Toronto Diaries – Boxing week shopping

Ever since I landed in Toronto I have been asking people about things to buy from here. Also where to buy from. People told me to wait for the Boxing Day. I did. But finding Toronto quite expensive as compared to India, I had my doubts about Boxing Day sales. Also as the Boxing Day came nearer I didn’t see many flyers or excitement in people around.

My route to and from office everyday includes going through Eaton Centre – the largest mall in downtown Toronto. As the Boxing Day neared discount boards started coming up on stores. I and my roommate Yogesh waited on for Boxing Day expecting increased discounts. While browsing through the banners every day we figured there’s something called a boxing week sales where-in the sales start and end before Christmas. And then there’s sale on Boxing Day again. Also we found that in case of electronic items there is an online sale starting the night of Dec-24. The weekend before Christmas we decided to do some shopping as some of the deals looked good to us.

On 24^th when we talked to our office mates they said that during Boxing Day there are huge lines and that people start queuing up from as early as 2-3 AM. None of the folks we spoke to were actually interested in Boxing Day sales and kind of scared us. We were undecided as to what we should do.

It was 25^th – Christmas. We found the roads almost empty. Surprisingly almost all the shops were closed. We were told this is what is going to happen on Christmas; but knowing Christmas is the biggest festival here we expected something. It was a dampener. We had coffee at one of the few opened outlets and came home little disappointed. I started checking online deals. I wanted to buy Xbox 360 and found the Boxing Day in-store deal online. I showed it to Yogesh as well. We browsed the site(s) and found that delivery was within a day or 2. So we decided to order online. As I finished ordering online he changed his mind. He said he would buy it the next day in store.

On Boxing Day Yogesh woke me up at 6 AM. We went to BestBuy and he bought Xbox 360 there. Then we came back home to drop it; and wen t back shopping. There was hardly any crowd and we walked down the road. We were surprised and wondering if this is what queuing up is all about. We went to Eaton Centre and started visiting the stores looking for things we could buy. As noon approached the crowd started increasing. We checked out many stores and Yogesh did most of his shopping; while I didn’t do much. We decided to pack lunch and go home. We would have our lunch at home, drop the packets and come back for more.

When we came back the place was fully crowded. It won’t be wrong to say that this was the biggest crowd I had seen in my entire stay in Toronto; in fact I hadn’t seen half a crowd before in Toronto. Almost all big shops had queues outside. Some of the stores had pretty long queues. We didn’t enter any of those shops, but we saw what Boxing Day sales meant to people here. We did some more shopping – this I did most of the shopping. There was a huge queue for billing as well. It was nice to see people standing in queues patiently waiting for their turn. Almost everyone had some packets containing stuff they had already bought. We were exhausted by then; legs were paining as if refusing to stand or walk. We decided it was enough for today and returned home around 6 PM after having another coffee.

More than 10 hours of shopping totally exhausted us. At Eaton Centre people were sitting on floors, benches, stairs, anywhere they could find a place; everyone having several bags with them. We had our share of bags as well. Overall it was a wonderful experience being part of the Boxing Day shopping. The body is yearning for sleep as tomorrow it is back to office…

Toronto diaries – Trip to the Niagara Falls

The first outing in Toronto outside of Toronto was to Niagara Falls. I guess the name says it all J. It indeed is a wonderful place – amazing sight. More on it later. First the journey.

I, Yogesh, Shashin and Ankur rented a car for the trip. Only Ankur and I had our driving licenses; so Ankur was the designated driver and I was to be a backup if required. We are not used to the left-hand drive and expected some trouble; and trouble it was in the initial part of the journey. It took Ankur some time to get used to the brakes and the seat belts came into good use (yeah me and Yogesh were wearing seat-belts sitting on the back seat). Also he was having trouble deciding which lane to drive in as here it is completely opposite to India. Add to it his confusion in ‘left’ and ‘right’. And to make matters worse he was dealing with 3 side seat drivers. We had one hell of a ride. Although I must say once he got hang of the car and we stopped giving directions he drove pretty well.

Niagara Falls is some 120 kms from Toronto and we reached there in less than 3 hours. The moment we got out of the car we could feel the chill. It was cold and windy. The temperature was touching 0 and it felt like about -3. We parked the car and walked towards the falls. As we reached near the falls came into view. They seemed small compared to what I had heard (and imagined) but never the less they were beautiful. As we reached near the railing I found that they were not the actual falls; the actual falls were a little further. As it came into view all I could do was stare at it (and exclaim WOW). I am sure trying to describe it will be a waste of time. I will let the photos do the talking.

It was freezing out there. We had a coffee spend some more time there and then started back. On our way back we went to a couple of vineyards. One was an unknown entity – a new setup which wasn’t yet in market. The wines were pretty good. Tasted ice-wine for the first time and it was pretty good. The second winery that we visited was a well-known brand – the setup was too commercialized for my liking. On our way back we stopped near Lake Ontario. It was so cold out there that within a couple of minutes I couldn’t feel my ears. Got back in the car and went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I can’t believe we waited for around 50 mins for vegetarian food (yeah it’s true).

Overall it was a wonderful day and a wonderful visit. Thanks to Ankur for driving all the way despite our comments, and thanks to Yogesh and Shashin for making the trip wonderful. And finally to Niagara Falls for being so breathtaking.

Toronto diaries – the first week

It’s been a week in Toronto and it feels like I have been here quite long. It’s been a strange city so far. Sometimes I feel like going back home and sometimes I feel as if it is a nice place to settle in – yeah settling here has crossed my mind. Haven’t been able to explore much as office has kept me busy. But got some flavor of the place from my colleagues who have been here for some time.

I am staying in a corporate apartment provided by my company. It’s a 2-bedroom apartment which I am sharing with a colleague who has come with me. The apartment is nice and has almost everything. There is a microwave, an oven, burner, washing machine & drier, fridge, dishwasher, utensils, TV, toaster, juicer etc. in short almost all the essentials that you need are provided which makes the stay easier. Thermostat keeps the apartment warm and cozy.

My roommate has brought lots of ready to eats so food isn't a worry as well. Although its nothing compared to home cooked food, it is quite comfortable not having to cook or eating all meals outside. Lunch we are having outside but breakfast and dinner we make in room. A couple of dinner invitations from people already staying here haven’t been bad either. Automatic Washing machine reduces the effort of washing clothes. Dishwasher takes care of the dishes. I guess it has been a comfortable stay thus far.

About Toronto, well it seems a nice place. Our apartment is in downtown, so there are lots of people around. The office is 20 mins walk. The weather is amazing – amazingly cold I should say. The temperature has stated touching 0 and expected to go to -2 next week. Moreover for the past 2 days wind has been blowing continuously making it feel even colder. But I am kind of enjoying it. And I got a glimpse of snow fall although it can hardly be called a snowfall. Can’t wait for the actual snowfall J. Toronto has a nice subway which prevents you from walking outside in the cold; you only have to go few blocks in between in the open. Traffic rules are pretty good. People around seem well as well.

The food here is pretty bland. I won’t be wrong if I say I hardly enjoyed any food so far. There are almost no spices and taste is nowhere compared to India. Even the vegetables seem to lack their own taste. Maybe soon I will have to start cooking, but that might not make much difference :P. Also the place seems to be on the costlier side; at least by Indian standards. Another thing I have seen so far is they don’t seem to have a concept of small. All food items seem to come in large packets/sizes. Plus most of the eatables are towards sweet here I have hardly found anything spicy so far.

I believe that’s it for now. More posts to follow soon.

2011 - Bye Bye

I know I am a little late to say goodbye to the last year but like they say “Better late than never”. The last year was a mixed bag; but I wouldn’t call it a happening year. Trips were far lesser than previous years. More friends got married and others settled into their married life. Many got new members in their family. Office wasn’t too bad. I stayed alone for the first time in my life for quite long – stayed in Bangalore the last two months. And I managed to escape one more year remaining single.

The best thing to happen last year was my trip to Laddakh. It was something I wanted to do for a long time and finally I could make the trip. The place was amazing and it was a dream come true.

I can’t let the year go without thanking friends who really made the year memorable. I can’t mention all the things but I will mention few of the people and moments -

• I will start with Minakshi, without whom the Laddakh trip wouldn’t have been possible. And we shared many memorable moments together.
• Shubhi for making my stay in Bangalore comfortable. I don’t know how I would have survived without her.
• Rupesh, Nitin and Birendra for making the office life enjoyable.
• Seema for helping me with her advices.
• Shubhi and Devadarshan for helping me win the TT and Badminton titles.
• Navdeep for the wonderful time spend playing badminton.
• Febin for all the movies and time spent playing pool.
• Kunal, Febin and Sahil for the great times spent together.
• Manas, Saurav, Ashish and Hina for always being around.

I would like to thank all the people who were part of my last year. And I am hoping for an eventful year - my last year in twenties. So its “ciao 2011” and “here you go 2012”