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Bangkok Confidential Part 2: Wat Arun, Sky Bar at Lebua & Asiatique the Night Market
In my Previous Post I showed you the Canals of Thonburi and the Orchid Farms in Bangkok. One question which often gets asked about Bangkok is which area to stay in. While the answer to that is more complex than I can tackle, I do feel that if one is going mostly for tourism purposes, it makes sense to stay by the riverside. The Chao Phraya river is an integral part of the local ecosystem, not just a scenic river which flows through the city. I has booked myself in a Hotel / Apartment called The Chatrium Riverside and my suite was on the 32nd floor.It was more of an…
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Bangkok Confidential : Life in the Canals and Orchid Farm
So in my previous 2 posts I showed you the Exotic Beaches of Phuket and the Wondrous Phang Nga Bay Before going to Phuket, I was in Bangkok for a few days and from what I had read about the place, I was fascinated by the The Khlongs ( canals ) of Thonburi in Bangkok . Having stayed an independent province until it was merged into Bangkok in 1972, Thonburi – the old Bangkok capital situated on the western banks of the Chao Phraya River – has avoided much of the modern development seen elsewhere. Its man-made network of khlongs, including Khlong Mon and Khlong Bangkok Noi, retains much of…
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Phuket : The land of Exotic Beaches
In my previous post I showed you the peerless beauty of Phang Nga bay and the amazing island of Ko Panyee. Apart from that I spent a couple of days in Phuket roaming around the place and I was very impressed with not just the natural beauty but also how good the infrastructure and cleanliness . the roads are very good and the beaches as you will see in the pictures below are immaculately maintained. After doing some research I decided to stay in the Holiday Inn Resort at Patong . I generally prefer staying in the middle of town , not far from the madding crowd. I stayed in…
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A Day in Phang Nga Bay , Phuket, Thailand : Paradise Found
Let me say it right upfront…I have never seen such natural beauty such as I saw in Phang Nga Bay. Distinguished by its limestone karsts jutting out of the emerald-green Andaman Sea, Phang Nga Bay is a must-see excursion from any trip to the Thai islands of Phuket or Krabi. Beach and nature fanatics will be in their element, with caves, lagoons, and secluded beaches all part of the stunning landscape. Phang Nga Bay tour is one of the several full day speedboat tours you can take from Phuket and I believe all the other choices are also very good, some of the other choices being Phi Phi– which…
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Jodhpur Journey Part 2 : The desert is another place
In Jodhpur Part 1 I showed you the various places in town . In this post I am going to show you the beautiful desert around the Osian town and the camps that exist around it. We left for the Desert from our hotel around 3 pm , after having our lunch.The journey takes around 45 mins to an hour. That is the best time because if you leave in the morning, then you will reach when it’s hot in the afternoon and naturally you don’t wanna do that. Soon we reached the desert and it was still quite hot although it was getting cooler. We straight away went to…
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Jodhpur Diary Part 1 : Umaid Bhawan Palace & Mehrangarh Fort
So with a couple of friends I traveled to Jodhpur, never having been there, fascinated by the desert to which I had never been. Jodhpur is also known as the Blue City . I was fortunate enough to stay at Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace . This hotel was voted by Trivadvisor in 2016 as the Best Hotel In the World. That’s right, In The World. I must say the interiors as well as the grounds of the hotel/palace really exudes luxury and royalty at every step. Umaid Bhawan Palace is one of the world’s largest private residences. A part of the palace is managed by Taj Hotels , Named after Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of the…
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Taj Mahal Diary ..Pictures unseen and the hidden symbols you did not know about
So since I had some friends over from overseas who wanted to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, on a friday morning we left New Delhi for Agra. We took the Yamuna expressway by which you can reach the Taj Mahal in less than 3 hours from New Delhi. While it is among the best expressways in India, I would strongly suggest you to travel on this road during the daytime as far as possible because it is an extremely accident-prone road and it should be especially avoided during the extreme foggy periods of December end to January beginning. Soon we reached the majestic monument and our very knowledgeable guide…
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Thalassa and The Fisherman’s Wharf : amazing restaurants in Goa.. Part 1
If there is one restaurant which gets talked about a lot in Goa among visitors, I would say it is the greek Taverna, Thalassa. Cuisine: Greek, Mediterannean Started by Mariketty who hails from the beautiful island of Corfu,Greece ( Gerald Durrell anyone? ) it has a view to kill for, looking out into the Arabian Sea over the hills of vagator. And trust me, the food is as good as the view and while I have been there only during the daytime, I believe they have amazing greek dance performances in the evening. I personally think the best time to go to this restaurant is just before sunset as you can…
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Humanyun’s Tomb…..Delhi Unseen.. Part 1
While I go to New Delhi often, it is very seldom that I get a chance to see the city like a tourist. A few months ago however, I was hosting some friends from outside the country so I visited a few cities in India. Our first stop was Delhi and I thought we would start with Humayun’s Tomb . Now a quick history break here. Mughal dynasty was a dynasty founded by Babur, the first Mughal king who came to rule India originaly from Persia which spanned from Uzbekistan in the east to Greece and Libya in the west. There were around 8 Mughal kings which ruled india…
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Mae De Deus Church , Figueiredo Mansion and the sleepy Hamlet of Loutolim : Goa in the Rains…Part 3
As I said in my previous post about Goa, there is more to Goa than Beaches, Shacks and Super luxury hotels along the beach.. As we continue on our Trail of Secret and Hidden Treasures of Goa our next stop is the Mae De Deus church in Saligao. Mae De Deus means Mother of God Now Saligao is just 10-15 minutes drive away from the c/c/b (Candolim / Calangute/ Baga ) belt of north goa which is the haunt of most tourists but very few people actually end up going to saligao because there are no “known” tourist attractions there. It could be on a different planet for all practical…
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Piedade village in Divar Island ..Goa in the Rains…Part 2….
Further to Goa in the Rains..Part 1….Chapora Fort Most people go to Goa and never manage to get beyond the usual beaches and restaurants/shacks . However, On my monsoon trip to goa I decided to discover the hidden places of goa which the tourists never get to see.. The first stop on this hidden list was Divar Island. As you get off the ferry , you get the feeling that Divar Island is the place Time forgot. Now you may never have heard of this place in goa and the reason for that is that the inhabitants of this place tend keep to themselves and resists attempts to connect the…
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Goa in the Rains…..Part 1…Trip to Chapora Fort
In the past few years, I have had the good fortune to visit Goa several times. I have been there in March, October , June and August. While it is true that there is never a bad time to go to Goa ( except maybe Xmas and New Year ? ) I have yet to see anyplace on earth as green as beautiful as Goa in the Rains. It is as if it gets transformed into Eden itself and everywhere you go there is a cornucopia of greenery and nature’s beauty at its best.. On my first day of the trip, I headed to Chapora fort by taxi.This picture was…
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Udaipur…Venice of the East
So recently I had a chance to visit Udaipur and being a shutterbug I was very excited to see why so many people from all over the world rave about it. Is it really worth the hype? read on.. Accor group of hotels, owner of the Raffles Hotels will opening a property in Udaipur in 2019. Just to give you an idea, There are only 15 Raffles hotels in the world, that’s right, just 15 . They are in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap , Hainan, Shenzen -opening in 2019 , Jakarta , Meradhoo island (Maldives )-opening in 2018, Manila , Singapore , Paris, Warsaw, Istanbul, Jeddah, Makkah, Praslin, Dubai…
