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I’m back in Mumbai for my third and hopefully final trip. I’ve only got about 2 double pages left in my passport after all those visas. Now it’s the monsoon season in India. I haven’t seen so much rain in my life! This is the view from my hotel room today but on the first morning I was here, it was just completely grey and cloudy outside and absolutely chucking it down! I was soaked during the 2 minute walk from the hotel to the office.

Mumbai is an interesting place. My facebook status just after I arrived was: “In Mumbai again. The taxi from the airport was fun. No seatbelt. Red lights seem to mean go. Traffic crosses in front of you from nowhere. Oncoming traffic in YOUR lane. I think the car with loudest horn has right of way.” Having driven in the UK and Japan, I found driving in Thailand to be somewhat hair-raising, with U-turns on motorways and all. But visiting Mumbai, Thai drivers are actually very safe in comparison because they have respect for each other and rarely do sudden movements, even in central Bangkok. In India, it seems either the bigger car or the loudest horn has right of way! I’ve only been in a taxi to/from the airport but the driver’s had to slam on the brakes more than once on each occasion! Add to that motorcycles, pot-holes, road works, people, dogs and cows, you can imagine how it is.

Should be flying to Thailand on Tuesday but no plans for the weekend yet! Maybe somewhere away from civilisation

A short update on my eyes. My vision is still perfect and I’m very happy when I go travelling or am out and about. I can see the seas, the stars, the forests and the clouds! There are still the odd times when I feel I need eye drops but I don’t think I have dry eyes in general. Also, I find if I concentrate too hard on my computer screen in the morning then my eyes will be a bit blurry for a few hours…but I think I had that problem before surgery anyway.

Neat:

My iPhone 3GS unlocked for free, mid-contract by O2 and Apple iTunes. Nice.

Watched the 2 hour keynote speech from Apple and Steve Jobs has sold the iPhone 4 to me before it’s even reached the shelves! Can’t wait to get my hands on this. Already registered my interest with O2 to upgrade!

Images courtesy of Apple.

As I returned from Mumbai to Bangkok, I wasn’t able to go with my original plans of staying in Bangkok and perhaps shopping at the now collapsed Central World shopping centre. I arrived at 5:30AM so I stayed near the airport to have a shower and a quick nap. All I knew was that my friends were coming and planning to take me somewhere.

It was a nice gesture as I spent one third of my 26th birthday at Mumbai international airport. Not the most exciting.

Where were we going? Pattaya! In fact, to an island called Koh Lan. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise and a great way to relax after my long business trip! Here’s some photos to show you the beauty of Thailand once you get past all the politics.

Beaches that you only see in brochures:

A scooter was the way to get around this island.

I’ve never felt the sea so warm before! It was like a warm bath and didn’t cool me down even though I got soaked

Me, Ting, Orn and Oh.

Coke advert? Maybe I’ll stick to my day job.

We stayed at the colourful Lalita resort:

Seafood BBQ

Big thanks to Orn, Oh and Ting!!!

Despite the curfew imposed by the Thai government, my colleagues didn’t disappoint in showing me a nice time in Thailand. OK, the office is 2 hours from Bangkok but we were able to have a nice party and also go bowling on my last night in Thailand. Here’s some photos:

I survived a week long business trip in Mumbai. I had mixed feelings about going there. Partly because of the climate (hot or monsoon), food hygiene or lack of and the general environment. Also because of work as I was the face for a new client. It turned out to be alright in the end.

I found Indians to be very friendly and approachable, they would just come up to you and ask where you’re from, for example. The food was also alright, despite having a couple of days of stomach pains; my supply of Imodium seemed to have worked. The food from the hotel was lovely but on the expensive side. It’s surprising how few shops/restaurants there were in Nariman Point. When I read my guide book, I expected this area to be like any developed city. Perhaps I didn’t wonder far enough or expected too much?

I stayed at Trident, Nariman Point. I only found out after arrival that it was one of the hotels attacked by terrorists in 2008. It explains the tight security around the hotel now, having to go through vehicle searches, body searches and X-ray machines. I do wonder though is that if someone wanted to cause mayhem, all these “security searches” do nothing as I never saw any armed guards. Very nice hotel, classed as a 5* but still missing some features in my opinion, especially compared to some cheaper but higher quality places in Bangkok.

Sightseeing wise, I didn’t do much for a 7 night stay! It was simply too hot to wonder around and we only managed about 1 hour of walking about to see the Gateway of India. Here I am with my Thai colleague, Max.

Traffic is just crazy in Mumbai. No lane discipline, lights not switched on at night and it seems the person with the bigger car and loudest horn gets right of way. That’s my take on it anyway.

It would definitely be interesting to just explore more of India. Visiting on business doesn’t really do the country justice I think. I’m visiting again in a few weeks but perhaps in the future, should I ever dare, to spend a few weeks travelling India and trying real Indian food!

I’m writing from Mumbai, India. Travelled to Thailand last week and just flew into Mumbai 2 days ago. Visiting on business but have Sunday free so might do some sightseeing today if it’s not too hot. Forgot my USB cable though so I can’t copy my photos easily unless I borrow one from my colleague. I’ll have to upload my photos later if I have time.

I hope to be back home in a week or two! Too hot out here. The Indian people seem to be very friendly however. There’s also very tight security around my hotel and departments stores.

It’ll be a long week ahead but I think it will go very quickly as does all business trips.

Flickr: Easter in Italy

Haven’t blogged for a while but thought it would be good to post about my eyesight. It’s now four months after surgery and everything is really clear, but..

About a month ago, for a period of about 2 weeks, my left eye was giving me seriously bad double vision. I would wake up fine but after starting work (staring at the computer screens) my vision would turn bad and stay like that for the rest of the day. I was close to calling Ultralase and saying, what’s going on?? But since then, everything has become really clear again. My vision only goes slightly off if I really stare at the screen too long or am really tired but can still see everything fine.

So I’m quite happy with the result. Another check up next month – not sure if that’s the last one or if there’s one more. Laser eye surgery should be made available to everyone. I think most people with glasses/contacts just get used to it but you don’t know what you’re missing until you get given your eyesight back!