After getting inspired by snorkeling during the Christmas trip, I was determined to go deeper into the water. I made up my mind and finished off the theory for the certification for diving in the sea through the month of January & I was ready for the Chinese New Year holidays for the four open water dives required for the certification. I had planned well in advanced this time & booked the tickets for Krabi, Thailand since the diving season on east coast of Malaysia was closed due to monsoons. And from the earlier experience from the Phuket trip, I had made myself better equipped with information since this time I was going to travel alone as the group from last time had different things on agenda.
I caught the cheapest flight around..People love Air Aisa around here because it makes travel possible for so cheap!
After getting down at Krabi I directly took the ferry to Phi Phi Islands where I was planning to stay during the next 4 days.
Approaching Phi Phi
I started chatting with this Irish girl, Ciara, on the way. She was in her early twenties and traveling around the world for few months. A German guy also joined the conversation. He told us that he tried to book accommodation but everything was full and he could not find anything. Now I started feeling the excitement..though I knew I would certainly get some help from the diving school, it was high season and cost was surely a concern. So we planned to share a room to find a better deal.
After reaching we inquired for a while and finally settled for one at the Princess resort near the beach. Since we only had one key and different plans it was going to be some issue but we managed. I visited the diving school to finish the paperwork after a brief walk on the beach. Saw this interesting board in front of a dive shop...made me feel good that I am going to be REAL traveler according to them.:)
I was introduced to my instructor Joost, an elderly Dutch guy..felt a little comfortable in the safe hands of an experienced fellow on the first dive in the ocean!
Later that night I went out for dinner & some drinks with the new European friends. The German guy, Oliver was on a 5 weeks vacation and also visiting for diving and was planning to dive at different spots in Asia starting from Phi Phi. Ciara was not sure but she signed up for the diving course next day.
With Ciara & Oliver
I had a theory exam to be finished so retired early. Also wanted to be fresh for the early morning dive. I was already feeling the excitement and don't know how many times I dived during the night..in my dreams. :)
Early next morning took around 45 minutes boat ride to the diving spot called Bida Nok...and the fun began!!
In the next two days we made 4 dives around 45 minutes each. Sharing some of the videos from that... All videos were shot by Marcella from Visa Diving Shop, a specialist underwater videographer. Thanks Cella for recording the memorable moments!
Well, these videos will just give a glimpse of what I saw..but does not even come close to portray what I experienced. As I feel even the videos are insufficient, I will not even try any futile attempts with words. There is no sound but mostly it would have been the videographer's breathing bubbles and the boats on the surface. :)
The fun begins..
The Descends
It is a stunning world out there...and even the best of aquariums come no where near to showing it as it is!
During some reading on what I would get to see, I found out that the main character in the film Nemo is actually called aNEMOne fish. Hat's off to Pixar for the name they came up with!
The next two videos actually are the cream of the pie..the best of the diving experience!
The camouflage, the organisms have underwater is just indescribable! You wouldn't even know that you are not looking at a rock but a fish or something else is also hidden right in front of your eyes! See this video too see a cuttlefish change not just its colour but also its texture!
And seeing a shark in its natural habitat does not compare to any other...
And as I say in most of my posts..all good experiences come to an end..and this one too was no exception...interestingly there was a quantification of it this time around..as it could be measureed in terms of the pressure gauge showing the air remaining in the cylinder!
The Fun Ends
But the fun continued for a while even on the boat..
I now have official permit to dive till 18 meters which we reached during the last two dives. Another two guys in the group had got certified as dive masters after a month of training or so..but they had another small test to pass..which we all were invited to see..drinking a bucket of beer using a snorkel! Since a snorkel closes the nasal openings it essentially meant that the bucket was to be finished in one breath!
Night life in Phi Phi was sure fun..Thai Boxing & Fire shows were interesting features in the bars there..Usually drunk tourists would get into the ring to win free bucket of booze..[yeah its 'bucket' there not a bottle :)]..but they are not as fun to watch as the local professionals.
Thai Boxing Ring at the Reggae Bar
Fire Show at the Apache Bar on the beach
Tourists having fun at the Fire Show, Apache Bar
I had another day on Phi Phi and I decided to experiment with rock climbing. It was not going to be high but high enough for an initial attempt. I signed up with CAT's climbing where Ryan, an American in his twenties, guided us pretty well knowing that we were beginners. Niv, an Israeli was another beginner along with me. Martina, George & Alexandra were a little experienced in the group. We headed towards the cliff from the beach..this was the area of Phi Phi island where we had had lunch during a one day boat trip from Phuket.
The Mountain that we climbed..
After the initial briefing I started the first attempt..
I followed Ryan's instructions, use hands just for balance and legs for all the body weight..
It was a very tiring...took me around 15 minutes to reach the top but I felt like I had ran a marathon.
The view from the top was amazing which according to Ryan was the most fun part of the climbing anywhere in the world. It was a new experience but frankly I had enjoyed diving more than climbing. Technically I had just climbed around 25 meters but we already started 25 m above sea level.
But I think I had been higher up the day before to the View point to see the sunset..but it was a climb over a man-made concrete path..so the height even though higher did not matter as much the 50m vertical climb. :)
Sunset from the view point
I left the next morning to catch my flight from Krabi back to Kuala Lumpur. I realised that this was first time I was flying with sun right on the top..It was a fun to watch the different layers of clouds...some resembling ultra light cotton balls floating in mid air & some resembling flat soft beds..
But what I saw next..summarized my whole trip in one go..conquering heights & depths to see the unexplored beauty of nature!!
That’s what Steve Soderberg will name his film if he makes one focusing on the life around the Bangla road area in Patong, Phuket.
The gate was a part of temporary decorations for the New Year but for me it certainly identified as an entry to a different world. A world where ‘Sex’ had a pervasive presence and a very loose semantic..not just in coital context but also in terms of gender. Because in most places, the center-stage was occupied by trans-sexuals... ...mostly people who thought they were women trapped in men’s bodies. I am not sure whether they really felt that or it was just because of the money that they preferred to be women in one of the hottest places for sex tourism in the world!
The names of the bars in that area also belonged to a very special category, in which, I thought ‘Seduction’ seemed like a descent name...amongst the group of ‘Blow Job’,‘69’, ‘G-spot’ or ‘Wet Dreams’!
When you see men, negotiating with women...you know that there is something wrong going on there...but it was funny because most of the men would not be sure if it was really a woman they are talking to! It was very amusing to watch there reactions...when they realised it! When you see pole dancing, you presume that it is an adult entertainment spot..but the most shocking experience for me was when I saw families enjoying the artifacts on display as if it was a family hangout spot! There were people with kids in prams..and even elder. And they did not have a shock on their face..as one would expect for someone who has taken a round turn..the kind of expression when people visiting Dagdusheth Ganpati in Budhwarpeth, Pune do when they take a wrong turn!
Some one made an interesting comment on the above video.."Was your camera drunk?" I think the later half of the video is an amazing example for visualising how most of the people on Bangla Road will be seeing things around there after midnight. :)
They all enjoyed the view..and even posed with the ‘Ladyboys’ to take pictures of there MEMORABLE visit to this place.
Since people used to pose for pictures..some people thought of another business idea around that. They brought these scary Iguanas and would charge 10 Bahts per picture.
It was another metaphor, I thought, for people losing all their inhibitions! I was appalled by whatever I was getting to see..was it real? was it REALLY real? I wondered as I made my way through all that chaos towards the end of the street.
The other end of the street was very silent. There were many shops there..but no one was interested in what was being sold there..compared to the other end of the street. The Tatoo shop was open all night..and most people would come all drunk late at night..enthusiastic to retain the memories of an amazing trip...forever on their bodies!
I could not stop but laugh when I saw the Police at that end...behind the barricades..as if being prohibited from the area! But just around the corner on the other street were many interesting shops...It did not shock me as much when I noticed that there were some amazing toys being sold there! And these were for kids, not for adults! I was amazed by the variety in both hand made and manufactured electronic toys.
Some very cute Wooden Toys..
A wooden frog which made sound exactly like the real one!
Dancing Dolls.. See the video to watch them dance..
Cars that flipped wheels to make a turn!
There were some interesting art works on sale too...
A Lantern shop..
These are carvings on a bath soap! Takes around 45 minutes for each of the delicate piece..
It was typical in art shops that you would see an artist working on some artwork...
I had a small chat with one of them who worked on buffalo hides to create intricate designs..but he did not allow me to take any pictures.
We walked around the place most of the days while we stayed there...but there were not any new surprises after the first day...and I wasn’t expecting any either. When truth lies naked in front of you I don’t think there is any scope for more revelations.
For the first time, since I started working in Malaysia, I was getting long vacations. So we were planning to travel to places far off in Malaysia. We had 5 days off [25-29 December] but none of the spots was worth more than a couple of days. All the interesting locations on east coast were out of question due to monsoons and the remaining ones on west coast were not as far and could be easily covered over a weekend each. So procrastinating the decision till the end..it came to the 24th evening and we still had not decided where to go. Extensive search started over the internet, and some phone calls to local friends...but in vain. While browsing the web, Harish, whom I was panning my trip with found out that over the next 5 days..no place is Malaysia is rain free. That was it...my anticipations seemed completely submerged. But that's when I happened to talk to Garth who suggested Phuket in Thailand. The political turmoil had died down and it would be a nice season there he said. As per my plans I wanted to cover Malaysia completely before going out..but we checked the tickets and they were available [hail Air Asia for its cheap rates] !! What the heck we said..let's not let the vacations go waste..two of my ex-flatmates Anupam & Yogesh also agreed and Harish booked tickets online for all four of us using his credit card. The flight was on 25th evening, so we tried to find whatever info we can..but were not able to firm up on anything..just that there was some facility for bungee jumping that we all were eager to attempt, a sunset point that Anupam wanted to see and snorkeling near Phi Phi island was in my wishlist. Meanwhile Harish had made a special comment that we will help the world by saving paper and not printing out tickets and just take the online booking reference number to get our boarding passes. Though I had a not so good feeling about it, I did not resist considering the greater good. :P While we were trying to gobble up as much as info as possible time was running up. We left for the airport and managed to reach on time only to find out that the flight is delayed by an hour. Usually an hour doesn’t matter much in International journeys but it meant that we will be reaching the town just before midnight and while everyone will be celebrating Christmas we will be carrying our bags in search of accommodations. If only I could have used this hour to search for more info I thought. I tried it on my phone but gave up when others coaxed me to chill and let everything take its course. I agreed and wished I could get a little of their carefree attitude... Finally we caught the flight and in less than 24 hours after deciding, we were in a foreign land..with no accommodation bookings or much info about what to do over the next few days. I was already feeling my pulse rising in anticipation of the adventures to come...but I was not expecting that they were going to start from the airport itself! We went to the counter to get the 'On Arrival' visa for the tourists and the officer asked for our return tickets. We did not have any copy of that since we had decided to save paper! Well there you go..saviours of the world! You were thinking about the problems of the world..you are in a big problem now! 'Its OK'...the eternal optimistic voice in my head said..'the worst thing that can happen to you now is that you will have to stay on the airport for four more days till your flight back to Malaysia..and maybe you will be in shoes of Tom Hanks from ‘The Terminal’!' I am always amazed how this part of my brain always finds amusement in the most hopeless situations!! Anyways the issue did not grow in reality as much it did in my head..though he asked us the address of the place we were going to stay at...we bluffed our way out of it thanks to some notes I had taken down while browsing internet. The officer asked an office boy to get a print of our ticket from the Air Asia counter on the other side of the immigration. He got the print promptly and though the wait added up on top of our original delay we were glad that we got to enter Thailand.
We booked a taxi for a random address I had in my notes & we had bluffed about and went to the taxi stand. There was a long queue of passengers waiting there. While we were booking the taxi, we had realised that we are paying a little higher than expected but they said it was a premium service so I thought maybe we will reach sooner than if we try to find something outside. But apparently, there was more queue for premium taxis and the general taxis which costed lesser were queued up waiting for passengers! This was going to be a fun trip I said to myself!
Finally after waiting for nth time that day we got into a taxi and around 45 minutes later we were into the town..crowded everywhere for Christmas celebrations. We inquired at 15 places at least, but the accommodations were either not available or too expensive. It was getting late and our stomachs & the taxi driver had started to crib now. So much for the premium service! So we decided to get down and hunt for the rooms on our legs. We moved to Karon, an area which was a little further from Patong [the hottest area for night life in Phuket]. And finally after a few inquiries found some rooms that we could afford at the Karon Guesthouse.
It was almost midnight, but we did not have time to rest if we had to have a healthy dinner after tiring last few hours. No one was willing to experiment with Thai food that night as most of us were vegetarians. So we found an Indian restaurant and ordered food. We ate to content of the heart and to the discontent of our pockets. That meal cost us almost 400 INR per head! And it wasn’t even authentic Indian..the dishes were Indian but the taste was Thai! Just as a Chinese would complain in India that the Chinese food in India sucks..we had similar sentiments for Indian food in Thailand. It also gave us an idea that whatever cash we had brought along with us for the trip was not going to be sufficient. No arguments against critics who would call us a bunch of suckers to have Indian food instead of trying the exotic Thai cuisine on a vacation in Thailand. We were just not ready for any uncharted territories that night..not at least after the setbacks earlier.
After a brief walk around the area, me and Yogesh decided to catch some sleep. Harish & Anupam were still up for some explorations and enjoyment. It was almost 2 am when I fell asleep.
26/12/08 I woke up early morning in anticipation of a better day than the last. A friend had suggested to rent out bikes to travel around the island. So I decided to go out for the inquiries for bikes & places to visit till others woke up. Just outside this guest house I saw this stall for what my mom calls ‘Appe’ or ‘Gundupagulu’..
Oh great!! They are my favorite! That was a wonderful start for the day! Though they were unexpectedly sweet..I gleefully finished them up. By the time I returned, everyone was up and ready to go. After a lot of debate for renting the bikes, as the stores were asking for our passports as collateral, we agreed as we understood that stores cannot tie us with anything else. That is the only way they can have tourists returning the bikes. So we rented to bikes and started our trip around the island.
The first thing on everyone’s wishlist was bungee jumping. So we searched for the place and it was already 12:30 pm by the time we reached there. We were the only customers when we reached and no one amongst us was willing without seeing someone else jump. So we hung around for some time till some tourists showed up. Seeing other jump gave us a lot of confidence..and we signed up. Though Yogesh chickened out and played the photographer. Thanks to him that I have some of these amazing pictures!
For those who are not satisfied with the pictures...here is the complete video of the jump from the top. It surely was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life..never before I had to gather so much courage in one moment!!
After the jumps we decided to wander around town, have lunch and reach the sunset spot by evening. On our way we came to know about a famous Buddhist temple, ‘Wat Chalong’, so we decided to give it a visit. The ostentatious exteriors of the architecture were quite contrast to the serene places that they enclosed.
Calming ourselves in the temple premises after the adrenalin rush from the jump, we moved ahead towards the Promthep cape for the sunset. On our way we witnessed some picturesque panoramas in Rawai. We reached the Cape just in time for the sunset..and it was one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. That was an amazing day of outing! Made us forget all that we had been through...we started looking forward to a nice trip as we headed back to the room to get fresh for the night out.
We still had a couple of things to sort out..we had to make bookings for the boat tours for the next two days and find a accommodation in Patong so the hot spots of the town will be easily accessible. We managed those and enjoyed a conservative dinner..that mostly included fried rice same as the lunch that day.
27/12/09 We had to shift the accommodation to Patong that we had booked for the remaining two nights, return the bikes to get our passports back and catch the bus to the pier by 7:45 am! That was going to be an early start so I got up early to see the sunrise at Karon beach. Technically it was not on the East so it was not as beautiful as the sunset last evening but it still infused a freshness. After returning Yogesh & I shifted our stuff and returned the bike and reached the guesthouse where the bus was going to pick us from, only to know that it had already came for us..twice! I hurriedly called them up and they said that they will return once again. Phew!! But Harish & Anupam were still not there. They had left just after us. The bus came.. and the driver was infuriated but we still had to make him wait for the other two. We managed somehow and these guys showed up after a while..and they had another adventure to share! Their bike had ran out of petrol on the way back! They managed to find someone selling petrol [not a petrol pump] who filled the tank completely because of some misunderstanding and these guys made him empty most of it again as they were anyway going to return the bike immediately! A stunning start to the day!! Though this time I was glad that I did not have their carefree attitude.
The agenda for the day was island hopping on the speed boat but I was more eager for snorkeling. I don’t know how this swiss guy managed to read on the bumpy boat ride..but it was an interesting view! The view outside was also stunning! It looked like the islands were just waiting for us...
And looking out towards the sea..never realized how time passed by and we reached near the islands.
First destination amongst them was Maya Bay on Phi Phi island. This was the place where the movie ‘The Beach’ was shot. It looked so beautiful in the movie that I had always wanted to visit..but like me thousands of others too wished the same. As a result the huge crowds made the visit a big turn off!
Monkey beach was another place we visited and they provided bananas on the boat to feed the monkeys!
The next stop was for snorkeling..the HIGHLIGHT of the day..another memorable experience...
[Thanks to Cathy for the underwater photos] Watching the fish is their natural habitat was a very different thing compared to seeing them in an aquarium..I made up my mind then and there to take up scuba diving and explore deeper...
After having lunch on Phi Phi island..we went for another round of snorkeling nearby..
..before returning to Phuket early evening. This time we saw the sunset on Karon beach.. This was surely the most beautiful I have seen in my life...a lot better than the last couple of days..and will remain so for a while I think.. After another walk in the night nearby Patong before and after dinner, we were ready for the final day of the trip.
28/12/09 It was the most easy morning of the trip, got up and got ready for the bus. That day it was visit to the James Bond island & canoeing in the low rise caves.
The huge rock behind me is famed after James Bond...after one of his films was shot here. Interestingly, I had never seen a natural place named after a fictional character. But the real highlight of the day was canoeing. A small boat with maximum 3 people could go into very small places. So must of the time we were lying on our backs looking up at a very unusual natural structures...
Thanks Yogesh for this next video.
Afterwards, we got to use the canoe by ourselves... It was another wonderful experience...
All three days of the trip had been wonderful...every time I thought nothing can beat this..another one would come along the way prove me wrong..
Just two days left for the year..and I went into a ruminative mood. It had been the best year of my life..my biggest dream of traveling around the world had begun..2008 had started in a distant land and was going to ended in another...[keeping my fingers crossed.:P]
The next day we had an early morning flight to catch so we booked the taxi in the night and relaxed. Little did we know that the climax of the adventure trip was not yet over. When we reached the airport next morning, while checking in, the lady at the counter asked us to show the credit card with which the tickets were booked. And my dear friend Harish was not carrying it! We tried to explain her that it was his credit card, showed all other identity proofs but she won’t listen..she said I cannot issue the boarding pass without seeing the credit card!! Now what? I felt my heart beat skip for the first time..there had been many adventurous moments, adrenalin rushes in the trip..but I had enjoyed every one of them. But this was a clincher...we were completely drenched out of money...not even in a position to cancel the current ones and buy new ones. What were we supposed to do? So we all took deep breaths and calmed ourselves down..and decided to make another attempt. We patiently tried to explain her that we booked the onward tickets in the same transaction & showed her the tickets. She typed the reference number into her computer and after what felt like an eternity raised her head to say ‘OK.’......Phew!! Our synchronized sigh of relief was so heavy that it was heard all over the interior of the small Phuket airport...and as everyone looked at us...we merrily walked towards the immigration and then to the flight!
I was staring at the stars in the sky and wondering..what makes numbers like 25, 50 or 100 so special compared to others? Why are they comparable to Silver or Gold? Well, I haven't reached to any conclusions as yet..but for me my 27th birthday would be more memorable than my 25th. Its not about that very day but all the transpiration that led up to it and the sneak peek that it has given of the times that lie ahead..it has certainly been special compared to all the previous ones..Especially on my 25th I was entering a safe & secure phase for around two years at the IITB campus. Now two years later I was out of it stepping into the real life...completely open to any and all possibilities.
Around a month before the day..I started feeling the heat of things to come as the time had come to leave Hyderabad for a destination long long away. Staying in a new & culturally mixed place like Hyderabad had helped a lot in shaping up my expectations about Malaysia..where I was headed for my first job after post graduate studies and the first step towards my big journey around the world. The earlier journeys had cleared one thing in my mind..its not that fun traveling around as a tourist as much as staying at a place for a while to discern the multi-layered aesthetics of the culture there.
I moved back from Hyderabad to Nagpur, managed whatever meetings I can with friends and family, packed all my stuff and was good to go. I had a connecting flight from Nagpur to Mumbai before flying from Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur and a 3 hours stop in Mumbai. So I had made plans to meet up with my sister, Maitreyee, who was in Mumbai. I was carrying some stuff that I had to pass on to her and she had exchanged Malaysian currency for me which was going to be my main source of funds for the first month till I get my first salary. So the meeting was technically a must...apart from the emotional "Bhaiyya!!" - "Behana!!" stuff. :). I reached Mumbai on time..but every bit of cribbing that I had heard from travelers about services at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport turned out to be true. Because it took me more than an hour to move from domestic to international section! Though there was a free shuttle service available, its frequency was around 20-25 minutes. And when I reached, the last shuttle had left just a minute ago. So I waited for the next one..but 20 minutes later when the next one arrived they did not allow me in saying that I was carrying heavy luggage and heavy luggage can be carried only on alternate shuttles..so they advised me to catch the next one! Ah come on!! Couldn't you have provided this information earlier? I would have taken a taxi which takes around 45 minutes to reach, but I would have reached even before the next shuttle arrives. Now it is too late to even take the taxi! I had no option left but to wait for the next shuttle...and Maitreyee was already waiting on the other side. We couldn't even communicate properly as her cell phone was giving connectivity problems and I did not keep much balance in mine as I was planning to leave the country. It was one of the MOST frustrating hours I had spent in my life. Finally I caught the next shuttle which took another 20 minutes to reach the domestic side instead of 10-15 as I was told earlier. Anyway, I had a hurried meeting with my sister, exchanged the stuff, bid her good bye and went for the check in. I saw there was no one in queue for checking in Malaysian Airlines when I started my airport security check. I knew I was late.
By the time I had finished the security check, the Malaysian Airlines checkin counters were already closed!! I requested them to do the last check in & they obliged. But my baggage weighed almost 40 KG..so they said they cannot allow me and there was not much time for other formalities because immigration was going to take time since I was going out on a work permit. So SORRY! We cannot help you! WHAT?? That was the first time in my life when I felt that my heart had stopped beating! I cannot miss that plane!! My future hangs on that job!..at least near future. I tried to convince them but the guy just walked away from the counter. I couldn't do anything so I just followed him till he reported to his senior...and I then requested his senior. He clarified to me that even if I pay for the extra luggage it cannot weigh more than 30 KG..and they could not wait till I sort that stuff out. The way he spoke..I saw a ray of hope..and requested him for just 5 minutes to sort everything out. He agreed. That's when my heart started beating again! I immediately paid for the extra luggage with my credit card [that was the quickest ever decision taken by me to spend 8000 Rs on something!], took out another bag from inside and shifted around 10 KG of weight into it. By that time, the senior officer had prepared my boarding pass. He came to me and asked me to calm down. He told me that he had given me a pass for business class even though I had a economy class ticket just to make the immigration process faster. He also gave an office boy with me to carry out all the remaining formalities as quickly as possible. That was THE MOMENT of my life! I realized that the concept of Angels is not a myth.
I finished of the all the security checks and immigration formalities..all the while running to save time. The Angel again met me just before I boarded the plane..His name was Arnold Florindo and he worked as Traffic Officer for Malaysian Airlines. I thanked him with all my heart...and made a resolution to help someone in distress ,who comes to me, as a repayment of the debt. When I boarded the flight I thought of what would have happened if I had missed the flight..I could not think anything dramatic..but I had a feeling that the moment was surely going to change my life forever. Time will tell...as it always does..I said to myself. I don't know when I dozed off after that..
The first two weeks in Malaysia were splendid. My workplace was awesome..and work was even better! The kind of exposure, responsibility, opportunity for learning & future growth I felt there, would not have matched in any of the other offers I had for sure. I kept on thanking the Angel every time I felt that I had been lucky to be here.
I started going out once I settled down... and started realizing it more and more..what the missed flight would have cost me! And as 4th of November inched near, the whole world was also eagerly involved in the countdown. It was more for the American Presidential Elections and Barack Obama but I strongly felt the synchronicity.
"If you want something really badly...all the universe will conspire for you to achieve it.". Paulo Coehlo has famously said in 'The Alchemist'. I was realizing the truth in that statement as I celebrated my 27th birthday on the roof top of my [coincidentally?] 27 floored condominium in Kuala Lumpur staring at the stars in the sky!
It usually happens that we take things around us for granted. That was precisely the reason why an outgoer like me had not managed to see the iconic edifices in more than two months of stay in the city. And nothing but an external trigger helps us wake up from this kind of slumber. For me it came in the form of a friend’s visit. Shashi himself is from Hyderabad and my junior at IDC. He was going to be in town for weekend and obliged to take me around. And for me the exciting thing was that I was going to get hands on with his new Nikon D200!
We started early and on our way to Golconda fort dropped in to see the Charminar. Old part of the city contrasted a lot with the modern area where I stay and work. But the differences also highlighted the common thing between them...the auto rickshaws. If it’s the subway for New York and the locals for Mumbai then for Hyderabad its is the auto-rickshaws.
And they enjoy the monopoly owing to dismal state of other modes of public transport by charging whatever they want with a complete disregard for the meters. If you got to travel here you got to own your own vehicle. Anyways... after spending some time at the Charminar we headed towards the Golconda fort which is around 15 kilometers from there.
It was slightly overcast but otherwise a beautiful weather to be out in the open and of course for my first outing for photography with an DLSR!
Obviously I won’t be writing much in this post. The 230 KG iron block was used in the recruitment process for the soldiers by the Nawab. Anyone who lifts it with one hand qualifies!
Door to the Past
The sky began to open up as we climbed a little higher..
Ramdas Jail
I also experimented with some panography which I was dying to try out since I reading about it recently.
Also tried this photo montage from pictures of tourists on the fort.
Special THANKS to Sashi for taking me out, letting me use his DSLR and also allowing me to use some of his images for the montage. :)
During the Malaysia trip I came to know about this conference on Electronic Arts and this year it was being hosted in Singapore. My visa was still valid and so I decided to drop in. The conference was scheduled from 25-30 July but I could manage to reach only on 27th just in time to attend the last Keynote of the conference by Prof. Lawrence Lessig, the father of the Creative Commons project.
He talked about creativity, culture, technology & law and the complex probabilities of their interactions. Apart from the concepts he had to share I was astounded by his style of presentation where his slides (with just one word on each!) just flow with his speech and emphasize what he is talking about. The way he captivated the audience was really worth an experience! I found a couple of his talks hosted on the web. He talks about the same topics in his fascinating style which is sighted in best examples of presenting.
The conference was distributed across a bunch of venues. The best I thought was ADM, NTU. I really liked its ambience.
All throughout the week there were a LOT of researchers, artists & designers who shard there work in 30 minute talks. But at a time there were at least 5-7 talks happening and the toughest thing to do all throughout the conference was to opt one of them to attend.
There were a lot of interesting talks but I cannot go in details of those. But unlike other conferences, there were a lot of exhibitions apart from the talks. I was able to check out the ISEA juried exhibition apart from the partner exhibitions: Experimenta Play ++, Lucid Fields, Cloudland & Relocations.
The ISEA juried exhibition was curated at the National Museum of Singapore. A stupefying white structure that basked in sunlight...
..but in night it changed colour every 30 seconds! And each looked equally beautiful!
So coming back to exhibitions..some of the exhibits really amused me. There were a bunch of interesting exhibits at ADM based on touch interactions.
There was one which generated music from the positions of your feet. Infact the music you hear in above videos is actually coming from this artwork which was exhibited just nearby.
Some of the partner exhibitions also had some appealing exhibits.
A playful installation disguised as a photoframe...it amused everybody so much that they repeatedly played with it for a while before moving on..
Another interesting one at Experimenta Play++ was Immersion by Angela Barnett, Andrew Buchanan, Darren Ballingall, Chris MacKellar & Christian Rubino.
Projection of an underwater scene on the floor which invited the onlookers to get immersed in the world down below the surface...
Charmed by Priscilla Bracks, Gavin Sade & Matt Dwyer.
I could not shoot the video but you can watch it here.
Where in the world am I? by Dominik Bastianello was the most interesting one I found at Lucid Fields. It was an interesting take on the Theory of Relativity..
A performative Installation with Kubic acting as a dance-machine, a cubist kinetic sculpture and an instrument of rhythmic movement. It was huge and while interacting with it to an extent felt like I am standing near a Transformer.
There were some other research projects also exhibited at ADM.
This one was for children to learn name of objects, how they are spelt and how they look...it was like a virtual interactive encyclopedia to play with!!
In the ISEA juried exhibition the most amazing I thought was Quartet. One has to just stand and move his hands like a conductor of an orchestra..the motions were detected and the instrument were played by machines..pretty neat execution I must say.
It was quit an inspiring experience to see for real and interact with some amazing artworks...and meeting so many interesting people...especially after finishing master's of Interaction Design and knowing that there are a many stimulating things to look forward to.
Jugaad at the Petronas Towers It was not a typical saturday morning. First of all I do not usually get up at 6.30 am in the morning after sleeping at 4 am. Second of all I was not in a place where I normally am and last but not least the plan for the day was not to lazy around as I usually do.
It was my last day of the three day visit to Malaysia and the earlier two had been really busy with work. Though there had been some good times in past two days, I had not actually done what people do when they visit Malaysia..tourism. So that was precisely my plan for the day. I had read online about the passes for Petronas Towers being distributed only in the morning. So I had made an effort to make an early start in spite of a late friday night out.
I could see the twin towers approaching. I had left the KL tower out of my plans for the day as I had recently been up the Seoul tower. Though I could see them approaching, they were still a long way off. The clock read 8:30 am. Since there was some time I started ruminating over the proceedings of the trip..it had been a nice trip but nothing really exciting to blog about.
Of course my going to be workplace was awesome!
The chubby mascot of Digi Telecommunications welcomes everyone to the mise-en-scène
A beautiful Waterfall in the premises with overlooking Canteen on third floor
Fresh [& Real!!] flowers adorned most of the ambiance
Every wall has at least one interesting piece of art on it
It was good in every way it can be...
And apart from work I also had made a new friend! The joy of meeting a compatriot in an alien land is indescribable..but Akshay was not only from India but also from my home town Nagpur and a typical 'Nagpuri Tapori'...just like me! And it turned out that we went to same school and college in Nagpur..a year apart. It makes me wonder how life keeps the timing of its revelations..we had not met each other for 10-15 years and now we were meeting thousands of miles away from our hometown. He had been in Kuala Lumpur for last two years and obliged to take me around the town. Nightlife in KL was a little bit of surprise for me considering the conservative Muslim society I presumed it to be.
The Petronas Towers looked stunning in the dark.
But still I had a feeling that nothing special had happened. Amongst the thoughts I didn't realize when I arrived at the bottom of the 85+ storied edifice. The pass distribution counter was somewhere in the basement I had read. I hurried inside as I saw the clock reading 8:45 am. The counters opened at 9 am and everyone had cautioned about being in the queue around half an hour before that for surety of getting a pass. I asked another person who seemed to be in hurry as me, for the whereabouts of the basement. And he said even he was looking for it. We found the stairs down and introduced ourselves while heading towards them. His name was Angel, a Spanish young fellow who was in Singapore for a month and was taking his time out on weekends to travel around in this part of the world. But as we descended, a big surprise awaited us. There was no room left for any more people.
And as we hit the floor we were welcomed by a board that disdainfully read "SORRY. No more tickets available for the day." Life stunned with another timing of it's revelations!
Ah come on! I was surely not that late! And I saw a lot of people disappointed like me. Some of us might not get another chance in life to be here again! Angel echoed the same sentiments. Even he had a flight to catch in the evening like me. Dejected, we stood there sharing the grief with other latecomers. The excitement I was rooting for, on the trip, seemed to be evading me. Wait a minute! My eternal optimism kicked in."I cannot give up so easily!" I thought to myself. And I started looking for alternatives with determination.
A tape separated the ones in the queue from the latecomers. The volunteers on the other side of it at least had a regard in their speech in contrast to the scorn hinted by the separator. They clarified that the passes are being distributed since 8:30 am and people have been in queue since 7 am! They give away 1500 passes for the day and each person in the queue can get maximum upto 6. When one stands in queue one is handed over a chit stating number of tickets one wants. When the sum of all the numbers on the chits add upto 1500 they stop people from standing in the queue. The passes are for different slots starting 9:15 am, then 9:30 and so on till 6:30 pm. I was hearing intently to all the information to find a loophole in the system and make my way in. But so far no good.
I made an attempt to get permission to be at the end of the queue..just to try my luck. What if some group takes a pass less than it had told before, what if someone doesn't turn up as expected, what if someone changes one's plan. I tried to persuade her with lots of what ifs but arguments based on improbability are apparently not convincing. She said she cannot allow me to be in queue...not even at a distance after it ended!
But still I decided to wait for a while and lookout for some ray of hope. By this time, it was also clear that I had got something to write about. My instincts to find a work around were slowly awakening..what my friends refer to as my 'Jugaadu' skills. It was the time to put them to test. So I decided I won't let it go easily without managing to go up the Petronas Towers that day. And the hunt began...
I stood there astutely observing happenings around me. Angel was astonished at my optimism in the hopeless situation. But I convinced him to stick around if he really wanted to get the passes. [I refer to them as passes instead of tickets because they are given away free!]
Just then I saw a couple of Europeans leaving the queue. Oooh!..something seemed to be coming up. I followed them and inquired. They told that they were getting passes for 4 o'clock and they had to catch a flight at the same time. They had to be out of there at the most by 2. So they were leaving..sad for them but I was happy! One of my what if's was coming out to be true!!
Excited, I went back to the volunteer and told her what just happened. She smiled..and said "Sorry Sir, but I cannot help you till the queue is over." And just as I was about to argue more I realised that it is no use standing at the end of the queue. Because then I would get a pass for the last slot at 6:30 pm. It was no use for me as I had to catch a flight at 7 pm. I felt for a while what the Europeans might have left feeling. But I was not going to give up easily. So I changed the tone and asked the volunteer what could be done as clearly the number was going to be less than 1500 as some had left..and maybe some others will too for some or the other reason. She answered patiently that the only way of getting a pass for an earlier slot was some friend of mine in the queue would get one for me. Ding Ding Ding! I had hit the jackpot.
Now the only thing left was to make friendship with complete strangers and convince them to get extra passes. I discussed with Angel what I had just found out and we decided to pool our talents. He knew four languages: Spanish, Portuguese, English & French. And I was pretty good at three: English, Hindi & Marathi [I knew I was not going to go anywhere with my skills ;)]. So we started to look for probable targets. As we discussed strategies it came out that we should be talking to people who have margin to take more passes. So even though its easy to make friends with a group but they would already be taking 5-6 passes. So we had to look for people who were going to take 2-3 passes only. Now the only difficulty was the distance created by the tape between those in the queue and all others.
Meanwhile I also noticed people going at the other end of the tape..not to be in queue but to a souvenir shop whose entrance was pretty much behind the queue. That was a good reason to get upclose with people in the queue. And so we crossed the tape sighting the reason to go to the souvenir store. I usually don't believe in boundaries but it felt awesome to be at the other side of the rope! We just made a quick entrance and exit to the store, just not to raise any suspicions. Then we started our search for potential friends. Angel talked to a group of French students as I tried to start up a conversation with a British couple. All we had to do was to convince them to get extra passes as if it was not much for them. We told them to ask far more passes than they had told before while getting the chit for the queue siting the reason that we were their friends and were not reachable in the morning. Both of us were successful in convincing the people we talked to. We could not believe it. The British couple I talked to, Len & Jane, agreed so easily that I was pretty sure they were just trying to cut me out. So I waited outside the rope till they got to the counter and made sure I was there at the counter when they asked for more passes just to be sure that they actually did ask and if they did, to avoid any suspicion/queries from the authorities. And when they said there are passes available for 3:30 I felt vainglorious.
Got it!! I now came to know why it is called ticket and not a pass. It was surely not for free!! But I still could not believe that I had managed to get myself one!
I felt a boost in my confidence levels as my 'Jugaad' seemed to work in unfamiliar places and conditions as well. We offered Len & Jane to buy them the breakfast, it was 9:40 now and they had been in queue since early morning but they refused. So Angel and I went ahead for a bite and decide for the plans till 3:30. We hung around the shopping mall on the bottom four floors of the tower...
...and then decided to go around to Petaling street for some culture shopping. There was a sense of surrealism to everything for a while...
The graphics on buses responded to vehicles on the road..
Randomly walking pedestrians seemed to be equally distant..
But nothing beat the feeling of rubbing the 'ticket'...in face of the haughty board!
Angel had something else to finish so we parted from Petaling street and decided to meet directly at the towers around 3:15. I reached on time but he did not. So he came in the next slot. Len & Jane were there so we had a little chat. They have been traveling for almost 10 months around the world and there year long itinerary was going to end with the last 6 weeks in India. I promised them to return the favor in someway when they are in India.
There was a brief presentation about Petronas and the making of the towers and then the lift took us to 45th floor in about 45 seconds. Some of the views from the bridge...
On the Petronas Bridge
Jane, Me & Len
When we were about to leave the bunch of people from next slot came in. Angel was there too. So we could take the picture of all four of us.
Angel, Len, Jane & Me Four wandering souls..not sure if they will get another chance in life to meet up again.
The amazing experience left me feeling as high as the bridge on the Petronas Towers!
I was headed from Pune to Mumbai after a weekend visit to meet my friends in Pune (many of whom cribbed that this blog has not been updated since long). Anyways I was glad I met them as I was not sure when I would be able to meet up with them again. I am done with my master's and will be shifting from the heavenly IIT Bombay campus somewhere else in a less than a week's time. Sadly, like all bad times all good times come to an end too. The last two years for sure would be the most memorable ones of my life...and it's going to be a very interesting ride ahead now..oh! the one with cream top is really CUTE!.. with all these and a dozen other thoughts in mind I boarded the Intercity Express and was looking for my reserved seat. I cross checked as I saw an elderly looking person already occupying S2-54 and busy with his evening snacks. He asked me. "What's your number?" I said "54". "54 is mine." He said without even a least amount of bother that there would be any issue. I took out the print out of the ticket which I had booked on the renewed but still pathetic IRCTC website.[ I only resort to using it because the other options of getting a ticket for Indian Railways are more pathetic.] (Read Other Experiences.) I held the ticket such that my two fingers were pointing out my seat number 'S2-54' & the word 'Confirmed' on it. He stopped eating and took out his ticket from his pocket. It had S2-54 written with hand with a blue ball pen! I looked at him and he said the TC gave him that. WTF? My first hunch was that the railways had a highly mismanaged way of keeping track of tickets booked on the internet. But it could have been that the poor old man was cheated by whom he called the TC. I looked skeptically at the old man, could have been in late 60s or early 70s , not well dressed but seemed educated for he spoke in fluent English. His clothes were the only give away but he could have opted those because of the monsoons or..as I was noticing he had resumed his eating without any botherations. It stuck me with the third probability that the old man himself had written the number and was going to take the advantage of the fact that the TCs hardly come to check tickets on Mumbai-Pune trains. He surely had the benefit of age should there be a scene. Man he was smart! I thought of calling the TC but it was not going to be much helpful unless I catch the same one who had written S2-54 on the old man's ticket..if at all he existed. Other options ran through my mind..the best was to share the 3 seats amongst 4 of us or if I am lucky S2-52 or 53 might not turn up or miss the train! In spite of all my thoughts it could have been that someone had thugged the old man..so I was not intending him to trouble him much. Later I realised that my earlier experience narrated ahead was responsible for my biased thought process..
So I sat next to the old man on S2-53 and took out from my bag "3 mistakes of my life" which had hit the stands recently. Earlier,in Pune at Crossword bookstore, waiting for my friend, I had read the prologue of this Chetan Bhagat's third book and it intrigued me enough that I bought it. I had read his 'Five Point Someone' when I had got admit into the IIT and it is amongst one of my favorites. I didn't get time for 'One night at call center' and after the reviews I decided to pass for the time being. So there was I, sitting on the next seat for which I had reservations and planning to finish '3 mistakes' as much as possible during the journey which was about to start in 10 minutes. The railway compartment was not even half full yet. A couple of middle aged ladies came to sit just opposite to us. After settling down, one of them noticed the book in my hand and murmured something in the other's ear. I couldn't resist but ask. She said she saw it with many people lately and asked me what is it? So I told her all that I knew about it. This I think is the most fascinating part of traveling in India..you can start talking to strangers as if you know them from long.
Anyways by now all the seats were filled and a young guy in mid 20s came to sit just in front of me and the middle aged ladies shifted. He too took out the same book! The ladies chuckled and looked at me.
I could not share the amusement with them because with 2 minutes left for the departure my mind was set on who was going to come for S2-52 & S2-53. Just then a Gujju [an Indian slang for the natives of the state of Gujrat] family arrived. A middle aged son with his mother and her equally old sister and their middle aged servant. Since they had entered just in time they were in a rush. The son was helping make the seating arrangements. He looked at me and I said pointing towards me and the old man in my seat "We both have 54". He looked perplexed and a little irritated. I showed him my ticket. The train had started. The old Gujju ladies were sitting comfortably but not very happy that their son and servant were still standing. One of them gave me an eye and said something of the order of why enter when you don't have ticket and trouble others. I neglected her as she was not aware of the situation. Her son asked the old man in my seat to show his ticket..and the old man replied "Why should I show you my ticket? Are you TC?" The Gujju lost his cool. I immediately stood up and allowed him and the servant to sit. I tried to explain him the case and that I was just being considerate about the old man's age and being silent. We will sort it out when the TC comes. He said in an irritated tone that TC won't be coming, no one had showed up during there journey from Mumbai to Pune same morning and also stressed that he had a hard day and it would be difficult for him to adjust on the seat. He also said that he doubted the old man as no TC writes on any ticket like that. During our conversation, I don't know what happened to his mother. She started shouting at me for being irresponsible and blah blah...Her son tried to explain that it was not my mistake but she was not ready to listen..she was old but more importantly she was a WOMAN..she continued and I stood there, holding '3 mistakes' in my hand wondering if I had made one myself. It sure was a mistake and I had learnt my lesson "Don't be a jerk and give away your seat to a doubtful stranger."
I was just hoping that the situation should not trigger more dramatic and drastic events. After a while the old lady started to cool down as I was not reacting and no one else was supporting her (something very unusual for Indian crowds)..phew! I was lucky..but still standing despite having a reserved sit...analysing how big a mistake was this..and it instantly clicked that it was not by first/biggest mistake..
It had happened almost around two years ago..I was traveling from Mumbai to Pune then..I was working in Pune and had gone to Mumbai for an interview for my master's application. Intercity Express is the earliest and the fastest train of the day for Mumbai-Pune Journey. So it was a preferred choice and I had to reach Pune by office start so I reached the station quite early...5:20 am I guess. I remember I was the first to board the compartment. I found my seat and decided to catch up on my remaining sleep. Monsoons had recently begun and it started pouring. I noticed that just in the opposite section of seats, one of the windows was open and the rain water was making the seat wet. I looked around..there were not many people around and no one nearby. I thought I should close the window so that the person who will be sitting there will not face trouble. But I was feeling lazy. Meanwhile I also noticed that the window panel was tilted. I made an excuse to myself that probably it is broken and my effort will anyways go in vain or worse I might hurt my hand. I shamelessly dozed off amongst those mean thoughts. The bogie filled in the next few minutes..I was awakened by sound of many people around..the first thing I noticed that the seat was still vacant though all the other 5 seats in that section of 6 were now occupied. 4 seats in my section were still unoccupied..there was a old gentle man opposite to me. He smiled as he noticed that I was awake. I smiled back. Just 3-4 minutes for the departure and a family boarded. Middle aged couple with two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter would be 20ish, good looking and most active amongst the lot. She saw there seating arrangements, glanced at the old gentleman opposite to me and then towards me. She had an amazing twinkle in her eye..we looked at each other for a fleeting moment and it felt as if she made a decision in that split second. She smiled at me and asked "Are you alone?" "YES!" was my instantaneous reply...wtf..what was that?..I was taken aback..a charming, young, totally strange girl saying that in front of all her family! Its not a common experience...at least not for me. But I was more ashamed about excitement in my response. What was I thinking? Duh! Obviously I was not thinking..who thinks when a pretty lady asks you something? You can never say no...whatever the question be. But there are so many people around! Why did she ask that? to me? and why was that her first question without even a formal introduction? My brain was generating crap questions faster than ever before..She continued...explaining in her sweet voice.."Actually we have five reservations, four here, in this section and one somewhere else..but we would like to sit together..if you don't mind would you exchange your sit with our other one?" "YES! No problem." Even after so much of churning in the head..I could not resist the excitement in my voice..the can't-say- no-to-pretty-ladies rule had been proved true again. Anyways I had mixed feelings about getting a chance to help her but not being able to sit near her. I thought of asking the old man in front of me but I had already said yes to shifting...so I asked "Where is the other seat?" She looked into the ticket, glanced around and pointed at the seat near the window which I had chose not to close! The seat by now was nicely soaked in water..I hesitated and decided to complain that the seat is wet..maybe sight it as a reason not to shift..and turned towards her. Damn! that twinkle in her eye..I forgot what I was going to say..she noticed me looking awkwardly at her but smiled beautifully and said "Thank you!". I couldn't help but smile back and say "No mention." You might think it is stupid but on some level I was glad that I had uttered a "No". I cleaned up the seat and sulked in it. I realised that actions are not always the triggers...sometimes not doing something also act as triggers. Why didn't I close the window? If I had, I could have asked the old gentleman to shift..atleast I had a chance..I couldn't have asked him to shift in a wet seat..No one knew but it was wet because of me! I don't know when I dozed off during all the thoughts that followed..I woke up at Pune but the family had already got down on some station before..Talegaon or something..I didn't even get to ask her name. Another lesson learnt "Don't be a jerk and lazy to close a window". No wait...or would it be "Don't be a jerk and miss a chance to ask a pretty girl her name & contact especially when she cannot refuse.."
That memory brought a brief smile on my face and I realised that the Gujju man in S2-53 noticed that. He also noticed the book in my hand and pointed at an empty seat in the next section. He said "Sit there till someone claims that..if you are lucky maybe no one will. And if somebody does...don't worry we will adjust."
I went and sat and continued reading where I had left but couldn't help remembering my another mistake on a train. It was in Korea earlier this year. Though I was there since January I couldn't travel much because it was winter there. And by the time spring arrived I was left with very less time. Seoul cannot easily be covered in a couple of days if you want to do a lot of sight seeing, also do culture shopping and shopping for mementos before returning from Korea. I had planned to do all these in less than 36 hours! Shopping in Seoul was open till as late as 4 am..but still I was on a very very very tight schedule. The cheapest way to travel in Seoul is the subway which not only runs on 8 different lines compared to 3 in Mumbai but also these lines cross each other a lot and you need to change lines often especially during long travels. So you always have to be on your toes whether you are new to the system or not. And if you are not accustomed to the system then you need to be very alert. And I was taking all the care that I should be taking. I was planning to do a cruise on the Han river in the evening. The cruise had fixed timings and fixed routes. I had chosen a very specific timing [6:15pm-7:30pm] so that I can enjoy both in light and dark and a very specific route so that it is easier for me to plan my other activities before and after the cruise. So I was finishing shopping in Yongsan Electronics market by 5:30 and had exactly 45 mins to reach the starting point of cruise near Sincheon Station on Green Line which usually takes around 40-45 mins if everything goes fine. As shown I had to change lines two times during the journey at Ichon and Sadang Stations.
Click on the image to view my route details marked with Red. Starts with Yongsan Station on Line 1 [Navy Blue].
Everything was fine till I reached Sadang. There I got down and as I approached the other line on the station I heard a train coming on the line. I hurried as I realized I won't get another for 5-10 mins if I miss this one. I ran though I was not sure if it was in the same direction that I wanted to go on the line. I noticed on the signage board that in the direction it was headed there was a station named Seoul National University. And I remembered it was also in my route so I ran faster and managed to catch the train. I was heaving a sigh of relief when there was an announcement for the next station. I was alarmed to hear Nakseongdae which was not on my route. I took out my reference map. and I noticed that the next station was Seoul National University. But it was in opposite direction from Sadang station? I traced the route I was intending to follow and was amazed to find a station called Seoul National University of Education! oh crap! what kind of nomenclature is this? In all the confusion I could not get down at Nakseongdae and had to get down at Seoul National University to catch a train in opposite direction..towards Seoul National University of Education. I don't know if I ever get to be in Seoul in my life again..and that too this period of the year to get a cruise on Han river. Will I reach in time? Why are Koreans so strict about their timings? Can't they idealize us Indians for some things? I hope the cruise starts 15 mins late...again my brain was generating crap at an alarming rate as I waited on the Seoul National University station. I lost around 10-15 mins in this which was more than what I would have wasted on Sadang station had I not hurried. I ran my way of around half a kilometer after getting down at Sincheon...and thank God...I was lucky to reach for the cruise in time..It was an amazing weather for a cruise..evening zephyrs invited you to enjoy the spring...I had nearly missed a once in a lifetime experience because of a stupid nomenclature..But anyways I had learnt my lesson "Don't be a jerk and make mistake in station names however dumbly named they are."
No one arrived later to claim the seat I was sitting in and I could read peacefully till we reached Mumbai..but surely I could not finish even half of what I had intended to. My mistakes were not as imposing as Govind's [the protagonist of the book] and none of them triggered into avalanches that will push me towards a suicide but I sure had suffered and learnt my lessons the hard way.
Again during one of my socialisations with expat friends I happen to know about a exciting plan...to trek up a mountain and spend the night on top! I was game since the moment I overheard about it.
So as planned I reached at 9 near World Cup Stadium in Daejon, from where we going to start. It turned out that many people had dropped out and only three of us were remaining. A total random group! Kayla whom I had met the same day, Susan whom I had met a couple of times before and me. It was actually Susan's idea as she had been there before but during the day she felt it would be awesome to be there at night. So the journey began..it was not going to be a long hike..just around 15-20 mins of climb..but we took a small detour to see a temple which was also on the same mountain. But it was too late and it was closed. So we headed towards our destination..a flat rock face where we were going to camp out on the night.
Susan, Kayla & Me
23,26,23
It was a amazing view from the top... [the blue lights are luminaries on the world cup stadium]
We just sat there..enjoying the gentle breeze and the moonlight. We all felt that it was a lot better way of having a good time than spending the night at a bar. :)
Though it was a short journey, there were some titillating moments...like the change in my pajama's pocket getting stuck in the bottom of my pajama and making clinking sound all the way till we reached up, and Kayla's bedding rolling off the slope, we getting to fetch it and finding her cell phone inside which again after reaching on top slipped on the slope! But after that we pretty much got to talking..everything from professional lives..to personal opinions to cultural differences! And also seeing a couple of Russell Peters' talk shows to laugh our asses off. It was really a marvelous experience with the Wine being the cherry on top!
We slept off after a while..but my place had a real steep slope and I kept on slipping down the slope. It was really difficult to find a better place in the dark but I managed to create obstructions so that I won't slip. But I was so ahead of myself that in my dreams I was already narrating the experiences to my friends only to be awaken from the sleep by my slip and realise that I am still on the mountain!
But the sight of the rising sun made all the trouble worthwhile. It was really an indescribable experience to wake up on a Sunday morning along with the sun..
We packed up and headed back feeling really fresh! I don't remember the last time I felt like that after a incomplete sleep.. :P
After a refreshing night we felt that it was not just a beginning of a great day..but for me it was an amazing beginning to my last week in Korea! Thanks Susan & Kayla for a wonderful experience!
Well, again from hearsays in my socializations I came to know about a flying club in Daejon. And every year the club opens with an open day where they allow the newbies at one third the usual prices as promotional offers. So was anticipating another exciting experience and you bet it was a good thing amidst the lull for the past few weeks. [Got a lot of queries about new updates on the blog...but nothing was really happening worth writing about]. So here it is now..
The venue was shifted from Daechon Beach [which is around 2 hours drive from Daejon] to the outskirts of Daejon [just around 30 mins from our place], so we started at around 9 am and reached with the group [Carol, Henning, Adrienne, Bobby, Matthew, Anshuman & Me]to the location..a nice riverside place close to the site where a new city called 'Happy Town' is being constructed right from scratch...roads, buildings, subwaylines etc.. They say, since Seoul is getting overburdened, some of the government offices will be shifted to the new town. Though could not get a glimpse of it on our way there..got it when I was in the air around 2 hours later. We were with Matthew, the owner of the club who has been a commercial pilot for 15 years before coming to Korea from England. So we had some introductory talks on our way.
I was so excited that even the car we drove in, with its doors open looked to me as if it would fly. :)
Matthew told us that since his new plane was not ready yet, he had hired some other plane for the day. And just after a quick round of coffees we got in the hanger to see the 'Angelfish' [its the name of the plane!]
Matthew briefed us about the basics of flying, the Angelfish and controlling during flight. Angelfish has a 65 HorsePower 2 stroke engine. In a short while we were ready to take off!
I was not the first one, but the excitement did not die down as I kept myself busy with the photography..and in fact I was using Carol's SLR with a 200 mm lens..so it was amazing! Here are some that I liked..
The take Off.... Up...UP.. ..and Away....
There were some really nice scaled models kept on display in the office & premises of the club.
And finally it was my turn!!
The cockpit was really really small..but cozy. The controls were minimal and not complicated.
Matthew was my Flight Instructor. He told that it is so noisy up there that to talk with each other we have to use the head-phone mike systems.
We were ready to take off..The long runway gave me goosebumps but they were fleeting..
..and before we knew we were in the air.
[Video by: Anshuman (Shot during his flight)]
It was a little windy which is not good for light aircrafts, so Matthew was really concerned about handing me over all the controls. So I engaged in some aerial photography..
The bridges in the distance are being constructed as expressways to the new city.
There were ducks idling in the afternoon sun..
And as I was nearing the end of my round I could see my group..
[Video by: Anshuman (Shot during his flight)]
Phew!! That was amazing...another exciting outing came to an end. It was getting more windy, so Matthew requested Bobby and Anshuman, who had missed out, to come the next day.
We all took a group picture and went for a lunch in a nearby town, Jochiwon, in a chinese restaurant and returned but not before Anshuman & I made plans for the next day... :)
The Group [left to right : Henning, Adrienne, Carol, Bobby, Me, Matthew & Anshuman]
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