Mon, 28 Nov 2005
Nagarjuna Sagar
The Transporter asked if I would like to take a road trip this weekend to see Nagarjuna Sagar. I knew sagar meant lake, but I didn't know what Nagarjuna was. He explained in a bit of broken English that it was the where Buddha was from. At Nagarjuna I'd see Buddha's home. Well, it wasn't actually Buddha's birthplace, but I didn't think the Transporter was trying to mislead me. He told me to eat a big breakfast and get the hotel to pack me a sandwich and we'd head out. He said it would take a while to get there because sometimes "the highway" was busy. It turned out to be about a three hour drive down a (barely) two lane road. It was actually pretty thrilling because The Transporter kept trying to open up the Chevy and he got to practice his evasive maneuvers around slower traffic- and even oncoming traffic at times (why do trucks and busses like driving at oncoming cars?). Eventually we got to practice high-speed livestock aversion driving. It was kind of interesting to finally see the countryside. There were a few villages on the way and I knew that the language had changed from mostly Hindi and some Telegu to exclusively Telegu- even the road signs changed. We finally got to the area we wanted to go to and it is a huge lake. I thought for some reason it would be like the lake between Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Hussain Sagar. But no, this was a huge lake that looked manmade. There was a big earth dam that we couldn't drive across so we went around it to an even bigger dam. That's how they made the lake on the Krishna River. We parked the car and took a boat out to the island out in the middle of the lake where the museum was. It was about a 30-45 minute boat ride, and I got to hear from some passengers who wanted to practice their English with me more about the lake, the dam and the museum. The conversation was a bit surreal though:
... there's more to read here ...
28 Nov 03:02 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Tue, 22 Nov 2005
Pimp my Tuk-tuk
So today I wanted to escape the confines of the hotel. So after my normal wakeup and exercise time in the hotel gym, I showered up and decided to wander off the hotel grounds. I grabbed the nearest autorickshaw, which is their name for a Thai tuk-tuk. The driver of mine had done his up in quite a fancy manner. He had put a velour type of header on the inside of the canopy with a pretty cool pattern. There was also the custom mirrors and some custom seat work. There was also a pic of some popular actress on the inside of the canopy as well- so I could stare at her if I didn't want to stare at the traffic. The best part was the kickin' stereo system, which the driver promptly cranked up with the most recent wicked rad' bumpin hindi tunez. Boo ya. Pimp my Tuk-tuk. Como se dice 'enchulame la maquina' en hindi? Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pics. I wound up going to this mall/department store and wandered around for a while. I didn't buy anything though. I did like the "food court" area at the top of the mall. I just followed the people up there- it seemed to be pretty popular. I grabbed a really nice kebab-n-roti combo plate. Afterwards I just wandered around the neighborhood for a while. It's a little dicey walking in the street though with all the traffic, so I just tried to walk in the middle of a crowd, if there was one. A different autorickshaw took me back to the hotel, it wasn't as tricked-out as the first. By now though it was the early afternoon and there was much more traffic on the road. I felt like I was going to pass out when we were at any stoplight- the pollution is that bad. Now I know why other Indian cities are trying to get the autorickshaws to replace their two-stroke motors w/ four-stroke CNG. I think getting the busses to do that would help a bunch too. But all in all I was glad I got to get out and see some of the city, even if it was the parts of town around the mall as it were. It was good to be out in the sun again- even if I did get a massive headache and respitory problems from the smog. Don't get me wrong- I'm not bitchin' I'm just trying to paint an accurate picture of what it's like here. The smog really makes an impression- and I thought Mexico DF had a lot of pollution. . . . I guess now that I have my sinuses back (hopefully it's not just temporary) I'm more aware of this. Well, I'm off to the office in a bit. I'm working over Thanksgiving, but I'm going to try to have a group dinner on Thursday. Yesterday I asked the team to confer amongst themselves and pick a restaurant. They emailed me back saying we were going to The Olive Garden. Fortunately I found out later that it's an Indian restaurant and has nothing to do with The Olive Garden in the US. Wheeee. 22 Nov 03:55 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Sun, 20 Nov 2005
Charminar and Golconda Fort
I put up some more pics on my flickr account. I'm not sure I like flickr, but it'll do for now. I'll move the better pics to this site when I get back to the US. Anyway, the pics are of Golconda Fort, Hussain Sagar, Birla Temple and Charminar. I spent most of Saturday tooling out at Golconda Fort. It's a pretty cool site. I'd highly recommend a visit out there if you ever get the chance. After the sun goes down they have a "light show", which is a show consisting of the telling of the history of the fort with music (from a tape/cd) while they light up the various parts of the fort with floodlights. It's actually quite nice. I got to see the sundown from up top which was great. The only downside was the smoke from the day's grassfires. I think you can even see the smoke in some of my pics. But all in all, Golconda's a very impressive place. Oh, there was another weird bit- when you're at the very top building of the fort- you can climb up to the roof terrace. But there's only one stairwell. So when you go in the stairwell (which isn't lit- remember you're up there as the sun's going down) you have to mind the people trying to come down the stairwell. Now there isn't really a nice sense of decorum with crowds at sites here. Let's just say a guy my size, trying to go up a tiny stairwell displaces smaller people who try to pass by in the stairs. I hope they liked the free belly rubs. It was a bit scary though, but I made it both up and back. Today I spent most of the day at Charminar, which is also impressive, but in a different way. It's in the historic center of Hyderabad. I've heard it referred to as the Arc de Triomphe of the East. In a way, it's quite similar. Fortunately at Charminar, there are separate stairwells for going up and down to the top. A queue does build up to go back down though, so you still have to be careful with all the people. Oh, one cool thing- Abdul the driver (aka The Transporter) took me to his favorite tea shop for a quick cup. The place was packed, so we had tea and biscuits in the car. It was great tea. I can't remember the name of the place, but it rhymes with cauliflower (Neaflour? Neiflour?). I'll get the name and remember it though. I'm pretty sure it was an Irani type cafe and our tea was either Indian or Irani with a bit of sugar and milk. Quite nice. I had asked The Transporter about the type of tea where they pour it from pitcher to pitcher in extended arms to whip it up with air and make it thicker. He was surprised I knew about it and promised to take me to another cafe before work sometime to try that kind. Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow which means I won't be able to do much touristy stuff. But I'll try to do some things during the daytime this week. 20 Nov 11:28 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Fri, 18 Nov 2005
Feeling a bit better
I'm almost recovered from the cold/flu/cough. It's been tough to get rid of whatever it is I caught. Today's Friday, last day of work. Well, I work until 2am Saturday morning, then I'll go home. Tomorrow I'm supposed to switch rooms at the hotel for some reason, then I'll go out with Abdul, my driver, to finally see some of the tourist spots- Golconda Fort being the main one. I'll try to get some shopping in too.
... there's more to read here ...
18 Nov 02:00 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Tue, 15 Nov 2005
Update from HYD
Just a quick update tonight. I caught a cold last week and a had a sore throat as well. I'm mostly recovered. A lot of people in the office have been sick and I think I caught "the fever" from them. They attribute it to the sudden change in weather. By that, they mean the recent shocking drop in temp to 85F-ish during the day and 77F at night. I'm not sure about that. . .but okay. Due to me being ill, I haven't done anything since getting here. I don't think I left the hotel at all this weekend. I should be getting out more this week though so I'll be getting a better image of where I am. So far all I've seen is the nice hotel and the office. Speaking of the office- my hours here are a bit odd as well. I'm working from 5pm-2am while I'm here. So not only am I jetlagged, I'm just flat out tired too from being up late.
... there's more to read here ...
15 Nov 17:24 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Sun, 13 Nov 2005
Mis Padres estan en Argentina
My parents went to Argentina again today. They're going to be hanging out and visiting their friends and most likly will be trying the great food at La Cabrera. Mmmm. I wish I were there. 13 Nov 04:09 | /travel/argentina | 0 comment(s)
Quick Movie Roundup
On the flight over to India I couldn't sleep. I managed to get in a few hours, but it was not easy. There were too many babies making noise and people just being loud. But Singapore Air has individual monitors and movies on demand at each seat. So I took advantage.
Bewitched - 0Shit sandwich. Whomever made this should be caned publicly in Singapore. The Wedding Crashers - *
Yawn. So predictable. I thought this was supposed to be a good movie? Why did so many people run to see it this summer? Good lord people. Btw- there's a scene in this movie that's replayed in the next one in my lineup. Coincedence? I'm only giving this one star because there's brief nudity. And Walken. Mr. and Mrs. Smith - 0
Yawn. How did I watch this and not fall asleep? Why did Vince Vaughan repeat lines from The Wedding Crasher (or vice versa)? The War of The Worlds - **
A bit better than the other flicks. But why do they need a narrator to explain things? I wonder if Dakota Fanning will convert to the cult- ya know, Scientology. . .Speaking of, aren't there other child actors? Oh, and what was the deal with the boy in this flick? Didn't he die? Then why was he alive at the end? Stupid. Minority Report - ***
I still like this movie. I forgot about some of the more dumb things in it, but Spielberg did a good job. He loves the gray tones in this. Remember, in teh future. . . everyting is dey gray! Be Cool - *
Holy crap, another Vince Vaughn movie? Uggh. One star for Uma. I'm pretty sure I watched more movies on the flights, I just can't remember them. I've been so tired. . . .
13 Nov 03:44 | /movies | 0 comment(s)
Thu, 10 Nov 2005
I'm in India
Just a quick update, I'm too tired to write much. SFO-HK-SING-HYD will wear you out. Especially if there're screaming babies on the flight. Uggh. Got in last night around 9, went to the hotel to drop off bags, changed, went to the office. Worked until 2am (the normal shift there). Shocked that everyone works late here, in all offices. Not just ours. . .Got home at 3am, slept. Woke up thought, ah, what a nice morning. Turned on the tv for the morning news while I made some tea and read the paper. Then I realized I wasn't watching the morning news, but the afternoon news. I had slept until after 3pm. 12+ hours! Eek! Went to the office before 5pm, left at 3ish (uggh). It's almost 4 now. I'm going to bed. 10 Nov 16:20 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
Fri, 04 Nov 2005
Going To India
I'm going to Hyderabad India on Monday night (Tuesday morning) for a work trip. I'll be there until the first or second week of December. I'll still do the blog updates and I should have pictures up from there soon. If any of you use Skype, send me an email with your username. If not, I'll still be on Yahoo! IM a lot and checking email- but just at different times than I normally do. 04 Nov 12:43 | /travel | 0 comment(s)
