Haji Ali mosque – Mumbai

Sometimes it’s nice to be a tourist in your own city. Technically it’s my husbands city but I’ve been there enough times to think site-seeing there would be ridiculous. But during these past few visits, we have been trying to go to various places, some already been to but forgotten. Haji Ali Dargah is one such place.

Haji Ali Dargah or Mosque is an early 19th century mosque situated on the Arabian Sea. It’s one of the most recognisable landmarks of Mumbai. People of all faiths pray there. In-spite of being crowded there is a certain serenity to the place, and being surrounded by the ocean gives it a different charm.

We planned to reach around 6pm so that we could see it in daylight and also enjoy the sunset on the ocean. I’ll leave you with pictures since it’s difficult to describe in words.

  

Color Run – Singapore

Last year Color Run, we couldn’t get the tickets as they sold out pretty fast but this year we made it a point to get the tickets as soon as they were available.  We had fun, it was a good experience.

Color Run Singapore

Killing time at the Mumbai Airport…

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Although this was our third time traveling via the new Mumbai International Airport Terminal, we never got the chance to really explore it. Blame it on the Mumbai traffic but we almost always reached with enough time to reach the boarding area 45 mins before.

You probably have no interest in seeing how the new Mumbai Terminal looks like but if you travel enough then you also know how important airports can be when you have hours to kill before boarding a flight.

The new Terminal is huge with high ceilings and spacious sections. It’s gleaming and spotless. The best thing though is the design. It embodies a lot of Indian culture, traditions and art. It’s not design for design sake. Everything has a meaning. The no. and variety of shops are limited, especially no bookstores. That was a bummer. But we were told that bookstores would be opening in the future. There is a lot of space to lounge around or lay down for a few minutes if you want to. And considering we reached 4 hours before anticipating heavy traffic dues to rains, it was god sent.

It’s not the best airport in the world and it does have scope for a lot of improvements, but if you’ve seen the old airport this one is definitely 10 times better.

 

 

If wishes were horses…

Life has been busy with daily work routine, exercise attempts, upcoming long weekend travel plans, small daily roadblocks and interrupting sicknesses. Amidst all this what gives me a much required sense of calm is this picture of the beach from Bintan (Indonesia) last year and transporting back to this place if only for a few secs.

We are off to Mumbai for the long weekend. Although it takes 5 hours by flight, the 3 days we’ll be spending there should be awesome. Talking of planes, the recent tragedies have left us heart broken and worried. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends.

Take care people!

Containers: Literally

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Sorry for the not so crisp image, it’s taken with my phone from behind the glass windows of one of the meeting rooms. Ports are a huge part of Singapore economy as Singapore imports/ exports tons of stuff from all over the world. Having worked with Port Singapore Authority for a few months I still cannot imagine how this Port manages to keep itself going day and night without any major goof ups.

This post is for the Photochallenge …

-Trupti

A panaromic view of Seoul: The N Seoul tower

On a business trip to Seoul recently, I managed to take some time out to visit the most common tourist spot in Seoul – The N Seoul tower. According to Wikipedia approximately 8.4 million visit the N Seoul Tower every year, so it seemed like a good place to go when time is an issue.

Why  is it so popular, you may ask? It is very near the city, it gives a panoramic view of the Seoul, is very convenient if you want to hangout with friends over a (cheap) beer, is usually crowded but as it is spacious you don’t feel very crunched. Our trip to the tower was very peaceful specifically for these reasons.

We were kind of lucky to time the trip there, as we reached there at about 5:30 PM in the evening. It was the right time as we could see the city lighting up.

Buy some beer, grab a seat near the observatory windows and let the time fly by. View from the top is really beautiful. You can see the mountains in the background while the busy city is right at your feet.

The tower changes colors and if you are lucky, with proper lighting you can take some really brilliant snaps.

One of the most interesting parts of the tower is the love-Locks. Make a wish and lock it (literally). Looking at the number of locks, one can safely assume that this tourist spot is mostly frequented by locals. 🙂

-Mohit

Fancy Scorpions on a stick? Go to the Night market in Beijing!!

After the flag lowering ceremony at The Tienanmen Square, we walked down for a few minutes on a cool, crisp night and entered Wangfujing shopping street.

If you are the adventurous type where food is concerned, this place could be heaven for you. But we don’t really eat much in meat other than chicken and Pork. Sometimes we eat duck but definitely not when we can see the eyes and the beak.

You can find dumplings, scorpions on a stick, heaps of octopuses, baby ducks, snakes and other delicacies. But don’t worry, you can also find things to eat here – satay, Duck Pancakes, kababs among other things.

The atmosphere is lively, there are a lot of tourists around and generally good time can be had just by walking around and trying to recognize things on sticks. We would highly recommend this place even if it’s a place where probably only the tourists visit.

Siem Reap: The city of Ankor Wat

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Siem Reap is home to some of most beautiful archeological sites, Ankor Wat being one of them. There is a lot you can do in and around the city. There’s Ankor Wat of course, The night market, Silk factory, Stone Carving workshop, fish spa, shopping among other things.

When we drove into the city from the airport, there seemed to be a mild sand storm or just a lot of wind I guess. The city is not very developed compared to other South East Asian major cities. We stayed in Ankor Paradise which was a great place to stay with some balconies that open on the main road. We bought the hotel voucher through Group-on and it worked well since the location was great. It was just a few minutes walk to the main market.

The night market is a place where all the tourists and backpackers spend some time drinking and eating. Like any other South East Asian market, it has a lot of bars and massage places. A rather nice and lively place to relax. There is also a huge market for fake goods like LV, Prada and the likes. Also present is a section for pirated books.

Years of Khmer rouge atrocities have definitely left a mark. You see headless statues and destroyed work in the temples here. You see people on wheelchairs, a result of the landmines,trying to make a living by selling paintings. Tourism helps.

Split-Second Story :The Haze

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That smoke, fog thing you see in the back is haze in Singapore due to the neighbouring Indonesian island of Sumatra’s forest clearing fires. The fires were used to clear plantations. Visibility was very poor, we could smell smoke all the time and had to wear masks before going out. It lasted for more than a week and the air pollution index went to a record high. 0–50 is supposed to be good, but it went up to 401 last year. It affected the whole of Singapore, parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.

There was a lot of blame game, specifically people pressuring Indonesia to control the fires. But there were also a lot of people who blamed Singapore partially since some of the plantations were owned by Singaporean companies.

The haze is supposed to return this year during the dry season. Let’s hope it doesn’t affect anyone adversely.

This post is for the Split-Second Story challenge…

 

Night Photography: Singapore

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Faces in the dark – with just 4 people

Ghosts!!!

I’m not a photographer by any means nor am I aspiring to be one. But I do love capturing memories and if they end up looking good I have no problem with that as well.

We had a short 2 month photography module when I was studying design and one of the practical classes was night photography. Mainly we learnt how to use exposure and different types of fun pictures you can click with long exposure.

Although the class was DSLR centric, these pictures are not taken by a DSLR since we don’t own one. We have a Canon G11 and it does a fairly descent job with exposures.

Light effects

Symmetry

Two in one

Bridge

The famous Merlion

There’s a boat on the river