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Coorg , India’s Eden
So for the longest time I have heard so much about the natural beauty of Coorg In Karnataka in India and have been eager to visit the place and see if it lives up to the hype.. ( TL, DR ..Yes It Does. ) and recently just before the rains started I got a chance to visit it for a few days. I had also heard about the Taj Property in Madikeri and about how it was one of their most beautiful property and so I made a reservation there. The nearest Airports to Coorg are Mangalore 140 kms away and Mysore, around 120 kms away. We flew in to…
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San Francisco : Bridge to Bridge Cruise & The Palace of fine Arts
So recently I had a chance to stay for around a month in San Francisco, California. San Francisco is supposed to be an amazingly beautiful city with an amazing vibe and I found that to be certainly true, the whole city seems to be like a museum on display. One of the first things we decided to do was book a bridge 2 bridge cruise by a company called The Red & White Fleet. They are quite highly rated on Tripadvisor and that’s why chose them. All their cruises depart from Pier 43 1/2 in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf. This 90 minute cruise starts from near the Bay Bridge,…
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Van Gogh Immersive Experience, Atlanta
So last month while I was in Atlanta, I was looking around for art exhibitions and came across an ad for “The Van Gogh Immersive Experience” at Pullman Yards, Atlanta. This digital exposition was being held simultaneously in many cities in the US and it was awarded best 2021 immersive experience by USA Today and ranked among the 12 best immersive experiences in the world by CNN I saw this in the first week of Jan 2022 and it has closed in Atlanta since then and will be reopening in March 2022 in a new location . To book your tickets and know more, click here… So I booked the…
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Stay at Taj Holiday Village , North Goa
While there are many luxury properties in North Goa , the one that fascinates me the most is the Taj Holiday Village. Recently we were celebrating a special occasion and I thought this would be a perfect to escape from the metropolis and booked a 3 day stay at my favorite resort in India. It took around an hour to get to the hotel from Dabolim Airport and this time is par for the course. While I had booked a base category room, one of my close friends who works with Taj group very kindly called the property in advance informing them of the special occasion and got is upgraded…
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Goa Feb 2022 : Antares , Titlie & Mikey’s Place
Antares Restaurant & Beach Club So even before going to Goa, I had a lot of buzz about Antares Restaurant & Beach Club. It describes itself as “MODERN AUSTRALIAN WITH AN ASIAN INFLUENCE” . It is helmed by Sarah Todd who was of course a Masterchef Australia finalist. Her love for Indian food and culture is well known and she has put her heart and soul into this venture. As we were celebrating a special occasion, we ended up for dinner there . The Stunning location is of course the stretch over Vagator cliffs where many posh joints like Bo Tai , Titlie , Yaha etc are situated. The famous…
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The Disney Parks : Stuff Dreams are made of…
So not so long ago we found ourselves in Orkando for a week and I have previously written about my experience at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaverel , The Universal Studios Park, Orlando and Helicopter Rider over Orlando & hoverboat tour , Everglades…. but one of the biggest ( the biggest ? ) attractions in Florida is the Disney Parks and we couldn’t go back without doing that…. Now there are countless places on the net which tell you the strategy on how to complete the various parks in 1/2/3 days so I wont go into that but I will say that you should certainly pick a weekday…
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Goa October 2019 : Paradise Revisited
So recently some of my business colleagues from Africa were down in India for some medical tests and treatment in New Delhi and after they finished that they were down in Goa for some rest in recuperation so I joined them in Goa for 3 days to show them around . I landed there Goa in the 4th week of October but this year due to delay in shack allocations the season has started late. Many places which are prime attraction like the Beach Shacks , John’s Boat Tours, Saturday night market etc had not yet started. I reached my hotel in north goa in the evening and as my…
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Bangkok 2019 : City that Never Sleeps
So after a Koh Samui Trip which was very nice , we headed to Bangkok for some shopping and chilling before coming back to India . In the last couple of years this was my 2nd trip to BKK, you can read about my previous trip part 1 here and Part 2 here . Like Last time I had booked us in the Chatrium Riverside Hotel and the 2 bedroom river view suite there is something truly magnificent. You can read my detailed review of the hotel here. The first which I want to mention in Bangkok is Cafe Corgi in the garden . My kids told me about this…
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Koh Samui : La Isla Bonita ( The Beautiful Island )
Above is a Video Summary of our trip.. So for my 2019 summer holidays, I was wondering where to go and because travelling within India has become quite expensive due to expensive flights and hotels , I thought Thailand would be a good choice because most importantly, it is very popular with my wife and kids because of the endless shopping one can do in Bangkok. Having been to Bangkok and Phuket a couple of years ago, this time I decided to visit Ko Samui and Bangkok, in that order. the weather also played a part in this choice because while Phuket and Krabi receive heavy rainfall in June,…
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Visit to Universal Studios, Orlando
So not so long ago I was in Orlando and in my previous post about #orlando I wrote about the visit to the Kennedy Space Center which is part of NASA . However, the first attraction we visited in Orlando was the Universal Studios.Now I did a lot of research about how best to do this park and the online articles had advice about which rides to prioritize , going early etc etc but let me tell you that no matter how much research you do, be prepared to be overwhelmed when you get there, and that’s fine. I would only give you 3 suggestions : No matter, what time…
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Kovalam : The Essence of Kerala
So recently I had a few days to spare and since I have visited Goa and Kochi/Kumarakom mutiple times in recent years, I decided to head to Pondicherry ( Puducherry ) and Kovalam. After staying in Pondicherry for 3 days, we drove down to Chennai Airport to catch a flight to Thiruvananthapuram . After a short flight of around 50 minutes we landed at our destination and the first thing i liked about Kovalam is that it is situated so close to the Thiruvananthapuram airport from where it is a 20 min. drive depending upon where you want to go in Kovalam. I had booked us in Taj Green Cove…
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A Visit to Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida
One hours’s drive from Orlando lies one of the biggest attractions of North America, the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral , it is the place from which NASA launches most of its rockets and it is NASA’s Gateway to Space. Recently I was in Orlando for a week and one of the first places I wanted to see was this . Yes, you read that right, not the DisneyWorld or Universal . KSC ( Kennedy Space Center ) has held great fascination for me for many years , it is the place from where Pioneers like Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin , Kalpana Chawla , Sunita Williams and many…
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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…