Three and a half years in Singapore. Still, a lot more to explore in Singapore itself. Lets say, saving for boring weekends. Singapore is totally on fast track for attracting tourists. Resorts world (Universal Studios) is camping at Sentosa and getting ready for a grand opening. Marina Bay Sands (of Las Vegas Sands), integrated resort at Marina Bay is changing Singapore’s picture itself as its shadowing the sky scrappers at the river quay. Sands – will be a Casino plus a 2560 rooms hotel. When I landed in Singapore in 2007, it was just sea.

It claims as world’s costliest casino and in numbers S$8 billion. It has interesting architecture and has a lot of plans. Shopping malls, world renowned chef restaurants, attractions, Skypark and the list goes on. As of now (18th Aug, 2010), they are still to open; however promises so much. Interesting stuff is the skypark which is one-third of a KM length and has a 140m swimming pool. The way they designed the swimming pool is just awesome.

Entrance cost stands at S$20 as of now and strictly queue system exception for Singapore’s anything-online theme. Ideal time is to visit at the dusk to view golden lashes of Singapore. View is breathtaking from the Skypark. Infinity pool is just awesome for the visitors. Stayers can take a dip while ‘woww-ing’ the view. But as of now, there is no privacy to them as the visitors are in 100s. Munched a hotdog and got lucky with NDP rehearsal fireworks.

Its just nice to be there..

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Marina Sands

Skypark – Artist’s impression

Merlion view from Skypark

Esplanade view from Skypark

Singapore’s trademark.. not anymore..

Helix bridge, ECP expressway, Flyer

@Skypark

Meeeeeeeee.

Clarke Quay and eateries

Infinity swimming pool.. 150m.

A perfect engagement ring-head

NDP rehearsal – Aug 8

Floating bed – Stage for NDP

My soft callings didnt work 2 years that he should spend sometime with me here in SG. This time, I added pressure by sending Visa. Just before its expiration, he was kind enough to take a week’s off from work. None indulges at work more than him I know. I got into work and drafted some quick plans. I wanted to work out a month’s plan and ended up dealing with 8 day plan. Well, honestly, thats too short. I cant even get Malaysian visa on time to explore the country.

He landed and I couldnt be more happier to see him. Its the bond. Its there in our every DNA prints. Well, first few days, He explored the City, Merlion Park, Singapore Flyer, Singapore Zoo, Night safari and we accompanied few. Later he went on with Sentosa, BirdPark, Chinese Garden in the following days.

My search for the nearby Visa-on-arrival/Visa free countries returned Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. As this is his first trip, I didnt want to experiment with Vietname and Cambodia and took the safe route to Thailand. Phuket has been chosen as it had real good options (dont forget Phi Phi Island).

On 17th June, we started to Phuket. I had my reservations at Burasari hotel which is at Patong Beach of Phuket via agoda.com. Patong is the happening place for tourists. I was thinking the beach would be nice if its within walking distance considering the true beauty of the beaches and the colours. Well, forget it!! Phuket is to enjoy the night life and we were there not to enjoy.. Unlucky enough that am not eligible except some exceptions for a beer at the beach. If you need good beaches, Patong is not the place. So I shouldnt have considered the beach at all. Burasari hotel is a good renovated hotel within 2 mins walk from Beach. Looks really good and gives the vibes of Spa living. But considering the beach is not worth, we have other options for a better cost in Phuket shopping areas.

We took metered taxi from Airport to the hotel and ended up befriending the taxi driver Om (she). She offered to drive for city exploration for a fee. I carefully took her card and kept inside the passport and I shall search everywhere else in the following days. Next day Vijay went on a speedboat tour to Phi Phi island and myself and Thenmozhi headed to John Gray’s Sea canoe tour as we have explored the other earlier.

Weather (forecaset) was pretty bad for the next two days and I was little worried. Luckily, until the day we left Phuket, weather was really good. We were picked by the tour operators and headed to the sea area. It was almost an hour journey crossing the island to the east. After a brief wait, we boarded a big Dhoni. Limestone rocks were really looking weird. I was doubting the presence of a base to them. There are Hongs (A small limestone hill which has the inner circle completely immersed in water with mangroove treees and accessible on low-tide days by Sea canoes).

With some light lunch and plenty of soft drinks, the sea canoe started. We will be given a Canoe with a paddler and he takes us to the nearby caves. It was eerie and scary literally. Its really cool to paddle in the sea with a sea canoe, which is like floating a leaf.. Caves were very sharp and the access was possible only by laying flat totally. A little bit curious raise of your head can result in a 5+ stiches. I resisted my temptations and felt the touches here and there. Most of the places were total dark and had to use torches. Infact at one place, they deflated the canoe to half and passed the rocks for the access. It was wonderful totally. Later, we had our own time and tried to teach her how to paddle. After a early dinner, they made us to prepare some of their traditional offering by making a idol kind that we leave in the water. Later went on a cave in total dark again and floated that offering with the candles in the water in a Hong. It was a wonderful experience except the strong stench of bats. Later we had been dropped to our hotels.

After dinner, we wanted to explore the places and Bangla road is one of them. Even before entering, we decided not to try as its a complete non-family-friendly environment. I heard there are good music, bars, and more others.

Next day, after my search failed to retrieve Om’s business card, I ended up in picking a driver who had a SUV for the day. He totally looked funny and we did have doubts on his skills. But he came on time and kind enough to buy fruits and water at regular intervals. and drove that SUV like a auto. First stop was at Jungle Bungee jumping. She was so desperate for Bungee jumping for a long time. With initial briefings, slight fear joined. Its decided that all 3 of us will jump. First Vijay took is turn and did it like a very skilled one. He went all up there. On their note, he leaned forward and left the board and flew. In no time, it was she, with all fears. Since Vijay gave no symptoms of fear or a scream during jump, she too adhered the same. Now its my turn.

There were numerous dreams in my life I felt like am being dropped from the sky or from the tallest buildings and used get outta sleep in the most unusual way. Still this is not one of them – this thought made me to get prepared. Its a quite simple process. They tie both the legs with a small foam blanket and a thick tape. Then I moved to the cabin which takes to those heights by jumping like a toad. Instructor warned not to look below and told me to enjoy the scenery. I controlled my heart and adviced not to come out. Cabin started to up all the way and never stopped. One look below gave me some weird feelings in my stomach. Finally came to some dizzying heights and the instructed hooked me to the chord. I stood and moved to the get-set-ready position. Even now I dont want to close my eyes as the thoughts are fresh even now. Fear!!! thats the first. He said, on a count of three, I should slide forward with the chin up. sounds easy to tell I guess. He started with 3. I gripped the grill as if thats my only hope to live. Two!!.. Aligned better.. Gooooooooooo!!!!.. Jeeez… where did I get the courage.. I slided with a slight push at the toe. I felt the Air zzzzzzzzzzzhhhhhing through my ear for the first second and got amplified in the next. Right after the 2nd second, I felt that birdie feeling.. Too thrilling.. or extremely thrilling.. what a rush of adrenaline. Luckily in the next 4-6 seconds the chord got the grip and led me to fly slowly. What a chord, it brought me back again to the half-of-the-height and let it free again..

Later, they got me down and felt happy that am still alive.. With some bragging and sharing of the experiences, we left the place. Later the driver took us to Phromthep Cape which has lovely view points. We had good fun with the driver’s language issues and Vijay was giving us hard time not to laugh. Later Katong view point and a temple which sounded a perfect mixture of Hindu, Malay and chinese.

Phuket Fantasea is a evening theme park with some attractions and a Las vegas style show. I had my bookings through internet and got the gold tickets. Its really worth by all means. Its a 90 min show and covers wonderful things. Literally its a story which is little hard to follow but however mindblowing. Its totally worth going there. With that we called it a day and the next day we bidded bye to Phuket.

Same day, Vijay started to Bangalore. When he left, its was a certain missing.. Just waiting for my vacation to India..

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Vijay!!

One that calls Clarke Quay as home

The signature Fullerton Hotel at the backdrop

Road above the Singapore river

at Esplanade

Marina Sands at the rear, Watersplash courtesy by Merlion.

City skyscrapers.

Singapore Flyer

In the Flyer capsule

at Singapore Zoo

Sentosa Island

at BirdPark

at Chinese Garden

John Gray Sea Canoe Trip, Phuket, Thailand

Just wanted to know how it feels to hold one..

Dont miss those sparkling sediments..

Did a prayer as per their Practices. They designed this with a flower.

Phi Phi Island

Jungle Bungee Jumping. Vijay at act.

..and its meeee!!

Phromthep Cape – Windmill viewpoint

Fantasea Theme Park

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Life runs fast.. you would have seen this line in this site many times. Here goes another time.. Indeed it runs fast. Either am not running at the speed I want to run or the time really runs fast. Its been 3 years since we married. April 5th remind me many things. One of them is, its vacation time!!. Weather was not really too good to enjoy New Zealand in April. To make our dilemma of whether or not NZ, we got a solid reason which made her to be out of her job. That kinda persuaded us both to postpone NZ for another time.

There starts my atleast 2 less-sleep-nights. After a lot of introspective questions, my heart opened up to me and said, wanna go to India which is quite rare. Alright, India is fine as part of the vacation and whats the other part. A blink, a blink of google map to be precise, shows me Maldives and thats all. No looking back after that. So we decided to go to Maldives directly from SG, then India as the ‘other part’ before returning to SG.

Maldives

Well, little story comes here. Long long ago, so long ago (am talking almost when the earth settled down with water – that period), there was only one landscape. Yes, the One earth, one world, one island. Later, that got split into two. Making AsiaEuropa one and AfricaAmerica one (not toooo sure about this). Later India decided to part from Africa and moved towards asia and joined. This has formed Mount Himalayas. During the voyage of India in the Indian ocean, it left or touched the crests beneath the surface and made good contact with the molten lava and there goes some fireworks. Later India moved on but the volcanos remained there itself. Indian ocean cooled them off initially and killed them later over a period of 30 million years. During this 30 million year period, those volcanos have been tamed by corals and they formed beautiful crowns. Later, volcanos died and receded into water but these coral crowns are still shining on water.
What a story isnt it. All true!!!.

We started on 3rd April with the little transit at Kuala Lumpur. Flights were exactly on time. When we have long transits it happens. So we ended up walking lot, eating a lot, shopping a lot. We reached Male that night around 9PM. Male a 5 square KM capital island of Maldives. Rufiyaa is the currency and gives 13 for 1 USD. Interestingly Rufiyaa cant be converted to any other currency. So, USD is the active currency here. Well, that gets the tag “costly” to the country.

We decided to stay 5 days out there which is the least to their standards. They talk anywhere between 15 days to months as the standard vacation duration out there. And the cost for the resorts goes anywhere between 500-10000 USD per day. Yes, thats 10,000 USD per day. Hmmm.. at times I feel, nothing.. We wanted to encash what Male city offers and the nearby islands. So we stayed 3 nights in Holiday Inn at Male and the last 2 days at Bandos Island resort.

Holiday Inn is brand new. As we requested, we got high floors. Hotel claims as the tallest of Male with a pool at the roof. Hospitaly standards are good to Maldives standards. Still nowhere comparable to other asian cities. Its across Maldives nothing specific to Holiday Inn.

After lot of discussion with concierge, we decided to go on a snorkelling and diving trip. We tried whale submarine which ran full until we returned and to the worst, we couldnt even see a person at the counter anytime to address. Coral walker (under water walking – event, also not seen in the airport). Maldives is not at all internet friendly country. Choose a good resort, use the facilities what they offer, eat what they serve (more than enough for all our needs.. ).

We had joined other two divers and we went on. Am still to finish my PADI certificate so I was not allowed for deep diving but a Discover Scuba Diving course. Hardly this is my third dive into the water. First two were at Bali which almost made to forget the idea of diving. But this one was all worthy. I got into the water and the instructor checked my abilities. Things never work for me when I have to show-off. My mask was leaking. Salty water got into my eyes, I was breathing properly but unable to clear my mask. Got to the surface and cleaned the mask again and went again. This time it was much better. Maldives is coral rich place and has ultra clear water. We can see almost 100 feet below the water clearly. Its true. Water is clearer than the swimming pool, everywhere.

Beneath water, its really beautiful. That too with oxygen, I felt am also a fish. I was expecting more vibrant colors of coral but mostly they were light-ash colored. We saw few Eeels, some weirdest creatures, and many coloured fishes. It was a good experience. In no time (in 45 mins), my cylinder started to warn me about the pressure level which means time to go to surface.

I was really worrying about Thenmozhi as Maldives has nothing but water sports especially diving and snorekeling. She dont even prefer to try snorekeling. Swimming is still a new language to her. However, I had put lot of good words about snorekeling before the trip. That worked. While I dived, she went on snorekeling with an instructor. I salute that guy. I bet he must be have had lots of patience.

After some rest and some snorekeling, I was ready for the next dive. This time, I carefully took a better mask which proved to be a worthy thing I did. This time, diving gave more pleasure. Still those some of the weird list creatures were making me to take more quicker breaths.

That concluded the activities for the day and we got back to the city. It was real good experience. It has super markets, shops, restaurants. But forget them, and forget Male. If you are a tourist you have no business here.

5th April

We wished each other and thanked each other for making it really to work.. Plan for the day was to try our luck with Scenic photo flight tour. As a morning gift, Maldivian Air taxi operator (as if he owns 100 planes), told its-not-available for any day as they were fully booked. Indeed, its peak season. Still he could have used little politeness. Then we decided to go to Airport Island (hulhulmale) to check other options. Male to Airport is 10 Ruffia by Govt operated ferry which operates all 24 hours. Its a superb way of transportation between airport and Male. We went to airport and as a last try, we enquired Air Taxi station for any tours. Just earlier in the morning there was some rain (which is quite rare to them) that delayed many flights landing at Male. Thats inturn affected the scheduled Air taxis which were fully booked. On a typical day, a photo flight will cost 550 USD per person for 15 mins flight ride. But we were offered one-fifth of that cost for a 40 min scenic flight. Well, we assumed thats our gift for the day. We were picked up from Airport to Air taxi base and waited for our turn. These guys run scheduled departures to resorts for dropping the guests. We had been added to the group, but we get back too to Male on the same flight. After an hour of waiting and few good talk with crew out there, we got our flight. Its a twin otter engine which deafens you almost. It was awesome experience, we should say.

It was not a too bright day (thats not typical), still islands were looking gorgeous and beatutiful. Efforts put to build those lovely resorts were extraordinary. No wonder why they cost that much.. We neared Filitheyo resort and our plane landed beautifully on the water. It travelled to a 6×6 wooden platform in the sea which had no connectivity to island. We got down to explore (??!!) while the guests got down. All of a sudden a boat from the nearby island appeared and picked the guests. We took couple of pics and settled in the plane again. This time, pilots flew at a lower attitude and if offered feast to our eyes.

6th April

7th April

We had used adventure sports team and they were happy to take us with their options. We settled with Water Skiing and Para sailing. We went to Kuda bandos which is a nearby island that offers all sort of water sports activities. Unlike other places, we got the bike to ourselves. Great. We started riding. Thats exactly responds to the same level of our adrenaline. Poor she, begged to drop her back on the beach after 10 mins (even after I offered the ride slowly). Alright, sometimes its better to listen. So left her at the beach and I continued. In no time, I felt like I have a 500 CC motorbike on a free highway just to me. Cant wait for another experience.. After that we did snorkeling at the inhouse reef which was way better than the Male one. Later that day, we tried Parasailing at the resort itself. It was really cool. Unlike running/walking during take-off, this offers just sitting flat and a cool take-off from the boat. View was really good from there.

Again its snorekeling time. Eventhough I can swim, dive, I settled with a life jacket along with her as she has the habit of drowning me in the name of getting balance. Cant really help these non-swimmers.. She held my hand all the way and enjoyed the alien world right beneath us. Am seriously so much on the ‘evolution’. So many things has happend with evolution. So much practices and so much of changes. But all were related to usage and applications. Few used hands, few didnt. Few wanted to use nose to carry and few avoided. So much to go on. But one evolution became beautified generation after generation which are coral fishes. God is really partial to all of us. How come he can make a world with just one thing in mind. ‘Just the beauty’. And I never knew these color fishes that we see in aquarium could be almost 4~5 feet out here. Little ones are not afraid of us but the bigger ones are. After enough wandering through the corals, we decided to reach the shore. On our way back, we saw a 5 feet Shark. We were fully aware that they breed baby sharks and its all over the resort. And this one also a-small-one (to its real size). Before I could catch that on a pic, that went on to the deeps.

We later called it a day and packed our stuffs for the departure on next day. Rest were almost eventless. Next day we reached Bangalore and another full episode of non-stop-fun with our gang started. Dont worry, we dont share that here..

Male City – the biggest of Maldives

Hulhumale – Airport island, almost manmade one

Their only hope to navigate

Maldives Air Taxi station

Name says it, isnt it..

@Scenic tour, one of 2000 beautiful islands

A stopover at a 6×6 feet wooden platform (Internation Airport – it claims) @Filitheyo resort

Ideal place, to dive-in

okay – time to test the experience

God is indeed partial.. their world is more beautiful than ours

after 45 mins, am done with first cylinder

With next cylinder, this scary bigg eeel. almost 6 feet long

meeeeeeeeeeeeee

A thorny fish, couldnt get a good picture..

Snorkeling time @ Bandos island

Still wondering, whats that white fella did.

accepted..thats lousy pose..

Thats Thenmozhi.. Her turn..

This is me.. my turn..

Thats where we did snorkeling.. no clues the beauty beneath

Kuda Bandos Island

This is from Bandos island

My reputation continues.. “He always takes from rear”..hmmm

I wish I can paint this.. (and sell for million dollars)..

Dusk, and matching wowww colors..

.. well..thats their best effort..

Sundowners bar, Bandos Island resort

What a rush.. Managed to scare her in the first 10 mins and then its all mines.. >:)

Saving the cap.. looked good timing to me..

5 more mins, I would have fainted under that hot sun..

21st Jan’ 2010

Its that – I like to take her out on her birthdays generally. Last year, bunking office for her birthday didnt seem working and my India vacation made her to say no to my ‘Birthday Offer’. This year, somewhere I missed and I got stuck with office. However, her birthday trip stayed valid irrespective of dates. We ended up in travelling between 3rd Feb to 7th Feb 2010. Still she had her birthday with little surprise..

I took her to Changi Village Ramar temple (SG) in the evening. I am comfortable to lean a little towards the atheist group if my stand questioned. However, yes – however, if I like to (?!!), I like going to temples for the vibes and ambience. Trust me, there is something in the air. When I take the last deep breath there, I feel like I lost my worries a little. I cant ask for 100% relief and that’s exactly why I said I lean towards atheism. When we left there, I told the Taxi driver (I didnt drive my Honda – well, not accord or city or city zx, just Phantom that runs with two wheels) to take us to the Swissotêl – The Stamford and there was a ‘Oh Really?’ look came from her. Equinox Restaurant sits comfortably at 69,70th floors of the Swissotêl – The Stamford and offers one of the greatest views of the city, a so called river, the skyscrapers and the waterfront. I had got a window table reserved for 8:30 pm after almost giving all my information. We were bit earlier to the place (city hall), so did some window shopping there. The restaurant has dedicated lifts which directly takes us to the giddying heights in no no time. We were greeted by friendly staff and I was happy to see my reservation acknowledged and infact we were offered the same table as it was free by 8 itself. Well – so for so good. It was really rich for almost all senses.

“Vine ripened Fruit Tomato stuffed with Fresh Goats Cheese,
Candied Shallot Confit and Genting Herb Puree”
..and thats the appetiser. Which looked extremely beautiful and tasted really awesome. This has already raised the expectations of the main course. However, whatever came after that, shhh…lets not talk about that.. nothing interesting. However, ‘luckily’, what I had pre-ordered, the birthday cake was tastefully decorated. Happily my office colleagues munched the cake during my night shift..

3rd Feb 2010
Now I had visited few countries that I could say. But one thing hasnt changed. The tense. One thing is for sure. A package tour gives peace of mind but a worked out itinerary gives the sense of accomplishment. and this tensed feeling, a compliment. no matter how much I read, I never feel ease about the travels. Its pretty easy for my wife. When I say the place, she will google “must see + ” and she will get all the titles. if I stress more, she writes them on a stick note. and then starts my real headache. I should read more, then adding removing places in the stick note happens along with polite answers on “why”. Then fixing a itinerary comes. Honestly, I prepare them just one week before the actual trip. Because its that complicated (for me). >

This is no exception. Generally people get confused about choosing hotels in hongkong. Unless we do a complete map based search, its pretty tough to choose I bet. Let me help you.

HongKong is a set of islands plus a portion of mainland (china). Interestingly the main islet is also called
HongKong. Well, the small portion of sea which separates them is Harbor and both the banks has the most important office buildings. Mainland part is called Kowloon and the islet is HongKong itself. Kowloon has many hotels, all are business class and if you are a tourist, just forget kowloon area for staying. Now we are left with the islet, which has MTR (metro) stations along the bank and has variety of hotels. Wanchai is popular among tourists for the moderate cost and the shopping possibilities. Causeway Bay area has more hotels, again they charge almost your flight tickets for the stay. Now with this info, check agoda.com (honestly, a best site for hotels). We ended up in choosing Royal iClub hotel at wanchai which is a brand new hotel with lovely eateries around.

We landed HongKong by late evening and opted to MTR to reach the hotel as the shuttle timings didnt work for us. Its pretty easy to use the MTR, however it costs a whopping 100 HKD for a person to reach Central station which might be the highest MTR cost anywhere in the world to know my knowledge.. Interestingly they have dugged very deep for the metros. When I had to come out of the MTR station at wanchai, I guess I used 3 longest or lengthiest escalators. And the bad thing is, we have to walk a lot inside the metros and at interchanges. May be am comparing with Singapore standards.

Hotel was lovely and we got some dinner packed for the night. Not sure what made me the night owl (me) to sleep in less than 5 mins after dinner. may be I was tired or got scared of just 6 hours sleep for the night. Yes, next day plan is to day tour the Macau (China – Special Administration Region) a yesteryear portugese colony which surpassed Las Vegas by showing $5.5 billion turnover a year. I seriously wonder one thing. For me, my standards I feel pretty okay to lose 200 USD at casinos provided I visit them 4-5 times in my lifetime. If I consider that way, how many Billionaires it take to Macau to generate $5.5 billions. Well, as usual, why should I bother. hmmmmm…

4th Feb 2010
You should see a TurboJet boat atleast in google. It looks great and sails great. We took a taxi to Wanchai ferry pier and reached by 8ish. If you are early, you can have less queue and quick immigration processes. TurboJet capable of seating 200+ passengers or more. They look exactly like your flight seating just 2-3 folds. Very surprisingly it give smoothest sailing at that speed. I couldnt believe my senses at all. When I got down, I got the answer. Basically the TurboJet has two sailing ship bases and a platform to join both of them. having two knife edge fronts, it sails to macau in less than 1 hour.

Macau ferry pier is a little sleepy environment with a immigration allows almost everyone without asking any questions. Yes, most of the countries do not require Visa to enter Macau. I always felt bad when I see India not listed as Visa Free countries list in most of the countries. Am glad that HK and Macau didnt ask for one. Tourist information centre was human-free when we went and none of the other tourists bothered about that. But we knew thats the only place where I could grab couple of Maps. We took the map and fixed the itinerary.

It was bit unfortunate that the weather was dull out there however not at the ruining level. Currency used there is Pataca which is almost equivalent to HKD. We hired a taxi and reached the Ruins of St. Paul church, a church’s leftover from a fire mishap. Gardening infront that is beautiful. Right next to that, we have Macau Museum which has good collections from the good old colony day of Portuguese.
It was pretty amazing to see their maps. They were not accurate but indeed had great detail. My humble respects to them.. Without them, world still would have had aliens sitting in the neighbourhood countries.

From the Macau Museum you can exit at the top floor to reach out to Mont Fortress literally means Fort at a mount. There is nothing really to write about it except the count of 30. Yes 30 Canons guard ed this fort and they are still there. We just wanted to explore the small city on our own and started to walk towards the Senoda square a busy market street. While she wanted to buy Almond cookies at a departmental store, I tasted one. Its been ages since I smelled some pesticide directly. I tasted, ate it in the name of ‘sample’ almond cookies. I looked at her and she was totally enjoying my discomfort. Rain started to drizzle and became little heavier. We continued our walking and crossed St.Dominick church. And in no time, Senoda square also gone. We came back to make sure not to miss Senodo square. Honestly, nothing there. We took a taxi and went to Macau Tower which is vertically a KM plus. Has a good observation desk and you have the option of skyjump (reverse fall), bungee jump and few other options to walk with harness. Observation desk as a glass walk. Interestingly, its really scary to walk on that. Weather wasnt good enough to offer good views. Anyhow, who comes to Macau come for sightseeing.. Next stop was at the famous, new Wynn casino. Sits comfortably at the area where most of the Casinos situated. It has 100s of desks and 1000+ machines to digest our money.

I swear I have luck. My first try was with 2 hongkong dollars which returned me a 20 HKD bill. I dont call that luck anyhow. The very next win was 100 HKD when I tried with 20 HKD. hmmmm.. I knew that wont conitnue. Lost some 200 HKD wholeheartedly and called it enough of Macau Casino experience. Later we took a taxi and went to Fisherman’s wharf. It hosts a City Mall, and bustling night market. I was looking for a dome decorated by Mirrors. I never found that there.

TurboJet boat took an hour to change our geographic location back to HK. Luckily HongKong had a better weather still not the best. We caught couple of trains to reach Tsim sha Tsui station. This also a ferry terminal. Famous “harbor cruise tour” operates from this ferry terminal. HongKong hosts a spectacular permanent light show everyday by 8PM. Almost all the tall buildings along the shores participate in this lightshow. We hoped on to the 8PM harbour cruise tour which took us exactly a place which offered lovely view. There is a live commentary and music as well for the same. As the weather was not at its best, show wasnt at its best. Still the colors were great. Later, we took a ferry to cross the channel and reached Wanchan ferry terminal and walked to our hotel.

Repulse Bay, DeepWater bay, Stanley Market
We just wanted to have less plans for the day as we were hell tired by Macau visit. This day turned to even worse. . We started to Deepwater bay by catching a bus from Central. Sitting at top deck of double decker (especially on the right side) give lovely views of Deepwater Bay, Repulse Bay. We got down and Repulse Bay and spent some time there. Cliffs and a small tide-free beach makes the place beautiful and the climate was awesome.

Later, we went to a hilly coastal town called Stanley which is totally free from the problems of city. It was calm. Stanley has a lovely market which sells pretty much of everything you need and 100 other things you dont need. I was looking for some antiques while she settled with some dresses. Later I found a superb canvas art and ended up in buying after a sweet negotiation. Later we returned to the city and took a Tram to Victoria Peak after surfing HongKong Garden. Victoria Peak once was governor’s abode and they had tram service to serve them and few other residents. Its quite interesting journey. You will not really be happy with chinese passengers who rush for a seat. so either we should rush or give up.. Victoria peak has multiple levels and architecture-wise a great effort. It offers lovely view during good weather. We had super-fog-view (literally nothing).. and we skipped the idea of walking to the next peak as the climate was cold enough to change our mind. Madame Tussad museum hosts wax statues of our favorite stars.

In the evening we went to night market near Jordan which has lovely things to buy. You name a swiss watch or Paris’ top brand handbag, and you will get it in minutes. Ofcourse they are fake, called Copy watches or Copy bags. With that we called it a day and I tried to count how many hours of sleep I got in the last 3~4 days. Before I could think of a number, I was lost in one of my dreamless little stressful sleep.

Ocean Park

Ocean park was the greatest theme park until Disney land opened one in HK. Still we have skipped disneyland for Ocean Park. Ocean park, is not actually a park. They have almost 3 hills. Yes – hills. Entrance is at one of the base with few attractions. A cable car which travels more than 20 mins takes you to the next hill where we have the main attractions. Another 4 longest escalator descending will get us to the foot of another hill where we have few more attractions. Totally, a nice place to lose a day with your family. Attractions are well designed with good taste, offers great views of South China sea. Ocean park hosts a dolphin and sealion show which is interesting and has a multilevel aquarium. and I lost my whole day there.. Lived some thrilling moments..

We went to the Ladies market in the evening at Mongkok which is almost the xerox copy of night market. So skip one to save time. We tried SOHO which can claim itself to have most number of escalators and midlevel has some reastaurents. Unless you want to see the real nightlife of hongkong, you can skip this as well..

Lantau Island
This was our last day at HongKong. We checked out the hotel and went to Airport by Taxi. Its then I realized. Airport is very far may be nearly 80~100 Kms from the city. We dumped our luggages at the luggage storage and took a bus to Tung Chong. From there, Ngong Ping cable car takes us to the Lantau island. Most probably this is the longest cable car journey atleast as of now. To be precise it takes 25 mins to get us to the Ngong Ping Village. Walking with Buddha, A monkey’s take are interesting multimedia are the shows out there. Giant buddha statue is the top attraction. You will be amazed by the magnificent size. Unfortunately it was raining when we went there. That slightly affected our trip as we had to cancel Tai-O fishing village. We visited the Po Lin monastery which is typical Buddhist monastery as the others.

We headed back to Airport and waited for our flight. Weather gave a good 30 mins delayed start. And here it goes. another country from my list. Like miles to go before I sleep, many to strike out from my list. Just thinking hard about those dreams..

Download slides here

21st Jan – Her Birthday – @Singapore

Swisshotel – The stamford. Equinox Restaurent – 70th floor

find the creek.

Macau. Near Ruins of St.Paul

Ruins. Of St.Paul Church

Ruins. Of St.Paul Church

not yet ruined.. Its me!!!

@Macau Museum

Thats a chinese press

Mont Fortress

Senodo Square. Macau

View from Macau Tower

Casinos – Macau

Wynn Casino, Macau

Fisherman’s wharf, Macau

Tsim sha Tsui ferry terminal, Hong Kong

Lippo Tower, Hong Kong

@ repulse bay

Please ignore my volcanic looking shade

@ Hong Kong garden

@ Ocean Park

to Ngong Pong village

Giant buddha – Lantau Island

Am going to set a goal.. not sure how much am going to follow.. that is — I should publish articles here within 10 days of my Travel. Taking almost a month is too bad..

This trip got almost shaky when there was line of pull outs with their valid reasons. It started way back when Kannan announced Radha will be a mom soon. Vinoth was clear in the 2009 NewYear trip itself that he wont be making it to this one. On the X-mas eve Arun announced he & his family wont make it as well. Height of all, Vijay fractured a ankle bone; I was startled. After a lot of thinking, really lot of thinking, I decided to go on with the trip. (However, madesure to spend good time with Vijay before I headed to the trip).. People were worried about the pull outs but none has suggested to pull out the trip itself. On 29th evening, half-heartedly, I left Vijay and headed to Bangalore.

Air in Bangalore, does the magic. Some changes in the town, but same comfy feelings.

Persuasion

Krish and Praveen were at home (as Dinesh and Ramesh families out for a mall visit) and there started a discussion of Arun. Both suggested that to talk to Arun about getting him on the trip. When he came and sat with us, in no time, we persuaded him to join. After a little hesitation to leave Kavitha, he agreed to join us and there it was, euphoria!! This will create chaos later in the trip, which is another story. For more information on this, please reach out to Kavitha/Arun..

Special guest(??!!) Vinoth came down to give us wishes. We know that we would be missing him very much but no other options were there in the shop. Surprisingly we were all ready by 8:30 PM (may be because of a note I sent – by 7PM sharp, we would start), and to make it less interesting vehicle was late and we ended up in starting our trip around 9:30 PM which means practically, we would reach the destination by next day noon. Damn! … We started our trip. Generally, for New Year Trips, we dont have the habit of a ice-breaking/announcement sessions. But this time, I wanted to talk. Just told our guys – like our “global uncertain times”, this trip also had troubles with key people missing and lets try to make as one of the best trips. Indeed it turned out as one of the best. Special thanks to them again.. still it could have been a greatest one with all our guys..

I settled down in the last row of TT which is not as comfortable as the front seats – along with Karthik. Generally he joins me and escapes to front seats when he gets a better seat. I just enjoy the last seat ‘coz its the great seat to enjoy as ‘audience’ to the wits shot. Generally Krish used to sleep even before every one stops talking. Next day he would claim that he didnt sleep at all and that made him so tired (as if he gave company to the driver whole night). He is not the only person, often others say it. We nag them enough. With enough coffee breaks, we reached Honovar by 7 in the morning. We refreshed with Hotel Kamat’s coffee and continued our trip. I couldnt believe when we made it to “Sea bird Resort” at Gokarna it was 9:30 in the morning. I thanked the drivers for saving my original plans and we got shoved ourselves into our rooms.

Sea Bird Resort – Gokarna

Its a cute little resort (homestay to be exact) which is situated on the meadows/hills of Gokarna. At a distance of 3KMs, the Gokarna beach is situated. From the resort, you can easily get a clue that there is sea in the distance horizon. Initially I had the mind view of a small mountain which ends at sea and this homestay all alone. Anyhow, that didnt ruin our thoughts as getting a decent nightcap during this period is extremely tough. Its like our HIG govt. quarters and each unit has 4 units, 2 at the ground level and the rest at the first floor. Pretty decent for a family. And a elevated small restaurant which served extra-ordinary food. We made sure that our food bills exceed the cost of the stay. Well, thats all about the resort!!..

Krish!!!

We made sure to get ALL of us to the breakfast table in couple of hours. A lovely breakfast, which turned out to be a Brunch and Kasturi who waited till 12PM so that he ‘finishes’ fasting joined and made it as lunch, almost. Fine, as per the plan I suggested we take some rest to get rid of the journey tiredness. When almost everyone okay-ed it, Krish came up with a suggestion that to take a walk towards the beach which is 15 mins walk (as per a resort guy). Somehow, many of them accepted that bad idea. Me, who goes with the crowd, still worried about the scorching sun, agreed. A cap, sun block and a cooler made me little comfortable. When we headed to the sea, within 2 mins, karthik snatched the cap. I had no clue about the sun block. Thank god, they let me use the shades. And the walk continued for almost 30 mins under the sun most of the time, just downhill. Route was, okay!

Gokarnatha temple

I must say this. Town still lives in 80s. Bit eerie, even for a total-guys-trip. Streets are narrow, clumsy, little ugly and full of cow’s dung. Interestingly full of whites (no idea whether they are from US or European countries). I have already had the idea of why they are there. To put it simple, heights of spiritual feelings and the best effects of drugs are easily available, say from a petty shop too. hmmmm.. I should admit, few looked really weird and many looked awesome with the best shape of their lives. especially women. am still wondering, what on earth, would have made them to choose that little town, giving up their home country, parents, education and totally their life. Its hard to get convinced that they gave up all for drugs and spiritual stuffs.

Gokarnatha temple is one of the oldest ( a 1000 years old) temple around which has heavy touches of Kerala architecture. As the route towards the beach has this temple, we visited the temple to mark it ‘complete’ in the schedule. Its as usual a good temple where you would feel good and little bad about the cleanliness. Interestingly, Temple has people living with their families in them and also a school to learn chantings. When I passed through them, I felt like seeing students of a school with some impositions to say some mantra’s 10000 times. But honestly, somehow, somewhere, their life is much better I should say. While Arun did a good housekeeping for our stuffs, we finished praying for him as well.

Gokarna Beach

This is the main beach around the area for tourists which literally means bad-idea if you look for ‘beach effect’. To be frank nothing is there to write about this beach. Just near the beach, a junkie was taking some powder (drug) in the most peculiar way I have ever seen (ofcourse, am referring to the movies I saw). This guy was sitting on a bench of a petty shop which is the main street that connects the temple and the beach and always crowded. He took a plastic bag which had white-ish patches all over it. He made it to looklike a small balloon and gave a good inhale to that. Seems he got enough; as he had the reactions of chewing a live wire. We moved on to the shops and as usual we were window-shopping.. . We were hell tired by that time that made us to catch autos to get back to the resort.

Earlier, we thought to skip lunch (before this mini trekking), but when we got back to the resort, we unanimously decided to go for the lunch. We were at it again.

Om Beach

When the clock ticked to 12:00, we had a winner, who got the honor to cut the cake. This time it was Selvakarthik…

With clear notes, I told my guys that on 1st of Jan 2010, all should be out of their rooms by 7 AM sharp so that we can have the beach trek which would be easy on us. Despite my warnings, (Dinesh!!!!!), people came out after their bath by 8:30. By that time, I had finished my coffees and calls. I was just curious – as I got up first, I took bath, but what made these guys to take bath when I told them we would trek for 3 hours. Then came the stuff. Our great Kasturi told that there was a “grahanam” so he wont come out with a bath. Well – rest followed it!!..

Beach Trek

The greatest part of our trip starts here. We were late to the trek. still dont forget we are at the west coast where sun would be little lazier to scorch us in the morning. We got dropped near Kudle beach. We decided to trek the route –> Kudle beach – Om Beach – Halfmoon beach – Paradise beach along the shores. I knew it would be tough.

We started to Kudle beach from the place we got dropped. When we reached Kudle beach it was almost lonely (except few homestays – most eco friendly ones). It was cute and small. A guy (white) was sleeping and a cow sniffed him to check if he was eatable and changed its mind later. Actual trek plan was to trek the whole route but from Om Beach. Kudle beach was ‘included’ on-the-go. But we were almost pessimistic to start the trek from Kudle as there were no route to Om beach from there. It was rocks, cliffs and nothing more to see. While our guys enjoyed the panorama, Praveen headed to the cliffs to find if we have a path towards the Om beach. Do note, this Kudle beach to Om beach stretch is almost like a Big “O” which is slightly attached to the land which would make the stretch a longgggg one (which we will get to know at the end)..

Praveen, didnt return in a while and my calls (heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy praveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen), didnt get a positive reply on heading further. Arun has followed Praveen to get him back so that we could start from Om beach. However, even he was not sure. Well, I got into the business. God, going to the nearest rock from kudle beach was itself a tough but achievable task. I did it as my heavy DSLR bag was carried by selvakarthik then. When I went, we almost concluded that its not possible. I requested arun to check on the route which looked like it went uphill. but he came back saying that it was hard to penetrate, may be a good trekking knife could help. So am left with one option. Continue the route along the dangerous cliff or to go back. When I explored a little, the cliff didnt look so dangerous, so I encouraged our guys to come. With some helps here and there, all reached the place. I worried much. Not about the girls, but about Dinesh, Ramesh and Kasturi a little.

With little briefings to be more careful, I got my heavy DSLR bag. Selvakarthik was left with my heavy DSLR. Then why am I feeling my bag is heavy?? realized – our guys, after seeing how tough the trek could be, shoved all of their cameras. Honestly, a special thanks to Karthik, who took everyone’s picture and his own shadows during the trek when everyone concentrated on one thing – to reach safe.

The real trek started..

As we proceeded further and further, route became tougher and tougher. While Arun tried to look for uphill practiced routes, I managed to walk the team on the cliff with constant helping and advising where to keep the leg to pass particular rocks.

One good thing about the place : Once you reach the place, it wont tell you how tougher the next rock can be as it wont be visible. We hoped for next better but all we got was worse and worst. Infact good thrills. At one point of time, we were ready to take any risk, just to avoid going back on the same path. Trust me, we all thought the same. Sun was helping a little as the cliffs didnt get the rays directly. We enjoyed the views and worried even more about the path. Well – thats what will make us to feel good about the trip when we chew the trip sitting at home.. It was lot of fun..

We were totally fearless. The sea is gargling right beneath us and we are on the rocks. One bad step or a spoiled grip could prove fatal. Luckily my guardian angel was on my shoulder all the way. What am wondering still is, how the situation makes us fearless. If am there all of a sudden at that place, I would feel my knees shaking. But there, I stood, explored, and guided. Sea wasnt scaring me. Is this what we call practice? a 2 hours of scary cliff walking could make me a fearless? Indeed it did. Atleat out there.

After couple of hours, we had a little break. Our guys left all the snacks in the vehicle considering a cool walk and the snacks for ‘after trek’. However, we carried juices, little water and some choco wafers. We energized ourselves and continued our trek. It was bit easy – not sure ‘coz we ate something or it was really not tough. At one point of time, I felt like am standing at a land which acted as a huge lighthouse. We continued further and further but Om beach was not visible after a good 3 hours trek. It started worrying me. Even then, I was sure that we were on track and not too far from Om beach. I started to see the symptoms of tiredness with everyone of them and am no exception. We went on further and avoided the beach a little to find a local. He confirmed that we should take the estate route which would take us to the Om beach. So we ignored the beach route for the ‘sure known’ path. When we walked little further, a surprised awaited for us.

We saw the flat land, a home, few cars. Good, but what we were in need was water. In no time, we realized that was exactly where we started our trek in the morning. Damn, that was so self-teasing to us. Now you know the Big-’O’ matter. Honestly, we tried to get into the gated house to look for water. We found none but a big vessel of drinking water. Our guys left a little for them.

Luckily, there were some autos’, we sent the girls and few guys to the Om beach so that they can get more water. Rest of us to choose to go to the Om beach by walking. Infact, that was less than a KM walk. When the auto reached the beach, we did too. Well, on-the-go plan change time. Initial plan was to trek till Paradise beach and come back to Om beach via boat. Now the new plan is via boat, both to and fro. We bargained and settled for 100 rs per person for halfmoon beach and paradise beach where the boat will stop for 10 mins. we agreed and took the boat. our gang was little relieved with the life-jacket and the thought that “no more walking”.

Halfmoon beach is secluded but small. I didnt wait for the boat to reach the shore. I got in to the sea and rest followed. Its heavenly. Ofcourse, you should know swimming!!..

Paradise beach is even smaller. Again we got into the water. I felt we should have tented here. I pray I should get a chance to backpack and tent there. hhmmmmm..

We went back to resort and had a good bath to shake-off the sand we gathered. After that a good lunch. As we covered the temple the previous day itself, we had the evening which we thought to use it for a nearby waterfalls visit. But people out there suggested a place yana – a temple again. While Arun ran into his little ‘couple chat’, we got pressure to start, else going there would be a fatal mistake.

All we knew was, we got into the vehicle. And we were woken up by the driver saying this is the place and it was almost getting dark. So, for 2 hours on a very bad road, we slept like dead. All. Power of beach trekking.. well, I ran ahead thinking about a falls to catch few glimpses before its really dark. I had no idea and was running barefoot which pained like hell. When I went down, there was shock of the day to me. There were huge rocks (very huge) and all looked like fork at the edges. They looked like witch mountain palaces. I had no clue so for in my life that those kind of rocks exist in India. At the base, it had a cave and a temple. We clicked few snaps and settled for a peculiar drink and headed back to the vehicle in pitch dark – assuming the path. Arun has recollected that he had come here earlier once.

With that, our first day of New year got completed and we resumed to bed. On 2nd, we got readied and had a lousy breakfast and checked-out. Plan is to return to Bangalore and covering Jog falls on the go. We watched a movie and took a small much needed break. Ramesh was full of ideas again to play little games. We played advocate-client game which was really funny.

Jog Falls

We reached Jog falls around noon. My god, nature is the best of all and am standing in front of a sample again in my life. There were many times in my life, I fantasized about the size of the sharavathi river. (Dam is closed for public). And the river creates this Jog falls which is massive and gorgeous especially during monsoon period. This is post monsoon, so the falls was running on budget concerns of water. Still its astonishing. A good two hours trek can get us to the base; having to reach bangalore before midnight made us to skip that idea.

Rest of the day was eventless

Here is better version of pics!

Dinesh and Gayathri

Sea bird resort gokarna

The Krish!!!

To the beach..

Streets of GoKarna

Om Beach.

Karthik – got a lucky 2010..

Kasturi..

descending to Kudle beach

@ Kudle beach

Yana

Jog falls

Most of the time, my plans would be complicated.. and luckily works.. This is no exception.. Hear the plan for 4 days. I should have landed in Bangalore but my flight dont land at Bangalore on Wednesdays. So chose Chennai to land and wanted to start to Krishnagiri (my home town) that night itself. But my wife and her parents didnt encourage a night drive hence had to plan for early morning.. On Thursday morning 9:30 (early morning??!!) I started to Krishnagiri. Being the day of my brother’s Birthdady (26th Nov), day was more meaningful.

Luckily my driver hit 110+ in the tacho meter most of the time and I was home for lunch. Hardly I spent couple of hours with them and headed to Bangalore. Have to be so grateful for dad and mom for their understanding.. .. Having Vijay’s birthday bash, I cant be there anymore.. Started to bangalore and that was almost eventless. Bangalore is slowly recovering its traffic woes especially the electronic city to madiwala stretch. Am hoping for a good next year but who knows, if the number of vehicles going to grow, who can save the road. Coincidently, Krish started from office (poor guy travels almost 10 KMs more from electronic city from bangalore). Even though the distance between my bus and his bus was huge he told me that we would definitely bridge the gap at Bommanahalli with the Traffic Jam. And he was right. We were counting pillars and exchanging the pillar numbers to share where we were.. Good time pass isnt it.. We met in Madiwala and went home. My brother was home and I felt like am home after a longggggggggggg time.. After all, I spent almost 4 years there. I know the air in there. Seemingly, the street is getting better and better. Almost every house has got a car parked in that narrow street. Good going, I thought.

In no time, we collected the cake and decided to take it to the restaurant itself so that every one would join. Karthik and Selvakarthik came with a cool Birthday candle, we hopped on in his Verna and headed to Bagicha at Maratahalli. I recollect vaguely that this is my first ever restaurant where I had my first Team dinner 7 years back.. Vinoth, Bharathi, Joy & Kasturi, joined little later. Somehow the restaurent lost its charm I guess.. Cant help when its filled with people always. The birthday boy did cut his cake and shoved a piece to me first. Gosh, I wish to be there every year to get that piece. Then we went on hogging with the chat which would never end. Before they wanted to say its mid-night and leave, we promptly finished and headed back to home. Even before I chewed the day, my eyes said good night to me. A total dreamless sleep which always yearn for.

Whole Friday went with some long pending tasks. In the evening got a chance to visit Vinoth’s sweet home. Bharthi prepared us Akki rotti (a famous dish in Karnataka) which I never knew could taste that good. With some constructive arguments over the Indian politics and parenting, I rushed home in a Volvo bus. Honestly, Volvos are good thing but it was fully crowded. Every now and then I was crushed to the bars. For a change, I enjoyed the journey and reached home. Always there are surprises; The trip would be hectic and managing with one driver is almost impossible, so I have had asked for a backup driver. But what we got was a Tavera and just one driver for the next 3 days trip. We didnt have time to get annoyed. We hopped on to the Tavera and hit the highway. Myself, Vijay, Karthik, Krish were ones to start. Arun and Praveen were suppose to join us in Salem. With a quick dinner at my home in home town, we accelerated. At Salem, we picked Praveen and heard that Kavitha (Arun’s wife) was not well and Arun decided to stay back. Oops.

And the journey really started. With couple of tea breaks, we headed straight to ValParai. Plan was to spend till evenig there and rest of the evening for Shiva’s pre-marriage functions and travelling overnight to Dharmapuri for the Senthil’s marriage in the next morning. Well, it worked.

Some homework (at office) about the place really helped. First we had hit Pollachi and already it was dawn. We headed further and we started to see the full glory of nature. I rubbed my eyes and got ready with my shutter bug. I had no idea why am feeling light whenever I see nature at its best. I love the rocks with green fungus. I go crazy with the color. Our first stop was at the 9th hairpin bend of Aaliyar Dam. When we started with the hairpin bends, the dam looked like a small one. But the magnificient size is visible from the 9th Hairpin bend. A small view point is there and its okkay for its class. Unlike ooty or kodaikanal I didnt see petty shops and annoying noises. Exactly a private view point. As we passed those roads, road safety walls were occupied by number of monkeys. To keep themselves warm they use the strategy of forming walls by hugging. Though I have seen this in the pictures, first time I saw that front of me. And ofcourse have to say this, after the trip, whenever I saw those picture of monkey, there were some questions like why it chose that safety wall etc. Hmmm..

We headed further and the true beauty started to feast our eyes. Attakatti was on the way and Rotti kadai was the next. I thought Moonar was the best one in the view of Tea plantations. I was totally wrong. These places are gorgeous, totally gorgeous. Anyone who sees the place, without thinking would claim this is the best. The tiny hills of Tea plantations and the trees in between them (to grip the soil) were absolutely beautiful. I was so glad that it was not polluted and ‘developed’ for tourism at all. But it has every ingredent to be one the best tourist place. Heard that Tamil Nadu Govt has plans to develop, but didnt see any symptoms. Let that be that way!!.. If you have a weekend and if you have a (good) car, you can enjoy one of the best weekend of your life. Take friday off and make it a 3 day trip, you wont forget it at all, anytime.

Little dillemma whether to stop at monkey falls or not was decided to skip the place when we saw a bus with full of sabari mala tourists. Valparai is kind of located in a very comfortable zone of nature. Western ghat and hills surrounded but a secluded small little town. Honestly, town doesnt have decent hotels or resorts. Anyhow our intention was just to finish the morning chores and a bath. We got in a hotel and with all due respect to driver, requested him to sleep. I know we cant use the driver for rest of the day. Plan B time!. We got a local and settled for 1200 rs for a whole day trip in his Omni which is cheapest for the place and for the day trip. He was kind and waited till we hogged our breakfast in a super tasty mess nearby. It was excellant.

It seems the omni driver was obsessed with music. That vehicle had super bass speakers. As we started the day tour, he played songs from “Minale” a Harris Jeyaraj album. I cant explain those refreshing thoughts. Beauty of the place, friends, wits and height of it extreme quality of music. As I listened to those songs, I felt lighter and lighter. Greatness of the music especially the cinema albums is that would make us to visit the period when we listened to those much (may be when they got released). Am really not sure, but it recollected those carefree life of Bangalore before marriage. Just forgot my senses for a while.;-)

Our first stop was Chinnakallar dam, a small tiny in a secluded area. Nothing much to write about it. But if you have time its good to visit chinnakallar falls which we didnt go as we knew we would lose much time. Next stop was at Nirar dam which better than the former. Again view was good not the very best. May be evenings in monsoon period would turn you into a poet there, I guess. Initially wanted to save my DSLR after seeing “No Photography” sign, but who bothers, our guys took enough number of pics including the warning sign. Next stop was at Koozangal (koolangal) or “Nalla thanni aaru” river. It was just bigger than a stream and we were not at all interested in getting into that. But we heard that it looks smaller but has number of death trap zones. Jeez.. Next stop was at Nallamudi Pooncholai to which we had to get into a beautiful Tea-estate. From there, we have to walk a KM (easy stretch) which has a extra-ornidary view of a valley and nearby tea estates. I tried to take a snap like floating in the cloud. But with our guys, its always fun, never can be serious. We couldnt get succeeded with taking a ‘good’ photograph on cloud floating. hmmmm…

Our next stop was at the most anticipated Sholayar dam. Our driver being a local took a route which I would never forget. Even a 4×4 would have 100 problems in that route. But our driver managed to drive with the expertise he gathered in years. At times we felt like we are heading to a footpath. Sholayar dam claims itself the second deepest in Asia. When we went there, with lots of walking (thanks to our driver), reached the dam to see a small portion which was almost similar like Nirar dam. When we headed back to Valparai, we were already loosing sun here and there. Cant afford to goto Shiva’s function late. The thought was running so hard in me and the omni understood that need as well. In those rugged roads, driver didnt want to take his leg off the accelerator.

When we reached valparai, quickly checkedout the hotel and waited for our driver. He happily absconded somewhere. hmmm.. We guessed he should be in the mess where we had our breakfast and found him there. Without disturbing him we came back. Atleast now we know where he is. When he came back, we urged to speed a little where he can but definitely not until we reach the foothills. We reached pollachi and deviated to Udumalpet where shiva’s marriage will happen the next day.

Without difficulties we found the marriage hall and we entered. As we had friends at both ends, it was easy to settle down to dinner as the first task. Considering the fact that we were hungry, we treated ourselves. It was a nice dinner. This side of the tamil nadu, marriages vary greatly. We didnt get any chance to see the bride and the groom together. I got hold of Shiva’s cousins (more than 6-7) and as we knew them started talking. That was the first blunder ever I did in the trip. They royally teased and ragged me. Well, kids growing. I almost ran off and settled inside the hall and we were talking to friends. Bad time follows. After a shortwhile, those ‘kids’ came inside and happliy settled down next to us. There it started. Next two hours, we will be ragged, teased, punished. My god, they are talented, quick witted and fearless. Honestly and frankly the questions whatever they asked were unanswered at our ends. They gave us nick names in 20 mins. Nobody did that to us. It was total fun and we almost forgot what for we were there. Thinking ahead, we collected ourselves and Met the Sivakumar and he got us the bride and we took a snap with the team. We bidded bye to them as we wont be there till the marriage. Kids were really attached now and they were sad on hearing us that we wont make it for the next day. It was kind of relief at our ends that we wont be there, to be too frank. Those kids didnt leave us and kept on taking photos using my DSLR and they were really quick learners with taking pictures and viewing them. Little later, we managed to leave the place and started to Dharmapuri for Senthil’s marriage. We were thinking that we would reach there just on time for the marriage. Luckily driver took us by 5:00 am. Thank god. Vinoth who didnt make it to the trip was already there in the pre-booked hotel for us. All we knew was sleep walking into the hotel and slept with the alarms set to get up early. Thats dangerous. After such a hectic trip, none were able to wokeup on time and Vinoth was taking trips to all the rooms and tried to get our guys atleast for the muhurtham. By the time we got readied, we got a call from Vinoth saying the marriage is already over. Oh noooooooooo… we rushed in a share auto. People over there didnt allow us to enter the hall first, they insisted we go to the breakfast hall. How can I explain him our sitution, we sneaked and got into the marriage hall. I met couple of college friends as well. Senthil the ever smiling with Ilavarasi made the stage to glow. As if we were good, we seated and little later, again because of the push, we entered the breakfast hall and filled ourselves. Later, we spent good time with senthil and worked a little (??!!) for his post marriage stuffs and called it a day. They didnt encourage my plan of taking our guys to my hometown for lunch. Hence we stayed back and enjoyed the lunch as well.

Later we started to our home town (on the way to Bangalore). I packed my stuff and started back to Bangalore shortly. Considering the traffic, it would be tough to take the normal routes. So we took the sarjapur route and dropped Vinoth at his home and we continued to Airport. Happily we spent long time there and called it my ‘TRIP’.

I told you it was hectic, but some how it always works..

Better quality pics are here.

26th Nov 2009. Vijay’s Birthday. Bagecha Restaurent

Aaliyar Dam

Somewhere near Attakatti

Nirar Dam

Koozangal river

Sholayar Dam

Sivakumar

Dont have answers.. So the smile..

Am a barbie girl – they sung and danced.

Sivaranjini, Sivakumar and “WE”

Staircases of faces..

at Senthil’s Marriage – Praveen and Senthil’s hyper active newphew.

Guys time to hit gym!!

She has advised long back to take leave on my birthday (5th Nov) and with little resistence I accepted. Despite the fact that am not interested to celebrate my own birthday, she persuaded me to be totally unaware of the total plan for the day. Well – I accepted that part also.

Secrets are the most interesting puzzles for scropions, but this time I went with the flow; didnt want to crack it before it comes to my table. alright!

She surprised me saying that we will board the Super star Virgo Cruise on a 2 night trip to Malaca and KL in Malaysia. Somehow they were in my list and let myself to catch the excitement. When I bragged about my opinion of celebrating my own birthday ‘these’ ways, Thenmozhi confessed a little more thing as well which was a need of a break in her hectic office life. So what, she didnt plan on some other days, she wanted this to happen on ‘My Day’..

4th Nov

Plan was to leave early from the office and check-in before 10:30 PM. I made it to home only by 8:45 PM got ready in 10 mins. With much patience, we started from home and it was raining heavily already. It good we can get a taxi without getting drenched. We got a Taxi and reached harborFront, from where cruise starts.

Have to talk about the cruise a lottttt.. But, wait.. I dont own it, so just little information. Super star Virgo is the biggest of their rest of the cruises with 13 decks of wonderful options to ‘live’ life. It has a open-sky pool at 12th deck. 5-6 restaurents, theatresm, dics, pubs, fitness centres, gaming centres, casinos and what nots of a 7 star hotel.

okay – we are there. When we got dropped off from the Taxi, I just had a quick look around and got my luggages and something was little differnt in my surroundings.. Again looked at them and found the as usual singapore of 1000s of lights around the buildings. Little I know one side was sea and the 100s of light were from the gigantic ship which is no less then a good corporate building just like the other sides. OMG – she is gorgeous. No doubt.

We quickly checked-in and got our Balcony class admission cards. (Yellow – Admiral class, Red – Balcony class, Blue – World Cruisers). She quickly ran and ordered a veggie delight personal pan pizza for me (just for me, she plays it always safe when it comes to cheese) while I negotiated some money with my card and pin at a ATM.

I felt like I was walking from immigration to another building but within 10 meters, I realized am stepping in the ship. Palace is a misleading word to compare the ship. With a welcome drink (is white wine + Champagne also a cocktail…grrrr) we headed to 11th deck. 3 massive beautiful lifts serve the place. Actually in ship, I boarded 7th floor directly.. we headed to our room. which was a small but excellant piece of ship where minute care was given to each and everything. Its really makes me to stand and salute to human engineering who made possible to these luxury ships. Its big.. really big.. 2000 people can travel on it. in no time I hogged garlic bread and pizza and slowly started to settle down. Made quick calls to mom and told I wont be around. Then sat, its kind of series of jolts when the ship is pulled by tugboat. Will remind everyone of the earthquakes only difference is excitement not the panic.

Casova cake – this is one of fav cake which is bit tough to get anywhere. Somehow Thenmozhi managed to get and am with the cake when the time ticked to 12. Great., with a stirrer we managed to cut the cake and then started worried as I realized am becoming 30.. OMG.. 30 starts.. almost of avergage Indian life is gone.. well, I am postponing this to worry later. with enough casova cake we called it a day and started sleeping with sweet pushes of ship with tides.

Offlate I had messed with my sleep again which makes me an night owl and puts me in grave danger at day time. well I thought I would sleep. I did.. for 2 hours. Then – up – totally up.. hmmm.. no internet.. came out to Balcony and sat a while. Ship was speeding now and I could feel it was almost would compete to a bus in India.

Actually am a die-hard fan of Seas. Whatever makes you to keep you interested till last, with lots of mystries in it and lots of pleasure in it, no-ways-we-would-stop-loving-them.. Seas is one of them. I love tides but seldom interested in dipping my legs in it. That would disturb me listenng to what Tides to talk to sands. And in the middle of the sea, god, I have no words to explain what and all they have. Today – with my sleep messed, I looked at the sea and the tides. Yes – Tides made by the ship as it speeds. It tears the water and takes a good breadth in expanding it and that creates a quick but streamy like tides away from the ship. They were quire impressive. The sounds, the flow, the air, the crispyness in the air, cool-warm & warm-cool feeling in the air, night, distance lighthouses of Indonesia, cargo ships – damn!! I have no idea how much time I stood there.. And slowly went back and shoved myself between the bed and blanket.

Mornings.. always beautiful.. But I never make it.

No difference today too.

9:30 am it was when I was ready for breakfast.. well after checking at couple of restaurents, we settled at mediternan breakfast.. if any form of egg, chicken sausage, potato (hashbrown or smashed) – I would say best breakfast.. Well, had greak salad some cakes, fruits, Orange juice went along with that. with a little roaming around the ship I ended back to my room to continue my sleep.

Ship was scheduled to stop in Malacca between 7 and 9 am. But didnt see it stopped there.

After little bit ship exploration, we readied ourself for the city tour. Ship stopped at the KL dedicated port of Star Cruises and there was little smaller than ours, Pisces was standing magnificently. Interestingly no Visa/Immigration processes for us. It was really surprising. Seems to save the time, Star cruise itself handles all the immigration seamlessly. That really saves time.

As we have covered the KL highlights in our earlier trips, we opted for shopping tour in which they leave us in the city center where many malls around and would pick at the end of the day. With one strong black coffee, I gained my energy for next 8 hours. Shopped till we were tired and decided to go to to pick-up point. We later returned to the ship and tried the Indian restaurant “Taj”. Taste was quite delicious and I was badly in need of that.. I ended the day with Singapore Sling and called it a day by watching the waves talking to the ships. Next day was almost eventless; We ended the trip with another round of ship exploration.

Despite all the fun, something is really haunting.. am getting aged.. :’(

Better version of pics here

Superstar Virgo

I know its tooooooo late in publishing this. Reason? lets keep that off the record. cant accept I was lazy..

hmmm.. It was another wonderful & perfect(almost.. ) Parents Trip.. Good news is its 4th time. So happy, aint we? Indeed.

It was the beautiful evening of 27th Sep 2009. Right after my second year MBA papers.. (My alter ego pinches me saying you got the results too, but not this article yet.. )..hmmmm.. With some comedies here and there I got 3 extra days in my vacation. Before I blinked twice, they were gone and we were at the Cantonment railyway station – Bangalore. When we guys meet, the place glows.. Much we had in the past we hope..

Snacks, snacks, snacks, coffee, tea and soft drinks.. When did we start a trip without these things. We started and my parents have joined at Dharmapuri and Arun’s parents at Salem. Ramesh and Dinesh’s family should reach Madurai as we reach. It was as usual fun and fun and fun.. Senthil excused himself to US and Arun ‘Father’ excused himself to look after Kavitha. We missed them too as much as they missed the trip.

We reached Madurai on 28th morning and splitted to Krish and Kubhi’s homes. After refresh and rest we had the sunny Madurai all for us. Didnt want to lay lazily; picked Krish and ventured to buy some stuffs. Though the sun didnt burn me right away it had plans to burn little later, little did I know. Vinoth and Ramesh joined with as they were suppose to ‘look after’ entertainment during the trip. He did justice to the post indeed. More to come on that.

Drank some mixed fruit punch (yes it was a real punch??!!, I had no slightest doubt about the fruits in it!!!). Roamed around and picked some sanity kit boxes and the stuffs to stuff in. Well, there came the afternoon. Later we had delicious food at Kubhi’s home and everyone met now. Dinesh (newly wed now.. ) with Gayathri were the talk of the house. Few slept offf and rest tried some magazines. When the time came, tea came.. on time! What else we would need to get up.. We did. We got refreshed and drank big cups of tea and started to Meenakshi Temple. Dad had arranged some police personnel to get some special darshan (its possible,we are in India!!). We skipped all the queues and took had special ‘guide’ from the lovely police people.

Dusk.. We left to Ramesh’s house and almost persuaded his parents to join with us. However they had some important marriage and felt heavy in their hearts to miss the trip. We indeed consider every parents’ plans. This got slipped. Jai Ramesh!!

We enjoyed the bumpy rides of share Auto in Madurai and returned to Kubhi house. Had lovely round(s) of dinner. Then the ultimate touch of surprise; (yea, it wont be good not to have last minute surprises).. We booked a Bus and that got some ‘service’ need when it was suppose to be ready for us. After couple of hours of ‘tinking’, we accepted their offer to have a mini bus and a qualis alternatively. We didnt like the idea, but who has the other option.. hmmmm… We started..

Surprises didnt end there. I took the qualis with Vinoth, krish and Praveen, and never felt that sleepy sitting next to the driver. People woke me up couple of times and reminded me the ‘duty’ of sitting there.. (nothing else, giving company to driver).. After Theni, Bus driver told us the need of getting permit for the bus. Lovely. The took the qualis and went to get the permit saying “just 30 mins, we will be back”. At that place, I with the hell sleepy feeling, bus told me, not here dude.. well, came out of bus and there was a temple. I told not there too. Well, sat at a small milestone crossing the road and was waiting…waiting..waiting.. meanwhile people in the bus woke up and few took a walk and the nearby Tea shop at that wee hours invited them. Long later, Qualis returned; I jumped in and settled right between krish and vinoth. Praveen took the front seat. Damn, I had no idea of what happened later. There were couple of tea stops. and when I opened my eyes, it was cooler environment, it was clear dawn and we were climbing hills to Munnar. So what, again my eyes closed and went on to say hi to other dream. What happened to me??? did I get doped? yea.. post exam feelings..

again, when I opened my eyes, it was becacuse of the colder air which pinched me so hard. Its because, the great Krish.. He wanted to enjoy the views, so lowered the glass. Escaping that? na.. not possible. So tried to be up. Meanwhile I should talk about the destination..aaawww.(excuse me please).. Forest Haven was the resort we were going. After lot of analysis, this proved to be a wonderful place for this trip and it proved the same for second time. Yes – we went to the same place way back.

We reached almost by 9 and we had some quick bath and headed straight to the breakfast. We joyed the simple delicious food and resumed to our rooms for a little rest. Leaving them to take more rest? dangerous. and leaving our guys like that? too dangerous.. they will sleep the whole day the same way. So we ‘collected’ them and went to the nearby stream which was way better than the last time. This time we had a swing too. Sooooooooooooooooo big one in terms height.. Cant believe our parents.. They dipped their legs in the stream and had good time. Then their attraction turned to the swing. Believe me or not. Everyone of them tried it. Happy to see the playful heart in them.

In a shortwhile with a little rest (yes – again), it was the time for lunch. While we engaged ourselves in Table Tennis, Chess, Carom few other happily enjoyed nap. Gaythri (Dinesh) proved her skills on TT capabilities. Great she was.

We went to a nearby dam and to our dismay, they were already done for the day for speed boating. We later hit a place called echo point and had good round of snacks.

When we returned to the resort it was already dark. Campfire (bon-fire) was ready and we were all set.. Campfire is the time we always treat so special and the highlight of the trip. As we had the privilege of having both the days with camp-fire, I postponed to discuss a serious topic the day later and wanted to indulge them in a casual talk. We wanted all the parents to talk 3 things of their life’s achievement and one thing what they wanted to be which they didnt fulfill. And they took turn.. Great 2 hours ran easily..

People make our heart melt in a matter of seconds.. This time, it started with Ramesh. He said, his parents (joined the last parents trip) told him after their trip last year, “This was one of my happiest day in my life – (Kodaikanal PT-III)”. He proudly claimed, that even his elder brother didnt make them saying that, but he. The way he said, gave us the 1000% happiness of why we doing this. And no lesser, Thenmozhi Ramesh (still a new comer to our world), made our eyes a little pond by talking about how great she feels when nursing people in the hospital. Despite the job, there is satisfaction!!. And Vaishali again.. all were in good form and talked freely. The night slowly took over us.

Next day, we headed to Eravikulam national park (thinking we would see animals). After a long queue and enough waiting, we got the whole safari van to us. It climbed and climed. We passed a unknown or nameless beautiful falls and ended at a place. From there?? Its the park!! They told us to get down. That means?? No dangerous animals.. well.. what else?? just the goats. Nigirl Tar. Hmmmm.. after enough walking at that drizzling, we found many of them happily doing their duty (what else – eating).. We caught them few in our cameras and tried to walk uphill as long as possible in that clean tar road. After a KM, it was kind of end and everyone of us decided to go back to the place where we got dropped. I was hoping for a fox atleast but none.. hmmmm…

At that place, we had ice creams. so daring we were. But never do that unless thats a branded and kept as the company suggested.

We waited for longgg time and caught the safari van back to the base. At the base, again people went for the snack.. Hell with our luck, Krish wanted some Capsicum bajji which leathered a lot while cooking. Shop owner sweared thats refined oil. A very little doubt didnt save me from 1 fever day and 2 weeks need to recover. Fate. We ate.

All of them. Few vomitted.. good.. I wanted to do too.. but was really not interested in manual tries.. there goes the second chance to avoid. had something on top of it at the resort and we just the youngs caught the qualis and went to the spice garden nearby. He initially told some outrageous cost for a guided tour but later settled for a cheaper cost. He took us on a tour which was honestly interesting and it was really worth of money to learn from vannila plant to strawberry (yes!!)..

When we rerturned, tea was waiting for us, with some sips, we were ready for another rocking campfire. We played a rubberband game.. Thanks for the good time Ramesh..

Rain had other thoughts as well. So we resumed to the dinner hall and it was awesome that we played a team building game on couples. Just a news paper (1 sheet) and one pair. Nothing else required. Like musical chair at the end of every music, they have to fold the paper and still they have to stand on that (on the paper). As the folds became smaller, they not only had to squeeze in but had to hug the other. People done it beautifully and it was the exact master card “priceless” ad-time. their expressions.. feelings.. amazing.. Ramesh.. second time to appreciate for the assignment that he was responsbile.. after that there was little preaching time relating that game to our lives.. it was me..

At the end, Vinoth’s mom with the most heartfelt blesses tapped me.. I swear, nothing would stop us taking them to these trips as long as possible no matter where I am..

Before my dinner, that capsicum bajji (s#it) started working and I felt strong cues of fever. In no time, I took a pill and sunk between the wraps. When I was up in the morning, thank God, I had no fever. After the breakfast, we all posed for a group picture.. Bye-ed the resort and headed to a viewpoint on the way to Madurai. When we were returning after the late lunch to Madurai, I felt the need to urge quickly so that I can catch the flight.. But we had enough time.. Sat at the small Madurai airport, was wondering how the days ran and what would be in store for rest of the day and the coming days.. .. it was a Bluemoon….. … how often we find ourself happier than we the limits we know…. Cant wait for the next trip.

Better version of pics here

Dedicated to PT-2009

]]> http://www.rainyhills.com/?feed=rss2&p=64 0 http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=63 http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=63#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:50:06 +0000 admin http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=63 Muoattos Muragl & Marguns
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This is last leg of travel in Swiss. At the end of “Glacier Express” we settled in our hotel and took a small walk with the hope get some food. After visiting couple of restaurants, we found a perfect one where I could ‘think’ of eating something as they served French fries and chicken nuggets. I know thats kids food..:-p. St.Moritz is much cooler than the central swiss however the views are not breathtaking. Thats because east swiss mountains are prone to landslides because of their strength but not at concerned rate. Italian impacts were visible with building architecture and at restaurants. We ate a pasta and the kid’s food and resumed to hotel to call it a day. It was a different kind of vibe I felt out there when compared to the other places. Next day with the help of the receptionist we got to know that in half a day (thats all I had for the day, coz we had to return to Zurich) we could cover Muattos Muragl a nearby hill which could be reached by cog-wheel train unit where St.Mortiz and celerina can be seen completely with hilly backgrounds. With that note, we caught a bus and got dropped at the foot of the hill. Muattos Muragl is not part of Swiss Railways so dont expect the trip to get covered by swiss pass.

Cog wheel journey was a engineering wonder and they built it to last for ages. We had a nice little journey to reach the top. Honestly the view of those two little towns were good and nothing else. There were again wonderful trek routes. We skipped and sat for sometime. Soon we realized the cold breeze and what it could do to us. With some pics, we headed back to the base with some couple of hours in hand before we could think of catching Zurich train. That gave me other option to visit another cable-car-reachable peak. We decided to reach just half to encash the detour option with Trotti bike as the complete peak is accessible or open only during winters. Using this route (from celerina) Margun is half-way and from there Corvigila, Corvatsch are the peaks further.

We spent some ‘sitting’ time at Margun and headed back to base with Trotti bike. Unfortunately that was a rugged route and the tyres of the bikes were almost bald. I myself had little tough time in controlling the bikes, but poor Thenmozhi almost pushed the vehicle the entire stretch. I should have got kid’s bike (with big tyres) for her. Anyhow it was a different experience and finished. Happily went back to hotel and collected our luggages. Then headed back to Celerina station and caught the Chur train from where another one to Zurich. They were eventless and at the Zurich aiport we had just enough time to get some souvenirs and chocolates. With that a most memorable trip came to an end.

Singapore Airlines carried us back to so called home in 12 hours straight.

Better version of images. Download at St.Moritz

St.Moritz (Swiss) . Strong Italian accents.. In all..

Torn with Time

On the way to Muottas Muragl

Timeless wonders

St.Moritz, Celerina from Muottas Muragl

Celerina

Wishing to have a permanent tent. I would have if Swiss wont see me as …….. …

Not better than central Swiss..

In Winter, all is white.. I would sunk in snow.

A place where I could reach in summer.

Back to Celerina

Ready for a tough Trotti bike detour

Trotti bike detour

Trotti bike detour

Heading to catch Zurich Train..

]]> http://www.rainyhills.com/?feed=rss2&p=63 0 http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=62 http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=62#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:30:23 +0000 admin http://www.rainyhills.com/?p=62 GLACIER EXPRESS
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27th July 2009

We left Zermatt on 27th morning with the excitement of travelling 7.5 hours at the scenic train which is popularly known as Glacier Express. Glacier express passes thru various cities of swiss literally from west to east. There was not much the entire journey. Its kind of bit tiring but worth trying once. May be as the first thing in Swiss.

Better version of images. Download at Glacier Express

Matterhorn Peak Just before we left Zermatt.

Cute Cap.

Glacier Express. 7.5 hours journey from Zermatt to St.Moritz

Glacier Express Train

1000s of Streams

Sweet Italian aged couple gave us awesome company.

We talked much in monacting. Language issues. )

Funny isnt it?

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