Well, night one proved to be a difficult one as far as sleep
went. While I had no difficulty actually sleeping, getting there was the
problem. Actually, I wouldn’t call it a problem considering I was perfectly
happy staying awake to talk to my love. I only wish we could have talked live
longer. The international calling card she picked up for me was short lived and
I am hoping I can find a place locally that will give me a better deal.
I ended up crashing shortly before 10am Bangalore time,
which is 9:30pm US. I set my alarm clock for 1:30pm and didn’t actually wake
until 3pm. The Ambien I had taken that morning left me feeling slightly groggy,
but I was excited to face the day. In my Taj bathrobe I stepped out onto the
balcony and took a wide yawn accompanied by a lengthy stretch. Flasher the cat
I almost became! Hehe. Anyways, it became really apparent how lucky I was to
have a hotel room with such good insulation and, not to mention, drapes! Once
my patio door opened the cilia of my little cochlea’s started to dance….ahh to
wake in a foreign land! I felt like I was in a honking horn cartoon for a
moment.
I came back inside and began the daunting task of unpacking.
Surprisingly it didn’t take too long. At the end of it all was a nice shower. I
really cannot get over this shower. It is all marble with two shower heads and
it is almost three times the size of my shower back home. One thing that I have
to concentrate on is the “keeping the mouth closed” part. “Don’t drink the
water,” my travel doctor kept drilling into my head! It never did occur to me
how much I take clean water for granted. I mean, it’s not like I drink gulps of
water in the shower, but I never had to think about keeping my mouth closed in
one before. Not even when I was on the border of Tijuana in the crappiest
“water up to your ankles” kinda shower. Come to think of it, nevermind…that is
a whole other story. ;)
So, after I was “ready” for the day I met my coworker Allen
downstairs at café Mosaic. Once again, I had the best meal. Damn, I love Indian
food. I had Kheema Pav, which is minced lamb with fresh spices cooked on a
griddle and accompanied with garlic naan. Can you say YUMMM?! There was a bit
of comedic laughter at breakfast when Allen mistook an Indian pepper for a
sugar snap pea. I have to admit that it was almost me. Anyways, it took him
nearly an hour to get the burning sensation out of his mouth and I don’t think
it helped that his rice dish was also spicy.
What wasn’t comedic was realizing that the red bull I decided to get
with my meal came out to be more expensive than the actual meal at a whopping
$11.25! And to make matters worse it was warm. Obviously ice is a no-no here so
I don’t know if you have ever tasted warm bull, but let’s just say it tastes
like bull piss. Not that I’ve ever tasted bull piss before, but I am pretty
sure it was similar to that of warm red bull. That would be $11.25 for a can of
bull piss. Anyways, you live you learn…
After our meal I tried to meet up with Vishal, but learned
that his mother was visiting from Bombay so the rickshaw ride would have to
wait. Moumita was also busy so Allen and I decided to explore MG road on our
own. I’ve got to tell you that this place seems like New York on crack.
Although I’ve never been to the city, it just seems like the best way to
describe it. The noise is unbelievable. In almost every spot of the street
something different stimulates your sense of smell. There is a lot of
construction going on everywhere, which has to do with the fact that the
population of the city has exploded and the city is having difficulty keeping
up with it. The sidewalks…sppshh what sidewalks! It is in complete disarray and
even though I am fully aware that I am in a foreign land I cannot help but
think about how this would not fly in the US. There are uneven walkways and
open manholes, which I was headed right toward. One big milestone of the
evening was crossing the street. Some of my coworkers come here and admit to
never crossing it. Perhaps we got lucky because it was Sunday and traffic was
not as heavy. Honestly it wasn’t that bad.
I found this to be somewhat comedic given the rules of the
road. Wait, did I say rules?
A parked auto rickshaw…
Notice the pink rabbit in the background. I have no idea
what that was all about.
Allen and I spent some time visiting some local clothing stores. He actually scored a nice blue kurta, which I picked out and a nice green dress shirt. All for $13! :) I actually just browsed and ended up only purchasing a couple of toy auto rickshaws for the kids back home. We both thought it would be a good idea to do some shopping when we have one of the locals with us. I couldn’t believe how much this one saree shop reminded me of the little kids in Tijuana following me around saying “chicklets chicklets!”
The fabrics here were so beautiful…
So, we made it safely back to the hotel. After some
refreshing in the room, we went down to the Ice Bar. I was really looking
forward to a nice cold IPA, but guess what??? No IPA’s here. Isn’t it Indian
Pale Ale? Well I met someone else from the states who told me I wouldn’t be
able to find any of that here. Bummer. I had to settle for a Kingfisher, which
tasted more like Bud Crap, I mean light. A couple of hours into conversation
and I forgot all about it because I ended up closing out my tab with four of
them coming to about 740 rupees. The bar
is really nice and I only managed to capture one shot, which shows you nothing.
My recommendation is to do the virtual tour to see what I am talking about
(link at the end of this blog).
Anyhoo, I have to actually go into work tomorrow, or tonight
around 9pm I think. I just learned that instead of only having to work one week
of nights my entire four weeks training is going to be on the night shift. Fun
fun fun. :)
Well hidey-ho until next time....
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