The Big Apple

A week ago, when I went to New York, the first thing that I noticed after two months of staying in DC is the change in ‘Pace’. This change was refreshing! ‘Pace’ was the thing that was missing from my life for a while now and ‘Pace’ is the thing that is certainly missing from Washington DC. DC gives you a feel of living in a Mid-Sized town and the part where I live gives a feel of life in a village; a village with 24 hours electricity.

New York is in many ways like Mumbai city. The traffic problem, the parking place crunch, the beggars in the train, streets crowded with people; more interestingly it has the potholes, filthy streets, the street food, the bargain shopping streets et all. The metro is city’s lifeline and the only way to reach any place in time.
If Mumbai is the place where people from all over India come together and settle down, New York is the place where people from all over the world come and settle down. You will find restaurants serving almost all cuisines of the world. An Ethiopian joint which I went to served good food. Like Mumbai, different areas have a different feel to It.

You can distinguish Manhattan from Bronx in the same way that you can distinguish South Mumbai from Thane. In Mumbai, once you cross the Vashi Bridge, you realize the change instantly. You realize it’s not Mumbai anymore. Same thing happens when you cross George Washington Bridge or Lincoln Tunnel to go to New Jersey. Now, New Jersey is another big modern village.

Like Mumbai, this city has no room for expansion. No matter how far away from the city you live, you have to take the morning local to town. The peak time traffic in New York is as bad as in Mumbai, if not worse. Except the peak times are a bit different. Morning 7 to 9 is the peak time here, whereas in Mumbai, it’s usually 8.30 to 10.30. The metro works 24*7, no respite.

At 4 in the morning, there are people on the street. The Starbucks is open, the city feels safe. The New York city metro is quite unattractive than the metros in other cities. The metro stations look like jails with all the barricades and stuff. Like Mumbai has a National Park, New York has Central Park. The difference is that Central Park is bang in the middle of the city and 100 times well maintained. It’s amazing that such a wonderful thing survived this concrete jungle.

People walking on the streets, such a rare sight in US; yet is such a common sight in New York. The parking taxes are towing fees are so high that people prefer to park their cars in the last stop of New Jersey and come across the Hudson river using public transport. From here, all of Manhattan is walking distance away.
The PENN Station resembles a lot to CST where both long distance and short distance trains meet. Just outside is the Times Square which was showing some match on the huge screen. Like Mumbai, this city looks brilliant at Night from the Aircraft. The Manhattan skyline is simply brilliant from the Jersey City side.
I am going to visit this city more often! Gives me the feel of Aamchi Mumbai!

Unfortunately, I don't have the photos of New York to upload. I'll do that after I have enough money to save and buy a camera!

Schengen Staaten

Warning – Long post….

Actually I wanted to shorten this one so that readers are not bored. But then I realized that I am writing more for myself rather than the reader, more so to cherish every moment I enjoyed. Still I am very much indebted to the few people left on earth reading this blog to actually take the pains reading this. So screw it, this one’s big.

The view from the window presented a magnificent sight. As the fading orange ball sets lower in the sky, the clouds turn glorious shades of pink and purple. Then an amber colour line formed on the horizon. A glance at the watch showed 11.30 pm. Wonderful sight of Helsinki city beneath and Orange and Amber colour light spread on it. Beautiful Scandinavian country with the Baltic sea. Thank you very much Lufthansa, you made a wonderful sight on my dreamlist come right in front of my eyes, in a very beautiful way.

Coming up next were 6 different countries with 6 different languages and 5 different currencies and with no plan or Hotel booking either. The route of Helsinki - Tallinn – Riga – Jurmala – Vilnius – Warszawa – Berlin – Frankfurt. It may not have the fame that western Europe has but still I liked it better than the west. We travelled by almost all modes of transport in Europe. Be it the cruise, ship, plane, bus, tram, train, trolley bus, metro, taxi, car, bicycle everything.

Cruise in Europe is a terrific experience. Helsinki to Tallinn by superfast 2 hour cruise is an amazing journey. I always wanted to experience it once and this time got the chance. Watching 20 to 30 Seagull’s on the ship deck is a splendid sight. A wonderful bird, but so many of them were in Sight that we almost lost interest in clicking photos after a while. Bird watching is like that you see, rarity has value!!

I’ve heard about Gothic, Teutonic, Byzantine Architecture from the game Age of Empires. It was very nice to actually see them. The Teutonic Knights whom the British called the best cavalry in the world made a graceful sight. Especially Vilnius city is very classic. Half the city has Old Gothic architecture and the other half has Renaissance, Baroque style buildings. This difference presented a pretty view.

The Geographical centre of Europe is located at 19 kms from Vilnius. It is a beautiful park called as Europa Parka with over 200 great works of art from over 100 International Artists. A must see place.

Festival time shows you a very vibrant side of any city. We were very lucky to be in Tallinn for the National Song festival. A parade with 26000 music performers went around the Tallinn city main street singing local songs and moving towards their National Stadium in a very organized manner, parading. Such a wonderful sight, I can never forget rest of my life. More than a lakh people gathered around the National stadium to see them perform. All over the city, big screens and television were telecasting it. Amazing is the only word that describes it.

People had warned us not to visit these Baltic countries terming them unsafe. I do not regret not listening to them at all. Like us, they have had to fight for their independence too. Infact some of these countries have gained Independence not just once but twice. The Baltic nations, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, took part in a memorable protest against Soviet rule on August 23, 1989, which helped pave the way toward their renewed independence.

The “Baltic Way” was one of the longest human chains in history, organized by leaders in each of the countries as an act of protest. Roughly two million people from the Baltic countries formed a massive human chain that spanned 430 miles through all three nations. They held hands and carried signs during the peaceful protest. Going through the same route by bus, it took me six hours and also a small tear in the corner of my eyes. How proud each one of these two million people feel knowing they were the ones who had given their country Independence.

Interaction with locals was another good experience that came with the tour. Two Swiss couples who were on their vacation met me in a Polish train. They were college buddies and meeting up after 10 years of college, all doctors, but very down to earth. One guitarist and one vocalist and I joined them. Singing Bryan Adams, Green Day, Linkin Park, Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, Oasis and other great song in a European train that too out loud was great. They also sung some famous German songs and made me sing some famous Hindi songs in my pathetic voice. It just felt like friends from my college and me were going together in a train. They asked me a lot of things about India and told a lot about their European and African experiences. Got to know many things in Polish language from a Polish student over there enroute to Berlin. Her experience in a winter which was fierce as the temperature went upto -40 degrees were thrilling and fearful.

Sight of Indian Peacock in Warszawa was great. Here around five peacocks move around freely in the garden nearby the famous Palace on water. I’ve never seen such a free peacock anywhere in India. So many people looking around when it was showing it’s beautiful feathers in the gentle rain. What a pretty sight. I was actually very lucky to click an Image of the Peacock fly. A very rare sight and a beautiful photo!

Riding a bike (or the bicycle as we call it) was also a Great adventure. Riding a bike once in Europe is what I feel a must do thing. There are special lanes for bikes and no cars can ply on it without paying a hefty fine. Even the bicycles follow lane discipline. There are different signals for trams, cars, pedestrians and bikes. 25 kilometer journey from city centre to Berlin wall and back with a Mercedes Bike was cool. On my way, standing on the signal with a map, I saw some Korean students also with same map headed in the same direction. I spoke to them a few Korean words that I recollected from my previous journey back there and they were so happy hearing that. We all rode together to the wall.

Berlin wall was all I knew about Berlin. Actually a very small portion of this wall remains which was brought down in 1989. The eastern side is covered in graffiti that did not exist while the Wall was guarded by the armed soldiers of East Germany. Nearby are remains of Nazi Concentration Camps. A place were Hitler tortured the Jews. There actually they have set up a live demo show in the dark basements of these camps using men dressed in skeleton structures coming from all around threatening us. They also show a movie with special effects like vibration under your legs and other spine chilling effects to showing how the Jews were tortured. Very painful to even see it, what must have it been to experience it? Many people walked out after seeing half the movie.

I’ll end this post on a very positive note I thought. There can’t be anything more positive than the sight I saw at the Berlin main square. Preparations for the Paralympics games was going on there and in a very different way. Disabled people who were to participate in the Paralympics were made to play against people from the crowd that had gathered to see them. There was blind football where blind people were playing against blindfolded people. Them the basketball match where people from audience were playing on wheelchairs against their Paralympics team. Then there were other games such as Table Tennis, Running , Judo etc. Such a nice way to prepare them I felt. Maybe India should introduce such a thing and people will participate for such a good cause. I played 10 minutes of blinded football there. Felt so nice after that. Maybe I’ve contributed in whatever small way I could to help them. Amen.

Up and close with Village life......

Since quite a long time, I had this wish of staying in a remote village in India. To observe the village life, be a part of it for some time and enjoy the gift of nature around. This time around I had my chance and trust me it has been a wonderful experience. Somewhat different than I thought it would be, but overall fantastic.

Interacting with the local villagers and getting to know their opinions about things was the thing I was very much looking forward to. What really amazes me is that you can strike a conversation with anyone and they’ll talk with you. There’s no turning back and avoiding or ‘who-the-hell-are-you and why you talking to me looks’. It’s the friendly atmosphere that just builds up God knows how. On the whole, people are very helpful.

When it comes to village life, we say it lacks pace. There’s no 8.47 local to catch, neither a stressful job where the boss and the company both get the hell outta you. But what we fail to see is their share of problems. Life there is not as simple as it seems. Walking for 2 kilometers daily for pulling out drinking water from the well, working in the farm, mulching cows and buffaloes, running around nearby markets for getting good price for your crops is not simple. More than 10 hours of load shedding is a regular thing. We never have to worry about feeding the cattle 3 times food and 3 times water, do we? As for the stress part, ask a farmer what he’s going through with rains being late by a week. I don’t want to say village life is tougher than city or vica versa, just that comparisons should be done amongst equals and not two different things.

During the visit I had to appreciate how beautiful simplicity is. Simple food which consisted of only 3 things Dal, Bhakri and Rice tasted so good. A simple photograph made an ageing lady so happy that it made her day. Children would come running from the fields and houses to get a single peppermint toffee from us. The natural alarm of the Murga in the morning, clean view of the sky and stars in the night. Such a nice feeling just looking at the stars and thinking about life.

It was painful hearing their problems and encouraging hearing the solutions. There’s no pay for the teachers of the local school for last 2 years, yet the teachers are selflessly teaching. Trying to bring in more and more students to school, especially raising awareness of the need for educating more girls. This year the school where we went to has students giving the SSC exam for the first time. Something which makes their village proud. In remote villages there is acute shortage of water. They get only around 15 liters of water daily. Despite this, the villagers cheerfully fill our 1.5 liter bottle to the brim. Almost bringing a tear to my eyes.

Now, as far as interacting with the locals is concerned, that was great too! People there are very excited about Mumbai. For them it a dream place where people mint money. A place where the Shahrukh, Amir, Salman and the other Khans live with beautiful heroines. A wonderland. They love to boast about their village too. About how cheap the things are and how cool the air is. There’s a lot of gossip the villagers do amongst themselves. This includes bitching about the person who’s not present at the time of talk.

I got the opportunity to be there around when a marriage was about to take place. For some reason it got delayed and people staying there for the only reason of ‘food after marriage’ had interesting stories to tell. They started making guesses as to what the dowry amount would be, how much the bride has studied and all. One eye was always on what is cooking and when it will be served. Neighbors were talking about the foodgrains they had to give to the marriage home for the wedding lunch. Chaos all around. Different experience again. This was also the time I heard stories of ghosts and haunted places in the village. Trees and farms where village people are scared to go because of scary happenings. I dunno how many of those are true but they were interesting for sure.

Lastly I want to end up with this. Village people have the general belief that kids in the city are not strong enough. They’ll not survive the harsh climate and the toil of the villages and can work around only in AC cabins. They will not be able to adjust to simple rural food. Not always true must say. At the same time we city people sometimes think kids from villages are backward. They have poor mannerisms and etiquettes. This too is very wrong. They’ve had a different life than us. It’s the lack of opportunities for village students that makes the difference here. For a person who had food with bare hands all his childhood, how can you expect him to be eating noodles with chopsticks. Not that they are backward enough not to buy a Burger, but never had the chance to have one their life to like one. This discussion can go on for a while. Best thing is not to compare and take the best of the two worlds, city life and village life.

Travel Companions

You been with your school friends, junior college mates, college guys. You begin to think that you’ve figured them all out. Go out for a trip together. You’ll see them in different colours. The ones they are actually made of!!

Being a frequent traveler and traveling with different group everytime is fun. Every journey has led to meeting people of different taste. These are some prominent types of travelers I’ve come across.

1. The loner - This person, even if in a large group, likes to be alone for most of the time. He seldom talks to other people, sits alone in a corner. At tourist places he/she likes to wander alone. He never really is a part of the group. During journeys, he’s stuck with I-pod/ Music Player/ FM radio into his ears. Likes to be lonely thinking something on the beach when all the group is playing beach football.

2. The Boss—He’s the type of person who’s always busy in issuing commands to people. Usually when I go for trips, normally I’m the one taking all the initiative, getting all hotel bookings done, tour bookings, cab rental and stuff. These people just give orders. Sanket bring me tea. I take the initiative so what. I am not a tour guide whose traveling free on your money. Go get it yourself. Probably this could be a better answer to this people but why spoil the trip mood.

3. The initiator—These are the people at the heart of everything. They are the best kind of travelers you’ll ever meet. Always ready for work. Ready to find a hotel in an unknown city when rest of the group is feeling tired. Ready to walk an extra mile to see another visit point. Ready to bump out of the hotel room earliest and plan the day tours.

4. The entertainers—Very essential part of the traveling group. These are the guitarists, flute players, people making Donald duck voices and other such talents. Without them the fun quotient is not quite upto the mark. They keep the liveliness intact even amongst the most boring parts of the journey.

5. Camera Lovers---Two kind of people come into this category. The first ones are the one who like clicking photographs of almost anything. Always busy at clicking something or the other or Video shooting. They like to keep memories I see. Sometimes, in search of these memories, they actually fail to enjoy the moment. Memories are fine, but temme the last time when you saw the 2 GB photographs of the last tour you went. You would rather enjoy the calm and cool sunset instead of being worried about capturing the exact moment of sunset on your cam. That’s again a personal opinion. The second kind of people here are those who love to be clicked themselves. At every spot, he/she asks someone, 'meri yahan pe photo nikal na'. These people need not be photogenic either. And yes, they have to be in every group photo.

6.The Chatterbox---You sit next to this person in long train or flight journeys. They have lots and lots of stories to tell, lot of topics to discuss. I’m sure you wouldn’t get bored. The chatterbox would find someone who listens to him and he’ll be happy and your friend for rest of the trip(Some people like listeners, just as this blog would like readers).

7. The Critic--- Some people derive immense pleasure in finding faults in most of the things and speaking them out. In a perfectly well organized trip, they’ll keep finding little shortcomings. One more thing that these people love is to compare this trip with the previous ones and say how that one was better and things have worsened. That Simla is not the same that it used to be.

8. Late latif---Always late. Tell them to wake up at 7, they’ll be in bed till 8. Every tourist spot, they are late. They never really value time. Without doubt they are the worst travelers to be with. You need to be with the group, not ahead, not behind. That’s the idea of a good travel group.

9. The crybabies---They’ll always cry to get what they want. Cry for the window seat. The ‘I don’t want to go to this place’—Cry. “This food I can’t do with, I want proper restaurant food”. Basically they don’t really adjust to the situation and try to turn things to their favour.

10. The everpraiser--- They’ll see the place. Praise the place. Then praise the organizer for showing them such a beautiful place. Then thank the crowd for accompanying them to such a beautiful place. They’ll praise the food even if it’s average. Trust me, there are people like this who still exist in this world. I remember in one of the tours, a person would call me ‘Sirjee’ for the entire tour. I initially liked that but was pissed off at the end of the tour.

And if you are not one of the above, you are the aam-aadmi who’s forgotten at the end of the trip. Try to acquire one of the above characteristics so that you are remembered by everyone on the trip. Maybe for the good reasons….-:)

Morning calm---A lesson learnt

Every new country you see offers you a new dimension of how the world is. Certainly there’s a lot to learn from this little country called Korea. The attitude of the people towards tourists is so great. A few incidents left me shocked as to what extend people can help you.

On day one, we were searching for our Hotel address, and there were hardly any people on street. So we walked to a dress store and asked the lady there about the address. She dialed the number of Hotel from her cell, talked to the manager for about a minute, took a piece of paper, drew a neat map that guided us to our Hotel.

Also on one of the very chilly evenings at a Busan Subway station, when I was a bit tired, took off my winter cap in the bag and began to eat chocolates that I had. Dad was in a store nearby. An old couple was watching me for a while. After some time they approached me thinking that I didn’t have any winter cap and offered me 10000 won(around 400 rs) note to buy one. I declined saying that I had a cap, and thanked them for offering one. Now who would do that to a stranger.

In general, it’s a very tourism friendly. I-counter is set at every major tourist spot. In remote areas, where people knew little English, we would go to the I-counter, ask the person to write the name of the place we want to visit in Korean Language on a piece of paper. We would show that piece of paper to the Cab- driver to reach the place we want.

Many cabs had free translator service. That is, the cab driver would call a translator, who could speak English and Korean and then a 3-way communication started. If you would rent a mobile, you can call 1330 and use the free translator service to interact with anyone. Infact, that was how we interacted with the Jeju hotel manager.

This country has braved many things. Japan invaded it till 1945, North Korea destroyed entire Seoul city in 1952. 1 US dollar is 1300 WON (Korean currency). Worse ratio than the war hit Japan had to face. But still, it has started fresh and build everything from scratch. Slowly and steadily making itself known to the world.

Infrastructure is great. Incheon airport is the world’s 3rd best Airport. Korean air has been voted Asia’s best airline for third year running. Seoul stadium is Asia’s biggest football stadium. Seoul Metro is so well designed to meet city requirements. Everything is automatic. There’s no chance you travel without a ticket and there’s no chance the machine will let you travel for more than the ticket you brought. Seoul subway image below.

When I look back at Bombay, I see no I-counter, I see the prepaid Taxi counter man offering me rates that are twice the actual. I also see that if I take a private cab, the first question the driver asks me is “Bombay mein naye Ho” and takes me on the longest path if yes is the answer. It really makes me sad. Comparison is bad, but I don’t remember being cheated for a single penny in Korea.

Not only the country has advanced technologically, but also kept it’s traditional culture intact. They have the system of Ondol floor, i.e. underneath the floor, there are heating water tubes spread. This way the floor remains warm and you can lay a bed on it called Ondol Bed or Korean style bed. Many Korean restaurants serve food sitting on the floor. Some of them also offer a cooking stove for keeping the food heated.

People there brave extreme cold climate to set out to work. Yet everyone’s so perfectly dressed. Right colour combination. All the men with proper coats of black colour. Women very smartly dressed. People always bearing a smile. Not shy to strike a conversation with unknown. Always ready to help. Even in heavy rushtime, nobody touches each other in train. The one who has to get down just puts his hands up indicating he has to get down. The others make way for him.

Discipline is so high that cabs stop at the pedestrian crossing at 7 in the morning when no-one’s on the street. Never heard anyone honk a horn in 9 days of my stay. Didn’t see a plastic wrapper on the streets. Saw the government encouraging local companies to make it big in the International market. Like Daewoo, Hyundai, Kia motors, LG, Samsung etc. There aign’t any Vodafone, no T-mobile, only one local operator, SK telecom.

Just can say that I saw a great country in Korea and somewhere my heart says, one-day my country will be better. For that first I’ll have to learn. Learn to be a more helpful individual from now.

Morning Calm

Kidhar janewala Hai vacation mein?
South.
Aacha tho IV nahi aayega?
Nahi re. But you people have fun.

I was in two minds when Dad asked me whether I was coming for Korea. One view was I might not see such a different country again. I may not get a chance to go to around -7º C temperatures. Other was saying, I rather go with my friends to the IV. It would be more fun. Korea mein kya hai? Rajasthan mein sab saath mein enjoy karenge.

I choose the former one, and am glad to say that I don’t regret it now. Surely I missed my friends. With them it would have been great. But at the same time, I got to see an incredible country. An adventure to remember for the rest of my life.

This country is called as “Land of Morning Calm”. At sub-zero temperatures, mornings are Surely calm. On arrival day, temperatures were -3º to -7º. From past experience at Leh, I had learnt that it was important to rest first day, so that you can adjust to temperature well. Otherwise, 10 days trip is reduced to 2 days, next day you cant bear the cold, return back. Or stay confined to your hotel room.

If temperatures change from 25 to -6 slowly, degree by degree, then you can adjust. But for sudden change, precaution is needed. You cant afford to eat too much otherwise heat needed to digest it is large and begin to feel weak. You need food which consumed in small amount gives large amount of calories. Choclates and Ice-creams are the best. Ice-creams in such cold? Crazy? Nope, it’s the best.

Third day of stay, Seoul temperature was -9º C to -17ºC. Even the localites were shivering badly. Water dropped from the bottle would freeze in around 10 seconds. If you put your hand in the river for even some seconds, water would stick to hand and form solid mass. Every word you utter comes of with a thick fog of air. Sunlight hardly gives any warmth. In most of cold places I’ve been, even if it’s freezing during evenings, however the day sunshine brings you warmth. But here,Sun changed nothing. Fierce winds that prevent you to keep your camera steady for a pic. Only one of the days temperatures went above freezing mark. Busan was 1º to -3º.

The minute when you come out of the shower, and you dress yourself is probably the worst minute of your life. The winter coat I had was Made in USA and was a huge plus, but the gloves which were brought from a shopkeeper saying “Kitni bhi thandi mein leke jao, chal jayenge” proved to be useless. It was better to get a new one there.

Morning 9 to night 7-30 was the only time it was worth roaming on the street. I still recollect how difficult it was to take Seoul streets for the 8.55 am flight to Jeju Island. Infact, all I had to do was to catch a cab, which wasn’t even a 1 minute walk. Life’s fun, enjoy, you may never experience this again. But when you think about it that way, think about the localites. It’s a 10 day fun trip for us, but it aign’t exiting when it’s 3 months of every year of your life.

Not many Indian travelers visit this country. Infact out of the 200 odd people on Korean Air flight, only 10 were Seoul bound, others were mostly NRI’s or the software guys on their way to America. Indians mostly go to places where there’s business. Hongkong, Singapore, London, Dubai, South-Africa you name it and we are there. However, during entire trip, didn’t see any Indian over there. Not even Indian and Pakistani restaurants. It has never happened to me before.

But, braving the climate, this country has something great to offer. Some great people and great memories that I’ll always cherish.

Morning Calm-Places to See

Large part of Korea is either a Mountainous region or seashore. Capital city Seoul is surrounded by hills on all sides, a river in the southern side and Mt. Namsan, a beautiful mountain at the centre. The 2 hr trek to the top of Namsan is a wonderful one. There are also stairs, or the ropeway to get to the top, but nothing beats a trek.

At the top lies Seoul tower. Not as famous as the Tokyo tower or Eiffel tower, but a great place to see. The observatory at the top presents a breathtaking view at night. The river flowing through the south, football stadium, Hyundai, LG and Samsung buildings, Huge towers, the seven mountains surrounding the city.The tower keeps changing its colors and looks great from a distance. There’s a huge teddy bear museum at the entrance.

There's also a famous fence at the top where young couples tie locks to it, they believe that it will make them inseperable forever.

Mt. Achasan and Mt. Umyosan were the other mountains we trekked. Cold is unbearable, but the joy you get from the view at the top is just what keeps you driving.

Two major Sporting events have changed the face of the city. The 1988 Seoul Olympics and 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA world cup have led to great development. The World cup stadium is the biggest in Asia with 65000 capacity, which also has 2 malls, a museum, gymnasium, swimming pool and a multiplex theatre inside it. The stadium tour is great. World cup has brought in great funds. 5 wonderful parks are created near the stadium, and in the snow, the trees, well arranged give a spectacular view.

Area around the Olympic stadium is also similarly well developed. Skating arenas with snow are throughout the city where you can see kids from the age of 5 ice-skating. It’s so cute to see the little ones skate, but sadly we can’t for the fear that if we fell in that cold, certainly one of our body parts would go numb. Seoul metro is a great way to travel. It’s a bit crowded as it’s the common man’s transport over there, just like our locals. But take a day pass, and travel unlimited. However your chances of seeing more than 4 places a day are bleak in this weather.

Cheonggyecheon is a very famous stream of water flowing through downtown Seoul. It was previously a stream of waste water, but the government has put in so much money for it’s development to transform it into a wonderful landmark. Trees lit with light around it. Several small bridges with various themes, small time artists putting up laser show on the walls, cool breeze and the sound of flowing water. One of the most romantic places I’ve ever seen. I so wish to make a walk on this stream again with someone I love. This 6 km walk surely rocks. Thank you Korea.


The Han-gang river offers many ferries and boats for tourists. There is a bird sanctuary at a small islet in the river bed and lot of tourists opt for ferries to see that. But it was so damn chilly to stay 5 minutes at the dock that we thought better opt out of this. Birds hamare yahan bhi dikhte hai!!

Several Museums, art galleries and Palaces are famous in Seoul. I don’t really like to go to these places, usually thinking all Palaces are the same. So are the museums. But seeing one or two is okay. I met a Manchester fan over there and went to one of the palaces with him. Throughout the palace, we were discussing football. I had a great time. Herd many stories about England and how they don’t get to see the Saturday 3 pm fixtures over there and stuff. Picture of wonderful Changdeokgung palace is below.

European travelers are great to talk with, anywhere in this world. They go to a city, stay there for a month and tell you everything worth seeing about the city. Many Europeans are English teachers in Korea and they guided us in places where hardly any English was spoken. I can go on and on about Seoul, but I guess this much is enough to give an overview.

Jeju –do is a small Island south of Korea, about an Hour flight from Seoul. Size similar to that of Mauritius. Not as famous as Mauritius, but I feel it’s equally wonderful as Mauritius. Infact this small Island has 7 UNESCO heritage sites that are amazing and amazingly well preserved. I still doubt entire India might not have so many UNESCO protected and preserved heritage sites.

There’s everything to this Island. Great clean beaches, Mountains, caves, waterfalls, rivers, golf courses, everything. Mount Halla lies in the centre of the Island. It’s a four hour trek to the top. We were determined to do it, but due to heavy snow, the mountain was closed for trekking. There are massive orange plantations around this mountain full of big oranges, clad with snow.

Jeju is scientifically valuable for its extensive system of lava tubes (also known as lateral volcanoes or in Korean as Oreum). These natural conduits through which magma once flowed are now empty caves that are some of the largest in the world. The caves provide opportunities for scientific research and are also popular tourist destinations. Manjagul caves is a very famous lava tube cave we visited. Very well preserved site. Picture aside shows a frozen lava column, 7.6 metres, largest in the world.

The beaches are very clean here with extremely cool wind waves flowing near that it drifts you along with it. Very difficult to capture an image of it, but surely it presents a wonderful sight. We saw the Hamduk beach where after putting my feet in water made me numb for 5 minutes. In summers, many water sports can be done on the beaches, but winter, we were the only 3 people on the beach.

Cheonjiyeon waterfall was a nice place for a walk deep inside the woods, really enjoyed the place and there’s another waterfall which directly falls in the ocean which is a nice spot. So many places to see on this beautiful island, so little time. Green tea plantations are famous on this Island. There’s also the migratory bird sanctuary, World cup stadium, Sunrise peak which apparently is a cool 20 minutes trek to see the sunrise from a mountain. But coming on the streets at 6 in morning isn’t such a great idea.

Yongduam is a famous rock near the airport beach. It has the shape of Dragon Head and also called Dragon head rock. Naturally formed, great view at sunset.

Next, we took a flight to Busan, a coastal city in the East of Korea, very close to Japan. This city contains some of the best buddhist temples in the world. Beomeosa temple is very famous for tourists who come for Temple stay in Korea. Temple stay is a nice concept wherein you can stay a weekend in the temple, and live a lifestyle the traditional way. People from far-off places come for temple-stay booking around an month in advance. There’s one more famous temple touching the beach which is a wonderful sight to view.

UN war memorial in Busan pays tribute to 200 UN soldiers who sacrifised their lives when North korea attacked South Korea in 1952. Each died soldier has a plant planted against his name. Such a nice way to pay a tribute. Silent and nice place to visit.

Haeundai Beach is a fantastic place where all the famous Hotels are located. We opted for apartment Stay in Busan. Busan Aquarium is a very different aquarium than you have ever seen. It has great protected rare aquatic species, plus it has also 3d animation theatre movies as showing the thrilling ocean life. It's nice. Our rented apartment was on the 24th floor and presented a spectacular view of city. Yongdusan is a nice garden for young people to trek to. Close to it is the Busan tower.

Gwangan Bridge presents a great view from the beach with more than a billion lights constantly changing colors. Such a nice view it presented, totally worth the money you spend…..Great Country…Surely like to visit again. The image below is a wonderful picture of Gwangan Bridge. It took almost 15 retakes in the freezing cold to getthat right. The moon and it's shadow looks brilliant in this picture i feel. One of the best pic i've taken. Also it's zoomed view below.

An Idea Can.....

Luxembourg…..

A small country in western Europe, I doubt very few might have even heard of it. It’s strangely the richest country in the world w.r.t. per capita income(I know many people will open Google and search for richest country). What made it so rich, great history, no. Then what, good land, great scenery, any European country has it. Large amount of money from tourism( why not Singapore then, small country so many tourists).

I didn’t believe when I was told that just a well executed Idea makes an country the richest in the world. But now I do. Now, coming back to it, what was the Idea? Luxembourg government decided to use banking sector as a source of income for the country. For non EU(European union ) countries, the money deposited in the banks is tax free. And your account is not operated by name, but is operated by a secret code number and your signature. None of your identity is disclosed except for European people and for locals, tax is directly deducted from their account, account data going to respective governments. But for others, don’t worry, hide in as much money you can and no-one will ever know.

It’s great place to hide money for people saving from heavy taxes, to hide money obtained through corruption. Or money that’s just supposed to be hidden. Many terrorist accounts are assumed to be operated here. Every major world bank has an office here, and most operate accounts through codes. You forget your code and money is gone. Luxembourg offshore banks number around 220 today and their balance sheets total in excess of EUR 600 billion - which makes the country Europe’s second largest banking giant after the UK.

Some of you might have heard that 6 months ago there was a news that Luxembourg government is ready to give the details of Indians investing in these banks, but it didn’t go any further. Many of the politicians are believed to have secretly deposited their money. That’s why the government is not acting upon it.

The Indian angle looks ugly, but their country has prospered a lot due to this. Such huge investments have led to great economy and the people living a very high standard of living. An Idea well executed is all it takes.

Las Vegas

A little known city in the state of Nevada, USA. One of the poorest state in the country. Lack of proper transportation routes, barren lands all over, no great history, no state of the art facilities like other American cities. Infact there wasn’t even a city here around 150 years ago. It was just a transit place for long distant tourists.

The city people believed money is never gonna come their way. USA may get richer, but Vegas, still poorer. Here too, it was just an idea which changed the map, the image and economy of the city. Yes, we all know the Idea. The Las Vegas Casino.

The casino city is so different a city today. Looks like any other top American cities. The rates of rooms at weekends are 4 times the rate on Monday. Almost every big hotel here has a casino. People will always keep trying on their luck, and this city will always make money from them. Who was to say, the barren lands of Nevada would one day become one of the busiest economic centre of the states. The entire state has benefited in terms of good transport, good roads due to this city.

Moral: Don’t say we have nothing, because people have made so much out of nothing.

Watching “What happens in Vegas” reminded me of this story. Nice Movie.

Dream Destinations

This is the thing i enjoy the most. Travelling the world around and seeing lovely places. I used to make a list of places which I would never like to miss out on in a lifetime. A lot of this has been modified over time as some alternatives on list were visited. These are the seven things that are on top of the list currently. They may not be Seven Wonders of the World, but certainly great places.

1. Watching Midnight sun at Helsinki…..
This is on the top of the list for a while. It would feel incredible to see the sun right up in the sky and watch the clock say it’s 12 at night. Plus they say European summers are great. And then watch the sunset at 1 in the night. Seems crazy while just thinking. Actually may sound so cool.

2. Great beaches is South-Africa.
Cape town, Durban or be it any other, they are the coolest beaches in the world. Just want to be there to watch the beautifully blue coast, and the water sport that come with it. My friends argue that Mauritius is on top of the beaches list, but since I’ve visited it, it doesn’t figure here. And surely Goa doesn’t even come close.

3. Disneyland California
This is one of the big dreams. Watching your childhood cartoon characters coming alive is so great. The Mickey mouse, Donald duck, Alladin, Pinnochio,Dalmatians and so on.One way that it is different than other amusement parks such as Essel World, Ocean Park(Hongkong), Lotte-World(Seoul) is that it has a theme. And it also showcases a parade of all Disney characters at the end of the day.

4. Niagara falls
It may not be the highest or biggest waterfall in the world, but is one of the most beautiful waterfalls on earth. Canada on one side and America on the other. What a splendid way to separate two countries!! The view at night is even more fantastic as artificial light falls on the waterfall according to themes. A hotel with a waterfall view for the night will cost a fortune but is certainly worth it.

5. Super-star Virgo
Or for that matter any three of Singapore Star-Cruises will do. What a way to take stress off for 3 days. I’ve never been in any boat for longer that 5 hrs(dat was kerela backwaters..) but this surely is fun. With friends it would be even better. After seeing Titanic for so many times, cant resist without going on a Star Cruise.

6. Sand-dune surfing near Dubai
This is again one of the things seen on discovery channel that seemed irresistible. Previously Ice-skating used to be here on this list, but after Leh and Switzerland, enough of ice, sand surfing is better. Some of my friends going on trip this year might do it in Rajasthan though. Bit jealous about it.

7. Watching Fifa World cup final newhere.
The best is for the last. This is infact a resolution made by some of us friends in school that we’ll watch the football world cup final, or atleast semifinal in 2018 wherever it is in the world and no matter who is playing and how much it costs.