Okay so I am back from India and am feeling like *crap* right now. I arrived back at about 13:00 Friday and after a shower and change of clothes I hit the pub for some drinking. I didn’t fair to well and by 20:30 was in a taxi and on my way back to bed. Saturday I mainly spent lounging around the house feeling rough. I think I might need a few months in hospital (Man Flu). Today I got up about 10:00 and I must admit to feeling a little spaced out. This morning was good and I got some stuff done, but now I don’t really trust myself to do anything.

I’m therefore going to publish this and get my head down for an hour and see if that helps. More later!

So tomorrow I return to India and I must say I don’t really want to go back. Not for any really negative reasons, but just because I have so many things going on back here at the moment. I am enjoying my new job, despite it being extreamly busy, and have just started making arrangments to sort the work on the house out. Taking two weeks out now is just a pain in the backside.

I fly tomorrow morning at 10:00 arriving at 23:00 IST tomorrow night, after being Duty Manager all weekend. I am looking forward to catching up with the team again and saying goodbye properly but it’s going to be difficult managing my now UK based diary with the time difference. The saving grace is its only for two weeks.

On the home front it’s been really nice catching up with family and friends again after so long, and the sun has been out which has made doing things possible. It’s been really nice on the weekend sitting in a beer garden putting the world to rights before tucking into some good old English food. What’s been even nicer is the peace and quiet when I get home from work. No horn’s sounding, no dogs barking!

Tags: Family, Food, Friends, Travel

Okay so like most of the planet my music collection lives in iTunes, together with my podcasts, audio books, and home movies. Now being on the move a lot I use my 5th Generation 80GB video iPod to listen and watch the varied content, but what happens if I am away for more than a few days. Well, usually I have watched / listened to the podcasts and tend to rely on my audio books and music. I do however take advantage of the duty free shops at London Heathrow on a regular basis, collecting CD’s and DVD’s, or services such as audible.com to download more audio books . The problem you ask? Well getting them onto my iPod means coping them to my local iTunes library, which means when I get home I have multiple iTunes libraries that I need to keep synchronized.

Well, the answer it would seem is an application from SmithMicro called “Tune Ranger”. Tune Ranger allows you to keep up to 4 Mac’s/Windows machines and / or iPods in sync with each other (You obviously need at least one Mac or Windows machine running iTunes) and better still gives you complete control over what it is you are synchronizing. You can synchronize by play list, genre, artist, file format, the list is extensive. You can also choose to replicate one way or another overwriting the destination, or being overwritten. You can merge one way, both ways or even allow it to duplicate. You can set it to avoid items you already have, items that are orphaned the list just goes on.

The killer thing is that they don’t have to be all your Mac’s. Husband, wife, 2 kids, all with Mac’s / PC’s / iPods? Synchronize the lot, better still synchronize the items you want. Don’t want the wife metal working podcasts, or little Jack’s “Bob the Builder greatest hits” filter them out.

Now I wonder if there is an iPhoto version?

Tags: Apple, Music, Technology

So after I got the Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air setup and configured I hit a problem I was all to aware of, keeping the informations synchronized. Now Apple has always had the iDisk for quite some time now and the .MAC service which allowed you to synchronize your mail, calenders, bookmarks, etc. With the Launch of the second generation iPhone Apple announced the new name for .MAC and some additional features, including “Push” email. MobileMe arrived along with the 3G iPhone, but the arrival was marred slightly as MobileMe struggled under the load, inevitably leading to outages. In fact three weeks later some people are still struggling.

However for me it worked and proved to be exactly what I needed. Now which ever Mac I am using, or indeed if I am out and about I have access to my email, calendar, contacts, and bookmarks. If I add, delete, or modify any one of these items it’s almost immediately replicated to all the other devices. Better still the information is all available via the MobileMe website which means I can effectively access the information via any internet enabled device, where ever I am!

Now for the issue of documents and data! Apple’s iDisk is a little bit like Microsofts offline folders in as much as it allows me to have a folder located on a server and synchronize it for offline use with my Mac. However Apple’s iDisk actually lives in the cloud, my which I mean out on the Internet, and it allows me to actually connect to it from multiple Mac’s and the MobileMe interface. So any documents that I place in my iDisk are within a short period of time, available on any of my Mac’s and via any Internet enabled device via the MobileMe website.

Now I hear what you’re saying, is that safe? Well, I had the same question, and to be honest up until now I remain unconvinced. So for now I have only placed what I would call reference information on my iDisk.

The next step is to figure out how I do the same thing with my sensitive data, music, and photo’s.

That however is another story.

Tags: Apple, Technology, Music

Okay so one other thing I have been doing over the last couple of weeks is reviewing my computer usage and home network setup. About six month's before I went out to India I made the move away from Microsoft Windows and over to Apple and OS X with the purchase of a 17” MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro, while I have been in India, has been a real life saver and has not failed me once while I have been away. From day one my experience of Apple and the Apple product line has been excellent, as many people have said before me everything just works, and it was because of that I purchased a Apple AirPort Extreme and and an Apple Time Capsule.

Now since I have been back in the UK I have realized that my needs have changed slightly. The main thing is I spend a lot of time commuting, about 4 hours a day, and this is time when I could actually be doing stuff that I usually end up doing in the evening when I should be relaxing. Now my iPhone (first generation) allows me to do certain things, like replying to email and basic web surfing but things like typing up this blog entry are just not practical. So after a lot of should I, shouldn't I, I took the plunge and payed out for a MacBook Air, and I must say I am glad I did! This with a 3G USB modem means that I can read and respond to my email, catch up on my favorite web sites, and update my blog while I am on the train, time I would normally spend ruining my brain reading the Metro. I still have my iPhone which is great for when I am down the pub or out shopping, but having something that allows me to do everything else means that I do actually get to have an evening, and more importantly an evening that doesn't require sitting in front of a computer when I have been doing that all day. Now I haven't got rid of the MacBook Pro as there are some tasks that are just easier on the bigger screen and need the extra power, but they are generally weekend tasks like putting together movies etc.

So then came the issue of what I was going to do with these free evenings where I could relax and chill out. I probably can count on one hand the number of hours I watch TV a week, but when I do sit down I want to watch what I want to watch and not necessarily what the schedule lists. Now I have been researching all of this for some time, so before anyone says anything it's not that I just went out and blew a pile of cash on a bunch of new toys (Well that is actually what I did do) but I have been planning this all for quite some time now and the last couple of weeks have been the first stage of putting it all together. So I thought what do I actually do in the evening. Well, I actually either read, listen to music, or watch TV and usually from the comfort of the couch. So I purchased a Mac Mini and have set it up as a home entertainment system. So far I have connected it up to my sky dish via a USB EyeTV Hybrid which allow’s me to record to disk the actual TV shows that I actually enjoy even while I am away for viewing when I am in the mood. I have also moved by iTunes library from my MacBook Pro to the Mac Mini together with my iPhoto library. As I said this is the first stage, and my next step is to get everything syncing so I can access all my information from the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air, or the MacBook Pro. The first thing is to get MobileMe and iDisk up and running.

That’s for another update!

Tags: Technology, Apple

Okay so I have been slack again with updating the blog. It’s not an excuse but I have been so busy since I have been back I haven’t even had time to catch my breath.

So the last time I blogged was the day before I went back to work. Well it was straight back in at the deep end. The first thing I had to do was catch up on the status of where my new departments were, and it was obvious to see the answer was not where they should be. So the first three days were really catching up and identifying key area’s that needed focus. Come Friday night all I wanted was a few cold beers and to veg out in front of the TV.

The Saturday was supposed to be a shopping day, so after a lay in I ventured in to town and started working through my list. It got to lunch time and I thought I’d grab a sandwich and chill out sitting in the sunshine when I got a call from the office advising that w had major issues with one of out largest systems. I managed to finish my sandwich as I headed back to the car and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone sorting the issue out.

Saturday evening was my cousin Jennifer’s 21st and Dad volunteered to drive so they picked me up about 17:00 and we headed out on the road towards Reading to a place called Longbridge Mill. It was good to catch up with the family again, and they were all interested to hear how I got on in India and what my plans were now. The issue at work was still bubbling away and the evening was slightly mared by the odd phone call.

Sunday was a chill out day and about 13:00 I headed up to Mum & Dad’s as they were doing a BBQ. However by 15:00 the clouds still hung in the sky to we decided to cook in the tradition fashion.

Monday it was back to work and before I knew it it was the weekend again. This weekend is the last free one I have as I am duty manager next weekend and fly back to India on Monday so I elected to chill out and sort some things out around the house.

That’s it really! Boring! Well I kind of knew it would be like this this time back but I am only back in India for 9 days so it should be easier after that. Maybe I can even start to have a Life?

Tags: Beer, Birthdays, Fun, Party

Okay so I arrived back in the UK Friday afternoon and was met on time by my taxi for the 40 minute run down the M25 / M3 to Basingstoke. Walking through the door I felt I could finally relax and kicked off my shoes and through myself on the sofa with a cold beer. I chilled out for about 30 minutes before I grabbed a shower and changed my clothes which made me feel about 10 times better, but I still couldn’t face unpacking so resigned to leave that until Saturday. I grabbed another beer and through myself back on the sofa. I managed to last until about 19:30 before I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and headed for bed. It was so nice being back in my own bed with big soft pillows I fell straight to sleep.

Saturday morning I was awake at 04:00 and ready to go. I had a bunch of shopping to do and Williams 3rd Birthday at 14:00. Then I remembered that the shops didn’t open at 04:00 so settled on unpacking my case. Now one thing I am not going to miss about India is the dust and dirt. This time around I brought the majority of my electronic equipment home. However before I could set it up I had to wash everything down as it was coated in a fine layer of dust. This is made even more fustrating when your an apple fan and most of the kit is white, well was white when I brought it. Once I had done this I needed to let everything dry off so I laid a big towel out on the landing and set everything up so it could dry.

At 09:00 I headed into town as another side effect of being away is that I have lost a lot of weight and none of my clothes fit me. So after buying a couple of new suits and half a dozen shirts I was feeling a little peckish. I headed to nearest cafe, where I found Mum & Dad just finishing lunch and joined them for Sausage, Egg, Chips, and beans. After lunch and catching up with the folks I had the energy to finish my shopping so headed back into the crowd and cringed everytime I handed over my credit card. It’s going to take some time getting used to spending in pounds again!

13:00 Mum & Dad picked me up and we headed to Katrina & Rob’s for Williams 3rd Birthday party (Photo’s here). Katrina & Rob had setup an big marquee and laid out sandwiches, crisps, and a variety of sweets. The kids all had fun playing with Williams toys and playing the party games that Katrina had organised, while the adults enjoyed a few beers and chatted. About 16:00 we set off as I was feeling knackered and Mum & Dad had things they needed to do. I got back home and had a couple more beers and contemplated how I was going to try and stay awake. I ended up washing down all the electronic’s equipment again as it all still looked dirty. I managed to stay awake until 21:00 but once again had no problems getting to sleep.

Sunday I managed to lay in until a respectable 09:30, and actually felt a little more human. I finished unpacking my suitcase and set about setting up my electronic equipment. I then set about catching up on my personal email and sorting through my post. By 13:00 I was about 50% of the way there but decided to head up to Mum & Dad’s as Mum was cooking Roast Beer and I thought it would give us chance to catch up. We had dinner about 15:00 and then were joined by Clive & Sue (Friends of Mum & Dad’s). I walked home about 17:00 feeling tired but mainly because I had eaten a big meal and enjoyed a few beers. I set about finishing sorting out my email and post and then sat and watched TV for an hour. I lasted until about 21:30 before I felt my eye’s straining to stay open and decided it was better to not fight it.

Monday I woke up at 08:00 and headed into town as I had realised that I needed a few more bits and pieces. I was finished by 10:30 and decided to take the car for a spin as it had been sat there for a while. I headed home for lunch and enjoyed my first salad since coming back. It was paradise! I spend the rest of the day sorting out the house, and a few personal things with the bank and insurance companies before chilling out on the sofa and watching a couple of films.

Today I woke at 09:00 and feel that I am back in the mix. I had a few personal things to sort out and it was nice to have the extra days to do them properly. It’s back to work tomorrow and I am looking forward to being back in London, if not the commute. It’s going to be slightly strange going back and picking up my new responsibilities, espcially now that former peers are reporting to me. I think the saving grace however is I know they are professional people and honestly don’t believe they will have any issues, as they are as eager as I am to see improvements, but I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tags: Beer, Birthdays, Family, Food, Friends, Party, Shopping

So another busy week that finished with the announcement of my promotion and return to the UK. It’s now official I will be flying back to the UK on 11th July and taking up my new position as Senior Manager Systems Support. I will be sharing my time equally between the UK and India for the next month or so until my replacement starts, so expect to be even busier than normal, if that’s possible.

I have really enjoyed my time in India and have learnt a lot and made some good friends but I am looking forward to the new challanges ahead. I haven’t really missed anything about the UK until now, but with my flight booked I can’t help think about a nice roast beef dinner and a few beers with friends and family.

Tags: Sickness, Travel

Okay standard busy week, however this week I was given the task of trying to get through it with a bad dose of Delhi Belly, It hit me Wednesday lunch time, by Thursday morning I didn’t trust myself to be more than 3ft from the bathroom. So Thursday and Friday I worked from home and suffered. Yesterday I felt a lot better but darn hungry as I hadn’t eaten for two days, and hacked off as I had been stuck in the apartment.

So to cheer myself up Laurence and I headed for ambience mall and a KFC. The idea being something familiar (Junk Food) might help me. After that we headed to the cinema and watched “Sex and the City”. Now I loved the TV series and the film was just a good, especially in Gold Class.

Today I slept in until 13:00 and the plan is to do nothing but lay on the sofa and watch TV. I might venture out for a walk early evening when it cools down, but I’ll see how I feel.

Tags: Cinema, Food, Friends

Okay so today I spoke to my banks (Nationwide) fraud department, and a really helpful and informative guy called Steve. He took all the details and then told me what I wanted to hear. He told me that I was fully covered and that the money would be refunded in the next couple of days.

He went on to tell me how this problem is quite prolific in Asia and one of the biggest markets for stolen card details at present is Austraila. Now I am not 100% sure how true that is, but he is the man in the know and I have no reason to not trust him.

Tags: Travel, Money

So last night both Laurence and I agreed we needed to get out and do something. Gurgaon isn’t the most happening place on the planet and you generally are reduced to drinking and dancing. We both had work to do today so drinking had to be moderate, and as for the dancing, well English men don’t unless they are drunk. Known fact. We decided therefore on a rather more subtle evening.

Karan picked us up at 18:30 and we headed to Harriez, Gurgaons first revolving resturant, maybe even India’s, for dinner. After a rather nice chicken sizzler steak and a couple of beers we headed for the new Ambience mall out on national highway (NH) 8. They have a new PVR cinema there with a Gold Class theatre. The normal cinema costs about Rs 200 (£2.36) and the gold class weighed in at Rs 500 (£5.90). This extra entitles you however to a full lazy boy leather 180 degree reclining chair, and at seat service. I will never be able to visit any other cinema again.

We saw the incredible Hulk, which was pretty good but not what I would call movie of the year material. The special effects were pretty cool but the plot was a little thin and predictable. It did however get both of us out of our respective apartments for the evening and made a welcome change.

Today I woke up nice and early, okay about 08:00. I grabbed a couple of slices of marmite on toast and a glass of mixed fruit juice and caught up on the news [web}. After a shower I sat done and managed to get into the work I needed to do very easily. I managed to get everything done by about 15:00 and then managed to catch up with Mum and Dad via Skype.

I have now done my washing, life in the fast lane, and ordered my shopping, including beer. This afternoon will be spent on the soft with a couple of cold ones watching movies.

Tags: Beer, Food, Friends, Movies

Dam....Dam....Dam....Well it’s happened to me! I am now officially a statistic. Checking my bank account today, like I do on a regular basis, I noticed a rather large transaction that I know I didn’t make.

20 June 2008 Crazy Johns SOUTH YARRA. 2,516.00AUD at 2.07 £1212.80

Now I have never been to Australia, although in the last Month I have been in India, Thailand, India, the UK, and India again, and have used my bank card in all three countries. I always try to take as much care as possible, and have a dedicated credit card I use abroad to avoid such occurances, but it looks like I have come unstuck this time.

I have phoned my bank, who have suspended my bank card and are going to issue new ones, but it means I am going to have some fun getting access to money for a while. The real pain is I have to wait until Monday before I can speak to the fraud department and start the process to reclaim the money.

In the meantime I have contacted the company concerned (http://www.crazyjohns.com.au/) and spoken via there online helpd to a BenN. He was very helpful and promised to send all the details to his fraud department.

Why did I contact the company concerned? Well the thing about theives is there generally not as clever as they think they are and often try to use the same company again and again. More over as this company deals in Mobile phones that is even more likely as they are easyily distrabuted and often in demand. The theif can offer them below market rate (Well they didn’t cost him anything) and the client, while suspecting its too good to be true, often can’t resist the opportunity to get there hands on the latest phone at a reduced price.

Tags: Travel, Money

Wow, it has been over a month since my last entry but at least I have something to blog about. Well that’s not quite true, I actually have a lot to blog about! Now the hard bit is deciding where to start.

So in my last post I was Duty Manager and trapped in my apartment in India planning my trip to Thailand, so let’s start there. Well on the Monday Chris Gothard, a collegue from the UK arrived in order to meet the team and discuss a few organisation changes. It was a great week and Chris enjoyed putting names to faces and catching up with people that he had only spoken to previously via the phone and email. It was a busy week with a lot of stuff to cover but we got through everything and even resolved some long outstanding issues. Sometimes its just so much easier when you can sit down and discuss things. Friday was Chris and Sandra’s last day in India before they flew back to the UK so there was a big party to see them off. I think most people from the team in India made it along at some point and judging by the fact you couldn’t get on the dance floor I think everybody had a great time.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling a lot better than I expected to given the amount I had poured down my neck. I love a free bar! Karan was prompt as usual and after manhandeling my suit case into the car we headed for Delhi’s IGI Airport. I arrived with plenty of time to spare but I was in holiday mode and didn’t care as I sat there listening to my iPod watching the world go by. We boarded the plane, and my backside struggled to get use to the economy seats. Thankfully it was only a three hour flight and after few beers to top up Friday nights quota I was soon asleep.

We touched down at Bangkok’s International Airport about 20 minutes late and disembarked straight away. I sailed through passport control and my bag was on the belt waiting for me. Perfect! I headed out and grabbed the first taxi I could find and gave him the address of the Hotel and we set off. As we drove the 40 minutes to the hotel I answered the normal question on where I was from, how I was here on holiday, and yes I liked beautiful women. I looked out of the window at the high rise skyscrappers and felt very much at home even though there was palm trees everywhere. We arrived at the hotel and I checked in, grabbed a shower, and changed my clothes. Unpacking would have to wait as I had spotted a McDonalds across from the hotel as we arrived. As I walked in through the big glass doors I am sure I looked insane with the smile I was wearing, as I ordered I must have looked like a raving lunatic. As I approached the counter thoughts raced through my mind, how many Big Mac’s did they have in stock? Would I be allowed to order them all? Would they deliver to India? I approached with caution and ordered a large Big Mac meal. I don’t remember the next 3.6 minutes as I was in a “Happy Place”. As I liked my fingers and drained my full fat coke I could only think of one thing. A Cheese Burger Meal! So back at the counter and then back to my table and the “Happy Place”. After eating I just felt really tired, but knew if I went to bed to early I would be awake early hours so I went for a wander. It didn’t take me to long to find a bar and as I walked in I was welcomed by 3 or 4 very beautiful girls. I sat at the bar and ordered a beer and two of the girls sat down with me. They asked me the same questions the cab driver had asked me and made general chit chat. By the time I finished my beer one of the girls was sat on my lap and the other one rubbing my shoulders. I made my excuses, well they weren’t really excuses as I was totally knackered, and headed back to the hotel alone. I grabbed a quick drink in the bar and then headed to bed.

Over the next few days I enjoyed laying in, usually until 10:00 before venturing out to for breakfast. After breakfast I would do a little shopping and generally look around before heading in search of Lunch. Lunch usually focused around beef in one form or another. After lunch I would head back to the hotel to drop my bags off and would then spend a few hours by the pool. Around 15:00 I would generally doze off and wake a couple of hours later ready to eat. I would grab a shower and change, not that it was really worth it as I within 30 seconds of leaving the hotel I would be sweating profoundly. I would then enjoy a few drinks and make small talk with the girls. They tried to teach me Thai and laughed at my mispronunciation.

Tuesday night I caught the night train from Bangkok to Champon. It was very similar to the train I caught from Mumbia to Goa although there were less bunks per carriage and a lot more space. I arrived in Chanpon about 04:30 Wednesday morning and was meet at the train station by the company that runs one of the ferries between Champon and Koh Tao. It was about a 20 minute drive from the train station to the ferry terminal and then we had an hours wait until the ferry left. Luckily there was a cafe which sold coffee and snacks.

The ferry took about 3 hours and I got talking to one of the deck hands who spoke very good English which passed the time. We reached the island of Koh Tao about 11:00 and it was a short walk along the beach to the dive school. Once at the school I filled in the paperwork and checked into my room. The room was quite basic, bathroom, double bed, TV, but it would do. I grabbed a shower and then headed off in search of some lunch. It wasn’t hard as there were only two main streets and every other building was a resturant which sold good old English food. It was fantastic sat in shorts and t-shirts looking out at the beach eating Sausage and Mash. After lunch I headed back to my room and grabbed a few hours sleep. I woke up and headed to the bar grabbed a drink and got chatting to the other people that would be on my course. We all had a few beers and then headed off for dinner.

The second day we all met up at 09:00 and headed for the class room and a morning of video’s and tests. We finished about 14:00 by which time I was starving so headed in search of lunch. The afternoon was spent in the swimming pool running through some of the basic skills. Over the next few days we headed out to sea a practices our skills before diving the various reefs and huntng down different fish, stingyrays, and turtles. The last dive of the PADI Open Water exam was a night dive, which was in my view one of the best. We headed out about 18:00 and arrived at the dive site just as the sun was setting. We entered the water, turned on our torches and desended. It was amazing as there seems to be a lot more around. As we surfaced we all looked up and the stars seemed so bright. We bobbed around for about 10 minutes just staring at the sky before returning to the boat.

The next day we started our advanced course, and more book work. Luckily it was just the morning and in the afternoon we headed out to do our first two dives. The first was fish ID, which as it says was all about identifying underwater sea life, whilst the second was navigation, and I think my sailing helped a little as I was familiar with a compass and found the tasks no problem at all. When we got back I elected to do another course, NITROX, which allows you to dive on a mixture of Oxygen and Nitrogen rather than air. The benefit of this is that you can stay under for longer periods. There was another exam but it was basically algothrims so was pretty easy.

The folowing day was the last two dives of the advanced course and probably the most fun after the night dive. The first was the deep dive, which basically sees how you are affected by Narcoisis. We reached just over 30 metres and nobody showed any signs. Quite disappointing really. The last dive I did with a Dive Propelled Vehicle. This allowed us to cover an awful lot more ground and use a lot less air as we weren’t expending as much energy. As I had completed the NITROX course we completed the last two dives on Nitrox we were down for about 40 minutes on each dive and still came up with enough for another 20 minutes, but had to surface as others were low on air. That afternoon we completed all our paperwork and recieved our tempory certificates.

The following day was my birthday so I decided on a different type of sporting activity, namely drinking until I fell down. I was accompanied by a number of the Dive Master and Instructors and got to bed about 01:00 the following morning after basically crawling my way around pubs all day. I was surprised when I woke up at 10:00 the following morning with only a mild headache, which was quickly resolved after a visit to the NITROX tank building. That afternoon I signed up for two last fun dives. We went back to places I had seen before but it was a lot more fun as we didn’t have to practice all the skills and I was put with an experienced diver. We were on air for both of these dives but were down for over 50 minutes each time. When we surfaced I still had enough for another 15-20 minutes. That evening I went for drinks with some of the Dive Masters and long term visitors who just couldn’t bring themselves to leave.

The following morning I packed, ate some lunch and then headed for the ferry port as my time on Koh Tao was over. As I sat there watching the ferry pull in I checked my BlackBerry and saw an email saying that I was needed in the UK as soon as possible. I made a couple of calls to find out what was going on, and then returned to my holiday. The ferry ride took about two hours and when I arrived at the ferry port in Koh Sumai I was greated by GIANT. No kidding you this guy was about 40” Tall and like 18 tons. Okay maybe not quite but you get the picture. I swallowed hard when he held up a card with the name of my hotel on it. I wanded over and said “Hi!” He introduced himself as Vince and lifed my suitcase, which by now did weight at least a ton, cleanly onto his shoulder. I followed him to the minibus, where he loaded my case into the back and then waved goodbye. It was about a 30 minute ride to the hotel and I was pretty knackered. Koh Sumia according to everyone is very touristy, and that’s the impression I got as we drove through what looked like little spain. We arrived at the hotel, which was right on the beach and I checked before grabbing a shower and change of clothes. I went for a short walk, but there wasn’t much about, apart from the normal gift shops. I headed to the hotel bar and order a drink and something to eat but struggled to finish them both, so called it quits and headed to bed.

The following morning I woke up about 10:00 felling a lot better but didn’t really have time to do anything as my flight was at 15:00. It was only 15 Minutes to the airport so I opted for a morning by the pool. I arrived at the airport on time, and enjoyed the whole experieince. Seriously I have never seen an airport like it. You felt as if you were on the beech. They even had free fruit juice, fruit, and pasteries.

We departed on time and 2 hours later landed back in Bangkok where I repeated the actions of my first day and grabbed a cab to the hotel. I had a 18:00 flight the following day but a 14:00 checkout and 3 hour airport checkin, so I grabbed something to eat and then hit the bars for one last night in Thailand, and the last steak for a while. I got to bed about 02:00 and woke about 11:00 the next day. After showing and packing I had a quick brunch and then checked out and headed back to the airport.

I arrived back in New Delhi at 21:00 Sunday night and was met by a very happy Karan. He couldn’t wait to tell me the good news about he and his wife having a baby son. I got back to the apartment about 22:00 and unpacked. Well I think most of the clothes walked to the laundry basket themselves. Then headed to bed.

See the Thailand Photos.

Tags: Beer, Birthdays, Family, Food, Friends, Fun, Holiday, Party, Photography, Shopping, Travel

Well I have had a couple of pretty boring weeks. My own fault really as I swapped one of my Duty Manager shifts leading to me doing two in row this month. The really annoying part is that I had the chance to get away this weekend and go to a Tiger sanctuary, but it just wasn't to be. Chris & Sandra have gone and will no doubt taunt me with the photo's next week.

Being confined to the apartment has forced me to sort out my trip to Thailand however. The plan as it stands at the moment is to fly from New Delhi to Bangkok on the 17th May. Then on or around the 20th May I travel by overnight train to Chumpon where I get a ferry to the island of Koh Tao. I stay on Koh Tao until the 30th May (Diving Courses) when I then get a ferry to the island of Koh Sumui where I stay the night before flying back to Bangkok on the 31st. All I need to do know is sort out what I am going to do for the first 3/4 days. I am thinking of a day in Bangkok and then heading north but I am still trying to sort out the finer details.

I am also starting to plan some weekends away as time is running out fast. With the weather the way it is some of the hill stations sound alluring as they tend to be a lot cooler, but I need to do some more research.

Tags: Beer, Friends, Holiday

So a short post tonight as it's been a busy week and I am knackered. I am going to have a cold beer and watch TV for an hour just so the AC can kick in and cool down the bedroom.

The temperature is starting to climb now and we are easily in the 40's. The out look for the week just show's it getting hotter and my main job each night is to make sure there is enough water in the fridge for the morning. It's starting to get difficult to sleep now and you can't leave a bottle of water, coke, or beer on the table for 5 minutes before it's undrinkable. I also never feel hungry. I eat because its breakfast, lunch, or dinner tine, but never because I am hungry.

It's not all bad thought! There is something good about waking up and knowing its going to be a nice day, and walking outside with the sun on your face. Knowing that you can sit outside in the evening and have a drink. Not having to think, do I need a coat?

Tags: Weather

After feeling rough mid-week I decided I needed to take it easy and stick to a plain (English) diet. Thursday I was feeling better (In as much as I could function) but by Friday I felt normal again, but decided not to have an easy weekend.

It was Mik Bedson's (Operations Director) last day Friday, before he fly's back to the UK to take up his new role, and as always it called for a party. The band he played with here in India gave a very good performance and Mik, his normal fun loving self, was soon there guitar in hand to join in the fun. Friday night there were drinks and joint dinner party for Mik and Nick De Vansey, who is also leaving shortly, at the DLF Golf and Country club where we all got to say goodbye, or see you in a few months for those of us following in his foot steps.

It was a lovely evening and a lovely venue and I got to catch up with a lot of people I only usually speak to across a meeting room. It was a nice and relaxed evening and I was home and tucked up in bed by 23:30. Click here for pictures.

Friday Chris, Sandra, and myself had made tentative plans to get out and do something on Saturday. So after a nice lay in Saturday morning Karan picked us up and we headed towards Delhi. We first of all headed to a dear park which we spent about an hour and a half walking around before stopping at a restaurant for lunch. After lunch we had about an hours walk around the rose garden before heading to Buddha Jayanti Park. This was an extremely large park that has been created along what is known as Delhi Ridge, which according to the guide book is the last outcrop of the Aravalli Hills extending northwards from Rajasthan.

After about 5 hours walking we were all pretty tired and had trouble keeping our eyes open during the drive back to Gurgaon. Once in Gurgaon we headed to Harriez for something to eat and lots of water as we were all feeling pretty dehydrated after all the walking. Click here for pictures.

Today I woke up about 09:00 and did the normal washing and called upon the services of the Ironing man (really need to find out his name before I leave). Now I am sitting down with a cheese and onion sandwich sorting out my trip to Thailand, oh and another trip I am looking at doing 1st-5th May to Khajuraho and a tiger reserve. More on that later!

Tags: Beer, Food, Friends, Fun, Party, People, Photography, Relaxing, Sickness, Sightseeing, Travel

Okay so feeling better today, but still not 100% confident. One thing that keeps me going is when you look out the window in a traffic jam and see things like this!


Funny nobody cut the Elephant up!

Tags: Photography

About 03:00 this morning I woke with terrible stomach pains. I took some tablets and hoped they would sort me out and tried to get back to sleep. I was up and down for the next few hours until about 07:00 when I got showered and dressed and headed for the office. By 11:00 I knew I just wasn't going to add any value and at lunchtime I headed home. I took some more tablets and crashed out. I woke up about 15:30 and although still not confident I am starting to feel a little better. I have drunk about 3 bottles of water and plan to starve myself today in the hope I'll be okay tomorrow, but being unwell in this heat isn't much fun at all.

Tags: Food, Sickness

So yesterday I woke up about 09:00 and decided that I needed to do something with the day! Karan picked me up about 10:15 and we headed to the local shops so I could get my hair cut and pick up some groceries. We were done by midday and I headed back to the apartment for some lunch. After lunch we headed off towards Surajkund. There wasn't much to see but I didn't want to hang around the apartment all day. On the way back we stumbled on an old fort, but unfortunately it was closed as they are currently restoring it, but we had a little walk around the outside.

We got back to Gurgaon about dinner time and I got Karan to drop me at TGI Friday's. The staff were all please to see me again as I hadn't told them I was going back to the UK and they thought I had left. I told them not to worry and that they still had a few more tips coming there way. I had a couple of beers and something to eat when a bunch of the staff from the Crown Plaza (The hotel I stayed in when I first arrived). came in. They all said hello and were keen to hear what I had been up to and what I thought about India. I then grabbed a rickshaw home and had a few more beers. I must admit this morning I woke up with a sore head.

Tags: Beer, Food, Relaxing, Shopping, Sightseeing

I have added a couple of elements to the web site recently purely for fun. The first Ratings allows visitors to rate each blog post. At the bottom of each blog post are 5 stars, simply select the number of stars you think an entry deserves by clicking a star with the mouse and you have rated the entry.

The second element Polls allows visitors to vote on different questions and / or subjects of interest by clicking the answer and then the vote button. The Polls appear in the right hand side bar (the orange ribbon).

The Polls will be a mixture of fun and serious questions. If you have an idea for a Poll question you can send it to me via the Contact Form.

Don't delay, Vote Today!

Tags: Fun, Web Development

So I have now been back in India for a week, and the time has just flown by. It's strange but it feels good to be back, I think it's the sunshine. It has warmed up here quite a bit while I have been away with temperatures now in the 35-38 Celsius range. At the beginning of the week there was a nice cool breeze that made it bearable, but by the end of the week even the wind was warm.

In the space of over two weeks I received over 4500 emails, so most of the week has been spent trying to catch up. Otherwise it has been the normal meetings, conference calls, interviews, and escalations. I can't complain however as being really busy makes the time fly by. Last night both Vikram and myself were ready for a drink so we headed to TGI Fridays and enjoyed there Happy hour and a plate of Nachos. After happy hour had finished Vikram invited me back to his apartment for a few more beers and dinner. We caught up on what had been going on while I was in the UK and about life in General. I eventually left about 01:00.

This morning I had a nice lay in before walking to the local shop for some bread for lunch. After lunch I kicked back and watched a couple of films. It's now 16:45 and I am starting to think what I will do for dinner. I think I might take a little walk up to the mall and treat myself to a steak, and a few beers.

Tags: Beer, Food, Friends, Email