Memories from trips- Part 2

Kulu Manali — Have blogged about this earlier here. I loved this camping holiday for the spectacular views of the Himalayas but I'm not sure I'd enjoy the freezing-to-death experience again. After all, I am one of those thermally-challenged people who need something warm even during the non-existent Bombay winters. Given a choice, I’d go for a Himalayan holiday which involves a cozy bed, heaters, and a bathroom please. I guess nobody will call me for a trek now.

Nawalgarh, Rajasthan- Roughly 140 kms from Jaipur, we visited Nawalgarh and enjoyed the unique experience of staying at a friend's Shekhawati haveli, feasting on the best food ever and waking up to the aroma of saffron-flavoured tea. There was even a secret door behind the cupboard in my room, which opened into a passage, leading to where I know not. (It might sound like an adventurous idea to explore but trust me, you don’t want to have visions of a Rajasthani ghost, sword in hand, haunting you at night.) The itinerary included the mandatory camel ride, a visit to other havelis to see the lovely fresco paintings that the region is famous for, the palace at Mandawa, and addictive sessions of 'Teen Patti'. We stopped by at Jaipur for a couple of hours, scouting for handicrafts and yummy onion pakodas at a place that I now forget.

Gangtok/Darjeeling/Shillong- My first ever trip to the North East of India and definitely not the last, because I fell in love with everything there. The train journey was a personal travel record- 48 hrs from Bombay to Siliguri, and a mind and body-numbing 60 hrs on the return from Guwahati (this is one record I have no interest in beating). Everything about this trip was crazy. To begin with, we ventured on that long train ride with no confirmed tickets in hand. That’s right. When you’re a bunch of friends, fresh out of college, these things don’t unnerve you as much. We stayed throughout at Army quarters and bunkers, and heard stories from soldiers about life in the army. The sight of the beautiful river Teesta winding through the mountains, the stunning tea gardens in Darjeeling, and best of all the drive to Nathula pass—the Indo-China border blew us away. When I got back, I told everybody I’d been to China. After all, I’d stretched my leg across the barbed wire and shook hands with the Chinese soldier (half hoping he wouldn’t shoot my toe for trespassing). The most amusing experience was watching the movie “Main hoon na” at a run-down theatre in Gangtok. Any attempt at humour on screen was immediately met with an uproar of giggles and laughter. Bollywood was definitely big there, especially Himesh Reshmiya it seemed, and that got us a lot of brownie points because we came from Bombay —the land of Bollywood, ta da.

Nashik- One of the four sites for the Kumbh mela, I visited Nashik in 2003 to witness the religious frenzy and the millions who throng there for its holy air. While we weren’t on any spiritual quest, our interest lay largely in experiencing this mass event and see what it was all about. And I certainly got a taste of the place elbowing past ash-smothered sadhus and surviving the ritual dip in the river without getting run over by zealous devotees. Not meant for the faint hearted but worth the experience.

On my wish list:
The backwaters of Kerala
The jungles of North India and the thrills of encountering a tiger
The sand dunes of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur
The pristine, wild beauty of Arunachal Pradesh (hopefully without Maoist/Chinese interference)
….and lots more.

Memories from travels over the years

I came across a nice idea on a blog to write a few lines about all the places you have travelled to. While it's not possible to list every trip, coz some are big, some are small and some aren't memorable at all (ah, that rhymed, I've listed some of the places I've visited, in no particular order or chronology. Will try and add pictures later.

Amsterdam- This is my most recent trip and honestly deserves an entire post(which may or may not materialize, so better a line than nothing). Absolutely fell in love with the place! Boats on the canals; the trams winding through the heart of the city; the lovely August weather; warm people- friendly and full of humour; beautiful countryside (struggled through did a 33 km cycling km tour through villages and a beautiful route bordering the sea); stroopwaffles (!)- super yum local biscuit, two layers of waffles with syrup in between (not sticky or too sweet, just right); and the very organized traffic (if you're from India, any place with even a moderate sense of discipline on the roads will amaze you, but I found it particularly fascinating that cyclists are given an entire path of their own to pedal along. Neat!) Besides there's the plethora of museums of which I visited a few- Anne Frank's house, Van Gough, Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, and a cute little Windmill museum. There's enough to keep a tourist occupied for a couple of days even if you don't venture near the places that Amsterdam is otherwise (in)famous for. :) But I suppose if you go all the way there, you might want to check out everything, including the hash brownies. Afraid I didn't try those.

Coorg- Here's where you wake up and smell the coffee. Especially since we stayed at a coffee estate surrounded by shrubs of arabica (if my memory serves me right). I didn't enjoy the place as much as the company- a boisterous bunch of family members including cousins, aunts/uncles and assorted grandparents.

Yercaud- More coffee, more fun. I remember the picturesque views, drives through the plantations, jackfruit growing all over the place, and the first time I saw pepper on trees (like lovely green pearls). The highlight was a trek (in our pyjamas) to some supposed famous falls (Kiliyur) which ultimately turned out to be only a trickle of water dripping down the rocks. Also remember an incident when we were all admiring some caterpillar in the grass. My cousin brother, who noticed us bunched up, came running to inspect and in his misplaced enthusiasm crushed it right under his shoe, before asking innocently, "What are you guys looking at"?

Thailand- The first time I ventured out of the country, so this trip is extra special. The deep blue seas of Phuket, the stunning view from our hotel room (Cape Panwa); the surreal (and initially frightening) experience of scuba diving, with fish swimming past you; the vibrant nightlife of Patong; and the crazy shopping haven that is Bangkok -funn(although hubs and I both thought we didn't do justice to all the goodies on offer and need to revisit the place to fill our wardrobes and empty our wallets).

Goa- I must be one of the few people who haven't visited this place in their partying days, by which I mean a college trip or a New year's bash or just a trip with friends. The only time I've been here was when I was 10 (not amusing to most I suppose) but so many events from the trip are etched in my mind because it was one of the first proper holiday with my family, with the added jazz of a 5 star hotel. I was thrilled by the starfish on the beach, the joys of building sand castles, the sumptious buffet at the hotel. I think I really need to update this list with a visit to the flea markets, laze on the beach, and just have a hippy holiday. :)

To be continued...

Mumbai to Bengaluru and more...

How many changes can take place in a year in one single year? A lot, apparently. 2009 has been a very very eventful year for me, involving some big and some bigger action-packed moments. Early this year I moved from Bombay to B'lore after eight years in the city that never sleeps. My 2-year stint in my Bombay firm ended as I prepared to pack my bags to settle in Namma Bengaluru. And then of course was The event of my life, my wedding with dear B. Just as I was beginning to soak in all these things, came another ‘first’ moment. My passport finally got stamped and I made my maiden international trip to sunny, sandy Thailand. And finally, my brief, (hubs will disagree on that) happy, lazy life of sitting at home came to an end (very unfortunately I must say) when I took up a new job here in B’lore. I cribbed a lot about all the restrictions in the BPO environment but the thought of finding a job in recession-rid times is a lot better than not having one at all made me shut up. Or partly. So here I am. A lot more on each of these coming up soon, hopefully.

Strawberry land

I've heard from a lot of Mumbaikars that Mahabaleshwar is one of their favourite getaways. It's not as close to the city as Lonavala/Matheran and the likes, but now with the Mumbai-Pune expressway, it is quite a quick and comfortable journey. When opportunity presented itself a few weekends ago for a two-day trip, we packed our bags and headed to the hilly destination. It was largely the lure of the strawberries for me. I was picturing myself lying in strawberry fields, eating strawberries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The only time I almost did that (just the eating, not lying in the fields) was on a trip to Manali. We picked up a small sack of strawberries and ate them all the way from Kulu to Manali and for quite some time afterwards. I was looking forward to some similar activity here. But I’m afraid I couldn’t fulfill those ambitious plans. Why? Mostly because I wasn’t very kicked about paying Rs. 100-140 per kg of strawberries. Seemed pretty pricey and I’m sure everyone gets it cheaper hundreds of kms away from Mahabaleshwar. Sad. But I still bought two boxes, after sampling quite a few and ate them all by myself back home in Bombay because there wasn’t anybody else who fancied them much. Sometimes sharing is not all that desirable. I mean, eating something you love, all by yourself, is easily more enjoyable than having to pass the bowl around. Blissful.

By the way did I mention that half of Bombay and thousand other people had the same idea of landing up at Mahabaleshwar that same weekend? Something to do with the long weekend of 26th Jan. So we spent a lot of time in traffic jams and long queues. Ha, and we thought we left that behind in Bombay.

This was the absolute highlight of the trip—tall glasses of strawberries with cream. Actually, not just that. The glass is first lined with strawberry crush, which drips down all the way. Then there is a scoop of strawberry ice-cream, topped with cream, followed by some strawberries, some more cream, more strawberries. Yumm. And for the chocolate lovers, there was a chocolate ice-cream variant of the same, though I really recommend the full strawberry version. Here’s a picture of what it looked like. This is only a picture from the web though because we were far too busy licking our spoons to take any pictures.

All hill-stations come equipped with a lake and a few boats and so was this one. After waiting in a serpentine queue, we paddled our way up and down lake Venna.


The various hues of the evening sky captured by our faithful cameraman Aadi. In fact, most of the pictures of trips from previous posts have been taken by him. It is always nice revisiting memories of a trip through photographs, especially when they're such pretty ones. So, keep at it Aadi. I'll continue to steal them and put them up on my blog.



Oh, and apart from strawberries, Mahabaleshwar has another interesting aspect—creatively-spelled signboards. There were cures for ‘boisity’, shops selling scalvs (okay, this one is understandable, even I had to double-check the spelling for scarves); but this particular poster at a travel agent's shop left us holding our noses.



Maybe they charge extra for these seats but we didn't ask.

More of the green grass and blue skies -Malshej

Just when we thought the monsoon clouds had packed their bags to let the sun out to play, the city was lashed with rains again. So we decided to squeeze in one last monsoon trip this year. More trips for sure, but the rains aren't likely. And Malshej, picked out of our usual Outlook Traveller Weekend Getaway book(well researched and written)seemed like a good choice with the promise of rains, mist and more. The drive did turn out really interesting despite the fact that it took rather long to get there. The curvy roads and the green hills looked thoroughly inviting. A particulary interesting sight was a waterfall right on the road, you just had to drive through it. What did turn out to be a disappointment was the fact that it never rained! Our usual ingredient for fun was missing. Hot though it was, the place has a serene beauty to it. Malshej is definitely worth a visit in the rains.




The drive to Malshej with the road snaking through the picturesque hills.


A hint of sunshine lends a golden hue to the surroundings.


The magnificent green stretch. Green, green, all the way!


And there we are, quite comfortable. Only till the next vehicle sent us all scampering.

If its Saturday, it must be a trek!

Monsoon mania. It's raining and what better way to soak in the rains than driving out of town, walking up the hills and exploring the greens! Strongly recommend the Mumbai-Pune belt during this time. Pick a place, pack some sandwiches and you're off.

June-Lohgad. The rains, maniacal winds that made me feel like I was space walking, a pleasant walk up the fort and finally, ending it all with a dip in a glorious waterfall. A unique experience was the gusty winds blowing heavy droplets of water from the waterfall vertically upwards! And it came lashing at us like a thousand needles. Crazy.



July- An office trip to Kondane Caves. The walk up the caves was muddy and splishy splashy; completely of the enjoyable variety. Some funny moments with people slipping along the way.






Kondane Caves-the destination of the trip but our interests were automatically diverted to the waterfalls at the mouth of the caves. Though there were waterfalls on all our trips, this was the only place where I completely let go, getting drenched from top to toe. And the best way to experience it I guess.

July- Peb Fort. This one was hardcore hiking and thrilling. We walked up the mountains and down the valley, along slippery routes with some strong winds.
Puddle splashing, pebble throwing, or just posing for pics along the railway line- had a lot of fun here.

July- Nilshi. The most activity oriented trip. Kayaking! Definitely the best activity of all the trips. That and just floating and trying to swim. Oh, pure fun. And then the rapelling and group games were interesting too. Thanks Ipshi, next time you should head for one like this.

The calm and beautiful lake Gibbs; cloaked by the green hills and cloudy skies.

August-
Fishing village at Murud. A trip where we spent more time travelling to the place than being there. An overnight trip would be better for this destination.

The Janjira fort, in the middle of the sea. Taking a boat from the shore to the fort was high on our list. Unfortunately bad weather played spoilsport. But the adventures at the 100 ft high Garambi falls almost made up for it. Another washout was sadly the oil slick at Kashid beach though we did hang around there a bit, playing games. (and had a tough time getting rid of the muck later :)


Chai time! No trip big or small is complete without a chai break- off the highway, up the mountains. And its even better with the rain droplets dripping into your cuppa.

Hiking in the Himalayas

Hello folks. Am back after a long blog break! The first half of the break was on account of a blissful two weeks in the Himalayas. The second half was sadly about coming out of the clouds and spending some endless hours at work.

But let me get back to my trip. It was a 6-day camp in the midst of the mountains in Manali. When you are cut out off civilization, living at 10,000 ft, and roll out of your sleeping bag to see the fog creep through the mountains each morning it just makes you want to Live. It’s really one of those picture perfect places. You can get an idea from these pics.


The only time I came this close to the mountains was during my trip to Sikkim two years ago. And I’d decided that nothing could beat that idyllic beauty. But Manali has all of that- snow capped mountains, little rivulets, lots of waterfalls, and the beautiful river Beas flowing down to Kullu.

Camp life was quite an experience too! Living in tents, huddled inside sleeping bags and freezing at night is what I can mostly remember. The cold was just unbelievable. And I promised the lord that I would endure many a sweaty day in Bombay if I could just live through that.

I was quite sure that the rigors of camping would translate to fitting into some of those old pairs of jeans. But no such miracles took place. Thanks to the cooks who dished out some good food, I could barely fit into my existing clothes by the end of the camp.

Of course the repercussions of camp life are that you gotta wash your own plates and spoons and god, that is miserable in the cold. It was still ok doing it during lunchtime. Try removing your hands from the comforts of a glove and showing it under a stream of icy water at night. Pure torture. And that obviously meant that we went without a bath for a good 6 days. When we got back to civilization, the happiest sight in the hotel was without doubt the bathroom.

And by the way, we were part of a bird watching group. Unfortunately, the ratio of spotting a good bird to a crow was roughly 1:200. These crows are very likely going to replace the cockroaches as the invinicble species. It is so annoying when you're squinting hard into the distance at a bird like object very professionally, only to be told that its a stupid old crow which can be seen in your backyard in the noisiest city. I wish I had pics of some of the really pretty birds though, coloured bright red and blue. But what was totally fascinating were the flying squirrels and the way they glide. Really cool. We spotted a lone fox following the trail of goats and a Himalayan Pitt viper on another occasion. But our closest brush with wildlife was when a family of eeky slimy creatures called skinks were hurriedly evacuated from their homes inside the ground as our tent was set up right on top of that. It definately took a lot of convincing to get us to spend the night in there. I'm sure those skinks never forgave us. Thankfully they didn't come back to haunt us that night but we had another visitor. A cute mountain goat had strayed from its herd earlier that evening as they were passing our camp site. All night the goat circled our tent, bleated a bit, and tried to chew our bags that were sticking out of the tent. Actually, we would have let it in and cuddled it for some warmth but for its pokey little horns.

I recommend a Himalayan holiday to all! Trust me, fresh air, sparkling water, river rafting, snow sliding, and more trees than people- it doesn't get better than that.