I first heard about the Mumbai siege from friends over a casual conversation, not realizing the extent of the carnage. But the story truly unfolded when I saw the news on BBC and CNN.
Mumbai, was a city i visited 10 years ago. The city was special to me as it was a city that opened my eyes, to both how the opulent and the impoverish exist side by side. I still remember up to this day, the family that was cooking their dinner on the sidewalk as I walked to MacDonalds. (MacDonald's being the fast food restaurant for the well heeled in Mumbai at that time.) I passed the family again after finishing my dinner to find the same family sleeping right there, by the same sidewalk.
The Taj Mahal Hotel and The Oberoi Hotel both represented the nicest places to stay in the city. I did some shopping at The Oberoi and walked around the TMH.
Just as 9/11 happed at the World Trade center, the bombing in London, the latest siege in Mumbai happened at a place I once visited. And it left me with a lump in my throat. At the back of my mind I thought that I could easily have been there when the worst happened but thank god I'm not!
I guess these places that are targeted are iconic in the city they are in, which was why I visited them in the first place.
For now I look forward to some answers. Who did this and why?
In the meantime, I do worry sometimes. What if something happens and I am stuck at work and my DH is stuck in his office. Who will look after my child? Who will protect her and look out for her.
My dear child, some days I feel that the world is much too dangerous for you, and all I want to do is to keep you near and safe. At the same time I don't want to smother you and I want you to see and appreciate the world for its beauty and its wonderful differences.
Of course my answer to all this is travel. If only everyone gets the opportunity to travel with an open mind, to see that no matter how different we think we are, we have so many more similarities. Violence and hurt, even if it was inflicted on others, will not just cause harm on the intended but will harm everyone else as well in the long run.
The key is to recognize that the human spirit is resilient and we should not allow incidence like this trap us in our own little pigeon holes.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
After the rain
Another trip to the "Edge of the World
I'm sure there is a proper name for this place but the expats call it The Edge of the world.
Its a bit short notice but the men decided that it would be interesting to see the desert after the rain. The problem with making last minute plans is that some of us would be more prepared than others.
M@rk could not find a 4x4 to rent and asked if he could tag along. We knew that the trip could be done with a 2x4, so we told him why not. He'd just have to be really brave.
The weather forecast predicted rain but we thought to push ahead anyways and turn back should the weather turn.
Of course we did not realise that the sand would be soft after the rain and the terrain would be rather muddy. Literally 3 minutes off road, M@rk's car got stuck in some soft sand.
First the men tried pushing, but the rear wheel just sank in.
Then they deflated the tyres and tried to put the sand ladders under the tyres. But that didn't work either.
Then they had to shovel some of the muddy wet sand off the tires. Thank God we brought one shovel. We used to have 3 but we returned the other one to its rightful owner (well we didn't need to use them the 10 times we borrowed it!) and the other owner didn't think he needed to bring his shovel. As a result, one man shoveled while the rest watched.
Luckily he had a cute butt ;)
So they had to regroup and plan the next course of action. My DH's crash course in desert driving with R/yadh Rovers is proving to be rather useful! More still, all the desert driving equipment he purchased from the colleague who was leaving (which had been taking up a lot of space in my store room!) OK I shan't complain anymore!
So they had to use the last option (or second last if this option didn't work.) To tow the car out. They hung the carpet in the middle to weigh the tow rope down in case it snapped.
Luckily it worked and M@rk's car got unstuck!
We scout the route for a little bit more and decided to ask M@rk to ditch his car. The track was just too soft and muddy and he had little or no traction on most parts of the route. M@rk parked his car under 2 trees before the river bed (we think that that part of the desert used to be a river bed as there are more trees there and the track is extra soft.) We marked the location on the GPS to make sure that we can find it later. (I'm sure 2 trees look alike in the desert!) And off we went.
The terrain looked considerably different. There was a lot more green and it loked that new trees have sprouted just overnight after the rain. And there were some areas that looked like a stream, with water on them, a rare sight in the desert that is normally parched and all dried up.
We reached the viewpoint at about 11 am. (We started off at 6 am.) By this time both children and adults alike were hungry!
It has always been windy every time were there. I remember my first trip here and did not bring warm clothes or proper shoes. But I am more prepared for this trip.
But the weather was glorious! Despite the cold wind, the sun was shining and we had blues skies for a while.
But the view from up there was just amazing. I was a tad worried that the little one would venture too near to the edge so I kept a watchful eye on her of course. I reminded her that the wind blew her hat off her head and then off the cliff the previous time we came.
For someone who lived on the 13th floor when she was growing up, I'm one of those people who have no problems climbing to great heights but for some reason unknown to me, I have difficulty coming down! So I decided not to climb up, but to watch the other kids in wonder as they climbed up and down the cliff.
In the meantime, Little Amir took The Little One under his wing while some mum and dads had their own entertainment:
Meanwhile, some of us tried to find some privacy.
As you can see, there are no bushes to hide behind or a tree to do it under.
So when everyone has had enough of the view and knocked off enough golf balls down the cliff, we looked for a suitable spot to have our brunch. It was cold and everyone was rather hungry after the pushing, shoveling, climbing and golfing.
We enjoyed the nasi lemak, mee goreng, baked chicken, donuts, potato salad, sandwiches and all sorts of desserts we brought with us.
But the dark clouds began to roll in and we decided to call it a day. Normally we would have ventured to the other 2 viewpoints but we didn't do so this trip round in case it started to rain.
We drove back to M@rk's car to find it safe and sound. But M@rk's new challenge was to drive his car back to the tarmac.
We scouted round for some hard ground but made a judgement error. Some parts were rather soft so we told him to be brave and drive fast. We reminded him that even if he thinks he has no traction, instead of slowing down and braking, he should just continue moving.
And he managed to do so! We all cheered for him although when he rolled his windows down we could see that his face was as white as sheet.
Just as we were leaving Sadous we saw lots of cars driving into the desert as the locals were just about ready to have their picnic.
Overall it was a good day out and we all had a good time.
And it rained after we unpacked the car. I was so grateful that the weather cooperated.
PS Joy, do you guys miss R/yadh yet? ;)
Incidentally, as I was browsing through our old pictures, I discovered the one above, taken on 07 Nov 2006, almost 2 years to the date of our most recent visit.
How quickly the time flies and see how much The Little One has grown!
Trip to the Edge of the World
I'm sure there is a proper name for this place but the expats call it The Edge of the world.
Its a bit short notice but the men decided that it would be interesting to see the desert after the rain. The problem with making last minute plans is that some of us would be more prepared than others.
M@rk could not find a 4x4 to rent and asked if he could tag along. We knew that the trip could be done with a 2x4, so we told him why not. He'd just have to be really brave.
The weather forecast predicted rain but we thought to push ahead anyways and turn back should the weather turn.
Of course we did not realise that the sand would be soft after the rain and the terrain would be rather muddy. Literally 3 minutes off road, M@rk's car got stuck in some soft sand.
First the men tried pushing, but the rear wheel just sank in.
Then they deflated the tyres and tried to put the sand ladders under the tyres. But that didn't work either.
Then they had to shovel some of the muddy wet sand off the tires. Thank God we brought one shovel. We used to have 3 but we returned the other one to its rightful owner (well we didn't need to use them the 10 times we borrowed it!) and the other owner didn't think he needed to bring his shovel. As a result, one man shoveled while the rest watched.
Luckily he had a cute butt ;)
So they had to regroup and plan the next course of action. My DH's crash course in desert driving with R/yadh Rovers is proving to be rather useful! More still, all the desert driving equipment he purchased from the colleague who was leaving (which had been taking up a lot of space in my store room!) OK I shan't complain anymore!
So they had to use the last option (or second last if this option didn't work.) To tow the car out. They hung the carpet in the middle to weigh the tow rope down in case it snapped.
Luckily it worked and M@rk's car got unstuck!
We scout the route for a little bit more and decided to ask M@rk to ditch his car. The track was just too soft and muddy and he had little or no traction on most parts of the route. M@rk parked his car under 2 trees before the river bed (we think that that part of the desert used to be a river bed as there are more trees there and the track is extra soft.) We marked the location on the GPS to make sure that we can find it later. (I'm sure 2 trees look alike in the desert!) And off we went.
The terrain looked considerably different. There was a lot more green and it loked that new trees have sprouted just overnight after the rain. And there were some areas that looked like a stream, with water on them, a rare sight in the desert that is normally parched and all dried up.
We reached the viewpoint at about 11 am. (We started off at 6 am.) By this time both children and adults alike were hungry!
It has always been windy every time were there. I remember my first trip here and did not bring warm clothes or proper shoes. But I am more prepared for this trip.
But the weather was glorious! Despite the cold wind, the sun was shining and we had blues skies for a while.
But the view from up there was just amazing. I was a tad worried that the little one would venture too near to the edge so I kept a watchful eye on her of course. I reminded her that the wind blew her hat off her head and then off the cliff the previous time we came.
For someone who lived on the 13th floor when she was growing up, I'm one of those people who have no problems climbing to great heights but for some reason unknown to me, I have difficulty coming down! So I decided not to climb up, but to watch the other kids in wonder as they climbed up and down the cliff.
In the meantime, Little Amir took The Little One under his wing while some mum and dads had their own entertainment:
Meanwhile, some of us tried to find some privacy.
As you can see, there are no bushes to hide behind or a tree to do it under.
So when everyone has had enough of the view and knocked off enough golf balls down the cliff, we looked for a suitable spot to have our brunch. It was cold and everyone was rather hungry after the pushing, shoveling, climbing and golfing.
We enjoyed the nasi lemak, mee goreng, baked chicken, donuts, potato salad, sandwiches and all sorts of desserts we brought with us.
But the dark clouds began to roll in and we decided to call it a day. Normally we would have ventured to the other 2 viewpoints but we didn't do so this trip round in case it started to rain.
We drove back to M@rk's car to find it safe and sound. But M@rk's new challenge was to drive his car back to the tarmac.
We scouted round for some hard ground but made a judgement error. Some parts were rather soft so we told him to be brave and drive fast. We reminded him that even if he thinks he has no traction, instead of slowing down and braking, he should just continue moving.
And he managed to do so! We all cheered for him although when he rolled his windows down we could see that his face was as white as sheet.
Just as we were leaving Sadous we saw lots of cars driving into the desert as the locals were just about ready to have their picnic.
Overall it was a good day out and we all had a good time.
And it rained after we unpacked the car. I was so grateful that the weather cooperated.
PS Joy, do you guys miss R/yadh yet? ;)
Incidentally, as I was browsing through our old pictures, I discovered the one above, taken on 07 Nov 2006, almost 2 years to the date of our most recent visit.
How quickly the time flies and see how much The Little One has grown!
Trip to the Edge of the World
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