Kerala - Cochin and Munnar Hills

November 28 (Monday):

Up at 8:00am.  Had breakfast.  Unfortunately there was a strike so we couldn't do our scheduled itinerary - going to the highest point and to Munnar City.   Instead, went for a drive through the tea plantations, and walked up and down the hills observing the lovely views of the valleys, plantations, scattered houses, women cutting the tea leaves etc.  Back to the hotel for some rest.

At 4:30pm (when the strike was over for the day) drove along the narrow roads to Munnar City.  Visited a tea outlet and walked around the town.  Back to the hotel - rested and had dinner - butter masala chicken and roti.

Tomorrow morning, we are scheduled to leave the hotel at 3:30am, so we can get out, and reach our destination before the strike begins at 6:00am .............. going to be an early night tonight.

Spent the night at Bracknell Forest Resort.

November 27 (Sunday):

Up at 7:30am.  Had a good Kerala breakfast.  Met a Malayan actress who was staying at the hotel for a movie shooting (unfortunately they didn't need any extras).  Drove to the palace and toured inside.

Drove towards Munnar, en route stopped to view elephant rides; waterfalls - had fresh coconut; pineapple and mangoes.  The roads were small, narrow and steep as we were going up the mountains.  It was a beautiful, scenic drive with a good view of the valleys and tea plantations.  Arrived and checked in at our hotel at 3:30pm.  Freshened up and had an excellent lunch,

Left at 4:30 to watch a local Kathakali folklore and then a local martial arts show.  Went back to the hotel and had dinner.

Spent the night at Bracknell Forest Resort - the view was beautiful as we were looking down into the valleys.

November 26 (Saturday):

Got up at 5:50am, got ready and had breakfast delivered to our room.  Took taxi at 6:30 to the airport.  Traffic jam due to a major accident.  Arrived at the airport at 7:30am and checked in.  Departed New Delhi at 9:15am.  Arrived Hydrabad at 11:30am, and departed at 12:15pm.  Arrived Cochin at 1:40pm.

Were greeted and met by our Tour Guide and Driver - Gijo. Were taken to the tourist office, where we were given a debrief and settled our account   Did a tour of Cochin - Took a local ferry to Fort Cochin; Museum; Jewish Synagogue; Chinese Fishing Nets etc.  Had dinner at a sea front restaurant - we were shown all the day's catch and were asked to take our pick and they would cook it to our liking.  Went for the tiger prawns.

Spent the night at Wyte Fort.

Delhi and TAJ MAHAL

November 25 (Friday):

Wake up call at 8:00am.  Had breakfast and then took the Metro to Chadni Chowk.  Crazy crowded.  Walked around, went to the Red Fort, and took a bicycle rickshaw to Juma Masjid; various shops and back to Chadni Chowk.


Took a motorized rickshaw to Phargang,  Walked around and then went to a roof top restaurant for early dinner.  Met and talked to some more tourists.  Took a richshaw back to the hotel - packed and settled account with the hotel.  Went back to Phargang for a drink at a roof top hotel.  Back to the hotel.

Spent the night at Bright Hotel.

November 24 (Thursday):

Got a wake up call at 6:00am.  Got ready - Sunderpal came to pick us up at 6:45am.  Drove to the parking lot and took a tram to the Taj Mahal.  Unfortunately it was very foggy and so we couldn't get a good view of the Taj.  As we started walking towardes the gate at 8:30am, the fog strated to clear up - very, very lucky as we would have missed this if we had left 5 mins earlier.  Spent another hour looking at the magnificient Taj.

Back to the hotel for breakfast.  Had breakfast at the top floor (reserved for guests in the Executive rooms).  Had a distant view of the Taj Mahal.

Checked out and left Agra at 11:00am.  Another long, tedious drive.  Stopped by enroute at Sikander Fort.  Arrived in New Delhi at 5:00pm.  Did a tour of Qutub Minar, President;s Palace; Parliament Buildings; Government Buildings.

Drove to Bright Hotel, said goodbye to Sunderpal, gave him a good tip and checked in to the hotel.

Spent the night at Bright Hotel.

November 23 (Wednesday):

Boarded the flight from Muscat just after midnight at 12:40am.  Arrived Mumbai at 4:35am.  Long journey from Mumbai Internationl departures to domestic departures.  Departed Mumbai at 7:00am.  Arrived Delhi at 9:00am.

Initially couldn't see our taxi driver and guide, so started getting worried.  Finally Sunderpal arrived some time later.  We headed out of Delhi at around 10:00am.  Although Agra wasn't that far, it was a long journey - crazy traffic; cows; tractors etc etc.  stopped enroute for lunch.

Arrived in Agra at around 3:30pm.  Went to see Agra Fort, then checked in to Radisson Hotel.  It was a grand hotel, just built 5 months ago - and to top it up, they upgraded us to an Executive room.  Showered and freshened up - Sunderpal came to pick us up at 7:00pm, and took us to Mahal restaurant for dinner.  This was a grand restaurant frequented by tourists.  A gentleman from England (Greg) came and started talking to us and joined us for dinner.  Back to the hotel for an early night, as very tired.

Spent the night at Hotel Radisson.

Muscat - Day 1 and 2

November 22 (Tuesday):

Got up at 7:45 am.  Went for breakfast at 8:10am.  Had continental breakfast, including omelette.  Rested for a while in the room,  At 11:45 went to Iqbal's house.  Iqbal's wife had invited 2 other friends, and we all had Biryani together.

Back to the hotel.  Slept and rested; checked out at 4:00 (manager had extended our check out time).  Went to the Corniche souk and did some shopping.  Had dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the harbour.  On our way back to the hotel, ran into the members of the Indian band from the night before, so went and listened to them for 1 hr.  The owner of the hotel happened to be there and gave us complimentary appetizers.

Took taxi to the airport at 10:00pm.

November 21 (Monday):

Alarm went off at 4:30am (clock was not working properly).  Back to sleep.  Got a wake up call (knock on the door) 6:30am.  Got ready, had continental breakfast - no omelette as the cook was not supposed to come in till 8:00am).

Tour guide came to pick us up at 8:00am, for a half-day City tour.  Drove around Muscat to the Hyatt to pick up 3 other passengers.  Drove around the various Embassies (very large, impressive and on the sea front) and Government buildings.  Went to see the Grand Mosque - huge and impressive.  Went to Muttrah (old city) - visited the fish market and the Muttrah Souk (market).  the Sultans' private yacht ( was as big as a cruise ship) was anchored in the harbor.  Visited the museum and then the Sultan's Palace - amazing, massive and perched on a cliff top. Were dropped off back to the Hotel at around 1:00pm.

Walked on the Corniche and ate at the waterfront (Chicken Reshmi) - so-so.  Went back to the hotel and slept for a while - the flight and travel was finally catching up on us.  Freshened up; walked around the Corniche; went to the Muttrah Souk; had Shawarma; walked lots.  Met a number of Indian people, working in Muscat, and one group insisted we join them for drinks.  Went to Mina Hotel for beer and to listen to a live Indian music group - our new friends insisted in paying for the drinks.  One gentleman (Iqbal) invited us for lunch (Biryani) at his house the next day.

Spent the night at Corniche Hotel.


ps.  most of the people in Muscat speak Hindi; Swahili and Arabic.  Hindi as a great many people here are from India on a working visa.  Swahili as Zanzibar and parts of East Africa were under Omani rule and so a large population has East African heritage - either was born there, had parents born there, or currently have family there.


On the flight in, we overheard some people speaking fluent swahili, so we started chatting - he was from Singida.  We met another person from Tabora.  We also met Kutchi speaking people from Sind.

Flight to Muscat, Oman

November 20  (Sunday):


Arrived Amsterdam at 9:05am instead of the scheduled 8:30am - 35 minutes late, although departure was delayed by 50 mins - made up some time on the flight.  Checked in at the departure gate, freshened up and went through security. Departed Amsterdam at 11:05, instead of 10:35am - 30 mins delay.


Arrived Abu Dhabi at 8:40pm.  Departed Abu Dhabi at 9:15pm.  Arrived in Muscat at 10:10pm.  Got the local currency - Omani Riel (US $1 = 2.75 OMR); got; Visa; went through customs.  Taxi driver greeted us and took us to Corniche Hotel (12 Riels).  It was a beautiful drive to the hotel (35 mins) - all the streets were lighted up as the the country had celebrated the Sultan's birthday just a couple of days ago.


Checked in at the hotel, unpacked and called it a night.


ps.  We were staying in Muttrah (Old City) in the Corniche (waterfront) area.  There were only 4 hotels (basic) hotels in this area.  Our hotel overlooked the waterfront, where the Sultan's yatch was moored.

November 19 (Saturday):

Left home at 7:40am.  Tahira drove us to the airport.  Checked in.

Departed Edmonton at 10:00am. Arrived Calgary at 10:40am.  Long wait in Calgary - had lunch at the airport.

Departure from Calgary was delayed by 50 mins.  Departed Calgary at 4:30pm instead of 3:40pm.  Were getting a little nervous as we had only a 2 hr window for our connecting flight in Amsterdam.  Good flight but long.

IIFA 2011 (Toronto) - IIFA Awards

June 25 (Saturday)

Today attended the main IIFA Awards show at Rogers Centre - just 5 minutes walk from Safraz s penthouse.  We had accommodation at the Marriott for June 24th and June 25th.

The Show was long (5 hours), but a unique experience ...............

The Show was long (5 hours), but a unique experience ...............

IIFA 2011 (Toronto) - IIFA ROCKS Show

June 24 (Friday)

Attended the IIFA Fashion Rocks Show at Ricoh Coliseum - a 15 minutes walk from Safraz s penthouse.  We had accommodation at the Marriott for June 24th and June 25th.

The Show was a memorable experience ...............

IIFA 2011 (Toronto) - With Safraz, Family and Friends

June 18 (Saturday) to June 23 (Thursday)

Departed Edmonton on June 18 (Saturday) just after midnight at 12:50am and arrived in Toronto at 6:25am.  Safraz picked us up in his new wheels.

For the next 6 days, leading up to the IIFA Awards, we stayed at Safraz`s penthouse overlooking Lake Ontario and the Toronto City skyline

Camy and I visited family and Friends each and every day, some of whom we had not met for a very long time.  We also made daily visits (only a 10mins walk from the penthouse) to Royal York Hotel, where the stars were staying, and everyday we got glimpses of different stars.