Udaipur the city of lakes

Driving into the rising Sun is a wonderful experience and the additional advantage is that the roads are empty.

The highlight is stopping for breakfast especially when it is hot and freshly made. I enjoyed this kantha poha (flattened rice)

We drove down from Surat to Udaipur and it was a pleasant ride as the roads were good.

We reached Udaipur in time to see the sunset at Lake Pichola.

We were lucky to get a good guide (Mr Kanwar Keer) who gave us some concise information about the place.

Like, I did not know about Jag Mandir where Shah Jehan stayed (during his rebellion with his father) and was inspired to build the Taj Mahal later.

The video gives more information about the place as I have left the guide's voice as it is. It is interesting to know how the Dhood talai got its name. Here is a picture of Dhoodh Talai.

I clicked one more picture of the same place but before clicking I increased the contrast extensively by which it gives a night time effect.

The actual difference between both the above pictures is just 15 seconds. A good example of how to play with the light using your camera.
In the next blog, I hope to write about the trip from Pune to Surat where we had a stopover at Udwada.

Malacca and Borneo

These statues caught my eye in the maritime museum in Melaka (Malacca) in Malaysia

This room held prisoners of war of all ethnicities, slaves and sailors who committed crimes. Cramped against each other in a dark and congested room, the prisoners had no hope for freedom.
Normally ballast was placed in the belly of the ship to act as a stabilizer. However this diorama was put together to re-enact the conditions in the ship (Flor De La Mar)

The original ship still lies undiscovered in the sea bed.
We spent the evening in Malacca listening to some music and taking in the sunset.

Happy to see that the common sparrow and the mourning Dove is common in Kuala Lumpur too (got both of them in one frame)

Earlier we had been to the Batu caves in Kuala Lumpur (more for the challenge of climbing the 272 steps that lead to the Lord Murugan temple.)

The climb was not as difficult as we thought, but it is good to be a little cautious of the monkeys.
The Grab driver who ferried us was very jovial and informative too.  (Grab is similar to Uber cabs) He was talking of things in general and I found that whatever he said made sense.

As the sun went down, clicked this picture from the windshield.

While in Malaysia, we visited Kuching in Sarawak (situated in the island of Borneo) A wonderful place, the island and the people. Very warm and helpful, things move at a leisurely pace over here.  Borneo is owned by three countries. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

We flew in from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and headed straight to the Sarawak cultural village by road. The roads were well marked and lush with greenery.

We got to see the traditional dance by the different tribes. I was taken in by the skill and accuracy of the boy with the blowpipe.

The world rainforest music festival is held here every year and many renowned musicians converge over here to perform.

Many of them are so much in awe of the place that they leave their instruments behind as a mark of reverence and respect for the simple minded people.

The highlight of the Malaysia trip was the visit to the Semenggoh wildlife sanctuary where we could see Orangutans.

We were lucky to spot six of them, four adults and two young ones.While watching them at close quarters I noticed that many of their movements and actions were very similar to that of humans (except that we can't eat with our feet)