Bali - A vacation to remember!! Day 1

The mere mention of Bali evokes thoughts of a paradise. It's more than a place; it's a mood, an aspiration, a tropical state of mind. Most importantly, it was our first international trip together after a grueling year professionally. We were both looking forward to a short and sweet vacation in this paradise.

After months of planning and reservation (hotels, car rentals, safaris, currency exchange and sim cards), we finally embarked on our journey on October 25th by Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 199 at 00:55 AM IST. A point to mention here is that as we were almost nearing the airport, I suddenly remembered that I left my camera bag back at home and the thought was completely heart breaking. Our first international trip and I forgot my trusted camera... How would I capture all the good memories? Hubby convinced me stating that we have smartphones and probably this would be the opportunity to soak in the place through my eyes and not through my camera lens. While I was still sad, I kind of convinced myself that I can't turn back and hence there is only one option - to move forward and enjoy what comes next. The economy class was really cramped, however, since both of us are not really tall, we managed. We were served dinner with biriyani and dal (surprisingly, this is the first place where I saw dal being served with biriyani). We slept through most part of the flight, considering the time of the night. Reached Kuala Lampur airport around 8 AM local time and immediately ran for transfer. Malaysian Airlines flight MH715 for Dempesar left around 8.50 Am local time. The flight reached Dempesar Ngurah Rai International Airport at 11.50 AM local time. 

My first glimpse of the paradise was from the flight window and all you can see clear blue water of the beaches. The airport was nice and there is visa exemption for stay within 30 days. So, we crossed immigration quickly and then got $50 exchanged at the airport for the taxi fare. 

Bali from the flight

Ngurah Rai International Airport Exit Gate

Our cab driver stood at the waiting area with our name board and we were easily able to locate him. We boarded our cab, Datsun Go Plus, with the driver Sudan starting our first leg of the journey to Bali Safari and Marine Park. Hubby was super excited to see all the known car brands on the roads - Honda, Toyota and Suzuki.

We stopped for lunch at Warong Legong, a local Balinese restaurant near Gianyar where they cook food on wood fire. I had Ikan Bakar (grilled fish in homemade barbeque sauce) while Ari had Iga Bakar (pork ribs in homemade barbeque sauce). The dishes were amazing and we thanked Panji (our tour organizer) for the suggestion. The restaurant owner also gave us a local dessert (crepes with coconut and honey) on the house as a compliment. The dessert was sweet for my taste but unique in flavor. We loved Balinese cuisine and decided that we will taste as many dishes as we can during the stay.

Ikan Bakar

Iga Bakar

Post lunch, we headed our hotel for the day, Mara River Lodge. Our cab dropped us at the Bali Safari and Marine Park reception and from there a safari vehicle took us to the lodge. The lodge was everything we saw in the photos – unique theme and African décor. On the way to the lodge, we got to see crocodiles, owl and dear. We were upgraded to the Twiga room in the first floor and from the balcony. We could see zebras, rhinoceros, nilgai and ostrich roaming in the compound. It was exciting and we both loved it. 

Mara River Lodge Reception

Twiga Room 202

Zebras in the compound as seen from the room balcony

We freshened up in the room and then went back to the safari entrance around 5.30 pm for our night safari tour. We were taken for a short walk around the park looking at macau, porcupine, comodo dragons, crocodiles and iguana. There was also a huge statue of Ganesha in the park and we also got a quick glimpse of the cock fight at the Bali Theatre. 

After that we had Barbeque dinner with chicken wings, beef, pork ribs, grilled fish and vegetables. We also watched an African themed dance.

This is where things started going south as due to some electrical problem, the entire park lost power and the entire area was in total darkness with only lights from candles illuminating the entire area. Eventually the cage safari which results in tourists having a close encounter feeding big cats also got cancelled. Trust our luck for losing such an opportunity and we were both extremely disappointed. We were eventually taken to a different hotel (Ruman Lewih) which is a beachfront hotel housed in a big colonial building for the night where we crashed for the night, being tired and exhausted after a long day. 

On a gastronomical journey...

A Sunday which was very different from normal Sundays... A trip which is very different from any other trips that I have taken till date...

I have been in Hyderabad for the last 9 years, however, had not got much opportunity to taste authentic food of the area. Hence, when TOI launched the passion trail, I could never let go of the opportunity. 

On Sunday, 31st January, I along with 11 other foodies and TOI representatives Sreeram and Sankalp, decided to take a food journey to taste authentic Telangana food. We met at TOI office in Banjara Hills around 5.45 am. While the rest of the world had fitness on its mind, we chose a rather gluttonous route!! Our group consisted a melange of  foodies - chefs, food bloggers, restaurateurs, food critics and people like us (who just loves to eat).

Foodies in front of TOI office

Our first stop was Shah Ghouse, an Irani restaurant in Tolichowki. Over plates of tandoori roti, naan-roti (square pieces of soft bun), paya curry, gurda curry, keema, khichdi khatta and tomato chutney, the breakfast was an assault of spicy food, which we are normally not ysed to in the morning. We ended breakfast with the humle Irani chai and Osmania biscuits. Now it is time to guess, what else was on the menu for the day!!

Khichdi khatta

Paya curry

Naani-roti

Irani Chai 

For lunch, we traveled 200 kms to Beerpul village, which is after Karimnagar. Here, the owner of Sreedevi foods (home cooked food served in AP, Telangana for 17 years and is the first woman entrepreneur in the state) and her family arranged for lunch under a 500+ year old banyan tree. Food was cooked in traditional fashion in earthen utensils on wood fire. It was a picturesque location and completed the rural experience for us. The most amazing part was the entire family getting into the act and serving each and every dish. We learned that currently the entire family (which contains approximately 200+ members) live in Hyderabad and only comes to the village for special occasions. However, due to TOI request, they made a family outing where the current generation assembled to help their aunt with the food preparation and serving lunch for us. The bonding in the family was very evident and it was quite impressive to see such humility in every member.

500+ year old Banyan Tree which was our lunch spot

Beerpur family who served us lunch

We first tasted kallu / toddy which was also a first time for me. This is a non-alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms and coconut palms.  There were snacks like Makka Gudalu (a corn snack served with a delicious coarse green chilli chutney), kudumulu (steamed rice balls), poornalu (a jaggery sweet), atukulu chudwa and Sarvapindi (a flattened fried flour snack) that whet our appetite. 

Kallu / Toddy

Atkulu Chudwa

Poornalu

Kudumulu

Sarvapindi

The main course had whopping 15 dishes being served - Menu included Karapu Annam,  Pappu Charu (tamarind dal), Bajji Pulusu (brinjal fry), Budida Gummadikaya Kura (pumpkin curry), Bendakaya Baaji (bhindi fry), Thalakaya Kura (mutton curry), Meka Mamsam (meat curry), Ambali, Perugu, Neyyi, Chintakaya tokku, Pataklu (cheniga pappu boti), Boli pelala muddalu, Jonna rotelu, Natu-kodi pulusu (country chicken curry), China chepala Pulusu (fish curry). Some of these are actually lost recipes of Telangana - known by very few today.  

Bendakaya Baaji

 

Telangana on my plate

After such a heavy breakfast and lunch, it didn't feel like I could eat another bite. The four hour drive back to Hyderabad was hardly an exercise, but it gave our taste buds time to prepare for the final culinary onslaught. Our final destination was Aish Restaurant in The Park, Somajiguda.  From a rural lunch to a fine dining experience - what more could we have asked for!! The staff warmly greeted us to the dining hall where a play of chrome with Nizams' pictures and mirrors create a contemporary ambience. Chef Mandar had personally customized the menu for us. 

Dinner started with a watermelon mocktail, followed by starters which ranged from the unique Tootak (semolina pastry with a duet of potato and sweet potato filling), to murgh mutabbak (a revival chicken, egg and cheese kebab), dum gosht ke kebab and chicken and black pepper broth. Main course included a rare and lost recipe, Chironji ka dalcha (buchania seed and mutton stew), sufiani pulo and zaffrani bakarkhani (pyaz ka kulcha). It was a dinner fit for the kings!! In a fitting end to the highly calorific meal, we were served two desserts - Gil e bisht (a rice and almond pudding) with sugar kissed rose petals and angoor ka khatta (grape shorbet) created with liquid nitrogen - poured on it and stirred vigorously by the chef, while we watched awe-struck!!

Murgh Mutabbak

Tootak

Gul e bisht with sugar kissed rose petals

Making of Angoor ka khatta with liquid nitrogen

With the culinary journey that I took on this day, it just did not satisfy my taste buds, it satiated me visually as well. Dining under the massive banyan tree is something I would cherish forever.  From breakfast to dinner, the day was a kaleidoscope of delicacies that ranged from rich Deccani delights to typical Telangana savories. My heartfelt thanks to Sankalp and the TOI team for making this such a memorable experience!!

Road Trip to Nagarjuna Sagar

It has been a month since we purchased our Honda Jazz and this time, the plan was definitely to go for long drives. So, when my hubby's friends at office planned for a day outing to Nagarjuna Sagar, we just couldn't let go. Nagarjuna sagar is one of the largest masonry dam in the world and supplies water and electricity to Telangana and other parts of the State. We started leisurely around 9 am and after breakfast near our office which was the meeting point, we started on our way to cover the 152 km journey.

Us ready to roll in the new Honda Jazz

We reached there by 1:30 pm, driving slowly and enjoying the scenery on the way, stopping at places to take pictures and have a cup of tea. The road is nice but has villages on both sides, so drive carefully as there are no dividers on the state highway. We stopped at the bridge from where you can get a full view of the dam and clicked some pictures. However, this was not the time, when water is released and hence it was completely dry.

Us posing in front of the dam

The dam - Dry as no water is released

On reaching, we first decided to take the boat ride to reach Nagarjunakonda or hill of Nagarjuna. As per a combo of mythology and history Nagarjuna was a Buddhist monk whose monastery was situated where the current Nagarjunakonda island in the Nagarjuna Sagar Reservoir is situated. When the water in the reservoir rose most of the historical items were submerged except for the ones that were rescued and kept in the museum specifically built for the purpose on the top of the island. There are motorboats running that operate between Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir and the island of Nagarjunakonda. Each one way journey is around 45 minutes and  you can spend as much time exploring the island and the museum as you want to as long as you take the last ferry back, unless you want to spend the night alone on the island (which by the way is not allowed due to security reasons so you better not miss the last boat around 5:30 pm). 

Nagarajunakonda from the waiting ramp

We purchased tickets for the boat ride and the museum and waited for the arrival of the boat in the hot sun. There were a lot of fish in the water and it was interesting to watch to see them dive for the bread crumbs the travelers were throwing at them. 

A big fish with the bread crumb

For some reason the staff is totally negligent about how many seats to fill in the boat and they were calling people to board even when it was full completely. It is when the boat arrives all hell breaks loose; there is no system of queue or ladies and kids first. No body waited for the coming passengers to get down and on the small path between the boat and ramp there were more than 200 people pushing and shoving each other.  If you have muscle and besharmee you can get in the motorboat. If you have civic sense and are travelling with kids be ready to miss your boat. There was a group of Nepalese tourists and it was amazing to see old men and women from the group shoving and pushing to get to the boat faster than the younger crowd around.

Mad rush for the boat

Us during the boat ride

We arrived suitably shaken and stirred on the island and were a witness to the great Indian rush to get out of the boat once again. Immediately after the boat docking platform there is a steep ascent to rise to the hill. Remember Konda means hill in Telugu and Nagarjunakonda means the hill of Sage Nagarjuna. As mentioned earlier, the museum and the island are home to artifacts found during excavation work when the Nagarjuna Sagar dam was built and they were later moved on top of the hill to save them from drowning. We slowly climbed the steep incline to reach the top of the hill where museum is situated. 

Guide for the entire island

I was very happy to note the well maintained gardens and monuments around us. The island as such is not very big, but there are various Buddhist excavation sites on the island that are now maintained by Archaeological Survey of India. We headed straight to the museum as it was fairly hot to walk around in the hot sun. Photography is not allowed inside the museum to protect the thousands of year old artifacts from fakes being created using pictures. The museum is fairly elaborate - Scenes showing life of the kings and general public during days when Buddhism was a predominant religion in most part of India are depicted in stone. However, I felt it would have been great if there were some detailed descriptions about each of the artifacts to understand them better. The great relief inside the museum was the huge standing fans that gave enough air to cool us down after the scorching heat.

By the time we finished the tour of the museum, we were ravenously hungry and headed straight to the canteen for some egg fried rice and cold drinks. A word of caution here - the food here is absolutely tasteless and it is better for travelers to have food on the mainland. We did not visit much of the monuments in open due to heat. 

Relic monuments at Nagarjunakonda

The return journey was even more painful as we had to sit outside on concrete to wait for the boat and when the boat arrived it was worse than Kumbh Ka mela.  I hope some authorities who are responsible for these boats do a better management on how people board and disembark from them otherwise one day in chaos major accident can happen. However, the boat ride was definitely enjoyable and we could see the sun setting in the background.

Setting sun as captured from the boat

By the time we returned to the mainland, it was getting dark and time for us to head home. Also, we decided to skip Ethipothala waterfalls as the locals mentioned there is hardly any water at this time of the year. The return drive was more difficult than the onward journey. As mentioned earlier, there is no divider on the state highways and vehicles come in full speed with high beams on, as there is no light on the road. This makes it difficult to drive and you have to be really careful. While we reached Nagarjuna Sagar in 3 hours, the return journey took us around 4 hours because of this. We returned home, tired but content after an enjoyable day.

PS - If you have time and no fear of the water, try a ride on the coracles which is a round boat :)

Kuch din bitao Gujarat mein.... Part 4

Our last and final day in Gujarat... 

It has been a great trip to so far and all of us are looking for a fantastic closure. Today our destination is Vadodara,  112 km from Ahmedabad.  It took us about 2 hours to reach and the first place we visited was Dakshinamurti temple inside the military campus. The uniqueness of the temple is that aluminium waste sheets from aircraft, etc. were used to erect the structure. This temple is situated in the compound of EME School of Indian Army at Vadodara. Being dedicated to Lord Shiva, the idol is seated in south-facing position. The structure of the temple was built in 1965 in the shape of Geodesic dome with the help of Aluminum waste sheets from Aeroplane etc. 

The temple conceived and designed by Brig AG Eugene and the architectural pattern represents five religions- the 'kalash' on the top of the dome signifies Hinduism, the 'dome' signifies Islam, the 'tower' represents Christianity, the 'golden-structure' on the top of the tower represents Buddhism and the entrances to the temple with their respective shapes signifies Jainism. The Indian Army takes up the entire organizational work. 

Dakshinamurty Temple made from aluminium waste

The Shiv Lingam surrounded by Banyan trees is wrapped in a air of calmness and stillness. The temple is an ideal place for meditation.The whole area is sprawled with statues of hundreds of years old collected by army men. There is a miniature replica of an artificial cave, modeled on the famous Amarnath Gufa(Cave). The darkness, the dipping water, the snow(refrigerated) covered lingam and the continuous Shiva Mantra chanting makes it really fascinating experience.

Amarnath Cave replica

After the temple, we went to the Laxmi Vilas Palace which is the house of Raja Sayajirao Gaekwad.  Still the residence of Vadodara’s royal family, Laxmi Vilas was built in full-throttle 19th-century Indo-Saracenic flourish at a cost of 6 million. The most impressive Raj-era palace in Gujarat, its elaborate interiors boast well-maintained mosaics, chandeliers and artworks. It’s set in expansive park like grounds, which include a golf course. The palace is a majestic structure with beautiful ornaments and display of luxury. We were provided with an English audio guide that helped us through the ground floor rooms. While trying to capture the entire palace in one frame,  I slipped and fell, damaging one of the fountain which was actually hilarious.

Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara

After that, we quickly finished lunch and started for Anand which is the birthplace of Amul and houses the Milk Factory. Did you know that Amul stands for Anand Milk Union Limited. I was very keen on visiting this factory although it meant we were driving 50 km further down from Vadodara to Anand. What made it trickier was that the plant allowed visitors only between 2pm and 4pm. So, not only were we driving to another city for just one attraction but also racing time to arrive between fixed visiting hours. But I was willing to go the extra mile (quite literally) to visit a factory that brought White Revolution in India and changed the way dairy farming was practiced in the country. Also, made the country the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products.

Entrance to Amul Factory and Museum

The guards performed a security check at the entrance and assigned gate pass for the group. Also, strict instructions were given for "No Photography" inside the premised. As it was already past 4 pm, the dairy museum was closed. Hence, we directly went to the factory which currently produces butter and milk, milk powder.  On the way, we were captivated by the sight of huge milk silo units which quickly become the best feature of our entire visit. Inside the factory, an assigned employee acted as our guide and took us through some of the departments, mainly, Quality control, Processing and Packaging of Amul butter and the process of making skimmed milk powder. We could see these huge machineries at work through large glass windows. Also, we could see the history of Amul in the backdrop of visually attractive collage walls. The guide threw light on interesting facts like the factory runs 24 hours and employees work on rotational shifts. Also, the entire factory is machine run and these heavy duty machines can produce and pack up to hundreds and thousands of standard products in a minute.

The Amul parlors inside the premises sell its products at the same cost as that available in the market. This makes no sense for visitors who like to purchase stuff from locations they go visiting as a token of remembrance. However, we did end up purchasing some memorabilia for friends and families. In front of the dairy museum was a statue of the Amul Girl. Amul girl refers to the advertising mascot used by Amul. The advertising often been described as one of the best Indian Advertising concepts because of their witty humour. The Amul girl dressed in a polka dotted frock with blue hair and a half pony tied up has always been my favorite cartoon character. I convinced one of the guards to allow me to click a photo of the statue.  

Amul Girl in front of the dairy museum

The visit did not live up completely to the expectations as it has limited to offer. Having said that, I wasn’t very disappointed with my Amul factory visit. I reckon, this is because it was a treat to be at a place which is the ultimate example of rural organization that not only brought a national change in dairy practices but also became one of the largest food brands in India.

While my days in Gujarat came to an end, this travel diary would be incomplete, if I do not talk about one of the unique transportation system that I noticed in Ahmedabad. The Bus Rapid Transit System [BRTS] is a concept that details out of a dedicated traffic lane for the movement of public transport buses. In a BRT system, since the vehicles travel in exclusive lanes, they avoid the congestion on the road. At the same time, other motorized traffic is benefited due to shifting of buses to dedicated lanes. I wish other state governments implement similar model to improve the traffic system.

BRTS Bus Stand in Ahmedabad

After spending the last 10 days in this beautiful state, I can also easily say that the diversity demands a must visit from all travelers. Personally, I would cherish my memories for a very long time. I am already planning a second trip to cover the remaining places that I missed - Bhuj, Dwarka and Greater Rann of Kutch!!

To view more photos, visit Flickr Gujarat