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Hatu Peak , Tani Jubbar lake and Cafe Wadi Nakanda by Tethys
So recently I was in Shimla for 4 days with family and on one of the days one of the hotel staff suggested we go to Hatu Peak which is around 2.5 hours away from Shimla by car. I agreed and we set off around 12 noon . Our plan was to go to Hatu Peak, Tani Jubbar Lake which is near Hatu peak and then stop in Taj Theog on the way back . Around 1.30 pm we stopped for a break in a place called Matiana and we realized the car had a flat and even the spare tire didn’t have air in it so the driver took…
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Divar Island 2024
So in one of my previous posts I had written about a trip to Divar island and this time again i wanted to show my daughter the La Isla Bonita ( The Beautiful Island ) and hence on a rainy day we set off for the place. We had a rented car and we reached the Old Goa Ferry Terminal and from there caught a ferry to Divar Island. There ferries are quite frequent, one every 10-15 miinutes during the daytime and you can take your 2 or 4 wheeler vehicle on the ferry too for a nominal fee. These ferries are the lifeline of the local community travelling between…
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Goa In The Rains 2024 : Part 2 Boat Cruise with Kayaking
In my last post I told you about Hosa Restaurant and Purple Martini .Today I will tell you about a Fantastic Cruise I had on a Private Yacht and the Kayaking We did in the Mangroves on the Mandovi River. So I have been on the regular boat cruises in Goa many times before but this time wanted to do something different. Upon searching the net, I came across Private Yacht Cruises with Kayaking by Konkan Explorers . Their concept is very simple . They have these fancy Yachts on which they take a maximum of 8 Passengers for a 2.5 hour cruise which optionally includes Kayaking in the…
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Goa In the Rains 2024: Part 1 : Hosa & Purple Martini
So recently I had a chance to visit Goa in the Rains again and it is my firm belief that Goa looks more beautiful in the rainy season than at any other time of the year. While I had many nice experience on my trip, let me first talk about 2 excellent restaurants I went to. So while researching online for nice places to eat in goa, I had come across Hosa in Siolim. It is a venture by the same people who own Indian Accent and Comorin so I knew the place had good pedigree. Since we were staying in candolim the restaurant was a 45 minute drive away and the poorly…
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Coorg , India’s Eden
So for the longest time I have heard so much about the natural beauty of Coorg In Karnataka in India and have been eager to visit the place and see if it lives up to the hype.. ( TL, DR ..Yes It Does. ) and recently just before the rains started I got a chance to visit it for a few days. I had also heard about the Taj Property in Madikeri and about how it was one of their most beautiful property and so I made a reservation there. The nearest Airports to Coorg are Mangalore 140 kms away and Mysore, around 120 kms away. We flew in to…
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San Francisco : Bridge to Bridge Cruise & The Palace of fine Arts
So recently I had a chance to stay for around a month in San Francisco, California. San Francisco is supposed to be an amazingly beautiful city with an amazing vibe and I found that to be certainly true, the whole city seems to be like a museum on display. One of the first things we decided to do was book a bridge 2 bridge cruise by a company called The Red & White Fleet. They are quite highly rated on Tripadvisor and that’s why chose them. All their cruises depart from Pier 43 1/2 in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf. This 90 minute cruise starts from near the Bay Bridge,…
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Varanasi…The Eternal City…
So some days ago I had a chance to spend a few days in the holy city of Varanasi or Benares… The Varanasi airport is not very far away from the city and the road is good we reached the hotel in 35 minutes or so. I had chosen the Taj Ganges for my stay this time and I am glad I did, it really was like an oasis in the middle of a chaotic city. After resting for some time and a sumptuous lunch in the magnificent restaurant of the hotel we headed out towards Assi Ghat for taking an evening boat cruise over the river and seeing the…
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One Horizon Center , Golf Course Road, Gurugram
If you were to ask a Gurgaon resident which location has multiple fine dine joints at the same place, chances are the answer would be Cyberhub or 32nd Avenue or Sector 29 or Ambience Mall or even Worldmark Gurgaon. While all the above places have some excellent joints and are very popular with the Delhi / Gurgaon , One place which I often prefer above all these places is One Horizon Center at Golf Course Road Gurugram. It really has some Amazing Restaurants.. let’s take a tour of some of them Comorin Comorin was recently ranked 69th best Restaurant in Asia by World’s 50 Best and that certainly is a spectacular…
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Van Gogh Immersive Experience, Atlanta
So last month while I was in Atlanta, I was looking around for art exhibitions and came across an ad for “The Van Gogh Immersive Experience” at Pullman Yards, Atlanta. This digital exposition was being held simultaneously in many cities in the US and it was awarded best 2021 immersive experience by USA Today and ranked among the 12 best immersive experiences in the world by CNN I saw this in the first week of Jan 2022 and it has closed in Atlanta since then and will be reopening in March 2022 in a new location . To book your tickets and know more, click here… So I booked the…
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Stay at Taj Holiday Village , North Goa
While there are many luxury properties in North Goa , the one that fascinates me the most is the Taj Holiday Village. Recently we were celebrating a special occasion and I thought this would be a perfect to escape from the metropolis and booked a 3 day stay at my favorite resort in India. It took around an hour to get to the hotel from Dabolim Airport and this time is par for the course. While I had booked a base category room, one of my close friends who works with Taj group very kindly called the property in advance informing them of the special occasion and got is upgraded…
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Goa Feb 2022 : Antares , Titlie & Mikey’s Place
Antares Restaurant & Beach Club So even before going to Goa, I had a lot of buzz about Antares Restaurant & Beach Club. It describes itself as “MODERN AUSTRALIAN WITH AN ASIAN INFLUENCE” . It is helmed by Sarah Todd who was of course a Masterchef Australia finalist. Her love for Indian food and culture is well known and she has put her heart and soul into this venture. As we were celebrating a special occasion, we ended up for dinner there . The Stunning location is of course the stretch over Vagator cliffs where many posh joints like Bo Tai , Titlie , Yaha etc are situated. The famous…
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WorldMark Gurgaon : New Kid on the Block
WorldMark is a very well known name in Delhi-NCR and the First one came up in Aerocity, New Delhi and is a sought after destination. Now Gurugram ( Gurgaon ) has its very own Worldmark , situated in Sector 65 in Golf Course Extension. The new kid on the block is no slouch either. A lot of it is still under completion because it got delayed due to the COVID situation but it is already a go-to location since a lot of nice eateries and shops are already functional there. Some of the attractions already present there: PA PA YA PAPAYA is one of most popular Asian Bistro right…
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The Disney Parks : Stuff Dreams are made of…
So not so long ago we found ourselves in Orkando for a week and I have previously written about my experience at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaverel , The Universal Studios Park, Orlando and Helicopter Rider over Orlando & hoverboat tour , Everglades…. but one of the biggest ( the biggest ? ) attractions in Florida is the Disney Parks and we couldn’t go back without doing that…. Now there are countless places on the net which tell you the strategy on how to complete the various parks in 1/2/3 days so I wont go into that but I will say that you should certainly pick a weekday…
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Goa October 2019 : Paradise Revisited
So recently some of my business colleagues from Africa were down in India for some medical tests and treatment in New Delhi and after they finished that they were down in Goa for some rest in recuperation so I joined them in Goa for 3 days to show them around . I landed there Goa in the 4th week of October but this year due to delay in shack allocations the season has started late. Many places which are prime attraction like the Beach Shacks , John’s Boat Tours, Saturday night market etc had not yet started. I reached my hotel in north goa in the evening and as my…
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Helicopter Ride Over Orlando & Airboat Tour of Everglades
Helicopter Ride So in the #Florida series previously, i posted about the Kennedy Space center here and the Universal Studios here. Closeby to where we were staying Marriott Harbor lake , there was this Helicopter tour company Orlando Heli-Tours . We used to pass by the place several times every day and one evening I could not finally resist myself and we landed up there for a tour. I think the 15 minute tours start at $ 85 , you can go to their website by clicking on their name above and see the details.. Now I had never been in a Helicopter before so I was quite apprehensive about…
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Bangkok 2019 : City that Never Sleeps
So after a Koh Samui Trip which was very nice , we headed to Bangkok for some shopping and chilling before coming back to India . In the last couple of years this was my 2nd trip to BKK, you can read about my previous trip part 1 here and Part 2 here . Like Last time I had booked us in the Chatrium Riverside Hotel and the 2 bedroom river view suite there is something truly magnificent. You can read my detailed review of the hotel here. The first which I want to mention in Bangkok is Cafe Corgi in the garden . My kids told me about this…
