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Intelekchewal
Knight of the Lounge
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 511
Location: Undisclosed
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 Posted: Sat 2010 Mar 13 09:54 Post subject: India's not so odd |
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So I had figured I wouldn't do much for my birthday this year, but thanks to work I'm being touristy in India. Working in Bangalore, which is like a really chaotic version of the south bay with no traffic laws, and realizing my job is 2x more productive when I'm here.
But today I'm in Mysore being tourist. (It has been pointed out to me that, given my Asian travel history, I went from Bangkok to Bangalore to Mysore, it being hardly possible to have an itinerary into which more could be read). Even worse is that my first tourist stop in India was a Catholic cathedral. This was due to a freak of scheduling, but that's a likely story, isn't it? Oh and on the cab ride to the church I started reading a book for my book club, which is essays by David Foster Wallace, and the first one turned out to be about the porn industry.
I hate to think the universe is trying to tell me something. 
My favorite so far was an art museum, the sort of thing I frequently dislike. After the usual 247 portraits of Maharajahs, they got to the contemporary and local stuff. The contemporary is still overwhelmingly about scenes from Indian mythology, but apparently there are a lot of said. More human scenes, even if they're blue. For some reason it really reminded me of RPGs.
Oh, maybe that was because of the matched pair of literally statuesque bronze warrior women wearing the eastern equivalent of a chainmail bikini, which is apparently the scalemail halter top.  The local artists did some really nice landscapes and everyday portraits, though. |
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lanclos
Earl of Idleness
Joined: 10 Jul 2003
Posts: 3921
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| Posted: Sat 2010 Mar 13 12:54 Post subject: |
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| Most exciting! I would really like the chance to go to south/southeast Asia one of these years. My understanding is that India is unusually difficult to travel to. |
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Amysun
Teh Fantastico Poppet
Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 1658
Location: The Great Beyond
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| Posted: Sat 2010 Mar 13 18:00 Post subject: |
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Happy birthday Ian! I'm looking forward to hearing all about your trip when you return. 
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Intelekchewal
Knight of the Lounge
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 511
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| Posted: Sat 2010 Mar 13 20:19 Post subject: |
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| lanclos wrote: | | Most exciting! I would really like the chance to go to south/southeast Asia one of these years. My understanding is that India is unusually difficult to travel to. |
Well it's about as far away as most of Asia. I spent 20 hours in airplanes, connecting through Dubai (alas I only got to see the inside of the Dubai airport, where the gift shops are unusually swank).
I was actually pissed that I hadn't been booked a window seat when I realized the actual route of the plane. Up across western California and northern Canada, hugging the north end of the Canadian arctic islands to pass by Greenland, cross directly over the island of Svalbard, then just clipping Finland before diving through Russia to get to Dubai. I actually forget which Middle Eastern countries we passed over, since I was trying to sleep at that point.
Other than that, though, it doesn't seem like a huge deal. Not as many people speak passable English as statistics would suggest, but the net has decent hotel reviews, and hiring your own cab to avoid transit difficulties is fairly cheap. Of course I've stuck to international or touristy areas (by touristy I mean mostly other Indian tourists, rather than foreigners).
Compared to Thailand, it is way less set up for foreign tourists, but you're also way more likely to find someone who speaks English, as long as you're in a reasonably urbanish area. |
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Argyle
Administrator
Joined: 25 May 2003
Posts: 3953
Location: Space!
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| Posted: Sun 2010 Mar 14 10:17 Post subject: |
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So, did you find a tailor to make you a suit? 
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Intelekchewal
Knight of the Lounge
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 511
Location: Undisclosed
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| Posted: Sun 2010 Mar 14 22:46 Post subject: |
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| Argyle wrote: | | So, did you find a tailor to make you a suit? |
Contrary to the FUD that I was fed by certain individuals, Bangalore's corporate dress code is very similar to California's. For the men anyway, the women all seem to wear Saris at the office. I seem to see women in jeans around the more touristy or upscale places. |
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Meredith
Slacker Baroness
Joined: 26 Sep 2003
Posts: 2195
Location: gone to my happy place
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el samayo grande
Adept Slacker
Joined: 29 May 2003
Posts: 1566
Location: Obamatown!
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| Posted: Tue 2010 Mar 16 14:00 Post subject: |
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Nice! Bangalore and Mysore are supposed to have the best food in India, how's it been so far?
As to tailors - even if you don't need to wear suits to the office, you should still hit one - you can get a custom made (bespoke) suit for around $200, less than a cheap one on sale at Men's Wearhouse. They'll even send you to the fabric store to pick out exactly what cloth to make it out of.
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Intelekchewal
Knight of the Lounge
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 511
Location: Undisclosed
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| Posted: Thu 2010 Mar 18 08:49 Post subject: |
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| Tonight I dined at Sports Bar. Actual name. There is nothing wrong with the food, except at my hotel, and at my employer's canteen, and at popular Starbucks clone Cafe Coffee Day which probably gave me food poisoning, but I've only been to one place which was really good. It had a very strong Arabian Nights theme (sorry, "Mughal Empire"), which was somewhat reduced by the low-rent paparazzi surrounding the low-rent local actors in the center of the place. |
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