On One's Toes...

In the English Countryside: United Kingdom

2012-07-08T12:05:00.004+05:30

Madame Tussaud's - Pele

River Thames

We started our trip to the UK with London (no guesses there). The city, steeped in centuries of history, is breathtakingly beautiful, in spite of the not-so-enjoyable weather. We first visited Madame Tussaud's wax museum and Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes' homes was located in the books. That afternoon, we visited Hyde Park and Kensington Palace under a blanket of gloom and clouds as it was set to rain that evening.

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Stonehenger

The next day, we saw the Buckingham Palace, standing mighty and regal, following it up with Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the river Thames and the London Eye. After a good night's rest, we set out to explore the British Museum, the next day (yes, it takes at least a day!). That evening we visited Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the Nelson column.

Windsor Castle

Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge

The day after, we set out on a day tour to Windsor Castle, one of the royal family's many homes across the country, Bath, a Roman city in ruins and the enigmatic Stonehenge (it was hailing by the time we got around to the Stonehenge!). Our last day in London was spent visiting the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London complex.

London Eye

Houses of Parliament

Buckingham Palace

York Cathedral

Edinburgh Castle

The next day we set out on a road trip to Edinburgh, Scotland stopping at Cambridge, York and Newcastle on the way. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, but the most scintillating site in the city is the Edinburgh Castle nestled on the edge of a cliff overlooking the city.

Shakespeare's House

We then went to the lake district, where poets like Wordsworth and Keats lived and then reached Liverpool. We visited Penny Lane and Anfield in the port city of Liverpool and then rode down to Stratford-upon-Avon to explore Shakespeare's house. We then drove back to London to catch a flight back home. All in all a great trip I would say!

Penny Lane

The Mediterranean Adventure: Part II (Greece)

2012-06-24T12:02:00.003+05:30

Acropolis

...So continuing where I left off, from Istanbul, we proceeded to Greece (the cradle of civilization as some people prefer to call it). We landed at Athens (the traffic is as bad as it is in India) and checked into our hotel to get some much needed rest.

Athens from the Acropolis

The next day we began our tour of Athens by first visiting the Acropolis which looked as splendid as always (in spite of large-scale renovations going on) and the view of the city from atop the hill is one to behold. We then visited the stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic games in 1896 followed by a few scattered remnants of Greek temples that dot the cityscape.

Corinth Canal

1896 Olympic Stadium

That night we visited the neighboring port of Piraeus where we enjoyed an authentic Greek dinner full of moussaka, gyro meat and the Greek version of pita bread along with some ouzo (Greek home-made liqueur).
We then continued our journey to a seaside temple of Poseidon located a couple of hours away from Athens after which we proceeded on our trip to Sparta. Our first stop in Sparta was the Corinth Canal, one of the world's thinnest canals, that separates the island of Sparta from the rest of Greece. We then visited Olympia where we saw the ruins of a temple complex dedicated to Zeus, and the site where the ancient Olympic games were held. The Olympic torch of the modern Olympics are lit at this site before being transported across the globe to host cities.

Amphitheatre at Delphi

Temple of Apollo at Delphi

We then proceeded to town of Delphi, also known as the 'Navel of the World'. Delphi holds the ruins of the temple of Apollo and was the seat of the oracle in ancient Greek times when young women were recruited as oracles, who would then communicated the future of the world, as ordained by the Gods, to men. The amphitheatre at Delphi, was one of the largest open air theatres of the ancient era, and still possesses a captivating charm nestled on the slope of a picturesque hill.

Hydra

From Delphi, we proceeded to the town of Meteora in central Greece. The complex of rock cut Eastern Orthodox monasteries that stand on the cliffs of Meteora are the second most important complex of this type in the world after Mount Athos.
We then drove back down to Athens and boarded a cruise to visit a few Mediterranean islands including the famous islands of Hydra and Poros. The view of white houses, white blue roofs nestled around a cove with a jetty is truly a memorable vision to take away from this trip!

The Mediterranean Adventure: Part I (Turkey)

2012-06-16T10:25:00.000+05:30

So, a new post after a long time, and this is going to be about one of my first trips abroad to Turkey and Greece!

Bosporus Bridge

Back in 2006, we decided to visit these two Mediterranean countries to soak in the rich history, the magnificent architecture and the bright, blue sea. We first visited the Turkish city of Istanbul (to date it remains my favourite city ever, something that I don't see changing for a while).
Istanbul is beautiful in many different ways. As the only city to span two continents, it holds a unique place in history as the gateway to Asia for European empires, and the gateway to Europe for Asian empires, and yet today's Istanbul stands united both geographically and culturally. It is a symbol of harmony with grand mosques built into derelict churches, and palaces overlooking bustling streets and skyscrapers. Istanbul's atmosphere is unique to the city itself, something that is hard to replicate elsewhere.

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sofia

We visited the three great mosques of the city; the Hagia Sofia, which was built inside a Byzantine church when the Ottomans took hold of the city; the Blue Mosque, which stands tall, topped by its blur domes; and the Suleimaniye Mosque named after the great Ottoman emperor Suleiman II. We also visited the two palaces that adorn Istanbul; the Topkapi Palace, the abode of the Ottomans; and the Dolmabache Palace.

Suleimaniye Mosque

'From Russia with Love' Poster (LOL)

We also took in the beautiful scenery of the city of Istanbul as we drove up to edge of the Black Sea, and took the cruise down to some picturesque islands in the Bosporus Strait. Our guide took us to the Basilica Cistern, an underground water system where the James Bond movie, 'From Russia with Love' was shot!
The last thing we did in Istanbul involved a lot of shopping as we visited the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar.

(P.S. - Sorry for not having many good pictures, it was a long time ago and I'm having a hard time finding pictures)

(P.P.S. - Wait for Part II on Greece to come out soon!)

Serenity, Tranquility and Beauty: Maldives

2012-01-09T18:25:00.002+05:30

A boat in the middle of the ocean

Maldives

Maldives, a picturesque haven in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is one place everyone must visit atleast once in their lifetime (sooner rather than later, or the islands themselves might disappear due to global warming). The islands are one of the smallest countries in Asia and the roads seem to be a secondary way of travelling when compared to ships, boats, aircrafts and helicopters.

The jetty

Maldives

Firstly even before leaving we had a huge scare when my passport had not returned with the Maldivian visa a week before we were supposed to travel. We were preparing ourselves to fly to Mumbai and try to sort things out with the Maldivian authorities, but thankfully my passport was returned three days before we were supposed to leave.

We landed at the airport one autumn afternoon in late October (Autumn as a weather, though, doesn't exist in the Maldives where the sun shines every single day of the year). Anyway we reached the island where our resort was located in an hour by speed boat. Our rooms were located on the sea and allowed us to snorkel and swim in the vast ocean just outside our rooms. The resort was very relaxing and entertaining and I spent my days kayaking, sailing, snorkelling, swimming, eating delicious seafood, collecting seashells and corals, feeding sting rays and baby sharks and sunbathing and lazing around on the beach. A perfect holiday, if I may say so...

Sting Rays

The jetty

Reaching the highest of heights: Ladakh

2012-01-01T21:47:00.000+05:30

So Ladakh happens to be India's highest, northern barren frontier, and easily, the most underrated tourist destination in the country (Tip #1 Sit on the left side of the aeroplane to get really good views of the mountainous landscape below while the plane readies itself to land at the Leh airport).

View of Ladakh from the plane

Leh Palace

The first evening, the crisp chill of the ensuing night refreshed our minds as we toured the Leh palace, or what remains of it. The weather, though initially a little cold with the whipping wind adding to the discomfort, gets better as you spend more time outdoors ( like wine ;) ).

Lamayuru

The next day we drove all the way to the ancient town of Lamayuru stopping at the famous Alchi monastery and the Magnetic Hill on the way. The ride, though long and pretty bumpy in some parts, was absolutely worth it; the road winds around this small mountain stream with picturesque mountains, forests and occasional gompas dotting the way.

Alchi

Khardung La pass

View from Khardung La

Bactrian Camels

Nubra Valley

The next day we proceeded north from Leh to the valley of Nubra, a mere 100 kilometres from the famous Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world! The valley is flanked some of the tallest mountains in the region making for very scenic landscapes as we drove to the town of Hundar in the valley. We stayed in the valley for a night enjoying the scenery, riding Bactrian camels, and fretting occasionally over the breathlessness that weighed upon us sometimes. The route to the valley consists of crossing the Khardung La pass, which is the world's highest motorable road at an altitude of 18380 feet ( It is advised that one spend not more than fifteen minutes atop the pass for the low levels of oxygen that is present in the air ). We also stopped at the Diskit monastery on the way which looked truly majestic nestled in one of the lofty peaks that flanked either side of the valley.

Diskit Monastery

Thikse Monastery

On the way to Pangong Tso

Once we were back in Leh, we set off towards the east to the magnificent lake, Pangong Tso, very close to the Chinese border. On the way to the lake, we stopped at the famous Thikse monastery. The road to the lake led us through the Chang La pass, the third highest motorable road in the world at 17,586 feet. The lake itself is absolutely pristine with its multi-shaded blue waters flanked by barren mountains on either side expanding all the way to the unending horizon.

Pangong Tso

My trip to Ladakh made me see things I could only imagine and believe things that I could only dream of.

I (heart) NYC - New York City

2011-12-25T11:00:00.000+05:30

Times Square

Empire State Building

So the last time I had been to NYC, I was four, the World Trade Center still existed (clearly since I had gone up the elevators in it) and I don't remember anything else about the trip....and so my trip to the city this winter was technically my first. The story begins thus; a group of 12 of us (international students at Cornell) had to catch flights out of NYC to get back home for winter break and we left by the 1 AM bus on a Saturday morning after stuffing our luggage in the terribly under-spaced luggage compartment below the bus. The bus ride was, I'm assuming, good on the whole (I don't know for sure since I slept through all of it). We arrived at the Port Authority terminal at 5:30 in the morning, one and a half hours earlier than expected, and our flight was at 11 PM that day (I am still considering suing the bus company for getting us to NYC earlier than expected).

Times Square

Toys R Us

Empire State

So the twelve of us are sitting at the bus terminal, where everything seems to be closed, trying to figure out what to do with all our luggage while we roamed around the city for the rest of the day. After one and a half hours of waiting we finally found a place to leave our luggage at the terminal and got ourselves some breakfast before we began our day in the city. The twelve of us walked to a Starbucks nearby and decided what to do while sipping coffee.

UN HQ

Chrysler Building

Most of the group was pretty
tired and just wanted to relax and maybe watch a movie, and so me and three others got up to go sightseeing around the city. We first made our way to Times Square (OMG the lights were blinding even during the day!); Hershey's Store <3 lol....So well after taking an enormous amount of pictures at Times Square, I wanted to see the Chrysler building and so I typed in Chrysler on my iPhone (the ever reliable GPS (not)) and it directed us to the West Side of Manhattan (wrong side if you hadn't guessed yet) and finally after having walked for half an hour, we realized that we were in the wrong place and that there was no Chrysler building around, and so we hailed a cab that took us to the Empire State since that was next on our list. Well, we did not have the time or the patience to go all the way up to the top and so we satisfied ourselves with just pictures of the building and then walked to Broadway. After Broadway, my three friends wanted to go back to the terminal and so I continued the sightseeing trip alone (sad I know =P).

Chrysler Building

Grand Central Station

I really wanted to see the Chrysler building, so this time I typed in Chrysler building on my iPhone and it directed me to the right spot; that building was worth the effort, trust me, so beautiful!!
Anyway after the Chrysler building I made my way to the Grand
Central Station, and then finally walked all the way to the United Nations headquarters...That building cannot be described in words; the whole complex looks like its separated from the city, standing on its own with no connection to the hustle and bustle of NYC. Well, the last thing of note that I did in NYC, other than having lunch with one of my best friends whom I hadn't met in a long time, was shopping on Times Square (= unhappy parents)! Happy Holidays everyone!

Gorgeous Gorges and a lot more... - Ithaca, NY

2011-12-21T07:41:00.000+05:30

Central Campus

Cornell University

So well, my first semester at Cornell was too busy to write any blog posts, but now that I am back to being as bored as ever, here goes another post on my travels. Ithaca is a small, beautiful town in central New York where Cornell is located. The campus and the students constitute most of the life of the town. Cayuga Lake sits at one end of the town which is flanked by the Cornell and Ithaca College campuses on two other ends. From a Cornell student's perspective, Ithaca contains just three things, Collegetown where everyone gets drunk at frat annexes and buys tickets to NYC and receives haircuts; Downtown/Commons, which looks like the city center of a cute, Mediterranean village, where students go to buy more important things; and lastly Ithaca Mall where students go to buy almost anything they could possibly think of from movie tickets and snow boots to Halloween costumes.

Sibley Hall, Arts Quad

Uris Library

West Campus, Libe Slope

Beebe Dam

The most interesting part of the town is, obviously, the Cornell campus. The campus is 750 acres in area and was voted one of America's ten most beautiful campuses. There are two gorges on campus, the first one lies near Collegetown and West Campus while the main gorge separates Central campus from North campus. The gorges are topped by beautiful bridges and the Beebe dam creates a lake on the main gorge that freezes over the winter. The buildings themselves are beautiful to say the least, and only pictures can convey the beauty of the five quads that the campus has, which is why I am going to stop typing in prosaic descriptions of Cornell's beautiful campus and fill the rest of the post with pictures. =) (I hope you realize why I love Cornell after seeing the pictures!)

Johnson Graduate School

Barnes Hall

Over the Great Wall: China

2011-08-07T12:06:00.000+05:30

My trip to China was a lot of things, but it certainly was not boring. We went to China during the Bird Flu scare. Our flight first landed in Hong Kong, and from there we were to board a flight to Beijing. At the airport in Beijing, our plane was made to land miles away from the other planes, since Hong Kong was suffering from a bird flu outbreak. We were led to an alternate gate, that was really narrow, and had to stand in a lengthy line, while they checked all passengers coming from Hong Kong for symptoms of bird flu. I admit, the beginning of our trip was not very good and we reached our hotel that day, completely exhausted.

Great Wall

Ming Tomb

The next day we drove up north, past some Ming tombs, to the Great Wall of China, the only man-made structure in the world that is visible from space. The most beautiful feature of the wall, according to me, is the fact that it is not in a straight line, instead it winds its way around the contours of the adjoining hills making for a picturesque view. The wind blows in your face as you walk on the wall amidst a never ending babble of tourists; eyes darting from left to right and from back to front, taking in the ever-changing panorama around. The experience felt exhilarating, almost as though we were liberated from the shackles of the earth.

Tienanmen Square

Forbidden City

Over the next two days, we toured the city of Beijing and shopped our hearts out. The Forbidden City is really beautiful, and the long walk from one end to the other is absolutely worth it; after all, why would anyone want to miss the chance to travel through the lives of Chinese emperors! We also visited the Tienanmen Square, the world's largest city centre, and the site of the brutal killings in 1989. We also visited some Buddhist temples and the Olympic stadia. As far as the shopping was concerned, every evening we would get dropped of at one of the shopping malls or streets, shop for a couple of hours and then walk back to our hotel. Every shop would quote a price that is at least three times greater than the actual price. The key to shopping in China is haggling, and not losing one's patience while doing so. The shopkeepers are experts at haggling, and you really need to work hard at outfoxing them. On the whole it is a really fun experience shopping there and you should never miss it for anything.

Water Cube

Bird's Nest

Wild Goose Pagoda

The next day we left for Xi'an, one of the four great ancient capitals of China. There is a lot to see in this ancient city, such as the Wild Goose Pagoda, the ancient city wall, atop which one can see spectacular views of the city, and the Bell and Drum towers; but the most extravagant of them all is the tomb of Qin Shi Huang and his terracotta army. This World Heritage Site consists of over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 520 horses, all made of terracotta and then baked in order to withstand decay. The army was buried along with the Emperor to protect him in his afterlife.

Terracotta Army

City Wall, Xi'an

Our next stop was Shanghai, China's largest city and financial capital. The first building that hits the eye is the Pearl Tower, that consists of an observation deck and a restaurant. The city has some beautiful gardens based on feng shui. We also visited a small town called Suzhou near Shanghai where we could see a beautiful network of canals and bridges and small Chinese boats.

Market in Shanghai

View of Pearl Tower at night

Canals in Suzhou

Our last stop was Hong Kong. The city looks beautiful especially from the sea, as you take a boat ride in and around the harbour. We did not have enough time to visit Disneyland, but we did enjoy our time in the city.

Hong Kong

Winds and Waves: South Africa

2011-07-30T09:37:00.001+05:30

Cape Town from Table Mountain

Our South Africa trip started with a nine-hour long Emirates flight that took us from Dubai to Cape Town, not that I am complaining ( that flight was quite entertaining with their movies and games ). We landed in Cape Town, and the first thing that hit our eyes was Table Mountain, towering above the rest of the city, almost as though speaking to the winds and clouds in the sky. We drove to our hotel, which was a little off the rocky beach ( the beaches are certainly not very good, but then again there is lots of other fun stuff to do there ). Watching the birds eat strewn seaweeds of the small patches of sand, locked between a maze of boulders washed by angry blue waters, every morning was the most refreshing experience anyone can ever have.

Cape Point

On our first day, we hit to road south, to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The former was a huge grassy beach-like swatch of land covered with seaweed upto the last inch. There is a signboard there informing tourists that that was the Cape of Good Hope, the rest is left to imagination; how did sailors disembark here, what did they feel; everything dreamt of like in a fairytale. Cape point, was a narrow, rocky mountain that rose like a cliff from the depths of the ocean. This south western tip of the country is closer to Antarctica than it it is to most other cities in the world. On our way back we also stopped at Boulder Beach, where we saw Jackass Penguins ( they are called thus because of the braying noises they make ).

Jackass Penguins

The next day, we toured Cape Town, going up Table Mountain by cable car, visiting the waterfront/marina and spending the evening at the Stellenbosch botanical gardens. The top of the table mountain, was breathtaking, literally and figuratively. The air tends to get very rare on top, and you end up taking huge gasps of air every time you try to breathe in.

Me on an ostrich

The next day, we began our road trip to a golf resort around a half day's drive away. We ended up taking one whole day to complete the journey thank to the many distractions on the way, like the ostrich farm, where we rode ostriches ( Oh an interesting to note; ostrich eggs are exceptionally sturdy, all of us took turns standing on one, and there was no effect on the eggs ). We also visited Cape Agulhas, the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean; it is a magical site for on one side you can see the calm waters of the Indian Ocean, and on the other side, the stormy waves of the Atlantic.

A vulture at sunset at the Kruger National Park

We spent the night at the resort, and flew to Johannesburg the next day. From there we drove to the Kruger National Park. We read the Park in the evening and took to the night safari that day; we ended up seeing some hippos and some hyenas, but none of the main attractions, much to our disappointment. We still had the the next day, and so we took the early morning safari the following day. We ended up seeing a rhino, a chase between Zebras and African wild dogs, an endangered species. We also managed to see some wildebeest. At the end of the day, we were all satisfied with the wildlife we had seen.

Blyde River Canyon

On our way back to Johannesburg, we stopped at the Blyde River Canyon, the third largest river canyon system in the world. The red cliffs dotted by green shrubbery through which the blue river entwines, makes for an unforgettable sight. In Johannesburg, we visited Sun City, where we were actually taken into one of the gold mines that is not used presently. We also visited Soweto, the epicentre of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. We visited Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu's houses ( this is the closest distance between the residences of two Nobel Prize winners in the world ).
We also visited Pretoria, to see the parliament. We then returned to India, carrying memories we would always cherish.

My Tryst with the Tsunami: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

2011-07-23T15:08:00.000+05:30

It was in December 2004 that we decided to go to Andaman and Nicobar Islands; my grandparents, my parents, my sister and I. We boarded a flight for Port Blair from Chennai, and the journey was actually longer than what it takes to reach from Bangalore to say Pakistan, or even Bangladesh.
The islands are very picturesque and totally worth visiting; especially for their magnificent corals. I swear, out of all the beaches and islands I have visited, no other place has better corals than the Andamans. The water is pure and pristine with its shades of blue, and as you dip your hand into it, a rainbow of colours hit your eyes through the snorkelling mask. You can find red, purple and even green corals; the experience was mind blowing and anyone who wants to see the ocean and it's corals left untouched by pollution and development, then Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the place to go.

Cellular Jail

A Lighthouse on one of the islands

We spent the first six days of our week long stay relaxing, snorkelling, and visiting the Cellular Jail. This jail was used by the Japanese during World War II to hold POWs, and later by the British to keep Indian freedom fighters. The jail proved very effective, for it was isolated from the subcontinent by the vast Bay of Bengal, which was not humanly possible to swim across; though it is said that a freedom fighter by the name of Veer Savarkar did actually swim to the mainland.

View on a 20 rupee note

We also visited the place from which we could see the view that is printed on 20 rupee notes in India. Go ahead and compare the picture to a twenty-rupee note, and the similarities will be astounding.
We were scheduled to leave the islands on 27th December, and on the day before, we were supposed to go on a boating trip to a nearby island.
It was the morning of 26 December, 2004....All of us ( except my sister ) woke up at around six in the morning so that we could be ready in time for the boating trip. We were out in the one of the gardens of the hotel, when we felt a tremor underneath, it lasted for almost half a minute and felt quite strong. We hurried back to our rooms, to check if there was any damage and to wake my sister up and keep her safe. My sister was all right, but the walls of the room had long and very noticeable cracks running from the ceiling to the floor.
My father suggested that we go and see the ocean because after an earthquake, the waves tend to rise a little and flood the shore, so my father, my grandmother and I went to check on the waves. We climbed up one of the viewing posts, and could see the waves rising and flooding the beaches, the sand on the beach had just disappeared. Nothing seemed very alarming as of now and we never suspected anything as massive as the tsunami.
Our hotel was on top of a rocky hill, and over the next few hours as the rising waves ebbed and flooded the islands, water levels reached up to our knees, and that is when we realised that the waves had been quite large.
My father immediately shot off two calls, one to his brother and another to his office, informing both that we were safe. The timing was almost perfect, because a few minutes after he had placed those calls, all the phone lines had been jammed or disrupted and there was no way to contact anyone else.
After the waves had settled down to a level that was around my knees, we decided to venture out and see what had happened outside; dead fish lay strewn everywhere; on the beach, in the hotel grounds, on the roads; some motorbikes and cars floated around lifelessly in the water, as rescue workers tried to find any dead bodies or fishermen and motorists.
We were supposed to fly out the next day, and ignorant of the situation at the airport, we decided to reach there as early as possible to get a grasp of the situation. We arrived at the airport around four or five hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. The airport was in utter chaos as the only runway was broken at one ended and was flooded. It took a few hours for water to recede after which only small planes could land and take-off as the usable portion of the runway was too small for a big plane.
There was no place to sit or stand at the airport, and you inevitably ended up being hustled from one end to the other by the massive crowd. News crews were in full action and they even managed to interview my mother. In the meantime my father tried to contact the authorities to inquire as to when the next flight would leave, thankfully because of children and senior citizens, we were given tickets to one of the first flights out of the islands.
In the meantime, back in India, there were reports that no one was left alive in Andaman and Nicobar islands, and that all the planes were ferrying back dead bodies; this made all our friends and relatives really anxious and almost fearful of the fact that we were dead and being ferried back.
Finally the plane took off from the islands, and we heaved a sigh of relief. At the airport back in Bangalore, a sea of people were present at the airport to check if their loved ones were alive, or dead; and if dead then to identify their bodies. It took a few days for everyone to settle down and be informed of our safe return.
When we reached back and grabbed one of the papers, we realised what we had just been through. It was unbelievable how we came out of that tsunami alive and unharmed.

Between Sex Shops and Lord Buddha: Thailand

2011-07-16T12:19:00.002+05:30

If you ask anyone who has visited Thailand about their trip, the first thing that comes out of their mouths are the massive number of sex shops and nude beaches scattered around ( clearly I'm not an exception to this rule ). Walking down the market streets of the city, almost every second shop seems to have erotic posters and dangling sex toys, and funnily enough, in spite of their in your face shameless advertising, these shops are full of people, having more customers than most other shops on the streets.

Reclining Buddha

Emerald Buddha

But, Thailand is a lot more than just a tourist destination where one can realise his/her sexual fantasies. The country is a beautiful, almost heavenly connection, between nature and religion. The millions of Buddha statues, some scattered in the most remote parts of the country, always tend to be in harmony with their surroundings.
The two Buddhas that you just have to visit, are the Emerald Buddha and the Wat Po, which houses an enormous reclining Buddha. The Emerald Buddha though beautiful, is minuscule, and it took me ten minutes to actually realise what it was, and how it looked. The Golden Pagoda in the Emerald Buddha complex is quite breathtaking though.

Golden Pagoda

Ayutthaya

The city of Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, is also worth visiting, with its palaces that have a mixed architecture, with local, Chinese and Indian influences. How many of you know about the famous bridge over river Kwai, which the Japanese had built using Allied POWs, with almost 80,00 to 100,000 dying in the construction; a movie was also made on it? Well, this bridge still exists, though traversing it is positively frightening!

Bridge Over River Kwai

On the way to the bridge, we stopped at a tiger farm, I keep forgetting it's name, but it's pretty well known. Though it gives you the exhilarating experience of petting a tiger, I really didn't like the place. The tigers were chained and treated like domestic animals. They had grown fat and ugly due to their domestic lifestyle, it just seemed altogether sad. Oh, but one of the rules of entering that place was that you could not wear anything red, orange or pink, and funnily enough my parents and my sister happened to be wearing something red that day, so we had to stop on the way and buy shirts for the three of them so that they could enter.
We also visited the island of Phuket, which is absolutely beautiful. The weather is extremely unpredictable; one second it's as sunny and hot as a desert, and the next moment it's raining cats and dogs. The circuses of Phuket are one of the last ones in the world where animals are still used to perform acts. Frankly though, in spite of the grandiose claims of these circuses, I found them very boring, and slept halfway through it.
The boating and snorkelling off the coast is mind-blowing and we also visited the shooting site for one of the Bond movies, again I forget the name. Forgive my bad memory, I took this trip quite a while back.

Phuket

In Bangkok, our hotel was pretty close to the main shopping area of the city, so every night after we were done sight-seeing, we would walk to the market street and do some shopping. The streets are very lively with noisy, yet happy, people walking up and down, buying goods, selling them, customers haggling over prices, and live food being fried and sold at ever corner. Oh and about the live food, it look disgusting before it is fried, and the smell of the stale oil used for frying is absolutely nauseating. I, who has never puked for anything in my life, actually puked twice into the drain on the side of the road at that smell. It is...unimaginably bad.
But, all in all, my trip to Thailand was pretty memorable for the right and wrong reasons I guess.

The Sand Dunes of Time - Jordan

2011-07-10T13:38:00.000+05:30

A hot blast of dry, inhospitable air hits you as you step off the pleasantly air conditioned plane. The first words that came to my mouth on seeing the dusky, little airport standing a few feet away from the aircraft were, 'Where have I come? This isn't even an airport...'. Only later would I realise how wrong I was. Our guide, who happened to be large when measured in any direction, knew EVERY SINGLE restaurant in Amman; their menu, the prices, the entertainment, the location; there was nothing related to food that the man did not know! By the end of trip we were so stuffed with Hummus, that gave you a kick every time you swallowed it, and Pita breads that melt like butter in your mouth, to the rustic flavours of home made Babaganoush and Labneh. Okay enough with mouth watering food, this is supposed to be a travel blog so I am going to continue with the trip.

Al-Khazneh

The best place to start would truly have to be my favourite wonder of the world, Petra!! Not to brag, but even after seeing the Great Pyramids and the Great Wall of China, nothing beats the Petra.

From the entrance you can see absolutely nothing and you wonder what is so great about this place, and after walking a kilometre on a dirt path stained with horse poop followed by three kilometres in a narrow rock-cut pathway, you really begin to feel bored and tired. But the very next moment, the small passageway opens into the treasury, better known as the Al-Khazneh.

Tombs that "float"

The pink treasury in the evening sun

Imagine one of the palaces in 1001 Arabian Nights, remove some Islamic features and then just stick it to the face of a rock, and you get the dramatic sight that leaves you breathless. Quick Fact: The Al-Khazneh changes colours throughout the day, a yellowish-orange during the day, and a bright pink in the evening ( those are the only two colours I got to see, though it changes colours a lot more times). We stopped for around half an hour just to like take in its beauty, but even that wasn't enough. No angle, and no type of light, could make a photograph of the Khazneh come alive. You have to see it to believe it.

Petra is an ancient city carved out from the large rocks, and as you spend the entire day there, you see tombs of great Nabataen kings and queens aloft sky-high rocks that gave it the illusion of floating on clouds. A monastery located around a 1000 steps above the rest of the city, which entails a lung-crushing climb, followed by a lung-crushing gasp on seeing the monastery, followed by more lung-crushing gasps as you take in the view all around.

Wadi Rum

Our next stop was Wadi Rum, where a desert safari would show you around different mind-blowing desert landscapes. We even saw one of the sets where Lawrence of Arabia was shot! Jerash, north of Amman, is a purely Roman city ( yes, I know a rarity in the Islamic middle east). The amphitheatre, though in ruins is absolutely beautiful, and walking along the colonnaded walkway makes you feel like Caesar's heir.

The colonnaded walkway that feels kingly

Imagine a HOT day, like very hot with no wind or clouds, just a bright, blinding, white disc laughing at your misery. Well most of our trip was spent like that, though the day we went to the Dead Sea, really cooled everyone. You expect the waters of the Dead Sea to be different, like maybe black, or absolutely weird, but its just like any sea or lake in which you would swim. Entering the Sea for the first time can hurt a bit, as the water yanks you up into a lying position as you float around, and yes it feels very weird in the beginning. Like there is just something wrong, like this cannot be happening. For the first few minutes I kept trying to stand up right like I would do in a pool, but every time I made an effort to bring down my legs, the water would seem to resist with an even stronger force. Though the experience was amazing, the after-effects are something I will never forget. I happened to have really small, almost invisible scratches on my fingers from all the climbing and the travelling. While I was in the water, everything seemed normal, but as soon as I came out to dry myself and take a bath, my hand felt like it was on fire. The salt burned like the blazing sun, and my fingers were red with pain.

Jesus' Baptism Site

My tryst with the Dead Sea

Lastly, we also visited some crusade castles and fortresses, very much abandoned and lifeless. We also visited the place where Jesus was baptised, and no offence to Christians or Jews, but the Jordan river in which he was baptised looked more like a stagnant drain.

If my trip to Jordan were to be described in a word, it would be....scintillating.