Memoirs of a Wandering Nomad

Essential Singapore: ------------------------- Just back from the 'fine' country of Singapore - there is a popular T-Shirt that you get there in Chinatown and other markets too, which says that Singapore is such a fine country that you get fine(d) for everything - fined for littering, fined for jaywalking, fined even for chewing gum - can you imagine! ... So apparently the country does not have chewing gums. They also do not have crows - it seems they did not like crows, so they shot them down to the last bird! Anyway, there is just too much written about Singapore these days - some official and guided by the tourism ministry, while some unofficial. In fact, Singapore is perhaps the most exploited and over-exposed destination in terms of holiday writeups - all full of juicy descriptions of the shopping, Bukit Timah Zoo, Bird park, other tourist attractions like the Universal Studio at Sentosa, the Merlions on Marina Bay, and the glitzy Clarke Quay (pronounced 'Clark-k...

This is my first trip to China, and I know the first impressions may not be enough for a land that ancient, but this is what I have guys at the moment ... So this is my last evening in Guangzhou, China. Tomorrow morning I leave for Singapore. And now I can safely say that I have finally come face to face with the dragon, and also to a certain extent - tamed it. It so happens that for my first visit to China, I was in a town most famous for its seafood. Also since it's close to HK and due to the trade fair they have every year, there are a lot of Western style hotels like Mariotte and Sheraton. I stayed in Landmark Canton. Quite an old hotel, but rooms are nice. I was in the exec suite anyway, so especially nice. What was best is the office is in this same buidling complex. I even have a secret passage to reach there. We did not even leave the building during the day - only in the evenings for dinner. The food was great, and my clients were especially hospitable. For e...

Day 6: 27th Jan 2012 Ashtamudi to Kochi (Ernakulam) We start for Ernakulam at around 10am. But first the driver takes us to a local temple of goddess Bhadrakali, about 4km from the resort on the way to the highway. The deity is highly revered among the local inhabitants of the nearby villages. There is massive pillar of gold, which has (according to our driver Ramachandran) 15 kg of gold used for the plating. The temple is itself small, and men have to remove their shirts to get inside. Women need to be dressed in Indian attair, or else they are not allowed. The idol of the deity is very pretty - soft white marble with pleasant face. Since we ask for a puja, which the priest does for us behind closed doors, we are given the blessings from the goddess in the form of prasadam - rice prepared with thick dark brown jaggary - very strong in taste and very very sweet. We hit the highway by 11am and head towards Ernakulam. This time we have decided to stay at Ernakulam, not at Fo...

Day 5: 26th Jan 2012 Ashtamudi, Verkala Beach The next day morning we sleep in late. Lazy breakfast by 10:00am. The dosai and appams are nice and soft. We keep asking for more, and they keep bringing them. In that respect, the service at the resort is quite nice. The dosai are better than Woodlands at Ernakulam - as I would sadly discover the next day. The resort, the lake, the place takes our your sense of time - which seems suspended. By the time we are ready to move out, it is already 1:45pm. We head back to the main highway, reach Kollum by 2:15pm, and take the NH 47 further - with Verkala beach in mind. A few pit stops for coconut water, and we reach a junction where you are supposed to leave the main highway and take a smaller road to the right that takes you to Verkala . The road here is curvy, and also inclined, so more fun than the highway. We reach a railway crossing, get across it and take left to reach Verkala Shivgiri railway station. Another 3km further and w...

Day 4: 25th Jan 2012 Allepey to Ashtamudi, Kollum The morning comes swiftly. The sea is inviting at sunrise, so we take a stroll on the beach. Fishermen are out all night and are now seen returning to the shore in their little canoes. We have our breakfast at Casa maria, and by about 9am, begin our journey towards Kollam on NH-47  - a total of 85 km which takes about 2.5 hours. The road is narrow and very busy. The cabbie has a special affinity towards braking at the wrong places - like right on top of the speedbreaker, not earlier - a trait we find common among the other drivers in the state too (except Rasheed, who was a wonderful driver - in hindsight). Overall a forgettable journey, apart from the times when we cross some major towns. Like Harippad - which is very busy and has a big temple where apparently people worship the gods for rain. We leave the main highway about 30 km before Kollum and head towards the interiors. The villages are small and huddled together amon...

Day 2: 23rd Jan 2012 Allepye The next day, Rasheed comes to the Bungalow as planned at 10am, but we are just about getting ready. So after packing, getting ready, we finally move out at 11am. We travel out of Fort Cochin, on the way having some real good meat pattice from a local bakery, and hit the main highway that takes us to Allepye (Allepuzza). The road is nice and smooth, four lane and not too busy. The journey is pleasant and we reach Allepye by 1pm. We are a rare species of travellers. Usually no one comes this far without any prior booking, or a plan. But we have neither. So Rasheed takes us to a couple of places - one is a small house called Gowri - quite nice, but full. Then to a tour operator. The lady at the tour operator shop tries to get us a lake facing property - 2,000/- a night. It is called Manchester - but it is really three-four small huts facing the lake. Nice place, but rooms are very small and I find it claustrophobic. So we ask what other options...

Day 1: 22nd Jan 2012 Fort Kochi So this is about a vacation forced to be taken after a long, long time. We have never thought of Kerala as a tourist destination, mainly because it is so expensive to holiday in Kerala especially if it includes travel from and to Delhi. In the same price or less, one could do a Bangkok-Pattaya, or some other place in any other South East Asian country. Anyway, since we have a 2-night booking that one of our good friends at a resort have been kind enough in arranging, we plan a trip around this. So on 22nd Jan, we have an early morning Indigo flight. Gets delayed by half hour due to one passanger. We reach Cochin Airport at 9:45am. The guy at the tourist counter is helpful and gives us a lot of maps, but also tries to palm off a houseboat deal for 7,000/- saying this is the best deal. Once we reach Allepye, we find that this is the standard rate, and we could have had this deal even after reaching Allepye if we had needed. Thankfully we do not go ...

Day 1 Day 1: Gurgaon - Mathura (200km) - Agra (250km) - Gwalior (350km) - Shivpuri (450km, 9 hours) Madhav National Park Shivpuri Guest House You know that if you change jobs, from the time you hang one pair of boots and put on another, you will usually get some time of your own to expend. Some people get a couple of weeks. Some lucky punks get even a month. I got three days. Yeah, that's right. Three whole days. Nevertheless, that did not deter the wandering spirit and the northern wind that especially gets strong around this time of the year did its job yet again. I took the opportunity and on the very first day at the break of dawn, we set sail (drive off into oblivion). That the break of dawn actually happened to be 10:30am, late in the morning, is a testimony of the fact that it takes far more time to get ready and get out for a whole family - complete with a tiny infant, a new mother, a bumbling father, and a reluctant grand father - than you can possibly imagin...