India: 2nd day

We took an Uber from the hotel to the office today. 20.5km, took us about 50 minutes, cost about EUR 5.  Five star driving – lots of honking but no close calls. I never ever want to drive here.

One more observation about security (or what they call security here): When entering the hotel area, for all cars they open to hood to check if there is nothing underneath it (explosives?). Feeling so secure. 

More about cultural differences and getting used to them: Yesterday I found it quite strange that instead showing the guests where the water dispenser and the coffee machine is that they employ a guy who checks every half our if you want something and then brings it to you (tea, coffee, water…). Today I waited desperately for that guy to turn up so I can have my tea in the morning.

As also connecting to the iTunes Store is blocked from the local network. Did not work so, we had to use our mobile hotspot to set up an iPhone. Lesson learned: Even if you think you have internet connectivity, you might not have full internet connectivity. Also, blocking stuff because “people should work, not play” at the end generates more work for everyone else. Update: They removed the blocking – we now can happily use Facebook and other important websites.

Required reading when travelling to India: https://www.tripsavvy.com/meaning-of-the-indian-head-shake-1539322

In the evening we explored the restaurant area near the hotel – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldMark – we went to a place named “Cafe Beer” (well, the name has beer in it, so it seemed a good choice). They claimed to serve 32 different beers, their beer menu was quite impressive. But when trying to order we discovered that about half of the beers where either just out or not available. Still, the food was good and some beers they did have so no problem here.