Indian Chicken Dance

Well, on the last day of the trip at work, the HR team runs somewhat of a presentation of the people. They would get up on microphone and describe themselves. They would talk about their education, experience, what they can offer to help other co-workers, but at the end, they would perform a talent. Now, most of the people, said they didn't have a talent or one fellow said he did sports(cricket, lawn tennnis or badmitton) well. One female worker performed an Indian dance, that one of my co-workers joined them. One of the male workers named Ashoka actually sang. Very interesting fellow, who made sure our accomodations and schedule of training ran smoothly. He told jokes and a funny story about his daughter. Finally, they had us go on microphone in front of about 80 co-workers and do the same. When it finally came to my turn, I told them about myself, I told them I enjoyed my stay and look forward to working with them. When it came to my talent, I couldn't resist. I told them that I wanted to show them an American dance that is performed at many weddings called the Chicken Dance. Now, I didn't have time to prepare music, but my fellow co-worker and I added some humming to go along with the dance. The best part its on video. The sound is not good, but the video is priceless. I am sure I will be receiving some comments.

If you notice in the beginning, when they all had their hands in the air, so it looked like a raid! They did give out prizes for the talent show and somehow I won. So, next time in India and if you happen to attend a wedding, don't be surprised if  someone yells out "Let's do the Chicken Dance!" Again, priceless...

Elephant Bath

I have received permission from my fellow co-worker, Tom to publish the following video of him getting a bath from Babu the Elephant. This was taken at the Spice Plantation in Goa, India. I asked Tom at the end How was it? His answer is classic! ENJOY!

Our hotel and other pictures in Goa

Here's our hotel in Goa. It had a pool that was very refreshing after a long day at the beach and on an elephant. The workers were very helpful, kind and considerate.

This was our hangout for adult beverages(King Fishers), Lunch and Dinners. The naan was out of this world. It came with mozzarella and garlic. It tasted just like very thin pizza dough.

I had the blue room. My blue bathroom.

My blue bedroom. Power was unreliable, so the generator had to be used more than once. The A/C kicked butt once we had power.

My tropical view from my room.

Goa beach. We did track across the water to the island.

Looks like the Jersey shore, but no seagulls!

A monument in the center of town.

More pictures from Goa

In India, dial 100 for police, 108 for ambulance and 104 for fire. This was an accident scene, which was amazing. Once one occurs, they all run to the scene, pickup the victim and move him and their motorcycle off to the side of the road to prevent traffic jam. Then, they walk away. Whether someone calls for help, it is unknown.

Here is an ATM that we used in Goa. They are usually protected my armed guard.

The 3 wheeler is called a tuk tuk. Its a 2 stroke engine, that dominates the roadway besides the scooters.

For those of you who watch Tough Cookies on the Food Network, this is India's version of Crazy Susan's cookies!

This was a flea market. This is no Township Farmers Market. Massive traffic jam.

Pride and joy of India. King Fisher beer! I actually saw a King Fisher bird on a wire, but we were travelling too fast for a picture. Very small bird with vibrant colors.

GOA Spice Plantation Tour

We were greeted with ceremonial flowers. I think they are Jasmine, but I don't remember.

Well, I had to show what a real outdoor Indian toilet looks like. Luckily, I only had to go number 1. Feel like a sprinter at the starting line with those treads for your feet...

Here's our tour guide showing us a bird of paradise flower. There was a butterfly there, but I missed the shot by mere seconds.

This is what they call a Tulsi (the holy Basil plant). They worship this plant every morning.

Interesting plant with flecks of colors that look like they were painted on their leaves.

A real working well.

This is red tail monkey tree.

A water snake that is trained when its feeding time. I used the maximum zoom on this shot.

Tour ended with a buffet lunch with rice, sweet rice, masala chicken. They gave us a taste of a drink called fenny or 'Goan Feni'. Powerful stuff made from Cashew peanuts! They told us not to smell or we wouldn't drink it. It burned like moonshine on the way down the hatch.

I got a TATOO!

Relax! Its only a henna tatoo. Pretty cool, eh? Got it for my son - PFC Kyle Gutkowski.

CONTEST TIME!!! Sorry we have a winner!

For all you that have been reading this blog, you will have an opportunity to win an official Indian trinket. What it is, I haven't figured out. But, the object of the game is to correctly identify both the fruit that is on the dish and in the juice. This was served to us for breakfast in Goa. Submit your answers by sending me a message in Facebook.

We have a winner - Karen Smith... She correctly identified the juice was watermelon and plate was papaya.

I rode Babu the elephant.

This is Babu. It did take some dexterity keeping my posterior centered on the hump. Not a very comfortable ride.

We went into the jungle and passed a huge black/yellow spider. The web was at the perfect height of my ankle. I kept telling him to turn right, but my driver said that it was only a small spider.

Here's where we bought our tickets for the spice plantation tour/lunch and Elephant Ride. One of my co-workers did the Elephant Bath. We took a video. It was hysterical. Hopefully, he will give me copyright permissions and I can post. By the way, it costs $1000 rupees which is about $21 US dollars.

Day 4

We are preparing to go on our trip to Goa. We are taking King Fisher airlines. If you remember, I talked about King Fisher beer that our hotel is on a scavenger hunt for us. Its the same company. So, we are hoping they can accomodate us on the plane because I am starting to get the shakes from not drinking King Fisher and relying on Foster's. Hey, I'm in India for goodness sake. I'm not in Australia! I can't wait to take some pictures of Goa of the beaches and different resorts to share with everyone.

I have noticed a following of people of my Blog through FB. They consists of friends, family and co-workers. I am not mentioning any names of fellow travelers, so they will remain anonymous. If anyone from work know who they are, well, let's just say - shhh! Whatever happens in India stays in India...Mom & Dad and MJ - I have been a good boy(mostly). We did celebrate a co-workers birthday yesterday. The Indian team sang happy birthday to him and clapped. I felt like I was at a Chilli's.

The training has been going wonderful. I did a 2 hour session with all the managers. They are brilliant people asking some great questions. They are very kind and considerate and always greet you with "Good Morning, Sir". I feel like saluting them.  Alot of people from home asked me why did you volunteer to go? I thought of the experience to meet the people and visit the country that we all hear so much about. There is alot of slums and poverty, but that's how they survive. I don't know how though with the traffic. Holy cow! HAHAHAHA!

NAMASTE!

Day 3

I have been getting adjusted to the lifestyle of India. There is so much poverty and slums that surround our hotel. The traffic is just amazing. There are so many scooters, motorcycles and compact cars but they all seem to gel together. There were alot of near misses, but no collisions. Last night for dinner, we went to a place inside our hotel called Republic of Noodles http://www.republicofnoodles.com/. It is a Thai restaurant. It had really spicy food. I got the soft shelled crabs with a roasted chilli paste as a appetizer. It is true that eating this hot burns twice. Whew! My main entree was a red snapper stir fry with noodles. Now, I know why the name of the place has noodles, they were delicious. I finished off dinner with a chocolate mousse that chilled my palate. As far as adult beverages, let's just say we all fell in love with King Fisher Premium beer, which comes in 24 ounce bottles. We loved it so much, the hotel ran out. They told us they would have to MAIL the vendor to get a new supply. When we expressed our dissatisfaction, they said they would call the vendor directly and have it in the hotel in all 3 restaurants by Friday.We are planning an adventure on this trip. So, its like an adventure within an adventure. George Carlin had this routine about people's stuff, which definitely applies. Check it out: http://www.writers-free-reference.com/funny/story085.htm.
My adventure will have us flying from Bangalore to Goa, India, which is a resort town with night life. Renowned for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture, Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year. It also has rich flora and fauna. We are leaving Friday afternoon and returning on Sunday night.

Here's what they had in the lobby of my work. A welcome flowers. It could of been for us, but I think it was mostly because our CEO was there earlier than we arrived. It does look cool!

Indian Jewelry by a government runned store. Interestingly enough, with the dramatic increase in gold, the store can only increase their prices in March. So, they are loosing out big time.

India's version of a smart car.

Here I'm standing with the security force guarding my hotel. They wouldn't let me wear their funky hats. They searched our driver's car everyday with mirrors. We went through a metal detector as well, but that was lame. Because the alarm went off every time, but he waved us on. And by the way, TUBBS, I don't have my hands behind my back because I'm handcuffed.

Here is a another Pool Rules for my FB friends from my hotel called the Lemon Tree. Comparing it to the one I posted when I was in South Carolina for my son's graduation from Parris Island for the Marines, it is definitely well written. I especially like the part that no swimming after eating. I guess my mom was right?

I'm 10-23 Arrival On Scene

Well, I have arrived. The plane trip was long, but it wasn't bad. 12 hours on Emirates Airline was a beautiful thing. I watched about 6 movies-X-Men Class 1, Last night, Pirates of Caribbean, Super 8, Thor and can't remember 6th movie. The food was spectacular. About 2 hours into the trip, I had smoked tuna appetizer, which my flight attendant had a tough time pronouncing. She kept trying and getting frustrated. Until finally she pointed to the menu. For main course, I had the sea bass with risotto. Wow that was scrumptious. They gave you several snacks. They came around with hot towels that had some kind of herb that was very refreshing. Breakfast was blueberry pancakes. It was a nice touch. We landed in Dubai, which I thought was part of Saudi Arabia, but I was wrong. Anyway, we had a 3 hour layover, which we went to the Business Class Lounge and snacked and drank beer-Amstel & Heineken, Blue Sapphire Gin & Tonic, Champagne and russian vodka on ice. It kept us comfortably numb. We got on next plane which was much smaller than our first plane. It also didn't have all the amenities as the first, but alot less people. But throughout the whole 17 hour plane flight, I didn't sleep at all. When we finally arrived in Bangalore, our driver was waiting for us. Pretty neat to finally see a guy holding up a sign and seeing your name. I always wanted to be the one the limo drivers were picking up. Although this vehicle was not a limo but a very small sub-standard compact car. Pretty crowded for 4 people plus luggage, but he made it work. The drive is hard to explain but I will try. Imagine yourself driving in a Nascar race going the opposite direction with scooters and motorcycles driving along with you. The driver only took his freakin hand off the horn maybe a total 5 minutes during the 45 minute trip to our hotel. I stopped counting the horn honks the high beam flicks and the almost t-bone collisions that were avoided. There are no lanes, so everyone makes their own lane. When you pull up to a light, you can have almost 8 cars across waiting for the light to turn green and you can guarantee as soon as it does, someone is beeping his freaking horn! When we arrived at our secure complex with a gate, we were searched and then checked in. We unpacked and hit the Slounge bar. It was painted red and had a pool table. We drank King Fisher Premium pilsner beer. Excellent home brewed in Bangalore, which we are trying to get a tour. We snacked on mozzarella cigars, fried shrimp and fried chicken. It hit the spot. We were all ready to collapse from jet lag. I woke up around 5am Indian time which is about 12 1/2 hours ahead of EST. I couldn't fall asleep and watched some TV, but power went out twice. So I hit the gym on the top floor. They have a beautiful pool. They have great view on 1 side of the hotel. The other side look like Sanford & Son neighborhood. Alot of slums with stray dogs and occasional cow on the side of the street. We had breakfast with eggs Benedict and very strong coffee. Whew! Forget about red bull, this stuff like rocket fuel. After breakfast, we had some time because they didn't want us to show up until 2pm. Our CEO was touring and they thought it was wise to hold off on our training until he left. We were on a mission for 1 of the guys needed a belt. We walked the streets which meant stepping over sleeping dogs and enjoying the smell of India, which smells like barbecued hot dogs.We were unsuccessful, but then went back to our hotel and got a driver who took us to the commercial district. I bought several nice things and souvenirs. But, my co-worker found his belt. One thing I noted, there are alot of walkers. We ran into a guy who was walking on his hands. No lie! His feet were backwards, so he walked on his hands. Didn't want to shake his hand, but there are alot of beggars on the street. On the way back, our hotel driver told us to watch for certain taxi's by the way we look. My co-worker thought it had something to do with his weight and though they weigh us and charge us extra. This confused our driver and he said no, but we were Americans! Well that's day 1 and part of day 2. Stay tuned for more. Tata for now! HAHAHA! I am laughing because Tata is a major company that runs alot of industries in Bangalore. You see it all over billboards and houses and cars and trucks.