Shanghai

From Beijing, I flew to Shanhghai...I was originally going from here on to Guangzhou but this got cancelled so effectively I had two days in Shanghai. We were staying at a great hotel - the Marriott...very nice but so cheap! I've learnt that a £300-£400 room in the UK costs only around £100 in China and even less in India...not bad at all.

I headed off to Pudong airport and then flew home to Heathrow...exhausted...I worked out I took 8 flights in 12 days...so much for cutting down on carbon footprint...

Beijing

I flew out of Singapore on the Saturady morning, flying Singapore Airlines into Beijing. The flight time was around 5 hours however it was the temperature difference that was quite incredible! I left Singapore in around 30 degrees C. In Beijing, it was -5 degrees C! I got picked up and then we headed to the Beijing International Hotel. I spent the rest of the day just hanging around really as I had a free day on Sunday.


Sunday I was picked up and we headed for Tiannamen Square...quite an amazing place, absolutely freezing and packed full of Chinese. It was interesting to see the amount of pictures of Mao still around everywhere. We next went into the Forbidden City...what an amazing place! Effectively this is where the Emperor and his Concubines resided. Its absolutely huge with an estimated 10,000 rooms. You would seriously require a lot of time to get around this place in full.

We had some lunch at a Chinese Fast Food restaurant (I don't know what we ate but it was nice) and then headed into Beijing Zoo to see the Panda's. They were amazing and reminded me of Chief quite a lot...



After the Zoo we went to The Summer Palace, effectively a park for the sole use of the Emperor. Again, an amazing place but it was so cold! Following th Summer Palace we went back to the hotel and then went out for something to eat at the original Peking Duck restaurant! I have to say it was OK but nothing special. I think western taste's expect something a little more spicy perhaps...

The following day we checked out of Beijing and headed for the airport for Shanghai...

Singapore

Singapore was simply one of the nicest places I've ever visited. Incredibly clean, relatively cheap, very friendly...absolutely great.

The hotel I stayed at was the Carlton and this was excellent...particularly as I had an upgrade to a suite. Considering some of the travelling I'd been doing the previous week it was a very welcome stay.

Kuala Lumpur

KL was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of India. I had an overnight flight from Mumbai to KL, arriving around 07:00. A colleague picked me up, we had some breakfast and then we headed to our customers. The first thing I noticed was how clean KL was...really beautiful...even the grass verges on the side of a 1000km motorway are manicured! It's quite unbelievable! I wish I had longer in KL, however I hope to get back there in the near future.

Mumbai

We left Baroda and arrived in Mumbai around 21:00...again, how many people are there here! It's just unbelievable! One thing I could not get over with India is the slums...somehow I expected them to be out of sight, out of mind but in India they're right in front of you...the overall standard of living is way, way below that than a "Western" country for example. The slums are also not located in a particular area, they can be anywhere, even if they're next to a brand-new office building for example. Strange..

It was also in Mumbai where I saw two elephants...we overtook them on the "motorway". I had noticed the cows, pigs and general wildlife dotted around over the last few days but the elephants took the biscuit.

The hotel we stayed at in Mumbai was pretty good...it had a rooftop terrace which was quite nice. On the last night I met my MD at the Intercontinental and we went to eat at the Sheraton...beautiful meal and I believe the restaurant is listed as one of the Top 50 in the world...either way it was nice...

Ahmedabad & Baroda

We arrived quite late in Ahmedabad and then had to drive to Baroda. It was about a 2 hour drive and driving at night in India is not pleasant. There are no lights and the traffic, particularly lorries are simply not roadworthy. A lot do not have lights at all and there is a great deal of horn pressing and light flashing to ensure the "passing" and "passee" drivers have seen each other. Quite simply, I would never drive in India...even our Indian colleagues have drivers!

One thing that did strike me about India is simply the amount of people. There are people everywhere. A simple two lane highway would have at least six lanes of traffic, there is no road discipline whatsoever and absolutely nowhere to park.