31/03/2007 by Lyndon.

“One World One Dream” is a phrase that’s echoing around Beijing right now as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics.  Although I have not been up to the Olympic site itself the preparations can be seen everywhere you look.  From shiny fresh tarmac on numerous new roads to the construction of 86km of new subway lines Beijing is a city that’s dragging itself out of communist dilapidation to into the 21st century. 

Walk around the streets of this place and it’s easy to feel like you’re in any Western city. Of course there are some quirks and there is the constant challenge when no one speaks English, but Beijing has transformed itself into a place that feels strangely homely.  There’s everything you’d expect of a modern city; hotels, restaurants, entertainment and bars.  Traffic on the roads is relatively civilised and there are even pavements at the side of the street!  Getting around is quite easy with plenty of cheap taxis readily available and a simple to use subway system that is rapidly expanding.

Although Beijing has been steadily improving over the past decade even before winning the Olympics, the past few years have seen a rapid acceleration in progress.  The authorities appear to be putting in 100% to ensure that everything is ready in time for next year.  Preparations appear to be going very well and the city I see today is quite different to the one I witnessed 9 years ago during my last visit.  Economic prosperity has definitely had a big impact on the every day lives of the millions of people that live here.  For example when I was last here people strived to own a bicycle but now they now posses cars and trucks.  The Olympics has played a big part of this change by creating vast numbers of new jobs attracting migrant workers from all over the country hoping to improve their quality of life too.

However, that has come at a cost.  It is difficult to get accurate figures due to the tight control of the media but there has been at least one major accident so far.  Just last week 6 men working on one of the new subway lines just a few hundred meters away from my hotel were killed when the tunnel collapsed around them.  The contractor in charge of the site where the incident occurred acted rather strangely when it happened.  Instead of calling for help he decided the best thing to do was seal off the site and confiscate the mobile phones of all his workers so they couldn’t spread the word.  Whether it was corruption, fear of the consequences or simply pure incompetence the delay in calling for help meant rescue efforts didn’t start until 8 hours later and all 6 died.  Is that an acceptable price to pay in return for over pushing development in order to get everything completed in time for the Olympics? 

The construction industry isn’t the only area that has benefited from huge Olympic driven investment. Cash has been poured into all aspects of Beijing from stream-lining the immigration process to improving the banking industry, and even into mundane things such as replacing over 6,300 road signs correcting amusing English mistranslations and creating hundreds of tacky new Olympic souvenir shops.  In fact, the Chinese authorities claim to be well ahead of plan and hope to have everything completed long before tourists start arriving next year.

One has to wonder whether London is really setting itself up to equally seize the opportunity that has been bestowed to it with the 2012 Olympic Games.  True there has been huge investment in the London Underground already but what else is there to show for it so far?  Everyone in Beijing can see the clear benefits that are coming from their Olympic games and believe the investment is worth while in both the short and long term.  Can Londoners really say the same thing?  I’m not sure that I can just yet, but who knows, perhaps the situation will improve over the coming years. 

There is definitely huge potential waiting to be exploited by the British capital.  Perhaps if the authorities take note and learn from the Chinese perhaps London too can be dragged into the 21st century.  So let us all cross our fingers and hope that London 2012 turns out to be just slightly more successful than the last big venture undertaken in the capital - the Millennium Dome

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30/03/2007 by Lyndon.

It is strange to think that it has been 5 weeks since I left a rainy England behind.  I have been in China for over a week now and have been easing my self into my new role at work.  My primary task whilst in China is to lead a team of 7 Chinese developers to deliver a piece of work I have been preparing since February.  Officially I’m not supposed to get my team until next week but luckily last week I was allowed to use part of their time and get them started.  We spent most of them time going through the background and context of the track as well as each story.  Originally the plan was to spent most of the coming week to do this, so having already completed it means we’re in a good position.  I’m quietly confident that we should be able to finish our tasks well ahead of schedule and then be able to take up some of excess load from India.  Fingers crossed!

The new role is a big step up from what I’ve been doing before and I’m getting to practice many new management skills.  I have pretty much been given complete responsibility for this section of work and I have had to undertake the initial design analysis, pull together the project plan, allocate work to each developer and then get them going.  It has been quite enjoyable and I am quite pleased that so far I have been able to build my own confidence that I have the necessary knowledge and groundwork to make this a work out.

The next week will be the biggest test of my time away because this will be the first time I will have all 7 developers for 100% of their time.  Although each of them have already started looking at their own tasks I will need to ensure they fully understand what is required of them, and then ensure the quality of their work is up to scratch and on time.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it goes – wish me luck!

The team seem like a good bunch and most of them have been working on the same project for many months.  Although two of team are almost brand new most are fairly experienced so that should help everything go smoothly.  All of the developers work for the company we are outsourcing to and we are based at their offices in a technology park in North West Beijing.

Thankfully the offices aren’t too far from the hotel and can be reached by taxi in 20 minutes or by bus in 30.  Although the bus is a little slower it isn’t all that bad and the longer journey means I get to see more of daily life in the suburbs of Beijing, and all for the measly price of 1 Yuan (about 7 pence)!  I was introduced to the bus system by David, the other guy from London who has been out here since mid January.  I’m not sure I would have ventured onto the bus otherwise!

It has been quite helpful having a friendly British face around who has been here just long enough to have sussed everything out.  We are both staying in the same hotel which makes life far more enjoyable than what I had in India where I was on my own.  It’s nice to be able to go into a restaurant and not get the sympathy treatment that comes when dining alone, especially so when considering that hardly anyone speaks English here.

All in all I am quite looking forward to the next 4 weeks and hope to embrace all of the forthcoming challenges with open arms.  Look out for progress update in a few weeks time

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23/03/2007 by Lyndon.

What was it like flying with Ethiopian Airlines?  That’s a question I’ve been asked a few times now, and understandably so.  Afterall, in one of the poorest countries in the world where famine and drought are rift how can they possibly have a national airline?

I suppose the answer is that like everywhere in the world Africa has both its very rich and its very poor.  Whilst many are starving and dying from lack of water the high flyers are in the air going to Delhi and Beijing.  This was very evident on the plane where a third of the passengers who were African all oozed wealth.  From nice suits, to excessive bling these passengers were obviously doing quite well for themselves. Given the state of their nation these people, and their airline are doing relatively well for themselves.

The plane was your usual sort of jumbo with overly cramped seats, microwaved food and poor inflight entertainment.  It was a bit rough around the edges and evidently hadn’t been maintained too recently.  For example, my meal tray sat at an unhelpful angle resulting in a slightly embarassing incident involving the reminants of my dinner ending up on my neighbours lap whilst he slept.  Ahem.  Similarly, the upholstory was a quite tattered and the plane’s wings had disturbing staines flaring from the joints.

Perhaps unfairly, my confidence was pre-set to its over cautious mode well before I got anywhere near the plane. Unfortuantely this wasn’t helped any when my fellow passengers and I boarded the plane.  Confusion broke out shortly after we began looking for our seats in the usual cramped and crushing manner.  Looking for seat 31K I was slightly concerned to discover the plane only had seats in positions I and J.  As the air hostess approached I half expected to hear “sorry sir, we lost those seats in the turblance on the way in.”  However, the reality was a similar confused look after which she tried to console with me by suggesting I find myself another seat as there were only “20 passengers”.  Said in a confident tone I would have been tempted to believe her had there not been a planeload of eyes gazing at us following the comotion!

Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times that I live in but the most disturbing thing about the Ethiopian experience was the in-flight entertainment.  It wasn’t the quality of the movie or even the fact there were only communal TV screens.  The truely horrifying thing about the whole experience was that the movie we were watching was stored on a video cassette.  One can only hope that the technolgy in the cockpit was slightly more advanced…

Then again, I arrived in once piece and so did my overweight (but without charge) lugguage.  The food was surprisingly tasty and the air hostesses pleasingly gave me a glass of wine in addition to a cup of orange, apple juice and tea (though she did offer to mix them all together for me).  Given the only alternative was Air China I suppose flying with an African airline wasn’t all that bad afterall.

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22/03/2007 by Lyndon.

I’m writing this from 37,000 feet somewhere over southern China on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Beijing.  Until a few minutes ago I was fast asleep trying to catch up on an early start when I was rudely awoken, and boy was that an unexpected way to wake up!  There I was dreaming sweet dreams when something startled me and I open my eyes to find an air hostess’ bosom only centimetres from my face.  I’m sure there must be a more elegant way to shut the window blind, asking the person sitting next to it perhaps? 

I’m half way through a flight that takes me into the next phase of my journeys: China.  It’s strange to think that I’ve been away from home for almost 4 weeks now.  Time seems to have flown past in India, perhaps too fast in some respects, but it’s definitely been an experience I won’t forget.  Work has been crazy busy with 12 hour days the norm whilst I prepared for my forthcoming challenge.  I’ve been given a lot of freedom whilst working the India office which in some respects was quite scary, but it’s nice to know my managers have faith in me.  Or perhaps it is poor judgement, but whatever reason they had for sending me here the next 5 weeks are going to be a leap into un-chartered waters.  I have 7 Chinese developers and an Indian QA that I have to lead to satisfy a long list of requirements.

I have enjoyed my time in India. I have learnt so much at work as well as outside in the scary streets of a developing country.  It’s definitely been an eye opening experience that has given me more clarity about the sort of work I want to do and the simple things to be appreciated in live.  It’s amazing how many things we, or at least I, took for granted back home in the UK.  Simple things like safe drinking water, a constant electricity supply and solid walls around my home.  British kids are taught about the wider world in school but seeing some of it with my own eyes adds a realism that can’t be grasped in school.  And to think India is actually one of the more developed countries in the world.  I’m glad I was lucky enough to be born in the western world and can return to the luxuries that come with living in London.  Perhaps if we sent ASBO laden teenager to a developing country for a week they might learn a thing of two.  A sort of “I’m a brat – get me out of here!” reality show.  Worth a thought at least …

But then perhaps I haven’t overly enjoyed living in India because I was born in England.  I have been trying to think of the virtues that India can claim over my home, and haven’t managed to come up with a very big list yet.  The only two that easily came to mind were some amazing sites and some kick ass animals.  Of course these things probably won’t be anywhere near the top of the list for an Indian born here.  I guess in that respect my trip here was perhaps a partial failure as I haven’t really experienced the true Indian way of live, or the vitality that many longer-term visitors talk about.  But hey, I did get to ride an elephant so in my mind the trip has been a total success

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19/03/2007 by Lyndon.

Today I finally achieved one of the main objectives of my trip to India – I can finally proclaim: “I have ridden an elephant!” and with only minor regrets the morning after.  This was my final weekend in India and I decided I would finish it in style with a trip to Jaipur.  Located in the state of Rajasthan and the final point of the golden triangle Jaipur is famous for its magnificent places and mountain forts, elephant rides and a very different culture to the Delhi region.   

Like always, the day started early and we were on the road by 8am.  The quality of the car was better than before and had the luxuries of reclining seats, air conditioning and came with a marginally better standard of driving.  Although double the price of the taxi last weekend (10 rupees per km) it was definitely good to have the additional comfort especially with the 35degree temperatures outside.  Another welcomed pleasure was travelling with some friendly faces again, namely Anja and Gareth, my managers from London who arrived last week.

First stop on our itinerary after arriving at 1pm was Fort Amer.  This grand fort is located at the top of a nearby high point and can be either reached along a rough road through the old city or on elephant back.  Our aim was to take the elephant ride up but language difficulties meant our driver deposited us atop in front of the fort’s gates.  Doh.  Trying to make the most of it a guide was hired who took us around and explained the history of this interesting place.  It used to be the secure-hold home of the Maharajah controlling the area.  In it he housed himself and all 9 of his wives along with an army of servants.  Despite being built well over 300 years ago this place has all sorts of mod cons including air conditioning that is produced by running water down walls and along floors.

The tour guide took great pleasure in showing us all of the wonders the fort holds including numerous tales of dubious likelihood.  In particular great pleasure was evident when he showed us some of the artwork adorning the walls in the fort…

If you look carefully you may be able to see why our guide was so interested in this pattern.  Apparently a lot of the artwork in the fort revolves around the Karma Sutra and with a grin on his face the guide showed us. Perhaps it is true, but for some reason I can’t help suspecting it actually just our guide who was the pervert.  Beauty is in the mind of the beholder I guess.

After the fort we found our driver and again tried to explain our common desire to ride an elephant.  Finally he cottoned on and took us on a short drive to an elephant rank!  A whole row of elephants all lined up waiting to extract extortionate amounts from tourists.  The elephants were adorned with colourful chalk patterns covering their faces and trunks, and each had a two person saddle on top.  After our driver negotiated us a decent rate the inevitable, but amusing challenge presented itself – how do you actually get on top of an elephant?

A few minutes of ear tugging and yelling later the handlers had persuaded each elephant to kneel down at the side of the road. We were beckoned to step on the elephant’s front leg and had to literally climb up its side until we made it into the basket.  Not exactly the most elegant manoeuvre in the world but it wasn’t long before we were plodding down the road taking a ride simply for the sake of it.  It was an awesome experience that I’ll never forget, plodding along the street and rapidly gathering a fan base of local kids that started to chase us.  Perhaps it was this that convinced my elephant to quicken his pace resulting in a rather rapidly increasing heart rate! 

Thankfully it didn’t last too long and just around the next bend we reached the end of our journey to nowhere in particular.  A short slide down onto the pavement later and we back on solid ground. 

The rate our driver had agreed upon earlier was 600 rupees (£7) for both elephants but this didn’t stop the handlers trying their luck and asking for 600 per elephant!  Cheeky little sods! Thankfully our driver (who had been following us all the way in the car) resolved the issue with a little wave of the hand and saved us from being ripped off.  At the time it seemed very noble of him but in hindsight it was more likely a manoeuvre to ensure we had enough cash for his fleecing later on.  Better the devil you know I suppose.

When I informed my Indian friends that I was going to visit Jaipur they all enthusiastically told me that if I did nothing else I simply had to visit a place called Chokhi Dhani.  Billed as an ‘ethnic Rajasthani village’ it is situated about 15km from Jaipur and is supposed to be a recreation of a traditional Rajasthani village.  Included in the ticket price of 250 rupees is an all you can eat Indian meal and entrance to all of the attractions in the park.  The meal was interesting, but tasty, however the village itself was more of a cross between Lego Land and an especially lame carnival. 

I appreciate that I’ve never been to a real Indian village but I’d be pretty confident placing a bet that they don’t usually have a ferris wheel, boating pond or magic show in a traditional Rajasthani village.  Still, it is definitely worth experiencing if only to take a ride on the wheel which is quite an interesting experience.  Only costing 5 rupees (6 pence) I figured I didn’t have much to loose though of course I’d failed to account for the potential medical bills that could follow! 

Unlike most western wheels where motors are the norm, apparently traditional Rajasthani ferris wheels are not only man powered but also man stopped!  Sitting in a chair that wobbled a little too much for comfort, once the wheel builds up momentum and gets spinning it can only be stopped by men jumping and vainly hanging onto chairs as they pass.  The theory is that the additional weight of the man will counter the rotational force and the wheel will stop.  However, amusingly (or disturbingly?) this doesn’t always go to plan and the man is often lifted up a good 5 meters off the ground before a second man quickly jumps onto the next car to add additional weight and the wheel comes to a stop.

Needless to say I was glad when I was finally off the ride and back onto solid ground.  Having wandered around all of the village and seen most of the attractions we decided it was time to leave and head back to the hotel.  Stopping to pickup some cheap beers on the way home we spent the rest of the night playing cards at the hotel which was very enjoyable, particularly Anja’s shocking defeat at hearts (with a final score of well over 300!).

The hotel we were staying in is located in downtown Jaipur and is actually more of a small castle than a hotel.  Adorned with exquisite décor and fine furniture the hotel was far beyond what we had expected to get for the £30 a room per night price tag attached to it.  After a tasty continental breakfast the next morning we checked out and headed towards the final attraction for the weekend, Fort Nahargarh. 

Like Amer Fort Nahargarh is perched upon a high point and overlooks the current location of the city of Jaipur.  Not quite as impressive as Amer it is still worth a visit if only for the magnificent views of the city far below.  If you look carefully it is possible to see the ‘pink city’ that Jaipur is famous for.  Although actually just a single street, all of the buildings in this area were painted pink in 1876 for the royal visit of Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II.  I’m not totally sure why they thought painting the town pink would be the perfect welcome for a royal family but it certainly makes the place stand out from everywhere else I’ve seen in India.

Finally back on the road to Delhi we arrived at Anja and Gareth’s hotel in time for dinner.  Somewhat unfairly their hotel is significantly more plush than my apartment (ahem, who is actually doing the work here guys?!)  An enjoyable Italian meal and 2 bottles of wine later it was time for me to head home and catch up on some sleep. 

This has been a great weekend full of many laughs and definitely a fantastic way to spend my last free time in India before departing in a few days time.

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14/03/2007 by Lyndon.

I found out today that I have got my Chinese visa!  I hadn’t expected to get it back until Friday, and even then we were unsure if I would be granted it.  This was the first time the company had applied for a Chinese visa in Delhi for a British national, and we were concerned there might have been a residency requirement.  Thankfully it appears our worries were unfounded and I’m now the proud owner of another sticker in my passport!

Officially my piece of work should kick off on 2nd April in Beijing, but it appears that my team will become partially available before then.  It now looks like I’ll be leaving India as soon as next Wednesday (21st March) once I have finished passing on knowledge to the rest of the India team and completed my plan. 

Unfortunately there are very few airlines that fly between Delhi and Beijing, with the two main ones being Air China (obvious) and Air Ethiopia!  As I’ve heard many horror stories about Air China I think I will give the Africans a try, especially as they give you a 50kg luggage allowance.  At least that should mean I don’t have to have do any creative repacking at the airport this time

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14/03/2007 by Lyndon.

The disparity in Gurgaon really does amaze me.  As I mentioned in a previous post this city has only recently had an influx of investment but almost all of this has been spent on skyscrapers, tower blocks and malls.  High paid workers travel from all around to spend the day working here before going back to their comfortable apartments nearby.  But for most people living in Gurgaon life isn’t so flash, and I guess sometimes even just having 4 solid walls is classed as fancy.

I took the photo below on one of my rick shaw rides to the mall.  It’s taken right outside my apartment complex and gives you an idea of the huge variation in wealth here.  It’s crazy to think that within 25 meters you have families both living in relative luxury and such extreme poverty that they cannot even afford 4 solid walls to their home.  It’s a crazy world we live in, isn’t it?

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10/03/2007 by Lyndon.

Weekend 2 in India and with it my latest opportunity to explore more of the sights and sounds of this very different country.  The tally for this weekend:

• 1 wonder of the world,
• 550km + 8 hours in a taxi,
• a camel ride,
• 2 near death experiences …
• … and only 1 pedestrian run over

This weekend I decided I would travel to Agra and see one of the most famous buildings in the world: the Taj Mahal.  I’ve heard many things over the years and see the odd photo of this incredible place but nothing can ever compare to seeing it with your own eyes.  It’s not until you discover the incredible effort and workmanship for yourself that you can truely appreciate why this is one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Agra is around 250km from Delhi and taking a taxi is the easiest way to get there, although perhaps not the safest method.  With the journey set to take around 4 hours each way it was an early start and leaving around 8am.  During the week I finally met Nicky, a fellow deweller in the apartment, and invited her and her daughter (4) along on the trip to Agra.  It’s good to finally have someone that I can have a real conversation with - I’d started going a little crazy in this place recently!

Our taxi driver was a young guy and like seemingly all Indian taxi drivers, he lacked certain driving skills that I’m spoilt with in England.  It appears that the city based driving technique is still maintained when driving over longer distances.  The only difference is that it’s done at 120km/hour.  I wonder how long before sky diving bungee jumping adrealin junkies discover the kicks that come with travelling in an Indian taxi.  Take overtaking for an example - blind corners? on a hill? at night?  huge trucks hurtling towards you?  Not a problem for the Indian taxi driver, and in fact it appears these are often the most desirable times to overtake. Two occasions in particular saw us only just avoiding a truck at high speed - god only knows how we missed.

Of course, that’s not to say we didn’t have any accidents at all.  Whilst driving through Agra our driver did actually run over a pedestrain, though thankfully not badly enough that we had to stop for long, exchange details or for the driver to show any sign of surprise.  Indians never seem to be surprised or phased by anything, things that I’m often stunned by.  I guess the best philiosphy here is to expect the unexepcted.

After a few hours on the road our driver turned off onto a route and as the road turned into a heavily potted mud track we started to wonder whether perhaps this was some kind of short cut.  As it turned out this was the driver’s home village, and we were to be the daily entertainment.  Feeling rather like an animal in the zoo we were paraded to all and sundry before being allowed to continue on our journey. Just a little bit random!

We arrived at the Taj in just about one piece at around midday and very soon the beggars and street vendors selling junk were swarming around us.  The usual range of rubbish was on off; mini taj’s, postcards and other trinkets but perhaps for the first time in my life I was offered a camel ride!  Of course we quickly accepted this grand offer and travelled the last few kilometers to the Taj in true humped style.

Entrance to the Taj only costs 30 rupees, if you’re Indian that is.  Otherwise its 750 rupees for foreigns though this higher price entitles you to a bottle of water and some shoe covers.  A real bargin I’m sure you’ll agree.  But, being a once in a lifetime oppotunity it doesn’t really matter, especially when you see the place up close.

The Taj is beautiful, and even more so up close.  It isn’t until you’re right next to it that you realise all of the decoration isn’t just paint but encrusted semi-precious stones.  All of it, from the lotus flowers to the arabic script it was all created by embedding colourful stones into the brilliant white marble.  Not to mention the carvings all made from solid marble - it’s really quite amazing that it only took around 16 years to complete.

Next up was a stop by the Red Fort, a huge and equally magnificant structure built by the same emperor that constructed the Taj Mahal.  It stands a little along the river from the Taj and is made from solid red sandstone with the odd white marble palace within it.  There are endless buildings in the fort, and all are intricately carved and decorated. 

Having skipped lunch we were all getting very hungry and with the prospect of 4 hours in the taxi to get home we decided it was time to head home.  Stopping along the way to eat some food in road-side ‘restaurant’ we were home by 10pm and completely knackered. 

Another great day seeing the sights and sounds of India.  Fingers crossed for next weekend, my final one in India before flying to China.

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06/03/2007 by Lyndon.

It’s quite a common situation across much of southern Europe to be approached by people selling junk, and Delhi is much the same. Every tourist attraction has its share of people selling all kinds of useless stuff, but in Delhi they also attract beggars. Wherever you go, and however hard you try to ignore them they are persistently harassing you with repetitive Hindi and touching you before moving their hand to their mouths. It got quite unnerving sometimes and often the only way to get them to leave is to move closer to a police officer.

Interestingly, I haven’t been approached by even a single beggar whilst wandering around Gurgaon, but in Delhi it was a constant pestering wherever you go. From what I’ve seen of Gurgaon there are a lot of very poor people living in some appalling conditions. Despite having walked right past their shanty towns none of them ever approached me asking for money. Perhaps the reason for this is that there simply aren’t enough gullible tourists in Gurgaon to make professional begging a viable option.

Given Delhi’s status as one of the more exotic travel locations for westerners there were a lot of white people at each of the principle sites. That’s not to say there weren’t any Indian tourists there - in fact there were probably 5-10 times as many Indians as there were whites, but strangely the India tourists weren’t approached by the beggars. I sat at India Gate for a while and observed my surroundings. Each time a new car load of white tourists arrived a handful of beggars would gravitate towards them. I guess these very desperate people have learnt that their best chance of success lays with the wealth of gold lying in the pockets of gullible white tourists.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the begging problem in Delhi is the child abuse that comes with it. Often many of these beggars are young children with an adult lurking somewhere in the background. After all, it’s a lot harder to resist a horribly thin and appearing very desperate child beggar than to refute an adult one. These children are forced to perform the dirty work of adults and rarely get to keep any donations for themselves. My guide book suggested the best thing to give to these children is sweets because they are of no interest to the adult and the child benefits from it (ignoring the obvious dental issues).

What my guide book failed to realise is that there seems to be a pecking order even within the children themselves. Whilst sitting at India Gate I observed some American ladies giving candy to two children, one of about 3 and the other about 7. Each child was given a candy bar of some description and beamed with smiles at the tourists. Obviously feeling rather pleased for themselves the looks of delight on the American’s faces quickly turned to horror. As the two children wandered off to find their next victim the older of the children snatched the younger’s candy bar and pocketed it for himself. When children are working for other children it doesn’t matter whether the prize is money or candy, often the child themselves doesn’t benefit.

The most hideous child abuse that I witnessed whilst in Delhi was while waiting at some traffic lights in an auto-rickshaw. As we approached the lights I noticed a woman sitting at the side of the road with two children near her playing. As happened whenever we stopped the child approached the vehicle and started begging. The difference with this child was that he had his arm in a sling and appeared to have a nastily infected cut on his hand. As part of his begging routine he kept pointing at his arm trying to win the sympathy vote. The cut looked relatively real, but even if it wasn’t the fact an adult would force a child to pretend to be injured really cannot do the child any good. I guess while tourists continue to support these children the abuse will continue, regardless of whether the abuse is coming from an adult or another child. It’s difficult to ignore a child in need, but perhaps it might be the best solution to the problem.

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06/03/2007 by Lyndon.

They say if you are in Delhi for more than a week you are almost certainly going to get Delhi Belly.  However, I didn’t expect it to happen at the chime of 7 days. I was prepared for this eventuality and brought plenty of drugs with me, but it has still been a pretty rough night.  I have had today off work to try sleep it off and I feel a bit better, so fingers crossed.

It’s just so irritating because I have been extra careful with regards to water and food.  I have religiously only drunk water from bottles where I have opened the seal, have eaten only at higher quality restaurants and constantly bath my hands in alcohol hand gel.  It seems as though it’s almost a fore gone conclusion that you will get ill regardless of how hard you try.

The only things I had during the day yesterday was a bottle of water and a meal at McDonalds.  At McDonalds I even had them prepare me a fresh burger without any salad!  But by tea time I was starting to feel ill which can only mean it was the McDonalds that did it.  McDonalds prides itself on serving consistent food regardless of where in the world you are but I guess it pays to never trust anyone, however big and well known they are.  Of course if you trust no-one then you would then starve, but that’s not the point…

Fingers crossed that I can go back to work tomorrow - I can’t afford to be ill for very long.

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