Brisbane : A relaxed river city

I stayed in Brisbane for a couple of months and I have never seen a city so warm.... not for its climate but for the warm nature of the interactions I had with people !

Having stayed in Sydney, where it feels like everyone is busy and running from one place to another and hardly having a time for a warm smile ...Brisbane came as a pleasant surprise. As I started visiting places and interacted with people their smile seemed genuine, their warmth was affectionate ...

Now quickly coming to the point - Should Brisbane be on your Australia Itinerary ?

Definitely Yes!
All major cities in Australia gives you an amazing beach experience, but this city gives you an amazing river experience and just an hour drive you can be at one of the most exciting beaches - Gold coast!

Below is a snapshot of the city...
There are three key areas to explore:
The areas marked in green - is where the city eats...amazing restaurants
The two tracks Red ( 1.5 - 2 hrs walk) and Blue (1- 1.5 hrs walk) are the city exploring tracks.
Apart from this there are some night kayak tours on Friday and Saturday as well - a must do experience!

Here are some snapshots of the city which where taken while running/ walking & scooter-ing through the exploring tracks..

The beautiful City Botanical gardens. (Can be explored while on Red or Blue tracks)

A view of the river , while walking through the river side on the blue track. Far away you can see the story bridge.

A view of the city from the Kangaroo Cliff point, which falls on the blue exploring track. From this point, a free boat service is available every 15-20 minutes to sail across to the other side of the river, to the river front.









Below is a view from the South Bank Parklands (which falls on the red exploring tracks). this parkland has a unique feature - it has an artificial beach ! (yes you read it write).
Apart from this some very good restaurants (marked on green)

The Brisbane city hall, which is a landmark in itself. A lot happens around this area and is has numbers of good restaurants

 Now for some quick useful info:

• How many days should be good ? : 3-4 days
• Any other places to visit : Gold Coast (1-1.5 hrs card drive)
• From Airport (Domestic/ International) you can directly travel to heart of the city using a train service - AUD 19 one way. Get down at central station or any station nearest to your accommodation. Book your tickets online from https://www.airtrain.com.au/
• A good 3 star hotel, within the city will cost you around 120 AUD and above per night
• Some good restaurant which I personally had first hand experience:
• Pochana - Thai
• Ichiban  - Japanese
• The famous Pancake manor (It's an experience in itself - visit it to believe it!)
• Govinda - Veg hindu meal
• Vapiano on Albert street (Italian) - This one makes amazing pizza
• Panda on Elizabeth street ( Korean - lunch only) - try XO Chicken fried rice

Brisbane - an amazing relaxed city with amazing experiences, food and very warm people ! 

Spirit of Tasmania : A ferry or a ship?

I first saw Spirit of Tasmania ferry 2007, docked in Melbourne...since then I always dreamed to take a ride on it... now in 2019, finally it happened after 12 years...

I was with my family, and to avoid feeling sea sick I booked a late evening ride from Melbourne (7:30 PM dep), so that most of the time spent sleeping...

The check in arrangements where good, the service was courteous - specially the announcements regarding the departure and access to vehicles. Not a showstopper but the check-in lounge could have been great with a coffee shop...

We where directed to our room and the first thing that hit me was the immense size of the ship...why do people call it a ferry... probably I might know the definition😏

We where booked in a 4 bed cabin which had ample space and had porthole looking straight in thwe direction of the bow...which was sometimes scary...since you could clearly see the ship going -up and down...but since it was a night journey...it did not bother us much...

The bathroom was spacious and the most important thing was it was clean...though the cabin had a typical smell of the cleaning chemical smell..which you get used to after sometime...

Once we we had tucked our luggage and had something to eat, we went to the lounge and listened to some soothing live music ....it had a full fledged bar and a restaurant with a limited menu...but the lounge was spacious and had a good sized children's play area and a video game parlor !!

I stood outside viewing the ship leaving the Melbourne dock....leaving the city behind ...

We strolled out on the lighted deck...sailors where working on the ropes...the weather had a chill to it and the sea gulls kept following us for long time...

We where back in our cabin..tucked up for a good night sleep...
I could feel a smooth sail for the first 3 hrs when the ship was in the bay area...as soon as it entered the sea (Bass Strait) you could feel a slight heave...probably the decision to have a night sail was right!

We woke with the early morning arrival announcements and where given ample time to check out...which was again a smooth affair.

We had spent less than 12 hours on this ship and I felt that every dollar (465 AUD to be precise) was worth the experience...and I would suggest that anyone who is travelling between these two beautiful states in Australia i.e. Tasmania and Melbourne...should give it a try!

Experiencing Air Asia...

After a long time, I am back with another review...a review of another low cost international air line - Air Asia.

Our journey was marked during the Christmas break and as usual we did no book our tickets early and had to scramble for tickets. To keep it within my vacation budget, I started looking for cheap air tickets from Sydney to Kolkata and voila !.. there was Air Asia - It was cheaper by 40% from any other full benefit airlines in that route!

Having experienced a similar airline earlier (Scoot Review) I had my apprehensions.

But Air Asia turned out to be a surprise package - the winner for Air Asia was its food - It was delicious and served hot.

Now for some very subjective rating w.r.t. different aspects:

Seats: Comfortable

Service: Good

Price: Affordable

Food: Very good !  this was surprising - considering it was served hot and delicious as well!! - water still doesnot come free :( 

Timeliness: Average- was delayed by an hour in the transit in KL.

I would say that other low cost airlines must take few cues from Air Asia to understand how a low cost airline can feel premium and at the same time can be affordable too.

Stylishly Civic...

Honda with its world wide launch of Civic 2017 has re-defined its design language.....and there is no second doubt that Honda has created a beauty yet again..after City!

I have now driven more than 2000 Kms, with a major chunk of it on highway... with 1.8 ltrs - iVTEC  (104 kW@6500 rpm) engine it gives you the right balance of power and elegance...to help you take it confidently over the highways as well as city driving. In mixed driving conditions I have been getting an average fuel efficiency of 11 Kmpl, which I hope should stabilise somewhere around 13-14 Kmpl as I clock more kms.

The suspension is well tuned to absorb mild bumps / pot holes and the ride quality remains stable up to speeds of 100 -105 kmph, beyond which it feels less planted. The speedometer looks a bit sci-fi (I will say a bit overdone to my taste). The sleek center console adds to the overall clean design of the dashboard. You must be wondering where is the power brake; well its replaced by a small push button (marked in pic below)!

Most of the controls like audio & cruise control are conveniently provided on the steering.  Basic version i.e. VTi (in Australia) comes with good amount of gadgets and features.

The seating comfort is good for both the front and rear passengers; though a lot could have been done for lowering the NVH levels which becomes a bit loud over speeds of 80-85 Kmph.
Boot space is decent - but surprisingly less than a Honda City!

Coming to the Pricing bit - In Australia the price range starts from AUD 25 K and goes up to AUD 37K (5 different variances). I am hoping that when they launch it in India later this year - they might do it in three variances - starting from 13 lacs to 18 lacs and hope they do not give a less powerful engine.

Over all a good package  and definitely a value for  money buy....
Parting shot..

Scoot - The new affordable carrier from Singapore airlines

Indian aviation story has never been the same after Air Deccan started flying in the Indian Skies. It revolutionized the way we thought of how affordable flying is? After 14 years I had a chance to fly an affordable international carrier names Scoot, owned by the renowned Singapore Airlines.

On occasions I have traveled on Singapore airlines and I found them doing an amazing job. Now, I wondered how an affordable offering from them will look/feel like. I am consciously trying not to use the word "Low cost"!

The basic cost of a ticket for scoot will cover only for your basic seat / Hand-baggage. Rest all comes at an an additional cost i.e. Check-in baggage, better seat selection, Food, beverage, entertainment and water too!

There are couple of seating options in Economy class - Standard, Super and Stretch. There is also a scoot business class. I had chosen the super seats which gave me some good leg room and is a good value for money. Opt for stretch seats only if you don't mind the immovable seat hand-rest in between. (Movable hand-rests becomes handy for family folks like us, who want their kids to lie down on parents lap with their legs stretched !)

Now for sharing with you some pics where you can have an idea of the leg space in a Super seat - good for average height folks. 

 Also, a design flaw - where you could see the ....reading lights switch / assistance call button on the handrest , this was annoying as it used to get switched on and off whenever we used to keep our hands on the hands rest....not sure whose thought was that!

Now for some very subjective rating w.r.t. different aspects:

Seats: Good (super seats - with a bit more leg room)

Service: Average

Price: Affordable

Food: Average

Timeliness: Good

I am sure Scoot will find the sweet spot with a specific traveler segment, but it's important to realize that for long flight duration certain things are bare necessities like water...! 

Nokia to BalckBerry to Microsoft to iOS to Android

In last 6 years I have changed 4 phones and all on different platforms!

That makes me a non-sticky and and "Not  so loyal" customer - isn't it. (I am the outlier for Flipkart's/Mytra's policy of "Mobile only App").  But on a hindsight isn't that a great thing - now you have one person who has experienced it all & here to share it with you.

Before I start the comparison, just one word of caution to all loyal fans of the respective mobile phone platforms - Below mentioned opinions are based on my experience as an user, I might miss other perspectives from a technical stand point - you are welcome to add them as comments.

2007 to 2010 - Nokia N70 M
My Rating: **1/2

• Features where good at that point of time.
• Has load of space for music & videos
• Had the rugged Nokia feel
• Battery exhausted fast
• Bulky
• Symbian OS was outdated & slow
• Ok kind of camera & very small screen

2010 to 2012 - Blackberry Bold
My Rating: ***

• Typing messages was never so easy !
• Not happy with camera
• Blackberry OS was not so slow, it helped me with my work of mailing / texting  that's it.
• Rugged feel but not bulky
• Nothing great about music or videos

2012 to 2014 - Iphone 4 

My Rating: ***1/2

• Can design be so good ! -- this is what awed me with the iPhone.
• Amazing UI & interface experience ( I never thought about this before)
• Good clarity of pictures 
• Good viewing screen
• But everything was costly - syarting from the phone, chargr, head phones ....everything
• iTunes was  a pain ( Why does apple want to build all those barrier around such a beautifully designed product!)
• Lastly, it was a mammoth task to transfer contact details from iPhone
• Built was rugged but was always afraid about the screen...
• Would get stuck during multi-tasking
• Many times I could not receive calls by swiping!
• Apps Collection was limited

2014 to 2015 - Nokia Lumia 650

My Rating: **1/2

• Amazing Interface and Nokia had improved a lot with the MS OS
• Unfortunately the story ends there
• Very bad build quality - my Gorilla glass broke like it was delicate lotus glass!

2016  till date - MotoG 3rd Gen  

My Rating: ****

• The UI & Interface was good but I miss the class of an iPhone
• The  OS is good - its sharp, multi tasking is amazing
• Loads of space and can be extended ( that was not an option in iPhone)
• Lightweight, not as rugged as Blackberry but good!
• Seamless experience for alll Google interfaces - on web& mail
• Amazing collection of Apps.
• The best thing is easy on the pocket

Laughing Riot: Tanu weds Manu Returns

Tanu weds Manu Returns (TWMR) is a typical case where a sequel has turned out to be better than it's original !
The whole movie is a satirical comedy of human emotions circling around marriage, cultures, friendship and other typical prejudiced thought process of our times.

The story revolves around three people - Tanu, Manu & Tanu Look-alike! - But the real fun is watching Manu's friend Pappi  !

4 years after following from the original story.. Tanu & Manu stand at cross roads where they decide to break up...and from then onwards the story has some amazing twists and turns...Believe me if you are not the "maunmohan singh" type, then you will laugh and have a stomachache..

The screenplay and dialogues are amazing...

It also touches closely on a very important aspect of Girl child rights and the Khaap panchayat thing...and somewhere you will find the movie close to your heart!

The two key actors who have stolen the limelight are: Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Pappi ( Deepak Dobriyal) !...yes you are right...Manu (R Madhavan) doesn't have much presence...

Music is not something that can be mentioned...but one catchy song - 'Banno Tera Swagger, lage sexy..." compensates for all that

A must watch with family....have a great laughing time!!

Rating: ****