During my work in all these years I traveled a lot for work. I have been to Europe, South America, Asia, and here in the US. Since it is work I travel alone but once in a while I take NIcki with me usually at the end of the trip.

Brazil

Our company did business with a company named Copesul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. We were supplying them with an Advanced Control System for their polyethylene plant. Porte Alegre is the southern most of the cities and it is a nice small town. I was involved in developing an interface for their IO machine, bunch of graphic displays, application programs. This was a long project and we meetings in Sao Paulo, Houston and Porto Alegre. I went there perhaps eight times. They have this churassco restaurant where they serve grilled meat. The waiter comes around with the meat on a long rounded spike and cuts you a piece on your plate. There are waiters with different cuts of meat that comes around and before you know it your plate is full of meat. The brazilians even the women can keep up eating the meat as the waiter bring it. I am quite slow and my plate gets full. That and a shot of their local drink called caprinha will make your day eating. I frequent the park where so many people are running and walking. The public gym is packed with people but the equipment is antiquated so I never go there. 

I experience their money get devaluated several times and it changed from cruzeiros to cruzados to reals. Upon arrival they gave me a check for my expenses while there. I go to the bank and exchange the check for cash. In cruzados the cash was a foot high. I stored it in my hotel room safe and spend all of it before leaving. My colleague saves his cruzados. When he returned 6 months later his cruzados was worth enough to buy a thankful of gas. That is how inflation ate up their money. Been to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

In one of my trips, I asked Nicki to come over. Imagine Nicki all by herself flying to Brazil. Her plane flies from Houston to Rio de Janeiro and then a plane transfer to Porto Alegre. There was no hitch except getting lost on her way to the airport! I was at the airport waiting for her. I am looking at the plane as it lands and there she is all by herself. I still have a week in Porto Alegre so while I am working, Nicki would go around the city by herself. I have a driver and he took Nicki around. Sometimes the driver's wife drive Nicki too. 

Philippines

They sent me to the Philippines in a project for Shell Oil Philippines. As I was born there this is almost like a work vacation. They gave me a company house to stay and also a car. I never drove in the Philippines so this is a first time for me. I stayed in a large hotel called Days Inn but this is unlike the same named chain in the US. It is multistory high, perhaps a three star hotel by US standard. Shell is about 60 miles south of Manila. I would drive from Shell in Batangas to Manila in the weekend. I stayed there for three months which is the longest I have ever been on a travel. Usually my travel last only one or two weeks. After three months the place started to be boring. I asked Nicki to come over when I was nearing completion and she did. 

Japan

I have been to Japan many times and in different companies. One of the longer project is in Kashima, Japan about 20 miles east of Tokyo. The nuclear reactor accident in 2011 is in Fukushima which is very close to Kashima. Being a small town I am able to observe the Japanese people and how they live. The town is small but very clean. In three weeks there I did not see a single piece of paper on the street. The taxis do not accept tip nor any service places. I feel safe walking at night. I saw a kendo class with small kids. They take this sport seriously. The food- ah the food is quite different. Morning breakfast have items that I do not recognize but they seem edible but not so tasty. Thank goodness there are western items like eggs, bacon, butter and such. The rooms are small by our standard. We take a taxi to work which is just a few miles away. The Japanese cafeteria is interesting. There are always two lines: one for chinese food and one for japanese food. They give us a food coupon everyday. Lunch is pretty quick and you have to eat fast. This is because the next bunch of workers are waiting. There are plenty of restaurants in the town of Kashima, all of them Japanese. There is a pizza place though. There is no hamburger joint, fried chicken or any of the fast food place we see in the US. Its okay I do not miss this fast food places anyway. In Kashima there is this huge building that looks important. I asked one of the Japanese engineers what it is. He said it is a public spa. One can go there and take a bath. And this is for both men and women. I thought of going there but changed my mind. One I was with a colleague from Singapore who has an Indian look. We were walking behind the hotel looking for a place to eat. There is this building with a price sign in yen and some japanese characters. I knock on the close door and a japanese head popped out. He said in a surly way, Japanese only! I was taken aback not knowing what he is saying. Next day I asked my japanese colleague again. Oh, he said, that is a whorehouse. Right in the middle of town in a large building and for Japanese only. Quite racist, isn't it?

Europe

I have been to Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Portugal for work. Belgium is cold. We enjoyed eating their favorite dish- mussel and fresh fries. Ingestadgt, Germany's best food is greek food from restaurants. Germans like a lot of sausage though. Bergen, Norway is barren where our hotel is in the middle of nowhere. You have to drive miles to get to a decent restaurant. Alex and I took this small road and after a few miles it ended in a house. The owner coming with his sheep was not too happy to get out of the road for us to drive out. 
Gottenburg, Sweden is a small town where Volvo has half a dozen plant. Sweden is quite cold even if it is not winter. They have good sole of dover in some restaurants but that is just about it. Sines, Portugal food is very salty. How can this people eat that? 

Sicily

I went to Sicily several times staying in Siracusa. This town is very old, perhaps 7,000 years old. This is where lived and died when the Romans invaded it. I was with a colleague from Wales, Alex. Alex and I have a good time working on this project. The good time is from eating and drinking italian food and drinks. We both rented brand new Alfa Romeos and both of us bang it a bit here and there. It was a good idea to get full car insurance. The town itself is very old with very narrow streets. 

One weekend we flew to Malta which is about an hour by plane. The Knights of the Templar evacuated from Europe to Malta fighting the Ottoman. They built a fort and there was a siege. The Ottoman won and the Templars abandoned the city. There is an empty metal holder in the church with a description of it holding the hand and arm of John the Baptist. It was moved back to Europe for safekeeping but nobody knows where it is today. There is a beautiful large painting of Caravaggio. Alex and I were driving around Malta and saw this old church. We stop and went in. At the front was a small room. There was a big bomb in one corner. The caption said that the Nazi bomb the city of Valleta. 300 people were inside the church when this big bomb fell. It hit the top of the churce which is made of glass and it went thru and fell on the floor. It skidded and roll to the side to the horror of the 300 people inside. But miraculously the bomb did not explode. 

Caracas, Venezuela used to be a beautiful and progressive city. Today it is in ruins, no jobs, no progress. Thanks to the dictator who took over and screwed it up. 

Kuwait

The only country I visited in the Middle East is Kuwait. I went there before and after the Desert Storm war. I saw a wall peppered with bombs and display of all the equipment that was burned. They are very strict in allowing people to go in and out of the refinery. You have to go thru the security gate, somebody files an application for you (I get to see my name spelled in Arabic), you get a tag and you get in. This is done everyday. Well gasoline is about 15 cents a gallon. And it is so hot. It was about 115F. 

People anywhere in the world have the same aspiration. They want education for their children, a house to live it and a comfortable life. Most of the people I met are like me. They are professionals and work hard. But sometimes their government does not allow them to exploit to the fullest their opportunity. In Brazil I asked them if their salary went up to offset the oppressive inflation. They said no it did not. I ask how they can afford to go out and eat in a restaurant for example? They say they don’t do that anymore.

Malaysia

Malaysia is unique with majority of the people being Muslim and minorities are Chinese, Tamil, and Europeans. No beer in the Malaysian restaurant but I just walk over across to the Chinese grocery, get my beer and bring it over to my table. I took Nicki to Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan and she loved it. She even marveled at the marauding monkeys who invaded our hotel room and stole our food. The women in Malaysia rides a scooter with both feet on one side, not straddling it. How feminine is that. They still wear this garb over the head covering I think the lips but not the eyes. We drove one weekend to Terranganu about 100 miles north near the Thailand border. Not much to see there but a small town with store stands. Nicki and I went to a museum. I was surprise that some of the Tagalog words like sandata, punyal are Malaysian words too. There was a huge painting showing the seven datus from Malasia migrating north to the Philippines.