Arun Rajagopal

I’m back home! October 19, 2007

Hey, I’m back home after my week-long getaway to the Far East. 7 days in Thailand and Malaysia. It was not the average run-of-the-mill package tour trip. It was such a different kind of a holiday. Not the one you go and come back all recharged and firing on all cylinders.

It was such a hectic, tiring, strenuous trip – but that’s the way I planned it. And it was so much fun. All the exhaustion, the illness, the jet lag and constant running around was all worth it. I will blog more about my travel adventures in the days to come. But summing up the trip, here are the real gems from the holiday –

1. Meeting some amazing people on the road and being a part of their experiences. Cyril, Paola, Than, Muant, Risto, Anna Marie, Catherine, Lidwina, George and so many other people whose names I don’t know but faces I will remember forever.
2. Train ride on the Langkawi Express (Kuala Lumpur-Butterworth-Hat Yai) to Pedang Besar and back.
3. Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower and all those amazing places in Kuala Lumpur.
4. Meeting Russell, my new pet ‘monkey’. Thank you Cyril & Paola for getting me him.
5. Boat ride on the Chao Phraya river. And meeting an adorable boat conductor who thought I was ‘handsome’.
6. Bag-shopping at China Town, Kuala Lumpur.
7. Slosh-dancing it out with over a dozen gurls at a Phuket pub.
8. Catching 8 flights in 7 days and snapping up skyscapes – my new hobby.
9. Getting my hands on a replica of the Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2007 trophy at Royal Selangor, the factory that makes them at Kuala Lumpur.
10. Patong Beach, Phuket.
11. Lying on a platform bench on the deserted railway station at Pedang Besar while watching it rain for over 3 hours.
12. The flu, fever, infections in eyes and ears. I earned my visit to the Government Hospital at Lat Krabang. I love my OP card from Thailand’s Ministry of Health. The whole hospital experience was fun!
13. Cab rides in the night through Bangkok amidst the lashing downpour.
13. All the rides on the monorail, BTS, shuttle, blue line, green line – anything and everything that runs on rails, both at Bangkok and KL.
14. Oh yeah, the Aquaria at KLCC. Those sharks really mean business.
15. Ummm, the shopping!

It’s such a beautiful world out there!