Norway: Stavanger: Rennesoy

Rennesoy Concrete Bridge

When: September 5th, 2010
Where: Rennesoy, Stavanger
How: Local Kolumbus Bus
Who: Myself along with Krishnakumar (KK), Ragish, Raghu and Maju.

Kolumbus Bus @ Sentrum

All of us were in one way new to Stavanger city. We were no older in this city than 2-3 months. Happened to bond well within a few interactions during "Onam" celebrations at the Malayali Association in Stavanger and outside. It was the last of the sunny weekends in Stavanger, so we thought why not go to some place this sunny Sunday. So based on recommendation from other friends, we decided to explore an offbeat uncommercial location - Renneoy. It is an island that is about half an hour from Stavanger. The exciting part of the journey recommended by our friends-friend was the journey through under sea tunnels. Since most of us were still dreaming of taking the train that connects France to England through an undersea tunnel, we thought this is the best opportunity to get closer to that wish. Also as a place, though there is lot of natural beauty around Stavanger, this was one of the less commercialized - off beat locations that appeared to be interesting to explore.

We met sometime in the afternoon around 3 pm in Stavanger Sentrum and waited for the bus that would take us to Rennesoy. Rennosoy is a municipality in the Rogaland county of Norway and about 30-35 mins by bus from Stavanger Sentrum. Thanks to our Greeen dabba - "Kolumbus", which took us to experience this unique experience of sliding down an undersea tunnel which seemed endless to finally come out of it to climb a curvy flyover bridge connecting two islands, which then again took the next undersea tunnel to finally reach Rennesoy.

To get to Rennesøy ,  the road (also called Rennfast link) passes through  two under-sea tunnels (8,5 km and 6 km long), a concrete bridge and roads to the northern corner of Rennesøy (Mortavika).

Tunnel under the water near the horizon

The impressive Rennfast link with bridges and tunnels 233 meters below sea level.
In more recent years there has been a program of bridge and tunnel building, which has provided direct road links to many of the islands to the north of Stavanger. One of the most spectacular of these projects is the 'Rennfast' link. This consists of two under-sea tunnels and a bridge. The longest of these tunnels at 5860 meters is the Byfjordtunnelen, which at its deepest is 233 meters below sea-level. At the time of its completion in 1992, it was the world's deepest under-sea road tunnel. The other tunnel, Mastrafjordtunnelen, is 4424 meters long and 133 meters deep. This and other projects have eliminated a number of ferry routes and served to widen the bus net. The best part is you can pass through all these beautiful tunnels in your regular “Kolumbus” bus, enjoying the curvature traced by the bus to go below the tunnel and climb up to emerge out of these tunnels. It definitely makes you remember the tunnels along Mumbai – Pune Expressway. It would be more fun to drive down these tunnels here. Only if renting a car was not that expensive a proposition in this part of the world!

None of us were sure of the stop we need to get down at. After the "this stop" or "next stop" dilemma, we finally were able to get down at the right stop, which was about 2 stops before the last stop. Happy to read the "Rennesoy" signboard.

We then decided to look around and walk around a bit to see the scenery around.  It wasn't disappointing at all!'After walking around a bit and finding the entire town almost empty, we found ourselves to be hungry. We entered a nearby grocery store - "Coop" and get some bun and bread for ourselves.

 

We then entered a cafe under the "Rennesoy" signboard near the bus stop where we alighted and had some coffee with buns n bread. We sat on the outer portion of the restaurant which totally opened up to the scenic view of the Rennesoy mountain and the sea. Was indeed relaxing, enjoying the scenic beauty and doing nothing but sipping coffee beneath the thousand splendid sunrays - as can be seen from the smiles of KK and myself in the pic below!

Thats when we saw one of these guys - enjoying the wind by surfing amongst the clouds, enjoying the scenery of the mountains, sea and the birds like no one else would have - barring god at that time!

And while all our heads were up trying to trace the path of this guy floating in the winds, what brought us down was the small boat with a UK flag that got parked around the docks. The sailor and his girlfriend disembarked and were immediately met by their friend - the lady in blue who had driven down and almost was to drive onto the sailor's boat. We caught this pic for multiple vested interests in the background - but what came out well was our intentions channelized through Ragish's expressions in the foreground as well! The evil in me wants to use a sketch pen to draw a small heart around the two ladies in the background and cut an arrow across to Ragish's head as if to show the thoughts in this mind :)

Then began our long walk to the bus stop after we figured out the right bus stop. The next bus was in 15 mins and if we managed to miss that we had to wait in the middle of nowhere for the next two hours for the last bus to arrive. 

It was about 6.00 pm when we started the walk up to the bus stop. And once we reached there, had this group snap

The Indian Explorers!

 This trip did clear one thought which has stormed my thoughts for long. What is it so different about an Under sea tunnel ? Does water gush out onto you once you enter/ leave the tunnel? Is it any different that going through tunnels under mountains / railway bridges? Answers to all this is - there is no difference and no - water does not gush out. All the time you just fear that you may drown and die if the tunnel collapses as you would really be "under the water"! 

We looked back to get a last glimpse of the mountain and the water at Rennesoy and this was last etched on our minds, before we again wriggled through the tunnels sitting in the "Kolumbus". It was indeed a very relaxing trip - no noise, no people - all of nature's beauty just for ourselves. And my mind began to subconsciously sing the hit John Denver number "Country Roads...take me home, to the plains.."

Change Agents in SRK's transformation (Part 2)

“I am SRK”

The transformation wasn’t easy. It never is and never will be.

What brought about the transformation in SRK were the forces created by the chaos of unkind worldly perceptions. Perceptions that were either expressed directly through words or indirectly through gestures, expressions or accidentally overhearing conversations.  It was a dosage with a double whammy.

The neighborhood nosy Sheela aunty’s son was also of SRK’s age and both used to go to the same school. The boy – young Vinod was the one with whom SRK would spend time playing cricket in the nearby streets during the summer vacation or “choi” (a game played typically in coastal areas and rural, semi-rural parts of the country using small conch shells found in the shores of the sea. Its similar to playing a game of ludo/ snakes and ladders – only difference being there are no defined boundaries available commercially where the conch shells of players can take their place) when the weather outside was not good.  They used to take turns in playing the games at either of their houses. “Choi” over the years made way to watching Television– the latest of the “English” and “Hindi” channels shown on Television which was in way metamorphosing the genesis of their middle class upbringing.  Vinod always had been a likeable guy. He was not only good in studies, but also slightly better than SRK in sports and other extra-curricular.  When SRK used to go to Vinod’s house to play the games / watch TV, Sheela aunty always discriminated in the way she treated Vinod over SRK. Vinod used to always be asked for refreshments or got the fully loaded cream biscuits, while SRK would at times not be given things of the same quality and quantity that Vinod got.  As if these wounds were not enough, Sheela aunty had a nack of rubbing salt further onto the wounds by saying “Look at our Vinod. He is so tired of doing well in school, extra curriculars and now playing with you. After all he needs more energy to be better than you, doesn’t he?”  SRK used to meekly nod, trying to control himself from an outburst of tears in public, which Vinod could sense, but never do anything about that would annoy his mother. Once back home, SRK used to get onto the small corner of the house where the idol’s of various gods were placed to secretly cry over the happenings of the day and then cover himself up before being seen by anyone.

But more important than that  – Vinod did not have the fear of public speaking and had the confidence  to communicate with the opposite sex, which is where SRK envied him the most. Vinod could not only converse easily with all the girls in the class, but also be liked for the way he used to maintain the interest in these conversations. No wonder Vinod was never a hit amongst the girls during times of “Raksha Bandhan” – the times when girls innocuously look for making brothers with boys whom they either had no special romantic liking for or for whom they would never develop such liking in the future by tying a Rakhi  (a colorful thread signifying the bond of trust, respect and love)around the boy’s wrist.

Contrast this to SRK, he used to always be the person who could never muster enough courage to talk to any girl in the class – except for asking for their marks in various subjects and overall ranking once the results of the examinations were out. And that too he used to ask only the top 3-4 ranking girls to understand what was his competitive positioning. SRK’s usual ranking was amongst the top 6 in the class, with Vinod always edging him out by a higher rank miraculously during all those schooling years. During times of “Raksha Bandhan” SRK’s wrist was filled with so many “Rakhi’s” that at times he used to wonder how will he ever have a romantic liason with a girl or get married? He felt it was only upon himself that the responsibility of executing the Pledge recited in the morning school prayers was bestowed. The Pledge where he and his schoolmates recited “ India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I am proud of its rich and varied heritage….” SRK suspected if Vinod and all the girls just lip synched like in the Charlie Chaplin movies while saying “All Indians are my brothers and sisters” and did not say it from their heart like he did.  The problem with “Raksha Bandhan” was that it was  a big dampener on his already marginalized pocket money as the newly made brothers had to gift something to their new found sisters.  While Siva used to save money in the Summer, getting money for good will from his relatives and family and by selling the old newspapers to the nearby old newspaper mart, he used to spend it almost instantly in the rainy season of Aug – September when Rakhi used to appear in the Hindu Calendar. The worst was – in the last year in school, even Mallika, the neighborhood Marwari girl had tied him a Rakhi.

Sheela aunty left no stone unturned to show off her son’s superiority over SRK – either in her conversations with SRK’s mom when they used to shop together or exchange delicacies during festivals or even while talking about the kids growing up so quick during the weekly informal meetings of the ladies of Satyam Apartments in T Nagar. Her urge to bring in comparisons and feel superior and better in comparison to Ms. Krishnan propelled her to steer conversations from totally unrelated topics to the topic of how great her son Vinod was. SRK’s mom used to be a mute spectator in most of these conversations. At times when enraged she would still be calm and hold her ground  saying “Kids are different in the way they think, behave and interact. They take their own time to blossom and spread their wings in this world. I am sure our Siva would one day blossom and ape Vinod in all the right aspects”. Sheela aunty, never to give away her line of thought used to grunt and say in Tamil “Pakalam yepudee pogardu na”. (Lets see how it goes)

To be continued...

Tribute to Bangalore Roomies

Living with roomies has been an exhilarating experience over the past eight years that i have stayed out of home. It all began way back in 2002 when i moved to Bangalore, fresh after my Engineering degree and joined Infosys. After the initial one month in the "Maurya" Hotel, we had to find accommodation on our own.

I already made 2 friends before moving to Bangalore - Vishal (he was my mate in Engineering college) and Utsav (he was also from Mumbai). So once my stay in Maurya was over, had to look for new people with whom i could share a house with.

Accidentally it so happened that all five of us came together - myself, Vishal, Rana, Sudarshan, Ashish and Kapil. We had an awesome time together in those 1.5 years i spent in Bangalore from 2002 - 2004. The pic above is one of those rare pics of the good times we shared - be it Hooting for India during the 2003 World Cup, watching n number of movies on my small tv set, eating out in most of the bangalore restaurants, boozing in pubs / at home or  buying those cheap Rs. 100 T-shirts on Brigade Road, MG Road during the weekends. Watching movies in the movie halls, shopping at Marathahalli and Commercial Street, going for Go- Karting or walking down in the middle of the friday/ saturday night from MG Road to Koramangala singing songs (just cos we did not want to pay the Rickshaw guy 2-3 times the fare)...was awesome! We had a memorable time!

Mulianagiri Trek 2004

Our group spread beyond the roomies to others - Eti, Manu, Maria and other batchmates from September'02. Its going to be 8 years this month end since we had joined Infosys and it looks as it was only yesterday! Almost all of them have now moved out of Infosys and even Bangalore - barring a few!



Weekends were spent making plane maggie noodle - 4 packets, putting in a common plate, putting sauce in some areas of the maggi per personal preferences and having it together. We had also kept an ecosystem of support around...and did not let the statistic of 1 IT job creating 4 support jobs wrong. We had a maid servant to wash clothes and clean house, a cook to cook food. It was funny - the maid servant was a Tamilian and none of my other roomies could communicate with her except for sign language, when i was not there. When i was there communicating and getting things done was my cup of tea. Apparently after i left Bangalore in Feb 2004 , these guys still had her for sometime and continued with the sign language!

We indeed did some crazy things - like this tent which Vishal had got from his first onsite trip to the US (Suddu and Vishal were the first guys in our group to live the dream and go onsite to US with 1.5 years of joining Infosys. All others like me, Ashish, Rana got our due later). We hoisted the tent right in the big Hall of our 3 BHK, 1350 sq feet apartment in National Games Village, Koramangala and spent silly times over the weekend doing silly stuff like this!






Again this was the time when we had a party in one of the best hotels in Bangalore near Airport Road (probably Taj - can't remember). It was a combination of onsite treat of Vishal, Suddu and bday treat of Rana and someone else and we had a ball of a time. It was a big thing for us then to be in restaurants like this and eating and having wine! Man..those were the days!

 This was taken during the Vishals 22nd birthday. Heheh - it was a typical practise in A-301 Yamuna, NGV to cut cake the night before the bday and smear it on the face of the person. Also the rest used to pool in and buy a gift like shirt / shoes etc. In my case i opted for a VCD Player, on which we saw tonnes of movies for days together on that small TV set i had borrowed from Dad. This then gave way to our days playing X-Box computer games which Vishal had got from his stint in the US. Man - that was more fun - the way each of us had a preference for a charachter in the "Dead or Alive" game and used to compete with each other.

I was admitted to a hospital for the first time in my life in Bangalore where they suspected Dengue fever. Was in the hospital for 5 - 7 days under observation and i am indeed grateful to these guys for taking care of me as they would for any of their family members. Each night i had someone to give me company to sleep in the hospital and got all the food from home. Battling work pressures and other personal priorities - am indeed thankful for the attention and support these guys bestowed upon me. I infact had also informed my folks pretty late (2 days before being discharged) and assured them i was in good hands and there no need to travel to Bangalore. Hands down to you guys!

Then in Feb'2004 me and Vishal decided to move back closer to our homes in Mumbai. So we took a transfer to Pune office of Infosys. Indeed cherished those days with all of these guys. We did have some reunions later in the US - if not all of us together, but still in good groups. Those days and those times will never come back, but glad they did come the way did ! Hands down to my first set of roomies in Bachelorhood 1.0!

Norway: Bergen: The European Culture Capital of 2000

When: July 16-17, 2010

Where: Bergen, Norway
Who: Partner in crime - Wifey & I
How: NSB Train from Voss. This was the last leg of our journey after watching the Fjords in the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip

In 10 days time we had to leave Oslo and re-locate to a new city - Stavanger in Norway.  Our plans to visit Paris, France were cancelled - thanks to my laziness leading to delay in booking tickets - the ticket prices had now become unaffordable. So, we thought why not make the most of our vacation by visiting some unique places in Norway itself? We decided to combine two trips - which would include the most talked about tourist attractions in Norway - "Norway in a Nutshell" and Bergen trip. Norway in a Nutshell was a visit to the picturesque Fjords - Sognefjord. Post our Norway in a Nutshell trip (at the end of which most tourists take a train back from from Voss to Oslo) we took the NSB train (a la Indian Railways) from Voss and went to Bergen.

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population close to 260,000 ( almost twice that of Stavanger).Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. It is an important cultural hub in its region, recognized as the unofficial capital of Western Norway and sometimes also referred to as the Atlantic coast capital of Norway. Bergen remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, and was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of Oslo became the largest.

The Stay:


We wanted to experience living in a traditional Norwegian house, so preferred a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) over a hotel. The advantages are a plenty - you can cook your own food (we self catered for the major part of the trip armed with sandwiches, biscuits, ready to eat cup noodles, maggi, chocolates), get to meet local people and have conversations on their lives, about the city and much more - if your host is the one who likes conversations.

Our host was kind and nice and her house was well done as seen in these pics. There was another couple (unusual pair: a south korean lady and an Indian guy who was more British than Indian) in another room (a tourist just like us). We had limited conversations and co-existed peacefully for the one night we stayed.

We hit the bed early - around 10.00 pm as we had a hectic day seeing all the fjords early this morning and were up since 4 am. The next day was important - we had 13 hours to cover all that we wanted to see in Bergen.

Starting of a brand new day

The city was one of nine European cities honoured with the title of European Capital of Culture in the year 2000. And now we know why. As soon as you start walking around the city - you are amazed by the architecture and the "feel of the good old days" that they have maintained. This automobile - in the form of a train chugs past the entire city and is a tempting hop-on hop-off option to visit the city's attractions. We decided to walk around the city and resist this temptation.




Mt. Floyen

Floibanen

 Our first target was to visit Mt. Floyen. It is the most visited of the seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen. It has a funicular system Fløibanen that transports passengers from the centre of Bergen to a height of 320 metres in roughly 8 minutes

The journey on the Floibanen was amazing. You have to be alert - to not only enjoy the journey and experience, but also to not forget to take these pictures as you start the steep ascend upwards.

And this is the breathtaking view you get from the top of Mt. Floyen as you are just about to get out of the Floibanen. Amazing view! Try to see the sea and the mountains beyond the first range of mountains (closer to the horizon) - its awesome to see it live!

This pic is the view towards the left hand side of Mt. Floyen. You can see the entire city and the serpentine snake like roads - which at times get elevated onto curvy flyovers.

The walk back from Mt. Floyen

Us at Mt. Floyen

We decided to "Walk like a Norwegian" on the trip back to downtown to enjoy the pristine natural beauty of the forests that we crossed as we climbed down through a defined path. It takes about 30-45 mins and you get a chance to steal good views and pics from the various corners as you descend down. Hehe - and we saw some strange statues and nets and in one of those places - Wifey gave vent to an outburst of being a kiddo!

The walk back

Bryggen:

Bryggen, which means Wharf in Norwegian has been the oldest part of the city.Bryggen has since 1979 been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites. Bergen gets rains almost every day in a year. If you are a tourist and manage to catch the sun - you must be lucky. After battling rain in almost all our trips, including this one - we were glad that Sun God smiled upon us and helped us have a good time here. This pic was taken then,

Bryggen as seen from the area behind the famous "Fish Market" in Bergen. Most of these sloping roof houses which now house small shops had been burnt down by various fires that engulfed Bergen in the early years. Some of these have now been preservied. Today, some 62 buildings remain of this former townscape.

This is the backside of "Bryggen" indeed - very beautiful and scenic. We spent a lot of time in Bryggen as it was so scenic, wonderful to be there.







Miscellaneous:

Bergen Fish Market

 Around Bryggen - we then walked around to see some other sights like the "Fish Market",  "St. John's Church", "Maritime museum", "Bergenhus Fort", "Smalungeren Lake".

We walked around the city to find a combination of unique architecture in buildings and a mysterious collection of antiques in some of the shops around.

St. John's Church

Maritime museum

Bergenhus Fort

Inside Bergenhus Fort

Bergenhus Fort with Rosekrantz tower

Bergenhus fort, with Rosenkrantz Tower (the tomb like structure) is one of the most prominent buildings of Bergenhus fortress.  Bergenhus fort is one of the oldest (since 1240) and best preserved castles in Norway.

Smalungeren Lake

Heritage Mc Donalds

The pic to the left was taken at lake in the city center - Byparken Smalungeren. This is perhaps the door to one of the museums in here. What is more striking is the architecture - especially the top part of the door has a striking resemblance to the Lord Venkateswara Temple top. Will blog on this on some other post though in detail. 

Bergen Railway Station

Typically European small streets

Smalungeren Lake in City Center

Smalungeren and city center as seen from Mt. Floyen

Bergen Bybane

A memorial / square

The city of Bergen is a city in motion. To the left is the Bergen light rail system called "Bybanen". The first line of 10 kms was opened June'2010, with more to come.




Tired after a pretty long day walking all around the city - we headed back to the Bergen Railway Station and while waiting for our train - caught on a game of "Ludo" in the railway waiting area. Played after ages and reminded of the good old days as kids when summer vacations used to be spent playing games like this. Thanks to the fact that this was a "No Laptop trip" which meant we could take more of the city and the simple pleasures of life than the online world!