Visit to Jenolan Caves

So we had an almost impromptu trip to the Jenolan Caves today. The last few days there were some reports of snow fall in Blue Mountains which is not a usual occasion. While we were contemplating on the idea for the last few days, didn't really plan it - so to speak. This morning we woke up (quite late actually) and decided to leave for the mountains in search of SNOW. The first stop was at Katoomba about an hour's drive from our place - which is the commercial head of the Blue Mountain range. Roamed around the town for a little while to find that patch of snow that we could play with.

Apparently yesterday would've been a great day for snow play since there was not much available in Katoomba today. Hence we decided to go further up the hill in search of the white powder. There were some patches along the way where some families were playing around. I kept going further convincing kids that the snow would be better as we go higher and higher. Lo and behold - the route started going downhill into the valley of Lithgow. I had to face a battery of insults for why I did not stop much earlier where there was at least some snow available.

That's when I made a call to move towards Jenolan caves. Until that point there was no plan to go so far. Fortunately for me we were able to stop in a spot where we could make a few snow balls and throw at each other. In the last 5+ years I've been in Sydney never had a chance to visit the Jenolan caves. For some reason I was not heavily thrilled to look for stalactites and stalagmites

as I have seen a few in USA, plus kids were a bit young then. Thought this would be a great time even though I wasn't sure how Nandha would take it. It turned out to be a pretty cool experience.

We reached there around 3.30 PM, had "lunch" which consisted of a few slices of banana bread and muffins. Thanks to the surprise weather, the cafe there was understaffed and didn't have much of anything to eat. After re-energizing ourselves set out to go on the cave tour. Apparently there are different grades available depending on how fit you are physically. We took the only tour available at that time called the Chifley Cave tour which takes about an hour to complete. Our tour guide has been working there since the last 18 years and was also involved in building some part of the cave as well. Obviously she was quite knowledgeable and explained how these mountains should've been under the sea at some point in time and other stories. A lot of the cave formations were named after the explorers wives. ;-)

The caves are still "alive" as the water keeps dripping through the rocks and we could see fresh calcite formations developing. The formations were very strategically lit up to provide a surreal effect. Was pleasantly surprised that kids made through the trek without having to lift them during any part of the trip. 

So long folks. Until next time...

C

For more photos feel free to visit - Jenolan Caves 2015

Kia Ora Auckland

Kia Ora - Meaning Hi / G'day in Maori the native language of New Zealand (Aotearoa) is the first word you you would come across as you disembark from the flight. New Zealand - one of those countries that has been on my "To Visit" lists got ticked off last week. It was a short 2 day business trip to Auckland. Not much of a chance to look around but still had a good opportunity to soak in the sights of this island nation "across the ditch" as  they call it.

Took a Virgin Australia flight to Auckland from Sydney and was exposed to a different area of Sydney International airport. I understand most of the flights to New Zealand take off via those gates. It looked like a domestic Low Cost Carrier terminal and had to board a bus to get to the aircraft. Thanks to this trip - now I know to check my itinerary if a meal is included in the ticket or not. I just assumed that breakfast would be served being an international (non low-cost) flight. Apparently not. It was served to a select few who had it in their booking. Thankfully it was only a 3 hour journey and I slept through 90% of the time.

Auckland given its proximity to Australia has its similarities to Sydney or should I say Melbourne given the colder weather. However it does have some unique features. For some reason it felt more greener than Sydney. The first striking difference was the existence of pine trees which either does not exist or I haven't seen any in Sydney / Melbourne. New Zealand seemed to have embraced US culture a bit more than their Aussie cousins. I could see a lot of US food chains like Carl's Jr, Dennys, Burger King (not as Hungry Jacks). Tempted to visit Dennys - maybe next time. Stayed in a Park Regis hotel right in the middle of CBD (Central Business District / Downtown). Even though being one of the largest cities in New Zealand the crowd seemed quite minimal even during peak hours. The hotel was very so - so. Wonder how hotels these days can survive without providing WiFi in the room. It was such a pain to place myself in the lobby whenever I had to check anything on my phone.

The planned meetings went on well even though we had to move it ahead by 2 hours and one of my colleagues couldn't make it as a result. Post the meeting we (my boss and I) settled ourselves in one of the "virtual offices" nearby. This is one of the luxuries we enjoy to park ourselves in a business lounge globally rather than limiting ourselves to coffee shops. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on work and closed business at around 6 PM.

Ferry Terminal

We decided to go on a ferry ride to be able have a view of the Auckland skyline.

Harbour Bridge with Skyline

We were suggested to get on to a commuter ferry to a nearby island which will take about 20 minutes round trip. We waited at the pier and got on to a ferry without realizing where it was heading towards. Later on we came to know we got into a wrong ferry. It took about an hour for us to get back to our origin.

Harbour Bridge

We somehow negotiated our way to get out and come back in without having to purchase tickets again. Had our dinner at Nandos and went back to wait at the right ferry terminal this time. Got on to the ferry ride with a total of 4 passengers including ourselves. This ferry went through what they call as their Harbour Bridge and back within 20 minutes. Eventually managed to click a few photos along the way of the skyline.


Thus ended my 1st Kiwi adventure. Hope to have many more opportunities to visit in the near future.

Until then.. E noho ra (Good Bye)

C

Easter 2015 - Hunter Valley

So here comes the first story for this year. Since the time we've come to Sydney something worth mentioning happens around Easter. Last year it was the Gold Coast and this year it was Hunter Valley. 

We have been pondering over days and weeks how we wanted to celebrate the Easter long weekend and the decision was made a day before we left on our trip. Of course the next challenge was to find a location within reasonable weather, driving limits and accommodation available. We narrowed down on Hunter Valley - being a 2.5 hour drive from home. After a bit of research we figured out a hotel - more of a glorified motel at a town called Muswellbrook that was affordable and also available for the weekend. What we did not realize was it was actually about an hour's drive longer than where we had expected it to be. 

We left on Saturday evening at around 6.15 after Nandhitha's tuition class got over. We picked her up from her classes and hit the highway straight away. It was raining cats and dogs through most part of the journey and it was not a drive to cherish. For a change we had to rely on 3 GPS systems - one from my good old GPS system - whose maps I had not updated since the time I bought it (about 5 years ago), my mobile using Google Maps and finally of course my own vague memory. The reason I had to move to Google Maps was after a while our traditional GPS started showing that we were driving in the water or forest every once in a while. Not sure if the weather had any impact - but definitely we couldn't rely on it. Google Maps came in handy - but that couldn't be relied upon totally as well as the signal and data connections kept dropping out in some areas. Eventually relied upon my memories of a few towns I have passed through the previous trips and decided to take that exit from the highway. It turned out to be a good choice because we could find something for dinner before it became too late.

We reached the hotel at around 10 PM. Being the Easter long weekend the hotel support was minimal. The front office was not manned (or womanned) and there was a sign to go to an after hours entry. Apparently an SMS was sent to me with instructions on what to do. I did not notice that until I was walking up and down and another desi family saw me and suggested that I check for messages. Thankfully I had the SMS - it had the instructions to pick up the keys from a safe. The hotel was fairly newly built - hence quite clean and well maintained. The kids were very thrilled at the hotel stay. This would probably be Nandha's first hotel room that he explored

once he started talking. He was exploring and showing off every switch and fitting in the room. Thanks to the long drive they all slept for a while during the journey and it took a while to put them to sleep.

Easter Sunday - we had pretty much only ONE thing on the agenda - to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt at the Hunter Valley Gardens. We had done that a few years ago at the same location but not a very enjoyable experience then for multiple reasons. This time we had the entire day to spare without any distractions or hurry. The Hunter Valley Garden is almost like a collection of themed gardens like Italian Grotto, Oriental Garden, Indian Garden etc.

Prize for Egg Hunt

Egg hunting

To keep the visitors (read kids) engaged and also to encourage us to explore the entire garden they had given us a "treasure hunt". Where we had to find answers to certain clues in each section of the garden. For e.g., (What distinct smell can you find at the Indian Garden - the answer was curry leaves). We explored about 70 - 80% of the garden and decided to go on the egg hunt which was at a story book themed garden called - well...Story Book Garden. Plastic eggs were thrown around the area and kids had to collect as much as they can and each of them were given a "prize" at the end. I still remember the first Easter egg hunt in Sydney about 7 years ago when Nandhitha was just over a year old. After the egg hunt, finished lunch in the garden and completed visiting the rest of the garden. Nandhitha had her face painted and Nandha was chasing a few girls while waiting for his sister.

Headed back to the hotel at around 5 PM. Thankfully the rain gods waited until we got back into the car. Being the Easter weekend not many eateries were open in Musellbrook. We ended up ordering Domino's Pizza for dinner. The next day left the hotel at around 10 AM and went to a nearby cheese factory for breakfast. Sampled a few cheese varieties and got home a couple. One interesting variety was a beer flavoured cheddar - and I could actually make out the beery flavour as an after taste. Headed back home after breakfast. The journey back home was almost uneventful except for a traffic jam on the highway which would have slowed us down by about 30 minutes at most. Reached back in time for a good lunch at Anjappar and also finish up some shopping.

Thus ended the Easter holidays for me. Thought I will put this down before the deluge begins tomorrow. So long folks!!  

C

Mabuhay Manila

So Manila it was - to begin this year's overseas visits. Mabuhay apparently has many interpretations one of which is Welcome. After all these visits to the airport and chatting up with cab drivers I got to know some intricacies of the taxi world in Sydney. Even though every taxi can only charge the same amount, the type of service and the car type varies from different company to company. They have something called "Executive Service" which always has a nicer car and guaranteed to have an experienced driver behind the wheel. So now I've found a guy whom I can book to pick me up from home and the airport. The airport pickup means a saving of about 30 minutes waiting time at the taxi queue. Ok... so much for taxis.

Thanks again to the OneWorld points I was able to get a priority check-in done with no wait time. It was "interesting" to see a newbie / trainee handling a priority guest line. She had to take approval on everything she had to do. Managed to "negotiate" an aisle seat on an exit row. It was a luxury indeed. Enjoyed the Malaysian Airline lounge prior to boarding for a few hours. Came to know later on that the food served at the lounge was the same that got packed as the in-flight meal. It was an 8 hour flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Then the dreaded part started. I had a waiting time from 3 AM - 8 AM in KL. Horrible time to be waiting at an airport. Neither could I sleep nor could I look around or go out. I suppose that was a trade-off to avoid an early morning flight. Got to change my strategy next time (which I already did BTW).

The flight from KL to Manila was 4 hours. Being a day flight I was able to enjoy the views of the thousands of islands along the way. It was quite interesting to see the pristine blue borders along the islands. Am pretty sure they make wonderful white sand beaches as well. Maybe sometime... Reached Manila at around 2 PM. This time I could not arrange for my company car pick up and got to take a ride with the airport taxi. Came to realize later that it was like 3 times expensive compared to a metered ride. Worst part the driver couldn't find the hotel with the address I gave. Apparently he was a newbie!! Oh well.. managed to reach my hotel after a few "on the road" enquiries. The hotel had a unique "Water Spa" to which I had a complimentary access. Apart from the usual steam and sauna it had a few herbal aroma therapy jacuzzis. The best part was the water jets around. They had specific jets to address different parts of the body. One of such spots was like standing under a water falls (almost) similar to standing under the falls at Kutraalam or Hogenakkal? There was one area which was like a cylinder with water jets coming in from different directions top to bottom - well...what can I say...had to be a little careful there. ;)

Manila as a city is very similar to Chennai  in terms of look and feel. Yes there are a few high rises around but the surroundings felt very much at home. The only thing that was probably missing was the cows and stray dogs. One of the days I had to wait for about 20 minutes for a taxi outside my hotel and then started on foot to work. It was a good 15 - 20 minute walk - but not a fun thing to do in a 28 deg weather with my laptop bag and blazer on!! The next 2 days went on pretty busy. Started back to Sydney on a 1.30 PM flight via KL. Manila airport has multiple queues before one could actually get to the gate. The gate locations were not quite straightforward too. Flight back was quite Ok. Saw a movie called "The Counselor" - now if anybody can explain what they were trying to do please do ping me. Could not make head or tail except that someone gets killed for some reason.

The stopover in KL was just perfect to have a quick snack, a few photos and then headed over to the gate. Had a Chennai vaasi accompany me to Sydney. He was migrating to Australia for the first time. Being an "investment banker" he gave me some insights into the market. I suppose that might come in handy somewhere.

So long folks. Singapura - here I come next.

C

Guangzhou & Shanghai - November 2013

So am back from yet another trip from China. Quite "adventurous" in my mind...but as Nandhitha says... what's the adventure...it's just China. :-) Guess one needs someone like that to be grounded.

It was a late morning day flight this time from Sydney. Didn't have to get up too early thankfully. However thanks to the peak hours had to take multiple deviations to avoid peak hour traffic to the airport. Now I know at least 3 different ways to get to the airport from home in case I get stuck somewhere. The flight to Guangzhou was quite fine. Had the entire row of 3 seats to myself so was able to stretch a bit after a couple of movies. Thanks to flight journeys get to watch some movies which I would'nt have bothered to watch otherwise or watch Casino Royale for the nth time. 

Reached Guangzhou at around 5 PM hoping that at this time I would not be approached by the Taxi Touts (TTs). But no...they were hanging around this time as well apart from the legal taxi queue. Only this time they asked for USD 100 for a trip which costs slightly less than USD 20. I had a hearty laugh (they joined along as well) and joined the queue. Guangzhou was quite busy this time with packed activities to be achieved as we were getting close to some timelines. Just as I was exiting my office to catch the flight to Shanghai I was stopped by a police officer who did a "random check" to see if I was working there illegally. After about 10-15 minutes of interrogation (thankfully with a translator around) he let me go.

Reached Shanghai on Wednesday night - same Taxi story there as well. Only that this time the touts were more "professional looking" (with suit, tie and a badge) and even had a booth inside the airport. They were marketing a RMB 400 limousine for a RMB 60 trip. Stayed in a Howard Johnson - not the best of the location or amenities, but the room was huge. Essentially like a single bedroom apartment suite except that the kitchen had no utensils.

Finished my formal meeting with a prospect at about 5 PM and we were supposed to meet again for dinner at around 8.30. In between this time the client recommended that I visit a "fake market" shopping complex nearby where I could get branded items at a much discounted price. I first hesitated not to go there but he assured me on the quality but that I had to look out for good ones. He also gave me a fair idea on a negotiation tactic - basically to look at the quality and decide upon a budget I am willing to spend on it (considering how much it would've costed in Australia). After about 30 minutes of roaming around I landed in one shop where I could get some stuff that I liked. The lady in the shop was kind enough to take me around to other shops where I could get women's and kids items. 

After dinner with the client went to the Bund with my camera and tripod and had a feast shooting the Shanghai skyline. I've been there last time with a mobile camera with no battery. Felt so miserable that time that I could not capture the view. Spent a good time experimenting with the lights. Watching me shoot a tourist gang (2 couples) approached me to take a photo of themselves and if I could email it to them. The ladies in the group offered the roses (which I presume their partners gave) which I had to refuse politely. ;-)

The next day I had some time in the morning for a bit of sight seeing. Not many options within the limited time I had as I also had a lunch appointment with my client before I could catch the flight back in the evening. Went to the Yu (or Yu Yuan) Garden. It is apparently a 400 year old garden which has gone through many changes. Met with my client for lunch in a Chinese restaurant (is that a rhetoric?). Obviously he was such a regular there (and a big shot as well). We got a private dining room (normally given for larger groups) and he just said I need a salad, fish and chicken. The knew what he wanted and brought some awesome dishes. 

Headed back to the hotel to collect my bags and proceeded to the airport. This is where the "adventure" begins. I used my mobile for the last time in the hotel to look at the itinerary. When I looked for it again after checking in - I did not have it on me. :-( I contacted the hotel and the taxi driver somehow but both of them declined seeing it. Am pretty sure it must've been in the taxi but did not have enough time to follow it through as I had a flight to catch. Ironically the flight from Shanghai got delayed by 2 hours which was exactly the time I had between the connecting flight in Guangzhou to Sydney. The flight was still in the air when I was supposed to be boarding my next flight. By the time I landed and got out of the aircraft an agent declared that we have missed that flight and had to take the next available one. The next flight was in the morning - it took a few hours for them to get our (there were a few others to Australia as well) hotel sorted out. It was quite an uncomfortable situation where I lost my mobile, my pre-paid mobile credits on my Chinese SIM got over (and I could not find a place to re-charge) and missed my connecting flight. However I suppose all is well that ends well. Reached Sydney on Saturday night with the rest of my luggage intact.

Photos available here here for your viewing.

So long folks...

Until next time...

C

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

Muscat Mutterings

Muscat had a long weekend last week - Thursday to Saturday (instead of Friday - Saturday). However did manage to have a couple of hours of discussion with a company run by fellow mana vaadus (from Andhra). It was an interesting company where they had everybody "imported" from Andhra -  from car driver, chef to of course the big boss as well. They waited on us so well the last few days we were there. It felt soooo much like home.

Thursday night was a sea food night at the Crowne. Lobsters,  king prawns, fishes grilled to perfection and to your taste. I found a tamilian guy behind a grill. Asked him "nalla urappa pottu kodunga nna" (spice it up pls!!). He was mighty thrilled. He brought a huge bowl of chilli, marinated my selections and grilled them just the way it should be. :-) 

My job got over sooner than expected, but it was too expensive to return a day earlier so stayed on as per my original plan. Friday was quite uneventful. Saturday was quite hectic with an early morning beach combing for sea shells. Came out with a pretty good collection after about 15-20 minutes. Later in the morning ventured out to see the famous Muthra Souk. I guess one of the most touristy spots in Muscat city. It was an interesting scene. There was one main pathway in the "mall" where only gift and souvenir shops existed and the clientele was predominantly tourists from all over the globe. Every few 100 meters there were side gullies where all the local shops where the locals shopped. Anything from dresses to groceries to jewellery. It was an all in one mall.

After shopping I was roaming around taking a few photos which should've attracted a taxi driver. Asked him to take me to an Omani restaurant. Sensing my touristy curiosity he offered to take me on a "scenic route" which only the tourists took for 1 Riyal extra. Eventually landed in the restaurant after a quick tour around the place and government offices. The so called Omani restaurant was run by a fellow Mallu sahib who as been there for 40+ years. 80% of the dishes were what I could get in any multicuisine restaurant in Bangalore. Managed to identify one Omani dish - Chicken Maqboos. It was a good cross between a chicken briyani and fried rice. Took a "parcel" of chicken fry to my colleagues back in the hotel.

Muscat has a huge infiltration of Indians and Filipinos performing a variety of jobs.Filipinos (their "Sir" is such a give away) were mostly in the food and beverage or retail outlets. Indians of course did anything and everything. Their currency is interesting. The primary unit of measure being Riyal (OMR), it is divided into 1000 baisa. There are currency notes upto 100 baisas below which it goes to coins. 1 riyal was close to 3 Aussie $s. However the cost of living seemed quite cheap compared to Oz even after a $ conversion.                    

The return journey was quite eventful as well. Managed to get upgraded to business class using frequent flyer miles from Dubai to Sydney - a 14 hour journey. What can I say....everything was special on that side of the aircraft. Including the toilet which was decorated with a live orchid. Having a built in massage seat does relax a few muscles. ;-) The best part was the incline and leg support. Had to fiddle with the controls initially until I got used to what I can do. I could only remember my first "remembered" flight from Chennai to Singapore (89??)  Now I wonder....if business was so...what will first class be??? Maybe one day.... :-)

So long.... bye for now.

Photos available here.

C

Marhaba (Hello) from Muscat

Hello,

Wishing you all a Very Happy Diwali!! (Belated of course....)

Note: This post has a few links embedded and better to be read on the web than email.

The past few weeks have been quite interesting and eventful, so thought of writing a few lines before it becomes a blur in memory.

It all started with one of my Bangladeshi colleagues coming up to me asking for translation of an Hindi song from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Everybody assumes every Indian should (or must??) know Hindi. Somehow managed with giving him direct translations of few words that I could Google. Guess he was contented with that since he didn't come back. Of course it could be that he figured out my Hindi competency and took pity on me. :-)

The week ended with a very interesting function in Melbourne which was co-sponsored by one of my clients. It was something to do with Melbourne Cup - the race that stops the nation. I actually got to touch and lift the cup and even have some photos taken with it.

Now am in Muscat for a week on an assignment. The journey started with some excitement in the flight. Apparently one of the engines (out of the 4) of the A380 burst. We did not feel much inside maybe for a small jerk which one could expect for a mild turbulence. After 2 hours of flying the flight was grounded back to Sydney. The situation inside the aircraft was very well controlled without creating any panic. In fact I finished watching a movie (Vazhakku En 18/9) without knowing the actual impact of what happened. Apparently that has made some news as well. Landed back in Sydney at around 1.30 AM. Was accomodated in a nearby IBIS hotel. That night was dreadful trying to rebook myself on the next available flight to Muscat. Had to call the help desk every 15-20 minutes to check on status. Finally got myself booked on the 6 AM flight at 4.30 AM. Rushed back to the airport and made it to the gate 10 minutes before boarding. Must appreciate the customer support at Emirates for getting me a seat at such short notice.

Reached Muscat with a short stop over in Dubai. Muscat is surrounded by mountains on one side and the coast on the other. All buildings are either white or a shade of brown in colour. The temperature seems very much like Chennai with a tad lower on humidity. Had been to a "hypermarket" very similar to Total mall in Bangalore. Could see a lot of us around speaking tamil and malayalam. The cost of products seems quite economical compared to Australia. I could see a lot of Indian products in the market from VIP suit cases to Van Heusen shirts manufactured in Bangalore. The key mode of public transport seems to be taxis. The rate had to be negotiated before you get in as no cab has any meter. Fortunately the charges seemed to be quite reasonable for the distance covered.  

I was invited to a "manager's reception" at the Crowne Plaza the day before (where I am eventually staying now) by my fellow colleagues. Later in the evening went to a Turkish sea food restaurant. It was a wonderful feast with lobsters, king prawns and a huge fish which almost looked and tasted like chicken. Muscat (and probably the other middle eastern countries) have an interesting way of beginning the new year. It is not a fixed date every year. It was decided about 2 days ago that this would be a long weekend - from Thursday - Saturday (normally it is only Friday & Saturday).

Had an opportunity to watch an international football (soccer) match between Oman and Japan. It was the FIFA qualifying match for the 2013 world cup. It was quite a close match till the end with each team having a goal on their side. The energy was awesome as soon as Oman scored their first goal. It continued until the last few minutes when Japan had their 2nd goal and the crowd started to leave the stadium.

So long folks. More to follow after my remaining stay in Muscat.

C

"Feather"dale Visit

Hello,

2 weeks ago I got a call from a friend from Phoenix whom I had not spoken since 2007. It was a pleasant surprise and came to know that she was visiting Sydney for a week to tour around. She arrived over the weekend and had shown interest to visit a zoo which was quite close to our house. It is a 10 minute drive from here and we had not taken a chance to see in the last 2.5 years!! Guess it took a visitor from the Wild Wild West for us to look at some next door wilderness!! So we went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park which was tucked inside a quiet suburb nearby-http://www.featherdale.com.au/ .

It was a small zoo which could be covered in a few hours. A very nice idea for a picnic (they allow food to be brought in from outside) on a good weather day. The weather was bearable though it turned out to be a bit nippy towards the later part of the afternoon.

Their primary attraction is the Koala bear. There were "heaps" of them mostly resting in their own cozy spots. It was interesting to see one Koala jump right into a zoo keeper's arms and she was carrying it around like a baby on the hip. There were few other native favourites such as Wombats, Wallabies, Dingos, Tasmanian Red Devil and of course the Roo (Kangaroo). We couldn't see a full grown roo though.

The surprising fact for me was the bird collection they had. Quite a variety for a zoo of that size. Some of the birds were quite "vocal" in showcasing their skills. Should've taken some video to record the melodies. Maybe next time. They had a collection of local and tropical birds. Very colourful indeed. It was a pity for the camera that the birds were in their fenced areas. Still managed to click a few virtually bypassing the fences. It was interesting to see the Peahen and the Peacock. Probably my first time seeing a Peahen? If the male (peacock) is supposed to be the prettier version....why do we correlate that with females in Tamil? It is quite ironical to call a girl "Mayil" - which basically means "not so pretty bird".

One another interesting feature was their "passport ticket". The entry pass had a small map and page with their local species. Next to each exhibit was a stamp pad and seal of that animal. Nandhitha found it "cool" to be stamping each animal. At the end we realized we missed out the Emu and went all the way to the other end of the park to get the stamp. Only to realize that one can stamp everything at one go just near the exit!!! 

Signing off for now...

Have a great week!!

C

Shanghai Connection

Hi,

This last week has been one of the most hectic days with a trip to Shanghai, Melbourne, Nandhitha's singing concert and a dinner party thrown in within a span of 7 days. It felt nice to get back to a routine Monday. :-)

Shanghai - what can I say, truly an experience. I had been there for 2 days for attending a conference where my organization had a booth. It was a first of a kind on several counts from going to China to hosting a booth in a conference. I survived. :-)

The fun began right from Sydney airport where I was the only non-mongolian or non-caucasian looking guy in the aircraft. Usually there is at least one of our brothers or sisters on their way back home. Probably not many prefer a stop over in Shanghai. ;-) Thanks to China Eastern airline's website I did not have any option to select a meal so braced myself for a culinary adventure in the flight. The moment the food came out the plan smelt exactly like a Chinese restaurant.

Have to write a few words about our Chino bhais. They have a tendency to travel in groups (which was a fact that was actually confirmed by an expert in the conference.) Almost everybody in the flight seemed to know each other. The moment the seat belt lights were turned off they got up and started chatting with their mates. I guess they don't trust their own country's airline for food...many had brought dried noodle packs to snack in between. I must admit that I did not have any major problem with the food (had a good fix for my chinese craving for the next couple of days). I guess one doesn't really give a damn for any announcement or sign board. Even if the toilet sign says occupied they try their luck by knocking at the door and even a light bang to see if someone is really inside. It was also funny to see people getting up from the seats the moment the wheels touched the ground on landing. The flight attendants had to rush behind them to sit down.

It was a 10 hour direct flight from Sydney to Shanghai. China Eastern was like 20 years behind on in flight entertainment (IFE as our industry folks call it). There was no personal entertainment screens (leave alone On Demand entertainment). Managed to watch Chinese, Japanese and Korean movies. Of course there was no use of the headset since all I needed was the sub title. One interesting movie (Korean) was "Architecture 101". It is about some high school / university romance and the concepts / drama seemed quite similar to an Indian movie. I guess sentiments are universal. :)

My culinary adventures were quite interesting not because of the cuisine but more due to the language. What can I say...I was not as prepared as some of my colleagues. They prepared printed cue cards of some of the common words they will be using to communicate. My colleague took me to a hawker where he was selling different types of barbeque sticks. There were different kinds of meats and veggies. I tried something that "looked" like chicken meat and also tasted like one. However not sure of what it was actually. :-)

It was a 2 day conference and I had to rush back immediately after the conference. Did not have much time for sight seeing except for a visit to the Bund. Which had the Shanghai sky line with the Pearl tower etc. The weather in Shanghai was just like in Chennai (or Mumbai as some would want to compare). The chinese males had an interesting way to escape the humidity. They all roll up their shirts up to their chest to get some "air". ;-) Anyways... thus ended my Shanghai connection. Not sure if I would want to go back again on my own except for a guided tour or something. One definitely needs a translator around (in whichever form).

Weekend was quite hectic with Nandhitha's first on stage performance for carnatic singing. It was a grand event - Raaga Sangamam 2012. Lots of efforts put in by the teacher, kids and of course the parents. :) It was worth the effort though...

So long folks....

Have A Great Week!!

C

Holidays 2011

HOLIDAYS 2011 - It was a huge one for us. Can't remember the last time I had a few days with absolutely no plan. It started from the eve of christmas eve when the office closed earlier than usual. We had a lunch hosted at our place and had to prepare for it. Saturday was a bit hectic with guests coming over for lunch, but it ended at about 3 PM. From that point it has been a very relaxing holiday (so far!!). We had prepared enough food that lasted us for 2 days. 

After a long time we were able to take the kids to the park nearby. On 26th  we had lunch at my uncle's place in Sydney. A nice spread with a mix of south and north indian delicacies. For a change we were actually on time for lunch and we didn't even have to rush. Thus began our holiday...

Post lunch we left Sydney at around 3 PM and headed out to Coffs Harbour where we had planned our stopover enroute to Brisbane. The drive was quite smooth all along. We were warned about a lot of hold ups due to road work and traffic. Luckily we did not face any hurdles. We did pretty good time and reached Coffs Harbour by 9.45 PM inspite of 2-3 breaks inbetween. Highways in NSW had some unique features compared to a freeway in US. 

1) There were more rest areas to stop and "Revive". The motto being "Stop, Revive & Survive". 

2) The speed limits were variable based on weather conditions. A zone where you could drive at 110 km/hr changes to 80 km/hr when it rains.

3) They had slots to actually turn around in the highway without having to take an exit.

There were quite a few cops around busy earning bonus revenue for the state during the "silly season". 

The motel in Coffs Harbour was just right for a night's stop over. After a long time I slept under a ceiling fan. Coffs Harbour apparently is considered in one of the best ambience in terms of temperature across the world. No complaints there. 

Left early next morning and reached Brisbane at around 2 pm. Thanks to the early start there wasn't much traffic either. They have made some newer roads that our GPS was not updated with. It took us on a "scenic" deviation at some point and rejoined us back on the highway. After a while the GPS tried to do it again, but my 3rd sense told me not to follow it. As we continued on the highway I could see the GPS thoroughly confused with the new roads. Clearly time to update the maps. 

Time in Brisbane was very relaxed. We jumped into the pool right after lunch. The swimming pool was the key "enticing factor" to make Nandhitha leave her "comfort zone" and go a on a long drive. The next day we had a Brioche french toast for breakfast. Brioche is a French bread variety which tastes exactly like a Croissant but not flaky. Later in the evening took my neices out for bowling. Had a decent start with 100 points in the first game, but droped to 80 by the third round. Luckily called it quits by then. Nandhitha had a blast by having her own turn in the lane compared to having a turn here and there when the the adults bowled. 

Did a day trip to a water park nearby called Wet and Wild. Reached there around noon and got our tummys filled up first before we headed to the waters. All of us had a good time. Nandha increased my "adventure" factor even in the most adventureless rides. Holding a revolting toddler on a tube float is not a fun thing to do. Please attempt at your own risk. :-) To my surprise Nandhitha actually made it on the tall water slide. Luckily she was just a tad over the minimum height limit. The best part of this water park was what they called as "Splash Cash". I was given a water proof wrist band which had a bar code. I was able to load with money and the entire day I used it as an "e-wallet" whenever we had to buy something to eat / drink. It was very convenient not to carry around the wallet or risk missing it in some place. Am pretty sure this feature must be available in most water park these days. Just that it has been a while since I had been to one. 

Brisbane has a nice "CBD". We did a few "mistakes" going around thanks to driving without a clear address. Eventually reached the spot where we wanted to be. They had a nice park. The kids play area was a quite unique and modern. We "stumbled" across the artificial beach created in the park. Had to convince Nandhitha that I will "think about it" if she finishes her lunch properly. Had a good chinese lunch and went back to the "beach". Reached back home just in time for a dinner at a desi restaurant. Apparently it had a nice water front view, but we couldn't enjoy at night.

Started back from Brisbane at around 8 AM Sydney time (Brisbane is an hour behind during summer) on our 14 hour drive home. Enroute we took a short deviation to Gold Coast to have a quick peek. The weather was not very supportive and hence we didn't bother to get out of the car. Had a leisurely lunch at Coffs Harbour. None of the restaurants were open except for a small cafe and it turned out to be an excellent choice. Reached home at around 11 PM, just in time to catch the famous fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge - on TV.

New Year was quite hectic with a temple visit followed by a party. Nandhitha did an ex-tempo dance number for "Daddy Mummy veetil illa..". She had originally "practiced" for a Punnagai Mannan song (Kaalam kaalamaaga....) but the request did not reach the DJ on time. Hence switched to something that was readily available. She did a good job actually without fussing about the song that she knew. She had a blast!!

2011 was wonderful. It had quite a few ups and downs. The year ended on a good note with me being awarded with the best project manager for last quarter. 2012 seems quite interesting in many many ways. Let's see how it goes...

Have A Good Year Ahead!!

C

Sydney Updates

Hello,

It's been a while since I could sit down and write about the happenings. Not that nothing happened...way too much happened. Things that I could write about and things that I couldn't as well. It's all good though...

Let me start with a recent visit to a "hairdresser" - note this is no barber shop. This weekend had to get a "hairdo" done before I left on my trip. I couldn't make time to visit my usual one (Chinese/Vietenamese ??)in Parramatta.  Ended up at an Italian place close to home. I think I've seen this in some movie before, but the hair dresser's place seem to be some sort of rejuvenation spot for people. There was this lady who seemed to be pouring her heart out to her hair stylist. Couldn't quite catch the conversation but her facial expressions were quite animated that she would be going out with reduced hair and stress. The guy who "worked" on me was quite good too. He made some "calculated" judgement of what size I should trim my hair to. Of course he started striking a convesation with me. I think the standard is with "Where do you live" and goes on to "What do you do for work?". By then he strikes some common thread to extend the conversation. This experience is different from the Chinese guy. He does the job without a word except for a "looking sumaart eh" at the end.

Nandhitha is dressing up as Mother Teresa for her Tamil school annual day. We did as much as possible to re-create a "Missionaries of Charity" costume with a dhoti with 3 blue stripes at the end. Her dialogue is "மற்றவர்களுக்காக வாழாத வாழ்கை வாழ்கையே அல்ல" (A life not lived for others is not a life). She seems quite confident with the words. Got to see how it goes at the function. Must appreciate her tamil teacher. She has put in a lot of effort training these pre-schoolers. After Vivekananda set the stage with "Arise and Awake..." now it is Mother Teresa. ;-) Wonder how I still remember some traces of that. I think I even remember the toy that I got as the prize.

Emirates - my first experience with them this time. AMAZING is the word. My loyalty towards Singapore airlines is now being questioned - big time. I flew a Boeing 777-300ER (ER = Extended Range). This bird is supposed to fly long hauls upto 14594 Kms. Their inflight touch screen entertainment system is state-of-the-art. It even has a front and bottom camera. Supposedly we can see exactly what the pilot sees and don't have to worry if you did not get a window seat. I didn't see this in Airbus 380. Of course the moment it takes off it is nothing but a grey screen. ;-) The interior deco is quite cool. Very pleasing seat colours and patterns. The best part was the ceiling that lit up after the lights went off. There were scattered white lights attempting to give a feel of a starry night cloud. The flight from Sydney to Dubai was quite empty. I had my entire 3-seat row for myself to stretch.

The restroom in the flight was quite unique. It had different warning messages in different languages in various places. Too different eh!! It was!! For instance the instruction to wipe the toilet seat was in Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi (seemed like it), Kannada (or Telugu) and probably some other script (Chinese / Japanese). However not in English. The sign for not smoking was in English, Arabic etc and had Russian which was not found anywhere else. Almost seemed to target specific customers from specific origins. The complimentary toileteries was also given in a very decent bag. 

Listened to Vivaldi 4 Seasons after a long long time. A good start for a 14 hour+ long journey. Watched Dhobi Ghat - something that was in my "To See" list for a long time. A very different movie of course. Even though it seemed to end with some logical conclusion leaves it open for interpretation big time. 

That's all for now. To continue later after I manage to kill the remaining 6 hours in Dubai airport.

Have A Great Weekend!!

C

First Australian Road Trip

Hello,

Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was fabulous with a fairly quiet ending.

This weekend we celebrated the Labour Day in Australia well...in New South Wales. Labour Day is celebrated on different days in different states in Australia. In NSW it was celebrated this weekend. I am not sure if I should call it a coincidence to have it as the day after the National Rugby League ( NRL) Grand Finals.  Am sure a day off would help who had a beer or 2 to recuperate.

So...being a long weekend some of our friends planned to get on a short road trip to Canberra - the Capital city. We were 13 people (including 3 kids) in 3 cars. This happens to be our first Australian road trip. Road trip considering the fact we drove and stayed in some place. Have done longer drives, but they were more of day trips. Anyways....we set sail from Westmead at around 8 AM. Enroute we stopped at a Macca's (Mc'donald's) for breakfast at a village called Picton. From the freeway we saw signs for "food" and took the exit. Only then did we realize it was a 10 km deviation from the freeway. It seemed like an all Aussie village. I guess they might not have seen so many Indians at the same time.

From Picton our next stop was at Bowral. There was a tulip festival going on with approximately 100k tulips. There were some interesting colour combinations of tulips. The best that caught my eye was a simple light pink tulip. That is were the most dreaded thing happened - our camera battery went out of power and I knew I had left the charger at home. So if you are wondering why you are not seeing any photos here - this is the reason. Our first Aussie road trip sans the camera. It was such a bummer. Guess we will have to repeat the same trip again some other time. Hopefully I will have a good camera as well by then.

The next stop was at a rest / picnic area somewhere along the way. We had taken "kattu saadham" - typical south indian "picnic food" for lunch. Bisi Belebath, Cauliflower and Carrot poriyals (stir fried veggies) & Curd Rice. There was even Mysore Pak imported from India. It was a different experience having a picnic under a 10 deg C weather with decent wind factor as well (hence the bisi). After the re-fuelling session our next stop was at the Australian War Memorial. It was a nice museum I suppose with collections from the various wars that the Aussies participated. As I mentioned in an earlier story,  none of the wars were fought to either safe guard Australia or to avenge someone who hurt the Aussies. It was all to support the Queen Mother or Big Uncle Sam. But they did seem to have gone around the world for others. The view from the memorial was pretty good with the Aussie Parli (ament) at the other end.

After watching the closing down ceremony, we headed towards our cabin. It was more of an urban campsite. It was a cross between a campsite, an RV park and a motel. We had booked 2 cabins for our gang. After a bit of settling down we left for the night show at Floriade. That was the key highlight (supposedly) of the trip. Had a tough time finding a parking spot - was almost about to get my car into the water. The weather was so cold for us to enjoy the time there. We were prepared for the cold but probably not prepared enough. The kids were beginning to get quite uncomfortable and it was almost time to wrap up. Had whatever that was available and edible for dinner.

The next morning started with an in-situ breakfast in the cabins with scrambled eggs (mushrooms for the veggies) and toast.  We started with a visit to the Parliament house. It wasn't a huge structure compared to White House or for that matter our own Parliament. Not even as grand as Vidhana Soudha from the outside. Again, the view back from the Parliament house to the Memorial was nice. Being the first Parliament house I've ever been to not able to compare to anything else on the interiors. After the sights, had our lunch in the cafe there. Pretty good stuff for a parliament canteen. 

From the Parliament house we headed towards the Telstra towers. It have us a nice 360 degree view of Canberra from the viewing tower. We saw the storm coming from afar and before we could get out to our cars we had to get drenched. Time was running short as we had one last stop before we could head home. It was the miniature garden where they had replicas of some of world's monuments. For India, it was the Red Fort. Guess the red colour had washed way in the rain because it looked quite brown. Did a few rounds on the mini train. That's where I learnt "Chuga Chuga choo choo...chuga chuga choo choo Train Coming Through" from Nandhitha.

Headed back to Sydney with a pit stop at Goulburn at some "historic" cafe. This trip was quite memorable. Going on a road trip with 2 young ones can be quite "interesting" just by itself. Thankfully we went with a group of people who lent a helping hand many a times. It had all the expected routines of throwing up and cleaning up. We are now masters of handling those situations. After a long time listened to Tamil songs while driving. Nandhitha was co-ordinating a "dance show" where we had to dance seated in the car. Whenever a female voice sings it her turn to dance and if it is male then it is mine. At times she got confused when there was just music playing. We had a grand finale to the trip with a great dinner at Sri Annapurna - Liverpool.  After a looong time had parotta kurma - South Indian style (the veggie version).  Thanks to our trip "Manager" Gayathri for organizing this. :-)

Have A Great Week

C

Trip to India - USA - July-August 2011 - Part 2

This last week has been the most craziest week in a long long time. Starting the day in Australian time zone and ending the day in IST is definitely not fun. However it has been a very interesting week as well. Got to meet all my team members and colleagues in Gurgaon. Some of them for the first time. We had a great team party at a club called Jolly Rogers. This time in Gurgaon there was the "Kavarias" (SIC) (pronounce kavadias) yatra going on. It's about Shiva devotees carrying the Kawar - which we call as Kavadi in Tamil Nadu. 

Every airline check-in brings in a bit of a twist. This time I was carrying a whole bunch of boxes as mementos to be given to customers. I was expecting to be charged for overweight. At the counter the lady offered 2 options - one cheaper and one more expensive. That was a pleasant surprise. Checked in my hand luggage as well for a charge. Worked out just fine because I could just carry along my laptop bag. Met with Anand (my VP) post immigration and had a good time chatting with him. 

I flew Lufthansa for the first time - clearly they are ages behind Singapore airlines even with a Boeing 747 aircraft. Boarding was done like a herd of sheep getting into the aircraft - no seat number wise boarding. There was no individual monitors available in the aircraft. Guess I got too spoilt by the A380 in SQ. Frankfurt - wow - what an airport!!!! For the first time I saw people had to queue up to go to the restroom. It was so small and cramped. Germany - you disappointed me.

This seems to be the longest week as well spanning multiple time zones, so I get 1 extra day. :-) The hotel in Denver was quite comfortable. It was the Embassy Suites part of the Hilton group. Had a decent spread for the morning breakfast buffet. The few days in Denver zoomed past pretty quick as well. We had a team bowling party. Did a few strikes in 2 games. Not bad for bowling every other year or so. Jetlag was awful. I was confused between Aussie, Indian and Denver time zones. Caught up with whatever sleep I could. Managed to eat most of my american favourites which I've been missing in Sydney. The highlight being - Clam Chowder. I had been to Red Lobster with a client. He was a food lover as well so we had a lot in common to talk about other than work. Caught up with a old friend of mine (Naveen) whom I probably met after almost 12 years - Thanks to Facebook.

The Denver airport had a cool feature in the underground train shuttle which takes passengers between terminals. They had installed tiny fans along the tunnel which rotates as the train passes by in full speed. I am guessing that it could be to generate some wind energy. The flight to Atlanta was quite uneventful. Met up with the rest of the team at Atlanta airport. It was good timing since one group flew from Kansas City and we were able to pile up together on the trip to the hotel.

The hotel in Atlanta was quite spacious probably the same size as our apartment or maybe even larger. However it was not as nice as in Embassy suites. They had worn down sofas that went in completely as you plomp in. Even worse I had plumbing problems with the toilet. Being used to "manage" such issues before I was able to use it - didn't expect this in a hotel. I had an habit of not dressing up until after breakfast during this stay. It turned out to be a disaster when I did the same on the day of the presentation. Everybody else were suited and booted at the breakfast table and I was there in my t-shirts and shorts. Everybody asked if I was actually presenting that day. What an embarassment!!! My first impression with a senior management person in the company would've gone down the drain. Oh well...

The presentation went on well (I suppose!!). Of course there were some lessons learnt along the way. More on that in a separate post. It was more than a month of preparation with at least 10 versions before we could get to the final version. So much for talking for 15 minutes!! :-)  Atlanta - it was about 90% populated by people who had originated from the African continent. I had a tough time communicating with some of them when I had to ask for directions to take the right bus or train. You mix up the African American with the Southern (US) accent - you've got a killer there. ;-) Caught up with Murali in the evening. He was staying downtown Atlanta. Had to take a bus and a train to get there. Had great Chinese food at one of his regular spots. They even remembered his favourite table. The weather was just like in Chennai. 90 deg+ and as humid as it can be. 

Left back for Delhi on Friday afternoon. Good Bye America - for now!!. USA - it was interesting to observe as a visitor. Every suburb is like a template. It had to have the same elements in the type of shops. Everything looked the same including the structure within the office  even the cafeteria. Everything looked so similar to how it used to be in Phoenix. The flight back from Atlanta was a very pleasant surprise. It was a A340 aircraft and seems like Lufthansa has some decent aircrafts too. ;-) It was very much like A380 in terms of the entertainment features available. Finally I travelled without ordering for "special" meals and ate like a "commoner" in the flight. We had an interesting announcement to shut down the window on night fall. The captain said it will be a very short night tonight, so please close the window before you sleep so you don't disturb other passengers. I just had dinner but it is breakfast in Australia. To sleep or not to sleep has been the biggest question.

The 4+ hour wait in  Frankfurt was a quite boring. Frankfurt airport doesn't have much to offer except for one big BAYER sign revolving. However the terminal I had to board the Delhi flight was definitely much better than where I boarded for the US flight earlier last week. At least this terminal had WIDE toilets and didn't have to queue up outside. Travelled a window seat after a long time. Not by choice but by a request from a fellow traveller whose wife get's sick near the window. Interestingly there was another European traveller who said "Are you travelling alone - my LIFE (wife) is sitting there and I would like to sit next to her." I am pretty sure he didn't mean life but couldn't say wife. :-) Am beginning to hate Boeings. Frankfurt - Delhi was a Boeing 747 and it didn't have the individual TV. :-( Ended up listening to some old hindi songs and a hindi movie in the overhead monitor (without hearing the dialogues).

Trip to India - July 2011 - Part 1

Hi,

This is first of the series of posts around my recent travel to India and then to US.

Had an early start at 4 AM. Got ready just in time for the cab to come at 5. Had an interesting cab ride to the
airport with an Afghani cabbie. In the 30 minute or so ride he gave me the basics of being a cabbie and what it takes to own a "plate". Apparently it costs about 400 thousand dollars to be able to own a license for a taxi (just the license not the car). The revenue potential seemed quite high - probably close to revenues from a medium range apartment in Sydney.

The check-in was a bit funny. The Singapore Airlines carry on luggage limits for economy says 1 piece of baggage upto 7 kilos and a extra allowance for a laptop. My hand luggage excluding the laptop was just over 7 kg. The agent says, "I'll allow you to take it together,but once in the aircraft you need to remove your laptop from the bag.". When I asked her the reason for it, apparently it is due to hazard restrictions in Australia that one should not get hit with a luggage more than 7 kg (if it topples over someone's head from the overhead bin).

The A380 experience - someone claimed that the economy was as good as business class in terms of space or maybe I heard it wrong. It does seem to have just a wee bit of extra legroom and maybe a few centimetres of extra width. Apart from that nothing great about the space. However the inflight entertainment system definitely rocks. For the first time I have seen actually something "informative" apart from the usual movies, music and games. There were book reviews, information about cultural practices in different countries. It was interesting to read about Indian business practices - very frank.

The flight overall was good. Had the entire row of 3 seats for myself. Got to see a Singaporean movie (My Magic)- which was apparently submitted for Oscars. It was truly Singaporean because it was a mix of Tamil, Malay & Chinese. It is a story about a stage performer turned drunkard. Not a movie for those faint at heart. Finally caught up with "Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya". Singapore Airlines continues to impress me with their customer service. There was one "uncle" in the next row who had chosen a vegetarian meal. I guess he changed his mind in the last minute and he wanted the normal meal served to general public. The hostess politely refused his request.The best part was she came back and checked with him if he would like that to be changed in his next segment to Delhi. That is customer service - inspite of the fact that he was quite a "high maintenance" traveler (with frequent requests). The "Uncle" beside me was interesting. After a "few" pegs of whiskey the hostess comes around with the freshening towel and he asks "Hot or cold?". :-)

Had a great time in Singapore. Got picked up by Mamai and Athai from airport around 2.30 PM. Went straight to Mustafa shopping center to finish some shopping. Got a new camera - a Panasonic. The best part of the camera was when the salesman took a photo of a mini table fun running nearby and it captured as if the blades were stationary. Here's a sample of what I took at the hotel of a normal running fan.

After relaxing a bit at Mamai's house went to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner along with Uma akka and Sanku. Had the Singapore famous - "Pepper Crab".

Tried several other dishes couple of spinach varieties in different sauces. Sambal prawns tasted pretty good here. Now I can compare the Malaysian food in Sydney, yes the taste was quite comparable to what I get in Sambal. Post dinner went to the Sands hotel with an idea to go up to the top.
We spent so much time trying to get a parking spot, that it got too late by then.

Walked around the hotel complex and saw some nice laser cum musical fountain shows.

Singapore to Delhi was quite uneventful. Slept through the whole time after being awake for close to 22 hours.

The international airport at Delhi was quite cool. Especially the shower and nap facilities they had was close to what they offer in Singapore. Had a great time with most of my team members today over lunch. Many of them I was meeting for the first time in person.

Jet lag is slowly kicking in right about now at around 9 PM IST. Hope it gets fixed soon.

Guess I've made up for not being able to write earlier. :-)

Have A Great Week!!

C