Friday, March 7, 2008
Last Day
Well, today is my last day here in Bangalore and I must say that I had a great time. I was very lucky to have a great driver and meet some great friends at work. The hotel staff was also great and they made my stay enjoyable even though the hotel is little too posh for me.
Last night the guys bought me a Sherwani and I promised them I would wear so they could get a picture of me. I have posted the picture for all of you to see. The guys said was a styling but you can decide. It was pretty comfortable and I thought I looked good in it. I real
ly appreciated the gift even though I got a little embarrassed. Anyone who knows me knows that is just how I am.Anyway, I will truly miss the guys that I work with here and Lawrence the driver. Goverdahn, Sushant, Sandesh, and Nagadrena were nothing but great to me and they made sure I enjoyed my stay. Those guys will always be friends of mine and I plan on staying in touch with them for a long time. Maybe one day we can get them to the US so I can repay the favor and make them feel at home. Anyway, here are some more pics. See everyone on Saturday night!
Right Pic: Sushant and I (he is in a meeting)!Bottom Pic: Left to right is Nagendra, Sandesh, me and Goverdahn.
Going out to the Movies with the Fellas
On Thursday, the fellas and I decided to head out to the movies. The plan was to leave work at a reasonable time to make the 8:10pm showing of Vantage Point at theater in th
e mall. The nice thing about here in India is you can actually select the seats that you want instead of the mad rush that happens in the US.
All was well and we left work. Sushant, Goverdhan, and I headed out the cab while Sandesh rode with Nagendra on his motorcycle. We actually left a little earlier than Sandesh and Nagendra but that did not matter. Lo and behold, Bangalore traffic had something else planned for us. We hit the hugest traffic jam trying to cross a railroad. The drivers don't make much easier nor do the lorries. Everyb
ody is trying to get through and all that happens is everyone gets jammed up.
I think we were stuck there for about 45 minutes and then we got through. We were still confident that all would go well because we had assigned seats and we would only miss the previews. Wrong again! The theater had something else in store for us. They would not let us bring in out backpacks with laptops. We ran around the mall trying to find a place to
store them to no avail. In the end, we missed the movie.
So what to do next? We decided to go have some dinner at the Hotel Empire. Again, a place where you eat with
your hands. We had a good time there just chatting and eating. After that, we hung outside for a bit chatting some more than called it a night.
I still had a great time with the guys even though we did not make the movie. We certa
inly tried our best but stuff happens. Anyway, these guys are great and I enjoyed just hanging out with them for the night. I have attached some pictures of us and the mall and eating. Enjoy!
e mall. The nice thing about here in India is you can actually select the seats that you want instead of the mad rush that happens in the US.All was well and we left work. Sushant, Goverdhan, and I headed out the cab while Sandesh rode with Nagendra on his motorcycle. We actually left a little earlier than Sandesh and Nagendra but that did not matter. Lo and behold, Bangalore traffic had something else planned for us. We hit the hugest traffic jam trying to cross a railroad. The drivers don't make much easier nor do the lorries. Everyb
ody is trying to get through and all that happens is everyone gets jammed up.I think we were stuck there for about 45 minutes and then we got through. We were still confident that all would go well because we had assigned seats and we would only miss the previews. Wrong again! The theater had something else in store for us. They would not let us bring in out backpacks with laptops. We ran around the mall trying to find a place to
store them to no avail. In the end, we missed the movie.So what to do next? We decided to go have some dinner at the Hotel Empire. Again, a place where you eat with
your hands. We had a good time there just chatting and eating. After that, we hung outside for a bit chatting some more than called it a night.I still had a great time with the guys even though we did not make the movie. We certa
inly tried our best but stuff happens. Anyway, these guys are great and I enjoyed just hanging out with them for the night. I have attached some pictures of us and the mall and eating. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Dinner with the Fellas
On Tuesday night, the guys I work with took me out to a restaurant called Samarkand. It was awesome experience and the food was great. The cuisine is based on the Mughals and I definitely tore it up. The chicken was so good and there was this sauce that was nice and spicy. I could handle eating at the place all of the time.
The only thing that might get some people is eating with your hands. The restaurant will provide silverware if you ask but hey, just do what everyone else is doing. I ate with my hands and I had a great time. Here are couple of picks of the guys (Nagendra, Sushant, Sandesh, and Goverdhan) and I.
We ate a ton of food and then had some desert. I had some ice cream made from almonds that was pretty darn good. I also took my turn with digging into everyone else's deserts as well. Sandesh had this pie that was made out of dates and all other fruits that were smashed together and covered with wheat crust. I must admit that it was great as well. To finish the night off we had this thing that helps with digesting the food. I don't know what it is called but it did the trick.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
They swarm
Man, I got to remember to put on bug spray everyday. I just walked out on to my balcony and I got about 15 mosquito bites in about 2 minutes. This place is worse than Ft. Polk, LA.
Missing home
Today, Sunday, I really started to miss home. I had a good time watching the cricket match, India won by the way and they need one more win to win the Cup and under 19 Indian cricket team beat South Africa for the Cup, but after that I really started to miss home.
What I really miss is my wife, my cats, and being at home with them. I miss spending time with them and I miss American TV. I don't mind watching TV here but there is not a lot of programming on that I like so it gets old quick. I also miss my car and the freedom of being able to go wherever I want whenever I want to go. I also miss my friends, my Sister and nephews, my co-workers and US traffic.
Oh well, I am just complaining and I will get over it. Anyway, I come home on Saturday so I just need to get over it. I was just feeling this way because I was off. Once I am back to work on Monday all will be fine.
What I really miss is my wife, my cats, and being at home with them. I miss spending time with them and I miss American TV. I don't mind watching TV here but there is not a lot of programming on that I like so it gets old quick. I also miss my car and the freedom of being able to go wherever I want whenever I want to go. I also miss my friends, my Sister and nephews, my co-workers and US traffic.
Oh well, I am just complaining and I will get over it. Anyway, I come home on Saturday so I just need to get over it. I was just feeling this way because I was off. Once I am back to work on Monday all will be fine.
Being bad tastes so good
I was determined to be respectful to the people of India so I was not going to eat any beef while I was here. I did not want to have somebody serving me beef who is totally against eating beef. In case you didn't know the cow is sacred in India. Well, I couldn't take it anymore so I ordered a burger from room service. I figured that if I ate in my room I wouldn't feel as bad for eating beef. I still feel bad but the burger sure tasted good. Now that I got my beef fix I am pretty sure I can make it until I get home on Saturday.
Since I am talking about food I will go into the menus. Most menus will have a "veg" and "non-veg" menu. Some people will eat chicken and it can be found in most restaurant menus. As a matter of fact when I went last night to have a beer with Sandesh at the local sports bar, Amoeba, I had some spicy crispy chicken strips. They were darn good, nice and spicy and made my nose run.
Another thing that seems funny is the Pizza Hut, KFC, and TGI Friday's that are down the street from hotel. They always appear to be busy so I guess people here like it. I am not sure how the food is because I haven't eaten at any of them but you can click on the names to check out the menu if you like (except for KFC because I can't seem to find a menu on the net). I will try and snap some pictures of them and post them. That is it for now.
Since I am talking about food I will go into the menus. Most menus will have a "veg" and "non-veg" menu. Some people will eat chicken and it can be found in most restaurant menus. As a matter of fact when I went last night to have a beer with Sandesh at the local sports bar, Amoeba, I had some spicy crispy chicken strips. They were darn good, nice and spicy and made my nose run.
Another thing that seems funny is the Pizza Hut, KFC, and TGI Friday's that are down the street from hotel. They always appear to be busy so I guess people here like it. I am not sure how the food is because I haven't eaten at any of them but you can click on the names to check out the menu if you like (except for KFC because I can't seem to find a menu on the net). I will try and snap some pictures of them and post them. That is it for now.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Cruisin around Bangalore with Lawrence
Today, Law
rence took me around Bangalore to see some sights and do some shopping. We had a great time even though the traffic was just as bad as any other day. I got to see a lot more of Bangalore than I usually see and I was able to pick up some gifts for the family. Oh yeah, I was also finally able to get some chapstick. I took a ton of stuff that I will never use and forgot the one thing that I would need, lip balm. It only cost 20 rupees so I am not complaining because that is a little more than 50 cents.
A funny story on that. I went to the concierge desk to ask if they had chapstick or if they knew where I could get some. I was talking to the lady there and when I asked her she
seemed like she didn't understand what I was talking about so I started to go into the whole thing about my lips are in pain, and dry and crusty. She let me go on for awhile like an idiot and then she finally said, "Sir, I do know what lip balm is." I thought it was pretty funny because I looked like a typical foreigner but you probably had to be there.
Back to the story at hand. So Lawrence took me to get some gift shopping done. He took to a store that sells stuff for the home and miscellaneous stuff like rugs, bed covers, scarves, carvings, jewelry, tea and spices. The shopkeeper was great and he showed me all kinds of wonderful things. The rugs are beautiful and so are the scarves and carvings. I wanted to pretty much buy everything so I had keep putting stuff to the side so we could discuss the price when I was done.
Once I was done looking at everything it was time to figure out the price. Right off the bat, 800 bucks. I almost fell over. Things aren't as cheap here as I would like them to be so we had to start taking things away. I could tell he was getting frustrated with me because I just plain refused to pay the price that he wanted me to pay. What can I do? I am a cheapskate and I just couldn't imagine paying the price that he wanted me to pay plus I knew that if I did Michelle would give me a swift kick in rear for paying that much so we continued to haggle and work on the price.
No matter what I told him that I was willing to pay he kept quoting me a higher price. I understand that he needs to make money too but I argue just to argue and I wanted to see if I could get everything I liked for a cheaper price. I had to laugh because at one point he had to tell me that the price I wanted to pay was just not going to happen. I had fun with him anyway but was still unable to get all the things I wanted for the price I wanted to pay so I h
ad to leave without some items that I wanted. Oh well, maybe I can come back here again one day and get them.
After that, Lawrence wanted to take me to more places like the last one for shopping. I kept telling that shopping only irritates me and I don't enjoy at all but he insisted I just go in and look. I obliged and every store I walked into I just told them I wasn't going to buy anything so I was in and out quickly.
Once we got past that he took me to the local shopping so I could buy and idly stand to take home. An idly stand is used to make these little rice cakes. They taste so good and I wanted to be able to make them home so I was happy to be able to pick one up. The store wanted to sell me the biggest one they had but I kept telling them there was no way I could take it home and I needed a smaller one. Luck
ily they found me one and we were on our way.
The last thing I wanted to get was a Cricket jersey for the Indian National Cricket team. So we walked up and down the street while Lawrence kept asking everyone where we could find one. Nobody knew so I thought I was going to go home empty handed and I was fine with that. We hopped in the car and started to head back to the hotel.
I was telling the fellas that I work with that I wanted to get a jersey and they said I could probably only get it at a Nike store since Nike is licensed to make the jerseys. Lawrence and I had decided that we would try and find one before or after work next week. Luckily, out of the blue I saw a Nike store. Lawrence stopped the car, I ran in and walked out with my jersey.
The last thing I have is a video clip of us driving around. I tried to get Lawrence in the video but I didn't do a good job of it but you can still see him and hear him talking. The guy is great and I really enjoy talking to him and listening to everything he has to say about India.
As Ice Cube once said, "Today was a good day."
rence took me around Bangalore to see some sights and do some shopping. We had a great time even though the traffic was just as bad as any other day. I got to see a lot more of Bangalore than I usually see and I was able to pick up some gifts for the family. Oh yeah, I was also finally able to get some chapstick. I took a ton of stuff that I will never use and forgot the one thing that I would need, lip balm. It only cost 20 rupees so I am not complaining because that is a little more than 50 cents.A funny story on that. I went to the concierge desk to ask if they had chapstick or if they knew where I could get some. I was talking to the lady there and when I asked her she
seemed like she didn't understand what I was talking about so I started to go into the whole thing about my lips are in pain, and dry and crusty. She let me go on for awhile like an idiot and then she finally said, "Sir, I do know what lip balm is." I thought it was pretty funny because I looked like a typical foreigner but you probably had to be there.Back to the story at hand. So Lawrence took me to get some gift shopping done. He took to a store that sells stuff for the home and miscellaneous stuff like rugs, bed covers, scarves, carvings, jewelry, tea and spices. The shopkeeper was great and he showed me all kinds of wonderful things. The rugs are beautiful and so are the scarves and carvings. I wanted to pretty much buy everything so I had keep putting stuff to the side so we could discuss the price when I was done.
Once I was done looking at everything it was time to figure out the price. Right off the bat, 800 bucks. I almost fell over. Things aren't as cheap here as I would like them to be so we had to start taking things away. I could tell he was getting frustrated with me because I just plain refused to pay the price that he wanted me to pay. What can I do? I am a cheapskate and I just couldn't imagine paying the price that he wanted me to pay plus I knew that if I did Michelle would give me a swift kick in rear for paying that much so we continued to haggle and work on the price.
No matter what I told him that I was willing to pay he kept quoting me a higher price. I understand that he needs to make money too but I argue just to argue and I wanted to see if I could get everything I liked for a cheaper price. I had to laugh because at one point he had to tell me that the price I wanted to pay was just not going to happen. I had fun with him anyway but was still unable to get all the things I wanted for the price I wanted to pay so I h
ad to leave without some items that I wanted. Oh well, maybe I can come back here again one day and get them.After that, Lawrence wanted to take me to more places like the last one for shopping. I kept telling that shopping only irritates me and I don't enjoy at all but he insisted I just go in and look. I obliged and every store I walked into I just told them I wasn't going to buy anything so I was in and out quickly.
Once we got past that he took me to the local shopping so I could buy and idly stand to take home. An idly stand is used to make these little rice cakes. They taste so good and I wanted to be able to make them home so I was happy to be able to pick one up. The store wanted to sell me the biggest one they had but I kept telling them there was no way I could take it home and I needed a smaller one. Luck
ily they found me one and we were on our way.The last thing I wanted to get was a Cricket jersey for the Indian National Cricket team. So we walked up and down the street while Lawrence kept asking everyone where we could find one. Nobody knew so I thought I was going to go home empty handed and I was fine with that. We hopped in the car and started to head back to the hotel.
I was telling the fellas that I work with that I wanted to get a jersey and they said I could probably only get it at a Nike store since Nike is licensed to make the jerseys. Lawrence and I had decided that we would try and find one before or after work next week. Luckily, out of the blue I saw a Nike store. Lawrence stopped the car, I ran in and walked out with my jersey.
The last thing I have is a video clip of us driving around. I tried to get Lawrence in the video but I didn't do a good job of it but you can still see him and hear him talking. The guy is great and I really enjoy talking to him and listening to everything he has to say about India.
As Ice Cube once said, "Today was a good day."
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