robertliu.com

Mumbai again

Rob — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:57:15 +0000

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

LASEK – 8 months on

Rob — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:43:11 +0000

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.

Unlocked my iPhone

Rob — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:06:24 +0000

Neat:

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

iPhone 4

Rob — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:33:57 +0000

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.

Koh Lan, Pattaya

Rob — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:24:25 +0000

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!!!