Second day in Pattaya

One thing we already planned was to have some backup places for visiting. What happens is that the trip organizers will give enough time to take rest, which Ani and I don't want to go through. We are there for a visit with some money spent and wanted to utilize whatever was in reach of our plan and place.

One of the main attractions in Pattaya are the beaches, crystal clear that you can see what lies beneath - the rich coral reefs and fishes, it is an awesome experience.

We started off in a speed boat, which is the main transportation in that area. They will take you for a fly over the sea. 

One thing I learned from that journey is that there are gutters in the water too. The boat was going so fast that it goes up the violent waves and comes down with great impact. Oh god, it was like travelling in KSRTC  bus through thrissur - Palakkad bypass. Ani got headache due to the rough journey.

But I enjoyed it :)

On the way, we had a halt at the parasailing point. I flew over the oceans :)

Then went for undersea walk. 

The final destination was the Coral Island where we spend the rest of the day in the white sandy beaches and other water games.

Fantastic day with the other tourists who had all smiles on their face.

Another two places to visit in pattaya are the Nong Nooch village & Mini Siam

Must visit places. 

One day is not enough to visit the Nong Nooch Village. I must say - it's a fantastic place to hang out. For me there was numerous places to click for the pics. I was pulling Ani on her hand to cover the place in short time. She got frustrated with my running :)

Nong Nooch Village

Ani clicked this photo in Mini Siam

Will write some detail info about these places in another post.

What happened on the first day

Got out from the airport and we started off to Pattaya in a van. Reached there by 1:00 PM. As the check-in time was 2:00 PM, we went for a walk. 

That was a wonderful street next to the hotel. The first item we encountered was the sticky rice with mango & thick coconut milk. It was yummy. I have not seen that kind of rice before. It was kind of transparent.

Restaurants are everywhere. Specially the sea food and pork. 

We were starving by that time and decided to try the first Thai specialty. I tried Fried with Thai sauce and rice, while Ani tried  squid variety. 

We loved the food. That was a fantastic start :)

Don't know what all I tried in those 5 days. Specially pork...became my favorite.

We went for the Alcazar show shortly. I Must say that it was mind blowing performance.

"Pattaya is well known for its katoey cabaret (aka ladyboy or transvestite) shows. Alcazar show in Pattaya is one of the most popular cabaret show in Thailand. Don't miss to watch this show live. Alacazar show's stage is a bevy of professional entertainers presenting artistic impersonations through songs and tales of love and adventure with a fantastic sound and light show. This is our only night out-a cabaret with a difference, a transvestite show where everyone on stage is a man (or at least, started off that way). Plenty of laughs! The costumes, light and sound are very professional. Take your camera! Experience the new wave of entertainment. You should not leave Pattaya without seeing our Alcazar Show. A Memorable Experience of a Lifetime! The greatest show in Asia which is a legend of Pattaya, join our audience for the wonder of lifetime. Touching the marvelous combination of Music, Dance & Costumes. We'll Touch Your Very Soul! With Alcazar's famous reputation for "Satisfaction Guaranteed", you are sure of an amazing night out to please & amuse you.  

No trip to pattaya is complete withhout Alcazar Show. It’s been said that if you want to see beautiful ladyboys, go to Tiffany; but if you want to see a great show, head over to Alcazar. Pattaya has made good of its long-time love affair with ladyboys. Extravagant costumes, convincingly stunning ladyboys, spectacular stage sets are all part of a grander show that delights you with non-stop fantasmic entertainment, from the Russian stage to K-Pop to Persian harlem and even outer space. Whether you are in for the beautiful ‘ladies’ or the show, you’ll get your money worth at Alcazar. The natural beauty of many Thai boys provided the fame of their looks. They showed their glitter and glamour, creating some good entertainment. One good thing about Alcazar show is that audiences can take photo or video during the show"

It's fun and a good feeling to walk around the streets and taste the food varieties. Most of the items never seen before :)

The whole Pattaya was in a part mood. It was late in the night but the street was so lively and celebrating.

I was walking with Ani through the infamous walking street. We had a clue about this place before. But as there was one more couple along with us, there was a feeling of security.

It was illuminated with wonderful lights. Saw a couple of shops where you can get the suite stitched in 24 hours, with the finest cloth you can get in the world. But did not go for it as already I have a set which are not used frequently.

There was some hotels with girls calling you to play snooker. There were some people learning snooker from these girls. Suddenly the situation started changing.

The feeling of insecurity started to build up when we walked for a kilometer or so. Girls were calling the people passing by for massage and other activities.

As having a family, they were not targeting us. The street transformed more or like Amsterdam, and girls began to show up with very little clothing.

We remembered what pastor told us. Less dress - more demon :)

So we took a 180 degree turn and walked towards the beach area. Ani's hands was frozen by that time.

The sight was expected and that wasn't very surprising. But then it was sad to see people trying to make up a life with that profession. Even I could see kids along with them. Soon or later they also will join the same profession. Thats the sad part.

For travelers, it might be a leisure land, but giving them to LORD's hand for a revival.

Suvarnabhumi Airport

Prior to this travel, I have seen only two airports in my life (That too from outside). One is the Cochin International Airport and the other one - The Bangalore International Airport. 

While visiting these two airports - I felt like the wow inside. The max I could see was the luggage check in counters and people moving with strollers. 

When went inside the Bangalore Airport Terminal, I was in a wonder world. Was enjoying each and everything inside. 

Was running around inside the Duty Free area and Ani had a tough time to catch up with me. 

The whole feeling went upside down when we landed in Suvarnabhumi Airport. Got a shock first and I was able to understand the fact that the Bangalore International Airport is only 1/20th of Suvarnabhumi Airport.

And the facts about this airport was fantastic.

It is one of two international airports serving Bangkok, Thailand. The other one is Don Mueang International Airport.

The airport is currently the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways and Orient Thai Airlines. It also serves as regional gateway and connecting point for various foreign carriers.

I could spot two A380's parked outside. They are hugeeeeeee.

The airport has the world's tallest free-standing control tower (132.2 metres / 434 feet), and the world's fourth largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 square metres / 6,060,000 square feet).

Suvarnabhumi is the sixth busiest airport in Asia, and the busiest in the country, having handled 47.9 million passengers in 2011, and is also a major air cargo hub, with a total of 96 airlines. 

On social networks, Suvarnabhumi is the world's second most popular place where Instagram photographs were taken in 2011.

Hours of operation
24 hours.

Facilities
130 passport control checkpoints for arrivals, 72 for departures.
26 customs control checkpoints for arrivals, 8 for departures.
22 baggage conveyor belts.
360 check-in counters. There are 100 additional counters for passengers without luggage.
107 moving walkways.
102 elevators.
83 escalators.

Architects
The airport was designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects

Fantastic place to travel through.

Vehicles in Thailand

The first thing I noticed when landed on the Thai land is that the vehicles there, which are entirely different from what I have seen in India.

Its for the first time on an international travel, but I feel, have seen the best of the best cars in the world. Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, Ducati Bikes, cars & on & on...

Even there was a super car show in Siam Paragon. Quenching the thirst of touch those super cars :)

The best deal

The first advice, we got on travelling to Thailand was to take a native sim card and use that, instead of welcoming a big bill, due to high international charges.

After getting out from the immigration formalities, me and Ani started looking out for a good sim card. There was around three-four various dealers outside.

I was looking for the maximum talk time, while Ani discovered the best deal for me. UNLIMITED GPRS!!!

Thanks to dtac for the offer.

I was excited. For me GPRS is like breath. Needs it always while on the move. 

Without a second thought we went for that plan and used it with 100% utilization.

If you have noticed my facebook acoount during the trip days. You can really track me out there. 

I was updating the places live and Ani was furious about it.

I was doing it for one main reason. To have the right place and the timings recorded forever. And it worked.

Two funny mistakes happened in between is that, when I updated the places - once happened to be in Brazil and one in queensland. Trusted completely on the GPS system.

Learned one important lesson from it - Never trust the technology too much :)

A friend at the Gate 20

The flight timing was at 1:00 am and we were waiting at the Gate 20. Suddenly one Thai student came running. He was so worried and was trying to get into the gate. When I told him that the flight is at 1:00 am, a smile broke out of his face and he sat next to us and relaxed a bit.

Few minutes later he started talking to us, asked where we were heading to and all. When he came to know that we are on the way to Thailand, he gave some good tips about the place. Where to go and what to buy along with some 'must eat' menu's.

When I asked him why he was based in Bangalore for education, we came to know about the english gap in Thailand. The english education system is not robust in Thailand which makes the life of english speaking tourists tough there. 

Me and Ani experienced it when we were trying to hire a tuk-tuk service to the nearest metro station. Initially I tried to convey the message with some bits and pieces of english. When that did not work out, we shifted to the sign language, which was more comfortable than speaking english.

Funny language situations in Thailand :)

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.

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...

Mist Covered Mountain

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

All photos from the trip below:

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...

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 :)

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 :)

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

Hotel Clicks

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.

Trying Out Some Clicks

Night View From The Balcony

School memories - So sweet it was!

We both completed our 4th standard education from VC Kumaran Memorial English Medium School, Kanjany. This happened 17-18 years ago. The sad part is that the school is not a school anymore. It’s a pay and park area for vehicles. The soul of the school got shifted to some other location, but left the nostalgic part there itself, that we could enjoy it.

For me, the school was a daily view during my pre-university and high school days. Whenever the bus pass through Kanjany, the old school memories strikes back. Friends, teachers, events...sweet!

It's going to be the second year of our wedding anniversary. Visiting the school was in the primary list, but could never do it because of 'BUSY' schedules.

I recently started thinking about what is this 'BUSY' word means. What makes my life BUSY?

Realization was great for me and productive. I had a bunch of things, which were not prioritized and wanted to complete with everything and the most precious ones were always left behind.

I started picking up the things from the entire collection based on our priorities. Family life and the prayer life came to the top from that perspective change.

Visiting the school was one of them. It would have done with ease but got skipped for a long time.

Anyway, I was so excited and so was Ani. She was running around the school and the class rooms, sliding her fingers on the black board, where we learned our first lessons from our dear teachers.

Wonderful and exciting moments.

And I have 100 reasons to thank GOD for giving me an opportunity to study in that school. REALLY I HAVE!

We had a weird thought while we were getting out from the premises. We were thinking – If we had enough money to buy that place, we would have done it. Don’t know, we are so attached to that place :)

  

Bannerghatta Zoo Visit

Another holiday!

Bannerghatta zoo is one place that we have not visited untill yesterday...Almost for an year, we were staying so close to that place and never attempted to visit that place. But yesterday we paved a visit. 

Not so big as the Mysore zoo, but it is enough to have a one day trip. Safari, not that great but enjoyed the roller coaster ride. We took an a/c bus for the safari and what we felt is that - instead of keeping the animals inside the cage and getting INR 60 per head, they kept some animals in the nook and corner of a like forest place and bought INR 500 per head :)

The best part I liked are the security gates which opens and close at each and every safari entry points. It reminded me about the Jurassic park movie - the big automatic  gates which opens to the wildest of the journey. I had that feeling, only I had :)

Isaac was watching those animals live for the first time. He has seen the zebra's, elephants, tigers, lions and everything in his little study book. He was so amazed to see the those animals near and live. Extreme thing was he wanted to go inside the tiger cage :) So brave!!!

I had 152 HD clips this time. Took considerable amount of time to compile to a movie. And it got into three different parts.

Fun in taking the shortcuts in Bangalore

In Kerala, shortcut means it’s a shortcut. You will reach your destination with your direction sense. But this is not the case in Bangalore. Those people who got the best direction sense and never got into this problem - Praise God.

I have two instances, where I got wrong from the navigational perspective. One instance was while I was travelling to brother's house in Ramamurthy Nagar from Gottigere, with Ani. Those who know about the traffic in Bangalore, can really understand - how helpful the pocket roads are. And in Bangalore it is an ultimate skill to have a good idea about those routes and use it at the right time. Lot of gullies and pocket roads to left and right and all directions – you will get really confused.

You will have a tough time, if you start exploring the ways by your own. I would suggest to best way to learn the routes are to hire an auto or taxi. They know the nook and corner of Bangalore and will aid you to understand the shortcuts – hassle free.

On our way near to the Bayyappanahally railway station (Now there’s metro station too) there was traffic congestion. And we went with the shortcut idea and I took a left and we started navigating logically to reach the main road. When noticed that route was kind of vacant, couldn’t find much people on that road then and we were happy that there’s only less traffic and about the move we made, before others can think about it. After some time we noticed one right, which was the only way to go forward and we took a sharp turn - suddenly I had to apply the brake as there was a person, who was standing in the middle of the road and brushing, with a cup of water in his hand. I was furious and was about to ask the same question which Keralites likes a lot - 'Is it your fathers road man?' or like the new Mahindra Verito ad - 'Are you the son of Mr. Ramamurthy?'

Before I could utter the word, Ani patted on my shoulder and whispered - 'Looks like we are on the premises of this guys house' and yes, it was. We were inside his house premises. Thank God that Ani stopped me from the dialogs. I would have counted the stars around my head.

With a smile we asked him - 'Sir, how to go to Ramamurthy Nagar'. He was a gentleman and he replied politely the way to Ramamurthy Nagar. The same way we came to his house, we had to go back. We were having a mixed feeling then. But it’s Bangalore. The traffic was still there. BMTC bus was still roaring and honking, guy on the bike styling his hair and a poor buffalo which got stuck between the two cars. The scene was intact.

We too waited in the queue and moved along the traffic flow.

We still talks about this incident and Ani asks me at times – ‘what about a shortcut?’

Second one happened yesterday, when I wanted to go to one of my friend’s (Jobi & Jebin’s) house. I picked up Pritham, another friend of mine, from the Ramamurthy Nagar signal and we headed towards Jobi's house. Before reaching the left, which we have to take, as there was huge traffic in front, we thought of taking a shortcut. Again – Shortcut :)

Pritham was not much confident, but he was okay with the change in the route. I was narrating him about the first shortcut incident on the was and we were laughing and laughing and when I took a turn, railway line in front. Ooops, not again.

Complete darkness around and in our front a railway line. Fantastic.

But we did not show that disappointment on our face. We were more confident. Took a turn back in the same route and checked with around 4-5 people, about the route to the main road. Luckily all the people had their own views about the routes and we were more confused. Some way we managed to reach the destination.

However the funny part was that - twice we reached near to the destination through a couple of another routes earlier. But we backed off, as it was utter darkness around and narrow roads. We did not take that route, which would lead us to Jobi's house much earlier.

When analyzed about the situation we could unwind some great learning’s from that Journey. Good experience anyway.

PS: Do not trust the Google Maps completely. BBMP always excavate the roads around, for underground passes and pipelines. You might end up in those pits. Google is yet to catch up with BBMP guys efficiency.

Isaac's bathing time

Loves to climb the steps

Isaac Learning The Dining Etiquettes

It was Cechi's birthday celebration and she gave a treat for me, Ani, daddy and mummy. He got a good observation power. When he saw Ani wiping her face with the napkin, he immediately grasped it and started enacting it.

 

The Dream Come True!

This is the dream we had for years and it became a reality two days back. 

We still remember the days in Bangalore when we travelled in scorching sunlight and heavy down pour and every time Ani gets allergic due to extreme heat and cold. We sighed in those situations; looking at the people who travelled in a Maruti 800 car :)

We would have taken a hasty decision and settled with a small car, but Ani supported and we waited to get a sedan which she liked. I must say that it was all her planning and support which helped to get our new drive. Otherwise I would have gone for an Alto kind of car, long time back to keep her safe.

I have many people to thank in this happy moment and with out thanking our GOD in the first its not complete. Feeling so happy and excited for the new ride. 

Now the sun, rain and dust will have a tough time to touch me and my dear :)

Mazha

The Rain Factor