Well, it's been a while since my last blog post. I am a more settled in my India digs, have a cell phone and even know where I go to get the free dinners, but I haven't been able to get myself to type as things have kinda pretty rough, personally... Being here has definitely has been a catalyst for personal growth, and with that has come insight into what I want and a realization of where I have been mentally for quite some time now. However, this clarity happened to come just a tad too late, and in turn, has in some ways marred the beginning of my adventure. Well. Living. Learning.
Enough of that, it's time to catch you up with what I have been up to. I hope you have some spare time because this is going to be a long one.
Last Thursday, about 10 of us expats went to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Laguna. Don't ask me why and Italian place is named Laguna, but it was nice. Many of the nicer restaurants in Hyderabad are located on the top floors of these newly constructed buildings. In fact, this building wasn't completed on the bottom, but the restaurant was quite swanky and on the top floor. We had a large table that was on this raised pedastal that was surrounded by a little stream with floating candles in it (ahh, Laguna. I got it). Like I said, pretty swanky.
I ended up having pizza which turned out to be a good choice as most of the people that ordered a regular entree weren't all to pleased with their meal. My flatmate, Scott, ordered what was labeled as the filet mignon, but it was suspect from the get go as it only cost 350 rupees (~$8) and it is generally pretty hard to find beef in India since cows are sacred to Hindu people. Yes, you do see them wandering around in busy traffic and mingling amongst the locals just as I had always heard. Of course, this filet wasn't beef. Water buffalo. I guess there might be a cut of filet mignon in water buffalo, right?
The next day was super hectic as I had to make sure I finished all my work so I could catch the plane and leave my laptop behind. With 7 of us going, we had a pretty good sized crew making the journey to Kuala Lumpur. We hopped in the taxis and made it to the airport around 5:30. Security at the Hyderabad airport consists pretty much a single x-ray machine and dudes with AK-47s scattered here and there.
We hopped our first flight on Spicejet to Chennai, where we were to transfer on to a Malaysian airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. After we had made it though customs at the Chennai airport, I had my dinner which consisted of Pringles, a sketchy vegetable samosa and a can of Heineken from a little concession stand in the airport. Ohh yeah, my stomach is brave now.
We waited for the flight, sitting on probably the dirtiest floor I have ever sat on. By the time we made it on the flight it was close to midnight and I was looking to catch some sleep since we would be arriving in KL at about 5:00 am. But of course, it wouldn't be a true plane flight in Asia without a screaming baby. Plus, they kept all of the lights on in the plane until about 20 minutes before we landed. Rad.
The Malaysia airport was so clean and modern. Even after having been in India for only a week, it was very novel. We booked a van and made the hour long journey to Kuala Lumpur. Some of the crew slept, but I couldn't. I WAS IN MALAYSIA! It was such a trip.
Right as we neared the city, we could see the lights at the top of the Petronas Towers. I decided I had to wake everybody in the car up, so they could see.
We arrived at our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, which happened to be directly next to the Petronas Towers, and damn, it was nice. We were definitely high rollin'. Anna and I had booked two separate rooms, but we learned that we weren't going to be able to fit as many roll away beds as we would have liked in two separate rooms, so we ended up splurging a tiny bit more and getting a two bedroom suite.
Wow! This suite was sweet (I know you are groaning over that one)! It had two rooms with 2 bathrooms, a big living room and even a full kitchen. Plus, since we were staying in such a swanky place, they let us check in at 6:30 am. None of us thought we were going to get any sleep that night and we ended up resting up in this super posh room.
The next day, we woke up around 11 and went over to the mall in the Petronas Towers. This mall was also super nice. Six stories and every high end store you could imagine, as well as, the more reasonable joints. It was like Santana Row on steriods, plus Valley Fair and Oakridge all in one.
We grabbed some lunch from A&W (Yes, they had A&W) and wandered around for a bit. I bought some cheapy flip flops since they were the one thing that I forgot in Hyderabad, checked out the Nike store that had some pretty cool stuff that we don't have in the US, and watched some Taiko drummers perform in the center of the mall.
Afterwards, we ventured to the Cental Market which was kind of like a high end, indoor flea market. They had some pretty cool stuff and I ended up buying an handmade Malaysian mask, and trying to haggle for a cheap watch, but the guy just wouldn't go low enough.
Next we headed to China town, which was more like China Street, where you could buy all manner of counterfeit goods. Clothes, watches, belts, purses, DVD's, you name it, and all of it dirt cheap. I ended up buying a t-shirt and found my cheap watch which I probably should have haggled a bit more for.
The place was packed full of people and there were some very interesting smells there to say the least. There was this one old lady who had a stand with some newspaper clippings touting the quality of the candies she was mixing and cutting up. Well, at least I think it was touting the quality, but I'm not quite sure since it was written in Chinese.
The candies kinda looked like raw fish and she was taking this big hunks and cutting them down to smaller pieces and mixing them in crushed up peanuts. Apparently, it was home made mochi and Jeff bought a box of the lychee flavored stuff. Being that it looked like big hunks of raw fish that had been sitting in the sun in the middle of this crowded dirty market, I was a bit skeptical, but I tried it. It was alright. A little too squishy for me, but definitely interesting.
After China Town, we headed back to the mall next to the hotel where I wandered around and did quite well for myself in search of bargains. I was able to get a Diesel polo, Diesel jeans, and three dress shirts for about 250 ringgits which is just a bit over $70. Not too shabby.
Everybody then rendezvoused at the hotel room and we went out for Jeff's birthday dinner at a Malaysian restaurant. The service was horrible, and I am still not quite sure what Malaysian food is, but from what we had, it is a bit Indian, a bit Chinese, and a bit south east Asian. We finished off the meal with a piece of durian cheesecake that they brought for Jeff's birthday. If you haven't tried durien, I highly recommend that you go to your local Asian food market and pick one up.
After dinner we went to what was supposed to be the hottest club in Kuala Lumpur called Zouks. Zouks is actually two different clubs right next to each other, one electronic music, the other hip-hop/R&B. We went to the R&B club which was totally dead and freezing inside. I made quick friends with the bartender by tipping him a ringgit (30 cents). He made sure I was taken care of for the rest of the night.
The place started to liven up, and the crew decided to get a bottle of Jack and do the night right. Soon enough, the dance floor was packed and we were having a great time. The rest of the crew left somewhat early, but Jeff and I stayed until the club closed at 4 in the morning getting to know a couple of locals.
The next day Anna and Travis grabbed tickets to the Petronas Towers, and we all went right after Jeff and I got up. Now, these towers were really all I knew about Kuala Lumpur before I got there, but they are actually pretty impressive structures. They are the tallest twin towers in the world and are very attractive. The aesthetics of the buildings really do seem to fit with the city. They don't appear to be giant buildings that were built just for the sake of being giant. If you check out my album, you'll see that I was able to grab a couple pictures of them.
Unfortunately, they only let you go up to the sky bridge that connects the two towers which is only about half way up. There isn't a whole lot to see, but it was interesting, nonetheless.
Afterwards, we checked out of the hotel, stowed our bags and headed back to the mall for lunch at CPK. In India, they only really have Indian food. Even things that aren't Indian, are. Domino's pizza even has a bit of an Indian twinge. CPK tasted just like CPK back home and everybody ended up getting two dishes each. Spinach artichoke dip and a garlic chicken pizza for me. Ohh yeah, baby.
The group then split up and Jeff, Anna and I decided to go do a little bit of sight seeing. We talked to the concierge at the Mandarin, and he let us know that we had done pretty much everything there was to do in town, but pointed us in the direction of a mosque that he said we should check out, and you guessed it, more malls.
We hopped on the subway and made our way to the mosque which ended up being very interesting. Anna was wearing a dress and Jeff and I were both wearing shorts, so we didn't think there was any way we were going to be allowed inside, but when we got there, this extremely friendly Malaysian man gave us these graduation robe-esque garments and a head wrap for Anna, and let us walk around.
We couldn't go in the mosque itself, but we were allowed to walk around the grounds and take pictures. It was a really neat experience. The friendliness of the gentleman at the front gate surprised us all. On television in the US the only Muslims you see are angry, charged up, Muslim men yelling in front of the camera. To meet this man who welcomed us so openly to the mosque was surprising, unfortunately. It really made me think about how other parts of the world are portrayed through the lens of American television cameras.
We then took the L to another part of town where we quickly cruised through a couple of malls, but didn't find anything of interest. Jeff and I decided to get a massage at one of the places we had passed. Super cheap massages seem to be an indulgence of all of the ex-pats, so I decided that I would give it a whirl. Jeff opted for the hour long foot massage while I went for the full body massage. I know what you guys are thinking, so just to clarify, it was not one of 'those' kind of massages. I know. Cheap massage, Southeast Asia, but no, and for $20, it was one hell of an hour long massage. I can tell you that. Afterwards, I wanted to head straight to bed.
Back to the hotel where we caught a cab to the airport, and then on the plane for our direct flight to Hyderabad. Arriving in the airport was just as much of a trip as it was the first time. Make sure you take a look at the pic of what it looks like when you exit the airport. Even at 1 am on a Sunday, it is jam packed with people waiting for new arrivals.
This week has been pretty trying and I have managed to get myself to the gym in an effort to get my mind and body in better condition. The construction that starts at 6:30 every morning does definitely help me get out of bed.
We did have a good time last night for Travis' birthday. A very large crew of us went to Indi Joes which is pretty much American food (of course with an Indian twist). The meal was pretty good, but the AC was broken and I swear it was over 100 degrees in there. It was the hottest I have been so far in India.
About half of us then went to a bar called Twisters where they have all you can drink pitchers of King Fisher for 300 rupees a person. It was kind of dance clubbish with a DJ spinning some Indian trance, but it was good times for all.
Well, I hope you took a snack break while reading through this monster of a post. This weekend, I'll be staying in Hyderabad, so get ready for more stories from my new home town.
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