Kamchatka: The land of fire and ice

The name Kamchatka conjures up images of bubbling hot springs, a myriad of snow-clad volcanoes and pristine rivers blessed with salmon in the summer and buried in layers of ice and snow in the winter. One of the largest stretches of wilderness in the world, the Kamchatka peninsula borders the international time line and its capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Petropavlovsk) is closer to Tokyo and Seattle than it is to Moscow. So wild are most parts of the 1000-kilometre long peninsula that locals fondly say that Kamchatka has no roads, just directions.

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Where have the Indians gone?

This is a question that I don't hear very often when I travel. In many places, Indians are model immigrants and in many others, they tend to lack cultural sensitivity.

As I got into a motor boat, a friendly pensioner in Kuching picked up a conversation with me when he understood that I was a tourist and not a Malaysian Indian.

We left behind the skyscrapers and the modernity of Kuching to cross over to a simple Malay kampung. Farid invited me for a cup of tea tarik and spoke of his wonderful experiences travelling in Uttar Pradesh! He was a senior engineer that was involved in some construction joint venture in India.

"I'm sad that the Indians have left Kuching," he said. Me: "what Indians?" He talked about those who were in Sarawak during the colonial era and then left when they became old. These men came and worked here for 40 years and even longer, Farid said. Their wish was to die in their motherland.

Kuching has a Gurudwara and a small but noisy Sikh community, which celebrated the 50th birthday of a local businessman in the hotel I was staying in. The Bollywood and Bhangra music went on late into the night, making me wonder if I was in Borneo or Karol Bagh!

For Farid, who lives on the other side of the river, the Indians he misses are the colleagues and friends he shared a long bond with.

Traces of Chekhov's visit to Sakhalin

In 1890, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov did not have the luxury of a 8 hour 40 minute flight to far-off Sakhalin Island from Moscow. In his two and a half month journey through Siberia, the great writer used various modes of transport including trains, ferries and horse carriages to get to the island, then a penal colony. Just 7 kilometres separate the westernmost point of Sakhalin from the Russian mainland, but as in Chekhov’s time, there is no bridge that links the island with the mainland.

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Malaysian visa and Sarawak

Every time I have entered Malaysia, I have gotten an entry stamp that says I am permitted to stay in Sabah and Western Malaysia. So, before coming to Kuching I was confused as to whether I needed a separate visa or some kind of permission.

Searches on google revealed all sorts of wrong information. Some sites said a Malaysian visa was valid only for peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and that a separate endorsement needed to be obtained before coming to Malaysia.

As it turns out, a separate visa isn't required for Sarawak. There is a separate immigration control at the Kuching airport and you get an exotic extra stamp on the passport, but that's about it.

So, if you're an Indian citizen and have a Malaysian visa then don't worry about visiting Sarawak. Those that don't need visas for Malaysia don't need one for Sarawak either.

KL Marathon 2013 postponed to September

It's June 30 and I should be on the roads of Kuala Lumpur running a marathon. The race, unfortunately, was cancelled over the haze hype. I will admit that the day I arrived in the city  (June 26), the air quality wasn't as good as it usually is in this wonderful city, but it cleared up so much that in a couple of days, the API readings were absolutely fine.

On Saturday, the skies were blue and visibility was perfect. It's a shame that the run was postponed. I think the organizers and the authorities got it wrong. They panicked because of the media hype over the haze.

At least 3600 international runners came to KL for the run and I am one of the disappointed runners who probably won't be able to make in the last week of September for the run.

Some courtesy please

Immigration officers in Bombay were at one time, mean and intrusive. After all, the authorities deputed Maharashtra Police officers, who automatically assumed that all citizens are potential criminals. Things have thankfully changed for the better over the years.

When I recently flew out of the international airport, I was stuck in a queue for about 40 minutes, since a large group of pilgrims were flying out to Saudi Arabia for the Haj. Many of them didn't fill out their immigration forms and the understaffed immigration had to deal with large numbers.

Many of those in the queue were cursing the immigration and calling them incompetent. The man behind me was very early for his flight and I assume many of them cribbing were as well. The stressed officer who checked my passport was not having a nice day, but a simple good morning from my end brought out a smile and how are you.

He told me he was sick of grumpy travellers being mean to him and that it was finally nice to see a smile...

 

A perfect summer day in St Petersburg

Take advantage of the spectacular occasion called the ‘White Nights’ and make the most out of a 24-hour day in Russia’s opulent northern capital.