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Showing posts with label Travelogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travelogue. Show all posts
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Serene Europe Part 2
Day 3
Having slept very late, it was very difficult for us to get up and get ready early. Still we all managed to get into the bus by 8.30 and our journey towards cologne began. It was about 4 hrs journey and I spent most of the time sleeping… We reached the city of cologne at arnd 1 and having held the world’s tallest structure title for 4 years, the Cologne Cathedral was quite visible from the outskirts of the city itself.
We had a small tour of the city for about an hour and then we reached the cathedral. It was pretty similar to the Notre Dame which had had gone during my Paris trip, with its twin spires. But the spires of Notre Dame were very small compared to the Cologne one. The internal architecture was pretty similar though.
After going arnd the cathedral, we had our packed lunch in the bus and started towards a village called Boppard from where we were to take a cruise on the River Rhine. It was a very beautiful sight all through the journey.
It was something like this. From right to left – Hills, a line of houses, a road, the Rhine, a road, a line of houses and Hills with a railway line along he hills in many places. There were numerous Castles on either side of Rhine. It did not belong to kings but to Rich merchants who conducted their trade thru Rhine, one of the lifelines of Germany. The sunset cruise was just Beautiful. I braved the cold winds and stayed on the open top deck for most of the time to enjoy the splendor arnd.
After an hour an a half, we got down and boarded the bus for our hotel in Hockenheim. On the way we saw a bit of snow on ground. My first snow!!!!! There was just a little snow on ground. But still I was so happy to see snow. The first time you get to see snow, it really gives you a great joy and you get lost in it’s beauty. A friend of mine who lives in the US now had called home and her to be brother-in-law was there. She was going to speak to him for the first time. Just as he came on line, she opened her window and saw snow for the first time. She was awe struck and started chanting “Snow, snow…” The poor guy on the other side must have been so confused until she got her senses back. :) . We then had our dinner on the way in an Indian restaurant in Manheim. We reached there at arnd 9.30 and had to wait for about 45 minutes as the ppl from the other coach from Taj tours were also having their dinner in the same restaurant. After the dinner we reached our hotel and immediately fell asleep.
Day 4
As usual, we got up with great difficulty and got ready by 9 for the final stage of the tour. Back to London. We started of with a pretty familiar note, the driver missing an exit and going arnd for sometime before we caught the right highway. But we weren’t prepared for the sight ahead.
Suddenly out of nowhere the landscape changed drastically. The green grasslands were replaced by a white blanket. The previous day I had seen my first snow but today was the day when I saw real snow. It was also snowing pretty hard. I felt out of the world. We stopped for about 5 minutes at a place. But unfortunately where we stopped, didn’t have that much snow on ground. Nevertheless in was snowing slightly. I enjoyed my first snowfall and then got along the journey. We then entered Luxemberg and stopped for fuel. An that’s where I held snow in my hand for the first time. And we played a bit throwing snow on each other for some time.
Then we entered Belgium and had lunch at a Pizza Hut Express. We entered the city of Brussels at arnd 4 and we were welcome by yet another snowfall. Keeping up the tradition followed through the tour, the driver got lost in the city and after yet another unscheduled tour of the city, we reached the grand place.
We then saw the Manneken Pis. We bought some of the famous Belgian chocolates and then returned to our Bus. Our Ferry back was at 8.15 and we were already late to catch it. So we had to give the Atomium a miss and rush towards Calaise.
Thanks to the long Easter weekend, there was a huge rush of ppl getting back to London; we were caught up in a huge queue. But thankfully we got a place in the 9.25 ferry. We crossed the channel and were back in London by midnight. The driver still did not want to break the tradition and promptly got lost on the way and reached another end of London and one of the passengers’ had to guide him through to our drop off point.
And that was the end of a tour with mixed experiences. I’ve stared planning for the next trip. But one thing’s for sure. I’m NOT going to take up any package tours. :)
Having slept very late, it was very difficult for us to get up and get ready early. Still we all managed to get into the bus by 8.30 and our journey towards cologne began. It was about 4 hrs journey and I spent most of the time sleeping… We reached the city of cologne at arnd 1 and having held the world’s tallest structure title for 4 years, the Cologne Cathedral was quite visible from the outskirts of the city itself.
We had a small tour of the city for about an hour and then we reached the cathedral. It was pretty similar to the Notre Dame which had had gone during my Paris trip, with its twin spires. But the spires of Notre Dame were very small compared to the Cologne one. The internal architecture was pretty similar though. After going arnd the cathedral, we had our packed lunch in the bus and started towards a village called Boppard from where we were to take a cruise on the River Rhine. It was a very beautiful sight all through the journey.
It was something like this. From right to left – Hills, a line of houses, a road, the Rhine, a road, a line of houses and Hills with a railway line along he hills in many places. There were numerous Castles on either side of Rhine. It did not belong to kings but to Rich merchants who conducted their trade thru Rhine, one of the lifelines of Germany. The sunset cruise was just Beautiful. I braved the cold winds and stayed on the open top deck for most of the time to enjoy the splendor arnd. After an hour an a half, we got down and boarded the bus for our hotel in Hockenheim. On the way we saw a bit of snow on ground. My first snow!!!!! There was just a little snow on ground. But still I was so happy to see snow. The first time you get to see snow, it really gives you a great joy and you get lost in it’s beauty. A friend of mine who lives in the US now had called home and her to be brother-in-law was there. She was going to speak to him for the first time. Just as he came on line, she opened her window and saw snow for the first time. She was awe struck and started chanting “Snow, snow…” The poor guy on the other side must have been so confused until she got her senses back. :) . We then had our dinner on the way in an Indian restaurant in Manheim. We reached there at arnd 9.30 and had to wait for about 45 minutes as the ppl from the other coach from Taj tours were also having their dinner in the same restaurant. After the dinner we reached our hotel and immediately fell asleep.
Day 4
As usual, we got up with great difficulty and got ready by 9 for the final stage of the tour. Back to London. We started of with a pretty familiar note, the driver missing an exit and going arnd for sometime before we caught the right highway. But we weren’t prepared for the sight ahead.
Suddenly out of nowhere the landscape changed drastically. The green grasslands were replaced by a white blanket. The previous day I had seen my first snow but today was the day when I saw real snow. It was also snowing pretty hard. I felt out of the world. We stopped for about 5 minutes at a place. But unfortunately where we stopped, didn’t have that much snow on ground. Nevertheless in was snowing slightly. I enjoyed my first snowfall and then got along the journey. We then entered Luxemberg and stopped for fuel. An that’s where I held snow in my hand for the first time. And we played a bit throwing snow on each other for some time. Then we entered Belgium and had lunch at a Pizza Hut Express. We entered the city of Brussels at arnd 4 and we were welcome by yet another snowfall. Keeping up the tradition followed through the tour, the driver got lost in the city and after yet another unscheduled tour of the city, we reached the grand place.
We then saw the Manneken Pis. We bought some of the famous Belgian chocolates and then returned to our Bus. Our Ferry back was at 8.15 and we were already late to catch it. So we had to give the Atomium a miss and rush towards Calaise. Thanks to the long Easter weekend, there was a huge rush of ppl getting back to London; we were caught up in a huge queue. But thankfully we got a place in the 9.25 ferry. We crossed the channel and were back in London by midnight. The driver still did not want to break the tradition and promptly got lost on the way and reached another end of London and one of the passengers’ had to guide him through to our drop off point.
And that was the end of a tour with mixed experiences. I’ve stared planning for the next trip. But one thing’s for sure. I’m NOT going to take up any package tours. :)
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Serene Europe Part 1
Yes that’s how Taj tours calls it- the four day trip to Holland and Germany (With a little of Belgium thrown in). No don’t ask me yet how can you cover 3 countries in 4 days coz the actual plan was to go to Amsterdam, see Brussels on the way, visit the cologne Cathedral and back, that’s just 3 cities.
Our initial plan was to plan the trip on our own like we did for Paris. But somehow things didn’t work out and by the time we set up everything, the hotels/hostels were full and the rent for the available once were way beyond our budget. We didn’t have a choice but to take up the package tour. We didn’t have to look for economical way of travelling staying and eating coz everything is managed by them including Indian style lunch and dinner. But there ended the advantages. Actually speaking even those were a bit on the not so good side… oops after having put lots of ‘disappointments’ in my previous travelogue, I decided to show case only the +ves in this one. But cudn’t help. Going forward I’ll try hard not to put -ve tone. And a separate blog for the amazing Taj tours management.
Here we go… We started on the 21st at 6.30 from London. Bad weather meant our Ferry to cross the channel got delayed and we sat watching Phir Hera Pheri(Another advantage of an Indian tour operator). After having crossed the channel twice during our Paris visit at night, I got a chance to watch the channel in day light. It was a beautiful sight… with the blue water and the land on either side.
By the time Britain goes off sight, u will get to see France pretty quickly. France greeted us with steady showers. So by the time we were near Brussels, we were late. The rain also hadn’t stopped. So we continued our travel to Amsterdam. We actually stayed a little away from the city of Amsterdam and din’t realize until the next day morning that our hotel was bang in the middle of the world’s largest Tulip farms. But we were at a time when they just have planted the plants after winter. So it was more of greenery arnd us. There were other flowers though in quite a few shades scattered here and there.
Day 2
Our first stop for the day was the Keukenhof Tulip gardens. On the way we saw huge Daffodil farms with bright yellow flowers, all shyly facing the ground like a bride. The gardens had opened just the previous day. .
So most of the Tulips plants were in their various stages of growthRight from just planted tiny ones to those with big bright colourful bulbs. We had about 2 hrs but it just wasn’t enough to enjoy the beauty of those wonderful flowers. Every time we thought ok we’ve seen all the shades, the next bed will have another bright shade we wud least expect.The forecast for all 4 days was cloudy, windy, rains and an occasional snow. Luckily for us, it started to rain just as we were about to leave and stopped by the time we stopped next.
This time to a cheese and clog making factory. There they showed us how they make Cheese and Clog (A boot made of wood worn by lots of ppl in Holland, majorly farmers and workers).
We also tasted about 10 different varieties of cheese and I bought a cake of cheese called the old cheese. It had a slightly sour taste. I liked it a lot though.
We then had lunch outside the factory. It was one unforgettable lunch I’ve ever had. Just as we took our food served hot from the catering Van, the temperature went down drastically and the slight drizzle turned into little hail stones. I was sooo hungry and the food was also hot and tasty. So had to bare the cold and finish the lunch. By the time I was done with it, my hands were dark red. Ran into the bus with a cup of hot Chaai and the watery Chaai was next to Amruth…
Next stop was a Diamond factory in Amsterdam. They first showed us the various shapes into which diamonds are cut and then showed us a few really Huge diamonds which cost upwards of 25000 pounds. A years’ salary for one small stone made of carbon. I don’t want diamonds. ;). By this time I started feeling like one of the so called Industrial visits we had gone during college.
Holland is famous for its Dikes and Bikes. There are an estimated 1 million cycles for a population of about 1.5 million. I could see ample examples of the number of cycles. Where ever there was a wall and a metallic structure, you are sure to find cycles locked to them.
We then went on a canal cruise through the famous network of canals within the city which earned it the name “The Venice of the North”.
I somehow didn’t find it that attractive and I now have second thoughts on my Venice trip plan. If Venice is going to be just canals and buildings, I might actually not enjoy it that much. My taste is more of open areas, forests, beaches, mountains. More of a naturalist. . After the cruise we walked through the shops in the city centre. I have heard it’s a very liberal city. But I was stunned to see Hashish and Marijuana being sold openly in the form of cigarettes and chocolates.
It was arnd 7 by then and the initial plan was to go back to the hotel, have dinner and come back to have a look at the night life of the city and the RLD. It wasn’t in the itinerary but the tour manager said he’ll take us. But the driver was not ready to drive as he was tired. So a small group of guys arranged a cab and went on our own. After roaming arnd the RLD and attending a show, we came to the place where our cab was supposed to pick us back. The Cab wala got caught up somewhere and we had to wait for an hour in the sub zero temperature. It was almost 2 by the time we reached the hotel and slept. We had to get up and get ready before 8.30 the next day to start towards Germany….
Our initial plan was to plan the trip on our own like we did for Paris. But somehow things didn’t work out and by the time we set up everything, the hotels/hostels were full and the rent for the available once were way beyond our budget. We didn’t have a choice but to take up the package tour. We didn’t have to look for economical way of travelling staying and eating coz everything is managed by them including Indian style lunch and dinner. But there ended the advantages. Actually speaking even those were a bit on the not so good side… oops after having put lots of ‘disappointments’ in my previous travelogue, I decided to show case only the +ves in this one. But cudn’t help. Going forward I’ll try hard not to put -ve tone. And a separate blog for the amazing Taj tours management.
Here we go… We started on the 21st at 6.30 from London. Bad weather meant our Ferry to cross the channel got delayed and we sat watching Phir Hera Pheri(Another advantage of an Indian tour operator). After having crossed the channel twice during our Paris visit at night, I got a chance to watch the channel in day light. It was a beautiful sight… with the blue water and the land on either side.
By the time Britain goes off sight, u will get to see France pretty quickly. France greeted us with steady showers. So by the time we were near Brussels, we were late. The rain also hadn’t stopped. So we continued our travel to Amsterdam. We actually stayed a little away from the city of Amsterdam and din’t realize until the next day morning that our hotel was bang in the middle of the world’s largest Tulip farms. But we were at a time when they just have planted the plants after winter. So it was more of greenery arnd us. There were other flowers though in quite a few shades scattered here and there.Day 2
Our first stop for the day was the Keukenhof Tulip gardens. On the way we saw huge Daffodil farms with bright yellow flowers, all shyly facing the ground like a bride. The gardens had opened just the previous day. .
So most of the Tulips plants were in their various stages of growthRight from just planted tiny ones to those with big bright colourful bulbs. We had about 2 hrs but it just wasn’t enough to enjoy the beauty of those wonderful flowers. Every time we thought ok we’ve seen all the shades, the next bed will have another bright shade we wud least expect.The forecast for all 4 days was cloudy, windy, rains and an occasional snow. Luckily for us, it started to rain just as we were about to leave and stopped by the time we stopped next.This time to a cheese and clog making factory. There they showed us how they make Cheese and Clog (A boot made of wood worn by lots of ppl in Holland, majorly farmers and workers).
We also tasted about 10 different varieties of cheese and I bought a cake of cheese called the old cheese. It had a slightly sour taste. I liked it a lot though.We then had lunch outside the factory. It was one unforgettable lunch I’ve ever had. Just as we took our food served hot from the catering Van, the temperature went down drastically and the slight drizzle turned into little hail stones. I was sooo hungry and the food was also hot and tasty. So had to bare the cold and finish the lunch. By the time I was done with it, my hands were dark red. Ran into the bus with a cup of hot Chaai and the watery Chaai was next to Amruth…
Next stop was a Diamond factory in Amsterdam. They first showed us the various shapes into which diamonds are cut and then showed us a few really Huge diamonds which cost upwards of 25000 pounds. A years’ salary for one small stone made of carbon. I don’t want diamonds. ;). By this time I started feeling like one of the so called Industrial visits we had gone during college.
Holland is famous for its Dikes and Bikes. There are an estimated 1 million cycles for a population of about 1.5 million. I could see ample examples of the number of cycles. Where ever there was a wall and a metallic structure, you are sure to find cycles locked to them.
We then went on a canal cruise through the famous network of canals within the city which earned it the name “The Venice of the North”.
I somehow didn’t find it that attractive and I now have second thoughts on my Venice trip plan. If Venice is going to be just canals and buildings, I might actually not enjoy it that much. My taste is more of open areas, forests, beaches, mountains. More of a naturalist. . After the cruise we walked through the shops in the city centre. I have heard it’s a very liberal city. But I was stunned to see Hashish and Marijuana being sold openly in the form of cigarettes and chocolates.
It was arnd 7 by then and the initial plan was to go back to the hotel, have dinner and come back to have a look at the night life of the city and the RLD. It wasn’t in the itinerary but the tour manager said he’ll take us. But the driver was not ready to drive as he was tired. So a small group of guys arranged a cab and went on our own. After roaming arnd the RLD and attending a show, we came to the place where our cab was supposed to pick us back. The Cab wala got caught up somewhere and we had to wait for an hour in the sub zero temperature. It was almost 2 by the time we reached the hotel and slept. We had to get up and get ready before 8.30 the next day to start towards Germany….
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Paris - Day 1
Was pretty busy over the week and so cudn't spend time writing the travelogue. Hmmm.. I had stopped the previous one at getting off the bus. From the coach station we went to Gallieni station and took the underground to St Lazare and changed train to Volontaires.
8:00 I came out of the underground and got my first view of Eiffel.
The first impression of Eiffel leaving aside the fact that I was looking at something which lot of ppl would want to see atleast once was a little disappointing. A rust coloured skeletal structure didn’t impress me that much. The hostel was pretty close to the station. The check in time was 5 PM. So we just kept the luggage in a room and freshened up. I had brilliantly forgotten to take the Disneyland tickets. Thankfully the receptionist was sweet and offered to take the print out for us.
9:30 Had a light breakfast of a few biscuits, juice, chocolate muffins and some Upma that Sangeetha had got, we left for Disney. Took a train from Volontaires. Changed at Montparnasse Bienvenue to Le Halles and from there to Disney land. We seriously couldn’t get the way they pronounce the places... We tried a lot and then started to call it the why we thot sounded good to us.
10.45 reached Disney. Thankfully we had taken tickets online. So we were able to bypass a one hour queue. We were welcomed by a train full of Disney characters... It was like the temple chariot going- Ppl standing on both sides of the road watching it go on tram tracks and lots of ppl following it religiously arnd. Then we went for various rides. The most sought after rides had a system called east pass where you can collect a pass which will have your entry time. This way we can save our time visiting other things we'll have to wait atleast 35-45 min if don't get a fast pass. The three rides that were really good were big thunder mountain, Indiana jones and temple of peril and Space Mountain: mission 2. All three were kinda roller coaster rides. It was like a old mine train riding thru a mine. The Indiana jones one a little more interesting with a 360 degree loop too.
My MBlog ends here. Didn’t have much time after this to type it down on mobile. So hence forth it’ll be from my memory which most of you know is pretty bad. Anyway lemme try my best.
The best one was unarguably the space mountain stuff. It started with a sooper fast rocket launch like take off and followed it with crazy loops at very high speeds. We were surrounded by darkness and soon we were flying thru moons, planets, stars and galaxies. Coz of the darkness arnd and the speed in which we were going, we cud hardly feel if we were going straight up or going down or are upside down... ufff it was jus too good... I and Mukul did Indiana jones and Space Mountain twice. In the mean time we also went to the famous trade mark Disney castle which is actually the castle of the sleeping beauty, just that we were not able to find her anywhere in the castle. I bought a couple of memorabilia in the shops there. We also took some photos with disney characters.
We were very hungry having had nothing since the light morning breakfast other than a couple of chips packet shared and an apple. And there wasn’t anything that looked filling in the stalls too. So I took hot dog for the first time in my life. It was ok. May not take it again unless I’m in the same situation with nothing else to eat.
After that we went to the “The legend of Lion King” show. It was a dance drama kinda stuff and portrays what happens to Simba after the death of Mufasa. Here is the link abt the movie for those unfortunate souls who had missed it. It was a pretty good one. The on stage spl effects were too good.
Then we went to the Disney studios only to realise we hadn’t got the tickets for it. I had booked the tickets in a hurry that day and forgot to select the correct ticket. L. So we went to the Disney village nearby which had all restaurants, shops and theatre. Did some window shopping and then started back.
We had lots of time left in the day. So we decided to do some night sight seeing.
We went to the Opera thinking abt the Opera in Sydney.It turned out to be a huge old styled building with huge pillas and intricate statues placed all arnd it. I know it sounds a crude way of putting it but that’s how it is.
Then we decided to go to Eiffel tower area. We took the bus towards Eiffel and it took a route via the Road leading to Arc de Triumphe. It was an amazing sight, Broad road, lit up on both, filled with traffic leading to a Majestic structure in the middle of the largest junction I’ve ever seen (12 roads converging onto the monument). We put Eiffel on hold and got down at the next stop and started walking towards it. Half way thru we started feeling a bit hungry and we cud see only a couple of restaurants serving Pizza and stuff. We thot we wouldn’t get any other choice and went in and ordered for 2 Pizzas for 3 of us. Sangeetha wasn’t hungry. And the waitress was like, “Sorry sir you have to order atleast 4 meals. Atleast salads. (Seeing the size of Pizzas, we had initially thot we’ll take just one Pizza but later thot it’ll be too much for four of us to go and order 1 Pizza. So we had asked for 2). The plain green salads were only about 6 Euros and none of us were interested in eating it. She wudn’t even let us go without ordering anything. Finally she agreed to give us 2 Pizzas and a bottle of water costing another 6 Euros. After half an hour of struggle with the Pizzas, we came out of the restaurant and I was saying how we will feel if we get to see a McD close by. And guess what there wasn’t just 1 but 2 McDs within a space of 100 mts. And to further rub salt, there was one more Mc D in the adjacent road...
Then went near the Arc De Triumphe and were discussing the similarity of it with our own India Gate in Delhi.Only difference being They don’t let you go on top of the India Gate and has a lot of green open spaces arnd it while here you can go to the top (for a price of course) and it’s in the middle of a concrete jungle with a few trees thrown into.
By then we were all pretty tired and we took the underground from there (Took us 20 mins to find the entry to the underground which was just across the road from where we started our search). Reached the hostel, went into the room and opened the window and Voila!!!!!!!!!
There was the Eiffel tower right in front of us all lit up with brilliant orange lights and the next instant it started glittering with hundreds of white flashes like a group of photographers at a red carpet. It was a mesmerizing sight. I later came to know that those glittering lights are on every hour for five minutes post sunset.
It was a wonderful and memorable day... Paris is a totally different one at night and i was eager to see what else it has to offer... see you on Day 2....
8:00 I came out of the underground and got my first view of Eiffel.
The first impression of Eiffel leaving aside the fact that I was looking at something which lot of ppl would want to see atleast once was a little disappointing. A rust coloured skeletal structure didn’t impress me that much. The hostel was pretty close to the station. The check in time was 5 PM. So we just kept the luggage in a room and freshened up. I had brilliantly forgotten to take the Disneyland tickets. Thankfully the receptionist was sweet and offered to take the print out for us.
9:30 Had a light breakfast of a few biscuits, juice, chocolate muffins and some Upma that Sangeetha had got, we left for Disney. Took a train from Volontaires. Changed at Montparnasse Bienvenue to Le Halles and from there to Disney land. We seriously couldn’t get the way they pronounce the places... We tried a lot and then started to call it the why we thot sounded good to us.
10.45 reached Disney. Thankfully we had taken tickets online. So we were able to bypass a one hour queue. We were welcomed by a train full of Disney characters... It was like the temple chariot going- Ppl standing on both sides of the road watching it go on tram tracks and lots of ppl following it religiously arnd. Then we went for various rides. The most sought after rides had a system called east pass where you can collect a pass which will have your entry time. This way we can save our time visiting other things we'll have to wait atleast 35-45 min if don't get a fast pass. The three rides that were really good were big thunder mountain, Indiana jones and temple of peril and Space Mountain: mission 2. All three were kinda roller coaster rides. It was like a old mine train riding thru a mine. The Indiana jones one a little more interesting with a 360 degree loop too.
My MBlog ends here. Didn’t have much time after this to type it down on mobile. So hence forth it’ll be from my memory which most of you know is pretty bad. Anyway lemme try my best.
The best one was unarguably the space mountain stuff. It started with a sooper fast rocket launch like take off and followed it with crazy loops at very high speeds. We were surrounded by darkness and soon we were flying thru moons, planets, stars and galaxies. Coz of the darkness arnd and the speed in which we were going, we cud hardly feel if we were going straight up or going down or are upside down... ufff it was jus too good... I and Mukul did Indiana jones and Space Mountain twice. In the mean time we also went to the famous trade mark Disney castle which is actually the castle of the sleeping beauty, just that we were not able to find her anywhere in the castle. I bought a couple of memorabilia in the shops there. We also took some photos with disney characters.
We were very hungry having had nothing since the light morning breakfast other than a couple of chips packet shared and an apple. And there wasn’t anything that looked filling in the stalls too. So I took hot dog for the first time in my life. It was ok. May not take it again unless I’m in the same situation with nothing else to eat.
After that we went to the “The legend of Lion King” show. It was a dance drama kinda stuff and portrays what happens to Simba after the death of Mufasa. Here is the link abt the movie for those unfortunate souls who had missed it. It was a pretty good one. The on stage spl effects were too good.
Then we went to the Disney studios only to realise we hadn’t got the tickets for it. I had booked the tickets in a hurry that day and forgot to select the correct ticket. L. So we went to the Disney village nearby which had all restaurants, shops and theatre. Did some window shopping and then started back.
We had lots of time left in the day. So we decided to do some night sight seeing.
We went to the Opera thinking abt the Opera in Sydney.It turned out to be a huge old styled building with huge pillas and intricate statues placed all arnd it. I know it sounds a crude way of putting it but that’s how it is.Then we decided to go to Eiffel tower area. We took the bus towards Eiffel and it took a route via the Road leading to Arc de Triumphe. It was an amazing sight, Broad road, lit up on both, filled with traffic leading to a Majestic structure in the middle of the largest junction I’ve ever seen (12 roads converging onto the monument). We put Eiffel on hold and got down at the next stop and started walking towards it. Half way thru we started feeling a bit hungry and we cud see only a couple of restaurants serving Pizza and stuff. We thot we wouldn’t get any other choice and went in and ordered for 2 Pizzas for 3 of us. Sangeetha wasn’t hungry. And the waitress was like, “Sorry sir you have to order atleast 4 meals. Atleast salads. (Seeing the size of Pizzas, we had initially thot we’ll take just one Pizza but later thot it’ll be too much for four of us to go and order 1 Pizza. So we had asked for 2). The plain green salads were only about 6 Euros and none of us were interested in eating it. She wudn’t even let us go without ordering anything. Finally she agreed to give us 2 Pizzas and a bottle of water costing another 6 Euros. After half an hour of struggle with the Pizzas, we came out of the restaurant and I was saying how we will feel if we get to see a McD close by. And guess what there wasn’t just 1 but 2 McDs within a space of 100 mts. And to further rub salt, there was one more Mc D in the adjacent road...
Then went near the Arc De Triumphe and were discussing the similarity of it with our own India Gate in Delhi.Only difference being They don’t let you go on top of the India Gate and has a lot of green open spaces arnd it while here you can go to the top (for a price of course) and it’s in the middle of a concrete jungle with a few trees thrown into.By then we were all pretty tired and we took the underground from there (Took us 20 mins to find the entry to the underground which was just across the road from where we started our search). Reached the hostel, went into the room and opened the window and Voila!!!!!!!!!
There was the Eiffel tower right in front of us all lit up with brilliant orange lights and the next instant it started glittering with hundreds of white flashes like a group of photographers at a red carpet. It was a mesmerizing sight. I later came to know that those glittering lights are on every hour for five minutes post sunset.
It was a wonderful and memorable day... Paris is a totally different one at night and i was eager to see what else it has to offer... see you on Day 2....
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Paris - Day 3
Thanks to my house owner who had forgotten to pay the internet bill and my Cambridge trip on Sunday, the travelogue is still not complete. I’ve decided I’ll complete it and they should go live on Tuesday at any cost (s/w engineer you see).
Over to day 3
The amount of walking we did on day 2 meant we all got up pretty late. Rushed for the breakfast before the kitchen closes and had some cornflakes, orange juice, a bun as hard as rock with Butter and Jam. It was about 10 by the time we checked out of the hostel. We went to St-Michael Notre Dame or just Notre Dame. It was another huge cathedral with beautiful carvings covering the whole front face. We took a small tour inside the cathedral. It’s one the most beautiful buildings in Paris. It has a couple of scale models inside the church itself. With all the same intricate designs. Even the insides of the church were carved exactly the same way.
Next stop was Louvre Museum. On the way we saw an open area with a couple of short walls and the Eiffel at a distance. I remembered a picture which I saw the previous day where a lady bends down and the Eiffel is seen between her legs. We tried the same but with a bit of fun with Mukul. You tell me how it’s come… ;)Then we walked a looooong way towards Louvre through the Tuileries garden again. I actually wasn’t so interested in paintings and stuff. So I was like it’s so nice and sunny outside. I’ll be outside taking snaps of the Pyramids outside. Dheeraj convinced me to come. You’ve come all the way to Paris. Atleast for namesake come and see Monalisa. You can later tell your grandchildren that you saw Monalisa. I decided ok wat the heck, lemme see what’s there in that one painting which has made it soo famous. Again yet another disappointment. It was nothing gr8 or probably I didn’t have the artistic sight to appreciate it. I felt the carvings and statues on ceiling were much more beautiful.
Took a few snaps with The Lady as a proof of my visit. Then was roaming about the place staring at the paintings. Kazhudhaiku theriyuma Karpoora vaasana kadhayathaan irrundhudhu. Finally we decided enuff is enuff and four of us: Me, Mukul, Dheeraj and Sunetra came out and did some sun bath.Then we decided to go for some Perfume shopping which Sunetra was so determined to do since day 1. Finally we got a chance and we went to Champs-Elysees (We had for a long time thot it was some building and finally we realized it’s the name one section of one of the broad roads leading towards the Arc De Triumphe) searching for Perfume shops. We found a few and most of them were wayyyy beyond her budget. So she returned empty handed. We then went back to the hostel (Even though we had checked it out in the morning, they let us keep the luggages in a room), collected the baggages and came back to near Eiffel tower to again try our luck with the Seine river cruise.
Someone must have cursed us. We again missed the cruise by 15 min. But it was late for us to wait for the next cruise that was about 45 minutes later. We had to start to the coach station by then. We spent some time on the banks of the river and started our journey back to the Gallieni station. We reached there half an hour b4 the scheduled time, stood in yet another queue to get our boarding pass and came to our bus hoping to get a good sleep. Disappointments were the order of our tour probably. First the bus was already full and we had to sit separately, then this bus also didn’t have the Xtra leg space that was promised at the time of booking and even worse than the onward travel, the WC was also not working. It didn’t end there. There was another chatter box sitting in front and she was talking when I slept and was still talking when I woke up at the port for the ferry.This time the wait for even longer. But we settled down and slept quickly in one the sofas even before the Ferry started and continued the sleep back in the bus. We were welcomed in London with a COLD morning….. We didn’t have much time to relax as we had to go to office. So that was my Paris trip. We did have a lot of disappointments. But still the Trip as a whole was very good. Thanks to everyone who had made it very memorable trip.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Paris - Day 2
Dheeraj, Subbu, Rk, sadheesh and sangeetha(this is another sangeetha, sadheesh’s wife) too joined us. We had quite a few places lined up and it was 9.30 by the time we left the hostel. We went straight to Montmarte. It was a cathedral on top of a small hillock which supposedly gives one of the best views of Paris. We got down at the station and we had a choice between the stairs and the elevator (Was watching Matrix today.. the choice and stuff, effect of Morpheus;)). Given that usually it’s just about one floor, we took the stairs and it was spiraling on and on and on… at one point I thot ok the station is right under the hillock and the stairs takes us directly to the cathedral on top of it. But after about 4-5 floor equivalent of climbing, we reached the ground level and realized Montmarte was about a quarter mile ahead.
Montmarte by itself was a very beautiful one. And coupled with the fact that it was on top of a hillock with a green carpet, was really a wonderful sight. There was a winch to the ppl up to the cathedral, but we preferred to walk up the incline. Atleast this time we knew when it’s going to end. ;)
After having a look at the cathedral, (btw what’s the diff between a church and a cathedral???) and taking a lot of pics, we came down and started towards Tuileries garden. Got down at the station and saw a pair of beautiful fountain and an obelisk. It had some hieroglyphics, we didn’t know what it was for, thanks to our knowledge of French. And after debating which direction the garden will be, we asked one person who pointed to a gate just behind us. We were in for a disappointment. Still being winter, the whole place was covered with trees devoid of any leaves… The way the trees were set surrounding 2 ponds, and a path thru the trees, it wud really be a beautiful sight when the trees are in full bloom. Spent some time in the garden and our next stop was Arc de Triumphe, this time in the day time.
On the way we also filled up our stomach with some burgers and fries from McD. They had this offer for ppl between 16 and 25. 25% off for young ppl. I thot someone who’s 25 doesn’t get categorized along with a 16 year old. 3 Euros less. Good for me. Coming back to Arc de Triumphe, again here we had to climb a spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiralling set of stairs all the way up to the top… Ufffff cudn’t they just have built it a little shorter… From the top had a nice view of the concrete jungle arnd. J Somehow the view from Top is always wonderful, even if we looking at the same thing from different places. But this was a little special with the 12 roads converging onto the monument. It was a wonderful sight.
Then we got down thru another set of similar stairs and the sun was shining brightly… Experienced that kind of a sunshine after a loooooong time. Actually first time since I came from India. So had a short sunbath ;) and slept for sometime. Then started towards the Eiffel Tower.
There was a hugeeee queue at each entrance to the Eiffel tower. Eiffel tower is basically divided into 3 Floors. The first 2 floors are pretty close to each other and to the ground and can be reached by stairs while the 3rd is on top of the tower which can be reached only by a lift. Just as we reached halfway thru the queue, they closed the entry to the third floor as there were too many ppl in the top floor. We were so disappointed and rued our luck. But thanksfully the lady at the ticket counter said you can go to the second floor and buy tht etickets for the third floor from there and that by the time we get there, they wud’ve opened up the third floor. Just as we got to the second floor, the sun was about to go behind the cloud cover over the horizon and by the time I took out the camera, it was gone. L. Anyway just like the lady at the counter had told us, they started letting ppl onto the third floor and after one queue for the tickets and another for the lift, we started our upward journey to the highest point in Paris. By the time we reached there it was getting dark and soon the city was glittering with the lights.
I’m going short of superlatives for the view… It was like a carpet of all types of strewn with gems. After taking a lot of photos from there, we came down.
We decided we’ll go for the cruise but our bad luck, the last cruise for the day left just 15 min b4 we went there. Then we got to know from a Bangladeshi street vendor that there were quite a few Indian restaurants at some place on line 4 which sounds like Starbucks. We referred to the map and found that it was Strasbourg Saint Denis. We had to change a couple of trains to reach that place and it was already 10.30 and most shops were closed. Thankfully we found one Pakistani restaurant which was just abt to close. We went in and that guy made us rotis out of fresh dough and we had it with Rajma masala. After 2 days of starvation, we had a sumptuous meal and then came back home. Mukul and Dheeraj were not done by the amount of walking we had done and wanted more. So the four of us including Subbu went out for a mid night walk thru the empty streets arnd the Hostel. Came back and fell in the bed and that’s it for Day 2.
Montmarte by itself was a very beautiful one. And coupled with the fact that it was on top of a hillock with a green carpet, was really a wonderful sight. There was a winch to the ppl up to the cathedral, but we preferred to walk up the incline. Atleast this time we knew when it’s going to end. ;)
After having a look at the cathedral, (btw what’s the diff between a church and a cathedral???) and taking a lot of pics, we came down and started towards Tuileries garden. Got down at the station and saw a pair of beautiful fountain and an obelisk. It had some hieroglyphics, we didn’t know what it was for, thanks to our knowledge of French. And after debating which direction the garden will be, we asked one person who pointed to a gate just behind us. We were in for a disappointment. Still being winter, the whole place was covered with trees devoid of any leaves… The way the trees were set surrounding 2 ponds, and a path thru the trees, it wud really be a beautiful sight when the trees are in full bloom. Spent some time in the garden and our next stop was Arc de Triumphe, this time in the day time.On the way we also filled up our stomach with some burgers and fries from McD. They had this offer for ppl between 16 and 25. 25% off for young ppl. I thot someone who’s 25 doesn’t get categorized along with a 16 year old. 3 Euros less. Good for me. Coming back to Arc de Triumphe, again here we had to climb a spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiralling set of stairs all the way up to the top… Ufffff cudn’t they just have built it a little shorter… From the top had a nice view of the concrete jungle arnd. J Somehow the view from Top is always wonderful, even if we looking at the same thing from different places. But this was a little special with the 12 roads converging onto the monument. It was a wonderful sight.
Then we got down thru another set of similar stairs and the sun was shining brightly… Experienced that kind of a sunshine after a loooooong time. Actually first time since I came from India. So had a short sunbath ;) and slept for sometime. Then started towards the Eiffel Tower.
There was a hugeeee queue at each entrance to the Eiffel tower. Eiffel tower is basically divided into 3 Floors. The first 2 floors are pretty close to each other and to the ground and can be reached by stairs while the 3rd is on top of the tower which can be reached only by a lift. Just as we reached halfway thru the queue, they closed the entry to the third floor as there were too many ppl in the top floor. We were so disappointed and rued our luck. But thanksfully the lady at the ticket counter said you can go to the second floor and buy tht etickets for the third floor from there and that by the time we get there, they wud’ve opened up the third floor. Just as we got to the second floor, the sun was about to go behind the cloud cover over the horizon and by the time I took out the camera, it was gone. L. Anyway just like the lady at the counter had told us, they started letting ppl onto the third floor and after one queue for the tickets and another for the lift, we started our upward journey to the highest point in Paris. By the time we reached there it was getting dark and soon the city was glittering with the lights.
I’m going short of superlatives for the view… It was like a carpet of all types of strewn with gems. After taking a lot of photos from there, we came down.We decided we’ll go for the cruise but our bad luck, the last cruise for the day left just 15 min b4 we went there. Then we got to know from a Bangladeshi street vendor that there were quite a few Indian restaurants at some place on line 4 which sounds like Starbucks. We referred to the map and found that it was Strasbourg Saint Denis. We had to change a couple of trains to reach that place and it was already 10.30 and most shops were closed. Thankfully we found one Pakistani restaurant which was just abt to close. We went in and that guy made us rotis out of fresh dough and we had it with Rajma masala. After 2 days of starvation, we had a sumptuous meal and then came back home. Mukul and Dheeraj were not done by the amount of walking we had done and wanted more. So the four of us including Subbu went out for a mid night walk thru the empty streets arnd the Hostel. Came back and fell in the bed and that’s it for Day 2.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Paris Trip: Travel
I was thinking about carrying my Laptop and writing a live travelogue, but then decided against it. It was too heavy for all the walking we were about to do. So I tried to write it down in my mobile notes. But after half a day it proved to be too tedious to type. So till the first half of the day from my mobile.
21st 8.30 PM: Ufff finally after a really long week of working really late everyday, here I’m in the bus station waiting for the bus or coach as they call it here. It’s got delayed by 15 min.
8.45: We are called upon to another bus which was scheduled to go before ours. We went into the bus only to realise that it was almost full and we got the last but one seat. It wasn’t so comfy. Not even as good as the Volvos and the executive coaches back home. It’s ok. I’ve travelled in worse buses for longer durations. For a 48£ return ticket, I don’t have complaints.
11.30: We reached the port of Dover, got the passport stamped and have been waiting for the alst one hour for the ferry that will ferry us across the English Channel. Why can’t they just dig another tunnel for buses also just like they have it for trains?
12.30: Where is the Goddamn ferry???????
22nd 1.00am. Finally the long wait is over and I got into the ferry or rather the bus got into the ferry. When they said ferry, the thing that came to my mind was the one in Goa. The small one used to ferry ppl and cars across the water. But this was like HUGEEEE. There were about 4-5 busses and 6-7 trucks apart from lots of cars in one of the 2 decks available for vehicles. There were restaurants, coffee shops, a book store, a perfume shop and lots of sofas and chars to sit and sleep. After a small tour of the ferry, we settled down for a short nap. It was a 1.5 hrs journey across the channel.
3.30: We got into the bus again and touched the French soil. (Thanks to the 1 hr time diff, it ended up being a 2.5 hrs journey.)
7.00: Arrived at Porte De Bagnolet half an hour late. We were welcomed by French, French and more French. Maps, directions etc.. I realised we should have tried learning a bit of it before going.
21st 8.30 PM: Ufff finally after a really long week of working really late everyday, here I’m in the bus station waiting for the bus or coach as they call it here. It’s got delayed by 15 min.
8.45: We are called upon to another bus which was scheduled to go before ours. We went into the bus only to realise that it was almost full and we got the last but one seat. It wasn’t so comfy. Not even as good as the Volvos and the executive coaches back home. It’s ok. I’ve travelled in worse buses for longer durations. For a 48£ return ticket, I don’t have complaints.
11.30: We reached the port of Dover, got the passport stamped and have been waiting for the alst one hour for the ferry that will ferry us across the English Channel. Why can’t they just dig another tunnel for buses also just like they have it for trains?
12.30: Where is the Goddamn ferry???????
22nd 1.00am. Finally the long wait is over and I got into the ferry or rather the bus got into the ferry. When they said ferry, the thing that came to my mind was the one in Goa. The small one used to ferry ppl and cars across the water. But this was like HUGEEEE. There were about 4-5 busses and 6-7 trucks apart from lots of cars in one of the 2 decks available for vehicles. There were restaurants, coffee shops, a book store, a perfume shop and lots of sofas and chars to sit and sleep. After a small tour of the ferry, we settled down for a short nap. It was a 1.5 hrs journey across the channel.
3.30: We got into the bus again and touched the French soil. (Thanks to the 1 hr time diff, it ended up being a 2.5 hrs journey.)
7.00: Arrived at Porte De Bagnolet half an hour late. We were welcomed by French, French and more French. Maps, directions etc.. I realised we should have tried learning a bit of it before going.
Paris Trip - Preperation
After sitting at home for quite a long time, thanks to the weather, I decided I’ll have to go somewhere. Mukul wanted to go to Paris as he’s going back to India in March. So we decided to take up the 3 Day star tours package to Paris. Then we checked out the itinerary of the package and realised we’d have just enuf time to look at Paris thru the windows of the bus. So we decided to go on our own. A few more ppl(Dheeraj, Sunetra, Sangeetha, Subbu, RK, Sadheesh and his wife) were also interested in the Paris trip. Only Sunetra and Sangeetha cud take a day off on Friday (22nd). The others were happy with a 2 day tour.
Once we decided we are going. We started the wid the prepns. To get the Visa we needed our travel, acco, travel insurance, bank statement, employer letter – everything to be ready. It was hardly one month left for our trip. So flights and Eurostar was costly. So we booked in National Express for the Eurolines coach. Cost us abt 48£ return.
Acco we booked it in Aloha hostel, thru hostelbookers.com. It had pretty good reviews and it was well connected to most places. Cost us abt 23 euros per pppn.
Travel insurance booked it thru insureandgo.com. 33£ for annual multi trip. Ppl got it for about 15£ from a different insurance provider.
Booked an appointment for Visa on 12th Feb. It was very easy getting it. Have all your docs ready and you will get the Visa in Half a day.
So everything was ready 10 days in advance. Then came the worst 10 days in UK. Suddenly so much work came up and I even had to take some work home and work till 12 to finish off everything before I leave.
In the mean time did a little shopping as I hardly had any casuals. On 21st did all the packing and I had one bag which was too small for all the stuff I had and one which was too big for a 3 day trip. So I ended up carrying one bag with clothes, one with fruits, biscuits and water, my camera bag and my tripod.
Once we decided we are going. We started the wid the prepns. To get the Visa we needed our travel, acco, travel insurance, bank statement, employer letter – everything to be ready. It was hardly one month left for our trip. So flights and Eurostar was costly. So we booked in National Express for the Eurolines coach. Cost us abt 48£ return.
Acco we booked it in Aloha hostel, thru hostelbookers.com. It had pretty good reviews and it was well connected to most places. Cost us abt 23 euros per pppn.
Travel insurance booked it thru insureandgo.com. 33£ for annual multi trip. Ppl got it for about 15£ from a different insurance provider.
Booked an appointment for Visa on 12th Feb. It was very easy getting it. Have all your docs ready and you will get the Visa in Half a day.
So everything was ready 10 days in advance. Then came the worst 10 days in UK. Suddenly so much work came up and I even had to take some work home and work till 12 to finish off everything before I leave.
In the mean time did a little shopping as I hardly had any casuals. On 21st did all the packing and I had one bag which was too small for all the stuff I had and one which was too big for a 3 day trip. So I ended up carrying one bag with clothes, one with fruits, biscuits and water, my camera bag and my tripod.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Munnar Day 4
huh here goes the last of the Munnar series.. 4 blogs in the first 3 days.. Guess not so bad for a beginner..
Okie back to Sunday
it's wasn't much of an eventful day...
morning i got up only at arnd 8.30.. by then Sudan, Venki and Amrith had got up had break fast and ordered break fast for the rest.. so got up brushed, had bkfst and got ready.. packed all the stuff and checked out by 10. then we went to city to do some shopping.. we got some tea and some strawberry preserve..
then started the return journey at 11.30.. watched a bit of Commando(ya the same old Arnold movie).. slept thru most of the journey.. we crossed chinnar and Indhira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary but were again unlucky.. we didn't get to see any animals.. at one of the check posts, Amrith had a small fight with a monkey which was so much interested to get into our van.. apart from the fact that Gomi did throw up while coming down (the gelusil effect fiinally wore off after 4 days..) and Amrith crying (not literally though) that we didn't take him to a Veg restaurant for lunch in Udumalpet, nothing interesting happened on our journey.. we reached trichy at 6.30..
oops i just finished a 7 hr journey in a van and i'll have to travel another 7 hrs in a bus to B'lore.. :(( i managed to drag myself to the bus at 10.30 and reached B'lore and the first thing i did after coming to office was to change my Orkut display name
"Back to Work :( After 4 days of fun"
Very true na!!!!
Okie back to Sunday
it's wasn't much of an eventful day...
morning i got up only at arnd 8.30.. by then Sudan, Venki and Amrith had got up had break fast and ordered break fast for the rest.. so got up brushed, had bkfst and got ready.. packed all the stuff and checked out by 10. then we went to city to do some shopping.. we got some tea and some strawberry preserve..
then started the return journey at 11.30.. watched a bit of Commando(ya the same old Arnold movie).. slept thru most of the journey.. we crossed chinnar and Indhira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary but were again unlucky.. we didn't get to see any animals.. at one of the check posts, Amrith had a small fight with a monkey which was so much interested to get into our van.. apart from the fact that Gomi did throw up while coming down (the gelusil effect fiinally wore off after 4 days..) and Amrith crying (not literally though) that we didn't take him to a Veg restaurant for lunch in Udumalpet, nothing interesting happened on our journey.. we reached trichy at 6.30..
oops i just finished a 7 hr journey in a van and i'll have to travel another 7 hrs in a bus to B'lore.. :(( i managed to drag myself to the bus at 10.30 and reached B'lore and the first thing i did after coming to office was to change my Orkut display name
"Back to Work :( After 4 days of fun"
Very true na!!!!
Munnar Day 3
sorry guys.. i'm just unable to write short blogs :)
hmmm anyway you'll have to put up with 2 more days abt our trip...
Saturday morning.. was almost 8 when i woke up...
we had decided to move to another resort that day as Sterling resorts was available only for one nite. we hadto check out b4 10... so again started off wid my favourite job of working up the 2-3 ppl who were still asleep.. then we toasted some bread and Sudan made egg scramble.. munched the bread with the scramble and some butter and checked out hurriedly...
We checked into Chacellor resort and decided to go for a trek and we started of rite away.. they was nice place to trek just near the resort and we decided to take it..
It was a very beautiful place. there were 2 small hills next to each other and a small creek running in between the 2. One hill was covered by tall trees and the other was just the opposite.. hardly any trees, mostly rocky grasslands on which the resort was located.
it was all fun to start with... but after some time, i got a little over enthu and climbed down very fast leaving behind the others and only stopped when i reached the creek... little did i know that ppl were angry with me for laeving everybody behind.. ( :o or was it because i had the bag which had all the biscuits and fruits.. hmm watever...)
then everybody reached the creek abt 10 min after me...(hmmm i must have been pretty fast huh!!!).. ate everything that we had. Then we thot we'll climb the other montain thru the cardomom plants(Oh ya we hadn't noticed it initially, from a distance we could see only the tall trees.. didn't notice the cardamom plants beneath them...). A few ppl were skeptical abt it.. they thot it was too dense and we might lose our way.. After some deliberations and discussion(Oh no not again!!!) we dropped the plan and started climbing back towards the resort. The way up was pretty tiring and we had to sit down every 5 minutes and catch our breath. Fiiiinally when we were abt to reach the resort, Bala had a bad bad cramp on his things and was unable to move a step.. our Doc swung into action... did all sorts of stretching and things and he was able to walk again.. the stretching hurt him more than the actual cramp i guess...but we didn't have a choice.. noway we cud've carried Mr.Bulk Bala to the resort even though it was hardly 200 mts away.. you can see why, from the photo..
by the time we reached the resort it was almost 3.30 and no lunch items were available.. we order'd everything that was available in the restaurant..
post lunch stated playing Cards again this time we started off with a game called "Judgment" .. they taught me the game but i was very bad at it... but still managed not to finish last. infact i was second from last.
then we started "thank you sorry" again.. and invariably it was Sudan who won.
it was almost 8 when we finished the game.. Our Doc wanted to go for sterling resort for dinner. he wanted to try out the buffet there.. we decided to walk down to sterling which was abt 1-2 Kms away.. on the way, Sudan started of a topic.. Is it possible to seperate the brain from a human body, given we can remotely connect all the connections between the brain and the body...
it ended up to be a real hot discussion between the Doc and Venki... the Doc saying it's impossible and Venki saying it's atleast theoretically possible.. each one of us put in our thots but the core discussion was between Arvind and Venki. Finally Arvind agreed that it was theoretically possible..
Arvind lost out not only the argument but also the buffet.. it was only a Veg buffet and he's some one who lives on Non veg.. (for that matter all of us had only non veg lunch all 4 days ;)) so we ended up ordering the food items..
it was arnd 11 by the time we finished the dinner and we started our walk back to Chancellor.. this was probably the funniest pasrt of the trip.. Sudan started off another topic.. "If you have to kill a person. you don't have a choice. you'll have to kill him/her. how will you kill?" (what a topic at what time of the day!!!!! gosh!!!!) the topic some how diverted to ghosts and devils.. Sudan started scaring Bala like anything.. and that poor fellow did get frightenend quite a bit.. he started talking abt hands grabbing ppl from the tea plantations, a lady in the white saree looking at us from a distance, a headless body hanging upside down from a tree... it was a bit scry i must say, the deserted roads, the thick platations on either side, the occasional sound of barking... hmmm.... we were relieved when we finally reached the resort. we started chatting and at arnd 1 went to bed and slept like a log..
Munnar Day 2
hmm guess the day one post must have been looooooooong and boring.. That's my first entry.. So swalpa adjust maadi :) will try to make it short this time..
so here we go - Day 2
it was abt 8 in D morning when I woke up.. noone else was up.. So I started off with my favorite thing to do in the mornings.. Waking up ppl :) my roommates in hostel hate me for that.... Then suddenly Sudan came up wid the idea to stay in some Resort.. The reason he gave was there will be some nice activities in Resort (yup there were activities but we never participated :D).. It came to abt 3k extra for the stay per day .. We thot what the heck.. We'll go for it.. By that time ppl were hungry.. So I thot I'll make something different.. There was last nights' rice which we had soaked up in Water.. I drained the water and made a Upma kind of thing.. and made a vegetable salad.. Everybody liked it a lot(or may be they were very hungry to even think abt how it tasted)
we then checked out various resorts and finally settled wid Sterling resorts. They did not have a single cottage big enuf for 7 of us. So we had to take up 2 cottages..
but it was very comfy..
we then lazed arnd, had bath and went to the restaurant in the Resort.. we had initiatlly thot that it wud be very costly.. but it was pretty ok.. but still we ended up blowing abt 1.7K. Venki was more interested in taking pictures of the restaurant than eating the food.. but still he cudn't manage more than half a dozen proper photos. most of them were either blurred or were too dark.. he got angry and vowed that he'll master the art of taking proper photos by the end of the tour.. Though he cudn't keep it up, he was surely a better phootographer at the end of 4 days..
we finished lunch at arnd 3, a few ppl had a nap till 4 while me and Doc were busy playing a car race on Venki's Comp.. poor Doc.. cudn't keep up wid my driving skills ;).. i broke all his records and he tried to break it back but in vain...
we then went to the market place to shop for the dinner... came back at arnd 7 and started our cooking crusade at 8.
This time we decided to cook a big feast :D.. The menu as below
-Egg Curry (Sudan)
-Puli Kozhambu (Amrith)
-Rasam(Amrith)
-Potato Curry (Gow)
-Ladies finger Fry(Gomi and Amrith)
-Rice (who else but Gomi our rice specialist)
-Curd(Doc.. ya he cut the curd packet)
-Mango pickle(Gow and Naren)
That's quite a list na.. we managed to finish it in mere 2.5 hrs..
and post dinner started playing cards... we were playing a game called "thank you, Sorry" for some time and then shifted to Dumb Charades.. none of us will forget the way Amrith acted out T.Rajendar.. realy hillarious it was...
fiiiiinally after at abt 3O clock , Bala arrived from Coimbatore.. he was slightly 'unstable' though ;)
by then most of us were sleeeeepy and we decided to retire for the day..
so here we go - Day 2
it was abt 8 in D morning when I woke up.. noone else was up.. So I started off with my favorite thing to do in the mornings.. Waking up ppl :) my roommates in hostel hate me for that.... Then suddenly Sudan came up wid the idea to stay in some Resort.. The reason he gave was there will be some nice activities in Resort (yup there were activities but we never participated :D).. It came to abt 3k extra for the stay per day .. We thot what the heck.. We'll go for it.. By that time ppl were hungry.. So I thot I'll make something different.. There was last nights' rice which we had soaked up in Water.. I drained the water and made a Upma kind of thing.. and made a vegetable salad.. Everybody liked it a lot(or may be they were very hungry to even think abt how it tasted)
we then checked out various resorts and finally settled wid Sterling resorts. They did not have a single cottage big enuf for 7 of us. So we had to take up 2 cottages..
but it was very comfy..
we then lazed arnd, had bath and went to the restaurant in the Resort.. we had initiatlly thot that it wud be very costly.. but it was pretty ok.. but still we ended up blowing abt 1.7K. Venki was more interested in taking pictures of the restaurant than eating the food.. but still he cudn't manage more than half a dozen proper photos. most of them were either blurred or were too dark.. he got angry and vowed that he'll master the art of taking proper photos by the end of the tour.. Though he cudn't keep it up, he was surely a better phootographer at the end of 4 days..
we finished lunch at arnd 3, a few ppl had a nap till 4 while me and Doc were busy playing a car race on Venki's Comp.. poor Doc.. cudn't keep up wid my driving skills ;).. i broke all his records and he tried to break it back but in vain...
we then went to the market place to shop for the dinner... came back at arnd 7 and started our cooking crusade at 8.
This time we decided to cook a big feast :D.. The menu as below
-Egg Curry (Sudan)
-Puli Kozhambu (Amrith)
-Rasam(Amrith)
-Potato Curry (Gow)
-Ladies finger Fry(Gomi and Amrith)
-Rice (who else but Gomi our rice specialist)
-Curd(Doc.. ya he cut the curd packet)
-Mango pickle(Gow and Naren)
That's quite a list na.. we managed to finish it in mere 2.5 hrs..
and post dinner started playing cards... we were playing a game called "thank you, Sorry" for some time and then shifted to Dumb Charades.. none of us will forget the way Amrith acted out T.Rajendar.. realy hillarious it was...
fiiiiinally after at abt 3O clock , Bala arrived from Coimbatore.. he was slightly 'unstable' though ;)
by then most of us were sleeeeepy and we decided to retire for the day..
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Munnar Trip Day 1
This is gonna be my first blog and i'm happy it's abt the best tour i have ever had till date..
Ok let me start off
Initially 12 ppl were willing to go.. then asis usual in any tour pgm, there were a few drop outs due to various reasons and we had to start the tour with 7 ppl- that's me, Amrith, Arvind, Gomi, Sudan, Venki and Naren..
First we all gathered at Gomi's place and were waiting for the Doctor(Arvind).. He was supposed to reach Trichy at arnd 6 and finally ended up at arnd 9.. Finally we left trichy arnd 10.
Our Initial plan was to reach munnar and visit Thekkady on our way back.. but our driver suggested we go to thekkady and visit Top slip on the return journey.
After a lot of deliberation and discussion ;) we decided to take the drivers advice and headed to wards Thekkady..
We missed the 2'O clock boat ride and had to wait till 4 for the next boat ride.. but i guess it was worth the wait.. it was such a beautiful place, a calm lake surrounded my green hills and trees sticking out of the lake and birds perched on them beautifully.. We saw a few deers, Bisons and a Hog but didn't get to see any elephants :( . By this time, Venki and Amrith had got a pretty good hold of how to use Sudan's camera and soon everything arnd was captured into that small black box of his..
We started off towards Munnar and on the way Gomi felt like throwing up.. so we stopped at a village on the way and our Doc went to the medical shop and got some tablets.. we were thinking he was getting some anti vomiting tablet.. but when we saw what he had got, we all burst into a big laugh... he had got Gelusil.. that's when we started teasing him and it got worse as the tour went by .. we didn't waste one small oppurtunity to tease him, calling him a "Poli Doctor","Compounder","Ward Boy" everything.. poor Doc caught between 6 engineers :D
But the best part abt it is Gelusil actually worked well for Gomi and it was the Doc who threw up after some time.. :))
Finally we reached Munnar at arnd 11.
We all had gone well prepared for cooking.. so me, Sudan, Amrith and Gomi started cooking.. i was took up the official vegetable cutters job that day. Gomi made rice and Sudan and Amrith started fighting. Both of them wanted to make a sambar in their own style.. finally they ended making something resembling a sambar and also a curry.. It was 12.30 in the night when everything was ready... abt 10 hrs since we had our lunch. So we sat down and hogged everything and settled down for the night...
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