Update - half done

The last day of February - One month done and one month to go!
I am pretty much recovered from my chest infection.  I actually felt mostly OK this past week, each day feeling better than the last.  I still have a slight cough left as a reminder, but I am hoping it will be gone soon.
Nothing too exciting to report over the last week.  Work, the treadmill and watching the Olympics taking  up a majority of my time.  I decided not to do anything too adventurous this weekend and actually had an enjoyable weekend just kind of hanging out.

I was invited to go and watch the Canada/Slovakia hockey game at Mike and Nancy's house which was very nice of them.  The game was not that exciting until the last 5 minutes.  I am a little nervous about the Canada US game - Canada will have to play much better against the States if we are to win gold.  The game was on Saturday morning here and we watched that and then went for a wander around their complex and surounding village.  All the village kids were out waving and saying hi to us as we walked thru the streets.  The temperatures have shot up a bit and it has been in the low to mid 30's everyday.  It is not humid - thank goodness, but still pretty hot to be out walking around.  I can't imagine what it is like in the summer when it is over 40.  

Saturday night I went into the city to see Avitar.  Hadn't seen it yet and one of the guys from the gym asked if I wanted to go just to get out and away from the hotel for a bit.  It was actually better than I expected.  The theaters here are a little different.  You get asigned seating ( and everyone takes forever to find their seat in the semi-dark) and there was actually a 10 minute break in the middle.  They stopped the film and not really in an appropriate spot either!

Today I again watched hockey in the morning.  I caught the last period of Finland and Slovakia in my room after breakfast.  Then hung out at the pool with my book for a large part of the day.  Got back in the pool even though I have a suspicion that is where I got my infection.  Hopefully now I have immunity!  Got chatting with a woman from the UK who just arrived here for the week for work.  We spent an hour or so chatting at  the pool and then agreed to have dinner at the hotel.  It was nice to have some real company for diner other than my book for a change.

Tomorrow is the last day of Olympics!  What am I going to watch on TV?  I actually get like a hundred channels, so maybe I can find something worth watching - although half of them are in Hindu! 

I have been asking about where I should go this up coming weekend.  I think I may try to go away.  Am missing water, so I see a trip to the ocean in my horizon....

Sick in India

OK, maybe my outing Saturday was not such a good idea!  I woke up on Sunday and felt like I had been hit by a truck.  My whole body was aching and my lungs felt much worse.  I went down for breakfast and ate a little and then came back to my room where I slept for a couple of more hours!  Just hung out in my hotel room watching Olympic coverage and feeling sorry for myself.  I started to get a little worried as I had no energy and really felt horrible.  No one likes being sick away from home and I am no exception.  I finally gave in and went down to reception to inquire about seeing a doctor.  The staff, as usual were very helpful and they called the hotel doctor.  He was going to come by and see me at 6:00 pm.  I got a call right at 6:00 and he was delayed and would be available at 8:00.

Sure enough, he was there at 8:00.  I told him my story and he checked me out and informed me that as I suspected - I had a chest infection.  He wrote out a prescription for some antibiotics and some other cold remedy stuff.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get all of this stuff, but not to worry, it would all be delivered to my room within the hour!  Well almost an hour later, sure enough my drugs had arrived!  I took a couple of pills and went straight to sleep.  Have decided that getting better is a priority and the thought of going to work today just isn't on.  So will stay here watch more Olympics, read and rest.  Hopfully tomorrow I will be ready to get back in the game!

Mysore

Mysore is about 200K away, but takes over 3 hours to get to because of the traffic. First we had to drive clear across Bangalore city which took an hour in itself. I was told that Mysore is also a must do visit - so off I went this Saturday morning. My driver suggested a 7:00 am start to beat the heavy traffic. I am sure he would have liked to have left earlier, but this was the earliest I had gotten up since I arrived here, so I think he knew not to push it. Plus I have been sick for the last few days and was not willing to get up any earlier. I woke up on Wedensday feeling absolutly fine, but a couple of hours into my work day I felt absolutly horrible. It is just a cold, but it started in my chest which is a little unusual for me. I was having trouble breathing, and then could not stop coughing. Today, my breathing is better and coughing has subsided a little, and it has moved into my sinuses now. Was feeling a little better when I woke up, so I decided that I was well enough for an outing - besides, it was mostly spent driving there and back and I figured getting away from the air pollution here would be good for me.

After Bangalore, Mysore is the second largest city in the province, but unlike Bangalore and it's high-techiness, Mysore apparently still has some old world charm - there are no Aon offices!. Upon arriving to Mysore, we went straight up Chamundi hill where there is a temple that looks over the city. I looked around a bit and even walked into the temple - it did not do much for me I must admit as it was fairly croweded and I wasn't sure of the protocol. So didn't hang around there long. On the way down made a short stop to take a picture of Nandi, Shiva's Bull which was carved from a solid rock of granite in 1659.

We then made it to the Mysore Palace, which I was told I had to see and walk through. They would not let me take any pictures inside the palace, but got quite a few shots of the outside. My entry fee incuded an english recorded commentary of the palace, but I won't bore you with the historical details - most of which I have already forgotten! It was nice to walk through - of course they make you take off your shoes so I can attest to the nice floors!

It was only 1:30 pm by the time I was done with the palace and Naryanan suggested that we go and visit Brindavan gardens. He already knows that I would rather walk around outside than go shopping or more museums! The gardens were another 20k outside of the city on the down stream of a dam. The gardens are well planned and have well maintained lawns, innumerable pools and fountains. It was not busy at all when I was there, but at night it supposidly is very busy as the gardens are transformed into a kind of fairy land when the concealed lights near the flower beds and fountains are turned on and add a new dimension to the garden.   So after almost 13 hours after I left this morning, I made it back to the hotel safe and sound and no worse for wear...

Bangalore green spaces

Today was again about being outside and getting away from the hotel for the day. Two of the places I have been told that I needed to go to are Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park. They are both large green spaces near the center of the city of almost 300 acres and are said to be a must to visit when visiting this city. My driver took me to Lal Bagh first. It is a well known botanical garden and was commissioned by the ruler of Mysore, Hyder Ali in 1760. It has a famous glass house and also has an aquarium and a lake. I spent a couple of hours walking around. I very much enjoyed this park, it seemed very well taken care of and there were lots of families and couples strolling around the grounds.

After spending a couple of hours there enjoying the scenery, I then went to Cubban park. I had high hopes for this park and was a little disappointed. It was not as nice as Lal Bagh in my opinion because it is not as green or groomed. I thought this might be a place that I could one day go and run in, but I did not see anyone even remotely running and the park has roadways cutting through - and again the wild dogs. It is at least a half hour drive away, so I don't think that running there is in my future. Walking around these parks, I was definitely a minority and clearly a tourist and as a result had a lot of people staring at me. Maybe I need to start dressing like the other women here?

Olympics

Just watched part of the opening ceremonies live on ESPN. I missed the first hour as it started at 7:30 am here. But, I woke up and turned on the television just as the Canadian athletes were entering the stadium - good timing I think on my part. What I saw was pretty impressive. Looks like there were a few glitches, but overall well done. Will have to see what the critics and reviewers say. I wasn't sure why there was the minute of silence for one of the athletes, but as I now watch the headline news, there is quite a bit of coverage about the luger who died just hours before the start of the games. Pretty tragic.

There are three athletes from India competing at the games in the luge event. So really, the Olympics are not a big deal here. I will be watching what I can on ESPN. For those of you who don't know, In Bangalore, I am 13.5 hour ahead of Vancouver time, so watching live will be a little difficult.

I brought some Olympic t-shirts and wore one to work yesterday to show my support - Go Canada!

Cats

I keep talking about the wild dogs, but as I am more of a cat person I need to also talk about cats. There are three cats that hang around the food court at work. I imagine that they live there and survive on rats and mice (which I have not seen any of which might be why they are so skinny) and on any food that they can coax from the lunch/dinner crowd. I know that they are a little discernible as they did not want to touch the curried mushrooms that we offered a few days ago! They also do not like to be petted, which is something that they should consider as they would more likely get more food in exchange!

Out for a wander

MAM had spent the whole day at the hotel yesterday vegging out and was now ready to explore a bit. Our driver told us that Sunday was his day off, so we decided to stick close to the hotel again rather than try to procure another car. So after my breakfast, 1k swim and 12k treadmill run we decided to walk to the Big Bazaar store two long blocks from the hotel. It is basically an Indian version of a Wal-mart. I had walked there yesterday and bought a $2 t-shirt and some cookies and hair conditioner (since the stuff at the hotel is crap). You can get just about anything you want there from kitchen supplies, clothes, food, etc. We wandered around there for a bit and then decided to venture further.

We got as far as across the street where behind some gates were some very nice looking gardens and treed grounds, and what I thought was an office building- very unlike any scenery we had seen so far. We asked the security guy at the gate if we could wander around the grounds, and I was expecting him to say no, but he lead us in and to the building sitting just inside. I tried to explain we just wanted to walk around outside, but either he did not understand or he was checking in with occupants. A woman answered the door and again I explained we just wanted to walk around, but she insisted that we come in and look at the demonstration. I was a little reluctant as I wasn't sure what she wanted to show us, but after stepping inside I was glad I did. The building was actually a show room for some expensive duplexes that they were building. The place was almost 6000 square feet and was spectacular. There was teak wood and marble everywhere and the rooms were all very big as you might imagine. This unit was on two levels, but they do three level units as well. We were informed that they went for $1M US and that included all the furniture and fixtures. Quite a deal really, but pretty unreachable for 99% of the Indian population. We wanted to take some pictures, but felt that it wasn't really appropriate.

We left there to continue on our walk, without really getting to walk around the grounds after all, but felt like we were pretty fortunate to stumble upon that find.

We then continued on towards the Aon office which was only about 1K further away. We wanted to take a closer look at the 'free' hospital that sits directly across the street. Not sure how the free hospital works, but it looks pretty impressive and I hope to be able to get a closer look at some point before I leave. Again it is gated and you can't just wander around without appropriate clearance.

We then decided to try to get back to the hotel from a different direction. It should have been easy, but we ended up nowhere where we thought we should have been. We ended up walking through a fairly lower class street. It was a mix of run down apartments, man made shacks and and street stalls. MAM and I got some interesting looks as it was clear we did not belong among the dogs, cows and chickens that were running around the streets among all of the people. We eventually realized that we were not going to make it back to the hotel going in that direction and ended up backtracking our steps. It was a pretty interesting outing as we felt we had seen how a majority of the people in Bangalore really live as well as how some of the very privileged live.

Bannerghatta National Park

I was feeling a little cooped up after this past week and needed to get outside and away from the office and the hotel. After talking with people at the hotel and the office I decided this national park was the best bet. I was told that it was about 45 minutes away from the hotel on the outskirts of the city. It took the driver almost 2 hours to get there. Perhaps he didn't take me on the most direct route or I was mislead on the distance? I didn't mind too much as I still enjoy seeing the city streets as we drive through.

We finally made it to the Park and I paid the $150INR to get the grand safari tour - about $4! The grand safari tour included a bus drive through the park to see lions and tigers and other native Indian animals. I was ushered onto a bus and felt lucky to get the last seat at the front, next to the driver with unobstructive views out of the front and side windows. The tour took about an hour and sure enough we saw different types of deer, bears (Asian black bears), lions, and tigers, including white tigers.

The lions and white tigers were sleeping as it was the middle of the day, so didn't get to see them up and about but we did see them sleeping close by.
The animals all looked healthy and well taken care of which was nice to see. After the tour was over, I was made to realize why I was given the best seat on the bus. Everyone got off the bus first, and as I was getting off, I was held back and told I had to provide a tip! No one else had to which kind of irked me, but since I had the best seat and the driver did take a couple of the pictures for me with my camera, I gave him an additional $150INR. He wanted more, but I refused and had to practically push my way off.

I then went into the attached zoo where they had a surprising amount of other animals. I spent another hour and a half waking around looking at snakes, crocodiles, monkeys, birds, elephants, and more. It was just nice to relax and wander around outside. I could have taken a ride on an elephant, but felt I could live without that experience and I think the elephants could too as they did not look that thrilled with their occupation. Unfortunately the animals here did not look as well taken care of. Their cages were mostly small and bare and not really all that secure. It would be so easy to jump into the hippo or crocodile pens. I guess Indian people have a lot more sense than North Americans and Europeans - or it is an easy, cheap way to feed them!

My work week

Just finished my first week at the office! This week went by very quickly and very slowly at the same time. There was a lot of material that was covered, but the team did a very good job and seemed to catch on very well. 8-9 hours each day at the office plus many hours before and after getting ready - I am pretty tired now.

Some interesting notes made this week:

Security is very high in Bangalore. At least at the hotel and the office. The hotel is gated and there is security that checks under the car and also inside the car every time we drive in. We have to pass through a scanner whenever coming into the hotel. The office has a security check to get into the complex and security men at every floor in the building.

Food is really cheap - lunch at the food court is about 40-60INR or less than $2CND.
Dinner at the hotel restaurant is about $10CND (without alcohol). Breakfast is free as it is included in the room rate. You might be interested to know that my chocolate consumption has decreased quite a bit. With the change in eating schedule, I just don't feel like eating as much - shocking, I know.

At the office they have staff where their only duty is to make tea or coffee on demand. You are not allowed to make it yourself.

There is no tipping anywhere here that I have seen.

Here is a picture of me, my driver Narayan, and Marc-A (MAM). MAM is here for two weeks from the Montreal office to work with me on training the team. Also MAM and some of the offshore team trying to stay awake!

quick update

I tried a short swim and treadmill run today. Swam about a kilometer and got nice and cold and then jumped directly onto a treadmill and didn't start sweating until the last couple of minutes into my 5k! This will be a good strategy for the future. My last couple of treadmill runs have been difficult because I overheat within minutes. The sun shines directly down on the gym at that time of the morning. This is the best time for me to run so I will just have to get used to it.

It has only been a few days of work, but so far my days are long and pretty unexciting. I get up, work out for about an hour, have breakfast and then start prep for the day. Go to the office before noon and work with the group until just after 2:00. We then go for lunch down at the food court and then back to work until about 8:00. Come back to the hotel, have dinner, respond to a few emails and then to bed because I am so exhausted!