What's your fuel?

We recently had to make a decision on one of our big purchases - A CAR. Its neither as daunting nor as expensive as buying a home (in most cases) but it sure is the biggest investment into something that is a liability. I mean, you are always going to lose money on a car.

I have bought cars before but this time around, I was asking myself different questions. Among all the other usual options that we get to pick while buying a car, I was excited by a new one - What fuel does the car use?

Taxi Ride.. can be enjoyable!

As a tourist or traveler, I have often found myself being in strange places and areas that I would normally not pass through if I did live in that place. I am mostly traveling in a local cab at most times and I have to say that over the years I have begun to enjoy my trips in local cabs. Striking a friendly conversation with them drivers has served me well on multiple counts. Usually these cab drivers are localities and  are happy to be my local guide (free) - they have told me things and shown me places that I would not normally read about in a lonely planet booklet or a travel blog. A little discussion with them helps me get through the rather boring cab ride too especially when I am traveling alone. However, the primary reason for me to engage in these fleeting conversations is to give myself a better chance to not be taken for a 'ride' by the driver - really!

In Bangkok, I remember how my cab driver got excited to be conversing with a foreigner that he even sang a local song for me. He really was proud of his country and culture. Here in Noida, where I have been for a few days now, I am not a foreigner. Although I am only visiting, my skin color and features give away my origin pretty easily. I am only one of the billion Indians but I still have to be extra friendly with the cab drivers because I am in Noida (the land of the lawless). In one of my routine conversations with a driver, he told me how the local residents mock their own state(UP) to be an acronym for a local word(Ulta-Pulta) meaning Upside-Down. He even had a term for Noida -> No-Idea. Rofl! We ended up talking about everything from   state politics to the newly constructed Formula 1 Race track. Hmm..

What started as a ploy to save myself has now become enjoyable enough that I dump the luxury cab from my hotel each evening and instead use one of these cabs - free guided tour every evening!

Symbolic

Found this picture in my collection today and could not but share the picture. Its funny how it could almost be used to draw its parallelism to the rapid culture shift within china

next gen > western > crowd > break free  X  protection < family< heritage < golden ager

The Great Smoky Mountains

Doing a hike in every season of the year has been part of my schedule in the last 5 years. This time it was destination SMOKIES. The east(north and south) coast of the United States has one the greatest expositions of colors ranging from the fresh green to crimson red and everything in between during every Fall Season. I have done a hike in the New England area in 2008 which was equally brilliant if not better and have been wanting to go to the Smokies ever since. The smokies alone has over 100 different species of trees spread over 813 sq. miles - a diversity which far exceeds the whole of Europe. The beauty of the place

1-800-I-FLY-SWA

Recently, choosing an airline has become increasingly easy for me not only because there is a Southwest airline flying to that place but because the slew of different things that I like with Southwest makes it such a easy choice for me even if I have to shell out a few more dollars.
I recently had a query to make with them and called their 800 number. Sure enough, I was impressed with the system they have in place. Since there was going to be a wait the automated system offered to call me when it was my turn which means that I would not have to wait with my phone on mute and with the speaker on to make sure that I don't lose my spot in the queue. The system called me back in 5 minutes and I was directed to an agent right away. IMPRESSED!

Chinglish

A recent NYT article talked about how china launched a massive operation to clean up the language on all the sign boards which was not exactly in line with the English as the world knows it. China has moved in the recent years from being a closed society to one that is trying to embrace people from around the world - an effort that is evident in all walks of life in china. I picked up a few during my stay in china too - its amusing and adds for some comic relief on the streets of china only because the rest of the world has grown up learning a form of English with a different flavor. I thought -- Most times it conveyed the message and made us smile too!!