Monday - Friday in Alice Springs

As I now sit in the Alice Springs Airport Café with a cup of cappuccino as my companion, I cant help but feel pleasantly bewildered at how the past few days have panned out. Before I had arrived in Alice Springs, I assumed I would be embarking on many lone drives to explore the Outback. I assumed I would meet Kundan for a meal and catch up for an hour, maybe 2.

As I bid him farewell this afternoon however, the both of us could not help but marvel at the week's proceedings. On Monday, Kundan, Keshav and his wife (whose name I still do not know) joined me on an expedition to Trephina Gorge to catch the sunset. It was a spectacular sight. Unfortunately, we barely made it for the sunset due to an erroneous trail. Thankfully, after getting some advice from a couple camping under the stars, we were redirected to a short walk up the gorge. There, we stood mesmerized for fifteen minutes before hastening back to the car. We had wanted to avoid driving the one-hour-journey in complete darkness and therefore left while the remnants of daylight seeped beyond the horizon. Thankfully, no cow or kangaroo or fox or horse or… you get the picture… was harmed in our journey back to Alice Springs town. Subsequently, after knocking on the doors of a 'Closed on Mondays' Vietnamese Restaurant, we found ourselves at the all too familiar Hanuman Restaurant for a round of Briyani.

Tuesday… allow me some minutes to try remember what hap… Ahah! How can I forget. Tuesday was the final and most important day of the Nepalese festival of Dashain. Kundan decided to have a quiet celebration with the Keshavs and me. I had also booked a night walk in Alice Springs Desert Park and could only make it over at 9.15pm. Once again we had the traditional Nepalese dish of Momo (which I really enjoy and may attempt to cook). Keshav decided to show off his grooves while the rest of us convulsed with laughter. All in all, another good night.

Wednesday was rather quiet. Keshav's wife had been working three full days and our after hours activities from previous nights had usually stretched till late. Understandably, it had begun to take a toll on her and all of us in general. We decided to catch some rest at out own places. I took a short drive to Corroboree Rock again as I did not want to stay in the motel room without much to do. Needless to say, it was a beautiful sunset drive again. I then headed to Hanuman's (yes again!) for a chicken briyani (please don't judge me).

On Thursday, I found myself at Anzac Hill for sunset. I had a shot in mind and decided to get it that day. While I was at Anzac Hill, the rest of the gang had gone to Coles for some shopping. They invited me for dinner where we had fantastic roast lamb after Keshav had a minor disagreement with the oven. Licking our lips from the fantastic meal, we also got to watching "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".  Yet another fantastic gathering as Thursday drew to a close.

Friday meant that it was "Stress Less in the Park". I had a good time with my Healthy Living colleagues, who by the way have been absolutely fantastic to me the past week as well. We had great fun wobbling around on wobble boards where I attempted to set the Alice Springs Guinness record of the longest balance. Martin counted 29 seconds but when trying to film on video, I only managed a pathetic 13 seconds. GRID, also known as Guinness Record International Department, refused to accept my 29 sec into their books as they wanted video evidence. Sad, but I have learnt to accept their decision.  Moving on, as I bid farewell to my colleagues, I checked into my new hotel which was Kundan's residence. He had very kindly offered me to stay with him which I duly obliged to.  That evening, the now-usual gang of 4 of us decided to knock on a familiar door again. You guessed it! We were adamant to get that Vietnamese food in our stomachs and this time, Kundan made a booking. The food was good, the ambience was nice but the service could have been better. I mean, it is weird when you are served fish on a portable stove that does not turn on and when you ask the boss about turning it on, she replied by saying, "I already made the fish hot for you, why didn’t you eat it earlier?". This left us a little quizzed with the million dollar question flashing in our heads.

"WHY THEN DID YOU SERVE US THE FISH ON A PORTABLE STOVE?"

Anyways, not that we made a big deal out of it but it was definitely an interesting experience. With another joyful gathering with good food, it was time for the  'fantastic' four of us to call it a night.

At this juncture, I shall end this blog post. It is time to check if it is time for my boarding. Rest assured, I will update the blog with a post on the weekend's proceedings. For now, I can't wait to be back in Darwin. I miss my friends there as well bit most importantly miss Sangeetha. I am out for now. Cheers :)