The Dutch Trade Delegation

Last few weeks it was time for a little bit more relaxation. Visitors from Holland! I spent a few days in Chennai with the Dutch trade delegation, headed by minister van Gennip of foreign trade, and a week with my parents, and uncle (Jan) and aunt (Elly) who probably did a lot more trade than the Dutch delegation did, by leaving a trail of rupees across the South of India. Rickshaw drivers, street kids, shoe shiner boys, hotel personnel, caddies. All were given a treat from Holland!!!!!!! Mainly Jan had a great time making new friends in India. After some of the negative comments I have left about India on my blog and my mails, I have to add the more sunny shine up (as Jan refers to his eggs) about India. And it was the first time I had a week off in 4 ½ months of work. So now after this week, I'm well rested and ready for the last few months of work!
Two weeks ago I went to Chennai for 2 days to spend with the Dutch trade delegation headed by minister van Gennip. It was a great experience to be part of this, staying in a very good hotel, joining in the dinners, having meetings with companies and taking part in a conference, CONNECT 2006. I went there together with a colleague from Bangalore, Sukrut. It was very good to be here together with so many Dutch people, in the middle of India, eating Dutch food, but evidently with an Indian touch. And the Heineken couldn't be missed..... Amazing to see how much Indians know about Holland on these occasions, the cliche's flew across the table talking about windmills, tulips, dikes and marijhuana.
And then a few days later I flew to Cochin to catch up with my parents and uncle and aunt, who had been travelling through India for over 2 weeks already. It was very nice to see them again and directly we went to Periyar National Park. We did some boating on Periyar lake, where we saw quite a lot of wildlife, night hiking, getting covered in leaches and a full day car safari. During that safari we went fishing and caught the smallest fish ever. It was about 3 times as small as the hook it was on!!!! Nice dinners, nice drinks and then it was time to show my ‘new home’…. Wednesday night flew back to Bangalore, where I was able to show the city, my house and my work. Time always goes too fast when you’re having fun and yesterday I left my family at the airport and they flew back through Mumbai to Amsterdam. For me it will be another 3 months!!!! My date of arrival is now confirmed and I’ll land at Schiphol on the 14th of December…