Plane fear

Okay, I'll admit it: flying totally freaks me out.

Now given the fact that I do work for an airline company, hating planes isn't exactly helping my career. But while I'm not nervous about messing around with other peoples' flights, for some reason every time I'm at the airport I get butterflies in my stomach, my pulse starts to race, and I start to get anxious.

Airports are taunting, cold, mean places where no one can be trusted (would you rather watch over that loose bundle while that guy in the shabby jeans goes to the washroom?) and anyone can be a suspect.
The way airport security checks, rechecks and triple-checks everyone’s baggage, its as if anyone could be a possible attacker planning to blow up the next plane. 
And that’s not a comforting thought when you’re waiting in line.

And then there is more:
Since this whole Swine-fluenza started, anyone who so much as sneezes or coughs becomes the target of everyone’s attention and discreet avoidance.
In case you’re wondering – yes, it IS still a big deal, at least at airports. Back in April (when the whole thing started) I was on my way to Munich when I see a guy at the boarding terminal wearing a surgical facemask and holding a passport that boldly declared “Mexico”.
Understandably, there wasn’t a soul within 10meters of him in every direction.

It doesn’t end there. While I’m inside the plane, every time the flight attendant passes the meal tray over my head to the next passenger, I have this morbid fear of the tray slipping off her hand and falling on me.
And with good reason: it has happened to me.
Twice.

Somehow, economy class food-trays are so designed that they hold stuff in exactly one arrangement: the way it is when you first get it. Any other arrangement and you know the fork’s gonna fall over the salad bowl which then tips over that piece of rehydrated chicken that lands on your lap and all of hell breaks loose as you try to retrieve the fork, causing the little cup of juice to spill over the passenger next to you!

Ah, the joys of air travel…
:)

Sidenotes on Brussels

Yup, I am back from another one of my elaborate weekend getaways; this time me and my roomie decided to take off to Brussels – the capital of Belgium – for the easter holidays.

And like any true-blooded blogger, I kept small notes of things that kept intriguing me; and thus I present…

Side-notes on the city: 

a)       At a height of over a hundred meters and weighing over 2,000 tons, the Atomium was incredibly impressive. But even though you’ve probably seen great many pictures of it… I guess the reason this is not a very “popular” landmark (like the Eiffel Tower for instance) is because apparently every single image of the Atomium – regardless of whether they are holiday pictures you took – is protected by copyright and it is illegal to publish images of it.
Ridiculous law I know, but it is true.

b)       Belgian chocolates ARE a big deal. They are amazing.
Ditto for Belgian waffles.

c)       A lot of people in Brussels have no clue about their city.
At the hotel we stayed, the manager didn’t know that the Jardin Botanique, which he claimed was supposedly 10minutes away, had actually been shifted to outside the city.
…No one had any idea what the Autoworld was or where it was located. And it IS in Brussels.
…The waiter at a restaurant we went to had never heard of a museum that was on his street!

d)       Brussels has a surprisingly sizable arab/muslim population. In fact, leaving aside the tourist traps in the city center, within suburbia you can pretty much get by with just Arabic…even though French and Dutch are the two official languages.

e)       Dutch is remarkably similar to German; which makes little difference to me because I don’t speak German either – but trust me; it does have a lot of similar words.

f)         The Mini-Europe near the Atomium has beautifully crafted and extremely accurate 1:25 scale models of most famous buildings and landmarks in Europe.
However, one of the most famous landmarks in Europe (not to mention, one of the seven wonders of the world) – the Colosseum – was missing.
What’s up with that?

g)       Apparently the most famous public landmark in Brussels is the bronze statue of a little boy…er…answering the call of nature called the Manneken-Pis. You’ve probably seen pictures of this too; and if you’re wondering if it was just a marketing ploy, you’re absolutely right.
Hidden in the corner of a narrow alley and at just 61cm tall, this was perhaps the most over-hyped and ridiculous-looking famous thing I’ve EVER seen. And I’ve seen quite a few.

What makes it so silly is the fact that there really isn’t any verifiable, historic significance behind this…just a bunch of legends that took this statue to where it is today.

But all said and done, this was quite an enjoyable trip, and Brussels is really a nice little city with a good mix of ancient landmark buildings and glass and steel high-rises that can easily compete with the Manhattan skyline. Do pay it a visit if you get the chance…Brussels will not disappoint you!

The coolest thing in another country

This is a meme I picked up from ManiaRavings, my old buddy Jaffer’s blog quite a while ago. Now I don’t usually do memes because most of them kinda seem too clichéd…talking about a single color or animal or whatever; but unlike most other blog memes I’ve seen lately, this is something which asks you to write on (yup, you guessed it!) the coolest thing you’ve seen in another country.

(By the way if you’re wondering, a meme is a kind of a tag thing that goes around the blogosphere – people write on certain topics, and then someone else picks it up and puts their side of the story on it and so on.)

I’m not too sure if this qualifies to fit the description of the ‘coolest’ thing (I don’t believe in coolness); but I’d like to put forth my contribution – this picture – and explain the most awesome thing I’ve seen recently.



The picture above was taken me from an escalator that leads down to “line B” of the city metro in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

The photo in itself may not explain much or look too impressive, but at a steady drop of nearly four floors, this is the most deepest…and not to mention scariest escalator I’ve ever set foot on.

The official depth of the deepest station, Náměstí míru, is 52 meters (that’s over 170 feet for you North Americans!) and for some reason, whoever designed the metro decided that it takes you from ground level to the sub terrarium metro station in one single flight of steps.

This monster escalator runs at nearly twice the speed of a regular one, and still takes over 30seconds to reach the bottom, so you can appreciate how dizzying this is.
Again, I don’t know why but all the escalators in the Prague Metro seem a lot faster than usual.
In fact, they were so fast that just after one weekend, the ones back in Frankfurt almost seemed slow!

And here’s the weird thing:
For some reason, the posters on the sides are tilted to the angle of the descent (instead of being straight up like you’d expect them to be), what this means is that you’d have to tilt your head in order to properly look at them; adding to the already dizzying experience of being hurtled down nearly four floors at twice the regular speed in a claustrophobic tube.

All said and done, it was quite an experience because Prague in itself is a quiet little city with all the charms of an old European town – cobblestone roads, beautiful arch bridges and medieval castles.
It really is worth it to pay a visit if you can.

But in case you do go there…don’t forget to get on the metro!

(p.s. Do feel free to take up the meme and write your experiences. The topic: The coolest/weirdest thing you've ever seen in another country. If you've never been to another country, write on the most fascinating thing you've seen in your country. Looking forward to reading what you have to say on the subject!)

When in Rome - roam.

Within the hacking circles there’s a saying that goes, “All good things take time – Rome wasn’t burnt in a day”.

And I don’t normally write about my travels but in this case I’ll make an exception. Because although I’m not quite sure how long Rome burned, it sure did leave a lasting impression on me.

Actually the main reason I write this is because, before leaving for the trip we checked out a whole load of websites on what to see and expect; but most of them kinda fell short on one aspect or another. If you’ve ever wandered to a site looking for info, you immediately find there’s usually more advertisements than useful data on them.

So for the benefit of all wannabe Rome-travelers I’d like to present, my take on the city in a completely unconventional way:

1. Rome wasn’t built in a day: And there’s no way you can see it in one. If you’re not gonna be in the city for more than a day; the only thing you can do is head over to the Colosseum (which incidentally ranks among the most recognized landmarks in the world) for a few pix before getting out. Everything else needs more time. For instance, I've never really seen a view of the Colosseum this way:
   
   
   
2. All monuments are so huge that you can’t really pose in front of one and still hope to get a good picture of both you and the monument. I’d suggest you take a camera that’s got some sort of panorama modes and take multiple pictures that you can later stitch up together.
   
   Your only other option is to take a really expensive pro-camera with a super wide-angle lens, which is more than what a lot of budget-travelers care to take. However, our experience showed that the panorama mode is quite sufficient for the everyday tourist, like this pic of the Fountain of Trevi below:
   
   
   
3. Within the main stations and airport, all arrows pointing to anything, ANYWHERE, are ridiculous; and do more harm than good.
   For instance, a sign board with “Tickets => ” probably means there’s a ticket counter somewhere 2floors up and on the side, the first step of which starts in the direction indicated.
   We found this out the hard way while trying to locate a toilet based on an arrow that said “Restrooms =>” …and eventually found it in a narrow corridor 300m away in the 2^nd level basement.
   
   
   
4. The Vatican Museum is a waste of time. If you must see it, the best way is if you go there on the last Sunday of the month when the entrance fee of €14 is waived. Even so, we figured the only people who’d appreciate or even understand it are historians – specifically Christian historians for that matter.
   We, for the life of it, couldn’t tell the statues of the Popes from Popeye.
   
   
   
5. ALL Asian-looking people, Indians and people from the sub-continent look suspicious. Don’t ask me why.
   Now I’m not a racist and don’t mean to say it like that, but seriously, every single non-white guy on the street we saw looked like they were gonna run away with your wallet any moment.
   If there’s any Asian, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi living in Rome reading this – please, please, please write to me and explain what’s up with you guys. I really want to know.
   
   
   
6. The view from the top of the main dome at St. Peter’s Basilica is simply breathtaking. But it comes at a price. In this case, in the form of 560steps snaking your way up through a narrow one-way-only corridor in the side of the interior of the dome, up to the 140m high observation platform!
   And even though there’s an elevator that takes you up half way, the rest of the 320steps can get claustrophobic. But its worth it.
   
   
   
   
7. Everything you would've read about on tourist sites about Rome being a not-so-safe destination is true.
   Yes, we are sorry to state this, and I really hope the Italian Government takes note. Of all the countries I’ve seen, this was the only place where a member of our group was actually mugged. Luckily, the only thing he lost was a pack of cigarettes when the guy bumped into him on an escalator and grabbed his jacket for support. But the point is, it could have been anything. And we’re just glad it wasn’t his wallet or camera or worse; passport.
   
   
   
8. Italian Pizza really is good. Very good. In fact, the best pizzas I’ve ever had. Pizza Hut and Domino's should be ashamed of themselves…and is probably the reason why we never saw any American pizza outlet branches in Rome.
   It figures, doesn’t it?
   
   
   
9. Ditto for Italian ice cream. Nowhere else did I relish 3 exotic flavors on a single cone for just €2!

Anyway I really hope people don’t take it the wrong way; but this is just something that I felt I really HAD to share.

Enjoy!

Chennai Chronicles

Yup, I’m back!
And boy, are vacations good; we really should have more of these in a year.

Coming to terms with the updates, I’m back at work again, from a long (and thoroughly deserved) vacation in Dubai/Chennai/Cuddalore. And having lived away from home for a while it almost felt weird, because there was a lot about Chennai I really couldn’t place. So, I present my take, on my city.

Chennai on…EVERYTHING.

…eating out:
Bad. Because most ‘normal’ restaurants (the ones that are usually named with a something Bhavan) are so crowded you get the service of a refugee camp, so you end up at the more up-town places throwing away good money on the dumb extras like plush seating and the flower pots.


…the little things that matter:
Like eating hot bajjis at a roadside tea-shop under a tree while sheltering from the rain. Some things just can’t get any better than this, even in Europe!


…internet connectivity:
Totally sucks.
I complain that my PCI here isn’t fast enough… at 2Mbps, what I have on wireless here is faster than most cable broadband setups in Chennai. And we call ourselves the IT hub of the planet.


…people:
I think the nicest thing about Chennai.
Everyone’s ready to help a lost guy, give directions, buy train tickets for the ladies, and is willing to share, even with perfect strangers. I once met a guy at a bus-stop who spontaneously starting speaking about how he got late because he had to pay the electricity bill and missed his bus! Its really amazing how much people talk to someone they don’t even know!


…hassle-free shopping:
Or rather the lack of it.
I can’t remember the last time I walked into a store and was by myself. Even the most hip outlets in Chennai hire people who nag you crazy about your size, color, material of choice before you come to a conclusion. And when you tell them you’re “just looking” it translates into a sorry-I’m-not-here-to-buy statement and you don’t get any service anyway.


…the weather:
Whoever thinks Chennai is too hot obviously never lived in the Middle-East. Just a day in Dubai was enough to nearly give me a heat stroke and I think Chennai is okay. Maybe a bit warm but okay. If you think Chennai is bad, please take a trip to somewhere really hot.


…electricity:
Shocking. Every single day had a power outage lasting an hour exactly. So it wasn’t much of an outage as it was a serious shortage of electricity. Wonder where all our tax-payers’ money went?


…flyovers:
Every major area has at least one under construction now; places like T-Nagar have two, heck even the airport has one right over it!
Now that’s what I call progress. Not long before we have a city that’s zipping way overhead!


…change:
As in small change. I hate 500 rupee bills. Everyone in Chennai gives you a dirty look if you ask change for a 500…unless you make a purchase of over 350. Sometimes I wonder why can’t they come up with a 200 rupee bill instead?


May not totally sum up the city, but if you’ve been away from it for a while, kinda sums up what you feel about it; or at least, what I did.