Day 2: Beijing to Tianjin



I wake up from my sleep and see its 6A.M...I was a little disappointed when I checked my cell phone and realize the Indian time is 3.30A.M, I was missing out a little sleep you see:-p..I snooze my alarm and go back to sleep(I have this habit of snoozing my alarm at least 2-3 times before I get out of bed)...a little later, packing my stuff as I check  out of the hotel I see a very handsome cab driver waiting to pick me up, A good start for the day..Isn’t it!!! :-D:-D:-p...I remembered talking to my Friend Indrani about my China visit, She said “I wish you meet a lot of handsome men”J....Indu, I met one today;-p:-D...

Okay!!...I have a very smooth drive to Tianjin and a great day at work...Finally we drive down to Tianjin City where I had my Hotel booked...I sneak into my room, dump my luggage and rush out to the city...Since I had a dinner meet at 7P.M I had just 1 hour to go around the city and left with the choice of seeing just one place...So I decide to go to the most famous Tianjin eye..Wow! What a place it is...The river side view, the cool breeze, the giant wheel...you see people of age sitting down enjoying the breeze, couples holding hands and strolling around(How much I missed  this oneL),boys enjoying a smoke, mommies watch their kids play..all the usual stuff, but still so new...I tried some self photography and asked a few strangers to click my picture...Had to smile and say thank you though I wasn’t very happy with the picture, reason: dint want to trouble the same person again (or it’s just the thought of that the person being able to click better), So I rush to the other person around the corner..Clicking pictures of flowers, buildings etc etc...I did feel silly, I did notice a few people stare at the stranger me, But it’s ok you see....I’m a stranger to this city...I have laughed at people clicking picture of trees in my home town...So it’s fair enough for these people to thing I’m silly seeing the over excited me

spring flowers in beijing



street of tianjin



Finally I move back to the Hotel to meet my colleague for dinner...I get an option to choose western or Chinese food, I was a little scared to choose Chinese food you know..After all the fuss I have been hearing about Chinese food from the people who had visited China earlier...But crossing my fingers, I take a risk...Opt for Chinese and there we go...”HOT POT” was the dinner menu...We choose the meat we want, and then cook the meat with the sauce of our choice in a hot pot placed between the table..Amazing it was; lamb, seafood, salmon, spinach, potatoes, noodles, mushrooms and a few more veggies..I haven’t enjoyed Chinese cuisine more...A feastJJ...I still have the grin of the satisfying dinner I hadJJ...

dinner



Then to my surprise I was offered for a city tour...We go for a drive around Tianjin my colleagues offer to click my picture everywhere and I was beaming away to gloryJJJ...

A perfect day...Tianjin is just amazingJJJJ...Off I go to sleep wanting to wake up early for the morning flightJJ

A few Day 2 photographsJ

italian city in tianjin

tianjin eye

DAY 1: A Disastrous travel

I entered the Mumbai Airport around 9.30P.m Cribbing about my running nose and having to wait for about 4 hours for our scheduled flight to Hong Kong and Guess what!! Our flight was delayed for another 4 hours...There starts the first disaster!!...God!! We were so irritated(I was accompanied with 2 other colleagues of mine till Hong Kong)...We check in at around 12, clear our immigrations and wait, wait and wait, 5A.M never seems to come..The crowded airport and moreover mosquitoes to add to it...Frustrated I was!...Finally we board and as we land in Hong Kong at 12.30 p.m I realize I hardly had time to check in to my connecting flight to Beijing which was scheduled for departure at 1.25P.M..rushed out of the flight and walked almost a mile to check in and then I walk downstairs, take a turn walk upstairs then board a train then walk upstairs and then walk for another mile( my heart was almost in my mouth) to reach the departure area..I kept wonderings what’s with the distance and the walking up and down...I was dead scared I would miss my flight; luckily I reach when the Boarding was going on, My friends left to their Tokyo departure area waving good bye. Between all that I want to make an urgent cal and my cell phone shows no signal and I have no time to go to the booth and cal...I really wanted to cry...Hoping for the best I board the flight at around 1.40P.m...The second Disaster now...My flight takes off almost after an hour and a half after we board...Damn it!! I would have at least made my callLL...Anyways landing late in the evening I walk towards the exit and almost took the wrong way while an Indian comes as my savior and directs me...we speak and realize both of us are from Karnataka (Believe me Both of us had a end to end smile on our faces JJ) He helps me through all the formalities and stays with me until I get my Luggage (Again there was a lot of walking and boarding a train etc etc)..,I had to travel all the way to Tianjin from Beijing so wish goodbye and walk away and there’s the Third Disaster, The person who was supposed to pick me up left the Airport as my flight dint arrive on time  and  There I was stuck again ;because I was unable to call them and inform...SO the choice left was to take a cab to Tianjin..I call a Colleague from Shanghai and make him speak to the cab driver in Chinese to convince him to take me to Tianjin which is about 2 hrs away from Beijing and I already have my hotels booked and there comes the fourth disaster...all the cab drivers deny as its late in the eveningLL...Finally had to book a hotel in Beijing and stay back..God I was so damn exhausted!!!...

The only Best thing the whole time was the long walk I took in the Beijing street...How much I loved the cold breeze hit my face, It slightly made up for the bad day I had..A nice Roasted Shrimp salad with garlic bread for dinner and off I go to sleep...Just hoping the rest of the week goes really well making up for all the disastersJJJJ...

landing besides the sea in hongkong



self photography in beijing street:-)

A few Day 1 photographsJ

The Start: China and Korea:-):-)

I have always wanted this and it’s been long since I have been waiting for this moment....Going International for the first time ever and Damn excitedJJJJ...A lot of mixed feelings actually; anxious, happy, excited and a little nervous(Which I hate to be)

Whatever, this one is definitely gonna be the most memorably trip for me...A lot of learning, which is the main reason I’m going to China & Korea, a little work, a lot of luxury and tons of funJJJ...And the most important part, It’s just gonna be me all alone, in a new place, meeting new people and having the “me time” which I wanted..How exciting!!! JJJ...Of course I din expect this “me time” to be like this, in a faraway place where I don’t know one single soul and at the back of my mind wishing I had one of my people with me (I’m sure Il do that), But again I don’t want this to stop me from doing all that I have been dreaming of for the past 4 weeks:-D:-D..........

I want this one week to be the best time I have had with me, enjoy and cherish every minute, learn all that I have wanted to learn, explore as much a possible and probably make a few new friendsJJJJ

Here I’m all set to leave home and have my “me time” for a week in two different Countries “China” & “Korea”.

Wish me luckJJJJ...

Family Time:-)

As a kid I used to be very fascinated to go out for a small family Picnic, which usually happened during our summer vacation. It mostly used to be the places in my home town, visiting Mysore for the usual summer shopping, Mangalore mainly for its beaches which we loved (With my whole extended joint family) and yeah a few temple visits around.

We never did go to extraordinary or very faraway places but then the whole lot of us (the 11 kids in the Family) just being together in any small place used to be so much fun. It was somehow registered in my mind that there was no fun without all of us being together. In fact all of us thought the same. Years passed by and the oldest in the family was in college and she moved out to the hostel and we all followed the “moving out to hostel” trend. Somehow without anybody realizing the family picnics was nowhere in picture. And yes the vacations of the school going kids and the ones in college dint always happen together. With all this the extended family time just happens like once in a year on a fixed date.

I hated and never really enjoyed only the five of us (my parents and my two little sisters) going out until my very recent family picnicJJJ....My parents come to visit us from Coorg(I had not met them for the past six months) and suddenly the plan for a Mumbai trip just pops up and there we go. Never did I think it would be so much fun. The long drive from Pune to Mumbai, the boat ride to eleplanta caves, hogging the yummy mango flavored kulfi (the bestest Kulfi I ever ate till date), Shopping in Colaba street, the chatting in marine drive and most importantly the cloudy humid saviour weather.....Just the four of us the whole day doing all the little simple things and enjoying every bit of what we did(My little sister dint make it to meet us and we did miss her badly)...All of it was jus awesome!!!JJJJ
Mumbai made me feel good unlike my last stay where I had So much to crib about like the very bad rains, the unpredictable weather and what not(But the Shopping was good even then JJJ)..And this time the best thing Mumbai did to me was, made me like our small Family Picnic and put a thought in my mind that I should be planning up the “extended Family tour”JJ.I like that and I want it to happen very soon..I guess I should try to make it happenJJ.

A few Pictures from my recent Family Time.

reshu's missing:(



I love this one



The focus was on the background:-)