Navin and the Oktoberfest

A colleague of mine at work said to me that before you die there 3 places you need to visit. You need to visit Bora Bora, stay in the south of Australia and come to the Munich Oktoberfest!! 1 down, 2 more to go :) It was a blast having Navin over and from what he was telling us he had a such good time that he will need to start popping prozacs once back in Boston. We met up in the Oktoberfest the day he landed and what transpired after, less said the better. Its a weird feel at the fest itself, there is a medley of large tents, throngs of people, thick aroma of roasted chicken and flashing neon lights from all the rides. Each of the tents itself holds about 5000 or more drunk people jiving to beats of a bavarian band. Popular numbers like 'Hotel California' and 'Angel' send the crowds into a tizzy. Beer is served in units of Maβ, a liter of beer, and respectable consumption for a beer afficando I am told is about 4-5 units. My experience was after 3, its happy time and after 4 its sleep time. Seriously though, one of the best experiences in Munich was the Oktoberfest and I am already looking forward to next year. People are very friendly and extremely well behaved, perhaps only possible here in Munich. Priya and Navin did a lot of the tourity stuff while he was here, a lot of places that I have not been too. We did get a day in the mountains, did some hiking and lots of eating. Overall great fun to have him, also I think Priya was glad to have the company while I was in India. I was in Gurgaon for a few days, an eye-opener and certainly one of the strongest bastions supporting the 8% GDP growth. I was also quite disappointed with a long list of issues one has to endure while living there like traffic, pollution, poor infrastructure... but then thats probably most of India. The pace of Gurgaon is quite incredible, everybody is in a tearing hurry. Next post- Bihari (Prasoon) in Munich :)