Should I have or shouldn't I have...

Macau, 2006

After spending a brilliant few days in ex-Portuguese colony Macau (now a Special Administrative Region of China), I was on my way back to Hong Kong (airport), where I was due to catch a flight in the evening. After purchasing my fast-ferry ticket direct to the Hong Kong Airport for HK$ 200, all I had left in my pockets was HK$ 20, my passport, some chewing gum, digi-cam and my pack of Marlboro Lights. And well, I also had around US$ 100 in unexchanged reserves but tucked away safely. There were a few hours left for boarding so I ventured out to click some last shots of beautiful Macau.

Almost immedietely, a well dressed man who I assumed to be from the Indian subcontinent approaches me. First question, "Are you from India?". I nod. "You see, I'm in a mess. I came to Macau yesterday from Hong Kong on business and was due to return today. However, I've lost my wallet along with all my cash and cards and I've no option but to ask someone money for my return fare. I run a business in Hong Kong and can return the money when we get there. I was looking around for Indians to ask for help as the locals dont understand English and arent very eager to help".

I hear him out before responding, "Firstly, this is the last day of my trip, and I have just enough to last myself till the evening before my flight (well, I didnt feel like even mentioning my reserve US$ to him). Also, I'm not going to HK Central, I'm going to the HK airport directly. I'm sorry, but I guess you should find someone else!" He repeatedly asked me if I was sure I didnt have any money on me? If I was sure I couldn't lend him any? He even told me if I was flying that night, then he could transfer the money to me in a few days. I politely repeated myself, showing him my HK$ 20 left in my pockets, and added that perhaps he should ask someone he knew in Hong Kong to tranfer the money to him rightaway, so he could make his journey back. He said he had already done this, but the problem was that it was a Saturday and the only Western Union money transfer outlet was closed till Monday! He didn't even have any money to stay that night in Macau and was helpless. I had to shrug my shoulders, apologize once more, wish him all the best and walk away.

But my mind was thinking.

Now, regardless of not being able to pay or wanting to pay him personally, I wondered about the truth of his story. In India, I have personally come across numerous such incidents, where smart alecs convince you of their plight and make you part with some money, even change..and make a jackass out of you in the end. I've never got fooled as I generally dont believe any story of this kind. But this incident, when it happened in another country far far away from India, in a place like Macau where you dont normally see Indians, felt a little different.

For once, I felt that perhaps his story..this particular story could have been true.. and if it was, then did I do the wrong thing by walking away? Should I have given him a little of my US$ reserve and helped his genuine case perhaps? What if I (or for that matter, you) were in his shoes tomorrow somewhere and no one believed our story thinking we were crooks? Also, if I had parted with my reserve, and I suddenly needed it later for some reason urgently, what would I do? (Actually, the interesting fact is that very day, just before my flight, a lot of things went wrong for me and only my US$ reserves saved me!)

I wish I knew the answers to these questions.

Globalization for you and me!

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I was doing some research on globalization recently when it struck me as to how much this phenomena is influencing most of our lives these days. Of course, it also depends on how "open" the country you live in is with regards to trade with other countries, but generally, it is quite interesting. Ever thought about it? Here goes my version:

• I wake up in the morning from a bed made in China, which rests on a cot made in Sweden.
• I brush with a toothbrush made in the USA and using a toothpaste made in the UAE.
• The teabags I use are made in Sri Lanka, the breakfast bread in the UAE, the butter in Denmark and the jam in Malaysia.
• The car I drive is Japanese and the office I work in is headquartered in the UK.
• The lunch I eat is Indian, the evening coffee powder I use is Ethiopian with the biscuits made in Indonesia.
• The TV I watch is made in Korea and the diet Pepsi I buy from the Iranian grocer below my apartment is made in the UAE.
• The dinner I eat is sometimes Arabic, Italian, Thai or Chinese but mostly Indian.

Thats already 14 countries in one day! Of course, there can be much more to add, but you get the picture! Think about your daily life similarly, feel free to share it in the comments section!

Sounds of a night in Macau...

Macau, 2006

For those of you who did'nt know yet, Macau is a Special Administrative Region(SAR) of China with its own flag, currency and visa procedures. It was a Portuguese colony till 1999 and still retains a lot of that flavor in its buildings, street layouts (like you seen in this pic; a street) and structures.

I found myself in Macau looking for a cheap place to stay for a night, and the only real budget place in the middle of the small town was the San Va Hospedaria Guesthouse in a pretty street called Rua de Felicidade. I got a single, sparsely furnished room for US$ 10 and was content. All the rooms had thin, almost cardboard material type(little more thicker!) walls which only rose just upto 3/th of the ceiling, the rest 25% was open space shared by all rooms commonly. This was apparently some Portuguese building style, and strange as it seemed, I didn't bother too much as I was only there for a night. The rest of the place was fine, with shared bathroom facilities.

Until I went to bed.

Now I have to share this with you all, Macau is famous for its Grand Prix (not F1), pretty streets, delicious Portuguese egg tarts, gambling and prostitution. While I indulged gladly in viewing the streets and gobbling up the tarts, the last two options were not for me, though I must admit I was all eyes at the casino where both of the latter could be found and ogled at in abundance. After all of that, I had tucked myself in bed around midnight. And then the sounds started..

I heard the most disgusting of all snores begin to hit my ears from a neighbouring room(remember, the ceiling is open and common to all rooms!), from what I assumed to be an old Chinese man with EVERY chest and lung disease in the world. God help him with his congested lungs, but it was absolute pollution to my ears as I was forced to hear out every chord and crescendo of the blissfully snoring bugger. I've heard some pretty bad snores over the years, but NOTHING could beat this, it was almost scary! At 1am, just when I was beginning to console my ears into accepting my fate, started the most tantalizing Oooooh's and Aaahhh's that I have ever heard. From a female, I might add.

Oh yes, I already had the pleasure of being surrounded by a horrible sounding loud snorer but now, as an addition to the musical night was an orgiastic hooker who I bet was in all probability belting out well practised artificial moans and groans as they did the DEED. Add to that, by the sounds of her whimpers and whines, I assume her client was a sado-masochist beast (hope I spelled that right!), I think he was making her repent for all her previous sins!! Ah, what delight to my virginal ears, this was the truly the most weirdest kind of audio porn I had ever heard, if you may call it that!

Complain to the reception, I hear you say? On a lazy, sunny afternoon, I would never spoil the fun for both them and myself. But at 3am in the morning, when I was not having any fun, I finally went to the reception. I was told to turn over, shut my ears and sleep as this was "normal". And thats exactly what I tried to do. Until the bed bugs began to bite. Ah, a memorable night in Macau.

Would I ever go there again? Of course! But next time, before I tuck myself in, I'm gonna remember to buy lots of those lip smacking egg tarts, insect repellant and a good book..

Did you notice I didn't mention ear plugs? :P

Train-ing in China!

Beijing, China (2006)

In Chinese trains, a passenger has two options while deciding how to travel, sometimes three. One is the regular seats (not found in all long distance trains) and the other two options are the soft-sleeper and the hard-sleeper. While planning my trip, I was adviced against using long distance trains within China, specially the "hard-sleeper" berths, as the journey would be long and difficult. I took two trains, the first from Beijing to Guilin (23 hours) and the second was from Guilin to Shenzhen (12 hours). I chose the hard sleeper on both, as I did not want to shell out the extra 40-50% for the tickets on the soft sleeper. I was pleasantly surprised. The berths were very clean and comfortable, with soft pillows and comforters provided! It wasn't hard, neither was it soft, but it was nice and I had no complaints! You can see this from the pic above, which I took from my comfy middle berth!

But thats not all. The hospitality and facilities on both trains was out of this world. As the picture below suggests, each compartment had a crisply uniformed female attendant/ticket collector on duty(all extremely beautiful as well, I might add!). She had her own small cabin which doubled up as an office. Throughout the journey she was always around to ask for help, though in my case we were both helpless as I did not know Mandarin. But again, the language barrier is usual in China anywhere!

I found out that the Chinese are very fond of instant noodles during long journeys, so there is always boiling hot water through a tap in each compartment to prepare your noodles! There are LCD TV screens for each coupe which feature short programs or Chinese MTV, and digital display signs flash the current temperature, date and next destination. Each berth bed has a small hanging lamp and coat hook provided and there is a flask and waste bin for each set of 6 berths in a coupe. Soft Chinese music is played from the morning to evening, and its volume can be regulated in each coupe if you want to. All lights except the night lamps are switched off at 10pm precisely, after which one can use the lamps provided. There are common washbasins whose decor can rival any restaurant's, but the toilets are basic and are cleaned every hour or so. I did find a few toilets uncleaned and was not able to enter!

Hawkers are not allowed inside the trains, but there is everything from perfumes to coke sold inside by licensed, uniformed sellers. A full fledged restaurant compartment can also be found. The security inside the trains is impeccable. At most stations, there are large boards displaying the current time and the departure time of the train on the platform, with corresponding alarm bells and warning whistles to alert the people who left the train to buy something. A few minutes before the train departs, the stairs collapse into the floor of the compartment and all doors are automatically shut using a special key by each attendant. Very sophisticated, and the journey was fast!

So were there no problems at all, you ask? Well there were a few. For starters, the smoking! I took a pic of this official sticker on a train compartment wall and found it very amusing! The Chinese are generally very heavy smokers and it gets annoying after a while. Smoking in trains is allowed only between compartments, but since the doors were always open the smoke always wafted in to my berth, which unfortunately was the first in the compartment. Also, another great pass time for the Chinese is playing cards or board games, and if you are unlucky, you might end up having a small crowd in your coupe playing or observing a game seriously. But all in good fun!

The trains are slower than a flight, of course, but what better way than to journey ACROSS China than by a train? Most importantly, both trips, inspite of these excellent facilities didn't cost a bomb.

And that's the beauty of travelling in China!

Beggars can't be choosers...

Chandigarh, India (2005)

I was hanging around in Sector 17 one evening (the only real "happening" place in Chandigarh), penniless and doing nothin but watching life go by as people went about their business, when I happened to be literally accosted out of nowhere by a pushy child beggar just outside a swanky nightclub (You need to experience it once to know how pushy they can get!). For some reason he thought that I was the son of a Sheikh (ahem..what can I say). He kept following me for a while with his well practised dialogue, trying to squeeze me out of my money(I only had loose change on myself!), and I kept putting him off for awhile telling him he was chasing the wrong person.

And then these three stunning women walked by me towards the club strutting their stuff..The little runt made a beeline towards them, screwing up his face with the same dialogue of "I've been hungry all day, please give me some money"...I watched with interest, eager to know what their reaction would be. What I saw next stunned me. One of these girls, actually cornered this 8 year old boy dressed in rags, and complimented him on his "acting" and asked him who his favorite actor was. She told him that he would get some money from them ONLY if he could shoot off some dialogues from his favorite actor Shah Rukh Khan (the superstar in Indian movies). By then, the child was smiling, taken aback by this unusual behavior from a stilleto-wearing, cleavage-popping, club hopping girl. He belted out a few dialogues and was quite impressed by his own capacity. The girls heard him, laughed, and behind them all, I was smiling too..he really had some talent! The girls gave him some change and left, and he was left standing there in a stupor, a BIG smile pasted all over his face which refused to go away.

I had to walk up to him, and I asked him if he suddenly wasnt desperately hungry anymore? Didn't he want to rush and get some food in his belly quickly anymore? He nodded conveying to me that he was still very hungry, but with a smile, he just sat down. I squatted on the pavement near him too and thats when it struck me..it wasnt about the money, it wasnt about the hunger..what this child was really missing in his dreary life was a genuine smile, some happiness. He was already missing the joys of childhood because he was forced to beg in order to survive ..and today, when these girls gave him a rare chance like this, it was like a fresh breath of air for him..

Think about it. Do we really spare a thought for such beggars or the homeless, ever? I mean, we always try to put them off, or give them some change and try to get away as quick as possible..and then they are forgotten..but today, what i saw was something different..someone DID try to stop a while and make a difference in this little childs life. It was not out of any compulsion or any real necessity..it was just a good gesture from an unexpected quarters..

I stood up to leave, giving him all the change I had left in my pockets.

Numero Uno

Hi everybody!

I just created this blog a few seconds back, and yep, this is the very first post. Indeed, you are lucky and priveleged to be reading this historical inaugural entry of mine on Blogger! :)

I'm not new to the blogging world. I've been running a successful blog for over a year elsewhere. But that is a general blog, something catering to mostly friends and family. The desire to start this blog came recently. As my blog title suggests, I'm a wanderer. No one ever gave me that title, I gave it to myself. And I try hard to live up to the name! I travel around the world by myself or with friends whenever a chance arises and have been fortunate to have seen and experienced a lot over the years. Back home, during my study years, I always took off on domestic routes. Coming from a country uniquely diverse and rich in different cultures, I was lucky to experience much of it firsthand. Once I reached Dubai in 2004, I continued my travels, but switching on to an international mode!

So many different places, different cultures, different sights and different sounds.. the memorable postcards from these trips are etched in my mind. But I felt the need to store it somewhere..what if I forgot about it a few years down the lane..what if new postcards overshadowed the old ones? I wouldn't want that to happen ever..moreover, sharing my experiences this way also makes me reach out to people, and I've been lucky that many people do like to hear my travel stories!

This blog will feature brief "picture-less" postcards of the most memorable experiences, unusual incidents and generally anything related to my travels which I found interesting enough to remember and share. Along with that, whenever possible and if I feel like it, I'll also add other stuff to keep everyone visiting entertained! From your side, keep the comments coming and don't forget to bookmark this page:)

Time to post this first postcard. Wish me all the best!