I am back to the blogosphere hopefully for good. I had gotten off this for more than a year for reasons from work and personal life. I had my ups and downs in both of them for a long time now and now things seems to have gotten back into control.
I hope to tell you more about what I have been doing over past few months while I was not typing in this window.
30th March 2008; Start Time: 4:30AM; Location: Merdeka Square, KL.
It was a freak IIT discussion which enthused me to start running long distances. I ran the 7km run in Mumbai that year and once more in the following year. The 10km KL Marathon was my third run. This time, not worrying to catch the local train home, I decided to spend some time cheering the 21/42 km runners who were finishing after my ’small’ run. It was a fantastic experience.
I couldnt see the first 50 finishing the race but I watched the rest till 3:30 hrs (closing for 21km run) & 5:20 hrs (when the cute girl finished her run) and I realised that the run is such a mind over body activity – it was more a mental activity than physical. It is not a competitive activity, many people run for the sense of achievement of completing a normally ‘unthinkable’ task (I hope you dont think of running from PJ to your office in KLCC everyday); for many it is a refreshing fun activity done in groups; for others it is for a cause. I have just run those little runs just for heck of it.
Today I saw a person dragging his feet to the finish line and collapsing as soon as he finished; a couple holding hands and finishing the race together; an old man painfully dragging is worn out knees; a middle-aged guy who would have normally collapsed somewhere mid-way obviously with his determination finishing off the complete run! It was really a moving experience. The excitement among people was very palpable and infectious.
For me running of the marathon was a sight-seeing experience. What normally whizzes past when you are driving, I could see it in slow motion and the highways normally inaccessible for pedestrians was thrown open for running.
KL International Marathon is an annual event organised by AmBank. You can find more information at http://www.klmarathon.gov.my
Running Clubs in Malaysia:
Key Running Events in Malaysia/Singapore
For the entire list, please check this link http://www.runnersmalaysia.com.my/events/index.htm
External Links
We started quite early on Day 4 despite being tired from the previous day of outdoor activity. We reached in time for the 7AM ferry and got off on the main island around 8:30AM. We raced back home retracing the roads that we had treaded 2 days before. Just around 1 hour to the border our fuel tank dried. We were very conservative filling petrol in Thailand. For starters, petrol costed 1.5 times that in KL and in Koh Samui it was much more costlier. However, the calculation turned out to be really faulty and we stranded on the road. Luckily we had just entered Songhkla and our engine ended dead just 50 mins from the Shell pump. How lucky can you get?
We refilled and hurried to border. Very typical, at Thai border they demanded RM 10 from all of us and no receipt!!! We paid without a murmer, you cant bargain with the border guys, can you?
The nightmare started in form of the traffic jams. Once we crossed Butterworth on E1, traffic got real worse. What routes we did at 120 on our way to Thailand, we ended doing 30 kmph!!! Everyone was returning after a the Chinese New Year holidays. We finally decided to stop at Ipoh to have dinner and wait for midnight hoping the jam would clear out. It took Nik’s smart driving cutting lanes to drop us back to KL at 2:30AM after almost 18 hrs of driving. We had clocked 1700 km over 4 days!
Not bad… but I have a long week to catch up with.. I slept dreaming with holiday sights interspersed with my next day at office.
The worst nightmare of the day started once we crossed the
Koh Samui wasnt that small an island I had on my mind. It is the third largest island in Thailand. More importantly, it is not just a tourist island. It is a quite self-sufficient island with tourism being a major commercial activity. That gives an unique flavour to Koh Samui – a tourist-friendly place, yet retains a local rural lifestyle and doesnt look made-up at all.
I regretted not planning for more time in Koh Samui. Koh Samui is for a mininum of 7-day trip to revel yourself in the local setting. An ideal trip to Koh Samui is when you go with your girl friend or wife, switch off your mobile phone and budget a minimum of 7 days. Commuting is easy locally with the truck-converted-to-taxi but it is advisable to rent a bike or a car. Renting a bike is real cheap and is fun too. Although, the roads are good, it is a little dangerous driving on the highway because of the traffic. So dont be surprised if you find bikers with their headlights on during the bright day; thats the only way that they can get the attention of the errant 4-wheel drivers.
There are a lot of beaches in Koh Samui:
There is much to Koh Samui than the visual treats. You can treat your culinary pleasures with the authentic Thai delights prepared from the fresh fruits and seafood from the island. I was pleasantly surprised to find excellent vegetarian fare when specially requested for.
Some not-to-miss activities
There are quite a few places to see – Big Buddha, Waterfalls, Grandfather & Grandmother rocks, museum.
There are well organised tour companies with daily tours ranging from 1000 – 1500 bahts depending on the type of activity. We managed just a day’s trip which included Elephant safari, water falls, monkey show, Thai cuisine experience & diving.
Useful Reading
From Songkhla, we religiously followed our map and hit the Highway#408. Over 4 hours we drove past Hua Sai, Mon, Nakhon Si Thammarat. From Nakhon Si Thammarat, the road becomes Highway #401. On #401, we went past Tha Sala towards Suratthani and got a little alert after we drove past Sichon. Around 25 km you drive past Sichon, you need to lookout for Highway 4014 which leads to Khao Noi. (We saw it was spelt Khao Nam on the road). You need to head towards Don Sak which is where the jetty is located.
Raja Ferry runs a ferry to Koh Samui and back every hour from 5AM to 7PM. Ferry was a fantastic experience with more than an hour of cruising in a relatively peaceful waters with the sun setting at the backdrop.
Koh Samui Ferry- Seating Koh Samui Ferry – Cargo
We booked hotel rooms right at the Jetty. It is not highly recommended to do so because they have very limited choices. For paucity of time, and to avoid wasting time looking for a hotel just for 2 days, we decided to book the hotel at the Jetty. Rooms came cheap @ 1000 Baht per night. Our Hotel was right behind the Boxing Stadium near the Chaweng Beach. Not a great location but what the heck, the rooms were clean and market was pretty close for all the shopping.
Around 15 km from the popular commercial hub, Hat Yai, Songkhla has all the making of a sleepy beach town. We drove along the beach and stopped at the end of the road. Lo! we found a economical and a nice hotel and bunked for the night. The sleepy town is only stirred by a line of night clubs with live music or semblance to it. In the night, we walked along the beach had our dinner and a couple of drinks.
The beaches in Songkhla aren’t great but they are far less crowded. Tourism is also localised and you wont see many foreigners. Needless to say, language is a big constraint and even the cuisine is heavily local and menus in most of the restaurants are in Thai. We were lucky to find a waitress who was studying in an University somewhere in Thailand and had come for holidays there and could speak English.
Songkhla is easy to miss and skip while you are touring in contrast to many of its famous cousins, but if you just want to get away, especially if you are in Malaysia, this is not a bad place at all.
We saw a couple of temples in Songkhla & hit the highway the following day around 12-noon.
It needed a RM 15 map (PERIPLUS Travel Map – Koh Samui), a nice Indian dinner at Brickfields and not to mention 2 bored bachelors to decide to go on a road trip to Thailand for the Chinese New Year. Nick has a good BMW and he had promised his colleagues that he would treat them with a trip sometimes and everything fell in place.
7:30 AM: The start, sleepy eyed holiday morning, we started off only to realise we were already late for breakfast. After a quick breakfast and fretting to locate the E1 expressway, we finally hit the tar around 9AM. Smart as we were, we hit the road when everyone decided to go out on the Chinese New Year and E1 at certain stretches had become Jalan Sultan Ismail of the day. Beamer was good and we cruised at great speeds on the empty stretches.
We didnt have any idea where exactly in Thailand were we supposed to go. I remembered once on my way to Bangkok, I met a beautiful girl on the flight who was mentioning about Koh Samui and how she and her boyfriend (thats when my heart broke) were planning to stay there for 2 months. When I looked at the Thailand map, I figured Koh Samui was closer than Phuket and we voted out the Phuket option. So Koh Samui, it was!! We had not done any bookings and we were mentally prepared to stay at any place if we didnt get the bookings.
Malaysian Highways are great except for the momentary botheration at the frequent toll booths. We crossed Ipoh, Butterworth and just before Alor Star, we stopped for a break. It was almost 4 hours of driving by then. We hit the road after a short bio break and sped to the border. Malaysian border is at Bukit Hitam. Bukit Hitam borderpost is extremely organised. You dont need to get off your car for the stamping, just pass the passport through one open window and a smiling person behind the counter will stamp them and return. TAKE A STAMP EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE RESIDENT CARD. Habitual of not taking a stamp at the airport as a Gold Card (resident) holder, I made the same mistake at the border post only to be sent by Thai authorities 500 m by walk back to Malaysia to get the stamp.
As soon as you cross the no-man’s land full of duty-free places, Thailand is thrust on the face with chaos. First you need to park your car to take the visas and stuff. Next, corruption is rampant. The lady office charged me RM 15o for a RM 100 visa and I had to submit without protest. No Receipts, no record! If you are driving someone’s car, dont forget to get the letter duly signed by the owner. They wont allow the car to be driven into Thailand without it. Border is open 9AM-9PM but do check before hitting the road. Building and shops start at the first centimetre into the Thai border. We stopped at the border, had our late lunch. Sleazy places start right at the border. Rooms are cheap. There are couple of good restaurants. Border crossing may take 20 mins if you have all the documents in order. (Passport with Malaysian exit stamps, car authorisation letter & relevant papers, RM100 for visas)
Bukit Hitam Malaysia Border
First Step in Thailand
4PM: We started again. By this time, we had realised that we wont be able to make it to Koh Samui that day. We checked on the map and the closest big place was Shongkla which was roughly 80 km away from the border. Thai highways are good but the village crossings make it a little dangerous for speeding. There are acute turns and hilly roads and when the rest of the road comes in sight you will be taken for a rude shock by a traffic signal which would be blushing red! Be very careful of speeding on corners and ups.
We found our map pretty useful and as long as we kept seeing the Highway#208 and Hat Yai road sign, we were on the right track. Hat Yai is a larger city and is 15km from Shongkla which is by the sea. We stopped at Songkhla
Useful links
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukit_Kayu_Hitam
I finally found a nice getaway from KL. Port Dickson, with its own little nick name PD, is just around 90 km from KL and around 32 km from Seremban. It costs as little as RM10 to reach the place from KL.
You can take a bus from Pasar Seni (below the Putra LRT station) to Seremban. Seremban is the capital city of Negeri Sembilan state located south of Kuala Lumpur. As soon as we completed appro landed in Seremban, we found a bus waiting to leave for PD. 45 minutes later, we were by the sea! We checked into a small hotel Seri Malaysia . Its a decently maintained budget hotel. It is a part of a larger chain and you can be sure that no one is ripping you of because the price list is fairly standard and openly avaiable.
The hotel overlooks the sea and the beach is right across the main road. The stretch of beach close to the hotel is popular among campers. It is a safe and convenient place to pitch your tent.
One can hire a car like in any Malaysian town for around RM100 per day. I was disappointed not having found a place to rent a mobike. Taxis are relatively easy to find and they charge RM10-20 depending on where you want to go. Hotel guys can help you to call the taxi.
Ostrich Farm : Having had just one day, we had to plan our trip carefully. We first went to ostrich farm by a taxi and hoped to finish the visit in 30mins. We eventually ended up spending 2.5 hrs. The OF is a nice place to relax for adults and for children to freak out. Apart from the regular display of ostrich, there are interesting activities like Ostrich Ride (I was foolish enough to try it), Ostrich Race, Monkey show etc.
The Winner of the Race
Cape Rachardo (Tanjung Tuan) Light house: Its a 500 year old Portuguese-built Light House, well preserved till today. A mini equatorial forest is preserved around this light house. Vehicles are not allowed in the immediate vicinity. It is a nice 1.2 km trek from the base of the hill to the light house. The journey is as beautiful as the destination. It is a nice walk through the green cover, would bring back your memories of Robert Frost’s ‘woods’. The view of the light house is breathtaking. A white structure with a backdrop of blue ocean gently merging into the blue sky with a carpet of green below, is a perfect poster material.
I highly recommend exploring the woods around this place. They will provide you some splendid pictures for your album.
Blue Lagoon Beach
As we walked exploring the Light House area, we stumbled into a really beautiful beach which we later realised was one of the popular destinations – Blue Lagoon Beach. There are several 4* and 5* hotels and condos near this beach which makes is slightly crowded but doesnt diminish its beauty! There are a few water sports activities although parasailing was conspicuously missing. The highlight of the activity on the beach was that we tried canoeing. The water is relatively still and the Strait of Malacca is kinder for the amateurs like us. It was fun canoeing away from the coast.
There are little restaurants along the beach. Its a nice romantic & serene experience to sit by the sea and have your dinner.
The next morning, we got up and explored the coastline near our hotel, we walked for miles and saw a small island connected to a bridge. Unfortunately the bridge was broken almost at the end and we couldnt reach the island. I didnt want to risk swimming because the sea was shallow and the bed was rocky.
Some other places of interest in Port Dickson are beaches like Batu5 (5th mile) , Si-Rusa, Bagan Pingang, Tanjung Tuan etc.
There is a fort and a war museum which I have promised myself that I will visit during my next trip.
All in all, PD is an excellent place to unwind if you are lover of the sea and dont want to go very far from KL. Hotels are cheaper and food is good. What else do you want ? 
Read More
1. Wiki: Port Dickson : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Dickson
2. Yahoo Map: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-map-486811-map_of_port_dickson-i
My mom made an ISD call to find what caste was Anjan. I had no clue. The funny thing was Anjan was my childhood pal, about whom I knew everything – likes, dislikes, first crush, favourite food, passions et al. ‘Caste’ did not ever feature in ‘everything’. Anjan was one of the MEB’s (Most Eligible Bachelor), serving Naval officer with all things one can admire about.
My mom had apparently seen a girl and wanted to know what ‘caste’ Anjan belonged so as do the match making. Did it matter to Anjan what caste she was, hell know but parents were hell bent on matching it.
Caste emerged as a social structure in the Indian society and has outlived its utility in most of the places. Anjan is a Brahmin (priest class) serving in the Navy and hence performing duties of a Kshatriya (warrior class). His father has his own business and adheres to the role of Vaishnavas (business class). But suddenly when it comes to marriage, parents remember what class they originally belong to.
Casteism is anchronistic phenomenon in the Indian urban society but a favourite past time of people for ocaassions like marriage. Suddenly, it becomes ‘us and them’
It would be really interesting to see how the new country with 700Mn below 25years who have entered the new millenium with internet connections, mobile phones and mobile jobs will eventually alter these old institutions.
Ever wondered what was that black substance that suddenly appeared in the Spiderman – 3. It is actually called ‘Bollywood’ . I am a follower of the religion Spiderman and no matter what the critics said, I had to see Spiderman – 3, (hopefully) the last of the series.
If Spiderman-1 was a superhero movie, Spiderman -2 was a ‘humane’ hero series, Spiderman-3 was a romance flick. Not to denigrate the movie, there were some real Spider man stunts and fantastic editing but the movie turned out to be quite a romantic one.
Talking about the bollywood bug, the news correspondent who is fired because of Peter Parker suddenly decides to take ‘death revenge’ on Peter Parker. Hello!!! thousands of people get fired everyday in America and if they had kill someone for each person fired, America would be a dead country.
I did like the idea of success getting in Spidey’s head and he ends up demeaning the ’spidey kiss’ MJ and he had earlier.
Bollywood strikes again, the silent butler turns out to be peeping tom. Harry Osborn had to end up dead to clear the 2 sides of the love triangle . Anyone heard of Sangam, half a century ago.
All in All, Spidey was a nice ‘bollwood movie’ produced in English in Hollywood.
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