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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.

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Getting Out and About

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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.

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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!
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Not so good today.

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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.


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Time for a break.

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Okay so today I am feeling rough and very sorry for myself. Chris, Sandra, Laurence, and myself went out to dinner last night at a place called Charcoal, which sells steaks. We all had the same thing, a medium steak with peppercorn source, but this morning I haven't stopped throwing up and my stomach is on fire. The annoying thing is that everybody else is fine, which makes me think maybe it wasn't the dinner, but maybe what I had for lunch. Either way it's time I can't really afford out of the office as I am away next week.

So Saturday morning we (Chris, Sandra, Laurence, and Myself fly from Delhi's domestic airport to Mumbia (formally Bombay). Two of Chris's friends join us Saturday in Mumbia and we have Saturday and sunday to look around before getting the night train down to Goa where we have a few day's rest and relaxation. Chris and Sandra fly back Tuesday, and Chris's friends fly onto Jaipur. Laurence and myself are staying on an extra day and fly back Wednesday evening. I then have the remainder of the week to generally chill out.

So the upshot is that this is the last post until probably next Thursday, but hopefully I will have some great stories and photo's to share.
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Busman's Holiday

Okay so Thursday morning Mum was pretty rough. She had an awful night and couldn't keep anything down and was extremely dehydrated. We immediately decided that she needed to see a doctor and after a few phone calls I was advised the best thing was to take her to the MAX Hospital down the road from my apartment.

We arrived at the emergency department and Mum was seen by the doctor straight away and within a minute or two the decision was taken to admit her. Dad and I waited in the waiting room for about 10 minutes and then were guided to admissions to complete the paperwork. Once that was done we accompanied Mum up to her room where she was made comfortable.

After a hour or two Dad and I returned to the apartment for some lunch and packed a bag for Mum. We returned later that evening but she was still in a bad way. Friday Mum was still not feeling great allow she did look a little brighter but she hadn't had a very good night and the hospital isn't the quietest of places. The staff were taking good care of her and there wasn't much we could do so we headed into Delhi for a couple of hours and looked around the home of former prime minister
Indira Gandhi. Friday evening Mum was looking and feeling a lot brighter and was ready to come home. the doctors however wanted to keep her in one more night.

Saturday morning we were there when the doctor did his morning rounds He was happy that Mum was on the mend and ordered one more set of tests before ordering the IV drip be removed. It was gong to be a couple more hours until they released her so Dad and I headed to the gym for a sauna, and then back to the apartment for lunch, via Galleria for provisions.

Mum was released about 3pm on Saturday and we all returned to the apartment and a relaxing evening and some home cooked plan food. Sunday morning Mum was back to her normal self but opted for one last quiet day.

Monday was back to work for me, so Karan picked me up from the office and then went off to sort out the brakes on the car, before returning to pick Mum and Dad up and take them shopping in Delhi. The rest of the week is a blur for me as it's been back to work with a vengeance, but Thursday morning after dropping me off at the office, Karan drove Mum & Dad to the domestic airport for a flight down to Goa and 7 days of Sun and relaxation. They are due back on the 14th so I will get Mum to let you all know via the blog how they got on!

For me it's a quiet weekend on the couch with a few cold beers.
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Christmas and the Taj Mahal

Okay so Christmas 2007 was certainly different, but let's start with the negative.

So I woke up Christmas eve about 05:00 with chronic stomach cramps and a bad dose of Delhi Belly. I managed to get back to sleep but was up and down all day. All I could stomach was water and even that was in small sips. By 22:00 that evening I was still feeling rough and had to bail on the party I was supposed to attend, not the way I wanted my Christmas to start but vowed if I was still rough Christmas Day I was going to the chemist and getting something that made me feel better, legal or otherwise.

I woke up Christmas day about 08:00 and wasn't sure how I felt. I had slept all night and just felt hungry. I took a gamble and made myself some toast. It was only when I heard Christmas carols at full belt I remembered it was Christmas day. Now before arriving here I understood that the Christian faith was a minority faith in India, but I was surprised at how many people were celebrating, even if it wasn't quite in the way I was used to. Silly really, if I had thought about it for one second I would have remembered how Indians love a good party and don't need a reason, given a reason it just makes for a bigger party. I'm in!

I took a walk up to the local malls and you wouldn't know it was Christmas, except the street vendors were selling Father Christmas hats instead of the normal tourist junk. Life was in full swing and it was then I decided I was better. I grabbed some fruit juice, milk, and bread and headed for home where I made myself a bacon sandwich and opened my Christmas stocking that Mum had sent me back with. I thought of opening the Christmas presents straight after but decided I need to keep the tradition so settled back and watched Christmas movies. At about 12:00 I decided it was lunch time and made myself a ham salad. After I finished I opened my Christmas gifts (
Thanks Everyone). I then called Vikram and we re-organised the Christmas Eve Party.

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Karan picked me up at 18:30 and we headed to Vikram's place. I got the usual warm welcome at Vikrams place, the guard asked me 20 inane questions, I shrugged and quoted the apartment number, he tried to get me to sign in and I refused, he called Vikram and I headed for the elevator shouting back "I don't understand". Once inside we had a couple of beers, ordered some food, and headed for the local beer shop to stock up. Vikram took delivery of his new car on Sunday and I wanted a ride so we went for a 5 minute trip around the block, picked up some beer and headed back.

Later that evening we were joined by Vik's friends and drank, ate, but mainly drank our way through the evening, only really stopping to put the train back on the tracks for the son of Vikram's friends. It was a great evening and a better outcome that I had thought given how I had felt on Christmas Eve. I left about mid-night and had a lay-in on boxing day.

Boxing Day I woke up about 11:00 and went for a wander for a couple of hours. I couldn't really be bothered doing anything else so went back to the apartment and chilled out listening to loud music, reading, and about 15:00 I gave in and opened a beer and started to think about what else I was going to do with the few days I had left. I had mentioned to Karan that I wanted to go to the Taj Mahal so called him up. After a little discussion we settled on a 06:00 pick up.

So this morning at 06:01 I was in the car heading for Agra. It was dark and cold and I wanted to go back to bed, but NO NO NO I told myself. I have been here since July and done nothing but work so I was doing this. About 20 minutes from Agra Karan woke me up....WOW what a dump!

We made our way through the car park barrier and were swamped with tout's, vendors, Camels, and offers of an auto rickshaw ride. I could smell the camels as I got out of the car and opted for an auto rikshaw and the government guide. We drove the 35 seconds to the Taj (Doh first mistake) paid Rs 200 (£2.56), well over the odds, but then enjoyed a pretty good guided tour. The place is pretty impressive, although not as impressive as I was expecting. I don't know exactly what I was expecting really but other people had told me a lot about it, so I guess I was expecting it to be bigger. It probably is if you look at the reasons for it being built, but it is difficult to appreciate the work that went into it, unless you have first hand knowledge of working with marble.

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Anyway after about 2 hours the tour guide offered to show us how the marble inlay was done, and I was quite interested in seeing this (mistake number two). We headed out of a side gate into what was obviously a street of shops and the guide showed me to a little "government" shop. I smelt a rat as soon as I saw the benches in front of the counters and was asked to sit as they brought out a selection of there wares.

Now they were nice and I love marble so listened to the sales patter. They showed me plates, cups, jewelry boxes, and elephants but I got up and said I wanted to look around on my own. This confused them somewhat, but ass I had been suckered so was going to make the most of it. I made them more or less empty ever display case of something or other and inspected every inch. I finally settled on a set of six marble coasters with the Taj Mahal inlaid. They tried to push me further but I then said I changed my mind and wanted nothing. We eventually settled on the coasters.

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Next stop was how they made the precious stones, and I saw this one coming. I walked in the shop and the guide stepped back outside. What he hadn't realized is while paying for my coasters I had emptied my wallet of notes and credit cards into other pockets. The guy spent about 3 minutes getting boxes out of the display cases and I took my wallet out, making sure he could see its contents and asked what I could buy for Rs 150 (£1.92). He was *pissed*.

I left the shop and asked the guide to show us back to the car. We arrived back at the auto rickshaw and climbed aboard. 35 seconds later we were back at the car and the auto rickshaw driver was demanding another Rs 200. I told him I had already paid and walked away. Poor Karan then became the subject of there attention. They settled on Rs 50 from Karan, which I gave to him later and then told me they had booked me a table at the restaurant for a very special lunch. The guide was equally as pissed when I told them that Karan had already booked us a restaurant and we needed to leave to make the appointment. I guess I should of told Karan about this before hand, but he just went quiet and shrugged.

Now lesson number three was that I should have asked the guide how much before hand, but government guides are usually Rs 500 (£6.39) but he was demanding Rs 1000 (£12.78). I thought about arguing, but it's not in my nature.....Okay so the rickshaw guy's were gathering and the look on his face when I pulled out Rs 1000 from my other pocket was priceless after hearing the words exchanged between him and the precious stone seller.

Well I had learnt a few lessons, but I don't think I came out cheated. In fact I think there were a few guys stood there at the end wondering exactly what had happened.

So we jumped in the car and headed back out into Agra. Did I mention it's a dump? This time I was awake and Karan couldn't stop laughing when a rickshaw driver hit him from behind depositing his customers on the ground and I yelled
20 POINTS. We worked our way out heading for Fatehpur Sikri. About half way Karan announced he was hungry and I realized I hadn't eaten all day so way out of my depth I asked Karan to find a restaurant.

Now given my experiences on Christmas Eve I was a little hesitant when we pulled over into what I can only describe as a little chef without the elegance. I was surprised however when Karan barked something and we were shown into a side building that was just like a little chef (Plastic chairs, and patio tables included). The restaurant was full of other middle class indians all happily eating so I went for it. There were western dishes on the menu, but I have learnt these usually carry more risk as they are not quite sure what they are cooking or how to cook them so we settled on
Roti and Dal. It wasn't bad but I couldn't live on it. The waiter then brought out another dish and set it down and stated it was complementary. Karan wasn't sure and I could see it in his face. I asked him it was okay and he said he wasn't sure. I said I would try it and then he said in a very authoritarian way that he would try it first. I could see he wasn't comfortable. He tried one mouthful with Roti and didn't look impressed. He took a mouthful of bottled water I had insisted on buying and said, "no it's bad, old food!" Then started yelling at the lad that had set it down. There must have been something in it as the place went quiet and he cleared it away. Two lunches Rs 220 (£2.81), including a coke and bottled water. Time will tell if it was value for money I guess. We continued on to Fatehpur Sikri.

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We arrive in normal style, surrounded by touts but this time we were ready. I had told Karen No Guides. He didn't quite understand the Internet but understood I could read about it. Mind you it didn't stop the bastards trying. The funny thing was the official government guide started off at Rs 500 and dropped to Rs 100 as we got nearer. Karan and I both laughed when we were accosted by a young lad that could be no more than 7 who offered to be our guide for Rs 7 (£0.09). I gave him Rs 10 for making me smile, and no I still had my wallet as I walked away.

At the top of the steps we were approached yet again and Karan tried every trick in the book to get rid of him. It was when he told me that Karan wasn't allowed in I bite and asked him if he could fly? He looked a little confused, so I explained if he spoke to me or Karan again I was going to throw him off the top of the stairs, funnily enough he gave up, mind you he did say goodbye as we left. Well I felt better, but won't win any UN recognition awards.

We drove back and I feel shattered, but happy. I can now say Xmas 2007 I went to the Taj Mahal!

The photo's can be found here if you haven't clicked on the embedded pictures already,
Xmas 2007, Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri.
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Time to catch up.

Okay so I have been a little slack again with updating the blog, but let's see if I can pick up where I left off last Sunday. Well the plan was to head off to the Red Fort in New Delhi so Laurence's driver picked us all up at 13:00 but advised us that it was closed this time of year due to terrorist bombing incidents in the past. So we headed into Delhi anyway and just drove around to give Mark Leggo a sense of what it was all about. We then then headed for Khan market and did a little shopping in preparation for the cheese and wine party Laurence was hosting that evening. As soon as we entered the market we were stalked by a couple of shoe shine boys and just before we left Laurence relented and allowed them to clean his shoes (Rs 50/63p). Mark and I were then feeling hungry so we headed for Ansel's Mall where we sat down to Pizza and a couple of beers. We then headed back towards Gurgaon and the local off-license to pick up some wine for the evening.

Sunday Evening Laurence, myself, Mark Leggo, Chris, Sandra, and Vikram meet up and enjoyed several bottles of wine and a collection of cheese and biscuits. Vikram had been partying the night before and excused himself early. He did look delicate. Now unfortunately the real purpose of the evening was uncovered early on as both Chris and I turned up with out MacBook Pro's, and after sufficient cheese and wine started waxing lyrical about the virtues of Mac's compared to PC's. Chris had discovered a cool piece of software called
Mojo that allows you to share iTunes library's. The only problem was I couldn't get it to work. How frustrating. Well the party finally broke up about 00:30.

Monday we were joined by Jason Hamer and Simon Derry. They were both pretty tired and by the end of the day were struggling to stay awake. We headed to the Crown Plazza for a couple of beers and then they both headed for there respective rooms and a nights sleep.

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Wednesday night we all met up (Myself, Mark Leggo, Laurence, Simon Derry, Chris, and Sandra) at the Galaxy Mall for dinner at a restaurant called Axis. The food was very good and everybody was able to catch up with events in the UK and compare views on India. Mark Leggo flew back on Thursday, and Simon and Laurence flew out early hours Friday morning. Friday night I had a few beers with Jason as he wasn't due to fly out until early hours Saturday and didn't intend on going to bed. I got back to my apartment about 21:30 and after a quick short hit the sack happy in the thought I didn't have to get up early.

I woke up yesterday (Saturday) at about 11:00 still full of cold (I brought it back from the UK with me) and decided there and then I needed a R&R weekend. I was supposed to meet up with one of my teams that evening, but I was still tired and knew that I wouldn't be good company so postponed it. I ended up laying on the sofa watching DVD's all day (Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Office). The temperate has dropped to about 10 degree's Celsius and I am feeling the cold, so I am laying on the sofa with the heater on high next to me wearing two pairs of socks and a jumper. I managed to speak to Mum & Dad via Skype and planned a video call for today.

So today I am feeling a little more together, but decided once again to take it easy. I got up about 10:00 and the ironing man turned up about 11:00 but that is as social as I have got and intend to be today, with the exception of my Skype call with Mum & Dad. I have managed to catch up on email and few person admin tasks, but otherwise this afternoon I intend to chill out with a book.

Next week is going to be be very busy with everybody trying to get things completed prior to the Christmas break, and I am on leave the week commencing the 24th so need to get as much done as possible if I am going to enjoy it. I was planning on getting away, but I have left things a little late so I think I will just try and explore Delhi a little more, especially Old Delhi, and then get out and about a bit in the new year.
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It's official I am dying!

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Okay, well I have been struggling for the last couple of days with Man Flu, yes "Man Flu". Every man out there will understand how brave I have been carrying on despite this debilitating illness, and will also understand how today it finally took over my body and resulted in 6 doctors and 4 ambulances being dispatched to my apartment. Of course they wanted to rush me to the nearest Intensive Care unit but I refused, insisting that all I needed was rest and lots of water.

So today I have mainly slept. In fact since 07:00 this morning when I woke up and 18:00 (the time now) I have been awake for about an hour and a half. I am feeling a little brighter, but still have a stinking headache and the sniffles, I am now trying to stay awake for a few hours so I will sleep tonight, but also so I can get something to eat as I am starving. I can never remember if your supposed to starve a cold and feed a fever or the other way around, but I am hungry so that pretty well makes the decision for me. Now all I have to figure out is which one of the 368 take away menu's I fancy.


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© 2007-2008 Mark Dalton