Back to Reality

Pune-Solapur Highway Project - paving at km69

Sigh... I’m back in this hellhole called the Pune-Solapur Project. It is especially difficult after a trip back home to Malaysia, especially if it’s only a short friggin 8 day trip.

Didn’t have time for so many things that I wanted to do, didn’t have time to savour so many of the local food which I missed after such a long stay in ‘hellhole’, didn’t have time for the long planned trip to the east coast with the family... didn’t have time for a relaxing stay at home with the wife and the little monster, didn’t watch one friggin movie in Malaysia, (something we always thought of doing, ...passing the little critter to his granddad, and I and the wife running to the cinema to watch a movie, decently), didn’t meet so many friends and relatives...

That’s life, unfortunately. Still plodding on in Daund, thought this Project will end much earlier than what we’ve achieved now, ...only about 60%, ...when will we reach 100%, 2014???!!?

Anyway, since I’m over with my cave-themed posts, here’re some pictures of our ‘beloved’ hellhole Project...


The garden of our 'beautiful' blue office in Kurkumbh, ...this is about the nicest part of our office, don't ask about the parts...


Daybreak at our Kurkumbh Base Camp


Maharaja Hotel, km70, the most decent hotel in our office area, ...about 1.5 stars, I’d say. Comes with good food (until the entire management team, plus the chef, quit and joined another hotel about a few months back), air con (the constantly buzzing variety), hot water (in a bucket, when summoned)...


Kkanchan Restaurant, km41, the finest in our Project stretch, only vegetarian food, or ‘pure veg’ as the locals term it, makes one wonder whether there’s such a thing called ‘impure veg’? Anu had food there once, and swore not to return (she’s not really a fan of Indian ‘pure veg’ food), but this is our clients’ and consultants’ favourite stopover in our Project




Rock, or having to cut through rock, is one of the main features of our Project – chiselling our way through, km68-69, Pune-Solapur Highway


Part of our fleet of rock breakers


Blasting the blasted rocks with explosives, km53


The deep canal at km79 - we have to build the road on top of this existing canal by extending the tunnel-like culvert


Another view of the deep canal, km79 Pune-Solapur Highway


Public well, Yavat, the nicest well in our Project, one of the many wells in the Project corridor that we have to close up to make way for the highway


Construction here involves a lot of praying and a lot of gods - praying to the ‘God of Girders’ before the start of the launch of our bridge girders, with my colleague, CL Chong looking on


Praying to the ‘Holy Toolboxes of the Divine Mechanics’, on the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja, held sometime every September, and dedicated to Vishwakarma, the Hindu God of craftsmen and architects

Floating over Cappadocia

Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey with the Uchisar rock citadel at the back

Nothing beats a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia. It’s just magical, but it’ll set your budget back by about the cost of one friggin cross-country flight! If I’m not mistaken, it cost me ...750 friggin RM! For 1 person!


Firing up the balloon


Taking off


Up, up and away


A view from the top




Cappadocia, by hot air balloon




A view of the natural terrain




High over Cappadocia


Yours truly, in a basket filled with Spanish tourists


Landing in a farm

Pottery in a Cave

More from the caves of Cappadocia – pots and ceramics!


Avanos in Cappadocia is famous for its ceramic trade since ancient times. The tourist guide, ...or rather the pottery owner, explained that the clay from the what’s-its-name river flowing through Avanos is exceptionally good for pottery. The wares are all of high quality, and so are the costs!


Justin’s not too impressed, as you can see


More exhibits of Avanos’s wares


Throwing in a picture of a wine cellar... just for the sake of it, what the heck! The winery’s not even near Avanos, but it is in Cappadocia, ...but near Urgup actually

Land of the Fairy Chimneys

Cappadocia (Kapadokya), Turkey

Fairy Chimneys is the name the local Turkish tourist guides use for the natural minaret-like formations of Cappadocia. I dunno who came up with such a creative name, but simpler people (meaning the men, ...like yours truly) would probably have just called this place Land of the Giant Dicks – see for yourself!


The Goreme Open Air Museum (pronounced ge-ray-may), filled with caves churches, used to be a community of Christian monasteries in Roman times

This is a whole new world with caves – cave churches, cave houses, cave hotels complete with cave bathrooms and cave toilets (how do they fit in the sanitary piping and the shit tanks??), cave shops, cave cafeterias... yeah, just name it! We stayed in a cave hotel during our trip, bloody cold (and it was May). Anu didn’t like it much, but what the heck, have to give everything a try huh? Anyway, it’ll all be fine with a few pegs of raki (the local aniseed flavoured liquor)


Another view at Goreme


Guards at Goreme


Hiding in a cave guardhouse – where else could you find a convenient place for the mom to breastfeed the kid? Really nice of the guards to offer tea. Turkey must be one of the most baby-friendly countries in the world... The people there go nuts when they see tiny toddlers!


Cavusin Village (pronounced cha-vu-shin), an abandoned Greek cave village


A souvenir shops amidst the ruins, Cavusin


Fairy Chimneys ‘R’ Us, Cavusin Village


Anu at the ruins, Cavusin


A family photo (with Justin asleep), above the ruins of Cavusin, and after that our camera ran out of batteries... luckily for us, we could charge it in the semi-cave restaurant we stopped for lunch


Pasabag (pronounced pa-sha-ba), means General’s (pasha) Vineyard (ba), as explained by our trusty tourist guide (as far as I remember... this was 2 years ago, ok?)


A hermit’s church in Pasabag


The Rock Citadel of Uchisar


Fairy Chimneys on the road to Urgup, with a snow-capped peak in the background


A poppy field in Cappadocia

What’s Happened to the Tambun Hot Springs

The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Tambun, Ipoh


This is an example of what else to do with caves, ...yeah, it ain’t all need to be temples.

The Tambun Hot Springs, used to be a popular outing for the kids of Ipoh, and cost next to nothing to enter. Some big company gave it a grand makeover and it’s now a spanking 5-star resort that’ll burn a hole in your wallet, ...err make that 5 holes, at least, just to enter! But of course, it looks a world of a difference now, compared to the ramshackle tin shack of a changing room, ...I don’t actually remember, it was ages ago! Too bad, we didn’t bother taking photos then, heck I was a kid then, what do we know about taking photos!


Hot springs proper, getting ready for a boil


Car park, Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat


Blue’s the theme of the day


A view from the Steam Cave


Justin, on an exploration of the premises




More views of the retreat

Malaysia’s Hindu Cavern

Batu Caves, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Back to travel blog mode (...what the heck, it’s the easiest way out!)

Continuing on cave temples, Malaysia has its very own Hindu Cave Temple, Batu Caves, just outside Kuala Lumpur. These are natural limestone caves unlike the man-made wonders of Ajanta and Ellora. These are taken ages ago in 2007, way before our little terror came into being.


Anu, at the steps of the Batu Caves temple


The external shrine, Batu Caves


The Batu Caves temple, dedicated to Lord Murugan, is the focal point of the Tamil festival Thaipusam, where people pierce different parts of their body with spears and you name it to prove their devotion or to repay a debt to their god or for whatever reasons. Not for the fainthearted




Views of the cave interior, Batu Caves

Of Travel Blogs, and Other Things

It’s midnight now and I’m bloody sleepy, still at the office. Anu has some urgent matters to attend to in Pune, on the way now to pick me up. Pune’s 2 bloody hours away by car. We have only one measly key to the apartment, because she’s there all the time (except this one time), so there’s no need to keep a spare key... or so we thought.

My brains are fried, can’t properly work anymore. So here’s a go at blogging. Will regret what I blog tonight, I think, ...but what the heck! It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged about anything, but our holidays. It’s turning into a bloody travel blog. Not that I have anything against travel blogs, but this is supposed to be a blog about my life. It’s supposed to be for me (or anyone for that matter, ...I’m thinking son, wife at least) to reminisce when I’m old and half-senile, and when I can’t recall half of what happened the hour before (hope it’ll never come to that).

One consolation I can give myself is that this blog is just about the only family blog left that’s still consistently updated. Don’t believe me? Check out the family links beside. I doubt anyone reads blogs now, but as I’ve said before, this is for the future’s sake.

Anyway, I’m shutting down now. Will try to partially sleep for a while (on the office desk) coz I don’t fancy behaving like a zombie in the office tomorrow. I’m not in my primes now, the bones ache when I sleep on one side too much, a tooth has cracked for no apparent reason, am getting crankier by the day, am shrinking ...I think (gotta really start working out again). Till another chance like this comes along, ta...