Padharo maare des..!! Road trip to Chittorgarh & Udaipur

“Padharo maare des.” (welcome phrase to invites people in Rajasthan) that’s the message you always get once you see any photo from Rajasthan.

The other day at home in Mumbai; me & my wifey were discussing differences in temple architecture across pan INDIA. “How the temple architecture changes from North to south” that was the topic we were discussing. Over the internet, we learned about temples like Nathdwara, Ranakpur & Dilwara. Those were easily doable by car (less than 1000 kms) and very near to Udaipur. So we planned a Road trip to City of lakes in July this year, though we thought it could be the off-season for Udaipur but we were proved wrong.  

We would be starting from Mumbai and we planned a route via Nashik & Indore since we need to attend one family function at Indore. So, planned Itinerary was like this:

Mumbai-Nashik-Indore-Mandsour-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Ranakpur-Mount Abu-Ahmedabad-Mumbai.

The first leg of a journey started from Mumbai to Indore, around 600 kms & we reached in the late afternoon to Indore. We attended one function & stayed at relative’s place. We can’t go away from Indore without visiting Sarafa & 56 bhog. We were there for the night & had some amazing food. This time we tried “Corn halwa” (that was super delicious)

The second leg was Indore to Udaipur via Chittorgarh, We started early so to utilize more time in Udaipur. We took Indore- Mandsaur- Nimbheda -Chittorgarh route. Roads are smooth you can easily push your car around 100-120 kmph range. You can easily guess once you enter in RJ. Landscape changes suddenly and you can feel rustic charm of RJ around you.

Without wasting time, we hired one tourist guide near Chittorgarh fort. His name was Abdul and he explained in detail about 7-8 places on the fort (His rajasthani accent still I can mimic 😉) He told us many stories & history about rani padmavati & raja ratan singh. He was portraying old stories in a such way that; that era happened to be a few years back.

Later we moved to Udaipur & we stayed in Chunda palace at Udaipur (Booked by MMT wallet & got a good discount on bookings) this hotel was a palace once by Mewar dynasty. around 20 years back the owner of that hotel embarked on a quest to re-create traditional mewari palaces, albeit with all modern amenities. This hotel was a good blend of that.

We just had a walk around lake Pichola that day. Over a dinner, we chose few places to visit for next day. We started with Sajjangarh (topmost point in Udaipur). You can easily see Fateh-sagar lake & Pichola lake from there. There is a zoo at the bottom of the hill. (We saw that zoo but I won’t recommend seeing)   

In evening, we saw the “Bagore ki haveli museum”. This was the most memorable place & experience during this trip. It’s a folk dance & folk singing with amazingly talented people. It’s a 60 minutes show. This show was very much appreciated by all. (there were many foreigner tourists to watch that show)

Next day, we went to see City Palace, here also we took a guide. Worth spending money. (roads near palace are too short to drive, we read that in many blogs so we choose to take auto for roaming around) City palace is a huge & most favorite tourist attraction in Udaipur. We spent 2-3 hours there & printed our photo too in rajasthani traditional wear. ( I‘ll not be sharing that 😉)

There is a crystal gallery nearby where all glass work has been kept. Lake Pichola provides an amazing add-on to make palace picturesque. Its Magnificent site to see.

In afternoon, we saw moti-magri (its maharaja Pratap statue & museum) near the fateh sagar lake & we stayed back on lakefront for few hours. (we got the same feeling like seating on queens neckless in Mumbai)  

For Dinner, we went to Hotel Ambrai (bang opposite to city palace & on the Pichola lakefront) decent food with a wonderful view.

Since it was a road trip. I want to raise the bar for max. no. of kms drive in a single day. Earlier, many times I had driven 500 kms in a day. So, I was confident to reach Mumbai from Udaipur in a day.

We took Udaipur-Shamlaji-Godhra-Baroda-Mumbai route. We took 3 pit stops (breakfast- lunch- fuel stop) & reached home in Mumbai around 6 PM. Odometer was showing 786 Kms. (My best till date in a day)

Though we enjoyed staying in Udaipur, We could get time to see Nathdwara, Ranakapur & Dilwara. Maybe another road trip for these places.     

- Zestified Vishal

Dazzling Dalhousie

            It all started in somewhere around this June, when me & my colleagues were planning to go for Leh Ladakh by self-driven car. Somehow, we could not make it but still that hilly terrain driving sound was constantly reverberating in my mind.

Few weeks later in a family get to gather, road trip idea initiated. We planned for North this time. Immediately, locations were started popping up like anything. Spiti, Bhutan, Sikkim, Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie and what not.

Dhauladhar ranges in Himachal

Soon we sorted out locations & circuit (Chandigarh- Shimla-Dharmshala-Dalhousie-Amritsar-Chandigarh) then we booked the flights till Chandigarh & decided to book Zoomcar for travel (fractional ownership is always cool option, We can cruise & can drive off-roads as well😉)

As an engineer, Plan started making shape in MS Excel….. columns, rows, How many kms in day, Duration, fuel mileage, where to stay so that we won’t end up driving at late evenings.

My cousins are from Pune hence we used do Skype calls, Screen sharing for bookings, locations .. believe me, to optimize any plan requires time & efforts.

The awaited Day arrived, we met at airport & took flight for Chandigarh. We reached Chandigarh in afternoon & our Zoomcars were parked. We booked 2 cars. One Creta & one Ecosports.

Both were in excellent conditions. Once formalities have been done, we started cruising towards Shimla. (Though I said we were cruising, zoomcar don’t allow you to cross 125 km/hr , They charge you fine 2500 INR per limit crossing)

Creta: somewhere in between Chandigarh-Shimla

We reached Shimla around 8 PM, It was 5 degrees outside. Being Mumbaikar, it was freezingly cold for us. We had booked Kalawati home stays (via Airbnb) to get the local experience while staying. We were staying very near to lakkad bazar & the ridge.

We choose to stay in home playing cards and chatting with homeowners.

Next day, few of us woke up very early (may be because of excitement😉 )  we headed to The Ridge with DSLR in hand. Many local people were on roads doing morning walk. some groups were playing cricket on the ridge. We took few photos and headed back to home. We had aloo paratha & chai on the way back to home.

The Ridge,Shimla

Early morning view

    

    Once everyone getting ready for a day I prepared the breakfast for all ;-) later we started towards Kufri .It was amazing road which has turns after every 20 meters. We saw kufri zoo & did small jungle trek. We had lunch in a café where Shimla agreement was signed.

On the way to Kufri

Then we came back to Shimla & went for shopping on mall road & meena bazzar. It was long day for all of us.

        Next day, We have Shimla-Dharmshala to cover (240 kms,9 Hours as per google) so we started by 10 AM. We stopped at Bahadur da dhaba near Ghaghas village. We had yummy makke di roti & dal makhani. Our hotel was in Mcleodganj and  google showed a path from market. It was super stiff roads with very short turns. ( Only first gear works😉)

Bahadur da dhaba

Again it was long & hectic day with many memories.

Surprisingly, Dalai lama was in Monastery, so we choose to be at Monastery .We were not fortunate enough to see Dalai lama but we like the place which has its own magic.Even we saw doppelganger of dalai lama.After lunch we headed to Dalhousie .

Monk catching ferrari ;-)

Namgyal monastery

We reached Dalhousie in the evening, our resort was 15 kms away from main Dalhousie. We saw Dalhousie public school on the way. Location of the school is too awesome. We stayed in property by Aamod whose location was very picturesque. Resort has recreation rooms & games like TT, Pool, Carom as well.

Aamod resort,Dalhousie

Aamod resort,Dalhousie

Next day, We took camera and started with jungle trek. View from hotel was beautiful and magnificent. Later we went to see Khajiar which was too perfect landscape having lots of pine trees and Maple trees. While returning we also stopped at kala-top & at Dainkund ( Dainkund- 9038 ft.,  highest peak in nearby area)

Khajiar landscape

Day at dalhousie ended early as sunset was around 5pm, hence our evening got busy with TT matches and cards.

Next day, We preferred Aamod’s nature trail and captured many frames on the way & started return journey to Amritsar via Pathankot. We booked service club on the way.(We kept one day buffer since we wanted to improvise the plan if needed). Next day was “Gurunanak Jayanti” so we chose to see golden temple on that day itself. We parked the cars in hotel and travelled by local auto. 

Golden temple 

Amritsar

Golden temple has its charm - full of lights-a cold breeze-colorful Pagadis. temple has pious feeling.

Next day was the most awaited day for ladies as it was reserved for shopping, We had Amritsari kulcha on road side (street food) & gian chand lassi, All ladies did shopping in hall bazar (place where you can stich the Punjabi-patiyala dress in an hour) later we moved to Wagha border. (Actually Wagha is in Pakistan and Attari is in INDIA) hence we should call it as Attari border. Parking was around 1 Kms away from the actual border. 

( tip: you can book this visit a day before and can better seats .hence recommended).

BSF team jawans was there to guide the crowd. It took us 20-30 mins to go inside the stadium. It was really patriotic feeling when you see BSF jawans marching in parade with fervour and pride in eyes. Many people were flashing INDIAN flags like a cricket match. It was awesome atmosphere to be into.

Attari border show

We reached back at Lawrence road and ordered food from Beera & Makhan restaurants from majitha road. On next day, we also supposed to drop a car at chandigarh. Zoomcar journey was amazing experience. Then we took cab for delhi and reached delhi in late evening. We stayed near an airport in mahipalpur since we only need to sleep for few hours, morning we took flight back to aamchi Mumbai and cousins took cab for going back to pune. (Mrs.Smiriti Irani was in our flight, We took selfi with her and congratulated her for the way they are doing work for our country)

It was heavily loaded 8 days with lot of fun, many memories, leg pulling, cracking jokes, playing cards, capturing different photos with DSLR & off-course driving in hilly terrain. It was indeed the dazzling experience for all of us.                                        

IPL cricket match experience at Wankhede

From last 10 years, Summer season starts with IPL in INDIA “ Come to home in the evening and  watch cricket between 8 to 12” , this has been a ritual in INDIA for last many years since IPL started.

Being a Mumbaikar, I am proud supporter of Mumbai Indian team.

Here is writing my first blog on cricket.

“10 saal... aapke naam” is the tag line used for this season of IPL. Listening this tune, may be more than 10 times in a day we made a plan to watch MI match at Wankhede. Then the question came, who should be the opponent ?” the first 2-3 options were RCB, SRH & KXIP. We chose SRH since they were defending champions and have Yuvi in the team.(Real reason for choosing SRH was my wifey wants to see Yuvi, no other option 😉 )

Once match date has been fixed, we bought tickets through bookmyshow. There were few stands in which we were interested like Sachin Tendulkar stand, Divecha pavilion & Sunil Gavaskar stand, finally We settled with E section in Sachin Tendulkar stand since it was closer to field amongst available tickets at the time of booking.

The big day arrived, we took local train to reach Wankhede, (No parking allowed on queens neckless, you can park in NCPA or gymkhana grounds if you have membership, heavy traffic near churchgate station due to match ,so chosen not to go by car) we took taxi from CST to Wankhede gate no 4. The crowd was enthusiastic (Mostly in blue) lined up to go inside the stadium. (tip : water bottles. Packaged food, DSLR & selfi sticks are not allowed so don’t keep these things while going to wankhede).

 It took us 20 odd minutes to go inside & grab our seats. we saw Ravi Shastri , Brett lee, Sanjay Manjrekar preparing for toss. (tip: if you could come early then you can see all players practicing on ground)

It was a fantafabolous experience of flashing MI blue flags when they scores a boundary or took a wicket. Seriously fellas ,can’t express that feeling in words It's a kind of experience everyone should get. Also, Mumbai crowd getting crazy whenever cameraman shows god of cricket – Sachin on main big screen.

SRH batted first and scored 154 runs. David warner was once again elegant with its shot selection but a good catch by PP ends his innings on 49 & we got a  chance to see Yuvraj batting. MI bowlers bowled really well in death overs. Slinga malinga, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhajji  as usual was at their best.

Later, PP and Jos butter opened the innings for MI and few drives from PP were just perfectly placed (The best one was backfoot punch towards mid-off) .We were lucky enough to see Ro”HIT” Sharma, Pollard, Hardik Pandya batting.

It was a simple chase for MI guys. They did it with 2 overs to spare.

It was mind blowing experience because of Mumbai crowd. They cheer for everything, right from toss- wickets- boundaries-strategic time out countdown– last ball of match.

I have been to LORDS but mind my words Wankhede beats LORDS when it comes to Mumbai crowd &  cheer.

We are looking forward to go there once again for next game. May be eliminator game (Semi-final) on 16th may.

- Zestified Vishal

Amazing Phi Phi & Bangkok

“What’s your new year’s resolution ?” My wifey asked me around this Christmas season. I said “ What do you suggest me to do ? ” with this question; we started teasing each other and debate ended up with conclusion rather a resolution of “ Lets Go someplace each year on her birthday ”

Though ,She won the debate ;-) But I gained the more since off course I would be accompanying her for the tour ;-) and would get great opportunity to take good photos.

So ,thought started with Europe ( Paris, Rome, Venice, Athens, Santorini, Zurich…. But not chosen EU because of weather. Almost all major cities have apprx Zero degrees in last week of  January)  later started exploring Dubai, Abu dhabi, Hong Kong. Even I searched for Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos.. ( We had virtual/digital world tour in 10 days or so ;-) )

After much R&D we decided to go to Phi Phi islands in Krabi province of Thailand. We both like beaches/scenery and Thailand was also within budget (less load on my pocket)

We have taken many quotations from many tour operators for finalising itinerary ( We have taken quotations from local tour operators ,viator.com ,Expedia.com, visitacity.com) & finally decided 3 days each in Krabi & Bangkok. We booked hotel near Ao nang beach, Krabi ( Near to krabi market via booking.com) and a hotel next to Baiyoke sky tower in central Bangkok (very close to Bangkok metro station via expedia.com) though we thought of booking Airbnb in Bangkok but got good deal in hotel so we have decided to go for it.

I had international tour experience in UK, Germany & Netherlands (But all these were official tours ,so itinerary was not much in my control) Since this is our first international holiday tour we have done a lot study for sightseeing and things can be done in Krabi & Bangkok. (Though I could do less things in Bangkok since it’s a tour with spouse ;-) ;-) )

We decided not to choose standard tour packages (though few of them were affordable) they were so structured and very common. Also We both feel that exploring a city is also a kind of experience that too in a country where you don’t know the local language.

For Forex we have taken the cash from bookmyforex.com (They offer good exchange rate amongst other Finances also they give home delivery)

We thought of renting a bike in Krabi for exploring costal roads.For her Birthday ; I booked a complete day tour to Phi Phi Island from Ao Nang beach. (1300 bahts PP via krabitrek.com)

We have planned suffix days of 26^th Jan 2017(first long weekend of this year), Flight was Air India @ 1 45 AM from T2. We were at airport few hours before. Once we submitted the luggage we were quick through security & immigration. Flight dropped us in Bangkok in 4 hours & once we landed we went to VISA on arrival kiosk (Tip of VOA: there are two lines first one is for 1200 bahts for quick VOA & second line is for normal VOA in 1000 baht ; So you could save 200 bahts straightway) We had connected flight to krabi ,so we went for quick one. They stamped VOA in no time and we went for Krabi flight.

We landed in krabi around 1 PM. We took 150 Baht PP taxi to go at Ao Nang. They dropped us to hotel lobby in 30 mins or so..

“Krabi cha da” was our resort. Our room was so cool ,We have cliffs and sea view from our balcony. Only receptionist was good in English rest all only talk in Thai or maximum few words in English like OK, Yes, No, Welcome (But it’s a fun communicating with them specially while ordering food through their restaurants)

  

After freshening up we went to roam around hotel area & Ao Nang beach. on return we had yummy Thai street food.

Next day was Phi Phi day, Driver was in lobby exactly on 8 AM. He dropped us at Nopparat jetty from where we took pre-booked speed boat for phi phi island.

We straight way get in speed boat to grab first seat to have a good view while going. It was 4 island tour (Bamboo beach, Piley lagoon, Maya bay & phi phi don)

All places were absolutely amazing. It’s a Andman sea, Turquoise colour water, White sand on beach, green colour cliffs in middle of sea was extraordinary cool stuff. We clicked many pictures in camera almost all places were picturesque.

We did snorkelling near phi phi don, That was also nice experience. Much better than havlock and tarkarli. we reached back to jetty around 5 PM and headed back to hotel in same jeep.

On the way back we took next day appointment for spa.(It was first time experience for me ;-) so we opted for this) again we had street food (Thai phai noodles & coconut water) (tip: Very less vegetarian options in krabi, though there are few Indian restaurants in that area) We both believed “When in rome, do as the romans do” so our first option was local thai food.

Next day, we had a relaxed day comparing to first two days. After breakfast we went to hotel swimming pool and the uniqueness of that pool was, It was on the top floor offering splendid view.

After saying “Bye Bye to krabi” We took flight to Bangkok & Bangkok diaries started..

We took Air line metro rail for travelling to hotel.( tip: its cheapest and fasted option to roam in Bangkok, So always book your hotel near any of the metro station) we reached hotel Citin Pratunam in 40 mins or so from airport.

This area is exactly similar to Chandni Chowk ,small gullies with lot of shops around. After checking-in ; since we have energy to roam around; we went to Chatuchak market. Again we took BTS (Rachprarop- Phaya thai- Mo chit) On return we went to Indian hotel. In our hotel area all you find is Thai people-Chinese people & Indians.(This year Chinese new year was on 28^th Jan ,long weekend for them too) Also many Indians can be seen.. After each 10 mins you’ll hear hindi on Bangkok streets.

Next day was Tiger day, We booked Sriracha Tiger zoo visit. we hired a car in 1500 baht ( Bangkok- Sriracha is 120 Kms far), it turned out to be adventurous tour. We clicked a pic with real tiger. Though it was tamed tiger but we had that feeling while seating next to big tiger. There were half hour shows for elephants, Tigers and crocodiles. After all these shows we were back to Bangkok around 3 PM. Then we went to Siam Paragon mall & MBK mall (it’s a huge mall similar like Phoenix, Worli) we saw sea ocean world there, many species of fishes were there. all the way from Sharks, Glow fish, Star fish ,Octopus, dolphins..

Next day was History day, We went to Grand palace (King lives there) ,Wat pho & Wat Arun (these are budhha temples)

in evening we went to Chao phraya dinner cruise. (tip: Cruise starts from river side. To reach there the cheapest options is to take BTS from any station-get down at saphan taskin station -walk a bit -take orange flag boat from jetty and get down at river side) it was the evening of the tour,.. on cruise they offer welcome drinks, a lot food options, many desserts and dance floor.

Next day was shopping day, we did shopping in Pratunam market ( Its very tiring feeling to have a shopaholic spouse and whole complete day for shopping)

We again took air-line metro for Suvarnabhumi airport & had pleasant flight for back to aamchi mumbai.

It was wonderful 8 days in Amazing Thailand.

- Zestified Vishal