Browse Tag

canon 7d

UAE 2010: Heading back to the Gulf after 7 years

For the few who regularly check my blog, first of all — thank you! Secondly, I know I haven’t updated it much in the past 2 weeks.

And that’s because I was on a two week vacation to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to visit family and friends.

I was last in the Gulf in 2002, having spent 6 months in Bahrain, after graduating from college. Since then, the Middle East has been a hot bed of activity — both good and bad. From the US-invasion of Iraq, the war in Lebanon, to rising oil prices — a key factor for the US invasion of Iraq — and one that helped fuel the massive construction boom that left the world stunned.

‘Stunned’ is truly the only word to describe the ambitions UAE had. The leader of the pack was, of course, the one-and-only Dubai. From the tallest building, to the biggest shopping mall in the region to recreating the Las Vegas strip and all the seven wonders of the world… one could only gape at their colossal projects. And as always, when Dubai does something, the other GCC nations wake up and shamelessly try to play catch up.

But in 2007, I knew it was all going to come crashing down. Which it did. Very Badly.

My opinion piece on all that will come later. Beginning with this, the next few posts are going to document my two weeks in the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Dubai mostly).

Date: 2nd April, 2010

I booked my tickets online from both Yatra.com and Makemytrip.com. I could have just done with Yatra but unfortunately the stupid site won’t allow for one-way international flight searches. So I booked my onward journey with Yatra (Bangalore to Abu Dhabi via Doha) on Qatar Airways (because my father insisted that I fly with them) and the return journey (Dubai to Bangalore via Goa) on Indian Airlines. Totally, the tickets cost me around Rs. 18k (10k change + 7k change). In the morning, I got me some UAE dirhams from the UAE Exchange branch in Koramangala and decided to take the Vayu Vajra BMTC bus at night to go to the airport.

Unfortunately, when me and my brother headed to the HSR Layout bus stop, assuming I could board the 12am bus, I was told by the passing-by Volvo bus driver that all buses post 11:30pm were cancelled! Figuring the options were slim or too expensive at that time, my brother decided to drive me all the way to the airport. I had the time, my flight was only at 4:35am.

The drive took us an hour and just past 1am, we finally arrived.

I thanked my brother and after our goodbyes, went in. The first thing I did before checking in my luggage was declare my camera with customs and collect the customs duty form. I had learnt from my last Thailand trip and didn’t want any issues this time upon return.

The last time, the Customs officer told me there were large banners informing passengers that they need to declare anything above Rs. 25,000 in value before “exporting” it. I found no such sign or information anywhere at the check-in area. So I asked one of the airport assistants and after asking one another, one assistant offered to accompany me to the customs officer where I can collect my ‘export certificate’.

I had to go all the way upstairs with my luggage, past the immigration counter to get to the customs officer’s desk. He finally inspected my Canon 7D, my two lenses and stated the same on the form before signing it off.

On the way back down, I asked the airport assistant as to why the desk was upstairs after one checked in their luggage. He just said, well, that’s how customs can screw you over. If you check-in something you should have declared, upon return, if customs catches you, you’ll have to deal with them by paying the duty or just paying them off. So my advice is, get to the airport a bit early, inform the assistants that you have something to declare and get the ‘export certificate’.

Having done all that, I came back down, checked-in my luggage and went on with the usual process. I couldn’t get a window-seat or one by the aisle as the lady at the counter said the flight was “over-booked”. (Never, understood how one can “over-book” a flight.)

I passed the rest of my time by taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi service at BIAL. The flight was on time and I sat in-between a rather large man and a woman. Now I understand the controversy over why some airlines are demanding obese passengers buy two seats for themselves.

The Qatar Airways very-late dinner/very-early breakfast was quite good.

Qatar Airways flight food dinner — My rating: 3.5/5 (Photo taken on Nokia E72)

The main course was a meat-stuffed cheese omlette, chicken cutlet and baked potato. The croissant was quite greasy though. The rest were the usual: fruit juice, salad and dessert.

I tried to sleep but couldn’t manage much of it. So I just watched a heavily-censored version of the very adult situation-centric ‘Up in the Air‘. Since I had already watched the film, it was funny to see them censor certain words like “Asians” with “they” in the film. Oh well, playing it (too) safe I guess.

By 9am, we had landed in Doha, Qatar — also the hub for Qatar Airways. I had switch flights now, which meant getting out of the plane, hopping into the airport for a bit before getting on to another one.

Once inside, the queue to pass through security was rather large. I was starting to get worried if I would miss my flight but after half-an-hour so, I was done.

And though I was supposed to rush to my flight’s gate, instead, I got distracted by two beautiful works of engineering.

Aston Martin DB9 Doha Duty Free — The Aston Martin DB9 (Photo taken on Nokia E72)

Aston Martin DB9 Doha Duty free back — One of Jeremy Clarkson’s favourite cars

Maserati Gran Turismo Doha Duty free — Maserati Gran Turismo

After enjoying being this close to such nice (expensive) toys, I made my way to the gate which was near by and boarded the bus to my connecting flight soon after. This Qatar Airways flight was a better plane though (newer I’m presuming). And this time, I got a window seat.

Since it was just a 45-minute flight, the ‘meal’ was a yummy puff-sandwich and juice. That’s it.

Qatar Airways flying over Abu Dhabi houses — Flying over houses in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Airport air traffic control tower — The air traffic control tower at Abu Dhabi International Airport

Abu Dhabi airport Etihad airplanes — Abu Dhabi International Airport

Abu Dhabi airport inside — The only bit of the airport that I found interesting

Once I disembarked, I really didn’t have much time to look around as my father had arranged for an airport service by which someone would receive me (with a name card and all) and then guide me through the necessary procedure. Also, I get preferential treatment, which means no waiting in lines! 🙂 The Filipino lady who received me first took me down for the eye-scan, followed by the passport and Visa check and finally baggage collection. All-in-all, 10 minutes and I was out to the lobby where my father was waiting for me with a smile.

Abu Dhabi airport Acha on the phone — Dad calling the taxi to take us home

Abu Dhabi inside taxi meter — From the Toyota Corollas of the 90’s, most taxis have now upgraded to Camrys

Abu Dhabi inside taxi Acha taking photo — Father taking a photo of me taking a photo of him taking a photo of me taking a photo of him…

The taxi was headed to a place called Mussafah where my parents were staying with my uncle and aunt (also where I would be staying). Since my dad was only going to be in Abu Dhabi for a year-long project, and since he was new here, he didn’t bother looking for an independent accommodation. Once home, it was welcoming by my mother, aunt and my pesky little cousin. A short sleep and a lunch later, my parents decided to show me around town a bit. Driving around Abu Dhabi city Even though my father has a UAE license, he also didn’t bother getting his own car as he was only going be in the country for a year. So he called his regular taxi guy, a fellow Mallu, to take us for a drive to Abu Dhabi city.

Musaffah Toyota Camry taxi — Our ride, the same that picked me up from the airport

We passed by some notable landmarks, first being the Sheikh Zayed Mosque — a.k.a Grand Mosque. Just seeing it from the outside left me impressed. The taxi driver told me it was far more impressive from the inside. My mom told me it’s even prettier at night! But we had to move on. I decided I’d come back the day after to visit the mosque.

Abu Dhabi road to corniche — (Photos taken from inside the car)

Abu Dhabi roundabout buildings — Construction still in progess in oil-rich Abu Dhabi

We drove past the massive US$2 billion-plus Emirates Palace. The photos I took through gate from outside really don’t show just how impressive this place is. The Emirates Palace was featured in the movie ‘The Kingdom‘. You’re better off just visiting the official website or watching this video to get an idea what this government-owned hotel offers it’s guests. Or you could just work/stay at the neighbouring Etihad Towers to get a birds-eye view of the hotel. After a quick stop for me to take photos out of the car, we drove along the Abu Dhabi corniche. Next, the Marina Mall area of the corniche.

Abu Dhabi corniche jet ski — Rich boys and their toys

Abu Dhabi corniche Marina Mall — Marina Mall — one of Abu Dhabi’s most popular malls; houses a Carrefour too

Being back in the Middle East, another thing I was looking forward to was ‘car-spotting’. Most of the world’s fastest and most expensive cars can be found here. While I did spot a few older Porsche’s, they are no match for the über-impressive Nissan GTR.

Abu Dhabi Nissan GTR — The first one I spotted on this trip… there would be many more

Abu Dhabi corniche office buildings — Sorry, I’m a sucker for good architecture. Thus so many photos of buildings.

Then we got down as my parents wanted to do a bit of shopping. Which gave me the first chance of actually walking about town. An hour or so later, we headed back home… and on the way back home, saw the Shaikh Zayed Mosque ‘at night’. Driving back, I was happy to be in the Gulf again and looking forward to the next few days. Everything just got bigger and taller in the past 7 years and all I kept thinking to myself was — how glad I was that I invested in a wide-angle lens! You so need it here! I ended my day with one other thing I love (and missed) about the Gulf…

Musaffah Lebanese shawarma stand — … the food!

13 more days to eat. Oh the joy!

Read the rest of the posts in this series:

UAE 2010: Driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai (& back)

UAE 2010: Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

UAE 2010: Heading to Dubai by bus; checking out Bur Dubai

UAE 2010: Dubai Mall (Aquarium, Underwater Zoo & Gold Souk) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Burj Khalifa, At the Top (and Wafi Mall) – Part 2

UAE 2010: Mall of Emirates and Times Square Center

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Dubai Marina, Jumeirah, The Walk and David Guetta concert – Part 2

UAE 2010: Showing my parents the sights of Dubai; inside Ibn Battuta Mall

UAE 2010: From the desert sands of Abu Dhabi to the corniche

UAE 2010: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – Ferrari World and Yas Marina Circuit

Gokarna 2010: Day 3 – Where to stay on Kudle and Om Beach

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Mar 18, 2010
/
Gokarna, India, Travel

Date: 1st March, 2010

Since this was my last day in Gokarna, and since I was all by myself, I decided to do things at my own pace.

Woke up at around 10am, did my business in the common restrooms, paid for my room/hut and then checked out. Stocked up on water and said my goodbyes to the staff at Sunset Cafe.

My second post has photos of Sunset Cafe but if you want to call for reservations, the numbers mentioned on the card they gave me are: (0) 94485 26270 & (0) 93410 79315. They have huts and rooms with prices starting from Rs. 250 onwards.

I thought I’d be of service to my readers and friends by checking out a few other hotel options that looked like decent places to stay on Kudle beach.

By far the most expensive hotel on Kudle Beach is Hotel Gokarna International.

Kudle beach Gokarna International hotel — Hotel Gokarna International, Kudle Beach

And by ‘expensive,’ I mean this is the only proper hotel on Kudle beach. Just about everything else offers simple huts and small bricked rooms. Rates here range from Rs. 1200 ($26/€19) to Rs. 1500 ($33/€24) for double rooms. Not all rooms face the sea — so you can imagine which ones cost more. Hotel Gokarna International has a bar and a restaurant serving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. And don’t worry, no shared bathrooms here.

Kudle beach Sangria cafe guesthouse — Sangria Guesthouse, Ph: 08386329266 (Rate: Rs. 200 – Rs. 800)

Kudle beach pineapple pieces — Pineapple trash on beach (free)

Next up is a funky little place called Jazzmin Cafe & German Bakery. They were fairly accommodating and asked me to take as many photos as I wanted. So I did.

Kudle beach Jazzmin cafe rooms — The two huts right in front have attached toilets

When I questioned them on prices, they told me it’s best I e-mail them with my “requirements” (e-mail: jazzmincafe@yahoo.com).

Kudle beach Shivprasad guesthouse — This is right next to Jazzmin and the first ‘hotel’ you’ll come across on Kudle

At the other extreme end of Kudle beach is Ganga Cafe, which looked like a pretty decent place too but I couldn’t have been bothered to walk all the way there with all my bags in the hot sun. Sorry.

UPDATE: A reader who visited in December 2017 was kind enough to share some numbers of places to stay on Kudle beach:

Sangrila Cafe – 9611846251, 9535214217
Sun Shine Cafe – 9686730995
Sea View – 8884397213
Shree Umamaheshwara Cottage – 8884073066, 9343596569
Sea Rock Cafe – 9916729466, 7829814881
Goutami Prasad Restaurant & Guesthouse – 9886897597, 9741397597

So with all my bags in tow, I made my way up the rabbit hole for the last time.

I took it slow as with a laptop on my back, a camera bag on the left shoulder and a tripod on the other — it was literally back-breaking.

I then took the same path over the hill to Om Beach, which is where I decided I’d spend the day before heading back to town. The reason I opted to stay back one more day was to take a lot of videos on my camera (Canon 7D). Of course, I did take photos in between.

Om beach rocks panorama — A panorama comprised of 5 shots

It was already past noon by the time I reached Om Beach so I decided to have an early lunch. I walked into Namaste Cafe, by far the most popular joint on Om Beach and a preferred stay for many who tend to book rooms in advance.

Their restaurant was quite busy as well.

Om beach seafood tandoor platter — Seafood tandoor platter, Rs. 200. Very good!

Om beach Namaste Cafe kitten — And wherever Mithun eats seafood, comes thy kitten

Om beach sleeping puppy — …. and sleeping pups.

Namaste Cafe has a variety of rooms from basic huts to air-conditioned rooms and prices start from Rs. 200 upwards. For more information, call (08386) 257141/ (0) 94481 53643.

Om Beach attracted bus loads of people that day, guessing because some people got holidays for the festival of Holi.

After a long & lazy lunch, I decided to walk up Om Beach and climb up the path to Half-Moon beach. So I asked my waiter if I could leave my laptop bag at a safe location at the restaurant itself. After doing so, with my tripod and camera bag, I set off once again.

I had to wear socks this time as my feet were getting blisters and scratches from my floaters and from walking barefoot on the sand.

Om beach 3 stray dogs — Everyone gets lazy in Gokarna

Om beach Gokarna kayak rental — Kayak rentals on Om beach

I took the same path we took the day before.

I stopped at the point from where if you were to take a left turn, you would be on the path to Half-Moon beach.

Om tree point panorama — I decided to walk up all the way to that tree point…

Me tree Om beach hill — … and just sit there for some time

As it was nearing 5pm, I decided to head back to Om beach.

Om beach fat woman bikini — The large one is a woman by the way

Back at Namaste Cafe, I collected my laptop bag, washed up, cooled off with a lime soda and then made my way up to the auto stand.

Got into one, and saw the beautiful coastlines of Gokarna one last time while I made my way back into town.

Since I had some time to kill before my boarding the bus, I went to the Gokarna beach area for some photographs.

Gokarna beach Appu tattoo well ad — “Appu Tattoo: You won’t BELIEVE where all we can give you a tattoo!”

Gokarna Shree Venkataraman temple — Shree Venkataraman temple: Sending your messages to god — and parcels for your uncle too!

Hotel Gokarna International town — Hotel Gokarna International in town

By this point, my camera battery was dying from all the video I recorded during the day. But I couldn’t help but click these posters.

I don’t know what the play was about but I would’ve loved to have found out. Going by their faces I’m guessing it involves killing the make-up artist.

After this, I switched off my camera and made my way to bus. The VRL buses begin at the same spot they drop you in the morning coming from Bangalore. By 6:45pm, it makes it’s way to the town office where it picks up the remaining passengers.

I took this opportunity to go out and grab some grub. I had a sudden yearning to have some ice cream but some stores ran out. Others pointed me to an old rustic coffee shop up the road.

As I patiently waited for the old man at the counter to finish tabulating his bills, I asked for “ice cream”. And then he ran down the list of flavours he had. Going by what he listed, I realized this was home-made ice cream and not the usual mass-produced artificially-flavoured stuff.

I opted for a scoop of mango and he packed one up in a generic ice cream cup with a lid and spoon. All this for how much? Rs. 6 ($0.13).

Gokarna homemade ice cream — It was yum!

In many ways, Gokarna feels like it’s stuck in time. A time and a place where you can get a cup of ice cream for just Rs. 6, where ATMs aren’t available in every nook & corner and amenities are basic at best.

The very same reasons I seemed to love Gokarna. It may not remain like this forever, that’s for sure, but I’m sure about one thing — I’m definitely coming back!

Book Gokarna hotels at Booking.com

Previous posts in this series:

Gokarna 2010: Day 2 – Gokarna town, Kudle Beach and Sunset Cafe

Gokarna 2010: Day 1 – Trekking from Kudle -> Om -> Half Moon -> Paradise beach

Gokarna 2010: Day 2 – Gokarna town, Kudle Beach and Sunset Cafe

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Mar 14, 2010
/
Gokarna, India, Travel

Date: 28th February, 2010

The next day, we woke up and checked out of our rooms as we were going to be out & about until lunch. We took another small hut at Sea Rock cafe (but slightly better than the Rs. 100 one) to dump our bags — & I needed one for myself as I was going to be spending one more night here. This one cost Rs. 200 ($4). We paid the lady and then headed to town.

We took an auto (cost us Rs. 150) but we couldn’t call the guy who took us yesterday as there is no mobile network coverage on Kudle beach (Airtel and Vodafone — don’t know about the rest).

Gokarna town is a stark contrast from the popular beaches of Gokarna. Conservative, religious, predominantly-Brahmin, laid back. And lots of cows.

We got dropped near the main temple and since it didn’t look like anything we hadn’t seen before, we didn’t bother going in.

So we just walked around it and headed to the beach.

Gokarna town alley black white — Just tried black & white on this one

You’ll find small stores selling jewelry, beads, fashion accessories and godly merchandise among a few restaurants en route to the beach.

Gokarna beach panorama — Gokarna beach: Panorama comprised of 8 shots

This is the main beach in Gokarna and it’s quite a big stretch. It’s where the locals throng and visiting pilgrims frequent the most.

And because of that, it’s also the most trashed and crowded beach in Gokarna. We didn’t bother checking it out or walking down the stretch as it really didn’t offer anything special. So we headed back.

We had plans to rent bikes and head for Murudeshwar, which was 80kms from Gokarna but we dropped it in case we were late in getting back. All except I were returning to Bangalore that day and the bus was at 7:15pm. In case you wanted to know, the bikes cost Rs. 300 and above, depending on the kind of bike you want (or at least that’s what the renters told me.)

We roamed around town in search of ATMs.

After withdrawing money from the State Bank of India (there was also a Karnataka Bank ATM), we headed back to Kudle beach for lunch. You won’t find restaurants selling the kind of food you get at Om, Kudle, etc. in Gokarna town. Most eateries are strictly vegetarian.

Gokarna beach auto ride to Kudle — Gokarna beach in the distance

Kudle beach panoramic view — Kudle beach from high above

Once we got back to our room, we checked out again. Why?

Well, there’s an old guy at Sea Rock Cafe who is always drunk and high. The previous night he was chasing a young couple and hurling abuses at them in Kannada. He chased them walking but when they stopped, the old man stopped. Basically he was drunk and was causing a ruckus. But fell short of actually hurting anyone.

Well, he did it again in the afternoon. First joking and then again hurling abuses at everyone. Then he turned his attention to us. He never touched us but we were getting very annoyed. Finally our Kannadiga friend had enough and went to complain to the lady who basically runs the place.

Instead of doing something about their old man, she instead gave our money back and told us if we wanted to leave, we could. So we did.

And then we went next door. We asked Sunset Cafe if they had a room for just me and they showed me a Rs. 250 hut. It was sooooo much better that we didn’t hesitate. We took it, dumped our bags in there and then sat at the cafe for lunch.

Sunset cafe Kudle beach Gokarna — Sunset Cafe on Kudle beach

It was 4pm and we had plenty of time until my friends had to leave to catch their bus. So we began our long (and lazy) lunch.

Sunset cafe chicken sandwich — Chicken sandwich, Rs. 85 (very good for the price)

As the sun moved towards us, we moved a table away from it.

Sunset cafe Kudle beach Gokarna Ramesh — Ramesh lazing while waiting for food to arrive

Sunset cafe hairy chest guy — That’s not a grey t-shirt he’s wearing. Just sayin’.

Sunset cafe Kudle beach seafood pizza — Seafood pizza, Rs. 120 (really good!)

Sunset cafe Kudle beach pizza cat — Sharing seafood pizza with hungry kitten. Hmm…

Come 6 ‘o’ clock, it was time for my friends to collect their bags and head for their buses. So I walked with them until the end of the stretch.

I guess what I liked about Gokarna best were the beaches but also, the kind of people who thronged this place. Take for example these Swiss hippies. One of them was playing a instrument called Hang. It was a unique sound produced on a steel vessel-like instrument. Check it out:

I liked it so much, I even bought the guy’s CD.

After we said our goodbyes and I walked back.

Sunset cafe Kudle beach Gokarna hippies — Hippies watching the sun set listening to the Hang

After sun set, I took bath in the common washrooms (as most huts don’t have an attached toilet) and watched the movie ‘City of God‘ on my laptop. (Very good movie by the way)

After that, I attempted night photography.