Here is Prashanti and I in front of my company's office buildings. It was 86 degrees and sunny. :)

Have Motorcycle, Will Transport your Son

No helmet, too many people on the bike .... but I never saw any accidents! I think the secret to surviving the harrowing traffic in Bangalore is to just drive slow and go with the flow.



By the way, this is one of the very few Traffic Light intersections I came across.

The Market: Pedestrians and Motor Vehicles Welcome

Here is some footage of one of Bangalore's open-air markets. It was a Friday night and folks were out shopping at the numerous stores.



You'll notice there is no order to getting through the market. Our driver basically just honked and honked and honked to let people/drivers "we were near them." Eventually, we made it through the market.

The 13th Floor

I had a fantastic meal with Prashanti and Ron atop one of Bangalore's coolest restaurants.



This is the view...

Here is the latest Flickr feed of all of my photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/g8rmni/sets/72157594500715396/show/

Enjoy!

Here is a slide show of my apartment and some of the things I've seen in town.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/g8rmni/sets/72157594500715396/show/

Need to Book a Trip?

DSCN1599
Originally uploaded by morrisryanc.

You can put a whole itinerary together at this roadside shop.

A Traditional Indian Welcome

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Originally uploaded by morrisryanc.

The team I am working with gave me a traditional Indian welcome. Here is a self portrait I took at my apartment.

The Morning Commute

This is what the commute looks like every morning. Basically, no one follows the traffic rules, stays within their lane or stops at intersections. Going to work every day is like level 10 of Frogger meets Crazy Taxi.

Since my flight leaving from Dulles was delayed an hour and a half, I was left with very little time to make my connecting flight in Frankfurt. I was a little disappointed by this, since I was really looking forward to spending some time in Germany (even if it meant not leaving the airport).

The first thing I noticed as I was walking to the Gate for my flight to Bangalore, was the the clouds of cigarette smoke in the main terminal area. Instantly, memories of previous trips to Europe ran through my mind: the schnitzel, the pretzel bread, the heavy wheat beers, the Magnum ice cream bars ... Why is it I associate cigarettes with European food?

Anyways, within 10 minutes of deplaning from my United flight, I was already boarding a Lufthansa flight. Travelling business class as been really great, and I understand why my company is willing to foot the bill for it employees: business class is hassle-free.

As I stood in line to board the Lufthansa 747, I was suprised to see so many non-Indian nationals in the gate area. All in all, I'd say that about only 10% of the flight contains Indian passengers. The remaining 90% look to be from all over the world and on business just like I am.

Right now we are cruising at 650 mph at an altitude of 35,000 feet. The outside air temp is a balmy -49 degrees farenheit. We've got about two hours left until we land, at 1 AM Bangalore time ...

Vlog @ 35000 Feet

It might be hard to hear me in this one since I was speaking low and the there was a lot of ambient noise.

Vlog #1: Layover in America

Make sure your volume is up LOUD ... it is fairly hard to hear what I am saying.

Well, the day is here and in seven hours I'll be boarding a Boeing 767 for the first leg of my trip to Bangalore, India.

There were a lot of things that had to take place to make this trip happen. Luckily, my co-worker Ron was "johnny on the spot" with everything logistics-wise and it looks like getting to the eastern hemisphere's Silicone Valley will be thankfully uneventful.

I've been to several different parts of the world in my young life, thanks to the occupation of my father when I was a youth, and also to the adventurous spirit he instilled in me as a young adult.

This trip will surely stand out amongst all of my travels as it required much more preparation than any of my trips. For instance, my toiletry bag will contain a minature pharmacy on this excursion: Malarone, Ciproflaxin, Imodium, Albuterol and Tylenol. I usually never travel with any forms of medication, but due to the high incidences of bacteria and overall disgusting diseases that fester in the southern region of India, it never hurts to be prepared. Here's the break-down:

Malarone: For the treatment and prevention of Malaria.
Ciproflaxin: For the treatment of bacteria associated with traveler's diarrhea (a.k.a., "Delhi Belly").
Imodium: For treatment of diarrhea and gas.
Albuterol: For the treatment of asthma. (I used to get asthma often as a teen, but I haven't had a need for an inhaler in several years. I read on a blog somewhere that the pollution is so bad in Bangalore, that it is possible to develop asthma. I decided to get my doc to fill out a prescription for me just in case ...
Tylenol: You know what this is for.

For the 16 hours of flying I'll be doing, I'll be bringing a lot of the usual items to keep me entertained; dvds, iPod, magazines, etc. I bought a book named Wikinomics, which looks like it will be very interesting. It talks about the power of open, collaborative products and services in the online environment. Think Wikipedia.

Well, I better get off my duff and finish packing. I might be able to post from the plane later on.

Namaste.