My Travels in 2007- May We all Travel More in 2008

Kanchanjanga- Pelling, Sikkim

I guess I liked 2007 a lot and would not change too many things. 2007 started on the right note as we spent the new year eve in the train coming back from Sikkim.

Shringi, Himachal Pradesh

Then in February we went to Shringi Vatika in Himachal Pradesh. I went along with my younger nephew there in March again to retrieve my cell phone from Shringi.

Prashar Lake, Himachal Pradesh

Then in May we visited Prashar Lake again in Himachal Pradesh. Both Sesha and I consider it as one of our best trips in 2007.

Magnificent Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

June was time for heading to trek in the magnificent Spiti with Sesha and my elder nephew.

Naini Lake, Nainital, Uttrakhand

In September I headed to Nanital with my younger nephew and the trip was sponsored by the Shervani Hilltop Resorts. This was the first sponsored trip that happened to me because of my blog.

Tower Bridge, London

Then in October end November beginning I was in UK and though this was related to work I did manage to roam around a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg

And then came the Club Mahindra Travel Blogger's Coorg trip. This was another sponsored trip and I guess I got extremely lucky this year.

MAY WE ALL TRAVEL MORE IN 2008!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Langza to Komik, Spiti

Anjan (our co-guide) on the way from Langza to Komik, Spiti Trek, 2007

Afternoon Siesta at the Kuari Pass Trek, 2006

This is what happens to us on many treks! I remember crashing on the lunch point from Komik to Demul walk. Only the others never took any picture :) But that is the only time I can remember. I am not a big fan of afternoon siestas but with a big cold and a sore throat that has almost chocked my voice, the images look very tempting.

Zilch Chances?

Marble Arch, London

I did a post long back in 2006 for some London Hotel Portal and I wrote-

They promise me a good hotel deal if I ever head to London, well chances are absolutely slim, zilch I must say, but it is fun to get such requests.

Kent had left a comment on that post-

I bet you will get there! Lve the blog!

Now here I am, I actually went to UK and London in 2007!

Now if I say chances of going to Ireland are zilch, maybe I will get there eventually?

Prashar Lake in December

This is what Prashar Lake can look like in December! No, I didn't go there but Anil did (don't confuse him with Anil P from Windy Skies). Anil is my colleague from work, not at all active in the blog world and I guess least inclined too! But he gave permission to post these pictures on my blog. So these pictures are not taken by me, only posted here with permission.

Prashar Lake at Sunset in December

I was bugging Sesha that we too should visit Prashar Lake again in cold months (maybe Feb) but till now he has shown no inclination! He looks at the pictures with awe but tells me, "Let us go someplace new."

Sunset on the Cottage Side at the Prashar Lake

I of course know the place but not with so much snow! At the time I visited (May 2007) it was quite green.

Sunset at Prashar Lake in December- Another View

This is the picture I like most of the entire lot. How I would love to take pictures (OK spend time too around such a sunset) but the next travel plans to the hills are not before February and that too a very short visit.

Oh! and it is in honor of these Prashar Lake pictures that I made that in-flight magazine post un-sticky.

Club Mahindra, Coorg- The Trip

When I heard from Arun Nair of Club Mahindra about a proposed trip to Coorg for bloggers at their expense, I of course was delighted and said yes. The bestest part was they were taking care of the Delhi-Bangalore and back, flight too.

When I boarded the plane I was seriously wondering how the trip would turn out to be. This is because I hardly knew anyone in the group and my usual holidays are never spent in a resort. To complicate the matters further, I am the kind of person as Dev described me at the end of the trip, "You are rather reserved and I couldn't figure you out." I mean I really am reserved and difficult to figure out.

The first worry after arrival at Bangalore was how to figure out where would Arun be as he was our contact person. But then cell phones come in handy in such situations, however we may curse them otherwise. He called me and asked me to get out of the airport. Then he asked if I was the one with the black luggage and there we were shaking hands. That was the end of all my worries on this trip.

Later, Anil remarked about Arun, "While listening to you on the phone it felt as if we were talking to an elderly person. One could never guess you would be so young." I agree wholeheartedly.

After a while Kiruba joined us, he is supposed to be the mastermind behind this trip. Then Dev came, we were on the same flight but we had not met. Next to join us were Dhruva and Srinidhi. Last to come were people from Bombay. And the Bombay flight brought Apurva Pandit (remember him? He beat me at the oktatabyebye original travel contest) and he is closely associated with that super site pagalguy.com. Then I met Anil. I must say I have been a fan of his blog and I did not know he too would be on this trip.

On the way we picked up Anita and Amogha. And the group was complete. Or wait, am I forgetting anyone? How can I forget Sudhir, he is from Chennai and is quite capable of making his presence felt! This makes the gang complete.

So, we boarded the Ganesha and headed to Coorg. The journey in itself was eventful and a lot of talking took place. Soon Dev with his pizza gyan was holding the center stage and I think he retained that position for the entire duration of the trip. The lunch at Kamath's was wonderful and I dozed off in the van after it but not before agreeing to a game of TT once we reached. I managed to survive without Avomine (anti-nausea medicine) on this stretch.

The Welcome at Club Mahindra- Coorg

The resort is what to be expected of resorts, splendid (but then they come at a price, don't they?). The welcome was grand, the food the highlight of the trip and the employees, particularly Joy, a real treat. But then for me the central event on day one was TT. I know I have blogged about it before but can't help bragging again. One of the Club Mahindra employee played doubles with us and the next day Joy started calling me 'TT madam.'

The next day was devoted to a trip to Talacauvery and later in the evening to the city of Madikeri. Talacuvery is the birth place of the river Cauvery and I think it was Apurva who remarked, "It is difficult to believe that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fight so much over this!"

Talacuvery temple complex is lovely and the walk to the Brahamgiri Hill all the more enjoyable. Sadly the mere twisting roads give me motion sickness and for this journey, mid way I took an Avomine and then only survived the journey. Same was true for the second day trip to Dubare Elephant Camp.

Abbey Waterfalls, Coorg

Later a few of us visited the Abbey Waterfalls followed by a trip to Omkareswar Temple and musical fountain. On our own, I think many us would have given the musical fountain a miss but then I discovered there is fun in doing 'regular touristy things' too. Sadly, on day 2 no one invited me to play TT :)

Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg

The next day's highlight was a visit to the Dubare Elephant Camp. The place is huge, and if you are a brave soul (which I am not) you can give a bath to the elephant. Again did a routine thing, took an elephant ride! But most fun was watching the elephant take food. The people at the camp make giant balls of food stuff and feed it to the elephants. The elephant in the picture above is waiting for his food.

The evening was devoted to walking around the coffee plantation on the Club Mahindra premises with Joy as our guide. I knew a little bit about Arabica and Robusta coffee beans but Joy really knew about them. On return we tried some of the adventure stuff on the premises. I had a mildly sprained foot (that is still giving me some trouble) so I tried 'the river crossing' where I was using my hands primarily and I definitely enjoyed it.

The Legendary Sweet Dishes

But if you ask for the highlight of this trip I would say food, sweet dishes in particular. And that is really surprising, because I am usually know to say, "Well, don't ask me, I am pretty indifferent to food." The buffet at Club Mahindra was sumptuous beyond belief. On the first day I was a bit late for the breakfast (but this was the regular role of Sudhir) and I remember telling Kiruba, "I wish I had more time to do some justice to this breakfast." It is a wonder that I have still managed not to gain weight after this trip, I mean at every lunch and dinner I was demolishing plateful of sweet dishes. What a bliss it was.

So, to sum it up this was a trip that was not my regular cup of tea in so many ways. I traveled with a bunch I didn't know (I usually travel only with family) did things I don't do like visiting local 'touristy' sights (our trips consist only of walking) stayed at a resort (budget hotels are our way and it will remain so unless another sponsored trip happens :) enjoyed food (I am pretty indifferent as I said, 10 years of hostel food is capable of killing all those taste buds) and yet it was a fabulous trip! I guess it was the people who made all the difference!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Near Sojha, Himachal Pradesh

Walk Near Sojha, February 2007

After a gap of many years I find my self in warm Bangalore in December instead of freezing in some part of the Himalayas. I can't make up my mind which one I like better.

When You See a Picture Taken by You in an In Flight Magazine with a Credit to Someone Else!

Note: This Post is sticky for the time being. The regular posts continue below. I will be updating this post as and when I get some new information.

Update (27/12/2007): I have made this post unsticky in honor of these pictures from Prashar Lake in December (pictures courtesy Anil, my colleague).

Yesterday I took a flight from Delhi to Bangalore. I picked up the flight magazine (December Issue). I found that in their feature article they have taken a picture of mine with a credit to someone else. And of course there is no question of asking my permission as the credit is given to someone else. I am mad.

After consulting a lot of people through mail and putting the same question at Indiamike, I have written to the airline but this being end of the year I doubt I will hear back soon. I will wait for a decent period of time (say January 15 or should I wait longer?) before putting a post with the name of the airline.

Update 1 (24/12/2007): I heard from the airline and the editor who handles the work for the airline. I must say they are prompt. I wrote them over on the weekend and by Monday morning I got the reply. The editor says they got the picture from the person who they have attributed it to. According to the editor the person is one of the top travel writers in India. The editor has asked for one week's time to get back to me. So far so good.

Update 2 (25/12/2007): I had googled the author to whom the picture was attributed and I wrote a mail to him asking if he had any idea how he got the credit for the picture? I got a reply. He says he was away and an assistant sent the pictures. When one of his was not opening, the assistant simply downloaded a picture from the internet and sent it to the magazine editor that turned out to be mine. He admits there has been a mistake and says he is willing to write to the editor and also pay me out of his own pocket. I agreed to writing to the editor but of course not to paying out of pocket. Looks like the thing will settled quickly? I will now wait to hear from the editor and the airline again.

Update 3 (26/12/2007): Heard from the editor again. He says they will print a correction in the next issue and pay me for the picture. Also said they would try to put a system in place so that such incidents can be minimized. I asked if I could get a copy of the issue in which the clarification occurs. I hope I will! The editor didn't mention what they would pay I didn't ask. But I think this should be the end of the matter.

I will make this un-sticky only when I see the correction. The worst part in this whole episode is the role of chance. Had I not taken that flight with the particular airline , I would have never known about this whole stuff.

Oxford City Center- If I Had to Pick One Picture!

Oxford City Center, Oxford, UK

Uber Mensch asked me to do a Meme (don't ask me what they are, I only know tags). From the blog-

Here is the new meme. It is simple, easy and gives no room for whining one usually associates with a meme. All you have to do is select and upload one photo that you have clicked this year that is special to you. Could be anything...aesthetic, technical or personal. Also, put in a short note why it is special.

I picked up the above picture for many reasons. One, I went abroad after 4 long years and it felt nice (all my trips abroad have been for work, we do not holiday abroad). It felt nice to be in a 'foreign' country again. It was a nice feeling that I again have the opportunity to work on the things I like.

I visited Leeds, Oxford and London and I think I enjoyed my stay in Oxford the most. The reason is very simple. Oxford is a very walking friendly city and I love to walk. That is the reason why I picked up the picture above. Reminds me of all the long walks that I took.

Update- I wrote a mail to Uber Mensch saying I did the post and he said the meme is not compete as I have not passed it on. Well, here are five people I pass it on to.

Paul Shoul- Ace photographer from Gonomad, I simply love his pictures. If he does this meme, then it would be really interesting to see which one he picks up.

Arun- Another ace photographer, who doesn't blogs as much as I would like to read him. Let us see what he would come up with.

Dev- The 'pizza man' has worked in/with advertising, let us see if he has time to do this and what picture is dear to him this year.

Anil- Can I miss on one of my favorite travel blogger? He too blogs far less than what I would like to read.

Arun Nair- He was asking about SLRs, so let us see what he likes to capture.

Club Mahindra Trip- Some Unexpected Responses

I went to the Kodagu Community blog because of the link they gave to my video of the dance from the region. Never thought the trip would invoke such a response in one corner of the blog world. The blogowner says in a comment on the post-

Would you like Kodava culture to be shown to the drunk-tourists at late nights? (9-10 pm) I can understand if some curious people, who really want to know about the culture, are the audience.

Well, here is what I wrote in reply.

You go on a trip and you get labeled as half drunk or was it drunk tourist. I don't think we qualify as a bunch of drunk tourist!

But did you see any disrespect in any of our posts towards the local culture?

Thanks for giving an alternative perspective. Didn't know the trip would elicit such a response in a corner of the blogworld.

Meet the People- Anita: The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Anita with the Entire Gang- Third from the Right

Anita joined us on the way to Coorg and the first thing that hits you about her is vivaciousness. She is high on life! How I envy her for her travels to Europe and Bhutan.

Sudhir picked up a lot of pangs with her but she took it so well in her stride. It was unfortunate that she had to leave early. Oh! and I thought she must be about 24 but later when we chatted for a while it turned out to be wrong. And no, don't ask me what is her age :)

Meet the People- Srinidhi: The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Srinidhi- Second from the Left, Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

He was easily the quietest (and one of the youngest) of the bunch, hardly speaking a word to anyone, like a few of my students (yes, I still have a few like that and what a blessing they are). But then I gradually got to talk to him a bit. Came to know what is his claim to fame! And after reading it you will have to agree, it is some post. Not only he manages to write a post that comes right next to the official website of Club Mahindra, he is quite thorough with SEO and other net gyan. He gave me a lot of fundas about how to make my posts more search engine friendly.

While on our way back, from Coorg to Bangalore, we managed to chat for the while. Don't go by the quiet demeanor, in his spare time he likes to drive tractors! His one regret that I got to hear about was about not being able to drive even heavier vehicles in spite of having a license to drive one.

Lazy Sunday Photo- Omkareshwar Temple Coorg

Omkareshwar Temple, Coorg

Meet the People- The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Sudhir Syal, One of the members of the Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

I was planning to write the long report about the Club Mahindra sponsored Coorg trip but it is just not happening. So, I thought I would talk about what I can.

So, meet Sudhir Syal. On his blog he writes-

So, there we were then, a motley crew, as you would expect, each figuring out 'who' or 'what' to expect as company for this momentous journey. Soon enough the group began to take shape, with there being a clear demarcation between the intellectual 'traveller' and the 'gawar tourist'. The 'intellectual traveller' easily identified with his manner of speaking. " Have you been to Leh, , 25 Kms south-east of 'Namcha Barwa Himalayas , 890 Kms north of the tropic of capricorn filled with Azure skies and that rarefied aroma !". The gawar traveller would look on ...

There are many things that I can write about him. His phone calls and his habit of being late were most commented upon but then two incidents stand out in my mind.

At the Dubare elephant camp, the two of us fancied nariyal paani (tender coconut water) and the guy running the stall would simply refuse to acknowledge us! I can't speak a word of Kannada or any other south Indian language but Sudhir can and yet the stall owner would ignore him even more. It was only when our man Friday, Joy (our Club Mahindra escort, a truly wonderful person) intervened that we got our nariyal paani!

Then I remember telling Sudhir in all enthu about Prashar Lake, and then he smiled and told me, "I like my travel to be comfortable!" Point well taken Sudhir. And that doesn't make anyone "gawar tourist."

And then he of course lost to me in TT :)

Club Mahindra- Table Tennis Tales

Table Tennis Table- Picture from Kiruba's Blog

It all started with an email from Arun Nair of Club Mahindra. He asked if I would be interested in visiting Coorg on their expense? Can I ever resist such trips? The only catch in my mind was the flight from Delhi to Bangalore, but he agreed to take care of that too. Now what more could I ask!

While planning the trip, Arun and I talked on the phone sometimes. He mentioned that Kiruba was the person who suggested my name. I of course knew of his blog but I was not sure how he knew about mine. Anyway, I hopped over and saw the picture of TT table on his blog. So, I wrote a few lines to him, thanking him for including me on this trip and asked if I should carry my TT bat on the trip? He replied quite enthusiastically and said we could definitely try it out.

Kiruba told me during the bus journey (Bangalore to Coorg) itself that no matter what we would play TT once we reached and I should not say I am too tired, etc. Sudhir and Amogha also wanted to play. The three of them played singles with me and to cut a long story short I will quote them about what they said afterwards-

This is what Sudhir wrote to me in an email-

Am also working on my T.T game, so the next time we meet - you should expect a much tougher match :)

And this is what Sudhir wrote on his blog-

It was quite clear that she had primarily 2 great interests, Travel and T.T. The latter of which she was so menacing in, that soon enough but for the wall, she had noone to play with.

Amogha told me this while leaving and I am paraphrasing-

You say you can play with your own bat! Next time I will practice, and come with my own band baja, my cheer girls and what not and then let us see what happens!

While I was playing with Kiruba, the ball went quite far away on my side and he offered me to bring it. I said, "No I am used to it. I play daily with my colleagues and they offer me no concessions, in fact they play quite aggressively and I often beat them!" After the game he said, "I perfectly well understand how your colleagues feel."

OK we were playing games of 21 and they all managed single digit scores, though over 5 :)

And did I say we bullied Arun into getting the TT hall open after 9.00 and they were sport enough to comply!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Garlic Fields in Shringi

Garlic Fields, Shringi, Himachal Pradesh

I was sitting with the laptop and looking at all my pictures uploaded at Picasa. I have uploaded seven albums (Spiti, Prashar Lake, UK, Coorg, Shringi 1, 2 and Nainital).

I did manage to visit a few places in 2007. But it may not be possible in 2008 as I have 3 day teaching as opposed to 2 day teaching in the January semester this time. But then I am not complaining. I was saying to Sesha, "We will make it up by taking a lot of weekend trips."

Dance Performance at Club Mahindra, Coorg

I thought I would upload a video of one of the dance performances we saw at the Club Mahindra premises at Coorg. And in the background you can see the row of containers that had our dinner. I think the reason I am really not getting back to my normal routine is that lavish food.

Pictures from Coorg

I am back to the 'death by grading' routine again. In the meanwhile, here are some of the pictures from Club Mahindra sponsored Coorg trip for bloggers.

To Coorg with Club Mahindra!

Went on a trip to Coorg that was sponsored by Club Mahindra for travel bloggers (will update on the gang soon). As of now swamped with work.

And even though I am no foodie, the highlight of this trip was the wonderful food that was served. I actually polished off all the sweet dishes you can see in this picture. I am sure I will gain at least 3 kg because of this trip.