Denmark/ Dansk – bicycles, environment, and engineering

My first impression of Copenhagen was the bikes. There are bikes everywhere! I did land at 7 am so was in the city and peak time, and was amazed to see all the bikes zooming around. There were business people on bikes, parents pushing kids in little trailers in front of bikes, kids on bikes etc.

So many bikes!!

Bike riding is easy in Copenhagen – our tour guide told us that:

(a) cars are exceedingly expensive here (100% tax rate), 

(b) car parking in Copenhagen is a nightmare, and

(c) Copenhagen is flat as a tack. 

The old Danish saying goes that if you lose a dog in Copenhagen, you’ll still see it running a few days later as there are no hills or valleys for it to be hidden by! The city also makes it easy by having three separate lanes (cars, bikes, pedestrians).  The city share bikes are high quality with both an electric motor (if required) and an inbuilt GPS/trip computer. I didn’t hire a bike, but if there’s a place to do it, this would have been it.

Share electric bicycle

A quick tip which I picked up from TripAdvisor was that showers were at the DGI Byens swimming centre opposite Central Station.  This was worthwhile to know, as after 20+ hours of flying, a nice hot shower really helps! Central Station was also useful in that I could store my luggage in a locker, meaning I was free to explore the city.

Danish pastry for breakfast

After my hot shower, and breakfast – a Danish pastry of course (!!) – I took a walking tour with Hans Christian Anderson tours.  The guide – a self confessed eccentric called Richard, guides you expertly around the older parts of Copenhagen in the character of Denmark’s most famous author, Hans Christian Anderson.  HC Anderson (the real one, not the tour guide) was a cobbler’s son who wanted to be an actor, but unfortunately failed. Instead he started writing fairy tales, ostentiously aimed at children, but also with deeper meanings for adults. His stories include The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and of course, the most famous Little Mermaid. 

 

Richard surprised me by speaking in Hindi – turns out that in his youth he had lived with a Guru in Varanasi!  We also visited the Church in with “our Mary” wedded Prince Frederick. The Church was surpsingly Spartan and simple for being the main church of Copenhagen. There was one section for the royal family, but that too was understated and not flashy.

Copenhagen City Hall

Inside the City Hall. Tour guide pictured in top hat.

In addition to pointing out the wonderful buildings around the place, Richard also gives a good sociology lesson of what makes the Danish “Danish”. He presumably gets mainly American tourists (he’s supposedly featured in a famous American tour guide book by Rick Steves), and so does a lot of contrasts between Danish society and American society. He spoke about the social welfare state that Denmark is so proud of, but also added in the contemporary issues they face now with immigration and refugees. It was fascinating to hear that the homeless (sadly even Denmark does have homeless people) were all given mobile phones and taught to use apps which gave them info on where they could access cheap/subsidized food, shelter and health assistance.  Churches (including the aforemention Spartan church) allow homeless people to come in and charge their phones during the day (though, not sleep at night). 

 While the tour itself was only a couple of hours long, Richard gave me a good tips on how to spend the rest of the day. Note, Richard only runs these tours during spring and summer, in winter, he sensibly moves to the warmer climes of Buenos Aires in Argentina!

 I definitely recommend Richard as a tour guide, have a look at his website here.

Other sites I visited were:

• The Round tower – from where you get a fantastic view of the city (mainly ramps to go up, but stairs at the top)

Panoramic view from the Round Tower

• Christianborg Palace – Office of the Queen, plus site of the Parliament and High court.  This is, as expected, a grand palace with ornate furnishings, chandeliers, paintings and tapestries.  I could only see about three quarters of the public areas, as this is a working palace, and the Crown Prince required the other quarter that day. They were kind enough to give us a discounted rate because of this!!

Throne room

Thrones

Tapestry with various world leaders (inc. Gandhi)

• If you’re not amused by the display of inherited wealth, I suggest checking out the ruins beneath the palace instead. The palace itself has been built and destroyed several times, reflecting the waxing and waning of Copenhagen’s power, plus the ever too present threat of fire in an area with is perpetually cold and people have fires everywhere!  With the ruins and associated descriptions and models underground, you get an understanding of the fascinating history of the region.  I must admit I was getting claustrophobic after about 30 mins of walking around, and had to get out for some fresh air.  It scared me to imagine that people used to be imprisoned in dark, airless dungeons. Glad I’m not a political prisoner in the medieval ages!!

Model of old palace

Palace ruins

• I also checked out the Royal kitchens, which to me was ok. Maybe a masterchef would have appreciated more? I missed the royal stables due to the different opening times, and not sure if you see the horses too, or just the rooms they are kept.

• Boat cruise from Nyhavn – this is a MUST DO in Copenhagen as it gives you a beautiful view of the harbor, and the astonishing buildings. Talking about buildings, I realise that Danes really value architecture, both in the past, plus in the present.  Even the waste to energy site we visited was built with architecture in mind.

The beautiful Nyhavn ("New Harbour")

One of the many Church spires on the horizon, with dragons!

 

Even their new buildings are beautiful! Their Opera House.

•  Free town of Christiania – this wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and is a hippy commune of people who consider themselves in their own settlement, ie outside Denmark’s jurisdiction. The main “attraction” here is the open sale of marijuana, which while technically illegal in Denmark, has historically had a blind eye turned to it. However there are a lot of tourists, feels safe, but they request no photos are taken inside. Not being particularly knowledgeable in this area, I was surprised at the number of varieties available! Apart from that, there was the usual hippy fare of fire-twirlers, ethic crafts (predominantly Indian), and multicultural food.

• Little Mermaid Statue – the famous statute built for one of Denmark’s most famous fictional characters is a bit underwhelming. I didn’t get very close as there was a massive crowd of tourists taking photos with it. However, the walk along the harbor to see it is beautiful, and for the waste to energy nerd in me, it is directly opposite the famous Amager Bakker Waste to Energy plant that I was to visit later.

The Little Mermaid

Other thoughts:

• The Danish seriously care about the environment. The Amager Bakker plant we visited was the most efficient plant built, and had gone to extreme lengths to ensure that their air emissions were as clean as possible. This is a government owned plant built as a statement to how clean it could be, with the social and environmental benefits easily outweighing the financial costs. This plant is OVER 100% efficient (107% to be exact), and for those wondering how this can be the case – it’s because they use heat pumps with COP > 1.

• They also have minimum car use (atleast in Copenhagen). I’ve already mentioned the bicycles, and added to that is three train systems in Copenhagen. There’s the heavy rail, a smaller S-tag, and a driverless automated metro.  I was a bit confused by which to take where initially but people were helpful.

• Renewable energy – Denmark is a world leader in windmills (home of Vestas), and the sight of 50 or so offshore windmills from the Oresund bridge is incredible!

Amager Bakker (waste to energy plant) with wind turbines on horizon

• Danes speak excellent English. Honestly didn’t have any language issues at all, with every Dane speaking excellent English. This is truly a bilingual country.

• Danish architecture – I've already mentioned how impressed I was by the building designs, both old and contemporary.

• Danish engineering is also extremely impressive! I’ve already mentioned the extremely efficient waste to energy plant. However, there are incredible bridges (best known is the Oresund Bridge), but also the Great Fixed Belt link. Also the renewable energy mentioned earlier, and the knowledge that a lot of suppliers to my dad’s work are Danish. The first video (technically timelapse photos) shows us driving across the famous Oresund Tunnel, while the second shows us on the Oresund Bridge, from Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden.

•  Finally - Lego! Denmark is the home of the world famous Lego.

Nyhavn modelled in Lego. Denmark is, of course, the home of Lego!

A Cycle Rickshaw in Agra

This was just an anecdote of an interesting event in Agra in the evening. Feeling like exploring the city a little, I decided to walk around.

However, coming out of a reasonably posh hotel meant that I was not going to be in for a quiet walk. Immediately people started hawking things. Also people kept offering to show me around Agra in their cycle rickshaws. Initially I kept refusing all requests - but then one man spoke in English, and promised to show me around for Rs 10 ($0.30 Aus). I finally agreed and he took me around.

After some general banter, the rickshaw wallah asked where I came from. I replied that I was from Chennai. He then asked me if I had studied overseas. I told him that I had only ever lived in Chennai. (I didn't want to be known as a foreigner, otherwise people will try the hard sell on me and I had only about Rs 180 with me at the time). I thought I was well disguised by wearing typical Indian clothes, and trying to speak in my strongest Indian accent!

Anyway, he then asked if I wanted to go to any shops. I said no. However, with a bit of persuasion I relented and agreed to go to a marble shop. Agra is famous for marble carvings (after all it was these people's forefathers who built the Taj)!

The rickshaw wallah then took me to a small shop. I was shown inside, then the shop keeper promptly closed the door and his assistant started bringing out marble carvings. The carvings were beautiful, but I was conscious of only having Rs 170 or so to spend. Anyway, I chose a beautiful statue of Vignesh (the Elephant headed God) which cost Rs 150. I could have bargained, but decided against it since I didn't want to spend too much time.

After paying I went back to the rickshaw and asked him to take me to the hotel. While doing so I enquired about his business. He mentioned that as it was the off season, there were hardly any tourists, and that he had earned only Rs 20 the whole day (it was about 7 pm). He then asked me if I had seen the Taj. I replied in the affirmative and then asked him how many times he had seen it. He told me that he had seen it many times in the past when entry used to be free on Fridays for local people. However, since they stopped that he could no longer afford to see it.
(I felt really bad - here was a person who had lived all his life in Agra, but could no longer afford to see the main attraction that people from all over the world came to see!)

I then asked about his family - he mentioned that he had 7 children! (Again I felt pity for him and wondered how he supported them!)

Finally near the hotel he told me that because I was such a friendly person, he would be honest with me and confessed that he got a commission of Rs 10 for my buying at the Marble Shop. He then mentioned that because I had arrived in a cycle rickshaw the Deity only cost Rs 150. Had I gone in an auto, it would have been more expensive. If I had gone by car, it would have been even more so! It was an interesting insight into how the tourism industry works!

Since he was being so honest I too confessed to being from overseas (Australia) and asked him how he suspected it even though I thought I was well disguised! He mentioned that my accent and standard of English was too good (really? even my Indian accent??), and that I just looked like a foreigner! Damn - my trying to blend in obviously did not work too well!!!

I felt very guilty giving him just the Rs 10 he had asked for, so gave him Rs 30 (which was all I had at hand) . I don't know whether that was sufficient or not - but it made me feel happy that atleast he had earnt Rs 40 from me that day (compared to the Rs 20 he had earned the rest of the day).

It made me feel pretty guilty that he would probably earn Rs 100 on a good day, compared to the Rs 2600 I earn a day (that too as a poor student!)

Agra

After spending a day in Delhi - we headed off to Agra. Agra was the capital of India under Mughal rule. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire

Driving from Delhi to Agra was quite interesting! My understanding of the road rules in North India is that there is only one rule -look after yourself!!! Apart from that everything else is just advisory. I saw people (including our own driver) clearly running red lights; others were driving on the wrong side of the road (it seems that the emergency lane is for driving up the other way!); lane markings were clearly ignored - you basically drive where ever you find space! In Australia we are quite used to finding slogans such as "Speed Kills", or "Because enough is enough" - but in Delhi it was funny to see signs like "Night or Light stop on Red Light" and "Lane Driving is Safe Driving"!

Although I'm quite used to seeing these traffic violations in Chennai (my home city) - they usually happen when the cars are moving at 40 kmh. But on this Highway to Agra, the speeds were approaching 100 kmh!!! It is no wonder that along the way we saw two overturned lorries along the way!

The best thing I saw (specifically for Martijn and Rebekka) were a few enterprising cyclists. As we drove along, we would periodically see farmers travelling along in their tractors (yes - on the same 100 kmh roads). So why trouble yourself cycling when you can 'grab' a lift? It was quite common to see cyclists holding onto the back of the tractor and easily coasting along! (I tried to take pictures, but we usually zoomed past and with the time lag on my camera, I usually missed it!)

At Agra of course the first thing we saw was the Taj Mahal. This was absolutely breathtaking! (Mehdi - credit for this goes to the Persian Architect who designed the Taj Mahal!) Supposedly it was initially even more beautiful with diamonds encrusted on the corners - however, these have long been looted by various invaders. (For the unaware - The Taj Mahal was built by the emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his most beloved wife Mumtaz. The story goes that he then wanted to make a similar one in Black Marble as a tomb for himself across the Yamuna river so that both the Taj Mahals could mirror each other. However, as he had almost bankrupted the state by building the first Taj Mahal, his son, Aurangzeb, imprisoned him in the Agra Fort, killed his own brothers and took over as Emperor! Shah Jahan then wanted to make sure no other building would surpass the beauty of the Taj, and hence had the architect blinded, and cut off the thumbs of all the stone masons so that they could never carve again!!)

After lunch we headed to the Agra Fort. Apart from being a military fort, it also has 16 palaces, state rooms, houses of parliament, public gallery for the emperor to meet the public, mosques etc. It also housed the jail that Shah Jahan spent the last days of his life in. After death, his daughter had him entombed in the Taj Mahal with Mumtaz. However, for giving her father that honour, she too was imprisoned by her brother Aurangzeb.

After visiting Agra I really wanted to watch "Jodha Akbar" again as it is set in this period!

Sightseeing

The first day in Delhi was spent looking around the city. This city has so much history that we simply could not do justice to it all. We drove past all the government buildings and ministries, had a look at the Parliament and Rajpati Bhavan (Presidential Palace) from outside, saw India Gate (a war memorial) and saw one of the most important Mosques for Muslims. We then drove to the Akshardham - the largest Hindu temple in the World! This was an absolutely beuatiful temple built very recently - and I think it was built completely by volunteers. There was very strict security (and I had the fun of being frisked, walking through the metal detector, setting it off, and having to be frisked a second time!) This was all repeated again when I had to got out to pick up my granny's wheelchair and enter again! Four friskings in 10 mins!!!

The temple was awesome and has a lot of exhibitions - even a boat ride which takes visitors through the history of India in 12 mins! Unfortunately we didn't go due to the queues and time constraints!

After lunch, we headed to the very sombre parts of Delhi - Birla house and Indira Gandhi Museum. Birla House is the very house that Mahatma Gandhi lived for the last 100 or so days of his life. Keeping with Gandhi's philophy, it was very simply furnished with his bed and spinning wheel. There were many displays, photos, quotes etc of his life. Behind the house was the most sombre / depressing area. It was the very garden where Gandhi was shot dead. The exact spot is marked with a pillar with the date and time of his assassination. No one can emerge from this museum without feeling extremely emotional. It was so sad to see how such a great man was killed - but as an Indian I was also so proud to see his achievements. Not only did he gain Independence for India - he also did a lot for India's social reformation with his philosophies (ahimsa) equality of men and women, the equality amongst castes, and kindness to all living things such as animals.

The Indira Gandhi museum was also sombre - it was the house which she (as Prime Minister of India) lived in when she was assassinated by her own bodyguards. The path which she walked up has been covered in crystal - with the spot where she died covered in plain glass with red flowers on it. Also on display were the very clothes she wore when shot dead.

Although she was a very controversial leader, it was still an emotional experience.

Delhi - the Capital of India's Bureacracy!

I was really excited to arrive in Delhi as I've never been here before and it has such a long and interesting history. For those who don't know, Delhi (and all of India for that matter) has had a lot of different rulers - Hindu kings, Mughal (a Mongolian/Persian/Muslim race) rulers, the British Raj, and finally the current Republic.

Arriving at the airport, I was interested to see that the efficiency of Indians had not improved by much at all!! While travellign with my grandmother, we always ask for wheelchair assistance for her as it makes things so much easier. Airports such as Singapore are SOOOOOO huge (the new terminal 3 is MASSIVE) that it just makes sense to push her around rather than troubling her to walk.

Anyway, in Singapore we had 1 man who came and pushed my granny - efficiency at work! However, in Delhi, about 6 people came and brought the wheelchair. Then they proceeded to talk and discuss in Hindi (which I still don't understand despite my crash course in learning a bit!) and finally 1 person (the most junior) stepped forward to push my grandmother while the others each discussed and gave him instructions on how to best complete the job!!!

However, credit where it's due - this guy did an excellent job and pushed us past all the queues
;-) and drastically cut our waiting time. He then collected all our luggage (even mine, even though I was not the one in the wheelchair) and took as straight through customs with no questions! A little family discussion ensured on how much to tip him as it has been so long since we have been in India that we've lost idea of how much to tip. Too little and it looks cheap and embarrasing - too much and we'll run out of money pretty soon! We ended up giving him Rs 50 ($1.50) - which I'm sure I'll find out from my rellies was too much ;-)

However, another blight in the airport was the immigration official. He obviously felt that he was doing the entire human race a favour by being the immigration guy. He was extremely slow- ie, slowly checking each passport, then carefully tearing the bit off our immigration form we had to fill, then inking his rubber stamp - then stamping it onto a plain sheet of paper next to him to ensure that the stamp was clear, then finally stamping our passport. After each passport, he turned around had a good look at all the other officials, then barked at the next person in the queue to come up!

We then met our chauffer (such a posh word that I can't even spell it!!) who drove us to our accomodation. On arrivining in our room, we found that the aircon didn't work, so we were upgraded to an even better room! YAY! (actually I don't know if that means we'll end up paying more, or if it was a complimentary upgrade - we'll find out soon when we check out!!!)

New Trip HOORAY!!!

Well, it's certainly been a while, but I'm glad to say that I've finally gone on a new trip!!! I left Saturday morning from Brisbane to Singapore. The trip was quite good! After flying Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger Airlines to Melbourne, Singapore Airlines seemed really luxurious!!! There was more footspace than I remembered! (Maybe being in the aisle seat helped!)

I sat next to a Chinese Professor who was going back home from an agricultural conference in Brisbane. Her research ws aout Drought tolerant wheat which is quite topical in Aust as well as China (and probably the whole world!)

She had been to Delhi before, and we had a good discussion about Delhi and Beijing, and the problems plus opportunities for these two countries in the future. Apart from talking to her for a few hours (surprise surprise!) I also watched some TV. I was a bit annoyed that I didn't get video on demand - swhich meant that when the lady talked to me - I couldn't pause and hence missed some parts of the movie. I watched an M. Night Shymalan movie (but I've forgotten the name now!) which was quite weird but made you think. It was all about people committing mass suicides and the theory was that the plants and trees had evolved a toxin which they released which took over people's minds and made them kill themselves!! I think it was Shyamalan's take on the current environmental issues with the plants taking over! (Maybe there was a deeper meaning - but it got lost between toilet breaks and talking to Professor Jing!) Damn the lack of video on demand!

Another show which I watched was a comedy called 'The Big Bang Theory' which was quite good! The main characters were these 4 geeky guys who were research assistants in a university. They had the typical geeky conversations (reminded me of our conversations at uni!)! There was also an Indian character with a strong accent! I didn't see too much of him - but he could be the famous version of me!!!

I actually really liked it, and will see if I can get the DVDs somewhere - I don't think it is telecast in Australia!

It was really great to catch up with my mum and grandmother at Singapore Airport! The trip to Delhi was really good and there was video on demand this time! And to top it off, they had a couple of epsodes of "The Big Bang Theory" as well!!! The aeroplane we flew on was quite new, and really liked the toilets! On thing I hate about the toilets is the paper towel disposal. I always try to push it into the bin without touching the actual flap - but usually the spring is so strong that the paper towel ends up falling on the floor and I have to pick it off the floor and end up touching both the floor and the bin after all!! But this new plane actually had a foot pedal which opened the bin!!! YAY! No touching the bin or picking things off the floor!!!

Overall the flights were really good - I don't know why but I didn't feel as squashed and restless as before - I really have to thank Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger for lowering my expectations so that Singapore Air could easily surpass them!!!

The Great Wall and Others!

As one of the major attratcions of the world, the Great Wall was a site I couldn't wait to see. It was a grand and awesome feature. Even now it is impossible to believe that something this large could be built by people. It goes to show how good the engineering skills of the Chinese were at the time - as well as how long term their thinking was.

Some quick facts:

• Entire construction took over 2000 years (hard to imagine anyone taking on such a project now!!!)
• Stretches about 5660 kms (a bit longer than New York to London!!!!)
• Took one million people to build (equivalent to a fifth of China's working age popluation at that time)
• Also shows how powerful the Emperors of China were - and how much respect they commanded! As well as how much they feared the Mongolians!

Obviously we weren't going to see the entire wall - so we just walked on a portion of it - known as the Mutianyu Section. This particular section was rebuilt during the Ming dynasty (around 1569). The entire section is on top of a hill - so it was necessary to climb up the hill to see the wall. For the less active (lazy?) among us there is also a cable car, and a chairlift as an alternative to climbing. I myself climbed as I believe it allows you to appreciate the difficulty of building the wall much better. If climbing empty handed is hard enough, imagine the effort reqiured to carry the bricks to actually build the wall!!! I think donkeys were used for this though.

The scenery around us was quite good - but as it was winter, all the trees were bald! It would have been an awesome sight it there was either snow, or if the foliage was present on the trees - but alas no such luck! Though a major benefit of this season is that there were not many tourists and so we had a large portion of the wall to ourselves!)

Along the Wall are many watchtowers and turrets (is that the right word?). Most of this section has been preserved really well - though there have been a few restorations. After a good exploration, and many photos with friends (some of which I may email later if my friends send it to me in time - as I didn't take a camera) we decided to come down the toboggan. That's right - this time I didn't climb back down ( I'd already appreciated that difficulty before!!!) and so we all tobogganned down the wall! That was exhilarating - and would have been more so if I didn't have to slow down to avoid crashing into the people in front of me!!!

Other sites we saw in Beijing were The Temple of Heaven, The Temple of Confucius, and a Lama Temple - all of which were beautiful. (Technically that may not be correct for the Temple of Confucius, as it was almost in ruins - but the scaffolding was present - and rest assured, it will be beautiful by the olympics in 2008!!!) Tha Lama Temple also had the largest carving of Buddha from a single tree - 26 metres tall (though 8 of that is underground) - an official Guiness Book Record!!!

One warning about Beijing though is that everything seems to be under renovation for the Olympics. Whether it be Behai Park (a 1000 year old garden of the royal family), the Temple of Confucius, the Temple of Heaven or any of the various other monuments around - you are required to put up with views, footpaths and photo opportunities blocked off by scaffolding or men at work! They really do want the city to be perfect for the olympics!

Forbidden City Continued

As I was saying....

There are many museums inside which show various things from inside the palace. My favorite by far was the Emperor's Clock Collection. There were so many interesting clocks on display. Many were made in China, while a lot were given as presents from Europe (England, France and Switzerland). The clocks were absolutely amazing! My favourite was a golden elephant about a metre tall. This elephant was dragging a chariot which held the clock. Once wound up, the entire elephant (which had wheels) would turn around in circles while pulling the chariot behind. The elephant also moved its trunk and eyes from side to side!!!

Another great clock was one which had a European man holding a quill. Each hour he writes something in Chinese on a piece of paper in front of him. The strokes from his quill are absolutely perfect! In addition, there was a jewellery museum. This was quite different to Indian jewellery and consisted mainly of jade, quartz and other stones (as opposed to the gold, silver and diamonds of India).

In additon, there were also many gardens inside the city.

Beijing continued

Ok continuing now!

As I was saying, Beijing seems a very nice city - definitely not as crowded as I'd imagined. Also, the parks present were very quiet and peaceful. I feel as though there are two different worlds in Beijng. Firstly theres the modern new Bejing which we see from the airport onwards. The second world is Old Beijing - known as the Hutong - these are narrrow alleyways which are preserved from hundreds of years ago. people still live here in the same houses from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Walking down the New Beijing is very different to the Hutong. In New Beijing you might as well be in a any western city, while in the Hutong the charm of Old China is still there. The prices for thingts also varies dramatically between the two places.

We went to a few sights around Beijing - the most important would have to be the Forbidden City. This was the office and residence of the Emperors of China for many generations. The entrance is from Tianamen Square (the world's largest square and can fit 1,000,000 people!!!). On one end of the square is the Mauseoleum of Chairman Mao - where his body is preserved for all to see. This body has laid in the crystal coffin, draped in the flag of the Hammer and Sickle, for almost 30 years now! The dawn flag raising ceremony at Tianneman Square was interesting - except for the fact that I had probably never felt colder, or my hands more frozen, ever in my life!

We enter under the giant portrait of Chairman Mao, through the bridges into the Forbidden City - so called because for centuries no common people were allowed. Another interesting thing is that only one male was allowed into the residential area of the City - and that was the Emperor! All the other people in that area (about 3000 to 4000 I think) were either concubines, or eunuchs. This is a large city, with many interesting sites to see. Many of the buildings have been preserved, and various museums exist inside. The grandeur of Emperor can be appreciated when compared to the hutong just outside - where the commoners lived. (I apologise if my English no longer flows properly - a week of Chinglish will do that to you!)

Ok - the clock tells me that I have to go now (time's up!!)

China Tour

Hi All - sorry for the huuuuuuge delay in between updates!

Well, my India trip was excellent. I spent the remaining time in Chennai (Madras) and visitted as many people as I could before leaving to go to China. I felt really bad that my trip was so short - but that was the longest i could afford to go if I wanted to add China and be back in time for my friend's wedding.

Anyway, we touched down in Beijing on a freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing cold night. I think the temp was -6C. That's the coldest i've personally ever experienced. The next morning we toured around the parks nearby. It was very nice and peaceful! My first impression of Beijing was that it was not as crowded as I had expected. You see, even though the population is 14 million, it is well spread out, so it is not so densely populated. I was also impressed by how clean it was! The traffic was much more orderly than in India (still not as orderly as western countries - but much better than what I expected!) There's still a lot of bicycles around - but there are dedicated lanes for them. It was also veeeery clean, and the infrastructure was ship shape. Seeing this made me a bit sad about India. I had always used the size of India's population as an excuse for why the infrastucture was unable to keep up - but after seeing China I see that a large population need not be an excuse at all! Anyway, my time is running out and I'll have to update this later!

Bangalore Trip

It's been a while since my last post... so here's an update! Go to the toilet now - it's a long way to the end of the post!

I'm now in Bangalore, visitting relatives (mostly from my mum's side). I came here on the 6 am train from Chennai (aka Madras). Firstly, it was weird to see the streets of Chennai at 5 am - it was so clear! For once it wasn't a hustle and bustle of activity - and we could actually drive continously without stopping for traffic every now and then!!!

The Railway Station (Chennai Central) was a different story - this was thronging with people even that early! The trains are the lifeblood of Indian Transport and it could be seen why the Indian Railways is one of the most profitable Government Enterprises!

I rode on a new train called the Shatabdi. This was very different to the typical Indian trains. It is fully air-condidtioned, and set up like an aeroplane with stewards serving food, bringing complementary newspapers, snacks and so forth. It is very comfortable, Western and 'antiseptic'. It really did not have that special atmosphere of Indian trains. Indian trains are known for their noisiness and cheerfulness with travellers speaking to each other (whether they know them or not), and the hustle and bustle of vendors walking up and down selling things and spruiking them as though it were a market place! It's a pity that these experiences may disappear soon as India becomes more modernised!

Bangalore is a very modern and Westernised city. My cousins took me to the new shopping centre known as 'The Forum'. I was really amazed - I could have been in Australia! You could watch movies at the Village Cinemas, eat at Mc Donalds, KFC, or Subway, have a coffee at Java Green along with cookies from Cookieman (the Great Australian Taste as the advertise), buy cosmetics at Lush and do all the other things we do in Australia. I was also amazed at the prices - I watched Harry Potter (yes it has already come out here!) for $3 Australian, had lunch for another $3 at a really posh restaurant, and had a coke and ice cream at Macca's for 60 c. I really like the LARGE RANGE of vegetarian items here - something I miss in Australia. Pizza flavours are really good too - masala, tikka, paneer - the best of Indian and Italian!!

There is also a Nike store, Adidas store, Reebok store, Tommy Hilfiger, and all the other major brands. I did not expect it to be so cold though. I don't think I've ever worn socks and sweatshirt around the house in India before!

This is also relatively multicultural place with many asians and westerners around. They are usually expatriates for all these IT companies set up here. The Indians here too are quite westernised. According to my cousins most of the people our age here have boyfriends and girlfriends, and they 'hang out' at the mall 'checking out' the guys and chicks! They even talk about what alchoholic drinks they've had in their parties. (I didn't really expect that in India from what my parents tell me!!) A lot must have changed from their days!

In conclusion, Bangalore seems a perfect blend of Indian and western - perfect for Indians who've lived abroad. You can have McDonalds along with the best in Indian food, buy Nike or Reebok, and then shop for sarees, watch Harry Potter or the hits of Bollywood - all for very cheap prices (compared to Western countries)! Then after a hard day of shopping, there's no need to wash the clothes, or dry the dishes etc - as most people have servants to do all that!

For the family - today I managed to catch up with Bablu and Raghu. Their kids are really cute - Swaru was shy at first, then she started running around showing off all her toys and drawing onthe walls! Adi had fever, so he was sleeping most of the time, but supposedly he's even naughtier than Swaru. They really like the Wiggles, Hi 5 and Finding Nemo - Australia has a far reaching impact!!! It was good catching up with them! They live in a new area where sooooooooooooo many new apartments are being built! Major growth area!

I still haven't seen Minch or Tejas, they have been busy with exams and work respectively. I saw Picku the other day at Village watching Harry Potter - but didn't talk to her. Hopefully I'll get to see them all either tonight, or tomorrow night. I think we are organising a dinner or something!

Catch up with ya'll soon!