After a very wet weekend Monday came as a bit of a surprise. Cool, refreshing weather with cloudy skies and a nice breeze now and then. It felt exactly like the middle of October. I’m too much of a veteran of Japanese summers to get excited – I know this is a very temporary situation and we still have a couple weeks of hot and humid weather ahead of us. But it was nice to lounge about the house with the windows open and the air conditioners turned off. And it was nice to wake up this morning without a layer of sweat on my forehead. Fall is on its way.

I took advantage of the nicer weather to go outside and fire up the grill to cook some kangaroo meat on skewers. The other day I ordered some meat online as an experiment, and I couldn’t resist buying some kangaroo as I’ve never tried it before. After cooking the skewers last night, I can tell that I’ll be trying it again. I had steeled myself for some gamey, intensely flavored meat, but it turned out to be quite good – tender and delicious. The skewers came marinated and peppered, so it was a little bit like beef jerky without the toughness. Now I’m wondering what a kangaroo burger would taste like…

We managed to survive the typhoon – a slow, lumbering storm that dropped enough water to cause landslides in Wakayama, and wash several people away. Even a guy from Kakogawa was missing after the storm. Around here it was not so windy, just a consistently heavy rainfall. No problems here, though, other than being stuck at home for a couple of days.

Originally we had planned on dinner at Yoshi’s on Saturday, but because of the typhoon we postponed it until later. Instead we drove over to Swaad for some Indian food. The owner was very interested to hear about our trip, and he served up a delicious meal for us. Very, very spicy. We spent the rest of the weekend indoors watching movies, listening to music, and enjoying wine and cocktails.

Although I had bought some kangaroo kebabs to grill up this weekend, the rain never let up and I couldn’t pull it off. Hopefully I’ll have a chance early this week… I can’t wait to try them.

We’ve got a typhoon coming in today and tomorrow – a big, slow-moving one that should be hanging out here most of the next two days. It shouldn’t have a big effect on work, other than walking to and from my job in a lot of wind and rain. We had planned to go visit Yoshi tomorrow night, so depending on the strength of the typhoon we may or may not be able to go. We’ll see…

Yesterday I got a little more information about my next course at the Kawasaki factory. I even got to see the beginnings of my next classroom, which will be a little bit of an upgrade for me. There are a few other changes this time around – but most are top secret at the moment.

OK – I’m off to trudge through the wind and rain. I guess there are some downsides to relying on public transportation….

Kuniko made up a batch of curry the night before last for our dinner last night. One of the fresh vegetables she put in was goya – a very bitter gourd that is popular around here. Each one has enough health points to just about bring someone back from the dead, but the drawback is an intense bitterness overwhelms just about everything.

Luckily the curry held up against the bitterness, but I had to eat some chocolate afterwards to balance the bitter aftertaste. I think in the future I’ll take my curry without the bitter gourd.

Tonight after work I’ll meet up with one of the factory inspectors at the tachinomi for what is turning out to be our monthly meeting. Kuniko has a party tonight after work, so it works out well for me. Hopefully it won’t rain all over us tonight – a typhoon is inching its way towards the center of Japan. Maybe just in time to rain on my BBQ plans.

Yesterday morning on the way to the local station I was passed by three junior high school aged kids who were either not going to school anymore or enjoying the last few days of their summer vacation. One had yellow hair, and you could quickly tell that they were troublemakers. The were also making sure to make lots of noise to gather as much attention as possible from the people around them.

After they passed me they rode their bicycles right past a policeman on a scooter waiting at an intersection. They continued making noise while waving at the cop, and then a few hundred feet past him one turned around and yelled “Baka!”, which is a pretty good insult that isn’t thrown around casually in Japan.

I looked at the cop, but he looked straight ahead and ignored the kids. I was waiting for him to roll out and go give them a talking to, but he didn’t move a muscle. Would the police do something in other countries?

Later I passed the kids when I arrived at the station. They were sitting in the middle of the road smoking cigarettes and trying again to get lots of attention. They smiled at me when I walked by and said “hello” in English, but I just gave them the cold stare and kept moving. That’ll show ’em.

Starting yesterday I began a busy schedule of drinking – four out of five days of drinking/parties. Last night I kicked it off with the Denya master and the other regulars in Tsuchiyama. It had been a long time since I’d seen the gang from Denya, and they were doing pretty good. The master looked happy and healthy, and the other guys seemed to be doing well. We caught up on what we’ve been up to, and shared some travel stories as well. I didn’t stay late last night, getting home around nine.

Tonight we have no special plans – just kicking around the house eating curry made from the veggies from Kuniko’s parents. This will be the only slow night the rest of the week, so we’d better take advantage of it.

Yesterday after work I dropped by the optometrist to buy some new contact lenses. This guy’s office is right down the road from our place, so it is easy to drop in anytime. Despite that, I only go about twice a year.

Usually when I go I receive about 3 months worth of contact lenses. Each pair of lenses should be worn for two weeks each. But somehow I get busy and never pay attention and end up wearing each pair about a month. I’ve never had any problems and they never get uncomfortable, and it is not like I’m trying to save money. Still, it is hard to stop wearing perfectly good lenses.

So the last few times I’ve gone into the office, the nurse gives me a stern warning about wearing the lenses too long. I always say “I understand” in Japanese, and she seems satisfied. Then I see the optometrist himself who gives me an even harsher warning. This time, however, he seemed to have given up. He asked me if I knew what he was going to say, and I responded “Yes, of course”, and so he just shook his head with a smile and sent me on my way with the new lenses.

I think this is the first time I’ve actually worn down an old Japanese guy with perseverance. I guess it really does work – I’m just wondering if it is a battle worth winning.

Now that I finished blogging our trip to India, I figured I should get back to what’s happening these days. Last Friday I went out with the usual gang of ex-students from work, and we visited a couple of places including Bar Mar. It is one of our favorites – lots of affordable wine and some pretty good Spanish appetizers. Luckily this time wasn’t quite as crazy as the last time – no squid ink stained fork in my bag this time around.

Saturday and Sunday I purposely kept my schedule clear, and spent most of the time relaxing at home playing video games and staying out of the heat. It was pretty oppressive outside this weekend, and Saturday night there was even a powerful thunderstorm that passed through right before I was ready to go outside and grill up some chicken breasts. I’ll have to consider a roof over the back patio, I guess.

While I had a life of leisure this weekend, Kuniko was busy kicking ass. She went off to work on Saturday and got back around seven at night, doing classes and getting her hair done. Then Sunday she went off to take care of some errands coming back in the late afternoon. No rest at all for her, and now we’re already getting the next week going.

Last night we went over to visit Kuniko’s parents, for the first time in a long time. We looked at pictures from our trip, caught up with what they’ve been up to, and had a big dinner. As usual everything was delicious, and we left with full stomachs and bags full of fresh vegetables. This time around we received potatoes, okra, eggplant, green peppers, shiso leaves, a pumpkin, and some tomatoes. We’ll have to figure out what to make to use them up as soon as possible. Maybe curry?

We arrived safely back from India on Saturday evening, and after a short decompression period on Sunday I’m back to work. In a cruel twist Kuniko had to go back to work yesterday.

The trip was great! I posted lots of pictures here, so take a look when you have a chance. I’ve got quite a bit to blog, so I’ll work on it slowly over this week and next weekend. Once I get through this Monday I should get some posts up.

We slept in one more time at Casa Vishnu, and then spent most of the morning packing and drinking coffee. It was a very slow paced morning, which I think we appreciated. Once our bags were packed we went out for lunch at the beer pub, and although we were all not so hungry I managed to eat a panini sandwich to go along with a mug of cold beer. It was our last chance to talk with Vishnu, because he had to work in the afternoon. He arranged a driver to take us to the airport, however. Back home we gathered our stuff, took some last minute pictures, and said goodbye to Vishnu and his family. They really did a lot for us on this trip, and we kept telling them that we’d definitely pay back their hospitality if they make it out to Japan in the future.

Then it was off to the airport. The driver that Vishnu had arranged was very good, and we had almost 45 minutes of driving time to the airport outside of town. It gave us plenty of time to try to drink in all the scenery one last time. Bangalore is not really like Delhi, but outside of town it reminded me a little more of the capital – the cows, the people standing around on the side of the streets, the stands and shops and half-built homes.

At the airport it was a breeze to catch a flight to Delhi, and then at the Delhi airport we killed a couple of hours shopping one last time for some last minute souvenirs and also enjoying a cocktail before boarding our plane. The cocktail was the key to a fitful sleep on the way back. Our plane left Delhi at 11;50 pm local time, and we would be arriving in Osaka around noon Japan time, so I was hoping to get some sleep on the way. Luckily, the flight was smooth and nobody sat behind me, so I didn’t have to feel guilty about reclining my seat. I slept 4-5 hours out of eight hours of total flying time, and even woke up in time for breakfast.

On the bus ride back from Osaka airport to Kobe we talked about the trip – it was really one of our better ones. A little different style of trip than what we are used to, but the amount of stuff we accomplished in a week and the amount of relaxation (not to mention the amount of food) is something I was proud of.

We’ve got just a few more months until we’re traveling again – December will be Thailand and Cambodia, another (hopefully) relaxing trip ahead of us.

We woke up the next morning with instructions from Vishnu and his wife to just sleep in, relax, and let the cook know when we wake up so she could make us coffee and breakfast. Vishnu and his wife were both off for some yoga in the morning, but we didn’t feel quite up to it and instead took our time waking up. It is vacation, after all.

It was a little strange to order coffee from the cook, but she brought out a freshly brewed cup of coffee and a bowl of sugar, and she watched how much I put in, and the rest of our stay she put in the same amount before she delivered it. Sharp lady. After a while Vishnu came home, and we piled into his car for a tour of town and to get some shopping out of the way. We needed to buy some omiyage, and thought we should do it sooner rather than later.

We went to a downtown shopping street which used to be the main street in Bangalore, but the incredible growth of the city had kind of left it behind. It was still busy with traffic like every other street in town, and just turning on to the street had us waiting at the turn for about five minutes before we could cut somebody off and get in.

Our first stop was a large grocery store, where we spent way too much time and only a little bit of money buying spices, souvenirs, snacks and other rare items that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. Ground curry leaves – yes. Mustard seeds – yes. Coriander powder – yes. In addition we got some ready made food packets to try later on, and also some hot sauces to pump up our curries at home. It was a big success.

It wouldn’t be a trip abroad if I didn’t come back with a couple pair of shoes in my size, and this trip was no exception. I scored some shoes for work, and a new pair of flip-flops. Great prices. We also stopped at a book store where I picked up the game Taboo – a great way to study English for my students.

It was close to lunch time but Vishnu wanted to take us to a new brewpub in town. Called the Biere Club, it served a couple of different kinds of beer, but the only one that was any good was the wheat beer. The staff seemed a little confused, but it was a good place to sit and chat, and we found ourselves there the next couple days as well.

From there it was back to Vishnu’s house for lunch of mutton curry, butter rice and flatbread. As usual, their cook did a great job and we could try some traditional southern Indian food. We took a short nap after lunch, and then it was right back out on the shopping trail.

This time Vishnu went off to do some work and his wife took us out. Her driver took care of the stressful driving, and dropped us off and picked us up at various locations. We started at an arts and crafts exposition that was selling traditional Indian goods, and Kuniko scored some hand painted bookmarks for her students. The guy selling them wanted to show just about every item at his booth, and it became pretty hard to escape.

Then we hit the backstreets of Bangalore, with Vishnu’s wife taking us to places we never would have thought to visit. At her favorite sweet shop we drank almond milk, we negotiated with a street vendor over the price over bangles, bought fresh roasted peanuts twisted up into a page of a magazine, and tried all kinds of foods that she recommended. Her mantra was, “This is very unusual – you have to try it”. With bellies still full from bowls of mutton curry and rice it was pretty hard work, but she was right – everything was great.

At one point we ventured into a very Islamic neighborhood, and stood outside a shop while she went inside to buy some supplies for her business. All around us were people wearing traditional Islamic garb, even women covered hear to toe in black. Everyone watched us as we tried to act casual outside the shop – I don’t think I’ve ever felt more conspicuous. There was a mosque down the street, and afternoon prayers began with someone singing over an intercom, and I think it was that moment when I realized that this was about as close to the middle east as I’m ever likely to get.

On the drive home while facing the usual traffic and potholes our driver slightly bumped a motorcycle that cut us off, and I was expecting everyone to stop and bust out the insurance cards, but other than an exchange of dirty looks nothing happened. Did I mention that traffic was unbelievable? I just couldn’t get over it.

We had a late night planned – so Vishnu urged us to take another nap to gather our energy. We took him up on it and dozed for an hour or two, and woke to evening prayers from a mosque a few doors down from Vishnu’s house. Apparently they were breaking their fast of Ramadan, and so there was a lot of people outside the mosque getting ready for a feast. It felt exceedingly foreign to wake up like that, with the street noise outside and being comfortable indoors. Those are the moments I love during a visit to another country.

Since Vishnu expected some heavy drinking that night he hired a driver to take us all downtown and back. We piled into the car and he took us back to the UB building in the center of town where we had lunch the previous day. On the main plaza we entered a nightclub called “City Bar” that was filled with singles and small groups talking and listening to loud music. We ordered some drinks but it was a little bit hard to keep a conversation going with the noise, so instead we kind of leaned back and drank it all in.

By chance we bumped into some friends and relatives of Vishnu’s, and so we decided to go upstairs to another club called “Sky Bar”, which was on the roof of the building. With an illuminated floor and a beautiful view of the city it was a pretty cool place to hang out. We drank and stood and listened to the techno music pumping through huge speakers. If we were on the ground floor I’m sure people would complain, but we were on top of the tallest building in town, and so there was no problem at all with noise, I guess. It kind of reminded me of a video game that I had played recently.

After several rounds of drinks we went back to down to the basement, and the driver took us to Vishnu’s cousin’s house, who was celebrating her birthday that night. The point of the party was to stay up until midnight and sing her happy birthday, so everyone was standing around talking, eating and drinking beer. The food was really good (with some dishes that we hadn’t had a chance to try yet) and it was interesting to find that there they had two Nepalese cooks working – they knew how to cook pretty well, too. After all this food both of us were at absolutely 100% stomach capacity, however. I had maybe one bite of birthday cake, and I felt like I was going to explode. It was a great chance to see someone else’s home and also to experience a home party in India. Everyone was really friendly to us, and they asked us questions about Japan and its culture, so we got to meet a lot of new people as well. Great stuff we’d normally never get a chance to do.

It was well after midnight before we got the driver to take us home, and then we kind of flopped on the bed and crashed out. I remember swearing that I’d skip breakfast and lunch the next day, but you can probably guess how that turned out.

This day was our check-out day at the hotel, but we wanted to take advantage of that phenomenal breakfast buffet one last time before we left. Again, lots of great food and surprisingly good coffee. I even had some cucumber juice with my toast – there’s something you don’t drink every day.

We checked out and got a taxi to the airport, and then caught a domestic flight on Indigo airlines to Bangalore. Bangalore is in the southern part of India, and is known recently for booming growth on the back of IT technology. There were certainly a lot of high tech types on our plane checking email and talking on their cellphones. It felt a little like I was back in Palo Alto. One cool feature of Indigo airlines was that their planes exuded a cooling mist inside the cabin while waiting for takeoff. There were little vents in the walls above the windows and also above the overhead bins, and while we were boarding, and mist blew in making it sort of a surreal scene.

When we arrived at Bangalore airport it was easy to recognize Vishnu – I hadn’t seen him in twenty years, but he looked exactly the same. He drove us the long distance from the airport to his apartment, and we had plenty of time to catch up and talk about old times at Fresno State University. He took us to the UB building in the center of downtown, and we could enjoy some pan-asian food at a place called Tasty Tangles. There we had some beer and some spicy Asian food, and Vishnu caught us up on what he’s been up to. He’s out of the alcohol business and in the real estate business. I guess that is a good business to be in considering the pace of the growth of Bangalore. He even answered some business phone calls during the lunch, so he must have been doing well.

Next he took us to his home in a fairly quiet neighborhood of Bangalore, about ten minutes from the center of town. We were a little unprepared to not only meet his wife and kids but also his cook and maid. There was a security guard at the front of his apartment building, and overall the place was really nice. The cook (Sheila) made a huge traditional Indian dinner for us, and we ate in the traditional way, using only our hands. In the dining room there was a small wash basin that could be used afterwards to clean up, too. Eating with our hands was pretty tricky, especially once the rice got some sauce on it, but I think we managed OK. It was really fun to talk to Vishnu’s wife Ashka, a very friendly and intelligent lady who was happy to introduce each dish and talk about the dish’s background.

Vish and I stayed up late talking, but we finally decided to call it a night and get ready to look about town the next day.

We kicked off the first full day in Delhi by hitting the breakfast buffet downstairs. They really laid out a spread at this hotel, and it took a while to discover that besides all the western breakfast standards they had some Indian food in the corner – chickpea curry, flatbread, and some steamed veggies and rice porridge. They also had masala lassi – spicy and sweet and full of diced cilantro. Yum. The service was great – serving us hot coffee with hot milk, and waiting on us hand and foot.

After breakfast we got our act together and went out front of the hotel to catch a cab. The big Punjabi doorman called a regular taxi for us, and the driver ushered us into the back and then took off. We asked him to drop us off at the Red Fort in Old Delhi, and he happily sped off in that direction, honking at everything in the way.

We enjoyed the drive there, and especially interesting was the point when we crossed from New Delhi to Old, crossing a bridge that dropped us into a completely different neighborhood. While New Delhi was a planned city with wide streets and trees everywhere, Old Delhi looked like a war zone. So many people, so much trash on the streets, cars haphazardly parked and the streets crowded with pedestrians taking their goods somewhere.

Once we arrived at the Red Fort, the driver drove us past it, explaining that since the next day was Independence Day in India, the whole thing was closed. The best we could do was take pictures from the outside, so he offered to let us out for a picture. We asked to be let off here, and he was pretty reluctant. These guys can smell money, and he seemed to be hoping to stay with us throughout the day. I hated to have the guy waiting around while we did sightseeing, so finally we paid him off and he left. He still offered to stay in the neighborhood if we needed him, but finally he drove away slowly.

We went on foot around the Red Fort taking pictures and watching the preparations for the festivities the next day. The fort was interesting, but not something we were dying to see, so we went on foot through the Chandni Chowk market to find Jama Masjid – an ancient mosque quite near the Red Fort in the eastern part of Old Delhi.

We walked through a metal detector to get into the mosque, and when I walked through it went off. The guy working there just waved us through – I guess it is more for show than anything. We parked our shoes outside, and then paid for two tickets for taking pictures (I’m guessing this is just a way for some guy to make money). Kuniko had to wear a fabric garment that covered her neck to feet – I guess women are not allowed to bare skin inside. Apparently it was fine for me to go in with short sleeves, though – weird.

After we went in the guy that sold us the tickets asked where we were from, and then started in on explaining some of the major points of the mosque in broken Japanese. This was a pretty common scam throughout Delhi. You are looking at something famous and some guy just comes up and starts explaining, and then holds out his hand at the end of it citing some huge number. Luckily we got out of it for 500 rupees – not breaking the bank but just enough to sting. It helped keep us on our guard the rest of the trip, and made for a funny story the rest of the day.

The rest of the morning we walked in and around the markets, peering into shops and stepping around dogs on the street while we drank in the sights and smells of Old Delhi. We rode tuk-tuks around town and tried to keep moving. Anytime we showed any hesitation walking around there suddenly appeared strangers with offers to help, as well as 2-3 taxis, tuk-tuks or bike rickshaws asking if they could take us somewhere. We definitely stood out, and it was a little uncomfortable. After walking around for several hours, we caught a ride back to our hotel, and went up to our room to refresh and clean ourselves off. Then we went down to the bar to look through the guidebook and make some plans without being bothered by strangers on the street. This turned out to be a good move, as it started raining heavily outside. We stayed dry inside, and went through quite a few beers before the weather let up and we were ready to go.

Next stop was to the south to visit Humayun’s Tomb, an UNESCO World Heritage site. We walked through the grounds quite quickly and took some pictures before heading on to the next stop – Connaught Place – a shopping circle at the center of New Delhi that was popular for sightseeing. We spent time in a park, and walking through underground bazaars before finally heading to the restaurant that we wanted to try – Veda.

Veda was kind of a modern Indian restaurant decorated with lots of lights and mirrors. Interesting ambiance, and we decided on a taster’s menu to try various dishes. The dishes were… interesting… but I guess we were hoping for more traditional Indian foods. Still, overall it wasn’t bad and one of my dishes included the largest prawn I’ve ever eaten which was cooked tandoori style and really delicious.

Finally, we filled up at dinner and caught a taxi ride home to the hotel, and made a beeline for bed. It was a full day of sightseeing, and we wanted to get some rest before the early morning trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal the following day.