Saturday, August 26, 2006

Terrorists attack the duty-free shops this time

Did you get the twist? With new boarding rules in place, no hand-baggage, and almost all airlines prohibiting liquids on-board, the biggest people that I think will loose out are duty-free perfume shops. No sales. In fact, I wondered why they are still open? I haven't seen anybody inside them. The sales girls are outside the shop trying to get the customers but I don't think they will get any given the current scenario.

Nothing Better

Well, if you have Internet and nothing else to do, what do you do? blog. Some would differ from me on this, with "chat". However, here I am at KLIA airport waiting for flight gate to be opened, blogging. I tried to kill time with some games and reading some useful material but it gets boring. The airport is good but the seats are not comfortable. Waiting seats don't have a back either and only few recharge points. Finally, found couple of them but the plug won't fit neatly. Anyway, "jugad" works and I get the pleasure of writing another blog.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Yesterday

Here is my important timings for yesterday...

5AM: Slept (burned the midnight oil)
7AM: Wokeup
9AM: In office
5PM: Ready to leave
upto 6PM: Waiting for mail from offshore
6.15 PM: Decided to leave anyway
6.15 - 6.20 pm: called up all cab companies... no cab
6.20 - 7.40 pm: tried to hail a cab... there is huge traffic jam... all over KL... no empty cabs... tried calling again during this period from mobile too... that didn't help either
7.40 pm: returned to office... keep calling cab companies after every 15 mins...
8.40 pm: thought I will have some food... went to coffee shop... closed... :(
8.45 pm: back to office desk... again called cab... they said no... i got frustrated... i told them u get a cab here, i'll pay double... she tried for 5 mins for me... got a cab (on double charges)...
8.53 pm: cab arrives... i'm in cab...
9.00 pm: i'm in cab
9.30 pm: i'm still in the cab... hungry, angry and tired... now working on laptop... nothing better to do...
10.15 pm: reached hotel... finally...
10.20 pm: called room service... good they are still serving... ordered some food...
10.30 pm: waiting for food to arrive... called up the room service again... finally it arrives... set the alarm to 5 AM next day morning for an 8.30 presentation... need to be in office at 8...
i don't remember any times after that...

Now, its 2 PM... the morning presentation went well... lasted 2 hours... another presentation at 3PM... need to make arrangements for that...

It wasn't the worst day... not even close to that... but now I can write about bad days... if, I happen to have time and connectivity on next day... connectivity... that reminds me of this article

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Kuala Lumpur, Rains, Traffic Jams and Blogs

Seems like a strange combination, isn't it? Today, Kuala Lumpur received a decent amount of rain (not that much, I thought) but that results in huge traffic jams (I heard there were flash floods in some parts of city). I couldn't call any cab - none available - and after my efforts to hail a cab for one and half hours resulted in no transportation, I felt hungry, angry and uneasy. (There were huge crowd waiting like me to get a cab.) So marched back to office. After day-night-and-day long toil, after I only slept for 2 hrs last night, and required to return to work at 8 AM next day, the best I could do, given the conditions, was to write a blog. Strange circumstances, strange outcome! (well, not that strange, but I would have been listening to Kenny G if it wasn't office)

So much for their claim to be a developed country! They need to upgrade their newly built infrastructure.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Malaysia Visit Update

Well, I finally have some time to update the blog. In the meanwhile, I have visited the PC fair at KL which was great.

On Janamashtami, I went to ISKCON temple after a full day of fast. It was great except for getting a cab on return. I met Anurag there. Here is a picture of me and him.



After that, on weekend, I visited Aquaria @ KLCC. The trip ended prematurely before I could enjoy it completely. Here is a chameleon relaxing.



Then went on KL city outskirts tour. Visited the Royal Selangor factory. They are the world's largest pewter maker. Here is my picture next to the world largest beer mug. This mug can hold more than 3,000 litres of beer.



And I took some pictures of twin towers too. My hotel is pretty close to it. Here they are:

A view from the front of twin towers. (From main entrance)


In their magnificent glory (from the KLCC Park)


East side view from the skybridge (170 meters, 41st floor, twin towers). West side view is not so great. Also it was not a good day for pictures.


View of KLCC park from the skybridge


Me @ skybridge


Petronas twin towers at night. I think its one of my best shots given the conditions. No tripods and no SLR. Just a mere 3 MP camera. This picture is serving as my laptop background for time being.


Do you find the pics interesting? Leave a note.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Malaysia

If you noticed a lull in the posts, that's because I have moved my base to Delhi for various reasons. Right now, I'm in Malaysia on short trip.

The country is hot and humid and I don't like the weather here. It rains pretty often for my comfort.

The twin towers are magnificent but they could have been much better. The looks aren't as soft as empire state bldg in NY. The Suria KLCC is a good hangout for any kind of activity.

Haven't had much time to myself. Will posts some pictures once I'm back to Delhi.