Travel

And so it begins again...

...After more than 5 weeks at home, I have finally got another trip coming up! Then another a week after that. Typical this, rather like London buses you wait ages for one, and then 3 come at the same time. But that is the way it is as life as a Commissioning Engineer.
So what part of the world am I going to next???


Serbia!! I have never been there so am pretty much looking forward to it, although it looks like it is pretty short notice, 3 days this time!
Where in Serbia am I going?? Well it's a place called Popovac, and the only thing I have come up so far is this http://www.popovac.hr/ but as it is in serbian I cant say how much there will be to do there. Not that I get time to see the sights!

Background Information

As this is going to be a regular post, I had best give a little bit of background information on what I do.
Basically I go into cement plants worldwide and commission our product, which is a Thermal Imaging Line Scanner. Quick explanation - scanner measures the radiated heat from a kiln shell, against known references and then produces a picture on a computer screen that corresponds with the temperatures.
I also commission a system called a Thermascope, which is a camera system that looks directly into the kiln and produces a picture on the screen. I could go on a lot more about it but I am digressing from the post, so if you want to gen up look here - http://www.thermoteknix.com/

Past and Present

Now all those who think to themselves "You jammy git doing all that travelling", let me just say this, it aint all that it's cracked up to be.
For a start, I am normally only away in the country for at most 1 week, and most of the time I am on site. The sites are generally located out in the sticks, so you have got bugger all to do while your there (it's amazing what you read when you are bored), unless they have the Internet in the hotel you are staying at. Then there is the hotels themselves, my colleague Elmer and I often have to stay in the 2-3 star places, and rarely get into the 5 star luxury we deserve.
In the past I have been to places like Miami (twice!) , Ecuador, China (4 times!) and Thailand.
Those weren't too bad, but then you get the not so nice places such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico and India.
Remember I go to out of the sticks places, not the nice touristy areas, and yet again in a couple of weeks I have to go to one of the less than pleasant places once again, that is Chaibasa in India.
My apologees to anyone who knows Chaibasa or who lives there, but to get to it is a chore in itself and is another reason why I am not as lucky as people think.
First there is the flight to India roughly 8 hours, then you have a train journey of 14 hours, after that there is a drive of 4 hours to get there.
Now, this is the most heart rendering journey I have made anywhere in the world. If you saw the documentry on the train kids of India, you will know what I mean. Kids as young as 8 jumping on the moving train with a filthy rag as clothes, and a brush made of sticks to sweep up the dust from the floor. Crawling among the feet of the passengers often getting kicked by some of the callous bastards, then begging for a few coins, made the tears well up in my eyes. All my interpretor could say was give them nothing, with a look of sheer contempt on his face. I felt like decking him there and then.
Before that we had a guy carry 40kgs of luggage on his head 500 yards to the train for what amounted to 60p, or a little over $1.
That is why I hate going there, not because I don't like the country, it is very beautiful, it's because of witnessing first hand the sheer poverty that some of the people live in, especially the kids. I defy anyone to be affected by it.
So once more I have to go, luckily I am on holiday after my trip, so I can not dwell on it too much.
Just a message for those of you who are lapping up the hospitality of Goa, and wondering why, or even thinking that India isn't that poor, you are not in the real India. If you were you would be on the first flight home, tears streaming down your face.

More after my next trip!