Okay, so I didn’t update lastweekend – I was too busy not being in the house and didn’t have any free time!
Last week, I spent a lot of time at work. I had some training courses (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) so for a couple of days it was full training. The courses here give you homework and exams, but it was really interesting and worthwhile. Work is getting a lot more interesting now and there’s a lot planned for the next couple of months, so I’m looking forward to getting heavily involved.
Didn’t really do much else until Thursday night when Fergal arranged a leaving party for the current grads who are out here until the end of this week. Fergal is leaving on Wednesday and Rob and Zara are leaving on Friday. Matt is also leaving Friday, but he is only going on Holiday and will be returning for another month- upon his return, Matt will be staying in Palm Meadows because this place will be full to the brim of 2007 grads! The 2007 grads are arriving next Wednesday, so they seem to be excited about coming out and asking us lots of questions that we are more than happy to answer – it looks like my wish of Celebrations and Heroes will be answered shortly!!
Thursday was good, we went out to Bangalore and started with TFI’s where we pre-loaded with buy-one-get-one-free cocktails. I think we spent a fortune in there, but by UK prices it was extremely cheap – I’m now thinking in rupees rather than pounds. When pounds are mentioned, I have to convert it to rupees to relate!! After TFI’s we headed over to mainland China and ate ourselves stupid! It was very nice Chinese food though and I think we ended up with a table of approx 16 – you can see the picture below. Chris also announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Kelly – she was here for a week and was unfortunately ill for about 4 days of that!
Last week, I spent a lot of time at work. I had some training courses (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) so for a couple of days it was full training. The courses here give you homework and exams, but it was really interesting and worthwhile. Work is getting a lot more interesting now and there’s a lot planned for the next couple of months, so I’m looking forward to getting heavily involved.
Didn’t really do much else until Thursday night when Fergal arranged a leaving party for the current grads who are out here until the end of this week. Fergal is leaving on Wednesday and Rob and Zara are leaving on Friday. Matt is also leaving Friday, but he is only going on Holiday and will be returning for another month- upon his return, Matt will be staying in Palm Meadows because this place will be full to the brim of 2007 grads! The 2007 grads are arriving next Wednesday, so they seem to be excited about coming out and asking us lots of questions that we are more than happy to answer – it looks like my wish of Celebrations and Heroes will be answered shortly!!
Thursday was good, we went out to Bangalore and started with TFI’s where we pre-loaded with buy-one-get-one-free cocktails. I think we spent a fortune in there, but by UK prices it was extremely cheap – I’m now thinking in rupees rather than pounds. When pounds are mentioned, I have to convert it to rupees to relate!! After TFI’s we headed over to mainland China and ate ourselves stupid! It was very nice Chinese food though and I think we ended up with a table of approx 16 – you can see the picture below. Chris also announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Kelly – she was here for a week and was unfortunately ill for about 4 days of that!
Chris and Kelly left early on Friday morning and I took his room when I got back from work – his room has the huge balcony and is the largest bedroom in this house although the bathroom is smaller than the last room I was in, but I think I can live with that. I spent the entire evening cleaning the room then moving my stuff through. I finished at about midnight then Tom and I drank beer and played poker (unfortunately with Monopoly money) until approx 3am (we were also watching Jurassic Park 2 on TV). I lost at the start, but made money back until we were approx equal again and we decided to end the game with an ‘all in’. Tom had a pair of two’s and I had nothing and needed a 3 on the river to win – the last river card was a 3, so I now own Tom and all his bases.
Here's a few pictures of my new room, which I love! The balcony is fantastic with amazing views.
You probably can't read the sign here, but right outside my room is this little building, the sign reads "Sewage Treatment Plant". Of course, the door is always left open, so now and then you catch a whiff. Great choice of location for a sweage treatment plant!
There was a drivers strike last weekend – it was something about the government vehicles being forced to fit a tachygraph which would record their speeds, distances and also limit their speeds to 60kph. It was mainly relating to the lorries, but all the drivers seem happy to show their support and strike alongside their co-workers. Regardless of the strike, Matt and I headed into Bangalore and caught a Tuk – it cost us INR 150 to get to MG Road. Our driver was the perviest Tuk driver in India – every time we went past a girl (either on foot, on a bike, motorcycle or in a car) his head would crane around the side of the tuk – I think we narrowly avoided having a headless tuk driver several times because the whole ‘road lanes’ philosophy has not quite reached Bangalore yet.
On the way into Bangalore, we saw an elephant on the side of the road, but I never had my camera ready, so I missed getting a picture – on hindsight, I should have got the tuk driver to go back so we could see the elephant. Next time I’ll definitely go back if I see anything worth taking a closer look at – even the tuk driver seemed quite impressed because he said “Elephant” and pointed.
Our tuk driver wasnt happy with something at one point so he just stopped, more or less in the middle of the road to fiddle with something.
I managed to get a shot of a family of 4 on one motorbike! Still waiting to beat 4 though.
After reaching Bangalore, we tried to spend some of our money, and bought a couple of things, ate some food and ended up in a Chinese restaurant eating food and drinking fosters lager. I picked up a pair of the most comfy shoes in the world! I’ll be going back to buy a couple of pairs before I return to the UK for sure! We also caught a tuk to Commercial Street to take a look, and this tuk driver had definitely pimped his tuk because it was the fastest one I’d ever been in and the way the guy drove, he must have thought he was Lewis Hamilton.
We met up with Sonia and Shaokat, who were at the Hard Rock Café, and got a lift back with them – with a slight detour to someone’s flat. It was a really nice flat though with a fantastic balcony.
Sunday was a trip into Bangalore again, this time with Tom. I really enjoyed Saturday and wanted to do a few more things on Sunday. I bought a couple of wall hangings for the room and we went to Ruby Tuesdays on Market Street – Market Street is the main place for finding nice places to eat near MG Road. After we finished our meal, Tom was given one of those customer feedback card, so we marked it down and put the food as ‘average’ because that’s what it was. The guy took offence to that and decided to question Tom on his marking technique and the reasoning behind it for about 5 minutes before we just walked out. It was quite funny. We then went over to the NASA bar, which is basically a 1980’s nightclub (with lots of UV strip lights) crammed into a tiny space with Indian waiters dressed like Tom Cruise in Top Gun – not quite NASA, but worth a look. We also went to the 13th Floor, which is a bar on the top floor of a building (see photo below). We were sat right at the edge, akin to a bar, with barstools and a ‘bar’ type area for drinks, for safety there was a bit of plexiglass about four or five inches high! Health and safety must have been in and told them to make it safe. It was pretty good though – will certainly be going back there again! We forgot to pay the bill on our way out and the guy had to follow us out the door to remind us to pay! We then went to a rock club next to the Bose shop (I could easily spend all my wages in the Bose shop), but the rock club was so loud nobody could actually talk in there, but it was still worth a look.
Monday was a case of heading out to get a haircut, which cost me 200 rupees – the guy was not gentle with the razors and nicked my ear a couple of times, but the haircut was ok. At the end he asked me something, of course, I had no idea what he asked me and I just nodded then he started giving me a head massage. I didn’t like it whatsoever, so I made him stop and then left left. I went into the Coffee Day next door and was confronted by the biggest mosquito’s I’d ever seen. I left there pretty quickly and walked home – it wasn’t too far, but it was pitch black though. The pavements are terrible so I ended up walking on the road instead. It was much safer than risking falling down a pothole. When I got back, I grabbed a driver and took Tom out on a beer hunt – it was a bit easier than planned because Vello knew exactly where to go (not sure if that’s a good thing – drivers and alcohol…?) but he even went in to buy it for us. I felt like a 13 year old kid again, getting someone big brother to buy us some beer. Vello also came out with a little 180ml bottle of vodka which cost about 60 rupees (approx 75p)!! The beer was 800 rupees (£10) for 12 bottles, so beer isn’t that cheap, although they are 650ml bottles. Tom and I celebrated scoring some beer with a bottle of beer each.
Tuesday was a trip out to the Savannah hotel to grab a buffet with Tom and Matt. Tom seemed quite impressed so no doubt we will be making regular trips out to there – Savannah is so close that a decent meal is just down the road and it’s great if you fancy some good food without spending an evening stuck in traffic getting into Bangalore. Tuesday was Fergal’s departure, he left at about 1am and he was quite excited about going back home. I hope he had a good flight back.
On Wednesday, I went off to Cosmos (a nearby mall) to hunt down a pair of trainers – I went to the Big Bazar the day before, but the only pair I liked, they didn’t have in my size. Cosmos has some shoe shops and a sports shop, but I found a pair I liked in the first shop I went into and they were very comfy. In Cosmos, I got a little veg Samosa and it was great! I also bought an ice-cream cone which was also great, but it was about 80 rupees – the ones in ITPL are 20! Dinner was a trip out to Palm Meadows with Sonia, Matt, Tom, Rob and Zara. Food was good, as usual, and I used the shoe shine machine in the toilets – it is motion activated and comes on when you put your shoe into it – fantastic!
I was planning on going to the gym on Thursday, but I stayed a little later at work instead and just felt like coming home – will try and get to the gym tomorrow (I’ve been saying that all week!). Tom pulled a late one at the gym and when he got back, we headed over to ITPL to eat at Civet. We both forgot our ID cards, so I pulled out my Mensa card and Tom pulled out a Tesco Clubcard. Of course, we both got in! Prizes will be awarded to the grad who can get into ITPL with the most ridiculous ID card.
At Civet, it was just Tom and I because the other 3 guys were leaving at 1:15am so they didn’t come out with us.
We have been having quite a few power cuts recently. Last night (Friday) just as it got dark, the electricity kept going off for a few minutes, coming back on for a second, then going off. It kept doing this for about half an hour. I was sat downstairs the first time it happened, and it went pitch black - my torch, of course, was upstairs so as I was deciding whether or not to risk going up the stairs the electricity came back on long enough for me to run up and get a torch. Torches are definitely a good thing out here!
Until Wednesday, it’s just Tom and I, so we have a driver each! We were going to race each other into Bangalore, but I think we will leave that for the gokart track instead! A trip into Bangalore is planned for today and the Leela palace hotel for lunch tomorrow. The Leela is supposed to be incredible, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to the guys coming out this week. It’s strange to think that I’m now the longest serving grad out here – it seems like I’ve just arrived! The time is going past so quickly that I’m starting planning my trip to the Taj Mahal now because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll run out of time! Also need to start looking into flights to Australia to see my sister, my bro in law and my two little nephews.
Until Wednesday, it’s just Tom and I, so we have a driver each! We were going to race each other into Bangalore, but I think we will leave that for the gokart track instead! A trip into Bangalore is planned for today and the Leela palace hotel for lunch tomorrow. The Leela is supposed to be incredible, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to the guys coming out this week. It’s strange to think that I’m now the longest serving grad out here – it seems like I’ve just arrived! The time is going past so quickly that I’m starting planning my trip to the Taj Mahal now because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll run out of time! Also need to start looking into flights to Australia to see my sister, my bro in law and my two little nephews.
Just to finish off, here's a few random photos. This one is the pool outside the other apartment, we also have a pool near our apartment, I'll probably never use it though because it's not quite long or deep enough to do lengths, but it's probably quite good as a plunge pool.
This picture is from the top balcony looking down over our back yard. The washing machine is outside and there's loads of gekkos around this area.
Just a random shot of the stairwell taken right outside my room, the bannisters are great for drying sheets on (as is clearly evident).
Just to finish off, a shot of the top floor toilet - a proper hole in the floor job. I doubt we will ever use this one.
