Around July or August, when I got information about my US assignment, my first reaction was : Utah, where is that? Of course it was in the US, but sitting in Pune, and having never traveled to that part of the world, the most I knew about the country was the places where most of the Indian community is : California , New York, Texas, and so on... But Salt Lake City (SLC)??? It was probably on the west coast or the east coast or somewhere in between, I really didn't have the faintest idea.
Some googling showed that Salt Lake had hosted the winter Olympics some time back, and it had many of the facilities of the big cities like public transport (there is a bus as well as a metro called "Trax" that covers most of the metropolitan area ). The cost of living was pretty low for a city of this size, and University of Utah and its hospitals had a reputation across the country.
Due to high mountains and snow, SLC attracts a large number of tourists during the winter months. ( Visiting the nearby ski slopes is high on our agenda this winter. )
When I landed on 2nd September in the SLC Airport, ours was probably the only flight scheduled at that time. There was hardly a crowd at the international terminal (although the domestic, I learned later, is quiet crowded..). SLC is located in the middle of the desert surrounded by the Waasatch Mountains, which are rocky and mostly devoid of vegetation. As the plane comes from the North East towards SLC, you see huge mountain ranges with almost no trees, and expansive areas of vacant land. The valley itself is relatively green, from trees planted by the local inhabitants, when they started arriving here for the first time in the middle of the 19th century.
Something that you notice immediately is the friendly attitude of the people. People greet strangers on the road, and I haven't had a single Uber or Lyft trip, without the driver striking up an interesting conversation. It could be about the ever changing weather (they say it changes every 5 mins!), or about how the city is getting crowded. I jokingly told a Uber travel who was saying SLC is getting crowded that he needed to visit Mumbai and travel in a train there to understand the meaning of "crowded". He appreciated that well.
To put it in perspective, the entire state of Utah has a population of just 3 million (30 lacs ), most of it in Salt Lake and around the Waasatch front. Utah's land area is around 200,000 sq kms. which is almost 2 times that of Maharashtra. Maharashtra has a population of almost 100 million. (10 cr.).
Indian food seems to be catching on in a big way..On one occasion, we had an elderly lady at a shop, telling us how she enjoyed pav bhaji she had at a party of her Indian colleague. There are many Indian restaurants which are full with the local American population. Indian curries have really caught on..and that's probably the story across the country.I met a few Uber drivers who asked us for recommendations on good Indian restaurants (BTW unlike India, Uber / Lyft is a part time job for many people here in addition to their regular job, on one occasion I was driven around by a person who was a qualified accountant working in a biggish accounting firm..)
Driving on the other side of the road (in USA right is the "right" side of the road to drive) can be difficult and I took my time driving the car. In the meantime, the bus and metro (trax) came in useful. Office is a few miles away, near the U of U (University of Utah) and 30 mins by bus/ trax (including waiting) isn't really a big commute. In India the new normal now is 1.5 or 2 hours especially if you are in Pune or Bangalore or Gurgaon, or any of the big urban areas now. Traveling by public transport is convenient in SLC, especially for short distances. Its also healthy as you have to walk to the bust stop and then in between, and that could burn up calories faster than you think! I remember having walked up to 2 miles initially after missing a bus, and trying to avoid the cost of Uber (typical Indian mentality of converting to rupees , especially in the first few months..now getting over it ) But walking is really a pleasure here in the pleasant weather, and the nice scenery everywhere ( you can see the mountains from practically everywhere) . Salt Lake city has absolutely straight roads arranged in a grid).
Just beware , the train here runs right in the middle of the road, and you could be standing quiet close to one, at the traffic signal. Not a very pleasant thought, getting run over by a train!
Some googling showed that Salt Lake had hosted the winter Olympics some time back, and it had many of the facilities of the big cities like public transport (there is a bus as well as a metro called "Trax" that covers most of the metropolitan area ). The cost of living was pretty low for a city of this size, and University of Utah and its hospitals had a reputation across the country.
Due to high mountains and snow, SLC attracts a large number of tourists during the winter months. ( Visiting the nearby ski slopes is high on our agenda this winter. )
When I landed on 2nd September in the SLC Airport, ours was probably the only flight scheduled at that time. There was hardly a crowd at the international terminal (although the domestic, I learned later, is quiet crowded..). SLC is located in the middle of the desert surrounded by the Waasatch Mountains, which are rocky and mostly devoid of vegetation. As the plane comes from the North East towards SLC, you see huge mountain ranges with almost no trees, and expansive areas of vacant land. The valley itself is relatively green, from trees planted by the local inhabitants, when they started arriving here for the first time in the middle of the 19th century.
Something that you notice immediately is the friendly attitude of the people. People greet strangers on the road, and I haven't had a single Uber or Lyft trip, without the driver striking up an interesting conversation. It could be about the ever changing weather (they say it changes every 5 mins!), or about how the city is getting crowded. I jokingly told a Uber travel who was saying SLC is getting crowded that he needed to visit Mumbai and travel in a train there to understand the meaning of "crowded". He appreciated that well.
To put it in perspective, the entire state of Utah has a population of just 3 million (30 lacs ), most of it in Salt Lake and around the Waasatch front. Utah's land area is around 200,000 sq kms. which is almost 2 times that of Maharashtra. Maharashtra has a population of almost 100 million. (10 cr.).
Indian food seems to be catching on in a big way..On one occasion, we had an elderly lady at a shop, telling us how she enjoyed pav bhaji she had at a party of her Indian colleague. There are many Indian restaurants which are full with the local American population. Indian curries have really caught on..and that's probably the story across the country.I met a few Uber drivers who asked us for recommendations on good Indian restaurants (BTW unlike India, Uber / Lyft is a part time job for many people here in addition to their regular job, on one occasion I was driven around by a person who was a qualified accountant working in a biggish accounting firm..)
Driving on the other side of the road (in USA right is the "right" side of the road to drive) can be difficult and I took my time driving the car. In the meantime, the bus and metro (trax) came in useful. Office is a few miles away, near the U of U (University of Utah) and 30 mins by bus/ trax (including waiting) isn't really a big commute. In India the new normal now is 1.5 or 2 hours especially if you are in Pune or Bangalore or Gurgaon, or any of the big urban areas now. Traveling by public transport is convenient in SLC, especially for short distances. Its also healthy as you have to walk to the bust stop and then in between, and that could burn up calories faster than you think! I remember having walked up to 2 miles initially after missing a bus, and trying to avoid the cost of Uber (typical Indian mentality of converting to rupees , especially in the first few months..now getting over it ) But walking is really a pleasure here in the pleasant weather, and the nice scenery everywhere ( you can see the mountains from practically everywhere) . Salt Lake city has absolutely straight roads arranged in a grid).
Just beware , the train here runs right in the middle of the road, and you could be standing quiet close to one, at the traffic signal. Not a very pleasant thought, getting run over by a train!
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