Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Saturday, June 28th, 2008 |
It’s been a hectic 3 weeks. Our product was finally done, and we had to sell it. We’d created several sales leads over the course of last few months, and had to go around for scheduled meetings. And that’s what we did last week. Boy, the reaction from the market has been very encouraging. And that would be an understatement. Couple of our prospect customers liked the product very much, but suggested some additional cutting edge stuff to be added. Back in Mangalore, that’s what we are doing now. Putting our heads down, and back to work for the next 2 weeks. Meanwhile, here’s an account of our sales trip (forgive me for certain exaggerations, my humble but valiant attempt at humor)
Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008 10:00 AM.
So, we’ve to travel to Chennai. Tomorrow. We are all set with the demos, brochures, wires, nuts, bolts, and the almost fully squeezed out tube of tooth paste. But there’s one thing missing. Oh, yeah - we needed to travel to Chennai. As in, we needed to get our a** moved from Mangalore to Chennai. (more…)
Technorati Tags: cutting edge, Mangalore, Chennai, brochures
Posted in HUmor, IT, Life, Mangalore, Self depreciation, Travel | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 28th, 2008 |
Ever since joining the Pixetra club, I’ve been wanting to attend one of their photography workshops. And finally, last weekend, I did make it to the Fotoguru workshop (sacrificing 2 nights sleep traveling on a bug ridden bus). Pixetra did not disappoint. I had a wonderful time meeting other photography enthusiasts (pics of some of ‘em below), and getting tips from Sethuraman, a renowned commercial, advertising and editorial photographer with more than 29 years of rich experience.The first day was primarily class room sessions focusing on basics of photography. The second day - we spent outdoors, at Vypeen- a place very close to Ernakulam city. It was real fun, and I am waiting for the next trip. I hear from Judy (Pixetra’s Ernakulam coordinator) that it would be to Bandipur. If thats true, it would turn out to be extremely interesting.
Some of my Pixetra Friends
Technorati Tags: Pixetra, photography workshop, Vypeen, Ernakulam
Posted in Photography, Travel | 6 Comments »
Sunday, January 6th, 2008 |
This is my backlog from 2007 - an article on my trip to Nepal. Allow me to clear this one off before stepping into 2008.
It was a lazy saturday afternoon, when my customary afternoon siesta (lying on the floor of my living room with TV going on in full blast) was interrupted by a phone call from Ganesh. Struggling to shrug away the sleep from my eyes, I was soon jolted to full consciousness by ganesh’s words: ” I am planning a Nepal trip next month. Do you want to join in?”.
Nepal? Of all the places, Nepal? - I thought to myself. I was planning on a vacation, but Nepal was the last holiday destination I would have thought of - given that my idea of vacation usually is lying around in some exotic location engulfing myself in luxury. What the heck - i thought, I would never see Nepal in my life if I dont go now. Hence I agreed to the proposition, though half heartedly.
With just one month to go, the plans were made in haste, Ganesh chalking out an 8 day plan referring to the ultimate travel guide on Nepal from lonely planet. I should admit that I still wasnt fully enthused about the trip. We had a 3 hop flight to Kathmandu: Mangalore- Bangalore, Bangalore-Delhi and Delhi-Kathmandu. The last leg from Delhi to Kathmandu was by Druk Air (Bhutan air), and was the best part of the onward journey. The sight of Himalayan incisors peeping above the clouds is goose-bumps material, and you are suddenly filled with a sense of anticipation, humility and various other feelings that cant be described. Coming face-to-face with the most forbidable mountain range, of which you grown up hearing or learning about is sure to evoke emotions in you that you’ve never had.
We touched down at Kathmandu and was soon out of the airport after the immigaration formalities, to be surrounded by porters who helped to transport our baggages to the waiting taxi a few feet away for a ‘nominal’ tip of INR 100 only. As we soon found out, tipping would be one of the biggest expense item one has to budget for if one intends to tour nepal.
Nagarkot
We drove straight to Nagarkot - a hill top resort village that offers stunning sun rise views and checked into Club Himalaya - the best facility available there. We explored the surroundings a bit that day, had coffee at Berghouse cafe, and went back to the hotel once the village closed shops (around 8 PM). The next day we hiked to Changu Narayan temple - a very refreshing 4 hour walk from our hotel cutting across various communities settled along the valley.Leaving aside the gory details (like the food we had, time we went to bed etc) this is all we did at Nagarkot! So far, so good!
Pokhara
The following morning, we checked out of Nagarkot to catch a flight to Pokhara. Carriers: Budha air. Pokhara greeted us with a slight drizzle that we were not equipped to handle. Extremely scenic, this place is situated between a very calm ‘Phewa Tal’ lake and the snow capped Mt. Machhapuchhare (a Himalayan Peak - meaning ‘Fish tail’ - name derived from its looks). Fish tail lodge was our home to be for the next 2 days. Getting to fish tail lodge was itself an experience - a rope drawn pontoon ferried people across the lake to this beatiful cottege hotel.
Getting around Pokhara is easy - one just needs to follow the lake shore. The shore is lined with shops selling CDs, cashmere, prayer flags, khukris and other Nepali artefacts, playing ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ throughout the day. To complete the setting, I would suggest you pick up any of the Everest expedition stories for your night reading. This surely will transport you to different mental realm altogether (I picked up ‘Into Thin Air’ by Jon Krakeur on reco from savitri). Dinner at Lhasa - a hotel that serves Tibetan food. Early next morning we drove to Sarangkot to catch a glimpse of the rising sun, but was deprived of the pleasure thanks to a very cloudy morning.
Our tour guide - Tenzen, a chirpy stockily built bloke took us around on a 5 point trip - Devi’s falls, Seti gorge, Mahendra cave, Vidya darshini temple and the old houses. We rented bikes in the evening and went around that evening. Tea and chocolate cakes from the famous German bakery raised our spirits a great deal, and the night was spent shopping. Most bikes and cars in Nepal are imports from neighboring countries. Bajaj Pulsar is a very sought after bike over there, and rentals for this is usually higher than the others.Apparently the prices of the bikes and cars are almost double that in India ‘cos of import duties. So, even a Maruti 800 is priced pretty high in Nepal.
Another thing we did at Pokhara was a trek to Peace Pagoda - built by Japanese monks to promote world peace. (Couch potato warning: This short steep trek can create some uneasiness in you. Symptoms include breathlessness and a general inability to climb.).
Last stop - Kathmandu
Well, Kathmandu was like getting back to reality - the hustle and bustle, the mad rush to catch up with a crazy life, the dust et al. It was a mixed experience for us here - a mix of spirituality and pleasures of modern life. While visits to Swayambunath, Pasupathinath and Bodhnath brought us peace, shopping at Thamel and visits to casinos reminded us that we still are pretty ordinary humans going after material pleasures of life.
And then… the flight back to India. Very quiet. With each one thinking about going back to work the next day. (Sorry for ending this abruptly- just that I lost my patience a bit. Guess I am not a great travelogue writer)
So, here’s a summary:
Shopping - What we bought: Tibetan stuff (hand held Prayer wheels etc), Shawls, CDs (!).
Shopping - What we didnt buy: Khukri (Gorkha dagger), Masks, Thangka paintings
Food - What we liked best: Fried Momos (kinda like the samosas we get in India), Food at Lhasa restaurant, Pokhara
Food - What we didnt like: Tibetan drink (I forget the name)
Sights - What we liked: Everything!
Sights - What sucked: Crowded streets of Kathmandu
Would I go to Nepal again?: Definitely. 200% positive!
Note: More photos from this trip <Here>
Technorati Tags: Nepal trip, Nepal, vacation, holiday destination, Kathmandu, Himalaya, Nagarkot, Berghouse cafe, Pokhara, Machhapuchhare, Into Thin Air, Pasupathinath
Posted in HUmor, Life, Nepal, Travel | No Comments »
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 |
Spent some time this weekend thinking of a good photo idea for entering in a photography contest on road safety. One shot I thought would be interesting was that of a bullock cart with a speed limit road sign near it. So, off I went, searching for a bullock cart on Mangalore roads. An hour and many bumpy village roads later, I came back disappointed. Mangalore had indeed grown as a city. No bullock carts anywhere. As I hit the highway, I got into a traffic jam. I looked out of the window, and my eyes fell on this elephant - this elephant on a 2 lane highway with all vehicles behind it moving at, well, elephant’s pace. Hmm.. No bullock cart? No problem. Lets use the elephant, I thought to myself. So, i tracked it for some distance, trying to get a good pic with an appropriate traffic sign. Wasn’t very successful though. I ended up with some shots not fit for entering in the contest and didn’t know what else to do with those. Here are a couple. Maintaining a blog comes in handy sometimes. 
mangalore, life, photography
Posted in HUmor, Life, Mangalore, Photography, Travel | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 |
Guess who I saw on my flight to Mangalore yesterday? None other than super cop Daya Nayak. So thats celebrity #3 I’ve met in my life (Guess I am not celebrity-lucky, huh.), the others being Neena Gupta and ONV Kurup.
celebrity, life
Posted in Life, Travel | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 |
I personally like the way Air Deccan has changed our aviation sector - making air travel affordable to the common man. But the way they hold auctions on air - that redefines the very definition of an auction. A friend (Iqbal) and I had the fortune of experiencing this first hand couple of months back. We were flying the Bangalore - Mangalore sector. 4 PM flight. Both of us tired and exhausted, looking forward to getting home. On board, we rummage thru the in flight reading material, and then stumble on this auction slip that has a list of items that would be auctioned on the flight. Great. Something to look forward to on flight. I see a Rahul Dravid autographed bag, and think it would be a good idea to lay my hands on one of those. And Iqbal sees this necklace that he could get (He had been travelling a lot, and he thought he could make up for the lost family time by gifting this neckace to his wife). Both of us fill up the auction slip quoting the floor price. Then we see all other guys on flight filling in their sheets. By now, we’d made up our minds to get the stuff we wanted - We did not want to lose the auction ‘cos someone else quoted a higher price. So after couple of corrections (jacking up our quotes to probably higher that what the stuff was worth), we hand over our sheets to the flight attendant. We wait with baited breath for the results. I’d never won a lottery or an auction in my life, but something told me that I would be a winner that day. Sure enough, the attendant comes to me and hands over the Rahul Dravid autographed bag. I feel on top of the world - it was my lucky day! The feeling soon turns to surprise (and then later horror) when I see the attendant handing over another Rahul Dravid autographed bag to the guy seated next to me! And another to the guy in front, and to the guy in the back. At the end of it, almost everyone on the flight had a bag. Needless to say, Iqbal also got his (very precious) necklace. Turns out, they gave out the items to everyone who bid. And at the prices they quoted. So probably, the guy in front got the same bag for half the price I quoted. Did Air Deccan trick us? You tell me.
And why am I writing this 2 months after the incident? Today, the strap of the bag came loose. And Rahul Darvid’s signature has been slowly disappearing. And I am mad at Air Deccan. Thats why.
humor, life, air deccan, travel, rahul dravid
Posted in HUmor, Life, Travel | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 |
.. a phrase on the T shirt I picked up from Singapore last week. Do people really do that in Singapore?
Was there last week. I should say Singapore is the ideal place to visit if you have a shopaholic wife (Are there any other kinds anyways?), a very restless 4 year old kid, and you have plans to shed some weight.
Stayed at Park Hotel right on Orchard street. Visited Sentosa(ropeway, underwater world and 4D Magix were good), Jurong bird park (birds of prey show is a must-see), Night Safari (Great experience) and Snow city. Kiddo had fun there. Shopping was done mainly at China town, Orchard and Suntec. Got a taste of a variety of far east foods. Found Singaporeans to be extremely friendly - they love to talk. (this observation based on my interactions with the shop owners, cabbies and hotel staff - Maybe I am generalising. And then there was also this gentleman we got very friendly with - Sunny Jeremiah Ong, who is a limo driver cum Interior furnishing consultant).
We also had our share of embarassment, thanks to Kichu (my 4 yr old son) - At an Indonesian restaurant. Since I didn’t want to give chicken to him that day, I told him that chicken was bad. And while the waitress came along to collect the check, my son says to her: ‘I didn’t eat chicken ‘cos chicken is very bad’. Needless to say, I had to shell out some extra $s as tip to save my face. 4 year olds can be dangerous.
Overall, a great trip.
humor, life, travel, singapore
Technorati Tags: Singapore
Posted in HUmor, Life, Travel | No Comments »
