Suitcase and World: July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

Please say it isn't so.....

M
y head realizes that it's important to stay safe when travelling to certain parts of the world but my heart is always crushed when I find out that a place that I've long dreamed of going is out of bounds because of violence.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Mali & Senegal. Itinerary

I
finally got my approval for the mission to Mali so this trip is really happening!!

I wasted no time getting my flight arrangements in order and finalizing the details of my trip through Mali after my work assignment ends.  I'm hiring a local guide for my trip through Mali. I still have to work out what exactly what I'm going to do when I'm in Dakar - so many things I want to see, so little time :-(

Thursday, July 22, 2010

At the crossroads. Timbuktu.

When I mentioned to several of my colleagues that I would be going to Mali, one of the first questions that they would ask me was, "Are you going to Timbuktu?". Hello?? Have we met? Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot go to Mali and NOT go to Timbuktu!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I'm out of visa pages?


How can it be? I got my US passport in April 2006 and today, when I went to get my visa for my upcoming trip to India and Bhutan, I was told they could not issue the visa because I'm out of visa pages in my passport.  The guy who was helping me said that I've been a very active traveller over the past four years.  That indeed I have been but I thought I had five pages left.  At least that's what it looked like but apparently, those five are reserved for the US State Department to indicate amendments (e.g., name change) to your passport. I have no amendments to make but I still need to sacrifice those five pages.  *sigh*

I'm out of visa pages??

How can it be? I got my US passport in April 2006 and today, when I went to get my visa for India, I was told they could not issue the visa because I'm out of visa pages in my passport.  The guy who was helping me said that I've been a very active traveller over the past four years.  That indeed I have been but I thought I had five pages left.  At least that's what it looked like but apparently, those five are reserved for the US State Department to indicate amendments (e.g., name change) to your passport. I have no amendments to make but I still need to sacrifice those five pages.  *sigh*

So, now I have to get additional visa pages added. I went to the State Department website to get information on how to go about doing this. Not so fortunate for me because the fees for US passports were increased just last week. In anticipation of the price hike, there was an increase (no surprise) in the volume of passport requests prior to last week......and therefore, a backlog to be processed.  To compound mattters, I'm going on misson to Mali immediately before this trip so I now have to expedite the passport request to give myself time to get both Mali and India visas. 

And get this.....it's going to cost me $82 for the pages, $60 for expedited service and $14.96 for overnight delivery. Yikes!! All this money and it's still going to take between 2-3 weeks to get my passport back.

Oh...the nail biting begins as I sweat through the waiting period!

Update: July 29. I came home tonight and there was a FedEx envelope waiting for me. Inside? My US passport with the additional pages sewn in!! Woohoo!! Panic over!

Monday, July 19, 2010

In the land of temples. Akshardam.


Iwas talking earlier this afternoon with a couple of my Indian colleagues, one of whom had just returned from a three week trip to his homeland, about my upcoming return visit to India. Naturally, they asked me where I would be going on my trip and so I rattled of the list of places, including Sikkim which Varun gave two thumbs up on.  When I mentioned that I would be spending a few days in Delhi, Veronica's eyes lit up. 

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Pretty in pink. Lac Rose.


A
lake with pink colored waters is not an unusual phenomenon. There are quite a few pink lakes located in different parts of the world. Pink lakes that are also salt lakes is als unusual; there are a few of those scattered around the globe too. The pink coloration appears to be caused by a large concentration of either cyanobacteria or salt tolerant algae.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Be happy :-)

I don't know anyone who does not want to be happy but what does it take be happy? When I was younger, happiness was all wrapped in material possessions - my house, my car, my *toys*, my clothes and the others that I was amassing.  Accumulating stuff  was all it took to make me happy.

A few years back, I realized that accumulating possessions was no longer the formula to my personal happiness.  I started to give away stuff but having less stuff didn't make me happy either.

For me, material wealth definitely equates with living comfortably but it does not translate into being more happy and I've always known that I'm not alone in the way I feel.

In recent years, sociologists have put out surveys to try and gauge the relative happiness of different countries.  Not surprisingly, just because you're a wealthy country does not mean your citizens are a happy lot by default.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Music to my ears.


M
usic is an integral part of my daily life. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not listening to it. At a minimum, I have the radio for my hour long, each way, commute to work. My work day, for the most part, is music free but the moment I'm home, it's back on.  Even when I travel, I bring along my trusty MP3 player.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Lest we forget. Île de Gorée.


Sometimes, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, it's good to be reminded of man's inhumanity towards ourselves.  There's enough human suffering in the world - millions of people are struggling to put a roof over their heads, food on the table and clothes on their back.  Countless are dying of incurable diseases.  We don't need to add to human suffering by torturing and killing each other.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Home Sikh Home. Amritsar.

The GoldenTemple located in Amritsar.

Ever since I went to India in 2007, I've had a love affair with the countrhy and I've vowed to return as often as I can until I feel like I've seen what I want from this incredible country.

In planning this trip, I had deliberately wanted to set aside a few days in Delhi so I could see more of the city. I'm planning on spending some time visiting sights I did not get around to seeing last time. I've also signed up to take a couple of cooking classes - very excited about that!  That left me with two days left to do something and after mulling over whether or not I wanted to spend them in Delhi, I opted instead to do a side trip.