Silly Signs

I see plenty of goofy things every day. Since I can't read the Japanese billboards, some times I make up my own slogans for them! Now that I am learning to read Hiragana, I better post them before I realize how wrong I am!!

First is a sign from the bathroom in India. Apparently you should "rub" your hands for hygiene and only wash them when visibly soiled. WOW!! That's wrong on so many levels, and they wonder why their water is unsafe for human consumption?!

Here's a sweet Hindi billboard from India. I call it "Shake What Yo Mama Gave Ya!". (Imagine it with an Indian accent, too!!)

This Shell gas station near my apartment is more interesting than silly. At 126 yen per liter, I figure a gallon of fuel would be about $5.27. Feel free to check my math!

Here is an example of a Pachinko & Slot club that you can find sprinkled around Japan. I'm not really sure how they work since gambling is illegal (outside of horse racing), but I've heard that you can slip money through a small hole in the wall and receive chips to gamble with. I haven't quite figured how you "cash out" when you're done. There is some loophole they can get away with since the betting doesn't actually occur with cash, but the whole operation sounds pretty shady. (P.S. "Pachinko" reminds me of Covington.)

This hotel is down near the port in Nagoya. I love that the Hotel Watergate has an elephant as a mascot. Coincidence? I think not!!

I keep thinking that an "Egg-citing statement should go here"!

This feisty lady says "I will kick some Powder Puff girl BEE-hind! Hi-ya!"

These cute little Posties work for the Japan mail system so "Yay!! Let's mail some packages!"

Hahaha! Reminds me of Nintendo's Raving Rabbids in camouflage and with extremely large teeth!!

No mystery for this sign... Clearly dogs should scoop their own poop in Japan!

India: New Delhi & Gurgaon

Welcome to the last stop on my tour of India! The capital city of New Delhi and the surrounding countryside of Gurgaon, where the Transystem crossdock is located. Below is a picture from my hotel room. Although the weather is much cooler here (high 60's rather than 80's), you can still see how hazy it is. I'm unsure why the air quality is so poor considering they don't have a lot of industry to pollute the air.

Delhi was a mix of more modern and oddly more traditional India all in one. For instance, some of their roads were much better. One road even had separate lanes for motorcycles, cars, and buses, divided by curb-like medians. I'm not saying there weren't still a mixture of vehicles on the roads, but at least there was an attempt for some order. There were also many U-turns, kind of like "Michigan lefts", where you pass a place and then have to wait for a break in the median and backtrack. I will kindly refer to them as "Delhi rights". Also of note is Delhi has a traffic problem (shocking), so no trucks are allowed in the city limits during daylight hours. All supplier pick ups for Toyota must occur at night, which is different than Bangalore where truck driving was banned at night since it's unsafe.

Many women were wearing jeans or slacks, and not the traditional saree. But then again, I saw a lot of people with scarves (men and women) covering their heads (not faces). At first I thought it was to protect against the "cold" weather, but they remained hooded even during the sunniest, warmest part of the day.

Here's a nice pool at the final hotel. Had the weather been warmer and this been a pleasure trip, I would have loved to spend some time there :)

Above and below are a couple photos of Indian infrastructure in progress. They are way behind with technology, building materials, processes, etc. People say that India is the place to be for future growth, and although it lags behind the rests of the world by 20 years (I'd say more), the overpopulation is a blessing because it provides a strong, available workforce to build highways and buildings.

In fact, one Indian told me that they're not really affected by the recession like America or other parts of the world because they have few exports & imports and can rely on themselves. (Uh, yeah, sure... that's the reason... or it could be that people don't have money to spend even during the "good" times.)

On one street corner, I saw some Indians making several brick walls by hand. It looked like it would fall over with one good kick. It didn't look like a "real" job with organized labor, so I wondered where the materials (bricks and mortar) came from?? The cool part was the women would carry bricks on their head (2x2 as tall as they could reach), and then bring them over to the men who were doing the laying.

Here's one example of "Hindi English". In India, each state has it's own basic language, and since the 20 states can't understand each other, they rely on English as the common back-up language. There were several signs that I saw misspelled, or else just sounded strange. For instance, they say: "expired" instead of died, "diversion" instead of detour, and in Hindi "yesterday" and "tomorrow" are the same word but you listen to the tense to understand which one it should really be. So the driver would say weird things like "We will meet at 9am yesterday?". Lastly, they love the word "Enclave". It was all over signs and bus stops, and after looking it up on http://www.m-w.com/ I guess they are using it correctly. But it did make me miss my car!

Our last stop was the Gurgaon crossdock. I took a picture of the "neighborhood" just outside the dock door because I was a minor celebrity there. Apparently some 10-year-old spotted me walking around inside the building and kept calling out things like "hey lady". Next thing you know, he's gathered his whole family, and there were like 12-15 Indian people peering over this brick wall to get a glimpse at the white lady. I felt like Princess Diana and thought about taking a step out from the shadows of the dock and giving a wave, but alas something at work brought me back to the real reason I was there, and I quickly forgot about my spectators.

New Delhi and Gurgaon also had the worst beggars. They would wander through the streets banging on windows and knocking on car doors for money at intersections or in traffic jams. I always knew some unsavory thing was about to happen when the driver would hit the auto door locks!! Some of the more enterprising people would be trying to sell goods to the passengers in cars. The items, I'm sure, were all "hot", and were weird things like toy airplanes, cloth napkins, multi-phone charges, head massagers, shoes, etc. The most popular one for me was "People" magazine. Apparently, everyone thought the white lady really needed some reading material.

The final hotel we stayed at was very swanky with EVERY staff member calling me Miss Green. I must say it was a little unnerving. Some times I just wanted to fly under the radar. They would pick me out and want to give me special treatment. I was selecting my food from the breakfast buffet, and the waiter wanted to bring a traditional Indian breakfast out for Miss Green. I told him no, that I wasn't very hungry, but alas it still arrived at my table a few minutes later. And all of the waiters and staff watched me eat it and waited for my reaction!!

Lastly, kids will be kids no matter where you are in the world. I saw a few Indian kids arguing in the street. What looked like a big sister then pushed her little brother into a mud puddle. LOL. Those things made me smile :) Every once in awhile a kid would spot me in the car and wave from the school bus. Of course I would wave back. Then we'd be stuck in traffic or at another intersection, and word would spread so more kids would start waving and smiling, and I'd have to do more waving back. As long as they were in a bus and not begging for money, I thought it was cute!!

India: Chennai continued

A new day is here, and this is the view from my Chennai hotel suite. I was on the 7th floor. It's going to be a very hazy and humid day. After I opened the curtains this morning, I realized I also had a private patio. The door is on the right side.

Not something I would actually want to hang out on since it was quite dirty with pigeon dropping and even trash! Also, the heat & humidity in Chennai is killer for November!! I did step out for a weather check, but quickly came back in to the A/C.

The miles long deserted beach on the Bay of Bengal. We went to the port to see containers loading & unloading, but there was a strict "no photos" policy. The men walking around with rifles were pretty convincing. I decided not to take any chances. I don't want to end up in India prison or an Indian hospital!

My lunch at the dismal Chennai airport. No shops. No restaurants. Only a snack bar. But this chip flavor "Cajun beats" is pretty unique and, in Indian style, pretty spicy!!

Here's the airport. Not part of it. The whole thing. No jetway boarding. Everyone takes a bus out to the runway and then walks up the stairs.

Chennai Airport runway. The red & white building on the left is air traffic control. I see there is a jetway on the right, but do not be fooled. No planes come up close enough to the building.

Also of note is airport security in Japan, China, & India. No one is quite as hyper as America. You can bring liquids (although the sign says not to), you can wear your shoes (even my steel toes), and India doesn't metal detect women. We go behind a screen and get patted down.

Another posh hotel room in New Delhi... Mini bar on the left, bathroom on the right.

Another big bed, which I'm thankfully for. Tomorrow night we're taking the red-eye back to Japan, so sleep will be sketchy.

Hotel bathroom. I haven't featured all of the toilets I came across in India yet on my blog, but let me assure you it's not a pretty sight. I do appreciate a clean Western toilet much more now.

Here's a pic of me on the way to India. I was so excited to see English TV again. It didn't matter that it was in the children's section at Hong Kong or Pink Panther!!

Here's a few extra tidbits on India I've been taking notes on:

I said there were no traffic laws, but I don't think I mentioned that when traffic is stopped on one side of the road, cars occasionally flood the other side of the road, and start going into oncoming traffic. It's like a death wish!! I'm told that India follows the U.S. closely in the number of automobile fatalities. It's pretty crazy since India's speed limit is 40kph, but now that I've seen it I'm not surprised!

The hotels here remind of vacation resorts in Mexico. The workers are all so friendly and happy and willing to help while speaking in their accented English. There are usually multiple amenities, too, like a pool, spa, restaurants, shopping, etc.

Most buses were colorfully painted and often with religious sayings on them. Many even had streamers, ribbons, tassels, and ornaments strung up inside.

All women (even babies) have their ears pierced. Gold jewelry is very popular. Most men even had at least one gold ring on.

No smoking is allowed in any restaurant in India. That's a nice change from Japan, where smoking is not allowed on streets or sidewalks, but please light it up all you want inside of buildings... Yuck!!

OMG Bugs are crazy here!! I noticed they were crawling on others while at the Transystem yard, and then upon inspection, I realized they were all over me, too. Ants on your shoes and in your socks. Spiders on your legs, and many other weird creepy crawlies. Sometimes I would make a big fuss and start brushing them off, and people just laughed at me. (Probably thinking "Silly girl!") In addition, flies are every where. Crawling all over your food in restaurants. Buzzing around your head even in airplanes. It was so bothersome. Again, I was the only one who seems to mind.

There are a few American food places here that people were eager to point out. McDonald's, which I've already mentioned. Also, Domino's Pizza, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Their menus are, of course, modified and are generally only vegetarian options (even KFC, I'm told!!) I also saw a "Kentacky Chicken Corner" from the car one day. The spelling cracked me up, but I'm sure it is a wannabe KFC.

Even in the poorest conditions, I saw many people on cell phones, which I really found ironic. But then I started reading the billboards, and perhaps it's because cell phones are so cheap. Service providers often charge calls by the second, and the texts are charged per character. LOL.

We had lunch at a golf club one day, and I saw another course in Bangalore. There are no golf carts in India, but no worries because you will get a uniformed caddy (super cheap) at your service! I hear the actual greens fees are not too expensive, either. (Although this was from the Japanese guys, and they may be poor judges since the price of golf is astronomical there.)

One very ingenious thing was that most public buses had small gutters on them. This is so during the rainy season, the windows can stay open and very little water gets in. Most of it drains down the front or back of the bus.

Inidia: Chennai

My adventure in India continues! On to Chennai, which is a port city 300 km away from Bangalore. We choose to take the 40 minute flight, but other Mitsui folks decided to drive to check the road conditions. It took them over 6 hours. YIKES!! That's what a 40km speed limit among other things will do to you! Here is the open-air airport in Bangalore. The 2nd nicest airport in India I'm told (partly because it's only a few years old). The killer part for me was the birds (mostly sparrows) flying every where. They were on restaurant tables eating leftovers, roaming around the seats at the gate. No one seemed to mind, except me of course!! Shopping was awesome. They have such cool foreign things, and it's all dirt cheap. I only bought one thing, but maybe I will find some luggage space when I fly out for good on Friday!

Here's a back-side pic of all of the hired drivers waiting for their passengers with signs. No one is allowed in the baggage claim area, which makes it relatively safe. In general, only the affluent can afford to fly. A little girl (probably 7) in the airport restroom came up to me and asked "Where do you come from?" I told her America. She repeated it and giggled. Then all of the other women giggled. I have no one idea if they were laughing at her or me. Regardless, they don't see a lot of Americans here, and certainly fewer females. I really get stared at non-stop.

Welcome to Chennai! Were the weather is mid-80's, super humid, and rainy!! This is also the part where the hoodlums come out. When walking to the car with our driver, some man tried to "help" me with my luggage. I told him no, and he kept saying "same company". Sure thing, buddy! Then after our luggage was loaded (and I watched) the same man helped me into the car. He wanted a tip. Uhhh.... get lost!

Traffic jam. You can see all of the water lying around. Not surprisingly their drainage system sucks here, but then again that would happen in every city if they had downpours like Chennai, too. Funny to see 100's of motorcycles abandoned on the road though, as their owners huddled under trees, awnings, whatever they could find.

I think there are some people living under the highway overpass. But they have a couple cars!! Chennai looks about 10 times poorer than Bangalore. Shocking to say the least!

Here's our ride all week. It's a Toyota Innova made in India. It's a 7-seater car. Nothing like my Clifford (the big red Buick Enclave), but still pretty spacious in these parts.

Cows are not just sacred... they are useful to haul things around in the city!

Motorcyclists waiting in traffic. (This is after the rain.)

Another pic of the poor conditions. Nice cow lying about and water every where. Here's the traumatizing part: Even through tinted windows, I was busted by the locals for taking a pic. This woman came up to the car window and started tapping incessantly. She was begging for 5 rupees and had her newborn baby with her. It was horrifying and depressing all at the same time! After I ignored her, she moved around to other doors, tapping and asking for money. This went on for a good 3 minutes since we were at a dead stop in traffic. Probably the longest 3 minutes of my life. Thank goodness her baby was sleeping. If it had been crying or otherwise looking miserable, I probably would have lost it! This was a rude awakening for me. I realize these people are just trying to survive, and yet I find it so darn picture-worthy. Needless to say, I didn't take any more pictures of the locals or their surroundings today.

My hotel room in Chennai. It's a suite, and bigger than my entire apartment in Japan.

Sitting room with a huge touch screen remote for all of the gadgets in the room.

Generally, I'd be impressed and loving this room, but given the day I've had, I wonder if it's a bit over the top. And perhaps they should take a look outside, and see the disparity between the social classes here in India.

Hallway into the bathroom.

Next stop: Soak in the tub, then off to bed. Another full day ahead. Tomorrow we go to the Port to see overseas containers being loaded/unloaded, and then catch a plane to the capital city of New Delhi.

One more nugget before I sign off: when we enter a hotel, they check the undercarriage of the vehicle for bombs, pop the truck and scan the bags, and then we have to go through a metal detector before we enter. I'm told there's been some bombing issues in Mumbai, and now people aren't messing around.

Quick Video of Traffic

This video just doesn't do India traffic justice, but at least you can hear all of the honking in the background, and see that any respectable place has gates and a security guard (ours has a yellow umbrella).

India: Bangalore & Bidadi

Wow, so much to say about India. It has been overwhelming so far. I'm having trouble putting it in words, but I'll try my best! But first... the trip. We need to work up to the main event! Nagoya Airport. For everyone who wondered how I would manage by myself in December, mystery solved. All signs are also in English. Oddly enough all pilot's announcements have been in English, and the first flight attendants announcements are also in English. The Nagoya airport is beautiful. I keep forgetting that Nagoya is a port city (since by apartment is nowhere near it), and the airport is actually on a man-made island since they ran out of space on the mainland!! It is also fairly new. Opened in summer 2005.

Me and my travel buddy, Jacky. (Real name: Quan Wen, Mitsui trainee from China.) This is the first trip to India for both of us. We do have some language barriers, though. Jacky speaks Chinese and Japanese, and is learning English. While I, of course, speak only English, and am learning Japanese. We make quite the dynamic duo!! The Japanese immigration people were giving me visa issues at the airport and required me to pay the 3000 yen to leave (about $33). LOL. I will have to investigate so I don't have these problems with my next flight! My hotel room in India. A king-sized bed!! I forgot what is was like to sleep like royalty!

Bathroom. Notice the cool window from the bathtub looking into the bedroom!

View from hotel room.

Here starts the fun of my drive to work. I apologize that all of my pics are taken through a window of a car, but it's probably better for me that way! Kids walking to school.

Auto-rickshaws. These things are every where, kind of like an Indian taxi. We were told never to take public transportation. We actually hired a driver for the entire day through the hotel. Same goes for a ride from the airport. The hotel will send a driver with a sign for you.

Streets of Bangalore. The man on the left has no pants, more like a plaid towel wrapped around himself. The women always look beautiful, dressed in bright "sarees" (not head-to-toe burkas as I was expecting!) despite their crappy surroundings.

"Time for school, kids!" 3 deep on the motorcycle made me giggle, but it was quite common!

A bunch of locals having breakfast. Shoes are optional everywhere, and if you have them, they were undoubtedly flip-flop style sandals so your tootsies were all dusty and dirty.

Not sure what everyone is waiting for. India has more people than I have ever seen in my life!!

These piles of green fruit (I presume) are everywhere, but even the locals could not tell me what they were! Always a pile of fresh ones (left), and a pile of rotting leftovers (right).

More people just watching traffic go by.

A Hindu temple. Very beautiful.

Mopeds and motorcycles are everywhere, but then again so were buses, cars, and trucks. The distance from the hotel to work was 30 kilometers (~20 miles) took at least 90 minutes. Sometimes 2 full hours. Top speed is 40 kph (~25 mph) in the entire country of India. Even for the truck drivers carrying auto parts or finished vehicles!!

I saw everything on this ride to work. There are sometimes lines on the road, but they mean nothing at all. 2 "lanes" easily becomes 4 (or 5)! Honking was non-stop. I think it was more "I'm coming up on the left side of you"or "I'm behind you", than "Get out of my way". Drivers didn't seem fazed by anything, and people were walking everywhere. In the middle of the road, between cars, etc. I was too afraid to even roll down a window!! This experience beats any other crazy taxi ride I've ever had in Mexico, NYC, or Europe! Unbelievable.

Goats just chilling. I also saw many stray dogs (all the color of dirt) that no one seemed to even notice. Cows were roaming about eating trash from the ditches. (Cows are sacred in India and cannot be served in restaurants without a permit. Even then the only restaurant the locals could name who served beef was Hard Rock Cafe!) Sheep and chickens were also seen. I was told to watch for monkeys, but alas haven't seen one scampering by our Toyota yet.

A cow on the side of the road. Plus some super-skinny locals. I saw plenty of well-fed Indians around, too. I wonder if it's a status thing. Hey, look at me, I'm a fatty because I can afford to eat?! I have no idea... just a theory.

Piles of trash are everywhere.

Some homes we passed on the way to work. These are not slums. These are lush accommodations. I saw many slums in the distance, but never got close enough for photos. As I mentioned before, perhaps it's better that way.

Indian barbecue for dinner. We cooked it right at the table. Pretty yummy, but SUPER spicy. They ordered me special "no spice" skewers, but even those babies packed some heat!! I am told this was the nicest restaurant in town, and the cost for unlimited barbecue appetizers (shown above), a large buffet, and a dessert bar was 500 rupees ($10.80) Everyone was very accommodating and was always concerned that I was enjoying my food. They even let me pick out our lunch spot the 2nd day. I choose the canteen (cafeteria) at work. It is only 1 choice every day (vegetarian curry) for 25 rupees (~$0.50). I figure when in India, better eat like the Indians!!

Kerri & Jacky at work: Transystem, sister company to Transfreight. Lucky that I look so damn cute in a baseball hat since it's part of our safety gear!

They cut the grass by hand here... No joke. This guy has clippers, and he worked on this for hours.

One of the few places there weren't thousands of people around!!! Indian Oil gas station. All over the city, I still haven't seen a sign for the price of fuel.

This woman is carrying sticks on her head. No hands, just balance. And I can barely carry a cup of water with 2 hands from the kitchen to the living room without spilling it.

This arch separates Bidadi (where work and the Toyota plant is located) from the city of Bangalore. It is 6km from here to the hotel, and it took 70 minutes to get to the hotel from this point!! The driver today told me that once you are in the city limits, there are no driving rules, no traffic lights, no streets signs, no LAW!! Just people and vehicles everywhere. Before we reached this arch, the driver pointed out the police on the side of the road to me. There were about 8 officers, and one had a speed gun. The fine for a speeding ticket is 300 rupees (~$6.50). Can you imagine?! People were so paranoid about getting and ticket and fine. As I mentioned, things are cheap here in India, we passed a McDonald's that advertised a "Happy Price Menu" for 22 rupees (~$0.48). One featured item was the McAloo Tikki burger. Since I know they don't serve beef, I googled it: McAloo Tikki burger is a veggie burger made with potatoes, peas, and spices, topped with tomato, onions, and a veggie-tomato mayo. That's it for now, but plenty more tidbits to come. I made "notes" of all the nuttiness, and I still go to Chennai and New Delhi later in the week!