Finally! A beer that isn't Foster's!

After a long-ass drive from Pune to Mumbai we made it to the airport. A few hours too early but what the hell right? We were only too happy to make it to the pub for a beer and find out that they serve Corona. That was the best damn beer I've had in 3 weeks :) The only thing was we were not too happy to see that the beers cost $12 each! Yup you read that right. A SINGLE bottle of Corona is $12. There weren't even any dancing girls either.

Dennis and I are now sitting in Heathrow on a 10 hr layover. There is only so much window shopping you can do until you want to just hop on a plane. The prices here are pretty crazy even though they advertise everything with no tax.

If all goes well we should be in Vancouver on Sunday around 6:15 pm or so. Can't wait to see all my friends, family and little furball Kage.

Cheers from London.

d

We only need a moto-rickshaw and a bicycle now!

Okay, so some of you have heard my stories of the driving here. This trip has been even more enlightening in the intricacies of "India Driving Ed. 101". Tonight marked the third road incident that would have resulted in an ICBC claim. Actually this might have gotten us thrown in jail!

So here we are driving down the road with Evil Knievel; this is the name I have given our driver. I'm sure he will do a barrel roll over the river before the end of the week. As always the roads are packed with vehicles, bicycles, and people. Our driver doesn't like to be behind anyone so he passes them in any means necessary. Tonight we started to pass a transport truck on the curb side of the road. It just so happens people here find it necessary to WALK ON THE FREAKIN' ROAD. So here we are bombing down the curb side and no room to spare. The driver starts blaring his horn to let the truck and the dumbass walking on the road know we are coming and ain't gonna stop. Does anyone budge? Nope. Now Dennis and I know this is gonna be close because we could reach out the window and touch the truck. As we pass the guy walking on the road I hear a SMACK and notice our mirror has been knocked in! We nailed the guy's elbow with our side mirror going about 50 kph! I know that must have hurt like a mother-trucker.

The funny, or un-funny depending on if you are going to hell like me, is that we didn't even stop or slow down for that matter. Dennis and I can't help but burst out laughing. Our driver starts to blame the guy walking on the road. Granted the dude should not have been walking there but even I know where the brakes are.

At this rate we have now hit a person, a motorcycle, and a car. I figure by the end of the week we need to hit a moto-rickshaw and a bicycle. Once we do this our driving adventures will be complete.

I really hope Evil K. doesn't drive us to Mumbai.

d

Photos

I haven't posted too many photos yet so here are a whole bunch!!

Katraj Snake Park

No Comments?

I have been writing the blog for 3 weeks and haven't seen any comments yet. Is anyone there?

d

My motorcycle ride

Last night Dennis and I were invited out to Manil's home for dinner. It is most of the way to work so it was actually quite a long drive in a moto-rickshaw. What is funny about the Indian culture is that I didn't realize they were like the Italians. They feed you enough until you are ready to explode! The food was wonderful, we had something called Sambar (sp?) with these small rice puck type things. It was an all veg meal and didn't make me feel too bloated because it was not cooked with too much oil.

I really started to realize how much more in tune with their health they are here. North Americans tend to eat a lot of processed food without giving much though to how it got to their plate. Here in India everything is made from scratch and is always fresh. Looking around you see very few overweight people. Most are so lean you think they might blow away in a strong wind, but they look very healthy.

After dinner was done Manil told us he was giving us a ride home ... on his motorcycle. Horray for 3 dudes on a 125 cc bike! It was not as bad as it sounds, but having Dennis sandwiched between me and Manil was hilarious. Especially so when I told Dennis I was getting turned on har har har. The ride was really fun because the city was quite calm at 10 pm at night. We got to see an hear so much more than we normally do in the car and moto-rickshaw. I'd love to get behind of the wheel of the bike at that time of night. Not so much in the day time though. That is a little too scary.

As we were going back to the hotel we passed the infamous red-light district. Manil pointed it out which is when Dennis suggested we drive through it. Hilarious! I told Manil my short "sari story" as we rode through. This time all the hookers actually looked like hookers. If the one who grabbed me before looked like that I would have been a little bit wiser. What was really funny though were all the workers eyeing me on this bike with Manil and Dennis. I just kept seeing all these heads turn! Damn me and my Casper skin. I'm sure they were seeing money signs in their head as we rode by. Too their disappointment we only rode by and did not stop. I'm not making that mistake twice LOL

It was a great night. I hope to have a few more like that before I leave.

Cheers
d

I'm having a riot ... seriously

Apparently there are some riots happening all over the Maharashtra region that I am working in right now. From what I read this spawned from the desecration of a statue in Mumbai. I haven't seen anything happening around the hotel, but apparently it is just safer to stay here. I would expect I'd be more of a target seeing how I stand out just a wee little bit.

Anyways. Safe and sound for now. I'll post more when I find out new info.

Cheers

Carmaggedon

Some of you know my stories about driving here in India. My last trip was pretty tame but this time it is a little different. So far this week we have clipped a motorcycle, side swiped a car which knocked our mirror off, and also almost drove into a giant pink bus head on.

All of this stuff happens because the drivers here go into oncoming traffic to pass people. When they do this they basically expect the other drivers to move over a bit to make room. In our cases there really wasn't any room to be had. This is where we keep hitting stuff. LOL Do we stop and change insurance papers? Nope! Just keep going! It is hilarious.

The bus was the scariest so far because these are buses the size of Greyhounds barreling down the road. In this case the pink bus was passing a moto-rickshaw and we just happened to be in the way. Dennis and I almost peed ourselves!

Time for breakfast. Bye for now.

Shaken Not Stirred ... Intermission? WTH!

I was a little disappointed to find out that I was leaving for India on the same day the new James Bond film was debuting in Canada. As a kid I grew up watching these because my Dad loves these films. To my surprise the movie theatre next to the hotel was playing Casino Royale! In English to boot. I hadn't been to this theatre yet so I wasn't too sure what the quality was going to be like. Holy hell was I surprised!

First off it is soooooooo cheap to see a movie here. I think it works out to about $2 CDN? And the movie theatre has assigned seating and the seats are soooo comfy. It is basically like a SilverCity down in Vancouver but only 4 screens. The concession stand sells pop and popcorn for $1 each. One thing that is weird though is that they have an intermission during the movie. Dennis and I laughed at that one.

Thumbs up to the movie experience in India. We should bring assigned seating to Vancouver. It would make things soooo much better.

Happy Birthday Mr. Dennis

It was Dennis' birthday on the 23rd and he wanted to keep it low key. Little did he know the staff at the Central Park Studio's take note of your date of birth from your passport when you check in. As some of you know we work very strange hours while we are working in India. We start work at 9:30 pm and end at 6:30 am the next day. Our daily ritual starts by coming home from work and enjoying a nice little breakfast, which is when things started to get weird for Dennis on his birthday.

As Dennis went to his room one of the service staff said "Oh! Happy birthday sir!". Since Dennis was half asleep he was quite confused. Then he made it back downstairs for breakfast when the man at the front desk said "Happy birthday Mr. Dennis". So now he's thinking "How the heck do these guys know it is my birthday?". As I mentioned before they take note of the passport.

Since it was only 7 am still I knew he was going to get this ALL DAY LONG. Which made me laugh ... A LOT. At lunch time we were fortunate enough to be seated in such a way that Dennis' back was facing the kitchen. The staff prepared a bouquet of flowers and a cake for him! We all sang happy birthday to a red faced Mr. Dennis.


This was by far some of the best service I've ever seen at a hotel. I never would have expected for them to take this much effort to have every staff member wish him happy birthday and get him a cake.