First impressions

Arriving in India was such a relief after our extremely long travel experience.  It is impossible not to be fascinated by the traffic - no matter what time we have been out, the roads have been a maze of vehicles all driving without normal traffic rules! Buses, cars, tons of motorcycles, tiny motorized rickshaws with 10 inch wheels are all vying for the road space, driving randomly over the road.  Not sure why they paint lines on the roads to mark lanes because there is a complete disregard for them.  No shoulder checking ever, just pull out and honk your horn.  Horns are honking all over the place but people are not angry - honking here seems to mean, "hey, I'm here, don't move over".  The motorcycles are everywhere, many with two passengers and quite often with a woman riding sidesaddle on the back.  (How hard is that for the driver of the motorcycle?.)

White people attract a good deal of attention here - there simply aren't any and the Indian people stare at you as if you are some type of celebrity.  Well, at least they stare at the students :)  lol.  Despite the masses of people, the impression is of a peaceful and tolerant society - if all this chaos were happening on the roads of LA, I cannot fathom the angry people and yelling and rude hand gestures you would see...but here it is all ok.

There must be an incredible number of jobs in the security sector.  EVERY time our vehicle comes into the hotel compound the vehicle is inspected (doors are opened, they check under the hood, use a special camera to check under the vehicle for bombs, and occasionally they bring a dog to sniff in the doors).  Then we go through security at the hotel entrance (much like airport security).  All items go through an x-ray scan and you have to walk through a scanner as well.  When we went to a local "mall" (really seemed like a large department store), we again had a body scan and our bags inspected when entering.  Leaving with your purchases you must have your receipt stamped by security.  We had to buy appropriate Indian clothes to wear in the slums and clinics.  There are an incredible number of staff working in the stores - at least half were men (it is very weird to have a man assisting you in finding clothes).

The food at the hotel has been very good.  You do need to be careful of the spice however...I ask them to point out the "mild" dish and still find my mouth and lips burning...(did you know that the spices also "burn" when they leave your body? Lol).  I could happily be a vegetarian here though - there are so many terrific options of dishes that don't have meat.  The meat we have seen to date is mostly chicken or mutton.

Our first day was mostly spent being acclimatized however we did have a tour of the amazing OM (operation mobilization). That will be my next post...