Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Deepavali in Bangalore
I am now sitting in the living room basking in the mood of the festive mood of Deepavali. Never have i thought that Deepavali will be such a big thing here in India. The evenings here is like a warzone where the explosion of fireworks never cease. Even now as i am typing this, there are fireworks going off every second. This truely reminds me of chinese new year back home except there are loads more fireworks here. Couldn't resist but to go to the roof and snap some of the action going on. I can't believe my first time shooting fireworks will be here in Bangalore. Enjoy these fresh from the roof just about an hour ago.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday Lunch at Olive Beach
Some friends are in town this week and we had a blast at Olive Beach. Lots of food and loads of drinks!
Food:
Drinks:
Food:
Drinks:
Mysore
Don't ask me why it's called 'my sore......feet, eyes or neck'. Probably because it takes hours to get from one place to another so by the time you get there you're sore everywhere!
My opinion on this trip is ' ok ok lah'. Some places were interesting (as you can see below) but some was just sucks. The historical places in India are real gems but the people here that try to rip you off to get a quick buck really spoils the whole experience. Well i guess it's the same worldwide but it'll be great to be able to give visitors a 100% feel good moments in India.
*The photographes below are in chronological order.
First destination after 4-hour journey from Bangalore was Ranganatha Swamy Temple. Our first impression was 'Wah, finally something nice' BUT when we got inside....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED....Cheh!
Second stop was Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. This place really speaks of the owner of the palace because when you reach the palace building....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED. This time i was mad and i tried to steal a few shots but much to my surprise they have 'plain clothes policeman' inside to stop people from snapping away. After the first warning i kept going and was apprehended again and was told to put my camera inside my bag. Why so serious.....son(quote from Tha Joker)
Next stop, 'Bird Sanctuary'. When our driver mention that, i was brought back to the bird park in Langkawi that has so many things to see. But i think that 'Bird Santuary' was only for crows. That is all we saw there. We were in and out of there in less than 20 minutes and 25rupees poorer. So please bear with me as the below pics will not have any birds in them. The paddy field belongs to the neighbour of the 'sanctuary' and the river just happens to be there. SUCKS!
The next stop our driver wanted to take us was to a zoo. We were still too tramatised to go to another animal related place so we asked to skip. The time we where there coincides with an indian festival and there we loads of people in Mysore and when we passed by the entrance there we so many people. So no zoo for us please. We headed to Mysore Palace and hoped that it's not owned by Tipu Sultan as well. The queue was super long at the ticket counter as well. I think the queue was about 200meters at least, but it just took us 15 minutes to get in. Well Indians are very effecient in pushing their way in so that helped a lot. We didn't go into the place as the procedure was to leave your cameras at a counter before you enter. No thank you!
Next up, we headed up hill to Chamundi Hills. Nice scenary along the way. We could see the plains down below and it was beautiful. The temple at the top was alright and it wasn't that touristy with people trying to sell you all kinds of things. Not a bad place actually.
The reason we stayed the night in Mysore was because we wanted to see Mysore Palace lit up with millions of lights at night. It was beautiful, impressive and best of all....no entry charges as it was (as i mentioned) during a festival.
The next morning we asked to be taken to St. Joseph's Cathedral. Huge building and it looks out of place. We were rushed to just take a few snap shots and leave as our drive's wife was in labour and he needs to be in another town ASAP. He ask his brother to be our replacement driver.
After that we travelled 3hours to Belur Temple. Man this place rocks! The temple's art work was superb!
Finally, the last temple we visited was HoysaleswaraTemple. Same concept as Belur temple but this temple seems newer. Like Chamindi Hills, Belur and Hoysaleswara Temple was not touristy and no one really bothers you. There are a few people trying to sell you post cards but they are not pushy.
This lady pratically grab me by my arm to take a 'family portrait' with her family there.
My opinion on this trip is ' ok ok lah'. Some places were interesting (as you can see below) but some was just sucks. The historical places in India are real gems but the people here that try to rip you off to get a quick buck really spoils the whole experience. Well i guess it's the same worldwide but it'll be great to be able to give visitors a 100% feel good moments in India.
*The photographes below are in chronological order.
First destination after 4-hour journey from Bangalore was Ranganatha Swamy Temple. Our first impression was 'Wah, finally something nice' BUT when we got inside....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED....Cheh!
Second stop was Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. This place really speaks of the owner of the palace because when you reach the palace building....NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED. This time i was mad and i tried to steal a few shots but much to my surprise they have 'plain clothes policeman' inside to stop people from snapping away. After the first warning i kept going and was apprehended again and was told to put my camera inside my bag. Why so serious.....son(quote from Tha Joker)
Next stop, 'Bird Sanctuary'. When our driver mention that, i was brought back to the bird park in Langkawi that has so many things to see. But i think that 'Bird Santuary' was only for crows. That is all we saw there. We were in and out of there in less than 20 minutes and 25rupees poorer. So please bear with me as the below pics will not have any birds in them. The paddy field belongs to the neighbour of the 'sanctuary' and the river just happens to be there. SUCKS!
The next stop our driver wanted to take us was to a zoo. We were still too tramatised to go to another animal related place so we asked to skip. The time we where there coincides with an indian festival and there we loads of people in Mysore and when we passed by the entrance there we so many people. So no zoo for us please. We headed to Mysore Palace and hoped that it's not owned by Tipu Sultan as well. The queue was super long at the ticket counter as well. I think the queue was about 200meters at least, but it just took us 15 minutes to get in. Well Indians are very effecient in pushing their way in so that helped a lot. We didn't go into the place as the procedure was to leave your cameras at a counter before you enter. No thank you!
Next up, we headed up hill to Chamundi Hills. Nice scenary along the way. We could see the plains down below and it was beautiful. The temple at the top was alright and it wasn't that touristy with people trying to sell you all kinds of things. Not a bad place actually.
The reason we stayed the night in Mysore was because we wanted to see Mysore Palace lit up with millions of lights at night. It was beautiful, impressive and best of all....no entry charges as it was (as i mentioned) during a festival.
The next morning we asked to be taken to St. Joseph's Cathedral. Huge building and it looks out of place. We were rushed to just take a few snap shots and leave as our drive's wife was in labour and he needs to be in another town ASAP. He ask his brother to be our replacement driver.
After that we travelled 3hours to Belur Temple. Man this place rocks! The temple's art work was superb!
Finally, the last temple we visited was HoysaleswaraTemple. Same concept as Belur temple but this temple seems newer. Like Chamindi Hills, Belur and Hoysaleswara Temple was not touristy and no one really bothers you. There are a few people trying to sell you post cards but they are not pushy.
This lady pratically grab me by my arm to take a 'family portrait' with her family there.
Lalbagh Park, Bangalore
Here are some pics i took at Lalbagh Park. It's a botanical gardens of Bangalore. Huge place but not much flowers for a 'botanical gardens'. Thank God for a good sunny weather when we were there. These were taken on the 20th of Sept.
Beezzz......
Scary old building:
I thought we would only see people feeding monkeys in Penang... I was wrong!
Temple at the top of a hill:
A symbol that you have been to Lalbagh Park:
Common critter is Bangalore but they are so quick it's hard to shoot them (with a camera of course)
Duck...
Beezzz......
Scary old building:
I thought we would only see people feeding monkeys in Penang... I was wrong!
Temple at the top of a hill:
A symbol that you have been to Lalbagh Park:
Common critter is Bangalore but they are so quick it's hard to shoot them (with a camera of course)
Duck...
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
1st month in India
Just want to share a pic on the service apartment my wife and I stayed in for the first month in India. Quite a nice place if you ask me. Only problem is that the room was facing the main road and you can hear the cars, trucks, autos and bikes honking non-stop. That was one thing we got numb to after a week. The hotel was also next to a temple and coincidentally there was a festival during the month of August and almost everynight there will be a group of 'devotees' banging on drums like a band and dancing on the streets. Sigh... i don't know what to say about that.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Salvation from the pits of laziness
Hey all, so sorry that i kind of disappear after leaving for India. It has been 2 months that we have been here and time sure flies. This place sure needs some getting used to. It's very different from home but we are all settled in now. I'll post some photographes later so that you will get an idea on what i am talking about.
Ok that's about all the intro i can give you for now. Be sure to come back for more updates. Signing off with a pic of lovely and loving place called.....india
Ok that's about all the intro i can give you for now. Be sure to come back for more updates. Signing off with a pic of lovely and loving place called.....india
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