Blogs from Karnataka, India, Asia - page 139

So I realize I already posted a blog today, but something kind of funny/embarrassing happened to me at work today which I wanted to share having to do with grocery shopping. In order to appreciate the situation, I need to explain the whole concept of supermarkets in India. They are relatively new to Bangalore and actually aren’t really that super. They all have kind of weird names like Fab Foods or Food Mall. Well actually if you think of it the names of their stores are kind of better than ours, at least it has food in the title, I mean we have places like Jewel or Safeway. Why name your store Safeway? What does that mean? It is safer buying groceries at Safeway than what? Picking them out of the garbage? Ok, but I digress, ... read more

As you will notice, I have been writing a lot about the contrasting aspects of Bangalore. This weekend I experienced two very different sides to Bangalore. On Friday, I went back to Chickpet for the full experience and then on Saturday I went to the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. I wanted to talk about the Gardens first even though I did it after Chickpet. I was told that Bangalore was the “Garden City” before I got here, but I have to admit that up until Saturday, I thought the name was a bit misleading (kind of like New Jersey) but when I visited the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens I see why now. This place is incredible. The grounds are huge, with a lake in the middle. Unfortunately they were preparing for the annual flower show and some of ... read more

There are a number of things I am going to miss when I leave India in a couple of weeks. I will definitely miss the people and the service you get anywhere. I will miss the food of course, and I will miss having somebody drive me around. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to shaving when I get home though. I think this is number two of things I am looking forward to (#1 being my friends and family in the States). Let me tell you shaving in India is one of the most difficult tasks to do here (other than shipping packages) and I never realized how much I took the luxuries I have in the States for granted. See hot water is a luxury here. Everybody has a water ... read more

It is again 2AM and I had another fantastic day. This time I woke up on time at 11AM. I put on my favorite pants (my chinos with Velcro) and my favorite shirt and headed out for a day of exploring. I started out where else but a coffee shop. Some of you have commented that my coffee and cigarette intake has significantly increased since I got here and you are correct, everywhere you go there are coffee and cigs, and the cigs cost about 1 US dollar here so it is hard to resist. After lounging at the café for a few hours reading and listening to my IPod (DJC if you must know) I went and got my haircut. I was a bit apprehensive about getting it cut in Bangalore as I had heard ... read more

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. We will probably be spending the day touring the backwaters on a converted Rice Barge. Rosemary, our cousin, will arrive in Kochi on Friday morning, spending 10 days, so we will celebrate Christmas and New Year's with her. Well our Bangkok segment was extended a bit longer than we had hoped. We, thinking we were being smart, had purchased our tickets to India on Travelocity. After repeated emails and phone calls assuring us the tickets would be in Guillin, they never arrived. But a very reassuring email stating we would just need to go to the Air India counter to have the tickets reissued. Well after too many phone calls later, we finally recieved the necessary fax of our missing tickets. But, Air India stated it had to come from ... read more