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30 November 2012

Thailand Trip: Epilogue


There is always a first experience in our life, which will be cherished till the end. You will be really excited, thrilled and filled with joy when that moment near your life. Is that something that we can explain in our words? I don’t think so. 

I was in that cycle of life until yesterday. There was a lot of things which happened in my life in the past few days. The first flight journey, the first international trip, the first international celebration…It was a real magical world for me. I can only thank my LORD for all these blessings..

The Thailand Trip:

The actual trip plan was something different when we started our planning. When it was almost planned the situation changed for a good reason and the Thailand trip plan came up.

We booked it in the starting of November. Ani created a new excel sheet with the plan blue print. We did not want to miss a single moment in Thailand. And for that one reason, we went through a lot of websites, reviews & checked with the people who has gone there before.

The main person who helped us to finalize the trip was our Pastor. He has been there before and his experiences was a real value add to plan our trip.

It was my first flight journey. I never travelled in flight before. Ani suggested several times to take a domestic flight from Bangalore to Cochin, but I wanted to have the international journey. So I kept on waiting for two years and it happened. Happy!

Feeling that we are on a foreign land was really awesome. It gave us enough confidence of our planning practice. With GOD’s grace, there wasn’t a single glitch throughout the journey. Not even a single minute was wasted. Utilized our time & money efficiently.

All together a successful project – both planning & financial wise.

The preparations:

Got all the itineraries three days before the travel. The travel agent conveyed the message that we have to carry minimum 40,000 Bahts while travelling & for arrival VISA formalities.

Ani did the money exchange from an authorized center which was located in her office campus. The transaction was smooth and we got ready with enough Thai currency.

Kept ready all the proof documents like passports, photocopies of PAN card, Marriage Certificate, Address proofs. 

Another good thing we did was to carry a travel adapter which can be used in Thailand, as the plug connection was different than we have from India. We also took an extension cable to Charge the camera battery, laptop & two mobiles. This helped us to keep all the devices ready to use at every point of time. That was a big benefit.

Ani had a checklist of items to be taken and that really helped us to arrange the things faster than expected.

Had wonderful moments, new friends and families, shopping, travelling…More over – we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary there. A real different experience.

What we loved there:

My Camera was like an extension of my arm – ready to click. I loved the food, scenic beauty and photographic opportunities, while Ani hated the Thai food due to less spice and salt.

The Trip Photos / Videos Statistics:

I beat my own record this time. It was a real tough job for Ani to filter and approve the pics I took. Uploaded and shared it in a day.

18 November 2012

Get Ready Dude

It's the time to get ready for a trip. Ani has already started creating the list of things required. Has already taken a confirmation from her sister. 

I have requested to include a small notepad to the list. This time I do not want to forget the things, thinking that I have a good memory power. It often despise me. So this time - no chance.

Have 3 SD cards of 2GB space ready in the camera. Bought 4 SONY heavy duty rechargeable batteries for my cam. It should not run out in between. It is going to be a tough time for my cam.

More updates coming in...

14 November 2012

Mist Covered Mountain

The sight that I did not expect. It was a perfect stunning view.


All photos from the trip below:


13 November 2012

Panoramic View Of Fireworks From The Balcony

Must say that it was a wonderful visual treat. Fireworks across the horizon...Just loved the breathtaking view. Couldn't completely grasp it due to less light, but have a glimpse of it from the video below.

Diwali Special - Nandi Hills Trip: The Vineyard Route

It's fireworks glittering across the horizons of Bangalore...Happy Diwali !!!

The plan to Nandi Hills visit happened instantly and I said yes to the plan :) No second thoughts for travel.

Arun chettan couldn't join as he got some official commitments. Missed Fiona in the kids group.

Started off at 7 AM from our place to Nandi Hills. It wasn't crowded as I expected and the climate was so chilled. Everyone got frozen instantly and we did not expect that kind of climate. Ani quickly turned to a red apple but the sun helped her to go on with the trip.

I shared the photographer role along with Paulettan. While Vellippan, appachan, vellimma, ammachi, aruni & Ani was enjoying the scenic beauty. Shawn & Michu was equally excited, but were concentrating on monkeys (Bangalore spidermen in Shawn's perspective).

Nandi Hills has got some face change than from the last time visit. There was three major differences that been added newly to the place.

  • Elevated view platform
  • Oval bridge for mountain edge sight seeing
  • Protective fences along the brim of the mountain

Monkeys were all around the place. Looked like they ruled that land :)

It was a wonderful time at Nandi Hills. On the way back we had a halt at one of the vineyards. That too was an awesome experience....

Then wonderful lunch at Tamarind and headed towards the Phoenix mall. Kids had a wonderful time at Hamleys Toy Shop. Wonderful place.

Spend some time at Paulettans house and enjoyed some time chatting and enjoying the fire works...

Have not uploaded the videos yet. Will be done soon...






10 November 2012

Magic Fingers

Last time when I went to the Phoenix Market City,  to the corner of one of the floors, there was a big Yamaha piano in a secured area. This time, soft music was flowing out from it. I walked towards it to know about the magic fingers which created that sweet, soulful music.

And found him...


Kids Love Colors

First he requested me to make him sit on the bed. When it was the time to move on, he resisted :)


09 November 2012

The Flower Kid

Isaac has a speciality. If you tell him to pose for a click, with his hands in the pocket, he will pose for it nicely. And the funny part is that, if you don't tell him to take the hands out - he will stand forever. 

This time he posed like a Flower Kid.


Isaac playing with Ammachi

Ammachi & Appachan reached this morning by 8:30 am. Its going to be 1.5 years since their last visit to Bangalore.

Isaac got company now :)


08 November 2012

Excited!!!

Our parents are commencing a journey almost at the same time.

Appa and Ammachi are reaching Bangalore tomorrow, after a long long time...Me and Ani are excited to be with them...WELCOMEEEEE

Daddy and Mummy are travelling for 10 days to visit the holy land. All the very best wishes to them too...ENJOY!!!

Updating photos






02 November 2012

Swimming While It Rains

Never experienced that feeling before. Infact I don't know swimming. Rather I was walking through the swimming pool.

The water was chilled and it was raining heavily. But never felt the the rain because 90% of the body was under chilling water :)

Ani took a break and was clicking pics as per my request.

It's one of the biggest pools in south India and I was all alone in it. But enjoyed the whole time in the pool swimming walking around :)

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh....It was sooooo WONDERFUL!!!









What memory this brings back to me is below:

This takes me back to those days while I was doing the product implementation at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) along with Nitesh and Madhu. Nitesh (I call him Nitesh Bhai) was my senior then and Madhu was my manager in that project. 

It was a wonderful experience there as we were working from the campus - Stay, food and all facilities were absolutely free. 

One day we realized that there's a big pool for the university and we took the permission from the senior director for learning swimming. Decision were sooo quick and we three were all excited.

But there was a big problem for me and Nitesh then. The trainer will not allow us to enter the pool without the proper swim suit. I still remember Nitesh bhai and I left office early on day in search for swimsuit for us. We roamed around a bit in the city to get that stuff. 

From the next day onwards, at 6 '0' clock, we went to the swimming pool to meet our trainer. There was other students too in the team. The funniest part was to see the whole team in the swimming suite. Nitesh bhai's suite was bit small, which made him look like an alien :)

We have to do a warmup around the pool before the class starts. That was tough. And it was wonderful to see few students who looked like cheese mountains running around :) 

Went for a week and then we stopped that as the work got mounted up due to additional requirements and all. However the memories still remains alive & fresh.

Day Out At Golden Palms

Thanks to Jesus - for the blessings, love and grace!

We knew about the leave on November 1st and planned for an outing on that day.

Initially, the climate in Bangalore was good enough for a trip - not so hot, but a cool and tempting climate.

Ani suggested shivasamudhram falls and I did the initial research on that place on my favorite website - TripAdvisor. 

Found to be having a lot of good reviews about the place and we confirmed the plan.

But on October 31st the plan seems to be bit uncomfortable, as the cyclon Nilam presented Bangalore with a rainy mood. It rained continuously for 24 hours which made the life to slow down a bit.

I came to know from several sources that the rainy climate would not be a nice place to visit the falls and started thinking of an alternative by 10pm.

Ani slept in between which made me to drop the plan to visit the falls. Did some research in TripAdvisor again and zeroed on Golden Palms Hotel & Spa resort. Not too far from Bangalore and impressed by the beauty -  I called them up for a reservation at 12:30 am - glad that the receptionists were nice and helpful.

Still with the impression that we are heading towards the falls, we started the journey. I did not tell her the plan change. It was a SURPRISE...

Reached the resort and we had a wonderful time out there. Enjoyed the whole day together talking and playing, enjoying the scenic beauty and food (must say -was awesome).

Highlight of the trip - A swim in the biggest swimming pool in Bangalore - All alone with the drizzling rain. 
WHAT AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE...LOVED IT.