Feelin' hot hot hot!

That was a warm day.. by any standards. It was 45 in the shade at the pool today - so I spent time running to the pool swimming for a bit then jumping back out again - actually I didn't run as that is DANGEROUS - it was more of a skipping ouchy hoppy thing - very attractive.
I appear to have been abandoned by the driver - of course nobody ever tells me ANYTHING in this nut house so I never know what is happening - like with Carmen coming, the no phone and internet, the staff having the night off so no cooking (which you don't know till you are starving and half cut from pre dinner drinkies!) so in order to get to Harry's last night I ordered a local dodgy cab. I make it a habit to always get at least one dodgy cab per trip - this one was OK except that me being a cheapskate last night meant I ordered an un a/c one thinking oh goody I'll save 30% and then got stuck in a big old traffic jam. Lovely.
So last night was my last at Harry's karaoke for this trip - and if they have any brains they will put my photo outside on the 'not wanted inside' list! For some reason I now see fit to sing AND dance - last night I got roped into 'Karma Chameleon' with a rotund jolly Indian chap in an apricot polo shirt. He then tried to get me to do 'Islands in the Stream' with him but I gave that a miss. There was a table of 3 girls who sang very well ( I think they were using the place for practise) but they weren't buying any drinks which annoyed the owner.. of course. Then there was a young lady's birthday do where the blokes all stood down one end (or went out for a smoke) while the girls were down the other singing and admiring someone's new tattoo.
Manish has ordered me to go to Bennigan's on Saturday and then finally Ice Lounge/Bar thingy on Sunday since I'm leaving on Tuesday. So you will get more of the latest Delhi karaoke news. Did you know there is a facebook page - karaoke friends are forever - set up (I think) by the pilot Andre that I met a while ago here. But I don't think you will find me on it - well I hope not anyway!
Great news on the trekking frontier - Robin got some blue sky yesterday. Not for long, but it was better than nothing. The weather reports make it look like the weather is finally clearing - I have about a dozen websites I look at and then have to decide which is correct - since they are all different - sometimes it is a subtle difference, others it's like I'm not looking at the same area or day at all. Today Robin was off to a hot a-spring (as the Nepalis call it) - don't need one if you are in Delhi!
If you stop on the footpath for more than a second your shoes will melt into the tar!
The country is agog with the crap$hit effort of the Indian Cricket Team (or TEAM INDIA as they seem to be called) in the T20 World Cup. The captain, lovely MS Dhoni, has come out and said that IPL is to blame because they played late night matches and then had to go to parties (but when he says it it comes out like puddies - sounds cute!). The TV cricket wallahs - on one channel we had 3 ex Indian captains - a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh - which I thought was rather interesting - all slamming the players, administrators and anyone else they could think of. Then Imran Khan turned up (former Pakistan captain and hunk) and they didn't seem to appreciate him telling them that Indians didn't know what they were doing and couldn't play short pitched balls. And just now I heard that there was (allegedly, as they love to add in the papers here) a punch up in a Tequila bar between 'puddying' Indian players after their 'shock' exit from the World Cup, and 'disgruntled' fans who took exception to the team having a good time. Allegedly, 'taunts were exchanged'.
Delhi may indeed be melting, but the big trees are looking great. The laburnum (yellow) and gulmohar (red) are fabulous right now.

Here's one of the trees round where I am staying:

And since it's Cocktail o'clock: CHEERS!!

Like a Wir-gin

Sorry, I promised I would make that the title of this blog. Because that's how well brought up Indian girls sing Madonna's song. I laughed till I nearly choked. Lucky I didn't have a mouthful of the snack Manish keeps ordering for us to eat, which he and his friends call Elephant Peni$. Here's a photo of it so you can make your own mind up, and if you've never seen an elephants one don't blame me.

Not a lot has happened since I last bloggerated you - I made that word up can you tell? The power kept coming and going yesterday so I ended up having a shower and getting dressed in the dark - the first thing I grabbed last night was only half an outfit, so I had to have another go. Never try to co-ordinate a matching outfit in the dark - always just go for the black dress.
So I was back at Harry's Karaoke last night and the joint was jumping. Quite a big crowd - me the only foreigner as usual here in the 'burbs - but they were all competing with each other to sing so I just sat back and enjoyed myself. It's rather good to be in a foreign country and not hang out with other tourists or expats - get out and see what the local people do for fun. And I'll say this for Indians in general - give them a microphone (or a loud hailer) and you will struggle to get it back again. Poor Manish was running from one side of the room to the other grabbing microphones as 2 tables were taking turns to delight us with all sorts of musical offerings. And then they screamed and screamed for Dancing Queen and I ended up on the dance floor with one...a little bit Oxford Street!
The next adventure was getting home. Manish very kindly gave me a lift to save the driver hanging around all night waiting, and we had to try a few entrances to the gated community before we finally made it here. It's like a crazy maze, but so much more difficult in the dark. Hauz Khas by Night is not a tour I expect to be booked out anytime soon! Gawd.
The news this morning shows me that Greece has gone bonkers, Nepal is still bonkers and heading for total bonkerdom, and that today we will all surely learn that the Mumbai gunman will be executed for his trouble. Well, I'd be very surprised if that wasn't the sentence handed down. Though of course here in India, like many other countries, these sentences take years to finally, if ever be carried out. India rarely carries out the sentence, unlike some other places I could name.
Heard from Robin while I was eating lunch - he went for a visit to a monastery this morning and then found some local weavers and bought me a dress - the weaver apparently had her loom set wrong, and so the material came out as 1.8m wide by 2.5 m long - which is way too big for your average Bhutanese lady. So he got it cheap for me. How the hell I am supposed to wear a length of material as a dress is anybody's guess.... hope I don't have to wear it to meet the king!
The sat phone saga continues - I am now trying to get hold of the man in Abu Dhabi to tell him to call Robin in half an hour, as his phone is on the horse but will arrive soon. And now I get the Abu Dhabi answering service in 8 different languages I don't speak. GRRRRR. This could turn out more annoying than last years broken stoves. For those of you who missed that palaver: http://www.adventure.com.au/webforum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=55 will bring you up to speed.
LUNCH BREAK INTERRUPTED BY PHONE CALLS....
Well you won't believe this - a breakthrough! We have an iPhone which didn't seem to be working anywhere, so I just used it to play hangman. Anyway, Robin can call the iPhone from the sat phone, but can't call my phone with Indian Sim. I can't call the Bhutan phone or the sat phone from the iPhone, but I can call the Bhutan phone from the Indian Sim, and the iPhone doesn't work at all in Nepal. ARE YOU KEEPING UP???? So, it does appear that what the nice man at Thuraya told me was true - the  Indian government are blocking all calls in their area (not just their country) to or from sat phones and phones they can't trace (like the roaming iPhone). How bloody ridiculous.
I'm off to buy another phone - 2 just isn't enough to carry around in my opinion!!!!!
And have a lie down