A 'trip' to remember...

Okay. Paris was fun, I will give you that. One place I would love to visit again. Two days just isn’t enough. First thing’s first, the tower was simply great. But then, we always don’t want sugar in every meal. Try as I might, I just couldn’t seem get the lofty structure out of my sight. Which explains why I had to spend too much time indoors. If you are in Paris, and do not see the tower, it’s probably because you have either turned your back towards it or enclosed yourself in a windowless room.

Louvre (for some reasons they pronounce it 'Loov'), one of the biggest museums in the world, and of course the biggest in France, is one you cannot miss. The parody of course is that the main treasure in there, The Mona Lisa, is not French at all. But I stood in front of it, cried, I don’t know why, and let myself merge into the Italian masterpiece. There are more, and I tell you it's worth the leg-sore you nourish walking inside that gigantic building.

The Seine (La Seine, as they call it) flows with majesty right in the middle of the city. A man like me with poor sense of judgement had to spend a good amount of time deciding which was downstream. Plains always confused me anyway. You will be sickened to see as many bridges over the river. I have seen less pots in all the public toilets of Thimphu combined. They are full of surprises too. Likewise, the oldest bridge in Paris is ironically called ‘New Bridge’ (Pont Neuf). There’s one bridge, under which we can make a wish and it is known to grant every wish. Just as I was going to, the guide tells me that I need to kiss someone on my side to make the wish come true. Hell I would kiss that lady sitting pretty beside me. Getting thrown into the river by her boyfriend would be anything but my wish.

I stood on a place where Marie Antoinette and her husband (King Louis XVI) had been executed by guillotine, 217 years ago. Place de la Concorde. They have a huge Egyptian obelisk where once stood the guillotine. At 3300 years old it is the oldest structure in Paris. It felt tingly to stand by a side where 1300 heads were chopped off during the French Revolution. Mmmm, Parisians are one scary people. All for saying, “Eat cakes”? (For the record, she is just credited for having said that, never proven).

But they are lovely too. Moulin Rouge (Red Mill) says so. In the heart of Paris’ Red Light area. To walk by in the middle of the night is like throwing yourself into a pack of wolves. Everyone wants you to be their customer. But no, no flashy legs and lipstick girls beckoning you to come over. It’s all males doing the talking (asking). The agents! The erotica museum was superb, which is why I spent my time there than with the agents. 7 floors of bizarre artwork, you are bound to get dizzy.

Notre Dame is a rare example of the French architectural ingenuity. You will know why it took about 180 years to finish it. There are more historical sites and masterpieces to see. And I was crazy to think two days would be enough. Yet, all the more reason to go back and enjoy what I have missed this time. Only heaven knows when will that second chance come.

The days in Paris were cool. The nights? Not so. To keep it cheap I booked into an affordable dorm with 6 beds,and a shared bathroom. I step into the room and spot two lovely American ladies. Actually, one was fat and the other was PHAT (pretty hot and tempting). Cool! They are all giggly and we have fun chit chatting. 3 beds to go and lo, 3 more step in. Two dashing Asian girls accompanied by a lad. If life can ever get kind, this was it! But I couldn't help wishing the girls responded to my smiles in a better way. Anyway, time to sleep over it. Kidding me? It’s time to stay awake whole night. Boy, can this woman snore! I am actually slightly embarrassed because we look alike (Asian). I can hear the American ladies twisting and turning in their beds. I would have been surprised if they could have slept through the din.

But praise heavens again, I lived to see another day. I just fled from the room. Felt lot better exposing oneself in the bitter cold, but enjoying the silence by the Seine. The transportation system is good. Every place you can name or spell is connected by metro. The trains on rubber wheels look cool. Another day of cruise and strutting in and around Paris and it’s time to return. Yeah, yeah...all good things must come to an end. But not before you get another jolt.

I left few of my stuffs in the hostel locker room because it was getting heavy to carry around. Going back, I just couldn’t find it. So once again Paris officially becomes the first place where I lost a belonging and made a written statement to someone. The thief, the devil rip his guts apart, got away with an 18Euro souvenir that I had paid for at Eiffel Tower. I am not so sure what 'he' (presuming girls just snore, and don’t steal) wanted to do with my stuffs. Well, he didn’t get much but now I am a smite short of a bed-sheet, towel, toothbrush, 2 pairs of smelly socks and an underwear. I hope he wears the last one on his head and jumps into oblivion to celebrate his victory!

Paris, you indeed were full of surprises. Just can’t wait to go back again!

Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will.

I am sure most of us have heard about Murphy’s Law. It does reflect on the uncanny side of our life. I had this nagging wish to google it up and I read that it is an adage or an epigram which typically states that, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” I couldn’t help noticing how vulnerable we are to this law.

Just the other day I was to see off a Bhutanese couple at the airport. They were specific. “We have some dried-chillies and a few other stuffs, so it would be nice if you could come to the airport at 10am tomorrow and pick them up.” I promised them I would be there.

First things first, I overslept (it was 20 past 10 when I woke up the next day) thanks to the sleeping disorder I seem to have developed lately. My alarm failed to go off. The couple could not call me (as they later told m), because they were out of phone balance. They were having their own fair share of Murphy’s Law too. I decided against going because by the time I get to the airport, they could already have left. But I made myself move anyway. Better late than never!

The fastest transport would take 30 minutes. This time it took 45. You could imagine how frustrating it is to see even a minute go in waste at such times. The trains usually come every 4 minutes, and this time it was taking more than 10. More trains came from the airport than actually went towards it. Finally, getting into one, it stopped a good long 5 minutes overtime at the penultimate station for no apparent reason, much to my dismay.

Yet I made it, some minutes past 11am. They were there, just sparing a few minutes before they made their final exit. You could actually weigh the relief on their faces. They reward me with dry chillies, as promised, a few other interesting edibles and books, and their cute rice-cooker was icing of the cake. Boy was I glad I didn’t give up and stay back. The dread of them having to carry them along because I failed to show up than actually mine missing them was overwhelming.

Like I said, I wasn’t the only one hanging by the loose noose of the damned Law. They had forgotten to hand over their room keys and a card and that would have cost them a good fine. Nice that I could make up for my delay by returning them a favour.

Long after the generous couple had left I kept on wondering if things go wrong just so that people can step in and make things right? Definitely, Murphy’s Law is not just one piece of a jigsaw puzzle, even if it as cruel as the following parody by Thomas Moore;

I never had a slice of bread,

Particularly large and wide,

That did not fall upon the floor,

And always on the buttered side.