Service with a smile

I am down to only one week left in India, and I am rather sad to see the time flying by. Work has been much harder from here than it is back in the states - working 2 time zones and trying to keep people on both sides of the world happy can be quite stressful. But overall the experience has been so amazing. And, of course, I'm getting quite spoiled here...

Mumbai:
I spent this past weekend in Mumbai. I think it was Masha who said 'New York on the subcontinent' or something to that effect, and she was right. It is a big city with lots to see and do, but at the end of the day it is a big city.

I stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Mumbai - hey, when you find a good thing you stick with it. Truthfully, I had done so little research on this trip and had nothing booked shortly before I left the states...so I asked Sreeni where I should stay and he said the Taj - I'm quite glad I listened to him. Really it is the only place to stay if you are there to explore and especially if you are there for the first time. It is an amazing landmark right next to the India Gate. Here is the view from my balcony:















And here a view of the hotel from down at the India Gate:
















And this picture shows the proximity of the two:

















Yes, the hotel is as ostentatious as you would think, housing stores like Louis Vuitton, Zegna, and Bvlgari, to name a few. And the place is huge, with a lot of restaurants and bars to choose from. In fact on Friday night I stopped in one of those bars to have a snack and drink...ended up chatting to a guy from the states who everyone there seemed to know. Should I take it as a warning that the singers dedicated 'Smooth operator' to him shortly after we started chatting? LOL. Anyway, I apparently didn't as we closed down the bar (not hard to do at 12:30) and then went to a club that he knew of. It ended up being a PolyEsthers, which I found to be hysterical. But it was a great time and a really fun night.


My head hurt a bit the next day when I got up. ;)


Spent Saturday exploring Mumbai and doing some shopping and Sunday was a lot of the same. I declined an invitation for more clubbing on Saturday night and was curled up in bed by midnight.


I returned to Hyderabad Sunday night. This weekend I am staying in Hyderabad as I have not really explored the bizaare, charminar, etc.

A lot of work, a lot of fun...very little sleep

"(India) isn't a place you merely 'see'; it's an invigorating asssault on all senses, an experience that's impossible to define... Love it or hate it - and most visitors seesaw between the two - India will jostle your entire being..." - lonely planet India

I can't say it any better so I won't try - whoever wrote that introduction for the lonely planet guidebook really managed to explain the experience in a way that you only understand once you've been here. I consider myself to be rather well traveled; India is the 30-something country that I've been to. I can't imagine being here without all of those experiences under my belt because I think it would really be beyond overwhelming. There is so much to enjoy - certainly so much to take in - but it is so hard to get away from that steady assault on your senses that at times it feels simply exhausting.

I've been in India for 9 days now. To be honest last week was a very long week. I had been on vacation the week before - enjoying Egypt - and by the time I got back it felt like all hell had broken loose at work. Monday through Wednesday I was working India and St Louis hours - which pretty much equated to working 2pm to 4 or 5 am. By Thursday I had everyone settled down and convinced that my team was in fact under control and moving forward, and so Thursday night I was convinced to go out for some drinks with some of the managers here in India. I'm not much of a club person, being one who prefers to actually be able to talk to the people that I go out with and not have to yell at them, but it was such a relief to relax and have a drink that I really had a good time. I stuck to beer although most of my colleagues thought that odd - the drink of choice seemed to be long island iced teas. Eek. The only time I thought those were a good idea were at 2am at the Linebacker Lounge at ND - and all of you who are laughing know why I stuck to beer ;)

Okay, so I made it through the week. Saturday morning I got up early and flew up to Delhi. Spent Saturday tourning Delhi and doing some shopping. It was so nice to be out and about on my own...ah yes, which brings me to the one thing I do not like about India (or at least working in India). This personal driver thing is so not working for me. I think I'm pretty spoiled - let's face it, everyone thinks I'm pretty spoiled - so one may think the driver thing wouldn't be all that bad. Wrong. First of all, I have serious issue with the fact that this man just sits around waiting for me all day. He gets to the hotel by noon - no matter what time I tell him to be here, he is here by noon. I don't leave before 1:30 most days...but just in case. He drives me to work and drops me off around 2pm. Then he just sits there all day waiting for me to call - which I never do before midnight. But apparently he can't leave. I don't know - it is like how I won't ever let anyone pick me up at the airport because I don't like knowing that people are waiting for me and I get stressed then if I'm delayed...I don't like knowing this driver is just sitting there waiting for me all day. The bigger part, to be honest, is I feel a little bit like a prisoner. I have managed to get around on my own all these years and suddenly I can't go anywhere without this person taking me. And I have to 'ask' - I know it is 'tell him', but it feels like 'ask' if I want to stop somewhere...and then again, I know he's sitting there waiting for me. I get that it is safer and all of that...but it was really getting to me by the end of last week.

Which takes me back to Delhi. It was so nice to spend the day on my own and just explore and shop and tour. Yes, of course I got harrassed on the streets, but it was no worse than a lot of other places I've been. I long ago mastered the art of a) sunglasses (you can keep your face straight ahead and look around without anyone being able to tell that you are actually glancing at what they are selling and b) feigning deafness. Let's face it - they don't know if I speak English or not. So I pretend I don't and just walk through the crowds as though completely oblivious. It works quite well. And if I decide to look at something...well, I've shopped with the beach vendors of Rio, the bizarre in Istanbul, and the markets in Bali - to name a few - all with Rachel, the queen of haggling herself. I've learned how to get a bargain along the way :)

Sunday was reserved for the long trip to and from Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I joined a small tour that I had had recommended to me and actually was glad I did. Out of the group there were 3 of us that were all solo travelers doing a day trip: Diane, a 40-something Brit who was there for something in the education department and Mike, a 30-something from LA also on business. It was nice to make friends along the way to hang out with and - to the Munich crew - Mike was like a Dave and Jamie without the second day crazy. We started out talking the boring basics (190k eqms last year, etc) and ended up on the topic of absinthe in Prague... I was actually surprised he didn't know about FT, but when I jokingly said that my friends refer to our group as a 'drinking club with a travel problem' he pulled out a pen to write down the details. Lol.

Okay, some of you probably want to know about the Taj Mahal. It is magnificent and peaceful and actually doesn't let you down - surprising considering how famous it is.

The Taj was build as a monument to love. Emporer Shah Jahan built it as a memorial to his second wife who died giving birth to their 14th child at age 39. (Dear lord). Anyway, it took 22 years and 20,000 people to construct it at a price tag equivalent to about $70 million today. It is spectacular not only in its overall effect but especially in the details, which are unimaginable until you've looked at the designs in the building up close.






















View of the Taj Mahal in the distance from Agra Fort.

Today is Monday. I got up this morning and flew back down to Hyderabad. After a nap and a shower I went in to work until about 8:30 and then went to a dinner/reception for all R10 (India designation at work - as in Region 10) visitors this evening. I am hopeful that I will actually be able to work a more normal schedule this week and spend some of my mornings exploring Hyderabad. I am leaving on Friday for Mumbai for the weekend - which reminds me, I should probably look into booking tickets for that soon...

A day to relax

I'm in India! I arrived late Saturday night - actually Sunday morning around 12:30. Immigration was no problem, although I did find it interesting that after clearing immigration you have to go through a security checkpoint with your hand luggage before you can go downstairs and claim you checked luggage. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Anyway, LH actually puts the priority checked bags out first (unlike UA) and so as I made my way down the stairs I could already see that my bag was heading towards me on the belt. A quick walk through the 'nothing to declare' aisle of customs and I was suddenly outside the airport and in India. It actually wasn't as bad as many other places that I've been - both Peru and Mexico come to mind - as far as people hastling me to take my luggage, need a cab, etc. I had the luxury of a calm moment to pause and scan the long row of people holding up signs to look for my driver. Upon spotting the 'XYZ company welcomes FlygalSF' sign I walked over and met my driver for the next month. He seems like a very nice individual, and was very helpful. I had hoped to get cash but there were no ATMs and the money change places were closed. This wasn't actually a big deal since I knew that the driver is paid weekly on my credit card and I could get cash at the hotel, but Hussein (driver) offered to take me to a 24 hour banking station just outside of the airport.

My hotel this week isn't far from the airport. I'm actually planning to stay a few different places to try them out - there is a Sheraton and a Marriott in Hyderabad but there is also the Taj chain of hotels that people rave about. The Taj hotel is actually closer to work and nightlife, so I'll stay there one of the later weeks when I'm more settled in.

I got checked in and I've got a nice jr suite room - nice little living area, desk, big flat panel tv. It is okay - nothing spectacular but very nice. Of course, it was about 1am local time when I checked in but 4.5 hours earlier than that back in Vienna and I wasn't the least bit tired. Not to mention that I slept some on the plane. Or at least I tried. More on that in a minute. Anyway, I didn't really get to sleep until about 4am but I did get out bed by about 10:30. I didn't want to, but the only way to beat jet lag is to have one hellish day where you force yourself to get onto local time. Thankfully I feel pretty good today. I didn't do much - after 10 days of travel and going full force I allowed myself some down time today. After all, I'm here for 4 weeks - I don't need to see it all today. I actually went out and laid by the pool and read for a few hours. It is a lovely 80 degrees and sunny here and it was just a perfect afternoon. It also gave me a chance to read the lonely planet India book that I've been lugging around. I had an excellent lunch of Aloo Gobi that was a little spicier than I'm used to but was definitely made for a westerners taste buds (thankfully). The rest of the day I did a lot of housekeeping items - read through some work emails, paid some bills, gathered laundry and had it sent out, organized my luggage which had become a disaster, found the gym and went for a run, and now - updating the blog.

So tomorrow I go back to work and I finally get to meet all of the people I've been talking to here in Hyderabad since June. Should be an interesting week!

Vienna!

I arrived Thursday evening in Vienna and headed to immigration. The funny thing is that there were only two lanes open, but they both said 'EU nationals only'. Entering a Schengen country after a short hop hour long flight and you can understand that just about everyone was holding an EU passport. I had been in business but as I was first onto the bus I was also last off of it and joined the end of the line. About 30 seconds I was already at the front of the line - immigration barely glanced at the EU passports that everyone was holding - and so I stepped up and started to say 'non EU but...'. No need. The immigration officer laughed and said I was the only non EU national on the plane so they didn't open another line. She stamped my passport and sent me on my way.

After collecting my luggage and grabbing some Euros at the ATM I went out and got in a cab to head into the city. I had debated on what hotel to stay at. (This is where non travel dorks may get bored, so feel free to jump ahead). My options: Le Meridien, Hotel Bristol, Hotel Imperial, or the Marriott. All of them are on the Ringstrasse so location didn't seem to be much of a deciding factor. Flyertalk wasn't much help - it kinda seemed like it came down to personal preference. I narrowed it to the Bristol or the Imperial, rationalizing that I can stay in a Le Meridien or Marriott anywhere. I haven't in general been overly impressed with the SPG luxury collection hotels, but they are always nice enough and a little different. I went with the Imperial. I have to say, very glad I did. It was originally a prince's home that man definitely had plenty of room to roam. The place was huge and a bit confusing in its layout, but absolutely palatial. I was afraid it would be too old and stuffy for my taste, but they actually managed to decorate it with the perfect blend of old and new. Not to mention Bvlgari bath products (that alone would have made Rachel's stay!), a complimentary box of Imperial Torte Petit Fours, a fruit plate, and chocolates on the pillows (all this chocolate - so wasted on me!). The next question that some of you have is 'yes, but what about the service?'. Impeccable. From the moment I arrived everything was perfect and - wait for it - anticipated. An example you say? I had called down (on Friday night) to schedule a car to take me to the airport on Saturday morning. When I opened the door of my room to leave - about 5 minutes before I was supposed to be downstairs - a bellman was waiting outside in the hallway to take my luggage. He said a polite 'good morning, madam - your car should be here any minute. Please allow me to take your luggage'. No, I hadn't called for assistance with my luggage. I thought it was a nice touch. Of course when I got downstairs they had my bill ready (with chocolates to go - lol). My luggage was loaded into the car (a nice black Lincoln) and I was off to the airport.

What is that you say? What about Vienna? Oh right ;) Vienna was fabulous. A really nice little city. Some of you got an excited email saying 'Our next weekend trip - Vienna!' and I really do mean it. We're always looking for new places to go and we need to keep this on our list. It is a really easy city to walk around with a good subway system - very reminiscent of the Tube. I will say, I spent the morning walking and shopping and paying no attention to where I was. I didn't have a book on Vienna and really had done no research, but I did have a nice little city guide the hotel had given me. Around noon I decided I should head to St Stephens and at least see it and wander around the Stephenplatz area. Unfortunately I could not locate my current location on the map for anything. Now this is rather unusual for me, as I have an excellent sense of direction and can generally navigate myself around any city. But in my defense I hadn't been trying to go anywhere nor had I been paying attention - I was just enjoying the city. Luckily I can also navigate a European subway system with ease, so I decided that was the best way to get unlost. I saw a station down the street and headed underground. A push of the one person button, an assumption that a 2 Euro coin should do it since I can't read German (it did, with .50 Euro change), a quick glance at the subway map and then 4 stops later - Voila! - Stephenplatz.

When I got back to the hotel that night I attempted to figure out where I had been based on the subway stop I got on at....I couldn't find myself on the map that morning because I had walked so far west I had walked beyond the area that the map showed. Whew - made me feel much better :)

The experiences that travel can bring

I am not a museum person. Specifically I am not an ancient history museum person. They are always cold and dark and once inside I always think it seems like such a bad way to spend the day. And let's face it, I go because some guide book says I should see things from the past that I have no real interest in, but I'm in (insert name of city) and it seems like such a shame to miss it....etc. So I always go. I happen to love art museums - if they are a little more modern. I will never turn down a trip to the Musee Dorsay in Paris, but then I have an actual interest in impressionist and post impressionist art. The Louvre? Not so much. Once you've seen the Mona Lisa ...

But I digress. The point is that we were in Cairo, and the big must see thing in the guide book is the Egyptian museum, so on Wednesday we went to the museum. Bharat was excited about it, I was doing my tourist duty and going. Okay, so then I must admit that the King Tut room was worth seeing if just to be amazed at how much stuff the Egyptians piled into one tomb. It took up the better part of a floor in the museum! And I got to see the 'death mask' which is the gilded head dress thing that you see anytime King Tut is mentioned. That all took a little over an hour. As I started wandering through rooms filled with one sarcophagus after another I realized I was just about done spending my day walking among the dead.

I didn't really feel like I had explored the city of Cairo much, and to me that is what traveling is all about. I like to roam the streets and explore the shops and the cafes and just get a feel for the city. And I wasn't getting that in the museum. So I let Bharat know that I was out of there and we made plans to meet two hours later.

I spent the time aimlessly walking around the city. I shopped and had tea in a cafe and enjoyed the sunshine of the day. It was perfect. I even mastered the art of crossing the street - by stepping into oncoming traffic and hoping that they don't in fact hit you. I will admit that the first street I crossed took about 10 minutes. I just stood there hoping for some break in traffic...it was a six lane road and I had no idea how I was going to get across. This is where my pale skin and hair that pegged me as a foreigner worked to my advantage. A policeman in the center island walked across the street to me and then had me follow him across! It helped. Once I got the feel for it I was a pro...two hours later crossing the same street without any help with confidence :)

This was our last day in Cairo, so Bharat and I found a traditional type Egyptian restaurant Abu El Sid. Dinner was a little later and was very relaxed, so it was close to 11pm when we made it back to the hotel. Bharat was tired and not in the mood to go out, but I was...so I thought I'd give the casino in the hotel a try.

What an idea that turned out to be. I will say this - traveling can make for some good stories and this is definitely one of them.

Okay - apologies for stopping the story like that, but I was tired and ready for bed.

So I went to the casino and sat down at a blackjack table. The people sitting around it were friendly enough and chatting a bit - I didn't understand any of it at first but then everyone started talking English to include me. The gentleman to my right and I started talking a bit. It turned out he was from Iraq but was now living in Egypt because Iraq has gotten too dangerous in the last year. Hmmm. You all know my political view points on the war so I won't go into a rant here. But it was really interesting to just sit and hear him talk about what it was like when Saddam was in power versus what the country has become. Don't get me wrong - he was not upset that Saddam was recently hung and considered him to be a vile human being, but there was order in the country and he and his family could live and work there. Anyway, I was sitting there thinking that this is what I love about travel - you get to talk to people and experience other perspectives in a way that people who never leave the safe confines of their little world will never do. The entire table was discussing the situation in Iraq, and collectively at the table we represented 5 vastly different countries. Everyone agreed that the world didn't hate Americans, just the American government. The seemed to all believe that the American people don't agree with Bush's war (their words, not mine) either. I chose not to point out that the American people did re-elect Bush smack in the middle of 'his' war as I liked letting them think that we were an intelligent nation. (oops, almost a rant...oh, come on, you knew it was coming...).

The topic eventually moved away from politics, and some people at the table came and went. I was still talking with the Iraqi gentleman on my right about - well, nothing really. Idle chitchat. Suddenly out of the blue he says 'I want to kiss you'. To be honest I burst out laughing and said 'wow, you just put it right out there, don't you'. He didn't seem to understand why I was laughing, but the syrian guy on my left (who has lived in San Diego the last 15 years) was also laughing (I think at my reaction as much as anything). But the guy doesn't let it rest. And people at the table can hear him. He litterally says 'I am hot just sitting next to you'. I said 'maybe you should take your coat off'. Everyone else at the table giggled a little - they were all acting like they weren't listening and trying to hide their laughter. He asks if I want to go home with him. I am polite but firm 'you seem like a nice guy, but no.' He asks if I'm married. I say no, then decide I should have said yes because that may have ended things, so I tell him I have a boyfriend and I'm engaged to get married. Nope, doesn't phase him. He tells me it is okay, the boyfriend doesn't have to know. This goes on for a few minutes and finally I end it ( I think) with a firm (read: bitchy) response and tell him in no uncertain terms that he has gone from nice to annoying and he needs to stop it. He apologizes and says he will stop, but adds 'but I am just so hot sitting next to you'. I can't help it, it makes me (and the rest of the table) laugh.

A brief period of time goes by and the table is again engaged in idle chit chat, but Iraqi guy isn't saying anything. Suddenly he bursts out 'I really want you - just a half hour - I will pay you!'. Now I'm in the middle of taking a drink of beer and very nearly spit it out on the blackjack table. The entire table (including the dealer) just kinda stop and can't control the shocked looks and laughter. I was momentarily speechless, but finally when I could talk I replied 'you know, I don't know what it is like in Iraq, but that is really not the way to pick up most American women...'.

Shortly after that he left - but not without first giving me his email address 'in case I want to get in touch with him'.

See the new experience that travel can bring - I mean, I've never been so propositioned before...

The next day was Thursday, and that meant our time in Egypt was over. Bharat and I got packed up and headed to the airport. We were both on the Swiss flight to ZUR and then I was going on to VIE for a few days.


Note: Cairo pictures have been uploaded and can be reached from the link on the right hand side of the page. I will add the rest when I get them from Bharat.

Ancient Wonder Indeed...

Tuesday, January 2, 2006
(yesterday, January 1...)
So the thing about jetlag...have I mentioned how much it can mess with your body clock? Bharat and I did admittedly go to bed a little later NYE - around 2am - but I don't think that alone can account for the fact that we didn't get out of bed yesterday until 2pm. I do think that a part of it was that we did serious touring the day before. Our bodies were tired and our minds were at rest because we had seen 90% of what we had planned to see in Luxor - and so I think we both just allowed ourselves to sleep without guilt. When we finally got up we packed and checked out before grabbing a bite to eat at the outside cafe along the Nile. Our only agenda item was the Luxor museum, which was only about 10 minutes away by cab.

I'm not a huge museum fan, and so the only thing that I found to be really interesting were the two mummies that the museum housed. We spend about 1.5 hours walking around and then spent the rest of the evening continuing our exploration from the night before. We found a big late evening market to meander through and did a bit of shopping. Finally we grabbed a taxi and went back to the hotel to get our luggage. We had a late (11:55pm) flight from LXR - CAI that got us into Cairo a little after 1am.

(today, January 2...)
Today was our trip to Giza to see the Pyramids and the Spinx. Like so many of the ruins that we've seen the pyramids are spectacular, but some of their beauty does seem to be lost by the urban sprawl that now encroaches upon the desert. Standing and facing the pyramids one can only see the openness of the desert with the sun shining down on the massive structures that were built so many years ago. But when you turn to smile for a picture with the pyramids in the backround you are actually looking out at the city that stops only a few hundred feet away. It is hard not to notice the large KFC/Pizza Hut signs staring at you while the last surving wonder of the ancient world looms behind you, leaving you somewhat trapped between the two worlds.

Happy New Year 2007

January 1, 2007

Happy New Year to all my friends and family who may be reading this.

I had a really awesome evening. We actually weren't really hungry yet when we headed out into the Luxor streets, and so we ended up just roaming. We wandered off the beaten path and ended up finding a carnival going on in the streets. I get pretty harrassed in many parts of the world such as Egypt, where my blond hair marks me instantly as a western tourist. The best part of our evening stroll is that we were away from the main streets and walking through the lives of everyday people who don't make their living from tourists - thus everyone completely left us alone. We strolled around the streets and stopped in a few shops. We checked out the carnival; we narrowly avoided being killed multiple times as we navigated the craziness of pedestrian and automobile traffic. We just enjoyed being in Egypt.

Around 10:30 or so we sat down in a little restaurant not far from the carnival and had dinner and drinks. By 11:30 we were done and so we went back to Murphys with the thought that we could have a beer and bring in New Year's in the pub. Apparently half of the population of Luxor had the same idea and so we ended up in a quiet bar across the street, bringing in 2007 with very little fanfair.

I find that I am relieved to have 2006 finally be over. It was a year of transition in so many areas of my life. It ended on many high notes, which means I am bringing in 2007 happier than I have been in a very long time. I'm starting the new year by spending 5 weeks traveling and working outside the US - literally living my dream life right now - so my optimism is rather boundless at the moment. I know that some people see New Year's as just another day, and in so many ways it is. But it is also a chance to look back on a calendar year and be grateful that there was so much good in your life and that you survived all of the bad. In a funny way it was a year that had more really bad than most of my years and yet also more really good than most of my years - as I said, a transition year. And I'm ready to move on now.

Happy New Year all.

L.