Phase 1 of SA

So I have finally made it to South Africa (SA) .What a crazy journey of more than 24 hours. I stopped off in Paris and had the pleasure of meeting my friends Julie and Michel for lunch. Julie met me at CDG airport and we went back to her place where I got the opportunity to get cleaned up (brush my teeth, wash my face and use the facilities). From there we decided to take the metro into the city and started off by having coffee and a pain au chocolat next to the Louvre. From there we went to meet Michel for lunch at a local resto. I really have to say I love Paris, such a nice city with so much to see and do - the food is fantastic and even though customer service sucks it still doesn't hurt to be treated like crap to appreciate the better parts of the city. Oh yeah, I also had escargot at lunch - not the biggest fan.
After hopping back on my plane - South African has to be lauded on having great planes unlike the piece of junk Air Canada puts ppl on. Anyhow, landed in SA at about 8am and was promptly greeted by Raj. The funny part of this whole meeting was that I saw Raj under a week ago when he came up to Canada to surprise his brother and sister. Strange to say to someone who lives halfway across the world on a Sunday - "see you on Friday in SA" I had something light to eat and then we waited for brother lal to come. Brother Lal took forever and we wondered if he got nailed by customs but in typical lal fashion he got his bags last and therefore was the last one to get out. After leaving the airport we decided to go home and drop off the luggage and then hit the local resto for some food and drink.
Later today Lal's dad will be arriving with his wife so that means another trip to le airport!
All in all SA is not what i expected - very modern, clean and lush - nothing like world vision! The other amazing this is that everyone here drives really nice cars, m3s, slk, a4, x5, etc

Leaving for SA

So in one day I will be leaving for a 3 week trip to South Africa. This should be an interesting trip ( i use the term loosely) since I'll be going with my buddy Lal and meeting the rest of the Wanniappa clan! The plan is to fly from Toronto to Paris and then from Paris to Johanesberg or as many affectionatly call it - Joburg! In Paris I will be meeting up with an old friend from Mac and a guy I met who came to Rotman on the MBA exchange. I'll spend 3 weeks in SA and the only regret I have is not being able to hit Cape Town; instead, I'll be doing Drakensburg and Durban which should be equally good - plus I will need to see something when I make my SA trip in 2010 for World Cup. To everyone before I leave - happy holidays and have an awesome new year. Oh yeah, pls note that I'll be doing a post new years new year party on Jan 19th, 2007 at the Tangerine Room in Toronto!

Back at it

I haven't posted anything in awhile - i should be much more diligent. I am going to at least try to post something that I have read, seen, or heard that brings thoughts and discussion forward. Lets see if this works

Amritsar

Amritsar is a beautiful city. It is special to me because this is where my dad's two brothers live and I have countless memories of our family spending weeks in Amritsar flying kites, chasing lizards and mice and eating some high quality food.

To start, my trip to Amritsar was very eventful. My flight was leaving at 5pm sharp so I assumed getting to the airport for 4pm was a safe bet. When my taxi didn't show up I didn't panic because I knew I would grab a scotter (3 wheeler) to the airport. Leaving home around 3:15pm I arrived at the airport promptly at 4pm. After getting my bags checked by security I approached the desk for Indian Airlines.......and that is where things fell apart. To my surprise, I was told that the flight to Amritsar was not leaving from the domestic airport but rather the interational airport. I said fine, looked at my watch and realized it was 4:15pm.......no need to panic.......so in my broken hindi/punjabi I asked the man at the counter which direction I needed to go in order to get there. I told him I would walk quickly. He laughed at told me that I couldn't walk 10-12 kms with my 2 bags and make my flight...i was forced to take a taxi or scooter and I better move fast or I am going to miss my flight. Now I was pissed.......running outside I don't know what came over me but I started negotiating with taxi drivers and scooters to get a fair fare to the airport. I settled on 60 rupees to drive 10km which was a huge ripoff but what could I do. Anyhow, arriving at the International Airport with 20 mins to go meant I was running through the terminal and begging people to let me jump ahead in line (not something common in India). To my luck, I was fortuante enought to meet some good people who ensured that I was able to board the flight. At 5pm sharp I was sitting in the airplane, catching my breath and recollecting the last hour of panic I had endured. 45 minutes later I was standing in Amritsar happy to have arrived in one piece and realizing that Amritsar International Airport resembled Buttonville airport!!

My first night in Amritsar was spent catching up with family and telling stories from back home and hearing about the antics of my cousins. We lost power a couple of times within a 6 hr span but that seems to be the norm of India. Hot weather means electircity is being used to the max. Alright, time to get some sleep as I have some shopping to do and I'll have to plan my stay here. Gots lots of family to see so the next week should be hectic but bountiful with respect to food:) My stomach is ready!!!

The Bombings in Delhi

Back in Delhi on a layaway. I fly out to Amritsar tomorrow. The journey back from Bombay to Delhi was uneventful other than the fact that 2 cinemas in Delhi were bombed. Incredibly only one person was hurt but cinemas are an integral part of Indian life so this is acheiving a lot of media attention. Alright, I'll report on this later.

Bombay

Well, 3 days later I am tired and exhausted. Bombay is huge. My first day in Bombay I melted. It was so hot and humid. I don’t know how I survived. The first day of Bombay included a ton of shopping. I went nuts. My second day included a family trip to Elephanta caves with my cousin, his wife and 2 kids. It was during this time I realized how lucky I am. These guys were experiencing their first boat ride and here I am thinking that on this trip alone I have sat on 4 boats. Elephanta caves was pretty cool but it took way to long to get there. We took a local train into central Bombay and I was crushed by the waves of people. Moreover, because I am a bit claustrophobic I found the ride very uncomfortable b/c everybody is sitting or standing so close to you.

The highlight of this trip was seeing my aunt. She is basically bed ridden now but I will not forget the look on her face when she saw me for the first time in 11 years. She was happy, proud and filled with joy. Not sure that I deserve any of it but I am glad I was able to spend some time with her and give her an update on my life and the things I had done in the last 11 years.

I really wanted to hit some Mumbai nightclubs but family commitments became very important so I decided to skip that experience. In India family is central to everything and I didn’t want to take time away from my relatives (especially their kids) – I made the right decision in hindsight!!

Alright, I am off to Delhi tomorrow afternoon for a day of rest before I make the trip to Amritsar (a favourite city of mine). Amritsar should be a lot of fun but it will be a very short trip.

Done with Goa

Alright, I am done GOA. Very beautiful but I came during the offseason so many of the stores are boarded up. Not many foreigners but tons of locals. It is always funny to see Indian women in saries and salwar kameezes going into the water. I know this is an extremely conservative country but I think conservatism leads to a potential lack of confidence. Anyway, I am getting sidetracked. A trip to GOA is a must and if you aren’t Indian it will be even better. Everyone thought I was a local so I didn’t get the type of tourist service I expectedJ I am off to Bombay now…sitting in the café before my flight.

Goa – The nightmare

Alright, I finally experienced the travelers nightmare – I was locked out of my room. So let me set the story. My mom had a family friend of ours arrange my stay in Goa. I was given an awesome flat for 400 RS which included a kitchen, a bed, a western shower and toilet and the much needed AC. The only thing missing was a TV!!! I was living in a colony so their were no backpackers rather all permanent Indians. After doing a quick tour of Goa I decided it was time to get out and eat some dinner. After dinner I decided I would head back to my flat (its around 9:30pm now) and call it an early night. To my surprise, when trying to open my door I was unable to get in. It seems that the key and the lock were giving me a lot of problems…….as a result, I called the lady who had rented me the flat and explained the problem. Within 20 mins I had a neighbour helping me and he had called the maintenance guy. Another 20 mins later 2 servants of this lady arrived and concluded that the lock was damaged and that we would have to break the door down. Luckily, my MBA payed dividends right away as I suggested we could save money if we went through the balcony and broke a window. At least if we broke something I could still live in the flat (if we broke the door, I wouldn’t have been able to stay in the flat). Now after some careful planning and thinking we created a homemade ladder made up of tables and chairs and one of the men climbed into the balcony. He then pried open the window and got into the room. There he promptly jimmed the lock and voila, I was back in the room. 3 hrs later I was exhausted. Let’s hope tomorrow is very relaxing.