The beard tale…

Life with a beardo

My beardo and me

I am no fashionista. I barely manage not to commit any fashion faux-pas. And so when my better-half decided to enter the fashion game full on, I could only be nonchalant about it. I mean how much ever a man tries, he cannot go beyond a set of socially accepted fashion rituals – Denims became distress denims; pink and yellow became acceptable for men, Shoes can be worn without socks and so on. But it all changed with the advent of the beard game.

Beards have often been associated with intellectually advanced people – be it scientists, philosophers, sadhus and the like. So when my uber-cool husband decided to enter the beardies (or is it beardo? For want of a better word!) bandwagon, I was surprised. Little did I realize, the beard fever had by then had an iron grip on most men across the globe. Apparently there are as many beard styles as there are hair styles for women. Men are advised to choose the one to their liking and face shape. So much work for the mane that naturally grows around your face!

It all started when my husband went the no-shave mode for a few weeks. I did not suspect anything till then. And then I would catch him watching videos – I mean, ‘How to grow beard’ videos. Still I was naïve enough to think, ‘this too shall pass!’

And then came the products – beard grooming products. Who knew there was an entire industry dedicated to this! The truth hit me then and I realized my husband’s facial mane is here to stay for really long.

So first it was a beard trimmer, something that will keep the beard in the Goldilocks zone – not too short, not too long. I would see him spending minutes on end in front of the mirror, inspecting every angle of his face, trimming, re-trimming, re-re-trimming, until there is that perfect symmetry he was looking for.

But still he was not satisfied. As if to challenge me who uses a shampoo, conditioner, masque and a serum every time I wash my hair, he invested in an assortment of products aimed at making the hirsute face more metrosexual. And suddenly our dressing table immediately saw some new entrants. There was beard oil which was a perfect blend of some carrier oil and essential oils. It was meant to keep the beard glowing and skin moisturized. And his normal soap/face wash suddenly became his foe, what with their antagonistic behavior towards his beard! He had to switch to a separate and more advanced beard wash. This is an elixir for those of you who don’t want to deprive the beard of its sheen and natural oils. The list doesn’t end here and beard industry is working at break-neck speed to come up with new and innovative products that you never thought you ever needed. I gave up when he bought a hand-made wooden comb from the US which is specially made to groom the beard. (Phew!)

After about a few months, the beard was in its complete glory. My husband puffed his chest when he received compliments about his beard from people. Sometimes he would acknowledge or receive acknowledgments from random strangers with similar (or sometimes different) beards. Some kind of eye to eye communication it was, as if they are part of some secret brotherhood.

Flaunting the mane

The most difficult part is meeting relatives. An average orthodox family generally likes their men well kempt and clean shaven (except of course, when there is a societal or religious requirement to it). So we often get raised eyebrows and curious questions as to why he is growing such a long beard (The common question being, ‘Has he pledged his hair for Tirupathi?’). Fashion and trying to ape the trends of the world never really seem to satiate their inquisitiveness. And all we can do is just smile and wave.

But over time, I should say I have grown to like this bearded face of my husband. It has given him a purpose and a presence in the fashion game. When I see him invest time and effort into grooming himself, it only drives me to do more and groom myself even more. As Keats would say, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’. But I reckon, I wouldn’t be saying that when he moves on to sporting a man-bun!

Beard oil from Ustra

Beard softener from The Real Man

Beard oil from The Man Company

Yet another flavor of beard oil!

Something from Ustra again!

Beard balm from The Real Man

Behold! The beard comb!

So folks, if you also need to flaunt a luxurious facial mane, you know whom to contact!

Paris! Mon amour!

A weekend and a few evenings in Paris

Towering glory!

Second honeymoon

It was the perfect opportunity for a second honeymoon. We were in a long-distance relationship then, with hubby shuttling between Pune and Chennai every month. With my new promotion at work, came an opportunity to attend a 2 week training in Paris. (Yay!!! That’s right.. Paris!!!). But what’s the point of travelling to the most romantic place on earth, if you can’t take your love with you. And thus we made the perfect plan – a weekend and a few days in Paris.

For the cynical soul, Paris is an over-rated European location with people thronging to visit the tourist spots. But for the mere mortals and romantics, it’s a place of magic – be it the neatly laid out streets, the not-so-daunting buildings, river Seine and of course, la tour Eiffel. (Though, the omnipresent smell of cigarette smoke was a put-off sometimes!)

Since I had to be at work during the day, we scheduled our sight-seeing in evenings and weekends. If you are not the kind who would love to spend a lot of time researching different websites and coming up with the perfect itinerary, websites like visitacity is a boon to you. All you have to do is select an itinerary which is tailor-made or pick and choose places and make an itinerary of your own.

The unimportant lonely days

Paris is my first international travel destination – one of the perks of working for a French multi-national company. (Srilanka is not still considered ‘international’ by many Indians. Check my Srilankan honeymoon itinerary here). Having already visited Paris once before, by then I knew what to expect in my second visit. But little did I know that Paris in July is radically different from Paris in December. (I had briefly visited Paris once before, though I did not have much time to explore the city then). All the blacks and greys have given way to floral prints and bright colors everywhere. And it was actually hot during the day. To top it all, the length of the sunny hours was way long from about 6:30 AM to 9:30 PM and it made me wonder what do people even do with all the time they got during the day! This is what a person who has lived close to the equator all her life would think when encountered with such polar plays and change of seasons that is so common place near the poles.

I stayed in Novotel Suresnes Longchamps since it was at a walkable distance from my workplace. I observed that this hotel was very close to river Seine and I had to walk along the river everyday to reach office. Such a great way to start and end the day!

The first thing I did as soon as I reached hotel room was connect to the hotel wifi and check for Indian restaurants nearby. My Indian palate already started craving for sugar and spice and all things nice. And BINGO! I found just what I was looking for in the name of ‘Tajmahal restaurant Indien’. With all the expectation of a 3 year old going to a toy shop, I picked up my bag and ventured out for some much needed Idli Dosa, assuming that any Indian restaurant is bound to have a mandatory ‘South Indian combo’. Realisation dawned when I entered the ‘Indian’ restaurant and found out that I can’t even communicate with them in English or the little broken Hindi I knew, that the experience is going to be different. It must be one of those thousand other languages and cuisines of India that I am unaware of. And so hesitantly I ordered something which I thought was a safe bet – vegetable biryani. Having tasted only Hyderabadi and Dindigul biryani so far, I couldn’t exactly place this biryani to any part of India, not that I am a connoisseur of biryanis in any way. After a tough ordeal between my tongue and tummy, I finished my plate of food with much gratitude to my mom’s cooking. I made a mental note then that ‘All  that glitters is not gold and all that sounds Indian is not necessarily my-kind-of Indian’ So for the next 2 weeks, I decided to make do with the infinite varieties of world cuisine Paris had to offer. One of my colleagues even made me try Wasabi and I, with a smirk on my face, a raised collar and folded up sleeves saying ‘Indians can handle any amount of spice’, tried the same only to be hit on the head by wasabi’s fiery taste and had my olfactory sense gone for a toss for a few seconds. 

Hubby’s day out

Day 1

Hubby was to reach Paris late evening on a Friday. Since the Paris metro is world renowned for its ease of understanding and commuting, I instructed him to take one from Charles De Gaulle airport to La defence. He had also diligently got himself a Lebara sim card for use in Paris sans data connection, though. The place I stayed was a tram ride away from La Defence and I was to meet him at Les Quatre Temps shopping mall which is above the metro station. After the customary re-union selfies and sifting the entire mall and food court, we decided to head to the hotel. A tip to all those frugal travelers out there – buy your gifts to friends and family from Auchan (and the like) super markets in Paris. You can thank me later for all the Euros you saved and for all the happy smiles you received from your folks. 

The colossal Grand Arch at La Defence seemed to be welcoming us into its arms and we could only marvel at its grandeur and gape at it in wonder.

Lost and found

Soon we realized that it was too late in the day even by Parisian standards and not a single cab was to be in sight. And while trying to find our way to the hotel we strayed too far away from La defence metro station that we found ourselves in the midst of nowhere in a few minutes. Internet connectivity in our mobile phones got conspicuous by its absence. Just when we were about to give up all hope of finding a solution and sleep on the pavement, we decided to try our luck one more time. We approached a stranger, a twenty something guy with whom we managed to communicate in a combination of sign language and broken English. To our surprise, the nice French guy seemed to know a Hindi song from a Bollywood movie he had watched long back and was quite good at singing it too! Presently he also walked with us for about a kilometer and took us to a tram station nearby which would take us to Suresnes. Having thanked him profusely, we boarded the tram and reached our hotel all the while marveling at his good-will and altruism.

Day 2

Next day saw us taking the now-so-easy tram/metro ride to Trocadero. At the risk of sounding clichéd, it is indeed true that Paris is best explored on foot. And Trocadero is the place where anyone who has ever been to Paris takes the customary picture of themselves with Eiffel tower in the background. Its elevated platform provides the perfect vantage point for such an endeavor. Even a kilometer away, Gustave Eiffel’s magnum opus beckoned us to it with all its glory. We kept walking towards it, all the while absorbing the beauty around us. This being the mother of all tourist places, there are lot of options to take a souvenir or two – be it the miniature Eiffel tower key chains in gold, silver and black which are sold at 5 keychains per Euro or the local artists creating caricatures of willing tourists or the pop-up stores that sell a variety of Eiffel tower merchandise (handbags, fridge magnets and so on). And then we crossed the Pont d’lena (Pont in French = Bridge in English) over the ever-so-beautiful river Seine. Batobus, which is the river shuttle provider in Paris offers hop on-hop off service which can be availed here. For those who are short on time and still want to get an overall picture of the place, river cruises are a blessing. But, we, then, opted to marvel the metal tower in front of us!

Batobus on river Seine

Eiffel tower

Eiffel tower is a vision to behold up close. For an indifferent soul, it’s just a plain tall steel structure. For a connoisseur in architecture and engineering, it is a beauty in wrought iron weighing 10,000 tons. Even the Nazi operation of Eiffel tower during World War II couldn’t leave much of a dent on the iconic structure. 

Tour de Eiffel

There are 3 levels in the tower and 2 ways to surmount the same – by stairs and by lift. We, being the not-so-extravagant type, opted to take the stairs. (But for going to level 3 from level 2, lift is the only option). It is quite taxing to climb the 600 odd steps (I was panting like a dog every few floors and had to catch my breath more often than I care to admit!). For the not-so-adventurous sort, taking the life is the easier option. But I forgot all about my shaky legs and wheezy breath the moment we reached the top third level. The view! It is truly a feeling of being on top of the world.

View from Eiffel tower – level 1

View from Eiffel tower – level 2

Breathtaking view from the top level of Eiffel tower

The descent was much easier. But we could already hear each other’s tummy rumbling with hunger pangs. After munching on the street food from near Seine, we continued to roam near Champ de Mars. A long stroll brought us to Ecole Militaire presently (we were content in just clicking a few pictures from outside ) and we decided to take a metro to Louvre-Rivoli.

Louvre

We reached Louvre so late that entrance to the museum holding the painting of the enigmatic Monalisa was closed for the day. (Hubby visited it a few days later when I was at work and bored me in excruciating detail about various paintings he had seen). 

The Louvre

Spoiler alert! Being a Dan Brown fanatic, I was more keen on finding the final resting place of the Holy Grail and was surprised and a little angry when nobody treated the inverted pyramid with the reverence due to it, what with it being a pointer to where the chalice was. (I sure do take my Dan Browns seriously!)

The inverted pyramid at Louvre

We walked past the historic Comédie-Française and entered the Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries garden). As the evening was setting in, there were people with friends and families having picnics and lazing around. Paris being a hub of art since time immemorial, we also caught a few budding artists painting their hearts out into their colorful canvases. After sitting down for a cup of Chocolat chau (Hot chocolate), we proceeded to trudge again.

Comedie Francaise

Tuileries garden

We reached Place de la Concorde where the Big wheel is put up during Christmas season. But the jewel of this place is the Fontaine de la Concorde, which has found a position in many Indian movies.

At Fontaine de la Concorde

On the other side, we reached the Avenue des Champs-Élysées which is well known for its restaurants, high-end shops and theatres. The shops here are high-end of the highest order!

A few hundred steps more and we ended our trail at Arc de Triomphe, another iconic structure defining Parisian architecture and history.

We found a new meaning to the term drop dead tired by then. When we couldn’t move any more, we called it a day ‘Julie & Julia’ style and gorged on plates full of Bœuf bourguignon and the like at a nice cozy restaurant and headed back to the hotel.

The iconic Beef bourguignon

Creme Caramel

Day 3

Château de Versailles

After the tiring Saturday, all we could do was hit the snooze button and continue to curl up under the sheets. But the thought of King Louis the IV and his grand Palace of Versailles dragged us out of the bed and got us going. 

A 40 minute train ride later we arrived at Versailles – Rive Droite station where hundreds of people poured out of the train, into the platform and onto the streets. Unlike most other tourist places, the tourist department here had deputed volunteers to help the unenlightened lot like us. With their help we got our tickets and proceeded to wait in the longest queue one could imagine. Now waiting in a queue is not new to us, but waiting for an hour and a half and also being baked by the relentless Sun is totally another thing to endure. 

At the Palace of Versailles

Who ever thought Europe is always cold seriously needs a lesson in climatology. Europe has summers and summers can get hot just like anywhere else. So add/remove layers to your clothing rather than dressing up for the ‘apparently’ ever-so-cold European weather.

And so, after an hour of waiting and complaining and wishing we had not hit the snooze as many times, we finally entered the air conditioned area of the King’s realm prior to the French revolution. I have always been wonderstruck about the French royalty since the days I read The Scarlet Pimpernel at school and have wanted to see the trail of luxurious life led by the infamous Marie Antoinette. The State apartments, the King’s apartment, the Queen’s apartment were all ornately decorated and laid out in geometric precision. 

King’s apartment

The furniture and upholstery provided a peek into the grandiose life led by the nobility. And then we reached the place I had been waiting to see for so long – Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors ). Having worked for world renowned French glass maker then, I was so proud to note that the mirrors used in this complex are made by Royal Glass Works which is a precursor to present day Saint Gobain. The mirrors used here bear testimony to the workmanship of the Venetian / French glass makers of the 15^th century.

Hall of mirrors at Palace of Versailles

Mall-hopping

After lazing around the picturesque and well-manicured garden for a while, we decided to take the train back to Paris. After an evening of mall-hopping, visiting Galeries Lafayette, an icon of French luxury shopping (the term luxury is an understatement here!) and Printemps, a mall has a whopping 7 floors space for men’s shopping (Yes! That’s right! Mall for men!) and has an iron bridge connecting its 2 buildings, we called it a night.

At Galeries Lafayette

The next morning was the beginning of work week for me and hubby had his own plans of solo sight-seeing.

Day 4

The routine for the next 2 days was that my husband would go out alone during the day and we would meet up at a rendezvous during the evening for a sumptuous Parisian dinner. And so when I was slogging away at work, hubby visited Le Marché aux Puces – the flea market at Saint Ouen. In his opinion, it is best to visit the flea market little later in the day so that all the shops are open and if you are lucky you could find some really curious stuff in here. I heard from my local friend that they even buy cloths here for want of cheaper price. He also visited Grevin’s wax museum to pose with models of celebrities. Next he took Europe’s fastest elevator up the Montparnasse tower – it takes less than 40 seconds to ascend up 56 floors where there is 360 degree observation deck providing breathtaking views of the city.

View of Eiffel tower from Montparnasse tower

We met for dinner near Champs Elysees and I had my first Häagen-Dazs ice cream in an outlet there. (That empty ice cream cup is one of my souvenirs from the trip!)

Oops! Forgot the name! It was a duck dish, though.

Italian ham and melon

Day 5

This day was devoted to history and architecture and saw my husband visiting the Pantheon – connoisseurs of art and architecture would marvel at the Greek influence on the structure; Louvre museum – he somehow couldn’t leave Paris without paying homage to Monalisa; Notre Dame – this Gothic structure is best visited during evening with the setting Sun in the background.

The Pantheon

Crowd inside the Louvre

Monalisa at a distance!

We spent our last evening together in Paris roaming around the streets of Paris hand in hand and talking about the awesome experience we had.

Day 6

After a lone lonely river cruise to sum up the entire trip, hubby packed his bags and left for India.

View from a cruise boat

The return

After a few more evenings of taking leisurely evening strolls by the Seine and exploring Puteaux, I had to leave as well, though with heart full of memories.

In the words of Ernest Hemingway,

“There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.”

Celebrating New year – Far east style!

Family friendly vacationing at Kuala Lumpur and Singapore

Pre-departure planning

Having lived in India all my life, I have always dreamt of watching New Year fireworks in close proximity ever since I was a kiddo. But I never could realize my wish until I had a baby of my own. One reason – such grandiose displays of light, colors and sound almost always happens in distant foreign land. And my teeny weeny wallet never permitted such expensive pursuits. My parents are simple folks (read Indian middle class folks) who preferred saving and spending money for our education rather than on such silly wasteful interests like travelling (meh!). But the gen Y people as we are, had other aspirations in life. With more stable jobs and better paychecks, we like to believe, the future will take care of itself as long as you acquire enough life experiences – even if it meant zero savings at the end of year.

And so it was decided. An international destination for this year’s New Year vacation. My hubby was more than happy to delegate the trip planning all to myself and pitching in to provide only his unparalleled wisdom and approvals as and when required. (Lead Engineer as he is at work…)

After burying myself in millions of posts from Tripadvisorto Lonely planet and Booking.com to Agoda.com and having my spam folder requiring a purge every few days due to unending suggestions from travel websites from around the world, the verdict was made. Malaysia – Singapore! Yaayy!!

Toddler friendly itinerary

This being the first international trip for my then 3 ½ year old son, Malaysia & Singapore seemed to be an easier option considering we are not moving across too many time zones and getting jet-lagged (look at me using such fancy words!!!). We also wanted to keep the itinerary light considering my little one. So it was going to be only Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The preparations

Promptly flight bookings and hotel reservations were made. Even though Kuala Lumpur and Singapore sounds like very similar places for the untrained Indian ears, there is a sea of difference between the two. Firstly, the hotel rents – You can get an awesome spacious room with all facilities with great views overlooking the Petronas twin towers in a 4 star Hotel for INR 3200 per night, if you plan well in advance. But you will get only a cramped hotel room in a barely 3 star hotel even if you are willing to shell out INR 5000 per night. So is the cost of everything else.

I am going to skip the part where our passports almost got drowned during the great Chennai floods of 2016 and barely got the visa stamped in time for us to board the flights. Huge sigh!!

Flight to Kuala Lumpur

After taking the customary in-flight family selfies, we flew uneventfully to KL (I am already talking like a native of Kuala Lumpur.. phew!!! ). Mind you, it was my son’s first international trip. His first words after landing in KL, “Woooow.. So many peoples!!!”. He somehow thought adding the ‘s’ to people made it sound much larger since the airport was overflowing with people. We followed the sea of people getting out of the flight to figure out where the exit was – we realized we had to take an Aerotrain to move between terminals! A taxi ride later and after absorbing the sights and sound of KL during the wee hours of the day, we reached our hotel – Concorde, KualaLumpur. A point to note, almost all the cabbies in KL are Indians and can converse in Tamil. And there are n number of taxi services at the beck and call of people. The maximum we spent was 17 Ringgits for our trip to Batu caves!

The hotel was all decked up in the light of Christmas and was a total feast to the eyes. It was a kid’s wonderland – with Santa toys and Ginger bread man and Xmas tree and so on.

Day 1

The mandatory sight-seeing

We started our site seeing from the next day. KL City Center AKA KLCC is a one stop shop for most tourist attractions. Being a civil engineer myself, any monumental construction work of grandeur takes my breath away. That was exactly what I felt when looking at the Petronas twin towers up close. 88 floors of sheer awe! 

Towering beauty

Next stop, KLCC Aquarium, comparatively small, nevertheless my son had a whale of time ( pun intended! ) playing with star fish, sea cucumbers first hand.

Wondering where they all go – at KLCC aquarium

Day 2

Food for the soul and senses

Day 2 saw us going to the Batu caves – a must see for both religious and the non-religious alike. The 2^nd largest statue for Hindu deity in the world, the gold painted Lord Muruga’s statue stands tall at 140 ft is sure to bring the religious fervor in most Hindus. 

Racing pigeons at Batu caves

There is also cave exploration activities that happen in Batu caves which we had to give a miss because of the little one. We then headed to KL bird park which is the world’s largest free-flight walk-in aviary. In layman terms, there are no cages, in most cases and we get to see the birds in their natural habitats. They also host bird shows which entertains both the kids and adults alike. 

Posing with the birds at Bird park

After a tiring day, we hit the China town and burnt a reasonably small hole in the pocket. This place needs at least 2 hours of undivided attention for the shopaholics out there. Rain played spoil sport and we had to find the shelter of a cab. But that did not deter us and we had one more place to see before we called it a day. We went to Bukit Bintang which is the high end commercial district of KL. Everywhere you turn, you would see outlets of expensive international brands which we couldn’t afford and so we went straight to a mall – Pavilion KL. After a sumptuous meal of Satays and Breads and Noodle soups, we came to the end of the day.

Day 3

Bye bye Kl – Hello Singapore

Our last day at KL saw us lazing around in the neighborhood and taking a few pictures here and there. After a short flight, we reached the little red dot – Singapore! Since it was December, we were welcome everywhere by short spells of rain. But it never came in way of our sight-seeing. As soon as we reached our hotel, Parc Soverign Tyrwhitt, we dumped our bags and ventured out for some Singaporean gastronomic indulgence. And what best place than the food courts or hawker centers where you can get anything from satays to chicken rice and laksa to chilli crab. And these are competitively priced too. You can get a normal meal for a person for SGD 5 on average. With more than full tummies, we headed to Clarke Quay. This quay is located upstream the Singapore river and cruises which takes you along the key attractions of Singapore are offered here. Once on the river cruise, my little one was so excited when he spotted ‘the white lion statue’ aka the Merlion statue which is said to be the personification of Singapore. How I wish I had 360 degree vision! There was just so much to see – Marina Bay Sands, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bays and all the other sky scrapers around the Singapore river.

Marina Bay Sands in all its glory

 I just wanted to stay in the cruise forever. And with that, we took a bus back to the hotel to get the much needed sleep. When in Singapore, travelling in bus and metro is easy and economical. All you need is Google map and basic sense of direction.

Day 4

Aquatic adventure at Sentosa

Come next morning, we were heading to the much talked about Sentosa. We bought all our attractions tickets from the local travel agents who give discounts for package deals. And these tickets are quite flexible in that they have a 3 months expiry period. Having picked all the locations that are toddler friendly, we ensured that our little one was well entertained throughout the trip. Sentosa is an island resort which houses lot of attractions for people of all age groups and preferences. Out of the many ways to reach Sentosa – driving, board walk, Sentosa express or cable car – we chose Sentosa express. Having a water baby for husband, our first pick of the day was Adventure Cove Waterpark in Sentosa. LO and I were content in waddling in Seahorse hideaway (kids pool), Bluewater bay (wave pool), Big bucket treehouse and Adventure river (lazy river). We had a whale of time (pun intended!) spotting sting rays in the latter. The hubby preferred to go for much more adventurous rides like Pipeline plunge or Rainbow reef where he had his first snorkeling experience. After a draining first half, we visited the Maritime experiential museum which greets you with a glimpse of Asia’s maritime heritage. This led us to our next stop, the most awaited and much acclaimed S.E.A aquarium. It actually felt like going under water, swimming from ocean to ocean and observing the different flora and fauna of the underwater world. Magical at times and mind-blowing at times, it’s a piece of aquatic wonder. But the piece-de-resistance is the Open Ocean. It’s a panoramic array of Manta Rays, Leopard Sharks, Saw fish and so on, that just moves across your vision in never ending fluid motion. It just makes you feel puny. Talk about grand scheme of things! By then we were way too loaded to do or see any more for the day. A long walk along the board walk to main land brought our day to closure.

Day 5

Family fun at Sentosa

Spice Garden en route to Kandy

Spice Garden en route to Kandy

The next day was devoted to the little one as we hopped from one ride to another at Universal Studios Singapore. Imagine being part of the movies you grew up with – Sharing a ride with Alex the lion, watching a 4D show with Puss in Boots, getting chased by Mummies through deep dark tunnels, saying ‘hi’ to the Jurassic friends, or the ultimate of all – going on a roller coaster ride with the Transformers. The kid in me was jumping up and down when we saw a life sized working/walking model of Bumblebee. 

Yeah! That’s Vin Diesel, alright! (or is it his wax model 😉 )

There were plenty of options to fill our stomach as well but the cost is quite dear. Since it was the holiday season, most places are open till about 9 PM, which gave us plenty of time to check out all attractions. Another pointer for those who don’t want to wait for endless hours in long queues, is to buy the express passesavailable at various counters there. This means little waiting for most of the rides. ( A few rides are not included in this, though)

Day 6

New year’s eve

Come morning, it was New year’s eve and we headed straight to Singapore Zoo. Be prepared for a long walk if you are not taking the tram. Protecting animals in their near-natural habitat is clearly the way to go rather than locking them up in cells like in most other places. After watching a streak of tigers pouncing on their breakfast meat, we found ourselves gaping at the polar bears in the climate controlled Tundra area. My son was so excited to watch the Animal Friends show. One metro ride later we reached Gardens by the Bay. The Supertree Grove looked straight out of a sci-fi fantasy story book with its tall branches lit up in various hues dancing to a tune of its own. The flower dome is the world’s largest green house with flora from all round the world and I was immediately reminded of the words of William Wordsworth:

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Eventhough, it was not just Daffodils that I saw. Having absorbed all the floral glory as possible, we moved to the Cloud forest – an artificial indoor mountain with a fully functional world’s largest indoor waterfall. Sounds surreal, isn’t it? That is exactly what I felt when I climbed one level after another. And there is more, it gets misty and the temperature and humidity control would make you feel exactly how you would atop a mountain in a rain forest. And there is all kind of flora that are normally found on such cloud forests. 

Cloud forest! within a glass building!

We left the place with a lesson in environment conservation that how such places are fast disappearing due to unplanned human activities.

The much-awaited fireworks

The air was full of excitement as the new year was just a few hours away. People were already occupying the various vantage points to get the best view of the New year fireworks. We found ours along the promenade and hubby being a shutterbug started setting up his tripod along with other similar souls to get the perfect new year click. Few minutes before the onset of new year, we were treated to a kaleidoscopic display of lights and projection on the buildings across the Singapore river. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the sky seemed to open and gave us a glimpse of what lay on the other side (if ever there was another side to the sky!). Fireworks impeccably orchestrated seems to occupy every inch of visible sky. Thunderous sound accompanied by unimaginable colors and patterns announced the arrival of the new year – 2016. Straining our neck every bit possible, we tried to absorb it all. This was easily one of the most overwhelming moments in our lives.

Worth all the wait!

Day 7

The return to normal lives

Next day morning, we found time for some much needed shopping therapy in China town and Mustaffa center. The Mustaffa center deserves a full day if you are shopaholic and are keen on buying souvenirs for everyone back home.

Flight back home

 With heavier bags and fuller hearts, we boarded the flight back home. This sure is one of our best New Year memories yet!

 

The destination family picture

 PS: Any comments or questions about itinerary are most welcome!

The Srilankan Honeymoon

I couldn’t have asked for a better reason to celebrate (which translates to burning some hard earned money). My three year old relationship was finally entering the next stage. I was to marry my boyfriend. Apart from the usual wedding planning stuffs like fixing mandap, inviting folks, finding the right caterers and blah blah blah, a very important question lingered on top of our minds. Where to go for honeymoon?

The thought of an international honeymoon never failed to catch my interest. What with my FB friends posting pics of their newlywed spouses with the alps as the backdrop or posing in front of the Petronas twin towers. But as a humble salaried employee, I stumbled upon the inevitable teeny-weeny issue of monetary capability. That’s when a friend of my then fiancé’s dad suggested that after my wedding we should visit him at his place. And what place was it? Its Srilanka – the land of beaches, mountains, tropical forests and what not. After duly discussing this with each other, we decided. “So Srilanka, it is.”

It was decided that we leave three days after the wedding. I so graciously agreed to do all the packing. (Not that he would do it anyway. His mom used to pack his stuffs until then). I don’t know how it happened, but I managed to pack a gargantuan luggage and also went on to prove that every single item is indispensable to the trip. So with two huge trolleys and three more ‘light’ hand baggage, we boarded the flight which took us to our destination.

We were soon swathed by a sense of etherealness as the flight crossed the Chennai shoreline. Balls and balls of cottony cloud around us just added the needed romance to the air. Soon one of our co-passengers, a sweet Bengali woman looking at my then three days old Mehendi wished us good luck and suggested a few must-see places.

Even Gods can see the beauty of this island nation from up there. As the short flight was about to end we had a glimpse of the Srilankan shoreline dotted with many small islands. You just couldn’t ask for a more beautiful descent. All we could see was blue above and green below.

We were received by my hubby’s dad’s friend who also played chauffeur and took us to our hotel. The ride reminded me how a place can be so foreign and so home-like at the same time. Everybody there knows Tamil, so language isn’t an issue. We stayed at the Global towers hotel just across the beach, at the Marine drive road. The beach view room added the necessary spark of romance to the air (which is the sole purpose of this trip anyway). We went shopping that evening. You know he can’t say no to his newly wedded wife. Much to my dismay and his relief the entire city seemed to be on a lock out. We never knew how frenzied the Lankans were about cricket. There was a crucial match between them and Aussies that day and people wanted to cheer their team rather than earn their bread.

View from our hotel in Colombo

Spice Garden en route to Kandy

Spice Garden en route to Kandy

The next morning we went sightseeing in Colombo. The beach which was extremely clean by any Indian standards topped our list. A visit to the zoo and the Museum completed the day for us. We were lucky to witness a dolphin show with a bunch of Kindergarten kids, who were laughing and playing and fighting for snacks. Innocence is universal.

We set to Kandythe next morning. Our hired driver for the next 6 days, Mr.Jackson spoke impeccable English and respected his job. He can not compromise on his sleep and booze schedules and would not drive if our schedule clashed with his. But otherwise he was good.

Contrary to the common picture of a war torn nation Srilanka poses, it is actually a country with postcard mountains and valleys and beaches and villages. We actually couldn’t spot even a vestige of bitterness anywhere in all the places we visited there.

Since I wanted to go to atleast one temple during our visit (whats it with men never wanting to go to temples anyway?!?!?!?), We went to the Tooth temple of Budha. To know that such an old relic is still preserved here was awe inspiring.

The world is small, Srilanka is really small. We were surprised to meet the nice Bengali woman whom we met at the airport in Chennai, at Kandy Botanical Garden. After exchanging pleasantaries and taking pictures, We headed for the next place in our itinerary – Nuwara Eliya. No Srilankan honeymoon is complete without this quaint little mountainous town. 

Lake at Nuwara Eliya

The visibility was near-zero when we ascended to Nuwara Eliya. We visited a tea factory and were offered a complimentary sip. The man who showed us around was sweet enough to click a few pictures of us. I don’t know what the temperature was at Nuwara Eliya. But I just couldn’t get any words out of my mouth because of my chattering teeth. And due to budget constraints, we were staying in medium-class hotel with not much room heating. But otherwise, Nuwara Eliya is indeed the best Srilankan honeymoon spot.

The next day was meant for shopping and sight seeing. It’s really nice when people give you a warm grin in a foreign land. Puts you at ease instantly. A stroll along the banks of the central lake, watching the setting Sun cast golden rays on the lake ended the day for us. We are sure to remember the fond sights and sounds of Nuwara Eliya for a very long time.

The next morning we headed to Haputhala, another hilly village. Unlike Nuwara Eliya, Haputhala had moderate climate. It is a place for people who wish to wind down and relax. We went for a walk admist shops and small eateries playing Indian Tamil songs and people talking in Lankan Tamil. I felt like I was in a village in south Tamilnadu. There was nothing foreign about this place.

We were back again in Colombo the next day. Uncle had asked us to stay at his place for the night. That evening we went shopping to the ‘House of Fashion’, dubbed the Srilankan Mega Mart. Pick any branded item, you will get it for half the price that you will get it for in India. We bought some dresses, handbags and some toys for our then future kid(s). (thankfully we were able to pack all these wares without adding extra trolleys and hand baggage.)

With loads of profound memories, we boarded our flight to take us back home.  Looking back down the memory lane, I would vouch anywhere that my Srilankan honeymoon was the best ever. (Until I go on my second honeymoon though !!!)

The learnings of a bargain-hunter

 I am a true Indian who just cant get a good night’s sleep if i dont bargain and get something for atleast 25% lesser cost than what was mentioned. I should actually pat myself for putting this extraordinary skill to the best use possible.

So my shopping spree at T nagar actually was a test of my shear talent. I got down from the over-crowded bus that just spills out people like a miniature anaconda. Thankfully I was alive enough to get on my feet and enter the ever happening Ranganathan street. I wade in through the crowd of people to find the shops that sell the wares I need. My eyes fell on a peanut seller, the delicious aroma of his peanuts waft through the air and reach my nostrills which were wrigling under the combined effect of vehicular and cigarette smoke. For a brief moment i forgot my mission (of bargain hunting) and decided to indulge for a while (i mean in peanuts).

I asked the peanut seller for a cup of peanuts. He asked my preference: with or without masala. I like masala, be it food or movies. He then filled a paper cone with flavoured boiled peanuts. He actually filled it more than its capacity which made me happy.Here I made an interesting observation. He is a really good enterpreneur. He knew exactly how to package his products. Nodoby bargained with him and he always got his price.

Munching on the extra delicious peanuts, I again resumed my task. One of the many things I wanted to buy was a mobile phone holder which comes with a string which could be hung around the neck. (you actually need it if you live in hostels where you cant afford to keep your mobile phones lying around if you dont want them to get lost). And I found a shop soon (there are few things money cant buy. except those, you can find everything else in T nagar). The shop owner showed me various designs and colors. I was quite satisfied and asked him the price. He spelt out an exorbitant price for such a tiny piece of fabric. I flatly refused and gave him my option. He said no and said “fixed price, madam”. I tried to negotiate. But he dint budge . I could not give away my principles and pay the price he asked. So I just walked away smirking at him mentally telling him,” there are many other shops here , buddy” But to my shock I found all the shops, selling that thing , say the same price and I got the same answer everywhere. Disheartened, I decided not to buy the mobile holder.

But I noticed another interesting observation. These shopkeepers too are enterpreneurs in their own right. They are better organised and they know that it yields good results.

At the end of the day, eventhough my mission couldnt be accomplished, I learnt quite a lot about these self proclaimed MBAs( Masters of Bargainless Application). Kudos to them. If not for them, my life will be a lot more easier….May be I should resharpen my bargaining skills to outwit these MBAs…