Pay-to-Use Toilets: I paid for this?!! Seriously?!

Now we have all used public bathrooms before. And we have all used HORRIBLE public bathrooms. So imagine the most filthy bathroom you have ever been in. Where you maneuvered in such a way that you didn't have to touch anything and you considered throwing your shoes away when you left.

Now take it down a couple of notches. Remove the toilet. Replace it with a hole in the ground and some foot pedals designed to help you "squat" a little better. Remove toilet paper, toilet paper holders, and anything that might provide some decency. And then add a spout and a bucket. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what the bucket was for. I could only figure that it served to "clean up". At least that is what I tried to use it for.

At this point, I am standing in the stall and wondering if this is actually the lowest point in my life. I am really regretting drinking the 1.5 liters of water. Boy, what I wouldn't give. Thankfully, I had a small pack of tissues from the airplane. It had two tissues in it - each about the size of a square of toilet paper. This is my saving grace. But too add salt to my wounds, about a minute or two into this whole affair, women start pounding on the door yelling at me to get out.

And all the while, I keep thinking "and I PAID to use this?!" I can't possibly imagine what the FREE toilets look like. I probably cannot do this justice in describing the horrible scene. But it took me several hours to recover. I refused to eat anything, touch anything, or otherwise spread these horrible germs around until I returned to my hotel that evening.

I returned to Tomax today and told one of the Indian women that works in our SLC office about using a "pay-to-use" bathroom. She gasped and said "no! no you didn't!". She said it all.

Mysore: Starts as Foreigner Fee, Moves to Just Plain Foreigner

We went to several places starting with St. Philomena's church. This is a big gothic, Christian church in the middle of town. The Mysore King was friendly to all religions and had several churches built for all people. Also, the state/country was under British Rule until 1947.

Then we went to Mysore Zoo. And again, the foreigner fee. Jairam just started saying, 1 adult and 1 foreigner and the ticket counter. Might as well have been 1 adult, 1 alien. But once I started going to places with more and more people, I really was the foreigner. I was used to the fact that I didn't understand the language, but the people in Bangalore see Europeans and Americans all the time and they don't treat you any different. In these smaller towns, I really was a novelty. Children would just stare and stare and stare at me. Adults would too, but they would try to be more discrete.

We went to the Lalitha Mahal Palace next. This palace was built by the king for his wife and is a beautiful white structure. But the government converted it to a hotel many years ago. We ate here for lunch - the colors and architecture are incredible. We also took a horse and buggy ride. The horse was so excited to be working that it was going really fast and we were almost up on two wheels around the corners. I was laughing my head off. BTW, no foreigner fee for the horse ride. I got to pay the same rate as Jairam.

Next, Mysore Palace. This is the main palace for the state where the King lived. The palace is so huge. And incredibly crowded with people. Foreigner fee. And I had to turn in my camera. And we had to turn in our shoes and pay someone to watch them. So during all this confusion, I was standing to the side. I just let Jairam handle everything since most people only speak a little English and will generally take advantage of "foreigners".

While I was waiting, two Indian guys came up and started talking to me. Where was I from, what was I doing here, can they help me with anything.

Next, I noticed a whole family staring at me. Grandmother, father, two teenage daughters. They were all pointing and talking. Yep, me the crazy looking foreigner. And it is true that no one has blonde hair, blue eyes in India. Finally, one daughter spoke a little English and wanted to know my name and where I was from. I don't even bother with "Salt Lake City" or even "Utah". I just say the United States. I could hear her telling the rest of the family and they were quite excited and moved closer to get a better look at the freak (me). Then, they asked me if they could take a picture of me. I said "sure". I mean, why not? So the two girls stood with me. But then, once they realized I was a friendly foreigner, they all wanted a picture with me. Classic. Nothing like getting out of one's comfort zone.

We toured the palace and it was remarkable. The wealth of the king was astounding. He had the most ornate walls, doors, furniture, possessions, and artwork. Worth millions. He did also seem like a nice King. He had pictures of his children, wife, and other family members all around. Very unusual to see pictures/portraits of children in these places.

We ended the tour with a ride on a camel - an actual camel with a saddle on his humps. We had to climb a stair case to hop on top. Oh, and we are doing all of this barefooted. You can't wear shoes in temples or the palace. The camel was so smug and had the funniest looking face. It's a pretty bumpy ride.

But then we decided to also ride the elephant. We sat with another family of four on this big African elephant. Her name was Sancheel and she was 45 years old. We sat on a little podium on top just like the depictions of the kings, but I have to say it's not that comfortable. An elephant is way bumpier than a horse or a camel. Those big legs lead to big shoulders and the big shoulders move around like crazy. It was really fun and I really wish Kenna could have been there with me! People were laughing at me (foreigner) because I was doing all this "kid" stuff. But I didn't care.

Mysore Visits: "Foreigner" Fee

Our first stop on our road trip was a summer home that belonged to a King - Daria Daulat. The home and gardens were incredible - so huge and beautiful. Every floor, wall, and ceiling had intricate artwork. This owner must have been very, very rich. This is also where I first learned about being a "foreigner". At the gate, Jairam paid 5 rupees (10 cents), I had to pay 100 rupees ($2.00). Now that is not so bad in the scheme of things, but I was shocked at the disparity.

Next stop, a bird sanctuary. And again, a foreigner fee roughly 10-20 times the amount for a "resident". Jairam is actually a U.S. citizen so he should have been paying the high rates, but since he is actually from Bangalore and can speak many of the local languages (I've heard him use at least three - Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil) the people working the ticket booths don't know any better.

This sanctuary was beautiful - gardens were incredible. We took a boat ride around to see the birds. There were birds from 18 countries including North America. I couldn't get over that part. Since I had just flown from SLC, I just couldn't figure out how the birds would make it all that way! Where did they stop? And so I kept asking Jairam question after question but of course he doesn't know and he doesn't want to ask the guide because the boat is full of other locals. And admittedly, my questions were a bit ostentatious.

My favorite part of the visit was the crocodiles. We saw two right up close and they were quite large! The first one we came upon was sunning himself on a rock and a big bird was standing right next to him. I loved the juxtaposition.

I have three fundamental truths that I have observed in India:

1. Nothing goes until it is full (I was calling this "tons of people" at first, but it morphed over the days). Nothing in India will go until it is packed full of people. This is true of elevators, busses, cars, tour boats, taxis, cars, 2 wheelers.

This was also true of our boat ride tour of the sanctuary. Even on our drive to Mysore, I would see tiny cars (smaller than the Toyota Echo) with 8-10 people in them. Four or five in front and the same in back.

2. Everything is Indian food (see McDonald's post)

3. High Heels Don't Work Here (seems obvious when you say it outloud, but I sure didn't think this one through when I packed)

McDonalds: Universal Way To Start a Road Trip

If my father is reading this, he will be very disappointed that I ate at McDonalds. We started our trip at 6:30 AM and neither of us ate breakfast, so by the time we were a couple of hours into it, we were hungry. The road to Mysore is much more modern than a few year ago, but it is still flooded with tiny town after tiny town. And it is unsafe to eat from unknown establishments because of the water and food preparations, so McD's it is.

But back to one of my fundamentals here - EVERYTHING is Indian. Oh, and they don't have a breakfast menu. So my choices were all sorts of Indian sandwiches and wraps. I chose fries.

I loved these tiny towns - lots of homes made out of sticks and straw (huts). Many were very run down. But all had cows and dogs everywhere. Almost every front yard had a cow. The towns are all farming towns, so you could see beautiful fields everywhere. And really no tractors - everything was manual using bulls to pull the equipment. So amazing to see.

And the other remarkable thing... guess what? India has school on Saturdays. So kids, think about that. SIX days of school.

Day 3-5 India: This Ain't No Vacation

Day 3, 4 and 5 kind of run together. We were doing so much work all of the time and then trying to fit in as many activities in the evening that we were running everywhere all of the time.
On Wednesday, I took about 10 people from the group below (10 of the people who work on merchandising) and we went to a mall to tour some retail stores. This was a "training" class for them. We had set an agenda so that I would be spending several hours each day training the teams. So they were very surprised to learn that we were doing a field trip. They were also SO surprised when they realized I would be doing the training and yet, I didn't know much about India retail stores.
As I had hoped, these stores had all of the same problems as retailers in the U.S. and in many cases worse! We divided into teams, I gave them assignments (things to look for, evaluate) and then we split up to visit different stores. We eventually returned to the office and compared notes and talked about how the software we are building solves many of the problems we had seen. The teams completely loved it. We worked a longer night on Wednesday and I didn't get back to my hotel around 8pm. I didn't want to try and do any activities and this ended up being the only night that we didn't do something!

Thursday was also a busy, busy working day. We rarely even get a bathroom break. And then, I have to do my U.S. work in the morning and nights too. So this aint no vacation. I am really grateful for the few times we do get to go see some things. Thursday was also the evening of our company party. It was held at a hotel and consisted of entertainment (dances, skits) from the employees, games, and then dinner. We have some incredibly talented entertainers in our little company! Sylaja had purchased me a saree years ago and I had brought it with me and wore it to the party. The team LOVED that. They all kept telling me how nice I looked. The Indian people have very strong traditions - especially around clothing, food, and religion. Jairam does take me to these wonderful places for lunch. Thursday, we got to eat South Indian which is a lot of rice and very spicy food. It was incredible. And our restaurant was on top of a building. The ceiling and walls were made of glass and water was pouring over them creating an amazing ambience.

Friday (Day 5) was our last day in the office. Again, such a busy, busy day. So many people to meet with, many more trainings to hold, and trying to cram it all in at the last minute. Also, Jairam had purchased tickets for us to go to a movie so we had to be done by 6:45 PM. Most days we end around 7PM. The team gave us gifts, wished us well, and was very sad to see us go. They really like having us visit and show incredible hospitality. Honestly, we don't even compare in the U.S.
So the movie was quite an experience. The theater itself is just like the U.S. Very new, nice stadium seating, assigned seats. But there were a few differences that cracked me up.

1. For starters, no one shows up until after the movie has already started. They come in during the previews and it seems that no one wants to watch them. In fact, we thought we were in the wrong theater because it was opening night for the show and there were only a few of us in there. But sure enough, during the previews, people start pouring in.
2. One of my previous observations also remains true at the movies - all food is Indian. They serve many choices like the Utah theaters, but the choices are all Indian food. They have popcorn, but it has Indian spices (fortunately, I did get a small BUTTER ONLY popcorn). But many people choose CORN instead of popcorn. They have a big pot of corn and they mix it with spices and put it in these little "popcorn" dishes.
3. "Interval" - a.k.a. intermission. Half way through the movie, it stops and a big "Interval" sign shows up. The lights go on and you have 5 minutes to use the bathroom and/or buy more food. Almost the entire theater empties out - people milling around the concessions and then everyone files back in. Now this is brilliant. I wish we had this. I think I have had to take Kenna to the bathroom EVERY time we go to the movie. Plus, wouldn't we all like just one more snack or drink? I totally love the concept.

Day 2 India: Wild Ride Through Bangalore

I'm really learning to love Indian food. It is so good! We ate at a really fancy restaurant at a hotel called The Taj. This is the same chain that was bombed in Mumbai. Because of all the bombings, every hotel and every public place has introduced security guards everywhere, metal detectors, frisking and purse checks. It's really pretty crazy. And everyone keeps telling me it has never been like this before.

But anyway, today we ended the work day early so we could take a tour through Bangalore. This was so fun and about 10-12 team members went with us. I totally loved it! We went to the state capital and courthouse first, followed by a famous garden called Lalbagh, then two different temples.

The architecture is really phenomenal in some parts and then so dumpy and broken down in other parts. They have a very big discrepancy in wealth in this city. It has grown so quickly and left so many others behind.

The temples are quite interesting. One must remove the shoes before entering and so everyone takes their shoes off in the car and then walks up to these temples barefoot. There are temple workers there and they have a bowl of incense and ink. The Hindus put their hands over the incense and perform some sort of ceremonial signs and symbols on their heads and faces. They also place a red dot on their forehead. And then they pray. In one temple, people were laying down to pray. There are many similarities, actually, with a Mormon temple. It was a really cool experience to go and see these places. Sadly, I know very little of Hinduism.

The first temple we entered was called Big Bull (there is a big bull in the middle made out of one stone). No one really prepped me on anything except the shoes so I started to panic when every person was performing the ceremony. Fortunately, I remembered one person (William) was a Christian and I followed what he did - which was to do nothing. Simply observe, be quiet and show respect. Simple and logical enough.

So the craziest part of this whole tour was our driver and our car. There were 8 of us piled into something smaller than a Nissan Exterra. But it's India and everywhere you go is packed - so you kind of get used to having no personal space. Our driver was so erratic - he was darting in and out of traffic every few seconds. Almost ran us into a pedestrian several times, came inches from a bus, and nearly missed several other cars. I was laughing just thinking how crazy this place is and thought this must be how everyone drives. Except the rest of the guys in the car were also freaking out. Just part of the whole experience I guess!!

Day 1 India - "Auto" Rickshaw Anyone?

So after racing around Paris all day , I slept about 6 hours before getting up for our flight to India. Charles d' Gaulle airport is so busy and crowded that you have to arrive at least 2 hours early for your flight - and this turned out to be true. We barely made it through security and it was time to board the plane.

The 10.5 hour plane ride is definitely a good way for one to get used to the fact that everything from now on is going to be PACKED with people. The Air France flight was completely full - and mostly with Indian people. Jairam and I sat next to each other in coach. The flight was actually fine and zoomed by to my absolute delight and disbelief!

We arrived at 1 AM. Again, tons of people. All picking up a lot of bags. And the baggage claim is slow and then there is immigration and customs. And of course I had not printed off a bunch of my documents to help get me into the country, but I just tried to remain inconspicuous and made it through without issue.

Our "driver" met us at the airport and got our bags and drove us into the city to my hotel. And yes I said "driver". Later, I will learn why we have "drivers" and we do not drive ourselves. In a small city with no roads, no traffic laws, and 2 million people, driving is not an option. Plus, it is all on the wrong side like England anyway. The driver and two other guys came to get our bags and then they all squished in the front of the small car while Jairam and I rode in back.

By the time I checked in and got settled, it was 3:30 AM. So I went to sleep for yet, another 6 hours (er,uh, there is starting to be a theme here). Got up at 9:30 AM, went running and got ready for work. Amazingly, I am doing totally fine with the time zone. At this point I was 12.5 hours off my Utah time zone. I was able to work the whole day with no problems.

So there are three things that are just realities:

One - lots of people. And that means lots of people on the sidewalk (oh, and the sidewalks are all broken), lots of cars, and lots of "autos". I love the auto - it's basically a little rickshaw on wheels and it rules the city. There are hundreds of them everywhere. There are very few traffic signals, lanes, or general traffic laws. It is simply a matter of intimidation - the more aggresive guy wins.

So the second reality - everything is Indian food. And I mean everything. We went to a wonderful restaurant for lunch where I learned my own tolerance for spice. When they say mild, it means spicy to me. For dinner, we wanted to walk some of the big main streets with all the shops. Half of them are American shops. I had to laugh at the Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds. In fact, Jairam and I decided to grab a quick bite at KFC. And what do you know? It is Indian food. It might be fried chicken, but it is battered and fried with Indian spices.

And three - high heels do not work in this town. Alas, I brought running shoes and 3 pairs of heels. Not one pair of heels, but THREE pairs. I'm some sort of glutton for punishment. The sidewalks are so broken they almost don't count. It's ridiculous. But you have no choice other than to walk on them. Since there are millions of cars and no traffic laws, you step off the sidewalk, you will get hit. So I had to balance, twist and turn through this crap in my heels. It's my only regret so far - why oh why didn't I bring FLAT shoes?!

How To See Paris in 12 Hours on 4 Hours Sleep

Jairam (co-worker) and I decided to stop in Paris for one day on our way to the Tomax India office. This turned out to be great and exhausting!

We were able to fly business class from SLC to Paris (the direct flight is awesome!) and so were able to sleep about 4-5 hours. When we landed, we checked into a hotel at the airport and then immediately got on a train and headed into Paris.

Our first stop was the Louvre. We ran around there as quickly as we could. We saw all the major exhibits in about an hour and half. I did see the Mona Lisa!

Then, we walked through these amazing gardens. They are so huge and I am sure they are absolutely beautiful in the spring and summer! It had a very similar feeling to the "mall" at Washington D.C. That is my only complaint - it was winter and the trees and plants were bare.

We literally walked for miles and walked all the way down Champs d' Elysees and to the Arc of Triumph. At this point, we had been walking for about 5 hours and I had been doing all of this in boots with 3 inch heels! Fortunately, I did have some tennis shoes in my backpack. I had been opposed to the tennis shoes originally because this is Paris! One is supposed to be fashionable! But alas, after 5 hours, I had to succumb.

So I put on the tennis shoes and found new life. Jairam and I climbed 284 steps to the top of the Arch and were able to look out over all of Paris.

We walked another mile or so back down Champs d' Elysees where we purchased some really expensive macaroons at a famous pastry shop called Paul. In fact, this crazy bakery was classic. Of course they will not speak English to me so I am just pointing at things like an idiot. Except I am asking questions, not asking for things. But again, no English. So they are just loading macaroons, a mille fuille, some bread, and other stuff into a bag and I can't stop them. And mass confusion. And tons of people lined up all around me. And still no English. 20 euros later (which is about $30), I have the macaroon I came for. They were seriously the most incredible cookie I have ever had and since I paid so much for it, it better be dang good.

We took a series of subways to the tower. Speaking of the subways - these are always an adventure no matter where you are. We had to switch trains often everywhere we went (which is why we just started walking places). Sometimes, I would try and ask people which way to go and most people did not speak English or if I tried to pronounce in French, they couldn't understand me. But we made it OK and I figured out the system pretty quickly.

The Eiffel Tower is HUGE. I was totally shocked at the size. Unfortunately, I think I really underappreciated it. I was so exhausted and it was cold and we had to wait in a long line to ride to the top. By the time we got there, I just wanted to sleep. But we snapped a few pictures and came back down. And turned down the bunches of people trying to sell me junk along the way. Thank goodness I was tired and kind of cranky. I was just putting my hand up and saying "no", "no", "no".

That's when the real adventure began. It was 10:30 PM at night and the last shuttle bus back to our hotel was at 11:20 pm. We thought we would be fine getting on the train at that time (it only took us 25 mins in the morning). But alas, this was the SLOW TRAIN FROM HELL. We were so tired, I fell asleep in between each station. But it stopped at EVERY station and for a long time too. We didn't arrive back to the airport where the hotel shuttle would pick us up until 11:25. We were so panicked. We ran out of the train, up several flights of stairs and were just praying that our driver was late! Luckily, we were able to get back to the hotel. I totally collapsed. Next up - 6 hours from this time - the trip to India!