Probably in this financial situation through out the world, its not the right time to talk about any country's economy. Nevertheless, Tilo, Rotarian from Hamburg invited me to give a talk about Rise of Indian Economy. I already gave this presentation in another Rotary Club last year. ..So I was bit confident this time to make this presentation once again in German...Thanks to my colleague Jan who helped me to prepare and correct my slides...finally turned out to be a decent show before the elite sections of the German Society...highlighted statistical information about India's economy and optimistic figures for the next 20 years.. ;) It was a good chance for me to boast about my beloved country which I always do to the westerners ;) followed by a nice lunch in Hotel Atlantic... A day to remember...Danke Tilo nochmal!!
Its been more than a year, I am completely out of Student's life...the best way to get back to spirits is to meet the old classmates...Recently, we had a class trip to Ratzeburg, a small town near Hamburg...initially I thought what Ratzeburg can offer...but definitely a worth enough place to spend a weekend...we did Canoeing on the Ratzeburger lake and on the beautiful canals nearby...it was a great experience to do Canoeing for the first time...Thanks to Oli, Klass and Laura who helped me to learn a bit of Canoeing...Infact I was hardly doing anything...was busy with my Camera...they were about to push me in to the water...well they are Germans...they expect some discipline during work ;) it was interesting to take the boat on the roads and transferring it to the canals...then we did Cycling for about 20 kms in the midst of beautiful landscapes of Ratzeburg...Thank god the weather stayed absolutely fine...followed by wonderful camp fire and BBQ...a trip to remember...
Vater tag(father's day) is a holiday in Germany...my colleague Mark invited me to join his group for celebrating this day in his village...drove to his village by cycle for 15kms...it was a group of nearly 20 people...actually we played the game of treasurehunt...started from one place of the village in this case starting from planet Pluto and finally reaching the sun...couldn't solve the puzzle and interpret the map properly...finally ended up in totally another planet which doesn't belong to our solar family ;) ... we had the beer wagon for carrying all our drinks...it was fun to roam inside the forest with a group of 20 people with alcohol at full swing....followed by a wonderful BBQ...it was a day to remember...Thanks Mark...my good blond friend... ;)
Two short synopsis before going in to my experiences in Portugal.
When I was 11 years old, my mom and dad took me to Marina beach (world’s second longest beach).. an aero plane flew across the Bay of Bengal and I was asking my dad, “papa, I want to travel in plane.. will you take me”…he replied, “oh my dear, I am not so rich to take you in plane…I am sure one day you will travel to many places on your own by plane…don’t worry my son and kissed me on my face”…
When I was making my school trip to Mahabalipuram, one of the favorite spots for the westerner’s to make their holidays…I was looking at the white kids playing with their parents on the beautiful coastline of Mahabalipuram…I asked my teacher..”mam, where these people are from…they don’t seem to be from India..”.. she replied…”They are from Western world….they have lot of money to make their holidays in our country.”… I asked her… “Is it possible to go to their country mam”… she replied, “Do your duty…study well…surely one day you will travel to their country and kissed me on my face”… Let’s come back to the conclusion of these two stories at the end of this article…
Portugal was always in my list of European voyage…as usual booked my cheap tickets in Ryan Air before two months…landed in Faro in the state of Algarve…this southern coastline of Portugal has got some wonderful beaches…the interesting part is the small mountains near the coastline making it more picturesque.. the waves hitting hard at the foothills of the mountains is a sight to watch…I should say special thanks to Beate, a German who is living in Portugal for almost 25 years…showed me some wonderful unmanned beaches of Algarve…and provided accommodation for two days…it was great experience to stay in a small house in the middle of no where in the mountains…a perfect place to make my summer holidays…I cooked Sambhar and Chicken for Beate and her son which they definitely found it spicy.. ;)
Some of the must see beaches in Algarve are Lagos, Albufeira, Amoreira, Arrifana, Monto Clerigo, Sagres... each have their own flavour...all quite different from each other...Thank god sun was shining to the core...the bikinis were colorful...fortunately they were lying on the sand ;) met lot of Germans and Englanders partying to the core with their group in the beach...it was amazingly relaxing to forget all the programming variables and to sit near the beach with small moutain peaks nearby...Made a bicycle ride along the coastline for about 15 kms...great experience...Coming from a beach city of Chennai, I thought Portugal won’t fascinate me unlike other European countries..but the beaches I came across in Portugal was totally different from the beaches I came across all along in my life...one similarity is these coastline was some what similar to the beaches in Goa...now I realize why Vasco Da Gama liked Goa ;)
After saying final goodbye to Beate and her son, I moved to Lisbon from Faro...thought I have to spend my time alone in Lisbon...went to my youth hostel...boy thats where you meet people of your wavelength..the amazing back packers from Australia, US, Canada and Europe...formed a group with them and went to explore the night life of Lisbon...Lisbon has got some amazing restaurants, pubs and discos...a scenic city along the coastline...has a bridge replica to the golden gate bridge in San Fransisco..for a moment I thought I was in US...oh no...who wants to be in US after what Europe offered me... ;) Went to Sintra.. a small picturesque typical Portugues village near Lisbon...there is a beautiful castle on the top of the hill...thought could reach the top by walking...unfortunately ended up in taking a lift from the cars passing by ;) then went to Cascais, a small fishing village near Lisbon...the drive from Sintra to Cascais was awesome...a place called Cabo Da Roca is a must see place in Lisbon...the western most tip of Europe...breath taking view of the Atlantic coastline...then relaxed the fag end of my lovely trip on the beaches of Faro and finally took my flight back to Germany...
I should say Portuguese were very friendly,,,warm welcoming for the tourists in all the places...sorry Germans you need to learn more from them with respect to tourism and hospitality ;) I thought since I am travelling alone..it will be not that exciting but honestly met people from different background, countries and idea of leading a life...Yes thats what travelling offers to you...Travelling requires lot of planning, courage, swift decisions, tolerance, flexibility, adaptability which will definitely reflect in day to day life...Some people gets happiness by looking at their bank savings...some by admiring at their newly built houses...some by glaring at their BMWs or Mercedes or Toyatos..for me...the articles of my European endeavour is the right answer...
Lets come back to the conclusion of the two stories at the beginning of this article...It was always my dream to travel more than a typical Englishmen, German, American...initially I thought they are travelling a lot..its beacuse of their smartness...by goodness..after studied Economics...I realized its just merely because of the their strong purchasing parity of their currency and and after rubbing shoulders with them...I always knew that Indian analytics and programming variables is mightier and stronger than the crazy western drunkards in weekend night out parties to explore the world ;) I hope my travel experience provided some motivation for the young Indians and my fellow countrymen to lead a life away from India...
My dad’s words of travelling to many places on my own in plane and my teacher’s words of visiting foreign land and making holidays has been fulfilled in the midst of all the disturbances in this materialistic world )
Live your dreams and not dream your life!! Sathish Kumar S
Long weekend in May…sun was shining…where should be my next travel plan…searched for all cheap flights in Ryan air…nothing was feasible…just a flight to Oslo was flashing on my web screen…Norway….is it worth enough to make my weekend trip and I hardly heard anything great about this country…lot of doubts and questions…but finally decided to take a chance since I don’t want to sit inside four walls…I am sure when you finish reading the article and seeing the videos, you can answer what Norway has offered me ;)
Ryan air says the destination is to Oslo…can you believe it lands in a place which is very near to Oslo…just 170 kms from Oslo, a city called Torp ;), hehheeee...well thats Ryan Air... After reaching Torp, we took a car to explore the landscape of Norway…we decided to follow the route from Oslo to Bergen and take the return direction…did nothing much in the evening…made our tent near the lake and slept for a night…then started our adventure…I would classify the beauty of Norway in to four parts. 1. Waterfalls. 2. Steep mountains and the valleys 3. Scenic lakes and rivers. 4. Mini glaciers
The mountains in Norway are quite different from what I saw in Switzerland, Austria and Germany…the mountains are just vertical…perpendicular to the ground…and no slanting elevations….and these mountains were really gigantic…the most interesting part is the river flowing across these huge gigantic steep mountains…the water is so pure such that one can see the reflection of the mountains on these rivers…I have come across interesting valleys in my life…but the valleys which I experienced before my eyes…just been silent for sometime and realized Nature is the ultimate winner…really feast to our eyes…the lakes are another element of Norway’s beauty…I guess the whole country is surrounded by these lakes…the ideal scene is always two mountains converging and the rivers flowing across them…a reality of what I experienced in wallpapers… :)
Waterfalls: My goodness…I have seen some really amazing waterfalls in India…what I saw in this part of the globe is simply breathtaking and fascinating….would have seen almost thousands of them while traveling…no words to describe…Bernd luckily took an unknown route haphazardly to experience these waterfalls…ultimately ending in one of the best sceneries which I experienced in my life…will reside in my eyes forever…infact we also faced the most difficult situation in our trip because of these waterfalls…;)
Glaciers were quite small enough unlike Switzerland’s Jungfraujoch….passing across them by Car was a lovely and romantic experience…Unfortunately we didn’t have any girls in our trip L. The most interesting part is, there weren’t any inhabitants to enjoy this part of the nature…hardly we found any human settlements in these areas…the original beauty of the Nature is preserved simply because there are no human settlements…
Norway, undoubtedly one of the most expensive countries in the world… I should dedicate a separate paragraph for this ;) Now I understand why they don’t want to switch from Norwegian Kroners to Euros… for e.g. we have to travel in Train for 5 minutes…a normal ticket in any part of the world would cost a penny…it costs around 6 euros for 5 minutes travel…. A bottle of beer costs 9 euros…I could imagine what will be the expenses for others…A taxi driver sitting next to me…opens an Ipod…just shakes two times….opens a facebook account and sends a mail to his girl friend…;) I guess the economy has become really strong and deadly after they found lot of off-shore oil wells…I had an idea that Switzerland is the beautiful country of the world….I am sure Norway is no doubt equal in par with Switzerland in terms of landscape and the expenses ;) People also compare Norway and New Zealand with respect to same landscape….Norway in Northern hemisphere and New Zealand in Southern hemisphere…will let you know whether both the countries are same in a couple of years… ;)
These landscapes are fascinating for holidays…couldn’t imagine of leading a life there…sun sets at 10 or 11 in the evening and rises at 3 or 4 in the morning during summer…quite opposite in winter with day light only for 3 to 4 hours… A heaven in summer becomes suicidal during winter…its quite obvious why Scandinavians have high amount of suicidal rates in the world…Could realize people drinking really hard when compared to other Europeans…thought could meet lot of blondies in Norway.. oh god first of all I couldn’t find even any human species…then how come blonds..:D It was a great company with Rakesh, Bernd and Hemant…we really complemented each other during our different phases of our trip ;)
To sum it up, Norway – Nature untouched, most expensive country of the world, lack of inhabitants, must see place in Europe…road trip from Oslo to Bergen probably one of the best road trips one could ever imagine in life…a country which I had no expectation offered me something which will reside in my life forever… Life is beautiful even with out girls when nature speaks ;)
Life goes on.... Sathish Kumar S
P.S. If you have made up to this line of my article…please take few more minutes to read the article below to feel what was the other adventure we experienced in our trip. ;)
I have been documenting my experiences of travelling and life here in Europe…I probably feel this is the experience which will reside in my memory for long time in my life…
Sun was shining to the core, huge gigantic mountains were blushing at us…rivers were flowing in a hurry to meet their girlfriends…the lakes were quite relaxing after long stressful winters…our Volkswagen passat was strolling in the midst of all these beloved friends…Rakesh was enjoying with the SLR camera to capture all these lovely moments...Sathish was thinking about all his girls how it could have been if he would have made this trip with one such girl ;) Bernd was dreaming about his girl friend Mariana sitting next to him instead of Sathish ;) Hemant was dreaming about his future honey moon plans of driving with his future wife once again from Oslo to Bergen ;) slowly got a feeling we were moving out of the complete human settlements and nearing the northern most tip of the planet.
Place where accident took place:
In the midst of all these dreams, we heard a big sound which spoiled all our dreams…probably Hemant was in full dream I guess ;)…he crashed the car on the rocks nearby…BOOM…luckily no damage and hurting to any of us….came out of the car to see the door and chassis heavily crashed…and realized that we can’t further drive the car.. we were standstill for a moment…it seemed like the Nature asking us why did you guys come here to disturb our peace…didn’t know what to do for a moment…relaxed for few minutes…then comes our real adventure..
Now, how do we come out of this jungle ? Remember I referred the same place as paradise before one paragraph…how could life change in a splash of a second…oh no, I am no exception…I am yet another human :) first we tried to call to the Hertz where we rented a car…he asked us to call the road assistance…we tried reaching the road assistance…but the automatic call assistance was speaking in Norwegian…heheheeee…the praise for nature with out human settlements vanished abruptly and was crying for some inhabitants :) A man with a truck passed by after one hour of our crash…came and helped us by calling to the Road assistance…then after two hours, the truck came to pick our partially crashed car…An old man with his Viking truck displaced our car in to the truck and dropped us in the near by village called Odda which I am sure will not have more than 100 inhabitants…;)
Which part of the globe we were caught up ? (double-click to get better view)
Now, how to reach our airport from this small village to our airport Torp…got a free internet in the nearby hotel…and explored all our cheap ways of coming out of this jungle…Let me list all the possibilities which we had and please let us know did we make the right decision or not ;) Remember no public transportation of bus and train and it was Saturday evening and our flight is next day at 17.45
1. Take a cab to Bergen which costs 3000 Kroners(333 euros for four persons) and the journey takes 3 hours by car. Then stay overnight in Bergen in some streets ;) then catch a train from Bergen to Oslo(100 euros) in the morning and from Oslo to our airport(40 euros). So the cost of this route is 225 euros for one person to reach our airport.
2. Take a cab to Bergen which costs 3000 Kroners as mentioned above. Take a flight from Bergen to Oslo which costs 53 euros plus the taxes which Bernd forgot to see ;) and again 40 euros from Oslo to Torp airport. So the cost of this route is around 250 euros.
3. Rent a car once again and start our trip and back to the destination. But who is the driver…definitely not Hemant ;) renting a car costs 5000 Kroners plus the diesel but more importantly the fear which we had of renting a car and driving ;) the cost of this route is around 200 euros but with risk of making an accident once again…just imagining how it would have been…renting a car and making an accident once again…in the return direction….heheheeeeee
4. Take a cab directly to Torp airport from this jungle…the cost of this cab is 900 euros..so for each person it comes 230 euros.
By analyzing all the four possibilities, we decided to go for the fourth option because the taxi driver is going to drive the car and we can continue our lost dreams in the same manner in the car..;) The other options were not that interesting simply because we felt with the same amount you are spending whole time traveling…and we know after two days, the best way to explore Norway is to rent a car provided the driver doesn’t dream too much ;)
Decided to take the cab next morning and spend the whole night partying in the small town to forget what has happened by looking at the Norwegian girls ;) Went to a bar and grabbed a beer….couldn’t go for next beer simply because we were totally beggers in Norway at that time…;) Bernd slept inside the bar…the bar attendant came and asked him to get out of the bar…we said Bernd is a German…he can’t speak English and made some small talks with the bar attendant and made him to stay…Bernd slept continuously for the next time and the story continued for one more time and third time Bernd thought that he has to maintain his respect and Germany’s image and came out of the bar ;)…I really doubt Bernd has any qualities of a German…which he is really proud of not being one such specimen of 80 million Deutschers…oh that’s why he has Indonesian girl friend. Hats off Bernd :)
The return direction doesn’t offer the same fun as from Oslo to Bergen with the landscape…our spirits were dampened, lack of sleep, money being plundered like paper notes…came to Sandeford town which is 10 kms from Torp….hanged around there for 4 hours and went to catch the return flight to Germany in the evening…
Is this photo taken before or after the crash ;) ?
Certainly one of the experiences which will reside in my memory through out my life…It was good that we maintained our calm, peace and fun even after all these jeopardy. I couldn’t believe what has happened in Norway for the past two days…It was a kind of totally mixed experience…pinnacle of fun and disappointments…well life is all ups and downs…just a minute carelessness costs us very badly...had it not been that one moment...I would have blown the trumpet that we explored the most expensive country in the cheapest way...but learned how life could take a twist in a splash of a second...no risk no fun…I think the biggest secret what I want to keep in my life is the amount of money which I spent all together in Norway ;)
It was always my dream to cover minimum 15 countries in Europe. With Norway, I am completing my 15th country in Europe with the most memorable incidents and experiences. To achieve some goals, something has to be sacrificed. I might have sacrificed some currency notes for what I experienced in Europe…well as long as the currency notes were earned with my analytical skills and programming variables who cares ;)
Probably in this financial situation through out the world, its not the right time to talk about any country's economy. Nevertheless, Tilo, Rotarian from Hamburg invited me to give a talk about Rise of Indian Economy. I already gave this presentation in another Rotary Club last year. ..So I was bit confident this time to make this presentation once again in German...Thanks to my colleague Jan who helped me to prepare and correct my slides...finally turned out to be a decent show before the elite sections of the German Society...highlighted statistical information about India's economy and optimistic figures for the next 20 years.. ;) It was a good chance for me to boast about my beloved country which I always do to the westerners ;) followed by a nice lunch in Hotel Atlantic... A day to remember...Danke Tilo nochmal!!
Its been more than a year, I am completely out of Student's life...the best way to get back to spirits is to meet the old classmates...Recently, we had a class trip to Ratzeburg, a small town near Hamburg...initially I thought what Ratzeburg can offer...but definitely a worth enough place to spend a weekend...we did Canoeing on the Ratzeburger lake and on the beautiful canals nearby...it was a great experience to do Canoeing for the first time...Thanks to Oli, Klass and Laura who helped me to learn a bit of Canoeing...Infact I was hardly doing anything...was busy with my Camera...they were about to push me in to the water...well they are Germans...they expect some discipline during work ;) it was interesting to take the boat on the roads and transferring it to the canals...then we did Cycling for about 20 kms in the midst of beautiful landscapes of Ratzeburg...Thank god the weather stayed absolutely fine...followed by wonderful camp fire and BBQ...a trip to remember...
