The herb marinated grilled fish was bland with no flavors. The chicken hot and sour soup served earlier was soya sauce in water with chicken fibers thrown in. The cocktail had no zing either. Booked on a long weekend in peak season, at 1500 rupees per night, I didn’t like my hostel room. After a…
Tag: backpacker
Meditating on a cold morning in Dharamkot
It’s a cold and incessant drizzle. The sky is laden with clouds with thin streaks of sunlight trying to sneak through them intermittently. The cold wind shivers through my ears. In this weather I take the fifteen minute walk from my hostel in Upper Dharamkot to Lower Dharamkot on the rocky, uneven path wet with…
Finding meaning by the Baspa
A couple of months ago, I was sitting by the Baspa River near the India-Tibet Border Police checkpost in Chitkul which is the last Indian village on the India-Tibet border in Himachal Pradesh. I had been travelling in the Kinnaur region laden with yet to ripe apples for the last few days and Chitkul was…
The idyllic serenity of Mcleodganj
Being home to the Tibetan government in exile since 1960 and the official residence of the 14th Dalai Lama, McLeodganj has a large Tibetan population and a strong Tibetan Buddhist influence. People here are peaceful, smiling and ready to help. The prayers of the aged Buddhist monks softly chanting mantras with meditation beads between their fingers seem to permeate through the air. It is an ideal getaway to just be with yourself in the lap of nature and not spend a lot of time and money on sightseeing tours. Go for long idle walks or read a book by the window in a quiet cafe over coffee with the mountains looking over you.
“Hello Indian Tourist”
That is how Francis greeted me as I boarded a local bus from Calangute to Baga on a hot and humid afternoon in Goa. I heard the words as I was taking a seat while talking to the conductor but didn’t pay attention to see who the speaker was as I didn’t think they were…
Travelling doesn’t provide life’s answers
We will travel to get out of our comfort zones. We will trek up to 5000 meters to witness first rays of the sun kissing the snow capped peaks surrounding us. We have, however, never seen the same sunrise from the balcony or terrace of our homes as we always wake up late and are rushing to work with a sandwich in our hands. We avoid talking to our family who have seen us through all the crests and troughs of our lives so far as they won’t understand the travails of our wandering heart. We don’t reach out to that old school or college friend whom we haven’t spoken to in years in spite of living in the same city. We can only open our hearts and laugh uninhibitedly during fleeting conversations with random strangers in an obscure bar in an obscure street in Amsterdam.
The Goan charm….
The charms of Goa are known to most travelers, even those who have never visited this paradise as this tiny state of India is well represented in travel shows, blogs, guide books, documentaries and movies. Goa has much to offer to people belonging to different age groups, cultures, countries and social status, with desires both…
The plight of a solo traveler
I definitely love to travel alone and agree that it is one of the best ways to romance life. However, like most love stories, it is not always a smooth ride and is not always as fun or life changing or introspective as it is made out to be. Most of the time, luck, bad planning, and elements of nature and society turn into villains who spare no effort to spoil the romance.
Tungnath Chandrashila Trek…
The Tungnath – Chandrashila trek is one of the shorter and easier treks in Uttarakhand, India. A very manageable 4 km trek from Chopta takes you to Tungnath, the highest temple in the world dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is located at an altitude of 3680 m with a view of the Nanda Devi, Trishul, Chaukhamba, Kedarnath and other peaks of the Garhwal Himalayas.
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