Canada....and Back

View from Split Rock Light house

Friends, few weeks back, I had an adventurous trip to Canada and back to US. Note: DO NOT TRY IT.

I and one crazier guy were thinking where to go on weekend midnight. After lot of checking and thinking, we agreed to visit Duluth. Point to note is, I am living in Minnesota (U.S.A.) which is a border state to Ontario (Canada). The border city is Duluth. Our plan was to reach there early morning and take rest for some time before exploring Duluth. So we reached early morning and were looking for a silent place to sleep. We passed from a place where lots of Cops were there due to some issue going on. As soon as we passed, one cop caught us, courtesy of my crazy friend, he was about to hit a curb and cop saw that. He was a good guy, he left us just like that.

Light House

We roamed around the area for some time and parked our car to have some sleep. Morning, we got fresh and walked along side Superior lake. It's the largest lake of North America, it’s so big, that they should rename it as ocean. Well the walk, bridges and all were good but we were not able to enjoy the fall color as its still weeks for that.

Next we moved to the Light house. It’s good to visit the light house if you want to enjoy history as well as beautiful area near the lake. Split rock Lighthouse is one of the picturesque lighthouse of US. It was built after a famous storm in which 29 ships were lost. Until 1969 before retiring, it played a very good role of guiding ships at lake. Now we were feeling damn hungry, so we started looking for some lunch. Unfortunately the only veggie-Subway was closed due to Labor Day, so we managed with DQ.

Boat for display @ Duluth

Now, we would have seen Gooseberry falls but we were more interested in adding a Country to our list. Hence we continued our journey towards border.  The most hilarious thing about Canada-US border was that there is no proper border. Until you have already stepped foot inside Canada. We just wanted to see border from a distance, but we never knew when we have crossed US. There is just a one way bridge and as soon as you cross it, you will be in Canada. Now you have to pass immigration to enter in any country. There was a car line ahead of us who were going for immigration check. We didn’t had any plans/passport/visa to enter Canada, so we planned to pull into a side parking and take a U turn. Shit happens and it happened-that lot was inside Canada. You have to cross a truck line to reach there, we didn’t knew that it was a truck line.

Morning @ Duluth

Siren started buzzing and Canada Border patrol came rushing towards us. They were the one who confirmed us, that we are actually in Canada and now we had to go through Immigration. We explained them our situation. The guy who caught was a good guy, he asked us to sit and wait for immigration officer call. We were slight tensed, actually waiting for the unknown was killing us. We didn’t know what’s going to happen as it was the first unknown border crossing. Soon the same guy called us and guided us to sign a paper. It said that we are withdrawing our visa application which we never applied. Instead we entered.

Welcome to Ontario

He explained us that it’s the best and fastest way to get out of Canada. He was such a good guy, that he even called America and informed them about our commencing. So, American immigration will not question much. We thanked him and came back to America. As expected, they also asked us to pull our car side and enter for immigration check. We explained them the situation and they checked our identities. Soon they were able to grasp it and informed us not to do it again. Sometimes border patrol may not be able to identify us especially without passports. Hence it’s good to avoid such situations.

Finally, we were back in our home country-America. Sounds funny, still true in certain ways.

Then we headed towards our home in Minneapolis with a pizza break on the way.

PS: Let me know, if you wanna see a video of me entering Canada, it would be risky to post here.

Chennai to China

If you are following me, you will know that I am working in India-Chennai in an MNC and right now I am writing about my trip to Nepal for an International GERA Conference. It was already completed in my last post and in this post I am gonna describe the journey from Nepal to China Border. We didn’t had all the time in the world to roam complete Nepal but whatever time was left with us, we planned to utilize it to the fullest. We heard that the route to China border is like Laddakh, so we hired a car and started our journey; for me it was like a journey from Chennai to China. I must say this was the awesomest part of our Nepal trip.

Waterfalls on our way

Thinking about the trip, images of Himalayan Mountains, simple people, exotic locales come to mind. Trip was all this and more. Words can’t do justice to the beauty of the land and you have to hike through its hills and valleys to witness its beauty and the majesty of its people especially girls. It was a beauty beyond description barren Rocky Mountains had an exquisite beauty of their own the shattered looking landscapes splashed with small but brilliant patches of green and black. Pahadi stepped out and collected some black rocks for research.

There were quite a number of water-falls on this Road. They seem like falling from the heaven. It’s a place where the road plays hide & seek all along. You have to be careful while driving in these roads. There was a time when I thought that this is it, we can’t go further from here, our car was stuck and driver was working hard to get it through, even then I was cherishing the moment thinking that we have made so far and whatever we have covered was none less than than an achievement. What can I say the journey was important not the destination. There was music flowing in our ship all the time courtesy: Pahadi. We also observed a trend as we were moving towards China in people’s physique.

Our car stuck on road

Finally we reached Nepal:China border, it is actually a bridge known as friendship bridge between the 2 countries. It was a cool border if you can think in a different way. There were more than 4 border policeman posted from the China’s side and only one from Nepali that too was having fun with us and talking all the time. There were 2 guards at Chinese side who were standing straight in attention position for more than 15 minutes so I asked Nepali guard, why he is in the same condition, he informed me that they have a duty of 2 hours, they will be standing like this way not even blinking eyes, this is called as discipline.

Friendship Bridge between Nepal and China

We could not take the pictures of the main entrance of China-border as the Chinese police posted there, prevented us from doing so. Hence for you, I have googled and found some old pics of the bridge for you. We were standing right at the red line: the border line between the 2, so we were in both countries at the same time that was a moment. Then we had some Chinese dishes in a restaurant nearby and headed for a hot spring: Tatopani, which is a major tourist attraction. People come here from far & wide to take a bath to cure their skin ailments, etc. After all this fun we reached Kathmandu, had dinner and stayed in a hotel near Pashupatinath Mandir.

Overall, it was a good experience for us. Only if we had the same facility as Nepalis enjoy (one day free permit to visit the bordering Chinese town) but for us Indians, Visa is a must. So we returned, overwhelmed with the nature's beauty.

Link for Friendship Bridge-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Nepal_Friendship_Bridge

Fantastic 4

Fantastic 4

Before entering into a different country, we should take a break and formally meet the crew. Starting from South, we had Anna- a Christian boy born and brought up in Kerala. Also studied from Indore, which made him to like it, as of now, he is working in one of biggest IT Company (Wipro) of India. I gave him the name “Anna” because he is like a bro to me and in their language Anna means the same. I must say, he is a good person, sometimes kiddish and foolish too but an understanding one. 

Anna

Traversing upwards we reach Maag- a Marwadi Brahmin whose ancestors belonged to Rajasthan. She is like a mother figure, being the eldest amongst all. She takes care of everyone, understands everyone and a spiritual personality. She is completely into spiritual things and her guruji is Shri shri shri Ravishankar g. I gave her the name because of her attitude only, first distributing food to everyone and then eating, Cmon man, who does this, except an Indian typical mother. In the whole journey, she was too much cautious, only through which she gave us wise decisions. She even became a mediator and removed the air gap when 3 of us had a fight. Interesting thing was she felt suffocated when we were fighting. I give credits to Pahadi for all the fight.

Me

We should talk about me also, since we are in Madhya part of India, but there is a lot I can write about me, since I am writing about myself, Funny isn’t it, still I will keep it crisp. You can always talk to me for detailed info. I do not refer to myself with any other name, but “Kuntal” only. Even my crew members also refer to me as “Kuntal” and nothing else. I am Gujju Vaishnav from Indore, studied there only and as of now working in TCS- IT Company in Chennai. I have an understanding and caring nature. People often say that I am too sensitive, maybe I am. I am a good listener and also a confident speaker. There was a thing which was bugging me from past year, but I think I will get over it slowly slowly. I also tried to break the ice, when Pahadi was angry, but she got angry on me too.

Maag

Let us move towards north and meet the only cute, funny and understanding person of the team. Yes we are talking about Pahadi. Pahadi as the name suggests, born and raised in mountains near rivers, in other words she is from heaven on earth-Jammu. She is about to complete her PHD and then she will be called as Dr. She is studying in Indore from last 9yrs and it has become her second home, 9yrs is really a long time. In such long time, anyone can feel attached to the city, to people and to environment. I respect her for being there for me. She is like sister to me, who knows a lot about me and understand me. She is the one who got angry and then Maag had to jump in to resolve the tense situation between us.

Pahadi

This was all about the crew members, stay tuned to continue “The Journey” in coming posts.