Welcome 2010! We are looking forward to seeing you!

I religiously take New Year Resolution every year,whether I do or don't follow them! If I had to pen down all the good or bad things that happened to me this year (2009), there are many.

Do not manipulate your thoughts or beliefs for someone else.No matter however you are or how decent you behave,there is always someone who doesn't like you or not happy about you.Its inevitable.So just be who you really are and don't care much about people around you who is unhappy with you for no reasons.This is something that I have learnt over this year.I also learnt
who my true friends are and who are just pretending to be like one.You know its quite a task to identify the toxic ones around us and ditch them.It needs some guts, even though it just may look simple and easy.Therefore I decided to stay away from the "venomous" friends and breathe in fresh air,meet new people in life.After all, I perpetually look forward for a change in life! On the other hand I am very much happy for the friends who truly love me for what I am.One of such a friend is Niveditha and I am glad that I have her in my life.

Well,talking about the coming year 2010 and my Resolution,I do have a few in mind.And I do intend to make all or at least most of them come true.One of them is to shed a few kilos and get fit! Another one of those is that I stop being a spend-thrift like I am now,and start saving up money for a good cause.

I am very much looking forward for the Year 2010.Happy New year to all! Have a fun filled year ahead.

p.s - This will probably be my last post for this year! So stay tuned for more interesting posts @ "My soul" next year!

The Great Wall of China!

There was this school educational trip to Beijing, that had been organised by our Secondary school when I was in Secondary-3(which is about 3 and a half years back!), mainly for the students taking History and Chinese Literature. Being a History student and having the zest to travel, I jumped in for the opportunity. On a serious note, when the itinerary form was given to us a few weeks before the actual travel, I had no idea about the places like the Forbidden City,Summer palace,Tianmen square and so on. The only thing that attracted me on the list is THE GREAT WALL! That’s what made me travel to Beijing.

Right after we landed in Beijing we were taken to different places each day as per as the Travel itinerary list. That’s when I got to see the richness of the Forbidden City, its nothing but a palace. It was so huge, than what you imagine it to be!

-->The forbidden city.

Finally the most anticipated day arrives. The day in which they had planned to take us to the Great Wall .I was all happy and enthusiastic. Little did I know that I actually have to climb up the stairs to explore! There were two paths that we can choose to climb on to reach the peak. We chose the left side which had steps that are not as steep as the right side ,but still it was so difficult to walk up. So much of energy was needed. But of course I have been longing to see this place and I got the chance finally, so that thought kept me motivated to reach to the peak. No Pain No gain!

--The Great wall!

The wall was built to protect their own borders.

Cruise to Nowhere!

It was at the middle of the ocean, to the right you can spot the buildings of Malaysia and to the left the Indonesian islands.The ocean was beautiful and as clear as aquamarine.The rushing sound of the ocean,welcoming crew, the 24/7 busy casino area,old aged people(mostly grannies)with a good amount of money in their wallet,carrying packs of cigarettes eagerly rushed into the casino area to start gambling.These were the different scenes at the Cruise. It was a cruise to Nowhere, which means that we don't get to alight to visit any of the nearest Island,but rather keep sailing across it and spend a whole 2 days and a night inside the ship.We had to take a ferry from the Harbour Front in Singapore to reach Batam Island (Indonesia),it took an hour to reach there.Then from Batam we had our connecting ferry to reach the Cruise which was located just 15 minutes away from the shore.



A view of the ferry from the cruise,carrying people back to Batam Island.

There were a few Convenient shops, Giordano outlet,Basket ball courts,Tennis and badminton courts,Spa, gym,Coffee shop,Bar and hundreds of economical rooms and Suites, all inside the Cruise.It was like a mini Titanic ship.The food was fantastic, more than 30 or 40 delicacies to try on.
Now, I cant wait for another "Cruise to Nowhere"!

Malaysia- Dining at the sky top!

Its exactly been a year and 2 days since my last trip to Kuala Lumpur(KL).We flew by Air Asia to the KL International Airport which is located at Sepang, about an hour and a half drive from the City.Our return trip was by train to Singapore,I enjoyed the scenery on the way,though this is not the first time that we travel across the Singapore border to KL by train.We have done so when I was a kid,but it was an overnight journey.We used to live in Malaysia when I was a kid, so it was like I am rediscovering KL all over again.

It was an advantage that we had booked our room at a Hotel (Crowne Plaza) which was located at the Central area and was easily accessible to most of the tourist attractions like The Twin Tower and so on.Therefore right after spending that very first day by roaming around the streets of KL City, we headed to the famous Menara Kuala Lampur(KL Tower) in the evening.It is 421 Meters tall and the tallest tower in South East Asia. We had booked for our Buffet Dinner at the Revolving restaurant which is located at the top of the Tower itself. You can enjoy your food while taking a 360 degree breathtaking view of the KL city.There where three different stations for the main menu and 1 for fruits and pastries.It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes for one complete rotation.It was my first time dining in at such a place! It seemed like the whole city was under my feet.I took my own sweet time to try out different delicacies that was there.There is no specific dish that I liked there because I enjoyed each and every single dish that I decided to try out.It was a real experience to dine in there and was worth the total bill of a 3-digit amount that we payed!


->A fantastic view of KL from the restaurant.

Mysore masti

I jumped to the idea of visiting Mysore when we planned for our yearly trip to India this time(March,09).Even though I have been to Mysore as a kid before,I wanted to see the city again as a teenager.Therefore my dad agreed to me and he booked the hotel room through on line, from Singapore, as we planned to be there on a 2-day trip.We took the direct train from Madurai to Mysore and it was an overnight journey.The journey was pretty comfortable,and the train had neat and clean seats and toilets! India has developed much in these four years I thought.The hotel in which we booked our room was actually once a palace and now turned to be a hotel,Lalit Mahal.Its being maintained under the Government of India.I was just too exited to stay in a palace! Common, how many of us would have the opportunity! I though that I may have born as a Princess in my last birth and my mom thought that she was born as a queen, which is the reason why we got the chance to stay there! Who knows! We had our breakfast there on the next day morning,the food was served on silver eating utensils! The puri masala I had (which would barely be less than 20 Rupees in an outside restaurent)costs 135 Rupees there! But of course the price that we paid includes for the food being served on silver eating utensils and the ambiance! The dining hall was so big with beautiful Belgium glass paintings on the ceilings.Forget not about my First ever ride on a Chariot! I felt like real princess as I climbed up to sit comfortably! And it seems that the horse has appeared in the Tamil film "Muthu" which Rajnikanth rides upon!(he appears as a zamindar).And for those who plans on a tour to Mysore in future and want to stay at the Lilit Mahal, book your air/train tickets as soon as possible because it is said that the mahal is going to be rented out for a private company as a guest house!,dont miss the chance!

We visited the Mysore Mahal on the same day.I was aw struck by the architecture! Mesmerised by the beauty of the palace inside.It was so huge,in fact the biggest of all I have ever seen.The collection of the the King's and the queen's paintings,illustrations and the sculptures,no words to explain,it is something to be felt!

We also visited a couple of temples,which includes the famous Nandi (bull) temple in which we can spot one of the largest nandi's in the world.It is said to be about 15 feet in height! The serenity of the Chamundeeswari temple also enticed us.Just a two day trip to Mysore left me with an urge of wanting to see more in India! Especially the historic places of the Northern India. Cant wait for a trip! Indeed India is a country with rich culture and heritage! Proud to be a desi!

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok had the hustle-bustle of any other big city with lots and lots of tourists flocking up.It was a quick 2 hour flight from Singapore to Suvarnabhumi Airport,Bangkok.On day-1 we took one of these tuk-tuk's to visit the Grand Palace and a Buddha Temple which is said to be about 700 year old! The Buddha statue looked tremendous ,painted with gold.I was stunned for a second looking at it.I considered myself Lucky to have been having an opportunity to see that temple.I rewarded myself with some Thai Food for lunch,which tasted pretty good.But,I must say that the Thai food which I have had in Singapore and Malaysia so far is so much different from the authentic one.We roamed in and around the city for about 4 or 5 hours before we headed to a Whole sale shopping mall which was located just beside our Hotel,Grand Diamond.The mall was huge.Me and my sister were asked to shop around,whereas my parents were resting at one of these resting areas in the mall(they where too tired after walking up and down the mall for an hour or so).We were surprised to know that most of the shops and restaurants in Bangkok closes before 8 Pm! Having not buying much at the end of the day-1 shopping as the shops closed before we could finish seeing all ,we made use of the opportunity the next day where we headed to the mall around 4 Pm so that we would have more time to shop.We bought so much of stuffs including Dresses,Bikinis and some hair clips which would cost a bomb in Singapore in total! I came to a conclusion that Thailand is a good choice for shopping (especially for girls),and you need to bargain as much as possible to get best deals!
The Grand Palace
We also booked for a half day city tour and were taken to one of these pagoda's.It took 15 minutes to reach there by boat.At the end of our half day city tour we were taken to the floating market where by you can see vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats,selling or buying goods.But I was disappointed to see that the Bangkok floating market is not as big and nice as the original Floating market which is located about 110 Kilo-Meters from Bangkok.We did not have time to visit that as it was said to be one or two hour hour journey from the city(but have planned to cover those places on our next trip!).Over all it was a nice and memorable trip to Thailand-The land of friendly people.

Caught this at a food stall in the Food court.

This is the gigantic 700 year old Buddha!

Hi world!

A BIGGG hi to the blogging world =)
Welcome me with a BIG smile...

Sri