Thu, 15 Dec 2005
Another update
A lot of you asked a lot of questions about the trip. Here are my replies. What were your hours in the office there?
I was working the 5pm-2am shift, but usually was there a bit earlier and later. It actually helped with the jet lag. Did you like the trip?
Yes, but I'm glad I wasn't paying for it. I had a good time. I (usually) enjoy traveling. It was very interesting. I think I can sum it up by saying the work experience was extremely frustrating (the hours, the office experience there) but outside of work it was great. Would you go again?
Yes, although on my list of desired travel places/sites to go to, it's come down quite a bit in the rankings. If work wants to send me again, I'd go without hesitation. If I were paying for a vacation, then there are other places ahead of India in the queue to see first. Did you like the food? Are you sick of the food?
I like Indian food, I eat it a lot in SF. There are a ton of places in the Bay Area to choose from too. The 'real stuff' in India was even better. The spices seem brighter and fresher. That said- I quickly got tired of the heavier 'gravy-type curries' and turned to the tandoor specialties quickly. And I remembered to order the naan (if I had any) without 'butter'. Am I sick of it? Not really, but I'm not going to have any for quite a while. As an aside- most of the food there doesn't seem healthy at all. Another note- just because something's vegetarian doesn't mean it's lighter/healthier/better. )(That goes to the tourists I overheard in the city one day) You know what though- their Hyderabad Briyani with lamb kicks ass. How was the hotel?
Great. Almost too great. I was staying in a really nice place. But there aren't a lot of hotels in Hyderabad so they have the foreign travelers between a rock and an expense account. Was the pollution bad?
Holy shit yes. I thought I had been to polluted cities before but . . .On the first night after work when I was going back to the hotel in the car (at 3am) I thought- ah how nice, the temperature's cool enough here for fog. Then I realized it wasn't fog. Not only is there a lot of car pollution, but they're burning stuff constantly. There are always (intentional) grass fires and trash fires. Or charcoal fires for people to huddle around because it's so cold (68F) - like the security guards did outside a lot of the office buildings. You can see some of the grass fire smog in my pics from Golconda Fort. Oh, and I think I wrote about the other kind of trash/pollution here. Were the chix[sic] hot?
What chicks? I only saw a few in the office. They're all married too (which means they're invisible to me). Otherwise I didn't see any. I'm sure there are some hot ones around, but the whole place is like a giant gay bar (not that there's anything wrong with that - they're like Saudis- they (the men) hold hands, constantly touch each other)- no women around. There are some hot ones I'm sure, but in general the ladies stick together, or they're with their husbands, or they're stuck at home. How were the bars/pubs/clubs? See the above gay bar comment. The few bars I saw were like very lame gay bars (not that there's anything wrong with that). No women. Bad drinks. Bad drink 'specials'. Bad DJ's who were a bit full of themselves. Dorky guys who were all wearing the same outfit really- The outfit there is dress shoes, faded jeans, untucked Kurtya or dress-shirt, goofy Bollywood sunglasses (yes at night) and of course the 3 day stubble is de rigueur. Like this guy. So basically- the bars are goofy. But then again, it beats sitting in the hotel room. But then again, who gives a shit- I'm not a big clubber/bar guy anyway. Were there really cows on the road?
Yes, and goats too. Why aren't your pictures on this site?
Because I was having problems accessing the computers at my apartment (I think the power went out) and I usually organize them and then upload them to this site. So I tried to use flickr.com instead. In a way that might be better because my coworkers are always asking to see my pics. It may be better if they're not on this site in case they stumble onto this blog and then take offense at something in one of these posts. Disclaimer- yeah, I'm over-generalizing, so what. I'm not trying to be mean or offensive or make the US seem better, etc. I'm just trying to answer your questions. 15 Dec 09:17 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
