volksdragon | Trip Log #2, 10/23/03, Hotel

I've made it safely to Bangalore, after managing to sleep 3 or 4 hours on the flight from Frankfurt to Bombay. Going through Indian Customs was pretty painless, even though I had to DRAG MY luggage, which weighs exactly 29.2kg (they weighed it) from one terminal, through customs, out of the terminal, onto a confusing bus to the other terminal, and then back inside to be re-checked for a domestic flight from Bombay to Bangalore. And then, THE WAIT. While I had a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt, I at least had a Geocache to bag outside the airport, and a nice Lufthansa lounge to relax in, with internet access. In Bombay, I had a chair. And a magazine, and a Boston Globe. I somehow managed to stay awake for the FIVE HOUR sitdown. Yep. 1:15 to 6:30 . Aieee.
I got a light breakfast on the flight (Indian Airlines, pretty average airline) into Bangalore, and arrived right on time. Prasanna, the nice guy who semi-officially works for my group, was waiting at the airport to retrieve me, which is good, because JUST outside the airport exit is a MADHOUSE of Taxi Drivers all waiting to pounce on you and take you places in the city. We snagged our Taxi he'd reserved, a teeny mini-van taxi, not a three-wheeled taxi (a Tempo), which was good, because those things look nice and UNsafe. :)

And speaking of unsafe, I can't POSSIBLY describe the traffic here, and the way people drive. The lines on the road exist solely because someone could be employed to paint them. People drive between lanes, across lanes, on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, and announce their presence by simply holding down the horn all the time. Intersections that don't have an officer stationed at them have NO OBSERVED traffic rules, people just drive across the intersection whenever they can, and everyone on that side follows them through. The only thing that breaks the flow of traffic in one direction is a MUCH BIGGER vehicle, such as the busses, coming through the other way, laying on the horn. And of course, these are just the 3 and 4-wheel vehicles. every available extra space not taken up by a Taxi or a Car or a Bus is filled with a motorcycle or scooter, carrying at LEAST 2 people, and so far, the record I've seen is a whole family of 4, Mom, Dad, a 6 or 7 year old, and an INFANT between Daddy's legs in front. Daddy was driving. Oy. Rotaries here are essentially supercolliders for vehicles, not traffic management devices. Oh, and I'm officially in India. I saw a Cow, in the road, in the middle of the city. It was all I could do to not laugh out loud at their sacred animal.

We made it alive to the hotel, and then after a quick shower, from there to the office. Today was basically Meet N Greet day, and also a day to arrange the schedule for training for the next 10 days. We accomplished that in a few hours, and since I was literally falling asleep at my desk, I caught a taxi back to the hotel, where after plugging in the laptop, I took a nap.

So, now we're up to current time. I've napped, awoken, and gotten room-service dinnder (FishNChips), and am now watching one of my favorite movies, "Carlito's Way." Soon, bedtime, and off tomorrow for site-seeing. It's Diwali, Indian Holiday, a kind of New Years. I'll take pictures.