Mauritius - Oct 2016

October 2016
Gurgaon
School is out for 10 days for Pooja Holidays
Panic attack

I was busy coming up with plans to fill entire days with activities for kids. I did not want to hear "Mamma we are bored" " There's nothing to do" " Can we go to XYZ's house? " 'Can we call ABC home?"  "Colouring is so boring" " Puzzles are soooooo boring" " No Lego" " He did it" " No he did it" " I am hungry" " Chikki is so boring"" " TV? Please?" for 10 straight days!

Out of the blue, V calls from work - very unusual, because call while at work means something is going to get delegated to me - grudgingly I answered. He asked " Hey, do you think we can do Mauritius for the coming holidays? "
WHAAAAAA..... really? Of course we can. We SHOULD. DEFINITELY! Have I ever said no for a trip (except of course if its the hills, I have my reservations!)

Needless to say, I was super excited. Oh how I love impromptu trips.

Tickets done.
Hotels booked.
Bags packed.
An early morning flight.

Everything was going well. Or so I thought, until K started a cough the evening before we were to leave, out of the blue. Like, How? More importantly, why the hell? why now? Honestly, I was less worried about him and more worried about how MY trip is going to get dampened with his cough.

Warm water.
Soup.
Steam.
Meds.

Cough getting worse.
Cough through the night.
Early morning flight.
I give up.

At the airport. All of us are excited including the slightly wheezing K. In to the flight, we take off. (whew). So far okay, except for incessant coughing. K slurped down some cough syrup and fell asleep.

Landed. Mauritius. I wake K up.
Kiss on the forehead (not the loving doting mother kind of kiss, more of a peck on the forehead to check if cough has turned in to something else) and as I feared, he was running a temperature. He was still his happy chirpy self, with puffy eyes, leaky nose and a cough.

Customs, formalities all done. Out of the airport. Fresh air.

Mental note and gratitude: Taking care of a sick child in Mauritius is much better than taking care of a sick child in Gurgaon!

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3: We had reservations at a resort in the northern most trip of Mauritius. It was located between Grand Gaube and Grand Baie. The shore overlooked Coin de Mire. The resort was by group of hotels called Attitude.

We went on a boat to see the reef (frankly according to me it was not all that great, it was just a glass bottom boat and not much "reef" just few fishes swimming by).
There were lot of people offering day picnics to Coin De Mire, but we decided against it given that Karthik wasnt keeping well at all (although he seemed to be enjoying the beach and the sand).

Karthik's fever was coming back every four hours and his cough got worse. Day 3 we took him to a doctor. She put him on steroids and just like that he started getting better.

We drove around to Grand Baie and spent time on the beach there.

Day 4 - We shifted to another Attitude Hotel in Balaclava.

We drove to Port Louis, walked around the capital city.

Day 5 - Chamarel Rum Factory. V "tasted" so much rum that had I asked for diamonds he would've bought them for me. Me being me I stuck two amazing linen shirts from the memorabilia shop.

We even managed to catch the sun set at the Flic en Flac beach.

Day 6 - Moved to a hotel called Le Surcouf at Belle Mare beach.

Having a rental car was a boon, because it gave us lots of options to move around the island.  People were extremely friendly and helpful. What struck me the most was some of the landscapes, the sugar cane fields and the temples looked as if they were a replica of some small town in tamil nadu. The locals all looked like Indians... many a times I thought they would just start conversing in tamil, but all that I could hear was creole.

Mauritius would remain one of my most memorable trip, yes, despite the sick child. :)


PS: Post this trip we had two kids with dark bodies and two sets of very fair bums.

Around the west in 11 days

11 days, 7 hotels and 6 places… I am back after a wonderful trip! Highlights of our travel were - Amazing landscapes, quaint little towns, the most scenic coast (that I have seen) and wonderfully weird artificial world in the middle of a desert.

Who ever called Las Vegas The Disney World for Adults was absolutely right. This city wakes up after the sun goes down. I always had this preconceived notion about Vegas that it was all about gambling, drinking and partying… and that people who didn’t find any of those activities interesting would be thoroughly bored to death… We didn’t get to do any of the above-mentioned activities (at least not to the extent that I would’ve liked to) during our trip but we still enjoyed every bit of it. I have learned that Las Vegas is not just about wild parties... it has something to offer for every one. Great restaurants, some of the world’s best chefs, amazing shows, beautiful buildings…you could spend days walking around without sipping on an alcoholic beverage or sitting down on a roulette table and still have a wonderful time. I think that V’s parents thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They were amazed at the vibrant nightlife, the casinos, the neon and the whole concept of extravagance that Vegas had to offer. Of course, I don’t expect them to want to go back to Vegas or put this on top of their favorite places in the US, but I am pretty certain they’d always be in awe of the energy this city had.

From the exhausting 90 F heat in Vegas we drove to upper 30 F and an almost freezing little town of Tusayan, just outside the Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim. The next morning we bundled up and went to the Canyon to see the sunrise. It’s truly an amazing experience to see the colors of the Grand Canyon come alive with the rays of the sun. What can I say about the Canyon itself? I don’t know… words won’t do justice. It’s beautiful, but in a very different way! For me… it was humbling. It reminded me that no matter what we do, how much power we humans think we have; Nature is capable of something that’s completely beyond our comprehension!

There is a lodge called El Tovar right beside the Canyon. This old building has such a charm to it that if I ever visit the Canyon again, I’d make sure I would book my stay there. It has amazing views of the Canyon, a wonderful restaurant and most importantly it has a wonderful lodge-y feel to it!

Hip, Artsy, Modern, Charming and Gorgeous city of San Francisco was our next destination. We were blessed with beautiful weather, a little chilly but sunny and nice. V’s cousin who lives in the Bay area was our tour guide. Cable car ride to Fisherman’s wharf was the first item on the agenda. A stop at Boudin Bakery, a bowl of clam chowder (for sea food lovers in the family) in San Francisco Sourdough was next. Post lunch saw us on a ferry ride to a little town on the other side of the bridge; we cruised past the Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge in to the quaint and charming Sausalito (Thanks Priyanka for the recommendation). After spending a few hours walking in Sausalito we got back to SFO. We stopped at the Union Square; a local band was playing some foot tapping Cuban music. After their performance we called it a day! I’d definitely love to go back to SFO and spend more time there and check out the ethnic neighborhoods and do more of the non-tourist-y stuff… but for now I am glad I got the SFO experience.

Driving down route CA 1 has been the most wonderful experience for me! The beautiful blue Pacific Ocean stretching as far as the eye could see on one side, vegetables and fruit farms overlooking the ocean on the other side… this has to be the most scenic drive I have ever been on. We stopped at an organic Strawberry farm for a quick berry fix… later my fil being a farmer was thrilled to see all the pumpkin farms… so we made a pit stop at one of the pumpkin farms too. We spent the night at Monterey. We continued our journey to Carmel by the sea… stopping to see some beautiful golf courses and vista points… before we got on the real highway and drove to a relative’s place in Sacramento.

This is what Mark Twain had to say about our last destination - “At last the lake burst upon us--a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft three thousand feet higher still! As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords." - He wrote these words about Lake Tahoe.
The lake is definitely the “jewel of the Sierras”. We got lucky and experienced an early snowfall, much to the thrill of my in-laws. This was the first time they saw snow… As for me I was thrilled because we got to see the breathtakingly tranquil lake gracefully nestled between snow-capped mountains. That was picture perfect! The downside of the snow was that it got very foggy near the lake and we didn’t get to enjoy the views from Emerald Bay… but I am not complaining at all!
Between Grand Canyon and Lake Tahoe, I was having a tough time deciding which would qualify as my favorite spot. In the end, I picked Lake Tahoe. As amazing, beautiful and mighty as it may be, for some reason, the Canyon had quite an unsettling effect on me. On the other hand, what wouldn’t I do to own a little log cabin facing the lake, perched on a hill surrounded by tall alpine forests… A cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other… my perfect vacation! Some day!

Trip to Spain - Granada & Barcelona

I'm done with my Spain posts!!!! *whew* I never thought this would end!!!!
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The next morning, we woke up and it hit us that V & I were on our own now. It’s always a sad feeling when your friends leave, even if you are middle of Spain on a vacation. Over coffee and croissant that morning V & I relived all the fun we had with Payal and Kapil… and then realized that we still have a few more days in Spain to look forward to and we don't have to be all mopey. However, we had a nasty money situation to take care of. Apparently there was a block placed on V’s Capital One Debit Card in Spain. Our sponsor K left us with some “pocket money” that was soon depleting. We really were desperate for getting money. Our call to Capital One gave us no hope. They said we’d have to wait another day before the block is lifted. I was getting worried then, but later as I started playing out worst case scenarios in my mind, it didn’t seem that bad. We’d become gypsies in Spain and travel the country… do odd jobs... may be we could even hop on a boat to Morocco if we get bored! Oh well, everything worked out fine and by 3 that evening we had cash!

Equipped with cash, we set out to explore Granada. We walked the streets in to local markets selling interesting artifacts. It came as no surprise to see most of these “interesting” artifacts were coming from India. I felt like I was walking through General Bazaar in Secunderabad. Some where close to dusk we went up to San Nicholas Square and watched the Alhambra lit up at night. It was really beautiful. We concluded the night by going for what was supposed to be a relaxing Arab bath… and Vicky had a massage included. The Arab bath was definitely an interesting experience… It’s a good “done that” activity and I don’t think I would want to do that again.

Here are some pictures from the land of gypsies...

Alhambra, Beer of Granada :-)

Plaza Nueva

Check out the wall hanging - Ganpati - in this guy's shop. It's not for sale, I believe the picture brought him good luck! And yes, he is Muslim.

Vicky inside a Teteria - Small tea shops

I lifted this off the net, as our camera didnt do justice. This comes close to how the Alhambra looked at night from San Nicholas Square

Early next morning we were on board our flight to Barcelona. Only after we reached the airport did we realize that we were actually in the Girona airport. It was a 100 km ride to Barcelona. We finally reached our hostel late that afternoon. We stayed at Plaza Catalunya, right at the starting point of Las Ramblas. It was LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!! ;)

With no specific plan of action, we walked around aimlessly, actually mostly on the Ramblas and streets flanking the Ramblas. Barcelona is a big city and we did what we do in big cities, we hopped on to a local bus. We met a very sweet and patient gentleman who was kind enough to give us a guided tour. We got off at the La Sagradia Familia bus stop. I wasn’t keen on taking a tour inside then, but in hindsight I regretted my decision of not having seen any of the Gaudi buildings from inside. On our way back we stopped at Passeig De Gracia, which housed some more of Gaudi’s buildings. Finally V’s search for good tapas ended at a restaurant called Tapa Tapa. After couple of good beers and food I was ready to hit the sack.

Columbus on Las Ramblas

Casa Batllo

Casa Mila

The man who volunteered to be our very patient guide! Mr. Rimbau

Incomplete work of Gaudi - La Sagrada Familia

Happy man with his tapas...

and the bloody Sardines.

Next morning, we enjoyed a fantastic café con leche with chocolate filled croissants… Park Guell was our priority for that day. Once again it was really a hot day and we had a lot to walk quite a bit inside the park…. Later that evening, V wanted to check a neighborhood restaurant mentioned in Rick Steve’s book. Only when I entered I realized how many people read Rick Steves, there were hardly any locals and the place was extremely crowded and it was really a rip off. I know I can't make a judgement based on one data point, but for now I am a little wary of his suggestions.

What’s a visit to Barcelona without a visit to one of the topless beaches? So we set out early next morning to experience just that… When we reached there it was teeming with people! Even though we brought our bathing suits, I wasn’t very keen on changing and getting on the sand. Somehow the crowds and the lack of an inch of space on the sand turned me off. I was happy instead to stay fully clothed and get myself a good beer and some munchies and enjoy the fantastic breeze. As I sat there looking at the clear blue sea… it hit me that my vacation was soon coming to an end. We had a wonderful time, enjoying a bit of Madrid, the old town of Toledo, the Moorish influenced culture of Cordoba, the chilled out Seville, the grandeur of Alhambra and finally the vibrancy of Barcelona! It was time for me to say Adios Espana!

Now the last set of pictures from Park Guell! Sorry, none from the topless beaches ;-)

Enjoying the posture friendly ergonomic seating!

The only way I can get to touch a lizard.

Trip to Spain - Granada

I am back after a hiatus. This post has been collecting dust in my drafts folder for quite sometime now.... So here we go, the last two posts from Spain. After that I can get on with my life :-)

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When we booked our accommodations we had left an “open night”, meaning we’ll stay at some random place we find that night. Our plan was to drive down from Seville along the coast and stay in some of the smaller towns like Motril or Malaga,…

We were super excited as we started getting glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea. At the first possible opportunity, we pulled off the road and enjoyed the beautiful breeze. I had always pictured the Mediterranean Sea to have soft white sand and turquoise water… so it was sort of a disappointment when we stepped out at Motril to find a pebbly dark sand beach…nevertheless, it was Mediterranean and that made happy!

We spent about couple of hours driving from one small town to another in search of a hotel to stay that night. Finally we settled in for a pretty decent hotel in Torrox. In all the concept of “open night” was fun, although I have to admit that searching for the hotel got a little frustrating at times.

The Mediterranean

The next morning, we were off to Granada to see the Alhambra. We were not able to secure prior reservations for the Alhambra tour so we were on a rush to get to Granada and get the tickets. Luckily, everything worked out fine and we were able to get tickets for the same day at the counter. We had about an hour before our tour began… so we walked around the gardens. It was a really hot day and I couldn’t enjoy much as I was getting worn out. Granada and for that matter most of Spain has dry barren land… and that combined with the heat was not at all impressive. I am sure if I had toured the gardens late evening or at night and looked down on the city of Granada from the fort it would’ve been a beautiful sight… 2 p.m on a hot day is not the right time!

After the tour we had to drive around quite a bit to locate our hotel; the hotel was in a place called Plaza Nueva and all the roads there were blocked to regular traffic. We decided to drop our rental car and cab it to the hotel. Granada was the last stop in Spain for P & K, our combined vacation was soon coming to an end. One good thing about Granada was the free tapas you get with the drinks and we didn’t want to waste a minute. We had some bocadillos, grilled meat and we even tried the famous Jamon Iberico! For dinner that night, we were back to craving “real food”… as soon as we spotted an Indian restaurant, there was no looking back. After our dinner we said our good byes and bid adieu to P&K as they had an early flight the next morning.

The Gardens of Alhambra

View from the Bell Tower

The famous R rated "Sebbbiiyyaaaaa" Action

Vicky can't wait to bite in to the gross looking Jamon Iberico!

Trip to Spain - Seville

Situated on the bank of River Guadalquivir, this energetic city is described as the artistic, cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. Seville (pronounced: Sevveeyya) is also the capital of Andalusia. Compared to Toledo and Cordoba, Seville definitely had a big city feel to it. Not in a bad way though.

We stayed in the heart of Barrio Santa Cruz – the historical downtown. The only downside to this location is that our hotel didn’t have parking, and even if it had, our car didn’t fit through the streets! So we parked at the nearest possible street parking and walked to our hotel. Not wanting to waste time, we dumped our luggage and set out in search of beer. Our timing was just perfect; the shops and restaurants were opening after siesta. We settled down for a beer in an open cobble stoned plaza over looking a fountain. The one thing that stood out was that no one was in a hurry to get anywhere… it was all leisurely. You walk up to a restaurant, choose a table that’s empty, you get what you want and then you can literally sit there for hours… and leave when you want. No one comes by to ask you for the thousandth time “how’s everything here?”

We walked through the meandering streets stopping at restaurants to taste some classic tapa dishes like Spinach and Chickpeas, grilled meats and the like. While we are on the topic of Tapas, let me tell you this, one cannot…. at least we found out that the four of us couldn’t survive on just tapas. It was just not enough food (period). We had seen some Chinese restaurants while ambled around the town… and we all were thinking about the same thing, but K was the only one with the courage to suggest “guys, we should have some good rice and chicken for dinner”. At first we all laughed and turned down the idea of eating Chinese while in Spain… but two hours and several miles of walking later, we were all cramming in to a Chinese restaurant. Rice has never been that tasty before!

On our way back to the hotel later that night, we stumbled in to a bar with live music and lot of noise, it looked like one of these old neighborhood joints… but the doors were sort of ajar… as we entered we realized that we were walking in to a private party. We were ready to apologize and set out when everyone there urged us to say… Well, if they insisted! It was the most fun thing we did… We hardly understood a word most of them said…. Especially this young chap who was giving us company most of the time… and in every sentence of his he would punctuate it with SEBBBIIIYYAAAAAA with hand movement to accompany that, which we found out was an R rated action!! From then, Vicky and Kapil got the Sebiya bug. Rest of the trip they kept saying SEBBIYAAAA and break out laughing. That night I realized that you really don’t need to know or understand a language to really have a good time! We watched some Sevillano dance, which until 3 weeks ago I thought was Flamenco. In all, I had a wonderful day. Seville was growing on me. There was a sense of being at ease when I was there… doesn’t mean that I didn’t like any of the other places that we visited, but I really didn’t feel like a tourist in Seville and I think that’s a really good feeling to have.

The next morning, we had some more time to kill until our tour of the Cathedral. So we took a horse carriage ride through the town.
After seeing the Cathedral and climbing the spiral ramp all the way to the bell tower… it was time for us to leave. I would love to go back to Seville and spend more time, not for the regular touristy things, but just to hang out and relax.

Now, here are some pictures courtesy: K

This big "bull" board was a common thing on the roads of South of Spain.

In front of our hotel

Tiny parks and Narrow Streets

People gathering at resaturants after their siestas

View from the other side of the river

Seville Cathedral

Plaza Espana

He wont have an issue finding a job, would he?