First things I did was to research out possible places to visit and how feasible everything would be in terms of safety, costs and culture (it being Saudi and I being a woman).

Step 1 Maps: Google!

I took a look at the map of Saudi in Google maps and scouted out places that look nearby. I saw Abu Dhabi very close to Dubai and then there was Oman. Ideally I was looking for places that I could visit on road – this keeps cost reasonable and I actually get to see the entire landscape of the place!

Step 2 Local Person

Post that I zeroed out on a few contacts who live in Dubai/Abu Dhabi. From them I can find out lot of local information. How feasible is it for me roam around in jeans and tee? Is inter-city travel safe? What sort costs would I be looking at? etc… This has to be done after looking at the map, because often the local person may not be into traveling themselves. So while they may not suggest good places to travel, once we know the place they can definitely provide on the ground knowledge.

So turns out UAE and Oman both are pretty cool. There are good buses available for me to travel in the two countries. I checked out the rates and they are reasonable enough. Oman is a bit more expensive tho…

Step 3 Travelogue Blogs

This is the part I really like, I am not talking about informations sites. I am talking about personal travelogues about having visited a place! These can be a wealth of info about some fun stuff to do, budget tips and other travel related info given by another traveler!

Oman turns out to be not so popular, I found just two recent blogs which I thought were very helpful!

http://havbootswilltravel.travellerspoint.com/2/ —–> quite a bit of useful info though some of it like renting cars is not something I will be doing.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/53/99297/Sur%27s+up?destId=361106 —> he gives the link of the bus website which is pretty useful!

So I read other blogs too they are very interesting.. but they didn’t really give me an idea on any actual tips that I could use. In fact thats something I myself should probably remember while writing travel blogs!

After these 3 steps, I now have a decent idea of where I want to travel and what transport I would be using to get to places.

A little bit of search for hotels, hostels etc.. gives me an idea of the rates I would be looking at. In fact Oman has an official tourism website which lists hotels, I think they would be good ones.

So now its a matter of figuring out the best rates for booking flights and hotels. This needs to be co-ordinated with my family. We would mostly go to a travel agent as its a group booking, and we have been told (by contacts) that if we book everything – flights & hotels to gether its a lot cheaper!

Once this is done and the trip is fixed, I will again spend time talking with the local people who can give me an idea about what to visit in each city and other tips about transport.

Traveling & working is fun and something I really enjoy! But it gets tiring. Often I may fall sick from the food or travel and yet have to work! Also amongst everything else I try and squeeze in some actual city exploring! In all this stuff going on, the last time at YHAI hostel in Mysore I stayed with two different groups of people.

First was the alcoholics group. So as usual in a dorm the rules say that after a certain time lights must be out, but in India no one really follows these rules! So these folks kept chabbering and talking in their usual volume. A few of them slept. I knew this was their last day and they would be going their separate ways so I figured a lot of them wanna chat a lot! A lot of the women were nice they told me number of times that they would be disturbing me with their talking don’t mind This showed that they were sensitive to the sleeping folk. They took care of all lights when leaving the room early in the morning!

Second was now a bunch of girls from some south east asian country – the chinese looking lot but they could have been from korea too.. These people really surprised me! I was down with a headache and sleeping when they came in at 7.oopm! The moment they saw me they started Shhh.. Shhh ing their friends until none of them was talking. They very quietly went about their stuff. Every time someone spoke loudly the others would Shhh.. them! Someone dropped something from top on my bunk and immediately apologized! It was brilliant and they actually maintained this silence till the next day cause I just slept straight from 7 to next morning in my feverish daze! They also took care of the fans, lights and all that before leaving the room!

Third was the worst behaved lot everrr! I mean me and my friend were so tired but these girls from some small town kept screaming till atleast 2 in the night! I had to wake up and yell at them twice it had only a very short term effect after which they started screaming again! And I mean Screaming not talking loudly – SCREAMING on top of their voices! It was so bad… I mean just the sheer lack of consideration especially the experience with the korean group being fresh in my mind! The sound was not all, they had to leave at 5 in the morning so even while waking up and getting ready they made a real loud ruckus but they actually left all the lights ON. Every single one of them!! I mean in the room of 50 there were just two girls me and another sleeping with every single tubelight ON! And these girls don’t have the freakin sense to close them!! WTF!

So really this was really the first time I saw such a range of behaviour! And it has made me think about the average Indian person on the road and his/her behaviour! Since then I have been noticing so many things like people in crowded trains who keep their legs jutting out so everyone has to brush it before entering, the lack of an apology when people bump into you…. I used to think that I am one of the few who actually look at how my actions are affecting people around me and seeing to their comforts too but maybe in some of the countries abroad things may be a lot more better in terms of general mass behaviour.

I now really want to travel to other countries….

This conference was some spiritual group for families who have suffered alcohol addicts. So the ladies in my room all had either a husband or son (or maybe someone else) in their family who had been or were still alcohol addicts. For a moment I was a little stunned, it was scary and very serious stuff. I could see that most of these women had been bashed, tormented a lot in their life.

The lady next to me from Delhi told me a sordid tale of how her son married some woman who planned to kill him. She drugged him and made him sign all his property to her and then she would have killed him but some quirk of fate it was avoided. Scary!

The lady on the other side was very surprised by me when she realised I was just travelling on my own. She asked me lot of questions about how I manage, what happens if I got into trouble etc.. She wanted her daughters to be like me, capable of doing everything on their own. She had an alcoholic husband and faced very difficult times, but now with the help of this organization he was better and the family was seeing a better time! Having spent her youth with an aged husband with alcohol addiction she was now getting her life back. She was learning English and looking at other skills she could gain.

Very scary to start with it was an unique encounter for me and for those women too! After the preliminary misgivings had passed they were actually like any other women I knew. Its endearing how even after really nightmare situations these women could retain happiness, humanity and a homliness in their lives!

Well it started with me,

I was rushing off somewhere on Saturday morning and needed to drop off some clothes at a laundry. The big ones at that time were all closed so I spied this small place and decided to give it there. I have given to such places before and its fine. I clearly told him to return it by Monday afternoon cause I was leaving later.

On Monday I went to the place and the person refused taking any clothes from me, I told him I had given it to one person outside and he claimed there was another laundry nearby and thats where I must have given. I was quite angry so a good friend of mine even spoke to him in Kannada but the guy didn’t budge. Then I went and spoke to the police about whether anything could be done. So one inspector came with me to the laundry and spoke to them… basically the guy who took my clothes was infact from another laundry which was closed.

Walking with a police inspector and taking him to the laundry was a totally new experience for me and it was quite a good one! The highlight was probably when I was walking back with him all glum that he told me I should think clearly and not give to someone outside the shop like this. I told him well I just gave it out of trust and he replied ‘everything in the world works with trust!’. I was touched. And then he tried helping me figure out how to get the clothes next day as I was leaving that day itself.

I currently have been trying to co-ordinate something over the phone but I suspect that culprit laundry guy has disappeared for good.

Update: I got the clothes!! Basically the police officer went and checked that the second laundry was open the next day. I told one of my hostel friends to collect the clothes and pay the laundry guy. He also spoke to me though my friends phone and said that his sister’s marriage was there so he had disappeared! Another friend of mine then collected the clothes and couriered them to me, Mumbai!

Thanks to the police fellow for helping me out, cause I had pretty much lost hope! I guess trust + hope = happy!

Dal Lake - Early Morning flower and vegetables market

The entire Dal lake is lined with house – boats and they are unique at least in the way they have been named. You will find the Cheerful Charlie, New Australia, Helen of Troy, King of Kashmir and many other very western named house boats here. The naming surprised me a lot because I cannot understand it’s source, have not seen such random western influence in other areas of India. Usually names of hotels, restaurants, shops are all Indian in most other cities with some rare English name like ‘Chinese dragon’ but here every name seems to top the other in its western fantasy quotient!

We stayed in one such called ‘Soloman & Sheba’, it was very good. Bath tubs, English book collection, artistic rugs, working desks, tv with cable were just some of the luxuries.

The popularity of jain and Gujarati tourists can be clearly seen in the sheer number of restaurants that are pure veg and serving Jain food! We have tied up with some local tourist agency and boat guys to take us around the city. A lot of bargaining is possible.

Interesting places to see within the city incude,
Gardens – The Mughals really liked to stroll around in beautiful gardens. So srinagar has quite a few of these. Shalimar, Nisaan Bagh are the two we saw. Pretty good!

Shalimar Gardens

Shankaracharya temple – Its beautiful to see the scattering of ancient hindu temples in this Muslim populated land. Shankaracharya temple is in Srinagar itself on a hill. A popular tourist spot. This is a place built by the Pandavas and Shankaracharya did a lot of sadhana here before going off to build the Char Dhams.

Chashmeshahi – There is a small spring of water here which is said to miraculous properties. It seems Indira Gandhi when in office used to have an helicopter transport her daily water from this place.

Manasbal lake – Is a nice lake a few kilometres from Srinagar. This lake flows into the Jhelum river so you can go on a Shikara to see the confluence.

There also many nearby places to visit which are a few hours from the city,
Sonmarg – A glacier Thajiwas is seen here. Its an hours walk or you can take the pony. I would suggest don’t take the pony.

Gulmarg – The highest golf course in the world is situated here. It also has the world’s second longest Gondola.

Pehelgaam – This place has probably Kashmir best restaurant at Tulyan! It serves Chinese, South Indian and North Indian – all great food at par with restaurants here in Mumbai! Yummy. Ofcourse also some very pretty scenic spots around here – Betaab Valley, Chandanwari glacier, Aru valley etc.. This is also where the Amarnath caves route start from.

Betaab Valley on the way to Chandanwari Glacier

You can see more of my trip photographs on my Facebook Page!

As I said something or the other can go wrong it seems my laptop has a bad battery and this cafe does not have a socket! The waiter very kindly told me at he wouldn’t mind charging the laptop behind the counter but well it’s odd putting laptop in greasy kitchen and since the battery is out I need to plug and work! It was quite a task to find a socket finally – I think I can write a book about the ‘Elusive Charging Point’.

I got an aerial view of the Srinagar outskirts from the airplane and it was very interesting… Lot of mountainous foothills and beautiful fields lined with pine trees on the sides. Two huge riverbeds both dry – no clue why. Houses were in clusters surrounded by fields and trees, thatched roofs and some of them colored with military camouflage shades. That can’t be a good sign. There is also some military presence on the airport but overall friendly folk. I have already gotten them to bend a few rules as it was necessary, they didn’t have any waiting place in the arrival area and I needed to wait for few hours for others of my group to arrive so smuggled myself into the departure area, where I found the above mentioned cafe and eventual socket!

The locals here speak Kashmiri, a very different language from Hindi. I am told it originated from Farsi which has it’s roots in Urdu and one other language I had never heard of. The local officials were very curious and probably amused about the fact that I spent 3 hours on the airport waiting for my relatives but overall it was cool.
Tourism Friendly : Not so much
Since tourism plays a large role in the places economy almost every where we went there was too much supply. Shikara’s, taxis, ponies, guides everyone wants us to take their service. Everywhere there are 10 service providers for the maybe 3 tourists. To the extent that often we had salesmen saying we come from far off so you can buy some small trinket from us. Once we actually had a young waiter boy tell us that I can show you a rabbits nest for a few ruppees – even if you don’t want to see it, just see it so I can get some money. Apart from this the actual tourism facilities were so-so. I am not able to pin point right now what was off but something about the whole way in which the local situation is for the tourist its just not that good.
If visiting Himalaya’s, I think the Gadhwal area is the best managed. Kashmir was just so-so.. too many ‘official activities’ seemed just a way to get locals to earn from it than being of any use for anyone else, hence the overall experience had some fraudulence in it.
People Friendly
Once you finally get a taxi guy or shikara boatsman or pony person from all the many, the person turns out to be fairly ok. They are a talkative bunch and helpful. The experience was so-so.
Safety
The overall experience was entirely safe, I did not see any threat except for the army personnel and maybe a few more than usual car checks. However, once I was away from Srinagar I heard in the news that in a place Gunderbal just 30 kms from the city there was firing between militants and the army. We had passed this place on our way sightseeing so that is definitely not good!
Women
The women situation I thought better as I did not see any burkhas at all. In Kashmir there is a clear majority of Muslim population and yet a very romantic smattering of Hindu temples like the ancient Shankaracharya temple near Srinagar. Almost all women cover their head with their dupatta or some cloth (don’t know the name), few had veils but there were no burkhas. They seemed to be part of the police, army and boating work. Not sure if they can take up other work – as our taxi driver said that they had only 3 to 4 professions in which they could work.
Technology
The technological situation is kinda surprising. I was very glad to see that tata photon had great connectivity all over the region. Only the post paid mobile networks work there, and my airtel worked well. Vodafone conked off but I don’t think that had anything to with J&K. Vodafone iPad 3G connection have some glitch with roaming facilities which they are not able to solve!
Apart from mobile connectivity they have Tata Sky, cable – basically all TV access as any of us. Didn’t see too many cyber cafes so possibly they aren’t as connected online. Everything seemed normal actually – I might sound naive but I frankly did not know what to expect in Kashmir as we here so many war related stories. I know of so many relatives, friends who had visited the place so I figured it wouldn’t be unsafe but I found it to be a lot more equipped too!
Beauty
The place especially Srinagar is very pretty! The himalayan mountains, Dal Lake, Shikaras, house-boats is very picturesque and dramatic. I can just feel like spending many days there. Like I said, the curious mingle of so many hindu religious shrines like Amarnath caves, Vaishno Devi, temples and the local muslim culture in a place so ravaged by terrorism is very intriguing.
What I truly feel is that the government needs to provide the Kashmiri’s with good education and ensure that they have a future. Young graduates should be able to get good jobs which take them to prosperity. This will make them feel like they are part of India and will reduce the desperation that can be seen in the tourism industry.

Lastly, I must mention that almost all folk there seem to be great fans of old bollywood music! Probably cause the recent hindi songs never made it into Kashmir – as after the military increase all theatres and public entertainment places were closed down. Srinagar still does not have a theatre! Passing through the Kashmir region with beautiful pines, saffron fields and old hindi music is an utter pleasure!

The complex includes huge sets, games, adventure sports, events and other entertainment areas! Everything is well managed, friendly staff and clean! Each set has related music/sounds playing in the background, the dustbins and food-stalls are all made of the same theme so as to merge into the place! I took a few videos do watch those…

Like I have mentioned entrance fees are about 600 INR per adult, it includes some guided tours. Events like stunt show, magic workshop, cultural programmes are all free and open for all. Food and games however need to be paid for separately.

The movie making workshop was very good, they actually chose few people from audience and made them take part in the movie making live! It was very hot so while the food was fairly good, it was all just too tiring and exhausting for me. The complex is huge many acres and from one workshop to the other, one set to the other it gets too much to do in just few hours of the day.

This stunt show was not that good. Almost all of it was Dhishoom Dhishoom fights only later they got in some bombs and the man falling from that terrace was pretty good! I was hoping for bike stunts and fire stunts – serious stuff! Some of the other events were good like a cultural programme. I really wanted to go for magic workshop but didn’t, since we went in a group and there were so many things to see we couldn’t really do anything in planned manner. You can see photographs of this place on Maproute Facebook Page.

All in all a great place to visit!

Walking from one area to the other can be about 15 minutes, half of which you would be walking in forested area. I think some vehicle like a moped would be very useful here! About 4000 people are staying here and working on different projects, I would have liked to know more about them but didn’t have the time.

Matri Mandir
A golden globe with circular dishes on it rising from the Earth as red petals unfold around it – the Matri mandir stands tall in a green expanse! Seeing this temple from outside was interesting and one would want to go inside. At least on the first visit all of us have to keep our want to ourselves, as we can go in only with prior appointment on another day. Since I was in Pondicherry for many days, I was able to get an appointment and visit the temple inside. It was very different in its interior architecture and design! It has an ambience that should be experienced…

Mother who is considered divine saw this temple in the future and told the others about it. The community has spent over 40 years to construct this temple! Mothers wishes were to have 12 gardens around the temple which are yet to be cultivated, but her people are working on it. These gardens are intended to show certain aspects like beauty, youth, bliss etc.. Their challenge is to cultivate a garden that actually makes a person feel youth when he/she is walking through it! Quite a difficult and yet exciting task I think It was all very intriguing to me.

From the City
You can take a taxi or rickshaw from the city to Auroville. There is also a bus that goes daily from Aurobindo ashram to Auroville at about 8.00 am, but it returns at a fixed time so that would restrict how much time you can spend there.

The Aurobindo ashram in Pondicherry is surprisingly distinct from this settlement, considering that Auroville was Aurobindo’s movement as much as the ashram was! In fact a few questions can uncover some hostilities towards the other establishment. For a visitor however these things may not matter much but for anyone planning to involve themselves further in the movement these signs could point towards deeper problems.

In my last South India road trip I was so surprised to find that the restaurants serve Idli only during breakfast hours which end before 10.00 am and during dinner! So effectively having lunch became a big difficulty! In times like these my good friends are flavored yogurt and soya milk!

These yogurts are available in all malls, supermarkets and small grocery shops. They come in various flavors – mango, strawberry, apricot, mixed fruit etc.. They are quite delicious and I find it is filling. I liked the ‘Go’ brand better than others, but I can’t be fussy about the brand as it is not available everywhere. Add a glass of soya milk along with this bowl of yogurt and it serves as a heavy snack! I prefer soya milk to normal milk tetrapacks cause I have lactose intolerance. Too much milk content makes me sick so the soya counterpart is ideal! In fact soya milk also comes in lots of flavors – kesar, strawberry and most importantly chocolate! Surprisingly it is very easily available even in smaller towns.

I find that yogurt and soya milk are a much more nutritious option for snacks, than other tidbits like biscuits or wafers. They help me manage even when I might have to skip a meal, which happens sometimes in a tour. Additionally these packs are very convenient to carry around with me for days. They say that the yogurt needs to be refrigerated but I have carried some packs for 3-4 days in my backpack and its never gotten spoilt.

So these two products helped me well during my trip! Next time I go travelling I plan to be a little more prepared on the food front! Do suggest any ideas you might have to be better prepared foodwise

This trip was entirely impromptu, I just packed my bags and went to Pune and from there went to one place at a time. Everything pretty much worked out, transport was fine and accommodation also turned out just okay. Almost every single place was very interesting and a filling experience including the two days at Hyderabad where I realised that the city was frankly not that interesting and quite congested… One of the foremost reasons was that the people I met were all very friendly and welcoming (and I got some good treats) hehe.

I travelled from the Mumbai West coast to the Pondicherry East coast. Seeing the sun rise for a change was a fascinating experience! I totally loved it. Another beauty was that I left from Mumbai just after the monsoons started here, then till Coimbatore the monsoons had set in and the weather was cool, pleasant and wet. My over night jaunt from Cbe to Pondicherry (referred to as Pondy) ushered me into a hot east coast summer! In fact it was really a bad time to visit the place. Understandably in the afternoons no one ventured out of doors cause it was H.O.T! Surprisingly after my 10 days there it started drizzling and climate got a lot cooler! Then off to Hyderabad for couple of days again it was summer but started pouring just when I was leaving the city! So overall fascinating stuff and climatic experiences. This trip totally rocked and have given me a lot of insight into digital nomadic travel.