… in some nice steamy weather….
As with my flight over to India, I had a rediculous layover in Bangkok again. It turns out that the layover was ok though—I got a chance to work on some of my upcoming papers so maybe my time in CA will be a little bit less hectic….
So, this time around, the hotel gave me a free 6-hour “temple and factory” tour. The temple part was fine, although I had been to all of them already. Prices were more expensive than I remember, but that was years ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised. They were still much cheaper than the “dual price” scheme that is going on in India and that supposedly will change sometime…. The factory part was not so much fun—basically a tour of gemstone factories and jewelry shops and furniture stores and tailors—a little bit of everything. The tour guide was really nice though—she basically said that she just had to take me as part of her requirement with the tour company and she seemed more than happy to let me walk in, collect the little piece of paper she needed to, and walk out and go somewhere else. We ended up going with the driver to get some lunch and coffee which was much more fun than having people bug me every 30 seconds suggesting some other relative that I could buy something for…. “How about your uncle?” “How about your brother?” You get the idea….
Anyway, I just had a few minutes, wanted to get online for a minute…. And I’ll be back in the CA after a nice short flight across the Pacific. Woo hoo!!!
March was a slow month, except when it wasn’t…. Which was most of the time by the way. And it still hasn’t really let up throughout this month, hence the lack of updates to this site. I know, it’s not a great excuse, but it’s the only one that I have at the moment.
Life has more or less settled into a steady rhythm, and just as suddenly as it has done so, I’m getting ready to head back for a speedy two weeks in CA full of random traveling between LA, SB, and SF….
Continue reading “March was a slow month….” »
In February, a bunch of the research associates from the Centre for Micro Finance Research piled into trains to slowly make their way to Ooty to behold the scenic lands, get away from the hectic life of research, and generally have something to write about…. This video was made mostly using Picasa’s video option, though I had to use Vegas to add the sound. These photos are from the very slow “Toy Train” ride that we took for the last 6 hours of our 17 hour or so journey….
The “Toy Train” takes 6 hours to go about 40 kilometers (25 miles) and crawls its way up a steep mountain. Along the way you get to see lots of scenic meandering flowing creeks and tea-plantations scaling the mountain slopes. The train is super old-fashioned (I guess because of the old-school tracks) and spews out all this super black soot any time that it starts to struggle. Unfortunately, there were people who were guarding the roof access, and we weren’t even able to open the doors in our train car to sit outside…. Maybe some other time.
There is a photo gallery too.
My friend, Martin, really wants me to get a motorcycle while I am living in Chennai, India….
… I think I may be too much of a road wimp to actually go through with it. It’s just that the people here seem to know the boundaries of their vehicles by the centimeter, and they drive so close most of the time…. One local friend told me that he would even get these mini anxiety attacks every time he actually tried to drive…. So, here are some videos of somewhat quiet times in Chennai, so you can get an idea what I’m talking about. It’s not too bad…. Really….
Part 1: “Aieee! Get the camera! Ewww…. What are they?!?”
 This is the building that our flat is located in. We are on the second floor—or actually, by Indian terms, the first floor.When I first walked into my new home in Chennai, I was happy to find myself walking into a nice spacious two-bedroom apartment. Amy hadn’t really told me too much about the place before I came—just that it was big and that it was across the street from one of the most famous sweets-shop (Shree Mithai) in Chennai.
So, I walked in, dropped my bags in the middle of the totally empty living room, and Amy started giving me “the tour.” We started in the kitchen—furnished only with a small folding table, a couple of chairs, and a fridge. Bare, but nicely sized and somewhat functional with lots of counter space. There was a door to one side, and I looked at it questioningly. “Storage,” Amy said, “and the place that we lock up everything important when the cleaning lady comes.”
“Ok,” I thought, and we went on to the other rooms—all virtually equally empty. The living room—the room you first enter when coming into the apartment—was brightened by a wall of windows. There were two glass display cases on one of the other walls, a built-in floor-to-ceiling TV cabinet/cupboard thing on another, and a recessed section in the fourth wall that I can only imagine is a little shrine area. I stood in there for a moment, impressed by the sunlight reflecting off of our shiny polished granite floors, then moved on into the bedroom.
Continue reading “Attack of the white ants” »
From the first day I arrived in Chennai, there were a few things which stood out to me. I’ve already mentioned several of them—like the traffic and smells and pollution and so on—but I haven’t mentioned the P. James Magic Show.
Continue reading “The P James Magic Show” »
work.mrdwab.com has finally been redesigned. In terms of content, not much has actually changed. Just a slight update of my resume, and a few text edits that I caught…. I’m sure there are more that should be changed….
Continue reading “Workin’ and… whatever comes next….” »
So, week one is over, and I haven’t really had too much of a chance to reflect on what has happened so far. So, I’ll do my best to recall them now….
I’m really enjoying Chennai. In a way, it reminds me a lot of my time in Jinan, China. The main advantage here is that language is not an issue at all here. Although the English skills of many of the locals I encounter every day (auto-drivers, shopkeepers and so on) is very choppy, I haven’t had a situation where I was unable to express myself adequately. That certainly makes things easier for me.
Continue reading “Crammed like the Chennai traffic” »
The Waiting Period
After a few days of traveling, I am now somewhat settled in my new home in Chennai, India. My journey started with a day of heavy pacing last Tuesday, waiting for 4PM when Martin was going to come and pick me up and take me to LAX. I had pretty much finished packing the day before, so most of the afternoon of my actual departure date was spent checking the clock every five minutes or so…. Thankfully, Martin rolled up in his Jeep right on time, and we were soon on our way to the airport.
We got to LAX with plenty of time to spare. The ticket counter wasn’t open yet, so Martin and I had some dinner at a Chinese place, kind of like a Panda Express. Then I went and checked in and got my boarding pass, then headed back to the waiting area and got some coffee and killed some time while waiting for a decent hour to get in the security checkpoint line. It was really nice to have some company, especially since I knew that I had a very long solitary trip ahead of me.
Continue reading “Chennai at last” »
Today is the 2 year and 5 month anniversary of Amy and my wedding. We got married at a park in Santa Barbara, and this short video was taken by one of our guests.
The song in the background is Etta James’s At Last, and was the song we used for our “first dance.” I thought it fit pretty well with the rest of the video. The title of the video comes from a note that Amy wrote to me on our second “date.” On our first date, I literally ran away in a state of confusion after she kissed me on the neck…. Oh how things change….
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