OK – final review of Gordon House Hotel: it’s expensive, but very luxurious. I am disappointed that they charged me for a half day since I moved in early without notifying me. That really jacked the price up. I am very happy that they provided me a liter of Aquafina twice a day, had a very comfortable bed, and an excellent bathroom with great hot water and pressure. Still, too pricey for my budget (which is damn cheap) and I think overpriced for the area – but I could be wrong. There was also a lot of street noise and the workout facility woke me up at 6am. I wouldn’t recommend it – I think you can do better for the price.

Samrat Hotel, which is located right in the heart of Pune’s Central Rail Station, was actually quieter than Gordon House. Even more attractive was its price – over three times as cheap! Of course, you get what you pay for – a very stiff bed (read: foam pad on wood) and a moldy shower curtain. Nonetheless, the place had AC and only cost about Rs 2200 (about $50 a night). No internet available…but you are very close to many shops and there is a cyber café within 10 minutes walk. It’s not luxurious, but its properly priced. It comes with a free breakfast which, just like the Gordon House, had absolutely fantastic Indian food. I’d recommend it if you’re on a budget and only have to deal with the bed for one night. Make sure you ask other hotels if they have a mattress or a foam pad…

I moved into my apartment in the Kalyani Nagar region in Pune, India today. It’s a very nice guest house accommodation where they will be hosting all of the extreme blue teams. Our apartment has a caretaker, Bahadur, along with 1-2 assistants who cook our meals and oversee the place. It is quite nice and the food is outstanding. Bahadur is very friendly and has agreed to teach me to cook Indian food as well as he can cook it – which is very exciting! I am the first to arrive, but there will be eight of us total in this suite. I will have one roommate. I think it will be quite packed, but the place is nice, has AC, and I am looking into getting broadband. There is a cyber café which I’m at right now only 5 minutes away that charges 15 rupees/hour.

I’m still trying to download photoshop so I can process my photos and upload them. Unfortunately, download speeds to my American server are incredibly slow. Hopefully IBM will have some fast connections and I’ll get photoshop by the end of the week. I have some fantastic pictures. I met up with my boss today and he showed me where the IBM facility is located as well as saw that I was settled in alright. He says I might start an orientation session tomorrow. My project is still being finalized, but he said it looks like I will be doing work with Second Life – the incredibly hot new game/world/buzzword tech thing that everyone wants a part of. More details soon J