Date Line: Tokyo, 31-12-2009

Year 2009 is about to become history.
Sitting in Yokohama, looking out to the Yokohama bay bridge and the large Ferris wheel at the Minato Mirai sea front, I don't feel euphoric, but tired. Tired and alone.
Far away from home, family, alone in this strange city. It has been 30 years since I first walked into Gammon India on my first day of work on 1st January 1980!

Colleagues in JGC GASCO team celebrated New Year on 29th at 12.00 with wine and sushi in the office.

Since then, it was officially new year holiday period for JGC. Me and Saurav worked also on 30th.
We planned to visit Tokyo on 31st. We started late at 1 pm. Took a train on the JR Tokaido line. The train stopped at Kawasaki, Shinagawa and Shimbashi before arriving in Tokyo. We took the Marunouchi south exit. It was cold at 8 degrees at 2.15 PM. First we decided to take an open bus tour of Tokyo so that we can get a glimpse of all main areas of Tokyo. The bust started at 3 pm. However, soon it became very windy and temperature dropped. We were getting frozen. The bus took a tour around the Imperial Palace, the Government district, the Diet, the fashion streets of Ginza and Marunouchi Naka Dori Avenue before coming back to the Marunouchi building where we started. Braving the cold wind and freezing temperature we went about on foot to the Imperial palace again. Went to the Nijubashi bridge from where part of the Imperial Palace is visible. The Tokyo tower was visible at a distance, already lit up. We decided to cut short the tour and return due to the cold. On the way back we passed the Statue of Kusunoki Masashige a 14th century samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo and walked through the fully illuminated Marunouchi Naka Dori Avenue. By the time we got back to the station, we were numb from cold and was glad to be back inside the station. We met an Indian couple heading out of the station in light coats asking for Tokyo tower!




On the way back Saurav suggested getting down at Kawasaki and visiting Bombay Talkies cafe for a Dosa and Vada. Bombay Talkies is just next to Kawasaki station and we were there at 5.30 PM. Ate vada and masala dosa served by the friendly Indian waiters. Even drank a Masala tea! After the snacks, we took a tour of the large shopping mall at Kawasaki station before heading back to Yokohama. Now it is 11.30 PM. Hardly 30 minutes to go for the New Year to start here in Yokohama.
Wish you all a Very Happy New Year....
Signing off my last blog of 2009.

Exploring Yokaohama

Sunday! What a blessed day! But my alarm went off as usual as I have forgotten to switch it off.
The view from my windows was refreshing.

Waited till 12 to go and ring Saurav Raul in the other building. Saurav is a planner from TICB also working for the Habshan Project. As I imagined he has just got up. We agreed to start at 12.20. I went for a stroll and came back to collect him at 12.25. We went to Yokohama Station searching for a tourist bureau. It was a very nice day. Slightly cloudy skies, but temperature around 10 and rather sunny.

The Yokohama station is an impressive building teeming with people constantly moving.


The tourist office did not have much information. What we were asking them was whether there is a tour from Yokohama to Tokyo and whether there is a train after the new year celebrations from Tokyo to Yokohama. We left hoping to find the information from the net. Walked to Jack mall where there is a good electronics supermarket. After spending an hour there, Saurav got tired and wanted to go back. I decided to continue and went into a Japanese restaurant there. I ordered a beer and some food from pictures. What I got was some fried chicken, some salad and some rice with soup.


Then I headed through Land Mark Plaza to Sakuragicho station. It was 3.30 PM. I was supposed to meet Saurav at 4.45. I had 1 hour to spend. Just then the touristic bus called "Akaikutsu" came up to take passengers. On the spur of the moment, I got on it and started the journey around Yokohama. It is a round trip, coming back to the same place it started. I thought it will take max 1 hour and I will be back around 4.30. But it only reached China Town at 4.30 PM! So I changed plans and got down there because I would miss the appointment with Saurav anyway.
Walked around China town which is supposed to be the largest China town anywhere in the world and finally ended up in the fashion district called MOTOMACHI. Only pedestrian roads, lit with special illumination and with all fashion labels having their shops there, Motomachi is a good area to have an evening walk.
Akai Kutsu Bus

Motomachi, The fashion street of Yokohama

Ilumination in Motomachi


Entrance to Motomachi, dressed up for New Year


One of the gates to China Town


A view of China Town

Finally, by 5.30, I was tired and wanted to get back. Luckily I find a bus stop near by and got on one. I returned to the station again and took a couple of snaps of the Nippon Maru, the ship now acting as a museum. I headed off home from there dropping into the Tesco supermarket at the basement of our building to buy a couple of beers and milk.


Nippon Maru

Christmas and New Year in Yokohama

Well, another year coming to an end.
I am writing this from Yokohama, Japan.
When I returned from Kazaksthan in June 2009, I was thinking of taking a long break for a year or so. I did not imagine that Tecnimont will need my services till then. However, things have turned out to be totally different from what I have planned.
It was first to Kuwait in July. Then to Milan in September and to Yokohama in December. Hardly any rest, quite contrary to my planning.
Contrary to my belief, things turned out rather different than I had imagined here in Japan. Modern buildings, spacious roads, courteous people, dressed quite similar to western world and very friendly too. If you have the occasion to ask directions to someone, he or she will even take you by hand to show the place you want to go! It was such a pleasant surprise from the west or even the middle east. In the west, service is almost non existent or you may even be treated arrogantly. In the middle east, you get the service, but through servants! I have often been embarrassed to offer tips to a fellow countryman. Here, you understand the true sense of service. Every where you go, you are treated with courtesy and kindly. And the best thing is; no tips! Yes, I have felt bad when offering tips. Because, that way, you are treating a fellow human being as lower to you.
Unfortunately, I work rather long hours and even on Saturdays and holidays to meet targets that I do not get much time to be a tourist. But the little time I wander around, I get the feeling of being in some place where people are happy, content and looking to improve things.
The office of JGC where I work for Tecnimont on the Project for Habshan is in one of the most prestigious buildings here in Yokohama, named Queens Square. It is a city in itself. A huge building complex with three office towers and a hotel tower extending from 36 floors above to 5 floors below. The metro station Minato Mirai is right below the building. And the tallest building in Japan - Land Mark Tower is just next to it.
From my table in 15th floor, I can see the bay of Yokohama and the Yokohama bay bridge and the giant wheel with the biggest clock in the world.
Weather is not so bad at 3 to 10 degrees. For the first 10 days, I stayed in Pan Pacific Hotel which is a part of the Queens Square complex. On 24th I shifted to a studio apartment which is hardly 10 minutes walk from the office. The apartment also is facing the bay bridge and the giant wheel.
The whole place is so clean! Whether it is office, roads, shopping mall or apartment. You are not even supposed to enter the apartment with shoes on! You do not have a key to the apartment, but have a proximity card. you need to swipe the card to open the main entrance, to call the lift, to enter the apartment, to open the mail box and even you can not manually select the floor in the lift, but the floor is selected only when you swipe the card! You cannot even select any other floor in the same building! I did not think that Japanese are so security conscious!
Any way, here I am. Spent the Christmas here and will be spending the New year also here. Not a bad place to be... See the fotos below.

Back to Tecnimont

It has been a long time.
The first 6 months of 2009 saw an adventure in my life.
When I agreed to go to Kazakhstan under the loving compulsion from Luca, I was looking forward to more work, more responsibility and more challenges. Tecnimont was having a lean period and I thought I would go and see till Tecnimont becomes a busy place again. But it proved to be a misadventure.
Atyrau is a hard place. AGIP advises its employees not to venture out alone in the city during day time and not to go out during night time. The site is 40 km from the City and there are no other inhabited areas in between.
There was not much work contrary to my understanding and I was lost in the sea of local employees AGIP filled their offices with. Actually, there was nothing interesting, challenging or comforting there. I was feeling nostalgic all the time. I missed the secure, friendly atmosphere in Tecnimont. I missed the trust I had from everyone in Tecnimont. I missed the load of responsibility I thought I had on my shoulder in Tecnimont! May be those were all excuses and I just missed my friends in Tecnimont.
After the first few days there, I felt the strong urge to go back. And every day I stayed there more, the desire grew strong. Or I made up my mind to come back before I left. So strong was the reaction from my mind against leaving Tecnimont, my home for past 16 years!
To make the story short, I am back in Tecnimont after 2.5 months in Agip and 6 months after leaving in January. And I feel like I am at home:)
End of a misadventure....