3 days.. 3 accidents

Alright.. so here I am, back from being in hiding in Hyderabad, and how exciting was my "being away" time.. well, let's just say it was interesting.

So my last post talked about what happened Saturday during the day.. the well known "things to do in Hyderabad". Saturday night turned a bit different than I expected...

After I finished sharing my adventures for the day with all of you, I went back downstairs to the hotel restaurant for some dinner, and a drink (or two) in the bar.

So as they say, no shit there I was.. while I was enjoying my dinner, there was some singing going on in the bar.. well.. I'd normally refer to it as strangling cats and truly destroying some good old american love ballads by two singers dressed as "ladies of the night". Since I probably wasn't the only one that was disturbed by their singing, they closed the bar doors and everyone in the restaurant could enjoy dinner again, without being worried their wine / water glasses would break from the terrible singing. Examples of songs they absolutely distroyed: Dancing Queen (Abba), No Angel (Dido), I want to know what love is (Foreigner), and the list goes on and on and on..

Anyways, I figured since the bar was filling up pretty good, I'd just get another drink and try to block out the singing and have a good time in the hotel bar.
The ladies were working the crowd pretty good, and that's where I realized, they weren't just dressed as ladies of the night.... the dj was "the boss" so to speak, I was wondering why they were so eager to get men dancing, and climbing all over them at the bar.

In the bar is where I met my new friends, Miss Kate and Miss Natasha, two English ladies that live in Hyderabad for work, and after talking for a while they invited me along to one of the nightclubs here in Hyderabad (.. nightclubs??)
So there I am, 10:30pm at night, in a booming nightclub in Hyderabad, this was the last I expected out here! Of course there was a catch to this whole thing... the club closes down at midnight sharp. I had just ordered some more drinks from the bar (at 11:59pm) and I am standing there talking to my brand new friend from the UK when she yells at me.. "put your beer down!!!"
WHAT??? My motto has always been, leave no soldier behind, and I am sure not to leave a half empty beer in a bar! Well.. good thing I listened, cause here comes the police.. and no kidding, they arrest whoever is still drinking, or even holding a drink! What a buzz kill that is, ending up in jail in India after a nice night out.

Anyways, I look at my watch and figure.. hmm.. this is going to be an early one I guess, but none of that. Some of my friends' friends are having an after party and we end up at a location somewhere else in the city in a waterpark.. I guess they bribed the security guards, drove in a bunch of beer and other alcoholic beverages and a dj, and off we go. In between waterslides and pools here we are partying with about 60 / 70 people in the middle of the city until 4 AM..

On to the accidents..

On Sunday my friends pick me up to go for lunch at the Mariott, people here generally don't drive themselves (at least foreigners like myself and my friends don't) so here come my friends with their driver to pick me up.
On the way to the Mariott on one of the many busy intersections of Hyderabad I have my first accident experience. As Miss Kate asks me: is this your first accident? yup.. well.. she warns me I'll experience a bunch more in the next couple of weeks (and is she right!!)
After a 3 hour lunch it's on to the mall for some shopping and then we somehow end up in a bar in the mall that we don't leave till about 8pm (the end of happy hour) and on back to the hotel for some dinner.. cause after a long day like that, you need more food!

As the title of my posts says 3 accidents, 3 days.. the first was on Sunday, the second monday morning on the way to work, and the third.. this morning (Tuesday morning) on the way to work as well.. if it goes on like this, I might have a record number of accidents on my list before heading back to the US later next week! So far I've had one in my whole life, now I'm up to 4 just because of the last three days.

In case you are worried.. the accidents weren't much worse than fender-benders, but it is totally hilarious to see how they are taken care of when they happen:

1. Accident happens
2. both drivers get out and scream at each other
3. both drivers look at their cars.. damage? more screaming.. no damage? ok.. handshake and on they go..

Off to get some work done now.. more stories and pictures tomorrow or tonight!!

For family and friends, this is Iwan van der Schoor live from Hyderabad. Have a good night, day.. wherever you may be..