Wednesday, November 16, 2005

India Begins...

Today is my first day full day in India, but my second, if you consider arriving last nite as my first. Anyway, I can't say I'm having a good time. I know it's a working trip, but I guess, I was hoping to enjoy the country a little more.

It's really different here. Things are not as efficient, as new, as clean, as modern... Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking down at the people and place, I'm saying that I think I've been too spoilt by Singapore. Like i said in my earlier post, I've never been to India. Never had the desire to visit the country. When we arrived at around 10pm, we took almost 1.5 hours to clear customs and pick up our bags. The queues were slow.. and the bags took forever to come out.

Driving here is quite an experience. Apparently, it is ok to HONK at people all the time. All the drivers here use their car horns to get people to move away! The onli equivalent I can think of is someone standing atop the car with a loudspeaker shouting 'MOVE AWAY! MOVE AWAY!". It's all very noisy. And the air. Sigh. The air is really quite polluted. So, the noise coupled together with the air... really makes for a miserable car ride.

Potholes. There are potholes everywhere. Really makes me appreciate how Singapore has practically repaired the roads so well that I think we almost never see a pothole. Todae, I saw a cow strolling along the road in the morning. In the afternoon, on the way back to the hotel, we were slowed down by a bullock cart... Food. The most impt thing rite? Well, the food is really Indian (like DUH rite?). The spices can be very very strong. It's of course 100% authentic, but then, I'm really not into Indian cuisine. We had a nice homecooked lunch todae, but for dinner, I actually ordered chinese food from the hotel restaurant. It's certainly not 100% chinese.. but for now, I guess it's ok with me.

Oh the hotel... sigh the hotel... We're supposed to be stayng at a 3-star type place. But when we arrived last night... SIGH... After a flight, I wanted a nice hot bath and then get to bed... well, no such luck. Firstly, the room smelt funny (Like some sort of vomit smell), and then the taps didn't seem to work. I tried to shower, but the water literally dribbled from the shower head. And to compound the problem.. there wasn't any hot water. Now Bangalore is now having nice cool weather... so the water was FREEZING. Then, I tried to flush the toilet.... sigh again. The best way to describe it is... it's like, when you flush, the... icky stuff goes down.. but the paper remains there! Swirling in the water!! I kept trying to flush it down, but all that resulted in doing was it ended looking like I had WASHED the toilet paper! Yes, it's every bit as gross as it sounds.

Okok.. i think i should not get carried away with the complaining. I think I need to set the record straight. I think it's just me. I'm really not a rustic.. get back to the basics kinda person. Of course, there are many who enjoy this kind of simpler life.. but not me. I need my fun... my gadgets... my cinemas...everything! To some, I'm sure this kind of rustic living is shiok. But it's really not for me.

Oh well, I have another 9 days here. I'm sure things will get more interesting. Will update when I have the opportunity.

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