Nabi

One would have thought Nabi was reading off Tien's book diligently, like the owner...

He was actually just passed out,in a very comfortable position, and very satisfied...

India - from a tourist's perspective

Aside from the wedding, we did the compulsive tourist things during our spare time...

Breakfast at Oberoi. Yum!

Tien hired a vehicle over the internet as it's really much easier moving around than flagging down cabs all the time. It turned out to be a BUS with TOURIST plastered over the windscreen, enough to fit 10!!! We happily set off on this bus on our way to visit Ravi.

After 25min of chugging, we weren't too happy 'cos travelling at 30km/h with all other vehicles zipping pass you wasn't exactly fun. The only other people we were faster than were those walking on bare foot!

Yann: "Excuse me, how long more is it to West Punjabi Bagh?"
Driver: "1 hour"
Yann: " ONE HOUR?! Can you drive faster please?"
Driver: "No mam, there is a speed limit of 40 mam."
Yann: "BUT EVERYONE IS DRIVING FASTER THAN 40!!!"
Driver: "Sorry mam, speed limit for Tourist at 40 mam."
Yann: "Can you drive at 39 then?"
Driver: "No mam, speed limit at 40 mam"
(note: there wasn't a 39 point on the meter scale - does not exist - so that's why it wasn't possible.)
Yann: "MY GOODNESS! 39 is below 40! Try 35 at least!"
Driver: "Ok mam, 35 ok"

We had to call the agent to change the bus to a smaller vehicle, at least a non-tourist vehicle that had a higher speed limit to end our torment. The phone call was painful 'cos it took the agent awhile to agree to the change. No reduction in fees of course. That was ridiculous I tell you!

Otherwise, everything else was happy and fun! Well I suppose the bus thingy is quite hilarious on hindsight.

Kyoo Hwa, Kimberly, Me

The Lotus Temple

Kimberly, Kyoo Hwa & Me at the Lotus Temple, with some Towers in the background.

Andreas, Devin & Tien doing the obligatory Tourist shot.

Kyoo Hwa in a very pretty dress

Beautiful India - the 1st photograph I took, at Oberoi Hotel

Beautiful India - Oberoi Hotel Lobby

Beautiful India - Roses in the room

Beautiful India - Lotus fountain in Oberoi Hotel Lobby. Check out how each layer casts a shadow to the layer below... just like lotus petals! Amazing!

Beautiful India - Restaurant in Sheraton Hotel where we had our dinner before flight home

While waiting to board, I got quite bored...

Wedding in Delhi

We went to Delhi to celebrate the union of our dear friends Ravi & Neha, and perhaps enjoyed a little naughty wickedness by laughing at Ravi's head gear... :p

Here are some pictures to remember their special day by....

We first attended the engagement ceremony on Thu, 24 Aug 06
Ravi is first welcomed into the Bride's family by all the guys.

This is Neha's brother holding a box of sweets. Ravi is the other guy with the handkerchief on his head. It is supposed to deflect away any ill feelings towards him during the ceremony. Ravi had to be fed by everyone to symbolise he's been welcomed into their family, he probably finished the whole box by himself.

The lady in the middle is Ravi's Grandmother. We were in deep conversation for 2 whole minutes, she in Hindi, and I was replying in English. We both smiled alot, rattled on and on, without understanding one another, but were both feeling happy. Or maybe she just thought I was crazy and was actually asking me to stop talking to her?! But I do know Ravi's aunts were laughing. :p

The group of us before Neha entered the room, before Ravi "lost 1/2 his money" and still happy, as the guys put it.

Ravi, with the ravishing Neha in her elaborate Sari!

The engagement party ended with much dancing where everyone joined in, including Neha's dad!

The Wedding itself was on Fri, 25 Aug 06. Ravi arrived on a horse with his nephew. We were laughing at his head gear, he was laughing at us in our garb.

Yes that's us in trendy Indian Fashion! We were more keen in taking pictures with the horse than congratulating Ravi on his big day!

Neha's dad with amazing memory. He even remembered that we met when he last visited Singapore.

Ravi in funny protective head gear, close up.

What he did with the head gear...

Ravi and Neha, with Neha's dad, Neha's brother & her sister-in-law

The guests with the new couple

The guests, who just want to take pictures of themselves

Do we look ethnic enough?!

More on some crazy guests...

Wind-in-hair effect... It was so hot the huge fan was such a heaven sent!

Clowning around... Andreas demonstrating his sensitive side. Tien was so overwhelmed he could only shriek!

Maharaja Tien Ho

Maharaja Devin Chanmugam

Tien Ho: "Devin you look like you're wearing a bra on your head!"

More ceremony after dinner (1am+) and this was supposed to go on for another 2 hours! We were so tired we left early.

Day 5 & 6 in SHANGHAI!!!

It feels a bit weird talking about Shanghai now that I've returned from Delhi, but I just have to finish or I never will.

And I just can't stop showing you pictures of what we ate 'cos that's what I do! I make Tien hunt down food places with me whenever we travel!

Sun 22 Aug 06

This was at 滴水洞 (56 Mao Ming South Road Via Chang Le Road ), a Hunanese place with spicy dishes, Tien's favourite. This was Chicken hot pot with plenty of chilli & oil.

A bowl of rice. I thought the bowl was nice... *heh heh heh*

Chinese Yoghurt drink, to absorb all the spice we ate.

OH this was really good! Spiced ribs! Very tasty and every table around us ordered this same dish!

Oily Celery with Lily

新天地, a whole side walk of cafes & pubs to chill

Older street in Shanghai, near Yu Yuan

Old street in Shanghai, the China Town equivalent. Didn't really like this as much 'cos it was too touristy to be real.

A suspending teapot, reminds me of the statues in Botanic Garden

This completed our 4-hour walk. Tien was so grouchy by then we had to go back to our hotel for a break. Thank goodness he's a quiet grouch rather than the noisy sort!

We had a dinner date with Lin Wei. Was looking forward to that as we haven't met since many months back. Unfortunately he left his mobile phone in the taxi that night, which was a bummer.

Dinner was at 人间, or People 7 at 805 Ju Lu Lu. Apparently it's owned by a Taiwanese, who opened #1-3 or 4 in Taiwan, and #6-7 in Shanghai. Ultra cool place, full of "deception". Check out the toilets if you get a chance to go harharhar!

This was a little disappointing 'cos I thought it'd be some amazing salad, but it turned out to be just vegetable sticks with dip. But I suppose the dip was pretty nice, and the sticks were longer than the ones we get back home.

I can't remember what dish this was, think it was chicken of small portion. The food is more fusion/modern chinese, nicely displayed. Portions aren't great though.

This is the amazing entrance. Strictly by reservations only, and you have to figure out how to open the door, like in Aladdin! No walk in guests!

We went off to another place for after-dinner drinks, at a cool place I can't remember where, shall have to update again I suppose. That was the only time we met Lin Wei. Glad that he's doing well now, and that everything worked out fine for him. It's a heart warming feeling to know that your friends are doing fine.

Day 6, last day before we fly home!

Mon 23 Aug 06

I dragged Tien to buy lamps with me. Was funny 'cos we ended up at the old address ('cos I had a 2-year old Timeout Shanghai) and were stranded in the middles of nowhere. Luckily, the shop lady (who wants business) got her colleague to pick us up and brought us safely to her store. It's hidden in the back of a school where rental is cheap. The room full of lamps was so amazing! Will post a picture of my latest collection soon, other than my hand chair. Tien always shakes his head when I want to buy funny things like that.

Dropped the lamps back at hotel before heading off to grab DVDs. Tried looking for Daddy's request (Shen Tan Di Ren Jie) but to no avail. So off we went to meet Tien's ex-colleague Charles from DB. Their office is (in the same building as my office) near the Pearl Tower. Looks like a UFO doesn't it?!

This is where Cloud 9 is, right at the top!

Tien managed to catch up with Charles for about 1/2 hour to an hour over light lunch, and we still had some time to spare. So what did we do? ATE AGAIN! This time we tried Sichuan restaurant 悄江南 at Zhen Da 广场. There was a table near us with a Singaporean Uncle lecturing 2 young chaps about business acumen. PLEASE!

Back to the more interesting bit (for me at least) - Food!

That's Twice cooked fish, really yummy!

Pumpkin Pancake

The amazing Tofu that set before our eyes! The chef poured half a pot of fresh soya milk into a glass pot, stirred it with a ladel full of magic ingredient, waited for 10min and VOILA! TOFU!

We can choose to eat it savoury...

or sweet, like 豆花! Yum! These were really good!

And because we wanted to indulge, we almost missed our flight. Thank goodness for Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train. For what would have been a 45min taxi ride to the airport, we took a 15min ride to middle of nowhere - train station built in some strange place, boarded the amazing Maglev train, and reached Pudong airport in 7 MIN FLAT!

Check out starting speed...

And the maximum speed we were travelling at...

At 431 km/h, it's a amazing I didn't leave my teeth behind or something!