Another vacation ends

This is the day I dread; the end of my vacation. Next week it is back to the drudgery of work. There is a lump in my throat as I say goodbye. My in-laws are there again at the airport to bid us bon voyage. Femme breaks down and as the plane lifts off she cries softly. It's new years eve and the pilot wishes us a happy new year.

Twenty one years

My mom's younger brother is visiting from the States after a gap of twenty one years. That's an awful long time to be away from your homeland. He is holding a small party at a local hotel where relatives from my mom's side are invited. It is great fun to catch up with everyone. I meet folks that I haven't seen in years. The food is delicious and I have the most delectable fried fish.

50th

Today is the fiftieth wedding anniversary of my mother-in-law's elder sister. Fifty is a mind boggling figure and we raise a glass in their honour at a local restaurant. Later on we get the grand old man to drink some champagne, a moment that we record on film for posterity.

Christmas day

Since my arrival, I have been busy chaufferring femme around from one shopping mall to the other. I am a little sick and tired of shopping.

We wish the neighbors and a few of femme's friends Merry X'mas. Today my in-laws have plans to take us to a temple that is a replica of the famous temple in Tirupati. I have never been fascinated by temples, but my in-laws are eager and I don't want to disappoint them. After all it is just an hours drive.

What was supposed to be an hours drive turns out to be a three hour drive instead. The roads are bad and uneven and the folks in the back seat of the car have a tough time. We arrive at the temple in blazing heat at noon and find that there is a huge crowd waiting to get in for "darshan". We stand in line for an hour and half before we are let in. Inside there are minders and ushers who keep the line moving. Stragglers are asked to move on. We are allowed a quick darshan before we are ushered out. By the time we get back home, it is 4 p.m. and I have a slight headache. Femme thinks all this travel for darshan was just not worth the trouble.

On the way back I commit a traffic faux pas - turning left when the light is red. We drive straight into a trap and are pulled over. The policeman peers inside the car and for some reason takes pity on us and lets us go. Bless him!

Anniversary dinner

It is the day of our anniversary and we take femme's folks out to dinner. We choose a Chinese restaurant but I wonder later if we made the right choice. Folks in India are used to Indian Chinese food that tastes very different from authentic chinese food. In fact it tastes much like Indian food itself.

The ambience is great and femme and I think the food is excellent. Her folks have mixed reviews. But still it is an enjoyable evening.

Comic relief is provided by my father-in-law who manages to pack in eight folks into a Maruti 800. At the valet parking, the attendant is surprised when he sees eight people clamber out of the car that normally holds four.

Home food and my days at home

We reached my hometown four days ago after taking an overnight train from Bangalore. It is great to see mom and dad and spend some quality time with them.

We enjoy the most delicious food during our stay. Perhaps it has something to do with the vegetables grown there, but it is simply the best. Even femme admits that it is better than the food her mom cooks and it is hard to get her to admit such a thing.

Our routine each day has been to get up late, eat, take an afternoon nap, have tea followed by early dinner. It's the most relaxed I have been all year. How I wish life were like this in the States. You'll have to win the lottery if you want it like this back in the States, says femme.

At the local management institute, the director is a former student of dad's. He asks me to come and speak to first year management students. I talk to them about open source software and take questions. This is something I enjoy doing. Starting this year every student has a laptop - factored into the admission fee - and the institute has broadband connection. Assignments are submitted online and everyone has email. This is progress, I think.

Femme left a couple of days ago and headed to her hometown. I'll follow tonight.

In the train, I share a compartment with three other folks - a couple traveling with an elderly woman. I say hi and ask them where they are headed. "Pune" they respond. It's the same place I am going. I leave them alone and try concentrating on the book that I still haven't finished, but I can't help overhear their conversation. The couple live abroad and are visiting on vacation just like me. I wonder if they are from California. I catch little snippets of conversation and before long I learn they live in Dubai. A big chunk of their conversation is devoted to a missing toy car that was to be gifted to a relative. They wonder what became of it and whether they accidentally gave the gift to the wrong relative.

At 8:30 p.m. I have my dinner and climb up to the top berth ready to call it a night. We'll reach Pune at 3:30 a.m. in the morning and I have my alarm set.

Femme's dad is there to receive me at the station and we head home where I promptly fall asleep again.

First day in Bangalore

Femme's parents were there to welcome us at the airport last night. We are staying at one of femme's relatives. We get up to hot steaming dosas that are being served for breakfast. Dosas are a south indian speciality and I have my fill.

Femme has a wedding to attend and we hire a rickshaw to take us to the wedding hall. The groom is a friend of femme's. We wish the couple and head for lunch that is served on palm leaves in traditional south indian style. Guests sit at long tables that are set length wise inside the banquet hall. Sitting next to us is a man who relishes his food and clearly has a fondness for sweets. When sweets are served, he asks for an extra helping. A little while later, he asks for more but doesn't touch them. We watch amusedly as he wraps the extra sweets in a handkerchief and puts it in his pocket.

On the way back, the rickshaw driver takes us a circuitous route aware that we are not familiar with Bangalore streets. Fortunately I have a rough idea of the streets as we get closer to home and I am able to steer him in the right direction.

There is a pooja at another relatives place and we head there. It's an elaborate pooja done to invoke God's good grace and best wishes. Life has been pretty good to them, so I wonder what prompted the pooja. The house is bustling with women who are busy serving food to guests. We decline lunch having just returned from the wedding.

Reclining Buddha

After breakfast we decide to see the Grand Palace and the statue of the Reclining Buddha. We meet a tour operator who says he will take us around Bangkok and charge us just 150 baht. That is ridiculously cheap and I am suspicious. But it is too good to pass up and we agree.

On the way to the Grand Palace, the driver has talked us into going to a government gem gallery and a handicrafts store. Aha..Aha..I say. This is how he makes his livelihood. He must be a plant who ferries tourists to these shops and then gets a percentage of the purchase amount. Femme is interested in visiting the gem gallery and so are my friends. There is no getting out of this one.

When we get to the Grand Palace, we are told that it is closed to visitors because the King is in town. In stead we are driven to the temple where the statue of the Reclining Buddha lies. The statue is spectacular and we jostle to take photos amidst a rush of tourists.

Outside the weather has turned hot and our throats are parched. We visit another temple where we buy bottled water. Next stop is the gem gallery where femme spends an hour hunting for some jewellery. It is packed with tourists and I wonder if many have fallen into the same trap that we did.

We make another stop at the handicrafts store and by now our wallets are lighter than before. Our driver asks me the approximate amount we spent. I dilly-dally and he guesses an amount and I nod hoping to end the conversation. I wonder if a calculator is going off in his mind.

It is time to wrap up our stay in Thailand and head to India for the second part of our vacation. We get dropped off near the hotel. At the hotel we learn that we should have made prior reservations for a van to take us to the airport. We hire a taxi instead and the hotel conceirge negotiates a price. I tip everyone and we head to the airport.

We pick up our luggage from the left luggage counter and by 6 we are checked in. Our flight departs in an hour. At passport control we learn that we owe airport tax that is a further 500 baht per person. It appears to us that the whole visa process seems to be a money making machine.

We bid goodbye to our friends who are headed to another part of India. We'll meet them again in three weeks time for the return journey.

Back to bangkok

Early in the morning we head to the beach and play in the warm water.

My friend on his wanderings has reserved a cab for the ride back to the airport that is 500 baht less than the one reserved through the hotel.

Aware of how long it took for us to be checked in when we arrived, we elect to go down to the front lobby well in advance of our check out time to straighten out the bill.

The ride to the airport is uneventful. At the airport we spot Burger King and order a bunch of sandwiches. It's the best food we have had since landing in Thailand.

Back in Bangkok, we get our luggage but our friends luggage hasn't arrived. We wait while our friends try to sort out the problem with the Thai airways baggage counter. Just when they have given up hope, there is an announcement of the arrival of another flight from Phuket. They collect their luggage and we head to the hotel in downtown Bangkok.

Bangkok is a city that is quite modern with a highway system that is equal to any in the west. Why can't we do the same in India, we ask ourselves forlornly. There are high rise buildings everywhere as far as the eye can see. I notice that large portraits of the king adorn the front of most buildings. I learn later it is the king's birthday and that he is highly revered by the people.

I notice that the highway going the other direction has been closed. No cars are being let in from entrance ramps. I ask our driver the reason but he knows little English and I give up. Soon a convoy of cars with sirens blaring pass us. Perhaps it is the king going somewhere, we guess.

In the far distance, the sun gleams off the windows of another high rise. I can barely make out the banner that is on top of the building. For a moment it appears that the words are "SEX CINEMA". But later I realize it reads "SFX CINEMA" which is a chain of theatres in Thailand.

We check in to the hotel and are not surprised by how long it takes to complete the process. We share a two bedroom suite with our friends that has a living hall in the center. From our room we have a view of downtown Bangkok.

The streets are noisy. We notice that there are loudspeakers everywhere blaring out loud music apparently from a local FM station.

We head to the mall that reminds me of the malls in Japan that had shops upstairs and the subway downstairs. School children dressed in uniform seem to be everywhere shopping and chatting with friends. It is 8 p.m. in the night and I wonder what they are out doing at such a late hour.

On the way back to the hotel, I wait for our friends who have gone into a nearby shop. I sit down on a curbside bench watching people and the traffic flow by. A man saunters up and asks me if I'd like to have some fun. He says he can take me to a massage parlour. It is my first taste of the world famous Bangkok sex industry. I decline and he goes away.

The spa

Femme and I look forward to our spa appointment at 1 p.m. We are asked to have lunch at least a couple of hours before the appointment, so we have a light lunch.

The oil massage takes an hour and I am am lulled into sleep as the masseuse works her magic on me. After I am done, I head back to the room while they work on femme. I find out it'll take a couple of more hours for her to finish, so I head out to the beach and walk aimlessly just enjoying the place.

For dinner we head to the Thai restaurant in the hotel premises. We are the first guests to arrive and the place is empty. There is a thai dance recital slated for later, so we jockey for a table that will give us the best view. The waitresses are dressed in traditional Thai dress and I can count at least ten. Our arrival has triggered a frenzy of action and our table is surrounded by six waitresses all eager to cater to us.

The food when it arrives is less than delectable. There is a strong hint of oyster sauce and lemon grass in every dish. The vegetarian selection is non-existant. We are eager for some hot Indian food, but we'll have to wait until we get to India.

At the other table, I can hear another male guest admonish a waitress for bad service. The guest is accompanied by a woman who speaks Thai and the waitress and she engage in a vigorous conversation.

After dinner we head to the bar. A local band consisting of three girls is playing old time hits from ABBA and BoneyM. Next to us is a man who sits alone with a glass of beer that he has not touched for a while. He stares intently at one of the girls singing up on the stage. We think he is from India and my friend has the urge to go talk to him, but we dissuade him.

After a while, I am ready to call it a night. Femme wants to hang out longer. I leave her and head to the room. In the morning she tells me that one of the girls in the band came down later and sat with the man.

Tuk tuks

We have a heavy breakfast in the morning that we hope will keep us full until dinner. Soon after breakfast we head to the swimming pool where we spend a couple of hours.

Femme wants a massage and so we head to the spa to explore options. Soothing music plays inside and we are greeted by a cold drink that is delicious. Of course the prices are steep. The travel book suggests there are cheaper options outside, but we'll have to travel some distance to get there, which doesn't seem attractive to femme or our friends. We make an appointment for the next day and head to the game room for a game of table tennis.

In the evening, we take a tuk tuk to Patong beach. Tuk tuks are like India's rickshaws. We have heard that tuk tuk drivers charge extra for tourists, so we try to haggle but with no success.

Patong beach is a busy place. Every step of the way, someone is trying to sell us something. Several men try to get us to rent jet skis. The street next to the beach is full of shops and restaurants and upto its seams with tourists. Shops sell cheap imitations of everything and anything. My friend buys a Ray Ban imitation for $3, a good bargain from the original $10. On the way back to the hotel, we notice that the lens has a small crack.

I notice that a high percentage of the tourists are from Europe. There are very few Americans.

I wander off in search of a good place to eat and meet the owner of a French restaurant that has been open for exactly three days. The prices seem steep and the restaurant itself is empty. The owner has lived in Thailand for 10 years and now calls it home.

We finally select a place and sit out in the open. Service again is slow and I get the feeling that the waiter is irritated with us. I can't figure out why. The food though is passable, perhaps the best we have had so far.

We take the tuk tuk back to the hotel and call it a night

The tsunami

In the evening we walk to the beach that is in front of the hotel. It is the cleanest beach that I have been to. I ask someone what happened to the beach when the tsunami hit. He points out how far the water had come up. The hotel itself had been spared.

There are folks sun bathing on lounge chairs, up and down the beach. We go and sit on one, but someone comes up and says that it costs 50 baht ($1 USD). We don't plan on staying long, so we elect to get up and walk along the beach.

My friend has a new Canon Digital SLR and we take shots of the evening sun as it sets in spectacular fashion.

Walking up the road, we spy a bar that is out in the open. We order our drinks and chit chat. Travel had exhausted us and we decide to hit the bed early.

Phuket here we come

The plane ride to Phuket takes an hour. It's a full plane and most are foreign tourists. We land and pick up our baggage and hire a van to take us to the hotel. It is a 45 minute ride and we can't wait to get to the hotel and our rooms and shower.

It is cloudy and overcast outside. Our plans of getting to the hotel quickly are thwarted as the cab driver has other ideas. He pulls up in front of a building, opens the door and walks off for a toilet break. Soon a lady comes and greets us. She wants to know how long we'll stay in Phuket and what we plan to do. She tries to sell us a package tour, but we decline and tell her we'll call her if we need one. Another cab pulls up and the driver stalks off for a toilet break. The lady leaves us and heads to the other cab.

As we near the hotel a steady rain greets us. Phuket reminds femme of Kerala in India. The landscape is lush green and there are plenty of palm trees everywhere. Folks are on mopeds, but there are far fewer people unlike India that has close to a billion people.

The hotel is awesome, spread across 50 acres with an abundance of palm trees everywhere. We compliment ourselves on having picked a good place to stay. We are dropped off at the front entrance and then are ferried by bus to the main lobby.

Check-in takes an inordinately long time. We'll learn in due course that fast service is hard to find in Thailand. We haggle over the price of our room (that we noticed had fallen since we booked online) and the receptionist agrees to throw in free breakfast. After 20 minutes, we are still not checked in. We are all starting to get a little irritated.

Check-in done, we learn that one of the rooms is not yet ready. Resigned to our fate, some of us head to the lunch buffet and others to the lone room that is ready. A receptionist leads the way to the room and ends up taking us to the wrong building. Apparently it is her second day on the job and she isn't quite upto speed with the lay of the land. She apologizes.

The buffet is unspectaclar, but filling. Femme elects to order from the menu. She orders green curry that ends up being extremely hot and spicy. Thai food in Thailand is nowhere like the Thai food in California that we are used to. It tastes different. We'd like to stay away from poultry food because of the bird flu scare, but vegetarian food is hard to find.

After lunch we head to our room which has a spectacular view of the ocean. Reclining on the bed, both femme and I marvel at the view outside.

Visas

We finally land at 7:45 a.m. and the plane parks on the tarmac some distance away from the main building. We are ferried by buses to the main concourse. It is blazing hot outside and we quickly discard our jackets. As soon as we reach the airport building, we head for immigration expecting huge lines. Fortunately it is empty. There are forms to fill and documents to provide. Femme has a passport size photo ready. I stand in a separate line and we clear immigration quickly. At baggage claim, our luggage hasn't arrived yet forcing us to wait. I chat with a woman who recounts how the airline messed up her reservation and wouldn't let her get on the flight. I tell her how we found out about the time changes at the last minute. I wander off to find out how to get to the domestic terminal and the left luggage counter. We finally get our luggage and pass through customs and head for the left luggage counter.

At left luggage, our bags are inspected and we are asked to take out certain items that are prohibited. We repack trying to find space for the rejected items.

It is 9:15 a.m. and we still have enough time to make our connection. The domestic terminal is teeming with folks. We check in and pass through security. We'll make it to our connection with time to spare.

The ride to Bangkok

Long plane flights are no fun and this 17 hour journey is sheer torture. You can only sleep so much on a flight and I have had my fill.

The main worry is if we'll have enough time to catch our connection in Bangkok to Phuket. My friend and I decide who'll exchange money and who'll stand in line for the visas so that we can optimize our time. We were to land at 6:45 a.m. originally and then take a connection to Phuket at 10:45 a.m. But because of the delayed departure at LAX, we'll arrive an hour late. Is that enough time to get visas, collect our luggage, leave excess baggage at the left luggage counter, run over to the domestic terminal and checkin for the domestic flight? That question occupies our minds for the duration of the flight.

The airline has messed up our meals. We had signed up for Indian vegetarian meals and the ticket agent confirmed that our meals preferences was in the system when we got the boarding passes. But the flight attendants claim ignorance. One earnest FA asks us if Hindu meal would be ok instead? We say yes and he brings us back trays that are clearly marked as Muslim meals. In the same row at the other end is a Muslim who is given a Hindu meal. He throws a fit and the head steward apologizes furiously. Femme thinks the steward must be a nice guy.

We sleep some more. I make some headway on the book.

Boarding passes

When we checked in at SFO, the AA rep told us that we had to get boarding passes from Thai Airways for the LAX to Bangkok leg of the journey. After we deplaned at LAX, we headed straight to the Thai checkin counter.

We stood in line with other passengers and then were quickly ushered into a separate line for passengers who had no baggage to check in. Service was extremely slow and we waited for an hour and a half for an agent to help us. We finally got our boarding passes and headed for security.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30 p.m. but that time came and went with no sign of activity at the gate. The flight info on the screen above the gate changed to announce a Qantas flight. Femme asked a gate agent if the flight had been delayed. The agent insisted that the flight was on time even though it was well after 11 p.m.

We waited some more and observed another gate agent checking if passengers had filled out the emergency contact info on their boarding passes. The Thai passengers had a hard time understanding English and were at a loss to understand what the agent wanted them to do. Eventually the conversation ended with a busy exchange of sign language.

As the clock struck 11:15 p.m. a few folks formed a line in front of the gate and were soon joined by others. Standing out in the crowd were a couple who wore wide brim hats with colorful ribbons around them. The hats seemed out of place, but provided some levity.

At 11:20 p.m. the gate agent finally announced that boarding was to commence causing a commotion as people rushed to the gate. We finally took off at 11:30 on a 17 hour journey that was to take us to Bangkok.

Waiting to leave SFO

We reached the airport well in advance of our 6:40 p.m. flight to LAX. Our shuttle ride showed up a half hour late causing a bit of worry. But there were no lines at the airport and the AA counter was empty and we were checked in within minutes of arriving. The shuttle ride itself was uneventful. Riding with us was another couple who sat in the front lost in conversation for the entire 45 minutes it took to reach the airport.

I like using shuttle service. It cost us $60/- for the two of us including luggage. Cheaper than disturbing some friend who has to leave work and drive us to the airport.

Our friends who were traveling with us had passed through security. We did the same and joined them at a cafe where we waited for our flight to be called. I read a few pages from "State of Fear" that I had picked up at Costco the previous night and that was to be my light reading on the plane. At 6:40 p.m. we took off on the first leg of the journey to LAX.