Destinations

If you haven’t been to Ladakh yet, then here are nine reasons why you must head to Ladakh this summer. And if you have already been to Ladakh, they still hold valid. For warm Thukkpas and momos – I will not say I am a huge fan of Ladakhi food but who doesn’t love a bowl of hearty soup with noodles. The no fuss reliable taste of thukpa with a lashing of red chilly at your heart’s desire when the winds are chilly and dry is a great solace. And the steaming momos are a wonderful snack for every stop you make along the unending roads of Ladakh. For the ever fluttering prayer flags – The sound OM Mani Padme Hum can be heard under the breath of the winds sweeping the vast deserts of Ladakh. Even when you are travelling away from the world, on a lonely pass will stand a stupa meditating in solitude of towering altitudes, dressed in the many colorful flags making your journey from challenging to serene shifting your travels inward rather than outward into the remote corners of your own soul. For The friendly locals – A smile on every face and a ‘Julay’ on every lip, Ladakh is one of the friendliest parts of India. People serve not for money but with an honesty and hospitality that is heart warming. To stretch your money with Cheap accommodations – One of the best and cheapest accommodations we found anywhere in the country was in Ladakh. In Leh we paid Rs 600 for a two bed room and bathroom that overlooked a field and the mountains beyond it. One of the most breathtaking views we have had from a room. To be a great photographer – Anywhere you look in Ladakh, just click and it …

It is an otherworldly place. The only place we went in South East Asia where English was not understood, foreigners and travellers from outside were few and far in between, people were genuine and hospitable and no matter how hard we tried, we could not explain what vegetarianism meant. People smoked all the time, everywhere: inside the air conditioned buses, in public areas and offices,  but yet they smiled so politely piercing your soul and warming your heart, that you don’t mind the smoke, the discomfort of the tight vans and minibuses, the crazy drunk drivers who are popping in tablets to keep themselves high. The torrential rains and heavy winds made you feel as though they would blow the roof of your head and sooner than later the water would come gushing in your hut which they fondly call bungalows following the command equatorial climes but minutes later the sun would shine just as bright as the smiles of the people and dry your back like there was never a drop on it anyways. We could relax all day by the lake with no pressure of things to do and activities to be accomplished. Sumatra is one of those places where you just are rather than trying to be. It is for us the ultimate place to relax, a highly recommended “cool spot” by our definition. For more information on Sumatra and what not to miss on the island…Read here

We spent a week in Bruges, but if you don’t have that much time, you should at least spare a weekend to this lovely fairytale town. Bruges is well connected by rail to most parts of Europe, and if you are feeling ambitious and don’t want to spend too much Eurolines is your answer to getting there. We have found some unbelievable deals on bus tickets for as low as 10GBP for a return ticket from London to Bruges. Here are top 5 things that you must do when you are in Bruges. 1. Battle of the Fries In the main square, two fry sellers have been battling it out for the best fry in town award. It is not an official award but all locals claim to have their own reasons for choosing one over the other. We loved the one on the right side if you are facing the entrance of the el Salvador Dali museum. 2. Belgian Waffles If they Belgians do something, they do it really well. Their Waffles are undoubtedly the best in the world, what better way to end your meals with freshly baked waffles topped with Cream and fresh strawberries. 3. Beer   There is a saying in Belgium, that they export the bad produce from their breweries to other parts of Europe, the good ones are available in Bruges. There are an infinite number of bars around the main square, look for the one, which serves cheese on the side. In Belgium Beer is not just a drink but it is a science. Each beer has a different glass to complement the taste. One of the breweries offers a tour, and it is a must do when you are there. 4. Countryside Most Locals use bicycles to go around town, adding to the charm …

We love Sumatra and in Sumatra, we love Lake Toba so much so that we ended up spending about 60% of the month we had in Indonesia in Lake Toba which also meant we could not move to other parts of Indonesia besides Sumatra. Now you must think, since we were in Lake Toba for 17 days, we must have seen all that was there to be seen, done all that was there to be done many times over. But our laziness was at its peak in Lake Toba, we managed to tick a few things of our list. We present to you the 5 things we really enjoyed in Lake Toba. Almost all the accommodation in Lake Toba is in Tuk-Tuk village in Samosir Island and there is only one connection to the mainland, and if you are here in the off-season you are likely to know most tourists. We bumped in most of them at the many sites that are scattered in various parts of the island. Lake Toba is the largest lake in Indonesia and the world’s largest volcanic lake and Sumatra is home to Bataks, the natives of Indonesia. The setting is very pretty, people are nice (this applies to all places in Sumatra, all of them love Indians and they are big fans of SRK) food will please your taste buds if you don’t experiment too much, and you can walk for weeks and are likely to find some hidden corner to sit and admire the view. Here are the top 5 things we enjoyed in Lake Toba. Walks around the Island – It takes about an hour to walk its circumference of the island. You can sit any guest towards the lakeside, and enjoy a nice cup of tea, coffee (both with condensed milk) …

We stayed on the beautiful island of Samosir surrounded the mystical Lake Toba in Sumatra at an expense of around $22 per day. Rate 1 USD = 10,800 IDR Rate 1 USD = 60 INR Expense Item Per Day (USD) Total Stay 17 Days (USD) Per Day (INR) Total Stay 17 Days(INR) Breakfast 4.17 70.8 250 4250 Lunch 2.22 37.8 133 2267 Dinner 2.22 37.8 133 2267 Special Dinners / Eating Out 2.31 39.4 139 2361 Juices / Drinks Etc 2.31 39.4 139 2361 Accomodation 6.48 110.2 389 6611 Water 0.83 14.2 50 850 Laundry / Miscellaneous 0.93 15.7 56 944 Total $21.48 $365.2 1289 21911 We know its not easy to keep a track of your expenses especially while traveling but we did it. And we have renewed our love for PIE CHARTS. Where we spent our cash: 1. Accomodation: Rooms are cheap at Lake Toba. We got a beautiful, spacious room with a huge bathroom at 70,000 IDR. 2. Food: Breakfast 45,000 IDR Lunch and Dinner would usually be one dish each about each costing 12,000 IDR so average IDR 24,000 We kept our health in check and had a glass or two of juice each day about 8000 – 10,000 IDR. One 4 nights we ordered Vegetable Pizza’s and always ended up getting a 2nd one. Each costing about 30,000IDR. 3. Eat outs: We ate out only once at a place called Junia which was way expensive than Liberta Homestay and one meal cost us about 100,000 IDR at our friend’s recommendation. He later agreed that the food at the guest house we were staying at was not just the best value for money but most appealing to taste buds as well. 4. Sightseeing: All the sight seeing we did was on foot, but we paid entry …

How many days can you stay back for this view? When we started this trip we intended to go to quiet places, find a comfortable place to stay with open spaces, preferably close to a water body where we could relax, read, talk, write, walk and introspect all day. And when we look back there is one place more than any other that could be the stress free abode that matched all the necessary criteria where we stayed on amazingly low budget with amazing hospitality and courtesy extended by the owner. Even at the end of seventeen nights we were not willing to leave and had to drag ourselves out because our visa was about to expire. That place was what we like to call is Mr. Moon’s traveler’s heaven – Liberta Homestay. Mr Moon is a kind gentleman who was once a farmer before he moved to Samosir Island in Lake Toba in Sumatra to run this place that was set up by his brother and his wife. His brother and sister-in-law decided to go back to Germany while Mr Moon willingly took over Liberta homestay that he now happily manages with the help of dedicated staff and family members. This the first and only place rooms in all of our travel that offered rooms at fixed prices only – no negotiations or testing the waters with each traveler. The prices are written on the reception and are so reasonable you wouldn’t want to bargain. And even during our stay there was never any overcharging or issues that were not readily dealt with. Mr Moon’s Batak houses are split level accommodations with bathroom and sitting space at the bottom and you climb a cute little staircase to sleep at the top. They are neat, spacious, charming, well built and …

Ishwinder can’t swim. No she cannot. But that hasn’t kept her from jumping into water bodies if I am already in there to hold her hand and with a life jacket she knows no bounds. We had been on a snorkelling trip once before in Malaysia and thought we could certainly manage a close to the edge of the sea snorkelling here in Pulao Weh.  Did I tell you yet that the clear waters of Pulau Weh are considered one of the best places in the world to go Snorkelling? We could see fish swimming in the water right from our balcony which was located over the sea. Well, more about that later. But know for sure that it was a beautiful day. The sea was turquoise blue. There was no wind blowing which was a good thing because leave alone winds even mild breezes make the sea in Pulau Weh turbulent. And turbulent sea is fine for me but just that poor Ishwinder hadn’t slept for two nights. For someone who could sleep on a bumpy bus, to a rocky flight or even in wedding parties, not being able to sleep for two nights was something I secretly found very funny. Somehow, the waves hitting on the wooden foundations of our hut hanging off a rocky cliff didn’t feel very safe to her. She would spend the night researching our next trip and sleep only a couple of hours in the morning when she was sure that I was awake and in case there was a tsunami I would alert her. What I will be able to do in that situation was not her concern. Why are we talking about tsunami here? Because this region, this middle of nowhere was one of the worst hit areas of Tsunami in …

1:00 am in the night, at Patnitop 120 kms from Srinagar Don’t remember what the date was. We had spent a month zig-zagging, criss-crossing, bumping over the roads (or roads that could be paved) in Ladakh. We were returning home via the beautiful Kashmir valley. The clouds were bleeding over us. But we stopped not breaking our ‘no riding at night’ rule. We kept going like there is a tomorrow, and we must get to this place, any place outside of Kashmir before tomorrow gets here. We stop. We stop only when reach that and knock on the door of the first hotel in sight at Patni Top at 1:00 in the night.   5 hours ago at 7:45 PM, 55 kms from Srinagar on the way to Jammu The local traffic police official asked us to leave. “What are you waiting for? If you want to get out of here, then now is the time. People are all in their homes breaking their fast. Leave before they return. Tomorrow morning the stones will return to be pelted at you. God knows what will happen. Leave! Leave! God will take care of you. Khuda Hafiz.”   5 hours ago 2:45 PM, 55 kms from Srinagar on the way to Jammu Ishwinder refuses to eat anything before she gets home and sees “mumma” again. She can’t stop crying. A kind uncle who is the owner of the hotel where we were staying waiting for the curfew to be lifted tries to pacify her. We feel like we are in a movie when he offers us to bring something from the house of Hindu shop owner in case we feel eating at Muslim’s house violates our religion. Ishwinder in a gust of emotions touches his feet and tells him he is like …

Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi Bundi – Jaipur Distance Covered (210 kms) Time Taken 6pm – 11pm Room At Rawla Mrignayani Palace – 1000, One of the nicest rooms we found in Rajasthan. A great deal for 1000 but came with a big draw back. The rooms were super cold and in the chill of the January Winter, this drove us out of Jaipur after two nights. This place would be ideal if you are visiting Jaipur in Summers. Everything else about this place was perfect right from location, ambience, staff, cleanliness. Food items – Rawat ki pyaaz kachori, kesar doodh.  Found the kachori to be over hyped, the Kesar Doodh was the clear winner. Like all other places in Rajasthan, Jaipur set the bar for food really high. All the places we ate at served good food at reasonable prices. The only food experiment that we did not enjoy in Rajasthan was the Dahi Ka Saag at a local restaurant. It was like any other mixed veg raita. Sight Seeing – Amber Fort. A 30min drive from the city takes you to one of the best preserved Palaces in Rajasthan. If you are driving down, make a note that you can take your vehicle right up to the entrance of the Fort. The fort is huge and the audio guides make a nice companion in the 3-4 hrs that you will easily spend here. The guides at the entrance will try to persuade you against the audio guides claiming that is cheaper to hire a guide and that your audio guides won’t answer any questions. We went with the audio guides and were happy by the end of our visit. However if you are short …

The beach is empty and quiet. Really quiet. Not the quiet when you can still hear murmurs and see people in the distance. It is the quiet when you are the only one outside while others are all inside their huts, shacks, rooms and homes. The beach is empty. The beach belongs to me this morning. Those foreigners drinking beer. Those workers from Himachal and Nepal. Those smug locals. No one is here. The beach belong to me. Just me. The sunbeds are tucked elsewhere. The umbrellas stashed out of sight. The music boxes silenced and the candles blown out. The fancy is gone. I am the only one here this morning and The beach belongs to me. Just me. Besides me the dogs are here too. They are walking behind me wagging their tales. I pick up an empty beer bottle to scare them away. I am no good to make friends right now because I am alone here and I am scared. Oh, its totally dark except the moonlight. Oh, I could bumped into bull sleeping on the sand. I must turn on the flashlight. I think that the beach most certainly doesn’t just belong to me. I see some people walking in the dark just randomly moving around. Where could they be headed at this time of the day? Are they here to scare me because the beach clearly just belongs to me. Its scary if a dog approaches me or a man walks by. To be mugged would not be cool. I am scared. I realized I must be scary too to someone else. My own shadow on the sand scares me. I feel like a ghost walking in black pyjamas and hair flying in the wind. Let me just go back to the room. But …