Ostende, Belgium

Since I only went to Ostende straightly from airport and stayed in Brussels overnight prior departure, I really cannot claim I have been Belgium.
But anyway, I marked that I have been in this country on my map now.
One thing I have to say, is the internet service is really ...... "limited"...

Many hotels I found in Ostende has no internet but 3. I called the hotel before booking to ensure they do have intenet working.... But man, yap, it worked. But just half of the time....
Then on the return route I picked a higher ranked hotel in Brussels. I couldn't believe the detail when I checked in... 10 Euro for a hour on 802.11b!!?? what the heck?? paying premium for obsolete technology!!!!!

Anyway, the country is very clean, everything seems well organized and people are generally friendly and nice... I hope I have another change to visit it and dicover further, and make sure I have proper connection firstly - go get a wireless 3G first. :)

Fiat Panda

Oh. befor talking about this car. This is the first time I tried to use car rental whole saler in Europe. It turned out pretty good. The rental company eventually is National, which is ok. But the price is excellent, prett much half of what I guoted on Hertz. I start to wonder whether there is similar things in US. However, the trip went smoothly. But I will be in concern if anything happens, who will be in charge for car... I guess both side will leave us along, just like wholesale air ticket.

Last time I got Fiat Punto in England. This time in Belgium, I got a Fiat again when key chain cames from car rental...urr...not too excited about it. But it turned out ok.
so, it is actually a tiny, neat car... of course lack of power, but hard to critisize. Its manual transmission fit its engine very well.Even with three adults on the car (myself only most time, but gave rides to my other two colleagues couple times), I still hardly have any issue to steer car around Belgium curvy road and up/down hill.

Its exterior design made to recall the Suzuki wagon Z in india. it is easy to access and retrieve stuffs. The suspension had some issues with its pushing bearing, but I am guessing it is due to its over used. The interior space is good. It is compact but not too bad, still can still fit whatever I want (my suitcase !?). The console it not badly (but cheap), can access whatever needed.
Overall, I like this car. Have not check the value but I am guessing it has a good money-to-value ratio.

Toyota RAV4

I don't know this is nth time i got a RAV4. was trying to pick a different mini SUV, then the rental service guy drove this freshly-out-of-car-wash RAV4 next to me. cannot refuse it .

Not sure I can come out more comments on it... solid steering and maneuvering... but still... engine lacks of juice and I can easily go up to 4,5K rpm...

Icewine from Kittling Ridge

whew.... 17% alcohol. The "Ice wine & Brandy" from kittling ridge in Canada

Quite sweet, but not too heavy. It has quite strong aroma, maple? smell good and pretty fresh taste... well qualified to be a desert wine.

CHT 9000, aka HTC Hermes

So, I got a new smartphone. It is a private branded phone in Taiwan but in fact is the HTC Hermes

It turned out to be a better option, since it does not require a contract and comes with some widgets which are useful. And reduce a lot of my headache for initial configuration

It is relatively more powerful than wizard... however, the dumb UI, still not improved and not close to user friendly. Well... it is for geek, not ordinary people.

Chrysler Sebring Convertible

Gee... got it on a cold day in Atlanta, very very cool.

Really cannot enjoy anything about being in a "convertible". Eventually I never try to open the top. Did not check weather forecast when I booked the car. Anyway, that was the best deal I can get. Then realize that is a convertible......

Sebring was ranked one of the "most unfavorable car" for auto theft couple years back. Maybe the reason is spare part or something else. It was not that bad. It just feel a little bit cheap, since being a convertible you want something a little bit more subtle.

Not a killer. It was not bad driving. Engine is not that great but really just everything mediocre.

BlackBerry

Felt very sad and sorry, during this journey, I lost my cell phone, the MDA mentioned in my earlier entry. It was such a nice, power and reliable phone, particularly for text msg, email and blogging.. Damn, I missed it.



Since I pretty much addicted to smartphone, and this is really hammering my productivity, after some negotiation with my company, they gave me a temporary one to use in India - a blackberry 8700. Well, it is a brand new one and costs Rps 15000 (roughly $300) here, so I really should not complain about it.

But I have to. I couldn't believe something such retrospectly designed still survive on market. That is the summary. These are why I felt so:
- Many people did not realize that.... BB has no touch screen. It is by key stroke only. But its price is well enough for any touch screen phone on consumer market. no in a debate whether touch screen is better or not... but the fact is... a chunk of the cost of a phone is on LCD.. and sensing LCD is costier than ordinary LCD... We all have to realize this fact.
- The interface is very text style. I mean, it does not try to be more graphic oriented or WYSIWYG... a lot of things are just a line of text and then go select it.. feel I am back to Unix or AppleII...(the argument is easier to read?:?p)
- following with previous one. The mail reader... ya... ugly... even moto is better looking.... but hey it works, since it only needs to display text (BB must be very good on "Focus" strategy in porter's generic model)...
- The whole machine feels...cheap... It is bulky. but you definitely can argue that it seems more reliable (and I will buy that too). It seems built for malitary purpose or somehow...or maybe just for "some people" with fat thumb...
- But then the QWERTY keys are so tiny.... I guess it is trying to fit the whole keyboard on the range within one palm. but this is contraditing with previous point. Nobody with fat thumb can really type by his thumb on this tiny keypboard
- no really multi-media support
- no camera.... couple of my colleagues laughed: hum? no camera phone? it is a free phone? nonono.... BB....
- Ok, I used it in India, so maybe that contribute it... I was using HTC, Nokia and Moto... none of them drop signal as bad as this BB... my colleage in US keep saying "hey...man... you are fading away..."

But it does have some advantages:
- the data connection seems much more reliable... better than GPRS, which keep dropping when in low signal.
- very solid applications like messangers for Yahoo and MSN... considering there is even not YM for WM....
- All data are encrypted... no wonder corporate IT loves it... but hey... it cost more for data transition too....
- the scroll wheel is a huge plus.... It sort of designed to be operationable with scroll wheel only (but in trade, it end up scroll or push more I can tell... some time I really get tired for keep scrolling...)

well, anyway, my complains are done and I have returned the phone since I just left India.

Now I just got a used HTC with scroll wheel :D (I should use it to type this post though) from auction, Yappy!!! and considers to get a Touch Pro some time later after back to US.....later

Travel in South India 2 - Kerala

- Cochin

Little China in old time. Anyway, not coming here for history or sightseeing.

Chinese Fishing Nets

Santa Crus Basilica Jewtown

It is a nice and peaceful city. However, just right at this moment, the worse terrorist attack in decade just started at Mumbai.

- Kumarakom Lake Resort

Very very nicely landscaped resort hotel. Directly faces the Vembanad lake. One of the best three in backwater: Coconut Lagoon Rand Taj Garden Resort. The service is good and plenty items on activiy list.

The Meandering Pool Delux Villa is even better. Two stores villa with nice layout (cozy for even 3 adults and 2 kids). The backdoor of your room is directly to the swimming pool.

From here, our swimming suits has never been dried through the whole Kerala trip.

- Backwater/Houseboat

Lake resort has their own boat tour and definitely worth spending. the boathouse is excellent, way above the average houseboat in backwater area.

Fully air condition bedrooms and dining area (very nice and useful)

Nice interior and gorgeourly decorated bedrooms.

Scenery? No flattering words. Unique and fabulous!!! It is a life time treat. Quite and peaceful. Immersed into the nature. Backwater is definitely something worth visiting in India... no, in the whole world.

- Kovalam beach resort

Resort is definitely over rated and priced. Generally, it is a nice 4+ stars hotel. It is on a high up cape, so provides excellent view. But its overall layout is just something not right. Facilities are not that all well-maintained either. Service is acceptable, but definitely nickle and dime on you (much stronger than lake resort). This definitely should thank to these European tourists, eventually, it is they get this hotel over-rated.

Kovallam beach is very good. Scenery is excellent. Yes, all from India aspect. Sand and sea water is not that world class clean, but acceptable. The private beach is the focal point for the resort. However, money to value rate is not high enough to compete with Bali.

But still, we managed to have a wonderful time here... Kids start loving ocean. They were only exploring the beach and splash initially, but then they now can enjoy the wave in the middle of the sea.

Travel in South India 1 - Tamil Nadu

• Chennai

Has a nice beach. What else? urrrr....
Marina beach Egmore train station
St. Thomas church Rippon's building

• Kachipuram

Ekambareshvara Temple (mango temple)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekambaranatha_Temple

relating to Shiva and Pavati's marriage... a popular place of blessing marriage.

Kailasanatha Temple

One of the most beautiful and oldest temple in India. Very unique and stylish.

Varadaraja Temple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple

Has a unique deity in the pool and show up once every 40 years

• Mamalapuhram

The glory of Pallava dynasty.
Krishna's butter ball Ajuna's penance
Patha Rathas Shore temple

• Pudicherry

French colony until 1971, no wonder the major tourist here are all French.

• Tanjavur

Chola's UNESCO big temples
No. 1: Brihadeeswarar Temple (means big temple)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihadeeswarar_temple
King Rajaraja I (the builder): Big big big, I want everything big
Turbo: you texan?
Entrance

No.2: Airavatesvara Temple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airavatesvara_Temple
Entrance
No.3: Brahadeeshwar Temple (another one called big temple)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangaikonda_Cholapuram
No1 and 3 were actually build by father and son. No wonder they look so similar.
Nandi
Dancing Shiva (Nataraja)

• Trichy/Srirangam

The real temple town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ranganathaswamy_Temple_(Srirangam)
Gopura Gopura
and Gopura
This Sri Ranganathaswamy temple is humongous and has perfect concentric layout, it has 7 layers walled enclosues.

• Madurai

Nayak Palace
Court yard Dance hall
Not really a "palace" from north India perspective

Meenakshi Temple

Entrance Lotus ponds and gopura
Thousand Pillars HallNandi
Very well maintained and impressive temple. Sorry its gorgeous gopuras are all in maintenance.

• Kanniyakumani

The southest town in India, quite and peaceful but full of tourists.
Vivekananda Memorial

The beach behind kumari temple is the southest point, it is the junction of Arabic sea, Bengal bay and India ocean.