[ASHISHPALLOD]

Sometime in 2008

One of the monthly meet of our club was going on.

Some one suggested to go to Singapore on pleasure trip.

Everyone laughed and ignored it.


Sometime in 2009.

Malshej and Jivdhan trip of our group was going on.

Someone again suggested to go to Singapore.

This time, i had not laughed and not ignored it.


July 2009

Presidential changeover ceremony was going on.

New president of our club announced that this year, we will try to go to Singapore.

Everyone clapped.



August 2009

As usual, president of our club approached me to look out for possibilities of Singapore trip.

I seriously started to work on this trip.

Meanwhile, i read sepang story on team-bhp narrated by yeti baba.

I made my mind that our trip will be based on the experience shared in that sepang story.



Sept 2009

I looked for various trips offered by tour operators.

Not a single trip was quoted below rs 45k or 50 k.

I started to look out for cost factors about the trip itinerary operated by those tourist agencies.

I studied each and every cost and concluded that those operators are making hefty margins.

I made up my mind to go to Malaysia on our own itinerary.

Search started for best air fares.

No airline was quotoing below rs 19000 return for Kuala lumpur from Mumbai.

In search of best airfares, suddenly , on team-bhp, i read about one relatively unknown airline and that was Air Asia.


Next travelogue post.... tomorrow 10 am.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Chalo chalo - post some pictures before you start off with the journey @ 5 pm.

wait wait,

Originally Posted by advaitlele

So the gang is having gala time there.
So interesting stuff on the way, it seems. Ashish. upload photos fast.

it was gala time.
every one enjoyed all the things.:

Originally Posted by MX6

WHAT? YOu are back today? That was damn short trip.

read the travelogue and you will come to know why it was too short.

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I am hooked to this thread , bring on the pix and travelogue.

lot of pics are on the way.
stay tuned.

Originally Posted by achopraa

My trip wholly solely depends on your feedback.
Just one premier Q. Was it "Worth" travelling by AA?

@ achopraa,
don't worry, Air Asia really impressed me.

[Wolfheart]

Eager to read your travelogue Ashish. Hope you're making the most of your vacation!

[achopraa]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@ achopraa,
don't worry, Air Asia really impressed me.

That's enough reason for me to plan ahead. Hooked on to your travelogue.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

I was surprised to see the low fares on Air Asia.
At that time, AA[ henceforth, i will term AA for Air Asia] was operating on single route with just two flights from Trichy in Tamilnadu to KL.
[ henceforth, i will term KL for kuala lumpur.]
Fares quoted for that flight for 4 month adv booking was less than 7k for return.
I made up a plan to visit Malaysia only for 5 days flying out of Trichy.
At that time, some of our group members did not hold passport.
With a quick calculation for time required to get new passport and keeping in mind the Chinese new year rush in south east Asia,
last week of feb 2010 was the time slot for our trip.
I put up the plan and announced that i will make booking before deepawali holiday starts.
It means i have to book the tickets on 15/16 oct 2009.

On 16 oct 2009, i was going to my native for deepawali.
So, on 16th oct, i opened my laptop at 9 am to book the tickets.
Logged on AirAsia.com booking section.
Big surprise to me, AA started booking for another three new flights from India, two from Kerala and one from Kolkata.
The fare offered was less than 4k for return with option of add on services.
It was like trial offer presented by a company to its customer at very low initial price and i was at the counter as first man at first day at first show.
I grabbed the opportunity.
Booked the return flights from kerala destinations.
For onward journey, i chose one city from kerala and for return journey, i chose another city from kerala.
This was done due convenient flight times.
Rescheduled our itinerary.

Now, question came in mind, how to reach and come back from kerala?
Quick search found that Go airways and kingfisher has flights at right time from kerala to Mumbai for our return trip.
Got quotation from Go air and kingfisher for group booking.
Chosen Go air for their time and price. It was less than 3k.
Now, for onward journey from pune/mumbai to kerala, there is no direct flight from pune.
[ i don't know by this time, is there any direct flight from pune to kerala?].
As our flight to kl was scheduled at 8:30 am, we have to reach at least one night before.
Searched the flights from mumbai and the direct flight is early in the morning.
It means that we have to start from our place at 10pm to catch that mumbai kerala flight.
Total calculations told that we have start from our place 34 hours before our kl flight.
One brain storm went and we decided to travel by konkan rail for kerala.
In this case, we have to start from our place 47 hours before our kl flight and
we can see the beautiful entire west coast area of India with additional just 13 hours to our itinerary with saving of huge cost.
Booked the train reservations for sleeper class and not ac or first.
[ Remember yeti and someone's intended travel by sleeper class to see beauty of kerala on their recent trip to kerala].

For hotel booking at kl, remember the team-bhp at sepang story, the bhpians had bad time with walking and walking for happening places at kl.
I searched and decided to find the hotel at most happening place of kl i.e. bukit bintang.
Saw the hotel locations on google earth and chosen a hotel on jalan bukit bintang.
Done net booking. Got very good deal. It was less than 1k per person per night for triple superior room.

Our group demanded that we should visit Singapore for at least one day.
Now, i have to squeeze the kl schedule for 4 days and one day for singapore.
Quick search on Airasia.com and found the first singapore flight quoted for zero fare and just 25 ringitt as airport charges.
singapore -kl return flight quoted for just 4 ringitt as fare and 70 ringitt as airport charges.
Big smile on my face.:
Reservations made.
Now, all booking done.

Meantime, our guys applied for passport and everyone has passport on 20th jan 2010.
I started the thread on team-bhp route query section for what to see in Malaysia and Singapore.
Got very good response.
Special thanks to Advaitlele for his contribution to that thread.
Got visa from visa agency from mumbai which is on singapore's mumbai high commission's agent panel.
Visa done for 3k all inclusive.
Got 1 year Malaysian multiple entry visa and two year Singapore multiple entry visa.

Feb 2010 arrived.

Everyone was eager and in cheerful mood to go.

Started this thread one day before d-day.

D-day arrived and journey started at 9:30 am on 22 Feb 2010.


Next travelogue post with pictures within next 2-3 hours.

[ashwinsid]

I already know this travelogue will be awesome!

[ASHISHPALLOD]

22/2/10
9:30am

We all are in the 17 seater bus to start the travel.
A quick check of all 15 guys passport, visa, currency card etc.
Everyone is in cheerful mood.
We have changed our mobiles and are with another number.
So, no worry about incoming calls from our blood pressure risers.

Bus started and we started our planned journey.
We took packed lunch, so there is no stopping for food at any hotel, just a tea break at vathar station near satara.

1pm:
Spotted a good location at the bank of river koyna on patan-chiplun road.
Had lunch under the huge tree.
One hour lost.

3:45pm.
Reached the chiplun station of konkan railway.

Waiting at Chiplun railway station.



And we assume that Indian railway stations are dirty,,,
wait, wait, i have not seen Singapore mrt stations.


4:50pm
Boarded the Netravati express bound to kerala from Mumbai.

Me in the train



7am, 23/2/2010
Good morning Kerala, somewhere before Calicut


Morning jogging.


Bridge on river or waterway?


Our return landing point, Cochin international airport through moving train.


Typical kerala home


After crossing Ernakulam, far view of cochin,
kerala guys, correct me if i am wrong.


Famous chinese fishing net.


kerala= kokonut+palm+banana trees.


6:30pm
Reached to Trivendrum railway station.
It was small walk of 5 min and we were at Thamburu international, our prebooked hotel off Aristo junction in Thampanoor area.
Hotel is good but the service and attitude of staff is really bad.
Had dinner at nearby hotel.
I am surprised that there is not enough restaurants [ good or bad] near Aristo junction, the busy place with travelers.

It was good night sleep after 26 hour train journey.
We have to wake up early to reach Trivendrum airport at 6:30 am.


next post: today 3:30pm

[prince_pervez]

Wow! So far so good. Waiting for more!!

[MX6]

You look like a serious looking amol palekar in that train photo. Must be wondering.
"I paid only peanuts for return ticket. What if Gafoor drops me at chennai marina beach, after promising KLIA".


Our kerala members can tell you what this means.

I noticed that spell error too. Advait. But it's fun! Pardon our Babu.

[advaitlele]

Well said MX6- Ashish P and Amol P? coincidence?

Ashish - this story is progressing well. And time for next update means our F5 button would last longer.

BTW - some spelling mistakes are very costly and as they say "arth ka anarth ho gaya" or in marathi ""dha cha ma kela". Just do spell check on last post (6.30 pm) in the line "It was small walk..."

Waiting for more.

[dkhatau]

nice one ashish waiting for 3.30. cheers

[udaydesai]

guys, forget the spelling mistake and just enjoy this mind blowing travelogue.

Aashish nice naration, good pic.

uday

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by MX6

You look like a serious looking amol palekar in that train photo.
I noticed that spell error too. Advait. But it's fun! Pardon our Babu.

Originally Posted by advaitlele

BTW - some spelling mistakes are very costly and as they say "arth ka anarth ho gaya" or in marathi ""dha cha ma kela".

I noticed that error after reading your post and realized the mistake.
MODS, please do the correction.

Amol Palekar and me, hmmmm, let my wife check that picture and then only i can comment.

[udaydesai]

That's it!!!!!

No work today for me. I am glued to this post. Will leave early today and shall trach this post.

[vineet_k21]

C'mon Ashish, you got to get those narratives out fast. I already cancelled (rather missed) a meeting reading through your story. Can't afford more!

Good stuff mate. Nice pics too. Suddenly felt, a trip to Kerala is on the cards for me!

Anyway, as of now, waiting for your next bit....Keep it coming.