Taipei

Landed in Taipei around lunchtime. Only staying to tomorrow evening when it's time to go to Hong Kong, but at least there are some time to prepare for tomorrows meetings. Also managed to have dinner in Taipei 101.

Posted at 04:00AM Mar 31, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Meeting Dan in Singapore

Dan and me during transfer at Changi Airport in Singapore


A funny thing happened this week. I was going on a roadshow to Taipei, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and Dan was going to Singapore and we realized that my transfer to Taipei landed at the same time. So, we managed to get a quick coffee together before I had to board my onwards flight to Taipei. The world is small when you meet your Swedish friends in Singapore instead of Stockholm.

Posted at 04:00AM Mar 31, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Back to Bangladesh

Not the best work environment


It's time to go back to Bangladesh for the third time to hold a series of customer workshop. Last time I was there I ended up staying a extra day due to a faulty airplane. This time I'm supposed to be there for 4 days together with Magnus. We also decided not to stay inside central Dhaka which can be fairly busy (especially the traffic is crazy). So, this time we went for Radisson SAS which is located between our office and the customers office.

Posted at 04:00AM Mar 03, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Going back to Dubai

Leaving office


Time to leave for the airport to go back to Dubai.

Posted at 04:00AM Feb 15, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Botswana

Botswana map at the immigration




Haas consult...and beef farm?




Need a haircut?




The biggest insect I've seen


Today we went to Gabarone in Botswana. However, since there where no air line tickets available we had to drive there which was a four hour drive. I'm not to disappointed though since it gave me a chance to see something else besides Johannesburg. I must say that South Africa is a extremely beautiful country and even though we didn't see any wild animals besides some baboons that where sitting on the fencing next to the road you really would like to go on a regular safari to see more of the nature.

Johannesburg is actually situated 1800m above sea level so the landscape is really nice and the climate is not as warm as you might think.

Posted at 04:00AM Feb 13, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Second trip to South Africa

Again, a different view on bringing guns to work




Nelson Mandela square in Sandton, one of the few "safe" places...




Example of game you can eat at Butcher Shop and Grill




And a small encouragement in the restaurant


Time for another trip to Johannesburg. This time a number of customer meetings was planned and as I realized last time, Johannesburg has a lot of security problems so you basically don't move around as a visitor without knowing where to go. However, the hotel is next door to Nelson Mandela square in Sandton which is considered safe so we could at least go out to get a good meal of local game in the evening.

Posted at 04:00AM Feb 11, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Going to Stockholm

Today I'm going to Sweden for a training. This usually means the Lufthansa flight leaving at 02:00 but during winter SAS is flying so now the flight leaves in the morning instead. Unfortunately it also means delays, bad service and a general bad feeling...

I had almost forgot how low budget SAS can feel, but first starting with a delay of 2,5 hours (which actually can't be blamed on SAS but rather the bad fog) quickly reminded me. Then, after takeoff, I had coffee spilled all over me without getting a offer of dry cleaning, just a quick excuse. This didn't really make the whole experience less irritating. Damage control isn't their best discipline...

Posted at 04:00AM Jan 28, 2008 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Johannesburg, South Africa

Feels like the wild west when they ask if you carry a gun before a meeting...




Barbwire or electric fencing on every house


So, after being back in Dubai for 12 hours it was time to take the taxi to the airport to go to Johannesburg, South Africa. After a eight hour flight and some problems with the hotel booking I was able to go to sleep fairly late. The next day was filled with customer presentations so not much time to do anything (you wouldn't go out anyway...).

When I arrived back at the hotel the next day the door to the room next to mine was broken up with a crowbar... Not the best feeling of security.

a As usual there was no time to see anything besides the usual trip between the hotel and the office, but having traveled a lot the last weeks I was happily surprised when I was able to get a earlier flight home so that I landed Thursday night rather than Friday morning. There has been a lot of 6 day workweeks the over the last year.

Posted at 04:00AM Nov 27, 2007 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Travelling to Rio de Janeiro

Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, not the same during winter...




Copacabana Beach




View of Rio




View of Sugerloaf Mountain taken from Corcovado




Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado mountain, appearing from the mist


Thursday was a early morning, I had to go up at 0430 AM to get to the airport to take a flight to Rio for the customer meeting that we had been preparing for during Tuesday and Wednesday. The flight left from Congonhas (CGH) which is one of those airports that are heavily criticized for different safety problems. In Congonhas case it has to do with slippery runways which caused a big accident back in July when a landing plane skidded of the runway and crashed into a warehouse killing more than 180 people.

After having a customer meeting in Rio during Thursday, my colleagues continued back to Sao Paulo. Since the weekend was starting in Dubai and my flight didn't go back to Dubai until late Friday evening I stayed behind in Rio to do some sightseeing during Friday. The weather wasn't the best since it was still spring in Rio so you didn't really see any of the hectic life around Copacabana Beach which you are used to seeing on movies and on pictures.

Still, I rented a taxi for a couple of hours to drive around in Rio and despite the weather I managed to see some of the more famous sights in Rio, and especially Christ the Redeemer which was voted as being one of the New Seven Wonders of the World back in July, 2007. I think it was actually the first time I had a unbooked extra day whilst traveling so it was nice to be able to see something else than airports, hotels and meeting rooms.

Posted at 04:00AM Oct 17, 2007 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  | 

Going on vacation in Malaysia

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

Posted at 04:00AM Sep 16, 2007 by Tobias Karlsson in Travels  |