Reminiscing Asia (3): a Delhi morning

Delhi/ on the back of a bicycle rickshaw
Originally uploaded by macchi.


India had never really been on my list of places to visit. Somehow it didn't appeal, and had no particular interest in going there.

This changed over the last few years, through books I've read, movies I've seen and work I've done which involved India. This was reinforced by a very short work trip to India - 3 days in Delhi, 3 days in Mumbai. And though I could not really do much other than my work meetings, the stay there was quite a revelation of what India is like.

To me, India is not Asia. Or well, not the Asia that I know which is mostly East-Asia.

What struck me most is how everything everyone is everywhere at the same time. It may sound strange but I'm used to Asian cities (KL, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka etc etc) where everything is more or less compartmentalized. Yes, there's chaos everywhere but in the expensive parts of town it's tidy, clean, expensive-looking with likewise people there. And the poor people, well... they are somewhere else for the most part.

India isn't like this at all, which was unexpected but also much more confronting than what I was used to. You would be in a taxi going to meetings, and passing a family with many many kids living underneath the highway in full view of everyone.

In a way, this trip was quite comfortable as I didn't need to go out by myself much. I do want to go back and travel by myself, but that will be such a different experience than elsewhere that I'm not sure if it's something I'd enjoy or want to do by myself (which is usually not a problem).

Reminiscing Asia (2): standing in the fog in Shenzhen

Foggy Shenzhen
Originally uploaded by macchi.

Last year I was in Beijing for a few days, and wanted to see at least a little bit of a new part of China. So, I flew to Guangzhou to tour Guangdong for a day with a colleague. Guangdong is a province which is part of the Pearl River Delta, the most important economic region in China. A LOT of the things in your home will have been produced here (or components of it are).

We took a whirlwind tour of the area, and my colleague had chosen the various stops to show me the extremes of Chinese development. Shenzhen, for example - which is where the above picture is taken. A town that was barely a fishing village in the late '70s and has grown to a city with over 10 million inhabitants in just over 30 years.

Starting out as a Special Economic Zone for a wide range of production facilities, it has now moved away from the very labour intensive production to high tech and innovative production. It is also home to some of the countries best known high tech companies, such as ZTE, BYD, Huawei to name only a few.

So, why this picture in my series of Asian moments? We were standing here with a group of people on an urban development tour, and an architect from OMA was explaining their current project, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on the other side of where I was taking the picture. It was very foggy - or maybe part pollution? Many Chinese cities, including Beijing, are renowned for the levels or air pollution. But the speed at which everything is still being built and developing is enormous. Very impressive. And this isn't even the fastest growing region in China. You'd have to go much further inland and I'm sure the amount of construction cranes will be double there. That feeling of evercontinuing development, construction, etc is what has stuck with me though and why this picture is here.

Later on that day we visited the other part of Chinese development, the South China Mall. Which made the day all the more fascinating.

[it may seem as if I only know Asia through work, but much of the other stuff was in the pre-digital camera!]

Reminiscing Asia (1): late night Kuala Lumpur

late night supper with sweet milktea/KL
Originally uploaded by macchi.

....

Following my earlier post I've been looking at some of my Flickr series of trips to Asia. And I'm going to share some of my most memorable moments during those trips with you here.

First up: Kuala Lumpur, where I visited for work in June 2008.

It was my first time to this country, and I only spent a short week there mostly working. But I'd convinced my boss that I should really arrive on Saturday to be rid of my jetlag by Monday to be able to do that work well.

And that gave friends of mine the opportunity to drive up from their city in southern Malaysia to KL to come and meet me. I never cease to be amazed at how these friendships can stand years of irregular contact; and yet some people will drop everything to come and see you.

I had the best introduction to KL that I could've wanted: starting with amazing Chinese food, then being taken around the city to go up KL Tower and have an incredible view of the city, finishing off the evening with the above - a late night snack with milk tea. And of course, the whole night accompanied by my friend and his wife and 3-yr old daughter.

Sitting outside on a terrace at midnight, in warm balmy tropical weather, sipping milk tea and chatting to friends after a long day of travelling - bliss.