Xmas Greetings

It is December 1980 when Ms. Katherine Mitchell at the American Embassy in Berne, Switzerland, hands me my passport with her signed visa stamped on it. Ms. Mitchell wishes me a merry and white Christmas, and happy travel on my bicycle, in a land that was swept by snow, and temperatures dipping below freezing levels on the American east coast. The blizzards and the continous bad weather deprive the author of the joy of pedalling away across America, and the American discoveries have to wait.

A few weeks earlier, when this writer was crossing into communist East Germany (when it was the days of a federal west and communist east, in Germany, nine years before their re-unification), Christmas trees and serial lamps were surprisingly everywhere, along the route from Hamburg to Berlin. The communist shopping “malls” were glorified grocery stores called “intershoppe” where the 1:1 German west-east currency exchange would pale with shop employees asking for dollars, offering five times the exchange rate “under the table”. They would get even better rates with their connections.. “It’s Christmas time, and anything goes, to celebrate the festive days”, they argued.. To make the celebrations grander, the food, the wine, the clothes (east European winter imports) and the gifts were so cheap under the Communists’ planned economy, that with 10 American dollars, one could live like a king for a whole day! Reaching East Berlin, this writer is introduced to state official Helga Bechstein and to Berlin’s Indian news correspondent, Kunhanandan Nair, who serves cooked rice and yoghurt, south Indian style, making Communist Berlin a home away from home.

Perhaps, one cannot experience a more joyful celebration of Christmas, in all its gaeity and traditional style, than at a country that has a great size of its population steeped in poverty. However, Christmastime weaves a magical spell in the Philippines archipelago. The spirit starts with the “ber” months; come September and October, the radio stations are flooded with requests of Christmas songs of Jim Reeves and Cliff Richards to be played. The stations promptly oblige the listeners, kick-starting the celebrations. By November, all the shopping arcades and malls lining the Ayala Avenue in capital Manila and elsewhere are decked up in pleasing ambience, welcoming visitors with the trademark greeting, “Mabuhay”, offering more and more freebies to visitors and customers.. Come December, the city’s coastal thoroughfare, Roxas Boulevard joins in the act, setting up large, pretty lighted lanterns along the road. Mid-December, and one can can see the crowds thronging the mall;Christmas radiates cheer, Christmas gives hope, and more important, gives the spirit of giving.. if the goodies and the freebies at the Landmark and Glorietta malls are not enough, the poor, standing outside the malls, offer value addition in selling gift wrappers and wrapping the shoppers’ gifts at no charge. One newly-married couple goest back to Glorietta, gets a T shirt and returns to the poor packer outside, handing over their Christmas gift.. “Maraming Salamat”, says the packer, profusely thanking the couple. It is night-time and Roxas Boulevard has a special show by school children, singing Christmas carols in English and Tagalog. The little minstels turn lovely entertainers, and the night is filled with smiles everywhere.

Bidding adieu and saying “Salamat” to my Filipino friends at the Gillarmi hotel, spouse Ann and I fly into Hong Kong. At the Pacific Coffee kiosk, a group of “Santa” children greet us, and we push candies into their hands. We board the A21 bus to Tsim Sha Tsui. Nathan Road is busy as usual, with bumpered traffic. Name boards from buildings cantilever across the road that is a shopping paradise for tourists.

The next morning, as we come out of Holiday Inn, we are struck by a strange sight. Nathan Road, that had busy traffic last night, presents a picture of not a single vehicle this morning; as we see pedestrians walking on the driving lanes, our hotel manager informs us that Nathan Road is, for Christmas Eve, closed to vehicular traffic, and converted into a “walking street” for this day.

By the afternoon, hundreds of pedestrians start to arrive at Salisbury Road overlooking Hong Kong’s Manhattan across the sea waters. With an hour to midnight, Nathan is teeming with a hundred thousand cheerleaders. That’s when the fantastic fireworks display begins, across Salisbury Road. The crowd’s cheer rises and rises and we debate if the sound can be heard in China’s faraway Shenzhen city. Wireless-equipped police officials help their colleagues keep abreast of the situation, while ambulances are on the ready, just in case…

As the LCD screen near our hotel starts the countdown, it seems that a million others are joining in, saying, 5,4,3,2,1…..Merry Christmas! All of us cheer and shake hands with each other.. Opposite the Mirador Mansion, school students begin a chorus of carols and the crowd rings an applause.. further away, a group of university students pose with different sized-bells, tapping them in perfect rhythm to play “Jingle Bell” and more…

It is 6 AM and it is day-break when we head back to our hotel. Our mind’s eye registers a most memorable evening and most magnificent night heralding Christmas!

From MJ Krishna, travel writer

Need any additonal info or clarification with regard to the articles? Write to mj.a4friends@gmail.com

First of all, Poland is the country where you can go for any holiday you like. Well, maybe if you like hot and dry areas you should go to Southern Europe. Summer in Poland is actually hot and dry, but I can’t guarantee good weather. The picture of you spending a week in Poland with umbrella is not so not possible. Rain happens in summer.

However, if you choose Poland for your destination, you must choose mountains or sea; cities with their relics or wild forest (primeval too); living large or budget.

This year I’ve chosen the option with lakes, rivers, forest, wild animals and reeaall economical budget. So, lets start:
1. First of all, we don’t count travel costs. Let’s say you’re starting in Katowice (capital city of Silesia).

2. Holiday destination: Kostkowice – village near Zawiercie in region dotted with Jurassic rocks and stones. Travel costs from Katowice to Kostkowice (80 km): by car (Daewoo Tico 4,5 litres per km) – c.a. 17 zł [1$ = c.a. 3 zł]; by bus: c.a. 15 zł; by bike – none.

Hospitality
There is only one full legal way to spend a night in Kostkowice. It’s scouts’ camping place. The place was founded by government for scouts only, but Poland has changed and since 1989 everyone can be guest now. You can rent a wooden hat for 18 zł per person. There are also tents for rent, which of course costs less, but I don’t remember how much. However, if you have your own tent, you have to pay just 8 zł per night.

The wooden hat we used to live in. It was a little bit dirty inside, but cheap.

3. Food
In nearby town called Kroczyce you can have a great dinners just for 20 zł (soup and second plate). Dinner time in Poland is between 13:00 to 16:00, but restaurants are open from 9:00 to 22:00. Some other prices (if breakfast and supper you make for your own of course):
bread: c.a. 2 zł
cheese [Hochland Gouda]: 3 zł (7 slices)
bottled water 1l: 1,50 zł

So, lets get the costs together. Two way travel costs (up to 5 people in Daewoo Tico, yes it’s true): 34 zł + hospitality: 18*6 = 108 zł + food and drink per day: c.a. 40*7 = 280 zł. So, for 7 days you need to have 422 zł with all costs and we have 140 $. It’s more than 100$, but just subtly.

Lovely sunset and balloon.

One of the three lakes in Kostkowice/Dzibice

The Jura Krakowsko – Częstochowska” region.

Mirów / Bobolice. One of the medieval castles in the region. Little river, where you can spot a beavers family. We've seen them couple of times, but unfortunately we didn't make a good photo (they are black, like to bottom of the river)

Thank you Szymon for sharing with us!

Pulau Pangkor

Peter van der Lans is the brains and force behind Pulau Pangkor.com, a detailed site dedicated to helping tourists and locals alike find their way around the lovely island. Peter is a true fan of travels, for he is also the webmaster of 2 other sites: Bicycle Adventures and Yangshuo Travel Guide.

And…. our Penang Travel Guide was featured in Pulau Pangkor.com’s latest newsletter! We are delighted that he highly recommends our Penang Travel Guide, our gratitude to Peter!

Adline unfolds a silk ikat after removing it from the packaging.

Adline prepares the stand which will hold the robe.

Charlotte Davy, senior exhibitions registrar, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Rezad Adnan, operations officer from Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia and aka Adline's hubby =), position a robe on a plinth.

The robes and textiles are all in place in the exhibition.

Visit AGNSW’s Flickr for more colourful pictures! Do make a date with the historical ikats if you are in Sydney, entrance fees are $8 for adults and $5 for concession and members.

* Pictures, captions and details of the event courtesy of Adline.

We would also like to invite all travel website owners to join us and be part of the fun a4trip team! If you are interested in having your site contents compiled into a guidebook, please do contact us by filling up the ‘contact us‘ form. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

This time around, we’ve got:

1) Daegu Travel Guide
2) Doha Travel Guide
3) Guangzhou Travel Guide
4) Hiroshima Travel Guide
5) Istanbul Travel Guide
6) Macau Travel Guide
7) Seoul Travel Guide
8) Taipei Travel Guide
9) Tokyo Travel Guide

Maria Noel

Maria Noel is our Basque language expert. Born in Argentina, she is now a History professor and Basque language teacher and plans to further her studies in Mythology and Ancient Religions. Certainly a great addition to the team, Maria is a proud mother of a 10-year-old boy and a 4-month old girl. One who has travelled quite extensively to Spain, Basque Country and England, Maria has ‘travelled’ and ‘seen’ even more by working for the team!

Jessica

Jessica is one passionate translator. Doing Chinese Traditional translations for us, she found translating so enjoyable that she quit her job to concentrate on freelance translation and has no regrets since! Jessica has an MA in Children’s Literature, loves reading and travelling and hopes to travel around the world one day.

Ahmed Amin

Ahmed Amin, our Arabic translator, is one very busy man. He does business administration and tutoring, and we are lucky that he still manages to find time for us! Working in the UAE, Ahmede is currently on vacation in Egypt. His trip would surely be a interesting experience to share with us when he comes back.

Stefan Petkes

Stefan Petkes is our Romanian translator and proud father to Andra, his lovely 14 month old daughter.

Rei	Rei is our Japanese translator who has lived in the US for the past 8.5 years. She has many years of translating, 6 years to be exact! She has worked mainly with theatre and film, doing scripts, letters and reviews. Truly a ‘woman of words’ :)

Emma Cazabonne

Translating our sites to the romantic language of French is Emma Cazabonne. She is an Emma of many trades! She has written a book titled “A Light to Enlighten the Darkness: Daily Readings for Meditation During the Winter Season”, paints rocks, teaches English and tutors French via Skype. If you want an image immortalized in a unique way, send her a picture and she can paint it on a rock for you! Check out her site.

Liang Qin is our Simplified Chinese  translator, working for a busy company in China and is also a part-time freelance translator. She used to live in the UK and has an Msc in Applied Psychological Research there. She traveled a lot in Britain and loves the beautiful view there, however is upset to having had no time to looking around in the Europe. She also likes Chinese cooking and Chinese music. She is hoping to travel around the world and making more friends, and letting more people to know about China!

Debora Perricone

Debora Perricone is 28 years old, lives in Turin, Italy and is happily married :D She is a freelance translator and also works for a company. She graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature with a thesis in Cinema History and Criticism. She loves cinema, English and North American Literature and traveling.

Matthias Heining

Based in Bavaria, Germany is Matthias Heining. He now wants to visit Malaysia after getting enticed by a4 trip! He is one who loves talking for hours, hates bad exchange rates, loves “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, dislikes unfair people and enjoys working with Linux and Unix. He seems to be a truly colourful character!

SunYoung (Sophie) Henderson

SunYoung(Sophie) is our Korean translator who currently lives in Canada. She has travelled through most of Asia, Europe and Canada so far! Her favourite travel spot would have to be amazing Laos. She found every part of Laos incredible, relaxing and very beautiful. She loves travelling and seeing the world. She hopes her next adventure will take her to somewhere in Central America or Africa!

Ehsan Forghani

This is Ehsan Forghani, our Persian translator and aged 21 years old. His biggest goals in life are to be a great music composer, mastering English and developing computer games. He plays the guitar and loves it. He’s says that he’s not a very talkative guy, studies computer science and wants to pay tribute to the people who helped him in this duty: Mr. Hadi Forghani, his father and his friend, Moeen Tabrizi.

Melanie Mosqueda

Melanie Mosqueda is our Tagalog translator. A registered nurse with a BS in accountancy, Melanie started doing translations when she volunteered for the UN. She is now learning Norwegian and very soon, she could be our Norwegian translations too!

Also in our team is Joanna Trinh who does the Vietnamese translation and based in Malaysia, Mirna Soininen works on the Finnish ones, our Hungarian translations are done by Matyas Gyongyosi and Kelly M. Matos is our Portuguese expert.

A big thanks to them for their role in reaching out to the world!

Kellie Castle is actually a big mansion build by Mr. Kellie early 20th century for his wife. The building was never complete as Mr. Kellie died while on a trip to Europe. The building was left in ruined until a few years ago the state government decided to turn it into a tourist attraction.

Kellie's castle, standing tall and pretty.

My wife is hot ;)

To go there, exit from North-south expressway from Gopeng and head towards Ipoh. Upon reaching Ipoh there is a junction which indicate Batu Gajah. Turn into that road and after about 15 minutes you will reach Kellie Castle which situated along a river bank by the road side. Sure to spot it. It’s the only half complete and big structure which also look Victorian or maybe Tudor. I am not so sure which is which. At least we have a castle even it is just a very big house.

Thanks to Yong for sharing his experience and also kind enough to provide directions for those who might want to head there after knowing about the place!

This was a place I chose for our honeymoon and after much persuasion, my wife agreed. Research followed and then Matta Fair. We managed to book a return flight tickets from Kumming for about RM 930.00/person minus airport tax. From Kumming we need another connection flight to Li Jiang which cost about 600 Yuan/person. Need not worry though about not able to book the ticket. There are plenty of flights.

Before departing from Kumming, we were approched by tour agent promising a value for money tour. For the first timer, please do not get convinced. Normally, one would feel unsecure about where to go. That’s understandable. There are plenty to choose from as we discovered as we went about at Li Jiang there are many cheaper tours. Overall, we estimate, we would have save about 1000 Yuan/person for 10 days trip if we did not agree to the Kumming tour agent. After coming out from Li Jiang airport, proceed to left about 50 -100 metres and there are plenty of taxi (100 Yuan). Ask for KFC (only one). It’s at the front entrance to ancient town of Li Jiang. There itself got plenty of tour agents and also nearby to many hotels and guest houses. Please stay at the ancient town guest houses. There are traditional, old but renovated houses. One can experience the lifestyle, hospitality and they are in the heart of ancient town.

Li Jian, The World Heritage

Li Jiang ancient town is about 800 years old. It’s a world heritage was only discovered recently. I shall not go into that story. Let’s focus on the trip. The architecture were mesmerising. Felt Iike going through time travel. The air is fresh but dry. Sunny on most days and with little rain there is non stop activities in the open. The canal from which water flow from mountain is clean and plenty of fishes. It’s one of the uniqueness of this place. During the nights there are plenty of very happening pubs and discos all were in ancient town. They actually converted the old houses into pubs. It’s more happening than our Telawi Street, Bangsar. Then again it’s too happening for both of us so we took of to other places.

Li Jiang old town

Next is shang-ri La (Chung Tein). The journey took about 8 hours. Along the way we stopped at La SI Hai (Lake) for some horse riding. The event cost us 600 Yuan/person for about 3 hours of boat ride, horse ride up the mountain and some tea sampling. Pheew! what a relief when it’s over. Oh no. not that it’s a bad trip. We actually enjoy it. it’s just the horse ride cost us some back pain. The view – spectacular and the ride enjoyable for first timer. Prior to that we went boat ride on the lake and saw some wild ducks and one white bird which look like a crane. After that we stop at an open field and had the locals bake us some some fishes with baby dragonflies. It’s delicious. A must try. Felt like cowboy living a free and carefree life.

Horse riding at La SI Hai (Lake)

Before we go up the mountain to Shang-ri La we have to stop to visit a rock in the middle of Chung Kiang river. They called it Tiger Leaping Gorge. Legend has it a tiger upon been chased by human reached the river bank and with no place to run leaped with all its might to the rock and then over to the other bank to escape. Must be super tiger. The river is more than 50 feet wide. It’s a place I will not recommend. To see that rock, we have to walk more than 2 km one way. The journey back we just took a rickshaw ride (40 Yuan). Too tired already.

The Early Spring

The journey up shang-ri La was filled with beautiful sceneries. During our trip, it’s the start of spring. The flowers were not there yet. The best time to go is Autumn. The place is fill with rainbow of flowers and plants. Still our journey was interesting. We get to see Sakura flower, high plateau grass plain, yaks, donkey and horses running freely and locals with tents in the open. Imagine watching a movie about olden days Mongul. Shang-ri La town has nothing much to offer accept there is also an ancient town like Li Jiang but not as beautiful and happening. We had the opportunity to sample local food. Please ask your guide to bring you. They are nice and the beef(yak) cook with chili is awesome. A warning to those not able to eat spicy food. This dish although very nice is too spicy even for a chili padi eater like me. Also try the Yak milk. very nice.

Next is way up to Fei Lai Si. A small remote place top of mountain to view Mei Li Snow Mountain in the morning where it will changes colour from white to gold. We stopped at at about 4300 metres above sea level to play with snow. Apart from that, there’s nothing much to see. The journey is miserable after that. Imagine 40 KM of bumpy road. They were doing road repair and it’s already 7 years and still on it. When we reach over destination, It’s more misery. Road was rotten and muddy. The hotel water taste like mud water and there is nothing much to eat. The morning was filled with mist. Cannot see more than 50 feet. So no mountain at all. After that it’s another 40 KM of bumpy road back.

Mei Li Snow Mountain

Back at Li Jiang, we were ragged and tired. Li Jiang ancient town is too busy, so we decided to stay at Shu He. Another ancient town with 1200 years history. Of course our nice quide brought us to sample dried pork rib. Another awesome meal. It’s a must try. Located near new town market.

Shu He was totally out of our imagination. It’s tranquil, beautiful and the people is most pleasant. We finally felt at home. In fact it’s so nice, my wife do not want to come back to Malaysia. If you need any help, just ask your guest house owner. He/she will make sure all your requests are met and will go all out to make you feel at home. Our host treated us to some tea, brought us to pick cherry and help us arrange for transport. The place is safe. No worry at all.

If you are there, take a bicycle ride (15 Yuan) to Bai sha, 1400 years old. It’s 20 minutes ride fill with beautiful country side scenery. And if you are bored, take a taxi(20 Yuan) to Li Jiang and have all the fun clubbing. There are pubs at Shu He but not as busy and noisy. It’s most relaxing here.

You can rent a bike to Bai Sha

Anywhere in Li Jiang or Shu He, try out their grilled squid (4 Yuan). Very nice. Pork and beef is common but not chicken. Rare and expansive. Beside, who want chicken when there is plenty of yak.

“Yong is such an adventurous guy. I knew him for more than 5 years, love to listen to his trip stories to East coast of Malaysia, and how he deal with his printing customers too. I must say, the Li-Jiang trip is amazing. Enjoy!” Said Pin, a4trip.com

It would be another 28 years before I would make it again to John F Kennedy airport, flying across the Atlantic. The London- New York flight on Kuwait Air is truly a pleasant surprise; sometimes the cheapest fares come with the greatest service!

Before leaving Chennai, a call from America’s East Coast is another surprise; it’s from Sri Raghavan, younger brother of classmate Murali Dharan. Sri is also an MCC School alumnus, from the class of 1983 and this junior boy invites me to his home across the Hudson river in New Jersey state.

When we used to be kids and were growing up, our elders would say, “My! How you’ve changed!” New York’s change has been good and bad from this writer’s perspective. The highway linking the airport and midtown New York pales in comparison with the baddest ones in the north of my home town, Madras; in the 28 years I have been away, the connecting road in New York does not seem to have been topped or tended to; the rocky ride makes me toss on the bus seat. After an hour it seems better, when I realize that I have only become used to the bumps and pits enroute!

The spirit of MCC School’s fellowship has not changed, though; Sri and I are meeting after 30 years and we get going down memory lane. This “boy” is today a leading vacation and holiday consultant, placing clients at the best accommodations at the best holiday centres around the world. Sri also knows every square inch of New York City and he guides me to all the lesser-known sights that are as lovely as the famous ones. In addition, at their 17th floor apartment, Sri’s spouse, Mt. Sinai hospital’s radiologist, Dr. Arati plays a great host(ess), and the two days speed away just like that!

India’s largest Bank is also among the world’s biggest. State Bank’s prudent lending has made it the market leader, steady in a world of topsy-turvy financial markets, especially America, where the hitherto “largest” banks started seeking State largesse and the “best” banks simply went bust!. In this scenario, if an Indian bank does creditably well in the U.S., it is due to top class leadership. My visit to State Bank’s American headquarters is all the more memorable; heading the institution is 1971 MCCSian, Pradeep Kumar. Pradeep hides his banking acumen with his disarming smile and talks about his days at School, the cricket matches where umpiring was a permanent fixture for this pint-sized achiever, nicknamed, “thatha” (old man) by class mates!

America has changed; it has changed the names of our boys living there. Sriram Bhuvaraghavan has shortened to Sri Raghavan. His brother, Muralidharan Bhuvaraghavan has simply become Murali Dharan. At Nashville, Tennessee, classmate Sundaram tells me about his friend, R.Kuppuswamy who used to be called “Kuppu” by friends. Kuppu R, has become Westernised; his official name is now Dr. Cooper! However, one name change tops it all. A 1967 alumnus, based in Texas, tells me about his years under Head Master Mathias and about his illustrious batch mates. He finally adds that his name in School was Gnanadorai David Sathiaraj, and that he changed it to David Raj. I wonder why he dropped the wisdom (gnanam) and the very truth (sathia) from his original name?

If America has given delicious cupsful of MCCS fellowship, Australia, Down Under, seems to vie with it with an equally tasty treat. There is a small joke we boys used to hear at School. Our teacher, Albert, used to tell us that in Australia, people celebrate Christmas only in summer. Perplexed as we were, relief came in the teacher’s answer; December is summertime Down Under!

Thinking of Mr. Albert’s question, I laugh in my seat on Emirates Air flight from Auckland, New Zealand, as the bird prepares to touch down in Sydney Australia. Spouse Ann and I in the past weeks, have been criss-crossing the two countries by plane. All along, it has been no-frills budget flights where we have to pay a tidy sum even for drinking water on the plane. However, Emirates’ food and refreshments are “on the house” and we experience true heaven in the heavens.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Airport is connected directly by rail to the city and its suburbs. However, the Sydney CityRail extracts its pound of flesh for this facility. Boarding the train, we go to visit the famed Opera House, and the cost is 15 dollars for a ride of 11 kms. However, from the Opera House, our train journey to suburban Macarthur station is almost 50 kms, long, and the fare is just about 5 dollars. It is funny when you pay three times the cost for a journey that is only a fifth of the distance of another! In fact, our train stopped at the Airport station during our long journey to Macarthur. I point this anomaly to MCC School classmate Vinod Daniel. This Divisional Director of the Sydney Museum jumps to defend Sydney CityRail as tolls and charges being necessary for availing of development facilities. At the Daniel residence in Sydney, Vinod and I have a big laugh about it, though regretfully at my own cost!

It has been Vinod who has been inviting me to Oz (as Australia is also known) all these years. It is only now that I have really made it. If Vinod is delighted with his visitor from Madras, spouse Shanti enlivens the evening with her grand dinner, where Alan Isaac & Leonard Ponraj (1978) and Vinod Kumar (1981) make it a great MCCS reunion; the first meeting of a soon-to-evolve Sydney OBA chapter.

With Suresh @ Adelaide Cricket Oval

Adelaide, South Australia, is a city of splendid churches that compete with the famous cricket oval. Classmate Suresh Gupta, who moved from Madras’ Anna Nagar to Adelaide’s Burnside Town, is a structural engineer. Suresh is already very popular with the Adelaide Indian community, continuing on his trait at School. You could name an Indian and Suresh would almost definitely be his friend in the lovely city. Suresh drives us to the Oval, when he points out a fact about the road we are riding on. “It’s called the Million Dollar Way”, says Suresh, explaining that every year, all the money is earned by the City authorities as fines levied on speeding, law-breaking motorists! He also points out to passing “road trains”, huge, very long trucks.

Crossing the fountain pond, we enter the Oval. A thrill passes through our bodies as we pose in front of the Sir Don Bradman Stand. Later in the evening, we enjoy the lovely beach and then drive to suburban Burnside, Suresh’s home. We first stop at the Burnside Library, where novels by Indian writers line along with a surprising variety of Tamil language books. Tamil is the language we guys speak in Madras. Of course, English is still King!

The Gupta residence is all cheer. Here, at the doorway, a divine, elephant-like “Pillaiyar” image seems to bless all. Every day, the Gupta family has a few curious visitors asking about the significance of the “deity”, while Suresh’s folks tell them that it is this “Pillaiyar” that is the Lord protector in Hindu mythology. It is now late evening and Ramaa readies dinner and sets the alarm for her kids (and us) to wake up in time after midnight to view, live, the Indian Premier League cricket match being beamed from so far away. Morning is yet not born when Suresh drives us to the airport for us to get on the next plane to Melbourne. When I leave for the boarding gate, I thank this “boy”, nicknamed “bull dog” at School.

With Jerry (2nd Right) at Bangkok

We are now a group of five and on our way to Rangoon, Burma, and have just flown from Malaysia and touched down on Krung Thep’s Suvarnabhoomi (Indian name, meaning “golden earth”) International airport. This Krung Thep airport is an architectural marvel. By the way, Krung Thep is how the people of Thailand refer to their capital city, Bangkok. Now, Suvarnabhoomi airport is huge and confusing and my classmate Venkatachalam asks me how we are going to spend the night before boarding the flight to Burma. Well, I assure him that Bangkok, the magnificent city is brilliant at night and hence its nightlife is not to be missed. I also assure him that travel and sightseeing have been arranged, thanks to a mail I had earlier received from a School Junior, who promised to meet us when our flight would land in that unearthly hour. True to his promise, this “boy”, Jeremiah Moses Jefferson is there, waiting for us. He arranges for a taxi to the city, hosts us to a sumptuous midnight dinner, shows us shopping malls, the dancing halls and the karaoke spots, before reaching the airport “flyway”, an elevated highway that would soon connect the airport directly to the city; an ambitious, long flyover project designed by his Company, Siemens. As the night hours gradually change to early morning, our taxi zips back from the darkness into the shining lights of Suvarnabhoomi airport. As our plane takes off and flies north by northwest, we smile at the events of the night; the Bangkok experience may have been brief, but Jerry, with his infectious laughter was one “boy” whose fellowship and companionship made sure it was “super” for all of us.

Text & Pictures by M J Krishna. The author is an alumnus of the1978 batch of the 174-year-old Madras Christian College School.

Need any additonal info or clarification with regard to the articles? Write to mj.a4friends@gmail.com

Blue mosque or Sultanamet Camil

Text by M J Krishna, travel writer. Need any additonal info or clarification with regard to the articles? Write to mj.a4friends@gmail.com

Towering idol shines in the setting sun

Every following year, Kuala Lumpur was on my pit stop, but the visit to the temple along the “rocky river” did not somehow materialise. However, resolving to make it during a recent tour of Asia, we hit the road to the cave temple. As we arrived, in front of us was the gleaming, golden 130-foot statue rising to the sky and seeming to rival the green canopy of the rocky hill behind.

Climbing the 272 steps leading to the inner sanctum of the temple, I take another flight of stairs below; The six abodes of Muruga are well-depicted along the cave walls, while stalacites and limestone suspended from the top act as “thoranam”, decorative pieces. The Palani “winch” to the right vies for a tasteful depiction with other images of pilgrims with “kavadi” on their shoulders. I walk up another flight of stairs beyond, when I hear descriptive superlatives from other visitors, one, a group of tired and puffing Russians who exclaim “beautiful, beautiful” when I ask them about the place. Another Malaysian couple look obviously Mohammedan, and say they are making it to here from distant Kota Kinabalu to see Balasubramanya and be blessed with a child. As we go further up to the grand sanctum of the Lord with his consorts, Valli and Devasena, the childless couple open their bottle of milk and hand it over to the priest for bathing the holy images with the milk, later. Prayer pooja time is between 8 A.M and 1 PM, and again between 4 PM & 8 PM, the priest informs us, also going to the history of the shrine, set up un 1891 by a devoted Thambuswami Pillai, a Tamil trader who noticed that the cave entrance was shaped like a spear, the divine weapon of his Lord Muruga. Pillai went on to find a magnificent abode for the divine. As the history is narrated, sunlight streaks through the top opening in the cave, lighting up our area.

When we climb down, the Russian lady walks down stiffly in pain, helped by her friend to balance her in the steep flight of steps below. .She smiles nevertheless and says that this trek is definitely worth the strain. Another lady briefly stops when an entrepreneur with a golden python offers to place his pet around her; there is some trepidation, but she goes on to wear the reptile around her and boldly kisses the reptile’s mouth when asked to do so. “Great”, she squeals.

It is evening and the towering idol shines in the setting sun. The temple photographer, Murugan, is equipped with a Nikon D 70 digital camera to take pics of desirous visitors. Murugan is from Chennai, India and loves working here, though he laments that almost every visitor has a camera or a cellphone-cam and so only shoots 10-20 portraits of pilgrim customers. Murugan also informs that the towering idol is coated with a special golden paint from Thailand, like the Buddhist pagodas. As I move on, a large group of Thai monks enter the complex; one of them opens a small bag of rice and the rest take a handful each, to feed the large group of pigeons in the temple complex.

We go further along a pond where an image of Lord Hanuman, the monkey God stands. Another visiting group opens a bag of bananas; simians appear from nowhere, and the bag goes empty in a minute..

It is sunset time, when the temple bell tolls below, and the Ganesha enclosure is lit up with the multiple lamps held by the priest, as pilgrims rush to the sanctum. Two musicians play the strains of Kungumam, Mangala Mangaiyar Kungumam, a Tamil film song dedicated to Muruga’s mother, Meenakshi. The notes are a bit faltering from the nadaswaram, the reed-wind instrument, but I guess that the Lord would grant small mercies for this errant musician. As also, for the shoe-clad, cigarette-smoking visitors on the holy premises…

It is a dark sky when we return to the capital city centre. The bus to Melaka is waiting for us. We board the upper deck and survey the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam in front of us. We look back, in our mind’s eye, thanking the pioneering efforts of Thambuswami Pillai for building a pilgrim centre that has, for over a hundred years, been blessing the faithful and giving visitors a truly enjoyable experience. We will make it again to the Batu temple, hopefully for next year’s Thai Poosam festival, we promise…

Text & picture by M J Krishna, travel writer

The author adds:
One thing that slipped mention was about a volunteer at Batu Caves, in 2005. This man was from India, on a short tour of Malaysia, when he reached the Batu temple. The tall Murugan statue was taking shape at the premises. Seeing some restoration activity at the temple and also noticing that volunteers were carrying buckets with bricks in them and climbing up the steps to hand the materials over to the site supervisor upstairs, this visitor from India, who had then, just recovered from surgery, decided to join the volunteers. He asked for a bucket and bricks, made the long, steep climb up the 272 steps and handed over the construction materials. “This was the minimum I could do as thanksgiving to Lord Muruga for my return to good health”, says this man, a legend himself, in Indian cooperative banking circles… he is M.Balasubramanian, Managing Director of the Chennai-based, government-owned, Repco Bank..

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We were into our second week when we flew into Kuala Lumpur from Indonesia. Malay *Imigresen* official Kamatchi Ammal stamped our passports and smiled a welcome. It was another ten minutes and we were through customs when we realized that one of our elders was missing. We waited for him
outside the arrival terminal, and there was still no sign of him. While our friends Venkat and Krishnamurthy looked for him at the restaurants outside, Ann and I went back in, on our search, past customs, on to the duty-free shops and to the “lost and found” counter (!). Finding no trace of him yet, we went to the toilets and fearing the worst, opened every stall inside, checking in vain, for the missing man.

I then took the escalator up and went back to check with the *Imigresen* official, Kamatchi Ammal, who advised me to meet her superior. Meeting the senior officer, I showed him the missing elder’s photograph fearing we might have lost him on our way out. He then took me to the police room where I gave a complete description of the man, his photo and passport number, handing over my Malaysian cell-phone number to the police officer, requesting him to help trace the missing man, and call me if he had any news. By now, our elder had gone missing for over an hour and I slowly took the stairs down and beyond the customs enclosure when my phone rang with bleak news from friend Venkat
that the senior was not sighted yet.. When my cell rang again, a voice confirmed my identity and said that there was someone anxious to speak to me.. a booming voice followed, and lo, it was an excited
*Govindanna*calling me on the good Samaritan’s phone, informing me that he was stuck alone at the bus terminal outside, wondering why we were not there yet! Boy, were the four of us relieved at the return of my prodigal brother? *Terimah Kasih, *thank you, I later told the good Samaritan with the phone, rushing to see my *anna..*

Later, when we went on the city train, while discovering the Malay capital city of the two rivers, all of us, including host Meyyappan had a hearty laugh with *Govindanna, *asking him how he hit upon the idea of walking to the bus terminal, and the tension-filled hour he gave us when he went lost, until we finally found him…Enclosed is a picture of our group… It might be shaky; a by-stander at KL *Sentral Stesen* clicked it, but ours was one group delighted to have *Govindanna *(front, right in pic.) back with us that evening ….

Happy ending :)

From MJ Krishna, travel writer

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Pigeon fly long distance. It can be more than hundred kilometers in a single fly. I am not sure if this make them then best creature to put into the soup when come to curing air sick problem.

The untold air sick remedy

Anyway, I think I can get really sick if the pigeon is killed :)

Green Animal Shelter & Sanctuary (GrASS)

Check it out Green Animal Shelter & Sanctuary (GrASS)

‘All rooms fully booked’

Kind of classic ‘When to go’ case, where guidebook will suggest you to book earlier before you arrive. Yes, if I am on a fixed scheduled – I doubt many backpackers traveling South East Asia has a solid plan with exact date!

Without the leisure of picking the best Guesthouse, I called up the list of guesthouse on WikiTravel. I made at least 10 calls and secure the one last room in SD Guesthouse, near Jalan Chulia. They have 30 rooms, 29 are booked.

Perhaps, it is easier to just direct travelers to the Backpackers area in Penang, which in this case, Jalan Chulia. I don’t think there is such thing as ‘All rooms fully booked’. Countless guesthouse & budget hotels are available within that area, easily more than 20 of them. Many of them are empty. You can find one very easily!

SD Guesthouse @ Love Lane, call to book 04-2643743. RM18-55.

Many budget hotels are available along Love Lane

Clean bed & toilet

Teluk Bahang

Long house, Penang version

Nippon paint ad...

Black Giant Squirrel, Balik Pulau

What is this?

Need a direction map to Snake Temple

No Plan is Plan! Met Chief Minister of Penang in their Cultural Night

8 to 13 October marked our grand tour to Cambodia. In these 6 days, we encountered joys and laughter, shocks and burns (sunburns). Besides the famous Angkor Archeology Park, Pub Street, Traditional Markets, Museums and Temple’s visits, we have headed off the beaten tracks to a rural area, 1 hour bumpy drive from the Phnom Penh city, for visiting an under-construction school, namely Kumomo School.

The Kumomo School construction is sponsored by NGOs and partially by the Kumomo project from 1.com.my. At the same time, the Kumomo project has managed to sponsor 19 members to visit the fascinating SiemReap and adventurous Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

The lucky 19 members include

The tallest YowChuan, supposes to be our leader, but always missing in action. YowChuan’s gf, Ammie, hates sunlight, and spends most of the time indoor while Ammie’s sister, SokTeng, who was usually guarded by Ammie was successfully escaped at the last day during the Royal Palace visit.

Yong is the first one who dares to crunch on the deep fried insects. Yong’s sister, Elaine loves to try out all the Cambodia foods except the insects. Yong’s gf, HueyChin, only talks to Yong and Elaine most of the time.

Weikiat, our talented web programmer, was always serving his lovely gf, Foong. Foong was always happy except when Weikiat was slightly lost attention on her in the crowded Phnom Penh bus station.

Lily, always look likes 18 year old, although she is married and with two kids, and her caring husband is always carrying her orange bag whenever they visited in Cambodia. Next are our little couple, Cybie and Jason, who enjoys taking photos of all the things in front of their sights from insects to light bulbs. Last and not least are Daniel and his talkative gf, SiewLing, who both need to eat more in order to sustain a healthy weight.

And finally are guy who seldom has the chance to taste others’ foods beside those has been ordered. Watching couples exchanging their food each others in the half way of dining, I always think of they are so lucky to try two tastes in one meal. :)

Here we go… Nicholas, who always maintains his best photogenic post in front of camera, is our photographer, KeeKong, Pin’s buddy, has the best stamina in the group. XiaoMing, Eric’s buddy, had suffered from sore throat since the first day. Marcus, our replacement tour guide, has taken the lead for guideing the big group and lastly, I , ChinSeng, didn’t bring camera to Cambodia, except pen, paper, water and foods.

Stay tuned for the anecdotes on our grand tour to Cambodia!