Where in the World is Janelle?: Happy Deepavali (or Diwali)

I arrived Wednesday morning at 1am. Wednesday here was Deepavali, a national holiday (festival of light) so all the locals were off. My boss here wasn't picking me up until 1pm so I figured I'd be sleeping in a bit. Unfortunately the time change hit me and I got up at 8am. I checked out the free breakfast up in the executive lounge and then ventured out for a bit.

The humidity hits the second you step out of the AC. It was so bad it fogged up my lens on the first attempt of a photo.

That picture is the start of endless high end malls along Orchard Road (not to mention the Armani, Rolex, Bulgari that are in my hotel) that are right near my hotel. I was able to get some better photos later right after a downpour when the humidity subsided a wee bit.

After exploring the endless malls, getting lost on multiple escalator rides and ending up kitty-corner and underground from where I started, I made it back to my hotel. On the way back however, it went from sunny to downpour (I definitely can see why they call it the rainy season) so I played lunch safe and just went to the McDonald's next door - I didn't want to be soaked on my first day. The menu here is much smaller than in the USA and they have a few different items- like chicken wings. They also have weird sauce cups that I thought were just lids until I saw someone pumping ketchup on it.

After lunch my boss, Alice, picked me up and showed me how I would get to base. My commute is easy, I walk about 6 minutes through the malls to the MRT (the subway), hop a train for about 9 stops or 20 minutes, take a bus for about 10 minutes and then walk for about 15 minutes to base. After showing me the empty office, every local was off for Diwali, I got dropped off at the MRT station and made it back to my hotel.

Because Deepavali is an Indian holiday, and after one ride I was an expert MRT passenger, I figured I would go check out Little India. I rode the MRT over and the place was TOTALLY NUTS! There were like no gals out on the packed streets, different smells were emanating from every corner and to top it off it was rainy and insanely hot! Definitely a different experience from Orchard! I got so many looks, people asked to shake my hand and take pictures with me. I'm gonna view it as I was a celebrity rather than total anomaly! Overall a very interesting first day!

MRT Station

BART could use this- a red light for the present station, green lights for the remainder of the ride, and a "this side/other side" light for which side the platform will be on.