First Week in Chennai

Well I'm finishing up my first work week here. It's been a pretty enlightening week. I'm really liking the food here. I'm trying to remember the names of the things that I eat, but it's hard. So far, I can remember Chicken Chettinad that was good. Really spicy, but really good. The Biriyani is also real good. I guess it's kind of a "dirty rice" mix, but with Indian spices. I've had it once with chicken and once with lamb.

We were treated to dinner the other evening by one of the contracting firms that we work with. We went to the Radisson hotel here to a place called, "The Kabob Factory." This was one of those "dinner experiences." Who knows how long it took to eat. Maybe an hour. They served one thing at a time, and probably served us 7 or 8 items. Seafood, chicken leg, spicy stuff you put in bread, and some strange drinks. What they called a yogurt drink I thought was really terrible. I'll take the Yoplait.

We went shopping last Sunday after we arrived at a mall. Not too much to say about it, it was really crowded. I did manage to buy some cheap DVDs there.

The food prices here are pretty funny. I eat lunch every day, complete with water, for about 65 rupees which comes out to $1.30. A bottle of water (1 L) is 13 rupees (26 cents).

One of my coworkers here has had quite the experience with his luggage. It weighed 70 pounds when it left San Antonio and when it arrived here in Chennai days late, it weighed 35 pounds. He said that the inside had obviously been rummaged through, as things were a mess. Things like Polo shirts were gone and a pair of Cole Hahn shoes. I won't mention the name of the airline that he was flying, but it starts with "Co" and ends with "ntinental."

Whenever we go to the office and come into the hotel, the driver stops at the gates while security guards check everyone in the car, open up the back hatch to check for surprises, and most of all, roll a mirror under the front of the car. They're checking for bombs... It's strange though that they just roll it under the front of the car. Best I can tell, there's a standard here where if you're going to put a bomb on a car, you have to put it under the radiator.

We going to a place called Fisherman's Cove tonight for what is supposed to be a BBQ. And we're going sight seeing this weekend, so I ought to have some more pictures come Sunday night. Below are the ones that I've taken so far.

That $3,300 chess set I mentioned.

Scene on the street.

Side-saddle, Indian style.

Quite the common site...

This view is outside my hotel window. This is a lady washing clothes.

Also outside my hotel window. Lots of people live in these type of huts.

Self-entertainment!!!

My room

This was in the Tokyo airport. Apparently in the wee hours of the morning, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a picture showing that Swarovski doesn't make just sporting optics.

Toto, I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore

So after 52 hours of travel, we finally made it to our hotel here in Chennai. Pretty nice hotel; hardwood floors in my room, big shower, flat-screen TV.
The 2 guys and I that traveled here with went out on the town yesterday. We went to a mall where tons of people were. It was a 30-40 minute drive, so we got to see plenty of livestock and villages. And the smell... it smells about like the south end of a north-bound skunk!

Made it into the office today. This is a pretty cool building. It's good size, too. It's owned by TCS (Tata Consulting Services) and I think I heard that there are around 8,000 people who work here. We were treated to a good lunch, but I heard that lunch runs about 40 rupees, which is probably only about 85 cents, anyways :).

One of my colleagues here was telling me yesterday that 80% of people here in Chennai earn less than 100 rupees (~ $2) a day and something like 60% earn less than 50. Amazing...

The hotel has a free happy hour every day from 7:00 - 8:00 where anything domestic is free. I partook yesterday and am looking forward to this evening's. There's a good group of people here from work and we had a good time yesterday. Oh, and the massage deal. This is pretty neat. Apparently there was a deal negotiated with the hotel that if we stay longer than 14 days, we get a free 60 minute massage every 14 days. Not too shabby.

I feel like there's more I wanted to put in here, but can't remember it right now. Lots of little facts. Like yesterday at a shop we saw a chess set for around $3,300 that had the pieces made out of camel bones. The pieces were extremely ornate. Many of them were elephants and either the king or the queen was one of those get-ups like the big guy in the movie 300 rode around in.

Texas Boys in Singapore

"Yes ma'am, thank you. I will have a warm, moist towel for my face before take-off."

"This white wine is okay, better than the red. But let's go back to the Black Label and water."

Yeah, it was a real rough flight over here. All the space and leg room I could ask for in my reclining seat, complete with foot rest. Business Class is the way to go! It was 11 1/2 hours from L.A. to Tokyo, where we had an hour long layover. It was pretty neat though, lots of shops in that airport. I definitely don't have the same taste in clothing as they do. I didn't find myself too tempted to buy anything. One of my traveling companions, Joe Thomas, bought a shirt in that airport because all 3 of us forgot to put a shirt in our overnight bag for our layover here in Singapore. The shirt has Japanese writing on it and I'm giving him a hard time because it probably says something like, "Gringo here. Fat wallet in back pocket." There was also a "tasting stand" where I got a sip of Johnny Walker, Blue Label. Not too shaby.

It was 7 1/2 hours from Tokyo to Singapore. I was able to finish off "Lonesome Dove" on the DVD player on that flight. I sat next to a guy born in Ireland but now is a banker in Singapore. He said that there are 4 1/2 million people in this city, but it's only about 30 miles long.

My other traveling companion, Roland Sanchez, and I went out for a day on the town in Singapore today. We went to the main street where there are a bunch of shops. It was very much like any nice downtown in a big American city. Just people walking around spending money. But the city is extremely nice and clean. Lots of trees in medians and on the side of the road. This used to be a British colony, so they all drive on the left side of the road. And the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. It's pretty weird to see people driving a stick-shift from the right side. First gear is still upper-left though, in case you were wondering.

Then we went and did what is probably the main tourist thing here, the Singapore Flyer. It's a ferris-wheel like contraption with good size capsules for people to ride in. I got lots of pictures from this thing, but apparently left my transfer apparatus in my luggage, which is who knows where right now.

I talked to a guy who travels the world for business and he said that this Singapore airport is like the 3rd nicest in the world, behind Shanghai and Hong Kong. I wouldn't doubt it. Very clean and lots of nice shops. I went into the Ferrari store to buy a shirt earlier, and the bottom-end shit was about $75, American. So I got some "Tiger Beer" shirt with Asian writing that probably says something close to what Joe's says.

Singapore's currency is also the dollar, but not the same as the American dollar. They just call it a dollar. And 1 US dollar gets you 1.51 Singapore dollars. Pretty cheap day on the town, I spent $58, American.

Anyways, a New Zealand guy told me that this Business Lounge has free massages somewhere in it, so I'm gonna go try to track that down. This traveling for business sure is tough...

Well no such luck on the free massage. Apparently it was next to our lounge, but not exactly free.

Here are some of the pictures from my day in Singapore:

Bob Wills reincarnated as an Asian


A golf course from the Singapore Flyer. Not many trees on that course; my kind of course!



A capsule on the Singapore Flyer


Steering column on right side of cab


The street where we did some shopping.


Just wanted a picture of a license plate...



Apparently the Singapore people are very superstitious. The "Conrad" guy who built this hotel thought that 13, oddly enough, was his lucky number. So he shaped a "13" into the windows for his hotel.

These silver domes are called "Esplande" and it's their performing arts center.

Esplande from the cab.



Floating soccer field.


A "duk" which apparently is far from unique to Singapore. Roland told me that he rode one in Boston and they originated with the U.S. in WW II. These things travel on land and sea. I think they just drive right off the end of the boat ramp and keep on going!


A bunch of cargo ships in the harbor with the Malaysian mountains in the background.



Inside the Singapore airport.


Couldn't believe it. This was a "fish spa" and yes, those are legs in the tank and yes, those are fish in the tank. The people said that it "kinda tingled." I'll take their word for it.


Only picture from Chennai so far. This was right outside the Arrivals area. I thought it looked like a WW II Army jeep, but the driver (who is passed out in the back) was waiting for someone.

Sittin' in LAX

Well I'm sittin' here in the LAX airport waiting for my 20 hour flight over to Singapore. Apparently it's 11 1/2 hours to Tokyo where we get to walk around while they refuel, then hop back on for a 7 1/2 hour flight down to Singapore. I *believe* that I'll be getting into Singapore at 11:10 am. on Friday, Texas time. I'll arrive at 1:10 am. Singapore time on Saturday.

I'm hanging out in the "Business Lounge" for Singapore Airlines at LAX right now. This is quite the place. I'm drinking free scotch, reading the Wall Street Journal and wondering what the poor folks are doing right now. Free booze sure does help this 6 hour layover. The even better news is that I won't have to smuggle a bottle onto the plane from this lounge because apparently it's free drinks on the plane, too.

My morning started out real good when I put my suitcase on the scale for United and it topped off at 59 pounds. I read somewhere that the overweight limit was 75 for international flights, but apparently not for the flight from San Antontio to L.A.. I like the way the guy told me that I was going to have to pay the overweight fee: "Sir, your baggage has a $150 problem." I thought, "Well that's my bag's problem, hit him up for the money." So I was $150 in the hole even before I passed through security.

Time to go refill the glass...

Trip Details

Hey there everyone. I thought that I'd set this blog ("online journal" for some of my relatives :) ) up so that people can keep tabs on me without me having to spend 3 hours on the phone every day.

I leave San Antonio on Thursday morning at 6:00 am and will eventually arrive in Chennai at 10:00 pm. on Saturday (I'll be crossing the International Date Line). I fly from here to L.A., then to Singapore. I have something like a 19 hour layover in Singapore, but since I'm going in style (Business class), there's some sort of small complimentary hotel room at the Singapore airport for VIPs such as myself. Then from Singapore it's on to Chennai.

I'll leave Chennai on Sunday, March 30th in the wee hours of the morning for Rome (like 1:45 am.). Holly will be getting into Rome around 8:00 that Monday morning. I'll eventually get to Rome around 1:00 pm. with a 2 hour layover in Frankfurt. The layover in Frankfurt kind of surprised me because I'll be flying pretty close to Italy to get to Germany. I'd like to spend an evening on the town in Frankfurt, so I'm gonna see what I can do about getting that flight bumped back a day and stay the night in Frankfurt. Holly and I will be getting back to San Antonio on Sunday night, April 5th. Holly wanted to get back to the states before Masters week started :).

I added a little poll at the bottom of the page. Be sure and cast your vote!

My next post ought to come from halfway around the world in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India!!!