Friday Sept 5 in New Dehli

Again with the waking up early!   My alarm was set for 7am...I had told Chris I would be down at 8:30 for breakfast...and I was up at 5:12am.  I lay in bed for a while then by around 6am I headed down to the gym.  This time I did an hour on the treadmill and chatted with a few friends while I was working out.  I could see that it was raining pretty steadily.   The workshops were good and fruitful from a business perspective...and I was thrilled to see Penne Pasta with Marinara sauce on the lunch menu!
For tonight's dinner our partners were taking us to a Pan Asian restaurant.called Sidewok.  Chris had fun picking the wine (it was really limited and his 1st choice was not available).  We were amused as they twisted off the wine cap (no cork).  But the food was really good and I guess that's what matters.  Certainly a Chinese bent to it, but some Japanese and other influences.  I particularly enjoyed the Chicken Clay hot pot with sticky rice.  Again with the family style, I had a bit of everything including a really good Chocolate Mousse (only ate 1/2).

Chocolate Mousse

My plate at Sidewok

I should say something about the ride over and back.  This time we did a taxi and I think I'll recommend Uber for my next excursion.   It was cramped and I felt much less safe sitting in the front of the tiny taxi (no airbags of course).  Saw my 1st real abject poverty;  homeless rummaging through trash, a boy begging at our window, and people just laying out on the sidewalk with wild dogs just hanging out with them.     Tomorrow is the Taj Mahal and Agra, 6:45am departure so to bed now!

Thursday Sept 4th, 1st day of the Workshop and Evening

The alarm was set to go off at 6:30am but I was up before then...maybe 6ish.   I headed down to the gym and did about 45 minutes on the treadmill (gotta get my 10K in everyday Fitbit!).  After breakfast (had fruit and cheese) the Pre-Conference workshops started.   My team and I divided and conquered the three tracks.   Lunch was an Indian buffet.  Fairly rich, I can see why India has a high level of Type II Diabetes and cholesterol!
I started to feel the jet lag again by the afternoon ( and probably the heavy lunch) so after the 1st couple of sessions, I headed up to my room.  I did some work and emails...then I took a 15 min power nap before heading down for the Happy Hour.
One of our partners (who also happened to be Indian) was taking Petra, Chris and I out to dinner.  This was a place recommended coincidentally by a guy I flew with on the flight into New Dehli, called Bukkara.  Its in a very swank hotel and servers very Northern (near Afghanistan) cuisine.   Food definitely reminded me of The Helmand restaurant in Cambridge MA.   It had an open kitchen but one of the most distinguishing thing about this place is NO UTENSILS are provided (although they do provide small spoons for sauces).  Turns out the place is popular with foreign politicians;  Bill Clinton used to frequent it enough that they created a special menu just for him.  Coincidentally this night the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott was dining at the restaurant.  Unfortunately all I could see was the back of his head, and his oncoming male pattern baldness.
Anyway the food was extraordinary.

My plate (we ordered family style)

Rice Pudding

Open Kitchen

Dumb woman

  We had lamb, chicken and prawn dishes along iwth some very rich breads and spicy sauces.   All in all a great time with alot of laughs along the way.  Notice the bibs?  These function as towels and prevent accidents.   When you are eating with your hands it can get very messy.  The meats were SO moist...slow cooked in a special oven.  The tofu dish was like butter!
Anyway its 11:19 PM and I gotta sleep...I have not been getting enough sleep here.  I'll leave you with this..the ride back and forth was interesting as we used www.uber.com instead of a taxi.  So many interesting things happening on the street.  This time a woman was STANDING in the passenger seat with her head out of the sun roof.  At a stop light I took her picture.  One slam on the brakes and she would be in big trouble!

Our partner Ashit and me

Wed Sept 3rd, 1st full day in New Dehli

I woke up at around 5:30am....kind of in a dazed state.   Did some work and actually chatted with home for a while....then I got up and headed down to breakfast.   I was pleasantly surprised that there were plenty of regular breakfast items available.  I found a few friends and decided to have an omelet.  They cut the vegetables so small, that I could barely tell the pepper from the onion...but they did a good job cooking it.  I was invited to go touring but I decided to use today as a recovery day;  lots of time to look around between now and Sept 11.  After breakfast I asked my colleague Chris to accompany me to a pharmacy; I needed toothpaste.   We asked the concierge and he said just exit the property turn right and in 5 minutes I would arrive at the Gupta Pharmacy.
As soon as we came out of the driveway we were accosted by a man trying to get us to take a ride with him in his Tuk Tuk which is an auto rickshaw.    He told us he would take us to the shopping area for 50 Rupi which is about $.83.    Then he wanted to see our map discuss our plans.  But once he knew we were going to Gupta he let us go.   We started walking and again the roads were seemingly full of wild dogs.   We had to cross back and forth as the sidewalks were often blocked or in atrocious shape.  The area we are surrounded by is not exactly setup for tourists or Westerners.  Finally we reached a circle and there was Gupta!
The store was a tiny hole in the wall.  They had like 5-6 people behind a small U shaped counter.  I asked for my toothpaste (and another item) and everything is behind the counter.  or up in the crawlspace attic... they send someone up a ladder to retrieve items up there.  But they had Sensodyne.  I paid like $1.50 for it!

Side street near hotel

On the way back I took a photo of one of the side streets.
When we got back to the hotel I changed into my workout clothes and headed down to the gym.   Pretty good facilities.  I also signed up for a Balinese Massage which was supposed to to be acupressure...good for sports injuries and pain.  After a good work out I went upstairs and changed for the massage.  I'll tell you what, it was PAINFUL at times but I feel really loose.  I've never  had Acu-anything before but I really think it loosened me up.

The pool

The downpour

Then I headed over to the roof top pool.  My daughter would love this.   Pristine water, and they do a pretty good job of keeping the bugs away (maybe a bunch of mosquito magnets?)  I did find one mosquito on me.  After I killed it I sprayed on 40% DEET (yes I know my mother will not be happy when she reads this) but we are talking about Maleria here!  I was enjoying lounging by the pool (one of my friend Larry's favorite locations is "by the pool") when it suddenly started to downpour!
So I had to wrap it up and head back to my room.  After a lovely nap I headed down for drinks with my friend Erin.   We caught up and then I headed up to The Grill Room in the hotel.  Now don't give me hard time about not ordering Indian food.  Supposedly tomorrow night will be an amazing Indian experience..but tonight I wanted something easy on my stomach so I ordered Winter Squash soup and Mushroom Risotto.  Both were excellent!  Now I'm signing off.  Tomorrow is a work day, so my blog will mostly be about tomorrow night's dinner unless something interesting (not related to business) happens.  Thanks for reading!

Second Leg to India

While the 1^st leg was bearable, the 2^nd one was interminable.    I drifted in and out of sleep after “lunch” ( I passed on the Indian vegetarian choice and went with the British lamb).  Finally I picked the longest movie on the system “Casino” and let that help me to pass the time.    When the film was over, I logged on to my PC to do a bit of work and also write up my flight entry to the blog.

Side note:  my phone was not charging well at the airport.   I got the message “slow charging, use the original charger for fast recharging.”  This S4 seems to be finicky on when it wants to charge at normal speed or slow speed.  I am now charging it via USB directly to my laptop.   What is is it with me and cell phone drama while I’m travelling…and don’t tell me readers that an IPhone is the answer!

When I finally landed I immediately noticed the smell. New Dehli is one of the most polluted cities in the world!   Customs and Border control were super fast...then after collecting my luggage my colleague and I hopped in our luxury Toyota Corolla car service (not kidding)....and began the 30 minute journey to my hotel .   The driver who spoke broken English insisted on taking us on the scenic route through the diplomatic (embassies) area.     The roads were deserted except for dogs.    At one point as we were stopped at a light, a couple of dogs were making puppies with another one watching!  Couldn't get a hotel room I guess....

Got the hotel around 12:50 AM local time...a few people I knew were going to the bar, but I was heading up to my room to feed my loyal readers my entry then crash..which is what I'm doing right now...

Good night!

At Heathrow

Well I'm off on yet another adventure...this time to New Dehli India.  My flight was uneventful (although dreadfully cold).  I will say Economy Plus is definitely better than Coach!  Now just sitting in Heathrow waiting for the LONG flight to Dehli.

Goodbye Istanbul and Final Thoughts

Thursday was another full day of sessions and meetings.  All went well on the business front.   I was invited to go listen to Jazz and dinner by Brian and Alicia  but I decided to stick to my plan and have dinner with Petra.  We went to the Suisse Hotel and had sushi at Miyako.    It was like a cleansing meal;  Turkish food can be heavy.  It was also nice to just reflect on the week, what was accomplished and what still needs to be done.  Flight to London was easy and there were no remarkable travel issues at all.
Some final observations about Istanbul:

• Turks are friendly to Americans for sure
• But you gotta watch out for scams; two of my colleagues from the conference were almost taken
• Raki is a great drink but sip it!
• Turkish coffee is the best!
• The Blue Mosque is a must see and the Hagia Sofia supposedly is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• The Grand Bazaar is a tourist trap of souvenirs
• Istanbul is expensive!
• So many homeless Syrians begging.  It was very sad

All my pics are online, check them out and thanks for reading!

Wednesday March 19, cruising the Bosphorus

Was really tired on Wed.  Not much sleep at all here.  Work was incredibly busy and we barely had a break before we were notified that by 6pm we needed to be down the lobby for the buses to the boat.
The plan was a 4 hour dinner cruise with entertainment along the famed Bosphorus River, which splits Istanbul between Europe and Asia.    Bus ride was unremarkable.    We boarded and had about an hour of drinks and light (Doritos, literally) appetizers, This was on a covered deck.  We went under the Bosphorus Bridge and that was really cool to see at night.  There were some very cool sites for sure...they light up the city along the river.

Not sure what this is, but cool huh?

 I was cornered by one particular person who was doing his best to sell his services to my company.  I couldn't escape as event when I went down to dinner he sat right next to me.  All I wanted to do was sit with my friends.    But one of my good buddies Erin sat to my left and that made a difference.   Dinner was extremely slow.   First came the classic Mezzo Plate.  Followed by a salad and then the meat plate.  Dessert was a variety of classic Turkish desserts. While all of this was going on we endured what seemed like hours of speeches.  Next they brought out the history teacher who proceeded to tell us the history of the Ottoman Empire (which was so distorted by the bad microphone and her tough accent I couldn't understand anyway.  Finally out came the entertainment.  Four dancers, two men and two women did a variety of traditional Turkish dances.   I was not up for dancing; I had a headache and since our table was right next to the DJ my ears were ringing.  It was fun for a while watching and then when the audience participation section started I started to think about escaping.   Finally I snuck out and up to the top deck and had  lovely time talking to Julie from France about their views on the events of the week.    Some friends eventually came up top deck as well.  Eventually around 11, the boat returned to the dock.   Exhausted I got on the bus and headed back to my hotel to crash. Thursday was the last day of the conference and I needed to be fresh.

Dancers

Petra, Alicia and Terri

Mezzo Plate

Meat Plate and Salad

Endless Dancing!!