There must be a mosque nearby, as I can clearly hear a muezzin calling muslims to evening prayer. It is hauntingly beautiful. Unfortunately, I can't see out my window because of several layers of mosquito screen, and I'm not even slightly willing to forgo that. I've got a couple of nice bottles of toxic DEET mosquito spray, but I'm saving them for my bicycling adventures.
I started this trip staying at a fairly high end hotel that caters to westerners. All the amenities you'd expect, including a staff that is fluent in english. They also have things like plug adapters for American electronics. Unfortunately for me, someone at the company decided that I'd be better off at a guest house close to the office. They just don't seem to understand that a 10km ride across the suburbs of Hyderabad is really not a problem. Now I'm only about 1km away, which, to my mind, is actually less desirable. Fewer adventures to be had in a mere 1km commute. On the other hand, I won't have to worry (much) about getting into full riding gear for the commute. The 100 degree temps may force a change of clothes on me, regardless. Fortunately, its a dry heat, and I really don't find it that offensive. Unlike my parents' place in Arizona, Hyderabad is far from desert, despite the temperatures. There are trees everywhere and it is really quite green. The prevalence of shade really makes the heat much more bearable than it is in AZ.
My new place does have a lot more indian cultural charm - I'll give it that. There's a slum just out the front door with goats and cows and dogs wandering round. And I'm a million miles from places that cater to foreigners. That is likely to be a pain in my ass on occasion, but I know that in the grand scheme of things, I'll have a much more entertaining experience being away from the insulated, tourist environment. Here's the view from the front of my new residence:
I've taken almost no photos yet. I've had very little opportunity to get out and see things so far. There's no public transport to speak of and I've been driven everywhere by coworkers, including a ride back to my guest house on the back of one of my employee's scooter - helmetless in Hyderabad traffic. I don't like doing that in the US when in control of a high end motorcycle. You can imagine how it feels to be a passenger on a crappy indian scooter in crazed indian traffic. Good thing it was a short ride!
My net access is glacial and I'm waiting for my few photos to upload so I can link them into this post. I can't conserve battery so long as I am uploading, so I may as well take advantage of the time by writing a lot. Eventually, I'm going to have to head out on my bicycle to at least find an adaptor for my laptop power cable. I've got no idea if I can get into my office, but if I can, then I've got an adaptor there I can steal for the night. I'm told that the nearest place to buy one is quite some distance away, though I have no idea of the accuracy of that statement. I have yet to find anything resembling a map (or a street sign, for that matter, so I'm not sure a map will help much), but I carry the brochure of the guest house with me just in case a taxi ride home proves necessary. I have no doubt I'll get lost more than once on this trip.
Indian food in America, it turns out, really isn't too far off the mark on the authenticity scale, and much of the indian food I've eaten in London is dead on. So if you are a fan of indian food in the west, you'll eat well here. On the other hand, even after a mere 6 meals, I'm actually getting a little tired of curries and biryani. I'm a huge fan of indian food, normally, but I'm not accustomed to eating it 2 meals per day. Actually, I suppose I didn't help matters much by eating almost exclusively indian food for 2 days in London on the way here, too. The area I'm in is the origin of Biryani, so pretty much every meal comes with all you can eat biryani (spiced, fried rice with veggies and/or a spicy chicken stirred in). On the bright side, I'm eating much smaller meals than I usually do, purely because I'm trying not to overwhelm my palette. I'm wishing I hadn't forgone the duty-free whisky on my way here, though. I'm sure english-style pubs are all over the place, and I'm determined to find some kind of local (-ish) watering hole tonight, if only because I've got to stay up later and get 8 contiguous hours of sleep tonight. Jetlag is a drag!
It turns out that it's a 3-day weekend this weekend. I'm being encouraged to fly up to Delhi and explore a bit, but I really want to get out on my bike. My legs are really feeling the time off. Also, I'm not sure that being a tourist in the center of tourism on a holiday weekend will necessarily equate to fun. I'm inclined to just play it by ear. I'd maybe be more inclined to fly up to a city in the foothills of the Himalayas and just ride up into the mountains for a couple of days. I've never been much of a climber, though. Himalayan hill climbs scare me!
Oh, about the office. Its reasonably pleasant, and actually compares well to my Russian experiences, but they sure do pack the employees in like sardines. Each engineer gets a desk that measures about 2'x3' and any vertical space above and below it. My 5 engineers squeeze into a space that would house a single cubicle in the any US office.
That's Latha, Venkat, and Siva from left to right in the photo, and Vasudeva, their team lead, with his back to the camera. He's the one who gave me a lift on his moped. I'd say the engineering staff are split roughly 50/50 or maybe 60/40 male to female, which is totally rare in the west.
Sounds like dinner is served, so I'm going to wrap this overly verbose note up. I'll come back and link in some photos once they've finished uploading.
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