Arcade of Thoughts

Update: After reading the post and surfing through the pics on picasa, lemme know if you are jealous of me
Me and six friends of mine along with two others had been to Manali for a 6-day trek to Kalihani Pass guided by Mr Kaushal Desai of above14000ft. Easily, it was the best 6 days of my life. I will let the pics do most of the talking. The trek costed us 7.9k. Travel to and from manali and two days’ food at Manali extra. The title of the post is inspired by Ruskin’s novella of the same name. Best pics from my cam are available at here. More pics are available here, here, here and here. Some videos here and here

On day 0 we went water rafting on the Beas River. Cold water (5-7 degree C) being spalashed every now and then when we enter tubulent rapids was chilling to say the least. the 14 km rafting costed us abput Rs. 700 including taxi.

First day was relatively easy, we trekked for nearly 5 hours and reached the base site. There were horses that carries most of our luggage, glossaries etc. They were extremely agile, almost twice as fast as us.

There were three dogs named Maggie (the mom), Bikki and Scrawny (the puppies) which belonged to our guide. Here’s a video of them.

Day 1 and 5 camp site

Day 1’s campfire was awesome as well. It rained on day 2 just as we were 15 minutes into the trek. We saught shelter under a huge rock. That was the day when we had our first encounter with snow. None of the newbies were spared, we all slipped and fell.

This day was also the most hectic day and the 4-5 hour trek became 10 hours because we got lost in the clouds and this shepherd found us our way.

day 2 and 4 camp site

In terms of scenery, day 3 was the best. These pics will testify that.

Green carpet of grass sprinkled with purple and white flowers and studded with rocks

This is the best pic I have ever taken so far

day 3 camp site

We also had our share of fun with the snow
Day 4 was when we reached 14000 ft. The changes in temperatures was quite apparent during the trek. Also that was noticeable was the lack of oxygen at higher altitude. For ever 10-20 steps I took, I had to breath for 30 seconds to pull myself together for next 10-20 steps.

Day 4 onwards, we retaced out steps back to manai. We, unfortunately, couldn’t trek upto kalihani pass owing to hostile weather. But we had our share of fun.

The trek: 7.9k
Tickets to delhi, then to manali, and back: 5k
camera: 10k
Memory card: 1k
Pic of this intimidating rock: Priceless

(Slogan courtesy: Aziz)

Best pics from my cam are available at here. More pics are available here, here, here and here. Some videos here and here.

Here the entire group of trekkers sans the horses and the dogs

Here are some of the videos I took in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur. We lived in Hilton Tokyo Bay which is on the Disney Resorts. As it can be expected, the whole place is a fantasy come true. This video was taken on the Disney resort line.
http://www.youtube.com/v/ZqyrnRCKgkU

Shamisen is one of the Japanese stringed instruments which gives a rather bass sound similar to that of percussion instruments. This video was taken during the opening ceremony of ACM’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).
http://www.youtube.com/v/q8e0W-KdXbE
This folk dance was also part of the opening ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/v/dHePmrpFcuY

These acrobats performed some good stunts during the closing ceremony aka the acm world finals celebrations.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Y-8nI00ZuTU

This performance by the Scandinavian was easily the highlight of the show making nearly 30 successful pickpocket/watch stealing attempts while on stage. With his excellent presentation skill he was the talk of the party. No one knows if the last part of the performance (not in video) was staged but he managed to take a man’s undergarment with just couple of strings (of course, the pants were in place). The victim claimed he had no clue how that was done (obviously he would say so). Observe the host steal the tie and the belt. He couldn’t take the tie of one of the volunteer because it was tied with a double knot, he reaveled right after.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Xe-2mAF7eGM

This comedy juggler performs mostly in Las Vegas and is supposedly one of the most watched comedians on You Tube. Here he performs a keyboard piece using ping-pong balls and also juggles the ping-pong balls in his mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/v/h9RMqEp6yaQ
http://www.youtube.com/v/HIPwFjx4clc

This video is from Kuala Lumpur Tower where the artists performed for some five minutes. Traditional Malaysian music.

http://www.youtube.com/v/nFwOp1_Rj4E

For the whole of last week, I had been to Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur for ACM’s International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals. The contest did not go as favorably as we would have hoped. We secured 44th position among 88 teams. Nevertheless, we (me and my teammates with our prof.) had a great time in Tokyo and also in Kuala Lumpur as transit passengers.People:

Just as we landed in Narita Airport, the customs process was smooth. No long queues, no wait for baggages to arrive and only 10 minutes wait for the train to arrive. We boarded the train and after a couple of minutes, our prof. realized he had left his back pack in the station. Couple of people assured us that the bag wont be taken away by anyone. As we got down from he train to go back to the airport station, couple of women called up the station and asked them secure the back pack. I can only wonder if such helpful people can be found outside Japan. We did not even ask them for a favour. They just noticed us talking about it and came forward to help us. Japanese are known for their manners and helpful nature. We had already got a glimpse of that in just 30 minutes of our arrival. This was not just an isolated incident. Through the four days, I never had trouble traveling in Tokyo. Of course, I had the map of railway system there; even otherwise, some people actually walked me to the place I wanted to visit. Many of them know reasonably good English. Those who didn’t, try their best to communicate with the limited English they knew.

Train Network:

In Indian cities, we don’t have a train network. We just have a line or two running from north to south or east to west. I was impressed by the network they have in Tokyo. Over a hundred stations and many junctions. They have many lines run by different organizations, intersecting at different stations. More efficient than any bus service in India, they provide the best means of public transportation. Electronically controlled trains means no delays. They have arrival times like 7:14 PM and are seldom late, not even by a minute. With a map in hand and aided by annoucements in both English and Japanese, its hard to get lost.

Some trains have zillion ads which are a visual overload. No complains as long as keep the prices low. Strong currency of theirs, Yen, makes a small stay in Japan very expensive for Indians. It will cost an average Rs 300 for two hour commute in the city involving changing the lines at the ‘junctions’.

Here an interesting observation. On escalators in subways etc. people with lot of time on their hand move to the left, while people in a hurry climb the stairs of the moving escalators on the right. This norm was followed almost every where.

Girls:

Close to 10 people asked me about girls in Japan claiming they are drop-dead gorgeous. Well, here’s my opinion. It is great to them all working. The ratio to women to men is more than 1 during the work hours. Women look real good in the business attire. When it comes to how hot, sexy or beautiful they look, i am saying the ratio is as mush as it is in India. It is not that apparent in our country because of poverty. If you dress all Indians up in good cloths, we will find as many pretty women as in Japan or any other country for that matter. It is not a magic that, all hot girls spring up in MG-Brigades. It is just that they have money to spend on looking good. Kimonos look awesome by the way.

Asakusa:

Given very limited time we had on our hand to spend, I managed to steal some to go to the Buddhist Temple in Asakusa. Never having been to a Buddhist temple before, I have no clue of the customs that are followed there. If anyone knows what they are, please explain them to me. I got to capture some good pics of the place. Bought some keychains and other Souvenirs for collection.

The Entrance

Shopping Arcade

5-Floor high Pagoda

The Temple

Pagoda Again

Adjacent Structure

They used the ladle to wash their hands

Similar to Mangalaarathi in Indian Temple I guess

The above pic: I have no idea what it is. They took a brush like stick and looked at the number there and then opened the corresponding box. In there was a manuscript in Japanese. I am guessing it is some sort of astrology or prediction of fate or something

This was outside one of the structures

Ginza, Akihabara:

They were the two other localities we visited in Tokyo. Akihabara is famous for electronic goods shopping while Ginza is top notch locality for premium items like Gucci’s etc. In the streets of Tokyo, people follow rules. Pedestrians dont cross the street if the pedestrian light is red and automibe wait for the pedestrians to pass. Given that mass transporation is on trains, there is hardly any pollution traffic on streets.

Automobiles

Got to see some interesting stuff there.

I got myself a caricature from the artist Sponsored by IBM

Kuala Lumpur

We had a 24 hour transit in Kuala Lampur. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) hits you as you enter it. It is damn beautiful. Rated as world’s best airport in one of the ratings, the architecture of the place makes you rant on the hapless situation of Indian Airports. Chennai Airport is dirty to say the least. Both Narita and KLIA are well maintained, clean and organized. KLIA is way better though.

Awesome Architecture

We visited KL tower and Petronas towers while in Kuala Lumpur. Got a bird’s eye view of the city from 84th floor at KL tower. Brought some souvenirs from here for collection. Some pics follow

Bird’s eye view

Petronas from KL Tower

Traditional Music being played

KL Tower

Petronas … just outside

To make some people envy me, I am posting pic of the place we stayed in Japan and Kuala Lumpur and also the desert I had on one of the days there.

Hilton Tokyo Bay

Holiday Inn, Glenmarie Residence, Kuala Lumpur

Next Post:

Unable to upload videos on youtube because of the newly authentication process which isn’t working all that well. Will upload some videos of the events organized by IBM after the worldfinals. It includes some Japanese music and a comedy juggler who played key board with ping-pong balls and also juggled the ping-pong balls using only his mouth. Will also upload some traditional Malaysian music as well.

Here are a few pics from places i have visited in last two months which are Hampi, Jog, Goa and Coimbatore. Most pics are here courtesy my brother, Srikanth. Hampi is a world heritage site declared by UNO. One look at the ruins scattered all over the place (350 sq kms) , you will know that it will take days just to see all the ruins present in there. Click on the pics to get a larger image.Hampi

The famous Stone Chariot in Hampi. The stone wheels could rotate.

Water Canal System way back in 15th Century

Queen’s Bath

Trading place (?)

Disfigured Narasimha Statue

Vittala Temple (from top of a Hill)

Gopuram of one of the ruined Temples

Elevated Stage

Market Place

Delicate Balance

Scattered Ruins of temple perhaps

Queen’s Palace

Arches inside Elephant’s Stable

Jog Falls

A burning tree near Jog Falls (Don’t ask why, what etc. I have no clue)

Jog Falls looks lot more majestic than what it seems in this pic

Goa

From the ‘DCH’ Fort

Trek Near Coimbatore at a place called Top Slip

I thought the structure blended well with the surrounding woods

Bald Tree

Silhouette