I'm baaack!

Crap! It's been a while since I last blogged, thanks to a sudden business trip to India followed by a 3-week company training course in Blogger-blocked China. I had no idea so many things were blocked here: Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress, Youtube, various weather sites (why oh why?!)...

Anyway, it's been an interesting few weeks. India was...well, incredible! It was my first time visiting and of course I was in utter fascination the whole time. Here's just a short list of the things I learned about India:

• There are quite a few Muslims in India (especially in the North)
• Many Indians these days speak better English than Hindi
• The Indian accent is actually not an accent(!) It's just the way they speak English, similar to Singaporean English
• The bobblehead behaviour may have come from the cows and is used when agreeing
• Arranged marriages still happen
• A bindi on a woman's forehead tells you that she's married
• Indian transvestites do exist
• All Indian women have between 8-10 sarees, at LEAST
• Do not, I repeat, do not drink the tap water
• Indians do not say 'meat' but use the word 'non-veg' instead
• It's not shameful to be poor and/or a beggar
• The traffic is INSANE!!

Imagine a narrow alleyway that is about the width of 1.5 cars. Now imagine 5 rickshaws, 2 scooters, 3 bicycles, 2 SUVs, an ox-pulled cart, one giant tractor with 10 men clinging on, 3 water buffalos, a baby goat, 2 horse-drawn carts, 5 wild dogs, and 20 pedestrians trying to squeeze themselves into this narrow alleyway. Multiply this by 10-20km, and don't forget that everyone's honking non-stop, and people are climbing over bicycles and cars just to try to get ahead...Crazy!!!

If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it! Undoubtedly, it can be a little shocking, but it's definitely worth it!!