TO MY READERS

This is my blog. I come and share here my travel stories mostly.
However, I do not know who reads my blog. I do not have followers. Actually I have two followers to be precise. But not sure if they really follow my blog.

Still I come here time and again to write about traveling and of course stories related to my travel - life. Although the relation could be minute sometimes. I have never spoken about this blog to my friends and family. Of course some very close ones know. But never did I blew a trumpet or beat drums to shout and say :

I HAVE A BLOGGGGGGG.

I need not do that now. I want people to follow this amateur traveler with their own interest. Yet, every time I come here, I see the number of views always going up. Its 3161 views now in a year and half with 176 posts. A lot or very little, I dont know. But this little growth in numbers gives me immense pleasure. A twinkle in my eyes. A thirst in  my mind to travel more and courage to write more.

Thank you my readers.

HO L I II II II II IIII IIIII .........17th March

It is around. One of the grand festivals of India. The colours would be around every where. Tomorrow it is already starting. There would be joy, fun, smiles, drinks, delicious food etc etc.

 It has been ages now since I played Holi. Last year I was in a very secluded town called Puerto Natales in Chile and was super jealous seeing my friend's pictures etc. Last to last year, I was also traveling in South-east Asia and could not play holi. The year before I had to work on the occasion :(

In short, its been 4 long years I am deprived of the colour blast. So while I was in that secluded town in Chile, which is also very beautiful, I had made a promise to be part of this colourful festival this year. The planning is on and so would be the colours. The excitement has gone beyond the limits.

How are you going to play Holi ?
Wish you all a very colourful and safe Holi!!

1 PICTURE STORY #1

Mama Baba, I am too little to be a tourist. I want to be break free and explore the world. 

Ephesus, Turkey

26.06.2012

This little naughty one got bored of the huge tour group and escaped from the hands of his parents to run in another direction. Ofcourse he does not care about the Roman empire and its grandeur. In the beginning they were confident that he would not go too far. But for him there was no stop and he ran like break-free. His folks got worried. His mummy daddy were running after him towards us and was looking at us with an anticipation of help. Some of us did while I was capturing the beautiful moment. 

Sometimes, this little kid is within all of us. 

Magic of no 3

On Mahashiva Ratri:

Numeric 3 is very auspicious in Hindu Mythology. Most importantly 3 represents the 3 lords; the creator Bramha, the maintainer Vishnu and the destroyer Shiva. 

As per the tradition, on the ocassion of Mahashiva Ratri, the Priest would take the grand oil lamp to go around the Shiva Linga 3 times and then climb the temple top to encircle 3 times the TRISULA( 3 head weapon held by lord Shiva).

On comencement of this tradition, the devotees fasting all day would break their fast. So now its time I eat after the all day strict fasting of no food no water Hihaaaha

MY FLYING MARATHON # 2

Another Flying Marathon!

So cool, I never have to run in those marathon, although these flights get very hectic for sitting in the plane for hour long. My bum which stick to the seat burns and cries. Yet I have to do these flying Marathon for my travel.

I have done it to cross countries,continents and oceans. But this one was with in India. Although this is nothing less hectic for the fact that my country is huge. It is a sub-continent not to forget.
It was my best friend Christina's Wedding. So I decided nevertheless I will take the pain and do it.

So, here is the Itinerary :
DAY I: Bhubaneswar - Hyderabad - Bangalore (16 hours by plane with a stop in HYD)
DAY II: Rest in Bangalore
DAY III : Bangalore - Trivandum (1 hour by plane)
DAY IV : Trivandrum - Thiruvalla (6 hours by local bus)
DAY V : Christina's Wedding.
DAY VI : Thiruvalla - Trivandrum (6 hours by local bus)
DAY VII : Trivandrum - Bangalore (1 hour by plane)
DAY VIII - XX : Vacation in Banaglore.
Day XXI :  Bangalore - Hyderabad - Bhubaneswar (16 hours by plane with a stop in HYD)

All this pain is worth it to meet your friends. For the never ending talks, the smiles, the jokes, franks, laughs, shopping, photographs, food and above all the journey. 

CHRISTINA'S WEDDING !!

The occasion was Christina's wedding. She was getting married in a Church in Kerala.
This was enough for me to play with my ideas. A catholic wedding. A wedding in a Church like in movies. It would be my first time for the fact that I have never been in a Catholic wedding. I have to wear a suit, look very chic.

But before I started from Bhubaneswar to this little beautiful town of Kerala called Thiruvalla, my friend Augustine who is also the brother of Christina, broke the bubble. The groom's side follow the Syrian Orthodox church. So it would be nothing like walking the aisle, all night dancing with the band etc etc.

Nevertheless, I was still very excited. I was meeting my best friends Augustine, Christina and Velu after long time. There is a wedding, it would be fun. So all the pain of doing the flying Marathon, the local buses, shopping for the wedding paid off when I got to see the little bit more of my country, a tiny beautiful bit which I would not go otherwise. I and my best friend Jorge were with the best hosts. The unique wedding of the Syrian Orthodox Christians, the wedding dinner, all night party in the house boa in the backwaters of Allepey was a great experience.

 It is not my first Catholic wedding but it is one I loved a lot.

FROM MY WINDOW SEAT # 2

This beautiful picture is beautiful for the experience and not for the colour, effect or angel of the photo.

It happened from the bus Trivandrum - Thiruvalla. The ride was great and there was a church every 500 mts. I heard some drums and trumpets. A march of people dressed in ethnic attire and I peeped out of the window to see a huge traditional processions. There were two elrphants with the golden headgears, ornsmented with jewellery and colours and red umbrellas on top. It was a great moment for 10 seconds and there was a huge adrenaline rush in our blood. We both did not have our cameras handy. Our hands were stamering and we made pictures with our Iphone. My heart was pumping blood twice than normal and it was beating Dhoom Dhoom Dhoom along with the drums.

Here is the picture to tell the story of a grand experience from my Window seat.

ITS THIRUVALLAM... NO NO ITS THIRUVALLA

It was the usual, I arrived at the international airport of Trivandrum then go for walk with my friend Jorge around the area, see the beach, drank some juice and took rickshaw for finding a hotel in the city center.

It was difficult to find a place. All of them were full. But in the end it was decent place with a large bedroom, clean sheets and good toilet. 

The motto was to do some shopping for the wedding. So there was no window open for sightseeing. 

Although there was a big part of me wanted to go around the city. But I knew that I was coming back in two days. So we did lot of shopping, ate some great Kerala food and then it was time to leave for the Wedding.

Its been two days that my friend says Thiruvallam with the "m" almost silent. So I was assuming its his way of pronunciation as he is Portuguese. So they were relaxed as its only 15 minutes by bus from Trivandrum. That was a big surprise moment for me as I had checked its not less than 3.5 hrs from Trivandrum. 

I asked them are you sure its 15 minutes as seems one impossible ride to me unless you have a private plane ;)
They were like yes its a beach near by and takes only 15 minutes. Are you sure, its Thiruvalla? 

Aww, Thiruvalla!! Its too far. This was the reaction of Tom a friend from Trivandrum. We all were speechless. But I knew and was prepared for the Journey. However Jorge and Tom were very surprised as they expected a church wedding by the beautiful beach of Thiruvallam. 

I told them its Thiruvalla and not Thiruvallam. I dont even know or heard of this place Thiruvallam. So

we all moved to the bus station. 

I thought that there would be some air conditioned buses too. But no there were only local buses going there. We got the seats in the end and I knew it would be great adventure. The drive was great and the breeze was doing the fanning effect. I passed out for a little while and woke up to see the beautiful countryside of Kerala. Beautiful scenery, churches and the smiling people. It took us exactly 4 hours to reach the stop by Joyalukkas Jewellery in Thiruvalla where our friend Augustine was waiting for us. 

Lovely bus ride indeed for 84 ruppes each.

A hotel room : 750 ₹

We arrived in the city center looking for rooms and seems like all rooms full.

We walked quite a bit and in some streets  where other tourists would warn, don't even try : no rooms available. But we had no prior booking and had the backpacks on. So left no stones unturned. We even landed up in a dodgy place which rents room on hourly basis to couples. Of course we all know why. We did not even see the receptionist and escaped. I doubt there was one.

So between our heavy bags, busy street life, scorching heat of the day etc; Jorge said, Lets try this one since we are trying all the hotels on our way. The name says Hotel President and looks expensive. Lets try. So we were there at the reception and the guy says 750 INR for a double bed room non AC with 24 hr check out policy. As per the custom we went to check the room and it was a huge bedroom, with a large bed, clean sheets, TV, a big and clean toilet. There was even a dressing room. Seriously, it was really worth to walk around and finally arrive here. We were happy and dropped our bags immediately. 

It was a great stay in room no 107. The only thing to complain was the mattress were still with the polypacks which make noise while u take turns on the bed and the mosquitos. 

I would recommend Hotel President in Trivandrum for the clean and spacious room, friendly staff.

FROM MY WINDOW SEAT #1

Its a blue sky with beautiful clouds. There were some mountains popping out of those clouds. Suddenly its the vast sea that could be noticed from the loops of the clouds. Then also there are the sea meeting the land beautifully. Like a swift the day changes to night because the journey is long. The sky is getting yellow to orange. The dazzling lights of the cities. The lush green landscape running away from you. The vehicles moving in all directions. Then there are sellers selling anything. The feeling of the railway tracks moving. The shops, people, lifestyle, process, the scenery etc all you leave behind because you are on the move. You are moving ahead. All that jazz from the aeroplane, train, car window etc if one gets lucky.

Sometimes you are too tired to check the  views and pass out when the flight takes off. Same was the girl next to me at the window seat. I decided to make some pictures from the center seat as the view was incredible from my Bangalore - Trivandrum flight. 

Here is one of those beautiful picture from my Aeroplane just 2 minutes before I landed in Kerala.