Fitting In

This past weekend has been eventful. If I haven’t already mentioned to you that Indians are super friendly and nice, let me repeat that Indians are super friendly and nice. I met up with a friend of a friend, C who took me to a local pub call Tavern on the Inn , popular hangout for her crazy party friends. When I entered, I had flashback of pubs in Kuala Lumpur where Uncle Mong used to bring my cousins and I while we were 12 years old. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my cameras with me that night, so I couldn’t take pictures. C mentioned that Tavern is pretty “hidden”, so it hasn’t been raided for serving alcohol until midnight. (Bangalore law forbids serving of alcohol beverages after 11pm, so pretty much every pub/club are closed by 11:30pm)

The following day, a super nice coworker volunteered to give me a grand tour of Bangalore. We were stuck in traffic for about 15 minutes and then he was summoned to fix some server issue at the “company”. So, he left me in the Koramangla neighborhood, alone. I took a deep breath and started walking.







Bangalore is not as intimidating as I thought. Now if I could only build up the courage to ride on one of the auto rickshaws, I’ll fit right in.

To finish up the weekend, I attended a wedding reception. As expected, it was filled with colorful sarees and Bollywood music.

The supposedly "Bungalow"

Now I feel bad about complaining about my corporate apartment. I came back from work today and was so ready to scrub off a layer of dust only to be disappointed by cold water from the shower. So, I complained and I got upgraded from Queen to King. The room names are based of the bed sizes. Keep in mind this room costs 3.5 times more than what I pay for my NYC Chinatown apartment.

The Queen


The King

I have to say that I do enjoy having having breakfast on the rooftop where a nice man in white prepares my fried egg with toast.




My breakfast on the rooftop.

Leaving Comfort Zone

The not so comfortable.
I hate to sound so negative on my first post but I foresee a lot of adjustments to come. I got placed in this corporate apartment through an outsourced company who's helping me relocate to Bangalore. The apartment seemed nice from the outside and the manager greeted me with "Welcome to your home, away from your home". When I stepped into my apartment, it's nothing like what I would call "home" but I won't complain here. Instead, I will tell you about my bathing experience.


My bathroom is supposed to have hot water from the shower but the solar power that creates energy to heat the water is broken, so I have to bath from these buckets of hot water from some bathrooms downstairs. How could I possibly rinse out all the shampoo and conditioner from my hair with this??

So, how's Bangalore? One word: Overwhelming. Bangalore traffic, sounds like Hanoi and smells like Jogjakarta.


Oh and of course, the one that thing that everyone has been warning me about: the water. I will tell you now that since I arrived, I have been brushing my teeth with bottled water and yet I went to the toilet at least 6 times on my first day.

Ok, breathe and think of the Comfort Zone...
Of course there are way more than just these two little terrorists but they would have the most changes while I'm away. And yes, I miss you too.


Jassy with her comb and spilling chocolate milk on her pretty dress.


Juju and I were waiting for Funn to get delicious Italian.