Thailand _2016

My family is the bestest! I swear we are. In January 2016, around 30 of us(I kid you not!) with ages ranging from 10 to 80, decided to take a trip to Thailand(Yep, you read that right!).
It was a brillant idea by my daddy cool who took up the entire responsibility of organizing the trip right from the passport/visa nonsense to the accomodation bit to the sight seeing etc. Of course everyone pitched in some form or the other but it was basically his idea to get the family together for their first ever International trip. Thailand was an obvioius choice considering this was largely a "budget trip"! He ensured everybody was comfortable, budgets were drawn up much in advance, and more importantly he made sure we stuck to it!
We were going to spend 3 nights in Bangkok and do a day trip to Pattaya beach as well for all that parasailing & beach fun !
The obvious airline of choice was Air Asia which wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. We were told to pack really "minimal" luggage, so that we had no trouble of paying extra for baggage.. See I told you, it is a budget trip!
The highlight of our trip was our stay at Citadines Sukhumvit  8. It was a service apartment which was super luxurious! The breakfast was really yum with lots of variety, the rooms were clean and the service was great! Thanks to my uncle G who spent a lot of time researching options and finally came up with this one - thumbs up !
The other good thing was that we had a bunch of people joining us from Mumbai as well. Uma aunty came with a huge bagful of Gujrati snacks.. I kid you not, my family survived Bangkok largely because of the theplas and khakras ! :P Thanks Uma aunty for being super generous!
Although some of us had been to Thailand earlier, we sportingly joined them in the sight seeing. We had organized a lady guide with a van to take us around and boy she was a funny one !
We went to all the usual sights - Buddha temples(Wat Pho which houses the Golden Buddha), the Royal Palace, the Nong nooch Garden, Animal Safari(we had a blast in this one!) and of course the famous night markets - Indra market, Chattuchak, MBK Mall etc.
We had an equally adventurous time at Pattaya - Believe it or not, there was an 80 year old uncle who wanted to parasail and he actually did it ! Mind blowing stuff. I had the best time with my sisters - Sne, Sanj and we also had a great time with Devs who wanted to try "street food" one evening and we actually walked across the hotel and had the guts to try some authentic yucky Thai food.. I told you my family is one helluva adventurous group !  And oh there was another 70 year old Athai who wanted to experience a traditional Thai massage, I'm telling you.. we were just freaking out big time!!
Overall we had a wonderful time and I'm leaving you guys with lots of random pics of all the fun we had... I guess the pics are self explanatory :) Happy viewing!

The "almost" full group !

The gorgeous Pattaya Beach

Wat Pho Golden Buddha

Yep my family goes nuts whenever there's Hindi music playing!

One of my fave evening shots of BKK :)

Belgium_2015

Continued from here..

With a heavy heart and a semi heavy luggage(thanks to some super shopping at their department store, HEMA!), we left Amsterdam to Antwerp. The Antwerp Central Station is super pretty! The architecture is brillant, it has a nice ancient cum modern twist to it! It has 4 levels and is super busy. In fact, I could add Antwerp to my itinerary just to go and sit in the station & people watch  ;-)

We stayed at Hotel Eden, which was again a good choice as it a mere stone's throw from this beautiful station. Now since we had such a tight schedule, K and I had to be a little picky on what we wanted to see. We had exactly 24 hours in this cute city, so the same evening we took a walk to the Grote Market Square which was wonderfully lit up ! I got some pretty cool shots on my phone.
The next day we headed to the gorgeous Our Lady's Cathedral. Man. It was simply mind blowing. I couldn't bring myself out of it. So peaceful, calm and quiet. Lit a candle and just sat down while K took pictures. Total state of bliss! Antwerp had a few more really cute cathedrals which we were lucky to check out. And the best bit about Belgium has to be their fries or Frites as they are called in local parlance. They are delicious! And you can pick from options such as Ketchup, Mayo, Ketchup mayo mixed and so forth. Slurrp.
And oh. I became one Instagram paithyam * on this trip. Europe has such interesting and pretty sights that I had to keep uploading pics endlessly. Sigh. Below is my piccollage of Antwerp -

*paithyam = mental in Tamil

Around 4 pm local time, we caught a train from the Antwerp Centraal to head to Bruges. This part of the trip was what I was most expecting! 2 reasons -
1. K had been to this ultra cute town way back in 2010 and he had told me tales and tales of how cute it is
2. I had to sorta believe him when I saw the movie PK. Yep. The initial scenes where Anushka Sharma is cycling were shot in this town.
So I was really looking forward to this.
Bruges is filled with cobble stones. And our hotel Bla Bla(I swear that is what it is called!) was like super far! At least it felt like that because we literally had to drag our luggage and keep walking.
But as soon I stepped into the town, every word which K said was true. Quaint, pretty, lovely weather, hardly any people or noise... it was a dream place!
Even our hotel was like that. Adorable!
We had already planned on renting bikes and riding around town the next day. Each bike comes with a little basket which you can use to keep any stuff that you buy. Plus we carried an umbrella each because it rains on and off. We kept going and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect and thankfully we had the brains to carry a light jacket since the wind just kept blowing. We kept going and going through until we came to an even smaller countryside with a little cafe/dessert bar. We tucked into some delicious hot chocolate.. Ahh. Now is probably a good time to tell you that Belgian chocolates are indeed yummylicious and worth all that hype. Also, their waffles.
Bruges also has a lovely landmark, the Church of our Lady. This particular church happens to house the famous work of Michelangelo's The Madonna and Child. Bruges also has a very Amsterdamish feel to it as it is full of canals and trees. My happy face below sums it up -

And oh. Please do visit the Minnewater Lake also known as the Lake of Love! Now I'm not a romantic and all that.. but this place is worth visiting! It oozed charm! Legend has it that the girl Minna who was in love with a warrior, escaped from her father and died in this park. That too in the arms of her beloved. Sigh. It has little lakes, a castle, trees that look stunning in all the Fall colors, horse carriages that ferry people around, little cafes that sell frites, chocolates and waffles, tourists taking a zillion selfies (yup. I was one too!).. It is perfect.
Please plan a trip to Bruges, a must visit :))

The next morning we took a train to another not so famous town in Belgium, Ghent. To be honest, I've not heard anything about this place. Ghent also has a cute small town feel but very different from Bruges. It is more like a University town..kinda like Springfield, Missouri :)) 

The best bit about Ghent was the St.Michael's bridge. I absolutely loved just standing there and watching the hordes of people/tourists walk by and take pictures. The nights were especially beautiful - it was all lit up and we got some fantastic shots. 

If you think that the Michael's bridge is only pretty by night, you'd be surprised to see how pretty it looks during a normal day. Just look at this beautiful capture from K's fancy pansy camera! 

And oh. Belgium has some really cool graffiti all over town! Zombies, flowers, super heroes.. you name it, you'll find it! Street art at its best! 

And then finally(much to our dismay), our much awaited trip was drawing to a close. Well almost. The last place we had to visit was the capital city of Brussels. The only reason I was looking forward to Brussels was the TinTin museum. Yup. I'm a hugeee fan of TinTin and I've read all the comics a zillion times. I remember when my cousin Ashwin and I were young, we would take turns reading them and have a good laugh! I posted this picture on my Facebook page - The middle picture is, believe it or not, street art! Isn't that amazing? And oh. Check out my new denim jacket.. I'm loving it! More on it at the end.. 

We had about 3 days in Brussels and that was enough time to visit the limited sights - the museum, Mannekin Pis(this is practically the statue of a little boy who pees into a fountain!). On certain days, he is dressed up. For example, Halloween, Belgium's national days etc. I really didn't see what the hype about this kid was but there were like 1000's of tourists thronging this area. 

We instead enjoyed visiting the Grand Market place which is much more lively and colorful. We saw loads of tourists, we saw locals performing live music, there were school kids dancing and singing, little food vendors selling frites, waffles etc. 

I honestly didn't have too much time shopping in this trip. So I decided to use the last day to walk around a few malls and make a few last minute shopping. We picked some really cute souvenirs(our fridge is getting full!), we picked gifts for friends & family and for ourselves, we went crazy in this store called Primark. It had amazing deals especially on makeup. I also picked up shoes and a denim jacket at H and M(yup that is the one I'm wearing),  some hair care products, shower gels, clothes for some friends' kids and so forth. Also, our final night in Europe, we had some delicious Punjabi food! 

All in all, a great way to end the trip =) 

I didn't particularly care for Brussels too much. I'd probably be happy to skip it next time around. I found Bruges and Ghent much prettier, calmer and cleaner. So if you plan a trip to Belgium, do keep these two places in your "must visit" list ! 

But on second thoughts, look at this picture below.. This is Brussels on a cool, breezy evening... How pretty! So maybe it can be a "one time" visit kinda place? ;-) 

Amsterdam - 2015

2015 has been an exhausting year for me. You would probably gathered that by now, given the lack of posts here. Whatever few posts I've managed have all been mostly rants. Probably the only good thing that happened this year was that in September, the husband and I managed a 12 day getaway to The Netherlands and Belgium. I was most excited about Amsterdam. I've seen so many many gorgeous pictures of those nicely lit up canals, all that hype over their "coffee shops"(weed anyone?), the famed red light area etc.

So we flew down to Paris and then took the train to Amsterdam(a good decision). We managed to revisit the Eiffel(didn't get to click pics since it was raining) but nevertheless felt so good reminscing our good times in 2012. We then took the train to the Amsterdam Centraal and it was almost 9 pm local time when we landed. We found the tram waiting outside and headed to our area(Leidsegracht). We stayed at Hotel Leidsegracht(check out the trip advisor review). Good choice. Not great but decent. The area was bustling, which I loved. Loads of eateries and of course bars. The people seemed to be having a great time, no matter what day of week it was. So so different from my good ol' Chennai. And they were the locals. Not tourists.
What we did there?
Well for starters, we did not visit the Anne Frank house! There were huge lines. Lol.
The only super touristy thing we probably did was to visit the Rijks Museum and go click pics outside the I Amsterdam sign.Spot me if you can?

 And oh. Did I tell you that Amsterdam is known as the "cycling capital of the world"? Seriously. Its truly amazing. The air that you breathe there just feels so different. Clean and fresh. And oh did I mention "weedy". Haha
But seriously, I saw bikers of all ages and sizes. They even have a separate biking lane in all the main roads. Amazing!

 I loved the colors of this bus. And in case you are wondering, no we did not use this. We are too cool that way! :D

What we did do is to take long walks in the evenings. Almost all the canals are lit up and they look absolutely stunning. Sample this - 

I mean doesn't that look so so pretty? I could just sit around and stare at it all evening long. I loved just sitting around and people watching - kids on bikes, parents and kids riding bikes together, a 70 year old granny wearing a dress and biking along, college kids smoking up the place(In case you didn't know, marijuana is legal there)... It was all there. Peaceful and serene it was.

Once we got sorta bored of the city feel, we took a day trip to a place called Zaanse Schans. It is a really pretty countryside. We took a train from Amsterdam Centraal and enjoyed the scenic beauty. The main purpose of going there was to see Amsterdam's famed wind mills!

Once we landed at the station, we took a quick 5 minute walk.

 

There were little shops selling loads of souvenirs. Needless to say, K went crazy!
And we couldn't resist clicking silly pics of myself.

I never thought I would say this but I actually enjoyed my visit to the Rembrandt Museum. I'm not the artsy types at all but the way the museum was set up with a fabulous audio guide which chronicles the life of the artist in such an interesting fashion, had me hooked! Please do visit!

The walk on the red light area was another different experience. Nothing wild but just different. Skimpily clad women just staring and trying to lure men. And oh, there are curtains in each room. If the curtain is drawn, apparently it means that its taken. No pictures allowed! Sorry =) 

We ate a lot of Continental European food at Amsterdam. We enjoyed delicious tomato basil soups, vegetable pastas and pizzas and had no problems whatsoever in finding good vegetarian food. And in case you are wondering, no we did not eat at any Indian restaurants :D

I've handpicked a few of K's random Amsterdam shots. I absolutely loved being here and will definitely come back!! 

Stay tuned for my posts on Antwerp and Belgium(where I talk in detail about Bruges, Ghent and of course Brussels!). 

I'm still alive!

It has been a terrible few months. Life has been chaotic. Lots of things happening. The more I think of it, I more I start stressing out. Hence I shall let it pass. Blogging here used to help me destress. But I've decided I am not going to dwell on the things that have happened. But you probably guessed it right. Things have been really rocky in the home front. I've had to make a few important decisions. Life changing ones. Work has kept me busy. Too busy for my husband's liking. A lot of folks including my parents who I believe are my biggest strength, feel that I am not balancing work and home. They feel I am being unfair to K. Fair enough. I agree that we've had some miserable fights around it. But will things change if I quit my job? I don't know and I can't say it unless I actually do it I guess. Oh well. Its complicated. 

But. It is September. It is THAT time of year. It is time for that much awaited, much needed break. I've not had a "proper break" since probably May when we took off to Yercaud. I really need to do a post on Yercaud and especially Allepey where K got some fantastic shots! I promise I will put up the pics soon. 

But. coming back to our upcoming holiday... we are eagerly awaiting Saturday morning when we take off. The plan is to fly into Paris, took a quick tour of the Eiffel, take the train(ooh yes!) to Amsterdam, go to Antwerp, and then to Belgium where we will be traveling to Bruges(think Anushka Sharma in PK!), Ghent and of course Brussels! I absolutely cannot wait to take off. I need a break. I really do. I am sincerely hoping and praying we have a good time and more importantly that we don't fight or argue. Sigh. 

I will be back on the 22nd and I promise to spam this space with my not so great pictures, with K's amazing pictures, stories and so much more!! =) 

Aloha 2015!

Happy New Year my lovelies! I've been enjoying the glorious weather in Chennai, I've been busy partying with friends, colleagues and K's friends. K has been traveling quite a bit since December and I got a much needed respite from the cooking! His best friend, AP and his family had come down from Canada in December and I got to meet all of them for the first time. AP is a real sweetheart, his wife Soo is super fun and they have 2 adorable kids. K and AP took off on a trip to Valparai for a few days while I went and stayed with Amma. Oh man. It was so amazing. I woke up late, I kept eating and I did everything I wanted to do - I read, I read, and I read...I listened to music, I spent time with my grand mom and grand pa,  I watched nonsensical Tamil films, I played with my little cousin, I caught up with friends.. In short, I relaxed! I realized that vacations needn't necessarily mean going to exotic places... Just packing your bags and going to Mom's place is more than enough to recharge :)))
On New Year's eve, I partied with my colleagues. We danced the night away, was super fun! Glad I have some fun people to hang out with at work.
Life is slowly coming back to normal now(a phase that I hate). Work is getting busy and just when I am getting grumpy about the ending holiday season, I realize it is January & Pongal holidays are around the corner. Jan 26th is Republic Day  which is again a long weekend. K & I may do a road trip somewhere close to Chennai. Looking forward to all these extended breaks :)
Edited to add : While K was away, my actual self came out a little. I came from work and threw my bag in one corner, carelessly threw my keys in another random corner, walked all around the house with my shoes not worrying about the mud and the dust, slept on K's side of the bed and kept reading through the night, eating chips and spilling them all over the bed, didn't wake up before 8 am, didn't step into the kitchen(I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm saying it again because its a a big deal!),  didn't do any washing or folding clothes.. Gosh I think I could go on and on and on. Phew. So basically I had a fabulous time while K was gone. My darling K - I hope you are reading this and I hope you go on a trip again real soon :))))

Turkey_2014

For our vacation this year, the hubs and I decided to travel to Turkey. We traveled in October and couldn't have asked for better weather conditions! And that was one good decision we made! Turkey is so beautiful, vibrant and touristy :)
We(K!) had made a list of places to visit and of course, a detailed itinerary was drawn up much in advance. And hey in my defense, this time I did take time out to read and jot down places that I wanted to visit. And no, it wasn't just the shopping areas :D

Day 1 at Istanbul began in a frenzy and certainly not the way we anticipated. We flew Etihad Airways and we were told that our baggage was not traceable. We panicked. We had no jackets and it was freezing outside! I had another problem, a slightly more expensive problem. You see, the clever girl I am, I decided to leave my wedding ring(diamond) in my luggage and didn't bother telling K about it. Don't ask me why. I am very random that way!! K was super pissed off. Uh oh. What a horrid start!
We filled out some paperwork, gave all our details. We were told it was still at Abu Dhabi and we should get it within 24 hours. They would call our hotel to confirm and would drop it off. Fair enough. Saying all the prayers we knew, we left the Ata Turk airport.

Our stay at Hotel Ilkay 
This probably has to be the highlight of our trip. The place was extremely cozy and the staff very courteous and helpful. Everything was well taken of - rooms, giving us directions, recommendations to areas, tram routes.. everything.. The moment we landed, I spoke to the lady at the front office and asked her if she could help us out by calling the airport about our bags. She did not hesitate, and did the needful. Same response though. Wait was the key word. Sigh. This was going to be a long day.

The Suleimanye Mosque
On our first day, we didn't want to sit around and sulk, so decided to freshen up and head to see the Suleimanye Mosque. Take a look -

This is a very special place. I'll tell you why. It was around afternoon and the call for prayer had started. Unlike in India, where it isn't very musical, in Turkey the call for prayers is so calm, soothing and lovely to hear. K turned around and asked me if I prayed for the bags. I looked at him as if he was mad "Err, I don't know how to pray in a mosque". He gave me a disgusted stare and said "Just pray". So I did. I stood outside the mosque, didn't really care about who was looking and said a silent prayer(I will be honest, I did say that even if I don't get anything else, I must get my ring back:))))
Then we left.

How the saga finally ended! 
We did not get any confirmation even on Day 2 and we were convinced that we are not going to get the bags. Extremely upset, we just went about eating quick meals and staying huddled indoors, thanks to the cold weather. In the evening, K said he was going to step out to buy water. In exactly 5 min, he came in gleaming and said "Good news, our bags have been found and will be delivered around 10 pm tonight"! Oh god. That was the best news I had heard in a long long time. Apparently, he was ranting to the guy at the reception and was extremely upset. The guy was very sympathetic and had told him not to fret and that Insha Allah, the bags will reach us. At that moment, the phone rang. It was the person at the airport who said our bags were found and will be delivered. Sounds freakish no?

After that, there was no looking back. We went about with our plans!!

The major sites
The Blue Mosque is another beauty(Although personally, I  liked the Suleimanye better). I couldn't get enough of the Hagia Sophia(a church converted to a mosque to a museum). Loved the architecture and the detailing at the Topkapi Palace. Was amazed that something like the Basilica Cistern could be built at that point in time.

Shopping, Food, Road Side Vendors 
This has a very Indian feel to it - the little corn cob vendors, the Simit sellers(Turkish buns), the mobile lemon juice seller, the hustle bustle etc. We also loved shopping at the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar

Shopper's Paradise 
Istiklal Cadessi in Taksim is a must do! The place has tons of people, shopping and eating.. Makes you feel uber cool. Shopped at my favorite places - Sephora and H & M! :D
At the end of this street, there is a lovely church, St. Anthony's Padua.

Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar 
Psychedelic lamps, tea pots, spices, tea, fruits, vegetables, nuts, dry fruits... you name it, you get it! But it does involve a lot of haggling(which comes naturally to us Indians :P)

Izmir
We flew to Izmir one day to visit the Artemis temple and to walk around Ephesus. We had hired a tour guide to pick us up from the Izmir airport, she took us on a full day tour. We visited the ruins of the St. John's Basilica, the Sirince Village, the House of Virgin Mary and finally Ephesus.An entire day well spent!

Andalou Kavagi 
Isn't this such a hilarious name? Although it was pretty, I have the worst memories of it. Did I tell you that Turkey is full of cats? Yuck! They are all over the damn place!! It gave me such nightmares. At this particular place, the cats jump on the table. I am not kidding! We took a Bosphorous cruise from Sirkeci to Andalou Kavagi. It has a castle at the top of the hill(what a climb it was!) that offers some stunning views.

An evening in Ortakoy 
Don't forget to spend an evening relaxing at Ortakoy. It is a busy area, filled with tourists who keep clicking pictures of the splendid evening shots. There is an amazing place to eat - Destan. They have hookah too and the best bit.. no cats!! My kinda place!

 The Asian Side 
We went and sat by the Asian side, overlooking the ships, watching the sun disappear in the Istanbul horizon, sipping on tea and enjoying the beautiful weather.

One of my favorite pics :) 

 K took some amazing snaps, but this one's my favorite! Thanks! <3 br="" nbsp="">