First Day in India

Today was a good day in India. I started with a 9:00 AM wakeup call. As you might imagine, I was sound asleep and needed the call to wake up. There was a great breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant. They had all the big American, British, and Indian favorites. Looks like the Indians are like the Chinese in that they don't have a different type of breakfast food- they just eat for breakfast what they eat for dinner. No way could I ever eat all those onions, curry, and spices for breakfast! During breakfast I ran in to two men I met in the lobby during check-in last night. (They were on the same flights as me and sat in the business lounge at Franfurt but we didn't meet until we hit the hotel)

Then I stopped at the travel desk, told them I wanted to do some market-type shopping, and they drew up an itinerary and scheduled a driver to take me out for four hours. Also scheduled a message, then had an hour or so in my room to straighten up the mess I made when I got in last night.

When I went down to the lobby to meet my driver I ran in to the two Ford guys again. They were trying to decide what to do so I invited them to join me. That worked out well so I didn't have to drag the driver in to all the stores with me. So as we were driving to our first destination and checking out all the sights I saw a bunch of people walking down a small side street. One of the men said, "That looks like something interesting to check out." Of course you know that's what I was thinking too. So we had the driver stop and let us out. It was a fresh fish market. Fresh as in fish flopping around in pans of water, flies swarming on the fish and the fish salesmen, and fish being gutted in the market. Did I mention the water in the street that the locals were walking through with bare feet? Can you imagine the smell? Wait 'til you see the photos.

In the meantime, here's an image I found on the web and saw on the street:

Back in the car until we see another section of street with sidewalk vendors. Lots of saris, pashimas, jewelry. I did a fair bit of bargaining on some little things. One guy kept following us asking if we wanted to buy a toy drum. Then two little kids came up and started asking for money. They tapped our arms and brush our hands. The little girl said to me, "Please, Auntie". Then she pinched one of the guys and he actually said "ouch" pretty loud. It was terrible not to give them a dime or something but I knew that if I did the whole street would be on us like pigeons.

The driver was not real happy with the places we were stopping at so he took us to some nice jewelry and silk stores. Of course we are just tourists so didn't buy anything like that. Then he drove us down next to the beach. There were kids the playing cricket but no one swimming. That big tidal wave they had here came in quite a ways and made swimming unsafe.

Finally, we stopped at a mall with lots of local shops; more saris. Jewelry, little bronze status, wooden carvings. There was a food court with a Subway there.

Back to the hotel, where there were mangoes in the room. I washed mine with bar soap and water before I ate it and it was the best mango I have ever eaten. Very juicy, soft, and sweet. Not crisp like the ones we get at home.

Time for my massage. It was a full body massage with all these different oils. Oh, and no "modesty towels" either. In fact, she put this thing on me which I can only describe as a disposable sumo wrestler getup. I thought I would die but I figured she's probably seen worse. There was a 20 minutes facial oil treatment. She hung from a chain over my face a bronze bowl full of oil. There was a hole in the bottom and, when she swung it over my head like a pendulum, it drizzled oil across my forehead. Sort of like water torture only with oil and you're supposed to enjoy it. Which I guess I did since I dozed off. Anyway, after all this oil and a rest in a steam room you should have seen how hard I had to scrub in the shower. I think my hair is still oily.

Quick rest, then dinner. It was a huge buffet featuring Mexican food. Of course, just as I was checking out the HUGE dessert bar they Ford guys walked in and politely invited me to join their group. Which put a serious damper on the quantity of food I could eat. But I had some great Indian food, complete with the flat bread we all like, and some very good desserts and ice cream.

So that was my first day in India. It was great. Now I have to go to work for the next three days. Not sure how my trip got hijacked by work.