India 2017 part 1

I arrived in India after 25+ hours of travel… The worst part of all of that travel is that my bum hurt.  (not sure I should be sharing that… ).   At a previous job we always flew business when travelling internationally and my backside was never sore… (hmm still reads strange).   There has to be something you can do to make sitting that long bearable. I wanted to ask my co-sitters but I couldn’t think of a way to politely ask without sound creepy. “Excuse me does you bottom hurt?”… or “Do you have any ideas on how to keep you butt from hurting?”… nothing sounds stranger appropriate.   (I would love for you to leave a comment with any flight bum advice you may have… wow even that sounded creepy)

It was 1:15 in Mumbai when we landed and by the time I got out of the airport it was after 3:00 am. (Bottom was still sore).   I was delayed a bit… something about the visa control guard not thinking my passport picture was me and me stating that I am obviously much more handsome in person.(jesh… no sense of humor.. I was a bit worried that I was going to be taken to the “Secondary Questioning Cell”… it was actually labelled that way and “Cell” is a scary word.  I tried to take a picture but it wasn’t allowed)

Here is my first India “travel” tip.    If you arrive in the Mumbai airport, especially at night, don’t leave the airport without going up to the departure section.  Arrivals are on the bottom floor and you exit into basically a parking garage.  You will not think much of what you see but if you take the escalators up to “Departures” you will have a stunning view of the airport.  I couldn’t get my co-workers to do this… but I captured this picture to offer all of you a small glimpse. (something about wanting to sleep… or maybe they were too embarrassed to talk about their bums… I guess butt talk is not co-worker appropriate either)

I stayed the night (just until 11:oo am… that is 3:30 am to 11:oo am) in a Hotel next to the airport…  Hilton Mumbai International Airport.   This is the second time staying a brief moment in a hotel near the airport and I can say that I have yet to be disappointed.

Hotel main floor just past the lobby…

 

My hotel room… (feel like I just invited a bunch of strangers into my room… hmmm)   There was a curious note on the desk stating that for my privacy I should leave the curtains closed… (No one can tell me what to do… so I opened them and it was dark outside)

 

In the morning here is what I saw from my window.   Not much of a view although I was fascinated by the bamboo…

While eating breakfast we noticed workers at the back of the hotel.  A co-worker, lets call him Nate said I wonder if they are not wearing shoes because they don’t have them or is it part of the job.   (We are all not use to watching construction workers who are barefooted)

I sat and watched these workers who were preparing to paint the outside of the building.   They were setting up bamboo scaffolding.   I have heard of this but have never seen it done…  I was fascinated as I watched them tie the bamboo together with jute ropes.   It became a little more precarious as they started tying the bamboo to posts and the fence near the building.   I then became extremely nervous as I watched them climb (no shoes help them climb) the shaky structure and add more bamboo…   crazy… plus they laughed at me watching and taking pictures. (I am sure they were saying “stupid tourist” in hindi)

Here are some pictures showing them build the scaffolding.  They had harnesses but I did not see any of them tie themselves to the structure.

 

 

I also went for a short walk before getting in the car to be driven to Pune.   (My bottom still ached and I hoped the walk would help…)   I would like to share some picture of that small walk towards the airport.

This was early morning…  and even with no traffic there seems to be the common presence of chaos.   If you look at the cars you will see they are all going in different directions.

 

I love the idea of a tree being allowed to live even if it is blocking over half of the side walk

 

Across from the airport is this river…. or as my nose would say… open sewer.

I want to add some “Weird” pictures before I end this post.   so here are three!

This is one that my co-workers found hilarious… I didn’t get it and was told to look “blue dart” up in the urban dictionary.   (I don’t think I will explain it but if you are curious you can do the search as well…  more potty talk)

 

I am starting to believe that India has a real spitting epidemic…   I posted earlier two signs and saw this one while riding to Pune at the toll booth.   This one adds the “please” and “here”… so it at least allows one to spit…

 

I stopped at a rest stop on the expressway to Pune.   I wanted to immerse myself in the India pee on the side of the highway culture (don’t tell my wife).   Unfortunately  as I approached the side… I came across what you see here… and honestly  it smelt so bad I lost the ability to urinate…. (in addition to the smell I feared that it was not safe to expose myself under these unsanitary conditions)

Please stay “tuned” to my blog… I have so much more to share and will be sneaking out more when I get the time.