Friday, April 07, 2006

Back from another trip ...

I just returned yesterday from another trip. This one to Hyderabad India. If I am counting right, this was my 7th trip to India. Never my favorite place, but I am getting pretty use to it!

Some interesting tidbits from this trip.
  • It takes nearly 24 hours to get there and get home. I fly San Francisco to Frankfurt to Hyderabad on Lufthansa.
  • The flights take significantly longer coming home as compared to going there. The San Francisco - Frankfurt leg is 10:35 going and 11:10 returning. The Frankfurt - Hyderabad leg is 8:45 and 9:45.
  • There is now wireless internet on the flight to and from Frankfurt and Hyderabad.
  • Hotels in India are really expensive. I paid $170 this time. Last time in Bangalore it was just over $200.
  • The weather is already pretty hot in Hyderabad. It was close to 100 degrees for the four days I was there. It will get hotter in the next couple of months! Bangalore is 5-10 degrees cooler.
  • They are building what the call Hi Tech City in Hyderabad. It is pretty amazing. The buildings are REALLY impressive. And all of the big names are there.
  • We just put up a very cool sign on top of our building. This was possible as we just completed the renaming of the legal entity there from STC Hyderabad Limited (when it was SeeBeyond) to Sun Microsystems Hyderabad Limited India.
  • The salaries are increasing pretty quickly for engineers. We pay 1/3 to 1/4 of what we pay in the US. But the pay is still amazingly low for what they would call the office staff. They make somewhere around $150 / month.
Glad to be home. No long trips planned in the near future. I will spend a couple of days in Monrovia next week and am expecting to get to Japan over the next couple of months but that is not yet scheduled. And my next trip to India is likely 5-6 months away:)