India 2008 – Power Sightseeing Weekend

So, we were some busy this weekend I haven't had time to write anything. So, I'm going to post some pictures on Facebook until I get some time (more than likely on the way home from India)

Team Dinner - Leela Palace

So, tonight I think I might have had the best dinner. It was the whole team and we went to Leela Palace. The place was so big I couldn’t get a picture so here is one from the web.



Here is some video that someone took while we were there, it's a little dark but you can get a better idea



Anyway, we had a nice table at a place called Jamavar. It was the best Indian food I had ever had and it stared with the biggest shrimp (Prawns) I have ever imagined. Really, they were so big I thought they were small lobsters without legs. I didn't take a picture of one but I should have.

I don’t really understand why but at lots of the restaurants are set menus. So you basically have 2 choices, veg or non-veg so I got non-veg of course. We toped off dinner with the first bottle of Indian wine I had. Overall it was a wonderful dinner.

Having a driver

OK, the whole drive thing. I guess the reason this is so strange is b/c in the states most people have cars and you do somewhere you just rent a car. At most you only use a cab if you’re someone like New York or need to do from point A to point B. Well, here when you get a car you get a drive. Oh, and the drive is pretty much at your beck and call. It’s so strange to get dropped off and have someone say, I’ll be hear when ever you’re done. They never ask what time, they never complain about what time to pick you up, nothing. So, Saturday we got picked up at 7am and didn’t get dropped off till 10PM. The drive was with us the whole day. I have no idea when he ate or drank but he never did in front of us and he was always right there when we came out of where we were. On Saturday we went too 5 shops (2 were malls) 5 touristy places and stopped twice to see local stuff. Guess I know how the rich feel now.

India - First weekend

So, I pretty much didn’t know what India even was until this weekend. I got a full view with dinner out on Friday. We ate at a hotel called Oberoi and got to sit out in a courtyard.

Traffic was bad but dinner was fun. This was our first trip that wasn’t at 2am so we got to see all the crazy driving. We also our first go at telling vendors NO.



The whole driver this is a post in itself but I will stick to the weekend. The highlight was a trip Meghan and I took to MySore. It was a three hour trip but worth it. We got picked up early and stopped a few time to find out about Papa, Jack Fruit, and Sugar Cane. I was happy with our driver b/c it went out of his way to show us things.

The key reason to go was to see MySore Palace. I can’t begin to explain how impressive it was.

It's to bad but we couldn't take any pictures inside. I could go on and on about it but I can finish up with I got to sit on an elephant (pics on Facebook)

After the Palace we went up to Chimundi Hill which had a temple on the top, a “daemon” statue, and a big bull. The temple was very interesting but a great view down over the city of Mysore. Oh, and I didn't even talk about the place we ate lunch - guess I have to post more later when I have time.

Work and eating

So, since I have been to China all I have done is work and eat. The crazy thing is there isn't much where I’m located so I'm just going back and forth from the hotel to the office that is just across the street. Here is a picture of the office that it actually really nice.



Since I have been here there hasn’t been a ton of food I really like until today. It’s funny but everything here looks the same so I can’t really tell it apart. However today I found out there is Northern and Southern Indian food. I’m not sure what one I like but one is better I think. I still can’t tell the food apart but here is some stuff that was really good:

So, Friday I hope to do something that will be more fun than cross the street so stay tune.

Made it to India

Long flight but it wasn’t bad. It took about 24 hours but for the first time I took a shower in a business lounge in Germany. It was just like a hotel bathroom but in an airport business lounge. I thought it was great to break up the trip with a shower. It’s nice after being stuck in an airplane. When I fly back I’m going to plan for it and take a change of clothes. Another cool thing about the layover was in Germany was I got to eat some German food and have a few beers. The meal was the soup below and I took the beer glass as a souvenir. Oh, and I got to eat my first Indian food on the airplane. Not bad but nothing special. I did thing the little bag of mint fennel and other seeds (strange but similar to a mint of piece of gum in the states)







So, onto the first problem. I filled my TV on the plane and actually crashed it. It turned out to be Windows CE and here is a picture of the crash/reboot. Overall, the TV is so much cooler than on planes in the States. It even had video games on it and the best part is that it was included in the ticket price.



Second and more exciting problem. No driver at the airport! So, we called the hotel with the help of a local but they didn’t have a driver reservation. So, we crammed all three of us into a supper small extra mini van and made our way to the hotel. It was a little shady but we agreed on a price before we left and it worked out. Just not the nice air conditioned van we should have had waiting. Here is me in the cab...

New Coaster with 97 Degree Drop - I wish it was closer

I love costers so I have to put this one on the list: "the Farenheit at Hershey Park, a coaster that drops you down a 97-degree slope. Yes, that's beyond vertical. It hits you with 4 Gs of force, more than what NASA astronauts are subjected to.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/311472804/new-coaster-doesnt-screw-around-features-97-degree-drop

Homes in foreclosure top 1M

More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded. It's crazy to think somwthing like 1 in 10 people are late on there payments. Who do you know that could be letting the payments slip?

Anyway, I need to start looking for another rental!

http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_topstories/~3/305358905/index.htm