I had planned and even booked trips to Kazakhstan a few times before. Those trips never happened for many different reasons – visa was a pain in the a**, flights got canceled due to Pakistan airspace closure, etc. This time the stars aligned a lot better. The flights are operating normally and new flights are starting on the route. The complicated visa process has been … Continue reading Kazakhstan – A planners delight!
It was getting a little tiring – several long road trips, loads of eating and walking, and even more passive smoking. In addition, some incredible history – stories, paintings, sculptures, and monuments just blow your mind. They take you back a few thousand years and put you in awe of how it all could have been built and then how it all survived. There was … Continue reading Day 9, 10: Saving the best for last – Saqqara and the Museum
The drive to Luxor was slower than expected, though it did include some amazing history. Our driver from the trip to Abu Simbel had agreed to drive us to Luxor while stopping at most of the historic sites in Aswan on the way. He had also promised to include a meal in my fixed price. Little did I know that he would want to include … Continue reading Day 4: The drive to Luxor!
We woke up early with one unified objective – to eat some good food. There was a list of good places that had been circulating amongst us and there were many options for lunches and dinners, but only two for breakfast. We had only two breakfasts to be had – so we picked up Kanha Sweets to start day 2. Located about a 10-minute drive … Continue reading Amritsar: Food and Atari, on Day 2
It had been decided that Key and Dhankar were the two monasteries we would visit on this beautiful Sunday. There was a small twist in the tale – the owner of the hotel had put in our heads the name of a third monastery – Lalung. He said it was more off the beaten path and had a fascinating 900-year-old collection of gold plated Buddha … Continue reading Spiti – Monasteries and Landslides: Part 2
The city has so subtly crept into the Indian lexicon that we barely noticed. One of the most famous Indian restaurant known for its succulent kebabs was named after it – aptly because some of the kebabs and shashlik in Bukhara was sublime. Plums also derive their Hindi name from this city -“Alu Bukhara”. While “Alu” is a potato in Hindi, it is a Plum … Continue reading Bukhara – Small, colourful and full of character
The modern Indian (especially North Indian) culture has more roots in the seldom discussed country of Uzbekistan than most would believe. While the Guptas and Tomaras have been rulers of North India for a long time, the area was plundered by Taimur in the 15th century. This completely reset the culture and even some of the history as we read it. Post that, the Mughals … Continue reading Uzbekistan – Planning to see the history of our culture
The unusual problem of 2020 needed some unorthodox solutions. The solution to the ‘no-travel’ problems seems to be road trips to wildlife sanctuaries. I grew up traveling to these nature hotspots, so this isn’t very crazy for me. However, a year of back-to-back visits does sound a bit much. Though this is 2020, anything is possible. For a while, we flip-flopped between Bharatpur and Sariska … Continue reading Sariska – A short drive to nature
It’s been about 17 years since I have been traveling by myself or with friends and family. Every trip has its mix of good and bad experiences, fortunately, more good than bad. This journey of journeys has been a great teacher. Everyone falls into tourist traps and I have as well. Over the years, I have learned my bit on how to identify them. That … Continue reading Avoiding Tourist Traps
The drive to our hotel in Nusa Dua was surprisingly smooth and raised some hopes for finding less traffic for the remaining half of the trip. The hotel was fabulous and luxurious. The ground floor rooms opened into a lawn with direct access to the beach – that was amazing. The food was more expensive than the smaller places we had been to, but it … Continue reading Bali – serenity of Nusa Dua and some hidden gems
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