Finally got the net access working at the hotel. So here are some notes and things I made over the last couple of days.

I can’t update blog at the moment as I don’t have administrator access to the laptop and therefore can’t change the proxy settings. I’ll try and upload this from the office in the morning.

21 January

About 9 am: Woke up at 3.30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Now on plane to FFT, slight delay. Bugger me; I’m on my way to India!

Somewhere north of Greece, heading toward the Black Sea. Seats in business class are very comfortable! Having a glass of wine, just watched Frasier and now a Bollywood movie, turned on just in time for a musical number J Hmm, hindi hip-hop. It’s erm, interesting.

There’s a channel with just Indian pop videos. The women are giving me TRFH.

They keep serving me wine. I like this!

Just north of Instanbul.

The flight goes right over Tehran. About 9pm Indina time, somewhere near the Iranian/Pakistani border. It’s sounds so cool to say that!

Wow, I’m here! Quite an experience at the airport. People everywhere. But my car was there, first time I’ve ever had somebody waiting for me with my name on a sign!

Hotel is superb. Eating the fresh fruit that was brought to my room as a welcome gift. Will try to get to sleep tonight and get up at seven.




22 January 2006

Just been for a walk. Wow, that was quite intense! Traffic everywhere, as a white person, people keep coming up to me. Autorickshaw drivers offering an hour long tourist trip for ten rupee. Was walking along the street and some guy in his fiftiesjust started talking to me. I’d read about that in the guide books, we ended up having quite a long walk. He was called William and is a chef. We chatted and walked across Cubon Park and up to the market in Central Street. Cars, bikes, buses, rickshaws everywhere. Lots of colour everywhere. Women in beautiful saris. Popped into the catholic church, was odd to hear a mass being said in Kannada! Of course it turned out that my new friend was not just being nice for nothing. At the very end he took me to a craft shop where I resisted the sale pitches and then he mentioned that his work place had been on strike and that it was his daughter’s 16th birthday today and could I offer a gift? I gave him 100 rupees and we parted ways. ‘twas a bit disappointing but I guess everybody has to make a living. Oh, saw my first cow! It was wandering along the pavement at a bus stop. It’s hot and I’m a bit jetlagged so not feeling too hot at the moment. I’m going to rest for a bit and then maybe go for a swim later.




Had a nap for a couple of hours and then went back out again, I need to try and get used to this. It’s probably just jetlag, but every time I go out, I feel a little spaced out and it all seems a little surreal. It’s so different here, the sheer amount of people everywhere.

Bought a map for 200 R.

Chatted with guy who has room opposite mine. He’s from the Gideons and had just been out to see the Infosys campus. Seemed nice enough for a happy-clappy.

Currently in a little bar called ‘Pecos’ on Rest House Road, just off Brigade road. Brigade Road is full of shops and even fuller of people! There was a cow on the road in front of the hotel, just wondering against the traffic in Residency Road, and there is a lot of traffic there! It’s a tiny, slightly run down bar on two floors. Seems ok so far, having a beer and listening to Santana. Oh, a small cockroach has just run across the countertop! Dark bar, walls covered in posters from the 60’s and 70’s. Beer barrels and the gas for the taps on top of the bar. Don’t think there is much to drink apart from beer as all the shelves behind the bar are filled with CDs, cassette tapes and, I kid you not, 8track cartridges.

Tomorrow is first day of work, driver is picking me up at 9. I think I’ll just eat in the hotel and try to get a good night’s sleep at a decent time.

The women’s clothing is really beautiful, lots of brightly coloured saris.

I think I may have upset one of the autorickshaw drivers who hang around the hotel entrance. When I got back earlier he was insisting on taking me for a tour of all the sights, for 10r for an hour. Although no doubt I would have ended up in a shop belong to a friend of his and would have ended up paying a lot more than 10. I said maybe later but then he was there again when I went back out a couple of hours later. He recognized me, smiled and pointed at his watch as if he’d been waiting for me all this time. Of course he offered the tour again. It’s difficult to get rid of him as just a simple ‘no’ does not seem to be enough! I just had to be slightly rude and carry on walking away while repeating, no, not interested.

Shit, I’ve just jumped as a cockroach scuttled under my arm. India is going to take some getting used to! I’m now paranoid and checking everywhere for insects.

Only men serving drinks which is odd as in the west it’s more often women who work in bars. I suppose the law has only just changed and before you know it there’ll be loads of Australian girls working in all the bars here, the same way they do all over the world. This is a rock bar but the waiters are all in white shirts and black waistcoats and bowties. They must be really hot as there’s no air-conditioning, only a few fans.

Kingfisher beer is not bad. 37 R for a beer.

It’s strange being the odd one out. Not everybody does it but there have been a few people who have openly stared at me as I was walking in the street.

I thought the pavements in Brussels were bad but they are nothing compared to the ones here! Huge holes, slabs of concrete that don’t quite fit, drops of 30cm or more to the level of the road. At one point on Residency Road they are working on the sewers at the side of the road, they were wide open and only wooden walls to keep things flowing. The smell was intense. And this was right next to a new shopping mall selling all the usual western labels. Lots of contrasts like that from what I can see.

The bar is advertising a full English breakfast for 60R, that just over 1 Eur.

As a gesture to the empire I had a gin and tonic in the hotel bar.

Gah, they are starting to play Bob -Marley. I really do find reggae to be very dull. Time to leave I think.

Very nice meal in the hotel. A garlic naan really does have quite a lot of garlic in it!