blog.oddy.net

Every so often a truly useful website appears – and this is one.  Not much use if you spend all day every day in Putney, but if you travel alot, or if you phone people abroad, then this is an invaluable tool….

Time Zone Check – Travel Help

On top of the world – well not quite, but the views are superb

Danny tries to stay innocuous

Next up is skiing. It’s the annual trip away for a week in the Mountains. This year I think there are 10 of us, so not too big and not too small a group. The destination is Les Arcs in the French Alps, somewhere just south of Geneva. Strangely enough this was the place that I learn to ski at, using a technique called “Ski Evolutif”. With this you start on short 1m skis, and progress from there. Of course, back then, the aim was to get onto 2.10m skis, or even longer Now I’m skiing 1.77s and these seem pretty tanker like compared to the ski dudes out there. Weather looks cold on the charts, so I’m packing the thermals.

This is a carving of Ganesh, the Elephant God. These guys take a pretty big luck of granite, and create these impressive statues, mostly for export to the west.

This rock is sited in a town named Mamallapuram, about 50 miles south of Chennai. According to the local guide, the Mughal Emperor tried to move it using several elephants, but was unable to budge it.

This is San Thome Cathedral in Chennai. It is named after doubting Thomas, who travelled to India after the death of Christ. Some part of his is still supposed to rest in the crypt of the cathedral.

It was just before Christmas 2004 and I’m on my way out to see some colleagues in India. A 4 day stopover in Chennai (Madras) to see the folks there included a Sunday. So I took a stroll around, and snapped a few photos – I’ll try to post these later

Chennai isn’t what I expected – it’s more like a really big village that a city. And nicer for it. The Indian Ocean rolls up to the city centre, on Marina Beach. The people are welcoming, and the weather isn’t too bad at this time of year – it only hots up in February. Only being here a few days, and working too, hasn’t given me much chance to look around, but no problem. I’m sure I’ll be back.