I traveled to Mumbai this past week to touch base with our software development team. Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is still pretty much the same smelly, dirty place it was last time I was there a year ago. It's only the second time I've been to India, but the people there are still friendly, intelligent and energetic. A little clueless and smelly sometimes, but otherwise fun :) They're definitely going to take all of our jobs, but oh well, they deserve it. God bless Capitalism.
I flew Emerites Airline this time and connected in Dubai, my first time in the middle-east. It was cool to hear arabic during the safety video on boarding, but I have to admit, when they showed the arab guy pulling the chord to inflate his life jacket, I half expected it to explode (thank you CNN!). Emirates business class was actually very comfortable; they even put fake stars on the ceiling to help you sleep. The Dubai airport duty free mall was so huge, it seemed as though they built it and afterwards decided to surround it with an airport. It's definitely a world of old meets new as this picture I snapped of Blink 182 on audio cassette! I should have snapped a picture of the Mercedes x500 that was next to it.
Of course the best thing about flying business class is getting to watch all the movies you've missed throughout the year. I saw The Devil Wears Prada (hot babes - how can you go wrong?), six episodes of HBO's The Office (funny, but nothing beats Office Space), and The DaVinci Code (very cool, turns out Jesus was getting busy back in the day! Without xBox or Tivo, who can blame him?).
A book on how to break into the international underground society of Pickup Artists (PUAs) kept me very entertained on this trip. It's a must read for any single ladies out there. You'll never believe how devious us boys can be in order to get into your pants - until you read this book. God please don't ever let me have a daughter...
I'm glad I got to land in Mumbai during the day. I took this short video of the landing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB09DrVD0rc
Two thirds of Mumbai's 17 million residents live in shanty towns but the city is absolutely booming with fresh economic activity (the product of globalization). Mumbai is both the Wall Street and the Hollywood of India; as such, the massive influx of foreign capital has created so many jobs that the city's transportation system is bursting at the seems. Driving five short miles during rush hour (which is almost all day long) can take hours. Commuter trains designed to hold hundreds, cram thousands and packed intersections have not a hint of traffic lights. Luckily there is a massive new highway system in the works along with a new bridge (connecting the peninsula to the mainland) and a huge new planned community being built from adjacent reclaimed swamp land (environmentalists can go to hell) - so things are looking up.
The return trip brought me on a detour through Singapore for the weekend. Sarah, my bodacious blond babe, showed me the sites and clued me into the social scene. I've never seen a more well manicured city; every blade of glass cut to perfection. These guys are so hung up on cleanliness they, annoyingly, don't even distribute paper napkins at fast food joints to prevent littering. Oh, by the way, I ate sting ray... I figure we all have to do our part to get back at them for that Crocodile Hunter thing. Actually, the best part of the weekend was waching people in the club (which was smoky as hell) sneak gum they had smuggled into the country.
On the final leg back I went through Tokyo (yes, I went all away around the world this week- woohoo!!). Can you believe the airport didn't have BlackBerry service?? ...They must be two or three technologies ahead of us. I'll give you one thing: the Japanese are probably the most polite people on Earth! When I walked into the business class lounge, each of the five women working the desk individually stood up and greeted me. A vast contrast to the lazy SOB at the information booth in Dubai who looked like he'd rather behead himself rather than answer another question.
One the way back I got to see the Just For Laughs (The Montreal comedy festival) special on practical jokes. Now I know where I get my twisted sense of humour... The #1 skit convinced unsuspecting bystandards to operate a crane carrying a utility worker (actor). When instructed to manuever the crane up, the controls would plunge the worker into the river below to his seeming doom. Only after several long minutes of believing they had killed someone, was the gag revealed... Classic biting Canadian humour.
Then on to what became two of my new favourite movies, Nacho libre (ingenious) and Click (another Adam Sandler hit - I even sent him a fan letter for this one).
Flying over the long pacific, I couldn't get thoughts of Japanese Zeros and American aircraft carriers out of my head (Thank you Military channel!).
I guess the moral of this trip is to enjoy life and make sure you get a taste of everything. Gorging yourself on any one thing will make you miss everything else that life has to offer (Thank you Adam!).
Crap... I just ate the whole fruit salad.
