smoko yak

2006-07-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

Starlight:: Mensa

weekend 8 was nothing but relaxing and enjoying the glorious weather:: rain. the rain would not let us go anywhere. we did not feel like going anywhere. so, we sat at home and revised most of our movie collection while munching on steaming hot curry-puffs and finger food. mmm!!

so, since i don't have much to yak about, let me tell you about this black-tie dinner we attended a few weeks back. apparently citrix made a substantial contribution to this charity called the starlight foundation, along with many other companies. to pay compliments to the companies, and to attract more fund raising IT companies, starlight had organized this dinner along with a quiz contest:: well, mensa-type quiz (which is not really real quiz anyway imo). the event turned out to be a big success with 61 companies attending the dinner, with one or two tables each. we ended up being somewhere in mid twenties, e-bay won the contest. hey now, atleast we were ahead of apple, google, and microsoft. the reason i went ranting about the whole thing is coz i have some pickies from the event and wanted to show you some of the guys at the sydney office. martin, the head of sydney office (and the head of CTO office) and james (director of communications) were there as well. check the photo tags. will probably upload more pickies of the eng group [later] from some of the group lunches, but untill then, this'll do.

2006-07-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

Jenolen Caves:: Week 7

jenolen is an amazingly colorful cave system with a multiple layers of involved exploration:: that was the gist of what most people in the office here had to say. the caves not only stood up to that explanation displaying a plethora of contorted decorations but also catered to the inquisitive explorers with a system called adventure caving. its practically loading up on a few basic necessities, like a rope, a set of clutches, a pickax, and a few energizer bars, and start exploring for new caves.

since most part of the cave system is relatively unexplored, the area is yours to explore. you now have the chance to creep through any small dark hole you find in the mountain or an existing cave and figure out if it leads anywhere. if it does, well, you've got a cave named after you. if this motivates you enough, then consider the risks. the hole might be a small opening at the roof of a big, grand giant of a cave (like the mines of moria) and one wrong step, you come crashing down in a near-abysmal pit before some stalagmite-filled rockbed breaks your fall. or the hole might lead you through a long tunnel of air gap, and into a labyrinth of openings that are difficult to maneuver with your current abseiling skills, in which case, good luck with those energizer bars for the next few months before some one, who might accidently make the same mistakes you did, rescues you. the whole 'unsupervised crawling into miniscule dark holes without much knowledge of what might have made it' kinda thing is not for me. so, i stuck to 'site-seeing' the already explored ones.

of the bunch of caves that we could trip through, we chose the lucas and the temple of baal. the lucas cave is one of the largest in the cave system and was named after the person who found it. it is also the most famous one for its broken column (pic above). the river which runs underneath displaces rocks from time to time and the numerous columns that are formed from the stalactite-stalagmite combinations are broken due to the rock movements. you probably also notice the borders of the rock sheets in the above pic.

the temple of baal is the most colorful one. its nameology is intricate and fascinating, but difficult to explain without pickies. so, i've added a bit more detail in my pickies' decription. all-in-all, it was an equisite panorama to withhold.

the funny thing was:: i was walking a few steps ahead of pj in the lucas cave, and i suddenly hear laughing and excited talking. i look back to see that he is deeply involved in a conversation with someone in nepalese. while in the cave, pj manages to meet his old nepalese chum from high school. wtf? they both haven't seen/kept in touch/talked/emailed or even known each other's whereabouts for the past 16 years. and now, they meet inside this creepy little cave, recognize each other in the dark, and pickup where they left off. no, really... wtf? *shake my head* unbelievable!!

2006-06-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

12 Apostles:: Loch Ard Gorge

the north-western segment of the great ocean rd playes host to the famous natural rock formations called the 12 apostles. the standalone limestone rock structures were once a part of the protruding shore line heads (maybe some of them even had look-outs). the waves of wind and water (both from ocean and rain) took its toll from the sides and back of these heads to wedge out the apostles. we won't see all 12 of them from any point on the shore line. quite arguably, there were never 12 of them. they attained this name as a mere dignified replacement for a more sheepish previous title 'the sow and the piglets'. i like the name 12 apostles:: its more befitting their ipseity in my opinion. besides, who would drive 3hrs from melbourne to see piglets anyway.

one of the first signs we saw after entering the park, or rather the first that we paid attention to, was this one:

no, we haven't seen any, but this was the first sign of seeing one. :)

a few minutes drive from the apostle view point was the shipwreck coast. it is called so, beacuse of the famous loss of loch ard. neighbouring the wreck site, are other formations:: the ever falling london bridge, the blowhole, the gibson steps, and the grotto.

eeh, let me not bother with the tragic story now. you guys can read it here if you are interested. took a bunch of pickies again and posted them here.

2006-06-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

Phillip Island:: Penguin Parade

573:: that was the number of penguins that swam out from the ocean and marched to their burrows on phillip island on the day we visited them.

phillip island is a small, well connected island off the coast of melbourne bay. and we probably wouldn't have made the 1.5 hr drive from melbourne, if it weren't for this collegue, who was good enough to mention the pengiuns. and boy, would we have missed it.

sunset time every day this time of the year, a whole bunch of miniature penguins swim to the shores of the island to take a long 100 m walk to their burrows. they almost always swim out around sunset time, which is i guess their way of saying that they are done with their day's work:: fish hunting and fasting/feasting (depending on how their day went). now, if it makes any of you over-stressed, cubicle-dwelling, nerdish workaholics feel any better, the penguins, and not the sun, damn well decide when they end the day:: mostly, after sunset. their biological clock makes that decision for them, brings them home before the last glimmers of sun's rays fade away.

we took a walk through the burrows, on a small wooden padestal walk way, no more than 2 ft high, and had an up-close view of the birds. photography, unfortunately, is not allowed: not because the flashes would scare the penguins away, but because they would come closer and hurt you. you see, penguins are cute to look at but when we approach them within 1-2 ft, they begin to peck us with their beaks and sometimes, quite furiously so: especially near their burrows. so we couldn't take any pictures, but if you feel like you need a peek, check this out.

2006-06-20T01:39:00.000-07:00

Surf Coast:: Great Ocean Rd

truely: the great ocean road!! just when i thought california's hwy 1 was unbeatable!!

on the second day of the melbourne trip, we out towards the surf coast. the coast spreads wide from geelong to lorne, facing tasmania. in case you haven't guessed yet, it is famous for surfing. due to the arguable confluence of the indian and the pacific oceans, the waves here in summer are phenominally attractive to surfers and surfing contest organizers alike. though we saw a decent number of surfers in angelsea and torquay, having found little evidence to overshadow santa barbara's surfing enthusiasm, we resigned to the fact that its winter, with unamicable weather, and no contests. the scenic beauty through the journey there was compensating enough nonetheless.

the great ocean road starts at surf coast and for most part, hugs the oceans:: first the pacific and then the indian, all the way till adelaide. much like hwy 1, it passes along numerous cliffs, beaches, and small towns. what makes it even more beautiful is contrast of the colors around:: the ocean is a pale transparent green in some places (near beaches), but mostly it is bright blue: the rolling hills are covered with freshly grown light green moss and bright green trees: the cliffs, since the land is young, display peachy yellow sandstone:: making the view greeting-card perfect. dont believe what i am talking about? check this out, or this one, or this one for that matter.

there have been many beautiful towns on the great rd, like the lorne which hosts the erskine falls, lavers hill which has the johanna beach, or cape otway where one of the famous light houses is located. but the one place with exceptional location and unsurpassable beauty that i have ever come across is appollo bay. this place holds so much beauty and instantly captivating warmth that i felt like settling down here. the calmness of the mountains, the grace of the valley, the beauty of the beach coupled with the glory of the ocean made the place magical. this was taken on the way back when we were approaching it from the mountains. *sigh* some day, i'll return.

after we crossed appollo bay, we entered the otways:: vast greenlands with interspersed rain forests. apart from its scenic beauty, the otways boasts of having the worlds longest tree-top walk. yeah, thats exactly what it sounds like, a walk that takes you from the top branches of one tree to another on a man made canopy. though we did not walk it, we took a bunch of pickies of the otways and the great rd:: you can see them here.

2006-06-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

Melbourne:: Week 6

it was the queen's b'day last weekend, well.. not really. her b'day was sometime during the week before or the week after, no one i asked really knows for sure. but nonetheless, monday was a national holiday for being the day of the queen's b'day. (you must have guessed it by now that it is not the current queen we are talking here.) ozzies do not have many public holidays in the first place, this being one of the 3 or 4 (there is this and there are x-mas, easter, and ... whatelse.. of yeah, the day after x-mas). so why not celebrate it in style. and rightly so, we flew to melbourne!!

after an hr flight from sydney, we reached avalon. avalon is separated from melbourne by about 40 mins drive and hosts the airport. you would think that it might be a suburb of melbroune, right? well, no. avalon is a place in the middle of nowhere. it is filled with nothingness except the airport and ofcourse its parking lot. and there is nothing around the airport, just green grass and some intermittent trees. as far as the eye can see. of yeah, and some really healthy grazing sheep too. once we got out of the plane, we rented a car and headed straight to the city.

melbourne is a much smaller city (a town?) than sydney and not as cosmopolitan. but, it is more ozzie. it is filled with ozzie culture, with old churches (well, relatively old) and, for some odd reason, with public parks. the city aligns itself on either side of the Yarra river and, as such, is beautiful. it is also the sporting hub of oz. we went down to the famous mcg (melbourne cricket ground), which was huge btw, and to rod lever arena, where we clicked this.

it is fall in oz. sydney being closer to california-type weather, we did not notice the changes much, but melbourne experiences the snowy weather, and therefore more susceptible to the apparent fall colors. the hues on the trees in almost all the parks we visited (most of them memorial) were pretty cool. it reminded me of up-state newyork. the biggest park had a remembrance memorial, for all the warriors oz lost in ww2.

while we checked out the city for the better part of the day, we took a break from it that evening and the next day, only to return the following morning. like always, we took a bunch of pickies (ozzie for pics, they tend to do this for quite a few words:: oz football is footy, chips are chippies, presents are prezzies, and barbeques are barbies). check them out.

2006-06-15T02:13:00.000-07:00

Rain:: Cold

its been raining in Sydney for the last week and a half. i got drenched while getting home from work a couple of days in a row, and now, i have a cold!! :(

pretty bummed out about the fact i couldn't do much last weekend, except lie in bed and watch tv. we gathered a bunch of Indian movies over the last month or so (either borrowing from coworkers or buying them). most of them turned out to be rip offs of some of the hollywood movies we have seen earlier: yikes!! interlaced between the french open, southpark/simpsons re-runs, England-Srilanka test match, and holly/bollywood movies (most of them were outright beat-ups anyway), we saw a couple of not-too-bad ones (or so it appeared):: virudd and iqbal.

next week, weather and health permitting, we'll probably head out to melbourne!! for now, i am kinda looking fwd for that.

2006-06-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

Movies:: Luxury theatres

the cinemas here, interestingly enough, have different caders, which is unlike everywhere else i have been. no, not seating caders, i am used to seeing different levels of seating in the theatres back home. but here, there are a seperate set of theatres called the luxury theatres or first/gold class cinemas, which offer a complete "dinner and a movie" package. it is pretty sweet.

the size of the hall is a little smaller than the regular cinema hall. the seating is pretty much like the first class airline seating: guess thats where they got their name. the seats can be completely reclined and you can watch the movie like in a la-z-boy at home. you have the option of having dinner while watching the movie or before the movie. if you go with the former, they serve it to you hot inside the cinema. totally awesome!! you probably will pay through your nose, but who cares about the nose when your eyes and tummy are happy.

pj and i watched a movie in one of these cinemas, called:: govinda's (didn't know if the name is based on the Lord, or the movie actor, or the owner untill we went in). they had an Indian buffet before the movie. it was a very nice experience, dining on good Indian food before lying down to watch a movie. the first thing that occurred to me when i stepped in, was that we should definetly have these gold class cinemas in the US. the entire experience is so nice that people will completely lap it up!!

2006-05-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Blue Mountains:: Week 3

yes, the mountains are really blue!!

our trip there was rather unexpected. it was supposed to rain during the weekend, but some gorgeous weather turned up later in the day on saturday and pushed our decision the good way.

the mountains are about 100km north-west of sydney, located in the australian-indian preserve area and therefore have indian names:: australian-indian names. (yeah, surprise surprise: the aborigins even here are called indians.) we got to a place called ::katoomba:: which is sort of the center of the forest. (by the way, the name sounds really cool when you say it out loud.. katooomba.. hehe.)

after finding out about what to see and do there, we got a map from the visitor's center and headed for the katoomba (hehe) waterfalls. we started at the top of the falls (katoomba cascades) and went down to the bottom. it was a pretty steep 1.5 hr hike down, but the views on the way, and down at the waterbed, were pretty good. here, see this to get a glimpse.

we then took a hike along the cliff to reach the three sisters, one of the famous attractions in katoomba. it is a tripple rock formation in .. eh! i think this picture will explain it to you better.

the thing that got us wondering was the fact that the rock was actually blue. a collegue later on told us why:: the mountains are filled with eucalyptus trees, and the eucalyptus oil from these trees forms layers on the rock by oxidizing itself (using water vapour), thereby making it blue. and more beautiful!!

we hiked down to the mini-orifice in one of the sisters, and it reminded me of a ride in six flags. the sheer vertical drop of the cliff accentuated my acrophobia, but like the ride, it was well worth it.

we did a little bit more hiking and wanted to get to leura cascades, but unfortunately, the light gave in and we had to change our plans. oh well, there is so much there that we didn't do:: we'll probably go back once more in the coming months.

2006-05-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Shopping:: Week 2

after having a ball of a time searching for houses in a completely new world, we figured we would settle down for a furnished apt with a fairly decent view. furnished apts are difficult to find in sydney. for one, people here prefer to stay in individual houses than apts; and as far as possible, they would want to use their own furniture, even if they are staying for a short time. furnished apts are not only very expensive but also very scarce, and usually rented out as temperary corporate housing. that should explain the ::totally-omg:: view from our balcony.

the week was busy as usual, and we unpacked during whatever little time we had in the late evenings (.. finally!!). almost all the shops here, including groceries, department, clothing, close at 5pm during the week days. and sunday is a holiday for everyone, even the shops; with the exception of the 'touristy' places. needless to say, saturday was our shopping day.

after we were done with the "necessary" shopping, we dared to venture into "lets look around for something interesting" shopping. general piece of advice:: if you are ever in sydney and you want to go shopping: make sure to carry a defibrillator with you. and believe me, you will need it in quite a few stores. because the prices here are Exorbitant:: thats right! with a capital E. i know some of you guys are thinking:: "it can't be that bad. maybe you walked into an expensive store". well.. maybe. but to give you a drift, here is a peice of conversation that actually occured in one of the stores::

PJ:: have you seen the price on the jeans pant?
me:: no, how much?
PJ:: $165!!
me:: no way!!
PJ:: check it out.. (shows me the price tag right about the time when a serviceman approached us. )
SM:: yes sir, can i help you?
me:: are these jeans $165 or is it a misprint? (our eyes are still as big as lemons.)
SM:: no sir, thats the right price.
me:: is there some kind of a deal for mother's day?
SM:: yes sir, they are on a deal.
me:: whats the original price?
SM:: $210.
me:: good for you. (our eyes normal now, we walked out.)

few shops down the isle, we entered a shoe store:: another place i could have used a CPR. i saw a pair of running shoes not unlike the ones i brought at nike in santa barbara for $80. rather inquisitive, i peeked in to take a glance at the price. $230. the glance turned into a stare:: are you kidding me!!! a serviceman sneeked up behind me::

SM:: that is a good shoe.
me:: i know. i have them.
SM:: do you want to look at other models?
me:: for what?
SM:: for running.
me:: no, thanks. i've stopped running.

during a lunch discussion with collegues the following week, we found out that the goods that are imported are expensive due to taxes and additional fees and whatnot. the funny thing is: australian clothing is expensive too. because they typically involve snake/croc skins, heavy hats, and high boots.

ok!! i think i'll stop with these niggling trivialities now. sydney so far has been good to us.

2006-05-12T00:39:00.000-07:00

Sydney:: first week, first look

pretty!! that word would pretty much sum it up.

it is a young city, not even 200 years old. and hence not much of history. it started off as the prime location for the english criminals to be transfered. it was only in the late 19-th century when the english settlers found abundance of resources here.. and ofcourse the gold rush!! But enough with the history bit, let me show you how it looks today.

ofcourse, a couple of blurry pictures are not enough to show you sydney. so, i created this log, which i'll update weekly (not promising, just thinking out loud). check it out from time to time.

2006-05-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

Journey:: Quantas

its late friday afternoon, and raining outside. i am returning from a bi-weekly team meeting and just about finished with my work for the day. so, i guess you can't blame me for not feeling very productive!! besides, its been long since i shared my fair bit of ramblings. so, here it goes.

the journey to sydney was quite un-interesting. although i can't help but mention that my future roomie, Pankaj, or PJ as he likes to call himself, and i did not travel together as we were supposed to. we were together from SB to LA. and then, we were supposed to board the 10:15 flight out to Sydney. it was only after we reached the gate in LAX that PJ found out: he was scheduled to fly out at 11:50 instead. our travel agent, whom we knew by then to be quite a character, as if to prove that very fact, felt the need to book us in two different flights during the major part of the journey. as it turned out, i was able to catch up on my much needed sleep, only to wait for PJ in Sydney.

Quantas is a good airline to fly. it maintains high standards in most of the details relating to customer care and comfort, especially in the food department. no, i am not talking about the quality of the food here, (considering which, i have had better) but rather their uncontrollable need to feed you.. even when you are asleep. they tend to wake you up albiet your multiple "no thank you"s and would not let you sleep without having something to eat. aawwww!! those considerate caring bastards!!!

i was also amazed to notice the leg room, or the lack of it, that their planes offered. now, my notion of australians, and i might be going out on a ledge here, is that most of them are tall and strong. and frankly, i thought there would be more leg room even if it means reducing the seating capacity. but then again, its just 14 hrs of journey over the pacific with merely a patch of hawaiian land to stop in case of emergency. so, why bother with those almost-trivial comforts, more the passengers the merrier! damn commercial airlines and their money-making mindsets!!

i spent about 10 hrs sleeping, with intermittant eating ofcourse. and i watched a movie: "good night, and good luck". its a well made movie with a good story and all, but it was slow as hell. it almost put me back to sleep again before i landed.

the first thing that struck me when i arrived in sydney, apart from the warm breeze, was the fact that i am stepping foot in the southern hemisphere for the first time. i am looking at the southern sky for the first time. it was mildly exciting and mildly intimidating, but mostly normal. meh!! so, i am here, big deal!! it looks like sky elsewhere.

after a couple of hrs of wait without anticipation, i was joined by PJ. we were planning to take a taxi to the hotel. so, we went to the information desk to find out where we could get taxis, and instead got convinced that it is better to take the shuttle. i guess its a hang over from my grad student days that got slapped on to my face:: all he had to do was tell us, in his strong australian accent, that "its cheepah". PJ and i looked at each other: "oh yeah, thats a better option" ... some people never change.

2006-04-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

Count Down:: t-6 days

and then, AU. no doubt i am uber excited. but i believe the excitement will only last a couple of days at best. then, it'll be taken over by the overwhelming need for completing those innumerable jobs i have to 'take care of', most of them non-intelligent:: packeing, tickets, bank accounts, traveler's checks, documents, CDs, saying goodbyes, etc etc etc. no time to think or to be excited. its happened to me before. its going to happen to me again. but there is time for that. it'll come. right now, my thoughts are revolving around seeing kangaroos and playing boomerangs!

2006-04-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

JGD:: first post

apparently, i am into the blogging world now. with many past experiences and opinionated impressions, i knew i would be opening this door. just didn't think i'd do it today. i am swooshing off to australia by the end of this month. and, i can't wait long to share my excitement. i guess you can kinda notice it in my blog name. no, i don't smoke, and no, i don't like yaks. it's just an afterthought from my aussie slang lookup earlier today. it so happens that "smoko", at one time refered to "a smoke break", and eventually ended up meaning "a tea break from work"; and "yak" refers to "chatter". and thats what a blog is for me: a chat during a tea break.

hopefully, i can keep this up: mention my musing more often. lets see how it goes.