out of the airport....

So I finally made it out of the airport. Sachin, my local guy is there waiting for me with the driver.

We pile into the little car and make our way towards my hotel, the Oberoi, which I've heard is pretty nice.

There is relatively little traffic on the road, but I can tell the driving situation is going to be amusing. quite a few of the little motorcyle-driven 3-wheeler things are on the road, and people pointlessly meander across the road. Lots of honking, but honking here is more "I'm here" than our "get out of my way" that I'm used to in the states. Obviously the drivers here are more conscious of their driving habits than people are in the states.

The roads are in ok state... .there are lots of potholes and speedbumps, but the driver maneuvers them expertly. in 30 minutes or so we arrive at the hotel. I can't wait to see the city during the day. They scan my bag through some security measures, I sit down with the concierge briefly and he shows me to my room.

Hardwood floors, a sizeable looking bed with 4 big pillows, a samsung LCD tv, dvd player, sofa, walk in closet, separate shower and tub, balcony. I'll take pictures later, I'm trying to catch up on the writing first.

I unpack a little bit and give sachin some of the things that I've brought for him. He sees how much chocolate I've brought and he says "oooh... too much!" well... it's not like I'm going to take it back with me, so I'll just go along with plan and be generous in handing it out.

I could tell I was starting to get tired as I was getting short dizzy spells/disorientation. Not anything serious, but obviously a sign.

After a little while, I settle down into the room, crack the laptop and make a call to bethy... good to hear her voice... I have a little bit of time to settle in some more and decide to take a nap. the time difference as I relate to it is 1:30 off of 12 hour flip. She is going to get the little girl from my parents, and I'll catch her online at about 7:30 her time, whch is 9:00 my AM.

I get my nap in, and wake up wondering why my computer hasn't rung...did she forget to call? no... just back from my parents a little bit late... 7:45 and I hop on the call. I hadn't taken the time to setup my camera yet, but I can see/hear the little girl. :) We talk a little bit and she goes to bed.

Breakfast arrives for me in the room and I snack a little bit. I'm still pretty wary about food, but need to eat something along with the Malaria pill that I take and my normal Centrum.

the shower is decent and I'm almost completely dressed by the time my guy knocks on my door.

I wrap things up and head into the office.

So I wasn't quick with the camera.... and hopefully it will happen again... but we got stuck behind a 4-wheel flatbed something being pulled by a bull. The driver deftly passed him, but it was still quite a site. Next time I'll get a shot of it.

I settled into the office and met a couple of people... saw the data center etc.... i'll try not to write too much stuff here work associated....

so then we skipped to lunch.. and the jet lag was starting to set in. we went to some place called IndiJoe... buffet... pretty good.. .a mix of chinese and indian food. I ate relateively lightly. I had some strawberry drink which was pretty good, but I wondered about the ice cubes.

After lunch we head out to go get a cell phone. Nokia store... simple phone. After this I head back to the office, and it's about 4:00 and head on back to the hotel. Rest a little bit before a 10:30PM(my time) call.

I relax down into the chair, have a quick call with bethy and lauren.... and basically need to tell behty to turn off their side of the webcam or else I'll never get rest. I can sit and watch her for hours :).