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Santiniketan-Roadway and Lodging Review

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The place was named Amrakunj as Tagore had planted by himself 108 mango trees in this garden. As I saw little children studying beneath the trees I kept comparing it with the classes held in our city schools with air-conditioners and state-of-the-art technology. How claustrophobic the city children must be feeling, I wondered. For once, I imagined myself to be a child, sitting with those little kids beneath the shadowy mango trees reading Tagoreā€™s verses or perhaps solving sums even. We also visited the various schools inside the campus like ā€˜Patha Bhavan, China Bhavan, Hindi Bhavanā€™ where various subjects are taught in foreign languages as well. With alumni list including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Satyajit Ray, nothing more is required to be said about this world class university. On our way back to hotel we took a glimpse of the prayer house.

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Driving from Lucknow to Nainital and Corbett – Road Review

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The road upto Bareilly was generally good and but bad in a few patches. However, Bareilly to Lalkuan was a different story altogether. I believe there is a bypass outside of Bareilly but I couldnā€™t find it so I had to go through the city. If someone gets to know of the location of the bypass do inform. The number of trucks have to be seen to be believed. Coupled with bad roads itā€™s definitely a slow track. Thereā€™s some kinda factory before Lalkuan and trucks are lined up on both sides of the road. Where there are trucks, there are traffic jams and coupled with atrocious truck drivers the experience is tough. There is also extensive construction work on this sector.

The road improves dramatically from Lalkuan. A stop is advised before the climb from Kathghodham to Nainital. The Drive from this point on is smooth cos the roads are very good, maintained well and arenā€™t as steep as people would have you believe.

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Hogenakkal Falls – Water falls through Graphite Rocks.

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There was a 3 days off as 26th Jan 2009 was on Monday and I thought of utilizing this time to going out to Chikmagalur, kuuke subramanyam however due to unavailability of reservations in resorts and last minutes commitments I along with my friend and his family, have opted for one day trip to Hogenakkal Falls on Sunday the 25th so that we can relax on 26th.

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The Sunderban Tiger Reserve -Nature at one of its best

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where one can only see the azure sky merge with equally breathtaking river at a distance, small village boys running around on the ā€œkuchhe pakdandiā€ of the adjoining villages, million hues created by a lone cloud that tries to mask the majestic sun and the alluring riot of colors created by ripples on the bluish silver water. One is bound to get lost in the soothing effect nature weaves here.
The first stop is at Pakhirala from where the permits are obtained by the streamers and boats to pass through the river. The second stop is Sajnekhali where tourists halt for the night to start the journey early next morning.

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Macau – Not just the Casino place

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So, back to Macau trip, we reached the Macau Ferry terminal around 7:30, it is Visa on arrival and good part is that no Visa fees, had immigration formalities, Amit had a little issue at the immigration counter due to some glitch done by immigration officer, but it got sorted out soon. We inquired about the taxi for Venetian hotel and found that Venetian and other major hotels provides free shuttle service from Ferry terminal to there hotel, we came out and waited few minutes for Venetian shuttle. Venetian hotel is on Cotai Strip which is on the other side of the main business centre of Macau, it took us about 45 minutes to reach Venetian. As it was night, all the casinos, down town, bridge all were glowing with beautiful lights, our face were also glowing with lots of excitement, I don’t know what excitement, whether it was reminding Vegas memories or Gambling or what?? We found MGM, Galaxy, Hard Rock and few more hotels on the way, Galaxy is huge and looks like a palace of some King. After reaching Venetian, it took us about 15 minutes to find the check-in counter as this is also a very huge hotel, check-in was quick and we were allocated adjacent rooms on 10th floor.

Next day we planned for Macau trip, we booked a guided bus tour “Macao Discovery Tour” from the hotel itself through “Cotai Travel”, tickets were like HKD 400 each person and it was a 4 hour tour. We had lunch in the Desi restaurant “Golden Peacock”, food was very good, I told restaurant manager that this food is even better then few North Indian restaurants in Bangalore, and he kind of a offended and said sarcastically that “Sir, even better then many restaurants in Delhi”, I was not convinced though. Well, after lunch, we headed towards the lobby to catch the tour guide. After few minutes of wait, our guide arrived, explained few things and took out a flag and asked us to follow her and watch out for the flag wherever we go, this will help all to stay together. Then I noticed several flags with different colours in the lobby itself and all the sights we visited as well.

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Home of Asiatic Lions..Gir forest – A tryst with the King

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Suddenly we saw jeeps carrying lot of excited tourists coming from the opposite direction and some of them showed us the victory sign.They said they have spotted few lioness and cubs enroute..For us the excitement started building for the second time and we moved ahead with bated breath.We had moved another kilometer or so and what we saw next, melted our hearts!!A lion cub was sitting few inches away from our jeep,it seemed as if he wanted to pose for us..he was joined by another cub and soon the two of them started playing together.In distance their mothers, two lionesses,sat watching.The guide went on..”Spotting of cubs is an extremely rare affair as their mothers are fiercely protective and don’t allow them to venture outside of deep forest area,so you people are really lucky”.We tried to soak in the happy moment and thanked our luck again and again for the wonderful lion sightings we had that day,which made our visit to the sanctuary worth it.

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Pahalgam, the real beauty of Kashmir

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Next morning, had early break fast and went out to look for ponies as we shall explore Pahelgam on horseback. After some bargaining with the local pony owners we decided to visit Baisaran, Dabian, Kashmir valley & Pahelgam valley.We hired 3 ponies, one each for us and started off at a gentle pace. The pony attendants walked beside us guiding the animals. These places are some of the most beautiful locales in Pahelgam but can be explored only on horseback. So aged people and those who are not capable to ride ponies will be deprived from such scenic places. we moved on through the hilly trails and reached Pahelgam valley, a point from where the city can be viewed. Then we moved across streams, hilly terrain, boulders and reached a vast grassland called Baisaran or mini Switzerland.

The lush green grasslands, lined with pine trees and mountains beyond, were a treat for the eyes.After running around for some time we mounted on our ponies again and started moving down the slope of the mountains through the pine forest. By this time we had learnt to control the ponies with the reins. My son particularly was very excited. It was really an amazing experience. Next we arrived at Dabian.

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Self-drive in Central Europe/ Alps ā€“ III ( Driving on the wrong side)

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The fuel cost is about INR 100/- per litre which varies slightly depending on the country, location (ones nearer the airport are costlier than others), etc. Most of the petrol stations are self service types ā€“ you park the car, fill up the tank and then go to the counter to make the payment.

Now, some other issues about driving. Honking is uncivilised, so itā€™s best avoided, except in emergencies. Similarly, it is illegal to flash/ beam headlight either frontally or from behind, onto another car. German rule considers flashing of headlight on other vehicle a coercive act. Driving on the right lane, keeping the left ones free for overtaking, is followed as a rule. After overtaking, the car promptly shifts rightwards. Overtaking from the wrong side, irrespective of how many empty lanes are there, is a strict no-no.

Overtaking ā€“ there are defined portions on the road, where this act can be performed. For starters, the continuous yellow/ white line dividing a two-way road is not be crossed over randomly.

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In the Lap of Nature – Jim Corbett National Park

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At last we reached Dhikala. It was a cluster of small buildings at the edge of the trees and beginning of a vast grassland which reminded me of some African hamlet deep inside the jungle. The buildings are very much in tune with its surroundings and have appeared to be from the late 19th century. However, it is protected by electric fence. The complex is situated high above the banks of Ramganga but one is not allowed to venture out into the river for fear of crocodiles and other animals.

The view from the complex was simply awesome; to one side is the forest, the expanse of grassland on the other and on the third side stood blue mountains in a coat of mist far beyond the river bank. The breeze that flows brings in the fresh smell of the forest. Sitting under a huge tree, soaking in natureā€™s beauty all around, one simply is transported to another world, far from the madding crowd and toxic fumes ā€“ a world without worries.

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Bone Church of Kutna Hora

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The guide there gave us a leaflet and the (short) story behind the church goes like this
ā€œThe tradition in this town was that whenever any influential person of the city died his bones were used to be donated to the church and buried under it. Around 18th Century the city was hit by plague and a large number of population died. The supply of the bones was too much to handle for the church, so they dig up a large area under the church and dumped all the bones there. Still many were left, one of the rich of the city hired some workers and used these bones to create what you see in the pics ā€
The center of the church has a grand Chandelier, all of bones. The special thing about this chandelier is that you will find each bone that exists in human body as a part of it. You will be amazed to see the beautiful patterns created with human bones and the number of humans ā€œconsumedā€ to create this one structure.

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Self-drive in Central Europe/ Alps ā€“ II (Itinerary & Car rental)

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The rule says that Schengen Visa should be sought from the country which you visit for the main business. Rule of thumb is, the country where you plan to stay for maximum period of time should be the one to issue you the Schengen. Maximum number of days rule, however, may not hold good in some cases, e.g. if you intent to spend max time in the country which is not of your main business.

In our case, we approached Czech Embassy for the visa, since we were to spend maximum period (about 6 days) there.

Schengen Visa regime has also altered the procedure for entry into EU zone. For instance, since we took a FINNAIR flight, we changed flight at Helsinki. Now, after landing at Helsinki Airport, we shifted into ā€˜EU Zoneā€™ part of the terminal. So, it was here in Helsinki that we underwent immigration/custom checks. Thereafter, once in EU part, all flights within EU were like domestic flights, despite flying from one country to the next.

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