Ahhhh. The Park Hotel!

Thank goodness that I was finally was able to move to Hyderabad. Moved out here on the 27^th of January. It's been hard waiting this long. So far my initial impression is good. The city and air quality are much cleaner, and there seems to be quite a bit more greenery as well. The Park Hotel, where I'm currently staying, is very nice; 7 star rating and I believe it. The Park Hotel is huge and is built in a horseshoe design with the opening overlooking one of the lakes here. I checked out the lake and it's better to enjoy the view from the hotel! Yeah.....there is no way I'm jumping in that water. Thought about renting a boat, but the thought of capsizing into that water scares me. Anyway, the hotel has 8 floors, I'm on the 6^th, and I look into the horseshoe courtyard area. They've set the courtyard up nicely with decks and patios, and lounge areas overlooking the little pool and distant lake. There have been some people that have actually swam around in the pool, but mostly it's occupied by the pigeons. They sit on the railing and take turns hopping into the shallow end; splashing about and drinking. It's nice to just sit there and relax after a hard day of doing nothing!  If you want to visit and stay here it's only 9000 rupees plus tax.  What a deal, and they'll even throw in breakfast.

Had my first observation flight on the 29th. It was really fun to get back into the aircraft and do some flying. I've sure missed it. The flight staff was very nice, pleasant and happy to see you. The whole of process of actually getting to the aircraft is a little laborious and time consuming, and will take some time to get used too. It is what it is, so I'll just adapt. No problem. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 06:15am, so we left the hotel at 04:15am. We catch a cab ride to the dispatch/medical office which takes about :40 - :50 minutes. The dispatch office is not at the airport, but about a :05 minute cab ride away. So we go into the dispatch office; check the paperwork; sign for the paperwork; and pre-order fuel. Then we head over to the medical office to have the premedical check. Basically it's a breathalyzer test and signing the logbook stating that we are fit to fly. After this, we head outside, grab a company cab and head over to the airport. I was going to include a detailed account of the steps and process that you have to go through to enter and get to the airplane, but I thought better of it. After I had it all written out, I changed my mind about posting it. Sorry, but I would probably have to send someone to kill you if you knew our secrets! Nothing personal; it's just business. So, basically, it's sufficient to say that it's an involved process of getting permission to enter the airport, go through security, and get to the airplane. It takes about :30 minutes from airport drop off to arrival at the airplane. Not bad.

Rostering scheduled me for 4 flights or “sectors” as they like to say. Two round trips from Hyderabad. I was hoping for clear weather, but it was cloudy and hazy everywhere we flew too. The First Officer told me that it's normal weather this time of year. Some of the procedures are going to take some time to get used to and the radio communications are going to be the hardest overall. I'm sure I'll get familiar with most of it, but for now I'm taking notes like crazy! The majority of the First Officers are young and don't have much flight time, but they are good pilots and are extremely helpful. It's going to be fun, I can already tell. Times of maddening frustration will pop up from time to time, but I think I can take it all in stride.

Scott and I check out some apartments the other day and settled on one today. Should be able to move in the first part of February. We both have to head off to Delhi tomorrow for a little more training, but should be minor and back within two days to move. The hotel is nice, but being in your own place is nicer. Being able to get away from the noise and bustle is going to be hard, so we looked at several places before deciding on this one. We'll see how this goes. The lease is pretty easy to work with, so I don't anticipate too much trouble should we have to move. I know, famous last words, right!

It's quite a bit warmer here than in Delhi, so riding might take some planning. Morning and evenings are going to be the new riding times, because there is less traffic and heat.  I've peddled a little bit, but it's crowded around the hotel and I'm not sure that it's too safe during the day.  Safety meaning that I might get squished on the road by one of these crazy drivers.  Motorcyclists are some of the funniest ones.  They can't stand to have you in front of them, so they pass only to slow down!  If I just maintain my speed then I can pass them again and then they speed up and pass me.  This cycle goes on forever.  Or until I reach a hill.  My bike and I are supposed to have a date later tonight.  We'll see about that.  

Another thing that I've noticed is that there more cows here, but less pigs. The pigs love to root around in the garbage that is dumped in empty lots, so I think that there might be less garbage areas here. Maybe just more concentrated areas of garbage. Seems that way. The shore of the lake is full of garbage and there is a landfill looking area about 4km from the hotel. Most of it might go there. Not sure and I really don't have an interest in finding out! There are plenty of areas that I would rather go check out. So that's my plan.

Visited Golconda Fort yesterday. You'll have to do your own research on this one, I'll just highlight the interesting things. The ruins of an old palace are there, so I walked around and checked that out. The palace sits on top of one of the hills and has an impressive view of the area. The outer city walls are still standing, most of them anyway, and encompass the palace for miles in each direction. Some of the inside rooms of the palace are still intact and, although not as nice as when they were in use, still impressive. The acoustics in some of the rooms are designed to magnify sound and noise, so that you can talk softly in one corner and hear everything clearly in another corner! We tried it out and it works like a top. It's crazy that they had this technology a 1000 years ago. No secrets in these rooms for sure.  Amazing.  It was really funny, cause while we were there we were constantly pestered by the local to have our picture taken with them. Not sure why it's a big deal, but apparently it is. Our photo groups ranged from one individual to groups of 20 or more. Finally, we had to start saying no, but people still asked. I think that if we would have started charging them, we could have made some serious money! Some things just crack me up.

Things are definitely getting better over here. I wake up feeling bad and homesick often, but as the day wears on it gets better.  It's really nice knowing someone here that you can hang with. Didn't realize how important that was until it was gone and back again. Plus I miss Jeannette like crazy!  Hopefully I can start having more fun around here. I miss all of you and appreciate the photos and emails that you send me. Keep them coming. Thank you.