WordPress was really different form any other bloggo-sites i’d seen so far. And hence I put in my blogspot URL and turned here. But Now its really causing me a lot of problems.

There is some thing wrong with this when i type a new post. ( other users would know) this kept me form posting for a long long while. And its all mixed up, the widgets and side bar controls. I wanted to change the theme but sadly couldn’t and there are not many options with the pre-designed themes available here.

A week back I tuned in back to blogger and found that i liked the page much much much better than this stupid thing.

I have no options now.

Good bye  wordpress.

Sheba

And My new address will be http://www.shebasamuel.blogspot.com

The hotel was at ” Bangkok University”, yet this hotel was too luxurious. I never have imagined that a University would have a hotel of this sort. The University itself was full of greens. Our room was at the 11th Floor. The room was Big with a Huge window and a dozen interchangable curtains.  Everything was automated. wow!

We set out for lunch at some popular mall there. And the thing was that we were served with our food within 2 minutes. And surprisingly, when the waitress placed our orders, it was alll raw meat!! And thats when i realised , u have to cook ’em all by yourself in the tiny induction stoves at your table! good technique!! This also included my failed atempts at eating rice with chopsticks! . A lil’ bit of shopping was enough to make every one realise that everything were a lot cheaper than the former places. A hair iron for 600 baht ( around 1000 indian rupees) whould prove it. We got on the cab back to our hotel ( one thing that really amazed me was the cabs, bright pink, orange, purple! they looked lovely!) .

The time we were suppoed to be resting, I spent the whole time researching (?!) the automated controls. ( and yea, I once locked out the bath door when no one was inside!). In the evening, one of my dad’s student had come to recieve us followed by a sumptuous dinner ( which I didn’t lke, the reason being the fish was raw!!)

The next morning we had to travel a-lot! and visit a lot of places.

The first one was the Arun-Wat, a traditional thai temple like thing, with architecture ,words cannot describe( so next vacation head straight here ). We had to leave there by a auto like thing which was specially for tourists out there. The next was the Grand Palace. It amazed me, TOTALLY!!. Where ever you turn, it was all glittering gold! gold, gold and more GOLD. And those small shining, sparkling gems out there were something worth shelling out your bucks for. It was the most perfect scene. The colours, sparkles were truly a bliss. I just have to upload the pics here, cuz u know, pictures speak a thousand words!

My dad was particular about a Thai massage. He did get one ( His remark being ” may be i should come here once a month to get a massage done!”)

Our lunch was at a place amidst the lake alongside the waters. It was the Chao Praya ( I think i got the spelling wrong) river. We had to get across for another landmark. And the best site there was the purple lotus and the flower which had something like, a Snake over a Shiva -Ling.

There was a place called India- Mall, which was in a place called Little -India ( My dad’s like ” see, Indians are every where! there is a Little-India almost everywhere!)

We had dinner with my dad’s friend that night.

The next day, as we had to leave that evening, we just opted to have a short trip around the University ( Which went on till evening, much to my amazement) . There was a Thai-Cultural House there. A really beautiful one on Thai Traditions. A great experience!!. Just when we were at one block, it started raining. Raining heavily. Really heavily.

And we were stuck there when it was just a few hours before our flight. It rained, and rained and seem to be never ending. And that was when the people there told us that it was the onset of Thai Monsoon. It was still raining with lightning and thunder adding to it. Finally we reached the airport  just an hour and a half before our flight.

Surfing throught the Duty-Free shops were great. Infact, it just breaks the fact that they-are-so-very-costly!

We boarded the Srilankan airline flight, And  I was sleepy, It was a 3hr 20 min flight back and the good thing about it was I got to watch Bride Wars! ( which was not even released in India by then)

We had a transit at Srilanka for about 9 hours, and decided to go on to a hotel , inorder to avoid waiting at the airport!.

The hotel was YUCK! with an Ac which doesn’t fill it’s purpose, and I spent the entire time swamping mosquitoes!. It was obivious that I didn’t get to sleep. On the other hand, i was really shocked to see mom and dad fast asleep!!.

We got up as soon as possible and there was a vehicle waiting for us. Ta-da we reached the airport so quickly and I can feel my heart beating fast ” hurray, I am going to be back home”*

We reached the airport which was now familiar ( hey, I’ve already been there once ) . Dad was so particular in getting Ceylon Tea . And we ended up buying packets and packets of tea. It was early morning and we didn’t have anything since the early dinner at the flight, and ended up experimenting with fish rolls, chicken pies….bla…bla

Getting back to chennai was a wonderful feeling.

Look out for it next

* I know, I’ve hated the place I live, I’ve always wanted to get out somewhere. But it is only when I go out of my place for a couple of days, I realise the value of home.  I was excited on the onset of he journey, but I was more thrilled and happy to get back home!! Love you Chennai!!

Sogo's

So, when we were making our way out i can hear my dad telling that it would never be possible to find this person whose face we’d never seen. Fortunately, this guy just found us!.

( It’s a miracle [:D]). Minutes later, I could find my self in a ” dappa car” riding straight to Brickfields ( that’s where we were staying). Malaysia was nice, not as  much as S.pore , but nice. For a moment I could find no difference between the roads there and OMR ( or RGR as it is called now). It’s like they’ve got a toll booth per mile. I could realise I was dozing and was trying my best to keep awake. No use!!.

War Memorial

After a 1 hour drive, we arrived at our hotel,  ( mexico). The hotel was good, nice, fine!. Then, a shower, resting and we were hungry!!. We set out to  explore the new city. Just opposite to our  hotel, was a chinese restaurant. We decided to hop in!. the person there couldn’t understand English and we couldn’t speak Chinese or what ever language was that ! we ordered for chicken rice with some roasted pork and Some cola. Just when he put the food on our table, he goes 50 Ringgit, 50 ringgit! we were surprised! we had to pay before we ate. Seeing the surprised look on our faces  he just said ” sorry!”  ..lol!!

After lunch we went to a near by Indian shop to get a Hair gel and conditioner ( Ours was taken away at Singapore when we boarded our flight to KL. We knew rules did exist that didn’t allow us to carry liquids and gels above 100ml. But it did exist in Srilanka too and they seldom cared.!). We got ’em. We had very limited currency in our hand, so were looking for some money changers there. I was surprised when the keeper of the shop told that he would exchange Singapore dollars.

After all the hustling- and -bustling we went in to do some shopping, the malls were awesome and AFFORDABLE, not like the ones in Singapore where you had to pay 20,000 bucks for a simple stillhetto!!. We did loads of shopping at Sogo’s and then came down to the downtown shops when it started raining.

Petronas

“Rain??”

“yes! Rain”

“But appa, it shined so brightly and was soo hot this morning”

“In Malaysia and Singapore it is like this! It shines the morning and rains immediately!! So people always had to carry Umbrellas”

My dad ultimately makes a mark that he was very familiar with malysia’s climate

” ohh!! So they don’t have monsoon rain or east-west Cyclonic winds hun? ( Recollecting Tasneem Ma’am’s Lessons ).

Yes Indeed -I could see Umbrella stands at almost every shop. We had to cross the road for further shopping. But we were not allowed to.  The traffic was completely blocked in a certain lane .Just then an alarm went  “beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp” i stared in amazement when a dozen Limosines went at 100 kmph, followed by cyclists at an amazing jet-like speed along with a couple of police motor-bikes and other caravans with spare cycles, hmm..nd it was then when i realised it was a cycle race or some sort of that. After waiting for almost half-an-hour we could cross the other side and do some more shopping!.

We bought lot of bags, handbags in specific. They are just irresistable. more than a dozen i guess

KL tower!

In Malaysia, You don’t get Taxis very easily like in Singapore, we had to wait, wait and wait! 5nally a taci arrived. A tamilian the driver was.

He asked ” Sir, enga ponum?”

( wher do you wanna go?

” Brickfields”

” brickfields la enga?” (where in brickfields?)

“Hotel Mexico”

” hmm… 25 velli  ( Ringits) kodunga” ( It will cost 25 Ringits)

” meter Work-pannadha, varappa 5 ringits dhane koduthom ” ( the meter doesn’t work? we paid only 5 RM when we came here)

” he….( his slyish grin) sry meter workpannadhu”

” vendam ap, nee po, naanga vera taxi eduthukurom” ( it’s ok, You leave, we;ll get another taxi)

” sorry annen” ( sorry  brother)

My dad says ” look, this tamil people only spoiling Malaysia, look at the chinese ones they dont get a single cent above the meter fare) *sigh*

We were lucky enough to get another taxi and ride

Twin Towers

back to our hotel. It was almost night, we ate at some indian restaurant that night.

The next morning we had to go to Malaya University. My dad’s friend there had sent a car for us ( a toyota Avanza, WOW). The University was awesome, like a picnic spot. Full of greenery, little cottages among them with Wi-Fi! and wowiee, i wish i could study there. Then off to some sightseeing.

First, we had a visit to the kings palace. The King officially shares no power, but alas, is respected with all one can. You can see pictures of the Royal Family hanging in every shop, house and the palace was amazing~!

Three or four guards with their horses all upright and they didn’t even seem to blink!.

Next, we went to some war memorial for soldiers

Chanel at Suria KLCC

And then the KL tower, Who could miss that?. The push of one button and the next second we were Up! 285 feet high in the air with the whole KL gleaming and the petronas shimmering. It was a wonderful sight.

Then we proceeded to the Ultimate Symbol of Malaysia, the Petronas. Petronas was HUGE, really HUGE and we did a bit of shopping at Suria KLCC there when it started to rain again. We had lunch and my dad had to meet a friend of his.

Some one hosted dinner for us and then we went to buy some jewelery at a Chinese store. My dad wanted us to see that place. It was called Poh Kong My dad had been there earlier. Everytime he is in Malaysia he goes there to buy some thing or the other. So he goes there atlest twice in a year .No wonder he had familiar faces there. He just wanted us to see the difference between Chinese Gold and Indian Gold. ( I never knew chinese made gold chains and rings and..)

The next morning we went to the Batu Caves. A friend of my dad was the head of it ( if i am not wrong). There were some news reporters who had come to interview dad. Meanwhile, we got free passes and a person to take us around. You can see nature at it’s best there. The saound of bats, the sunlight seeping through the cracks , the waterfall…truly amazing.

After a sumptous lunch there, he had gone to Kl’s shopping spree naely Mydin. It was really nice with so many storeys. Our first thing to get was a big Suitcase. We had done so much of shopping that we needed another one to put in our things. And after solid 5 hours  of shopping there and roaming in the streets we decided it was enough . One thing about KL is that 85 0f 100 shops sell veils and scarves.Everyone i see on the road wear a kurta-like tops, a matching skirt, and a matching scarf too. Strange people * sigh*.

And the rest of the night went away packing all the things, tying them up, what to open bangkok and what will go straight to chennai.. And finally it was over.

The next morning we had an early flight to Bangkok by Malaysian Airlines. As usual I dodn’t manage to get up early. I woke up just in time and ws getting ready when my mom and dad had gone out for some tea.

The car arrived just in time and we were al

Batu Caves

l set for the one hour ride to KLIA. We were there soon and it was only 4:00 when we reached there. Our flight was only at 6:20. After waving good bye to all of them there. We proceeded for emigration, security checks and SHOPPING!.

30 Minutes before depature, we were before our gates. Our flight was a Boeing and it was a 2hr 20 min flight to Thailand. (  I got rid of my Boeingophobia since  last time. yay me!! lol).

Believe me, it was the best flight I’ve ever had!. The crew were soo very nice to you and half of the flight was empty. It was good, we could stretch out  . The food was perfect. It was Chicken curry ( south Indian style)  with rice , a fruit slad with litchee, olves. fig and a couple of other fruits which I’ve never tasted before. A nice strawberry yogurt, orange juice and 4 Ferrero Rochers! woww! The flight had  PES ! gr8! except for this really annoying steward guy who wanted us to know that he knew tamil and just when I got that really good food option, he went ” ungallukku vera option venuma?” I went ” no. Thank you”. “illa, its nice bread and..” Just before he could finish I snapped ” I like this allright”. What was he trying to do? Trying to part me with Ferrero Rocher !

We were at Suvarnabhoomi Intl Airport. And this airport too was Really HUGE! and was fully made of glass. And this was when swine flu had taken root, so they had to take photographs of all of us and check people coming in from America. The were all qeued out! My dad makes his statement

” America oda gathi a paaru !!)

Ok!! we finished all our formalities and proceeded out side.

Will write about adventures at BKK in my next post.

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btw I find writing this travelouge really boring . It is more than a month after we returned to India and I’ve not completed still. This is probably the 100th time I am forcing myself to post again and finally i did it! yay me~~!!

The receptionist ( she was such a cute looking Chinese and spoke fluent English much to my surprise and is the kindest person I’ve ever seen. Her name is Ken ) offered us a family room which was supposed to be occupied by 5 people). And thus we stayed in a BIG family room for just three of us !

After the hotel issue settled on we were damn hungry!!. The flight landed at 1:20 with only the breakfast which I’ve mentioned in my previous post. Fortunately, we stayed in little India. Just opposite to our hotel there was a place called “ Gokul’s Curry”. We stepped in and ordered for  chicken Biryanis!! But the so-called biryani was

A fly-train!

something that was not so like a biryani :P. It was jus some rice with large chunks of chicken curry and the guy there put so much of it like..we couldn’t eat. How much do you expect that thing to cost in India 500 bucks? But there we had to pay 50 $ which I roughly calculate into Rs.2000. The Mustafa center is the most famous shopping place in Singapore and it is HUGE!! I put it like 100 times  Chennai City Center!. You name it and they have it. What’s not there? Food, Veggies, Gold, Computers, Plasma TV’s , Drugs, Restaurant and this list is never ending ! And to our surprise 99% of the people there were tamils !

We had to change some currency!. We were  just

The Jurong Mall

 having a look at everything over there but the thing was we had no idea what to buy. We went on the food’s section got ourselves some juice, biscuits and that was it. We came out and couldn’t trace our way back! ( Mustafa has too much of entrances). Luckily my dad, out of experience had brought the name car of the hotel . We were able to enquire and get back and on our way we could see just LOT of roadside shopping places.! We returned back and relaxed. We wanted to get back to the shopping places but we couldn’t just figure out where it was! may be like this, may be we turned there, may be we should take a left and after all this we couldn’t find anything. We went back and we were not hungry at all , instead we  had orange juice and some tarts and slept.

The Menu Card Which I was Talking about

The next days were more interesting.

My dad had an appointment with the Asia Europe foundation( ASEF). We got up early, had breakfast at the hotel, and wanted to get a taxi. Taxis there amaze me! It’s like you stand on the road and wave..Viola there comes a taxi!. So we took a taxi to the National University of Singapore (NUS) to the ASEF. There my dad had some discussions with the people there about some collaborations. A chinese woman there took us around and After a cup of hot tea we  took a cab to East Jurong street.At there it was the opening of the Singapore Chapter of my dad’s institute. Ffrom there we had lunch at a place  called ‘ Cafe Cartel” which served delicious chinese food ( i had something with chicken i remember..lol) And we went around a mall….and then headed of to NLB at Victoria Street. And this library was just AMAZING!!! .

Singapore National Library

It was so so so so HUGE!! and there are no words to just to describe it.  We went around the library which had 19 storeys. I wish we had a library closer home. Just then the lasy who was taking around told me that they we planning something of that sort in Chennai. But it is just impossible!!. Then my dad’s friend took us to Bugis- a very famous shopping place there and thn we went to Orchard Street – the shopping hub of Asia. After the whole lot of shopping we had to hurry back to our hotel as my dad had some appoinment there. A quick shower, and we went to a nearby Indian hotel with my dad’s friend for dinner. All tired and exhausted it was around 11 clock there and in India just 8:30!!.

Singapore!

The next day was all for sightseeing. We planned to take a package tour to Sentosa. But then for that we had to wait till afternoon!! Instead we took a cab ourselves and headed to Sentosa. The Underwater world was on the top of my list. So, we went there at first.  The experience there was unique. Much  more than expected, like all creatures surrounding you , with intricately designed patterns, jelly fishes that glowed and changed colours, the cute kite fishes, the tiny fised which were patterened like checker boards. It was just too good to see all of these creations!. There was a touch pool where you could touch fishes and starfishes. My dad just lifted a starfish and i justdidn’t dare to touch them. After this wonderful experience we took a red- line bus to The Dolphin Lagoon, with this so cute dolphins eating, swinging over loops, waving and telling you hi!.

Changi Airport -Terminal II

And then we headed for Sinagpore’s national Symbol and the most important thing to see there- The Merlion. Merlion, unlike i expected to be was HUGE! Like..you could see it from any angle there. We took lot of pics and we couldn’t see the musical fountain as that would start only in the evening :(. After spending some time at the Insect park ( with all sort of creepy crawlies) we were too tired to do anything. We were all confused on getting o the entrance and it was so hot and sunny. We took a blue-line  bus o the entrance finally and took a cab back to our hotel. We took rest, did  some packing and ate lunch at a place called Sakunthala’s- An indian cuisine, did some shopping nearbyAnd when we finally finished packing we had time only for dinner. We ate at a chettinad restaurant nearby. And went to bed early as we had a morning flight the next day.

On our way to Sentosa

The next day morning, we  woke up early, finished the final bits of packing, brought our baggage’s to the lobby and were all set when the key of our room was not to be seen anywhere. It was not a sort of key actually, it was like a card which you swipe in at the door. After 5 minutes of hard searching we got it!!. Such a relied it was :D!.

We took a cab to Changi Terminal 2.

Inside Underwater world

And after all checking in and immigration had breakfast at starbucks, did some shoping in the duty free , and there was something called block art with so much people surrounding it  and when I went closer to have  a look it like wooden blocks- hge ones with some carving on it and what you have to do is take a crayon and scrap it so that you get a image! I took a Terminal 3 block and started scraping! And mine came out sooo nicely!!.Finally we were at our gates and i couldn’t spot our fligy anywhere. I asked my dad “where’s our flight”. He pointed to a small one there and told “that is it!”. I was struck in horror!!

“This flight is soo small!”

It is only a boeing with only 150  people traveling on it ”

I’ve never travelled in boeings!! It was all air-bus travels. I had a preconcived notion lurking around that Boeings are prone to accidents!.( weird!! i know!)

Singapore Flyer

But then this Malaysian Airline Boeing was just fine. Our Itenary said “Meals” but then it was only an hour to our destination. And all we were served was a cup of orange juice. There are no PES’s in boeings my dad told me! but time flew away so quickly. I was just gazing over the window when the announcement came for landing!.

And thus we landed in KLIA< the biggest  airport of Asia. and KLIA was simply awesome!!

I will write about Adaventures in KL as part 3!

        

Merlion at Sentosa

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As a totally unrelated note, May 12th Marks the First Birthday of my Blog! I badly  wanted to post that day but laziness pulled me away. ( No. wonder I started blogging only because that I was bored last summer )

From my part, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUGAR”N SIZZLES

We were rushing to the airport caught amidst the traffic jam. Our flight was scheduled at 9:30 P.M. We reached the airport around 6:30, got our baggages checked ( with our hand luggages being opened becuz it simply had batteries in it.), got our passes ( and i requesting for a window seat :D), put in all our heavy baggages. My dad had to get some books delivered at the airport and this man just did’nt come!! We were waiting and waiting..the first call for immigration came up, then the second one and then the final one.. and finally he did come…thank goodness. We proceeded for immigration and then security checks and it was around half-an hour of waiting ( and you know waiting at the Chennai Airport is not an easy job!) I decided to buy some sandwiches. It was all packed good and nice. But when i opened it, Yuck!! it was so cold and it was full of pepper and had only tomatoes in it, and i paid 150 bucks for that good for nothing thing !! phew…

Boarding call…we boarded.. and..yea The air hostesses going “Ayobawan” “Ayobawan” like a programmed robot. I pity them for their job to smile at they most stupidest times ever!! Fine! and we got our seats and I got a window one!

I couldn’t get a good view of the runway . I gleamed across the window and saw something huge and that was it !. It was a minute after that when I realized it was one of the wing of the aircraft!. It was a huge aircraft  seating 450 people and it was fully filled!. Many people were first time travellers i guess. I say this because as soon as they were boarded they took on thier cameras and handycams and began shooting that good for nothing srilankan flight. The flight was filled with Flash lights. Just when a kind Air- hostess came in and said ” not possible sir !” ” please, it’s not possible”. When she just said this and moved to the next cabin the story started all again. * sigh*

The Wing of the Aircraft

” In Preparation for take off..” came he announcement and yeas a lot of  announcements to go and finally the take off. I love the part before the takeoff when the flight goes like mad horse……….vroomm.. nd off we went! Chennai shined in the twilight! wow!! i could see all of Chennai sparkling sprkling !! twinkle! twinkle !! wow!! After the usual snacks ( Which tasted Yuck! with some thing made of aloo which i just didn’t touch. I was happy to see a cheese cake there

We landed at Katunayake International Airport after the 1 hour flight. Srilanka, contrary to  my pre- conceived notions was huge and the airport was much much better than Chennai’s  and not a speck- symptom of the civil strife going on between the Military and the LTTE was shown. We headed for the Night stop counter and got our immigration forms and then proceeded for immigration with that really sulky officer behind the desk.

The personal Entertainment systems!! lol !

We were to Stay at some Good Wood Hotel that 9 hrs. The hotel wasn’t good. But unlike the airport we can at least stretch out ! We had some sandwiches and orange juice for dinner and I was just too excited about Singapore that I didn’t sleep and there was not time either. At 4:30 we were all ready at the hotels reception. And there was a very comfy bus to take us to the airport. ( i recall my mom’s comment that this bus is better than the plane !)

And  after all the formalities at the airport, we were waiting at our departure gate and the flight was an hour delayed.  Waiting there for 2 hours was dreadful!. But for the betterment, there was free internet access in the waiting hall.

There came the boarding call and 30 mins from  then we were flying 39,000 feet high. A nice breakfast ( there was a rotti which was said to be srilankan food  which was something between Idli and Dosa ) I was watching confessions of a Shopaholic!! and that 4 hour flight seemed like for ever! I slept for sometime I guess…and a few mins later we landed at Changi Intl Airport!And Changi was Awesomee… The airport seemed like a paradise. oh GAWD! how can something  like this exist on earth ?. With wonderfully carpeted floors and full of tiny eyed Chinese were such a cute site ..after all formalities being completed we stepped out to hire a taxi!

Will post soon about Adventure in Singapore

Sheba