Only in India (3)

Only in India will you find two people sleeping on top of the trunk of a car (and spooning!)

The People of Mumbai

Not people, but I had to include this picture -- They're holding hands, awww!

Cute boy dipping his finger in pudding

A mother and her child at a stoplight

A group of men hanging out

An old man passing out offerings for Diwali

The cowboy and his friend asked us to take pictures, I think they thought we were movie stars!

Two affectionate boys frollicking at the Gateway of India

Cute boy who wanted me to take his picture (I showed it to him after and he ran away giggling)

Small child asking for change at another stoplight

Here are some more "people" shots of folks in Mumbai. Enjoy!

Mumbai (Bombay)

The Gateway of India

Louis Vuitton at the Taj (Open Open Open!)

Cabbing our way to the shops

The crew at Insomnia (Club at the Taj)

Stacy, Anna, Me at the Dome (Lounge on top of our hotel)

Cute girl posing for the camera

Me and Anna at the Gateway of India

Mumbai was SUPER fun! A short weekend packed with lots of activities, shopping and good eats. Friday night 12 of us headed to HYD airport and flew to Mumbai via SpiceJet. Not the most luxurious plane ride, but they did have some cookies to tie us over. Anna said she saw hair all over the bathroom in the plane, gross! At the Mumbai airport, we had to take cabs to the hotel. It's tricky getting around in cabs because a lot of times they rip you off and they don't speak English. You have to make sure you ask for the meter to be ON, and for a rate card to check your tab at the end of the trip. The cab ride on the way home and it was the scariest cab ride ever. The little car was going so fast I thought the car was going to break! We made it to the hotel in one piece, but you can tell from the pictures that we were literally blown away.

We stayed at Intercontinental Hotel Marine Drive, a chain of classy hotels worldwide. Here is a link to the hotel: click here. It was nice going into a luxury hotel after the experience in the cab. Saturday morning we walked to a Tea Centre that had a wide variety of aromatic teas with brunch. I ate eggs (because that was all they really had.) Walking outside was definitely a treat, since we don't get to do much of it in HYD. After that the group headed to the Gateway of India. The Gateway is the first thing boaters see as they come in through water, such a beautiful monument. Everyone headed to the Elephanta Islands to view caves but I stayed back because it was an hour ferry ride there and back (I didn't want to risk getting boat sick, especially on those bum boats.) So I stayed back and shopped on Colaba Drive. There were rows and rows of street vendors selling jewelry, handbags and crafts. They even had a Lacoste store (which was totally legit!) I got everyone hooked on the store and picked up a few things :) There is a pattern in all my trips: good food, shopping, nice hotels. Can't really complain!

After everyone came back we showered at the hotel and had dinner at this restaurant called Indigo. It's ranked in the top 60 worldwide and we all attested to that! There, we tickled our tongues with lobster bisque, steak, tuna and more! A savory feast we all will remember til we get back to the States, very similar to some of the best restaurants in SF. After face stuffing, we headed to this club called Insomnia at the Taj Mahal hotel (The Taj is a chain of 5+ star restaurants across India.) On the way to Insomnia we walked by many designer stores including Louis Vuitton!! How I wish I could have gone in. Insomnia had your typical club ambiance, no famous people but Anna met some Austrailian cricket players. Indians LOVE trance music, they played it all night but nothing I cared to get up and dance to.

Sunday I got the chance to work out and lay by the pool while Stacy and Anna enjoyed a complimentary half hour massage in our hotel room. We all had brunch at the Taj which was delicious! I tell you, I never thought I would be having real, GOOD food in India. They had fresh fruit, fish, oysters and champagne! They also brought out these Dosas that taste like pancakes and are shaped like a cone (there is a picture in my album.) After brunch I'm sure you can guess what we did? SHOP AGAIN! There was this place Matt raved about called Clothes Rack which apparently had stacks and stacks of designer clothes. We searched and searched finally found it although it wasn't all that I imagined it would be. You have to be in a certain mood to look through piles, and I was too hot and sweaty to do that. After Clothes Rack however, we headed back to Colaba Drive (where I shopped on Saturday) for an hour and then made our way back to HYD.

Mumbai is the most cosmopolitan area in India, I heard that real estate along the main coast is similar to Manhattan, NY. It's the city of Bollywood so lots of famous people always trickle in and out. We had the pleasure of meeting some Australian cricket players and saw the South African team at the Taj when we were eating brunch. Mumbai is a BIG city -- there is a huge disparity between rich and poor and much more pollution in the air, but on the upside it's developed and lively. I would love to go back, but this time land a role in a Bollywood movie :)

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Elevators

I still get confused and lost in the elevators around here. As you can see in this picture, there are NEGATIVE floors! At first sight you may guess that floor 0 is the ground floor and all the negative numbers indicate garage floors below. Not the case. In this elevator, floor -2 is the ground floor! The hard part about all of this is that the numbering is not consistent across all elevators. In my apartment building, floor 0 is the ground floor. At a restaurant I was at a couple weekends ago, floor -1 was the ground floor. I'm still trying to understand the logic behind this...

First Rickshaw Ride in India

Our first Rickshaw ride in Pondicherry!!! Stacy brought her video camera, yay :)

First Outside Run

This morning I had my first outside run. There is this park called KBR National Park which is about 5km away from my apartment. Most national parks do not allow visitors so I feel lucky to run in and around it. Inside is a beautiful jungle/forest area but I didn't go inside. Circling the park is a walk/runway area. According to my driver he said it was a 10km loop, which is basically 6.2 miles. I didn't run the whole thing (I know I'm getting weak) but it was a super good workout! There were stairs and hills; I'm sure feeling the burn in my legs today. A lot of people were up early walking and running, and a handful were wearing authentic Indian wear like saris and kurtas. Some were even barefoot and this one guy smoked me in slippers. I don't know how they do it! For info on KBR National Park click here.

Fabindia

Indian Sari

Black kurta and long wrap skirt from Fabindia

Okay, so I've been shopping. And I've been buying some Indian wear, but its cute, I promise! There is this place called Fabindia where a lot of coworkers and expats shop for authentic Indian wear. What is Indian wear? Women wear saris everywhere: to work, to eat, to shop, to work out. It is a long piece of beautiful fabric that circles around the waist and loops back around the shoulder. Saris can be worn in many different ways depending on personal or traditional style. I may buy one to wear to the Holiday party or if I'm invited to a wedding, haha! Women (and men) also wear kurtas which is like a long dress/tunic, over matching pants. The style is similar to leggings and dresses although its much more simple with little stitching involved. Basic cotton is popular to endure the heat that prevails all year long. At Fabindia I bought a black kurta, two long skirts and some pants!

The People

A man and his horse

A boy on the streets of Pondicherry

A group of dancers in Shilaparamam

Family Portrait in Pondicherry

The people of India, each individually representing their cultures and traditions from different parts of the country. Here are some images...

Only in India (2)

Only in India do you see jeans being sold out of the back of a hatchback

The law says that you must wear helmets when riding on a motorcycle or scooter. 99% of the population don't, just like this guy.

Traffic Jam in Central Hyderabad. Yes this is real.

This weekend I hung out in Hyderabad, which was nice since I went on vacation last week and will be traveling a lot this month. I had dinner at this place called Exotica on Friday night, they served Chinese and Indian food. I found out again that you can never avoid spicy food in India, even if you explicitly ask for it to be non-spicy. You have to learn that everything is spicy, regardless of the menu description. All of us were trying to cool off our mouths with beer and plain naan (which is like plain bread.)

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Saturday I went to Yoga with Stacy and Anna. It's fun doing yoga in the country it originated from. We then ventured off on a huge shopping spree, picked up some cute gifts and things for my room. We also visited a pearl shop and bought some earrings; Hyderabad is known for its pearls so they have a wide selection all around town. On the way to different places, I captured more "Only in India" sightings. Check out the pictures above.

Vacation Plans

I'm really excited because I have big vacation plans for the next couple weekends!

1. Mumbai (Bombay) -- The most popular city of India with a population of 13 million. It's the commercial and entertainment capital of the world, inhabiting most Bollywood (Hindi film and movie industry) stars. For more info Click Here. We're heading here this coming weekend!

2. South Africa -- We're heading to Capetown for a few nights, then going on a Safari for another couple nights. I'm really excited to see the animals and experience the culture in Africa.

Looking forward to sharing with you the experiences :)