Coming soon...

Behen Ji PAGAL ho gayi

Recently we all would have heard about Mayawati unveiling her own statues in UP and some more blue Elephant statues that are in the pipeline. Blue Elephant is the party symbol of BSP. Lo behold the latest, self proclaimed godess added to Hindu Mythology. Like we were short of godesses in our long list of Gods that rule every nook and courner in this vast and diverse country. I wonder how people of UP are feeling now looking at this idol every day, for how many is it a good look charm, for how many it brings bad luck and for many birdies is the best place to poop :-). Bitch are you out of your mind, eating from the peoples money and geting worthless statues placed all over the state. Are you Mother Teresa or some big personality (like Rocky Balboa) to have a statue and people to worship you. You fool go and do your job rather than thinking how to spend the money in the treasury and how to have birthday bash. You are suppose to serve us and not eat us. God it eats up to think about how the city looks like with these statues and the worst part is that it is gonna stay there for the years and generations to come. I demand that the government at the central takes some action on this godless act and maybe even make a rule of not erecting the statues of worthless people. Let there be some guidelines for a person to be captured in bronze and displayed for public affection.

Flash of a Genius

The Product: Dustbin Paper Bag

My First Customer



Hard earned money :-)

Suggestion are welcome.

Kids-Food-Ragging

Kids are making news now a days. They are in the news for winning a singing competition, chocking to death, ragging juniors, some loosing their sight and ability to hear. Looks like they are here for more of wrong reasons than good ones. Looks like there is a drastic change in the way todays generation is growing up and looking at things in life. There are a lot of changes in the ways the kids are growing up today that are very visible to me, more to my parents and older generations. For instance eating habits, burgers, pizza and coke compared to roti, dal and nimboo pani. Ease of clearing exams, it was not easy and funny to face an exam in those days. There was a hell lot of pressure to perform and out perform. There is a lot of dependency on peers and others in the family making kids not to think about situations, for instance they are not able to walk a km to the grocery store to fetch some goodies. Well i guess there will be more to talk about.
The reason why this blog has come up is the recent death of a student in school who choked herself because of asthama. there was a hue and cry that the school was not well equiped medically and they killed her. Hello come on it is a school not a sursing home. Well there is another question to be asked, why want she carrying a inhaler if she was a patient of asthama? Well today the news has died in the media but is sure is worthy to ponder about. Are we killing our children? Feeding them with fast food without giving a second thought on how it would affect them. Exposing to them to pollution in cities, i guess we all are responsible for that. Not encouraging them to have some physical activity, that could help a lot. Children are pampered a lot than ever before. It is not that i m jealous out here, but i wouldnt mind having a life like this when i was a kid :-). But surely i will not like to be like to be them.
Raggin has been other life clincher. The whole concept is screwed up. I like ragging and getting ragged. It was an ice breaker between seniors and juniors that is suppose to open up avenues academically and personally. There are a lot of things that schools, colleges, teachers and parents cannot teach. But friends and seniors can. This was one way to get to know people better and learn and exchange ideas. But now a days it is becoming a curse to send students to live in hostel and learn. Looks like the seniors that they are alpha male and can do what ever pleases them. Their actions are reflecting the mind set that they have violent and explosive.
It sure will be a long way to go. I guess we are moving the west way and we will go a full circle before we come back to the traditional India way.

Why should I get married?

Modhu when are you getting married? this is FAQ in ever body's manual of life.
Most of them asking this are either married or about to get married, i guess they want me also to get into ditch ;-).(Just kidding guys!) I am not sure why I should get married or rather I don't know and don't want to (wish i could try it ha ha ha ha). Most famous reasons that have been used and re-used for generations and all sexes & race.(I wish Software engineering was like this,modular and portable ha ha ha ha ha)
1.This is the right age
2.You are getting good offer, you will miss them (yeah like it is end of year sale)
3.You cant live alone
4.You and your family can settle down, while you are still young.
5.You need some one to take care and love you. :-D
6.We all did this (like goats :-))
7.What will you do staying alone.
8.You will loose your mental balance, maybe turn out to be mad man
9.Get married for the happiness of your parent x-(
10.Your education qualifications are less than the girls.
11.Astrologers all over India have said that after first issue you will flourish like anything.
12.Because of you we are getting humiliated.
13.What will you read at this age, you are 28; get married and you can do what ever you want.
14.Maybe some of your friends are asking you to live like this.
and so on, well i remember these repeated again and again.
Well I don't think I should get married because the above reasons are grave and are of high importance just like whether India should attack Pakistan or not now.
Here people are getting married because somebody thinks that you have to get married. Like that is more important thing to do in life, like there is no life without marriage, like its the end of the world.Because of society said you have to get married. Even if you decide to get married you marry to whims and fancy of the society....prrrrrrrrrrr.I dont know if I will ever get married, but I will when I can say "You Complete me!!"

Big Apple

Does any one know why new york is called Big Apple? well i though big apples are grown in NY ;-) and i wanted to eat them. Well on a serious note NY is called Big Apple because of many reasons and Google it you will be a bunch of stories, in brief "that answer about horses and racing is true however The Big Apple was a nyc mayoral campaign during the 1980's to promote nyc and attract tourism." So yes I did go to NY. It was tempting to drive all the way but the distance, time and loneliness was not encouraging. I flew down to NY, landed in La Guardia airport. This airport has a section of the runway on water. When i landed the weather was gloomy, dark and cloudy. looked like it had rained all night. my first destination was to Mukund's place. Mukund my host and guide from my trip. I first met Mukund in Kalpakam,Chennai in a quiz contest and next in Delphi as my colleague after a long long time. Well no there in no Delphi in NY, he works for Bloomberg in the financial district of Manhattan playing around with others money he he he he;-). When i landed in NY it was sure that driving here would be like driving in Bangalore. Lots of traffics unlike in Flint. Anyways we were traveling by metro or foot. Our first destination was Metropolitan Museum of Art, best place to spend time in a bad weather. we went there by train and it was an interesting journey. the system is pretty old and at some places there are two levels. at many places the trains are running on a elevated track on steel bridges, man it can get so noisy. Well the museum has a lots of artifacts from all civilizations. yes all the civilizations from all over the world. interesting how the Americans got hold of them. in some cases the artifacts were donated for preservation. there was a lot to see but less time. so my guide made sure i see the important ones. the best ones were the mummies and temple of Dendur. there were a lot of sculptures from India too, making me think where are these things on display in India? by the time we were done here it was almost 2PM. Next was food.Saravan Bhavan, yes in NY. Indian food after one month, felt good to eat some good food.
Next was Brooklyn Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge, built in the early 19th century. you can walk in the center of the bridge, giving you a beautiful picture of Manhattan sky line. we walked across the bridge and went to a location where a couple of scenes for the movie Kal Ho Na Ho was shot. from here the bridge looks majestic. From there we walked to Ground Zero. the place where once WTC stood long and tall. I got goosebumps when I was there just thinking how the palace could have been when the towers came down. Now they are building a memorial here and the construction is in progress. NYSE was the next place we went, it was just to see the trading place. Here at the Bull we shot some crazy snaps. Yes they sure are:-D. Next we visited Mukund's office. It is a nice place to work. Beautiful environment. we have lot of catching up to do in our MNC offices. Next we went to Time Square. Boy what a place. Awesome place with bright lighting and big, big displays. Lots of people out here just to see the lighting and displays. It would be nice if i could just sit on the pavement in open air and have a chilled beer. Just perfect. By the time we reached back home it was mid night. Guess what the trains run 24X7. Well had a nice nap because of all the walking around in the city.
About NY, the place is not USA. Yep you wont feel like you are in USA, there are people from all over the world all races. It is so full of energy. It was energizing to be there after living in this small town. Life here is fast always on the move and people are not fat:-). they are thin and fit. I felt i should be here for some time. I should look out for a company who has a center in NY ;-). Day two. We were headed to Central Park. The lung space of NY. Yes this is only place in entire city where there are trees, trees and only trees. Outside this park it is only koncrete. People here were engaged in different activities, sun bathing, football, ball or something. there were a lot of shows going on in different place. dances, music and acrobats. all for free, enjoy it and uf you want pay for it. there are some lakes here and you can boat also. we walked a lot here in the part almost 20 blocks. Then we went to Grand Central Station. as the name says, it is GRAND. A huge station and beautiful architecture. on the ceiling of the main hall there are constellations painted. it looks beautiful up there. After this we went to Madam Tussauds. Time to meet the celebrities. this is also in times square. Well they are so near to life you just can beat it. If you are good you can get people confused as to who is real. Here posed with all the big shots and who's who and and some crazy pose. to end it we saw a 4D movie. Well the 4th dimension is the feel of the movies you are watching. Then we went to Empire State Building, 5th tallest building in the world. Getting in the building was like having darshan in Tirupathi. We were moving around in the same floor for ever and there are so many people. We first went to the 102 floor. It was sight from there, entire NYC was visible. all lit up bright and beautiful. one hell of a sight, from there we came down to 86th floor. You can go out and see the city. Got some pics here. We returned back from here and called it a day. In these two days i realized that i have a pairs of functional legs and could feel every god damn muscle.

Last day last stop Statue of Liberty. Gifted by the French to the USA to commemorate the signing of US declaration of Independence. The statue is suppose to welcome the visitors and immigrants to the US. The statue is of a robed woman holding a torch. I did this trip with gube and some of her friends. Well all good things must come to end. Shortly i was headed back to Flint. Thanks to Mukund who took the pain of taking me around the city and planned it well and not to mention his cooking. Mate that was good, not to mention the mommy he can be taking good care of people;girls are you listening:-). As I am writing this i realize that i will be flying back home. Well what am I going to miss, well my car Dodge Charger, popcorn in the theater and few restaurants here that served some amazing fish :-D. Yes that is it.Adios amigos. Oh yes i did eat an apple courtesy Mukund.

Uncle Sam!!

Uncle Sam is calling!!
Well the call for me was on hold for a long time. Now here i am in Flint, Michigan. It is a small town but still looks big. everything in the US is big, big people, big cars,big road, big food, big big big. There is nothing small ;-). Well that is the first impression you get BIG. There is a beautiful system in place and people follow it. you just cant deviate from the line. you do that and you are in soup, at least on the road you can make that out easily. but there is a lot of silence in office as well at hotel. not much of noise. it is so irritating, so i keep the TV on all the time. Food is always junk in true sense, you can eat a lot of junk food and if you are a non vegetarian you wont die of hunger. it is strange to see how people live on that kind of food. well i am now :-D. life in US revolves around the cars. they dont do anything without a car. well the place where i live there is no footpath. the first time i walked here i felt so alienated. it was so damn weird. yew i wished i never got out on my foot. these guys have a drive through for everything food till ATM. their motto is simple, when there is a simple way to do why do it the other way!!but summer they enjoy like. mainly it because it is a short time when they get to see the sun. so they are all over the road in their vehicles. they go on long trails and drive around the country. harleys are all over and every time they pass though i feel sad for not being on them. we had been to this place Frankenmuth about 30min drive from Flint. it is a small town Bavarian, Germany based town. Well some Germans in 19th century came here and settled down, and the entire town now is like a German Bavarian town. The architecture and planing is all German. there isn't much to see here apart from the buildings and a museum. you can indulge in lots of food out here. there are farm fest also going here. they just open the farm to public and you can see the farm animals and what a farmer is doing. one thing here the horse, you should have seen the size of the horse, fuk it was like the horse was directly out from a Hollywood dark age movie. it was mind blowing. forget the horse even the pig, it was big as a baby elephant. imagine that. see i told you every thing is big. while we were in Frankenmuth there was band of harleys, 20 of them minimum and the kind of roar they created when the passed through the city was amazing. the beats are simply awesome. waaaa i want one of those machines. Later we went to Birch Run a huge shopping mall where you get all the brands factory outlets and there is always a good going on here. so that's pretty much of the first things in the US, now off to Detroit.

The Devils

In the year 1983 India won the Cricket World Cup. it is 25 years since we won the first worl cup and the celebrations are still going on. this mega event in the history is always referred to as Kapil's devils winning the world cup. Sad but true they won in the stone age and in the IT age we are yet to win. It is ironic to see that today they are hosting a gala event to mark silver jibliee of the success.what is essentially missing here is the recognition to other sports in this country. no wonder why we have produced and re-produced gavaskars and tendulkars and dhonis but not a milka singh. with a popultaion of one billion in this country we havent produced many sports person in sports other than cricket who have excelled at all levels. even if there have been people who came up at the international level they have faded as fast as a fire-fly. they have not been able to exist for long. well i suppose the system has to be balmed. there is no proper infrastructure for most of the sports person in this country to practice and excel in their fields. there is always a lack of fund and if funds are avaialble there is always a bunch of greedy fox to feed on it. no wonder why u can see the some big statdiums in this country in dilapated conditions and atheletes runing bare foot in national and international events. there are big corporates ready to finance cricket team but very few for other sports. basically there is no recognition. sad na....

Infrastructure Bond

Today as i was joggin in the whitefield trade zone where ITPL and many other tech campuses are sprawling i wondered wat the hell has happened to our infrastrucutre. these big builders are who are building concrete over concrete all over the city, state, nation and world wide are a bunch of blood suckers, money minded, pea brain, dick headed pigs. ass holes have build so much but they have not taken any care to improve the surroundings around their own campuses. they make sprawling campuses and claim that are world class. world class my ass. just to look at less than a feet away from the main entrace you can see there are no proper pavements, there are pot holes enough to gulp a baby and burp. the whole place can be filled with filth but they will be least bothered about it. there is enough dust to cover up a vehicle parked with a layer in less than 5min. this can even beat a pregnency test i suppose. the drainage is open and the contents can be shocking, u might think if it is a drainage or a production line for waste management.
Now with all the cribbing i would think that the builders can take up some responsibilt in improving the conditions around their campuses. give a good payment cover the drainage, maybe make a good approach road. with so much construciton happening there is no difference between a construction site and the road, looks like off no where some one has created a dirt track. a typical example is the road leading to ITPB loading bay. idiots are expanding like a creeper and they are least bothered about their surroundings. builder will say it is not my job to get these things but then government is also a slow tortoise. i would say that there should be some rule that will enforce the builders to do something minimum to the infrastructure, society in re-turn apart from filling the pockets of a fat pig in a government office or a politician.

The year 2007 that was

The year 2007 was the pig year, I spent 6 months in oriental land and all through the year it was a hectic. It has been an eventful year with lots to do, learn, see, eat, drink, play and travel. I liked the switching between India and shanghai and eventually it was like going to mysore n coming back. I am looking forward for the same in this year also, more travel more food n pejo and more of everything. But in this rat race of deadlines and software deliveries I wanted an off. I wanted to be away from the city and office and work. We planned to get out a couple of times but somehow things did not work out. All of us were traveling or tied to our works. But towards the end of the year we all could unite again. Chandu also came back for a vacation after a year long absence. The plan was to go to Managalore where AK n mindu were spending time with their families and ride on from there to the north or to the south. In their journey to mangalore via Mysore n Coorg the journey for about 120Km was not good and that was something that did not encourage me to ride to managlore. Also on looking at the map I realized that on the new year we all had to bike more than 350Km and that was something not feasible as we all had to hit to office the next week. Ideal distance to cover would be less than 300Km on the last day.
After seeing a lot of combinations for destinations we finally dedcided to go to Waynad in kerla.
We started our journey on the 29 Dec 2007. Ganesh n I rode from Bangalore to mysore early in the morning, the saddest part was to get out of Bangalore and the damn thing takes exactly one hr to hit the high way. Once on the highway it was like heaven to ride on the bullet, didn’t feel a thing. The road was also good. The first pit stop was in Kamath Lokaruchi, just outside Ramnagaram. This place has the best food that I can eat, I like stopping by for breakfast, lunch/dinner or simply for sugar cane juice. After having a good filling breakfast we rode on and as we crossed Maddur we were forced to take a deviation from the highway as there was some unrest in the next town. We were asked to go to Malavalli and the distance was more. In between there was another deviation that took us to Mandya directly. We took that road, it was between small villages and the road was good, bad and ugly. We rode along paddy fields with farmers reaping their harvest. It was a nice ride although the roads were not all that great. By the time we reached Mysore it was lunch time and we had some light meal in Green Court on KD Road. By this time my ass was numb and hurting. The hotel seats were like an icing. From Mysore we headed to Najangud – Gundlupet – Sultan Bathery. The ride was awesome because after Gundlupet it was forest area and the fresh air of the wild was intoxicating. Every kilometer the sight and the smell of the air changes. At the border our vehicles got checked for proper documents. Once we enter Kerla the roads change drastically, I wonder what the heck is the problem for Karnataka govt. to maintain the roads. Ass holes have only time in pulling chairs and power. When we got to Sultan bathery we decided to ride on till Kalpetta. Oh by the way Mindu, Chandu n AK are biking from Mangalore to Kalpetta the next day. We decide to get a room or cottage for the 5 of us. We were facing it difficult to get a room, but at the end we decided to get a room for the two of us first for the night ahead and later look out for a cottage or something. We rented a room in Affas Hotel. The owner told us about a cottage for 3000 bucks and he wanted us to pay for 3 days, ass hole was trying to make money at our cost. There was a risk attached and we were not convinced paying so much. So we just took one room and decided we will look for a cottage later in the night.
After freshening up we went out in search of an internet center so that we can get hold of some phone numbers to call and get us a room. We went to one internet center and the owner sanjay told us that it about time for him to close and he can let us for about 15min to surf the net. We were ok with that. While we were surfing he came up to us and started talking to us and also helped us in getting a cottage. It was a home stay Green Hills cottage. It was a nice place. This guy sanjay was from Bangalore but was here looking after coffee estates, he even spoke in Kannada and that was more pleasant to hear in Kerla. Once we were done with the cottage the next thing was food and beer. We went to a decent restaurant called Pankaj recommended by sanjay. Not a very flashy place like you would see in Bangalore. But good enough to have a nice time. We had some beer and food for the night and that was enough to get us in a sober mode to sleep tight. Kalpetta is not a big town. It is a small place with limited options. It was nice to be in this place. We were moving at our own pace and there was no body bothering us. Most of all there was no need to wear helmet. The weather was also good, not too hot and not too cold. After having breakfast and moving into the new cottage we decided to got to two places while the rest of them came to Kalpetta from Manglaore. Our first destination was to Pookod lake, like any other lake this was also a lake. The ride to the lake was good. Winding roads, green pavements and less traffic. When we went there we did not want to go the lake to the things the rest of the public was doing. We just walked a bit to a distant place alongside the lake had a cup of tea and were talking bull shit. From there we deicded to go to a place called Chain Tree. We rode a little further to the start of the descent of ghat section to Kozhikhode. The view from this point is really panaromic. We spent a lot of time here eating chikki. From there we moved to Chain Tree, sadly this place was disappointing. There was a chain hanging around a tree and it was grounded . We were just laughing. It was 1:00 PM by now and when I called up mindu they were is some place having beer and lunch. So we went back to the cottage and took rest for some time and went to Uduppi hotel for lunch. We had so much to eat there full batting. We came back to our room an I sat on the cane chair watching TV and fully dozed off. Phew that was one hell of a nap that I had. At 6:00 in the evening the rest of the gang had still not come and we were restless sitting inside the room. So we went out for a stroll, had some tea, bondas and bajiis and sat along the road side. Finally at around 8:30PM these guys turned up. Mindu was all jumping on his bike like a drunk monkey ;-). After freshening up we went for dinner to Pankaj.
The next day we had planned to go to Chembur peak and Kanthapara falls. Chembur peak was a private property in a tea estate. The ride was yet again good. When we reached he place, they did no allow us to trek as there was a forest fire a week ago. We just enjoyed the scenic beauty at the watch tower and headed toward Kanthapara falls. The falls was not polluted or crowded. There was not much water, but good enough to do time pass. I did not want to get in water as it was cold and sometimes crazy things happen in my nose all of a sudden. We slept near the falls and then roamed around a bit and headed back to Kalpetta. Waynad has less places that can amuse you. So we were totally out of places for our interests. Again we were at Uduppi for lunch but had snacks. It was 31 and we were wondering what to do. We went back to the cottage room and slept. At night we all decided to go to Haritagiri and hang out for some time for new year. But the option at Haritagiri was not good, so we went to Pankaj back again. Had lots of wine and food and came back to our room. All of us were tired and hardly able to keep ourselves awake. well then there was new year all of wished each other and slept. The next day we all got ready soon and started our bikes to Bangalore. All the bikers enjoyed the ride in the jungle upto Karnataka border. We stopped in Mysore for lunch and Chandu separated from us as he was headed back to Mangalore. We rode on to Bangalore with a pit stop at Kamath. And as we entered Bangalore there was a night mare traffic jam. Ha ha ha I was laughing.

Love Life and Work

What do all these things have...are they interlinked??
Love rules and rocks your life. But when love fails life is miserable and that thing called Life u wished was not there at all. Life without love??? work in life is a must..a WORKout is also important. Work makes some people go mad an loose love and life. most of us have already lost life working in front of a machine ogling at things most of the times we dont know why thy are there.

Love Life n Work....phew!!
-@)*($%$#@!%#$%^&#%&

Bangkok

All good things must come to an end, but why?? Heheh my assignment in shanghai was over and I was slated to return back home. It was not a desperate get back home situation for me. I loved and lived every moment that I was there in Shanghai. I will surely miss all the people, food, beer and girls. It was a wonderful time. I decided to take a stop over at Bangkok on my way back. My flight was via Bangkok. I did not bother about the visa as on arrival visa was issued without any problems. They charge 1000THB and you photograph must be handy. Getting visa was no hassle. After that I straight was heading to my hotel Holiday Inn in Silom road. It is a long ride about 50Km. It was about 1:30PM local time when I checked into my hotel. It is a nice place. Very big and comfortable. The next thing on my mind was food. I was hungry. So I set off on foot in search of some hotel for food. Before that I asked the concierge people some advice about the local sight seeing that I could do on this day. They said Wat Tri Mit is a nice option to go to. I saw that on the map and seemed do able on foot. The concierge warned me about the traffic and pollution. I was like who the hell gives damn. So I started walking towards Wat Tri Mit. Here is the statue of Golden Buddha. Thai is big time Buddha. I kept on walking and there was no sign of restaurant, I was wondering what the hell is happening here. Suddenly there were some street vendors serving food. I saw a white guy eating so I thought it is ok to eat. I went and treated myself with a Hainan Chicken Rice. Yummy it was the best food that I had. Great soup and the tangy sauce. I was walking after lunch and I could feel the pollution in the air. The weather makes it even worst. It is hot and very humid. I was feeling very weird also. Now about the place. It is some where between India and Shanghai, geographically and development wise. It has far good infrastructure, but what I felt is it is not as clean as Shanghai. People don’t care about it. Traffic is a mess just as in India. The Tuk-Tuk and the bikes are the main pains in the ass. There are a lot of cars too; Toyota and Isuzu have a good market share I believe. I wonder how the situation is outside Bangkok.
As I was walking towards my destination, I bumped into a Thai local. We started talking and I did not say that I am from India but from Shanghai. The reception is different when you are from India and not from India. He told where all I can go today and how to go. He got me a Tuk-Tuk and told me how much to pay also. The deal was for 40THB he will take me to 3 places and all the places he is going to wait for me. I was cool. So there we were in a Tuk-Tuk. Let me tell you about the Tuk-Tuk, it is a three wheel taxi like the auto rickshaws back home. They are longer, have a lot of room for anything and everything. They are big time maniacs on the road and the sound is very typical. It almost sounds like a Moto GP race bike. So my driver Alex was more than happy to take me around. He kept on talking about everything. My ride was long and exciting. I was moving all over the seat and up and down. Our first stop was Wat Intaravihan. Here there is a tall standing Buddha in golden colour. Height I am not sure. Maybe around 21ft. It was majestic to see such a tall Buddha. Not much to see apart from the statue of the Buddha and one small temple adjacent to it. This temple had a seated Buddha. The entire temple was made of wood. From there we went to our next destination Wat Sam Phraya, lucky Buddha as they say. It has a sleeping Buddha and a standing Buddha. Here I met a security guard who talked about the temple and informed me that there are 40000 Buddha temples in Thailand and 450 of them are in Bangkok. The sitting Buddha was made of concrete and coated with gold. He started telling me to go away from Bangkok as in Bangkok there is not much to see and the other thing that you can do is shopping. He said that their country is poised for a change in the government and there are chances of some violence also. He then told me about the suit sale that is happening and I must go there. He instructed Alex to take me to one such place. Alex also yes sir, I will. I was not interested at all. I told Alex forget it; take me to the Golden Mountain. But that man, phew he straight away took me to that place, Voglee. It is owned by an Indian for sure. Here I met another person, he was from Burma and when I said I am from India, he became senti and told me that India and China have always helped his country. US are a fool imposing sanctions, I just wanted to get out of there and soon I was out. Finally. SO next I went to the golden mountain. It is a small hillock and the top of the mountain is a small pagoda kind off thing made of gold. The climb was tiring although it was tall. At the top there was a cool breeze and that felt really good. From there I saw on my map that the Democracy monument was nearby and said ok let me walk. As I went walking and was pretty close to it I again fell into the hands of a security guy, who said take a Tuk-Tuk to the river side and some Thai factory to see the Thai handicraft. I did want to, damn I was cursing myself. But I was made to go to two shops coz the driver would get a petrol coupon if I buy anything. I kept telling him don’t go there I wont be buying anything. Finally I reached the river Chaophraya and was waiting for sometime for the sun to go down a little. I took a boat that keeps ferrying up and down the river for 18 THB to Sathon that is nearest pier to my hotel. The ride was really good. You can see the grand palace also on the way. When I reached Sathon I was fully drained out. No energy no enthu. It took me about 10min to reach my hotel by foot. There is a sky train station at this pier. When I reached my hotel I did not want to eat in the hotel. I was still looking for some local restaurant and I found one right opposite to my hotel. I went there and ordered a stirred vegetable minced with shrimps soup and steamed rice with Singha beer. When I started eating boy o boy it was damn hot. Hot hot since ages. Phew I was gasping for air. All I knew at that moment was fire in the hole. Finally after finishing my meal I crashed back in my room and I as glad to be in bed. In the meantime there are a lot on Indians in Bangkok and guess what they do, jewelers and clothes. That is my observation. There are a lot of shops for suiting and the names of the shop so Punjabi. You can make out if you are an Indian. There is a wide range of bikes also. You can see Vespa scooters, RX-100, RXZ, Honda Wave, Harleys, Phantoms and what not. A good market.
I had a good sleep but my legs had still not recovered fully. Today I wanted to go to the Grand Palace. I went there by a taxi and as soon as I entered there was a march of royal guards into the palace. Here they have a strict dress code. You cannot wear shorts in to the palace. Even if you are wearing one you get pants for hire. The entrance fee is 250 THB. As soon as you enter you will be spell bound by the three magnificent structures. The palace huge and cover an area of 218000 sq-meters. It was built in the year 1782 during King Rama I rule. There are some interesting sights to see and a lot of history matches with the Ramayana. You can easily kill 2hrs here. But the sun and humidity would be in turn killing you. After the grand palace my next destination was the Wat Phro. Here there is a sleeping Buddha which is about 41ft long. It is simply majestic to watch it. You can spend close to one hr here. From there I took a ferry to cross the river to Wat Arun. It was used as a temple by the king and is about 67meters tall. You can climb up and when you are near the steps it is not encouraging because it is so straight up you will think twice before embarking on it. But when you reach the top it is a panoramic view, you can see the river and the grand palace and a good view of the city. I got back to the pier where I boarded the ferry to go to Wat Arun and had my lunch. I had rice with chicken in garlic sauce and pepper. It was good sitting beside the river and having food. The river does not appear to be very clean. There is a lot of pollution also. There are a lot of fishes also in the river. Then I came back to my hotel to rest before I left for the night market and life ;-). I rested properly for about 2hrs watching movie. At around 8 I went to Phat Phong. This place has a night market till 01:00 AM and good amount of bars and pubs. There are a lot of girls and they are waiting for you. The market sells everything. Same as what I had experienced in Shanghai. It mite be cheaper but never bothered to enquire. The scene is a lot different than in shanghai. After having enough beers I headed back and crashed. The next day I just laid there in my bed for a long time. I just did not want to do anything. Just relax madi!! At noon I checked out of my room and came to the airport. After 3 days I am using my laptop so much h ah ahaha. It is sometimes good to be away from work ;-) but I know on Monday when I am back there will be a lot of things to do .

Beijing Bites

It was along pending trip to be made and finally I could make this trip. I was all excited about it. I was going to see one of the seven wonders of the world. I was slated to travel by train on Friday night at 7. I left office early and went to the station. I had taken the sub way and half of the journey was smooth, the next half of the journey was something funny. There were so many people in the sub-way that I had literally push all the people to make my way out. Reminded me of Mumbai metro trains. Now coming to the train that took me to Beijing. Boy that was another luxury. It was more than a first class AC train. There were cabins and only four berths per cabins. It was so comfortable to travel in it. They also provided you with tooth brush and paste. And the cost was just 500RMB. I had taken a package tour, so all the arrangements of hotel booking, train tickets and local sight seeing was handled by the travel agent. I wanted to do it alone without anybody’s help but now I am glad that I did not. There were no untoward incidents but covering the places on your own would have been a pain. Morning oh god the mornings are too early here, at 5 in the morning the sun shines right into your eyes. I reached Beijing station at sharp 7, the slated time to arrive. I was suppose to wait in a nearby hotel before I joined a city tour group. The hotel was right opposite the railway station I had to just cross the road. At 7:45 my guide for the day Tony arrived and picked me up. There were other tourists in the bus and we had to pick more. For the day there were people from Finland, Taiwan and Iran. Totally we were 10.
Our first stop for the Day was Forbidden City. It is not a city it is a palace, so huge that is more or less like a city. There is a lot of history associated with the place. The guide was telling it very well. One thing I realized was that the emperor was damn afraid of people waiting to kill him. The walls are thick n tall, the ground beneath you had 8 layers of brick and there are no trees. Glad that there were no B2 bombers at that time. The palace is spread over an area of 72 hectares. There are huge court yards. Majestic carvings and buildings. Most of the buildings top is yellow in colour and from a sight it looks beautiful. There was also a clock museum inside the palace. The clocks were gifted to the emperor by foreign national. Clocks of all shapes and sizes were available. Most of them came or were made in England. There was one interesting clock which could show time based on flow of water known as water clock. I am still wondering how it does so. We entered from the south gate and came out of the north gate. It took is whole 2 hours there. Surprisingly there was a Star bucks coffee shop inside the palace and Tony said “Disgusting isn’t it” I totally agreed him. It was like having Pizza hut in Tirupati Temple. The next stop of the day was a silk museum. Here they show the life cycle of silk and how they make it. It was interesting and then shopping which I loathed the most. Coz I did not buy anything. Next was food. I was waiting for it hoping to eat duck. But we were served some imperial cuisine which mostly had pork and I could not eat well. The place where we had lunch was very near to the Temple of Heaven our next destination. By now the sun was blazing hot and the temperature was above 35 degC.
The temple of heaven is the place where the emperor came to worship the heaven god. He use to consider himself as a placement of the Heaven God on earth. He also worshiped here for a good harvesting season. There is an echo building here which happened accidentally during construction. Two interesting things. At once place if you stand and clap you can hear up to 3 echoes and in a different place 2 and in a different place 1 echo. Also if you stand the wall of the circular fence and speak anything the person standing at some other place can be heard. The temple occupies an area of 272 hectares. There is a lot of greenery here. By the time we were done looking at the temple I was drained out. All my piss evaporated in to air. Phew after a ling time such a thing had happened. The next destination was the Summer Palace and that being a little far got some time to relax and recharge. There are many places which were undergoing renovation and maintenance for Beijing Olympics 2008. So some places we could not see. The summer palace is like any other summer palace in the world. There was a huge lake, with three islands and a long corridor to walk along and a palace. The palace was located on a small hill and I must say from a distance it didn’t look easy to climb it. When we went near the entrance of the palace I had to look straight up to see the steps. Man it was no way possible considering the state in which we were. We just walked around the lake and came out of the palace compound. Now the sun was cooler. Next we went to a tea ceremony. To see how tea is made and served and different kinds of tea. IT was a good experience. Here there was a bird, I think a mocking bird which would respond to Nihao (Hi in Chinese). Some time pass there also. So that was the end of the first day trip for us. I was dropped back to my hotel. I freshened up and got ready to go to Tian an Men Square. I took a taxi to the place. The square is a huge open place and is at entrance of Forbidden City. Damn big place. You can have a rock concert here. Surrounding the square is a museum and the parliament. I was just walking here and seeing people and taking snaps when two girls approached me.
They started talking in English and we built up a conversation. I got to know that one of them was a English teacher in a school in Beijing and the other was her friend who had come to visit her. They said they were going to Old China Street and if I wanted to join them. I said ok let me check out the place. It was 7 in the evening and it looked like 5. Yes the sun doesn’t set here till 8 in the evening. Such a long day, damn!! We came to the old street and were walking along. It was not as I had expected or I did not see the entire place. There were some shopping places and some nice bars and local food stores. Then we decided to have some beer and went to café. But it was a tea café and they did not serve beer. So we had a tea instead. While we were having tea a police guy came into our room and started asking for ID with these girls. He did not say or ask anything to me. HE took the ID of on of the girl and asked the teacher to come along with him. Now I got scared. But she did not return back soon. Now I got spooky and wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. We finished the tea soon and got out of the place. The other girl accompanied me till the taxi stand and we bid farewell to each other. I wonder what had happened there. Anyways I was glad to be safe. I got back to the hotel and had my dinner.
Next day the tour was suppose to start at 8 in the morning. I got to call to be ready at 7:30. When I finished my breakfast and coming out, there was a girl looking for me. Mama mia, she was gorgeous. Sigh !!!. she spoke a lot and also wanted thing in her control. Her name was Sally. She used to always say Sally’s friends come here , sally’s group this way. There were three Germans who made mast fun of her. But she had enough data to feed us with. Our first stop was the Ming’s Tomb. The place is located away from the city, about an hours drive. This place has the bodies of the 13 emperors buried in different locations. They are the emperors who ruled China in different times. Not very impressive place. I was not excited to be there. I was looking forward for the Wall, which was the next destination. As we were approaching the Badaling Section of the Great wall, we could see some part of the wall over the mountains. It was a feast to the eyes. When we reached the place we had to take a cable pulley to reach a point from where you have to walk. We had two hours time to spend on the wall. We had to walk to tallest point on the great wall. The climb is not easy. At places the wall just follows the contour of the land. Phew it is a very physical and challenging up there. When you reach there you can find a tablet of Chairman Mao, which says “He who hast climbed is not a hero”. There are many vendors who make certificates and medals saying that you are a hero or you climbed the great wall and things like that. At the top it is windy and a little cold. It is a good relief from the Beijing heat. The wall is such a strong structure that most of it is still intact. I wonder how many people got themselves killed to get through the wall. At the end is was a wonderful experience.

Hangzhou

There is a popular saying in China: "Above there is heaven, below there are Hangzhou and Suzhou." I had already been to Suzhou and now it was Hangzhou. I was supposed to go last week but I did not get tickets and I did not want to travel by bus. So this weekend I got my super fast train ticket for the round trip. My plan was to come back on the same day. Now a days I am reluctant to get up early in the morning. But then can’t have that luxury all the time. I got ready pretty fast and left to Shanghai South Railway station. Man this station is a miniature model of the Suwarnabhumi airport in Bangkok but a lot better. Round in shape and well maintained. You won’t feel like you are going to catch a train. I like the system here you need to check in at least 5 min before the train leaves. They don’t allow you to enter the platform until the train is ready. Once it is all ready to go, usually 15min before the departure time they open the gates, check the tickets and let you in. After you board the train there is no one bothering you to show your ticket. And once the train leaves there aren’t any relative waving at you. Cool an!! Well when I got inside the train man it was more than economy class. The leg space was so much that I could spread my legs to its length and sleep comfortably. The trains are so well maintained and the cost to travel is also lea 50RMB to my destination that is Hangzhou. He takes 1Hr 20Min to cover the distance between Shanghai and Hangzhou at an average speed of 100Km/hr.
When I reached Hangzhou, it was raining and I was feeling bad about it. I wanted it to be bright and sunny day but I guess I was not granted that. I took the taxi to my first destination of the day Ling Yin Si (Ling Yin Temple). The taxis are like in Shanghai well organized. On my way I had my breakfast in the taxi. It took me a long drive to reach the place. First need to cross the city and suddenly you are in the middle of a green cover. Whoa forget Ooty this place rules. It was so beautiful and green all over. You need to but a ticket to get in to the temple rather two tickets. I was some what puzzled why twice. The temple is inside a compound and again inside you need to buy ticket to see the temple. I got lost in finding the entrance; the directions were kind of misguiding me. Finally I got to know where the entrance and temple is. When I went in there were lots of trees and rocks. The rocks had the carvings of Buddha and Buddhism. All over the place you can find that. There was a small stream also flowing inside the place adding to beauty. There were some caves also and I went inside them. There also there were some sculptures. Then finally I got to see the temple. Man that was by far the tallest and largest structure that I had seen so far, it was mind blowing. Inside there a huge a very huge splendid statue of Buddha in golden colour. You can spend half and hour here. After that I wanted to see The Peak flow from Afar (Beng Ji). Legend has it that this large piece of rock flew from India, crossed the Himalayas and landed here. I thought the rock is at the top of a hill and started climbing it. Phew it was a steep climb for about 20 min. When I reached the top, damn what there was nothing? So I came down to see that the rock was same as the one that I had initially seen. But then it was fun to climb the hill. After a long time doing trekking. A good exercise and my legs were cursing me, h ah ah ha ha.
My next destination was the Six Harmonies Pagoda. I took the taxi to reach the place. The pagoda is a tall tower. The architecture is kind of different. There is nothing much to see here apart from climbing the Pagoda. It is about 13 floors high and you can go up all the way by foot. Damn this climb was killing me. The stairs were not normal. They were spiral and steep too. When you reach the top the view from there is breathe taking. You can see the river and the hills and the forest. It was a cloudy day and could not see far from there. My next destination was the Song City. This place is a replica of the Song Dynasty. You can see the culture, people, buildings and everything that was there in that period. There is also a food street selling I suppose food that belongs to that era. I had one snack that was like a stuffed puri. The stuff inside had some meat and I don’t know which one but ate it. It was very tasty too. There was another dish that was like a roti but I did not want to have that as my plans for lunch was entirely different. While roaming around there were a couple of Chinese tourists who were taking some snaps and when they saw me they wanted to take a photo with me. One after the other, they were just excited about it. Then I went and sat for some time near an artificial lake. There a kid had dressed up in a song soldier costume. I took a snap of him. You get costumes that you can hire and sport them. While I was relaxing the drums started playing and there was a show at the main entrance. It was an acrobatic show. The artists were standing on a stick on both the legs and were performing a wide range of tricks. It was a nice show that they put up. This place is good for children as they can see their history and also have fun. I was done with this place and now was the last and most talked about destination Xi hu (West Lake).
All I knew about this place was that it was a huge lake and you can spend the entire day here. That was true; it was such a huge lake. I could only see water as far I could see. There are a lot of gardens on this lake and on its shore. There are three islands also on this lake. You can take a boat or ferry and go to them. I was not willing to do that, I was more interested in having a beer and some good food on the shore and kill time. But the place I got down was on the other end of the city/lake and there was not such luxury as I had anticipated. So I was walking and looking for the restaurant and then I finally figured out that I have to get to the other end of the lake. So I hopped on a ferry who would take me to two islands and then to the city. I t was a good deal. So there I was in a ferry on the lake cruising along and enjoying the beauty. The islands that I went on did not have much to see. Some gardens and some smaller lakes on it. When I kept my foot on the city the time was not permitting to look for a hotel on the shore. I had to catch the train back to shanghai at 5:20PM and now it was already 4:00PM. I was also concerned about the time to travel to the station as in the morning it had taken me almost half an hour. So fast food was my only option and landed up eating a Fish Fillet in Mac Donald’s. Actually the city side is very posch. Somewhat like shanghai. Then I took a taxi back to the railway station which was just 10 min away and I was back in Shanghai in 2 hours.
http://www.chinahighlights.com/hangzhou/attraction/

X-Treme Sports and YuYuan Gardens

Friday I was done, I was breaking into pieces and wanted some fun. After office I went to my favorite joint in Shanghai, Malones. Had beer, surrendered to the music that was being played and just enjoyed. From there I went to Judy’s a stones throw away place from Malones. Here the crowd had not yet picked up and it was almost 11:30PM. I was there was some time had one more beer and danced for sometime. I was looking for the girl with whom I have danced the most so far, but she was not to be seen. There were others too, but they seem to be too much to be taken on the dance floor he h eh eh e. Now I was hungry so as usual I went and the pizza that we usually have, but this time she served me a large Pizza and sadly I was alone to eat it. I ate as much as I could and that was about 10 slices. I had to leave 2 slices on the plate. Then just went on a stroll on the same street (Tongren Lu). To see what the other joints had in place. There were some places like Judy’s and some which cannot be gussed. Me and my friend wanted to see what these places had inside. There were lot of girls inviting us to their bars and then we decided to go into one of them. As we entered a girl hooked on to each one of us and took us inside, the bar is on the first floor and there were not much people as in Judy’s or Malones. We sat on one of the high chairs and the girls ordered the drinks for us and for themselves and started talking to us, where are you from, how long in shanghai, what you do…blah blah blah. And slow the topic shifts to sex. How she feels and what makes her horny. She said I like bald head and the body hair turns me on. If I want something mushimushi…..he he. She was trying to go naughty with me a lot, so I decided let me play around with her without loosing anything. While all this was happening suddenly I realized that it is so easy to easy your virginity.We danced for sometime also. She kept on asking for something extra from me and I kept on denying. It was fun though, she acting erotic from time to time. Finally we decided to move on and left the place.
The nest day I got up damn late and just went out shopping with my other colleagues who were there. On Sunday I was thinking of going to Chongming Islands but I was alone to go there and didn’t feel like going there. So I went to YuYuan gardens. On my way in the shuttle bus of our bus I met a NRI who is about 65 years old and working for a company that makes ATM machines, He asked me where I was from and when I asked the same to him he said he is from Ohio, US. I wonder if it is an identity problem for these guys. So far I have never seen a guy telling that basically I am from such a place in India but settled in ……..I don’t know why??!! Anyways he wanted to kill time and said I will join you, although this guy has been many times to China. So we took the metro and walked to Yuyuan gardens.(http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/yuyuan_garden.htm) The first time I went to this place I was searching where the hell the garden is and the second time I went there the timing was wrong as the place closes down at 4:00PM. My companion for the day al kinds of stories to tell me about hi family and I was listening to them mast time pass and curiosity to know what these guys do in US as Indians apart from being a professional. I went alone to the garden as he had already seen it. It isn’t a very big garden. I felt it is also not very beautiful as Lingering gardens and I feel all the gardens look and feel like the same. Anyways it was a nice time pass. Later we thought of going to the bund and heading back to home. But we lost direction and decided to go to Nanjing road and have lunch. I had unbearably lots of pizzas. After that we took the taxi and came back to the hotel. I saw a movie and ended the day with some Chinese massage ;-).

Shanghai Moto GP

Eeeeeeeeeeeehaw…..there was Moto GP here in Shanghai on the 06 May. I was all happy that I will be able to see the show when I am here in shanghai. John agreed to give me a ride to the venue along with one of his friends Richard. The Shanghai circuit is far far away from the city, it took an hour to reach the place. The circuit plays host for the Grand Prix also. That is there in the month of October. The venue is such a huge place, phew mind blowing. It will take ages for India to get such a place and facility running with perfection. The main stand is about 5 floors high. When you go near the circuit I could hear the bikes ripping on the tracks. It was a great feeling. A feeling of power represented by the short burst of sound as they zip past the main stand. The main stand is right opposite to the pit stop and there is the start line. I was getting high. There were stalls put by the manufacturers of the bikes. Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki flaunting their super bikes and other normal bikes. We had our seats in Grand Stand B. This is located at the first turn of the track. It was the best view possible that one can ask for. Beautiful day not too sunny, the weather was perfect and we were enjoying the show with some beer. The riders were warming up with their bikes. First race was for 125CC bikes. Man you must see how fast they go and the sound they make. Damn….I should tell mindu to give up his bike for these ones. They had 16 laps for the race. After this there was 250CC bikes race. This race was interesting than the earlier one. The leader of the race had kept the lead for most of the race but there were others behind him who kept challenging him. They would over take him and he would also do that. This fight for the first place amongst the first 5 player was interesting. Meanwhile one of the drivers lost control at our stand and went sliding off the track. It was a sight to watch. But the poor guy could not get up, don’t worry he was alive. A stretcher was used to move him.
After one hour gap there was the super bike race coming up. So we went out to the common open area. By now my kidneys had become balloon and was about to burst. I took refuge in the wash room first. That was my best and longest relieving piss I ever had. After that we took some pictures of bikes. The Suzuki team had put up a stunt show. Skidding, doing wheelies and braking on the front wheel and doing a swing. It was a nice. Most of us would have seen such stunts in Hollywood movies. After this show there was the most awaited race of the day, ever one there was only concerned about bike no. 46, The Doctor, Valentino Rossi. That guy sure has what it takes to be a super bike champ. Boy o boy these bikes are even more noisy and fast. It was a thrilling experience. Whenever a bunch of riders would pass through our stands I could fell the stand and my balls vibrating a little bit. It was great feeling. The Doctor was well challenged by Casey Stoner who eventually won the race. The Doctor over took Stoner on three occasions. On the third occasion he lost control and went outside the track. I am sure if he had this turn correct he would have won the race. Sigh all good things must come to an end. SO did the day and the race and I was heading back to my hotel. I wanted to get a ride on those bikes as a pillion rider. That would also be a good experience. Well let’s see, maybe next time or maybe F1…in a Ferrari.

Venice of China

I got up in the morning and decided that I will go to Shuzhou. Actually before deciding that I was trying to figure out when is the actual MOTO GP race day in Shanghai Circuit. Once that was clear well almost, got ready and let the hotel to go to Shuzhou. It is a one hour travel by train from Shanghai. That meant that I had to take a train.. I went to the Shanghai Railway station and got a ticket , but the train was at 1:30PM.and there was a lot time to kill. I was worried about the weather as it was dark and cloudy and the forecast was for rains. If it rains then the trip to Shuzhou would be a total disaster. Shuzhou is called the Venice of China. Because of its backwaters that criss cross the city. I got to know about this place from a booklet that a travel agent had printed and was interested after reading the description of the trip that he had to offer. All I knew is that I have to go to Shuzhou and nothing more that that. What is there and how to travel locally no data available or known. Went around the railway station area to kill some time. And at 01:00PM I went inside the railway station. I must say that the railway station is like Bangalore airport. Modern and sophisticated. I saw that they don’t have platform concept. They have waiting rooms. Each waiting room has many platforms. And you have to check in as you do in airports. The check in stops 5 min before the departure time. No body comes and asks you for a ticket after you have checked in. The train that I took is a double Decker one. I was seated on the lower portion. The seats were good, ones that you can find in a luxury bus. The train left the station on time. They do travel at a good speed. After cruising for about 45 minutes he stopped at a small station. I was wondering why and then in a span of half an hour 6 super fast trains maybe bullet trains passed by us. And I was getting pissed off. Finally in another 15min I was at Shuzhou station and now wondering what to do. I could see a couple of places where some tour operators were there. While I was searching for tourist information centre a guy came and spoke to me in English and asked me if I needed a taxi. I told him I am here to see the gardens and back waters and gave him the booklet that I was carrying. He saw that and told me that the backwaters and garden is in the city but the other place is about 70km away from the city. I was not willing to go so far at that of the day. He said the boat ride would be 250 RMB. I thought it was expensive and asked him to just take me to the place. I will not boat. He also told me that for 100RMB he will take me to the backwaters and another famous garden, Lingering gardens and back to railway station in his car. I accepted his offer and there we were riding in the streets of Shuzhou. The city still has the old buildings preserved and you can see that the water crisis crosses the city a lot places. We reached the place of boating and the entrance was that of a gate. He told me that at this gate the architect of the town was beheaded and his head was hanged here. This was done by a king. The price for the boat that he said was not for one person it was for the entire boat. Later I thought what the big deal. Let’s go, so I had the entire boat for myself. It was a nice and beautiful experience to go boating in the backwaters. Very nice bridges, houses and restaurants don the banks of the backwaters. There were a lot of tourists also there. The entire trip took me 50min , not bad huh. From there we went to Lingering gardens. This is a world heritage centre. And supposed to be one of the famous and beautiful gardens in China. The garden is small but very beautiful. It has some weird shaped stone sculptures and a green ambience. There are small ponds and streams inside the garden. A nice and peaceful place. The garden is in the centre of the city and there is so much peace inside. I guess it is mostly because of the large number of vegetation that suppresses the noise. Well I spent about 45 min inside the garden and after that we were headed to the railway station. Our guide dropped us off till the ticket counter and told me to but tickets from there. When I got my tickets I saw that the train leaves Suzhou at 11:30 PM. I was pissed off it was still 06:30PM and I had to wait for five hours to travel one hour. Damn…..then I realized what the guide had told me about the buses, a five min walk away there is a bus station from where we can get buses to Shanghai. So I went there and found a bus to Shanghai. I was asking her the bus operator what time you leave from here and how much and to get that information from was fun. She did not understand what I was asking and so did I. finally she gave up and went inside the bus to get hold of a guy who could understand English. Finally I came to know that the bus would leave to shanghai at 7:00PM and the fare is 50RMB. I was happy to loose the 7RMB train ticket and travel on this bus. Over all it was fun and adventure for me on that day.

Golden Week Celebrations

May 1 is labors day and in China that entire week is off. Yep the whole week I was on a vacation here in China. Sadly I was in Shanghai but did a lot. I could not plan much for that week as my extension here in China was decided pretty late and you need to do all your bookings well in advance. But I had other things to take care of and that was being a tour guide for the people who were stuck here in Shanghai as they were not able to get tickets to fly to their countries. I am planning to start a Tour Operator business here for the people who come. I am sick of going to the same tourist spots again and again. I took my colleagues to Shanghai Museum. One of them was very interested to know and see the Chinese arts and history. This place I had to go around the same exhibits all over again for the second time. Boy o boy that meant lots of walking and standing and waiting, phew at the end of it I was dead tired and I was craving for a can of beer. During the golden week the Chinese take pride in going out seeing places and having fun. You can see a lot and lot of people on the streets. Anywhere you go you will find rush and never ending q. After we were finished with the museum we were hungry and had to cross the road to eat Pizza. The situation at the zebra crossing reminded me of Mahabharath serial, where in at dawn soldiers from both the ends are waiting to attack and once they are given the command to charge they just pounce on each other. At least here we did not pounce to kill each other. Hundreds of people on both the side of the roads was waiting to cross and once the signal turned we were attacking the other end of the road. That was a scene worth watching from the side and being part of it was fun. Before going to the museum on that day we went through the people’s park. It was such a beautiful park with all greenery and colorful flowers. Outside there was so much of noise from the modern machines that man created, but inside it was peaceful and calm. People were doing exercise, hanging out with friends and family and having fun and eating and drinking.

The second day we went to two different places. One was the Jinang Temple. It is a Buddha temple. A place bigger than the Jaded Buddha Temple but not as good as it. The architecture of the buildings was good. There was a tomb in the courtyard of the temple with some openings at different heights. People were throwing coins into these openings. I gues it was to make a wish and when your coin successfully gets into one of the openings then it will be granted. I also tried and it was fun to put the coins. Outside the temple there was a ban playing the bagpiper. The music was really good. They had attracted a lot of people to listen to them playing. It does take a lot of effort to blow air into the bagpipers. I could see that on the face of the artists who were blowing air into it. I would have gasped for air if I had to do it for the first time. Form there we went to the Shanghai Old Street or Yuyuan Gardens, This place has the old Chinese style buildings. More of a place where you can shop Chinese art and some souvenirs. The whole street is doing the same, attracting tourists to buy them. And to mention the food that they sell. Yummy I wanted to get some steamed dumplings, but the Q was so big that I did not feel like standing in it. We went the Yuyuan garden entrance to find that the place was closed at 04:00PM. Man that was bad. The garden looked beautiful from the outside. I wanted to go there desperately. Anyways I will go there again. After hanging out for some more time and doing some shopping we headed back to our hotel. The next day also was spent in shopping and most of the time I was at home.

Shanghai Auto Show

The 12th Auto show was organized here in Shanghai and we went to the show on the last day of the event. There was a hell of a rush on that day. We were four people in all. The venue was a huge place near the Maglev station. There were six big halls hosting all the auto makers and part manufactures. There were all the big names in the auto industry from all over the world and the local Chinese guys were also there. We started off seeing VW and BUIK (Shanghai GM). GM had some real cool cars. The interesting part in these events is the concept cars and the girls. Both of them can make you sigh for their impeccable beauty. There were so many cars to see and we had so less time. I was bowled by the Corvette it was a mean machine and no wonder why people go crazy about it. There were a couple of cars which ran on fuel cells and flex fuels. The next generation of power to drive your wheels. The Chinese car makers were also not behind. They too had some real good designs with them. Geely is the No. 1 automaker in china. The crowd who had come there for the grand show was more or less behind the models taking their pictures. I was taking so many pictures that I did not realize that I was not carrying my spare batteries. Damn toward the end of our visit I was out of battery power and so the end to photos. We thought there were 6 halls in all, but actually there were more. We realized that when we couldn’t see the Mercedes and Honda. Hey they should have been here, where are they. There were two bikes displayed by Suzuki. One was a super bike and the other “Intruder”. Intruder was a cruiser bike. I sat on that and got a couple of pictures. Man that bike was so comfortable. The moment my ass rested on it, I knew it this baby is very comfortable to ride on. Blue color with white stripes. Phew!!. Now that reminds of me of my Bullet and for the rides that I have been missing so far . At 02:00PM the show dropped its curtains on the auto show and we had to leave the place. When we came out there was a dearth of taxis. I was ready to get on to a two wheeler taxi and go back home. But there were others also not willing to do so. So we waited and asked and waited and asked and did not get a taxi. So we started to walk and found a guy who was ready to take us at extra cost in his car which was not a taxi. I was reluctant to pay so much but then we had to get back home some how. So we hired him and that fool of an ass driver was in such a hurry that he could not wait for all the passengers to get in. He would just hit the pedal when a guy is getting in the car.

Buddha

Traffic jams in Shanghai are the best place to write my blogs, he h eh he. It is really nasty here and the reason is that they are layin some pipes for god knows what an the 3 lanes is raod is now 2 lanes. Friday night was horrible as there was a release and I was not prepared mentally to stay back for it…..:-(. Saturday morning I went to play football with my office friends, this time there were a lot of people and the size of the ground was not sufficient to hold us. We were I guess 8 a side and it looked like playing football in a crowded street. It was fun though. Some skin from my foot got chipped off and the clot in my toe nails is not yet gone. Thanks to the shoes that I am wearing it. Then went back home and had a nice lunch which Rags had prepared. Later I had a small nap before we went out. I wanted or rather desperately wanted to go to the Jaded Buddha Temple, but these guys are too old to travel. So we were just there near the river side and walking. We did some enquiry about mp3 players to buy It for others back at home. We walked and walked and walked. On the footpath there were some native Chinese who were selling some jade jewelery and something really caught my eyes. It was like the claw of a tiger in stone and had some carvings on it. When I decide to buy all the other guys selling the same were behind me to but this and that. One guys even came along with me some distance to sell his stuff to me. He was hell bound to sell it to me and I was not to but it ;-). All the guys in the street were looking at us as to what the hell is happening here. As we walked on there was a guy on the street who was making animals from grass. He was rather weaving it. It was really impressive and very intricate. I could not resist myself buying a dragon. It is really beautiful. And as we walked along there was a pile of live small lobsters and some freshly cooked ones was sold. It was a sight to see smell to relish. I was afraid of tasting it as my tummy had already showed signs of churning out some exclusive dishes before I left the hotel. So we continued our walking. And then a time came when I felt that my leg muscles are stiffing. Phew that pain had come after a really long time. And now we had to decide about the food. I was promoting Chinese veg to these guys but they were not ready to buy that from me and finally we landed up eating in Nepali. The sleep that night was awesome except for a dream that literally shook me off the bed in the wee hours.
On Sunday I was glad that I was going to the Jaded Buddha Temple. History has it that the jaded statues of the Buddha two in numbers were brought by a Buddhist monk from Burma. The Chinese visit to this temple the way people visit Tirupathi. I took a bus and then the metro and then a taxi to the temple. I thought that the temple is far away from the metro but it was not. It is in a narrow street. And when I reached there I saw a huge gathering in front of the ticket counter, and these guys were old Chinese guys, I guess from a village. They made a havoc there to get their tickets and the foreigners who had come there were really wondering what to do, some of them felt great to take a picture of the scene. Finally the crowd disappeared and all of us got a chance to buy the ticket in a disciplined way. As soon as you enter the temple, you will see some smoke from the burning fire and the insect sticks that the people were offering to the Buddha. It was a calm environment with a soulful hum from the monks there. There are many statues in the temple. There was a sleeping Buddha also. The main temple has three big statues of Buddha of may be around two floors high. You really need to look up to these statues. And all over this statue there are other figures some which are the guards of the lord. They were also very huge. All the statues are in golden colour. There is a vegetarian restaurant in the temple which is run by the monks and serve veg food. I had my lunch there . There was another statue of Buddha which was white in colour at the top and as you move down the colour changes to grey. It was very beautiful and you are not allowed to take pictures here. This place was segregated from the entire temple area, it was exclusive club privileges. The roof of the temple had the carvings of miniature Buddha and they were many of them In the backyard there was a pond with fishes. The colour of the fishes was white and orange and there were many of them in all shapes and sizes. There was also different colours of lotus floating on the water. But these were not growing there, it was left by the people who visit the temple. So after this I was done in the temple and walked back to the metro station.
The metro was about 2 Km from the temple. From there I went to a place called Qi Pu road. This road is like going to Alankar Plaza. This street has clothes and clothes and only clothes. Sadly I could see clothes only for girls. Hardly anything for the boys. I was in no mood to check the place in and out for clothes. So decided to go back to the electronic market to enquire about something. I took a BIKE TAXI to go to the metro. Yeah a bike which is a taxi. This guy was telling me I will drop you on my bike come come……and I was excited about the idea. I cannot resist a bike ride so took it and for 10 bucks he dropped me to the metro. The ride though small was good enough. By the time I reached home I was half dead. Had dinner and slept like a log. There was a visitor from the US and we decide to take him out to see downtown shanghai. The day we left for sigh seeing after office was raining all the day and it was pretty cold. We went near the bund and damn it was so cold so cold that my hands froze. I could feel the numbness even the next day. To add to the cold weather there was no taxi available for us so we were waiting for a long time in the rain to catch a taxi.