New York visit....

US is a clean place...very good driving etiquettes...lane discipline is all amazing....drivers all have patience ..they dont honk.......well....all this applies to rest of US...not NY!!...NY..all the donts happen here.....dirty place this city...crowded...feels like bombay....i went to this room ..actually a hostel accomadation i had booked.... dirty old run down building...6th floor room it was....waited for the lift....the noisy contraption came down....its doors were like a vault....and guess wat...no lights inside.!! if it conked out midway....nobody would be able to hear my screaming coz the doors are so thick....didn't take the chance ...took the stairs...dirty god damned room...filthy too...hated it..quickly got out of there....went on with my sightseeing....1st of .....statue of liberty....i stayed in manhattan so it was easy to get to south ferry from where the ferry's leave to liberty island...everything in this country comes from out of country....well...so did this statue ...mostof us dont know ..this was gifted to US by france .....!! .....got lucky to get tickets to get to the top of the pedestal....nice feeling it is....the statue is hollow inside and its got stairs too....and elevator..!! one can go till the head too...but nobody is allowed ....1000's of people come to this place everyday....after loitering around and also thinking that India has far better statues which are not advertised well enough..... ...moved on to 34th street where empire state building is ....while goin in the subway, we do cross the station which was originally under the twin towers...the underground station is not really underground at this place....we can see the construction wrk thru the barricading along the subway walls....empire state building is all bout tourist activity....its got an observatory on the 86th floor of the building ..everybody goes straight there....but not me.....now ...since i had got the hang of 4D shows....i had to go to one more...the NY skyride...now this was not as great as the ones in the theme part..but atleast it gives us a birds eye view of NY....the voice behind the video explains the sights that pass below...all the imp buildings and landmarks in manhattan...nice it was...then we moved on to the observatory....the ultra hi speed lift goes 10 floors in the time our lifts cover 1 floor!!!....bloody fast.....now all the while ...empire state building wants to sell something or the other....they sell tickets to another observatory on the 102nd floor!!!!...i'm good at 86th.....the view is amazing from there....no doubt u barely know wat is wat in manhattan...but ....it still is nice....the wind in ur hair feeling is terrific...then....we walked up to times square....y ...y times square....? it is nothing but a v hyped up street like brigade road....!! yupp..thts right....i found something else more amazing in times square..the subway station.....its massive and its underground..!! its almost as big as half of bangalore's city railway station....and lots life down there...you'll find lotsa guys dancing ..of course for money....on the platforms ...and one another corner v good jazz music.....i cud've found more had i hung around more.....i was goin to chinatown...i was done with greyhound buses...i took a china bus to Philly.....every city has a chinatown where you only find chinese...or people with pulled out eyes.....only them everywhere....it suddenly feels like a theme park called life in china...!!!....i reached the busstop 1.25 hr early....surprisingly ..i was packed into a bus quickly and the bus left immediately.....shocking...there i was suffering while travelling in greyhound and here i was ...in a bus tht left 1.25 hrs earlier..!!!!!..amazing....i reached earlier....and guess wat...the chinese buses are 1/3rd the cost of greyhound buses!!!!.... tht about made my NY exp worth mentioning....

26th May lousy time spent travelling to NY..i hate Greyhound buses...

options ...now that is one thing bogging americans big time...walk into a store...lotsa choices...u never know wat u'll really want to buy....coz there are so many options to choose from....but...want to travel by bus....sorry sir..no options....greyhound is the only guy connected to all townsand cities....so...with no choices..we land up buying non refundable tickets in greyhound buses....wat do they do to you, well..bad service...i had to travel from williamsburg to NY....the bus was from williamsburg to richmond and a bus change later richmond to NY...at richmond...we realize greyhound had sold 120 tickets for 30 seats in a bus....!!! ...the designated bus filled up real quick...next bus...filled up too....they had to get an extra bus jst for tht ....then...2 hr delay....then he leaves.....no time sense wat so ever...damn buggers....they know they got our money already...and also that we have no options.....ksrtc ki jai.....

25th May - Theme park called Busch Garden, Williamsburg VA

anheuser busch...now this is a name we dont recollect much ...but say budweiser and we pop up....apparently busch owns the brand called bud along with various other businesses....theme parks being one....busch gardens is a v popular destination in virginia....its in a place called williamsburg ....this town has nothing else except for this....this theme park .well...has a theme... its based on europe....so ..sections of this huge real estate are based on the respective countries architecture ....we reached the park through the scotland .entrance.....went on to england from where we went to france on a skyride ...a ropeway basically......france is where the newest roller coaster ride was ....it was a ride called Griffon...the attraction was a 90 deg drop vertically from a height of 210 feet at 75 mph!!!!..imagine free falling at 75 mph....thts how it felt....this ride attracted lotsa people ...the que was big enough to remind me of temple ques....finally..it was our turn to sit ....frankly ...i have vertigo....fear of heights...and this was just what i did not need....but ..raghu's enthusiasm made me take it ....hell it was the "less than 1 min" ride.....it chugs along slowly to 210 ft and then slowly crawls up till the tip of the platform..then curls along the radius...and guess wat..it stops...!! with us hanging on our shoulder straps and looking down waiting for fate to decide wat to do with us ...those 5 secs are all we have to make our last wishes....then...swoosh....free fall....it feels like our brains are left behind ...awesome adrenaline ...and before we realize wat happend...180 flip..!!!..too much to handle ....before we realize ..another 90 deg drop....another series of flips later end of ride....we walk back all shaky....awesome it was.....with the baddest ride conquered, i was ready for the next round of rides.... must admit i am really impressed with the 4D shows....we all remember chota chetan...the only 3D movie indian movie from ages ago...we had to wear spl glasses for that...well...we getto wear the same kinda glasses for the 4D shows too...the 4th dimension being the thrill while trying to be realistic....the seats that we sit in..move in every which way...giving u the feel of being there...now ...all these rides have one thing in common...they make you fall down...i mean down......well...thts the video they make u watch while the sound effects are enough to make you believe you are actually feeling it all...and to make things better....when u fall down..u get a huge gush of air on ur face....it does feel like u r falling down and u grip the seats ....and when they want to make u believe u touch water while falling...a sprinkle of water is thrown on ur face...wicked....amazing these rides are....lots more waiting in lines later we went to almost all rides and ended up with something called roman rapids...a white water rafting kinda ride....after all the adrenaline rush we had earlier...this was nothing but a damp squid....took the skyride back to france to wind up with yet another 4D show ..it was a comedy one with Leslie nielson....well...we were too tired to enjoy it anyway....got out of there and back to our cars via shuttle trains....phew..end of a tiring but fun day.....

24rd May-7th weekend-a long weekend-BEACH TIME

long weekend ..why?.. coz 26th may is holiday in US..memorial day.....lotsa people didn't drive out to anywhere coz of gas prices....one thing about americans is when they go to someplace..they really see everything there thoroughly ...they stay there for a weeks time ...unlike us Indians...we go to a place...hush up quickly and run off to another place...and cover as much as possible within given time.....as for me ...i took the typical indian way of holidaying....!!!..i had to cover Virginia beach where I'd catch up with Sushma ,my cousin and hang around for 2 days ...1st day beach..2nd day williamsburg...why?...theme park...then..travel to New York....now tht was the plan.... 24th early mrng i took a citybus at 130 am...now this was a dicy situation ....miss the bus and i miss the train....coz tht was the last bus....damn....so...after the pub hopping and dinner session on friday nite,mike dropped me home and i quickly packedup and got to my bus stop well in time....i looked like a fool to be standing on the road at 115 am..!! finally i see the bus ..but ...fool of an ass tht driver...he did not see me ....damn fool...i ran behind and banged on the bus to have him stop...bloody arse.....reached the amtrak station....railway station....my train was at 455 ...i had reached at 230...hung around there...now the lobby on this station can easily be confused to the lobby in a luxury hotel.....can't believe it....bong .there was the announcement for my train....now these trains are damn comfy ...easy to confuse with the cabin of an aircraft.....i liked the train...but something unbelievable happened....close to my destination ....the automatic gates at a crossing had broken down..guess wat the train driver does.....unbelievable...he stopped the train before the crossing ..got down....activated the gates .....then moved the train across the crossing ...got down ..opened the gates and then came back and drove us ahead...can u believe that....fukin stupid....at the station, a bus was waiting to take us on a 1 hr ride to virginia beach..my final destinaiton...this is where I'd meet my cousin and her family....sushma and raghu along with their son rishi were to reach there.....same time that i'd reach....i reached soon but waited for 2 hrs till these guys came ....quickly raghu and me jumped into the sea.....had awesome fun..sushma didn't get too deep in the water...she did manage to keep company with rishi......but we had jet skiing and parasailing in mind ..but ...later tht evening it became v cold...so..ditched that idea ...now virginia beach is a city thriving on holiday crowds...so the town council pays talented guys to come and do street shows....various kinds...now there was this duo who had music and were busy flingin balls of fire rythmically....awesome it was to watch them...there were musicians too...well..we had to get out soon...so moved on and drove off to williamsburg where we'd crash in our hotel rooms.....the drive back was awesome ....now ..we all remember the fotographs floating around where there is a bridge across a water body which turns into a tunnel under the water body....well..we drove in that!!!!..awesome it feels....we drive on a real long bridge ...then suddenly we have a tunnel....and whoop...we go into it....then pop up to another smaller bridge...awesome feeling...reached the hotel rooms really tired ..then had some home made food......end of day ...

17th May- 6th weekend-Tuner Evolution- Car show at York PA

friday evening ..i.e, 16th may is when we leave to York PA..no not New York..just York in Pennsylvania..its a v small town..wonder why people would want to have a car show in York....its like kanakapura......why....why...bugger it ...no answers for that....after office i went straight to Mikes shop...he said he'd have loaded the truck...which happened to be his friend Brendans SUV...a nissan pathfinder.....but no action.....after i reach we try to stuff the "truck"....nothing fits inside...catastrophy..!!!....then mike decides he'll hunt down a truck from a rental guy....quite an impossibility...then we ditch all the stuff tht he really wanted to sell and just rely on displaying Shaun's truck...this truck was a Scion xB...its a big hatchback and they call it truck......dont know why.....duh......watever.....moved on and midway he picked up the models he wanted for his stall at the show ....2 college girls ...after seeing these girls....i'd respect all indian girls..!! trust me ....started to drive up ..had dinner mid way....i always liked french onion soup ...spotted it on the menu card....ordered it ...huh...it was covered with 250 gms of molten cheese covering it all....felt sick eating/drinking it ...reached up at york quite late ....no hotels available through out the city...thats when i realized that people take car shows v seriously..... ...reason enough for all rooms to be occupied....finally landed up someplace....got expensive rooms with jacuzzis..!!!....threw luggage...went drinking ...got trashed and got back.....next day at the show...we had no work except for hanging around and checking out stalls....the models and the car/truck at the stall did all the job....i was busy checking out all the cars out there....awesome stalls......awesome cars....pix speak more....a burnout session was there too....lotsa tyres were burnt out ....thts the intention .....both cars and bikes....there was more to see.....DJ competition....guess wat...barbers here can get to become celebrities..!! there was a travelling barber ..and him being there in tht stall was their attraction.....our hajaams have a lot more talent than these guys ...and then...but of course there were guys who did street dancing ...amazing talent .....with dj dooling the right music....people from the crowd joined up to dance .....amazing ....and ..the de rigeur ...bikini show ....yes it did happen....yet another nice time i had.....got back home sat nite...had a chilled out sunday....end of another weekend....

10th May 08-5th weekend-Carlisle Car show

Seems like my quest for fun never fails on me. Last Friday, i.e, 9th may, I was busy thinking what I should really be doing for the weekend…I sure didn't want to laze around ..i did that once and I wont do that again. boredom is suicidal….then I decide on going to New York…now again..goin alone was another big kill joy…nevertheless I still planned my trip to NY….in the meanwhile…I totally forgot that my custom car frend ,Mike Snyder,was goin to participate in a car show in a place called Carlisle…I had no clue how it wud be …so…after planning for NY..i called him to check if I could join up…and to my luck….he hadn't left yet….chuck NY..i'm goin to Carlisle..who the hell knows how it'd be…..i knew this guy was fun though…..drove on sat early mrng in a rental truck to reach this place 2 hrs later…awesome cars there….never knew wat to expect..all custom built cars…this show was vaahan yatra..only 50 times bigger.!!....i helped this frend of mine setup the stall…another frend Shaun joined us there….this guy is a red neck..the Jaats of US….awesome sense of humour… … …...he had me teach hindi cuss words ..everytime some guy walked into the stall..he wud go shouting hindi cuss words the whole day ..fukin hell…we cud not stop laughing all day….i went along to see the rest of the show…millions of dollars cud be seen on most of the cars….these guys love cars more than anything else…..moved on to see a bikini contest….now…it turned from a car show to a skin show…..full jollu at that time…people were skidding all over the floor….need I say more..it was lushty…no i'm sayin' (btw…thts the kaaliya speak for.. u know wat I am saying- bastards spoil already spoilt American English after a lushty half hour..moved on to see the rest of the show…I didn't know there was a bike stunt riding show ….a bloodbath for the bikes….4 bikes…only stunts…. burnouts..wheelies…. stoppies…then tandem burnouts….then they'd jam the bike to a wall and do a burnout till the tyre exploded!!!!!!!!!!!!..yes .!! thts true…all the 4 bikes….amazing stunts …pix speak a lot though….



  Dinner time…Mike sez we'll catch up with more frends…..turned out that the organizers of the bikini contest were his frends..so were the models….fuking awesome babes all of them….The day ended with lots of fun…we only wanted to continue the same….we go to some local bar ..jammed in with more guys from everywhere else…my frends knew them too…fukers where a riot !!.....they made enuf noise to make a cop car stand outside the bar to pin them down…this was after we had left tht place …we were ok…. Nxt day…more cars….more girls…thts wat I thot….damp squid….mothers day put people bak to there homes…...packed up pretty soon…while getting out I saw this battered car on a trailer….then I realized I missed the big show….DRIFTING!!!!!..fuk I missed it…!! Damn ….i shudn't have …thru these two days….i learnt nigger English and those two guys know lots of hindi gaalis now….. Btw..Shaun wrks in a exotic car auction co….lambo's and Ferraris..and Bentleys are everyday stuff for him..he gets to drive them regularly ..and he says hes bored of them…hes called me over to Baltimore…1.5 hrs frm here when he gets his hand on any of those cars!!!! Wowoweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……….more fun coming up this weekend..another car show….gonna have fun or wat…..i'll have a better camera by then…promise….