Blogs from India, Asia - page 18

You want to know how strong is color WHITE, well visit The Great Rann of Kutch !!!! My wife and me had this Trip in mind from long and we always wanted to visit White Desert and explore the nothingness around us... I made some inquiry about the Rann Utsav which normally starts in Nov and goes till Feb and found that the Tent City which is highly marketed by the Gujarat govt. is definitely an experience to look for but the cost..... Extortionate !!!! So when I checked they gave me a tariff of approx 10K per person per day, which means a 2 day trip to Rann Utsav with a partner would cost you 40K approximately. So, I thought of finding a competitive option to get this trip going. So, here you go..... Trip ... read more

The Taj Mahal ! What can I say? It really is the jewel in the crown! We arrived in Agra at 8.30 am and luckily the hotel let us check into our room straight away. After a rest we went out to explore. The hotel was literally five minutes walk away from the West Gate entrance of the Taj Mahal. It was already mid day so we decided we would go the next day nice and early to beat the crowds. The streets here are just as bad as in Delhi. Actually worse but as our hotel was just inside the area that was barriered off and guarded by police it was a little haven. We wandered up and down looking for somewhere to eat. A few places advertised rooftop restaurants with views of the Taj ... read more

After one of those gigantic breakfasts, there was a need to walk some of it off so Jane & I wandered off to find something interesting. Bharathi Park with a Greco Roman arch looks like a promising walk. It’s shady and inviting in the heat of the morning. Just inside the gate is a naturalist area featuring posts with colourful carvings of different creatures interspersed among the pictures of wildlife and birds in the area. Right smack dab in the centre of the park is the Roman arch with walkways radiating from it which divides the park into 4 equal parts. For our last two nights in Pondicherry we are at the Villa Du Ocean guest house with a rooftop restaurant and a small pool on the 4th floor overlooking the city. We had a fond ... read more

Finally we have arrived in Pondicherry where there are no planned days, only what we want to do. Our room last night was not the best so Nancy arranged to have us moved. Hooray! We have the most wonderful room now - view to the ocean, no musty smell and it’s bigger. Helen and I are happy! After a huge buffet breakfast, meaning I ate huge, some of us went walking. Nancy has been here many times and knows the streets well. Pondicherry was a French settlement and the street names are all in French. Flowers abound everywhere, spilling over white walls, climbing through the trees. We watch women creating Rangoli on their doorsteps in beautiful artistic designs. This is to welcome you to their homes. Rangoli is fine sand that is dribbled through their fingers ... read more

On a day that I don’t have to get up I am awake and showered by 6:15. Have had a coffee already in my room and make it to the breakfast veranda by 7 a.m. There was to be a discussion about what we wanted to do today but I think it was unanimous - a glorious day to do nothing but eat, drink and lay at the pool. The chef served us a massive breakfast which we all felt obliged to partake so it didn’t hurt his feelings. Then we waddled away to our rooms to do what we needed to do before heading to the pool. We’ve been in the pool which was so cooling in the hot air and then sitting on lounges; some painting, some reading, some writing in their journal and ... read more