With Rajesh & Aparajita
flew to rajesh's place @ irvine. drove to death valley the next day. stayed at hotel amargosa for the night, an eerie haunted opera house converted to a hotel.
stayed at ... the next night.
came back the next day with rajesh wanting to go to vegas to gorge on the buffets. but it got too late. so went to a schezwan place in a strip mall. food was extremely hot.
20 May 2010
15 May 2010
14 May 2010
NYC, NY
stayed at konkona's place. visited tipu.
visit was marred by rain. and the one day it didn't rain we spent it at the Met.
had dinner at a ethiopian place -- queen of sheba -- recommended by rajesh. was a good one. not like the overhyped mesa grill where rajesh and apu had quite a shock.
visit was marred by rain. and the one day it didn't rain we spent it at the Met.
had dinner at a ethiopian place -- queen of sheba -- recommended by rajesh. was a good one. not like the overhyped mesa grill where rajesh and apu had quite a shock.
Yosemite for the first time
Devasmita came to spend her christmas with us and we took for to yosemite. it was a land of snow snow and more snow everywhere.
The Canadian Rockies
visit to banff and jasper national parks with my in-laws. highlights of the trip -- the rockies and the food at my uncle's place!
Crater Lake in Winter
presidents day holiday in feb 2008, went to crater lake in icy conditions in the yellow benz which put up quite a show fishtailing on the icy road. and for the first time i saw santapc, who is renowned for speeding, letting other cars pass. he could very well have been stopped for driving too slowly (like he once was in yosemite in 2005?)
4 May 2010
Modhuchondrima
After a long wait, the suspense was over…but was it really over? Well, you must be
wondering what is the suspense all about. I was going on my honeymoon, and I still
didn’t know the destination….my enthusiastic husband, Santa, had kept it as a secret from me.
He didn’t even tell friends and family, fearing that they might leak it out. We’re supposed
to depart on the 22nd of December, and even on the 21st I didn’t know where I was
heading! Not that I mind…because it’s heightening the sense of excitement within me.
Finally on the 22nd morning he relents and tells me “Sweetie, we’re going to Malaysia”.
I say, “Ok….sounds good to me…”, but I don’t believe him completely.
I was right in not believing him because after reaching the airport I found out that we
were going to Maldives and not Malaysia. I was so excited! He couldn’t have made a
better choice. I tried to think if I had mentioned to him sometime in the past that the
white beaches appealed to me a lot, but couldn’t recall doing so. Anyways, let’s give him
credit for his decision because it was just perfect. I think I married the right person! This
place with its white sands and azure waters has painted my imagination since the time I
saw it in a travel magazine. I simply couldn’t wait anymore to get there, but as luck
would have it, our flight was delayed by an hour and a half. It could not dampen my spirit
though.
Finally we took off at noon and having managed a window-side seat I got a wonderful
aerial view of the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris. I took in every moment of it. The
mountains were simply amazing. I was so thrilled on seeing the mountains. Little did I
know then that even more amazing things were in store for me. Well, I knew amazing
things were awaiting but I couldn’t anticipate the degree to which I would be amazed.
After an hour and a half, Maldives made its appearance as a stretch of small dots on the
deep blue ocean. The aerial view of the islands surrounded near the banks by the clear
blue waters and after that by the deep blue ocean left me dumbstruck. It was time for
landing and as the plane was reducing altitude and preparing to land it almost felt that the
plane would be landing in the waters itself. It went in a semicircle over the ocean and
before I could realize it had touched land!!
From the international terminal of the Male International Airport, we were taken to the
seaplane terminal, which functioned like our domestic terminal. The seaplanes looked just like the ones I had seen in Tintin. And never in my dreams did I think that I would one day be a passenger on this. Maybe this was my all dreams coming-true trip. From this area seaplanes took people to the different island resorts. The seaplane could accommodate only 15 people at a time. If there were more than 15 people the plane came back for a second trip.
From the seaplane we could see the islands more clearly and distinctly. Some of the
islands were so small that we could actually mark out their borders complete with the
sandbank and everything. The specialty of this area was its white sands and the crystal
clear azure waters. It was a slice of paradise right here on earth. After seeing this I was no
longer in the mood for imagination and was getting more and more impatient to go to
Kuredu Island – our home for the next 7 days. Finally, after a wait of two hours and a
journey of forty minutes we landed in Kuredu Island Resort.
The white sandy beaches of
the island lined by palm trees swaying in the evening wind and surrounded by the
turquoise waters stretched as far as I could see. On our arrival we were given a warm
welcome and then taken to our cottage. Everything in the island was picture perfect
starting from the scenery to the ambience. The entire atmosphere of the island was very
relaxing, very calm and languid and I was reminded of Tennyson’s “Lotos Eaters”. Life
seemed to go on at its own leisurely pace. One had all the time in the world to do
whatever they wanted.
The island had 5 different types of accommodation and we stayed in two of the types --
the water villas and the Jacuzzi beach villas. All of them were sea-facing and had a
stunning view of the Indian Ocean. For the first three days we stayed in the water villas.
It was perfect for honeymooners. The water villas stood out secluded from the rest of the
island in the north-west side on the turquoise lagoon. There are 50 such water villas,
standing in a wavy line one after the other, each connected to the other physically only.
The cottage's standing on wooden logs half inside the azure waters were what I had
always seen in magazines and had always dreamt of staying in.
After we entered the
cottage there were more surprises awaiting me. There were huge glass doors at the back
which faced the Indian Ocean and which opened into a furnished balcony. A few steps
down the balcony we were on the sundeck which was just five to six steps away from the
blue lagoon. Standing on the deck, with the Indian Ocean stretched out wide in front of
me I was mesmerized. It took me a little while to realize that this was not dreamland.
Realizing that I might go off into a trance anytime my husband dragged me off to dinner,
otherwise we’d have had to skip dinner because dinner was served from 19:30 – 21:30,
and it was already 21:15.
After dinner we took a walk down the beach…it had rained earlier in the day and the air
now was humid and sultry…but the water was cool and as we strolled along the beach we
felt the waters rushing in and then again drawing back against our feet. It felt like heaven
here on earth. There was a quiet lull everywhere in the island. As I strolled through “a
drowsy numbness” pained “my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk”……we
returned to our cottage totally drunk with the languid air of the island.
Next day I woke up to clear blue skies and the open sea in front of me. For once I thought
that I was dreaming but very soon I recovered as I remembered that I was staying in
paradise right here on earth for 7 days. I lay in bed and stared at the blue ocean in front of
me with the small white waves hitting our cottage at regular intervals. Lazily I walked out
of bed into the verandah and onto the sundeck and took in the sea. It was a bright and
sunny day…we headed straight for breakfast…breakfast was a sumptuous feast. After
stuffing ourselves we felt a bit lethargic…you simply cant help being lazy…the very air
we breathed made us feel drowsy -- so we just lazed around in the beach and watched
other energetic people! One thing’s must on this island…no matter where you are….on the
beach or in the water, make sure that there’s always loads of sun block on your skin.
Even with that it’s pretty hard to retain your original skin color as I found out later on!
What struck me on this island resort was that it was filled with Europeans. And we as
Indians stood out completely in the crowd. One more interesting fact was that the
majority of chefs and table-boys were from Bangladesh. When they heard us speaking
Bengali, they were very excited and began to ask us how and when we got married. From
them we found out that there were around 200 Bangladeshi employees in the island
resort. Some of them were there for the past 10 years, and had visited their homeland
only twice in that period. All the employees of the resort were very friendly and cheerful,
always ready with a nice, warm smile on their faces.
Food on the island was a sumptuous fare at all times, to say the least! It was mainly buffet, but there were a- la-carte restaurants too, if you wanted that special candle- lit romantic dinner on the beach with your
sweetheart. Maintenance on the island was amazing. Beaches were cleared of all fallen
leaves and other material every morning. Our rooms were cleaned twice daily. We
couldn’t have asked for more. Things ran very smoothly on this small island resort. We
didn’t have to carry cash with us. Whatever expenses were incurred was billed to our
room number and dues were cleared while checking out. This facility proved to be very
useful because it let us go anywhere on the island—be it the souvenir shop or to the bar
for a drink—without having to worry about money.
One thing which I missed on this island resort was the lack of local people. Being an
Indian, different cultures have always attracted my attention. This is one of the main
reasons why I love to travel to different places. But here the lack of Maldivian culture
and lifestyle was starkly missing. The entire island had been converted into a resort and
no touch of Maldivian life was found on the island. But if one really wanted to witness
the Maldivian culture and way of life, cruises were available that would take people to an
island inhabited by local people.
After staying for three days in the water villa, we shifted to the Jacuzzi beach villas to get
a feel of the sea and the beach. The water villas were secluded and more private.
In spite of the laid back atmosphere the island has a number of activities ranging from
snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, windsur fing, kitesurfing, parasailing and many more.
The Maldives was one of the finest spots for scuba diving and snorkeling. Snorkeling was
great fun. We rented snorkeling gear from the snorkeling center in the island….I also
took a lifejacket because I didn’t know swimming but I had to go snorkeling….so a life
jacket turned out to be my savior!
The first day we went snorkeling in the backyard of
our water villa…it was quite shallow out there with waist deep water and sometimes it
came up till the chest. My first lessons in snorkeling were given by my husband, being an
expert swimmer and snorkeling pro that he is. On day 1 I couldn’t do much because I was
unable to breathe properly through the tube and water came rushing into my mouth and
nose. So what I did was walked to a spot which my hubby darling found had many corals
and fishes. I stood there because the water was chest-deep and dipped my face inside the
water and saw the corals and fish.
Meanwhile my husband went out to sea after warning
me not to budge from the area further into the sea. The underwater view triggered my
interest and I tried to overcome my fear of getting drowned. Even with the lifejacket on
me and my husband holding my hand and instructing me to swim I was so scared that I
would be drowned I didn’t even make an effort to swim. My logic stopped working in
that place because much as my husband tried to explain that it was not possible for any
fully grown adult to get drowned there as the water wasn’t very deep and there was
always a foothold on the seabed, the more scared I became. Well, you can’t blame me for
not thinking logically. The place was so breathtakingly beautiful that I stopped thinking,
let alone logically! But that underwater view changed everything. I decided immediately
that I had to swim….at least swim somewhat so that I can go snorkeling further into the
sea without the fear of getting drowned. Then and there I floated back to our water
villa….well I did struggle…not because I wasn’t able to swim but because I was scared
that I will be drowned. God knows why I was so scared because even a kid would have
known that it wasn’t possible for me to drown there what with the lifejacket on and the
water being so shallow and salty in the first place…
Finally the next day I overcame my fear by going out to sea. I confined myself to a small
area and swam around in a circle, went up and down and saw a few corals and brightly
colored fishes. My husband instructed me to stay within the area and practice while he
went deep into the sea. Now that I had gained confidence I was dying to go further but
didn’t as the waters were deep and not many people were around. So I went up and down
and waited for my husband. He came up after a long wait and asked me if I wanted to go
farther because he had spotted a huge turtle and was following his trail and that led him
to a rich bed of corals and fishes. Eager that I was I said yes at once. I followed him into
the sea. This time he was scared because the water was very deep and if I floated away
from a little, he would pull me back in line. See, how things change, a day back I was
scared and now he is scared! But after reaching the spot what I saw was amazing. There
were live corals and such a wide variety of brightly colored fishes moving in and out of
the corals and as we moved towards the fishes they scampered away. It was so much fun
watching them. And then, when the sunlight streamed through the waters and lit up the
seabed it was simply awesome. The resort had a tagline that said “Live your dream”.
Floating on the sea and staring at the corals -- I actually was living my dream. I have
always seen such things on the National Geographic Channel and Discovery and always
wanted to actually go down there and see it for myself, through my own eyes. I actually
did it! We had rented an underwater digital camera from the diving centre and took some
great snaps of the corals and the underwater world. I did miss out on the turtle
though…never mind. Next time I’ll return as a swimming pro -- I’ve learnt half already –
and go in search of the turtle! After we came back from the snorkeling trip my hubby
darling was kind of surprised that I went ahead so deep into the sea without knowing how
to swim. Let me tell you he was very happy though! After spending the whole morning
snorkeling and swimming we were very hungry and rushed off to gobble up some great
lunch. After that we were scheduled to go for a blast ride but that didn’t materialize
because we were late by 5 minutes and someone else had taken up the boat. So we
decided to take a bath in the Jacuzzi in our open air bathroom. After the salt and the sun
relaxing in the tub with a glass of champagne and the man you love the
most…well…things couldn’t have been more perfect. Things were so perfect in this
island. We didn’t have to worry about anything in life. Life moved on in its own slow
pace. Life on the island could be best described by this slogan we saw on a T-shirt and
which we later bought “Sail Fast, Live Slow”.
After a refreshing bath we set out again for parasailing. I had never done that so I was
very much excited. We wanted the tandem so both of us could go together but the winds
were not strong enough so we went one at a time. Well, this was very exciting. Especially
while going up I was very thrilled. Our instructor told us to stay put on a wide belt kind
of thing which was actually the seat (!) and not to play with the clips which were attached
to the parachute. Up I went…zzzzzoooooooooooooooooo… “higher still and higher”. I
was a bit scared though and held on tightly to the rope. Below me I could see the Indian
Ocean and imaginary sharks. Other than our island it was only water, water everywhere. I
held on to the ropes as if my life depended on it…actually it did! From such a great
height I could see the island end-to-end and also beyond it. Everywhere I turned my head
it was water….faraway I could see a few more islands in the atoll. Whenever there was a
thrust of wind the clips to which the parachute was attached would make a creaky noise
and my heart would go thump-thump-thump. I could see my husband below in the
motorboat. He was waving at me but scared that I was I didn’t even move an inch. When
they started pulling me back I mustered up the courage to wave back at him.
The next day we planned to take the Robinson Crusoe excursion. The description of this
trip thrilled both of us and we were up for it. In this trip they took us out to an isolated
island and let us stay there for as long as we wanted—from half a day to a full day or
even overnight—with no one else around. We took a half-day trip, from 9:00 to 13:30.
They gave us enough water, cold drinks and food to last the five hours and dropped us off
on a motorboat.
On arriving there we saw that it was a deserted island in the truest sense.
We could see a thatched cottage in one corner which looked haunted to me even in the
bright daylight! On the beach we could see two deck chairs and a table. Our boatman
brought out an umbrella and planted it near the deck chairs and left us with a cellphone,
in case we needed any help.
Immediately we started exploring the island. It was
surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the side away from the atoll. The Ocean was right
behind the island. Between the ocean and the island was a barrier of rocks. We could see
trawlers which went for deep sea fishing on the ocean. We went till the rocks and stood
on the rocks for sometime, though it was very risky. After exploring the island from end-to-
end we deduced that it was a good decision not to stay overnight because it was pretty
scary. I collected some wonderful shells on this beach. We left our footprints in the sand
(we were the only inhabitants since that morning) hoping that they wont be destroyed by
the ravages of time!
In the middle of the island there was a dense growth of medium-sized
trees and sunlight hardly penetrated the ground. Back from our exploration we
thought of nibbling some sandwiches but to our dismay found out that the crows had
them strewn all over the place. They actually managed to open the box and make the
most of our sandwiches! Never mind, the scenic beauty more than made up for the lack
of those snacks.
The sun was scalding our skin and in order to save ourselves we decided
to go into the water. The water here was even clearer--the azure blue fading into
transparency. We decided to walk on the sandbank. While walking through the sandbank
we discovered that it went on and on and we could actually go on to the next island. But
it was quite a distance away and we preferred to go deeper into the water because the
cool waters soothed our burnt skin. I also worked a bit on my swimming. I wondered if I
went there for my honeymoon or my swimming lessons. It hardly mattered, as long as I
enjoyed it. We stayed in the water till 1 o’clock. After that we came back to the beach.
While coming back we saw an electric eel at a foot’s distance scampering away. Staying
on this island with just each other for company and no else was once in a lifetime
experience. While coming back from the island our boatman showed us two huge
stingrays in an area in which we were cooling ourselves half an hour ago.
Like all good things our honeymoon also came to an end. It was time to wrap up and go
back home. We didn’t feel like going at all though. Early in the morning after watching
the sun rise we set out to explore the island one last time. We went back to the water
villas because after we moved out we never came back to this part of the island.
I started collecting shells to take back home. I was standing in ankle deep water and picking them
up from the water itself. As I was doing so, Santa suddenly shouted out “there’s a
stingray behind you”. He had done this previously too to scare me…so this time also I
took it as a joke. But I turned back just like that and…the stingray was there, just behind
me. I screamed and scampered onto the beach. I guess my scream scared the wits out of
the ray because it ran away so fast.
This area was also infested by baby reef sharks and
they were not supposed to be dangerous. Actually they didn’t seem very harmful. They
themselves were scared of humans and ran away whenever we tried to go too close. So
that was the end of my honeymoon. Exciting from start to finish! I said goodbye to this
honeymooner’s heaven with the hope that our lives together will be as beautiful and as
exciting as it was here in this paradise on earth.
Yosemite
The year of the national parks
It all started with a 3”X2” card.
My friend D came down from Seattle to spend the Christmas holidays with us. It was snowing heavily and often in Seattle and she wanted to escape that. So our promise of good weather in California, and all the goodies her family sent for her from India through me was enough to lure her here.
After all the Christmas parties were over, we decided to go to Yosemite. This was D’s second visit and the initial tour of SF was already completed in her first visit. Thus Yosemite. Plus it would also be an opportunity for me to visit the park which my husband had visited 13 times (!) the previous year. I had to see what it was.
So on the 26th morning we started for Yosemite. We woke up, bundled ourselves and left. The drive was a nondescript one apart from the road being very beautiful. Now I was back from India a week ago after attending my brother’s wedding, and right after coming back I had been hosting and attending a lot of parties. My system was still following the clock on the other side of the world and amidst all the festivities I wasn’t exactly in the pink of health. Amidst all these I didn’t eat anything since morning. We had a stock of granola bars, but I didn’t feel like eating them. We stopped for lunch around 2 pm in a small town where they had some greasy cheesy sandwiches of which I could barely eat half.
We reached Yosemite around 3 pm. At the entrance the ranger asked us if we’d like to have an annual pass. It would cost us $80. My husband thought for a moment and got it. if we visited 4-5 national parks, it would be cost effective. We hoped that we’d at least do that much, if not more. Although at that point it was our second national park visit. The first one was in mid February to Crater Lake. You can’t blame us though. It was our first year of marriage, and then in the summer we went to Mexico and Cuba, and then parents and relatives came over and before we knew summer had passed.
At the entrance we were told that chains were required. So we pulled in to the chain installation area. We had taken a friend’s car because our car was a two-seater but the chains we had were for the two seater. Our car was a rear wheel drive and the tires were much more fat than the front wheel drive. So the chain was installed but it was kind of loose and it made a gut-gut sound all through which was annoying.
Inside the park everywhere we looked it was white.
It all started with a 3”X2” card.
My friend D came down from Seattle to spend the Christmas holidays with us. It was snowing heavily and often in Seattle and she wanted to escape that. So our promise of good weather in California, and all the goodies her family sent for her from India through me was enough to lure her here.
After all the Christmas parties were over, we decided to go to Yosemite. This was D’s second visit and the initial tour of SF was already completed in her first visit. Thus Yosemite. Plus it would also be an opportunity for me to visit the park which my husband had visited 13 times (!) the previous year. I had to see what it was.
So on the 26th morning we started for Yosemite. We woke up, bundled ourselves and left. The drive was a nondescript one apart from the road being very beautiful. Now I was back from India a week ago after attending my brother’s wedding, and right after coming back I had been hosting and attending a lot of parties. My system was still following the clock on the other side of the world and amidst all the festivities I wasn’t exactly in the pink of health. Amidst all these I didn’t eat anything since morning. We had a stock of granola bars, but I didn’t feel like eating them. We stopped for lunch around 2 pm in a small town where they had some greasy cheesy sandwiches of which I could barely eat half.
We reached Yosemite around 3 pm. At the entrance the ranger asked us if we’d like to have an annual pass. It would cost us $80. My husband thought for a moment and got it. if we visited 4-5 national parks, it would be cost effective. We hoped that we’d at least do that much, if not more. Although at that point it was our second national park visit. The first one was in mid February to Crater Lake. You can’t blame us though. It was our first year of marriage, and then in the summer we went to Mexico and Cuba, and then parents and relatives came over and before we knew summer had passed.
At the entrance we were told that chains were required. So we pulled in to the chain installation area. We had taken a friend’s car because our car was a two-seater but the chains we had were for the two seater. Our car was a rear wheel drive and the tires were much more fat than the front wheel drive. So the chain was installed but it was kind of loose and it made a gut-gut sound all through which was annoying.
Inside the park everywhere we looked it was white.
Fall Trip, October 2009
3rd October, 2009
We are supposed to leave for Montreal and Vermont tonight, but looking at the state of our packing it’s hard for anyone to believe that. A friend from Austin was visiting California from Austin and he was staying with us. His flight was in the afternoon from San Jose. We woke, chatted and had breakfast at a leisurely pace, and then when he could delay no longer, we started for the airport. After dropping him off at the airport we went to our nephew’s place to say goodbye because we’ll be missing him for almost 2 weeks. After all this we come back home around 2 0’clock, and decide that it’s high time, the packing needs to be finished right away. So we bring out a rucksack and a carry on and stuff whatever we need to stuff keeping in mind the weather conditions. Then we had lunch and was thinking of whether to take a nap or not when another friend called and said they would drop by. They had something to return. They came around 6 pm and left after half an hour. Lucky for me they came because I could transfer
Flight from San Francisco to Philadelphia and then Buffalo @ 10.45 pm.
Anshu leaves at 11.30, from there we go to orko’s. come back home around 2, have lunch, do the packing.
Rob da and pritha di come around 6 and leave around 6.30.
soon after we start for amit’s where there is a laxmi puja along with khichuri and labra.
We leave their place after 8.30 and then go to tutul’s office to print the boarding passes and mainly to keep the APs which rob da returned.
There was a bit of a hurry initially but the roads were all clear and we reached in time. Parked the car, and took the shuttle to the airport.
4th oct
Reached philly one hour ahead of schedule at 6 am. Tried to take the earlier plane to buffalo but the airlines would charge $50 for each person so we sat at the airport for 3 hours.
Reached buffalo around 11, went straight to hertz, took the car and headed straight to Niagara falls. It was awesome. Did the cave of the winds and then went to the Canadian side of the falls. There was a queue at the entry point, and oh, these new Yorkers charge toll all over the place. God knows how much toll we paid during our entire trip, should have kept an account.
The Canadian side was really beautiful. Had lunch of tapas at one of the places in front of the falls. After lunch went to the maid of the mist. It was awesome. And during the boat ride we saw a rainbow whose arch went from end to end and even under the water. We were soaked wet.
After this came back to usa. This was also a trial to see if we could enter the country with an expired visa. We smoothly came inside without so much as a question raised. Went to boku da’s place for the night. The kids and tutul played ice hockey in the basement. They were all very excited and didn’t want to go to sleep but they had school the next day, so somehow they were put to sleep. After they went to sleep we chatted till 12.
Dinner was a feast with veg chop, macher dimer bora, tandoori chicken, bhaat, daal, palong shaker tarkari, mach, panther mangsho, chutney, payesh. I may even miss something. Oh yeah, chingri mach. Now it’s complete I think and all this was home cooked! Mini cooks everything at home.
5th oct
we woke up after 8.30 and by that time everyone was gone. Had breakfast and made a sandwich with the veg chops and bread. Hit the road for montreal via Toronto. This time the lady at the Canadian customs asked too many questions. The drive was a long one and I got a bit bored. so we went off the highway and near a boat docking area.
Reached motreal around 7.30/8.00 and started looking for hotels on st. denis. This was the downtown area of the city and we stopped at the first hotel we came across. I went inside and inquired about the availability and price. To my surprise I found an Indian grandpa at the counter. He said it would be $80 for two people so we took it for the night. The room was ok but later we found that it was way over priced. One thing which I noticed over there was that the entry to all the hotels were closed. You had to ring a bell and then someone would buzz you in. don’t know why it was like that. Parked the car at the library garage nearby because street parking was expensive. This was suggested by our Indian grandpa who by the thought we were sri Lankans and when that wasn’t correct he was definite we were tamilians. He was from bihar and I should have guessed it from the bright blue colors of the door.
Went out for dinner and had dinner at a crepe place. The two young ladies at the restaurant captivated tutul and so the food tasted amazing to him. The food was really good though. And after the crepes we had dessert, each had his own individual one. I had a lemon tart and tutul a chocolate mousse. Both were delicious.
There was a funny setting on one of the uqam campus. The lawn in front had been adorned with red suitcase belts kind of things. And inside the lawn chairs were placed. Two or three or four together. Each had a year marked on them and none of them faced each other. They all faced away from each other. Probably an installation of some sort.
After dinner we roamed around and looked up hotels, and more or less settled on one. The price was the cheapest but more than that the building and the interior appealed to us. It was nothing fancy or anything like that, but it had those attic type rooms and we were hoping to get one. And every hotel we went into to inquire the first I checked was whether they had free breakfast in the morning. We tried three and all three of them had. Even our grandpa hotel had, but we skipped it.
6th oct
Checked out and made reservations at the other hotel and managed to get a room right at the top floor facing the street!
Went out. walked straight down Ontario street. Had brunch at eggspectation, located in the hyatt building. Then headed for the walking tour which was to start at 1.30 from the notre dame. On the way also passed the uqam campus.
Reached the notre dame just in the nick of time. Our guide was a middle aged man. He was from montreal. He looked sort of funny with his big wide expressive eyes, and the way he talked was quite amusing, in the manner of a theatrical character, moving his hands in every possible direction and rolling his eyes every now and then. But he was a nice man. His ancestors had arrived from france to montreal in 1650. In the beginning I thought that I heard the wrong date but later on I clarified that it was indeed 1650. We went inside the notre dame. What struck me was the fact that the outer façade wasn’t very decorative. Looked very ordinary but the interiors were breathtaking and what was even more striking was the fact that all the intricate work was done in wood! He took us to st. paul street which was supposed to be demolished for building a bridge but at the last moment it was saved due to the intervention of someone. They are now restoring it in the fashion of the old ages with cobbled streets and old style street lamps. This was a tour of the old montreal part with the waterfront and the market place. The bonsecours market as it was called was similar to the ferry building in san Francisco, full of boutiques and restaurants. We went to the city or the governor’s building where the guide showed us his ancestor’s name in one of the plaques there where was mentioned the names of people who had died in an epidemic of scurvy.
After the tour went to the clock tower, did some fall photography. From the harbor bridge where we standing we could see the biosphere which was initially made for the world expo when it was held in montreal. We had walked a lot that day, and came back to our hotel in the evening. Freshened up and changed into fancy coats and stuff. As we came down our hotel steps, a delicious smell of warm pizza wafted towards us from the pizza joint right next door. But tutul didn’t want to go there because we were not dressed for a greasy joint. So we ended up having pizza and wine at a restaurant which cost us $80! The antipasto platter was awesome though.
Came back and plopped into bed.
7th oct
Went down to have our free continental breakfast. Went to the reception where the man asked, tea or coffee? I said coffee, with milk. Then he said, we have croissant, chocolate muffin and blueberry muffin. I asked for a croissant. He put one croissant on the tray, poured some milk from the fridge into my coffee, put a small glass of orange juice and handed me the tray. That was our continental breakfast!
There were predictions of heavy rain and so we decided to take the car. The sky was overcast but it didn’t rain much. It was chilly though. Explored different parts of the city and had dinner at crescent street. At a place called sir Winston Churchill or something like that. Tutul had poutine here which his French-canadian boss martin had recommended. The dish tasted good but after having it he remarked, now I know why martin weighs 250 pounds. It consisted of French fries, with peppercorns and lots of cheese and some sort of gravy. The taste was good though. Something with so much grease and fat has to taste good, right?
Walked around, went into a mall, did some night photography of notre dame which didn’t turn out well without the tripod. It was very windy at this time and at times gusts of wind kept pushing us. Came back around 9/9.30. we were feeling a bit hungry by now and so we decided to go to a dessert place we had seen on the first night, by the name of Juliette and chocolat. We gorged on two separate dessert dishes. I had a brownie with ice cream and melted chocolate. The melted chocolate was so decadent. If you are to enjoy things like this you shouldn’t be a weight watcher, at least for the moment. Because the pleasure has to be guiltless. The taste of smooth, silky molten chocolate slowly dissolving in your mouth…that’s heaven for me.
8th oct
Headed for quebec city, because we had nothing more to explore in montreal. The road was very nice with fall colors stretching for miles on both sides of the road. At times it rained very hard and visibility was very poor. It was a bit scary but thrilling. Reached quebec city around noon, went to the information centre. Gathered a map. Then had lunch and started exploring. It was a very old city, and its past history was still there with all the forts and the buildings.
I have this habit of buying magnets and when we bought a quebec city magnet we discovered a street on the magnet which we hadn’t been to and probably wouldn’t have, but for the magnet. It was called petit champlain street and was filled with shops of all types…a very busy place, filled with tourists and people. we were deciding whether to stay back in the city or move on
Finally decided to move on because there was nothing much to do and we had to reach Albany the next day by 2 to pick up konkona who would be joining us from new York. So we drove on and stopped at sherbrooke, close to the us border.
9th oct
Entered the us customs. The man at the centre was a young man, very chirpy. He was surprised that we had come from California in this cold chilly weather. But the fall colors are beautiful. Yes, he agreed. When we saw tutul’s visa had expired, he said so. Tutul explained that he still had a valid I-97 and he said ok. The way he said ok sounded very much like that he didn’t know this rule. He asked his supervisor who was around and his supervisor okayed us. So we got to enter usa again. We entered through 91 in vermont.
Went to the Vermont info centre where the lady gave us a map and marked out 100 which was in peak at the time. it was not an interstate and went north-south. We took 100 for a while and then charted our own route from the map to reach Albany in the shortest time, and even then we were more than half an hour late. Had my first sub during this drive.
Picked up konkona and went to benington where we were staying. The motel couldn’t find our reservation. A desi lady came out on ringing the bell who knew nothing. She just made another reservation and let us stay. Didn’t even tell us the amount we would have to pay. All she said was, you stay now, pay tomorrow. So we stayed. The room was nice, with doors on both sides. And there was a pond in the area which looked very much like the ponds in the horror movies where people are killed and dumped. The weather was foggy and cloudy and drizzling with rain and that gave the area all the more a feel like a horror movie.
We went out to the downtown area and they were having a moose festival there. All over the place mooses were painted in different types and later that weekend they were to be auctioned. We spotted quite a few and konkona documented most of them.
10th oct
Drove around on route 100. But the weather was bad with rain and clouds. Had lunch at a small town called Jamaica, where I had a bowl of chili. It seemed like a family owned thing where the entire family was involved in the business. A couple was performing in a side room. Both of them had a wonderful voice. They sang song of san Francisco and after the song was over, the lady said it feels like san Francisco outside. And konkona said you people, bring rain with you whenever you come here. The last time we came to new York in april, it rained so heavily that we couldn’t go out for the most part.
After lunch I drove for a while. It was fun driving on the mountain roads, but the rain took away some of the fun. After a while I had to give up because a large number of cars had lined up behind me.
We continued on 100 and after a while konkona drove with the same results. We stopped at a place where it was sunny and there was a lake with the reflection of the fall colors. The mountains seemed bright in patches where sunshine had struck. Entered new York state and stayed at queensbury for the night. Had dinner at red lobster, again for the first time.
11th oct
Went to lake George and the Adirondacks and then started for Albany around 1. Reached with a few minutes to spare. Then started the long drive back to buffalo. Went to see Niagara again, by night. Tutul wanted to the Canadian side again, but I refused. There was no point in going at this time. Our flight was the next day, and if for some reason we got stuck…
Had dinner at hard rock café, again a first for me.
Repacked and arranged everything in our hotel
12th oct
Woke up at 4 am and headed straight for the airport. Never reached the airport so much before time. Reached home at 1 pm, pacific time.
We are supposed to leave for Montreal and Vermont tonight, but looking at the state of our packing it’s hard for anyone to believe that. A friend from Austin was visiting California from Austin and he was staying with us. His flight was in the afternoon from San Jose. We woke, chatted and had breakfast at a leisurely pace, and then when he could delay no longer, we started for the airport. After dropping him off at the airport we went to our nephew’s place to say goodbye because we’ll be missing him for almost 2 weeks. After all this we come back home around 2 0’clock, and decide that it’s high time, the packing needs to be finished right away. So we bring out a rucksack and a carry on and stuff whatever we need to stuff keeping in mind the weather conditions. Then we had lunch and was thinking of whether to take a nap or not when another friend called and said they would drop by. They had something to return. They came around 6 pm and left after half an hour. Lucky for me they came because I could transfer
Flight from San Francisco to Philadelphia and then Buffalo @ 10.45 pm.
Anshu leaves at 11.30, from there we go to orko’s. come back home around 2, have lunch, do the packing.
Rob da and pritha di come around 6 and leave around 6.30.
soon after we start for amit’s where there is a laxmi puja along with khichuri and labra.
We leave their place after 8.30 and then go to tutul’s office to print the boarding passes and mainly to keep the APs which rob da returned.
There was a bit of a hurry initially but the roads were all clear and we reached in time. Parked the car, and took the shuttle to the airport.
4th oct
Reached philly one hour ahead of schedule at 6 am. Tried to take the earlier plane to buffalo but the airlines would charge $50 for each person so we sat at the airport for 3 hours.
Reached buffalo around 11, went straight to hertz, took the car and headed straight to Niagara falls. It was awesome. Did the cave of the winds and then went to the Canadian side of the falls. There was a queue at the entry point, and oh, these new Yorkers charge toll all over the place. God knows how much toll we paid during our entire trip, should have kept an account.
The Canadian side was really beautiful. Had lunch of tapas at one of the places in front of the falls. After lunch went to the maid of the mist. It was awesome. And during the boat ride we saw a rainbow whose arch went from end to end and even under the water. We were soaked wet.
After this came back to usa. This was also a trial to see if we could enter the country with an expired visa. We smoothly came inside without so much as a question raised. Went to boku da’s place for the night. The kids and tutul played ice hockey in the basement. They were all very excited and didn’t want to go to sleep but they had school the next day, so somehow they were put to sleep. After they went to sleep we chatted till 12.
Dinner was a feast with veg chop, macher dimer bora, tandoori chicken, bhaat, daal, palong shaker tarkari, mach, panther mangsho, chutney, payesh. I may even miss something. Oh yeah, chingri mach. Now it’s complete I think and all this was home cooked! Mini cooks everything at home.
5th oct
we woke up after 8.30 and by that time everyone was gone. Had breakfast and made a sandwich with the veg chops and bread. Hit the road for montreal via Toronto. This time the lady at the Canadian customs asked too many questions. The drive was a long one and I got a bit bored. so we went off the highway and near a boat docking area.
Reached motreal around 7.30/8.00 and started looking for hotels on st. denis. This was the downtown area of the city and we stopped at the first hotel we came across. I went inside and inquired about the availability and price. To my surprise I found an Indian grandpa at the counter. He said it would be $80 for two people so we took it for the night. The room was ok but later we found that it was way over priced. One thing which I noticed over there was that the entry to all the hotels were closed. You had to ring a bell and then someone would buzz you in. don’t know why it was like that. Parked the car at the library garage nearby because street parking was expensive. This was suggested by our Indian grandpa who by the thought we were sri Lankans and when that wasn’t correct he was definite we were tamilians. He was from bihar and I should have guessed it from the bright blue colors of the door.
Went out for dinner and had dinner at a crepe place. The two young ladies at the restaurant captivated tutul and so the food tasted amazing to him. The food was really good though. And after the crepes we had dessert, each had his own individual one. I had a lemon tart and tutul a chocolate mousse. Both were delicious.
There was a funny setting on one of the uqam campus. The lawn in front had been adorned with red suitcase belts kind of things. And inside the lawn chairs were placed. Two or three or four together. Each had a year marked on them and none of them faced each other. They all faced away from each other. Probably an installation of some sort.
After dinner we roamed around and looked up hotels, and more or less settled on one. The price was the cheapest but more than that the building and the interior appealed to us. It was nothing fancy or anything like that, but it had those attic type rooms and we were hoping to get one. And every hotel we went into to inquire the first I checked was whether they had free breakfast in the morning. We tried three and all three of them had. Even our grandpa hotel had, but we skipped it.
6th oct
Checked out and made reservations at the other hotel and managed to get a room right at the top floor facing the street!
Went out. walked straight down Ontario street. Had brunch at eggspectation, located in the hyatt building. Then headed for the walking tour which was to start at 1.30 from the notre dame. On the way also passed the uqam campus.
Reached the notre dame just in the nick of time. Our guide was a middle aged man. He was from montreal. He looked sort of funny with his big wide expressive eyes, and the way he talked was quite amusing, in the manner of a theatrical character, moving his hands in every possible direction and rolling his eyes every now and then. But he was a nice man. His ancestors had arrived from france to montreal in 1650. In the beginning I thought that I heard the wrong date but later on I clarified that it was indeed 1650. We went inside the notre dame. What struck me was the fact that the outer façade wasn’t very decorative. Looked very ordinary but the interiors were breathtaking and what was even more striking was the fact that all the intricate work was done in wood! He took us to st. paul street which was supposed to be demolished for building a bridge but at the last moment it was saved due to the intervention of someone. They are now restoring it in the fashion of the old ages with cobbled streets and old style street lamps. This was a tour of the old montreal part with the waterfront and the market place. The bonsecours market as it was called was similar to the ferry building in san Francisco, full of boutiques and restaurants. We went to the city or the governor’s building where the guide showed us his ancestor’s name in one of the plaques there where was mentioned the names of people who had died in an epidemic of scurvy.
After the tour went to the clock tower, did some fall photography. From the harbor bridge where we standing we could see the biosphere which was initially made for the world expo when it was held in montreal. We had walked a lot that day, and came back to our hotel in the evening. Freshened up and changed into fancy coats and stuff. As we came down our hotel steps, a delicious smell of warm pizza wafted towards us from the pizza joint right next door. But tutul didn’t want to go there because we were not dressed for a greasy joint. So we ended up having pizza and wine at a restaurant which cost us $80! The antipasto platter was awesome though.
Came back and plopped into bed.
7th oct
Went down to have our free continental breakfast. Went to the reception where the man asked, tea or coffee? I said coffee, with milk. Then he said, we have croissant, chocolate muffin and blueberry muffin. I asked for a croissant. He put one croissant on the tray, poured some milk from the fridge into my coffee, put a small glass of orange juice and handed me the tray. That was our continental breakfast!
There were predictions of heavy rain and so we decided to take the car. The sky was overcast but it didn’t rain much. It was chilly though. Explored different parts of the city and had dinner at crescent street. At a place called sir Winston Churchill or something like that. Tutul had poutine here which his French-canadian boss martin had recommended. The dish tasted good but after having it he remarked, now I know why martin weighs 250 pounds. It consisted of French fries, with peppercorns and lots of cheese and some sort of gravy. The taste was good though. Something with so much grease and fat has to taste good, right?
Walked around, went into a mall, did some night photography of notre dame which didn’t turn out well without the tripod. It was very windy at this time and at times gusts of wind kept pushing us. Came back around 9/9.30. we were feeling a bit hungry by now and so we decided to go to a dessert place we had seen on the first night, by the name of Juliette and chocolat. We gorged on two separate dessert dishes. I had a brownie with ice cream and melted chocolate. The melted chocolate was so decadent. If you are to enjoy things like this you shouldn’t be a weight watcher, at least for the moment. Because the pleasure has to be guiltless. The taste of smooth, silky molten chocolate slowly dissolving in your mouth…that’s heaven for me.
8th oct
Headed for quebec city, because we had nothing more to explore in montreal. The road was very nice with fall colors stretching for miles on both sides of the road. At times it rained very hard and visibility was very poor. It was a bit scary but thrilling. Reached quebec city around noon, went to the information centre. Gathered a map. Then had lunch and started exploring. It was a very old city, and its past history was still there with all the forts and the buildings.
I have this habit of buying magnets and when we bought a quebec city magnet we discovered a street on the magnet which we hadn’t been to and probably wouldn’t have, but for the magnet. It was called petit champlain street and was filled with shops of all types…a very busy place, filled with tourists and people. we were deciding whether to stay back in the city or move on
Finally decided to move on because there was nothing much to do and we had to reach Albany the next day by 2 to pick up konkona who would be joining us from new York. So we drove on and stopped at sherbrooke, close to the us border.
9th oct
Entered the us customs. The man at the centre was a young man, very chirpy. He was surprised that we had come from California in this cold chilly weather. But the fall colors are beautiful. Yes, he agreed. When we saw tutul’s visa had expired, he said so. Tutul explained that he still had a valid I-97 and he said ok. The way he said ok sounded very much like that he didn’t know this rule. He asked his supervisor who was around and his supervisor okayed us. So we got to enter usa again. We entered through 91 in vermont.
Went to the Vermont info centre where the lady gave us a map and marked out 100 which was in peak at the time. it was not an interstate and went north-south. We took 100 for a while and then charted our own route from the map to reach Albany in the shortest time, and even then we were more than half an hour late. Had my first sub during this drive.
Picked up konkona and went to benington where we were staying. The motel couldn’t find our reservation. A desi lady came out on ringing the bell who knew nothing. She just made another reservation and let us stay. Didn’t even tell us the amount we would have to pay. All she said was, you stay now, pay tomorrow. So we stayed. The room was nice, with doors on both sides. And there was a pond in the area which looked very much like the ponds in the horror movies where people are killed and dumped. The weather was foggy and cloudy and drizzling with rain and that gave the area all the more a feel like a horror movie.
We went out to the downtown area and they were having a moose festival there. All over the place mooses were painted in different types and later that weekend they were to be auctioned. We spotted quite a few and konkona documented most of them.
10th oct
Drove around on route 100. But the weather was bad with rain and clouds. Had lunch at a small town called Jamaica, where I had a bowl of chili. It seemed like a family owned thing where the entire family was involved in the business. A couple was performing in a side room. Both of them had a wonderful voice. They sang song of san Francisco and after the song was over, the lady said it feels like san Francisco outside. And konkona said you people, bring rain with you whenever you come here. The last time we came to new York in april, it rained so heavily that we couldn’t go out for the most part.
After lunch I drove for a while. It was fun driving on the mountain roads, but the rain took away some of the fun. After a while I had to give up because a large number of cars had lined up behind me.
We continued on 100 and after a while konkona drove with the same results. We stopped at a place where it was sunny and there was a lake with the reflection of the fall colors. The mountains seemed bright in patches where sunshine had struck. Entered new York state and stayed at queensbury for the night. Had dinner at red lobster, again for the first time.
11th oct
Went to lake George and the Adirondacks and then started for Albany around 1. Reached with a few minutes to spare. Then started the long drive back to buffalo. Went to see Niagara again, by night. Tutul wanted to the Canadian side again, but I refused. There was no point in going at this time. Our flight was the next day, and if for some reason we got stuck…
Had dinner at hard rock café, again a first for me.
Repacked and arranged everything in our hotel
12th oct
Woke up at 4 am and headed straight for the airport. Never reached the airport so much before time. Reached home at 1 pm, pacific time.
Grand Circle, September 2009
Labor day weekend (rather week I have to say considering the trip was from sep 2nd to sep 8th, 2009). Left on wed afternoon, came back on Tuesday, late at night.
Trip members: ma, baba, dada, tutul, me.
Tuesday – went to amit’s place at 11 pm to get his tripod
Wednesday, sep 2nd, 2009 :-
Flight from SFO-Las Vegas. Plan was to spend the night at Vegas and gorge on the buffet. Initially we had decided that we’ll take some home food for ma-baba because the buffet won’t be to their liking, but later on all of us decided to join in as the soaring temperatures forced a change in plans and we decided to carry some ‘ghar ka khana’ with us. So tutul was supposed to pick up alu parathas from Namaste plaza on the way back home from office. Unfortunately no alu parathas were available and we had to make do with plain parathas (ok) and methi parathas (which btw, was a big hit). So dinner in Vegas consisted of two types of parathas, ma’s bhaja amer anchar, and some alu-capsicum bhaja.
Our flight was around 6.30 pm. While leaving for office in the morning, tutul said “I’ll be back by 2, max 3.” As usual, he didn’t turn up until after 4. Somehow his two bosses, Prasad and pradeep always manage to hand him some work on the day he’s leaving for a trip. We were all ready by the time he came. Dada arrived a few minutes later. He had a press meet that day and was all decked up in formal attire. Rushed inside the house and into the bathroom and came out a completely different man. Like the people in the ads where they show a person undergoing change through a whirlwind in seconds. We loaded up the Subaru and started after 4.30 pm. Luckily there was no traffic and we made it to the parking lot in Burlingame in time. except for the fact that we were quite a distance from the airport and the shuttle service was every 20 minutes we had nothing to much worry about. Dada called up the shuttle service and found out that the it was the approximate time for the shuttle to be in the parking lot. Either we had missed it or it will be arriving very soon, the man on the phone wasn’t sure which one. Thankfully the shuttle showed up and we were relieved at not having to go through another Houston episode (another story) this time. Reached the airport and breezed through security. Absolutely no crowd whatsoever. God knows what happened on that thursday afternoon when we were leaving for Houston.
Landed in Vegas after 8 pm, went straight to the rental car centre where we had a reservation for a jeep. I tried to add my name in the driver’s list but my learner’s permit was not enough. So tutul was the only designated driver. Dada was not added because an extra driver other than spouse would cost 10$/day which meant an additional cost of 70$. Dada would be driving anyways…
Las vegas was warm and awake in all its glory. After a while we had to roll up the windows and switch on the ac. After meandering through much traffic on the strip finally reached Bally’s, our hotel in Vegas. Tutul and baba went to check-in so that we could get two queen beds. Five people were not allowed in a room in any of the places we stayed and depending on the cost we had registered for two or four people. bechara dada had to sleep on the floor most of the days except for one.
After our dinner of parathas we ventured into sin city, not for any sinful activity though. Dada gave my parents a tour of the strip, the Vegas veteran that he is amongst us (his company holds an annual meet in Vegas). Saw the dancing fountain in front of Bellagio twice, went inside the Venetian, had dessert @ Bellagio including a chocolate dipped strawberry and just roamed around and came back after midnight. All of us went to sleep excepting tutul who had some office work to complete handed by Pradeep.
Thursday, 3rd Sep, 2009:-
We were supposed to leave Vegas as early as possible, so that we could reach Grand Canyon by 2/3 pm. But tutul went to sleep at 5 am, and then the flush in the toilet stopped working. So I called up the management, and me and dad went out so that they won’t find five people in the room. Dada moved from the floor to the bed. Me and dad roamed about in the corridors for half an hour during which the repairs were done and we finally were ready around 10 am. Now for breakfast. We went to panda express and dada went to subway. Tutul had always told me about panda express but never taken me to any. So I made full use of the opportunity. The food was really good and it was very much like our Indian Chinese. After breakfast, rather brunch we started for Grand Canyon around 11/11.30.
It was a very hot day. Our first stop was Hoover Dam and Lake Powell. Parked the car and ventured out into the hot sun, but it was worthwhile. The water level of the lake had receded by a considerable amount and the difference was clearly seen by a white boundary left by the earlier water level. We saw some construction work going on in the area, most probably a bridge being built. It was pretty scary to see workers standing on an arch so high up from the ground. This was the first time I saw the arch of a bridge being built. From here we moved on straight to Grand Canyon. Reached around 4.30/5.00 pm.
Went to see sunset. Rain. Came back, had dinner.
Went for moonlight view of grand canyon. One distant light in the north rim and two flashes of light near the bright angel trail.
Friday
Elk fight near lodge. Went down bright angel trail. Not all the way. Just a bit.Took shuttle to end of west rim – hermit’s rest. Stopped at few view points. Bought a t-shirt there. The sun was up in all its glory, which washed out the colour. Not good for photography. Then went for the east rim drive and onto monument valley.
Reached MV around evening. We were hoping to catch the golden rays of the setting sun but unfortunately it became cloudy again. Did the 17 mile loop. It was a dirt road and it was one hell of a ride in the jeep. Reminded me of potholed streets in Kolkata. Only this time they seemed so much better. Waited at a viewpoint for quite a while in order to capture a photo of a lightning. It had started raining ever so slightly. My handycam’s battery ran out or else I’d have captured that thunder strike. Tutul waited but was unable to capture. Dada’s battery also ran out.
Started for arches. Had dinner at a place in bluff/blanding. We went for miles and miles without any township in site. Our main concern at that time was food. Stopped for gas at bluff. Bought a chicken salad sandwich at the gas station for mom and dad in case nothing else is found. On the opposite side saw a diner kinda thing. went in to check out the menu. It was only steak and the only other option was a veg burger which didn’t appeal to me. Saw a amusing thing. there was a huge swing near the entrance and on that swing pounds of beef were being roasted by a fire underneath. The very sight of those bulky red loads of meat was so nauseating. Started driving and spotted another diner. This seemed ok. Menu had fish and chicken which was good for us. Seating was open air, under a tree. Served water in plastic glasses shaped like cowboy boots. Dada and baba had catfish which didn’t taste good. had a weird smell. Me and ma shared a barbecued chicken. Seeing barbecue chicken on the menu, mom said she wanted that thinking that it would be like the one that kaka made in Canada. What kaka made was tandoori and this was an entirely different thing which she found out to her dismay. Tutul’s salmon dish was good. bandanas were wrapped like napkins which we got to keep. Reached our hotel in Moab (day’s inn) around 12.
Saturday
Woke up, dressed, took mom and dad down to breakfast in the lobby. We had asked for a late checkout but the man didn’t allow. So we called up our hotel for that day and they allowed us an early check in. this was the river canyon lodge, a nice hotel and it even had a chaise sort of thing by the window. For the first and last time in the trip dada got to sleep on the bed. I slept on the chaise because nobody else would fit in there. Good for me. We dumped our bags and went off to arches.
First stop – moab fault.
Second stop – park avenue, we took a one mile hike and then dada hiked back to the starting point and brought the car back.
Next stop – balanced rock. Before that stopped briefly to see the petrified dunes. Could see the la sal mountains in the background. Still had some snow on the top.
Garden of eden. Had a wonderful view.
After balanced rock it was time for lunch and some rest. Just caught a glimpse of the windows section and double arch and then headed for lunch. Had lunch at a greek diner. The food was really good. tutul had some lamb souvlaki. I had a curry rice wrap. Ma and baba had Indonesian chicken satay. And dada had some soup. Bechara. the tomato soup was finished and he had to make do with the pear and squas soup. But the rice was awesome. Tasted very much like our polao. After lunch went back to the hotel for some rest and sleep. It was very hot outside so it was better to stay indoors. Tutul sat down to work and the rest of us slept. Woke up around 3.15/3.30 and headed straight to the windows section. The weather looked fine and we were hoping that today would be a good day for sunset photography. But as we reached there it became cloudy. The glow wasn’t there. As we moved from the north to the south window the sun came out suddenly in all its glory and dada and tutul scrambled for photographs. In their quest they just climbed up wherever they could find a footholding and tutul with his tripod.
From there went to delicate arch. it was 1.5 mile hike and we dragged along ma and baba too. After a while it got steep. There was an elevation gain of 500 ft and my mom was extremely angry. She was panting like anything and at one point she refused to budge anymore. But she made it almost. The last part entailed going through a narrow ledge with sheer drop on one side and it drizzled at times. So I left my mom and dad before the narrow road and made for the delicate arch. the two brothers were already there. No sunset, no glowing light even today. Waited after 7 but no hope. So we started down. Suddenly on the way down we see the area covered in a fiery orange glow. This is what we wanted on delicate arch. but alas. On the way down went to see the petroglyphs. We thought they would be some 2-3000 years old. No. they were only 250-300 years old.
Came back and had dinner at a Chinese place. Went to bed
Sunday
Went early in the morning for photography. Windows section, double arch. came back, dressed up and left for delicate arch. this time for the viewpoint. So my parents could see the arch after all the trouble they took the day before. Skipped breakfast. Ma and baba had that chicken salad sandwich. Bought some biscuits and cookies and that was breakfast. Went to the visitor centre. Bought magnets. Started for Bryce.
Started driving through a dirt road and for almost an hour or so we drove through a barren, bleak landscape. It was extremely hot outside and we saw only one other car ahead of us.
On the way passed through canyon reef national park. Drove for a while through the scenic route. At one point we were driving over a ridge.
Had lunch at a taco bell drive thru around 2. Drove straight to Bryce. Reached around 7.15 and just missed the sunset. Barely by 5 mins. But still managed to get a few photos. Stayed inside the park in Bryce. Log cabin house with fireplace and everything. had dinner at the lodge restaurant. Selected a veg strudel for parents which was just awful. They couldn’t eat it. my mom liked the quesadillas which we took. Dada took gnocchi but the quantity was too much and it was too creamy. I took polenta for the first time after having seen it countless times on the food network. Didn’t go down very well with me. Tutul had a trout which was really good. and then we got one lemon sorbet which we shared, mostly me and tutul because no one else could digest that tangy taste. Tutul has been accustomed to it after staying with me. Went for a walk at night. Lay down on the bench and saw a couple shooting stars. Came back because it was getting cold. Temp were around 3-4C. dad not feeling well.
Monday
Woke up at 6 and left for sunrise photography. Me and tutul went to inspiration point and dada some place else. from there hiked to Bryce point. Waited for shuttle and got late. Finally took the shuttle and came back. Dada had gone for some hike. We checked out and left him a note at the lodge door. went to the visitor centre, where there was a museum and stayed there till 12 until tutul picked up dada and came back. Had lunch. And then drove to rainbow point and came back to Bryce point stopping at the viewpoints. At rainbow point took a short hike. From Bryce point took the shuttle to sunset point where me and tutul took the Navajo loop trail to go down into the canyon. Saw the two bridges, wall street, and thor’s hammer.
Came back in time for sunset. I grabbed a spot at sunset point for tutul to place his camera. The hodoos had already started glowing but for the whole amphitheater to glow we’d have to wait a little longer. But we had to start for zion that day which was almost 80 miles away.
Reached our hotel @ springdale around 9. Springdale was the town right after zion national park. We crossed 2 looong tunnels and could make out the checkerboard mesa in the dark. Had pizza for dinner.
Tuesday
Last day of the trip. Had breakfast in the hotel. This was quality inn and they had a sumptuous breakfast starting from eggs, sausage, bread, cake, yogurt, fruit, waffle, cereal. You name it, they had it. and it was all free. We stuffed ourselves and then set out for the park. Inside the park we had to use the shuttle since cars were not allowed.
First stop – court of the patriarchs.
Then went to emerald pool where the three of us hiked to the lower emerald pool and saw some tree frogs. Then went to the end of the park where there was a riverwalk, a 2 mile walk by the side of the virgin river. It was wonderful in the shade. The walk ended where the river went inside the canyon. People were going canyoneering and dada and tutul went. I couldn’t go because the skin at the bottom of my left foot had come off and I was short on band aid. They came back around 2 and we went straight to lunch at the zion canyon lodge. After lunch we sat down in the shade in lawn in front because it was too hot to do anything. Plus zion was a place to be hiked and explored. Nothing to see much if you are just driving. Me and tutul had ice cream. After that we took the shuttle and went to the museum, watched part of the movie on the canyon formation and then went back to the visitor centre. Packed up properly for the flight and headed straight to vegas. In vegas tutul went to give back the car and then came to the airport. Bought some tacos for dinner at the airport and reached SFO around 11pm. Reached home around 12. End of a grand trip.
Trip members: ma, baba, dada, tutul, me.
Tuesday – went to amit’s place at 11 pm to get his tripod
Wednesday, sep 2nd, 2009 :-
Flight from SFO-Las Vegas. Plan was to spend the night at Vegas and gorge on the buffet. Initially we had decided that we’ll take some home food for ma-baba because the buffet won’t be to their liking, but later on all of us decided to join in as the soaring temperatures forced a change in plans and we decided to carry some ‘ghar ka khana’ with us. So tutul was supposed to pick up alu parathas from Namaste plaza on the way back home from office. Unfortunately no alu parathas were available and we had to make do with plain parathas (ok) and methi parathas (which btw, was a big hit). So dinner in Vegas consisted of two types of parathas, ma’s bhaja amer anchar, and some alu-capsicum bhaja.
Our flight was around 6.30 pm. While leaving for office in the morning, tutul said “I’ll be back by 2, max 3.” As usual, he didn’t turn up until after 4. Somehow his two bosses, Prasad and pradeep always manage to hand him some work on the day he’s leaving for a trip. We were all ready by the time he came. Dada arrived a few minutes later. He had a press meet that day and was all decked up in formal attire. Rushed inside the house and into the bathroom and came out a completely different man. Like the people in the ads where they show a person undergoing change through a whirlwind in seconds. We loaded up the Subaru and started after 4.30 pm. Luckily there was no traffic and we made it to the parking lot in Burlingame in time. except for the fact that we were quite a distance from the airport and the shuttle service was every 20 minutes we had nothing to much worry about. Dada called up the shuttle service and found out that the it was the approximate time for the shuttle to be in the parking lot. Either we had missed it or it will be arriving very soon, the man on the phone wasn’t sure which one. Thankfully the shuttle showed up and we were relieved at not having to go through another Houston episode (another story) this time. Reached the airport and breezed through security. Absolutely no crowd whatsoever. God knows what happened on that thursday afternoon when we were leaving for Houston.
Landed in Vegas after 8 pm, went straight to the rental car centre where we had a reservation for a jeep. I tried to add my name in the driver’s list but my learner’s permit was not enough. So tutul was the only designated driver. Dada was not added because an extra driver other than spouse would cost 10$/day which meant an additional cost of 70$. Dada would be driving anyways…
Las vegas was warm and awake in all its glory. After a while we had to roll up the windows and switch on the ac. After meandering through much traffic on the strip finally reached Bally’s, our hotel in Vegas. Tutul and baba went to check-in so that we could get two queen beds. Five people were not allowed in a room in any of the places we stayed and depending on the cost we had registered for two or four people. bechara dada had to sleep on the floor most of the days except for one.
After our dinner of parathas we ventured into sin city, not for any sinful activity though. Dada gave my parents a tour of the strip, the Vegas veteran that he is amongst us (his company holds an annual meet in Vegas). Saw the dancing fountain in front of Bellagio twice, went inside the Venetian, had dessert @ Bellagio including a chocolate dipped strawberry and just roamed around and came back after midnight. All of us went to sleep excepting tutul who had some office work to complete handed by Pradeep.
Thursday, 3rd Sep, 2009:-
We were supposed to leave Vegas as early as possible, so that we could reach Grand Canyon by 2/3 pm. But tutul went to sleep at 5 am, and then the flush in the toilet stopped working. So I called up the management, and me and dad went out so that they won’t find five people in the room. Dada moved from the floor to the bed. Me and dad roamed about in the corridors for half an hour during which the repairs were done and we finally were ready around 10 am. Now for breakfast. We went to panda express and dada went to subway. Tutul had always told me about panda express but never taken me to any. So I made full use of the opportunity. The food was really good and it was very much like our Indian Chinese. After breakfast, rather brunch we started for Grand Canyon around 11/11.30.
It was a very hot day. Our first stop was Hoover Dam and Lake Powell. Parked the car and ventured out into the hot sun, but it was worthwhile. The water level of the lake had receded by a considerable amount and the difference was clearly seen by a white boundary left by the earlier water level. We saw some construction work going on in the area, most probably a bridge being built. It was pretty scary to see workers standing on an arch so high up from the ground. This was the first time I saw the arch of a bridge being built. From here we moved on straight to Grand Canyon. Reached around 4.30/5.00 pm.
Went to see sunset. Rain. Came back, had dinner.
Went for moonlight view of grand canyon. One distant light in the north rim and two flashes of light near the bright angel trail.
Friday
Elk fight near lodge. Went down bright angel trail. Not all the way. Just a bit.Took shuttle to end of west rim – hermit’s rest. Stopped at few view points. Bought a t-shirt there. The sun was up in all its glory, which washed out the colour. Not good for photography. Then went for the east rim drive and onto monument valley.
Reached MV around evening. We were hoping to catch the golden rays of the setting sun but unfortunately it became cloudy again. Did the 17 mile loop. It was a dirt road and it was one hell of a ride in the jeep. Reminded me of potholed streets in Kolkata. Only this time they seemed so much better. Waited at a viewpoint for quite a while in order to capture a photo of a lightning. It had started raining ever so slightly. My handycam’s battery ran out or else I’d have captured that thunder strike. Tutul waited but was unable to capture. Dada’s battery also ran out.
Started for arches. Had dinner at a place in bluff/blanding. We went for miles and miles without any township in site. Our main concern at that time was food. Stopped for gas at bluff. Bought a chicken salad sandwich at the gas station for mom and dad in case nothing else is found. On the opposite side saw a diner kinda thing. went in to check out the menu. It was only steak and the only other option was a veg burger which didn’t appeal to me. Saw a amusing thing. there was a huge swing near the entrance and on that swing pounds of beef were being roasted by a fire underneath. The very sight of those bulky red loads of meat was so nauseating. Started driving and spotted another diner. This seemed ok. Menu had fish and chicken which was good for us. Seating was open air, under a tree. Served water in plastic glasses shaped like cowboy boots. Dada and baba had catfish which didn’t taste good. had a weird smell. Me and ma shared a barbecued chicken. Seeing barbecue chicken on the menu, mom said she wanted that thinking that it would be like the one that kaka made in Canada. What kaka made was tandoori and this was an entirely different thing which she found out to her dismay. Tutul’s salmon dish was good. bandanas were wrapped like napkins which we got to keep. Reached our hotel in Moab (day’s inn) around 12.
Saturday
Woke up, dressed, took mom and dad down to breakfast in the lobby. We had asked for a late checkout but the man didn’t allow. So we called up our hotel for that day and they allowed us an early check in. this was the river canyon lodge, a nice hotel and it even had a chaise sort of thing by the window. For the first and last time in the trip dada got to sleep on the bed. I slept on the chaise because nobody else would fit in there. Good for me. We dumped our bags and went off to arches.
First stop – moab fault.
Second stop – park avenue, we took a one mile hike and then dada hiked back to the starting point and brought the car back.
Next stop – balanced rock. Before that stopped briefly to see the petrified dunes. Could see the la sal mountains in the background. Still had some snow on the top.
Garden of eden. Had a wonderful view.
After balanced rock it was time for lunch and some rest. Just caught a glimpse of the windows section and double arch and then headed for lunch. Had lunch at a greek diner. The food was really good. tutul had some lamb souvlaki. I had a curry rice wrap. Ma and baba had Indonesian chicken satay. And dada had some soup. Bechara. the tomato soup was finished and he had to make do with the pear and squas soup. But the rice was awesome. Tasted very much like our polao. After lunch went back to the hotel for some rest and sleep. It was very hot outside so it was better to stay indoors. Tutul sat down to work and the rest of us slept. Woke up around 3.15/3.30 and headed straight to the windows section. The weather looked fine and we were hoping that today would be a good day for sunset photography. But as we reached there it became cloudy. The glow wasn’t there. As we moved from the north to the south window the sun came out suddenly in all its glory and dada and tutul scrambled for photographs. In their quest they just climbed up wherever they could find a footholding and tutul with his tripod.
From there went to delicate arch. it was 1.5 mile hike and we dragged along ma and baba too. After a while it got steep. There was an elevation gain of 500 ft and my mom was extremely angry. She was panting like anything and at one point she refused to budge anymore. But she made it almost. The last part entailed going through a narrow ledge with sheer drop on one side and it drizzled at times. So I left my mom and dad before the narrow road and made for the delicate arch. the two brothers were already there. No sunset, no glowing light even today. Waited after 7 but no hope. So we started down. Suddenly on the way down we see the area covered in a fiery orange glow. This is what we wanted on delicate arch. but alas. On the way down went to see the petroglyphs. We thought they would be some 2-3000 years old. No. they were only 250-300 years old.
Came back and had dinner at a Chinese place. Went to bed
Sunday
Went early in the morning for photography. Windows section, double arch. came back, dressed up and left for delicate arch. this time for the viewpoint. So my parents could see the arch after all the trouble they took the day before. Skipped breakfast. Ma and baba had that chicken salad sandwich. Bought some biscuits and cookies and that was breakfast. Went to the visitor centre. Bought magnets. Started for Bryce.
Started driving through a dirt road and for almost an hour or so we drove through a barren, bleak landscape. It was extremely hot outside and we saw only one other car ahead of us.
On the way passed through canyon reef national park. Drove for a while through the scenic route. At one point we were driving over a ridge.
Had lunch at a taco bell drive thru around 2. Drove straight to Bryce. Reached around 7.15 and just missed the sunset. Barely by 5 mins. But still managed to get a few photos. Stayed inside the park in Bryce. Log cabin house with fireplace and everything. had dinner at the lodge restaurant. Selected a veg strudel for parents which was just awful. They couldn’t eat it. my mom liked the quesadillas which we took. Dada took gnocchi but the quantity was too much and it was too creamy. I took polenta for the first time after having seen it countless times on the food network. Didn’t go down very well with me. Tutul had a trout which was really good. and then we got one lemon sorbet which we shared, mostly me and tutul because no one else could digest that tangy taste. Tutul has been accustomed to it after staying with me. Went for a walk at night. Lay down on the bench and saw a couple shooting stars. Came back because it was getting cold. Temp were around 3-4C. dad not feeling well.
Monday
Woke up at 6 and left for sunrise photography. Me and tutul went to inspiration point and dada some place else. from there hiked to Bryce point. Waited for shuttle and got late. Finally took the shuttle and came back. Dada had gone for some hike. We checked out and left him a note at the lodge door. went to the visitor centre, where there was a museum and stayed there till 12 until tutul picked up dada and came back. Had lunch. And then drove to rainbow point and came back to Bryce point stopping at the viewpoints. At rainbow point took a short hike. From Bryce point took the shuttle to sunset point where me and tutul took the Navajo loop trail to go down into the canyon. Saw the two bridges, wall street, and thor’s hammer.
Came back in time for sunset. I grabbed a spot at sunset point for tutul to place his camera. The hodoos had already started glowing but for the whole amphitheater to glow we’d have to wait a little longer. But we had to start for zion that day which was almost 80 miles away.
Reached our hotel @ springdale around 9. Springdale was the town right after zion national park. We crossed 2 looong tunnels and could make out the checkerboard mesa in the dark. Had pizza for dinner.
Tuesday
Last day of the trip. Had breakfast in the hotel. This was quality inn and they had a sumptuous breakfast starting from eggs, sausage, bread, cake, yogurt, fruit, waffle, cereal. You name it, they had it. and it was all free. We stuffed ourselves and then set out for the park. Inside the park we had to use the shuttle since cars were not allowed.
First stop – court of the patriarchs.
Then went to emerald pool where the three of us hiked to the lower emerald pool and saw some tree frogs. Then went to the end of the park where there was a riverwalk, a 2 mile walk by the side of the virgin river. It was wonderful in the shade. The walk ended where the river went inside the canyon. People were going canyoneering and dada and tutul went. I couldn’t go because the skin at the bottom of my left foot had come off and I was short on band aid. They came back around 2 and we went straight to lunch at the zion canyon lodge. After lunch we sat down in the shade in lawn in front because it was too hot to do anything. Plus zion was a place to be hiked and explored. Nothing to see much if you are just driving. Me and tutul had ice cream. After that we took the shuttle and went to the museum, watched part of the movie on the canyon formation and then went back to the visitor centre. Packed up properly for the flight and headed straight to vegas. In vegas tutul went to give back the car and then came to the airport. Bought some tacos for dinner at the airport and reached SFO around 11pm. Reached home around 12. End of a grand trip.
6 January 2010
Pick a Pearl
It was our last day in Kauai. Our plans of going to the Waimea Canyon were washed out by the incessant rain which started in the wee hours of the morning. My sadness at not being able to see the Canyon in all its grandeur was soon forgotten when I realized that the rains presented a perfect opportunity for some shopping. Up until this point my husband, Santa, had resisted my attempts at shopping with the excuse that there was no more space in our bags (which was sort of true). But is space an absolute requirement? Depends on what you buy, right? Now if you buy diamonds and pearls, you don’t need any space at all. Anyway…I had no plans of giving my husband that kind of shock.
Coming back to the story. I decided it was time for some Hilo Hattie shopping. I had been hearing about Hilo Hattie (HH) from Maui but didn’t find the opportunity to visit it on the previous three islands, and my purse was now bursting with all the HH discount coupons I had been collecting from all sorts of magazines -- in the hotels to the airplanes -- some of them as old as 2008. Never harmed anyone to have an extra piece of paper.
Upon entering the store we were greeted by a lady with a bright smile and shell leis. (Over 40 years in business HH is apparently the largest Hawaiian retailer and manufacturer of Hawaiian fashions in Hawaii.)The shell leis proved to be a perfect souvenir – one of them hangs from the rearview mirror of my car and the other adorns a photo frame.
As we were browsing the store I spotted a section in the middle dedicated to pearls which belonged to Maui Divers Jewelry (MDJ). Seeing no one behind the counter I started surveying the various colors and designs of the pearls on display. I was so engrossed in those exquisite beauties that I had not noticed the appearance of a salesperson at the scene until she startled me with her very friendly, “May I help you?”
“Umm…I was just looking around…” I replied as I got ready to walk away. Since I had no intention of buying any I didn’t want to waste either my or the salesperson’s time and energy. Added to this was my distrust of sales personnel who can persuade you to buy things which are totally indispensable. As I was planning my escape Santa popped up beside me, done with his browsing of the entire HH store.
“Like anything?” he asked me.
“Nah…just looking,” I said.
As we were about to leave, the lady chipped in once again, “Have you heard about our pick a pearl?”
(Me) “No”
(Santa) “What’s that?”
And we were stuck. Pointing to a big white oyster shaped bowl filled with an assortment of oysters on the counter, the lady explained that we could pick an oyster of our choice and then have the pearls inside it (if there were any) mounted right there. Jewelry to go! As if that was not enough there was also a lottery where we could win discount coupons for the pearls. I mumbled something about not being interested, a feeble protest at best, as my inherent distrust for discount coupons (because more often than not there’s a catch involved) was succumbing rapidly to the thrill and suspense. The more I tried to resist the more I was being lured into the whole thing. And Santa wasn’t helping either by egging me on.
Now why was I resisting so hard or at least trying to? Because all the discounts and rebates are designed to attract the shopper’s attention in such a manner that they ultimately end up buying things which they probably didn’t even need in the first place. And right now the same thing was happening to me. I wouldn’t have minded winning a precious pearl if I liked it; but I wasn’t too fond of pearls, yet I was participating. Anyway…
We took part in the lottery. Santa put his hand inside a hexagonal bowl full of colored paper chits and fished out a pink one, which announced a 60% discount. Not bad. We were too deep into this. I had to do something. So I told the lady that we’d finish our shopping and then maybe come back. She totally understood and let us go with a sweet smile. Probably because she knew that we’d be back very soon.
And much of the credit for that goes to my husband. While shopping for other things I had regained some of my guard but apparently not enough because Santa persuaded me to give it a shot. The proponent of enthusiasm and logical thinking that he is he explained that 60% off of 14$ (the cost of the pearl) was a meager amount. And if we there was no pearl inside our oyster, even better. No money spent. Either ways there was nothing to lose. So half an hour later we were back at the MDJ corner.
The lady was all smiles. She gave us a pair of tongs and asked to pick an oyster from the big white bowl. Since Santa had done the lottery this time I got to try my luck.
“Do all of them have a pearl inside?” I asked.
“It may have, it may not have. Sometimes they may have two,” she said. And as a hint she let out that the uglier the oyster the more chances of it having a pearl. With that hint in mind I tossed and turned the oysters with the tongs until I decided that I had found one ugly enough. Once my selection was done the lady took over and performed a aloha ritual, as she called it, where we were asked to say aloha three times together with her. And then she slid open the shell of the oyster and felt its insides searching for the pearl. Amidst all of this the anticipation was building on our side. And then she found it. It was a pink one. She placed the beautiful thing on a tray and resumed her search. And lo behold! Out came one more pink pearl. Wow! That’s great. I thanked Santa in my mind. “Two pearls…means you’ll have twins,” the lady said with a bright smile. Now that’s some totally uncalled for surprise!
She then drilled a hole in each of them so that it could be mounted. I didn’t want to go into any sort of mounting because it would be expensive. Again Santa encouraged me to explore the designs. Since there were two pearls the lady showed me mountings for earrings. I selected a tiny one with a silver body. The price was $350. I haven’t been stung by a sting ray but I’m pretty sure it’ll be very similar to the shock I felt on hearing the price. I knew it would be expensive but had no idea that it would be ultra expensive. Even my over enthusiastic ever encouraging husband was taken aback. I could hear him muttering under his breath “pachhondota to besh bhaloi”. When I declined she showed me another one that was ‘less expensive’ another tiny mounting that would cost only $280. And all these prices were before tax and the mounting charge. Santa smiled at me and said, “Do you like it? If you like it you can take it…” Much as he encouraged me (with a fearful panting heart I am sure) I didn’t fall for any of it and just took the drilled pearls in a Ziploc and walked away triumphantly. I wonder what he’d have done if I had said yes to the mounting!
Later on when we were relating this story to a friend and his wife they said that apparently all the oysters in the MDJ pick a pearl program have two pearls in them; it is alleged that they are injected artificially. They knew three other people who had done the same thing and got two pearls and all of them were told that they’d have twins. We don’t know if any of them have had twins. As for me I am in no hurry to find out.
Photo link @ Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santapc/sets/72157623167395564/
Coming back to the story. I decided it was time for some Hilo Hattie shopping. I had been hearing about Hilo Hattie (HH) from Maui but didn’t find the opportunity to visit it on the previous three islands, and my purse was now bursting with all the HH discount coupons I had been collecting from all sorts of magazines -- in the hotels to the airplanes -- some of them as old as 2008. Never harmed anyone to have an extra piece of paper.
Upon entering the store we were greeted by a lady with a bright smile and shell leis. (Over 40 years in business HH is apparently the largest Hawaiian retailer and manufacturer of Hawaiian fashions in Hawaii.)The shell leis proved to be a perfect souvenir – one of them hangs from the rearview mirror of my car and the other adorns a photo frame.
As we were browsing the store I spotted a section in the middle dedicated to pearls which belonged to Maui Divers Jewelry (MDJ). Seeing no one behind the counter I started surveying the various colors and designs of the pearls on display. I was so engrossed in those exquisite beauties that I had not noticed the appearance of a salesperson at the scene until she startled me with her very friendly, “May I help you?”
“Umm…I was just looking around…” I replied as I got ready to walk away. Since I had no intention of buying any I didn’t want to waste either my or the salesperson’s time and energy. Added to this was my distrust of sales personnel who can persuade you to buy things which are totally indispensable. As I was planning my escape Santa popped up beside me, done with his browsing of the entire HH store.
“Like anything?” he asked me.
“Nah…just looking,” I said.
As we were about to leave, the lady chipped in once again, “Have you heard about our pick a pearl?”
(Me) “No”
(Santa) “What’s that?”
And we were stuck. Pointing to a big white oyster shaped bowl filled with an assortment of oysters on the counter, the lady explained that we could pick an oyster of our choice and then have the pearls inside it (if there were any) mounted right there. Jewelry to go! As if that was not enough there was also a lottery where we could win discount coupons for the pearls. I mumbled something about not being interested, a feeble protest at best, as my inherent distrust for discount coupons (because more often than not there’s a catch involved) was succumbing rapidly to the thrill and suspense. The more I tried to resist the more I was being lured into the whole thing. And Santa wasn’t helping either by egging me on.
Now why was I resisting so hard or at least trying to? Because all the discounts and rebates are designed to attract the shopper’s attention in such a manner that they ultimately end up buying things which they probably didn’t even need in the first place. And right now the same thing was happening to me. I wouldn’t have minded winning a precious pearl if I liked it; but I wasn’t too fond of pearls, yet I was participating. Anyway…
We took part in the lottery. Santa put his hand inside a hexagonal bowl full of colored paper chits and fished out a pink one, which announced a 60% discount. Not bad. We were too deep into this. I had to do something. So I told the lady that we’d finish our shopping and then maybe come back. She totally understood and let us go with a sweet smile. Probably because she knew that we’d be back very soon.
And much of the credit for that goes to my husband. While shopping for other things I had regained some of my guard but apparently not enough because Santa persuaded me to give it a shot. The proponent of enthusiasm and logical thinking that he is he explained that 60% off of 14$ (the cost of the pearl) was a meager amount. And if we there was no pearl inside our oyster, even better. No money spent. Either ways there was nothing to lose. So half an hour later we were back at the MDJ corner.
The lady was all smiles. She gave us a pair of tongs and asked to pick an oyster from the big white bowl. Since Santa had done the lottery this time I got to try my luck.
“Do all of them have a pearl inside?” I asked.
“It may have, it may not have. Sometimes they may have two,” she said. And as a hint she let out that the uglier the oyster the more chances of it having a pearl. With that hint in mind I tossed and turned the oysters with the tongs until I decided that I had found one ugly enough. Once my selection was done the lady took over and performed a aloha ritual, as she called it, where we were asked to say aloha three times together with her. And then she slid open the shell of the oyster and felt its insides searching for the pearl. Amidst all of this the anticipation was building on our side. And then she found it. It was a pink one. She placed the beautiful thing on a tray and resumed her search. And lo behold! Out came one more pink pearl. Wow! That’s great. I thanked Santa in my mind. “Two pearls…means you’ll have twins,” the lady said with a bright smile. Now that’s some totally uncalled for surprise!
She then drilled a hole in each of them so that it could be mounted. I didn’t want to go into any sort of mounting because it would be expensive. Again Santa encouraged me to explore the designs. Since there were two pearls the lady showed me mountings for earrings. I selected a tiny one with a silver body. The price was $350. I haven’t been stung by a sting ray but I’m pretty sure it’ll be very similar to the shock I felt on hearing the price. I knew it would be expensive but had no idea that it would be ultra expensive. Even my over enthusiastic ever encouraging husband was taken aback. I could hear him muttering under his breath “pachhondota to besh bhaloi”. When I declined she showed me another one that was ‘less expensive’ another tiny mounting that would cost only $280. And all these prices were before tax and the mounting charge. Santa smiled at me and said, “Do you like it? If you like it you can take it…” Much as he encouraged me (with a fearful panting heart I am sure) I didn’t fall for any of it and just took the drilled pearls in a Ziploc and walked away triumphantly. I wonder what he’d have done if I had said yes to the mounting!Later on when we were relating this story to a friend and his wife they said that apparently all the oysters in the MDJ pick a pearl program have two pearls in them; it is alleged that they are injected artificially. They knew three other people who had done the same thing and got two pearls and all of them were told that they’d have twins. We don’t know if any of them have had twins. As for me I am in no hurry to find out.
Photo link @ Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santapc/sets/72157623167395564/
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