Since it is September 11, I thought I would pass on a couple of links I have found very informative over the past couple of months.

Michael Yon: Online Magazine

The Fourth Rail

The Belmont Club

For exactly the past 4 years I have had a habit of checking CNN.com with a habitual regularity.  It all started 4 years ago this morning when I wondered what was behind the enigmatic email I received from work:  "Due to obvious circumstances the Stock Market and our Trading department are closed until further notice."

CNN.com could barely load, and they had reverted back to their circa 1998 lightweight HTML design.  Since then the habit of regular checking has persisted.   A few months ago I was reading an article that made it seem as if the US military was simply driving around Iraq waiting for bombs to go off.   I decided to dig deeper and see if I could get firsthand accounts of what was going on.  The first of the links above is just that.  A writer embedded with a combat unit in Mosul.  The other two are in-depth analysis of the situation.  

A much different picture than the main-stream media (cnn.com and others) are providing.

It seems to be a clear design of Singapore to have travelers end up with hours long layovers in Singapore, enough time for people to unload hundreds of dollars in the endless shopping center that is seemingly this entire wonderful little country.    I fell for the scheme last time, buying a digital camera and iPod.   This time I had no plans to buy anything.   Instead I planned to see various neighborhoods in Singapore (Chinatown, Little India and downtown).    I stopped by the Tourist Desk in the airport where a nice woman outlined a tour and gave me a 10 trip Metro Pass.

I headed off to the train station, comfortably located within the airport and took the first train to the Tanah Merah Interchange.    The first caution flag came when the door opened and the heat and humidity hit me.    The temperature was 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity.    The “Heat Index” was 105 degrees.   I was packing my carry on luggage (a backpack with 25 pounds of computer equipment and books).

My first stop was Chinatown.   I walked through several streets lined with tiny shops.   My unscientific survey shows the following categorization among shops in Singapore

            50%     Clothing, Jewelry or Electronics Shops

            25%     Restaurants or Food Stores

            10%     Architectural or Engineering Firms

            8%       Massage Clinics

            5%       7-11’s

            2%       Other

7-11 was the most prevalent American brand I saw, although I plan on researching whether “British India” is the renamed-for-use-outside-North-America Banana Republic or just a dead on knock-off.

By the time I had walked about 4 km across Singapore I was getting really tired and feeling sick, nauseous and covered in sweat.  I realized that I was getting the initial symptoms of heat stroke and ducked into shops to cool off.

One of the places I thought would be better cooled was the indoor Tekka Market in Little India.  Bad Assumption.

Nothing adds to the nausea of heat stroke more than a hot, stinky fish market.

I made a hasty retreat to the airport and fell sound asleep at the departure lounge, and then again on the plane, sleeping from before takeoff until just before crossing the shoreline on approach to the airport in Chennai.

Back in India.   The Chennai Airport seemed just as run-down as the Kolkata Airport, in fact so similar I questioned my memory and wondered if I had been here before and was confused (not the case, I had only been to the nicer domestic terminal in Chennai).  The upside was that the taxi-wallahs, touts and beggars where must less prevalent here than in Kolkata.  

I saw a man holding a sign for “Shawm Swanmer – Trader’s Hotel” and decided to impersonate someone with a similar name as mine and get a nice ride to the hotel.    I then slept for the better part of 24 hours, sleeping off the heat-stroke and jet lag. 

Once on the plane I settled into a nice window, bulkhead seat and off we went.

The path was a straight out of the runway at LAX, turning right only after we had cleared Ventura County.  We continued up the coast towards Alaska.  Somewhere west of San Francisco I fell asleep (while watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Rory Gilmore had better stick to Yale, this movie was not very good).

I was awoken a few hours later by an attendant.  We ran into really heavy turbulence south of the Aleutians.  I had a glass of water in the drink holder and had put my hand over the top of it while I slept.  The attendant had to wake me up to get the glass.   I fell back asleep as the plane followed a course around the Pacific Rim, as if afraid to stray too far from land.

We crossed over Okinawa and landed in Taipei.   After a pointless hour spent sitting in front of several duty-free shops we left for Singapore.  Pretty uneventful.   In retrospect, on my first trip I must have been beside myself with excitement, because this trip seemed like just a longer version of my usual trips to Burbank.

For Ian, as promised, a map of my course across the Pacific.

Made it on the plane. Long check-in and security lines made me nervous. But in the end I had 10 minutes to spare, and 8 or 9 people boarded after me.  

Compared with my first trip, I have been very low-key and matter of fact about this trip,  but I think it is starting to really hit me: I'm going to India!

From the plane / blogging by Blackberry

Shawn

I left Phoenix this morning and spent the day working at our office in Los Angeles. There were so many things to get done that I stayed there until really late. 

I am now in a cab racing to LAX in a scene uncomfortably similar to "The Amazing Race".  

The part that has me VERY nervous is that I have the same driver I had the last time I missed a flight (the time ealier this year when I missed three flights in 12 hours).  But so far we are making good time, so if I miss the flight it won't be the fault of the driver (this time).

From the cab / via Blackberry

Shawn

Gadget List

1. GPS (Garmin Rhino 120)
2. GPS to Serial Cable
3. iPod 20 GB
4. iPod power cord
5. iPod USB cable
6. International power adaptor
7. Laptop (Dell Latitude D600)
8. Laptop power cord
9. India cell phone, with power cord  (advice:  Don’t get a Hutch telecom prepaid phone in Kolkata, it can’t be charged anywhere in the country outside of Kolkata).
10. Digital camera
11. Camera battery charger
12. Camera USB cable
13. Blackberry
14. Blackberry charger
15. Computer headset (for Interwise and Skype calls - I am sswaner on Skype)
16. USB Key
17. Headlamp
18. External Hard Drive
19. Power and USB cable for hard drive
20. 14 AA batteries (4 sets of 3 for the GPS, 1 spare set for the headlamp) 

This is about what I took last time, the difference is that I am not taking a phone and a Vonage router, but I am taking an external hard drive to hold my work files.

Talking less clothes (no hiking boots or cold weather gear) and leaving my "fear of the third world" gear (baby wipes, water purification tabs etc) should hopefully make my pack weight less than 50lbs.

Now, work requirements aside.  What would I leave if I had to:

Everthing but the GPS and the camera.   And if I had (or wanted) a more structured travel itinerary I could probably go without the GPS. 

I will be returning to India later this week.  On Wednesday, September 7 I will go to Los Angeles for the day and then leave for India late that night.   I am taking Singapore Airlines again and will have a 7 hour layover in Singapore before going on to Chennai.

On my last trip I spent most of my time in Kolkata.  This time I will be mostly in Chennai.  My plans right now are to work for 2 weeks in Chennai and then take 1 week of vacation, traveling to Madurai and possibly Kodai.   As before, my work requirements take precendence over vacation, so if I get behind schedule or need to do additional work then it will cut into my vacation plans.  It is going to be a shorter trip this time, but I am sure that I will have time for some interesting experiences.

On the weekends I plan on exploring Chennai, Mamallapuram and hopefully a day or two back in Pondicherry.  

Another morning in India (Pondicherry, February 2005).

For the past 3 and a half years I have been using the same home PC.  It is an old Pentium III.    For well over a year I have been wanting to get a new computer, but other priorities always get in the way.  

My wife Amy started selling Mary Kay cosmetics, because she loves the skin care and color costmetics.  Because she is sympathetic to my computer dilemma, we agreed that profit from any sales I can generate will go towards my new computer.  So, this is a way for you to get a great discount on the skin care and color cosmetics that my wife thinks are the absolute best, and help me get a new computer.

No surprise, you can shop 24 hours a day. Visit my Mary Kay Beauty Consultant: http://www.marykay.com/amyswaner.   When you get to the checkout, enter my name in the comments section and you will receive a 25% discount.   If you pay by credit card then Amy will give you a 25% rebate (in other words, if you buy a mascara for $8.50, it will look like you are going to be charged $8.50, but only $6.37 plus tax will be charged to your card).  If your order by "Contact me for Payment", Amy will also give you the discount when she contacts you for payment.  All of the products are 100% money back guaranteed, so you can be sure you (or the person you're buying for) will be love it.

Thanks for your help.  

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