So I've finally arrived back in the states after 6 weeks in India and then 1 week in Italy. Great experience, overall, and maybe Holly and I can get around to publishing some pictures from our Italy trip. Here's the URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/hahughes/AdamAndHollySItalyTrip#.
Quick word about the poll that I put up on the blog before leaving: for the record, the few and the proud prevailed as I was not struck with the TD while I was gone. There were 3 people representing 10% of the voters who thought I would not get it and that turned out to be the case. However, since I've gotten back to San Antonio, I've gone on a Mexican food binge and today I'm catching up on a lot of magazine reading, if you know what I mean. Pleasant mental picture, I know.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. Adios.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Taj Mahal
So last Monday and Tuesday I flew out of Chennai up to New Delhi. Then took a 5 hour taxi ride down to Agra, the city where the Taj is. As I recall, Agra used to be the capital of India and that's why the Taj is there (it was built by the king at the time).
There sure were some experiences over this short 2-day period. Some funny, some sad, and of course the sight/story of the Taj.
So on with the stories; we'll start with the funny ones.
My driver picked me up at the New Delhi airport. We were driving down to Agra and it was lunch time. He dropped me off at this nice restaurant and went somewhere else to eat. So after we leave there, we're on the road and he yawns. Just making conversation, I said, "No falling asleep on me!" And then he smiled and made the gesture with his hand that we attribute to drinking where you make a fist, but your thumb and pinky fingers are extended. And I said, "What?? Did you have a couple of King Fisher's at lunch?" There was some confusion in the conversation that ensued, but best we could communicate with each other, that hand gesture just means that you're tired. His English wasn't great, but we could at least communicate.
Then, we're driving around Agra and I'm reading, not watching the road, and he slams on his brakes and starts yelling. I look up and we almost hit a guy on a bicycle, which is strange that he would get so mad because that's a VERY common occurrence with the way these loonies drive over here. And we go about 30 yards down the road and he pulls over and says, "Just a second." He gets out of the car and as that bicycler is passing us, he's shaking his fist at him and yelling at him in Hindi. With millions of people around, I was in such a helpless situation and all I did was just laugh at what a bad deal could ensue from this. Here's the whitest person in probably a 1 mile radius sitting in this car with a driver who's trying to start a fight.
Speaking of the driving, volumes could be written about how messed up it is over here. I'll just touch on it. When I first got here, it was immediately apparent that the lane markers are more suggestions than for traffic control. As time goes on, I don't think that they can be even considered suggestions. And, generally, they drive on the left side of the road. But as more and more time goes on, it seems like that's not really a hard-and-fast rule. It's like, "Ehh, left side, right side, whatever you prefer." Lots of times there are motorcycles (called two-wheelers over here) driving on the "wrong" side of the road going down what would be a shoulder. And if a car doesn't want to go a long distance to do a turn-around, they'll just drive the wrong direction on the side of the road. The Delhi/Agra trip driver said, "There are 3 things that you need to drive in India: a good horn, good brakes, and good luck!" One of those things where it's funny because it's true...
Back to the trip to Agra. It wasn't all funny stuff. On the highway, we pulled over because (I think) we were crossing a state line and he had to pay some tax. He says, "Stay in car; keep windows up; lots of cheating here." So there are people trying to sell me crap, have me pay money to take a picture of their monkey, all that normal stuff. But I look over to the side of the road and there's a guy who's walking on his hands. I think that his knee caps were busted. He was just dragging his legs around like they were dead weight. But it looked like he could slightly maneuver his thighs; gosh it was sad. By the time the driver got back to the car, he had made his way over to the car and was tapping on the window, but the driver just took off.
And when I was in Agra, I was settled in my hotel room and all so I decided to just see what was outside the hotel. There was a yard across from it where a bunch of probably 10 year olds were playing cricket, so I just sat on the side and was watching them. Then a boy came up to me (probably 10 years old also) who didn't have a right hand. And he also had a bone sticking out from his chest that ran vertically from about his neck to his rib cage. It hadn't broken the skin, but it was just bulging out. At first, I thought it was his sternum, but it was about 4 inches off center, so I'm not real sure what it was. But it was pretty sad because it seemed like he wasn't let in on the cricket game because of his hand situation.
Well this post is a pretty accurate representation of my trip here. Lots of good stuff, funny stuff, different stuff, and a lot of sobering sights.
I'm heading out at 1:50 in the morning tonight for Frankfurt, which will be 3:20 pm. on Saturday, Texas time. I'll spend the night there, then it's onto the Eternal City Monday morning. I need to look up just a little bit of German, I guess. I wonder if "sausage and sour kraut" is a universal phrase :).
I will probably keep this blog going through mine and Holly's trip to Rome; it seems like this will be a good place to share pictures with everyone.
Hope everyone is doing good and I'm ready to get back. I wonder when we're flying from New York to Texas if my heart will skip a beat when we cross the Red River!!!
Quite the surprise. Lots of black buck roaming the grounds at a tomb that I visited when I got to Agra, the city where the Taj is. I could decorate a house inside this place with a single box of ammo...
In the hotel bar that I stayed at. I tried and tried to get the bartender to give me the story on this. With the most English that we had in common, he told me that this was an ash tray. So the interpretation of this is left as an exercise to the reader.
The gate outside the Taj. There are 11 domes on top of this gate and 11 on top of the backside of the gate. The 22 domes represent the 22 years it took to build the Taj, from 1631 - 1655.
There it is!
The inside edge of the gate
Pretty neat. It's 143 meters from the ground to the top.
The "magic photo" as my guide called it.
One of the most fascinating things about the Taj, and maybe what makes it one of the Seven Wonders, is the intricacy of the art work. This entire side is made out of white marble and the flowers and such are raised from the surface. The flowers that make up the edge aren't painted on. There are inlets cut into the marble and the flowers are different types of stones put into the inlets.
From a side garden.
The inside where the two tombs are. The lady the Taj was built for is at the center of it, and the king who built it is just west of her.
My chariot that got me to the entrance gate. They say that the Taj was turning black because of pollution and cars aren't allowed within some distance of it. The more I thought about it, I was convinced it was just a racketeering scheme to get more money out of people. The actual Taj is a good distance away from the gate where you go in.
"Chug a lug a lug at 5 miles an hour... on my international harvester"
I don't really like that song, but it was stuck in my head after seeing this.
Oops.
A toll booth on a dirt road? What is this? Blazing saddles?
India Gate. This is in New Delhi and is a tribute to the fallen soldiers of India. My driver told me that it was just for soldiers from the World Wars, but the inscription on the top says it's for lots of wars.
The guard. After taking this picture he asked me where I was from, and when I said, "America," he goes, "Oh, America!! Yes!" and gave me a firm handshake, which is hard to find around here. Lots of dead fish handshakes...
I was quite the tourist attraction at India Gate. I had 3 different groups want to take their picture with me. With these kids, I also had them take a picture with my camera.
Quite the diplomat I am. The handshake was their idea and I liked it, so I went with it.
Parliament. I recognized this when I saw it on the back of a 50 rupee bill.
Smack dab at the gates of the presidential palace. This would be the equivalent of taking a picture right in front of the white house. Pretty neat.
There sure were some experiences over this short 2-day period. Some funny, some sad, and of course the sight/story of the Taj.
So on with the stories; we'll start with the funny ones.
My driver picked me up at the New Delhi airport. We were driving down to Agra and it was lunch time. He dropped me off at this nice restaurant and went somewhere else to eat. So after we leave there, we're on the road and he yawns. Just making conversation, I said, "No falling asleep on me!" And then he smiled and made the gesture with his hand that we attribute to drinking where you make a fist, but your thumb and pinky fingers are extended. And I said, "What?? Did you have a couple of King Fisher's at lunch?" There was some confusion in the conversation that ensued, but best we could communicate with each other, that hand gesture just means that you're tired. His English wasn't great, but we could at least communicate.
Then, we're driving around Agra and I'm reading, not watching the road, and he slams on his brakes and starts yelling. I look up and we almost hit a guy on a bicycle, which is strange that he would get so mad because that's a VERY common occurrence with the way these loonies drive over here. And we go about 30 yards down the road and he pulls over and says, "Just a second." He gets out of the car and as that bicycler is passing us, he's shaking his fist at him and yelling at him in Hindi. With millions of people around, I was in such a helpless situation and all I did was just laugh at what a bad deal could ensue from this. Here's the whitest person in probably a 1 mile radius sitting in this car with a driver who's trying to start a fight.
Speaking of the driving, volumes could be written about how messed up it is over here. I'll just touch on it. When I first got here, it was immediately apparent that the lane markers are more suggestions than for traffic control. As time goes on, I don't think that they can be even considered suggestions. And, generally, they drive on the left side of the road. But as more and more time goes on, it seems like that's not really a hard-and-fast rule. It's like, "Ehh, left side, right side, whatever you prefer." Lots of times there are motorcycles (called two-wheelers over here) driving on the "wrong" side of the road going down what would be a shoulder. And if a car doesn't want to go a long distance to do a turn-around, they'll just drive the wrong direction on the side of the road. The Delhi/Agra trip driver said, "There are 3 things that you need to drive in India: a good horn, good brakes, and good luck!" One of those things where it's funny because it's true...
Back to the trip to Agra. It wasn't all funny stuff. On the highway, we pulled over because (I think) we were crossing a state line and he had to pay some tax. He says, "Stay in car; keep windows up; lots of cheating here." So there are people trying to sell me crap, have me pay money to take a picture of their monkey, all that normal stuff. But I look over to the side of the road and there's a guy who's walking on his hands. I think that his knee caps were busted. He was just dragging his legs around like they were dead weight. But it looked like he could slightly maneuver his thighs; gosh it was sad. By the time the driver got back to the car, he had made his way over to the car and was tapping on the window, but the driver just took off.
And when I was in Agra, I was settled in my hotel room and all so I decided to just see what was outside the hotel. There was a yard across from it where a bunch of probably 10 year olds were playing cricket, so I just sat on the side and was watching them. Then a boy came up to me (probably 10 years old also) who didn't have a right hand. And he also had a bone sticking out from his chest that ran vertically from about his neck to his rib cage. It hadn't broken the skin, but it was just bulging out. At first, I thought it was his sternum, but it was about 4 inches off center, so I'm not real sure what it was. But it was pretty sad because it seemed like he wasn't let in on the cricket game because of his hand situation.
Well this post is a pretty accurate representation of my trip here. Lots of good stuff, funny stuff, different stuff, and a lot of sobering sights.
I'm heading out at 1:50 in the morning tonight for Frankfurt, which will be 3:20 pm. on Saturday, Texas time. I'll spend the night there, then it's onto the Eternal City Monday morning. I need to look up just a little bit of German, I guess. I wonder if "sausage and sour kraut" is a universal phrase :).
I will probably keep this blog going through mine and Holly's trip to Rome; it seems like this will be a good place to share pictures with everyone.
Hope everyone is doing good and I'm ready to get back. I wonder when we're flying from New York to Texas if my heart will skip a beat when we cross the Red River!!!
Quite the surprise. Lots of black buck roaming the grounds at a tomb that I visited when I got to Agra, the city where the Taj is. I could decorate a house inside this place with a single box of ammo...
In the hotel bar that I stayed at. I tried and tried to get the bartender to give me the story on this. With the most English that we had in common, he told me that this was an ash tray. So the interpretation of this is left as an exercise to the reader.
The gate outside the Taj. There are 11 domes on top of this gate and 11 on top of the backside of the gate. The 22 domes represent the 22 years it took to build the Taj, from 1631 - 1655.
There it is!
The inside edge of the gate
Pretty neat. It's 143 meters from the ground to the top.
The "magic photo" as my guide called it.
One of the most fascinating things about the Taj, and maybe what makes it one of the Seven Wonders, is the intricacy of the art work. This entire side is made out of white marble and the flowers and such are raised from the surface. The flowers that make up the edge aren't painted on. There are inlets cut into the marble and the flowers are different types of stones put into the inlets.
From a side garden.
The inside where the two tombs are. The lady the Taj was built for is at the center of it, and the king who built it is just west of her.
My chariot that got me to the entrance gate. They say that the Taj was turning black because of pollution and cars aren't allowed within some distance of it. The more I thought about it, I was convinced it was just a racketeering scheme to get more money out of people. The actual Taj is a good distance away from the gate where you go in.
"Chug a lug a lug at 5 miles an hour... on my international harvester"I don't really like that song, but it was stuck in my head after seeing this.
Oops.
A toll booth on a dirt road? What is this? Blazing saddles?
India Gate. This is in New Delhi and is a tribute to the fallen soldiers of India. My driver told me that it was just for soldiers from the World Wars, but the inscription on the top says it's for lots of wars.
The guard. After taking this picture he asked me where I was from, and when I said, "America," he goes, "Oh, America!! Yes!" and gave me a firm handshake, which is hard to find around here. Lots of dead fish handshakes...
I was quite the tourist attraction at India Gate. I had 3 different groups want to take their picture with me. With these kids, I also had them take a picture with my camera.
Quite the diplomat I am. The handshake was their idea and I liked it, so I went with it.
Parliament. I recognized this when I saw it on the back of a 50 rupee bill.
Smack dab at the gates of the presidential palace. This would be the equivalent of taking a picture right in front of the white house. Pretty neat.Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thomas Mount, Rickshaw ride, and Walk-about
Had a pretty eventful day on Saturday. Whenever we first got here, I heard someone mention that Thomas, the apostle, was buried here (and is still here, by the way). That rang a bell that I remember someone saying that he came here to get a ministry going after the ascension and all. So we went and checked it out. It consisted of 3 places. First was the mount where he preached. He staked out the ground that, I think, is the highest point in Chennai. It's all called "St. Thomas" stuff here, but since I'm not catholic, I just call him "Thomas, the apostle." But St. Thomas mount is what the place is called. Pictures below.
After that, we went to where he his out in a cave before he was martyred. It was kinda neat, but they shot themselves in the foot with some of the credibility for this place. They say that there's a hand print in the rocks that belongs to him and there are some grooves in a rock that are supposed to be from his forearms when he was praying. But there's also a plack outside that says that this is where he his before he was martyred. So it didn't seem like he was exactly there long enough to let the rocks form around his hand and forearms. But maybe he hid there, which I guess is good enough.
The craziest thing happened while we were there. So kids absolutely LOVE to have their pictures taken and see them on the digital displays. While we were walking around, we were spotted by probably 40 kids who started hollering and running towards us, begging us to take their pictures. It was pretty funny. We were like celebrities. There are some pictures below for that.
The third part of the Thomas trip was going to St. Thomas Cathedral, where his tomb is. We couldn't see the tomb because it's underneath an altar there was a funeral going on. But the church was pretty cool and I have some pictures of that.
So then I got to do something I've been wanting to do. I got to ride in a rickshaw (or appropriately, auto-rickshaw). I rode shotgun and a couple of the guys who I was with got some pictures, and I'll put them up here when I get them.
When we got back to the hotel, we went for a walk around the village that's behind the hotel.
Came across some kids playing cricket, and a really neat chalk drawing on a road.
Oh, and tomorrow morning I'll depart for New Delhi. Then, it's a 4 or 5 hour cab ride down to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. I'll be there first thing on Tuesday morning, mess around there, then come back to Chennai on Tuesday evening. I'm looking forward to that, and hope that I get a better tour guide than the kids were in "Slumdog Millionaire."
"The Last Supper" above an entrance to the sanctuary at St. Thomas Mount
Pope John Paul II statue at St. Thomas Mount.
Sign in Saint Thomas Mount
At Saint Thomas Mount
Shovel. I was glad to finally get a picture of this because they use them extensively for road work that's being done on the way to the office.
Boys and their dog...
The mad-kid-rush.
Can you spot the gringo?
The cave were Thomas hid out before being martyred.
Couldn't believe my eyes. There have been rumblings about Indian toilets around work back home and how they stand on the toilet seat because of what they're used to, but I finally saw one. Note the ridges on the side; I guess they're for traction.
Inside St. Thomas Cathedral, from the balcony.
Pipe organ in St. Thomas Cathedral.
Yes, it really does say that.
The chalk drawing on the road in the village behind the hotel. Really neat for just being done by the people who lived back there.
Kid in the village...
Apparently they ain't got it THAT rough...
After that, we went to where he his out in a cave before he was martyred. It was kinda neat, but they shot themselves in the foot with some of the credibility for this place. They say that there's a hand print in the rocks that belongs to him and there are some grooves in a rock that are supposed to be from his forearms when he was praying. But there's also a plack outside that says that this is where he his before he was martyred. So it didn't seem like he was exactly there long enough to let the rocks form around his hand and forearms. But maybe he hid there, which I guess is good enough.
The craziest thing happened while we were there. So kids absolutely LOVE to have their pictures taken and see them on the digital displays. While we were walking around, we were spotted by probably 40 kids who started hollering and running towards us, begging us to take their pictures. It was pretty funny. We were like celebrities. There are some pictures below for that.
The third part of the Thomas trip was going to St. Thomas Cathedral, where his tomb is. We couldn't see the tomb because it's underneath an altar there was a funeral going on. But the church was pretty cool and I have some pictures of that.
So then I got to do something I've been wanting to do. I got to ride in a rickshaw (or appropriately, auto-rickshaw). I rode shotgun and a couple of the guys who I was with got some pictures, and I'll put them up here when I get them.
When we got back to the hotel, we went for a walk around the village that's behind the hotel.
Came across some kids playing cricket, and a really neat chalk drawing on a road.
Oh, and tomorrow morning I'll depart for New Delhi. Then, it's a 4 or 5 hour cab ride down to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. I'll be there first thing on Tuesday morning, mess around there, then come back to Chennai on Tuesday evening. I'm looking forward to that, and hope that I get a better tour guide than the kids were in "Slumdog Millionaire."
"The Last Supper" above an entrance to the sanctuary at St. Thomas Mount
Pope John Paul II statue at St. Thomas Mount.
Sign in Saint Thomas Mount
At Saint Thomas Mount
Shovel. I was glad to finally get a picture of this because they use them extensively for road work that's being done on the way to the office.
Boys and their dog...
The mad-kid-rush.
Can you spot the gringo?
The cave were Thomas hid out before being martyred.
Couldn't believe my eyes. There have been rumblings about Indian toilets around work back home and how they stand on the toilet seat because of what they're used to, but I finally saw one. Note the ridges on the side; I guess they're for traction.
Inside St. Thomas Cathedral, from the balcony.
Pipe organ in St. Thomas Cathedral.
Yes, it really does say that.
The chalk drawing on the road in the village behind the hotel. Really neat for just being done by the people who lived back there.
Kid in the village...
Apparently they ain't got it THAT rough...Sunday, March 15, 2009
Kanchipuram
We headed out today for a town called Kanchipuram which they say means, "Gold City", but I think it means "More Hindu Temples." There are 108 temples in this city. Had a good time and it was a good drive out there. I captured a couple of pictures that are common sites around here, but haven't gotten them in photo yet.
I forgot the reason, but the town is also well-known for its silk. I pulled off today what I consider my best execution of the walk-out yet. Oh, it was good. So we were in a silk store and I had two pieces picked out, priced at 2,500 rupees each. I started out at 2,500 total for both of them, but he wasn't impressed with that offer, not even slightly. He said that the best he could do was 4,200. So I said that I absolutely couldn't spend more than 3,500, and he said that he couldn't come down any more. "Well thanks, but that's just too much." Out the door I went while the others still picked out their stuff. So I'm outside about 5 minutes sitting down on a bench people watching when he sent one of his workers out for me. "You!", he pointed, "Come!" So I'm trying to conceal my smile going back in. I sit down and the salesman, with his head bowed, threw up an arm and goes, "Take it!" I gave him the money, and then he walked out of the room! He didn't finish with the other people in my party; he had his other workers do that. I guess he took it personally! Oh, it was so fun! Sometimes I have a hard time deciding if I got a good deal or not, but I guess when the salesman gets mad, then it's a good deal!
Even better, since I was the first to pay, that set the precedent for what another lady in our group bought in the store. She was holding strong on 1400 rupees and when all they could come down to was 1500, she turned her back and walked. They let her take two steps before they were calling her back. Turns out, percentage wise, she and I got the same amount off.
You'll notice in the pictures at the temple that we weren't allowed to have our shoes on when we entered.
Not exactly the pastures that the cattle back at home enjoy... Yup, in case you're wondering, that is trash.
Caught this guy red-handed. Well, technically, I guess it's "brown-handed."
I told our tour guide that I could sympathize with the guy on this column, having to bend down to kiss his girlfriend. So then he said, "Collect photo! Collect photo!" So the photo was collected...
A hallway. There were 100 columns in this temple that's used mainly for marriage ceremonies.
I didn't get too close to this guy. Seemed like a good way to get rabies.
Us at the top of the altar. I guess they call it an alter?
Pretty good surprise. Elephant's day at the spa.
First Hindu elephant I've seen.
I'm next in line for the shower.
The monkey in this video was going to town on this banana that someone gave him:
I forgot the reason, but the town is also well-known for its silk. I pulled off today what I consider my best execution of the walk-out yet. Oh, it was good. So we were in a silk store and I had two pieces picked out, priced at 2,500 rupees each. I started out at 2,500 total for both of them, but he wasn't impressed with that offer, not even slightly. He said that the best he could do was 4,200. So I said that I absolutely couldn't spend more than 3,500, and he said that he couldn't come down any more. "Well thanks, but that's just too much." Out the door I went while the others still picked out their stuff. So I'm outside about 5 minutes sitting down on a bench people watching when he sent one of his workers out for me. "You!", he pointed, "Come!" So I'm trying to conceal my smile going back in. I sit down and the salesman, with his head bowed, threw up an arm and goes, "Take it!" I gave him the money, and then he walked out of the room! He didn't finish with the other people in my party; he had his other workers do that. I guess he took it personally! Oh, it was so fun! Sometimes I have a hard time deciding if I got a good deal or not, but I guess when the salesman gets mad, then it's a good deal!
Even better, since I was the first to pay, that set the precedent for what another lady in our group bought in the store. She was holding strong on 1400 rupees and when all they could come down to was 1500, she turned her back and walked. They let her take two steps before they were calling her back. Turns out, percentage wise, she and I got the same amount off.
You'll notice in the pictures at the temple that we weren't allowed to have our shoes on when we entered.
Not exactly the pastures that the cattle back at home enjoy... Yup, in case you're wondering, that is trash.
Caught this guy red-handed. Well, technically, I guess it's "brown-handed."
I told our tour guide that I could sympathize with the guy on this column, having to bend down to kiss his girlfriend. So then he said, "Collect photo! Collect photo!" So the photo was collected...
A hallway. There were 100 columns in this temple that's used mainly for marriage ceremonies.
I didn't get too close to this guy. Seemed like a good way to get rabies.
Us at the top of the altar. I guess they call it an alter?
Pretty good surprise. Elephant's day at the spa.
First Hindu elephant I've seen.
I'm next in line for the shower.The monkey in this video was going to town on this banana that someone gave him:
Friday, March 13, 2009
Forgot the Washboard
Well much to Holly's liking, The Confederate has gone to Appomattox.
Also, I've taken a step back in time with some of my laundry. The laundry is unreasonably expensive to have the hotel do it (like $2 per shirt) and even having our drivers do it is high (about $8 a load). So it turns out that there's a string-type clothes line in the shower that retracts from one wall and attaches to the other. So while we were in town last weekend, I got some detergent and a scrub brush. So I'm washing my shorts and socks in my sink and letting them dry on this clothes line. Takes about 2 days for shorts to dry and 1 day for socks. What's funny is that I look out my window and a lot of the locals wash their clothes by hand and I get jealous because they get to use the sunlight for their clothes line!
I was able to bump my flight from Chennai to Frankfurt on the way to Rome back a day, so I'll get to stay a night over in Frankfurt. I'll arrive in the morning, so I'll get to have some sausage and sauerkraut for a few meals and then go have adult beverages with some Germans. When I was doing away with the Confederate, I was slightly tempted to leave a "Hitler" for the mustache in honor of my going to Frankfurt. But when I saw it, I wasn't THAT tempted.
Turns out that there's a golf course here that also rents clubs. So I'm trying to schedule some time where I can go get in 18 holes.
Not much else going on. For the last week, we've had a lot of turnover with people coming and going, but now there are about 8 of us here. Some of us are going to see some temples tomorrow, so I ought to have some pictures from that.
I hear that parts of the grand ole' state are getting some rain, so that's certainly good to hear. Over and out.
Also, I've taken a step back in time with some of my laundry. The laundry is unreasonably expensive to have the hotel do it (like $2 per shirt) and even having our drivers do it is high (about $8 a load). So it turns out that there's a string-type clothes line in the shower that retracts from one wall and attaches to the other. So while we were in town last weekend, I got some detergent and a scrub brush. So I'm washing my shorts and socks in my sink and letting them dry on this clothes line. Takes about 2 days for shorts to dry and 1 day for socks. What's funny is that I look out my window and a lot of the locals wash their clothes by hand and I get jealous because they get to use the sunlight for their clothes line!
I was able to bump my flight from Chennai to Frankfurt on the way to Rome back a day, so I'll get to stay a night over in Frankfurt. I'll arrive in the morning, so I'll get to have some sausage and sauerkraut for a few meals and then go have adult beverages with some Germans. When I was doing away with the Confederate, I was slightly tempted to leave a "Hitler" for the mustache in honor of my going to Frankfurt. But when I saw it, I wasn't THAT tempted.
Turns out that there's a golf course here that also rents clubs. So I'm trying to schedule some time where I can go get in 18 holes.
Not much else going on. For the last week, we've had a lot of turnover with people coming and going, but now there are about 8 of us here. Some of us are going to see some temples tomorrow, so I ought to have some pictures from that.
I hear that parts of the grand ole' state are getting some rain, so that's certainly good to hear. Over and out.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Confederate is Complete
After much anticipation, I have completed "The Confederate." I haven't noticed a change in the way that the Indian folk look at me with my new feature. They all look at me like I'm a terrorist, anyways.
Hope everyone else is doing good.
Hope everyone else is doing good.
Friday, March 6, 2009
End of Second Week
"That's tea?" I asked my waiter as he poured my drink at lunch. It sure didn't look like tea. Looked like a light-colored chocolate milk. But it tasted all right, so I partook.
There really hasn't been anything too exciting happen this week, just been working. Don't have any trips planned for the weekend and I'm going into work for a while on Sunday. There have been a few experiences, though, that I've forgotten to put on here. Like when I first got into the airport, I had to go to the bathroom. So I find it, and have to pay 1 rupee to get in. When I got in, there was an inch of standing water in there. OK, not too big of a deal,. So I get done and when I flushed the toilet, water was spewing all over the place from the pipe where it connected to the toilet. "Well golly bum, I wonder what's causing all that water on the floor???"
I'm liking the food more and more. I've had chicken prepared probably 10 or 15 different ways, and it's just about all good. We went out to eat last night at a place called, "Temple Bay" and it was on the beach for the Bay of Bengal. This was a resort place that had a nice restaurant, but some people had rented it out for a wedding last night. So as we're driving up, there are big fireworks going off and they lasted for about 20 minutes while we were there. Nice breeze, enjoying the fireworks, watching the waves come, enjoying the local scotch, and wondering what the poor folks were doing for dinner :).
It's also a common site to see two Indian men walking around where one has his arm around the other. But, they say, that there's not any funny business going on there. It's a show of a buddy-buddy relationship. Just when I thought I had gotten used to it, I saw two of them holding hands while sitting down. Not sure that I could get used to that, but I've only seen it once so far.
Something that surprised me a little was that as common as it is to see cattle wandering around, there are just as many dogs, too. They're not the prettiest dogs you've ever seen, probably have a little bit of 10 different breeds in them. Haven't seen any cats, though. I hope there's not a relationship between that fact and all the ways that I've had "chicken" prepared ;).
One of the guys here sent me some of the pictures that he had on his camera and here they are:
Pretty self-explanatory. But in the background is a big class from a school
Us in front of that big, balanced, rock.
Close-up of the interactive monkey statue.
I think the tour guide said that this wall was 12.3 meters high...
This local was adamant about having his picture taken with two white boys. So one of my companions took a picture of him getting his picture taken.
Us packed into a cut in a room that was supposed to be for meditation.
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