Changing Sites...
Quick message and link to let you know that I'm switching websites. For this trip, I have created an MSN spaces site that allows me to easily upload photos while I am traveling. So, check out the new site and bookmark it for my travel updates over the next 4.5 months. It's also called Goks World
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Update # 1 - live from London, England
Hi everyone, I arrived safely yesterday morning and now, I'm at my brother's flat in London. It's about 12:35 am on March 2 and I have been here since yesterday morning (arrived at around 8:30 am on Feb 28).
My flight over was pretty good although the plane was quite empty. And Air Canada - I've got one beef. I know you don't have the individual seat back tv's/entertainment centres yet but CAN YOU PLEASE CHOOSE SOME BETTER MOVIES??!!!?!?!!?! The Corpse Bride and Shakespeare in Love! What the "@$%* is that??? I tried to sleep instead and I was especially full after my 2 dinners. 2 dinners you ask? Well, I ordered a special meal on this flight. I got the "low fat, low cholesterol" meal so I got served first. It was quite dry and not that tasty. When I finished my meal, the guy right next to me just got his so I was sitting there just smelling his food and I was still hungry. So I asked the flight attendant if they had any extra food and they did so they hooked me up. Mental note - if you want to ensure you get served first or at least get served warm food - make a special dietary request and then, you'll get your food first. I also listened to my new iPod a lot and decided that I really like it but man, it's gonna take some getting used to that whole click wheel concept to navigate around (and to control the volume)
It's been a great couple days in London. First off, it's been VERY SUNNY which has been great. I haven't seen a drop of rain. I told Raj and Pari before arriving that I would be bringing the sun with me. And I didn't lie! Yesterday, after a bit of an ordeal getting to Raj's flat from the airport (there were all these tube delays), I tried to sleep throughout the afternoon. By about 4:00 pm, Pari (my brother's fiance) arrived home from work and we chatted and got caught up. Raj got home around 6:00 and after chilling for a bit, we headed out for Al-Onaak, a Lebanese restaurant in their neighbourhood. The food was quite nice, especially the baba ganoush and the lamb kebab. After dinner, our friend Sonu arrived an we went to a bar in Oxford Circus to meet up with some of my Aussie friends and other Londoners. Sam, Kat, Lindsey, Tony and Clara came out. We went to this bar called Firevault which was really cool cause they sell Fireplaces by day and at night, there is a trendy restaurant and bar downstairs. Very cool decor and some really neat fireplaces and drinks... After that, the five of us that were remaining proceeded to head to Match Bar (also in Oxford Circus) where we had some good times. They had this one drink on the menu called the Breakfast Club which sounded GROSS. It had a couple shots of bourbon, an egg white, orange marmalade and other raunchy stuff. Tony volunteered to try it and the bartender was all excited to make it. He came back a few minutes later and apologized cause they were out of Orange Marmalade. So, Tony then gave the bartender free rain and said "You make whatever you want, just do gin or absinthe". The bartender was smiling a lot and left. We must have waited for nearly 10 minutes and he finally returned with what he called "The Strawberry Delicious". That drink was HUGE and quite tasty. The bartender was so pumped about it - it was great. Good on ya Tony for being such a great sport about it!
This morning, I got up kinda late (but who cares cause I'm unemployed and on vacation). My brother did a little work in the morning and then had decided to take the rest of the day off. We had an excellent day and thanks to his amazing suggestion, I got to see a lot of London. Raj has a Vespa scooter and we rode around all afternoon checking out different sites around the city. Again, the weather was gorgeous and sunny so it made it perfect. The only problem was that when you're on a scooter, it gets considerably colder cause of the wind. We had some fish and chips in Notting Hill for lunch. They were pretty good (apparently one of the top 10 in London). I'm not quite sure about that though. After lunch, we rode up to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasdon which was absolutely fantastic. I'm really glad that Raj brought me here cause I hadn't seen it during my previous 2 trips to London the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we missed darshan by about 45 minutes but we still got to see some of the deities and also got to see the incredible stone work, wood work and especially the Haveli architecture. I also learned about an amazing movie called Mystic India . Apparently, it's an IMAX film and I just missed it in London (at South Kensington). It's playing in Mumbai and in Sydney so I should be able to see it at some point during this trip. Otherwise, maybe it'll come to Toronto in the summer. After the temple, we drove back into the city and met Pari for some drinks at a neat coffee shop near her school. When we left the coffee shop, it started to snow!!! (okay, so maybe I brought this from Canada along with the beautiful sun) It was the perfect "first snowfall of winter" kinda snow - it was really beautiful. So many people (including me of course) were taking pics of the falling snow. Since London is such a cosmopolitan city, there are probably tonnes of people that have never seen it so I think they were quite excited today.
For dinner, Raj made spaghetti with meatballs, Pari made a salad and I made tuna cakes (but used yogurt instead of mayo) so they were definitely healthier (but just not solid enough). Rajs' coworker Salo came by and so did Sonu. It was a fun night just chilling out, eating, drinking and watching the England - Uruguay friendly match that England one with a late goal during injury time - definitely a last minute win!
London is a funny place. One thing I've noticed is that it is quite transient here. So many people come and go so often. I was asking my Australian friends who've been here anywhere from 2 - 4 years. All of them are sure they won't stay here forever and most seem to think that 4 or 5 is enough. Raj's friends even feel the same way. It's so cosmopolitan and there is so much to do but I guess it just doesn't have the long term appeal to many people. Maybe with all the constant moving around, people just find it hard to establish and maintain solid relationships with people. The cost of living in this city is absurd too and for students or people with entry level jobs, it is very difficult to save up or survive because rent, food, etc just adds up. Another observation is that there is a bar/pub or restaurant everywhere you turn in this city. On the scooter today, we went through a lot of old neighbourhoods and all I kept seeing were different restaurants (and all were from various parts of the world). It's a fun and exciting city and I love coming to visit. Just don't know if I could live here full time.
I reckon that it's time for bed as I've got a full day of bumming around to accomplish tomorrow before my flight to Mumbai leaves at 9:30 pm. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's about 37 - 39 degrees celcius right now in Mumbai??? Man, I am going to sweat my butt off.
Night all.
Hi everyone, I arrived safely yesterday morning and now, I'm at my brother's flat in London. It's about 12:35 am on March 2 and I have been here since yesterday morning (arrived at around 8:30 am on Feb 28).
My flight over was pretty good although the plane was quite empty. And Air Canada - I've got one beef. I know you don't have the individual seat back tv's/entertainment centres yet but CAN YOU PLEASE CHOOSE SOME BETTER MOVIES??!!!?!?!!?! The Corpse Bride and Shakespeare in Love! What the "@$%* is that??? I tried to sleep instead and I was especially full after my 2 dinners. 2 dinners you ask? Well, I ordered a special meal on this flight. I got the "low fat, low cholesterol" meal so I got served first. It was quite dry and not that tasty. When I finished my meal, the guy right next to me just got his so I was sitting there just smelling his food and I was still hungry. So I asked the flight attendant if they had any extra food and they did so they hooked me up. Mental note - if you want to ensure you get served first or at least get served warm food - make a special dietary request and then, you'll get your food first. I also listened to my new iPod a lot and decided that I really like it but man, it's gonna take some getting used to that whole click wheel concept to navigate around (and to control the volume)
It's been a great couple days in London. First off, it's been VERY SUNNY which has been great. I haven't seen a drop of rain. I told Raj and Pari before arriving that I would be bringing the sun with me. And I didn't lie! Yesterday, after a bit of an ordeal getting to Raj's flat from the airport (there were all these tube delays), I tried to sleep throughout the afternoon. By about 4:00 pm, Pari (my brother's fiance) arrived home from work and we chatted and got caught up. Raj got home around 6:00 and after chilling for a bit, we headed out for Al-Onaak, a Lebanese restaurant in their neighbourhood. The food was quite nice, especially the baba ganoush and the lamb kebab. After dinner, our friend Sonu arrived an we went to a bar in Oxford Circus to meet up with some of my Aussie friends and other Londoners. Sam, Kat, Lindsey, Tony and Clara came out. We went to this bar called Firevault which was really cool cause they sell Fireplaces by day and at night, there is a trendy restaurant and bar downstairs. Very cool decor and some really neat fireplaces and drinks... After that, the five of us that were remaining proceeded to head to Match Bar (also in Oxford Circus) where we had some good times. They had this one drink on the menu called the Breakfast Club which sounded GROSS. It had a couple shots of bourbon, an egg white, orange marmalade and other raunchy stuff. Tony volunteered to try it and the bartender was all excited to make it. He came back a few minutes later and apologized cause they were out of Orange Marmalade. So, Tony then gave the bartender free rain and said "You make whatever you want, just do gin or absinthe". The bartender was smiling a lot and left. We must have waited for nearly 10 minutes and he finally returned with what he called "The Strawberry Delicious". That drink was HUGE and quite tasty. The bartender was so pumped about it - it was great. Good on ya Tony for being such a great sport about it!
This morning, I got up kinda late (but who cares cause I'm unemployed and on vacation). My brother did a little work in the morning and then had decided to take the rest of the day off. We had an excellent day and thanks to his amazing suggestion, I got to see a lot of London. Raj has a Vespa scooter and we rode around all afternoon checking out different sites around the city. Again, the weather was gorgeous and sunny so it made it perfect. The only problem was that when you're on a scooter, it gets considerably colder cause of the wind. We had some fish and chips in Notting Hill for lunch. They were pretty good (apparently one of the top 10 in London). I'm not quite sure about that though. After lunch, we rode up to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasdon which was absolutely fantastic. I'm really glad that Raj brought me here cause I hadn't seen it during my previous 2 trips to London the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we missed darshan by about 45 minutes but we still got to see some of the deities and also got to see the incredible stone work, wood work and especially the Haveli architecture. I also learned about an amazing movie called Mystic India . Apparently, it's an IMAX film and I just missed it in London (at South Kensington). It's playing in Mumbai and in Sydney so I should be able to see it at some point during this trip. Otherwise, maybe it'll come to Toronto in the summer. After the temple, we drove back into the city and met Pari for some drinks at a neat coffee shop near her school. When we left the coffee shop, it started to snow!!! (okay, so maybe I brought this from Canada along with the beautiful sun) It was the perfect "first snowfall of winter" kinda snow - it was really beautiful. So many people (including me of course) were taking pics of the falling snow. Since London is such a cosmopolitan city, there are probably tonnes of people that have never seen it so I think they were quite excited today.
For dinner, Raj made spaghetti with meatballs, Pari made a salad and I made tuna cakes (but used yogurt instead of mayo) so they were definitely healthier (but just not solid enough). Rajs' coworker Salo came by and so did Sonu. It was a fun night just chilling out, eating, drinking and watching the England - Uruguay friendly match that England one with a late goal during injury time - definitely a last minute win!
London is a funny place. One thing I've noticed is that it is quite transient here. So many people come and go so often. I was asking my Australian friends who've been here anywhere from 2 - 4 years. All of them are sure they won't stay here forever and most seem to think that 4 or 5 is enough. Raj's friends even feel the same way. It's so cosmopolitan and there is so much to do but I guess it just doesn't have the long term appeal to many people. Maybe with all the constant moving around, people just find it hard to establish and maintain solid relationships with people. The cost of living in this city is absurd too and for students or people with entry level jobs, it is very difficult to save up or survive because rent, food, etc just adds up. Another observation is that there is a bar/pub or restaurant everywhere you turn in this city. On the scooter today, we went through a lot of old neighbourhoods and all I kept seeing were different restaurants (and all were from various parts of the world). It's a fun and exciting city and I love coming to visit. Just don't know if I could live here full time.
I reckon that it's time for bed as I've got a full day of bumming around to accomplish tomorrow before my flight to Mumbai leaves at 9:30 pm. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's about 37 - 39 degrees celcius right now in Mumbai??? Man, I am going to sweat my butt off.
Night all.