Back In Chiang Mai, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.
The Riverside Guest House is one of the more peaceful places to have coffee in the morning in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But, we’ll be heading to Starbucks here in a few minutes, as its been almost a week without “true caffeine” - Nescafe instant just does not do it for me. Did you know that there are NO starbucks locations in Holland except at the airport in Amsterdam? What a crime!
Holland and it’s water, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.Water water everywhere! The weather is beautiful (cool), trees changing color and green grass, all at the same time!
Greetings from the BA Lounge at at London Gatwick - on my way to Amsterdam and then further on to SE Asia later this week. It’s been a dry summer of travel, but the fall has seemed to generate the need to get on the road. Was in Northern Europe a few weeks ago, now I’m back and on a roll.
You know, it’s one thing to recognize domestic airports - the familiarity from frequent travel. It’s another thing to extend your “home” to international airports as well. Gatwick and Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok are starting to get that way - Hong Kong and Taipei are getting close.
I certainly don’t know the flight attendants nor the gatekeepers at the airport lounges, but it doesn’t seem so far fetched anymore. While it’s sad to be gone from my wife and daughter, it also feels good to be out doing projects in other countries again.
Now This is Traffic, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.
On our way to the hotel from the airport, for another overnight layover in Kolkata (I’ve always been Texan in the way I’ve pronounced the name - Kal-Cut-ah, but apparently the appropriate way to enunciate is Call-ka-tah, with the emphasis on Call). This picture doesn’t really do justice to the intensity of the traffic and the sea of automobiles. These cars coming from right to left in the picture just inserted themselves - no traffic lights at this intersection - just blind faith.
Extreme Podcasting, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.We came to India to train leaders how to educate others that cannot read by using MP3 players loaded with informative audio content, rather than handing them books! This is a shot of one of our training sessions.
Siliguri, India is the crossroads in Northeast India for everyone traveling to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangledesh, Burma, and China. It’s a city of around 3 million people - but not a single highrise to be found anywhere. From what we’ve been told, if you’re traveling to Mt. Everest, you’ll stop here on the way, or at least pass through. BTW, I think each of the countries mentioned above are no more than 50 Km from Siliguri in their given direction.
Some forms of transportation have more authority than others. Here are a few of the brave souls that battle dump-trucks, buses, cars, vans and other forms of transportation. Combine that with the fact that there are no apparent traffic laws and you have many near-death experiences each day. And that was just our experience - in vans and SUVs. We weren’t brave enough to get on a bike or scooter!
I made a comment to folks that the cyclists have faith that you won’t run over them and the cars/buses/trucks, etc expect you to move out of the way. With both parties being that stubborn, it is amazing there are not more accidents and deaths on the road!
Arrival in Delhi was around midnight and since it was an overnight layover, we didn’t get a chance to see anything but the potholes in the roads at night and the work traffic the next morning. Of course as we passed a Radisson Hotel close to the airport, we were wondering why our travel agent put us in a no-name hotel further away….:-)
Big Planes Still Get Me, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.
It doesn’t matter how many times I see them or the fact that they are ancient planes - a 747 is still a sight to behold.
