The Great Escape

Sounds like the “The Great Train Robbery”, eh ?

No, it is just the name of the Water Theme Park that my family visited yesterday. We took a day off to actualise the dream of getting to a water park in this summer time, and we made it finally ! Though we have been to Essel World before, it has been quite a long while.

After studying the options available, we chose The Great Escape, thinking that it sounded and looked cool from the website info’ provided. Visit “The Great Escape” and take a look for yourself !

From the location map on the site, I “intelligently” estimated that it would take around 1:30 hours to reach. But I underestimated the intelligence of two sets of folks - drivers in general, and direction-givers. The former community generally does not believe in taking advice from the car owners, or even studying the printout of the map provided. They think that they know Mumbai and its environs far better than the firangs who are inhabiting Mumbai. So, why take directions ? The latter set of “direction-givers” on the road, starting from security guards, to auto drivers, to general folks on the road who are minding their own business, take relish in displaying their “grand” knowledge of how to reach anywhere in Mumbai and its neighbourhood. They assume that anyway the drivers or the owners don’t know the way around, and so what is wrong in giving what could possibly be the right directions in their minds ?!

While I “discussed” the map with my driver for sure, he seemed to be disinterested. I mentioned some of the words from the map, like “Ghodbunder”, “Dahisar Checknaka”, et al. He beamed and said he knew the route ! We started off at 8:45 AM, and on the way happened to see the advertisement of “Suraj Water Park” in the newspaper supplement (“Suraj Water Park Thane” ). As were discussing, the driver overheard us and exclaimed that he knew that Park. We just ignored and continued our journey.

Well, we should have considered his assertion more vigourously. On the Western Expressway leading to Ahmedabad, my driver turned off at the Thane - Ghodbunder Road, towards Thane. I should have challenged him, but reaction times, so to say, were poor. We had some scenic travel along this road, which curves around hilly areas, and then finally landed up at Suraj Water Park in Thane ! Was it a surprise ?

However, as astute consumers and decision makers of repute, we instructed the driver to continue the journey towards Parol, via the Parol - Bhiwandi Road, again very intelligently “looking” at the map printout from the The Great Escape website. That was a blunder which would eventually cost us another 1:15 hours of stupid travel and quite a bit of heart-burn !

It was very obvious that the driver did not know the route. He must have checked with 6 different “direction-givers” enroute, after that point - mostly vague directions hinting at the possible right way to Parol. From Thane, we must have travelled over 40 Kms through rough terrain, villages, no-man’s land, and all kinds of roads, we almost lost hope of finding The Great Escape. It was 11:20 AM, by the time we saw an innocuous sign board not facing us - my wife asked the driver to slow down, we turned our faces and there, at last, was what we came for. We came along the wrong route, and that’s why I surmise that even the sign boards were pointing in the wrong direction of the travellers ! Amazing, isn’t it ? This place is located in what appeared to be the rural interiors of the Maharashtra State - very dry, hot location in poor surroundings with brick kilns lining the road.

However, finally we arrived, and the water park did exist !

This park does not compare favourably with Essel Water Kingdom. We noticed some safety issues in the water slides. This park also does not have a lot to spend time on - apart from the wave pool, some water slides, and pools where one can laze around. It does not have a “lazy pool” for instance, or some of the more complex slides. The entry rates included the food charges, and most people seemed to be attracted to the food - which was decent.

Clearly, there is a safety issue at The Great Escape, when the illiterate folks in charge of operating the slide, send down people without ensuring that the previous person had exited the slide. This is very dangerous, and I made it a point to seek out and complain to the Admin Manager and the Operations Manager - they took the feedback seriously and called the guys doing such mistakes down, and apologized to me ! I thought it should be the responsibility of the customers to inform the administration of such major safety problems - they might just be thinking that everything is fine till such time that a major incident happened.

Well, nothing to write further - we spent around 3.5 hours and left the park. The attendant at the exit gate was surprised to see us leaving at 3 PM, much earlier than the closing time of 6 PM.

I was pleased to discover that we took exactly 1:30 hours to reach back home, in line with my original estimate ! It goes without saying that we took the WE Highway back ! So, basic intelligence does sometime appear to work !!!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
19th April 2008
Mumbai

Abode of Purity

I went to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani over the last couple of days.

This is the best place I have yet visited in Maharashtra State. It took approximately 6 hours (with some half-hour break on the way) to reach the place from Mumbai. You spend almost 90 minutes of it trying to get out of Mumbai, which is always messed up on the way out via Powai, Chembur, Panvel, Vashi, etc., All these big lorries create chaos on the road, and headaches for the drivers forced to follow them. Apart from these, one has to contend with real bad driving habits of young drivers with mini cars whizzing past from left and right. Then you have those tourist buses who refuse to move out of the right most lane. Well, I can go on and on…….

Once we hit the Pune Expressway, it was good, and even beyond…..the roads were in pretty decent condition towards Satara and even up the hill towards Panchgani. After a long time, it was a winding road experience but not for too long. I was amazed at the speed at which we gained height - all of 4,000 Ft !

The air and water are still pure in Mahabaleshwar, despite commercialization. The place is not as confusing or poorly maintained as Matheran, the other hill station which I visited several months ago - see my earlier post - “Matheran Visit”

Mahabaleshwar is known for its several fantastic “view” points on the various hills of the Sahyadri Mountain Range. There is a lot to write about the experience, but since I am out of time, I thought I will quickly put up some pictures for your enjoyment. More prose sometime later !

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Elephant Head Point

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Sahyadri Mountains - a Fabulous View

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The Venna Lake near Mahabaleshwar - good for rowing

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On top of the Elephant Head Point

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Another very captivating view of the mountain range……..

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There is a fort on top of this mountain - the famed Pratapgarh Fort

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The serrated ridges of the mountain range

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View of a dam on the Krishna River basin

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Beautiful View of the Krishna basin from 4,000 feet high

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The “Elephant Head” clearly visible

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Lodwick Point with inscription of the story of the man who made it to this spot in 1824 (see next pic)

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The inscription on General Peter Lodwick

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A bit unsafe - better not get excited about the view too much !

There are many more nice photos, but one had to make choices !

Have a great week ahead,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
10th Feb 2008
Mumbai

Madurai - The Temple City

I visited Madurai last weekend for a very close friend’s daughter’s wedding.

Madurai is the second biggest city of Tamilnadu, but has never felt like one - you always get a feeling of a rather “big” village ! It is the city in which I was born !!

I attended the wedding and then went around to the place where we last lived. It was nostalgic - the place in itself has not changed much, though several friends pointed out to the rampant commercialisation of what, in effect, was a purely residential area a decade ago. However, I could not feel any difference, may be I was caught up too much in those familiar surroundings.

I then walked around quite a bit, may be say 3 Kms, before I decided to proceed to the Meenakshi Temple in central Madurai. The temple environment looked almost exactly similar to the last time I visited (around 8 years ago), but there were some changes ofcourse. The Temple was cleaner, they had stopped all the traffic around the temple, and there was a lot of security. I believe they are paving the road around the temple in some marble……this is a landmark Temple in a city which probably has more than a hundred temples. Most pilgrims from the North of India stop here on the way to Rameswaram.

Took some photos as usual, and here these are - I knew almost every place around, and it was difficult to leave the city in less than 12 hours. There are many people to meet, but there is always this lack of time. However, this is a place I would come again sometime in the future for a more leisurely visit.

Photos from the Streets of Madurai, the Temple City :

DSC07905, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

A thoroughfare in Madurai City

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A road leading to the Meenakshi Temple

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The American College, Madurai, where I did my Pre-University

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The road in a leafy suburb where we lived……

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Old house which has now been completely reconstructed

Photos of the Meenakshi Temple :

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One of the main entrances to the famous Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple of Madurai

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The “Golden Lotus Tank” of the Temple

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The “Golden Lotus” at the centre of the Temple Pond

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A view of the Temple Tower - there are several of them

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Another view of the Temple Towers……..

Hope you enjoyed a sample of Madurai City, which till date retains its old world charm, with simple people though commercialisation is creeping its way through slowly.

Cheers and Have a Good Week Ahead,

Vijay Srinivasan
3rd February 2008
Mumbai

Murud-Janjira Fort Visit

This visit was the highlight of our Kashid resort trip just before the year-end.

Since my driver had returned to Mumbai, I had the challenging experience of navigating the road to Murud Village (from Prakruti Resort). This was a hair-raising exposure to the hazards of driving in India. There was hardly any traffic, so we did enjoy the first 15 Kms of the way enroute to Murud. At one point when we were climbing up the hilly terrain, we saw the beautiful rocky beach of Murud coming up. And, suddenly, the Janjira Fort came into view in the middle of the sea. I thought that the fort appeared to be far away into the sea, which was not true. Due to the curving beach all along the coastline, it could appear that way, but really speaking from another point after crossing the village, the Janjira Fort is hardly two Kms into the sea from the nearest coastline (atleast from the ferry boarding point).

I drove through the village, the road quickly becoming a narrow piece of lane, and had to traverse traffic coming headon with quite some skill. At couple of places, I had to even reverse the car, since there was just no space for a bus or a lorry to pass through. It was terrible infrastructure, I don’t understand why the main highway needs to pass through a small village. The only solace is that the poor, simple local people are very helpful when you end up going in the wrong direction. They always help you out of the morass and guide you to the right road. All this happened to me, and it was interesting to see that people still stop and stare at you, as though they could not understand why we were taking all this trouble in the first place !

We reached Murud Village, stopped for a while, and walked around the pristine white-sands beach. I was surprised to note that the beach was quite clean. I expected lot of plastic waste on the beach, so it was good to look at and enjoy the beach like what it should be. Great place to go to and may be take a horse ride ! Several people were doing that.

I looked around for the boat jetty but could not find it. So, asked around, and drove another 4 Kms to another end of the village (after climbing a hill !) and landed at the point at which they take people on a boat ride to Janjira Fort. We took the regular boat service, but I was aghast to discover that they did not follow any safety rules at all. It was not a regulated service, and I am sure nobody would take any responsibility for mishaps. There were no safety belts, or life-saving devices on the boat which actually goes out into the sea for a couple of KMs ! Anyway, we wanted to experience such a boat ride (!) and having been assured that the ride is “perfectly safe” (by office colleagues as well as some other tourists), we took the plunge. The boat was struggling to go forward due to all the extra stuffing of school-going children into the small boat, and it took more than 30 minutes to actually reach and disembark all the passengers. Getting down from the boat was a bit scary because one had to jump out from the boat onto slippery footsteps leading upto the main entrance of the Fort.

You can read all about this impregnable sea fort at these websites - “MurudJanjira” and “Wikipedia”

The Fort could have been maintained well due to its tourist attraction value, and more for its archaelogical and historical significance and beauty. But that was not to be - this was one of the worst maintained historical places that I have visited in India - in fact, I don’t think it is under any kind of Government (Archaelogical Survey of India) maintenance at all. The fort had been thoughtfully laid out as anyone could see walking around the dilapidated ruins. Such a beautiful fort has been laid to waste and stripped of any assets, just lying in the middle of the sea not able to reclaim its 400-year old legacy. There were lots of tourists, especially lots of children.

I took several photos of the Janjira Fort (I really liked the place, don’t get me wrong), and the sea around it. It could have been transformed into a beautiful resort, or converted to a museum. Take a look !

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The Beautiful Janjira Fort in the middle of the sea

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The Fort from another angle - notice the deteriorating condition of the walls after 400 years of lashing by the sea !

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The Entrance to the Fort and the passenger alighting point

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The view of the serene beach and the village from the Janjira Fort

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The swimming pool of the fort which has turned green !

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The beautiful view of the sea from a vantage point inside the Fort

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Dilapidated Status of the Fort……..almost all parts of the Fort are similar in their extent of deterioration

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Broken Structures everywhere……obviously due to vandalism

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Great Architectural Designs all over the Fort — if only these had been preserved for posterity………..

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Another view of the broken structures - the cannons seem to be all right !

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A majestic palace view from a bygone era

Hope you enjoyed the pics !

Have a great weekend !!

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
5th Jan 2007
Mumbai

Journey to Kashid Beach

It took a little over 4 hours to reach Prakriti Resort situated at the Kashid Beach, a distance of approximately 135 Kms from Mumbai. We left at 7:40 AM on a weekday, and I thought it would take about 45 minutes to reach Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai, boy were I wrong ? It took 30 minutes more than that ! There was very heavy traffic at Chembur, and on the stretch of the lousy highway approaching Panvel. Added to this delay, my driver took a turn towards JNPT, the port trust road on which there was virtually zero traffic leading to suspicion that he did not really know the route that well. We finally came back to Panvel, found the Goa Highway (actually a two lane road with no central divider), and were enroute to Alibaug !

I noticed several funny behaviours of road users (as I normally do, can’t resist the temptation to notice and then blog about it). Since the road has just two lanes, the fast cars (especially the small ones and the motorcycles to boot) constantly keep trying to overtake the slow lorries and buses, and sometimes the tractors, road-laying machines moving inch-by-inch, and bullock carts. Since these small cars are indeed small in their girth, they do not seem to mind when their left-hand space on the road gets filled up by another car or vehicle, when they are trying to overtake. They could accommodate, in the true spirit of “chalta hai”, which means it is “OK to adjust” - nobody is really wrong (or right, for that matter) on Indian roads, anyway.

However, when a broader car like mine (as are the many SUV variants one can find on the roads today) is trying to overtake, there is absolutely no space on the left side when it is filled by another vehicle - sometimes one can’t overtake, as the oncoming vehicle on the other side of the road could be coming in fast, so one has to pull back behind, and behold ! - there is suddenly no space to move behind and left ! Not only that, since you braked to reduce the speed, the car on the left accelerates trying to fill the very small gap now created between you and the slow-moving lorry or bus in the front !! Truly innovative and amazing, to say the least.

The other behaviour which is common on such “highways” is the speed of vehicular traffic. The cars are all actually Ferrari wannabees, they tend to accelerate for no reason, and also have absolutely no reason to be inches away from the vehicle before them and suddenly break with whole-hearted effort, leaving the guy behind to gasp in absolute horror, which my driver did couple of times, albeit quietly, as he was also to blame. Such radical driving behaviour enthralls the audience, while they clutch the rims of their seats in a state of fright. Great stuff !

Another unique behaviour is the use of headlights during daytime. Any driver can flash his head lights when he has the first chance to do so, and make you wait while he gets to use your lane for overtaking. You have no option but to brake, since you were not sharp or quick enough to flash the lights first. This frequently happens in a two-lane highway with no dividers, and you would not want to risk yourself and your passengers by going head on though it is your own right of way !

The Goa Highway was decent in most parts up to Alibaug. Once we hit Alibaug, it became a rural road, with no clear directions anywhere to be found. One had to ask around to figure out the way to Kashid / Murud Village. The villages were really poor countryside one-road affairs, with ladies carrying stuff on their heads to the marketplace, and students in uniforms walking to schools. Hardly any decent houses, very poor infrastructure, villagers selling vegetables by the roadside, really the heart of India so to say. I was not surprised to have learnt repeatedly that most people in India live by the equivalent of USD 1 per day (may be USD 2 now, but does it matter except as a National Statistic ?). The real challenge to any government would be to uplift these poor folks and integrate them into the mainstream developmental efforts of the nation, to really ensure that the fruits of economic growth quickly percolates to the poorest of the poor.

Coming back to our topic, the pity is that the road infrastructure which is a must for rural development, tourism, industrial production and transportation, et al, has been left to the mercies of some organization, I know not what ?! Deterioration was to be seen everywhere enroute - the highway quickly degenerated to pot-hole filled country roads, with space just enough to let two cars pass through in opposite directions. At couple of places, we had to back up since the road width in the village was not sufficient to let a lorry or a bus pass us. I do not understand the need to run the highway through the village, instead of skirting the village, and avoid serious congestion and mishaps.

But people nevertheless pursue their own wont, despite all the hiccups and challenges. Nobody seemed to complain or refer to all this, not even the well-heeled types staying in the resort, all of whom seem to have used their cars to get there. We met a few foreigners as well as Indian returnees from U.S., who seem to be completely nonchalant about the travel troubles. However, I feel that it remains our duty to constantly push the government of the day to enhance the infrastructure, and make it world-class. Let us atleast compare ourselves with China, if not the U.S.

I will soon write about a place of historical importance that we visited in Murud, which is in a state of utter disrepair. Also, the safety angle which has been consistently neglected in sea transportation. Some great photos are also to be posted soon about this beautiful holiday resort and beaches…….look out folks.

Have a Wonderful finish to 2007, and a Great New Year in 2008 !

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
30 December 2007
Mumbai

Udaipur Weekend

I was at Udaipur all of this weekend.

Stayed at the famed Oberoi Udaivilas, rated as the second best hotel in the world by Conde Nast Traveller, a leading travel publication “Conde Nast Gold List 2006″ . The description here states that it is a “A newly built Mewari-style palace hotel complete with gilt domes, fountains, colonnades and hand-painted murals. Located on Lake Pichola, across the water from Udaipur, Udaivilas is set in 30 acres of immaculate grounds.”

While it was a great hotel by several measures, it has its own idiosyncracies which I discovered. I will outline these along with the photographs I took in the next blogpost. The hotel website is located at “Oberoi Udaivilas” .

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
9th December 2007
Mumbai

Singapore Friends

It was great to connect with some good and loyal friends in Singapore, with whom I enjoy an excellent relationship. I met a few other friends as well, but no photos, sorry !

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Old Friends in Singapore, enjoying drinks at a bar off Mohamed Sultan Road………

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Pleasure to meet old contacts in the enchanting environs of Singapore……

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Tech mate……..

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Pleasant Memories……..

See You Again Mates……..

Cheers !

Vijay Srinivasan
14 October 2007
Mumbai

Macau Downtown Visit

There is nothing much one can do in Macau except to gamble and shop around. It is a historical place as well, ruled surprisingly by the Portuguese for over 400 years from Goa ! It was amazing to hear that. But there is hardly any “Indian” influence, there were not many Indian tourists either. The weather was stuffy, not unlike in Mumbai currently. Quite hot I should say, dark glasses and a hat would help.

Some of the photos I took around this part of the city are as shown below :

DSC07370, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

Downtown Macau - shopping, walking around, visiting church monuments, et al……..only the weather was not that great in early October - quite hot. In any case, enjoyable time.

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The 400-year old Portuguese Church burnt down by the Chinese at the centre of Macau. Lots of crowds visit this place of historical and religious significance.

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Another view of the Church………

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Busy Shopping District of Macau. I walked quite a bit around this area, and the narrow street leads up to the Church you see above.

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Shopping and festivities all around !

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Celebrations ! and, McDonalds’ thrives everywhere !!

I could not get a taxi back to the Ferry Bus Stop, so used a bus service. It was exactly like India - people thronging and pushing their way in, though in less numbers than in India. Not many seats in the bus though - most people were standing in the central space of the bus. The difference was that the bus doors actually closed before the bus moved, and there were “stop” buttons which one could press to stop the bus at the oncoming stop.

It was worth the time looking around these places, though it was hot and stuffy.

Cheers, have a great week ahead,

Vijay Srinivasan
14 October 2007
Mumbai

Venice in Macau

I stayed at a really amazing hotel which opened for the public only on 28th August 2007, less than 5 weeks old (when I stayed). That is the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau, Special Administrative Region of China.

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On the boat in the Venetian waters of Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Macau

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They are all looking down at me, or my boat ! This is the turning point for the boat, so I am sure there is no other boat in the vicinity !

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Our Boatkeeper ! He comes from a place 100 miles from Venice ! Yes, from Italy !!

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The beautiful visage of the building surrounding the Venetian Canal - this is called “Grand Canal Shopping”…….

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The ornate entrance to the Casino Hall of the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel

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At the Lobby of the Hotel. Just amazingly lavish.

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Amazing portraits on the ceilings - they don’t allow photography, so you have to steal the appropriate moments.

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The cavernous meeting halls at the Convention Centre of the Hotel.

More photos of Macau later…..

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
9th October 2007
Mumbai

Singapore to Macau

I passed through Singapore earlier this week on my way to Macau for a company event.

Singapore still remains the same - almost. The construction of casinos appeared to be in full swing, and there was an eyesore of a ferris wheel modelled after the “London Eye”. I don’t understand why Singapore needs to copy other countries’ innovations. It has enough of its own despite being of small size. Nevertheless, it appears to believe some of its future growth could come from entertainment targeted at specific audiences rather than just leisure travel.

The other thing that has changed in Singapore is the rapid increase in real estate prices, driven by the anticipated casino-related boom by 2009, and invasion by foreigners who increasingly seem to consider Singapore as safe haven. That consideration is more or less true in my opinion. Singapore qualifies to be the Switzerland of Asia despite the lack of scenery, just in terms of its financial status and infrastructure.

I had to travel by the MRT system to reach my condominium located at a suburb, and I noticed that the system and stations are kept extremely neat, there is just no let up on the focus on cleanliness and efficiency. There were more trains available - the waiting time seems to have reduced considerably. All these observations come from a person who rarely ever used the MRT in the past except for some joy rides around the city !

I met with several old colleagues, but more about that in a separate blog post with pics, etc.,

At Macau, a city dedicated entirely to the entertainment industry, I stayed at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the latest hotel to adorn the city (opened less than a month ago). It is a huge hotel, with cavernous gambling halls and convention/exhibition centres. I got tired just by walking around and through the casino tables to reach the meeting rooms ! Contrary to popular perceptions on the grandeur of the hotel, I was not impressed.

One thing - the hotel is essentially a casino rather than a resort. The only thing I enjoyed was the gondola ride on the fake Venice-looking waters maneuvred by Italians. Again, I will publish the photos separately. Sorry !

I was shocked to see the crowds all through the day busily gambling - some looked very young. I was further shocked when I came down for breakfast at 7:45 AM and still saw crowds at that early hour. Unbelievable - looks like a lot of people have been seduced enough to lose their hard-earned money !

I dread to imagine what would happen in Singapore. It could not be any different. Though Singapore proclaimed that there would be no sleaze in its casinos, I did not find sleaze in this Macau Resort as well. May be it is new, but the focus appears to be on gambling and the environment rather than on the James Bond like scenes with scantily clad women hovering around the black jack tables. So if Singapore Casinos’ USP is “gambling with no sleaze and resort environment for families coming along with their gambler father or mother”, that kind of environment has already been created in Macau.

Well, that is market competition and dynamics. The same builders are also constructing Singapore’s first casino. I am against casinos in general, and used to sport a sticker “casiNO !” in my car’s back windshield during the campaign in Singapore. Why destroy good people, tempt them into spending money on what is non-essential for family happiness ?

You can expect more posts on this trip soon !

Have a good weekend,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
6th October 2007

CAMP : Macau Special Administrative Region of Peoples’ Republic of China !