A European Sojourn

There is “Time of your life” by Greenday playing in the background as I sit and recount my wonderful European sojourn. Such an apt number for this journey me and my friend undertook together.

Here’s a sneak peak:

Number of continents: 1 for me and 2 for my friend(flew from India)

Number of countries: 4

Number of cities: 6

Time: 3 weeks

Budget: 2500 euros per person (including accommodation, travel, food, partying, souvenirs)

Budget exceeded by: 0 euros (not considering some exorbitant shopping which off course was not planned – total exorbitant spend – 254 euros)

Budget left: 31.49 euros :D

Fun: TIME OF OUR LIVES!

I am returning to blogging after a long long long time. But, I promise to make it up to all of you with these memoirs. Watch out this space for the stories on our first stop – PARIS!

Technorati Tags: Europe , Travel , Itinery, Budget

Hiking in the woods!

I had an interesting weekend last week. I was enjoying a beautiful evening with barbecue and some new friends on Saturday and to burn all that fat, I accompanied a bunch of people for a hike in the woods of Netherlands.

I had an early Sunday morning and an eventful journey ahead of me. We were to meet at the Driebergen Ziest station to commence our hike. It took me two hours and three trains to reach my first destination. Having said that, I must add that the trains in Holland are incredibly comfortable and fast and very unlike the local trains of Mumbai. I did witness a strange sight in my train from Rotterdam to Utrecht central though. There was a girl with a Mohawk for a hairstyle and if that was not radical enough, she had tricolor hair – blue, shocking pink and black. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of strange visuals for the day!

We were eight of us and a truly international bunch – Danish, Scottish, Indian (yours truly), Dutch, Finnish and New Zealand. We were to walk in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug - an interesting area which has numerous hiking and cycling routes. Armed with maps and apparently a very detailed description, we set out on our beautiful journey. We crossed forests, sands and wide open spaces in our path. We were blessed by great weather during the entire trek. We did have some rain, but this time it felt wonderful. The sound of raindrops falling on the trees was surreal. It felt as if the tall trees were sheltering us against the rain knowing that we were walking underneath them. We did have some strange encounters, like at one point of time, we found ourselves on a queer, rather narrow concrete bridge in the middle of the forest, standing over what looked like a dried up and dirty canal of sorts.

The terrain of our hike was quite diverse. At one moment we will be surrounded by trees and at the next we will suddenly come upon a clearing with sand under our feet and lavender flowers all around. At one such clearing we saw benches strewn around on the sand with placards saying “BAR” or “DANSCIE” on the benches. Just when we thought that this was absolutely crazy, we saw something crazier. A troupe of girls dressed in fancy dress. We wanted to imagine that they were natives of this area – considering many were dressed in animal prints and red Indian clothes. We could not let our imaginations run wild because we realized that we were gatecrashing a student orientation programme. I have never seen an orientation like this in my life.

We were a fun group. Some of us were very imaginative and would think that we were crossing a perilous jungle infested with poisonous mushrooms and green lagoons. What fun! Add to that, we had blueberries, fresh from the shrubs into our mouths – I presume to give us energy! We had an environmentalist amongst us, so many a time, we would stop to look at ants, mushrooms of all kinds and other tiny animal life in the woods.


The berries were not a sustainable source of energy so we had to stop for lunch. We stopped at a small and very dutch town on our way. Very dutch = beautiful homes with large glass windows adorned with plants and knickknacks and no curtains off course. Our lunch was at Lunchen bij de Jonckvrouw. I had a vegetable pie (vegagroente taartje as it was called in the menu) and it was quite something. The portion was huge and the pie was delicious. As we left the eetcafe to resume our hike, we saw another unusual visual. A troupe of bikers, this time, with HUGE Harley Davidson bikes which had equally huge side cars for some reason. Albeit, we were not the only ones in the mood to explore the Netherlands.

The second half of our hike saw us searching for a pyramid. No, the walking had not gone to our heads and we were not imagining that we were in Egypt. Our very detailed description said that there should be a pyramid in our path and we had missed it. So, enterprising as we were, a few of us decided that we will unearth the pyramid of Netherlands. We did find the pyramid and the picture says it all. It was a huge structure in the middle of nowhere and you had to pay to climb it. We decided to pass the climbing and were happy only to discover the pyramid of Netherlands.

We walked from 11 in the morning to about 5:15 in the evening that Sunday and me and one of the ladies from the hike also sprinted briefly to catch our train to Rotterdam. For me, it was a Sunday well spent and I am looking forward to doing something like this again.

For those of you who would want to try the hike, check out this link – http://www.eropuit.nl/uitje/title/UtrechtseHeuvelrugwandeltocht/id/1000037/. The information is in dutch, but then what is google translate for.

So, this time, Happy Hiking people!

Technorati Tags: Netherlands, UtrechtseHeuvelrug, LunchenbijdeJonckvrow, Hiking

Big Bad Bangkok!

We had just two days left for our trip and it was time to live it up – literally!. We were booked in the Baiyoke Sky Hotel – which is considered to be among the tallest buildings in Thailand, and we were to stay in the space zone. We were really looking forward to this even when we planned our trip. We arrived at the hotel and were put up in a room on the 72nd floor. When we entered our room, we were exhilarated, we felt that we had arrived in life! The room was BIG, with huge glass windows and the view from the room of the streets below was out of this world. It was equipped with all the modern amenities one could desire. We paid about 72 USD/person/night for this room and we were charged about 8 USD for our taxi from the airport to the hotel.

The hotel in itself is quite an attraction. It is a shopping complex, hence other than evenings, the corridors are quite crowded. There is a rooftop bar overlooking the whole of Bangkok on the 83rd floor and on the 84th floor is the revolving deck with a 360 degree view of Bangkok. Extremely interesting! Although, getting a seat by the window in the bar in the evening can get quite tricky and the live band can be annoying – it was for me , too loud and cheap for my taste. But then there was Bangkok – all glittering and beautiful, and all below me, so I was not complaining at all.

The way to the observation deck has interesting aliens on the stairway along with pictures of the solar system and the music from 2001 a space odyssey completing the experience. My friend particularly became friendly with one of the aliens as can be seen in this picture!

Between the two Baiyokes – Baiyoke star and Baiyoke sky, a market is set up from 4 in the evening till 11 in the night and we picked up quite some interesting stuff from there. By the time we were done, a complimentary foot massage was awaiting us in the hotel. Since we were staying in the most expensive set of rooms, we had loads of freebies attached to our room. We had a complimentary breakfast, a complimentary foot massage, complimentary fruits and welcome drink and what not. The breakfast was one huge eclectic spread of cuisines.

But the best part was the massage. The spa is open till midnight so after shopping for the entire day a massage can be easily scheduled. The massage was absolutely wonderful and although it was free the masseurs did not rush up on things and gave us the most relaxing massage ever.

As the night fell, we realized that our big fat international holiday was ending. The next day, we took a flight back home, with our bags full of shopping and our minds full of memories we will cherish forever!

Technorati Tags: Thailand, Bangkok, Baiyoke, Travel

Phi Phi Galore!

Ko Phi Phi Don was the beginning of the more luxurious part of the trip. We bought this trip from the same travel agent who had arranged for our trip to Phang Nga Bay. This time a huge ferry awaited us at Rassada pier. The sun deck was already crowded with people and the atmosphere was quite festive. We were served a complimentary breakfast of coffee and warm croissant and we were cozy already. It was a breezy and comfortable ride.

At Phi Phi, we were greeted by clear, azure waters, white sands and an absolutely cozy atmosphere. Hotel reservations were being offered on the ferry, however, we had booked ours online through “Global Reservations”. We were booked at the PP Casita resort and to tell you the truth, I was very skeptical about this place because we had booked online and did not have much information about the place and had paid the full amount in advance. So, I was really worried that it may not turn out good. But guess what, I was wrong. P P Casita was beautiful, in fact the word that comes to my mind when I think of it is "Delicious"!! Quite an odd word to describe a place to stay! But, PP Casita is done up in such a way that it deserves the description. The place has quaint cottages at a raised level with plants growing all around each cottage. The rooms are beautifully done up in Maroon, lavender and white. They are new, spacious and have an electronic safe and a fridge. The bathroom also boasts of an interesting decor. It almost feels like home. We stayed in the fan bungalow as we were on a budget, but realised that its better to take up an A/C room in phi phi as it gets quite hot inside the room during the day even though it was December. We paid about 20 USD per night per person for our lovely abode.

Phi Phi was certainly the high point during my two week vacation. For people who believe that a day trip from Phuket or Krabi is enough for Phi Phi, think again. Phi Phi is perfect for an idyllic holiday where all you can do is chill, relax, make friends at a bar and walk apart from snorkeling, climbing and diving.

Snorkeling trips can be bought from a number of agencies here, however, I would specially want to recommend Spider Monkey. We bought our snorkeling trip from them. They are essentially a climbing shop and specialize in climbing expeditions around Phi Phi island. They also have their own longtail boat, which can be rented for snorkeling trips. The best part about this shop, however, is the people who run this place - an english girl and her thai boyfriend. Very friendly and honest people who are a delight to talk to. The other interesting bit is that they have some really cool merchandise for sale like T-shirts, trousers etc. and we did end up buying quite some stuff from them.

When in Phi Phi, it is strongly recommended to just chill, relax and take your time. A perfect place to do so while you sip some interesting dessert coffee and watch the world go by is D’s bookshop. D's bookshop is apparently is a chain of bookshops in Asia, however, it was my first run-in with this place in Koh Phi Phi Don. A lovely shop in an idyllic setting with a nice little cafe serving up great coffees and desserts. They rent and sell second hand as well as first hand books. It’s a great place to strike up conversation with a fellow traveler.

Phi Phi is pretty well-known for its nightlife and there is something for everyone here. There are bars on the beach, there are cafes showing movies, shops which are open till 11 in the night. Its one festive place! Looking for something romantic, what better than to walk on the beach with your beloved with a medley of music ranging from ballads, pop and rock and the sound of crashing waves to give you company. Priceless!

We were up for something exciting and ended up spending our Christmas eve at one of the most popular bars in Phi Phi – Carlitos. Even the entrance to this bar is intriguing – it sports a hilarious signboard giving distances to Rekjavik, Mexico etc. – absolutely sets the mood for the traveler in you right away. Carlitos is right on the beach, so much so that as the tide changes, the waves start crashing at your feet and you will have to shift your table behind. It is packed most times and it seems like a global meeting joint as you will be surrounded by people from a number of nationalities at any point of time. Carlitos has a fireshow everyday after 10 pm, however, when we went, there was none, but we were not disappointed as we saw a fireshow done by the restaurant next door and it was simply awesome!


We liked Phi Phi so much that we wanted to extend our stay there, but the next day was Christmas, and everything was booked. We had to leave Phi Phi with a heavy heart.
We were approaching the final leg of our trip and we were going to live it up in style. More in the last post of this series. Keep reading!
Technorati Tags: Thailand, PhiPhi, PPCasita, GlobalReservations, Carlitos, SpiderMonkey, D'sbookshop, Travel

Ahoy Thailand!

We had a crazy itinerary for Thailand. We were to first spend four days in Phuket, two days at Ko Phi Phi, back for another two days in Phuket and then one night in Bangkok. Phew!, cant believe I actually managed all of that! This time we took a flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Siem Reap airport was beautiful. A small and less busy airport compared to many, but aesthetically constructed and peppered with glimpses of south east asian architecture. We took the Bangkok Airways flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok and then an Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Phuket. The damage for the Bangkok Airways flight was 142 USD per person while for Air Asia we paid about 65 USD per person – now you know why we did the treacherous road journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap!


Both were really short flights and in no time we were flying over a beach to land in Phuket. Phuket airport is adjacent to a beach and is a famous airplane spotting destination for many airplane fanatics. I had one with me and airplane spotting was definitely on the cards during this trip. But for now, we needed to check in to our home in Phuket. We had a car waiting for us and we were whisked away to this beautiful city with wide roads, modern construction and lush green countryside. It was quite a drive from the airport to our guesthouse at Karon beach. We were staying at Pineapple Phuket. Pineapple Phuket was a far cry from the homely surroundings of Two Dragons at Siem Reap. It was not actually a bad place, but I would not essentially recommend it to anyone.

Our first spell of four days in Karon was not as good an experience for me as I fell sick the moment we reached there and with a horrible congestion in my chest, and difficulty finding vegetarian food, my holiday was turning into a nightmare of sorts. But things started looking up with our trip to Phang Nga Bay, James Bond Island and Monkey Island. It was the most touristy thing we did but it was completely worth it. We bought the trip from one of the many travel agents at Karon beach and after that we did not need to worry about anything. We had a minibus pick us up from our guesthouse, take us to the pier, there was food served on the boat and all we had to do was have a great time. We went through some really interesting caves in canoes during this trip. And hyped or not, the James Bond Island is definitely worth a visit. It is stunningly beautiful and I have never seen anything like this before.

We also visited an interesting museum of shells and were completely blown away by the arrangements of shells and the sheer variety on display. Again touristic but highly recommended.

Something else that livened things up for me was shopping at the town centre in Phuket. It is a shoppers paradise, particularly for ladies. It has great bargains on everything ranging from clothes to jewelery to bags – and oh what bags!. I bought quite some of them.

Although, food was sort of a problem for me at the Karon beach, we did manage to find some good places. We found this tiny yet charming café at Karon called Enjoy café. Enjoy offers condos as stay arrangements and has a cafe on the ground floor. We went there for breakfast one morning and fell in love with the place. The cafe is clean and the coffee and food fresh. I had viennese coffee for the first time and loved it. The crossiants were fresh and warm and since we were early it was just us. The lady serving us was extremely friendly and we sure had a good time there.

Another interesting place was a restaurant called Trattoria at the Kata beach. It is run by an Italian and hence most of the patronage is Italian there. The ambience is like any other cafe in Phuket and like any other place in Thailand the staff was friendly and the service fast.I had a vegetarian pizza there and it was easily the best pizza I have had ever. All the vegetables had been sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs. Everything was very fresh and delectable. My non-vegetarian friend also enjoyed his pizza as much as I did mine.

On one of these days, we hired a car and went to the Mai Khao beach and the airport beach – Nai Yang for airplane spotting. We clicked quite some pictures of planes of various colours, shapes and sizes and I was most excited on seeing a sea plane which I call the sea-duck based on the popular cartoon series tailspin which I used to watch as a kid. It brought back the child in me watching a sea-duck in real life.

The most beautiful place we visited in Thailand was Ko Phi Phi and to know about that you will have to wait for my next post!

Technorati Tags: Thailand, Phuket, Karon, Kata, Airplanespotting, JamesBondIsland, Travel

Mesmerizing Angkor

The idea of this vacation was to explore the adventurer and the historian within us. We wanted to experience the thrill, the wonder of being in a 900 year old temple complex which was lost in time and rediscovered by some unknown traveler and remains the biggest jigsaw puzzle of the world. We were in Siem Reap to visit the temples of Angkor and our friend and guide in this sojourn was Joy – our car driver whom we paid 25 USD/day. We decided to begin our historical journey by first paying homage to the most famous of the temple complexes – Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It was later modified by various kings to represent a dedication to Buddism as well.

To visit any of the temples around Siem Reap, what you need is a temple pass. We bought a three day temple pass for 40 USD per person. Angkor Wat and the temples are essentially in a forest and now concrete roads have been constructed owing to the tourist attraction these temples have become. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a huge water body called a moat and all the structures in the complex have intricate carvings of apsaras and incidents from hindu mythology. The fact that these temples were later converted to Buddist, is also visible in the statues of Buddha placed amidst a typical hindu mythology incident. On one of the outer walls of this complex, there is an intricate carving describing the war between Pandavas and Kauravas – the battle of Kurukshetra. It’s a beautiful and extremely complex carving.

We also managed to visit Ta Phrom that afternoon. This complex has been almost completely eaten away by the forest. It is almost as if nature was taking its revenge against man. But its beautiful the way it is. One of the spots at this complex has been made famous by Angelina Jolie as a sequence of her movie Tomb Raider was shot here. It’s the place where everyone wants to get a picture clicked and there is actually a queue to get yourself clicked. I managed to anger quite a big group of tourists by posing in front of this landmark without realizing that I was breaking the queue.

The next day, we were up early in the morning to see the sunrise over the towers of Angkor Wat. It’s the most wonderful sunrise I have seen. When we reached, there were hundreds of people already waiting for the sun to rise. It almost felt as if we were all one big global community waiting together with bated breath to watch the oft-seen spectacle of sunrise, however this time over the mesmerizing towers of a centuries old temple. It was spectacular.

During the course of three days we visited the Bayon, Phimeneakas, Preah Khan, and Angkor Thom. We did not hire a guide to these places and hence we were on our own amidst these mysterious temples. We sometimes found a cool spot and just sat there amidst the beautiful carvings of apsaras, Gods, demons, garudas and wondered what this place would be like in its true grandeur. One of my friends carried a book on Angkor with her and at times we played this fun game of finding structures mentioned in the book and felt like discoverers when we finally managed to find it. Archeologists from around the world have worked on solving the jigsaw puzzle of these temple complexes and what can be seen now is the partial solution. The solution is sometimes wrong, we found, as most of these temples are Hindu temples and being Hindus, we realized that the symbols and the structures were slightly mixed up at times.

My favourite temples amongst the ones we visited were Bayon and Ta Phrom. Bayon - an interesting mix of manmade art, history and intrigue and Ta Phrom – nature’s work of art, destructive yet beautiful. The creativity of both man and nature is astounding in these monuments. Although, I managed to get lost in Bayon, the monument with its 200 faces of Lokeswara, staring at you in all directions with the same peaceful expression, will stay fresh in my memory for a lifetime.

I wish to go back to Siem Reap and to Angkor as one visit is not sufficient to take in the glory of these wonders. Some day, I will go back to get in touch with the explorer within me. Till then, it was Thailand calling!

Technorati Tags: Cambodia, Angkorwat, Bayon, TaPhrom, Lokeswara, AngelinaJolie, Travel

Beautiful Siem Reap!

Siem Reap was charming, like a breath of fresh air! We were booked in the “Two Dragons Guesthouse” and one look at the place and we were in love. Two Dragons is a cozy little guesthouse tucked away in a small lane in Siem Reap. It is away from the din and bustle of the old market and the "Pub street" and so one can spend the night in peace and tranquility and wake up to sounds of traditional Khmer music every morning.

The place is run by Gordon Sharpless - an American married to a Thai. Gordon is the author of “www.talesofasia.com” - which is quite easily the most comprehensive guide to Cambodia. Gordon is sort of a walking, talking guide on anything and everything related to Cambodia. An extensively traveled gentleman, his experience was of great help to us and we kept asking for his recommendations on a lot of things.

We had the second biggest room in the guesthouse and it was an absolute delight. We had opted for a fan room and it was a lovely, spacious room with all modern amenities like a fridge, ensuite bathroom with hot shower, a TV and two huge beds which could comfortably accommodate two people on one. We paid 22USD per night for this room. There was a very interesting menu in the room where the first few pages were dedicated to food and the last few pages to hilarious signs which were actually observed at hotels around the world. It is a good testament of the sense of humor of the owner.

Two Dragons has a wonderful café where we spent a lot of time in between our temple visits. The restaurant serves up delicious thai, khmer and European delicacies. The breakfast options are named – Big Dragon breakfast, little dragon breakfast and baby dragon breakfast. Mind you, the Big Dragon is exactly that – BIG. What I liked best was their Hot Chocolate. It was to die for. According to my non-vegetarian friend the Lok Lak - which is a beef preparation is quite nice as well.

We could only spend one evening on the famous pub street in Siem Reap because the temples would tire us a lot. But it was a treat. I simply loved the place. Influences of European culture are quite predominant in the fabric of Siem Reap. Absolutely not to be missed is the Angkor What? bar. The name of this place had intrigued us since the time we were leaving for our trip. So Angkor What? was on our list since the very beginning. And our excitement paid off quite well!Angkor What? is a crazily done up place. Bright colours on the walls and patrons are given markers so the graffitti on the walls is generated by the patrons. The music is popular rock. It’s a great place for people watching and the drinks are economical too – atleast compared to India.

Angkor What? is only a bar, so we had to search for a place to satisfy our rumbling tummies and we found heaven at Red Piano. It is a tastefully done up restaurant which serves up really nice pasta. The restaurant has a special cocktail dedicated to Angelina Jolie and you will find many other influences of Ms Jolie there. The food and the ambience are truly amazing. We took up a table overlooking the street and enjoyed some really nice wine and food there.

Technorati Tags: Cambodia, Twodragons, talesofasia.com, SiemReap, RedPiano, AngkorWhat, AngelinaJolie,

My Big Fat International Holiday!

The Crazy Start

It was that time of the year again when my creative juices were failing me and all I needed was a break. This time, however, the break was planned well in advance at the beginning of the year as me and two of my friends were to experience our first international vacation. Us three musketeers set out on a 2 week long trip first to soak in the beautiful temple ruins of Angkor and then to relax at the gorgeous beaches of Thailand and lived to tell our tale. So here goes.

Two of us began our journey from Mumbai International Airport at 11:30 pm on a Thai Airways flight from Mumbai to Bangkok on Dec 14, 2007. Our friend began her journey from the other corner of the world – US of A on a similar Thai Airways flight from LA to Bangkok. Our flights were to reach Bangkok early in the morning with a difference of about one odd hour between the two landings. The Mumbai flight landed on time, but the LA flight just refused to come. Two of us were at the departure terminal of Bangkok airport from 5:30 in the morning till 12:00 in the afternoon after which we were joined by our friend and we continued to stay at the airport till about 3:30 in the afternoon. We finally bid farewell to our “beloved” airport and left on an adventurous journey from Bangkok to Cambodia in a cab. We paid 3000 THB for our journey from Bangkok to Aranyapeth.

The Thailand – Cambodia border on the Thai side is called Aranyapeth while that on the Cambodia side is called Poipet. The Bangkok to Aranyapeth ride was a breeze. We had our guesthouse arrange for a pick-up for us from Poipet to Siem Reap so we had someone waiting for us while we waited patiently for immigration clearance. Not that any of us look liked terrorists, but the immigration officer was somehow fascinated with all our passports and took his own sweet time to clear all of us. As we entered Poipet we were met by a stark change in the countryside, peppered with casinos, glimpses of extreme poverty and lack of infrastructure. It is said that they are trying to develop Poipet as the Las Vegas of the east. If you ask me, they have a long way to go.

We were escorted by our man Friday to our car where we were handed over to our driver. Then the strangest of things started happening. First the driver decided he needed to fill gas. Poipet offered retail options for gas we had never seen before – not even in India. Gas was sold in make-shift shacks and was pumped through hand-made instruments. As if this was not enough to fascinate us, the driver started shaking the car once the gas was filled. We had no clue what was going on and could not help but laugh about all that was happening around us. It was also getting dark and we wanted to leave. We made sure that the driver understood the fact that we were not to stop anywhere now until we reach Siem Reap. Little did we know that there WAS nowhere we could stop before Siem Reap. Thus began an adventurous, hectic and the most treacherous journey I have undertaken in my life. The road from Poipet to Siem Reap was the most back-breaking road I have ever been on. In fact, it was no road at all. Just miles and miles of dusty, uneven roads with massive potholes, mountains of dust acting as speed breakers – landing from one of these felt as if we landed in a deep pit from a mountain.

But come Siem Reap, we were in for a refreshing change. The first thing one my friends exclaimed on arriving in Siem Reap was – “Oh this place has roads!!”. This trip cost us 45 USD and unless you are the adventurous kind, I would not recommend taking this road-trip. For anyone wanting to go from Bangkok to Siem Reap, I suggest take the flight!! But mind you the flight is very expensive – one of the reasons why we decided on the road-trip.

Well, thankfully, the rest of our trip was quite unlike our first day – things had already started to look up as we entered Siem Reap.

Technorati Tags: Cambodia, Thailand, Bangkok, roadtrip, Aranyapeth, Poipet

A Rendevous with Taj Mahal

What happens when you have an enterprising brother studying in IIT Kanpur and you are to visit him with your parents? Well, you visit not only IITK but Agra and Lucknow which happen to be close by. And that’s exactly what I did from Sept 30^th to Oct 2^nd, 2007. I know I am a month late in describing my adventures, but hey, don’t blame me, blame my rather hectic work schedule and MBA applications. So, get set for a trip seeped in history and architecture as I take you through my tour of the exquisite Taj Mahal.

Me and my parents started from Mumbai at 4:30 pm. We took the Agra Lashkar express which starts from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus – erstwhile Kurla terminus at 4:25 and reaches Agra at 12:45 the next day. An enjoyable and quite a relaxed journey this was. We arrived at Agra Cantt station slightly later than the scheduled time but we were in no hurry. We haggled for the rickshaw fare and managed to get a rickshaw to take us to our hotel in 60 rupees. As a rule of thumb, in Agra, all rickshaws charge 10 rupees per person and the minimum is 30 rupees, whatever the distance – atleast this is what we experienced. We were staying at Howard Park Plaza - a four star hotel at about 900 rupees per person. We had booked through travelguru and I think we had a great deal for the hotel. There are many cheaper options available in Agra, but since I was traveling with my parents, we decided on a more comfortable one. My brother was to join us from Kanpur at about 3 in the afternoon in Agra but his train was delayed and he managed to reach Agra only by 6 in the evening. As soon as he landed, he was immediately whisked away for a walk to Taj Mahal. We were running against time as the last tickets are sold till 6:30 pm and the place closes down at 7:00 pm.

It was twilight by the time we reached. The entrance of this monument was so magnificient that we were completely blown away. We walked slowly with great anticipation and what met our eyes was the most majestic, beautiful and overwhelming sight we had ever seen. We were looking at Taj Mahal. We could not take our eyes off the monument despite huge crowds thronging the area. It was turning dark and we had to decide if we would want to go inside the monument today or wait until tomorrow. Me and my mom could not wait and dragged both the men inside the monument. As you approach the main structure, the monument grows on you, almost intoxicating you with its splendor. Intricate carvings, Persian writings, beautiful creepers, I wish I could describe this place in words.

We were so enchanted by the beauty of Taj Mahal that the visual stayed with us all night. We got up early next morning to sink into the beauty of this wonder to our hearts content. We reached Taj Mahal at 7 in the morning and I could not stop clicking pictures. We took pictures of Taj Mahal from various angles. We sat in the huge courtyard for quite sometime and admired the beauty of this monument which gleamed in the soft sunlight. It was 8:30 when we finally left as our tummies were rumbling for breakfast. Breakfast was complimentary and we stuffed ourselves to the brim.

We were to visit Fatehpur Sikri and Agra fort that day. We hired an A/C indica car at 900 rupees to take us to Fatehpur and back. The car had to be parked at the outskirts of Fatehpur and we had the options of either a Tonga or a CNG bus. We opted for the royal Tonga experience. We had hired a guide here for 250 rupees who showed us around Fatehpur. Fatehpur is a red sandstone complex with the only white structure being Salim Chisti’s dargah. The complex houses a mosque, a school and a dargah, all of which are functional till date. The structure was beautiful with the most interesting aspect being the intricacy of the jaalis at Salim Chisti's dargah. We took some fun pictures there with the family as our guide entertained us with the history behind each structure.

We head back to Agra to gorge on thalis at a restaurant called “ONLY” which interestingly offered both veg and non-veg in the same thali. It was decent, simple fare. We were to relieve our car there, however we had a kind soul as our driver - Manek and he agreed to take us to Agra Fort and to Sadar Bazaar for another 200 rupees. Agra Fort is this huge edifice made of red sandstone with beautiful structures of red sandstone and marble housed inside. We visited Jehangir’s bath tub – quite literally, which was put in full public view. We ditched the guide here and roamed about on our own. The fort is a huge complex and mind you it can get tiring as there are lots of structures to be seen inside. Each better than the other. It also has some wonderful gardens which have been maintained very well. You can see Taj Mahal from everywhere in this fort.

Having had our fill of history and mogul architecture, we hit the local market called Sadar Bazaar. Interestingly, all the four of us bought shoes from this market. The market is like any town market with branded and non-branded shops but the narrow alleys have some great options for street shopping of flip-flops, sandals and heeled shoes for the ladies. There are two such alleys in the beginning of the market, the second one does not have as many stalls as the first, but the shoes available in the second one were fantastic. This is what I bought for myself and I have never seen such shoes anywhere in Mumbai. I think they are ultra cool.

With our feet getting weary, we decided to call it a day and head back to our hotel. We had our train at 11:30 in the night for Kanpur. Our good driver dropped us back at the hotel and agreed to pick us up, take us for dinner and drop us to Agra Cantt station for an extra 150 rupees.Manek, bless his soul, hope he gets everything he desires in life as he made our journey so very comfortable and enjoyable!!

Technorati Tags: TajMahal, Agra, IITK, Shoes

Me Mumbai Guide!

I fulfilled one of my long desired fantasies last weekend – that of being a guide to Mumbai J

I had quite some colleagues (ladies to be precise) in Mumbai for the first time and of course all of them wanted to go around the city, shop, - basically experience Mumbai.

Mumbai offers something for everyone. We do not have historic monuments a plenty which most Delhities can boast about, but we do have some really interesting things that you can do here.

Revel in history with a walk around colaba (churchgate), Victoria Terminus station and the Gateway of India. Experience majestic, heritage structures being put to modern age commercial use. The place is a treat for photographers, sea lovers, people watchers and architects.

There is a café which features in my must see lists - café mondegar. The café heralds the beginning of the colaba causeway. A beer café with an old style jukebox, a must see place even if you don’t drink beer. The place has an airconditioned bar inside – I have never been inside. Sit outside and enjoy an evening of vibrant atmosphere, great music and the clutter and chaos typical to Mumbai.

Pump up your adrenaline with a speed boat ride at H2O near Girgaum Chowpaty. This is right next to Salt water grill and also offers other exhilarating water sports like Jet ski, parasailing etc.

For a more relaxing ride, take the colaba cruise from the Gateway of India. This is a 30 minutes ride in a ferry with locals. Take the ride towards twilight and you will amazed to find how beautiful chaos can be.

For the flea market shopalcoholic, the colaba causeway aka colaba flea market is the best place for a great bargain. Shop for trinkets, artifacts (you even get old world, working gramophones here), woolen stoles, trendy footwear, bags, casual clothes here. A bargaining tip – Start with 50% of the cost informed by the shopkeeper. You never know, you might just get the stuff in that rate. I have bought stuff like that.

For beautiful sterling silver trinkets shop at Curios. This shop is just across Café Mondegar. It is run by a friendly Gujarati Uncle who will give you a discount if asked for.

A huge footwear and trinket market awaits you at Bandra Linking Road. Get the latest footwear for as low as 100 rupees. Don’t expect them to last longer than a couple of months. Look at the brighter side – you can wear new footwear after every three months ;).

Looking for a classier place to shop. Hit the Lower Parel Phoenix Mills or Inorbit Mall at Malad. There is a shop called In Touch in Inorbit Mall. This one sells only bags. You will be amazed by the sheer number of designs on offer. Browse through Bandhej, AND (yes, that’s the name of a shop) and Rhu stores in Phoenix Mills for ethnic clothes in cotton.

If you do not like touristry places try these. Dhobitalao – a huge washing place right outside Marine Lines station, Chor bazaar – you can find any kind of antique here for peanuts (I have never been here till date), Zaveri bazaar – A precious jewelery bazaar where you can find any kind of precious jewellery for less.

This is the way I would enjoy Mumbai. Let me know how would you!

Technorati Tags: Dhobitalao, Colaba, Bandra, VT

2 Hours in Matheran

Last weekend was a long weekend in Maharashtra. With three days of holidays and nothing to do I like every other person living in Mumbai decide to go to Matheran. Not that I haven’t been to the place before. But there is something magnetic about Matheran which lures one towards it whenever one thinks of a cool (as in cold) weekend getaway from Mumbai.

So me and a friend of mine decide to do the unthinkable. Now we have always stayed in this hotel called Hotel Rugby and never made a booking prior to our visit. The hotel has been kind enough to give us a room everytime we land up there. For those of you who do not know, the hotel is quite something in itself. If you are not the exploring or walking kinds, you may just chill in this hotel and can pass the weekend gloriously. But then, Hotel Rugby is shut since 2 months now.

We decide to take up this adventure KNOWING the fact that all hotels are packed in Matheran for the long weekend. But the optimistics that we are, we venture on this journey where as my friend rightly put, the journey was more important than the destination.

Matheran is this virgin hill station devoid of anything commercial apart from the hotels. Hence the only mode of transport is your two feet or the horses four feet if you please. If you are going from Mumbai by the good old local train, you can get off at Neral station and then NORMALLY take a ramshackled taxi to Dasturi Naka from where you are on your own or on the horse.

So we land up at Neral station at some 3:00 in the afternoon. NORMALLY, you will find yourself surrounded by people asking if you needed a taxi to go to Matheran. But this was not a NORMAL day at all. To our surprise the station is completely deserted. No taxi fellas escorting you to the taxi stands. We considered this as a bad omen. On further investigation we find out that there is a strike going on of taxi drivers since the government has decided to start a minibus from Neral to Matheran. So one must walk some random kilometers in order to take the bus or the hotel association taxis. We walk & we walk & we walk in the hot sun. We finally reach the so called taxi stand and manage to get to Matheran. Mind you, these taxis were way better than the regular taxis that you get.

The people of Matheran are very hospitable. In the sense that the moment you are out of the taxi, there will be someone to take your luggage and hound you for a hotel till you select one of them and tell them where you want to go. We found our guide in a similar way and then started our hotel hunt. We practically scoured the entire of Matheran for hotels and found some really exorbitant deals. On offer was a dingy room in the attic of a hotel with hardly any space to move for Rs. 9000 for 2 nights. You freaking can get a room in the Taj Lands End in Mumbai for some Rs. 5000 per night if you want. Well, but then that’s the effect of a long weekend in Matheran.

Also we were spoilt by Rugby. The place is heaven. It has these cottage type rooms all of which open into beautiful lawns. The place looks like if it were straight out of a picture book or something. And the food. Oh the food. It is purely vegetarian but excellent. Also they do not have silly prices for long weekends. Atleast we haven’t experienced so far.

Moral of story, we could not find anything satisfactory. After spending 2 hours of hiking and horse riding (as my friend put it) we decide to go back. I must say, I enjoyed every single minute of those 2 hours even if it was really taxing on my body once I was back.

The first day of the long weekend was quite an adventure I must say. But then, what the hell, I am sure there are very few people who might have done this!!!

Technorati Tags: Matheran, Hotel Rugby