An extended outing to the popular Jaya Pub was however the only fun I had, a sure sign that I'm getting older - or wiser - or possibly both. After the Fair in Jakarta I visited customers in Surabaya, Semarang and Solo. I had to skip Bandung because of overload of the Agansa Staff with other sales personnel. So, I had to shift my flight by a week, but when I showed up at the Jakarta Airport, there was no flight to Doha and I discovered that I was a day too early! Eventually on Sunday night all went well and I was back home by Monday morning. The discovery that the next day was a Public Holiday was, after 4 weeks without a real brake, a welcome surprise!

CHINA (Jenny Zhu) INDIA (Rieter India) TURKEY (Onur Coruh) SOUTH KOREA (Benjamin Paik) JAPAN (Hattari San)  MALAYSIA (Mr. Tan) INDONESIA ("Agansa Boys") PHILLIPINES (Raul Manapat) VIETNAM (Fredy Wu)

Far Eastern Run
June / July 2012

I proceeded with Hanain Airlines from Brussels via Beijing to Shanghai to attend ITMA Asia. My 3rd trade fair this year! Next stop Seoul (South Korea), where Benjamin Paik subjected me again to floor sitting lunches. Going down is not easy standing up after an hour a very difficult task! Osaka, Japan, was the next stop and Hattori San took me on long tour by car and trains to remote customer sites on Shikoku (Matsuyama).

It was always very entertaining, confusing but fun with him. We had a fair dinner on my 70th birthday, but did not managed to get pissed! A bad Omen? Then I flew via Beijing to Kuala Lumpur to meet "Mr.Tan". A very awkward and time consuming routing. With Tan I enjoyed Malaysia, where we have some interesting prospects. Finally via Dubai back home.

During the last trips I got a lot of pain, extending down my right hip and leg. Walking became increasingly difficult and even standing a short time resulted in unbearable pains. tests at the University Hospital in Zürich showed a disc dislocation and a cortisone injection should do the trick! Unfortunately at the start of my trip to Indonesia the pains returned but at less intensity and I could "manage". Then to Bangkok where we had our Agent`s Meeting. Walter Kiechl also joined to present our new generation of products, mainly the VisionShield XSpect. The meeting went well and the next day I got off to Vietnam where I spent another week in Ho Chi Ming City (Saigon), still handicapped by pains in the hip and lower back. Anyway, I survived and on my travel home the pains became more bearable (maybe I got used to it!?, so the next stop will be Mumbai in ten days! This is the last run before Christmas Holidays.

Off I went to Mumbai, ignoring my considerable pains in my legs and back. From Mumbai we went first to Wing to visit Rieter India Pvt. In Pune my condition got worse and when I was trying to enter one of the old fashioned busses, the high entry-step did the final damage! I could no longer walk and Yuecel Yilderim was carrying me around in a wheelchair. I canceled my attendance to the ITM Mumbai and got a booking for a flight next night. From Pune I drove with the Yücel to Mumbai. I managed to navigate the airport in a wheelchair and boarded the plane via the catering vehicle with it's lift. In Zürich I checked in to the Triemli Hospital and got surgery, performed by Dr. med. Massimo Alessandro Leonardi, very fast since there was a danger of a permanent paralysis. As I always say, just in time!

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