Japan Travel Diary: Tokyo

This year has been adventurous in terms of travel. We managed to squeeze in a 2nd vacation to visit the land of the rising Sun. I have been lazy to write the travelogue for the Europe trip and I am positive that I will get to it before this year ends :-)

 

The best time to visit Japan, obviously, is the Cherry Blossom time in April/May. But we missed it, hence chose the 2nd best which is during Autumn season in October. The leaves become colourful while the trees are preparing for winter and it looks vibrant and a gorgeous treat to the eyes. And the best thing is it is still not full blown winter, so it is not too cold; just pleasant and perfect weather!

 

Japan is a huge country and definitely you can't do justice to experiencing it all in 1 or 2 weeks. So for a week's travel we chose Tokyo as our base and visited Mt.Fuji, Hakone, Nikko and Kamakura.

 

Tokyo is the current capital of Japan and interestingly there is no airport in Tokyo. So you have to either land at Narita or Haneda International Airports which are a couple of hours train ride from Tokyo. And considering the super fast trains in Japan, this surely isn't something you would mind :)

 

How to get around?

The best way to get around in Tokyo (or anywhere in Japan for that matter) is by trains. Taxis are way too expensive and we saved it only for occasional use. It does take a while to comprehend the complicated maze of the train map. So make sure you have done your research on how to get to your hotel from the airport, well in advance :) Also if at all you end up in the trains during peak hours then trust me, you will not miss Mumbai!! There is such a huge crowd that when you are walking and you happen to stop for a second or change direction suddenly, someone will bump into you.

 

Where to Stay?

We chose to stay in Tokyo's most upmarket Ginza district which is the shopping centre. So it is no surprise where literally every brand name in fashion and cosmetics can be found here. Ginza is also the most expensive real estate area in Japan. I loved it. It has a very vibrant energy and feel. You just walk out of the hotel and there are loads of restaurants, cafes, shops, bars etc. And every street seems to have an exit to the train station. But prepared to pay a lot for a room that is less than the size of a matchbox! We stayed in the Ginza Nikko Hotel which was way too small than even words can explain but the Courtyard Marriott was at least worth the money.

 

What to do?

Some of the must see things in Tokyo according to me are

 

1. Metropolitan building, on top of which there is an observatory to get a lovely view of Mt.Fuji and the entire Tokyo city skyline

 

 

 

2. The Asakusa temple, has a Shinto shrine and definitely worth a visit

 

 

 

3. Some of the freshest seafood is found right here in Tokyo. So what better way to savour them all than to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market?. Although certain areas have now been made off limits to tourists due to sanitisation and food safety, you’re allowed to visit after 9am and have the freshest sushi breakfast or lunch at the local restaurants there. If you are keen (and lucky), you may be one of the 120 visitors allowed into the tuna auction area to view the transactions. Supposedly Application can be done at the Osakana Fukyu Center at the Kachidoki Gate, starting from 5:00am on a first-come, first-serve basis.

4. Meiji Shrine /Yoyogi park - the moment you enter, temperature drops by 2-3 degress due to the thick green cover of the trees. The park is very peaceful and the Meiji shrine is 1 or 2 kms walk inside the park.

 

 

 

5. Shop for electronics - visit the Sony showroom in Ginza district and the Yodobashi camera/ Bic camera shops for great deals on electronics. Sony has an international section where the gadgets are tax free and have good promotional offers.

 

6. Roppongi area is one of the popular party areas but you are warned to be careful as you can get mugged there. The recommended club in this area is NEWLEX Edo, 1 3-13-14 Roppongi, Minato-ku, 03-3479-7477, though we did not visit this place. It is also apparently one of the best nightspots to spot international celebrities and models alike.

 

7. Tokyo tower (Skytree) also has some breathtaking views of Tokyo

 

 

 

8.Do Not Miss Shibuya Crossing

It is said to be the world's busiest crossing where all 4 traffic lights go Red at the same time and people cross in all possible directions. As a friend of mine pointed out, for a directionally challenged person this can be the toughest challenge! You definitely should experience this well organized chaos (pun intended)!

 

 

 

And if at all you are a vegetarian like me and end up with least options for food, you can try this really good Indian restaurant called MUMBAI in Ginza, which is few blocks away from the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. They serve absolutely delicious food and trust me it's a treat to your taste buds when all you can get is margarita pizza!

 

 

 

Journey to Awareness: #2

What if you could create a new beginning for all your relationships without having to destroy or get rid of…with out having to punish…without having to be punished?
Would you be willing to ask for more? More of you. More for You.

If you were to stop cutting off your awareness, your capacities, your caring, your kindness, how different would that be for you and all those around you?
Imagine what it would be like to never deny you or your knowing again?





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To know more about me and what I do, visit
www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com
www.reviveholistic.com

Journey To Awareness: #1

How many of us are truly willing to be responsible for our lives? The extent to which you deny your creatorship in creating your world, to that extent you actually rob yourself of the power to create your life the way you desire.

It simply ...means, no matter what shows up in your life, you no longer come from a place of being a victim...no blame, no complaining, no justifications. Rather you take responsibility and ask 'What points of views did I have that created this situation' and 'What can I be or do differently now to change this'?

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To know more about me and what I do, visit
www.reviveholistic.com
www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com
 

Addiction to Perfectionism

Addiction need not necessarily be to a substance, we can be addicted to certain type of behaviours, feelings/emotions or thought processes like addiction to being right, being wrong, being perfect, to judgements etc.

A couple of weeks back I was listening to some of the talks by Marilyn Bradford, who has created The Bradford System of Right Recovery for overcoming addictions. Some of clearings made me realize that I have been addicted to perfectionism for a large part of my life. I have heard Gary Douglas (the founder of Access Consciousness) say that one of his daughters wanted to join the beginner's Ballet class but she wanted to have private ballet lessons before she even went to the beginners class. Oh my gosh, I was like that too! How many of us want to be perfect at the things we do even before we start doing it?

Perfection is a lie, it is not real. It is a judgement that we buy and then defend for or against it continuously. Because of this point of view I realized I had limited myself so much with starting new things. There were so many ideas to implement but it was not done simply because I was not sure that it would be perfect. It was almost like my life was put on hold. When I realized that I was defending this perfectionism, and cleared my beliefs around it, life has been unfolding in a different way. With every new idea I now look at it as how imperfectly can I do this?! That just takes away all the projections, expectations and conclusions out of it and interestingly things turn out far greater than I imagine it to be. Many of us limit our potential and what we can achieve because we want it to be perfect and if it isn't perfect then it isn't good enough for us. If you are one of them, then maybe it is time to change the belief and let go of that judgement NOW?

What if your imperfect self were the perfect invitation you’ve been looking for?  The very imperfections that you judge and allow to stop yourself could be your best selling point!  How could that change your life and what you create?

"How would my life expand if I was willing to do things terribly?" is a question I have started asking everyday and that has allowed me to simply jump into create new things in life. How does it get better than this?

Here is a tool you can play with. If you could pick ONE thing that you could do terribly this week, what would you try? when you start doing this by picking one thing each week, you open up your potential to explore your talents and abilities and do all those things which you didn't start just because you thought you won't be perfect at it :-)


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To know more about my work and what I do, you can visit my website www.reviveholistic.com or www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com

What is Access Consciousness?

"Access Consciousness is a set of tools and techniques that allow you to create a dynamic change in any area of your life and change anything in your life that isn’t working for you. It is one of the most transformative healing modalities which is not widely known in the East compared to other techniques like Reiki, Pranic Healing or Hypnotherapy. Access Consciousness was developed by Gary Douglas about 25 years ago and has been co-created by Dr Dain Heer along the way. The target of Access is to empower you to know that you know! There is nothing new that is being taught here.

 

It is all about realizing that you are an infinite being with infinite potential and empowering you to realize your potency and power so that you can create a life and reality that YOU wish to"

CLICK HERE to read more of this article that I wrote -
http://www.glad2bawoman.com/category/spirituality/access-consciousness



You can also visit my website www.reviveholistic.com for details

Being Grateful...

This famous quote by Phil Collins -
"In learning you will teach and in teaching you will learn" is what I always have believed in and live by it as a facilitator of various healing modalities. But it made even more sense to me when I facilitated a class recently. It is so amazing to witness the insights that I personally received from teaching these classes that I really felt like I have to return the course fee to all participants as I seemed to have got deeper learnings from the sessions than them! :)

As a healer/therapist/trainer I am already aware that there is a reason why I attract the clients and participants to my sessions and classes. This time the learning for me was very subtle and came in a totally uncanny and an unexpected way and there were a couple of participants who were catalysts to trigger that within me at a very deep level. It took me some self-exploration and going within to figure out that it was all about Being Grateful to myself , to show immense gratitude to ME just like I am grateful for everything and everyone else in my life! Contribution is a two-way street...it has to have a balance of giving AND receiving. So I realized the imbalance I was creating in my life by being grateful to others whereas I had forgotten the most important person - ME!

Strangely, I teach Gratitude as one of the 'Five elements of intimacy' in my classes and I was always under this impression that I am grateful for myself, for who I am, the way I am. But the love & respect I have for myself was not necessarily the element of gratitude. When I was just being present there receiving the gratitude from everyone I was extremely overwhelmed. It was totally unexpected and it bowled me over completely. It got me thinking - if I can be so easily grateful for people showing up in my life and they are grateful for the contribution that I am in their lives, why am I not willing to show that gratitude to my own self, for who I am?! I had cut off my receiving in this aspect completely, without even being aware of it. This realization was the beginning of self-love without judgements and I feel absolutely awesome after this revelation!! This is one of those things that you think you know and do but when it finally happens, it is a completely different experience.

So....if u desire to change a relationship, then for the next 7 days write down at least 3 things u are grateful for, for the person you are in a relationship with, even if that person is YOU :-) . If it is someone else then you can write down the things you are grateful for to that person and for you, both! At the end of the week you have a huge list of items in your gratitude box which you can keep referring to for the rest of you life!

In order to create a great relationship you need to have the intimacy with YOU and gratitude for YOU to start with because every relationship that you attract is just a mirror of the kind of relationship you have with yourself.

So where are you unwilling to be grateful for yourself today?

What would your life be like if you could truly have intimacy with you and gratitude for you?!

What if you being YOU truly are the gift and change that the world requires?!

Enjoy some food for thought! :)



**The questions referred here are from the tools of Access Consciousness™ by Gary Douglas

Music - A powerful trigger for past memories

Have you ever heard a specific song or a piece of music which has instantly triggered your past memories? Am sure a lot of us have, and it is scientifically proven that just thinking about a particular song can trigger vivid memories of your past or certain special events in your life. I have always loved music and have several favorites which take me back the memory lane, to my teenage years...

But it's only yesterday I had this incredibly weird experience of listening to a specific tune from a Bollywood movie I watched yesterday, composed by A.R.Rehman, which instantly triggered some deep emotions and memories from a past life. I always knew this is possible and I do regressions day in day out as part of my job but I had never experienced it this way. Spontaneous regressions are possible if you have had special connections with people, places, languages, smells and even music. Certain movies can trigger the past life memories too, if you have experience similar emotions, situation or relationships before. We may have been inclined to like or dislike these elements and they serve as a bridge to our past and help us uncover a part of ourself that is distant, yet familiar.

A lot of us dismiss such things thinking it is just imagination, because we see such things happen in movies (even I used to be a skeptic few years back) but if you actually follow it through and allow the memories to come up completely and absorb it, you will be amazed at how it can put the pieces of the puzzle together in your current life and give more clarity to issues you maybe facing. You will be amazed at how powerful the sub-conscious mind is. It know exactly what we need to see at this stage in life and shows only the relevant memories...so it all happens for a reason, if only you can trust your instincts and tune inwards to explore further...!

So if you have any specific songs or tunes that evoke such an intense response, maybe you should spend time and indulge in it to allow the memories to come up and you never know what wisdom may come out of it! :-)

 

Autobiography in Five Chapters

I found this wonderful poem by Porta Nelson in the book Autobiography in Five Chapters. It explains so well, the recurring patterns that we fall into, life time after life time! A soul chooses the same path across several lives, to learn the same lesson, over and over again and how do you recognize that lesson? Check for the patterns in your life...in all areas!

 

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole.

I fall in.

I am lost...I am hopeless.

It takes forever to find a way out.

 

 

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don't see it.

I fall in again.

I can't believe I am in the same place.

But it is my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

 

 

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in...it's a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

 

 

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Understanding what the lesson is, absorbing it, and working out the reason for it not to be repeated is an important part of healing a pattern (or Karma). That's where a past life regression therapy helps...to trace back to the original source in the current or past...

 

Food for thought

A friend shared this on Facebook recently and I couldn't stop myself from posting it here.. This is something that I share with all my clients, in every session that I do. Each time you see the learning from a situation (whether challenging or not), the situation completely shifts, because we all choose the challenges/problems at a soul level, only to get the wisdom & learnings. So rather than getting frustrated and stressing over the problems in life, why not take a moment and think about what learning the situation has to offer or 'what is this person/situation trying to teach me?'. As the wisdom comes into the conscious mind, the situation shifts! If you see it metaphysically, karma is all about learning lessons....so the faster you learn, the sooner you clear your karmic baggage and the challenges fade away...

What stops us from doing this? Well, we all are great problem solvers, in fact most of us love doing that. But we don't realize that, as per the law of attraction, the more you love solving problems, the more you attract them! Being in allowance and looking for the learning is what changes the situation. (More about being in allowance in another post...)

So if you are reading this, why not think about a challenge that you are facing currently and spend a few minutes in silence to find out what is the learning from it? Dont worry if you don't succeed in the first attempt....do it a few times or for a couple of days. The moment the learning comes, notice how your vibrations change and the challenge doesn't seem like a challenge anymore!



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Visit www.reviveholistic.com to know more about my work

Time for some poetry!

I was going through my journal today and found this poem that I had written 5 years back while I was studying in ISB.. Showed it to 'N' for the first time today and I was surprised that he got inspired to reply to it with a poem, that too spontaneously. So I couldn't help it...had to share it here!!

Photo I clicked in Phuket...fits the mood!

As I lie down beneath the skies in solitude,
I am gazing at the stars, thinking of you
Reminiscing those wonderful moments and the passionate mood,
I wonder if you are thinking of me too…

When we met, I knew there was something about you,
I still remember that friendship, so pure and true.
Never once did I speculate, my Mr. Right, is it you?
I wonder if you are thinking of me too…

I believed our friendship held us strong and close,
That our love bound us and endlessly grew
I was glad that you were the one I chose,
Now I wonder if you are thinking of me too…

Never knew what the days ahead would bring,
I just wished and prayed it would be only you.
An everlasting bond, I was longing!
Now I’m just left wondering, if you are thinking of me too…
--Pratima



This is what 'N' wrote...I love it! What do you think? :-)


As I read these words so true
Pure like the early morning dew
Like a sea breeze so fresh, a whisper so light
I wonder as I think about you, If I am the Mr. Right 


As the days turn longer and my hair turns grey
I pray in my life you stay
To my lonely heart you are the cure
Of this I am sure


I wonder as I think about you
If you are thinking of me too

-N

 

South America Travel Diary: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

This travelogue is continued from the previous post

 

Rio is definitely one of the most popular travel destinations these days. So we would not go all the way to South America and not spend time in Rio! I especially wanted to visit this city after I watched the animated movie "Rio" where it was shown so beautifully! Little did we know that it would turn out to be insanely expensive and not live up to our expectations.. Heck.. I didn't even know that it is pronouced as 'Rio de haneiro' and not 'Janeiro' till I went there!  That's some intro to Portuguese for you :)

 

After spending 3 days in rainy Santiago de Chile, we were happy to catch the flight to Rio. It was a long flight (considering the countries are adjacent) to Rio...about 8 hours with a short stop over in Sao Paulo. I was already getting claustrophobic getting anywhere close to an airplane, with flying almost once every 3 days...South America is one gigantic continent! It will probably take you 3 full months to visit just the main cities all over the continent..

 

We spent 4 nights in Rio and I felt that was good enough to see the main attractions. There isn't much to do there if you go in the non-carnival season. If you are there for the carnival then its a different story!

 

Where to stay?

I had heard and read about Rio being a very high crime rate city and that it isn't very safe for tourists and locals equally. So we were very apprehensive of booking just any hotel. We were warned of staying in Copacabana as its supposed to be not too safe in the nights. So we restricted our stay in the upmarket areas like Ipanema/Leblon/Lagoa though they are friggin expensive. The cheapest hotel you may find in non peak season will cost 200USD for a Double bedroom. Anyway we chose the Ipanema Inn which was a block away from the Ipanema beach. Was happy with the service but the hotel was too old and rustic with very basic amenities and we were paying through our nose!

 

 

Things to do

Of course you would not miss 'Christ the Redeemer' whether or not it is worth seeing! It is definitely over-hyped and when I went all the way up and stood near the statue, I was dumbstruck as I was trying to figure out one reason why it was chosen as a new wonder of the world!! Personally, I feel there is nothing great about the statue (no offense meant, to anyone!). The view from the top of the Corcovado mountain (which is where the Redeemer statue is) is absolutely breathtaking. You reach there in a cogwheel train through the Tijuaca Rainforest, where you can choose to trek as well. You definitely have to go there for the view and not to see the statue. So have your expectations set right else you will be disappointed like I was..

 

 

 

Sugar Loaf mountain is another thing you might want to see. Take a cable car to reach on top of the mountain from where you get a lovely view of the copacabana beach and the city of Rio. You can also see the Christ on top of Corcovado, from this mountain top.

 

Sugar Loaf Mountain

 

 

We booked  a day tour through Viator and did Sugar Loaf + Corcovada on the same day as we did not want to venture out alone for safety sake. At the end of the day we realized that the total time spent at the venue was just about 1.5 to 2 hours and remaining 5hrs was wasted in picking up & dropping people and having lunch and what not! So I highly recommend doing it by yourself, and not wasting time & money on any travel companies...Wish someone was there to tell us that 'before' we went! Lessons learnt through experience!

 

 

View of Copacabana beach from top of sugar loaf

 

 

We also did the Sepatipa Bay cruise for another full day to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary! It was a nice chilled out, lazy day on the cruise with not much activity. It's good if you love the waters and wanna lie down at the beach and get some sun. Well, we did that at the Ipanema beach as well, the next day :)

 

Sunset from top of Corcovado mountain

 

 

Samba Dance is another attraction. The most popular one is the Plataforma Samba show which happens in the night 9pm to midnight and is combined with dinner. It's crazy but you should definitely watch it for entertainment!

 

Plataforma Samba Show

Food

Be prepared to spend a lot on food as restaurants are very expensive too. If you are a non-vegetarian then you have no problems in finding some amazing cuisines out there but if you are a veggie, like me then your options are *very* limited. Survive on pizzas/pastas/salads as long as you are there! But we did find a lovely Thai Restaurant called "Nam Thai" in Leblon, which surprisingly was EXTREMELY GOOD! I highly recommend it.

 

Drink

And while you are in Brazil, try their national alcoholic drink Cachaca (pronounced as Ka-sha-sa), which is a cocktail made from fresh sugarcane juice (not molasses) distilled & fermented. Contains about 38% to 48% alcohol. And Brazil's national cocktail is Caipirinha which is made from Cachaca and Lime. Extremely strong and it goes straight into your head with the first sip! You cannot go there and not try this :) And make sure you buy some at the duty free as well to carry back home ;-)

 

Shopping:

I cannot complete this travelogue without talking about shopping! Rio is a shopper's paradise, especially for a woman, as you will find amazing jewellery, accessories, clothes etc at throw away prices...and very unique designs! It's also a crystal lover's paradise. Huge raw crystal clusters, geodes, caves are available on the road side market for dead cheap prices! Just carrying it back home is a problem due to the weight. Else I would have bought lots more. You should definitely visit the Sunday Hippie Fair at Ipanema and also the daily night market at Copacabana if you love to shop... 

 

 

 

 

And last but not the least, learn some basic portuguese or carry a dictionary or a phrase book to translate the basic words so that you can get around, if you are on your own. Even airports do not announce any instructions in English. So best advice - follow the crowd ;)

 

 

 Disclaimer: Do not reproduce this post or the photos without giving due credits or linking back to this post

 

South America Travel Diary: Chile

None of our vacations can be complete without a Wine Tour & Tasting!!! So after visiting the amazingly beautiful Machu Pichu, we headed down South to Chile, the wine country! I badly needed to rest, after all the travel, altitude and treks and lack of vegetarian food (sigh!). We flew from Cusco to Lima and then to Santiago de Chile (There is another Santiago de Atacama, mind you!)

Santiago de Chile
Stayed in a serviced apartment in the heart of the city of Santiago, right next to the MRT and all the restaurants. It pays to do a lot of research before booking the hotels!

Chile was extremely 'chilly' as it was winter in May/June and on top of that it was raining all 3 days we were there. What a spoil sport! Anyway, there is nothing much to see in the Santiago city, its just like any other city in the world. So off we went to the suburbs to visit the vineyards, the place of our interest. We chose the Concha y Toro Winery as its among the top ones out there. Booked the wine tour online, by ourselves and it worked out cheaper than going through an agent.
Here is the link if you are interested http://www.grayline.com/Santiago/Concha_y_Toro_Winery  . There wasn't much of a taste I could get out of the wines, in that freezing weather! But this winery is highly recommended!!

Useful Tip: Travel in the Metro, cabs are way too expensive and of course they dont speak English :)

  Visit the Delhi Darbar restaurant for "authentic" Indian food in Providencia district. A small restaurant hidden in the centre of the city but serves amazingly tasty North Indian food! We were surprised to find such a restaurant in our entire trip!

One of their wines that you must try!

 

Valpraiso & Viña Del Mar

These are the coastal towns of Central Chile, on the line of Pacific Ocean. Just A couple of hours drive from Santiago and can be seen in a day. We had booked a day trip with Viator but unfortunately it was pouring heavily the whole day and we could hardly enjoy the trip. But these 2 towns are very beautiful and it's worth spending a night over if the weather is good. While you drive down to the garden city of Vina Del Mar, you travel through the wine country and can stop over several vineyards for wine tasting if planned in advance.

 

 

 

Valpraiso port is extremely picturesque and built in the 16th-century on a total of 43 hills which are reached by narrow windy streets, staircases and a series of lifts (funiculars). This area has been declared by UNESCO as patrimony of humanity due to its eclectic architecture and urban development.

It's disappointing to say that I have no photos of the beautiful view of the Valpraiso port due to the heavy rains that day :-( You can google it to see how beautiful the city is!!

Few other things that you can do while in Santiago, which we didnt do (but I had researched on it!)
1. take a trip to Cajon de Maipo
2. go on casablanca valley/san antonia valley wine tour and stay overnight at casa marin in vineyards
3. Go to San Pedro and Visit Atacama salt lake & Moon Valley (in Northern Chile)
4. Santiago city Hop on hop off tour
5. Visit Easter Island




 

South America Travel Diary: Machu Pichu (Peru)

This travelogue is continued from the previous post.

 

After a day's rest in Cusco, at 11,000ft and going through some altitude sickness, we headed off to Machu Pichu, by Peru Rail. Finally, we were on our way to see another wonder of the world, which was the highlight of our trip!

 

We took Peru Rail from Cusco to Agua Calientes, which is about 4 hours of journey. You can actually do a 4 day trek from half way through Cusco till the top of Machu Pichu but you have to book it a few months early as it gets filled fast. I was happy taking the train to the base and then trekking up! Wouldnt want to do the 4 day trek after spending 30hrs in flight :) It seriously drove me crazy!

 

 

 

 

Agua Calientes

 

This is a small town (or should I say one small road between a railway track and a stream ;-)) at the base of the Machu Pichu mountain. We reached here and spent 2 nights in a hostel and kept this as our base to go visit the Inca city and trek the mountain. "Agua" in Spanish means Water and "Calientes" means Hot, so literally the town is called Hot Water! Don't expect anyone to speak in English here. If you want to survive here on ur own, learn basic Spanish. And if you are going to stay in a hostel, then be prepared to be visited by all kinds of insects and flying creatures and if you forget the mosquito repellant, then god save you!

 

There is a good shopping market at the train station where you get lots of local handicrafts and crystals at a very cheap price. So make sure you have some time dedicated for shopping!

When in Peru, you should definitely try their cocktail - Pisco Sour, that originated in Peru itself. A very unique drink which you wouldn't want to miss at any cost!
 

 

 

 

Inca City & Machu Pichu

 

From Aqua Calientes there are buses every half an hour that go half way up the mountain till the entrance to the Inca City Archealogical Site. It's a 30min ride up and you will be amazed at the way those bus drivers drive without honking, on the hairpin bends and the scary mountain terrains...doesn't matter if u feel the bus is going to collide or fall off the cliff, but they refuse to sound horn! Some talent I say!

 

Inca City & Wayna Pichu in Background

 

The Inca city is absolutely splendid, it is surreal, astonishing, beautiful, brilliant, super awesome and all other adjectives that you can come up with! It lies between the Machu Pichu and the Wayna Pichu mountains and it is architecture at its brilliance. It's now the UNESCO world heritage site and has been restored and preserved. Wonder how the Incas built such a cool city on top of a mountain!! The best time to visit is when it is bright and sunny. We tried to catch the sunrise on top but we were greeted by the rain gods and heavy clouds, so we explored the city for a few hrs in rain and clouds.

 

We visited again in the afternoon when it was bright and sunny, so caught the city in both rain and shine ;-) We hired a local tour guide (who spoke English, of course!) and go the history of the civilization from her as we explored the city. I highly recommend hiring a guide at least in your first visit to the site, else u may feel lost and not understand much or appreciate it. It will take approx 3 to 4 hours to explore the archaeological site and I suggest you visit the site twice if you have the luxury of time, else you may not get to see everything around there. There are multiple short treks that you can do there too...

 

View of Inca city from top of MachuPichu

 

 

You can start the trek up the Machu Pichu mountain from the archaeological site and the trek up takes about 2 hours and return another 2 hours. If you also want to trek the Wayna Pichu mountain, you will have to buy the ticket a few weeks or a month in advance as they allow only 400 people a day there. For the Inca city and Machu Pichu, tickets can be purchased on the spot..

 

The best time to visit Machu Pichu is when it is not raining, that is when it is winter time at the base or in the plains. When it is summer down, it will be raining in the mountains..

 

After exploring the mountains and the Inca city I felt it was totally worth the effort of travelling 30hrs in flight + 4 hrs of train + 1/2 an hour of bus to reach this place!! This is one of those must see places in a lifetime. If you dont see this, you really miss out on something splendid!!

 

 

Disclaimer: Do not reproduce or copy the photos & travelogue without linking back to this post or giving due credits

South America Travel Diary: Cusco (Peru)

The travelogue is continued from the previous post..

After resting for 2 nights in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and also its Business capital, we headed towards Machu Pichu, the main highlight of our trip. But it was still a long way to reach there! After about 6 hours of flight we reached Cusco, via Lima. There is no direct way to reach Machu Pichu. You have to either trek from Cusco or take a train to the base of the mountain and bus to the top.

Plaza de Armas

Cusco (or Cuzco) is a small city in Peru in the south eastern part and at one point it was the historical capital of the Inca Empire. It was also declared as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983 and it's also the historical capital of Peru. It's a very small & laid back town (I wouldn't even call it a city). There are cobble stone streets, not even proper roads. It is quite filthy and looks very ancient. Since we went in the winter time, it was super chilly! If you have to see Machu Pichu, you have to go there when it is winter in the base, so it is not raining at the mountain top. Hence we had no choice but to bear the cold! We stayed in Hotel Terra Andina which was extremely posh compared to the city standards! Their service was superior and the food was good too. I highly recommend this place if you are visiting Cusco.

Even though it is very touristy, there wasn't much to see in the city itself. Visited their famous Cathedral, Iglesia del Triunfo which was a short walk from the hotel and got a short glimpse of the city's Plaza de Armas, the main central square. The cathedral is supposed to look very beautiful in the night under the lights but we were too tired to stay up as we had an early morning train. The cathedral is known for a Cuzco School painting of the Last Supper depicting Jesus and the 12 apostles feasting on guinea pig.

This image below is courtesy google. Just wanted to put it up here to show the panoramic beauty capturing the cathedrals and the Plaza together.

And wherever you go, there seems to be a "Bata" store :-) I was suprised to see it in a city as small and remote as Cusco!!

Cusco is a necessity on your itinerary if you plan to visit Machu Pichu. It's a good way to break your journey and stay over, but not much to do there.

South America Travel Diary: Sao Paulo (Brazil)

South America had always been on our to-do list for a long time, mainly to visit Machu Pichu, one of the new wonders of the world. Since we would anyway travel half way around the world for it, we thought we might as well include other places and make it a longer vacation! So after a lot of research and changing minds off and on, dropping plans off and on, we finally decided up on this itinerary for May 2012. And this is how it looked!

Singapore - Doha- Sao Paulo - Lima - Cusco - MachuPichu

MachuPichu - Cusco - Lima- Santiago de Chile - Rio De Janeioro - Iguazu - Sao Paulo - Doha - Singapore

 

17 days, 3 countries and 7 cities...that was the best we could fit in, with a packed travel schedule. There were more that I would have loved to do like the Fernando de Norona Island and the Amazonas and up north of Brazil as well as Argentina but that would mean a month long of travel and being home sick! So I was quite happy with this short and sweet and interesting itinerary :-)

 

Being in the far east, there were very few options with the flights to SA. None of the flights seemed to go via Pacific direct to SA. Either fly through United States or go all the way through Africa/Middle East/Europe. If you fly through Johannesburg, you can save about 3/4 hours but you have to change the airlines, check out, check in and go through all the hassle. So we chose Qatar Airways and transitted through Doha, with a total of 22 hours flight + 2 hours transit. It was the cheapest option available and our first time with Qatar airlines. They are known for their 5 star service but they did manage to screw up our vegetarian meal request, which was placed a month back! It was my first time in a long haul flight and though I was mentally prepared for it, no amount of preparation helped especially in the 2nd leg which was 14.5hrs. It seemed as though time was not moving and I was just waiting to jump out of the plane! Finally it landed in Sao Paulo in the late afternoon. What an awesome feeling of relief it was!

 

Sao Paulo is a business district of Brazil. There is nothing touristy out there, though they have tried to "create" some tourist attractions but trust me, it is worth a skip. We had to include it in our trip as Qatar flew only to Sao Paulo and not Rio. We stayed close to the Providencia which is the heart of the CBD area and the hotel was close to restaurants, pubs, malls, MRT etc. The choice was more for convenience as we did not have much plans in that city. We just had 2 days of rest and were eagerly looking forward to fly to Peru.

 

It didn't take us long to realize that language is a MAJOR problem in Brazil, even in a very touristy place like Rio or a business district like Sao Paulo!! If you are travelling alone and not with a tourist group or package tours, you cannot manage by speaking English, 'coz English is an alien language there. People expect you to speak Portuguese and if you cannot, then most of them don't even care to make an effort to understand or speak English. Well, I had spent 6 months to learn basic Spanish and was prepared to survive in Peru & Chile and was hoping to manage even in Brazil thinking it would sound similar or people would speak some Spanish at least. Well, I was wrong! So we picked up a Portuguese dictionary and started finding our way around and managing to convey at restaurants as to what we want to eat. It's especially difficult if you are a quirky vegetarian, like yours truly! :-) It was the first time I realized what "feeling lost" truly means!

So my 2 cents - if you are planning in advance, do learn some basic conversational portuguese if you wanna survive there during your travel! And definitely learn Spanish if you are visiting the other countries in SA!!

Stay/Getting Around:

The hotels in Sao Paulo in the central area are quite expensive and an average hotel can range between $100 to $150 (USD) per night. We did not prefer staying in hostels this time mainly becoz of the long, tiring flight. You can use the metro to get around easily, so it is a good idea to stay close to a metro station. If you want to take cabs, then good luck with explaining to the cabbie in Portuguese on where you wanna go. The names of the places/roads dont sound anything like what they are spelt....it's a weird language! :-/

Food:

I am not the right person to give details on Food, coz I am limited to the Veggie stuff. But we did find some nice Italian restaurants, coffee bars for breakfast and even an Indian restaurant (Tandoor) in Providencia. Definitely recommend Tandoor, so you can see how Indian food has been adapted to suit the Brazilian palate ;-) Gopala Madhava is another restaurant (only the name sounds Indian) but it has vegetarian Brazilian cuisine! It is owned by a guy who is a devotee of ISKCON and hence the name. Try it!

Things to do:

1. If you are a lover of history/art, you can visit some museums in this city.

2. Party around and go pub hopping.

3. Take the open top bus city tour

4. Visit hotel Unique or Edificio Italia which are skyscrapers to get a full view of the city..

5. See Ibirapuera Park

We didn't do any of the above :-) Just chilled and roamed around as it was our pit stop!

More coming up in the next post...!

Adieus!

Pratima

A year of learning..

We all know 2012 is a significantly important year! For me it has been a year of learning and gaining lots of new knowledge & new skills and there are lots more in the pipeline for the next few months. It is fully packed and I am loving it... it is keeping me busy like hell and the only regret I have is that I don't get enough time to update this blog often.

Sometimes I feel I am here only to learn, learn and learn! Each time I attend a new course or a workshop I am  on a  "high" for many days (which no wine or alcohol can give!) It's a pity that most of us get stuck in the daily rut of life and never even explore 10% of what life has to offer. Someone I know recently mentioned that 'Knowledge is like an ocean. When you learn something it is like dipping one finger into it and tasting a drop of water.' There is a huge ocean of knowledge out there and a lifetime is not enough to even get a taste of it! But I am glad that I am able to devote so much time to learn new stuff, practise it, help others succeed with those skills as well as my own self-development! Hope to share more insights here as I go through this journey....

I also had an amazing trip to South America last month and even the travel has been a great learning experience. I am yet to write my travel journal here... Hope to post it here this week!


Signing off with this lovely quote - “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”  
― Phil Collins

We are all students and teachers both, aren't we?

New Look!

Now that Blogger has a new interface, it was high time I gave my blog a complete makeover! I had gotten bored of the old template which was on for almost 5 years!!! We all need change and so did my blog! :-) I am still working on the template, so lot more changes will come along...

Movie Review: Kahaani

* NO SPOILERS!* :-)

Watched this movie over the weekend and seriously I have all praises for it!! It's probably one of the very few women centric movies in Bollywood, which has a compelling script, good plot, well directed and amazing performance by Vidya Balan. She has carried off the entire movie on her shoulders and has done a darn good job at it!

Since the plot is a mystery, I would dare not write much about it and spoil the readers' experience! As shown in the trailors, all I knew when I went to watch it was that the story is about a pregnant woman who goes to Kolkatta in search of her missing husband and how she struggles to find his wherabouts. There was not a single point during the movie where I felt it was boring or the climax was given away. It kept me guessing till the last scene and boy was I taken by surprise with the climax!

It's no doubt a MUST watch!! Very rarely Bollywood comes up with such substantial movies! And Vidya Balan's performance is something you would not want to miss. The fact that there are few songs included (even those that are there are pretty much in background or intro) and the duration is just about 2 hrs, makes it all the more easy to watch, without wasting time on adding in an unnecessary item number just to get a box office hit! When there is a strong story line and a great performance, a movie really would not need a hot n sexy chic doing a guest appearance with an item number just to hit the box office records, isn't it?!

After the movie got over, I could actually draw a lot of paralles between this and the movie "A Wednesday". They seem to be giving a common message but with a different story...What do you say?

Travelogue: New Zealand (Day 9-17)

Continued from the previous post

On Day 9, we took a bus from Christchurch and headed towards Lake Tekapo. Tekapo is about midway from Christchurch to Queenstown...takes 4 hours by bus. The bus is quite luxurious and comfortable and is perfect to enjoy the beautiful scenery that the South Island has to offer.

Tekapo is outstanding and I am short of words to describe the beauty of this lake! The bright turquoise blue color of this lake is because of the rock flour left behind by the melting glaciers. We were lucky to have the bright sunlight and awesome weather after a week long of rainfall. There is a small town area close to the lake and everything there is exhorbitantly priced with no other option around. So be prepared to pay double the cost for accomodations and food/drinks..We had booked a cottage right beside the lake and enjoyed a beautiful view of the lake from our room...

The next morning we took the same bus from Lake Tekapo to Queenstown which was another 4.5 hrs of journey. We stayed at Hotel Copthorne which had a view of Lake Wakatipu and also the cable car viewpoint. It's a little on the expensive side but good ambience, walking distance from the town centre and very convenient. We walked around the town and lake wakatipu that evening and did some shopping.


On day 11 we had booked a overnight cruise at Milford Sounds with Real Journeys. We were picked up from the hotel and off we went to Milford Sounds...a long 7 hours journey!! Quite tiring as you have to take a round about route to reach there. But the bus had 85% glass with half the roof being glass as well. So the views were awesome! Reached Milford sounds at 3.30pm and started the cruise at 4pm. The weather was sunny, bright and beautiful. There was time for water sports once the cruise ship was docked to spend the night at a cove amidst the sounds. It rained heavily the whole night and the next morning was raining and the clouds were so low that we could reach them easily! It gave a mystical look to the place, very different from the previous sunny evening. It looked like we were in a Narnia land..very magical and out of this world! After cruising through the tasman sea, we headed back in the same bus to Queenstown with another 7hrs of tiring journey...

Day 12 was "ADVENTURE" day. You cannot leave the adventure capital of the world without trying some extreme sport! So we had booked a skydive with NZone..it was my first skydive and I was excited and nervous! Luckily the weather was clear and we could skydive as planned. The whole skydive experience calls for another blog post. So I will save it for that :)


Day 13 we headed towards Franz Joseph glacier. There are 2 famous glaciers in NZ - Fox glacier and Franz Joseph which are about half an hour's drive apart. It doesn't matter which one you choose to visit! The bus journey was another 8 hours again but we saw some beautiful lakes on the way and saw the west coast as the bus goes right next to the tasman sea on the west coast line....Reached Franz Joseph by 4pm and checked in to our Rainforest resort. The town of FJ is just 1 small road about 4kms long. You find just the basic necessities and some good variety of restaurants.

Day 14 was the glacier trek. They have variety of options and difficulty levels for the trek, so you can choose any depending on your interest, fitness level and duration of stay. The glacier is not too big, so even if you skip visiting this, you do not miss much!!

On Day 15 we took a bus from FJ to Greymouth (about 4hours) and then the most famous TransAlpine Scenic train to Christchurch which goes through Arthur's Pass. The journey of ~5 hours through the Southern Alps is very memorable and totally worth it! The train stops for a short while at Arthur's Pass so that you can get down and check out the majestic mountains...

We reached Christchurch in the evening and just had dinner and crashed in our hotel. It was our last night in NZ and I was feeling sad to leave that beautiful country!! The next morning we took a flight back to Singapore from Christchurch...moving back to reality!

It was the best vacation I have taken so far and I fell in love with the country and its people. I had a strong urge to go back and settle down there for a lifetime! I spent the next few days having severe vacation blues :) Even today when I think about the days I spent there, it brings a smile on my face and I truly feel happy. Someday I shall visit NZ again! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of the Travelogue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travelogue: New Zealand (Day 5 - 8)

Continuing from my previous post

On day 5 we reached Picton late afternoon, by the InterIslander ferry from Wellington. The ferry ride which is about 4 hours was extremely beautiful but very rough while we were in the open sea..To top it, rain was still following us, all the way from Auckland! So though it was technically summer, the weather was freezing cold out there!

Picton is a small town and nothing much to do there. There is only one street which is like a main street in the town with restaurants and shops. By 5pm the street looked deserted as if there was a curfew! We took a walk around in that super cold weather and had a nice dinner at one of the Italian cafe bar before heading back to our backpackers lodge. We stayed 1 night at Sequoia Backpackers hostel and it was very cheap and worth the money.

Next day morning we left for our full day wine tour in the Marlborough region. Our guide Kerry, from Bubbly Grapes picked us up from the hostel and took us into the vineyards of the Marlborough and for wine tasting in 7 wineries! It was a lot of fun tasting wines but got a little too much by the end of the day.. :) so we had to call it quits after 7 wine tasting sessions!


We headed to Blenheim directly from the vineyards and stayed at Copthorne Hotel there which was one of the best hotels there and quite expensive as well. Blenheim is close to the Marlborough region than Picton, so we chose to stay there as we had planned for another half day of wine tour the next day! :) Blenheim is a much bigger town than Picton and I could see more people on the streets here making it look like a real town!

The next half day was spent again in the vineyards and we visited another 4 to 5 wineries before we headed to the train station to catch the Kiwi rail to Kaikoura. This route is one among the most scenic train routes in the south island as it passes right next to the sea all along (for about 2 hours). We reached Kaikoura late afternoon and checked into a backpackers hostel yet again - "The Dolphin Lodge"! The weather was still freezing and Kaikoura is extremely windy as its just by the sea side. So that made it even worse! To top it all the hostel had a room heater which would switch off every half an hour (going green, you see!) to save electricity. So whole night was spent in switching on the heater than sleeping! We learnt our lesson to check this before booking a hostel again! (The pic below is the town of Kaikoura)


Kaikoura is a very small town and the only tourist attraction there is the Whale Watching. It's one among the very few whale watching places in the world. So we went on a whale watching tour early morning on the next day. Boy! it was truly a memorable experience! Watching those huge sperm whales at a few metres away from you is quite thrilling! We were lucky and spotted 4 whales, a few dolphins and the albatross that day. However, the sea was again very rough and we had to pop in a few pills to avoid the sea sickness! So it's always a good idea to carry some along...

(The pic below shows the sperm whale making a dive back into the sea)

After the whale watching we had lunch in the Kaikoura town (in a crappy thai restaurant) and headed to the train station again to board the Kiwi rail to Christchurch (the capital of south island). This also falls on the same scenic route by the coastal side and was a beautiful 3.5hrs journey! We got to watch some seals too.. I would highly recommend travelling by trains and coaches there than driving around as it reduces the trouble of driving and you also get to see these beautiful sceneries which otherwise is not accesible by the roads...



We reached Christchurch by 6.30pm and still the sun was not being generous on us. It was as freezing as Kaikoura 'coz it had just rained and was very windy that day. Damn my luck! I was hoping to enjoy the beautiful summer but ended up being dressed like I'am in a snowland!


We were so tired by the time we reached Christchurch. We had travelled every single day so far and there was more to come! So we checked in to a motel - The Bella Vista. It is a chain of motels and it was really neat and clean and nice! I would highly recommend this anywhere in NZ. After checking in, we walked down to an Indian restaurant nearby (yeah, you can find an Indian restaurant in even the remote corners of NZ!) and called it a day.


The next morning we were off to Lake Tekapo by bus! We still had Tekapo - queenstown- milford sounds- franz joseph glacier - greymouth to travel before coming back to christchurch and ending our trip!


To be continued in the next post....