http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Haryana/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , India , Haryana en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:59:04 BST Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:59:04 BST So it's a couple days before I leave the still 100 weather of Phoenix.I wanted to create a little space for all who may be curious to view my travel photo's or hear about my encounters in what hopes to be the best travel experience i've had in ten years. Of course it's been ten years since I've been significantly outside the U.S. but hopefully this will still be a good experience.I'd like to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-329168.html Well it was a long journey but now it has come to a close. Today I am leaving for the U.S. at about 11pm. Yesterday was my last day at work and it was fun stressful and sad all at the same time. Ashutosh who is like one of the headsvice president of this Biomet project at WNS I cannot remember his exact title for the life of me took me Nayana and Shaquana out for dinner last night. It w http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-320087.html India is full of contrasts. You see old temples near modern hotels dirty streets and clean malls a bmw driving right past the slums in Gurgaon colorful saris amongst grungy construction workers...I think that's why I don't want to leave this place yet. My 15 minute drive to work is never ever boring. You always see something new that you've never seen the day before. It's wonderfulYesterday http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-318672.html Yesterday we finally went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal Shaquana another Biomet member is here now in the apt. with me. Neeraj the man drove us and Deepesh accompanied us. The trip itself was long...about 4 hours. Along the way we saw many interesting things like live cows a dead cow monkeys large birds pigs and camels. Forget the safari at Six Flags Once again people were trying to ta http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-315671.html Subject Greetings from Delhi Date Tue 04 Feb 2003 200609 0800Hi everyone Just wanted to send out a quick message to let you all know that I made it to India safe and sound. We had an overnight stop in Bangkok and our flight wasn't till later on at night so we took a tour of the city. It was damn HOT. Shopping was good. Unfortunately we didn't have much room in our carryons but I still bo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/blog-314850.html It's been a pretty busy sleepless few days for me. Well I am sleeping much better than before but still waking up in the middle of the night. My diet has definitely gone down the drain and so has my fitness level. I exercised once in my room...that's it I love experimenting with the Indian food here. I am definitely a foodie and love to experience new foods. Basically the food here is made http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-314344.html In my first blog I mentioned the craziness of seeing a unhelmeted woman on the back of a motorcycle with a child. Well I forgot to mention it but I saw like 10 different instances of that yesterday...with even two children sometimes one riding in front of the driver. What's considered illegal in the US is considered a way of life here. It's still crazy to me but at the same time it looks lik http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-313229.html Today I had both a great experience as well as an awful one. Well it really wasn't awful...it was kind of funny to be honest.It rained pretty bad for the first time during my visit here. My driver Neeraj was really late so I called him and he said he was in a traffic jam. Suraj my helper called him up again and asked him in Hindi about how long it would take and he said about another half http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-312218.html It's been nearly a week since I've left the US to come here to India for business and I must say for the most part I am liking it The culture shock hit me almost intantaneously. One of the guys I work with Vipul picked me up from the airport with flowers from WNS my working home away from home and right away I thought Wow. the people here are so nice. And they truly are Most of them tre http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-311888.html 060807Sometimes change is must to come in some form and this time it was Kausani on the foothills of Himalayas in the state of Uttrakhand about 420 kms from New Delhi. Normal day its a 12 Hrs driveunfortunatly this was not the one. After crossing delhi at abt midnight it started raining and became heavy showers as we were moving in to the state of U.P which have ruined roads to be ridden as http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-288862.html Gurgaon gtlt Binsar Saturday260507 1.15 am to Sunday 2705079.30 pm It was a typical sunny day in north India suddenly it started raining in the evening and we thought its going to be ride in the rains we had plan to start very early in the morning http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-285884.html After a thankfully uneventful flight from Newark to Delhi I have arrived at my hotel in Gurgaon India.The first thing that hits you as you step out of the airplane onto the jetway is the prevailing smell of something burning. Though I know it's not I choose to believe it's the smell of wood burning in the fireplace of some fabulous Indian ski lodge. It's actually the smell of burning trashI e http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-246983.html As Tony Orlando and Dawn sang long ago I'm coming home I've done my timeAfter much consideration and based on a multitude of factors I have decided that I can no longer work and live in India. I have resigned from my company and my last day was today. I am very disappointed that things did not go as planned but after six months of discussions before I accepted the position and signed my con http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-208472.html So I survived the first revenge strike by the cockroaches the attack wasps. Despite the bite the staph infection the abcess the minor surgery and the alternate day dressing changes and the still somewhat open wound I have prevailedFrustrated by their failure the cockroaches made a second strike using my archnemesis an attck pigeon They know how much I fear and detest pigeons so this http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-207845.html I ventured out today and made a quick run to Galleria the closest shopping center to where I live. I hit the ATM paid my Airtel bill ate lunch at The Coco Palm and picked up a few groceries at a small market. I took a bicycle rickshaw and snapped a few photos along the way which is difficult when you are hanging on for dear life. Funny story about Airtel No one here trusts the mail so http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-204796.html Although I appear to have won the latest battle with the cockroaches I have no illusions that I was won the war It's been over a week since more than one dead cockroach or ant has appeared in the kitchen or elsewhere. I did notice yesterday that there were lots of mosquitos in the apartment along with a few moths and some other small unidentifiable bugs. I wasn't too worried until I was awok http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-203045.html My day started at 315am as I needed to be ready for a 400am airport pickup for a 550am flight. I was ready but 400am came with no taxi. Then it was 405am 410am 415am and still nothing. My CRA Ashish called to see where I was since I was going to pick him up on the way to the airpor. He had booked the taxi last night but when he called the company at 415am they claimed they had no http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-197411.html It's been a pretty good day here in Gurgaon and since I've spent quite a bit of time complaining about my first few weeks in India I thought I should take the opportunity to post some good news. Here are some of the good things that have happened today The pest control man came and sprayed for bugs Between my cleaning woman Jamila and me we have swept up hundreds of dead roaches and other http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-196243.html After three weeks of working here I should say something about the software development here. What did I learnWell I'm pleasantly surprised by the level of knowledge and professionalism here. The image Indians have in the West is of a bunch of robots who follow instructions by the letter and deliver really crappy code. But I found here that the process is very structured and people are very inno http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-195552.html Rounding up has started now. It's been a fast 3 weeks and I've done a lot. Living in luxurious hotels is nice and all but gets old really fast. Now I just want to be home with Sanne.One more night one more day and one night in the airplane and I'll be back with my sweet girlfriend . http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-195364.html I decided to only eat vegetarian these three weeks. Why It's an experiment. And India is a great place to star. Most of the Hindu population is vegetarian so every restaurant has a good selection of meals. And I don't have to cook anyway of course so that makes it extra easy. I don't really have specific ethical problems with eating animals but I do admire those who have and choose to live with http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-195063.html A colleague told me about this Taj Mahal The True Story. Apparently there is a theory that the Taj Mahal was not build by the Moghul ruler Shah Jahan at all but was a Hindu temple fetched and modified by the Muslim rulers. The evidence is all over it as the website claims the building has Hindu decorations and there are secret rooms inside the 'tomb' that visitors are kept in the dark about.I j http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-194766.html As of 16 Aug 2007 I am homeless no more I now live in Princeton Estates in DLF Phase V of Gurgaon There are 948 apartments in this complex and we are surrounded by other complexes just as large. It's been quite the ordeal getting here but I am now almost set. The gas gets hooked up tomorrow and the final repairs of the water purification system will also be done then. The gas man is suppo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-192787.html Today is Independence Day and India is celebrating 60 years of freedom from British rule It's a national holiday and many celebrations are underway including the Freedom Blast at my hotel. There's food music even louder than usual and dancing. Very brief Indian history lesson The Indus Valley of India was well settled with a highly developed culture by 2500 BCE IndoEuropean Aryans ar http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-192706.html I am now an officially registered Foreign Resident of India Today was a testament to bureaucracy at it's finest there were so many forms and photocopies and photographs and logbooks but at the end of the day I got a number handwritten on my employment visa so I am now allowed to remain in the country until next July with no questions asked as long as I remain employed and don't get arrest http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-192068.html I made my first trip to the malls of Gurgaon today. Gurgaon is known as the Mall Capital of India and already has about 20 malls open with new malls being built right and left each larger than the last and each claiming to be the best. There will eventually be 127 malls in totalI need a few essentails for my apartment assuming I ever get one so I decided to do a bit of shopping. I had no http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-191248.html I'm working on my Indian geography and thought I'd post this link to a good map of IndiaPolitical Map of India http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-190577.html