Well here's a picture of the hall of the hotel I'm staying at. I swear the rug is some foreign 50's throw back. I have a suspicion that it might be one of the main reasons there is a constant musty odor when you come down the hall. No need to fear though, this is my last night here at the hotel... tomorrow afternoon I'm moving into a flat that is much more accommodating.

Though the hall is kind of nasty, the room itself isn't bad at all. Don't open up the curtains though or you might have to decide if you like the view out there or the view of the hall better.

Despite the fact I'm going to move out of this end of town, I decided to venture out out tonight. I've had good Indian food all week, so tonight I decided to go with Chinese food. I stumbled across a restaurant review and even though it only had an average rating, I decided to try it any way. The critic indicated with appetizers, drinks and dinner you could get a meal for two for about 900 Rs ($22). So needless to say I thought for one it might cost me 500 Rs, ended up costing me 800 Rs ($20). Well it may have been pricy, but I had a great meal, great service, and even a nice glass of wine. The staff was almost all Chinese; my waiter stop to talk to me for a bit and asked me a curious question.... He asked do you like it better here with the Chinese or with the Indians. I politely gave a non-committal answer but did indicate that I really liked the fact that when I came in the restaurant I had stepped away from the noise and smells of the Bangalore streets below (the autorickshaws really need to be destroyed... 2 stroke engine pollution is nauseating).

Now I had a very nice driver to take me to the restaurant and to return later to pick me up... but I'm confident he ripped me off. Dinner with tip cost me 800 Rs, the round-trip cost me 600 Rs ($10.50), more then 1/2 of what dinner cost me. I started to argue but just didn't have the energy for it.

Now I'm sure most of you don't care about my bathroom, but I've found some humor to share with you there too. Almost all the porcelain is branded as Hindiware, including the toilet (HIND), but the urinals I've seen are branded Larryware. I don't know if that strikes you as funny but as soon as I saw that I had to chuckle (yeah call me immature if you want).

Well I have an early wake-up tomorrow. Off to see a cricket match (well it's just a practice but cool to see the Indian team that just beat England). When I get back I'm moving to the flat. I'll takes some pictures of both the match and flat and tell you all about them then. Talk to you soon.....

Wow! I made it to India and the trip here was just the start of this adventure! Though I'm sure much more is to come here is how it started.

I got to the Columbus airport at about 1 PM EST and the trip to Chicago left at 3:30 (figured I was traveling international I better get there early) and nothing eventful happened. My flight out of Chicago was supposed to leave at 6:30 CST but due to plane problems we sat on the runway until a little after 8. Before I even took off I knew there was no way I was going to make my connecting flight in Frankfurt. My connection was to leave Germany at 11:35, of course we landed at 11:30 and on a 747 filled to the brim with people there was no catching that flight. Well after working my way through the airport (yeah this place is a maze!) I made it to a ticket counter to get a new flight, that was a fun 1/2 hr wait and not uneventful. You can only imagine how many people were pissed they missed their flights and everyone had to vent. Fortunately for me I didn't feel like I had any pressing engagement I had to rush for so I remained patient. Instead of going straight from Frankfurt to Bangalore I had to route through Mumbai; the flight from Chicago to Germany was 8 1/2 hrs and the leg from Frankfurt to Mumbai was no shorter another 8 1/2 hrs; Of course I got into Mumbai at 1 in the morning and the next flight wasn't leaving out until 6:30 in the morning. So after that nice layover I finally got to Bangalore.

Now my ride was supposed to be there at midnight when I was originally supposed to arrive so when I showed up at 8:30 in the morning there was no ride for me. After tracking a Qwest driver down through the Executive Admin over here I finally got to my hotel. Took a quick shower and went to work; so needless to say I was exhausted. I think being so tiered I was really feeling sensory overload.

I got to the hotel after work and was really wondering how I was going to cope with this trip. The smell in the air is almost suffocating at first. There is so much exhaust fume in the air you think you will choke. And well the food is an experiment everytime you eat so its hard to find comfort in that. I really had doubts about why I wanted to have this experience, but last night I got some good sleep and I feel like a million bucks today.

This morning was like a new leaf turned over for me; no the air quality didn't change and no the food gods didn't drop me a Quarter Pounder with cheese. After some rest I got a grip on myself so I could face the weeks ahead. The drive to work just like the day before made me wonder how many accidents happen a day in this city (Driver told me about 2000)! Walking across the street has got to be the most dangerous part but let me tell you about the driving.

Well first let me try to explain the rules..... wait a minute there are none. In the US the pedestrian always has the right away.... not in India, the pedestrian is the last to go. Now don't mistake this with the little guy goes last because there are bikes, cars, trucks, autorickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, ox drawn carts, push carts and more that all try to navigate the street at the same time. The roads have lanes but I don't know why; most of the time the most effective technique is to drive centered on a line. This way you can you can easily switch back and forth as you weave through other vehicles. Now when I say between I really mean it, if you can fit a piece of paper between the vehicles on either side of you then consider yourself lucky. The horn speaks some magic language here, it seems they beep it just for fun. I've figured out though that the constant short beeps are just some nice way to say I'm over here can you give me another centimeter to manuver or just hey I'm here, but the long hard beeps are who the #$%! do you think you are.

Now I didn't take this picture, I couldn't get a good angle from my car, but this is exactly what it looks like (well actually there is a couple hundred cars in the middle of the intersection most of the time as well).



Yeah the lanes are nothing by guidelines, the roads can be one way or two way roads, it just depends how many cars are driving in a given direction. I guess the it's like the power of a tidal wave... just get out of the way. I say this, but yet my driver tried to go down a one way and he couldn't get past the semi sitting in front of him (duh); so now we were holding up traffic. You watch the police serve out justice right on the spot. He walks up yelling in another language, grabs the driver by the hair and pulls his head forward so he can smack him in the back of the head a half dozen times. Oh yeah and then he made us turn around and go a different way.

Now don't get me wrong it's a dirty city, but nestled in between is some beautiful sites. I'll be sure to post some of this for you but thought I'd give a little commentary about the radio DJ for now. She was polling the audience as to why people think the city is just getting dirtier over the last few years and the responses are what caught my attention. It came down to lack of respect for the law, but some gave answers like because people spit in the streets or liter and just don't care. I couldn't help to think was it the people that just pull over in the middle of a city street to take a piss on the sidewalk. Yes it's not just the homeless that are doing it, but folks that are driving around. This one guy was standing next to his motorcycle just pissing away... he was kind enough to at least turn away from traffic!





I'll post some more pictures later, but for now I'm here and I'm safe and well I have plenty to provide commentary on. Talk to you all again soon....

Well look at these two strangers we saw floating down the river :-D Actually they were the floating Bar Tenders! Thanks for the Margaritas.

Here's another picture of our fun on the river!

Well We went on a canoe trip last weekend. It was fun having my Brother-In-Law and his family in town. Taylor loves playing with her cousings Cole and Kennedy. Here's them having fun on the river.

Here's some more pics of our fun camping

Hey we went camping this weekend. Here's a shot of Taylor on her first camping trip. We got up there and decided to just hang out and relax at the site. So Sunday morning we were going to be all set to go on the canoe trip. Well we got rained out and didn't get to go. We took a rain check and will hit the river next weekend. Well it was a good time any way!

Having Mom and Dad out on vacation was great! During the trip, dad and I got to build a tree house for Taylor.

Wow! My brother is amazing. Everytime I turn around he's amazing me in a new way. If he isn't changing out engines with his eyes closed, he's painting, or drawing, or doing so many of the other talented things he can do.