ESTONIA - Tallinn (2003)

Riga/Tallin: 16.11.2003

What quick changes of scene, like a Powerpoint presentation! . We left Riga today morning, that small town with a population of 800,000, after a one-hour tourism round in the morning. These towns are real architectural museums; they are serious about preservation of history. Apart from preservation, the amount of literature and guides readily available makes it all a tourist-friendly place. . The currently-constructed buildings in Riga are all ultra-modern. The roads are wide, with smooth-flowing traffic. There are narrower roads that are still cobbled, especially in the Old City quarters. Electric trams and buses act as public transport. [This had been a consistent feature in Russia as well.] We saw beautiful churches and new creations at road-junctions, one of which, created when celebrating 800 years of Riga recently, was put in place after uprooting a huge statue of Lenin! . [This ‘800 years’ reminds me of something. Our Moscow guide was telling us that on the occasion of completion of 800 years of ‘modern’ Moscow, Stain had ordered eight huge ‘stylish’ buildings to be built. Seven were constructed before the project ran out of roubles. The Hotel Ukraina in Moscow was one of them. The main building of Moscow University was another.] . The Daugava river beside Riga is crossed by three bridges. One of them (the most recent) is a huge suspension-cum-span type, quite imposing to look at. We took pictures of these, plus pictures of various buildings. Today was quite chilly as well and photographing at a stretch without gloves left me often with fingers numb and hurting from the cold. Still, took lots of pics. .

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. We travelled to Tallinn via Helsinki (quite the traveller, we). There was mild frost on the ground and the temperature was minus 2 degC. Although only 2.00 pm, the cloudy sky conspired to make it look like a 6.00 pm atmosphere, if not later. Our immigration was smooth, our hotel driver was waiting and we reached Hotel Barbara pretty quickly.

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Tallinn seems to be the elder brother of Riga. It’s also the kid brother of Helsinki (which is only 300km across the sea), whom it adores and emulates. At heart, the Estonian is a European – dress, behaviour, and lifestyle. The place, alas, remains small-town with a population of 400,000. We saw a little of it today as we walked to an Indian restaurant (don’t laugh!) inside the Old City. Exactly like in Riga, Tallinn also has an Old City where cabs are not allowed (in fact not even cars are allowed in most part) and the narrow cobbled streets are full of the sound of high heels and boyish laughter.

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This is winter, so by the time we came out of the restaurant after our lunch-cum-dinner at 5.00 pm, it was night already. The streets were wet with rain that had chosen to fall while we were having ‘kulchas’ and ‘pindi chana masala’, and the wind was ensuring that the humidity anointed our bones thoroughly. . We quietly called it a day. In the room, I noticed that as we travelled from Moscow to Riga to Tallinn, the number of channels available on TV progressively improved. At Moscow, none of the American channels (except MTV) were available. At Tallinn, everything from CNN to Fox to Euronews etc appeared.

Tallin: 17.11.2003

Today was Monday, our first working day at Tallinn. The weather was still cloudy, the ground perpetually wet as if it was raining while we were indoor. We finally realised that fine mist was descending all the time and our overcoats glistened with dew. Today was less cold, quite enjoyable in fact.

.We had lunch at ‘Elevant’, an Indian restaurant (meaning ‘elephant’). Quite a shoddy place. Up a fire-escape type of staircase on to the first floor where they had stuck a few tables and chairs. The toilet, with carpet and stand-lamp, had a bedroom sort of atmosphere. Beside the dining tables, huge indoor plants were almost touching the ceiling.

.In a small place like Tallinn, there are three Indian restaurants jostling each other. Yesterday’s dinner was at ‘Tandoor’, today’s lunch at ‘Elevant’ and dinner at ‘Maharaja’, the last being the best. We really enjoyed walking in the streets here – there is a sort of unreal fairy-land atmosphere. I wouldn’t have been surprised if elves and goblins had popped out of the low-arched entranceways in the Old City!.......

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[Talking of food, nowhere did we try the ‘local’ dishes as veg versions were almost nil. But at Copenhagen airport, we tried the Danish drink ‘Kliig’, which is a red wine, warmed up, with syrup, almonds and raisin. I couldn’t take it beyond a few sips, but polished off the hot waffle with cream that came with it.]

Tallin: 18.11.2003

Today we did some official sightseeing in Tallin city on a small bus for around an hour, then on foot inside the Old City for 1-1/2 hours, with an English-speaking guide.

.Estonia, although a 5000-year old civilisation, as per them, have been under various occupations in the last three centuries – Germans, Swedes, Finns and lastly USSR. The Estonians won their independence in 1920 from being a Russian Dutchy to lose it promptly again to the USSR in 1940. Then they were occupied by the Nazis in WWII (when even USSR bombed them thoroughly) and were re-taken by USSR after the war. Only recently, 12 years ago in 1991, they became independent once again. “No wonder our favourite colour is black,” said the guide. Estonia thus celebrates two independence days!......

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The city is really small – a one-hour round in a bus covered it thoroughly. But the guide’s commentary was very well- designed, with enough history thrown in to lend perspective. They just have a President’s palace, some government buildings, some old areas, cute living quarters, and a peaceful lifestyle. A combination of preservation of whatever they have, presentation in a proper manner and general tourist-friendliness are all that was required to make this a ‘very nice to visit’ place.

.The other aspect noticeable through the guide’s commentaries was their strong antipathy towards Russians. When touring areas built on Russian (ie, unimaginative block-type) architectural style, she was very apologetic and said: “These are areas of the city we are not proud of.” Speaking of Russian schools, she said: “They (Russians) HAVE to learn Estonian but we do not have to learn Russian.” A major one-upmanship game! The Estonians would very much like to wipe clean the Russian dirt from their culture and history and hope to be welcomed heartily by Europe as their long-lost-son!.

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.The Old City, which we had anyway wandered through, is really cute. Mostly govt buildings, churches, cafes and souvenir shops. Around 10% of Tallinn’s 400,000 population lives here. Narrow cobbled streets and houses with sloping roofs are set on a hillside. The Old City was fully fortified earlier and parts of the walls still remain, with some 20 watch-towers still poking up their heads here and there.......

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Today was also cloudy and drizzly, not really a sightseeing day, but who has a choice around here! Most of the natives entreated us to visit in summer as well, when the countryside would be green and full of flowers as far as the eye could see. Ah well ……
.We’ve been eating really well throughout this trip. It’s quite likely that couple of kilos have gathered around my middle, with so much of sitting around in planes. However, for the last week or so, I have kept up suryanamaskar and kriya in the morning, so the system is ticking along without mishap.
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We, for once, had dinner at the hotel restaurant itself. There was a fair amount of crowd from outside guests. When we told the waiter we were veggies, he promptly pointed to the only veg dish on the menu – stuffed tomatoes! Anyway, it was served with a garnish of baked potatoes in cream and with some accompanying bread, it was a light dinner.
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Tomorrow our flight leaves at 8.00 am. First leg is to Stockholm, then to Frankfurt. The last leg to Muscat hops through Dubai and Abu Dhabi, reaching Muscat at 11.30 pm. Even allowing that Tallinn is 2 hours behind Muscat, this is going to be a longish travel of 13-1/2 hours.
.Bon Voyage!

LINK TO TALLIN ALBUM

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LATVIA - Riga (2003)

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Riga: 15.11.2003

Riga at last, although only for half-a-day and night! After the major run-around in Moscow, that visa-sticker in the passport had increased heavily in value.

.Even the departure from Moscow was not hitch-less. We had collected out boarding cards, checked in our luggage, cleared immigration and were about to board the plane when a busybody Russian immigration lackey, who was checking ID against the boarding card for the people moving into the aircraft, asked me why I hadn’t taken yesterday evening’s direct flight to Riga and why was I going via Copenhagen today? It was actually none of his business, but he simply felt like throwing his weight around. He kept us waiting, took our passports and tickets back and returned after a few minutes and graciously let us go in! They must have something against Indians – they let a Chinese group smoothly through. All this after Vajpayee’s visit, mind you!

.I have transited earlier through Copenhagen (can’t remember which trip). The change in the flavour of atmosphere and people is palpable. The airport is well-decorated and the wood-flooring gives a feeling of warmth.

.Riga, on arrival, was also a hassle-free entry. The three Baltic States are slated to enter the European Union on 1st May 2004, so they are doing their best to emulate European culture and low bureaucratic hassles. Of course, even before their annexation into USSR in 1940, European influence was very strong in the region; they simply have to drop the Stalin/Lenin cloak.......

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Riga is located on the site of an ancient settlement of the Livonians, an ancient Finnic tribe, at the junction of the Daugava and the Riga River, at one point forming a natural harbor called the Riga Lake, neither of which exist today. It is believed that the name of the river gave Riga its name.

.We had landed at 1.00 pm in a temperature of 2 degC, but it seemed colder because of the wind. Riga is near the coast, situated on the Dongra river that flows from Russia to the sea beside Riga. We took a cab to the hotel, checked in, dumped our luggage, and went out to meet customers. Could meet three of them before the day closed at 5.00 pm. Tomorrow 16th is a Sunday, 17th is their National Day and holidays had been declared till the 18th. What a timing for our visit!

.It was cloudy and foggy and had been snowing a couple of days ago. At 6.00 pm, it was night and we could do no more than look for an Indian restaurant and have a late lunch.

.This ‘Indian Restaurant syndrome’ is an amazing thing! Never have we been stuck in a place till now (except Noukchott of Mauritania, and the Siberian towns of Russia) where an Indian restaurant could not be found! The guidebook listed two here – Nataraja and Sue’s Palace. Apart from this, our cab-driver Vladimir reeled off Hare Krishna, Komal and Santi as veggie joints. That too in Riga, of which many Indians would not have heard of.
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We went to Nataraja, which boasted of an Indian chef. He turned out to be a lanky lad in his twenties, whose bio-data included Tandoor of Moscow and some place in Mumbai before that, who promised to churn out “aap ko jo chahiye…”
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The décor of most of these ‘Indian’ restaurants are so extremely ethnic that it is often an overdose. Brass Shivas and Natarajas and dancing girls’ statues would jostle big brass unlit lamps. Paintings of Indian scenes (maharajas and beggars) would line the walls, interspersed with rolls of hanging cloth. Old Hindi numbers, mostly tragic, would be softly crooning. This Nataraja place, to top it all, had lit some nauseating incense going by the name of sandalwood that gave me a headache in one minute flat! I told the Russian waiter to get rid of it. He thought I wanted more (being an authentic Indian) and stuck on another stick!.

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.Apart from the food, we were regaled by a so-called belly-dance. The poor girl was so thin, she hardly had a belly to dance with.
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The erotic industry roars quite well in Moscow as well as these countries. In Moscow, calls to my room were common. Free directories with pictures and phone numbers are dumped in cars at junctions. Parlours and all-night strip-bars are dime-a-dozen. It may not have been cultivated as a semi-official tourist attraction like in the Netherlands or in the Far East, but there are definitely no inhibitions about the aggressive marketing.
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We got back quite early (8.00 pm) and a good thing too. There is a part of Riga called the Old City, comprising important old houses, restaurants and cafes and a few residences, with narrow cobbled streets, where taxis are not allowed. This restaurant was in the Old City and our cab had dropped us at the edge anf gone off. That little 10 minutes that we had to walk to find the place, practically had all bones shaking. It would have been a bit below zero, but the wind and the humidity of a seaside town carried a chill-factor of at least minus 10 degC!

.Our hotel was a medium-sizer, but had beautiful rooms, spanking new, with a small kitchenette section. In the toilet, even the towel-racks and flooring had heating arrangements.

.Tomorrow, our flight to Tallin is at 11.20 am. We have decided to leave a little early and sightsee Riga for an hour or so before carrying on to the airport. Our friend Vladimir would act as guide. [Details appear in the first day of Tallin visit]

LINK TO RIGA ALBUM

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RUSSIA - Moscow/Irkutsk/Vladivostok/Petropavlosk (2003)

Moscow: 2.11.2003

We reached Moscow at 1.30 pm local time (1 hour behind Muscat). As usual, my journey had started the previous evening. I was joined by Karthik at Dubai and we carried on to Frankfurt, our transit stop, on the way to Moscow.

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I was carrying two suitcases this time, to accommodate the woollens that I had to carry. An overcoat, a waterproof jerkin, a full-sweater, a half-sweater, an extra set of thermal innerwear etc. The temperature was expected to be pretty low, hovering around zero degC. Frankfurt, at 9.00 am, was 8 degC.

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When we landed at Moscow, the sky was overcast with rain clouds and it seemed that it will stay that way. The bare trees and unimaginative buildings immediately supported the generally gloomy atmosphere of the place. Of course, we carry a mental image of Russia as a repressive place. But when we later passed through the city and its shopping arcades, the goods on display in shops and on bodies were at par with any European city. These spurts of branded outlets and showrooms were strangely located in the huge old-styled Stalinite architectural monstrosities, giving the overall impression of kids playing on the chest of a dead gargoyle! The Russians were generally jolly and extremely well turned-out. An average ladies' winter outfit can cost $500, at a pinch.......

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Moscow is a large city. The Moskva river passes through it and our Hotel Ukraine is situated beside the river. It is one of those places about which (till you reach it) you'll keep asking: "My God! What building IS that?". It's HUGE. Looks like a Tsar's small palace -- one of the gloomy ones! Moscow city now suffers from congested roads and it takes a long time to travel from one part of it to another.......

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Today was a Sunday and there was no work really. We left the hotel at around 5.00 pm and found that it was dark already. Anyway, we just cabbed down to the Kremlin and saw the famous architecture face-to-face (frankly, it looks more impressive in glossy prints). There is an underground market just in front of the Kremlin, where we did some window-shopping. Somehow, the barrier of language creates a certain uneasiness that is difficult to overcome, in spite of nobody really being bothered about you.....

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We took a walk down the main road in front of Kremlin Square, intending to work up an appetite before going into an Indian restaurant for an early dinner. We had all ammunition on -- thermal wear, sweaters, overcoat, gloves, cap and muffler -- and it was perfectly enjoyable! We had dinner at 'Tandoori' and came home to a warm room, all ready for bed.

Moscow: 3.11.2003

Today our main project was to apply for (not even obtain -- just apply for) the Estonian visa to the Estonian embassy at Moscow. We had been corresponding with an agency in Latvia for the Latvian visa. We had told the same agency to correspomd with some agency in Estonia to submit an invitation to the Monistry of Foreign Affairs in Estonia, who will clear it and put an authorisation number on the computer network. When we go to apply for the Estonian visa at the embassy in Moscow, they will check up in their system whether 'the number has come' and issue the visa next day. But first, we had to obtain insurance coverage for those days, which is a pre-requisite to issuing visa. How to do that? We located an agent on phone, but when we went to their office, it was closed. So we tooled along to the Estonian embassy itself, and right outside, an insurance agent, a toung girl, escorted us to her office opposite, did the insurance work, filled up the visa application forms and parked us behind the last man in the queue in front of the embassy entrance. It was 12.15 pm, drizzling and cold, and the embassy closes at 1.00 pm.

.We were in for a disappointment, though. The Counter Lady, whom we could approach only at 12.55 pm and to whom we certainly appeared as obstructions to lunch, did not speak English, had no concept of checking anything in the system, but kept insisting that the invitation letters had to be there physically in the file or in our hands. So we came back.

.I gave here a detailed description in order to convey the treacle-type progress that is usually made in such official matters in this part of the world. We can now try for our Latvia visa only during our next stop at Moscow, around 11-13/11/03. Since the applications have to be date-specific, our change in travel dates just before travel had forced the visa agencies to apply all over again.......
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It was a wet Moscow today; drizzling very lightly, so not many umbrellas in sight. As a child I used to read in story-books as to how a homeless traveller out in the Russian cold would gaze longingly into a warm room, especially with hot food on the table. But I could never really feel it, you know. Now having seen a condition like that, I could make out, when about to enter a restaurant, as to what a pleasant change is about to befall me as soon as I cross the thresh-hold.

.We had lunch at another Indian/Chinese restaurant called ‘5-spices’. One Indian waiter there was telling us that he had to send his family back to India last year because of the ‘skinhead’ hostilities against dark-skinned people. A lot of Indians were beaten up. Then the skinheads, by mistake, assaulted a black American couple. Washington promptly twisted Moscow’s arm and Moscow cracked down on the miscreants.

.Right now it is 6.00 in the evening and we are in the hotel awaiting the arrival of a customer. He had spent his money to book our rooms in advance and was slightly anxious for recovery. This ‘paying in advance’ is a Russian malady. While checking in to our hotel, we had to pay some advance to the switchboard so that we could make calls from our rooms. I’d given clothes to the laundry in the morning and on my return, found a bill on the bed, requesting me to go down and pay it so that the clothes could be delivered to my room. In the morning, when we were enjoying our complimentary buffet breakfast, some outside guests came to have breakfast, and had to keep some money on deposit with the floor-manager. Too much!
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Our hotel is really so huge that once again today, when returning to the hotel, I kept admiring that ‘big palatial govt-looking building’, till I suddenly realised that we were staying there!......
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We had dinner at another Indian restaurant called ‘Shampoor’, whatever that might mean! The get-up was Rajasthani, with the Russian waitresses dressed in Indian ethnicity. Don’t speak a word of English though, let alone Rajasthani! The décor is mud-hut-village type, quite intellectual. The manager Sunil was from amchi Mumbai, so we became quite informal.

Moscow: 4.11.2003

Can’t say “the day dawned bright and clear”, but at least it wasn’t drizzling. We went to the Estonian embassy to try and apply again, but the original invitation letter had not yet arrived here from Tallin (capital of Estonia), so no go. We went to the Latvian embassy premises to do some groundwork for the application, viz getting insurance done again from an agent and at least keep the visa application form filled up. The agent there, Alexander, was Aksana’s (the Estonian agent) brother. But unlike his sister, who had a proper office, Alexander, like a few other agents, had set up plastic tables and chairs outside the Latvian embassy doors. We sat there filling up forms etc for half-an-hour and slowly froze! Sitting in one place makes one quite a target for the creeping cold.
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Had lunch at Shampoor again, starting off with a small vodka to stop the shivers. Our friend Sunil was literally scoffing at us for our sensitivity to cold! In the afternoon, we went to a customer’s place, came back to the hotel, relaxed for a while, and then went for dinner at a Chinese joint.
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I was about to start writing this diary entry when I received a call from the reception asking whether I needed “sex-massage lady”. I politely declined, taking care not to hurt any feelings and precipitate an international incident.

Moscow: 5.11.2003

Today, we leave Moscow for Irkutsk. Although the flight is at 7.00 pm, we need 2 hours of reporting time and another 2 hours to reach the airport, as per Karthik. This ill-faith in Moscow traffic was not misplaced, as it actually took 1 hr 45 mins to travel to the airport! Moscow traffic is really heavy. Traffic signals are cleared only in two steps most of the time. And parking is a nightmare.

.We thought we’d take a guided city tour in the morning. But then we got embroiled into the re-ticketing chakkar. Our tickets from Irkutsk to Vladivostok and from Vladivostok to Petropavlosk were yet to be purchased. Additionally, we wanted to reschedule the Petro to Moscow leg to create more days in Moscow for getting the Latvian and Estonian visa. I won’t go into the intricacies of scheduling and enquiring at airlines and purchasing best-fit tickets, but without proper communication, it was dumb-charades at its practical best.
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In the midst of all this, we fitted in a couple of sights – the onion-dome church at the Red Square and the University campus. The best thing about Moscow is the architecture. The city is full of majestic buildings. You’ll feel like keeping on clicking photographs. Tall structures with huge doors, most of them. A person entering a building and being “swallowed up” can really be visualised here.......... ......
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Moscow is quite a spread-out city, with the Moskva river flowing through it. There are 7-8 bridges crossing the river. The current weather being dull, Moscow by night seemed much more colourful and livelier than by day. The streets would be all decked up in lights and neon signs, right from MacDonald to Benetton to Casino Royale to “Kaka-Kiki – the gentleman’s club”.......

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Speaking of colour, I found the average Russian, especially in winter, to be decidedly monochromatic. Black is definitely the favourite, especially among men, the women conceding some ground to grey and brown. The occasional red stood out on the street like a beacon. Crowds of people walking on the road seemed very much like a bunch of ravens. One day, I wore a light-coloured trouser with a beige sweater and I practically felt like a pansy amongst all the macho blackness!

.We had lunch at the airport at 5.00 pm. Irkutsk is 5 hours ahead of Moscow and the flight is 5.5 hours long, landing in Irlutsk at 5.30 am local time. Very little sleep for us tonight.

.Irkutsk is midway between the east and west frontiers of Russia, is situated beside Lake Baikal and is part of Siberia.

LINK TO MOSCOW ALBUM

Irkutsk: 6.11.2003

All through, I had been wearing the thermal innerwear suit and had found it comfortable. For the first time, during this 6-hour flight, I felt claustrophobic in it and wanted to pull it off. However, there’s no inconspicuous way to pull off innerwear, so I just bore the heebie-jeebies.
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But it recovered its reputation when we landed in Irkutsk, for it was a bracing minus 15 degC with snow and frost on the ground! For the first time in this trip, I felt shivers while walking across to the terminal from the plane. The ground was hard and slippery with frozen snow – the icing on the cake, so to say!.....

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Our customer Oleg had come to meet us at that unearthly hour of 6.00 am. To him, this was just the beginning of winter, because here the mercury drops to below minus 45 degC.

.Hotel Angara, where we put up, had recently been renovated and was very nice indeed. The view from my room was that of a park, all sparkling white, with snow on the limbs of birch trees and figures in black hurrying down the frozen pathways to their jobs in their warm offices.

.The morning was spent with Oleg, on business. We managed to witness the ‘change of guard’ at the Town Hall (done by scouts, I think), modelled on the one carried out daily at the Red Square. Oleg was offering to take us to Lake Baikal, around 60 km away, but since we had to catch a late-night flight and wanted to catch up on some sleep, we declined.......

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We had lunch at a Chinese joint (“very good place”) where we could get salad, hot vegetables, french fries and rice. All were very tasty. After having done some ticketing, we wound up the day at 6.00 pm and said goodbye to Oleg.
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A 3-hour nap later, we were at dinner at the European restaurant in the same hotel. This time our fate dished out salad, baked potatoes and rice. Karthik ordered “one vodka” and got a jugful of the stuff! I helped him out with two small neat shots. Instant warm-up. But it’s worthwhile taking only in sub-zero climes.
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Now for another round of a 2-hour nap and tally-ho to Vladivostok.

LINK TO IRKUTSK ALBUM

Vladivostok: 7.11.2003

We landed at another city with an overcast sky. At ten in the morning, the temperature was still below zero, although no frost. However, during the day, the cold reduced perceptibly to a no-gloves position. Except when the wind was blowing, it was quite okay. I think, being a seaside town, the city is more temperate than the land-bound Irkutsk.......

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Vladivostok is quite an old town and a famous port on the east coast, so there’s a lot of trade and seafood industry. Population would be around a million. Though on the coast, it’s quite a hilly town, with medium-sized roads winding up and down.......

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We had only half-a-day here, so by the time we could line up an interpreter and make a few calls, it was 3.00 pm. I had borsch soup again for lunch. We worked from 3-6 pm, then went looking for an “Indisky restaurant” for an early dinner. Looking for vegetarian fare in Russia is quite a tough job.

.We went into the upstairs hall of the recommended restaurant and were regaled by the sight of a ‘Hare Krishna Hare Rama’ gathering in progress! All the tables had been shoved to one side, except for two, at one of which a couple of unwilling guests sat munching sad-looking sandwiches. We refused to be stuck with sandwiches, even if the stuffing was Hare Rama, and escaped to an Italian café for lasagna and pasta. “The music would have been quite nice”, said Maria, our interpreter, “were it not so LOUD!”

.We did some sightseeing in the dark (what to do) – Golden Horn Bay View, the Submarine that defended Vladivostok in 1914 and has been stuck on land, the Mermaid Statue, the Administrative Centre – and came back.

.This hotel, though booked through the internet, seems quite a decent one, with casinos and live concert. Like the Irkutsk hotel, this also has a chambermaid station on every floor near the lift to monitor all ‘goings-on’ I think (though I’m not sure whether to prevent or to promote). But no decent channels on TV.

LINK TO VLADI ALBUM

Petropavlosk (Kamchatka): 8.11.2003

Caught the 11.00 am flight from Vladi and reached Petropavlosk (on Kamchatska peninsula) at 4.30 pm local time, which is 2 hours ahead of Vladi and 8 hours ahead of Muscat.

.All the airports here have their own funny procedures for check-in, security and inspection of documents. We being foreigners attracted more than our fair share of attention form the ‘poliski’. At Vladi, after we had checked in, one Poliski grabbed our passports and tickets, went through them and asked for “voucher” in Russian. “Kak voucher?” Karthik asked him. In reply he took us downstairs to a room with a barred door. The jail, we thought desperately, that too in a foreign country! These chaps are quite capable of jailing you on any pretext, especially since both Vladi and Petro were coastal border towns with strong military presence. The poliski went into the room with our papers and locked himself in! Then another English-speaking officer came out and asked to see the invitation letter from the travel agency. I had my copy, looking at which he pointed out that under ‘Cities to be visited’, only Moscow was mentioned. How come we were planning to fly to Petro? Luckily he did not ask how come we are in Vladi in the first place! I think that would have forced him to take some action, which he was not interested in. Karthik whispered to me:” Yeh to paisa chahiye.” He then suggested to the cop, who had locked himself in again: “I give you some dollar?” The cop promptly came out with a smile and we got away finally by paying 1000 roubles (around $33). We spent the rest of the waiting time conjecturing whether we shall face a similar situation on landing at Petro. However, while getting off the plane, some cops checked our passports and copied down visa details, but did not otherwise bother us.
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At Petro, our customers Andrei and Alexander were there to receive us. The air was chilly, not very cold, although the thermometer registered minus 7 degC! Maybe we were getting used to it. Beyond the airport rose the magnificent snow-capped Awacha volcano, the Kilimanjaro of Kamchatka. Actually Awacha is the middle one of three volcanic mountains. Kamchatka is part of the volcanic and earthquake-prone belt of Kamchatka-Sakhalin-Japan. The hotels also have defined ‘quake-procedures’.......

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We checked in today and had an early dinner. Tomorrow, being a Sunday, Andrei is threatening to take us up Awacha to the snowlines. Apparently the scenery is quite beautiful.

.The computer at the hotel is down, so no e-mailing today. Even phone lines are not getting through. Might as well sleep early.

Petropavlosk (Kamchatka): 9.11.2003

Today was a wonderful day.
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I think amongst all the places in Russia, St Petersburg and Petropavlosk should rank the highest in ‘must visit’ places. While St P is renowned for its cultural heritage, history and visibility, Kamchatka is a place with high natural beauty. It’s on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, situated beside a bay, and flanked by volcanoes (one of which is active). Throughout the peninsula, on the banks of the rivers Timonovskaya, Shumnaya, Opala or the famous Bystraya, the flora and fauna are very varied. The peninsula is also famous for its numerous hot springs. Fishing for salmon is a favourite pastime for Petrovites. Extreme sports like skiing (on the volcanoes) and rapid rafting (on the Bystraya) are also well-loved among tourists. Tourists arrive from Japan, Korea and China, as well as from the rest of Russia of course.

.Incidentally, Petro is a sensitive defence area and was the seat of nuclear weapons before perestroika. There are many areas where even the local Russians need passes. The American coastline is just 1000 km away and well within the reach of ICBMs. Industry is mainly fishing.
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The city is small, with a population of around 300,000 and the streets are hilly. We spent time with the customer till lunch on work-related issues. As a courtesy to us, all of them partook vegetarian lunch. Apart from salads and bread, we had a preparation of a vegetable called “pepernikov” (I think) which seemed to be a mixture of “kalmi saag” and broccoli. Apparently this grows only in Kamchatka and that too in the two months of spring in June-July. It’s a favourite of Japan, who is the major importer.
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After lunch, we took off in two 4WDs (Pajeros, not Land Cruisers, more’s the pity) to the ocean-side. The road soon became ‘off-road’, wheel-beaten path through foot-high dry grass and shrubs. Being the onset of winter, all the trees and grass fields were bare, but were a golden brown which, in the gentle winter sun, literally seemed to glow. The ground dust, as well as the beach sand, was black. We learnt that it was due to volcanic ash from the eruptions of the still active volcano.

.The Pacific was a deep blue and the four colours in succession – blue sea, black beach, golden grassland and snow-white mountains – were a fantastic combination. Photos will not convey even 50% of the grandeur. The air was pretty chilly, sub-zero in fact, and it was an effort not to wear gloves for the purpose of taking pictures. On top of that, while I was keenly clicking an abandoned ship, the waves crept up and swamped my boots, getting thoroughly inside my right one. Periodic toe-squiggling told me all my appendages were still in order, so I did not bother to remove socks and all. The boots are really good insulation.

.......

.From the beach we were to go up a volcano to the snowline. The two Pajeros took a shortcut from the beach to the volcano road and my, was it extreme driving! As it is, the road was just two ruts running through grassland. The water puddles on the road had frozen over, so the car was breaking up chunks of it as it travelled. Twice the vehicles had to cross small streams (wheel deep), for which the drivers climbed out beforehand to check the depth of the rushing waters. All the time, the three white volcanoes were there in the foreground, beckoning …….
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The sunlight was so lovely. Kamchatka is close to the Arctic Circle and the sun does not rise overhead even in summer. At this time of the year, it’s extremely bright at mid-day but not hot; and at two o’clock, it takes on the russet tinge of an impending sunset. A sunlight you’d feel like hugging!

.We came to the foothills of the volcanoes and started climbing the Awacha. Among the three – Kaziansky, Awachansky and Kariansky – Awacha is the only active one. While climbing, we could see large cracks on the road and on the countryside. Andrei said that whenever Japan has an earthquake, Kamchatka has one too, but nobody takes notice. Quakes upto 3 or 4 on the Reichter scale are very common. When we looked up to the Awacha peak, we could see plumes of smoke (or were they clouds?) rolling down the sides very gently. Fermenting inside, I’m sure, for the next blast! The last one was 12 years ago. Petro city is so far away, however, that it does not affect them much.

.We were soon over the snowline and the two Pajeros were climbing up icy roads. We travelled about a kilometer inside the frost-zone and stopped. The ground was hard ice but slippery and we had to be careful stepping out. Temperature was a not-too-cold minus 7 degC. In another month, the ice will spread down right to the seaside! But in spring, it would recede further back and the ground just below the ice would be green with vegetation and full of flowers. I saw a few of Andrei’s family pictures taken on the snowline in summer and it was just too beautiful.......

..
In the meantime, Karthik and I were slowly freezing. My need for taking pictures had left my hands ungloved. Subzero cold is not just numbing, it’s painful. My fingertips actually hurt! The Russians, on the other hand, hand no cap, no gloves, and were actually enjoying minus 7 degC! They soon set up a small trestle table and poured out cognac and coffee. After some 3 cognacs and a coffee, we levelled out our body equilibrium......

..
The temperature difference was brought home starkly when I went off to take a leak on the ice (at the risk of frostbite). The liquid stream drilled a hole at least 4 inches deep!

.The place where we had halted seemed to be a picnic-spot because there was a deep pit in the snow with pieces of burnt wood where a bonfire had been lit. Just imagine!

.When the sun dipped behind the Awacha, we called it a day and returned to town. Andrei took us to a view point with a beautiful view of the city and the bay. It was getting dark and the full-moon of Kamchatka had just risen in full bloom. There was a wind blowing that cut through the clothing and bit at exposed limbs........

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We went straight for dinner at 6.30 pm. The cafe, located near Andrei’s office, was also owned by him. However, for both lunch and dinner, we seemed to be the only patrons.

.We finished off the day with a few more cognac toasts (I think, through lunch, picnic and dinner, we must have imbibed nine rounds of cognac). Be it drink or food, the inputs were immediately consumed by the body as fuel for keeping it warm, and left no harmful residues.
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Since coming to Petro, I had not been able to communicate home, so I sent off a quick mail from the customer’s computer. Tomorrow morning, we wanted to avoid Andrei and go around the auto market, so we thanked him profusely for spending his Sunday with us instead of with his family, declined his offer of a guided tour in the morning and requested him to send a driver at 3.00 pm to visit a souvenir shop and then proceed to airport to catch our 6.30 pm flight to Moscow.

.Took a hot soaking bath after getting in. Aaaaah!

Petropavlosk (Kamchatka): 10.11.2003

Back “home” after a 9-hour non-stop flight from Petropavlosk to Moscow, practically crossing the whole country from east to west. We boarded at 6.30 pm and deplaned at 6.30 pm as well! I had two rounds of meal in the flight. On top of that, after we had checked in to Hotel Ukraina once again, we went out to Tandoor for a good Indian dinner. Salad becomes a bit boring after a few meals.
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When we landed, Moscow seemed warmer but then, for the last few days, we had been continually in sub-zero conditions. It was around zero in Moscow, as we found out later.

.In the morning, we had visited the auto markets at Petro, away from the possessive eyes of Andrei, our only customer till now. Getting hold of a translator seemed to be particularly difficult and finally I found that Karthik had organised two teenage college-girls! For them this was a lot of fun and they earned some money in the bargain. Right from the initial tele-calling to the interaction with the customers, they showed a high degree of enthusiasm. We ended with having pizza for lunch and a bit of curio-buying. Andrei again picked us up and dropped us to the airport for the 9-hour flight..

.Overall Kamchatka had left a good impression as a more ‘open-minded’ place compared to other places in Russia. Apparently, earlier people used come to Kam just to work, earn money and go back (like Gulf) but nowadays people are settling down and staying on. Petro is still a not-so-big place (pop around 300,000) but I suppose it is these low numbers that is keeping it clean and beautiful.
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By the way, apparently there had been a quake tremor the day before, the girls had said, around 7.00 pm. We were having dinner with Andrei and must not have noticed.

LINK TO PETRO ALBUM

Moscow: 11.11.2003

The morning WAS bright and clear. Sunlit Moscow welcomed my eyes as I looked out from my 26th floor window. After a quick kriya and breakfast, we were ready to go embassy-chasing again.
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The Estonian agent had already couriered the invitation letter to the embassy here. The Latvian visa seemed a sure bet as the Latvian agent said that they will tell us the ‘registration numbers’ in one hour, based on which we can apply. We had today and tomorrow in hand. Could we get one visa per day? We will need all the grace of God!

.We went to the Estonian embassy first. All our papers – passports, tickets, invitation, charges in dollars – were in order. We were interviewed briefly. But, in spite of our request, the visas will be given only tomorrow, that too at 3.00 pm.

.I don’t know why they are so strict about the visa dates. The embassy would like to issue the visa exactly for the 3 days as per the tickets. This meant that suppose we could not obtain the Latvian visa, and wanted to proceed to Tallin straightaway instead of to Riga, we cannot do so! Funny ……

.This meant that we can apply for Latvia visa only on 13th morning, which we will get in hand probably 14th afternoon (maybe 3 pm again, like brother state Estonia) and the earliest we could leave for Riga would be 14th night. So we have to change our tickets right now, since the Latvian embassy would also want to see our itinerary.

.Before going for ticketing, we came back to the hotel to check out the flight options from the travel desk. There was some convention going on and the lobby was full of people in business dresses, milling about, having small conferences around small tables in corners, and then rushing off to make their particular presentation in the big conference room, hurriedly puffing the last few drags on their cigarettes. The travel desk was on ‘short break’ so we went to the business centre to check mail. Karthik found a mail from the agent in Latvia apologetically informing us that our application has been “rejected without reason”! There was no registration number to tell the Latvian embassy here, nor could we get a Latvian visa.
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You see how difficult it is to plan travel in the CIS region? We were now committed to go to Tallin on the 16th. What to do till then if we do not go to Riga? Today was only 11th. Tomorrow evening we get our passports back with the Estonian visa stamped (Inshallah!). We will have to find some local town to visit on 13th-15th. We are also going to meet the Latvian Consul tomorrow morning to obtain some explanation on our visa refusal.

.It’s only 4.30 pm and from my window I can see a long stream of cars flowing on the main road on one side and the rippling waters of the Moskva River flowing down the other. The Kremlin rises in the distance, hazy against the setting sun. I have a feeling that I’m going to feel over-exposed to Moscow very soon ………….

Moscow: 12.11.2003

Imposing buildings, impossible traffic – that’s Moscow in a nutshell. The city has double the number of cars it can comfortably support. European standard roads, Calcutta standard traffic.

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Had a fleeting glimpse of the famous Bolshoi Theatre (bolshoi means big). Also a view of the infamous KGB headquarters, the studio shots subject of many an American thriller.......

.It’s a fairly costly city too. We were encashing $500 every alternate day, sometimes everyday. Average food bill for two is $30.

.Tour-planning in CIS goes topsy-turvy every day. Today we just met the Vice-Consul at the Latvian embassy and – wonder of wonders – she agreed to give us the visas on 13th evening if we could submit the original passports by today evening. We had a tense lunch, queued up at the Estonian embassy sharp at 3.00 pm, collected our passports (with the Estonian visa successfully stamped), rushed to the Latvians embassy and submitted the passports as required.
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Tragedy is, we are not getting any tickets to go to Riga on 13th night or 14th morning. So we’ll have to go on 14th night, wasting an extra day at Moscow.
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We were having dinner at an Indian restaurant with a Rajasthani theme. The Russian waitresses are dressed up in Rajasthani costumes, but “naiko komolata”, to quote Tagore. One such girl was dancing tonight with a Hindi song and she was quite good.

Moscow: 13.11.2003

Today is probably sub-zero at Moscow, with a chilly wind blowing. I decided to wear the wind-cheater instead of the overcoat and forgot to take my cap and gloves in the bargain!
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We visited SAS, the brother of Lufthansa, to check whether we can get a connection to Riga tomorrow morning by using the current ticket value. Fortunately, we could get a connection and SAS re-issued the tickets. We would then get 14th half day and 15th full day at Riga.

.Having come to Moscow and not having visited the Kremlin would have been a serious breach of etiquette. But as luck would have it, the Kremlin was closed today. So we took a walk outside the walls, on to Lenin’s tomb on the Red Square and the onion-domed church. It was very very cold on the cobbled stones of the Red Square! My fingers literally ached. The hood of the jacket was some protection from the elements, but overall the cold was downright penetrating..

......
.We were expecting the Latvian visa to become available at 3.00 pm, so we reached there at 2.45 pm and stood in queue outside the building, ready to leap in and meet the Vice Consul as soon as the gates opened. But we were again out of luck. Our visas were not ready. “Maybe tomorrow”, the lady said.
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We were by now quite sick of re-ticketing and re-scheduling. We went back to the SAS office and shifted our tickets to Riga by a day, ie 15th morning. This would give us only half-a-day (and a night) at Riga, but what to do.

.It was 4.00 pm and we went for a belated lunch at Tandoor. The manager turned out to be a Bangladeshi. He had studied medicine in the UK six years ago, then had come to Moscow for PG studies. He happened to get married at that time and economic pressures did not let him continue his studies. No doctorship for him ………
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Moscow roads, in general, are in good condition. 3-lanes are quite common. One-lanes form 70% of the roads, maybe. Average speed is only 20 kmph, though. In fact, at some of the big crossings (which have no islands in the centre), there seems to be an impression of a lot of wasted space. The road surface bulges significantly along the mid-line, so that the curvature of the crossing gives an impression that it straddles a fair bit of the globe, with the peripheral buildings poking up along the horizon!
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All the restaurants here, being in the cold-climate zone, have ‘cloakrooms’, where your overcoat, hat, gloves, umbrella, or whatever extra luggage meant for outdoors, is to be deposited. Once we had gone into a restaurant with overcoats still on and the hostess hurried over with a pained face saying: “Please, please, please …” and ushered us quickly towards the cloakroom like a guilty secret.
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The city is FULL of majestic buildings. Built at government cost at one time, they are now mostly hotels or offices. The Hotel Ukraina, where we are staying, has 836 rooms on 29 floors. It also has a fair amount of architectural spires and corner towers. Built in Stalin’s time in the 50’s, it was a guest house for official visitors from the Province of Ukraine. One can only wonder at the size of the Ukrainian bureaucracy that generated so many visitors to Moscow!

Moscow: 14.11.2003

Today will hopefully be our last day at Moscow!
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We wanted to do a bit of sightseeing today morning and had come to know of a 3-hour guided city tour that leaves from near the Kremlin at 11.00 am. However, we reached there at 11.30 am due to late-latif Karthik and the bus had left. Anyway, he organised a taxi and a guide-cum-interpreter, which gave us more flexibility.

.Architecturally, Moscow is a marvel, in that practically all buildings show some typical architectural style – be it Stalinisk monoliths and towers, or Classic or (a few) ultramodern. Russians have a fascination for hugeness. The city has a number of churches that have merrily survived the Communist era. Getting married in church is once again an “in thing”.......

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Moscow is an ancient city, named after the Moskva river that flows beside it. [In fact, Moscow was at the confluence of Moskva and Niglinas river, but the latter was piped underground and a garden built on top.] The town was an important one, and the Kremlin was an effective wooden stockade for a long time. Ivan the Terrible converted it into the current brick-walled structure.

.We saw area of old Moscow that are demarcated by profession, like “Interpreter Street”. There was also an intellectual street (though not called that), where a number of poets and writers have lived.......

..
There is no end to clicking pictures. I gave up after a while.

.The day had not been very conducive to sightseeing. Snowflakes have started drifting down. By end-November, the ground will be white.

.We marked attendance at the Latvian embassy and, after an hour-long wait, were handed our passports with the precious visas stamped!

.We made a business call and followed it up with an early dinner. Tomorrow, we had to leave the hotel by 4.00 am!

LINK TO MOSCOW ALBUM

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SRI LANKA - Colombo (2003)

Colombo: 9.09.2003

We reached the hotel at 12.30 at night yesterday, having traveled from Dhaka via Bangkok. There was a 5-hour break at Bangkok airport. There we whiled away our time catching up on our report-writing and diary-noting. Bought some tit-bits from the souvenir shops, although, being at the airport, they were fairly costly.

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Bangkok to Colombo was a 3-hour flight, which passed quite pleasantly with the in-flight movie 'Matrix Reloaded' being shown. Sri Lankan Airlines is quite good. The food (veg version) was typically Indian and not the Continental boiled stuff.

.

We discovered in the morning that tomorrow is a holiday on occasion of full-moon - 'poya'. It is observed every month. Our stay in Colombo had anyway been reduced on account of our extending Dhaka by a day and now I had 1.5 days and Easwar had 2 days. We may have to extend by another day, which means eating into the Friday rest-day at home. Anyway, we are pushing most of our meetings into today and requesting a couple of customers to meet us tomorrow.

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Colombo, a seaside city, seemed a very soothing place to me. Our hotel was across the beach promenade, that was full of families sitting around and children flying kites. The roads are very clean and well-kept and even the city-centre and commercial areas did not exhibit the mad congestion typical of capitals out of control.......

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Work-wise also, it was a relaxed place. The 9 to 5 working hours are strictly observed and nobody shows interest in meeting us after six for official purposes, unless he wants to meet us clandestinely at our hotel. Right now we are expecting such a guest, and writing the diary while waiting.

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We had just been to a shopping mall to buy some Ceylone tea and the markets are very impressive in get-up and brands stored. A fair sprinkling of fair skin also visible.

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Colombo shows off quite a number of old British-styled buildings, like in Chennai and Kolkata. The oldest beach-side hotel, Gaulle-face, was built in 1824.

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The customer who landed up in the evening at 6.00 pm was at a loss as to how to entertain us. He took us to a supermarket, Majestic City, but most of the shops had already downed shutters. We bought a few pirated CDs at around 500 baizas each and somehow managed to cross 8.30 pm - a reasonable dinner-time.

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For dinner we went back to the Ceylone-tea-walla shopping plaza, named Cresscot Plaza, that had a food court. Sri Lankan (the most crowded), Indian, Korean, Chinese, Mongolian and KFC were there and tomorrow being a holiday, the place was filling up. Liquor is available even in supermarkets in Colombo and my companions had some. Our customer spoke very little English (Tamil no problem) so the conversational load was all Easwar's. I ended up having a veg thali. Actually Colombo has a number of the 'udipi'-type restaurants, totally veg. At the Taj breakfast room, one section would be devoted to South Indian preparations. After all the dragging out of dinner, we were still in bed before 10.00 pm, flipping movie channels.

Colombo: 10.09.2003

Today was a forced sight-seeing day. There are places on tourist interest slightly outside Colombo -- an elephant orphanage, hills and waterfalls, beach resorts etc. But any of them would have required a time span of 4 hours. We had a customer visiting us at 10.00 am and another at 3.00 pm, so we opted for going around the city.

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Being a holiday, traffic was light and the cleanliness of the city was even more striking. It does have a small-town look according to width-of-road and size-of-building parameters, but the town is really relaxing. Maybe, as one of our numerous hosts said, it's because of the less-than-a-million population (660,000 to be precise, for Colombo). Overall population for Sri Lanka is just 7 million!

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The Sinhalese are mostly Buddhists. The city has lots of bodhi-trees with lots of buddhas sitting beneath them. Some of the statues and temples are very impressive. We visited a huge park, opposite the Town Hall, spotlessly maintained......

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We went out for a small walk in the gap between two customers who were visiting us in the hotel. There is a seaside corniche right in front. Apart from a walkway, there is a stretch of grass as well (about a kilometre long). Generally in the evening, more so this being a holiday, it was practically like a mela! Stalls of food, families picnicking, children flying scores of kites - that was the loveliest sight. These are the Chinese type of kites, made in various shapes like birds, boxes etc with very long tails. Even adults were flying them and they were content to just join the throng of colourful kites fluttering in position about 50 feet high..

......
.The beach, with its series of small cement benches against the roadside wall, is a favourite place for budding (also flowering and fructifying) lovers. It is their domain till around 6.00 pm, when families start arriving. The blissful couples land up carrying outsized umbrellas, not so much as to brave rain or shine, as to provide some modest cover to their expressions of tenderness. The place looked like a veritable mushroom garden!

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The third customer had been waiting patiently at the hotel for us to finish our walk. After he had taken us to another fruitless search for open T-shirt shops, we returned to the hotel to find a message from another plaintive customer to whom we had vaguely promised that we'll have dinner with him tonight. Oh well........

LINK TO SRILANKA ALBUM

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BANGLADESH – Dhaka/Chittagong (2003)

Dhaka: 4.09.2003

Travel in Bangladesh was for me like a travel inside West Bengal.

.Right from the time we stepped off from the flight yesterday morning at 10.00 am, the teeming crowd outside the airport gates, the puddles and the flowing canal beside the road, the green ‘gram-bangla’ foliage, the cycle-rickshaws and autos, the double-decker buses – all built up to give an impression of a growing-up Calcutta. The imported cars are really a misfit amongst the throngs of colourful rickshaws. Bengali writing everywhere, Bengali speech everywhere; it felt like HOME!

.We were staying in The Sonargaon (The Pan-Pacific Sonargaon, to be exact). It’s a nice hotel, good rooms, bur strongly biased towards non-vegetarianism in its buffet menu. There’s one restaurant devoted to sea-food, which turned me out politely when I asked for veg dishes!

.The business visits were immensely enjoyable. You could see the hard-headed dealers visibly thawing when they learnt I spoke Bengali. Things they had not been able to express to our colleagues for years came tumbling out. They could also feel that I felt close to them and that made a difference. Panna’s home town being Bikrampur practically made me their ‘jamai’.

.Dhaka traffic is just terrible. Traffic signals stop us for 10-15 mins. It’s almost impossible to cross the road and we have to jump over cycle-rickshaw wheels.......

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I’m traveling with Easwar again this time and he is quite a food-lover. By the time our first meal was over, I had been updated on all the restaurants in Dhaka and Chittagong, as well as those in Colombo, which we were to visit next week. Food is on the minds of our customers too, being Bengalis, and we were having a tough time fighting off invitations to their houses. In spite of all our efforts, we still were pinned down for two lunches and three dinners.

.We have shifted our going to Colombo by a day and are travelling on 8th instead of on 7th.

Dhaka: 5.09.2003

Today was a holiday (Friday) and in spite of all efforts at keeping ourselves free, we could not escape a dinner engagement at a customer’s place.

.We rose leisurely at 9.00 am and stepped out to see a bit of the city. In the two-hour stint we saw Satmasjid (the masjid with seven domes), Parliament House and the outside of Lal Kila (it closed for lunch). Maintenance of tourists places is not very good and Satmasjid, for example, looks quite run down. At Lal Kila, I’m told, there is the entrance to a tunnel which was supposed to stretch up to Calcutta........

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For all its squalor, Dhaka surprises in the execution of certain progressive measures. In Dhaka city, all buses are now on CNG, which has eased pollution greatly. There are some double-decker buses, bought recently from Volvo, on the ‘no-conductor’ system. Can you imagine such a thing in Cal? But it may work well also, who, knows!
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Cell-phone services, though costly (Taka 6 per min outgoing) have a lot of facilities through SMS.

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While we were sightseeing, we were quite impressed by the usage of the waterways. The Buriganga Terminus is like Sealdah Station, with each jetty numbered (I think there are some 20 of them). Launch names and schedules (easily 30 names) are put up on a board near the ticket counters. Big launches for long trips, small boats for simple crossings, and the general ‘halla’ or pandemonium of passengers and merchants with goods – a real sight!.....

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We wanted to go in and see the proceedings without buying a ticket so I pulled out my Bangla and requested the gateman, who happily let us through. We spent some time soaking in the hubbab and on the way out, spent another 10 minutes with the gateman. He regretted that he still had some 30 mins to go before he was off duty, otherwise he would have taken us to the AC VIP room and “ektu alap kortam apnader shonge”. As per him, 40,000 people go through the gates daily – one way.

.Dhaka, as well as Bangladesh in general, is a Toyota market. They are mostly reconditioned cars imported from Japan, where the allowed age of cars is just 3 years. Such a car, which has run less than 50,000 km, would cost around Taka 10 lakh, purchased from the local importer or reconditioner.
.Bangladesh has over 200 garment factories, though they are mostly concentrated in Dhaka. Large quantities of cloth come from South India. Garment production mostly export-oriented. The remarkable fact is that although a large number of workers (mostly ladies) are employed at these places, trade-unions are not only absent, they are banned!

Chittagong: 6.09.2003

We had gone to Chittagong today. We left by the morning flight and caught the afternoon flight back.
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Our stay was too short to go around in Chittagong, so I came away with a general impression. It’s a smaller town than Dhaka, but less congested, cooler, and with more greenery. There are many localities close by that are on hills’ like Rangamati, which has a natural lake, as well as Cox Bazaar, which boasts of the longest beach in Asia.......
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Chittagong is the main port for Bangladesh, situated on the estuary of the Karnafuli river. There is also a pretty beach, which we could not visit.

.We were taken for a hurried lunch, ie bundled into a van and quickly driven across the road to a Chinese restaurant. We ordered the only veg soup and the only two veg dishes available, one of which was ‘kalmi shaak’, prepared in Chinese style with mushrooms and lots of garlic. The dealer’s brother as well as a staff who accompanied us, insisted on eating veg as well.

.While on the subject of food, there are two very famous specialized food outlets in Dhaka – ‘Haji Biriyani’ and ‘Mama Halim’. Haji apparently makes only two dekchis of biriyani in the evening and closes shop once that is sold. There’s usually a queue of 50 people to sit on small benches and eat. Halim is a dish of mutton mixed with daal. We were treated to a lot of mishti, mostly chhana-based, in people’s offices and shops. ‘Moronchand’s Chhana’ is also very famous amongst sweetmeat shops.

.Because public transport is cheap and owning cars so costly, most of our customers do not own cars. They also live in flats instead of in houses. Even motorbikes, so ideal for traffic like Dhaka, is not common at all. Indian motorbikes would cost Taka 60-70,000 and Jap ones cost over one lakh.

Dhaka: 7.09.2003

Today we wanted to visit Elephant Road (where leather articles are available) and Bongo Bazaar (clothes market, including export rejects). But we could get free only by 8.00 pm, as usual. We caught hold of Mamun, a young customer, one who had taken us shopping the earlier day, and the three of us piled on to a rickshaw. Long time since I’d traveled that way (maybe IIT), straining a lot of muscle in just remaining onto the bit of seat made available to my backside. Easwar bought some small giveaways in leather. We went next to Bongo Bazaar, which is a market full of small clothes stalls. Quality of clothes was poor, but they were cheap. I was tempted into buying a couple of simple kurtas, but could not find anything of interest for the kids or for Panna that would qualify as a ‘Bangladesh buy’.

.Although internet cafes were available in the city, we could never get time till 11.00 pm and I’d usually end up e-mailing from the hotel in the morning. Could maintain home communication fairly well during the stay.

.Sonargaon is a good hotel – in looks, facilities and speed of service. One of my shirts had a cuff-button missing. When returned from laundry I found both the cuff-buttons replaced by new ones. Tonight we had dinner at the Italian restaurant ‘Ciao’, on pizza and pasta. Afterwards, we loitered outside the restaurant for some time watching the crowd at the discotheque on the same floor. The Sonargaon disco seems to be fairly popular among the upmarket Bangladeshi youth – fairly hep in dress and all that. Although entrance is free, the mandatory beer or juice costs Taka 500!

.In the front lounge, there is a small dais where various artists sit during the day and play the flute or sing gazals etc. On Friday morning, I found a man sitting with parrots and envelopes and promptly had my ‘guideline’ (I forget the Urdu word for it) chosen and read out for Taka 15! He also read my hand for a little more money. We both agreed that what he pronounced was absolutely accurate. He was sincerely advising me to wear certain stones when Easwar cleared his throat and reminded us of our sightseeing schedules. Anyway, the ‘alaap’ was fun!.......
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Tomorrow we leave for Colombo, via Bangkok. Overall it’s been a nice stay in Dhaka, not like my usual foreign tours. For one, it felt like Bengal anyway and secondly, because of my knowing Bengali, I participated in the business discussions much more actively (practically solo in some shops).

LINK TO BANGLADESH ALBUM

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