travel 16

On the Indigo 1026 from Singapore to Chennai, I saw a passenger two seats in front of me watch videos in an interesting way. She had wrapped her phone in a plastic cover, wedged it behind the tray table so that it would appear at a comfortable viewing position, and watched an Asian movie (presumably with bluetooth headphones). At first, I wondered if she travels with a plastic wrapper for this purpose. Then I realized it was from the Indigo safety instructions kit. ...

I’m off for a 10-day Vipassana meditation program. WHAT? A 10-day residential meditation. No phone, laptop, or speaking. https://www.dhamma.org/ WHEN? From today until next Sunday (13 July) WHERE? Near Chennai. https://maps.app.goo.gl/PnGkLoZ8U6aG2RKk8 WHY? I’ve heard good things and am curious. SURE? I’ve never been away from tech for this long. Let’s see! I’ve scheduled LinkedIn posts, so you’ll still see stuff. But I won’t be replying. LinkedIn

I was in Seoul for KHF 2024, a healthcare event, staying at Hotel in 9. The hotel was great. The toilet was hi-tech. Perhaps a bit too high-tech for me. I couldn’t figure out how to let the water through on the sink. After 15 minutes of a hard struggle, I finally asked ChatGPT “How do I open the thing that’s closing the sink to allow the water to go down?” ...

After 15 minutes of a hard struggle, I finally asked #ChatGPT “How do I open the thing that’s closing the sink to allow the water to go down?” Here’s the thing with “maturity” (aka age, wisdom, experience, grey hair). It took me 15 minutes to realize I could use an #LLM to solve this problem. Despite me supposedly being an “LLM psychologist.” I suspect the school children of today won’t waste even a minute before checking ChatGPT. ...

Until recently, I could code on flights. This year, I lost that ability. Again. It’s happened before. In each case, technology has solved the problem for me. Here’s the history. I need a laptop. Since 2001, I’ve never been without one on a flight. I need power. Since 2005, I use dark mode and every low power feature available. (I also became good at finding hidden power outlets.) ...

Guy Kawasaki on Mumbai via Kaps @ DesiPundit

Had tea at the Ritz today. Initially, after reading that “Gentlemen are politely requested to keep their jackets and ties on during tea”, my reaction was rather like Calvin’s. But the tea (Earl Grey) was outstanding. So were the scones, sandwiches and desserts. Although most people were ladies above 60, the younger ones were among the most beautiful I’ve seen in London.

Paris by night. A panorama of Paris.

I cross the prime meridien almost every day. I live 0 degrees 5 minutes east of the prime meridien. I travel to Liverpool Street usually, which is 0 degrees 5 minutes west of the prime meridien. The station closest to the meridien, on my route, is Stratford, which stretches from 7 seconds to 17 seconds west of the meridien. Of course, crossing the prime meridien has no time-zone related significance like the international date line. But it does mean that I travel to the western hemisphere and back every day. ...

King’s Cross station. 6:20pm. I’m rushing along to catch the next train to Liverpool Street, when a jacket and suitcase step in front of me. “Salaam alekum.” This has happened to me before. 5 years ago. My response hasn’t changed. “Huh? “Salaam alekum?” “Huh? “SALAAM ALEKUM?” “Huh? “Aap Pakistani ho?” “No, India actually.” (smile) “I just lost my wallet, and I don’t have a ticket. Could you please help me?” ...

We were staying at the Croydon Park Hotel, on the second floor. There were two elevators, and one of them was down for maintenance. I was walking into the other elevator as the maintenance man stepped in as well. He started pressing the elevator buttons: one, two… “Oh, sorry sir. I was doing some maintenance on the other lift. I didn’t want this lift to come down for some time. You go right ahead.” ...

Time: early in the morning, waiting for office to open. Location: public phone booth. Situation: calling a mobile number in London. Insert coin 20p goes in. Press button to push coin in. Credit: 20p 10p goes in. Press button again. Credit 30p Call mobile number... 07xxxxxxx "Hi Malu, this is Shobana." Credit remaining: 20p "We..." Credit remaining: 19p "...just..." Credit remaining: 18p "...got..." Credit remaining: 17p "...here..." Credit remaining: 16p "...last..." Credit remaining: 15p "...night..." Credit remaining: 14p "...and..." Credit remaining: 13p "...are..." Credit remaining: 12p "...staying..." Credit remaining: 11p "...at..." Credit remaining: 10p "...a..." Credit remaining: 9p "...hotel." Credit remaining: 8p "OK..." Credit remaining: 7p "...I..." Credit remaining: 6p "...will..." Credit remaining: 5p "...call..." Credit remaining: 4p "...you..." Credit remaining: 3p "...back..." Credit remaining: 2p "...later..." Credit remaining: 1p "...bye." Credit remaining: 0p

Insight from a NY Times article on how the Internet can be accessed from flights: the reason you shouldn’t use a laptop on a flight during take-off and landing is not because of electrical interference; it is that the laptop could be a dangerous loose flying object in case of turbulence. Now, that makes more sense.

All you ever wanted to know about which side of the road to drive on.

I’m in Bangkok. Not planning to update this site for a week. Incidentally, it’s almost time for my site’s first anniversary – a year since 28 July 2000, when I started updating it regularly.

Sheer laziness kept me in bed till 9:30AM. Then I got dressed, and logged on to the computer, only to be greeted with “I’ve set the clock an hour behind, because it’s Daylight Saving Time. Check if it’s OK.” or something like that. Neat! I truly got an extra hour. I mean, I actually did something useful. So I told Ashwin (an exchange student from UCLA) that I’d gained an hour of life. ...