The Land of the Merlion : Singapore

"Beautiful things come in Small packages " - I couldn't find any other Idiom, which could be more suitable for Singapore. In our 7 days stay I was amazed how a man made city can be so beautiful, economically powerful and so disciplined....it was really an inspirational city!

We had earlier planned for a 5 day stay but later on found that it was worth adding two more days....all thanks to our hosts who also where our guide to Singapore.

The Merlion is the symbol of Singapore and this can be witnessed in the marina bay area....bets time to go is the evening time....





After this we witnessed the light and sound show in the marina bay area which is another feast to the eyes....with laser lights and water screens/ fountains it created a magical world ......
http://www.marinabaysands.com/entertainment/spectra.html

 

Singapore Zoo ( 2days) ....well I haven't seen a zoo which had so much variety to be covered.....it had everything - exotic birds & fishes, close encounters with Giraffes / elephants / monkeys, polar bears & Pandas, boat rides....a heaven for kids and equally learning experience for all!

Do not miss the Live feeding sessions, the Elephant show & Amazon fights back show.

 We witnessed some giant aquariums with giant fishes and sharks...

The Gardens by the Bay is another beautiful area where people who have interest in Nature can find the varied abundance of plants and flowers. They have an inbuilt tropical rainforest with a huge waterfall...

Nearby the Gardens is the Super Tree Grove... Here you experience the magic of  themed lights , relaxing on the grass....plan it sometime after 6:00 PM in the evening.....Its definitely a thing that one shouldn't miss...

We started of with the tour of the Universal studios... it takes us to a different world of movies.

It is definitely a full day experience and is best suited for kids and people who like fast and quirky rides.....

Last but not the least, when you are tired roaming around, you should have your dinner by the waterfront in Clark Quay and amazing place with good food and night life....

There are many more beautiful nuggets in Singapore which if time permits should be in your itinerary as well.

Tips/ suggestions for the travelers:

• Best time to visit : Though any time of the year is good, but winters is the best
• For your commute you can use UBER taxis, as its very affordable and also the mass transit system (SMRT) is a feasible option.
• Do always carry a bottle of water as you get dehydrated very quickly
• Approximate cost of visiting all the attractions and transportation would be around 500 - 750 SGD. Depending on how many days, what attractions.

Rajasthan: The land of sand, forts and palaces

I have always been mesmerized by the pictures of royal palaces and forts; and wondered how life would have been when the kings lived and ruled the land....

This year I was fortunate to get a close look to these palaces, forts and last but not the least the kings who still live...through my visit to Rajasthan...

The planning was for just 5 days - hence we where to select only the key destinations in Rajasthan..

We had dropped Jaipur since that can be done from Delhi at any point of time and Jaisalmer was too far off and was expected to be crowded because of the Desert festival...So we aimed for three things:

- Udaipur - the city of lakes

- Jodhpur - the Blue city
- Desert Camp in Osian ( 70 kms away from Jodhpur)

To stay in Rajasthan and feel like the Maharaja's the stay needs to be similar...so I had intentionally booked a traditional hotel called Jaisingh Garh, which was typical Rajasthani Haveli converted into a hotel....this added to the spice of living like Royals for those few days !

Treebo JaisinghGarh

We arrived in Udaipur early morning (on train from delhi) and the plan for the day was chalked out during the breakfast. It was City palace followed by monsoon palace (Sajjan garh) and followed by boat sail on lake Fatehsagar and ending the day with traditional puppet folk show....

Day 2: We followed our plan to visit the Haldighati - where the famous battle of Haldighati was fought and absorb into the greatness of Maharana Pratap ....it was like travelling back to our history text books....

As you arrive in Haldighati, do visit a Museum which has been constructed by a school teacher to spread and preserve the history of Maharana Pratap, his struggle , his fight with Mughals and his legendary work on regaining the pride of Mewar....
The place around haldighati is also famous for Gulabjal - if possible do taste it, see the process how it is made and bring in a pack or two...

Returning back to Udaipur, we spend the evening taking a boat ride in Lake Pichola and enjoying the sunset and enjoying the views of City Palace & the Monsoon palace .....

Just in case you haven't seen the movie... James Bond's Octopussy; then I will suggest do watch it, key scenes where shot exactly at this location !

The City Palace light & Sound show is one thing you should not miss....in a 45 minute session they cover the whole history of Mewar dynasty and the city palace...

Day 3 we were on our way to Osian the desert Camp which was a 6 hrs journey from Udaipur....We all where waiting anxiously to see the desert....for all of us "First" time .... and when we saw it ...it was mesmerizing....

The evening was spent with  cultural dance, music, authentic Rajasthani food and off-course camel ride....the kids loved it.....

and then the tiring day came to an end...

we retired back to our tents ...just like Maharaja's would....

...looking forward to another eventful day in Jodhpur!!

Day 4:
We started late in the morning and reached Jodhpur at around noon . The plan was to visit the Mehrangarh fort and the Jodhpur market..( you guessed it right ...ladies where excited!!)

Few things in my lifetime has amazed me...and Mehrangarh fort is definitely one of them...it stood tall & magnificent....from distance you could see the huge ramparts of the fort...

Day 5: The plan was to pack up and return ...but Jodhpur will remain incomplete without visiting the Clock tower market, having the Makhaniya lassi and seeing the Umaid Bhawan palace....

It will be injustice to end this blog without mentioning this amazing creature of God.....The Camels!.....we had seen plenty around and did ride them multiple times...calm, colourful and majestic...

Tips around the cities:

• Driving around Udaipur gave me a feeling of a well planned , neat and clean city. It is a bit costly if you want to buy any handicrafts, I will suggest that you better buy it from Jodhpur
• Jodhpur is a city where you can breath the authenticity of Rajasthan - be it handicarfts, culture or food. 
• Do not miss Jaisalmer !
• Take road transport as much as you can....you will be awed how the terrain changes...
• Best time to visit : Oct - To - Feb.

Lastly ...I dedicate this blog to one of my Close friends Abhishek who had helped in preparing this travel plan...thanks Abhishek...I wish everyone has a friend like you.....

Dark History Revisited !

I have been always intrigued by wars and the reason behind them. Reading the history books, I have always felt that most wars are fought on a lethal concoction of individual ideologies , greed and hatred but with a false facade of patriotism for the country or defending the religion.....Unfortunately wars are still fought and gets repeated every century for a reason....known to mankind but yet it becomes foolishly repeated...

In my venture to understand this more closely I recently did Hitlers Reich tour in Munich , where it all started and Dachau Concentration camp tour where Hitler's evil designs came to shape....

Sharing with you few pictures which I captured during this tour and hope it serves as one more reminder for our society - that war has never been beneficial for the human race!

I dedicate this blog to all those who have laid down their lives, across the world, because of such inhuman ideologies & atrocities of war!

 As the day ended in the Dachau camp, I returned back hoping that we as humans do not fail again....!

1136 Kms of Discovery

Life is all about everyday experiences and the aim should be to make them as rich and colourful as possible. The days that I spent during the mid of Aug 2016, driving across some amazing places in the state of Telengana , Andhra pradesh and Karnataka; does stand on top of those daily experiences and through this blog of pictures  I share with you my journey of 1136 kms over 5 days of discovery...

We started from Hyderabad on 12th Aug (Day 1), around 9:30 PM and rested overnight at Kurnool. The drive was good as most of it was on the NH44 (erstwhile NH7), we had a good dinner at a drive in restaurant, Hill Park. I had  a brief discussion with the owner and I appreciated him for the good infrastructure he had maintained and providing free wifi which helped my daughter eat her dinner!. We reached kurnool at around 2:00 AM. I had made a bed in the back seat of my car so that my daughter can sleep well and she indeed did...! I am sure many of us have this jittery feeling before a long journey that how will their young ones cope during the journey and I did  have my own apprehensions.

In Kurnool we stayed in the Haritha accommodation, which was value for money but it was just good for sleep over purpose and not for a longer stay.  As we had reached pretty late in the night, hence after good sleep we started a bit late at around 10:30 AM in the morning.  The good thing was my daughter was charged up and kicking to go ahead !!

The itinerary for the day (Day 2) was we will visit the Oravakul Rock gardens, the Belum Caves and reach Gandikota Haritha resort in the evening...

We reached Oravakul at round 1:00 PM ...and where greeted by bunch of monkeys and my daughter has some amazing time watching them....she was surprised to see so many monkeys around!

On teh other hand we were amazed at the rock formations that we saw around.... never had I expected for stones to look so beautiful in their natural formation....the pictures below will give you an insight what I mean....

We had a sumptuous lunch at the Oravakul rock gardens and planned forward for our next leg of the journey to Belum caves...it was around 2:30 now...and we had just another couple of hours before the caves close down....so now it was race against time....!

As we crossed the Stony rocky terrain , ....we had no doubt in our minds that we were entering the stone yard of India....Cuddappah....even the house where made of nicely cu slate stones ( see pic below)!

 As we were going through the winding roads, I realised that I had a flat tyre...but there was no stopping on a mountainous road ( Ghat section) ... at sweltering of around 40 degrees and when other sin the car where asleep. I drove for another 15-20 minutes and stopped as soon as I saw the first puncture repair shop.....

The guy there did a good job quickly and we were off to our next destination i.e. Belum caves....It was already 4 PM  and we had just 1hr left before  the caves would close....

We reached the caves just on time and where the last visitors whom the guide took us around....

The caves where mesmerizing.....huge, with numerous parallel horizontal lines running  through out....the caves are in three levels...and the lower most level has a river as well!!

 We couldnot get much pics from the Belum caves since we had run out of battery in the camera and the guide was pursuing us to move fast as it was closing down....but the experience is still fresh in my memories...


Bidding adieu to belum caves we were in our last leg for today and we were horribly late...the Sun went down it was way around 6:00 PM now....





The way to Gandikota was a very lonely one, that is least I could say,....for the last 12-13 kms the narrow road took us through empty stretches of  arid landscapes and as the Sun went down we had nothing but just our car lights to guide us through the road...I could sense the tension that my wife was having and I tried to calm her nerves saying if we never reach tonite then we can camp under the open sky and talk about it when we get old!

We reached the Haritha resort at 7:30 PM...the resort was well maintained and we were given an independent villa like room with a terrace ! All of us where tired and famished...we quickly refreshed ourselves and had freshly cooked warm dinner at the resort restaurant....we went to the terrace and soaked ourselves in the moonlight and the cool breeze....my daughter was having a gala time!

We were looking forward to next day where in we will visit the "Grand Canyon of India" - Gandikota and the Gandikota fort.....

Early morning, on Day 3, we went on to visit the Gandikota fort and the vantage point to look at the Gandikota canyon....it was truly amazing.... some pictures to bring it out to you. The Gandikota fort and teh vantage points where not well maintained and if you wish you could camp at Temples inside Gandikota.

Looking through the Window of History

The "Grand Canyon of India:" in Gandikota

After coming back to the resort....we had late breakfast and packed up for the next big leg of our journey. During the packing I realized how I had lost track of dates/ days...and everything was so calm in my head...no more emails , calls or deadlines to chase....only experiences to absorb!

At around 12:00 noon, we started on the journey to Hampi, the great temple city of India and one of the largest UNESCO world heritage site. We went from Gandikota to Gooty to Bellary and then eventually reaching Hampi at around 8:00 PM in the night....the road conditions where not good and added to that it was tough driving in the dark....We had our tense moments again, since it was dark and the road which we had chosen based on Google maps took us through a narrow road with water on both sides...and totally dark all around.....it reminded me of our Gandikota ride....the only difference was the roads where narrower and I could see reflection of my car lights on water, either side of the road. There was not a single soul around and we were pretty sure that we have taken a wrong route which was not changing since past 20 minutes....

Atlast we could see a small board showing the direction of Kishkinda resort....we reached the resort at around 8:30PM and where tired....the cottage was good and there was a silence all around which I could never explain staying in Hyderabad or any metro city...

Early morning, day 4,  we woke up to the birds chirping around and my daughter was excited to hear those...we went around the eco-friendly resort with mountains on all sides and surrounded by greenery everywhere...We had a sumptuous breakfast and went around looking around. We were on the other bank of Tungabhadra river and Hampi was not in our itinerary today ! It was an amazing journey through green grass fields, high rocks and some mythological sites....and it was an important day....it was 15th August, we could see the tricolor flying on all vehicles and building...and I had bought one for my daughter as well...this will be her first rendezvous with our flag...and she immediately fell in love with it!!

Few mythological places we visited where the Pampa Sarova ( place where Paravati meditated for Lord Shiva), the Anjeya hill ( where  Lord Hanuman was born) ....Hawa mahal the palace of erstwhile kings and lastly we took a small boat ride to Navvrindavan where you have the 'samaadhi' of 9 great spiritual gurus...

We closed our day with a camp fire and getting ready for the next day ...i.e. day 5

Till date I have been mesmerized by only two physical structures - first when I saw ocean for the first time and second when I saw Taj Mahal.....now Hampi would become the third!....I have seen a temple in a city, I have seen a city with many temples...but Hampi was itself a temple with city in it...it was huge...the pictures below do not do justice.....you need to be there to believe it!!

The huge Gopuram of Virupaksha temple

The Huge Virupaksha Temple from a distance

It is said that, this temple is built in the location where Lord Shiva married lord Paravti and till date people from across the village and city come here to get married.....traditions sometimes are so mythical!

The lotus temple

The world famous Stone chariot

The City of Hampi from other side of the Tungabhadra river

To end Day 5 was like coming out the pages of history...which was not 100 or 200 years old,,..but was like over 1000 years and beyond....I am spellbound and at loss of words what Hampi would have been in those amazing days of  its great king KrishanDevaRaya....and I felt that I need to come back again to this temple city to absorb its history , its gone glory.....

Day 6: The day we return back to hyderabad....it was a long drive ...we where all weary and tired....I took the route from Raichur to Gadwal to Hyderabad as there was repair work on the bridge over Krishna river...but the way back had its own bunch of surprises like this sunflower field on the way...

Till another journey  pulls me in ...or we go looking for another story  ....till that time..these memories of 6 days will always be there to cherish about .....

Tips for people Travelling to Gandikota:

• 1 full day or 2 nights is more than enough.
• Gandikota Haritha resort is best option and is the only resort around in the vicinity
• Visit the fort and teh canyon early in teh morning
• Pack some sports shoes to walk around

Tips for people visiting Hampi:

• To discover Hampi in a relaxed manner you will need at least 3 full days
• There are not many hotel in the town of Hampi, but you can take home stays which are good
• The other option is to stay on the other side of the Tungabhadra river, multiple options available and can be booked online
• Remember to have food in Mango Tree restaurant its a good experience
• Guide is a must when you are visiting the Temple city. (Charges for guide is RS.1200-1500)