Life Etc

This is Africa

2011-05-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

This time it’s Africa!!

Day 1

After a really long work day, I rushed towards home, Archu was waiting with dahi puri for quick snack before we run to airport. I was already excited for the trip and dahi puri gave a welcoming feel. We stuffed ourselves the best we could and left home to fly to Cape Town. We reached airport pretty much on time and every minute I got, I was trying to catch up with some more work through BB. I knew this will not be appreciated by Archu but she was too excited dreaming about SA to even ask me to stop working (or may be she gave up on me, who knows?). The flight was full of couples and families with kids. Cape town is also a popular honeymoon destination. Since this was a night flight we could see the view from plane only in the morning when we were reaching Cape Town.

Plane was flying along the west coast of Africa and we could see the West African border. What was really startling was the phenomenon we witnessed on the base, large deserted area with sand merging into the vast ocean with no population in sight. We also got amazing views of mountains and oceans near Cape town. Managed to land safely and there we were all set we our backpacks on, Archu was wearing her favorite hat that reminded us of our wonderful vacation in Hawaii. Temperature was almost perfect. We collected our baggage very quick, well, quickest I have seen anywhere internationally!

Day 2

We got out of the airport, picked our car - Chevrolet Aveo ‘Automatic’ (yes we managed to find one) and drove to the Amber Lodge, the best hostel we've ever stated in...So neat, clean, resourceful and cozy like home and pretty much affordable. There was a hammock in the balcony with the amazing view of the Table Mountain and Lion's Head, it was gorgeous. The manager/owner was very helpful and the perfect guide. We would definitely recommend this stay to everyone. We headed to the Table Mountain contemplating whether to go hiking or take the cable car. And ended up choosing the former option, it was a tough call but very good one in retrospect. We started from the parking lot next to Plettklip gorge trail and knew that it was going to be strenuous hike as it was going to be up the mountain. We were warned by many that there are stairs all the way and very steep path on the top. It took us about 2.5 hours to reach at the top passing sunny, shady, heightened, rocky and slippery trail. The views at each point were rewarding and culminated at the top where you can see views both side of the mountains, one side is cape town and bay while the other side is vast ocean. We enjoyed the view, fed ourselves, took some pictures and got in line to take the cable car down. I couldn't believe that first cable car was opened in 1929. The modern cable car is rotating to give a 360 degree view. We came down and realized we have about 15 minutes walk to the car park where we started our hike. Flat 15 minutes walk on paved road was very easy compared to the strenuous and steep hike, it is all relative. We got back to the hostel, and headed out for dinner at Rafikis which was around the corner from the lodge. The restaurant was little louder for our comfort and non-smoking room surrounded by many smoking rooms that made it worse. But on the positive side, people were nice and the food was very good. Good place to smoke, drink and party though. We went to sleep immediately after coming back to lodge, exhausted that we were.

Top of Table Mountain

Day 3

We woke up at 6:30 to get ready to be picked up by Bazbus for the daylong Cape Peninsula tour, squeezing in the top touristy places around Cape Town in one day. Roger, our tour guide picked up few passengers and headed towards the South of Peninsula. He gave us a quick tour of the city including the FIFA World Cup Stadium built for 2010 World Cup. It was strange to find out that they are planing to demolish the stadium as they can't find a good use of it anymore. Anyway, that wasn’t our concern really. We left the city and passed through beautiful coastline and mountains towards sea point. Our first stop was Hout Bay from where we took a ferry to the Seal Island which was amazing as we saw thousands of seals calling a small island as their home, playing in water around the island and lazing on the top of each other. Although it was very sunny, the weather was chilly at this time of the year with ocean winds making it worse. When we came back on the shore, we saw a local guy with a huge pet seal with him ready to lure tourists to take pictures and touch/feed the seal. There was a guy who fed the seal a fish from his mouth. I fed it with my hands as I am a vegetarian and intend to continue to be one. We both took pictures cuddling with huge seal and paid 20 Rands to the guy. We also enjoyed some local street music by a group of musicians. We continued our journey through scenic route towards Boulders beach to see the African Penguins. But due to the Two Oceans Marathon, some roads were closed and we had to wait 1.5 hours on the way. We decided to jump of the Bazbus and cheer the runners instead before we could continue our journey. The Marathoners had choice between half marathon, full marathon and ultra marathon of 51 kms. I remembered my Marathon run in DC and was telling Archu about the experience. It does help to see so many people cheering for you to make it easier for you to make it through. Roger offered us some cookies and drinks while we waited for the roads to clear up. We finally reached Boulders beach which is a protected sanctuary for African penguins. These are very small penguins compared to the Emperor penguins found in Antarctic but have the same characteristic walk. We were pleasantly surprised observing them in the open on the beach.

Archana can really entertain one by imitating the cute penguin walk (bug her next time you meet). Now we were headed towards the southwestern point of Africa i.e Cape of Good Hope / Cape Point. But before that we stopped

at the Cape Point national park, we did 5 km biking in the park overlooking the scenery. The weather was very

sunny and pleasant. Saw bunch of Ostriches on both sides of the road. There are a lot of Ostriches in South Africa

and they are farmed heavily for their meat and to a lesser extent for their eggs, feathers and skin. Latter is used for

clothing, bags, shoes etc. Ostrich meat is considered healthy with relatively higher protein to fat ratio. You will read

more about it in the following day’s section. We had a light lunch at the tourist office and looked at the some

skeleton parts displayed at the office of southern right whale. The teeth itself were longer than our height. And

these whales are considerably smaller than blue whales. Unfortunately we did not see any whales on our trip as

they come to SA coast in winter while right now it is just the beginning of winter in SA. Post lunch we drove to the

Cape Point and had a choice to hike to Cape of Good Hope or hike up to Cape Point for the view from the top. We

decided to go to cape point and then bus took us to Cape of Good Hope. We took the funicular to Cape Point as

we were very tired and enjoyed fantastic views of the ocean and mountains at the top. I encouraged Archana to go

beyond the fence at the top and take picture on a big rock next to the cliff lying down. I would mention that this was

dangerous, no wonder it was beyond the fence This was the most South Western point of continental Africa,

southern most is Cape Aghulus which is not as easy to get to as Cape point and most people get satisfied with

cape point. We came down to the base and took the bus to the Cape of Good Hope where we met other

passengers who skipped Cape Point and hiked to Cape of Good Hope. The place again was fantastic with violent

waves fighting against the rocks and eroding and shaping them for millions of years. We took a picture at Cape of

Good Hope albeit with the board not in English as there was a line to take picture with English board and our bus

was getting late. I think we saw best of both and made a right choice to go to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope

both. We tuned back towards Cape Town with BazBus. The drive was 1.5 to 2 hours and we were very tired. We

still enjoyed beautiful views on our way back including the cloud cover on table mountains known locally as Table

Cloth. There was one more thing that we wanted to see in Cape town before we leave towards our first stop away

from Cape Town next day morning and that was V&A water front, Cape Town's version of San Francisco

fisherman wharf or any waterside city's waterfront commercial development. We drove to the waterfront after

reaching out lodge and walked around beautiful waterfront with local band playing very interesting music with

soothing beats. We sat, enjoyed music and the romantic moment, walked around the huge shopping mall to find a

place to eat dinner. We ended up eating at an Indian restaurant called Jewel of India after browsing through

Seafood, Steak, Pizzas and Burgers. The food was very good and seating was outside facing the waterfront and

festivities. They also offered blankets as it was little chilly. We headed back to the lodge and slept as we had to

start driving at 5 in the morning to reach Gansbaai for Shark Diving. We were initially supposed to reach at 8 am

for 9 am launch but were emailed in the morning that we will have to get there by 7 for 8 am launch as the weather

was getting worse by the hour. Before sleeping we thanked the owner of the Lodge, Steven, for all the help in

guiding us through the town and being a fantastic host. Amber tree lodge is by far the best hostel we stayed in. We

ensured that we write the review there.

Cape of Good Hope

Day 3

One of the girls in our room had run Two-Oceans Marathon the day before and we were feeling bad to disturb her

and the others early next morning. There were bunk beds in our room, made of tree trunk. Quite neat and

interesting, of course it called for a snap and we took off for the Great White Shark Adventure. Weather was not so

good that day for the adventure, ocean water was very choppy, it was pouring already and winds were speeding at

their best. However we were glad that our trip was still on. We were running bit late but still reached quite on time.

Everyone else on the trip was ready with their rain suits on as provided by he tour guide. We quickly got ours and ran towards the boat. The name of the boat was ‘Nemo’. This time we were smart enough to take the ginger pills but I think it worked only for me. Archana started feeling motion sick as soon as we paused for the Great Whites.

She was feeling very uneasy and the stinking water made it worse. We changed into our wet suits and were ready to dive in. Meanwhile few people were already in the cage. Even though a shark visited us when we anchored, it vanished by the time divers got into the cage. 5 divers were waiting inside the chilled water of Atlantic for 20 minutes with no sightings of shark. Divers started coming out of the water frustrated and our guides consoled as that it is nature and we had to be patient. Indeed after 15-20 minutes we saw a shark circling our boat getting attracted by blood in the tuna chum that was being thrown in the water around the boat. All the previous divers

were rushed to the cage now for the reward. The shark was very playful and was attacking the fish head that the

guide had tied to the rope. And the rope was very close to the cage. Two more people went inside after two came

out. One of them felt claustrophobic and other didn't like the smell of water with the taste of blood from dead fish. It

was my turn next and Archu had already decided that she was not going in; she could barely stand the stink and

the headache it caused. But she did get a lot of shots of shark jumping on the bait, while I could hardly see only

the big fins inside. To my disappointment we were asked to come out of the water as next batch of people had to

get in. Since the sharks were not found in abundance that day, guides wanted to make sure everyone gets the

glimpse of the giant. While the other people were diving, I asked the dive master if I could go in again and he

said ‘maybe’. While I was talking to him, he was also throwing a wooden fish shaped block in the ocean to attract

the sharks. He got distracted by my question and shark took a good grip on the wooden fish and refused to leave it

and bit it off from the rope it was tied to. Whooooaaaa!! After some time two people came out and I got a chance to

go back in. This time I got very good views with shark's jaws trying to bite the bait offered and the best part was the

view when the Great White was trying to dig it’s snoot inside our cage in full agony. (We were not surprised,

naturally it was frustrated.) Of course it cannot open it's mouth as the cage gaps are very small. One of us touched

the shark and it rested there for 10 seconds or so. We finally came out of water satisfied and headed back to the

shore in very choppy water again. This ride back to the shore was very unusual and most adventurous I ever

witnessed. Water was so choppy that except the captain, we all were tense wondering if we will reach back alive.

The waves made us bounce in the boat, irrespective of the grip of your hands on the rods. And there was no way

one could attempt stand properly for a second without holding. We somehow managed to have a light meal on the

boat when we were nearing the shore. We watched our DVD in the White shark adventures offices and decided

not to buy the DVD as it didn't really capture anything specific to us or the sharks. I took a shower in their office as

the salt water and the fish blood in the water was making me feel gross.

Archu Ready to Dive - But unfortunately got sea sick before the dive

The people in their offices were very nice

and also offered meal to everyone. We headed towards Oudtshoorn as it was a long 5 hours drive. Archana

braced herself as she dreaded motion sickness and she was already uneasy from the boat ride. We passed by a

lot of sceni especially the Outanga pass just before we reached Oudtshoorn. We went to the Backpackers

Paradise hostel to find that they never received notification from hostelworld about our reservation. They offered us

a single room for two of us but we didn't really like the state of the room and started looking for an alternate

accommodation. Managers were more than helpful to call other places around accommodation. The owner even

offered his own house in the end with a separate room and services. We didn't want to do that but he said

adamantly ‘You have only two options – stay at my place or pay no money for the stay in the small room that was

available’ and therefore we chose to stay at the single room without any charges. We headed to the Swiss bistro

nearby for the dinner and the highlight was the grenadine fruit shake. We also had pizza and veggie burger none

of it was very good, frankly. Anyway, we had a very good night sleep.

Day 4

We woke up early and headed towards Cango Caves to take their 1.5 hours of adventure tour of the cave. We

were greeted by our guide at the entry of this cave where supposedly early settlers used to live but they never

ventured inside the cave. We passed through huge chambers of the caves with breathtaking formations of

stalagmites and stalactites. There were also flow based formations made by water depositing calcium carbonate

on the wall. We were told that only 20% of the formations are still active as the area was a tropical region when

then formations were made but now is an arid region. We were going to start the adventure part of the tour now.

First one was ‘Lumbago Alley’ in which we had to bend atleast 90 degrees to get through a narrow and short

passage. We then went though the ‘Love Alley’ which was supposed to squeeze you from all sides and it was so

narrow in width that we had to walk sideways. We then went to the coffin which was a small circular opening

through which we had go up. We then continued into devil's chimney which was most challenging of all. We had to

go up through a very narrow hole where you start sideways climb up and come out at the top through a small

opening that could barely fit in our head and body. This was the most claustrophobic one can get, anything more

can only cause death. Not exaggerating, this is honestly not meant for people who have 8-figure body, not

because it is difficult, it’s impossible. We completed the loop by going through something called ‘Post box’ because

we literally had to crawl like a snake in this space which was half the size one needs to crawl on knees and then

slide down like a letter through a small opening into a bigger room of cave. All of these were very rewarding

experiences. We went through small gaps and lanes we never thought we could even fit in. We finished our tour,

coming back to the main chambers of the caves which felt extremely spacious after passing through those small

alleys. We headed towards the next destination which was an Ostrich farm called ‘The Cango Ostrich Farms’. We

had the tour of the farm, took hugs from ostriches, saw huge ostrich eggs and stood on them without causing any

harm of course, saw baby ostriches hatching in the artificial incubation chambers, fed the ostriches while getting

shoulder massages from their necks and of course saw people riding on the ostriches. I was out of the weight limit

of 75 kgs for ostrich ride and Archana was way within the limit but didn't want Ostriches to have to go through the

pain of bearing any load, she kept on saying, ‘This is so unfair’. The way ostriches were handled for rides was little

inhuman. They put a mask on their face and bring them in front of us and some one sits on them after raising and

holding their big wings up. Rider sat and crossed his or her legs around bird's belly. I was not that considerate and

decided to just take the picture sitting on the bird for a few seconds. I don’t think Archana quite appreciated, but it

wasn’t that bad so I wasn’t feeling guilty. We continued to our last destination in Oudtshoorn, Cango wildlife ranch.

The ranch is little bit more than a zoo and mostly houses rescued animals in trouble. The guide gave us a tour of

the place with some interesting facts about vultures, birds, bats, lemurs, white tigers, lions, flamingoes, puma,

tortoise, crocodiles, ostrich, emmu, kangaroo, mongoose, porcupines, free flying birds in enclosure and collection

of snakes including the King Cobra. Archana took a very interesting movie of King Cobra capturing all it’s sharp

moves. We were also given option to get close to big cats, tiger and white lion in a separate ticket as these cats

were hand reared by the guides in the ranch and were not going harm us. We didn't see a point in doing that and

escaped. The ranch visit was overall very interesting and was more personal than a zoo. We headed for the night

to Mossel bay which is a beautiful coastal town. We bad booked the point village hotel but to our surprise

booking.com had not sent our confirmation to the hotel. Fortunately the hotel people sent us to a very good coast-

facing hotel ‘The Point hotel’ and they agreed to offer us a similar rate for a very good room. The room had a

balcony and proximate views of the ocean. The whole hotel was built on the rocks next to the ocean. We spent a

lot of time just enjoying the ocean from our balcony, and the rest by the soothing music by the waves. The ocean

waves were thrashing against the rocks in front of us and made thundering sounds. We had an amazing curry in

the hotel's seaside restaurant made from vegetables and fruits and lots of turmeric. The view of Light house was

very nice. We fell asleep so quickly, courtesy those cozy and comfortable beds.

Awesome Room with Lovely Wife and Ocean Playing Loud Music :)

Cango Caves - How did she get in?

Yes she had to pass through that hole

I haven't seen her this happy Hugging me ;)

yes that is Ostrich...

Breathtaking Picture of King Cobra by Photographer Archu Purohit

The Swartberg Pass

Day 5

Woke up in the morning and started walking the St. Blaze trail which fortunately was starting just in front of the

hotel on the cliff. It is a beautiful trail starting with St. blaze cave where early settlers used to live thousand of years

ago. We continued on the trail taking in the beautiful views of the ocean from the trail on the cliff. We got a call

back from one of the sand boarding tour guides whom we tried calling earlier. They offered us to go with them in

the morning as some other people had called off the trip. We decided to trace back the trail instead of completing

as we had seen very good views already. Also the weather was quickly deteriorating and the trail could have

possibly become unpleasant and dangerous in high winds and rain. But for the same reason we ended up not

doing sandboarding also as the sand dunes where we went in 4 by 4 were very tall and unprotected by anything

else. But the experience of going with the guide on his 4 by 4 on unpaved road was fun and climbing one of the

sand dunes so close to the ocean and taking pictures was amazing. The guide was kind enough to let us decide if

we want to do sand-boarding in the cold and rainy weather for 2-3 hours after standing on top of the dunes and

feeling the extremely cold windy weather. The company operating the tour was Billeon. We came back to Mossel

bay for the lunch at Delfino's, nice restaurant near the coast. We went back to hotel, saw the amazing views from

the balcony again and started driving towards our next destination Monkey-land sanctuary very close to our next

lodge in Nature's valley. Monkey-land was in this place called The Crags, outskirts of Plettensburg area. The place

was built with primates (monkeys, apes and lemurs). All these primates were rescued and were unwanted in their

previous homes, as pets or as circus animals. Most of them had never lived in the wild and therefore Monkey-land

provides a safe sanctuary for them. Our guide, Sergen, was very patient and explained to us the characteristics of

every specie and behavioral dynamics between them. We saw bug apes, different kind of monkeys and cute little

ring tailed lemurs from Madagascar. We found out that apes are recognized by their absence of tails compared to

monkeys; and apes are in general bigger. We were the last guest our guide had and he saw us outside the

sanctuary and locked the place. He asked us if we could drop him off the main road and we happily agreed. We in

fact insisted on dropping him off at his place in the nearby village only 5 minutes drive away which he usually

walks to. I could slightly relieve my guilt of not giving rides to poor people on the street and highways in a fear of

unsafe incidents that is frequent. We headed towards Nature's Valley. We had booked a lodge called Wild Spirit

Lodge in the wilderness of Nature's valley, absolutely in the middle of nowhere. The common area of the lodge had

a open section overlooking the valley and pristine forest as far as we could see. The owner of the place was an

English man who bought these land very cheap probably in fifties. There were people from everywhere - Germany

Sweden, Slovenia, France, etc. We requested for the dinner and were pleasantly surprised at the amazing

vegetable curry they made for us. We still remember the taste of the juicy salad with raisins. We chatted with few

people for some time and later went to sleep in our room in the middle of nature. We were told that there was no

need to lock out rooms :)

Breakfast overlooking the Nature's Valley

Day 6

Next morning we woke up at leisure and had a wonderful breakfast and tea at the lodge overlooking the nature

valley on a wooden bench made out of wooden log. This one was probably worth those big grands that people

flaunt to spend at the fancy restaurants. Anyway, we wanted to fix the memory card for our camera as we had ran

out of memory and we had a lot of days to go especially, Kruger. We drove to the Plettenberg which is the nearest

big city and bought some supplies including 4 GB of memory card which should see us through rest of the days in

SA. We then went to the Salt river mouth in the Nature's valley where salt river meets the ocean. We asked at the

shop located near the beginning of the salt river mouth hiking trail about the tides as it is not safe to cross the

mouth at high tide. Basically the hiking trail was next to the beach reaching it's maximum beauty where salt river

meets the ocean forming a huge delta through the rocky patches constantly battered by ocean waves. It was tricky

at few places to cross as we had to wait for the waves to recede and cross the path before they are back flooding

the path. The trail was a loop and just before we started our journey back on the loop we saw some very strange

and soft tiny limb shaped things with orange interior on our way on the beach. It really freaked us out as it was

looking like limbs cut in tiny parts and we were just afraid of unknown. We didn't really see anyone around and

Archana even picked up a big wooden log in case there is some danger / need to defend. Sounds funny now, but

that time we felt like we’re on a battle to get out of this lonely part of the beach. There was a ‘South African

National Park’ sign on the beach saying entering these areas was at our own risk and they were not responsible

for any harm, which added to our fear. It was a long walk on the lonely beach, with not a single human at our

distant sight. Our wild imagination made us fear of some old tribal group who were possibly cannibals. Indeed, we

felt relieved as we saw a few people sitting on the beach around the corner. We felt that we’re safe and not bound

to be attacked. We continued on the trail but there was one more thing on both of our minds and that was my

booking of world's highest bungy jump at the Bloukrans bridge in an hour from then. We had long debates about

why I think I should do it and on the contrary why it is a not so good idea according to Archana. We quietly finished

our trail and came back to the shop. We also asked the shopkeeper about the weird thing we saw on the beach

and she got really concerned. But she finally concluded that it was a sea tree called red bites and the orange color

we saw inside were red worms living inside the tree. Fisherman cut those when they are out fishing and throw

them in the beach. Freaky!!

Now it was time to drive to the bungy place and we were both very quiet. I was in a very big dilemma to whether do

bungy as it would make Archana very upset. Finally I decided to cancel my jump and started driving towards the

world's largest free flying aviary called birds of Eden. It is under the same management as Monkeyland and follows

the same concept of bringing in the rescued birds. The place is huge and is covered with huge wire mess to

prevent them from flying away but high enough for them to be able to fly freely. We saw amazing variety of birds

from all over the world, all shape sizes colors and sounds. We also saw them being fed fruits of all kinds and birds

coexisted and ate a lot of fruits but wasting a lot of them also like small kids. We felt very happy and satisfied

before leaving the sanctuary. Our next stop was Stormsriver mouth where we had booked a hostel called Dijembe

backpackers. The place was very funky and very laid-back. We had our own room and the bathroom. The room

was very rustic and old-looking but apparently it was intentional design. People at the lodge were very nice. We

settled our stuff and headed out to have dinner. It was a very small village and limited restaurant options. We went

to a restaurant called ‘Rafters’ at the Armagh lodge and spa. It seemed like an upscale place. When we asked to

be seated inside as it was cold, we were told that it was fully reserved for the guests at the lodge. We took a seat

outside and ordered two main courses from vegetarian section. One was lentil based curry and other one chick

peas based with salad and side of boiled peas. Food was fantastic and resembled a lot like Dahl and chhole

masala in Indian cuisine. In fact the Dahl was part of the name of the lentil dish. Feeling satisfied we crashed for

the day.

Archu with her Popat :)

Unfortunately the incident about bungy jumping discussion was still on our minds and the thought bothered us the

whole night. For me it was regret of not doing it and for Archana it was the guilt of not letting me do it. I knew I had

to do it even if it meant making Archana temporarily upset as all will be well once I am done and safe.

Day 7

I told her

early in the morning about my wish to still do it and she reluctantly agreed to keep me happy. We drove to the

Bloukrans bridge, site to world's highest bungy jump and waited there until the office opened at 9. We could feel

the quiet tension between us which we knew would remain until the jump is over. I signed up for the jump and

there was a huge crowd of people waiting to jump. I took a chance and asked Archana to join me at the bridge to

cheer me and she agreed to make me happy and be there for me. I got into harness and headed towards the

centre of the bridge from the side of the bridge. We had not realized that the way to go there was an adventure

itself. We had to walk on small metallic trail under the bride hanging at above the deep gorge with the perforated

bottom where you can see how high you are at your feet or should I say that the whole world was under my feet.

That freaked out Archana but I was very proud that she went through it for me as she looked very scared. All the

jumpers were tagged with numbers and their weights. I was jumper 6 but was called at number 3. They played

loud music to inspire the jumpers and everyone was pumped with adrenaline. They tied a pad and a rope to my

two legs and attached it to my harness. I could see that the rope was very thick. Since my legs were tied they

dragged me to the edge of the bridge where I could see 216 m down. There was only count of 3 remaining now, I

had my hands open to fly, and I was flying before I know it. The feeling was ecstatic and there was absolutely no

thought on my mind, just wind gushing through my hair and feeling of euphoria. I suddenly got a slight jerk and

before I know I was on a tight rope swinging upside down at a height of 20 to 30 meters. It was very quiet and I

was whistling and calling names and was looking for someone to tell how the feeling was. After enjoying few

moments of solitude, a guy dropped down with a rope and tied me to his rope and I was lying for a change until we

reached up. I saw Archana and felt very happy and expressed every single second to her. She was very happy to

see me happy and safe. There was live feed of the jump at the deck and she had seen me jumping. I am very glad

for she let me do it despite all the fears she had. She must love me a lot to let me take the lead here and feel

happy for something that is purely maniac thing to do according to her. Now it was time to continue back on the

scary metallic trail and it was worse this time for Archana. I am sorry to mention that she cried with fear most of the

way. I could see the question mark on her face ‘Is this all worth it?’. I was feeling guilty but I had not anticipated it

will be this bad for her. We finally reached on the other side on the land and both of us felt very relieved. It took a

while for her to be fine and talk to me properly. We eventually laughed about it but it took some time to reach that

stage. We bought a Tshirt, video of the fall and a sample bungy cord as souvenirs. We went back to the Dijembe

lodge to checkout and there was a feeling of relief for both of us and our interaction was back to normal. We went

to the Storms river mouth which is about 8 kms from stormsrivier village where our lodge was. Stormsriver mouth

was very similar to Salt river mouth in nature's valley but this one was more commercial and Storms river was

meeting the ocean. The place was absolutely fantastic and we started with the brunch in the restaurant

overlooking the ocean meeting the river. We then headed towards the trail towards the suspension bridges on the

ocean-river delta. The scenery on the trail was beautiful and ocean was very violent. But the climax of the beauty

was at the suspension bridge where three were three connected suspension bridges hanging on top of the

absolutely gorgeous meeting points of river and ocean. The waves were hitting the rocky shores very hard and we

could feel the water on the bridge which was at-least 15-20 feet high. There were accommodation available at the

sight offered by the SanParks people best of which was called Oceannettes overlooking the ocean and very similar

to our Point Hotel in Mossel Bay. We took a ton of pictures of ourselves on the bridge, splashing waves, etc.. The

bridge reminded Archana of the metallic trail towards the bungy site that morning but here she had a vested

interest in the sites around and saw value in walking on the vibrating bridge distracted by the scenery. We came

back on the trail feeling awesome and taking picture of the some small wildlife in the rocks back to the parking lot.

We started our long drive towards Port Elizabeth (PE)to catch our flight to Jo'Burg for safari in Kruger National

park. The drive took about 2 hours and we had to skip the plan to do Zip lining over beautiful waterfalls in the

StormsRivier area due to time constraints. We told ourselves that we will do zip lines in the next nature destination

wherever we go to. The drive was smooth and we did laugh over our tension between us for the Bungy Jumping.

We returned the rental car, checked us in and started dreaming about Kruger National Park while we wait for our

flight. PE is a relatively small airport but very well connected. To our surprise they did allow us to take some water

through the security at the airport. Our flight to Jo'burg took about 2 hours and we were very tired. It was small

regional jet belonging to South African Airways Express, low cost domestic arm of South African Airways, and we

were given light snack for meal which is unusual for us as low cost airlines in EU and USA charge for even water

now a days. We called up our hostel, Purple Palms when we reached Jo'Burg and asked for transportation. They

sent someone they knew to pick us up from the airport. It was not a taxi but someone local with his personal car

picking people up and helping people at the the lodge with transportation to and from the airport and other

attractions. We were little skeptical in the car and Archana had emergency number ready tone dialed in the phone

but the fear was very irrational as the person was sent by a respected lodge and he came with his wife to pick us

up. It was about 16 kms from the airport and we paid 160 rands, which hopefully was not more than normal. The

lodge was very nice and clean we had our own rooms with the shared bathroom. We were only little hungry and

therefore decided to make the quick Maggie noodles that we have been carrying with us from home. Maggie is a

favorite household noodles in India. We slept tight that night a had to be up for the pick up by Outlook Safari

company who was going to take us to the Kruger next day.

Day 7

Our guide Helke arrived at the lodge before time at 6:50 in the morning and we were under the impression that he

would arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 am. Fortunately, we were almost ready and were more than happy to start

driving earlier. Helke was very nice and took a very good care of us and had a very patient and easy going

personality. We shared our travel stories and didn't even realize when the 5 hours passed by on our way to Kruger.

He was native to South Africa but also spent part of his childhood in Swaziland. We stopped once for a break and

reached Kruger at around 1ish. After entering the Kruger we already started seeing wildlife, most abundant of

which is Impalas, staple diet for predators in the park. We also saw Kudus, Guniea fowls and some birds. We

arrived at the Skukuza Camp in Kruger where we were going to stay for next couple of days. We freshened up and

had some light lunch at the shop at the camp before our first game drive at 3:30pm. The camp site was very well

developed with variety of options from campsites which we had picked to Luxury Bungalows. Kruger was hot in the

afternoon and we were very excited about our first game drive. There was another outlook guide Robin that took

us on the afternoon game drive along with two other Japanese couples from Washington DC. We had a good start

already in the morning but suddenly realized that everyone including us were more excited to see big cats- lions,

Leopards, Cheetahs than Impalas, Elephants, Buffalos birds etc. Although, we did enjoy thoroughly seeing all birds

and animals in the wild. We saw different type of eagles, stokes, more elephants, more Guinea fowls, and some

giraffes and rhino way far away. Our guide Robin saw the Rhino with naked eyes which we had hard time looking

with the binoculars. And we refused to check Rhinos off our list of Big Fives to see. We had stopped at a hill in the

Kruger which was one of the very few places where you are allowed to get out of your car outside the camp area.

It was a very interesting Safari experience where we learned how patient people at National Geographic and

Discovery Channel will be to bring us amazing footage of animals when we were staring continuously on both

sides of the road in the bushes to find some animal once in a while that also either standing or eating. We finished

our game drive after watching sunset and were at our camp site before 6 as no private vehicles are allowed to be

in the park after 6 pm. Only National Park people were allowed who can take you out on sunset or night game

drives. We had couple of hours where our Chef Jonathan would present his delicacies. We walked around the

park, went to the shop nearby which had everything possible available for sell. The facilities in general on park

were on par with any other national park in the developed nation like America. We were vey hungry and ready to

eat when our delicious dinner, vegetables and bean stew with couscous was served. The dish was based on

Moroccan Tagine without meat. The food was absolutely delicious and Kudos to the Chef. We ate a lot and just

went to sleep after dinner even though it was only 9 pm. We had to wake up early for the early morning drive as

the animals are more active in the morning.

We slept tight in our lovely tent and did hear a lot of animal voices in the night between 2 and 4 am. Fortunately or

unfortunately we didn't know what animals were making those voices. Not that we didn’t sleep enough though.

World's Highest Bungy Jumping Bridge

Suspension Bridge over Storms River Mouth - Amazing Experience

Day 8

Day started very early. We were up by 5am and quickly got ready to meet the tour guide over tea/coffee followed

by the sunrise game drive. Weather was great, bit chilly but our excitement did not allow us to think wee bit about

it. We were hoping to see the big fives, ofcourse it is difficult to spot all on the same day but expectations see no

limits.. We started with the so called dangerous baboons which did not seem so harmful to us as we waited right

next to them (in the car ofcourse). There were a couple of blue (velvet) monkeys around as well. They are called

blue for their distinct appearance with blue colored testicals. Our guide mentioned that the blue color reflected in

the bellybutton of the female blue monkeys. We saw the Impalas, Kudus, zebras and elephants in lots. We also

saw few hippos bathing and being playful in the river. Archana suddenly uttered that she desperately wants to see

a giraffe, a rhino, a lion (not just the lioness), and ofcourse the wild cat. And to our surprise we spotted a giraffe in

next 15 mins. It was quite far but so tall and huge that we had a clear view even from a distance. It is the tallest

mammal living on land as everyone would know. We have seen giraffe earlier but this one was very unique.

Moving on further we observed a car waiting at a certain distance from the dam. We could see they were looking

at something but we couldn't figure out. On asking them we realized there were two lionesses and two cubs near

the dam. What a sight that was! We grabbed the binoculars and discussed it every single movement. Just

beautiful. We waited there for a while and then decided to move further to see another miracle. A lot of vehicles

were waiting around and we thought of giving them a fair chance. We paused to admire the beauty of the Thorny

Eagle that was graciously resting on a branch eying for prospective preys. Marshall Eagle once again gave us an

opportunity to admire it's flight. Fortunately we also managed to spot a lazy crocodile at the river bank. It never

bothered to open it's eyes (not that we were expecting). It was already around 10 am by then and we had to go

back to our campsite for breakfast. Overall it was a rewarding morning game drive. We came back to the site and

had a healthy and filling break fast of sautéed vegetables, toast and butter and cereals & milk. Now we had free

time until 4:30 when we go for the sunset drive. We slept for sometime, did the morning things and got ready. We

were not very hungry after he late heavy brunch and therefore decided have two packs of Maggie made at the

kitchen tent. We love having maggie when we are traveling. We went to the shop again to walk around and

explore. Jonathan picked us up at the shop at around 4 and dropped us off a the place where we will be picked up

for the sunset drive. It was already raining and our sunset drive guide was decreasing our expectation to see

anything spectacular on the game drive. It was two bus full of tourists each 20 seater. We started our sunset drive

in the right sunlight and were soon reward with a very beautiful sunset in the park. It was the view we have

generally seen in the national geographic programs. We saw some zebras and giraffes at the beginning of our

drive but Giraffes were little too far for satisfaction. We also saw a big herd of breeding elephants with babies in

both before and after the sunset with spotlights. At one point our guide mentioned he saw a leopard andthen

paused and said tortoise, basically it was a tortoise with the back spotted like a leopard. Created a false alarm for

everyone but the tortoise was beautiful. The best sighing was after the sunset of that of a big pride of lions up on

top of a big rocky mountain. It was little bit far but still very good view using the spotlights. Lot is eyes were signing

as lions are nocturnal animals and can see very well in the night. Lions do most of their hunting in the night and

are believed to sleep or relax for 20 hours in a day. We saw some movement but mostly they were sitting and

relaxing. I was one of the two volunteer holding the flash light on the right side. For most part of the post sunset

drive it was raining heavily. And it was took determination to still want to see the animals. It was a open vehicle

with curtains on the side to prevent rain coming in but not immune to window seas getting wet. We also some

shunning eyes once in a while at the distance but can't figure out what it is and of course it was it wad gone soon.

We also saw a janett cat crossing the road during the last part of our drive. Overall sunset drive was a very

different experience especially after the sunset and needed a lot of patience to find animals and enjoy it. We were

bought back after three hours o drive back to the camp and Helke was ready to pick us up to take us to the

camping site and the dinner was ready. Jonathan had prepared delicious tomato onion mushroom stew with rice

and salad for us. We were accompanied by two Finnish couples in their 60's. Very knowledgeable and seemed to

belong to a higher class. We went back to our sweet little tent and were off to sleep.

Day 9 – Last day in South Africa

We rose to the last day in Kruger, up by 04:30 and ready with the packed bags in an hour. As the previous day we

gathered for coffee and dispersed for the mini game safari before we leave for the airport in Jo'burg. Kylie was our

guide that day. We managed to see Hyena, Buffalo, Vulture and a close up of giraffe in the beggining itself. It was

drizzling so much that reminded the similar scene in the movie 'Jurassic Park'. Kylie also spotted a Battlion eagle,

a beautiful bird with red beak and claws however not as powerful as the other eagles. We were so desperate

to see one of the big ones and our wishes came true. We saw two male lions walking on the road marking their

territory. We were literally as close as a meter away from the jungle kings. This sight was unbelievably incredible.

They had big hairy heads called Mane, bright yellow eyes and a walk like they owned the whole of Kruger. While

myself and Archu were clicking snaps they really looked back into our eyes, we almost heard the untold "dare to

step out of your car, you silly audiences". Scary but safe move. No matter what, lions would love to flaunt their

superiority undoubtedly. They marked their territories by sprinkling biological water on the plants. no wonder why

a zillion vehicles gathered in no time to get thrilled and not to mention about the digital cameras. That brought us

to end of our game safari. We were very easy about not getting to see the leopard or a close view of rhino, not that

we had any option either. We then drove out of Kruger towards the airport. Kylie recommended us to stop near the

Lisbon waterfall that was on our way. Very beautiful part of nature I must say..

Male Lion Marking his territory around our vehicle

Heyna in Kruger

Herd of Elephant in Kruger Safari

Home Sweet Home in Kruger

Candle (electric) light dinner in the campsite in Kruger

Any closer would be suicidal :)

Now we're waiting at the airport. As we reached few hours before time, we decided to collate our incredible

experience and excitement into words to share with our friends and family, and also reminiscence our memories.

Below is the list of animals and birds we saw in Kruger. We should be boarding our flight soon. I can imagine that we will be in London while we discuss our wonderful SA trip and get excited about our next trip to the beautiful land

of Swiss!!

Impala

Zebra

Kudu

Elephants with babies

Marshall eagle

Guinea fowls

Maribu stokes

Lion and lioness

Baboons

Hippos and baby

Thorny eagle

Crocodile

Giraffe

Waterhog

Louries

Janett cats

Battlia eagles

Two male lions

Hyenas

Bush babies

White rhino

Buffalo

Vulture

Leopard tortoise

Athens adventure - It was all Greek to us - 3/3/2011

2011-05-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

Our visit to Greece always prompted the old saying "it's all Greek to me" in our minds and for the

right reasons. Archana was already in Greece for almost a week for business and I joined her over

the weekend. When I checked in to get my boarding pass, my first impression was that Greek

people are very rude, the Olympic airlines ticket counter personnel in particular. Went through

security check and was ready to fly three hours before the departure time, the plight of flying in

modern times. I saw the keynote lecture by Steve releasing iPad2 and talked to Archana with hope

of meeting soon. Finally, I boarded the aircraft and strangely most of the people, esp. guys, looked

Indian to me. And it was not surprising that air-hostess started talking to me in Greek, I wanted to tell

her ‘it is Greek to me’ but I resisted. I tried to twist and turn to sleep without luck but at least had a

seat with extra leg space. Landed in Greece at 4 am local time and I found that the Greek

immigration officers are most efficient in the world. For people with EU passports, it was a matter of

two seconds to verify the passports and for me, being an Indian citizen it took 10 seconds as he had

to look for my Schengen visa page. So far balanced opinions about Greeks. Went out and realized the

next public transportation bus was after an hour and decided to take a taxi - 35 euro flat in daytime

and 50 euro flat in night time. I wasn’t left with many options. I was aware that local people talk

Greek, but Archana warned me that they talk ‘only’ Greek. When I took the cab, the only thing that

the driver understood was ‘Intercontinental’. I tried to talk with expressions but he said ‘me no

English’ so decided to shut up. Most of the cabs are ‘Skoda’ and ‘Merc’. Reached the hotel in about

half an hour with fantastic infrastructure. Finally got united with Archana after five days. It had been

a year that we got married but this was the first time we separated for more than few hours. Not

trying to be cheesy but it did made me feel how much I loved her. We hung out for sometime and

then went to sleep as I didn't sleep enough and Archana had to go to work.

Next day morning after Archana left for work, I woke up at 9: 30 and got ready to explore Athens. Picked up few maps, had a chat with our concierge regarding vegetarian restaurant and walked out. You can imagine how the conversation must have gone. Started walking in one direction assuming it is going towards city centre. Tried to ask few people to confirm my direction but as soon as I uttered first English word, they were ready to walk away. It was almost like my appearance was giving them false hope of being able to speak in Greek and then can't stand the disappointment. When I hit another hotel I realized I was going in opposite direction and I changed gears.

Saw a lot of things on the way that reminded me of India - small shops, stray dogs, posters with very

Indian looking people, lots of scooters and bikes. One thing I did find striking was most of the

population I came across was old. Now that could be because it was Friday morning and all the

youngsters might be at work. Finally reached Plaka, one of the touristy areas in city centre and checked a few shops. One thing I have realized that lot of souvenir items don't change from countries to countries just the print and symbols on them, magnets, key chains, T-shirts etc. Almost like they are made in the same factory in China for souvenir shops all over the world. Bumped into a cafe (Plaka gate cafe) to eat spinach pie. It was very tasty and surprisingly delicious even though it was not fresh, not bad for 3.5 €

Went across the street to check out the temple of Olympian Zeus which is of course in ruins. One of

the pillars of the temple had fallen down and it distinctly showed that each pillar was made of 8 -10

pieces and not from a single piece - engineering feat.

Headed back towards hotel from a parallel street to check some new stuff. I was waiting for Archana to return from office but unfortunately she got stuck in traffic and took double the time to reach hotel. We checked out around 5ish, tried a dessert from Intercontinental (not so good by the way) and headed to not so glamorous but economical hotel Aristotle’s. Took the Intercontinental hotel shuttle to city center and then a cab to the hotel. We made a mistake and didn't decide on fare in the cab to the hotel and ended up paying about four times the metered pay. Aristotle’s was a good value for what you pay for, decent sized room with a view of a wall but very helpful receptionist. We headed out towards city centre which was at few minutes walking distance. It was good that we didn't know our way and therefore ended up exploring more than what we planned. We came across a shop with very interesting snacks but surprisingly lot of them had meat in it. We also came across a deluge of people doing peaceful protest which had been going on for some time due to the state of Greece economy. They were shouting slogans and had posters but of course they were all Greek to us. We were headed towards the neighborhood of Plaka - famous for shopping and food. Explored the flea market and resisted the temptation to buy anything. While walking on the street it was common to find ancient ruins everywhere, at the bottom of a building, between the streets, below the metro trains and Archana saw ruins through the glass floor of a

restaurant (Moma).

Ruins under a restaurant on the way to toilet, found during the construction of restaurant

Ruins Displayed in a metro station found during excavation for Metro

We also encountered a funny T-shirt which looks something like below

We finally ended up on the touristy foodie street with restaurants and cafe lined up. We ended up

selecting a restaurant called Efharis which accordingly to Archana made me biased due to their

menu-display on Apple iPad. But the food and service was good too. They had a live garden growing

inside the restaurant and it was packed.

We being picky vegetarians ordered a veggie sandwich, some chips and some salad. Salad was good

but was drenched with olive oil, very Mediterranean thing to do. We regretfully didn't finish the

food but were still satisfied. Waiter brought us one complementary chocolate& strawberry dessert

which despite of full stomachs we ate with two spoons :) That was the end of Friday and we took the

taxi home which thankfully was metered honestly and was only 3 €. We had a sound sleep knowing

we had a long day the next morning.

We woke up, got ready and headed towards world famous archaeological site of Acropolis. We went

walking and enjoyed the Greek shops and street in the daytime. We climbed the slope towards

acropolis and rewarded with a grand structure standing tall in the middle of the city commanding

fantastic views of the city. We took a ton of pictures, saw the old theatre, temples, churches,

artefacts and headed down to grab something to eat.

To our surprise we passed through the famous dinning street that we dined the night before. We again searched for where to eat and decided on a Cafe at the end of street called Cafe 82 or adrianou, excellent decor, helpful people and good food. We ordered a sandwich, and Archu ordered a croissant. At last we decided to indulge in their desert menu and I ordered ‘Kaimaki’ - local ice cream made of mastic (gum from trees), milk and sugar. Speciality of mastic is it gives the texture of chewing gum and taste of spice (not hot but strong spice). It was sweet and spicy never had anything like this before, highly recommended! After lunch we headed to find Klafthmonos square where we were supposed to board a bus to Cape Sounion 30 - 40 kms southeast of Athens at the southernmost point of mainland Greece. We found the bus stop and started waiting for apparently orange coloured regional transportation bus. We

imagined a ‘sarkari’ bus. The guy in the store nearby mentioned that it should be coming soon (half

past every hour). There was this luxurious looking bus in front of us and don’t know what made us

tell ourselves that this can’t be the regional transportation bus. And we almost missed the bus as it

was too good for a public transportation bus but the guy from the store ran out and told us to board

the bus. We got on this super luxurious and well maintained bus and started our 1.5 hrs journey to

the Cape and temple of Poseidon. Bus took the coastal route going through the beaches on our right

and beautifully carved coastal route twisting and turning around cliffs and beautiful islands floating

in the sea. The ticket conductor lady was completely decked up for her job, alighted somewhere

midway and started collecting the 6€ to tickets to Cape (ain't quite cheap?). She had the most

organized coin collector and dispenser machine we ever witnessed. Different denomination of coins

had a slot in the device and she could effortlessly insert and remove coins as desired. There were

Many coastal towns nearby and some people got down at some of those villages an most were

visiting the cape. We reached there little after 4 and were feeling cold as it was at an altitude and

open from all sides. We headed towards the top at the temple of Poseidon, got tickets for 4€ and

saw one more magnificent structure half broken like all other attractions in Athens. Located at a very

picturesque place, Archu started wondering what did the king feel like when they are standing at

their magnificent architectures back in the days. We took some pictures, admired the view and ventured through the ends of cliffs to take some beautiful pictures. I feel travelling and taking pictures have become more interesting after Archu came into my life.

Temple of Sunion

We wanted to sit at the cliff but it was too cold and windy much colder than Athens city. We came to the cafe at the base of the small hill where the temple is located and took a seat inside with heaters. One thing I liked about Athens is that the cold weather doesn't stop restaurant owners from offering outdoor seating with very strong outdoor heating pillars. We ordered warm drink and sandwich and started waiting for the sunset which is one of the main attractions on the backdrop of the ancient temple. There were a lot of clouds and therefore we decided to see the sunset from the base partially hidden behind the clouds. Overall a good experience in winter. We waited for the last bus at 7 pm and relived what we saw that evening by discussing with each other. Walking all day outside in cold had made both of us tired and we decided to walk to the hotel from the omnibus square where the bus dropped us. We didn't realize that when we will get hungry late in the evening we will have to resort to delivered pizza for dinner of which Archu ate none. Anyway, we both agreed that we had productively seen main attractions of our interest in Athens in a day.

Contrast about the last day, Sunday, was that Archu had to catch an earlier flight in the afternoon

and mine was in the evening, thanks to Archu's corporate rules about flights and my desire to make

good use of the vacation time. We decided to go the local planetarium not in any tourist's must see list. We got the 10:30 tickets to the "world's largest digital dome theatre" to see a great adventure,

show about human space exploration. The cab driver who dropped us to the planetarium told us he

generally brings his kids there. And he was right, while we were waiting we saw a gush of school kids

and their parents come in for the Sunday field trip to the planetarium. I was feeling lucky to have

interests aligned with Archu’s. She’s is not too keen on museums and equally excited about dome

planetarium show. We thoroughly enjoyed the vividly depicted shows projected all over our heads in

a 360 degree panorama. In this sense Archu was like kids, you have to make science more interesting

by feeding all the senses to make it more interesting. Though it was time to separate for half day

before being united again in London, we were happy that our time was spent very well in Athens.

We had already asked the cab driver to come back to take Archu to the airport and drop me on the

way to the nearby Edem beach. I strolled around the beach in the winter low season. Weather was

much better than the previous day. I saw couple of old folks gathered for socializing some board

games on the beach. One of the stark observations in my time in Athens has been averse age of the

population. Most people I see are in their higher thirties, forties or even fifties and hardly see

teenagers and people in twenties. This might explain one of the reasons for recession in the country

where on the other end countries like India has got a huge population under 25. So, coming back to

the walk on the beach, I touched the water and it was not too cold but I did not want to venture

further than that. Most beach restaurants were closed which must be keeping tourist busy in the high

summer seasons. I took the tram from the Edem beach station and headed towards city centre,

Syntagma. Very interesting way of seeing the city streets through tram's windows which runs in the

middle of the main street going from south to north. I alighted at Syntagma and headed towards

Ermou street, prime shopping area which eventually leads to Monstriki, the place where locals and

tourist gather to have some fun, a lot is vendors selling everything from jewelleries to clothes and

antiques and statues depicting ancient Greek art. I walked around the streets and settled down at

Moma where Archu recommended to have dinner but specifically to check out the way to the

restroom. After eating the suction balls and bread with dip, I headed towards the bathroom to see

what all the fuss was about. I was pleasantly surprised by the glass floored approach to the restroom

showing ancient ruins underneath, I was glad Archu emphasized on me checking out this place. I

took couple of pictures and went back to my table fascinated. Greeks have figured out a way to

balance the heritage of ancient ruins and modern needs of the society of excavation and

constructions. Even the metro underground project unearthed a lot of ancient ruins which are

preserved and displayed at many metro stations. I thoroughly enjoyed eating suction (zucchini) balls

even though it was served with sour cream which according to me made for very unusual dipping

sauce for a fried bhajiya-like dish for an Indian like me. The weather was getting better and better

and many people were enjoying outdoor dining without the need of any space heaters. I went back

to the square and sat alongside many others who were relaxing and enjoying people watching and

local group of musicians playing happy tunes. First I bought some raw chestnuts and stress munching

on it, interesting experience as this was firs time eating raw chestnut. I then, for a change, got ‘halva’

flavored ice-cream which was also very interesting. Apparently halva is a famous dessert in the

Mediterranean, similar to in India with same name.

The day at the square was as busy as it could be with people enjoying good weather after few days

of cold and cloudy weather. I finally decided to be little safe and head toward the airport through

the metro line very close to the square. I took the 8€ special ticket for the airport and headed

towards very modern metro lines. Had to change once and experienced few delays but nothing

more than what I have experienced in London over the weekends. Reached the airport and had an

opposite experience to my arrival for immigration clearing. But this time the reason could be the

complicated cases being dealt with for people in front of me as when my turn at the counter came it look

only a minute. Went through security check, found an electric socket to charge the iPhone for the

journey and efficiently used the free one hour wifi to download Steve job's ipad2 keynote and

economist's latest edition to keep myself productive and entertained in the four hour flight. As with

the previous flight, the experience with olympic airlines crew has been pleasant and humorous as

they keep thinking I am Greek. It was an easy flight with good food and entertaining iPhone. Landed

and had an inverse phenomenon going on at the London immigration counters. There were much

more EU citizens than non-EU that had arrived and proved boon to me. I managed to get through

the queue in less than two minutes. In the past, we have waited for up to 2 hours in the line and

irony is that even Americans are not spared. Was back in the familiar London underground train and

got reunited with my lovely wife after almost 11 hours. Overall it wasn't all Greek to me :)

See ya until we hit the jungles of South Africa in April, desperately looking forward to it!!

Almost to Prague

2011-01-16T12:17:00.001-08:00

Though this was not one of the things I wanted to do before I die but it is interesting to have done it. We managed to miss our flight for the first time in life and hopefully the last time. The story is much more interesting about how we missed the flight. My wife and I decided to go to Prague for the weekend from London. This was precisely to make the most of the Schengen Visa that we had for six months to go to maximum EU countries. We recently had been to Norway to see the Northern Lights.

We were supposed to fly Friday evening and come back on Sunday evening. I didn't know earlier that my office will be so busy on Friday that I will not be able to even plan some stuff in Prague, check us online for the flight and print tickets. Fortunately, Archana took care of most of it. I didn't even help her pack anything for the trip. For us to get to the Luton airport (which is farthest from the London City), we had to leave latest by 5 PM. Archana came near my desk while I was away, dropped the changing bag, and was waiting outside for over half and hour. Being overloaded by work, I could barely get up from my desk fifteen minutes past 5, I changed, did some last minute work and left at 5:30. This was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events. We went to the underground station to catch our train to London Bridge, where we were supposed to board a connecting train to the airport. And yes, all the trains were running with severe delays. We waited for 10 minutes or so but there were so many people that even if we decide to go by train, we would’ve had to stand in line and take second or third train. So we decided to go outside and take a cab to London Bridge. When we came out, it was raining and of course cabs were hard to find. Archana called a cab company and after being promised to come in few seconds, someone turned up after 10 minutes. We took the cab amidst the heavy traffic and reached London Bridge in about half an hour that usually takes 10-15 minutes. We went to the platform and were waiting for our train to the airport. Now I tried to be smarter and suggested to take an earlier train to intermediate station and catch an express train. While on this intermediate train I realized, it was a wrong train and we had to come back to the same station after wasting half hour. This half hour cost us that regular train to the airport that we were supposed to take in the first place.

We were then waiting for the next train and now we knew we were cutting very close to the flight time. Boarded the train and started preparing ourselves for missing the flight so it doesn't come as a shock if we miss it. We reached the Luton airport station and took a taxi to the airport and literally ran all the way to the gate. And guess what, they said they have closed the gate and we cannot board our flight. It was still more than 20 minutes to go for the departure but they had calculated the fuel needed for amount of passengers and also food supply. What food, we don't even get peanuts now days, and fuel for two additional people?? Anyway, it was not time for argument. We went to check if they can offer some alternative options, but the lady said “You can board the next flight at 08:15 in the morning and pay 51 pounds each extra!” We gave up.. Actually, it was funny, we both took it lightly (not that we had a choice) and immediately started thinking about our alternate plan. There was a point we started laughing. “Everything happens for the best” we told ourselves. And it helps to prepare yourself for the worst while you dream of the best.. However, it was tiring to travel such long distance just to know that we missed our flight.

No, the story doesn't end here, the series of unfortunate events still continues. We took the shuttle to the train station where we were told that trains were suspended for indefinite period due to a crime / accident somewhere on the track. An alternative was to take a bus to the city, which would probably take at least couple of hours. Then someone gave few of us an idea of sharing a taxi together as we were all going to the city centre and it instantly made sense to us. Of course the guy who advised us already had a taxi friend ready to take us to the city but it was a brilliant idea. Apart from two of us in the taxi, there was one play writer Irish lady, a vascular surgeon from Hungary and another female from Hungary. We all socialized in the taxi and the surgeon guy (John) mentioned that he has to travel further north in UK and will be looking for a hotel in the city to live for which he had no clue how to find. I discussed with Archana and then offered John a place to stay overnight at our house. And he accepted almost instantly. After struggling through disrupted underground train services in London, we finally reached home with John. We hadn't told my brother Ashish yet that we have missed our flight and of course, he wasn't expecting us home. Archana tried to open the door with the key and Ashish got very scared and he yelled, “Who’s that???” He looked through the keyhole and saw John, which made him even more, scared and locked the door that Archana tried to unlock. Then we said it is us and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was so funny later when he said he was about to dial 999 :)

To my surprise, our chemistry with the stranger was very good and we ended up chatting very late in the night. And yes, Archana got a lot of medical tips from John starting from drinking filtered water in UK to what chair to use for preventing back pain. Well I was first one to fall asleep, then Archana and later Ashish. John was still going on even when on the bed ready to sleep..

This was truly unpredictable day or rather adventurous if I may say J

Trip to see the colourful sky in “Paris of the North” where sun could barely make it. Northern Lights in Tromso!!

2011-01-09T07:30:00.001-08:00

Archana, Pooja and I left from our Canary Wharf offices in London at 4pm rushing to Gatwick airport. We were so excited about seeing northern lights in Tromso that when there was an announcement at a station “you can change here for northern line”, of course we heard northern lights :) We were little nervous, as there have been few days of chaos at airports in London due to severe snowstorms. Luckily all flights were running on time. We eventually changed the National Rail train to Gatwick Airport. It was very busy as everyone was going to the airport and we managed to find three separate seats. I happened to sit beside a Swedish girl who started chatting; we talked for the entire 30 minutes about everything from Sweden to India. I didn't realize it then; but Archana was sitting on the other side of the aisle and wasn’t quite appreciating the discussion for reasons all married people would know. She changed seat to somewhere in the front with an empty seat next to her (I honestly didn't realize). She seemed to be little jealous which I thought was very cute. Jealousy without irrational outburst is a sign of true love :)

We headed to our terminal and managed to choose seats near the exit row, felt like business class seats. All airhostesses on the flight talked to us in Norwegian, not sure which Indian feature of ours resembles Norwegian. We chatted, tried to sleep and bought a water bottle for 25 NOK (Norwegian Krona, approx. 9 to a GBP).

We landed at the Oslo airport and temperature outside was -16 C. We bundled up, easily went through immigration desk and reached the bus stop for our shuttle to the Gardermoen Motel (60 NOK for ticket per person). We got off the shuttle to see there were heaps of snow everywhere;yet surprisingly the fern trees were dark green. We tried to make a snowball but it was as light as powder on the sides, and formed ice on the road. Clicked some snaps and quickly checked into our very nice room. Girls were brilliant to pack Maggi and use the kitchen facility in the room to cook Maggi (quick Indian noodles – all time favourite). Had some snack and went to sleep.

Next morning we woke up at 5:30, bundled up and headed to bus stop for our shuttle to the airport. And of course, Pooja had to forget her purse at the hotel that herself and Archana went back and retrieved. Reached the airport in shuttle and searched for our flight in the display of scheduled flights. And we were aghast that we could not find any flight to Tromso by Norwegian at 9:00am. After getting little nervous we went to the airline counter and they confirmed there is a flight at 9 (Thank God!). Went through security and of course you can't carry a water bottle through security and therefore we drank the whole bottle in the supervision of the security personnel who said you can take the empty bottle with you. It was 9 am and the sun was just about to rise while we were heading towards a city where sun will refuse to show-up for few months. When we reached Tromso the rays were much less than when we started in Oslo because of being above the Arctic Circle.

We landed amidst heaps and heaps of snow and unlike London, the airport had no issues running it normally with probably 10 times more snow than London. We took a taxi (it was 20 seater – but given the non-peak season during Christmas holidays we could hire it was the same rate), reached hotel in 10 minutes or so. The driver said you can see northern lights almost everyday and didn't seem particularly excited about it as we were. When we reached ABC Hotell Nord, we found friendly people and nice room overlooking the city and majestic mountains surrounding Tromso. All the fancy hotels were down the slope in downtown but I would say we had a better view from this place. We instantly realized that we had forgotten our backpack in the taxi and panicked, asked receptionist to call the taxi company to see if we can get it back. Fortunately the driver had found it and promised to drop it back.

As the supermarket was going to close soon we headed out to get some food for next two days the whole town looked like a ghost town. We came back to hotel and were relieved to see our backpack. We went down in the common room and had our meal, talked to few people and took some tips about tours, northern lights etc. The only tour operator open on 24th was Gunnar's aurora theatre and food. We got some sleep in the afternoon and woke up in the evening due to no sunlight most of the time. Evening and morning are purely based on time. We woke up, had some food and went out to apparently attend a midnight mass in a church, which was closed, and a bunch of students instead directed us to a bar :) We came back disappointed and went back to hotel room staring at the window waiting for northern lights but found none. We were now hallucinating northern lights and were dreaming about it.

In the morning, I called a tour operator ‘Tromso Villmarks Senter’ and went for dog sledding. To continue the saga of forgetting this time it was my wallet but couldn't find it and rushed to the tour with cash. Clearly Archana was upset because of her wanting to make sure everything is well organised. I was sure it was somewhere in the room and that was enough for me. When we reached there after half hour ride, we were welcomed by many of Alaskan huskies barking . We patted? some dogs, registered and told the lady we will make partial payment for combination of dog sledding and night northern lights tour as I had no wallet and just some local currency. She agreed.

We put on some warm jumpsuit from them, shoes and gloves. I had requested to drive my own sled with Archana as the passenger. When we got to the sled I was explained the instruction for balancing, breaking and dog behaviour. Very unexpectedly, Archana got very scared with big barking dogs and already had tears in her eyes. She said it feels like we’ll be thrown amidst all the hungry and aggressive dogs with sharp teeth to feed them. She said she wants to go with a guide and not me. I explained to her as well as called a guide to calm her down. She agreed to make me happy and as I desperately wanted to ride the sled and didn't want to be just the passenger. Now the sled was unanchored and dogs were desperate to run. I was driving a dog sled and controlling the speed by a physical brake on my feet. Dogs exactly knew where to go and there were tracks already made. We went through some amazing landscape overlooking snow covered mountains, Norwegian Sea and trees. It helped our memories to reflect on the documentaries we have seen on Planet Earth, Nat Geo and Discovery. So heavenly!! And dogs were very excited to just run. I had to brake a lot to avoid them overtaking sled in front of us. I was told to help dogs uphill by pushing the sled but they didn't need. Instead I had to break it to make sure they don't overtake. Archana was also enjoying as she realised this was very controlled environment and she was not in danger. She was taking a lot of pictures and videos and I was having the time of my life. We came back to the camp in about an hour and we went to all the six dogs individually and pet them, asked their names. Archana noticed one of the dogs was bleeding, she asked the tour operator. We were told that the dog already had a wound and it just opened due to the freezing temperature. We were feeling guilty; Archana and Pooja mentioned that we weren’t any less hypocrites. Anyway, we then headed towards the Sami tent; native north European tribes are called Sami’s. It was very warm inside the tent and everybody was sitting and talking inside (mostly English and French). We had requested a vegetarian meal and were not expecting much when they were focused on serving the local delicacy of reindeer meat. To our great surprise the meal we were given was amazingly tasty. It had peppers, lentils and other vegetables with very Indian flavour and spices. It looked like a vegetarian version of Ratatouille (French cuisine). We were happy and also later complimented/thanked the chef. While Archana was holding a glass of nice hot tea that was served, something fell in it from the top and she freaked out. It was a snowball that came in from the top of the Sami tent that is slightly open to the sky. It was fun. We took some pictures in the tent and outside. With expert advice from Archana and Pooja, I agreed to postpone the northern lights tour to the next day. We headed back in the van to the city. We walked around in the city and went to the hotel, relaxed and decided to be outside in the evening and convinced (read forced) Archana and Pooja for walking in the city crossing the bridge and went to Arctic Cathedral to the other side of river. When we started coming back, Pooja's hands were freezing and since she had forgotten her hat at the dog sledding camp it was even more uncomfortable. This made me feel little guilty ‘cos I was the one who wanted to stay out. I gave them both another pair of gloves and Archu's hat to Pooja as she had the hood. Archu's boots were killing her and that made her walk very fast to the hotel room. We reached back made few packets of Maggie and with some ready-made naan. Went back to the hotel room, kept staring at the window for northern lights and went to sleep. Woke up few times to see out to window and search northern lights but found none.

Since the next day was 26th we knew the aquarium was going to be open and we decided to start the day with the Polaria aquarium. Before that we had some breakfast talked to some people about any northern lights viewing. We were so desperate to see the northern lights that we literally dreamt about it. To our surprise someone mentioned they saw northern lights with Lungsfjord Adventure and showed us the pictures. We couldn't stop feeling guilty and changed our tour operator for that night to be Lyngsfjord adventure. According to the prediction from Alaska geophysical laboratories the particle activity that generate northern lights was even better this day. After booking we were quite excited and headed to the aquarium, watched two great movies on Svalbard and Antarctica, experienced seal feeding some good exhibitions. Went out to our first restaurant meal in Egon restaurant, ordered unlimited pizza and salad for three and ate plenty. Since we had little bit of time we went back to hotel room nearby and Archu took a power-nap, I surfed the net and Pooja took a stroll through the city for creative writing.

Finally we headed out to our one big hope to see the northern lights with Lyngsfjord adventures. The van was full of hopefuls with people doing dog sledding, northern lights, snowmobiling and reindeer sledding. We drove for little more than an hour to a remote place. I had my eyes outside the window the whole time but the time was still not ripe. We reached there, put on some warm gear, paid 990 NOK each and headed with a guide on a short walk further to a campsite with some Sami tents. The guide, Roy, gave some tips about capturing lights to the people with fancy DSLR cameras. But our digital point and shoot had no hope, not that it bothered us. The guide was very nice, funny and talkative. We walked over a kilometre in the wilderness, snow-filled jungle, if I may say. Reached the Sami tent, put some fire to warm us up and started the waiting game outside staring at the sky. We started staring at about 7 pm and stayed disappointed for quite some time until we finally gave up on -25 degrees temperature and went inside the tent to warm up. After lot of wait and frustration, the aha moment came and we did see the colourful lights dancing in the sky. Yes, the northern lights appeared. I yelled to call Archu, - I was already out J. The smile and excitement on her face was priceless. The northern lights were amazing but honestly, it was more rewarding to see the expression on Archu’s face.

Lights covered the northeast sky and got brighter. They were dancing and changing shapes continuously. And as we were told earlier, they were travelling east to west. The lights were in the backdrop of snow-covered mountains and can safely say it felt heavenly. We were lucky to have one of the guides take our picture with the light using his camera and we exchanged email later for him to send us the pictures. Lights started to faint slowly and vanished eventually. The whole show lasted for maybe 15 to 20 minutes well worth the whole trip to Tromso. We went inside the tent, warmed our fingers and toes and had some amazing cauliflower soup with bread. Again very good vegetarian option in the land of reindeer meat delicacy. We also had some very warm tea later and then headed to the base camp to change to our clothes (fortunately in bus this time). We changed, thanked our guides and got back to the van for our ride back. Just when we thought we are so lucky to have seen the light, Archana saw the lights again on the way and requested the driver to stop for sometime. Everybody popped out of the van with their professional cameras, we were staring at a band of light even brighter than before and enjoying it thoroughly. Most people with us had good digital SLR cameras and we managed to request them to send us some pictures by email. We continued our ride back to Tromso like a kid who got the perfect gift from Santa on Christmas. After all Tromso is considered part of Lapland which Santa calls home.

After about an hour we reached Tromso, thanked our driver and reached hotel room with a feeling of bliss and satisfied with our purpose of the trip. We all knew we were going to get very good night sleep tonight. We had our favourite Maggie dinner with pasta and bread in the hotel and went to sleep.

We had a lovely sleep and woke up with this bizarre sense of achievement. This day we had plans to visit all the famous places like the Polar Museum, the Cable Car and the Arctic Cathedral.

Polar Museum had a spectacular collection of the historical artefacts. All the exhibitions had stories for people like us to have an idea of how people survived in this region since ages, what they did to earn a livelihood. Pooja read the translated version and explained us in brief. All the stories were very heart touching. We later went to the Pepe's Pizza place to taste the second best pizzas in the world, first place is obviously, as Archana says 'Mitesh's speciality' ;) We were too full to call for a desert. Hired a cab and went on to take the cable car to the top of the snow-mountain. We were probably the last ones to have a ride up. Meanwhile Pooja saw a man cleaning the ice covered stairs and said she wanted to try doing that job at least once in life. Archana went and requested him if they could try doing it. The guy who was actually cleaning felt relieved for few minutes as both of them were doing his job for free. Cable car took us to the top of the mountain with spectacular views of the Tromso city and surrounding.

We had heard that in summers some enthusiasts do hang gliding from there. And of course there are slopes for experienced skiers. We went when it was dark and of course going when light is present will be a different experience. Archana's boots were killing her and was little bit ruining her enjoyment. The mountain had a trail to go the entire length of the mountain. We went down in the cable car and walked towards the Arctic Cathedral nearby. The cathedral, which is in the shape of a Sami tent, is very modern looking and has become a symbol synonymous with Tromso. We sat in the Cathedral; it was very peaceful and soothing feeling. We left the church and took a bus towards the city (arctic cathedral and Tromso city are connected by a bridge). We went to the hotel room to relax for sometime while Pooja inquired about the Mass in a nearby catholic church. After relaxing we headed to the church for the Mass. Even though the entire service was in Norwegian, we remained very interested and enjoyed the sermons. We then tried to hunt for a good Bar to listen to some good music but due to limited selections of vegetarian food we ended up in Egon restaurant again which conveniently remains open until midnight. We had baked potato, tortilla chips, apple pie with ice cream and hot chocolate. Stuffed, we went home and watched some detective series, news and How I Met your mother on TV. We slept very well our last night in Tromso.

Woke up at 9 am and got ready for some last minute shopping before our flights back to London in the afternoon. We headed to the Art Gallery of Northern Norway that unfortunately was closed. We decided to visit the nearby shopping mall and checked out apparels, jewellers before heading to the cafe for some quick lunch. After lunch we went to the grocery store to buy some Chocolates for Ashish and colleagues in the office. We had kept our luggage with the receptionist as our checkout time was 12 pm and we were leaving for airport at 3 pm. The receptionist had already booked the taxi for us.

We chatted with Ashish in London who told us about public transport disruptions to give us feeling of end of vacation and back to reality. We took the taxi to airport and checked into our flight. Fortunately we got first row seat with good leg space. The flight was slightly delayed but only about 20 mins. We had made plans to watch a movie ‘The Way Back’ after reaching London but it was dependent on arrival time. We were still searching for Northern lights from our plane windows like little kids. The Arctic Circle is much more beautiful than we could ever imagine!

Marathon Reflections - first 5 -miler

2009-04-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

After realizing that my first 3 4-milers were actually 3 milers because I confused street names in google maps, it was very disappointing. But next day I did the actual 4 miles and it was hard with pain in my stomach and back. Wasn't a good feeling but I didn't stop. And I told myself this will get better when my body gets used to it. And I think that's precisely what happened. I did my first 5-miler today. Went all the way to Brooklyn bridge and back. And that was a great feeling and easier than 4-miler.

Again proves the point that everything in life follows normal distribution. You get a hump midway through the challenge, but if you cross it, its all downward slope from then on. And weather being awesome today, I had a lot of buddies on the trail. When running long distance I remember Newton's first law of motion. A body in motion or rest remains in motion or at rest unless an external unbalanced force acts on it. When I am beyond 3 miles, I am in a inertia which can be only stopped by the external force of mental block / injuries which so far has not occurred yet (fingers crossed).

To my surprise when I told my mom that I ran 8 miles she was giving me sound fitness advice. She told me to not to take shower immediately after the run and not to drink water. I knew some of the advice she gave me but I was happy to see her participating in my challenge. And her knowledge about fitness comes from Ramdev yoga camp she has been attending, who knew Ramdev will indirectly influence my Marathon.

Marathon Reflections (Apr 1st)

2009-04-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today being my second day of 4 mile practice towards Marine Corps Marathon October 25th I was quite excited. Especially because I registered for it today along with Varun. I know I need to go from 4 to 26.2 but its encouraging that I finished 4 miles in half hour.

Today was a fun run because it was raining. To my surprise the running track was not empty. Track being next to FDR Dr., passing by cars splashed water on runners which was surprisingly ok and I didn't even try to avoid them. There was a layer of water on the track which when looking down gives a perception of running on water and you can see your reflection.
My current mile stone is from 18th street (My Apt) south to Cherry street and back which is total of 4 miles.

I wanted to inspire and get inspiration from friends who might decide to run this year. So far Varun fell into this category which is a very good start. I have seen in the past that I perform very well in competitive environment.

Pressure of overeating at restaurants

2008-01-09T18:19:00.001-08:00

I have, for the longest time, always ordered a appetizer and a main course when dinning outside. What I realized lately after so many years is that I almost invariably overeat as if my stomach will explode or have a doggy bag when I leave the restaurant. And without fail the food in the doggy bag ends up in trash can (for dogs) after being in refrigator for few days. I am not sure why it took me so long to understand that portion sizes and the courses (appetizer, main course and the dessert) is too much for most of the people in a meal.

So I started trying to be a smart customer at the restaurants. I sit down with a companion and we order one appetizer and one main course to share and the waitress keeps looking at us as if we are forgetting something. At some restaurants we have been even told that they have a minimum order per person even if you don't eat it all. The look on the waitress's face can be interpreted as either you are so cheap that you won't eat enough, or why am I wasting my time on you, you won't even tip me well. Experience tells me that the food we have ordered is more than enough and sometimes more than enough for both of us. What I have realized the best strategy to deal with this situation is to tip the waitress really well (>20%) which probably will cost you dollar extra but you will be sparred from dirty looks, heavy stomach or rotten doggy bag in your fridge.

Next time you go to a restaurant, try ordering one appetizer and main course and share it with a companion and let me know what reaction you get. I can bet if the waitress goes to a restaurant she might order same or even lesser than what you do because she sees all this waste everyday with almost every customer.

Pressure of overeating at restaurants

2008-01-09T18:19:00.000-08:00