Taj Mahal Baby!

Random Things:

• So, our chef sends out the dinner menu every day to the foreigners. Here is an item at dinner: "Assorted vegetable hard boiled to add natural food to the menu". Shit man - have I been eating plastic so far?! That is not good...
• People are so lazy in the office for 2 reasons. 1) It's like they're unable to use stairs. Even if they're going down one floor, no one takes the stairs - they wait for the elevator. So frustrating! 2) I think about 4 of the 8 hours of work are spent chit chatting and goofing around. It's crazy!
• Martijn's comment on how there are always people standing around "I love how in India, wherever you go, there is a guy"
  

Trip to the Taj!!!
Katherine, my good friend from home came to Hyderabad for 2 weeks for work and we've been enjoying wine and the Taj. We went to the Taj for the weekend and splurged and stayed at the Oberoi hotel. Every room in the hotel has a spectacular view of the Taj and the grounds are amazing! Totally luxurious and very expensive. But worth it! The Taj was seriously amazing and we had the BEST time together! Check out the pics - they say it all...

What else have I been up to? Working. Boring? Yes. True? Yes. My manager came for a week and it's review season so I've been working my tail off to be able to go to Malaysia this weekend and not be stressed. So far so good.

Next post - 10 days in Malaysia - get excited!

Hi all,

I haven't written in a long time. It's either I'm really important and busy or I'm just lazy - you take your pick :) I've settled back in after my trip home, although the first few days back were rough (missing my Riki - awww...). But, I'm back in the swing of things with all of the exploring and being very white and getting stared at, etc.

I'd like to start with a few fun stories and insights.

1. A friend and I got into cab and said "Hi, can we go to XXX [insert location]". He looked at us very confused. "Shit" we were thinking - "He doesn't speak English!" So we keep trying, in different variations and slower to say where we want to go. Then he turns and says "Do you speak English?" in perfect English. Ummm - what the F have we been speaking?!
2. Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was really hot. Arshad and I went on a run in this lovely park and I almost died from the heat. He was saying how for the next few months it's going to be so nice and cool. I'm thinking - "this is cool?! I would classify this as F'ing HOT!" I'm not sure I'm going to survive the heat! P.S. I forgot how running in the heat is 10x more difficult!
   
3. Arshad and I were riding home from the run on his motorcycle and it hit me. "Holy crap! I'm in India and I'm riding through the streets on a motorcycle! How freaking awesome is that!" You would think I would have recognized this early, but apparently I'm a little slow. Oh - and I LOVE motorcycles now - with the cool breeze and seeing the city whiz by? Amazing! And no Riki, you still can't get one :)
4. Insight: You need to have an open mind when you visit India or you will be extremely disappointed. For example, we have a new roommate (from Google) and she's really negative and only looks at the bad things about India. She's only been here for 2 weeks and already is disgusted and wants to go home. Yes, it's dirty and poor, but it's also really exciting and beautiful. You just need to look past all of the rubble on the side of the road and immerse yourself in the experience. I'm so glad I made friends that are open to the experiences and don't have to surround myself by that negativity. Ok, I'm done with the deep thoughts :)
   

Last Weekend:
Friday: First club in India! It was everything I dreamed of with crowds and trance music :) Actually, it was really like a normal club. However, a nice little fight broke out after the club closed and our friends were in it. They were justified to beat up this douche, but it was still crazy, although apparently it's pretty common here. Guess I'm going to have to get used to that! After the club, we went back to a friends place for late night food (my fav) and got tandoori chicken and biryani. Guess I'm going to have to get used to their late night food! At 3am, we decided to leave and the guys rode me and Martijn back on their motorcycles in the rain. It was pretty awesome! We had to stop for gas and Martijn, being as wasted as he was, started to light a cigarette! We all screamed at him to stop and started running away! He was very confused (a bottle of vodka will do that to you). It felt like a scene from Zoolander. Orange mocha frappuccino!

Saturday: After a hungover day, we went to the spa and got dinner at the Westin. The dinner was ok, but the awesome part was the bangles maker they had! I made friends quickly and got 3 beautiful bangles for free! It was seriously cool watching him make them!

Sunday: On Sunday, we went sight-seeing to these tombs in Hyderabad, which were cool. You can see the pictures here - not much more to say!

This Weekend:
Thursday: We had Friday off for Ramadan, which was awesome. So on Thursday night, I had meetings until 9:30 (boo), went home to have dinner, then went out to 10 Downing, a Thur karaoke hotspot and it was awesome! I LOVE a good karaoke song :)

Rest of the weekend: The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. I spent a lot of time researching my future trips (Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand), grabbed some Subway and watched a movie, then went for a run and brunch today. The coolest part was seeing the giant Ganesh (the biggest god in Hindu) that they put up for Ramadan. After worshiping him for 10 days, they throw all of the city's Ganesh statues in the lake. This happens every year, which means scuba diving in that lake would be cool, although you would probably grow a 3rd arm or something.

PICTURES ARE HERE!