The first look teaser for the motion capture Rajni starrer movie Kochadaiyan is out and I should say it is a total disappointment.
The teaser falls flat completely with the animation looking dead amateurish. After having been exposed to the likes of movies such as 300 you expect something that would atleast be half decent.

The teaser leaves you wondering about a few things. It shows you how filmamakers think anytthing with the Rajni name will sell, not worrying about mediocrity. I also wonder if the director would have got this project but for being his daugter. With everything at her disposal starting from a fabulaous star cast, an excellent music director and the budget, I wonder if a better filmmaker would have churned out better products. Mind you Tamil films industry is choc a bloc full of awesome talents.

The trailer does not show much about the story line and only shows Rajni doing a few walks and scenes. I wonder what the real story line was. I am sorry for being so critical and the only reason I am so critical is because unlike other movies that ride on the performance of the actors, this movies main strong point should be the animation and please don't tell about it being the first time. If given to the right director this movie would have been better I feel.

The film reminds us of a previous Indian movie called Pandavas in terms of animation and that movie came almost a decade back.

Verdict - 2/5 for the vision. 

India is the land of the Tuk tuks or in local terms the Autos. Unfortunately though the Autowalas are also notorious for asking exorbitant amount as fare, especially if he comes to know you have no idea where you want to go.
The autowalas in Chennai are perhaps the worst of the lot. So how do you go about getting yourself a fair deal?

Simple! Bargain and bargain well. Always remember that the amount that he quotes is always more than twice the ideal amount.

• So, ask the first auto for the fare.

• Bargain with him to check if he comes down.
• Then proceed to another auto. 
• It is advisable to stop a running auto and check if he is willing to come.
• Compare prices, if there is  drop in fare , ask for further reduction in price. 
• Tell him you have gone for less and that you are no stranger to the place. 
• If you are in no hurry you can even try stopping a third auto and quote the figure in your mind. Chances are that you will fix a deal that is almost fair. 

Ensure that all 3 autos are not from the same standing ones as in most cases there is an unwritten code and one will not quote less than the other from the same stand.

Luckily though the days days of bargaining hard are long gone thanks to a supreme court directive that has asked all state Governments to fix auto fares. So next time you decide to take an auto, ask and insist that he charges you by the meter.

Also , if you have time , you can also try using the services of either namma auto or AutoRaja. These 2 companies provide autos that are fair and the drivers are also well behaved.

There are lots of ways to book domestic flight tickets in India. One way is to visit the individual airlines to book the tickets.
The popular domestic airlines in India are:

1. Indigo
2. SpiceJet
3. Jet Airways
4. Air India
   
5. GoAir etc

The better option though would be to visit one of the Flight aggregators like Makemytrip.com /Yatra.com to book your tickets. Not only do they list all the airlines in India but you can also compare and book the cheapest flight possible. Plus there will be discounts also that we can avail off.

So what are the popular aggregators in India?

1. Cleartrip.com
2. Makemytrip.com
3. Yatra.com
4. GoIbibo.com etc

Any special tips you ask? Well , may be I'll take you through the process and let you decided if there is a tip for you in there or not!

1) The Airport: Mostly there will be a International Terminal and Domestic terminal. When you enter a policeman will ask you for the ticket. So have a print out or an eticket handy.
2) Id-proof: You will also be asked to show proof of your identity. So do carry one like your drivers license, passport etc which displays your full name and has been issued by a competent authority.
3) Scan your Check in Luggage: Each of the airline has their own scanning area. So if your airline is Indigo, then find the airline scanning area and get your check-in baggage scanned.
4) Proceed to get your boarding pass: After getting your baggage scanned you can proceed to your airlines counter to get the boarding pass.  

Tip: You can ask for the window seat here and based on availability you will be given one on most times.

5) Luggage limits: Usually on most domestic flights the limit for checkin luggage is 15 kg with a 2 Kg buffer. While you can carry a 7 Kg cabin Luggage. However do check the ticket for exact details.

6)Security Check: Then you will have to proceed to the security check where your both you and your Hand luggage will be scanned and stamped and your done. 

7) Proceed to Gate: Check for Gate number on the Boarding pass and proceed to the appropriate gate.

Bon Voyage!

How is Makemytrip tour plans?

Makemytrip is one of the popular tour planners in India. As on 29 August, 13, they offer 4N/5D package with 2N each at pattaya and Bangkok for 23,000 rupees per person.

Me and my wife took a package from Makemytrip.com and it was a private tour and not a group one. Hence , I can share my views here as a review. Once you express interest to travel, one of their travel consultants get in touch with you. You can discuss all the travel plans with them and also get a better deal on the price of the travel. You can also get your choice of hotels booked through them. They initially told me that they will give a 4N/5D package at 38 ,000 rupees and late upon bargaining I managed to strike a deal with them for 6N/7D package at 37,000 per person.
The package included the below:
1) To and fro economy flight tickets.
2) Airport transfers.
3) Hotel booking charges (4 star hotels)
4) Sight seeing trips to (Coral Island + Bangkok temple tour)
5) Pattaya to Bangkok transfer

So as you can see the sightseeing planned by them was not enough and I had used hotels2thailand.com to plan for the remaining days.
We visited the below in addition to what was offered by Makemytrip
1) Safari World
2) Siam Ocean world
3) Visited the many shopping complexes
4) Walking street
5) 2Skypattaya
6)Nong Nooch Botanical Garden

So we had loads of fun out there. As far as makemytrip booking goes, although they offered all of the service that they promised, I felt they could have added a few more free sight seeing tours considering how much we paid for the trip.

They are a reliable service provider as far as experience but considering the current prices if we were given a 30K/ person price for the 6N/7D package I think it would have been totally satisfying.

Or you could plan everything yourself and save a lot! how you ask? Check the posts!
Cheers!

The 2nd best way to travel in India apart from flights is by the Railways. The Indian Railways are a vast expansive networking connecting almost all parts of India. It is one of the best legacies left by the British.

Unfortunately however, the railway tickets to most popular routes get sold out pretty quickly. Thus, you would have to plan well ahead for your trip and book your tickets in advance to get comfortable seats in the AC compartments. It is always advisable to book tickets in advance even if you are not exactly sure of your plans because if you cancel your tickets even before a day, you will get almost all of your money back.

So, where do you start booking your tickets from. The official website is www.irctc.co.in. You would have to create an account to book tickets there. Please be warned that the website experiences unbelievable traffic sometimes and will be unresponsive on such times.
So, follow the below steps to book a ticket:

1) Register with https://www.irctc.co.in and sign up. 
2) Then register with http:cleartrip.com/register 
3) When you register with both the sites please register with the same email id. 
4) Then as a next step you would have to link up both these accounts. But you would most probably fail doing that if you try it through cleartrip since you do not have an Indian mobile number to receive an sms. So you would have to write emails to the below IDs. Include all the IDs in the same mail and send it.

wsoperations@irctc.co.in 

 care@irctc.co.in

railesc@cleartrip.com

 5) Mention in your email that you would like to link both the accounts so that you can book your tickets through cleartrip. And since you do not have an Indian mobile number you are not able to receive the OTP and that you request them to send it via email.
6) You should expect to receive an email like this.

Dear Customer,
Please find email OTP and mobile OTP for activation:
Email OTP: xxxx
Mobile OTP: xxxx
user id : xxxxx (your ID)
Thanks & Regards
Ws Team
WS Operations
IRCTC Ltd.

7) While you send your email please remember to send a scanned copy of your passport photo page and send it as an attachment to the email and make sure it is less than 1MB in size.  

8) Once you receive the Mobile verification code through email, you can use that to link both the accounts and start booking tickets through cleartrip that is much better.

What is the best class of travel in the railways?
There are basically 5 classes of travel.:
1) Unreserved: Never ever enter into this coach as this is almost always crowded with the poor who canno afford a better class.

2) Second Sleeper: This is where most of the general public travels. This compartment has the very basic necessity for travel. You can sleep at stretch during the nights as you will be allocated a berth. Please be warned though that the washrooms here would be most untidy. You will not be happy with the services provided here and this class should be avoided as much as possible.

3) AC Three Tier Sleeper: This is where the upper middle middle class sleep. It is much more cleaner, fully air conditioned and feels very comfortable as well. You should definitely travel in this and above only if you need comfortable and safe journey.

4) AC 2 Tier Sleeper: Similar to 3 tier except that its more spacious.

Also, travelling in the AC compartments  is safer as you would have less trouble from crooks.

Once you have booked a ticket, an sms would be sent to your phone and an e-ticket would be sent to your email. Either that or an eticket sent to your mail would be enough . You need not physically take print outs. And yeah you also have to have an identity proof with you.

There is however an excellent write up on this website that I found just as I completed typing this post. Do visit this one, it is more comprehensive.
http://www.seat61.com/India.htm#book%20-%20from%20outside

Bon voyage!!

When you are in India, there will come a time when you will have to travel by bus on the following occasions
:
1) The destination city has no or very less air connectivity.
2) The Train tickets are already sold out.

 There are a variety of buses in India and the comfort level of travel as well as the quality of busses vary according to the money you are willing to pay.

There are basically 3 kinds of buses:
1) The ordinary buses which do not have AC or push back. Travel will be very uncomfortable in such buses.

2) The Volvo/Multi axle semisleepers. Most of these buses are Air conditioned and have push back seats. Ideal for a travel for upto 8 hours.

3) For longer travel you may want to consider booking tickets in a sleeper bus where you have berths for sleeping.

There are plenty of site from where you can book your tickets online:
1) Redbus.in
2)Goibibo.in
3)Makemytrip.com etc

Of these Redbus is the most popular and caters only towards bus booking. When you search for busses, the site provides details on the quality of buses, the user ratings and the price, you then have to chose the bus, your choice of seats and you are done . An  ticket would be sufficient for your travel in most cases.

Thailand is one of the favorite of young couples these days. It is mainly for 2 reasons, the attractions and the cost. Compared to similar destinations like Mauritius , Maldives, Malaysia etc , Thailand is comparatively cheaper. Plus Mauritius and Maldives are Islands while Thailand can give you a feel of both Islands and a bustling city.

Okay now that you have decided to visit Thailand , how do you go about planning you trip?

You have two choices:

1. Book it through one of the tour planners like Makemytrip, Yatra or Coxandkings etc.
2. Plan yourself and make all the bookings 

While the former is the easier option, the later will give you flexibility and will save you lots of money + you can get great discounts/offers when you deal with the hotels directly.

Let us see first how to plan yourself.

1. Decide on how long you want to plan your honeymoon for. It is usually 5N/6D or more. The tour packages start from 3N/4D but trust me, a longer honeymoon would be great fun and it usually feels as if 5N/6D was a short one. Coz there are lots to do. So, lets suppose you chose the 5N/6D plan.
2. The popular destinations in Thailand primarily are 
1. Bangkok
2. Pattaya
3. Krabi
4. Phuket
3. You will have to chose 2 out of the 4 from the above and Bangkok is a default destination. so chose the one of the 3 which are left. So that you can spend 3N each.
4. The next step is to book flight tickets . Air Asia offers amazing deals with all in return fares at 9000 rupees even. So , if you are lucky you can get a to and fro ticket for the two of you well within 18-20 K. It is important to book the return ticket as well as it is necessary for Visa on arrival.
5. Booking hotels is the next tougher part. There are plenty of hotels to chose from and it can be a daunting task. You can check our guide to chose the hotels. 
6. If you book directly through the hotels website, you can get deals like "Book 2Nights and get 3rd night free" or "Free upgradation for couple on honeymoon" or "Free internet at rooms" etc. These offers are not available for those who book through tour planners. Additionally you can speak personally to them before booking to workout a good deal. 
7. Check with the hotels and arrange for Airport pickup and drop.
8. You can use sites like Agoda.com or tripadvisor to learn about the hotel deals and reviews before booking. A 4 star hotel should cost somewhere like 3-4 K per night.
9. Once you have reached your hotel you can plan for sight seeing in two ways:
1. Every hotel has tour offices. You can book sight seeing packages there.
2. Or you can select destinations through a site like http://www.hotels2thailand.com/. They offer great deals and the cost is considerably lesser as well. A detailed post on how to book will be discussed in another post.
10. So all in all you can plan a 5N/6D trip for 2 within 40 K if you plan well and get the discounts.

On the contrary if you book through the tour planners :

1. If its a honeymoon, insist on a private tour. Group tours dont allow flexibility and you would not enjoy it much.
2. Speak to multiple vendors and get quotes. The initial price quoted by them will almost always be on the higher side. You can negotiate really well with them and get the best price. 
3. A separate post on how to deal with tour planners will be done!

Bon voyage!

Alright, now that we have reached Pattaya, what are the best attractions there?

1) Walking street:
Walking street is the red light area of Thailand where all the females and she-males are involved in their trade. But wait! Dont get scared. This place is a definite must visit. Me and my wife went through the place and trust me there is nothing to get scared. Walking street is just 

A big benefit of planning a quick trip to Thailand is that you have the option of getting a Visa on Arrival.
However, the facility is available to only people from 28 countries including India, Russia etc. The US, Australia etc do not figure in the list. So how do we go about getting this visa? What are the procedures involved? What are the documents needed?

The duration of stay for this visa is only 15 days which should suffice for most casual visitors.

Documents needed for the Visa on Arrival:

1. Passport with a minimum validity of 6 months.
2. The applicant must show proof of having minimum living expense of 10,000 Baht per person or 20,000 Baht per family. Thai or any currency can be shown as proof.
3. Must possess a fully paid return ticket within 15 days from the date of arrival.
4. 2 photographs (4x6 cm).
5. Application fee of 1000 Baht.
6. A duly filled Visa on arrival application. 

Can the Visa be extended?

Visitors who enter the Kingdom with Visa on Arrival generally cannot file an application for extension of stay except in special cases such as illness which prevents them from travelling, etc. They can submit an application at the office of Immigration Bureau, Immigration Division 1, Government Center B, Chaengwattana Soi 7, Bangkok 10210. Tel 0-2141-989 or at website http://www.immigration.go.th

Typical visa on Arrival process at Don Muang Airport!

An arrival/departure card will be given while you are on the flight. Please collect that and fill them up. The visa on arrival form can be downloaded from the image above or it can be collected from the immigration counters. Once you get the form , fill all the details and paste your photograph. 

You would need 1000 Baht for the Visa on Arrival as fee. You can exchange your money at one of the exchange counters that will be right there. We would advise you not to exchange too much since the exchange rates at the airports are terrible. Instead exchange just enough to help you pay for the Visa and also get you to the hotel . There are better exchange rates available in the City, the rates vary hugely and hence the advise.

Once you have the cash, form with photo filled, just stand in the queue for your turn. You will be asked for passport, return ticket and you may be asked to show proof of having enough cash to cover your stay. A visa on arrival stamp is placed on your stam and Voila thats it!

After that you will have to wait for your turn to proceed to the immigration counter where a photo of the visitor is taken by a digital camera and stamping on the passport is done to complete the process. You can then proceed downstairs to collect the luggage.

Caution!

There will be another counter where they will take photograph for you and fill the form for you as well. But that will put you back by 200 Baht. It is completely unwise to spend so much when you can easily carry your own photograph.

The citizens of the below countries are eligible to get visa on arrival on Thailand!

1. Bhutan : Kingdom of Bhutan
2. China : People’s Republic of China
3. Cyprus : Republic of Cyprus
4. Czech : Czech Republic
5. Estonia : Republic of Estonia
6. Hungary : Republic of Hungary
7. India : Republic of India
8. Kazakhstan : Republic of Kazakhstan
9. Latvia : Republic of Latvia
10. Liechtenstein : Principality of Liechtenstein
11. Lithuania : Republic of Lithuania
12. Maldives : Republic of Maldives
13. Mauritius : Republic of Mauritius
14. Oman : Sultanate of Oman
15. Poland : Republic of Poland
16. Russian Federation
17. Saudi Arabia : Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
18. Slovakia : Slovak Republic
19. Slovenia : Republic of Slovenia  
20. Uzbekistan
21. Ukraine
22. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia  
23. Taiwan
24. Bulgaria
25. Andorra
26. Malta
27. Romania
28. San Marino