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Top spots in Toronto’s India Bazaar

Mariellen Ward — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:10:48 +0000

A taste of India in Toronto

When I feel the need to experience India, and I’m stuck in Toronto, I head to the India Bazaar on Gerrard Street East. It’s a one-stop shopping destination for “all things Indian” and a visit there can make for a fun afternoon. India Bazaar is lined with Indian stores bursting with colourful finery, restaurants that feature authentic north and south Indian cuisines and stalls offering streetfood favourites like grilled corn, fresh sugar cane juice and golgappa (dumplings with sauce). Here are my favourite stops.

The street acquired its Indian flavour in the 1970s when waves of immigrants from South Asia moved in. The first generation offered traditional Indian merchandise, but a new generation is shaking it up.

Delicious dosas

Over the years of visiting India Bazaar, I’ve fallen into a predictable routine, and my first stop is invariably Udupi Palace. I always arrive hungry because the South Indian vegetarian food served at Udupi is very filling. Within moments of walking into the spacious room, a few steps below grade at 1460 Gerrard St. E., I’m greeted by the friendly staff and warming aromas that put me immediately into an India state of mind.

The Spring Dosa at Udupi Palace

I’m torn between having a dosa (crepe with savoury filling) or the South Indian thali (plate of small dishes) — and owner Hubert Dabello assures me they are two of the most popular items on the menu. Hubert opened Udupi Palace in 2001 and introduced new taste sensations to the street, traditionally dominated by north Indian restaurants serving Toronto’s ubiquitous Punjabi-style dishes such as butter chicken, dal and naan. He was inspired by the popularity of South Indian restaurants in Bombay, and imported a winning formula.

From Udupi, I walk west and always stop in to say hello to friends at Nucreation. This huge store, at the corner of Gerrard and Ashdale, is one of the most popular stops for Indian bridal wear in Toronto. The entire second floor is devoted to showcasing unique and gorgeous beaded lenghas (tulip-shaped skirt with fitted top) and saris in dazzling colours for brides; and elegant sherwanis (jackets) for men.

Wedding turbans for men at Nucreation

Bejewelled evening wear

Nucreation is a family-owned business that has been on Gerrard St. for 30 years, one of the very first Indian clothing stores in Toronto. Owner and men’s clothing designer Manish Mahtani says, “We have grown along with the population of South Asians in the GTA, and we are optimistic about the future. The young generation loves to dress traditionally for weddings and parties, and there is growing interest among our western customers to dress in Indian style, too.”

I am one of the westerners who shop at Nucreation for distinctive evening wear: I have a georgette sari to die for — transparent shades of blue sky fade to azure, indigo and black, and a scattering of rhinestones make it look a starry night sky. In fact, it is the sari I am wearing in my “official” Breathedreamgo profile pic — and in this spread: My glam Bollywood makover.

Choosing jewelry at Jumpka

Almost next to Nucreation is Jhumka, a small store brimming with unique, ornate bridal jewelry that appeals to modern Indian brides and westerners. Owner Tina Mahar has a knack for matching jewelry to clothing, and she loves to be able to meet the needs of westerners, as well as brides, looking for showpiece necklaces and earrings.

Ali Baba’s Cave of colourful treasures

Across the street is Rang, a very unique and enchanting home decor store. From the striking use of colour (rang is Hindi for colour) and bold sign, you can tell at a glance the store has a modern sensibility. Inside is a riot of colour and shimmering surfaces, a veritable Ali Baba’s cave of ornate beaded, embroidered and lacquered treasures. Owner Trishna Mahtani, sister of Manish at Nucreation, travels regularly to India to hunt for stylish pillowcases, draperies, wall hangings, boxes, candle holders and other household objets d’art. She chooses items that are inspired by traditional techniques, colours and themes — such as peacocks — but updated for modern tastes.

My last stop is usually Toronto Cash & Carry, or one of the other grocery stores, where I load up on spices, saunf (candy-coated fennel seeds), hot mango chutney, Darjeeling tea and long green chili peppers. Popping saunf into my mouth, I saunter down the street towards home, sated and satisfied.

On weekends in the summer, and during festivals such as Diwali and Eid, the Gerrard India Bazaar has a festive atmosphere. Families snack on street foods and desserts like kulfi (north Indian ice cream); mothers and daughters pour over heavily beaded bridal fabrics, trying to find matching costume jewelry; and the latest Bollywood hits spill out of the music stores. Sometimes, for a moment, if the weather’s warm and I catch the scent of spicy food cooking, I can pretend I am in India.

How to get there

India Bazaar runs along Gerrard Street for about five blocks, between Coxwell and Greenwood, in Toronto’s east end. Public transit: You can get there by taking the 506 College / Carlton street car; or by taking the subway to either Coxwell or Greenwood, and transferring to a bus south to Gerrard Street. Car: If you are like me, and you don’t own a car, you can rent a car in Toronto and drive to India Bazaar, though there is not a lot of parking (best is side streets and a nearby municipal lot). Here’s a map, with Udupi Palace indicated.

View Larger Map

[NOTE: This was originally published on Vacay.ca.]

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Hyper-local photo essay: Cherry Blossoms in High Park, Toronto

Mariellen Ward — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:53:57 +0000

When the cherry trees bloom

Each year, those of us who live near High Park in Toronto watch in anticipation for those few short days when the cherry trees burst into glorious bloom. The trees were a gift from the Japanese ambassador to Canada in 1959 and there are two places in the park with a high concentration of them. When cherry trees blossom, they look like fluffy pink clouds. A small miracle that expresses happy truths about the beauty of nature. They are not only delightful to behold, but they carry cultural significance for the many people in Toronto of Asian heritage (especially Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese) and they are an augur of spring.

Cherry trees, High Park, Toronto

This year, Toronto’s wildly unpredictable weather gave us a boon: for about a week, we were blessed with warm, summer-like weather, and the trees burst into blossom over the weekend. Hordes crowded the park, to sit under the trees, to get their photos taken, and to enjoy the spectacle. It reminded me of the year I lived in Japan. Cherry blossom (sakura) viewing, know as Hanami, is the highlight of Golden Week — the festival season in Japan.

From what I understand, the epitome of Hanami is to sip chilled sake (rice wine) under a cherry blossom tree, and have one delicate blossom fall gently into your cup. This is Hanami nirvana. In fact, my friends and I tried this, and a blossom fell VERY close to my small cup of sake, so I picked it up and dropped it in!

To be honest, though the weekend weather and the blooms were perfect, the crowds of people — especially the vast numbers of cars — made the experience less-than-serene. In fact, it was a bit comical — trying to have a sublime moment with nature while cars were spewing noise and pollution and people were filling the garbage cans with refuse and climbing onto the trees (in one case, breaking a large branch).

I had to return several times over the course of three days to get some good photos that were not crowded with people. Going at about 8 am on Monday morning did the trick. Enjoy!

Love among the Cherry trees

Cherry tree close-up

Swan in High Park

Ducks in High Park

Couple pose under the tress on the edge of Grenadier Pond

The Japanese Garden in High Park is my favourite place in Toronto.

Woman in traditional Vietnamese costume poses.

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In search of my Ottawa Valley Irish family roots

Mariellen Ward — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:52:48 +0000

Victoria and Mariellen in front of Victoria’s 100-year-old log cabin home

A meaningful adventure travel experience to connect with my Irish ancestors

This year, I will be Going home to Ireland as part of a massive tourism initiative called The Gathering 2013. Read on to find out about the search for my Irish-Canadian family roots, and the Irish heritage of the Ottawa Valley.

I think it was the mosquito that did it. When I saw that mosquito, etched into the Celtic Cross at the mouth of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, I suddenly gained new insight into the harsh conditions Canada’s early settlers faced. The Celtic Cross stands at Ottawa’s most picturesque spot in honour of the 1,000 Irish workers and their families who died building the Rideau Canal (1826-32). Apparently, a significant percentage of them died from malaria. I had no idea. The other symbols on the cross include an explosion, a wheelbarrow, a pickaxe & shovel and in the centre of them all, a harp — the symbol for Ireland. Approximately one-third of Rideau Canal workers hailed from Ireland.

I recently drove to Ottawa to follow the Irish trail through eastern Ontario, which is where my ancestors settled when they emigrated from Ireland in the early 19th century. In fact, many of Canada’s Irish settlers ended up in the Ottawa Valley, and they have long been known as “Ottawa Valley Irish.” I’m retracing my roots this year, in anticipation of my September visit to Ireland as part of The Gathering 2013 – a tourism initiative to bring home the Irish Diaspora. My first blog in this series, The Journey from Ireland and back recounts the harrowing story of loss that drove my ancestors from Ireland to Canada, more than 200 years ago.

In the Ottawa Valley

On the road to Ottawa

Victoria and Mariellen

The first stop on the journey was to pick up my sister, artist and writer Victoria Ward, at her home in the Haliburton Highlands East. As I mentioned in my blog, On the Whelan trail in Eastern Ontario, Victoria lives in a 100-year-old log cabin in the forest on the edge of the Ottawa Valley. After one day’s delay due to a ferocious ice storm — in April! — we loaded the car and started driving south and east, towards Ottawa.

Victoria lives in a Canadian wilderness postcard of rolling, pine-covered hills and rugged, rocky outcroppings, but she promised me even more spectacular vistas as we drove towards the Ottawa Valley. And she was right: the hills grew higher, the rocks more jagged. It’s a beautiful area, but it felt distinctly remote and somewhat sombre under chilly, grey April skies. Add cold winters, buggy summers and thin soil to the picture, and you begin to sense the hardscrabble life our pioneer ancestors led.

We passed through places with names like Shamrock, stopped to take a photo of Whelan Road (spelled Whalen on one sign and Whelan on the other), and skirted the two places where our 19th century Whelan family homesteads are located on our way to Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.

Ottawa’s colourful past includes plenty of green

Exactly on schedule we pulled into the impressive drive of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. This is the pre-eminent hotel of Ottawa, an historic site in its own right, ideally located on a bluff overlooking the Rideau Canal and the Ottawa River, and with a million-dollar view of the magnificent Parliament Buildings. We loved the elegant wood-paneled lobby, our spacious room with iconic view of Parliament Hill and Gold Room service that included a separate check-in and lounge.

On a fun and entertaining iPad tour of the hotel, we learned that builder Charles Hays hired designers and architects to model it after chateaus he had seen in the Loire Valley, France; and that it was named after Canadian Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, who was present at the 1912 opening ceremonies — delayed by two months because Hays went down with the Titanic.

Fairmont Chateau Laurier

After touring the hotel, we were keen to find out more about Ottawa’s Irish heritage, and arranged to meet Craig MacDonald of Ottawa Walking Tours, in the lobby. A natural-born storyteller and history buff, Craig guided us around central Ottawa, bringing the city alive with his stories.

On a drizzly April afternoon, we walked with Craig past the War Memorial and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the popular pedestrian mall, Sparks Street. He told us it was named after Irish immigrant Nicholas Sparks, who played a key role in the development of Ottawa. By the early 1820s Sparks owned most of the land that downtown Ottawa sits on now. So, when the town boomed, thanks to the construction of the Rideau Canal in the late 1820s, Sparks’ fortune was made.

While still on Sparks Street, we walked past D’Arcy McGee’s pub and learned that the Irish-born Member of Parliament and Father of Confederation was assassinated at a nearby spot in 1868. We stood in the light rain at the exact place, marked by a plaque, where he was shot in the back of the head as he stood at the door of his boarding house (now a Subway restaurant).

D’Arcy McGees pub on Sparks Street, near the scene of the assassination.

As a young man in Ireland, McGee had been a Fenian sympathizer, but decided that moderation and “getting along” was a better strategy for the Irish in Canada. A fellow Irishman, who felt he had betrayed the extreme Fenian cause, apparently killed McGee. Patrick J. Whelan was convicted and hanged for the crime, though he maintained his innocence to the last.

We shivered as Craig told us this story, partly because of his storytelling abilities, partly because of the chill in the air and partly because we are descended from a family of Whelans in Canada — though none of my research indicates that we are related to this particular Whelan, who holds the dubious distinction of being the last man to be publicly hanged in Canada, in 1869.

Our tour took us to the first Catholic Church in Ottawa, the Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, built between 1841-1885; and through the historic ByWard Market next door. This area was called Lowertown back in Ottawa’s rough early days, when it was home to the poor Irish and French Rideau Canal builders and their families. Colonel John By, who was charged with building the Rideau Canal, also built the ByWard Market in 1826. Today it serves the same function, to provide urbanites with fresh produce from the surrounding farms; and it’s also now a trendy hub filled with stores, cafes and restaurants.

Canada’s majestic Parliament buildings: The view from our hotel window

Connecting to family and heritage

Back at our hotel, and out of time, our tour ended. But we continued our search for Irish Ottawa, and our own heritage, the next day at Afternoon Tea. Sun was pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Zoe’s Lounge, which occupies a prime corner spot on the ground floor of the majestic Fairmont Chateau Laurier. Families of girls and women gathered in the sunny atrium, each table loaded with three-tiered plates of pastries and silver tea services. It’s obviously a popular Ottawa tradition as the room was full.

Victoria pouring tea at Zoe’s

At Zoe’s, we met four long lost relatives, all sisters, related to us through our great-grandfather Peter Whelan. The sisters Mary, Ann, Sheila and Jean are all descended from Peter’s brother, Andrew Whelan. I didn’t even know this branch of the family existed, so to meet them in person was very special; it made me feel connected to my past and to my mother and grandmother (Nana), who I continue to miss many years after losing them.

Finally, at the end of the day, at the end of our trip to Ottawa, and as the light was leaving the sky in streaks of gold and turquoise, Victoria and I walked along the Rideau Canal. We stopped at the Corktown Footbridge, which honours the Irish canal workers, and enjoyed seeing the locks, left by lovers.

From there we walked to the mouth of the canal, where it meets the Ottawa River, and ended our walk at the Celtic Cross. And it was here that I felt that sense of connection to history, both personal and national, that I was looking for. And here the sight of a mosquito etched in stone made me realize that it was individuals who built my country, Canada — people like the uneducated Irish workers who dug out the Rideau Canal, who lived in caves in the side of Parliament Hill to stay warm in winter, and who died from malaria, malnutrition, exposure and accidents. It made me proud of them, and proud of Canada, to recognize their contributions.

Getting there: Why a travel rewards card makes a great travel companion

Would you like to travel to explore your roots? A travel rewards card can both get you there faster, and can help offset travel costs while you’re on your trip. I took my new Scotiabank Gold American Express Card for a spin on my road trip to Ottawa. I wrote about signing up for this card in a previous post, and now I’d like to share with you how easy it was to benefit and save money.

To get to Ottawa, I rented a car and charged it using my Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, which includes Rental Car Collision/ Loss Damage Insurance. I calculated that I saved $139.93 ($19.99 per day) by not buying the car rental company’s Collision Damage insurance. The total cost of the car was $230.50, and when the bill comes in, I am going to use the 20,000 bonus points I received on sign-up to pay for almost all of it. The points will cover $200 of the cost, and Scotiabank makes it easy to redeem online or with one phone call.

Me and my trusty rental car on the road to Ottawa

The car rental netted me 230 new travel reward points; and the $86.49 I spent on gas allows me to accumulate four times the points (the card gives you four points per dollar spent at gas stations, grocery stores, on dining and entertainment) for a total of 346 points.

While at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Victoria and I splurged on an exquisite dinner — with a spectacular view of the Parliament Buildings lit up at night — at their signature restaurant, Wilfrid’s. I had the best beet salad and the best roasted scallops I have ever eaten. The food was as good as the view! The bill came to $107.00, and I earned four times the travel reward points.

Adding everything up:

I spent only $30.50 on the car rental plus $86.49 on gas for a total of $116.99
I saved $139.93 on insurance and $200 on the car rental because of the bonus points for a total savings of $339.93.
I accumulated a total of 1,004 new travel rewards points.

So, as you can see, the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card turned out to be a boon! It helped me take a meaningful road trip that brought me together with family, history and an unforgettable weekend in Canada’s beautiful capital city.

As I mentioned in my last post, if you’d like to be rewarded for the thing you do every day, or if you’re a frequent traveler like me, this travel rewards card is worth looking into. The points are not only easy to accumulate and redeem, but the accelerated earn on everyday purchases helps you make your travel dreams a reality faster.

Where the Rideau Canal meets the Ottawa River

[Note: This post was brought to you, in part by the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, and in part by Ottawa Tourism and the Fairmont Chateau Laurier.]

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Pre-order inspiring travel book: “Roll out the magic carpet”

Mariellen Ward — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:48:22 +0000

Donate to get a copy of the book plus other great perks!

Roll out the magic carpet: How to travel in India and other life lessons is the name of the book I am writing. A very unique cross between Eat, Pray, Love and the Lonely Planet India, the book will inspire you to overcome your fears, go after your dreams and travel safely and well in India and beyond. I am crowd-funding to write and self-publish this book on the popular Indiegogo site. And I am hoping you will help by making a donation, which will net you a copy of the book when it’s published plus lots of other great perks like magic rings and guided tours.

If you have found my writing, blogs or advice useful or inspiring, please support this campaign. I write and publish this blog as a labour of love. And I want to continue to inspire others and also provide good, solid and inspiring advice about pursuing dreams, travelling and India. I have spent 17 months travelling alone in India, and I have a lot of information, tips and guidance to offer.

For people in India only

Unfortunately, due to PayPal restrictions, you cannot contribute directly to the campaign. But you can donate directly to me, and I will add your donation to the campaign and make sure you get the proper perk level. Contact me at mariellen [@] breathedreamgo . com and I will get you set up.

How to follow your dreams and the flow of life

Since the death of my parents, and my first six-month trip to India in 2005, I have been avidly and passionately following my dreams. First I became a yoga teacher; and then I travelled in India; and then I became a writer. My latest dream is to write about my travels, and everything they taught me about being in the flow of life.

To travel well in India, I had to learn many life lessons, and these I will share with you in Roll out the magic carpet such as:

cultivating an open, trusting and non-judgmental attitude
learning to go with the flow
seeing beauty in the essence of things
recognizing that everything is as it is meant to be
following safe travel practises

The everyday realities of buying a train ticket, negotiating with an autorickshaw driver, confronting scenes of poverty, dealing with sensory overload and immersing in a new culture gave me a whole new perspective on life and taught me a wonderful skill: how to think happy.

Travel tips and much more

This book will be a how-to, full of tips, advice, and pointers on travelling in general and travelling in India in particular. And it will also be encouraging, full of stories about overcoming fear, sadness and resistance.

If you contribute to Roll out the magic carpet: How to travel in India and other life lessons you will be contributing to my dream of writing an inspirational book. And you will be contributing to the dreams of anyone who reads it and feel inspired to roll out their own magic carpet …

So please join the community of contributors.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Why you should travel overseas even if you’re scared

Mariellen Ward — Fri, 03 May 2013 02:18:32 +0000

Kathmandu. Photo courtesy Barbara Weibel

Because though travel adventure comes with risk, the rewards are usually far greater

“In the wastes of civilization, Luristan is still an enchanted name. Its streams are dotted blue lines on the map and the position of its hills is a matter of taste. It is still a country for the explorer. I penetrated only a vey little way. But I spent a fortnight in that part of the country where one is less frequently murdered.” Legendary travel writer and explorer Freya Stark wrote these lines in 1934, after an extremely arduous trip, by donkey, into parts of the Middle East no European woman had previously visited. Her book about this trip, The Valleys of the Assassins, is filled with adventurous tales of avoiding bandits, sleeping under the stars, looking for hidden treasure and suffering every kind of discomfort, mishap and illness.

It was typical for Dame Freya Stark, who lived to be 100 and was many times decorated by the Royal Geographical Society. She set off on many daring journeys, usually alone, with only one native guide. Yet all of her trips ended well; she always found safe passage; and most of the people she met along the way were kind, generous and helpful. And so it goes.

Freya Stark understood the true nature of travel, that discomfort and risk are to be expected, and that without them, there is no chance of adventure. She also knew what most travellers eventually discover: most people are good. Most of the time, when you actually get on the ground somewhere — even places that are considered unsafe, risky, impenetrable, challenging – the everyday people that you meet will make you feel comfortable, if not down-right welcome.

Me at the aarti in Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela, April 2010

This has certainly been true for me during my 17 months of solo travel in India over the past seven years. People often wonder in amazement how I can be so brave, and I sometimes let them think of me that way. But the truth is, I have rarely felt unsafe in India; I have always found the people to be warm and welcoming. And … I have always travelled prepared. I never expected India to be like Canada. Consequently, I wasn’t overly perturbed by stares, or Delhi-belly or delays. I wanted adventure and I accepted the conditions.

And it seems to be this combination of having realistic expectation and being open to the inherent kindness of strangers that makes for the best travellers. Some of my favourite travel bloggers agree with me, and here they offer stories from their travels to some of the world’s more forbidding places, like Iran, Nepal, Jordan, Taiwan and Colombia.

Read on and feel encouraged and inspired by true tales from travel bloggers about what it’s really like to visit off-the-beaten path destinations.

In a mountain village in Iran. Photo courtesy Audrey Scott.

Real stories from Iran

When we told our family and friends we were going to visit Iran, some of them said goodbye to us as if it would be the last time they saw us. They thought we were crazy, reckless. But we had Iranian friends and knew people inside the country; they all told another story than what we had seen on the news. And we knew we had to see and experience Iran for ourselves to discover that other story. We’re so glad we did.

From the moment we boarded the plane for Tehran to the time we took the train from Iran to Turkey, we were welcomed everywhere we went by ordinary Iranians we met on the streets and markets. And when people found out we were American, the hospitality went up another notch. Iranians asked us to go back and let people know about the “real Iranians,” not the ones they see on the news. While our governments may not get along, people are people. And it is these connections that transcend boundaries and politics.

Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott are writers, digital storytellers, speakers and consultants. They love to tell stories about a destination’s more personal and human dimensions, often challenging stereotypes and shifting perceptions along the way. Over six years later and 75 countries later, they are still traveling…and still married. You can follow along with their journey at Uncornered Market.

Bret Love and Mary Gabbett in Jordan.

What if … you have a magical time in Jordan?

When we told our friends and family we were traveling to the Middle Eastern country of Jordan, nearly every response was the same: ‘Is it safe?!’ Far too often, we let our fears prevent us from chasing our dreams. Our imaginations run wild with negative ‘What if?’ possibilities, without giving equal weight to the potential positives. What if I learn amazing things about a rich indigenous culture whose people, cuisine and music move my spirit in ways I never imagined? What if that inter-cultural dialogue gives way to greater mutual understanding and respect? What if this adventure changes me, and my life, for the better? For years I’d dreamed of walking through the ancient city of Petra, riding camels through the desert of Wadi Rum, and immersing myself in the Bedouin culture. But the reality of the experience was far more emotionally resonant than anything I could’ve imagined. And yes, it was safe. But more importantly, it was magical.

Bret Love is the co-founder of Green Global Travel, an award-winning website devoted to inspiring stories about the joys of ecotourism and the conservation of nature, wildlife and indigenous cultures.

Barbara Weibel at a home stay in Nepal

Feeling welcomed in Nepal

When I tell people I travel solo all over Nepal, including trekking for nine days in the Annapurna Himalayas, most express shock and concern for my safety. This attitude seems more prevalent in the U.S. than any other part of the world. Americans have somehow become convinced that overseas travel in general is dangerous, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’ve been traveling solo for years and the ONLY place I’ve ever had a problem in in the U.S. – I was robbed in Hawaii a number of years ago. While Nepal is a desperately poor country, it is quite safe. I have visited remote locations where few speak English, ridden the local buses, and stayed with local families. Anyone considering a visit to Nepal can rest assured that Nepalis are lovely people who will enthusiastically welcome you to their country and help you in whatever way possible.

After years of working at jobs that paid the bills but brought no joy, Barbara Weibel walked away from corporate life to travel around the world solo for six months and recreate herself as a travel writer and photographer. The travel bug bit so hard that Weibel subsequently opted for the life of a digital nomad; today she travels nine months each year and writes about her experiences on her blog, Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel.

Taiwan. Photo courtesy Matt Gibson

Spoiled by honesty in Taiwan

When I first moved to Taiwan eight years ago I was worried about my safety. I knew little about the country except that the culture was Chinese and they produced top notch GI Joe action figures. Over time I found the country to be refreshingly free, not only of crime, but also homeless people and beggars — both of which I was accustomed to after living in Vancouver. I later started a magazine there. One day, while writing an article I learned that Taiwan had the lowest poverty rate in the world. I came to see most Taiwanese people are incorrigibly honest, almost to the point of naiveté. I’ve never felt more safe than I did in Taiwan. After a few years there I wouldn’t think twice about leaving my work briefcase — which would often contain $,1000-$2,000 USD, contracts, and my laptop — alone at a cafe table while I visited the restroom. Now that I’m back in the U.S., every time I walk through a sketchy neighbourhood or sit uncomfortably on a subway in a car with a group of unsavoury young, I remember how spoiled I was in Taiwan.

Matt Gibson is the blog manager for Flight Network and an award-winning adventure travel blogger.

The Family on Bikes in Colombia.

Overcoming fear in Colombia

“You’re not planning to cycle through Colombia, are you? It’s way too dangerous!” I can’t even begin to tell you how many times we heard those words as we slowly made our way south. Our goal – to cycle from Alaska to Argentina – involved, of course, a passage through Colombia. And its reputation went before it. For years, Colombia was plagued with violence – that’s very true. For many years, it was dangerous for foreigners to travel through the country and there was a decent probability that you would be kidnapped if you attempted it. Now, the country has been cleaned up and, as the ads say, you’re biggest danger is that you won’t want to leave. And yet that reputation just won’t go away.

In the end, out of 15 countries that we cycled through, Colombia was one of our favourites. If we had heeded the warnings and given in to the fear mongering, we would have missed a delightful country. I am so very glad we made the decision not to give in to fear.

After 21 years of classroom teaching, Nancy Sathre-Vogel of Family on Bikes made the decision to leave her teaching career behind to travel the world on a bicycle. Together with her husband and twin sons, she cycled 27,000 miles throughout the Americas, including traveling from Alaska to Argentina. Now she lives in Idaho, pursuing her passions of writing and beadwork.

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Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India. E-book version is now only $1.99.

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Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Shop online for clothes, jewelry from India

Mariellen Ward — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:38:33 +0000

You can win a fair trade shopping spree!

Sign up to receive updates from Breathedreamgo and you could win a $75 gift certificate to go shopping around the world! I’ve teamed up with Novica to offer you the opportunity to buy beautiful fair trade products from talented artisans in India, Bali, West Africa, Mexico and many other places.

When I travel in India, a significant portion of my time is spent shopping. I love visiting markets and buying local products from a country known for beautiful handicrafts; stunning house wares, textiles and furniture; and of course my favourites: colourful, feminine clothes and jewelry. So, I was really happy to find out about Novica, an online company that sources very high quality, fair trade products from India and around the world. The online store, in association with National Geographic, features pages of stunning products: about 8,500 products from 1,700 artisans. Click here to shop online: New customers save $7 at NOVICA. Click to get code. Valid through 6-30-2013

Sign up to receive Breathedreamgo updates by email (sign-up box in sidebar) before April 30, 2013 and you could win a $75 gift certificate from Novica!

All of the products are carefully sourced, made by talented artists who are profiled and celebrated throughout the site. As you browse, you always know who designed the pieces you are eyeing. And you can even help fund artists through their Artisans Loans. They’ve recently partnered with Kiva.org to provide a higher volume of microcredit loans to artisans around the world.

NOVICA unites you with more than 2,000 extraordinary master artists around the world, offering them a fair price for their work.

There’s a fun, interactive element to Novica, too, which can inspire shoppers to be creative. You can become a Curator and create collections that give Novica artisans exposure and you the opportunity to win prizes for your efforts. A recent contest awarded the prize-winner a trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. It’s just another example of a fun, creative and positive aspect to shopping online at the Novica site.

We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.

There’s so many things I love about Novica, but of course the best part is browsing through the full-colour photos. After much searching, I used a $150 gift certificate the company gave me to “test drive” their products and services to buy a silk-cotton shawl in dreamy water colours and a brilliant ring called Dazzling Delhi from two different artists in India (see photo above).

The shawl and ring I ordered from Novica, along with personalized cards from the artists.

Though they came from India, the products arrived in less than 10 days, carefully wrapped and accompanied by an impressive package of materials. I was delighted to see a hand-written postcard from each artist and small booklets with bios about the artists, too.

Sign up to receive Breathedreamgo updates by email (sign-up box in sidebar) before April 30, 2013 and you could win a $75 gift certificate from Novica!

Aarti Sharma

My ring was designed by Aarti Sharma, who is from Karnal in Haryana — a town I visited on my first visit to India. Aarti says in her bio: “Coming from a very traditional family, I have learned the values of family, culture and tradition yet I am very open to new ideas and new trends.

Imtiyaz

My shawl was designed by Imtiyaz, whose family has been in the business of Kashmiri shawls for generations. “I think my association with this art goes back to very long ago when I was a child. My grandmother use to weave shawls and even sold them. Since we were a large family, I remember spending most of my time with my grandmother. ”

And there’s even a travel writing connection: Novica’s Vice President of Communications, Catherine “Wander Woman” Ryan, is a very well-travelled writer, who has explored 43 nations to date.

On the site, she says, “Novica has broken down the traditional international barriers to direct trade between individuals. Our goal is to help usher in a second, positive era of globalization that moves away from both the consolidation of the marketplace and the homogenization of culture. Novica is all about promoting artisans as individuals and increasing appreciation of all cultures – on a tremendous scale. This is what inspires us each day!”

I truly loved the products I ordered. They were as beautiful as the photos suggested, and the quality of both the products and the presentation exceeded my expectations. I am really impressed with this company. Now, because of Novica, I don’t have to leave my home in Toronto when I feel the urge to shop in India.

Sign up to receive Breathedreamgo updates by email (sign-up box in sidebar) before April 30, 2013 and you could win a $75 gift certificate from Novica! And click here to browse the collection of gorgeous handicrafts: New customers save $7 at NOVICA. Click to get code. Valid through 6-30-2013

Please note, taxes and duties are not included in the costs of freight if your order is being shipped outside of the U.S. Taxes and duties will need to be paid to the shipping company at the time of delivery. Please check with your local customs bureau for more information regarding taxes, duties and importation fees.

[NOTE: This page contains affiliate links.]

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Gathering Road Trip: On the Whelan trail in eastern Ontario

Mariellen Ward — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:53:46 +0000

Costello Hotel, Brudenell, Ontario. Photo courtesy Paul Politis.

Visiting the Ottawa Valley to find my Irish roots

This year, 2013, as Ireland celebrates The Gathering (a year of festivities to welcome back the Irish Diaspora), I am retracing my family’s history. I’m starting here in Canada now, and in September I will be visiting Ireland to walk in the footsteps of my ancestors and join the Whelan clan gathering. But my first step is a road trip to the Ottawa Valley, where wave upon wave of Irish immigrants settled in Canada in the 19th century, including my relatives. My first post in this series is The journey from Ireland … and back again.

On this road trip, I’m also going to share with you how I’m using my new Scotiabank Gold American Express Card for booking travel and accumulating and using travel rewards points.

Growing up Irish

When I was growing up in the populous southern part of Ontario, my grandmother, Nana, lived with us. Nana was my mother’s mother, and she was born Monica (Mona) Whelan in a northern Ontario town largely populated by Irish miners. Nana is the reason I am a storyteller, and she is my strongest link to my Irish ancestors. It’s her family name, Whelan, that I am primarily tracing.

My Nana, as a teenager in northern Ontario

Nana grew up in a northern Ontario town called Haileybury, among other Irish immigrants. She was a fifth generation Canadian, but Irish, through and through: and all of her Canadian ancestors were of Irish descent. Almost all were either from the Ottawa Valley, or from Ireland itself. Naturally, I heard a lot of stories from her about her growing-up-years – about summers on Round Lake; and losing her beloved sister, Elizabeth, to pneumonia when she was only 17; and the great Haileybury fire of 1922.

I always felt there was something very Irish about Nana, though she never actually set foot in the country. She mythologized life events, used colourful expressions – “there’s going to be wigs on the green!” – and insisted on an exacting routine for making tea. I loved sitting with her in her living room (she lived in a “granny flat” attached to our house) and listening to her stories and nursery rhymes. No doubt my love of story was born on her knee. Nana died in 1975, when she was 67 years old. In the early 1990s, a distant relative gave my mom a family history of the Whelans in Canada. It is that history I am using to trace my family roots.

The Gathering 2013

The Gathering is a year-long festival of events all across Ireland to entice and entertain visitors, especially the Irish diaspora. It’s a celebration of Irish culture, history, people and places. To learn more visit The Gathering website; The Gathering Facebook page; and check out the travel offers on the Ireland Tourism Canada site.

Back to the rugged land

My first family roots road trip, coming up soon in April, is to tour the Ottawa Valley in search of several early Whelan homesteads. The first stop on my road trip will be to stay overnight at my sister’s place in the Haliburton Highlands, a land of rolling hills strafed with ancient rock faces, stubby pine forests and hidden lakes. My sister, Victoria Ward, is a professional artist and writer. She paints stories of the rugged central Ontario countryside and the 100-year-old log cabin she lives in with her artist husband Gary Blundell. It’s fascinating to me that my sister decided to move back to the land and live so close to where our Irish-Canadian ancestors toiled. Victoria’s work and her blog can be found at Hotspur Studio.

This House is a Home by Victoria Ward.

Victoria and I will drive through the remote and sparsely inhabited areas of eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley. Our first stop will be the hamlet of Brudenell in Renfrew County to find the Whelan homestead and the grave marker of my first Irish ancestor to immigrate to Canada, Clara Carty Whelan (1785-1868). Brudenell had its hey-day back in the late 19th century when it was home to three active hotels and was the “most notorious ‘sin-bucket’ along the Opeongo” colonization road, but it’s now a ghost town.

Clara Carty Whelan lived in Brudenell and is buried in the local pioneer cemetery. I wrote about her in my previous post, The journey from Ireland … and back again. She married John Whelan (1758-1833), who is buried in Corkery, Ontario – our next stop.

From Brudenell, we will continue to drive south and east towards Corkery, a rural community in West Carleton-March, in the city of Ottawa. Corkery was founded by approximately 100 Irish families from County Cork who emigrated from Ireland in the early 19th century as part of the first wave of “Peter Robinson settlers.”

My ancestor Hannah Roche and her family arrived on one of the first Peter Robinson ships, “The Hebe,” in 1823. In 1833 she married Peter Whelan, and gave birth to my great-great grandfather John Whelan in 1836.

After these stops, Victoria and I will spend two fun days in Ottawa, discovering the Irish history of our nation’s capital. We will check out Irish pubs like the Heart and Crown, stop by Ottawa’s first English-speaking Catholic parish, St. Patrick’s Basilica, and perhaps link up with one of Ottawa’s Irish historical or cultural societies and visit a museum or two.

The Whelan family, Brudenell, Ontario

Using reward points to facilitate meaningful travel

This “meaningful adventure travel road trip” will be the first time I get to use my new Scotiabank Gold American Express travel rewards card, which I wrote about in a previous blog post. I am learning as I go!

The first thing I did when planning the road trip was to call the Premium Concierge Service to get assistance with my rental car booking. My agent, Tayra, took my information and put together a list of options, which she emailed to me about four hours later.

I booked a car from the options presented, and was thrilled to discover that when using the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card to pay for the car rental, it covers me for Rental Car Collision/ Loss Damage Insurance. By paying for the rental car with this card, I am covered if the vehicle is damaged or stolen. And while the card is saving me money on insurance, I am also earning four points for every dollar I spend on gas (as well as a grocery stores, restaurants, and on entertainment) and one point for every dollar I spent everywhere else.

I plan on using the 20,000 bonus points I received on sign-up to pay for some of my travel related costs – I’ll report on that after the trip. But I was also pleased to find out just how easy it is to use my reward points: I can use my points to pay either immediately, at the time of booking, or later, when the travel purchase appears on my statement. Between the bonus points and the accelerated points earned on my everyday purchases along the way, the trip is nearly paying for itself. I’m looking forward to seeing how many points I’ll rack up before my trip to Ireland in September as well.

If you find yourself making frequent purchases in the categories that earn you four times the points or if, like me, you travel a lot, this card is worth looking into.

The points are not only easy to accumulate and redeem, but earning them faster helps you makes your travel plans a reality.

So, with my route, car rental and travelling partner all lined up, I am ready for my first family roots road trip!

Four generations: My mother (as a child), Nana, great and great-great grandmothers circa 1933.

[Note: This post was brought to you, in part, by the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.]

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Dazzled by Indian classical music maestros

Mariellen Ward — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:04:33 +0000

Ustad Zakir Hussain (tabla) and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (santoor)

Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma wow audience at Toronto concert

There was a moment during last night’s concert by Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma when the music, the audience, the entire atmosphere of the concert hall came together in a crescendo of movement, joy, vibration; when all barriers blurred and dissolved; and when the spiritual truth of oneness was achieved. And this, I think, was the point. For as great as the music was last night — and this was two legendary masters, at the top of their game, playing to an adoring audience — I found Pandit Shivkumar’s words just as inspiring.

The concert started a bit late, Pandit Shivkumar explained, because they were held up all day in Quebec City due to fog. In fact, it looked as if they wouldn’t make it to Toronto at all. “But we are here because of your love,” he said, with a profound simplicity that made the truth of his words ring clear. Later, before he introduced the last raga, Raga Pahadi, he said there is confusion about who is playing, who is making the music; and it is arrogant if the musicians think it is they. He said that he and Zakir Hussain are mediums, and it is,”by His grace that we play.”

It was an astoundingly humble statement from a great musician, and the spiritual truth of both his words and the music of the maestros came together during the rousing crescendo to Raga Pahadi. Personally, I forgot myself, forgot who I was, where I was, as I watched these greats move together in incredible harmony, playing off each other, creating complex rhythms and synchronized dynamics that almost belie belief. In my entire life, I have never seen anything like the lightning sure movement of Zakir Hussain’s hands as he beat an intoxicating rhythm from the tabla. It was a great night, and I felt lucky to be there. Check out this video I found on YouTube to get a sense of the music and the musicians:

11th annual Asian Music Series

The concert, at the Weston Recital Hall of the Toronto Centre for the Arts, was presented by Small World Music. It was the opening concert for the 11th annual Asian Music Series, which runs from March 28 to June 1. The evening opened with words from the Consul General of India Mrs. Preeti Saran, who is always an inspiring speaker.

The series was very lucky to get started with these two performers. According to the playbill: Pandit Shivkumar Sharma is the world’s greatest player of the santoor — a stringed instrument that is played by striking the strings with a pair of curved hammers. Ustad Zakir Hussain is a classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, whose intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity have established him as an international phenomenon. He won a grammy award in 1992 and has recorded with artists such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, George Harrison and Van Morrison.

There are a lot more great players lined up, including:

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt with Subhen Chatterjee: April 19 at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church
Rajeev Taranath: May 4 at Maja Prentice Theatre
Ramneek Singh: May 12 at Maja Prentice Theatre

So be sure to check out the program and try and catch one of these uplifting shows. Small World Music Society has presented close to 500 culturally diverse concerts and workshops in Toronto since it started in 1997. They support local artists and have featured performers from Mali to Mongolia and from Brazil to Bulgaria.

What is Raga Music?

To learn more about the Indian classical style of music called raga (pronounced raag), watch this informative video. One of the many things that characterize a raga, and differentiate it from western classical music, is the improvisational nature of the performances. Achieving the colour, or feeling, of the music is more important than following a score. The way rhythms and melodies are structured and composed is also very, very different than western music. For a newbie, it can take some careful listening to appreciate the sophistication, complexity and nuance of this music. But when you let this music in … it is completely intoxicating.

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A year in Japan

Mariellen Ward — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:24:29 +0000

My life in Tokyo, Japan

One night, many years ago, I dreamt I moved to Japan. I had just moved in with my boyfriend in Toronto and we were buying furniture and decorating. After that dream, I bought black lacquer bedroom furniture and Japanese prints for the walls. Then, he was offered a job in Japan.

We flew to Tokyo on Valentine’s Day, on Singapore Airlines, my one and only first class flight so far. When the beautifully attired air hostess offered me Johnnie Walker Blue Label, I thought she was mistaken about the colour of the label.

On Valentine’s Day, I landed at Narita International Airport to begin my new life. My life in Japan. I had never been to Japan before, never been to Asia before, when I agreed to move there. Tokyo was my first Asian megalopolis. The population of the greater Tokyo area including Yokohama equals Canada.

In Tokyo with Asian lions

Our first home in Tokyo was a compact suite in a chic hotel in Ginza, the world’s most expensive real estate. I met Oliver Stone in the lobby, and heard that Annette Benning and Warren Beatty were staying there. We ate at the Japanese restaurant only once, as guests of the manager, because it was alarmingly expensive. But I still remember that meal, the exquisite morsels of seafood, the rarefied atmosphere.

Every time I set foot out the door, I felt like I walked into the path of a wind machine. Crowds of people, densely packed buildings, one business on top of another like urban tetris, plus all the unknowns of a strange and foreign culture.

Shinto wedding at Tokyo Temple

Just prowling the Ginza alone. Several massive department stores line the main thoroughfare, and in the basement food halls I bought fresh tofu out of buckets and fish fresh from the sea. At lunch, I did a circuit of every restaurant that had a “set menu” — a bento box containing tempura, rice, pickles and fish, either cooked or raw in the form of sushi or sashimi — usually at a fraction of the cost of an evening meal.

Soon we started looking for an apartment. Our real estate agent was a Canadian from Parkdale in Toronto who took us to see about a dozen massive apartments with ball-room sized living rooms. This in a densely packed city of tiny apartments and houses. But we were not diplomats and didn’t need to entertain. So he took us to about a dozen smaller apartments with views out the windows of busy streets and multi-layered highways and I felt boxed in, breathless.

Entrance to our apartment building in Nishi Azabu, Tokyo

Then he took us to a new building in Nishi Azabu, across from a Buddhist cemetery. It had two bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, a big-enough living room and all the windows faced the cemetery greenery. I loved it, though whenever I smelled smoke, I quickly closed all the windows. Buddhists in Japan cremate their dead.

I loved my ultra-modern, light-filled apartment with computerized toilets, heated floors and a space-age control panel in the front hall, but when I think of my time in Japan, I don’t think of me in the apartment. I think of me:

riding the subway or the bus,
exploring Tokyo,
taking Japanese lessons,
eating in small restaurants that specialized in just one type of Japanese food,
trying to shop at the Daimuru Peacock, the Japanese grocery store near the apartment.

I learned to cook a Japanese meal, I mastered a few phrases, I grew bold riding buses all over central Tokyo, I made friends with several other ex-pat Canadians and made one very large and important discovery about myself: I thrived on culture shock. I saw how it affected some westerners, mostly Americans for some reason, who closed themselves in and stuck to a routine that revolved around the Tokyo American Club. But I discovered I loved being an ex-pat, and immersing myself in the culture as much as I could.

In Kyoto during sakura

In the spring, I travelled alone to Kyoto during hanami, when the sakura (cherry) trees are in bloom. I stayed in a 300-year-old ryokan (Japanese inn) and slept on the matted ground. In the morning, a woman in a kimono left her slippers at the door and padded in, kneeled down, and rolled up my futon. At dinner, she brought in a small, low table and kneeled while she served me tiny morsels of delicious vegetarian food, a specialty of Kyoto. I ate alone, looking at the traditional Japanese garden, feeling I had been dropped into the essence of the culture.

In Kyoto, I saw Geisha on their way to appointments, experienced the Japanese tea ceremony and toured as many temples as I could in two days. I took the bullet train home to Tokyo, passed Fuji-san (Mount Fuji) on the way, and felt proud of myself for a successfully negotiated solo adventure.

Every day in Tokyo was an adventure; every time I left the house I learned something new, saw something new, tried something new. I used a squat toilet for the first time in a tiny washroom in a small park on the way to the ex-pat grocery stores; I went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant; I saw a Shinto wedding at a Tokyo temple; I ate fugu (blowfish), which is highly poisonous if it’s not cut right, and afterwards my lips went numb.

Is there anything better than conveyor belt sushi?

After a few months, it began to dawn on me that while Tokyo was a big, modern city with a subway system, cars, elevators, hotels — it was not a western city. Here was my mistake: Tokyo was modern, yes; but western, no.

Here was my mistake: Tokyo was modern, yes; but western, no.

Bank machines closed soon after the banks closed. Beer, underwear, flowers and many other items were sold in vending machines. Streets had no names, and buildings no postal addresses, as I knew them. Social etiquette was strict, detailed and confusing. After while, I realized that I didn’t understand the culture at all and I started reading books like Ruth Benedict’s famous The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Yes, it’s beer. In a vending machine.

Little by little, the mysteries of Japan’s culture began to unfold, like the sakura blossoms in spring. Spending almost an entire year there, going through the seasons and the festivals, traveling and living, all helped my understanding and appreciation. But, in the end, I’m not sure I was really the wiser. Japan will always be a fascinating and exciting place to me, but ultimately inexplicable.

All that was years ago. But this video, by Japan Tourism, brought it all back to me, and made me miss Tokyo; made me remember how much I missed the city after I moved back to Toronto; and made me want to return and re-experience my year in Japan.

Note: This post is brought you, in part, by Japan Tourism.

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What you need to know about Holi

Mariellen Ward — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:13:42 +0000

Photo of Holi, courtesy Dave Bouskill, PicturethePlanet.com

Holi in India: Everything you need to know about The Festival of Colour

IT’S NOT INDIA’S biggest festival, but it’s the most colourful — and probably the one most beloved by foreigners. Many people have “experience Holi in India” on their bucket lists, and for good reason. How often do adults get to throw coloured powder at each, and squirt each other with water guns filled with coloured water? And … for those who are more adventurous than me … there is the bhang lassi, too. Holi does not happen on a fixed date each year; it takes place on the day after the full moon in March. This year it’s March 27. I’ve been in India three times for Holi, and my experience is that it’s a holiday best celebrated with family and friends, especially if you are a female and a foreigner. Here’s my top 5 tips for playing Holi safely.

Yogi Vishvketu of Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh, handing out sweets during Holi

Top tips for Holi

1. Find a family or group of people to play Holi with; don’t go out into the street by yourself in India’s metros.

Me, Holi

I’ve celebrated Holi three times in India. Twice I was with my Indian family at a private club in Delhi; and once I was with my Indian yoga teacher at an ashram in Rishikesh. I found these were the perfect venues for safely experiencing Holi. I got to get drenched with colour, have fun, eat loads of sweets, and not worry about getting attacked by out-of-control boys and men. (Which can happen: I’ve heard lots of stories about foreign women walking out into the street during Holi and finding themselves targeted by males who were using the festival as an excuse for groping.)

Read the Essential Guide to Celebrating Holi from About India.

2. Cover your skin with oil and wear clothes you can throw away.

The first time I played Holi in Delhi, no one told me you should oil your skin first and I had a hot pink face for a week! That’s not the worst thing in the world, but it is much better for your skin if you cover it in some kind of oil (I used almond oil) so that you can wash the colour off easily. Clothes are a complete write-off. It’s fun to wear something white that you don’t want anymore, so then you can really see the colour!

Holi Festival of Colours in Pictures from BBC News

3. North India does it better

Holi is much more exuberantly celebrated in North India, and many towns and cities claim to have the “best” Holi atmosphere, but I would probably try Mathura/Vrindavan; or Jaisalmer, Udaipur or Jaipur in Rajasthan. Visit Maps of India: Best Places for Holi to check out their interactive map.

Where to Celebrate Holi from MapsofIndia.com

4. Go very easy on the bhang lassi.

Okay, I’m not writing from experience because my Indian family did a really good job of dissuading me from trying it. Bhang lassi is a very powerful intoxicant, disguised as a sweet, delicious drink. If you know what it’s made from, you will know why I was surprised that it was being served at the very upscale private club in Delhi where I celebrated Holi. Naturally, I had to try it, but I only had a few sips. I heard too many stories about aunties ending up in hospitals. Bhang lassi is one of the reasons it’s not safe for women to wander in public on Holi in India — lots of people are seriously intoxicated.

Pin it! Check out my Pinterest Holi board, and add your own pics to it!

5. Learn about the significance of Holi.

Holi does not seem to have a singular significance, the way Diwali does for example. It’s a celebration of spring, of unity and brotherhood and — like many festivals in India — of the triumph of good over evil. There are of course mythological stories attached to Holi. The most popular one is that Krishna applied colour to Radha’s cheek. And as these sweethearts represent harmony in love, it’s a charming image and connotation.

Have fun!

Hope you have as much fun as these people — I took this video at a private club in Delhi during Holi celebrations three years ago.

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