Hong kong

The view from the hotel is awesome! Like stuti has described, clouds and hills and buildings and harbour. This is just like a wall paper!

A sudden decision and by the time we realized..we are already in HongKong. 

30 years of life on earth and my family presents me a holiday in HongKong. Thanks to all.

Our family friend Arun was also traveling with us as as Raveen and Arun had half a days work in HK. Not as friendly a staff as Emrites but a decent flight I must say. I was immobile through the flight as Stuti slept on my lap. She had no seat belt and that kept me almost awake. We had the refrigerator and the UPS break down because of high voltage problems few days before we left. Sleep less nights for me and for Raveen because of work and work related travel.

I think we did awesome in terms of packing! Clothes, food(we are going to HK where no one understands vegetarian!) was our check-in luggage and it was just 32kgs!!! A stroller, a back pack for Stuti's necessities and a passport bag. The food suitcase will be empty for the return. Not sure if Raveen realized what that means!!! HAHA SHOPPING!



The view from the room is awesome. The harbor, the waters, the man made(buildings) and the God made(mountains, clouds covering the mountains..).


While Raveen went to meet Arun he dropped us at a mall called the hotspot plaza. That's a very funny mall with tonnes of elevators and escalators. I asked one guy if there is a "toy shop" for the baby. He said go to the 7th floor. I went there and asked again for the "toyshop". A lady in uniform took some key and asked me to follow her. I was scared for a second but she was in a uniform! I was so impressed that they take care of the toy places so much that they lock and keep it? Confidently I followed her. We reached the "toy shop" But to my surprise, the board outside the room said something else. Any guesses? "Toilets" ! Toy shop sounded like toilet to her. She took me to the restrooms. As she waited out side I spent some time in the rest rooms and came out. Toilet in Chinese is called Cèsuǒ.


I had one hour and there's nothing to look around for so long unless I find a place. This time I directed myself to a the baby care room. While I was in the lift I saw the board that said baby play area and found our entertainment for atleast next half hour. 

At this point we figured that there is free wifi access for 15 min on the roads. Big hotels or the big internet companies give free public access of their internet but ofcourse with time limits. 


Day2

We decided to be early raisers on this holiday. Never in our life have we been early raisers! [Raveen and Stuti are still sleeping!] 

The great view makes you feel good early in the morning. Food from home and alittle shopping form the market place is what we survived on till now. Oats and bread for break fast. Not sure what's in the store fir today with Stuti. It was another sleepless night with her last night. :-|

Work day today for Raveen. Admirality (pronounced as - Ad mol ty) is where we went. 

After I met Raveen, we decided to take the ferry to Kowloon. We walked and walked and walked for about 40 min and reached the ferry. All we ate the whole day was bread. 

15 minutes to Kowloon in the Ferry. 1 hour by the metro. We reached some local places and did some street shopping too.

Met Arun for dinner and then back to the hotel. Disney Day the next day.

Day3

Our early morning started at 10 when we left the Hotel for Disney Land. Stuti was cranky. She probably was feeling uncomfortable in her stomach. Luckily the MTR station is only 2min away from the hotel.

The best thing was two days after coming to Hong Kong, she askes Raveen to take her to Hong Kong!

The Disney express was fun! Every thing was mickey theme. I felt like we were on the Hogwards Express!

Our adventures start here! While Raveen was standing in the queue for the tickets, Stuti and me went to buy sun glasses for Stuti. I was looking at the glasses for her and a bunch of people came in between her and me. She then started walking in the other direction looking for me. All this happened in a span of 30seconds. I thought she got lost. my heart missed a few beats and tears almost rolled down my eyes when I heard her call out for me...I ran in the direction and found her standing there. I think God told us in his way that it is very crowded and take care of her. We were very careful with her through the day.

In the mean time Raveen came back with the tickets. We were in the entry line and he suddenly realized that he forgot to redeem the discount voucher that we had. We ran back and asked them for help. They were very helpful to cancel the current tickets and give us the discounted ones. There you go! The Walt Disney studios! This was no different from the one in Paris. The first few things we ate was a muffin, donut and a swizz roll.

It was great fun unlike in the Paris Disney, we did a lot this time. We spent 8 hours were tired! 

Stuti was very excited to see a live mickey mouse at the golden mickey show. The kind of shows they put up are amazing! 

We were overwhelmed to see her happy. Its so funny that small things make you so happy! Both of us were so proud of ourselves that we finally did something that made her happy. Tears of joy almost rolled Down our eyes. We exchanged a few moist eyed happy glances and looked at our happy daughter again...satisfied! we couldn't see anything clearly and realized that we have to wipe our tears. It seemed so silly! but we were happy. :)

Live mickey and Minnie were all over Disney land. Stuti wanted to touch them and see what they are about. But when ever we went and stood in the line for the pictures they were done taking pictures. At one point she refused to come with out touching them. It started raining and people around said they will not come. We patiently waited and waited till they came. Mickey and Minnie finally walked out of they house and there we were standing to welcome them. Stuti was over whelmed! They guards saw us wait for so long and let us go first and stay longer. She was happy, we were happy.

                     

Every thing went well except for an hour in between all of us started fighting! We were all hungry. we ate and the fighting automatically settled down. ;)

Day 4

Stuti woke me up as she wants me to get up. I thought Raveen was still sleeping but to my wonder he was up much before all of us. It's my birthday today and I knew he was upto something but wasn't sure what! While we were walking on the roads the other day, we saw some lovely bunch of flowers. I really wished if I had one of the bunches. They were really pretty and  I thought Raveen will get some flowers as he always does for my birthday. He heard us get up and wished me as he walked into the room. He didn't have a bunch of flowers but had a bunch of papers in his hand. He gave those papers to me and said this is your gift! 

Surprised! I could see that it was a really thought through gift. Will describe the gift at the end of the post ;)(creating some suspense ;0)

All the ready to eat food that we got was successfully over and we were ready to leave for Macau. Quarry bay(where we stayed) - Shan wan(pronounced as sha-wa) and then to the ferry. 

Most of the MTR's stations are attached to the Malls. The malls have multiple levels. Each level will have a exit and the exit is either on the road or water or sky or a swimming pool or a golf course.

We went 7 levels up on some steep escalators in the Shan-wa station mall and the exit was to the ferry. It was amazing. Another few levels up was open to sky where Helicoptors take off. 

The super class ferry was fun! I think Stuti and I were sea sick and we slept off.

The Venetian:

Venetian, What a Place!!! It was my first time to a Casino resort. I thought the film makers exgerate when they show casino's etc in the movies. But it was not exaggeration.

The hotel rooms are so big. 10 poor families from India could stay comfortably in one room. The view from the hotel is just buildings but out of the world. The way these buildings are lit up at night is !!!

Site seeing at Venetian itself will take 2 days. We went around the place, played some golf and just hung around. Kids were not allowed into the casino. Raveen went into the casino and he said it was mind blowing. I just walked around just to see how the place looks. We took turns to go around the casino and the huge Venetian. It was really really nice.

The Gondala Ride place.

Inside the Venetian as we were walking we found an Indian restaurant called the 'Golden Peacock'. Its just like one of the restaurants at Taj or Leela. These people understand what vegetarian means! We were over whelmed! We had a heart full and a satisfactory Indian dinner. We ate well after 4 days. we felt home and started eating like we were at home. I started eating with my hand, roti and rice. I was licking my hands when I realized that we were not at home but in a restaurant and in the Chinese land. There were some Chinese who sat next to us and started looking at us. They were exchanging smiles with us and giggling amongst themselves. We were wondering why! Thought 'cozy we have a cute baby and that's why they are smiling. I almost finished eating and then realized they are surprised to see me eat with hand. I felt a little embarrassed but I guess it was ok. We are Indians in an Indian restaurant! Don't we try to eat with chop sticks when we go to a Chinese restaurant? Hmm...they didn't have a finger bowl to wash but gave wet tissues.

The hotel arranged for a birthday cake as it was my birthday. Every thing was perfect and well enjoyed except that we wished if some one could take care of Stuti just for half an hour when we wanted to do the gandola ride. 

It took one full day for Stuti to wish me happy birthday! She said "happy birthday amma".  

May be she relates a birthday with a cake.

No chance of going to the casino with the kid. There were baby sitters but I don't think we could even dare do that! 
We are going back when our kid is grown up.

Macau...await us! We will be back to win the gamble with you.

Day5

We checked out from the room but hung around  in the Venetian. We saw the walking dinosaur. It was quite nice watching the dinosaur  suddenly jump on people. We again took the super class ferry from Macau and came back to Hong Kong. The fare difference for the economy class and the super class is less than HK$10. But the difference in the customer service is amazing. Free food, drinks and wifi for super class passengers. These passengers have a special waiting lounge and are allowed to board first. The seats are likening first/business class seats in the plane. The economy class have no facilities . At the destination, their exit is blocked till all super class passengers have disembarked. 

We checked into Harbor plaza once again, this time on the 23rd floor. We spent the rest of the day exploring the places around the hotel.. 

2 more days to finish the trip! Stuti was done with Hong Kong and she wanted her toys in her room. She wanted to sleep on her bed! We were up late talking and talking. Once the routine starts we are again running around. 

Day6

We went to Ocean park and spent the whole day there. There were two parts in the ocean park, one you see as you enter and the other one you can go using the sky way. The sky was so high up in the sky.

                                

Stuti enjoyed herself and we all had loads of fun. We spent all day and returned home after they almost closed the ocean park.

Day7

The day to leave. Good part about any of our holidays is that we are very sad to leave for home! we enjoyed all our holidays till date. It amazing how people figure out conveniences. There was something called the in-city check-in. This check-in place is in the MTR station from where you have to take the train to the airport. Its around an hours journey from Hong Kong. You check-in your luggage here and then you can go around, shop, have fun and sit on the flight and you will receive your luggage at your destination. It was such convenience. Else it would have been so difficult with Stuti and the luggage.

In the MTR's there is an announcement always going on which says that all the railings are sanitized every 4 hourly and so please hold the railing when you are on the escalator. We thought it was very good.

The best thing that happened in the whole trip was Raveen's gift.

This is what the gift says:

Gift starts here:

Redeem these gifts in the next 12 months

No terms and conditions apply

Actual Gifts:

1. Holiday Abroad (summer or winter)

2. Baby sit for 1 day (can be used 6 times in next 1 year)

3. Do gardening with you (only redeem once)

4. Holiday with in India (6 times in a year)

5. End an argument (6 times in a year)

6. Come home by 5 PM (6 times in a year)

7. Massage anywhere in bangalore(2 times)

8. New bag

9. New shoes

10. Go out shopping with you (2 times atleast 3 months apart :) )

11. Blank - fill it with anything (time frame not mentioned ;))

I had to delay this blog to update on the gifts. Here is the update from 24th July 2013 to 24th March 2014:

full filled till now:

2 - used 2 times

4 - 3 destinations

5 - used 1 time

6 - used 1 time

7 - used 1 time

8 - he got be a new pink bag

10 - used 1 time

11 - He knows what is being filled in the blank :)

Its too shot a time for him to fullfill the rest. He can choose to extend the above for a life time ;)

Lets see what he has to say.

Happy Marriage

I always wanted to write about marriage since I got married but something kept me away from it. Probably lack of experience. ‘Queen’ - the movie we saw the other day inspired me and the experience gathered over seven years encouraged me to write this blog.

Our generation (80’s and early 90’s ) is not as fast as today’s generation. Present day kids do what they want and they have alrady have the brains to do so only in their teens. Money, less exposure, different kind of parenting kept us away from doing a lot of things which is not a blocker for today's kids.

Marriage was always scary. Scary because we have to leave the family and go with a stranger (Love marriages were a Sin!) but girls always desired their freedom after marriage. A different kind of freedom! Ofcourse a lot of responsibilities, but that freedom of being able to do what you like to do, wear what you want, be yourself; this gives a  whole new energy of taking the responsibilities and being good at them. When husband is understanding and has no restrictions on you, then you automatically become friends with your in-laws.

According to me, the success of a marriage depends on the Man.(a feminist poing of view - ha-ha-ha) The key is to keep the wife happy and you have a happy marriage. If the woman of house is unhappy, the whole house is unhappy. Give her the freedom she desires, let her learn from her mistakes, trust her decisions…

The thought process is changing every 5 years. Arranged marriages have a gap of at-least 4 to 6 years. In most marriages suffer because of this gap in the thought process and lack of understanding. Its very important to understand the thought process of your partner.

Lets see how much experience in marriage we gained over 7 years ;)

These are some quick points for boys and girls to head towards a successful marriage what ever generation you were married and you are in!

My Version: 

Express what you feel:

Two people of completely different backgrounds suddenly living together because one ceremony called marriage happened? Its not easy…when men are with friends, they just talk/comment. When it comes to wife they don’t understand that certain things hurt. Just tell him immediately when you are hurt. Tell him you don’t like when he says that! This is a easy solution to solve this problem instead of keeping it in mind and carrying it to a big fight later.

If you are bored, tell him to take you out:

Figure out an activity for yourself outside home. It may be work or a work out. Make sure you are not stuck to the kitchen/house work. Exploring the world all by yourself gives you the confidence and a sense of achievement.  There is lots to know and we have only one life. If your interest is not to go to an office and work, join some classes, make friends…create your own life. This is important because husbands are busy with their own work and tend to ignore us. The more we depend on them the more disappoint we will be. When they know that we are not dependent on them for our entertainment, then they tend to get insecure (wink wink), notice the changes. They will tend to spend time with us ;) [it’s a trick gals]

Tell him house is your work and not to micro manage:

If he tells you what to and how to work in the kitchen and around the house - listen to him if it makes sense to you. (they don’t understand a lot of things in the house and kitchen) if it doesn’t, be clear, that convenience is important for you. He has big things at work to take care of, do not micromanage.

Comfort:

This is for boys to do for girls.

There are a lot of things she has done for you. She left her family she lived with for last 25 years and now she is living with you, with your family, to make your friends her friends, to be your Soul mate. All she needs when she is with you is the comfort and confidence.

--One important way of comforting her among a lot of other ways is to make her feel your love. This builds more confidence for her in life. This can happen not just by saying ‘you know I love you’ or saying ‘I love you’. Going a little out of your way to make her feel happy is not a sin! She is your love! Fix a day in a month to spend time just with your wife…When you get a call from work, just say you are in a meeting and will call back. We girls are so easy I tell you…this will mean the world to us! Corporate hugs and ‘here is your Kiss’ kisses are a part of every day. But give the best of your hug and Kiss every now and then.

--The other way of comfort is financial comfort. Its important that the girl feel what ever is there is for both of you. If ever in a conversation she says ‘I will ask my dad to buy that for me’……Dude, you are in trouble very soon. Trust me, she is not comfortable in her mind financially.

--She had a few things in mind that she wanted to do after marriage and is hopeful that her husband will support her. Just let her experience what she wanted to.

**If you really don't like something or don't want to do anything, just make a big deal out of it.

I asked Raveen to put down on what/how guys think and what they expect from a wife….lets see what he has to say:

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

‘m sure he is so happy with me that he has nothing to say ;) (HAHAHAHA)

(Will update this when he is done saying it.)

We lately started agreeing on a lot of things together. Amazing na! these are some points that we both of us agreed on..

Understanding each other:

There are certain things that really irritate how much ever you understand your wife or a husband. Just don’t do those. Some times small sacrifices/compromises help a lot. These irritants are only a small portion of your living together. Just ignore them.

Never sleep angry:

We were introduced to this concept by my sister-in-law on the first day of our marriage. When she told us we always wondered why? But we slowly understood why?

1. in the first year of marriage you fight so much that if you don’t resolve your fights the same day before you sleep, it gets hard to keep track ;).
2. If you talk about it and bring a solution, then you don’t have to fight on the same topic again.
3. You start understanding each other more when you talk about your problems and fights.

Feeling freedom: This is very important in a marriage for both wife and a husband. Wife should feel free to do what she wants and discuss the same with the husband. Husband should feel free to do something what he had always wanted to do or do with his wife. Doing things together helps bond more. One shouldn’t hesitate to take about anything to the other.

Book by my aunt: When my marriage was finalized with Raveen, my aunt Patty gave us a book called His Needs- Her needs written by Willard F. Harley, Jr. It’s a great book! Some chapters are not for Indian marriages but these can be skipped. It was a great help for us to really understand his needs and her needs. Till this moment this book was Patty aunti’s book. To write it here I just now read the author’s name ;). It’s a must read before you get married and start staying together.

Hobbies:

Pursue your hobbies separately. Its actually a lot of fun and a lot of learning if you do your partners hobby. Its so much fun doing together. Cook together…cycle together…play together…Try it out!

Happy Marriage…