Saturday

Survival of the Fittest

Drama started when the Japanese car giant Toyota recalled eight models (around 2.3 million units) in the US after a serious accelerator pedal problem. Seems like, when you press hard at the accelerator to speed up, chances of getting stuck is high! Sounds like death trap that is usually designed by heinous villains in the movies^^

Well from business point of view, GM and Ford has started marketing campaigns to woo the Toyota car owners, who would be looking for an immediate replacement. Here is a review from Business Week. Though it is an opportunistic and strategic move, I guess that the blind faith on Japanese cars might be shattered and naturally people would have started looking for the best alternative.

Somehow, I can't stop myself from thinking of vultures circling over a dying man.

Monday

Chinese Garden - Singapore

Note: This is the second time it has happened to me! My post was ready and when I was making a last minute edit, wham...something happened and entire contents vanished out of thin air...extremely frustrating...

Though it was not my first visit to the Chinese Garden in Singapore, I am fascinated with its serene water body, sprawling lawns and beautiful buildings that boast Chinese architecture. Here is a collection of shots from my last visit.

When kids sprinkled fish food, a large school of prosperity fish, rushed to devour it.

After this, we proceeded to Pagoda, through Confucius statue...

Those who have seen the Tamil movie Priya would be familiar with this legendary Pagoda...

A mere look at the spiraling steps was enough for me to dishearten my spirits to climb up...

But, the view is well worth the climb:

Cute little statues, up close...

Here is the idyllic boat house...

This is the interior of the boat house...

Hope to catch more during my next visit.

Thursday

Parking - A Nightmare in KL

Recently, we went to Amoda building in KL to apply for Singapore visa. Though I was used to horizontal movable platforms, this parking lot had vertical double-decker lots. After circling 3 levels, I couldn't get even a single top level lot. Warily I pressed one of the shafts so that I could park in the lower level. Now, looking at the car that stood above and the dark slanting lower level, I was scared and wanted to chicken out. But, then after lot of hesitation, I did a reverse parking successfully after 15 minutes!

After filing for our visas, we didn't want to take our car from this building as we thought that it would be easier to go to the nearby Low Yat Plaza as well. After 3 and half hours, we realized our blunder of not checking the parking charges earlier. We had to pay RM21.50!!!

Saturday

Travelling Tyre

It's fascinating to see how innovative people can get in transporting stuff in 2-wheelers. Traffic lights are the best place to catch them...

I was reminded of the privelege and respect a goat gets before beheaded:) Instead of being chopped, this tyre is going to be trodden for ages^^

You might want to see the Traveling Wheelborough that I had captured last time.

Dunno what I would be capturing next:)

Tuesday

Experience at Shakespeare's Birth Place

Note: This post is long overdue. I had withheld this post, as I thought I had lost the photos that should go with this post when my laptop crashed a couple of months ago. Fortunately, during my visit to India, I found that I had taken a complete backup of the photos that I shot in UK. So, here we go...

A visit to Stratford Upon Avon, the birth place of Shakespeare is like going on a pilgrimage for literature lovers. It took about an hour's drive from Birmingham to reach there. It is a picturesque village, bustling with tourists.


As seen in the map, Avon river dominates this locale. 


The performance chart at the Royal Shakespeare Theater was a standing proof of the prevalent theater culture.



Performance at the Open Year Theater on the banks of Avon...


We saw hoards of people heading towards the Henley Street... 


Shakespeare's Birth place comes into view.

 

I was awe-struck and was so excited to see the house from outside, that I was just standing there without even bothering to follow my friends who were heading to the entrance to buy the tickets.


The birth place tour starts with a multi-media presentation, which was fantastic. The show tries to describe the theater experience and simultaneously shows memorabilia. Here are some colorful shots that I captured at the show.




Inside the house, there were guides in period costume and they explained how life was in Shakespeare's times, when there was no electricity. My first concern was how they survived the winters without proper heating! 

Shakespeare's father was a glove maker and at times the income was insufficient and the whole family had to starve! Here is a shot of their humble dining room...


The pair of gloves shown in the above photo is a replica of popular gloves in Shakespearean times.

Let me end this place post with the great poet's grave...


Note that "u" is represented by "v" in archaic English

Friday

Welcoming 2010 with the best of 2009

So much has happened in 2009, especially I have had itchy feet and traveled a lot:) 2009 started with a very positive note as I was so free to do things that I liked to do! It's going to be no different in the coming years:)

I wish I could do a recap of the best moments and pictures that I took in 2009, but when I started to sift through my memory lane and the thousands of photos that I took last year, it seemed to be a daunting task. Instead, I decided to just skim and scan through the collection and do a quick post. No complaints, 2009 was good to me. Here I welcome this new year with the best shots that I like from my last years collections...












Well, I have a feeling that 2010 would be even better!

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