Fun Trip to Mexico - 2

It took me almost an year to finish this write up! We went to another grand trip after this and preparing ourselves for this year end vacation...It's funny how life gets busier.

Simply put, this whole place was paradise. The room was lavish with modern furniture. The pool was right outside the room. And the beach few yards away. The whole place was super designed with all beach activities, hammocks and lounges. And the resort had a sports lounge, art centre, unlimited food/beverages at any time of the day, spa, entertainment shows in the evenings and lots more!

My favorite and most memorable time was when I spent my mornings alone at the coffee bar, sipping my cappuccino away, looking at the waves in peace. Pure Bliss!

I had planned outdoor activities on alternate days so that we could laze around rest of the days, which worked out perfect for us. I had plenty of time to click pictures and take care of Bunty while we also managed to do so much during that week.

On my birthday, we went to the Dolphin park. We took turns to play with the dolphins. I wasn't sure if my body was ready for a dolphin ride, but the thrill factor pushed me. So, I simply floated on water, waiting for the dolphins to pick me up! No sooner, two baby dolphins lifted me up in the air with their beaks (supporting me underneath my foot) and took me for a super fast ride before dumping me in a big splash. I thought I sprained my back after the fall but all was well, when I got out of the water! I'll remember this super ride for the rest of my life.

On a super hot day, we chose to visit the Chichen Itza. It was a guided tour and we ended up missing from the group, for atleast 4-5 times. They had to come back searching for us. Bunty hated the weather and he was all cranked up. Poor thing was not ready to bear the heat. We took our own sweet time to explore the surroundings and luckily got back to the bus on time. That was the only strenuous day in the entire trip and we were glad that it was over.

My favorite outing was to Isla Mujeres, a beautiful tiny island off Cancun. We rented a golf cart and covered the island in about 3 hrs. Driving along the sea coast is a beautiful experience. The boat ride to and from the island was breathtaking as we got to see the blue, green, turquoise colors of the sea and the gorgeous caribbean sunset. Exactly the moments why I crave for vacations :)

Rest of the days, we lazed in the pool or played on the beach and binged on food like there was no tomorrow. The fruits were the yum part. Bunty thoroughly enjoyed playing in the pool! We got some great pictures of him in this trip. We also got few family portraits clicked.

When S and Bunty were fast asleep, I used to take off to spend some ME time. Visiting the spa refreshed me unbelievably. I also got a chance to paint again, which I had long forgotten. Love, love, loved it.

This trip is special of sorts because S tried Bungee jumping. I had goosebumps the moment he jumped. A sense of anxiety mixed with excitement. So proud of him for giving it a shot. While he jumped, I went on a joy ride over the caribbean sea, parasailing. It was a dream ride with gorgeous sights all around.

But after having a baby, our mindsets for sure have changed. Realised it when S was prepping himself for this feat. We are definitely not in a frame of mind to dare such stunts without thinking through a million times. Parenthood, I say!

Towards the end of the trip, we were so pampered and royally spoilt at the resort that I almost cried while leaving the place. The Mexico trip was a super hit and we got so confident traveling with Bunty that we went on a Europe tour for 3 weeks with him in September this year. I must say, he is one little happy traveller...touchwood!

More about the Europe tour in future posts, when I get free again!

Fun Trip to Mexico - 1

After having enjoyed the baby phase down and under, S and I were eyeing on a little holiday….a tiny break from the routine, especially with my birthday around the corner. But the thought of taking the baby out of comfort zone, exposing him to the big dangerous world of germs out there was holding us back. Adding to it, I also had the difficult task of packing baby stuff.

Bearing all of this in mind, our plans started with a simple 2/3 day outing, somewhere closer. Since it was winter, we had limited options. In fact, just one option….indoor water parks with lodging. Really??? Pity on us parents with infants. The options are cut down drastically! It was definitely not like before…when we could just hop off randomly without having to worry about food, accommodation with kitchen, weather, infant-friendly and stroller-friendly locations, clean washrooms with diaper changing facilities, abundant time blahh …hell, yeah. It donned upon us that we were past the golden phase of easy travelling. It never was going to be the same. But, our spirits were the same….we were not to give up so easily.

I had to look for a place where we could relax, have plenty of time on hands to take care of the baby and see the places around. That’s when I bumped upon the all-inclusive packages in one of the travel sites. All-inclusive….the name itself was appealing and that too at Mexico, where the weather was moderate. Half my problems were solved. After weighing all the options, I finally narrowed down to a 5-star resort for a 7-day vacation. The resort was in Cancun, by the beach. It had plenty of swimming pools and indoor entertainment. The food, beverages were all free 24/7. I read the reviews and double checked if it was infant-friendly. It was all too good to be true! We went ahead and booked it without a second thought.

I started packing way ahead to avoid last minute rush. The little one’s stuff filled up 1 big suitcase! I wasn’t taking any chances…I packed up everything right from baby medicines, plenty of baby food, swim diapers to dishwashing liquid, microwaveable containers, flask etc etc. The list goes on and on. S was saying, “why don’t we just carry our home there?” :D It all came down to 2 big check-in bags, 1 cabin bag, a stroller along with the car seat and the baby, of course :D Oops...we also had the rock-heavy diaper bag!

Because it was New Year’s eve, the airport was bustling with people. We would have almost missed the flight, thanks to the long line for check-in.  It was a 4 hr flight and so, there were no bassinets for babies. We had to settle for regular seats with baby on lap. It was Bunty's first flight trip and we were pretty nervous about him crying during take-off and landing. But he surprised us like he always does. He not just enjoyed the flight, but had fun watching out of the window. During take-off and landing, I put him to sleep and he was alright. The journey was much better than expected.

After we got off the flight, we waited for a while at the airport for the hotel transport to pick us up. No sooner, we were on our way to the Cancun Strip and were dropped off outside the resort.

The moment we entered the resort, we were blown away by the interiors. The christmas decorations were still fresh. The lobby was huge. The interior decor was modern and chic. There was a coffee bar towards the end of the lobby overlooking the beach through glass walls. We could see the blue waters and white sand. It was like a dreamland!

The resort staff were very polite and friendly. They upgraded our package and gave us a villa accommodation! We were given a grey band. We were to wear it on our wrists all the time to avail the premium facilities at the resort. Our vacation had started with a bang!

2010 Travels - 6

Remember the song from Roja movie ? "ye haseen wadhiyaan..ye khula aasmaan". The same song kept ringing in my ears throughout our trip. Epitome of beauty, out of the world experience etc etc are too mild expressions for what I had seen and cherished at Calgary and Banff!

Of all our trips through the year, this was the most well planned and executed vacation. All credit to S. We managed to see quite a lot of places within 3 days. I made all the bookings way ahead and we were quite excited about the trip.

The day we landed in Calgary, we picked up the rental car and drove into the city. The downtown, Chinatown, a walk along the lake occupied a part of our day. We visited the Telus World of Science Museum which was hosting a special show about Einstein and Darwin. Museums are generally boring but this one was different. A peek into the lives of these famous scientists was definitely interesting. They had displayed the personal notes of these scientists along with a lot of other information. We also watched a movie about Australia continent. The movie was not 3D but more like a planetarium setup with the screen enlarged vertically above our heads and horizontally wide to cover our view completely. It felt as though we were right there in Australia. Loved the unique movie concept.

In the evening we visited the famous Anagha Dutta Temple at Calgary. Though it was not the visiting hour the incharge was kind enough to let us in. Mom and dad were so glad to be visiting Goddess Anagha especially during Navratri.

Later on we headed to the Calgary tower and enjoyed the city view in the dusk. The glass floor was fundoo and it felt scary everytime I stepped on it. What if it breaks?

All of us were dead tired and a little jet lagged but we walked all the way back to the hotel. Moms are moms. She prepared dinner after we reached the room! We had food and hit the sack soon after. We were travelling to Edmonton the next day via Drumheller. Lots of stories on the way. Later...

Oh by the way,I bought this good luck bracelet made of goldstone beads at Calgary. Things seem to have worked well in my favor then onwards and I have been wearing the bracelet ever since! Talk about superstitions :D

Well, for now...
Albert Einstein's Marks sheet


Einstein with Mom n Dad


Calgary Tower


Calgary City View from the tower


The glass floor

2010 Travels - 5

Let's talk about beautiful Ottawa today!

Ottawa, the Capital City of Canada is rich in culture and architecture. The city is a perfect blend of ancient history and modern outlook. The famous Rideau Canal connects the Ottawa city to Kingston city. The Parliament building nested on a hill besides Ottawa river makes an awesome view. We went up the clock tower of Parliament building and enjoyed the exquisite view of the city.

Another seasonal attraction of the place is the tulip festival. Though not as huge as the ones in Keukenhof, Germany, this makes up a considerably good rendezvous with different colored Tulips...

Below are some of the glimpses of the city!

Front view of Parliament Building



Old Church Building



Fairmont Chateau Hotel



Annual Tulip Festival

2010 Travels - 4

CAMPING AT SAUGEEN:

Our friends group here in Toronto go on camping every summer. Consistently since the last 3 years, this camping has been a huge hit with all the folks and nobody would miss it at any cost. Even to the extent that we had 2 pregnant ladies (over 7 months!), 3 senior couples and 3 babies in the group who made it inspite of all inconveniences!

S volunteered to scout for a good location and book the cottage this year. He really struggled a lot to put things together for the gang, the results of which we were yet to see.

With all planning, finally we set out to the camping site on a late Thursday evening. It was already getting darker and no sooner we took a detour from the highway into smaller roads. As we moved along, the roads got narrower and so the human population. We could only see the signboards posted. Pretty soon the road ended and we were on a muddy path. After about a mile, we figured that we had to move further up to reach our cottage. After few deviations, we finally saw the cottage. The cottage looked huge from outside. From inside, it was the most creepiest building I had ever seen. The building was 2 floors with a kitchen (cutlery included), library (??), living room, biggggg dining table, backyard deck and plenty of bedrooms and a huge dorm in the basement. TV, tt table, play toys for kids were other attractions! The rooms were all hidden in all possible corners and it took a good 30 mins to discover the entire cottage. Not bad at all! We thought, for a gang of 35 + kids. The owners had tried to make the interiors as spooky as possible with all ghost, demon books. The cottage was amidst the woods and the only building in the locality for atleast a mile's radius, all for us for 3 days! Sooper :)

The fun began as we ran to choose the beds. Me and S chose to sleep in the dorm, which was cool as we had a boisterous company! It was decided that each family would cook twice in the 3 days, so that everyone gets a chance to cook and to relax, rather than having a single cooking team. It was amusing to watch everyone take part in cooking, not to forget the yummy dishes that turned out!

The guys were hell bent on enhancing the spooky factor...so they set out on a late night trek into the woods. The girls made a plan and sent me along with 2 other girls to go along with them. The purpose was to keep a watch on their activities and bring them back home soon. We girls barged right in middle of the group and wanted them to escort us as they walked along. There were absolutely no lights and the guys were coming up with all weird ideas just to scare us! Ultimately we all ended up having a lot of fun on the trek.

In the mornings, we played a lot of games outside in the ground. We also managed to visit a falls nearby. Boy-oh-boy! The trek down to the falls was so exhilarating. I was surprised to see Mom coming all the way down to the falls! Love her spirit, absolutely.

There is no dearth of lakes in Canada. We went to one of the beaches and chilled. The second day we headed to another lake again but for a different experience, the kayaking and canoeing. I was so excited about the kayaking thing that I got on the boat and asked my friends to push me into the waters. I was stupid enough, not to ask them how to maneuver the kayak to change directions. Hence, I kept moving forward and forward until I was far off from the shore. Now I got really scared and didn't know what to do. I tried turning the kayak slightly, but it would start toppling. Thankfully, one of the guys came to my rescue and taught me the knack. The irony was, he fell off his kayak while going back :)) In no time, I was on myself and did quite a bit of adventure over the water. Later on, picked some canoeing with others too. Had a blast that evening! One of the canoes had actually capsized putting all family in water....but it was only at the shore! :) Dad was so thrilled to kayak and Canoe. He enjoyed it a lot.

Back to the cottage, we had an awesome camp fire. We all sang and danced the night out! There were birthday celebrations too!

On the last day, everyone was so sad that they had to leave the place and head back. The parting ceremony itself took so long because everyone kept hugging :))

That's our group with the cottage behind!

And so the camping was a great success this year.

2010 Travels - 3

Just an hour away from home is the world famous Niagara Falls. I have lost count of the number of times I have visited this place in the last 3 years. But the bewitching beauty of the falls never seizes to amaze you. My in-laws and parents rated Niagara Falls experience as the best during their trip! Especially the boat ride to the horseshoe falls. The boat zooms so close to the falls that we can't even open the eyes due to the heavy showers. The enormity of the falls is simply amazing. The Canadian view is more elaborate as against the USA view. Having seen the falls from both ends, I vote for Canada anyday!

Apart from the boat ride, the journey behind the falls is mind boggling. Thanks to technology. You can take a walk behind the falls and feel the power of the falls up close. I have trouble watching the falls from behind. The turbulence and the harsh sound bothers me somehow. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed it to the core.

The emerald colored waters and the rainbow is a sight to see.



The Niagara city is colorful with fun activities and large casinos. My MIL is an ardent fan of slot machines! We really had fun playing at the Casino :)

THE AFRICAN LION SAFARI

As the website boasts, it's us the visitors caged in the car, while the animals roam around us freely, including lions. The best moment of the drive was when a lion and a cheetah brushed against our car. Thankfully, the monkeys spared us! It was fun to watch the Ostrich beat the window glasses with its beak. I still can't forget the way the Giraffe bent to eat the carrot we offered. I find Giraffes very cute :)And so are elephants! The Elephant show was superb with all the elephants performing various tasks. One of the elephants 'Maggie' painted a T shirt with different colors! There was also this bird show where the parrots spoke words like hello, how do you do! Super fun....

There were peacocks roaming about freely within the premises. One of the peacocks, unfurled it's feathers right in front of our eyes, displaying it's rich beauty. We couldn't ask for more when the peacock did it several times!


The Safari has always been our favorite hang out, our close encounter with wildlife.

2010 Travels - 2

Las Vegas is a man made heaven on Earth. The lavishness and extravaganza of the place appeals to you quickly. There is a sense of celebration and excitement in the air, anytime of the day and year.

We were there for 4 days and we couldn't see the entire strip of just 6 KM! Can you believe that? We only made it to half of the strip. We would probably rent a room on the other side of the strip this time, so that we cover the rest.

The word CASINO brings back n number of memories to me...the ringing slot machines, black jacks, wheels of fortune, poker what not. Gambling being the prime activity, we indulged so much so that I alone had lost $300 at the end of the trip but fun unlimited!

Besides gambling, the spectacular interiors of each casino left me spellbound. Each Casino is unique and stylized beautifully. There's an entire New york city including the Statue of Liberty and Brookyln Bridge. There's also the world's second largest hotel MGM. True to their symbol, they have real lions in there for people to see! There's a pyramid (Luxor) too. It seems the flood light on the tip of the Pyramid is visible from the moon. We stayed at Excalibur which was a castle! Paris paris has mind blowing interiors with sky and buildings. It really feels as if we are in Paris streets. There's a ride up Eiffel tower (yes! There's one Eiffel tower too) from where we can spot "The Bellagio Fountain Show" in the night. The dancing fountains took my heart away :)

Sad that we didn't take any roller coaster rides as it was too chilly and we did miss Grand Canyons.

That's about Vegas and West Coast!

Moving on to East Coast, we visited the Capital City Washington DC in March. On the banks of Potomac River, the city stands in pride with all white government buildings and plenty of museums. Smithsonian Museums - We saw the Hope Diamond, which origins from India. The big blue diamond is one of the largest in the World. We also saw a 3D movie about Ocean bed which was super cool. The art gallery carried paintings and sketches by Pablo Picasso!

The white house looked grand and I believe I saw the US president, Mr. Obama in the fleet of black cars that entered the White House (It could be my illusion though!) It was World Women's Day and there were celebrations at White House. Many privileged women waited at the entrance to meet Mr. Obama. It was a sight to see...

The Capitol Building looks so much like our Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. It was even more elegant in the evening with all the lights.

The Washington Monument stood tall, shaped like an Egyptian obelisk. I am yet to figure out the significance of this monument.

Pittsburg City - We often visit the famous Balaji Temple in Pittsburg. The temple is on top of a hill. It's a bliss to be in the temple and pray the Almighty. Makes a huge impact on me everytime I visit this temple. Divine.

Our travel series continue in Canada from here. The gorgeous Niagara, the fun African Lion Safari, Ottawa City, ultimate camping experience at Saugeen Country, the breathtaking locales at Calgary and many more to follow. Stay tuned!

2010 Travels - 1

2010 has been the year of travels. We were literally on wheels. Especially with both the sets of parents dropping in at Shagun, we couldn't ask for more.

The year started with a bang as I celebrated my birthday amidst thousands of people on streets at Vegas. The best birthday I could ever imagine. Vegas left me spellbound and made it's way right into my favorites list. But of course, so was the entire west coast of USA. Los Angeles, San Fransisco were no less. Amazing places! Even before I boarded my flight back home, I was damn sure that I would be going back there again.

Each city carries it's own unique identity. Let me tell you all about it...

Los Angeles is all about HOLLYWOOD. Every street, shop is named after Hollywood. The moment we walked out of the airport, the tall palm trees caught my eye. They stood on the sides of the roads as if they were welcoming us. They were everywhere! And there stood the HOLLYWOOD sign proudly on Santa Monica mountains, boasting of it's glitz and glamour. We visited the Hollywood studios and Disney Land. Disney Land is every child's dream! If only we had enough time, we would have enjoyed more at these places. We also went to SFMM (Six Flags Magic Mountain), a theme park with high intensity rides. For the first time in my life, I actually got scared in one of the rides 'Dejavu'. One heck of a roller coaster that was!

Hollywood walk of fame has this innumerable number of stars on ground with signatures from Hollywood celebrities. We ran like little kids all over, trying to find our favorite stars and pose for pictures. The Kodak Theatre guided tour was splendid, the place where the Oscars happen every year.

Apart from all this vibrance, the city also has a calmer side to it, i.e., the beaches. We headed to Malibu on one of the days and had fun playing in the Pacific Ocean. Malibu hindu temple was a surprise add on! Fabulous temple that is.

Apparently, "City of Angels" is too mild a name for the bright and beautiful Los Angeles!

As we drove from Los Angeles to San Fransisco, the route was spectacular with hills and nature. The moment we entered San Fransisco, I had already fallen in love with the place. Till date S teases me that I can't list many places in San Fransisco, that made me fall for it. But a strange connection did happen. I had a sense of familiarity with the place. Probably one of the reasons could be that I had grown up watching the golden gate bridge in "Full House", if you know what I mean.



The pacific ocean was too enchanting in deep blue. The ride on crooked street took the cake as we swayed in the car everytime the car took turns. The city itself is on hills and hence, the roads go up and down. The fisherman's wharf was bustling with activity and we missed taking a cruise on Pacific as we were late. Luckily we took the city tour bus and enjoyed the sight of San Fransisco in the dusk. The city skyline looks mesmerizing from the other side of Golden Gate. I still regret not being able to see the bridge in clouds, which I would one day! hmmmm....

Wait for my next when I tell you about Las Vegas and a lot more places!

Beautiful Elora

Just 1.5 hrs away from Toronto, Elora is a beautiful small village situated on the Grand river. If you are thinking that the name sounds similar to Ellora (Aurangabad)...Well, the village was indeed named after our very own Ellora. A British official inspired by Ellora named it so. (Source: Wikipedia)

We found Elora a perfect getaway, as it's so close to Toronto and the countryside is enchanting and refreshing. The village is so laid-back and people are very friendly. It's a good place to explore especially for people interested in arts/crafts, culture. We also saw tourists taking a ride in carriages driven by huge horses. We are planning to go back to this place again in Autumn for the lovely fall colors.

Apart from the village, the main attraction is camping/ picnic and water activites in Grand River. I was keen on going for tubing as it sounded something new. We reached the conservation area and rented a pair of huge tubes, helmets and life jackets. We had to walk for almost 20 minutes to reach the river. We thought that there would be a guide at the site to tell us how to go about it. But all we found was a bunch of spectators and hobby photographers waiting for us to take a leap into the river! The river looked kinda dangerous with fierce rapids.

The questions that popped in our brains...
What if we fall off the tube? Where is the end point? How to get out once we start off? What if there are huge fish inside ??? (this one was my concern :P)

Anyway, we let down all our inhibitions and ventured into the river slowly. I made S sit on the tube and pushed him through :D.... Off he went along with the flow. I couldn't spot him after some distance. Soon after, I tried maneuvering myself with my hands and feet. I was so bad at it that the tube kept going round and round instead of catching the stream. Absolute entertainment for the watchers! :))

Meanwhile S came back for his next ride down the stream. I was so relieved to see him! This time he helped me around with the tube and soon I was in rough rapids trying not to fall off the tube. It was a super cool ride and I loved it!
I realised that the water was hardly knee deep and we could get off and walk back at any point. This made me go for few more rounds of fun tubing. We were left completely exhausted.





The after Effects of tubing:
> I successfully got my first coat of tan for this summer
> My shoes got a nice, clean wash...:D
> We were so thrilled to jump in that we forgot that S had the digicam in his pocket. Yes...the digicam got soaked in water. It is not working but we are hopeful that it might after it dries inside.

We walked back to return the tube and accessories. S held the tube on his shoulder and carried it. I thought that was a bad idea and advised him to roll the tube along the road effortlessly. Brilliant eh??....actually not :( I was rolling the tube (like we used to when we were kids!) and the tube went "BOOM". It hit a sharp stone on the road and burst. And I stood there speechless...

Jungle Joy

DAY 2

S was happily sleeping and I was struggling to sleep as I had slept right next to the windows! Sheesh..! Apart from the main entrance to the cottage, there was another entrance towards the side which directly opened to the bedroom. Suddenly, I heard that bedroom entrance door knob twist and turn. Somebody was trying to break in. I was in a fix, if it was just my illusion or for real! I hid myself under the sheets and curled up to close my ears and eyes shut tightly. The noise sealed and I heard footsteps as if someone were walking towards my window. The main entrance was beside the window. So, this stranger, whosoever, unlocks the main door and there is no more noise. I was completely in shock and woke S up. He too was awake by now as he had been hearing the noise. He quickly went to the hallway and checked out if anybody had come inside. But there was none! It couldn't get more spooky than this. S advised some words of courage to me and slid back into deep sleep :( You can imagine my plight for the rest of the night!

Only in the morning we got to know that there were 2 more houses in the building with the same entrance. Without recognising the main entrance in the dark, our neighbour had tried to unlock our bedroom door and then somehow figured out the main entrance. This was it! Overnight, I had taken a wild imagination tour beyond bounds trying to guess the reason behind the noise :P

With a deep sigh of relief, I got ready for the next adventure in the woods. This time we had two guides along with us who took us through an exciting journey into the forest. We had to drive a few kilometres into the forest. The guide kept us entertained with a lot of information about the forest, the species and whole lot of things under the Sun. What we didn't know was Haliburton Forests are privately owned by a single person, whose father bought the forests way back in 1960s for about 6-7$ an acre! He has his own set of ecologists, environmentalists to maintain and control the forest equilibrium naturally. There is a mill in the premises which uses the forest wood to generate electricity and lighting for the foresters.

We parked the vehicle at a point and trekked from there to reach a lake. Any water activity, I am always thrilled. We had to paddle through to reach the other end of the lake, which was fun! After canoeing and hiking for a while, we reached the spot for canopy walk.

A tiny suspended bridge at a height of about 70 feet lay in front of us which was less than a foot wide. This bridge linked from tree to tree and spanned for half a kilometre. The delicate bridge could hold 3 people at a time and moved incessantly with every step. We were given a brief training about keeping ourselves connected to the cable running overhead with hooks, just in case we fell off the bridge.



The walk on this bridge was the most amazing experience and we couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate our most important day!

The thick forest canopy underneath was a feast to the eyes and we were bewitched!



The bridge ended in a tree house overlooking a lake. We spent some precious time watching the beautiful sunset. Didn't feel like coming back at all....but we had to, eventually...

We came back to the base camp and bid goodbye to Haliburton soon after.

On the way back to Toronto, Guess where we sneaked into?



No Loss..no gain...!! But FuN UnLiMiTeD....

Off to the woods

We chose to sneak off to the remote forests for celebrating our Wedding Anniversary! An unexpected adventurous outing which had a lot of surprises in store for us...

We set off to the destination on the early hours of Sunday. With our new Merc, the drive was penultimate bliss. After some point, the number of houses and people started deteriorating. It was just plain forest with blind curves and wavy roads going up and down. The GPS had chosen to guide us through a short cut and we ended up in a spooky road off the highway. We couldn't even spot other vehicles in the road. It was just us in the mysterious road. There were huge Rocks, thick trees, ponds on the sides of the narrow road. To fight back the eerie feeling, I tried tuning in some local radio station. There indeed was a channel and a voice came in "Welcome to Haliburton...Canada lives here". Me and S burst into laughter and we are still laughing at the ironic statement!:D

We were finally out of that road (saw the name towards the end...it was BobCagyeon Road!) and we made our way to the Haliburton Forest Reserve. Since summer has just arrived here, we were the first guests for the season. We checked in at around 2 PM and the forest incharge briefed us about the forest and the activities. We were given a map of the forest with all trek routes, driving routes, cycling routes, camping points and lakes. And we were given a pair of keys, one for the cottage and the other one for the toll gates along the driving route deep inside the forest.

First thing, we visited the wolf centre as it was about to close. How much I hated the sight of those wild beasts!



Later, we planned to take a drive in the forest with the map in hand. There were north, east and west roads. We decided to stick to north road lest we miss the route. The roads looked something like this..



The sign boards at every split were over informative :D



We drove along very slowly and concentrated on spotting some animals in the forest. We were told that there were wild bears, packs of wolves and many more animals to look out for. It seems the animals would observe us right when we enter the forest and keep an eye on us until we leave. This was something scary...I had to get off at some points to unlock the toll-gate and swing it parallel to the road. S would drive in and I would lock the gate back and run to the car. As we delved deep into the woods, my locking/ unlocking skills depleted and my heart pounded at the slightest noise around. Being the smarty I am, I promptly passed on the task to S while we drove back..:D

We managed to spot colorful birds, huge squirrels, a turkey and a deer...tuff luck. Well, we did see tons of mosquitoes and flies! We took a break at a lake on the way. We couldn't stop but admire the beauty of the nature at its best.

We drove until we reached the


Right about turn and we drove back to the base camp. It was getting darker and the one and only restaurant in the premises was already closed. We chose to drive to the nearby Haliburton village for our dinner. Luckily one of the chinese restaurants was open and we had a hearty meal.

Back to the cottage and we hit the bed!

A little after 12, I heard something...
- END of DAY 1 -

This and that

And so, where was I?

Yeah..I was at India for 4 weeks and met over a hundred people that includes just family and friends :) apart from travelling approximately 2000 Kms by bus, car, auto, train and plane. Oh...i did manage to watch about 5 movies as well. Nothing short of a roller coaster ride..eh? Probably, that was the reason why I felt that it was a very short trip!

A few memorable/funny incidents happened during my trip. Let me share them here :)

All this while when I was here, I would send pictures of dishes prepared by me and mom would be surprised. But when I prepared vegetable biryani at home, it turned out to be a complete disaster!
Result: Mom is feeling very sorry for her Son-in-Law and she firmly believes that I still can't cook.

There were all sorts of comments pouring in from friends/family about how I looked/ had changed over the year. One such comment was from one of my mom's aunt (technically, my grandmom). She told me that I had become a bit taller. geee..I wish I could :D

All thanks to Kingfisher Airlines and Bangalore International Airport. My birthday blew up in air, literally. I was supposed to be celebrating my birthday half day at Hyderabad and half a day at Bangalore. Kingfisher screwed my day with some unnecessary stuff (which I don't even want to talk about). The flight was delayed and I reached BIAL very late. And traveling from BIAL to home was another plight...It took much more time than the actual flight duration itself. I was all tired and dead by the time I reached home!

Surprisingly, this time tirupathi darshan was much more relieving. I just love the serenity of this place. There's something about this place that gives me a special feeling of gaiety. The place has changed so much since I last visited. It looks much cleaner, spacious and all the more beautiful.



I happened to visit one of the temples near Warangal. Goes by the name, Ramappa temple. The detailing in the sculpture was fantastic. Posting a few snaps of the temple.









I shopped and shopped and shopped so much that finally, I think I have gotten over the urge to shop :( Feeling sick at the look of sale boards here. Can't believe that this is happening to me! Ok...let's change the topic now :D

Movies...movies...Welcome to my adda :D

A brief HBO rating of the movies that I happened to watch over the last couple of months.

Ghajini : Honestly, Surya was better.. I give a TGW
Billu : Again a TGW, only because of Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta
Delhi 6 : I'm gonna give a YEM coz I didn't enjoy it but I saw a lot many others do!
Luck by Chance : It feels like a dejavu especially after watching 'Fashion'...I give it YEM
Raaz - the mystery continues : What a joke..where is the mystery, infact it's a misery..I give it a SNH

Slumdog Millionaire : BSI (If slumdog could win so many Oscars, I think every good Indian movie should)
Confessions of a shopoholic : Such a cute movie :D I give it a TGW
He's just not that into you : Terrific casting and superb performances. It's a straight BSI
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona : oops, saw this one on my flight back to Toronto. We laughed until we almost choked when we discovered that S watched the same one, when he travelled back. It's SNH. I bet you can never appreciate the movie if you are normal :D
High School Musical: Very very Cute...God, the guy in the lead role is so charming. Watch it for him ;) it's TGW!

For telugu audience,

King: a TGW because of Nagarjuna's unexpected role
Arundhati: YEM I should say as some people enjoy the graphics. Anushka was a total let down in her role.
Sasirekha Parinayam: TGW only because of last performance scene by Tarun. You can skip it, if you want to.
Koncham ishtam koncham kashtam: abbaaa..naakentha duradhrushtam :( A YEM, found it very boring.

Ending my rather lengthy post with belated Valentine's Day wishes!

Posting an interesting picture from my India trip album. This was shot by my sister. She loves to experiment with me and S!

Now, do you spot a resemblance to taj mahal somewhere or is it just my illusion ?

Back to Pavilion!

And now I take a deep breath, relax myself to recover from the most busiest month that just blew off like a whirlwind! Will soon put up a post about the amazing places that I had been to.

Meanwhile, here are a few snaps that I clicked at Tirupathi. These signboards really caught my eye. I truly enjoy the native feeling in it's every sense...where else can we find it :)







Err....a very happy and happening New Year to all you people out there!

Bangkok yet again

She bought me some delicious thai food (I forgot the name) and an ice cream candy on our way back to the Airport. She even had a raincoat for me just in case it rained. She kept apologising for the untimely traffic jams at that hour. Finally, she gave me some discount coupons for shopping inside the airport and bid goodbye to me. A sweet lady in her mid-forties. Ms.Rada was my tourist guide at Bangkok. Well...the story goes like this.
I had about 8 hours of transit at Bangkok this time. I had planned way before hand that I would go out and get a glimpse of the city. I had collected information from the internet regarding this and was all prepared to freak out. As always, I was travelling alone this time too. Once I reached Bangkok, I got in touch with the Transit Tour desk and discussed the tour details. In no time, I was taken for transit visa stamping by this gentleman who was assisting me with the tour plan. Soon, we cleared the immigration and were outside the airport. He introduced me to Rada and left me with her from there onwards. Rada took me to a huge car and we set off. From the airport, into the city it was all highways and I was already cherishing the conversation that we struck upon. Once we were in the city, I found it so much like India with colorful Auto-Rickshaws and Taxis. She took me to a couple of Buddha temples which were magnificent. Will post a few pictures in here. The amazing part was these huge idols of Buddha that I saw were made of gold. The best one was the sleeping buddha which I loved a lot. Adding to these, the Pagodas that the kings constructed were artistic and exceptional. The river seperating 2 cities was a beautiful sight to watch. The width of the river was hardly few meters. By the time we covered these places we had spent about 3 hrs. Later on she took me to the world's largest jewellery store. I could see the workshop and the adjacent store. I only bought a diamond studded silver ring for Him(*blush*). It was getting dark and we quickly moved on to the highway leading to airport. On the way back, I saw the huge King's palace and also the men's university spread over acres of land.
A very short trip indeed, but a pleasant memory:)

Check out a few snaps!