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Most scenic road trips in India - Travel Jaunts

India Travel Guide | Travel guide for family/couples by travel-jaunts

Freak out in the adventure town…

So here’s my prescription for adding thrill to the mundane lives…head to Queenstown, Newzealand .

 Thrill for two reasons …..

1 . Any and every kind of adventure activity you’ve imagined or dreamt of is available for you to experience. You can bungy jump, ski /snowboard, para glide,white water raft,jet boat, skydive, jet ski, hang glide or drive quad bikes etc etc. Name it and you have it. 

2 . After you’re done with the trip, which leaves a big hole in your pocket, life automatically becomes a thrilling adventure for the months to follow especially if you’re an Indian and the value of rupee  embarrasses  you every other day in currency market J 

However, my thrilling experience didn’t start in Queenstown, it started as soon as I reached Singapore airport to board my connecting flight to Christchurch. Taxi left and before we could enter the airport, I realized that my bag was missing. The bag had everything important from my medicine to passport to money. All this because it was the first time we had left our son in Singapore with my sister. We were too senti  & busy rewinding the goodbye moments in our minds  to be careful about things like bag. The fate of our trip depended on the taxi driver now. 15-20 minutes of tension, a little blame game ….  and finally we traced him. The driver dutifully came back to the airport and handed over my bag.Smile came back to our faces and we looked forward to spending next few days as just the two of us .

The next morning reminded me of Switzerland, I could see snow mountains in the midst of clouds from my window seat as the plane was about to land in Queenstown. Then the white background changed colors into blue , into green  ….there was a huge lake below. Lake Wakatipu. I was smitten just by the first glimse of it.

Lake Wakatipu @ Queenstown

Snuggled in beside the lake Wakatipu,  Queenstown seemed like a paradise with snow clad mountains on top, shades of blue reflected by both the sky & the lake and awe inspiring alpine scenery. I thought , adventure in such a heavenly background is sure going to be a pure bliss.

We did try our hands at many activities including dart river safari, luge rides, segway, jetboat, horizontal bungee etc. For me there was an added adventure. It was extremely cold and I had  forgotten to check the weather report  before packing as I hardly had a day  in between my Bhutan and New Zealand trip . Newzealand, ofcourse wasn’t planned . It came as a surprise from my husband’s company for the strategy he had made for the company. Surprisingly , a good surprise from them J

Newzealand is strange…strange in a way that the country doesn’t have any snakes or dangerous wild animals. Infact when humans inhabited the island around 1300 years  ago, there were no mammals .The reason behind this is the origin and evolution of the two island the northern island and the southern island.

Infact when we went for a tour in beech wood forests, I was disappointed since national parks meant wild animals in my mind.

But ya, while on the country roads , you would find sea of domestic animals like sheeps,cows on either sides grazing on the never ending green grasslands. Animal farming !! For the sheer fun of driving on such roads, my husband kept wishing to settle in Newzealand along with cows and sheeps J

The highlight of our holiday has been the visit to Milford sound  (On the west coast of the south island) where ‘Lord of the rings’ movie besides many others was shot . Eighth wonder of the world as described by Rudyard Kipling ….Milford sound was carved by glaciers during ice ages.

We were awestruck by the journey itself .Te anue,

the mirror lake (I've not tried to add any reflection to the image,this is how it is ),

soaring mountain peaks and glaciers, water falls  and the sky in southern sphere !  ....








...absolutely God painted natural backdrop.You can't help but get bewitched by the way nature unfolds itself in these corners of the world to create such a magic that leaves one dumbfounded.

Icing on the cake was the two hour cruise at Milford. It takes you through the cliffs and peaks including the mitre peak that rises more than a kilometer straight out of the sea.
Cascading waterfalls (some as high as 1000 meters) and lush green rain forests clinging on to the rock faces create amazing visual cues around every corner.

Waterfalls at Milford sound

Besides,we did have dinner at skyline restaurant (a romantic experience) , at Spice room (to satisfy our Indian taste buds )and at an Italian restaurant (food wasn’t great !wine, sure was)

Got gifts every night, another surprise J that too good one.

 Four days and my husband had to return to India for work and I had to stay back at Singapore  to show the city to my son to compensate  before his holidays would end.

There is still lots to see in Newzealand. Ye dil maange more J  but may be , some other time and hopefully as a good surprise gift from God. For now, this trip has been long enough to come back lingering the memories of Newzealand  and short enough to not leave the company bankrupt ;-)

GRACIAS !!

To the kingdom of happiness...

At Punakaha Dzong

Its been a month since we returned from Bhutan and till date we keep singing Tandin...Tandin. The name of our driver there J . Interestingly his father's name is Phunshuk Wangdu. Difficult to forget the country (so unique) and its simple & loving people.

Me,my son in orange and Tandin

It would be unfair on my part if I don’t write about and recommend Bhutan after having experienced the raw Himalayan beauty , the architectural eloquence and the hospitality by Bhutanese.So here I'm with whatever beauty I could capture through my camera lens .....even though a camera can't really justify what eyes see.

Paro Dzong

Bhutan, deeply rooted in its culture and traditions completely distinguishes itself from other countries. In fact one may feel like being transported into another era as soon as one enters the thunder dragon Buddhist  land of north eastern Himalayas..

Taken inside Trashichhoedzong

At Thimpu

I've been asked,' Why Bhutan'?? Someone from Durgapur even said,’ Gangtok is the capital of Bhutan, right ,’?

Is it because of its(high value low volume) sustainable approach to tourism ? I wonder ! A few Indian tourists staying with us had expected Bhutan to be like Switzerland !

Wooden bridge at Punakha

We chose to visit Bhutan in May 14 because, before Mr. Modi  ,we wanted to know the secret
behind a happy nation ;-)

And ….Gangtok is not the capital of Bhutan ,my dear Durgapurwasi J… Also people ...its definitely not like Switzerland . You can’t compare Madhubala to Marilyn Monroe. Both have their own charm.

At Dochulaa Pass

Anyway…., this time we flew till Kolkata and instead of taking Druk air till Paro to save on cost and life due to many thin air pockets  ,we decided to go by road via NJP (New Jalpaiguri ) and Phuntsholing

We could do three places in our 10 days trip. Thimpu,Punakha and Paro though I would recommend the snowmen’s trek to be definitely pursued given enough time and less baggage. Bhutan is trekker’s paradise and  it makes perfect sense to leave kids behind if interested in mountaineering.

View from Gangtey Palace at Paro

Huge snow capped mountains , streams  ,water falls , deep Himalayan forests ,distinct jungle fragrance, pure oxygen ,pine cones, white yellow red and violet flowers ,Yaks &  Takins to name a few  during our travels….   Isn't it a heavenly experience?

One of the few shots tried in the forest

  

Shot in valley of flowers

Tandin knew his country well and he made sure that besides India’s national animal, bird, flower  etc  we do remember their Takin, Raven,Blue Poppy and Rhododendrons forever.

Of course, Himalayan nation has  very rich fauna and flora besides the number of dzongs and monasteries. That reminds me of the mesmerizing beauty of 'Punakha Dzong' which has become a part of our permanent memory.

Punakha Dzong ,second oldest and second largest of the Bhutan Dzongs 

The Royal wedding of the present king and queen also happened here.
Other than this my son remembers the maggi & chocolates bought for him , the pine cones collected and the Bhutan flag as parting gift….all done by his Tandin uncle. My husband who considers Reinhold Messner, one of his Gods , loved the mountains.
and I …. I remember the peaceful moment that we have had at Gangtey palace looking up at the sky & the snow and down at the Paro town from the hilltop.

View from Gangtey Palace (there were clouds however during sun one could see snow capped mountains

The only regret I have is that I couldn’t climb up the tiger’s nest (Paro Taktsang, approx 3000ft above Paro valley). My nuts and bolts need updation :-( and am proud of my husband that he could do the task in less than 4 hrs.

Tiger's nest

This is where Guru Padmasambhav also known as Rinpoche who brought Buddhism to Bhutan from Tibet, meditated.

Question still remains ...The secret of happiness in Bhutan . In my opinion it is simplicity ….being raw (in one’s true form …nothing made up) which comes by being close to nature, respecting the co existence & not just being proud of the Buddhist  culture and tradition but enjoying the same.

 I loved the fact that in the game of archery which we witnessed , all the participants danced together once any one of them hit the target.

Archery in Thimpu

Most marriages are love marriages and gender discrimination is not there .The culture is not conservative in that sense however  Bhutan wants to be careful in adopting globalization, hence shopping for clothes even at Thimpu (the capital) may not be a good idea. Handicrafts ? of course !

To my astonishment ,part of their culture is also to paint penises on walls, wooden models of those are worshiped for fertility.

Now you see…how unique Bhutan is J

Tandin asked some questions time and again during our stay. Would you come back again? Would you like to stay here forever?

Tandin belonged to this beautiful small town of Paro

Of course I would go to Bhutan again to see the middle eastern side and do the snowmen’s trek as well someday but ….staying forever??

Unfortunately the Indian part of me loves crowd and can’t imagine staying in the only house on top of the mountain as lot of Bhutanese do though I wish I could be as bold as Mr. Rinpoche to settle in one of the most unthinkable & God forsaken places to invoke God . 

So am back in my very own city Bangalore to wait at the traffic signal and spend min half an hour on road even to buy milk & Veges from the mall very near to my apartment building, for no immediate U turn planned.The cost we pay for our respective comfort zones :-( 

There are times when God laughs & says, ‘Oh ! you have a plan for tomorrow’?  Yr 2013 has been like that for us, a year of settling down for God's plans. And I feel bad and sad that I have been so involved in managing contingencies that I didn't even spend time to post here.

Everything we expected or planned since 2013 beginning, went  haywire including simple things like travel We were supposed to visit Kashmir this march but just a day before that too got cancelled. Series of events post Afsal Guru’s hanging led to blasts, firings, killing of an innocent civilian and finally the curfew .

Nonetheless we had to take a break in May before my son would get into the school grind so irrespective of the quality of life episodes we decided to GO  (the time to rack brains over destinations and itinerary)

Egypt was an attractive option but didn’t want another cancellation due to the political upheaval . And given the only requirement my son and hubby had was water play,we froze on Mauritius & Dubai travel deal at the end.

We were not a very cheery party at the thought of traveling to Dubai .We always assumed Dubai could be done anytime during the transit ,given that it is so near & is like a second home to Indian workers.And definitely it wasn't a travel destination in our minds. William Dalryple’s 'In Xanadu' ,the book in my hand during the same time, also gave a strangely hilarious description of Arabs, a lot of it coinciding with the image I always had in my mind.

But of course, now that I’ve seen Arab ke tel aur Dubai ke malls ka kamaal,I know why Dubai is one of the most traveled destinations in the world.

God always gives something to everyone …… we Indians got water & greenery on land and they got Oil in sand. We got population,they believe in cooperation. The result…. Emirati cooperation has made Dubai a fine symbol of luxurious living amidst the desert and a dream for many, especially ‘Pakistanis’. Our guide was so fascinated by Emirati people and their lifestyle that his every sentence started with them and ended with them in a very weird ‘trying to be an English’ accent,  ‘amirati people’.

He kept showing us what Oil can do and kept praising the rulers. The most wonderful statement of his was , 'look out side ,every country has crime but Dubai has zero crime rate.’ I thought, ‘of course ’   ;-) !!

First half of the day, we wandered around Dubai museum, markets & skyscrapers exposing ourselves to the full glare of desert sun for the first time .My son moaning about the heat every now and then amidst of ‘wows’ and ‘one snap please’ by the other tourists. My son slept before he could see the Jumeriah mosque, the houses there, palaces of the 1^st wife, 2^nd wife and the 3^rd wife of the ruler or have a look at Al burj where the most expensive cocktail of the world is served. Emirati people !! he missed all ...

 Evening was our turn to experience Dhow cruise.The intent and the experience were total opposites. The choice of typical Hindi movie loud songs played on the cruise boat led us to sink into a state of exhausted helpless gloom .At the end of it we only wanted to go back and sleep peacefully,so we did.

Next day,we decided to get to dubai mall on our own and shop. It was big for the time we had plus  my little one running  marathons across the human caravan trotting around the mall ,made it almost impossible to even have a look at the things we wanted . So we came out buying unnecessary things ....:-(

What I distinctly remember about Dubai is the desert safari and the dance shows including belly dancing. That was unique & I truly appreciate the dancers there even the Arab men who go round n round n round.

Safari on land cruiser was a combination of pleasant and unpleasant. Twice our Vehicle almost was on the verge of toppling over the dunes. In fact half an hr hard labor was spent shoveling away at the sand, trying to help another vehicle which had got stuck , along with other Arab drivers .

More comforting was to ride on our own in bikes and jeeps.

Anyway,after the oil and sand experience it was time for nature and water.

Mauritius was as beautiful as unexpected. Too much of clear blue water & god painted skies  ,too much lying in beach, too many baths ,too much wine and too much  pasta, almost everyday because the hotel didn't have Indian veg options .And when requested for gulab jamun and gajar halwa, the chef said,’ ya ya Indian food  so you want ‘leddoos’’.

Other than the food and Indian honeymooners who made us feel old and out of place, everything was nice.

That reminds me , ‘Is there any rule for Indian women to wear all kinds of ‘never ever tired before’ clothes and look  uncomfortable on their honeymoon in Mauritius?

However , blood red off shoulder mini frock with a flowery bow during winters and rains in Mauritius can make some honeymooners too ideal for sightseeing and we really didn't mind that .

Besides, under water sea walk was an unusual experience for us. Couldn't do lot other activities for the rough sea at Sands resort where we stayed. But we did north island and south island tour .Visit to Isle Aux cerfs reminded me of island hopping tour at Langkawi though.

By the end of four days well spent in Mauritius ,  a whole new series of responsibilities loomed….getting home, getting up early ,kid’s school ,job search, office, shifting to our new place in 3 months etc etc .4^th June we had got back and am posting this now.... just before my next break around Christmas  :-)
Ciao!