Devbagh

On our first marriage anniversary, I had planned for a 3 night stay in Devbagh Beach Resort. In fact I had planned it so well in advance, that the resort guys didn't even ask for the advance immediately.:-)) And while planning for this trip only, I realized the benefit of writing blogs and reviews on net. So many resorts which appeared to be great on their websites are dumped by reviewers and you can at least get an idea what to expect from the place you are going to visit. and so I also started writing my own blogs about the places I have visited.

While browsing through the net and reading hundreds of reviews and blogs about various beach resorts(I was bent on going to some beach resort with all the water sports facilities actually, since Ruchi is scared of water:-), I finally zeroed in on Jungle Lodges Devbagh Beach Resort. It was one of the very few beach resorts about which all the reviews were positive. While thinking of beaches, obviously first place that comes to mind is Goa. And I searched through a lot of resorts in Goa but found that only five star resorts have some water sports facilities of their own. Otherwise all arrange for water sports through private operators only. Devbagh Beach Resort is located on an island, 3 kms off Karwar coastline into the Arabian Sea and water sports facility and personnel are on the island itself. Other thing that went in favor of Devbagh was that it's a completely different kind of resort based on the concept of eco tourism. And so it offered the potential of an altogether different experience.

Since I had planned it so early, we had received great feedbacks about the place from our colleagues also. and obviously, the expectations were very high. And when the expectations are high, it's more likely to get disappointed. Still when we were about to return, we both agreed(It's actually very rare phemoneon when we both agree, people should appreciate that:-)) that the resort was worth a visit.

We went till Hubli via train and then by cab to Karwar from where a boat transferred us to the island. this is the view of the island from the jetty. we reached the resort at around 11a.m.


There are three different types of cottages there for accomodation, fisherman hut and loghuts made of wood and bamboo and cottages. The interiors of the cottages and loghuts are better, so it's better to choose that. Though we were given a fisherman
hut, it was very close to the beach and so we preferred to stick to that.

the first day we rested for the whole day after taking lunch, wanted to go for the water sports in the evening but got late. the food is like home made food, tastes great and there is good variety for both north indians and south indians. north indians can enjoy real wheat roti(fulka) and paratha. especially breakfast was too good, with all my favorites being present:-)) there is no room service but the staff was very courteous and I never heard 'no' for any request we made.

we went to the beach in the evening, just for a walk. took some photos during sunset.

there is some part of the beach here that extends into the ocean upto half a km during low tide. it's great walking on a narrow sandy road with ocean on all three sides. and if u spend enough time, u can see arabian sea engulfing slowly all your foot marks.

In this photo water in arabian sea seems to be blue. I have also seen such photos in some other blogs. But to clarify, the color of water is not blue in and around devbagh. I don't know how it came like this in this pic. anyway, nice photo!!

there is a camp fire in the evening near the beach where they serve snacks like pakodas, bhajji etc. it's a difficult job to go for dinner just after that but we succeeded all the time.:-))

Next day, we got up very early in the morning for nature walk. A guide took us inside the forest and showed crabs, tortoise and some birds.

also took photo of a modern art work by some anonymous crab on the beach.

after the breakfast, I went for a water scooter ride but it was complete waste. I sat in front, engine was in the backside and while the speed was good enough, the front portion rises so high in the water that it's difficult for water from the sea to even fall onto your legs.

the real fun was banana boat ride. a speed boat pulls a banana shaped boat, 4-5 persons can sit on it and a good distance into the sea they topple the banana boat and all people sitting on it fall into the water. Dont' worry, everyone wears a life jacket so finally you resurface. I went at least 2-3 feet down the water level and if the life jacket can pull 90kg weight, I think most of the people can be assured of safety.:-))they can do it 2-3 times if u like. i drank so much of sea water that it felt like I have had lunch.:-) I wanted to have it toppled one more time but Ruchi was scared.

while going for parasailing, we had a bonus speed boat ride in the sea since we had to go to a different point based on wind direction. it was thrilling to ride on the waves, sometimes the speed boat was jumping from one wave to another. it seems scary from the ground to see someone else going up. but when I actually did it, I even stared at the sea beneath me without any fear(someone advised me against doing that, poor fellow!!). though I couldn't land perfectly on the beach and fell into the sea, luckily not far from the beach. Even though Ruchi was the last one to go, she didn't get scared and had a near perfect landing.

then for sometime we tried our hands at sea kayaking. initially we didn't know where and how the boat is moving. then I discovered the art of boating with the guide's help. I became so excited by the discovery that I started rowing faster paying no heed to Ruchi's warning calls and finally, the guide had to jump into the water to stop our boat from colliding head on into the jetty.:-( Noone told me how to stop.:d

the beach here is not good for the people whose idea of beach holiday is to jump into water now and then. it is prone to strong undercurrents and the life guard on duty allows people to swim only during some fixed hours. we could finally get into the water next day only. anyway it was fun. the beach here is full of snails. Ruchi started collecting some big ones but there were so many that in frustration, she threw even the ones she had collected.:-)

lazing in the hammock!! what's that?? so we also didn't touch it till now. but next day after having done all the water sports and swimming, we had nothing to do. also they switch off electricity during the daytime so finally I lied on the hammock. the setting is perfect here for the hammock. in between the lines of trees, after a few minutes, I found myself enjoying the cool breeze which was otherwise a humid climate. Ruchi also got interested but it was a tough job for both of us to get accommodated. we finally managed to lie together and kept lying for about 2 hrs.:-) it wasn't exactly bliss(according to malaika, bliss is staying in water bungalows of maldives and I fully agree:-)), but not too far from that.

i took this photo of tree tops while on the hammock.

next day we had to leave. didn't forget to enjoy the hammock and walk into the sea. and then went to goa to catch the air deccan flight. this time, unfortunately for us, the deccan flight was on time so had to leave the resort a bit early. the drive from karwar to goa was to my surprise without any view of the sea. though I happened to see the other side of goa and checked out the greenery and mountains, something similar to 'go goa' ad campaign.

Super Star Libra Cruise

this was one of the luxuriest holiday we had. I booked a two night package on Super Star Libra for a mumbai-goa-mumbai trip. the cruise was to be departed on thursday evening from mumbai port, reach goa on friday afternoon, start from there for the return journey in the night and come back to mumbai port on saturday afternoon.

I had already booked Air Deccan flight tickets from bangalore to mumbai for the same day in the afternoon. however, a few days before, luckily I came to know the air deccan flight is usually running late and reaches mumbai only at night, I dared not take any chances and booked kingfisher tickets for the wednesday night, though booking so late did make a hole in my pocket.:-(( after this, I had learnt a lesson to not rely on air deccan if I m low on time. however, I put the late running habit of deccan to good use once. while returning from hyderabad, I booked the tickets of early morning deccan flight since it was cheaper(the evening flight was almost double) though I didn't want to return in the morning. later deccan cancelled that flight and transferred us to a flight in the evening without extra charges and so we had one full day to ourselves at half the rate.

so coming back to kingfisher flight. it also got late by abt 2 hrs and we thought to eat something. by the time we had taken puffs and samosas, kingfisher announced that all the passengers will be served dinner at airport hotel. ok no prob, we had that too as we thought now they will probably not serve anyhting on flight. but they served the food again on flight also!! so we had dinner three times and were utterly satisfied with the airlines.:-) since I had booked the tickets from makemytrip.com I had got a free car transfer at mumbai airport and I realized it was at least worth 500 bucks since we drove all the way from mumbai airport to vasi in navi mumbai. lesson no 2. always book the tickets from travel sites to get some add ons.

in mumbai we had a breakfast of 'poha' on a roadside shop, it was so light and tasty. i found it better than batata vada which is more famous. on thursday we went to the essel world, though we should have gone to water world since we had only one day in mumbai.

anyway, the last ride was a train that used to fall into a pool of water and we enjoyed the splash 3 times to make up for the loss of water in our body due to perspiration in mumbai heat.

we left essel world at 4p.m. and it took a good two and a half hour to reach victoria terminus from where we had to board on the cruise!! got scared we might miss it. had no idea about the distance between the two points. just managed to reach in time.

the sight of the cruise was just like Titanic, too big too high!! there were 10 floors the top one being a open deck with two cafes, 2 swimming pools and jacuzzis. everywhere there is no hint of cost effectiveness, it's sheer luxury. chairs, flowers, bed in the room was too great:D


there were two large auditoriums where all the shows were organized.i saw one of the best aerobics cum dance shows and magic cum comedy shows. they were truly amazing. and there are so many activities etc happening that firget passing time, it was difficult to do all of them and still enjoy the facilities.!! the restaurants were too big and food was equally great.

next day we went to bogmallo beach as it was nearer to goa port, and could have been better if we had returned from there itself. but we succumbed to sightseeing instinct and wasted 3 hrs going to churches and temples ( not so great as the cruise obviously)

there were few people who were organizing some games etc on open deck. they were the only bad part. everything was so badly planned and executed by them, even their speech was pretty bad. we had just been to club mahindra ooty and we missed the host there very much. since it was about to reach mumbai back, we got into jacuzzi and spent about 2 hrs.

in mumbai, we went to Inorbit mall, though nothing so great about the mall, we had a very good snap of us in a showroom background. and yaa, not to forget the kulfi falooda in one the stalls there. too good. must have it if one goes there.

Club Mahindra Danish Villa Ooty

after Munnar, our next satisfactory visit to club mahindra resort was ooty. since many people had given me bad feedback about ooty that the place has got very much commercialized etc, so I wasn't expecting much. Since it is near to bangalore, anyway, it was no pain to go once. However, we had a far better experience and I should say it was so primarily because of club mahindra resort.

we reached very early in the morning and since it was a weekend and check in time is in the noon, I thought we may have to wait for getting the room. but luckily, we got the room immediately. the resort is a small one but good enough location and very well maintained. it doesn't boast of a lot of amenities though. till now we had got used to club mahindra service and this resort was also second to none. every interaction with the staff there was pleasant. the food was again very good and i realised it must have required some effort on their part to maintain food quality in all locations once we had a lunch outside the resort in what seemed to be a fairly good restaurant. ruchi also tried donkey riding like a horse.:-)

there was a bonfire organized by the resort activity staff and I must say they are pretty good at it. the games were very original and the enthusiasm of the anchor was infectious. I still remember the way he danced, not a perfect one but just the spirit of it.

we hired a taxi for the sightseeing around ooty and luckily again, we had a driver cum guide who not only took around all the places but also helped us take snaps on strategic locales. many of the places r popular because some film was shot there. in ooty, at many places people keep a tiger look alike with which you can take a photo for a nominal fee. the first time when we suddenly saw it, our legs just freezed thinking it is real tiger.

there was a very good waterfall, pykara. it's not very high but broad enough and the time we went (in feb) there was lot of water. we hired a guide who took us downstream to a beautiful spot where we tried to take a snap titanic style.

again we had good luck because one other visitor in the resort told us that they had returned from the fall just after seeing from the top. there is a botanical garden in ooty where many plant shapes were formed. also there is a tree which is very commonly found there having lamp shade type leaves. also tried gokarting and while trying to scare ruchi, I failed to control on a turn and got scared myself.:-(

many people had told us conoor is better than ooty, probably because of tea gardens. but since we had visited munnar already we didn't find conoor that good. went via nilgiri toy train. had an interesting incident. at the ticket counter, first class tickets were double the price of general class. we thought to try first class since this is anyway first and last time we r going by this train. still we asked the guy at counter what is special in first class. he said very enthusiastically, "u must see it urself." his tone set our expectations eventually to be disappointed since the only difference was that first class seats were like normal sleeper births while general class seats were like general seats. in conoor, we went till the highest point in nilgiri and on the way, ruchi got a snap plucking tea leaves in a labour get up.

after tasting the food outside once, we didn't want to try it again so had lunch only in the resort. had got late and there was noone else so waiters arranged the whole buffet on our table only. and we did try to finish that justifying their attention given to us and not caring the burden our stomach will carry afterwards.

since our bus was in the evening, the lady at the reception was kind enough to give a room for sometime to refresh. and then back to bangalore..

Hyderabad

I have worked in Hyderabad for two years in my first job. and I find it a far better city to live than Bangalore, primary reason being the area surrounding Husain sagar lake. the whole strecth of about 5kms around the lake is such a beautiful picnic spot and the fact that it is in the centre of such a big city only enhances its importance. However, it's not always possible to stay where u want. Though I don't give too much of a thought to relocate to a different city and one very big reason is such a pleasant weather in Bangalore throughout the year. I hope Bangalore planners learn something from Hyderabad and develop so many dead lakes in bangalore as hang out places.

so now after 4 yrs, I again went to Hyderabad on my wife's insistence. there was a little apprehension seeing the growth of bangalore in recent years that probably, hyderabad also may have changed. it did but at least, I saw only the better part during my stay. there were a few new malls opened, iMax and Hyderabad central etc as expected.

one of the best temples in india to hang around (I hope nobody finds it offensive) is in hyderabd, Birla Temple. Except may be during festival time, it is not so crowded, location is excellent providing a holistic view of Husain sagar lake and large parts of hyderabad and there is lot of space to move around. Though again it was a lil bit hot, and we felt it more because we hav got used to bangalore so didn't move around much.

when I was in Hyderabad, I had visited Salar Jung Museum so many times and again I wanted to show it to my wife. I haven't visited many museums and this one also, I happened to visit only by chance but I guess it must be one of the best museums in the country. Particularly I like European statues made of marble (there are so many), lot of swords ( really, it's nothing what u see in TV serials and films. many swords can create a shiver down ur spine ) and many articles made of ivory (really beautiful, u don't need to be an expert to judge them). They also had Nizam's jewellery exhibition at that time. probably I wouldn't be that interested but it was impossible to miss once my wife saw the banner. though it proved interesting for me also. u can see some of the biggest (and costliest!!) diamonds and jewellery made of those diamonds. even better thing was since it was not for sale, u r safe since ur wife will understand that and not ask u to buy something.:-)

we also went for speed boating in lumbini park near the lake. when I was there four years back, there was only grass between the lake and the road. however, now there was a very beautiful place called, Eat Street, basically a food court but right on the side of lake, it's very good place to hang out or pass time. and if u go there, don't forget to eat jalebis, the best u can get in whole of south india.

also went to see char minar. it's in the middle of a very busy bazaar and it's difficult to even stand somewhere to bask in its beauty. paid one guy 10Rs who promised to shoot some good photos (u hav to actually stand in the middle of the road along with all hawkers etc to have charminar in the background). however, we realized it was complete waste and i probably could do a better job. my wife was more interested because she had heard about the jewellery market near charminar. however, to my pleasant surprise, she was very soon fed up with the crowd and the filth and wanted to escape.:-) I gladly and quickly hired a 3 wheeler to go back to some safer place.:-)

ramoji film city is an added attraction in hyderabad. there r too many good places for taking snaps.

beautifully maintained gardens including a copy of vrindavan gardens also ( i forgot the number of gardens the guide told us). there are buses which take u through entire film city and a guide will tell the names of the films that had been shot at different locales. there is almost everything there, railway station, airport, european colony, punjabi dhaba etc though all fake. and yaa, dont miss the stunt show. there is a small play in which u will witness filmi style fight in front of ur eyes, with all the dhishum dhishum, guns and even bombs.

ok then, back to monotony in bangalore!!!

Club Mahindra Lake View Munnar

Out of all tourist places in India, I would rate Munnar, the best destination for any kind of holiday. whether it's a honeymoon, family outing or an excursion with a group of friends. I have visited twice, once in rainy season and once during winter and I can safely say that it welcomes you all through the year unlike other hill stations.

I had booked in Club Mahindra Lake View Munnar since I am a member. We (I and my wife) had earlier gone to Manali in a club mahindra resort only (our first visit to any club mahindra resort) and the experience wasn't good enough. For one we had gone during off season so there wasn't any snow (only a few patches here and there at Rohtang pass) and despite all the hype, there aren't many sightseeing options/activities for normal folks in manali during off season unless u r content with appreciating the beauty of Himalayas. The resort itself had also nothing to offer except the service. We did appreciate great food and service in the resort. but that's not enough to shell out lump sum for lifetime membership, right!! so we had thought of giving club mahindra another chance and planned to go to Munnar since they also claim Munnar resort to be one of their best. and we r glad, we did. just the sight of the resort was enough to make us think to change our mind and after two days, we had decided to continue with the membership. more of it later.

We started from bangalore in a bus on friday evening and though they told us the journey will take about 16 hrs, it consumed almost whole day. we reached the resort only in the evening.

the resort is situated at a very good location and the view from there is quite amazing. a lake surrounded by tea estates all over. they maintain the heights of tea plants so well, it looks like a layer of green grass is spread over the land.

the resort has a very good landscape and there are also many places for photo shoots like a giant chess board, a machan on a tree top etc.

and the food was such that we spent a lot of time eating only!!:d luckily resort had also organized a tea party for new visitors in the evening and a DJ night and it helped us regain our holidaying spirit after such a tiresome journey.

the next day we went to thekkady, a sanctuary. there is a lake in between the surrounding forest and people can visit the sanctuary by a boat. we got the tickets on a very big cruise like boat though we saw small motor boats also with tourists. i think it could have been more fun since small ones could provide a closer peek. the animals/birds may be spotted on the river bank across the forest though most of the time it's very difficult. we did manage to spot a large group of wild elephants.

the next day we went out on a group sightseeing tour organized by the resort in a bus. one thing that needs to be mentioned is the speed boating in devikulum lake. the drivers are expert guys and he really scared us a few times driving on the waves created by another speed boat. the scenery is also equally good.

after the tour, we had to immediately leave and oh my god! again that long bus journey.:-(