Archive for September 2007
Monkeys in the trees during the boat ride through the jungle
Lotta feeding the monkeys
Overview of the hotel area
The pool area at the Westin resort
After a really hectic week of traveling we managed to ship the dogs of to my parents in Sweden and then get on the plane for a vacation where we went to Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. On Langkawi we stayed at Westin Langkawi Resort which was really nice.
Having a vacation was really needed and since we both managed to get a nasty cold there was only resting planned for the first couple of days. Once the cold started to ease we started doing some excursions on the island. First thing to do was to take a boat trip through the jungle and mangroves on Langkawi. A really “touristy” thing to do, I know, but we needed to get out of the hotel after getting over the flue. The days kept on going in vacation mode and as soon as we felt well enough from the cold to go diving it was time to do what we came here for.
Went out early with a boat to go to Coral Garden for some diving. It was about 30 min boat ride from Langkawi and once we actually got away from the island, the clouds from the rainy season cleared up and we had beautiful weather and a perfectly calm ocean during the boat ride.
Lotta feeding the fishes on Coral Garden Island
On our way back from diving
Once we got to Coral Garden island and jumped out of the boat, of course my dive computer (Suntoo D9 which I’ve used twice gave up and went into crazy mode. So, since it receives the air information from my regulators I just had to pack the stuff up and use rented equipment. It¨s good that you haul these things halfway around the world…
Anyway, we had two nice dives and enjoyed a pick nick lunch on the beach between the dives.
The whole vacation was ended in Kuala Lumpur where we just walked around all day and enjoyed the city and did some shopping.
Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur
So, this years Ramadan is closing in. This means that there is fasting during daytime and you’re only allowed to eat and drink once the sun sets. The actual timing of Ramadan changes each year and during 2007 it takes place between 13th of September and 12th of October.
What happens practically is that you can’t drink, eat or smoke outside (so, there are a lot of stressed smokers here during this time). Also, you don’t drink coffee or water during meetings and usually the work day ends at 2 PM the whole month. This is however more true for people that just work locally. For us others, since the rest of the world still are working normal timings you still have the same working hours (even though you might work from home instead in the afternoon).
For me I wont notice Ramadan that much this year since we’re on vacation during the start of Ramadan and then I will go to Sweden for moose hunting during the last week. So, for me I will only be here for a few days during Ramadan this year.
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Redundant power is always important...
Auto rickshaw
Townships in Mumbai
The hotel was nice
Poor people in India are extremely poor
This week it was a hectic schedule planned:
- Fly from Dubai to Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Fry from Sri Lanka to Mumbai, India
- Fly from Mumbai to Jakarta with stopover in Singapore
- Fly from Jakarta to Dubai with stopover in Kuala Lumpur
- Ship dogs to Sweden
- Fly from Dubai to Langkawi, Malaysia with stopover in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur
Had to hold presentations and demos for 4 different customers in three countries spread all over Asia this week. First stop was Colombo in Sri Lanka. The country seems to be a good place to do vacation in if it wasn’t for the Tamil tigers who are making a stir in the country. There where a lot of checkpoints and military presence in the capital.
Next stop was Mumbai, India where I met with two customers before taking the night flight to Jakarta, Indonesia. At this time I had started to develop a serious cold and I was basically sitting and freezing and sleeping all the way from Mumbai to Jakarta. Landed att 10 in the morning and immediately took a car to the customer so that I could join in the meeting 15 minutes late. After lunch it was time for my demo and once the meeting was concluded I basically went back to the airport and managed to get a earlier flight to Kuala Lumpur which seemed to be a better airport to be in waiting for the flight back to Dubai.
I arrived back in Dubai on the night between Thursday and Friday. The day was then spent preparing for shipping the dogs back to Sweden. This means doing vet examinations, getting the paperwork in place etc. On Saturday it was then time to ship the dogs so we assembled the cages and went down to the cargo village to finish the last paperwork and ship the dogs. Irritatingly enough it turned out that shipping the dogs back to Sweden was roughly twice the price compared to shipping them to Dubai. Anyway, after sending them the worry started and we kept in constant touch with my parents to make sure that everything should run smoothly upon arrival back in Sweden.
This however did not go all that smoothly, as it turned out there where a lot of trouble once the dogs actually arrived. As per idiotic bureaucracy of course the dogs needed to be declared for VAT purposes (even though they where shipped from Sweden just 8 months earlier). Also, additional money had to be paid for vet examination, paperwork etc.
Overview from Frescati city center towards Rome
Overview from Frescati city center towards Rome
Yesterday I went to Rome to have a meeting. It was really refreshing to leave the hot and moist summer of Dubai and land in Rome where the temperature was much cooler and the first thing you felt leaving the airport was a soft breeze from the ocean.
The venue was Frescati which is a suburb to Rome and I must say that I really like Italy. It’s a bit hard to get by with only English but they have great food and good wine all nicely tied in with a excellent landscape and a lot of history.