India -- Day 1 -- Surprise for the family!

My flight to Bangalore via JetStar Asia was uneventful after all the excitement of the previous day and I landed in Bangalore at 3.00 am local time. For the first time in my life, I arrived in India as a US citizen and had butterflies in my stomach. Unlike my previous post, I got through customs and baggage claim fairly quickly. I took a cab (350 INR), wasn't ripped off and reached home at 4.15 am. I rang the doorbell and after a couple of minutes my mom opened the door. Surprise! She had never expected to see me at all, since I hadn't informed anyone of my arrival. She stood transfixed for 3 minutes wondering in her befuddled state, if she should let me in! Poor thing, it must have been too much for her. I went inside and after a few words, crept into bed and slept fitfully until 7.30 am. I woke up and surprised my dad and my nephew, Vijay. By 8.00 am the word was out and more surprises for the rest of the family. Nice way to do it.

Mom fixed breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I met the rest of the clan. What a pleasant day for me and my parents. After inquiring about everyone's whereabouts, I went to the neighborhood salon for a haircut (imagine me having one!), pedicure and a manicure. I spent a relaxing 2 hours at the salon. Meanwhile, it was Dussera season in India and the beginning of the holiday/festival season. It was unusually cloudy and raining a bit at that time. This was also the time my brothers, Ram and Lakshman, took their annual "pilgrimage" to Pondicherry without their families -- basically a whole lot of drinking. At any rate, it was nice to rest body and mind in the midst of family.

Kuala Lumpur -- Day 2 -- Selamat Ingal!

I skipped the rich breakfast spread at the hotel, because Perng decided instead to take me to a local Indian eatery. I checked out of the hotel too, since I was leaving for India later that evening. Anyway, the breakfast at the Indian eatery was great. I had murtabak (stuffed naan unique to Malaysia), rava dosa, excellent kopi (coffee), while Perng had kottu paratha (chopped paratha with meat toppings), idly (strangely with veggies and chicken).

He drove me through Petaling Jaya neighborhood, formerly a middle class neighborhood with factories, through parts of KL and Chinatown. The architecture of KL has changed since the 80's with the rising fortunes of Malaysia and the subsequent introduction of neo-Islamic buildings by the erstwhile Prime Minister, Mohatir Mohammad. Many newly constructed official buildings have signs in Arabic, where previously there was no known influence. We had coffee, chatted about Malaysian and Chinese history, and finally Perng dropped me off at KLIA Central Stesen (sic). I dropped off my luggage at KLIA (15 MYR) and took a metered cab (8 MYR) to the orchid garden (admission 12 MYR) and also visited the excellent KL Bird Park (admission 35 MYR for tourists, 15 MYR for Malaysians). I enjoyed a good couple of hours there, returned to KLIA Central and proceeded to Pudu Raya bus station to board my bus to Singapore.

Bus ride to Singapore: The bus was scheduled to leave at 5.30 pm and I had arrived an hour early. I had two chicken burgers (6 MYR) and a soda at a stand. Enjoyed it. It was murderously hot, sweaty, dirty and replete with exhaust fumes from the buses. There was huge throng of wailing kids, women in conservative Muslim garbs, teenagers, old people, beggars and what not. I waited patiently for the bus -- 5.15 pm, 5.25 pm, 5.45 pm, 6.00 pm and still no bus. I was nervous about missing my flight from Singapore. A co-passenger, Sam from Singapore, was sympathetic and assured me that I was in the right place -- after all, at that point, time was paramount. The bus finally arrived and departed at 6.20 pm; that meant arrival in Singapore at approximately 11.30 pm. The bus was fortunately comfortable, but we were stuck in heavy rush hour traffic of KL with traffic approaching speeds of 10 kmph (~ 6 mph)! After an hour or so of stop and go traffic, we were finally on the highway. The bus driver played some action-thriller on the DVD player and I paid little or no attention to it. Around 9.00 pm we stopped for an "unscheduled" break at a roadside eatery. I had some noodle soup to stave off hunger. The bus was delayed by almost an hour-and-a-half when we reached the border town of Johar Bahru. We went through Malaysian emigration and a few hundred meters of walking through Singapore immigration.

Things were looking pretty bleak. To top it all, I had no Singapore currency. I traded just enough Malaysian ringgits with some passengers for cab fare. I probably paid too much. Sam, the afore-mentioned gentleman, helped me through Singapore customs by taking me through the channel for Singapore residents. A big thank you to Sam and Singapore customs!! Without them there might not have been a visit to India at all. I got off at the very first stop (Woodlands), ran 200-300 meters with my baggage and all, and jumped into a cab for a 30 minute ride to Changyi airport. I made it in time (12.43 am) before the gates closed for my flight at 1.25 am! Whew, that was close! I settled into my seat for the JetStar Asia flight to Bangalore. I'm nervous as I write this episode. Home at last!

Kuala Lumpur -- Day 1 -- Apakabar!

My first day in KL, I woke up relaxed and breakfasted at the hotel at an additional 15 MYR (~4 USD). The spread was fantastic, all sorts of meats, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, pancakes, Indian dosa (written as tosa), Chinese noodles etc. The richness and variety of Malaysian cuisine were in full display. Mind you, this was just breakfast. Imagine lunch and dinner! Food was going to be great in Malaysia. Completely satisfied, I walked to the neighboring bus station to get bus tickets to Singapore for the next day, but they were all sold out; I had to go the main bus terminal at Pudu Raya. At any rate, I took KL rapid transit (2.60 MYR) to get to KLCC, the train station for Petronas Towers.

Petronas Towers is the crown jewel of KL tourism, and it is promoted everywhere. The admission is free, but you have to get a ticket and wait your turn. Security is very, very tight. Since you are on a schedule, there's nothing to do but to shop and eat. With 2 hours to kill, I strolled through the KLCC shopping center -- it's beautiful architecturally, but boring. I stepped outside for a stroll and met these three British teenage/twenty-something girls on a holiday in KL. They were also scheduled to visit the towers at the same time and hence I decided to have lunch with them for company-- at Pizza Hut. I know, horrible isn't it? With all the interesting food in KL, these girls wanted only pizza, that too pepperoni. What a letdown? Anyway, we were put in different groups, so we parted ways. The visit to the towers was ho-hum. If you've seen one skyscraper, you've seen them all. Fortunately, my camera batteries quit on me and I was spared the pain of taking more tourist pictures. A good thing too.

I then took rapid transit to Masjid Jamek station and walked through the streets to get a feel of the street life. The streets are noisy, polluted and crowded, vehicles belch smoke and drivers honk and amidst all this commotion, the three main ethnic groups, Chinese, Malays and Indians conduct their businesses and blast their brand of music from loudspeakers. The cacophony is colorful and you can tolerate it somewhat but the heat was something else. It was blazing hot throughout and you had to drink copious amounts of fluids. After walking an hour in the heat, I reached Pudu Raya street, where is located the long-distance bus terminal. I bought a ticket for the 6.30 pm bus to Singapore for the following day. The ride was supposed to take 5 hours, leaving me sufficient time to catch my flight to India at 1.45 am, or so I thought...

I wasn't in much of a mood to do more sightseeing, and it was too late in the afternoon anyway. So, I went back to my hotel in Petaling Jaya. For the first time in my trip, I actually felt bored. Somehow, I did not like KL at all -- from a sightseeing standpoint. I lay in my bed and watched TV -- some soccer, the beginning of The Bourne Supremacy with Malay subtitles and some stupid music show. What was interesting was that I was able to comprehend a few words in the subtitles.

Malay is an interesting language and spoken widely with many variants, extending from Malaysia and Indonesia to southern Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. According to Wikipedia, there are very few true Malay words and therefore a majority of the vocabulary is words borrowed from other languages with Malay spellings. For example, stesen (station), bahasa (Sanskrit bhasha=language), dunia (Arabic duniya=world), katil (Tamil kattil=bed or cot) and putera (Sanskrit putra=son). So, if you are familiar with many Indian languages, grasping the meaning of many Malay words will not be difficult, however, the grammar is a different ballgame.

I went out for a walk with my iPod and explored the neighborhood around the hotel. I checked my email at an internet cafe (3 MYR/hour) and had coffee and cake at The Coffee Bean (14 MYR). After another hour of wandering around, I went to a local Indian restaurant and had dinner -- some chicken biriyani (4 MYR) and roti pratha (similar to Indian paratha, but deep fried). It was a tasty and satisfying meal -- a big change from the lunch at Pizza Hut that afternoon. I returned to the hotel, called my buddy Perng and made arrangements to meet him for breakfast the next day. Instead of watching TV, I read parts of Catch 22. Time to sleep!

Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur -- Day 5 -- La-körn!

I departed early from Asha Guest House and shared a cab ride with Dave, who was on his way to meet his dad in Israel. This time, the fare was only 120 Baht compared to my arrival (600 Baht). Good deal! Incidentally, there was a little bit of confusion whether I had to fly from the old airport or the new one. Fortunately, there was no change. Oh I forgot, while in Bangkok, my credit card had been rejected a couple of times "suspicious" pattern of usage. To sort it out, I purchased a telephone card for 200 Baht from the guest house and called the US customer support line. There was another 120 Baht left on the calling card, I exchanged the card for money with Darren. Good thing too, because it paid for my cab ride back to the airport.

After connecting at Hong Kong, I arrived around 6.30 pm in Kuala Lumpur (KL), where my buddy, Perng, picked me up. We used to work together in the Silicon Valley 5 years ago. He has since relocated to KL and had no plans of returning to the US. We reminisced about the hectic days before the NASDAQ and Silicon Valley meltdown in 2000. He had made reservations at Hotel Armada in Petaling Jaya, a Southwestern suburb of KL, very close to the light rail station of Asia Jaya. At 210 Malaysian ringgit (~58 USD), this was the most expensive accommodation on my trip. The hotel was good, but catered more to business travelers -- I wasn't here on business anyway.

Perng took me to a local Chinese Malaysian restaurant for dinner, where we had steamed white fish, fried rice and some soup. I enjoyed the dinner very much and cost approximately 100 MYR (~ 35 USD). To catch up with old times, he took me to a neighborhood bar, where he bought a bottle of Scotch whiskey. Most of the patrons were male and everyone was drinking hard liquor on a weekday -- probably a macho thing. What happens is, you buy a bottle of whiskey or whichever poison and they put your name on the bottle. On your next visit, you can get the same bottle and finish the rest of it. A few pretty women are employed by the bar to come to your table and make small talk. They continuously fill up your glass -- the motive being to have you drink as much as possible. The women are strictly for show -- no hanky panky. After a couple of hours, it was time to go; Perng had to work the next day. I tried to watch some TV, but got bored and slept a long time -- a welcome relief from the hectic activities.

Bangkok -- Day 4 -- Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

I met Darren downstairs at 8.00 am for breakfast and Boo, the cab driver arrived at 8.30 for the road trip to the famous floating market. We had agreed upon a fare of 1500 Baht for the trip and it was worth every penny (or every satang). Most visitors mistakenly believe that it's in Bangkok, but it's actually 2 hours south by car in the province of Ratchaburi. Darren and I had contemplated taking public transportation, but it would have been too cumbersome. Boo is a good driver, but very dangerous. He ran through stop lights and went the wrong way on many an occasion; we were concerned about getting hauled by the cops, but nothing happened. I, for one, would not dare to drive in Bangkok at all. To pass time, Boo played old country western tunes, Bhangra rap as well as Thai pop songs on his CD/MP3 player. He told us that an album of CDs/MP3s cost 30 Baht (~ 80 cents US). Music piracy is alive and thriving in Asia!

Upon arrival at the floating market, we took a motor-driven ferry through the canals at a cost of 2000 Baht (~ 50 USD) for an hour. It was a complete ripoff. The ferry made "appropriate" stops for more and more tourist junk. The ferry rushed us through the main sights and gave us little or no time to relax and enjoy. My advice? Go to the main market and hire a paddle boat/ferry at a much lower cost for a better experience.

Boo took us to a very nice restaurant along the Chao Phraya river, where you see water hyacinths and fresh water cress floating. We had a family style meal with a pan fried river fish, pad Thai (Darren's choice), roasted prawns, excellent tom yum soup (spicy!) and fried rice. The lunch was relaxing and cost us 1300 Baht (~ 32 USD). If only I knew the name of the restaurant!

It was time for more sightseeing. We went to Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo (admission 450 Baht). This is strictly for Western tourists! It's a schlocky display of mundane pachyderm facts. They show some "historical" events with elephants, elephant soccer (with cheesy World Cup 2006 players and logos) and elephants as they are used in forestry. One of the male elephants got frisky and decided to display his pride and glory to all and shower his affections right in the middle of the tourist show. You could almost sense the red faces of the mahouts! At the end of the 45-minute show, tourists could "buy" bananas to feed the elephants. Making money by fleecing tourists was a constant theme. Bleechh! Although, I must admit, the crocodile feeding was interesting.

Boo took us next to a neighboring village that put on a Thai cultural showcase (admission fee 500 Baht) for tourists. They enacted scenes from muay thai (Thai boxing), a traditional Thai wedding ceremony and various traditional Thai dances. The whole show lasted about 45 minutes and I enjoyed it very much. Whew, this was a busy day and time to return to Bangkok. During the ride back, Boo was trying his best to have us indulge in "sex tourism". Every cab driver tries this trick on tourists. Caveat emptor!

We were completely exhausted, but not so tired as to pass up on a few beers at the guest house. I met Tamara (Canada) and Francesca (Germany). Dinner was a very simple Thai curry and rice accompanied by -- what else -- bottles and bottles of Singha beer with ice. Torrential rains in Bangkok forced most of the guests to stay indoors and guzzle more beer. Many restaurants were closed and hence a huge party-like atmosphere at the guest house. At any rate, this was to be my last night in Bangkok and sadly I settled my bills at Asha Guest House vowing to be like The Governator, I'll be back!

Bangkok -- Day 3 -- Grand Palace and Shopping

After an elaborate breakfast, I set out early for the Louis Pasteur Snake Farm, now known as Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute. This is one of the principal places for toxicology research in Thailand. From my Sktrain stop (Saphan Khwai), I went to Siam Central Station and switched trains to get to Sala Daeng. From there it was a brisk 20 minute walk to the snake farm. I met Jessica from the guest house and we watched a slide show on venomous snakes as well as a live demonstration. It was very informative and impressive. See the picture on the top. Brave guy, eh? It's a Burmese python and picture taken by Jessica. Thanks Jessica.

From there I went to see the pièce de résistance of Bangkok tourism, the Grand Palace. It was to open to the public only at 1.30 pm, so the museum staff, who, by the way, are extremely helpful, directed a tuk tuk driver to take me to yet another Buddhist temple, this time the Mount Buddha (I wasn't impressed). It's fun riding these tuk tuks, although Ralph Nader would have a fit since these are truly "unsafe at any speed". It is a pollution nightmare, rickety and noisy. The only thing going for it is that it's cheap to ride for short distances. Most of these tuk tuk drivers are not locals, don't speak any English and don't know the city too well either. Tuk tuks are mostly for show and meant to con tourists into needless shopping. The drivers get "petrol credits" from the government to "promote tourism". So if you take one of these, don't feel too bad about not paying much.

The driver was a real nice, polite guy and helped me to a local roadside stall for lunch, although he refused to join me when I asked him to. I had a wonderful meal (some transparent noodles with chicken and plenty of basil as well as chilies) accompanied by 3 diet cokes -- it was hotter than hell, both temperature-wise and food-wise. I was sweating even more, but, what the hell, I enjoyed the food. It was heaven! I finally returned to the Grand Palace in time.

This is the residence of the king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest serving Head of State, having been on the throne since 1946! Words cannot do justice to its grandeur, although on the minus side it's expensive to enter -- 500 Baht. It is a sprawling campus, housing many current and previous royal residences, including Wat Phra Kaew, the so-called Emerald Buddha. It's easy to get lost in the opulence and the majesty of this palace. It's one of those things -- you have to be there.

Having completed these, I caught a cab to the clothier I had mentioned in a previous post and had my suit and jacket re-fitted. I spent an hour or so there, but the cab driver, Boo, waited all the time for me to come out. He agreed to take me the next day to the famous floating market, an hour and a half from Bangkok. (More on that later) I asked Boo to recommend a good place for yet another Thai massage and he did not disappoint! This time around, it was only 350 Baht. I had agreed to and paid Boo 200 Baht for his assistance.

Anyway, I was tired, yet relaxed and went to a seafood place that looked good. I should have known better. I saw the price for a crab (170 Baht) and was thrilled beyond belief. So, I pointed to a crab still in its shell, picked up some vegetables à la carte and ordered all of it. The restaurant advertised seafood any style I wanted, so I said chili pepper crab. After the great meal came the sticker price shock -- 3200 Baht (~ 90 USD)! After asking if there was a mistake, I realized that the price was 170 Baht per hundred grams, and the vegetables? Some ungodly sum. RTFM really!

After this costly mistake, I went back to the guest house for a beer or two and met Darren. I informed him about the trip to the floating market and fortunately, he agreed. Wow! A small victory after a disastrous meal. So it goes. Good night!

Bangkok -- Day 2 -- Chatuchak Market

Over continental breakfast at Asha Guest House, I met Darren from the previous night's alcohol induced (or enhanced) festivities. Darren is an intelligent, cool guy of 24 years old from Calgary, Canada and just out of school. He had/has a more adventurous backpacking plan than mine, his lasting roughly 4 months. I envy him. This was Sunday and the best thing to do was to visit Chatuchak weekend market, probably the largest flea market in the world. So off we went. We took the Skytrain to Mo Chit station, alighted and saw hundreds of stores all close together selling things that you normally see in flea markets to some that you do not expect -- live animals, mostly pets like puppies, kittens, hamsters, fishes of all sorts, turtles, various birds and so on. The cacophony was overwhelming, not to mention the immense crowds as well as the smells of food roasting, frying and everything in between. We pondered if there was a method to the madness? The short answer is, yes, there is. They have maps that clearly delineate the sections for pets, clothing for pets, antiques, clothing, food court, shoes, accessories etc. You've got to see it to believe it. If you ever run out of anything and need to find it (and of course, if you are in the Bangkok near the Mo Chit Skytrain station), you will find in Chatuchak. Great stuff!

We went to Saphan Taksin Skytrain station, boarded the ferry on the way to the Wat Pho temple, the largest Reclining Buddha statue in the world. A short while before, we walked through the fish markets along the Chao Phraya river and saw dried fish and seafood in varieties I hadn't imagined. We stopped for lunch at a fairly "upscale" restaurant, which catered to the tourists near the Grand Palace and had signs in English. I had some excellent pork satay and fried rice. Darren had pad Thai (he was new to Thai food), and we had coconut milk to go with. The price was about 70 Baht apiece. The temple was breathtaking in its size and the statue was impressive, to say the least. The reclining statue is roughly 150 feet long and completely plated in gold. At the foot of the statue are intricately carved patterns in jade. Apparently, this temple was the birthplace of Thai massage. It is the crown jewel of Buddhist temples and the Thais are justifiably proud of this enormous and ancient temple. Every Thai I met asked me if I had seen Wat Pho. Prepare to be impressed.

We took a cab see the Pasteur Institute Snake Farm near Sala Daeng Skytrain station, but were unlucky to reach it near closing time. The cab driver, Sam spoke excellent English and was a treat to talk to. His knowledge of international politics was amazing and gave a good account of the reasons for Taksin Shinawatra's coup. Of course, like every other cab driver in Bangkok, he was very eager to take us shopping and have us partake of the sex trade in Bangkok. You've got to understand that plying cabs is their vocation, but the real money is in selling the "services" to the tourists. They get a percentage of the proceeds of the "sale". That's how they roll in Bangkok!

We walked many, many kilometers along the Lumphini Park, probably one of the largest green spots in the city good enough for jogging and outdoor activities, and through Sala Daeng and further on to Chong Nonsi Skytrain station. It was too late for the tourist attractions, so we took the Skytrain back to the guest house and stopped at a local internet café for news and email. This particular café was fantastic and had leather seats and a high speed connection -- all for a paltry 15 Baht per hour. An army of Thai youngsters was busy with playing games on the internets (sic). Later on, we stopped at a pub for a few beers of Singha and tried a couple of local sausages. My advice? Avoid them. We tried some local fruits and they were fantastic. The sheer variety of fruits was overwhelming -- and the taste? Intense. Wow! We returned to the guest house for dinner and a few more beers with the house mates. Well, why not? Dinner was a spicy ground chicken curry with plenty of basil and some rice. It was finally time to hit the sack and do some reading. End of Day 2.