Before I get into the last 4 days, I’ve included the full photo set from my last post below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624872159933/
Friday
The team went out for lunch today. We’re really starting to open up to each other and mesh as a team. Everyone on the team adds something different, we are good together. My flight is at 6:00am Saturday Morning so I have to leave for the airport by 4:30am the next day. After work, we stop by a local liquor store for some weekend refreshments. I spent the rest of the evening grabbing dinner, packing, and drinking some local wine (Sula). There are very few options for reasonably priced wine here. A $15 bottle of Kendall Jackson, a low-mid range wine in the states at best, is roughly 10,000 Rs or $30-40 U.S. here. There’s huge opportunity for a wine import/export business here. If any of you capitalize on it, I expect a cut!
Saturday
The wakeup call comes at 4:00am and I’m regretting drinking so much Sula the previous night. Regardless, the anticipation for my trip to Goa pushes me through the morning struggle and I manage to get checked out and in my car to the airport on time. After a short flight, I’m on the shuttle to the Taj. The drive to the Taj lasts about an hour and gives me a great opportunity to take in the scenery. Goa is a western state situated off the coast of the Arabian Sea. The countryside is similar to that of a rainforest climate and is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before.
There are two Taj hotels within a mile from each other, the Taj Fort Aguada and the Taj Holiday village. Both Hotels sit on the south end of Baga beach, looking over the Arabian Sea. I spend the first part of the day shuttling between both resorts and walking on the private beaches they retain. Its Monsoon season so the weather is overcast and rainfall occurs intermittently throughout the day. After touring the resorts and beaches, I treat myself to a massage and get ready to go to a Goan Bazaar later that afternoon.
Goan Bazaars are like U.S. flea markets on Steroids. Bargaining is an art form to the locals and the minute I walk in I’m hounded by all of the local vendors, each willing to “give you good deal”. I pick out a few items from one of the vendors and spend the next 30 minutes negotiating with her. I’ve negotiated with plenty of scalpers at Giants games before, but these ladies would put them out of business! Eventually I end up talking the vendor down from $2500Rs to $300Rs and am feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. After I finish the transaction, every vendor in the bazaar surrounds me. Now that they’ve seen me purchase something, the flood gates are open and I quickly decide that it’s time to get out of there.
I leave the bazaar and go to a restaurant on the beach. Fishing is a large part of the Goan economy as it boarders the ocean. I order a smoked salmon Caesar and crab cakes for lunch in the spirit of the fresh Goan seafood that’s been highly recommended to me. The seafood lived up to its hype 110%! The fish was absolutely incredible, and I could taste how fresh it was. What an incredible meal.
After lunch I head to the hotel lounge for some drinks before dinner. Even though it’s starting to rain pretty hard, I can realize the potential these resorts have during the summer time. Each resort has a bar overlooking the ocean, poolside lounge, and their own private beach. The landscape is unique as each resort sits 50M from the beach in the front and is engulfed by forestation in the back.
I’ve included some photos below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624996538042/
After dinner I take a shuttle to the Holiday village which has a club called Caravela. Caravela was livelier than I expected for Monsoon season and turned out to be a great time.
Sunday
I take the opportunity to sleep in Sunday and wake up just in time for lunch! I hit the hotel lounge for lunch and have some Coronas by the beach. Over a few drinks I end up meeting a group of Indian Private Equity guys. They’re all Ivy League types who did their schooling in the U.S. and have a taste for the finer things in life. After exchanging business cards, I leave the lounge and hop on the shuttle back to the airport. My flight was delayed by an hour and I don’t get back to the Hotel until 10PM that night. After unpacking again, I ordered some food and get ready for work the next day.
Monday
Today turned out to be a very productive day. I’m %85 done testing and have completed some good analysis around some of the exception types were seeing. The team went out to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, not my favorite, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. After work I went to Brigid road, a shopping hub in Bangalore. I got most of my shopping for the trip done today. I really love the purchasing power of the dollar over here but realize that it’s not that much less expensive than the states. Any comparable shop/restaurant is considered very upscale here, and the prices reflect it. Furthermore, I don’t think that the pay cut employees take over here is parallel to the relative prices of goods, just my opinion.
I’m working late tomorrow to finish up my testing as the only Theatre I have left is Latin America and the analysts who support LATAM work the 6:30PM-3:30AM shift. It’s pretty ironic that I came all the way out here and will be working U.S. hours tomorrow. The team is going on a tour of the Cisco Bangalore campus Wednesday and then out for dinner at the Hard Rock. I’m really looking forward to that. There’s also a Jimi Hendrix inspired bar called “Purple Haze” here that we’re going to hit up on Thursday so lot’s more to come before I leave!
Stay tuned!
Thanks for following,
Karl
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