Scrabbling scribbler

Vetti nera vela

2007-11-06T14:33:00.000+08:00

Velai irruku but vetti vela pannara aasai inniki. Reading blogs of friends and passing time...Now u may say this is the height of having no topics to blog on. But adhulayum oru perumay dhan.

Vetti nerathai eppadi pokardhu...
1. Orkut - The father of all vetti thanam
2. Reading blogs
3. Trying to find a funny blog. Search adikardhu lai time pass agumey
4. Checking emails and refreshing now and then...not that i receive mails that often, but watching the status page go till finish will help pass 1 minute.
5. Checking the bank websites...Now dont imagine i have accounts in all of them and that i keep checking. Just checking what scheme or new service each bank is offering and dreaming of a bank that would provide all services.
6. Talking to the little one and telling it things.(Now if i do this with people around, i am certain to be perceived as a gone case nut case item)
7. Imagining what hubby wud be doing in brussels and how cold the place is gonna be!

Now vetti blog ku vetti ideas um varalai...let me pull out of this!

Taipei Lantern Festival 2007

2007-03-01T14:53:00.000+08:00

A view of CKS memorial from the base

A visit to Shilin Night Market

2007-03-01T12:57:00.000+08:00

A view of Shilin Night Market from Jiantan Metro Station

After coming down to Jiantan from Yangming, the roads were abuzz with activity. I always wanted to see what a night market in Taiwan is all about. Being strictly averse to even look at fish and meat, exploring a night market was unthinkable for Param. After much pursuasion, convinced him to walk the street and return.

The street was full of people and was buzzing with activity. That is one of the main things i like about this place. No matter what time of the day it is, you always find people walking on the streets...maamas pushing the parambulator or new dads trying to control the wriggling little sonny in the arms...to pets jumping from a pretty damsel's arms!

This place so full of life and lively that it invites you to explore. And what better way to explore taipei than to visit one of its famed Tourist Night Market.

So finally decided to enter Shilin Night market....
Here you will find array of people and items and snacks(Well...being a veggie i would rather say...specimen of animals and fishes!)
You say and you get it all is this market all about....
Entered the market from the Jiantan station gate entrance. There were about 10 people resting their head on one side with a burning candle inserted into their ears....
Have heard of wax removal from ears but is this wax filling...Strange it seemed.Then the supervisor in the stall explained that it was a special type of candle which on burning would suck the wax out of your ears..He then showed a demostration video in the stall...
Welcome to Taiwan - Welcome to strange land and peculiarities!!

Pic: A visitor enjoying her ear wax removal session

There are pet shops with cute little kittens n puppies.... All so soft and toy looking little ones .... even a person like me(who runs miles on seeing a dog on the way!) entered the pet shop and enjoying watching them...But then a pet is a pet , an animal is an animal and i cant allow one inside my house ;-)

"Dont disturb - I have a busy day tommorow morning. There are visitors coming in to see me"

"Hey...i am ready for party. Anybody to give me company"

"Hold on dear...they liked me first. So i will go first"

"We are happy family here...take us all or leave us all. "
"No no no...dont leave me alone. I am scared"

"Hey dude..chalen kya walk pe"
"I have a good pair of jogging shoes...Lets go"

There are so many strange stuff on display to buy and so many stranger things that people do eat.
Walked the street through, saw and had a little fun asking the lady at the fruit juice stall the thing she had in the display...a jellyish kind of substance with lemon rinds floating in it. After making a few attempts at understanding what she was trying to say, i bid her a xiexie and walked on.

Asked the name of some exotic fruits on display at one of the fruit stalls. Asked how much is a cup of strawberry custard and so we bid our time. Dragged Param into a street, entering which he began to revolt...Sensing his uncomforatable situation, returned back.

Bought ourselves a cup of fruit juices each and started walking towards the station....I thought now it will finish now it will finish, but to no avail...As i kept drinking, it just kept on coming. Then finally decided ok dear, one long gulp and thats it. Walked back to the MRT and returned home at 11:00 t night safely after a good day out.

So i had my first experience with a Taiwan Night market. And in my opinion it wasnt that bad either.

Yangming Flower Festival

2007-03-01T12:05:00.000+08:00

Yangming mountains-Yangmin park. A 45Mins drive uphill from Jiantan station (Better known as Shilin Tourist Night Market area) and a 2.5Km walk from Yangming is the beautiful Yangming Park.
Situated near a volcanic region, we spotted a couple of hot water sulphur streams on the trek from the bus station to the park.

Fortunately or unfortunately the day we chose was overcast and misty in the hills...On one hand it was dark rather sooner than we expected, but there is fun in walking hand in hand in a misty mountain!;-)

Every spring Taiwan Govt. conducts a flower festival promoting the eco-tourism for the country which is otherwise known as the culinary capital of chinese food lovers.

If time permits...this place deserves a second visit on a clear day! At least to see cherry blossoms and plum trees in full bloom and be welcomed with shower of flowers as we walk the path!

On the way to Yangming flower festival.

Misty mountain and valley of flowers...wow!

In full bloom...

Mischievious yellow!!

Looks like some cousin of cabbage or lettuce!!

Vivid colors

Vibrant variety of colors

Fiery red hot...!

Lovely shrub of pink flowers with dew drops!

Living Mall

2007-02-27T17:41:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Living Mall .... near the Sun Yat Sen Memorial hall. Glowing in the darkness of the late evening!

Inside this huge glowing ball is glitzy and glaring."The glow is from within"
Decoratives in the centre space of Living mall

Note: There is no solid foundation for the spherical structure..just resting c/o the pillars there...and Taiwan sits right on the "Pacific Ring of Fire"...phew!

Decoratives in the centre space for the chinese new year

A view from 7th level, of the food court below the sphere

Danshui Sea front

2007-02-27T17:24:00.000+08:00

Danshui walk way along the Keelung river mouth leading upto the ocean...... a sleepy place at the end of Red Line Taipei MRT.

Ocean ahead .... word of caution...Keep going straight in this direction....chances are u might hit mainland China

Treat for sea food lovers....some exotic dish as sea side snack at Danshui.
Be prepared to see all sort of items like these if visiting Taiwan!

A street performer at the sea front. Time to unwind....Two ferrys on leisure ride in the keelung river mouth.
A local delicacy here...! Poor thing ...would'nt have imagined it would end up in a stick in the land like this!

Trip toTaipei Zoo

2007-02-27T16:32:00.000+08:00

A chimney painted as a girafee outside the Zoo... Last stop at Muzha Line of Taipei MRT

A Giraffe craning its neck to give us a darshan - Hey i am a real giraffe.

Mama's baby!

Chimps! -" Arrey hum bhi kuch evolution ke baad glass ke us taraf honge.... tum bhi kabhi hum jaise hi they! "

A Koala - shying away from the camera armed visitors!

Storks - In taipei i see lot of babies in strollers than i have seen in any place in India....no doubt with these lovely storks here, bundles of joy are bound to be there.

A pair of white rhinos - locking horns??

Another cousin of Panda nibbling at something for snacks

A zebra crossing on the road! :-)

Ready get set go - An american Bison!

A pair of Puma

A Red panda or Less Panda as they call it

Live Penguins!! - whooooopy!! I saw penguins ....

2007-02-09T16:18:00.000+08:00

My first trip abroad!

Having a passport itself gave a sense of pride, the day i got to finally see my passport a couple of years back!! Now why is that??...thats a long story.

Maa had come to see me off. She came a couple of days before we were to start. Even till then i was excited that i am going to see mom after nearly 6 months! That thought never sank in my head that in less than 48 hours i had to start for a land unknown, language unknown.

But somewhere deep down in the psyche, a sense of confidence was there, that we can definitely manage. May be its the confidence that preparations and background spadework instills in your psychology. After having done a lot of research of what and where of the bound destination, I was completely on a firm ground.

Even till the day we were to start, till that very evening we had been out of the house going about here and there.

Was feeling happy that maa was all the time with me and may be that was another reason for the renewed confidence too!

Despite having a overweight baggage, i was all giggling and having fun packing the stuff...reshuffling the contents here and there and pulling each others legs!

Hubs was getting tense how are we going to manage.He was at his nerves end. :-)) Once got a blank stare for the giggling about and then i knew ...ok lady.. time to get serious!

When i was finally pulling the bags out to the main hall to be carried to the cab, did the realisation sank in, that i am not going to the nearby town. The destination am abound is a alien place...to which you need to have something called passport. Nowon, the small notebook of 36pages was your primary identification document.

The freedom and few of the liberties which we tend to take for granted in the native nation will not be there... In a matter of few hours i will become a foreigner!! The thought sent a chill run down the spine.

After having a sad look back at the empty house which was my 'home' for the past 6 months..i silently walked down the stairs with a heavy heart. Trying hard to control the urge to break down. But this sadness was nothing comparable with the heaviness i experienced when i started from my maiden home for the wedding. Still somewhere a certain sense of belonging had come which made my heart sink in sadness.

Held maa's hands tightly so that not to loose the few minutes of the drive from home to airport. So that i get to travel with her in the same cab.

Held maa's hands tightly by my left hand and held Granpa's hands with the right hands.
Amma began to sob....in between trying to speak ...desperately attempting to hold back the tears and the shiver in her voice. Held her close by her shoulder and leaned my head against hers.

How i wished there were more traffic jam on the way to airport....but the otherwise long wait for the traffic jam to clear seem short on that particular day.No time is long enough in the time of leaving your beloved ones back.

Loading the baggage in the trolley, it was finally time to say bye ...a hard thing to do. Every one seemed to be in sombre mood.
After a hug to maa, hubby's maa and granpa...held my hubbys hands and started walking towards the entrance...turning back frequently to catch a glimpse of maa and everybody there.

After checkingin the bags, hands were free and now was time to say bye to Hubbys' brother who had also become a good buddy of mine. Poor chap was tackling a lot of uncertainities. Finally waited at the departure lounge. Called up everyone on the mobile book to say a bye and went through the routine of security etc etc.

Finally after a long wait got our flights call. Heaving a heavy breath, i started off towards the entrance and finally boarded the flight.

Seating ourselves comfortably, i lunged tightly to my hubby! Wanted to weep loudly..but controlled my nerves so hard that i got a nasty headache. Soon the flight was running down the runway and whooooooooooosh...i was bon air! Kept tracking the positioning screen to see if we have crossed the indian shores! Anticipating the same felt asleep. When i finally woke up , it was about 20mins to land at spore! As the flight came to a standstill and i reached the flight's doors, i pounded my right foot hard on the carpet to indicate my "First step outside India"

Went around the singapore airport. Watched some beautiful take off while catching up on our morning coffee...

Wondered what time it would be back home...I realised it is still around 4:00AM only!!

Then caught the connecting flight out to Taipei!
On boarding the flight when i saw the faces around ..did i thought, oh my... they all look so similiar and we look different!!
After about 5 hours again made a landing..this time in a place which would be my home for the next 4-5 months!
Welcome to Taipei!!

The place was pleasantly cold. After following all the formalities, waited for the cab pick up arranged for us.
Not spotting them first , we started off to go by ourselves. Then saw a familiar sounding and looking name in a familiar language in a card. When the cab driver lady brought the cab on the front porch....Oh my god!!!!! What do i see... a MERC BENZ for CAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After being awed my the 'cab', i started to look around. A neat city which on the outskirts does remind of delhi's okhla area! :-))

Then checked into the hotel and something strange struck me about the lift

They dont have a numbered 4th floor!

Well welcome to a place with lots of oddness and strangeness.
Got a lot to know and explore! Happy exploring :)

2007-02-09T16:14:00.000+08:00

Having time in hand

After a looooooooong time i am getting time apart from my routine to actually sit and think about myself and put to words the lot of thoughts in head. Now whether somebody reads it or not is immaterial, you have got a forum, a method to vent out the thoughts in head. In this effort a lot of more space is created to accumulate fresher thoughts. No doubt deep thinking keeps the mind healthy

2007-02-08T12:49:00.000+08:00

Back with a bang

Well...good to be back into something i love doing...scribbling!
Have been off it for a long while now!
People would know if they see the gap between the previous blog and the current one ;)

Well......the scribbler was more than happy chatting away the last 1 year and hardly had time to write.

After nearly a year, again there is time in plenty in hand. So back with a bang.

2006-02-28T01:26:00.000+08:00

Patience

Every one says patience is a vital characteristics of a person. But i wonder what is the parameter for patience. If this quality or characteristics is still there in people in todays world is debatable.

For somebody struck in a traffic jam at 9:50 in the morning with an important meeting scheduled at 10:00 AM ... does the patience pays here? Needless to say even though the traffic signal still shows a bold Red Stop sign, this person will never stop honking his car horn. Will by his honking the color going to turn Green immediately?

In this era of 'use and throw' and 'fast food' culture, the meaning of patience is lost forever.
Every one is in a hurry to achieve something in a single day what sometime ago was achieved in may be a weeks time.
Patience has become just a fancy term which everyone still gives grave importance to, but seldom knows what it takes to have it.

2006-02-28T01:20:00.000+08:00

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