Having lived and survived the American and the Asian continent, it was time to taste the African soil errr Beer maybe … So here I am, in Africa …- where humanity was born – which ultimately makes each one of us, an African.
I read this at the Apartheid Museum in Joburg, South Africa.
So here’s a snippet of my African odyssey ……
Travel gyan for the dummy travelers …
Travelling is not always about tacks and pins on the map…… its about meeting people… its about enjoying every little wonder that you come across, appreciating smaller things .. Having little expectations…. Tasting world cuisines, walking to a store in a foreign country and being asked a million times to repeat yourself cuz you have an accent. It’s about appreciating and respecting the laws of the land!!!! Is it a yes???? Congratulations!!!! You have been certified a true traveler!
Alright, I know I am going on a different tangent now. And need to be reminded now and again to stay on track … so coming back to the subject … I am here ,now, in the southern tip of Africa – South Africa – the most colorful country in the world…where it wasn’t fun being colorful a few years back
Of personal invites and appearances….
After having submitted my visa documents , I was eagerly awaiting that stamp on my passport and instead I get an email from my visa agent … “ the RSA home affairs in Mumbai seeks the pleasure of your company to invite you to visit the beautiful South Africa” !! In other words, my passport has been the lucky one to have been picked among; a few, submitted, for interrogation – its personal interview time folks! Gaaahhh!!! Sometimes it isn’t fun living on the edge!
Alright, there s nothing you can do against the wishes of the embassies. Sadly!!!
So I book my tickets to Mumbai … First flight out at 5 am tomorrow. And its 9 pm already. Lots to finish before I jet set. So I finish all the important tasks, head home, need to pay some money to a friend on the way… send an itinerary to a client… speak to my agents about my disappearance for a few months …… wait is there time for a quick beer ;-) Nah!!! Need to pack. Get my documents sorted. Damn!!!!!!! So much to accomplish – such little time!
I reach home after all my chores at 11. Pack whatever is visually appealing and fill my suitcase till it can’t breathe no more. Hang on …I am coming back right … may be not, if I get my Visa tomorrow. I just fly out to Joburg if they are kind enough to stamp it tomorrow. Wait what if there is no ink at the embassy to stamp my passport… what if, there is fire at the embassy …. Hyperboles are flowing in abundance today …..;-)
I land at the Mumbai Chatrapathi Shivaji airport at 6:30 … and its raining incessantly … its raining people man – not cats and dogs!
I have lots of luggage. a claustrophobic suitcase , a laptop , wads of cash ( how I wish ) , alright a credit card with no limits … sigghhh ! Made my way to a cab after rescuing myself from massive puddles of rainwater and the heavy downpour.. Last thing I want now is Malaria!
Need to make a quick decision … Interview is at 9. Its 7:30 am already.. Do I have time to dump my luggage … Visualizing the Mumbai map, I make a few phone calls. Hoping someone would pick up the call and I could quickly put my poor suitcase on a ventilator and run to the embassy… A few persistent calls, and sleepy friend picks up my call!!! And I narrate the story.. Land there.. Suitcase dumped and I run out and head to the embassy. Just about make it at 9 and the security guard says no bags allowed. I have my haversack with my laptop, and camera.. I promise, I have the saddest puppy face in the world pleading him to let me in and he just refuses to acknowledge.. I make some quick cruel plans of leaving the bag on the main road.. He finally gives in and suggests that I leave the bag at the pan walla down the road. I meet the pan waalla and looks like this is an age old business of keeping bags.. so I leave my stuff and run back to the embassy . A couple of hours pass by.. No signs of being called in … I realize I don’t even have the token for the interview. Call my agent and he lands after a few hours. It was nice long laid back day.. No one seemed to be in hurry to open doors and I was famished and sleepy and worried about my laptop.. What if the pan walla gets my Swiss account number from the laptop??? Since it was a personal invitation, I was hoping some hospitality:-P. yes, I prefer my cappuccino with some cream and some chocolate shavings please! Never mind, the water drops falling on me from the corner of the roof outside at the sitting area at the embassy…
After a good 5 hour wait, the security guard gets me the token and I walk in. It’s not over yet. I wait for an hour inside before I get called in.
15 min interview about why who where how and when and it’s over. I muster courage and ask her – hmmm do u guys have enough ink? Errr I mean when would I get my passport? We will go through your case and take a decision next week! Arrrghhhhhh one more week in Mumbai before it get. Anyways, cutting my never ending long story short, I finally get my visa after 4 days and book the first flight out of Mumbai. The chosen airline is Ethihad airways, the official airlines of Saudi Arabia! After a short hop at Abu Dhabi, a few naps, a few morsels, I land in Johannesburg…
I clear immigration in less than 10 minutes. And wonder if they missed out something and let me in Well, it is supposedly a short process.
Welcome to Johannesburg aka Joburg aka Jozy !
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Singal dip or Many dips ????
A tenth century historian called it Singal Dip meaning Sinhala(lion)Dip(Island )...The Arabs called it Serendip, and the Chinese called it Pa-Outchow .. ( island of gems), which suggests that it must have been one of the important ports during earliar times.
Yes, we are talking about the country, where Sita was held captive by the ten headed King Ravana and Iddiappams are called string hoppers !!!!
Lush vegetation, streches of beaches, Buddhist shrines , Rocks, Caves and Waterfalls, "Sri" lanka trully deserves the knighthood ! ;-)
If your idea of a perfect holiday is relaxing on sandy beaches, driving down misty mountains, going on a wildlife safari, visiting sacred shrines.....errrr... a bit of this and a bit of that - Sri lanka is the place to be explored.
However , if you are rushed, wouldnt advise too many places unless you have enough time to have pit stops, or else you would land up spending more time travelling, than actually seeing places.
Well, for me that too works as I love watching the world pass by through my window .. I love to glare at people - make eye contact with strangers ... it takes you to another world...
The good news is that the Visa to Sri lanka is on arrival - its a mere stamping on the passport - takes less than 5 minutes and there is no departure tax and our currency is 2 and half times stronger which makes us feel we are rich for a bit !!! Some cheap pleasures ..comes a long way ......when you hit "house of fashion" and "Odel" .... :D
Interestingly - Sri Lankan apparel industry is one of the largest contributors to the National Gross Domestic Product of this island nation, followed by Tea, Rubber , Coconut and Tourism
With the time in hand, this was the route that was charted out....
COLOMBO - NUWARA ELIYA- BENTOTA- DAMBULA- NEGOMBO
You are greeted with a Ayu Bhawa( Welcome) coming from "Ayu(sh) Mana Bhawa" as you alight Sri lankan Airlines...and then showered with more Ayu Bhawas , and you trully feel welcomed to India's teardrop.
Colombo , the capital city has a very lackadaisical look to it ... its easy to imagine the city with wild elephants wandering around during the british era ... It has a victorian, probably a dutch look to it . You can see clock towers at every junction - which makes you feel that you are driving in circles. The suburbs look like they never end, giving it a " CAPITAL" city look and feel....
First stop.....We reached Nuwara Eliya town by 9 pm after a harrowing bus ride and a bus change after which we finally checked into the Heritage Tea factory, Kandapola.... We were welcomed there with some amazing in house vanilla tea.
The tea factory has a story to tell..you can spend days in the tea factory discovering little stories about the place... The outside of this 60-room hotel, 6850feet above sea level, has been retained exactly as it was when the British planters constructed it in the mid-1930s while the insides take you to another era...
It was then called the Hethersett Tea Factory, named after a small town outside London.
The factory finally shut down in 1973 and was converted into this unique hotel.
You can either get yourself a relaxing massage at their spa or indulge in a bit of tea leaves picking ...
and guess what it doesnt end there... once you are done with the picking, leaves are taken and dried and packed for you before you leave ..You can bring back home and brag to F& F... There is a mini tea factory in the Hotel where this process takes place....
Also , you can request the chef to teach you to brew the famous Ceylon tea...he will start with the history and explain the different types of tea - such as PEKOE, BOP and BOPF and give you gyan on how to tell strong tea from mild tea ! Very enligh-tea-ning indeed !!!!!!
When in tea factory , one must'nt miss the trek to the Horton Plains ...which is supposedly the highest plateau in the country...It's a fairly easy 4 km walk from the main entrance, through grasslands, gentle streams and eventually forest. First stop is Little World's End, much smaller size but still with excellent views of the valleys and village below. About a kilometre further on is World's End which is a 1000 m vertical drop. It was a bit of an anti climax as we had imagined too much but its nevertheless recommended for the walk part of it.Also the Baker falls, on the way back to the entry looked spectacular ....We were running out of time so cdnt stop over at the falls ..
We were soon back on track to our next stop - Bentota ..It was a good 6 hour drive with COMFORT BREAKS in between . We stopped enroute at the Raffles Restaurant at Kitigula - which has gained fame after the Bridge on river kwai, which was apparantly shot here .
The Beaches of Bentota are unimaginabely beautilful. One of the longest beach strech that i have seen in my life ..Bentota is actually in between the ocean and a lagoon and gifted with stunning views.
Next part is From Bentota to Colombo to the wonderful Dambula ..
Watch this space for more lankan tales.....
Yes, we are talking about the country, where Sita was held captive by the ten headed King Ravana and Iddiappams are called string hoppers !!!!
Lush vegetation, streches of beaches, Buddhist shrines , Rocks, Caves and Waterfalls, "Sri" lanka trully deserves the knighthood ! ;-)
If your idea of a perfect holiday is relaxing on sandy beaches, driving down misty mountains, going on a wildlife safari, visiting sacred shrines.....errrr... a bit of this and a bit of that - Sri lanka is the place to be explored.
However , if you are rushed, wouldnt advise too many places unless you have enough time to have pit stops, or else you would land up spending more time travelling, than actually seeing places.
Well, for me that too works as I love watching the world pass by through my window .. I love to glare at people - make eye contact with strangers ... it takes you to another world...
The good news is that the Visa to Sri lanka is on arrival - its a mere stamping on the passport - takes less than 5 minutes and there is no departure tax and our currency is 2 and half times stronger which makes us feel we are rich for a bit !!! Some cheap pleasures ..comes a long way ......when you hit "house of fashion" and "Odel" .... :D
Interestingly - Sri Lankan apparel industry is one of the largest contributors to the National Gross Domestic Product of this island nation, followed by Tea, Rubber , Coconut and Tourism
With the time in hand, this was the route that was charted out....
COLOMBO - NUWARA ELIYA- BENTOTA- DAMBULA- NEGOMBO
You are greeted with a Ayu Bhawa( Welcome) coming from "Ayu(sh) Mana Bhawa" as you alight Sri lankan Airlines...and then showered with more Ayu Bhawas , and you trully feel welcomed to India's teardrop.
Colombo , the capital city has a very lackadaisical look to it ... its easy to imagine the city with wild elephants wandering around during the british era ... It has a victorian, probably a dutch look to it . You can see clock towers at every junction - which makes you feel that you are driving in circles. The suburbs look like they never end, giving it a " CAPITAL" city look and feel....
First stop.....We reached Nuwara Eliya town by 9 pm after a harrowing bus ride and a bus change after which we finally checked into the Heritage Tea factory, Kandapola.... We were welcomed there with some amazing in house vanilla tea.
The tea factory has a story to tell..you can spend days in the tea factory discovering little stories about the place... The outside of this 60-room hotel, 6850feet above sea level, has been retained exactly as it was when the British planters constructed it in the mid-1930s while the insides take you to another era...
It was then called the Hethersett Tea Factory, named after a small town outside London.
The factory finally shut down in 1973 and was converted into this unique hotel.
You can either get yourself a relaxing massage at their spa or indulge in a bit of tea leaves picking ...
and guess what it doesnt end there... once you are done with the picking, leaves are taken and dried and packed for you before you leave ..You can bring back home and brag to F& F... There is a mini tea factory in the Hotel where this process takes place....
Also , you can request the chef to teach you to brew the famous Ceylon tea...he will start with the history and explain the different types of tea - such as PEKOE, BOP and BOPF and give you gyan on how to tell strong tea from mild tea ! Very enligh-tea-ning indeed !!!!!!
When in tea factory , one must'nt miss the trek to the Horton Plains ...which is supposedly the highest plateau in the country...It's a fairly easy 4 km walk from the main entrance, through grasslands, gentle streams and eventually forest. First stop is Little World's End, much smaller size but still with excellent views of the valleys and village below. About a kilometre further on is World's End which is a 1000 m vertical drop. It was a bit of an anti climax as we had imagined too much but its nevertheless recommended for the walk part of it.Also the Baker falls, on the way back to the entry looked spectacular ....We were running out of time so cdnt stop over at the falls ..
We were soon back on track to our next stop - Bentota ..It was a good 6 hour drive with COMFORT BREAKS in between . We stopped enroute at the Raffles Restaurant at Kitigula - which has gained fame after the Bridge on river kwai, which was apparantly shot here .
The Beaches of Bentota are unimaginabely beautilful. One of the longest beach strech that i have seen in my life ..Bentota is actually in between the ocean and a lagoon and gifted with stunning views.
Next part is From Bentota to Colombo to the wonderful Dambula ..
Watch this space for more lankan tales.....
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