Use Dipper
Went to a mall last night. It was nuts. Apparently the design of Gurgaon is to have only three kinds of buildings - offices, apartments, and malls. All shops, of all kinds, movie theatres, bars, restaurants, etc. are in the malls. It's a completely contained/controlled environment. Maybe it's to make life safer, cleaner, easier? I don't know. It certainly doesn't make it feel like any "community" I've been to.
As far as crowded, it felt like a mall back home on the weekend during the holidays. Yeah. Last night was a Monday night. It's not a holiday here.
Gurgaon is very new. It's 4 or 5 years old at the most. It just doesn't have the established forms of recreation and community that I'm used to, though by the looks of the malls, it never will.
Finally met the other "english looking dude" at my apartments. He normally sneaks in and out going only to and from his room. This morning he was having breakfast. He's not with SAP, so I don't know how it is he's in the guest house. Apparently he's been here a lot and looking to move into an apartment of his own in Delhi. He can't stand Gurgaon. The lack of community (as I've described above) annoys him to no end. Delhi he said is a much nicer place, though the affluent Indians prefer places like Gurgaon for their proposed and constructed cleanliness. He also told me the water in the cooler in the apartments is clean, though the Indians last week told me it wasn't. Who do I believe? I'll stick to my own bottled water I think.
I also spoke with an American this morning from Arizona. He's a goofball. Not sure I'll be talking much with him anymore. He's one of those travelers that wears a fanny pack with all his "necessary documents" on him all the time. My passport tucked discretely in my pocket has always been good enough for me. He was also going off about all his vaccinations. Apparently he's vaccinated against lyme disease too. He couldn't believe I wasn't considering I live on the east coast.
Yesterday was the first day I didn't wear my smelly bug repellent. Yesterday was the first day I got mauled by bugs. I'm wearing it today and will do so every day here-after.
I got pictures from the first part of my trip to Agra up. You can see them here.
- b
ps. "Use Dipper" is one of the messages painted on the back of trucks. It means use your high beams to communicate with the driver if wanting to pass or whatever.
As far as crowded, it felt like a mall back home on the weekend during the holidays. Yeah. Last night was a Monday night. It's not a holiday here.
Gurgaon is very new. It's 4 or 5 years old at the most. It just doesn't have the established forms of recreation and community that I'm used to, though by the looks of the malls, it never will.
Finally met the other "english looking dude" at my apartments. He normally sneaks in and out going only to and from his room. This morning he was having breakfast. He's not with SAP, so I don't know how it is he's in the guest house. Apparently he's been here a lot and looking to move into an apartment of his own in Delhi. He can't stand Gurgaon. The lack of community (as I've described above) annoys him to no end. Delhi he said is a much nicer place, though the affluent Indians prefer places like Gurgaon for their proposed and constructed cleanliness. He also told me the water in the cooler in the apartments is clean, though the Indians last week told me it wasn't. Who do I believe? I'll stick to my own bottled water I think.
I also spoke with an American this morning from Arizona. He's a goofball. Not sure I'll be talking much with him anymore. He's one of those travelers that wears a fanny pack with all his "necessary documents" on him all the time. My passport tucked discretely in my pocket has always been good enough for me. He was also going off about all his vaccinations. Apparently he's vaccinated against lyme disease too. He couldn't believe I wasn't considering I live on the east coast.
Yesterday was the first day I didn't wear my smelly bug repellent. Yesterday was the first day I got mauled by bugs. I'm wearing it today and will do so every day here-after.
I got pictures from the first part of my trip to Agra up. You can see them here.
- b
ps. "Use Dipper" is one of the messages painted on the back of trucks. It means use your high beams to communicate with the driver if wanting to pass or whatever.
posted by JenBob at
2:55 AM
4 Comments:
i'm really enjoying your trip vicariously. i can relate to the strangeness that is traveling alone, but India seems far different from anywhere I have been so far.
Rotten! How nice it is to hear from you! Don't live too vicariously through me. I'd hate for you to get ringworm, dysentery or some other nasty before a big cross race.
Have fun and kick some ass for me. I'll be reading all about it.
I was wondering where you were going with the big dipper in all.
travel with bob.
respect
fm
Truly enjoying your photos & anecdotes about your travels...one of my (nerdy)
childhood hobbies was all things Everest & the Himalayas, so I am anxious to see where your Himalaya trekking will take you.
It's refreshing to see your perspective on the Taj Mahal...so used to seeing the ubiquitous head-on shot.
And I'm with you...stick to your bottled water & bug repellant!
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