Dubai Water Canal

I must confess that, had I not lived in Dubai, it would never make it in my list of top must-visit places. Simply because it is a man-made city created from a desert and personally, I’d have no desire to travel somewhere to see a bunch of well-made concrete structures.  Having said that, I appreciate and am highly grateful as a resident of Dubai for all the comforts it continues to provide on a professional and personal front. And over the last couple of years, I am in awe of all that the government has done and continues to do in trying to make the city one of the most desired tourist destinations in the world.

On that note, I spent an evening strolling by the recently constructed water canal. The Dubai Water Canal was inaugurated in Oct 2016, three years after it was first announced. The changes made to Sheikh Zayed Road, the arterial road that connects the emirates, is commendable considering all that has been done in a short span of time and within the stipulated deadline.

The water canal is a 12-kilometre waterway that connects Dubai Creek with the Arabian Gulf and will eventually feature a jogging track, restaurants and cafes along the promenade and marine stations with regular ferry of passengers. As always, Dubai wants to make a noise about it –  I even noticed that they have Bose speakers installed along the walkway!! This project will also feature ‘smart’ electric poles and other tech-elements to fulfill requirements of Dubai’s aim to become the Smartest City in the world!

Here’s a first glimpse of the water canal and the bridges, view of Downtown Dubai and of course, Burj Khalifa.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

New kid on the blog

Presenting Young, new kid on the travel blog.

Young is what happened when Yin and Yang went a little overboard with their travels!

He is 3 months old and has already travelled to one country that included 4 cities, 3 flights, one train journey and a few bumpy inter-city car rides!

So we took Young to India as there were a line of grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles and aunties queueing up to see the latest addition. This was his itinerary over a duration of 2 weeks:

• Coimbatore
• Chennai
• Bangalore
• Bombay/Mumbai

While Yang became the typically paranoid mum about how son would cope with the sultry Indian summer and the hectic schedule after a pampered Dubai ‘winter’, Yin was certain he would weather it all. So except for a worrying cough that came along the way, Young responded well by just sleeping! The moment we got onto a vehicle, he’d fall asleep, only to wake up when we reached the destination. We couldn’t have asked for more (and can only hope this trend continues, fingers crossed).

Thus Young successfully completed his first trip.  Travel is never ever going to be the same again! Here’s to a whole lot adventures, madness and fun! Clink, clink!

Just in case you thought otherwise, that was the sound of baby milk bottles.

And here’s to 2016!

As 2015 ends, I came across an interesting sketch by Sylvia Duckworth. As I embark on a 2016 that is all set to turn my world topsy-turvy (more on that coming soon), I just found this little piece that I could relate to and get more inspired and possibly, inspire some of you as well.

Happy New Year 2016 and here’s to many more travels & adventures!

Penang’s street art

You can lose weight in Penang! Which sounds a tad ironic because Penang is famed for cheap & good (street) food. But there is so much to see and that is best done walking. So there, you have the best of both worlds!

Food obviously warrants a separate post so in this one, we focus on street art forms in Penang – more specifically in Georgetown, the capital – where most travellers/tourists swarm to and which is the centre of action. Street art is found in missable nooks and corners so to ensure that you see as much as possible, you must walk!

The street murals are quirky and have 2 distinct categories, from the whatever little that I saw: wall paintings combined with real-life objects and art using iron structures. With wall paintings, I learnt that a Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic, received worldwide recognition after creating a series of these paintings in the city that have now become an integral part of its cultural landmark. I absolutely loved his works – you can check his Facebook page for all that he has done. With his success, there are other local artists who have followed suit. Most of these murals are centered in and around Lebuh Armenian (Armenia Street) in Georgetown so make sure you don’t give it a miss if you are ever there! As for the iron structures, the idea was initiated by the Penang tourism board to allow tourists to learn about the cities heritage through welded iron wall pictorials.

Below are some of images that I managed to take in those brief seconds when no onlookers were posing near them!

The first image seems to be the most iconic of Penang’s murals and one by Zacharevic – “Little children on a bicycle” (most souvenir shops use this image and I’m told it is the most popular. It’s easy to believe that, I love the expression of the little fella!)

And as you will see, bicycles & cycle rickshaws that dot Penang’s streets also find a prominent place in these murals

A boy teaching how to pronounce hokkien chinese, one of the local languages. The second one is titled ‘Culture Girls’ – it appears to depict the 3 prominent races of Malaysia – Malays, Indians & Chinese.

Welcome to the rainforest!

Selamat Datang or Welcome to Malaysia.

67% of the country is covered by forests! We flew into Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which features a natural rainforest in the middle of the terminal. Coming from the desert, I was only too elated to see so much green!

Much has happened on the personal and professional front in the last few months since Nepal in April that we deserved a mini-break early September. We chose Malaysia, and agreed on doing a Yin vacation! While initially, I wanted to make the most of the 8 days, better sense prevailed and we decided to take it easy, having a fabulous time in the process.

The itinerary was nothing out-of-the-box but enough to keep us busy the whole length:

• Flew in to KLIA and directly from there to the island of Langkawi
• Penang
• Kuala Lumpur

Langkawi was as beautiful as it’s made out to be. It also helped that we were present during off-season and hence crowds were sparse.

A considerable part of Penang time was spent in search of vegetarian ‘Malay’ food which, for your information, doesn’t exist (i’m not counting Indian cuisine here, which is available in plenty). And then I discovered the small but popular world of Sino-Buddhist cuisine in Georgetown, the capital!

Kuala Lumpur was as interesting as a big city could be. We had a wonderful view of the Twin towers from our room, feasted on a widespread breakfast buffet and watched a lovely musical of the city’s history.

This vacation had a few firsts for us, one of them being alcohol-free!

I loved the little I saw of Malaysia! Like many other places, a week or two just doesn’t justify taking in all that a country has to offer. If I could come again, I would – and it would be East Malaysia and perhaps a trek up Kota Kinabalu!

But overall, a much awaited detox trip. Some pictures below, more coming soon!

The eagle, that symbolizes Langkawi

Langkawi island seen from Mt. Machinchang

Essential don’t-do’s in Penang room!

Chinese quarter, Penang

Malaysia, the asian melting pot

Indian passport & travel issues

Note: This post is not really on travel but rather a problem that I faced because of my travel document. Hence relevant only to those with an Indian passport and living in certain countries outside India.

I made a brief weekend trip to India in July to attend a wedding. On my return, at the Emirates check-in counter of Bangalore International airport, I wasn’t allowed to exit and board the flight to Dubai. Eh, why? Because I had an ‘ECR’ stamp on my passport.

I have been in Dubai for the last 3 years, made a couple of trips to India and never faced this problem. However recently, I moved to my own work visa, having been earlier being on a spouse visa. What I didn’t realize was that my passport when issued and renewed, had an ECR stamp.

So what’s ECR?

“ECR = Emigration Check Required and as per the Emigration Act, 1983, ECR categories of Indian passport holders require to obtain ‘Emigration Clearance’ from the office of Protector of Emigrants (POE), Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for going to following 18 countries:  United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand, Iraq .

However, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Emigration Policy Division) have allowed ECR passport holders traveling abroad for purposes others than employment to leave the country on production of valid passport, valid visa and return ticket at the immigration counters at international airports in India w.e.f. 1st October 2007.”

So effectively, I wasn’t allowed to pass immigration and what followed was figuring out how I’d get my passport renewed when all my original documents were back home in Dubai. It meant spending atleast a week in Bangalore, dealing with the Passport Office there and its known bureaucracy, arranging for the papers to be couriered, missing days of work and getting a new passport before I could ‘legally’ exit India.

And then we did something crazy. But legal, I must add.

In short, I used a valid 6-month UK visa and exited India. It was the quickest way out of this unwanted mess. I had no problems at Indian immigration and of course, there was never an issue with entering Dubai. All in all, a stressful 24 hours. And an expensive one too. But all’s well that ends well.

So this one’s for those of you NRI’s, who issued or renewed the passport in the past and not realised that some idiotic passport officer didn’t check your educational qualification and stamped an ‘ECR’ on the passport. Get that rectified now.

I have to get my passport renewed at the Indian consulate in Dubai (which I assume should be far less complicated) so that I can enter my country-of-origin again without fear of being held back again!

Stay strong, Nepal

Taking on from my last post on Nepal, I was looking forward to detail our week long adventure trekking around the Annapurna circuit and the days spent loitering in and around Pokhara and Kathmandu.

But what a depressing last 24 hours it has been. Tuned into news of the terrible earthquake just as it broke where the anchors were speculating possible loss of lives. Went out to buy groceries and 5 hours later, the number was 1400 dead and counting.

2 weeks earlier, we were in Kathmandu. We debated whether to lunch at a local Newari restaurant at Durbar Square, stayed overnight at the touristy area of Thamel and did a brisk 2-hours shopping in its crowded streets before taking the flight out from Tribhuvan International.

Wouldn’t it cross your mind of how it could have been you, how this could have happened 2 weeks back or how we could have taken this vacation 2 weeks later?

Oh unpredictable life.

This only reinforces that tomorrow is not in my hands, not in our hands.

That we need to make the most of life today, to live for the moment and do what makes us happy and spread that cheer around. To travel while we can and make a difference in our lives and hopefully that of others.

For now, yesterday is a bagful of wonderful memories. Of hospitable, smiling nepali people that we encountered. Some of whom we took photos of. Of Rajender & Amrut, our guide and porter. Of a baby that gurgled as I passed by a village where his mom was selling hand-made jewelery. Can only desperately wish that they are safe.

Stay strong, Nepal.

Links:

1. Check out this  well-written post/prose on the earthquake by a fellow blogger.
2. If you are in India, here’s how you can help.

A week in Nepal

Yin had planned it all and together, they climbed up some mountains in Nepal!

We flew into Kathmandu and after an overnight of noise and dust, got into the mountainous city of Pokhara.

A 4 day trek was the highlight of our Nepal holiday:

• Highlight 1 – My idea of fitness was put to shame and how
• Highlight 2 – The locals could go to any ‘heights’ to please palates of trekking tourists
• Highlight 3 – We were possibly the only Indian trekkers in those 4 days
• Highlight 4 – An obvious highlight but to re-emphasize, the snow covered mountains were breathtaking (in more ways than one).
• Highlight 5 – With a disciplined eating schedule (no snacking, none at all) and great deal of physical exertion, my body got into a wonderful detox & purge mode. And for the best interest of you, dear reader, we shall not delve into that any further.

Our schedule went thus:

• Day 0 & 1 – Kathmandu & Pokhara
• Day 2 – Nayapul to Ulleri via Tikhegundha
• Day 3 – Ghorepani and Poonhill
• Day 4 – Tadapani
• Day 5 – Downhill to Ghandruk
• Day 6  & 7 – Pokhara & Kathmandu

Detailed account coming soon; some pics of the beautiful country below.

Billboard at airport

Pokhara countryside

Trekking path

Rhododendrons, national flower of Nepal

Buddhist flags along the way

Passing village, Nepali children

One of the (many) handsome looking canines! Not particularly happy, is he?

Mantra: Drink Everest to climb Everest 

Tourist or Traveller?

We are planning the next vacation. Which is exactly a month from now. And nothing has been done as yet.

While having an Indian passport is a lot better than many others, it is still a long-drawn application procedure if you want to visit countries around the UAE’s proximity. I have a deadline of 2 days for looking up a list of countries offering visa-on-arrival for Indians and rounding up on the shortlist. Watch this space.

Next comes the quintessential question of how you want to visit a new place. As a Tourist or Traveller?

Yin is the tourist. He believes that with a steady job and limited vacation time, one should fly non-stop and not necessarily on a low-frills flight. ‘2 vacations a year is what we can afford so splurge’ is his mantra. Yin is Mr. Organised and would want his tickets and schedule well before he embarks on the holiday. The idea is to check in to a well-known hotel, not necessarily luxury, but one that has a pool, gym and the works. With a 7 day timeframe, he prefers an itinerary of possibly 2 small countries, flying through the popular and key cities (oh yes, a low fare flight should be fine here), spending a couple of days in each, eating/drinking at a nice restaurant and heading back. If he had his way, it would be taking one of those customized packaged tours during the day and spending the evening sipping over a malt and reading a book. His goal is clear: Only 1 week so make the most of it, have a good time, and importantly, do not compromise on comfort.

Yang is the traveller. Her idea of a holiday is to spend no less than 2 weeks in exploring a small country. But then she cannot afford to get fired from her job. She will spend days monitoring flight sites for the cheapest fare (that said, she likes an expensive direct flight too with the gourmet meal n drink, I mean who doesn’t? If it were free, that is). She could spend weeks researching Bed & Breakfasts and home-stays, eventually taking off with little or no bookings and driving Yin crazy in the process. She doesn’t like an itinerary and wants go with the flow (whatever that means). But don’t get her wrong, she’s done her bit of research and has a general sense of what lies where, what’s good to eat (but indeed) and a few badly mugged up phrases in the local language. If she had her way, she would tailgate those bunch of backpackers with a college tour guide and then loiter around on her own and get lost (which she is excellent at), head to a nearby cafe and chat up with someone over a drink. Her goal is clear: 1 week, no need to rush, just soak up the culture and people and find a local family that serves authentic vegetarian food (oh, the hypocrite).

While I, and the intellectual world in general (club them both if you wish) is biased to the traveller, I don’t see the tourist as having any less fun. The important bit is that both are out there to see a new place in their own way, to take a break from their hectic work-home schedules and to have a wonderful time. Result: both are happy. No conflict.

Unless the tourist and traveller decide to holiday together. They say that Yin & Yang although distinct, show a balance between two opposites with a little bit in each.

In this case, if there’s one thing Yin and Yang love doing, it is sipping malt and watch the world go by.

As for the rest, as I earlier said, watch this space.

Mumbai. Or Bombay, if I may.

For many Indians, Bombay is the city of dreams, of hitting a jackpot and making it big or losing it all and barely surviving. It is far less complicated for me. It is the city where I was born before I moved elsewhere, a city that I visited every summer during my childhood and a city that, despite its chaos and madness, has a special place in my heart for all the memories it holds.

And it was with this nostalgia that I visited Bombay to bring in 2015 and after a gap of 5 long years. It was just as I expected it to be – buzzing with people, a lot more traffic and pollution, old colonial bungalows replaced with 10-storeyed buildings and vendors selling street food with old haunts still intact (on a related note, the father thinks that it is the pollution that lends extra kick to Bombay’s street food. I try to take that with an extra pinch of dust, oops salt).

So after a night of revelry on New Years Eve, I spent a quiet day catching up with cousins and helping them get over my surprise visit. By sunset, it was time to head out for a long drive from the city to town (as the local’s say) and after an impressive route (impressive because of a new link road, pot-hole free as of then) we reached Marine Drive. This is a long stretch of road also known as Queen’s Necklace because, when viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the street lights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace. Some more driving around town to show some of the city’s landmarks (Gateway & Taj of course) to a cousin’s friend and we finally headed back home not before stopping for an absolutely gorgeous chocolate milkshake at Bachelorr’s (their strawberry shake aint too bad either!).

This post is meant to be about ‘Bombay – the city’ but it is clearly gravitating towards ‘Bombay – what I ate’. Uh oh. You may stop now if you wish. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Day 2 was a lunch-out with the family and since I was allowed to decide, Burmese was the flavour of the day and we headed out to ‘Busago’ a small resto in Bandra that served excellent kaukswe. One of my fav’ areas in Bombay, Bandra is a quirky suburb mixed with Christian/Parsi old-timers, Bollywood celebrities & yuppies and is a great place for shopping and food (street-side, high-end and in-between). It brought back memories of many a summer evening spent on Linking Road, haggling with vendors, buying pairs & pairs of super-cheap shoes and stuffing ‘selves with chaat.

Talking about chaat, a visit to Juhu beach was mandatory. This is an 18-km stretch along the shores of the Arabian Sea, horribly crowded on weekends, and dotted on one end with food stalls. And so we went, said hello to the beach and headed straight to ‘Siddhivinayak fast food’ 😀 Do not miss, and I emphasise, do not miss the Cheese Pav Bhaji, a mouth-watering bun & gravy combo loaded with butter and cheese. Another momentary glimpse of heaven. Try everything else they may offer but ensure that you end it on a sweet note with kulfi (cut into cubes on a paper plate and not the usual cone; that’s the beauty).

On Day 3, we visited ‘Elco’, another street stall that started out a few decades ago and has now found its clientele and expanded, with even a branch in Dubai! Post Elco, there was room for dessert and after all the consumption, a stroll along Bandra’s famed ‘Bandstand’ helped in much-needed digestion.

I spent the evening of Day 4 hogging on Vada Pav’s, the famed desi-burger that continues to give Big Macs and their clan a run for their money. On the last day, I went scouting for Dabeli, another delightful burger that I haven’t eaten in years and surprisingly hasn’t found presence pan-India. After a lot of searching, found a sandwich-vendor happy to give in to our demands!

I took the flight back as one happy, satisfied kid. There was a 10K run in the offing the week ahead of me and I had gained (more than) adequate energy that I needed for it!