Dubai: I was so High!

Next to my Ride

I’m gonna start with a confession! I’m an absolute nature lover and hence never really fell in love with Dubai. I mean I love forests, waterfalls, beaches.. Green and Blue basically! Hence Dubai never won my heart, till I was assigned there for a contract on marketing collaterals for the most Iconic places in Dubai.

Burj Khalifa

It was only then that I found a whole new love and respect and was left in awe of what stood before me. I introspected and realized that my being a history buff was so limiting suddenly. I questioned all the governments of the world in my mind.. “Why were we not creating beautiful landmarks anymore?”

I mean.. look at Dubai.. It’s literally made of sand.. rather made out of sand.. inspite of sand.. They have nothing going for them except a land which is Earthquake proof. I have to give it off to the Prince and Government of Dubai to create such amazing structures. They keep wanting to succeed and supersede themselves. Burj Al Arab, Burj Khalifa, Palm Islands.. and now the soon coming World Islands.

The Sea Plane being prepped!

In my many visits to Dubai I had seen 'em all and marveled at these architectural wonders. UNTIL!

All true UNTIL… Until I had the chance to see Dubai from an aerial view! Have you ever been in a state where you were physically ‘gob-smacked’…  when you actually were at the edge of your seat for complete 40 minutes… when you felt like a child and wouldn’t stop looking everywhere hoping to absorb every view even better than your camera ever could… and all of this with the adrenalin rush of being in an 8 seater sea plane?

Burj AlArab

 

Meticulously Planned Dubai

We took off from the Dubai Creek in charming 8 seater  Sea-plane. I took a seat right behind the co-pilot. After a short brief from the young Captain, we were ready to take off. And boy did we TAKE OFF… I’m usually good with words but I don’t think I’ll be able to nail this one and would urge you to put this ‘Ride of a Lifetime’ on your bucketlist. At the speed of 180 miles per hour, from cruising over waters of the creek, we were gliding up in the air over Dubai.

Palm Jumeirah

Within moments we were right over the Palm Islands. Silence fell on all of us in the flight as we hovered over the most amazing sight from our windows. Dubai is like the ultimate view for a person with OCD. Perfect in every way, in every shape and every conceptualization. I mean, think about it, to create… physically create islands and lands in the shape of a Palm and then create Islands in the shape of the World Map next to it.. Bigger and Grander in every way. To be able to see the Burj AlArab’s entire structure along with the helipad and finally to soar around the Khalifa. You see my predicament?

How can I ever describe to you how each moment felt? How proud and yet small I felt when I physically had the bird’s eye view of what all my race had accomplished? And then for a smart company to create a flight plan for us to feast our eyes on?

The World Islands

My Private Window view

In 40 minutes you can get the thrill of taking off in a sea plane from a creek, fly over the most developed cities of the world which prides in creating structures which are monumental to say the least and then land smoothly back on water. Create a memory of a lifetime! Excitement of breathtaking views! Adrenaline rush of being in a sea plane! All from the luxury of your large private window! 

Post the ride

                                                                           For all queries contact: Seawings Dubai

5 things you never knew about Macau!

 

Welcome to Macau!

When I told my friends I was invited to Macau, their first reaction was.... "but you are no gambler!". Yes! Macau is the Vegas of the East and RIGHTLY so... Each and every hotel has one arena better than the other with the much acclaimed Venetian being clearly the best.

I felt the need to look POSH!

An hour's boat ride from the busy Hong Kong, and there it was. This small independent area which is a part of China and yet uses Hong Kong Dollars as its currency. I could see China from my hotel pool just across the Inner Harbor. Of all the places I've been to, Macau didn't seem like a place for backpackers... it's all so... umm.... POSH! Buildings and structures full of grandeur and glitter. Every hotel with its own signature style and themes and guest entertainments.

My friends spent hours teaching me various games so I'd able to atleast play the part once I got there... Ummm I gotta be honest.. I'm terrible at keeping a straight face and playing Poker. They had built me up so much that somewhere deep inside I wasn't even looking forward as my idea of travel was never to spend time inside fancy hotels and casinos.

Little did I know, the Macau Tourism had ensured I saw everything else that the city was, so here's a list of my top 5 findings.

1. Free Shows: Get yourself a city guide and check the shows at every hotel. Unlike most places I've been to, hoteliers in Macau have taken visual delight to the absolute next level. The Wynn Hotel for example has the Dragon of Fortune and the Tree of Prosperity show in their lobby. You can google all you want, nothing will do justice to this light, graphic, props and music show with the globe ceiling and floor opening up... absolute delight! Or the Diamond show at the Galaxy Hotel followed by the peacock dancers. And yes you can just visit these hotels and watch these splendors for free!

Diamond Show at the Galaxy

2. Macau Science Center: Ok! Fact! When I saw this on my itinerary I wasn't excited AT ALL! Till I got there! So wish we were taught geography, biology and cool science stuff the way it's done at the Macau Science Center! Nope! It's not JUST for kids cause I had a blast and although we just had an hour to see all of it.. I had to be torn away to keep up the deadline! This area had the coolest Dinosaur exhibits, a food and calorie area to teaches us about healthy food and Body Mass Index, coolest exhibit of how the ground moves during earthquakes and many more cool stuff!

Yup! They made science COOL!

The amazing Science Museum

3. The Shows and the Dining: With all the leading posh brands of hotels, of course you can expect Michelin star studded chefs and restaurants, however Macau has a Portuguese history hence I'd urge you to spend sensible money on some local restaurants and enjoy the wines and Portuguese food... it's Yummm!

Insane Foooood!

So when I had shared with my readers that I was heading to Macau, one of them had repeatedly asked me to watch the Dancing Water show, so I did! And again... what a spectacular delight! An absolute feast for all your senses.. and highly recommended! Also there is the Broadway at the Galaxy which is a street market style entertainment zone with insane dances and local food carts!

Shopping: Yes.. You can expect every brand to have its flagship outlets here with the latest collections, however do step outside for the local market scene at the Senado Square.

The Dancing Water Show

4. Kids: At the onset of this point... NO.. Macau is not just for men who like to gamble.. it's a heaven for kids and most hotels have invested dammm well to keep them entertained with the likes of Sheraton who have tied up with Dreamworks to hold various fun events for kids all year round. Or they can visit the Panda Pavillion.. haha! They are SO lazy and SO cute! Or even the Chinese Garden!

My day with the Pandas :)

The gorgeous Chinese Garden

5. 3D World: So Macau has the world's first 4D paintings museum and also gives visitors a chance to play director and take their own 3D pictures.. and gosh it's so funnnn! To be able to put myself in surreal romantic backdrops to pictures from the old times to being eaten by dinosaurs or being on top of the Macau Tower or even being a dancer with Michael Jackson.

The 3D World

Oh! Before I wind up; ofcourse I went to the Venetian to try my luck... and if you are as unpretentious as me... my only tip is.. stick to the roulette tables and check the numbers which have come in the last few games and gamble accordingly (Wink!)

Thank you to the team of Macao Tourism for this informative and amazing experience.

10 Travel Tips for Ubud- Bali

Spas Spas Spas

Ubud is by far the most intense and yet chilled out place I have ever been to! It's... It's not a tourist spot even though thousands of tourists are here cause in a couple of days they just blend in with it's people and methods because it simply IS the place to Eat.. Pray.. Love! 

Here are my top tips while in Ubud:

1. Don't pack too many clothes: Trust me your wardrobe just isn't equipped to handle the weather here. Just pack your pure cottons.

Cottons ONLY

Have fun with your clothes

2. Forget the makeup and creams: It's a tropic island! Hot and Humid as hell! Just don't even bother with all your fancy SPFs. You could use the sprays if you can resist not wiping your sweat.

No Make Up

3. Don't shower everyday: Haha! Kidding! The Spas here are dirt cheap and just such a pleasure. Why take a simple bath when you can have someone relieve all your stress, massage you, scrub you and then ask you to dip yourself in a flowered bath all for like Rs. 1000 or $15 right?

Blisssssss

4. Fruits: Oh my god! Eat the Fruits! Eat the Fruits! Eat the Fruits! They are absolutely organic and heavenly!

Passion Fruit and Snake Skin Fruit

Local Food

5. Local Food: Try the duck here and must try the tofu and tempe with rice and crisps

6. Kombucha: Champagne of the Gods! This is Organic wine. Yup! You read it right! It's fermented tea and tastes great actually. I believe the best place for this is at the Clear Cafe. Try it!

7. Ecstatic Dance Party: I'll give you details in my write up but just put it on your list for now. You have gotta attend one of these.

At the Ecstatic Dance Party

8. Yoga Session: Try to take one of the Yoga classes. The way they handle yoga here is most unique and its a lifestyle here.

9. Sound Therapy: I don't know if you have heard of this before; I hadn't! It’s actual healing by sound and is absolutely scientific. Try to attend one of these sessions or atleast talk to the experts who practice it. Its enlightening!

10. Apps: Uber doesn't work all areas here so get yourself the GrabCar app for taxis and more importantly GO-JEK for the scooter taxis. Oh GO-JEK is my absolute fav app considering they will even get you your coffee or food orders whatever and deliver it. They were my saviour after my accident there!

Go-Jekkinnnn Haha!

Most Importantly:

Don't be You: Take this one seriously! Just for the few days you are in Ubud; forget everything you know and believe in and listen to everything this cosmically charged place says to you and shows you... Unlearn.. Relearn and Love Yourself!

Unlearn.... Relearn... Love Yourself!

Ramgarh- Hidden Haven

Travelling Boots in Ramgarh

We all know I love to travel Solo, but it never meant I don't enjoy company! I just happen to be very picky about who I travel with and who can handle me when I’m not me. Allow me to explain.. I’m a very calm and unexciting person in the city I live in.. I like it like that! But when I travel I’m like this energiser bunny full of curiosity and an unquenchable thirst to see and experience everything. Something only a few can relate to. 

So when we needed to just get away for a weekend, my friends turned to me to look for options and I chose Ramgarh Bungalows. A Neemrana property tucked away on a hill a little ahead of Bhimtal and beyond Nainital. The website made it look perfectly quaint and just what we were looking for. But it was a section called ‘Writer’s Bungalow’ that had me sold. 

The route..???!!!

Friday morning 5 am we were on our way. Me with my closest and most caring friends Rohit and Swati. Rohit is the most wonderful affectionate guy I know. He is mischievous and yet a perfect gentleman and Swati and I; although we had met only recently.. she and I had connected like we were always meant to be! My absolute soul sister.. who is rarely more giving than I am. Twas a beautiful drive and like a perfect road trip should be… it was full of all kinds of songs, many pit stops and a gorgeous drive.

The air started getting crispier and colder as we went uphill and around hairpin bends, lost our way and went back and forth a few times but nothing.. I mean NO-THING, no website, no HD picture could have prepared us for the what we were about to see. The property in front of us was the perfect specimen of Romance, History and Old World Charm. Nothing but virgin green mountains all around, clear blue skies above, dew filled grass under my bare feet and butterflies dancing all around me.

The Writer's Bungalow

The Breakfast Layout

If this line alone hasn't made to time travel and taken you away from the busy life of lights and gadgets and notifications, come on… take a long drive on these winding and unwinding roads and get to Ramgarh Bungalows.

Warm, simplistic food and service in the quiet of Nature and the noise of birds, bees, breeze and words bursting in my head. We spent 1 night in Ashok Vatika where Jawahar Lal Nehru had lived once. Too tired after the early morning and long drive, I decided to snooze for a while and as I lay on the 4 post high bed; something just hit me. It was quiet. I mean just quiet. No sound of vehicles, no horns, no AC, no fan.. just some tweeting birds. The best most sound afternoon nap ever followed.

The nights were so silent that you can hear your own breath. We lay outside on the grass just gazing at the skies for hours and were simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of stars our sky could hold and we could see… a privilege we city people simply can not enjoy. 

The Writer's Bungalow

Inside Writer's Bungalows 

Cutest interiors

Twas really the next day that I found out about the story behind this place and was suddenly a whole new invigorated and inspired. The Writer’s Bungalow. Quaint cottage with 2 rooms and the cutest yellow interiors. These are old structures which have been restored so have a very earthy feel to them with the old school doors and windows. Now the best part was… many many years ago, Rabindra Nath Tagore had possibly started writing the Geetanjali here. 

Me lost..

Still Lost...

Perfect moment captured....

Yes you read me right.. here… right where I was standing he had lived and wrote. He probably was looking at the same view as I was and started writing the Geetanjali. Mahadevi Verma had also lived here… hence the name.. Writer’s Bungalow!

Ramgarh is known as the the Fruit Basket cause they grow all sorts of exotic fruits here and the best part is they rarely use any chemicals.. hence they may not be the prettiest fruits but they are exploding with taste and juices. You can go for a Nature Walk to explore the orchards around.

Sai Baba Temple- Ramgarh

Swati is religious and wanted to visit a temple so we drove all around searching for a temple and stumbled upon the cutest smallest Sai Baba temple not far away and a restaurant which served the freshest most tasty simple food we had eaten… oh my god how we indulged in pure gluttony! 

We walked for hours.. sometimes humming songs, sometimes huffing and puffing with the uphill climbs and sometimes just silently to soak the view and fill our lungs with this fresh air with smiles on our faces. 

3 days… we barely talked and yet felt more connected than ever! In the silence of nature and away from the static of radio waves and buzzing phones… we rejuvenated our minds, hearts and souls. 

The most perfect weekend getaway!

For booking with them: Ramgarh Bungalows

My 5 “I”s of Solo Travel

Inner Peace

I will never get bored of elaborating and explaining and re-iterating that travel teaches. All the quotes are true and yet so limiting. For no matter how much we read the stories and facts or see the high definition pictures, for me; travel makes me. I can clearly recall how certain traits of me have changed with marked experiences through my solo travels.

                                          

You can and will read the stories in my blogs but here are the top 5 reasons why I travel solo and recommend it so whole heartedly.

Be Wild.. haha!

1. Instinct: Just plain Instinct. Not what your heart says, not what your mind thinks. Just Instinct. I have been stuck in some rather scary situations and also in some extremely tempting ones. I’ve made bad decisions and faced the consequences and more importantly; learnt my lessons. And this is the biggest one!

You know the first reaction of your body…? To any situation? The very first one, the withdrawing of the hand when we touch something hot, or how animals defend their young, or how simply our eyes shut to self protect. That is instinct. I’ve learnt to hear it, value it and be in tune with it for self preservation. Our anatomy is built to protect itself and our minds are yet to understand how it happens… well I am to..
When you travel solo and are responsible for yourself, you will face a million moments where you will need to take decisions. I have learnt, to simply trust my instinct. The slightest hesitation in my body language and I stop myself, the moment I feel I can trust and my mind is not crowded with what it has been conditioned to think, I've let go and discovered amazing places and wonderful people.

Shark Diving

2. Impulse: When I'm travelling on my own, I need to keep reminding myself of my safety and budget. Yes, I'm mostly on a tight budget and as many of us, I have my vices. Travelling Solo teaches you to control your impulses and plan better. I have a weakness for shoes and well anything unique I see in my travels. For various reasons, from luggage allowance to money to better plans, I've learnt how to control my wants for my needs. 
For example, I found out that I could go White Shark diving in South Africa but had a limited budget, so I gave up on some much needed coffees and sandwiches and luxurious dining options for this once in a lifetime experience. 
It’s now so easy for me not to splurge on shoes cause I'm looking at them and thinking that this pair may give me some .. some feel good moments but saving this money and spending it on my travel will give me memories I’ll share with my grandchildren .. hahah!

So my solo travel teaches me self control, planning and being wise with money.

Be funny! Be YOU!

     3. Independence: I can only talk about the society I've been brought up in, where most decisions taken by us are… ummm… well communal. Many of us are Financially Independent, but rarely do we really understand the concept of Independence. Here is my concept of Independence. I have a mind of my own and I've learnt to express myself and my ideologies with my own logic. Not by what I was told, but by what I experience. Yes, I can take care of myself and choose not to seek permissions to live my own life.

Sounds easy right? Well, it is! It however does not mean that I don't need anyone. I need my family, my husband, my friends. To love me, support me and suggest me, but Travel taught me to be ok .. rather happy on my own too. When I started travelling solo, we didn't have whatsapp on our mobile phones where I could go into a cafe ask for the wifi code and tell my parents I was ok or see videos on youtube or FB. With days and weeks at hand in a foreign country and no internet, you have no choice but to connect with yourself. And in that connection I found my Inner Peace, my Self-Recognition, my Self-Acceptance and my being comfortable in my own skin for real. And that is my definition of Independence.

Stone Henge

4. Interests: When any of my friends come to me with their guy troubles, I have often used a standard line… “It’s ok.. you are learning what you don't want.” I feel everything that has happened in my life so far has happened for a reason, good or bad. And that we are supposed to learn from it. Had it not been the series of unfortunate events that had happened in my life, I wouldn't be here. Here, with the man I 

      love, in the home I live in, with the friends I've earned and travelling and being able to express my thoughts and feelings by writing. Each incident teaches us a little more about ourselves. What we like, what we don’t, what triggers us, what calms us down.

For example; I went to LA and hated it cause I felt it had no character or history, well.. turned out that even though I hated history as a subject in school I am actually a history buff. The names I crammed only to pass my tests are now my subjects of absolute interest. I used to think I didn't like experimenting with food, I was wrong (thank god!). Unpatriotic people piss me off the most and music can heal me in ways you can't fathom.

Post my accidents I had become … umm… cautious. Yes, Cautious with my body and would never even try the normal stuff. 45 days across 11 countries in Europe and I've figured I can walk for almost 15 Kms in a day and I'm perfectly capable of carrying my suitcase and I can change the tyres of a car without breaking a sweat.

Making Friends in Berlin

5. Intelligence: No I don't mean the regular intelligent. I think travel makes you worldly intelligent. It has made me street smart and oh trained me on how to quickly identify and not put up with bullshitters. I must confess, I was very naive till some years back, but once you are out there on your own, trying to make the best of your time and opportunities, one just does become more intelligent and fast at decision making.

And the other Intelligence, the most under-rated one… Emotional Intelligence. Boy have I learnt to respond instead of reacting and later regretting. Well, I’m still learning to be honest but am definitely on the right path. I now choose to discuss instead of debate, I vent out even the smallest irritants by communicating instead of becoming a pressure cooker. All the exposure to so many cultures and languages and people, changes you. Makes you a better listener, more helpful and broad minded to the literal meaning of it. Tolerant and respectful of everyone's way and reason of being. Something I don't think I would have learnt had I not travelled and come back to a room alone, left to mull over the events of the day and smile about them.

So go on out there… Explore! Experiment! and Excite your life! And get some more of "I"! :)

Explore Yourself!