on them.  Must be quite the robust design to prevent being ripped apart!



Long flight to China

Zurich to Wuhan China

I am back on the road (air) again after a very long break of virtually no business travel.  This trip I will be hitting three lovely destinations; Wuhan, China. Tuban, Indonesia, and Dhaka Bangladesh.  None of them new to me, and it will be just a lot of air time.  The first leg is a long one.  I left home at 8:30 on Monday morning and three flights later got to the hotel in Wuhan until 9pm Tuesday evening (31 hrs).  Due to the next destinations on my trip I flew through Singapore which added a bit of time to get to Wuhan, including a 6 hr layover in Singapore.  The Cathay Pacific lounge in Singapore is not a good one to spend much more than a couple of hours in.  It has just the basics – without a nice place to stretch out and the food was pretty plain.  I was pretty tired as I didn’t sleep much on the plane, so after a few hours I left the lounge and sat in an outside area.  There was a thunderstorm passing through so it was nice to sit outside with the rain and thunder, with the occasional bolt that landed quite close to keep me awake.

I watched 3 movies, and ate quite a bit on the plane. (the Movies were - Oblivion, Iron Man 3, Monster University) – I think I enjoyed Monsters U the most.  I am getting tired of these action movies – just shoot’em ups.  But Oblivion did have me thinking about it later.  I can’t even remember the plot line of Iron man.

I am now waiting for the arrival of my work colleagues who are flying in from the Philippines.  Their late arrival this morning has given me some extra time to adjust to the jet lag and catch up on emails, while sitting in my big fancy hotel room.  They upgraded me for some reason to the top floor (26^th )with a suite.  Which is a complete waste if you are not traveling with kids.

The 13 yr old engineers

The design office (with 6 desks)

The first day we are driven two hours to a nearby fabrication shop they wish to impress us with.  We are shown around the place by a number of people, two of them young women that look about 13.