Weather blues ...

Ok, so how does it happen every time? And I mean, every darn time! You plan a trip for weeks and weeks, you book hotels, you look for deals on car rentals, things to do, places to be, and BOOM - a day before you're supposed to leave, weather.com says - "chances of thunderstorms - 80%".

Eighty percent?!! It's already a flood out there even before leaving the city, and it seems like the thunderstorm is going to be following us wherever we go - hell, it's even coming back with us to Atlanta when we return!

Believe me, it's not only on the trips that weather has ruined things for me in the past. Last 3 months we had a tennis league where we used to play matches every Saturday. Guess what - it rained 6 of those 7 Saturdays!! And wasn't like it was raining every second day, or it was the rainy season here in Atlanta. No, no - it used to rain for 2 hours only on Saturday mornings!!

Oh by the way, the trip details -
destination - Miami
duration - 3 days
travel mode - driving (yes, even with gas @ $4/gallon!!)
travel mates - 5 tamilians :) (I need my ipod to survive not knowing the language :-D!)

I'll post some pictures if I get to take some! Happy long weekend everyone!

But Indians bargain!!

I noticed that my last post was almost 3 months back! Wow, life has certainly changed a lot in these 3 months. First of all, my visa situation has been resolved a bit (it's still too complicated to explain!!), so I don't have to work outside US for 4 months. Though this means a lost chance for international travel, I can still travel within the US in the summer. The rest of the changes have been mostly related to where I live, what I drive (my old car gave up on me!!), and other not so interesting stuff. The interesting part, however, has been the transition. I had a crazy weekened last week selling everything in my apartment over craigslist. The most exciting bit, though, was selling my car.

Well, the car was a '95 model camry that I got as a student, and it was expected to give way sooner or later. Unfortunately, it happened sooner than I expected. One fine weekend while driving on the interstate, the car suddenly stopped responding to my coaxing, and came to a stop. I waited for a few minutes, called a few people for advice, and tried starting it again. This time, it went totally out of whack, and the engine started spitting out smoke!!

Well, at that point, I pretty much knew that was it! Called roadside assistance, took it to a mechanic, and that's when he gave me the inevitable news - "She's dead". Two words, and my 3 yr long relationship came to a crash. Heartbroken, I got it towed back home, hoping to have a burial ceremony with a nice little epitaph on the grave that would describe the way I felt about her - my first car :( The one I didn't give up on till her last day. For a while I thought I wouldn't be able to drive again.

But they say wounds heal with time, and they healed sooner for me cause my bro's newer (2007) camry was made available to me. But that's only because it was a camry - a bmw or a mercedes wouldn't have helped me get out of my mourning. So with a heavy heart, I started on a new journey, nurturing a relationship with someone else's car - it almost felt like cheating!

Anyhow, the days went by, and someone reminded me of the pending burial, but I could still not brace myself to the truth. That's when someone told me something about trying to sell it on craigslist. I knew it could be sold, but I wasn't sure if someone would take a car that has to be towed away - even if it was my sweetheart. And I wasn't sure that I wanted some sleazy auto dealer to lay his greasy hands on her!

But well, money being money, the suggestion was worth a shot, so one Saturday, after much deliberation on the right price, I put up an ad - "Excellent deal - 95 Camry going for $500".

5 mins, no calls.

10 mins, and I'm thinking, is it not even worth the miserly $500?

That's when my phone started ringing - "Hello, I'm really really interested in the camry - can I come in another 1 hr?"!! As I'm talking to the guy giving him directions, I missed 2 more calls - everybody wanted the car. So I rushed back to my computer, took off the ad, and posted a new one- "Excellent deal - '95 camry for $750".

5 mins, no calls. 10 mins - still waiting. 20 mins ... may be 600 was a better price. Finally after about 30 minutes, someone called. What a relief!! This guy also wanted to come the same day, so I gave him directions. Apparently, that call was just a start. The rest of the evening, my phone didn't stop ringing .. seems like there is a lopsided supply-demand for camrys' in Atlanta. Anyhow, the guy (who's name was Mike, but had a thick Asian accent), landed up at my place after abt 90 minutes (must have received around 20 calls during that time!).

After a thorough inspection, Mike (who was , by the way, Chinese) decided - ok, I'm gonna get it today! I told him - "fine, sold! you are the lucky one!" Then he said let me get the $500.

I looked at him - a bit surprised, asked him if he had checked the price online. He said yeah, but I want to take it for 500 bucks. I told him, bro, thanks but no thanks, it's either 750, or you go home empty handed.

The guy starts thinking, goes around the car again, starts up the car, calls up someone, makes them listen to what the car sounds like. I don't know how it helped, but after about 10 mins of shouting over the phone, he came to me very excited - ok fine, I'll take it. I'm like - ok cool I just want to get over with this today. Then he goes - I'll give you $600.

This time I was really pestered - I told him, man, either you pay $750, or you go home - don't waste my time! I started yelling at him - I was half hoping that he would say no, and I would put up another ad - "Excellent deal - '95 camry for only $1000"!!:) Well, he finally agreed, said we'll meet the next day and was off.

The next day when he started driving towards my place, he called me again - he's like, so I'm bringing the $700, are you at home?? This time he really touched a wrong nerve, and I was yelling and howling at him - "I told you 750, a penny less and I wont give you the car. Do you understand English? Not a penny less!!" He started apologising, saying ok fine whatever you say, I'll get you 750 then. I was totally irritated by the behaviour, so I had to ask what the matter was - did'nt he want the car?

He replied very sheepishly - "Actually I don't like bargaining too much myself, but a friend of mine told me that Indians bargain!!!"

Man, I haven't laughed harder in a long while.

"Indians bargain!!!!!!!"

Of course we do!!

BUT NOT WHEN WE ARE SELLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this, my friends, is how I sold my beloved for $750.

Those hot hot days!

The two days in Grand Canyon were extremely tiring. For September, the heat was scorching, with the temperatures going up to 100 degrees around noon. Because the area is a desert, the weather is in the extremes. Late nights and early mornings are cold, and you need to wear a jacket. But around noon, even stripping down to your undies doesn't help!

We stayed in a youth hostel at Flagstaff, a small town about 2 hours drive from the canyon. It is about the closest you can live to the canyon if you are traveling on a budget. If you are ready to shell out more, then you can stay in the one of the lodges on the canyon and enjoy the sunrise/sunset from your room. Visitors are allowed to hike freely during the day, but for camping and overnight hikes you need a permit, for which you may have to apply a few months in advance.

We didn't have a permit, so we did two different day hikes. We realized the real worth of the permit when we had to miss out on going down to the Colorado river. It takes 4-5 hours to get down to the river, depending on the time of the day and your experience as a hiker, but it takes much longer to get back. It is also recommended that you don't hike for 2-3 hours around noon, because the heat can be deadly. So you really need 2 days for hiking and one night to camp to be able to enjoy the river.

Both our hikes started around 2pm as we went down the gorge, and both the days we were lucky to view amazing sunsets while returning. The gorge is very steep so it's tricky to figure out how much you should really descend, because an hour of walking downhill can mean 3-4 hours of hiking while coming back up. We went at a leisurely pace, not rushing ourselves, and that really is the way to enjoy the canyon. You need some time to take in the grandeur and the vastness of the place, and I was just dwarfed by a feeling of nothingness. It definitely does put into perspective your place in the universe - a tiny tiny speck!!

Grand Canyon!

I made this trip last September - a trip to arguably one of the most visited places in the world. I'm sure my amateurish pictures cannot do justice to the grandeur of the scenery, especially when it has been so well documented by photographers.

Grand Canyon is in Arizona, in the middle of a huge desert. When making the drive, it takes you somewhat by surprise, because you don't expect such an immense gorge to appear suddenly in the middle of a vast flatland. And boy what a gorge - it is more than 1 mile deep at it's deepest point, where Colorado river flows. The river creates some of the best rapids going through the canyon.

I went with three friends from undergrad - all of us flew from the east coast of US and Canada. We spent 2 days in the canyon, and that was about all we could take of the heat and the repetitive scenery. I mean, it is beautiful, but no matter where you trek, the topology and the views are pretty much the same. And for 4 bachelors to return from grand canyon without a visit to Las Vegas (3 hours drive from GC), would have been an insult to our bachelorhood :)

I will write a bit more in detail about the treks in subsequent posts. The Vegas trip goes undocumented because as the saying goes - what happens in Vegas, doesn't get published online!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...

That's the song all over southeast America today!! In my 3 years in Atlanta, it is the first snowfall that I have seen, and boy, was it beautiful! Magical is the word really. I'm sure my friends up north don't consider it a big deal, but that's because when it starts snowing in the north east, it does not stop until April. But in Atlanta, knowing the fact that it is going to stay only for a couple of hours makes the experience much more enchanting.

Meanwhile, the year has been off to a great start with a lot of trips lined up. If everything goes as planned, then there is some international travel (South America may be??), some trips within the US, and a lot of exploration of India that is on the cards.

Though this is coming a little late, I wish everybody a great 2008, blessed with tons and tons of travel, adventure, time with family and loved ones, and moments that fulfill your destiny!

Glimpses: Medieval Europe

Some glimpses from the older part of Switzerland. The first one is from inside Chateua de Chillon at Montreux - a french castle in the southern part of the country (adjoining France). The castle itself was good but not all that impressive - perhaps having seen monuments of great architectural grandeur constructed by the Mughals in India, I was expecting more. But the views from inside the castle were breathtaking. The castle opened out to a lake on 3 sides, and the alps can be seen in the backdrop.

The rest of the images are from the old part of Zurich. While most of the old houses in the area have been converted into restaurants and cafes (pic 2), there were still some residential homes in the area. And who can take a walk in old Europe without feeling awed by the medieval churches. The good thing about Zurich is the co-existence of the old and the new. The extremely cosmopolitan area near the main train station with all the banks and the malls etc., is just a stone's throw away from the oldest part of the town. They haven't allowed the history to rot in some forgotten section of the town. And that's something that we could take a lesson from in India :)

Jung Frau Joch

Some pics from the highest peak in Europe. It's been a fun weekend, and though I promised I would write a lot more, I'm just going to sign-off with those pictures, and atleast keep my promise of having written here at all!

BTW, that trek was awesome - around 4 hours of breathtaking views. If you go there, make sure you walk some part of the distance - the train goes to the very top!