31st May 2011.
Last night Rudy had slept along with us in our room. We woke up today morning to the feeling of having missed something. Also, there was an accounts bill of like $19.45 for some apparent in-room movie that we had ordered on the 28th. The thing is, we hadn't ordered any of the movies, but had just browsed through whatever was there. And yes, it is possible to order Adult Content from your room in the hotel. No, we did not order any. So we thought we'd first meet NG since he was supposed to be leaving before us, and then we'd head down to breakfast. When we went to his room though, he was taking a shower, so we decided to just proceed on down to breakfast.
During breakfast, we discussed a number of things. Rudy said that next year's ICPC would not be as grand as this since it would be hosted in the University of Warsaw, and not in some grand convention hotel. “It would just be about monuments and history and art and all, not like rides and theme parks etc.” I argued that the 'crowd' would be better in a University. Rudy started arguing further, but Nikhil got what I was hinting at. “Its not as if you're gonna be served by old uncles and aunties in brown costumes all day...” Later, after the main food, Rudy took a bowl of milk, and looking at it, said, “This is so beautiful. Look at it, so pure and white.” We picked that up and started calling him a racist, to which he responded that its his personal preference what he likes and what he doesn't, and that that should be called racism. Nikhil then pointed out that its not a personal choice of what you like, but its the twisted nature of that personal choice, and the fact that the twisted nature comes out of what society defines as being twisted and harmful.
After breakfast, we bumped into NG in the hallway, and he told us that last night's trip was lots of fun and that he too enjoyed it. After the short chat with him, we went up to the lobby and got the accounts sorted out. We explained to the girl at the counter that we hadn't ordered for any movie, and asked for some details of the movie that we had supposedly ordered. She pressed some buttons on the computer and after a little while of button-pressing, she said that she had canceled the account. Its an interesting culture that whatever the customer says is right, or whatever the tourist says anyhow.
Having finished that, we thought that we should atleast do some exploring of the place before leaving. We explored the lobby level, and found an artificial waterfall place next to a little fountain kind of thing (not a fountain, but rather the flowers in the middle with water around it on the lower level). There was a piano near, but I didn't feel like trying it then, having no camera on any of us. We further went up to the mezzanine level, and got a better view of the place from there. Further up was the Recreation level which had the pool, the tennis court, the “duck gardens” and a lounge and all. We toured that place a bit and then decided to head back to our rooms to pack and all.
Packing is truly one of the most procrastinatable jobs in the history of to-do's. We delayed it till around 11 am and had the cleaning lady knock on our door before we decided to hurry up and clear out. We finally did check out of our rooms at 12, and then went around taking photos of the place. By then however, the piano was put on automatic-mode and was playing stuff on its own. We did manage to get photos of the Peabody ducks at that water-place, wading about, drinking lazily. The view of the buildings from the outside, at the tennis court was also extremely brilliant. They also had a miniature model of the entire hotel on the Recreation level which we captured.
The Peabody Ducks
Miniature model of hotel.
We finally headed back to our luggage, after all the pictures, and decided to sit online for a little while since we didn't want to end up arriving at the next hotel too early. In the end, after Nikhil's laptop battery ran out, we left. We went to the concierge to ask them to try getting us a cab, and they said, “Just walk out and the valet will call a cab for you there.” We had slight misgivings that this might be a private car that the 'valet guys' would call out, but it turned out to be a normal public cab only. We told him we wanted to go to Red Roof Inn at Kissimmee, and he keyed it into his GPS system, and we were off. Its very interesting the way they work with GPS. Its like every single thing, upto which lane to drive in, how far to the next turn and what you are turning into etc, is all described vocally by their GPS system. Its funny imagining how they got by a few years ago before all this GPS thing. The driver was very friendly, and was asking Nikhil about India a lot. He couldn't seem to believe that India had some stuff as good as America though. Like highways. He was very obliging and gave us a booklet of all tourist attractions around Orlando for free.
We finally reached our hotel, the Red Roof Inn which is a far cry from the grandeur of the Peabody. The guy at the lobby was very helpful, (er, i mean very enthusiastic), and for every little bit of information he gave us, he was nodding his and bobbing his head like its a very important tit-bit and should be paid heed to sincerely. Enthusiastic indeed. We reached our room and again I started taking photos, this time as a kind of contrast show.
Rudy then spotted an Indian restaurant from our balcony: Taste of Punjab. We went there at about 2: 40, and they had this special lunch menu that was till 2:30. We anyway managed to get our lunch orders through, because the guy was again, very helpful and accommodating. He asked us about drinks, and the menu offered us “Imported beers like Kingfisher for $4.25” vs “Domestic ones like Buddweiser for $2.99”. Me and Nikhil went for the Bud, and he asked for our ID's. I gave him my passport and after looking at it for a moment or two and doing some calculations, he said, “Oh, so you're just about age!” :) He then looked at Nikhil's ID and said, “Oh, but you're not.” And Nikhil was like, “Its just two months, is that going to be a problem?” and he said that it was, but that I could get two instead and then give Nikhil one and it would then be my problem. Which was cool by us, really. During our meal, he came up once or twice, and asked us about India, and about what we were doing in Orlando and how we found the US etc. Meanwhile, me and Nikhil were going on about all kinds of stuff with the beer and all, and I was taking way too much time to eat, but finally we finished. Good Indian food after a long while: half a week. Butter chicken, kheer, naan, papad, onions. Brought a very satisfied smile to all our faces.
After getting back, we slept. Crashed. Woke up at like 10 pm because I was way too thirsty. Went down to the lobby to ask for water and he directed me to the water dispensing machine at the pool. There, I couldn't get water because it was sold out, so when I went back, the guy at the lobby directed me to this '7Eleven' place just opposite the road. It was only then that I realized what an amazing place we were located in. Burger King, Pizza Hut, Smokey Bones, Laptops+Tourist Information, and other places, all just on our side of the road, or opposite.
The 'road' in question, is actually a highway though. And I having worn a dark outfit thought that it'd be rather danger to cross without a proper signal or something. So I walk up to the zebra crossing, and wait for the signal for pedestrians. I wait and wait, and an entire round of the signals goes by without coming for the pedestrians. Confused, I look about, and find that right underneath the traffic light, is a button which says, “Push to cross”! I push it, and after the signal finds the road relatively clear, it gives me the cross signal, along with a countdown of like 35 seconds. Crossing the road I feel really guilty for making all the cars wait at the signal for so long, since I could cross in a maximum of like 15 seconds itself.
After going about and finding all these cool places nearby, I walk into this 7Eleven. Now, this 7Eleven is actually like this mini – supermarket next to the petrol bunk. And it was interesting to watch how guys get out of their cars and handle the filling machines themselves, while the girls go into the shop to pick up supplies. I go in myself and have a nice look all around for what all is available. Quite enough to be called a mini supermarket indeed.
I get back to my room using the same “Push to cross” buttons, feel all awkward and guilty and everything all over again, and just when having crossed the road, I look back in a kind of “I'm sorry” parting glance, when I see this amazing open-roof car at the junction. Its too dark to make out the exact company, but it was awesome. When they got the signal, the car turned into the road I was in, went a little way ahead of me, and turned back and went off.
Back to the room. Drank a little water (incidentally, the tap in our room doesn't work!). Now ready to close up for the day.
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