After traveling to London this summer, I came to the conclusion that London is perhaps the most expensive city in the world. I have not traveled very much..... but based on my experiences of traveling in India and the US, a very basic/modest vacation in London translates to a super luxury all expense paid vacation in India or the US.
It's hard to find decent accommodation in the city for less than $150 a night. And for that you might get a room the size of a rat hole. Food is expensive; most tourists end up eating in small cafes rather than in restaurants. Entrance tickets to shows and tourist places runs into several tens of pounds per person. Even beer does not come cheap; a pint of beer will cost you between £2.50 - £4.
Anyways, I concluded wrong. I was close, but wrong!
I googled to see which city was the most expensive and the result was shocking. Any guesses? Well, it's not Paris or Rome or New York or LA or Hong Kong or Mumbai (for those of you who might have taken a really wild guess).
It's the Russian capital of Moscow! The Russian capital has moved to the top spot thanks to the recent property boom and the strengthening of the ruble against the US dollar (which is weakening against almost all currencies). Well, for those of us who had ideas of vacationing in Russia......those ideas will need some serious dough to become a reality.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
I finally joined the bandwagon!
Well, I finally caved in and decided to start my very own blog. Main reasons: work is a little slow nowadays; and I want to see if I can write something...........anything.
Microsoft today unveiled a new version of the "poor man's iPod". The new Zune (what a duh name) is a very appalling attempt at copying Apple's new iPod nano. Microsoft believes that it can eat into Apple's mp3 market and has priced the Zune comparably to the iPod nano. Although Zune has interesting features such as "Zune Pad" (again, a poorer man version of the touch interface on the new Ipod touch) and being able to sync the player to a computer over a home Wi-Fi network and I doubt that it can compete against the beautiful crafted ultra-hip nano which now boasts of video capability. I can just imagine someone carrying an ultra-clunky Zune in "delightful Pink"........Ugghhhh.
In other events, Australia ass-whipped India in the second ODI at Kochi. Venkatesh Prasad has ensured that his legacy continues: Irfan Pathan has now mastered the art of bowling only slow leg cutters. Pathan's attempt at baffling Symonds with multiple slower balls lasted just 3 balls. Symonds flat-batted the 4th slower ball for a straight six. The Indian run-chase was a disaster as usual. During, the 2005-06 season, our team actually chased totals well and won 15-16 consecutive matches chasing. But then Azhu bhai intervened and complained that India was NOT living up to it's reputation of being bad run-chasers (and he did mention that he was losing money, but that's another point) and hence we are now back to square one.
Frustrating............ nonetheless ardent Indian cricket fans like me maintain our loyalty and optimism.
Microsoft today unveiled a new version of the "poor man's iPod". The new Zune (what a duh name) is a very appalling attempt at copying Apple's new iPod nano. Microsoft believes that it can eat into Apple's mp3 market and has priced the Zune comparably to the iPod nano. Although Zune has interesting features such as "Zune Pad" (again, a poorer man version of the touch interface on the new Ipod touch) and being able to sync the player to a computer over a home Wi-Fi network and I doubt that it can compete against the beautiful crafted ultra-hip nano which now boasts of video capability. I can just imagine someone carrying an ultra-clunky Zune in "delightful Pink"........Ugghhhh.
In other events, Australia ass-whipped India in the second ODI at Kochi. Venkatesh Prasad has ensured that his legacy continues: Irfan Pathan has now mastered the art of bowling only slow leg cutters. Pathan's attempt at baffling Symonds with multiple slower balls lasted just 3 balls. Symonds flat-batted the 4th slower ball for a straight six. The Indian run-chase was a disaster as usual. During, the 2005-06 season, our team actually chased totals well and won 15-16 consecutive matches chasing. But then Azhu bhai intervened and complained that India was NOT living up to it's reputation of being bad run-chasers (and he did mention that he was losing money, but that's another point) and hence we are now back to square one.
Frustrating............ nonetheless ardent Indian cricket fans like me maintain our loyalty and optimism.
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