China (Part I - Beijing)

China - The land of dragon, communist autocracy, the future superpower, the manufacturer of almost everything man made these days!! My perception wasn't very different looking at the land of Mao from USA and from India growing up. I always had an opinion of this country as - love it or hate it; but you can't ignore it!

What I knew for sure was that I am going to have a chance to rebuild or repair or form new perceptions from the point I decided to go to China. Starting with getting a simple visa - took me 3 days including postal delays get a visa in hand - Quite impressive for a country with so many nationals and immigrants spread all over the world!

First stop: Beijing. The capital of the ancient empire that built a humongous wall to keep away the outsiders was quite welcoming from the get go. I was sparingly using (with a reserved tone of voice so as to apologize in advanced for butchering their beloved national language). Be careful about Beijing. There's so much pollution there you can't see a man standing next to you! - So I was warned! I was greeted with a clear spring day with sunny skies and clean air! :|

Moving on to the hotel wasn't very difficult. I couldn't resist my urge to use up all the childish sentences on the cabbie on my way to the hotel. All I got was that he was from a Manchurian town 10 hours away from Beijing and he lives and earns his dough in Beijing! Hmm, very much like the city of dreams I grew up in. I thought. After getting fresh and in a conscious effort to conquer the jetlag, I decided to take a stroll and go to a restaurant next door (of course with my kindle loaded with that Mandarin crash course ;))

I was dumbfounded to find Hagen Daz, TGIF, Starbucks and Subway just across the street. Dang! There goes my efforts to try dat broken Mandarin!  - I sighed. I decided to skip all those places and go to local restaurant and see if I can order something. After breaking my head for ten minutes, wasting time of a busy waiter (which he kindly tried to hide, but was quite apparent from his body language); I got Kao ya rou - roasted peking duck! With a joy of victor I gulped the whole thing while sipping on Hong Kong milk tea (second based after Indian cardamom chai, at least in my world!)

Next day, I took a tour to famous Tiananmen square, Mao mausoleum and the forbidden city! With tourist population of around 5000+ in that area, I wondered why it is called Forbidden! I was less impressed by the architecture, but started realizing that the country of Billion+ people better photo ops in faces and expressions rather than the timeless, but overcrowded palaces! So I obliged..

Men at work!

Flaunting that hat!

Next stop was Temple of Heaven. I feebly tried to reach the Chinese heavens! That effort lasted for about a second ;)

Trying to touch the heavens!

Again, I was mesmerized with the people more than the temples and palaces!

Origin of V sign!

Couple starting a new life at the doors of heaven!

The day ended with trip to a pure silk museum and a gift shop where I ended up noticing some breathtaking t-shirt art! (no comments!)

No comments!

The next day, we headed to Ming Tombs. We were greeted with with sonorous tunes and colorful costumes! Just when I thought it was some gimmick, a procession formed right in front of us and came together a four hundred year old spring cleaning ceremony that pays respect to the ancestors in the form of animals (now replicas) and gourmet food (this was real!) The whole experience was a bit of a time travel into the ancient china like you see in docudramas!

Where's my horse?

I don't like you, kid..

Your highness!

It's  a job..

Let the action begin..

Attention!

  This was enough to put some fire in my belly and I managed to scare an old soldier with my over enthusiasm!

Western touch to the warrior pose!

And now was the time for the freaking Great Wall of China! The one and only thing (I feel) people come to see and take patel shots (apologies to my Gujarati brothers) against (which I did too!)

No grafitti! 

Patel shot ;)

Long way to heaven!

Day 3. I wake up and look outside the window and a white cloud stares back at me! Whoa! What happened? Aaah, that famous Beijing smog.. That's what they were talking about.. I decided to venture out ignoring my common sense! This time decided to stick to the city itself. The olympic stadium and this time a really gorgeous Buddhist temple that brought back my memories of Bodhgaya 15 years ago! Also, saw a distant relative recent favorite pupil of Master Shifu ;)

Taking a break between Kung Fu lessons!

Smoggy days!

The enlightened one!

Last stop was Hutongs - Government controlled ancient living houses where people still live and travel in hand-rickshaws! 

Rickshaw!!

On my way back to the hotel, I randomly stopped at some public parks that revealed the secret of the seemingly innate pingpong skills among all asians I know of!!

Practice makes one perfect?!

All in all, this one image summarized Beijing for me - a modern city dealing with administrative problems of Amazonian scale, while tending to its ancient roots and forming a melting pot for cultures, (probably and unfortunately) surveilled by the big brother (notice that camera on top right!)

Forbidden(?!) city

Alaska!

To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world. - John Muir

This seems like an innocuous statement, until you actually visit Alaska and experience it for yourself. I consider myself fortunate to have gotten time, resources and company to visit Alaska or the last frontier, so it is referred.

When you think of Alaska, you think of snow and probably lot of it, igloos, native american tribes, auroras, grizzlies, whales, bush-planes, elks, hunting - basically everything a remote icy cold land could be like. What you don't realize (until you actually are there) is the diversity and range of adventures this land offers!

When we (me and my friends) started Alaska trip planning, we spent lot of time trying to cover as much land as possible and do as many things as humanly possible while doing that. As naive as we were, we quickly realized that Alaska is unlike rest of the mainland US states, wherein it is practical to drive from one end of the state to another in a day (Maybe Texas, Arizona, NM are exceptions or maybe not!). The relative lack of generous road connectivity and humongous land mass of the state makes it impossible to cover the whole state over four wheels! Roughly there are three parts of Alaska (there are ? ideally, but these three stand out for somebody visiting Alaska for the first time).

1. Arctic circle and Fairbanks region way up north!
2. Glacier bay national park, Juneau, Alaskan marine highway, Kodiak down south-west!
3. Denali national park, Anchorage, Kenai peninsula, Chugach national forest and Prince William Sound covering most of the central-western region.

We decided to focus on the third part as it offers great diversity within relatively short driving distance (1200+ driving miles i.e.!).

First stop, Denali national park! My first introduction to Denali was through Netlflix documentaries about crazy snowboarders sliding down through deep and pristine snow-filled crevices of the Denali mountain range while landing on to them through helicopters in the movie - Art of Flight. As awe-inspiring the movie was, the landscape was enough to fall in love at first sight. Then I read a bit about different part of the park and realized that the park is so big that there are three different ecosystems living in place neighboring each other. The jungles, the meadows and the mountains!


To be continued..

Dubai

I am an avid traveler/adventurer; but I do not like to splurge big-time. This makes me go for the things that are maximum bang for the buck. So when I saw that Emirates Airlines provides an overnight stay in Dubai if you have more than 3-4 hours layover; I went ahead and booked a returning ticket from Mumbai that would give me an evening in Dubai and overnight stay to relax and continue on my long journey back to Seattle.

A day before my return, I was freaking out a little. I revisited my memories of going to US for the first time. The slight anxiety of not knowing how it will turn out and excitement of getting to explore foreign land; was getting the best of me. I researched a bit, called up Emirates Airlines support to confirm the hotel stay and visa situation and how much Derams (UAE currency) I have to carry.

After packing everything at the last moment, doing the short/on-the-run visits of some close relatives; I boarded a plane to Dubai. I met a nice Bengali lady working from US dept of commerce in Asia; and got some tips for my short stay in Dubai. As much as I love seafood, I realized I score zero marks when it comes to Bangali fish. She was kind enough to tell me a few places to try in Mumbai and I made a mental note (because it always works, you see :P) to add this to my ‘things to do in next India trip’.

So after short conversation and catching up on some sleep (India trips are never physically relaxing!);  I landed in Dubai. I could sense my heart beating faster with anxiety and excitement. After some usual going-out-the-wrong-way, then cursing how the system is designed to be non-intuitive and thinking about what I can do it better (smartass that I am ;) ); I got out of the airport little shy of two hours. (Trust me that was usual and I had anticipated it). I checked in to a hotel and inquired about tours or hiring a taxi or driving around in a rental car to make the best of my next 5 hours (although physically tired, such trips pump extra oxygen in my lungs and a gallon fresh blood in my veins!). To my surprise, there was a Dubai bus tour leaving in 10 minutes and it was dirt cheap (compared to what I was thinking of paying a cabbie or on a rental car). I booked this trip, literally ran to my hotel room, changed and came down all in 10 minutes.

In general, I despise the touristy kind of trips because they don’t give you real picture or do not allow you the joy of exploring things on your own. But I made an exception this time, as I had heard bad things about Dubai traffic.

As it turned out I had landed on Monday evening, a day after the Dubai shopping festival – the biggest freaking shopping festival in the largest freaking mall in the world (which is really very Dubaish) Traffic jam wasn't much of a problem and the driver cum tour guide was friendly enough to give me a passenger seat and answer all pointless questions I ask when I get excited.

First stop was one of many famous mosques in Dubai at Jumeirah. It being an Islamic country, mosques are well maintained, decorated by the government. You can see the beautiful end result below :)

Next stop was the famous Burj Al Arab by the Jumeira beach. It was fabulous summer weather (for a Seattleite that is J ) with cool sea breeze, white sand and relaxing water. At the end of this beach stands the Burj Al Arab. It was lit up in alternating blue and green colors.

My first memories of Burj Al Arab were the endless email forwards I used to get that had countless pictures of this hotel that sports a tennis court on the top (what do they do if ball falls down, a stupid question I would ask myself while trying to relate this affair to my terrace or gacchi cricket experience :P ). From those emails, my impression was that it is either one of those places that is either super-exclusive or a superb photoshop work. It turned out to be former. Apart from being a flamboyant piece of architecture; the hotel was extravagant beyond my wildest imagination. They provide each guest with a Rolce Royce (you heard it right!) and if you don’t like that they provide you with a helicopter which lands on a helipad built at the top of this place. A regular three course dinner can cost anything between 2000 to 5000 USD. Still I asked the guide if there is any way to sneak into the tennis court. He told me it requires advanced reservation for a simple tea of $100. ‘Maybe some other time’, I said to my frugal self.

Moving on, we went to Palm islands, which is a freaking man-made island on reclaimed land (land in Dubai so uber-expensive that huge land reclamation ventures like Palm islands and The World are pretty common)

Right in the middle of the hotel stand the majestic hotel Atlantis - another freaking expensive hotel that costs $32000 per day (I am still not convinced about this!) and requires a minimum stay of five days (WTF!!). 

After few short stops, we reached our final destination – Dubai mall, largest freaking mall in entire world and Burj Khalifa – current tallest freaking building on Earth. 829.8 meters to be precise. 

To me, Dubai mall looked like just another freaking big mall, with lots of shops (95% of which I would never go to) and huge food courts. There was a fascinating aquarium built inside the mall where you could see sharks hovering over or next to you while strolling. I grabbed a bite of original Lebanese falafel wrap  (that’s what the menu card said, don’t get all legal). It didn't taste any different from the one I have at a local mediterranean joint. Then I looked around and noticed how dapper and well groomed locals (girls and guys both!) are. Locals are very few enough to make you wonder if they were planted to give you taste of culture of Dubai!

Next stop was the high point (in both figurative and literal sense) of the trip -the observation deck of Burj Khalifa. This is on 124^th floor of the building, which is tall enough to look down at rest of the Dubai. I was smart enough to find out that online reservation of the deck visit would cost 3-4 times less than the on-site price. I had booked the only available time slot of 11 PM the day before. It fitted perfectly with the tour thing  and it allowed me a dazzling night view of lit up gold that is Dubai .

Only other observation deck that has come close to it was the ‘Top of the rock’ in Rockefeller Plaza, NY. After some more Patel shots; I headed back to the hotel.

Luckily, I reached the hotel just few minutes before the kitchen was closing. I devoured on mouth-watering mutton biryani. Knowing a little bit about how it is really made (never been patient enough to devote that much time to make one); I feel insulted when I am served with some twisted version of fried rice or pulav as a ‘biryani’. But this one was undoubtedly one of the best biryanis I had off late.

As the food coma swept in and my body started giving to physical exhaustion; I dropped on hotel room bed to catch up 4-5 hours of sleep before catching a long flight to Seattle.

In all, I could relate Dubai to Vegas. When you go to Vegas, you know you are gonna have some fun, see fake replicas of Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower and come back. Dubai on the other hand takes  inspiration from famous structures in the world and builds them bigger, larger or maybe better. I saw twin Chrysler towers that were bigger than the original ones in NY. I saw the Atlantis hotel which was built based on the one in Bahamas, only bigger and much more expensive. To top all that, they are building The World made of 300 small islands shaped and proportioned to corresponding countries. Apparently, Angelina Jolie bought ‘Cambodia’ for her adopted Cambodian child (one lucky kid! ).

To me, Dubai is a side-project you would do when you are provided with infinite resources of everything you need for that project. Dubai strives to be a perfect and most elitist/ambitious or rich-most version of the world. The price tags make it the most exclusive place on Earth; but like all other hypes or bubbles it makes you wonder whether this is all worth it. How much comfort or splurging is really enough? Where do you draw a line between occasional splurge, blowing off some steam and always living in the unreal world which is not accessible to 99.9999999999999999999% people. I guess my bourgeois conscience coupled with conditioning in eastern philosophy never allows me to not think about these issues.

Anyways, as I headed back to Seattle I was only glad to see the splendor that is Dubai. I told somebody that ‘If I ever get rich enough to not know how to spend my money; I would come to Dubai’. But I am not sure I will follow it through if I ever build wealth of the Shaikhs of Dubai. My gut feeling or conscience wants me to go to the Bill Gates way instead..

First full marathon

Every first has a special meaning. I ran my first full marathon today. Through the hilly course starting below the Space needle, going on I-90 bridge (over Lake Washington), then through beautiful Seward park in morning mist and through the hills by the Washington lake. It felt good. No, it felt really good..

I still remember yesterday. I was all apprehensive and my mind running through all crazy things. I was  thinking of all the worst cases. What helped was reading about basic muscle anatomy, how muscles work, what fuels them, how to monitor your breath and keep yourself hydrated all the time. It all turned out to be very useful. I started stronger and finished strong. I didn't try to push myself foolishly. I took it easy where I thought I was over exerting and bolted of where I thought I can without breaking my body's rhythm.

Needless to say the weather gods were super pleased with Seattle. It was foggy and slightly cold weather but no rain  to start with. At around 11 AM, the Sun showed up, the skies clear up and it becomes absolute pleasure to run with a crystal clear view of Space needle and downtown Seattle. By the time I finished, Sun was beaming and lying on the Leon Brigham Football stadium after four+ hours of nonstop running, made it all worth it.

Preparation of last 2.5 months, especially acclimatization to Seattle rainy, damp and cold weather was very useful. Stretches I learned for long distance running were handy especially in last legs of the race.

All in all, a great first experience. Hoping for miles to go before I sleep..

P.S.: This one was for Hussein..

Hussein

Rahul: Hello
Me: Bol kya hua?
Rahul: Arey, Hussein passed away...
Me: What? Are you f*&%*g kidding me?
Rahul: Nahi be. It happened on Tuesday morning. He had a stroke in his sleep.
Me: (Still trying to decide whether to believe this) Is this a joke?
Rahul: No, Lisa and Carl got an email from his sister.
Me: Oh God..

Hussein. A close buddy of mine - who was around me for past five years is no more.. Call it fate, but we always ended up together. First the grad school, then Goldman Sachs - both in New York and Salt Lake City. We grew so close that he started referring to me as 'brother from another mother'. Trust me, he really meant it..

I met Hussein the very first time at the beginning of my grad school. It was my first class, administered by Dr. David Kung - an old professor with wisdom of Confucius and kindness of Santa Claus. Hussein and I were part of a project group for this class. I still remember the number of sleepless nights near the end of the semester when we were trying to finish our project. He used to invite us to his apartment for some delicious Salmon and rice with steamed veggies.

My first impression of Hussein was that of a well mannered gentleman who has seen the world, has been through lot of hardships and the one who values his friends above anything. Professors, especially Dr. Kung loved him for his affable demeanor. We went to Florida together during the Spring of 2008. We met Sara - his then girlfriend, his family - mum and sister when they flew down from UK/Tanzania to see him for his graduation. I still remember the Biryani his mum made that reminded me of home.

Time passed. Hussein graduated and moved to California for job in Summer of 2009. We bid farewell, thinking that we wouldn't see each other much in person. I finished my thesis work in fall of 2009. About the same time, I went for a career fair in Long Beach, where Goldman Sachs interviewed me. At the end of the day, I headed out of conference room, exhausted by all the talking and self-promoting to people who would think I am smart enough to work with them. To my utmost surprise, I bumped into Hussein. He had flown down from San Francisco to interview for similar position in same company :)

I was ecstatic by the prospects that we might end up working together. And it happened. Despite some other offers, I chose to go to New York to work for the wall street giant. We both landed in New York almost the same time - in Spring of 2010. We were absolutely taken in by the grandeur and charm of the Big Apple. Me, because it reminded me of my home town - Mumbai and him because, well because it was New York :)

Every weekend we would meet up when he used to cook up his signature dish - Steamed, salted, Oregano sprinkled salmon with rice and Brussels Sprouts, beans. It is one the tastiest meals I have ever had. Like tourists we visited every famous spot in New York, and eventually became (or pretended to be?) New Yorkers. Six months flew by. It was time to fly to Salt Lake City - a place we barely knew and much of what we had heard wasn't very encouraging.

We landed together in a gorgeous valley surrounded by a serene lake and snow-caped mountains with cozy city at their base. We hardly knew anybody else. Needless to say, Hussein and I along with other friends stuck together. We explored Utah deserts, national parks, canyons together. He was slender to medium built, with great appetite for adventure. So much so that he went from somebody who had barely skied before to a frequent Black Diamond skier in one skiing season. He loved skiing. It was definitely one of the things that gave him utmost pleasure. I have to say that his enthusiasm was quite inspiring and somewhat crazy at the same time :)

Time flies by. August of 2012. I decided to move out of Salt Lake City to pursue other career opportunities. I had mixed emotions. I was leaving behind some of the best folks I have ever met, including Hussein. At the same time Hussein was planning another adventure - to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and take Kenyan safari. As enticing as it was, I decided not to go for it (I so regret it now :( ). Before he left for the trip, we had a lunch together. We reminisced in the memories of last five years. How he had surprised  me, Parth and Faiz by his unannounced  visit to Texas (when he was in San Francisco). How Parth and I managed to pull the same trick on him during our stay in New York. He was visibly upset with me leaving him, but we made promises to meet up soon.

Like every other time, I thought Hussein would knock on my door in Bellevue, WA one day and would surprise me with his genuine smile. And then repeat the story countless times to everybody! But God had different plan...

He was a genuine guy. He had a big heart and was loved by many. His flare for adventure rubbed on me. I have lost one of my first and closest friends in US. It deeply saddens me and makes me realize how valuable and fragile life is..

May God rest his soul in peace..

Déjà vu

My Dad is a very open person. He likes to share stories of how he was brought up, how he came to Mumbai, how he made a living etc. When I was young, whenever we used to pass by Sewree, an area in south central part of Mumbai; he would point at one building, get a little nostalgic and would say - 'My first job in Mumbai was as an accountant in that building'. A ten year old me could only take that as a piece of trivia.

Cut..

Few months ago, I was visiting some friends in Jersey City. After a long dinner reminiscing about school and college days, I decided to take a walk starting from water front to Morris Canal Park, one of my favorite spots in that area (You will know the reason if you look at this picture)

Anyways, I stopped by 30 Hudson St. building which used to house thousands of Goldman Sachs employees. Pointing towards the south side of the fifth floor of the building, I said to my friend - 'You see that floor. I started my first job there.'

And suddenly I could relate to what my Dad was saying all those years ago :)

Happy Mother's day!

Mom. Your first and probably the deepest connection to life. A person who undeniably defines the phrase 'unconditional love'.

It is near impossible for me to describe in words how I feel about her. I am filled with so many emotions and memories that my rational side fails to fathom. I leave you with following video that salutes the person who plays the role of 'higher being' on earth - the one who creates you, the one who nurtures you..