Going Home

We left Chennai for home on Tuesday, October 13.  We put in a full day of work since our flight did not leave until 9:50pm.  The first leg was to Dubai, about a 4.5 hour flight.  After a 2.5-hour layover, we left for Dallas, a 15.5 hour flight. 

The ride to Dallas was uneventful.  However I was tickled by the plane: Airbus A380-800.  It is a huge plane with two decks.  The economy passengers were on the first deck and the Business and First Class passengers were on the second deck. 

My seat in Business Class was really a cubicle with a mini-bar.

On the second deck, there was actually a full bar.  I spent some time there understanding the physics of alcohol in a pressurized environment.

As we crossed very near the North Pole, I had a Mimosa (Champagne and Orange Juice) to celebrate the feat.

We arrived in Dallas.  We had a 3-hour layover before we continued our journey to San Antonio.  We arrived in San Antonio on Wednesday around 1:40pm after about 26 hours of traveling. All in all over the three-week trip, we rode 15 planes.  Whew! 

I like traveling but it is very good to be back in San Antonio and home.  There are no plans for the next big trip.  It's now time to savor what happened.  It's also time to consolidate all the ideas that work generated and initiate them for the betterment of all.

Coorg (Oct 9-11)

This weekend we took a trip to Coorg.  To get there, we took a flight from Chennai to Bengaluru.  Then a flight to Mangaluru.  Then a four hour drive to Coorg.  The city is in the state of Kerala which is in the central part of India.  The state is predominately Christian in a country that is primarily Hindi.  We saw many Christian churches when traveling around that state. 

We stayed at a hotel in the mountains.  I call the place a "hotel" but it felt more like a bed and breakfast.  We were fed breakfast and dinner every day; there were only six rooms in the entire place.  It was quite intimate.

The first stop on Saturday was in a park that was on a man-made island.  It had elephants roaming about although w didn't see any.  There were many deer and we did see them.  We visited for a time and then left for the more adventurous portion of the trip.

We went to another park where we could get an elephant ride.  The elephant was obviously domesticated but it was fun anyway.

The next excursion took us to a rafting trip.  There were a total of seven of us in the boat including the guide.  It was overall tame but there was a few tricky spots where we had to hold on tight.  During the tamer portion, we were able to get out of the raft and swim in the river.  I did.  While floating down the river at a later point, I had he opportunity to see three water buffalo cross the river.  Just like in a nature show but in this case, it was real.

Afterwards, we took a drive to a water falls.  The falls were very scenic. Additionally, we got to rappel down the falls.  How many people do you know who have rappelled down a water falls in India?  I know at least one: me.  It was probably not the safest thing I've ever done but you knowing the saying "when in India...".

After that we went back the hotel for a late dinner.  We wanted to get an early start the next day.

On Sunday, we took for a safari through a national preserve.  After driving for a couple of hours, we reached the destination only to discover that because of some recent rains, there were no safaris occurring.  We drove through the park and saw many deer and that was it.  From there, we drove several more hours going straight to the airport. We retraced our flight path: Mangaluru to Bengaluru to Chennai.  

A fun weekend was had by all.  The car riding was a little challenging though.  (Previous blog entry discussing driving conditions in India.)

Now back to work!

Odds and Ends

I have noticed some things over the last two weeks that I find odd.  I am not at the end of my trip yet and I may find more but for now, let me share a few interesting things.

1)  Today I am in Chennai.  As I was sitting in my hotel room working on a few things, the power to the building went off.  Then it quickly came back on.  Then a short time later, the same thing happened again.  And then a third time.  And a fourth time and so on...  It has been awhile since I was in Chennai and I forgot that the city has rolling blackouts because the power grid cannot handle the demands.  Odd...

2)  In India, the numbering system for floors in a building is a little different.  The ground floor is "0".  If you go up one floor, you are on "1".  The next floor up is "2".  And so on.  In the United States, the ground floor is "1".  Quite odd.  Just sayin'.

3)  Today In Hyderabad, I went through airport security before going to my gate for the flight to Chennai.  On the outside of my backpack were two web pockets that each contained a can of unopened soda.  They were in plain view.  I tried an experiment.  I kept them in the backpack and sent them through the x-ray machine.  The backpack went through with no problems.  Nobody confiscated the sodas which is what I expected.  Just before I gathered my backpack as it exited the x-ray machine, one of the security guards - not the one monitoring the items going through the x-ray - noticed one of the sodas, removed it from my backpack, and put in on a table next to the x-ray machine.  She didn't confiscate the remaining soda.  So I tried another experiment: I picked up my backpack and asked the security guard if I could have my soda back.  To my surprise, she said yes.  So I picked up the soda, put it back in the empty web pocket, and continued to my gate.  Try doing that in the US and not ending up getting a cavity search!  Extremely odd.


4)  When traveling from Cochi to Hyderabad, we took this plane.  It's odd to me only because I can't remember the last time I flew on a propeller plane.  Not only that, we walked out on the tarmac to get to our plane.  I thought that was odd too.


5)  On Corregidor island, I saw this statue of General Douglas MacArthur.  Is he saluting the German Nazis - "Heil Hitler"?  No, actually he is saying "I Shall Return".  Could the artist not have selected another pose?  C'mon now!  Oddness.

6)  And last but not least, in Chennai at my hotel, I encountered this sign.

So if my room number is 5021 or 5022, which way do I go?  Am I missing something?  I was lucky that I didn't have to figure it out: my room number was 5020.  Still...too odd!

Working (!) in Hyderabad

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (October 5, 6, and 7) were somewhat uneventful.  Each day I went to the office to work with our contracting associates.  Our discussions were fruitful and I hope to be able to implement some of the ideas that came out of our talks.

The memorable portion of this week, besides the work of course, is the food.  My hosts insisted on taking me to restaurants that provided large quantities of food at each meal.

For Monday's lunch, we ate at a hotel that featured a buffet.  The food was dominated by Indian cuisine.  Because it was a buffet, my hosts kept asking me to eat more.  They wanted to ensure that I did not go away hungry.  Hah!  I was so miserable after lunch from eating way too much.  Although, my hosts wanted to take me to dinner, I skipped eating again that evening.  (Note to self: skip breakfast in the future.)

For Tuesday's lunch, we ate at a restaurant called ABs.  It is a BBQ restaurant but it is nothing I had experienced before.  I had been warned that I should not have breakfast so I would be able to fully appreciate this place.  After we were seated, the waiters began bringing out BBQ-ed meats of all sorts: Elk, Shark, Lamb, Chicken, Fish, and Emu.  There were other choices but that's what we settled for.  (Of course there is no beef; Indians revere cows as sacred, and reincarnations of relatives and therefore will not eat beef.)    And no Indian meal is complete without Naan.  Naan is a kind of bread that looks like a tortilla.  We were provided lots of Naan.  Once we were full of meat and Naan, I found out that this was just the appetizer.  The waiters then brought out BBQ-ed fruit: watermelon and pineapple.  The watermelon was just warmed on the fire.  The pineapple had a caramelized coating with cinnamon.  Both were very tasty.  Then some BBQ-ed corn was brought out.  Then it was time for rice and other vegetables.  After all that, we had samplings of several types of desserts.  Like Monday, I was ready to bust open.  I again did not have dinner even though my hosts wanted me to eat again.  How do these guys stay so slim if they eat so much?

On Wednesday, again no breakfast.  We went to a restaurant called Paradise.  It is famous for biryani which is a type of rice dish.  For appetizers, we had two kinds of chicken - a minced chicken sausage, and spicy drumsticks.  Both were very good.  Then we had mutton (lamb) biryani and chicken briyani.  Both are spicy dishes.  The food is brought out family-style and the waiter heaps food onto your plate.  My hosts kept asking the waiter to put more on  my plate.  I had to insist that I couldn't eat such large portions although I found a way.  We also had a corn dish - I don't know the name but it was good.  Then we had dessert of bread pudding with a distinctly Indian flavor.  I again skipped dinner.

My generous hosts paid for all my meals.  The only thing that I consistently spend money on is laundry at the hotel.

All the meals were very good.   I am sure I have gained some weight that I will have to figure out a way to lose.  In the evenings, I stay in the hotel room and do some work or watch a little TV.  The Bollywood dance videos are cool.

Tomorrow, we will work in the morning and fly out of town in the early afternoon.  We will visit another resort at Coorg.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, "work hard, play hard".  Indeed.

Athirappilly Waterfalls

Today, October 4 Sunday, we visited Athirappilly Waterfalls.   This park is very near to Cochi.
(I am including the date because I have not posted for several days and I am trying to catch up.)

It is a beautiful waterfalls park in the mountains near Cochi.  It is unlike a waterfalls in the United States.  Here, people are allowed to get into the water near the falls without worry of being swept over the waterfalls.  I had my camera ready just in case.

 

The walkway to the falls does not have good footing.  It is just the natural rock formation.  There are no guardrails to hold on to when climbing up or down.  It is slick but nobody seemed to have any trouble gaining traction and not slipping.

The picture above was from the top of the falls.  Here is some video from the bottom.  It is not Niagra Falls but it is still pretty impressive.

All in all, it was a good experience.  I enjoyed the views.  You would think that because we were in the mountains, the weather would be very cool.  Actually, the temperature was warm and it was very humid.  I worked up a sweat walking up and down the trails around the falls.

That evening, we left Cochi and traveled to Hyderabad.  Our work week begins there.

Cochi, Cochin, Ft Cochi, Kochin, Ernakulam...which is it?

All of the names in the title of this post represent this city in India.  Whatever empire ruled the country determined the name of the city and therefore it experienced name changes and name spelling changes throughout its history.  It is a city on the Southwest coast.

We came here to be close enough to enjoy Venbanad Lake and take a boat ride. 

Of course, not just any old boat ride.  There are a series of canals near the lake that supply water to the rice fields on either side of the channels.  These canals are wide enough and long enough that large house boats take tourists out for leisurely rides.  Sometimes the tourists ask for overnight stays on the water.  We didn't do that.

Our boat had three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, kitchen, and dining room.  There was also a small covered porch at the front of the boat, and a covered gazebo deck on the second floor.  All of this for three passengers and three crew members.  Very nice indeed. 

We were taken out into the canals, fed several snacks (this is one example)...

...fed a large multi-course lunch...

...and then we enjoyed a leisurely ride back to our starting point. 

The entire experience lasted about four hours.  It was very relaxing enjoying the quietness of the ride (no loud engines, no loud boats going by) and a couple of Kingfishers.  The was a just enough of a breeze to allow the temperature to be pleasant.

Afterwards, we were taken to a coastal market in Cochi for a little shopping...I didn't buy anything.

Another example of the beauty of India and my good fortune to experience a portion of it.

Work Hard...Play Hard

Today I left Manila and traveled to Cochin, India.  We had planned our trip to leave at this time anyway though it was fortuitous since there was a typhoon bearing down on Manila.  It had been raining off an on for a couple of days but there were no obvious special preparations for the storm made by the authorities.  Today, we found out that grade school students were asked to stay home from school.  The rest of the population continued with their normal activities.

I have not written new entries recently mainly because this trip required that I do some work.  Imagine that!  After some sight-seeing over the weekend, the first three days of the week required that I go to the office to meet with our contracting group.  They provide people with specialized skills to help in our software development efforts.  I discussed with my counterparts some concerns I had about their people's training.  I also had the opportunity to interview several development leaders to build relationships and listen to their concerns.  Additionally, we are looking to expand the relationship with their company:  they provided presentations throughout the days that highlighted different capabilities that they possess.  There were also several presentations highlighting the Philippine culture and expertise that provided us insights into the education, flexibility, and expertise available from their company in the country.  The company is world-wide however for a variety of reasons, we want to deal only with their operational unit in Manila at this time.

Even though we were "working hard", we continued to squeeze in "playing hard".  We visited the Ayala Museum: it is a museum dedicated to showcasing the Philippine culture and heritage.  It was impressive although I didn't get to spend enough time to see all it had to offer. 

The last full day in Manila was spent visiting the island of Corregidor.  This was the location of intense battles during World War II.  The island is the biggest of five islands that guard the entrance to Manila Bay and therefore it has very strategic value.  In early 1942, the Japanese forces bombarded the island from sea, air, and land trying to dislodge the American and Filipino forces there.  Eventually the Japanese sent an invasion force.  After many battles, the defending forces finally surrendered, were taken prisoner, and sent to POW camps in Japan.  In 1945, the American forces returned to the Philippines and laid siege to the Japanese forces that now held the island.  The Americans sent in paratroopers and then an invasion force.  The Japanese were defeated with many of their troops committing suicide rather be taken prisoner.

I must be old-school: I recognize that many people endured great suffering during the fighting with many lives lost.  During the visit to the island, I was irked when some young couples would joke and act like this island was an amusement park.  They didn't feel like I did that we should remember that many people died here and therefore we should be more reverent.  I think we should treat the place like the memorial that it is.  Ok...I'm off my soapbox now.

Next is the country of India.  I have been there several times before.  This time however, I will experience a few new places thanks to the insistence of my traveling partner.