5 on the Fifth - Lines

This month's 5 on the fifth theme is Lines.

I spent this week on business in Bangalore, India. The days were long and on the premises, taking pictures is prohibited. Thus, the lines pictures here were taken in-between on travel and commute.

Toy planes are lining up for taking off in Swiss' Senator Lounge at Zürich last Sunday... and yes, this is another of my fingers :/


Even double centre line of roads show little effect on drivers in India. The only way to break their dynamic interpretation is going into the third dimension with bricks and mortar.


Many moons ago at university, I learned to dimension power lines.


Our hotel was built in the 80s of the last century. The Art Déco touch of its lobby is rather fake.


Loads of silver garnished sweets are lined up nicely for me to bring home to my loved ones.

5 on the Fifth - Reflections

This month's 5 on the fifth theme is Reflections, though we can also take 5 random pictures. I mixed a bit... while being in Kiev... in grainy black and white.

I spent this week on business in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. Adapting is essential when doing business. Thus a mirror shot with my mink ushanka.


Taken in the room, where most of the discussions were held. Carefree plants on windowsills are very popular. And I like the artificial frost pattern on the glass.


The Statues of Princess Olha, Apostle Andriy, St. Cyrill and St. Methodius; and some girls, posing for their friends.


Under the shower in my room at the Intercontinental Kiev. A hotel I can't praise enough. I like it there.


Vodka, unavoidable when doing business here.

Big Chill

I'm on business in India and it's unusually chilly here. Today, the Bangalore edition of the Times of India featured the headline Big chill leaves Bangalore shivering on the front page. Today's high temperature forecast was 21.3°C. I'm starving for sympathy here.

Stylish Carry-on Shorthauler?

Frequent business trips are part of my work life. For short-haul overnight stays, the aim is to avoid check-in luggage at all costs.

Surprisingly, I find it rather difficult to find the right choice of luggage that allows to do this with style. Most business travellers do this by choosing one of these small trolleys sized 55x40x20 cm, but honestly, they look just silly, especially when being towed by a fully-fledged man. But what is the alternative?

Knowing the requirements is essential in my job. So I try to make a list of what I want:

• no wheels
• big enough to hold everything I need, but small enough so I never have to check it in.
• easy to handle at airport security
• keeping my computer scratch- & shock-free
• space for some files and newspapers
  
• space for briefs, socks and dress shirts for next day's meeting
• space for essential toiletries
• space for the travel book
  
• strap for shoulder on the airport "workout" routes
• made of light-weight durable material, ruggedized enough to survive more than a couple of years of travel
  
• last but not least: it has to cause envy of my taste.

But now, where is my carry-on shorthauler?

Hotel Treats

It's getting boring, I'm again in India. Nevertheless, the trip was nice (complimentary upgrade to 1st class), and there are 3 things in the hotel room I really liked:



A teddy bear on the bed.



A possibility to plug my music into the room's entertaining system.



A bum gun.

However, the exuberance was soon checked when I logged on to the interweb and heard disburbing news about Lunty by Nic (more about). I'm quite worried about Llunty.

I *heart* Metal Boxes

I have this thing for metal boxes. Like I almost always carry a small metal box with some vital stationary equipment like pens, pencils, crayons, sharpener, eraser an a small ruler:



Thus I was even more exited when I saw the latest complimentary amenity kit by Lufthansa:

TGIF in Bangalore

I'm spending this week in Bangalore on a business trip. These week long meetings are extremely tiring (much more than one would think) and boring (exactly as one would think). It's monsoon here too, which completes the picture.



Though tonight, I'll be flying back home and tomorrow after lunch, I'll be back with Toño.

Yield to Pedestrians?

Traffic in India is really soemthing. We usually feel quite comfortable on the back seat of the car - i.e. nobody wants to sit next to the driver. However, being a pedestrian in this traffic is a completely different chapter. This traffic sign clearly shows how it works:



Nevertheless there is also beauty in these streets. Like I quite like how these trees cover the street.



Did you notice the brick-built median strip? It is the only measure that works to enforce some lane discipline. And it also helps crossing the street as a pedestrian.

I've posted this before, but bring it again to show what amazing things can happen in the Indian traffic:

Well... Buzz Words

My mission here in India is accomplished and I could fly back if there were not this disruptions in Europe's airspace.

Since I've booked via my caring employer's travel agent HRG, I'm supposed to reschedule my flight also via them. Of course, I did not manage to get through to them. On their brochure, there are all those nice buzz words, which so not withstand this stress test:

We care about you ... smart travelling with HRG ... our employees are always within easy reach ... let us deal with it for you ... smart travelling ... as a good partner we are with you all the way ... our 24-hours service is at your full disposal throughout the world, 365 days a year ... no worries ... we cover all eventualities.

Nevertheless, I tried to celebrate a bit.

No Sports At Dawn (in speedos and in public)!

I'm currently in Bangolore, India for a three day meeting. Only on Monday evening we came back from México, where on the weekend, we had the pleasure to meet and dance with Dzyan*.

On Wednesday, I flew to India; and this morning at 7am I finally made it to the pool, just to realise again that I'm not a morning sports person, especially when being jet-lagged. In addition, I realised that I'm just not exhibitionist** enough to exercise in view of the the pool side breakfast restaurant and the treadmill robots.



* go there, meet him - this is highly recommended!
** or just have a "tiny bit" too much fat on the hips.

I can't help it...

...but I consider ships like this one oddly fascinating.



... but I never quite trust double themed restaurants.

How was your commute today?

Well, our tug was one and a half hours late...



... and it was a bit like riding through a gin & tonic.



There was a firing planed but it had too much ice in the firing range and we came ashore a day earlier. Today, all flights are fully booked, thus we will spend the night at Frederikshavn and I will return to Toño tomorrow afternoon (as originally scheduled).

An Evening at CapoBoi

We are on a business trip to Rome. After we'd arrived yesterday evening, we went with our supplier to CapoBoi, a splendid Sardinian seafood restaurant. These are not all of the dishes we had:

Bum Gun FTW

Well, I think the proper and more decent term is health faucet, but I think bum gun sounds nice too. Not everybody might consider anal cleansing a decent topic anyway.



So yes, I'm in India again and I want to tell the world that one of the most enjoyable perks of travelling southern and south-eastern Asia is that (better) hotels are equipped with bum guns. I don't even want to go into the details of what we are supposed to do down there in our western culture. After applying the bum gun, you just feel so much better :)

Colour by Countries

visited 41 states (18.2%)
Create your own visited map of The World

As seen on To Engineer Love.

Mukhwas

This mission in India is over. I think I've accomplished for what I've been here *pats on the back*.

Here in India, after a meal one takes some Mukshwas as digestive aid and also to freshen the breath.



I reckon I'll need some (symbolic) Mukshwas too. I' can ponder what that might be until my flight will take off. There is sufficient time. I'm supposed to embark at 3:30am *yawn*.

Tea Boys

One of the rare perks of working in India is being served tea at the desk by (more or less) cute tea boys on a regular basis.



I did not dare to take a picture of the tea boy actually serving the tea, since I have to sign every morning that I'm not carrying a camera on the premises; and since I have been almost arrested twice here in India for taking photos at 'inappropriate' places. Thus here only a picture of the served tea in this lovely cup with alpine flower motives.

Vital Necessity: First Coffee in Bed

The first thing Toño & I negotiate in the day is, who is getting the papers and who is making coffee. There are only a few other things I can think of, I like to start the day with, than spending almost an entire hour enjoying papers and coffee :) The worst for me, is to rush out of bed, quick shower & shave and out of the house. I just need some time to say hello to the day. Otherwise I'm kind of off the rails for the entire day.

At home we have a top notch coffee maker. But when I'm on a trip, I have to find other means to solve the logistics. Most hotel rooms have a kettle and some bags of instant coffee, but usually far to few to satisfy my caffeine addiction. Hence I have travel with a glass of instant coffee.



Instead of reading the paper, I was typing this in bed while having a couple of cups. Now I'm ready for the new week. May it be a prosperous one, for all of us.

Vital Necessity: Hugs

It was like the scales fell from my eyes when I woke up knackered this morning after I hardly could fall asleep last night (although I was quite worn out), and then saw this picture on Mr. HCI's twitter stream:



Yes, I miss Toño and being hugged by Toño. Bedlam sleeping patterns are another downside of business trips. And it could be cured so easily.

A Wolf Finally Makes Me Smile

I’m on a shitty assignment here in Spain. I sweat like a pig (it's too hot for the season), I have to work on the deck of a ship under construction (think juggling two notebooks with numerous cables attached to them, while on your left a bloke is welding, on your right a bloke is painting, behind your back an angle grinder is squeezing, and you try not to be hit by an erratically swinging gun barrel), have hardly any support from home base (caring employer's IT services are in Armageddonal disarray), Toño is not here to comfort me, and I'm not even paid for this (I reached my monthly working hours days ago and my contract does not entitle me to be paid for overtime). In other words, I rather moody and sulky*.

I tried to calm me a bit today by sipping some beer, while reading some of those amazing blogs out there (when for a change the hotel's internet is not down). That's how I came to Formysake's blog, who does some community service by dedicating a video for those among us, who are experiencing autumnal doldrums. I though, wow, good video. But then there was another one on the bottom of the post and WOW! That finally turned my mood!



Here is a comparison with the original:



And finally, the story behind:



*Although I haven't got the body for it, I would probably be a good prostitute, since I endure shitty circumstances much better when being paid for it.