Traveling is good
मैं तो जाने के लिये एकदम तैयार था लेकिन कुछ समस्यायें थी। एक तो कार्यलय से इतनी लम्बी छुट़्टी मिलनी आसान नहीं थी और दूसरा घर से सहमति (अनुमति) लेना भी जरुरी था। मुझे पहला काम ज्यादा मुश्किल लगा और शुरुआत वहीं से की। बॉस ने कुछ ना नुकर के बाद कहा, ठीक है , अवकाश के लिये आवेदन कर दो देख लेंगे ।
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After check-in, we took a walk in the resort, it is a not a very big resort and does not have a very nice view unless you go on the terrace of the reception. It has a nice swimming pool though and not to mention that we spent that evening in the swimming pool as kids does not wanted to do anything else. I inquired about the must see things from hotel staff and they mentioned about Jungle Safari with Jungle Trek, Periyar Tiger Reserve boat ride in a man made lake, Kerala Martial Art, Kathakkali dance show, Elephant ride and Elephant bathing. We decided to first go to the Jungle Safari, we booked the Jeep for 5:30 AM in the morning. In the evening, we went out for dinner as we wanted to try to local food, we found one restaurant, it was newly opened, they were serving Kerala and north Indian food. We tried both and it was ok kind of food. Interestingly, the waiter who was serving us, told me that he lived in Ghaziabad for few years and has recently moved back and his sister still works as a nurse in one of the hospital in Ghaziabad.
This Jungle tour is a Kerala government 8 hour package tour which includes Jeep, Jungle Safari, Jungle Trek with guide, 30 minutes boat ride in a small lake along with breakfast and Lunch. We started at 6:00 AM sharp in the morning, driver was not very happy as we got late. After about 45 minute drive, we reached the main entrance of Periyar Jungle and our safari started from there, it was about 15 KMS we drove watching couple of monkeys and few birds and reached the government rest house where the Jungle Trek starts. Lots of people were already there and waiting for the breakfast, after having breakfast we were introduced to our guide who was suppose to take us to the Jungle Trek. He gave us a cloth to wrap around the legs to avoid the leaches, he asked whether we wanted to do 1/2/3 hour trek, I silently chose the 2 hr trek, my wife wanted to have 3 hour trek, but I somehow managed her.
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During our sound sleep around 4am in between our journey to Pune we heard a loud bang and suddenly got out of our sleeps. We realised that our bus met with an accident with another bus and the other bus went into divider and got the front damaged causing human casualties. Sight of an old lady lying on road with blood dripping on the road from her head and many other injured people at 4am in the morning was a horrifying and depressing sight. The driver had few arguments with the people outside and took us to the bus stand where we realised that we have reached Nasik. The driver decided to end the journey there only due to damaged windshield of the bus and refunded us our remaining amount. Then we took another Maharashtra roadways bus to Pune and reached Pune after a long , tiring , scary and adventurous journey of almost forty hours.
We decided to get freshen up at a friend’s flat in Pune and got the tickets booked for the volvo in evening to Bangalore from where we will have to take another bus to Ooty. After taking rest in Pune we boarded the volvo to Bangalore in the evening.
Read MoreI particularly liked a large physical map of Punjab made in cement on the ground depicting river & canal distribution of the state and what all districts they quench. For the first time I saw mushroom “farms”, bater, turkey…I was there on a hot summer noon and the place was kind of deserted and quiet. My thoughts immediately went to-“this is how old Pakistan would also look like”…purposefully narrow and winding streets, a few of them still brick paved…
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…Srinagar’s Tulip Garden is Asia’s largest Tulip garden, which was opened just few days back for the season. It had more than 3 lakh flowers in full bloom imported from Holland…A single visit to House Boat was sufficient to clear all our doubts regarding safely of child, mosquitoes, stinking issues blah blah. We changed our minds and negotiated with the owner of “PANZEY” (House Boat) and settled there for all 3 three nights.
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A little background on this ‘one of its kind’ festival. The “Bonderam” festival is celebrated on the Island of Divar on the fourth Saturday of August every year. The word “Bonderam” originated from the involvement of flags. “Bandeira” is the Portuguese word for flag. It is stated that during the Portuguese rule in Goa there were frequent disputes between two sections of the Divar village, namely Sao Mathias and Piedade over property issues. These often led to violence and fights in the village. Subsequently, the Portuguese introduced a system of demarcation of boundaries with flags.
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ऐसे ही एक सूफी दरवेश हुए हज़रत मोईनुद्दीन चिश्ती, जिनका जन्म 12वीं सदी का माना जाता है. वो पूर्वी ईरान से अजमेर में आकर बसे | अज़मेर, जयपुर से करीब 135 किमी दूर, एक पुराने इतिहास का शहर… ऐसा माना जाता है कि राजा अजयमेरु ने 7वीं शताब्दी में इस शहर का निर्माण करवाया था, अरावली की पर्वत माला में स्थित ये शहर सदियों से अपनी संस्कृति के लिए जाना जाता रहा, और 12वीं शताब्दी तक आते-आते इसका नाम अजमेरू से होता हुया अजमेर हो गया |
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इस श्रंखला की पिछली पोस्ट में मैने आपलोगों को नाथद्वारा स्थित भगवान श्रीनाथ जी की गौशाला, लाल बाग तथा एकलिंग जी के बारे में बताया था उम्मीद है पोस्ट आप सभी को पसंद आई होगी। एकलिंग स्वामी जी के दर्शन करने, मन्दिर में स्थित अन्य छोटे मंदिरों के दर्शन करने तथा कुछ समय मंदिर में बिताने के बाद हम लोग मंदिर के सामने रोड़ से ही एक जीप में सवार होकर उदयपुर की ओर चल पड़े।
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Many a times I have come across people who tell me that they have visited Coorg and my first question would be “Where in…
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The Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India is a famous avifauna sanctuary that plays host to thousands of birds especially during the summer season. Over 230 species of birds are known to have made theNational Park their home. It is also a major tourist centre with scores ofornithologists arriving here in the hibernal season. It was declared a protected sanctuary in 1971. It is also a declared World Heritage Site.[2]
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How can a Jaipur trip be concluded without some shopping? We grabbed a local cab (can be booked from the resort reception only) and requested him to get to a single good place where most of the things are available. Unlike many of the Indian tourist places, drivers and guides in Rajasthan are still unbiased and reliable. He took us to a factory outlet, where they produce staff at the two levels of basement and have three floors of retail and wholesale shop. Got a good bargain of various stuff there. Some of the materials are also available in the resort itself, but as you can imagine those are unreasonably costly and very small collections as compared to the outside outlets.
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बात जब सड़क की हो रही है तो ट्रेफ्फिक और पुलिस की भी कर लें, यूँ लगता है जैसे जयपुर का सारा पुलिस अमला केवल परिवहन की व्यवस्था के लिए ही जिम्मेदार हो ! और ऐसे में यदि आपकी गाडी की नम्बर-प्लेट हरियाणा की है तो सावधान रहिये ! सीट-बेल्ट, मोबाइल पर बात करना, रेड लाइट पार कर जाना… भले ही आपके आस-पास से राजस्थान की अनेक गाड़ियाँ निकल जाएँ पर रोका केवल आपको ही जाएगा ! जयपुर में ऐसे बहुत से खट्टे-मीठे अनुभव हुए और कई बार तो ना चाहते हुए कुछ समझौते भी करने पड़े, एक तो पराया शहर, ऊपर से गाड़ी किसी और की… अपना शहर हो तो झेल भी लें पर यहाँ… समय की भी बंदिश है, परिवार भी साथ है, और इस कमज़ोर नस को हमारे भाई लोग भी बखूबी पहचानते हैं… एक बार तो थक हार कर एक हवलदार से तंज़ भी करना पड़ा, यूँ तो कहते हो ‘पधारो म्हारे देस’ और जब कोई सचमुच पधार ही जाये तो सारे मिलकर उसे लूटने में ही लग जाते हो…. बहरहाल ये बातें तो देश के हर हिस्से में हर किसी के साथ घटती ही रहती हैं, तो आइये अब आगे बढ़ते हैं…
चलिए ऐसा करते हैं, ज़रा शुरू से शुरुआत करते हैं, सोमेश एक छोटे भाई के अलावा एक बेहतरीन मेहमान नवाज़ भी निकला और साफ़ कह दिया कि बिना नाश्ते के नही जाना, दो-दो भाभियाँ हैं मिलकर बना लेंगी बाकी दिन भर आप जो मर्जी खाते रहना और फिर उसने हमे एक कागज़ पर घूमने की जगहों के अलावा उन सभी मशहूर जगहों और खान-पान के ठिकानों का पता भी दे दिया जो जयपुर में अपनी विशिष्टता रखते हैं ! इनमे से सबसे बेहतरीन था ‘स्टेचू सर्कल’ पर रात को क़ाफ़ी पीते हुये ‘हैंग आउट’ करना, जिसे आप जयपुर का मिनी इंडिया-गेट भी कह सकते हैं | सवाई जय सिंह का बुत लगा यह चौक स्थानीय तथा पर्यटकों के लिये एक प्रमुख आकर्षण का केंद्र है |
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