[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by vsh

BTW, have your better half seen it?

My wife always ignores whatever I say - both online and in real life .


HAVELOCK ISLANDS TRIP CONTD:

The next day, the skies were much clearer. And the beach next to our resort looked a lot more cheerful than the previous day.





The Indian Navy was carrying out a few exercises on the adjacent beach. We rode to the other beach on our two-wheeler, only to see that whole beach was taken over by impressive looking Navy men. We saw a large Navy ship get close to the beach, and an amphibious vessel sprang out of it with armed Navy personnel on board. We asked an officer if it was OK for us to stay and watch. He nodded, but said NO CAMERA.







So unfortunately, no photos or videos of the amphibious landing craft hitting the beach. But you should see the way our Navy men present themselves - smart uniform, smart haircuts, fantastic build and a voice that commands respect. When I looked at my wife, I could almost see red coloured hearts swirling over her head - so I did what a normal secure-in-a-relationship man would do - I put her on our bike and drove away from the scene.

Time to go back to our resort and start packing. After staring at the bill for food & beverages with a shocked look on my face, we thanked the manager for all his help and went to the Jetty. The weather suddenly turned bleak, and soon large waves were hitting our ship. But our Captain just ploughed through at top speed, and we reached Port Blair in 2.5 hours.







Since we don't have an evening/night flight to Chennai, we stayed back at Port Blair for the night at the Fortune Resort. Although our bathroom was just about as big as the loo in an aircraft, we had a fantastic view of the calm Bay of Bengal from our room.

[vasanthn21]

A little off topic:

I read in your introduction thread about this - a video of "a Hummer H2 going gingerly over humps while a M800 going full speed over it".

Have I missed it or is it yet to be posted?

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by smartcat

My wife always ignores whatever I say - both online and in real life.
....
....
But you should see the way our Navy men present themselves - smart uniform, smart haircuts, fantastic build and a voice that commands respect. When I looked at my wife, I could almost see red coloured hearts swirling over her head - so I did what a normal secure-in-a-relationship man would do - I put her on our bike and drove away from the scene.

Hi Archie boy (aka smartcat)

this seems to be straight out of Archie comics ?, BTW did you marry Betty or Veronica ?

[MX6]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Archie boy (aka smartcat)

this seems to be straight out of Archie comics ?, BTW did you marry Betty or Veronica ?

The way she's smitten by him, looks more like Jughead and Big Ethel.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

A little off topic:

I read in your introduction thread about this - a video of "a Hummer H2 going gingerly over humps while a M800 going full speed over it".

Have I missed it or is it yet to be posted?

Not a video, but I have a photo of the delicate fragile Hummer. It's in the Rajasthan travelogue - check the first 10 pages of this thread, it should be there somewhere!

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Archie boy (aka smartcat) this seems to be straight out of Archie comics ?, BTW did you marry Betty or Veronica ?

Betty! Definitely Betty!

Originally Posted by MX6

The way she's smitten by him, looks more like Jughead and Big Ethel.

It's called the "honeymoon period" - generally lasts for an average of 3 months (according to scientific research)

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Betty! Definitely Betty!

good, atleast you agree that you are Archie Boy.

I hope you are not missing Mr. Lodge and his butler

Originally Posted by smartcat

It's called the "honeymoon period" - generally lasts for an average of 3 months (according to scientific research)

it appears you are on a life long honeymoon, if yes, keep it up

[SmartCat]

I can relate more to Jughead Jones - we both are born lazy
Something is not right with the forum software - it is not allowing me to upload pics. Will do it tomorrow.

[SmartCat]

HAVELOCK ISLANDS TRIP CONCLUDING PART:

Next day, we checked out of Fortune Resort. After paying the bill, they gave us two XL sized "Andaman & Nicobar Islands" T-shirt (both of which shrunk to "S" size after one wash). Boarded the Indian Airlines flight to Chennai, had a nice South Indian Thaali at a restaurant and rushed to the Railway Station to catch the 5:00 PM train to Mangalore. The rushing part was probably a mistake - because Pallavi stubbed her toe against the pavement just outside the railway station.

Trains going to & coming out of Chennai are usually 10 kms long. So, with me carrying 3 bags and Pallavi hopping, skipping & jumping, we finally managed to get to our compartment.



Since I don't have the habit of carrying a First Aid Box, I requested the TT for one. As expected, he didn't have one. Then I went around asking a few passengers for band-aid. Negative again. It was close to 5:00 PM, and if I had got down from the train, the travelogue would have been a lot longer! So, I stayed put, deployed my Mechanical Engineering skills, took out my kerchief and tied it around her toe.







She wasn't very happy with that big fat cloth around her toe, although I had tied it so well that it was barely visible. Sheesh! These women are difficult to please!

Anyway, I had booked the tickets from IRCTC website, and when it was time to select the coach, there was a new option for this particular train - First Class AC (1A). I opted for that, and to my surprise, we had our own little hotel room inside the train compartment - lockable door, wardrobe, mirror, 230V AC power socket etc



We also had a "Loo Indicator" in our cabin - I got to have this feature in my car!



We reached Mangalore the next day morning, and we took a cab to Surathkal (18 kms away) - my in-laws place.







Their German neighbour is building a house out of thermocol (seriously) - some new technology where cement is blended with thermocol (Polystyrene). It apparently keeps the heat away, but construction is 1.5 times more expensive.



Time to go back home - we boarded a night sleeper bus to Bangalore. After a bumpy and jumpy ride, we reached Bangalore the next day

[sriswe]

smartcat,

now that your honey moon period got over, expecting the real fun to begin with you hitting the roads again ... eagerly waiting...

Thanks,
Srini..

[ampere]

Cat,

Now did you recognize the same place where you almost ran into someone?
Did the place anything look different?

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ampere

Cat, Now did you recognize the same place where you almost ran into someone? Did the place anything look different?

I try to forget that little incident.

Originally Posted by sriswe

smartcat,

now that your honey moon period got over, expecting the real fun to begin with you hitting the roads again ... eagerly waiting...

Thanks,
Srini..

Not hitting the roads as such, but coming up next, we hit the tracks - the railway track to be exact. A sneak preview of our railway track trek to Yedakumeri -

[ampere]

This was the best trek I ever enjoyed!
Kukke-Yedukumari! Waiting for more !

[MX6]

Originally Posted by ampere

Cat,

Now did you recognize the same place where you almost ran into someone?
Did the place anything look different?

He didn't almost run in to. He almost ran over.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

He didn't almost run in to. He almost ran over.

To tell you the truth I actually had written that in a subtle sense, to see if our man could catch the difference.

But he did not !

[SmartCat]

I wonder what would have happened if that little incident happened after the engagement (& before the wedding)

Originally Posted by ampere

This was the best trek I ever enjoyed!
Kukke-Yedukumari! Waiting for more !

Oh OK! I thought I was the only one on Team-BHP to have done the trek (because I did a search and there are no Yedakumeri travelogues)

Did you go all the way to Kukke? Where did you start the trek from? We started off from Gundya, and got off at Yedakumeri.