Horn OK Please

Well; Jonathan and I made it to India safe and sounds. The plane rides were long but it was not as tiring as I expected it to be. I didn't get to sleep much on the flight to Heathrow but I did sleep about 4 hrs on the flight to Mumbai (Bombay).

You are probably wondering what "Horn OK Please" means. The horn is primarily used to say "I'm passing you whether you like it or not." It is also used to say "Get out of the way you stupid moped". And also to say "Hey pedestrian. You better not cross or you'll end up as my hood ornimant." I have some video and a few pictures to share about the traffic. Many of the trucks have "Horn OK Please" painted on the back which basically means "Honk if you are going to pass me, because I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing".

Here in India there are not many traffic rules. And by not many I mean none. Merging and lane changing are determined first by how large your vehicle is. Truck trumps car, car trumps moto-rickshaw, tuk tuk trumps moped, and moped trumps pedestrian. There are no lines on the road in the city. And the lines on the highways are merely a suggestion.


On Saturday we got into Pune around 3 pm and met up with Jen. She was pretty happy to see some familiar faces. After a little "Hello, how you doin'" Jonathan and I decided we both needed to take a rest and all meet up for dinner around 6:30 or 7:00 pm. Many of you know the way I sleep - like the dead. It is even worse when I am wearing my earplugs. I guess I slept in a little because I woke up at 9 pm! Jen and Jonathan had been trying to call me for a while but I didn't hear the thing. God bless those earplugs. It turns out they went for dinner late and I still met them at about 9:20 pm at this rooftop restraunt which was fantastic. That was about it for our Saturday because we decided to call it a night and get some more sleep.

Sunday was an amazing day! I did more this day than I had in a month in Vancouver. To start out our day we met up with Yoghita (sp?) who is an Engineer who works for us in India. She took us to the Katrai snake park! Not only were there snakes but we also got to see some turtles, crocodiles, Indian deer, blue bulls, a white tiger, and a leopard. It was pretty amazing.

After that we came back to the hotel where Jonathan and I decided to see how cold the beer was. It took a few bottles but we decided it was cold and refreshing :) Oh yeah. It is mango season here and they are fabulous. Eat them is like a party in your mouth!

We also got to check out this palace in the middle of the city called Shaniwar Wada. It was built sometime in the 18th century but all the buildings inside were burned down :( The stone structure still exists and you can walk all around the 30 ft walls and get quite a view.

In the evening we went to a place called Aga Khan Palace. This is the resting place of Ghandi! We were rushed on this tour because it was closing in 10 minutes but we did get to see some very amazing history and even the grave marker where Ghandi's cremated remains lie. While we were there we were spotted by a bunch of cricket players. Because we were white foreigners they all wanted their photo taken with us. It was really quite hilarious. I really have to get used to being stared at here. Especially by the children.

After seeing Ghandi we decided to check out M.G. road which is closed off to vehicles on Sat and Sun from 6-10 pm. It is this huge open market of everything you can imagine. All the merchants are really good at pedling their wares ;) Luckily I just looked and did not buy. Next time I'll likely pick up a few trinkets and presents.

We wrapped up the day at an amazing restaraunt called Koyia. All the servers were in traditional India dress and the whole place was covered in little mirrors. Photos did not turn out well because it was dimmly lit, you'll just have to trust me that the decor and food was amazing.


That is all for now. This entry is getting really large so I'll leave more for next time.

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