Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go...

I last wrote a week ago, so I'll catch you up on the wild and crazy happenings here in India.  Actually, there's no wild and crazy, so let's reset your expectations before you read any further. 

Last Sunday, Blaine and I took a car around Delhi sightseeing.  We had the same driver, Monu, as the previous day going to Agra.  He was great and we were able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.  We tooled by Akshardham (a showcase of Indian architectures, traditions and cultures, www.akshardham.com) and The Red Fort (the walled city of Old Delhi where the Mughal emperors lived).  Then he took us to Jama Masjid (the prinicpal mosque of Old Delhi) where we dropped our shoes and headed on into the large courtyard of the mosque.  The courtyard alone can hold up to 25,000 worshippers!  From there, we went to the capital buildings, the prime minister's residence and the Parliament.  We drove past the Indian Coast Guard HQ in Delhi (took a pic for you, Ali), stopped at the India Gate and continued on to Humayun's Tomb.  After that, we swung by Lodi Gardens and the Lotus Temple (one of the main Baha'i temples in the world) on our way to Dilli Haat.

Dilli Haat is an outdoor market of over 200 stalls with people selling woodworking, scarves, clothing, bangles, dolls, food and everything else you can imagine.  We spent two hours walking around looking at their wares.  It was the perfect place for Blaine to do a lot of souvenir shopping for his family all in one place.  We found some really neat things that captured the essence of India.  After we were shopped out, we went with Monu to his final destination with us, the Delhi domestic airport.

We had several hours to wait for our flight to Bangalore, but we passed the time and had a relatively uneventful trip.  We were picked up at the airport and were delivered to our hotel, the Lemon Tree in Electronics City, at 12:30am.  After keeping myself up until 4:30am, I went to sleep until 3:30pm.  I had hardly slept at all over the past several days, so this was perfect and got me on schedule for the night shift.  Unfortunately, my coworker had caught a case of Delhi Belly and was completely out of commission, so I left the hotel at 6:15pm IST (7:45am EST) and headed off to work.  It was exactly as I remembered it being and the day moved along well.  I had lunch with our two team leads, Jerome and Madan, at the chinese place up the road and all was well. 

Fortunately, Blaine felt somewhat better on day 2 and was able to make it in to work.  We had a busy day, complete with taking the entire Capital Region team out to lunch at Lord's Plaza.  Wednesday was a complete whirlwind and Hurricane Blaine was in full effect.  We had a couple of training sessions and team lead/manager lunch all crammed into a short day.  Blaine was off to the airport to fly back to Delhi, where he would be working Thursday in the Noida office and then as soon as work was over, head to the airport to fly home.  We continued on our training sessions and role plays in Bangalore.  On Friday, the Fannie/Freddie team took me out to lunch.  Guess where we went?  KFC!  Like most US chains in different countries, the food was exactly the same.  They said they go there every Friday.  It was a great time, spending time out of the office and getting to know them better.

That brings us to the weekend.  It's currently Sunday night at 11:15pm here.  I had decided that I was just going to chill out this weekend here at the hotel.  I got caught up on some things and am ready for work this week.  The owners will be in the Bangalore office this week, so I should be prepared.  Next weekend, I have plans with TJ and who knows exactly what we'll get into. 

So, that's about all the news from this side of the world.  I hear that DC is going to get snow mid-week.  We'll see.  Until I write again, be careful out there!

Guess who's back...back again?!

As you guessed from the title, I'm somewhere I've been before.  That place...INDIA!  I can't believe a whole year has passed since I was last here.  This time, I'm staying just over 3 weeks and all of it in Bangalore except for a few sightseeing days in Delhi.  So, let's get to it...

I left home on Thursday night, 2/21.  After a near 13-hour flight from Dulles, I arrived in Doha, Qatar and after a 2.5 hour layover, continued on to Delhi with another 3+-hour flight.  I don't really mind flying at all.  I spent the bulk of the flight to Doha asleep and since I had the row to myself, I was able to stretch out and it was awesome!  Of course, no flight is complete without a movie.  I was able to squeeze Lincoln in on the first leg and then watched The Dark Knight Rises on the second.  Yes, I know, I was the only one on the planet that hadn't seen DKR, but hey, it was worth the wait.  Since the return flight from Doha is two hours longer without the jet stream, I've already planned my next set of blockbusters (Argo, Looper, Training Day and perhaps Wreck-it Ralph).  Okay, so after all that, I arrived in Delhi just after 3am on 2/23, collected my luggage, cleared customs, and was off with my driver to the hotel. 

After an hour or so, we made it to the Park Ascent hotel in Noida at 5am.  Blaine had gotten back from work a half hour prior and was in the lobby waiting.  We spent the next two hours catching up on all the happenings of the past few days - his time at the Noida office, what was going on back home, etc.  Then, he retreated to his room to get a few hours of sleep and I got online to let my loved ones know I had made it safely to my destination and to catch up on the exactly 391 work emails I received during the one business day I was out.

We met in the lobby at 10:30am and were off on our trip to Agra.  After Staci's and my experience at the Taj Mahal last year (see below), I made sure we took a private car this time, so we could control the stops on the tour.  As of last summer, there is a new expressway to Agra which cuts the travel time in half.  It used to take 5-6 hours and now is around 2.5-3...big difference!  It was smooth sailing and we arrived there around 1:30pm.  Our driver was unable to take us close to the Taj entrance since there was a festival going on at the visitor's center, so we parked and got out.  What happens next was truly a sight that unfortunately was not captured on film...

Blaine and I took a rickshaw down to the Taj entrance.  No, not an auto-rickshaw...instead, a bicycle rickshaw.  That poor guy!  He had to go up a small dirt hill to get out of the parking area and he was probably going to have a heartache pulling the two of us.  Let's just say that it's a good thing Blaine and I like each other because we were up close and personal in the little seat being pulled by the dude's bike.  It was just under a mile to the entrance, so I figured we'd just hoof it back.  We paid the guy and as soon as we got 10 feet away, I turned around to go back and see if he could take our picture to document the experience, but he was off on another fare.  Bummer...hugely hilarious pic opportunity missed! 

So, we moved on toward the Taj.  As typical, several people were offering postcards and books as well as to be our guide through the Taj grounds.  One of the guys named Ravi latched on to us and continued until he wore me down, to which I said to Blaine, "We're gonna rent this kid."  (Blaine is convinced this will be the best quote of our entire trip.)  I usually prefer to see things on my own and especially since I was just here a year ago; however, I liked the kid and figured it was worth the $6 fee.  Well, it turned out to exceed expectations and he was great.  He gave the full rundown on every aspect of the Taj and surrounding buildings and was extremely knowledgeable.  I definitely know a lot more about it now than I did before.  All I can say is, if you ever make the trip to the Taj or another Seven Wonder of the World, spend the money and get the guide.  Ravi was the best $20 investment I've made in quite a while!

After we finished at the Taj and got to see how the marble was inlaid with the gems, we said farewell to Ravi and continued on toward the car.  That's when we met Slumdog Millionaire's cousin.  This kid was trying to sell me Taj snow globes - one was a larger one acting as penholder for two pens and the other was a pack of 10 or 12 snow globe keychains.  He started at 500 INR for each.  By the time he had walked over a half mile with us he was down to 100 for either one.  I can't tell you how many times I told him "No thanks," but he kept on trying.  He truly exemplified Og's scroll, "I will persist until I succeed."  The good news is we've already called corporate and are preparing his visa to be ready in ten years.  We're convinced he'll be running either our company or another staffing firm by the time he's 25!

From there, we moved across town to the Agra Fort.  It is where Shah Jahan's son imprisoned him once he took over the throne.  The fort looks across the river at the Taj and Shah Jahan could see daily the mausoleum (the Taj Mahal) he build for his late wife, Mumtaz.  (info on Taj: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal)  Once we spent an hour at the fort, we met our driver, Monu, and started the journey back to Noida.  Upon arrival, we dropped our bags in the room and headed back downstairs for dinner.  We hadn't eaten all day, so those of you that know me, know how I love food (especially the spicier the better), so let's just say that this buffet had all the makings of a fantastic feast.  All the food was great, particularly the paneer with chili sauce.  Blaine found out that he is not a fan of pani puri but was good to go on everything else.  This was the end to a fabulous day.  Looking forward to our travels around Delhi tomorrow and will update the blog as soon as possible.