Checking In at The Pride Hotel Bangalore and Setting Up @ INTEX

The last time I came for this exhibition, I had a broken hand.

Luckily, with plenty of help from L (another exhibitor) and our client S, plus painkillers, I managed to get through the exhibition. I was in much better shape this time! Instead of Best Westerner, where we stayed last time, we were staying at The Pride Hotel Bangalore. It was much cleaner, and more importantly, the hotel didn’t make us wait until eight in the evening before serving dinner^{Note 1}!!!!

We took an evening flight. By the time we cleared the airport and reached the hotel, it was already 1 a.m. (3:30 a.m. in Taiwan). The room was great: clean, simple, and free of unpleasant smells.

L, who was traveling with me, was actually the second generation of a Taiwanese business family, with business dealings running into the hundreds of millions. But he wouldn’t simply give in to his family. He had his own ideas about things and plenty of determination. The next day, he said…

R, from now on, when you go to sleep, I’m going to bed at the same time.
L said with a slightly helpless, wry smile

Me: Why ?
L: Last night, you said you were going to sleep, and within 30 seconds you were snoring. Then I had to listen to you snore for almost an hour…
I smiled, feeling a little apologetic. When I’m exhausted, I fall asleep really easily.

The hotel lobby was simple, bright, and comfortable, and the breakfast buffet was satisfying too.

Unfortunately, the exhibition samples our company had shipped over were held up at customs. The client said, “Your packing list is too detailed.” I looked at him and said I wasn’t even going to sell them. (Shrug.) In the end, he simply said, “You don’t understand Indian customs.”

I admit I didn’t… But after that lesson, I left it to the client to decide how to handle customs declarations in the future.

It wasn’t until 10 p.m. that the goods cleared customs and arrived at the exhibition venue. L’s samples and mine had been packed together. Even though it was just one small box, setting everything out still took time.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was already 2 a.m. (4:30 a.m. in Taiwan). Our client S thoughtfully asked the front desk if they could prepare something to eat. I thought, “Who’s going to bother at this hour?”