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!
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.
