Monday, July 30, 2007

Techies.. primitives

We use technology for the smallest of things..But we cant deny that primitve ways always come in handy wherever whenever..

We were in Atlanta on Saturday.. We wanted to go to a particular restaurant, and that was supposed to be on the West direction.. Now how do we find West sitting in a car. We dint have any GPS, no compass too :)
So this is what happened
Guy 1: Hey Arathi, bahar dekhke bata sooraj kis taraf hai??
(look outside tell which side is the sun)
Me : Huh!! Kyon?
(why)
Guy 2: Abe, sooraj jis direction mein hoga.. uske depending east/west decide karenge
(we will decide which east/west depending on which direction is)
Me : Oh!! Par ab to 12.30 hai.. sar pe hoga sooraj
(its 12.30 now.. it will be right on our head)
Guy 3:Arre yaar... ab west kaise dhoondenge??
(Now how will we find west)
Me : Itne techies ho.. phir bhi primitive mehtods use karna pada (*laughs*)
(all of u are techies.. but u had to use primitive methods)

After this.. with some guessing we did find West.. And had a extremely delicious lunch..

PS: By primitive I meant times when we didnt use any of our wonderful electronic Gadgets :)

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Been very busy lately.. My Trip part2 is still in the making.. I hope to post it sometime this week.. I want to post all the details.. before I forget my beautiful moments... This is how I can relive those moments later :)

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Long Trip Part 1

Day 1 : Saturday:

I start from the Los Angeles(LA) airport at nearly 2.00 AM with a Silver Chevy Mallibu (First trip where i never took a pic of the car). With my GPS enabled, I began my 4-5 hour long drive to Las Vegas (LV).
The drive in the night was not new.. only new thing was I was driving alone, and was going to be so for the whole of my trip.

The moment I reached Las Vegas (LV) I was very excited. Checked into one of the casinos (Sahara - Supposed to be based on the moroccon theme). I had to make calls to assue that I am safe and having a gala time. Though I wanted to sleep and take some rest... the excitement wouldnt allow me to do so... I was in the room at the 19th floor.. The view from my room was quite good...I could see the Stratosphere (one of the casinos in the end of the road).
Stratosphere from my room
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I left around 10 in the morning. Before I left picked up the Strip map. All the casinos are in one road (thats the Vegas Strip). The northern part of the strip doesnt have much casinos (rather not many interesting ones). The first one in the strip is the Stratospehre. The second was Sahara. After this there is a huge gap. As I moved forward, somehow the place started to be boring.. well. that was because of so many reasons.. It was very very hot.. I was sweating as if just got out from the shower. I was very very hungry.. Felt as if I could eat anything then.. As I went on, reached the fashion mall. There I spotted a Italian restaurant. Maggino's Little Italy:)
I went in and ordered for a lemonade (so nice and cooling). Then ordered for fried Zuccini.. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket They were so yummy.. and so filling.. After this ordered the very famous Tiramasu.. (hmm such a yummy pastry, I can still feel it) Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket The food was so lovely I even complimented the waitress and spoke for a few minutes. Once pet-pooja was done.. I had the enthu again to roam around... Outside Wyan (another casino) they had beautiful falls.. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Once I crossed this.. i started to look at the bigger casinos. As I went forward. I went into Venetian..

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Venetian is one of the biggies there on the strip.. The entrance has the Gandola Tours (Boat rides under the tunnels), It looked so nice.. They even had these tours inside.. (I personally felt inside ones would be better, one it had that feeling also its too hot outside to enjoy these).
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So once you are inside.. all the shops.. and the ambience try their level best to make you feel at Venice.. and I must say.. they do succeed to a great level.
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Once I got my tickets, I was having fun looking at the small shows like some jokers coming up with some funny tricks.. or a few performers coming and singing and dancing..
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I had my Gandola tour scheduled at 3.00 in the afternoon.. So I had nearly 1.5 hrs to kill.. There were weddings going on.. It was so nice to see all that.. You could get a private boat for 2 too.. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket So I did some window shopping there.. bought tickets for the blue man show that night ( i got a free entry to Madam Tussads Wax museum).. I went out and took some pictures, I was not sure if I wanted to go the museum.. Took the Gandola Tour and it was a nice ride.. The boatman would even sing for you.. Though I dint understand a word of it.. I thoroughly enjoyed the song.. The slow pitch they start of with and the high pitch they end it with is just amazing.. These tours take you to a small round in the Venetia. It was great except the that it would be better if I had my humsafar there..

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Well after this.. I walked all the way to Paris.. Oh this is another casino in the strip.. not the real Paris. But like the real one this also has the world famous Eifel Tower. The difference is that the one in LV is half the size of the actual Eifel Tower. It looked very good.. I was just wondering. if half the size is so beautiful.. then how wonderful must the real one be... We had a trip to the top of Eifel Tower.. The view from there was awesome... You could see the whole city from there.. I took snaps from all the angles. Stayed there on the top for more than 15 mins.. I even had a wonderful musical fountain going on at the bottom.. and that was a great view..
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After Paris. I was very tired.. Walking in the hot sun in a desert environment is very difficult. I walked the strech even further down till Cocacola MGM casino..

MGM
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Dint find much interesting things to do there.. Then crossed over to Newyork Newyork.. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket They had the statue of Liberty, brooklyn bridge, and inside the casino.. the ambience was all NY type.. It was nice.. Lot of stuff to eat around, but I wasnt that hungry so just moved out of there.. Next was Monte Carlo.. Dint go inside.. but took a couple of pics.. after that not much to look until I reached Bellagio... Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
This is right in front of Paris. Its very famous for the musical fountains which happens in front of the caino/hotel. People gather in front of this for a long time.. I was also one of them.. I had already seen this twice from the Eifel Tower. But still wanted to have a closer look. It was worth the wait.. The musical fountains were wonderful.. It gives immense pleasure to watch when water is jumping around with joy...

Once this got over, I still had time for the Blue man show in Ventian.. By now, my legs had totally lost it.. I just wanted to sit somewhere.. infact go to the room and sleep.. So I went to the next casino.. Caesar's palace.. This was all Roman..Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket It was another Huuuuuuge one.. they had the roman sculptures all over They even had Lord Brahma in a garden.. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket It said Thai people worshipped Lord Brahma.. After Caeser's I moved onto Mirage (another Biggie) They had huge water falls outside.. probably a Mirage :)Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket.. By now I was tired of the heat outside.. So I decided reluctanly to use my free ticket to Madam Tussad's.

I have already been to the NY Madam Tussad's, so did not want one more.. But then I thought I could as well use my free ticket.. So went in.. and I saw Johny Depp ( Captain Jack Sparrow).. I had just then kept my camera inside.. Instantly this came out.. and I wanted a pic of him and Will Turner.. Then I just rushed thru all the models..(Its nice to see first time.. or if u have comapany) Now it was nearly 9 and I had to go to my show by 9.15.. so I reached there on time.. and by the time everybody was seated it took a while.. the people there were a lot of fun.. After some time.. we were give crepe paper to tie around ourselves etc.. It was one crazy auditorium... Finally the show started.. I loved the acts with the paint.. Well when it was just music.. I dint find that much interest.. I must say. I dozed off.. Not coz of the show.. they were great.. but my body was overly exhausted... But then again... I woke up and enjoyed so much.. We were throwing paper all over... there was a time when paper was allover me.. i was drowned in that.. had never done such crazy stuff.. so that was fun..

After such an exhausting day.. I still had to walk back to my hotel.. That took another 45 mins.. But finally I reached.. and my body was totally out.. I just went and crashed into the bed...

Friday, July 06, 2007

Long Trip

I was out for 5 whole days.. I went to the West Coast of USA..

Been to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon..

Did Skydiving..

Spend all 5 days alone..

Went to one of the highest crime area in US (alone)...

Had a splendid time...

Details yet to come in the future posts.. Since its a long trip, I will have to split it in 4-5 parts..