My First Night Ski !!! - Mount St Bruno

Skiing under lights has its own fun..

This being the first time i got the size of Ski boots right, the one hour ski was lovely !!!

Fionan(the snowboard champ) n me

Looking forward to next sunday !!! This is just getting better !!!

Chalo Amreeka - Part I - (Montreal-Philadelphia-Las Vegas)

And here comes my first vacation since i arrived here in Montreal.

This was the first time i am going to the US and that was clearly visible in the excitement for the entire trip. Learning from my past mistakes at Skydiving, did a thorough plan of travel along with all the associated arrangements.

THE FOOL-PROOF PLAN:

Here was the plan:

Montreal-Philadelphia-Las Vegas-Fresno-Los Angeles-Fresno-San Jose-San Francisco-Squaw Valley-Fresno-Montreal

Everything was set, right from matching flight timings along with a buffer to hotel arrangements to bus tickets to universal studios passes... Everything was ready beforehand.

Received a setback before i could leave Montreal. There is no fun in travel without any hiccups.

"No carry on bags allowed on flights from Canada to US. "

Paid $25 at the airport for no reason. Oh, there certainly was a reason - some fellow had tried something at Detroit airport and there is widespread panic around. And as if these measures are going to stop 'those' from attempting such acts. Well, had no option but to pay them and 'carry on' with my trip...

CHILLY PHILLY:

Arrived in Philadelphia after a bumpy flight due to bad weather near Philly. Well, this trip was getting better and better. Met a friend (BabbanRao aka Ashish) at Philly amidst heavy rains.


The weather gods were issuing a warning which i completely comfortably ignored...


I resumed my journey and was looking forward to Las Vegas, which i felt would possibly be the highlight of this 10 day trip...

SPECTACULAR VEGAS:

The exquisite view from top when the flight descends into Las Vegas raises your expectations of this beautiful, lively, 'light'ly city... Since the airport itself is located on one of the ends of the 'Strip', it is able offer a spectacular view at both take-off as well as landing. The 'Strip' is the stretch which Las Vegas is famous for and you could see this lined up with Casinos, hotels, strip clubs and anything that you may refer to as glamorous.

Keeping the rains in Philly behind, i decide to concentrate on this portion of the trip not knowing what was about to come..

THE SHUTTLE SAGA:

I take the shuttle, which operates from airport to any of the hotels, to reach my hotel. This is pretty much like any other shared transport in any part of the world. The shuttle stops at about 10-12 hotels before reaching mine - 'The Stratosphere' - The tallest hotel in the city with an observation tower on floor 107.

I get down the shuttle and go back to collect my bag - There is NO bag...

I call the driver who is as helpless as me. Somebody had, by mistake, taken my bag and left theirs in the shuttle. Jenny, the shuttle driver, innocently asks me to take the other black bag and be happy. I refuse and tell her to take it back to the airport and give her my number to inform me whenever the owner comes - so that we could exchange bags at the airport.

I was taking a risk knowing the fact that I had some cash in my bag apart from clothes and other stuff.
I made a decision. I am NOT going to waste my time behind the bag and spoil the night at Vegas and inform the driver that i would call her back the next day morning for the status.

And i check in and immediately leave for the observation deck. It was about 11 PM and the view from 107th floor would have been bright and lovely. I reach up (it was free as i was staying in the same hotel) and look down at Vegas as i enjoy my Budweiser...





The images are as hazy as my vision at that point of time !!!

It was time to get a feel of the city on the roads. Had a good 2 hr walk on the 'Strip' amidst glittering lights. It was well past 12 when i decided to do what people do in Vegas - Gambling. There were two temptations : Poker and Roulette. I go for the latter as i atleast had some chance of winning there !!!

I try to apply some logic to the game and bet on even and odd for quite some time. The strategy was working well. I was winning...

I had won as much as i had bet. But then, greed took over logic, and i started betting on set of 6 nos and then onto 1 number. Lost the entire amount. Fortunately, logic had found its way back and made me realise that if i bet more i stand the risk of going back to Canada with some debt !!



By then it was 2 AM and i realsied that i had forgotten my dinner in all the excitement...


I have a sumptuous dinner at a 24hr restaurant, which i am not able to complete. By the time i went to bed it was around 3 AM and i decide to call it 'EOD' knowing very well that i am going to have an equally exciting day tomorrow searching for my bag !!!

I get up at 9AM - Immediately call Jenny and she tells me that she has found my bag and starts cribbing about the impatient guy at the other end who had taken my bag. She tells me i was very patient - Well, she didnt know that i had other priorities.

I feel relieved and call up the airport to get the bags exchanged. There is NO bag at the airport. Looks like we still have some more fun left...

I call up Jenny again and tell her politely about the situation. She calls me back in half an hour to collect my bag from a hotel about 2 miles away. I am not excited this time - I would not be satisfied until i see the bag for myself !!!

Luckily for me, my bag was right there in the hotel Jenny mentioned. I call Jenny and thank for the swift action which made me get my bag just hours before my departure from Vegas. Actually, the bag too was not mine - i had borrowed it from my room mate !!!

After all this excitement in the past 24 hrs, I finally leave Las Vegas and head for Fresno to meet my Uncle and Aunt...

(To be Contd - Fresno-Los Angeles-Fresno-San Jose-San Francisco) )

Mont St Bruno - Ski Part 2

And the weekend travails continue...

This time it was with our Irish snowboard champ Fionan. I can feel improvement in my technique and am beginning to enjoy it !!

I was tempted to count the number of times i fell on the slopes.. Have memories of counting till 15, but then eventually i lost count !! The reason for these many falls is the attempt i made at conquering a blue slope without much experience on green ones.. (Green is for beginners, blue for intermediate and black/double black for advanced). Well, learnt a lessson and a valuable one too.

Looking forward to Skiing at Squaw valley (California) with our fellow VIT'ians...

'Bose' Speaks !!!!

Well, Athma is not the only person speaking... Got a new BOSE headset and experiencing sounds that i have never heard before.

BOSE rules !!

You got to listen to BOSE when it speaks... And you would !!!

MontMorency Falls & Quebec City

And again, the weekend travails continue...

Saturday, 19th December 2009

This time it is the turn of Mont Morency falls followed by Quebec city in temperatures less than -20 Degree celsius.

We started the day early at Montreal - only to find that we had been alloted the last row in the bus which was similar to the one that features in the famous Fevicol Ad (Of course, we were not hanging from the bus as in the ad). Thanks to the well made roads, we had a pretty smooth journey. And a pretty cute one too...


<< One of those cute passengers with us >>

What came as surprise was that it was the same guide who had shown us Niagra falls. The same one who derives enormous pleasure in cracking jokes which are beyond the comprehension of normal human beings.. We decided to have some fun this time. And we were not alone in this effort - we were supported by a Florida university grad(Remember 'One of those cute passengers' !!!) who was also travelling with us in the last row.

We started laughing every time he laughed - be it in Chinese, French or English. And we were the only ones apart from him who laughed !!! This really made our journey easy. Each of his laughs were followed by a burst of laughter from the last row of the bus... This blog is a tribute to him !!!



We finally reached MontMorency without the knowledge of freezing temperatures on top. We were certainly aware that it could be cold, but the intensity was something which not anticipated by anyone. But it turned out to be a really pleasant encounter with the typical Canadian winter.

Time for some photos at the falls.

MontMorency falls is relatively unknown outside Canada but is much higher than even Niagara falls (Niagara is known for its width, whereas this one is for its height).
Though we could not see it in full flow as it would have been during summer, it certainly was a pleasant surprise for us.

Here is how it would have looked in summer:


Source: Wikipedia

However, here is how it looked like when we went:



Then it was time for some photographs...



And some poses which can easily fit in any bollywood movie...

Haresh in one of those poses:


This one is dedicated to Southern India where i belong !!! Suppper South Indian stunt...



Some more followed:




Now it was time for us to leave for Quebec city.

http://www.quebecregion.com/en

It is one of those very few cities in Canada with a strong history behind. It is the capital of Province of Quebec (Montreal too is a part of the same province). The details of all the battles that were fought on this land can be found at Wikipidia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City

We went to a tower to get an aerial view of city and its walls (it is the only walled city in Canada). We got a decent view of the city from the top...



We were almost frozen by the time we reached Quebec and hence were not in a position to enjoy its beauty to the fullest. There was not just cold which bothered us, but also the bus which we thought had skipped us and left. There was quite a bit of drama as we were waiting for it at temperatures below -20 degree celsius. We could not see a single fellow passenger leave alone the cuter ones...
But we were relieved totally when we saw one passenger who came to the spot where we were waiting. We had come too early as we were not told the time to return and hence all the ensuing drama - We should not have made so much fun of our guide !!!


Finally the bus arrives after a gruelling half an hour wait and we depart for Montreal...

All in all a lovely first hand experience of the Canadian winter and History...

Sunrise in Montreal !!

Some clicks from our Montreal office early in the morning... YENJOY !!!

Mount St Bruno - My First Ski !!!

And the weekend travails continue...

Skiing has never been on my to-do list and hence came across as a really pleasant experience.

Saturday, 12th Dec 09


We tried to reserve our place on friday, but unfortunately there was only french lessons available for saturday. But we decided to give it a try - just in
case we might find somebody who is able to coach us in english.

We start off.. Two changes of metro line, then a bus for forty mins and followed by taxi for about ten mins - We reach Mount St Bruno. The temperature is sub zero. We are informed what we had heard the other day - no coach available in english. So we decided to go around the place and click some snaps. All the while, i have been mentioning "We" - it stands for me and a colleague Prasad.



Now came the decision that taught us something really important.

<-- We decided to walk our back to the bus stop. -->

There are always assumptions behind every decision that you take in life and this one too had some - "We could walk this distance in 15-20 mins if it took
ten mins for the taxi", "It is not as chilly as the thermometer may show", "The frequency of buses would be just like what we have in Montreal" etc.
Unfortunately for us, none of them held true. The weather was more chilly than what was shown, walking in such a weather for an hour (YES, that is not a
typo) is certainly NOT easy, bus frequency may not be as good in remote areas (what a silly assumption we had earlier...).

So, we walked for an hour and waited for 45mins for the bus that would take us back to where we came from - all this in temperatures below freezing
temperature of water.



Finally, the bus arrives - after the long arduous wait - and brings with it enormous amount of relief to our chilled-out souls(YES, the chill had penetrated IN). We could not believe how a bus, that would have been negelected under normal circumstances can bring this much relief.

At that very moment, i remembered something that is taught in all B-Schools - "IT DEPENDS" - Every experience depends on the circumstances and a whole bunch of variables that define the time that we call "present".

Finally, we reach home - tired and exhausted but looking forward to the next day which would give be one of those "firsts" - We always remember the first
experience of all kinds for a long time in our lives and this excitement was in anticipation of the experience that we were to have the next day...


Sunday 13th Dec 09

The D-day arrives and we plan it better this time. Right from clothing to bus timings to taxi timings to lunch. Everything was meticulously listed down and
we left with a feeling that nothing could go wrong.

Things were going exactly as per plan. We took the metro and then the bus and then the taxi and reached just on time at the resort. We were welcomed a 17yr
old Birtish accented kid who was our coach. It was a pleasant surprise as it is first of all difficult find somebody who is fluently speaking in english,
getting a British accented guy was a bonus..


We start our lessons and realy enjoy being on snow. This is something we had only seen in Bollywood movies earlier.



We enjoyed each of those moments we spent skiing (and also those when we fell). Suddenly, we see snow fall and we got to ski in snow fall too.. We could not have asked for more. And just as Paulo Coelho says in 'The Alchemist' - "When you want something, the whole universe conspires to make it happen".



It was a lovey trip and one of those 'firsts' which you would like to keep in your memories for a long long time...