Last Monday of November and the adventure

The last Monday of the trip went well at work.  I did not sleep well the Sunday night at all and so I will review my files tonight and go to bed with plenty of sleep time. tonight. 

We finished work and went back to the hotel.  We ate supper late as it was Andrew's birthday and he has a family call to make for Skype birthday before supper.

After this we travelled to Haus Kaus, the very old village where Delhi started and the city grew around it. Roxy told me about it.and said I should take a tour of it.  Well we did not get there until 8:00 pm so it was a little later than normal that when we usually go out.  Some of the shops were closed but the restaurants were open and we found a tapas bar that there was something for each of us.  It was good and tasty and we were home by 9:45pm.  So not a late night. 

So that was another day in Delhi.  The weather was nice and the newspaper said that the fog that comes at this time of year and closes airports due to the dense fog is not expected this week which was gret news to me.  Don't want to delay my trip home.

Birded in Indian Bird Heaven Today

Photos - Yellow Wagtail, Roufous Shrike, White Breasted Kingfisher, Spotted Owlets!

I went birding early this am to a place about 1 1/4 hours away (early morning traffice) past Gurgoan to Sulamanpour National Park with the guide - Sanjay Sharma.   This is a  three habitat park with marsh, grassland and woodland and I could have stayed there all day.  Sanjay said that ideally a two days are needed to see everything in the park and in the immediate outside area.  Sanjay has a life list of  over 800 Indian Birds.

We birded until late in the day and it was dark by the time I reached the hotel.  It was cool in the am and then quickly heated up by 10:00 am.  Sulamanpur  was a great place and then after an Indian Lunch (chai, dahl, lentils and vegetables, chapata) we birded grasslands and near the sewage area and farmer's fields (private land that Sanjay has permission to get onto).  Sanjay is a great guide and knows all the diagnostics and is a pleasure to have as a guide.

We had 126 species and I was thrilled to see so many birds.  Including Flamingoes, Saurus Crane, Common Crane, Wooly Neck Stork, Spoonbills just to start with the large species. 

When I got back to the hotel I had a quick supper with Andrew where we caught up on our two days off.  Andrew went to the Taj Mahal on Saturday and he said it was spectacular. 

I am thrilled with the birding day and would love to bird here again.  It did take two hours to get back to the hotel in suppertime traffic.

I have attached some photos (no touch-up done, no time) have to get to my prep work now.

Monday November 17 to Saturday November 22, 2014

A very busy work week in Ankara with the govenment of Turkey and then flying to New Delhi overnight to meet with the Government of India and then the company.

The flight was an overnight flight and since we had worked all day the day we flew it was an exhausting day.  We arrived in New Delhi at 6:30 am and were dead tired.  Prepared and then slept and then explored the hotel a bit. I went out to get Indian rupees when I arrived and changed my mind when I saw how crowded the streets were and I was out alone.

Hotel is great and grand and the food very good.

Thursday after working all day, we returned back to the hotel and then took a taxi to Khan Market across from the Ambassador Hotel.  We walked the market and found a restaurant for supper then shopped the market.  I bought two pairs of light shoes for walking around. 

On Friday after working all day, we returned back to the hotel and tried to walk to a market that one of the hotel people told us about and we gave up as the traffic got too bad and we took a Tuk Tuk to the Kalishy (?) market.  This was a real local shopping spot and it was Friday evening and jammed.  WE had supper (not much choice and it was Subway) and then took a look around.  I found a pair of my favourite summer shoes (great find for me) and Andrew got a new computer bag (the zipper broke on his old one during this trip).  I enjoyed this market even though it was grotty looking.
We ended up taking another Tuk Tuk back to the hotel (at least outside the gates of the hotel- we did not want to go up the ramp to the front door of the hotel).  Then it was bed.

On Saturday I ended taking a taxi to Peter's and then visited with his family, the girls, the dogs Pic and Tic and everyone.  Roxy and Mohead and I went to an afternoon theatre show which was like Cirque de Soleil and it was wonderful.  Both of the younger girls are taller than me now!
Then Roxy and Mohead drove me back to the hotel in the later evening.  The lunch was very good prepared by their cook and we had take out MouMOu for supper.  Peter and Mary's place is on the 15th floor penthouse condo and they have a huge place with a terrace and lawn and seems like a house until one goes down the elevator.  Quite nice and five bedrooms and five bathrooms and large open concept, living areas.

So it was a very nice day and tomorrow it is birding!  Have to get up early.

Sunday November 16, 2014 - Some Touring in Ankara

It was a beautiful sunny day that got to about 17degrees and one could see for miles and miles or km and km!  We checked the must see places with the concierge last evening with directions and translations and took a regular cab to the Ankara Citadel or Castle.  It is more like a citadel, up on a high high hill overlooking Ankara and probably this was chosen as an excellent vantage spot to see visitors/marauders approaching.  We walked the ramparts and I got an excellent photo that a little girl took of me standing on the rampart and overlooking a vast lookout of the city.


There was the old walled town around it with very steep streets and houses that were barely standing and we visited the different corners and shops selling locally made cottage industry handicrafts which was great.  One could even buy giant giant bags of carded wool and raw wool from the Afghan goats or the Ankara goats that they call them here.  We had some lovely Apple Tea (it is hot) in a rug place and we continued to wander around the little hilltop streets.  We went for a break in a Gramaphone Cafe which was a collector's dream, old record players, old radios, wood cabinet TV, metal dinky cars, old movie posters, old binoculars, clocks, typewriters, all shiny and clean and not dusty.  It was the detrius of the 20th century and all good working stuff.  Old cameras too.  Old music was playing and the menu was nicely done in 2 45s.  All this in an old hilltop citadel town in Ankara.  We had some refreshments here and a sit down as it was hard climbing up or down for hours.

We took a cab back to the hotel and then left to try to find out where the Ministry of Economy building was for our meetings on Monday and Tuesday.  We knew it was about 2 km away and just wanted to find the right place.  Well we walked and it was easy except for the speeding traffic with hardly a letup in the offramps we had to cross, on a workday it is probably worse.  We were careful and we had to run for it crossing the very very busy freeway offramp.  Not something we want to try on a work day.  But now we know.  We may walk it back at the end of the day just to be moving and running a bit for exercise, but it is treacherous here for pedestrians and we have one skywalk that we used but there should be at least four others.  On the way back we took the other side of the  busy road and there was one skywalk but again that side needs four other skywalks also.

We went by one building called Next Level and it had a Starbucks and Andrew wanted to go in and it turned out to be a high end shopping centre with every high end store one could think of, Rollex, Marmax, Lacoste, Harvey Nichols, and so on.  It was done up in the most beautiful lights.  We don't have anything like that at home.  We then split up and I went to another bigger store while Andrew went back to the hotel to do some work for tomorrow.  I came out and it was dark and had a 10 minute walk home, dodging all the traffice along the road to get back to our hotel.  The road was really busy with tons of people parked and others looking for a parking spot.

Now I am heading to supper and then some work for me also afterwards.

It was nice to walk and walk today.

Istanbul to Ankara

Today we left Istanbul on a cool, windy, fall day.  It feels like the warm weather left the city and it is fall today.  It was a dismal weather day and it was a good day to leave. It took over an hour to get to the airport and then we flew Turkish Airlines to Ankara, the capital city with about 4 million people.  There is no big body of water here and the city is up at over 3,000 feet.  It has a different feel to it and we have tomorrow to go out and about and find where we start work on Monday also. 

It was cooler and dryer when we arrived and I think they get snow here sometimes. 

It was dark by the time we arrived and so it is hard to tell what it really looks like.  With all of the pretty lights everywhere it looks very nice in the night. 

The hotel we are staying at is a Marriott and it is really a roomy place.  It looks like we are somewhere in an area where everything can't be more than 20 years old. But that is just from what I have seen so far.


I guess I did not walk enough today as I don't feel tired.

Instanbul at night

After work today we went back to the Sisli Marriott Hotel and dropped our stuff off and then took the subway until Taksim Square, the famous square that means central distribution centre and where there were riots two years ago and a bunch of people died with altercations with police. 

We strolled down from the square to Istikalil Street (meaning Freedom) which still had a heavy police presence with the paddy wagon going by and numberous police.  This is a pedestrian street.  We kept walking toward the Bosphorus River way down some steep hills we somehow missed the Canadian Consulate along the way.  We came across the Galeta Tower (1400s) and went for a coffee nearby.  We then went along the underside of the Galeta Bridge (an old bridge) where all the restaurants are and then walked along the river walk with the view of the Cruise Ship which we knew was parked in front of the company.  It was almost dark by then and we met up with several company people.

We took a water taxi to a restaurant on the Asia side of Turkey and had a great Blue Fish meal and then a water taxi back.  We saw two boats that had new engaged people on it.  They project  "will you marry me" on the underside of the bridge we were near and then one of the boats even had fireworks.  We then took a taxi back to the hotel.  It was a lovely evening out with lots of people out everywhere and lots of neighbourhoods and restaurants

Istanbul is a lovely city.  Tomorrow we leave for Ankara

Another knock on the head today

Today, I had stepped out of the boardroom I have been working in all week to go to the washroom.  The walls are plate glass and the door is glass where one goes in and out of.  The other side of the room overlooks the Bosphorus.  When coming back, I glanced away and then instead I then walked into the plate glass wall, smucking my forehead (corner of it on my left side - the same side of my skull that I hit last year).  I managed to walk to my chair and was stunned.  I was brought some ice and put it on my growing bump.  This happened around 11:00 am and I went to the Dr, just after noon.  From there I was taken to the clinic to have an x-ray and see another Dr.  I was told any dizziness or nausea to go straight to the hospital.  I have the bump now and am sore (also hit my knee which did not bother me until going home and my neck is sore, probably from the whack back).  I was not much use this afternoon at work.  The Dr told me to go back to the Hotel to rest, but I refused as I did not want to be alone in a room.  I ate supper here at the hotel and feel sore but fine. 

I am really hoping that I won't bruise too badly as I don't want to go through that scary looking three weeks of rainbow colours on my face.  I have to look presentable.

That was it for excitment today and that kind I did not need.  Eveyone at the company was very kind and considerate of me.  I really appreciated it.