Lu's Days ...

Back from UK, @ Dam for Flight Home

2004-12-19T17:22:00.000+07:00

Just finished my whole frigging mini europe trip. Well, can't really call it a europe trip when I've just visited 2 cities for 6 days in total. But still ...

I'm at Amsterdam once again, waiting for my flight home. The internet terminals in the Amsterdam airport is sweet. Actually, the Amsterdam airport is probably the best airport that I've ever been, compared to the ones in Hong Kong, San Fran, Toronto, London (UK), etc. Their transfer system is very fast and easy. And the stores here are kool. How cool ? Well, they got a mini casino here, so how cool can you get ?

I'm tired as hell now. Partied hard back in Chester UK with SouTing. Wanna thank her and her boyfriend, Micheal, here for showing me around and bringing me to a kickass club in UK. Man, ppl in UK can really dance. They are uncontrollable once they are on the dance pool. And some of them don't need to drink and can still dance pretty good. And for those who are curious, yeah, gals in UK are frigging hot.

5 mins more to go. Gonna post the pics up when I get back to Toronto. Can't wait to get back home.

See you toronto folks in 10 hrs !

@ Amsterdam Now

2004-12-16T17:20:00.000+07:00

This is my 2nd day @ Dam. Arrived here yesterday early morning. Walked around the city. And chilled at the hostel last night.

Hmm .... what should I say about the Dam .... hmmm ..... well, it is cold. Something like 0 to 5 degrees. Given that I was in the Desert 5 days around and sun-bathing on my last day in India which was only 3 days ago, I feel like I'm in a totally different part of the world .... wait a minute, I AM in a different part of the world .... must be the cold .....

So, for those who dunno anything about Amsterdam, they are famous in the world for 2 things. One, Red Light District. Two, weed everywhere.

Can't comment on the second on or else my parents will be on my ass. But I'll say I chilled with the guys (2 americans, 3 japs, and 2 CANADIAN !!) in the hostel last night and had fun.

So, about the Red Light District (RLD). I didn't really walk around the RLD after 8pm cuz I was too drunk in the hostel. But I did walked around it from 4 to 6. And I can tell you, yes, you can do hookers window shopping. But was I impressed ? HELL NO !! Those "girls" there are fucking aunties !!! Man, maybe the hots ones aren't out until late at night. But for the ones that I did saw, all I can say is ... "holy shit .... I wanna puke". But I'll give the place another try later tonight. Gonna join some "safe tour" provided by the tourist agency. I've heard (from the waitress where I had dinner last night) that it is not as safe as it used to be at night. Especially that incident that happened. Remember about a month ago, a Deutch director got killed in Amsterdam becuz he filmed a contraversy movie ? Yeah, that's the incident.

Anyways .... enough about the RLD. The thing I'm impressed the most while I'm here are really :
a) fashion
b) interior design
c) the city itself

Ppl here are cool. Meaning, they all dress like models. The clothings that I've saw here are way better than the ones in HK or Canada or the States. I dunno, maybe it is just my personal preference. But IF i do have the money, I would've probably burn them all here for clothings ....

And the interior design of stores and restaurants here are slick. Even thou we have similar ones back in downtown toronto, but still, every store here are cool.

The city itself is filled with canals. I even toke a boat curise tour around the city. This place is kinda like Venice. You guys can see by the map below.

City map

Anyways, running outta time in the internet cafe. Gotta go. Later.

Camel Safari & Desert Camping

2004-12-13T20:33:00.000+07:00

We only got 2 half days and 1 night to do the desert camping stuff. Because of the time constraint, the travel agency for the camel safari had to transport us using a jeep so that we can get to the heart of the desert more quickly. Other than us 2 Canadians, there were a pair of Spanish couples that travelled with us. They were cool.

Hola !

We passed thru some small villages and stopped there for a brief while so that we can see how the local lives are like. But none of us really cared. All that's in our mind are the camels and the sand dunes.

This village is ...... nice. So, where are the camels ?

After the brief stop at the village-that-we-didn't-care, we ride for another half an hour to a totally deserted place in the middle of nowhere. No roads lead to this place. The jeep driver somehow could tell where to go even thou the whole place looked the same to us in all directions. But oh well, we stopped, got out of the jeep, and waited.

In the middle of nowhere, where we've stopped, there is a small pond for the cattles to drink.

After 20 mins of sun-bathing, the animals that we've long awaited for finally have arrived.

Give me food ...

Happy to see you !! Now, hand me that rope.

Ahmed, Indiana Jones' style.

We immediately hopped onto our rides, and started the journey towards the sand dunes.

Riding right behind ya, spanish dude !

Man, it was hot like shit.

The adventurous couple.

Are we there yet ?

After about an hour of camel ride, we finally arrived ..... yet another we-don't-give-a-shit village. But the rest was great. Riding on that camel for an hour really started to hurt our legs.

Kids at the village.

Cattles in the village ..... does this remind you of the sheeps in Warcraft 3 ?

Even the camels and the tour guide need a rest.

After a half hour rest, we pushed on.

Are we there yet ?

About an hour more of camel riding, we finally see some sand.

Taadaa !!

We were just in time for the sunset. Man .... sunset in the desert sand dunes is, yet another, most beautiful thing that I've ever seen in life. The desert is really quiet too. You can almost hear the wind blowing pass your ears while carrying a pinch of sand along with it. And the sand dunes are uncontaminated by garbage or even footprints. The sand pattern was pure and natural. And the sunset was beautiful.

Other than the spanish couples, there were 2 other couples that have arrived before us. All of the couples are laying down on the sand, watching the sunset, and doing their thing. Meanwhile, i'm stuck with Ahmed. *sigh* .... but it was beautiful nevertheless.

. . . .

My camera couldn't really capture the beauty of the scene.

Camels, desert, and sunset.

When the sun has set and the camel put to rest, the tour guides started some cooking going. The camp itself has a total of 14 people. 4 tour guides, 2 girls 1 guy from Frances, 1 guy from Swiss, the spanish couple, a we-didn't-talked-to couple, and us 2 Canadians.

The food was Indian food. The taste didn't matter at that point anymore. It is about the camp fire in the middle of the desert.

French girl watching the tour guides doing their cooking.

After the meal, we sat around the camp fire, and the tour guide sang some local Indian folk songs.

Warmth.

About an hour later, all of us went to sleep.

Sleeping in the desert was unforgetable. I didn't really fall asleep for the first hour, or at least I tried to force myself not to sleep. I wanted to experience the night in desert and didn't want the night to end.

Desert at night is really quiet. You can even hear the sound of the other travellers turning around in their sleeping bags. Occassionally, you will hear the twinkling sound from the bells that are hung from the camels. The air around you was cold and chilly. The light breeze blowing to you reminds you of the open and endless space surrounding you. Above you, you can see millions of stars, all shining brightly without the hindering of the city lights. If you turn to your side, you can see the silhouette of the camel and the hilly sand dune rise against the bright moon-light sky. If you focus enough, you can see the orange light from the cigarette that the tour guide who are watching guards at night is smoking. And slowly, after staring at the stars and the silhouette of the landscape around you, your eyes would close while still breathing in the chilly and sandy air.

But it was too damn cold in the desert. I woke up 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night to put on more clothes. :P

Near sunrise, the fire that the tour guide started woke me up while all of the other travellers were sleeping. I wrapped myself in the blankets that they provided me and joined the 4 guides around the fire. The whole sky was still dark. It seems like there is no other life around us except for us 5. None of us really talked, afraid that we would wake the other travellers up. The only sound that we could hear are the buring woods from the fire, the rubbing sounds of our hands in front of the fire, and the occassional bell rings from the camels.

About, what it seemed, a long moment later, Ahmed finally got up while all the other travellers are still sleeping. He must've felt cold too. At that point, the sky was turing from a total black to a dark blue. We knew the sun is coming. We walked around and climbed to the top of the hilly dunes. On top, we've found the thing that we were looking for in this trip.

Ahmed with his sleepy face.

Me, all wrapped up.

The light as we slowly climb higher.

Another day about to come.

Capturing the moment.

Sunrise, the desert, and me.

Sunrise, the desert, and the camel.

After experiencing the sunrise, we headed back to the camp for some breakfast. Apparently, all the other travellers have already awake.

Back to the camp.

French dude with his morning hot tea.

Camp ground from far.

After breakfast and the morning piss in the bushes, we headed off for yet another camel ride. But this time, the ride is different. Totally different.

Ahmed, good to go.

This time, the camels are all rested up and ready to go. They dashed, they ran, and they scared the shit outta me. The other guys seems to enjoy the excitement alot. Especially the Spanish women. She was like re-living her childhood dream of being a princess on a pony. So, what should I do ? Of course I tried to act all calm and cool while shitting in my pants trying to hold onto the frigging wild camel. Hey, at least I didn't fall.

Hoolllyy sshhheessh .... is that another bumpy path ? Fuuccckkk ....

After an hour of struggle, which really should be enjoyment, we finally got back to the place where the jeep was. I was never happier to see a frigging jeep in my life.

Goodbye Mr. Camel.

Hallloo, Mr. jeep.

After getting back to the sand fort, we hopped onto a 6 hours bus ride to head back to Jodhpur. At that point (around noon), me and Ahmed were exhausted. Ahmed slept in the bus. I spent the time listening to Jay Chow and Suen Yin Gi, staring aimlessly into the infinite desert that lies before me while slowly falling asleep.

Jay Chow and the desert.

Slowly closing my eyes ...

When we arrive at Jodhpur, we got onto another 36 hours train to come back to Hyderabad. So now I'm here.

I'll be heading off to Amsterdam for 3 days tomorrow, then UK for another 3 days, then back to Toronto. See you guys then.

Later.

Great Thar Desert !

2004-12-13T19:03:00.000+07:00

So ..... now the desert post that you've all been waiting for.

Some background info about the area where the desert is. The desert is located in the state of Rajasthan in India. It is near the border of Pakistan. For those who dunno about world affairs, India, a Hinduism country, and Pakistan, a Muslim country, don't like each other. So that adds to the excitement of the whole trip. Especially when our bus ride from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer passed thru the army camps, 3 army guys jumped on the bus to hitch a hike. Man, those dudes look scary. But maybe I'm just a wuss.

This map should be clear enough.

Rajasthan itself has a very distinct culture apart from the rest of India. This can be seen by the people's clothing. Even the auto-rickshaws are different from the rest of India.

Auto with style.

Women here tend to cover their faces.

Anyways .... enough of the boring textbook crap. Lemme jump directly to what we did.

After Taj Mahal in Agra, we toke a 12 hrs night train to Jodhpur. Then we toke a 5 hrs bus (where we encountered the army) to Jaisalmer, the city that is closest to the desert. Since we were pretty exhausted from the Delhi and Agra trip and also from the continuous travelling, we decided to stay at a 5 star hotel for the first night in Jaisalmer and take it easy. (Personal note to mom and dad: Thanks for the financial support ... hehe)

Wanna take a swim in the middle of the desert ?

Musicians and dancers hired by the hotel.

Wow .... holy ..... she picked up the 2 rings on the ground using her eye lids ..... we tipped them 100 rs ($3 Cdn) for that show

The next day, we checked out of the hotel, jumped on a shared auto, and headed to the sand fort - the core of the city.

In the shared auto with the locals ...

Upon entering the sand fort, once again, the only thought that crosses my mind is .... wowww ......

Approaching the fort from far.

Entrance of the sand fort.

The fort inside is amazing !! Have you guys seen movies like Black Hawk Down, Bourne Identity, or Indiana Jones, where the main characters have to find their ways in those ancient middle east cities while looking out for dangers ? That was what this place is about. But instead of looking out for dangers, we had to look out for all those cow shit that are sprinkled everywhere in the small alleyways of this magnificent city.

Moooooo ...

Despite of the cow shit, everything in the city is amazing. There were no big roads, only small alleyways. Each house there is carved with beautiful carvings. I don't really know how well to descibe it, so I'll just show you guys the photos.

The whole city itself is a piece of beautiful art work.

The outside of the temple located inside the fort.

Textile is big in this city.

Little shopkeeper.

We ran around the whole fort like children playing in a huge playground. We eventually got to the side wall of the fort and got a view of the city below.

Places immediately below.

The whole city from above.

I think these rocks are used as a defensive mechansim ..... hey, this place is ancient as I've told you.

Pigeons all along the side of the fort.

Hmmm .... will they shit on my head ?

Well, don't let the ancient touch and its remote location tricked you. This place is filled with modern stuff. There were long distance phone booths (which was where I call you guys, dad and mun), internet cafes, and ..... authentic italian gourmet pizza !!

Mmmmm ...... italian in the desert .....

Modern washing machine.

After having the home-made pizzas ..... we headed out to the sand dune for a night of camping in the desert !!

Taj Mahal

2004-12-13T13:25:00.000+07:00

Taj Mahal, one of the 7 (man-made) wonders of the world. Before I went there, I always thought that Taj Mahal is just a single building all by itself in the middle of nowhere. But apparently, it is surrounded by a fort sorta structure that acted as its protectors. Those surrounding buildings are awesome by themselves. But compared to the Taj, which is all made up of white marble, they seem like only a "nice addition" to the awesome architecture.

Main entrance of the surrounding fort.

Surrounding building from the Taj.

To the Taj !

Everyone gotta leave their shoes behind with this dude.

Taj itself is huge.

Hmm ... will my blog readers get sick of all these Taj pictures ?

Just like the cover of the lonely planet book.

The side is under maintainence.

After the Taj, we went to Agra fort. From there, the Taj can be seen. I don't wanna bored you guys with yet another "how amazing it was" sorta descriptions. So I'll just let you guys see the picture.

Agra fort entrance, 2 Canadians.

Have you played Serious Sam before ?

This place is just like one of the stage in Serious Sam.

You can see the Taj in view from the fort.

Amazing ...

Alright .... enough with Agra. Time for the desert !! Next stop : Jodhpur.

Dehli

2004-12-13T11:44:00.000+07:00

Dehli, the capital of India, was our first stop. We got there early morning, found a hotel to stay, washed up, and set out for our day in the capital city.

Our first place to hit was the Red Fort. Unfortunately, it is close every monday, and guess which day did we arrived on ? So we toke a pic from far and moved onto our next stop.

This sux ...

We then toke a cycle-rickshaw ride to Jama Masjid. Man, the human cycle-rickshaw ride as a painful experience. The guy who is riding the tricycle like bike only weights somethings like 100 lbs at most, while me and Ahmed together with our backpacks, probably weight 300+ lbs. I really felt sorry for that old guys. So we gave him more than he asked for so that he can buy a good meal for that hard work.

TO JAMA MASJID !!

The Jama Masjid is incredible. I really don't know how to describe that feeling. When I landed my foot at the door step and saw the whole thing, the only thought in my mind was "Wow ...". Anyways, I'll let the pics do the talking.

Wow ...

Peace and Pigeons

We even climbed up to the towers to get a solid view of the Masjid and the city. The climb was pretty dangerous cuz the stairs are small and slippery. But we don't even know the sense of danger anymore after being in India for 3 months.

City from high up.

Canadians ...

Masjid from high up.

The next place on our list was Qutb Minar. Basically it is just a tall tower that was built back in the days with some amazing scupltures work on it. The tower reminds me of the tower in the old Dragon Ball .... the tower where Goku has to climb up to meet the cat god and get the saint seed.

The tower.

Indian family trip !

Amazing ...

Trying to look kool ....

Ahmed always seem to look kooler.

After the tower, we headed to the famous lotus temple .... which was closed after 5pm (we got there at 7pm). Yup, got rejected twice by the Delhi famous buildings. Oh well .... then we headed to India Gateway.

Freeezzzzing ....

Man, Delhi was freeeeezzzing at nighttime. Something like 5 to 10 degrees. Even us harsh winter proven Canadians can't stand the cold and had to put some heavy jackets on.

Canadian, eh ?

That ends our day trip in India. Next stop : Agra.

North India by Train

2004-12-12T20:18:00.000+07:00

Back from my 8 days trip around northern India. Since I still have 2 days to burn in Hyderabad b4 I head out to Amsterdam and UK, i'll do some blogging for those who've liked reading my adventures in India so far.

So, let me start by saying which part of India did I travelled to.

Map showing the terrain.

Can't find a good map on the net, so I included two.

I was from Hyderabad (middle of the map). I went north to Delhi (the one with the star in the circle, it is the capital of India), then I went to Agra, then west to Jodhpur (not on the 2nd map), then further west to Jaisalmer (near the boarder to Pakistan, in the Great Thar Dessert). Then I went back to Jodhpur, and back to Hyderabad.

Hyderabad -> Delhi -> Agra -> Jodhpur -> Jaisalmer -> Jodhpur -> Hyderabad

Travelling in India by train is a trip by itself. The first trip to Delhi toke 24 hrs. Most of the train rides that we have we toke the 3-tier AC trains. What that means is that each little compartments will have 3 layers of bunk beds of each side, and 2 layers of bunk bed along the corridor. People will walk along the corridor selling tea, coffee, snacks, and etc.

3 tier AC train pic taken from the corridor

Snack shop on the train. Yes, those are cup noodles, masala (i.e. spicy) favour.

Spending that much time and cramped into a small space with random strangers is a pretty different experience. But the good thing is that all of the other travellers are nice and friendly folks. We talked alot about all sorts of stuff. It was a good exchange of culture and experiences.

Friends have no cultural or racial boundaries.

And there is no limit as to where to feast in India.

Mohammed with his lonely planet book.

Also, the best part of the train ride is that you can just open the door to get fresh air. Yup, it was dangerous. One misstep and you are out of the train.

Time for some fresh air!

Anyone feel like a dive ?

Or should I say die ?

But still, by just standing in front of the opened door of the train in early morning watching the sunrise with the morning breeze is .... amazing. The smell of the fresh village air blowing thru your nose; the endless view of Indian farmland and villages; the mist on the farmland made visible by the sunrise; the sound of the train wheels passing by the train tracks with a light rhythm .... all of these experience just makes me realize what I've been missing out in my life so far. The peace, solitude, and content feeling that I get make this trip all worthwhile.

Morning sunrise.

Evening sunset.

Anyways .... can't spend that much time today on blogger (cuz of emails and other crap). I'll talk about my whole trip tomorrow when I have more time. Especially camping in the dessert, exciting camel rides, and the great Taj Mahal. Later guys.

Truth about India

2004-12-03T18:51:00.000+07:00

This is probably gonna be my last blog entry in India. As I've said, I'll travel to other places in India that will not likely have internet connections.

For my last entry, I'll like to do India some justice after all these "Wonders of India" entries. I've talked about a lot of customs and traditions that I've found strange and different from the Canadian / Hong Kong culture that we are used to. This might give the readers an inaccurate view on how India is actually like for the lives of the middle and upper classes here. So, let me reveal the truth and dismiss some of the stereotypical views of India in the eyes of most non-Indians.

India has big and modern malls just like the ones in North America.

Evidence :

Nearby big malls with IMAX theatre.

Another mall in Bangalore (city in India known for its IT development).

The ceiling of the mall in Bombay .... very slick ....

Department store (like Bay and Sears) just like the ones in North America.

India has international well-known stores just like the ones in North America.

Evidence :

Anyone can use a happy meal.

Ice cream, sir ?

They got lamb salami and goat ham.

Chicken with no curry.

People from Canada might not know this brand, but people from Hong Kong would certainly recognize it.

India has stores that sells products / services just like the ones in North America.

Evidence :

Rock, Trance, Pop, Hiphop .... you name it.

Interior designer's heaven.

You want high-tech, you've got high-tech .... for a price.

India's offices, in terms of environment and culture, are just like the ones in North America.

Evidence :

Me working hard at my cubicle, just like in North America. :)

Nearby office buildings.

India has (very) nice restaurants and bars/clubs just like the ones in North America.

Evidence:

Anyone in the world can use some authentic chinese food.

Bars in India .... slick ....

Food court

These little cafes are located everywhere in the cities. They are your A/C paradise.

I'll also answer some of the questions that have been asked by many of the ppl (in Canada or HK) that I've talked with.

Q : Do they eat with their hands ?
A : Yes, but they wash them afterwards. And they usually only eat with one hand, and use the other hand to pick up water and etc.

Q : Do they eat a lot of curry ?
A : Yes, but the curry is not exactly the yellow stuff u see in restaurants in Canada or HK. Curry is just a general name for the sauce that goes with the rice or roti (Indian bread).

Q : Are there hot girls in India ?
A : (See pictures in the post below.)

Q : Can they really use a flute to control the snake ?
A : I haven't even seen a damn snake for the last 3 months while I'm here in India. But I did see a guy using a stick to control a monkey, does that count ?

Do what I say or I beat the crap outta u.

Conclusion :

No. India is not what many of u people think it is like. Although there are many parts in the country that are still undeveloped, the big cities and the people living there are pretty modern and civilized. So, don't bug me with silly comments like "Can u use a flute to control the snake now ?" when I get back to Canada, or I'll show u some monkey-controlling techniques I've learned while I'm here.

Later guys.

Clubbing @ India

2004-12-02T19:46:00.000+07:00

So .... how is clubbing at India like ? How are the girls like ? A lot of people have asked me that question. Well, since I don't have that much time to write my blog today, I'll let the photos do the talking (again).

U want hot gals in India ?

Really hot gals ?

U got hot (maybe weird) gals in India.

Last weekend, we went to this high-end high-class club where Indian movie stars hangout. The entrance fee was steep but it was worth it. When we were there, I even used the chance to take a picture with the movie star.

Target locked on !

Yoyoyo ....

Rohit's childhood dream just got fulfilled.

Actually, we only know that he is a movie star AFTER we toke the photo with him. I basically was drunk and grabbed the closest random stranger for a photo. But what do u know ... he is a big star whose name we later found out was Ravi Teja.

Mr. Tough-in-front-of-camera is actually Mr. Nice-and-friend when drunk.

Anyways .... that's all for now ....... tomorrow is gonna be my last day at work. After that, I'm off to other parts of India for sightseeing. Train tickets and everything is set. Can't wait till tomorrow. Later !

Later guys ...

P.S. 4 weeks (= 1 month) without a single cigarette !! I didn't smoke even when I went clubbing !!!

3rd week

2004-11-25T20:24:00.000+07:00

First I wanna thank all of those who complemented and supported my decision of quitting. And especially the total random stranger whom I still have no idea about. Today marks the end of the 3rd without a single cigarette. I thought I would go thru withdrawal due to quitting. But apparently, that didn't hit me as hard as I expected.

So, what's there to write about. Hmmm ....... well, this is my 2nd last week at work. After next week, I'll be going all over India with the other coop from Chennai for 8 days. The highlight of the trip will be Taj Mahal (one of the 10 wonders in the world) and also the dessert. Me and my friend are planning to camp in the dessert. It is gonna be a fun trip.

What else ..... ummm ...... can't think of anything now. If you guys have things you want me to talk about, feel free to post questions. I'm planning to write about the modern side of India soon. I still need to compile a list of good pictures for that topic.

Anyways, later.

Attached a picture with the most recent me in it. Me, Rohit, and our friends from Hyderabad at a club last weekend. I didn't smoke while I was clubbing !

I Quit !!

2004-11-18T19:47:00.000+07:00

I have been a smoker for nearly 7 years now. I started from grade 11, up until now. My highest record was 1 pack per day. Before I quit, on average, when I'm in school or at work, I'll do 6 to 10 per day.

Today, Thurs Nov 18, is the end of the 2nd week ever since I've stopped smoking.

What makes me quit in the first place ? Well, it was the cold for the first 3 to 5 days. But while I was laying on my bed, alone, here, in India, without family or anyone to support me, I think to myself, "if I can quit smoking now, I'll be doing a thing that is very hard (mentally) to accomplish".

So I did.

I just stopped totally. And I promise myself I'll stay like this before I go back to Canada. And even when I go back to Canada, I'll quit altogether.

To all the smokers who are reading this blog (yeah, that's you, Nelson; and you too, Kenny), don't tell me it is a "hard" thing to do and I "don't understand". If I, a regular smoker who've smoked for 7+ yrs, can quit, while I'm alone here in India dealing with all the stress from work / cultural shock / homesick, then you can do it too. Life is hard sometimes, just deal with it without escaping to cigarettes. Of course, unless you admit that you are a pussy and you are a worst person than me.

So, quit today.

If you need help, give this a try :

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/

Register for their daily email.

This should be encouraging. :-)

Means of Transport

2004-11-17T20:07:00.000+07:00

Edited the Diwali fireworks post and put in some pictures in there. Check it out.

I'm gonna use this post to talk about the different forms of transportation that are here in India. Some are conventional, some are not, and some are just plain weird. Anyways, here goes ....

Bikes and Scooter

This is probably the most common form of vehicle here in India. Virtually every guy will have one. Sometimes, you will even see a whole family of 5 (2 parents, 2 kids, 1 baby) riding on one. Too bad I don't have a picture of that. I'll try to get my hands on one.

Speeeeeeeding ahead !

3-wheeled Autorickshaw

This is the equivalent of a taxi. It only has 3 wheels. It is basically like a big scooter with a cover on it. Me and Rohit ride this everyday to/from work.

Gas, sir ?

Bus, Trucks, Train

These are used as public transport. Since India is probably one of the most crowded country in the world, people have to stuff themselves on these vehicles on their daily travel. However, one skill is needed for taking these kinda public transport: the skill of hanging-while-dodging incoming traffic. I've already talk about this in "Bombay Train of Death".

The bus is moving when I was taking this pic. I was only 1 meter away from these guys in my autorickshaw.

Now I know what does "Trucks loaded of people" really mean.

Bombay Train of Death

Sea Transport

As for transportation used on the sea, the phrase "less is more" cannot describe it any better.

Less is more. Why the f**k do you need a boat when you can just sail on plates ?

Convertible Trucks

Yup. Not only do they have convertible sportscar, they also have convertible trucks.

Tata !

Must be very relaxing to be the driver.

Mind you that the truck is actually moving. It is not just something from the junk yard.

Cows

I now see the reason why they don't eat them in India. It is because the cows are a vital means of goods transportation that enables the economy of India to run smoothly .... and smelly.

Moooooooooo ..... (translate: get off the road, you chinese !)

Camel

And when you wanna be at the top of the world, you should ride higher than other people.

To success, and wealth !

I see the next Indian Bill Gates in these two kids.

Time to move on ...

Ahhh ..... the wonders of India ........

Bombay Train of Death !!

2004-11-16T20:05:00.000+07:00

Hmm ..... seems like I've forgot to talk about my experience back in Bombay. For the what-we-did-when kinda thing in Bombay, you guys can check out Rohit's blog. Don't worry, his blog only has a little bit of writing and lots of pictures.

For me, I wanna talk about the interesting stuff that I've experienced back in Bombay. I call it ..... "Bombay Train of Death" !!

Bombay Train of Death .... the next station is ....... point-of-no-return

Bombay itself is a big city. It is separated into many regions. In order to travel from one region to another, you will need to take the train within the city.

Now, this train contains many elements of death that can readily take away the lives of innocent foreigners who are not smart and quick enough to adapt.

First, the train is packed. No no, I don't mean pack. I mean, PACKED PACKED ! Is it rush hour packed ? No. We went on the train on a weekend afternoon, and it was crazy packed. You can easily suffocate in the middle of the crowd during the summer time in the Indian summer heat.

Try not to focus on how stupid I look, but more on the crowd ........ hey, I said the crowd, damnit !

So, what do the locals do if the train is packed and they still need to get on ? That is where the second element of death comes in: they hang from the train. I kid you not.

Technically, the train itself do have doors. But since the doors are pretty much opened 24/7, I won't considered them as doors. People hang from the door of the train while the train is moving at a speed of 80+km/hr.

What do they hold onto ? Well, there are basically 3 choices :
a) the pole near the door
b) the door frame
c) other passengers

Can't picture this ? Neither can I. So, as always, a photo says it all.

I almost got hit by one of those guys because I was standing too close when taking the picture.

Ah, so that brings me to the third element of death. The train platform. Since the guys are hanging from the train, they tend to jump off to the platform before the train comes to a full stop. Some of them, those who knows nothing about the elements of death, jump off while the train is still going close to full speed. So if you are standing too close on the platform while the guys jump off, guess what would happen ? Nothing pretty.

That pretty much sums up how safe the Bombay train of death is. When I asked Rohit's brother-in-law whether people die from the train ride or not, his response was "Yeah .... about 10 to 20 per day".

Hmm ..... 10 to 20 people die PER DAY, EVERYDAY, and the government doesn't do anything about it ........ ahhh, the wonders of India .......

Diwali Fireworks

2004-11-16T19:34:00.000+07:00

I've finally recovered. Still need to finish the remaining 6 days of the 12 days anti-biotic pills thou, but I feel a lot better now. Thanks for all those who called / emailed and asked about my health. Apparently, the doctor said that I do not have the built-in immunity of the virus / bacteria that are in India, that's why I'm more vulnerable to infection compared to local Indians.

Anyways .... so for the past 5 days I've been doing basically nothing other than staying at home and watching movies. The past weekend was the Diwali loong weekend, so Fri and Mon are off. And I toke Thurs off also cuz of my sickness.

But Diwali at Hyderabad is amazing. For those who dunno what it is, it is the festival of light. It is a big holiday, kinda like X'mas in the western world. Houses will be decorated with light, candles, flowers, and drawings. On the Diwali night (Friday), people will play fireworks thru out the city.

People drawing religious symbols in front of their house.

The type of fireworks that they have here is not the sissy weeny ones that you guys do during Victoria Day back in Canada. It is the kind that they will have at Toronto city hall or Niagara Falls during New Year. And yes, people play with those kinda bigass fireworks in their own little backyard or on the street.

Bigass fireworks

Is it dangerous ? Hell yeah. Especially majority of those who light the fireworks are little kids.

Run forest, RUN !!

Hold it in your hand and turn ..... wait until it explose in your hand ....

But is it beautiful ? I can tell you, it is probably one of the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced in my life.

Kids.

I've seen the fireworks at Niagara Falls. I've played with fireworks during Victoria Day while I was small. I've even seen the fireworks they have back in Hong Kong which costs the government millions and billions of dollars. But all of them is nothing compared to what they have here. Because for those fireworks, you usually only stare at one direction for 30 minutes and everything is done. But the ones they have here happens everywhere within the city, in any direction that you see, throughout the whole night.

Happening all around the city ...

That night during Diwali, me and the housekeeper guys climbed up to the roof of our house (which as pretty high up in the city) to see the fireworks. In all 360 degrees direction around us, the sky was filled with the light and sound of fireworks. All of your senses can feel the presence of the joy and happiness of the festival. Continuously, non-stop, for the whole night. It started to die down around 1am.

One of the housekeeper guys at the roof top.

Anyways, that's all for now. Later.

Back From Bombay ...

2004-11-03T19:36:00.000+07:00

and sick again !! Can't believe it !! Just finished my 12-days cycle of anti-biotics on last Sat, and I'm sick again from the Monday night bus ride back to Hyderabad. This time I've even worn extra clothings. But the travel agency that we've got our tickets from isn't the same one that we've always used, and this new one didn't provide us with blankets for the ride. I'll have to go see the doctor again tonight ..... errrr .......

The trip to Bombay was ok. Nothing really exciting to see the Bombay. I guess the best experience I had there was the hookah pipe and the train ride. Now I wanna buy a hookah pipe back to Canada. And no, we didn't use the hookah pipe to smoke weed, only tobacco. :)

Hookah pipe.

I'll put up the pictures tomorrow after I do some post-processing to them.

After being here for nearly 2 months and getting sick for the 2nd time, all the initial excitement are pretty much gone ..... starting to think about what I'll do when I get back to Canada ...... hmmm, not good ..........

Btw, last week (Oct. 28th) is my gf, Mun's, birthday. Wanna say happy birthday to her again here ..... shit, now I miss Canada even more ....... crap, I'll stop here. Happy Birthday Mun !

Mumbai = Bombay

2004-10-28T21:12:00.000+07:00

The coming long weekend, me and my buddy Rohit are going to visit Mumbai (aka Bombay). He got relatives there, so we are going to stay with his relatives. It should be a fun week.

Later.

SriSailam Part 2, Bat Cave !

2004-10-26T19:54:00.000+07:00

On day 2 of our SriSailam trip, we decided to take the cave tour offered at the boat port. So we got up at around 8 in the morning, ready to head out.

The boat port.

The nice quite boat port that we went to the day before was flooded with people. Why are people there ? Shower, of course !

Just like the pictures you see in books about travelling in India.

Also, they have a very interesting, or should I say primitive, type of "boat" that the local fisherman uses. More accurately, those "boat" should be called plate.

See the "plates" standing ? They use it for boating !

Lost in Sea.

Of course we didn't ride on those "boats". But during our boat ride, our propeller got stuck to the fishing nets that were laid by the fisherman. Luckily, the coast guards came to rescue.

Coast Guards to the Rescue !

Coast Guards taking off after a job well-done.

Man, seeing those coast guards reminds me of a book I used to hate, Lord of the Flies. You guys remember that book from gr. 10/11 english ? I wonder whether the coast guards got a pig on a stick on the island they are from.

After 40 mins of boat ride, we arrived at a sacred entrance to a cave. You cannot find any trace of human existances except for the 3 priests that live there. It is a virgin territory that is not contaminated by profit-driven companies. There was no store, or trail, or path, or lights, or electricity. Just pure nature. We even had to climb up to get there.

Peace, and nature.

(Priests thought:) Chinese ?

Inside the cave, there is a mini statue of a Hinduism god. The statue rose from the ground naturally. It wasn't anything artificial. But that wasn't really the interesting part for Rohit and I. Instead, it's the cave itself that's interesting.

Inside it, there is nothing but total darkness. It was humid, hot, and small. We had to bend down during most of the walk. The tour guide brought 10 people in and there was only 2 flash lights. We had to use the LCD screen from our cameras as the only source light so that we can see where we are going.

Have any of you seen "Exorcist: The Beginning" ? The new one. In the end of the movie, the father had go down into the cave to fight the devil. That is the kinda place we've been to, except it was much much darker.

Don't let the brightness of this picture fool ya. The picture is bright only because of the camera's flash light. It was much much darker inside. If you put your hand out, you won't be able to see it.

After 15 mins of walking, we heard unusual flapping sound in the air. We also felt a light breeze that hit our face from time to time. This is unusual for a small humid cave that has absolutely no ventilation. When we lift up our camera from pointing to the ground to pointing forward so that we can see whats in the air, we saw the following :

BAT !!!

Kid you not. That scared the shit outta us. It was like "Blair Witch Project" + "Exorcist" + "Dracula" + the most scariest shit you've ever seen in your life. Want to see how scared we were ?

No acting involved. You can see the pure fear within our eyes.

Of course, after the 20 seconds of initial shock, we returned to our old cool and calm selves. To see the mini-statue, we had to crawl pass a whole dozen of bats to cramp into the little space to see it. Since the space was so small, we had to do it one at a time. I headed in first. I ducked my head down so that the bats won't get my face. Hearing all the flapping sound all around you while you are crawling in virtually total darkness is one hell of an experience. Now that I think back, I realize I've more courage that I thought. But of course I spent as less time as possible seeing the statue. The only thing that was in my mind that time was "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE !!!"

After everyone had their chances to see it, we finally headed back out to the entrance. I was never that glad to see sunlight. All of us were sweating like hell.

Anyways, so that was my close-encounter experience that I have with bats. Later.

SriSailam Part 1, Nature's Beauty

2004-10-25T20:44:00.000+07:00

Hello Ladies and Gents,

This weekend was a long weekend for us. We got friday off. A friend of a friend of a friend, Nana, who also works in the same building as us, invited us to a place called SriSailam. The SriSailam place is a small village where ppl go for spiritual retreat and relaxation. Other than Nana, there were 2 other guys who went to the trip also. All 3 of them were friends from IIM, the top business school for MBA in India. The trip is a 2-day-1-night trip.

The guys from IIM (Rohit is holding the camera).

Originally we thought the trip was not gonna be fun, because the guys might be going there for their spiritual needs (ie. praying all day). But we were wrong. Those guys are there for the nature instead.

The ride there was fun. Because the mini-van that those guys rented was comfortably ghetto. Sitting at the backseats will make you feel like you were a refugee being transported across the border. Mind you that we actually liked the experience.

See how the backseat has their backs on the side ? That's what gave it the refugee touch to the whole experience.

To get to SriSailam, we had to drive across a big river where the dam is. When our car got to the point where we could see the whole view of the dam and the scenary, my heart was screaming out like never before. The natural beauty is indescribable. That is the kinda thing that I've been living for to see. To put things into perspective for you guys, imagine all the nice scenary you see in the movie Lord of the Rings. That is the kinda stuff I'm talking about.

The bridge across the river.

The first day wasn't really that interesting to talk about except for the nature's beauty. We went down 1000 stairs to a boat port. Toke a boat trip to the dam and back. Then went to see some monkeys. Lastly, we visited a temple. So I'll let the pictures and Rohit's blog do the detailed talk. But do stay tuned for day 2 thou, cuz that's when we hit the bat cave.

Dam Rohit

Crossing the bridge.

Native woman in deep thoughts.

Hut near the boat port.

Priest who lives in those huts, or on the road.

Up to the temple.

Guardians of the temple.

Stipend

2004-10-21T19:43:00.000+07:00

My sickness is FINALLY improving. No more sniffing throughout the day. That 270 ruppees was well worth the money.

This weekend we are gonna stay in Hyderabad cuz of poor trip planning. For Ahmed and 40's (the 2 coops in Chennai), they are staying in Chennai also. Doh. (To them both:) Sorry guys, but we'll for sure do something next weekend.

So, lets move on to yet another "The Wonders of India ..." story !!

Today, I'm gonna teach you guys a new word that you Canadian folks might not be so familiar of. Stipend.

From wwww.m-w.com, we have:

One entry found for stipend.
Main Entry: sti·pend
Pronunciation: 'stI-"pend, -p&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of stipendy, from Latin stipendium, from stip-, stips gift + pendere to weigh, pay
: a fixed sum of money paid periodically for services or to defray expenses

In other word, it means salary. So what's the interesting story behind the word stipend besides the fact that we only get 10K ruppees = $228 CDN for our stipend per month ? The interesting story is, we didn't even get our 10K ruppees stipend. Actually, I should put it more clearly. We didn't get our 10K ruppees on time. Rather, it was delayed for 2 weeks until something happened.

The general working culture here is like that. As long as it is not an employee's critical line of work, meaning their boss won't care, they tend to do what university students do the best, procrastinate.

We asked the HR department to pay us at the end of last month. It toke them a few days to reply. Their reply was basically, "Please take this issue to the accounting department." Ok, so we toke it to the accounting department. We emailed them. Waited a few days. No reply. We emailed again. They replied. Some guy came to our desk and toke down our info, saying he'll "follow up on it", with not a really friendly attitude. We waited another few days. At this point, it has been a week or 2 already, and our cash stash is running low. Arrrgghhh .....

Luckily, our savior appeared. The guesthouse where we are staying have a constant stream of high-up employees coming in-and-out, living for a few days or weeks. So we always need to socialize with these ppl during breakfast, or dinner. That night, it just so happens that the global head of HR is staying at our guesthouse.

On a side note, for those who don't know, TCS (the company i'm working for) is huge. It has development centres all over India. It even has development centres in Europe , US, and Canada too. That is how me and the other coop got hired. Their clients/partners are companies like Microsoft, GE, P&G, and many many others. One time we even had breakfast with the head for the electronic warefare group. (think MI2 or Enemy of the State) For those who are interested, this is their website: www.tcs.com

Our company's building at Hyderabad

Anyways, back to the story. That guy asked us how did we find the company. Because he is the VP for the company's general effectiveness (i.e. HR), so he wanted the view of us since we work at the lower level and we can contrast TCS with other US/Canadian companies that we've worked for in the past.

We, being the humble and young Canadian students who don't wanna piss him off and get our ass fired, told him that generally there is not difference, in an elablorated kinda way of coure. He seemed happy. And the atmosphere is nothing but joyful.

So he asked, "What do you find that you guys are not happy about ?"

Rohit tried to maintain the happy atmosphere by saying jokingly, "Well, we'll like to get paid."

"Hahahahahaha ...." He laughed. He thought that was a good one. 10 seconds later, we didn't say anything more. He realized that we were serious.

"So you guys didn't get paid yet?"

"We don't really mind because the money that our parents gave us can still last for a while. And generally the accounting department has been helpful. Afterall, we don't have a bank account in India, so it'll take them longer to pay us in cash."

That's Rohit's desparate attempt to say something that's politically correct and understanding. But man, that guy was ennrrraagggged !!

"NO NO. That is not how the any companies should be. Have you talked with **Accounting department's head name** yet ?"

Why the fuck would we contact him/her when we are just lowly coop who get a stipend of 10K ruppees = $228 CDN.

"Nope. But we did contact some employees in the accounting department."

"How about **Hyderabad's HR head name** ?"

"Nope. But we also contact some other employees in the HR department a while ago."

Wow. He is pissed. Afterwards, he tried, with his desperate attempt, to explain to us why the accounting department might be so slow on these things. But we know that it is all BS so that us 2 Canadian coops don't have a bad image of the company. After the dinner, he gave us his buiness card, telling us to contact him if we still haven't get paid in a few days.

The next day, the same guy from the accounting department who came to toke our info came to us and brought us the money. I dunno whether the Global HR head did something or not, but I surely do enjoyed seeing the nice and friendly smile on that accounting department dude's face. :)

Long Weekend = More Hyderabad ....

2004-10-20T22:23:00.000+07:00

Crap. I'm still sick and it's already the 10th day already. I feel that I'm improving, but this illness is becoming an annoyance now more than a concern.

And we still don't have a plan for the long weekend yet. Double crap. Originally we are gonna go to Kerala. But that trip is gonna be pretty physically demanding, and I'm sick, so we don't wanna take our chances. So this long weekend we'll probably be probably we in Hyderabad again, just like last weekend.

Hmm ..... whats interesting in the last weekend ....... well, we went to a train station that is not operational yet ....... the doors there were loosely locked, so I opened it and went in. The guard didn't really care. That's something I learned in India. The only rule they have is there is no rule. As long as you are a foreigner, and you act confident and nice and touriscy, you can go a long way.

The train station.

Hindi, anyone ?

Me and that security dude.

Trains don't stop at this new station yet.

We are not the only wanderers of the supposingly restricted train station.

Anyways, is 9pm now, so we better take off from the office. Gonna post my pics up tomorrow. Later.

HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM

2004-10-15T20:01:00.000+07:00

Still sick. Saw the doctor today. He gave me some anti-biotic. Hopefully I'll get better during the weekend. If not, I'll have to go for a blood test, a thing I wanna avoid.

So, the story that you all have been waiting for .......

HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM

One Sunday, me and Rohit was walking along the street, going back home after getting our haircut. We were walking along the street, probably talking about stuff. Suddenly, a guy pulled up from behind and tapped our shoulders.

"Heeellooo". He said.

We were a bit stunned cuz we didn't senses his presence when he approached. When we turned around, we saw a guy, mid to late 20s with mustache, who was carrying a pink backpack on his back.

"Hi". We responsed politely, and proceed on walking.

We are getting so used to being stopped by people by now. People who wants to sell you stuff; people who asks you for money without selling any stuff; people who shouts "HEY THERE, CHINESE GUY!". We usually just walk quickly away from these people.

But this guy was different. He was persistent. Annoyingly persistent.

"Where are you from, sir ?" The question that we've been asked 2349028402309 times.

"Canada." Rohit said. We kept walking.

"And you, sir ?"

"Hong Kong," with my usual nice-guy smile.

"Where are you heading ?"

WTF. People usually don't ask that kinda question. But I guessed he was just curious.

"Home."

"How long will you be staying in India ?"

"Well, we dunno, it depends on our travel schedule." We walked faster.

"What do you do ?"

"We work in the entertainment industry in Hong Kong." Yup, why not ?

"Where will you be going after India ?"

"We dunno yet, probably Europe."

"Can you take me with you ?"

You read it right, we heard it right. We got the same reaction as you do, WTF. Now this is getting scary. Maybe we are too good-looking ?

"Well, we don't really know where exactly and when are we going yet." Trying not to look surprised.

"It doesn't matter. I'll follow you wherever you go, whenever you go. Just bring me along with you."

The next 10 mins of the conversation was basically a repeat of the previous two sentences but put into different forms. We tried not to be rude and kept throwing him BS reasons, reasons that even a naive 10 yrs old would get. But he pushed on. He is a fighter. He is not going to go down that easily.

10 mins later, it has reached a point where we couldn't take it anymore. Our emotions has transformed from surprise, to confusion, to fustration, and eventually, to anger. We had to let it out.

"Look. We've only met you for 15 mins, so we are not going to bring you along with us to anywhere."

We thought he would be pissed. But so were we. We also thought that he would get away, but we underestimated his urge to tag along us two Canadians. He looked straight into our eyes, and said,

"No problem, sir. We can start with a small friendship. And we can develop that into a bigger friendship."

Ouuu~~~ yeah, I still shiver from that even until now. When a guy with a mustache wearing a pink backpack is saying this to you with his eyes onto yours, you get nightmares at night.

"So can you take me with you ?"

"NO." Rohit fought back directly.

"I will do anything. Just bring me along with you."

"No, I'm sorry." I said, trying to remain calm.

"Can't you do anything to help me ?"

"Nope, sorry."

The next 5 mins is another fight. This time we kept on using direct No's with a polite, but "F-off", tone. But this guy is good. He is seriously willing to do anything. Anything to follow two guys that he've only met for 20 mins to anywhere in the world doing anything.

So we gave up. There is no way in hell we could've won this. So I switched to plan-B, or should I say, plan-BS.

"Maybe there is a way we can help. Why don't you send us your resume online and we'll have our company hook you up ? But make sure your write our names on your cover letter."

"Ding ding ding. I WON !," that guy probably thought.

He quickly got out his pen and paper from his backpack to get down our names and the company's web site. I wrote www.eeg.com for website, which really should've been www.eegmusic.com. For name, I wrote Tony Lee.

"Ahh, Tony Lee. Nice meeting you sir. Sir, what is your title ?"

Hmmmmm ....... something sounds executive like and relates to my trip to India .....

"East Asia Strategic Development CM."

You want to come with us you said ? You'll have to pay. (This picture got nothing to do with the story. Just thought it is cool to show it.)

So that was it. He finally went his own way, thinking that he met an executive of a Hong Kong music company and landed on an opportunity to get the hell out of this place.

I wonder what he would think when he goes to the www.eeg.com website ....

Bangalore VS Hyderabad

2004-10-14T20:59:00.000+07:00

Before I go for the day, I wanna add some comments on the differences that I've noticed between Hyderabad (city where I'm in) and Bangalore (city where I've visited).

Difference #1 :
===============
Streets in Bangalore have sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.

Street with sidewalk in Bangalore

Difference #2 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of big trees along the sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.

Sidewalks with big tree in Bangalore.

Difference #3 :
===============
Bangalore's auto (India's 3-wheeled mini taxi) has digital meter; Hyderabad don't.

No wonder they call Bangalore the high-tech IT hub.

Difference #4 :
===============

Bangalore has KFC; Hyderabad don't.

Toonie Tuesday, sir ?

Difference #5 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of Asian people; Well ....... Hyderabad got Santa with curry.

Asian GIRLS !!!! Yeah yeah, they are ugly. But you can't ask for much when you are in India.

Bangalore ? ....... yawn ~~~

2004-10-14T19:31:00.000+07:00

The Bangalore trip made me sick. Literally sick. We came back Monday morning after the long bus trip, I went to work for half a day, then went back home. Tuesday morning I thought I was alright, but the illness hit me again starting from the afternoon, so I went home. Wednesday, I came back to see the doctor. Yeah, our office building got a doctor that comes in every Mon, Wed, Fri mornings. But he was more interested in the reason why a Chinese dude is in Inida more than my sickness. He gave me 1 day dosage of pills. So I went back home, thinking I would recover in just one day from those pills. That leaves us to today, Thursday, and I'm still sick. Great. Think I'll go see the doc again tomorrow, and harrass him for some anti-biotic.

So, how was the Bangalore trip, you ask ? Well, it sux. Bangalore is supposed to be known for its so-call night life. We were really hyped up before the trip. But apparently, night life there only last till 11:30pm. There are one or two places that opens until 1:30pm. We went to one, and they have this "couples only" rule, which rejected our entrance. Great. Went to another place at around 12:45am. Entrance fee = 1000 rupees. No way were we gonna pay 100 Dosas (ie. an Indian food that costs 10 rupees) for 45 mins of fun. So we left. All in all, our "clubbing" experience in Bangalore can only be described by this picture :

Anyways, that was the Saturday part of our trip. Now Sunday is a different story. Why ? Because Sunday is when the Bang actually, literally, happened at Bangalore. Hmm ..... I'm thinking whether or not I should write about this stuff on my blog. Want to keep this blog clean. But if you people are interested, leave a comment and I might post it. And no, it got nothing to do with us. It was just something we saw
when we were at the park ..... err, I'll shut up now.

So, what else is there to talk about ......... well, did I mentioned I am sick ? Yeah ......

Crap, can't really focus my mind. Guess I'll just post some pics from this trip. For a detailed summary of what actually happened on the trip (ie. where we went, what we saw), you guys can check out Rohit's blog.

TCS (company which we work for) guest house (where we stayed) at Bangalore. (I kid you not, it is a fricking resort by itself)

Ahmed, the other coop from Chennai, committing suicide because of the clubbing night at Bangalore.

Outside of the crappy musuem that we didn't went into.

Fountain in the park where the Bang happened.

Street of Bangalore.

The "comfortable" (as told by our agent) bus which we did our sightseeing with.

New Look !

2004-10-07T20:27:00.000+07:00

Finally toke some time to fix this stupid blog layout so that the pictures will fit. Used another new template. Hope you guys like it. Btw, in case you haven't notice, I've put down my mailing address on the side bar, so you know what to do. And no, don't mail me curry. :P

Toke too much time on changing the layout. Gonna talk about the HK Movie Star #2 next time. Probably not tomorrow, cuz tomorrow is our Bangalore trip.

For those who care and wanna track us, we'll be taking a coach bus on Friday night at 8:30pm and arrive in Bangalore in 10 to 12 hrs. So we'll be sleeping in the bus. Sat. night will be hotel. Then we'll get on a bus on Sun. night and get back to Hyderabad in time for work. Both mine and Rohit's cell phone will work across the state, so call us whenever.

Anyways, that's all for now. Gotta look up on some more info for Bangalore.

Hyderabad (Where I am) is at the centre. Bangalore (Where I'm going) is to the south.

Photography in India

2004-10-06T20:31:00.000+07:00

Hey, just want to post some nice pics we've taken that I really like. For those who like taking pictures, India is the place to be. The clothings that people wear are very colour, and the scenary has that ancient/cultural "touch" to it. So I'll shut up now and let you enjoy them.

Colours.

Mecca Sunset.

Child around colours.

Cows in the village.

House.

Street vendor moving.

Final Fantasy RL

On top of the ruins.

To Bangalore !

2004-10-06T20:08:00.000+07:00

We are going to head to Bangalore this weekend. It has been a big hassle to get tickets to Bangalore. Originally, we planned to take a train trip. When we got to the place that sell train tickets that is located at a really ghetto building, we found the train ride is quite expensive. A 2-way A/C 2nd class ticket costs around 2400 rupees, which is $66 Canadian. The fact that we earn only 10K rupees a month made us abandoned this option. Instead, we got bus ticket that costs 1700 rupees. (Yeah, 700 rupees = $20 Cdn is a huge difference when you are in India, because 700 rupees = 70 Dosas = 3 X 23 meals = living for 23 days in India) We heard that the bus is not bad at all. They are coach buses.

The ghetto train tickets reservation office.

The secretary lady in our group helped us alot on getting the tickets and even tried to get us accomondation. But we want to stay at a hotel thou. We'll see how it goes.

Explorer's Heaven

2004-10-04T20:06:00.000+07:00

Last Sat. we went to a place called Golkanda Fort. It was cool, ancient, and unrestricted.

Map of the fort.

It is like a huge playground. You can walk around and explore the anicent ruins anywhere you want after you've paid your 100 rupees. We toke full advantage of it and spent 5 hrs exploring the whole inner fort.

The front garden of the fort.

The palace itself is on the hill top. We climbed up all the way to the tip of the hill and toke some really nice pics of the scenry we saw below us. The feeling was amazing.

Is that .... India ?

Rohit and his GQ post.

The ruins below.

This palace itself.

Afterwards, we climbed back down and did some more exploring in the ruins area. This place is a perfect map for Unreal Tournament.

Mr. GQ

Perfect place for a death match.

This is actually a roof top that you have to climb up to get to.

The pics on my memory stick isn't as nice as the ones on Rohit's. Too bad he forgot his camera today. I'll upload his tomorrow.

Btw, for those who are "The Wonders of India" fans, I got one story to tell about this weekend. I call it "HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM". Stay tuned.

Santa at Snow World

2004-10-01T19:58:00.000+07:00

The days in India has been so hot ever since we've arrived. It is like the hot summer times in Canada. How is weather like in Canada right now ? I'm guessing it should get pretty cool and chilling by now.

Even thou we are at a foreign land, we miss the harsh Canadian winter from time to time. To ease our home sick, we went to a place called "Snooooooow World" last Sat.

SNOW WORLD !!!

Initially, we just wanted to find a place where we can do some skating. We asked around and that is the place that people referred. But apparently, "Snooooooow World" has a lot more to offer other than mere skating.

Do you believe in Santa when you were small ? Or were you one of those kids who've always know that it is something the adults made up to take money from your parents during Christmas time ? Well, I've always been the second kind ...... until I went to "Snoooooow World".

Right outside of "Snow World", I saw SANTA !! Although he tried to disguise himself by dying his beard black, dressing in India clothings, and eating Curry with his hands, he cannot trick ME !!

Santa with curry taking his vacation in India.

Anywayzzzz ...... We brought the tickets and went in. We thought we would get to skate. But instead, we got the following :

Let him die. I've never really liked him anyways. *evil grin*

After being chewed up and spitted out, we needed some real exercise to replace our urge to skate for the day. So we played some basketball. Yup, that's right, playing basketball, in the snow, in India.

Did it went it ? I dunno. I was too excited by the snow to care about basketball.

One of the staff there saw how enthusiastic and joyful we, Canadians who've seen this for too many days in their lives, were to see fake snow in a high school gym. So she decided to further heighten our excitement by offering extra services.

She threw snow at our face.

Us, being the crowd who've already mastered the art of snow-ball fights, showed her how it is really done in Canada.

For the next 10 minutes or so, we practiced the art of fights onto each other. That was probably the most fun experience I had with "Snoooowww World". But then we got bored of it finally and decided to leave.

"LEAVING !?!? But the artificial snow fall will be in 15 mins !!!" is the phrase which we've heard from the 15 staffs whom we've passed thru. Those guys must think we are crazy to spend 200 rupees but missing out on the snow fall ; while we think that it is crazy to pay $3 canadian to see snow fall in a gym. (Yeah, 200 rupees = $3).

This sux ~~~

Btw, if anyone really reads this blog, can you leave a comment ? Cuz one of my friends said the commenting thing doesn't work on my blog. I should've already turned annoymous commenting on. Email me if it doesn't work for you. My email is l7leung at hotmail dot com.

Later.

HK Movie Star !!!

2004-09-30T20:11:00.000+07:00

Seems like people want to hear more about the Hong Kong Movie star BS story. So I'll write about it today.

Last Sunday, we intended to go to a place called Film City. To get there, we have to take a bus to a central bus station to catch a connecting bus.

We got there. We checked the time for the next bus on a timetable board. There was still about an hour left to go, so we decided to walk around for a bit. But before that, Rohit wants to check with the guy that works at the bus station first. He told us that the bus should be here any minute. Even thou the timetable says otherwise, we trusted him.

So we sat at the bench where the bus should stop at, quietly waiting. About 10 minutes later, 4 teenagers came and sat beside us. The guy next to me turned his head from time to time, peeking at probably the first live Chinese guy he saw in his life.

That day was hot. I was sweating like a dog. The bus hasn't came as the bus station dude promised. And having a guy who constantly turn his head looking at you while sitting beside him is annoying.

Then I thought maybe I should start a conversation with him to kill time and take my mind off the heat and also his annoyance. So, I turned my head, and politely said "Hi" to him.

He was a bit stunned.

"Hi", he replied.

. . . . .

Silence. All that's in my mind is the heat.

Even thou my random-people-chat skill isn't really all that great, luckily, he seems to be really interested in this good looking Chinese dude. :)

"Sir, where are you from ?"

"Canada."

Puzzled.

"Canada, it is north of America," I said, trying to put things into perspective for him.

"Aahhhhh .... So, what are you doing here in India ?"

Canada, eh ?

Seeing his "pretending to know where Canada is" face drew the devil out of me. "Lets have some fun in this heat," I thought.

"Well, you see, I'm a movie actor in Hong Kong. Rohit (pointing next to me) is my manager and we are here for vacation."

My manager looked at me. Stunned. Within 2 seconds we bursted into laughters. I thought my lie would blow. But apparently, I was wrong.

"Wow. Why do you come to India for vacation?" Staring at me with his admiring and innocent eyes, and again puzzled by our laughters.

I couldn't believe he will believe it. But somehow, he thought our laughters were a Canadian cultural thing. Seeing him face made me want to drive this thing further. Much much further.

I toke out my cigarettes, crossed my legs like how the celebrities on Jay Leno's shows do, and put on probably the most seriously face that I could've ever put on.

"Well, you see, as an artist, we need a constant flow of inspirations and experiences to make our acting believable. I think that when we are still young, we should try as many things as possible so that our acting can relate closely to the real world. So that's why I'm in India."

Wow. Even I couldn't belive what I've just said. At first his friends didn't really believed me. But after hearing what I've just said, they were totally mesmerized by my speech. To make it even more believable, I framed myself as a young star, with a big vision of course, who is just starting his career, and tried to act all humble like many young person do.

The next 30 minutes was basically a QA session. They asked me about the Hong Kong movie stuff, what stuff i've been playing, did I met Jackie Chan or not, blah blah blah. I basically just throw them with all the generic stuff I learnt from reading the newspaper and watching HK TV. But along the line, I try to convey the message that they should persue their own dreams and see the world while they are still young. Hey, when you did something bad, you'll try to make up for it somehow.

This kinda opportunity is probably a once in a lifetime kinda thing. How often would you get a group of teenagers thinking you are cool ? So I offered to take a picture with them, making it sound like doing them a favour.

Me and my fans.

When he left, he had to chase the bus cuz he had spent too much time with his idol. "I will look out for your movie !!" he shouted, with an Indian accent.

My manager and I still can't believe we pulled the whole thing off. Man, being a chinese guy here is like being a star.

Wait, I AM a star. But not a movie one, I'm a BS-ing star.

Sea of Heads

2004-09-28T20:06:00.000+07:00

I didn't get a chance to update my blog yesterday because we leave work early to avoid traffic due to the Ganesh festival.

As always, a lot of fun things happened during the past weekend. Telling them all in one post will be too long. So I'll write about them during this week. Here is a sneak preview:

- playing basketball, in the snow, in India (and saw Santa too !)
- visiting a TV studio and getting a Satellite Communication 101 lecture
- me, BS-ing about being a new Hong Kong film star and got some fans while bored waiting for a bus
- monkey that smokes and talk on the cell phone

But to start, I want to talk more about the Ganesh festival.

Last week we went to see the 42 ft tall Ganesh. Apparently, the start of the 10 days festival isn't really that exciting. The most exciting part is during the end of those 10 days.

On the past Sunday, the 9th day of the festival, we were walking on the street checking some area around. We passed by a parade sorta crowd. Well, can't really say it is a parade because there is only one truck and there were only around 50 people. There were 2 camels heading the crowd. We thought it was pretty cool, so we decided to walk towards them to take some close up shots.

Camels leading the crowds.

From the stuff of their skin, it seems like it is a tradition to cover themselves with pink powder. We walked closer and toke some shots. Those pink dudes went crazy when they see us with our cameras. They grabbed us to dance and shout with them. Rohit and I, being the all friendly Canadians who don't want to go against the wish of 50 pink dudes, danced along with them on the street.

So happy, so crazy, so pink.

And the aftermath ? Well, the pinkness says it all.

Don't show that face man, we know you like pink. Is ok to admit it, Rohit.

When we think acting like morons dancing with pink guys on the street will wrap up the experience we have of this festival, we thought wrong.

Other than the little parade that we experienced, the streets and malls seemed pretty empty that Sunday. I was quite surprised and thought Sunday is a rest day kinda thing where people stay in their houses. We decided to go for a movie which required us walk pass where the 42 ft Ganesh is. And again, to my surprise, we see the reason why the rest of the city is so empty.

Ahhhhh ........

Luckily, we learned our maneuver-thru-the-crowd-while-being-squished skill from all the clubbing experience we had back in Toronto. We thought that was crazy. But again, we were wrong.

After going to the theatre and failed to get tickets for a show, we hanged out in the mall a bit. After sunset, we started to walk back. We know there will be a big crowd at the 42 ft Ganesh area again, but we decided to fully experience India and not take the auto rackshaw. But not only did we fully experienced India, we fully experienced India in a compact form.

That place was packed. Really packed. No, it was really really really packed. We couldn't even move. Could barely breath. The people around you are basically squishing you (not that they want to). You can only move when they move. And for me, being 6 ft 3 tall in a country where people's average height is probably 5 ft 5, all that I can see, is the sea of heads. Never in my life have I seen that many Indian heads before.

The sea of heads.

That was intense. The police couldn't control the crowds at all. Actually, I should make it more clear. The only ONE police I saw was trying to yell at people not to push by blowing his whistle and being squished at the same time. Oh yeah, and sticking his stick high up so people can see.

At that night, when I think back, I realized how dangerous that was. Especially for the families who have elders and kids. There were no police. No medical station nor medical personnel. No nothing. If you slipped and fell on the floor, it is game over for you. You will end up under 3124545341 people's shoe. It'll be hard to imagine for those of you who haven't experienced it. But for me, this is the first time ever since I've came to India that I got a chill to the bone after realizing what I've gone thru.

Yesterday, the 10th and last day of the Ganesh festival, we went straight home after work and didn't go out.

The Man with a Tail

2004-09-24T19:36:00.000+07:00

Some day last week was the start of a 10 days Hindi festival called ...... hmmm ..... well, thats not the point. Anyways, each family will buy its own statue of the elephant head god (Ganesh, this i remember) and place it at their homes for prayers. Our housekeepers got one too.

The guys setting up their mini-temple in the house.

On the weekend, there was a 42ft tall Ganesh statue on display on the street. Our friendly housekeeper, Raffi, suggested to take us there to see it. Me, being haven't seen so big of a Hindi statue before, agreed with joy.

Arriving there and seeing the statue is amazing. Lots of people lined up in front of the statue for prayers and, of course, photos.

Where the crowds are.

On our way to the place, we came across a guy who went all hardcore for this festival. By hardcore, I mean dressing up in abnormal clothes, or should I say no clothes, with a weird long tail sorta thing that he holds onto. I was delighted to see an Indian who goes all hardcore for his culture.

But to my surprise, dressing up for the festival is not hardcore enough. The next thing I know, while there was no one standing close to him, he started whiping himself with his tail. No no, it ain't one of those girly weak whip that you do with your friends. It is one of those hardcore torturing whip which you can hear the "Whippp Whippp" sound from the wind. It was like watching "Passion of the Christ" live right in front of me, except that it is in India and Jesus is whipping himself.

While I was giving my respect in my thought about how dedicated some people can be for their religion, that guy noticed us watching. Seeing how amazed we were, he proceeded to whiping himself even harder. Much harder.

"Wow, that's hardcore." I thought, seeing an honourable man doing his thing.

After a couple of whips, he walked up to us. I almost wanted to fall on my knees for the show of passion he has for his belief. But little did I know, he came up, put out his hand, shoke it a little, and looked right into us. At that moment of time, all my respect has been replaced with fear.

SHOOOWWW ME THE MONEY !!

Seeing his 6-packs and his hardcore sweaty tail, I didn't hesitate on ditching out 10 rupees for the show of respect, or should I say fear, that I have for him. But it seemed like 10 rupees couldn't heal the pain which he had suffered. So, he shoked his hand, and his hardcore sweaty tail, even more.

It is at that point that, my trustworthy buddy, Rohit, showed his courage by saying "Nan nan, sidn ewwsd noein dsjosfjo ennes indsj." (That's how hindi is to me).

Amazing. Never have I seen anyone being about to stand up against a man with 6 packs and a hardcore whipping sweaty tail. Now that's courage.

A bit shock. But the man with a tail cannot really do anything. So he proceed on his journey of endless whipping. And we went our own ways and never saw this man again.

Oh yeah, btw, I turned the comments for this blog from Members-only to Anyone. So feel free to leave comments.

Behind the Office Building

2004-09-23T20:14:00.000+07:00

Since I'm rolling on this blog thingy and also uploaded lots of pics, I've decided to take some pictures of the place where I work today. As I've said before, the building itself and the garden around it is very nice.

Me, thinking about what should I write today in front of the main gates

The interesting part, however, is what lies behind the area of the office. One night, while waiting for Rohit to do his chore on the internet, I've walked to the back side of the building for a smoke. Feeling bored watching the same building everyday, I've wandered around the area and came to the back gate.

Where the back gate is.

The security guard saw me, with my cigarette, and told me to go out of the gate to smoke. It is there that I've discovered what's right behind the beautiful building where I've worked at. To my surprise, there was a little villagy store that is lighten with a lantern. It looked pretty cool actual.

The little store.

Yeah, that's about it to the story. Nothing funny to it. Need a rest from all the laughs that i've wrote so far. Anyways, later.

P.S. - I've finally got my cell phone working. Email/friendster msg me for the number if you want it.

Clean City, Green City

2004-09-22T20:09:00.000+07:00

Finally got my pics up. You guys can see them at http://groups.msn.com/LouisLeungPhotos/shoebox.msnw

Btw, don't forget to check out my buddy's blog also, at
http://toindia.blogspot.com

Ever wondered how "public" public washroom can get ? Neither did I. Not until I see "Clean City, Green City".

I told you last weekend we went to this India farming village. To get there, we went by bus. And to get to the bus, we need to go to the central bus station at Secundrabad, the city that is right next to Hyderabad. (Together, Hyderabad and Secundrabad are called the Twin City, like waterloo/kitchener).

The central bus station is a big one. It is also the central train station in the twin city. So basically you can get anywhere from here.

When we returned from the farming village, we decided to explore the area around the station a bit. The station itself has an big outdoor area where the buses lines up for their turns to take off or to pick up passagers. While we are turning our heads everywhere, checking things out, somewhere in the middle of this area, we saw a structure that is something like a small police station. It is very small, probably can hold a table in there with 5 to 6 people. On it, with clear green letters, it says "Clean City, Green City".

Clean City, Green City

It was relieving to see the presence of police in this crowded area of the city. While we were in front of it, laughing how ironic the words "Clean City, Green City" applies to Hyderabad, the man standing inside the station was staring at us thru the left window. We didn't really mind, and slowly walked away. As we walked away from the booth and our perspective changes, I can see the actual inside of the booth. The man who was staring at us was standing in front of the left wall. "How strange ..." I thought. Hmm ..... seeing his hands are in front of his body, seems like he is handcuffed too. Hmmm ....... wait a minute, HE IS TAKING A PISS !!! ...... HOLY SHIT, HE IS TAKING A PISS INSIDE THE POLICE STATION ..... wait, THIS IS A FRICKING PUBLIC WASHROOM !!!

Weren't we surprised to see it. This is not the kinda thing you find in Canada. So I decided to do take a picture of it, with the man pissing. I got out the camera, slowly walked towards it as thou I just wanna piss, and quickly toke a pic before that man turned around.

Run Forest, RUN!!!!

After that, I quickly walked away and once again submerge myself into the crowd once again.

HoooorrrrrLicks, sir ?

2004-09-21T19:19:00.000+07:00

For those of you who are wondering what kind of work am I doing in India, I'll try to explain a little here. But since the concepts are difficult to understand, I'll put them in 3 versions to fit your level of education and intelligence :

For educated people :
Writing a computer program that will match 2 different genomes (ie. DNA) of 2 species to see how "alike" the 2 species are. I need to integrate the program into the product (the whole software) that they have for doing DNA analysis and a host of other stuff in the field of bioinformatics.

For computer science guys :
Identifying the longest increasing subsequences of 2 strings and aligning the subsequences that don't match. Needs to run in linear time and space. The algorithm is already there, I just need to understand and implement them.

For dumbass :
Something cool.

Just in case you are interested, here is my groups website :
http://atcweb.atc.tcs.co.in/

Enough of the boring stuff. Now the things that you guys have all been waiting for ..... "The Wonders of India" story time !!

The building at our company is huge and looks cool. It is comparable to the ones that I've seen when I worked at Silicon Valley. The company is very systematic and high-tec also. Basically, I don't feel any different working here than Canada/US.

But beneath the high-end technology and the smart employees (*cough cough*), there is a post inside the company that left me and my buddy Rohit wondering. CM. Yeah, that's right. Not GM (for General Manager), but CM. This post is probably one of the most important role in the company. Without it, every employees on our floor will be highly demoralized and will result in steep decrease of productivity. It is one of the essential post that cannot be lacked.

Now, every floor in the building will have their own CM. Their jobs basically involve standing, sitting, and, most importantly, pressing the button. Which button you ask ? Wrong question, because the answer depends on you. One of the qualification for the job is probably the knowledge of pressing the correct button on the machine that they operate. What machine you ask ? Now, THAT'S the question.

Want the answer ?

So you really want to know don't ya ?

It is the AUTOMATIC COFFEE MACHINE. Yup. That's right. The kinda machine where you just put a cup underneath, press the button for coffee, and Viola, caffeine for all your daily programming needs.

Now, not only do they have coffee, they also have tea, lemon tea, and, mmmmmm ......, hooorrrrrlicks.

One time, Rohit asked the CM (if you haven't figured what CM stands for by now, don't bother asking) for tea while we were talking. "Tea sir ?", asked the CM. "Yes, tea please", replied Rohit. "Tea ?". "Yes, tea". "Tea ?", once again, just to reconfirm. Rohit nodded. The CM then proceeded to do his job. Rohit grabbed his cup, kept chatting on useless stuff with me, and we both walked away. One minute later, while we are still chatting, he toke a sip. "Hmmm ......". He looked. HorLicks.

That left us wonder, why, just why, does the company buy a fully-automatic hot beverage machine, but have one guy sitting there all day just to press the button for us. The wrong button, that is. Ahhh ...... the wonders of India ......

"Tea, sir ?"

Curry, curry .... wait, curry again !?

2004-09-20T21:12:00.000+07:00

My buddy is still updating his blog. So I guess I'll write more.

Hmm .... what to write .....

For those of you who don't know, Indian eat the same stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I remember on the 2nd day, I had breakfast at the guest house. I got served with curry dipping stuff, naan-bread (flat pancake sorta stuff), yogurt (they always have it in case it is too spicy to handle), and more curry looking stuff. I found it weird to have curry in the morning but I thought a change would be good. Then lunch time came, we have curry again. I'm ok with that. But wait, it is the same style of curry. And guess what, the same style of bread. I thought, "hmm .... maybe there were just too much leftovers from breakfast". How naive. We went out, came back, have dinner. I wash my hands before eating. Toke a sit. Then the housekeeper guys toke the pots out. Hmmm ...... smells good. Wait, i remember this smell. The lid opens and I was like "SHIITTTTT ....". This is the first time ever in my life I felt real fear. Will I be having this stuff everyday ?

For those of you have already stopped laughing and is actually worried about me right now, no, i don't have the same stuff everyday. We grew smart. We eat out.

Ahhh ..... when can I have my beef burger with fries ? Non-spicy of course.

FYI, chicken is pretty much the only meat you get in india. Lamb if you are rich. And beef if you want to piss the rest of the country off.

MMmmmmmm ........ buuurrrgggeerrrrrsss .......

6 ft 3 chinese guy in an indian farming village

2004-09-20T20:23:00.000+07:00

Just starting my blog today. The posts you see from the past are basically cut and paste jobs from the email that I've sent to my friends. I still need to upload my pics and stick them to my blog.

Anyways, last weekend we went to this rural indian farming village. When Me and Rohit walked by a store, we saw a teenage girl buying stuff from there. I toke a photo cuz the sence seems pretty cool. She noticed, was a bit surprised, and giggled. I smile and said "jaobi aen nghos ae photo" (it mades no sense to her too).

The girl buying stuff at the store.

Then she walked home. We followed. (Not like we are pervert or anything, but we just happened to walk on the same path). Our distance is farther and farther apart becuz me and Rohit were busy taking pics of everything. She eventually disappear. 10 mins later we saw that girl on the beacony of a 3 story building, and the whole village of women with her. Yes, probably the whole village. They were all watching me with unstoppable giggles. Seems like seeing a 6 ft 3 chinese guy will be their entertainment of the year. I've never felt so popular ever in my life. So I toke pics of them, all giggling at me. Anyways, just something off my head that I remember from the past weekend trip.

This angle doesn't show clearly. But there were many other women behind those 3 who were not shy enough to come out and take the pic.

I'll be updating this blog pretty often from now, cuz i finally have access to a browser that blogger supports. Later.

How is Louis doing in India !?

2004-09-13T05:14:00.000+07:00

Today is the 2nd day since I landed in Hyderabad. I arrived Sat. at 4:30am and now the time is Sun. 12:30pm. First I want to say don't worry, I'm adapting very well here.

The place where I'm staying in is decent in Canadian standard and very luxurious in Indian standard. It is a 3 stories building with 5 rooms. Each room houses a TCS employee or contractor. Me and the other coop, Rohit, is sharing one room. The location of the house is at a place called Banjara Hills. It is considered as an upper class residential location. Kind of like the Mid-Hill section in Central, Hong Kong.

Yeah, washrooms in India are upside down. You'll believe anything I tell you about India, won't ya ?

There are 3 to 5 servants for the house. They clean, do laundry, cook, and stand-around doing nothing. Only the head servant can speak broken english, indian style. Rohit serves as a good translator between me and them. Even though it is difficult to communicate with them, they are good and friendly people. More like the Philipano maids in HK, except that they are males.

The chef and the .... well, dunno what he does specifically, but mainly housekeeping in general.

The food they cook is what you expect Indians will eat. The spicy level is not that bad, but every food here is spicy. When they have meal, there will be a yogurt side dish that you eat to reduce the spiciness in your mouth. Also, all dishes are vegetarian since all of the people in my house are. I kinda enjoy the food, but no way in hell am I going to eat this everyday. I'm going to cook myself tonight. And yes, they eat with their hands, and so do I. But no, they don't have the "eat with right hand, wipe ass with left hand" distinction.

There is always a sink near dining area for you to wash your hands.

Me and Rohit went out to check out the market and some tourist spots yesterday. The city is crowded and filled with crazy drivers. The driving style is even worst than HK. Something comparable to Macow. The worst thing is that there is no pedestian sidewalk. Everyone walk on the side of the road. And if you think HK is polluted, then you've gotta see the visible black smoke on the street.

Auto Rackshaw, a 3 wheeled mini-taxi. Our main means of transport.

The people you see on the street is like what you see in CNN. Muslim women all covered with black clothes and creepy tatoos showing on their hands. People sitting out and eating with their hands on the street while inhaling the black air. Little kids who come and beg you for a dollar or two. I usually ignore the kids, but Rohit will give them a rupee or two. He is a very good guy, since the reason why he couldn't sleep last night was that he is distrubed to see the kids begging. And I can sense that he is genuine when he says that.

Anyways, that's all for now. We'll be heading to a Hindu temple now. I'll post my pictures later this week when I go to work.

In Mumbai (Bombay) now ...

2004-09-11T16:26:00.000+07:00

I'm in Mumbai right now, waiting for the transfer flight. The trip is very long and I only got 6 hrs of sleep in the Amsterdam to Mumbai flight. Very tired.

The airport at Amsterdam has surprising service provided, which is casino and even massagae. Don't worry, I didn't use any of those services.

The airport in Mumbai is very very ghetto. Imagine the old Kowloon airport in HK, but even worst. But they have a surprising mix of services, like this internet cafe. Nothing fancy, but at least they have LCD screen. The physical infrastructure of the building is very old and at times seems crippled. To transfer us between terminals, a very primitive mean isused, a coach bus.

A drinking fountain in the airport with "Safe Water". Riiiggghhhhtttt .....

I couldn't make any calls because there isn't instructions on the phonesfor calling collect calls. And no way am I gonna use my visa.

The weather here is not hot, not cold. Maybe it is because of nighttime. Short sleeves are ok.

The people in India are very Mainland China like. You can sense their"goo wak" in their eyes. And the sales of travelling services and currency exchange are pretty aggressive. Luckily I have my practice of politely ignoring them from HK. But in general, the people are nice and willing to help.