DAY 8- WANAKA EXPERIENCE

When you know that you are at leisure some day In A long vacation and you are not expected to get ready really early in the mornings its a beautiful feeling . One it gives U time to sleep for long next day and secondly  U can sleep late the previous night. We did get up relatively late this morning at 930 and rushed to lap up the breakfast which if little late would ve been missed. But luck was on our side and we did have our stomach full. We got back to the room and freshened up and got ready to explore wanaka. Wanaka is a small town about 60 odd kms from the bustling Queenstown. We had seen a few pamphlets about wanaka and things present there  attracted  us. We went to the tourist information centre and gathered more info about the same. Bus would leave at 1130 and last return bus was at 3 pm from there and we need to book the return tickets too. We had our lunch at McDonald's some burgers , French fries and coke. The journey from Queenstown to wanaka was one more scenic journey with breathtaking views of the mountains and the township below. It has to be experienced to be believed. No choice of words can express the awe of the natures beauty when at its best. It just needs one to be there look at it to feel it and etch it into the memory forever. The blue skies, humungous hills, numerous sheeps, valley with small creeks flowing crystal clear water, the pleasant cool weather , silence of the valley all put together truly makes it a sight to remember.  We reached wanaka at 1 pm. we took a taxi to go to the puzzling world.Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World is a world unique attraction specialising in puzzling eccentricity. For over 35 years this remarkable business has entertained and amazed visitors of all ages attracted to this beautiful part of the world. Puzzling World offers the world’s first "3-D" Great Maze, incredible Illusion Rooms, a Puzzle Centre/Café, large Gift Shop, eccentric architecture and the intriguing Psychic Challenge.When we arrived at Puzzling World we immediately noticed the crazy architecture. One building has four eccentric Tumbling Towers. Another one is called the Leaning Tower of Wanaka. This tower has been pulled out of the ground and is balanced on one corner at an unbelievable 53 degrees! The Leaning Tower of Pisa only leans six degrees.The Illusion Rooms of  Puzzling World have to be seen to be believed. 

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           Each room is an illusion in its own right. On entering we passed through the Hologram Hall. Moving on into the Hall of Following Faces illusion room where 168 giant models of famous faces seem to turn and follow us around the room. there were millions of puzzles in solve on your own section and we spent quite sometime there. then there was a big man made maze with a lot of challenge attached to it. we tried solving it but then we were running short of time too. we then got a cab to drop us to the TOY AND TRANSPORT MUSEUM.The museum is the result of one man’s dream and 50 years of collecting and preserving pieces from the past. The transport collection boasts rare and unusual aircraft, cars, trucks, motorcycles, fire appliances, military vehicles and tractors.A nostalgic selection of toys has something to fascinate the child in everyone, such as clockwork and battery powered toys, porcelain dolls, teddy bears, pedal cars and money boxes.The Museum offers indoor and outdoor playing areas with pedal tractors and trucks for the kids. The Museum shop has thousands of models and gifts. Light refreshments are also available.the cab driver when he dropped us there had promised to take us back at 240 pm. we ran through the wonderful museum and came out by 240pm . but there were no signs of the cab !! the museum being in the outskirts no cab was around and even if we call for one it would not be there in time for us to catch the bus at 3 pm. we desparately ran on the roads and started waving randomly at every passing car for a lift. noone would stop of course. we felt like we were in big trouble and would haveto arrange for a cab to queenstown which would dent a huge hole in the wallet!!. minutes were passing by and every passin second made us feel more miserable and then suddenly from nowhere we saw our cab approaching and it came and stopped next to us!! driver very coolly asked if we got tensed.. i controlled myself from slapping him!! the cab reached the bus stop right in time and we hopped on to it na dtook us back the same route to queenstown. 

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after reaching queenstown we did some local shopping atthe chinese market and local new zealand shop. and then had great tasting food at a indian restaurant called tandoori palace. we had dinner early today so instead of cab decided to walk back to the hotel.we had to the packing as we head to next town in our journey....

DAY 7-MILFORD SOUND CRUISE

on way to milford sound

Eye lashes protested from separating , they did not want to be traumatized by the light of the dawn this morning, so did the muscles of the body which wanted to lay down undisturbed for some more time. The weather , the calm, the peace, the serenity of the place sent such positive energy through the spine that one would feel like being in the same state of trance for as long as possible. But every fantasy has its  villain and so did this one. The alarm. It was set at 0545 hrs and very religiously it rang breaking our unfinished symphony. We had to get up early because we were expected to be in the foyer of our hotel by 0700 hrs to get into the bus. We performed our morning rituals and had a heavy breakfast and were all set to go when the bus picked us up and we were the first ones to get into the bus . 

we managed to get good seats by default as we were the only people in the bus then. The seating would be important in this journey because this was supposed to be one scenic rendezvous with exhilarating natural beauty. The first 2 seats in the left half of the bus had the privilege of us sitting. The bus then made its way to different hotels and picked all others who were traveling to the same destination.  The co passengers were from diverse backgrounds.. from india, france, Japanese, Korean and a few from UK. Japanese and Koreans were given headphones which could be connected to the port on every seat. And translator would speak in those languages  whereas the majority of us who understand English the driver cum guide would speak. The journey would last 6 hours with one comfort break which in simple words means toilet  stop. The journey was as beautiful as it was promised with landscapes so beautiful and breathtaking with cameras clicking continuously to capture as much as one could. We followed the southern arm of lake wakatipu to lumsden and onward to lake Te Anau. The scenery changed dramatically from tussock covered grasslands to glacier hewn  valleys as we entered the Eglington valley and travelled through the breathtaking man made Homer Tunnel to reach Milford Sound.

 

Once here we completed security check and booked our lunch on board and waited for our cruise liner . the view of milford sound is better seen than read. Rudyard Kipling    had previously  called it the eighth Wonder of the World. Milford Sound is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity with water in valley. The weather was just fine luckily for us with the sun just out not too warm not too cold.  The cruise started its journey and we got into the top open deck of the liner. It was so windy that we almost struggled to hang on in there but definitely clicked some nice pics . we then went into the covered portion of the cruise and had our buffet lunch. An awesome array of buffet options laid in  front of us ranging from prawns to mussels to chicken to beef to ham. We ate all that we could and wanted and went to the front deck of the liner. Luck was on our side again as we saw lots of dolphins and seals  . we spent almost 2 hours and on the way back we were taken close to the cole falls . once the liner docked at the miniport we felt we still needed to spend more time on board but it was not possible as we had to get into the bus.

milford sound

We did just that and the bus took us back to queenstown another 6 hour journey . but the time was well spent with  driver entertaining us firstly with a dvd on making of homer tunnel which was interesting and then a movie on life of a whalechaser which was a good watch.we reached our hotel at 730 pm in the evening . we freshened up and went to the city centre to a restaurant called india:once upon a time. Some good Indian food after a long journey was all that was needed to recharge our senses. We crawled back to our hotel and after some washing clothes session retired to the bed satisfied with the day that just passed by……

DAY 6- QUEENSTOWN CALLING

The dawn of Monday the 19 dec was as lackadaisical as a lazy hippopotamus ling down in a slushy pond. Too lazy to even stretch our legs , breathing is involuntary or else probably we would complain of that too. We were leaving rotorua today and proceeding to the south island of new Zealand to the adventurous town of quenstown. The thought of queenstown was exciting for it offers arguably the worlds best adventure sports and breathtaking nature .  Phone rang breaking the pleasant silence which was hovering in the room, it was indeed the wake up call but we were kind of already up just waiting for the call to actually get off the bed. Human psychology is so amazing that even if we wake up 5 minutes before the alarm we will still wait for the alarm to ring and try to catch up 5 minute sleep as if it is going to make any difference. Some amount of packing was left which we did after freshening up and proceeded to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast . there was a huge confusion between the pork and chicken sausages and we ended up eating pork ones assuming it to be chicken. Human psychology again here.. when we ate the sausages we relished it like we had not eaten for years but when we did come to know it was pork and not chicken it felt like we were having reverse peristalsis and were about to puke out the whole thing out!!! Nonetheless it was yummy and we didn’t care much. The shuttle to the airport would arrive at 0730 hrs and we were in the foyer  by 0725hrs with our luggage . the airport was was a 20 minute drive to he suburban part of the town . 

 If u go to any small town in india by bus the bus stand u would see will resemble the rotorua international airport. It was a one storey building not more than 30 metre in width with a board displaying the name of the airport. We looked at each other in utter shock and surprise as we could not digest the fact that it indeed was the airport. Nevertheless we bid bye to the shuttle guy and dragged ourselves and luggage  into the lounge . the ticket counter resembled a village cinema theatre  like set up with two ordinarily dressed middle aged women asking u for ur check in formalities. She would also sell you tickets in case u needed one. 


After checking in  the luggage we proceeded to the lounge which ended before it started. It was a tiny lounge which could accommodate not more than 75 people at its maximum. And the café made sure that space was lessened but then it was a must there. We would get our boarding pass from the counter after paying a 5 $ airport development fee!!!  Indeed they needed more of it looking at the state of the airport there. We made ourselves comfortable in the lounge couch and then  bought some potato chips to munch. We had never come across a chicken flavored chicken chips and we bought it and had it . we loved it and had one more;) . our flight did arrive soon and we embarked it . the flight was a small 60 seater ATR operated by a low cost operator called mt.cook airlines. 


The on board air hostess greeted us with a smile which outlined the wrinkles she had on her face , a minimum of 20. Her age must have been not less than 55 by our wildest guess. And to see her serve us water and biscuits did not feel great but we had no option. The flight was a scenic journey ever since we entered the territory of the south island of new Zealand. Now for all those who are confused let me explain. New Zealand comprises of two big islands. South island and north island and each island has different cities. We had complete all the cities in north island except wellington where we did not opt to go and were now proceeding to the south island.  The flight was a 4hr journey and we decided to spend time by playing NPATC( Name, place, animal, thing, cinema) a game which we played last when we re probably 10 year old. But we had great fun doing that. Queenstown is a beautiful city with lot of mountainous and hilly terrain with large rivers bisecting it and the birds eye view from the aircraft is truly exhilarating and out of the world! 
We were just soaking in all of it when the flight started its descent and it was like a Indiana jones movie with the aircraft cruising between hills at considerable speed. It’s a sight which one must see to believe !!  the flight then finally landed and we disembarked. It was windy and chilly although it was sunny and the airport just beautiful like the city itself. We collected all the pamphlets and brochures available for activity there and collected our luggage and proceeded to the pick up . the shuttle took us to the city giving us a nice panaromic view of the city and finally dropped us to our hotel which was scenic suites queenstown . the hotel was beautiful and classy and had only suites on offer . we freshened and then went walking to the city centre and found this amazing restaurant called Bombay palace which promised tasty authentic Indian food. 

We ordered for chicken biryani,butter chicken and chicken tikka. The host was friendly coming from a town near delhi and told us a few things about the city. The restaurant was nice and peaceful till a group of gujarati elderly people entered. A group of 4 couples made enough noise to destroy the peaceful ambience of the restaurant and all they ordered were 3 rice and 2 paneer butter masala. They then asked for complimentary onions ,papads,  pickles and complained that curry had less spice and rice was half cooked  and then asked for little extra gravy and then told the hotel guys not to charge etc. We were having fun looking at their behavior but they got a lot of stares of disgust from some of the non Indians in the restaurant. We were filled upto our throat and went walking back to the restaurant to digest a little whatever we had overeaten. We then slept after a morning full of travel and food etc. the next thing we know was it was 7 pm and we were disoriented .. it took a good 10 minutes to get oriented and after a quick shower we went to the city center area.. 

we had heard about a concept pub run by ABSOLUT called Below Zero and went hunting for that and we found it. Below Zero has been hand sculpted by two of the worlds top ice carvers from North America. The Walls , bar, furniture, sculptures, and even the glasses they serve our vodka cocktails in - all created from Ice. Below Zero is the first bar in the world to feature a real gas fireplace and a life size gondola. With the bar being a controlled temperature of minus 5 degrees they fit us with super warm jackets, gloves and boots so that we can enjoy this incredible experience while still being cosy and warm.they charge a 30$ entry with one drink free . for subsequent drinks we need to pay additional 8 -10$ each. 

We clicked a few pictures and had our drinks and just spent some wonderful time there.  We then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner called Freiyas  bistro. The dinner was excellent as we had ordered some grilled prawns and steamed rice with chicken kolhapuri. It was late and time to retire and we soon got a cab which dropped us to the restaurant. We did all clothes washing and stuff and hit the bed tired but not exhausted and looking for more…..

DAY 5- ROTORUA EXPLORATION

pohutu geyser in the background

It was a very cloudy morning as we woke up and chilly too and this combination usually makes a person too lazy to get up from the bed and that’s what exactly happened to us. After half an hour or so of snoozing we finally managed to pull our bones together and started freshening up. The breakfast was ready in the restaurant down and we would have only 10 minutes to gulp the wonderful spread down as the shuttle would arrive at 0750 according to the itinerary. A grand continental breakfast and a few Indian tourists in the restaurant was quite warm reception. There was a family of sardars and a family from Bangalore along with us and we would all travel in the same shuttle for the sightseeing.

kiwi replica @ rainbow springs

The shuttle was on time as usual and we got into it .it was much smaller than the coaches we had travelled till now but nonetheless was as luxurious and comfortable as the other mercs. The first destination was just a 10 minute drive to the TE PUIA GEOTHERMAL RESERVE. The drive was beautiful as we crossed a few golf clubs and geysers and mud pools on the way. It started raining heavily as we got off the coach and the wind made it worse and we were shivering like nuts!! We ran into the memoirs shop and bought some utility disposable plastic raincoats .  the te puia reserve is a protected area which has a lot of maori historical objects, photographs and cultural things  alongwith  boiling mudpools and cascading Pohutu geyser, one of the biggest natural geysers in New Zealand. The guide explained us a lot about the maori culture, how they came there, difficulties they faced , culture they follow and also showed us some rare pictures of their ancestors who were famous for their existence. Then we took a walk around the reserve and saw the natural boiling mudpool. A half an hour session of sitting in that pool supposedly detoxifies the skin and protects it for many years.  The rain was getting harder and the wind faster but the enthusiasm to see the geyser kept us going as we reached Pohutu. It’s a natural geyser which shoots up around 25 feet in the air and the sight is just breathtaking to say the least. Maori arts and crafts institute  a part of the reserve itself  showcased some amazing sculptural  architectures and wooden carvings and there were people live at work. Some sight that was the speed and precision the men had would make even  a plastic surgeon jealous. We were given 10 minutes to shop some of the goodies they had.

@agrodome 

maori arts and crafts institute

lunch @ skyline restaurant

Our next destination was the agrodome which was a 20 minute drive to the outer part of the town. Here we had an entertaining show featuring sheep dog demonstrations, cow milking and an introduction to the stars of the sheep industry. Different breeds of sheep and their wool etc were on display and here again we could shop for any memorabilia to take back home. Next stop was 10 minute drive to the Rainbow springs which is a protected are for conservation of wildlife and fishes and birds. A huge nature park with all resident birds including the soon to be  extinct kiwi birds and some rare insects and animals was definitely worth seeing. After clicking photos with some of the wildlife we decided to see off the coach and hung around to go to skyline restaurant which was based on a hill and a gondola aka cable car would take us up the hill giving us a eye popping view of the city !! and the light drizzle just made the setting out of the world. Once atop the mountain we were amazed to see the things to do there. We first watched a 4d movie in a theatre ..the movie was the count Dracula. And then we went for LUGE which is a must do for anyone who will visit rotorua. Its basically a lastic platform to sit on with wheels under it and a handle to maneouvre. There is no engine whatsoever. And the journey is downhill. Gravity is your accelerator, if u pull the handle up the luge moves and if u push it down it stops because of ur weight. We had an amazing time doing it and once downhill we are brought up the mountain via a open cable car. Absolutely adrenaline racing activity it was. Once up ,we went to the skyline restaurant and bought tickets for the awesome buffet that was spread there. There were 80 different things to eat in that and had everything from egg to fish to mussels to chicken to lamb to ham to beef and of course some veg as well. One and half hours and 10 plates down I felt a little heavier as I went to get the desserts . 20 odd desserts one better than the other meant another 5 kg increase in weight. Who cares!! I ate till I could only breathe , any mention of food from there on would mean puke out of my mouth. We dragged ourselves to the gondola to go down the mountain now. And once down we asked for a cab which arrived in no time and we got back to the hotel to take some much needed rest. After a good 3 hours sleep we got up in the evening and took the hotel shuttle to the city center and then walked around to explore the city and look around a few shops and restaurants and some pubs. We were accompanied by the bangalorean family as well and we chatted the whole time till we found the restaurant we were planning to go to. It was  called the Indian star  and bangalorean family wanted to try thai so they went elsewhere. We had a wonderful kabab platter  with some steamed rice and butter chicken with some coke. We then returned to the city center and waited for the hotel coach to arrive.  The coach did arrive finally after a 10 minute wait and we got back to the hotel and slept to glory …..

day 4 JOURNEY TO ROTORUA

driver cum guide john

As the lashes of my eyes were separating in ultra slow motion ,the mind was in a state of confusion ... it was trying hard to make itself familiar with the objects that were falling in the limits of visual perception…it was dark and cozy and most importantly cold.. and this combination is ideal to snooze and snooze more… after a lot of deliberation and compromise in the grey matter of the brain I got up and came back to reality it was 6 am. i slid the screen and  found out that it was bright outside already! Less than an hour to brush, bathe, dress up, pack, eat breakfast and so much more. We did manage to do most of it in 40 minutes and then rushed to have breakfast at one of the highest restaurants in Auckland. The view from the restaurant was breath taking and the breakfast spread was amazing to say the least!! I am not gonna list it here or else every reader will drool till they get dehydrated! With 5 mins left for departure of the coach we were rushing towards the lobby blaming each other for the delay(ego defense mechanism I must say). We reached the lobby one min before the scheduled time. we promised to each other we wont mismanage time again on this trip…

 

The coach looked majestic with its gigantic frame and the huge Mercedes benz logo on the bus  was an absolute jaw dropper. We excitedly got our luggage placed safely inside the luggage stow and got inside and occupied the first seats so that we could get the best view during the journey ..the coach had 30 odd people in it with 24 of them being indians.. home away from home… we were driving towards the volcanic city of rotorua via Hamilton. The coach driver cum guide was a man in his early sixties who kept giving us info about new Zealand and Auckland and every other possible things on sides of the road. The roads in new Zealand are some of the best in the world  and the traffic density probably the least , which means if given the liberty I would drive at 160-180km/hr uninterrupted but the tragedy was the speed limits and speed cameras installed made sure that 100km/hr was the maximum speed allowed. Such a pity!! Why are such roads not in india!!!  In a few hours we reached Waitomo where we would sojourn to see the wonderful glowworm caves . . we were taken on a guided tour of the caves by one fellow chris.. ppl were dividedin groups of 20 and each group would have one guide. The caves were extremely cold inside as the whole cave was formed from limestone over the years and after showing us different formations of the limestone we were taken on a small boat trip inside the cave  to show us the wonderful glowworms.. photos were a s strict no no as flash would dim the glowworms.. the site inside was out of the world with millions of brilliant glowworms shining like stars in the sky.. I would rename the place as glowworm galaxy if given the liberty. I would rank this as one of the must see things in life if u are a nature enthusiast. We came back to the reception counter of caves and we were instructed to have lunch before we proceed further. We had some fabulous butter chicken and steamed rice .

view from the room with hot geysers behind

Rotorua was 2 hours drive from here and we made use of it with a refreshing nap. different guests were staying in different hotels and once driver made sure he knew where all he had to go he gave us the order in which he would drop us. As we entered the thermal city of rotorua we could smell something really bad on the bus. We had no clue where it was coming from and the driver put an end to our speculations by informing us that it is nothing but from the air of rotorua. We were also told then that rotorua is standing on top of a huge volcano which can erupt anytime destroying the whole place but it has been dormant for a few years now. The presence of the geothermal mud and the natural hot water spring rich in sulphur  gave the rotten egg smell to air  of rotorua.. it was stinking and we had no clue how we  were gonna bear it for 3 days..

Rotorua welcomed us with heavy rains and temperature was 5 degree Celsius . the bus halted in front of the lobby of the Hilton holiday inn where our stay was arranged. A quiet place situated next to a hot spring which was visible from the room in which we were put up. It was 3 pm and we were dying of hunger. There were no restaurants closeby and the one in the hotel had closed. All that was available were a few pizzas and fries. Hoping we would get to eat yummy pizzas like in Auckland we ordered a veg pizza(as they had only options of veg) and fries. Pizza came in flat 15 minutes .. looked amazing 8 piece huge thing… one bite and next thing we wanted do was to puke it out. The pizza stinked of horrible flavors and tasted of canola oil which is the primary oil used in nz. Fries were smelling of the same oil and all the food found its place in the bin in no time. 20 dollars down the drain…

The information booklets we picked up from the hotel info centre came in handy and we  found means to kill time and experience rotorua. We found info about Polynesian spa, one of the worlds top 10 spas  and we picked up the phone got a booking made for a slot for thermal massage . we took the hotel shuttle to the city tourism centre and once here we exchanged a few dollars and recharged the phone . it was raining hard and eventhough spa was hardly 100 metres across the road we had non option but to hire a taxi. The cab driver was harry from india.. must be harbinder or hardeep in reality but for nzers he was harry. Polynesian spa ambience was very inviting  and people gentle. We paid for the massage (a bomb of an amount) after which we were introduced to our masseurs. They gave us our kit with  slippers, towels, robes, soaps etc. we changed and went to the massage rooms which was filled with the aroma of oils and scent of flowers. The massage was best ever and done by a nepali who had done his bachelors in physiotherapy from Bangalore! After this we were free to get into the natural geyser hot sulphur water pools and sit for as long as we wish. The sulphur and other minerals are supposed to add a lot of medicinal value to the skin. It was a great experience to sit in the pool built with rocks alongside a river and what made it better was that the weather was rainy and cold but the hot pool just felt awesome and especially because the person u love the most is in your arms. If there is paradise on earth ,its here ,its here, its here!!

 After an hour or so we took shower and came to the lobby . we had heard a lot about new zealands best ice cream hokie pokie ( amix of carmel,chocolate and vanilla) and had vanilla coke zero. That was all we had in our stomach and it was dinner time too.. we called harry who then dropped us to KFC for dinner. Wow! KFC in NZ had to be good ! hungry we(as always) rushed in for a good meal.ordered a pretty huge meal. Our teeth were all set to sink into the chicken. Our first bite and we yelled..phew .. bad food was following us but we had great expectations at least from KFC.  This was the worst KFC we ve ever had in our lives!!! The flavors were horrible , the ketchup also tasted different. It was time for food to go to the bin again.. don’t like doing that but we were optionless.

After having gone through such traumatic experiences with food we just wanted to get back to the hotel, which we did and thought sleep would be the best medicine and did just that……

DAY 3 - AUCKLAND WELCOMES US....

Travelling on a long distance flight for about 14 hours is an awesome experience in itself if you have a lot of patience or have the gift to fall asleep even in sitting position or you have a great company with you... and luckily i had all the three with me.. i and vathika spent some time watching movies on board and playing a few online onboard games, slept, ate, slept,ate till finally strong sunlight woke us up...and soon we were informed by our pilot that we were about to land in auckland in 25 miunutes ...

ramp near kelly tarltons

from top of sky tower

     Auckland city looked beautiful from 10000 ft high  .. not dense at all more like a hill station than a major city. we landed at 10 past 1 in the noon, the airport was beautiful to say the least and the weather outside chilling thanks to the rains that welcomed us in new zealand. the immigration officer was fascinated to know that we were on our honeymoon and was more so wen i said i was an otolaryngorhinologist.. in new zealand ent surgeons are the third highest paid professionals..new zealand has strict rules for things which u can carry into it  as it is isolated from rest of the world.. they dont let you carry any  food articles of any sort, if ur shoes
are muddy u are made to clean it and wash it dry before u are let out of the airport.. a 7 ft 150 kg customs officer was interrogating a 5 ft hardly 50kgs chinese student who had packed 10 odd kgs of ready to eat noodles in a bag!!! after getting out of the immigration and various scans and frisking we  collected our luggage and reached the lounge looking for our chauffeur.. we did not find him anywhere  and when we were still searchin g for him we bought a vodafone prepaid sim card , exchanged few dollars for nz dollars and also collected some auckland information booklets.. and thenm i found a chauffeur with my dad name printed on it and realised it was for us ... he was dressed in a 3 piece suit and with a ford falcon he looked more like an executive from a top level corporate office and we looked out of place in tracks and some silly looking dress..nevermind we got into the car and a well behaved gentleman he was... gave us all details about auckland and a few aspects about new zealand.. it was raining very heavily and it was summer there..so much for the weather in nz..

we reached the sky city hotel in auckland and checked into the amazing room .. a 5 star hotel with a 24 hour casino , 5 restaurants , world famous sky tower and an awesome discotheque... we needed a shower after the long joureney and in no time we were on the road looking for a taxi to take us to kelly tarltons  underwater world.. the drive showed us the whole of auckland and it indeed looked heavenly. the underwater world had and artificial setup for the penguins and a lot of fishes and underwater life.... we spent a couple of hours and then got back to the hotel and  bought tickets to get on top of sky tower to get panaromic view of the whole city.. the panaromic view of the whole city was fantabulous.. and a couple of mocktails later we were back in the room . we ordered for a pizza from dominos and garlic bread was the best ever i have had.. we then got dressed for the casino and tried our luck at a few .. lost the bucks and then entered the disco and let music take control of us.... it was 0000 hours .....

DAY 2- BANGKOK,THAILAND

wall paintings of ramayana at grand palace,bangkok 

15 dec 2011, 0030 hours coffee day lounge, Bangalore International airport limited(BIAL): Get up its time for  check-in , please get up, pleaaaaaseeee…. The words left such an impression on my tympanic membrane that my eyes opened in a flash and it took me not less than 25 seconds though to get oriented to time, place and person but the  moment I did I behaved like a bull on  rampage ; come fast, fast, damn, give  the passport, where is the ticket, shit .. what the hell..slept off.. I did not even realize it was time I  said ..I was going on when vathika said chill !!!  its ok ..we ve not  missed the flight!! We are on time.. 

at the grand palace, bangkok

Regaining senses, we  crossed over  from the arrivals to the departure lounge. Kahaan ghumne jaa rahe ho saab??? asked the security  official at the gate. Aise hi ghumne  I said not willing to give any details of my plan. He wished us all the best… The check –in gates of  TG 425  Thai Airways flight from Bangalore to Bangkok had just opened and we  made our way to the big winding queue and waited for our chance all excited..Alongwith us on board were also a group of  school kids from Ooty. The students were Chinese, Thai, Indian but all of Thai origin from a residential international school in Ooty.. We got our  tickets processed, checked in  baggage, collected our boarding passes  and proceeded towards immigration.. The  scene at the airport was a familiar one with lots of people and the excitement of their first trip abroad was evident on a lot of faces and then there were people on job who had loads of pressure and were so  expressionless that you would feel like cancelling trip and going back  home.

@ grand palace, bangkok

 We found a currency exchange counter of Thomas cook and got some Thai Bahts. Immigration forms were filled and at the immigration counter it took hardly a minute to finish formalities and soon we were in the departure lounge waiting for our flight scheduled at 0145 hrs. sitting in front of the kids, we felt so technologically backward seeing everyone playing on their I-Pads having I-phones with earphones plugged. What a childhood we had and what are these having!!! I ve never felt so jealous in life (trust me) of a kid/kids. 
Row 41-60 boarding please… announced the official in a completely thai accent . we got up and walked like peole on a mission . We were greeted by the flight attendants in a thai manner. The host said sawadee.. and welcomed us with an orchid which Thailand is so famous for. We made ourselves comfortable in our seats. It was 3-4-3 style seating boeing 747 .  Flight took off  soon and we were served dinner . Thai chicken curry  and jasmine rice with bread and salad . Dessert was apple pie . Bar counter was flowing and people had their hearts full.. A flight to Bangkok shows a pattern .. Lots of boys unmarried travelling with one intention … intention is evident if u read the name of the city slowly ;)  Flight landed at the Swarnabhumi International Airport at Bangkok  at 0615  thai time . We did not have to collect our baggage as we had done a through check in to our destination . Bangkok was only a transit stopover for us . Our next flight was @ 1940 hrs and we had more than 12 hours with us and we used it to the fullest by getting a visitors visa. Visa on arrival in Bangkok is easy ..just fill a form attach 1000 baht and u get a 15 day visit visa . It is like a maze to exit the humungous airport and having finally made it out we went and struck a deal with a govt authorized taxi counter. The deal was 1500 baht for the whole day taxi. The first stop was the Grand Palace. The driver Anirut(most names there are similar to the ones we have here in India) left us at the palace and gave his contact number.

museum@ grand palace, bangkok

We were hungry and entered a restaurant and on the menu there was meat of all kinds from chicken, mutton, pork, beef  and some weird fishes. There was nothing on the menu which looked edible .Only thing we could settle for was French fries  and we had it  and not surprisingly even it smelled of  different meat due to the oil I guess!! We ate a little left the rest and moved out . a lady was selling Thailand souvenir, the magnet with Thailand  palace imprinted and Thailand written on it she said 100 baht for one. Vathika was bargaining with a lady for a dress..Guys suck at bargaining including me but I thought I could try my hand at it and bargained and bought a magnet for 80 baht and it felt like a wonderful bargain. When I told Vathika about my achievement (I thought), she laughed and I wondered why.. A couple of shops later one man was selling 3 such things for 50 baht only .. Ground slipped beneath my feet.. I had been day robbed and I willingly got robbed.. Moral of the story… Never  buy anything at the first shop.. look around and get an idea of the price first or else u will be cheated..and finally listen to your wife!! We then went into the grand palace, purchased the tickets and entered. The palace was majestic and the walls had whole depiction of Ramayana on it and that too on gold. An amazing experience also to see the beautiful jade Buddha in the palace temple. Museums were big and a nice experience too.

jade buddha, grand palace,bangkok

After that we proceeded to have food at Kurry culture an Indian restaurant opposite the Indra Regent hotel .. chicken biryani , butter chicken and pepsi and lots of hindi songs later we had a walk in the Indra market .. bought some t shirts at throw away prices .. A familiar sight in streets of Bangkok is every third shop being a massage parlour…Some of them look so horrible because you will see lot of ladyboys. For those who don’t know who ladyboys are; they are men who have undergone a sex change operation to become ladies so that they can earn their bread by doing various jobs open only for fairer sex. After some shopping, we thought of pampering ourselves with a Thai massage.. We found a small massage parlour which looked pretty decent and economical and so we entered.. A thai woman welcomed us with a smile.. gave us details of the prices. When we were almost agreeing, she showed us our masseur.. and to our shock.. it was a ladyboy.. I just couldn’t stand the sight of her and jumped out of the massage center and pulled Vathika along.. We decided that henceforth we would see our masseur first and then decide on the massage.. We then found another massage point.. found it good enough..the masseurs were only men and women.. I was relieved. Vathika wanted a foot massage and I wanted a full body massage. Too much I thought at the beginning but the prices were tempting.. A big woman asked me to follow her upstairs.. and I could see Vathika sitting on a couch, worried, wondering why I agreed for a body massage. I was back in an hour and found that she was finishing hers.. Trust me, I just wanted to see her, take her and go away.. Why?? Because the big woman who gave me an excellent body massage told me at the end of it all that she was a man before… nothing could disgust me more than this.. the feeling was if I had been raped literally .. getting a massage from a  man is fine but a man turned into a woman  is not nice with due respect to the transgenders!!   It was around 4 in the evening when we reached the airport. 

samudramanthan monument at swarnabhumi international airport @ bangkok

We found our gate and navigated upto the Thai check in counter and validated our ticket. Flight TG221 Bangkok-Auckland  was scheduled to fly at  1940 hours . We completed our security check and started clicking photos of the famous churning of the seas monument (samudra manthana) at the lounge. Duty free shopping at Bangkok is as big as the city itself.. If one decides to see all products in every shop a year would be less to do so. We were tired after exploring a few and decided to wait at the departure gate for our flight. There were hardly 8 people when we reached there .We stretched our feet and fell on the chairs after a tiring day. By around 1915 hours the same place had atleast 150 of them.. it was a mixture of a variety of people some young and happening, some people dressed in formals as if they had to attend a meeting on board, some middle aged least interested in life and a few people on  honeymoon like us and a lot of oldies going back home or on a relaxing vacation. . In no time rows 20-40 was called on to board the flight and so we did .The flight was  awesome with wonderful facilities on board,. The entertainment on board had a  personalized interactive television which included 50 games, over 100 recent and classical movies in English and 50 odd movies of different international languages, 50 interesting documentaries, various language instructors, books to read . Hot face towels were very refreshing to use and soon the dinner was served .. chicken Thai curry, jasmine rice and caramel custard and bar was open for people wanting spirits.. 2320 hours Vathika fell asleep.. 2335 hours I remember seeing time on my watch …..