Dubai in December

Spent a few days around the New Years in Dubai. This was our first visit. We were dazzled by the newer and shiny buildings everywhere.

Before Day 1, I was apprehensive of dress code - both weather wise & culturally. Turns out I was mistaken. Dubai turned out to be mid-way between India & US - midway in every way. In December, the temps were 18C to 22C; very pleasant, never cold or hot. And the general crowd was touristy, well-groomed, dressed in the fashionable western styles.

December turned out to the be most pleasant & costliest time to visit Dubai.

Gevora Hotel

We stayed on Al Zayed stretch in Genova Hotel.

Heavy traffic but always flowing. Taxies and app based cars abound. Food, restaurants, pharmacy everywhere. Dotted lines on road. become wavier near the stop. First I thought melted tar because of heat. Turned out that,s the pattern everywhere.

Metro line right outside the hotel. Wonderful view of Dubai. Got to see the Bean-shaped The Museum of The Future in Dubai at Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Frame through all our drives around the city.

Vape & Shikha & smoke everywhere. Smell overload with cigarettes, perfumes, room freshener & car smoke etc. Remember to bring your inhaler if you need it.

Gold Souk in Old Dubai

Sight to behold - with gold on display everywhere. Shops in 2-3 streets.

We did the showy Turkish ice-cream experience here. The adjoining streets are all kinds of souk - Mattress souk, etc. Reminded of Cottonpet-Chickpet area near State Bank & Majestic of Bangalore.

Dubai Mall

Dubai Mall is easy to get lost in. No markers or maps. Go at your own risk or if you just want to get lost & spend relaxing time. 

For New Years viewing, we walked from the Hotel to the mall. Traffic had been stopped and taxis stopped ferrying by noon itself.

Large crowds this time as Sharjah fireworks were cancelled. Spent the entire half of the day waiting for midnight. It was fun with the crowds.

And we were rewarded with an heartwarming fireworks & laser display on Bruj Khalifa.

Burj Khalifa

Tour to the observatory for a birds eye view of Dubai.

Dubai Marina

Visited the marina for a booked yacht tour. 

The tour took us our of the area and around Palm Jumeriah and lobal village.

It became dark & night while returning. So got the night view of the places as well.

Very enjoyable tour.

Abu Dhabi

We took a day trip to Abu Dhabi city and visited the sights.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque - largest mosque in the region and beautifully made.

Royal Palace.

Beautiful memories

Everything about Udupi - well almost

All things typical Udupi, signature Udupi region.

Udupi Anantheswara Temple

Construction style

Bricks

Also seen in other Arabian Sea coastal places like Goa & Kerala.

Coconut Totha

Uggel or Well

One permanent feature in most traditional house compound - Uggel or Well.

Actually every new house construction as well begins with digging a well for water-source. These traditional ones have a different look thanks to the large bricks. They hardly make those anymore.

Udupi name is also linked to many restaurants in India. Udupi place has its own uniquely typical, delicious and healthy cusiine. And when the people from here immigrated to Bombay and further away, they setup hotels, to cash-in on their culinary skills. And I would credit them to introducing the idli, dosa, vada, sambhar and rasam to the rest of the world. Slowly these have become generic fare. Yet Udupi cuisine is much more different. Ofcourse, no hotel food is going to match the home-cooked fare. Mainly because it is not photogenic. And also because there are some typical veggies which are not found everywhere all year round. These veggies are the ones which have 

Basale / Poi / Chinese Spinach

My earliest memories of leafy foods is Basale. Finding it in US farmers market was a thrill.

Pumpkin

Deeguje

Can there be a better vegetable than this ? We always called it baby jackfruit. I guess that what it translates to.

Jackfruits

Fruit

Leaf for idli mould

And last, but the most important identifier of Udupi - Tulu. The language of Udupi. I don't have any picture or video to capture the essence of my mother-tongue. Others have done better work of documenting it. Blogger Ee Prapancha has documented thoroughly, each step to learn Tulu. I am only beginning to use it to teach my kids, who otherwise don't have enough Tulu speakers around to learn from. I highly recommend this tutorial.

1. Learn Tulu Online : Part 1 - Commonly Used Phrases 
2. Learn Tulu Online : Part 2 - Talking In a Restaurant, Conversing with a vendor
3. Learn Tulu Online : Part 3 - Talking to your Tulu Speaking friend
4. Learn Tulu Online : Part 4 - Talking to your friend in Tulu - More sentences 
5. Learn Tulu Kannada Online : Part 5 - Sentence Formation in Tulu and Kannada
6. Learn Tulu Kannada Online : Part 6 - Tulu Kannada Idioms, Sayings with Translations 
7. Learn Tulu Online : Part 7 - Learning through Tulu Songs, Dramas and Movies
8. Learn Tulu Online : Part 8 - Online Tulu Language Resources
9. Learn Tulu Language in 7 days

Orange in Sunnyvale

In the first week of March, at the time when snow is piled up for 4 feet in MN, I got a chance to visit Sunnyvale California. What a contrast. Its spring out here.

There is so much snow, there is no place to shovel it. It’s spilling on sidewalks & roads. We have run out of place to push it in. Meanwhile, its blissful, foggy, crispy Spring in CA.

 

Californians had Orange plants in their gardens.

And lime growing in the side bushes. Wow.

Went for a walk around and promptly got lost. Even maps was lost. Had to call Uber for a 5 minute ride back to hotel.

It was a short visit. So on the way back, I did a stop-by at Google office. Google campus brought back memories of IISc & Infosys campus.

Mountain ranges around SLC are so fascinating. At night only small pockets were lit. They were isolated, far away from each other. No roads showed at day or night. Wonder what those places are ?

Grand tour downtown Toronto Canada 2018

After a morning GO station ride with my host-friend, I entered Toronto downtown via Union station. Looking up at the CN Tower I felt like I had reached Mount Everest basecamp. I deferred taking the CN pic for later in the evening. Kahan jayega ? /Where will it go ?

Here is the skywalk towards CN Towers.

And the CN Tower peeping through the skylit cover on this skywalk. I have to say I was speechless walking here.

And here at the CN Tower Info center. I did not choose to go to observatory tower because it would 50 bucks and I have seen the Obeservatory tower views in, let me see Chicago Willis & Hancock towers, SanAntonio and where not and also because I had been up CN Towers 12 years back. So I don't regret not doing it this time.

 CN Tower peaking in between TD North Tower on Kings Street.

Now the Underground system of paths between the buildings, each block packed with shops and food courts is just fascinating. Its endless. But also its unaffordable. Seems very pricy after shopping in USA & India. The retail taxes are so much, it also worth another item you could shop.

Running Room ? Here ? Wow. And I thought it was MN local.

Hudson Bay - oldest retail in Canada. Again not somewhere I would buy anything. Stuff on sale were like $163 after 60% discount !

CF Eaton Mall. Those Goose installations.

 Yonge Street at Dundas

Yonge-Dundass square

Underground level at CF Eaton Mall on Yonge & Dundass junction.

I saw the CN Towers when I got off at Union Station. It was a clear but cloudy morning. So I said, ah I will click a good pick when I am back here to go back home. And when I did return here in the evening, it was pouring Snowflakes. So I don't have a clear direct pic of CN Towers from this visit.

View of CN Tower at Union Street

Grand station at Union and this was my goodbye to Toronto downtown. And Thanks for the cherished memories was 12 years back and helping create new ones.

Grand station at Union

Till this morning, before my trip to Toronto downtown, all I was excited was to use the TTC again.
But soon I got to know the commuting trials of living in a Toronto suburb. It's not all super-smooth TTC alone. It's usually a car-drive to the park & ride of GO station. Go train from Mississauga to Toronto downtown. Then TTC for within downtown transport or taxis. Between Airport and Toronto, its UP Express. And this is the daily commute of the urban office-goer. Makes me feel like I was living in halli/village in MN.

GO Train

Canada 2018 - Quebec, Mississagua, Niagara and Toronto.