The blue travelling diaries

My year in towns and cities

2008-01-11T14:15:00.001+05:30

I travelled a lot in 2007. Here's the list of places where I spent at least one night:

Mumbai, India
Irity, KL, India
New Delhi, India
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Kochi, KL, India
Portland, OR, USA
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Toronto, ON, Canada
Mississauga, ON, Canada
Montreal, PQ, Canada
Boston, MA, USA
New York, NY, USA
Fairfax, VA, USA
Gurgaon, UP, India
Naggar, HP, India
Karkala, KA, India
Mangalore, KA, India
Chennai, TN, India
Napa Valley, CA, USA

Pretty good huh?

Vancouvering

2007-08-16T12:42:00.000+05:30

Sitting in a bus on the way from Toronto to Montreal, this seems like the only chance I'll get to update my blog.

Anyway, I know I have a long post about my US trip pending, but this one is going to be about my experience in Canada, more specifically Vancouver.

I entered the country on the 7th August from San Francisco. The United Airlines flight I flew didn't serve anything to eat, but I wasn't feeling too hungry anyway. The flight was pretty decent, and on time. We touched down in Vancouver at around 22:55, and I headed off to immigration. Had to fill out one of those customs forms before deplaning - the one that says that you're not carrying animal products, diseases, chemical weapons or case in excess of $10000. I wasn't.

The immigration official was really nice. He greeted me with a bonjour, and when I told him that I'd done some work with the Canada home page, he said that it was about time I'd visited Canada and let me go through.

My uncle and aunt met me outside the terminal and we drove home, but my uncle suggested that I try flying in to Bellingham in Washington the next time and drive in from there - that way I don't need to take an international flight, which is more expensive.

Headed out the next day to explore the city of Vancouver. A few things stand out about it. It's on the coast - on several coasts actually, there are waterfronts on three sides. It has excellent public transport, though the frequency is lower during off peak hours. They can spell and measure correctly (apart from the word tyre which they spell tire), but that's true about all of Canada anyway. There are a lot of gay couples on the streets.

I took the SkyTrain into town. You can get a day pass from the station, and use that for all of TransLink's services which include the SkyTrain, the SeaBus and all the public transport buses in Vancouver and North Vancouver. This really cuts your costs down a lot. The day pass costs $8 and is valid for unlimited trips in a day. The SkyTrain gets you into the centre of town at the waterfront, from where you can take the SeaBus to cross the creek to Lonsdale Quay, but we'll get to that later.

You could instead get off earlier, at Science World, Stadium, Granville or Burrard and walk around those parts of town. There's stuff to do, mainly shopping, but also some sight seeing around there. If you go all the way to the Waterfront, you can start at the Vancouver Lookout.

Get out of Waterfront station, and cross the road to the Harbour centre. Get a ticket for $13 - valid for the entire day, and go up to the top to get a 360 degree view of Vancouver and surrounding towns. On a clear day you can see forever. You can also decide where you want to go from here, because there's loads of tourist brochures available at the top in case you missed them at the Waterfront station.

Once you're done here, get out of the Harbour centre from the Hasting's St exit and turn left to head to Gas town. Gas town is the place where Vancouver was founded, and it still has old cobblestones and some old architecture. The stores in there are very modern though, for example, there's an Internet domain registry a few metres in. There also used to be a Vancouver histroy show in there, but they seem to have gone bankrupt and the whole place is being auctioned off sometime this August. Walking down Gastown, you'll come across the steam powered clock. You can't miss it. It's a clock about 10 feet tall, has steam coming out the top, and tourists waiting at its base. It lets out a steam whistle on the hour, which is what all the tourists wait for. I didn't.

Head further down to the end to find the statue of Captain Gassy Jack - the founder of Gas Town. As the story goes, the area was wilderness except for a solitary sawmill that processed wood from the nearby forests. The mill owner did not permit alcohol on his premises. Captain Jack promised the mill workers whiskey if they'd build him a saloon, and they built it and had it operational within a day. So, whiskey came to the land, and the economy flourished with Gas town - and later Vancouver growing around it. The town gets its name from captain Gassy Jack, who got his name because of the tall stories he told.

There are guided tours of gas town that start from the statue, but you'll have to find out the timings. You can leave Gas Town soon because you'll probably want to get back for dinner anyway.

The next thing you can do is take the SeaBus from Waterfront station to get across the creek and take bus number 129 or 130 from there down to Lynn Valley. The bus stops just outside the park, and hiking trails. Cross the road and look for sign boards. Lynn Valley has a suspension bridge and a couple of hiking trails that you can walk along. Alternately, just go down to the rocks and sit by the shallow stream. Be careful though because it gets rough as it goes along, and people have lost their lives here.

The suspension bridge itself is not as long as the Capillano Bridge which is where all the tourists head out to, but there's a huge difference in price as well. The Capillano bridge is $26.50 for people from outside British Columbia, while Lynn Valley is free for everyone. There's also fewer crouds at Lynn Valley.

I chose not to do the full trail - mainly because I had a laptop and tripod on my back, but many people did go through. I prefer hanging out near water, and it was very inviting. The water is cool and very clear. You'd feel like bottling some of it and carrying it with you. It's constantly flowing, and flowing fast, so my guess is that it would be fairly pure.

Once you're done with Lynn Valley, take the same bus back, and cross back to the Waterfront. You have several choices here. I chose to take a right and walk down by the Sea wall. There's a little park by the waterfront and that's also the place where all the sea planes land. Quite an interesting audio-visual experience if you've never seen it before. There's also a few restaurants out here, but they look fairly expensive. While walking, I saw a very expensive looking BMW parked on the side of the road with the windows rolled down. The car was still there when I walked back a few hours later. I don't know what that says about the crime levels in Vancouver, but that same night there was a shootout at one of the local nightclubs.

I kept on, and reached the famous Stanley Park. Now, when I got in, I thought a park was a small thing. Central Park and Hyde Park were two of the largest parks I'd seen in the world, but I could easily walk across them in a short time. Stanley Park is nothing of the sorts. It has a couple of lakes, a pond, a Native American village, a couple of Hiking Trails, a forest, a boating club, an open air theatre, several gardens and a highway going through it. Grease - the musical - was playing at the theatre as I passed. It's easy to get lost in there, so keep your eye on the map and on the various landmarks around.

A second option would be to walk down from Waterfront to the Burrard bridge. You can cross the bridge on foot, or take a ferry across. You'll find the Vancouver Museum, the Maritime Museum and the space centre on Granville island. It's not really an island, but I'm guessing it was at some point.

Vancouver also has a bunch of farmer's markets that are open on weekends, so if you get a chance, go down there and mingle with the locals. I've been in love with farmer's markets ever since I visited Borough market in London. I'd also suggest looking up Upcoming for stuff to do in Vancouver on the days that you're there, and maybe even contact some of the locals on CouchSurfing and ask them. I've found both places very helpful.

Now, if you've been heading along at a good pace, you've probably still got a bit of daylight to go. That's assuming, of course, that you're travelling in summer, which is the best time, for various reasons. Let's talk about food first before we go further.

Vancouver is very multi cultural. You'll find every cuisine in the world here, but there is the Vancouver flavour added. This is where asking the locals on couchsurfing comes in handy. Many of the restaurants I saw were multi-cuisine, with flavours from Greece, South America, Lebanon and Asia all in one. There's also specialty Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Italian and Indian places. I lunched at a restaurant called Character's and had a Greek dish called Dolmates. This is vine leaves stuffed with mince and served with a thick white sauce, roasted potatoes and tsatsiki. Now tsatsiki is a special greek dressing that goes well with just about anything. I've had it with gyros before, and now with this. A must try. I can't say that there's any cuisine that's specifically Canadian, or a Vancouver specialty. They just add something with the blend.

As sunset approaches, head back to Gas town. The place is all lit up by night, so walk around again, and maybe get some dinner here. If you're willing to spend a lot on dinner, you may want to eat at the tower instead.

Head up to the Lookout and get a view of Vancouver by night. The ticket you bought earlier in the day is still valid, so you don't need to spend any more. If you're going to take pictures here, make sure you have a lens with Vibration Reduction, or use a tripod. Long exposures can really enhance Vancouver by night.

When flying in, I spoke to a Chinese Canadian girl who was studying Japanese Literature History at U Vic. I asked her if there was a lot of French spoken here, and she said that it wasn't because it was full of asians. What I saw was a little different. There were all kinds of Europeans around, and quite a bit of French was spoken. There was also German, Spanish, Italian

If you're spending more than a day in Vancouver, you could take one of the city tour buses. There's the grayline opentop buses and there's the green trolleys. They cost $12, and you can go around in 2 hours, or you can get off the bus at various stops to explore and stretch it over the entire day. They also sell tickets for various attractions on the bus itself.

On the way out of Vancouver, I decided to use public transport. I took the SkyTrain into the city, and had lunch with an old classmate of mine. Then headed down to Burrard station and caught bus number 491. The day pass works on this as well. The bus runs through most of downtown before it gets out of the city. It starts at Seymour and Davie, and heads to Hastings, then Burrard Station, then Nelson, Howe and Granville before heading south for the airport. Burrard was late enough in its route to avoid another city tour, but close enough to not make me walk too much.

I walked a bit down Dunsmuir, Howe and Hornby before getting to the bus stop. The art gallery and court house are on Hornby, and there's a Roman Catholic Cathedral on Dunsmuir that's built in gothic style. This is also the only church in Vancouver where the bells are rung by hand during Sunday mass.

Now bus number 491 won't take you all the way to the airport. It takes you to airport station, where you need to change buses. Cross the road from the bus stop, and walk into the bus terminus (there's also a few bus stops on the road, but these aren't what you're looking for). You need to find the stop for bus number 424. Route 424 heads to the airport terminal and then further on. You'll most likely find a lot of travellers around here, so just follow them. Make sure you get off at the right terminal. Visit the translink website (http://translink.bc.ca/) in advance to figure out what you want to do. This could also help you in planning your trips around the city and getting schedules.

After a while at the airport - there's no free wifi btw - I boarded Westjet flight 626 for Toronto. I'd already checked in online, so I only needed to pick up my boarding pass and check my luggage at the airport. Security was fairly painless. There's no concept of "Selected for Secondary Security Screening", better known as SSSS on your boarding pass, but you do need to scan your laptop separately.

Goodbye Vancouver, and I hope to visit again. I'm sure there's more for me to do, but I'll do that when I've planned well.

Lost in London

2007-04-03T19:41:00.000+05:30

Outside of India London and New York are probably my two favourite cities in the world. They're both teeming with art, culture, fashion, food and commerce, all at the same time. London, more than anywhere else, boasts a mélange of peoples from around the world. Primarily Europeans, but quite a sizeable population of North African, Middle Eastern, Australian and East and South East Asian peoples. For a student of languages, I can't think of any place tastier.

The best way to get around a city like this is to get lost. Get lost intentionally as many times as you can. This isn't a largely planned city. It's an old city that's been rebuilt once, and the large number of lanes and alleys can find interesting squares. I'm a little partial towards the West End because that's the livliest part of town. The areas around Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Oxford Street and Bond Street have the biggest department stores, theatres and restaurants. Then there's the uptown residential areas of Hyde Park and Notting Hill, with a few expensive restaurants and pubs. You'd need quite a bit of time to take it all in.

Local Londoners are a busy bunch. Always hurried, almost running. Perhaps it's because they always need to get somewhere, or perhaps it's to counter the cold. The thing that I've learnt is to not bother keeping pace with the crowd. Let them move on, just feel the whoosh as they go by.

Taking off from Mumbai and landing in London during the day is a strange experience. From the air, the roads and traffic look almost the same. Red buses, driving on the left, and traffic buoys. One can see immediately where Mumbai's architectural influence came from.

I've visited the UK a few times, three of them as an adult, and London's been on the cards on every occassion. I've been here at all times of the year, and I can't say that the weather changes much. It's sunny when it's sunny and it's rainy when it's rainy... and often it's both at the same time. For someone from the tropics, it's cold throughout the year, but in winter it's freezing.

Getting around is fairly easy. The tube will get you anywhere, and a day pass is valid on any train and bus throughout the day. There are travel zones from 1 to 6 depending on where you need to go and can get you all the way from Heathrow airport to the centre of town... which is a very convenient way to get from the airport to any place you need to get to — if you don't have too much luggage.

There are innumerable tourist booklets with lists of sights and places to see. What I recommend is to take one of those tourist buses that get you all around London in a day. For a little extra they throw in a boat ride down the Thames. I started out at Baker Street - the home of Sherlock Holmes. Walk down to the Sherlock Holmes museum, and then the Beatles museum. Get done with Madame Tussade's and the Planetarium. You may want to get a combined ticket and go into the Planetarium first. You'll avoid the long line for the wax museum. Then get onto a bus and take the tour. Get off anywhere and roam around.

The London Dungeon, Tower and Tower Bridge are all near each other, and a night walk by the Thames, and across London Bridge is lovely, especially if you have the right company. The london eye offers a complete view of the city, but it doesn't compare to actually being there.

Walk around Hyde Park, and visit Portobello Road at Notting Hill for the antique market every Saturday. You might just find an interesting bargain. If farmer's markets are your thing, head down to the Borough market at London Bridge, also on Saturdays. Try the Ostrich or Kangaroo burgers. They're delicious.

If you already have your route planned, and have done some research on spots of interest, it may be cheaper to just get a Zone 4 or 5 travel card and take the red buses around. Traditional tourist locations include Westminster, Trafalgar Square, St. James' Park, Buckingham Palace and St. Paul's Cathedral, but be a little adventurous. Walk around and find places.

Take the tube down to Greenwich and have a look at Cutty Sark. Search for the prime meridien. Look for pubs with interesting names like The Pig's head or Trotting Horse. Step into the Roundabout and watch a local game of football or cricket. Walk down to the West side and go to the theatre, then stray into China Town and take in the aroma. Be part of life here, because there's a lot of it around.

There's much to choose from for the seasoned gourmand. Take your pick from Italian, French, Belgian, North African, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Carribean, German, and whatever else you can find. There are restaurants everywhere serving every cuisine, and where there aren't, you'll find a host of pubs. Just explore.

Fashion. London is one of the big four cities for fashion, and heck there's a lot of it here. On the streets, in the department stores, in restaurants, in night clubs. Everywhere. I'm not an authority on fashion, heck, I don't have any dress sense, but fashion is hard to miss in London. If shopping's your thing, you won't be displeased. Go all out.

Whether its food, finance or fashion, art, history or language, music, movies or haberdashery, London has it all. Visit London, and visit often.

Six hours in Hong Kong

2007-02-05T19:28:00.000+05:30

On my return from California to India, I flew via Hong Kong. The flight timings left me with about nine hours in Hong Kong, and little idea of what to do. I learned that I could take the airport express into the city, and if I returned on the same day, I only had to pay one way. I quickly grabbed some breakfast and a map of the city, and jumped onto a train.

While on the train, I figured out the scale of the map, and realised that Hong Kong is really small - that's if you look at it area wise. Turn your head upwards, and small wouldn't quite fit.

I got into town, and found my way out of the station. The road is two or three levels up. It was still fairly early in the morning, around 6:30am or so, and there were low clouds all along. A light drizzle kept starting and stopping.

I walked down the road for a while trying to figure out where on the map I was. The cool thing about the map that I had, was that all major buildings were listed, so it was easy to figure out where I was once I saw the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Bank of China. It was then easy to decide where I wanted to go and plan out my route for the next few hours.

Hong Kong is walkable for the most part. All department stores and office buildings are near each other, as is the Hong Kong park and Banks. It's also possible to get around without actually walking out into the open because all buildings are connected to each other.

Hong Kong has good public transport. Bus services are run by various companies, but it's seldom necessary to take one. A popular form of transport is the city tram. These trams run along fixed rails across the city, and it's crazy how close each tram runs to the one in front.

I decided to start my day with a visit to The Peak and get a view of the whole of Hong Kong city. There are multiple ways to get up to the peak. There's the hiker's trail, a road for driving, and buses, but the most fun ride has to be the peak tram.

The first thing you notice when you get into the tram is that the floor is made up of a series of concave sections. They look like steps, but they're all along the same horizontal level. Once the tram starts, you realise what they're for. The tram starts picking up elevation, and gets pretty close to a 45 degree incline. The steps on the floor are for people standing in the tram to hold their grip. The tram has wooden seats and no seat belts. Windows are largely open, and it's recommended that you keep your hands inside.

The greenery around is amazing. Don't miss the little streams of water and flowers growing on the side. It's very pretty.

The real view though, is from the top, when you see the entire city enveloped in clouds. It's a sight that will stay with me forever.

Hong Kong is really close to the equator, and the humidity is really high.The cloud cover should protect you from the sun, but you can lose a lot of water perspiring, so carry a bunch of juices with you.

Reaching the peak is just part of the adventure. Once you get up there, you get to the start of the peak trail - a common trail for morning walkers and runners. The trail is 2 kilometres long, with markers every hundred metres. It was about 7:15 when I got there, so I decided to do part of the trail. I walked down for half the distance. On the way you pass a little waterfall and a lot of great views.

After getting back down from the peak, I headed out to Hong Kong park. The park houses Hong Kong's walk-through aviary and the teaware museum.

The aviary is a large net with trees and a pond inside. A bunch of captive birds are allowed to fly free in there. They have several species of birds from South-east Asia including Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. I believe some of them are migratory and come from as far away as Siberia.

The teaware museum in Hong Kong park walks you through the history of tea making in China. Different utensils and recipes are on show. They have a few videos in addition to all the models.

You can also access the Internet from here. Two Windows PCs sitting in the corridor are permanently connected to the net. You can only use Internet Explorer however, so if you need to chat, use a web based messenger, and if you need other services, forget it.

The last place on my list was Ocean Park. To get to ocean park, you need to take a bus from in between the Lippo Towers. You can buy bus tickets as well as entrance tickets for Ocean Park at the bus stop. The bus takes you all the way to Ocean Park, and brings you back. Once there you enter and go through on your own.

Take note that you can find discount booklets at the airport which offer you discounts to various places, Ocean Park included.

Ocean park has several sights to see. For visitors from most other parts of the world, the Panda Habitat would probably be the biggest attraction. They have two Pandas - a male and a female. They aren't caged in, but are separated from visitors by a moat. The entrance to the panda habitat is accessible for people in wheelchairs and mothers with baby strollers. Try not to use the flash when taking pictures as this could disturb the animals. The same goes for other areas in Ocean Park. Near the Panda Habitat is the Butterfly house and a pool with flamingos.

Ocean Park is made in two parts - the upper area and the lower area. The lower area is connected by road to the rest of Hong Kong. The upper area isn't. The only way to access the upper area is via Cable Car from the lower area.

The cable car ride itself is slow and scenic, but if you're afraid of heights, it probably isn't for you. You can get a really good view of the South China sea from there.

On the other side, you can go for several shows if you have the time. I didn't, but I did have time to visit the aquarium and the shark enclosure. The aquarium is small, but pretty. They have a collection of Jellyfish, razor fish, clown fish, sea horses and more. There's a large tank with Sting rays and other fish, and they're really graceful gliding through.

The shark enclosure is nothing much to check out, and one can give it a miss.

Time was ticking on, and I had to head back to the city. I got on the next bus, but was stuck in traffic as soon as I got back into Hong Kong. It would probably have been better to walk once I'd gotten back, but the bus won't let you off before the end.

Now visiting parks in Hong Kong is nice for the morning, but really, that isn't what Hong Kong is about. Shopping and food are the primary attractions in Hong Kong, and if you have the time, seeking out good roadside eateries should be on your list. I didn't have much time, so walked into an office building and looked around for where most people were heading at lunch time.

I ended up at a food court with a wide range of local food. One meal really isn't enough to recommend something, so I'll refrain from giving any advice in that area. Walking around the same area brings you to some of the biggest department stores. You can walk from building to building without getting out, wading through a sea of stores. It's a shopper's delight.

Prices were a little beyond my budget, and my little back pack wasn't going to carry much. It was also getting pretty close to departure time, and had to head back to the airport.

I got onto the next train, and made it to the airport quite close to boarding time. I'd recommend getting back to the airport at least 45 minutes before boarding time which should give you enough time for a shower and a change of clothes before you board. You'll need it.

Hong Kong was hot, humid and a treat. I'd love to go back there and spend a little more time. I hear the night life is great and the night view from one of those tall buildings is breathtaking.

I've got many more photos up on flickr and some videos on youtube.

Goa

2006-01-28T19:40:00.000+05:30

I love Goa. Not because it's the ideal holiday location, or because of the beaches or all night parties. It's much deeper. It's the feeling you get when you breathe in. The greenery, the architecture, the colours, the smells, the fish and fisherfolk, the konkani and seated above it all, the people and their attitude towards life.

I've made many a trip to Goa, for business, pleasure and parties, and they've always been the most relaxing, and enjoyable trips of my life.

There is no best way to get to Goa. Boat, bus, train and air, each have their own charms to offer. Flying to Goa from Bombay takes you down by the coast, with beaches all the way. You need to stay on the port (left) side of the plane. From Bangalore, it's more fields, and then trees and mountains. By bus, there's the stars in the ghats and villages by day and the same holds for the train. A boat to Goa is relaxing and refreshing provided you aren't prone to sea sickness.

Within Goa, I always travel by bus.

I travel by air a lot, and I like it more because of the bus ride from the airport to Panaji. One passes through Chikalim, then on past Saõ Jacinto island, over the Zuari - which is beautiful on both sides, and through numerous villages to get to Bambolim and Panaji. Small eateries on the side of the road invite you in with signs of Sorpotel and Sannas.

Goa is synonymous with great beaches. Right from the north to the south. Southern beaches are far less crowded though. The beaches at Baga and Calangute are extremely popular with foreign tourists, and an unending line of deck chairs greet you as you walk down to the beach at Baga. Calangute on the other hand is just filled with crowds. If you're not interested in getting into the water, then a night walk without the crowds is better.

I'll let you in to a little secret. If you're taking a night walk, walk slowly near where the waves come in. Perhaps even stop and sit for a while, and look closely for movement. If you're lucky, you might see small birds running after the wave as it goes out trying to get at the microscopic creatures they bring in. I don't know what they're called though, and it's really tough to see them at night. At first I thought that they were crabs, but then they chirped and flew away.

Further south, the beach of Bogmalo is a long stretch of white sands and blue water, and little else. There aren't too many people around this area. Sitting in one of the beach side shacks eating Rava Fried King Fish and sipping beer is sheer heaven and not to be missed.

One of my favourite beaches is the Cove at Dona Paula. It's a really small beach, and at high tide, the water covers it completely. The area is really safe for swimming as the cove formed by rocks some way out completely shield you from currents in the open ocean. The rocks on the side are nice to sit on and ponder. It's hard to find though, so get to Dona Paula, and ask the locals for the beach between the two resorts. Also ask about the legend of Dona Paula and get some Goan sausage bread at Menino's on the Jetty, and if you can, get Sunday mass at the Governor's mansion.

Goa's two main rivers - the Mandovi and the Zuari - are a lifeline for the inner parts of the state. You'll find children swimming in them, and fishermen going out for freshwater fish. These are areas of Goa not touched by tourists, and if you know a local, it's best to go around with them. Both rivers meet the sea at Panaji.

There's too much to do in Goa, and too much to miss if you're on a short trip. Dining aboard a boat is an experience, but not all boats have great chefs, so pick carefully. You're better off in a well visited on shore restaurant. The river cruise is nice, but nothing great, though if you're into gambling, there's the casino boat that goes down the Mandovi.

When in Panaji, check out the colours around you. Buildings are painted in bright colours that reflect the sun's light. Yellow, Blue, Green, White. Most of it was done up for the International Film Festival in India, so it's still fresh. All the government buildings, the ministry, the police headquarters are in their finest. Also check out the little eateries by the Mandovi's canals. Elsewhere, one sees Portuguese style houses everywhere, many serve as local bars, shops and restaurants.

The Goan people though, are what gives Goa its charm. The laid back attitude that's apparent everywhere. Life is too short to be taken seriously, and one should always spend time appreciating its finer moments. It's in the bus conductor who'll hold up a bus while someone runs a mile to catch it, and the bus driver who'll stop the bus anywhere you want him to. It's in the little old lady standing on the side of the road with her fish basket, and the man collecting toddy from palms. It's in the afternoon siesta to urak and fenny. It's everywhere. If you try to fight it, it will exasperate you. Just go along with the flow and you'll be happy.

The best times to visit Goa are in winter, during New Year's and during the Carnival that happens just before Ash Wednesday.

I don't think I'll ever get enough of Goa. The bird and wildlife sanctuaries are on the agenda the next time I visit. But for now, I'll let the sun go down.

A week in Grenoble

2005-04-25T01:29:00.000+05:30

In April this year, I had the opportunity to travel to France. Travelling to France is something I've dreamed about ever since I first studied French in 1988. My port of stay was Grenoble, which isn't exactly the typical French city, but it will do for now.

When I left Bangalore, the weather report in France pointed towards Spring. I packed 10 t-shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans, cotton socks and tennis shoes. Yup, this was going to be nice. Desceded into Frankfurt for a change of flights. Fog all around. Oh well. That's Frankfurt I guess. Frankfurt was a good stopover. Got a chance to practice some German and had zwei Würtz mit Brotchen. It was sehr gut and bloody expensive too. Got myself Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens from a bookstore for 15€. Someone please remind me to take pictures next time!

After the 5 hour wait at Frankfurt, left for Lyon. No window seat, but I could see out the window. Decided to pass some time reading Le Monde. Turned to the weather page. samedi et dimanche: neige. WTF? Looked out the window as we descended... ok, I'm not prepared for this, but whoa, cool! Snow! Everywhere. This was great and bad at the same time.

Luckily my cab was waiting at the airport and after a brisk walk across the airport driveway and to the parking lot, I got into the cab. Decided to sit in the front for a good view and to have a chat with the cabby - Bernhard. He explained quite a bit about the area, and I explained a bit about where I came from and the lack of snow back there.

Didn't have a chance to freshen up, had to go straight to the office as it was Monday afternoon already.

Dinner that night was escargot. Put my cholesterol problems behind me for a bit and promised to be prudent for a long time to follow. It was good. Later that night we ended up at O'Callaghan's where the only beer they serve is Guinness. Yup, that's me in the pic.

The next couple of days were spent at work with trips to the centre of town for dinner.

Went back into town on the weekend, this time for some shopping and real sight seeing. I'd wanted to check out the Bastille all week, but it was too late on Friday evening. Shops were still open though, so I just walked around a bit. Victor Hugo is the town centre (at least I think so). One can start out from there and go in any direction to find places to eat, bookstores, department stores, and pretty much anything else. All trams stop there, so it's quite convenient.

Got myself some shirts, and a few good books:

Asterix et les Goths — yeah, I had to have this one. French and German in one literary work. How could I miss it?
Harry Potter et la chambre des secrets - I'm building a collection of this one book in multiple languages... or so I say.
La petite chatreuse - for someone special :)

Saw some other really nice books, but they cost €50. Damn, I can't afford that much. I only get a $50 daily allowance! That's like €35 to cover all my expenses in a day. Ok, I shall not speak anymore about how expensive the place is.

While walking around I'd noticed these Organic Shops. Went into one of them. It was like a grocery store with all organically prepared fruits, vegetables and juices. Got myself an orange juice and a pomelo (un pamplemousse en Français). I'm not sure what the difference is, but it was tasty.

Daylight lasts really long, so even at 8pm it was still bright enough to see everything. I strolled into a park and walked around. Great for bird watching, and many people come there with their dogs too. They have parks where pets are permitted and others where they aren't. The park had a few memorials in it donated by individuals or groups. One of them was for 6 children who had died while on an excursion. Another was for the millions of victims of the Armenian genocide.

The next day I managed to get up to the Bastille, and could see all of Grenoble from there... and that's what I shall leave you with tonight.

Seoul on foot and train

2004-05-10T09:45:00.000+05:30

Today I decided to go around the city by subway and on foot. Started by taking the subway to Chungmuro, and visited the Namsangol Korean village. The village is small - about 7500 sq.ft., but the houses are pretty. There was a wedding going on in one of them, and I took a few pictures.

Around the village the scenery is quite serene. Walked around for a while. There's a mountain stream that's not too full this time of the year. I guess as the rain picks up it will fill up, or maybe it's the melting snow at the start of spring that fills it up.

Next door to Namsangol is Korea house - which has traditional korean cuisine and weddings and other functions. I walked around a bit. Took pictures of this traditional wedding ceremony, and the musicians and all. Then looked around and there was this large crowd of people dressed in suits and their best formal wear. Peeked into one of the rooms and a buffet table was being set I think. I think I might have gatecrashed someone's wedding and taken pictures of it. The stares I got definitely hinted at it. :P

Got out of there quickly and moved on. Took the subway to Hansung University looking for the Seonjamdan Altar, but couldn't find it. Turned back to Hyehwa looking for Munmyo, but couldn't find that either. Instead found Roboworld and the science museum. After a quick look through I left and along the same road came to Changgyeonggung Palace.

Changgyeonggung is simply huge with loads and loads of gardens. I really hope my pictures come out because it was getting really overcast by then. It took me quite a while to walk around the whole place. Most interesting was the resting place of the placenta and umbilical cord of one of the emperors. Strange that they'd choose to preserve them.

Finishing with that, walked along the wall, and finally came to Changdeokgung, but couldn't go in. You're only allowed to enter with a guided tour, and there weren't any more English tours scheduled for the day. Missed the Royal shrine as well because I couldn't find the entrance, and my feet were too tired to search.

Got to Anguk station and took the train to Amsa with changes at Jongno sam ga and Cheonho. Went walking north towards the Prehistoric settlement site on the banks of the Han. It was already 7:15, and the place was closed, but I got an idea of how to get there - will try again one of these mornings.

After that headed to Jamsil to Lotte World. Decided to skip the amusement park as it was already 8:30, and went to the Lotte Mart instead and got myself some stuff for breakfast.

Got back to the COEX and decided to have dinner at Pizzahut - yeah, boring, but I needed a break and something familiar. Met another Indian guy there - Vikram. He just arrived today and works at Lucent.

Got back to the hotel around 10pm and I have wet socks, blisters on two toes because my socks shifted around too much, and my legs ache too. I think I shall sleep well.

Children's Day

2004-05-06T07:33:00.000+05:30

Today was Children's day, and a holiday here in Korea. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, and got there in time for the changing of the guard. I tell you, it's a long process. An enemy could attack and be done with the war during that time.

We started at Samseong Dung - which is where I stay. Look at the Subway map (needs flash, zoom in a couple of times). It's no. 219 on the green line. Headed down to Seoul National University of Education and switched to the Orange line to Gyeongbokgung (no 327) for the palace.

The palace is huge, and has a backdrop of mountains. There's a moat around one of the chambers, and also the museum of seoul in there. We visited the museum, and then went out looking for lunch. Found it in a street market who's name i cannot remember.

We had a vegetarian dish - for once - with ginseng gin. That was followed by a Korean pizza. Served in a shallow basket rather than a pan, and made out of vegetables, dough, cheese, octopus and prawns. You eat it with chopsticks, and there's a soya sauce mixture that you dip the pieces into before eating.

After lunch went down to the Dongdaemun market and got some stuff from there.

On the way out saw a dance competition for children's day where this 8 year old girl (I thought she was 3) totally blew the crowd away. She danced really well.

Took the subway back, really exhausted by then, and came back to the hotel. Took a short nap and washed my clothes.

Later went looking for a veg dinner as Arun was with me, but the guy at the Taiwanese place that we went too looked at us very quizzically, trying to hold back a laugh. Finally went down to the mall to Mr. Pizza. Had spaghetti with cheese and meat sauce, bread sticks, garlic bread and a salad bowl with unlimited refils.

Long and tiring day. I don't quite have the stamina for sight seeing that I used to.

Radio here is all Korean, but Yahoo! Launchcast gives me a good selection.

Good night

Updates from Seoul

2004-05-05T07:42:00.000+05:30

Sunday - May 2, 2004

Flight was good. Friend of mine from VJTI was on the same flight on his way to San Fransisco. Landed about 5 minutes late, which was okay. Stood in the wrong line for about 5 mins before someone told me that i had to go straight to immigration. Finished with immigration - wanted to take some photos there, but couldn't think of anything to shoot.

Then i went to collect my baggage, but i was too late, so did not see my flight number on any of the belts. Asked someone, and he told me that it was on belt 6, but since the baggage had already been removed, my suitcase would be on the floor in front of the belt. I found it there along with 4 other bags.

Walked around the airport looking for the limousine ticket counter. Found two cops who only spoke korean, but somehow managed to get directions from them. Got my ticket - 12000 Won. I had already changed a few dollars @ 1130 Won, but I'll need more now - to pay the hotel and all.

Limousine was good, and i think i should have taken photos along the way, but the roll in the camera is the 100 speed one, which is not suitable for moving targets. Will try and finish this roll soon, but it's raining today, so conditions are bad.

The hotel is one building away from the bus terminal, so i just walked it. Had to check in on the 5th floor. My room is on the 7th.

The room is nice. It's a studio apt, with attached bathroom, and kitchen. Also has a TV and DVD player, a wardrobe, a washing machine and iron/ironing board, so i shouldn't need to pay for housekeeping.

After I'd checked in, settled in, and watched Ice Age - the second half of it, I went out. The sun was still up till past 7:30. I went looking around for dinner, since i was starving by then.

There's a mall under the hotel - actually i think it goes on all around the block. The world trade centre is next to my hotel, and the mall is below it. I need to take pictures of that place - it is huge and glass.

I found quite a few food places down there. Most of them have everything except the prices written in korean. I learnt an important lesson - no use being able to read a language if you can't understand what the words mean.

Luckily, most restaurants have samples of all dishes or pictures put up for you to pick from. I had some spicy seafood thing. I'm not sure though that that was representative of spicy food here, or else, korean food isn't very spicy.

The dish was a mistake simply because i have never figured out how to eat crab with either a spoon or chopsticks. At least not while it's still in the shell. I decided to go desi and eat with my hands. Was the only person around doing that, and the last to finish eating.

It was closing time before i finished, so i sped up, returned the dishes, and said Kamsahamnida to the lady. She offerred me Mul (water) and said Annyeonghi geseyo.

I then walked around a bit in the mall, which was closing down slowly. They have the biggest book store in Asia right there, and it just went on and on. All books in korean though.

Finally, got out of the mall, and found my way to the glass tower, where I was supposed to go Monday morning.

Returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

Monday - May 3, 2004

Woke up at 9 and was in the office at 9:45 today. Had the meeting in the afternoon when the rest of the team had arrived.

I'd lost the password for the laptop (well, actually the problem is that the Ctrl and Caps lock keys were interchanged). Called up at 11:30 (8am Bangalore time) and got the password from him, along with other laptop info.

11:30 is also lunch time here, so we went out then. Went to a french place called marché. It's supposed to be an international line. They have italian, and korean and japanese food there. And all the french stuff as well - salads and breads and all. I had some prawn rice. The other guys had spaghetti, and some japanese soup.

Everything is automatic here. It took me a while to figure out how to flush the toilet - my method was to use the 'manual override' found behind the toilet seat - I suppose most koreans would use one of the buttons on the right. Oh, whatever. Some of the doors stil require to be pushed/pulled.

My card key for my room also tells the elevator which floor to go to.

That evening we had dinner at 6:30pm. We had boiled pork and kimchi, and assorted vegetables and sauces. I took a few pictures.

Finished off at the office at 8, and went strolling through the mall. Looked at some of the clothes stuff, and they have nice outfits, but a little expensive. Not going to buy too much.

Tuesday - May 5, 2004

Today we had some kind of chicken curry with topkapi. It was very nice. I think i'm improving with the chopsticks. They have stainless steel ones that are really thin and hard to grip, but i'm getting the hang of it. Today i was able to pull pieces of the chicken out of it.

For breakfast I had fried noodles at another food court. None of the guys at the shop spoke english, and the guy at the counter needed to tell me something. Finally he picked up the clock and pointed to the time indicating when it would be ready.

In the meantime he gave me a coke. I walked around and took some pictures in the bright sunlight. Today is a nice day.

After lunch we went around the mall checking out all the hardware. Then got back to the office and had a long meeting that got over a little while ago.

Tomorrow is a holiday because of children's day. Will be going sightseeing. There's also a river nearby and they have a cruise. I might go for that sometime.

For dinner we had boiled ribs with different kinds of mushrooms and the usual assortment of vegetables and kimchi. It's quite an expensive dish. I'll get all the Korean names later. I can read the names, but cannot remember them. Need to learn to remember what the letters look like.

Night around town

2004-02-26T16:21:00.000+05:30

Wednesday (25th) night, we drove around town. Left home around 11:30pm, down to Pali hill to pick up Sudarshan. Then, headed towards town. Past Worli, Haji Ali, then Bhulabai Desai road, turn off to Napean Sea road, up to Malabar hill, around Walkeshwar, the Governor's mansion, Girgaum Chowpatti, and stopped at Charni Road for Bachelor's ice cream.

Earlier in the day I'd had my car radio fixed, and figured out how to set the channels (by searching for manuals on the net), so we had music all the way through. Sudarshan had his MP3 player with radio broadcast, so he could play music on my radio through that.

Sarah and I shared a green chilly ice cream, ginger orange and coffee walnut. Jacquie stuck to her usual of chocolate, while Sudarshan went for a pomegranate milk shake. We asked the guy who served us to take a few pictures, but he was positively overwhelmed with sarah's digicam.

Second round of ice creams and Jacquie had a black currant. Sudarshan, Sarah and I shared two falooda's.

After that had to find a U-turn to head back home, but kept skipping them till I got to the end of the land at NCPA. Turned around and went back down the length of Marine Drive. Wanted to go back via Malabar hill and hanging gardens, but the cops had set up a naka bandi at the road turning off chowpatti, so ended up doing the regular Pedder road route.

Turned off at Worli to go via the sea face, and then headed home.

Stopped on Cadell road, near Shivaji Park to fill up the tank. The HP guy also cleaned my wind screen with soap and water, so it was really clear the rest of the way home.

Had to drop Sudarshan back first, so we drove down to linking road, and then to pali, and up through zig-zag road to reach pali hill. Decided to skip Carter road, and took Perry road instead to get home.

LotR RotK

2004-02-23T23:54:00.000+05:30

Went to see RotK on Saturday, along with the other guys from NCST. Yeah, the movie was good - I loved the action, and the sets were great. Effects were good too. I'll forgive the violations of the laws of physics, since this is primarily a time of elves and dwarves, orcs and hobbits, magics and faeries (also, I don't remember what those violations were).

Earlier in the day, I drove around town - just for kicks. I haven't done this since I was in college (only then I used a cycle), and it was mostly fun.

Started at Sion, which is where the only bad part of the journey happened. Just before Sion circle, a garbage van and a maruti 800 had collided. There may have been a motorcycle involved too. I couldn't make out.

Later, I drove past Parel, and turned off under a flyover. Reached Chinchpokli station and then went on ahead. The straight road would have gotten me to Jacob's Circle, so I took a left instead. Went for quite a while, and then turned left, only to get back to Jacob's circle. There's seven roads leading to Jacob's circle, hence the place is also known as saat rasta.

Then took the turn towards Mumbai Central, past Maratha Mandir. Went past, down towards Lamington Road, and then turned west. Got to Grant Road west, and went down to Peddar Road via Cumballa hill. Down to Bhulabai Desai road, and then to Napean Sea road and Priyadarshini park.

Up the hill, down to the Governor's mansion, Walkeshwar, Girgaum and then Marine Drive, took a U turn, and came back. Went up past the Chief Minister's place, and then to Hanging Gardens. Took a U turn under the flyover, and then back to Marine Drive and Regal for the movie.

Drove back via Napean Sea road again.

Yeah, fun day.

Lord of the Roads, Return of the Kid

Off to the beach

2002-12-04T10:58:00.000+05:30

Breakfast at the Guest House was at 8am, and none of the phone booths in Goa open before 7, so I tried to get some sleep. Slept for about 15 minutes and then went in for my shower. About 7:15 I thought I'd find an STD booth, and call home to tell them that I'd arrived. The STD booth is a short while away from the Guest House, so before leaving, I called some friends, who live in Goa.

As it turns out, the 3^rd of December is a state wide holiday in Goa... it's the feast of St. Francis Xavier. The university was closed, as were most offices. My friends Vinitta and Valerie were both home when I called, but Val was on her way to work. Vinitta wasn't working, and came to pick me up at about 8:30. I called home before that, and got back for breakfast of medu wada, filled with coconut, and sambar :)

Vinitta and I went back to her place to say hi to everyone, and then off to pick up Charlene, and then headed down to Bogmalo beach. Stopped at Neville's place on the way, and had soup and bread sticks.

The beach was so amazing. It's really long, and there were about 15 people there in all. The water was blue. The sky was blue. The sand was yellow-white. I still wish I'd carried my swim suit. Had to go and leave it in my bag!

We had lunch at a small beach side restaurant. It wasn't expensive, but they had no bread! The family that runs the place managed to get some sliced bread for us. Lunch was king fish, and prawns. We sat around there for a long while, solving the crossword in the newspaper, and just chatting. Took a few pictures too, but they're with Vinitta.

Took the bus back to Panjim. We had to pass Dabolim airport on the way. There's also a few bridges across the Zuari river. At one point of time we were on the bridge, there was a train on the parallel bridge, a few boats below, and a plane overhead. Cool.

Had a great day, and got back to the university guest house at around 7pm. There isn't much transport after 7, but Vinitta dropped me back to Bambolim on her bike.

I've gotta work... in Goa ;)

2002-12-03T20:30:00.000+05:30

As part of our teaching work at NCST, we are required to evaluate student projects for the modules that we teach. This year I was sent off to Goa University to evaluate the students at VIT Goa. The evaluations were to be held on the 4^th, so I decided to get there by the 3^rd.

My choice of transport was the Volvo bus from Paulo Travels. It came highly recommended, and the timing was ideal. The bus left Bandra at 7 pm, which means I could get a full day's work done on Monday the 2nd, and have enough time to drop home before getting to the bus stand.

On an average, a bus ride from Mumbai to Goa takes around 16 hours. The train takes less time, but the station is far off from the University... really far off.

The bus ride was uneventful... to begin with. They played some music through till we reached Vashi - where the last of the passengers boarded. Then the night's movie started. They started to show `Bend it like Beckham', but stopped it about a minute into the move and switched to `Aamdani Atthanni Kharchaa Rupaiya'. If you haven't seen the movie... hey, lucky you!

The bus stopped at about 10pm for a half hour dinner break. I didn't have anything heavy as I was travelling. Tried to sleep after that, but the confounded movie was too loud. The disk started skipping around 11:30, so they shut it off. What a relief!

The ride was okay after that, but I couldn't get much sleep. Kept drifting in and out of a semi dormant state, and decided to give up. Spent the rest of the night watching the stars. The sky was completely clear, and there was no moon out. The Ghats at night are ideal for star gazing. It was absolutely brilliant.

I tried calculating the time by which constellation had reached its zenith. It was fun as I had to do a few back-of-the-envelope calculations in my head, and trying to remember which constellation was associated with each month of the year.

We stopped for Diesel at 2:30, and about 4am, we crossed Samantwadi and entered Pernem. This was completely unexpected. If we were entering Goa at 4am, I'd be in Panjim before sunrise. Not a nice time to be out without transport.

So, we finally got to Panjim at 6am, and I had no idea what to do. Dr. Kamat told me to take a Rickshaw from the bus stand to the University and that I should pay about Rs.60. The Rickshaw driver quoted 80 saying that it was still night rates, so I decided to take it. We got to the University Guest House at 6:30am, and I checked in without any trouble. My name was already in the reservation book.