Venture out into the city

Yesterday I had arranged for my driver to come and get me in the morning and he drove me for an hour closer to the city centre. I found out that he does not like to speak, so asking questions is pointless. The mall was not that exciting, but the drive was pretty entertaining.

He took me to what he said was the best mall in town. The mall was pretty typical to malls in Canada, but they are much more security cautous as a lot of the shops and the entries into the mall itself has scanners and you have to check any bags before going into the shops.

I thought stuff was going to be cheaper. It was cheaper than Vancouver, but not by as much as I would have thought. There are sales everywhere of 20 to 50% off so that helps. I am hoping the street markets will be better.

I have been told that the economic down turn hit India pretty hard as you can see by all of the skeletons of unfinished buildings that are everywhere. It is quite something to see because on my drive I saw large modern office buildings among half built ones, some apartment buildings ranging from high scale to squalor, old shops and even make shift shacks made of all sorts of scraps that people live in. Saw tons of more wild dogs and about a half dozen sacred cows roaming around.
Closer to city centre there were the beggars tapping on your window looking for change at the intersections.

One thing I want to find the answer to is why there are big piles of dirt everywhere. There are no real sidewalks in most places and where they should be are just these dirt piles. I suspect that they are dug up and sifted through for rocks, or are dumped by building sites. If I find out I will let you know.