I always wonder what an Anime production company’s office looks like and this time there is a look into Production I.G. Thankfully Danny Choo has gone into this Anime Company and taken a look at their offices and how they work. Production I.G. have made some well known anime and one of my favorite being Sengoku Basra, and they are currently making Sengoku Basra 2 which I am very much looking forward to watching as soon as its out. I always thought that it would be very cool to work in an Anime Studio

They are also responsible for one of the greatest anime movies of all time, Ghost In the Shell! I even remember watching it on a Manga Video when I bought it from Tower Records in Whiteleyes in Bays Water, London. That used to be my main source for videos back in the early 90s, I would walk to the basement and pile up some videos from the anime section. They even have their own cafeteria so I’m assuming the company is doing pretty well. I wish they would sell some of those art cels, I would buy them in a heartbeat, they would be very cool on a wall, I have seen one restaurant with anime cels and I wish I could take them off the wall.

Link: Culture Japan

London is a very inviting city, easy to walk around day and night, and its pretty camera friendly, I would point my camera and nobody would really notice. The weather was really nice to walk around all day and night, even when it was a little cold it was still fun to walk outside. The best part in late November is that they started putting up Christmas decorations in all the major streets and some of them were beautiful.

It gave a really festive feeling throughout London and you could feel people going crazy making sure they get their Christmas shopping done. The mistake I made those days was whenever I would see it being a sunny day I would assume it would be warmer, I would dress lightly and head out only to realize that it is even colder then when it was cloudy the day before. Some many good places to eat while we were there, and the food in London is just amazing, almost every cuisine tastes fantastic there. Luckily I left London before the snow storm came in, but I would still enjoy walking around in London.

Usually when landing into the UAE any European, American, and Canadian can get Visa upon arrival, but the case has changed in regards to Canadians. The UAE government will be announcing that all Canadians need to apply for a Visa at their Embassy for pre-approval and they may not necessarily get it.

The story behind this is that Emirates Airlines requested to open to new routes to Canada, landing in Montreal and Otawa which the Canadian Government refused. They said that they already land in Toronto which is enough. The Canadians said they have enough traffic and they don’t want anymore.

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want more direct routes to the Middle East on an excellent airlines. But the UAE Government wasn’t taking this laying down.

For a while I have been wanting to go to the Zoo in London, even in San Diego if I had a chance. I want to see a bunch of funny animals roaming about and taking a look at these amazing creatures. And I have recently had the urge to see Penguins, and I know they have at the London Zoo.

I haven’t been to London Zoo for at least 5 to 8 years, I honestly can’t remember the last time I was there but I was really excited to go. Being winter I didn’t have high expectations but I had a lot of fun walking around seeing all these funny animals that couldn’t give a damn that I was staring at them, and some would stare back and walk up to me like those pink birds that I don’t even know what they were but they seemed friendly and walked funny. The owls were sound asleep when I got over to their section but one opened his eyes when I snapping pictures and looked really annoyed, owls really look like they are full of wisdom and have something smart to say, but I left them alone to continue with their sleep.

The penguins seemed to be having a lot of fun together and seagulls were annoying them and keep diving into the water. Some would swim closer to me because I was the only person there. The funniest bird I have seen yet is this furry looking chicken, I walked over to the kids section and some animals roam about like lamas, and I saw this chicken running around between peoples legs and he is big and very furry, strange chicken.

I kept on walking around to the different sections but not everything was open because it was winter but I loved it, London Zoo was a fun visit with all these animals. I especially enjoyed the parakeet that was annoyed at me and squawked a few times, makes me want a pet parakeet, he just looked so colorful and I bet would be an entertaining companion.

(A LOT of pictures below)

Previously I posted about the issues that Wataniya Airways are going through and that have caused them to drastically change their operations and let go of quite a few people. My preference when flying around the Middle East is still Wataniya Airways and I had a trip to Dubai so I just check Wataniya and book the flights that were available.

Its still the same good service that I am used but the flight times or frequent number of flights changed. Now its only twice a day to Dubai, I hope they don’t change that either. The ground staff is just as friendly, and the plane staff are just as good, the plane was about 70% empty but its a Saturday flight so I wasn’t expecting it to be full.

But you can feel the atmosphere at the airport, it feels desolate and people are not in the best of spirits. Honestly I’m just going to keep flying Wataniya Airways as they are my preferred airlines, and I hope they get back in shape and plane more routes.

I took the late night flight on British Airways back to Kuwait, I left when it was -1 and I was still enjoying London but work was piling up. For the past week I have been catching up with work, and handling a ton of meetings. Running around all over town from meeting to meeting, and only catching up with emails at the end of the night exhausting. I know this doesn’t seem like it will be changing any time soon. I’m looking forward to this weekend to wind down a bit.

While at Terminal 5 I went and got my VAT Refunds, surprisingly if the amount your receiving is more then 1000 pounds the store has to fax the Refund Department in the Airport, so I had a little mix up to handle. I have to say that they were very efficient, they handled my little issue and were processing my paper work very quickly, since they didn’t have a large amount to give in British Pounds they gave it to me in Euros. I enjoyed walking around Terminal 5 and its always fun walking around the stores and checking different places out.

As soon as I landed I was finishing up a few meetings, and getting some work done. People were right the weather has been lovely all week and I hope it continues like that for the next few months, at least until May.

We are sorry to have to inform you that with effect from 5 December 2010, we will no longer operate flights from Kuwait to Amman, Bahrain, Damascus and Jeddah. In addition, we will reduce the frequency of services to Dubai.

This is a very sad day, I was honestly shocked when I heard this information about Wataniya Airlines. I thought things were picking up, they opened up the new routes in Europe and people went crazy during Eid. It just felt like things were coming together for Wataniya Airlines and I was looking forward to flying on it more then before, but turns out they were in more trouble then anyone knew. They stopped 4 destinations, planning to rent out several of their planes, shut down their call center, downsize and fire a large majority of their employees. This is just a shocking step for such an amazing airline, and I completely depend on it for my flights in the Middle East and now I have to go back to either Emirates or Jazeera. Emirates have good service but very high prices, I got used to the spacious planes of Wataniya Airlines. Jazeera are cheap but lots of delays, no flexibility, a fee charged for every little thing, and a huge fee is charged for normal changes. I was honestly very proud of Wataniya Airlines as a Kuwaiti brand but now its in trouble and I really hope they get their act back together soon so we can keep on traveling with them.

The weather in London the last few days I was there it kept dropping below zero and popping back up, floating between two and three degrees, and I would still sleep with the window a bit open at night. The one thing about London is that I always feel like walking around from place to place, I loved that I had gloves, my beanie on and enough clothing to keep me warm while I’m walking. As I was walking home I spotted a Lamborghini LP-560 Roadster parked up front, and I have to say that there was something very sexy about that machine in this weather, and it looked nice and clean, I knew the guy was just visiting because I didn’t see him earlier in the day. I loved the exhaust note when he started it up, I could hear it from the living room, and off he went in the lovely cold weather.

Han from Turkey was to the rescue when I need to get to Old Bond Street quickly and I couldn’t find a Taxi and walking wouldn’t be fast enough. I was about 30 minutes walk from the Old Bond Street and I knew the way but there was no way I would make it in time. I got in the back of Han’s tricycle which is the first time I get in the back of tricycle taxi in London. The guy kept talking about how much he enjoyed London, and he knew his way around town.

I negotiated the price to 10 pounds from 12 pounds but ended up giving him a 3 pound tip. Keeping in mind the guy was pushing really hard and he over took cars at any stop light we really made it there in 10 minutes. Its insane how hard it is to find cabs these days, they are always busy, it takes up to 30 minutes to find a black cab and there have been times where I just walk the distance even if it takes 45 minutes and by then it isn’t worth it to get in a cab. And I think half of the Kuwaiti population came to London during the Eid Vacation, they were everywhere.

London is cold as usual, it ranges between 4 to 11 degrees depending the time of day and some times it rains. I love walking around in this weather. I think I’m averaging between 9 to 11 Kms a day of walking, some days I walk for hours and some days I walk because I can’t find a taxi to go home. A lot of people are going Christmas shopping crazy so you can’t find empty cabs, and I think its a little too early for Christmas shopping but its just amazing to walk. I carry my umbrella with me just in case it starts pouring but its still fun to walk around. After plugging in the local microsim into my iPad I carry it with me while walking around and I usually use my Android phone to look up directions, info, or movie times but when ever I make a stop I have my iPad just in case.