I felt well rested today. I actually got a solid 8 hours of
sleep and since we were meeting people at the office to go to dinner, I had a
little extra time to get ready today. I continue to be blown away by the
traffic here. Due to the ease of maneuverability I now see why there are so
many motorcycles on the road. Tonight it was raining out so the trip to the
office ended up being about an hour and fifteen minutes. I don’t know what it
is about the car rides to work, but I find myself getting so sleepy in them. Is
it possible to be lulled by all of the honking? I am started to think so.
I was excited to come into the office tonight and eat
somewhere outside of the hotel. My SSC co-worker Amit had invited the group out
for some traditional southern India food. It was a short walk from the office
and I was happy to hear that there was a café coffee day nearby. Since I have
been here, I haven’t had any coffee so it was definitely due.
The restaurant we went to was pretty small, but cozy. The
four of us were joined by Himraj and a Korean guy named Gene. Amit did the
honors and ordered for us. We had a lot of starters and for some reason I
missed the “starter” part because I thought the selections he had chosen were
actually the meal. There were four different starters. One resembled a fried
corn tortilla and had some onion and tomato mixture. I am not a big onion
person at all, but I did manage to eat about half of it. The other dishes were
chicken and very good. One thing I have noticed here is that when you finish
everything on your plate everyone gets the impression that you want more. Note
to self, don’t clear the plate unless you want another helping. Anyhoo, it was
interesting to see that the power had went out a couple of times while we were
in the restaurant. That has actually happened here in the hotel, and judging
from the look of the power lines here I think it is more common than not.
So, like I said, I was under the assumption that the
starters were the meal. Then I found out there were actually six meals coming.
OYE! The presentation was very interesting. They served the meal on a banana
leaf. Amit tried showing me how to eat it. The rice is poured in the center and
you decide which of the sauces you like and mix it all together with your
fingers. Something I still cannot manage to do. I mean, how do you eat rice
with your fingers? I opted for a fork. The food was delicious and I am getting
used to the fact that curd is served with nearly every meal.
Toward the end of the dinner my coworker began feeling ill.
He is diabetic and had waited too long to take his insulin. He and the four
others headed back to the office and Amit, Hemraj, and I went back and forth on
the bill. I insisted on paying for all six of us with my daily stipend that is
barely being used. After some resistance they gave in. I was surprised to learn
that for all six of us to eat the bill was less than 1300 rupees. Here at the
hotel a meal for one with tip is around 1100 rupees. Talk about over priced!
Anyhoo, Amit and I headed to Café Coffee Day, where I was once again surprised
at how cheap the drinks were. I ordered a cappuccino and later realized it
wasn’t so great. Oh well! Beggars can’t be choosey!
So aside from hearing that my coworker was still ill and had
to go to the hospital, the office was fun tonight. On the way back to the hotel
from the office I learned about Allen’s condition. His blood sugar was really
high and he had no choice but to go to the hospital…one thing I would have been
terrified of doing in a foreign country. Apparently everything was really clean
and he was the only patient in there. He had a urine analysis, which had to be
paid for before the test could be completed. In addition, he had an IV with two
saline bags and a doctor consultation. At the end of the hospital visit my
co-worker was given a list of items that were used on him and he had to go to
the pharmacy to replenish everything. Something that would have never happened
in the US. Can you imagine coming back with needles and IV, etc and a US
hospital actually accepting it? The whole visit ended up costing him only 500
rupees. Now that’s SWEET! That is like less than $11!! The same visit in the
US would have been several hundred $’s so that was interesting. Btw, he is
better now.:)
So, once I got back to the hotel I had to stay awake until
10am for my pada snana (spa pedicure), which only cost about $18. It is so
odd to be constantly greeted by a bow and hands pressed together. The spa
experience was great. I was given some detoxifying tea and a cold hand towel,
which I was unsure of what to do with it. Turns out I was supposed to use it to
cool my hands and face. Anyhoo, my pedi was given by a guy named Kumar and boy
was it relaxing. The Spa itself is really beautiful and has only been open for
about two weeks. The massaging chair I sat in had a place for me to set my tea
and the coolest leg rests. One thing I regret was forgetting my camera to take
pics of the room. The neat thing was Kumar explained everything that was going
to be used on me and it was neatly positioned on a tray in these cute little
clay dishes surrounded by rose petals. The balms, masks, and exfoliating items
were made from traditional Indian ingredients like patchouli, neem and clove
oil and were so very aromatic. It really was nice.
This was something I later took a pic of which was in the
middle of a water feature in the spa…
After my hour and a half pedi, I headed straight up to my
room and climbed into bed. It was a long day. During dinner (or in my case
breakfast) I decided to order a cappuccino from the coffee shop in the hotel. I
was so pleased!! It was about time I had some good coffee. At some point I am
going to figure out how to use the French press in my room though.
During
dinner it was nice to catch up with Allen and hear about the hospital
experience firsthand. Dinner again was superb!!! Tonight I had the Masaledar
Chole, which is chickpeas simmered with spices accompanied with India bread.
YUMM!!!
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