Three Nation Trip

After some unabated traveling I once again sit reminiscing. It all started a couple of months ago when school friends where in Hyderabad to celebrate Holi with me at ISB. One conversation led to another and we ended up with a summer trip proposal to go and see Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand. Two of my friends literally took my case when they heard Cambodia. But I maintained that Cambodia is indeed the destination to visit which two others, L & K, who eventually made it to the trip, would strongly concur ex post.

After a month and half of scouring for cheap tickets (Hansa Tours, Hyderabad and AirAsia.com coming to the rescue and we finished at Rs.21989 per head) and reading up on reams of web-sites and travel logs we were getting ready. Our budget was going to be somewhere around 35-40 grand rupees per head (what we ended up spending will come a little later). We haggled and argued about every stop in our itinerary. Lonely Planet and Wikitravel.com were literally Godsend. We read reviews on every Lonely Planet listed hostel and guest house. It comes as no surprise that our final expenses show just Rs.4405 for accommodation (Isn’t that incentive enough for you guys to pack your bags).

The expedition, as I like to call it, started on 10th May, 2008 with the trio boarding the Air India Express flight to KL. Eleven days of pure exploration ensued where we were willing to experiment on everything from food to modes of transport to night-life spots. It will not do justice to any country if I decide to pool our entire trip experience into a single blog post. So I would rather unravel our experience in three posts trying my best to relive the best moments of the trip and also try to drop in a few cues for any would be visitors. Kindly bear the braggadocio.

Chill time

So it has been a while since I posted anything on blogosphere. Well a lot of things have happened before I finally decided to wear my introspective cap again. First things first I have successfully graduated. A waning interest in acads started showing up a way bit too much during the electives. My philosophy of taking up courses where I would struggle can be blamed but anyways an ISB invitation to be part of the next-batch’s orientation did come as a nice dollop. With mom away, going back to ISB meant a further respite from cooking (and the rather frequent restaurant trips) and the horrible state of infrastructure near my home. Underground drainage construction cannot wreck any place more than it has done to Old Pallavaram!!

The bind-unwind training at Greenfields, Hyderabad (Ms. Zenobia’s farmhouse) was at once fun and exasperating. We came back with a vengeance on our juniors. Well they finally won when we were finally dunked by our group of kids. The juniors are also really well accomplished and it will come as no surprise to me if they raise the ISB bar higher. Coming out of orientation was much more fulfilling than the eviction that happened on April 6th. Boy, should I mention our last batch party that ended at 7:22 AM on that day. Grandpa kept knocking my door thinking I was sleeping inside and lo behold, I show up from behind :). And he was grinning ‘coz he had finished half a bottle of red wine the previous night (he did enjoy his grandson’s achievement, I should say).

The last two weeks have been spent planning my SE Asian trip with two other school friends (L and K). We have all the tickets, hotel bookings ready now. The Malaysian and Thai visas are also ready. The Cambodian e-Visa should show up anytime. So basically, we are all set to leave on Friday night. We land in KL first, four days of Malaysia, followed by 2 in Cambodia and a wrap up 5 days in Thai. I just can’t wait anymore. K is a little scared of the situation in Cambodia. But as a world traveler you just gotta go.
My new possessions: Blue Curacao, cocktail shaker and essentials ;) !!!