It's saturday night, i just got in forthe night. the last few days have been a little hectic, im looking forward to ctaching up on some sleep tonight. i have lunch with shoba tomorrow, im excited about that, i havent seen her since the first day.

the last day i wrote waswednesday so ill pick up from friday morning. i woke up pretty early to do some p90x yoga in my room and then had breakfast on the terrace with the women who owns the hours. as most of you know, i love breakfast and its just as good here as it is there. we sit there for about 30 minutes, drink chait, eat the flavor of the day, and just talk about stuff. im really enjoying living in her house, shes very interesting and helpful. shes the one that brought craigs list to india.

i shoved off to work around 9, the ride there is always the most frusterating part of the day because the rickshaw drivers rip me off so bad. i worked on the financial model from 9:15-7:30 with a 15 minute lunch break. turned out i was doing it wrong for half of the day, but lesson learned there and it was a good days work. i was having so much fun with the model and with the guys in the office. i actually lost track of time and worked about an hour past when i had planned too. i scheduled my nightly dinner earlier in the day with the owner of of a spanish restaurant called berry. i was supposed to meet a women named shuti who is an ex investment banker, but instead called the other owner named shuti, the ex i banker was out of town. im going back to meet her later this month. so i showed up at this restaurant not really knowing anything, turns out it is one of the nicest places in the city. i hung out with the non i banker shuti, and her husband (the head chef) for about 3 hours. they wouldnt stop brining me drinks and tappas, almost bad news. luckily we went in for dinner after the 3rd drjnk and i was fine, i was a little worried for a bit because intelligent conversation was kind of a must in this situation.
we went in to eat and it was one of those places where the portions are tiny but you feel like you are eating fine art. it was a fantastic meal and we topped it off with some mango ice cream. the best part was, i didnt pay a dime. i believe that is textbook wined and dined ladies and gentlemen, take notes. i should be going back soon to meet the other shuti, excited about that.

friday at work was great, im almost done with the model ill send it over email when im done. for those of you who knew my excel capacity about 3 weeks ago i think youll be pretty impressed. i was pumped for trekking and had been planning on leaving around 6:30. around 5 i call the guy who owns the business and he says the group i was going with cancelled and we could either go next weekend or go to his farm on the outskirts of bangalore and trek there. i was pretty set on doing something in the wilderness so i opted for the farm. i turned out it was just the owner of the company and me so i got a day a half of one on one trekking with a guy who has trekked all over the world. he was pretty cool, youd think he was more of a nerd than a trekker by looking at him but supposedly he is one of the best climbers in the city.

after a really good indian dinner we headed out to the farm. his farm was in the middle of no where and we drove through some pretty cool villages to get there. theguy, dilip, says that his family has always discouraged modernization. this house looked very out of place in the middle of the woods, there was a nice lake nearby. it was cool to see the vilages as well, i wasnt planning on doing that and it was a nice surprise. seeing a traditional village was one of the things i wanted to do most. we actually camped on his porch because the ground was too wet from the monsoons, it was really cool to sleep outside here because there was so much wildlife around making noises all through the night. i was exhuasted and passed out right away.

we woke up around 7 this morning and had some coffee and a good indian breakfast with a lot of carbs. we had originally intended to stay until sunday night, but i said since it was just him and me why dont we just trek all day and head home tonight for dinner. he agreed and we started by getting a tour of his farm. they grew all kinds of cool stuff and had a silk farm. its mango seson here so just put mango trees in the backdrop of everything i say because they are everywhere. after the farm tour we jumped on the jeep and took the non existant road to where our first trek of the day would start. this is one of those points where word and pictures just cant capture how gorgeous it all was. i had been a little disappointed to be so close to bangalore, i was looking forward to getting far away from the city. i couldnt believe the mountains right outside the city in ramanagar, thats where we were hiking. there we literlly over a hundred pure granite mountains jutting up all over the place. it was weird for me because there are so many movie scene and disney scenes that are trying to be copies of this place. it looked like a movie set except it was natural. there were temples all over the mountains and it was seriously just endless beuty. everywhere i looked was something amazing, it was overwhelming and pretty moving actually. that kind of stuff kind of puts hinduism in perspective because abstract thinking is hard for all if not most people, me especially. because of this it becomes hard to have such a 'big' and all encompassig thought process that would allow you to relate to a one being that could create all these things that seem so individually attended to. it becomes easier to break them down and worship them seperatly, i certainly know it takes a higher cognitive ability than i have to grasp the one God of christianity and judiasm. maybe thats the point though, i dont know. nwyay, there hills are very well known for black bears so that added some excitement to the trip, i was hoping wed see one. just the thought of it was really exciting and all i needed. my guide also farted a lot so that added a little extra pizzaz and i enjoyed it immensely.

around 12 we stopped for lunch at the best place i have eaten so far. aparently it doesnt get any more traditional and it was fantastic. they served us using bamboo leaves as plates and it was a lot of food. after that we went for a second hike on a pure granite boulder. this boulder looked like a giant rock that is about 3 times the size of yankee stadium. we were crwaling and panting by the time we got to the top, but it was worth it. there was a temple dedicated to shiva built into a little nook on the side of th mountain, by far the coolest temple i have seen. there were a lot of mokeys around here, they were pretty entertaining.

aftre the second climb we headed back and i was planning on catching up on atlas shrugged for the night. instead my friend majid from the office called and wanted to go bowling. he picked me up and first we stopped at a party for a friend of his who had just won 1st place in 'dance india dance." aparently this is the equivalent american idol and this guy has a huge fan following. there were a lot of people there and im pretty sure it was kind of a big deal. after that we heade to bowlng and met our friend alex. the wait was about an hour so the three of us had some dinner and made some bets on the bowling game. loser between majid and i has to sign a hindi song to the whole office on monday for lunch.

the first game didnt count but majid killed me. but then the second game, when it mattered, i killed him and bowled by highest score ever, a 140. clutch. he wants double or nothing through a chess match at work monday, im looking forward to it. i should have some pics up soon, prolly tomorrow. for now im exhausted and am going to bed. hope everyone is doing well.

love
matt