The two weeks went by quickly, but there were a few fun things along the way. It was mostly work - 9 days in the office - but there were a few thing sof note share. This post captures some of the details of the general activities during the week, along with a couple of specific outings..
Hotel Fun Facts
I thought I would share a few more details on my home for two weeks. As with many of the higher class hotels in Asia, the breakfast buffet was pretty good. Not the best I’ve seen, but a decent size with lots of variety. For the past - it must be more than a year by now - I’ve been doing intermittent fasting and not eating breakfast. I knew from the moment I saw the breakfast buffet that I was going to be having some every morning.
The pool area was quite nice. I used the pool a few times over the course of the trip.
The water in the pool was warmer than the air.
The guy that was looking after my room did a great job throughout the trip. One day he left me this cute towel penguin.
The second week I got an elephant!
On the second last day, they added some fresh flowers!
The fancy chandelier in the lobby.
Looking out over the street in the evening.
The Pune Office
Monday morning I made my way to the office for the first time. As I walked up to the building I noticed this fun sign:
Kedar promised me that he’s never seen a snake!
The office has a really nice outdoor deck with tables and seats that you can use. It had a great view over the city, similar to what I could see from my room.
It’s amazing the uses of bamboo in this part of the world. This is a pretty big building, yet the scaffolding is bamboo. I remember this from Hong Kong and Macau - they used bamboo for huge skyscrapers.
The days in the office were all pretty much the same. Meetings in the morning, out for lunch and then meetings all afternoon. It was very productive and we made good strides.
On Tuesday morning I was awake pretty early, so I thought I would go for a walk. I decided to head back to the same hill that Kedar took me to and see if the birds were more lively in the morning.
The walk up to the start of the hike only took about 15 minutes. There were so many trees in flower - plumeria, bougainvillea and a whole lot of trees I cannot identify. It was a beautiful morning and the light was lovely.
From the entrance, I started up the hill. It was fairly busy - there were lots of people out walking and enjoying the cool morning air. It seems like many people use it for exercise - runners and walkers, and there are a series of exercise equipment at the top on the little plateau.
The birds were initially quite quiet and hiding form the world. I was worried that it was going to be a bust. But it did get better eventually as I explored the plateau. Eventually a few made an appearance.
Looking out across the city from the top of the hill. It seems like it’s getting greener.
Almost every day you could see and hear these rose-ringed parakeets flying back and forth across the sky. They never seem to land and it wasn’t until almost my last day that I saw any of them up close.
Eventually the birds started to make an appearance. My same sunbird was guarding his piece of turf and I saw a couple of new species that were not present the last time I was up here.
Action shots!
The walk took a little more than an hour and was a nice way to start the day. The temperature was perfect but I could tell that it was going to heat up fast. It was time to get sorted for the work day.
Early one morning I made my way back to the local hill to see how the birding was in the early morning.
The Food of Pune
Throughout the two weeks we had some amazing food. Every day at lunch time we went out for big lunches - many days I did not need to eat dinner we had so much at lunch time. Often the meals were purely vegetarian, and they were so tasty. So many new and unique flavours.
This was a very interesting dish - they call it chaat. I do love lots of flavours, and this brings that in spades1
On two occasions we went to a nearby restaurant that server an assortment of vegetarian dishes. So many interesting flavours.
Thursday Night Festival
On the Thursday night as I was getting ready to head to bed, I was distracted by lights flashing out my window. I watched for a while and was surprised/delighted by fireworks going off right across the street. Apparently there was a festival starting that day.
All-in-all, not very exciting of glamorous. There were a couple of exceptions. Thursday I managed to carve out a bit of time one afternoon to try the hike up to the old quarry on Panchawati Hill again. While there weren’t a lot of birds to be found, I did see a male peacock in the wild, which was cool. To get to the trailhead, I walked through the more residential neighborhood, which was quite cool. It was really busy with people out and about, dealing with their lives. It was bustling and chaotic and fun. And there was a temple which seemed to be in full festival mode.
My Thursday evening hike the second week out to the quarry went a little better than the first one.
Exploring Near the Hotel
On a couple of occasions I headed out to explore near the hotel. It was always interesting to see the local side of life, away from the very western vibe of the hotel, the mall and our office.
Some Hotel Details
The hotel was quite nice, and they did a lot to be festive over the time that I was there. They made a pretty big fuss over Easter (which was a surprise), and also shifted into a Punjabi festival at the end of the second week.
Friday night, five of us broke from the lounge habit and went up to the roof-top restaurant, Paasha. It was amazing! It was a perfect night – full moon, warm but with a light breeze. And the food was great. I’m not sure why were weren’t going up there every night.
