Transcending Ordinary

From Hui Hin Thailand to Ocean City Maryland. Pulled some photos off my camera tonight, and found a bunch of golfing pics

Ocean City:

Thailand:

I returned on thursday morning after spending almost a week in the UK. Although it was a short trip, the work / sightseeing mix was just right. The great company also helped. For those of you who didn’t know, the purpose of the trip was the London Book Fair, which my cousin had a booth to represent a new product his company is working on. Due to the size of the fair, apparently the largest book fair in the world, I will dedicate a separate post to it. This post will focus on the sightseeing. Feel free to check out my travel gallery on the right for all my UK pictures.

We started the weekend on a open top bus tour where we listened to information via earphones and experienced the brisk London weather.
The bus went through the famous Trafalgar Square, which commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Lord Nelson stands on the column in the middle surrounded by four lions.
Here is most of the SLC team, that’s me above, my cousin Nitat on the left, followed by Sam, Eric, Nina, and Ann I must say thanks to Ann, she was the London native and certainly took care of us while we were there including getting me tickets to a premier league game, Chelsea, ranked #2, against Wigan.
We also saw the tower bridge, built in 1894, over the river Thames.
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When I have time, I will update this post, though for now I posted the pics from Medellin in the travel pics gallery, click the link on the right and look for Medellin. The pictures are great.

Where do I start : ) Well the night before I was out practicing my salsa at a local club.
I must admit, these pictures were taken with my cell phone, hence the poor quality Hey, you’ve gotta make the best with what you’ve got right? ; )

On New Years I went over a friends house and had a great time, thanks Ximena! Let me start by contrasting the experience with New Years back in the states. Rather then spending it with just family and friends, everyone goes outside and celebrates it with the entire neighborhood. Lots of drinks, dancing, meeting interesting people from down the street and a great tradition.

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On my last full day in Bogota, my friends and I decided to conquer the Cerro De Monserrate. This was the mountain just behind the area we stayed in the La Candelaria district. There are three ways up the mountain, cable car, rail, or in foot. Jessica and I decided to hike it, while everyone else took the cable car. Besides my daily Salsa lessons I hardly had any excercise on the trip so I was eager to let loose on the hike. That was at the start anyway I soon realized just how much of a factor the high altitude can be. The base was 2600m and 3160m at the top. On the way up we passed many others coming down. I later realized most people take the cable car up, and walk down.
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The next day we decided to start early and take a trip north to the Salt Mines. We went to the metro terminal for a lift on the “Transmillenium.” At the last stop we got off and took the bus for another hour. We got off at a town called Zipaquira and made a 15minute walk up north before arriving at the Catedral De Sal.
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I was up late last night probably around 3am, but i was up by 8:30 and met friends for breakfast at 9:30. We went to a nice cafe for creeps. The food tasted great and you can’t beat Colombian coffee While eating, the store was surrounded by, military, bodyguards and police, along with a few hummers and law enforcement vehicles. Things looked pretty serious so we quickly made our way out. Upon walking through the city, we passed by the Presidential Palace and at the back, I noticed an ambulance standing ready. After all, we are in Colombia I guess I was reminded of this after passing through security.
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What a journey I had yesterday. First off, things started off early. Having turned in at 3am, I was up by 5am to leave my house at 5:15am. I deliberately went to sleep super late so I would be hella tired on the flight. My roommate had to be in Lorton, VA at 7am and DCA was on the way so he gave me a lift

Once at the airport I stopped for my traditional McD’s breakfast (when i fly out of DCA anyway).

While eating a delta person announced that my original flight (not departing for 2hrs) might be delayed due to mechanical problems.
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I arrived in Hui Hin last night and meet up with family that I haven’t seen in years.  I was reminded of just how important family is.  They unconditionally love you and the bond shared by family members is unparalleled.

We had dinner at my cousins house.  I must admit, I was totally embarrased by my inability to speak thai.  Many members of my family speak english, though many remember me as a child who could speak thai fluently.

Before coming down, I was told my aunt was going to make me reservations in a nice hotel in Hui Hin.  Later I was told that they were all booked up and that I would be staying at a cousins house.  I must be honest, the prospect of a nice hotel to my cousins house (unknown at the time) was a bit disheartening.  However once I got the, my anxiety was quickly put to rest.  He not only had a room for me, he let me stay at the guest house, which had the design of a modern New York apartment.  The design was great, all done by my cousin, impressive.  I’ll need to post a few pics

So I departed Dubai at 930pm, to arrive at Bangalore at 3:30am, slept from 5 till 8:30am, then worked till 6pm, then on another plane to Bangkok at 12:30am to arrive at 5:50am, then a full day meeting with family and seeing some of thailand before hitting balls at the driving range. I think I’ve slept a total of 4.5 hours in the past 3 days. Tomorrow I am up at 4:30am to leave by 5:15 on the way to the golf course. Talk about hectic.

I’m a bit worried about playing golf tomorrow, the guys I’m going to play with have been playing regularly twice a week for the last 8 months straight. My dad is like near pro, so they probably have high expectations of me Oh well, it should be funny at least:)

It turns out my cousin is a pretty big businessman. I’m staying in one of his new condo’s right now. When I got here it was brand new w/o anything like a microwave, fridge, sheets, trashcan, etc. Nothing. Then he sent people to stock it and it’s pretty much done, all I need is the refrigerator which will be here tomorrow at 3pm. Hey started a software comany called Solutions Corner (www.slc1998.com) and it’s doing quite well. It seems nearly ever member of my dads (very extensive) family has started a company!

I work up to the sun shinning through my open curtains, about 15mins before my alarm. After getting ready I headed over to one of the cafes for breakfast.   When I saw the spread I thought, wow, this is a lot for a hotels complementary breakfast. After having my fill, I was greated by a waitress on my way out who curtiously handed me the bill. Ok no biggy, or so I thought. the bill was 65darhmas or nearly 20 dollars.
Anyway that darn city but arrived early again, apparently my 20min was just a moment too late.

(later)

I just finished touring the museum. Most of it is underground and it is quite nice. after going over a lot of the uae history I realize how far its come. First it was a perl fishing area, which declined impacted once cultured perl began. Next the creek was combed and oil was found. Now oil is running out and Dubai is going after tourism. the excellent international marketing combined with the free trade policies and the central location make it a popular destination in the area.

(later)

I just finished my last leg of todays tour, the boat ride along dubai creek. the comentary that accompanied the tour was quite interesting. Its called a creek because that’s what it was, supposidly you could walk across it at one time. Though a king had it made much larger and how huge boats carrying tons of cargo can pass through. Eight or nine hours in the 120 degree weather can certainly drain your energy.

I just got back from the big bus, the blue line. I was astounded even more by the magnitude of building going on here. They will have a theme park twice the size of disney world, a metro by 2012, the largest mall in the world (currently have the third), I just inquired with a real estate agent and a two beadroom apartment goes for 380k and is about 1200sf, a 3 br one for nearly 600k. The setup is such that you can lease it pack to a property manager for 40% of the revenue. They currently offer a 8% return minimum guarentee for the first 3 years.

I met a few english girls who just had just visited Goa. Infact they where there a week after me. We will we meeting later tonight at a club called Mix at the Grand Hyatt.

I met a nice girl here at the hotel. Out of the blue she approaches and asked if I was Filipino I said no, but I had worked there and we talked about manila and various other areas in the Philippines like Cebu and Buroqui.

Based on my talks with her, another girl at starburbux and various taxi drivers I have gotten a good idea of the plight/story of the foreign worker in dubai. Ok, first off it is very difficult to attain UAE citizenship. One of my cab drivers was born here, but because his parents were not citizens, neither is he. even if he marries a citizen and has a child, his son will not be a citizen unless the wife if of very high stature, very powerful as he says. For the hotel workers i spoke with, it seems that they have to work 6, 9 hour shifts per week, and overtime without pay if needed. To make matters worse, the provided housing is 1 hour away from the hotel. taking that into consideration, they work roughly 66 hours a week. she said she was paid 800 denhars per month. I talked to a taxi driver and he say they make from 2-4k per month.

Ok, its sunday morning and I’ve just checked out of the marriott and am on my way to Le Meridien. After checking in I plan to visit a locall mall called city center and get a ticket for big bus tours, basically a bus that runs all day with many stops through the city.

Ok, so i’ve arrived at Le meridien and have had time to evaluate things. The room itself is nice, minus the bathroom, its pretty compareable to the marriott. Unlike the marriott they also offer free shuttles from the hotel to both the airport and the city center mall, one stop along the big bus tour. To marriotts advantage is their size and popularity. They have more stores, more elaborate public areas, more guests, more resturants, etc. It really depends on how much time you spend in you hotel, for me le meridien works out best.

I took a direct flight from Bangalore to Dubai.  The flight lasted 4 hours and I was surprised at the lost cost of the taxes.  On my 500 dollar round trip flight, taxes/fees were only around 23 dollars.  United Arab Emirates Airlines turned out to be pretty nice including a nice full meal.

Even with my early arrival however, the emigration line was huge, though painless.  Simply show your passport and you’re in, no papers or anything.

After finding a map at the airport I sat down to plan out the locations I’d hit first.  Fortunately I met a girl who was studying in UK but who grew up in Dubai.  She gave a good overview of what to see and do in the city.  Once I got out of  the airport I got a cab.  I had about 2-3 hours to kill before i could hope to check in early so I ended up paying the driver extra to show me around Dubai.  I was amazed by the scale of the development out here.  (check the pics I’ll post later)

Man, in the blink of an eye it’s already August. Last night I went to another dance club with Mohamed, this one called called Hint. It was on the top level of a shopping mall with a nice balcony offering great views of the city. We were meeting a bunch of his friends there. We got there a bit before everyone else and so we spent the first 10 minutes getting drinks and checking out who was there.

The music was great, although I couldn’t understand a word, give me a beat and i can’t help but move. I asked my wingman, Mohamid, if he felt like hitting the floor dance floor and meeting some new people and he agreed. First we were on the edge of the dancing and as I moved closer to the center, I look back, where’s Mo? Lol, caught up in the music I just kept dancing and ended up meeting a bunch of other people., one of which actually used to work for AOL. Before I knew it, the last songs were played and the club was closing (11:30pm, the policy in bangalore). I found Mohammad again and met up with the rest of his friends, who I had met at another club last week, the grand Ashok. After hanging out a bit, the group split up, one going home, one going to this girls house for some kinda mutten (apparantly a big deal and delicious) and the rest of us went to a late night resturant called Empire. The food was great (as always with indian) and quite reasonable for the nice place.

It’s nice to have local friends who are well connected and like to go out and have a good time;)