Krabi: Birthday 31

“400 Baht”

“No.. That’s too much. Please reduce it?”

“Cannot. Cannot”

“Pleeeeease? Make it 150?”

“Cannot. Cannot”

“Ok, 200?”

“Ok”

This had happened so often during the trip when Geet would get a bargain for nearly half the price that was being quoted, and all the time it was the same response - somehow the Thai would oblige and reduce the charges for her.

The Thai are some amazing people though – here are some fast facts:

1)  They are easily some of the most hospitable people in the world – probably one of the underlying reasons (apart from the more common one that makes guys go there in droves) why tourism thrives there.

2)  The tourism industry is run by women. The men only seem to do the background work, while it is the women always at the front end.

3)  The Thai women just love Geet. There were so many of them who complimented her over her looks. “Pretty lady. Pretty face”.

4)  They love Indian tourists on a whole, coz we are the fastest growing country of visitors in Thailand and we spend $160 a day there, and an average 7.1 days whenever we visit.

With that, let’s get on with the travelogue for this trip.

Prologue

The trip was originally planned with the school gang, but since the obvious happened one more time, we too decided to call it off, but were just holding on to the tickets in case something turns around and we still end up going. This impetuous for the trip came about exactly a week before we departed, when the trip to Kerala to meet Steve and the Chennai gang got cancelled. With that getting cancelled, a desperate need for a break, and with all other flights to Indian destinations getting shit expensive given the Independence Day long weekend, we just decided to make the trip to Krabi.

Aug 14

I spent the whole of this day planning for the trip, and the plans were going quite well. I delegated all the work for the next few days, collected Thai Baht, matrix SIM card and insurance, and was all set by around 4pm, when calamity struck at work – leaving a grim situation pretty much until we took off. At the last moment, I had to fire fight 3 issues that cropped up all at once. I had to be on the phone even at 1030, an hour before the flight, trying to handle it, and was still left with one issue that couldn't be closed and required me to get on a concall on Friday, during the trip, to close. And in all that confusion, I forgot the matrix SIM cards at home, and got so delayed leaving home, that we were actually the last 2 people boarding the flight. There were people actually calling us on our phones asking us to hurry up - something that's never happened in the past.

But once we took off, things were at peace, at least for the moment. Coz there was good whiskey, and lots of movies to keep me company. I had one drink that made the really sad Thai green curry served on board palatable, and dozed off somewhere in between noticing Ewan McGregor actually had a role in Jack the giant slayer, and before any of the slaying began to take place. I didn't have a very peaceful sleep though, and Geet didn't sleep at all. Quite an irony the "smooth as silk" A380 Thai Air flight turned out to be.

Aug 15

Once we landed at Bangkok, we checked at the concierge and was asked to head over to immigration. I thought this was fine, coz I had read that we could get our visas at Krabi. This was a mistake. You can get it there, but only if you are flying to Krabi directly. If it’s a stop over from Bangkok, you require visa in advance, or to be issued at Bangkok itself. Now this put us in a bit of a mess, coz we had booked a flight that only gave us 2.5 hours stop over at Bangkok, and the visa on arrival line at the airport was inundated with Indians seeking visas given the Independence Day holiday that all of them decided to cash out with a long weekend vacation.

It was a great deal of luck that we actually managed to get the visa at Bangkok itself. One, I skipped the line and went ahead without anyone noticing. Two, we already had passport photos and sufficient Thai Baht which avoided 2 more long queues for us.

Once we got our visas and entered the bus to board the flight, I noticed that there were just 2 non-Indians in the entire bus! I was quite bummed that we Indians didn't even spare Krabi! And one thing common to the typical Indian traveller is that we avoid each other like the plague. Which totally makes sense of course..

Once we reached Krabi, Geet even ran into an old school friend. What odds! They just exchanged pleasantries and soon we were on our way to Ao Nang beach. The mini van we took from the airport stopped just in front of Krabi Heritage Hotel where we were staying. We later realized this is quite the norm in Krabi, because everything is so close, that people will always drop you right in front of where you need to be dropped – no bus stops and stuff in this town. We checked ourselves in and I had a funny incident with the bell boy here. He brought our luggage in and then just stood staring at me in the room. I asked him if there's anything else, and he just blabbered something and continued to stand. I realised he was waiting for a tip, but I only had Baht's in 100's. So I tried explaining that I will tip him later. But he still wouldn't move. It took quite a while before he understood that I will pay him later and he left the place. After that, he kept waving at me and calling out to me every time I stepped out for something. Finally I got some change after picking some things from the nearby 711 and tipped him 20 bucks to finally get the monkey (literally) off my back. What a character!

Geet and I chilled out with some Changs and Singha beer I picked at the 711, and had it with fried shrimps and Thai green curry we ordered through room service. The food was really good and even Geet, who is so finicky about the stuff she eats, was enjoying it. Her favourite cuisine after Indian is Thai, so the holiday here was likely to be much better than her just having croissants when we were in Europe.

We then slept for a while, and towards the evening, headed out to the beach that was barely 5 mins by walk. On the way we stopped at a travel agents office where we met Li, the friendly neighbourhood travel agent, who helped organize all our trips over the next few days here. We booked a speed boat for the next day to Phi Phi islands from her and headed towards the beach where we

noticed that the famous Ao Nang mountain that covers one side of the beach, was actually the view we were getting from our room.

We walked towards the mountain range, the beach waters kissing our feet, and finally plonked at the end of the strip, sitting and observing the incredible view. There were small single rock formation islands all across the beach. It was quite an amazing view, and the inspiration for the floating mountains in the movie Avatar as well. After soaking in the view, we went behind and sat on some chairs and ordered more beers. The waitress asked if we wanted a leg massage while we enjoyed the beer and the sunset, and Geet just couldn't refuse. She was completely enjoying the massage, while I was having my own share of fun watching a beautiful view of the sun disappearing behind the floating mountains of the sea.

While leaving the place, we asked the waitress which is a really good place for Thai food. She suggested a restaurant called Wang Sai. We went looking for it, and didn't find it anywhere, and instead stopped at another restaurant calling Anning, rated just 34 in Tripadvisor, but totally worth the money. Well, Tripadvisor had 3 Indian restaurants named in its top 10 restaurants of Krabi, so I didn't really want to rely on it too much. We ordered glass noodles, prawns and oysters. And except for the oysters, the rest of the food which we had with Chang draught and wine was really good. The oysters came with a really neat presentation; they were with shells and on a plate of ice. It was my first time with it, and definitely going to be my last as well.

After dinner, we walked along the strip back to the hotel, doing a bit of shopping on the way, and crashed for the night.

Aug 16

We woke up by 7am to be on time for the boat trip that was to begin at 830. And since it was just 530 in IST, it was quite a pain to wake up.

There was a minivan that came to the hotel to pick us up, and this was the order of things here. Everything is pick and drop from the hotel, and extremely well organised. Krabi completely had tourism covered.

We entered the speed boat and headed straight to the sun deck where we were accompanied by 1 German, 1 Spanish and 1 American family, and 2 other guys who were there just so that they could smoke peacefully. But not only did they not smoke as there were just families around, but were also providing the rest of us with a lot of entertainment along the way.

We first reached Bamboo island, and this was probably the best beach we saw over the entire trip. Clear blue waters, clean white sand, speed boats parked, and people snorkelling at a section ear marked for them. I tried out snorkelling here, and did enjoy it, although I thought Andaman was better. Then I tried giving Geet some tips on swimming, but it was always going to be difficult in beach waters.

In 40 minutes, we headed back to the boat, coz the lady organiser warned that they would leave us behind if we didn't turn up on time. She was another one providing entertainment on the way.

Our next stop was Pileh Bay where we didn't get off, but just took photos of what was a really picturesque lagoon, and then moved on to Maya Bay, which our lady organiser said was really sad right now. I was just glad I got to do "The Beach" scene there and take a panoramic shot from my i5. With that, we moved on to Phi Phi Don, where we halted for lunch. After stuffing ourselves with fairly bland food, given our hunger post the swimming and travelling we had done, we took a walk down the streets of Phi Phi and were welcomed with sights of divers, diving stores and diving gear all over the place. We just strolled around and stopped at a shop that displayed an array of delicious looking fruit, and since we couldn't decide on which fruit juice to order, took a mixed fruit juice and checked our social networks on the free wifi as we sipped the drink.

Soon after, we headed back to our boat, as we had to meet our deadline again, and then sailed to a spot in the middle of the sea, where the lady said we could snorkel. People just began jumping into the water with their snorkelling gear, but I was a little terrified of doing that in the middle of the ocean. So I strapped on a life jacket and jumped in, and this time, the sights under water was the best I had seen. It was like being in an aquarium, and I was spotting pretty much all the characters of Finding Nemo. At one time, I noticed a really long sword fish, and began following it, until I realized I was quite far from the boat when I came up for some fresh air. That's when I was really thankful I had the life jacket on. After spending some more time there, we got back on the boat and headed to Monkey Bay, where we didn't get off, but just saw a bunch of monkeys on the beach, and the firangs super excitedly feeding them. We moved on and reached a place called Hin Klang, our final stop and final chance to snorkel. One of the 2 guys who were on the sun deck with us, threw his snorkel kit first into the water and then jumped in. But his gear drowned before he could reach for it and this was 10ft deep water so the lady organiser was shouting at him coz she couldn't dive 10ft waters. It was funny to see them both argue. Finally there was a guy on the boat who seemed experienced enough, and he jumped in and found the snorkel.

Well, we got back to shore after this, headed towards our Hotel, making bookings for a long tail boat trip to Hong island for the next day on our way, and then headed to the beach to catch the sunset. This time I couldn't refuse a massage myself, and after downing our beers while the sun downed itself, we headed to one of the massage parlours on the boulevard and got a Thai massage there. This is an oil free massage done with your clothes on, by fairly older women who do all sorts acrobatics around you, stretching your body to its limits. There was a live band singing popular English songs in Thai style next door, and it made the whole experience relaxing and worthwhile. The best part was, the entire massage for a whole hour cost just 300 Baht each.

Post this, we went back to Anning coz Geet really liked the food there, and this time the dinner we ordered was by far some of the best Thai food we've had. It was crab is red curry paste and spicy Thai chicken noodle. Both of them tasted so good, that with the 50 Baht per glass Chang draught, and wine that Geet was having, it was the best value for money meal we may have ever had – all of it costing under 700 Baht.

Satiated with dinner, we ambled back to our rooms and called it night number 2.

Aug 17

Woke up early again to catch the long tail boat and were picked up as usual by a minivan at the hotel. We reached the shore where we met Ifraq, the guide for the day, who was really sweet with his limited English and the tour he gave us for the day.

This boat had 18 people, a small number compared to at least a 100 that the speed boat had the previous day, and took us to Daeng island, which was just a big red coloured rock, one that you could only snorkel around and not really step on to. So that's what we did, but I found the underwater fauna mediocre compared to what we experienced the previous day at Phi Phi. So I used the opportunity to take off the life jacket this time and try some deep sea diving. Geet also entered the water this time, after a Malaysian guy on the boat egged her to enter coz he didn't know swimming either, but was still trying his hand out at snorkelling. She didn't let go of the ladder that people were using to climb in and out of the boat, but it was quite a big step for her to even try and get off the boat the way she did.

After Daeng island, we headed to Laeding island where we stopped for lunch. The view here was really amazing and I took a bunch of photos here. This place was almost an hours boat journey from Daeng, and I was sitting on the sun deck without my shirt during this time. This was the first mistake I had done during the day. The second one was the lunch we had at Laeding. Both of them completely screwed me up for the next few days, coz I got badly burnt under the sun with my shoulders literally going red, and ended up with food poisoning from the lunch.

Anyway, for the moment, we had made friends with one Spanish couple, and 3 Malaysians and were having a good time chatting with them and taking pictures of each other at this island.

We then headed to Hong island, the main attraction of this trip, a place very similar to Maya Bay, but a little less crowded. There was a Hindi movie being filmed here, and they barely shot a 10 second dance clip during the entire hour we were there. I tried spotting the actors, but really couldn't figure out who they were.

There was one killer moment on this beach when people started running towards shore from the beach and when we tried seeing what was going on; what looked like a big snake was making its way from the water towards shore. I rushed to get my camera, and captured some photos of an iguana that peacefully scared the shit out of everyone there and made its way into the forest. That was some sight!

We then headed on to Hong lagoon, a spot between 2 floating mountains that looked incredible. It was like one of those virgin lagoons with mountains on all sides except for the entrance and a little stretches of white sand in between the water. Some more photos later, we headed back to shore.

As soon as we reached home, the sickness hit me, and I threw up everything I had for lunch. We slept for some time and then went to a pharmacy to pick up some anti-bacterial tablets, along with electoral, and headed to the beach for more sunset, beer and massage minus the beer given my state, and an Aloe Vera massage this time to cool the burns on my body. Geet too got the same massage done and we both felt really cooled down and relaxed after this. We headed back to the room and skipped dinner this day coz I couldn't really even be around food given my state. Just had some juice on the way and Geet ate some chips and cream buns. After popping my pills, it was night night 3.

Aug 18

My stomach was still ill, and I forced a croissant down just to have the tablets, and then started towards Phuket at 10am. It was a long journey and we were hoping I don’t feel ill over the journey. Thankfully it was uneventful, and we reached Hotel Pier42 at Chalong, Phuket by 3pm.

This was a boutique resort and spa, and really looked amazing. I had actually booked it for us to avail the spa facilities, but given that the rates here were nearly thrice as much as what we were paying at Krabi, we decided to skip this part, and instead use the limited time to explore Phuket.

So we rented a bike from a store just outside the Hotel, where they took my passport in exchange for the bike, and rode to a place called Patong. The lady giving us the bike told us that the route to Patong is long and dangerous, and another lady we asked on the way also warned us to be careful on the curves. These people have clearly not seen Indian roads and Indian traffic, coz for a guy who was riding a bike (this a scooter to top it) after at least 3 years, found the journey one of the easiest ever. The roads were super smooth, super wide, and the traffic was just super polite. The 20km stretch from Chalong to Patong hardly felt that long, and we soon parked the bike and walked along Patong beach.

This place was really lively. There was a group of guys BBoying outside a mall, a bunch of people wearing Thai costumes and promoting a show they were performing, lady boys and strippers wearing super skimpy clothes, bars with rock bands performing inside them, bars with stripper poles that were empty for the moment as were still too early, a Walking Street that could rival Pattaya.. the list was endless, and entertainment at its best.

We were tired from the journey, and my stomach had still not healed from the food poisoning, so we just strolled around the place, had dinner at a restaurant called Tropica that had killer ambience but really sad food, and then rode back to our Hotel.

Aug 19

We had our minivan picking us up from nearby the Phuket Hotel and dropping us all the way right outside Maladee Bay Resort where we were staying in Krabi, which was 4 hours away, but point to point transfers once again. And had to check out from Hotel Pier42 early to catch the ride. We entered the cafe for breakfast around 730 and had some of the best English breakfast ever. They served freshly baked bread, with homemade butter and jam, which we had with omelettes and all of it tasted heavenly. The staff at Hotel Pier were supremely friendly. They even packed some watermelon for us which we didn’t have time to eat at the cafe itself.

On the minivan, we started chatting with an American from San Antonio called Josh. He spoke so much, enlightening us about the American economy, his job in Riyadh, the culture of the people in Saudi.. so many topics, that it was really entertaining chatting, or rather listening to him. He bought us all a juice once we reached Krabi and wished us well as we headed off to Maladee Bay.

This was pretty much the last Hotel on the Ao Nang strip, but had bikes being rented within the Hotel itself, which saved us a lot of trouble.

We took a bike, bought some Burger King Burgers, and had that for lunch, before crashing out for a while. After waking up, we entered the swimming pool, which had a Jacuzzi section at one end, sufficiently making up for the Jacuzzi that we missed at Hotel Pier as we had to leave early on this day, and taught Geet some more swimming, before we headed out to the beach for one last look at the Sunset.

Some more beer, another awesome massage later, we found a guy selling candle balloons on the beach. He said it was too windy and we may not be able to send one out, but suggested that we pay only if it actually takes off and doesn’t just crash into the trees nearby. We decided to take one, given it was the last night here, and also the eve of my birthday. We lit it, made a wish and let it off into the sky and in spite of a windy weather, it seemed to take off in the direction of the Full Moon that was there on this night. The next 20 seconds of watching the candle balloon drift higher as it was literally on its path to the moon, in a clear night sky of Krabi, with the beach on one side, and Geet taking photos on the other, it was just the perfect birthday eve setting ever.

After this, we went to a restaurant called Lae Ley Grill, which Li recommended as one of the best in Krabi, which was located on top of a hill from where we could see a good night view of the city. We ordered grilled fish here and had it with a drink. I ordered a Thai whiskey called Mekhong, and totally loved it. We were trying to decide between ordering main course here or paying one last visit to Anning, and decided on the latter.

It was a good choice once again, as the pineapple rice (rice with crab meat serviced inside a pineapple chunk) didn’t disappoint. The Chivas I had here did though, which as usual did nothing for me, and I was really missing the Mekhong from Lae Ley.

After a nice peaceful dinner, we headed back to our room and called it final night of the trip.

Aug 20

It was Birthday 31, and the day hardly felt like a birthday, coz we were just rushing the entire day. We had to leave early once again to catch the flight, so gobbled a quick breakfast at the Hotel. The car that came to pick us was a super comfortable Civic and dropped us with enough time to even have a beer at the airport before taking off to Bangkok. Once at Bangkok, we rushed straight to MBK and had exactly 3 hours here to shop. We bought everything we wanted in record time, and scooted back to the airport just in time to buy stuff from the DFS there and board our flight.

All we ate during the day was one burger we grabbed from the Burger King at MBK, and the next meal was dinner at Thai Air, which once again sucked. This time they didn’t even have non-veg to serve me, and had to make do with just veg. Thankfully there was enough whiskey to not make me regret this too much, and 2 movies later (Mud and The Big Wedding), we reached Bombay.

Got home just in time to cut a cake mom baked, and celebrate the last one hour of the birthday in the peace and quiet of our home with Geet, staring out at our own mountain view.. 

Nepal Trip: A peak into the year 2070

Day 1 – April 19, Friday

The trip was the coming together of a lot of ends; G going to Nepal on official work, Jeethu planning a visit there to meet her friend Sandeep since a very long time, and me just wanting to go see the Himalayas, and hopefully the famed Sagarmatha (Mt Everest). Somehow the trip fell in place over an extended weekend so we didn’t have to take too many holidays, G’s official trip just getting over, and at a time when it nicely coincided with Jeethu and Sachin’s 2nd wedding anniversary. So that’s how Jeethu, Sachin, Prabha, G and I landed up at Kathmandu, Nepal.

I came along with Jeethu and Sachin from Delhi where I landed the previous day from Bombay. G and Prabha came by a cab from Hitaoda where they were on official work in Nepal. We bought a lot of good booze from the DFS in Delhi before taking off, and Jeethu and I were wondering why we didn’t carry more cash, because nearly half the money we were carrying got spent at the DFS itself. We picked a lot of good booze though – Absolut for G and Prabha, Malibu for Jeethu, Gentlemen Jack for me and Sachin, and one JW Red Label for Sandeep. Of course, Jeethu also picked a lot of chocolates from the DFS that she couldn’t obviously travel without.

We landed at the Kathmandu airport at 1p.m, Kathmandu being 15mins ahead of IST, and were stunned to see the state of the airport! It was like the Andheri train station with a conveyer belt. It was a cramped place with paint peeling off the walls and empty telephone booths, and there were so many people that we just couldn’t figure which way to go. We found a line that said “without visa” and stood there, but realized there were only Koreans around us, while not one India who travelled in the Indigo with us. Then Sachin spotted some of the Indians going through a different line, and we noticed that line said “Special passports”. So this was the line for all the SAARC country passport holders, who could basically enter Nepal with just the passport and no visa, and so we just walked through till we reached the conveyer belt number 2, which was supposed to be where our luggage would come as per an announcement on the flight. Once again we found ourselves in a place with no Indians around, till one Nepali comes up to us and points towards a far end of the terminus saying “Indigo”. Once again we spotted some Indians standing at the conveyer belt there, which was conveyer belt number 1, and walked that way.

By now we realized that following boards that said “without visa” or hearing announcements regarding the luggage arrival belt was all a sham – all we really needed to do was follow the Indians!

So that’s what we did the rest of our time at the airport, till we got out and found Sandeep waiving at us. We were really glad he was right there, coz none of our phones were working, which was really silly of us to have not checked before we left India.

Anyway, Sandeep saved us then, and continued to do that on the rest of the trip, as he was the best organizer we could have ever asked for in a country that had so much to offer while struggling to keep itself together.

Sandeep was waiting with his girlfriend who we got introduced to, but just couldn’t catch her name, and it was only much later that I figured it was just as simple as Juni. They packed us off in a taxi and followed us on their bike, as we drove towards Sandeep’s aunts house. Sandeep himself didn’t stay in Kathmandu, but came down to be with us, and arranged one of his relatives house which was free for the weekend for us to stay in during the trip.

During the journey, I kept staring at the buildings and billboard advertisements, and chatting with the taxi driver in Hindi, which was quite impressive as I didn’t expect people to speak such fluent Hindi here. Soon I got to hear very fluent English too by some people, but will get to that. He was telling me how it was hot only on this day as it had been quite cold before this. We were wondering why people kept saying it would be cold here, as all of us were actually sweating. I was even glad I forgot my jacket back in Delhi, although that happiness was only ephemeral, as the weather changed quite rapidly in Kathmandu and even screwed up with many of our plans.

However, for now, it was dusty Kathmandu roads, en route to our temporary house. Once we got there, we were super impressed with the house. It had a beautiful garden at the entrance, wooden walls and carpeted floors on the inside, and we heaved a sigh of relief, as this was completely the opposite of all the dilapidated buildings and dust storm that we just passed through.

We sat down to discuss the plans, and Sachin brought out the collection of booze we had with us. We presented the JW to Sandeep and opened the rest of the bottles for us and I made everyone their drinks before we got down to serious discussion. G and Prabha joined us shortly, and they got KFC chicken for all of us, which we had with our drinks. The plan that finally fructified was a van being booked for the next day, to take us to a place called The Last Resort. Sachin kept wondering why we are making plans that is the last resort, and kept asking if there isn’t a better plan, till he figured the name of the place was called The Last Resort. Then G began asking why we should go there, and I told her it’s because it’s the Last Resort, and there isn’t one after that! That gave Sachin an idea to open one called the First Resort in Kanyakumari. Of course, it would never sound as cool as this one, and in fact, definitely not turn out to be anything like what Last Resort turned out to be.

Once we made those plans, we spent some time taking photos in the garden, jumping over a solitary plant in the middle of that garden and making funny poses all around. After all that romping, we took a van, a sort of tempo traveler, only it was a Toyota and hence way cooler than the tempo travelers of India, and drove to Thammel, a tourist hot spot of Kathmandu, and a place we were going to visit 4 times more in our short stay here.

The moment we hit Thammel, we were blown away with the place. So many little shops to shop from, so many cool places to hang out, it really was the most happening part of Kathmandu. While we walked around, we came across a corner shop that sold wraps. The place didn’t have any name, but it was bang opposite a famous bakery of Thammel called Pumpernickel – so that’s the landmark to finding this place, and it had some of the best shawarmas I’ve had. We just ordered one as we didn’t know how good the place would be, and continued walking, and that one wrap lasted less than 2 minutes, with all of us taking quick bites out of it. We soon reached the office of The Last Resort, and asked them for bookings for the bungee jump, and were really surprised to find that it was completely booked out. However, they had something called the Swing which they said could even booked at the venue and we decided to reach the place and try our luck with that.

We continued ahead and came across a banner on the road saying “Wish you a happy new year 2070”. Sandeep explained to us that according to the Nepal calendar, it had just turned 2070. We laughed so hard at that saying we just took a flight and ended up 57 years into the future!

We then reached a place called 18:47 The Factory, which was famous for live bands, and walked in to find a super crowded place with a small podium at one end where a band seemed to be packing off. We were late, but decided to have a drink there nevertheless as the place looked really nice. This turned out to be an awesome decision. We got lucky and managed to get a table right next to the podium which was now being setup with a DJ console, and ordered Carlsberg buckets that all of us began downing real quick as if it were a continuation from the afternoon’s drinking. We ordered some interesting starters too, and soon, began dancing on the podium, which was not what any of us thought we may do, but were sufficiently drunk to care less. In fact, it had been a long time since I danced as wild as that. I can remember times at NM, or early years of HUL when I danced as carefree as that. Juni and Sachin were providing all the entertainment; Juni dancing to songs replicating the exact video steps and Sachin singing as if he knew all the lyrics.

After a while, we decided to leave the place, but as we walked out to get a cab, it seemed the night life was really kicking in. Ladies looking as hot as they could were entering The Factory, and walking around the streets of Thammel as we walked out towards a cab. We were wondering why we are leaving when the party just about seems getting started, but Sandeep reminded us that we were to have an early morning, which remained the trend the next few days in fact, so we headed grudgingly back to the house and crashed for the night – an awesome start to the Nepal trip, as always, beginning with clubbing at one of the best places in the city 





Day 2 – April 20, Saturday

Sandeep knocked on our door at 6:30 in the morning and told us sheepishly that we are getting late. I told him not to worry and woke up immediately to get ready and then wake the rest up. By the time we got ready to leave, post gobbling up some bread and marmalade with tea, it was nearly 8:30a.m, which was almost an hour late as per Sandeep, and indeed ended up shifting all the plans for the day by that much time.

We boarded the tempo traveler like van, and began our journey towards the China border, to the famous Last Resort. We stopped on the way to buy some snacks, which was basically Wai Wai, a replacement to the Maggi of India, but which serves a far wider purpose, coz people even snack on it straight out of the pack. I was really enjoying this and downed an entire pack on my own. We made a pit stop at one place on the way, and had more Wai Wai there, this time cooked in a dry fashion. There was also a wet fashion that we could have opted for. So there were three different ways to having Wai Wai against just the one of Maggi’s.

It was almost noon when we reached the Last Resort, and had to climb a metal bridge hanging across a 160mt gorge. Halfway between this was where the Bungee jump and Swings were being arranged, and we had to cross over to the other side and book our slot before making the jump. So we went ahead and paid 5700 Nepali Rupees for each jump.

I noticed a sign board saying “free wifi” and decided to ask the guy about it so that I could check my mail. The following conversation ensued:

Me: Do you have wifi here?

Guy: yes, no service

Me: oh u don't have wifi here?

Guy: we have. It's no service

Me: !!!

Sachin: (checking his phone) oh, their wifi name itself is noservice

Me: ahh! Ok, what's the password

Guy: free wifi

Me: that's good. But what's the password

Guy: free wifi

Sachin: (checking phone again) ya, the password is actually freewifi



What a place! Wifi name is Noservice and password Freewifi!! :)



Anyway, we began toying with our phones till it was time to head along for the jump. G was the only one who was not coming along, and we handed over all the stuff from our pockets lest it goes flying into the river beneath, and made our way towards the leaping point.

The weather began to get colder, and Prabha was the first to take the leap. She did it quite easily. Jeethu went next, and I was fairly impressed with her even agreeing to do it. Her rationale was that if Sachin can do it then so can she. Her jump was far more eventful than Prabha’s, coz she kept talking to the instructor and asking questions to delay the jump. The guy finally got bugged and almost pushed her out. The moment she reached the other end of the swing, she actually began waiving out to us. She really seemed to be enjoying this. Juni went next, and she too took off very peacefully like Prabha. Sachin followed, and he managed to twist himself halfway through his jump which made him look the wrong way while swinging. Sandeep went next and he too completed peacefully. I went last, and by this time the skies had opened up and it began to drizzle. The last time I did the bungee in Bangalore also it had rained just like this. I kept telling myself that I should enjoy this fall more than I had at the last bungee because at that time I really shat bricks the few seconds after taking off and really didn’t want to do that this time, but instead, actually enjoy the drop, just like the recurring dreams I had as a kid of jumping off a building and free falling towards the earth, enjoying the breeze across my face as I fell.

But this time too, it just didn’t happen. The moment I got on the ledge, I began saying “oh shit”, and I said it all the way till I felt the rope tug when I reached the bottom of the jump. I was so famished with those 3 seconds of adrenalin rush, that once I began swinging like a pendulum at the base, I just wanted to relax and watch the surroundings and make up for not enjoying the first few seconds of the fall.

There was a guy at the bottom who lassoed a rope my way for me to pull myself back to shore, and as I came back, I kept thinking how I ended up becoming more of a pansy as I grew up. There was a time I used to ride a bike recklessly, get wasted easily, and look forward to doing adventure sports. Today I dread sitting on a bike and drive my car fairly slow, don’t get drunk the way I used to, and actually get more scared doing these adventure sports. Guess I should complete the other stuff that I want to do, like deep sea diving, and sky diving before I completely chicken out.

Anyway, we had to trek our way back to base from the river at the bottom, and this turned out to be the trekking that we thought we weren’t going to be doing in Nepal. And once we got back, we were ravenously hungry. The cold weather, coupled with the trek, and most importantly the 3 sec adrenalin rush got me completely starved. I couldn’t even talk to people and tell them what I experienced till I had sufficient food in the system. Thankfully we made it to the buffet on time, as lunch was only being served till 3p.m and it was already 3:30. This was when we first realized that starting an hour early would have really helped.

Once we were done eating, we went and watched our videos. I was just too embarrassed to watch my fall which G made worse by saying that everyone could hear me say “oh shit” and kept laughing when I jumped. So the last thing I wanted to do was pay money to collect the jump video which Jeethu and Sachin promptly did.

Once we were done, we walked back to the car. G once again had a tough time crossing the bridge because of her vertigo. So for her, this itself was an adventure. She walked slowly, clutching my hand and holding the rope and looking straight ahead taking baby steps as we moved along.

We then began our drive to Nagarkot, which was the closest hill station and tourist spot from Kathmandu, and finally reached there by 9:30p.m, once again a little too late, as the driver had to negotiate the hilly turns in pitch dark. This was the second time we felt that starting early would have helped.

By the time we checked in at the Hotel Hill View, and completed the half empty bottle of Gentleman Jack, and gorged on the momos and chowmein we bought along the way, it was nearly 11p.m and time to hit the bed as we had to wake up at 5a.m to catch the sunrise, which was the main purpose of traveling to Nagarkot.



Day 1 – April 21, Sunday

I woke up at 5a.m and was surprised to find that it was already day break. So I quickly got ready and woke the girls up. There was no water at this place and hence had to fill bottles and finish our jobs. We then climbed to the terrace and noticed that we stayed at the hotel that offered the best view in Nagarkot, as it was higher than the other hotels giving us a full 360 degree view of what was to be our first glimpse of the Himalayas. I had read that you can spot the Everest too from here, but that was misquoted as the caretaker clearly told us that it’s not possible.

We then had breakfast and left the place by 7a.m to make it to the Kathmandu airport for our flight to Pokhara at 9:20a.m. We felt bad about leaving Nagarkot so soon, but Sandeep insisted that Pokhara was far more beautiful. So we got to the airport, checked in, and drove in the bus till the plane, when we got to know that the weather is too bad to take off, and the bus turned back to the airport. We then waited at the airport drinking expensive coffee and it was taking for ever for the flights to resume. They soon began operating some of the other flights, but Pokhara was being delayed as the weather at Pokhara was too bad. It was nearly noon now, and we knew that it was no point going to Pokhara now, considering we had a flight out of the place at 11a.m the next day.

So we called Sandeep back to the aiport and he helped us cancel our tickets for a full refund. Then we took a cab and went back to his place in Kathmandu and got to know there was no water there as well. So we once again had to skip shower, and we were all so famished with the travel, that I was just lying on the sofa when Sachin and Sandeep said they would go and pick some food for us, that I just crashed. I woke up when I heard Sandeep’s voice and was wondering whether they had not left as yet. I came up to find them sitting with all the food they purchased, and noticed that the rest of the girls had also crashed just like me. I woke them all up to have the food, which was more momos and chowmein, but this time with Gorkha beer from Nepal, and we had our fill and went right back to sleep.

Once we woke up, we decided to head out to Thammel again. This time everybody did some shopping. G helped me pick a Pashmeena that I wanted my travels, and she herself picked a lot of items to gift people. We went back to our wraps corner shop and just settled there, ordering wraps and Nepal Ice Beer from the friendly waiter, who even excitedly took a lot of photos for us when we asked him to.

After spending a nice time chatting, eating and drinking right on the street, we headed back home and crashed. The next day was to be another early morning start, to visit the famous Pashupatinath temple of Kathmandu, followed by some other local attractions.



Day 4 – April 22, Monday

We started the day at 10a.m, after I made Wai Wai for everyone in the same manner the dry Wai Wai was made at the place we pit stopped en route to the Last Resort. We took a cab that was booked by Sandeep and the driver was a real nut case. He was dressed like a Speed Racer and tried to speak fashionable English, but was really irritating us by changing plans as per his convenience. G and Jeethu took turns giving it to him every time he behaved funny, and somehow lasted the day with him with Jeethu not completely lashing out at him.

We visited the Pashupatinath temple just when the Abhishek was going on, after which the temple immediately closed, so we were just in time, and after this visit, the weather had completely changed and it was sunny the rest of our stay in Kathmandu.

We then visited the Patan Darbar Square, which was declared a world heritage site and used international funding to keep the place from completely falling apart after it was fairly badly damaged in the 1934 earth quakes with little support from the Nepal government on its restoration, when they clearly had better places to spend their money.

We took a lot of photos here, and then visited a restaurant called Patan De Café which Sandeep suggested is the best place here, and it turned out to be the best place we ate on this trip, as it served authentic Newari food, which is the local cuisine of Nepal. Most Nepali cuisine was very Indian, or at best momos and chowmein, and this was the first place we were ordering things that sounded different and tasted incredibly eclectic.

We started with something called Chatamari. This was an akki roti type of Dosa with chicken filling. G wanted to stick to a regular Chicken Shaslik and that came along next. Jeethu was wanting to eat Cheese Pakoras for a long time, and finally found it in this place and ordered that. Sachin and I ordered something Sandeep recommended called Choyala, which was basically Beef chilly, but it was actually the most amazing beef fry I had ever tasted. It was made up of some spices that really lent a nice tangy taste to the meat that I just completely enjoyed. We were quite filled with all this food, and to conclude our meal, we decided to order something called the Wo, which was the only thing left on the menu that sounded authentic and which we hadn’t tried. Now just like the Chatamari and the Choyala, there were different types of Wo, which were basically the meat fillings in the dish.

Sachin calls the waiter to order and the following conversation ensues:

Sachin: do u have wo?

Waiter: kyan wo?

Sachin: haan wo

Waiter: no no. Kyan wo (pointing at menu)

Sachin: oh, kyan wo means veg wo

Waiter: laa wo?

Sachin: haan, laao

Waiter: no no. Laa wo (pointing at menu again)

Sachin: oh, laa wo means chicken wo

Waiter: kyan wo? Laa wo?

Sachin: kyan wo laao

Waiter: kyan wo? Or laa wo?

Sachin: kyan wo kyan wo

2 mins later, waiter arrives

Waiter: kyan wo. Khao



We resumed our journey and headed to the Swaymbunath temple. This was another famous temple in Kathmandu, and just like Pashupatinath was to Shiva, this was to Buddha. It was really nice to see the same city offer wonderful temples to both religions this way. Swaymbunath offered a nice view of Kathmandu city from where it stood, so more photos began clicking away, and next we had an option of visiting Basantpur, which was another old city of Kathmandu like the Patan Darbar Square, or simply head to Thammel and then back home. Since we didn’t have much time on us with the driver making a fuss that his time with us was only till 7pm, and also because we were quite tired with the days travel, we decided to just head to Thammel.

This was our third straight visit to the place, and we thought people over there would start recognizing us by now. G was talking about a restaurant called New Orleans, and I thought we should visit that place on our last evening in Kathmandu. So I went there and placed orders for everyone and sipped on an Everest beer, while Jeethu and Sachin went to the Last Resort office to collect their CD’s and G and Prabha did some last minute shopping.

As soon as the food came, we left the place, which was a bit of a disappointment, as New Orleans was actually a very neat place to hangout. However, with the driver continuing to call us, and with Sandeep having booked an early morning mountain flight and ensuring we once again wake up early, fourth day in a row, we decided to head back soon.

When we got home, we found Sandeep’s aunt and uncle whose house this actually was had returned from their trip. So we spoke to them for some time, and I presented the bottle of JW to uncle, which was initially for Sandeep, but as suggested by Sandeep ended up being a gift for uncle. And we soon got down to eating the food that we had ordered. Aunty prepared some fried fish for us well which we ate, and soon hit the bed.



Day 5 – April 23, Tuesday

We woke up at 4:30 to get ready for our early morning Mountain Flight which was to take us to see the Himalayas, and really hoped that the weather would stay sunny the way it did post our Pashupatinath temple the previous day. We got late leaving, and reached the airport only by 6a.m for our 6:15a.m flight. We walked straight through the airport till we reached the bus, and this time, successfully made the trip inside the plane. What was even better was that the weather continued to remain amiable, and we got a very clear view of the Himalayas, which on many occasions turns a dampener as the clouds get in the way of the mountain view. We saw all the different peaks, with the pilots as well as the air hostess explaining to us what the different peaks were, and finally when the Mount Everest came along, everybody was out of their seats and staring out of the windows to capture photos of the worlds highest mountain. I was super thrilled seeing the one thing I’ve always wanted to. The pyramids and the aurora borealis are the next in line of a long wait.

Once we got back, we decided to spend time outside itself as we had already packed our entire luggage, and as always, decided to go back to Thammel. We went to New Orleans again as we hadn’t spent much time there the previous evening, and ordered a nice breakfast for everyone there.

I ordered a Nepali omlette which tasted very similar to the Indian masala omlette, while the others ordered bacon filled croissants which actually tasted really good. Once we were done with the food, I dropped Jeethu and Sachin home and came back to pick G and Prabha and head to the airport.

At the Kathmandu airport, the Jet checkin lady was really sweet to me and smiled nicely saying she would be giving me the first row. Prabha was ragging me saying she was hitting on me, and I ended up thinking it was true when she turned up at the boarding counter as well, and this time, upgraded me to Business Class. Once we were inside, G also got upgraded, and we ended up spending our first flight together in Business Class. The air hostess was really surprised that the 2 of us were randomly upgraded, when even our regular seats in the flight were not together. G’s was with Prabha while I was in the first row.

But anyway, we made the most use of it watching movies, while I bottomed 3 large Black Labels making me reasonably drunk. G was not at all happy with how high I ended up getting on the flight, but I just couldn’t help it. Not sure if it was the fatigue from the trip, the fact that I hadn’t showered in days, or just the thought of having to get back to office and deal with all those mails that I kept reading every now and then I got access to the internet.

But I was nice and high and crashed on our bed around 6:30p.m itself, only to wake the next day morning directly. It was the longest I’d slept in ages, and was a much needed break after a well travelled trip.

So that’s how the Nepal trip panned out. Some quick pointers:

1) Indian currency works everywhere, however, some people make a fuss about 500 and 1000 rupee notes – so better to keep 100 rupee notes

2) Weather is super unpredictable, so keep sufficient days during the visit here, and remain flexible, as plans are likely to change

3) Kathmandu is a city struggling to keep itself together, so it’s better to avoid the dusty roads and head out to the numerous scenic places to visit, all which are connected by local flights like Buddha Air, Yeti Air and Simtrik Airlines

4) Indulge in adventure sports like bungee jumping, rafting or just trekking. They are the best things on offer in Nepal. Of course, there is an option to gamble as well, which is open only to outsiders and not for local Nepalese

5) Definitely try out the Newari cuisine. They are like Dosas and Uttapams with meat and spices we may have never tasted in India.

6) Club late into the nights on the streets of Thammel. The world comes to party there and the atmosphere is electric, especially after mid-night

The highlights for me personally:

1) Newari Choyala

2) The 3 second rush doing the Swing. Wonder if I would ever do a bungee or a swing again, so this may as well be the last time.

3) Trying out 3 types of beer – Nepal Ice, Everest and Gorkha, and I think Nepal Ice takes the gold. It was real smooth beer with 7% alcohol

4) Getting to see the Mt. Everest from the skies, because the next time I see it, it would be from the Everest Base Camp

New Years 2013

New Year 2013


So the world did not end on 21/12/2012 like the Mayans and Nostradamus predicted, and we got to usher in the first of the teenage years of the 21st century – and this New Years was unlike any of my previous ones, as instead of the usual hunting for a place to party like I have always done, this New Years (also the first in my 30’s) was the quietest New Years I may have ever had.

I remember even as a kid I used to stay up and watch New Years special TV, even if it was just on DD, and even then there was more noise than this New Years. I even remember in 2008 when I was training in Vapi, and to celebrate New Year 2009, I travelled all the way back to Bombay only for that one night, to catch up with Bangdu, Dev and others and have a house party. So basically I was always attracted to a New Year party like a moth to a flame, and wonder if this is a sign of growing old now ;)

It all started with plans being made way back in September itself to combine Ninja’s wedding, along with New Year’s night in Kerala with Geeta’s Balti gang. I booked a flight from Bombay to Cochin on Dec 28, Friday night, and a return from Kottayam to Bangalore on Jan 1, Tuesday night, and thereafter, Bangalore to Bombay on Jan 2nd afternoon.

So we were to spend 4 nights in Kerala, and the wedding being in Kottayam, mom was overjoyed that we will get to spend that much time in the Kerala house, and that too with friends, which is the first time for me (as none of my friends have ever visited this house in spite of so many of my planning attempts). But we actually ended up spending very little time at home, and ended up doing so many other things, that Geeta and I felt like we wanted another day’s break after returning to Bombay as we were that tired.

Anyway, on to the details of the trip now:

Dec 28:

Jeetu and Sachin had dropped in home the previous day as they were leaving to Goa from Bombay in the evening. Pretty much around the same time as Geeta’s and my flight to Cochin in the evening. I decided to go to office to complete a few things, which included getting my laptop from servicing. Geeta stayed home with the other 2 and picked me up in the Meru on the way to the airport.

We landed in Cochin at 7p.m and reached Ninja’s pre-wedding ceremony (Maduram Vekkenam I think it’s called) at Kottayam only by 10p.m. We just about caught a few drinks and dinner before it closed down. But what was really a shocker at the party was the music and dancing that was going on. I would have never expected a bunch of people in Kerala dancing to Punjabi music. But I guess it was the doings of the Balti gang itself there, and somehow with the presence of alcohol, lots of the others, mallus included, began to break a leg at the party.

We wrapped up around mid-night and went to my Kottayam house to crash. I was visiting this place after nearly 1.5 years (mine and Jeetu’s house reception being the last time we came here) and little did I know that I was only going to spend the few hours at night here, as we were traveling the rest of the time.

Dec 29:

Woke up early to chat with parents for a bit. It was such an arduous task as I really wanted the sleep, after all the flight and car journey the previous day, and the wild dancing at Ninja’s party. But woke up any case as we knew we had to leave for the wedding in a while and really needed to catch up with parents.

So we went out and sat on the swing and chatted around. Neha was the only one from the rest of the gang that joined us while we sipped our tea, and soon we were all getting ready to leave. Just before the guys first left in the car that had come to pick them up, papa gave everyone a glass of tender coconut water, which was actually tender coconut from our own backyard – that is just so cool! So we had all of that and the guys left to Ninja’s house to get him ready, or like Shreyas likes to put it – for Zelu to put on Ninja’s undies.

I got the girls along after they got ready and headed straight to the church. We were a bit delayed with the traffic on Kottyam’s single lane circuitous roads, and missed Tina’s walk down the aisle. But we still had to attend nearly 1.5hours of the church proceedings, and people ended up dozing off, or playing on their phones to kill time. I tried very hard to keep pace with what the priest was saying, but even I gave up in a while.

Somewhere in the middle of the ceremony, all of us went ahead to get a glimpse of the couple, just when they were about to recite their vows, and we were all getting excited and passing comments which totally pissd off an aunty there who asked us to shut up. Little adventures inside a church! We kept quiet after that and just returned to our seats, to resume dozing and playing with our phones.

Once the ceremony ended, we headed towards lunch arranged outside the church, and the food was just awesome. Most weddings have 2-3 varieties of chicken or mutton dishes; here there were 2-3 varieties of different meats itself. So there was Duck roast, Pork fry, Fish curry along with some inconsequential veg dishes, which were all simply delicious. I kept gorging on the Fish and Pork, and a lot of people commented that the Fish was very good. The dessert post the lunch also tasted incredibly good in the Kerala Heat.

After lunch, we decided to head back, when we noticed there were some photography sessions in progress inside an auditorium. So we quickly went in to get snapped with the happy couple. Done with that, and some more photos with the girls flaunting their dresses, and we were on our way back to our Kottayam house.

All of us went to sleep after we changed, and that was a big mistake, coz we ended up getting late reaching the House Boat at Kumarakom where we planned to spend the night. So by the time we finally got there, it was dark and we had missed the sunset and a chance to go for a ride on the boat (it would be rescheduled to the morning now), we could not arrange for Prawn fry for dinner that everybody was really looking forward to (shops all closed) and we couldn’t check our boat properly, as we’d gotten something that looked quite crappy and too late to figure an alternative.

Anyway, we tried making the most of it by setting up some cool serial lights that Sonika brought along, for which we figured an ingenious method of using some chapati atta to make the lights stick against the wall. Sonika then played music from the mini-speakers she had brought along, and the rest of us got to making our first drinks. Soon Neha and Zelu went to prepare space burji, and I had sweet talked the boatmen by giving them some beers to lend us their kitchen for some time, and pretty soon, we were feasting on the burji’s and having our drinks.

The boat had moved a bit and docked along with some other boats against what looked like a really thick forest – which added to freaking people out on the boat as the night progressed. We began with playing DC and soon moved to “I have never...” I was super high by this time, and kept bugging Neha who seemed even higher than me. She got so bugged by my making her conscious that she went and slept. Geet also followed shortly, and the rest of us were left to continuing the game.

At one particular time, one of the boatmen comes and asks if any of us is a doctor. He says he’s got a pain in the arm and ventured into the forest to meet a doc. The other boatman also decided to go into the forest and kept walking all over the place making weird noises in the night. Sonika was sitting towards the edge of the boat near the forest, and she kept freaking out with the noises. I told her it was just the guy, and she asks if it is “guy” or “ghai”. After confirming that it was just the second boatman, who also decided to leave us all by ourselves on the boat, she calmed down, and anyway came and sat on the other side of the boat. We carried on with the game, and most of the night was quite a haze, and better left that way, than to divulge some of the stuff I remember being shared. But all in all, it was quite an adventure on the boat, till we all were too high to carry on, and all my tactics of getting people to defer dinner failed, and we soon went and crashed in the rooms, just about large enough to accommodate all of us.

Dec 30:

We got back to Kottayam, after Tanya, Sonika and Vaidy took a cab from Kumarakom straight to Cochin, and freshened up before heading out to Vagamon. This is a hill station fairly close to Kottayam, and later we got to know that it’s quite infamous for being a terrorist training ground as well. Of course, there was nothing much to do after getting to know about this after reaching the place, so we just stayed put in the GH the entire time.

We left home immediately after lunch, and skipped the fresh Toddy pa got for us as I needed to be awake for the journey, and in spite of leaving around 3p.m, we ended up reaching the GH after dusk. It was quite scary driving after dark, and there was one stretch when the cloud had descended, and visibility was completely zilch on the roads. Thankfully the after dark driving was not for too long, and could have been completely avoided in fact if we had got the directions properly from the GH caretaker, but in any case, we made it just about in time for a few drinks and dinner and crashed for the night.

Dec 31:

New Years Eve! We began by waking up in a GH in a Hill Station, which we realized was the only habited place for a long distance around. There was one house in front of our GH, and one on top of a hill that we climbed later in the day. But there was nothing else.

We just spent the entire day playing Bluff and Rummy and chatting with Ninja and Tina who joined us around 11 in the morning. Then after a nap in the afternoon, once again resumed drinking and playing DC before ushering in New Years.

And truly, this was all we did on a New Year eve. Chilled out in a small lonely GH, with just nothing but Tea estates around us, and Ninja telling us scary stories of a tall bird that attacks people here, and of course, the terrorist training camps that are there around.

Just before we hit the bed, the caretaker also tells us that there would be some road construction work happening post 9a.m and if we need to avoid being stuck in Vagamon any longer, we will have to leave early. Shreyas, Neha and Zelu had a train from Kottayam at 1p.m and Geeta and I really wanted to spend some time with parents before leaving Kottayam, so we had no option but to wake up and leave early.

Jan 1:

I woke up at 7a.m with my head in a total state of buzz. I drank some tea, and threw it all out the next minute. I tried walking around, but my eyes would just not focus. I tried reversing the car to see if the motors in my arms would function without having to use my brains too much, and just about managed to do that.

So without scaring anybody any further, I just kept quiet and told myself I can do the journey. Thankfully, as I drove, I sobered up, and my eyes were beginning to focus again. It took us quite some time to reach Kottayam, and just about managed to drop the other 3 to the train station by 12 noon, and Geeta and I went home for some lunch before we ourselves went to the station by 4p.m.

Quite a crazy New Years day it was as well – traveling, and recovering from a hangover, that was all the day was. Not a bad start actually if I were to look back at it, and definitely a totally different experience.

Now for next New Years, I hope I can be at a totally partying place – something like Times Square in NYC and see the crystal ball descend. That would be quite something now.

For now, looking forward to a new year that I would like to really slow down, as 2012 went at Trans Rapid pace! Good luck to us all...

Euro Trip

May 27

The start of our Europe sojourn – the much awaited 2 week hiatus in the continent I always wanted to holiday in – began at 1a.m in the morning. As usual I had to start off with an adventure – coz I got home after a long day at work, followed by a crazy party with friends, and barely had time to do any packing. Thankfully Geeta took care of most of it, and we got to the airport on time.

We were flying Royal Jordanian, and people were joking asking if the flight would even take off! But not only did it take off, it was one really neat flight too – very cool in-flight entertainment, smooth landing, and of course – booze on the menu!

Only thing off with the flight was the stopover at Amman airport – now that is one arid desert! No plant, the few we saw anyway, seemed to grow taller than 2 feet!

Anyway, we reached Amsertdam airport at 1:30p.m Holland Time, and found our way to Marriot Hotel where we were staying – thanks to Tunu. He managed to do this even during mine and Bala’s stay in NYC, and this trip he got in to some of the coolest hotels in Europe – ones that we may have never been able to afford on our own. So, it started with Marriot – a hotel strategically located in a place called Leidsepelin – which was walking distance from canal rides, Vondel Park, the Heineken Brewery, Leidsepelin square – where all the big concerts take place, and of course, the infamous RLD.

We met up with Shreyas and Neha and Murtuz, and had a really nice evening in Amsterdam. Tunu and Archana couldn’t come out as they fell sick in Paris before getting to Amsterdam. The rest of us did everything Amsterdam had to offer J

May 28

After a long night of partying – the perfect start to the trip, we decided to just loaf around the neighbourhood. Shreyas and Neha had left to Barcelona in the morning, and we were to take the flight with Tunu and Arch in the night.

So we almost did a repeat of the previous day till about 6p.m, after which we went back to Marriot to check out and catch our Vueling Airline flight.

There were quite a few things we could have done at Amsterdam, especially considering the proximity to these places from Marriott – like the Heineken Brewery Experience, a Canal ride, and visit to the Hard Rock Amsty. But somehow none of us felt too up for doing much this day and just chilled and walked around town till we departed.

May 29

We reached Barcelona at 1a.m in the night and took a cab to Hilton – yup, thanks to Tunu again! But this hotel seemed to be a bit of a mess. Unlike Amsterdam where Geeta and I even checked in on our own in spite of the booking being made by Tunu, at Hilton, there was limit on the number of people in one room, and the guys there made a bit of an issue with 4 of us moving into one room.

Anyway, we got to know about this only after we slept and woke up – and Tunu and I had to make a reservation for another room for the second night stay – which he managed to pull off as he had enough points to go ahead with it.

So we did it, grudgingly though, given the predicament the hotel put us in at the last moment.

Anyway, the day at Barcelona was good fun though. Started off with a usual walk down the Ramblas, and ended with the best ever party we were to have for the entire trip!

So we caught up with Shreyas and Neha who had got in earlier, and 6 of us went to a beach near Barceloneta station. We walked down and hit a restaurant that looked like a proper local joint – we wanted to enter a place like this to get an authentic experience. What turned out was the best experience Barcelona could have offered us.

It started with us drinking and having Tapas at the restaurant. The Tapas were the kind we have never had before. Can’t say we liked it too much – coz the Potatoes (Bravas as they are called) was too thick and the Octopus (Pullo) was too under-cooked. But Joequim, our super friendly waiter who could not speak a single word of English but still an awesome job communicating with us, served us not one, but two rounds of local Spanish tequila for us (the drink was yellow in colour, and tasted a lot better than the regular Tequila we have) and by the end of it – every one of us was super high.

Next there was a party! Yup, a party right on the streets! This was almost like in the movies – and we were seriously lucky to be a part of this.

So the local communities dress up in traditional clothes, to honour an old tradition where their fore-fathers went hunting in the mountains, and start a march towards the foothills of the mountains. So what was once a means of survival, is today a reason to party for the common folk – and we were only too happy!

So we joined the happy crowd, kept buying drinks on the way, partied with all sorts of people, and were just having a blast. Geeta whacked a mast that one guy was carrying and dancing, Archana and Neha were busy dancing with some freak chicks – ones with rings, tattoos and netted stockings, and Shreyas, man, he was just out of it! Tunu and I were the responsible boys, standing to a corner, handling everyones bags and cameras, while the rest of them partied like mad.

Soon Shreyas was falling all over the place, and we had to pretty much carry him to a cab. There was one time he took a fall, and properly too Neha down with him as well. That was when we realized party is getting a little out of hand, and we needed to head back home. But this was only the start of our troubles!

The moment we dragged Shreyas to the main road, I realized that my wallet has been snitched. Geeta and I traced our steps back through the streets, to the place we partied, but couldn’t find it anywhere. So we got back, and noticed Archana too out of it, and throwing up on peoples feet.

So Geeta and I went about calling cabs – Tunu and Arch took the first one and left. We both decided to drop Shreyas and Neha and then get back to Hilton. We had to pass 3 cabs before one stopped for Shreyas, as they just wouldn’t take a guy pretty much making love to the roads falling all over it. Finally, one nice guy stopped for us, and he even gave us a pit-stop en route for Shreyas to throw up for the 20^th time that night.

We finally got back to Hilton super late, checked on Tunu and Arch, and called it a night.

May 30

Tunu and Arch were up early and having breakfast at the lounge when we met them. They both seemed totally out of it and supremely hungover. They were to leave early that day to Venice too. Geeta and I were staying over 2 more days in Spain, before getting back together with them in Rome.

So we checked out soon too, and headed to our room in Barcelona. It sure was a huge shift from the Hilton, but a neat cozy place in any case. After dropping our luggage there, we took a walk and had a good Spanish lunch at a place run by Chinese! But they did serve up quite a neat Paella (a typical Spanish dish that could easily be called a Seafood Biryani!). We peacefully enjoyed the meal, and then caught up with Shreyas and Neha at the Sagradia Familia church. Beautiful architecture it was – one of those unfinished masterpieces as Mr. Sagradaia  from the Gaudi family died before he could finish it. But it just didn’t seem worth spending 20Euros per person to enter it. So we just did a round outside the church and then headed to Castle Montjuik – entailed a cable car ride to the top of a hill, from where you get an awesome view of the port on one side, and Barcelona town on the other.

We spent some time here, then took another trip to the beach, and finally headed back to the Ramblas for one last Barcelona meal and some shopping, as we were heading to Ibiza the next day.

May 31

“We’re going to Ibiza – we’re going to party” I think those were the lyrics to that song – and man, was it a party in Ibiza! So much so that as we were landing, the guy next to us kept saying “Lets hit the party, lets hit the party”. We flew Ryan Air, and our maiden trip on this flight was an adventure in itself. We needed to ensure our bags fit their standards, and even if its an inch bigger, we would have to pay extra, then we had to pretty much run into the flight, coz its open seating, and try to get seats together. The flight itself plays a “victory” trumpet on landing as if to literally say that it actually managed to land us safely! Was one helluva experience.

But nothing compared to what Ibiza had to offer us. Now this was Goa on steroids! Sometime even literally! But it really was a pumped up Goa – super happening clubs, awesome beaches, supremely hot looking people, in even hotter clothes, or the lack of it, depending on whether you were at a beach or a club.. all in all, it was just too much of an eyeful for all of us. We sat at the famous Café Del Mar, coz the even more famous Café Mambo had a 60Euro entry charge, and watched the famous Ibiza sun set sipping on some beer. Then we headed to dinner, and finally toured around some of the happening Ibiza clubs, and called it a night for some much needed rest.

June 1

Took a bus to a beach called Cala Blassa, which was the mother of the beach Cala Gracio where we went the previous day. Coz the number of topless women was simply too enormous to fathom in this one. People were so friendly too out here, they kept offering to take photos of us, as if we ourselves couldn’t contain ourselves from taking enough photos!

But what was even better that the people on the beach, was the beach itself. It was as good as a swimming pool, given the complete lack of waves in it. The temperature also was perfect, and Shreyas, Neha and I swam around for a while, before Geeta and I rushed back to our Hotel to get ready and check out of Ibiza to head to Rome.

On the journey back, we saw people sunbathing all over the place – including the bus stops! There were girls walking around town in bikinis, and there would be boards outside shops and buses saying “Please wear your shirt when you enter” – man, this place was just something else. I would call it a must-visit when on a Europe Trip, and definitely for longer than the one day that Geeta and I spent there.

Well, we bid a sad adieu to Ibiza and went on to Rome. This place was only going to get better, coz we stayed at the very famous Rome Hilton Cavalieri this day.

We got there around 9 and checked in – and the room was one of the best we’ve ever seen. The Hotel itself was on top of a hill, and there was a huge balcony from where you get a splendid view of nearly the entire city – everything from the Vatican city to the “wedding cake” was visible from here.

Geeta and I had the Chinese food that Tunu had ordered for us – both of us wondering why we are having Chinese in the best place for food in Europe, but nonetheless, enjoyed the food sitting in the balcony with all of Rome sprawled in front of us.

June 2

Stepped out early and headed straight to the Vatican City. On the way, Tunu wanted to eat at  Mac-D, but we thankfully found a Pizza place before he dragged us to another non-Italian joint, and this time, he was glad too, coz the Pizzas we had was simply stunning. It was at this place called Panificio Mosca, on the parallel street to the entry of Museu Vatican, and I’m not sure if this would be on a lonely planet or a Trip Advisor, but it sure should, coz it was one of those heavily crowded local joints of Rome, where Pizzas were sold by weight with a per-gram price on it. We totally enjoyed this first Italian meal, the many that was to follow in our 5 day stay of Italy.

Vatican Museum was really neat, with the highlight obviously being the Sistine Chapel. It really was something to watch. You could stare at the ceiling till your neck hurt, and watch the whole thing in total amazement.

We then went into the Vatican church which had a really long waiting line, and when we enquired with the usher as to how long it would take to get in – he tells us in typical Italian style “This line, ees nothing. 20 minutes, tats all” He delivers the line slowly, with the typical Italian arm movements we have seen in all the Godfather movies. Man, the one thing I loved about Italy apart from the food, was this style of the Italians – it was seriously impressive – Mafioso impressive.

After the Vatican Church, we had lunch at a typical touristy restaurant. Geeta and I had Conolenni and Pasta here. Totally loved it! Then we took a cab to the Colloseum. We did the cab in all of Rome, coz places were so close and there were 4 of us, so it always worked out between 1.5-2Euros per person, which is what we would have spent in the trains anyway. Only, we realized nobody really pays on trains and buses, and even water-taxis in all of Italy, but of course, we didn’t risk that too often though.

Colloseum was awesome too - I took an audio guide here to learn a bit of history, and got to know why the Colloseum is called so (and no, its not because its colossal!) and why it looks as hammered as it does..

We finally bought Firewood Pizzas from a store on the way, along with some alcohol from an Italian wine store, where we got to savor some local Italian Liquers as well, and headed back to our hotel room, for a last night in the luxury of the Cavalieri, and a last night with Tunu and Arch before they departed the next day.

June 3

Tunu and Arch came to drop off their luggage at our room in Rome where Geeta and I were going to check into, as we were headed to Pisa only the next day. And this room was the worst we had stayed in during the entire trip. So it was a total transition from Cavalieri to a cabin for us!

What put us off was that the place was not cleaned when we had checked in, and the shared bathroom was quite far away from the room. But anyway, it was going to be only a short night stay there. And as we were checking in, Tunu smelt some Chinese food and pretty much followed his nose leading us to the Chinese restaurant that was down-stairs, and here we had probably the most authentic Chinese dish we might ever have outside of China. For one, the place was filled with Chinese, both the waiters and the clientele, the menu was in Chinese, people spoke only Chinese, but the food – smack, it was good! Yes, another Chinese dish with Tunu, but good nevertheless.

We then headed out loafing in Rome. Archana needed to get some shopping done, and Geeta and I spent the day walking all over Rome – visiting the Pantheon, the “wedding cake” (which was how a local taxi driver described the big white parliament building of Rome that he said all Romans totally disliked), Palantino (ruins near the Colloseum) and finally ended with the Fontana di Trevi (according to me, the best place to visit in Rome). We even ate at a small family run restaurant in between the streets of Rome, where we were even served complimentary aperitifs, and totally enjoyed the Ravioli Geeta ordered, and the authentic Spaghetti Corbonara I had.

We couldn’t get to see off Tunu and Archana as we ended up walking different directions, so had to bid adieu over the phone itself. It was really good hanging out with them though – Tunu was probably the entire reason for the trip coming together in the first place, and we really did have a good time with them..

June 4

It was the start of the trip for only me and Geeta from today, and our first stop was Pisa. We realized that a lot of Indian Junta actually end up visiting Pisa, and almost all of the junta there do the standard leaning against the leaning tower photo. We had a meal outside – Arabiatta and Tagchieti this time (we pretty much cut through every different Italian dish that we could pounce upon) and then entered the Leaning tower. It was good fun walking inside the tower, you actually feel the inclination as you walk to the top. Spent some time there, and then headed to a beach in Pisa called Tirennia. This was a brilliant beach – very different from Spains, but a pretty sight still. There were shows happening on the beach, and we sat at a restaurant by the side, ordered a Pizza with a beer and then made our way back to the bus stop. I had a panino on the way from a small bakery sort of place, and this was another kick-ass dish I had – it was the original subway, but way more tastier – with even your choice of meat from the numerous ones hanging around – creepy!

The bus journey back was even more creepy though. First we had to wait a really long time, and began to panic thinking we missed the last bus that was headed back to Pisa for the night – and there was no other way of getting back from Tirennia, as there are no Taxis in that town, and no other means of public transport.

Thankfully the bus came in some time, and it was a freaky bus. The people in there all looked weird, and Geeta chose the seat right opposite a Eunuch, who was the weirdest of them all – coz she was really well built! Anyway, we just engaged ourselves in some banal conversations to kill time as the bus hollered its way back to Pisa, ran back into our hotel and called it a night as we had another early morning travel to Florence the next day.

June 5

Florence was a very brief stop over, although we felt we should have done more of Florence and a bit more off-beat Italy that the usual Rome-Pisa-Venice, but guess that would be for the next time around. We had a quick but expensive and needless breakfast in Florence, and continued on our way to Venice.

On reaching Venice, we realized that the island called Lido where we had booked our room in was actually very far from the main Venice island, as we required a bus ride, followed by a Vaparetto ride to get to the island from our Hotel. Should have just taken peoples advice and stayed on the main-land, but I thought I was being cool getting a good deal on one of the islands!

To top it, it kept raining in Venice, and our entire stay there was turning our real messy.

We had lunch at a local place, where I tried out a local dish called Gamberi – Prawn with onions and grapes – local Venetian cuisine, and real tasty!

Then we walked around the Venice streets, finally had dinner next to the canal in Rialto, and headed back to our room by dusk.

Repeated the routine the next day – photos in the Marcus square, some more shopping, some tasty croissants, and finally, made our way to the airport.

One last Ryan Air flight for the trip – and this time to the magical city of Paris!

We reached Paris by 8p.m and checked in just before nigh-fall. This was a good hotel, and very close to the Paris Nord station, called Timhotel. I specifically booked a good place, as I knew this was going to be at the end of the trip, after staying in a bunch of cheaper options, and of course – being in the city I’ve been dying to visit..

June 6

Now I must say movies like Moulin Rouge and Midnight in Paris spoiled the real Paris a bit for me – coz I had built this huge fantasy city in my head – and Paris turned out to be just about normal.

We began the day visiting the Lourve, and we nearly missed the Mona Lisa while walking through the aisles. And Mona Lisa was all that people said it out to be – supremely normal, and making you question why the brouhaha. Then we went to Rolland Garros to try and see if we can get in and watch the mens quarters that was going on, but there were no tickets being sold at the spot, which we knew, but decided to give it a shot anyway. Then we headed to Arc De Triumph, Champs Elyses, by luck walked by the Crazy Horse and LIDO, and finally reached the Eiffel

This was a real let down, as we waited in line for quite a while, but the rain didn’t seem to let up, and Geeta couldn’t take it anymore. So we headed back to our hotel thinking of coming back the next day, having some crepes on the way from a place run by Indians. Just the previous day we had Indian food from a small restaurant that was run by French!

June 7

The rains just didn’t let up, and add to it some renovation work going on at the Eiffel, we ended up taking 6 hours to get in and out of the Eiffel tower. We then visited the Sacre de Courre, and finally decided to hit some shops, but they closed by by 5p.m. before we could get anything done.

All of this was making  Paris very difficult to appreciate, and feel very far from the image I had in my head..

And this was all until visiting the Moulin Rouge – coz magic comes right back when you watch this show, and then take the midnight was after the show through the streets of Paris – the whole experience was just beautiful. I’ve seen Crazy Horse at Vegas, and Wicked in London, but I would say that this show totally takes the cake – it really is the mother of all cabarets!

June 8

Left to Amsterdam by the Thalys – super premium luxury train, and reached Murtuz place by noon. Had lunch at a Surinamese place, a country in Africa that was colonized by the Dutch and the people there given freedom and the right to stay in Holland and run hotels like these after their independence.

Then Geeta and I just chilled out for the rest of the day till Murtuz got back, and then we hit a club called 1890 – which was actually a joint that was as old as the name – and I totally loved the evening here.

The waiter was one of the coolest I’ve spoken with and I was just asking him about the local beer and food, and he began to pretty much give me a course on the kind of stuff they served. He gave me tastes of some of the beer, explained to me how they were prepared and even brought on some awesome short eats. My favourites for the evening were Wallen Beer and Bitterballen snacks – man, simply loved them and can’t wait to have them again J

June 9

Geeta and I visited Zaanses Schans this day – the place where you get to see authentic Holland – all with windmills, cheese and clog factories, canals and museums. It was a true Dutch experience for us on this day. We got back and met up with Murtuz, visited some more nice coffee shops, and ate everything we wanted to savor one last time before leaving Europe – wok to walk for Geeta, steak for me, waffle for Geeta, croquette for me, and finally a long and nice train journey followed by a walk to Murtuz’s house by the canal.

Best end to a killer Euro Trip.