Travelling – Page 2 – The TPTC Blog!!

To Vietnam: Huế

We arrived at Huế in the afternoon. As we made our way out of the railway station, we noticed the absence of Uber in the area. So, we settled for USD5 for a Toyota Innova to carry us with our baggage to the Serene Shining Hotel. The hotel was quite a nice one, with rooms facing the river. But, we did not have time to enjoy the views from the hotel, for we were already late for the day’s plan.
Huế has a lot of tombs scattered all over the place and the imperial citadel as its main attraction. There is also a bridge, Truong Tien Bridge, on the Perfume river, designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel. Now, the problem was that all the tombs and temples and pagodas close for the day by 1700h, and it was about 1600h already. We decided to skip the tombs all together, and went directly to the Thien Mu Pagoda.

We had hired a couple of bikes for us, cost us USD 25 for 24h. Fuel extra. So, Ritwik and Ankita were on one bike, while Manas and I followed them. The roads are wide, clean and people seem to follow the traffic rules here better than Hanoi. So, without any scare or incident, we made it to the pagoda. It was beautiful, peaceful and serene.

Since we were in no hurry, we spent quite some time there. While Manas and Ankita sat on the stairs of the pagoda, listening to distant chants from boats on the river, I and Ritwik were experimenting with long exposure shots of the gates of the pagoda.

Then, some time later, as the dusk had passed and night descended, we rode our bikes on the way back. Agenda, to take shots of the Truong Tien Bridge.

On the way we passed the citadel, which has a huge flagpost and a gigantic Vietnamese flag fluttering in the wind. Looked nice. Took a shot 🙂

In my opinion, the best view of the Truong Tien bridge will be from the parallel, Phu Xuan bridge with a wide angle lens, 18mm-ish. Since the parallel bridge was under renovation, we chose a park kind of place, between the bridges on the citadel side bank and set up our cameras.

I found the results quite satisfying. To watch the water of the river turn into a mirror and to get the glittery lights with starbursts, I was happy.

We had our daily dose of Banh Mi for dinner, and rode our bikes back to the hotel. Be aware, in the evening, you will find men on bikes, come at you with offers of girls, marijuana and cocaine. Tread carefully. The Phú Hội district of Huế is a hotspot for tourists, with numerous bars and backpackers hostels all around.

Next day, we would be off to the citadel. But for now, a couple of beers and a good night’s sleep was on the charts!

Cheers!!

May 7, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm lens, A week in Vietnam, Boats, Bokeh, Bridges, Gustave Eiffel, Hue, Long Exposure, Nikon D7200, Pagodas, Thien Mu Pagoda, Tombs, Truong Trien Bridge, Vietnam, Vietnam Trip 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An to Huế

By now, we were getting the hang of the country by a tiny bit, the people felt more approachable, and the beer felt much more palatable. Our next destination was the imperial city of Huế. All about the city and its sights, that ll come in the next post, but this time, let me tell you about the journey.

From Hoi An, there are two budget and recommended ways to get to Huế, take the bus or the train. You can always hire a motorbike, join a bike tour or hire a private car for the journey. This website, I Love Hue Tour is a good source of the information and one can never plan a trip without active use of Seat61. We took the comfortable way out, and booked ourselves a coupe in the soft sleeper in the SE2 train, which runs from HCMC to Ha Noi. The coach was air conditioned, and quite comfortable. Not the Indian trains’ first class type comfortable, but good enough; a bit cramped though. For a travel time of about 3 hours, we had each paid 1600 INR. We may have had a thought to grumble about the cost, but it was laid to rest within the first 15 minutes of the journey.

The entire route of the journey is through the hills, which hug the coastline. The view was amazing. The train chugs along slowly enough to take photos all the way. The aisle is generally filled with tourists and locals alike, taking in the sights and clicking away happily. I was no exception to this 🙂

The views continued to keep us mesmerized, spaced with dark spells through the numerous tunnels.

Soon we had reached plain land, and it felt very much similar to train journeys back home. Rolling fields with paddy, men and women working, etc.

And then, all of a sudden, we were in Huế. So, we picked our bags, and hopped off!

All about Huế, coming up shortly in the next post.

Cheers!!

May 4, 2018May 11, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm lens, A week in Vietnam, coastline, Da Nang, From Hoi An to Hue, Hoi An, Hue, Nikon D7200, Sea, Sea Shore, train, Train Journey, Train ride from Da Nang to Hue, Trains in vietnam, Travel, Travel in Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnamese Railway 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the night!

After we were back, we had just crashed into our beds, tired and exhausted. We had planned to go to the beach, the An Bang beach. When we woke up, twilight was fast fading. So, we quickly got on our bicycles, and rode for about 4 kms to the beach.
We paid 30000 VND per bicycle as parking fees and went in. It was dark by then, and we could see lights of far away ships near the horizon. There were deck chairs on the beaches, and it seemed that they were free to use. We sat there for some time, and were hungry. A hour and a Banh Mi later, we were ready to leave.
As we were retrieving our bicycle, Ankita noticed that here phone was missing. She had put it in the cycle’s basket an instant earlier and now it was gone. We started searching for it desperately everywhere. Our primary suspect was the attendant, who had suddenly turned deaf and mute! We glared and growled at him, and bared our teeth, and he slithered away to a hidey hole. Ritwik followed him, came back victorious with the phone. We made a swift exit out of the area to avoid any such risks any more.

We crossed into the old town soon, and it was just wow! Lights all around, lamps, lanterns, LED lights. Best bit, no vehicles. We parked our bicycles beside the Japanese Covered Bridge and hit the streets.

Camera set on lowest ISO, long shutter exposures and deep apertures, I went about shooting.

Every other street had lamps in them lighting up the street. The shops had various happy hour offers and it was thronging with tourists and locals alike.

The Thu Bon river, now had multiple boats with tourists on board, rowing up and down. Some had the floating prayer lamps with them while some were simply enjoying the ride. Ritwik and I got interested in the long exposure opportunities while Ankita and Manas went ahead to a nearby museum.

Now, it was almost 2100h and we were hungry too. So, we crossed the river and went to the other bank, where it was as if a carnival was on. All shops were glittering with lights, live music being played, food and ale galore. And then, the street which had every kind of food imaginable.

The other bank also gave a perfect shot of the Japanese Covered Bridge.

Promptly at 2200h, the lights went out and the music subsided and it was the end of a long day. We lingered back to enjoy the quite and calm atmosphere of the place for some time, and shot some more photos.

We reached back around 2330h to find the receptionist at our hotel fast asleep. Had to wake her up for the keys though, guess people sleep early in this side of the world. And, that is how our stay in Hoi An ended. Next day, we would leave Hue, via train! The journey would be something to look forward at.

Cheers!!

April 29, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, An Hoi Bridge, Boats, Bridge of Lights, Carnival, Festival, Floating lamps, Food, Hoi An, Hoi An Old Town, Japanese Covered Bridge at Night, Japanese Covered Bridge in Vietnam, Light Trails, Lights, Long Exposure, Night, Nikon D7200, Places to go in Vietnam, Thu Bon river, Travelling, Vietnam, Vietnam in 7 days 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the day!

Our flight from HCMC to Da Nang was delayed by about 4 hours, so we requested the VietJet associates on station to possibly find an alternative flight, they got us something that was just a couple of hours away. The flight was uneventful and we reached Da Nang around 2100h. Luckily, Ritwik had the foresight to book a cab beforehand, which would take us to our hotel in Hoi An. I highly recommend this. Yes, it will cost you some money, but it shall be totally worth it. We were picked up by a Ford Endevour and off we went to our hotel, the Green Apple hotel in Hoi An.

We were welcomed with a plates of fruits and fruit juices.

By the time we were ready to go out and eat, most of the nearby shops had shut down, so we asked the ladies in the hotel to help us out, and they pointed us out to a nearby restaurant.

We found the food to be outright delicious. We retired, excited that we had an entire day to roam about the town the next day.

Next day at Hoi An began with us gorging on enormous quantities of bacon, sausages, eggs, boiled chicken, bread, jam and butter; not forgetting the juices and coffee, all in the amazing buffet breakfast at the hotel. We began the day trip by getting ourselves cycles from the hotel. The cycles were free to use, and all you had to do was ensure that at the end of the day, you brought them back in one piece.
Now, in Hoi An, there is an old town area, which has the typical french charm to it. There are some old houses which are preserved in their original conditions, community halls and assembly halls, etc, strewn all about the place.

To enter these, you shall need a ticket. On a single ticket, there are 5 tiny slips of paper, which are torn away as and when you enter these ticketed places. There are a total of 11 such places within the Old Town area. Also, the area is marked walking and cycling only.

We went to the Cantonese Assembly Hall, the covered Japanese Bridge and the Cam Pho Communal House during the day.

These places were quite fine, in my opinion, but not exactly spell binding sorts. Yes, the work done on the murals and the sculptures are quite artistic, yet I didn’t feel them to be absolutely amazing.

Instead, what I did like was the An Hoi Bridge, which bridges the Thu Bon river.

This river is also known as the bridge of lights.

There were these heads, made of plants, up for sale. Found them a tiny bit creepy!

Hawkers were highly enthusiastic about selling a flying object, which resembled a bird. It was powered by a twisted rubber band and once released would flap its wings and fly.

We also got ourselves some pop up cards. These greeting cards come in various themes and tones. Choose your favourite and always bargain.

By this time, it was past noon and we felt hungry. So, after roaming aimlessly for sometime within the Old Town area, we crossed to the other side and found a place where the sign board signed the presence of cheap beer; and egg coffee.

We made peace with beer, spring rolls and egg coffee. The spring rolls are different from what we have here. These were not fried, and the covering was made of thin rice film.

The egg coffee was a different matter all together. Rich strong coffee, sweetened using condensed milk and sugar, with an egg added to it, while it was piping hot, and then served. It was very filling, and very sweet. Had to tick it off the checklist, done that.
Then, we were on our way back to take a bit of rest. Later we would go out again, to the beach, and then we had plans to come back to the night market.

April 23, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm lens, A week in Vietnam, An Hoi Bridge, Boat, Cam Pho Communal House, Cantonese Assembly Hall, Chicken Fry, Egg Coffee, French Architecture, Hoi An, Hoi An Old Town, Japanese Covered Bridge in Vietnam, Nikon D7200, Places to go in Vietnam, Pop up cards, Seven Days in Vietnam, Spring Roll, Sticky Rice, Things to eat in Vietnam, Thu Bon river, Travelling, Vietnam, Vietnam in 7 days 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City and onwards…

As we were back quite late from the previous day’s adventures, we woke up late. Meaning, we had to rush and ration our available time between the Ben Thanh market, the War Remnants Museum and the Bitexco tower.

We made our way on foot to the Ben Thanh market, located centrally within the city.

It has a big gate proclaiming the market and within is a market where you can find almost everything.

We were hungry and in need for some urgent breakfast, hence we made our way to the food street within the market for Banh Mi.

After we were done with the breakfast, we roamed within the market looking at the wares to offer. Bargaining and haggling is rampant and is definitely needed. A general rule of thumb to be followed is that to begin the bargain at 50% of asking price and gradually increase to a maximum of 70% of the asking price.

We bought few souvenirs from the market and were headed towards the War Remnants Museum.

A 15 minutes Uber ride got us to the museum.
This museum is special, for the fact that it highlights the ugly face of the invading army in the country and this time, it was the smaller country which had won. History is written by the victors holds true, and we get to see the evils which the US Army had done to the ones they considered to be threats. The museum is rife with stories and artefacts from the times of the Vietnam war. Stories of future leaders of US population, who were then deployed at Vietnam and the atrocities they committed are plastered all around the walls in vivid details.

True, that the museum is depressing and the descriptions are gut wrenching, but it is a necessary bit of knowledge that should be imparted to the populace.
The museum gives an insight into how much the country has evolved from the devastation and destruction that was there just a few decades ago.

Next up, we went back to our place and grabbed the bags. We were headed to the 3rd tallest building in Vietnam, the Bitexco Financial Tower. Tickets are available at the ground floor for the sky deck tour and also a Heineken factory tour is available. The Heineken factory offers a unique tour, which includes a couple of pints of beer and the souvenir that you obtain, is a pint with your name engraved on it. Sadly, we were out of time for the Heineken tour.

Later, we booked an Uber, yet again and made our way to the airport, for an onward flight to Da Nang. There, a taxi would receive and drop us at our next destination, Hoi An!

April 18, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Artefacts, Banh Mi, Ben Thanh Market, Bitexco Financial Tower, Chicken, Ho Chi Minh City, Nikon D7200, Panaroma from Bitexco Tower, Places to visit in Saigon, Souvenirs, Travelling, Vietnam, War Remnants Museum 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Touchdown – Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) or Saigon, used to be the erstwhile capital city of South Vietnam, prior to the reunification of the country. It used to be a French capital town too during their reign over the Cochinchina colony. Now, HCMC is the most populous city of the country. A city bustling with traffic, energy and food.

We landed at the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) on 1st of April, 2018 at about 1300h local time. We had a layover at the KLIA2 (Kuala Lumpur International Terminal 2) and onward flight to Saigon. At SGN, we had to clear the immigration first to get to our baggage.
Immigration procedures were fairly simple. There is a window where you submit your passport, the approval letter and the filled form (attach 2 photos with the form) and then you wait. Your name shall get called out from another counter, where you need to pay USD 25 and receive your visa affixed passport back. Then you go the queue for the passport control, they stamp your inwards date, maybe ask a couple of questions, done!
We retrieved our luggage, bought a couple of local sim cards, costing us each 9 USD and came out. We also converted 100 USD to VND, which turned out to be about 2.2 million VND. Be careful of the denominations though. I found that they have currency notes of the following denominations (in thousands) – 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500. It is easy to confuse amongst the zeros and sometimes the notes stick together too. Just take your time to count and pay, simple.
We had booked our stay with the Chill Box hotels. It was a couple of kms away from the airport and the best way to reach there seemed to be using Uber. Later, we found that Uber was indeed the best way to travel within the city for they are quick to respond, and the cost is quite reasonable. The local taxis do rip you off real bad.
We dropped our bags, bathed, refreshed for a bit, and were out on the streets by 1700h. Since we were famished, the first place where we saw something being cooked and served, we went for it.

What you see above is fried rice, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a pork sausage. I do not remember what it was called, but it tasted quite nice. The sausage had a slight sweet taste to it. The rice, when mixed with the soup, soya sauce and some chilly paste, became absolutely amazing. Chicken, egg and beef options were also available for the same dish.

Next, we were headed to towards the town centre. Since we werent scheduled to be in HCMC for a long time, we concentrated only on the places within the city. It was past 1730h, so we could not go in the museums.
We went to the Notre Dame Cathedral and found it very beautiful.Right beside the cathedral is the post office, which has been operational since the French were there.

There were street performances in progress in the lanes and we progressed towards our next destination for the evening, The Hard Rock Cafe, Saigon!

Since it had become quite late by then, we decided to head back, and retire early.

For dinner, that night, we gave Pho, which is basically a bland-ish noodle soup with choice of meat, a try. I did not like it much and in the trip, never did we have another bowl of Pho.

We retired for the day by 2300h and had planned to visit the Ben Thanh market, The War Remnants Museum and the Bitexco Financial Tower before we flew out the next day.

The trip continues in the next post.

Cheers!!

April 16, 2018April 16, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm, A week in Vietnam, Blogging, Central Post Office Saigon, Food, Food in Vietnam, HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City, Nikon, Nikon D7200, Notre Dame Catheral Saigon, Pho, Pho Bo, places to stay in saigon, Places to visit in Saigon, Saigon, Travel, Travelling, Travelougue, Trip with friends, Vietnam, What to eat in vietnam 5 Comments

To Vietnam: The planning

As with any trip, there ought to be proper planning. This time, it had to be much more detailed.The scope of winging it in a foreign country was limited.

Visa: Vietnam offers Visa On Arrival (VOA) for Indian citizens, if they have the approval letter already. Obtaining the letter was not a difficult job to accomplish. We searched for visa to Vietnam on Google, and then it was just finding out the cheapest option. We went ahead with this website. We had to pay 8 USD per person for the approval letter. The letter arrived within a couple of days, along with a copy of the form that we would have to fill. A mandatory visa stamping fee of 25 USD per person is to be paid during immigration at the point of entry.

Flights: We had booked our flights, to and fro well in advance. This may appeal to the mass, as it did to us. Make it a point to book the tickets from the airline company’s website. ENSURE that each booking are on a single PNR. Since the flights have a stop invariably, which will either be in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, having the booking on a single PNR ensures that you do not have to go through immigration at the intermediate country and that your luggage is counted as a through baggage, so you check in your luggage at home, and retrieve it right at the destination. In case you have a long layover and want to check out the country, make sure you have a visa prior to your arrival. Do not depend on a VOA. Flights within the country is fairly easy and cheap. Make sure that you are at the airport at least 2 hours prior to the flights for the domestic flights while it should be minimum 3 hours for the international flights.

Hotels: We also had our hotels booked at the places we would stay. It should be noted that if its just you, or max two of you, staying at the backpackers’ hostels is the best way to go. You get to meet people of various countries, interact with them and make friends. While if you are travelling in a bigger group, it is better if you book hotel rooms. The cost per head will be similar, but you shall have multiple bathrooms at your disposal. This is preferable if you guys need to leave at the same time. Since we were 4, we had hotel rooms booked. While booking the hotels, we tried to go go for the ones which have been vetted multiple times by travellers across the world and were within walking distance of the tourist hub. I shall tell more about the hotels we were in as and when we reach each city.

Trains: Vietnam has a limited number of train plying their reunification route, starting right from Ho Chi Minh City ending at Hanoi. It passes through picturesque routes, hills, sea shores, markets and even doorsteps. We had ours booked from Da Nang to Hue. You can book the tickets from the Vietnamese Railway’s website. Do check out this website for a treasure trove of information about the travel.

Food: You must understand that vietnamese people are primarily meat eaters. Beef and pork are the most commonly available kinds of meat. Chicken is a rare find. Egg is common though. In the week that we were there, I did not spot any place serving lamb or goat. If you go to places like Da Nang or Hoi An, which are beach towns, you can get ample sea food. Fried food is not common. Most of the food is baked or boiled. Noodle soups or Pho, are most commonly available. A food that kept us alive, for it was healthy, readily available and cheap on the pocket was Bahn Mi. It is a baguette with shredded meat and some sauces and comes mainly in beef, pork and egg variety.

Banh Mi, Chicken, Baguette, Meat, Mint leaves — Banh Mi (Chicken)

Condiments accompanying Banh Mi , chilly, sauce, lemon — Condiments accompanying Banh Mi

Drink: Packaged drinking water is fairly easy to obtain, but it does not hurt having some sort of water purifying options along. Beer is cheap and plentiful to choose from. The most common were Bia Ha Noi, Bia Saigon, Bia Huda and Heineken. The beer felt toned down, and I would feel more fuller than being tipsy at all.

Clothes: Restrictions on what you wear exist at the religious spaces where it is expected that one would wear clothes which are not revealing. Other than these places, we didn’t see any signs or reactions which would suggest that the people are remotely bothered of what you wear. I suggest you have a look at the weather forecasts and pack accordingly prior to your trip. In case you want new clothes, night markets are present in the tourist places, which are amazing places to get stuffs cheaply. Do remember to haggle about the price.

Currency: The local currency is Vietnamese Dongs. 1 INR = 350 VND roughly. Do not get excited about the exchange rate for the minimum denomination we came across was a 1000 VND and it was not enough to buy a bottle water. So often you shall find yourself moving about with millions of dongs, just be careful with the money as you pay. It is easy to confuse a 10000 VND with a 100000 VND. With a little practice, it shall be fine. Also, the big shops have card swiping options. Do note, the cards swiped do not require a pin to complete the transactions, they just make you sign the slip, so hold on to your cards real tight. You shall need to convert INR to USD here, and then use them to convert to Dongs at Vietnam. You can pay by USD, but you shall be overcharged invariably, hence, stick to Dongs.

Now, that you have a back ground about the country, we shall continue post the arrival at HCMC.

Feel free to reach out to me for any doubts and clarification that you may have till now.

Cheers!!

April 14, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Banh Mi, book hotels before travelling, Clothes, comfortable clothing, Currency, Flights, Flights to Vietnam, Food, Hotels in vietnam, Nikon D7200, Pho, train, Travelling, Vientamese Dong, Vietnam, Visa, Visa On Arrival, Visa on Arrival at Vietnam, Visa on arrival for Indians 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Prelude

India, land of dreams and dreamers. We dream about everything. From having a perfectly cooked rice for dinner to achieving pin point accuracy in missile hits, we have dreamt it all, and collectively, have achieved them all. On an individual level, going on foreign trips using your own hard earned money is a dream that every person harbours over here. I also had the dream. And now, that I have achieved it, I want more.

It all began sometime in September 2017, when me and my fellow colleague, Ankita, found ourselves in a crowded cafe discussing the possible countries to visit. Our first point of consideration was exchange rates, how much does 100 INR translate into?. Not the brightest way to make choices, but it did get us rolling. Then we compared the easiest thing available to compare against, beer price. That gave us a realistic idea of the places we might choose for our visit.
We concentrated on the south east asia, simply because the travel is not the biggest expense here. Touring within Europe might be cheap, but getting to the starting point of the tour is the maximum share holder in the entire expenses. Here, we did not have similar problems.
We wanted to visit a country which has not yet become a tourist hotspot amongst us. Cambodia and Vietnam were the contenders, and we chose to go to Vietnam. We called up two other friends of ours, Ritwik and Manas, and they were ready for the trip immediately. So, we decided, that in on 1st of April, 2018, we shall meet at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I intend to be as detailed as my memory serves throughout the series. I shall talk about the flights we took, hotels we booked, places we visited, what we ate, what I liked, what I didn’t and there shall be photos. The posts shall be long and opinionated. So, strap in, for the series shall be a long one, and I hope to keep the posts regular.

Cheers!!

April 13, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Foreign trip, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, HCMC, Hoi An, Hue, Nikon D7200, Travelling, Vietnam 1 Comment

TTL: Clean Beach, Clear Water ; Diveagar

Within the group, we had all joined our respective jobs in April, and by the time it was September, we were desperate for a break. So, when the Dusshera break presented an opportunity for 4 days of holidays, a trip was immediately planned and executed.

We had planned to go from Pune to Diveagar. About 150 kms drive west through the western ghats would take us to this beach. We had heard of it to be quite a picturesque and clean one, so we were quite interested about it. I was looking forward to the drive, it had been quite a few months since I had gone for a drive. The Google Maps screenshot depicts the route we had taken.

We booked ourselves a self drive car from Zoomcar, a snappy Honda Jazz and we were away at the crack of dawn; at about 8 am.

The road we took, would take us through the scenic Tamhini ghat and then further on, we shall reach Mangaon and then on to the beach.

Natural beauty galore. The road is patchy at places, with ditches which needed us to creep over them, but over all, the road to the beach was kinda fine.

Once near the coast, there runs a parallel road to the beach, with multiple points of entry to the beach. Find the right fork and one can take the car directly to the beach.

The beach was quite amazing. Wide and clean. The slope is a gradual one, making it ideal for families consisting of kids to come over and have fun too. Options of water sports were present too. The water is clear and absolute fun to splash about it.

In terms of crowd density, this is not a dense beach. One can find space to run about and play happily on the beach or have their own peaceful time. Be advised though, there is almost no shade on the beach and no provisions for chairs or umbrellas are present. Only a handful of shops selling water bottles and snacks could be found, so carry your food and water positively.

Once we had exhausted ourselves on the beach, running about and splashing about in the water, we were on the ride back home. Instead of taking the route we had come by, we chose to take the alternate route, which would have us join the Mumbai- Pune expressway near Khopoli. On map, all we could see was a nice long almost straight road. What it actually turned out to be, was very close to a nightmare. The road is non existent for most of it and there are murderous ditches all along. Ditches the size of dustbins which would gobble up a wheel and some of the axle too. By the time we had reached the expressway, we were tired as hell and still had another hour and a half worth of travel left. So, take it from me, do not take the return route that we had taken, it was horrible.

We did make it safe and sound, albeit worn out and tired. Had a nice big meal at an old haunt of ours and we retired for the day.

When I look back, yes, it was tiresome; true, we could have gone to some other places too, but in the end, it was fun, and absolutely worth it.

Until next time!
Cheers!!

October 22, 2017October 22, 2017 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: Arabian Sea, beach, Clean Water, Diveagar Beach, Friends, Honda Jazz, Maharasthra, Travelling, Western Ghats, Zoomcar Leave a comment

The Ahmedabad Story

Ahmedabad, a big bustling city on the banks of the river Sabarmati is located in the western state of Gujarat in India. Home to more than 6 million people, it is also a city which is rich with history and stories.

Let me brush up on the history for a bit. Back in the 15th century, a ruler from the Delhi Sultanate, by the name Ahmed Shah became the leader of the city. In the later years, the Mughal ruler, Akbar conquered Gujarat and Ahmedabad became a thriving centre of trade and commerce. Later on, in the mid 18th century, Ahmedabad was surrendered to the Marathas. The Marathas fought over the precious piece of land and managed to keep it under their control, until the mid of 19th century when the British moved in and established an army cantonment in the city. With increase in trade and technology, textile industry took off and Ahmedabad came to be known as the Manchester of the East. Over time, freedom struggles and a stable government, Ahmedabad has grown to become one of the fastest growing cities of the decade and one of the best cities to live in, in India.

On a trip to the NIRMA University in the city, a thought intrigued me, what happened to the dynasty, the bloodline, are they still rulers somewhere? Or have they all perished! I wished it be that they would still be there and maybe meet them too. For a photo story shoot, a bunch of us, went to the Swami Narayan Temple in the heart of the city.
As I walked around the place, I saw loads of people, and found it to be a nice opportunity to talk to them a bit, get to know the place and also take a few photos.

As I wandered about, camera in hand, I heard the unmistakable sound of a sewing machine, and went right in, to have a chat with the man who was working with a lot of concentration on a piece of cloth. We talked about his work, and his past. At the mention of the past, he appeared a tad bit sad, and said that things are not the same anymore. Yes, I did find it a little strange, but well, I decided to moved on. As I was leaving, he calls out to me and says, “Once upon a time, my wife would command slaves, today she sells vegetables and my son, he makes kite reels! This is what misfortune does to you! I would have been a king back in the old days, but this is all that has remained today”. Needless to say, I had to find the vegetable seller lady, and maybe the son too.

Some search yielded results!

The lady, accompanied with her grand daughter could be found at a local market. It seemed that she commanded a lot of respect amongst the other sellers in the vicinity. I asked, who is she. And the reply came, in a nervous jest, “You don’t know, she is the queen…the queen of the sabji mandi (vegetable market)”, and there was some laughter around. She didn’t look very amused, while the girl retorted, in the choicest of words that some day the fortunes shall turn and they would serve her, and her brother.

From the other corner of the market, there came some sounds of commotion. One of the shopkeepers swears, looks at me, says with some contempt, “That’s the king we are supposed to serve if the fortunes turn? No damn way”. There was just one thought in my head, this can’t be happening! I rushed to the site of the commotion, and realize that its a street side kite making shop. A man is applying the coatings on the reel (Maanja) while the other one was rolling it. It seemed some altercation had taken place. Nothing I can do there, nor talk much. The guys seemed ready to fight, more than willing than to talk about some what ifs.
As the call for wrap was being sounded, right near where our bus was parked, I saw a boy, another vegetable seller. He had a poise, a gaze and an attitude that made it impossible to ignore and walk away. As I talk to him, he asks me various questions, where I was from, what I did and so on. He was fascinated by the camera, and I showed him the photos. He exclaimed that I met his grandparents and sister. As I bought a carrot from him, he said he has a secret, that no one believes! He said, that he is destined to be a ruler! I smiled, paid my due, and took a photo, but before I left, I asked, “Whats your name”?

He looked straight at me, with a hint of pride in a winsome smile, came the reply, “Ahmed Shah”!

There may be elements of fiction in my account, and in case I got the facts wrong, correct me, I shall be grateful. If I have hurt someone with my account of the trip, please feel free to contact me with your grievances. I cannot claim that all the characters here are fictitious or that any resemblances are coincidental!

Feed me back through the comments please!

Cheers!!

July 8, 2017 by SenK Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: ahmedabad, Gujarat, Story, Travelling 6 Comments

Wandering through Delhi

Hi there readers,

The prompt came up as Wanderlust 🙂 and they asked about the places which made me feel different and amazing. The place that comes up readily, will be Delhi.
The hustle bustle, the crowd, the historic monuments, the food and uniquely, the company. It all amalgamated to be one of the most amazing trip of 7 days.
I wrote about them in detail in the posts which can be found here.
I ll share one of the shots that was a predetermined shot, as I call them, and it came out perfectly.

This, right here is, Bangla Sahib Gurdwara shot from across the tank.
Go through the link above, and let me know what you loved and what you believe could have been different.

Cheers!!

May 6, 2017 by SenK Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, Delhi, Travelling, Wanderlust, weekly challenge Leave a comment

TTL: Delhi: Lodi Gardens and Bangla Sahib

These were the last two stops on our list, and there was a specific condition I had for the Bangla Sahib gurdwara, I wanted to visit it at night.
So, we made it to the Lodi Gardens in the evening, and spent some time.

The garden is quite mesmerizing and the tombs are simply beautiful. It would be an amazing place to do some light painting experiments. Maybe someday, when I visit Delhi again.

Nearest Metro station will be Jor Bagh (Yellow line).

Next, we went to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. After quickly depositing our shoes and donning a headscarf, we went ahead. Crowded, yet quite organized this place is. The best bit of the gurdwara, is the lake, and once we went to the other side of the lake, another of those pre mediated shots, came into being.

A five minute exposure turned the lake into a blurry mirror and it was just amazing.

Again, I have Tuhina to thank for taking me to all these places and being my guide and my model and as always, my cherished companion.

I left Delhi the next day, and as I type this out, am in Mumbai. I have shifted here and am based here, as of now.

April 11, 2017 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: ASI, Bangla Sahib, Delhi, Gurdwara, India, Lodi Gardens, Long Exposure, Tomb, Travelling 2 Comments

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