Have Passport, Will Travel: April 2009

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Pakistan trip...

Good afternoon!

Two updates in one day??? Blimey!!!
Last week I went to Pakistan for my first sales trip. This was to hand over the territory from Colin to me. Colin is on the left in the blue shirt. The people on the right are our agents in Pakistan. This was taken in Karachi on the roof of a building where there was a good barbeque restaurant.

This was me a 100km south of Karachi on the way to a power generating plant in Jamshoro. Yep, stop laughing, I indeed now have to wear a monkey suit. Not pleasant in 35 degree heat...


This was the outdoor grill area of a resaturant in Karachi. The food was excellent!


The picture below was taken in the toilets of the Islamabad Marriott hotel. Yes, indeed the one that was blown up last september. The whole hotel has been repaired and everything is spick and span in there. It just amused me seeing this notice in the bogs...


We had to be very careful out there as there were three attacks while we were out there. While we were in Karachi there was an attack on a police training academy in Lahore. That was only 2 miles from the office of our agent out there. Then while we were in Islamabad there was an attack on a checkpoint were we had gone by the day before. The suicide attacker blew himself up and killed 25 people and injured 50. So a lucky escape for us...

This is Mr Anjum reading the koran while we were on our way to a customer. Mr Anjum was very helpful in keeping us safe while we travelled the country. We didn't go to Lahore as the customers out there could not guarantee our safety. So all in all a good trip, we did some interesting business and we are looking at developing our business out there.

On saturday I am off to America for a weeks tradeshow in Orlando Florida. At least I will not be shot at out there, or blown up.... (I hope....)

Take care,

Alex.

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Turkey again...

Good afternoon!

Well, this must be some kind of record, 4 months of no posts. The reason for that is that I have changed jobs. I am now Sales Manager for the Middle East and Africa. My job training and other commitments have kept me seriously busy. I've done trade shows, sales trips and some commissioning trips...

This picture was taken in Erzurum in Eastern Turkey. I was there to repair a system for Askale Cement. It was &^%$%^$king freezing! Minus 15 to minus 25 at night. I actually had to buy long johns, scarves, hats and all sorts just to stay warm... In the background that is my good friend Ugur from Istanbul.

This was taken in a bar in Van. The Turku Bar is a bar where they play a lot of traditional trukish music. It is also one of the few places where you can get a beer in Van...
This is Van Castle. It is from the Seljuk time from around 800AD. It was cold but looked lovely in the snow.
This is some kind of traditional building in Van. This was an excellent trip where I did some good work but there was a fly in the ointment. When I got back I fell ill and found out I had Shigella Flexneri which is a form of Dysentry. That took two weeks to get over... Never mind, the food still was excellent in Turkey! Thanks to my friend Ugur for a great trip!

Cheerio,

Alex.

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