The Rickshaw Redemption

**Sorry for the delay in this post. Microsoft is now translating everything I type into Chinese and I CAN'T TURN IT OFF. But here is the post :)**

Wednesday, August 4^th

Ugh, I tell you what. I hate being a day behind in my postings. Not only do I feel like I constantly need to catch up, but I can’t even remember the best parts of the day, and my posts are more boring. Sorry guys. 

The City Tour

We started off the morning by going on a tour of Bangalore, so that we might have a better sense of the region. After boarding the bus at the leisurely time of 10:30 am, we drove off to the first destination for the day: Lalbagh, or “Red Park”: The Botanical Gardens. Along the way we learned many interesting facts about Bangalore:

1.       The name of the city initially meant “boiled beans” after the meal that a very poor woman once fed the king when he was travelling through the region. Yes, it’s a great honor, but personally I think the woman would’ve preferred to be honored with something a little more substantial, like I don’t know, a giant ass bag of gold?

2.       Sandhya also claimed that the area was only 4-5% Christian, which surprised me considering the proliference of the churches and “Bible Worlds” we’ve seen populating every street corner.

Yeah, those are the only cool facts I learned. Bangalore isn’t super important on the awesome historical scale (that I have found, that is).

 

Lalbagh, the Red Park

We arrived at Lalbagh more or less in shape and ready to explore this beautiful park. Along the way, Sandhya gave us a brief history of the park…that I couldn’t really understand, so you guys are going to have it presented like I saw it…just as a beautiful collection of flowers, grass, walkways, and statues of people I don’t know.

Highlights:

·         The Watchtower: there was this really cool old watchtower built by some famous guy in Bangalore history. Apparently there were four, I guessss at the four corners of the city.

·         Old Rocks: the watchtower was sitting on this large rock that was, as Sandhya put it, “three thousand million years old”. So slightly longer lived than Betty White.

·         The Flower Festival: every year, for the week preceeding Independence Day on August 15^th, Lalbagh holds a huge flower festival, and they were in the process of setting it up.

·         Matt, Leigh Babaian’s husband, kept being approached by the locals who were in awe and kept rubbing his shiny bald head.

·         There was this one couple who kept being followed around by a photographer, taking pictures of them. I then proceeded to stalk them too, because they were so cute, walking along holding hands. They must’ve been creeped out of their minds.

·         I got approached by a group of men, who first spoke Hindi to me!!! Or maybe Kannada, I don’t know. But this is significant, because they didn’t automatically assume I was American! :D. They then all wanted to take pictures with me, hahaha.

While walking around the park, we spied a local news crew doing a story on the upcoming flower festival. They then spotted us, made a beeline, grabbed a few of us to do an interview. Because, you know, clearly we are probably the most knowledgeable about local festivals and customs. They then filmed our entire group shouting “Namascara, Bengaluru!” and cheering. We’re gunna be on TV! :D

The highlight of this park, though, was by far the gaggle of women. Sitting on the “three thousand million” year old rock was this group of women just chillin’ like a G, as old women are wont to do. I approached them to see if I may take their picture, which they loved, excited passing around my camera so everyone could see. The rest of our group soon caught up, and we started sitting with them and taking their pictures. And then, as anyone would do when sitting on rocks with strangers, they all started singing and performing for us! It was so much fun! I think I got some (not such great) video which I’ll see if I can put up here. Oh got it! It's bad quality (I opted to save upload time), but you can check it out here.

But I also got my most favorite picture of all time here. Just look at those faces and what fun they are having!

Bull Temple

The next stop: Bull Temple. I can’t remember which god this is a temple to (I’ll look it up in a bit…once I have internet again), but this was really cool. We departed the bus and stood then at the gateway for a good ten minutes taking a picture of the archway and the temple behind it. That is, until we discovered that that was not actually Bull Temple and that the actual one was a little bit further up the road. Awkward.

Entering the real temple a little bit later, we had to first take off our shoes. We then walked around down a hallway that ended with a small room filled with a monolithic bull. Like Big Blue (of Paul Bunyan fame) sized. Two acolytes were there as well doing prayers, maintaining the flames and providing the red powder for the dot on the forehead.

Now, as I often do when faced with unfamiliar situations (Hindu temples, foreign cities, strange buffets, and church), I basically put my head down and followed closely on the heels of the person in front of me. They make the motion, I make the motion. They say a prayer, I mumble something unintelligible. They touch the bull’s ass, I touch the bull’s ass. Now, I’m not entirely sure what all the motions meant nor am I Hindu, but I figure it is best not to take any chances with these kind of things. Wouldn’t wanna be disrespectful and then find myself at the receiving end of Thor’s hammer or Zeus’s lightning bolt. Ya feel me, dawg?

The orange saffron wrapped priest gave me a red dot (tilaka) on my forehead at the end. It was very cool. I really like the idea of that sixth chakra and the inner eye. However, after I already left, the cameramen caught up. They wanted to film the whole thing, so they sent me back through. Unfortunately, this time there wasn’t anyone for me to follow so I’m pretty sure I unintentionally insulted the god and botched the procedure. [Sorry Nandi!]

Tipu Sultan’s Palace

The last stop on our city tour was at the Palace of Tipu Sultan (also spelled Tippu Sultan on another sign). While it’s not as big as one would expect a palace to be, it is very cool. Both in the temperature and the appreciation sense. It had lots and lots of pillars and only one enclosed room. The rest was open air, in a typical Indo-Islamic style. Also, scattered throughout the palace were the scalloped arches whose name I unfortunately only know in Spanish: arcos lobulados (Yay Spanish IV! I credit that knowledge to Sra. Hill). I think that it’s perhaps called a cusped arch in English? Either way, pretty cool.

The neatest part was in the small museum in the enclosed room. Inside was a replica of one of Tipu’s most prized possession: a life size effigy of a Tiger mauling a British soldier. If that weren’t enough, the giant toy doubled as an organ. Tipu, you are awesome. I hope to one day be as cool as you.

The Great Rickshaw Adventure

Rickshaws!

Afterwards, we all head to one of the many malls of Bangalore. Apparently, malls are huge here in India, so Sandhya sent us to one of the good ones. It had ten floors I think? Yeah, huge. I was overwhelmed and I don’t think I even went past the 4^th floor.

I actually didn’t stay there long as I was expecting a phone call at four. Figuring I should just head back to the hotel early, I exit the mall and begin the trek back. I have a vague sense of where the hotel is (Sandhya isn’t the best at giving directions), so I decide to just take a rickshaw, just to make sure I didn’t get lost. Mistake número uno.

Well, you know what they say about assuming things. Things that I should not have assumed:

1.       The rickshaw would be quicker

2.       The rickshaw will be cheap

3.       The rickshaw driver will know where the hotel is

4.       The rickshaw driver saying he knows where the hotel is actually MEANS he knows where the hotel is

5.       The rickshaw driver will take me to the hotel

Hmm, seemingly innocent enough assumptions, no?

We started off driving in the direction that I vaguely thought was correct. And then all of a sudden, we took a few turns and we started heading in the opposite direction. Hmmm, who should I trust? My instincts or the native? Well,let’s just say that I should’ve gone with my instincts. Mistake numero dos.

We end up driving to the complete opposite end of the city. He stops and points straight ahead and says something about walking up there. Now, I have NO idea where the hell I am at this point. Inwardly I am cursing my decision to sleep on the bus because I don’t know if any of this should look familiar. Mistake numero tres. Well, since he thought this was the way, it must be. I pay him and exit the rickshaw.

Cue half an hour of mindless wandering. Somehow I found myself in residential areas, wandering past army bases, walking through parks, you name it. Now, I do realize that I am totally lost at this point. I’m not too concerned though, because being lost has never bothered me. That’s when all the adventures happen! I was just concerned that I would miss the phone call I was expecting.

Finally I find another rickshaw. He has no idea where Ista hotel is, even though I give a few landmarks nearby. He drives off. I find another rickshaw. He has no idea either. Clearly, I am in a completely different part of town (btw, apparent size of Bangalore: 85 km by 105 km). I finally find a rickshaw driver that knows where the hotel is, and he takes off. I breathe a sigh of relief.

We drive for about twenty minutes. I am so completely turned around that I don’t even know which direction is which anymore. Suddenly, the rickshaw driver pulls over at this very busy shopping street. He points down the street and says that I need to walk down it and take a right. I have never been here before in my life. I tell him no, this is NOT it. He says it is. I say it isn’t. Finally, I just pay him and leave, because he is obviously not going to take me anywhere else.

I start wandering around this street, just hoping that I am just very oblivious and the hotel actually is around here. It’s not. I turn down the small side street and wander a bit. The good news is, I for the first time see other tourists, which I had yet to see in Bangalore. Finally, I decide that mindless wandering isn’t the best solution, and begin to search for a phone. Spying a Ruby Tuesday’s (yes, a Ruby Tuesday’s) I stop and ask to borrow their phone, I don’t know, figuring since it’s an American chain, I’d have more luck?

The host had no idea what I was asking. It took two waiters and their manager to finally figure it out. But it was successful and I manage to safely call the hotel. I can barely hear the woman on the other line, but I manage to make out that I should tell the rickshaw drivers Middle Mall, no Little Mall, ohhh you mean L-I-D-O Mall. Gotcha.

I exit the Ruby Tuesday’s and inquire as to which I should head. This results in two people pointing literally in two opposite directions. Yay. An argument breaks out. I am now being pulled in two different directions. The girl wins. We start walking and then all of a sudden I hear my name. I glance up and there, walking down this random side alley in this random section of the city is Harris, Lee and Bethany, three of my classmates. I'm saved! But how random is that?! They point me to the best place to catch a rickshaw and I safely arrive back at the hotel...an hour and a half later.

The End of the Night As We Know It

The rest of the night is spent just hanging out, sleeping, chilling, the like. The funny thing was, our news clip from the park earlier was supposed to come on at ten o'clock. All twenty seven people who knew about this...forgot. Well, aren't we on the ball? 

We also, I am shamed to admit, went to McDonald's for dinner where I had a Veggie Pizza McPuff. They wouldn't let us take pictures (what is with this?), so this is the only (admittedly illegal) photo that I could muster:

More posts will be coming shortly, when I next figure out where Internet is. Later, gator.

Rickshaw Races

Tuesday, August 3^rd

Namaste! Today started off early at the ripe old time of 7 am. Though to be honest, it wasn’t too bad, because my body was programmed to survive on about 4 hours of sleep so I kept waking back up every few hours or so. Some might find this annoying, but I tell you that nothing is better than the feeling of waking up and realizing that you can go back to sleep. Ahh heavenly.

Today also marked the start of our business visits and we were starting off with two big ones: IBM and GE. We might’ve started out first with them because they were busy and this was the only time available or maybe because they wanted us to start off with a bang, but personally I think Dr. Mur’ray arranged the order of the company visits by increasing length of their name. Can’t get much shorter than GE!

IBM

Well we are starting off first with IBM, so that just completely shot my theory out of the roof. Damn. Today was one of the few days that required us to dress up in business professional (like full out pant suit). I actually enjoy dressing up, so it wasn’t too bad, but it definitely wasn’t the coolest of attire. Luckily, the weather here has been very pleasant.

Upon arriving at IBM, we are immediately given super cool ID badges. See? Hell yeah, I feel like part of the ‘in’ crowd with my new fancy shmancy red leash around my neck. (They didn’t let me keep it, damn it).

We are told that in certain areas we weren’t allowed to take pictures, like outside the building or in the main entrance. Hmm I found this very interesting and upon returning, I immediate checked Google Earth to see if you could see the outside of the building or if they blurred it out in order to remain as top secret as they seem. Alas, no street view but you can see the IBM buildings from the sky. Just FYI.

So I just wrote out a huge long post going into all the cool things about this visit. And then promptly deleted it. No one cares about this stuff, so I decided just to give you guys the bullet points:

·         Welcome Ceremony: We were formally greeted and asked to light the welcome lamp. Five people got to light one candle that symbolized the five different elements, and the light symbolized….something…. I do remember that by lighting the candles we symbolically banish ignorance (represented by darkness)

Lighting the welcome lamp

·         Security Restrictions: No filming of the presentations, nor pictures of the powerpoints. Also, people who worked for IBM could only get into the specific areas that they worked in and badges must be worn at all times. Made me feel a bit like we were in a bank vault, except more spacious and less giant wads of cash laying around.

·         Seclusion: Several major businesses (i.e IBM, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc) would group together over a couple blocks, would rope themselves off behind high security and create a mini-city, complete with everything you could ever want, and you would never even know the rest of India existed.

·         News Monitoring: BBC and CNN are constantly playing and monitored so that they can help deduce reasons for servers crashing (i.e. they are all underwater because of Hurricane Katrina)

·         Shifts: The IT people worked in shifts depending on the time zone they were monitoring. So the Australia shift worked from 3 am to noon to be on the correct time.

We were also led to a room to view the people monitoring all the servers that IBM is in charge of (which are a lot) after a presentation. We were all standing there in a separate room, pressing our grubby noses against the glass and gawking. That is until we discovered that the glass was two-way. Awkward turtle.

We were running a bit late (I like to think it was because our awesome and insightful questions that we asked), so we ended up having to push our G.E. visit back an hour so that we could still get lunch. Well that’s it for the IBM visit. I have about 5 pages of notes, if you are actually interested about the business aspect of it, but to be honest, I doubt you are.

Lunch

Lunch was at this very fancy Indo-Chinese buffet, and once again, we were the only people there. Hmm mildly disconcerting. Despite it being Chinese-ish food, it was still devilishly hot. But I believe my mouth is beginning to cope better! Or maybe I am just killing the majority of my tastebuds.

General Electric (GE)

Upon arriving at GE, we are immediately told that we would not be able to take any pictures.

At all. Anywhere. Even of the sign out front. (And I checked Google Earth later, too. Nothing but vague outlines. What sort of things are they doing?)

We were stopped at the gate at the security desk where they made us show a form of picture ID. Business cards, library cards, passport numbers, none of that would suffice. It had to be a valid picture  ID. Dayummm. They then took our mug shots at the unflattering upward angle and made us temporary badges with our name and pictures. Somehow, I was less thrilled about these badges than the IBM ones.

An hour later (this is an extremely long and hot ordeal), we finally manage to get ourselves situated in a small conference room with the general manager of GM, who is giving the presentation. I give the opening introduction of group (he just stares at me and goes ‘okay’, making me feel like an idiot), and then he presents. There is just him (as opposed to the five at IBM) and he is dressed pretty casually, as is everyone else. This was interesting, as the majority of the people at IBM were wearing suits.

Now he is actually a pretty funny guy, with a pretty dry sense of humor, but his presentation didn’t go that  much further than what the GE site covers. Everyone really liked the guy, but to be honest, something about him just didn’t click with me. And this was mainly due to the fact that he was the most evasive person I have ever talked to. IT WAS SO ANNOYING. (Though I’m not sure if anyone else noticed, so maybe I’m being unreasonable).  He kicked out our camera crew for the Q&A session, because he said it would limit what he was able to say, but then he didn’t really say anything at all, unless a very specific question was asked. At first I thought it was because he either didn’t really understand the spirit of the question, or just forgot, but after more and more questions were asked, I began to recognize the signs of a Sly Evader (being somewhat one of one myself, I could pick up on the clues).

Now don’t get me wrong. The guy could do his job. And very well. He was just starting to piss me off.

However, the really cool part of this trip was getting to don our sexy safety goggles and hit up the GE labs in the research center.  Lots of million dollar machines doing things like shooting electrons through materials, adjusting the top ten nanometers of a sample, creating super strong metal and the like. The funny thing for me was the fact that these million dollar machines were incredibly ugly…and several were held together with tin foil and green duct tape. No joke. It made me laugh.

Alas, on our way out, we were not allowed to keep our photo ID badges, which taught me a very valuable lesson. While sometimes “all you have to do is ask”, there are other times where it is best not to ask, subtly pocket the badge, hand back the lanyard quickly and briskly walk away with the crowd. Damn. Next time.

A Comparison

All in all, I think I enjoyed the IBM visit more than the GE visit (as you might’ve been able to tell), which did surprise me. I was really looking forward to the GE visit. I’ve always been a huge fan, but I now wonder how much of that is the result of a very effective and influential ad campaign. Though major props on that, btw. To give GE some credit, everyone there seemed to really working there so that’s a major plus.

Overall, IBM was much more welcoming, honoring us with a lamp lighting ceremony, having waiters at our meeting, have five different people present on different parts of the business and what not. They also gave us a lot more information on what it actually means to do business in India and how to incorporate it within the larger, multinational organization. So sorry, GE. Despite the fact that I was rooting for you, IBM knocked you out of the ring on this one.

Dinner/Supper/the Final Meal of the Day

Dinner tonight was at a North Indian restaurant that was once again very fancy. Gold plates and goblets? When do we get to do the whole ‘eat with your fingers at a street restaurant’ thing? Alas, probably never, cuz I doubt they wanna be held liable for our adverse bowel movements that would probably result.

I realized that I like North Indian food a lot better (more meat, slightly less spicy ) but God knows they served us wayyy too much food. I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but I am totally happy with just nan. Though, even bread here has spices! Cue major groan. Everyone also ordered drinks here, which were not cheap, so we all got beers  and martinis, which were moderately more so. Lee got his very manly mangotini. I’m proud of you, Lee.

Bar and Rickshaw Races

After dinner, we are left to fend for ourselves, meaning that they cut our chains and set us loose on the city. Watch out Bangalore, here we come! Bear in mind that we are a rather large group of obvious Americans wandering the streets in an unfamiliar area. The Cultural Assimilator inside of me is so uncontrollably cringing that I am fearing a minor seizure, but eventually we find a cool place to plop down for the night.

It’s a lot of fun and there are enough people there that we don’t stand out as a large group, which is always a plus. Though, once again, this place is not cheap, so I highly doubt I’ll be doing this every night. But it was nice getting to talk and meet other people – it’s my favorite part about the bar culture.

                                                                                                                                           

Bars in India close really early (this one stopped serving at about 11:15 pm), but the funniest part about it was that as we were leaving, the manager gave us all to-go cups for our drinks. This is AWESOME. No wonder they have ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ signs up everywhere.

Choosing the illustrious rickshaw as our transportation home, we hail down several to take our group back. Naturally, being a large group of competitive business people, the ride home turned into a race home. We were flying down the streets, four to a rickshaw (they only hold three, so I, in an oh so ladylike manner, sprawled across the laps of three others). We lost unfortunately, mainly due to the fact that our driver got lost (I was asleep at this point so I missed this), but personally I think we won because we paid half the price that the other guys had to. Suckers.

Well, that’s about it for this day. Most people stayed up later, and as it often does, drama ensued. But I was happily asleep in my comfy bed, so I was blissfully unaware and thus content :).

Over and out.

First Encounters

Monday, August 2nd

Hey y’all! Yesterday’s post was all about the plane ride to India and today’s will continue where I left off – which was when I stepped off the plane. Hopefully, even though it’s a day late, I’ll be able to recall my first impressions of the sights and sounds.

The Bangalore Airport

Stepping out of the airport, the group of us are greeted by Dr. Lawrence Mur’ray and our tour guide Sandhya. After making sure that we have gathered everyone, we board our luxurious chariot for the week: our !ncredible India bus (not a typo):

From there, we then take an hour bus ride to our hotel: the Ista hotel. Along the way we get to pass by many areas that are not, let’s say, the nicest and richest parts of India. However, I did not see anything that gave me the cultural shock that everyone told me to expect. Honestly, my first impression was that it looked a lot like Mexico, complete with the dirt sidewalks, brightly colored yet run down road stores, and the animals crossing in the streets. It actually looked a lot like South America, except with all the signs being written in Canadans (sp?) rather than Spanish.

What I found the coolest, however, was seeing the random temples and shrines that we brightly colored and decorated with statues. As soon as I find some free time, I’m going to go find some and explore them.

The Ista Hotel

Arriving at the Ista Hotel, I am shocked by the beauty and excellence, even though we are surrounded on all four sides by completely run down areas. No sidewalk, potholes in the road, etc. etc. Yet, here in the middle of all of it was this beautiful hotel. Absolutely gorgeous. India really is a country of contrasts.

Exploring the hotel, we find one of its coolest features: the pool. Check it out. Pretty awesome stuff, right? One side is one of those rimless ones so the water overflows, making a waterfall:

Awesome, huh? The restaurant is nice, though expensive and its br was voted the best of 2010 by the Times in India. We had a brief debriefing (its about 9am by this point) and we were told that we had the rest of the afternoon free until 4 pm. Most people decided to nap. I decided to catch up on my blogposts, since I love you guys so much, You can thank me later. The only thing that stinks, is that not is the internet NOT free, but for the five days I'll be here, internet will cost an exorbitant $120. Yeahhhh, not much Facebooking for me this trip.

Oh and the funniest thing about our hotel is that our guide told us that the main reason she chose this hotel was because, nope you didn’t guess it, it was right next to a McDonald’s. Seriously. That was one of the main reasons. Normally I would be appalled at this, but after trying that airplane food, a McChicken ain’t sounding so bad.

Exploring the City

A few of us decide to meet around noon to go explore Bangalore some. Noon rolls around, some people are running late, others are eating lunch, and others just chatting. Before you know it, it is two o’clock and we have still not left the premises. Much to my grumbling annoyance.

But we finally manage to amass everyone. There are about ten of us (and you know how I feel about travelling in large, obviously American packs of tourists..shoot me now) and we just pick a direction and decide to go walking. First of all, there are no sidewalks. There is no walking around and sightseeing. It is a careful picking of your way around the many loose bricks, giant potholes, the open sewers covered in wooden planks and the whatnot. It was quite fun actually.

Crossing the street was another matter. There were no crosswalks and cars did not yield. Eventually, we decided to follow the advice of our tour guide, Sandhya and just “find and Indian and follow closely”. It was a but awkward duck-tailing this poor Indian man, especially when he noticed the gigantic group of Americans following directly upon his heels, but the important part is that we made it across alive. Keep your expectations low and you are forever crossing things off of your “to accomplish” list.

Stores along the MG

Mahatma Ghandi is the major road in this city (as it is in every other city in India – a bit like MLK is in the US), and we wander along it visiting some random shops. One guy started talking to Ben, our student leader, and eventually dragged us down some small alleyway where I began to moderately begin to be concerned about whether we would be mugged and have our blood drained or something.

Luckily, this was not the case, and we were instead lead to an interesting shop selling all sorts of Indian goodies. Typical. He’s probably working on commission. They did have some beautiful rugs, but I didn’t even bother inquiring of the price. (I did try and drop a few little tidbits I learned in Turkey to make it seem like I was moderately knowledgable about carpets…and I think it worked, tehehe).

We wandered around some more, visiting a few shops here and there. We came across one with two peopled dressed in Tiger costumes. One was tall and the other short so we assumed it was a man and his son. That is until we heard the small one speak. That was not  a child.

We also saw a random small church (and lots more references to Christianity – like Bible World, etc., which surprised me a lot). We did go and check it out, got a small feel for it, but left soon after. I think the caretaker was surprised to see people come visit, but he responded well to my attempt to be respectful when I bowed slightly with my hands pressed together.

The Traditional South Indian cuisine

After our meeting at four, where we went over our itinerary, and a brief nap on my part (when I felt like the living dead upon awakening), we met up to take the bus to dinner. I can’t remember the name of the place we went, but it was very fancy, schmancy and we were the only ones there. I don’t know if its because it was expensive or if it was too early for most Indians to eat, but it was slightly weird to see no one else there.

The meal started off with some green soup. Like bright green soup. Apparently made from drumsticks – but the vegetable drumsticks (I don’t know what these are). But it actually was really good, so my confidence was improving a little bit by little bit.

Then came the starter round. Servers came around and served bit by bit and served us what appeared to be brightly colored glop. Oh I;m sure it had some real name, and I’m sure I knew what was in it. I was just impressed that my plate covered the entire color spectrum, just about. I was so excited by this, I took a picture:

So yes, all that I heard was true. South Indian food was spicy. Very spicy. Like I have permanent holes burned into my tongue spicy. God dammit, even the bread has spices. But my main problem was staying awake. I was having trouble dealing with the food, but my main problem was not collapsing my head into the food. I’m afraid I was very sociable that first night, but despite sleeping on the plane, I was ready to conk out.

We finaly make it back to the hotel, but likeI mentioned earlier, all I could think about was my nice cozy bed. So despite it being only about 9:15, I promptly surrendered to the subconscious world.

Well thus concluded my first day in India! Not too exciting, I kinda wish we did something to keep us busy, and thus awake, but it was a pretty relaxing day. Still waiting for that culture shock to hit, but when it does, there is always the McDonald’s next door!

♪ Hopped on a Plane at LAX ♪

Monday, August 2^nd

Yes, I am aware that there is no Sunday post. This is because I have been travelling across many time zones for the past two days so I was never quite sure what day it was. And seeing the sun set and then rise again from the same aircraft (twice) really screws with your mind.

LAX-ing It Up

After saying goodbye to Ruth and Wayne Glass and grabbing a few snacks to stuff into random pockets of free space, my fam and I were off to airport! Seeing the giant LAX letters as we entered the Los Angeles airport unfortunately prompted Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA. Which was stuck in my head for hours. I cannot excuse it. I can only apologize.

After saying farewell to the fam and wishing them good luck on the rest of their journey, I entered the American Airlines terminal and was immediately greeted by a large, sweaty conglomerate. Yay. Competitively maneuvering my way to nearest kiosk (elbows may have been used) and chasing down an airline staffer to check my travel documents, I finally manage to obtain a boarding pass. Thank the gods I didn’t have to check in any luggage. Thumbing my nose at the long lines of jealous bag-checkers, I arrived at my gate only a mere twenty minutes later.

So the goal I set for myself for my journey across the world was to not buy any airplane food. That was the plan. Besides who wants to pay $9 for a slice of pizza?  So prior to leaving, mi madre got me several granola bars to ease the hunger pains between airplane meals. However, not five minutes after I got to my gate (still in Los Angeles, mind you), I got so hungry that I immediately devoured two granola bars. Hunger discipline, fail. And I devour two more on my next flight. Hmmm….my plan might not work out as well as I planned.

Los Angeles to Chicago

The only thing of interest about this four and a half hour flight was that American Airlines didn’t feed me any. Nada. Zilch. Noodles. I mean, come on people! Not even a tiny bag with 3 peanuts like they used to?! Pshh, lame.

Chicago Airport

Now I have only ever heard horror stories about the O’Hare airport. Apparently it’s a nightmare trying to make connecting flights, as it is huge, weather often disrupts flights, and transportation and security are a bear. So you can understand my apprehension as I deboarded my plane, ready to make a dash to get to my connecting flight in time. Yet, despite me readying my running shoes, I was fairly disappointed to discover that my departing gate was close by. And by close by I mean literally the gate right next to mine. That was lame. Now I don’t have an exciting story to tell about me stealing one of those handicapped transport cars and running over old ladies in my rush to make my connecting flight.

I will say also, that once again, my mental discipline down, and I broke my inner promise not to buy airport food. Great job, Ellen. You made it 4 hours into your 34 hour travel time.

I also got Chinese food which was another slap in the face to my ability to keep mental promises. EVERY time I am hungry in an airport or a mall, I ALWAYS get Chinese food. And I always eat about 3 bites, get tired of it, and regret getting it. Without fail, every time. Yet, I never learn. I’m pathetic.

Chicago to London

This six or seven hour flight wasn’t too bad, mainly because I not only got a window seat (score!) but there was no one sitting next to me! I thus curled up across the two seats slept most of the way. After I watched Shrek: Forever After, of course. Which I must say, was not as horrible as it could have been. It was just annoying that every time the PA came on, the movie turned off and didn’t pause. Starting off as minorly annoyed, I soon became bitter and started the cursing the pilot when he turned on the PA to give SkyMall advertisements. Really?? Jerks. That was a crucial scene.

London Airport

Now, let me just say that I pride myself in my airport navigation ability. If you haven’t read it already, check the rules of my airport navigeer-ing here. But something about the Heathrow airport turned me back into a bumbling idiot. I got lost, I was slow through security, I kept dropping things, I looked like a newb. Needless to say, I was relieved to finally make it to my gate.

Unfortunately no one seemed to be there yet (I was meeting up with about 15 other GLIMPSE people), so I just chilled by myself in a seemingly empty terminal. Luckily, not too long after, I spotted some people who looked young, American, and wearing Carolina gear. Well, that was handy with the ID-ing. Not many Londoners wear Tarheel baseball caps on a daily basis. Call it a hunch.

London to Bangalore

Now, every flight, something must go wrong. This is Ellen’s Law regarding airplane travel. Something, be it flights randomly being cancelled, wings falling off, people having panic attacks and planes turning around, something can and will go wrong. Every time. This trip it was mechanical difficulties causing us to sit on the track for an hour and a half. Annoying, but definitely not the worst that’s happened.

Luckily, this flight I ALSO got a window seat. Three for three, baby! It was a packed flight though so no laying down for me. Damn. The guy next to me was nice, though. Sophomore engineer from D.C. heading home to visit his parents. Normally I despise airplane small talk, since you can’t escape after you exchange the basic pleasantries and factoids (Hi! Where are you going? What do you do? What was your favorite stuffed animal as a baby? The usual.), but once it wasn’t too bad. Besides, this poor guy had to put up with me crawling over him, me dropping things on him, me curling up awkwardly in his space, and the whole ordeal of Ellen Finding Space for Her Luggage.

I also saw the Milky Way. That was cool. I’m not normally in the right place or with clear enough skies for me to see it clearly. However, the flight did give me my first encounter with Indian food. And it was everything I expected it to be. A fiery, mushy dish of tongue-dissolving tendencies. And only one small water to stop all of my taste buds from dying completely. Sadness. Ah well. I shall just have to build up my tolerance. I should’ve eaten whole chilies in preparation for this trip.

Arrival

We finally arrive in Bangalore, India at the ripe old time of 5 am. We waited for everyone’s luggage forever (so glad I only brought a carryon), but finally, bedraggled and smelly, we step out of the airport and into India, our home for the next two weeks.

Well, that’s all I’m going to post right now. I’ll give you more details about my first impression in the next post. It’s dinnertime now. Cross your fingers that I don’t die! (I would be the first casualty from spicy food…)

Until later, mis amigos.