(Halfway) Around the World in 18 days
Having just returned from an awesome trip from halfway across the world and with really nothing to do four days into the last term, there is really no bahaana that I have for not blogging, especially seeing that it has been dormant for quite a while!
Let me put this blog in context – the trip to Stanford was a part of an express exchange programme, wherein a bunch of people from GSB Stanford spend a week with us in mid-September, and we go over at the end of the 5th term. Two things work very well for us – one, it is the end of our term, so it is effectively holiday, and second, we get a week off after the Stanford leg of the programme to roam around wherever we wish to. The trip is partly funded, plus you get to have some amazing experiences and meet some awesome people, with whom, hopefully, you have built a network to last a lifetime – I mean, isn’t it just great?
So, here I was, at the end of the 5th term, with a flight to catch, and two assignments to submit, and half an hour to go for my taxi, while I had not even started with my packing. Typical end of term bhasad ensued, and I literally ran with my assignment in one hand and my luggage in the other, so that I don’t miss either the deadline or the taxi. Also, circumstances and last minute postponements and flight advancements meant I was travelling alone. Not that I mind travelling alone to new places, in fact, I prefer it – one, you get to talk to locals much more than you would if you were in your group, and second, you are constrained just by your own speed, and not of the slowest member in the group’s. Plus, the fun of discovering new places and going to see what you want to, rather than what is just tourist-ically correct.
So I landed up in Singapore at 6 in the morning, with 12 hours to go for my flight to San Francisco, and not having slept properly on the flight. It took me an hour to figure out Changi Airport – I mean, its h-u-g-e, and beautiful. My guess is its size is a significant percentage of Singapore’s land area. As is my wont, I gathered a few maps and pamphlets, made my plans for the day and slept a bit. Singapore is one of those tiny places that look extremely well-managed, neat and clean, multi-coloured buildings look like toys, the city is well-networked through public transport and in general, people are sweet and helpful. In the half a day that I had, I managed to take a walk around city hall area, go up the Singapore Flyer and visit the National Museum, mostly historical, also meeting some interesting people along the way :)
The final destination, after a brief stopover at Hong Kong, was San Francisco. I put up at Ravi’s place for the two days I had before going to Stanford, and we took a trip on the first morning to Napa Valley, California’s wine county. The drive is beautiful, almost idyllic, like straight out of movies. The road trip also confirmed a few things that I always knew from textbooks but hadn’t really seen – it’s a huge country out there – I mean, you can see it in the maps and all, but when you drive through and see huge, wide open spaces, big roads, it sort of confirms it. Also, the country, and especially California, is R-I-C-H. You can see it! People have big huge cars, and I don’t remember spotting any small vehicle throughout my stint. In fact, ‘huge’ is a word that goes for everything – the country, the roads, the cars, the food helpings – indeed, it was difficult to get a small sized meal – and therefore we went to eat only when we were really hungry. Small sized portions just do not feature on the menu, and sadly, wastages are also huge. I guess the amount of food they waste can feed all of Africa.
Also, if ever I work in the US/stay for a while, California it will be :) . It has just the right amount of everything that one wishes to have around.
San Francisco is like an ideal city. Neat and clean in every sense. It is difficult not to fall in love with that city even as you walk around, or pop into the shops, or travel the up-and-down streets through either a car or a tram. Everything just seems perfect. I came to San Francisco again once during the Stanford leg, and I remember being equally impressed even the second time around. It has just the right amount of tourist attractions, as well as a city-like feeling to it, without the overwhelming-ness, something that definitely cannot be said about Los Angeles. SF seems like a place where you can have a nice, neat and clean life, and yet exist as you want to, without being overwhelmed by the city. Of course, you need to have the money :)
Stanford leg followed, and it was an enriching experience in itself. The academic part was good, but not necessarily what one would remember after a while. What I would remember is the hospitality, the warm welcome we received – pretty much everywhere we went, the parties we went to – and those we gatecrashed :), and in general our hosts made sure we live out a memorable week, with outings both in nearby Palo Alto and elsewhere. I mean, it is one thing to know about a university’s culture from books and movies, and an entirely different thing to be a part of it in flesh and blood.
The Stanford leg of the trip, like every good thing, came to a depressingly early end, and we were left on our own for the next 7 days. Our first visit landed us in Las Vegas, and everytime I think of the city, I cannot help admire the idea. It is nothing but a road 3 miles long in the middle of a desert, and yet the number of foreign tourists who walk down the strip annually number almost 80% of those who tour the length and breadth of all of India. Unbelievable, until you see the place. Vegas is the doyen of consumerism, the show business capital of the world. The hotels on the strip make for some of the most fantastic images and photographs, and one can walk on the strip, up and down numerous times as we did, and cannot help but admire it everytime you do so. Whether in moments of celebration or grief, when you want to forget a life, you would want to be in Vegas. The other lasting impression that I had of the strip was the lights – no invention of science is singly responsible for making Vegas as it is as neon lights. You see them everywhere – big, powerful, making a pattern, commanding attention. There is enough light on the 3-mile strip to light all of a pretty big town in India, methinks.
I had one of the most surreal moments of the trip as well in Vegas. I was walking down the road all alone towards Hotel Luxor, which is built on this Egyptian theme, there were hardly any people in sight, or on the roads, it was cold and a strong desert wind was blowing – one which would typically keep people indoors, and fallen leaves scraping across the walkway made eerie noises, almost providing a spooky atmosphere as I walked past the Sphinx into the pyramid that was Luxor.
The casinos on the other hand, really look the same from hotel to hotel from interior. Some of the hotels have some themes in the interior, like New York, Caesar’s Palace or Luxor, but the real jaw dropping façade is the exterior of these hotels – Venetian, Paris, Bellagio. And then there are the shows that some of these hotels have, the musical fountains of Bellagio, for example – show business shown off on the streets for the average passerby. Very simply, Vegas blows your mind away, whether you intend to take notice or not. One wonders what it must be like to grow up in a city like that! Bad weather ensured that we would not go to Grand Canyon as planned but we went to Hoover Dam instead – a dam well made but not necessarily ‘the triumph of human engineering and spirit’, as the tour guide will tell you. I am sure a lot of untold stories about dams back in India are much more inspiring. But then the difference lies in the packaging. This was a phenomena I have observed both in Europe and US – they package everything so well, it takes those attractions to a new level altogether – something we could sure learn from them, given how much India itself boasts of the ‘package-ables’.
The last stop of our whirlwind trip took us to Los Angeles. LA is a huge city, stretching for miles and miles, and to be very honest, has little tourist stuff. Its almost like Mumbai – a huge city which absorbs one and all as they come to find work and fortune in the city, with an Essel World and a Water Kingdom thrown in, if you must. The amount of ethnic diversity is high in LA, I guess which is also a cause for dissent – something which is not existent in SF, for example. Staying on the Hollywood Bouelavard meant that most of the Hollywood attractions were mostly walkable distances away, but we chose to spend the three days at Getty Center & Santa Monica, Disneyland and Universal Studios. Located on a hill in one of the posh areas of LA,Getty Center in itself has a decent collection of arts and sculpture – but for those who have seen d’Louvre, it all seems childishly small. What is of much more interest there, though, is the architecture of the museum itself, and an awesome view of the city. Santa Monica Pier, again, is impressive only due to the packaging – lesser known beaches around the world are much more beautiful (Anjuna, for example).
Disneyland is, well, Disneyland. The magic kingdom. Where childhood comes back to you and twitters around, the stage seems too real to not believe in. Everything constructed and depicted in a way that makes you feel you are actually in a make-believe world. I remember being thoroughly flattered the first time I visited Disneyland in Paris four and a half years ago – this time I knew what to expect, but was impressed nevertheless. Even knowing that everything is, after all, a show put up, you cannot help but fall for the place. I don’t know if Disney Corp makes money or not, but they keep the magic alive, even half a century after this park was first opened. The Disney Parade was not as impressive as the one in Paris, but the fireworks and lights show at the Castle were mighty good. You could feel your skin tingling as the songs of Disney are accompanied by lines such as ‘magic lies within your heart’. With age, skepticism grows and it is easy to be a cynic and dismiss everything, but dropping the guard once in a while when you are in a place like that doesn’t hurt either! And I can lay claim to have seen 40% of all of world’s Disneylands :)
Universal Studios was another make-believe world, though not to the same extent as Disneyland. The rides were admittedly better, but knowing that the park closes at 5pm meant one had to rush through from one ride to another without really stopping by to see the place.
The trip back was mostly uneventful, and we stopped at another of one of the world’s best airports, Incheon @ Seoul. The stopover at Singapore was made rather depressing by a day long pitter-patter rain, and the fatigue of much travel over the past fortnight, and much air travel over the past 20 hours. We went around the place a bit, Merlion Park, Sentosa, Little India, Bugis Street, but honestly, it was more tiring than the first time around, when I did the same with a sense of anticipation and eagerness.
So that was it, a whirlwind trip through four of world’s best known cities, one of the best universities and three of world’s best airports – all in a matter of 18 days.
Let me put this blog in context – the trip to Stanford was a part of an express exchange programme, wherein a bunch of people from GSB Stanford spend a week with us in mid-September, and we go over at the end of the 5th term. Two things work very well for us – one, it is the end of our term, so it is effectively holiday, and second, we get a week off after the Stanford leg of the programme to roam around wherever we wish to. The trip is partly funded, plus you get to have some amazing experiences and meet some awesome people, with whom, hopefully, you have built a network to last a lifetime – I mean, isn’t it just great?
So, here I was, at the end of the 5th term, with a flight to catch, and two assignments to submit, and half an hour to go for my taxi, while I had not even started with my packing. Typical end of term bhasad ensued, and I literally ran with my assignment in one hand and my luggage in the other, so that I don’t miss either the deadline or the taxi. Also, circumstances and last minute postponements and flight advancements meant I was travelling alone. Not that I mind travelling alone to new places, in fact, I prefer it – one, you get to talk to locals much more than you would if you were in your group, and second, you are constrained just by your own speed, and not of the slowest member in the group’s. Plus, the fun of discovering new places and going to see what you want to, rather than what is just tourist-ically correct.
So I landed up in Singapore at 6 in the morning, with 12 hours to go for my flight to San Francisco, and not having slept properly on the flight. It took me an hour to figure out Changi Airport – I mean, its h-u-g-e, and beautiful. My guess is its size is a significant percentage of Singapore’s land area. As is my wont, I gathered a few maps and pamphlets, made my plans for the day and slept a bit. Singapore is one of those tiny places that look extremely well-managed, neat and clean, multi-coloured buildings look like toys, the city is well-networked through public transport and in general, people are sweet and helpful. In the half a day that I had, I managed to take a walk around city hall area, go up the Singapore Flyer and visit the National Museum, mostly historical, also meeting some interesting people along the way :)
The final destination, after a brief stopover at Hong Kong, was San Francisco. I put up at Ravi’s place for the two days I had before going to Stanford, and we took a trip on the first morning to Napa Valley, California’s wine county. The drive is beautiful, almost idyllic, like straight out of movies. The road trip also confirmed a few things that I always knew from textbooks but hadn’t really seen – it’s a huge country out there – I mean, you can see it in the maps and all, but when you drive through and see huge, wide open spaces, big roads, it sort of confirms it. Also, the country, and especially California, is R-I-C-H. You can see it! People have big huge cars, and I don’t remember spotting any small vehicle throughout my stint. In fact, ‘huge’ is a word that goes for everything – the country, the roads, the cars, the food helpings – indeed, it was difficult to get a small sized meal – and therefore we went to eat only when we were really hungry. Small sized portions just do not feature on the menu, and sadly, wastages are also huge. I guess the amount of food they waste can feed all of Africa.
Also, if ever I work in the US/stay for a while, California it will be :) . It has just the right amount of everything that one wishes to have around.
San Francisco is like an ideal city. Neat and clean in every sense. It is difficult not to fall in love with that city even as you walk around, or pop into the shops, or travel the up-and-down streets through either a car or a tram. Everything just seems perfect. I came to San Francisco again once during the Stanford leg, and I remember being equally impressed even the second time around. It has just the right amount of tourist attractions, as well as a city-like feeling to it, without the overwhelming-ness, something that definitely cannot be said about Los Angeles. SF seems like a place where you can have a nice, neat and clean life, and yet exist as you want to, without being overwhelmed by the city. Of course, you need to have the money :)
Stanford leg followed, and it was an enriching experience in itself. The academic part was good, but not necessarily what one would remember after a while. What I would remember is the hospitality, the warm welcome we received – pretty much everywhere we went, the parties we went to – and those we gatecrashed :), and in general our hosts made sure we live out a memorable week, with outings both in nearby Palo Alto and elsewhere. I mean, it is one thing to know about a university’s culture from books and movies, and an entirely different thing to be a part of it in flesh and blood.
The Stanford leg of the trip, like every good thing, came to a depressingly early end, and we were left on our own for the next 7 days. Our first visit landed us in Las Vegas, and everytime I think of the city, I cannot help admire the idea. It is nothing but a road 3 miles long in the middle of a desert, and yet the number of foreign tourists who walk down the strip annually number almost 80% of those who tour the length and breadth of all of India. Unbelievable, until you see the place. Vegas is the doyen of consumerism, the show business capital of the world. The hotels on the strip make for some of the most fantastic images and photographs, and one can walk on the strip, up and down numerous times as we did, and cannot help but admire it everytime you do so. Whether in moments of celebration or grief, when you want to forget a life, you would want to be in Vegas. The other lasting impression that I had of the strip was the lights – no invention of science is singly responsible for making Vegas as it is as neon lights. You see them everywhere – big, powerful, making a pattern, commanding attention. There is enough light on the 3-mile strip to light all of a pretty big town in India, methinks.
I had one of the most surreal moments of the trip as well in Vegas. I was walking down the road all alone towards Hotel Luxor, which is built on this Egyptian theme, there were hardly any people in sight, or on the roads, it was cold and a strong desert wind was blowing – one which would typically keep people indoors, and fallen leaves scraping across the walkway made eerie noises, almost providing a spooky atmosphere as I walked past the Sphinx into the pyramid that was Luxor.
The casinos on the other hand, really look the same from hotel to hotel from interior. Some of the hotels have some themes in the interior, like New York, Caesar’s Palace or Luxor, but the real jaw dropping façade is the exterior of these hotels – Venetian, Paris, Bellagio. And then there are the shows that some of these hotels have, the musical fountains of Bellagio, for example – show business shown off on the streets for the average passerby. Very simply, Vegas blows your mind away, whether you intend to take notice or not. One wonders what it must be like to grow up in a city like that! Bad weather ensured that we would not go to Grand Canyon as planned but we went to Hoover Dam instead – a dam well made but not necessarily ‘the triumph of human engineering and spirit’, as the tour guide will tell you. I am sure a lot of untold stories about dams back in India are much more inspiring. But then the difference lies in the packaging. This was a phenomena I have observed both in Europe and US – they package everything so well, it takes those attractions to a new level altogether – something we could sure learn from them, given how much India itself boasts of the ‘package-ables’.
The last stop of our whirlwind trip took us to Los Angeles. LA is a huge city, stretching for miles and miles, and to be very honest, has little tourist stuff. Its almost like Mumbai – a huge city which absorbs one and all as they come to find work and fortune in the city, with an Essel World and a Water Kingdom thrown in, if you must. The amount of ethnic diversity is high in LA, I guess which is also a cause for dissent – something which is not existent in SF, for example. Staying on the Hollywood Bouelavard meant that most of the Hollywood attractions were mostly walkable distances away, but we chose to spend the three days at Getty Center & Santa Monica, Disneyland and Universal Studios. Located on a hill in one of the posh areas of LA,Getty Center in itself has a decent collection of arts and sculpture – but for those who have seen d’Louvre, it all seems childishly small. What is of much more interest there, though, is the architecture of the museum itself, and an awesome view of the city. Santa Monica Pier, again, is impressive only due to the packaging – lesser known beaches around the world are much more beautiful (Anjuna, for example).
Disneyland is, well, Disneyland. The magic kingdom. Where childhood comes back to you and twitters around, the stage seems too real to not believe in. Everything constructed and depicted in a way that makes you feel you are actually in a make-believe world. I remember being thoroughly flattered the first time I visited Disneyland in Paris four and a half years ago – this time I knew what to expect, but was impressed nevertheless. Even knowing that everything is, after all, a show put up, you cannot help but fall for the place. I don’t know if Disney Corp makes money or not, but they keep the magic alive, even half a century after this park was first opened. The Disney Parade was not as impressive as the one in Paris, but the fireworks and lights show at the Castle were mighty good. You could feel your skin tingling as the songs of Disney are accompanied by lines such as ‘magic lies within your heart’. With age, skepticism grows and it is easy to be a cynic and dismiss everything, but dropping the guard once in a while when you are in a place like that doesn’t hurt either! And I can lay claim to have seen 40% of all of world’s Disneylands :)
Universal Studios was another make-believe world, though not to the same extent as Disneyland. The rides were admittedly better, but knowing that the park closes at 5pm meant one had to rush through from one ride to another without really stopping by to see the place.
The trip back was mostly uneventful, and we stopped at another of one of the world’s best airports, Incheon @ Seoul. The stopover at Singapore was made rather depressing by a day long pitter-patter rain, and the fatigue of much travel over the past fortnight, and much air travel over the past 20 hours. We went around the place a bit, Merlion Park, Sentosa, Little India, Bugis Street, but honestly, it was more tiring than the first time around, when I did the same with a sense of anticipation and eagerness.
So that was it, a whirlwind trip through four of world’s best known cities, one of the best universities and three of world’s best airports – all in a matter of 18 days.
posted by Anshuman at 2:04 PM
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