PEI

Prince Edward Islands or PEI as it is shortly called is one of the most scenic places on Earth or so I have read. I read abt it during my first visit in 2003. But staying around 1600 kms away from it, and not with much of drivers/ interested people around, I cldnt do it then. Then in 2005, I did not want to live it alone (blinded?, probably) and this time around, I really dont care. I would like to just do it. There is a long weekend coming in April and my gut feeling is that I wouldnt find much people to accompany me on this trip. I somehow dont get it when people do not want to travel to such exotic places. Majority of the collegues that I see is interested in man-made shopping malls and concrete jungles (well, I like to travel city too) and taking pictures of themselves there and nothing more. REminds me of this guy who trekked all the way to get a glimpse of "out-of-the-world" sunrise only to see the entire sunset thru his camera lens. Well, whats the point :-) !! Anyways, I think I shd probably plan it out and see if I can make it this time around...If I choose to drive, well, am sure its gonna be one hell of a tiring drive ! 18 hours is not a easy ride for heavens sake even for a driving maniac like me !

P.S:
Do read about the Island from the above link.

On the way ...

Very often, I have ppl tell me that I must be crazy to drive so often to Chennai. Well, I AM crazy about driving, but more than that, I sometimes get very nice moments during the travel that I can treasure, like these!

Started a little late on Friday evening and the almost full moon just took my breath away. It was my guiding moon bathing me with moonlight all through the way. I stopped over at a nice point and watched the moon rise up and above until it was brilliant white. Boy, dont I love my Canon with a 12X Optical zoom. Wonder what add-on lenses can do to this piece !

I usually start very early in the morning from chennai on Mondays, and not so surprisingly, reach office much earlier than if I stay in Bangalore ;-). And these days, the vast fields covered with white layers of morning mist and a rising sun behind, blinding your eyes through the rear view, is an awesome company to drive. Well along with a coffee, its just about perfect.
We need Baristas and CCDs on NH 7. Couldnt resist stopping over, enjoying it and completing my packed breakfast @ sunrise. Pleasant start to the week !

P.S:
I shd be putting these pics on moi travel blog @ http://bim-bam.blogspot.com. I guess I have become lazy having two blogs ;-) ! However, hope to have lotsa updates coming in the travel blog in a months time when I wld be travelling a lot lot more !

Ha !

A whirlwind of a weekend and before I can even write about it, another half of a week is already gone *sigh*....Now that there arent many weekends here at my disposal, and loads of things to be taken care of, all I could ask for is time. Wish a day had 48 hours instead *a vey big sigh* !

I wasnt very keen when my friends wanted to plan for something as I had lotsa pending things, especially a coupla bills to be taken care of, however, when they barged into my house early morning(read it as 5:30 Am) on Friday and packing my things, I couldnt say a No (my problem always). Neither did I imagine, I would have to drive the vehicle for the next 45 hours with just a break for the night @ a friend's coffee estate only to wake upto a beautiful sunrise.

I found myself taking people around as I had already been to the tourist places in Coorg. Every place, I visited, I was reminded of the first trip of mine to this place. Wish those times had stayed and as they say, Every good thing has to come to an end and so it came. Be it the Hilltown hotel / Nisargadhama / Thala cauvery / Buddhist monastery, I found myself reminiscing the past memories more than enjoying the present. Except that this time around , I was driving a new Hyundai getz through the curvy hill roads. We were driving through remote villages to reach the coffee estate in the late night when we switched off the head lights only to feel a bursting peak of adrenalin thru us.

A drive for few more seconds would have resulted in an accident or if there wasnt one, we wld have died of fear. All scary thoughts ran thru all our heads and I suddenly decided to stop the vehicle in the dark on the mountain towards the estate. We switched off even the cell phones to bask in the moon lit estate wilderness.

After 45 hours of travelling, I found myself in home only for a day of pub hopping and treating ourselves to an awesome spread of food.

BTW, visited The Legends last tuesday to catch up with some live music from a band called Altered Spaces for which a cousin of my friend plays guitar for. Hope to upload the video here. Check out in a couple of days.

I wonder, is it because my days here are numbered for a long time to come, that I'm not able to keep up with my schedule. My lifestyle suddenly seems like something straight out of a novel with pubs, food, music and travel one overlapping the other. Well, whateva, I surely am enjoying it !