chandru_bv

Yes, finally graduated and was ready for something other than the mundane life. Needed to travel very badly. Considering the fact that i had graduated recently and was now in the job hunt mode, A reallocation to the silicon valley seemed to be the logical choice. After lot of thinking, which lasted for one phone call, i decided to move to California. But reallocation to California is not what this post is about. This post is about the journey to California. Some of the perks of getting an internship in big companies is that they take care of your reallocation charges. A friend of mine had got into one such company and he wanted to drive to California. So things fell into place and there we were, on our way to California in a 2003 Toyota corolla.
   Left Arlington, Texas on 05/21/2009 and headed to El paso, Texas. We decided to drive about 400 miles a day which makes each of us to drive about 200 miles and for 4 hrs.

( Click here for images and trip details. )

Yeah Vegas Baby, I think this is the only tourist place in US which is not hyped. Vegas is what vegas is, a place to loose yourself. The light the glitter the sound and the night. Everything about vegas is extravagant. Unfortunately i did not go to vegas for chilling out. I was there for a career fair, Not having a job before you graduate make such visit filled with tension. Nevertheless vegas is still one heck of a place. Vegas is all about SHOWS. Nothing much i will say. Some photos as usual.

Oh and the Show The phantom of opera was just superb.
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Hampi was the capital of vijayanagar empire. A lot more information about hampi can be got here http://www.hampi.in/.
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One of the best national park i have ever seen. not that i have seen a lot of national parks, but was fortunate enough to see some beautiful ones like this.

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Sausalito is just across the golden gate bridge. after a walk across the golden gate bridge(yes i walk across the golden gate bridge), I was pleasantly surprised by the calm and beautiful place. it is very scenic and relaxing. a prefect place to sit beside the shore . thanks to rudugudu for the location tip.


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One of the most beautiful cities i have visited.
I especially like the pier. the people are friendly, the weather is awesome. some of the places are hyped a lot (read as Lombard street) but others are worth the visit.

( Click to see pictures )

I think this is the best place for an entrepreneur. one of the best universities is just around the corner. and the palo alto downtown is bubbling with excitement. my first visit to university ave was to the apple store. I felt like this is the place where i would like to work.

( Click here for pics )

My first beach visit in USA.
I have realized that Americans love beaches. I think being in California develops a love towards beach. there are lot of activities going on in beaches. One we tried was ATV. I must say, this was one of the things you have to try to experience it. it is just wonderful.

( Click here for pics )

California is a wonderful place. The weather reminded me of Bangalore. santa cruz is a place where you can go for a long drive knowing that at the end of the drive you will be pleasantly welcomed with a wonderful beach. On the way to santa cruz we stopped at mystery point. this place is filled with sort of visual illusions. One can realize how marketing can turn a good for nothing place to a tourist spot. All in a this mystery spot is a once and only once in a lifetime visit.

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Delhi-> Manali -> Leh -> Kargli -> Srinagar -> Jammu -> Delhi
2650Km
12 Days
6 guys
5 bikes

( Pictures and details )
PS: I have Settled, started cooking, have to buy mobile.

City of lights.
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The land of gods.
you can feel the supremacy these structures have when you look up and gaze at the hard-to-believe construction.
In my short trip to his remote yet wonderful piece of land made me realise how powerful humans are.
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Santoroni.
santorini is a small greek island mostly known for its architecture and beaches.
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Belgium is in the heart of Europe. This is the place you go to relax. I mean what more can you ask for. Belgium has the best beer, the best chocolate, 3 hrs from paris, 2 hrs from Amsterdam, 3 hrs from colon, and beautiful women (who can speak English). The best thing I like about Belgium is the beer; I mean come on where else will you get this good bear.
   During my short visit to this beautiful country I visited Brussels, the capital of Belgium and brugge, a city which is in the north of Belgium known as the Venice of the north.

( Pics here.  )

Kolkata.

The first thing you will notice when you get down in kolkota is the yellow cab. This antique piece of machinery, 1000’s in number, run around the city like the identity of the city. The city is supposed to be bigger that Bangalore, don’t know how much it is true. As we were traveling in the yellow box we realized that the driver has installed a customized/unique radio in his cab. Apparently the cab we took from the airport to the place where we stayed should have been the slowest cab in the country. Either the drive was ignorant about the fourth gear or the cab didn’t have one. On the way we keep listing to the songs from the magic box(which looked like radio). More frequently it used to stop and the driver would wave his hand over the magical box and we would continue hearing the songs. At one point of time when it stopped playing music , even I tried my luck and it worked. So this has to be a magic box. One more think you will notice when going in the cab is the horn of the cab. It is that typical “pom pom” kind of horn and not the “ kein kein” kinds. Oh and how can we forget the traffic police. They stand right in the center of the circle dressed fully white, black boots which come till the knees, hats which look like a firemen’s hat more and police hat less, the strap which clips there trousers over their shoulder.
The city is little dirty by the city is a world of its own. People speak Bengali by default but hindi is known by all the taxi walas, merchants, etc. When it comes to navigations the city is a huge mess. If the driver decides to fool you, he can be going around circles in the same area and you wouldn’t even realize. Be ready to be mugged if you don’t know the route.

Metro : There is one line metro in the city, what i like about it were the stations. at some stations there were art exhibits. poems and paintings. one would not step out of the station without appreciating this.

Night life: apparently Calcutta has several pubs, most of them near by the park hotel. This city does not have the 11:30 curfew as Bangalore so the pubs are open all night. Went to a pub called “some place else”. The band playing was “the orient express”. Amazing music.

Food: If there is one thing that you miss about kolkata it has to be food and sweets. 2 days was a festival for our stomach. Man I love rasgulas. Road side PUCHKA's also know as Golgopa are mouth watering, literally.


To put it in short, Kolkata is a world of it’s own. I don’t think there can be another city like it.

Sikkim is situated at the foothills of Himalayas. I thought Singapore is a country which depends on tourism, but without tourism Sikkim would have been filled with unemployed people. there motto is clear. live and let live. Sikkim is divided into 4 zones, North, East West and South. Vehicles from one zone are not allowed to run in the other. so if you are planning to hire one vehicle and see entire Sikkim, give up.
( Click here formore photos and details.  )

 I guess this photo sums up the trip. 8 days , 1635 Km , 2 bikes , 3 people.
rgururaj ,manjlanata,  and me.

( Click here for the complete itinerary and photos, 6.33 mb in total )

Munnar is a hilstation in kerala.
All of us decided to go for a trip before everybody goes there way. some are going for higher studies, some out the country because of work and so on. after a long time all of us got togethe, some of them were still missing. some photos of the trip.

( Click Here- 14 photos )

Male madeshwara hills is the home for the temple of Sri Male Mahadeshwara and several ofher temples. following the Mystery trails some of us found ourself in the midst of hills.


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Berlin, the capital of germany is turely amazing.they say that the only city which is equivalent to the city LONDON is berlin. the entire city was destroyed in the WW2 and rebuilt. it is about 4 times in size when compared to Paris and very well connected. the best way to see berlin is to buy the day pass (Tag-karte).

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Munich is the beer capital of germany. famous for October fest. one thing you will notice is how friendly the people are. the perfect mixture of culture and technology.

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