My First Trip Abroad – Part IV March 23, 2007

I am back! So much happened in the last 8 days that I don’t know where to begin or what to highlight. So I have resorted to the good ‘ol lists that I love. A list of things that made the trip memorable, both in good and bad ways.

Things that amazed me:

1. The lack of colour in San Francisco – everything was beige, grey, brown or shades of them.
2. The cold – I am still surprised I didn’t catch a deadly cold.
3. The litter on the streets of SF. I expected the roads to be squeeky clean.
4. The lack of milk in both coffee and tea.

Places I loved:

1. Singapore airport – huge, colourful, awesome shops, wonderfully clean.
2. 17-mile drive and the awesome photo ops there.
3. Fisherman’s Wharf in SF and the amazing memento shop there. Their tagline was ‘never a dull memento’

Food I Enjoyed:

1. Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory above Macy’s. One of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth.
2. Hot Chocolate and Vanilla Late from Starbucks. One of the four shops in a junction is a Starbucks coffee shop. That’s how many there are in SF. I often got lost keeping that as a landmark cuz they are everywhere!
3. The dinner at Buca Di Beppo. Everything was amazing, especially the dessert!

Things I bought:

1. Camera for myself.
2. Chocolates, tee shirt and mementos for Prats.
3. Mementos for relatives and parents.
4. More chocolates.
5. Straightening iron (please don’t judge me!) for Prats and me.
6. Moisturiser, body wash, blah blah.
7. Flip-flops for amma.
8. Tee, chocs and books for Shanky.
9. And yes, I ate a lot.

Realisations after I typed the above. I ate too much, I didn’t buy enought stuff for family, I have been quite selfish and I bought waaay too many things for Prats (I am so dead if she reads this )

Interesting things I did:

1. Learnt how to read a map and yet get totally and hopelessly lost.
2. Walk 8 blocks and take a cab for the last 2, totally exhausted.
3. Tasted crab, will say ‘no, thank you’ next time. Have I told you I am an aspiring vegetarian? Sigh.
4. Sat up till 4am in the morning in The Hilton lobby, browsing, blogging and reading.
5. Managed to stay awake during the conference after sitting up till 4am that morning.
6. Tried a hand on the scooters in GooglePlex. Didn’t get far though.
7. Waited an hour and a half for a streetcar to take me to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Things/People I missed:

1. Home (both Hyd and Kottayam)
2. Mom and her amazing cooking (amma, you are the best cook in the world, I don’t care what otehr kids have to say about their moms!)
3. Coffee and tea with milk in it.
4. Spices
5. Warm weather and seeing myself in just normal tee shirt and jeans minus the bulky jackets.
6. Shanky.
7. Prathibha.
8. Being in the same timezone as people I cared about. Man, that sucked. Its not fun when you want to talk to someone while knowing they are fast asleep!

I really enjoyed the Pebble Beach, 17-Mile Drive and The Mystery Spot. Have some pics down here . I am yet to get more pics from others. Will update soon!

March 21, 2007

Part IV of My First Trip Abroad coming up soon.. I am in Singapore airport now where we have to stand and use the free internet. There is no way my jetlagged feet can take it till I finish typing an entire post, and there is a lot to write. If my wi-fi works, then maybe soon, otherwise, a post coming up around this time tomorrow.

Until then..

My First Trip Abroad – Part III March 16, 2007

Still in the US, still taking in the smells and sounds and tastes and everything connected to these three.

First things first. I bought a camera!! (Drums rolling in the background with a huge chhhhng sound at the end) Its a Nikon Coolpix and the entire purchasing time took 12 mins. I had checked prices online and Circuit City had the cheapest rates. They also had a store very close to our hotel so me and a friend went there in the evening and there! I was the proud (and extremely excited) owner of a new camera. Here is what I got.

Its everything I always wanted. Compact, a good brand, and hmmm.. a camera!! I am not much of a photographer and don’t aspire to be a great one either. But definitely intend to put this to good use. Just wait and see, you guys. Oh , by the way I got it for USD 130 which roughly comes up to INR 6000. Wanna know more? Go here.

Now for the first ever pic taken with my camera.

Tadaaaaaaaaa

That’s a very tired me after some shopping, walking entire stretch of China Town (yes, there is one in SF too) and dinner at Ming’s Chinese Restaurant (my Indian taste buds refuse to like anything made out of my home country, pompousness I tell you)

And now for the first picture that I took with my new camera.

Tadaaaaaaaaaa Tadaaaaaaaaaaa

Doesn’t it look nice? Its a small portion, rather one part of a wall, in the Hilton Lobby and I took it from where I am sitting. Quite pleased with myself I should say.

Its midnight now and some crazy colleagues are calling me to go to Starbucks! So gotta go now. Meanwhile, stay safe all of you people out there.

My First Trip Abroad – Part II March 14, 2007

March 12th 6:00pm (Yes, its still 12th of March and if I never go back home, I actually get an extra day in my life. Swell, huh?)

San Francisco Airport : Me trying hard to search within for excitement. I even searched for some jetlag. I am such a loser, neither was that strong a feeling. Went on to immigration, got my luggage and stepped out. There were people to receive us, with buses that had wider windows and plusher seats than we had seen in Singapore. I was alarmed to find that I was also a little hungry. It was shameful, considering that I had done nothing but eat all through the flight. I was proud of the fact that I had lost sense of time and how long I had slept or stayed up. Now that my friend, is a pretty cool feeling.

It was a chilly ride to Hilton. I counted 3 Indian restaurants, 4 Indian-Pakistani restaurants (we live in much more harmony here in the US) and a zillion Thai retaurants. There is one right opposite The Hilton.

There was much confusion at the check-in counters with the receptionists confusing our first names for our last names and getting the gender wrong for most of us. Managed somehow to lug ourselves up to the rooms. Oh oh, I have to tell you this. My room is on the 10th floor and we got here on a high-speed lift (remember the Blackberry-Hutch ad? Where a boy says ‘high speed lift – to get daddy to office fast’).

It was 8pm by the time I scrubbed myself clean and put on some warm clothes. Ravenous by now, I set out with two friends, in search of food in this big, new, colourful, city. We spotted a Thai Restaurant called Arroi and stepped in. Had amazing food, pretty close to the Indian flavour and spice.

Walked/jogged back (not cuz I had suddenly decided to work out on-the-spot, but cuz it was c-o-l-d and I had to remind myself I actually had feet and they need to get some blood too) to the hotel and crashed into bed.

My First Trip Abroad – Part I March 14, 2007

Hyderabad – Singapore

Disclaimer: The post is long, potentially boring and most probably not what you want to know. But anway..

Sunday 11th March : Normal Sunday with a twist in the end. Woke up pretty early cuz I wanted to take a long nap in the afternoon to fight against the jetlag we were so constantly warned of. Idled around, made lunch, ate, read for some time, bathed, watched ‘Father of the Bride’ (It was so much funnier when I watched it 2 years back) and then hit the bed. It was around three and I closed my eyes, patiently waiting to fall asleep. 3:10, 3:15, 3:20.. Nothing. Read for some more time. Nothing. Changed the sheets and pillow case. Nothing (And this always works!). Tried warm milk. Yes, you guessed right. Nothing! Gave up at 4:30, sighed and made sure I had packed everything.

The hyderabad airport was full of Googlers by 9pm. We had travel agents handing us forms in various colours with all possible info to be filled in. We positively drove them mad with our quesitons and doubts and fussing and pouting (yes, that too)

After a long wait and snacking on ridiculously over-priced sandwiches, we finally boarded. It was 00:30 when we took off. Off to Singapore!!

Unnecessary Trivia About Me #1 : When I was a kid, I always wanted to marry someone in Singapore and get settled there. I had no idea whatsoever how it looked or where it was, I just wanted it!

Monday 12th March : 7:30 am – Landed in Singapore. There were travel agents there too with placards that said ‘The Google Group.’ Yes! That’s us alright. There was a free (very attractive word, especially if you have had the experience of exchanging fat wads of Indian currency for 2-3 notes of foreign ones) 2-hour bus tour around Singapore.

8:45am : Trying hard to keep eyes open. Oohh.. the travel guide had a very soothing voice with a nice accent. The bus had wide windows, plush seats and just the right temperature to doze off. Sigh. Saw major part of the city instead.

Unnecessary Trivia About Me #2 : I have heard how clean Singapore is and how you can practically roll on the road and not get dirty. To be very (very very) honest, people there litter too. They do. I found pieces of pater, wrappers, matchsticks and the like on the roads. Now the worrying part is, I was glad when I saw them. Weird?

10:13am : Reached the airport. I saw a Starbucks coffee shop near the entrance and bought a coffee mocha for 4.5$. Felt all sophisticated and nice inside. It was really bitter and I didn’t like it (sorry, Starbucks people) Looked around in vain trying to spot my friends. Nobody in sight. Finally I ran into a few people who were planning to go to ChinaTown. On an impulse (which also made me feel very adventurous and gregarious), I set out with them. With no Singapore dollars in my hand, it was dumb!

Had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in ChinaTown and roamed around the place. There were loads of shops with Feng Shui stuff and paintings. Was really tempted to buy a painting but there is no way I could have got it back here without it crumbling to pieces cuz they were not framed and were on recycled paper that was very brittle.

3:00pm : Reached the airport, freshened up and went around looking for the free internet computers that I heard were around. After 25 mins of searching I finally found them. I had to stand and use it so couldn’t blog (which was the originial and only intention. I am telling you, I am addicted to this thing). Ended up checking my mail and sending some.

Flight took off from Singapore at 5:00pm. I was half asleep when I got on board. Oh boy! Here comes the much undesired jetlag.

Some stuff about Singapore Airlines

1. They have pretty airhostesses who wear a printed dress in blue, green and red that’s very pretty. Even their footwear is made to match these designs.

2. They have an great collection of in-flight entertainment ranging from latest movies, games, TV shows, music, radio (that has a tamil song station, thanks to all those tamilians in Singapore)

3. They have six different kinds of cuisine available during each meal. We tested the stewards’ patience by swapping seats now and then which totally confused them as to who wanted what.

4. There is no way you can sleep peacefully without disturbances cuz they are going to come your way asking you to upright your seat, fasten seat belts or trying to feed you. The ‘do not disturb’ stickers that they themselves stick on your seats on request, don’t really work.

More posts on Mountain View and the rest of the stuff coming soon…