or at least not easily.
I usually try not to stress too much about packing, figuring I can always pick up something when I get there if I forget something. Usually it's a good thought.
I decided not to wear my contacts on the plane, figuring that they'd just be uncomfortable anyway. But then I forgot to throw the case in my bag. I had a second pair with me, so that wasn't the issue. I just had no place to put them when I took them off.
I figured this probably wasn't too big a deal--you can buy a contact lens case all over the place, right? Nope, this was like the lack of a clock. I thought I could go to a grocery store and get one, but I was told no. There was a Health and Beauty store. Nope.
I finally just asked the concierge(s) if they could find me one, which they did.
I didn't predict the lack of a clock, so I'm not really sure it's the same category as the contact case. In fact, I kind of think not being able to find a travel alarm clock isn't as surprising as not being able to find a contact lens case.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Friday, January 5, 2007
And to all a good night.
Ok, closing my first day in India and heading to bed. Here's how they are treating me here. It sucks.
Note the ashtray and matches--when was the last time you saw an ashtray, let alone one that encouraged you to smoke in bed?
Had to throw this last one in. When I came in last night, there was a corkscrew and knife and a dish of chocolates. The chocolates were neatly encased in plastic (above). It is as if someone is trying to please the fairies. Every evening more appears at the shrine. Tonight the bottle opener was accompanied by a bottle of red wine, and the knife was there with oranges to cut into. The chocolates are still cases in plastic, but now there's a wee sweet. But the kicker is the "good night" mat with slippers. =)
And with that, I'm off for now.
Note the ashtray and matches--when was the last time you saw an ashtray, let alone one that encouraged you to smoke in bed?
Had to throw this last one in. When I came in last night, there was a corkscrew and knife and a dish of chocolates. The chocolates were neatly encased in plastic (above). It is as if someone is trying to please the fairies. Every evening more appears at the shrine. Tonight the bottle opener was accompanied by a bottle of red wine, and the knife was there with oranges to cut into. The chocolates are still cases in plastic, but now there's a wee sweet. But the kicker is the "good night" mat with slippers. =)
And with that, I'm off for now.
Ah, ehm. Right then.
I was still trying to make sense of the world last night, or rather this morning, when I noticed that the toilet had two settings. There flush, and then there's FLUSH. I'm sure Jayson and Joe will go all sorts of places with that.
If you click on the picture, it should expand. Note the strange "pull" notice on the door.
The bottom, smaller (perhaps I should say "wee"?) one is less forceful than the big one. Hmm.
If you click on the picture, it should expand. Note the strange "pull" notice on the door.
The bottom, smaller (perhaps I should say "wee"?) one is less forceful than the big one. Hmm.
Signs
India is odd when it comes to signs. There aren't signs where you think there would be and are where you think there wouldn't. To paraphrase Bill Bryson, they don't think they need to tell you that bleach is not a refreshing beverage.
Like the drinking fountain--granted, it didn't look like a drinking fountain but one could surmise there weren't dixie cups there to entice you into slurping down some rat poison.
Here were some funny things I've seen.
A repeat, I realize, but I still think it's funny.
RUN AWAY!
Ok, I know, this one was in Germany. But still.
I can't tell if it looks like this guy is getting shaven or having his throat cut. Either way, he doesn't look happy about it.
Like the drinking fountain--granted, it didn't look like a drinking fountain but one could surmise there weren't dixie cups there to entice you into slurping down some rat poison.
Here were some funny things I've seen.
A repeat, I realize, but I still think it's funny.
RUN AWAY!Ok, I know, this one was in Germany. But still.
I can't tell if it looks like this guy is getting shaven or having his throat cut. Either way, he doesn't look happy about it.
Money
I'm often pretty bad about exchange rates. I can't do math in my head to begin with. When we were in Mexico, where the exchange rate is general pretty close to 10:1, you'd think I could figure it out but I was never sure if I had just bought 5 cents worth of hot sauce or $5.
Luckily, India uses credit cards, so I didn't have to stand dumbly with a handful of money and say "how much can I buy with this?" But I still have trouble figuring out prices. Part of it is that things don't cost what I think they would in a one-to-one exchange. So I try to guage prices across things to ballpark it. I went and bought some cute outfits for the girls (pictures at the end of this post, girls don't look if you don't want to spoil it!). The shirts were INR299. I figured that probably wasn't too bad. I bought some Indian comicbooks. They were INR30. So far, seemed about the right ratio. Then I bought some Indiopop cds. They were INR125 and INR140. Now, a cd in the US is what, $15-20? I started to think "Whoops, I might have gone a little overboard on shopping." Nope--INR125 = $2.83. BOLLYWOOD ROCKS!
Oh, and here are the outfits... (GIRLS DON'T LOOK =)
Luckily, India uses credit cards, so I didn't have to stand dumbly with a handful of money and say "how much can I buy with this?" But I still have trouble figuring out prices. Part of it is that things don't cost what I think they would in a one-to-one exchange. So I try to guage prices across things to ballpark it. I went and bought some cute outfits for the girls (pictures at the end of this post, girls don't look if you don't want to spoil it!). The shirts were INR299. I figured that probably wasn't too bad. I bought some Indian comicbooks. They were INR30. So far, seemed about the right ratio. Then I bought some Indiopop cds. They were INR125 and INR140. Now, a cd in the US is what, $15-20? I started to think "Whoops, I might have gone a little overboard on shopping." Nope--INR125 = $2.83. BOLLYWOOD ROCKS!
Oh, and here are the outfits... (GIRLS DON'T LOOK =)
Beep Beep White Taxi
A side note here: Indians love car horns. They think the sound is just so fabulous and cheery that they like to share it with others every few feet. It's not aggressive like in the US, it's more like "toot-toot! HI, I'm right here", "toot, I'm coming along side you", "toot toot, you are along side me!", etc. I've been in some scary cab rides but the one back from the airport was pretty stimulating. At 1:30 am, the streets are still filled and people just walk in the street. And little cabs just swoop in and out, tooting their horns every few feet.
Wheeee
Wheeee
More confusion about time
Sumi graciously arranged for a car from the Taj Krishna to pick me up and take me to the hotel.
I got my bags and followed the green custom sign which just meant I walked outside. Big crowds. Many signs. None for me. I started walking a through all the people when someone came up and said "Madam, I will take you to your hotel, yes?"
I turned and said "Are you from the Taj Krishna?"
To which he said "Ah yes, the Taj Krishna. No problem Madam, this way."
At this point, I had this weird feeling that we weren't exactly communicating, and foolishly I had left without my Hyderabad native from the plane who could give me some clues about whether or not this was legit. But the guy obviously understood that I was a little concerned and after a little back and forth walked me back through the crowd to make sure I hadn't just missed my driver.
Nonetheless. as we walked away I was hoping that I wasn't going to be in the Daily Camera as the Boulderite gone missing in India. Maybe it's just good karma, but he turned out to be legit, and drove me straight to the Taj, or at least what appeared to be straight for $10 American. And he gave me his card with the offer to drive me whenever and wherever I needed to go. Nice guy.
I went into the hotel, headed to the registration and found out that they thought I was checking in "tomorrow". Again, confusion about time. I put down that I was checking in on Jan 5th. In hotel time, that means sometime after noon on the afternoon of the 5th, not one hour and 38 minutes into the 5th. I should have said I was checking in on the 4th. But of course, I knew I wasn't checking in until it was the 5th. But what's Friday for me is Thursday in hotel time. This is my room:
I also took a set of pictures of the view out my window this morning. Here they are:
I got my bags and followed the green custom sign which just meant I walked outside. Big crowds. Many signs. None for me. I started walking a through all the people when someone came up and said "Madam, I will take you to your hotel, yes?"
I turned and said "Are you from the Taj Krishna?"
To which he said "Ah yes, the Taj Krishna. No problem Madam, this way."
At this point, I had this weird feeling that we weren't exactly communicating, and foolishly I had left without my Hyderabad native from the plane who could give me some clues about whether or not this was legit. But the guy obviously understood that I was a little concerned and after a little back and forth walked me back through the crowd to make sure I hadn't just missed my driver.
Nonetheless. as we walked away I was hoping that I wasn't going to be in the Daily Camera as the Boulderite gone missing in India. Maybe it's just good karma, but he turned out to be legit, and drove me straight to the Taj, or at least what appeared to be straight for $10 American. And he gave me his card with the offer to drive me whenever and wherever I needed to go. Nice guy.
I went into the hotel, headed to the registration and found out that they thought I was checking in "tomorrow". Again, confusion about time. I put down that I was checking in on Jan 5th. In hotel time, that means sometime after noon on the afternoon of the 5th, not one hour and 38 minutes into the 5th. I should have said I was checking in on the 4th. But of course, I knew I wasn't checking in until it was the 5th. But what's Friday for me is Thursday in hotel time. This is my room:
I also took a set of pictures of the view out my window this morning. Here they are:
Arriving in India
Everyone seemed to be concerned that I would find the airport experience overwhelming. "It's not like airports here" everyone kept saying.
Ok, the airport is different. But it's not that insane. Plus, I was sitting with a very nice guy who was originally from Hyderabad and he promised to make sure I got through ok. It was basically like the airports in Mexico. You come off the plane into a large room, where you line up for immigration. You leave that room to go through an xray security screening (of things that just came off a plane that you had to go through security to get into). You follow a long hall to a baggage claim area.
In India, the baggage carts are free.
Ok, it's a little chaotic, but it's not that bad. For some reason, this is the only picture I took though:
It just struck me as sort of funny. It's not a fountain, it's a spigot coming out of the wall with dixie cups.
Ok, the airport is different. But it's not that insane. Plus, I was sitting with a very nice guy who was originally from Hyderabad and he promised to make sure I got through ok. It was basically like the airports in Mexico. You come off the plane into a large room, where you line up for immigration. You leave that room to go through an xray security screening (of things that just came off a plane that you had to go through security to get into). You follow a long hall to a baggage claim area.
In India, the baggage carts are free.
Ok, it's a little chaotic, but it's not that bad. For some reason, this is the only picture I took though:
It just struck me as sort of funny. It's not a fountain, it's a spigot coming out of the wall with dixie cups.
The real meaning of "Indian Time"
I got to my hotel at about 1:30 am Indian time, checked in (more on that in another post) and got to my room. I called Jayson and put things away, took a shower to rinse off the travel weariness and went to get in bed, when I noticed I didn't have a clock in the room.
I don't think I have ever been in a hotel in my memory that didn't have a clock. In fact, they almost always have a clock-radio. And my phone won't work in India, so I couldn't just use that. I already had the sense of being disoriented about time, but now I actually couldn't tell what time it was.
This story is only a little interesting--Americans are obsessed with time, while Indians aren't. But there's a little more to it than that. I went to buy a travel clock today. I found out two things. Indians have stores that are much more specialized than we do, and I didn't see a clock anywhere.
I went across the street to a big new shopping center and went to a set of stores in which one could count on finding a clock, especially a little travel clock, in the US:
I finally found one at a store called @home. Here it is:
Ironically, since it was facing the window, the only pane of it's Dr. Suessish self that you can't read is the time. But it's there. Trust me. I checked.
I don't think I have ever been in a hotel in my memory that didn't have a clock. In fact, they almost always have a clock-radio. And my phone won't work in India, so I couldn't just use that. I already had the sense of being disoriented about time, but now I actually couldn't tell what time it was.
This story is only a little interesting--Americans are obsessed with time, while Indians aren't. But there's a little more to it than that. I went to buy a travel clock today. I found out two things. Indians have stores that are much more specialized than we do, and I didn't see a clock anywhere.
I went across the street to a big new shopping center and went to a set of stores in which one could count on finding a clock, especially a little travel clock, in the US:
- two "home furnishing" stores
- a bookstore
- an electronics store
- a watch store
I finally found one at a store called @home. Here it is:
Ironically, since it was facing the window, the only pane of it's Dr. Suessish self that you can't read is the time. But it's there. Trust me. I checked.Mrs. Webb actually makes it to India
After my dilerious stumbling around Frankfurt, trying to remember what time it was, I stopped in a duty free shop and bought a Swatch. I put it on Frankfurt time, because I could tell that as out of it as I was, it would be a good idea to have a watch on Frankfurt time.
I haven't had a Swatch in years, and I had forgotten what a fun ticking sound they have. Here's what this one looks like.
On a side note, it's really hard to use your left hand to take a picture of your right hand.
I haven't had a Swatch in years, and I had forgotten what a fun ticking sound they have. Here's what this one looks like.
On a side note, it's really hard to use your left hand to take a picture of your right hand.
Mrs. Webb goes to India part 2, or when NOT to take Ambien
The first part of my trip was pretty smooth. My nonstop flight turned out not to be nonstop though. It was really a non-change-planes flight, but we stopped and I did have to get out. Bummer! My original thought was stay up late, get on the plane to Chicago and take an Ambien then to help reset my clock to the right time. Except then I found out that I couldn't just sleep through the 2 hours at O'Hare, so I had to regroup.
I read and chatted with a number of people about the best jet lag prevention options. There are the diehards who say "Just stay up until it's the right time there". That didn't seem realistic to me, since India is 12.5 hours off of US Mountain Time, and I know from graduate school that if I stay up long enough, I will in fact fall asleep with my eyes open, including dreaming. Now, dreaming with eyes closed is one thing. Dreaming with eyes open is a shade too close to hallucinating for my taste. I try to avoid repeating the experiment in which I told Jayson about the flying monkeys and sang the Wizard of Oz theme in a feathery, creepy other worldish voice (he wisely stopped trying to make me stay awake after that...).
So the "just stay up" method was out. Another method is to start taking melatonin at the time you want to be going to sleep at the new place, several days in advance. Really, this seemed promising to me, but with all the confusion around the holidays, I just forgot. Oh well, I'll try it next time.
The third option was to take Ambien. My parents swear by it for trips to Europe. Get on the plane, have dinner, pop an Ambien, wake up in the new place and then push through the day and go to bed on their time. I was pretty sure this could work, but I couldn't quite figure out the timing. The travel time for the trip broke down like this:
9 am: Leave Denver for Chicago
2 hour flight
2 hour layover
8 hour flight to Frankfurt
5 hour layover
10 hour flight to Hyderabad.
In there, the time zones were all over the place, so I kept thinking "how would I know when it was when I wanted to sleep in India?" So I hit on a midway solution. I decided to sleep as little as possible the night before I left, pushing my clock forward with sleep deprivation. Then pop the Ambien out of the gate at Denver and viola, clock reset.
I stayed up until 2 am, cat napped to 4:15, got up and headed to the airport. But of course, the original plan was blown, since I couldn't stay on the plane in Chicago. Then when I got to Chicago, I was upgraded to Business class for reasons I still haven't figured out but I sure wasn't complaining. I decided to stay up for at least part of that--after all, there was a yummy 3 course dinner, with prosciutto, shrimp, St Andre triple cream (Yeah Baby!) cheese, fruit, salmon with a dill sauce and pilaf, and a tasty cheese tray with port.
After all the yummies, I thought I'd finally call it a day, but realizing that the flight was now over within 6 hours, and I had had 2 hours of sleep the night before, I thought maybe I could/should skip the Ambien. I'd only ever taken Ambien once, and that was the tester the week before to confirm that I wasn't going to have any side effects.
I popped on myBose noise cancelling headphones. These things ROCK. They were a gift from Jayson for Christmas and they made the trip so much nicer. Especially since there were a lot of squirmy upset kids on the planes. Unfortunately, the pitch of "baby crying" just pretty much pierces through that veil of noiselessness. I'm not sure if it's the tone itself, or if having nursed twins, my brain is premanently warped to that sound.
I *thought* I only drifted a bit and finally decided "this isn't working, I'll take that Ambien now after". Turns out I drifted for longer than I realized, and popped an Ambien 3 hours before we landed in Frankfurt. And of course, they turn the lights back on before you land to give you breakfast, which I'm pretty sure I didn't have, but can't be certain about that.
I stumbled off the plane, and found myself in a strange terminal in Frankfurt with 5 hours to kill and an insane urge to just lie down in the middle of the concourse and go back to sleep. I finally did find some empty seats at the gate I was going to fly out of and just sagged sideways and fell asleep for a few hours.
I took some pictures in the airport there. Here's a few strange things to note: those exit signs. Apparently in Germany, you don't just put an exit sign. If you want to leave the building, you better be planning to do it fast! Second, the view out the window is the view from the gate I was at. Traffic comes to what looks like the very edge of the terminal. The plane was directly below that window. Added to the surreal quality of the experience.
I read and chatted with a number of people about the best jet lag prevention options. There are the diehards who say "Just stay up until it's the right time there". That didn't seem realistic to me, since India is 12.5 hours off of US Mountain Time, and I know from graduate school that if I stay up long enough, I will in fact fall asleep with my eyes open, including dreaming. Now, dreaming with eyes closed is one thing. Dreaming with eyes open is a shade too close to hallucinating for my taste. I try to avoid repeating the experiment in which I told Jayson about the flying monkeys and sang the Wizard of Oz theme in a feathery, creepy other worldish voice (he wisely stopped trying to make me stay awake after that...).
So the "just stay up" method was out. Another method is to start taking melatonin at the time you want to be going to sleep at the new place, several days in advance. Really, this seemed promising to me, but with all the confusion around the holidays, I just forgot. Oh well, I'll try it next time.
The third option was to take Ambien. My parents swear by it for trips to Europe. Get on the plane, have dinner, pop an Ambien, wake up in the new place and then push through the day and go to bed on their time. I was pretty sure this could work, but I couldn't quite figure out the timing. The travel time for the trip broke down like this:
9 am: Leave Denver for Chicago
2 hour flight
2 hour layover
8 hour flight to Frankfurt
5 hour layover
10 hour flight to Hyderabad.
In there, the time zones were all over the place, so I kept thinking "how would I know when it was when I wanted to sleep in India?" So I hit on a midway solution. I decided to sleep as little as possible the night before I left, pushing my clock forward with sleep deprivation. Then pop the Ambien out of the gate at Denver and viola, clock reset.
I stayed up until 2 am, cat napped to 4:15, got up and headed to the airport. But of course, the original plan was blown, since I couldn't stay on the plane in Chicago. Then when I got to Chicago, I was upgraded to Business class for reasons I still haven't figured out but I sure wasn't complaining. I decided to stay up for at least part of that--after all, there was a yummy 3 course dinner, with prosciutto, shrimp, St Andre triple cream (Yeah Baby!) cheese, fruit, salmon with a dill sauce and pilaf, and a tasty cheese tray with port.
After all the yummies, I thought I'd finally call it a day, but realizing that the flight was now over within 6 hours, and I had had 2 hours of sleep the night before, I thought maybe I could/should skip the Ambien. I'd only ever taken Ambien once, and that was the tester the week before to confirm that I wasn't going to have any side effects.
I popped on myBose noise cancelling headphones. These things ROCK. They were a gift from Jayson for Christmas and they made the trip so much nicer. Especially since there were a lot of squirmy upset kids on the planes. Unfortunately, the pitch of "baby crying" just pretty much pierces through that veil of noiselessness. I'm not sure if it's the tone itself, or if having nursed twins, my brain is premanently warped to that sound.
I *thought* I only drifted a bit and finally decided "this isn't working, I'll take that Ambien now after". Turns out I drifted for longer than I realized, and popped an Ambien 3 hours before we landed in Frankfurt. And of course, they turn the lights back on before you land to give you breakfast, which I'm pretty sure I didn't have, but can't be certain about that.
I stumbled off the plane, and found myself in a strange terminal in Frankfurt with 5 hours to kill and an insane urge to just lie down in the middle of the concourse and go back to sleep. I finally did find some empty seats at the gate I was going to fly out of and just sagged sideways and fell asleep for a few hours.
I took some pictures in the airport there. Here's a few strange things to note: those exit signs. Apparently in Germany, you don't just put an exit sign. If you want to leave the building, you better be planning to do it fast! Second, the view out the window is the view from the gate I was at. Traffic comes to what looks like the very edge of the terminal. The plane was directly below that window. Added to the surreal quality of the experience.
Mrs. Webb goes to India
Jayson suggested that I keep up with everyone via a blog of my trip, which seemed like a good way to tell the stories of my trip with pictures.
If anyone reading this doesn't know, I took a job with Oracle in November. Oracle in Denver. As in the Tech Center. Yup, not exactly the 3 minute commute I used to have, but overall a great job that I'm really enjoying.
My new boss, Madhuri Kolhatkar, was coincidentally leaving for India for 2 months 10 days after I started. She manages two groups in India, one in Bangalore, and one in Hyderabad. Somewhat in passing, she asked if I would be interested in going to India. Now, I love Indian food, my wedding dress was made of gold brocade my grandfather brought back from India, where he traveled regularly in the 50's-60's, but the notion of going to India wasn't something I had really considered. After all, in the last 26 years, I haven't left North America. I think a 4
hour plane ride is getting way too long. But when someone says "would you like to go to some incredibly exotic place with people who live and work there and by the way, we'll pay for it", I say "when do I leave?" I mean, come on!
So here I am, in Hyderabad India at the Taj Krishna. Here's a few pictures of the Taj Krishna. The Taj hotels are very nice. I even arrived to discover I was staying on the same floor with Salman Khan . Salman Kahn is described as a dedicated bodybuilder, trains every day, and is famous for taking off his shirt in movies and stage shows alike as well as having been voted 7th best-looking man in the World and the best looking man in India by People (magazine), U.S.A. You can more about Salman Kahn "the most sexy man of the universe at his best" at http://salmanonline.net/indextest.php if you are interested. So, there, my first brush with fame, within a few hours of landing here. Ok, I should be clear about something--I didn't actually even see Salman Kahn. When I was checking in, the concierge asked me in a conspiratorial voice if I followed Indian film, then told me a famous Bollywood star was staying on my floor. All I know was that there were a LOT of people milling around the elevator to the 7th floor when I arrived. Salman Kahn could have been the guy who took me to my room for all I knew. So my brush with fame is more like my "stayed on the same hotel floor as someone famous in another country and whom 99% of the people I know would have never heard of." It's a stretch, I know.
Here's a few more pix of the Taj--not too shabby. Thanks Oracle!
I'll add some more to this on another entry....
If anyone reading this doesn't know, I took a job with Oracle in November. Oracle in Denver. As in the Tech Center. Yup, not exactly the 3 minute commute I used to have, but overall a great job that I'm really enjoying.
My new boss, Madhuri Kolhatkar, was coincidentally leaving for India for 2 months 10 days after I started. She manages two groups in India, one in Bangalore, and one in Hyderabad. Somewhat in passing, she asked if I would be interested in going to India. Now, I love Indian food, my wedding dress was made of gold brocade my grandfather brought back from India, where he traveled regularly in the 50's-60's, but the notion of going to India wasn't something I had really considered. After all, in the last 26 years, I haven't left North America. I think a 4
hour plane ride is getting way too long. But when someone says "would you like to go to some incredibly exotic place with people who live and work there and by the way, we'll pay for it", I say "when do I leave?" I mean, come on!So here I am, in Hyderabad India at the Taj Krishna. Here's a few pictures of the Taj Krishna. The Taj hotels are very nice. I even arrived to discover I was staying on the same floor with Salman Khan . Salman Kahn is described as a dedicated bodybuilder, trains every day, and is famous for taking off his shirt in movies and stage shows alike as well as having been voted 7th best-looking man in the World and the best looking man in India by People (magazine), U.S.A. You can more about Salman Kahn "the most sexy man of the universe at his best" at http://salmanonline.net/indextest.php if you are interested. So, there, my first brush with fame, within a few hours of landing here. Ok, I should be clear about something--I didn't actually even see Salman Kahn. When I was checking in, the concierge asked me in a conspiratorial voice if I followed Indian film, then told me a famous Bollywood star was staying on my floor. All I know was that there were a LOT of people milling around the elevator to the 7th floor when I arrived. Salman Kahn could have been the guy who took me to my room for all I knew. So my brush with fame is more like my "stayed on the same hotel floor as someone famous in another country and whom 99% of the people I know would have never heard of." It's a stretch, I know.
Here's a few more pix of the Taj--not too shabby. Thanks Oracle!
I'll add some more to this on another entry....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)