Cruisin around Bangalore with Lawrence

Today, Lawrence 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 had 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. Luckily 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."