Sunday, May 30, 2010
Chennai, finally!
I finally got to Chennai at 5:30 this morning and was happy to see Ken and his project center manager, Dr. Joe waiting for me outside of customs. We ate some good old Indian breakfast and talked about some of the trip options and about some of Joe's business ventures. Dr. Joe is a "capitalist of the highest order" and he is ahead or the thinking curve in the business world, of India and beyond. He seems like a brilliant person and I can already tell I'm going to learn a lot from him. But for now its time for some rest.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Dubai
After an unexpected layover in Chicago on Wednesday night I was able to get a flight to Dubai the following day where I had to wait another 29 hrs till I could fly to Chennai, India. This gave me a chance to explore Dubai and mix it up with some of the locals, many of which were not originally from Dubai but workers who travel back and forth from there home country to make money in the city's (until recently) booming economy. Many of the people I talked to didn't even speak Arabic.
Dubai is a very diverse city that is being built to accommodate may different cultures. It is considered the business and cultural center of the United Arab Emirates and there are thousands of freshly built and unfinished skyscrapers, hotels, shopping malls and other lavish buildings to prove it. However, all this new construction has recently come to a grinding halt and it seems like every other skyscraper is topped by a motionless industrial crane. Dubai is a city built on debt and due to the current state of the global economy, it has defaulted on a lot of this debt. But according to some local papers things may be looking up for Dubai in the near future and if they are ever able to finish their enormous projects, it will definitely be one of the worlds most extravigant cities.
Also, every single American I met in Dubai ( which was only about five or six) was a military contractee of some kind either coming or going from Afghanistan or Iraq. They couldn't really talk much about their line of work and nor did they want to in that neighborhood. Although Dubai is a world cultural center, it is very close to the war zones and there is still a lot of resentment towards Americans in that city. While most people were very friendly, there were a lot of evil looks to put up with.
(Pictures coming soon)
See you in Chennai
Dubai is a very diverse city that is being built to accommodate may different cultures. It is considered the business and cultural center of the United Arab Emirates and there are thousands of freshly built and unfinished skyscrapers, hotels, shopping malls and other lavish buildings to prove it. However, all this new construction has recently come to a grinding halt and it seems like every other skyscraper is topped by a motionless industrial crane. Dubai is a city built on debt and due to the current state of the global economy, it has defaulted on a lot of this debt. But according to some local papers things may be looking up for Dubai in the near future and if they are ever able to finish their enormous projects, it will definitely be one of the worlds most extravigant cities.
Also, every single American I met in Dubai ( which was only about five or six) was a military contractee of some kind either coming or going from Afghanistan or Iraq. They couldn't really talk much about their line of work and nor did they want to in that neighborhood. Although Dubai is a world cultural center, it is very close to the war zones and there is still a lot of resentment towards Americans in that city. While most people were very friendly, there were a lot of evil looks to put up with.
(Pictures coming soon)
See you in Chennai
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
en route
Wed. May 26, 2010: 9:35 pm
I am now sitting in the Eagle Creek project center in Minnetonka Minnesota killing time before my flight to Chicago. From there I go to Dubia with one stop in Washington DC to change planes. From Dubia I will fly to Chennai ariving at 3am on Friday (Chennai time). My next post will likely be later that day.
I am now sitting in the Eagle Creek project center in Minnetonka Minnesota killing time before my flight to Chicago. From there I go to Dubia with one stop in Washington DC to change planes. From Dubia I will fly to Chennai ariving at 3am on Friday (Chennai time). My next post will likely be later that day.
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