#28. Time an Egg

Came across these while I was trolling... Barney's reasons to have sex (and its pretty obvious which ones he has contributed) just kill me :D
For those unenlightened souls, I'm referring to the show How I Met Your Mother or as i like to call it the slightly dirtier version of F.R.I.E.N.D.S
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/community/50_reasons/index.php

And what's happening with you?

The need to post finally awoke in me but at the same time I didn't feel like putting any effort into the process of it all so due apologies for the scattered nature of the post...


So yes yes... I am well and truly alive. Just underground not dead. Not that I've been busy with work or anything... just haven't been in a mood to write. I guess nothing too interesting has really happened which warranted a post. While this sort of break has happened in the past, this time around I even quit reading the other blogs I usually follow.
I've caught up on all of them in the past couple of days and there are some major upheavals which have happened in my fellow bloggers' personal and professional lives. To them I say chin up and you'll ride out the wave soon enough. There's an almost karmic way to these things.

Speaking of profession, being jobless is a freakin' task! It was fun to begin with... vacationed a lot and then bummed (and still bumming) once back home. But that vile corporate slave side of me is now beginning to twitch just that wee bit. Shouldn't be too hard to stamp that out but having nothing to do will keep this twitch festering for a while I guess.

For those curious, my new path of choosing is the creative world - I am training to get into voice-overs, dubbing... possibly radio jockeying if that opportunity presents itself.
Any tips/suggestions/heads-up with regard to this field would be greatly appreciated.

Went to Goa couple of weeks ago and had a trip that was in equal parts enjoyable and a trifle bit annoying. Enjoyable for obvious reasons (its Goa after all... sun... sand... sea... ice cold beer) and not-so-obvious ones (it was a road trip so really had fun driving K's big ole Ford Endeavor). Annoying because I was off meat (Lent was on) so as you can well imagine, I was sitting in places like Britto's and Martin's eating bloody vegetarian sadness while my glutton friends stuffed their faces with all that nice beef chilly and lamb and fish and crab.
So I've been indulging since midnight last night in what can only be termed as a food and drink orgy at various places. 'Course my poor tummy is paying for it now but maaaann its been worth it :D oh and Happy Easter to y'all.

Then there's that sorta colourful yet mildly grey area of "the relationship". Don't quite know what to make of that particular situation. I guess we both have been mature about how we should tackle it, given our respective circumstances. Still it would've been nice to have had a lesser number of obstacles than we currently do.
I know you'll read this eventually and just want to say I'm hoping for good things if and when they happen :)

What else?! Oh right... there was a pretty amusing incident which happened when we were hanging in Zenzi a couple of nights back. The 'we' were the Madman, the Miner, the Banker, Shutterbug, Alex and me. There were a few drinks going down and general conversation and banter were flying around. Now the boys (which is everyone except Shutterbug) were goofing around while Shutterbug excused herself and headed to the little girls room.
She comes out a while later and tells us she met this girl who was quite distraught. The young lady had been setup on a blind date with a guy she referred to as "someone who is old enough to be my uncle if not father". Shutterbug being a kindhearted soul comforted the poor thing and then headed back out to our table. She mentions the incident that transpired in the loo to the boys. We of course decided that the maiden needed rescuing.
So after much cajoling from us, SBug heads to the outer area and does the whole fake "Oh my God!! Fancy meeting you here! Its been ages... where have you been??" After an understandable minute of confusion, the bulb goes on over that girl's head and she plays along.

She then comes in and joins us where lots of bitching happens about her date and how she's having such a terrible evening and that even a rescue from rank strangers was totally welcomed by her.
Anyway one thing led to another and since the fellas were in a mood, even the date was invited to our table where all sorts of stories were fed to him about our origins ("Oh three of us are college mates who havent met in 4-5 years... he's a business acquaintance... She's his cousin" blah etc yada). Post which the gang (Alex in particular) proceeded to take the ever livin' mickey outta the guy. Safe to say that dude was in as much misery as we were in mirth.
But a fun night with more laughs than originally intended!

Who is reading this blog?
OK so I'll admit that after almost a year and a half of blogging, the curiosity has got to me. I want to know the number of people who actually read this blog. Being geographically inclined, I would like to know where you're at but only if you feel comfortable about sharing that info. So drop a comment if you read my blog of infrequentness (aah i know its not a word but hey its my blog)

Lastly, here's a really nice tune thats been playing on loop for the past few weeks. I have made most of my friends listen to it and I think you, like them, will quite enjoy this song. It's called Do Dil and its by a Paki band called Noori. This is their first ever song (never got recorded tho) and they've retained the original composition as it was, when created some 13 years ago! Some nice guitar work and the two man vocals complement each other and contrast in just the right amounts. Enjoy!



Peace out.

Recipe for a fine evening

a.k.a Good Idea # 517

Ingredients:-
Maryjane - the good kind
Candles - a whole bunch of 'em
Matches
*Woman (optional)

Method:-
Shut off your lights...
light them candles around the room...
spark up the spliffs...
and listen to this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhRnQffeRQ over... and over... and over...

*And if you're with your woman, then do as Satch does it in the above link \m/

Year of the Ox

A month into the new year and I figure at least a cursory attempt must be made on a "New Year" post. It seems to be the done thing in Blogosphere and since I was (almost) never one to buck the bandwagon, let's get the ball rolling on this one...

Said bandwagon usually stops first in Nostalgia-ville and thus we must take a look back into the past. The 12 months that have gone by are kinda blurry. But that's more to do with me poor memory more than anything else. So I'm just gonna put down those events which were more significant than most. And since I've written about those things across these pages, I suppose this is more like a quick summary of this blog as well for the year gone by.

Speaking of the blog, I started writing a lot more this year. OK I suppose a single post in '07 doesn't really constitute as less writing for that year but let's not get into semantics... After being re-introduced to the world of blogging via this gent's other blog, I started to explore my own writing skills. While I don't think I'm gonna win the Weblog Awards in a hurry, I'd say that this has grown to become a place where I seek comfort by venting about things important to me. Clearly some of them are topics that not many others really give a fuck about :) That said, it is quite gratifying and humbling to have the (small) number of readers I do. Their readership says a lot about their loyalty, bias and dare I say good taste (oh come on... if I don't throw it in here, who will?!!) For the statistically inclined, that's an average of 0.08 posts per month in '07 to about 2.58 in '08. A fair jump considering I only started writing halfway thru last year.

Most of '08 was dominated by work related issues. In previous posts, I've mentioned how I'd been struggling to carry on with what I'd been doing the past 4 odd years. Finally as they say, paani sar ke upar chad gaya... A lot of that had more to do with frustration at myself than anything else. Should have upped and quit a lot earlier. But finally towards the end of the year, the deed was done. Without a clue of what to do next... The answer to that question would present itself (somewhat) as the year ended.

A few posts were dedicated to writing about crushes. There were times when I thought the resulting depression of these unfulfilled infatuations would take me under. Fortunately they didn't and I have come to discover over the course of these that I am more susceptible to these things than I'd initially thought. On the flip side, I think all my suspicions of having a rhino-like hide are quite on the money as far as me getting over these crushes is concerned. Or perhaps that damn cliché about time healing all wounds might just be true...

2008 is also the year I hit 30. I expected to feel a lot more but it gave me a case of the blues for maybe half a day just prior to the "event". I figured that I could either continue to mope or look back (and forward) to better things. By then my intention to quit my job and travel at the end of the year had pretty much been firmed up. So better things were definitely on the way...

There's something to be said about the calm before the storm. A week prior to my departure to Thailand, political trouble, which was brewing for some time, escalates into this major conflict involving the current ruling party and the army. From what was a relatively peaceful protest against the PM, suddenly there were thousands of PAD supporters marching the streets, shutting down the airport and in several instances unleashing violence in different parts of Bangkok. Quite obviously I was mighty pissed off against this bunch of idiots 2000 miles away ruining my travel plans. And then four days later, 26/11 happened... I wrote two posts on it (here & here) and won't write any more since this is my way of dealing with it. I can only give thanks to the fact that no one dear to me lost their life in that tragedy.

November though also had some good news in the form of my nephew. He is quite the noisy lil bugger keeping his mum up late into the nights these days. But there's nothing to beat that cheeky lil grin he will bestow on you if he is feeling particularly magnanimous. And of course a little more than a week later, I boarded a plane to start off on my vacation. The idea was to tour a decent bit of South East Asia, take in the local sights, sounds, cuisine and culture. My base was Singapore from where I travelled to KL, Cambodia, Bali and Melaka. The list would have been longer with Bangkok and Koh Samui but well that's how that cookie crumbled...

Did a lot of soul searching about the job situation on my travels. It finally came down to doing something in the creative arena. But what exactly... I was unsure about. For probably the last three weeks of the trip, serious consideration was given to make a move into copywriting. And its funny how sometimes things just come together as quickly as they do. Next thing I know I have more than a sure idea of what I wanna do. The best part is that it didn't fill me with any kind of dread like copywriting did. There are big freakin' butterflies in my stomach but they're more of the anticipatory kind of butterflies. I am actually excited about this and I hope it will get me somewhere... A lot of this is due my friends in Singapore - Pipsqueak and her hubby, 100 Pipers. Despite the fact that they don't read this blog, I just want to say thanks in a public-ish forum and promise I will mention y'all in my thank-you speech when I collect some award :)

It's safe to say that 2009 will be a turning point in my life in more ways than one....

P.S - Just want to say a BIG thank you to all my readers. I'll be first to admit that there are only a few random flashes of inspired writing amongst a lot of personal mediocrity. Despite that, y'all keep dropping by and share this part of my life with your own. And for that I am very very appreciative.

P.P.S - To Those-We-Have-Not-Spoken-About -- It's been a very interesting ride thus far and let's see what '09 brings...

Travel Travails - ५

The end of my S E Asian sojourn was fast approaching. Where had all the time gone?? About 2 weeks before I was to leave Singapore, a few friends suggested we take a trip together. They'd been hankering to get out of the city/country for a while but weren't able to follow thru on their plans.
But this time, things came together and we decided to head to Melaka, located on the west cost of Malaysia. The plan was to cross the border (hah! first time ever I crossed the border between 2 countries - by road anyway) into the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru and then hire a car and drive about 225 kms to Melaka.

First things first, the roads in Malaysia are fan-freakin-tastic! I love to drive but Bombay as a city doesn't let you truly soak in the pleasure of the experience. No such thang on the drive from JB to Melaka. We took turns driving the 2.5 hour journey. The lush greenery of the Malaysian countryside was soothing and pleasant company all thru the ride.

Once in Melaka, I was hit by the same feeling I got when I visited Simla the first time. A quaint almost village-like atmosphere prevailed in many parts of the town. The roads were barely big enough to allow two-way traffic but everyone seemed to manage just fine. In Melaka there is a canal with a bridge going over it. It splits Melaka into the new part of the city and the older historical section of town. We were staying in this older side in an area called Jonker Walk.
Jonker Walk is this one road that closes off after 5 pm every weekend for the evening/night street market. There are plenty of lively food stalls, bars and cafes. This particular time of the year was even more festive as the 70th birthday of the head of the ruling Royal family had just rolled by. So every evening there was this carnival like atmosphere that prevailed starting from early evening till the wee hours of the morning.
As you can see, the colour red was in abundance in the streets. Lanterns and pretty lights gave a warm red orange glow which added to the celebratory feeling of it all. There were mini parades that went up and down the street. School kids who looked like they were some sort of marching band, dancing lions and various rituals were being conducted at what looked to be temple like structures.

We even saw some Bollywood-style dance classes being held in a few of the buildings along Jonker. Probably has something to do with Shahrukh Khan being recently conferred the title of Datuk (similar to the British knighthood). Apparently they love Hindi films out there - with Shahrukh, Salman and Saif being the hot favourites amongst the Malays.

The following day we decided to take in the sights of the city. Melaka is primarily known for its museums. There's like a dozen of them within a one square KM distance. We saw a couple which was nice enough but after a while (for me anyway), its case of "seen one seen all". But it was quite lovely walking around the town. It was slightly misty in early half of the day. Weather was nice and cool. Quite a pleasant walk along the canal watching the occasional tour boat passing by with kids laughing and waving frenetically and you just can't help smiling and waving back yourself. Walked some more thru the town visiting the famous Christ Church, the replica of the Sultan's palace, and seeing so many of the afore-mentioned museums (from only the outside of course).
We stayed in Twenty Guesthouse (an unusual and abstract name, I initially thought - turns out that's the plot no. on which the building is located). When we'd booked our rooms, I was slightly apprehensive becoz 20 seemed a tad too backpackerish for my liking, what with common shared bathrooms but heck I was on vacation and we wanted to stay in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Turns out the place was actually pretty cool.
It was basically a home whose various rooms were converted into guestrooms. Very basic rooms - an almost big enough bed (I'm 6' 1" so most beds for me are almost big enough), A/C, and no TV. But it suited us just fine. The majority of the house was made of wood so every so often those wooden floors would creak loudly when someone climb the stairs which were located near our rooms or if people were walking on the floor above. One night, I think the group living above us probably decided to play catch or something, coz the floorboard were creaking like a mofo! Fortunately that lasted for only 15-20 mins.
Someone in their review on one of the travel websites had mentioned about staying in 20 which they liked a lot. Their only gripe was the loud sounds of Chinese karaoke being belted out from a nearby building. I laughed heartily when I read that article. Sometimes these things have a karmic way of getting back at you.

So of course both nights we heard some dude who obviously thought he was the Chinese Richard Marx singing with truckloads of passion and sorrow (or maybe that was just me). Which I wouldn't have minded as such other than the fact that he was a bit tone deaf! Fortunately we walked into our rooms at about 2am and the singing got done in some 30 odd minutes. But it bloody well woke me from my sleep at like 10 am the following.
I mean I'm a karaoke fan but maaaaan this guy took the cake!

And so this glorious journey comes to end. I will leave for Bombay in less than a week. Saw so many new places, met so many new people, took in the sights, sounds and culture of different countries.
I feel weary from all my travels. But it's a good kind of weary...

While I am certainly not an expert on these places I've written about, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Travel Travails - Quattro

So our early morn flight from Siem Reap to KL, was then followed by a late afternoon flight from KL to Bali. Stupid bitch at the Air Asia counter in KL refused to make allowance for one… repeat ONE measly extra kilo on our bags. As the Madman would quite eloquently put it, “Saali ****, AIDS ho jaye tujhe!!”
Denpasar airport was quite chaotic when we got in. It seemed like there was several flights that came in at the same time and there was a long ass line for Immigration.

Ahead of us, was this newly-married Gujju couple from Baroda that were on their honeymoon.
Kaycee had whispered to me when we were in the line that we Indians almost refuse to acknowledge the presence of our country-men when we’re abroad and this was not cool.
So she initiated some small talk and I think our sheltered Gujju couple were mildly perturbed to see K and I traveling together. I believe certain assumptions were made in their mind about our “relationship” despite the fact that we told them we were just friends who were traveling together. We were giggling about it as we headed to collect our bags.

The giggling abruptly stopped as we got outside and realized there was no pickup from the hotel waiting for us. A few phone calls later, we were told that there was a miscommunication from their end and after profuse apologies, the lady said she would have a car there in 15 minutes.
We headed shortly to Febri’s which is where we were to spend the following three days.
Unfortunately we were so knackered with our journey, we eventually decided to spend the evening in the hotel itself having a few drinks and a peaceful dinner.

We were staying in Kuta which is the party area of Bali with lots of restaurants and clubs. Kuta is in fact where the bombings of ’02 took place. While the ’02 and the subsequent ’05 blasts have taken their toll on the tourist influx to the island, people are still coming in to soak in the stunning beauty of this island paradise. The largest number of victims in the ’02 bombings were Aussie tourists specifically a whole lot of surfers. But it hasn’t really stopped them any. We saw tons of the typical blond surfer types carrying their boards while we were in the airport as well as in the city.

We lost the following day to the weather. It had started raining late the previous night and kept up right thru the next day. So our final day in Bali was going to be a jam packed affair with us trying to squeeze in as many of the sites as we could.
The day started with us catching the famous Barong dance depicting scenes from the Ramayana at one of the local cultural centres. We followed that with a visit to the local Batik shop.
Our next stop was a place called Ubud. If Kuta is where you wanna go to party, the Ubud is the area where you can stay for the peace and quiet.
On the way to Ubud, we passed through several villages which were famous for different types of artifacts. So there were stone carving shops, wood carving shops, gold and silver jewellery shops as well as shops selling paintings and crafts.
We stopped at one of the wood carving shops. Man these people are obsessed with phalluses. We saw everything from tables to ashtrays to chairs to key-chains which had phallic attachments to them. I mean there was just so much dick in that shop that even neutral me got a wee bit homophobic.
We finally reach Ubud and the must-visit place there is the Sacred Monkey Forest. Since these monkeys are so used to human contact, they pretty much do as they please. So you are duly warned about keeping your sunglasses, cameras etc on a tight leash coz given a chance these lil buggers will even start rummaging your bags for something to nibble on.
As you can see in the pic, one of the simians got extra friendly and rode with me for a bit. Kaycee of course who’s not a big fan of the Vanars, kept freaking right thru the time my long tailed friend hitching a ride on me lol

We then grabbed some lunch before we headed to the Uluwatu temple. I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place. I’m putting up pictures of the views from the cliff top and the sunset that we went to catch. If you think the pictures look good, trust me, the real thing is a 1000 times better.

We stayed at Uluwatu for about an hour and just took it all in as much as we could. I don’t think I could ever get tired of that splendid view, the blue water, the waves crashing on the rocks below and the wonderful orange-pink glow that came with the sunset.

We ended our trip with dinner at one of the many seafood restaurants on Jimbaran beach. The sea breeze blowing, the soft sand between our toes, a few drinks, fresh catch cooked for you and of course music on request by the band that went from table to table. Those guys would ask you where you were from and then play a song in your local language. We of course didn’t encourage any Hindi songs but they did do some GnR and Beatles for us. All in all a satisfactory end to the trip.
Bali was a wonderful experience in more ways than one. I will definitely visit this place again and stay there longer. You need atleast a week here to truly enjoy and have a chilled out time.

That I thought pretty much ended the great SEA trip but there was one last destination in store…

Travel Travails - III

I reached the hotel near the KLCCT where I was to spend the night and fly out early the next morning to Siem Reap. My companion for the Cambodia and Bali leg of the trip was the very delectable Miss Kaycee who I know from back home. We were staying at Molly Malone's, located in the heart of the Old Market area of Siem Reap. Run by a couple that's one half Irish (the wife) and the other French (with some Cameroonian thrown in there), MM's USP was its location. It was within walking distance to all the happening and not so happening food and drink joints of the area. Me and Kaycee had done some research prior to each leg of our trip courtesy our travel Bible - Wikitravel. Considering it was a first for both of us visiting these places, we'd decided that we were gonna do mostly typical touristy things in terms of visiting the known places, monuments et al rather than do the whole off-the-beaten-track type of traveling

So our first visit on the day we reached there was the Chong Khneas Floating Village located on the Tonle Sap Lake. We were warned by our research that this was a well known tourist trap but we decided to go visit it anyway. For us terra firma type, Chong Khneas was quite an eye opener. It was life as you'd see in any small town - people going about their lives, working to earn their bread, kids studying in school or playing basketball on the nearby court, places of worship like churches, grocery shops, the police station and the legal courts but the key difference being that ALL of them were afloat. Hah! We even saw a karaoke boat which had a bunch of men sitting and guzzling their wine and beer with the local music blaring out of the stereo and lyrics scrolling up the TV screen.
That evening the plan was to roam around the old market area where we’d have a few drinks and try the local Khmer cuisine. So to begin the evening right, we headed to the bar downstairs in Malone’s for a drink or two before heading out. Almost as soon as we were done with our first drink, the lights went out! Apparently the whole of Siem Reap was blacked out. So the initial plan got converted just like that to an evening at the bar itself.
It turned out to be one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long while. The French-Cameroon owner Thierry kept us company and even gave us a free round of drinks while talking about life in Siem Reap. I tell you these Frenchies can charm the birds out of the trees with their accent alone. “Aai travel the world and ‘av ‘ad some wundearful experiences but now I come ‘ere and settle down in Siem Reap where I meet my beautiful wife and we open zis place… Ees a good life no?!”
Hell yeah! I mean all three evenings we saw the man come in around 7pm, have a quick chat with his manager and then sit down with some of his customers and drink and smoke at the bar till about 10pm after which he’d head home. C’est la vie indeed! Also met a Brit Italian gentleman called Count Paolo Grazini along with his Cambodian fiancée who was called (and I kid you not!) Pumpkin. The Count regaled us with stories about his life in the army, travels around the world, working with the Mafia in their drug trade(!!) and how he finally landed in Siem Reap and was now a journo with a Phnom Penh newspaper writing mostly lifestyle articles and stories about Siem Reap. All in all a most (unexpectedly) entertaining evening.

The following day was temple visiting day. We decided to wake up early and catch the sunrise at the main temple complex of Angkor Wat and follow that with visits to the other temples. So off in the early morning cold which we experienced even more coz Kaycee decided we must do as the locals do and travel all of that day by motorised tuk tuk. Now as you can see in the picture, the weather was kinda muggy so we really didn’t get to see Angkor bathed in early morn sunshine. The funny thing is (and Kaycee later echoed similar sentiments) that I didn’t really see what the fuss was all about with regard to Angkor. I mean it was a huge temple complex alright but I didn’t really feel that sense of awe that I expected to feel when I came to see this place. Perhaps the weather had something to with it as well but honestly I have visited some smaller temple complexes in India which were much more impressive and awe-inspiring than Angkor was. By the way, there’s tons of references to the Ramayana and Mahabharata in these temples. We saw so many walls depicting scenes like Ravana kidnapping Sita, the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas, the churning of the ocean by the Gods and Demons and lots of others.
So after Angkor we caught some breakfast before heading to visit the remaining two famous temples of Bayon and Ta Phrom.
Bayon was a temple we both enjoyed visiting because there was so much character to the place. There was a sense of gloom and doom to the whole place and had it not been for the many tourists who were around, I think it would felt a whole lot more spooky. There were so many faces cut into the various walls in and around the temple that I couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being watched. Almost creepy in some ways…
The last temple on the list was Ta Phrom. Again a temple with much character to it. If Bayon felt a tiny bit spooky, then Ta Phrom positively reinforced the feeling. This temple has gained fame primarily due to the fact that the Angelina Jolie movie Tomb Raider was shot here.
We even later visited the Red Piano bar, which was located pretty close to our hotel, where AJ and the Tomb Raider crew would hangout after their shoot. They even have a cocktail that she apparently concocted, the name of which is of course The Tomb Raider.
After getting all templed-out, once we came back into town, Kaycee decided we should get a massage to get some (bas?!) relief. So we snuck into the very aptly named Dr. Feet Massage parlour where we surrendered our feet to the capable ministrations of the massage girls. After they spent a fair of time giggling about the size of my feet, they got into action. I don’t know about y’all but a foot massage always makes me feel a little awkward, atleast initially. It feels a little too servile having a woman wash and press my feet. But damn! these women were good. I mean 30 mins into the hour-long massage I literally slipped into a coma. To the point that Kaycee had to actually nudge me hard (more than once I might add) coz I had started to snore… loudly! The massage girls of course loved it. It is a matter of pride for most masseuses if their massage has induced their client to fall asleep.
Aah Kaycee... you should’ve listened to the girls and let me snooze away.

Our final day in Siem Reap was gonna be something we’d discovered as a must do on several websites. It was Quad Biking and maaaan I gotta tell you this was the funnest thing I’ve done in a long while. We found this place owned by a Frenchman (Ze French are taking over ze world, I tell you!) called Hervé who ran these Quad Bike tours. Since we weren’t sure about how much we’d be able to handle, we choose the Easy Ride option – a 17 km ride which would take us thru the surrounding villages of Siem Reap.
These machines pack some serious power and were a blast to ride around on. Hervé was on lead with Kaycee following him and me rounding off the rear. Every so often whenever there was a long stretch of empty road, I’d let the other two go on ahead and then gun the ATV across the terrain. Wheeeeee!!

That last evening we went out to eat some more of the local Khmer food. And something interesting happened… I’d been cribbing for the past couple of days that we didn’t get to hear any live music. So we’re walking back to our hotel after dinner, and I hear loud rock music coming out a joint nearby. So of course I get this big grin on my face and before Kaycee could finish returning it, I dragged her ass in the direction of the spanking new Café Central. When we got there, there wasn’t any place available to sit. Suddenly this huge, barrel-chested bald guy with a bunch of tattoos running up and down his heavily muscled arms and thick neck comes up to us and asks if there’s just the two of us. He obviously seemed to be the owner or atleast top management. After confirming that we would be OK with sitting anywhere, he quickly arranges for a table and a couple of comfy cane chairs that we plonk ourselves on. We order our drinks and settle down to enjoy the Filipino cover band that was belting out the latest pop and rock tracks. Soon after the big guy comes over and asks in his booming voice if we’re having a good time. I couldn’t quite place his accent but we do answer in an enthusiastic affirmative. He then asks us where we’re from and I say India. He then asks where in? and I reply Bombay. He asks where in? again which kinda confused me into thinking he hadn’t heard me the first time around. So I again reply, “India”. And then to both mine and Kaycee’s astonishment, this guy goes, “Arre haan haan, lekin Bombay mein kahaan??” This dude was from our neck of the woods!!! We got talking and I came to know that Charlie (that's his name) was from Mazgaon and that he used to play football for the same college in Mazgaon that I used to go to. Talk about a freakishly small world. So now that we established the Indian and Mumbai connect, Charlie made more small talk with us, introduced us to his blonde girlfriend who looks after the other famous nightspot in Siem Reap called the Angkor What? Between the two of them, they were running this pub and after 4 years decided to open up another spot which was of course the week old Café Central.
Once again we were sent a round of drinks by the proprietor of a joint. If I was cribbing about the live music, Kaycee had been cribbing about the fact that she wanted to indulge in some Sambuca shots since she’s not a big fan of tequila. Not 15 mins later, Charlie and his friends get a bottle of it at their table and he comes over and plonks down a couple of healthy shots of Sambuca on our table. Now Kaycee’s the one who has the goofy grin all over her face.
We then stayed on till the band got done with its remaining sets and then in super high spirits we headed to our hotel. It was a fantastic night to end this leg.
So that was Siem Reap. The next morning we were to catch a flight back to KL from where we’d fly to our next destination.

Next stop – Bali, Indonesia

Travel Travails - Part Deux

The LCCT (thats Low Cost Carrier Terminal) in KL has to be called inspiring. It will "inspire" you to skip travelling by low cost airlines only so you avoid coming into the country thru this airport. Almost felt like being back in Bombay's airport. Pretty sad altho they tell me the other airport (KLIA) is much bigger, better and cooler. Gotta make more money for next time so I can fly regular instead of low cost.

And of course I took forever to clear Immigration. Man I dont have luck when it comes to these things especially picking lines in an airport. Took almost an hour to clear Immigration and baggage claim.


Got picked up by my aunt and cousins at the airport and off we went to their home located in a quiet town about 40 minutes outside of KL. It was quite nice seeing all the houses in that town. After the typical apartment and buildings you see most of in my city, its nice to come across actual houses. This pic --> on the right is a shot taken from the KL Tower (or the Menara).
The pictures down below (from L to R) Sky Bar at The Trader's Hotel, Petronas Towers at night, Overhead view of Putrajaya.

The Sky Bar is a must visit for a really cool view at night of the Towers since Trader's is located right opposite the Towers. The view from the 42 floor is quite stunning.

Spent a couple of days at my aunt's before heading off to spend 3 days in KL city. I stayed with Sher who's a close friend of my cousins. Sher lives in a dorm thats attached to their church. Being the heathen that I am, when my mum came to know that I spent 3 continuous days in close proximity to a church, she almost dropped the fone. lol

<-- This is the view from the 42nd floor of the Petronas Twin Towers

Sher was kind enough to take me around the city on a whirlwind tour over the weekend. And a whirlwind tour it was. I pretty much visited all the major tourist attractions like the Petronas Twin Towers, The Menara (KL Tower), Putrajaya (which is various administrative offices of the country are located), The Batu Caves and a couple of the major shopping malls. Unfortunately due to time constraints I was unable to visit Aquaria and the F1 circuit at Sepang. But I figure there should be some places left to visit whenever I come here next.

Put up a few pictures of the places mentioned. Below is the view of the Batu Caves from up front and from the top of the steps. As you can see, there's 272 steps that lead you to the top. Bloody exhausting climb up not to mention it was a particularly humid day too.

Next stop - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Travel Travails - Part I

Greetings Faithful Readers, all three of you.
Been a while since the last post and thought I'd get a quick one in before I take off on my travels in a day or two. Hah! I love how world traveller-like that makes me sound...

As mentioned in my previous post, the initial Thailand leg of the trip got scrapped. And so onto the next destination - Slingin' Singapore. Flew in on an Air India flight. Y'know every time I fly, I always get a sense of awe while approaching & boarding a plane. The thing looks so damned big and the fact that I feel so tiny in front of it just adds to the feeling. But this plane seemed more like one of those kiddie toys. For the very first time in my life, I did not get that inner sense of Woah!!... in fact it was more like... Huh?!! Is this supposed to be it??

After a fairly uneventful flight (btw the lack of in-flight entertainment on these Air India flights sucks bigtime!) landed in the early AM at Changi airport. I was 3rd in line at Immigration. 3rd!! So of course, as per the laws laid down by Uncle Murphy, I got pulled up when I finally get to the the Immigration desk. The rather severe looking Sgt. Something-Devi duly stamps my passport but after doing so calls over her colleague and I am escorted to the waiting area of their office. Wonderful...
So as I cool my heels in the waiting area, while they confirm I'm not a threat to national security or God-knows-what, I call my hosts in Singapore cribbing about my luck in these matters and telling them I'll meet them only in the evening since they were leaving for work shortly.

I finally get the all-clear and head out into the bright Singapore sunshine. The air smelt good... almost a sense of familiarity in there. Got into the cab and headed to the condo.
I stow all my bags and decide to take a shower. Step out 20 minutes later and... its raining! No wait... Its freakin' pouring cats-dogs-and-other-land-based-creatures!! The way its coming down you'd have thought that God decided Man's sins had warranted another 40 day 40 night deluge. Hmm... I wonder if Ikea sells arks. ("Yes, I'd like this in Red Mahogany please... ")
The downpour continued for another 4 hours. Rain tends to depress me at times but in this instance, it helped that I was on vacation and also as you can see the view from the apartment was quite pretty and green.

The next few days pass off in a blur. Revisited some places from my last trip here. Hung out with my hosts and their friends. Watched Lucky Oye (pretty good) and Bolt (alright types). Walked along Orchard street checking out the Christmas decorations that were just starting to be put up. It's gonna look quite festive in a few days. Also learning how to cook some basic khaana coz I figure its high time. I also think I have the knack for it (my hosts will provide testimony to the Spanish Omelette I cooked for them).

Last but not the least I met up with The Mighty Gong Liu. We'd been in touch for a while now and I was looking forward to our meet. GL pretty much turned out the way I'd pictured her to be. Full of chat, laughs and enthu. Our first meet was lunch at a foodcourt near her office. Of course the way these places get so crowded during lunch, she ended up giving company to a couple of firangs while I was off getting my food. Due apologies about that, GL. We really should've picked a restaurant huh?!

Couple of days later, GL very kindly invited me over for some lunch. How can I say no to ghar ka khaana especially parathas! Spent a very pleasant afternoon stuffing my face and talking about this and that. I think my behaviour as a lunch guest was exemplary enough to score another meal soon (nudge nudge wink wink) :D

Next stop - Kuala Lumpur.

Can lah can

23:36 - Right now at this very minute I am supposed to be sitting here and looking at this view. Sniff...

Yeah so if you've been following the news closely, besides the Bombay situation and its aftermath, there is also the news of political unrest in Bangkok. It seems this was going on for the past many months now. But in true Murphy's Law style, three days before my scheduled departure to the Land of Smiles, the P.A.D protesters decide to march up in thousands and camp outside the airport - their intention to prevent the Thai Prime Minister, who was coming into Bkk after some international summit, from entering the country as well as demanding that he step down as PM.

So therefore in this situation**, we've had to can the Bangkok and Koh Samui plan coz the director of Swarnabhumi International Airport has grounded all flights in and out till 5th Dec. Apparently at last count, there were more that 250,000 passengers stuck there.
What I'm feeling awful about is the fact that this plan was cooked up almost 6 months ago and my friends were all coming together (they live in Dubai) and meeting up after a long time.

I now head directly to Singapore which was supposed to be the second leg of my trip. The excitement is growing again. Can't wait to meet the friends who I'm staying with (who actually were in India last month on a really swift visit) and spend the holidays with them. It will be almost exactly five months to the day when I was last there. In fact this post about my last trip to Singapore pretty much kickstarted this blog.
Also looking forward to meeting some of my fellow residents of Blogosphere who live in that neck of the woods. Should be fun...
Besides Singapore, there is also KL, Angkor Wat and Bali on the agenda. I should be back from these places by Christmas eve coz I'm hearing good things about Singapore during Christmas and New Year time.

So if you live in that neck of the woods, suggestions are more than welcome regarding fun places and/or activites that I could do.

**I was gonna crack a joke about the unsanitary situation caused by the PAD. You're looking up and saying, "Thank heavens he resisted..." aren't you?!!