A few days to catch up on, I fear. I will not complain that I am not getting well fed on this trip. or that my existence is tied up solely in neverending drudgery — but it’s been a pretty constant set of activities, leaving very little time to do pretty much anything other than the group activities.
So, lots of anticipated blogging/online activites going undone, email not much gone through, books unread, etc. Apologies for those waiting for stuff from me.
Wednesday
- We had meetings in the office here only one day. Instead, we had our management meetings at the business center at the adjoining Olderoi hotel. Many good discussions.
- Looooong lunch at the small restaurant in the Olderoi lobby. Very yummy. Ate more than expected, but hard to resist.
- Long meetings the rest of the afternoon.
- Short break before evening activities. Exited the hotel to run across the street to the waterfront to take a picture of the towers of Mumbai across the bay. Accosted by a friendly but persistent beggar, who, once I didn’t want to buy his maps of the city, panhandled 1500 rupees to help sister. (I owe a post on begging.)
- The group hired two taxis for the evening — blue “cool” taxis (i.e., with a/c). Went to some upscale markets — the sorts of places with minimal haggling involved. Rupees are going at about 47 to the dollar, so costs are pretty easy at divide by 100, multiply by 2. My boss was looking at small rugs, and boy can those rug salesmen talk like … well, rug salesmen. Basic tactic: start talking, keep talking, keep showing more product, “just one more, just one more, very nice, just one more, very nice” — the sale isn’t lost until you literally flee the scene. I did find some trinkets for the family back home.
- Dinner at a place called Khyber. Not a bad restaurant, but the food was not as good as Kandahar (or even lunch).
- Back to the hotel around 11pm. Crash immediately.
Thursday
- Woke up around 6:30. Took a quick shower. Turned on the TV — and, egads, the Third Debate. Watched, blogged.
- More looooong meetings during the day. Ate at the buffet restaurant at the Trident. Good food. That’s been a generally true thing everywhere we’ve read — the food has ranged from quite good to faboo.
- Half hour to freshen up, then off to the taxis again. Alas, taxi strike today, though that seems to be more “notional” than real. But we end up in a non-a/c taxi, which has the disadvantage of (a) higher temps in the car (though not too bad with the window down), (b) more vulnerability to beggers at intersections, (c) lots of petrol fumes.
- Off to the Gateway to India, an historic landmark. Seems a popular spot for folks to hang out. Some vendors, some beggers, lots of people (non-tourists) just lounging about. Like everything else in Mumbai, not in very good shape; under rennovation, but not impressively so.
- Went an hour-plus across town to a shop named Paaneri. It’s a clothing shop where you find a counter in the proper area and ask for what they have in a given size or type. Unending pulling out of stuff, “just one more” — ended up buying a couple of outfits for Katherine (and had to fight off another dozen suggested sales from various sales folk before making it out the door — “if you don’t ask, they can’t say yes” seems to be the philosophy).
- Hour back across town to Indigo. Mmmmmmm. Spicy plum-glazed Tandoori chicken with ginger marmelade. Hot Kahlua souffle. Mmmmm.
- Off to Jazz by the Sea, karaoke (no, really just a cover) bar a klick or so down the road from the hotel. Tired, well-lubricated, and thus find myself missing Margie something awful.
- Back to the hotel. Go to sleep around midnight.
Friday – last day! Yay! Sad in some ways, but very happy in others.
More info on that … probably when I get home Saturday. But expect pictures today.
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