ISEA Conference 2008

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.

The Shy Picture by Narinda Reeders & David MacLeod.

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..



Another one was Kubic's Cube by Pablo Ventura.

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.

Kuala Lumpur

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!

3 Mistakes of my Train Travels

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.

A Night on the Mountain

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!

The day I flew a plane!!

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]