Excursion 1

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3:15pm Bangalore.....I did not sleep too well. There is construction going on outside and I kept hearing fire crackers all damn morning. I finally laid down at 6:00am. I have trouble sleeping in the daylight so I don't know what I will do in the days to come.....I woke at 9 and again at 11.....At 12:30 our driver showed up as planned. It is a beautiful sunny and hot day in Bangalore. It is like 79 degrees outside. I chose a linen shirt and jeans today which was excellent for the temperature outside. And I fit right in with the local men. Traffic is still light due to the holiday and lots of stores are closed. Since we went out in the day this gave me a good opportunity to see the city. The houses here are all gated and concrete/stucco. There is like an algie buildup on most of the structured making them look old and sometimes torn down. The colors are beautiful thought...lots of bright colored homes...reminds me of Los Angles. Ofcourse there is the traditonal asian look to the structures which really makes them stand out. Every company in the world must have an office/store here...I even saw a LaSalle Banks..no kidding. I got pictures....I am still working on getting the UBS port thing prepared. Our first stop was food world....We did not pick up too many things.. I got some tea and sugar..there is a chill in the air at night. I am dying from Starbucks withdrawl....We did find an espresso bar..I was tempted to get an Ice Americano...Tripple tall w/no water....Then I remembered I can not consume the ice/water. I settled for a large espresso... We stopped at Citibank for cash...Diane is lucky to have me along on this trip cause she did no preparation at all. Our drive took us to a textile shop...oh my god if I had money I would have been crazy. And these folks know the hard sell down to the letter. It is hard to resist when the things are so nice and the prices in US Dollars is a steal (so to speak). If you get imported you pay....if it is made locally, go ahead and grab it, you can't get a better deal unless it were free. I got a King spread, hand made...it is not silk but it is like a patchwork...it was made in kashmire province...$50 US....I said KING sized didn't I. I would have gotten the silk one (hand made) complete with pillow cases/shams for $200 but its early yet.... He tried selling me silk scarfs ($10) but I had to get out of that shop.... Next we found a liquor store....I picked up a bottle (5th) of Bourbon (no cognac) and two 20oz bottles of Fosters Beer for 500 R's ($11.36 US). As we had accomplished our mission, save the deck of playing cards, we headed back to the guesthouse. I entered my room and found George, the concierge and two other guys (youg 21&23) by the names of; oh I forget....They were born in Mysore which is south of here. I got called a yankee, jokingly. I did not mind, they were scantily dressed & in there bare feet. No shoes seem to be a common thing here. I did not see any cows today...I think they are concentrated in certain parts of the city. Everyone here travels by Rikshaw. If they are on the bus then you know they are closed to the lowest caste...it is all about the caste here. Did I tell you the sunday papers are full of personals for wives/husband....by state and then by caste. If you are a poor woman, you are lucky to get married but don't even think of marying money. this sounds harsh but you would have to be here to know what I mean. I saw Kala yesterday...She was in a lime green silk sari....beautiful....For those of you who don't know, Kala and I worked out in Washington, D.C. together last year.

Note to Phil....My watch aint working no more. First all the functions stopped working and now the watch is completely dead. Send me that receipt for a rerturn man.

Due to the Holiday this week , I will have to wait a bit longer to look in to my phone situation..... I am dying without it. No local food yet. I had Chinese take out for lunch yesterday, at like 10pm. it was not the chinese you get at home but OK. I am going to heat up me some beef ravioli and have a pepsi.....I got this cool vintage (to us in the US) fridge in my apartment. Did I tell you guys I had a 3 Br apartment? Anyhow, they are in to the old Pepsi bottles here and they loaded my fridge with the stuff. 3br's, 3 baths, & 3 balconies....All apartment here have balconies. I will be here 30 days if anyone want to fly out.....You would have to get a Visa. No one gets in to India without one. Here is a funny...We were at the liquor store...Kiosk really. Anyway, as we stood there I noticed all these men kept coming in standing around/behind us. By the time we turned to exit there must have been ten of them in this very small space. I figured out there fascination...not that we are American......It was Diane and her blond hair. They would have had here if I had not been there. I turned to leave and opened a tunnel for her to walk through, ahead of me. Our drive is protective of us as well.... No one here is rude...You may mistake there fascination for rudeness but we are in there country.... George the concierge finally pinned me in to agreeing to let him bring me up breakfast in the morning. At anytime I wish... "It is my wish to ensure that your needs are well provided for" to quote him. And he says this with a big smile (all teeth).... How could I refuse. I miss my sweetie. Two hours before our driver return to carry us to work. Oh, before I forget.. Our office here is like a military complex. it is on compete lockdown. You will not enter the gate let along the building without going through multiple security check points. And we and our business partners take up most of the building. They have a roof top deck to hang out at...there are conference rooms up there. And if you have ever seen the "situation" room on West Wing, we have one here. We did file committe last night.... they do this twce a day here. The dogs don't get out the street for oncoming traffic until the last minute. We missed hitting like 10 dogs so far due to there getting there asses up at the very last minute. At this point, I don't even open my mouth. And the drivers do not slow down.....It is nothing for a drive to turn toward oncoming traffic to cross the road....everyone blows there horn to the motor bikers. There are ten times as many motor bikes on the road as cars. I took some great photos of the Karnataka parliment building. They have erected an identical structure just next to it. ok...I gotta sit down before work...I never have this much kill time before work.

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