robertliu.com

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

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

It’s been a little while since I last blogged, so hope you all had a nice Christmas and are enjoying this new decade. This might surprise some of you but I celebrated the new year in Japan only to return back to the snowy and cold UK. It’s been a pain trying to clear the snow off my car in the morning and driving has been dangerous so I’m quite glad to see most of the snow melt today.  My parent’s home (yes, still living with parents) is freezing in this weather  so hoping to get some insulation installed soon – should have been done long ago.

I’ve never been in the habit of making new year’s resolutions but I decided at the end of last year to try and pursue an MBA (Master of Business Administration) to improve my managerial skills. It just seems like an appropriate thing to do at this point in my career, even if I may not be in a position to be a manager. I also want to improve my Japanese and possibly take the new JLPT N3 exam next December – still waiting for results from my last exam. What else…try and save money for my own house (been doing this for years and getting no where) and just to enjoy life e.g. travel.

My eye sight is pretty good now about 7 weeks post surgery. I’ve been glasses free, well, ever since surgery. My right eye doesn’t seem to be as sharp as my left but with both eyes combined, I can see pretty well. Been relying less and less on the eye drops which is a good thing and have another checkup this week!

Had a short trip to Bury St Edmunds on Saturday for a family lunch and to see my Dad’s new place. I recall visiting this town once in my life but have no recollection about it. So I was pleasantly surprised by how nice a town it was. Lots of shops and markets filled with Saturday shoppers. We even had a stroll around the Abbey ruins and their gardens. A very nice place indeed.

I had another chance to visit this beautiful country and to visit the guys in the office whom I communicate with by email every day. It was nice to take a holiday in what is still a very affordable country for travelling and to just relax in the beach resort and do nothing. No running around catching last trains or getting lost. Just taking it easy.  Here’s a selection of photos from my trip. See my Thailand collection on Flickr.

Oh (on the right) and Heart (4th from left) went out of their way to take care and welcome us to the country. My first weekend was at Amphawa floating market.

Here ‘s Oh’s introduction to Amphawa and Thailand:

Another weekend, Art took us to Korat. But we stopped by this temple (can’t remember the name, especially Thai names).

In Korat, we visited a zoo. It was a particularly sunny day, so it was quite hot, especially considering we were cycling around the zoo. We did later cool off in a shopping mall.

At night, we tried a local pub in Korat with Art’s friends.

On 2nd August 2009, I was also invited to attend and take part in Lek and Neung’s wedding in Muak Lek. It was a Thai wedding ceremony but in some ways similar to Chinese style, where the grooms family bring lots of gifts for the brides family.

After the wedding party was a bit of fun in Khao Yai and bowling.

I spent five nights at the AANA Resort and Spa on Koh Chang. We hired a car to get round the second biggest island in Thailand. Here, the kayaks sit in calm river at twilight. It’s a nice 5 minute kayak to the beach or you can go the other way and check the mangroves.

The hilltop bar and swimming pool.

One day, we drove to the other corner of the island to try the highly recommended Salak Pet seafood. The food was absolutely delicious and very fresh. After lunch, we even got a massage. I’d definitely recommend a visit if you are in Koh Chang but a little far out from the main parts of the island.

I had a second go using my Sony DSC-T90 underwater. I didn’t get any results when I used it in Japan but practice makes perfect and I get clear shots this time. There was plenty of sea life to be captured too.

Another nice place we stayed at was Lebua at State Tower in Bangkok. A 5 star luxury hotel. We had a superior suite with everything you would expect from a luxury hotel. The drinks at the famous Sky Bar (blue bit in the far side of this picture) start at about 500 Baht (£10) which is even expensive for me but it was definitely worth it for the view and atmosphere, though it was quite crowded at the time we went.

This was our view of Bangkok from our room. Simply amazing.

There were also many nights out which made my 5 week stay go pretty quickly. It was nice to meet everyone I met out there and thanks to everyone for being such great hosts!