These aint no "liquor cookies!"

On the way up to Rajisthan this weekend, one of my roommates mentioned that a friend had asked her to buy her these "special liquor cookies" that they only sell in Rajisthan. She gave my roomate very explicit instructions:

1) Don't negotiate on the price. They are kinda expensive but worth the price
2) Make sure you buy it from this special shop and that they are individually wrapped.

The instructions seemed weird to our new expat ears. I mean we've been here for 10 days but know you negotiate on everything! and 50 rupees per cookie!! 50 Rupees can get you a whole lotta stuff. So, we talking about this with one of the more seasoned expats, who explains umm these are not liquor cookies - it's Bhang Cookies a.k.a weed, marijuna whatever you want to call it but it aint liquor.

Turns out the shop she was refering to for the "special liquor cookies" is in the Lonely Planet and yes it is a legal seller. In Jaislmer weed is legal to sell from this authorized stores in the form of chocolate cookies. There was only one in Jaismler and the government authorized sign said "come and enjoy.' We went to check it out did not enjoy.

The View from Mehrangarh Fort

From Mehrangarh fort you can see why Jodhhpur is called Blue City. The surrounded houses blue painted walls add to the amazing view.

Thing to avoid on a camel ride...

1)Downing a 40 in 20 mins..it may sound good but you'll be miles away from a bathroom and there's no privacy in the sand dunes.
2)Getting on the camel behind the pissing camel.. they can hold a lot of water and piss forever.
3)Racing your camels..it sounds fun but your bun will pay for it the next day.
4)Getting to close up and personal in your camels face.. their chompers can take big bites.
5) Any camel named "Michael Jackson" it's just too creepy.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

 

On Friday we took off for a weekend in Rajisthan - the largest state in India. We left Friday afternoon from Hyderabad on a flight to Delhi. From Delhi we took an overnight train (8+hours) to Jodhpur -The Blue City. Jodhhpur is beautiful. It's called the Blue City because the houses are painted with a blue color especially near the Mehrangarh Fort. We visited the fort on Saturday. I highly recommended visiting the fort and taking the audio tour. I usually get bored with audio tours but they did a really good job with it. It's very thorough and I promise the narrators voice will not put you to sleep. On Sunday we drove about five hours to Jaismler where we had the opportunity to go camel back riding in the desert and watch the sunset against the dunes...maybe this post title should be Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Camels?

Introducing Toothbrush!

Carla has updated a bunch of more videos on her video blog- Carla in India! To see more of our adventures in India I highly recommend you view her blog. All the exciting footage and some that I really don't want anyone to see are on her video blog. Our blogs are like a toothbrush and toothpaste. They work best as a unit.

Hello new friend..this is Gopal Rand.

The other night Carla and I were staying up late frantically doing things on the internet before our internet went out. Our internet had been out all weekend so we were trying to catch up on emails and other important activities such as updating our blogs. Her mom started pinging her and asking her questions. Carla was trying to finish something while answering her mom’s questions at once. All of a sudden she turns to me and asks “who is Gopal Rand? my mom says he has pictures of me on his site!” After some more pinging it turns out some how her mom found my blog- Global Randomness! She was asking her about Global Randomness but the ping was coming out in chunks so Carla read it wrong. We had a big laugh about this so I want to dedicate this post especially to Carla’s mom -my one reader.

We Lovin' It!

McD's India Style Order

Shannon & Prataps Mc'Ds order. On the way to McDonalds's Carla, Jen, Jon and I had a 30 min discussion on what these different menu options could be. We weren't dissapointed.

I'll watch my inauguration with a side of fries please!

We decided to celebrate the inauguration with some good old American' lovin.. We made a run to McDonald's before the festivities. As you can tell, I loved my Chicken Maharaja Mac, Pizza McPuff and Seasoned fries. Everything I had was veg.. Hyderabad is a vegetarians food paradise. The vegetarian options are so good here that I've barely bothered to eat meat meals.

Hyderabad - Old City Streets

Everyone is getting bangles!

On Saturday after to Charminar, were trying to figure out how to cross the crowded street to go to the Bazar in the Old City. Mohammed who had helped us earlier cross the parking lot to get into Charminar somehow found us again. He helped us cross the street because we are not skilled enough to cross these streets. It will take us literally 10 minutes to figure out when’s our opportunity to run to the other side but somehow this kid knew how to command traffic to stop. He ended up hanging out with us. He first took us to his friend brothers store where we bought “gold, jewelled” bangles. He then showed us the suit bazaar. He was so patient with our questions that we wanted to do something in return for helping us out. His brother and father sell glass bangles at the bazaar so Jen and I thought we should buy some from them. But we completely forgot that everyone says that you always need to bargain everything down by at leat 50%. We ended up getting 3 big packs of bangles for $20 which is a lot of money for glass bangles. A few of mine already broke. I now have enough bangles to cover both my arms from wrist to shoulder! So, I’ve decided the only way to resolve this issue is to give everyone at home bangles for gifts. Hope you like these!

Charminar - Second Floor Balcony

Charminar -Visitor Welcome Sign

Charminar

On Saturday we went to Charminar and then the old bazaar next to it. Charminar is a monument built over 400 years ago to celebrate the end of an epidemic. It’s in the old city so I was excited to get an opportunity to see that part of town as well. Everyone at work keeps asking me how do I like the traffic here as a joke. I didn’t really get the joke before because our apartment is a block from work. But I finally got it Saturday! Traffic is sloooow in Hyderabad. A drive that normally a few minutes can take a really long time because you will inch your way in traffic. Reminds me of L.A. So it took a bit of time to get to Charminar but I didn’t mind because it gave me the opportunity to take photos along the way.

More celebrity outings

I'm traveling with celebrities

Today is a holiday in this region called Pongal. Since we had the day off, we decided to do some site seeing. We went to Golconda fort in Hyderabad. There were a lot of Indian tourists from all over. When we finally went up the 300+ stairs to the fort, a lot of people were taking pictures. A group of young Indian boys came up to Jon and asked him for a photo. At first we thought that they wanted him to take a picture of them because Jon has an amazing camera with him (that we are all jealous of). But, they actually wanted to take a picture with him. This became a trend throught out the fort. Jon and Jen got requests from so many people to be in photos with their kids that I became jealous of their celebrity status. Later on when we went to the local bazaar, I also had a few kids asking me where I am from and shaking my hand.

Music to my ears

We took a break from painting to learn more about the school. On weekends the teachers and volunteers have different classes for the kids. The Sunday music teacher invited us to come and listen the kids sing. This was music to our ears! The kids sang so well and we loved getting to know the kids and teachers. Carla even got a dance lesson that will be updated on her video blog soon. Carla and I love to sing and Jen is an amazing dancer so we want to organize a lesson for one of their upcoming weekend classes.

Paint everywhere.

We got paint on the walls, floor, on our clothes, hair, face..basically everywhere. Jen poses with paint on her face.

The Classrooms from the outside

The building really livened up with some paint.

The Classroom before the Paint

The main school building was built sometime ago and has classes for 1-5th graders. The school building we were painting is a new one for younger kids and it is a smaller structure. It is a brick structure with two rooms. They wanted to paint it so it looks more lively.

The Painted Ladies

We were excited this morning to start the day because we had decided Saturday to volunteer at a local school that was started by a Googler's wife for underprivileged kids. It is a public school that is owned by the government but sustained through non-profits and individual contributors. A lot of Googlers have volunteered at the school throughout the years and we're looking forward to contributing as well during our time in Hyderabad. You can learn more and see how you can contribute on the school blog http://rainbowprimaryschool.blogspot.com. This morning a bunch of volunteers were going to paint the primary school. The main school building was built sometime ago and has classes for 1-5th graders. The school building we were painting is a new one for younger kids. It is a brick structure with two rooms. They wanted to paint it so it looks more live. This was such a great experience! We loved getting to know the kids and teachers. Everyone was so excited to get to know us. Carla even got a dance lesson. Carla and I love to sing and Jen is an amazing dancer so we want to put our passions together and organize a lesson for one of their upcoming weekend classes.

Sunday morning wake-up call!

I woke up this morning at 5am to the sounds of prayer blaring from the local mosque. Although it's early, I am not too tired and the prayer sounds ease me into the morning. I get up and start looking at all the views from the different balconies. This picture is the view from my room's balcony. It over looks a green area and then the city. The other picture is the view from another balcony. Next door to our very nice apartments there is a lot that is under construction. I learned that often when a lot is under construction the people who are working on it may live there with their families. The land owners may encourage this in order to have them protect the land from loiters.

As I started my day with making coffee, I watched the people living on the lot next door make a fire to start their breakfast. I've noticed that the neighborhoods in Hyderabad are more diverse. There may be a very nice expensive house next to a an abandoned building that people are living to. So far from what I can tell the neighborhoods are not as defined as San Francisco

First Meal in Hyderabad

We settled in Saturday morning in our apartment. We decided to go to town for lunch. We went to the mall to an Indio-Asian restaurant-IndiJoe! The food was good but hard to find a non-spicy option for Jen who can't eat spicy food. Even the Italian pasta dish had a kick to it. Jen lost her first food battle!

We will not fit!

We got to Hyderabad Friday night after 12 am. Everything went relatively smoothly. I can't remember much because I felt like I was just sleep walking through the whole thing. I do remember Carla jokingly saying "hey look everyone is looking at us! is it because we are American or because we are beautiful?" I looked around and noticed that we were among the few "foreigners." Then we meet our driver and proceed to the car with our many belongings. We had to fit 6 big suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 3 backpacks and 4 people in Jetta type car. We kept asking if another car was coming..but no..no other car.. I don't know how it all happened but everything fit. I really thought it was a mission impossible to fit even 3 of the big suitcases in the car but someone how everything got in.

Traveler Beware: there are a lot of Body Shops in Signapore!

Jen, Carla and I thought we had smoothly planned our layover time in Singapore. We thought we were so smart finding out about the free bus ride into the city and how well we had managed our time there. We saw the Fountain of Wealth, a memorial, the famous Opera House and we even managed to go to Chinatown for some adventures with food. All we had to do is take the metro back and go to the place outside the mall where the bus had dropped us off 10 minutes before the pick up time. This all sounded easy to us when the tour bus driver dropped us off. I mean Singapore seemed small and we just made sure to look at the stores that were near the bus drop off area..After some fun in Chinatown, we take the metro back to the main mall and trace our place back to the Body Shop. Somehow the bus stop was not outside of the mall entrance near Body Shop so we start running through the mall trying to re-trace our steps and what do we see..another Body Shop!! The mall is a maze and we spent 15 minutes running through it. We already stood out before as we haven't really seen much "foreigners" now we are the only people running or even fast walking through the mall. We discovered three Body Shops and no bus =(. After 15 mins of running around, we gave up and decided to get a cab back to the airport so we don't miss our flight as well.

Candy at China Town

Carla spent an hour here putting her bargaining skills in use with the candy stall owner. She spent an hour picking out these little treats and getting the right deal. I think she was preparing for India! Meanwhile Jen and I made our way through the food court. We had some carrot cake, which is actually cooked turnip and egg rolls. All were very delicious.

Fountain of Wealth

The Fountain of Wealth in Singapore is the largest fountain in the world. We all made a wish.

Mmmm..BreadTalk!

Friday morning still..um I think. Today we have a few hours to hang out in Singapore before our flight to our final destination-Hyderabad. Jen, Carla and I had breakfast and then took the airport tour bus into the city. Singapore is really beautiful. It reminds me of Waikki but more beautiful, and clean. The city is more modern as well. The airport offers free tours and rides into the city to get people to want to come back and visit..it works! The bus drops us of at the mall. That is one of many malls here I later learn. We got some delicious bread at the mall from BreadTalk. I got this Floss bread because the girl that works there said it was the most popular. Spicy beef + butter = mmm good! I was taking pictures of all the breads because they are all so different but then the girl that worked there told me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures! I am not sure why. Maybe the bread in Singapore are shy as well. Jen took a picture of the tour guide on the bus and he told her not to because he was shy. He turned his back to Jen for the whole ride because he was afraid of her camera. Then he told us we had to wear these stickers so they can identify us later because people are shy to ask who we were. Maybe he was using shyness as a way to get us to do things or maybe Singapore people are not too fond of you taking pics. All I know was the food was great.

The Nice People of Singapore

We landed in Singapore Friday after 12 am and everything went so smoothly. Customs and immigration was a breeze. They barely asked or looked at anything. For some reason, I think because of the gum ban, I thought things would be more strict here. Everyone is so relaxed and easy going though. We checked into our hotel in the airport and the hotel staff had even left a welcome card...for Mr.Zarabi. Carla had a blast about this. She's use to people thinking I am a guy because of my first name. I am glad I could give her a good laugh before she went to sleep. What was funnier was that every time the hotel staff would call our room they still call me Mr. Zarabi!

ICN to SIN

Our flight from Seoul to Singapore was pretty uneventful. I pretty much passed out after my second dinner that day/night and woke up twenty minutes before we landed. From what I could tell Carla and Jen also got some zzs in. The seat situation on our flights has worked out smoothly. Both Jen and Carla like aisle seats and I always seat by a window so I can look out or sleep. I am riding window next to one of them each leg of the flight. Also so far no one has been in the middle seat so I was able to pass out after the meal. Unfortunately, Jen took this as an opportunity to take a horrible picture of me drooling all over myself. Lucky for me Jen has opted not to have a blog on this trip. So hopefully no one will ever see the pic. I was gonna give her admin rights to mine but have now decided to take away her rights! Carla a.k.a Scorsese on the other hand is documenting every second of the trip with her new Flip camcorder. There's already been some incidents that should not be recorded anywhere! Luckily Scorseses camera is running a little low on battery now so she is giving the docudrama a rest for a bit. We're arriving in Singapore a little after 12 am Friday January 9th. I don't know what happened to Thursday but some how we missed it.

SFO -> ICN

The first hour on the plane: I am loving Singapore Airlines! The airplane experience so far is similar to visiting a relative you haven't visited for a long time (who is happy to see you). The flight attendants are extremely nice and hospitable.

There are these Christmas decorations hanging from above the windows through out the airpline. The first few hours- I am loving them. It feels like you are in someone's living room. I've never seen decorations/wreaths in airplanes but it's nice for now.

The in flight entertainment is great. There's new releases from all over the world. I was a bit overwhelmed the first hour because I wanted to see so many of the movies and documentaries that I thought I wouldn't have any time.

The 9+ hours on the plane: I am ready to get off this plane... By now I have seen three American newly released movies and a Bollywood film. I've read 3 magazines and free South Korea newspaper they handed to us. Even the Christmas decorations are starting to get to me after staring at them for so many hours. It doesn't seem like they would be very safe if we had crazy turbalance. There's all these pine cones hanging from them. I hope they take them down after the holidays, which are officially over. Off course, I have ate every snack available (maybe twice). Also I have ate every piece of each meal which are ok. I can't complain too much about the meal because they have been full meals: appetizer, entree, and dessert. I am glad I didn't opt for the vegetarian option like Carla. She opted for vegetarian meals because she says you get your meal first and the quality of food is better. Her strategy didn't work out. She got her meals first but the food was scarce. She got veggies every time and her last meal was a vegan meal.

At SFO Airport

Jen, Carla and I are anticipating our 44 hour journey to Hyderabad, India! Between the three of us we've brought ten magazines, a couple of movies and a ton of TV episodes to keep us busy during our flight. Jen and I just had our last San Francisco style salad and are now patiently waiting for the crew to let the economy people on the plane.