The Bastion of East India

Tipu Sultan Mosque, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Mar 2023 – this is quintessential Kolkata – yellow taxis, tram tracks on the road, incessant traffic, cables all over the place, political billboards. Interesting, init? Welcome to the de facto centre of East India!

Hello people. This post has been a long time coming. (Umm, not so long actually, like I was supposed to post it last week, in conjunction with the Durga Puja festival. I just didn’t have time to bloody finish it. Well, here it is. I’d say a half-cooked one, done from clobbering whatever little time I have. Anyway, something is better than nothing, right?)

Since it was Durga Puja, East India’s biggest festival (which also happened to be the missus’ biggest festival), here’s something from Kolkata – the de facto capital of East India, and once upon a time, Calcutta, the capital of British India. Kolkata also happens to be the main gateway to Northeast India, and where all our banks in India have offices in. That’s why we always end up here… Sigh, what else is there to see, we’ve seen it all, I think…


Science City, Kolkata, Mar 2022 – How little the kids were then! This was the first time after 2.5 years of the COVID Pandemic, that we travelled out of the UAE! I just remembered how a messy trip it was… I guess I just forgot how to friggin …travel! First, I didn’t exchange any friggin money because I thought we could just use our Indian bank cards to withdraw money from the ATMs, but because of years of inactivity (COVID, I fucking blame you), they were all dormant, or blocked. Second, the banks, which we intended to visit in Kolkata, to reactivate everything, were closed because of a bank employees strike (who would’ve thought!! We planned our trip to Kolkata, specifically to fall on a working day so that we could visit damn said banks! And they told us to come back in 2 days!??!!!) Third, the stupid phone which I chose to bring which had the Indian SIM card on, was a near obsolete phone (because that was the only phone which the old SIM card could fit in, you know the bigger sized SIM cards which nobody uses anymore? That’s the SIM card with our Indian data on, and the phone disintegrated when we landed in Kolkata airport, late in the night, and we couldn’t use it to locate our hotel! Oh, we found it, eventually, after going around in circles for the umpteenth time and asking whoever was still awake at that time). Fourth, we had a scrumptious Bengali meal (just before we visited the Science City), and in the night, all of us (except Justin, for some strange reasons) had massive diarrhoea and vomiting bouts that lasted a friggin week! That sums up our 2022 trip.


We’re back in Kolkata! – Mar 2023. This time without Justin, who’s started schooling in Singapore. At the Victoria Monument, Mar 2023 – This was like my ummmm… 3rd visit? And Anu’s 2nd visit?? Where else is there to go? We’ve been to Kolkata so many times??






More of the Victoria Memorial, looks like they’ve completed some refurbishments from the last time we visited. Made it more like a museum of Indian history, rather than just a monument of British India (it was built by the British Raj to commemorate Queen Victoria, hence its name, and is the largest monument to a monarch anywhere in the world! Don’t believe me? Google it!) Mar 2023


Then there’re churches – this one’s the St John’s Church on Council House Road


And this is the St Paul’s Cathedral, near the Victoria Memorial


And then there’s this planetarium, the M P Birla Planetarium. We’ve gone past this place so many times, and finally decided to visit in Mar 2023


In 2023, we decided to stay in a better hotel (The Oberoi Grand), which is located smack in the middle of Kolkata, a place we’re more familiar with, than Gariahat, where we stayed in 2022 (because that was where our branches of HSBC and Standard Chartered banks were. No, those were not our original branches – their branches on Shakespeare Sarani closed down and we were left with no choice)


The lobby of the Grand Hotel. It’s an interesting hotel – a pocket of opulence amidst the chaos… (it’s a British era, neoclassical, historical landmark in Kolkata … located in the middle of the chaotic, congested centre of the city!)


New Market, Kolkata (don’t be deceived by its name, it was new when they coined the name, which was like a century ago, ahem). What a contrast, huh? Street markets and small shops surround the entire Oberoi Grand


Well, we can escape all that by just skipping back into the hotel, and have a peaceful swim… Bliss… (Note: The Grand Hotel is closed for the time being, undergoing major renovations. Last read is that it's scheduled to be reopened only in 2028)


Justin’s back in Kolkata! This was Dec 2024, on another stopover. At the Salt Lake City Centre Mall. Is that a Christmas tree or a temple? It’s both, a Bengali-temple-styled Christmas tree!

What about temples? Aren’t there temples in Kolkata? Of course there are! And I’ve written about them earlier, but there’s more, and it’ll be for a different time to tell… I’ve written too much already, as it is.


Leaving you with a fierce Maa Durga overseeing a Bengali gift shop at the Kolkata Airport, Apr 2023. See ya!

Durga Puja’s passed and gone, and Diwali is on the way. So here’s to wishing all a Happy Diwali/ Deepavali in advance (because I don’t think I have time before that to write another post… We’re dropping our Jayden off in Singapore on the Diwali weekend to start schooling! I really hope he’ll be OK, that he’ll look after himself, and not be like his usual Prince of Trouble self). And Happy Halloween for all the spooky people out there!!!

Utter Chaos

Koman Lake, Albania

I’m gonna continue with my posts of Albania…

By the way, what’s happening in Albania?? People burning buildings and stuff like that? What’s happening in the world actually? With protests in so many countries? (India, France, Pakistan, Argentina…) Wars all over the place? That’s what you get when you have the leaders of the world disregarding the rule of law (yup, you’re the No.1 culprit, Mr Trump, and Mr Putin, you’re not far behind…) When the powerful nations and leaders who were supposed to be the policemen of the world, break laws, behave like gangsters, and do as they well damn like without giving a care to whatever happens to the weaker ones targeted, what else do you expect? Peace on earth? Fuck no.


Anyway, back to my post, this is one place in Albania, that you should really visit, if you’re a fan of …utter friggin chaos! The Komani Lake Ferry!


The Komani Lake Ferry is what you can do in Albania if you want a scenic journey from Shkodër (near the coast) to Valbona (in the interior) …if you have lots of time to waste, that is. It’ll bring you, and your car (if you get there early enough, and if it fits, never mind whether you’ve booked days or months in advance) from this point (in the photo) at the Koman Dam to the Berisha Ferry Terminal, near Fierzë


Who’s that? The Galactic Emperor?!?! Get a life, man. This ain’t Star Wars! It’s Mother Teresa, the amazingly touching Saint of the Gutters, of Calcutta, India, the nun who dedicated her whole life to helping the downtrodden, destitute, and unwanted sick and dying people in the gutters of Calcutta (now Kolkata). Mother Teresa is ethnic Albanian, but was actually born in Skopje, now the capital of North Macedonia, to a Kosovar Albanian family. She moved to India as a missionary in her teens, and never looked back. God bless her soul. This church was between Shkodër (where we last stopped), and the Komani Lake Ferry boarding point – The Cathedral of Mother Teresa, Vau-Dejës, Albania, Aug 2023


Yippee, is that Koman Lake? It’s part of the Drin River actually, but what the heck, they’re the same thing. The Drin became a lake when they dammed it up with the Koman Dam… This place is downstream of the dam, so should rightly still be called the Drin…


The fun starts… it’s like 30+ km more to the Komani Lake Ferry Boarding Point, but it’ll take 1 friggin hour. Know why? Look at the friggin road! Sigh… Bumps all the way…


The ‘beautiful’ road along the Drin… Sigh… The last I checked on Maps, it still takes that much time (1 hour) from Vau-Dejës to Komani Lake Ferry, so I don’t think there’s been any improvement between 2023 and now…


We’ve reached! WTF! Now we’re stuck! We weren’t there to take the car ferry, we were just there to sightsee. (Note: DO NOT ENTER THE TUNNEL *in BOLD* if you’re not there to board the ferry). Nobody was at the tunnel entrance to check or stop cars from entering, and so we just drove on and Voila! Before we knew it, we were there! With hardly any place to park, or turn, let alone reverse, and the cars (and buses, and trucks) kept coming, all pouring into this tiny landing walled off by the mountains and surrounded by the lake!


What the heck, might as well enjoy the chaos while we wait for the officials there to tell us when we can get out again. And they’re eager for us (or anyone stuck there) to get out because we’re blocking their (very limited) manoeuvring space. And what a sight this was, people shouting, trying to squeeze cars, buses, and what-have-you into whatever space you have and into the friggin small ferry, and passengers complaining that they’ve booked but the boat’s already full to the brim, and so on, and so forth…


Maybe, we could take a ride out to the lake? No, no, no…


Yippee, we’re free! At last, after 2 friggin hours! The tunnel that connects the landing with the rest of the world. Look how narrow it is, and buses could come through! “I wanna break free! I wanna break free!”


Leaving the Koman Lake area, but it’s beautiful, isn’t it? Despite the chaos! One thing why we like Albania is the lush green landscape. Poorer has its advantages! Less buildings, more forests!

Bye, till the next post.

Beyond the Forbidden City

Shouhuang Dian 寿皇殿 (Hall of Imperial Longevity – Don’t quote me, OK? I just took the translation off some website), Jingshan Park, Beijing

Running out of ideas on what to write… The stupid war (you know what I’m talking about, yeah, the one on Iran) is still on, jacking up prices thru the roof, which normal people (like me) will have to bear are bearing, WTF! ...What? Fuel is almost double the price now, and common items like onions, potatoes, cucumber, you name it, are 3X the friggin price of what they used to be! What the hell was he (yup, I’m referring to you Mr Trump) even thinking of when he launched this totally unnecessary war!

Anyway, this week is China’s ‘golden’ week, the week that the entire friggin China is on holiday! (It’s their National Day! And it was Mid-Autumn’s Festival just before that!) It’ll be people mountain, people sea, all over China. Unless you’re the sort of people who likes being squished between other people, don’t visit China at this time. But the Chinese do not export their national holidays to the other countries where they work in. For example, I work for a Chinese company in Dubai, and there’s no mention at all, about their big, massive holiday back home. It’s business as usual here, golden or not, back home. (And I thought, they’d give us, umm… half a day off? No?) Anyway, I’m gonna send out a quick China holiday post for this. Taking the easy way out, again, hehe. Here goes.


This is a continuation of my Forbidden City post. Exiting the Forbidden City, will take you directly to the main (south) gate of Jingshan Park 景山公园 (a.k.a Scenery Hill Park). The park used to be a part of the Forbidden City, until the authorities constructed a road across it, cutting the park off from the Forbidden City, and now it’s a park for all and sundry! (It used to be accessible only to the royal families…)


Jingshan Park, here we come! The main hall near the main entrance of Jingshan Park – the Qiwang Building 绮望楼, if I’m not mistaken…




The gardens in Jingshan Park… This park is famous for, among other things, being the place where the last Ming Emperor, in the face of impending defeat and capture by rebel forces, committed suicide by hanging himself from one of the trees, after he killed his daughters and wife… (that was how things were in the past, for rulers and their families. We, unfortunately, are not a very forgiving species…)


The main pavilion on top of Jingshan. Jing Shan (literally Scenery Hill, or Prospect Hill as translated in Wikipedia… Beats me, man, what the actual meaning is, ...too deep for my ‘half-past-six’ Chinese to grasp…) Here’s where you can get a real glimpse of life in Beijing for the common people, especially the old folks – they’ll come together to sing! Yeah, no kidding, that group of people up front, was doing just that!


The Forbidden City, from the top Jingshan Park. Jingshan is a manmade hill with five peaks, each topped with a pavilion, with the central peak (and pavilion) the highest (and the largest). The hill was made from earth excavated for the construction of the moats and canals of the Forbidden City! (So, the Dubai Safari copied this idea… only a thousand years late! – This hill was made in the 11th century!)


Another view of Beijing from the top of Jingshan… That’s the CCTV HQ Building (the one that looks like a distorted frame), and the CITIC Tower (the tallest one in the photo)


And of course, there’re temples… or is it a palace, …or a museum? Beats me, man. The archway approaching the Shouhuang Dian


Shouhuang Dian 寿皇殿 (Hall of Imperial Longevity), a place where past emperors (of the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty) paid respect to their ancestors… Looks like it was all in vain, huh? (They’re all long gone). So, praying itself will do no good, if not matched with benevolent and progressive acts… (that’s my take, anyway)




Around the compound of the Shouhuang Dian, Jingshan Park, Beijing, China, Jul 2025

And that brings us to the end of this post. See you next time!

Catching up with the Old Stuff

After all the statues, I’m coming back to Albania. Continuing from where I left off the last time… (These holiday photos are the easiest to post, hehe. Just a few photos, a little description, and off we go!)


Mesi Bridge, (no, not Messi, nor messy) on the outskirts of Shkodër, Albania. It’s called the Mesi Bridge because …it’s located in the village of Mes! …Duh (and you thought it was named after Lionel Messi??)

Anyway, we came down from Theth in the Accursed Mountains to the city of Shkodër (yes, an ‘e’ with an umlaut, but to make it easier for me to type, I’ll just (conveniently) drop the umlaut from here onwards). It’s a nice city. I think. Saw a couple of old stuff (like the Mesi Bridge and the old Rozafa castle), but didn’t actually linger inside the city itself. Drove thru all the main roads, looking for something, anything to eat, but in the end, ended up just going to the pharmacy to get some medical supplies, and went home (back to the ‘guesthouse’ I mean). The highlight of the trip to me was actually the guesthouse itself! We booked a ‘hotel’ called ‘Room with Private Garden’ and it was absolutely gorgeous! See for yourself!


More of the Mesi Bridge…


Honey, are you sure you can climb on that rock?? (It’s only the day before that she got 4 stitches on the knee!!)


Welcome to the ‘Room with Private Garden’! It’s only ONE room, built behind an office in a farming area, and true to what its name says, has a private garden! Complete with a patio, a small field, swings, flowering plants, berries that you could pluck and eat, ducks, pigeons, …I forgot whether there were chickens or not…






The Garden of the ‘Room with Private Garden’!


The room is behind this traditional craft shop, specializing in silver filigree ornaments… And the craft shop itself is behind a furniture store called Mobileri Ramadani, near Melgush Village, south of Shkoder, on the main trunk road connecting Shkoder to the rest of Albania. (And yes, that red car was our rented car)


The owner of the Room with Private Garden and the proprietor of the craft shop, Margjelo Filigran (I forgot her name… but she was a good host!)


Finally, here’s the Rozafa Castle, an old Venetian castle (yes, Venice used to be an independent republic, and it ruled parts of Albania, Greece, Croatia, …)


The road leading up to the castle… Honey, you sure you can walk up there with your stitches?!? She could. But in hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have gone, coz from that time onwards, I’ve been getting flak for ‘torturing’ her… But Honey, you said you had no problem! Sigh, women…




The views from the Rozafa Castle, tucked between the rivers Drin and Bruna, Shkoder, Albania


Scary castle, huh? But wait till you hear the legend behind it? It’s been told that a woman, the wife of one of the builders, was immured (walled in) into the castle walls so that the castle would not fall… The type of story for a horror movie, huh? Go ahead, Google it!


The city of Shkodër, Albania, from Rozafa Castle, Aug 2023

That’s all for today.