week8 wkend - varanasi

wk7 weekend

the last weekend was a relaxing one spent in the hills of mussoorie, which is about 5.5 hours by train from delhi. Mussoorie's almost like Genting Highlands, cool nice and misty. Well that's the memory I had of Genting, which was 14 years ago. Not sure if its still the same. once again, im too lazy to narrate what happened, shall leave some photos to do the work :)

i was really amused to find that the names of the passengers are stuck on the carriage. kinda like a class register! haha.. see if you can spot my name

the streets of mussoorie. can you see the clouds?

here are my attempts at photography.. haha



all in all, it was a very nice relaxing weekend. many thanks to shiv for hosting me in dehra dun too! her family cooks awesome food :)

of table tennis and salsa

yup, those 2 are certainly not what i bargained for when i decided to take up this stint here in India. a rather pleasant surprise i must say.

there are 2 table tennis tables in our cafeteria and whenever possible, the few of us play either before or after our lunch. i can't confess to be terribly good at it, its more like im terrible at it but its really fun especially when we play our double matches. all i can say is at least im improving! we've been playing with proper scoring and all, so at least i've picked up the gameplay in this summer hols!

the other surprise has got to be the salsa classes that begun yesterday here at our office. its kinda a new initiative by the HR department to introduce latin and ballroom dance classes for the employees here. for the month of july, its salsa classes! really affordable too, at Rs. 600 (~S$23) for 6 classes, and it takes place right here in my office, twice a week for an hour. had my first class yesterday. there were about ten of us, and we started with the simple basic steps. i must confess i tink i still look like a dork trying to dance but give me some time.. at least im trying! :) hopefully this is the other skill that i'll pick up this summer.

wk6 weekend

it was a nice happening weekend this time, no travelling to far-off places for the time being. met inna and arvindar for dinner on friday night. we did a little shopping (or rather, they did) at dilihaat before heading to defense colony for dinner. dinner was at swagath, where we had awesome SOTONG and FISH. something i havent had since i came here.. haha. food was pretty good, though it was quite rushed cos i had to drop those 2 girls off in time to catch their last metro.

saturday started off nice and slow, we went for a swim in late morning, the sun was blazing hot though. then i headed out for some shopping/sight-seeing in delhi. first stop was to south extension. its basically a series of shops similar to that of holland v once again, aka Khan Market, GK M-block market etc. it was pretty uneventful until i spotted the SALE sign at Adidas! Apparently the summer sale at Adidas has started and the 30% discount storewide was too good to resist. coupled with cheaper retail prices on most of the stuff, it was definitely a very GOOD buy :) got myself a new polo and singlet.

after south ext. it was janpath market in connaught place, central delhi. kinda like a pasam malem place with all the hawkers peddling their stuff. clothes, sunglasses, more clothes, u get the idea. got myself 2 pairs of sunglasses for bout S$6 each. not too bad. and a pair of linen white shorts for Rs. 300. this place calls for some tough bargaining. even after so much bargaining i still wonder if i've managed to get it at a fair price.. bleah.

met the other tata interns (inna, arvindar, changqi, kangwei, budiman) and nil for dinner at Karim's, this place in Old delhi. Food was good. We ordered so much meat that night, 9 dishes in all.. and the best part was it came up to only Rs.200(S$7.50) for each of us! yums.. stayed over with nil after that as it was too far to go back to gurgaon.

sunday was suppose to be sight-seeing at akshardham, but we were so put off by the queues and the crowds that we decided to go to noida for some shopping and coffee instead. the shopping belt of noida strangely resembled sydney/australia. the rows of shops and open spaces. the only thing missing was the beach in front. fond memories of our auz trip with smubbies. i tink we shld head to somewhere together again. loads of fun.

all in all, it was a weekend of shopping. i ended up buying more stuff from adidas cos the prices were just too good.

its tuesday of week 7 now. i wonder what has changed back home.

1 wonder, of the 7

our highly anticipated trip to THE famed Taj Mahal finally came last saturday when we made our trip down to agra. The Taj Mahal, one of the 7 wonders nominees, is located in Agra, which is about 4 hours on the road from Delhi. It is a tomb built entirely out of white marble, famed for its beauty and splendor. and true to what i've seen in pictures, the Taj did not fail to disappoint!

i think that the pictures don't really do it justice. its really beautiful and grand, especially when u're there in person, dwarfed by the grandness of it all. being a national monument with its international fame and all, it was not cheap to get in. Indian nationals get to enter the Taj for a mere 20 Rupees (S$0.80) while foreign visitors like yours truly have to pay a whopping 750 Rupees (S$28) just to get in! Though I do think the price is quite steep, I don't disagree that the locals should get to enjoy the Taj for a heavily subsidised rate. it is afterall, one of their national monuments. the following are random shots taken from the 300+ photos that we took in total. not necessary the best shots, jus some of my preferred ones :)

this photo ranks highly on my fav list, just look at the clear blue sky! simply awesome. and of cos the models look good too. mwhaha..

and yes, thanks to Celine the pro photographer, i tink i look pretty cool in the pic above.. haha..


this picture was taken at agra fort, which is about 1km away from the taj. if you look hard enough, you can spot the taj in the top left of this photo!

ok the above 2 shots are a sample of the numerous families and locals that wanted to take a picture with us. celine tinks its the pink shirt and sunglasses that make me look like some hongkong actor.. hurhur. fame takes some getting use to.. haha..

all in all, it was a pretty awesome weekend getaway. its nice how we get to go somewhere cool every weekend. definitely something not possible if i had chose to do an internship in singapore. the only bummer is the travelling time. India is so huge that all these sights are at least a few hours apart from each other. and i assure you, bumpy bus or car rides are certainly not very welcomed. more pics can be found on my facebook account, or actually, celine's facebook album wld have more, she floooodeeed the entire album with loads of pics.. haha.