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.

Long stay at Delhi and Visit to Jaipur

As usual...after a lot of confusion and wait, we finally decided to travel to Delhi and mumbai for his work. I decided to take a break from work and travel along with Raveen. Good or bad my leave for 2 months got approved..ofcourse with out pay!

We left for Delhi on the 22nd of July 2009. All of us in the family went out for dinner on the friday before the 22nd to celebrate my birthday. I got a lot of gifts.

We stayed in a place called the comfort inn, at Kalkaji, Delhi. The room was a little small (actually very small) but it was really homely. All the days we were there, we felt we were literally over each other. May be staying in such a big and spicious house in Bangalore made us feel the space-less-ness even more. Unlike Bangalore, Delhi was very hot. We made sure both of us got enough space by going out and getting some alone time. Raveen any way left for work every morning; so that was easy and we didn't have to fight much for that.

Kalkaji main road was a very happening place. The second day of our stay I throughly knew what was where on the main road. There was a temple in the next street where I used to go quiet often. I visited the temple for my Birthday. That night we went out for dinner and had a lot fo fun. I didn't mention what Raveen gifted me! He gifted me a touch screen - Samgsung Star cell phone. The next 2 day I spent my time trying to figure out the new phone and its features. .

As we do not know any one in Delhi, I had to depend on Raveen to go to any place. I was sad that I haven't gone shopping but fortunately there was a shop in Kalkaji, 3rd left on the main road, which was a combination of the Sarojini nagar, Connaught Place in terms of dresses shopping. They had good stuff and that was my shopping hub. The lady there, Neha, was good enough to me to show all her collections even if I didn't buy anything. That was a good time pass for some time. But I did buy some interesting stuff from her. I found another designer who designes dresses and stitches them. Her name is Ishwin. I gave my dresses to Ishwin for stitching.

Our actual plan was to stay in Delhi till the 14th of August and come back to Bangalore for Raveen's birthday. So this gave me enough time to give my dresses for stitching and also think abt doing something useful for 3 weeks. I was in a confusion whether to join some computer classes or photography classes or makeup classes 'coz every this was there at Kalkaji. We have also registered and paid for using the fitness center that was close by to the place we were staying. I found a good and resonable beauty parlour to keep me occupied for a day.

We went around the city the 1st week end we were there. We went to Lal Khila, Veer Bhoomi, Raj Ghat and Shakthi Sthal. We watched 2 movies each day of the week end. (Kambakth Ishq and I don't remember the other one)

In between we went to the Canadian High commission to submit Raveen's passport for renewal. Raveen was called to attend a student counselling program (as a counseller) that was being conducted at the High Commission. He got my name also added to the list. The High commission was amazing. They have all 5 start facilities. We were provided with some snacks and they tasted out of the world. To mention more...the bathrooms were so clean, big and fresh. It was a good experience for both of us to go around the high commission for some time.

Another week passed and we decided to go to Jaipur that week end.

Jaiput trip was a lot of fun. We took the Jaipur shatabdi express. Reached in the afternoon on the 1st of august, saturday. It was about 10 in the morning when we reached Jaipur. We booked our stay at a Chokhi Dhani, an ethinic 5 star village resort. http://www.chokhidhani.com/ We got a Cab and the driver was very helpful and friendly. We decided to go and see the city 1st before going to the resort as it was a little far from the actual city. We went to see Jal Mahal Palace and then did some shopping. We went to a Governement store managed by the Rajasthan Textile Development Coporation. http://www.rtdcjaipur.com/. We were over-whelmed to see the collections they have. We hardly shopped anything and the bill was 10,000 INR. For thr 1st time after our marriage, Raveen selected a saree and got it for me. I loved it :) We went to the the resort towards the evening.
Our cottage was very beautiful. It was just like a village house with a low roof and the furniture that looked very villageee..

Chokhi Dhani resort has a village which is open to the public. This is like a mela that happens in the villages. People from the near by villages come to this place and perform. There are so many activities like the camel rides, elephant rides, mehandi, dances, puppet shows, eating places, magic showes, games, folk dances, shopping etc.


We got absorbed in the celebrations. After a long time we had so much fun.
We spoke to different people from the village and came to know that these villarges whoc come here to perform get only Rs. 50(women) and Rs. 100(men) a day. They stay there till around 11 in the night and go back to their village by walk whick is a little far from this place. They come back at around 4 every evening.

We got up late and missed the free break fast. We had lunch the next morning, checked out and went around the city. We saw Hawa Mahal, Royal Palace, the pink city etc. and then took the train back to Delhi on the August 2nd night which was a sunday.

The next day went as usual. Tuesday morning we got up as Raveen got a call from his office. He was on the phone for some time. At about 9 in the morning he got ready and went to the office. Before leaving he asked me if I wanted to go back to Banaglore that evening. It was too shot a notice a notice to pack up everything and so I discouraged. In any case he said he will confirm by 11 that same day. It was 11:30 and I haven't gotten any call from him. I thought there is no plan to go and casually called him to here that we are leaving and he is booking the flight ticket for the 9PM flight that night, which means we hve to leave the place by 6 in the evening. He had to be in Bangalore the next morning for a meeting.

I was alarmed. I then realized that i had to start running. I had to collect my clothes from the tailor, get the refund from the gym, get the bill ready for the place we were staying (which Raveen wanted me to do) and on top of all this Pack. We had to pay an amount of Rs. 400 while coming to Delhi as our luggage weighed 45Kgs as against 40Kgs. So this time I have to pack intelligently. I had lot more things to carry than what we came with (obviously I did a little bit of shopping).

I told the hotel fellow to start the billing process. I then went to tailor to collect my clothes. Added to all this confusion, the tailor had 100 questions and some design changes as he didnot get the material for the first design we had decided on. And she said she will get them stitched and give it by 4:30pm. I then went to the fitness center to talk to the owner. Each place was a little far from each other and the only mode of transport was to walk. I went to the center and the owner was not available. I waited there for some time as i thought I will not have enought to go back to the place. I decided to reach him on the phone and left the place. Came back to the hotel and started to pack. In between all this there is an important thing called hunger which started to bother me. I ordered for some quick lunch and got back to the packing again. I have to be careful in packing so that i do not pay naything extra this time. I made 3 hand luggage and 2 check-in luggage. I finished half of it and again went to the tailor once again. this time she said she can't finish my clothes before I leave and so she will get the dress couriered .we discussed abt it a little and then I came back. By the time I was done, It was 5 in the evening. Raveen came around the same time and then settled the hotel bill. We then called a cab and left for the airport.

Thinking about all the running made me type the above paragraph so fast with out stopping.

O Man!!! All the rest I took for the 2 weeks was just over in a day. I badly needed an other holiday immediately. I don't know how successful his meeting was, but I the day has become memorable for me.

No one at home knew that we were coming back. We decided to give them a surprise. The next morning I went to see parents and they were really surprised.

Weekend trip to Nainital

..Hill view from the resort

Raveen has been to Delhi for a couple of weeks. I decided to join him for the week end and we planned to go to Nainital.

Nainital as I heard is a very beautiful place. April to June and September to November is the right season to visit Nainital.

Our actual plan was to take an over night bus to Nainitaland then take a taxi back home. We went to the bust station 1/2 hour early. we had ice cream. The bus arrives. We get into the bus and realized that we were not allotted the seats. It was a Volvo sleeper. In between all the confusion, the cleaner came and started to spray a strong and badly smelling perfume just to make sure that the seats do not stink! The cushions were all wet and no one know what was spilt on them. We saw the driver with a bottle of beer in his hand, standing next to the bus and drinking.

This was the height of it! we decided to forget the bus. We decided to take a cab early next morning.

We reached only around the afternoon of the Saturday, the 6th June. Only after reaching the place we came to know that we choose the wrong time to go there. It was so crowded that it took around 2 hours to travel 15 km once we reached. One good thing this was that the place we choose to stay. It was a Garden valley resort, a little away from Nainital, called Bhimtal.

This resort where we stayed is very beautiful and is located in a Vally between 2 hills. the location, atmosphere, ambiance and everything else was so beautiful. The food the made was awesome. The head chef, Akshay, makes food with the help of his mom. The father looks after the rest of the issues of the layout. The bread is also baked in house. We had a very good time relaxing in there. We were woken up by the birds singing beautifully early in the morning. What we did was just to be with the nature, admire the flowers and be with the nature. We spent a lot of time near the natural water body that formed under the hills. The water was so clear and fresh. .....This plant is found a lot near the water body. Its not poisonous but if you touch any part of the plant, you feel like the thons of this plant have gone into your body and its starts paining as if some one is poking you with a very sharp needle continuously. This feeling will be there for about 3 to 4 days and will subside automatically. The funny thing is that no thons are visible if you see the plant.
In the vicinity of this plant there is always another plant whose leaves can be used as a cure for this.

It so happened that when we went to see the water body for the 1st time, by mistake Raveen touched this plant and the wierd feeling started on his thumb finger. After 10 minutes, both of us got scared if something has gone inside the finger and we rushed back. One the way up the hill, we met the lady who is the owner and also takes care of the garden and plants in the resort. She told us about the funny rather interesting nature of this plant. Due to our poor memories, we donot remember the name of this plant ;). God's creation is amazing....regarding the plant and also our memories (hahaHa)


The stay was just for a night but was really unforgettable.
An other unforgettable event happened while coming back from Nainital to Delhi. We left for Delhi at 2:30 in the afternoon. We could reach there only at 12 in the night. There was a huge traffic jam in UP for more than 2 hours. The story behind the traffic jam goes like this - There is a place in UP called 'GadGanga'. It is said that lord Shiva started to leave Ganga on earth from his head at this place. It is very auspicious to have a bath in this river on a full moon day.
Our luck took us to the same place on a full moon day which led to a traffic jam for more than 2 hours.

We were back in Delhi at around 11:30 in the night and were very hungry. Once place we saw was open. The place to sit was open to sky under a tree. we ordered roti and curry and started to eat. We felt something from the top fell into the plate. We mistook it to be a leaf or something. But guess what it is! It was a cockroach!!!
We got away from the table with a load shout. may be all this just to realize how good home is!