World , A book

The Blue City, Royal Jodhpur, Rajasthan

2018-03-30T09:47:00.003-07:00

Day 3 3-Oct-2017 Jodhpur

We had only one day planned for Jodhpur. In fact our travel plan is never a plan. After spending few days in Gujrat seeing amazing Rani ki vav and other tourist destination close to Mehsana, we destined to Rajasthan.

Which city was not planned yet. We went to bus stand and inquired bus timing and travel time to various cities of Rajasthan then finally decided to board Jodhpur bus. Jodhpur is city in Thar desert, northwest of Rajasthan which is around 7 hours journey in bus from Mehsana, Gujrat. City was built as the capital city of Marwar to replace ancient city Mandore which is now Mandore gardens. The people of Jodhpur and nearby areas are hence called Marwaris.

*Amazing Jodhpur Video. Watch till end for BLUE City top view **

City is also known as blue city as most houses in the old city are shades of Blue particularly on north side of town. This view is visible from Mehrangarh fort.

Umaid Bhavan Palace
We booked autoricksaw(tuktuk),to take a city tour. Headed to Umaid bhavan palace first. Half of the palace is converted to five star hotel and king still lives here. There is small museum on the ground floor with minimal entry fee. You can also see king's Vintage car collection in glass enclosure.

Mandore garden:

Mandore was ancient capital of Marwar before Jodhpur was built. 7 km from city center, this place is combination of park, palace and temple. It also have small museum but not so rich.

Mandore Garden

Jaswant Thada

While going toward north to Mehrangarh fort, you can visit Jaswant thada on way which is just 1 Km away from Mehrangarh fort. Rao jodha ji statue on horse will welcome you which is visible from far distance. He was the founder of Jodhpur. Jaswant thada is also known as Tajmahal of Marwar.

Mehrangarh Fort

This is the biggest fort in Rajasthan. Founded in 1458 at Rao Jodha ji site hence the city name is Jodhapur. This fort could never be conquered. When you see the fort you will know why? It was built on top of mountain with clear views all around. 3km of massive ramparts built around the fort to protect.

Blue city view can be seen from top of fort. You need to take ticket to go inside museum which will allow you to go to rooftop. Fort entrance is free but museum entrance is charged.

This fort is like a complex with Maharaja's Palace, various temples, a nice park in backyard and museum.

Mehrangarh Fort

This includes:

Sheesh Mahal

Moti Mahal: Maharaja used to held his audience here. Decorated with pearl and colorful glasses, it is a feast for eye.

Phool Mahal: This used to be Maharaja's Pleasure chamber with beautiful dancers and revelry.

Zenana Deodi: This is where Maharaja's Wives used to take bath. It was guarded by Eunuchs

Chamundi Mataji Temple: It is at another end of fort and got deep belief of locals.

That was quite a rush to cover all these places in one day. Although we managed to finish and had a feast of dinner with Rajasthani Thali.

Post that we moved to Bus stand to catch bus to our next destination, Jaisalmer.

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Want to surf on high tides? Plan Baler, Philippines

2017-05-04T08:17:00.001-07:00

Philippines is not only bestowed with amazing natural beauty and endless diversities to cherish, it also got maximum number of holidays in Asia to make sure that you can enjoy these places.

We grabbed the opportunity of long weekend coming up and planned to go to Baler, capital of Aurora province. Baler travel flagship is surfing. People go there to ride the high tide. Van was booked for 14 of us. We got in Van in night and reached around 6AM to the entry point of Baler. Jaw dropping scenic beauty on way forced us to stop.

We decided to take breakfast first and found one nearby restaurant. We were in big group and had mix type of food choices. Few wanted pure veg, few can eat egg, few preferred egg and chicken and few wanted all. While brainstorming on menu, we found something different "fried Frog" and we decided to go for it.

Our next destination was Ditumbao falls also known as mother falls. Way to fall was itself an adventurous journey trekking through greeneries and crystal clear water flowing under your feet. There were few small waterfall on way and we didn't miss any chance getting wet in all these waterfalls.

Water Fall on way to Ditumbao

We took a ride to check in in hotel after Ditumbao falls. Our hotel was next to Sbang sea beach so that we can head to surfing, the reason we came to Baler.
After getting fresh we headed for lunch. Few restaurants serve buffet lunch at mere 200-300P, with descent stretch of dishes including fish and chicken.

** Amazing Baler, captured in this Video **

Tides were not so high in evening hence we decided to go to hanging bridge, light house and Ermita hills. Ermita hills is famous for tsunami happened in 1735 where only handful of people survived who climbed on this hill.
Hanging bridge was on way . Light house and on way to light house is also a must see place in Baler.
A crystal clear river is merging in sea at this point. Atthe bottom of light house is Dicasalarin Cove which can notbe missed.

Hanging Bridge

Light House

Ermita Hill Tsunami story

On way to Light House

Darkness has engulfed the city and we were eager to see baler's night life. Enjoyed bar crawling and walking along the beach. We got some local wine (in video) and spent good relaxing time sitting on side of beach till late.

Next day was surfing day. Our hotel arranged surfing guide for us. Tides were soaring high and we started walking to beach with boards in our hand.
Guide charge was 300P for 2 hours and I guess 2 hours was enough for beginners. After initial 10 minutes training, we paddled inside sea lying on board. Now only wait was of high tide and use the skills we just learnt. As soon as tide pushes, jump and stand on board with both foot in straight line bending a little in front. Tips: wear full cover sun screen shirt while surfing to avoid your body friction on board. We had burning sensation on stomach and chest due to mutliple times falling and climbing on board.

Training and Surfing.

With amazing memories and checking one more bucket list, we got vresh and checked out from hotel. On way back, we stopped at Banyan tree park. With a minimal entry fee, we got inside to break silence with 600 years old huge tree. Govt is putting effort to keep this tree alive.

A nice souvenir shop is close to this where you can buy few gifts for your close friends before you head to Manila back to real life.

Banyan(Balete) tree park

Tips for Baler trip:

1) keep Ditumbao falls first thing in morning to avoid crowd.

2) Food is available easily and not so costly although you can keep snacks one way to cove.

3) Surfing cost 300P for 2 hours.

4) go to surfing in morning around 9AM to get high tide.

5) Carry water proof camera and sun screen swimming costumes.

Villa Escudero plantation and resorts, San Pablo, Philippines

2017-03-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Imagine yourself having traditional delicious food sitting at the foot of waterfall with tiny water droplets sprinkling over your cheeks and your feet submerged in cold refreshing water.

First time, when I saw pic of Villa Escudero in one of the social site, I immediately added it to my must go place list.

Buffet Lunch by waterfall

Villa Escudero is 800 hectares of working coconut plantation. It is located 10 kilometers south of the city of San Pablo, Laguna Province on the border with Quezon Province in the Philippines.

Most of our trips were a last minute plan and this was no exception.
It was just 2.5 hours drive from Manila and no prior booking was required, we planned to go there on 27th-Nov-2016 Sunday. We left around 7AM and reached around 9:30AM including a short break for breakfast. We were it seems first to reach there. Reception area was nicely decorated.

How to go:
Villa Escudero is just 90KM from Manila which will take around 2 hours since it is connected through expressway.
Public transport:
You can take bus from Buendia LRT terminal heading to Lucena and get down San Pablo City. You can see Villa Escudero board on the way and the arc.Once you get down there, It is almost 2km walk to Villa or using trike. Trikes are not so easily available. If you are in a group of 6 or more, you can always book a car or van which will be more convenient.

No prior booking required for a trip to this place. Try to start early to make sure that you have enough time to do all activities and less friction with the crowd. You can also book over phone first before going there. Rare chance of fully booked which happens only in case of private big event.

Accommodation:

It's one day trip and no accommodation required as such. They have nice rooms, you can book in advance, if you want to stay overnight have good time with nature.

Villa Escudero rooms

What to Carry:

Swimming Costumes.

Extra pair of cloths as it will get wet during lunch by the waterfall and bamboo rafting.

Snacks and drinks.

Although they have very rich restaurant with varieties of drinks including hard drinks, snacks, food and ice-cream, it is better to carry your own snacks for quick bite.

your own toiletries. (No grocery shop around)

Ticket and Timing:

Open from 8AM to 5PM.
One day ticket pass is 1400P which includes

Museum Visit.
Carabao Cart ride.(Carabao: Buffalo in Tagalog )
Scrumptious lunch by the waterfall. (Vegetarian and varieties of food available)
Bamboo Rafting.
Cultural program( starts at 2PM for 1 hour)
Swimming Pool and Jacuzzi.

They have appreciable enrich museum with nice collection of artifacts. We were in mood of fun and thought museum would be boring but we enjoyed our time there.

After grabbing ticket and enjoying welcome drink at reception, we decided to start our fun with Museum as it was the nearest. Walkway toward museum was also interesting. It is maintained by villa privately and all items are a personal collection.They had unexpectedly enriching collection in terms of Philippines history and also few artefacts from different countries. This museum was I felt much better than few museums I visited in Manila.

On way to museum

"No Photography" in museum.

Bags are not allowed inside museum as well. They have bag counter at entrance. You should carry bag with proper zip and lock if possible as you have to leave bag at many places.

Our next fun was to take Carabao ride to Waterfall lunch area.

Waterfall lunch starts from 11;30AM but people start coming early to grab the table closest to waterfall. This restaurant also listed in top 10 nicest restaurant.
We reached around 11:30AM but decided to take some drink and relax before we go for lunch. Luckily we got one empty table close to waterfall.

Food was simply amazing. You can choose for pure vegetarian food as well which was even better than non veg with full of delicious fruits,veggies and corns.
Post lunch and bath in waterfall, we went for bamboo rafting. Better to go for rafting in pair. You can carry your camera as it is quite stable boat or can ask someone to take photos. Rafting is done on Labasin lake and waterfall is formed on dam of same river.

Cultural program was next attraction here. Hall was beside lake and food is also served here which is not covered in ticket. You can get varieties of drinks including hard drinks and also varieties of food.
Watching cultural program in this hall a moment to relax and turn lazy.

We got refreshed in hot water jacuzzi and swimming pool before heading back to Manila with lot of memories and snaps.

Mount Purro Nature Reserve

2016-11-17T21:12:00.003-08:00

Mount Purro Nature reserve

10-Sep-2016

We were excited for this trip, especially me, because I kept all my trip plans on hold for long time. Still we were not able to finalize our destination for two day getaway.
After consulting few of local friends and research on internet, finally we, a group of 5 friends, decided to make a trip to "Mount Purro" just 50KM away from Makati, 2 hour ride in public transport.

Mount Purro Nature reserve is a resort very close to nature. It is being maintained by a family and I must say that they were very friendly and accommodating.
The resort got an sports area, swimming pool, mountain hiking and lot of peaceful play in the lap of nature.

Walk out of resort and you can enjoy village cool relax air and kids playing around, sari sari stores for your small taste of local foods and culture.
We also found a local unlimited supply of liquor there. On small request we got calamansi and lemon drink supply which made our evening even great to awesome.

How to Go there:

Trip to Mount Purro

We started early from Makati around 6AM and took a bus to Farmer's Market, CUBAO.
After quick shopping of fruits, we headed looking for UV express to COGEO.
From Cogeo, we took Jeepney and got down KANTO VETERANS.
From Kanto Vetrans, 2 trikes required to reach Mount Purro.

Travel expenses:
Since we took all public transport, it cost us around 150 Per head to reach there.
Costliest was two tricycle rides at the end.

What to carry:
Other than your general stuffs, swimming costume(for water fall), sports camera, mosquito repellent, sun screen(mountain hiking), hiking shoes, Jacket(night is colder).

Best part:
No mobile network, you can have complete peaceful time.
Very friendly and accomodating hosts. you will no find any reason to complain.
Delicious and balanced food included in package.

We reached around 8:30AM which was still early while check-in time was 12 noon.
It would be better if you can book room in advance. Our plan was decided at the last moment(as usual) so we just took the adventure risk.

We sat in a nicely decorated dining hall of reserve early morning, couldn't resist taking photos of interior.

A light chit chat started with the owner, I guess he wanted to make us comfortable there.
We found that all rooms are full.
He requested us to settle down in a hall, big enough to accommodate 50 people, which was like a personal room for 5 of us.
Package he offered was 950 Per head which included Lunch, dinner and next day breakfast which we readily agreed.

Rooms were supposed to be ready by 12 noon, so we decided to go on mountain hike. Mount Purro provided guide for hiking but we were too confident and denied to get one.
Climbing up was full of fun and entertainment. All fun disappeared while returning, when we found that we lost our way. all plants and rocks looked familiar as if we crossed the path while going up.
After little of panic and much of re calculation we managed to get back to reserve. There was no network signal so couldn't ask for help.

Rooms were ready. After a tedious "treasure hunt" hiking, we took bath and headed straight for lunch. Lunch was basic but still a full contained meal.
They took care of food preferences of each members.

Evening time was more in sports room trying various games and sitting around campfire.
After a full awesome day, we decided to drink a little.

There was not much option available inside resort. It was 8PM. Darkness engulfed the village completely, unlike city where darkness is a rare thing.
We walked down to few small shops twinkling with small light analyzing the options there. Finally ended up trying local rice and coconut wine.
It was pretty nice drink. We sat on the benches in front of small store. Requested for lemon drink, calamansi and salt which was made available.
One of our friend turned bartender was up with his mixing skills. Chit chat and fun started warming. Dark night turned more and more beautiful with each gulp. That was one of the best drinking session.
every now and then village kids will appear holding 1 or 2 Peso coins in their small hands and leaving satisfied. That reminded us of those days when small money was enough to keep us happy all day.

It was 10PM when resort sent someone looking for us. :) we walked down to our room, took bath again and went in deep sleep hoping more fun next day.

All guests were ready to go for waterfall. We took our breakfast quickly. This time we decided to follow the guide.

It was quite waterfall and view was amazing. We spent couple of hours till they started chasing us to go back.
We took lunch and spent few more hours in resort before heading back to Makati.
A perfect place for family getaway or for a group of friends.

Thanks to Mount Purro owner and their team for keeping the place very cozy, friendly and clean.

pamitinan mountain, Philippines

2015-12-11T03:12:00.000-08:00

Two mountains, Mt. Binacayan and Mt. Pamitinan, kissing sky side by side is collectively known as Montalban Gorge or Wawa Gorge. It is the best and the quickest one day getaway from the chaotic life of Manila, if you love mountain hiking.

We planned to go for Mt. Pamitinan hike.

How to go:

Getting at the foothills was a smooth trip. Take a bus or taxi going to Farmer's Market, Cubao. From Cubao, there are many van's(UV Express) running to Montalban which would be approx 1.5- 2 hours ride.

UV Express service to Montalban

From here you can take tricycle which will take you to Brgy Wawa, almost foothills of mountain.

What to carry:

We relaxed for a while at Brgy Wawa, registered at the tourism counter for just 2 PHP, made sure that we have enough food and water.

There are few small shops around this area where you can get basic required supplies like water, snacks, bananas, coffee and even fresh cooked burger as well.

Hanging Bridge

It is better to wear flexible and relaxed attire for mountain hiking. You should also carry a set of extra clothings to change once you are back from hiking. There is arrangement to take bath with 25P charge.

You will get lot of sharp rocks on the way to summit so if you like you can carry gloves. Gloves are also available there in shops.

On the way, sharp rocks

Altogether, my recommendation is to travel light. I carried lot of food but brought most of the food back. There are 2 junctions to stop at and rehydrate yourself, although you may need to shed some extra bucks to get water here.

It is better to start early. We reached there by 7:30AM and returned almost by 3PM. We stopped for longer period on the way. you can also reach at summit and return within 4-5 hours if you want to finish it quickly.

It would be challenging if you start late and sun is right up on your head. We were lucky because it was a cloudy day.

It was a fun climbing up till summit. you can see few village houses once you start trekking up but after gaining little height, you will be only with nature, greeneries all around and small path to walk on. Initial impression would be that this hiking is going to be easy and fun.

We stopped at first junction grabbed some quick drinks, coconut water etc from the shop, and a short break and then started climbing again.

We can call it phase 2 which was tough, steep height and sharp rocks and mountains all the way.

Make sure that you are wearing nice hiking shoes or good quality shoes which can survive these rocks.

Crawling, creeping and making sure that each step is firmly placed before we move our next step because one slip would cause a definite injury. from this point finding a flat place to sit was also challenging. Palm, foot and especially bum got proper acupressure and upto an extent of acupuncture that day.

View from Top

We were already sweating and exhausted after stage 1 when stage 2 was giving us more challenges and difficult moments but we all were enjoying this.

After a good hike we found one flat surface for our bottom. Relaxed, rehydrated we moved again. Summit was close and now everyone was eager to meet the summit, share the beauty of nature together.

Summit1

It was a breathtaking view from the summit. Cameras and mobiles flunged into action. In between my decision of wearing jeans while climbing proved to be wrong when I found good tear right at the bottom. "Pant fat gaya mountain hiking me. lol.."

Somehow I managed to escape in bush and change my pant quickly to one relaxed sports pant.

There was one more summit at another side, even higher, was waiting to welcome us. There was only one way to climb and not much space on summit 2 so we decided to take a break again.

summit2

After sometime we climbed on summit 2 to get spectacular view from the point. It was an awesome experience. Climbing down from mountain was quick but scary since it was tough to balance and station your feet while gravity was pulling you down.

Sharp rocks were adding fun while bamboo trees on both side was quite helpful to balance.

We managed to reach back at the starting point successfully unscratched.

It took us one hour to relax take bath and have quick snacks and coffee. Tricycle, UV express and bus brought us back to home. Every muscles and bones were happily enjoying the pain of mountain hiking while mind was fresh with the close encounter with nature.

Puerto Galera, Philippines

2015-09-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

11-Sep-2015

There was no further scope of discussion left once we proposed to visit this island. Puerto Galera was just 2 hours bus ride and 1 hour boat ride away from chaotic life in Manila.

With one more friend couple joining us from Singapore, we decided to visit this place for its less hectic journey and pleasant and good reviews on internet.
This place is also called poor's man Boracay since it can be reached by land and hotels are also not costly.

Going there:
We started early morning around 6AM to avoid traffic. DLTB bus from Gil Puyat bus stop started around 6:30AM and we reached Batangas Pier around 8AM. It was just 1:30 hour ride in Bus. make sure that you take bus with sign Calabarzon, probably means "express" which will take you through highways. Buses are available round the clock.

Bus to Batangas Pier

Batangas Pier is the boat station to get boat to Puerto Galera island. There are few boat companies running this service. You will be mobbed by people persuading you to take their boat service. We took Father and Son line and with 1 hour ride on tide on not so big boat, we reached Puerto Galera.

Boat to Puerto Galera

Bus Fare: 170Peso
Boat fare: return ticket 500Peso. Available from 7AM to 3:30PM

The journey to Puerto Galera was quite pleasant. Mesmerizing scene and private resorts on the way crossing few beaches, we landed and got mini van drop to white beach.

View of beach from Boat

Compared to Boracay with white smooth sand, Puerto Galera white beach is not so white and also not smooth. Still it is very nice quick getaway from your chaotic life without any air journey.

White Beach

We didn't book hotel because it was not peak season and was confident to get hotel with good deal. Also we wanted to check hotel ourselves before finalizing. Ultimately with little haggle we got one sea facing hotel very close to prime activities area. Our plan was more to relax then doing lot of adventure water sports.

Hotel

We took a nice look around on white beach and after settling in hotel, headed for nice brunch.
There are few restaurants which serve nice sea foods and other fresh foods in reasonable price.

PanCake Volcano

After Lunch and relax we decided to take few adventure water sports.
Wild Cat ride (1500 Peso) was awesome experience with drizzling rain. You can also try banana boat, Fly fish, parasailing etc there.

WildCat

We sat by beach waiting to see sunset but cloud didn't support us. With ice cream, close friends near by and natural music of tides, we fully enjoyed the nature.

Sunset was not the end of day. Bar along beach started getting ready like a new bride, speakers and stage were being setup taking our curiosity to next level. Without much delay we grabbed a nice place close to sea beach and stage easily visible. We ordered few local cuisine and drinks.
Don't miss Mindoro Sling cocktail here. This drink is specific to this place and real good. Sooner stage was colorful. followed by fireshow, awesome singing and dance presentation started. It was so entertaining that we didn't know how 4 hours passed. We called it a day and headed to bed with a plan to start early.

We decided to go for island hopping in morning and also do snorkelling and see corals. After heavy breakfast, nice volcano pancake, we headed to our boat. Starting early gave us opportunity to feel few beaches as our personal beaches when tourist were yet to reach these deserted islands.

Snorkelling

2:30Pm was the last boat from Puerto Galera on Sat while 3:30PM is for Sun. We bid a good bye to nice island, carrying loads of memory we took the same route to return to Batangas Pier. Buses were queued up and found no difficulty in getting bus back to manila.

Puerto Galera is right place to enjoy a quick getaway and have a very relaxing weekend away from fast life.

Alibijaban, a DIY island, Philippines

2015-06-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

It was one of the best and indeed different experience for us visiting this island. It would be tough for anyone to find Alibihaban island unless someone points it on map. It is almost 7-8 hours journey from Makati to this island. We need to take a boat from San andres to reach this island.

The white sand island beach, we can say that is raw and untouched island, will give you immense closeness with nature. There is no tourism info about this island, no entrance fees, no lodging, no restaurants etc.. you will really need local people to visit this island and plan every bit of things yourself.

Altogether, it is a DIY island. Information can only found on blogs and internet. You need to carry your own cooking setup and tents if you are planning to stay overnight.

I was lucky to find a local group planning to visit this island and they seemed to be pro in organizing trips. Fully equipped with all camping tools, tents etc.. I just had to stick to their plan. Well planned and very nice group with an jaw dropping beautiful island destination made our trip memorable.

We started in night around 11PM on Friday 12th-Jun and reached early morning on Saturday. After doing some shopping on main land for our food requirements, we took a boat ride to this stranded island. 20 minutes waving on sea and we landed our feet on white sand beach. Island is a home for almost 300 families and we got a warm welcome from village kids.

we encroached a part of shaded land by the beach and landed our feet there. While one group starting setting up the open air kitchen, another group started working on tent and command center. Yes, our one tent was quite big to accommodate 10-12 person and we named it command center.

Tent and command center by the beach. Open air kitchen is on the back side.

We took a quick walk around to see the island, followed by lunch session. While others went for snorkeling in sea and searching sea creatures.

I was quite astonished with the friendly and honest nature of villagers, specially kids. when everyone went for a walk, no one was around to look after our luggage or things. When we returned, even many kids were sitting near our tent, our luggage remained untouched and so was our food or snacks which was there in open air kitchen. Local kids guided us for a long walk in Mangrove forest which was on the other side of island. there was one river flowing in the middle of forest and which added beauty of this forest. After taking lot of pictures and analyzing few creatures of mangrove we decided to return. we took the way through sea. Yes, a part of land was coming out on sea, which will get submerged once we get high tide in night.

After an exhausting yet interesting walk, we reached our base camp. Sun was already fading away and sky was displaying different color on big canvas. We sat down on beach with our cup of coffee staring at sun, mesmerized in nature's beauty.

Enjoying Sunset

After a nice dinner everyone got busy in casual chit chat. It was nice experience for us to sleep in tent for first time. Sooner dreams engulfed my tired body and mind. Day started quite early then usual. As per plan, we got in boat to go around island. Mangrove forest was half submerged in water due to high tide last night, creating a nice place for swimming. We couldn't resist jumping in clean water.

After an adventurous trip on boat around the island, we headed back to our base camp. Had a nice feast over fresh fishes caught from sea. Journey came to an end with unforgettable memories recorded in our brain cells and moments captured in camera :) . Paid our sincere thanks to the enthusiastic group before saying bye to everyone.

Enjoy the photo slideshow below :)
---

Moriones Festival, Marinduque, Philippines

2015-04-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Marinduque, also known as the heart of the Philippines due to its geographic location and shape, is a stranded island almost 3 hours journey in ferry ship from nearest mainland port.

Way to Marinduque

Boac, Moriones

We were still not able to finalize our destination for 4 days surprise holidays coming in early April. Most of the hotels and means of transport were fully booked. We had some recent trips to beaches and highlands and hence there was a thirst to explore something different. When one of our local friends told about Moriones festival celebrated during Holy Week in Marinduque, I got itchy feet.

Moriones

Finally uncertainty cleared when we took last minute decision to take risk and try our luck with bus and ferry ticket instead of sitting at home. I came back from office, took one hour to pack bag and headed to Jac liner bus station, Cubao.

Stay in Marinduque was pleasant and I must say that it was one of the most unique experience. Slow moving and peaceful place was crowded during Holy week due to local and foreign tourists. We were astonished to see the honesty of people and also their eagerness to help tourists by making them comfortable with the festival and locality. Jeepney and tricycle also never tried to charge us extra. No wonder, Marinduque ranked number 1 by the Philippine National Police and Philippine Security Force as most peaceful province with no crime record.

It took almost an hour to travel in Jeepney from Balancan port to Boac city of Marinduque. We checked in our hotel around noon and after a quick nap and refresh, headed to the open air theatre where Moriones festival was organized. Although, Moriones, in their nice costume, did a nice welcome at the port but we were eager to see the festival ceremony.

Moriones festival goes for one full Holy week. We managed to witness major part of festival on Thursday, good Friday and Saturday.

The festival demonstrates the story of Jesus, the prophecies, the birth, life and teachings, passion, death and resurrection.

"Way of the Cross" re-enacts the suffering of Christ as he carried his cross to Cavalry along with two other men who were considered culprit. Moriones (locally known here, wearing costume and mask as roman soldiers) whip & punish them all the way around city with a leather thonged whip which ends on a hill(Golgotha) where Christ is crucified along with other two on both sides. There were a group of people called "flagellants" whipping themselves with round pieces of wood or bamboo marching behind the Jesus. There was real dried blood on their body. We learnt from a fellow local that they get skin deep razor cut before they start whipping with wood. After the ritual they will go to river or sea and wash their wounds. It is said that bath which is done on good Friday heals the wound quickly without leaving any mark.

Crucifixion Process.

The complete procedure was followed by a crowd of tourists as well as locals shouting and trying to feel Jesus pain. One of the Morion pierced Jesus in his side with spear after crucifixion. According to story, Longinus was the name of the Roman soldier and he was blind on one eye. Some of the Jesus blood fell upon his eyes and he was healed. The event was nicely demonstrated in the play.

The complete theatre play ended by 2-3 PM and when we headed for lunch.

Next big event which was supposed to be played on Sat evening at 7PM. The event name was "Beheading of Longinus".

We took the evening time to escape to the island beautiful sunset scene and natural hot water spring in Buena Vista, another city of Marinduque. Island is also blessed with Boracay like white sand beach in Torrijos but moriones was our major attraction point. We roamed around in Boac, visited oldest cathedral, local market and Museum. We joined again in the Expo for next event of Moriones festival before sun went down.

Series of theatrical presentation started which was perfectly planned and organized. Right from costumes, sound effect, lighting and actors in the play everything was properly planned. I was not expecting such a nice presentation in a small city like this. They also made an elevated area in the open air theatre to give a real effect of Golgotha, mountain on which crucifixion happened. Complete play was in Tagalog (Philipino Language) and definitely a tough time for us to get the full story.

The play ended with beheading of Longinus and the whole city sitting in open air theatre enjoying the play got up and headed for dinner.
Month before the festival, costumes, equipments and sites are checked and prepared. Then the participants and director rehearsal multiple times before final day. Many volunteers to play this role while others visit their homeland to be a part of this festival.

Moriones festival recordings uploaded in youtube.

Travelling to Marinduque: There are buses from Cubao and Buendia bus station to Lucena port, nearest port to Marinduque. We boarded bus in Cubao. Bus was available at every 5 minutes. It takes approx 4-5 hours.

You will get ferry from Lucena port to Balancan port which runs every 2 hours. It takes 3-4 hours to reach Balancan. RoRo (roll in roll out) timing

Roro Timing

Jac Liner have direct bus facility to Marinduque which runs every day at 5 PM and is most comfortable way to reach this island. Advance booking would be required if you are travelling during peak season. Expect a very long queue for bus and ferry if you have no advance booking.

There are jeepneys from Balanacan and Cawit port to different cities of island.

Return Journey was much comfortable with no waiting time. Once you are out of Ship at Lucena Port, you can see queue of buses there.

Hotels and accomodation: Hotels are in range of 1000P to 2000P in Boac city. There are many resorts at reasonable price as well. "Boac hotel" is much advertised but I prefered "Tahanan sa Isok" more because of their friendly staff and clean room. Swimming pool is added facility here.

"Lucky Seven Pension hotel" is also good hotel in Boac although handled by only one old lady so don't expect any nice service. There is no online booking center but you can directly call and book.
Accommodation options are also available in other cities of Island.

Food: Food is easily available at reasonable price across island. There are many small restaurants. I was expecting more of seafood since but chicken and pork was mostly available in Boac restaurants.

We discovered "Shrine Restaurant" which was close to Tahanan sa Isok hotel and had nice seafood list in menu. Chilly crab was nice there.

reference: http://www.marinduque.gov.ph/

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Boracay, A Paradise, Philippines

2014-11-30T04:24:00.002-08:00

20-Nov to 23 Nov 2014

Beautiful beaches of Philippines are always in one of the top tourist destinations. After long planning, at last I managed to steal time from my busy life to plant my foot on the world most Beautiful beach, Boracay (2012 award winning beach). Images are better than words so let me start with some pics. Picture slide show is at the end of this post.

It is also the most visited island in the world. Famous for their milky white sand beaches and crystal clear water, Boracay is 45 minutes flight journey from Manila. Caticlan is the nearest airport although it is quite small and manges flights only during day time. Budget travellers can take flight to Kalibo which is around 2 hours journey from Caticlan by road.

There are number of buses and vans from Kalibo to Caticlan runs every 5 minute. Last bus is at 10PM.

A small boat ride of 10 minutes from Caticlan will land you in Boracay island. Tricycles are available from jetty port to your hotel.
Scroll at the end of article to see prices.

Accommodation:

There are a number of resorts and hotels for all type of travellers. Number of resorts are available facing to sea just beside the beach. If you are going during off time and more focussed on beach facing hotels with decent facilities, you may go there, walk along station 2 and 1 and find the hotel. Off time prices vary between 1200 Peso to 4000 Peso per day single room for two.

During peak season, in Nov, Dec and Jan, it is advisable to book hotel in advance. We booked "Boracay Holiday Resort". The stay was quite comfortable with a big swimming pool and pool side bar.

Food and Drinks:

Best place to feast in Boracay is D'talipapa. It is like fish market and lot of restaurants around called "Paluto". You can walk in market and select your fish, crab, lobster etc.. and handover to Paluto. They will charge only for cooking according to dish ordered.
You can also buy vegetables for Salad which will be cut and served free of cost.
Generally wet market sellers try to quote high price first. Don't forget to haggle on price.

There are few local Japanese, Chinese, Korean and one Indian restaurant in and around D'mall. D'mall is near station 2 and 10 minutes walk from D'talipapa.
With lots of tourists coming in, food is over priced here. We liked one Chinese restaurant for their ambiance location and price. It is located in Regency Hotel, close to McD.
There are also local Franchise restaurants like Inasal. which will help to keep your food expenses under budget.

There are lot of fruit Juice shop along the beach although beat one is "Jonah" located at the end of station 1.
Crazy crepes is also nice place for beverages .

Beer is still cheaper throughout the island and also hit by happy hours till 9PM. If you love drinking, you can join pubcrawl group in Boracay. 700P for ladies and 900P for guys.

Activities:

Here is the main attraction of Boracay other than white beach itself. All activities offered there are fun filled. I am putting in order from most interesting to least interesting.

I got Mr Ron contact from some blog who provided all activities at good rate. 0915 8722 855.
I also found one more agent, Wella. Her activities rate was also competitive. Contact 0912 483 9943.

Helmet Diving: (350P/head) Awesome and one of its kind of experience when you wear iron helmet of weight almost 25kgs and diving in almost 20 feet while still feeling weightless with lot of fishes around. I felt like I am in a big beautiful aquarium. They will provide you food to feed fishes there and it will be awesome to see fishes swimming and eating right from your hand.

Helmet Diving

Flyfish: (350P/head): It is the most fun filled activity here. It will kick your adrenaline to highest level. An air filled boat is dragged by a speed boat. The flyfish will lift and it will be real challenging to balance yourself in boat. We toppled couple of times.
A boat is for max 6 person and minimum 3 persons. It will cost more if only 3 persons are going to do this activity. You can also wait to join with other group.

FlyFish

Parasailing: (600P/Head weekdays to 1200P/Head weekend). A nice boat ride to a floating platform. Parasailing is done from the platform in the middle of the sea.

Zorbing: (380P/head)Zorb is a big double layered air filled ball. You need to seat inside. Ball will roll down from uphill inside water. It is real fun experience in this ball. Free shuttle is running at every 5 minutes. You can go there and book directly or can book through agent. I got cheaper from agent.

ATV and Buggy Car (600P/head): Held at same location as zorbing, it is four wheel bike and car ride to uphill and back.

Sailing and Sunset view: (300P/head) This is 30 min sail boat ride when sun starts lowering down.

Island Hopping: 1200P/head: They will take you around the island showing different beaches of the island and clear water with marine habitats for snorkeling. It is nice thing to do a relaxing way to see the island. We planned it on the last day of our trip.

We ended our trip with nice bath and massage and headed back to Jetty holding lot of mesmerising memories and lots of moments captured in camera.

Kalibo airport to Caticlan Jetty	250P
Environmental fee	100P
port fee	75P
Boat to Boracay	25P
Borcay to Kalibo	250P
Port fee	100P

Tagaytay, Philippines

2014-09-29T22:42:00.003-07:00

Situated almost 60km from Manila, Tagaytay, is an easy escape for a 1 or 2 day trip. The city is situated on approx 600Mtr height from sea level with a slight cool pleasant weather. Tagaytay volcano is second most active volcano in Philippines with 33 historical eruptions, first in 1572.

Although there is no eruption happened after 1972, there is continuous seismic waves and alert was raised couple of times.

There are bus services from different part of Manila that is Ayala MRT, Gil Puyat LRT and EDSA LRT. AC buses are 82Peso and may take 2.5 hours to 3 hours depending on the traffic. It is advisable to start early in morning around 7AM to avoid traffic and rush at bus stop. Buses to Tagaytay is generally crowded on weekend and you can find people standing.

We took DLTB bus service from Gil Puyat (Buendia) LRT. Bus will go through Oliveraz circle which can be easily identified by statue standing in the middle. If you have booked a hotel, you can take a jeepney or Motorbike siklo to go there.

There are many hotels near around Oliveraz and generally available. You can go see the rooms and select in case you are planning to stay overnight.

The city is located around Taal Lake and the beauty of lake can be enjoyed from different view points.

Food: You can try few local food with a lake view in few restaurants near Oliveraz circle. There is one local fastfood Inasaal which got comparatively nicer food.

KFC and McD are also available in city. Tagaytay is famous for its coconut sweet delicacies know as Buko Pie and Buko Tart.

Few places you may like to see other than Taal lake:

People's park.: Take a Jeepney from Oliveraz to People's Park which may cost you around 20Peso. People's park is on the highest point of Tagaytay. You can visit the church there and enjoy the scenetic beauty of lake from very top.

Entry fee: 30Peso

Picnic Groove: Picnic groove is on the way to People's Park. You can visit Picnic Groove while returning from People's park. There are few acivities in the park other then putting your tent and relaxing. You can enjoy Horse Riding and boating here.

Entry Fee 50Peso.

Horse riding :350 Peso

Sky Ranch: Sky ranch is Amusement park with few fun rides. There is nothing unique here. If you got enough time or got kids you may like to visit this place. There is one restaurant few steps away from this place, Buffalo Burger, which is famous destination for people who like beef burger or fastfood.

Taal Lake and Volcano

We started for Taal Lake & Volcano at early morning 6AM. Morning is advised to avoid sun and rush at Boat.

You can take a Bike Siklo from Oliveraz to Taal Lake boat point. Basic charge is 300 Peso max both way. Boat from land to volcano Island is 1500 P per boat for max 5 people as per govt declaration although you can bargain it to 1000P.

The heavenly picturesque view can be enjoyed right from the boat journey till volcano island. If you are in pink of your health you may like to trek up hill which may take you between 40min to 1 hour. Horses are also available to take you to the top of mountain with govt defined rate of 450Peso with guide 450Peso also.

You can avoid taking guide since there is nothing much to explain and path to crater is very simple where no guidance required.

While trekking you can see few small mud pots and geysers which is live hot and releasing thick smoke. It is advised to wear proper shoes and mask to avoid heat and poisonous gas coming out of these mud pots.

The Crater lake on Volcano island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island in the world. Moreover this lake contains an island. You can return back to oliveraz circle to get a bus back to Manila. Buses will keep coming at this circle with a good frequency.

The Philippines

2014-08-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Manila, The Philippines

Famous for the most beautiful beaches on earth, Philippines was always on top of my places to visit. I had no idea that I would be getting this opportunity so soon. The island of Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas) is an archipelago in Southeast Asia with more than 7000 islands located between Philippine sea and South China Sea. My flight was in bright day time and I was curiously staring out of window when I heard announcement that flight will be landing soon. Plane crossed sea and I got first glimpse of Philippines with greeneries all around on wavy land, hills and mountains assured me that I am really landing in a natural wonder.

It was a little troublesome at airport collecting luggage, standing in long immigration queue shifting my wait from one leg to another and later a taxi to hotel where taxi driver gave a bitter first experience in Manila. Got few dollars exchanged to Peso at airport (43 peso/1USD Aug2014). Taxi moved through big and small congested streets and skyways. We reached Makati, my destination, sooner which moreover looked like a concrete jungle and rising towers all around.

Taxi stopped in front of a high tower and we got room on 24th floor. The gazed out of glass wall toward the glittering lights of towers standing parallel to us. Slow moving traffic with vehicles twinkling lights was also clear.

Our hunger to know the place and try new cuisines sooner forced us to start exploring the city.

Locals are in general sweet and soft spoken. Tagalog is the local language here but English is also widely spoken and understood. Showing respect in polite words addressing sir/ Mam is quite common here. Public transport(Metro) is generally crowded and bone crushing during peak office hours. We still found people offering their seats to girls and older people. Jeepneys are another local public transport with low height and windows with no glass. Around 20-30 people can sit inside depending upon size of Jeepneys. Taxi is also easily available at reasonable rate.

Jeepneys, pulbic transport in Philippines

It was tough for us to find local food shops here. City is full of international food chain brands like KFC, McD and few local brands like Jollibee & Inasal giving a tough competition to them. We tried some local street BBQ and had an opportunity to enjoy local delicacy in some restaurants. Halo Halo (dessert) in Inasal tingled my taste buds along with its main course.

Halo Halo Dessert

Philippines is endowed with awesome natural beauty black lined with sudden weather change and natural disasters like typhoons quite often. We already experienced 3 typhoons within 1 months of our stay.

It is rare to see people following their traditional dress although men can be seen in silk shirts which is not tugged in pant. These shirts are status symbol here and hence mostly wore by rich people.

Shopping in Manila:

There are some local market areas. Weekend morning market also held in Legaspi Park(Sunday) near to greenbelt 1 and Salcedo Park(Saturday). You can get local and fresh items here for your full week. Mostly sellers here are from near by villages.

Morning Market, Legaspi Village

There are few wet markets here called Dampa. Dampa at Macapagal open all days and rich of fruits vegetables and seafoods. You may need to bargain as prices may be high for foreigners.

Farmer's Market: is very nice traditional market located near Cubao MRT. Fresh vegetables, meat and seafoods are available at cheaper rate with lot of local shops available for household items as well.

Farmer's Market

Greenhills : This market is a big stretch of cloths, bags, mobiles and souvenirs shops at affordable price. You can bargain at your best here. This is located near Annapolis MRT. Although I didn't experience anything as such, as per local people input, pickpocketing is common in this market so you should be careful with your belongings . In general, it is a safe place for shopping.

Other than these markets, Greenbelt, Gloreitta(nearest MRT Ayala) and "Mall of Asia"(Nearest LRT EDSA) are the malls to satisfy your shopping greed.

Chinatown: 168 Mall and lucky Chinatown one of many shopping heavens in Chinatown. Prices are cheap still you can bargain further. you can find almost everything there, from jwelleries, cloths, household and kitchen items, electronic goods, furniture etc..

Places to Visit:

There are many churches across Manila while few are quite old and spectacular.

You can visit few of the listed places here.

Intramurous Church

Intramuros: Old Spanish City, still alive located at the sea belt gives you historical idea of Spanish influence on Philippines. The city is surrounded with high walls equipped with Canons.

Nearest LRT united Nations.Take Jeepney to Intramuros

American Cemetery: The place I liked most few Kms from Makati is a nice place to visit. A big stretch of American soldiers tomb here. A total of 17,206 tombs are here.

China Town: Oldest Chinatown of world lies here. With a smell of chinese culture and tradition with cuisine, this place is also a haven for shopping lovers. Although, for shopping you need to go a little ahead of Chinatown known as Binondo or Diversoria.

Manila Bay: You can spend your evening here with lot of eateries around. Just sit at the bank of river and spend your evening with nature.

Star City: Located close to Manila bay, Star City is amusement park which can keep you busy for a day. Starting time is 4 PM on weekdays and 2 PM on weekends.

Ocean Park, children's museum can be also considered in your visiting list.

Visit Tagaytay

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Pulau Ubin, Singapore

2014-05-25T06:30:00.003-07:00

Pulau Ubin is the last Kampong (Village) of Singapore preserving its essence for Singaporeans. It is a nice place for one day outing and have a close look at nature away from concrete jungle.

One need to take bus ride to Changi Village. There are a number of buses connecting to Changi Village from different part of Singapore. Changi Village is also a nice spot for varieties of eateries. You can take boat from here to Pulau Ubin. Boat service is 24 hours and charge is 2$ which will be collected in boat itself. Admission to Island is free and there is no restriction on roaming late in night.

With sparsely populated area, you will find yourself alone in the lush green nature once you start moving deep inside this island. The silence, big trees on both sides and small path way covered with dry leaves will give you a thrilling experience which will be more interesting with unique sound of birds and insects. You should be prepared to protect yourself from mosquitoes.

Chek Jawa wetland can be considered as a tourist spot there. covered with Mangrove trees and wooden floating platform is made to preserve wetland habitats. The tides are highest and lowest at every 6 hour interval. You would like to visit this place when tide is low.

Bicycles are available in rent ranging from 8$ to 20$ for full day. One busy restaurant is also available facing sea side .

Changi village is also connected to Pengarang in Malaysia. You may need to carry your passport to visit there.

--------------------------------------------

Malaysia, terima kasih

2013-01-09T07:05:00.001-08:00

Malaysia

Malaysia was not very far now. Since I landed in Singapore I was planning to visit Kualalumpur, capital of Malaysia.Finally I booked tickets to KL using www.easibook.com. The bus service "Transnasional" is basically Malay company which was not advised by few of my friends.
Although my convenient time was matching with this bus service, I booked both way in this. Luckily everything went smooth for me with this bus.

towards KL

I reached around 3AM in morning. My friend was waiting in car to pick me up. We stayed awake chatting and refreshing some old memories and discussing on many dynamic topics.

2 more friend were supposed to join later in afternoon. After staying in Singapore for almost 2 months, Malaysia seemed to be a cheap place for me. We converted few Sing dollars. Money exchange counters are easily available in malls and shopping centers. Once converted and received our friends at bus terminal, we four headed to have a very nice fulfilling lunch. After lunch we straight headed to Petronas twin tower, the symbol of strength for Malaysia.

We tried to have a look from all angles and also took some nice pics. We realized that life is still more relaxed then Singapore, although heard that this is not a very safe place. We did not see much of local buses there. Metro train are although making the trip convenient inside city. Taxis are also available at nominal rate. We also visited couple of famous malls and shopping centers. After getting dead tired we had a lazy dinner and then we headed to our flat.

We took the couch and again gone in flashback. We all four were telling our flow of life and the ups and down. Time flew and we realised that we should take a nap when darkness started losing its beauty. We started for Genting highland at 11 in morning. We took a small break on way to get some quick bite. Genting is kind of hillstation for KL. Our cable car was going up through clouds blinding our visibility. It was a pleasant cold there. we roamed around on hilltop. Genting is a combination of hill station and amusement park. It also have one Casino. None of us was interested in any joy ride so we just roamed around relax and headed toward KL again.

The trip was about to end. We stopped at KFC to get dinner and then took our bus, back to Singapore.

Later I managed to visit Johar Bahru as well. It is nice place, sharing its border with Singapore. Little India is very near to immigration. we went inside a temple and spend some good time there. We also did some shopping there, had some nice food and then we returned.

It is easy to go to JB. you can go Jurong east in singapore and should catch SMRT bus to border. After immigration check you will land in Malysia and city name is Johar Bahru.

Singapore, a fine city

2012-10-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

A view at Marina bay

A complete month passed to get in the feeling of Singapore. Straight faces and straight talk is something we can define as the culture of Singapore. The complete race it seems is developed to be workaholic. Foreigners from different country with different mindset arrive in Singapore and get colored with Singapore.

It is rare to see independent houses. Government has build apartments called as HDB(housing Development). There are private apartments as well called as Condomium.
Initial days it was tough to digest that Rent for these apartments are as high as 3k SGD. You can easily find 2-3 families staying in same apartment in different rooms sharing same kitchen and toilet.

People moreover looked like programmed. No nonsense country I guess is the slogan of Singapore. You break rules and you will be fined heavily. I changed almost 4 houses or better to say 4 rooms to find a comparatively cheaper and better place. Broker generally charge half month rent for 1 year contract and full month length for 2 year contract. You can bypass broker by looking into some site. Most effective site I found was http://singapore.gumtree.sg

Something I really appreciate about this country is inspite of getting people from different countries they successfully put the same color. You can find people from different race working together without commenting on dress, accent culture or anything as such. At my first glance of my office in Singapore I felt like I just landed on an airport.

Coming back to acco again. Condomium generally have amenities like swimming pool and other play areas but HDB doesn't have. Although government has provided common swimming pool, library, play area at one common location. Anyone can walk into library and spend time without membership. HDB has rules which need to be followed strictly although condo can be ussed moreover like hotel.

Shopping: Mustafa(Farrer Park MRT) stands tall in Singapore when shopping word appears. Spread in a wide area, it have almost all the household things available which is required in day to day use. along with that dress material and electronics goods are also available at competitive price.
Mustafa also arranges foreign package trip and Visa for nearby countries.
Other then Mustafa there are many malls and 24*7 shops. You can also find some shops in your locality who sells second hand goods at quite cheap rate. For electronics goods you can go to Simlim (Bugis MRT). YOu need to have a clear idea of what you are panning to buy and its rate. Bargaining can be done at this place.
Cash Converter: This information may be more useful for new comers. If your stay duration is not confirmed, this may be ideal place to buy goods. They sell second hand goods at almost 1/5th of the price ranging from household goods, electronics items, sports item and gift items. Even while leaving you can sell out the goods back to them. You can find more information at this link.

EZlink Card: This card found a paragraph in my blog because of the innovative idea behind this card. You can get this card at any MRT station. The card can be used to do payment for all MRT and Bus services. Just tap and go concept. This is valid also in all govt provided facilities like sports complex, library, govt food court etc..

Food: You may feel good in Singapore if you are a foodie kind of person. It is easy to find food courts nearby your place selling Chinese, Thai, western and Indian food. Food courts are available inside HDB and Condo which is generally open till 10 PM or sometimes full night. People do less cooking at home and moreover eat outside.

Chinese and Malaysians account a big part of the population of Singapore followed by Indians. Chinese and Tamil is one of the nationalized language.

Festivals: People from different countries kept their culture and festivals alive till some extent. Government declared holiday for each community. You can get holiday for Id, Diwali, Christmas and Chinese new year.

Places to see: You can spend your day at Marina bay and go on amphibian duck trip around the city. Sentosa island is also one of the attraction here.
A nice laser show presentation is done at Marina bay in open. Evening can be spend there with food and drinks watching the music and show.

Pyramid International Valley, Bangalore

2012-05-11T11:41:00.004-07:00

6-May-2012

Sleep is unconscious Meditation.

Meditation is conscious sleep.

Pyramid International valley, the word vibrated my ear drum a quite many times. My wish to see the spectacular place was touching the upper threshold.

Pyramid valley, located almost 35 Km from city center and almost 25 Km from JP Nagar, is famous as a meditation center and also considered as one of the 7 wonders of Bangalore. Pyramid is considered to be the most stable structure which have high concentration of energy. The energy concentration rises more when it is a full moon night.

In the Pyramid valley village.

It was another aimless weekend. Started as usual with a lazy attitude where most of the day time gone in washing cloths and arranging for some feast. Late in afternoon my friend told me that he will be going to pyramid valley since it is a full moon night and also Budhha purnima. I did not gave another thought. Full moon night falling in weekend was the coincidence would be tough to repeat again.

I started biking from 7PM since 8PM the program would be starting in Pyramid valley. It would take one hour to cover 35 Km since it is on highway, I guessed. I slipped in my biking gloves, helmet and my jacket, filled petrol on the way and headed toward pyramid valley. As soon as we crossed the city limits and entered village side, pleasant breeze of air and a full moon night made the journey awesome. Stopped at some hotel to refuel ourselves and started again. We took some snaps on the way. The smell of village soil in Harohalli made us feel that our destination is near.

At the entrance of Pyramid valley

The program and meditation was arranged in night. There were good number of people we could have ever imagined since it was far from city. We took time to roam inside the valley. A few minutes walk from main gate was located the mouth gaping Pyramid structure. It was looking unbelievably beautiful. We took time taking snaps from different angle.

We were curious to go inside the pyramid. It was big spacious pyramid and almost 200 people can sit inside at a time. There was a elevated spot made in the center of pyramid and was named as intensive meditation center. If you are going on top of elevated place you must meditate for 30 minutes. It could accommodate almost 40 people at a time.

We came out and tried to explore some more places near by. One aged person was sharing some of his ideas on meditation and was discussing the benefits and methods of doing meditation. We were not much interested in that. So we went inside pyramid directly and sat on the intensive meditation stage. We sat continuously for almost 2 hours. Watch was showing 1:30AM when we came out. the appetite rose again. We found one small shop just outside the premises to munch something.

We were thinking what to do now. It was almost 2am. We went inside pyramid again. The pyramid got unexpectedly over crowded. Baba's talk on meditation was over and whole crowd moved inside pyramid. We looked for some place to stay in night but got nothing.

We had no choice but to drive again in moon lit night. 2AM with no one on the road, holding bike accelerator at maximum all the way was again a nice moment of driving. Only unpleasant experience was our street dogs barking and giving a threatening look as soon as we drew near our house. It was nice trip, nice meditation experience and nice biking experience indeed.

Aamchi Mumbai

2012-02-20T00:51:00.004-08:00

Mumbai at a Glance

A place of dreams .. dreams transiting to reality.. dreamz transiting to ashes…
Place where bada pav and sandwiches are quite common food added with famous mumbai cutting tea..
A place which never sleeps.. a place which enjoys the life at its best.. A place which is home for many celebrities and stars.. A place where in spite of busy life you can find people flocking at the sea beaches by evening…

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

My mouth left wide open when one guy at my work place distributed sweets saying that it is his birthday marriage day and rebirth day i.e. 12 march. I was amused by the word “rebirth”.
Rebirth ?? I murmured.
He heard it. He responded "yes. Rebirth"
It would have been my death day on 12 march 1993.
How? I asked.
“in 1993 my office was near BSE. I had my lunch and was coming back to my office. I was just crossing BSE when I heard a loud blast and everything was flown and scattered around. Luckily I was not on the front side of BSE where impact was most. All the glasses of BSE scattered and were falling down. Luckily my brain worked that time and I hid myself under a wooden luggage trolley parked on the road and saved myself from falling glasses. All the people on the front side including food sellers, people waiting there, taxiwala and whoever were there died on spot, Many got injured. When I came out of that wooden pulley I saw road was colored red. It was a close escape from death. If bomb would have exploded after 2 minutes I would also be on the front side and in the list of dead”.
I had no comments but to keep my mouth open and listen to his story.

------
I felt people are more honest and helpful in Mumbai wrt Bangalore( except my first day bad experience :) ). Taxi starting meter charges are Rs20 and autoricksaw is Rs10. They never argue with you if you want to hire one and never make a scene or ask extra money when they drop you.
You are from which place, I asked the cab driver. “Allahabad sir”.
How long you are here in Mumbai?
“Almost 9 years”.
You met any bollywood star here?
“Amitabh and abhishek and many other celebrities I saw. It is easy to see stars here.”
What changes you see from the time you came here and now?
“Lot of things changed sir. Now people are not so honest and life is not so cool. It became crowded unexpectedly fast”.
So the time you came here, you are taxi driver?
“I worked at many places. Now I run my own 3 taxis and I own one house in Mumbai.”
That’s great I said. Having a house in Mumbai is itself is a life time achievement that too for a taxiwaala.

Hogenakkal and Yelagiri Trip

2012-01-04T01:45:00.000-08:00

Hogenakkal and Yelagiri trip

Hogenakkal : Located in Tamilnadu, India. 200 Km from Bangalore.

How to go: Bus, Car

Yelagiri: Located in jolarpettai, Tamilnadu. 150 Km from Bangalore.

How to go: Bus, Train, Car

Hogenakkal A spectacular view

The reunion of PRAN was going to happen and R of PRAN did not left any stone unturned to make this trip memorable.We all were going to meet first time after college days i.e. after almost five years. The motto of trip was nothing but to relax, do some campfire, sightseeing and of course updating ourselves on our last 5 years events.

As usual R only did managerial job of pushing us to book all the important thing like car and hotel.

We all were excited and we all also wanted to take a break from staring at glowing screens. Car and hotels were booked as per plan.

Towards Yelagiri

The plan was set. On Friday after office we will leave for Hogenakkal fall and then rest day in Yellagiri. Sunday night we were supposed to be back in city to attend one college friend's marriage.

One member of PRAN was no more single. Also one of our close friend of PRAN group joined so together we were 6 in this trip. As per plan we started for the trip, around 8 in night. It was Bangalore rush on Friday which took almost 2 hours to reach out of city limit and enter in Hosur.

On the way we saw a beautiful restaurant named "Dhabba". We all were hungry so we stopped there. It was almost empty. The interior of Dhabba was really nice. We lied down on chowki kept there and ordered some food. After having nice dinner we got in our Innova and started again.
Soon we left main road and started moving in small roads connecting village. the aroma of village soil was pleasant. After 30 minutes of snaking through "trees banked" road we reached Dharampuri, Tamilnadu. Then we crossed Pennagram which was 15 km from Hogenakkal. The road from Pennagram to Hogenakkal was through forest and mountains. It was late in night when we reached Hogenakkal. We had tough time finding hotel we booked. Anyhow we found our hotel, wake the receptionist and got settled in our room.

There are many bursts of waterfall in Hogenakkal

Next morning when few of us were getting ready, we got time to go for a walk to feel the Hogenakkal air and to find the scope of breakfast . In first glance it looked nice place. Coffee and tea was easily available. The fall was also very near to our hotel. There was a small market also at the bank of the river.
Everyone got ready to enjoy the natural beauty of waterfall. We had tea and coffee in the market near fall. We paid Rs10 per head to get on the hanging bridge from where we could see a very beautiful view of waterfall. It was widespread waterfall and a proper place was made for people to take bath. Although tourist were taking bath where ever they found water flowing.
Our camera jumped into action. We took multiple snaps and then moved on the other side of bridge which was full of rocks. We roamed around and took photos from different angle. The shower of small droplets from waterfall was very romantic.

On the way there were row of vendors who were selling fried river fishes and some soft drinks. Roasted rice flakes and packed snacks was also available there.

The fall was spread in wide area. Some part of fall was in Tamilnadu and some in Karnataka. There was one tower in the middle where you can climb by paying Rs5. It was spectacular view from up there. The falls were all around and one side was silent river on which were flowing few coracles(round boat made of bamboo sticks). Now coracle became our next treat of our trip. We immediately came down and started talking to some boatmen. Ultimately deal was done on Rs900 for 6 pax. We started sailing in that round timid looking coracle. One of our friend was little scared. It was fun 2 hours smooth ride. Seeing the small waterfalls from below and sailing between rocks on the both side was nice experience. Some eagles and water birds were hovering for their brunch.

On the way we stopped at one point and the boatman lifted the coracle to the other end of river. On the way walking to the other end we saw falls which was in Karnataka. Again having almost 30 minutes of boatride he left us to the end from where our hotel was nearer.

By 1 afternoon we were back in our hotel room. We took our luggage and started for our next destination.

Yelagiri

After almost 1 and a half hour of travelling we reached to our destination Yelagiri. Yelagiri is up on mountain not somewhere similar to Ooty or Kodaikanal but a nice place near Bangalore which can be covered in 3 hours. You can reach Yelagiri also by getting down at Jollarpettai station and taking some bus from there which will take you uphill.

We landed in our hotel at Yelagiri which was indeed one of the most beautiful hotel of the city Hotel Landmark. It was a nice and cool place to relax and we were happy on our decision. After getting fresh we landed in the hotel's dining hall. There was a buffet arranged on which we satisfied our apatite. Later after a small chit chat we moved to our room for a nap. In evening we decided to go for a walk in the silent cool streets of Yelagiri. Small shops and restaurants were on both the sides of street. We stopped at one restaurant and munched something.

In night our hotel arranged a campfire. We did some chit chat and some games till late night. Next morning we got up late in relaxed mood. There was a water fall near by but no one was in mood to visit waterfall again. We went to artificial lake near by. It was a beautiful lake and few couples were enjoying pedal boating.

Although we opted to go round the lake instead of going for boating. After spending almost an hour there we started back to Bangalore.

On the way there was big McDonald restaurant on highway. We stopped there for sometime and then landed in Bangalore. It was fun and cool relaxing trip.

A quick Visit to Delhi

2011-06-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

A Quick Visit to Capital of India, Delhi

I got chance to visit different parts of India and neighboring countries although this was the first time I could manage to visit New Delhi, the capital of India. Once you land in city you will feel that city have lot of stories engraved in it which many a times whispers in your ears. Locally pronounced as Dilli, is the third largest city of India, situated on the bank of Yamuna river. Delhi is a major mixture of tradition, culture, religion and languages. This city have stories attached from Mahabharata time and believed to be existed 6 millennium BC.

The metro makes all the places easily accessible and also makes your trip pleasant. You can also a rent a car @ 800-900Rs for a day trip. Delhi is divided in two parts old Delhi and new Delhi.Old Delhi was capital of Mughal India between 17 and 19th century.

Qutub Minar, can be reached by metro using yellow line Metro route. The metro station name is Qutub Minar. Qutub Minar is a contribution from different rulers of different era. Started by Qutub ud din, in 12th century(1193) with its first stories. Later 3 stories was constructed by his successors and son-in-law's. Minar also received some damage because of earthquake but occasionally renovated and reinstated by respective rulers.
A nice art can be seen on walls. There is one iron pillar in the courtyard which is attached to one traditional belief. If someone can hold the iron pillar touching his back in the pillar and hand round the pillar backward his wish will come true. Because of corrosive nature of iron pillar government have put a fence around it. Pillar bears an inscription in Brahmi script which means Vishnudhwaja.

Lal Quila:

The way to Lal Quila goes through the oldest market of Delhi, Chandani Bazaar.The nearest metro station is Chandani Chowk. It is one of the most beautiful fort of mughal era built by Shah Jahan.It took 10 Years to complete the construction(1638-1648). Wall is 2 kilometer in length and 18 meters high.
It is one of the most popular tourist spot in India, attracting thousands of tourist every year. It was the resident place of royal family and was known as quila-e-mubarak(means blessed fort). There is one worship place mosque, known as pearl mosque, a place where elephant and horse show was organised for royal family entertainment. The quila have many artistic antiques which reflects the art and culture of mughal times. It consists of two museum inside Quila.
Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India hosted flag here on 15aug 1947, the independence day.
Every year on same day flag hosting is done here.Every evening sound and light show is also organised.

Jama Masjid:

The biggest mosque of India, Jama Masjid, was commenced by shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. It was completed in 1628AD. The market near the mosque is one of the busiest market in old Delhi, Chawri Bazar road.

The Mosque is walkable distance from red fort. The red fort can be easily seen from mosque. It has three gateways, four towers and two minarets. It is made of red stone and white marbels.It took a total of 15 years and thousand of artisans to complete this mosque.

Mishra Yantra

Jantar mantar :

The most interesting construction of historical importance I saw was Jantar Mantar. Literal translation of jantar Mantar is "instrument and formula" . Built by Maharaja JaiSingh of Jaipur, took almost a decade to scientifically design and correctly place the structures to get the mathematical calculation of time, to show exact time using sunlight, and calculation of movement of moon and stars.
The Jantar mantar is built in 5 different places of India : Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi.

Mishra Yantra: This is the most spectacular structure of Jantar Mantar and most interesting as well. This structure was used to indicate when it is noon in different part of the world.
Mishra yantra was also used to find the shortest and longest day of the year.

Samrat Yantra

Samrat Yantra: The Samrat Yantra also known as Supreme Instrument, is a giant triangle. It is an equal hour sundial. It is 70 feet high, 114 feet long at the base, and 10 feet thick. It has a 128-foot-long (39 m) hypotenuse that is parallel to the Earth's axis and points toward the North Pole On either side of the triangle is a quadrant with graduations indicating hours, minutes, and seconds. At the time of the Samrat Yantra's construction, sundials already existed, but the Samrat Yantra turned the basic sundial into a precision tool for measuring declination and other related coordinates of various heavenly bodies.

Jayprakash

Jayprakash Yantra: It looks like an hollowed out hemisphere with marking on it. The faces built in concave way. Made in the form of sun.It was built in such a way that position of start can be determined by observer by seeing the markings on the window.It was also used to give the details over Zodiac sign.

The construction as a whole is made resistant to vibration. Some pillars in the middle is made such that it shows the day time specially with their longest shadow and with no shadow.

Delhi serves a mixture of delicacies from different part of India. You can try lot of new dishes here. If you love shopping Delhi may be a ideal place for you. With lot of souvenir kind of traditional things, you can also enjoy shopping in Palika Bazar. You can get goods at nominal rate although you may need to do some bargaining.

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sa bai dee Pimai, Laos

2011-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

Splashing water in pi mai

Stepping into new year 2554(2011), sharing together with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand is a big event for celebration. Festivals are called as Bun and hence the new year festival is Bun Pimai. Sa bai dee Pi mai is the way of wishing Happy new year.

The traditional dish of Pi Mai,lao

The celebration starts one week before the New year holidays and continues till next week. Whole of the country celebrates this new year with dousing and drenching each other in water, putting loud music Lao POP, with uncontrolled dance and nonstop lao beer. Eating, drinking, dancing all the day with making sure that everyone is wet. This festival, hence, is also known as water festival or songkarn in Thailand. Songkarn is derived from sanskrit word Samkranta.Festival is believed to be adopted from one Indian Festival.
A laos traditional food Napoon is served on this day. which contains of noodles, some leaves and kind of delecious soup made of fish or pork and spices.

Worshipping Buddha

The house is cleaned and Worship of Buddha is done in the four day of celebration. Main avenue of Pi Mai celebration is Luang Prabhang. First day people wash the Buddha stupa in river water and clean their houses considering the departure of old spirits.Second day of celebration calls for a colorful costume parade by locals. On the third day of celebration people gather on the top of Phu Si mountain to make offerings to monks.
As it is the peak summer season and weather is dry and hot, people like to throw water on each other to cool themselves. The water is perfumed and sometimes whipped cream or foam is also used along with water. They will wish the happiness and prosperity for each other ie sokdee sabaidee pimai. Foreigners are not treated different in this festival hence they should be careful when they are roaming out. The festival with its traditional values is also more like a moment to enjoy and fun.

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A Brief Introduction of Laos

Lao PDR, a Brief Guide

2011-02-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

Lao PDR, A Chilled out place

My flight was packed with foreigners when I landed here. Along with three Indians most were either from Europe or from America. Although the capital city, there was nothing much to see, less crowd on road, chilled people and day ends by 7-8 in evening. Being from a country where Rush is the another name of life, it was not easy for me to digest when one of my local friends stated that " you know what is the meaning of Lao PDR ? It means Please Do Not Rush".

Slowly I started enjoying the chilled life of Laos. This style of living attracts most of the foreigner who are just looking for a place to relax and enjoy nature away from fast moving world.

Laos is developing fast. Lot of project is going on in Lao jointly with many neighbor countries. Still with the development Lao have preserved their culture. The village life is refreshingly simple.

Roadways is the prime way of communication. There is no railways in Laos. Domestic flights are available for north and south part of Laos. Buses also play between renowned city of neighboring countries like Thailand Vietnam and Cambodia. Long journey local buses are comfortable. Bus tickets are easily available. Tuktuk is is the means of communication inside city.

Laos is landlocked with Thailand and Vietnam Sharing most of the border, Cambodia in the south and Burma where it makes a triangle known as Golden Triangle. Mekong River locally known as Mae Nam Khong virtually defines Laos and Thailand borders.

Golden Triangle.

Lao Foods :


Sticky Rice in bamboo box, chicken yellow curry.

Papaya Salad. Caution: Extremely Hot. Eat with care.

A road Side seller.

Papaya Salad Ready to eat, The most preferred delicacy here.


Brown Sticky Rice and Soup with boiled Vegetable.

A motorbike tuktuk. Sholay style :)

Some Moments Captured:

Monks in pagoda

Laos Party with slow dance and BeerLao

watch buddha Cave after a long drive in Mekong River.

long boats relaxing in River while tourists enjoying the buddha cave, Luang Prabhang

Children enjoying on Mekong river.

Patuxay .. the victory gate, Vientiane.


International Bus station ?? Yes you can get in some bus from here to reach Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Festivals :

Boat Festival in month of

Kids enjoying the boat festival.

Traditional dresses of Laos girls.

Seeing the sunset on Mekong River.

450Years of That Luang, Biggest spiritual festival of Laos.

Historic pagoda Wat Phu.

A makeshift bar shop on the bank of Nam song River.

Currencies are only in notes but no coins. Although Thai Bhat and USD are widely accepted.

The exchange rate: 1 Dollar = 8000KIP.

Exchange Rate wrt to Lao KIP

Some Lao phrases:
Hello :             SabaiDee
How are you : SabaiDee Bor
Thanks         : khorb jai lai lai
No Problem : Bor peenyang
water :           nam

Lao Counting:
0                   Sunya
1                   Neung
2                   Sawng
3                   Xam
4                   Sii
5                   Ha
6                   Hoc
7                   jet
8                   Paet
9                   Kao
10                 Sip

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Vietnam, A Brief Introduction

Visit Thailand

Vang Vieng, Lao PDR

2011-02-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Vang Vieng, Thrilling fun in nature's Lap

3 hours journey from capital of Lao, Vang Vieng is one of the place in this country which attracts most of the tourist. If you more interested in activities then just relaxing and have the "can do" attitude, Vang Vieng is the right place.

You can take a bus from morning market, Vientiane, which runs at an interval of 2 hours starting from morning 7 till 2 pm, the last bus. It will cost you around 40000Kip. 156 Km away from capital and on the way to Luang Prabhang, it will give you a mouth gaping view right when you will land on the bus stop. A long runway lying unused since years on the left and then a series of mountains will immediately give you a feeling that you are at right place. Once you will get in the city after crossing the runway the restaurants and a number of hotels and guest house with the very affordable price will force you to stay there for more time then you have planned.

Seems like this city have only one slogan, relax and enjoy. City situated on the bank of NamSong river got lot of activities to do like tubing, kayaking, mountain climbing, hot air balloon, trekking etc. A one day package of Kayaking and tubing may cost you around 90.000Kip. Hot air Balloon cost around 70$ per head. There are a number of coffeeshops and fun points open at the both side of river which gives you an opportunity to enjoy the natural thrilling rides and falling from a height in river or grabbing a drink and lying in sun, swing on the freestyle swinger with a board written beside as "Swing at your own risk nearest hospital bangkok" will let you feel more thrilled while enjoying.

A number of different type of natural caves can be seen by yourself or can be visited through package trip which may cost you between 90.000 to 150.000 Kip which includes lunch and kayaking or tubing or both. I loved the water cave which is also the start point of Kayaking during rainy season. Any time is good time to go to Vang Vieng but rainy season is the best time when river is flooding.

The hotels and food is cheaper. A descent hotel can be booked at 40.000 to 80.000 Kip. A river side bungalow can be booked at 100,000 - 200.000 kip for 2 person one room. If you can explore more you can find some more river side bungalows away from the main street which may be cheaper.

Though a old city it have all the basic facilities available. there are number of internet cafes with 300Kip per minute rate, massage centers, hospital and shops for all basic requirements.
City is awake till mid night 12 and all these facilities are available till this time.

There is one international bus stand around 2km away from city center. The buses are available to Vietnam and Cambodia from here.

Coming out of Vang Vieng may be troublesome if you are planning to enjoy your time full day and travel in late evening. The last bus to Vientiane is around 2PM. Mini vans are available at 80.000 Kip. If you want to reserve the van for Vientiane it may cost you around 600,000KIP.

Lao PDR, PaKse

2011-01-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

Lao PDR, peaceful and slow moving life becomes more close to nature when you start moving toward south.

Situated in South of Laos, sharing border with Thailand and another side locked with Vietnam and Cambodia, Pakse is one of the attraction of Laos. Along with two beautiful waterfalls, it have historical story engraved at the bottom of Linga Parvata.

600 Km away from capital of Lao(Vientiane) , Pakse can be covered with a comfortable "Sleeping Bus" journey, which takes 10 hours and $18(150000Kip). Generally tickets are available on the same day. Buses play only in night. Centre of City is around 1 km away from bus stand and have a number of guest house. 10-15 $ is enough to an average kind of guest house. Check out time is 12:00 in noon irrespective of your check in time.

around 50Km away from Pakse is Champasak and famous Wat Phou Temple. The general time Public pick up or group trip is 8AM which takes 55,000 Kip one way. Ferry will take you to another side of Mekong. Vat Phou is the temple of Khmer dynasty constructed in 500AD. The Khmer architecture and is shadow of hindu religion was a city of 2*1.8 Km approx and had double enclosure of earthen walls.

In 500AD the king Devanika founded the modern city Vat Luang Kau. Later in 6th century AD it became the capital city of King Mahendravarman. The capital moved to Angkor when the dynasties were extended. Till the last king of Khmer jayavarman , the city established religious foundation in and around Vat Phou. Afterwards, Vat phu became the active buddhist place.

4000islands is situated alomst 144km away from Pakse and takes 2hour 30 min to reach there. Chmpasak is on the way to 4000island. The two big island is Don Det and Don kon. Unknowingly we landed in Don Det in night around 7Pm. after covering Vat phou. Don Det and Don Ken is connected by a bridge. The biggest waterfall of south east asia is located there although you will not get chance to get close to it or take a bath in it. bicycles are available on island and tourists generally like to go around in island by bicycle. You have both the sunset and sunrise point in Don Det island. There are a number of restaurants and bars. There is one indian restaurant as well. Kayaking and tubing is some nice activities available there. Also you can take boat to see Dolphin. Package tours are also available which includes kayaking and Dolphin place visit. Hotels may not be very pleasant here but are available in plenty.

Buses are available to Vientiane directly from 4000islands. The buses starts at 8:30 Pm from Pakse.

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Lao PDR

Pattaya, The fun City

2010-02-23T02:18:00.001-08:00

Pattaya, An Introduction:

The city is famous for its beautiful beaches and nearby islands. A good 147km southeast of Bangkok, almost 2 and half hour drive in bus or car will take you to Pattaya. Untill 1950 pattaya was a small village located on the sea with name Pad Tha ya means wind blows. There was no status of pattaya that time. During Vietnam war in search of place to relax and fun, American soldiers happened to find a beautiful beach pattaya. They carried lot of money to spend and hence from that time Pattaya expanded and became a hub to relax and entertainment. In no time the place became famous around the world and attracts many tourists from different country. The fisherman huts soon changed to hotels and resorts and fishing boats changed to tourist boat. People got into new business like water sports and many other entertainment activities.. ‘Pattaya City’ came into being on 29th November 1978, and this anniversary is celebrated every year. Pattaya is a modern city and hence you will not find any building of old style. Up to three star hotels is available in Pattaya along with resorts. The three seasons falls in pattaya hot march-may, rainy june-October, cool November –February. Feb March is considered as the best time to visit pattaya. You can find lot of open no nonsense massage center in pattaya with their rate list written at the entrance.

Videos :

Landing and Appetite Solution:
The place is full of resorts , hotels and paying guests kind of places. Upto three stars hotels are also available. A good normal hotel can be booked with as low as 5$ per day. Staying anywhere near around Walking Street is comfortable to explore the city. Government have provided a big ten sitter kind of open roof cars as public transport which will let you feel comfortable on your pocket while roaming around in city. You can find bikes as well on rent . Rate varies on the bike condition and brand. eating style in Pattaya is very much international style and can suit to any part of world. Also you can find KFC very easily there. The French Italian and Indian shops are also in abundant. Many Arabian style food shop is also available.For any problem you can tourist police any time available on 1155.Pattaya is not a very big city but the addresses of many places are not declared and pronounced. once you settle there it is better to discover the place with your own. You can happen to find many exciting places.

Attractions:
Government has provided a van kind of vehicle open in the back side which stops wherever you show your hand. The fare is nominal and shared with people in the vehicle. You can explore Pattaya in this. Also make sure that you carry proper address of your hotel since finding the correct address is really tough. All the roads and address is written in Thai language. The motorbikes are also available to hire on rent. You can take boat from Pattaya beach to go to Kholarn and other beaches. On the way you can enjoy parasailing which is driven by a speed motor boat. It cost 350Baht per head a nominal charge. Diving and snorkeling is also a nice activity can be done in kohlarn http://www.pjscuba.com/. You may get a personal photographer to take your photo when you are diving but again it will make your pocket little bit more light. Scuba diving will be an unforgettable moment in your life where you goes inside the water and sees the under water life with many different and unique ocean habitats.Situated in the outskirts of Pattaya lies the Nong Nooch village, where you can enjoy the greeneries and flowers. Going a little ahead in the same village you can get a chance to see traditional dance and boxing in the cultural program. Followed with the cultural program there they held elephant show. Elephant is considered as the god’s animal and hence given a special importance to it. The Thailand map is also considered in the form of elephant head.

NightLife:
Life of Pattaya in night is quite abnormally bustling. The city and its suburbs have a very large number of bars and night clubs, and some discotheques. Many major hotels also operate restaurants, cocktail lounges, nightclubs and supper clubs which offer food, drinks, music and international entertainment. There are 3 main streets in Pattaya. one street runs parallel to sea beach, one part of that is known as walking street. The Street is a pedestrian area is a center for nightlife. It is quite eventful and noisy. With the sun goes down this street gets overcrowded with footsteps, with the colorful life on both the side of the street consisting of dance bars , go go bar (cant explain what type of bar is this) and , night clubs and some discotheques. More and more people are hobbling with combination of complex sound, and languages of all kinds of people from all over the world. Among the colorful shops, tourists seem so excited. Along the two sides of roads all are bars with sexy girls dancing around pillar. All activities here start from 10pm and last till the next morning. The hoardings, the lights and the girls around inviting you in your bar may make you feel that you are standing right in the middle of fully artificial filmy set. Thai Boxing(Muay thai) can also be enjoyed in many open beer bars and clubs in walking street.This is one of the hottest night activities in Pattaya.

Pattaya have one of the spectacular performances, called Tiffany show, which started some 20 years back with three people performing on a small stage. Now the tiffany show is arranged in a proper theatre with good audio and light system with a capacity of 1000 people. Tiffany show is also famous because the show is well and artistically performed by the people who have gone through a gender change. The show ticket cost between 300 to 700 Baht. In the performance, there are lots of songs and dances of many countries – performances for Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese, Indian. Many guys who changed themselves to girls, performing in tiffany will stand outside inviting you to take photo with them but again it is charged. Photography is prohibited of tiffany show but you can buy DVD if their show at the cost of 700Baht. The stage is located in Road 2 Pattaya. This is also the most interesting thing of Pattaya. Imposing stage, modern sound, and stage magic makes Tiffany Show successful. Pattaya have not disclosed many of its entertainment places. Many places don’t have any address. By exploring the Pattaya you will happen to know these places of your own. You can explore full Pattaya in just 1 day since it has only 3 main road beach road, second road and third road. Having a map of city will help you in not getting lost. People are friendly, but again the exceptions exist.

Bangkok, The capital

2010-02-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

Bangkok:

you can settle down your legs in Thailand either in Suvarnabhumi airport or can enter by bus from Cambodia or Burma. Laos is also sharing border with Thailand. Once you landed in Bangkok you got to know some famous places and means of communication. If you are not in package trip you must get a good idea about the sky train BTS (Bangkok Transport System) and the underground train MRT(Mass Rapid Transit) will help you in saving both money and time. http://www.urbanrail.net/as/bang/bangkok.htm Both together are covering all the important places in Bangkok. In spite of this there are three types of taxi running here. First is Meter Taxi(Car), second is Taxi (TukTuk) and third is Biker Taxi. The interesting thing is all is called taxi here.It is very easy to recognize biker taxi by their attractive yellow attire. You can take a risk in biker taxi or tuktuk if you want to enjoy city with open roof. Meter taxi is car where you need not to bargain for fare. In the middle of screaming traffic, sky scrapers buildings

If you are backpackers the best place to stay is Khao San road. A world renowned back packers heaven with cheap hotels as low as 5 dollar and restaurant, bars and dance houses at walk able distance. The local buses run directly to Khao San from Suvarnbhumi airport. None of the train service touches KhaoSan. It is also considered as the famous market where foreigners mix with locals in colorful friendly atmosphere.

Famous Markets:

There are many night markets in Thailand. But the night market of different kind is Patpong night Barzaar. With two parallel roads where different souvenir, bags, cloths, jewelleries and handicrafts many other things are available. Bargaining is a must to extreme. The Patpong is also famous for night bars, pubs dance shows and other adult shows. Sala daeng is the nearest BTS station and Sam Yan is nearest MRT station.

Suan Lum night barzaar near to the Lumphini station BTS offering largest selection of thai product in the country. More than 3500 shops selling cloths , jewelleries art and handicrafts.

Lying close by the four shopping malls, Pratunam market, Pantip plaza, Platinum fashion mall and zen plaza. The nearest station Ratchathewi and phaya thai BTS.Pantip plaza is famous for all type of electronics goods at very nominal rate. Platinum mall consist of a large number of shops for garments at appreciable price. Again bargaining can be done if you feel prices are high.

If you are roaming around don’t forget to visit the Bangkok tallest building Baiyoke, consists of 85 floors specially designed lift which will take u in on top floor in 90 seconds. Visiting after 6PM will cost you 250 per head while before it is 200Baht. Going a little bit early and seeing the sunset will be good idea. You can have some photo in day light as well in night twinkling light.

Near to chinaTown lies the spectacular flower market. Best time to visit this place is early in morning before sunrise. Also the floating market Thaling chan near china town is one of the main tourist attractions. Taking a boat trip from China town in the chao phraya river when the sun goes down will be a nice experience. On the right you can see the temple of dawn bright and glowing with its golden color and on the right you can see the dome of the buildings of royal grand palace.

The Famous Grand Palace:

Established in 1782 the royal grand palace, consists not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a renowned temple of emerald Buddha. Consisting of a number of government offices, it covers an area of 218,000square metres with four walls surrounding it. It is situated on the bank of Chao Phraya River and can be reached by city bus or taxi. Unfortunately no subway train or sky train touches this place. The grand palace attracts thousands of tourists every day.

Dress code is must while entering the grand palace so make sure that you are not wearing anything short or tight or torn off. Wearing a normal jeans with a tshirt will be a good idea. At the entrance on the left you can see a golden dome shaped temple, containing for main monuments found on this terrace. Scattered around the terrace is monuments of elephants and mythical beings. When you enter through second gate crossing the view of the above said temple you need to take a ticket to proceed further. you can see a great piece of art inside the temple carved on the wall all around making you feel that you are standing in front of a bride going to get married covered with ornaments all around. Lies inside is the sacred, most venerated sites in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha. Enshrined on a golden traditional Thai style throne known as Busabok, the sacred Buddha is always clad with one of the dress according to three season Summer, Rainy and Winter. All the dresses are made of pure gold. The Emerald Buddha is made of one single Jade stone. It was first discovered in 1434 in a stupa in Chiang Rai. The image at that time was covered with cement and was considered as the ordinary Buddha image. Later abbot noticed the green stone which was visible through the flaked off plaster from nose. That time the stone was recognized as emerald hence named as emerald Buddha.

The galleries of the royal monastery are painted with the story of Ramayana. First painted during the King Rama 1. The painting consists of story where Ravana (Thotsakan) abducted Sita to Longka (Sri Lanka) and the whole scene of the war waged by Rama of Ayothaya to rescue his wife.
There are other four main buildings which was built during different renaissance. Few are open to visit. Cameras are not allowed inside temple. You can enjoy photography from outside building.

The world largest crocodile Farm , Snake farm:

Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo situated 28 km away from Bangkok in the district samut Prakarn is the largest crocodile farm in world. Started by a crocodile lover in year 1950, now consists of more than 30000 crocodiles of 28 species. The easiest way to get there is going in a package tour or getting a private taxi to reach there.

Witnessing the complete life cycle of crocodile from eggs to adults, as well seeing numerous number of species of crocodile along with the spine thrilling crocodile show will add a unforgettable moment of your trip. You will be invited to take the crocodile ride and get photo close with crocodile. It will cost you 200 or more Baht for this. If you are in Thailand you can get numerous photos which will remind you of Thailand special trip but all will be charged. Later while explaining different tourist attraction I will mention the charges for photos as well.

Snake farm and snake show may be one of the attractions. Showing the poisonous snake show and taking out venom from their teeth is good experience. The snake farm is more like a shopping center where you can find an introduction to many medicines made from snake venom and body parts, will be available for sale. Also you can find a large number of bags, belts and other goods made of snake and crocodile skin. If you are interested in possessing things made of animal skin this is the right place to buy.

Jungle Safari:

Thailand is famous for its closeness to the nature. In jungle safari you will feel the Thai respect to nature. Coming close to nature and seeing animals acting in smart way is good experience. .

Thailand, an introduction

2010-02-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

Thailand, an introduction

Thailand, located in the heart of Southeast Asia, is one of the prime places for tourists. The country shares its border with Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Malaysia. Headed by the king, the country is the kingdom of King Bhumibol Adulyadej the ninth king. King is considered to be the head of the kingdom enjoying the maximum power, an upholder of Buddhist religion and defendant of all faiths. You can observe a good impact of Chinese culture on Thailand. Although Buddhism got an image in Thailand from India you cannot deny the sweet essence of Indian culture here. There are many words and many names which is taken from Hindi language. Need not to be surprised when u wonder to see the king name Bhumibol, the Bangkok airport name as Suvarnabhumi Airport, the old capital name Ayuthaya (sounds at Ayodhaya) and story of Ram and Ravan hovering in the air in temples. You can easily find the painting and carving on wall with the Ram story.

The country total area is approximately 518000Sq Kms. Bangkok the official capital, is considered as the City of angels, in thai called Krung Thep. Previously Bangkok was just a small port for trade, lying on the Chao Phraya river. In 1768 Ayutthaya, the old capital, was burnt out, Bangkok was given the status of capital of Thailand. Buddhism is observed by 94.7% of Thai’s while 4.6% is Muslim population coming from China and Malaysia. Thai’s are believed to be originated form vast land of Southeast China. Although Theravada Buddhism is the State religion, other religions are never been a restriction for freedom. Thai Buddhism is ranked highest in the world.

Thailand is only country in Southeast Asia that has never been a western colony. You will love the artistic temperament of Thai. Right from music folk dance art on wall, the traditional dress and well decorated temples all will leave your mouth wide open. If sometime you happen to attend some thai festival you will get a close look on their art and culture. Along with solemnity the celebration is a time of great merriment.

Thailand currency is known as Baht. The biggest denomination is 1000Baht comes on orange and grey paper. Other denomination in descending order is 500, 100,50, 20 baht. This comes on paper. Coins include 10baht with bronze embedded in middle with white metal in border along with 5 ,2,1,50 stang and 25 stang comes in coins. There will be many counters around the city on all tourist places for money exchange run by the bank in Thailand. You can also find the counters which are private and not run by any bank. Don’t hurry to exchange your money at airport. Also check the exchange rate at some counters before exchanging your dollars. There may be remarkable difference in rate at different counter. 1 dollar in general is 33 baht.

Culture and language: Sawasdee is how you will be greeted once you land in Thailand. Sawasdee literal meaning is “may you prosper” but in general hello. Politeness and respect is extremely important in Thailand. Sawasdee should be followed by the words which represent gender of the speaker. Sawasdee khrap for male and sawasdee kha for female. It don’t hold any meaning but very important to use with sawasdee to show your politeness.

Sawasdee is done with raising your both hand pal joined together till chest or head and bowing down. The raise hand is always given by junior person first. The head of the junior should always be lower than the head of any senior person. You can see easily in hotels if you are sitting down on a chair the hotel employees will bow their head in front of you while in motion showing the respect and representing that their head is below yours. Thanks is said as khob-kun-Ka, If you are a woman. And khob-kun-Krub, If you are a man. Negative or disrespectful remarks about king or monarchy are considered offensive and sometimes punishable. Also make sure about your attire while going inside religious places. The shorts and sleeveless both for girls and boys are not allowed.

Traditional dress is decorated with lot of jewelries. Dress will be remarkably long and with tube like skirt. Traditional dress varies from religion to religion and also the location. Some dress resembles the Saree in India. In general Thai people follow the western style dress like jeans and tee-shirt. Traditional dress can be seen in special occasion.

It is easy to get Visa for some listed countries. Visa on Arrival VOA is granted at nominal rate.

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