December 13, 2005
Back from the Wonderlands!
My sincere apologies for a week’s delayed post. I’ve never had a more tiresome 7 days. Jet lag, early morning classes, tests, ugh! Now I know the price to be paid for taking a most pleasurable vacation in the midst of the term. But I did have a good come back since the day I returned was traditional day at college. So I got to dress up in a sari and rock the day with total fun and a blow-the-roof dance session. And now, the trip.
What can I say? London, Aberdeen, Dubai. Three amazing places that I truly enjoyed visiting, especially London. I have completely fallen in love with that city. I’m even considering going there for further studies. It’s like this land of wonders where everywhere you turn there is a piece of history to be admired. There are a million things to see: The Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Madame Tussaud’s museum, Baker street, the list is endless. In terms of shopping, although everything was too damn expensive at Oxford street, I managed to get a few rather pretty outfits at M&S and BHS. London looks brilliant at night with the streets lit up by decorative lights. I took a ride in the London Eye from where you’re supposed to be able to see the whole of London. I don’t really know all the spots but the view was beautiful. I managed to find most of the places I knew about, so it was quite an experience.
The best part for me was travelling by the tube. The elevators are just mind-blowing. They go almost three levels down! We’re talking core of the earth :-). At ground level you can even feel the trains moving below you! My brother and his friend taught me everything there was to know about the trains. Now I could actually go there by myself and do perfectly fine. It’s all very simple, really. All you need is to follow the signs and buy yourself a ticket. Then you can manage to get around the entire place quite easily. Another cool thing is that they’ve provided a semi-circular space in the underground corridors for musicians or people who wish to portray their musical talents. Of course, in India, people don’t need any space for their musical “talentsâ€. We get them straight in our compartments ;-).
At Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, I got to take pictures with most of my favourite actors and personalities including: Pierce Brosnan, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, George Clooney, Amitabh Bachchan, Simon Cowell, Julia Roberts, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey Princess Diana and Prince William. It was almost like seeing the real thing except that they couldn’t speak. I even joked later on that I actually met Prince William at the Buckingham Palace. And some of them even believed me! There was also a horror section which had live actors. So whenever we turned a corner there would be these whispered words and suddenly this freak would jump out of nowhere, scaring the daylights out of us.
221, Baker Street was a very interesting place to see. Imagine a fictional character and his life being put in front of you in 3D format. The house had everything from the book: the furniture, gadgets, bedrooms, hall, even the bathroom and scenes and characters from some of the cases. They let the tourists pose as Sherlock Holmes or Watson along with their respective hats and Holmes’ pipe or the newspaper and magnifying glass. My brother, being a major Holmes fan, had a total blast there.
We visited a couple of parks too and I finally got to see some dogs there. After living in Mumbai where stray dogs are a common sight, London seemed quite dog-less. Of course there are dogs, they’re just not stray and hence are mostly at the parks with their owners. These parks were truly amazing to look at. So peaceful and lovely. I could imagine sitting around and listening to music, reading a book or just walking around. What a dream! There were lakes inhabited with all sorts of ducks and swans and I even got to feed them. I’m telling you, I’m going there for sure just to live that sort of life.
All in all, London was a great place and even though the weather was cold, I enjoyed myself. There was a feeling of homeliness around me.
Moving on to Aberdeen, Scotland. We took the train ride to the city and the view throughout was breathtaking. I could actually see a proper blue-green sea. The minute I set foot on the platform, I was hit by a gush of wind that nearly knocked me off my feet. It was bitterly cold. And then, it snowed. I’m talking real, crushed ice flakes falling from the sky like bits of cotton. It was first time I’d seen snow. Definitely the best welcome I have ever got. Actually, I want to thank my friends for that. They prayed that it would snow when I was there. Thanks, you guys. Anyway, Aberdeen is a small town, filled with greenery and flora, where most of the space is taken up by the University and its campuses which are HUGE! We stayed at my brother’s apartment along with his roommates. It was a bit of a squeeze but they adjusted graciously. My brother’s convocation went off quite well. It was the typical robe and cap routine but interesting to see in reality. My brother was happiest on that day and my parents were bursting with pride and by his side all the time. I didn’t really know what to say. My happiness and pride for him was written on my face. I just let them have the moment.
I saw my brother’s campus which had one of the biggest hospitals within. The most thrilling part was seeing the library. It was complete with classics in their original and translated languages, journals, original journals, books on practically every subject and a DVD section. A bookworm’s paradise. I think another big thing to see there are the super-duper departmental stores. We shopped at Morrison’s where my brother works part-time and Asda, a shopping village in itself. I like Aberdeen too. The cold put me off a little but I will go there in spring to see its true beauty. Yes, it was a lovely place.
Finally, Dubai. The land of malls is all I can say. I mean, if one were to trip and fall from the exit of one mall, they would land at the footsteps of another one. This was the place I most anticipated on coming to. I was born in Sharjah actually, but we lived at Dubai for the first six years of my life. My childhood hometown with so many memories attached to it. To be honest, I couldn’t remember much of Dubai as a place but I do remember my old residence and school. I saw my best friend from the old days and he looks exactly the same from when I’d left Dubai, except that he’s grown taller. He has an astounding voice. A cross between Elvis and Ronan Keating. I also met my parents’ old friends and we had this reunion dinner where I saw all of their kids. Boy, the way people grow up in a decade. It was so weird. I was lost for words with them. But my parents talked like they’d never left in the first place. They were back in 1994.
One of the things that I found interesting in Dubai were the “abras†which are boat-ferries that take you across from one part of the city to the other. There are no trains there, so it works out quite well. Another thing is the Gold Souk. This is basically a street filled with gold and diamond shops. The street literally glitters at night. Very unique.
I would have liked to stay on longer and go back to school to see all my old friends whom I’ve forgotten completely. Ironically, all of them remember me! Talk about the unexpected! I’ve just realised how much I underestimate myself with my friends.
Of course, I probably enjoyed more than anything in the airport executive lounges where I could eat and drink to my fill anything that pleased my stomach. And on the flight, I got to watch a lot of movies, old and new that I never got to see before like: Charlie and the chocolate factory, Madagaskar, Finding Neverland, Crash, Ring II and a couple of others too. Obviously we were given special assistance and all the delicious delicacies one could ask for. I felt like a queen the entire 20 hrs of flight to and fro.
Sometimes, I wish I could have taken some really close friends with me and showed them what life could actually be like, what it was to really live, to see a world of brands, style, vogue, dreams! Oh well, may be I will someday, when and if I have the money. For now they’re probably happy enough with the chocolates I’ve so generously parted with. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I have brought back the most mouth-watering, mind numbing and pleasureable selection of chocolates that anyone could imagine. And I’m talking dark, swiss chocolate. Ah, bliss! Well, that’s it. The experience of a lifetime. I hope I have inspired all of you enough to visit at least one of these places if you haven’t done so yet. I’ll write more about the movies I watched next time. Laterz.
Coming Soon : Pics
P.S. There might be delayed posts now on as my exams are nearing and time is quite limited, so kindly understand.
Warshhhh at 12:02 am
5 Comments
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Hi
You forgot to mention about your place of birth being Sharjah - one of the United Arab Emirates.
Some photos could have helped us wander around virtually to the places you visited.
Well written I must say!!
Comment by: Vati December 13, 2005 @ 2:33 pm
Holla & Welcome Back!!!
Well, there is only one thing I want to say… While readin’ I could simply visualize as it’s wonderfully expressed… =)
Cheers!!!
Comment by: ArNiE... December 14, 2005 @ 3:27 pm
I haven’t read the post yet but this is surely a long one…well here I go…
Comment by: Ashish December 14, 2005 @ 11:13 pm
Hmm…long trip. Thats good. And nice that you saw the best places to see at the best possible time. Winter kinda makes places better…except for Dubai I guess….laterz…..
Comment by: Ashish December 14, 2005 @ 11:19 pm
sweeeeeeeeeeeet. i don’t know why you’re complaining about comments, you got people commenting before and after they read
glad to see you had such a great time.. more importantly that you realised that beign a ‘frog in the well’ is nice, but being a ‘fish in the ocean’ is so much more amazing. i can see where pix would help :).. i’ll try to get something better for you set up than flickr
beautiful write-up.. you should seriously think about developing this.
Comment by: SEV December 16, 2005 @ 3:04 am