Monday 26 January 2015

The Bonus

When I started writing The List, I asked some friends to help come up with suggestions as to what I could put on it.  One of my friends, Michelle, suggested I added 'visit a country I have never been to'. It didn't make the final list as I already had a point to book and plan a trip to Hawai'i in 2015 which meant really there was no additional time (or money) to add another country within the 8 month period.

As it turns out, work decided to send me to India to visit a company we do a lot of business with and a couple of areas I work closely with, for introductions, relationship building and training.
I went for 7 days of work which also included a weekend, and then onto Hong Kong for a couple of days before coming home.

India is an interesting country... 
I was in a city that was regional of sorts (not the type of regional town you would find in Australia... it still has 4-odd million people in it) and as I was there for work, so I spent a lot of my days in a car to and from the office to the hotel.  I did eat out a couple of times, and everyone thought I was very brave, India is just not safe for women to go out by themselves, especially after hours.
On the weekend, I took a flight to Delhi where a driver picked me up and I went to Agra, the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal (you can't go to India with out going to the Taj if you haven't been before!!). The weekend was great, the Taj amazing and all the people I met were great.  I was quite lucky in that I didn't get sick, I didn't get harassed, I ate lots of Indian food (and put on 2kgs), I stayed in nice places but I was ready to leave when I did.  India reminds me of old school Asia: dirty; crowded; poor in some parts (although there is also a cast system in the slums and the more fortunate than some have satellite dishes on their slum for cable tv); but also very fascinating, it's hard to describe.

I was very glad to land in Hong Kong, which was great as usual, and I got to catch up with Greg who I haven't seen in a few years. Working in our HK office was also good, and so was the food and shopping!  And I could have a shower with my mouth open without fear of getting sick... you would be amazed at how important this little bit of luxury is.



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