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.
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