Ni Hao from Guangzhou

Returned recently from my longest stint (5 days) in China @ Guangzhou. The longest duration where I got to play dumb for most of the time. Either in a taxi or restaurant - all I could do is point at stuff - no talking. Taxi drivers needed to see addresses in Chinese if I had to go some place. Thanks to smart phones I Google the location at my hotel and just show it to the driver - thankfully I didn't have to "draw" the address myself. The return journey is fairly simple - I show my room card which has the hotel address. The only trouble is if I had to make one another stop - well I didn't dare to. Upon seeing the address they usually confirm with a "OK OK" or "OK Lah" - which gives me assurance that I will be taken to the destination of choice. Now I figured where the "Lah" business in Singapore comes from - its from their Chinese counterparts. Restaurants - that's a longer story which I will share a little later below. 

Reached Guangzhou at 4 AM in the morning. Which happened to be the first flight of the day. We in fact opened up the immigration desks to let us out. If my opening paragraph gave you any idea how I had to deal with taxi drivers, my adventure began with having to haggle / negotiate taxi charges to the hotel. During reasonable business hours taxis operate on meter here. At 5 AM in the morning those rules went out the door. I vaguely remembered paying about 80 Yuan the last time and was able to bring it down from ¥200 to ¥ 120. Thought it was reasonable to give 1.5 fare for early in the morning.

Managed to get some sleep in the morning - not an easy job to start sleeping at 7 AM in the morning. Later in the evening went to the Pearl River promenade with the idea of getting on to a late evening river cruise. It was an hour long cruise which crossed a few bridges across the river. Had some good clicks of the Guangzhou skyline. "Work" began next day with a grand lunch organized by our Guangzhou center head with our client. It was a multi-course lunch where food in small portions that just kept coming. Had a chance to taste the famous Peking duck for the first time (maybe 2nd?). The whole duck was first presented to us for a visual treat and then the hostess takes it back to carve it out to different meals. The crispy skin and some meat was used as a filling in a pancake and then remaining meat was served in some sort of stir-fry.

Talking about eating and restaurants it definitely was an interesting experience the past five days. Had a chance to try the multicourse expensive restaurant meal all the way to a "kaiyendhi bhavan" style street food. In any restaurant where it is inside a building there is usually a menu with either food pictures or an English translation (however strange it may sound - like a "dancing buddha"). However with street food I had to point to the type of noodles, the meat (if I could think it was chicken) and egg. Needless to say - the taste was amazing. The worst experience I had was eating spaghetti with prawns in tomato sauce in a Chinese restaurant. I literally walked past a few Italian restaurants on that street thinking I should only eat Chinese while in China. I ended up at these seemingly 100% Chinese joint which had many many menu options. After a good read I ended up selecting "Spaghetti with shrimp" with a very sincere assumption that spaghetti was just a translation for regular noodles. My heart sank when I saw them (yes I had a seat with a good view of the kitchen) put a lump of boiled spaghetti in a bowl and topped it up with prawns in tomato sauce. 

The hotel that I stayed was adjacent the famous "Beijing Road Shopping District". A block of few pedestrian only streets with the colourful shops of various budget ranges. Whenever I walk there I seem to have the board "Tourist" written on top of my head with glowing neon lights. Every few steps the "imitation hawkers" approach me trying to convince me the benefits of a Rolex watch. You don't like watches its ok - handbags, perfumes - you name it they have it. Felt a bit annoyed at first but then got used to it. Apart from Chinese you get to see a lot of middle eastern and african people in China. In fact there were quite a few middle eastern restaurants as well. Of course there are a few Caucasian expats around but not many from the Indian sub continent. I did see a few but not as many as you would see in any other western country.  The time I visited there happened to be the time for the 114th trade fair / exhibition of some sort. The restaurants had the banners stating "ovation to the participants of the trade fair" - whatever that translates to Chinese - which I think means "Welcome to the participants...". I also learned that whenever they say "maybe" - it means they are pretty sure about it. :-) 

One unfortunate event happened during my stay there. A colleague of mine was assigned to accompany me on a local sight seeing / shopping trip. After about 10 minutes on the road he got a call from his mom that his father was in ICU. We immediately rushed to the hospital and then I continued on with another colleague. After a few hours that guy calls up this new colleague and checks whether I was doing fine and whether was able to do what I intended to do. I asked this new guy to call him back and enquire about his dad and got to know he had expired a few hours ago. I was shocked that a guy who's father had just expired checks in on me to ensure my sightseeing was happening as planned. Chinese hospitality at its heights!!!

Click here for a few photos.

So long folks. Until next time...

C

Incredible India - Part III (The Finale)

As they say, when it rains it pours. After a long hibernation 3 posts within a week - now that's a record. Here's the 3rd and concluding part of the Incredible India series. 

 

After all the exciting events left for Chennai on 11th night via the Chennai Express (ok to be precise - Salem - Chennai Express). Had a "bread omelette" for dinner (another tick in the box - eating bread omelette in train) and had a solid slumber until the train reached Egmore. Reached Adyar by auto - probably overpaid a bit but did not bother to haggle much at 4 AM in the morning. The next 2 days were quite relaxing at Mogamma's place. Did a visit to Vijaya hospital to see Ramappa. Brought back memories of my days in Vijaya Hospital trying to implement a patient information system using FoxPro (yes I have done some programming at some point in my life). 

 

The next day started early with Ayudha Pooja @ Thiruvengadam St followed by a morning show movie - Naiyyandi at S2 (ex Thyagaraja theatre). Naiyyandi in a word - torture. Happened to see Ranjhanaa on the flight back to Sydney and was interesting how the same actor could be made to look mature and dumb in different movies. Must give a hats off to Dhanush to be able to adapt so well. ;-) I realized early that morning that my luggage allowance was actually 30 kgs and I had only loaded 20. Did some shopping literally last minute at Nilgiris to make best use of the baggage allowance.

The check-in at the Singapore airlines counter was quite a breeze at the new International terminal in Chennai. Could be attributed to many reasons. The immigration officer looked at my Aussie passport and commented "First time entry aa?? - You should apply for an OCI so you dont need such multiple entry visas."  Point taken!! At the airport met with Chikappa's friend - a very "interesting" person. He saw me walking the floor a few times and reached out to introduce himself. He "found" me again in the flight and had a long chat including an air hostess. Was surprised that she could spare a good 30 minutes talking to one passenger.

The connecting flight to Sydney was quite quick. I had very little time and thankfully it was just a few gates away in the same terminal. Landed in Sydney at around 5.20 and caught the taxi at 6 PM. The quickest exit  I've had after an international flight. Immigration was so quick with the E-Pass system where I did not have to meet any immigration officer. Just another perk for an Aussie passport. The customs / quarantine didn't question much on the spices I loaded up the previous day just had to get the bags scanned. The cab driver happened to be a Singaporean who migrated here 29 years ago who chatted about the various gods and goddesses in Hindu mythology. I had to give him $2.50 in change finally for which he gladly accepted Rs 120 in Indian currency. A first of a kind I must admit.

Thus ends the Incredible India 2013 trip. It was hectic, refreshing and nostalgic. Wonder if there is any single word to describe these adjectives (maybe Incredible?). There were ticks in many boxes and of course a few that had to be missed. Especially meeting with friends. Hopefully next time...

It sounds formal - but thanks a lot to everybody who made this trip quite memorable for all the good reasons.

More from Guangzhou next week. Until then...

C

Incredible India - Part II (Main Events)

The main events started on Saturday 5th October with Narayana Murthy (a tradition followed in our family during the month of Purattasi). We are supposed get dressed up as "pandaram"s with naamam (white and red stripes on forehead) and garland to beg for rice from other houses and have that day's meal from the alms received. Used to be one of my favourite traditions back then. It was good to do that again and also a chance for the kids as well. 

 Later in the evening it was dressing up Nandha as Krishna event. Of course it was a nightmare to dress up Nandha. Thankfully we had his naamam done while he was sleeping. By this time we had a full house with grand kids (all 5 of them) at Salem. The girls were dressed up as Radha(s) - Radha 1, Radha 2 and Radha 3 as they called themselves and Sai was dressed up as Krishna. Kids had a blast dressing up and with the photo shoot.

Sunday 6th October was THE event of this trip - Nandha's Mottai (Mundan / head shave) at the Vanavasi temple. It used to be a nightmare even for a haircut for Nandha - so I was expecting a fair bit of drama for the mottai. We even tried to "drug" him a bit prior but it had absolutely no effect. It took about 6 adults to hold him tight to finish the task. Ear piercing was not that much of a challenge - thanks to some local anesthetic applied on the ears. All was well that ended well. 

On Monday the 7th we all set out to Yercaud on a 2 day trip. Until now Nandha has been showing his "prowess" within the closed walls of any house he visited. We were quite unprepared as to what to expect from him at Yercaud. He showed his cross country running skills chasing dogs all around the house. The stay at Nanjam was quite refreshing after a long time. Rummy sessions started right after lunch. Card games went on  without any age bar. We had the usual Yercaud town - Lake and back morning walk with Nandha on my shoulders 50% of the time. We went for a short trip to the horticultural gardens followed by a trip to Kaakambadi estate post lunch. We had a bit of adventure on the way back having to push an abandoned small lorry which was parked in a single lane road. Had a nice dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Salem valley. The best part of the dinner was the waiter offering to baby sit Nandha allowing us to eat in peace. Left back for Salem "early" in the morning the next day after a breakfast at Venkateshwara hotel. They still maintain the old charm except that we don't have to throw the plaintain leaves ourselves.

We managed to take the kids to our fields at Neikarapatti. Kids were amused by the "pattaasu kai" a seed that cracks on contact with water on its sharp end.

Thus ends the main events of our trip to India. 

So long folks. Have a great evening / night / day.

C

p.s.: Currently back in Sydney and living on Indian time zone.

p.p.s: Photos available at: Initial travels, Narayana Murthy & Mottai, Yercaud, Neikarapatti

Incredible India - Part 1 (Initial Travels)

"Incredible India" is one of the marketing campaigns that we see for Indian tourism in Sydney - probably active in other countries as well. It is interesting to see myself as a "tourist" in a place where I grew up. I suppose a few years away from home can make that difference.

Had a good short break in Singapore where the prime needs were met - family, sight seeing, shopping and of course hawker style food. A loaf of stale bread and a fish pond was all it took to keep the kids occupied. Travelling with Nandha comes with its own entertaining moments. He was quite engrossed with Tom and Jerry (mostly without ear phones) through most of the flight segments. However he had the need to stand up on the seat every time during take off and landing. Guess he wanted to enjoy the full effect. The current air travel regulations had to be enforced providing a bit of entertainment to fellow passengers.

First stop - Chennai catching up with family, friend and filling up ward robes. Had a road trip to Bangalore with a slightly (2 hours) delayed start than planned and reached Bangalore at around 3 PM for lunch. Since then our lunch timings changed to post 3 PM for the next 2 days (almost the rest of the trip). Managed to play some tennis and a quick trip to Anekal to visit our house. After a 2 day break in Bangalore left for Salem on the 29th morning. We had a quick stopover at Kaatu Aanjaneyar (Forest Anjaneyar/Hanuman) temple. It is supposedly a "powerful" temple granting many people their wishes. Each wish is secured with a coconut in a red bag and a unique identification number. I understand that once that wish is materialized you visit the temple again and break that coconut open (and probably file your next wish as well).

Salem was a short stop initially - just 2 days and headed off to Mettur. Managed to go on a movie (Raja Rani) date with Uma - thanks to her grand parents baby sitting the kids. After a day in Mettur had another quick road trip to Anekal. It was a quite refreshing trip with pleasant weather and the green fields along. Returned back to Salem on the 3rd Oct. Had dinner at Gandhi Rd with take away food from Parasakthi  - a small restaurant which tops my list of favourites in Salem. A huge tick in the box for my trip.

Will stop with this for now. More to come soon.

Until then...

C