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 :)

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!). 

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="">