With Time and Tide - 3

Flights and Clouds continued..

Before the transfer, the security checks in Hongkong Airport were completely new for me like liquids more than 100ml should not be carried in flights (including water bottles or juices); milk powders for infants also had limitations. My journey from Hongkong to Vancouver started with the Cathay Pacific flight. Somehow this gave me a feel of travelling in a flight. With touch screen LCDs, new movies and a little better leg room, I felt a lot comfortable with this one when compared to my travel from Bangalore to Hongkong.

My window seat was a blessing. I was not able to control myself from clicking through the window during take off, even though the air crew wanted everyone to switch of all the electronics devices until advised to turn on again. After the take off, entering into the clouds created very different feelings in me.

Clouds captured from Side view

We have all seen passing clouds. But passing through the clouds is an enchanting experience. For someone who has a love for the nature, the thirst to explore more will be triggered at that moment. The Pacific sky, floating clouds and myself floating above all the clouds between the sky and the ocean in a giant man-made machine.. At the same time I wondered the ability of humans to invent something like a plane, I started searching out of the window for the architect who has created this miracle called universe, a search that would never end; no words other than to exclaim, "Oh God !"

The Blue shade of the Rockies in Ariel view

Travelling through different time zones is another new experience. I may be exaggerating a lot of things, which are so simple or meaningless to others. But the thoughts that were scrolling around my mind at that time are definitely priceless. Even though we all know, nature was/is/will be simply fantastic and time zones are all defined by humans, there are a lot of things to be considered very special when you notice it happening before your eyes; something similar to fast-forward of a blooming flower or a slow-motion of a gun shot bullet.

Travelling to the past in future (when the international date line is crossed, you go to the previous day !! Wow..!!!), time machine is no more a dream. But is that what time is all about ? Just not the rotation of the earth decides the time; it is the events that are recorded as history. When there are no events or happenings, history has no meaning except a huge arithmetic number even after trillions and trillions of rotations and revolutions.

Westjet taking a turn after take-off

My return trip again was fabulous, when flying over the Rocky Mountains. When flying above the clouds, Rockies look in a blue shade covered with white snow and clouds. The 3000 miles mountain range was visible for almost half of my travel from Vancouver to Hongkong. Again, crossing the international date line towards west takes you to the next day. It is confusing.. Isn't it ? :D :D

Above the Rocky Mountains in Canada

Rockies covered with Snow and Clouds

 But whatsoever, when great things start to look very small, smaller things show their real face. They are no more smaller..

Joinggggggggggggggggggg.......................

(Still two steps ahead..)

With Time and Tide - 2

Flights & Clouds

Aeroplane is one of the beautiful inventions of the modern science. I remember those days during my childhood, when me or my friends hear the sound of a plane, we used to rush to the terrace to see it flying. Many a times have wondered how this tiny (seen from the ground) flying object can carry human beings. Today, flight travel has become a normal mode of transport; but still away for many because of the money.

When I had my first plane travel to Singapore in 2008, I flew with the Singapore Airlines. Even though it was an Economic Class travel, it was just for 4 hours and it was very comfortable. Unfortunately, I didn't get a window seat that time; may be I was not intelligent enough to throw my towel to the seat through the window, to reserve one !! :D But this time I made sure I get a window seat for whole of my travel during reservation and checking in. Since I boarded early in the day around 2 AM, there wasn't much I could capture. Even I was feeling very sleepy, since I didn't sleep properly from the previous night.

It was Dragon Air in which I traveled from Bangalore to Hongkong. But this time it looked like I boarded the SETC bus wrongly instead of my plane. There was a box below the seat before me (also all of those window seats in that column), which made it difficult for me to stretch my legs. When I asked the flight attendants if that  can be removed for which they said they cannot and didn't care enough to explain what it is. The push back was not that great and the flight attendants never turned up when I wanted them to.Then my mind spoke up, "Fool ! Travelling in flight itself is so rare for you. Can't you adjust with this ? Remember you are travelling in economic class. This is 'Chinese variant of SETC' !!" ...zoooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm...

While landing in Hongkong

A Singapore Airlines filght taking-off from Hongkong

Above all the clouds and ocean

Towards the dawn

The dawn was too early.. Yes, I was travelling to the future i.e., towards east.. ;) Hongkong Airport is one of the largest in the world. The first place I visited there was the most wanted by all the passengers. The * TOILET *.... Yes, I didn't manage to overtake the queue which was waiting outside the washroom  in the flight.

Toilets taught me two important lessons:
1. Patience is larger than Pacific Ocean.
2. Not only western toilets, even those in east, will not have water, mug or bidet showers. Papers are our only saviors.

The truth is always hard to digest. But what to do, if my stomach digests faster than my mind, then I would be in trouble.

I attained wisdom :)

DO AS ROMANS DO, WHEN YOU ARE IN ROME !!!!!!!!!

(Will fly more.. )

With Time and Tide - 1

Most of the time the world we live is relatively smaller than what actually it is. A closed group of people, who follow a similar kind of practices, a lot of variety of foods but most of them falling under a very small no. of categories, synonymous ways of entertainment and interest. But we are all a lot happy with that. The truth is, it has taken a really long time for the human race to settle down with something like this, an identification for individual in someway rather than just one among the billions who roam around the world. So we should accept, the smaller our world is, the happier we are.

But I believe there is another side of it, which should be given some thought about. At the same time when you are walking in the daylight, someone else is facing the darkness of night. Even though everyone is on the same earth, someone is ahead of you in time and someone is lagging behind. When your day is too hot and you are waiting for a cool breeze, someone is getting frozen in the cold and eagerly looking for the warmth of the Sun. When you think something is a junk food for you, it is already the major meal for someone else. And et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... It is a long list that continues like the Hanuman's tail. Is it not worth while to see and experience some of them for atleast a short period of time? After all, our life is made up of events and experiences.

A travel is always fascinating, be it local, domestic or international. Visiting places and meeting new people makes it even more interesting. But the word International does have a special catch which mostly includes an experience of exploring a new geographical location or culture or langugage or all of them at a time. Being in India, the country with the most geographically diverse places and culturally diverse inmates, a domestic travel in itself is a combination of all those mentioned above. For a guy like me from the deep south of India, a trip to the north or north east is very different in those aspects. So, how does it feel to a guy like me to travel to a different continent altogether crossing different timezones as well ?
When many of us have the aspirations for that, quite a few get an opportunity for that. And today, I have become lucky enough to be one of them. And henceforth going to share some of those so called "experiences"..

(Will continue to bore you..)