Dizzee World !!!

We went to Dizzee World for an afternoon. No.. not Disney in LA, Dizzee in Chennai on our recent trip to India. With the kids that was more than we hoped to pull off on a hot weekday.

This place is relatively expensive by Indian standards. I have only visited VGP amusement park in the past in Chennai, that too in 1993!! Now there are almost 15 of these parks on the East coast road! This is the first time, I have actually made time to visit one of the parks.

We were greeted at the entrance by a mickey look alike.. lets call him Mikcey !


I really dont know if MGM (the Metro Goldwyn Meyer) owns or has a stake in Dizzee world.

We went on the giant wheel first. It was really nice. Jr., who is supposed to be Dora's next avatar, was actually scared of the giant wheel..

but baby!!! what a surprise! She really enjoyed it. Everytime we all got butterflies in our stomach, she let out peals of laughter and was giggling away.

Here are some views from the top of the giant wheel..






Then of course were the little harmless rides which Jr. went for with her mom. These are the same standard (looks, maintenance, everything) to rides in our local parks here in the Bay area (Bonfante gardens or Kelley Park!)


The themes and decorations were cute. Here is Jr. taking a break between rides .

They had a whole section of games where you toss rings around bottles and win prizes , etc. etc. But the people who man those booths were all missing. Gone for lunch!! A two hour lunch (we just gave away those coupons to the doorman while exiting).

Then, we had Jr. go on some really kid safe rides, like the carousel and Cinderella rides..




It was a weekday and the place was almost empty. Then a bunch of school kids came out of nowhere. Must have been a school excursion or picnic. Jr. suddenly found herself josling for a place on some rides. She was a natural "jostler"!

After the school crowd left, we once again were left to enjoy the empty rides. She got an unlimited ride! on the train and played in the video arcade to her hearts content. Only 50% of the machines worked. The rest had a notice on them which said "I am sick"!! But we had plenty of machines to play with and had them all to ourselves. Incidentally the arcade was the only air conditioned building in the park. So we enjoyed the break from the sun.

Then there were the rides from hell. I avoided all those rides. My brother came out of one and described his experience as one similar to an ant who has just come out of a mixer!

Just when we were about to exit the amusement park, San spotted the mother of all rides. She tried to get me on the ride. Mr. Chicken promptly refused and she insisted on going alone!

They couldnt have a solo rider, so the operator went and found one of his buddies to balance San on the other side of the ride. Then things got worse. The ride went on and on and it didnt look like it was going to stop. San started screaming from the top. We started screaming from the bottom. I suspected some foul play and my brother went rushing to the top. The belt had broken!! They had to switch off the mains and let the thing come to a stop on its own. San must have set the record for the longest ride on the swing chairs. She couldnt walk properly for some time.

I avoid these rides for a reason. At the end of the day, they are not safe! In my first 4 years in California we had seen two accidents. One in the Great America Park where a kid flew out of the "drop zone" (the very next day after we had gone on the same ride !) and another kid flew out of the Jurassic Park ride in Universal studios!! I was really getting knots in my stomach when I realized that something was wrong and was just glad that they knew how to locate the main switch!!

On the whole Dizzee was a good experience, except for that one ride. The kids and the adults had a great time..

Bom Jesus Basilica - Goa

On our first day in Goa, we visited the Bom Jesus Basilica, a 500 year old church which also has the mummified remains of St. Xavier.

It was an amazing place. You walk through two giant trees which look to be 500 years old and the gas lights remind you of another age!

Calm and quiet with so many passing through the church and praying. The side of the building and some of the inside pillars are going through a renovation of sorts..

The inner sanctum..










After we visited this church we crossed the road to go to the St. Francis of Assisi Church, which also houses a museum.




But it was an extremely hot day (as is seen by the state of the street dogs at 11 AM!)

So we decided do take some pictures of Jr. and baby on the benches, and went on to buy them some hats and drink some "elaneer" (fresh coconut water)!

I could not help but wonder how this place managed to stay unchanged for so many years. Also thought of how in the US of A, historic places average anywhere between 100 to 250 years old, but the way they are publicized, facilitized and "touristized" for lack of a better word contrasts with the "yeah, it is 1000 years old! so ?" style in India.

On one hand, it is great that these places are not "commercialized" the same way as in western countries (They find out that some former president or Indian chief pissed on a stone and before you know it there is a nice highway with an exit right near the "monument", with a visitor center that sells everything from keychains to digital camera accessories, brochures, a few restaurants, not to mention a nice set of toilets with diaper changing stations!). One almost gets the same feel when you enter any of these touristy locations. I guess this is one way to create history as you grow older.

On the other hand it is also sad to see such a great resource (anything this nice and this old like the Basilica) that is under utilized (for starters, think of all the parking ticket money the local government could collect!). But it makes for a much more relaxing and natural vacation as opposed to a mechanical "visit" to a place where you almost have the trip standardized. There are pros and cons with both approaches and I am glad that I do get to go places in both countries.

We had a great time visiting the Churches. After this we went on to see a few temples which were once again very old, but that is a story for another day..

What did you like the most ?

Sweeping in Bombay ..

Sweeping in Madras ..

Sweeping at the function ..

We are now in possession of the very broom which got infinite joy to Jr. on the India trip!! Glad we were able to bring some joys back to the US of A !

It is time for some sweeping changes ..

The Devil wears OSHKOSH

Most households have reported that their Devil wears Prada..That's when the Devil in the house is in the 25-40 age group..

Our Devil usually wears OSHKOSH..

Here's the little devil trying something different for a change..

We will post a photo when she wears Prada!!

LimeKiln State Park..

And now for the grand finale on the Route 1, Solvang series photo blogs..

Limekiln State park !!

We decided to go back on Route 1 (after stopping at several vista points along 101 and tossing and turning -- either go home before 6:00 to feed the kids or wing it and go back on Route 1 and catch some sites)

Finally route 1 it was.. the men pretty much voted for this. Balaji had already scoped out Limekiln, as a sure bet!

So, off we went without realizing that to get to the 100 foot falls, we had to cross the creek at four points, two of those without any sort of bridge.. just cross the rocks..


Needless to say, my shoes were wet after doing multiple trips across every crossing to ferrry the kids back and forth !


But it was all worth it..


There was this rock at the edge of the creek and baby wanted a break.. so I put her on the rock and stepped back to take a picture. I was reprimanded for the act (but it was deja vu for me...I had put Jr. on top of a wooden post at 8000 feet in Rainbow point, Bryce canyon two years ago). Luckily baby did not misbehave and was absorbed on some insect she found on the rock.

One "baby on the rocks" coming right up..


Finally, a picture of sunset on the way back ..


Being a metallurgist, I was disappointed that we never made it to the kilns, but that can always be done another day, when the kids can cross the creek on their own..

Here is a video of Dora the Explorer's at Limekiln state park..

I am working on a large video of the entire trip. Will post it later.