Americans II

Went for a very nice (and relatively expensive) meal at the Sheraton last night. It really is a beautiful hotel and we had the grill outside with the largest shrimp I have ever seen, they were the size of a small lobster each.

When we sat down, there were very nice folding wooden chairs. one of the visiting Americans say down and promptly broke the chair, snapping the wood and ending up on his arse. Much hilarity ensued, especially the waiter who made a valient efort not smile but failed miserably.The somewhat overweight chap who broke the chair was highly embaressed and the waiter asked the second large member of our group if he'd like a sturdier chair too.

Went to Mysore with them today and two of them really are very loud and actually quite annoying. The woman actually said that she'd like to 'take some picture of those cute little huts they have' I didn't want to upset her by pointing out that they were part of a slum and people actually have to live in them. They really do show no respect for the local culture and will quite loudy tell people what they pay for things in the US. These are usually sume of money that represtent several years salary for people here. Today our driver took us round all sorts of place (which I will post about later, but the photos are alreay up on flickr if you want to look at them.) and they didn't even think of tipping him. I gave him 500 ruppees as a thank you, even if his driving terrified me.

I'm embarrassed by the Americans but I guess I'll just have to live with it for the moment!