Travel Blog

I do not believe in the concept of must see places, for every place casts its magic on me – be it an unknown or an offbeat location , a known city or a tourist destination. But Ladakh was an exception.

It was a dream destination , something that had always seemed unattainable . It did not matter to me that I had not yet seen the Taj Mahal, but it irked me that I had not visited Ladakh. It was a destination that had given me sleepless nights. But when I woke up on a sunny morning in the capital town of this land of high passes, after spending a dizzy first night , it seemed like a dream still.

It was extremely hot and all the giddiness had vanished. We feasted on some aalu paratha with some garden vegetables freshly plucked from the garden and started our monastery trail.

 

In ladakh as in any where else, the dilemma is always the same. So many places to see and yet so little time. Earlier, I wanted to see almost everything possible and my eyes used to greedily devour every possible sight . But now, I decided to pick and choose. Its not so much about the choice of these sights , but its more to do about how much you want to soak in them.

If you just need a picture against every Buddha statue that was built in Ladakh, then you could cover as many places as you want. Also there is something called stamina when it comes to Ladakh. Even if you are acclimatised to the heights, most monasteries are atop hills and you need climb several steps to get there . They are breathtaking alright, but chances are with less oxygen, you would feel breathless climbing them.

 

Nevertheless, we started our day rather early. We skipped Leh and decided to do the monastery circuit outside the town.We planned on four monasteries, which in retrospect was quite a bit for a day. However, as they were rather close, we managed to spend quite some time at each place, absorbing the sights and sounds. We went to Stakna, followed by Hemis and then Thiksey and Shey before returning to Leh with a quick trip to Sindhu darshan..more on each of them in a while.

For more beautiful skies around the world, click here

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Mind the Gap!

Last weekend we took the metro to go to Noida. I was quite surprised to hear the announcements because they now have dropped the ‘please’ out of ‘mind the gap.’ I clearly remember this was not the case earlier.

It Used to be ‘Please Mind the Gap’

This is a video from a year before and it used to be ‘Please Mind the Gap.’ I sort of liked ‘Please Mind the Gap’ more. Anyone having any clue why the announcements were changed?

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My Niece Singing ‘Hum Hindustani’

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The Rooms at the Shakespeare Inn, Lancaster

Last year I spent a week at Lancaster, UK. We initially stayed at the Best Western Royal Kings Arm (that is another place I have to write about) and then as we had goofed on reservations we shifted to The Shakespeare Inn for a day.  That also happened to be my free day. So the plan was to dump my luggage and spend the day outside. I am so glad that we goofed up and I got to stay at a bed and breakfast.

I have a very bad sense of direction and I like to roam around a city as much as possible. So I followed the directions on the reservation papers the night before and I knew where the Inn was located. I got up early on the Saturday and had a leisurely breakfast. Soon it was time to head to the Shakespeare Inn. I rang the bell after a short walk and rang the bell. Sally came out and greeted me warmly. She immediately asked if I would like to have some tea or coffee but I told her I wanted to go out. She then asked when could she expect me later in the day and I told her, “in the evening.” All this was a little surprising for me because I am quite used to dropping my key in a hotel and coming and going as I please, no questions asked. It was strange and so pleasant to see the concern on part of my hostess.

The Shakespeare Inn, Lancaster

I stayed the whole day out. It was a crisp and cold day. And I came back really really late. Most of the day was spent walking from Lancaster to Morecambe. After sundown at 4.00 pm it got really cold and around 7.00 pm I decided to turn in. When I got in, Sally told me, “Now I never expected you would be this late, come I will show you your room.” While showing the heating she asked, “Are you cold?” And then held my hands and exclaimed, “Yes of course you are cold. The heating at the moment is neither here nor there but you can crank it up.”

Then she pointed out the tea supply to me I immediately said, “I will try this out.” And she replied, “No leave it for the morning, I will make some for you.” A little later I had a hot pot of tea waiting for me with some cookies!

The room is quite comfortable and the breakfast elaborate. I told Sally I would like to write about her place but never thought it would take so long. I also remember how she lugged my suitcase up the stairs in spite of my numerous protests that I was quite capable of doing it myself. She laughed, “I am quite used to it.” I was apologetic saying, “It was not this heavy when I came, but it is full of chocolate now.”

I asked her how she got into running the Shakespeare Inn? She said, “All that you see, the credit goes to the previous owner, when they got out, we came in and we just continued doing what they did. We have a home by the sea where we plan to retire but thn I think we can do this for a few more years.” I hope whoever takes it over, does more of the same, the place has been an Inn since 1872!

I think if I get an opportunity I would try another bed and breakfast. The Shakespeare Inn is also listed at the Official Visit Britain Site.

* I sometimes review hotels because I get invited to their place in return for blogging but this post is not a part of any such arrangement. I wrote it because I wanted to write it.

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Marigolds and A Butterfly

Doli, here are the flowers. I took this picture at the Wild Crest at Jim Corbett!

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Sunset Time

This was the sunset last weekend. Sometimes it feels like such a pity that I can click sunsets only over the weekend. But at least I get to see the sunset while coming back from work.

For more skies from around the world visit Skywatch Friday.

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Caught Napping at the Agra Fort

It was a hot hot March day last year and I do not blame the poor guy if he found some solace at the Agra Fort from the Sun and the heat!

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London, Just London

I was flipping through the old photos of my trip to UK in 2009 and even though the sky is grey I liked this picture. More so because of the black taxi that I managed to click along with the Parliament House and th Big Ben.

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The Lone Rider!

I boarded this bus at Lancaster. And to my surprise I was the only passenger inside for a few stops.  Now I have see buses crowded like this almost on my daily commute. So to have an entire bus to myself for a few stops was such a novelty.

I was sitting in the first row, and I turned back to click the picture. I saw the driver in his mirror and I think he was smiling that  I was clicking an empty bus!

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