Hyderabad Trip (June 29 - July 2)

It was 8 pm on Friday. We were on some road.. anxiously waiting for our bus to come. We've got our tickets in hand. We had no dinner, but I figured.. I was not hungry anyway. At around 8.40 pm, the bus came. It didn't look so bad.
It was six of us: Alicia, Aloka, Brian, Hexin, Samuel, and myself. I couldn't wait; in another 11 hours, we'd be in Hyderabad. I have planned to drink very little water throughout the night, so I wouldn't need to get down the bus for a restroom. It's not so bad, except the A/C in the bus was very cold, and the blanket was smelly, so my throat got dry.. :'(. But I slept quite well that night, thanks God.

It's 6 am then. I could see we're getting closer to the city.. but seemed like not yet reaching the city. I really needed to go to the restroom, ah. After another hour, the bus driver declared his final destination. Cool!

So why were we there?
For some people, they wanted to see another city in India; might as well since they're here. For me, yeah.. that, too; and I also wanted to visit my friend's mom in Hyderabad. Not sure how this would happen, but IF it happened, it happened.

The 1st Day: Saturday, June 30
My friend Aloka lives in Hyderabad, so we planned to stay in her house. We took two rikshaws to get from the bus station to her house. My first impression of Hyderabad was.. it's a hi-tech city, has wider and cleaner roads, and the roads are less crowded. Both rikshaws stopped on a small road junction. We then took a 500-meter walk to my friend's house.
Black steel gate, huge garden, tall trees.. and a simple-looking two-storey house with green colored outside wall. "Looks good so far," I told to myself.
Inside.. nice and clean marble tiles, curvy stairs, huge rooms with huge king-size bed in each, a wardrobe and a bathroom in each. Very nice, and very clean. The two ladies and myself stayed in a room. The two guys stayed in another room, while Aloka stayed with her grandma.

All of us took a shower and got ready for a brunch, yaaay, couldn't wait!! Aloka's mom had rented a van with a driver, for us to get around. That was convenient.
The place we had brunch was called Chutneys. We had different varieties of what I believe a common south-Indian breakfast: steamed dosa, uttappams, mango lassi, various chutneys, poori,.. yummy!! What did I have? uh.. I forget :p, but I loved it, yum yum!

Next, my friend took us to Charminar. It's a big tower in the middle of the city. Somebody told me that it's where muslim people are called for prayer. The admission cost is 5 Rupees for Indians, and 200 Rupees for foreigners. It's not very expensive, but I didn't go up the tower. I figured it's good enough to see the city from down there. Some friends who went up took very nice pictures, showing how crowded the area around it was.
Basically the roads around Charminar were kinda closed for vehicles --except rikshaws -- and it was full of small shops. There were also a lot of sellers on the streets who offered us bangles, necklaces, earrings, and other things. They could get buggy, too. One boy asked me where I came from, offered his goods, then kept poking me and asking me to buy something. He followed me even though I have said no and continued walking. He is a nice boy though. We decided not to stay there for long, so we called the driver to pick us up.

The first day was full of sightseeing. After Charminar, we went to Qutub Shahi Tombs. It's a huge garden with tombs for the seven Qutub Shahi kings. One of the kings was Muhammed Quli Qutub, who was the founder of Hyderabad city. The seven tombs are in different buildings and are separated by huge gardens. The buildings are not renovated, so they look very historical. Some buildings are locked, so we couldn't see the tomb inside. Some buildings are interesting, like the one in the picture. There is the tomb, and no ceiling.

I was tired already by the end of touring the tombs. But there is one more place to visit: Sri Venkateshwara temple.
This temple is located higher on the hill, and is fully made of marble. We could see the Hyderabad city from the temple, very nice. They did not allow us to wear shoes or sandals, and to bring handbags and cameras, so we left them in the car and carried our purses only. I liked walking around the temple, and watching the city from the top, but it started raining so it's time to get home :).

I gave myself a good shower that evening. Quite a tiring day. But I looked forward for dinner! :P
We had dinner at a fine restaurant serving northern Indian dishes. We ordered dum aloo, a chicken dish (don't remember what it's called anymore), several plain dosa, and two kinds of briyani. I have a friend from the US, who is really fond in eating spicy (hot!) food. She can chew a small green chili and not feeling it that hot. So everytime she will look for more spicy food. This time, she was satisfied, and so were all of us. The food was yummy, but too spicy for me...

Wasn't that supposed to be the end of the day? Nooo... some people were very energetic. They wanted to chill out in the bar. Apparently there was a new bar near my friend's house, called the F bar. I wasn't happy about it, but it's ok. We didn't spend a long time anyway, only an hour.

That night, the three girls slept on a big king-size bed. We were exhausted, so we slept.. soon. That day was fun. Hoping tomorrow would be, too.

Prices of goods in India

I am always interested in prices of various things among countries. After being here for a few weeks, here is a list of some goods and services I had. Some are pretty cheap, some are about average compared to those in the US. I group them based on some sort of category.
Early caveat here: I didn't buy everything that's listed here ;)

The approx. conversion rate is: Rs 40 ("40 Rupees") = US$ 1 ("1 US dollar")

Lifebuoy body soap: Rs 10 = US$ 0.25
Colgate toothpaste: Rs 56 = US$ 1.4 (my poor Darlie toothpaste I brought from Chicago, had to be let go in the Chicago airport :p, as it's more than 3 oz. liquid, aargh!!)
Bath tissue, 2 rolls: Rs 74 = US$ 1.85

Small bananas (similar to "pisang susu"), a bunch ("satu sisir"): Rs 18 = US$ 0.45
Masala dosa (at a "standup" place, where you stand and eat): Rs 15 = US$ 0.38
Wheat bread, a loaf: Rs 14 = US$ 0.35
Mineral water, 1 ltr: Rs 20 = US$ 0.5
Veggie dish from the food court in the mall: Rs 60 = US$ 1.5
Fuji apples, 1 kg: Rs 73 = US$ 1.8
Steamed rice at a fine Chinese restaurant: Rs 100 = US$ 2.5
An entree at a fine Chinese restaurant: Rs 150-250 = US$ 3-6
King Fisher's beer, a bottle: Rs 150 = US$ 3.75
Mushroom shahi roll in an Indian restaurant: Rs 160 = US$ 4 (this is yummy!)
A shot of Tequila in an Indian restaurant: Rs 250 = US$ 6.25
An entree at TGIF: ~Rs 250-350 = US$ 6-10
Buffet brunch at Little Italy (a fine Indian/Chinese/Italian restaurant): Rs 600 = US$ 15

Drawing book: Rs 40 = US$1 (Isn't it cheap?! I bought several for myself, hehe..)
Shawl: Rs 400-600 = US$ 10-15
Knee-length cotton kurta (an Indian top): Rs 556 = US$ 14

Auto rikshaw fare from apartment to Forum mall, 6 km: Rs 40 = US$ 1
Bus fare to Hyderabad, 10-hr journey in a med-luxury bus: Rs 700 = US$ 17.5

Another thing. Tax is 12.5% in Bangalore (in Karnataka state), but merely 4% in Hyderabad (in Andhra Pradesh state). Huge difference!

There is TGIF near my office. The prices are very close to those in the US, except the place is like a bar -- very noisy and loud, and full of smoke. Urgh, I didn't like it there.
I also find difficulty shopping here, as the general rule is, I should bargain, while I can't tell quality and I don't know what the reasonable prices are for various things :(. However in a way I feel glad because I can practice and not feel so bad if I buy wrongly... as things are not very expensive :p

Whose Feet Are These?

Big toes, long fingers, pinkish nails??

Picture was taken with my Audiovox camera phone, 1.3 mp

It was yesterday. We just finished lunch, and wonder what we should do next. My friend and I had nothing in plan. I wanted to study, but didn't have to be right away, of course. So she said, "Let's get pedicure!"
"Uh, what?"
"Pedicure! We'll get our feet cleaned and massaged and pretty. Let's go now."
"Oh, hmm. Hmm.. naah.. you go. I'll accompany you."
"Noo!! You never got one. It's very cheap, only 5 dollars!"
"Yeaa, but.. not needed. Besides, it may be ticklish."
"Oh come on.. it won't be so ticklish."
Then I remembered a friend who had it before. She is ticklish, and she said it was okay. So maybe it's not that bad, hmm.
"Ahh.. okay, we can go," I gave up and also wanted to try :p

So here it is! Those are my feet, after the pedicure! I wasn't comfortable with the nail color yesterday, but today I feel good about it. My feet were rubbed and cleaned, too. Feels nice :)

I never thought it is this hard to work with different people. Well, 'different' is a redundant word there, because every person is indeed different. I mean different in every way: cultural, religious, technical skills, language, personality..
This group of TWU has trainees from UK, US, China, and India. I notice that people who come from the same country have variances in their spoken English. I learn that even people who have very similar background as I do -- for example, from Indonesia, speak a little Chinese, brought up in similar Chinese culture, went abroad for college -- can be very different from me!
Of course, some things are genetic, but every experience we have in life affects how we think, adapt, solve problems, interpret, and react to events.

Although I have set in advance, a principle that "I'm not better than anybody, so i should be humble," but I fall far from it every now and then. Sometimes it's as simple as "I hope he/she is more open to my suggestions." But not being able to let go this expectation once in a while, affects my interaction with my peers. I also have a problem of "being self-sensitive, instead of environment-sensitive." I'm easily upset of little things people do that I don't like --> self-sensitive. But I never thought that people think of the actions I take and they react on that --> not environment-sensitive.
For example, a few of us went to Hyderabad. One night we went to a bar to chill out in the evening. I didn't like the idea, but it happened after dinner and I had to go with my friend's only car, so .. I guessed I just followed. The policy was that each man has to pay 1000 rupees upfront, while women can get in for free. Apparently the bars here are lacking women. 1000 rupees is about 25 US dollars. So my friends started talking about whether it's worth it to enter, because it was 11 pm and the bar was going to close in an hour, and we might not buy enough drink to cover that admittance fees. There were two guys and four ladies. After some talk, some people agreed to cash-in for 2000 rupees. But I made my sudden remark, "I won't go in".
Ok, so I shouldn't have said that (and there are a number of reasons why I shouldn't have).
That attitude of mine certainly made a stereotype out of me. I know I shouldn't care much about what people think of me, but I should be careful in my expressions, not to offend people or make them feel that I hate them (or what they do, which is the same thing).

I should be the salt and light "in the middle" of the world, which means I should mingle first and foremost.
That time in the bar was just one of the incidents. A friend reminded me that I am often.. oblivious. It's hard for me to tell what people think of me and when they make reactions on me!
Aah.. the next training weeks are going to be tougher and tougher. But I want to learn. This is my training field.

Bangalore Tour (June 23)

It was Saturday, the day after we arrived. Sure enough, the trainers did not want us to have jet lag, so they take us for a tour of Bangalore, for the whole day.
But it was great!! First day out with the whole TWU!
More pictures are here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559825381uSljKK.

Bull Temple
It's a temple :). We had to take our slippers/shoes off. Oh oh. I guess it's not a problem for some people, but it is for me. Oh well. It's a small temple, just one round walk around a big bull statue. In the inner middle side of the walk path, they put a box for (money) gift. I think one priest was standing there, too. Outside the door, there were a few vendors selling books about temples around Bangalore, and other small gifts.
Next to the Bull temple, there is a garden, with a med-size monument in the middle. The monument is about 10 m in diameter, and 20 m in height. It has carvings of famous Indian leaders around the walls.

City Market
It is a traditional wholesale market (kaya pasar Sambongan di Surabaya), very crowded, lots of people carrying big bags of vegetables (or other things) on their head. The sellers on the street-sides yelled something.. maybe prices. This was where our group got split (of course!). I didn't really enjoy visiting it :p

Lunch
We had south Indian buffet. The plate was made of steel, and it was big, with dividers that look like an animal paw ^_^. First, they gave a small cup of lime juice with honey, very sweet. Then they came and filled in the paws with different sauces (or maybe I should say chutneys). It's been sometime so I don't remember all the dishes :( but there were many varieties: poori, (sweet) almond sauce, fried balls that look like falafel, 2 kinds of curries, yogurt rice. My my.. I certainly liked the food, but I was too full! I think someone said it costs (only) 100 rupees (~US$ 2.5) per person. Oh yeah, it is a good price.

Lalbagh Garden
This one is similar to Chicago botanical garden. It has a bridge with river and lotus flowers, gardens with different tropical trees and plants, and .. a dome-like hill. On top of that little dome (or hill), there is a small temple-like building. I'm not sure what it's for, but we could see the city from there, very nice.

There are a lot of similarities between Bangalore and Surabaya (or other big cities in Indonesia). The small shops and industries (toko-toko, meracangan) on the streets, the road and traffic conditions.. man, it comprises mostly of four things: auto rikshaw (mirip becak bermotor), cars, buses, and horns. I feel it's more noisy than Surabaya.. but maybe because I always ride in a car back home :p hehe.

We went home around 4 pm. Very tired, but very happy to have seen the city. I think I can like it here :)