The Kerala Trip Continues

Saturday was another early morning (I've actually yet to sleep in in India) as we left Munnar and headed back down towards the coast. After a long and typically disturbing car ride, we reached our destination - a town called Appelley. Appelley is known for their house boat tours, and that's what we came to do. Rather than the stationary house boats they have in Seattle, the Kerala house boats are actually called kettuvalams, and they look like this:



The boat trip was extremely relaxing. It was just Jocelyn, myself, the driver and the cook on board, and we spent the afternoon cruising slowly through the backwaters. Along the banks there were lots of houses, and it was interesting to watch people go about their lives in such a unique environment. When evening came, they tied to boat to a palm tree and we parked there for the night. The bedroom on the boat was simple but adequate, and it was even air conditioned.

In the morning we cruised back to our starting point and met up with our driver once again, who took us to see a few sights before we had to be back at the airport. Our first stop was a beach along the Arabian Sea. The beach itself wasn't much to look at, but I stuck my feet in the water just to say I did.



After the beach, we went to a bizarre little museum that basically featured the extensive collections of a very wealthy man and his wife. It was an odd experience. We had to leave our shoes outside, and then were ushered through the museum by a guide who essentially just read us all of the signs that labeled the various pieces. The collection included mostly collectibles from around the world - ivory carvings, Swarovski crystal, fancy china, etc. Mom, Dad and Kyle - I was vaguely reminded of House on the Rock, but thank goodness it wasn't nearly as extensive! Photography wasn't allowed inside the museum, so after we left our guide offered to take our picture outside. We agreed, and the guide got a bit over excited. He kept suggesting new backgrounds for the pictures, and just when it was about to feel like a senior picture photo shoot, Jocelyn's memory card ran out of space. Just in the nick of time!

Once we left that museum we visited another museum of sorts about the Dutch/British/Portuguese colonial periods, did a bit of shopping and then grabbed a late lunch. Our American tastes got the beter of us, and we requested pretty much anything Western. We ended up eating at KFC, which although wasn't exactly like KFC at home (no mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc), was still familiar and comforting.

After lunch we headed back to the airport, where once again our flights went smoothly. I even landed in Hyderabad ahead of schedule! Another successful weekend trip complete :)

And a few more pictures for good measure:


The view when we woke up in the morning on the houseboat


Heading back to Appelley in the morning

Another Weekend, Another Trip

Although we didn't get the holiday in the US, the Google offices here in India were closed for Good Friday, so we took advantage of the long weekend and planned a trip to Kerala, a state on the southwest tip of India.

I'm happy to report that this time the flights went much more smoothly. Having mastered the Indian airport system, my co-worker Jocelyn and I reached Kochin without any hiccups on Thursday evening. We spent the first night in a hotel near the airport, which was actually much nicer than I was expecting. The restaurant in the hotel was good and cheap, and they even delivered a full breakfast to our room at 5:45 in the morning for no additional charge. Pleasantly surprising!

We left the hotel bright and early Friday morning in an attempt to see the elephants being bathed at the Elephant Rescue Center in Kodanad. Right as we'd almost given up and were walking back to the car, we turned around to see a procession of three elephants heading towards us:



We followed them as they walked through the village and to the river, which they promptly walked into for their baths (check out the video here). If you've never seen an elephant attempt to lay down, it's a rather interesting process. Once they were laying down in the water, their caretakers scrubbed them with coconuts. We were invited to partake in the scrubbing as well, but after seeing what else the elephants did in that water, I declined the opportunity.

Once we left Kodanad, it was on to Munnar, a hill town further inland known for their tea plantations. In an attempt to cater to our American tastes, our driver put in a hilarious compilation CD complete with Barbie Girl and an assortment of Abba and Backstreet Boys songs. Although the car ride there was probably the most frightening thus far (imagine the usual craziness I've described, with the addition of twisty mountain roads and no seatbelts - yikes!), we saw some interesting things along the way, some natural (waterfalls) and others cultural (lots of cross-bearing Good Friday processions). Munnar is also known for the spices they grow, and we stopped at a small spice garden where they showed us how all sorts of spices are grown, and even let us taste a few. We saw a giant snail...



...and some insane plants as well:



Once we got to Munnar, the scenery was stunning. All of the hills are carpeted with tea plants and shrouded in mist. Everything was incredibly green, and the weather was shockingly mild and comfortable.


View from our hotel room


Tea plants

Unfortunately, due to the holiday a lot of things were closed, including the tea museum and a lof of the restaurants that cater to tourists. As such, we ended up eating at a very local restaurant for lunch. All over India they have these small restaurants which are labeled as "fast food," but as opposed to being American style fast food, they really just mean food served quickly. The restaurant was packed, so we were instructed to sit at a table with an Indian couple who were already eating their lunch (without utensils I might add - must be another cultural thing I was unaware of). Luckily we were given forks with which to eat our lunch, which ended up being pretty good and insanely cheap ($3 for two big plates of biryani and a giant bottle of water).

On Friday evening, we went to see a traditional Kerala dance performance called kathakali, which to my untrained eye was like a combination or interpretive dance and story telling with complete elaborate make up and accompanied by traditional percussion instruments and singing. They were moving around a lot, so it was hard to get a good picture, but this gives you an idea:



After the performance we headed back to the hotel for dinner, and were lucky enough to catch part of an absolutely terrible Nicholas Cage movie on TV. If you ever see "Snake Eyes" on TV, I'd recommend skipping it!

Tomorrow I'll update on the rest of the trip, which took us down out of the hills and back to the heat!

Out and About in Hyderabad

A quick update of my life here in between weekend trips!

Last night my teammates and I went to see the movie Rio after work. The movie theater was in the mall, and there are a few key differences between seeing a movie in India and seeing one in the States:

- There's security to get into the mall, and they search your bag again when you go into the theater. If you're trying to bring in anything that's not allowed (food, etc) they make you check it with them for the duration of the movie. I had to check my half-consumed water bottle, and come back and claim it when the movie ended. You're also not allowed to bring cameras into the theater. If you try to bring in a camera, they make you check your battery.

- There are assigned seats, like at a play. If you order your tickets online ahead of time, you can select where you'd like to sit.

- There's a 5-10 minute intermission during the film. Since the movie we saw was an American movie and the intermission obviously wasn't built in, it felt a bit abrupt.

- If you buy snacks, they give you a plastic tray to carry them in. You then just leave the tray in the theater when the movie ends, and they presumably come and collect them.

After the movie, we did some shopping in the mall, which was pretty similar to most American malls. Here's a picture of us outside the mall after we left (note the security checkpoint in the background):



Upon leaving the mall I got to experience another new aspect of life in India - riding in an autorickshaw! It was a bit terrifying (there are no doors and no seatbelts), but they are extremely commonplace here. Of course we had to document the moment:



I had to hold on for dear life, but luckily the ride was short and extremely cheap. For a ride that probably would have cost us $5-$10 in a cab in an American city, we payed 35 ruppees...which equates to 80 cents.

Our destination was Kibbeh, and Lebanese style bar/lounge that was having Ladies Night. While in the US Ladies Night usually just means free cover for ladies, here it means free drinks! I tried one of the local beers (Kingfisher - it was alright) and we had some delicious Lebanese-style food (hummus and other assorted non-spicy things). All in all a good time!

This weekend I'm heading down south to a state called Kerala. The office here has Good Friday off tomorrow, so it will be a nice, relaxing long weekend. Stay tuned for a full report when I return :)

Trip Report Part Three - A Speed Tour of Delhi

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to try to catch the sunrise from our hotel's roof deck. The view would have been beautiful aside from the unfortunate fact that there was a giant tree directly in our line of sight to the Taj. Alas. After catching breakfast at our hotel, we hit the road and headed back to Delhi.

Once back in Delhi, our driver took us on a brief tour of the city. Our first stop was the Lotus Temple:



For some reason it reminds me of the Sydney Opera House. Here too we had to take our shoes off, but unfortunately there were no shoe covers to take advantage of. I was amused to be walking around barefoot, but unfortunately the pavement outside was very hot.

From there we headed to India Gate, which looks rather like the Arc de Triomphe:



All of the government buildings are also in that vicinity, so we drove by the Parliament, the President's house, various Ministry buildings, etc. This part of the city was entirely different from anything else I've seen thus far thus far in India. The streets were straight and wide, and traffic was quite orderly. It reminded me of the promenade leading up to Buckingham Palace in London (I swear not everything reminded me of attractions in other countries!).

Amusing anecdote - At one point while we were driving through Delhi, a bus driver ran a red light and cut off our driver. Our driver slammed on the breaks, put the car in park and got out to go over and start yelling at the bus driver. Another tourist car driver saw the situation, and also parked his car in the middle of the road to get out and yell at the bus driver as well on our driver's behalf. It was actually pretty comical.

With that our speed tour of Delhi was complete, and our driver dropped us back off at the guest house to chill for a few hours before our flight left. We had dinner and watching Wedding Crashers, and it was a nice and relaxing evening, that is until we left for the airport.

Since we no longer had our pre-arranged driver, the staff at the guest house called us a regular cab. For some reason the cabbie decided he needed to hose off his car before we headed to the airport, so we sat in the car while he did this. Unfortunately, both of the back doors leaked so we had to huddle in the middle to try to stay dry.

When we got to the airport, we had to have the ticket counter to print our itineraries so that we'd be allowed in. Unfortunately, since our flight was massively delayed (which we knew about ahead of time and planned accordingly), our original flight time had already passed, and the security guard could not understand that our flight had been delayed. This was a massive hassle, and finally one of the airline staff members had to come over and speak with the security guard on our behalf.

Once we got through security, we found out that our flight was once again delayed. By the time we finally got back to Hyderabad, it was 2:00AM. Way past my bedtime!

Trip Report Part 2 - The Main Event!

On Saturday we woke up bright and early, packed into a mini-van with our driver, and hit the road at 7:00 AM. The drive to Agra was around 4-5 hours, but it went surprisingly quickly. It was nice to get a chance to see more of the "real India" - life outside the cities and urban centers. Along the way we passed through smaller cities, town and rural areas. We saw women walking down the road carrying huge loads on their heads, children playing pick-up cricket, people working in fields, and all manner of roadside stands and stalls.


Crazy Trucks Carrying Grain - We saw a lot of these on the road

Once we arrived in Agra, we picked up our tour guide and headed to the Baby Taj, whose actual name I have no hope of remembering, let alone spelling correctly. The architecture and detailing on the building were both really cool, and it was very uncrowded which was nice and a stark contrast to the other sites we visited in Agra.


"Team Taj"


You're not allowed to wear shoes inside, so we were given these lovely shoe covers - stylish!

After leaving the Baby Taj, we proceeded to the Agra Fort. This was actually a fort/palace. Part of the fort is still occupied by the Indian army, so only part of it is accessible to the public. Even still, it was quite large. We learned a lot of history about the various rulers who occupied the fort, but I won't go into that here. Instead, I'll share pics:


The outside of the fort


This is where the king held his council

After we finished up at the fort we were very hot and very hungry. Temperatures in Agra were right around 100 degrees this weekend, so it was definitely much hotter than I'm used to! After lunch we headed back to our hotel to rest for a bit before hitting up the Taj Mahal. I now understand why people who live in hot climates take siestas - the heat wears you out!

We headed out for the Taj Mahal around 5PM. We actually walked from our hotel to the entrance, because you're not allowed to have any gas-powered vehicles within a certain radius of the monument, and walking was just as easy as taking one of the little electric vehicles that can shuttle you to and from. When we reached the entrance we groaned upon seeing an enormously long line. Apparently however, since foreigners have to pay a much higher ticket price, we get to use a separate line. It felt awkward marching past all of the people in line, but it was admittedly nice not to have to wait, and I think I made up for it by being the subject of many, many unsolicited pictures. After passing security, and watching the security guard yank a bag of snacks right out of a woman's shirt and mercilessly chuck them aside (literally), we were on our way.

Those who constructed the Taj Mahal did a good job of playing up the anticipation. When you enter the grounds, you come in from the side. The monument itself is surrounded by pretty tall walls, so you can't actually see anything right away. It's not until you walk through the giant entrance gate that you catch a glimpse of the Taj Mahal itself. It's pretty magnificent. Even though you're seen plenty of pictures of it, seeing it in person is still incredibly impressive and awe inspiring. What doesn't come through in the pictures is the intricacy of the detail all over the monument. After a history lesson and a thorough photo shoot, we proceeded to explore the monument itself.


I'm really here!


Apparently this is the picture to take - I was unaware, but figured I had to have one nonetheless

To get up to the monument, you have to stand in another long line, and this time there's no shortcut for foreigners. We got in line and joined the patient progression towards the stairs, when all of the sudden chaos broke loose. For no apparent reason, people just started running towards the stairs. We didn't run, but as we worked our way towards the stairs the crowd started shoving more and more. It was like WalMart on Black Friday - I was worried someone was going to get trampled. After getting way too close for comfort, we finally made it up the stairs and had a look around. There's actually not much in the Taj Mahal itself - it really is just a tomb. It was a bit creepy though, because they don't light the inside, and by the time we got there it was quite dark inside all that marble. As we filed through the building, it felt like we were in some sort of poorly done haunted house. Eerie nonetheless.

Our timing worked out well, because we were able to catch the sunset and get some great pictures:





After returning to our hotel, we ate a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant, watched a bit of a Bollywood movie on TV (all in Hindi, but mostly elaborate song and dance numbers anyway), then turned in for the night.

Trip Report Part 1 - In which we travel to Delhi

This past weekend 3 other Googler expats and I ventured out of Hyderabad and headed up to Delhi to see one of the wonders of the world - the Taj Mahal. The trip was fantastic, and it helped me to continue to expand my understanding of this country. Because we did quite a bit, and because now that I'm settled in here I don't really have any interesting updates throughout the week, I'll write a separate post for each day of the trip. Here we go!

The night before we left Hyderabad, our airline informed us that our flight was delayed by several hours - this became a theme throughout the trip, as I'll elaborate on later. Nonetheless, we left work a bit early on Friday and headed back to the Hyd airport. Unfortunately we weren't aware that in India, in order to even get IN the airport, you need to present your printed itinerary along with your passport. Luckily the airlines all have counters on the outside of the building and they are able to print out an itinerary for you. Security is also a bit different here. As at the cricket match, there are separate lines for men and women. Men are searched out in the open, whereas women are searched behind a curtain. You don't have to take your shoes off, and they're not overly particular about things in your carry-on luggage. One of my traveling companions had liquids confiscated, but I got through with my bug spray and sunscreen just fine. The one thing they ARE particular about it your luggage tag. You must affix one of those baggage tags they have at the airline counters to each piece of your carry-on luggage (filling it out is optional). When you go through security, they stamp the tag, and you must show proof of this several times throughout the travel process (more to come on this later as well). Once past security, after only a few more delays (thank you, Jet Airways), we were on our way to Delhi.

Upon landing in Delhi we were picked up by a driver and taken to the guest house in Gurgaon (the area of Delhi in which another Google office is located). Delhi has a much more cosmopolitan feel than Hyderabad. They have an above ground metro system, traffic is (somewhat) more orderly, and there are a lot of western looking buildings lit with neon lights. In a city of 17 million people however, I imagine we only saw a slice of the pie.

After a passionate discussion in the car about all of the American food that we missed, we were elated to find a Ruby Tuesday just down the street from where we were staying. I really don't mind Indian food, but it's mostly all we eat here. After a taste of home (specifically chicken fingers and fries, with honey mustard even!), we headed to the corporate apartments and turned in for the night.

Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow!

Cricket: India's National Pastime

So far I've eaten Indian food, gotten henna ("mehndi" as they call it here) done on my hands, had "chaat" in the afternoons at the office (traditional Indian street food), but last night I did something truly Indian - I attended a cricket match. The match was part of the relatively new Indian Premier League, which is more commercial and less "pure" than traditional cricket. These matches are considered quite short by cricket standards, but they are still about the length of a traditional baseball game (which I know many people in the US consider too long!). The teams playing last night were the Deccan Chargers (from Hyderabad) versus the Royal Challengers (from Bangalore).

I went with a group of about 20 Googlers, and we all left straight from work. Although the stadium wasn't terribly far away in terms of distance, it took us 1.5 hours to get there because of the traffic. On a related note, I crossed the street for the first time here in India! That was an experience in and of itself. After miraculously making it across the street without being hit, we headed to the stadium.

The scene was similar to what you would see outside a stadium in the US, except of course with an Indian flair. There were people selling souvenirs, people trying to scalp tickets, etc. When we entered the stadium, the men went through one line to be searched, and the women were diverted off to the side. I was escorted into a small, temporary enclosure, out of sight of the men, where a female security guard ran a metal detector over me and patted down my legs.

Although we were assigned a certain section of the stadium (based on how much we paid for our tickets), within the sections it was general admission. We had pretty good seats - only 5 or so rows behind the field (which is circular). Food is sold in the stands (ice cream, chips, dishes of spicy corn, etc), but the vendors actually walk through the seats, as opposed to only up and down the aisles. No alcohol was sold at the stadium, which, given the rowdiness of the sober fans, was probably not a bad thing!

Since this league is more commercial, there are even cheerleaders, much to the delight of most of the men. For some reason all of the cheerleaders were white; aside from them and a few foreign players from New Zealand and such, I was the only white person in the stadium. As you can imagine, I got a few stares, and more people trying to take my picture.

Thanks to the help of my co-workers, by the end of the game I'd say I understood about 50% of the basics of the game. The odd thing about cricket is that one team goes through all of their batting (and hence run scoring) first, and then the second team goes. Therefore, at halftime the score is bound to be something to zero. It's also a rather high scoring game. The match last night was around 177-135, with Hyderabad coming out on top.

I'm coming to realize just how popular cricket is here, so I'm glad I got to experience it firsthand! Pictures to come :)