My First Foreign Trip :):)

We (me, Rahul n Sam) had planned to goto Singapore and visit Siddarth from the beginning of this year. We had chosen to go from 24th April to May 3rd, but none of us apart from me were ready to put so many days leave, so had to shorten the trip and finally decided upon 29th April to 4th May with only 2 days leave to be taken (Rajath stil backed out, hasnt told the reason yet!!maybe maneli bidlila ansathe paapa :P ;) ).

We booked the tickets to Singapore in Tiger Airways (low budget airways which was around 13k up n down and thanks to Bose :P) about a month ago after lot of confusion about who was comin n who not and also tryin to find the best travel agents who would get visa for us. Finally after searchin the whole city for agents, we found Neptune Travels (next to Bene Dose) who was really good n cheaper than the others v had enquired and he got us the visa without any probs :).
Next was the plan on how to spend the 5 days tryin to cover 2 countries!!! Sid booked flights from KL to Langkawi and also hotel room at Langkawi. After lota discussion we decided to spend 1st n last day (i.e. 30th Apr and 4th May) at singapore, 2nd day (i.e. 1st May) at KL, 3rd and 4th days (2nd and 3rd May) at Langkawi.

After finishin office around 4 pm on 29th drove as fast as i could to home to do final packing and around 6.15 Rahul came home and put his extra stuff into the check in baggage. We met Sam at bus stand and boarded a VajraVayu bus to airport at around 7 pm. As none of us had eaten anythin after lunch in the noon, we were tempted on cin sweets n other stuff packed by Sid's mom for him which we were carryin n ate a few mysore pak's n half packet chips (Sorry Sid :P). We reached airport after 2 hrs at about 9 and finished all the check in process by 10. Rahul n Sam did som duty free shoppin n me eatin burger for dinner :P. The flight took off at 11.15 pm sharp n reached singapore early morning by 6.15 am. After finishin all the immigration n other stuff, called up Sid who was on the way to pick us up.

30th April (Singapore): Places we saw here: Singapore zoo, Sentosa island (Underwater world, Dolphin show, 4d theatre)

We picked up a taxi from airport to Sid's house which is about 40mins drive. All the 3 of us were amazed by the greenery, roads, huge buildings, flyovers etc etc as we had never seen anythin lik this in India before!!! As soon as we reached Sid's home it started rainin heavily for 15-20mins and stopped (In Singapore n even Malaysia, it rains for 15-20mins heavily and stops, this happens through out the day). We got ready and after eatin 2 slices of bread for bfast at sid's home, left to see the zoo with the map and bus numbers given to us by Sid. We boarded a bus and got down at the next station from Dover. Here all the buses are like the vayu vajra's we have here and also ticketin system is thro recharge cards which hav to b swiped at the machine when we board the bus n again swipe it when we get down the bus. We then boarded a train to Jurong East which was bat 20mins. This is the best train service i have ever seen, with commentry as to which station is next, detailed map alongwith stations, excellent seats and also super speed!! From Jurong East we boarded a bus which took us to the Zoo at around 11.

Took tickets to the zoo and bird park which was about 32$. We spent about 3 hrs in the zoo which was still not enough to see all the animals!! We saw almost all the different spiecies of animals from diffrent countries at this zoo. Also this zoo is not like the ones we hav here where the animals are caged n kept, the animals are left open as if in their natural habitat!! Few of the animals we saw here are lions, tigers, polar bears, rhino, hippo, giraffe's, zebra's, ostrich (lol haha), different varities of monekys (orangutans, baboons etc), differt reptiles (snakes, lizards), wild boars, leopard, cheetah, mountain lion, butterfly park etc.. We missed the penguins and asiatic elephants as we had no time left and also were tired.. Luckily for me n sam got a veg pizza at the restaurant in the zoo for lunch!! We left the zoo around 2.30 towards Sentosa island.

Changed a bus and 2 trains to reach Vivo city mall which has a mono rail service to this island.
We reached Sentosa by 4 and rushed to the Under waterworld. Took tickets to underwater world and dolphin show which was 22$ i guess. Underwater world was also superb with all kinds of sea creatures which we hadnt seen before. We saw all sorts of small n big fish, jelly fish, octopus, sharks, sting rays, sea horse, crabs, lobsters etc. The aquarium is made in such a way that all the fish swim right above our head which is quiet amazin as it feels like walkin underwater :). Came out by 5.30 and as the dolphin show was at 6.30 ate at the canteen til 6 and mjust made it to the show at 6.30!! Dolphin show was also really good where the dolphins performed all kinds of tricks n stunts with the trainers. This show lasted for about half an hour and next we went to the 4-d theatre with huge expectations and paid 18$ for the ticket. The 4-d movie was not great and also the effects were not good as we had already seen better one at innovative film city itself and were cribbin for the loss of 18$ as we Indians convert everythin from $ to Rs before spendin for anythin :P. We then went to see a show called songs of the sea which was at 7.40, but unfortunately tickets for the show was sold out and we couldnt go in the cable car too as it was on the other side of the island, so we went back to the vivo city mall itself by mono rail by 7 pm. Sid came there finishin his office at 7.30 and then we had dinner at a mall and all of us ate channa batura (finally saw indian food after cin only animals!!). Then we left for Clark-kay which is supposed to be lik MG road of Singapore and after roamin there for a while left the place around 9.30 back to Dover (Sid's residence).

We had to leave for Malaysia the same night by bus and luckily baby's friend who is a malaysian accompanied us. We took a bus to a station called Kranji station where all the checkin is done and then from there to Woodlands where the immigration is done. We finally reached the border (place called as Johor Baharu) around 1 am. The last bus to Kuala lumpur had left som 15 mins ago :(. As we had to reach KL before 6-7 in the morn had no other option other than to go in a taxi. This is where Sid's Malaysian friend came in handy, from 600 ringetts after bargainin he got us a cab to 400 ringetts. The cab was small and we had to somehow manage for 4-5 hrs sittin 4 at the back with the injured soldier (Rahul :P) havin to sit at the front.

1st April (Kuala lumpur): Places we saw: Petronas and KL Central towers, Batu Caves and Seremban

It took around 3 n half hrs to reach KL. The cab fellow dropped us at a place called Puduraya around 5 am. We took another cab from there to my friends place at Bricksfield which was abt 15 mins drive from Puduraya. We reached his place at 5.30 and as he had slept nicely and was waitin for us to call dint open the gate till 6.30!!! Somehow we managed to wake up the owner of the house who seemed to be tensed and not ready to open the gates for us! after she got convinced that we were not thieves (lol) she opened the gates and called up Vighnaraja who finally opened the door (huh!!). We were damn tired with all the body parts stiffened and slept for an hour and got ready by 9.30.

Me and Rahul left for the Petronas towers hopin to get tickets to walk until the bridge. But we couldnt get tickets as it was over in the early morn by 8 itself :(. We then took pics outside the towers and waited for Sam n baby who came about 2hrs late after hoggin dosa at som south indian restaurant (huh me n rahul dint ever eat bfast peroperly waitin for these 2 idiots to turn up!!). These fellows finally showed up at 12.then we went round the mall and drank a coffee at StarBucks. We then left to see the KL Central tower hoping to goto the revolving restaurant at the top of it. After about 10mins we reached the KL towers and couldnt goto the revolving restaurant as buffett cost was too much (about 80 ringetts hehe), just saw the mall and ate lunch at an indian restaurant there itself. Then around 3 we hired a taxi and went to the Batu caves which has a Karthikeya temple. This temple had water dripping from the top of the caves in some parts continoursly (dont know where was the water source for this!!). It has huge statue of Karthikeya at then entrance and about 100 steps to enter the temple. Me and Rahul finally got to hang a python around our necks here hehe :). After cin the Abhiseka, we left this place as we had to goto my friends place (Seremban) for dinner.

We took a bus to Puduraya which was about 30mins and then a local train to Kl Sentral (after being tricked by an Indian lady at the station not to board the bus which was actually goin to KL Sentral itself huh, boarded the next bus though!). From KL Sentral took another train which goes towards Seremban. We boarded the train around 6.15 and reached Seremban around 8.15!! Jayanth luckily had come to the station and was waiting for us!! We reached his house after 15-20mins. Had wonderful anna sambar n rasam after 2 days :):). As it had become late there itself, goin to KL again would have been a prob, same as v faced in the morning.. So Jayanth dropped us to Vighnaraja's place and as he had som work at KL the next morning, stayed with us at KL itself :).

2nd April (Langkawi): Places we saw: Cable car, 7 wells waterfalls, Eagle Bay, Chenang and Tengah beaches

We woke up around 5 am in the morning and got ready for the flight which was at 8.10 to Langkawi. Jayanth dropped us to the bus station near to Bricksfield around 6 and we took a bus ticket and cooly sat in the bus. But the bus dint leave till 6.30 and when we asked the driver he said the bus wudnt leave for another half an hour and if v went in the bus v would surely miss the flight!! So again we took a taxi who took us to airport in about 40mins time. We landed at Langkawi at 9.10 am.

From the air itself this island looked beauftiful & also the beauty was increased as 2 beautiful mexican babes sat right next to us in the flight :P. Our hotel was next to the airport itself (hardly 2mins walk). We kept out baggage in the reception and freshened ourselves up and went to see the curve hanging bridge where 'don' movie was shot. We had hired two 2 wheelers and the roads were so beautiful that driving was enjoyable after strugglin in this blore traffic daily!! After about 20mins drive, we reached the Oriental village which is the base station for the cable car which takes this bridge. This is one of the main attractions at Langkawi. We waited for more 30mins in the queue and finally got into 1 of the cable cars. The view from the cable car is wonderful with the forest below full of greenery. From the base station to middle station it is about 1700meters in lenght and is 650mts above sea level. Here we spent a few mins and caught another cable car which took us to the top station whichis about 710 mts above sea level. It feels like as if v r in the clouds itself here!! About 20mins trek we reached the curved bridge which has steel railings and the scenery of Langkawi from here is breath takin!! :).

After spendin about 3 hrs we finally came down to the base station and went to see the Telage Tujah (7 wells) water falls which is about 10mins drive. This is a small waterfalls amidst the greenery surroundin it. We spent few mins here and left for the hotel to check in. We checked in around 2.30 and went to the Eagle Bay which is located at Kuah. This was about an hr's drive from our hotel. We reached Eagle bay around 4. There was a superbike show here for which v were just in time. We also sat on few of these bikes and took snaps too :). We spent around an hr here and then went back to the Chenang and Tengah beaches near the Underwater world.

Me & Rahul booked for the island hopping for the next day with an agent here for about 55ringetts per head. Then we enjoyed in the beach till aroun 7 pm!! Even after 7 pm sun had'nt set still and all of them in the waters. Me and sid went back to the hotel around 7.30pm from here, while rahul and sam inorder to finish the petrol went round the city and also did som drinking ;). Took a shower and we were about to goto the swimming pool at our hotel, it started to rain heavily. So me and Sam came back to the room, Rahul n baby stil swam in the pool in that rain!! We went out for dinner around 10 pm and no restaurant was open even in the airport!!! We came bakc and ordered som burgers and noodles at our hotel itself. Burger was quiet ok, but our "Veg" noodles had crab and other animals and smelt really bad, dint even touch it whack thu!!! I filled my tummy makin coffee and eating sugar packets which i had taken from the airport hotel!!!

3rd April (Langkawi): Places we saw: Island hopping package (Beras Basah Island and another island which has cat fish massage, Pregnant Madein lake, Eagle Feeding spot)

Our agent came and picked us from the hotel around 8.30 am. The weather was very rough with continous rains when we left the hotel. We left in a motor boat towards the 1st island (forgot its name :P). I have never travelled in motor boats so far into the sea and this was an experience of a life time :). About 15-20mins drive we reached one of the islands where there was a cat fish massage place. 100's of cat fish com and massage the legs here. This was sort of a tickle rather than massage hehe!! After spending an hours time heree left this island and while we were drivin saw the Pregnant Lady island which was beautiful (exactly the shape of a pregnant woman lyin down!!). Around 11 am we reached the eagle feedin spot where our boat man threw som chicken pieces and many varities of eagles came to eat them up.

Then we drove to Beras Basah island which was supposed to have the water sports activities. but our bad luck as the weather was bad, it was closed :(, we just roamed around the island for a while here. The water here is so clear that there is no need to snorkel to see under water, just put u r head inside n everythin is visible!! After about half an hrour boatman came to pick us up and by that time it started to rain very heavily. In this rain he drove the boat all the back to the pick up point, which was about 25 mins and was quiet scary!! We then went to the room had a quick shower and lunch at airport, i shopped at a few choclates at airport and we left in a cab for the jetty station to board a boat to mainland called Kuala Perlis. From here everythin went upside down for us!!

We went to the jetty station aorund 2.30 hopin to board the 3.30 boat, but it was full. So we were left with no other choice but to take the 5.30 boat. Me and Sid tried all means possible durin this time to arrange a taxi from KL as it would be late night before we reach KL and there would be no bus towards Singapore. But we could do nothin and try ou best to reach KL before the last bus. After waitin there til 5.30 boarded the boat. It reached Kuala Perlis around 6.30 and we ran to the bus stand out side the station to catch the KL bus. Here came the scariest part, all the buses to KL, Johor Baharu were full till the next day eve. We became so tense and we somehow wanted to reach KL by night atleast.

One of the agents in the bus stand told us to goto a station called Alor Star where we could get bus to KL or JB. She was not sure, but asked us to try. We hired a private vehicle for 50ringetts and the driver understandin our situation drove like a mad guy in full speed (few times jumpin lanes, goin on the wrong side, foin in 2wheeler lanes lol) and we reached AlorStar by 7.30-8 and finally got a direct bus ticket to JB which was supposed to leave by 10 pm which was a relief to all of us. When we thought all was done, there was more tension to come lol :). Sid told us suddenly that he had lost his debit card without chkin his purse properly!! We roamed around whle bus station but still couldnt find an ISD booth to call to Singapore. Baby was "soo tensed tht he even forgot his house phone number!!! :P". Sid got a callin card frm a shop there and we couldnt use tht even to call to singapore, when we went back to the agent to ask it, he was blamin sid for not payin him for that card rather than tellin us how to use it lol hahaha.

Finally we decided to call my KL friend or Seremban and pass on the info to Sid's parents who inturn would call up Singapore and ask to block the account. We called Jayanth and told him to pass on the info, which he did to my house and finally it reached singapore thro baby's parents!!.
After all this tension n drama when we sat down waitin for the bus, baby removed his wallet n chked again and found his card there itself (huh useless fellow, luckily for him the account dint get blocked :)). Also we ended up payin more than the flight fare frm Langkawi to KL in these buses :(:(.

4th April (Singapore): Place we saw: Me, Sam & Sid ->little India, Rahul-> Bird park

The bus left around 11 and reached KL by 4 am and then was expected to reach JB at 7 am, but reached around 9 am!! We finished our chkin at Kranji and Woodlands and finally boarded bus no. 160 to Jurong East (phew!! forgot to tell Rahul's photo dint get detected durin immigration check, they took him inside and somwhere else he got it verified lol and Sid had to pay 35$ extra at customs for bringin a liquor bottle hahaha paapa :P).

We finally reached Sid's house around 11.30. Me and Sam wanted to shop at singapore as we dint buy anythin at Malaysia, so Rahul alone went to Bird park as even sid was not interested in it. Sid after his chk up with the doctor (fake chk up :P) came at 2 and we left for Mustafa Shoppin mall at little india. We ate lunch around 3 at a place called Komala's where i had dosa, ildy and vada which tasted like heave after not eatin proper food for past few days!! We shopped at Mustafa and left it around 5.30 which was late as our flight was at 8.30 pm!! Also as it was peak hour, traffic was very slow movin, we reached Sid's house by 6.10 and started to pack in a hurry and hired another cab to airport and left around 6.30. We finally reached airport around 7.10 and ran to chk in luggage, only to find the flight was delayed by 2 hrs and would leave by 10.30!! (last 48hrs everythin went upside down for us with plans failin miserably.)

Anyways we spent the last few hrs chattin at the airport itself and had dinner at a restaurant and finally said bye to baby around 9 and went for boarding. We did som duty free shoppin inside the airport and our flight left to B'lore at 11 pm and we reached Blore by 1 am.

All in all this trip was like a fast and furious movie with the 5 days just passin off in lightning speed!! Also as we had less time couldnt see few more places in Singapore as well as Langkawi (so we can go again ;)). For 1st timers like us this was one of the best experiences in a foreign country, comin to know their life style, dressing style (espicially women who wear micro mini shorts everywhere here lol :P!!), the bus and rail service at Singapore was one of the best and totally enjoyed them. The Singapore zoo and Underwater world were also a treat to animal lovers and we throughly enjoyed it. Last but not the least, the wonderful beaches and islands of Langkawi which is worth cin again n again if chance comes :P.
Forgot to write about the biggest prob we faced, "the water problem", there is no drinkin water given freely unlike our restaurants here!! for 200ml of drinkin water its about 1.2$= 42rs, wonder how these ppl stay without drinkin water!!

And guys hope tht we goto another trip like this asap when Sid is here :):)..

Trek to Kuke

We (me, Raj, Bose, Cs, Gn, Harsha, Rahul n Shet) had been to a trek to Kuke from 24th-26th Jan. Our plan was to start the trek from Somwarpet, goto the top of pushpagiri(Kumara parvatha) and then trek down n stay at Bhatara mane. The next day visit Kuke Subramanya temple n board the bus to Bangalore the same night. Dont know who among our group gets these ideas of a trip!!! Anyways we started from Bangalore on 23rd night by a ksrtc bus booked by Bose to Somwarpet from where we were to start the trek towards Kuke.
The bus reached Somwarpet around 5.30 in the morning. As we all wanted to freshen up, started searchin for rooms in a lodge (Uday lodge :P) infront of the bus stand. As there were no rooms available the only option left was a public toilet. Gn, Cs n Harsha went there 1st to clear. Rest of us sat in a small tea shop n drank a cup of tea. We brushed our teeth by borrowin a jug of water from the tea shop on the road itself lol.
To reach the foot of the hills we had to take a bus which was at 7.15 from the bus stand itself. As the bus only drops us half the way, we decided to go in an auto. The autos almost went till the starting point of the trek. Around 8.30 we had out breakfast and started the trek at 9. We reached the forest check point in about 20 minutes, paid the entrance fees (115rs). As soon as we got past the check point all took snaps standin over a hanging bridge and then started towards the peak. We could feel the pure air, sounds of birds which was soothin to the mind (unlike in Blore hearing honks all the time :P) The forests were covered with huge trees (with name plates on some of them) and the path was covered with dried leaves. The path was quiet ok (not too steep) and so we walked an hour non-stop and then took a small pit-stop. for about 10 mins where a small stream of water was flowing.
I had got an old music player of mine, started listenin to som music and walked alongside Shet who had his i-pod on n Rahul. As we went quiet ahead of the others took a stop with Shet as usual attendin phone calls. We also had another small group of techies from Hp for company in the forest. Around 11 we reached a view point on one side and way to the peak on the other side. Took a pitstop here for 10-15 mins and ate a few oranges, took pics and started towards the peak. After another 40mins reached a sign board which showed 6kms to the top of Pushpagiri peak on one side n 12kms to Kuke on the other side. Took another stop here and started towards the Pushpagiri peak around 12.15.
On the way to this peak, there are 3 huge rocks which were not as tough as the rock in Edakkal caves to climb, nevertheless after Edakkal i was somewht afraid cin the 1st rock itself :P(this time had to climb with 2 bags which made it still difficult). But this was not as slippery or tough and somehow got passed the 1st rock. After this path became tougher and tougher, we also were hungry but decided not to eat as this would make more difficult to climb. We stopped at the top of 2nd rock ate a few biscuits, choclates and took pics and made a move around 1.15. Hardly few paces we got tired and stopped again where Cs began eating his puliyogare. After he had finished 1 box we made a move towards the 3rd rock where there was a misleading arrow mark with 4.5 kms.
Me, rahul n Shet crossed the 3rd rock and hardly half a km could c the peak! walked with full speed to it and finally reached the top around 2 i guess. Bose also came in a short while and started cin the place. Many people had already put up tents there and started lunch too. Bose took us to a beautiful spot where we took a few snaps. Even after 15mins there was no sign of others. After half an hour saw them comin, they had stopped down for lunch thinkin the peak was too far and also the most fittest person of our group Mr. Harsha had sprained leg or got a cramp!! Finally we ate lunch at 2.30 (puliyogare, chappati, biscuits...). Luckily i had taken a gymkhana and slept for abt 30mins. We made a move around 3.45 towards bhatara mane.
Few of them wanted to goto Sheshagiri peak and see sunset and then come to Bhatara mane (Bose was dyin to goto this peak sayin bhatara mane is only 2 hrs, coooool aagi reach aagbahudhu, his head!!). On the way we had to trek down a steep rock which was quiet tough. After this found a small pond of water which was ice-cold and filled our bottles. As the peak came on the way to bhatara mane, couldnt avoid it. Took some pics on the peak (Bose, Shet, Rahul doin all types of circus so that entire width, height etc of the peak came in the pics!!!). On this way saw many people climbin up (towards somwarpet i.e.) with chappals, bare foot!!
Me,Raja and Cs moved ahead as the rest were busy takin photos of themselves in all the possible poses. We asked each n everyone of them whom we met on the way the distance to that bhatara mane, each one of them used to say 2 hrs!!!Also the path was gettin more steeper and steeper which dint tire us but we were gettin pains in the legs. I was goin behind Raja and for every 10 mins the useless fellow would slip n fall lol!! We decided our pitstop would be near to the Mantapa where there was a small pond of water. This was about 3-4 kms from the peak which took us about 2hrs to reach it. We ate a packet of hide and seek biscuits and filled bottles with the cool water and left the place at 6.
Light was gettin dimmer and dimmer and there was no sight of tht bhatara mane! Raja stayed behind and waited for Shet and Rahul. Me n Cs started to move down as quickly as possible and finally came near the forest check post at 6.40 where the guard showed us the way to the house. Many people had put up tents here. After another 20 mins walk we finally reached the 'Bhatara Mane' just before darkness!! This place was like a fish market with nearly 100 people. This house was the only place to stay in the entire hills and as it was hols for most of the techies the place was crowded. We met the bhata and he said dinner will be served at 9.30 and for sleepin some arrangement would be made.
After some 20 mins we could see mobile and torch lights at a distance. Shet, Raja n Rahul came there around 7.30. Roshan, Gn n Harsha were still quiet faaar behind and without torch lights they had to trek. Luckily for them the forest gaurd gave them a torch (Forest guard's dialog "50,000 sambhala thogonthira, ondh torch tharake aagalva!!! lol). They reached just before 8. Bose, Gn spoke with Bhat and with the people who looked after the cows and got a small room to keep all our bags. Me, Raja n Roshan decided to sleep in that room along with the luggages and another 3 people. The rest for another small room inside bhatara mane. We ate all the leftovers which we had packed and waited for dinner. Ate Rice and Sambar as many times as possible and drank a glass of buttermilk and finally slept at 10.30. We had trekked around 18 kms in 10hrs, all bosy parts were paining like hell and to sleep on the ground made it even more difficult!!. We told the people in our room about our trek and they said it would take them only 3 hrs to trek the distance we had covered today lol!!!!
I woke up around 5.30 as many people had woken up and were gettin ready to trek already. Finally we got up at 7.30 after our boys came to wake us up. Ate Concrete (Upma lol) and Chitranna for breakfast and as there was no place for clearance dint drink coffee!! Took snaps with the Bhats and left towards Kuke around 9.30. This was steep at places, but not as tough as yesterday. Trekked 6kms, took around 3-4 pitstops and reached Kuke at 12. Took a room in a lodge and freshened oursleves up. Me, Bose and Rahul decide to have bath at the Kumaradhara river and went there in an auto which was about 1km from the temple. The water was ice cold and Bose became the centre of attraction there hahahha!!! After 40mins decided to leave the place and went to the room had a bath, then ate lunch at 2.30 and went to the temple which was to open at 3.
As there was a huge rush me n Bose decided to go back to the room for sleepin. Then later found out that bose had come to the room for clearance (lol after 1 n 1/2 days thank god!!!!). Slept peacefull without Cs ('the sleep destroyer') for an hour before all of them came back to the room. As there was some maha mangalarthi at 7 in the eve, all of us again went to the temple, ate dinner and finally boarded the bus at 11.30 and left to Blore.
These were the most tirin 2 days where each and every part of the body was achin!!!! But all in all a good experience to stay next to a cow shed lol and luckily we had a hol the next day as it was the Republic day :)

Trip to a few Coastal Places in Karnataka

We decided to go for a trip as all had hols for Christmas. At first we decided to goto Kanyakumari and Pondicherry, but as we dint get bus tickets n also hotel bookings, decided to change the plan. Then we decided to goto Dandeli which is known for adventure sporting activities like river rafting and so on. It was also full and we couldnt go there too. Finally we decided to goto a few places in North Karnataka.
Me, Rahul, CS, Gn, Bose and Harsha were all set to go, but Rahul decided to goto Pondi with his family which left the 5 of us. We booked a Sumo and left B'lore around 7 pm on 24th Dec. Our first pitstop was at Kamat restaurant after Nelamangala around 10 pm. Ate dinner there and left. Our driver then stopped near Shimoga for a smoke and also met one of his friends whose vehicle was punctured. He stopped again at Jog as he wanted to take a nap for a while (6-7).

Day1 (25th Dec): All of us had a good hr's sleep and left Jog around 7.30 and reached Honnavara at 10. Luckily we got a room to freshen up and had breakfast at Kamat. The 1st destination which we wanted to see as per plan was Yana which was 40kms from Honavara. Bose has read somone's blog and told us tht this was an awesome place for trekking, Harsha then said this was not a trek but a hiking place. Fully hyped up n ready for a great trek we packed some 5 packets of biscuits, big cans of water lol. Road to this place was horrible (full of dust!!). Around 12 we reached Yana and started the so called trek. We enquired in a shop and found out that there were 270 steps which led to a shiva temple hahaha, This place had rocks with full of honey combs all over it. After some 20 mins the trek got over lol, actually we crossed the temple which was below us, reached the other end. We came back to the temple and had a look around it. Me and Cs stayed in the temple eatin prasada, bose n others went in the cave round the temple and came back.
Around 2 we started goin back discussing about where to go next. After a few arguments finally decided to goto Karwar and stay there for the night.
We had decided to skip lunch thinkin the trek would be long n it would become eve by the time we come down lol!! We left yana around 2.30 after having some cool drinks towards Karwar. As the driver hadnt had lunch we had to stop. He took us to yet another Kamat restauarnt near Gokarna i guess. We reached Karwar around 5 and direct went to Tagore beach. I dint get down in water as there was only an hr's time. Took gn's cam and took pictures and video's. Others enjoyed in the water til 6. We had booked a lodge which we found out was 30kms from Karwar and decided to find a lodge near by. After an hr's search finally found a 6 bed room at some Om lodge. The best thing was that the bathroom of the huge room was so small that it was impossible for Bose to go inside hahahaha lol. Had dinner at a small restaurant and dozed off around 11.

Day2 (Dec 26th): As per plan we decided to goto Devbagh beach which was also near by at 6 am. We left for the beach around 7 and reached there around 7.30. We were fooled by the fishermen there who asked to us walk 3kms where we would get a boat which would take us to an island. This was the most shittiest beach i had ever seen, we walked and walked and finally reached a resort which said the boats were only for those people who stayed there and he asked us to goto some other place where there were boats to reach the island. Tired we decided to walk back and eat breakfast and goto Gokarna. We left Karwar at 11 and reached Gokarna at 12.30 if i am right. The driver took us to one of the best beaches called the Om beach.
This beach had 2 parts which were seperated by rocks. Harsha and me went to the other side after a while and found it much better ;), the most funniest part was Bose q to us when we were going the other side ("a kade en waves jaasthi barthidhya? lol hahaha").The water here was so clean and as there were hardly any waves we decided to spend the entire noon here. Harsha gave me and Bose swimmin lessons (forgot about Bose's new dialogues for this trip, "Maana maryadhe ilva and entha PJ lol")and we also played Frisbie. We left this place at 4 and had lunch, ice creams and left to the famous temple here. After touchin the 'Atma Linga' and finishin the temple darshan we decided to reach Murudeshwara by the night as the boys wanted to visit yet another temple early the next morning! We reached Murudeshwara around 9.30 and to our bad luck couldnt find even a single room there. We decided the best alternative was to move to Udupi during the night and stay there and chuck Murudeshwara. We asked Sam to book a room for us somewhere in Udupi, but found out all rooms were booked there :(, after a while Same called again and said he had booked rooms at a place called Brahmavara which was a relief for us as we saw people sleepin on footpath in Murudeshwara! Had dinner at 11 in Murudeshwara and left towards Udupi.

Day3 (Dec 27th): We reached Brahmavara at 2 in the morning and reached the lodge where sam had booked, but the hotel fellow who was in a sleepy mood told us that no reservations were made and asked us to leave!! After Bose convinced him he gave us 2 rooms. We woke up at 8 and decided to visit the Krishna temple and st. mary's island. We reached the temple at 11, stood in the long queue and finished the darshan and decided to eat lunch at the temple itself (about the lunch in the temple "No Comments"). We came to Malpe in the noon and had to walk about 2 kms (thanks to the driver) to catch a ferry to St. Mary's island. We reached the island around 4 and seeing the rush there decided not to get into the water. Spent some time on the rocks there and came back to Malpe at 6. We then went to Sam's home around 7.30, spent sometime there. He took us to a restaurant called Diana which was the best in Udupi i guess and treated us simply :P. We left Udupi around 9 towards Mangalore, our last destination.

Day4 (Dec 28th): We reached Mangalore around 11 the previous night and stayed at BSNL guest house. We woke up early in the morning and left for Penambur beach (Suratkal). The water here was clean and the waves had more force in them, we spent around 2 hrs here and left at 10 back to the room. On the way we ate breakfast and also picked up Sam who was to come with us back to Bangalore. We played few games of Carrom at the guest house, had bath and left for lunch at an ice cream parlor called Pabhas. Cs atlast found his Carrot halwa with ice-cream (thanks to me!!) here and all had yummy ice creams and we left back to bangalore at 2. On the way back we again visited another temple (luckily the other temple was closed phew, apart from this Harsha and others wanted to goto Dharmasthala temple which luckily dint work out!!). We were all sleepin in the noon, but were awoken by a huge H2S explosion (thanks to Bose lol ;)). We had dinner at Belur and reached Blore in the midnight around 1.

We enjoyed a lot in this trip, espicially the Om beach in Gokarna and also the Penambur beach in Suratkal. If we hadnt wasted half a day in the useless trek in Yana could have seen waterfalls in and around Sirsi! Shet missed out as he was at his hometown i think. Raja had gone to Munnar with his family also missed out :P

Dasvidaniya:
Cast: Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapoor and Neha Dhupia

This is another wonderful movie and Vinay plays his part damn well. Story is same as the "Bucket List". Vinay (Amar) is a normal person who lives with his mother and takes care of her. He is not able to voice his feelings or opinions and hence is bullied by his boss. He is unfortunately diagonized with cancer and the doctor tells him he has very less time (3months).
Shaken by this he decides to live up with it and makes a list of 10 things he has to do before he dies.
Neha plays the role of his crush (childhood friend), but unfortunately for Amar he finds out she is married. He then decides to meet his childhood friend in London where he finds true love. Also he learns to play violin and i loved that song (meri maa...).

Before dying he lives everyone with gifts. Another awesome performance from Vinay and team, i would give it a 8/10

Dostana:
Cast: John Abraham, Abhishek Bachhan, Priyanka Chopra
This a story of tow cool dudes Kunal(John) and Sam(Abhishek). Kunal is a photographer and Sam is a nurse. Both stay in the same house with girls, but all of a sudden become houseless. They come to Neha's (Priyanka) apartment which has 2 rooms and as they want the rooms desperately introduce themselves as a gay couple and so Neha and her aunt agree upon giving the room to them. But actually both are in love with Priyanka, there is also Priyanka's boss (Bobby Deol) also in love with her who comes at the beginning of 2nd half.

The second half is all about how Sam and Kunal misguide Neha, Abhimanyu, and his son and at the end catch their bluff and pay for that act of lie wit a gay kiss in the climax lol!
This movie is quiet funny in the 1st half where John and Abhishek act as gay couple, also there is Bomman Irani and few others who have done well in the movie. The best performance in the film is by Abhishek Bachchan who really lives it up being gay. Priyanka Chopra is at her usual best and John's body is amazing. Songs are quiet good too, that song maa da ladla is quiet funny to watch. Overall a good movie, can be watched atleast once, ratin would be a 7/10

EMI:
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Urmila, Ashish, Neha and so on.
EMI (Easy Monthly Instalments) is a tale of 4 middle class people who buy anything and everything taking loans. Sanjay Dutt (Sattar bhai) in his gunda style plays the role of a recovery agent for a bank called All India bank where these 4 people take loans from.
Arjun Rampal(Ryan) who is a dj in a club takes loan and credit card inorder to buy stuff for his gf Mallika(Nancy), but isnt able to repay the loan. Ashish and Neha get married and to start a living take all kinds of loans. Urmila inorder to get her husbands insurance takes a loan from the bank inorder to giv it to a thug who promises to win the case for her. One more is of a father who takes a loan inorder to send his son to UK for higher studies.
When none of these people pay the bank on time, the bank approaches Sanjay's good luck recovery agency to recover money from them. Sanjay Dutt holds the movie together and does complete justice to his role. Urmila Matonkar is ok. Arjun Rampal does well. Malaika sizzles her way through. Rest are okay.
Overall, EMI is worth a watch for Sanjay’s performance and its interesting subject. Rating for this movie would be a 5/10.

Quantam of Solace:
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench and so on.
I went to Urvashi last saturday and watched this movie with Rahul and Raja. Went to a theatre after 6 months i guess :).
This bond movie is a continuation of Casino Royale. Bond wants to avenge the death of his girl friend Vesper Lynd who had betrayed him. He wants to find out the people behind her betrayal to him. An organization called Quantam( which is unknown to Bond) which has people everywhere and is behind all the killings. Greene and member of Quantam want to kill Camilie (Olga). Bond rescues Camilie and finds out about the plan of Greene to aquire land and stop water supply from underground rivers to Bolivia.
As like any other 0007 movie the stunts involving motorbikes, speedboats, jet fighters and expensive cars are nerve wrecking. This movie also has a few gadgets which was not in Casino Royale. Daniel has also given a great performance in this movie. Rating for this would be an 8/10