Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Leaving Las...er Kolkata
So here it is....last full day here. Thankfully I've not had too much to do today as quite frankly I'm sick of talking for 8 hours a day. I took the opportunity to go up onto the roof of the office to take some panoramic photo's. The view of the city is amazing, but you only have to look down to see the piles of rubbish below and to be reminded that this city is very very different to anywhere else I've been.
As I had a bit of time, it was possible to have a walk outside of the office at lunchtime. I was taken up to a nearby railway bridge to have a look at the station below and the infamous cabbage pile. Last time my boss was here, he did the same walk but the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. The smell coming from that pile was so bad that he had to stop walking as he was close to throwing up. I think the wind saved me, but even so the smell was indescribable.
The other thing that did amuse me was the heat. 37C in March is a new experience for me. It really took it out of me, especially with the very high humidity. The only saving grace was that my Indian colleagues also suffered, they were saying that they have never known it to be so hot so early in the year.
After saying our farewells, it was back to the hotel. As we have a 4am flight back to the UK tomorrow morning, there is little point in me trying to sleep so i went to the hotel shop to buy pressies for a few people. I really could have spent a fortune; there was just so much nice stuff. I ended up buying some things for Louise's birthday and some things I promised to try and find for friends.
As it was our last night, my boss had arranged to meet up with the parents of an Indian guy who works in the UK. They were lovely and we managed to have a proper Indian meal that they ordered as our last meal in India. It was just fab!
So here I am....stuffed stupid at 1:30am and I'm leaving in 30 minutes for the airport. I'm really not looking forward to getting there as I know we will be hassled by beggars as soon as we get out of the car. Oh well, let's see what left of the trip brings....
As I had a bit of time, it was possible to have a walk outside of the office at lunchtime. I was taken up to a nearby railway bridge to have a look at the station below and the infamous cabbage pile. Last time my boss was here, he did the same walk but the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. The smell coming from that pile was so bad that he had to stop walking as he was close to throwing up. I think the wind saved me, but even so the smell was indescribable.
The other thing that did amuse me was the heat. 37C in March is a new experience for me. It really took it out of me, especially with the very high humidity. The only saving grace was that my Indian colleagues also suffered, they were saying that they have never known it to be so hot so early in the year.
After saying our farewells, it was back to the hotel. As we have a 4am flight back to the UK tomorrow morning, there is little point in me trying to sleep so i went to the hotel shop to buy pressies for a few people. I really could have spent a fortune; there was just so much nice stuff. I ended up buying some things for Louise's birthday and some things I promised to try and find for friends.
As it was our last night, my boss had arranged to meet up with the parents of an Indian guy who works in the UK. They were lovely and we managed to have a proper Indian meal that they ordered as our last meal in India. It was just fab!
So here I am....stuffed stupid at 1:30am and I'm leaving in 30 minutes for the airport. I'm really not looking forward to getting there as I know we will be hassled by beggars as soon as we get out of the car. Oh well, let's see what left of the trip brings....
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Boring food (not really!)
Work work work...spotting a pattern here yet?
Not much to say about today really, just finishing up the stuff that was postponed from Friday. My boss is feeling a bit dodgy today, he thinks it may be an upset stomach so it was decided that today would be a boring food day. That means no spicy food what so ever and eating in the "international" food court in the hotel.
Turns out that it is a bloody good Italian place that does wood fired pizza.. sufice to say I was happy!
After having Pizza we decided to play some pool upstairs in the lounge. I must say it's the best place i've every played pool. A great table, good beer (we managed to get some Indian stout!) and piles of roasted cashews..what better way to wind down after another days exposure to Indian driving.
Not much to say about today really, just finishing up the stuff that was postponed from Friday. My boss is feeling a bit dodgy today, he thinks it may be an upset stomach so it was decided that today would be a boring food day. That means no spicy food what so ever and eating in the "international" food court in the hotel.
Turns out that it is a bloody good Italian place that does wood fired pizza.. sufice to say I was happy!
After having Pizza we decided to play some pool upstairs in the lounge. I must say it's the best place i've every played pool. A great table, good beer (we managed to get some Indian stout!) and piles of roasted cashews..what better way to wind down after another days exposure to Indian driving.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
I swear he's going to weld himself to that cylinder...
It's Tuesday, so that means.....more work (exciting huh!)
Another quite frankly incredible set of driving performed by the maniacs who drive here somehow managed not to kill me. I'm frankly amazed that i don't see an accident about every 10 seconds. After experiencing the traffic here I'll never moan about the traffic jams in the UK ever again.
Work was more of the same, hours of talking, repeating my self, talking, repeating myself again...etc tedious to say the least.
One good thing was we managed to get shown around the fabrication plant that makes storage vessels for liquid oxygen. It was certainly interesting seeing manual labour done without the HSE being anywhere near here. Some very interesting working practices indeed! That said it was cool to see these massive tanks that run at pressures of 18 BAR being made.
As there was a few people over from Linde, we got taken back to Oh Calcutta for more curry (and of course Beckti). I got talking to the Christian, the German guy and I think I've managed to swing an invite to the Linde beer tent in Munich at Oktoberfest
Another quite frankly incredible set of driving performed by the maniacs who drive here somehow managed not to kill me. I'm frankly amazed that i don't see an accident about every 10 seconds. After experiencing the traffic here I'll never moan about the traffic jams in the UK ever again.
Work was more of the same, hours of talking, repeating my self, talking, repeating myself again...etc tedious to say the least.
One good thing was we managed to get shown around the fabrication plant that makes storage vessels for liquid oxygen. It was certainly interesting seeing manual labour done without the HSE being anywhere near here. Some very interesting working practices indeed! That said it was cool to see these massive tanks that run at pressures of 18 BAR being made.
As there was a few people over from Linde, we got taken back to Oh Calcutta for more curry (and of course Beckti). I got talking to the Christian, the German guy and I think I've managed to swing an invite to the Linde beer tent in Munich at Oktoberfest
Monday, 19 March 2007
Work Work
After the excitement of the weekend it was back to work. Really not much to say except it was a dull 9:30 start and a dull 6:30PM finish.
The only saving grace was a visit to a fab Chinese called Mainland China. As Calcutta is so close to China, it has one of the oldest Chinatown's in the world. The means the food is very authentic and even tastier.
I had far too much of my new favourite fish called Beckti (or Batki depending who you ask). Firm, white and tasty. Yum Yum. So much for Bombay bum, I've got Kolkata Supersizing...
The only saving grace was a visit to a fab Chinese called Mainland China. As Calcutta is so close to China, it has one of the oldest Chinatown's in the world. The means the food is very authentic and even tastier.
I had far too much of my new favourite fish called Beckti (or Batki depending who you ask). Firm, white and tasty. Yum Yum. So much for Bombay bum, I've got Kolkata Supersizing...
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Seeing the sites.
Finally a day off, and to mark this wonderful occasion it was decided that we would hire a hotel driver to give us the sightseeing tour. I cannot believe how much we packed into five hours. In on particular order we went to St Paul Cathedral, Mother Teresa's mission, a couple of Hindu temples, the Governmental buildings, Eden Gardens Cricket ground (second largest in the world), went over both of the big bridges, the Botanical Gardens and the Victoria Memorial.PHEW! No wonder I felt shattered.
My back had been a bit stiff for the past few days so I booked myself in for a massage to try and sort it. I have to say it was spot on and my back has felt great since then. The scary part was how much my muscles actually hurt and how much my joints clicked when pressure was put on them. On the flip side, the paper pants were no fun what so ever...I'll be having flashbacks for years.
After sitting in a very hot steam room for 15 mins, I was done for and practically sleepwalked to my room for a well earned sleep.
My back had been a bit stiff for the past few days so I booked myself in for a massage to try and sort it. I have to say it was spot on and my back has felt great since then. The scary part was how much my muscles actually hurt and how much my joints clicked when pressure was put on them. On the flip side, the paper pants were no fun what so ever...I'll be having flashbacks for years.
After sitting in a very hot steam room for 15 mins, I was done for and practically sleepwalked to my room for a well earned sleep.
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Back after the Bunde
Now that the Bunde is over( strike to you and me), Calcutta is moving again and we can leave the hotel again. The papers are reporting that there were demonstration in Calcutta and people were hurt in attacks. I'm now very glad we had a boring Friday in the hotel lounge.
We had to go into the office for the morning to try and catch up with the stuff we missed on Friday, the upside was that Sudhish took us to a place called "The Banana Leaf" which is a restaurant the serves Southern Indian food,and all vegetarian. I had be wanting to try a Masala Dosa, which is like a large pancake (2 feet across) with a curried potato filing. It was fab!. Very filling and very tasty. it was washed done with Vard, which are like savoury doughnuts with dipping sauce and filter coffee, which very strong very milky and very very sweet coffee.
Feeling very very full, we went for a wander along the street to look at the shops. What a very different experience that was. I will describe it later as I've brought pressies but i don't want to let slip what they are.
We had to go into the office for the morning to try and catch up with the stuff we missed on Friday, the upside was that Sudhish took us to a place called "The Banana Leaf" which is a restaurant the serves Southern Indian food,and all vegetarian. I had be wanting to try a Masala Dosa, which is like a large pancake (2 feet across) with a curried potato filing. It was fab!. Very filling and very tasty. it was washed done with Vard, which are like savoury doughnuts with dipping sauce and filter coffee, which very strong very milky and very very sweet coffee.
Feeling very very full, we went for a wander along the street to look at the shops. What a very different experience that was. I will describe it later as I've brought pressies but i don't want to let slip what they are.
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