Closing in on my return to the U.S., and seeing as how the flight is tomorrow night, this will probably be my last entry for a bit.

I like India. I don't think I was prepared for the traffic, and frankly am not sure how anyone could be, but with all of its quirks and idiosyncrasies, it's a really nice place, with some really nice people.

I never did find a tiger for my son, Jacob, and hope he'll make do with some elephant figurines. If I had more time, I'd head back to the bronze-ware shop by Chandi Chowk, but I don't.. maybe next time. I was also intrigued by a recommendation of someone at work that I buy a Carrom board; apparently, this is a very popular game in India (there are professional leagues), and is suitable for children and adults. The boards I saw for sale were all too big for my luggage, though.

So, all-in-all, I am looking forward to seeing my family again, having a hamburger (heck.. a bloody rare steak), night-time snacks of cheese and crackers, and not having to explain what I mean by a "martini.. dry, up, extra olives" drink order; but I am also going to miss the extremely nice people I've met, and their very friendly nature.

Seeya in the States.

Nothing too exciting to report over the last couple of days, especially after the experience that was Old Delhi. I have continued to shop for a few last remaining gifts, most notably a tiger for my son, Jacob. It's amazing that you can get elephants in all shapes and sizes (wood, sandalwood, bronze, "wire"), cows, and Hindu deities, but no cobras or tigers.

One more piece of culture-shock to report: people run across the highway at night, dodging traffic. My driver almost hit someone last night on a 5-lane (really..) highway when the guy was just trotting along. He said that a lot of people die that way.. it boggles the mind.

I'll be headed to Akshardham tonight to check out the musical fountains, and hope to be able to get one last bit of shopping in. Some guys at work are taking me out on Thursday night, and Friday night I leave for home. I'm hoping everything fits in my luggage nicely, because I have to bring some items back for people who've visited the office, but have not been able to get some items back.

Go Sox!

Ignoring the advise of most everyone I've talked with, I decided to head into Old Delhi's street market area called Chandni Chowk. Cars are not allowed in this streets (well.. they just don't fit!). It's a real maze of streets and dark alleys. It was the first time on my trip to India how intensely aware I was that I was NOT from around here, and how painfully obvious it was to everyone else, too.

My steadfast driver, Suresh, dropped me off in front of a mosque outside of Chandi Chowk. As best he could in halting English, he gave me very precise directions on where we'd be meeting after I was done in shopping, and then visiting the Red Fort. I could tell he was concerned.

After visiting the mosque, I hopped on a rickshaw. The driver didn't speak a word of English, nor did it seem like he had any teeth, but he seemed friendly enough. I said "Chandi Chowk", and he just nodded and took off. I got a pretty good and complete tour. At one alleyway, I gestured that I wanted to get out and have a look, but he just shook his head and kept going. I think we were in the heart of the maze.

The looks I got ranged from slightly bemused to slightly annoyed. Please note that I never actually felt like I was in danger, but I was far, far from my element. I could see through my Revo's that a lot of people were looking at me, but there were quite a lot of families around, with children, so I didn't expect there to be trouble.

A work friend named Karan and I went into Delhi yesterday to do some shopping for souvenirs, and see the Lotus temple, which was our first stop. It was a pretty nice building, and I was impressed by the architecture and design - it stays cool in the summer months without any Air Conditioning or fans. Very beautiful building.

After the temple, we visited a very nice local arts and crafts market. I saw a number of different things for sale: Stone carving, wood carving, leather goods, Indian-style clothing, wooden toys, stone (camel) stuff, brass wire statues, metal items (vases, etc.), pashmina cloth, pearls, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

The language barrier, plus the fact that I'm obviously not Indian, resulted in my companion, Karan, doing most of the actual bartering. I'd let him know I was interested in it, and approximately what price I was willing to pay, and more often than not he was able to strike a deal. I messed up a couple of deals inadvertently, when the merchants were speaking directly to me, but the price difference ended up being only a couple of dollars or so.

I ended up buying some trinkets for the kids - dresses for the girls, a brass horn for Jacob, and a nice marble chess-set for everyone. I grabbed some tops and fans for them too. I was hopeful that I could pick up some perfume for Mary Lou, but no one was selling it, or incense, which I was surprised at. A nice elephant statue and a small camel-bone chest made their way into my bags, too.

Well, nothing too exciting today, other than discovering that the office has free coffee (I've been paying for mine at a cafe). I'm sticking mostly with Pizza Hut for lunch. A pepperoni, mushroom, onion and capsicum (green pepper) pizza is fine, but I'm hankering for some sausage. I'm looking forward to trying a Brazilian place that supposedly has unlimited "cow on a stick" meals. We'll see.

I have gotten used to the random electricity blackouts... every once in awhile, all power in the building drops. Every desk in the place has a UPS, but it's still fun to hear all the notebooks send out their "I've lost power!" panicky beeps, and then 10 seconds later give the "ah!! AC has returned!" beeps. During these outages, everyone keeps working as if nothing has happened at all.

Delhi tomorrow for some more sightseeing and shopping, and then Jaipur on Sunday.

Go Sox!!

I went out last night, by myself, and finally found a place that knows how to make a good Martini! Nothing spectacular, but it was a welcome change to the blank/confused looks I've been getting when I order it, and the resulting drinks that have been served. They've ranged from a room temperature (i.e. warm) tumbler of gin with an olive tossed in, to a snifter with tons of ice.

So, when someone at work recommended 'The Fox' in Gurgaon, I figured I'd give it a go. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it: a big open single-roomed restaurant with a lighted bar in back. When I got there, the place was pretty empty, with only a few couples seated. I sat at the bar and asked for a menu, which was pretty good and extensive. The bartender informed me that it was happy hour, and that most drinks were two-for-one. When I asked about snacks, he brought over a happy-hour menu and a full menu too.

The food selection was reasonably extensive (which is why I think it was recommended to me) - both Indian and non-Indian choices, including thai, chinese, american, and japanese. I ordered a calamari (squid) plate with peppers, and asked for it hot. It took awhile to prepare it, but it was definitely worth the wait - very spicy, but very good. I had to order some bottled water to stop my hiccups, but enjoyed every second of it.

By the time I was done with my meal and my second martini, the place had filled up a bit more, but it was still not at all crowded. It looked like a live band was getting set up, but I decided to head back to the apartment and get some sleep.

Weee! Almost a week into my trip, and I finally found some cheddar cheese. A company friend back home who's been in India before suggested I try a convenience store in one of the malls, and sure enough, nestled amongst a myriad of other food stuffs, were some small packages of cheddar.

I frankly have no idea how to get back there if I need to (it's something like the "Mega Mall", but there are tons of small malls scattered around), but the package I bought should last me until the end.

I am looking forward to shopping in Delhi this weekend, and plan on seeing if I can find a snake charmer to take my picture with. I think that's the only thing that my kids would get a kick out of - pictures of their dad standing next to the Taj Mahal aren't all that exciting (see that dot? That's ME!). I've heard that Snake Charmers are against the law though now in India, so am unsure if I'll be successful.

Anyway, I've settled into a pretty nice morning routine - I tune into the Sox game, if they're playing, in the morning via GameDay, have breakfast, chat with my wife on google talk, watch a bit of a sci-fi movie on the DVD player, and then go to work.

Not sure what's in store for tonight's meal.. I think I might be on my own, which might actually be fun and relaxing.

Yesterday was my first in-the-office day in India. I like the people here, and am still amazed at the very different ways of dealing with certain situations. As an example, my friend from work (another American) and I waited at some elevators for probably 5 minutes before realizing that it was unlikely we'd get on; it was lunch-time, and people were queuing for the elevators the same way India traffic works: fill up the empty spaces with no real regard for 'cutting' or wait length. We ended up taking the stairs - good exercise, but on a hot day after lunch, I think I'd have preferred the alternative.

Anyway, this was also my first real exposure to true Indian food. We ate at a company cafeteria and the food was... ok. The rice was done really nicely, but to be honest I'm not sure exactly what I had on top of it. It was curry-based, but not overdone, which was good (I'm not a huge curry fan), and the price was certainly right... R 50, or about $1.25 for all I could eat. That doesn't include a drink, but most people I saw weren't drinking anything with their meals at all. The few that were were drinking water, which was free. So, all-in-all, it was satisfactory, but nothing extraordinary.

I'm willing to try anything once (food- and drink-wise that is), so gave one of the desserts a go. It looked like a dumpling of sorts (about the size and shape of a munchkin) sitting in syrup, and I thought it was eaten in one bite, so I popped it in my mouth. My friend just said, "Oh God.." - it was sickeningly sweet and sopping wet. I finished it, but not without some difficulty. I'm glad I tried it (once), but won't be sampling it again. We finished off our meal with a coffee at local cafe - the coffee is very good here, imho. I'll probably try an iced coffee tomorrow, but thus far have just had hot black (strong) coffee.

I won't get into the gory details of my day, but will just say that it was a complete wash - Delhi Belly sucks. I slept on and off for most of it, read, and watched movies when I was awake and feeling up to it.

I opined to my friends that this is part of the whole Indian experience - taking the bad with the good. They have to go home to the states tomorrow, so I'm going to be essentially on my own for two weeks. I'll see how resourceful I can be in keeping myself amused :D

Work tomorrow!

We went into Delhi yesterday, and checked out the Parliament buildings and the India Gate, India's Home of the Unknown Soldier. We also saw the Qutb Minar, which was stunning. it would have been great to go inside, but sadly you can only view it from a distance. Incidently, Jon Clark, a colleague of mine at my company, also wrote about the Qutb in more detail.

After checking out the India Bonsai museum in the Lodi Gardens in Delhi, we went to the the eponymous restaurant here, which was a great experience - the price was high, but worth it. I had the steak.

After all that, we tried, unsuccessfully, to buy some cheddar cheese. At this point, it's really all about the challenge - at a party for local ex-patriots later on, people gave me some advice, but we'll see if it pans out. I met some very cool people.

Unfortunately, my day ends on a sour note, literally. I developed "Delhi Belly", the Indian equivilent of Montezuma's revenge. As I write this, I'm still feeling its effects, and hope it goes away soon so I can enjoy the day. We'll see.