zbakshi

Gods Own Country - Kerala

2009-07-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

Kerala is truly a 'Gods own country'. Me along with my wife, kids and parents went to kerala by our car. We left to kerela early in the morning ,on our way we dropped to coimbatore which is about 500 km .We had an over night stay at my sisters place and next day early morning we left to Alleppey which is about 290kms from coimbatore. The roads were bit bumpy with most of them under state highway. We reached allepey by noon and as it was non peak season we got a good bet at the boating house for a 2 bedroom.We could find green in every inch of the sight. The Alleppey back water is a fabulous place for a romantic stay. There were around 300 boats docked at the lake.
The backwaters fringed with coconuts trees and the innocence of village life leads you to another world of meditation..... we had relaxful 24 hours, with 3 slurping meals prepared and served on the boat house itself. I easily bet that House boating can be the most relaxing experience for any age, size or type of people.
The following day i left to another beautiful place called Ashtamudi. this is about 100 Km from allepey and it took 2 hours to reach. i had booked 2 hotel units at Club Mahindra Back Water Retreat. Well well well iam searching for words in my dictionary to explain about this place. The whispering breeze, the music of flowing water, the floating boats, the chinese fishing nets around thats what is Asthamudi. There are almost adozen of such backwaters in Kerala of which Ashtamudi is the second largest. Ashtamudi means, eight-armed after the eight arms of the lake.
Kollam is 20 minutes drive from this place is another historic gateway to the backwaters of kerala. The first day we were at the resort had a wonderful soothing ayurvedic massage and spa, which rejuvenated our sole and mind, the next day we had spent going around near by places. we visited kollam beach. this is an Arabian sea. and we could see the big tide is about double of our size. It was so dreadfull standing and gazing the big tall waves hitting the shores.
The next day i had to hit the road again. It was like a "miles to go before i sleep" apt for the moment. another 220 km to Thekkadi. Well this is very close to Tamil Nadu Border town Kumily. Here again i had booked 2 cotages at Club Mahindra Tusker Trails. This is about stone throwaway distance to the Periyar wildlife sanctuary. Let us not forget that this is one of the worlds largest and most fasicnating natural wild life reserves spread across 777 square km of lush green forest with lot of wild animals. we had spend 2 hours on a boat taxing through the canals of the periyar forest smelling the wild animals from the close prximity.
There are lot of sight seeing place here. like the Elephant ride, spice gardens, kalary martial arts, kachikalli dance etc. This place is also famous for lot of adventurous camps and trekking.
After boating on the periyar forest we had lunch and them took an 30 minutes ride on the elephant. This on a spice garden where we could see, cardomom, cashewnuts, beetle nuts, cloves and various other spices spread across acres of land. We also went to a higest peak which was baout 30 minutes drive, there we could see the tamil nadu border between the steep mountains and water falls. the sight here was simply breath taking. We could feel our soals popping out at the sight of the valley. again a perfect place for a romantic day.
Later that evening we had visited for splendid performance of n kalary- kerala martial arts and then also attended the kattakalli dance performance. Both the show depicted how kerala is preserving its century old traditions. The next day early morning i had to hit the road again. this was the most saddest part as all the adventure and touring had over and we had to return back to our routine life. It took 10 hours and 650 km for me to reach chennai, with a break at Theni and Trichi for breakfast and lunch. The road from trichi is beautiful with double lane. Every start had to come to an end. so did our journey. we had covered almost 2000 kms with 4 places in 7 days and was the most exciting trip by road in our life. it was like when we wait for an minute it takes hours to come, but when in enjoyable moment every hour passes like a second.

The Tintilising Thailand Trip

2009-07-09T08:09:00.001-07:00

It was very unfortunate that i had gone to bankok with my better half. My wife and 2 other freinds of mine had visited Thailand. The day we landed to bankok by Thai airways, we straightaway rushed to pataya. This place is an bachelors paradise (hope my wife does not read this blog). Freinds my legal advise travel alone or with close friends whom you could trust to bangkok NEVER WITH FAMILY.

The Hill Pataya Resort has an affiliation with club mahindra resort,. so we booked a suite with 2 bedrooms in it. The hotel was simply outstanding. with good amenities and swimming pool. We had good nights sleep and next day we had booked a package to the coral islands. This was about 45 minutes drive from the pataya by boat. It was breath taking view on the ferry boat. and the first stop was on a place like a helipad where we could have paragliding tied up to the boat. We feared at first to take it up, but later the fear broke down as we could see guys under our age happily gliding through. We all were safely tied on a gliding parachute and pulled by a small speeder boat. the sight from top was breath taking. after this we docked on a island where could see all the sides clearly covered with clean pure ocean. the ocean was so damn clean that we could see the bottom with all the corals in it.
From there we were taken to a place where we were given all the gadgets to take a deep sea dive. ohhhh man..!!! words cannot describe the feeling we were having when we were 50 feets under the ocean with oxygen mask and heavy metal dress on us. we were given some food to feed the under water fish. the 5 minutes scene inside the water was worth the trip. Later we were left on the island for a swim and lunch and went back to the hotel by late evening.
in next few days we visited Underwater world, Walking street, Tiffanys show and the Ripleys believe it or not show.. The tiffanys show is been performed by eunuchs. nobody could make out that those dancers were not women. as each one of them was so pretty. The scarry house was so scarry that i lost my Armani glasses in the fear. Later that week we went to Bankok this is more like cosmo or metro city than pataya. bankok is the best and cheapest place to buy clothes and original fakes goods. i could bet you that an orginal would look like an fake, when compares to bankok stuffs. here we went to the museum, zoo, floating market and the canal ride on a boat. the canal ride was like an mini venice where a small town survives on a water. people stay beside the canal and travel for every basic needs to and fro.
For shopping the best place was indira market for cheap stuff and siam plaza for original world renown brands. The tuk tuk is the ultimate ride in bankok. the cost of leaving is very cheap when compare with other developed countries. We could find massage parlours at every nook and corner, even in shopping mall every 4th or 5th shop will be of massage. an ordinary foot massage would be as cheap as 50 bhats. Any person visiting Thailand and not having maasage is like not eating chicken at KFC. ha ha ha..... finally after 7 days of our thailand visit we returned back with another fond memories to india.

The Dazzling UK Trip

2009-07-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

It was Spring of January, me, my wife and my daughter planned for an overseas trip to London. We travelled by emirates and believe me it was one of the best airline i have ever travelled. We reached london via dubai and the moment we landed we could feel the chillness in the air. Man the climate was simply amazing. we were completely shivering with the single digit tempreture. We stayed at my brothers house at East Croydon.
The first day we were completely resting because of jet lag and the next few days we started seeing the real london. We went to pica deli square. London eye, Great London Bridge, Big ben,Buckingham palace, British Museum,Madam Tussads,Trafalgar square (where DDLJ was shot) and Wimbledon.. it took us 2 days to visit this place, and each place has its own history. The best and must see place is the Madame Tussads wax museum, we could feel that we were among the stars themselves when we were inside the studio, as the wax art was so natural and realistic image of the Celebrities.The best transport in London is by Tube or public bus. it is so convenient and cheaper when compared to taxis, we could take a days or a weeks pass to travel different zone and travel as many time as possible. It was good fun in carrying a london tube road and bus maps where ever we go. sometimes we get lost too. but the local public is more than deligted to assist us immediately.
Next few days we shopped till we dropped at Debenhams, Oxford circus and few other places. we found Perfumes the cheapest of all purchase and then real swiss chocolates.
On late nights we sneaked out to some happening clubs and had real good time. a week before and a week after we left London it was snowing, but we missed it completely. as a matter of fact it touched the lowest tempreture in some 40 years in London ( this was a week after we left London)
Later that week we planned to visit all our freinds and relatives. We took the National bus and went to Burmingham where my wives closest pal stays there with her family. was there for 2 days then left to Reding, where my cousin stays- was a single day journey. Later that week we also went to Isle of whites. believe me it is one the best places i ever visited. its an hillstation with much colder climate than the London itself. With all the thougts of the beautiful place we returned back by same emirates airline via dubai. it was one full week of adventurous exploration of new continent.
I would advise all the readers not to take any package tours as this is more like a school pcinic where we need to abide by the rule set by the tour operators. Wherein our personalised tour has more flexibility and we could do any thing and every thing at anytime and everytime.