Apologies if this rambles a bit---it's been a wacky 48 hours. Bombay day #2 was great, headed over to New Bombay actually for our shoot--excellent interview. Crazy driving in Bombay. In fact, I'm convinced that all automobile travel in India would cease if the technology of the car horn didn't exist. Somehow we got to and from where we needed to be, then back to my hotel for another fabulous dinner, then a nap in the lobby before my overnight flight. Left for the airport at midnight, and even then the streets of Bombay were teeming. So much activity. Our 10 hour flight to London commenced at 3am, so already my body clock is all upside down. I slept well on the plane--woke up briefly as we flew over Tehran...a clear night, so I could see the well-lighted city very well, and also the stars--millions of them! Landed London Heathrow about 6:30am, then transfered to my flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. Got to a sunny but rather chilly Sofia about 3pm...me and almost all of my bags. Turns out my gear bags, with tripod and lights and chargers and such, didn't make the flight. And our interview with the customer was set for 10am the next morning. Fortunately, the magical Maggie, of the local Motorola office, was able to secure the necessary rental gear....with only 2 hours left in the business day! That was----Wednesday, right. So, she and our client Paula brought the gear to the hotel, and I was able to check it out and of course it was all great and I was relieved---until about 11pm, when the extreme need for pepto bismol kicked in with a vengence. And so I was up all night--stomach cramps and worse...a very unhappy system indeed. Fortunately, Thursday was an easy day--four interviews, all in the Motorola offices. Got done with them, got back to the hotel midday, and alternatively slept and kept an eye on the BBC. Why? Because the next stop on my production tour is supposed to be Tbilisi, Georgia--which has just declared a news blackout and a State of Emergency. So now it's Friday morning and the rising sun is just kissing the snow-capped peak of Vitosha Mountain, and it feels like the bad, bad stomach bug has passed, literally. And with reports in this morning's news about the current goings-on in Tbilisi....water canons and rubber bullets and tear gas and journalists being beaten and their gear confiscated or destroyed....we've decided that the Georgia leg of the journey is off. So it looks like Saturday is now a big travel day home.
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