The Federer Express and Nadal Action

The highlight of last week has been watching these two guys in action.

Fedex lost though. Andy Murray whacked his happiness. But still, those flashes of brilliance were good enough to light up the evening.

Nadal in action was quite a spectacle. Demolished the opponent.

Besides, in other games, Roddick scored 14 aces over Ferrero and Djokovic screwed the other fellow.

Cabaret

The Alcazar Cabaret in Pattaya is a fun show. Voluptuous, scantily dressed, melodramatically dressed women dance and sing songs in a language you don’t understand. The stage is a burst of colours and the energy levels are unbelievable. 

After the show, you can pose with the performers for pics. Obviously for a hefty price.   

Sleeping Buddha Temple

The Sleeping Buddha Temple in Bangkok is a beautiful temple complex housing the longest statue of the golden sleeping Buddha. It is impossible to click a pic of the entire Buddha statue from any point in the temple.  

This is the Temple complex.. 

And this is the entrance to the complex.    

The Tiger Temple

This is easily one of the scariest touristy things one can do. Pose for pretty pictures next to unleashed tigers.  

The Tiger temple in Thailand gives you a chance to go sit next to unleashed tigers, pose for pictures with their heads in your lap, kiss them, hug them, etc. Just don’t irritate them enough to land up as the tiger’s tea-time snack. The tigers are released into the gorge in a stony valley in the place called as the tiger temple. It is run by monks who run the whole show. Then volunteers take you in next to the tigers and click your pics. Tiger cubs gambol around the pond, a little way away. But you are not allowed to touch them. Only full grown tigers can have the pleasure of your company.   

One of the cubs playing in the pond.

Parasailing in Pattaya

You rise up into the air and are floating over dark green sea, then suddenly you find yourself being lowered, till you dip into the cold cold water. You start shouting, you think you are going down with the parachute. Something is wrong. That’s when you rise again, shivering, into the air and jump to 100 feet. “You fly over the sea, willing your flight to never end. That’s Parasailing in Pattaya.

Believe it or not

The talented Mr Ripley created this museum, which has gone on to become a treasure house of all the bizarre things that can happen on this planet. From nine feet tall men to chamber of horrors to weird insects and their habits to tribal practices that can knock out your senses, Ripleys has it all. Believe it or not.   

Kwai

The historic River Kwai – a few hours drive from Bangkok is a scenic spot for an idle day in rural Thailand. 

And even more historic is the Bridge on the River Kwai, which I had heard quite a few times while playing dumb charades, but had never really imagined I would be visiting. 

The Fall Out of the Airplane.

July 6, 2007.

 

The Udaipur Palace

The Udaipur palace silently speaks volumes of hundreds of years of history coursing through the very air you breathe there.  

A massive structure housing a collection of beautifully decorated courtyards, entire rooms made in stained glass, and a long lost history of splendor and untold stories, the palace takes your breath away.

It is also a nice location to get married. These guys let out the palace premises for grand weddings – the Hurley-Nayar type of weddings.

The Jaipur House

My hotel in Mt Abu.  

The Jaipur House is fashioned out of an old Rajasthani Haveli. Situated high up on a hill, way beyond the road where there rest of the regular three-storey concrete jungle type hotels are located, it gives a beautiful view of the Nakki Lake basking in the winter sun. Wide open terraces spread on different levels, quaint wooden chairs and guest rooms littered with antique wooden and metal mirrors and sofas make this place an absolute delight.  

No. They are NOT paying me to tell you this.

Sunset on Nakki

Few things are as beautiful as a mellow colored sunset spent floating on water under the cold open sky. Picture taken on in on Nakki Lake in Mt Abu.

Sifting sands

And we never realized when the sand sifted from under our feet,

and we were left groping in the water for memories.

Hanging on …

On to some threads I hang on,
And on a few, my hopes I pawn 

Sepia Church

Tainted with memories, a ruined church lies waiting under the wet monsoon sun

Tender Curves

Me in the drop

That’s me there, that blue speck in the drop of water.

This picture was taken at Vasai fort, last monsoon, early in the morning.

 

Vibgyor on the Earth

Though I cannot not touch you, while you poise up there in the sky,
I catch you unawares, when tired of posing, on the ground you lie

Hyde Park

Hyde Park is an unbelievable oasis in the middle of the busy noisy world of London. Enter the gates and lose yourself to the calm green environs of the park, to the children practicing skate boards, to the swans idling on the lake accepting nuts from passerby’s, to lovers strolling hand in hand, to the calm and serenity of dense foliage around and acres of green meadows as the sun goes down on this beautiful city.

 

Westminster Abbey

The summer sun falls on the Westminster Abbey in the morning, lighting up the square patch of bright green grass in the middle of the Abbey. This is a west side view of the Abbey. Shadow and Light, Green grass and Blue sky together come together to make a picturesque scene.

 

This is a side view of the long Nave which houses the tomb of Isaac Newton, now made famous by Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

Trafalgar square

The historic Trafalgar square.  

This picture is taken standing on the entrance steps of the National Gallery – the one housing the Madonna of the Rocks. On the right are Piccadilly Circus, the entrance to the Buckingham Palace from where the marching guards enter and straight ahead, are Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. The column is called Nelson’s Column and is flanked by four massive black stone lions on four corners.