I think this post will just be bullet points of things I have seen, done, noticed, experienced, etc:
Air Pollution
Great Food
Nice People
People beg at intersections and on the street
Animals walking in the street
Slums with Dish TV
Bicycles, Motorcycles, Rickshaws, Cars, and Trucks
Women leaving an infant and young child on the sidewalk alone to go look for food
Movies have intermissions (a good idea)
People have drivers
The poor will always be poor
Electricity Brown Outs
Cricket (the sport)
Curry
BO (Not as bad as I expected)
Temples
History
Multiple Languages
A former British Colony
Cheap
Crowded
A lot of people doing nothing (similar to Japan)
Efficient
Old
No public affection (kissing, etc)
Old Fashion
Not thinking out of the box
Lots of dancing and singing in movies
Lots of dancers in music videos
Many mobile phone commercials
Button up shirts and few T-Shirts
Difficult to understand accents
A Nuclear Power
Dirty water
Religion
Philosophy
I think that’s all for now.
***Disclaimer: These are my opinions and observations. I am not saying that these things are good or bad. Every country has their issues and I could make a similar list for the USA.
After a flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, Germany and then on to Pune, India we finally made it to India. We landed at about 3 or 4 am give or take. I don’t really actually remember the time, all I know is that I was tired and glad to be on the ground again. The flights weren’t as bad as expected but anytime you fly that kind of distance it just drains the energy out of you. Luckily we got to fly business class and we had those cool chairs that turn into semi-bed-like-things. The first leg of the trip I didn’t sleep at all, but I was able to watch like 4 movies. The second leg of the trip I was in and out of sleep.
Once we got to the hotel we checked in and crashed and crashed hard. I slept through the morning breakfast buffet since sleep is more important than food. Later I ordered some shrimp from room service.
After I got some food in my belly we had some time to kill so we decided to go get some sun on the roof.
Next we had to meet with our sister companies staff so it was decided that they would come to the hotel and we would have a little meeting in the hotel restaurant. The meeting was brief and friendly.
By the time the meeting was over it was just about time for dinner, so we changed into some casual clothes and some walking shoes.
****BIG DISCLAIMER****
I am from the United States and have only been to Japan, so my opinions are going to be “my opinions” as someone that was raised in the US, whatever baggage that carries.
****BIG DISCLAIMER****
1. It’s hard to put in words my first impression of India, but I will try my best. First of all the service in India reminds me of Japan, which is a good thing. There are always numerous amounts of people to help with whatever you are doing from going through the immigrations process to eating dinner at a restaurant.
2. It’s November in India and the weather is hot during the day but cool in the evening with a touch of humidity. Not bad, not bad at all, but I can imagine that the summer is VERY HOT. Since I have been in Seattle for about a year my ability to handle the heat has weakened.
3. Driving, walking, and riding in India is dangerous!! You always have to pay attention and watch the road carefully as you cross the street, because nobody else is going to watch out for you. It is basically organized chaos, in my opinion. There are all kinda of motorcycles, scooters, cars, mini cars, bicycles, and of course some people on foot.
4. The air on the street has the wonderful smell of a 2-Stroke Engine exhaust with a little dust and dirt all wrapped into one. The streets and sidewalks are, well….dirty and dusty. Looks like there is no such thing as a street cleaner around here.
5. At dinner it seems that you are not allowed to serve yourself. I am cool with it but it’s just strange to have someone serve my food to me as an American. I have been served food before in my life but usually after the initial serving the person eating usually takes over, this is not the case in India from what I have been told.
6. Trying not to drink the water is a pain in the neck!! I like ice with my drinks and I like to hydrate myself well, so trying not to get sick from the water is a pain. Sealed water bottles are a must and my coworker says don’t forget when you are brushing your teeth as well. LOL, almost forgot about that.
7. Snoop Dogg is in an Indian video here on MTV India. Pretty cool if you ask me, especially from an international business point of view.
More to come later for sure so stay tuned to ierict’s adventures in India!
Here is another video of the Google G1 Android OS based Mobile Phone. It is really growing on me and I am loving the 3G coverage in the Seattle area. I don’t know how I lived on the Edge Network for so long and feel sorry for those that still have to put up with it’s speed.
Well finally got back from Hawaii an my Google G1 (gPhone) was waiting for me. Here is a quick un-boxing video that I did with my FlipVideo. I will use a better quality camera next time.
Well I just receive word that my Google G1 phone (AKA the gPhone) is on the way from China or Taiwan (wherever it’s made)!! I am just hoping it gets here before i leave for Hawaii, even though Hawaii wont have it’s 3G turned on yet. My current phone, a T-Mobile Shadow running Windows Mobile, is giving me a headache with it’s lack of ability to render websites correctly or at all. If I have time I am going to do an unboxing video and walk through the basics of it. Probably do a couple of speed test to test the Seattle 3G. There are a couple of pages that I navigate to daily that are “heavy” in the size deparment. Actually, pretty much every site on the web today is not friendly for mobile phones!! Google reader is probably the best option for those that want to check sites for non-3g phones, but that’s only if the site has an RSS feed.
Anyways Look forward to my G1 and i will give you my honest semi Mac FanBoy review of it.
Why is it such a pain in the a__ to travel internationally? While getting ready for my trip to India I realized it’s such a pain in the neck to go there. Before even leaving I have to make sure I have a visa, even if I was a tourist! What is up with that? I know when you go to Japan you just go and they give you a 3 month travel visa. Since I usually only travel to Japan, I assumed that this is the norm. Come to find out that it’s not and that it’s going to cost over $100 to get a darn visa (luckily it’s a business expense)!
Don’t countries want to encourage travel? More tavel equals more money added to the economy, correct? I just don’t get it. I guess the only thing that messes up this would be the whole terrorism thing.
Another thing i noticed is that Hotels wont let you pay in advace. They will let you reserve the room but they want you to pay after the stay. What’s up with that? Now I have to use my personal credit card to pay for a room when my company would happily do it. Now I have to keep my receipts and submit paper work and wait for the accounting department to do all the conversions, and finally pay me. Hello, technology and big hotel chains!!
Okay that’s enough of my ranting for today. Now I must get a Lonely planet guide to India and decide which of my 3 camear’s I am going to bring. And to watch the movie “Outsourced”, which my coworker recommended I watch before leaving for India.
Wow, over the next couple of months I am going to be doing a lot of travelling. First I will be going to Hawaii for about a week for Podcamp and Wordcamp Hawaii. 2 days after returning I am going to be going to India on business for 4 WHOLE WEEKS!! It will be my first trip to India so I am really looking forward to it. I don’t know if I really wanted to go for that long on my first trip, but hey what can you do when work calls. Since I will be gone that long I told my wife she might as well plan a trip to visit her parents in Japan. That way she will have some help with our 16 month old son and wont be alone for 5 weeks. If possible I am going to join her in Japan for about a week or so, depending if all things fall into place.
One thing I need to do is get all my bills online so I can pay them from anywhere in the world! Especially, if I am going to be travelling for these long periods of time.
For my Hawaii trip I know I am bringing my DSLR, HD Video Camera, and FlipVideo Camera. For India I am thinking about just bringing a good point and shoot camera that has the ability to shoot video as well. I am getting to the point where it’s a pain to carry all these cameras so I need to figure out a way to minimize my gear. I am thinking that a new higher end point and shoot with a BIG memory card or two is the way to go. What do you think? How are you travelling these days?
Later I ordered some shrimp from room service.
