Todays forecast... 93 with a heat index of 101F

[jharkin]

Where am I now?




More interesting scenes as I get them. Still a bit tired from 16hr on airplanes! (location hint)

 

[begreen]

Looks like you've been Shanghai'ed again jh.

 

[nate379]

No where I want to be. Too damn HOT! I live in Alaska for a reason!

 

[jharkin]

Not Shanghai This time I am on the sub-contintent.


I am in sunny Pune, India - about 75 miles inland from Mumbai



No wood stoves here

 

[nate379]

Not exactly my idea of a vacation spot!

 

[Jags]

My only valid question....Is beer readily available?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Might get up to a foot of the devil's dandruff tonight.

 

[lopiliberty]

Unless it was a business trip, that would be the LAST place I would want to go, to hot for me. Yah yah I know I keep the house close to 90 in the winter but that's different. I will be seeing those kind of temperatures here soon enough and not looking forward to it

 

[jharkin]

Its business. We have an office here. Its not any easy place to get to (16 hours on planes plus a 4 hour car trip )

 

[Jags]

Its business. We have an office here. Its not any easy place to get to (16 hours on planes plus a 4 hour car trip )

But what about the beer??

 

[jharkin]

Oh yeah there is beer. And over here beer owns its own airline.

(broken image removed)

 

[Jags]

I do have to comment on the "not so flattering" picture. The background looks war torn.

Never had that beer. Any good? Comparable to...?

 

[Defiant]

Never had that beer. Any good? Comparable to...?

We want pics of the beer and maybe a taste or two.

 

[Jags]

We want pics of the beer and maybe a taste or two.

I think it warrants a 12 pack for full assessment.

 

[Defiant]

I think it warrants a 12 pack for full assessment.

At least!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

They have it at most US Indian restaurants. Light lager.

 

[Jags]

Hmmm...the one that I go to is a "no booze" place. I don't have many to choose from unless I go to Chicago - and I will only do that if somebody threatens me bodily harm.

(the no-booze place is pretty darn hard to beat...except for the no-booze part)

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Our local one went down hill. Indian places seem to stay Indian but change owners every few years or so here, and the food quality goes up or down.

 

[Jags]

Our local one went down hill. Indian places seem to stay Indian but change owners every few years or so here, and the food quality goes up or down.

At least every 7 years - that is when the visa expires and they are required to go back to the homeland for 6 months. Then they can return to take over their cousins gas station. Fact: they have a tax advantage that Americans don't get (and can't get). That is one of the reasons they are so successful with convenience stores.

And don't anyone get all uptight - I am in no way prejudice against these folks. They are simply taking advantage of ill conceived rules/laws.

 

[jharkin]

Anyway, hoping this stays on track and out of the can.... Nothing interesting to share today, I spent 10 hours in the office. Tomorrow we will get out for lunch and I'll have some time to do sightseeing Saturday morning before driving back to Mumbai to head home. I'll try to get some interesting pictures and share.

 

[Jags]

Please do. We like pics of places we don't know how to pronounce.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Anyway, hoping this stays on track and out of the can.... Nothing interesting to share today, I spent 10 hours in the office. Tomorrow we will get out for lunch and I'll have some time to do sightseeing Saturday morning before driving back to Mumbai to head home. I'll try to get some interesting pictures and share.

I like to travel ,everyplace is interesting to me. Looks modern enough to find some nice watering holes and sample the local cuisine and ale.

 

[Gary_602z]

Is that airplane a RC model?

Gary

 

[jharkin]

Is that airplane a RC model?

Gary

Not an RC model, thats just some stock photo I found online... however they do really own an airline and I remember seeing their airplanes at the domestic airport on a previous visit years ago.

The background looks war torn

Thats India for you The country is growing like crazy but its still very much the developing world. The infrastructure is still very bad, most of the roads do look like a war zone with garbage and construction debris everywhere and no rhyme or reason to the traffic flow. Its also a very bureaucratic society and new infrastructure projects take forever to complete, unlike China where things happen overnight. FOr example Pune is a city of 5 million, but it doesn't have an international airport. There is a plan for one but its not yet approved and even then it will take a lot longer to build then we are used to. Maybe in 5 years. There is a large air force base that you can get domestic flights into and one Lufthansa flight a day from Germany ($$$$$) but no others - so the typical route to get here is fly into Mumbai (Bombay) and take a 4 hour taxi ride.

One thing that amazes me is that in spite of all the warnings about food safety I still see lots of western business travelers eating fruits, salad and uncooked dairy at the hotel restaurant... Thinking because its an international chain hotel its safe.... They are probably in for trouble. I'm really cautious about eating and still have had problems on past trips Come to think of it i don't feel that great right now

 

[jharkin]

Not a lot more to share, as my prior (edit) 3-4 record not getting sick in Asia is now 3 for 5 Which also has kept me from getting more than 3hrs sleep a night.

So far a steady pepto diet is keeping me sane, not breaking into the Cipro just yet. We did get out of the office today to go out to lunch.

India is a slow moving society in general but I noticed a couple pretty big changes-

#1 security is now intense. At all hotels and office buildings they have security checkpoints that search all cars (with a crash barrier) and all people entering and ALL luggage goes though metal detector/x-ray. This started after the Mumbai hotel attack in '08.

#2 ALL of the motor rickshaws that used to run on two stroke have now been converted to Natgas. This makes a huge difference in the smell and noise level on the street, not to mention pollution.