Humourous Indian Signs

I'm keeping a collection of entertaining signs for your enjoyment. Here are some highlights found in the local park (thanks Mahin!). Click on either of the pics to be taken through to the dedicated giggling album!

Don't even THINK about having fun in the park!

Nice thought - too bad about the state of the bin!

Hyderabad 10K Run

I'm baaaack! I participated in the Hyderabad 10K run this morn... my first serious go at jogging since buggering my ankle 5 months ago.

I joined in the fun with approx 10,000 others, many of whom ran barefoot with jeans! At one point, a lady passed me dressed in a full sari with sandals which certainly encouraged me to pick up the pace and finish within 1hr 15mins. Not bad, not bad!

Click on the photo below for more photos of red-faced Alex...

Charminar

Today we visited the Hyderabadi landmark, Charminar. A monument built in the centre of the city in 1591 to a commemorate the eradication of a plague in the region.

It was truly a highlight of my stay here. Particularly as we had a lovely local (Shiraz) to show us around. Check out the below album for a taste of the amazing momument, hectic traffic and crazy bangle shopping!

My First Sari, My First Indian Holiday Party!

My last day in the office happens to coincide with the office holiday party. Whoop! We're off to the Marriott for a lavish affair and it's strictly formal attire; a perfect excuse to don the local dress.

Two of the wonderful girls in my team took me shopping for my very first sari. What an experience! I was treated to a display of over 50 beautiful fabrics. Unfortunately the one I fell in love with happened to have the steepest price tag. I made up my own dialogue as the girls bartered in the local tongue and scored a deal for 5000 rupees. Ouch!

Get set for an Indian themed party on my return; I'm determined to justify this extravagant purchase. Only drama -the art of draping a sari is a skill best left to the locals. Calling all Sydney based Indians!!

India Sales Conference

The Sales Conference was crazy fun. After a productive day, they surprised us by flying in India's hottest band for the evenings celebrations - Euphoria.

The highlight? When Euphoria dropped Bon Jovi's 'Living on a Prayer.' You can no doubt envisage me going mental on the d-floor with 500 of my closest Indian friends. Oh yeah!

The Harlem Globetrotters do India!

Who would've thought that the Harlem Globetrotters would tour India? Clearly not a great idea after such a dismal turn out. The stadium would have been 10% of capacity.

Although eerily quiet, it was a fun evening. And, we had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the lovely lads following!

Northern Travels

Here's an overview of my upcoming trip with Nige up North.

The adventure begins on Dec 3, returning home just in time for Father Christmas (Dec 18).

Days 1-2: Delhi

Days 3-4: Sailing Down the River Ganges

Days 5-7: Varanasi

Day 8: Agra and the Taj

Days 9-10: Jaipur

Day 11: Roopangarh Fort

Days 12-13: Pushkar

Days 14-15: Delhi

Tales from Hyderabad

I can't quite believe that I'm already halfway through my Hyderabad stay...

And still, I don't have a lot to report as I've been fleeting between the the five star Novotel and office. I certainly can't complain, but rarely feel as though I'm experiencing the 'real India.'

The hotel is plush. I'm getting very used to calling for laundry and room service as required. Uh oh Damian...

Happy Birthday Darling Benny!

Wishing my big brother a very happy 27th birthday.

xxx

Mumbai Madness

My first weekend was spent in Mumbai, the world's most populous city, with a relative stranger. Turns out that Hessam (from Google's Dublin office) is a wonderful bloke and we had a fine old time exploring the city sights.

He's such a gentlemen that he has permitted me to steal an an excerpt from his AMAZING travel journal in order to bring you up to speed:

Since many of you have been asking me this pretty much every time we speak, I would like to go ahead and make an official statement; I’m now finally officially food-poisoned, are you happy now?! For the first time in my life, and it happened at Mumbai’s best restaurant Indigo.

I guess they gave the good piece of grilled fish to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who were among the list of guests this fishy evening. The rest of the crowd was by the way a mix of filthy-rich citizens, maybe not-so-rich but white westerners as well as ladies in hot pants (inappropriate in public anywhere really!) and fanatical cleavages.

To be honest, we didn’t “technically” see Brangolina (I prefer Pittolina), but they must have seen us (!!) since we sat right next to the entrance and were not expecting such an extraordinary visit. On our way out from Indigo the paparazzis asked us if we saw what Brangolina had ordered etc etc, and we went: “WHA-WHAT-WHO!?!?!”. Yes, we didn’t even know they were there…

I found Mumbai to be very metropolitan and clean with many old buildings and fine architecture and had a great time when I was still well. We arrived on Friday night and got to the hotel after midnight. Hotel City Palace is recommended in the Lonely Planet and was the only place with available rooms from the list of 15 hotels in the book. We paid 1650 rupees for a dbl room each with balcony and an excellent view of the Victoria Terminus station. The room itself was quite cramped and smelled of smoke; it did however the job and we didn’t really have much of choice.

We spent Saturday walking around the city in the hot-hot-heat visiting many of the famous spots, least inspiring being the Gateway of India and most memorable the colourful Colaba Market and afternoon beer at the legendary Leopold Café & Bar which dates back to 1871. We went to Chowpatty Beach to see the sunset which was quite an amazing view and the beach came to life after dark with people enjoying the cool air blowing in from the Arabian Sea. We left the beach heading for Indigo for dinner, and you know the rest!

Sunday we went together to Mani Bhavan, the building where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during 1917-1934 which was truly a moving experience. After that we headed to Mumbai’s Dhobi Ghat, where clothes are washed. Here, thousands of men wash thousands of kilos of dirty clothes brought from all over the city every day and I must say it was an original photo motif. We went on to the airport later where the taxi driver, just like any other in Mumbai, demanded the triple fare for the trip, which is otherwise CLEARLY visible on the outdated meter (the fare shown has to be multiplied by 13!). This did indeed call for Hessam’s dark sides, at that moment pitch black due to the added effect of food-poisoning, to come forward for a last row.

Thanks again Hessam... I promise that I'll try and work on some original content and photos!

Check out our Mumbai album here