Indian Headlines – Dentist kills patient

I covered a lot of ground in my current trip to India.  A visit to a new project site took me to Kolkata and then a 5 hr drive west, only to return the following day.  Fortunately the roads were good and only the final hour was on the more typical roads that consist of pot holes, cows and bicycles.  The only point of interest on the Kolkata visit was the near death experience (I exaggerate a bit). 

As we were leaving the Kolkata hotel to go to the airport at 5 am in the morning, we had a very old driver.  I noticed that his legs were shaking a bit as he took my bag from me to put it in the trunk and was a bit surprised to see that he was getting behind the wheel.  The car was small and there were three of us plus the driver and only our Indian host was familiar with the area.  Shortly after leaving the hotel the driver started to cross a main road and I gave warning shout to the driver as he started to pull out in front of speeding car.  (It is I think the only time I have ever shouted to warn a driver).  He did stop in time but he had not seen the car at all.  Unfortunately it had us shook up a bit and it was only 15 minutes later that our host noticed that the driver was not going to the airport.  A little embarrassed he turned around and a short time later we passed our hotel again, arriving at the airport a little late but still with enough time to catch the plane.

Friday was a bit much on the travel side.  It consisted of a late start at 9am and a 3hr drive to another plant.  After a quick lunch I did a 3 hr walking tour in 45°c and then a 2hr drive to the airport.  The 8pm plane was then late so that by the time landed it was after midnight.  My seat mate on the plane from Raipur to Mumbai was a big guy and we continually fought for the arm rest.  He didn’t seem bothered by constant contact with my arm.  However he was an improvement on the fellow I had to sit next to on the flight from Mumbai to Kolkata.  He at first pretended to have my seat and informed me that I was to sit in the window seat.  I asked him to move and he moved to the window seat.  A few minutes later he tried to convince the fellow with the actual window seat ticket that he should sit in the middle.  It didn’t work.  When the flight attendants came by they serve mainly preordered meals and when she ignored him he became quite upset.  He asked for her name and took out the customer satisfaction card and proceeded to write a lengthy letter (over the text of questions).  Being curious I read what he had written out of the corner of my eye.  I thought the letter accurately reflected that he was a moron and was confident they would throw out the complaint.  In his letter rather than high lighting the fact that he was not served well, he choose to inform them that she was ugly and they should not hire ugly flight attendants.

One evening I was being driven back to the guest house after dinner out by one of the young engineers on the project.  I had heard that he was just recently married and I asked about his wife.  He explained it was a “traditional” marriage and not a marriage of “love”.  Meaning that his parents has selected the bride, but they did have to present to him 15 to 20 women before he found one he liked.  Boy that certainly takes the hassle out of finding a wife. 

Guest house

guest house

My room

Electrical blow out in the cables along the ceiling

With Saturday free, I did the now "regular" tour with my colleague who had never seen the tourist sites in Mumbai.  I did get to see some new sites, but after a few hours of the heat and traffic , I had enough and it was good to get back to the peace and quiet of the Hyatt.

Headlines in the Times of India on saturday morning  were interesting;

“Dentist tries to extract 20 teeth at one go, kills patient”  I suggest that you stay away from Dr. Patel in New York.  Of all the international stories to choose from, they thought that one was important.  

The local stories included: “man falls off train, dies”,  “train runs over man” “Deaf-mute girl raped”.  With the new government in the Times listed some of the main challenges ahead.  I thought this one pretty much summed up the issues: "Rid cities of filth, free roads of jams, fix civic bodies".

 

sea link bridge

The $2 Billion house

Washing slum - where the city's laundry is washed.

The basins

90 Mile Beach

(a post from a previous trip back in March that I forgot to put up)

I had a rare free weekend in New Zealand and made the most of it.  With meetings in Auckland only on Monday morning I took advantage of the 1.5 days free and took a driving tour of the north island – north of Auckland. After navigating my way through the city which took far longer than I wanted due to poor choices at turning points, I had to adjust my plans due to wrong turns.

The first stop was the west coast of the island, with its long open beaches and with temperatures in the mid 20’s and the sun shining, I had a nice run on the beach for 45 min (with some walking) before heading inland.  The north island consists of small rolling hills, so driving takes time.  There are also a lot of small towns with little infrastructure (no restaurants, or gas stations).  So it took me a while to find a hotel for the night.  I stayed in Kerikeri, which is on the east coast and has some very scenic bays.

On Sunday I got going early and drove most of the day.  I headed again to the west coast and visited 90 mile beach for another run.  The beaches are great for running because they are so flat and hard packed. The sand is hard so you can drive on the beach with normal cars.  I thought about trying it with the rental car, but decided that could turn out not good and require some explanation back at work.

After some nice touring I made it back to the airport hotel at 7pm and met up with a colleague for dinner.  The rest of the week was full of business meetings in Christchurch.

Baylys beach - not the 90 mile beach but could be longer

Arai te uru reserve - look out

sun rise over Kerikeri inlet

90  mile beach - with some traffic

Beach on the east side of the north island

Mangos morning noon and night

When I land in Manila it is hot.  Really hot and humid, high nineties with humidity.  Summer is beginning I am told.  The hotel is okay but without any of the nice extras; spa with hot tub and sauna or nice restaurants.  I discover that nearby is a nice shopping area with a lot of restaurants and this is where I go after the sun goes down.  In the morning I eat breakfast in the hotel and notice two middle aged white guys drinking beer for breakfast.  It looks like they have been out all night. As I eat breakfast I ponder how & why they ended up here.

I am picked up and head to the airport for the flight to Gacayan de Oro on Mindanao.  I ask about the safety of traveling to this region (a little late to do anything about it), but I am told that it is safer than Manila.  I am quite naïve about the dangers of traveling and rely completely on the knowledge of the local people guiding me – either I am lucky or my strategy works.  Once again at the airport I see the middle aged expats with a young Pilipino wife and a baby in the arms.  The women are incredibly small, about the size of a 12yr old kid.

At the airport I am met by four expats and one local who are to join me on the trip.  It seems that the assignment is either more important than I thought or they don’t have much work to do.  Immediately starts the professional assessment; where and who you have worked for in your career and who you know in the industry.  Once we confirm that we know the same people and have worked in similar settings, we relax and tell stories about the people we know.

Upon landing we are taken to the plant about an hour away. The drive is along the coast and traffic is surprisingly light.  The shoreline without a real beach and the water is calm.  Just trees right down to the water.

 Upon entering the plant site I notice that the plant security company is called “double tap security”.  I think that this a very aggressive name for a security company and explain to the others that “double tap” is an expression that can mean two shots to the head to ensure you have killed the person.

We are feed well throughout our stay there, and each meal is accompanied with mangos for dessert.  So stuff myself with them, eating one mango with every meal.  I asked the locals if they ever get sick of mangos and they just smiled and said no.  Do we get sick of chocolate?

After a day at the plant we are taken to the guest house where we will all spend the night.  It is quite a nice one, with swimming pool and tennis courts.  The rooms are very nice too.

While we are waiting to leave for dinner, I watch an ad on TV showing a very fat Pilipino little kid enjoying some food.  I am shocked to see that it’s an ad for candy.  It seems that being fat here is a sign of being healthy.  This country is in for some high health care costs in the future.  And there could be some good job prospects for some American kids – spread the word.

The coast line

The plant jetty

For $7 a day you too could load 40kg cement bags by hand

The guest house pool

The guest house apartments

On Sunday I head to the airport alone as the others had taken earlier flights back to Manila and I find out I have to pay a $5 departure tax, and they only accept cash.  Having no cash I try the ATM but it rejects my card (the chance of success with foreign ATM’s is indirectly proportional to your need for the money).  So I start asking around for other options, but the airport is quite small.  Fortunately the policeman at the help desk is quite nice and lends me the money.  He said I looked honest and I promised to pay him back.  I took his name and phone number, gave him my business card and will try and get the money back to him (with interest).  When you consider that a driver makes $20 a day, $5 is quite a bit of money.

1 Dollar Haircut

I was back Indonesia and having a small amount of free time on Sunday I was able get my hair cut for the lowest cost yet – 1 dollar.  This was quite satisfying to me as the last time I had to pay 70 dollars at the Zurich airport.  Without the assistance of my driver I would never have found the place as it was small.  The guy was young but appeared to know what he was doing, however I was a little concerned about the need for him to wear a mask.  He didn’t have it on when I entered the place and I googled it and this guy is up on his health and safety in the work place.  This is a new recommendation as hair particles can lodge themselves inside the nose and can cause infections.  When I tried to take an indiscreet photo he jumped in front and posed. 

The next work day starts at 6am and goes until 10pm – I can’t believe how late people are willing to sit in meetings which should have ended long ago.  The next day I only have to stay until 7pm – almost banker’s hours.

One thing of note on this trip was at the entrance to the plant I was visiting, where over 4’000 people are working.  Most of them come by either company bus or by scooter.  These give you an idea of how they packed together – in the shade.  I don’t think you could get yours out early if you wanted to.

After Indonesia I head to the Philippines.  The journey starts out with a 4 hour car ride (due to bad traffic).  I stopped for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the driver and invited him in for dinner and we listened to a band while we ate.  The food was good with one very spicy dish which he thought was very mild. I attempted some conversation but it is quite difficult although he did have good English we couldn’t find that much to talk about.  He has four kids aged 10 to 24 all of which live at home.  The oldest boy he said was not a good kid who only sits around and plays video games, while his girls are very good in school.    

I arrive at 11pm in the hotel in Surabaya only to leave for the airport at 4am for a 6am flight on China Air to Singapore.  The flight lands late and I am greeted by someone with my name on a sign to rush me to the next gate.  It is the first time that I am driven through the Singapore airport only to arrive in plenty of time.   The second leg is on Philippines Air and is uneventful and I am in the hotel by 4pm. 

My safety conscious barber 

too many scooters

The band at dinner