Friday night we went to a new place called Metropole which is by far the nicest place in Mysore we have gone to eat at. Unfortunately i did not bring a camera, but i will next time. The prices also reflected the niceness costing my 1000 rupees for the night including drinks. The food was really good though. They have some sweet stuffed mushrooms. On our way home we hop in this rickshaw and we try to drive up a hill... to make a long story short, we tell (yell) him to stop and we angrily flee out of the rickshaw and start walking to find another one.
Saturday (my birthday in India time) we took the usual train into Bangalore, but this one did not treat us well and it took us 5 hours instead of the usual 3. We finally arrive and 1st thing we do is snag the same hotel we stayed last time (Citizen's Lodge for those reading from India). When we took a rickshaw to the hotel the driver had to do a U-turn to get us there and then when we got out and paid him what we agreed on since he didn't want to run the meter, he yelled at us because he wanted more money to do a U-turn. We just threw the money down and ignored him and went to the reception desk. The guy followed us and yelled some gibberish to the reception clerk who appeared to not care at all and we got our rooms. As we walked towards our rooms the rickshaw driver shook his finger at us and yelled... "your a bad man! your a bad bad man!" It was actually pretty funny because of the irony behind the con artists these drivers are.
A bit of background info. India is a very good country concerning crime. There are practically no murders and minimal other severe types of crime. Conversing with the locals, we learned that the majority of crimes are performed by rickshaw drivers and that they are at a class level of just above the "untouchables" (the lowest class level in their caste system). We agreed and told them that we constantly battle the drivers as they see white meat and think we are stupid ignorant people. An example is when we leave the gates of Infosys, they all line up in front and there is a billboard containing destinations and prices for rickshaws. We ask to go to a certain price and they ask for a ridiculous amount and then we look at the sign and notice it is half the price. Now after telling them this they STILL try to con us by saying the sign is old. The sign also reads "If a rickshaw driver is asking for more than the stated price, please call the police". So this appears to be a repeated problem. Every other day when we leave campus its the same battle like the don't remember us. A bit frustrating.
Back to Bangalore. Once we drop off our bags and change, we go have an early dinner at TGI Fridays. We get a few watered down drinks and food and then head out to a bar called NASA. Have a few pitchers there and then head to the most expensive place we have been to called FUGA. Pictures are of NASA.
Fuga requires a 1000 rupee cover charge, but unlike the states, the cover is given back to you as coupons for drinks. And its a good thing too as drinks cost 350-450 for liquor and 140 or so for a Kingfisher. This place was really nice though and you can tell that the people who go there are either travelers or kids who's parents are big guns of a company. "My Dad Is An ATM" is a common Tshirt sighting in Bangalore. We met some Brits and some people from Italy here for work. Good times were had by all.
Sunday was a day of recoup and travel again. We went to the train station to take the 2:15 back to Mysore and the place was crowded as hell! So we decided to see to a bus back home. We were able to find the station right next door and paid 180 each for a ticket but the bus had A/C and took 2.5 hours to get back. We are definitely taking the bus to and fro Bangalore from now on.
On my return Sunday we ate dinner, talked to mom and dad on Skype and went right to the lab to work on our Advance Java project which i pretty much elected to do the whole thing after what happened last time. Was there till 11:30.
So here is another thing i cant stand about Infosys.... The rule is you are not allowed to enter or leave through a side entrance of the GEC after 9:30. Now i can understand the rule so they filter out bag checks and all that other stuff towards the main entrance, but the don't gate off these side entrances but just put a guard there. This wouldn't be such a big deal if i didn't live directly across from the side entrance. So as i left the GEC at 11:30 through the side entrance i yelled at the guard who told me i cant leave. The rules they have here are illogical. Just like another where your not supposed to leave the GEC after lunch before 4:30.. so even if you get your work done and clock out you cant leave.... another rule i don't really follow and end up yelling at the lazy guards.
I'm getting tired of typing.. so Monday was project day and we got (aka me because i did 95% of the work) a 27/30 because of particulars that were not written in the project specification requirement document... whatever. We have our test tomorrow and then we start Advanced J2EE part 1 and that is our 2nd to last module for training! WOOOOOO! Time to rest my fingers... cya.
