Hi All, just a quick update before the weekend. We are going to www.fringeford.com, so have a look if your interested - looks goods.

Apart from that the big news is I bought a Safari Hat, and had my haircut. Haircut a great experience, they give you a head and shoulder massage as part of the deal! Also loved their slogan "love is in the hair".

Check in after the weekend folks!

Late Update

Sorry for not much of an update recently - not much has been going on! But we are going on a trip into the jungle on the weekend, and staying 2 nights, so check back on Monday/Tuesday for hopefully an interesting update!

Meanwhile, we found a refreshingly familiar restaurant in an unfamiliar location.! Yum Yum Yum!

Tennis

Last Week was the Bangalore leg of the WTA World Tennis Tour. A Couple of us went to the Semi-Finals on Saturday Night after work (we had to work on Saturday to make up for the Karnatakan strike the previous Monday). Good fun event. Although very different from the UK




First match was Shevdova(RUS) against Obzile(ISR). Good match, which Shevdova won. Lots of talking in the crowd though, and the game was stopped between end changes so that dead moths could be swept off the court. Bats also flew around the stands eating the giant moths that were buzzing around.
After the match a competition winner (10 year old local boy)was given the opportunity to race the winning tennis player in a remote control car race around the tennis court in a Mercedes-Benz advertising ploy. The local boy won, and the commentator rounded things off nicely: "Well Shevdova you won the tennis, and Samuel you won the car race, so its all square" (Not quite the same achievement, but a nice sentiment I guess)
There followed a very rowdy doubles semifinal involving an Indian girl, who unfortunately lost - great atmopshere though.



Meanwhile on Tuesday we went bowling again - I am improving as you can see!

Mid Week Update

A few pictures from the working week


Played some Catan


Simon Cleans up at Poker


Mike, Ben and Me at Herbs and Spices (Local Restaurant)


Doug caught the sun!


Doug, Me, Simon, Mike and Adam at Spiga (Italian restaurant in centre of town)

Quick Update

Hi all,

Monday morning, and the promised strike went ahead. Details of which at the provided link!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6352865.stm

Nice relaxed Sunday - brunch at the Leela Palace and then watched some films, played some poker (its all luck - and I lost some money!) and some Settlers of Catan ( I lost, current score Ben 3, Me 1, Doug 1).

New driver today took over from Babu - the new driver has a lot to live up to if he is to fill Babu's reliable shoes!

Airshow Acrobatics

Today Doug, Simon, Anisha and I all went to the Indian National Airshow. It really is a HUGE event, organised by Farnborough International, and basically a big jolly for the Indian military, and all the plane manufacturers and affiliated constructors around the world. It was extremely hot, and as with everything here, getting into the event wasn't straightforward. But we did spend a couple of hours wandering the vast boring hangers, and watching the spectacular displays of some of the fighter pilots. Seeing F16s, F18s, MIG's and giant cargo planes doing acrobatics in the air is pretty special. Here's a video:






A MIG soars upwards


A Giant American Cargo plane


Some Fighter Jet


Me


Freddie takes some time off from pummelling the Australians to advertise Indian Beer!

Founders Day

Founders Day at Work on Friday. Sort of a family fun day where staff can bring families intowork, and then go off to a big conference centre in Bangalore and enjoy a night of "Retro Fever!". Lots of party games available, a big food and a big concert hosted by an Indian MTV DJ (who started proceedings with the memorable line: "Ladies and Gentlemen, take your seats, put your hand in your pockets, we are going to have some fun!!")


Anisha and me enjoy Candy Floss (Anisha's comment: "It doesn't taste as pink as back home")

The concert was interesting, lots of dancing by both professional groups, employees and the management team as 60s and 70s icons (Lennon, Travolta, Marley and some Indian names too)

All good fun - and very different to the UK.

Some Links

Hiya all, Ben has been a bit behind on his blog, but he has just splurgged lots of pictures on his site. A lot of them are pictrues from my camera that I haven't put on this site. So it's well worth a look. (Don't be scared by the picture of him looking like the the terminator)

http://kisskissbangalore.blogspot.com/

Incidentally this link is a good one talking about Bangalore from the BBC. On the map we are located near the International Business Park - just to give you an idea of where I'm based.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6288325.stm
(With thanks to Ben for spotting the article)