Malaysia- Romance in the air!!!

If Singapore was more of shopping and Sentosa Island, Malaysia was more of sightseeing! There were so many places we saw. The best was obviously the Patronus Twin Tower. It was as magnificient as what I read and heard about or maybe more than that. It did bring back the Sep 11 memory to my mind but here stood the towering Patronus in all grandeur.

The Menara tower is the fourth tallest tower in the world. Looking down at the entire city of KL from there is just a thrilling experience. You just can say there were only 3 places in the world that was above me at that time but still I was on top of the world!!

The Batu caves were another lifetime experience. Here we were climbing the 272 steps to reach the opening the cave. There were drops of water trickling from above that seemed like the Gods showering blessings. The peace and quiet of the place enthralled me even more. There is this golden statue of Lord Subramaniam that is visible from miles away before reaching the caves.

We also went to other places like the Titiwahsan park, Merdecca Circle, Empire building and how can I forget the famous Genting Island!!!One thing I understood is it is really a place for romance and people in love. Huge parks, quiet country sides...aah...and I went alone...Sigh!!!

Malaysia 2007 and us!!!

Malaysia was a very different place when compared to Singapore.Well the truth is that it is very much similar to India.

• It is not a litter free place as Singapore. Some roads here resemble India a lot.



• You can say good bye to the smooth traffic free roads here. We were stuck up in traffic quite a many times.



• Corruption is very open by traffic police. They ask you very clearly how you want to settle fines..Ha ha...Definitely reminded of India right?



• Taxis and buses compete for passengers, break the rules and go on emergency tracks at times.



• The two lane paths always has a two wheeler path in between.



• The people are more traditional here. They live with parents and have joint family systems in most families.

So Malaysia was quite a resemblence to India. The Petaling street here reminded me of Shivajinagar market except they had strret singers. More on Malaysia sight seeing coming up..

A salute to the Country!!

Today was a day I was to go onsite along with an engineer. I was assigned to Edwin, a name that seemed so familiar in most cases we dealt. Now what was official can be left aside. I am already dreading the time I would have to return to office and speak about all this. But there was a different learning experience in this trip for me.

I was taken onsite to the Military Camp (MINDEF) that was a long drive up north of Singaopore. It was just like a Mysore highway drive but even moe sceneric on the way. There were resovoirs on the way where we stopped. Edwin told me that here was Singapore a country with no much natural resources but they sell water to some countries including China.

The camp was mind blowing. The security is very strict here. we had to surrender our identity passes at the guard post.What I saw inside...Hmm..where do I begin??? There were so many young guys being trained. they were involved in so many physical activities, running sprint, march, swimming, learning to use the big guns...and they were all my age or younger.

Edwin explained with pride how each Singaporean had to attend to 2 years in the camp where they served their nation. He recalled is times with so much passion that I was amazed they could love it so much. He said they believe in "Nationality before community, Society before self."

I met up with many officers and cadets. Spoke to them about so many things and one common voice that echoed from each heart was "Proud to be a Sinaporean." There were many who beleved that it is the people who made singapore so rich today. He said that the government comes from the people and we are the people.

I met WO Raja, name we had so often seen in our records. I was awed by this person. What a man, what personality and aura he had. With people like him you have no doubts a country will progress. He believed that accepting change is the biggest ability of a nation. If we change according to times we will prosper, individually and as a community. But they also held high value for their history and roots...

Now you know how smitten I am by the visit. A real eye opener...and now on the lighter note...more shopping!!! He he!!

The face behind the voices

Ah!All play comes to an end where we get to the serious part of the visit...But yes the day was exciting. It was discovering the face beind the voices day. The world seemed smaller now. Met people as if we have known for a long time. This is now beginning to be a learning experience in all ways. I never can thank my lucky stars and people around me who made this possible.

Now there are loads of stuff that i have been awing about other than the ones I've been talking about so far so here goes the age old bullentin board (Never fails me!!)

• The city is spick and spark where citizens take effort to keep it so. I actually saw this old lady who picked up a chocolate wrapper and put it in the waste bin.
• People are very proud of their country and hold it in high esteem..
• The temples here are very traditional all complete with the pujari too but God forgive me for saying this. the Indian Gods somewhere have a Sinaporean appearance..He he!

• On a 3 lane road,vehicles keep to the three lanes only even though Indian standards could have fitted some 6 distorted lanes on them.



• Hotel room instructions clerly state that "Drinking for the tap is perfectly safe." Now would anyone try that even if they wrote it down in our country??

• The time alloted to cross a road is just 5 seconds more than what is required....eeks!!I have to run at most signals...


• The favourite passtime for the people here is "Shopping, shopping and even more shopping."

So now that their favourite passtime is shopping I should just go along with the crowd so here I go shopping!!

The island of Happiness-Sentosa

I was greeted with the soft white clouds beaming at my face in the morning and I remembered that I was on my way to singapore. Landed at Changi airport and was in love at first sight. You could spend the whole day here and still have more to see. All the world's brands under a roof. Checked out and took a taxi. Hmm.. What a place??Even the taxis are Mercs here..Sigh!!

There was this extraordinary taxi guy who took us to Park hotel, telling us on the way about Singapore, the government, rules, people, land buying and all!! I just reinforced my thoughts about these people, friendly and simple!! Checked in at Park Hotel and left immediately to Sentosa!!

The journey itself was an experience. The MRTs are out of the world and a piece of art and technology.The system is so well thought of and designed. Well and I did think about Emraan Hashmi and the movie "Train." But yes..I am awed by the MRTs...He he!!

Reaching Harbour Front we took a cable car ride to Sentosa Island. well only anto and I really took pleasure of this as both others shut their eyes throughout the ride and also screamed at us for risking their lives at such heights..Ha ha!! There was this Star cruise we saw on the way all complete with swimming pool looking awesome from above.

We then set off to see the butterfly and Insect Park. As it is the guys had enough butterflies to see walking around and now tere were ones flying around too..Hmm..What to do!! Let them enjoy all of them!!

Then went to see the underwater aquarium..what a pleasure to count the teeth of such huge fish..he he..I loved the touch of those ray fish but a bit slimy..Yeah what else did I expect!! The layout is what impressed me the most here especially the horizontal escalators or travellators. Good for my already aching legs!!

Went to see the dolphin show which was really cute..The dolphins impressed us with their tricks and stunts.I wished I was chosen to go down and touch them.I sceamed my lungs out to be chosen too but bad luck!! On the way back we took a ride on the no roof bus around the island. Come on..I had to pinch my legs to check they were there by now and it was scorching hot!!

In the night we went to Little India. Here was our land and people just replanted in a foreign land. There were the road side food, the tender coconut stalls and even the paan waalas. Well no land without an Indian!! Also dropped by Mustafa center where supposedly every Indian goes to according to Singaporeans. Just reminded me of a "Mega" Big Bazaar!!

Cozed up in the room watching Zee Music the only channel that's familiar!!

And we took off!!

What a start t a journey. just a day for Bangalore to decide to start raining cats and dogs. Instead of washing away all my tensions for the trip it just doubled it. Was this a bad omen?? My mind was at unrest...

But then I kind of composed myself to get into the airport for check in. Gosh!! the airport of te silicon valley sure has a long way to go when compared to even the Muscat airports i saw 5 years ago!! As Anto was saying..."Most disappointing!Can't even find a Tinkle digest to read in here."

Well yeah habits never change and so does Indian sentiments. Here was Vishak who started crying on his mom's shoulder for a week's departure. Hmm...now that was a huge comedy. I escaped before i could laugh out aloud..

Lot has changed over the ears. Gone was a time when my mom used to cram our cabin luggage. Now a days people travel real light. Technology seems to have taken over life. Music player's, mobiles, laptops, palm tops and what not!! And speaking of technology we met the man himself..Azim Premji...Did go over to him and talk to him..And tell him that I loved his speech at last year's Wipro annual day!!

India's national insect was here too, waiting for boarding. Anto and I was instructing one of them as to who was a better prey! at the end of the day we all were tired and exhausted especially KD who reached the airport at 7.45pm for 12am departure. That too delayed for 1.5 hours thanks to rains.

So all i remember was getting in the airplane and sleeping..In between there was Vishak ordering beer,eating the airhostress brain and then snooze!!!

And here I go!!

There's a messenger status i believe in and se often, "When life ets mundane a new chapter begins."..Well that's exactly what I felt whne my manager called me to tell me that I was selected for an onsite visit to Singapore and Malaysia. an oppurtunty that knocked at my door very early in my tenure at HP and I opened the door all beaming and blushing as most noticed!!

So here goes my experiences along with the other 3 characters who would be a part of this blog for a few days now, Anto, Vishak and KD. Yeah I know, I get stuck as the only girl in most occassions....