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Road Trip Day 6 - Bikaner

On Day 6 we woke up in Bikaner, the last of our stops in the road trip. I have never been to Bikaner before this. So this was a first. We had only 1 day here, almost half a day actually, so we decided to do some googling and choose 1 or 2 places to see. The first on the list was Junagarh Fort. It is famous for being one of the forts that was never conquered. It was built in the city rather than outside on a hilltop, like Mehrangarh fort. It had a moat filled with water around it. The water is sort of gone now but you can see some of the moat still around. The royal family doesn't stay here anymore and have shifted to the Lalgarh Palace, which is also a heritage hotel. We did visit the palace too for a brief visit.

We picked a few odd things from here and there. Not too much shopping. A pair of slippers, a skirt here, an earring there. We did sample the local yet very famous Bikaneri rasgullas, namkeen and ghewar. That closed our eating local delicacies part of the trip.

On the way back we stopped at the house of one of my dad's uncle's in Punjab. They have an orange orchard. We spent some time there and N got to experience a tractor, a buffalo and a hand pump first hand. He was so happy to pump out water by himself :) A chatting session and a sack full of oranges later we were off for home!

It was a great time, time well spent - re bonding, laughing, chatting, sight seeing and shopping :) Cheers to the last day of this road trip and here's to many more!!

You can read the previous day's posts here - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 & 5.

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Road Trip Day 4 & 5 - Sun city, Blue city - Jodhpur!

We loved Jodhpur! Period! It looked great, and has expanded well in the last 20 years. The Jodhpur part of the trip was very nostalgic. We visited the house we stayed in, the school where mom taught, dad's office and the school where me and my sister studied for 2 years. It felt like replacing a photographic memory with the actual image.

My sis and me in the school campus in the pic below. Most of it was the same with a few additions, a fresh paint job and a new play yard. The current principal was happy to see us and told us to look around and take pictures :)

After that we did our round of shopping, yes we are pretty incorrigible that way! Ended up buying some bandhej and lehriya sarees, some handloom stuff and some souvenirs for gifts. In my defense I did not own a single Rajasthani saree before this :)

There is this road in Jodhpur city, called Nai Sadak, and it was our regular shopping haunt during our earlier stay. We headed back there and had mirchi vada, matar kachori, pyaaz ki kachori and mawa barfi - all of Rajasthan's local specials.

Out of the local tourist destinations we chose to re-visit Mehrangarh fort. I had images from earlier visits to the fort in my head - the blue coloured houses as seen from the fort, the huge looming fort structure and flights of pigeons!!
It has been maintained really well and has been done up well in terms of a tourist destination. The signs are easy to read and well explained. The guards are tourist friendly, seem well educated and can talk in Hindi and English in addition to their local language. There are cafes and very clean restrooms inside the fort (a rare sight in most tourist destinations in India). It was a great experience and I can visit this place again!!

We left for Bikaner around lunch time on Day 5. Reached there at about 7:30 pm. This was a good drive - the roads were pretty decent except a few stretches. Again not too many places to eat but as we got closer to Bikaner things got better.

Day 6 - the last day post coming up soon...

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Road Trip Day 3 - Jaipur - Ajmer - Jodhpur

Day 3 could be summarized as loud and noisy! Noise of different kinds and types. Some tangible, some not.

It started off at midnight with a tummy ache. Not me. N. Don't know the exact reason but maybe because of all the eating at so many places, the water and sitting for long hours. So in the dead of the night I walked to the parking lot to find Imli (tamarind) goli from the car. Two of those and some brisk walking in the room resulted in some burps and farts and all was well with the little tummy. Thank god it was gas and nothing worse.

We left Jaipur around 10 am. All the previous day's shopping had to be loaded into the car which takes time, you see. Drove straight to Ajmer Sharif with a loo stop on the way.

On the way we passed a couple of toll stations and educated the toll walas on a statutory law which ensures that serving army officers and their dependent families are exempted from paying toll. Ex-servicemen are not exempt but serving officers and families are. I know the exact rule number too by now - Act 1901. It took about 30 minutes, looking through the official toll rule book, diverting an entire lane of 20 cars and trucks to other lanes, some noisy verbal exchanges between a dozen people to finally educate the toll company about the exact rule. All this happened because my dad works with a toll company in Punjab and knows the rules inside out and he couldn't tolerate someone twisting the rule to their benefit. Sigh! The downside of too much knowledge.

At Ajmer Sharif the area surrounding the dargah is narrow, crowded and mismanaged. No proper parking outside. Dozens of people approach you to "help" with parking in multiple mini lanes and narrow restricted spaces. Once you are in there is no proper place to keep your shoes and again you can take any shopkeeper or flower seller's help to keep your shoes with them while you pay your respects inside. No guarantee for your footwear though. There was chaos, noise and I felt distracted. The entire process could be done in a whole lot of better ways but then faith and belief trumps everything, I guess. It was nice visiting the place again but I would have liked to remember visiting the place for reasons other than I do. There were no cameras allowed inside only mobile phones and so no pictures from that part.

Reached Jodhpur at around 5 pm after a lunch break at a roadside dhaba. The food was a little spicy again but delicious nonetheless.

Jodhpur brought back a lot of memories and we did see a few places in the army cantonment which we had been to earlier.

Tomorrow we plan to revisit some more old haunts and maybe shop some too :)

The commotion in the first half of the day resulted in peace, quiet and some sleep in the second half.

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Road Trip Day 2 - Shopping in Jaipur!

All we did on Day 2 was shop! We shopped till we dropped! Well not literally but almost.

It was raining in the morning and we thought "Sigh! There go our shopping plans." But the weather gods were good to us and the rain stopped by the time we finished sight seeing.

We started by visiting Hawa Mahal. During our earlier trip to Jaipur about 20 years ago, this was one of the places we had been to and so we wanted to revisit the place. Took some pictures and saw Jantar Mantar and other city sights from Hawa Mahal.

Just outside Hawa Mahal is Johari Bazaar and near by are Choti Chaupad and Bapu Bazaar. This area is one of the main tourist hubs and shopping area (Insider info, courtesy, a friend's mom who stays in Jaipur) :)

We started window shopping and progressed to full fledged shopping very soon. The 2 members of the group who generally dislike shopping - N and my dad cooperated very well! They stayed with us throughout the day and even helped us shop.

The shops and clothes were a riot of colors. Johari bazaar was in general overpriced than Bapu bazaar. So if you plan to shop, visit Bapu bazaar first. The rates are cheaper and closer to the actual price compared to Johari bazaar, reason being Johari bazaar is closer to the tourist attractions and attracts more foreign tourists.

We picked some bedsheets, bed spreads, rajais (comforters), skirts, suits, bandhej sarees and some kurtas. Looking at the loot at the end of the day was immensely satisfying! I know material pleasures but ask a shop-a-holic and you will know how it feels ;)

We did have a good lunch at Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar in Johari bazaar. Also enjoyed some local stuff like mirchi vada and daal ke pakode.

Tomorrow we leave Jaipur for Jodhpur via Ajmer. We plan to stop at Ajmer Sharif and seek blessings.

I am excited about visiting Jodhpur, especially seeing Mehrangarh fort and my school.

Cheers to holiday shopping and the little pleasures of life!!!

Had to do a collage of pics rather than my regular lots-of-pictures-post because of a borrowed, low speed internet connection. But something is better than nothing!! :)

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Rajasthan by road!

I have been travelling across countries and within India since last December. It started with the Sydney-Thailand trip last Christmas, followed by the move to India in Jan this year.
Once in India, I spent some time in Faridabad, Delhi, Bathinda, Bangalore and Chandigarh. Not more than a week anywhere though!
At first I thought I would get tired of the living-out-of-a-suitcase and getting-used-to-new-accommodations part very soon. But it has been pretty OK. It helps that the kid has grown up, relatively speaking, and is in general cooperative about seeing new places and meeting family (new people for him).

The next travel bit is a road trip to Rajasthan. It starts tomorrow and we plan to go from Bathinda, in Punjab to Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner, in Rajasthan. We have stayed in Jodhpur for 3 years when my father was posted there while he was serving in the Army. I was 10 years old then. We did travel across Rajasthan that time too and so a lot of memories will be revisited.
The road trippers include me, N, my sister, mother and father. Dad wanted to take the family out for a trip. According to him it is not very often that we get together like this and so this is a perfect opportunity :) Both his sons-in-law are away on their own business/work trips. So it's just the 5 of us. I will try to do a daily post with the highlights and if possible (network speed permitting) daily pictures.

6 days, 5 nights, some 1350 kms, 4 grown ups, 1 kid and a Scorpio.
The music is ready, maps have been printed, bags packed, car loaded and munching stuff collected.
Now it is get, set and go in the morning!! Looking forward to it!! :)

This picture was taken in Sydney downtown. It represents movement, travel, activity and buzz to me. Life is like this - it doesn't stand still, even if we do!!

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Day 25 - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you. Wish you loads of happiness, fun and goodies!!

There are Christmas trees, holiday crowds, finger licking food and songs everywhere we go.

The tree in our apartment complex

The blue and silver tree at Wellington airport

The tree at Sydney airport

Yummy christmas macaroons at Lindt in Darling Harbour, Sydney

Holiday crowds and carol singers at Darling Harbour, Sydney

We have been enjoying sunny Sydney and are off to Thailand now. Have a lovely week ahead!!

This post is part of the Marathon Blogging December 2012.

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Day 14 - Christmas Parade and Carols

In New Zealand, most of the work places shut down fully or partially around 15th December for a month. Yes, for a full month, work comes to a halt! Except the essential stuff, of course. Offices send out the year-end holiday shut down dates via email as early as May-June so that people can plan their holidays.
Most of the public Christmas events, parties and school functions are done with, by Dec 15th. After which people set out for their personal or family vacations, celebrations and escapes!
The Kiwis take their annual summer holidays very seriously. Holiday homes, villas and beach rentals are booked out well ahead in time (we found that out while looking for our December retreat). Home leases and employee contracts are signed up till Jan 15th and not Dec 31st, so that nobody in inconvenienced to look for new tenants or employees in the middle of their vacation.

The Wellington City's annual Christmas parade was last weekend. It was all that you expect from a parade and more. Here are glimpses from the parade and the party that followed.

It was a riot of colours!

The white ice queen

Summer sun = Fedoras and Hats!

The end of the parade

The party begins!

Darth Vader and his li'l fan!

Li'l girls in oh-so-cute-tiaras

Hospi (from Wellington Children Hospital) giving out free hugs

Crowds colourful and happy

The party goes on until evening and late night

The lights on the huge electric Christmas tree are turned on

Little sparkles of joy - my favourite pic of this lot

So much colour! Another facet of the previous pic

Listening to carols in candle light err saber light!

Happy Holiday season!! Just 10 more sleeps until Christmas eve :)

This post is part of the Marathon Blogging December 2012.

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Day 2 - Beach, Pizza, Talaash and Rajma Chawal!

The Marathon Blogging event where a group of us bloggers have resolved to write every day for the month of December is on! Check out the badge on the sidebar.
To join us this month, send an add request to the Marathon Bloggers FB Group.

Yesterday was Saturday and a not a very windy day (like it typically is, here in Wellington)! We drove down to Paraparaumu beach and spent time there. There were fluffy white clouds in the sky. The Tasman Sea waves were lapping up against the shore one after the other. Was a beautiful sight, close-my-eyes-and-lie-down-here-types!

N had a lot of fun, trying to catch the water in his fists, running behind and then away from the waves, playing with the stuff the water brought along.

We even drew some hearts in the sand; one for each of us, sized to match our heights.

This was followed by a much needed tummy filling pizza lunch at Hell's Pizza. Hell's is a locally owned chain started in NZ and now spread across Australia and UK. Loved their collection of veggie and chicken pizzas.

From here we proceeded to a quaint li'l modern village square with local shops, a farmer's market and ice cream, candy and honey stores along with other stuff.
I was amused by this sign on the door to an art gallery and gift store. Usually stores have the opposite sign. I thought this was cute and a stand-out!! I did go into the store with my double cream and cookies cone :)

S and I looked at each other and thought "What next?" I am a big watch-movies-in-the-theater buff and this activity had reduced in frequency for some time after N was born but now we are back in action. We decided to watch Talaash, the latest Aamir Khan flick. And as expected with almost any Aamir Khan movie, it was a treat. Loved the taut, well edited and directed thriller. Well done Reema Kagti, Bravo!!

Came back home, had rajma chawal - a favourite in our house. Was inspired by Archana's post about making this. Loaded the dishwasher and while the hubby put the kid to bed I started on this post. All in all, it was a day well spent!

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Otaki trip and farm stay

A few weeks back, we visited a home stay/farm in Otaki about an hour north from Wellington. We went along with another family so N had company ;)
We went via a scenic route along the west coast of North Island along the Tasman Sea.
Once we reached the place, we were welcomed into our cabins by this stunning blue necked beauty!

We set off to explore the place immediately; because it all looked so inviting and exciting. And we wanted to see everything before the sun went down.

The farm is very Bali-inspired. They have their head office in Bali hence a lot of Buddha statues all over the place.

Some elephants-having-fun statues too!

There was even a cute li'l wishing well and the kids dropped coins into it and made their wishes :)

There were lots of birds and animals on the farm roaming around freely. Some hens.

Some geese, roosters and birds-I-don't-know-names-of.

There were some deer.

The best part was when the peacock decided to spread his feathers and strut about.

Then it was time for sight seeing around the town of Otaki. And it had so many hues to offer. It was a pure visual delight!

At the Otaki Beach we saw these seagulls resting.

Ended the day with some delicious food at the local Indian restaurant.

The next morning we had a gorgeous visitor at our cabin door!

Beautiful, isn't it??

New Zealand is a beautiful place and here is to many more trips!!

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Flower Show at Lalbagh, Bangalore.

Friday was a holiday for kids at school and so a friend, A proposed that we take them to the flower show at Lalbagh. So came morning and N was woken up promptly at 7:00 AM. He was more than happy to oblige even though it was a holiday. The excitement of going somewhere was more than enough.After bags were packed with a set of spare clothes, a hat, water bottle and enough snacks to keep an army happy, off we went. Traffic wasn't that bad and the weather was pleasant.
Once we were there, we were treated to beautiful sights in all colours.
Though I personally felt that the flower show is a hyped up event. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to look at and spend, maybe, 30 minutes, but other than that its nothing great. You can spend time in Lalbagh taking a walk, other than at the flower show.
Anyways, here are the visuals. Again a-too-many-pictures-post!