Hopscotch

California road trip

2010-05-03T17:15:00.015+08:00

All photos are up.

Days 1-5 are complete.

Use the links on the right to navigate.

California road trip - day 9

2010-04-24T15:41:00.007+08:00

California road trip - day 8

2010-04-23T15:25:00.008+08:00

California road trip - day 7

2010-04-22T15:17:00.000+08:00

California road trip - day 6

2010-04-21T20:26:00.012+08:00

We checked out of the hotel early in the morning and headed for the Morro Rock, a volcanic plug in Morro Bay, and a historical landmark. Morro Rock was first charted in 1542 by the Portuguese explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who called it 'El Morro' which is Spanish for "the pebble".

Morro Rock ahead

The area surrounding Morro Rock is beautiful, and if it hadn't been so cold, we'd have spent some more time outside the car.

Tiny squirrel greeting u

Morro Rock is a nesting site for falcons and seabirds. We saw tons of seabirds!

It was really windy too. Watch the seagulls drifting. Some look like they're just suspended in mid-air!

The plaque was set in a piece of rock.

Closer view of the plaque

We spent some time there (mostly inside the car though) and were off to our next destination -- Hearst Castle.

Beautiful winding roads, and signs of a storm ahead

Hearst Castle is a mansion built by William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper magnate in the early 1900s. The castle was built on a ranch Hearst had inherited, which spanned 250,000 acres. The extremely grand castle was designed by architect Julia Morgan, and construction went on from 1919 to 1947, mainly because Hearst kept changing his mind. He started off wanting to build a modest bungalow so he could stay there instead of a tent when he went camping. He finally ended up with a mansion covering 90,000 square feet, featureing 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo. Hearst formally named the estate "La Cuesta Encantada" ("The Enchanted Hill"), but usually called it "the ranch". Some ranch, this.

In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California. It is now maintained as a state historic park with major sections open for public tours. Apparently, the ranch attracts about one million visitors per year.

Although the main estate is now a museum, the Hearst family continues to use an older Victorian house on the property as a retreat.

We started off with watching a movie on the history of Hearst castle. It was very obviously a home production because it glorified the castle as William Hearst's "dream that he turned into reality". So the moolah he had was just a 'by the way' thing, yeah? I wasn't too impressed with the video.

Next, we were taken to the castle in a bus and our guide Belinda, sporting a blood red fringe, greeted us. It was incredibly cold and windy, and I was very glad we had our jackets on.

Viv feeling the chilly wind as he poses in front of the castle

The outdoor Neptune Pool, located near the edge of the hilltop, offers a great view of the mountains, ocean and the main house. The patio of the pool has an ancient Roman temple front transported wholesale from Europe and reconstructed at the site. Apparently, the Neptune Pool was rebuilt three times before Hearst was satisfied.

Hearst bought a lot of art from all over the world and displayed it all over the ranch.

The terrace

Casa Grande, the main castle

Orange tree with ripe oranges. Apparently, no one is allowed to pick the oranges from the trees, though the ones that have fallen on the ground can be picked up.

One of the grand rooms. The walls are lined with expensive paintings Hearst collected.

That's Belinda, at the bottom of the picture. We had never met a tour guide who knew, like, EVERYTHING. One of the people in our group asked her something about the architecture style of the chandeliers, and Belinda was immediately able to correct her and talk about the chandeliers for a full five minutes.

The ceiling

The dining hall where Hearst dined with his invited guests. Invitations to the ranch were highly coveted in the 20s and 30s. Hearst invited the elite such as
Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope, etc. and they would fly into the estate's airfield or take a private Hearst-owned train car from Los Angeles. Guests could stay as long as they wished, and apparently one of his guests stayed (on and off) for two years! Hearst had strict rules for his guests -- don't drink more than you can handle, don't let a woman who is not your wife stay in your room, and do not skip the formal dinners he hosted. The guests could do anything they liked all day while he was at work, but if they failed to attend the dinner which was the only time he showed up, they were packed off to where they came from. Whoa.

Belinda also told us that for a man who was so particular about his guests not allowing other women to stay in their rooms, it was indeed strange where Hearst got himself a mistress. That was such a scandal that the readership of his newspapers dropped because of it.

And oh, apparently Citizen Kane was based on Hearst's life.

Chandeliers in the dining room

If I had a terrace like this...

Our final stop was the grand indoor pool, which was not only HUGE...

...the floor tiles were crafted with real gold. Get that!

The bus ride back to the main entrance

Me standing next to the Hearst Castle poster titled 'Experience the dream'

And off, we were, back on the road!

California road trip - day 5

2010-04-20T14:46:00.002+08:00

We started off with a good breakfast at Denny's, said goodbye to Viv's cousin, and set off for a long day of driving.

It was awesome to drive (or in my case, to be driven around) with the sea on one side and mountains on the other.

It had started to rain and the weather was getting colder and windier. The plan was to drive to the Channel islands and explore the area. However, when we reached, we realised that it was too windy to do anything. We couldn't even step out for the car for 10 minutes. So we took a short walk and then decided to head towards Santa Barbara.

Off to Santa Barbara

We had lunch at Chipotle in Santa Barbara, and took another walk -- this time a longer one -- around the place.

We headed off to the Danish town of Solvang next.

I couldn't get enough of the pretty sites on the way!

And more!

Finally, we had reached Solvang. The town was founded in 1911 by Danish educators who had travelled west to escape winter. The architecture of the town was unlike any other city we had seen so far, as it followed traditional Danish style. The streets were lined with several Danish bakeries.

We took a walk around Solvang.

Viv and the windmill

Freezing in Solvang

Straight out of a postcard!

Pretty Danish houses

They even had a Hans Christian Andersen square in honour of the Danish fable writer.

We had tea, eclairs, and Danish lime pastry at Mortensens, one of the tiny Danish bakeries. It was really cosy and nice.

And off we set again, this time to Santa Ynez. We had booked a hotel there to stay the night before heading off again.

California road trip - day 4

2010-04-19T06:31:00.005+08:00

I can't believe we almost skipped this one!

When Viv first asked me if I wanted to go to Universal Studios, I declined immediately. Hollywood movie stuff... kiddy rides... naah!

However, a lot of folks started saying it was worth a visit and so we extended our stay in Burbank by a day and decided to go for it.

Me at the entrance of Universal Studios

Can you guess which of these statues is actually a real person?

Incidentally, the first thing we saw after we entered was the House of Horrors. I hate horror movies and I had got really scared in the House of Horror in London which I had the misfortune of visiting a few years ago. So I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I followed Viv inside.

It was not as scary as the London one. IT WAS SCARIER. There were scarily made-up 'ghosts' popping out of windows, grabbing you through bars, looking down at you from above. They were everywhere. You couldn't tell which ones were fake and which ones were real until they jumped at you.

This thing was a real guy. The bloke ran after me holding that knife. I screamed and hid behind Viv. Mature, eh?

Anyway, I walked behind Viv for the rest of the ordeal. It helped when people in front of us screamed because it meant that someone had 'attacked' them and we had a second to run past before the 'attacker' could get ready again.

The most horrible thing was that there was no turning back. They had designed it such that you had to keep going, and you could only get to the exit after you had been through two floors of horror.

Finally, we were out and I only had one thing on my mind. NEVER. AGAIN.

Next, we went for the 3D Terminator show. I had never been to anything like this and really liked it.

Just outside the Terminator show was this motorcycle, and I got Viv to take a picture of me on it as a reminder to myself that this would be the only time I would be 'riding a motorcycle'.

Next up was Universal's Animal Actors, a show to display the skills of various animals that had been part of actual Hollywood movies.

Check out the orangutan copying the trainer's every move...

...including the sulking pose!

I liked how she was holding him like a baby.

Next, we went for the Waterworld show. I had not watched the original movie, but the show was totally awesome, especially the effects. We were not in the 'wet zone' but those who were, were drenched (and loving it!) during several parts of the show.

Every time one of these boats went by, they made sure they splashed the folks in the 'wet zones'.

They even had a plane land on the water dangerously close to the audience. Awesome stuff.

The fuel tank explosion scene was mind-blowing. The fact that all of this was live without any retakes just made it more awesome.

Finally, the show ended and the cast was introduced. I didn't know that they were all from well-known TV shows. The female lead in this picture (who did some crazy stunts during the show) is in Gray's Anatomy!

We went for the Simpsons ride, and I am extremely ashamed to say that I screamed like a 5-year-old in -- get this -- A SIMULATED RIDE! *hangs head in shame* I, who has done a bungee jump, freaked out in a simulated ride. In my defence, I guess they didn't have to worry about physics so they made the 'roller-coaster' reeeeallly steep. I freaked out so bad I hid my face in Viv's shoulder.

I got scared in the Jurassic Park ride too, but only towards the end when the roller-coaster took a steep dive. Other than that, the rubber dinosaurs just looked silly.

Next up was the Universal Studios tour. We were taken to the sets where movies are shot, and shown how some of the cool effects are executed in movies. I also found out a lot of stuff is not what it seems in the movies!

This, for example, is actually just a plain wall! The door, window, bricks and pillars are all painted.

We saw famous cars from movies in the transportation department.

This car was used in The Mummy Returns.

The Knight Rider. Viv could hardly sit still when he saw it!

Cars from Back To The Future

Car from The Fast And The Furious

Next up was a demonstration of how car accidents are shot, particularly the ones where the cars go flying in the air before they explode.

Check this out. The 'flying' car doesn't really fly, it's just elevated at an angle and photoshopped later!

The following video gives a great view of how these 'accidents' are shot.

This was another demo -- how to create a flash flood in 30 seconds!

The sprinklers turn on...

... and water from a small dam is released, giving rise to the instant flash flood!

Several areas had these old-styled houses. The guide said that they were used to shoot flashback scenes or to create the effect of places like Mexico.

Psycho recreated... spot the guy holding the dead body?

He keeps the body in the car...

...and advances towards our tram holding a knife! Screeeeeaaaam!!

Set of an airplane wreck... it looked scarily real.

Next, we were taken through a tunnel where eerie effects and sounds from The Mummy were created to scare us. We also entered an underground railway track where one of the carriages derailed and skidded dangerously to our tram, making us scream ourselves hoarse, but it was all staged. Amazing stuff.

The end of the studio tour

We also went for the Shrek show, which was being touted as a 4D show. "What the heck is a 4D show?" I asked Viv. Once we had seen the show, I was still wondering if the 4th D was the fact that the seats were shaking (e.g. when the characters were on horses) or that water was being sprayed on us (e.g. when a character sneezed. YUCK. I know.). We checked the list of attractions and turns out we had managed to cover almost everything. The only remaining ride was 'Revenge of the Mummy'. I had already freaked out at the Simpsons ride, so I went, "What the hell, how much scarier can this be?"

The answer: VERY.

We should have known when they asked us to keep everything we had in lockers, before we boarded the ride. The ride was in complete darkness, and there were mummies dangling all over the place. And it was so fast that I felt like my cap was going to fly off -- no wonder they asked us to keep everything in the lockers. Once again, my face found refuge in Viv's shoulder, while I struggled to find my voice just so I could scream "GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

And just when you thought you came to a stop, the whole thing started moving backwards, at the same crazy speed as before. I was shaking when I got out. They had indeed named the ride well, because "MUMMY!!!!" was what was going on in my head throughout the ride.

NEVER. AGAIN.

My insides had melted, but check out the big fake smile.

It was a good thing we had gone on a Monday, otherwise the crown would have been unbelievable.

Near the exit

Signature 'we were there' shot

We had to walk through the nearby mall to get back to our car.

We saw this on our way back. Wonder how it would be do this. We almost did, but got put off by how contorted the facial muscles got. Click to see a larger version, and look closely at the person's face.

Later, we met up with some university friends for dinner at Palms Thai restaurant. One of them has the surname Bajaj and he was telling us how it gets murdered in the US by people who read it as 'Baha', 'Bahai' and what not. Hilarious. We spent hours reminiscing about the old says over yummy Thai food. It's really amazing how half of our friends from university seem to have moved to the US.

California road trip - day 3

2010-04-18T06:43:00.005+08:00

We had stayed the night at our friend's place so we could all drive from there to San Diego. It was a beautiful morning, and the weather looked awesome for the drive.

We stopped at Laguna beach for breakfast at this little French cafe called 'Cest La Vie' which had an awesome view of the sea where we sat.

We were off again! Our friend pulled down the top, and our hair started flying all over the place. I couldn't be gladder to have had chopped off the tresses before the trip.

We saw the Coronado bridge, which links San Diego to Coronado. I found out later that the bridge is curved and not straight in order to extend its length so it could meet the minimum length to qualify it for federal funding! (Wah wah! Ghee agar seedhi ungli se nahin nikle toh bridge tedha kar lo!)

The Coronado bridge is the third deadliest suicide bridge in the US (the first being the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and the second being the Aurora Bridge in Seattle). Signs with suicide hotline numbers have been placed on the bridge for potential jumpers.

Beautiful boats

We headed towards Point Loma, a peninsula that separates San Diego Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It's original name was 'La Punta de la Loma de San Diego' ('Hill Point of San Diego') but it was later anglicised to Point Loma.

Stunning view at Point Loma

At the Southern tip of Point Loma is the Cabrillo National Monument. The monument commemorates the landing of Portugese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay in 1542. This was considered the first landing by a European in present-day California.

Statue of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

Viv and me at Point Loma

Just me

Pretty bird that caught my attention

Next up was SeaWorld. I read that the San Diego one in 1964 was the first ever SeaWorld park. Now it had been absolutely ages since I had last gone to an adventure park, so I was quite excited.

We kicked off with 'Shipwreck rapids', a water ride. In retrospect, starting off with that was probably not a great idea. Signs all over said, "You WILL get wet, possibly soaked." but we didn't pay much heed. After all, how wet can you get sitting inside a rubber tyre that's travelling through a stream. The answer, as we were soon to find out: VERY. The so called 'rubber tyre' bounced and jumped in every direction, and the very uneven stream would often drive a large gush of water towards us. Add to that, we went right under a waterfall. Then there were overhead sprinklers and automated water pistols to target whatever dry region is accidentally left on your body. Both of us were wearing jeans, which of course, got soaked and we spent the rest of the day at SeaWorld walking around on very very cold legs.

The Shamu show was absolutely fantastic. I had never seen a killer whale (also known as an orca) except on television, so I was gushing like a child at the sheer size of those things.

Shamu does a mid-air flip.

Check out the relative man-whale size!

I was also wondering why they called it the Shamu show, when they did not specifically introduce any particular one of the whales as Shamu. So I read up later and found out that Shamu is just a stage name for these shows, after the original Shamu (the star of the show in the 60s and 70s) died in 1971. It was also interesting to know that the names "Shamu", "Namu" and "Ramu" were trademarked by SeaWorld and given to different killer whales at different times when performing in Shamu shows.

Okay I forgot what the name of this weird-looking fish is. Flatfish?

You could buy food for the sea lions and feed them yourself.

Hungry sealion demanding its brunch

Baby sharks

Penguins with their caretaker

Penguin zone. The one on the left looks headless, doesn't it??

Puffins

After wrapping up SeaWorld, we drove around the city a bit.

I'm always amazed at trams and the fact that they are still around!

Dinner was at the historical neighbourhood of the Gaslamp Quarter. The name "Gaslamp Quarter" is a reference to the gas lamps that were common in San Diego in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

We ate at this little Mexican place called Rockin' Baja at the corner of one of the streets. At first glance, Viv read it as Rockin' Raja and was wondering whether we were going for Indian food (I had told him I wanted to OD on Mexican food on this trip till I was thoroughly sick of it). Dinner was great, and so was the martini I had ordered -- the Mexitini.

We ended the day by going to another beach, La Jolla Cove, but did not last long as it was getting very very chilly.

Viv at Lo Jolla Cove

Parting shot of the day. I was keen to get a picture of any road sign with the word 'camino' in it (remember DDLJ where SRK yelled out 'Al camino, al kutton!'?). Sorry but I find the word hilarious. Check out the sign above. I can totally imagine Dharam Paaji grinding his teeth and saying "Camiiiiino Capistraaaaano!"

California road trip - Day 2

2010-04-17T17:07:00.005+08:00

So there was a problem. We were missing something critical. Something critical that a road trip cannot function without.

Music.

We had an ipod, but we needed a cable that that would allow us to play songs from the ipod in the car. So we made a stop and got the cable before starting the day.

I really liked the crashing spaceship design at Fry's Electronics.

Now that we were all set, we headed towards the Griffith Observatory. Opened in 1935, I read that the observatory logged more than 13,000 visitors in the first five days! As we drove towards Mount Hollywood where the observatory is located, we saw many many cars. Once we got there, we couldn't find any parking. Cars were lined along the road as far as you could see. So we drove on and on until we found the last car in the line and we parked there. It was going to be a long climb up to the observatory, but luckily we had comfortable shoes on.

It's a beautiful place for a hike, and we stopped several times to take pictures of t he view.

We also stopped to catch our breath, and the benches were a welcome sight!

Finally, we caught a glimpse of our destination.

Even though it was almost noon by the time we got there, the Sun felt pleasant on the skin. I can't say it enough -- I LOVED LA weather!

The observatory is named after Griffith Jenkins Griffith, an industrialist who donated more than 3000 acres to the City of Los Angeles in 1896, which is now Griffith Park. In his will, Griffith also donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land.

The first exhibit we saw was Foucault pendulum, which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The set-up consisted of a pendulum free to oscillate, and a series of pegs in its oscillation path. If you stood there long enough, you could actually watch the pendulum knock down peg after peg, proving that it was the earth that was rotating under the pendulum. It was possibly the most popular spot as people kept coming back to see how many pegs the pendulum had knocked down.

More information on the pendulum for those who are interested...

... and more.

There were several other exhibits, including a temperature sensor (the kind they use in airports for H1N1 screeening) where you could see the temperature difference between various body parts. Viv and I were really amazed to see that we were about 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the other tourists! ;)

More than the observatory, it's the scenic views around the area that make it a must-see. Especially recommended for hiking!

After this, we were off to a friend's place. We had studied together in university, and he was also in the same hostel as me. I had not seen him in years, though Viv had during his last trip. There were the hugs and "OMG, you're looking younger and fitter!" exclamations (that would be me. The exclaimee I mean, not the exclaimer. So yeay!), were off to have lunch at this Argentinian place that served empanadas, a kind of stuffed savoury pastry, ideal for a light lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to his place for chai (he had always been one chai addict and nothing had changed) and reminiscing (in other words, remembering and laughing at the antics of those who had been unfortunate enough to attend university with us).

Next up was the drive to Santa Monica beach, where Viv spotted 'The Todd' from Scrubs jogging with his dog. We couldn't get a picture with him though.

Seagulls at Santa Monica beach

I spotted this when we were walking along the beach. It was a little alarming. Can you see the erosion?

We then went for a walk around Third Street Promenade, a beautiful pedestrian street, lined with shops and eating places. I couldn't afford anything in the shops, but the walk was really nice. We finally entered a shop where we could afford something -- gelato ice-cream!

Happily eating our ice-creams, the three of us headed back and just about managed to catch sunset.

Sunset at Santa Monica

Parting shot of the day -- I really liked the tree behind us. Couldn't agree more when Viv said it was kind of like the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter.

California road trip - Day 1

2010-04-16T04:51:00.000+08:00

It all started when Viv told me he wouldn't be around on my birthday because he had a tradeshow to attend in Las Vegas at the same time. I was disappointed but it was not the first time he had been away on my birthday so I didn't take it too badly, unaware of the plans brewing in that head of his. One day he just asked me to apply for a week's leave a week after my birthday.

"But why???" I asked.

"Because we're finally doing that road trip we had always wanted to."

Oh wow. Yes, we had always wanted to do a trip along the west coast of the US, but I had not expected it to be planned this way. Turns out Viv wanted to make up for being absent on my birthday and had applied for a week's leave after his work in Vegas got over.

The plan was for me to fly from Singapore to Los Angeles and he would take a flight from Las Vegas and join me there. I still can't get over the 15-hour time difference. After taking a 20-hour flight on the morning of 16 April, I landed in Los Angeles on... the morning of 16 April!

My flight was quite eventful as some of you may have read here. We met at the LA airport, and true to the romantic spirit of long-lost lovers, I ran towards him in slow motion and asked him, "Dude!! Was this (see picture below) the "tradeshow" you were at??? Huh huh huh????"

Jokes aside, we made our way in a shuttle bus to pick up our rental car. After the paperwork was done, we were asked to proceed to the garage and pick up any car from "section 7". When we reached "section 7", there were some eight cars parked there. Unfortunately, all of them were the same (PT cruiser). So Viv had to exercise the expert strategy I generally use to differentiate between cars.

"Which colour do you like?" He asked.

All the colours were ugly as hell so it didn't matter to me which one we took. He picked a black one. We sat inside and familiarised ourselves with it, and also fiddled with the GPS. The GPS, aka the life-saver of the navigator, was a brilliant idea. I remember our last road trip where Viv put a hard copy A1-sized map in my hand and said, "Okay, where do I go?" making me panic so bad I almost flung the map (and myself) out of the window. So this time, I was relieved to have the GPS. (Yes, listening to the GPS instructions and repeating them word for word IS help, okay? Okay!)

So Viv was checking out the controls on this car, when another car (a Kia Spectra), newly returned and washed glided in next to ours. Viv looked at it like how a toddler looks at a new bicycle and said, "Shall we take that one?" It was dull golden and I couldn't be bothered again, so I agreed. Once we got into that, yet another car moved in (a Hyundai Elantra) and Viv started eyeing that. (Yes, I am very happy he doesn't have that tendency with women!)

"Erm... Should we take that instead?"

"Sure! Anything." I said. (I just wanted to get out of there so we could start our vacation.)

But then wisdom struck him and he realised that if he continued, it would be evening by the time we left the place. So we entered his cousin's address in Burbank into the GPS and drove off. The weather was fantastic, and Viv was totally enjoying himself driving on the wide roads though I was really marvelling at how he was managing to drive in the US when everything was, you know, "the other way"!

Soon, we reached his cousin's place. I had had a lot of food in the plane, but Viv hadn't and we were really amazed at the home-cooked food his cousin had made for us! It was so yummy I was giving Viv "Kuchh seekho!" looks.

After lunch, we took a nap. Viv was okay, but I was terribly jet-lagged so the nap really helped. In the evening, his cousin showed us around the area on our way to see the Hollywood sign. Burbank is about 12 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles. It is also known as the "Media Capital of the World," as many media companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities there, including Warner Bros., NBC, The Walt Disney Company, Cartoon Network, and PBS. We saw many of them on the way.

The Walt Disney Company

NBC

Warner Brothers

A poster of one of my favourite TV shows - The Big Bang Theory

The sun had started setting and the weather was getting cooler.

We saw many cars driving up for a look at the famous sign.

Now for some history about the sign itself. The sign was first erected in 1923 and originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND". It was meant to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Each of the 13 letters was 30 feet wide and 50 feet high, and was studded with some 4000 light bulbs. The sign, made with wood and sheet metal, was meant to be taken down in a year or so, but after the rise of American cinema in Los Angeles it became an internationally recognised symbol, and was left there.

I also found some interesting trivia about the letter "H" in the sign. In 1932, a Broadway actress jumped to her death from the letter, and in the 40s, the sign's caretaker drove through the sign while drunk, and destroyed it. That sure was not a lucky letter!

Over the years, the sign deteriorated considerably, and a campaign was started to restore it. A total of US$250,000, collected from donations, were used to sponsor replacement letters made of steel this time, so that the sign could last for many years. These letters were 45 feet tall and 31-39 feet wide. This new sign was unveiled on Hollywood's 75th anniversary, 14 November 1978. In 2005, the letters were again repainted white.

The sign, in its new white glory

Very recently, Hugh Hefner donated US$900,000 to the fund that was set up to stop the site from being developed into high-price housing estates. (The sign is owned by the city but the property around it belongs to investors.)

The Hollywood sign and me

We then proceeded to see the Kodak Theatre, home to the Oscars and American Idol.

Kodak Theatre

On the way, I saw a cab with another "adult" sign. Or so I thought. (What else is a 'gentleman's club' anyway?)

Around the Kodak Theatre, you see many people dressed as movie characters and walking around taking photos with tourists.

One of them was posing behind us, without us knowing!

As you can see from my grin, he was not at all scary even when he had a knife to my throat.

A stormtrooper with a young fighter

And Darth Vader himself, going off to take a Starbucks break!

We took a walk around Hollywood Boulevard next. It had gotten quite chilly and I was really thankful for my jacket.

Touristy bags at one of the many shops in the Kodak Theatre area

We didn't go inside the Madam Tussaud's wax museum. Viv wasn't keen, and I had already seen it in London and Singapore.

Hollywood souvenirs shop

Oscar statuettes you could buy as souvenirs, saying things like "World's best dad", etc.

Hard Rock Cafe

Ripley's Believe it or not. I liked how they called it an 'odditorium'.

Masked guy outside Ripley's amusing a kid

This automated robot is made fully of various automobile parts!

You believe me now?

Hollywood Guinness World of Records

Tall Scientology sign

After this, we drove around Beverly Hills to look at the homes of very rich people. Finally, the deep sense of poverty and hunger struck us.

We went for dinner to El Torito, as I was dying to have Mexican food.

The food was totally awesome!

We ended the night by taking some awesome pictures from a hilltop at Glendale.

And so ended Day 1. Coming up next are Griffith Observatory and Santa Monica beach. Stay tuned!

Hopscotch

2010-02-16T20:30:00.000+08:00

Feb 16 2005

I have finally decided to call my travelogue 'Hopscotch'.

I had been thinking about the name for quite some time now... today I actually sat down to READ the BBC dictionary in search of a suitable word. And yes, I found the perfect word. Hopscotch.

Dictionary.com defines the word as "A children's game in which players toss a small object into the numbered spaces of a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces to retrieve the object."

When I was a kid, a little game of hopscotch mattered. So did homework. Annual Sports Day. White canvas shoes. Cycling to school. Friends. My first watch. Full marks in the weekly class tests. My lucky hopscotch pebble.

I grew up. Hopscotch became history.

But did it really?

On some levels, we never really grow up, do we? Here we are, still playing hopscotch. But now, the small object is not the pebble. Pebbles are too small to matter to us anymore. We realise that the world is very big and that we are tiny nothings, trying to find our place in it. Suddenly it hits us. Our lives have become the small objects. And we toss them into whichever grid we see in front of us that catches our fancy. Hopscotch, isn't it?

But sometimes the small object does not land in the numbered spaces of the pattern we had seen. Sometimes it goes into nothingness. And then we desperately want it back! We hop through mazes and grids, and with much difficulty, we finally retrieve it. We win the game. We rejoice.

And we're ready to toss it again.

Here's to Hopscotch! Here's to the players of my hopscotch game -- my family and friends -- for helping me retrieve my lucky pebble when it landed in nothingness.

Here's to all the people who have travelled with me, and made not only each trip, but also each moment very fun, and very special.

Bintan - Day 3

2009-02-09T21:16:00.006+08:00

On day 3 (which was also the last day of the holiday), I was up very early again, rather delighted that the holiday was feeling longer than it actually was. Viv was blissfully sleeping. When I came back from my shower, this is what I saw (and captured on camera).

Why was he watching TV when we should be out at the beach? What was he watching??

Ah, no wonder!

So I peeled him off the bed and dragged him to breakfast.

Breakfast was the usual 'random combinations' affair.

And I, after downing three glasses of orange juice, was a happy girl. (For the uninitiated, orange juice tends to have some 'effects' on me.)

It was a nice windy day again, and we decided to explore areas we had not covered the previous day. I found a hammock!! (Almost wanted to bring it back and take it to work on Monday.)

I like this shot of Viv I took from the hammock.

The wind plays havoc with my hair.

Can you hear it?

Viv and his 'artistic' sand shot

As we walked on the beach, suddenly he said, "Let's play sand pictionary!"

"What? You're serious?"

"Yeah! I'll draw."

And then he used a stick to draw this.

You can click on it to see a bigger version. Try to deciper!

Can't?

Well, it's 'Bunty aur Babli' (bun + tea + bubbles)!

My hair was literally all over my face and Viv was enjoying taking these ridiculous pictures.

Initially we had planned to go kayaking, but seeing how excited I had been at the jet ski the day before, Viv suggested that we go again. I couldn't contain my joy! We had not taken the camera along the last time, so this time we decided to take it.

Instead of taking the shuttle bus, we walked to the jet ski place.

On the way, we saw these elephants.

So, finally we reached the jet ski place and I just couldn't wait to get my hands on the jet ski. A very amused Viv gave me the driver's seat from the beginning itself, and I had another chance to go bonkers.

And that's when it happened.

We were going over a particularly high wave at a particularly high speed and the jet ski landed on the water with a thud and Viv landed in the water with a splash. The next thing I knew, I was falling off the jet ski.

In slow motion.

I don't know why that happened. From the time I left the ski to the time I resurfaced, everything happened very very slowly.

I have always been terrified of having my head under water. Even when I swim, I do so like a dog, with my head above the water the entire time. So when I sensed myself falling off the jet ski, I panicked. I had always wondered what happens if you just fall in the middle of the sea even if you have a life jacket. Do you get plunged into the water for long before the life jacket pulls you up? Do you 'breathe' in water and then it gets to your lungs? Do your eyes stay open? Do you panic and then never resurface?

Well, I found out the answers to all these questions.

After that one-second panic attack, I braced myself just as I hit the water and reminded myself of two things -- one, that I had a life jacket on, and two, that no matter how bad a swimmer I am, I can swim. My eyes stayed closed as I felt myself go deep into water (hoping not to bump into any large toothed sea creatures) with my breath held, and after what seemed like eternity, I pulled myself up. I'm not sure how fast the jacket worked, but I do remember very clearly pushing the water down and myself up till my head was safely above the water. It really had seemed like eternity.

I spotted Viv in the water and knowing that he knew I had gone through one of my worst fears, my first reaction above water was to yell out to him, "I'm okay! I'm okay! Are you okay?" He yelled back to say he was. He managed to get back on the jet ski (the engine had of course shut down as I had the safety valve attached to my wrist), while I felt myself being pushed further away from it by the giant waves. Another momentary panic attack and another reminder to myself that I could swim. I swam as fast as I could towards the jet ski and finally caught hold of Viv's hand. He tried to pull me up, but my hand was too slippery.

The jet ski guy had spotted our jet ski drifting on the waves without anyone on it, and had taken another jet ski to where we were. He yelled out to Viv to haul me up by my life jacket, which definitely worked better than trying to pull me by my hand. Finally, I was back on the jet ski. I wasn't hurt, but my dignity was, a little bit, at being hauled up like a tiger cub.

Anyway, Viv drove it for a while, and I just apologised to him the entire time.

"You are mad." He laughed.

"I am SO sorry, Viv! I made both of us fall. What the heck happened??"

"You just went mad, that's all." He laughed.

"Please forgive me?"

"Haha! Don't apologise. It was fun."

"It was, wasn't it????" Man, I was sick or what?

"Yep." He smiled.

Phew. I had married the right guy after all.

He was gracious enough to let me get back on the driver's seat for a final spin. The jet ski guy had granted us extra time in lieu of the fall, and so WHEEEEEEEEE I went again. At a much safer speed, and very much in control of myself.

Finally, we got back to the shore, and the jet ski guy took pictures of us on the jet ski. Wish there was one of me when I was going nuts though... perhaps a video? Darn.

But I did get a picture of my calm self on calm waters.

We went back for a shower and got all the salt out and set off for a walk around the area.

Trying to blend in with the greenery

Viv poses.

We walked back to the beach and spotted this windsurfer.

I kept clicking, while poor Viv waited impatiently.

Notice about the monsoon season...

...and the debris described in the notice.

I like this shot of Viv I took.

Nice little hut to relax

I love this picture for the angle! The tree just looks so weird.

This explains it, doesn't it?

I have to take a silhouette picture at every beach!

Playing with the waves

I was trying to capture the windsurfer between the trees.

Interesting tree

Viv gets on the hammock.

Happy hammock man

We still didn't know what that faraway structure was.

More beach shots

Finally, we returned to the resort. A small crowd had gathered near the swimming pool examining something. We went closer to see.

Komodo dragon?

A closer look

The pond outside the resort and the koi fish

A closer look at the fish

I captured this shot just as the fish jumped out of the water.

We caught the bus to go to Mayang Sari for lunch.

Buggies for rental

The orange bus that brings tourists to the resort

We passed the animal farm on the way.

Horse ranch

Shooting

Paintball

Finally we reached Mayang Sari.

Another Komodo dragon!

Over lunch, Viv proposed that we go go-karting again. He wanted me to try it out.

Viv and me racing

Viv going nuts on the go kart

Bintan - Day 2

2009-01-31T23:05:00.007+08:00

31 January 2009

The next day, we woke up very early as our body clocks were still on Singapore time. It had been a while since I'd woken up and said, "Wow, I have so much time!"

We went downstairs to this place called 'The coffee shop' for breakfast. They had a huge variety of stuff in the buffet and we were quite hungry and tried pretty much everything. The result was some very odd combinations on our plates.

Rice with curry chicken, cheesebun, muffin, scone and baked potatoes

Pancake, omelette and watermelon slices!

After breakfast, we decided to explore the resort as we had not seen anything much the night before.

We were staying ine one of these villas flanked by coconut trees.

The baby pool. I love how it seems to blend into the sea at the horizon.

This is the civil me near the pool, half an hour before jumping in!

There were these little huts with boats inside near this restaurant called 'Poolside restaurant'. Viv's theory was that they had buffets served on the boats! Awesome.

Nice little pattern made with (coconut?) leaves

Singapore is pretty green, but Bintan's greenery was really of a different kind!

We went back to our room and changed to something more suitable for frolicking in the water. "Sea first, then pool", I declared. Viv was happy to stay away from the water.

I didn't mind, as I had someone to take pictures! Yeay!

Nice green sea

I jumped and got Viv to take a picture of me in mid-air. Suddenly he was interested in the pose too!

Faraway castle-like thing -- we never really found out what it was!

Beautiful beach -- it almost looks like sunset, doesn't it? It was about 9 am I think. The sun kept going behind the clouds so it was really pleasant to walk around.

Of course, not to mention the wind. The awesome awesome wind that made the weather so much cooler even in the daytime!

As you can see, I couldn't get enough pictures!

A new bar under construction

Barnacles on a log washed ashore

Wish I had an audio of the trees crazily sashaying in the wind!

After bumming at the beach, I was ready to splash in the pool!

The water was really cold and so there weren't too many people to compete with for pool space! I was one happy girl!

After a while, I started to feel rather cold, and asked Viv to take a final picture before I jumped out.

And this is what Viv had been doing while I was in the pool.

A quick shower later, we were off to the go-karting track, also known as the paisa-vasool part of the holiday for Viv. The resort arranged for a car to drive us to the track which was quite far away from our resort. They actually charged 8 dollars for me to accompany him and watch him race. Sheesh.

Viv couldn't wait to get his hands on the steering wheel of the go-kart!

His $28-go-kart ticket included transportation and insurance...

...and of course, the companion with her $8 virtual ticket was additional.

The car ride was loooong....

...but scenic.

And finally we were there!

Viv soon had his go-kart...

...and off he went, overtaking everyone on the track!

Finally, the others left and he was the only one on the track. Here's a video.

Street hawk meets Knight rider. :P

If you're wondering, "What the heck is this picture?" well, there's a story. Viv was going so fast in his go-kart that I was finding it difficult to follow him with the camera. So I aimed the camera at one section of the track, thinking that I'd quickly press click when he passed by. Well, I 'quickly' pressed click, and this is the picture I got. :/

Viv gets the chequered flag.

The man. The machine. And the jobless bugger.

We were driven back to the resort by the same guy. It was almost lunchtime and we were hungry. I don't know why I always get so hungry when I am on holiday. Anyway, we went back to the Coffee Shop for lunch.

Viv ordered the vegetarian set meal.

I ordered the Indonesian nasi goreng set, which was quite fancy and filling.

This was one of the yummiest fruit cocktails I'd ever had. Viv's strawberry milkshake wasn't too bad either.

They had a display of komodo dragons right outside the restaurant. Check out how green the green is!

The next stop was the jet ski. I was quite excited. The guy gave us a yellow ski and showed us the three buoys that marked the boundary. The buoys were quite deep into the sea and as we neared the first one, the sea started to get all choppy. It was awesome as the jet ski bounced up and down the crazy waves. After a while, Viv stopped the ski and asked me if I wanted to take the driver's seat.

"Me?? Driver's seat?? Are you sure I can drive this thing?"

"Of course!"

And so I did. And all I have to say that experience is, "WHEEEEEEEE!" It was one of the most fun things I had ever done in my life. Now I'm a bad swimmer and a bad driver, so you can imagine how bonkers I went when I was on a jet ski with a life jacket on and no traffic around me. Basically, Viv had never seen this side of me as I drove around in an insane manner, making the poor fish around us plummet into the sea for dear life.

Sadly, it was only for 15 minutes and soon the jet ski guy came up to us on another jet ski and motioned 'last lap' to us. Dammit. So I did one final crazy round and then back to the base camp.

We went back to the room for a bath and then set out to take a walk around the place. The resort had buggys you could rent and drive around in, but you need a valid driving license for that. Besides, both Viv and I love walking so we were only too happy to explore the area on foot.

We still had almost half a day, I was delighted! Time was passing by so slowly, we couldn't believe that it had been less than 24 hours since we'd landed.

Yeahaha! This is my 'the lonely traveller' pose.

Nirwana Garden has several lily ponds scattered all over and I paused to sit near one.

To our utter surprise, we stumbled upon an 'unticketed' mini zoo! A large section was for birds that had been rescued by the forest department while being smuggled out of the country. The sign also said that they were born in captivity and would not survive the wild.

The Cassowary is the second heaviest bird in the world (after the ostrich) and can grow as large as 2 metres in height. It's found in the tropical forests of New Guinea and north-eastern Australia.

The Eclectus parrots live in the rainforests. Females are deep red in colour and have a black bill...

...while males are bright green with a large orange bill.

This sulphur-crested cockatoo has a life span of 30-40 years!

This cuckatoo had actually gone cuckoo. Check out how it had hung itself upside down!

A Brahminy kite.

A Himalayan Griffon vulture. This was the closest I had ever come to a vulture!

We also spotted some antelopes in another section.

And a very very very large python. Okay, this was the largest snake I had seen in my life so I went bonkers with the camera. I took some 15 pictures and 6 videos. The strangest thing was that Viv was getting really impatient. "Let's gooooo!" He said, annoyed. I was very surprised to see that coming from the world's most patient man. "Why?? I want to take pictures!" I protested.

"You have taken enough! Let's gooooooo!"

"Whyyyyy?"

"Because I'm freaking out, that's why!"

"You are afraid of snakes?"

"Err... yeah."

"Like... 'afraid' afraid or phobic?"

"I can't be around them. Let's gooooooooo!" He looked all squirmy so I stopped taking pictures and we walked on. He still looked all freaked out, while I was grinning. I had found out something new about the guy I had known for a decade!

Anyway, here's a video of the snake as it entered the water.

We saw this water feature called 'Lagoi Bintan' when I suddenly spotted some tails!

I went around, and sure enough, there were some four crocodiles!

These alligator gars are actually freshwater fish that resemble alligators. They can grow up to 3 metres in length!

Finally, we were out of the animal zone, and Viv was back in his comfort zone.

And that's when we stumbled upon the most beautiful part of the Bintan beach! It was algae-free, clean, and very very scenic.

Beach volleyball court

Check out the different colours of the sea! The red layer in the middle is floating algae.

That section of the beach also had a lot of windsurfers.

I kicked off my slippers and went into the sea, while Viv preferred to stay off and take pictures.

Ah, the experimental jumping shot.

This beach was also where we discovered our favourite bar in Bintan. It was part of the Nirwana Beach Restaurant, but seats were outside, under the trees and right next to the sea! Awesome.

The drinks menu. Since it was really early and we were not yet hungry, we ordered some potato wedges and pretty much all the drinks they had over the 3 hours we were there for!

Tree house next to the bar

Small fruits kept falling on the wooden tables and chairs, making rather loud noises. It was also awesomely windy, and the next two pictures were taken one second apart to illustrate the crazy winds.

Before...

After...

Cheers, mate!

Coming up in day 3 - the big splash in the sea!

Bintan - Day 1

2009-01-30T20:29:00.001+08:00

30 January 2009

Viv and I had never really done a weekend getaway before, and had been planning one for some time. Finally, we zeroed in on Bintan in Indonesia. Bintan Island (or Negeri Segantang Lada) is about 1,866 sq km in size, and is part of the Riau Islands province of Indonesia. It is the largest of 3,200 islands in the Riau Archipelago. Less than 40 km away from Singapore, it is just a 55-minute ferry ride away. Add to that the comfort of visa on arrival, and we were sold. Plus, we had travelled to almost all the countries around Singapore, but not to Indonesia.

So we packed our bags and headed off to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal on a Friday afternoon.

Waiting lounge of the ferry terminal

I had not expected the ferry terminal to be so much like an airport. Luggage was checked in, security scans done, departure cards filled out, the works. There were even duty-free shops at the terminal.

We even got laminated boarding passes for the ferry!

The sea looked calm from a distance, but oh boy, were we in for a surprise later.

That's our ferry, the Indera Bupala.

At last the gates open and we made our way towards the ferry.

The luggage was loaded though the door in front, while the passengers got in from the back.

The inside of the ferry was also quite airplane like...

...except that you don't expect to see this out the window of an airplane!

Finally, the ferry took off and moments later, was bouncing up and down the crazy waves. And I was to discover shortly what exactly happens to people when a ferry bounces up and down crazy waves. Ahem.

Dad and Mom recently went to Andaman for a holiday. When I found out they were taking a flight, I asked them, "Go on a ship!" Dad said, "No way. What if we get seasick?" I pooh-poohed, "Come on, Dad. How many people get seasick? It's not that common."

Turns out I was terribly wrong. And what a way to find out I was terribly wrong.

It started with one woman in front, and soon, there were some 7-8 people throwing up into blue plastic bags provided by the kind ferry people. Now I don't get seasick, but the sound of other people being sick kind of makes me sick too. I was cursing myself for not bringing along my ipod, at least that would have muffled the sounds. Of course, there was no chance of me escaping to the deck because the sea was very rough. However, the cabin crew were extremely efficient and promptly cleared all the plastic bags. So if you're going on a ferry for the first time, here are some tips:

1. Eat light. (Our friend Starbreez was in town and we had hogged on mysore masala dosas just before the ride, which was probably not a good idea.)

2. Take some sour candy or lozenges along.

3. Take your ipod (or some kind of earplugs) along.

4. Ensure that the seat in front of you has plastic bags for you-know-what.

In order to distract ourselves, we tried to look out of the window as much as possible. We saw this goods ship and wondered for the longest time what LNG stood for. Any ideas? Liquefied natural gas?

Finally, we landed at Bintan in about an hour. Bintan is one hour behind Singapore so we actually boarded the ferry at 5.30 pm local time and alighted at 5.30 pm local time. Talk about time travel!

Anyway, here's a little bit about Bintan itself. Southern Bintan is home to quaint fishing towns with a kampong (local village) atmosphere. Numerous kelongs (fishing houses built on stilts above sea) thrive there, with seafood places catering to tourists. Northern Bintan, however, is much more developed and 'touristy'. Bintan Resorts is a 23,000 hectare development, which is a part of an agreement signed by Indonesia to lease out the northern coast of Bintan and develop it into a resort for Singaporeans. It is no wonder that everything, from clothes to items in restaurant menus are listed in Singapore dollars.

The local currency is rupiah, and 1 Singapore dollar is equivalent to about 7,400 rupiah. Everything is paid for in Singapore dollars, but if you choose to pay via credit card, you are billed in rupiah.

A poster for Bintan Resorts. I like the tagline - The city can wait.

Visa on arrival

The sights and sounds were fabulous. The holiday had begun!

"The arrival/departure card shall be fulfilled by every passenger including children."

Everything went on like clockwork. Our luggage was promptly loaded into a bus and we were given luggage tags.

Soon, we were off in the bus to Nirwana Garden, a development comprising 5 resorts - Nirwana Resort Hotel, Banyu Biru Villa, Mayang Sari Beach Resort, Indra Maya Villa and Nirwana Beach Club.

About 10 minutes later, we were at Nirwana Gardens. The bus was moving too fast so the 'A' of 'Nirwana' and the word 'Garden' got chopped off in this picture.

We had booked a room in the Nirwana Resort hotel. The bus dropped us off and we were served pineapple drinks. We identified our luggage and this hotel staff whose name was -- I kid you not -- Januar, took care of us and helped us with checking in and sending our luggage to our room.

The room was simple and very comfortable. Virgo Viv does an inspection of the room for microscopic dirt particles.

It was already evening and there was no time for us to do any island-exploring on Day 1. But we did make up for that on Days 2 and 3. On the first day, we pretty much only had time for dinner.

All set for Friday night out

The customary pose using the camera timer before we headed out for dinner

For dinner, we decided to go to The Kelong, a restaurant famous for fresh catch that local fishermen bring in every day. Nirwana Garden is pretty big and the restaurants are all over the place. The resort provides a free shuttle bus service for getting around. We boarded one and shortly reached The Kelong.

The dinner spread. I loved the tom yum soup, but other than that, the food was quite average. The prices were also Singapore-standard, and since we paid by credit card, the bill was in rupiah. Over the next two days, Viv and I took a while to get used to seeing bills for meals worth 4-5 lakh rupiah!

After dinner, we decided to take a walk around the place. The picture above is that of the Calypso bar, built on wooden stilts and extending into the ocean by about 100m.

It was starting to get quite chilly and windy. Bintan is generally warm and sunny all year round, but October to March is the monsoon season, when it gets cooler and windier. Finally, we returned for a good night's rest. The following day was packed with activities - bumming at the beach, swimming in the pool, go-karting, jet skiing, hiking and topped up with drinks at our favourite bar ever. All coming up in Bintan Day 2!

Bangkok - Day 3

2008-03-23T20:27:00.005+08:00

We had reserved Day 3 for the famous Chatuchak (also known as Jatujak) market, which is one of the largest weekend markets in the world. Viv was to fly off in the afternoon so we decided to have another "quick breakfast" and maximise the time at the market.

This time, I remembered to bring my camera down to take pictures of the breakfast.

Yum! This picture is bringing back memories of the pomelos and mangos!

And finally, I took pictures of the policemen too. As expected, these were not the hot ones we had seen the day before.

Viv has a funny expression (again!) while I look delighted after the breakfast.

Shub and Pizzadude trying to figure out the best way to get to Chatuchak, which incidentally was out of this map!

Turns out the skytrain was the best way to get there.

Front of the skytrain card

Back of the card with the route map (the Singapore MRT cards so need the route on the back too!)

We got a guy in the train to take a picture of us.

Interesting sign in the train

Check out the amazing row of colourful cabs near Chatuchak market! I took this from the bridge leading from the train station to the market.

The amazing market covers over 35 acres (1.13 km²), with more 15,000 stalls selling anything from clothes to poultry! It is estimated that the market receives between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors each day.

A typical lane or soi in the market. There were like a hundred thousand such sois and you need at least two days if you want to walk through each of them!

Me and my stash, comprising three spaghetti strap tops, one T-shirt, two floral dresses, two skirts, a pair of shoes, a pair of slippers and a swimsuit for Baby Aish's second birthday. Ladies and gentlemen, I was broke!

These eggs looked a bit strange, especially the yellow bits popping out of them, which didn't really look like yolk.

The 'no labal' stuff seemed suspiciously cheap!

Apparently, pick-pocketing is common in the market. In fact, I got scolded by a shop owner for not carrying my bag properly.

Raw mangoes

After spending pretty much everything we had on us, the four of us joined forces at the clock tower. This landmark, built to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the king, serves as the meeting place for lost souls who have wandered off from their groups in search of wares.

We were absolutely starving by then, and went back for lunch. Viv was to take off right after lunch.

Lunch was at this small restaurant near the Bangrak market.

This was the yummiest green curry ever!

Stir-fried vegetables - love how they retain the colour even after cooking!

The feast - before!

The feast - after!

Viv packed his stuff, including his cricket kit, and set off for the airport. Suddenly, I remembered reading somewhere about airport tax, and we called the hotel reception to check. Turns out it was a whopping 800 Baht per person! We were horrified. Quick checks revealed that we definitely did not have enough money to shop and pay the airport tax. We decided to have a really cheap dinner to make ends meet.

Shub, Pizzadude and I decided to do some stupid tourist behaviour and dress alike - in black and denim.

Check out the trio - (beaten) black and blue?

We boarded the train again and set off for Sukhumvit, one of the four highways in Bangkok, also popular for shopping. Just then, Viv messaged from the airport saying there was no airport tax. WHEW! The three of us actually high-fived in the train!

Motorcyclist on road next to the station

The skytrain - very similar to Singapore's MRT

Chit Lom station

Another poster of the king

Sukhumvit turned out to be quite disappointing. We didn't find any good shopping or massage places, so decided to head to the Siam Paragon Mall.

Siam Paragon mall

Nice view outside the mall

The dress-alikes!

Check out this guy's pet - it's a boar!!!

Siam Paragon turned out to be like any mall in Singapore so we decided to explore the area around it.

A shop called Flu?!

In search of a snack, we entered a doughnut place,

Songkran special doughnuts! Songkran is the Thai New Year, similar to Holi, but people throw water on each other instead of colours.

We walked an unbelievable distance trying to find a foot massage place, but were unsuccessful. Finally, we decided to go back and try the places near our hotel.

The BTS ticket vending machine

We found a massage place near our hotel and bargained to get the foot massages down from 250 Baht to 200 Baht each. Shub and I also wanted to do a last round of shopping at Bangrak so we told the masseuse we'd come back later. Pizzadude went back to the hotel to relax, while Shub and I shopped the hell out of Bangrak.

Finally, we went back to the massage place and had an amazing hour of foot, thigh and even shoulder massage!

Dinner was at the hotel itself, and was as yummy as the street food we'd been having in the last two days.

The next morning, we were up and out at 5 pm. The holiday had ended! :(

At the airport, while I stood in the queue, this tall lanky chap tapped me on the shoulder to ask me if I was in the queue. I said I was. Shub happened to notice a large bag he was carrying with 'DIGVIJAY SINGH' printed on it. We wondered if he was a celebrity sportsperson, but none of us was sure. We were even wondering if it was a fan of Vijay Singh who meant to write "I dig Vijay Singh' on his bag. Sheesh. (When I got home, I googled up Digvijay Singh, and yup, this was our guy.)

Picture taken just before landing in Singapore

Goodbye, Bangkok! I guess we won't ever be able to enjoy Thai food in Singapore the same way again! :)

Bangkok - Day 2 Wat Arun

2008-03-22T20:34:00.005+08:00

We were absolutely roasted by the time we were done with the palace. I was patting myself on the back for bringing an umbrella along, because seriously, a hat is not enough if you want to cover the palace properly.

Next in line was the Wat Arun. While the Grand Palace is on the east bank of the Chao Phraya river, the Wat Arun is on the west bank. We had to take another boat to cross the river.

But first, there was more roaming on the streets.

Various types of fish

Okay I'm not too sure what these are, but they looked like they would photograph well.

Huge prawns

Random food items again

Seafood buffet (raw)

We saw this kid with a funny hairstyle walking ahead of us.

Pink eggs!!!

Homemade... err... streetmade ice lollies

Pictures of the king and his family being sold on the streets

Colourful kiddie slippers and shoes

Second-hand Thai books

Medallions for 20 Baht?

We found this sign hilarious!

The world's largest ash-tray

Random foodstuff yet again!

Finally, we got our boat!

Directions to lead people to the temple

Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) is also known that Wat Arunratchawararam Ratchaworamahavihara. Okay try pronouncing that.

The grandness of the temple is utterly humbling.

More funny signs. Do not dangle any doll? Huh? What doll? Dangle from where? We really couldn't figure out why a temple would have a sign asking people not to dangle dolls!

This guy reminded me of that guy in the Pirates of the Caribbean who has snakes for a beard.

The extremely steep steps made the climb really scary.

Yes, we scaled all of them!

Amazing view from the top

I love this picture I took of a remote-controlled kite.

The Chao Phraya river

Another sign that made us go "Huh?"

A closer look at the decor

Spot the cat?

It took many many auto shots before we could manage to get this one on Shub's came.

Finally, it was time to head back as we had a cruise at 7.30. So we took the boat back and then walked to our hotel.

We passed the Bangrak bazaar on the way.

Holy cow! The hotel had Doordarshan!

A van came to fetch us in the evening to take us to the river.

The Grand Pearl cruise

Welcome drinks aboard the Grand Pearl

Thai traditional dance on the cruise

These singers were trying to serenade everyone they saw.

The royal feast

This guy was apparently the monkey god (Hanuman?) teasing the half-woman half-fish creature in another dance.

The 2.45 km long Rama VIII bridge

The bridge and I

Happy and relaxed

The night shots came out amazing. Of course, to get one shot like this one, I had to take a thousand shaky shots.

The Grand Palace, by night

There were signs all over the place about the king's 80th birthday celebrations...

Even the boats had them!

Day 2 had been extremely eventful and tiring. We trudged back to our hotel, kind of sad that we were past the mid-point of the holiday, but also excited about shopping at Chatuchak the next day!

Bangkok - Day 2 Grand Palace

2008-03-22T20:33:00.005+08:00

The Grand Palace (Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang in Thai) is a complex of buildings which served as the official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. The present King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) lives in Chitralada Palace.

We reached the Grand Palace after lunch. Once we got there, we found out that not only was there an entry fee of 250 Baht, but a dress code as well. Sleeveless clothes, shorts and three-quarters were not allowed and the many many tourists who had turned up in them were given wraparound skirts in exchange for a sum as deposit. Shub had a sleeveless top on, and she was given a guy's shirt which made her look like an auto-driver from India. My three-quarters were slightly longer than usual, and somehow escaped scrutiny.

Guards doing the march at the palace gate

More guards

Many of the photos that follow are uncaptioned because I'm not sure of the name of these structures, but I decided to retain them just for the sheer visual delight.

Phra sri ratana chedi

A giant yaksha (half elephant half demon) Dhosa Kiridhorn, on guard

A kinnara - celestial musician which is half-human and half-bird

The stone model of Angkor Wat dates from the reign of Rama IV, when what is now Cambodia was a vassal state of Siam.

This structure served as a nice home for a beaver's nest. We could even see the baby birds inside! I tried to zoom and take a shot, but was unsuccessful.

We saw this sign...

...and spent some five minutes analysing what was wrong with it! Trust four engineers to do a thing like that!

Another kinnara

I lend a helping hand to the yakshas.

Pizzadude, Viv and me

Pink and blue yakshas guarding the doorway

One of my biggest hobbies when I'm travelling - photographing funny signs.

Another postcard-y picture!

This artist was touching up the paintings on the walls.

This painting of the yaksha sleeping (hey, isn't he supposed to be on guard?) looks so 3-D!

This area was lined with bonsais like this. Dad would be thrilled to see them!

They make quite a sight, don't they?

Colourful fish in a little tank near the exit

Coming up next - the climb up the Wat Arun and the river cruise

Bangkok - Day 2 Marble temple

2008-03-22T20:32:00.005+08:00

Day 2 started with some bloopers. Shub had set her alarm for 7 am but had forgotten to change the time on her watch. Now Bangkok is an hour behind Singapore, so there we were, up at six and nothing to do. As she related to me how she had never gotten up that early even for work, I laughed and laughed and laughed at her, oblivious to how I was going to fall in the same trap the very next day!

We decided to give a wake-up call to the guys. Strangely, we couldn't get through. It seemed like the phone was engaged. "Who are they talking to at this hour?" and "Maybe no calls are allowed so early?" were two of our responses. Finally we decided to call reception and ask them to get us through. This is how the supremely embarrassing conversation went.

Receptionist - Bossotel, good morning.
Me - Hi, good morning! Could you connect me to room 508?
Receptionist - Uhh... are you looking for a username?
Me - No, I would like to speak to the guests in room 508.
Receptionist - Ma'am, are you looking for Internet access?
Me - No no. I just want to speak on the phone. Please connect me to room 508.
Receptionist - Ma'am, you ARE in room 508.
Me - *horrified pause* Err... thank you!

Me - Shub, we ARE in room 508! :O

Turns out both of us had conveniently forgotten that we had taken over the guys' room 508. Sheesh. After spending some ten minutes laughing at our idiotic behaviour, we finally called the correct room number and woke the guys up.

When Shub went to take a bath, I clicked some pictures of the balconey which looked very pretty in the morning light.

On the way down, we saw this fire extinguisher.

We were horrified to see the dates on the extinguisher! 2-3-51?? This thing had been last checked on 2nd March 1951???? (Turns out the Thai years are written differently, and 51 actually refers to 2008.)

We went down for breakfast and saw unbelievably colourful cabs parked right outside our hotel.

Grand structure opposite our hotel - I'm not so sure if it's a temple.

The breakfast turned out to be an absoluely amazing one. We were cursing ourselves for not having got a camera along and take pictures of the food. We did so the next morning. I think only a foodie like Pizzadude will be able to do justice in describing it, and he has done so here. I was disappointed about not having a camera too - not because I wanted to photograph the food, but more for the hot Thai policemen who popped by our hotel for breakfast too.

We had a lot to do and had planned to quickly grab breakfast and head out to see the grand palace and temples. What we actually did can be described as the exact opposite of "quickly grab breakfast". We hogged and hogged on the food until we could hog no more and had to move ass. I don't think I'd ever had so much mango at one go.

Finally, we were off to the jetty!

Unlike SIngapore, flower shops are very common on the streets of Bangkok.

We popped by 7-11 to buy some water, and I took pictures of Thai McDonald's burgers.

More mangos!

The variety of street food was unbelievable! Of course, a lot of it didn't look very edible. :P

Huge guavas

Robinson Mall, where we had dinner the night before

More colourful cabs!

And finally we reached the river!

Traditional Thai boat

Timepass activities till our boat arrived...

Policeboat?

Shot taken from inside our boat

Boat ticket

The ride was a very scenic one, and one after the other, grand structures were rolling in.

Finally we had reached our destination. Frankly I had no idea which stop to get off at, and I was glad that our navigator Shub was armed with the knowledge and confidence to lead the way.

Streetfare

Stall selling "fish's gastric soup" (Click on the picture if you don't believe me!)

Colourful array of fruits displayed in glasses

A young artist performing under a tree

He played on, oblivious to his surroundings.

We walked for a bit and then met this guy who, upon discovering the Indians, kept saying "Achha achha!" It was hilarious. He told us that the palace would only open at 1 pm, and that we could take a tuk-tuk and see some temples first. He even fixed up a tuk-tuk for us and negotiated the trip at 40 baht.

In the tuk-tuk and studying the map

Viv doesn't look too happy, does he?

Our first stop was the Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram, also known as the marble temple. The temple's name literally means the Temple of the fifth King located nearby Dusit Palace, and was named so upon King Chulalongkorn's request to construct it near his palace.

Built in 1899, the temple was designed by Prince Naris, a half-brother of the king, and is built of Italian marble.

This Buddha statue, known as the Phra Buddhajinaraja was cast in 1920. The ashes of King Chulalongkorn are buried beneath the statue.

Window of the ordination hall that houses the statue

Outside the ordination hall, there are 52 buddha statues, collected by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab for his king.

Statue coated in gold leaf

Fasting Buddha

Description of the statue

Viv makes a round of inspection to make the shot look natural...

...while I just pose!

Viv and me

Pizzadude and Viv on the bridge

More beautiful structures

I like this picture - very postcard-y.

Silly shot of me in the tuk-tuk's rear view mirror

And here's the strange part - the tuk tuk driver insisted on taking us to this gems workshop called Chin, saying he would get gasoline vouchers if we went there. We had no plans to buy any gems, but we still went anyway.

Gem-cutter hard at work

The blue is beautiful!

I'm not into stones but those sure looked pretty!

Whoa! How do you pronounce the name of this stone?

Hey I think I have a top that would match these stones!

The gems workshop actually had a sign on the wall warning tourists of tuk-tuk drivers who force them to go there. "The tuk tuk drivers do not work for us." It said. Yeah right. :/

Our driver then said he wanted to take us to James Tailor because apparently we did not stay at the gems workshop long enough for him to get his gasoline vouchers. Who was giving out these vouchers anyway? He said it won't take more than 10 minutes. We agreed. (Never ever do that.)

James Tailor turned out to be this tailoring shop which is apparently a world-record holding shop with 500 tailors who can churn out a shirt each in one hour. We looked around, but nothing really caught our eye.

So we headed back to where we started and looked around for a lunch place.

Ch. Prathumtong caught our eye.

The place is literally a hole in the wall, but inside, it was stuffed with people and other stuff.

The Thai people absolutely adore their king and like to put pictures of him in their homes and shops.

Yummilicious Pad Thai - before

Yummilicious Pad Thai - after!

Coming up next - the Grand Palace!

Bangkok - Day 1

2008-03-21T20:31:00.002+08:00

Day 1 - 21st March (Friday)

Bangkok had been on my To-Do list for a very long time. The last time I planned a holiday there, a coup messed up my plans. So when my friends Shub and Pizzadude suggested going to Bangkok during the Good Friday weekend, I jumped. Viv jumped too. He had not had a break from work for a verrry long time now.

After we'd bought the air tickets and made the hotel booking, Viv found out that the Singapore cricket team was going to Bangalore for a tournament on the following Monday after this weekend. So he had to do some last minute changes in the plan so he could fly to Bangalore directly from Bangkok. He was going to take Thai Airways, while the three of us were taking AirAsia. Fortunately, our takeoff timings were 10 minutes apart, and so all of us went to the airport together and hung out.

The four of us in the passengers' lounge

Suddenly we had this crazy idea to do a synchro blog post. And so, the three of us logged on to the terminals at the terminal, and this and this and this resulted. We synchronised the posts down to the number of exclamation marks! Viv, the only blogless fella, was extremely amused.

Finally, Viv went to board his flight, while Shub, Pizzadude and I headed for ours.

Shub taking pictures through the plane window

Since it was a budget flight, there was no food. We bought AirAsia's lemongrass drink and decided to play pictionary with Hindi movie names. Our grand plans of Viv's plane flying next to ours, and all of us playing dumb charades through the windows didn't quite work out.

How many movie names can you spot here?

As we landed in Bangkok, we saw the Thai airways plane. Was it Viv's plane?

A giant yaksha (half elephant half demon) at the airport. We were to see a lot of this dude in the days to come.

Viv met us at the visa counter, and we quickly got our visas. Suddenly, this Indian guy at another counter held up this passport and started yelling, "Who is Viv?" Viv dashed across to check whether it was his, and got scolded like anything. "How can you be so careless with your passport, blah blah?" Turns out, the passport belonged to some other Viv. Faaltu ka our Viv got scolded by the 'good samaritan'. :/

The taxi queue outside the airport

Off in the taxi towards our hotel!

At first we read this at 'Private hospital' but turns out it was 'Piyavate hospital'.

Curiously, our taxi driver's name was Mr. Piyavate too!

Orlando on a billboard

I got this nice shot from the taxi.

Busy street around our hotel - Bossotel

Bossotel turned out to be quite nice and cosy. The guys dropped us off in our room and headed for theirs.

The girls' room

We were pleasantly surprised to see a gym and a pool right next to our room!

After freshening up, Shub and I headed off to check out the guys' room and also brag about our gym and pool.

Holy cow the guys' room looked bigger, better and more comfy than ours! :/

The guys were waving to us from the balcony, showing off their room. They had no idea what was coming next. We drove them out of their room and took complete control. Muahahaha! The poor chaps had no choice but to agree to the swap.

Nicely folded bathroom rug

Taking stock of my cash, all of which was gonna go towards the Thai economy in the next two days!

Tiny colourful models near the staircase

We were starving and headed straight for dinner. We did not have time to venture too far out, so we decided to explore the areas around our hotel. We found a foodcourt in the nearby Robinsons Mall.

JMF Rice station, where we bought dinner

The poor stall owner had to make the rice three times, because the first two times she forgot it was supposed to be vegetarian. Being the only non-vegetarian, I was outnumbered. I ordered shrimp pineapple rice.

The stall owner preparing our dinner

Shub drifted off to buy green mango salad. The lady there too had to make it twice because she made it non-vegetarian the first time!

We ate an unbelievable amount of food and not just because we were starving. They say the best Indian food is in London, but the best Thai food is indeed, in Thailand. The flavours were simply yummilicious! Being the foodies that they are, Shub and Pizzadude were especially enamoured by the food.

The dinner spread - before

The dinner spread - after

After dinner, we took a walk around the place. The street markets were in full swing. Shub and I earmarked some shops to come back to later to buy clothes and jewellery.

Tuk-tuks, similar to the autorickshaws in India, dashed past us. Many paused to ask us where we wanted to go. Well, we just wanted to walk that's all.

Thai text on the back of the tuk-tuk

Dried giant squid

We also checked out the sky train map as it was going to be our main mode of transport.

Bangkok streets at night

I took this shot of the Chao Phraya river and the buildings around it.

Finally, fatigue took over and we decided it was time to head back.

On the way back, we saw this jewellery shop whose name had us in splits.

Coming up in the power-packed Day 2 - the confusion over the rooms, the Grand palace, climbing Wat Arun and the river cruise!

Dubai - Day 7

2007-12-25T22:00:00.001+08:00

Dubai - Day 6

2007-12-24T21:59:00.000+08:00

Dubai - Day 5

2007-12-23T21:57:00.000+08:00

Dubai - Day 4

2007-12-22T21:45:00.000+08:00