Egypt trip expenses

The local currency is Egyptian Pound (written as EGP, LE, or L£). Many places with accept USD. Make sure to allow international access on the cards you plan to use before leaving. Cash is used primarily but we did use card in a few places (mostly at the hotels).

Exchange Rate

The USD/EGP exchange rate as per Google or Oanda was 19.6 but fell to 23.1 towards the very end of our trip.

Street rate was 1 USD = 20 EGP. For example, we paid 40 EGP to a falafel vendor with a 5 USD note and got 60 EGP back. Similarly we paid 1400 EGP for the Abu Simbel ride which was quoted as 70$ (for two).

I used a forex card from BookMyForex. I also got a forex card from HDFC but the USD/INR exchange rate on that was 84+ instead of 82+ offered by BookMyForex. We loaded USD (and AED for our layover in Abu Dhabi) as EGP is not available as a forex currency in India. The usage (POS, online, ATM) was in in EGP but the forex card balance was in USD. This EGP/USD conversion cost us around 5% – the rate was 18.64 (as compared to 19.6) for bulk of this usage. Therefore our effective EGP/INR rate was around 4.4 (82.4/18.64)

The numbers below are in INR if the currency is not mentioned.

Flights and Hotels

We flew from Bangalore to Cairo via Abu Dhabi. We considered Etihad and Emirates and flew Etihad because it was cheaper. Flight from Bangalore to Cairo was around 43k per person. We booked an overnight layover in Abu Dhabi and visited Sheikh Zayed Mosque. The transit visa was free. Since it was not a “stopover”, we got our check-in bags in Cairo only.

In Egypt, we flew from Cairo to Aswan (1400 EGP on Nile Air), then took a Nile cruise to Luxor and flew back from Luxor to Cairo (2115 EGP on Air Cairo). We booked the domestic flights a little late so they were 6-8k per person. Booking a little earlier would have been cheaper.

Hotels were around 6k per night. Our Aswan Hotel was a little higher, otherwise the average would have been under 5k.

The two-night cruise from Aswan to Luxor was 75$ per person per night paid in cash (so 6000 EGP total for two). I read that these could go as low as 45$ (https://motohorek.life/en/2022/02/nile-cruise-egypt-on-budget/). The second night was not worth it since we reached Luxor before 5 PM and were docked in port far from the city. I don’t know if they sell tickets for one-night but I would take that option if available.

Food

Food was 100-320 EGP (around 400-1280 INR) for two. The exception was when we splurged on lunch at Marriott Mena House. A 2 liter water bottle cost 5 EGP in non-touristy parts of Cairo but we were paying 10 EGP in Luxor and Aswan.

Getting around

You need to hire a car/taxi to get around especially in Luxor and Aswan. In Cairo, we paid 500 EGP to get to the hotel from the airport (and the driver managed to take 100 EGP in tips!). Uber was a godsend in Cairo and the return trip from the hotel to the airport was only 160 EGP!

In Luxor and Aswan you would need to hire a car/taxi that would take you to the attractions and wait for you. We paid 300-500 EGP depending on our bargaining skills. We paid 35$ per person for the minibus tour to Abu Simbel from Aswan. In Luxor we found a decent driver and used his services on multiple days. This saved us time when we needed to leave early in the morning.

In Luxor we used taxis and horse carriages for trips to the market or restaurants. We paid 20 EGP everytime for short trips but had to bargain sometimes. Karnak temple wasn’t far away from our hotel so we took a regular taxi there which cost us 50 EGP each way.

Uber is only available in Cairo, but the Careem app works in Luxor. I was not able to register with an international number. Getting a local sim might be handy.

In total, we spent around 35k on car, taxis, Uber, and minibus rides!

Horse Carriage and felucca

We did a tour of the pyramids in a horse carriage. He lured us in with an offer of 350 EGP but upsold us to 600 EGP then said it was per person and finally extracted 400 EGP in tips! The ride was the highlight of the trip but a bit costly. Remember to negotiate the final amount before getting in.

We did a felucca (it is a type of sail boat) ride in Luxor for 150 EGP for an hour at sunset.

Tickets

Entry tickets were a bit expensive for foreigners. They ranged from 100-260 EGP per person. We spent around 16k(!) total on entry tickets for two people and nine places.

Cell phone

I got the 1199 INR plan from Airtel which had 1GB data and 100 min of calls. I hardly used the calls but ran out of data on the last day! I re-charged with the 755 INR plan which had 1 GB of data. The hotels generally had decent wifi (free) for making video calls, uploading pictures, net banking, booking tickets, or looking up stuff. The exception was on the cruise where the wifi was paid which we did not use.

Egypt visa for Indians

India was added to the e-visa list in 2021. To apply you need to visit https://visa2egypt.gov.eg

Indian citizens are allowed to apply for an e-visa only if traveling in a tour group.

“Current nationality is only available for it to submit a visa application if it is within a group with the guarantee of an approved tourist agent (please change the type of application to a group)”

The visa says “You will not be allowed to enter the country without the guarantee of an authorized tourist agent in Egypt. It must be present at the airport upon your arrival”.

As per reports on tripadvisor this rule is not enforced. Airline staff or immigration officials also did not ask about this guarantee while looking at the e-visa.

You cannot apply more than 90 days in advance – “Please enter a valid arrival date, arrival date MUST not be after 90 days from now.”

Our e-visa validity began on the date of issue. My visa application was submitted on Aug 2 evening and email with visa attached was received on Aug 4. The visa validity began on Aug 4 and was valid until Nov 2 (90 days). I had specified my travel date as Oct 31 (90 days from Aug 2) to Nov 14. Since the visa validity started immediately, it expired before my planned trip ended. I asked if they could change the validity but they replied that I could extend my stay by visiting the immigration authorities.

Luckily I had not booked flight tickets so I changed my plans to return before Nov 2.

It would have been better to wait and apply for the visa in mid August so that my visa was valid until mid November.

For the other person traveling with me and they sent two emails:

Email 1

Kindly be informed that you have to reattach both copies of the first page which includes the date and the second page which includes (Father’s Name), both copies should be in clear quality in which all the written data appears clearly including the personal photograph, the three words ‘PASSPORT’ on the top left of the attached image, the line on the top of the attached copy and the Machine Readable Zone ‘MRZ’ which is in the bottom of the attached passport page. Gently be noted that this is the last chance to reattach before final rejection.

Also please be informed that in case you reattach a better quality copy, you will receive another update email in order to write (Father’s name) in (Surname) field.

Email 2

We are sorry to inform you that we are unable to process your e-Visa request. Please login to Egypt eVisa Portal to re-attach your passport again due to Missing Attach Both Pages In One Attachment.

Please re-attach your passport photo-copy within 72 hours, otherwise your application will be rejected automatically and the service processing fee is non-refundable.

Kindly be noted that we review the following (Passport Number, Given name, Surname, Date of Birth, Nationality, Issue Date, Expiry Date, and Passport Type at the top left of the Travel Document), so please re-attach a high quality image of your Travel Document.

I had uploaded only the first page and as mentioned in the emails above they wanted the last page too. I had done the same for my application and did not face any issues!

I was refreshing the website and did not see these emails in time. The website also asked for the passport image to be re-uploaded but did not have this much information. The preview shown while attaching was resized the image without preserving the aspect ratio so I cropped the picture to only show the details thinking that’s what they might have been referring to.

Later when I saw the emails, I asked them if I could re-upload the image but they said that the application had to go through the stages. Then I received an email saying “We are sorry to inform you that your e-Visa request is declined, due to You Did Not Attach Both Pages In One Attachment.”

I re-applied with the correct image and the visa was approved. This led to waste of time and visa application fee (25$). It would have been better to read the email and respond rather than just look at the status on the website.

How to spend 3 days in South Goa

Getting There

We traveled to Goa from Bangalore by bus. We booked a Paolo travels bus through MakeMyTrip. We boarded the bus from Race Course Road around 10:30. The bus stopped somewhere after Dharwad towards the morning for bathroom break etc. and reached Goa by morning.

The bus went too Panjim first and took its sweet time getting to Margao. We were worried about early check-in but the bus ensured that we only reached our booked apartment around noon! Most passengers had got down at Panjim and there were not that many people or taxis at Margao bus stop. I think we had to pay 400 for a 20 minute ride in a Maruti Eeco to our apartment in Varca.

Day 1: Palolem, Agonda, and Cabo de Rama

Palolem-Agonda-Cabo — Palolem beach, Agonda beach, and Cabo de Rama fort

We hired a taxi and the driver doubled as a tour guide also. We headed down south to Palolem beach first. Here we hired a boat for an hour. They showed as the Butterfly beach from afar and then took us to Honeymoon beach. We got off there but there wasn’t much to explore as the beach is quite small. We took some pictures and returned to Palolem. This took just above an hour and we ended up paying 2400 for it.

We then got back into our taxi and drove back up north to Agonda beach. The beach was quite deserted and we walked around for a bit. There were a few people offering boat rides but by now we knew better! Soon we were in the car again heading back north again.

Our final stop was an old fort called Cabo de Rama which offered stunning views of the sea through its battered stone walls. There weren’t that many people here either. We took some pictures of the old church (at least I thought it was an old church) and walked around the fort walls. It was getting dark so we were soon on the way back to our hotel in Varca.

Day 2: History, spice, temples, and churches

Spice-farm-Old-Goa — Old Portuguese house, big foot museum, spice farm, temples in Ponda, and Basilica of Bom Jesus

We went to visit an old Portuguese house (Casa Araujo Alvares). It was interesting to walk through the house and see how people lived there years ago. The place was somewhat crowded and we spent 20-30 min walking through the house. There were pictures showing various Hindi movies that have been shot there.

Next we visited the Big foot museum located across the street. There was a curious little depiction of how the villages looked back in the day and it was interesting to walk through it. The ‘big foot’ referred to a foot imprint in rock that has some legend associated with it. There were also some interesting stone carvings. We spent about 30 min here.

We then got into the car and headed to a spice plantation. There was buffet lunch here and there was a sizeable crowd here. The lunch was followed by a tour of the plantation. Then we headed to a couple of temples in Ponda – the Shanta Durga temple and the Mangesh temple. Then we went to the famous Basilica of Bom Jesus. This place was quite crowded given that it is quite famous. There was an actual wedding taking place here. We also went to the Se Cathedral across the street which was quite deserted in comparison.

Day 3: Dolphin watching

Dolphin watching and Fort Aguada in Candolim, North Goa beaches, and Chapora Fort

On our last day, we decided to see a bit of North Goa too. Our driver took us to a beach called Coco Beach where there were a lot of boats taking tourists on dolphin watching rides. They charged 300 per person and hurriedly ushered us into one of the half-filled boats which was soon full and we were off into the sea. We rode for 10-15 minutes and reached an area where the dolphins were supposed to be. We had to wait for a bit but soon we were able to see some dolphins emerge out of the water and swim nearby. This experience was the highlight of the trip.On the way back we were able to see Aguada fort up above. They also pointed out some houses and the various Hindi movies that had been shot there. We were soon back on the beach within around 45min from when we started.

We found our driver in the parking area and then headed off to Aguada fort. He dropped us off a bit away from the fort so we walked to the entrance and then walked inside to the ticket counter which was a bit crowded. We walked around enjoying the views of the sea and took some pictures. We must have spent around 30 minutes here.

We were again back in the car and heading north. Our next and final destination was Chapora fort. We passed by Candolim and Baga beaches but did not stop there. At Chapora fort, it was a short walk from the parking to the fort and then we had to climb a number of steps to get to the fort. As expected there were a lot of tourists here. When we reached inside there was somebody playing songs from Dil Chahta Hai loudly on a bluetooth speaker! We walked around the perimeter and the views from the far end were spectacular and we could see Vagator and Morjim beaches in the distance.

From here we headed back to the bus station which we reached around 5 which was a little early for our bus so we had some food while we waited. Later we reached the bus station and asked some shopkeepers where the bus might come since the bus station was quite large and there were no bays or platforms. The bus did arrive where they told us to wait and we reached Bangalore without incident. Bangalore was cloudy and a bit cold. It felt like we had arrived at a hill station after the hot and sunny weather in Goa!

Japanese visa in Bengaluru

I just got my visa to Japan. Applying for the visa in Bangalore is super smooth – easy to apply, quick turnaround and the visa fee is nominal (₹490 only!). We applied for the visa on 16th October. They take exactly five working days (so seven days counting the weekend) to process the visa and 18th and 19th were holidays in the consulate (and 20th/21st was the weekend). So we got our passports back on the 25th, but the visas issue date was 17th.

The Consulate-General of Japan is located on the first floor of Prestige Nebula near Cubbon Park (quite close to the Cubbon Park metro station). Their website lists the documents needed. No appointment is necessary for a visa application.

We wanted to get there when they open at 8:30 (visa application collection time is 8:30 – 11:30), but our cab was delayed a little and we reached there only around 8:45. When we entered the consulate, there were two security guards who watched us pass the metal detector and then made us enter our details in the guest register. We entered a small room which had these metal row seats that you commonly see in waiting areas. We sat in the front row facing the window and waited.

The window opened in a few minutes and there were a couple of other applicants waiting with us by then. We submitted our applications and other documents. In the cover letter, I had mentioned a rough itinerary. The visa officer gave us blank pieces of paper and asked us to break it down by day. We moved away from the window to write down an itinerary. I had spent weeks agonizing over what to see and do. This time I did not have the luxury. I basically looked up the sights on japan-guide.com and quickly filled out an itinerary. Since there weren’t too many people we got back at the end of the line. This time our application was accepted without any further issues.

I am always conflicted about booking flight tickets without a visa, so I only mentioned the flight itinerary. This was quite specific – listing out the exact flights we wanted to take. We ended up booking this exact itinerary but after getting the visa.

On the 25th, I went down to the consulate on my way back from lunch. The passport collection time is 14:00 – 16:00 and I was there before they were open. There were 2-3 people waiting before me. This time I had to wait outside before the guards let us in. The process was fairly quick. They informed me that the visa was granted. I paid the fee and collected the passports. Now the fun begins!

Mitchell Point Hike

Portland

In this city, it often rains. Geography demands it. For beyond the islands scattered west roll endless miles of ocean, while north-east at the city’s back jut jagged mountain peaks. With the slate-gray skies of autumn come the cyclone westerlies, raging winds and boiling clouds that sweep in from the sea. In waves these bloated clouds tear open on the peaks, and the rain which fills each gut spills and rattles down.

To live in this city, you learn to like rain.

Funny how sometimes you retain information from the unlikeliest of sources. I was in eleventh (or twelfth?) grade when I asked a friend if he had anything interesting to read. He lent me the novel Headhunter (Michael Slade). The plot is about Royal Canadian Mounted Police hunting down a serial killer in Vancouver. The passage above is how the story begins (after the first chapter which is more of a prologue). People who live in the pacific north-west would agree that the same passage applies to the other two big cities in this region — Seattle and Portland.

I must have been in fifth grade when I was doing a map (marking cities and lakes and rivers and mountains) of North America. One of the items was listed as “Vancouver (Canada)”. I did not know what Vancouver was; and, seeing Canada in parenthesis, I assumed they meant Canada (even though I had a feeling that couldn’t be right). Later, my sister laughed and told me that I was supposed to mark the city of Vancouver and not just Canada. So I learnt that Vancouver was a city and would later learn that it rained there all the time (courtesy the serial-killer tale above). A few year later, a friend of mine was interning at Starbucks in Seattle. “That is where Starbucks started.”, he told me, and “It rains here all the time.”. Just like Vancouver, I thought. It all made sense.

Almost exactly an year ago, I was having a phone interview. I already had a tentative offer (in Boston!) so I wasn’t taking the phone call seriously. I was on IM with a friend, planning to go to a 5 o’clock show of The Dark Knight. The interview went well and ended just in time for me to get to the movie in time. It was pouring. I got wet just walking across the parking lot. A couple of weeks later, I was in Portland interviewing for the job. It rained the whole day, almost exactly like the day I had been in Seattle, on another interview a few weeks back.

I never made it to Boston – not even for a face to face interview. I ended up taking the offer in Portland – a town that came close to being named Boston.

And that’s how I live in Portland now. In this city, it often rains. Geography demands it. … To live in this city, you learn to like rain.

Driving across America

Maybe it was when a friend of mine mentioned that he had driven 2800 miles from Pittsburgh to Santa Clara in four days that the thought first came to my mind – of driving across the continent. And I did it finally – last month.

Road Trip USA — Green river twin I-80 tunnels near Green River, WY

I had been prepared to do it solo, but in September I mentioned the idea to Shirish and he said that he might be willing to come along. However, I was delayed by a few days and he couldn’t make it. I met my advisor before leaving the univ and mentioned the trip to him. He didn’t seem enthused by the idea and suggested the possibility of snow. I decided to take the I-80 route rather than I-90 (which is more to the north) so that the possibility of snow would be lower. I had exactly one week to reach Portland, so there wouldn’t be any time for sightseeing anyway. In hindsight, it would have been better to take a bit longer but that would have meant cutting my India trip shorter or pushing my joining date farther. I was already not spending a lot of time in India and Lehman brothers collapsed when I was enroute to India, so it was not the best time to delay starting a job!

Monday, October 13th: Raleigh to Cincinnati (529 miles through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio): The rear passenger window of my car had started to slide down on its own. I had tried to hold it together with superglue, but a more permanent fix was necessary for a trip this long. I visited my mechanic “Mr Kim” who offered to put in a nut to hold up the window. This was a good quick fix under the circumstances (a couple of weeks later I would regret not being able to break into my car!).

I found that while I was in India, my roommate had given my GPS navigator to someone and I absolutely needed it to be able to make the trip. After weighing all options, including buying a GPS, he finally borrowed a TomTom GPS from some friend. So I started from Raleigh only at noon, and I had to start the trip with an unfamiliar GPS device! After missing a turn, which I blamed on the GPS, I modified some of the settings because of which I got a non-optimal route. On the way to Cincinnati I did a lot of driving on state highways, some of which were quite windy and even single lane. Eventually I reached Cincinnati without losing much time.

Tuesday (in Cincinnati): We decided that I should stay there for a day. The day was spent visiting a lake, borrowing DVDs from the library (we watched Match Point) and in the evening we went to Newport which is across the river from Cincinnati and has a wonderful view of the downtown area. I had also left my cellphone charger back in Raleigh so I had to buy a new one ( I got a deal for $6 which works both indoors and in the car). I also got a pair of sunglasses (which came in handy given I was driving West) and borrowed contact lens solution from Shirish who wasn’t using it.

Wednesday: Cincinnati to Omaha (722 miles through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska): I started at a more reasonable time (compared to Monday) and quickly crossed from Ohio into Indiana after a refueling stop. At some point I noticed that the car was pulling to the right. I thought I might need to get the wheels looked at, but then I rolled down the windows and realized there was a furious crosswinds blowing across the (corn?) fields which the interstate cut through.

At lunch time, I was sitting at a Subway in Urbana – pretty close to UIUC. It would’ve been a good opportunity to meet another wingmate of mine if I had done this trip a few months earlier. Turns out he moved to Seattle in the summer having driven all the way from Urbana to Seattle. He did the smart thing of buying a new car in Urbana and I wondered if I should have done that. Since he had done the trip in summer and had more time on his hand, he had taken the I-90 route with a friend. I think they visited Yellowstone National Park along the way. In any case, my sandwich was finished and I had to start at the new job on Monday, so I got moving again.

There was a bit of rain in the afternoon but apart from this, the weather was good throughout the trip. Towards the night, as the song goes, I found myself on a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha (if you’re wondering the song is Turn the Page by Bob Seger and later also by Metallica). I was feeling tired and I found a Motel 6 near an exit just past Omaha. I grabbed some fast food and was off to bed soon after.

Kearney Arch — Most boring highway: I-80 in Nebraska

Thursday: Omaha to Rawlins, WY (644 miles through Nebraska and Wyoming): I started again around 9. There was some light frost on my car windshield, but thankfully I did not encounter any snow during the trip. There was a lot of driving dead straight on a very flat terrain (see top left). There wasn’t much to see barring the odd attraction like the Kearney Archway (see top right pic) The vehicular traffic was also pretty sparse, mostly consisting of long hauling truckers who kept to the rightmost lane. So the “driving” was mostly engaging cruise control and keeping alert, especially when passing. Lunch was again at a Subway – this time in Kimball, NE.

As I kept driving west, the elevation started to increase and there were very strong headwinds. My car was barely able to keep up, maxing out at 45-50 MPH. I pulled over at a gas station in Buford, WY (a town of population one!) and took a look around the car to see if everything was okay. I got back on the highway again and noticed a sign saying the wind speed was more than 45 MPH! No wonder my poor car was struggling.

By the time I crossed Elk Mountain, the clouds cleared and the winds eased up, but it was soon dark and I started feeling very tired. This part of the country is very sparsely populated and it was a while before I reached the town of Rawlins, WY. This is probably the sleepiest I have felt while driving. I found a motel near the exit (another Motel 6) but they did not have rooms available. There was another motel nearby (funnily named Motel 7!) run by a desi gentleman. It was cheap but pretty dingy, but I was asleep as soon as I hit the bed.

Souvenir from the Little America truck stop on I-80

Friday: Rawlins, WY to Meridian, Idaho (594 miles through Wyoming, Utah and Idaho): Having crossed the mountains the day before, this day again started with long straight endless roads. I think the stretch in the picture below is called the “Highway to Heaven”

I crossed into Utah and turned onto I-84, and soon I was at Weber canyon where the scenery changed dramatically and I could see snow capped mountains right from the highway.

I-84 rest stop near Mountain Green, UT before entering Weber Canyon

Later in the day the terrain flattened out. I-84 shares part of the route with the old US-30 highway, so this part was along narrower surface streets and headed exactly west with the sun shining directly into my eyes. I stopped at a gas station and it looked more like a mom-and-pop store. Then I realized it was part of a campground – right on I-84! I reached Boise in the evening and checked into a Hampton Inn (an upgrade from Motel 6!) in a town called Meridian nearby. They had a heated pool so I took a much needed dip after a long day of driving.

Saturday: Meridian, Idaho to Hillsboro (439 miles through Idaho and Oregon): This was the last day of my trip. Starting from Meridian, I drove through the scenic Blue Mountains. Soon, though, I was driving through a steep winding downhill road (6% grade). It was quite an experience to navigate that stretch and even some semi trucks were passing me! I stopped at the first exit once we reached flatter ground and went into the Arrowhead Travel Plaza. There I found that the shop was selling t-shirts for surviving this stretch (appropriately called Deadman Pass)!

T-shirt being sold at travel plaza at the bottom of Cabbage Hill

From this point onward, the driving was much easier and in an hour or so I was driving next to the Columbia River and then in the Columbia River Gorge.

Looking at the Columbia River from an I-84 rest stop

I was at my friend’s place by four pm. The trip meter which had started in Raleigh read “095” because it only had three digits. I had driven 3095 miles in six days!

***

When America started expanding westwards, the wagons would take six months to travel from Missouri to Oregon on a route which is loosely similar to the route I had driven. When automobiles became popular, the wagon trails were replaced by the Lincoln Highway (the Little America stop where I stopped was established in this era) which was the first coast-to-coast highway in America. It was succeeded by the US-30 (and other) highways and eventually by the interstate system that we have today. A journey that would take six months 150 years ago took me just five days of driving and $300 in gas!

A day in Rome

I was sitting in the metro train at the Barberini station, looking at the poster on the opposite wall. I was trying to figure out if it was indeed Eva Longoria on the poster and why was she plastered all over Rome.

The closing train doors interrupted my thoughts and I turned to my right to look at the little screen inside the train car. Vittima di Razzismo ?, the ad enquired. It then proceeded to provide a toll-free number and other information if you were indeed a victim.

That reminded me of the previous day in Bari. I had to kill time while waiting for my train to Rome. I went to a McDonald’s in front of Bari Centrale, where I saw a couple of skinhead types who were staring at me. I am not entirely sure that they were skinheads – unless in Italy even skinheads are fashion conscious and wear t-shirts with designer labels. After lunch I went on a walk and found myself in a park.

skinheads bari, proclaimed a graffiti. The next one said, no immigrazioni, but ironically there was a man sitting on top of the sign who most probably was an immigrant.

In Italy, I noticed a lot of people who might have been African immigrants, and a lot of police surveillance in the. There are probably racism and immigration related problems in Italy, but thankfully I didn’t face any such problems during my short trip.

The only unpleasant situation I faced was when I left the Sistine Chapel and was walking towards the metro station. A tourist holding a map asked me directions to some place but I told him that I too was a tourist. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared and said he was a cop. He then said that there were a lot of drug problems and he was working for “Control” and wanted to see our papers.

I gave him my passport. He looked at it and returned it ot me and then asked us to hand over our wallets. I had read about such scams in Lonely Planet (or online, I’m not sure), and had been in a similar situation before. I started walking away towards the metro station. He was looking through the other guy’s wallet and he yelled at me to stop, but I kept walking without looking back and he didn’t follow me. I don’t know what happened to the other guy. It does occur to me now that he might have been an accomplice.

Finally, I leave you with pictures of the day I spent in Rome.

Türkiye

Kos is so close to Turkey that you can actually spot it across the sea. Bodrum, in Turkey, is only 4 km away. One of the people in my group went to see Turkey after the conference. He asked me if I was interested, but getting the visa would have been a problem (which amused him).

Turkey seen in the distance across the Aegean Sea from Kos

Kos was actually under Turkish rule under the Ottoman Empire. One of the conference attendees returned from a jog and said that he had just seen Turkey. “The bird?”, I thought. After living in America I have become like the people on the Stupid American videos. But even stupid people are aware of the existence of a country called Turkey.

You would also probably remember Turkey as the place Gurukant Desai chose to go to over Yemen. It’s perceived liberal Islam attracts bad filmmakers to make terrorism based movies involving an ensemble cast of relegated actors, but it is in fact a secular country.

Turkey is located right in the center of the northern hemisphere. Well, almost. The point midway between Equator and North Pole lies about 16 km north of the 45°N line (because the earth is oblate – yay Wikipedia!). That point lies in the Black Sea – a little to the north of Turkey. Longitudinally too, Turkey strides across Europe and Asia, acting as a bridge between the West and East. People who have been there tell me that you would wonder whether you are in Saudi Arabia or Europe.

Some people don’t even consider Turkey to be in Asia:

Depends where you come from. In New Zealand, at least, we don’t group everyone east of Turkey as being Asian. People from India are considered just Indians, separate from people from the Middle East, separate from Asians which would be everyone native from Burma eastwards. Even then that seems overly broad. Have you noticed the difference between Tamils and Ladakis in India?

But these days everything seems to be a matter of opinion – even things that were facts earlier. Like how many planets are there in our solar system? Just the other day my friends were debating the number of continents in the world!

I did not realize until recently that Turkey was only two countries away from India. It is almost possible to do a train journey from Turkey to India – from Turkey you go to Iran, then Pakistan and then into India taking the Samjhauta Express.The only point where no trains run is a stretch between Bam and Zehedan in Iran (near Pakistan border) which has been “under construction” forever.

The Turkish enjoy their football as much as any other European country. Ergo, they have crazy football fans. I saw a lot of cars with huge Turkish flags, and heard from other people that they constantly drive around honking their horns before, during and after matches. I happened to be in Innsbruck Fan Camp during the Turkey-Czech Republic quarter-final match. There was match-viewing area where a huge number of Turkish fans had gathered to watch the match on a giant screen. I had reached there late and just in time to catch the penalties. Tur-ki-ye. Tur-ki-ye. Tur-ki-ye. The fans were going wild.

When the Turkish won, the place almost exploded with excitement.

Winning that match put them into the semi-final where they were supposed to play Germany. Now Germany has a huge Turkish population (I guess Turkey is to Germany what Mexico is to USA). I had carefully calculated to be in Germany in time for that match, but my careful calculations turned out to be useless because the match was a day later than what I had assumed.

These days Yahoo Mail has been bombarding me with travel ads. The occasional “Where do you want to go” ad and half a dozen Go Turkey ads.

Maybe, some day.

Dangerous

It’s about 3 PM CEST – been a long summer day. St Peters Basilica. Sistine Chapel. Scam artist. Metro. Spinach sandwich. Colosseum. Fake Gladiators. Self snapshots. €2 water bottles. Back to Roma Termini. I saw some backpackers lounging about in front of the station. Below one of those giant flower pots.

roma

Two African men sat below the next tree. Borrowed a cigarette from someone – in true European tradition. When in Rome and all that. Sat below the next available tree.
Suddenly, the Polizia are there (or the Carabinieri, whatever). Out of nowhere. Half a dozen of them. In their silly blue and blue-gray uniforms.

Papers. Documents. Passports.
The African men know the drill.
I look at them for a while. Bored, I look away nonchalantly.
Soon one of them ambles towards me while his colleagues deal with the other men.
“Buon Giorno”
“Hi. Parla Inglesi?”
“Just a little bit”.
I wasn’t expecting that. I had only been hearing “no” in response in the past couple of days. The next couple of days would elicit a “poco”.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was visiting Rome. I’m waiting here before I board a train “.
“Do you have any documents?”
I dig my hands into my jeans pockets. Wallet, mp3 player, handkerchief, maps, tickets, coupons, receipts, passport – all neatly arranged in very less space. Thankfully the passport was with me and not in the backpack inside Baggage Storage. I hand it over and he looks at it. He is satisfied.
“Not a safe place for you. You should go inside and wait for your train.”
“I will, as soon as I finish this”, I point to my right hand fingers. “It’s not allowed inside”.
“This place is not good for you”. “And your umm”. He points while trying to translate.
“Camera?” I suggest.
“Yes This place is bad. This place is Dangerous!”

Europe adventures

Kos, Greece

Last month, I attended a conference in Kos. I took the airline shuttle from Kos Airport to get to Kos Town intending to take a taxi from the town to my hotel. I almost got down at the wrong stop but a fellow passenger stopped me. This guy, named Lavis, told me where to get down, walked along with me to the town center from where I could take a taxi. Along the way he told me he was visiting his ailing grandmother-in-law and that his wife and daughter were already there.

Five days later, I was at the Kos airport in the bus which took passengers from the airport gate to the airplane. In the bus, standing right across me, was a guy with his wife and daughter who looked very familiar. “Someone from the conference”, I was thinking when we made eye contact and I suddenly remembered! He was the guy from five days ago – we took the same flight from Athens to Kos and the same flight again from Kos to Athens. “I hope your grandmother is doing okay”, I asked them. “Oh yeah, she says she became 20 years younger upon seeing here great-granddaughter”, said his wife. There were a few other people with me who I met during the conference. They were really confused with this conversation!

***

“Is the conference in Kipriotis?”, Lavis asked me.
“No, it’s some conference center in Psalidi.”, I replied.
“Yeah, Kipriotis is a big convention center in Psalidi.”
“No, I think it’s named Kos International Convention center”.

Later, I found out that it’s acutally Kipriotis Resort – Kos International Convention Center.

***

I stopped by the supermarket to buy a bottle of lemon ice tea. The store owner started talking about what I was doing on the island and where I was from etc.

“There was someone else here last night?”, I asked him.
“No, it was me.”
“Oh.”
“You came looking for a plug adapter.”
“Yeah”, I said sheepishly.

Once I’d told him that I was in computers, he asked me what the latest thing in computers was. I tried to tell him about the petascale supercomputer at Los Alamos which was announced the day before, but that didn’t excite him much. “Can I make my computer type what I speak?”, he asked. “Sure”, was my response.

In the next half an hour, I tried to set up Speech in Microsoft Word, but failed because the menus were all Greek to me (literally!). And there was no Office CD accessible to us. I did try some google searches to find a way, but all my clicks were hijacked by the various toolbars and spyware on his laptop. So I spent some time installing AVG 8.0, scanning his hard disk, installing Firefox 2.0 and setting it as default browser. He thanked me with a Mars bar – pity I’d already paid for the lemon ice tea.

Meanwhile he told me he was from Egypt, hated flying (said he could never go to USA because he couldn’t spend more than 5 hours in a plane), used to be a swimmer from age 8 till 26, was now married to a Greek woman and the wallpaper was his kid.

I friended him on Facebook before leaving.

***

Greece seemed a lot like India. I saw cow tied to a peg, plenty of blue/green polythene bags and most remarkably bougainvillea and shoe flowers (hibiscus). People eat at 9 or later unlike USA where 8 is late for dinner.

Munich, Germany

In Munich I was talking to the person at the tourist information office.
“As you can see the weather is good today”, he said wiping enormous beads of sweat from his brow. He didn’t even blink when he said that.

Rome, Italy

“Parla Inglesi” is Italian for “Do you speak English?”. In Bari, I’d spent the previous 15 minutes asking people this very question while trying to figure out a way to get to the train station. I reached the right bus stop and while waiting for bus number 53, I decided I should confirm with the guy standing next to me. He did speak English, but we didn’t pursue that language for much longer. Reason? He was from Mauritius and spoke Bhojpuri! (which he admitted was a little different and anyway I couldn’t speak more than 2 sentences in that dialect). We talked in Hindi about Italy, India, London, passports, immigration etc till the bus took us to our destinations. Getting down from the bus, I headed to the train station while my gold jewellery and fancy sunglass wearing co-traveller headed to the bus station. “Thanks a lot! Bye!”, I said, replying to his “Dhuko station mein!”

***

In Rome, the Sun Moon youth hostel is located on the 6th floor. The lift, as in most such places, is tiny. I was returning from dinner and there was another backpacker in the lift with me – her friend and the hostel staff were taking the staircase. As I pressed 6, the girl said, “Is it on the sixth floor?”, in (Italian?) accented English. “Parla Inglesi?”, I was quick to respond. “I asked in English!”, she said, with irritation. “Um, yeah, sixth floor”, I said, wishing that tiny little lift could go faster!

Salzburg, Austria

“Are you eating?”, someone asked me in an Aussie accent.
“I’m 28, actually”, I responded.
“No! Eating!”, was the reply, accompanied by some sort of sign language.
“Um, no I just had a pizza outside”, I said, and sat there for a few awkward moments while the others looked at me and smiled, trying hard not to laugh.

***

In Salzburg, I met a guy who was from England but had lived in Melbourne (or the other way around). He told me how he’d seen Bob Willis, Viv Richards (and I forgot which other names he mentioned) live during Boxing Day Test at the MCG. He had just climbed 2 mountain peaks near Salzburg and was resting for a few days. He told me that he’d once travelled from Beijing to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian railway – a journey which took seven days to complete.

Greece

Greece !

Earthquake

The earth just shook and I didn’t even notice!

Apparently, it’s listed as “Weak” where I am.

Tilting at windmills

So I took my bike (bicycle) and rode up to the hills today evening. I had seen the windmills yesterday and decided to get as close as I could. It wasn’t that far, but when I reached the road’s end, I saw that the area was all fenced. I couldn’t get that close to the windmills. I had one scary moment when the farm dogs came barking towards me but went off quietly once they saw me.

I realized that I should have gone a little later to capture the sunset pictures. But I did not want to stay that long and bike back in the dark. I did get a few nice pictures of the area though :-

Take a look at the full album.

Outer banks trip

I just returned from a weekend trip to Outerbanks.

I’ve uploaded the pictures at Outer Banks Album

Weekend trip to Ooty

Last weekend we finally made the much planned weekend getaway to Mysore and Ooty.

We started on Friday evening and reached Mysore by night. We saw the palace – all lit up – on our way to the hotel

The next morning we saw few places in Mysore – Chamundi Hill and Brindavan Gardens.

After that we dropped one of the guys at the bus stand as he had some important stuff to attend to and then started off to Ooty. We stopped in a few places along the way – tea plantations, eucalyptus trees, Needle Point Rockview, Pykara Lake etc. . Finally we reached there at night. The next morning we went to places in Ooty – Botanical Gardens, Dodabetta Peak, Rose Garden and Ooty Lake. Most of the places were very crowded and the temperature started going up as the day progressed. By noon it was hot! We started back around 2 O’Clock and reached home before 9.

Ninth of the second month of the sixth year of the century

As the weather in Suwon became warmer through January, I predicted we had seen the last snow of the winter. But to prove things otherwise it snowed again on the 7th. I left Korea on 9th morning (a painful day because :- I hate travelling + I hate getting up at five o’clock in the morning + I barely manage to get out my warm bed in the cold, cold winters).

I slept through the 2 hour bus journey from Suwon to Incheon Int’l Airport and then had a nice cup of mocha at the airport – and then boarded. Very unusually, this time, a female was seated next to me, but the joy was short-lived as she immediately asked me whether I would trade that seat with her husband who was seated ten rows ahead – in a “middle” seat :((

They had a good collection of movies on-board Singapore Airlines – The Legend of Zorro, Pride and Prejudice, Two for the Money, Shopgirl, Elizabethtown, Walk the Line etc etc. Any other day I would have seen ” …Zorro” but I thought I should make the best use of the oppurtunity to watch movies which I would otherwise not get to watch. However, I kept flitting from one to the other as they kept boring me ! However there was one nice movie which I watched partially in the Seoul-Singapore flight which made me watch it fully in the next flight from Singapore to Bangalore. Movie details later in this post.

From 30 degrees fahrenheit to 30 degrees celsius – I was in Singapore a few hours later. Changi airport has this free singapore tour if one has a stoppage of more than 5 hours. I had already been to one last time, but I went again hoping that there would be something new because they had changed the name from Singapore City tour to Singapore Cultural Tour and I guess they do not have the Sentosa Island tour any more. This time around the trip was so boring – the tour guide enamored us with her boring trivia (most of which I remembered from the last time) and her flat jokes at which few people tried to smile. And it was raining so there were no stoppages (or maybe they have totally removed the boat ride which was there last time).

An interesting thing happened as I boarded the flight – I noticed an old guy reading a newspaper who looked like N. R. Narayan Murthy, but I was immediately informed by my fellow passenger that he was the man himself! Later I noticed him waiting for his baggage — without any airs of a celebrity. And yeah, the joke of an airport that Bangalore International Airport is !! I had to wait for forty-five minutes for the luggage and more than 15 minutes for getting a pre-paid cab – and the place was full of these Taiwanese people who apparentlly were there for some Art of Living crap.

Movie reviews :
Zorro – I just caught fleeting glimpses while surfing channels – didn’t hold my attention even once.

Pride and Prejudice – 19th century England – god forbid!

Walk the Line :- I saw Joaquin Phoenix on Leno recently and he came across as a pretty funny guy. He looked good but apart from a few songs I could not bear to watch the movie especially because I had so many to choose from :). And I hate Reese With-Her-Whatever even more now. One song I now love is “The taste of love is sweet ..”.

Two for the money: I saw it just because Al Pacino was in it. The man has either lost ability to pick good movies (remember The Recruit?) or probably isn’t getting any good offers these days.Forgettable experience.

Elizabethtown: Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst – Pretty faces. The movie was slow and rambling – I did not watch much of it except the part where Kirsten’s character says “Being sad is like surrendering to your fate” or something along those lines – I liked that part. Oh and the part where the cousin of the protagonist gets his old band together to perform at the funeral of the protagonist’s father – that song was good and the fireworks – they set a giant eagle toy on fire and send it flying through the hall – people scurry away screaming and the smoke detectors go off and water starts pouring out (Matrix style) and the band never stops while Orlando and Kirsten stand in the “rain” looking at each other – I did not get what that was supposed to signify, but then I did not watch most of the movie.

새드 무비 (Sad Movie): This is a recent korean release. Do read about the movie at imdb. It is really, really, really, really sad – as it involves four interconnected tragic stories. It is quite poignant moments – and some funny moments (but even those had sad undertones – like the part where Jung Ha-suk starts an agency which helps people break up so that he can earn some money to get back his girlfriend). The movie ends on such a tragic note that would make you cry – unless you are an emotionless brute like me! Put it on your must-watch list if you can get it somehow.

Snow in Suwon

Yahoo! Weather’s forecast was correct. It did start snowing on Saturday night. We came down to watch the snow but it was too cold at the time. So off we went back to our cosy beds.
Sun had come out on sunday morning. And it was beautiful all around – white wherever you look. We took some photos in the park.

Internet and sundays.

Something reminded me that I was online on a Sunday evening.

It must have been a really long time since I have done that – maybe once in the last two months (maybe more).

Also, I have sweated more this afternoon than I have in the last 3 years!

I came in early today!

I came in early today. At around 8:15. I am sure that is a new record for me (except for emergencies).

It is still ‘late’ by this place’s standards – they expect everybody in by 8:00 sharp. But then, I firmly believe that offices should start at 10 O’Clock ! I once referred to 11:15 AM as ‘early morning’ to someone and he went ballistic!

But that’s not the point. As I entered the campus, I noticed they were playing some music. Of course, there is no way I would know if they do it every morning, but it reminded me of the music that they used to play in my (primary) school while we were lead back to our classrooms after the morning assembly. I don’t remember what it was, and why they didn’t practise the same for the high school – probably because there were no speakers in the ‘big’ building.

TV in korea

It must be a bad time for you when you have to watch When Harry Met Sally, alone in a hotel room, 2 hours away from the capital of a country where no even speaks any language that you know.

But then there is this, this and this on TV.

I almost misspelt Sally as Sallery!

How I spent my Sunday

I have caught a cold :(. I went out on a walk after dinner on Friday night, and it was a bit cold.I have a bad sore throat, but otherwise it is okay; nothing to worry about.

Yesterday we went to Seoul City Tour. We first went to the “War Memorial”. It is a memorial constructed in remembrance of the Korean War. There are a lot of statues; military equipment etc.. There is also a US army base near that. We also went to a “traditional Korean village” which had some palaces; Seoultower which is situated on top of a hill (we went by bus). From there we went to one market and then back home.
Now I have an aching leg to add to the sore throat !

Bangkok blues

A bizzare incident occurred today. Well it has been an unusual day – returning to hotel at 12:30 in the afternoon and coming back to office at 6 in the evening.

Chitti and myself were returning from Tamil Nadu restaurant after having our dinner. We often go there – its not very far from the office and near the main road. While returning back someone stopped Chitti. I thought he was one of those “motorcycle-taxi” drivers on the look for passengers. I thought Chitti would just say no and come along. But before I could move far, this dude claims police, raises his jacket to show a holster or somesuch(in the dark I couldn’t well discern). And then he says passport! passport!. I was too surprised to take control of the situation. All I managed to say was :”Passport at hotel”. This dude meanwhile is trying to frisk me, trying to take my wallet. I kept blabbering something.

After a moment or two, this guy decides that I am not too much to his liking. Then he orders ~ “walking ! walking!” and waves me off. I take a few tentative steps away, again to hear him order the same. By now I’m scared. I keep near so that maybe my presence would help. After a while, he is through with Chitti, much as a dog tired of a dry bone.Then he waves at me to come near him. I obey meekly. Now he’s tugging at my wallet. I say – “wait! I’ll show you”. He takes it from me, rummages through it only to find a measly 120 baht. He tries to go through all pockets but his effort is useless. Not a single satang more! He laughs and lets me go. Then he’s gone on his bike leaving Chitti and myself bewildered!

***

When I reached office, I had a chat with a person who had been my classmate for two days – 7 years
ago!!

abyscorp80: ya
abyscorp80: lets see if u remember
abyscorp80: i m abhishek roy
me: hehal?
abyscorp80: ya for 2 days then shyamli
me: st. anthony
abyscorp80: no bishop westcott boys
me: how u remember me if u knew me for only 2 days?? u used to sit in the front bench with shubho & sujit?
abyscorp80: ya do u remember.. i m elated
abyscorp80: jokes apart
abyscorp80: we had a lot of common friends like ashish sri.. , saket
abyscorp80: deep
abyscorp80: abhinav thakur
me: sorry but I lost track after July ’96
abyscorp80: ya its but natural..

***

On my second visit here, I was stopped in the airport because my name on my Passport appeared to be smudged ( trust the Calcutta Passport Office to do so!). So they took me away, made me wait till they verified my passport to be original. While they were taking me I tried to suggest that I was a genuine person and last time there had been no problem. To this he replied pontifically ~ “Last time was last time, today is today”. I could only shrug!

When I was returning from my first visit, I hadn’t filled up one form which is supposed to be stamped at immigration.The lady at the counter said something which I didn’t pay much notice too. Finally while I was seated in the airport bus going to board the plane, they called me back and I had to run all the way back to the Immigration desk and getting it stamped. This also involved running up and then down an escalator (which is one thing I always wanted to do sometime 😀 ).

While returning to India last week,I made sure the form was filled up alright. Still the lady at the immigration desk was looking at me soooo suspiciously that for a while I felt like my name was “Saddam bin SARS” (:D). Or that I was a dreaded serial killer/rapist/paedophile. Thankfully she didn’t have me sent to a thai prison!!

Also I had forgotten my export certificate for my laptop(which is proof that the laptop was taken from India) and other papers back in Bangkok. In Chennai(know for its “cool” customs) they somehow managed to catch me. Thankfully after making me wait for some time, they realized I wasn’t going to pay up. So they let me go – just like that!

Wanna know what SARS check at Chennai airport is like. Well you have to stand in a queue with a form duly filled. They will stamp it and declare you to be sars free – and to top it all, they have a signboard declaring “Sorry for Inconvenience” !!

Again while coming back, due to this “constable” incident, one of the Terminals had to take load for the other terminal also. Hence the customs people there had too many people to deal with. Since I did not have the letter from office so they thought it fit to make me stand at the counter as if I had come to a museum.

Gone in 30 hours

Some things that I did over the last three days:

watched the moonlit and fully empty Marina beach
had a chai in a basti in saki naka
signed cheques for 30200/-
spent a Friday idling at home – had to resort to watching Ishq Vishq
was at the Mumbai CSI airport Terminal 2C where the “crazy constable” incident happened
heard some gr8 kgp stories from one of Vikram’s junior
met a schoolmate after 6 years – though we’ve been living within few hundred meters of each other since august

Matrix Reloaded

Saw Matrix. Alone!

And while I sat through the 9-minute long credits, waiting for the Revolutions trailer, I found only 5 people giving me company. Obviously anybody who waits to see the full credits at 12:15 AM must be crazy!

And when I came out the escalators were not working, so I took the elevators to the floor marked “G” which turned out to be parking lot. Then I went up to floor “1”. This too was a parking floor but at least it was on the ground level so that I could walk out and hail a cab.

This is one thing I like about this place – you can get a taxi any time of the night and that too at the same fare as daytime. But what use it is when all shops close by 9:30!

Bangkok

In the official English romanisation, this is certified as the longest place name in the world in the Guinness book of records. It’s pronounced something like:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Translation
The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

aise hi

One things that man needs most is change. Maybe animals also do,who knows. One things about office travel is that you don’t get to shift from the office life to personal life. Afterall you are stuck with the same 7 people through twenty-four hours of the day. Maybe this is why I tend to get such mood swings when away.
As compared to my last project, this project is way too cool. In the mornings I get to spend some time in that half-awake state which,for me, is so much more enjoyable(unless I get some real chweet dreams – unlike the ones referred to in a previous blog) than the whole night’s sleep. Evenings also, we return back at human hours. The toughest part is food – which these days is pretty much the same every day – some slices of bread in the morning, a McChicken combo for lunch, sometimes toast for snacks and some cooking(by my roommate obviously) for dinner. Thai food is still unknown territory for me ;a few days back our manager had taken us out to a thai restaurant – the “food” would have looked better had it been inside an aquariam!
This sunday we went out “shopping” – though I didn’t buy a thing and Chitti bought just a fancy item. Then we decided a movie was in order – and after a quick review of the limited choice we had, we decided in favor of the Colin Farrel/Al Pacino starrer THE RECRUIT. The movie didn’t live upto expectations though I was enamored by Briget Myonhan’s looks ! Its a decent watchable movie but somewhat kiddish – it all seems so implausible. And it carries forward the computer goofs that we often see in movies e.g. you want root access to a machine – no problem, start typing out a C program at the login screen – #including login and passwd.h files and using a lot of _cputs sprintf etc!! Also you’ll get to know what inspired the banning of USB mass storage drives at ABCD – if those can be used to steal data from CIA, ABCD is pretty vulnerable, isn’t it?
I’m planning to do some shopping before I leave, but as always I’m wondering what to take as gifts ? What should one gift one’s parents/siblings, that too from thailand? Any ideas anyone?

Dead on Arrival

I’ve caught a cold. I think it is sars. Though I keep catching cold, this time I think it isn’t the common one. This is it – I have sars and I am dying. If I owe you anything forget it, let a man die in peace. Actually, there are few things as irritating as a bad cold if you want the truth.
Its a long weekend for people back in SISO. But here its only office – at least this time there are people stationed in Korea and Bombay to keep my Yahoo! hara-bhara, not to forget people like Gagan who keep visiting office during weekends.
After a long time I feel the urge to listen to mp3s. But I did not forsee it before leaving office and hence did not copy my mp3s. People here have their collections but for me that sort of music would be closer to “Nooo!” than to “Wow, kewl!”. And for some godforsaken reason I’m not able to connect to my PC through Network Neighborhood even though I can Call it through NetMeeting. So I am trying a slow ftp process 😦 .
This time we came to Bangkok on an Indian Airlines flght. And believe me it was horrid(kameene bhool gaya wo din jab trekker mein baithna padta tha!). There’s some under-17 girls volleyball tournament going on in Thailand. The Indian team was travelling in the same team. It took me a while to realize that it was an all-girls team! Some of them were so boyish in looks !
These days I find things around me very arbitrary and vague. Makes me want to run away from all this. But alas I don’t think I’m getting even a day off here, let alone a vacation. My last project was more demanding but at least it had direction. This one has little which can remotely be termed as direction. No wonder it is going haywire! Lots of nonsense! Lemme end it here, for your sanity’s sake if not mine!

Trip to Kodaikanal

Just returned from Kodaikanal. It was a wonderful trip. It was raining there but we still had fun. We reached there on Saturday morning around 11 in the morning. Our bus was going around those mountain roads and we could see clouds “below” us in the valleys. The roads there are real steep and the elevation of Kodai is 2200 metres. We saw the famous Kodai lake – it is quite a big lake and we took cycles to go around the lake. But then it started raining, so we spent 1 hour cursing rain gods!!! After that we finished our cycling and went for boating and horse-riding. I had no idea that horse-riding was so great – I mean when the horse starts trotting at some reasonable speed you start going up and down 😉 I now have renewed admiration for all those Bollywood heroes!!!!). I preferred going slow :D.

Next day (sunday) we planned to go trekking. We saw 3-4 waterfalls and the water was so cool and nice. We went to a point called “dolphin nose” – it is a narrow rock jutting out and if you look down from there you get the shivers. It is a fall going for hundreds of metres. Only the COMING-BACK part was sick because we didn’t get a direct bus. We had to go to Madurai and catch a bus from there. And in that bus we got the last row seats so the ride was quite BUMPY!

All’s well that ends well!