Couple of things to point out as you read about our last two weeks:
Our first full day off was yesterday (8/16) – the first day I did not work in some capacity
I can’t really give you details on each day because we were at vendor sites – most of you would not be interested in the details anyway
Jaipur8/6 - We made a quick trip to Jaipur. North India looks a lot different. We saw several camels working and laying on the side of the road. There is not much to tell you about since we went straight to work and then straight back to the airport.
Back to Gurgaon8/6 - Holy Moly (That’s for the southern US folks) When we got back to Delhi it was raining and traffic was at a stand still. It took almost two hours to get back to the hotel (usual 30 min drive). I should mention that we have worked/been up for over 15 hours at this point and still had dinner to go. This turned out to be a typical day and we quickly adjusted to the long hours.
Off to Hyderabad8/7 – We arrived in Hyderabad to a nice new airport. The best one in India based on our experience. The traffic was not bad and the drive from the airport was beautiful from an India perspective. There were hills, and large stones, and palm trees. Again, we didn’t really get a chance to see the city. We did get to try a lot of Indian food and MEXICAN. We ate at a really good Mexican restaurant at our hotel, it was great! Now when we left for the airport on 8/9, guess what….it was raining, and it had been for about 24 hours. The roads were flooded and at one time we had to drive on the wrong side of the road and dodge on coming traffic.
To Chennai8/9 – We stayed at resort in Chennai on the Bay. It was beautiful and a change from the city hotels. We had little beach cottages for rooms, with an outdoor shower – you know to get the full effect of the open outdoors. I ran on the beach one morning that was AWESOME. I could actually get outside and run. Tom spent his mornings with his Yogi. I think everyone else, including me, slept in when we could. We were here for four days, and got to enjoy most of the weekend. We all seemed to be getting along well, which was nice. I can share a couple of funny moments with, at my team’s expense. Tom offended developed a need to “Channel the Yogi” and this has been a common phase amongst the group. We had a terrible time at one point avoiding BO. (If you don’t know what BO is, ask me offline) Tom and John enjoyed some Kingfisher out of a boot. We had dinner one night on the beach at the resort; the music had a Mexican flare, and the boot a bit of US country.
To Kochi
8/13 - We left Chennai at 5AM and were off to Kochi for the day. At the airport, Keith politely pointed out that a bird had fired on Tom’s shirt. We believe this was the God getting back at Tom, because he threatened to leave him behind in at the hotel. (We all received a God status while in Chennai). One thing I can tell you – Don’t plan to use the restroom at an airport.
To Manila8/13 –We flew to Singapore to change planes. WOW WOW WOW – I could live in the Singapore airport, literally. It had a gym, hotel, game room, restaurants, shops (even a Tiffany’s and Hermes) and a forest and flower garden with ponds full of big fish. This airport gets an A+++++, I know what you must be thinking of course after being in the India airports it gets a great rating. Compared to any airport I have been in, it gets an A+++++. After gazing at the shops and drooling over the Hermes purses (you know they are Victoria Beckham’s favorite…and cost about $5K) we were off to Manila.
Manila was much better than I had expected. Funny thing – as we were leaving the airport, we past a brand new one. Turns out it has been ready for almost a year, but the developer has not paid the taxes or fees or something like that and the government will not let it open. We saw some poverty sections of town on our way to the hotel, but for the most part it looks like home. Yes like home sweet home. I just got back from the Mall of Asia, on off the top 10 malls outside the US. It took Cathy and me about two hours to walk through the entire mall. It has an ice rink, IMAX and regular movie theaters, bowling, two game rooms, dentist, doctor, eye glasses, probably 50+ restaurants, grocery store, furniture stores, you name it. (Linda Lyons – I went into my first TopShop)
Yesterday, we all went to the place where you buy pearls (I think it was called GreenHill’s Mall). It was like a big flea market that spans two floors. We all got pearls and what I am told to be a good deal. I got some black ones for myself. After that, Cathy and I walked to McDonald’s for lunch and then to the supermarket beside it. Guess what they had…Diet Dr Pepper. I love you Manila.
Petting DogsOur hotel has bomb sniffing dogs, and we (John, Cathy, and I) often stop and pet them on the way in and out of the hotel. The one by the entrance is a young black lab. He is so adorable! At the Mall of Asia we saw a German Sheppard police dog and a shopper with a bull dog, we petted them too – the dogs that is. This all makes me miss Emma – everywhere I go makes me miss Rich
This should catch you up on what all we have done. I know it is not a lot; we have been very busy and still have a lot of work to do over the next week. Look forward to seeing you guys in a few weeks. It will probably be next weekend before I get a chance to update the blog again. We are back to work and off to Cebu on 8/20 of next week.
