non-computer

It's time to post something about my working place, ITPL.


There are 3 main blocks: Innovator, Creator and Discoverer.
(Above are taken from 6th floor of Innovator block)

The offices.

He is more than a cab driver, he is a responsible husband, he is a good father, he is a nice guy, and more importantly, he is my friend.

Govin, who picks me up every morning, he always late for that and surprisingly I don't really mind. he is 2 years younger than me and married with an adorable daughter. During this period in India, he is the one I most often talk to. Yes I do have some men working on the same project with me and sitting physically close to me in the offices, but forgive me if I just couldn't call them "friends" yet.
Although he isn't good in English, he seems to understand me and always support me by giving warm smiles. He's asked me to visit his house for several times and I'm planning to do so in next weekend. For that picture, my initial intention was taking his look while he's driving but he insisted want to have a full face being captured. Okay, the final product looks good.
I suppose he'll never access Internet and even read "Weblog" in his entire life since he doesn't need to do so for a living. But I formally want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to him for being my friend over this period (in fact I thank him everyday).

If one has no friend around, how far he or she can go?

The Four Monkeys
I've somewhere, somewhat and somehow heard about India is the kind of place where you can find the meaning of life which I don't really understand why until my trip here in India. I just realized that this is not the place with some meaning of life hidden somewhere but this is the place which provides you every condition you need to figure out the meaning of life quitely and peacefully.According to the sales guy, there was a legend about The Four Monkeys, but he insisted not to tell me the story behind until I decided to buy it. Yes, finally I decided to buy it but I didn't get any interesting story. What I got is (from left to right):

Don't say anything bad
Don't hear anything bad
Don't see anything bad
Don't think anything bad (it looks like the monkey is literally thinking, what the sales guy explained to me is that the monkey is thinking not to think anything bad)


It's fine, 280 Rupees is definitely worth educating myself.

Communication Problem
Actually this is what I've already expected upfront as I've been working with Indians on 2 software projects. Nonetheless, yet I find something very funny while communicating with the Indian friends here, Find classical example below:
After I got into a cab...
Indian driver: Hello sir, good morning! (with sunny smile)
(From this point onwards, I supposed he understands English language)
Chinese passenger: Good morning. (with charming smile)
Indian driver: Kan-na-dal? ("Where do you want to go?", I found out the meaning 1 day after. To my dear Indian friends, please forgive me if I spelled it wrongly as I was having problem asking him to repeat)
Chinese passenger: Sorry, I can't understand Hindi (In fact I didn't know whether it is Hindi or Tamil or something else, stupid me)
Indian driver: Kannnnnn - Naaaaaa - Daaaaaalllll? (he spoke much more slower and clearer)
I hold on my intention to laugh aloud, gave up the conversation and straight away told him the destination: M.G. Road

Suprisingly, that seemed to be the correct answer.
It's amazing that the people here seems to presume that me as a foreigner can understand their languages. They always mix their sentence with English and Hindi (not Hindi-slang English but pure Hindi) and expect
me to give response. It's funny anyway, isn't?

Communication Problem, again
I just realized that this problem doesn't restricted to be happened on human to human but also on human to non-human. What will be your reaction when you see the door with "PULL" on the handlers and want to go out? I don't know yours. Let me try to visualize the situation in a conversation again:
Door: If you want to get out, please pull my handler.
Me: OK, I'm coming to pull... (Before I even had the chance to bring up my
hand, the door opened automaticalaly when I was 1 meter close to it)
Door: OK please come closer, I'm opened for you.
(Joke: Does the word "PULL" in Hindi mean "AUTO"?)

Is that a bad UI design?

See, I'm in a Auto Rikshaw!

Wow, I found Yahoo! office!

The prettiest girl I've seen on the street.



The cinema.

The crowded street.

I've received a number of comments for my previous post saying that "the hotel looks cool!". In fact, it doesn't, not at all (the roof at the lobby leaks in rainy days). If there is really something cool, then it must be my photo shooting skill.

Don't believe? See this.
Does it look cool?

But, when you walk close by.
What's this?

This is what I took for dinner y'day. Kalasturi Chicken, Noodle, Tomato Egg Soup, Coffee and Cadbury Chocolate Bar. Taste not bad, I didn't take the picture of my previous days' dinners because I believe no one would have never seen the image of Kentucky fried Chicken before.
The front view of the hotel.

The hotel lobby.

The floors.



And my room.

It was 11:30 at night, raining. After collected back my baggage, I ran to the main exit and found one Indian guy holding an A4 size paper with "Yong Woon Ngiap" printed on it. After 10 minutes standing under the rain and starring at Bangalore International Airport (it doesn't look International, in fact it looks like a bus terminal), I got into the car towards to my hotel. I was extremely tired after nearly 4 hours of flight journey, anyway, that was a special and fantastic day for me, not only because it was my birthday but also I had more than 24 hours in that day. I earned. My first 26 hours birthday, without any single piece of cake, but lots of greeting sms (short message).
India is totally new to me, though Indian isn't. I'm staying near the ITPL, International Technology Park (I have no idea where does the last "L" come from, and again, International), the place where my office is. Furthermore, the hotel has a cool name, IndiOne.

The brief journey went something like this:

22/Jul Arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport around 3pm.
23/Jul Visited Shanghai Yu Yuan (Yu Garden), Cheng Huang Miao (Cheng Huang Temple)," and Museum.
24/Jul Took train to Hangzhou, bicycling around and around Xi Hu (West Lake).
25/Jul Visited Song Cheng (Song City) and Ling Yin Si (Lingyin Temple). Took bus to Suzhou at 7pm.
26/Jul Walking around Guan Qian Jie (Guan Qian Street) and visited Zhuo Zheng Yuan (The Humble Administrator's Garden).
27/Jul Visited Cang Lang Ting (Singing Waves Pavilion), took train back to Shanghai at 5pm.
28/Jul Sitting in Huang Pu Tan Starbucks Coffee for a whole morning with a book bought from Suzhou bookstore. Walking around Nanjing Bu Xing Jie (NanJing Walking Street) in the afternoon and enjoying Karaoke at night.
29/Jul Visited Zhang Jiang Technology Park. Took flight back to Kuala Lumpur at 5pm.

Will write a whole long story soon.