Alluring Raya Island, Thailand

The shaky platform- Our drop point

How excited are you on your 1st abroad trip, I was very excited. My friends and I were very clear where our 1st abroad trip was going to be. There was no doubt in our heads that it was going to be Thailand, because of many factors like budget, beaches, shopping, partying, I am not going to say food as I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. But what surprised me was my friend’s choice of Raya Island out of the numerous famous/touristy islands we could have gone to. However, I am glad I went ahead with this decision.

The trip was planned for the month of November. Just a week before our trip Thailand was hit by heavy rains. By the day of our departure Thailand was flooded. I always try and see the positive of every scenario, due to the floods, the crowd of tourists were very less. I personally enjoy less crowded spots.

In front of the resort

From Bangalore via Bangkok we reached Phuket. The only sight I could see from our flight window was water and water everywhere. One was the ocean and the other was the flood water on the land. From Phuket we took a speedboat to Raya Island, it’s a 30 minute choppy yet tantalizing ride. The sea got more crystalline as we got closer to the island. Once we reached Raya Island, the drop point is a little scary as obviously the boat doesn’t go to the shore, we needed to walk on a platform floating on water for approx. 50 meters to reach the beach, due to the breeze and water movement below, it kept shaking. I was sure one of us will fall in the sea but luckily nothing dramatic happened.

One of the walks

We reached around midday, the 1st sight of the island was breathtaking, white powdery sand and crystal clear blue water. There were just 4 resorts on the island (Not sure if there are more now). All the meals were on the beach. We ate, relaxed, snorkeled- the water is perfect for this, kayaked (my 1st time kayaking was here in the sea), I was skeptical because as much as I love the sea I am also aware that we have no control over it. I guess too many effects of movies on me. I have done numerous water activities after this and I am still scared but I don’t let fear overtake me. I feel very satisfied when I overcome my fear.

View from a hillock

Since it’s a small island you can walk around the island and mix with the local islanders, on one of our walks we had to cut through a village and that’s when we realized the locals keep water monitor lizards as pets. The lizards look a lot like Komodo dragons. We didn’t get a picture as it was too dark to click pictures and we wanted to get away from them ASAP. I really advise going on these walks as you get a feel of the island and the local culture. But do get back before dark as it’s pretty scary in the dark. The moonlight/torch is your only source of light there (I was there much before the smart phones arrived). Being shut off from the hustle and bustle of the world gave us a paradise like stay and after 4 days when the time came for us to leave, I felt as if I got up from a dream to get back to reality.

We then flew to Bangkok for 2 days, apart from crazy shopping, I did nothing there. I personally loved the shopping in Bangkok and feel it’s a shopper’s paradise as it caters to various and different budgets. I returned to India smiling and satisfied as finally we had managed to do our 1st abroad trip.

Thailand, I will definitely see you again, you have a lot to offer. I love this country.

A quiet spot

Points to note:

Raya is also called Racha Island.

Anyone interested in snorkeling, my suggestion is to buy a snorkeling kit and keep it, as renting snorkeling kits by the hour is nearly the same or maybe more than the price of a new one.

With it raining heavily one day before we landed, to not raining even once through our whole trip I realized it does have unpredictable weather.

Beautiful Sunrise

Manori Beach, Mumbai

Mumbai, I am not sure if this city needs an introduction. But assuming if even one of my readers doesn’t have a clue about this city, I’ll write a brief introduction. If I have to say it in a few sentences. It’s a chaotic city functioning without any chaos. People have no time for anything or anyone. The city of dreams. The city of skyscrapers. The hustle and bustle of the city can scare a newcomer but anyone who has stayed in this city even for a short while will fall in love with it, (which includes me too). It’s the busiest city in India hence due to lack of time for a relaxed vacation I know many people would prefer to book a 5 star hotel and spend the weekend there. However my style is a bit different, due to lack of time I chose the Manori Beach. It may not have the 5 star atmosphere but it definitely helped me unwind for the weekend. There are a lot of places within the 2 – 3 hours’ drive range, this is the closest though.

There are two options to reach Manori, either drive down or take a boat from the Marve jetty, I opted for the later. I went by boat from Marve beach. It comes every 20 mins. Tickets prices are INR 10 (One way)

As soon as the boat crosses over the other end the chaos ends. The Kolis and East Indian Roman Catholics dominate this village. The atmosphere is more or less like Goa, pretty chilled out. There are a numerous resorts to stay in. I stayed in one along the beach which has a lovely swimming pool. This trip was with my husband, we swam in the pool, went for rejuvenating long walks along the beach in the mornings and evenings, we ate, slept and relaxed. This is all we wanted to do. I am sure there are a lot more activities one can do, I hope to be a little more adventurous next time. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to play in the beach water because I found it very dirty.

For people who are interested in amusement parks, the famous Essel world is close by and for the ones who need a calmer atmosphere, there is the Global Vipasanna pagoda (Meditation hall), it’s a meditation centre. Entry is allowed for all. I didn’t visit the Essel world however the Vipassana centre attracted me it is the largest stone dome structure in the world built without supporting pillars, earlier one was the GolGumbaz in Bijapur. However, this is nearly three times bigger than that. Do note, though the vipassna centre is open on all days, the timings are from 9:00 hours – 18:00 hours.

It’s a perfect getaway if time is a big hurdle.

For the foodie: The food is good, I wouldn’t say great though. There are very limited options. Most of the resorts have their own kitchen and there are a few small restaurants. One particular place is near the Auto stand. It’s run by a local couple and on the weekends their 2 sons help them out. I loved the Misal Pav and the sandwiches there. Apart from this nothing else stands out.

Gudguda Waterfall, Odisha

Odisha; is the “The soul of incredible India” with the eastern ghats on one side and the 500km coastline of Bay of Bengal on the other, hence it’s not a  surprise to have some fabulous beaches. Then come the wildlife sanctuaries, which help in maintaining the bio diversity and preserving the natural environment, in and round the forest area there are a lot of waterfalls and other water bodies. Odisha also has a very rich heritage and culture, which include the wonderful handicraft and a lot of exquisite temples and Buddhist relics. It also has a very prosperous mining and industrial belt in the region like Iron ore, Bauxite, Coal etc.

Gudguda Waterfall

I happened to visit my aunt who stays in the mining belt in Bonai; Dist- Sundargarh, Its 70 kms from Rourkela, the nearest Railway station. Since it was my 1^st visit to this part of Odisha. I was very intrigued and excited. I ended up visiting alot of interesting places, I consider myself lucky to have visited them. One such place is Gudguda waterfall in Sambalpur dist.

Downstream of Gudguda waterfall

Its approx. 70 km from Bonai, we started our journey approx. 11:00 hours and reached there around 13:00 hours. From Bonai to Gudguda the road cuts through dense forest and a lot of mango and litchi orchards. There is hardly any traffic on this stretch except for the occasional truck. The only little complaint I had on this serene drive is that the road is like a patchwork, some places are very smooth and others we had to slow down considerably as it was pretty bad. If food is your priority do carry it from home because we came across only one place for food (it was shut too).

In the midst of the dense forest we reached a clearing which had a board announcing our arrival to the waterfall. The mountain is called Gudguda and hence the name of the waterfall. Once we reached Gudguda we had to walk approx. 200 mtrs. in the forest to reach this beautiful pool formation waterfall, it has another 6 waterfalls above it, it’s also known as the 7 step waterfall. The climb to the other 6 waterfalls looked quite steep and difficult, it would have taken us more than 3 hours to reach and since I was with family I wasn’t allowed to be my adventurous self. However that is the reason I will visit this place again.

We managed to have a dip in the chilly water and managed to curb our hunger by eating the little bit of snacks we carried. Playing in the water increases the appetite by leaps and bounds. That’s why I mention again to carry enough food while on this trip.

Forest around the waterfall

It was a very tranquil place with only our family group (Heard it’s pretty crowded on weekends though) and 3 tribal men, one was catching crabs with his bare hands, he was pretty good at it and the other two were basking in the sun.

 Life and its simple pleasures

Downstream of Gudguda Wasterfall

Boracay, Philippines

View from our hotel

I am fascinated by South East Asia and to visit all the countries on this side of the globe is on my long term agenda. This time it was Boracay, Philippines. We had made the flight tickets to Boracay atleast 6 months in advance .The flight tickets are quite cheap when made much before the travel date. However, it can backfire sometimes. As for this one, we had connecting flights and the last minute the 1st airline delayed by a few hours so we would have missed the remaining flights. I am not getting into details of this, but as the saying goes - All well that ends well. We made it to Boracay.

Station 1

It’s a tiny island, just 7 kms. in length. It is not a very easy destination to reach though.  We landed at the Kalibo international airport, then took a taxi for 77 kms across a picturesque hilly region to reach the Catilan Jetty, then a 15 min. boat ride (There are numerous islands these boats go to. Do remember to get onto the correct boat) to reach Boracay Jetty point and then a tricycle (Autos as it’s called in India) from there, he dropped us off approx. 600 meters from our hotel, The last leg of the journey was literally with our legs, we had to walk with our luggage to the hotel as the roads were very narrow. From the Kalibo Airport to reach the hotel took us more than 6 hours. But the travel was worth what was in store for us.

Station 2

Boracay is divided into 3 Stations, Station 1 has the more expensive and luxurious resorts , station 2 has hotels which are lighter on the wallet, very crowded, packed with pubs and eating joints, good for partying , station 3 is mid-range hotels with less crowd, the atmosphere is calmer here.  

Our hotel was on the beach in Station 3. What immediately caught my eye about Boracay is, tourist outnumber the locals. I would like to point out that Boracay is buzzing with people throughout the day and night. It’s not for people who like quiet secluded beaches. Unless you do manage to find some secluded spot. I found it to be an island for the party goer and for people interested in sports. I went in the month of January, that’s the season time. Off season could be alot less crowded.

Station 3

Next day went in exploring the stations on foot. Walking is the best way to check out the stations and get a feel of the island. In the morning there is a laidback crowd, in the evenings the scenes change, all shops, restaurants and pubs get lit up, Musical groups crop out everywhere, groups doing fire stunts, barmen trying to lure us to their joints, tourists partying away like there is no tomorrow, small massage joints everywhere. Try the massage, they are not very expensive but you’ll be lucky if you get a trained one to do it.

Kitesurfing in Bulabog Beach

There are numerous activities here to give an adrenaline rush, we tried out Scuba diving, Paddle boat, Zip line- The view was out of the world and for the 1^st time we tried out kite surfing on Bulabog Beach, This sport is a lot about balance so if you have a knack for it, give it a try. However there were alot more activities like cliff diving, parasailing, helmet diving to name a few. We didn’t try them due to various reasons like fear, weather conditions, lack of time and budget constraints

A day went in going around the island on a tricycle, Mount Luho is worth mentioning as it’s the highest peak in Boracay and the entire island is visible from there. The view is breathtaking.

Zipline

As we were leaving, even though I thoroughly enjoyed this small yet beautiful island. I could have been a bit more adventurous in terms of food and sporting activities. When a chance is offered don’t miss it because it might be your only chance.

 It’s a beautiful island, even with the crowd of tourists everywhere there is a sense of tranquility.

Scuba Diving

For the Foodie: I am not a foodie, this is just a brief note of what I found interesting there. I tried a local specialty called Balut- It’s a fertilized duck egg, boiled/steam and eaten from the shell, you need to try it for yourself to find out the taste, I wouldn’t ever try it out again. I stuck to my bread and butter and cup ‘o ‘noodles. But there are a large number of international joints, like American, Italians, Japanese and Korean. In fact we came across an Indian Punjabi joint too. If you want to try Filipino food, then try seafood curry, adobo and lechon and lumpia  These are some favorite local dishes. The milk shakes were quite good. Mango was my personal favorite.

Do Note: Weather in this tropical country is very unpredictable, expect the rain anytime. Luckily for us it rained only on the day we were getting into the island.

A beautiful Sunset

Aul & Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha

Bhitarkanika Mangrove Forest

 I had thought my vacation quota for 2016 were exhausted, but apparently not.The last one happened out of the blue. It was unlike my previous vacations, as it was with family ( I hardly have any holidays with cousins), it was in their heritage property, plus for the 1st time I was visiting a crocodile sanctuary. I gave a part of myself away to Dhenkanal, Aul & Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in the last few days of 2016. I will write about Dhenkanal in another article as that was totally a different experience altogether. In case, many are wondering where these places are, all three are in Odisha, The soul of Incredible India.

View from one of the terrace at Killa Aul Palaca

Aul in Kendrapara district is approx 135 kms from Bhubaneshwar. However, my drive was a detour. My journey started from Dhenkanal via Jajpur (Approx 160 kms). We started around 10:00 hours on a cold wintry foggy morning. Our 1st pit stop was the Biraja Temple in Jajpur, after a very fulfilling darshan and a scrumptious lunch in a locals house, we realized we had spent a good 4 hours in Jajpur. The remaining of the journey was just 45 kms. The directions we got from the locals was - The roads are excellent and its just a straight road, Either we misunderstood their direction or our definition of good straight roads are different from theirs because from Jajpur to Aul the only roads we got were winding, not so good roads. We reached by 18:00 hours, it was already dark. We were welcomed by the Aul Royal family in their 16th century property "Killa Aul Palace" in the warmest manner possible and the evening fun started with a large bonfire and super sized prawn barbecue made right in front of us, followed by a hearty big delicious dinner, we were served three different dishes of prawns. The family loves to feed the yummiest food to all.The stay is a bliss for sea food lovers.

Meenakari Fresco work  on the walls of Killa Aul Palace

Our morning started at 3:30 hours, It was a festival of Brahajew- The local deity, We had decided  to visit the 500 year old Lakshmi Brahajew temple, which was approx 1 km from our place of stay. We were very lucky to witness the Aarti (lighted lamps offered to god/goddess ). We got back around 06:30 hours. After yummy cups of tea and a quick but heavy breakfast we set out for Bhitarkanika, Crocodile sanctuary and the second largest mangrove forest in India. The jetty point is approx 25 kms from Aul.

Walk inside the sanctuary

We alongwith the guide sat on the roof of the boat to get a better view of the wild animals and enjoy the beauty of the mangrove forest. I have never seen such different sizes of crocodiles, from 1 month old babies to the biggest one of Approx 24 feet. We came across more than 50 of the Saltwater crocodiles. we also saw herds of  spotted deer, wild boar, water monitor lizards, crabs, rhesus monkeys, fish (saltwater & river fish) and alot of migratory birds. The guide took us for a 3 km walk on one of the many island in the sanctuary. Many people are skeptical about going for it. I would recommend it to all, as its a very fascinating experience, with the mangrove forest on either side and the only sound are the birds chirping. It does make one feel  eerie at times though. We reached a watch tower from where we could spot animals, we were lucky to spot 3 Wild boars from there, further down  we came across a few ruins and ancient temples and a lovely lily pond. After crossing the pond, the youngest niece aged 9 shouted with excitement that she saw a crocodile, we all thought she was upto her pranks as usual. However, it actually turned out to be a crocodile approx  16 feet in length basking in the sun just besides our path.This can be described as my scariest experience in a forest. But as it goes for most wild animals, they attack only if hungry or they feel threatened. So we took pictures of this magnificent beast and moved on.

Saltwater Crocodile just besides our path

On our way back in the river it was low tide so we saw many many more crocodiles and other animals mentioned earlier. I specifically mentioned low tide as during high tide its difficult to spot crocodiles as they are mostly underwater. We were getting late, hence we didn't stop at Dangmal- Its the research and breeding center, ( Its inside the sanctuary).  I've heard its worth a visit though.

Children with their kayaks

The day followed by kayaking just behind the heritage property. The kayaks were just bought and it was the 1st day of putting them to use. Hence the atmosphere had alot of excitement (Credit goes to the younger lot though).

The next day we had an refreshing early morning guided tour around the property, we walked  among the ruins ( Every ruin has an interesting mysterious story behind it) and the numerous herbal and fruit bearing trees. Any one interested in History or Botany will love this part of the stay.

This was a short stay of 1 day and 2 nights. However the memories I collected from here are numerous. These 2 places are a delight for nature lovers

.

Walk among the ruins in Killa Aul Palace

Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu

The superstition belief is,what one does on Jan 1st usually defines what the whole year is going to be like. I am not superstitious but I think I'll go with this one. As for me the year 2015 was a year of travel. I had started the New years  with one my best trips in South India.

Ekambareswarar Temple

On a rainy Jan 1st morning, I alongwith a group of friends left from Bangalore by road to Mahabalipuram (Approx 350 kms). All my road trips start around 4:00 am. We want to miss the morning traffic which adds an extra hour to our journey. Our 1st halt was in a small south Indian joint on the highway. It was just across the border in Tamilnadu. I wanted to focus and say Tamilnadu because many people don't/can't distinguish the cuisines from the 4 southern states. Let me tell you its very different and my favorite is Tamilnadu cuisine.... I can see the smile on all my tamilian friends reading this. I absolutely love tamilian food.

The road was excellent till a diversion for Kanchipuram, our next stop.(Approx 280 kms from Bangalore) Its a big place, we could have bypassed it but we decided to go in and visit the lovely Dravidian temples out there, we managed to visit just one though- the Ekambareswarar Temple, if not for religion do visit it for the architectural beauty. The women of our gang including me ended up buying the very popular, must have Kanjivaram silk saree.

The remainder journey was just 70 kms but it took us approx 2.5 hours as the road from here is quite narrow with a lot of buses and trucks.

Kanjivaram Silk Saree

We then reached Mahabalipuram by 15:00 hours, we were very hungry,and went to find a place to eat. We settled for Gecko cafe, the service was very slow and by the time we finished our food it was 17:00 hours. Now with our stomach full we walked to the beach. Most of the hotels and restaurants are walking distance to the beach. The main beach was like any crowded touristy beach, from people selling balloons to eatable, parents screaming at children not to go too deep into the water,horse rides and various other activities which took away my focus from the main attraction- The beach. We decided to head back and check out a quieter part of the beach in the morning. While walking back my friend who wants to become a professional surfer ( I really pray you become a surfer and buy your dream sail boat too) saw a place where they teach surfing-  Mumu surf school. The next day went in surfing.Its a very difficult sport however, I would suggest everyone to try it once and check the same for themselves. What I really liked about the owner of the surfing place is he gives the local kids his surfboard to play around with, in return he asks them to clean the beach.Thus the beach is clean and the little kids from age 5 to 15 learn this difficult sport in no time .

Shore Temple

We went to the shore temple, if you rack your brains, you ll remember we've learnt it in history.Its been classified as a  UNESCO world heritage site  The location of the temple is spectacular. It faces the beach and is surrounded on the other sides by a well maintained park.There are 3 temples in the complex, It will easily take upto 2 hours to see around the temple. The weather here was hot and humid as expected.However since we had decided to visit the monuments of the place we  visited a few more like the Pancha rathas, Arjunas penance, Lighthouse, Pancha pandava caves, Most of the monuments are walking distance from one another but due to the hot and humid weather we didn't manage to see them all.

In the evening two of our friends had to leave for Bangalore via Chennai, we dropped them at the bus stand in Chennai. My advice- Please don't follow GPS blindly, as it  showed us the way to the bus stand but it was the back wall which had no gate to get in. I've experienced this in railway stations too.On our way back to Mahabalipuram we decided to ask people/traffic cops on the road for direction instead, Asking for direction in Chennai was worse than the GPS fiasco, we kept going in circles till we decided we just follow GPS, it was one of the scariest late night drives, We were directed along the most lonely stretch. Not a soul in sight. I was very glad to reach our resort finally after a good 5 hours, the distance we had to drive was just 60 kms on very good roads.

Pancha Rathas

The remaining of the vacation went in me lazing around in the beach and my friends surfing or taking a boat ride into the sea.

After such a lovely vacation, the big spoiler was on our drive back to Bangalore, the traffic on Hosur road, near Bangalore. Next day being a working day all professionals like us were getting back after their (hopefully) lovely vacations.






For the foodie: Most of our meals went in eating at Gecko cafe, Though the service was slow and the food was average, we were too lazy to try a different place. One lunch was tried at Moonraker- Good food but too crowded. I personally didn't like the ambience. Try the German cafe, run by a few Nepalis, we had an English breakfast there, food was delicious.

Hope this year is filled with adventure and travel for all of you. Happy 2017

The Beach