Here and There Blog

I left us all with a hospital cliff hanger. Short story is the person is fine, hospitals in India are cheap and no one really wants to ever have to go to one. Since returning home I've been obsessed with Star Wars. Three times, I think there are two screenings left in me for old times sake. IMAX and maybe another 3D viewing. Bought the music, love it. Enjoyed the movie, not a hater. Getting caught up with friends, work, sleep and pondering why I must have 3 more cables and two more devices to get my TV and TiVo all working with Time Warner's digital cable fix. On top of that not sure why the Blue Ray wireless decided to stop transmitting/receiving the home wifi signal? Fun with tech! Only two more weeks (less than) before heading back out. Coming up a combo Shanghai/Australia trip, followed by a few days at home and then off to Tokyo. History is repeating. Happy New Year to all. It's back to the cable and then maybe I'll relax with a beer!

Surviving India is about eating right and luck. No matter how careful you think you are, something will get you. Sometimes it's a minor annoyance and other times severe food poisoning. It was the latter for one of the team on this trip. Two days of severe upset plus medication and not wanting to drink water due to not wanting to go to the bathroom leads to extreme dehydration complete with muscle cramps. This was the scenario that led us to urgent care on  the third day.  Anyone going here has to be really sick or mental. Anyhow after a short meeting with the doctor, antibiotics given it was off to the lab for blood to make sure nothing else was going on. This hospital was pretty clean but as soon as the blood was drawn the guy left the room and I could have done anything. I limited it  to a photo. A few hours later the labs came in showing an elevated creatine level and the doctor recommend hospital admission. Not knowing better we went back and headed to the ...

Street art hasn't been a thing in the parts of Delhi where I've been. Sadly it's probably because most of the buildings are too broken and crumbling to form a wall that can attract attention. The only wall that I've seen is the outside of the jail and these images are captured in a moving car on the only stretch of road where there's never a traffic jam.  Hope to Fly.  Not the bus stop I want.  Fly - Be Free of Prison!

The cow is sacred. Cows roam free on the streets, stop traffic, eat trash and live out their cow lives in Delhi. Eating beef from cows is pretty much going to get you lynched in some cities. In this morning's paper there was even a small article about self proclaimed "cow protectors" starting to cause problems. I laughed but then there was this. What is the story? Did the cow climb into the Tuk Tuk looking for a peaceful place to rest outside of the trash? I'm sure it's not an abduction because the driver can't drive and it's hard to hide a cow. You can't force the cow out or someone will be upset. The look on the man's face has to be "why me? why today?" Try calling in late to work with this one.

Today's pollution level is so high I can't even see the entire big building across the street.  Flights are still running on time but I can't see the planes at the airport. I'm glad for radar since it can't  be  easy to fly in these conditions. Particulate level has to be at or over 400 today but since the airport station isn't reporting, I can't confirm. The use of streets for trash dumping doesn't enhance anything other than the smell and health danger to residents and animals. And while cows are sacred, this one has to head over to the trash dump to find something to eat. There's no grass pastures even for the cow.

For the last few days there have been parts of Delhi with extreme pollution of the super fine particles that get lodged in your lungs. Anyone with breathing difficulty needs to wear a mask. It smells like you are in a city with multiple fires burning and can't go outside since it's hard to breathe. And it's foggy so the particles stay in the air. It gets on your face, absorbs into your skin, and makes you reach for cough drops throughout the day. I'm not even in the worst of it, I'm still in the purple area. I can't imaging what it's like in the red area. Air masks are $40 and selling out quickly. The below picture was from a couple  days ago. I'm working in the purple and red areas. (263, 301, 228 today)  I don't know what the airport index is since it's grayed out. My hotel is right by the airport so for all I know, I am in the worst area. The numbers were higher a few days ago but there were a few light rains that lowered the index. W...

The contrasts. Life driving by and life  inside the mall. Outside, hopeless, dirt, trash, smog above any healthy level and in parts of the city it is worse than Beijing.  Inside the mall, Christmas commercialism in a city that has few Christians but in the spirit of shopping and making sales to the foreigners and anyone who wants to join in, it's here. There's even a giant bronze tree going up in time for the weekend sales event.

This India trip has me staying by the airport since there are no business hotels near work. Good because the hotel is nice, bad because there is nothing to do in the area. The view is of a new building, dusty street and since this is early Sunday morning, bored security guards. 

There were moments of sunshine. Still cold but nice compared to the rain on other days. Below I'm in one of the house ruins of Pompei. The Hop-on-Hop-off Bus had a scenic route that went along the Gulf of Naples and we had a great view along the way.  Looking out towards Vesuvius.  And swinging back to the downtown/central area of Naples

3 days = 3 trips underground. Day 1 was the Catacombs at San Gennaro. They're all empty holes now and the bodies relocated. During WWII this was used as a safety bunker for air raids. The first level started as early as the 3rd century and additions kept happening. You can't explore it all for safety reasons but the guided tour is about 45 minutes.  catacombs-of-san-gennaro-naples Day 2 - Fontanelle Cemetery. Want to adopt a skull for luck? Do it here. Win at gambling? Make your skull happy. Bring it stuff. Preferrably brightly colored. I guess to offset how dark and grey it is in here. The caverns go back and light is limited. 1000's of bones are here, the last resting place of the poor. Kind of spooky, creepy, and fascinating.  Click here for info  I wasn't kidding - adopt away! And Day 3 - Undergound Naples tour. This was the boring compared to the others since most of it was empty giant underground rooms. Back to WWII and shelters, the art shows the attit...

Castel Nuovo - the new castle to replace the old one. I didn't make it to the old castle but I'm outside with the catapult rocks. Built in 1282, it's old. Fun to wander around for a bit. Herculaneum - empty streets from a city that was destroyed by Vesuvius. These ruins are fun to walk since you can go in all the houses and streets. It's smaller than Pompei and worth a couple of hours. Below is part of Pompei. There's about 4 hours of wandering if you want to do it all. I recommend two hours for most people as you start to get sensory overload and much of the ruins are blocked off.  

Took the bus on a short drive along the Bay of Naples. On a clear sunny day this had to be picture perfect. The rich people live over here and the view out to Vesuvius and Capri is the payoff. Daily life goes on even while living under the daily volcano activity watch.

In Napoli to see Vesuvius and Pompei. Will upload pictures when I'm home. It's been cold and rainy but that didn't stop us from hiking up the volcano trail to peer inside the crater of the still active Vesuvius. No hotels are allowed to operate anymore due to the high danger of eruptions. Constant monitoring goes on to check for unusual activity. Today we were safe.

Off to Italy! Changing planes in Munich where a strange sight is in view. Fluffy, wet, and cold!

Bangkok update. 2 days of work and it was all traffic, malls, high rise buildings. Only the tourists made this look different from other Asia cities. Still a tip centric country. Bring small change for service here. At the airport now and homeward bound.

It's been well over 20 years since I was here last. The airport is no longer a chaotic mess, the buildings are taller, and yet there's still that element of hustling tourists that hasn't gone away. I look at all the sightseeing suggestions and realize that I did all of those in a short weekend. (JM, I am staying out of Tuk Tuks). These are first impressions only. I'm looking forward to these two days of work to see more of today's Bangkok.

5 days in Jakarta and not a picture. Work started early and ended late each day. Hotel, taxi, buildings, smog. Nothing to see, move along. Now at the airport waiting to depart for the final country before heading home

Flying over South Island, New Zealand on the way to Indonesia. The sky stayed clear long enough to see this:

After 4 days in Auckland, this is it for pictures. View of the harbor from the hotel. Wonderful place and all too sad to only work. My consolation is I'll return next year.

If you want to get out and exercise in Sydney go to the Royal Botanic Gardens. It's free, pretty large, and plenty to look at. Bring a hat though because even with all these trees there is little shade. I walked for 1 hour and probably only got through 40% of the trail. There's a walk along the water that provides a good breeze You can also get your Sydney Opera House and Bridge picture out of the way here.  For being so close to the harbor and the docks the water is fairly clear and blue.  Looking across to the city.  Next time I have a few hours free in Sydney I'm going back to see the other half of the park. Check the weather.  I was here from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm. At 5:00 pm a thunderstorm broke out and everything went from blue and dry to gray and drenched.