Half a million in my kitty!!! :)))))

Hit the 5L mark yday… now for the million

Thanks, you guys!

To have walked the same land as Sachin…

… I feel blessed!!

To… the God!

Tips to anyone traveling to Sydney/Melbourne

Tips to all traveling to the Aussie lands (specifically to Sydney and Melbourne)

• Make sure you call and confirm your hotel bookings before you take off. We suffered a goof-up and its not a good idea to be stranded in a foreign land. I would suggest to go a step further and keep a plan B ready. It would be a good idea to keep the address and phone numbers of your second choice of the hotel
• It is a good idea to buy a sim card, while you are there. It can be as cheap as $2 and will come handy if you have urgent calls to make. Phone booths are quite abundant, but making calls from them very very expensive ($0.50 for 1 min of local calls and 2 secs of International call)
• Most museums/palaces close by 4PM or 5PM. So plan your day accordingly.
• Have a list of restaurants, etc handy in case you have preferences like Gluten-free food or Veggie options. In both places, we had enough veggie options available… but mostly in the CBD area! Rest if you venture into suburbs, it may get difficult finding a decent place to eat! Most restaurants close pretty early too (by 9 PM), so make sure you know the timings beforehand!
• Public transport in Sydney and Melbourne is crazy expensive, so it is probably a good idea to buy weekly/daily travel passes if you are planning to move around a lot on your own!
• It is always advisable to stay in the city area so that you can experience the city life of both the places.

Will keep updating this with any ideas from you guys So, let me know what you think

Valentine Week in the Land Down Under!!

Guys, apologies galore for taking off without a warning! Noobie and I just got back from a 9-day trip to Australia – We covered only the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Here goes my account of the same.

Day 1 – Sydney

We arrived in Sydney on Day 1. First impression of the city: Very rude people right from the air hostess of the flight to the lady at the information counter. A very unfriendly kind of airport, with internet browsing, phones etc not easily available. And then we took off from the airport and reached a suburb of Sydney. The area was right out of a dream – lush green surroundings, beautiful hut shaped houses, chirping of the birds and tweeting of the crickets… The calmness and the serenity was stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city area! We roamed the Darling harbour that night, to check out the night life of sydney.. it was good fun seeing the all-sober aussies go completely nuts on Saturday night

Day 2 – Sydney

Lunch at a Thai restaurant and a walk down the CBD area of Sydney was good fun thanks to the lovely weather…! It had rained for most part that morning and threatened to do so during the evening!

 Dozens and dozens of prettily clad women flaunting roses in their hands reminded me that it was Valentine’s Day!

Witnessed a gorgeous Aussie wedding  The best part was these lovely ladies dressed as mini-brides

Day 3 – Sydney

A visit to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge… The landmarks are as majestic as they appear in pics… In fact the history of the Harbour bridge is equally fascinating…

What followed soon after was a visit to the Manly Beach… We took the ferry to the beach and the view of Sydney skyline from there was simply breath-taking

The Manly beach reminded me of the beautiful gigantic waves in the Beaches of Goa… Had a lovely lovely time there with self-learning how to surf – not to mention falling heads down… thanks to the water for cushioning my fall!

After coming back from the beach, we headed directly to a friend’s place… cooked pasta for every one… it was superrrrrrr fun!!

Day 4 – Sydney

On the fourth day, we travelled to the museum, the casino and the Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach was the most ferocious beach I have ever seen…

There was so much wind, the sand was hitting us!!! The majesty of the ocean was in its full glory – it was intimidating yet magnificent!!

Day 5 – Sydney

This day was meant to just laze around the area… indulge in a bit of shopping… visit museumss, then visit nearby casinos… !! We called it a day by meeting up for dinner with all friends Had awesome Lebanese food there… A super end to a super nice visit

Day 6 – Melbourne

The trip to Melbourne started on a sour note with the air hostesses being the rudest I have ever seen! The terms “polite” do not exist in their dictionary! I was pissed to the core!! Anyways, I let that pass… so we reach Melbourne airport and take the skybus to the city. What was mentioned as a 10 min walk to the hotel turned out to be a 40-min struggle! We finally reached the place and it was super dingy with the hotel manager being super rude! We checked out instantly and were on the road again looking for a place to stay! After a struggle of around 3 hours and some incredibly helpful desis and Aussies on the way, we managed to find a super hotel, right in the middle of the CBD area!!

[I wrote a TripAdvisor review for the hotel. You can find it here. Thanks Apu for bringing this to my notice.]

We ended the day by going to a casino, where we lost everything we bet. The only silver lining was Noobie meeting up Chris Gayle, captain of West Indies cricket team. I had to stifle a laughter when Noobie walked up to him and asked “Dude, what time is the match tomorrow?” Chris, being the uber cool guy he is, looked at him and smiled “230 man! U coming?”

Day 7 – Melbourne

Day 7 was marked by visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was my 5th or 6th visit to a cricket ground and the experience was like nothing I had seen before! The vastness of the place was intimidating… it is one of the 7 wonders of the sporting world and rightly so!

What made the experience all the more unforgettable was the crowd – the super enthu and lively crowd – Aussies not only love their game but also know it well and that could be seen from the reactions on every ball…!!

The crowd’s reaction to Bollinger fielding at the boundary was an interesting sight too!! The crowd would start singing jingles with his name and the fielder would do a little jig to please them, getting a tremendous response in return… so much so that, he actually forgot to be “inside the field” once when the ball was bowled

The entire stadium would reverberate with “Dougy… Dougy… Dougy…”

Day 8 – Melbourne

After a super fun filled second day in Mel, we set out on what was soon to be the most beautiful drive of our lives The Great Ocean Drive. The entire place reminds you of… well.. nothing… I had not seen anything like it, ever! Mountains on one side, ocean on the other, lush green farms on one side, mountaineous terrain on the other… it was like the best of both worlds… it was like a paradise, a union not easily found! Check out the pics to see what I mean…

We hired a car… because both of us love driving… took a map and drove away…

While in the city, we took a few wrong turns and had no idea where we were… so, we decided to ask this one guy in the car next to ours… he looked back with a kind face and asked us where we were going, we told him we were looking for the West Gate Freeway… He said… “Follow me” and the guy drove us right to the start of the Freeway… Bless him! And only once he started driving, did we realise that he was a policeman!! A very noble one at that

Also, we noticed a lot of people come to us and ask us if we were lost or something… I guess, we looked pretty touristy with backpacks and a map in our hands! But, yes, we did get a chance to meet the softer side of Melbourne – Exceedingly helpful people

Day 9 – Back to good ol’ Sing

On the 9th day and after an awesome trip, we headed back home. Looking back, it was an interesting trip where we got to see a totally different culture and meet various kinds of people – some outrageously rude, but most amazingly sweet

If you came this far, thanks for bearing with the lonnnnngggggggg post My next one is going to be some tips to any one and everyone planning a trip to Sydney/Melbourne.

Love is in the air… :)

I consider February as the month of love… Not just because it has the most universally celebrated day of the year, the Valentine’s Day, but also represents the sacred thread of love which bound two of the purest souls on Earth forever – Yes, its my parents’ Wedding Anniversary! Love you, mom and dad

So, that officially makes February the “Love Month of the year”

Talking of love, I sometimes wonder if it is indeed the most “loosely” used word in English dictionary… do we really mean it when we use it? Then how do people fall in and out of love with so much ease, as if just changing into a fresh piece of clothing!

And yet, everyone seems to be in constant search for love… even those already married or seeing someone! The quest for that “perfect soul mate” has ruined many a lives in the past and will continue to do so in the future… whatever happened to the concept of “Eternal love”? People use the word “love” to depict their ulterior motives… They often confuse love with lust, obssession and what not! Are we running behind an illusion, which is anything but love?

While designing the theme page for the blog, I cudnt help but wonder… Love has never been more celebrated than today’s times… We have days to celebrate our love with that special someone! Innumerable number of ways in which love can be expressed… u have e-cards, letters, e-mails… Communication media is at its all time best! Facebook, orkut, u name it… And yet, love of the yesteryears survived the toughest of the hardships and was truly eternal… It was never important to say it out loud then… it was felt in the eyes!! There was a romantic subtlety about it… which made it sooo pristine and pure… much unlike today, when one seems more engrossed in finding the best of the lot… and the search never ends… coz the moment u have found someone, there will always be someone better waiting around…!! I am not sure if you guys did notice this… whenever there is a break-up, the one breaking up always has someone better in their mind already! The entire phenomenon has been sadly reduced to a strategy game of sorts!

Sigh!

And yet, there are some others who deeply and truly understand what love is…

Let us just hope that with all our fancy dos and amidst all the dhinchak means, we are able to celebrate love in its purest and most unadulterated form!

Enjoy

[Image: courtesy: truewhisper]

Phoebe of FRIENDS is an Aquarian!

Whacko, insane, and genius in her own way… Phoebe represents the quintessential Aquarian!

Have a nice birthday, all you beautiful Aquarians out there

As I turn a year older…

Amidst all the fun, masti, blessings and good wishes… and tired as hell by the end of the day… I end this day with nothing but a heart full of love and a hugeeeeeeeeeeee smile on my face

I am writing this with eyes half closed… just had to tell u guys… Details laterzzz!!

Love ya all!