Wining, Dining and Bungee jumping!

When we visited India the past February, the idea for another trip started getting kicked around. We had so much fun in Italy that we wanted to do another 'family' trip. As AV, SB, Indu and I started talking about trip ideas AK and BT got interested too. And eventually we were 7 of us including ST.

See, how many ever times you cross the equator and check if the water really drains down the toilet clockwise you can never be sure (or is it anti-clockwise or is it all just a myth?!), so we decided the trip had to be over the equator once again! And that's how we ended up picking New Zealand as our destination - well, atleast that's why I voted for NZ!

After the usual long flight, we landed in Auckland. And to our pleasant surprise, it took us less than 10 minutes from collecting our bags to walking into our hotel room. Yes, Novotel hotel at the Auckland airport is actually right across the exit door of the airport. Its such a great feeling to walk into your hotel room after a 20 hour journey within minutes of landing.

The next morning we met up with AV and SB and flew out to Queenstown. The landing approach to Queenstown airport was just breathtaking. We flew over the stunning Remarkables and the Lake Wakatipu. We had booked a vacation home with a view of the lake and the mountains. And what a view it was. At this point, I should note that one has to try really, really hard to find a place in NZ that doesn't have a great view!

By late afternoon AK, BT and ST had joined us too. Since we had chosen Spring time to travel to NZ, it was not crowded yet. We were able to walk about and take our time enjoying the beauty. Its hard to rank the places we visited in NZ based on the beauty aspect but I think Queenstown beats out the other places by a tiny margin. Ofcourse its the first night in NZ and what do people vote to eat? Yes, that's right, we went to an Indian restaurant. I was actually surprised at the number of resident Indians we saw in NZ.  Back to Queenstown, the next morning we boarded a bus to Milford Sound. It was a long ride but it was very scenic. And yes, Milford Sound looks as stunning in real life as it looks in the movies and post cards! We cruised on the Sound for an hour and saw some stunning mountain peaks and waterfalls.

Milford Sound - Land of the Hobbits!

The next day was the big day. We took the gondola up the nearby mountain in Queenstown. This is where the Ledge bungy was located. Ohh what a stunning location it was to bungy jump.

Allow me to try and paint a picture for you. Imagine you are up a mountain which is about 1000 feet up. Now imagine you are surrounded by a breath taking view of snow capped mountains with a huge lake in front of you. Add to this a beautiful day with blue skies and few patches of clouds. And now imagine suited up in a harness with a rope attached to your back. Add to this standing on the edge of a cantilevered ledge which is hanging off a cliff with nothing below it for a few hundred feet. Now take a few steps back from the edge, close your eyes, breathe for a second, open your eyes, run for the edge of the ledge and leap into nothingness with your arms and legs extended like a star. And remember to keep your eyes open for the next few seconds. As gravity forces you to twist to face down, the view of the snow capped mountains and the lake slides up your field of vision replaced by the view of the ground and the trees on the mountain side. Now this view doesn't change, instead it rushes up to you at an incredible speed for the next couple of seconds. As you start to realize you have a frozen brain - either from the indescribable fear of the ground rushing at you or the indescribable beauty of the surrounding - the rope yanks you back and your brain is jarred back into action. And then the usual stuff happens - you bounce around, you get pulled back up to the ledge, you get out of the harness, you cant stop shaking from the adrenaline rush as people hi-fi you and all the while you cant believe you are stupid enough to actually jump off a cliff with nothing but a rope attached to you! And Indu followed it up bravely with her own jump after a bit of goading by AV and she yelling at the jump master (yes really, she yelled at the poor man for counting down for her jump!). AV had one of the best jumps style wise and AK's jump actually inspired Indu to go for it too.

Stunning location for a bungy jump!

Now back to our trip. The next day we flew back to Auckland and embarked on our great NZ road trip. Over the next 6 days we would travel over 600 miles conquering lush mountains, freezing coasts, windy roads... ok I am dramatizing this a bit because it was after all a min-van that we were driving, but it was a great road trip. I was so glad we chose to drive. We were able to randomly stop at some stunning locations and even just park on the side of a state highway, walk to the middle of the highway, sit down and take a photograph! This reminds me, once you get out of Auckland, you get this feeling that you see more cattle than humans. You can drive for miles without crossing another vehicle!

Sitting in the middle of a state highway

Our first stop was at Whitianga. We stayed at an amazing Bed & Breakfast called 'On the Beach' and the name could not have been any more appropriate. It was a beautiful house right on the beach run by a lovely old couple - Gordon and Diana. The next morning was a shocker. I opened the curtains and felt something was out of place and it took me a few minutes to figure out what was out of place. Right there on their flag pole was an Indian flag! Apparently Gordon has many flags and he hoists the appropriate one based on who is staying in their B&B that day! Funnily SB, AK and Indu were scared of Diana because she looked very strict! And of course we had another shocker that night. We headed out to dinner to the town, I would actually say its a tiny tourist village. As we finished dinner and headed back to our van, there was a huge siren, not like the ones on ambulances but like the ones on big mines. We were confused and wasn't sure what was happening. In fact I was afraid that it might be a tsunami warning. So we went back into the restaurant to learn that it was a fire alarm. Apparently the town has an all volunteer fire service and that's the way to call in the volunteers from their homes if there is a need! Oh well, if the town is tiny enough I suppose it doesn't hurt to wake up the entire town even if one house had a small fire. The next day we hiked to Cathedral Cove which was quite a sight. That evening we had a surreal experience at the Hotwater beach. It was surreal because we were sitting in a hot pool of water on a beach a few feet from the freezing waves on a frigid day! On this beach there is a hot spring that you can reach only during low tide. So for a couple of hours when the tide is low you go in, dig a hole to trap the hot water that oozes out and on its way to drain into the ocean. You then sit in that hole with hot water refreshing you as you look out to the freezing ocean! Of course once in a while the wave gets its revenge and overruns the holes and you will see everyone bolting upright and jumping around in the cold until the wave recedes and holes fill back with the hot water! That was a funny sight to watch. So yes, wherever you stay around Whitianga, they provide you with a tiny shovel and beach towels just to go visit the hot water beach!

The view from the living room of our B&B.

We then drove on to Rotorua where we stayed for a couple of days. On our way we stopped at a really scenic coffee shop overlooking the back waters. Did I mention that its really, really hard to find a place in NZ without a great view?! The highlight of Rotorua was the Tree Hut vacation rental home we stayed in. It was a log cabin built on the side of a mountain overlooking Lake Tarawera. It was quite a steep hike up to get to the house - to the extent that our van could not make it up the driveway. But that meant we had a great view and the log cabin was in the middle of a jungle. We also went to some really good restaurants here. In addition, AV's friend JS joined us one evening and he brought with him his delicious marinated chicken dish! And Indu continued her tradition of introducing and hooking people into her favorite Moscato wine. This trip it was AK's turn to be corrupted by Indu!

We finished our loop back in Auckland. The city was a fun place. We spent a day visiting the Waiheke island wineries. The island was very beautiful and I am not saying that just because of all the wine tasting we did there! I forget, did I mention its really, really hard to find a place in NZ without a great view? The next day we just went around the city and I had one of the best waffles I have ever had in my life! Oh yes, I should also mention the yummy crème brule we had at SB's aunt's house. She makes one kick ass crème brule.

Ofcourse I cant warp this up without talking about our hero ST! He was our hero because he could not stop himself from posing for pictures from all conceivable angles. BT was the poor official photographer for ST. And ST kept providing us some quality entertainment the whole trip. And ofcourse the driving style of AV. It was obvious that this was his first experience driving in a regulated traffic where turn signals mean something! I kept reminding him that unlike India, in NZ, he had to follow traffic rules, stay in the lane and use turn signals even to change lanes. He would nod his head. And what does he do, he switches lanes and then turns on the signal. And he assures me he followed rules by using signals for lane change and looks at me funny why I complain about the ordering of those tasks!

How to invent a new sport during your vacation....

1. Identify a great location and resort for your vacation.
2. Realize that they have water sports that includes kayaking.
3. Completely miss the fact that the beach is calm only because of an underwater reef a hundred feet out in the water.
4. Absolutely underestimate the power of a windy day even though the weather advisory flag on the beach is flying red that particular day.
5. Rent the kayak, paddle out to the sea with ease since you have a tail wind.
6. After some time try to turn around.
7. Now let all the facts add up and let it slowly dawn on you that you are in trouble because of the windy day and you need to paddle back on to the head wind.
8. Let the wind take you to wherever it pleases. This means taking you to the other end of the beach which ofcourse is half a mile away from where you wanted to land!

What do you end up with? Yes, a new sport that you just invented! What sport, you ask? The sport is called the "Walk the Kayak". Or if you want the elaborate full name, its called, "Walk the Kayak on the beach under a mountain of humiliation while a ton of people sun bathing in the beach are smirking at you!" Yes, we had to lug our kayaks for more than half a mile along the beach back to our launch point. The wind kept pushing us into the beach where people were swimming and we just decided to walk it instead. Here is the kicker. On the walk back, IK decided it was too funny, abandoned the new sport, sat down on the beach and started laughing her butt off. But hey, it was a great conversation starter with strangers!

Since I don't have a picture of my humiliation, AB generously offered to share his!

So all this happened in the "Yeah Mon" land of Jamaica. The location and the beach were gorgeous. We are now officially spoiled for resort style winter vacation! It was great to spend 4 days with long lost school friends. Ahh, more importantly, being outside the US, we were able to splurge on real Cuban cigars. Another one of my bucket list items ticked off. The $20 cigar took me two days to huff and puff through. Not that I liked it or enjoyed it but hey, a bucket list is a bucket list that should be treated seriously.

Jamaica is known for its easy going, Weed smoking style. And we got a great first hand experience of it. The resort does a good job of keeping hawkers off the beach during the day. Once the sun sets and the beach empties, you will notice one or two enterprising hawkers paddling up to the beach in their kayak with their wares to sell. AB and I were very impressed with their enterprising style and AB decided that he was going to like whatever crappy, hand made item the guy showed us. He even discovered after all these years that sea shells make a ocean noise when you hold it near your ears. And he insists that he never knew that sea shells can do that and he thought it was special and unique to Jamaican sea shells. So I decided to go up to the room to get some cash. On my way out, IK came over to help AB with her formidable bargaining skills. That's when disaster struck. At least in IK's mind it was a disaster and she reacted appropriately! AB swears that I missed IK's sprint of her life back into the resort like she had seen a ghost. All this happened because the guy tried to sell some Weed to AB and pulled out a packet of Weed to show AB! IK saw the packet of Weed, realized what the guy was trying to sell them and apparently took off like a rocket! So, yes, it was indeed a fun trip.

Pizza, Pasta and the leaning tower of Pisa!

Ok, age is catching up, getting too lazy and memory has become a pricey commodity. So let me capture our Italy trip before the memory of the trip says permanent good bye.

Glorious Italy

Italy has long been on the bucket list. But I always felt Italy should be visited with the special someone. So this time around the timing was right with IK also very enthused about Italy. As a bonus we also had AV and SB joining us from India. So the trip really turned out to be special.

After doing quite a bit of research, fussing over the dates and fretting over TripAdvisor reviews, we finally booked our trip leaving a few details open so we can adjust our trip as we went.



By the way, after travelling a bit around the world, I can confidently say that the long flights to and from home is always painful and the worst part of any trip. Mind you, not that we were unlucky with flight delays or other mishaps. Its just the length of the flight and the connections. Living in the north west corner doesn't help too. But I learnt one cool trick. If you ask for special meals, you get your food first before everyone else. This way you don't have to be eagerly waiting and anticipating what food options they have and what you will end up getting, though you very well know you will hate any food that they serve on flights! But the downside of getting your food first is, now you are the sole focus of the entire two rows around you. Try eating when there are a dozen eyes staring at you eating your food! So I usually give up and just wait until everyone gets their food. Not because I am courteous but because I am uncomfortable.

Finally we were at the Rome airport. We told AV/SB that we will try to meet them at the airport. But they were nowhere to be seen. So we decided we will take the train into the city and figure our way to the hotel. Since it was already evening when we landed and we didn't have any plans for that night, we figured we will have lots of time even if we got lost taking the public transport instead of a cab to the hotel. Though it turned out to be straight forward to get to our hotel using the train.

Before I go on, I should mention that the ticketing system for the train from airport to Roma Termini was either designed to be a trap or I am missing something absolutely big! Here is what happens from the moment you are at the train station in the airport with respect to the tickets: you buy a ticket at the kiosk, swipe the ticket in front of a gate that lets you into the platform, punch the ticket at a machine on the platform, show the ticket to the ticket checker inside the train. Do you notice that there are four separate instances from when you get the ticket to exiting the train where it can be, must be and is validated? I can partially understand this complicated system for an in town metro system but for a dedicated train that goes straight from airport to the city, I am not sure why you need so many checks. But hey, who am I to question their system. As long as they don't use it as a tourist trap I am happy to learn that Rome likes to confuse the hell out of a first time tourist to this great city!

Oh, and what do we do as soon as we land in Rome? IK and I fight on the train! Not even sure now what it was about but we has such long faces until we reached our hotel. Hey, don't judge, try to take a 12 hour flight, trying to sleep on the flight, trying to eat the crappy flight food with a dozen eyes staring at you! I actually pencil in feeling grumpy and annoyed at everything as part of the schedule of any long itinerary!!

Now that we are in Rome city, we walk to our hotel from the station. Hotel Rex is a 400 year old building and we loved the interior. It was pretty comfortable and had a lot of charm. Yes, we did discover what a bidet was and had no clue how to use it before looking up online! And though the room was a decent size, the shower was tiny! You get a few bumps and bruises as part of the showering process!

I love the way they try to squeeze in an elevator in these multi century old buildings in Italy! Invariably, the elevators are tiny and even a couple of people with backpacks is a pretty tight squeeze. And you wont believe how super slow they are. I know the saying goes "Rome was not built in a day" but by the time these elevators reach the 3rd floor, I am sure Rome could have been built from scratch, razed to the ground and rebuilt again to all its glory! But again, aren't these charming tidbits the reasons we travel?

After AV/SB reached the hotel and we caught up especially on the Indian snacks they had brought us, we were ready for our great week of vacation together. We decided we will get some dinner and the front desk at Hotel Rex was awesome with great maps and suggestions. We headed out to some random Pizzeria nearby and loved the al fresco dining style of Italian restaurants. We went all al fresco all the time during our stay in Italy! :)

Now is the time to talk about house wines. We have read about trying out a lot of wines in Italy, especially the house wines since they are unique to each restaurant. IK and I are used to wines but I think we got AV/SB hooked into wines in Italy. I believe except for breakfasts, we had wine with every meal for the next 9 days! And yes, they were very good and AV was specific on having Red for lunch and White for dinner so we had a good mix of wines. Ohh, of course add to it the countless Tiramisus and the other fine desserts.

Now to actual Rome sights. We started with the Colosseum the next day. It was a pretty impressive sight. The irony though is that all the details I could relate with Colosseum was not from my history class but was actually from the Gladiator movie! We then headed to the Roman Forum. Of course as typical tourists, we took a ton of pictures, got lost within the site a few times, complained about the sun though it was a great weather to be a tourist. The grandeur and the size of the structures knowing that it was built more than twenty centuries ago was what impresses you. In the evening, we headed to the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain. I personally loved these places not just for the sights but for the international tourist crowd we saw there. I bet we could have easily counted at least 50 different nationalities and languages.

One good decision we made was to walk to all these sights. They were all within 30 minutes of walking distance from our hotel. This allowed us to explore side streets, stop at pizzerias that were out of the way from tourist crowd. For example, we were at a cross section where at each corner there were stunning statues built facing the intersection. And we ended up what looked like a hole in the wall restaurant nearby. But it turned out to be a charming family style restaurant inside with some great food and house wine.


The other example was the sunset from the Quirinale plaza. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time on our walk to the Pantheon. What a sight it was. It was picture perfect sunset with the Italian roof tops in the foreground and the St. Peter's Basilica at a distance with the sun setting behind it. I highly recommend this location for sunset in Rome. And as the picture shows, my terrible photography skills doesn't do an iota of justice to the real beauty.

The next day we visited the Vatican in the morning. The museum was huge and rich in history. But I was bored after a while. Not really the museum kind I suppose. But the St. Peter's Basilica was mighty impressive. The climb up the dome and the view from the top was worth the climb. By the way, booking your tickets online for all the major Italian sights is an absolute must. Otherwise you will find yourself in a long ticket queue for a couple of hours for each sight.





That evening we walked down to the Pantheon. Though the other 3 were not impressed with it that much and wandered out to shop, I absolutely loved the Pantheon, especially its facade. Just sitting in the plaza you can keep taking in the beauty of this great piece of architecture forever.

Before we move out of Rome, I need to capture our experience in the train station where we went to buy tickets for the next day to Pisa and Cinque Terre. This is where I need to introduce the great style of AV and how thorough he is. And this is where I need to commend the patience of Italians especially public officials handling our great AV. All we wanted to buy was tickets from Rome to Levanto with a stop at Pisa. As usual AV had a 1000 different questions for the ticket official. Add in to this the language and accent barriers! I was just waiting for the official to throw his computer at us for asking so many clarifications and re verifying every piece of info a hundred times. In fact the official was more patient that I was and when it came to book tickets from Levanto to Venice I decided to short circuit this whole process and just went and bought it from a kiosk! But that is the strength of AV and I suppose people who know AV will agree that he can drive you nuts sometime with his questions! :) But it was good to see him in action again after a long time. I still remember the day in India many years back when we were buying a pair of shoes and I was sure he was going to break it while "testing" it before buying it.

Moving on. I always thought visiting Pisa was a cliche. I read somewhere an interesting quote about Pisa saying that it was the most overrated and heavily visited architectural blunder in history. But Pisa was on our way to Levanto so we decided to stop over for few hours. But I am glad we did. Forget the leaning aspect of the tower, the setting of the tower with its accompanying buildings and the well manicured lawns were breathtaking. The day was beautiful with few clouds and we had a post card scene right in front of us.


We then headed over to Levanto. What a beautiful sea side village it was. I am glad my Italian friend GG suggested this place. It was quiet and less touristy compared to Cinque Terre. And we stayed in a small B&B called Rosa dei Venti and we absolutely loved our hostess Mama Rosa. I would say meeting and interacting with her was the best experience of the entire Italy trip. She didnt know much English but the language didnt matter when it came to her genuine affection. The room, the location, her breakfast were just perfect and was worth the long trip to Italy.

The next two days we shuttled between the five villages of Cinque Terre. The location was stunning but it was too touristy for our liking. The hike along the cliffs looking out to the ocean between the villages were just magnificent. We loved the cliff top bar where we stopped for a drink and tried to capture the view for eternity. We just didn't want to leave that bar or Levanto. We were so tempted to cancel the rest of our itinerary and just stay around the Cinque Terre area. I believe IK wants to go settle down there! :)


Of course we had to drag ourselves out of Levanto and head to Venice. I loved Venice, especially the tenacity of the city to not give in to the force of nature and the rising sea. I loved the narrow alleys and the waterways. You can actually see the rise and fall of the water level of the water ways over a period of few hours. In fact as usual the other 3 went shopping in St. Mark's square and I opted to sit to people watch. Right during that one hour, I saw the square going from completely dry to having puddles of water bubbling up from the ground as the tide rose! I am amazed that the architecture is still holding with its constant never ending war with the tide.

After a week of non stop Pizzas and Pastas, you could imagine our reaction when we caught sight of an Indian restaurant in Venice. In fact, I was taking some pictures and the rest of the gang were somewhere close to me. After a few seconds I heard them yelling at me from across the canal almost 200 yards away standing in front of the restaurant. I couldn't believe they were able to cross that much distance in such a short time when it came to spicy, yummy Indian food! :) Not that I complained. You can only have so much pasta in a week. Actually we met an American couple in the restaurant who shared the same sentiment!

And I do recommend wandering in Venice early in the morning before the tourist groups come in from the mainland. It is such a different Venice without the crowds and you get to see the locals getting ready for business and brace for the onslaught of the crowds. You also get entire sections of alleys and waterways to yourself with no distractions.

Before I wrap up this post, I need to talk about the dining style of Italians. We had read about slow service, the long and relaxed dining style of Italians. We were prepared for slow service or so we thought we were! But even after knowing the speed of service, you are never actually prepared for the slow speed! I think eating as a necessity and quick service is so ingrained into our mindset that you invariably end up being shocked at the slow speed of service. But given how consistently tasty the meals were and the stunning locations we dined in, I did learn at least a bit about enjoying a good, relaxed meal by the time I left Italy!

The Serengeti's Big 5

2011 has been a great year for travel. Indu and I started the year in China and ended it in Mexico. In between it was NY, Niagara, SFO and Grand Canyon in the US and the one big trip to Africa. Given I am getting older and its been 2 months since we did the Africa trip, its time to write it down before I forget.

Since Mr.M told about his Kenya trip a few years back, doing the wildlife safari in Africa's Serengetti has been stuck in the back of my mind. As life would have it, there have been so many other distractions... ohh say, like getting married... and other trips to other places, and the Africa trip was still in the back burner. With Indu (by now the connection should be clear... Indu is my - air quoted - better half! :p ) also very excited about travel and with M&A and others also getting excited about Africa and the stars aligning the right way, it was time for Africa. And what a trip it was. One of the best trips ever.

Before getting into the awesome details of this awesome trip (I need to use an abbrv for the word 'awesome' since its going to pop a zillion times in this post, but I promise to control myself!), I first need to get the rant out of the way. The travel from the US to Tanzania was a looooooong one. Let me repeat that to justify my rant. It was loooooooooooong. On the way in, the flight time was 22 hours, on the way back it was even worse... 30 hours and one stretch was 17 hours - Adis Ababa to Washington, DC. Actually we started from Zanzibar on our way back and the route was Zanzibar to Dar-es-salam to Arusha to Mombasa to Adis Ababa to Rome to Washington, DC to Seattle! Thats 6 stops touching 5 countries! Now having ranted about the flights, it was still definitely worth the trip and we will happily repeat it if we get a chance!

Here is the picture story... lets start with our favorite Simba from Lion King... but this time for real in its real habitat and not some animation!

Lion pride

We were 6 of us (Mrs.A, Mr.M, Mr.A, Mr.N, Indu and I) and left Seattle at different times promising to converge in Arusha, Tanzania. All of us landed at the Kilimanjaro International Airport at different times. This airport is right at the base of Kilimanjaro and believe me, none of us saw the actual mountain since it was covered with low hanging clouds all the time - even on our way out a week later... that was a bummer.

After a night in Arusha at Kibo Palace and some shopping nearby... ofcourse, the first thing we do after landing in Tanzania... yes, we went shopping!:) We were pretty surprised to hear the live music / DJ playing some Indian songs, later we would learn that there is a substantial Indian settlement in Tanzania.

and here we go with a Pumbaa...

Wild Hog

The next day morning was the start of our Safari... we went with Naipenda Safaris. I need to mention Indu's amazing research talent here. She researched for our trip for a month and we ended up with Naipenda and what a choice it was. The safari and our guide Chris were truly brilliant. Chris had eagle eyes in spotting animals and was very knowledgable. He had worked with NatGeo photographers and hence knew and adviced on photo angles when we were near the animals. Also the accomodations during the safari were first class - remember these are in the middle of nowhere.

The first day was at Tarangire and what an entry it was. As soon as we entered the gates of Tarangire, we were treated with a small migrating herd of wildebeest. We couldnt believe our very first sight inside the park was one that compared to the NatGeo shots of migrations. That day we went on to see elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, gazelles. By the way, I should note the Big 5 animals before I forget: Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffallo, Leopard. The very first day we managed to see two of the five. And then we promptly got lost on our way to the camp and spent an extra 30 minutes doing real off-roading to find our camp. And what a place Lake Burunji tented camp was.

Zebras in Tarangire

Each room was actually a tent suspended from a thatched wooden structure! And they warn you not to wander outside alone. They gave us a whistle to use if we wanted help! So imagine this, we are in the middle of wildlife inside a cloth tent with no electricity after midnight and they give us a whistle to blow if there is an emergency! So yes, the experience is definitely worth it. We even saw gazelles grazing right outside our tents!

The next day we left for Lake Manyara. We were travelling on this highway for 70 or so miles and right next to the highway we see giraffes! You need to be there to understand how unbelievably great the sight was. A highway stretching straight for miles. The land is mostly flat on either side and behind you. You see the Great Rift Valley and its imposing cliff wall many miles ahead of you. And then you see this giraffe right next to the road - just a few feet away from you! Right now, as I write this, I want to go back for another visit! :) And I am sure the other 5 in our group would definitely feel the same way, especially Mrs.A who had a crush on giraffes!

Giraffe next to the highway!

That night we stayed at Bougainvilla lodge. The lodge was great, the swimming pool was great but.... we dont know why... they ran out of food for us during dinner. And their serving style was... lets say different. The server would come with the dish and stand next to you and you are supposed to serve yourself while he holds the dish. Anyway, the stay was good. We strolled out and the group randomly bought sugarcane from a local family though they couldnt bite it. Effects of our urban lifestyle I suppose.

In Manyara we did see Flamingoes though we were quite far which was a bummer. We did annoy a family of elephants since we had to drive through them to cross to the other side. Chris showed us first hand what elephants do when they get annoyed - which in turn annoyed Indu! :)

Elephant family

The next day we entered the Ngorongoro crater. Started at the view point that overlooked the entire crater. That crater is huge! This is where we spotted the Rhino which apparently is hard to come by. Again thanks to Chris's eagle eyes and our powerful binoculars and some creative imagination, we did see the Rhino... I think. We also saw cheetahs and lions here. By the way, we were seeing a lot many other animals and a truck load of gazelles by this point that I am not even mentioning. This was the third day and we already felt that the trip was a huge success.

That night we stayed in Ndutu lodge and I think this was our best location accomodation wise. These were huts in the middle of nowhere. Just getting to it was awesome. We were at the edge of Serengeti by then. Serengeti means endless plains and we understood what that meant driving to the lodge. They do mean it when they say endless! There was nothing around us except for few mountain tops at the horizon. We were driving with no roads and our guide said we just follow the sun west and we will hit an oasis of trees where the camp was. It was exhilarating and scary at the same time!

Sunset in Serengeti

The next couple of days were in Serengeti. We drove and drove and drove the first day to get to Northern Serengeti. And we saw and saw and saw gazelles and zebras and wildebeest that day. By some point we were ready to give up on sighting gazelles but we still couldnt peel our eyes away from them.

Lioness and her cub near Ndutu, Serengeti

To provide some in-vehicle entertainment, we did have Mr. A. So, we would all be standing up in the vehicle peering through the lift up roof. We will all be spotting animals and calling out to others if we spotted something interesting. During one such occassion, one of us spotted a cheetah and Chris stopped so we could take pictures. So imagine this, we are 7 of us in the vehicle and all of us are trying to look at a cheetah that was a couple of hundred feet away among the grass. Out of the seven, 6 of us would be looking at the right direction and looking at the cheetah(or atleast trying to locate it approximately in the right place and direction). Except for our man, Mr.A, who would be searching for it in an entirely different direction. Not just off by a few degrees but by a full 180 degrees. He would even be calling out some features of the cheetah and taking pictures until ofcourse Indu chanced to turn around and notice him looking at the opposite direction.

Ofcourse that reminds me of our in-vehicle food supplier - specifically trail mix supplier. Mr.N had brought along a box of trail mix packets. You might think whats the big deal, everybody carries chocolate bars or trail mix packets. But no, we take it to the extreme, atleast Mr. N does. The reason that this is worth mentioning is he had brought along an entire box - an entire Costco sized box of trail mix! And he had sacrificed his extra couple of sets of change clothes to supply all of us with a weeks worth of trail mix! :)

Lion in Serengeti

Anyway Serengti was awesome. We saw some Masai tribes and their settlements along the way. Our guide stopped to chat with a couple of young Masai adults. They kept checking their reflection on the vehicle's rear view mirror. Chris later explained that Masai dont have mirrors or glass and apparently these are their only opportunities to check out their face and see how they look!

We stayed at some amazing locations the next two nights in Lobo and Serenora lodges. We saw tree climbing leapords - one climbing up the tree with its hunt! You have heard of Zebra Crossings, and I am sure this is a cliche for people who have been to wildlife safaris. But here is my turn with photos of Cheetah Crossing and Giraffe Crossing and I would not annoy you further with our entire "crossing" collection! Believe me, we have elephants, lions, gazelle, wildebeest and ofcourse zebra crossings! :)

Cheetah crossing

Giraffe crossing

We saw some NatGeo style wildebeest and buffallo migrations. With Chris explaining some of the wildebeest behaviors it was funny to watch. So there will be a huge herd of wildebeest grazing calmly. Suddenly one wildebeest will get randomly spooked and start sprinting. All the wildebeest will then blindly start a stampede behind the first one. The best part was what happens next. They would sprint for a couple of hundred feet and abruptly stop and start grazing again calmly as if nothing had happened. It was a funny sight to watch!

Wildebeest migration in Serengeti

We also stopped at a hippo pool for a close look at the pool with around 100 hippos lazily sunbathing. We saw firsthand how hyegenic hippos were. It was disgusting but exciting to watch!

Hippo in Serengeti

Overall, this is one of the best trips yet. Definitely worth the long flight. Definitely worth another or even multiple followup trips! We learnt a lot, we were amazed by the sights, we didnt want to leave the place! Definitely thanks to our guide, Chris and our tour operator, Naipenda Safaris. They made our trip truly memorable. Ok, if you are wondering, I am not trying to plug an ad for them here, but just writing this down so if we ever make another trip to Africa we wouldnt have to hunt around for their names! :)

Just for fun and posterity, let me try to remember the animals that we saw in those 6 days... Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffallo, Leopard, Cheetah, Hippo, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Gazelle, Topi, Dick-Dick, Waterbuck, Crocodile, Monkey, Baboon, WildHog, Gene-something!, Hyrex.... I know I am missing a lot more and I am not even counting birds. I hope the rest 5 of my group will add to this list.

Anyway, to sum it up, Awesome times zillion! :)

10 years since...

Its been exactly 10 years since we walked out of the campus with a sheet of paper that proclaimed we were engineers. I can now vaguely remember the final days, after 4 years in that campus, not necessarily studying, but forming a ton of memorable moments and lots of strongly cemented relationships. Yes, its been 10 years since we completed our bachelors degree in what was once called Shanmugha College of Engineering - now fancily named SASTRA University!

Recently got a chance to drive past the college and it brought back all those awesome memories. Memories that have slowly faded away, being the victim of time and my poor long term memory! :)

The memories of those new friendships and bondings that happened over the period of four years - some that are still going strong, some that are struggling hard to hold on and some that have simply fallen away by the wayside, unable to keep up and compete with other "important things" of a fast paced life of adulthood.

The bus rides... the death trap of buses numbered 37, 47 and 57. The countless trips to Trichy and Kumbakonam... the movies at Cauvery, Kamala and lunches at the ridiculously darkened Raghunath hotel! The countless trips to Archies stores, the innumerable greeting cards, the strips and strips of stickers on those cards, the long hours of listening to BackStreet boys, Hotel California...ohh I should write about my BackStreetBoys crazy friend, Mr.S. So, we have Unix-C programming lab and all of us are breaking our head with the program code while Mr.S comes over and says that his code doesnt compile and asks us to look at it. We being the sincere friends, go over to help him. And what do we find in the code? Yeah, the lyrics of "Everybody, rock your body" song by BackStreetBoys and not a single line of actual code!!! :) hmm, now that reminds me of the great story book idea by Mr. M - his idea was to write a story book that captured his life in college those 4 years. I believe he had written a page and half over two years! Should check with him what happened to it!!

The great lecturers - ofcourse most of them great not for their teaching skills but for their easy going, friendly nature. The ones that we had most fun with like Maths Super Subbu, Chucks, the many Priyas - SuryaPriya, MadhuPriya..., the many Geethas - LG, Chemistry EG, Microprocessor AG..., the ones that we loved to hate like English Sound, Algos Janu... the ones that we loved to love like DataStructures VasanthaLakshmi, hmm... she deserves mentioning twice... Vasantha Lakshmi! :)

The interesting classes like Engg Drawing from first year where we loved to get confused and additionally loved to confuse the lecturer with our stupid arguments... chemistry class where, believe it or not, we actually fought for colored markers to take neat looking notes!!... DataStructures class... this one just purely for VasanthaLakshmi... not for the course itself. By now you have probably figured out VasanthaLakshmi was our heart throb... I remember all of us had a string of doubts just so she would walk over to our desks to explain things once again! :) I also remember most of us stepping up to the stage to teach the class on topics that we had no clue about whatsoever - just coz she asked us to. I also vividly remember the sad day when she got married and the whole college was in mourning for a long, long time. It still hurts to think about that day! :).... Control Structures class... though I cant remember her name, she was one awesome lecturer... this time I really mean it, she was very good at teaching one of the toughest subjects; though I only managed to just pass in that subject is an entirely different matter! :)

Ohh, and the never ending list of other great memories like the college tour, the lunch box fights, the Mothers Chicken dinners, the College House / Udayar kadai teas and parathas, the study holidays night studies - all we ever did was waste our time the whole night but promptly walked over to the overnight tea shop for our 2AM tea to keep us awake to waste the rest of the night!!!, the bench behind the girls row... hmm that makes me wonder... I was never always a back bencher or never ever a first bencher but almost always on the bench right behind the girls... given that fact, my success rate with girls is probably at negative infinity now! :) whatever, I will attribute it to this cruel, cruel world!!!

Those 4 years were definitely one of the best times in our lives... for all the great experiences, friendships and some technical knowledge we gained there! :)

Path of the Incas and Capybaras

After 2 months of practice hikes - with backpacks, without backpacks, with steep inclines, without steep inclines, with 2 litres of water, without 2 litres of water, with REI moisture wicking lightweight clothes, without REI moisture wicking lightweight clothes, with Goretex breathable hiking boots, without Goretex breathable hiking boots.... insert any combination that comes to your mind here! :) ... the big day finally arrived to catch a flight to Peru for the awesome 4 day Inca trek and visit the Amazon Rainforests.

And what a trip it was... the colors of Aguas Calientes, the food during the trek, the people of Lima, the cobbled stone streets of Cusco... one of the best trips yet. It was so good that most of the time we couldnt remember what day of the week it was. All we could remember was...'ohh, its the 2nd day of the trek' or 'the 3rd day of the rainforest'! :)

And yes, for those of you holding your breath to know the answer to this.. Yes, I did notice the flush... and I am happy to anounce that its true that the flush spirals down in the other direction in the southern hemisphere! :) Yeah, Yeah, I know... my sis says that you can make it rotate anyway you want... it only applies for hurricanes or air movement and apparently she is correct. But if I am a bee, the flush is definitely as big as a hurricane is to humans! And if I am northern hemisphere bee visiting below the equator, your flush just confused the hell out of me and possibly killed me!! :p Btw, if you have no clue what I am blabbering about, you probably werent holding your breath to begin with and you can go Bing for 'Coriolis effect' or 'flush hemisphere'!

Inca trek...
briefly this was the trek... it was tough but doable and definitely worth it...
1st day 10kms at arnd 10k feet,
2nd day 12kms at arnd 13k feet,
3rd day 16kms at arnd 10k feet,
4th day 6kms.. Macchu Pichu.

The most surprising part of the trip was the awesome food and the service we were provided. We had 3 course meals in addition to tea times and popcorn... popcorn on a 4 day trek! And I celebrated one of my best birthdays ever. The chef made a huge cake out of pancake flour and hand mixed icings. It was impressive how resourceful they were given we were out on a moutain trek.

Other noteworthy and interesting aspects of the trek were...
- the super strong porters who carried double what we were carrying and walked at double our speed!
- our super-duper guide Rueben and one of the porters who supposedly has 5 wives!!

- on our way back, my friend forgot her camera in the train. The train left the station and was about 100mts away and what does our heroine do?! Yes, she yells "Stop, stop" and voila, the train actually stops! We couldnt believe that its so casual in those rural areas and a train stops if you just yell at it - like a taxi!
- hot springs at Aguas Calientes.. its actually, as a friend puts it, just a leaky pipe and it definitely was not hot. I think they should call it Stink Springs, coz you notice the stink more than the heat! btw, this town had no public transport. You walk everywhere and goods are moved using a trolley!
- the winter solstice celebration at Cusco was impressive. The cobbled stone streets and the colorful displays were impressive - though I dont know why all the dancers were old - looked like the minimum age requirement was 80! :)


Amazon rainforest...
- the 4 hour boat ride in the river to lodge was interesting and boring at the same time.
- we saw a bunch of animals like the caymans, capybaras, macaws, squirrel monkeys

- the wooden lodge had power only for 4 hours a day which was interesting... the lodge had hammocks and countless bugs and now I have a ton of bug bites all over my arms and legs! :(
- in entire Peru, all they seem to drink was the watery beer called Cusquena or the horrible soda called Inka Kola or the very good national cocktail called Pisco Sour.
- and in the middle of the jungle, so far away from modern civilization, we ran into a Shahrukh Khan fan! Apparently SRK is popular there, so are Bollywood movies.


Lima...
- Lima definitely surprised us with a lot of lover-couples and romantic spots... It was surely a romantic city.
- ohh and we were walking along one of the streets and we heard hindu bajans out of some church building window... after some debate and deciding that the worst that could happen is a police visit, we decided to knock on the door. Apparently it was a private residence attached to a church and this Peruvian guy was doing pooja! He was happy to see us and showed us arnd inside his house... No idea how he picked up Hinduism though... we didnt see a lot of Indians in Peru.
- Riding the private buses in Lima was fun.. there were no government buses! They were very cheap too! For 1.5 soles they take you on a 30 minute ride!
- After 2 weeks following the path of the Incas on the trek and visiting countless ruins during the trek, what do we do in Lima? We went to an erotic museum that displayed the erotic side of the Incan empire. Thats something you dont see quite often - an erotic museum! :)

Goodbye China

Few of the many, many things and people I would miss....

my PhD friend and asst. prof who has stunning directions skills
- my Chinese friend is an asst. prof teaching algorithms and does research on P2P systems. Ironically she can not remember directions even to her own house. When we went on trips, sometimes I wonder if she is really chinese! :) Ofcourse she is and gets angry if I questioned that.

the crowd
- not just the crowd, the way people would push you past even if there is space for walking around you!

the efficient subway system
- ahh, I love the subway. Cheap, predictable and so easy to use!

the massage spa Chinese practise sessions
- this should actually go to the top of the list. I am not a big fan of massages. But the 80RMB per hour sessions are great for the amount of invaluable Chinese language practice you get. But thinking about it, I wonder why the conversations always had the boyfriend-girlfriend topic in them! I definitely wont miss the full body massage (ofcourse I tried only twice). I remember clamping down my teeth not to scream because of the pain. Even after many "Qing yi dian" ("Softer please"), the massuers were always too strong for my liking. I lie there wondering why I was putting myself through the pain and wonder if all those massage lovers were basically masochists! :)

the "bu yao" and "mei you" confusions
- did i mean to say 'dont want' and did i actually say 'dont want' or 'dont have'; or is it the other way around??!! this is in addition to the four tones and countless 'ohh its the same character but different meanings' frustrations... ohh, there is another friend of mine (who is also a Chinese teacher) whose answer to questions like "Why is it this way in Chinese language?" was a standard "There is no why!". I think its a polite version of the Western style answer "Because I said so"!!!

the spicy Hunanese cuisine and the lively Xinjiang restaurant
- the amazing lamb ribs of Xinjiang restaurant along with its lively but noisy and really bad singing and dancing! the delicious fish head of Hunanese cuisine (cheekily named the "Mao's Home").

my very professional and strict chinese teacher
- she is one of the best. I was actually scared of her and used to do my homework promptly! ohh, during my final language session, my teacher was advising that I should continue practicing my Chinese after I leave China. I replied, yes, I should take some courses and maybe find a Chinese girlfriend. She got very angry, asking if I wanted a Chinese girlfriend just to practice my Chinese! :) I had to appease her saying that it was just an additional advantage. The main ones being that Chinese girls are beautiful and intelligent and fun. Looks like she never realised that in my 6 months in China I fell in love with all the Chinese girls... (hmm that probably works out to 600 million Chinese girls worldwide! Going to be really tough to narrow down to that special someone! :) )

Still on the 'China To Do' list...
Tibet
Hua shan
Train to XinJiang
Learn to make dumplings (specifically Xialongbao!)
Speak Chinese fluently ( stretch goal, I know! :) )
Find a Chinese girlfriend (hee hee, I know, I know!)