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Published: January 19th 2007
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The room I picked
I decided on this room after spending the first night in one near the communal hallway - way too nosiy! Well, I've returned to the sub-continent for round two. The trip over was fairly uneventful, and I'm pleased to say I actually managed to get my passport stamped this time (for those of you I haven't spoken to, accidentally missing that stage when I arrived last time caused me some trouble when I tried to leave!). Getting to the appartment I'm staying in was also quite painless, and the cook/caretaker and owner were there to let me in.
Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to stay at the hotel again this time around, its a little too expensive (which is fair enough) so instead I'm staying at a serviced appartment...and I mean
serviced!. Upon my arrival somewhere around midnight I was directed to brief the cook on my breakfast requirements for the morning (ie, a bowl of cornflakes). So yesterday morning three people arrived, all ostensibly to make my cornflakes and then stand and watch me while I ate. I clarified that l'd take care of pouring the milk into the bowl all by myself for today, and they could come in a bit later to clean and whatever else. In all fairness, they also made an omelette and toast yesterda, presumably
My bed
Thankfully its actually more comfortable than it looks. It's extremely firm though - I miss my Marriott bed! to give everyone something to do! The cook guy, Suresh, is lovely though, and we've come to an understanding about the use of chilli in my food (ie, there is to be none). I was pleased to find that dinner tonight last night only required an audience of two, and more importantly there was not even a hint of curry, chilli or even pepper.
Travel to work is proving interesting. I'm literally a 10 minute walk from the office so it really doesn't seem worth hiring a driver for every day. I've walked to work the last two mornings, which the guys I'm working with find astonishing. I think they're worried I'm going to get run over crossing the road (which is entirely possible!) but so far its been ok. Its not really safe after dark to walk home though so I have two options - either I call a driver on an 'as needed' basis, or I get one of the guys to give me a lift home. So we'll see how that all goes...
There's quite a lot of work for me to get done while I'm here, so I'm not expecting to have masses of
My bathroom
This is the bathroom attached to my bedroom, although I guess I could really use any of them seeing as I'm the only one here! time for doing the tourist thing, but this time around there is another girl from my company over here so hopefully we'll get to do some sightseeing together. There's a vague plan to check out
Golconda Fort tomorrow, but for me at least it depends on how work goes. At the very least I'm keen to do a trip to the taj mahal before I head home!
As I'm typing this I'm watching the Indian news and just had to share one of the lead stories with you all - it seems there is a big controversy over whether school children in public schools should be given eggs or bananas for lunch. Apparently its quite a big deal, which warranted an emergency cabinet meeting. I think there are issues around whether eggs are vegetarian, but never fear - I'll endeavour to keep you posted and let you all know how it turns out!.
Anyway, the appartment is nice enough, although the bathrooms are a little odd. The only major disappointment is that the gym (which was the main reason I wanted this appartment) turns out to have separate hours for men and women to use it. Unfortunately for me,
An alternative bathroom
I kind of liked the hand held shower head on this one - it actually had a a lot more water pressure than the actual showers. Wasnt entirely comfortable with the way the shower sprays the toilet though, maybe my technique was wrong. women are allowed to use it only between 10am-12am and 3.45pm-5.45pm (the guys get to use it outside of business hours). Obviously that's not really going to work out for me on the days when I'm at work. I think the pool is more of a free for all, so I guess I'll have to stick with swimming laps.
A couple of people have asked me - so just so you all know, if you want to get an email to tell you when I've added a new post, just subscribe (there's a link under the summary of each entry on on the front page of this journal)
See you all in a couple of months!
PS. Craig, there are heaps of stray puppies here which I'd love to pat, but I probably should refrain with the whole rabies thing - I dont' want to infect them ;-) Of course, none of them are as cute as
Odin (I'll
put in a better photo later)
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Jac
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Ethernet cable
howdy. got your email so didn't think there was much point emailing, and the message thing didn't work, so hope you read your comments :-p If you have a postal address we could send you an ethernet cable if you like - it might get there in two months...... let me know. jac.