Wednesday

Today was fun.

Woke up at Dukes, refreshed and a tiny bit hung over. Those Kingfishers can sneak up on you!
We checked out and hit the road, again.
I realized that I had not taken any photos of the more common, dirty, busy areas where, it would seem, the majority of people live. So I will get some to balance out the overall experience here.

Here are a couple of my 2nd room at the BAWA...



Tips if you go to Mumbai, India for the first time:

1) Bring an alarm clock. Wakeup calls rarely ever come, and if they do, they are usually late.
2) Don't expect to stay at a "clean" hotel. The finest hotels here are as clean as a Motel 6 in the US. No joke (I as look up at the mold all over the wall in the BAWA room).
3) If you have to shower in a suicide-concave tub (you'll know it when you see it, or try to stand in it), throw a hand towel in it but not blocking the drain. It will give you the needed foot-friction to prevent you from unavoidably slipping and busting your head open on the tile.
4) Bring beef jerky. Unless you want to start a strict diet of chicken. Because that is the only meat you will find here.
5) Bring antacids.
6) Even if you like Indian food, go easy on the Indian food. The spicy stuff here WILL give you problems. Fever inducing problems!
7) Don't drink bottled water if you cannot read or pronounce the name of it. It might not be pure (no matter what the label says) and could give you stomach problems.
8) Expect to sweat like a pig right after a shower. I don't know why, but it never fails.
9) Check for bugs in your room twice. Sometimes they hatch after the first check.
10) Hold the plunger for 10 seconds to flush the toilet. They haven't invented the time delayed - toilet flusher plunger yet.
11) Don't drive.You will get creamed.
12) Don't walk across a two lane road. You will get creamed.
13) Don't talk to taxi drivers unless you need a taxi. Just nod your head or else they will bug the hell out of you.
14) When Indian people bob their head like a bobble-head doll, that means they are listening, but thats about all it means.
15) Bring a swiss army knife with screwdriver blades. You will most likely need to fix a few things in the hotels in order to survive comfortably.
16) In hotels, your room key goes in a slot that turns on the power for the room. You WILL throw it on the table several times and realize that nothing works in the room until you get the hang of that.
17) Get used to honking horns as soon as possible. They don't ever stop.
18) Don't expect a lot of toilet paper or tissue in hotels. It's like gold here for some odd reason.
19) Anyone who helps you, expects a tip.
20) Cops, if you ever run into one, can be bought....easily. Thats is the only reason they are there.
21) Driving towards oncoming traffic can be fun. Once you get used to it. And you will.
22) Kingfisher is not only a popular beer, it's also an airline.
23) Talk a little slower than normal and don't use any slang and just about anyone will understand you. That doesn't necessarily mean that you will understand them however.
24) People put all kinds of paint and stuff on their forehead, including huge red blotches with rice or gold stripes, try not to stare at it.
25) They only drink tiny little shots of coffee premixed with cream, but it's usually very good.
26) Light switches: Up is off, down is on. Good luck getting used to that!
27) Animals run free everywhere. Dogs, Donkeys, Cows, Bulls and Oxen. Oddly, I have yet to see a cat.
28) Cricket (the game) is a religion here. Everything stops when there is a game.
29) The Indian government is a democratic communism, and not very efficient, so I'm told.


Now I'm at a hotel called the Taj outside of Mangalore. It's super nice. Internet is working, so I can post up a bunch of stuff tonight.
Today we go visit the 3rd customer for awhile and make sure their new equipment is running ok.

-Scott