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When I heard the word ‘Canada’, all that I would think about was Toronto, Vancouver, snow, polar bears, eskimos, native americans and skyscrapers. And that was pretty much it. That was over a year ago. Now here I am, relating to you about my experience in the country I call home. After I got married more than a year ago, I joined my husband Kannan in Saskatoon, the capital city of Saskatchewan, an agricultural province of Canada. My intention here is not to portray Canada as a tourist destination. My emphasis is on the journey rather than the destination. I chose not to describe my trip to Toronto this summer for a good reason, which I hope every one would be able to appreciate once they read this.

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As you all know, San Francisco Bay Area is pretty much the Desi Capital of the West. With the technology industry relying increasingly on the smarts and sweat of Indian engineers, the flood of migrants and visitors from India continues.

One of the interesting phenomena out here is the out of town visitors that all of us get - and the typical places that we take them out to - to show them the sights and sounds of the bay area. While most of these are perennial favorites with any visitors, as usual Desis tend to be more conventional and congregate even more to the most popular of these places.

Today I’m gonna describe one such trip we made recently, on Sunday, December 30, 2007 when my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin were visiting us from Shanghai. My favorite route takes me from Fremont north on 880 then across the Bay Bridge to my first stop at Treasure Island. As many of you would know, the Bay Bridge connects the East Bay (Oakland) to San Francisco. The bridge consists of two spans with the Treasure Island in the middle. There isn’t much to see on Treasure Island itself, but the views of the San Francisco skyline from the island are spectacular. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, the infamous Alcatraz (remember “The Rock” starring Sean Connery) prison on an island in the middle of the bay, etc. A tip to budding photographers - since San Francisco is to the West of Treasure Island, the best time to take photographs is in the morning with the Sun behind you. In the afternoon, the glare of sunshine makes it difficult to get good pictures of the city skyline. But then, like my cousin - a serious arts student from Shanghai said - “what’s the point of taking perfect pictures? :-)” so the more creative types amongst you might just relish the challenge.
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This is part 2 of my previous blog on the same place. You can read that by clicking here : Sin City and More

This is how it looks with those neon signs and a happening night life.

Other than gambling, Vegas is famous for alcoholic beverages. Yes- beer, whiskey, rum, gin are easily available at shops. It is comparatively cheaper than other places and you will see people walking down the street with a mug of foaming beer in their hands.
Vegas is also a smoker’s haven. All the casinos and hotels are open to smoke, so you can smoke while you play. People buy a glass of beer take one ash tray and sits on the slot machine smoking and drinking and loosing and winning money. A cigarette pack will cost you around $5 from a shop and a beer in casino is around $5 a glass inside a casino.

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One of the most exciting places in the world – Las Vegas… who hasn’t heard of the gambling capital of the world. When I was in India, I had heard about this place and Hollywood movies had made it an enchanting place for any movie fan.
When I was in Los Angeles, and was thinking of touring the area, my landlord highly recommended that I visit Vegas at least once. Of course, he didn’t need to advise me again.
I travelled alone and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive hotels, so I decided to stay at a motel- of course, I wasn’t going to be spending much time inside, so I figured why pay so much for a room which is mostly going to be unoccupied.

I booked my flight and hotel tickets through Expedia.com
If you are visiting US for the first time and need good quality but inexpensive tickets and hotel rooms, I would recommend Expedia. It gives you a variety of choices and you can always get something within your budget.
I booked myself for 3 days and 2 nights and asked around for some tips on tips on sightseeing, from people who had already visited Vegas. I wanted to carry my bike along but that turned out to be very tedious and time consuming so I decided against it.
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