We’ve been researching where we can go inexpensively to get away from Hyderabad on the weekends and have the following destinations in mind.
1. Sri Lanka (2 hour flight - $300-$400 weekend tour package)
2. Thailand (3 hour flight - $200-$300 weekend tour package)
3. Mysore (1 hour flight - $100-$200 weekend tour package)
4. Goa
5. New Delhi
6. Mumbai (Bombay)
We’re starting with Mysore next weekend (first weekend in September). I found an amazing tour through discussions with one of the locals we work with (Hi Naval and Thank You!). If you’re interested in our first stop, you can check it out here Jungle Lodges . We’ll be going to Kabini specifically as it was the most impressive read. You can find a direct link to this location here Kabini .
Seeing Hyderabad has been a great experience but there are only so many things to see in an industrial city and my idea of Wildlife just isn’t the club scene!
Look for some excellent pictures and outback stories in the near future!
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( 2.9 / 11 )I knew when I accepted this assignment that 4 months was a long stay. I convinced myself to look at a longer scale, like a calendar year so it might seem shorter. I thought about it as “only” ¼ of the year or that I’d be back before Christmas or that I wouldn’t miss either of my children’s birthdays. It’s been a pretty effective technique so far but there are days “like yesterday” where your heart really longs for home and the familiarity & touch of your family. Sometimes, when my daughters eyes well up over our video conference, its all I can bear to be strong and teach her to be as well. I’m 27 days into a 180 tenure and time, at least yesterday, was motionless.
As your days grow shorter and fall approaches, mine seem to be getting longer. With the tragedy here on Saturday, we were in lockdown and not allowed to leave the hotel all day. That made for a very long day as there is no entertainment to redirect our attention outside of the weekends. Just a familiar hotel with a static and expensive menu. I spent most of Sunday with my mind on family and politics, laying around my room contemplating things I’d never put energy toward before.
One idea that passed my mind was related to the attacks and how I’ve never considered myself a target before. I don’t think I’ve even had a legitimate enemy since high school (20 years ago). While I don’t feel like Americans are a specific target we can’t avoid the violence and it won’t avoid us. All day yesterday, I had this odd feeling that I might be a target of opportunity. We don’t typically deal with situations like this in the US. It’s so new to me that I can’t explain the emotion at all. It‘s not fear, nor is it despair and it doesn’t trigger an fight or flight response, but it definitely has my subconscious contemplating it. I find myself a little mentally exhausted and my brain a little cloudy which typically only happens when I’m really stressed about something.
So today starts a new week and as the last week in August, completing it will be my first assignment milestone of 25%. One month down, three to go. Hopefully the violence will not continue and life here will return to normal for the remainder of the assignment.
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( 2.8 / 12 )Weekend crowds targeted; tension mounts in the Andhra Pradesh capital; When terror struck: Bodies lie strewn at the Lumbini Park in Hyderabad after a powerful bomb explosion on Saturday night
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Everyone on assignment here is fine however, it was a significantly close call.
Gulshan, Mike, Divium (Our Friend from UBS) and I were out near Saga lake at a place called "Eat-Street" last night. This is about 1 mile from Lumbini Park. When we were finsihed exploring Eat-Street, we took a rickshaw past Lumbini Park. We saw an excellent multi-colored light show and many people. We really wanted to stop and check it out but Gulshan made a comment about eating and we all agreed that we should continue traveling and find a place to sit down and eat before it got to late into the evening.
It was about 15-20 minutes later that each of our cell phones began ringing in sucession from concerned family, friends and co-workers. It was truly amazing how quickly the news traveled back to the US. Everyone in the states seemed to know what had happened long before we did.
Today the city is being locked down to foriegners by their companies and the police are on high alert as they expect more violence given the magnitude of last night. As I understand it, some 27 other explosive devices have been found and disabled across the city and the death toll is up to 37 at the time of this post.
I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and either called or thought of me and the other Deliver Leads over the last twenty four hours.
-Jason
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( 2.9 / 15 )Today we depart the Novotel due to a host of infrastructure problems from Internet to cable. This truly is a nice hotel and I understand why it‘s rated 5 stars. It has a great gym, very nice staff, beautiful grounds and good restaurant.
Nietzsche is quoted as saying: All great things bring about their own destruction…
Saying good bye is never easy and I personally never like it. When I left for India my stomach was in my throat saying good bye to my wife and children for four months. I’m not a person who shows negative emotions very often, if at all. I learned many years ago from a Bank associate who retired after 50 years of service that a positive attitude and big smile sets the tone not only for your day but for your life. In the 3 years we worked together, I never saw him come to work down, with a frown and definitely never saw him upset. He approached every day with an open mind and greeted it with a healthy smile. He almost dared anyone or anything to remove it. He was a simple yet inspiring man and though he may not know it, he changed my life so many years ago though his example.
So today I greet the day with my morning grin and look forward to a day of new opportunities and wondrous adventure in India. Every day the people here become more dear to me and the lifestyle more acceptable. My favorite aspect of this culture is the collective personality. It seems to be a cultural prerogative that rich, poor, pain, hunger or traffic, no one here shows the struggle. They’re all happy. Despite the poor they are polite, despite the traffic, there is no road rage. India amazes me and while we have a lot to teach many countries about modernization, I have a deep respect for this culture and wish we were receptive to learning in return. India is reminding me that It’s what’s on the inside that counts.
So I pack my bags this morning to say good bye to the Novotel. With my departing words, I will remind them that the external beauty they present here is only a rough exterior of bricks & paint and it’s what’s on the inside the counts .
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( 2.9 / 16 )One thing I don’t seem capable of avoiding here are very long work days. There's so much to do that my morning is directed toward work around 9:00am and my calls and office work don’t normally end before 10:00pm. This isn’t unique to me either. The three of us leave the office between 8:00pm and 9:00pm every night. On a rare occasion, like last night, I am still awake and working from the Hotel at 1:30am.
The best way I’ve found so far to manage stress is to eat. You might find that funny if you know me personally and what my typical diet is like (I dont eat a variety). The food in India is quite good, even for a simple pallet like mine. Many foods do contort my face when I look at them, but ultimately, I find something to hit the spot that’s authentic and usually spicy. Enjoying India's food however, is oddly disappointing as I really hoped to lose weight while here but there just isn’t time to exercise on this schedule. What the three of us have been doing is watching how much we eat but going out to different restaurants 4-5 times a week (Guilty Pleasure).
The Novotel Hotel here has really been driving me crazy. The Internet is notorious here for going down and the TV, while it’s a nice digital flat panel, is still dependant on the cable which is always on the fritz skipping audio and images. I think that’s just part of a developing country however, as we frequently run into power outages when we’re out and about. I’ve been downtown 4-5 times in my 3 weeks here and all but once the power was out for some duration.
I don’t watch much TV, “who has time” and the only English channels are World News, Discover India (Discovery Channel, with shows about India’s History), NAT Geo (National Geographic) and the Star Movie channel which only shows old school classics like James Bond. Not bad but not the variety I'm used to.
So managing stress has been a small challenge but in many ways it’s what's driving my experiences here to be more positive. Since my bad American habits aren’t available to me, I find I am working really hard during the week and getting away from everything familiar on the weekends. Time is also flying by as tomorrow “Friday” will mark the closure of my 3rd week here.
So I say, bring on it on! This stress & life style only make the time fly faster and my life here more interesting and memorable.
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