Most time I am thinking in euroes now but when I buy something I am doing an X 70 in my head. I know the seven times table so well now. As I was trying to buy a ticket in Amsterdam, I paid with my international debit card for a normal 7 euro day ticket and then later next night as I checked my Indian account, a figure of 508rs. caught my eye. BAM . I was hit by the rupee syndrome! 500rs for Public transport? aaaaa.
Beware of this syndrome in your travels abroad. Many a good thing I walked away from becoz I would multiply it by 70 and decide that it's not worth paying so much. We are getting paid in euroes here ( Thank God and S's exchange fellowship !) but then every now and then I do a X71 and gasp at what I am paying for stuff. ( all are today's exchange rate of 71euroes to a rupee!)
these are from cents in euroes to rupees:
46rs for a flavoured milk of 250ml
35rs for a packet of bread
35-40rs for garbage bags
106rs to wash my clothes in the washing machine and if I use the drier, another 106!
Rice is relatively cheap at 70rs for a kg!
All the economics really confused me so till now I kept euro accounts. As the days to go home come closer, I am busy picking up small gifts for my friends and family. Small light and cheap, but also to their liking. Choosing gifts is fun and I feel quite the santa claus. And again,
I am back to the ruppee syndrome and voila, I discover, everything is cheaper at home!
Purses, clothes, pens , pencils, even notebooks are cheaper rupee to euro! For the same kind stuff I pay more here. Certainly don't come to shop in europe. Just get your cheese olives and chocolates, they are good and we don't get them back in India. Instead pack your head with sights, sounds, smells and the memories of this place. They are priceless! Here a few more from inside my head captured in the camera.
Friday, December 04, 2009
inside of a metroUbahn station
Thursday, December 03, 2009
DIJK in Holland
I went out in car with my friends family on a road trip to visit the longest dike in holland. A marvel of engineering this separates freshwater from the saltwater.
"The Afsluitdijk (Ofslútdyk) is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich , over a length of 32 km (20 miles) and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.
It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works, damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer." ( verfied from Wikki)
this is the lake!
It doesn't seem like its possible for a little boy of ten to hold back the floods with a thumb or hand if this dyke is breached.
The wind was amazing, almost blew me off the small metal bridge that I clung to desperately, trying to click a photo while the wind snapped at my camera, pulling at its strap and tried to hit the lens cap on my nose! That's the sea and the wall of the dike.
Here are the photos thanks also to my gorrilla pod that helped me click some shots with both my friends...
that's the saltwater behind us!
"The Afsluitdijk (Ofslútdyk) is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich , over a length of 32 km (20 miles) and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.
It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works, damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer." ( verfied from Wikki)
this is the lake!
The wind was amazing, almost blew me off the small metal bridge that I clung to desperately, trying to click a photo while the wind snapped at my camera, pulling at its strap and tried to hit the lens cap on my nose! That's the sea and the wall of the dike.
that's the saltwater behind us!Some historical maps and photos of the construction, in the cafe of the monument built to symbolize the completion of the dyjk
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