Goa trip.. why it leaves you with a wish to come again..

Finally I visited Goa...it is like a pilgrimage compulsory for the youth. If you had been on a holiday in India and not been to Goa..well you have not had a real holiday at all! The relax and joyful environment that you get there is unmatched. Its just in the air..you feel as if you are in a different country...(not to be taken otherwise..India is a beautiful country but the environment in Goa is altogether different).

My Goa trip was a mix of traveling and holidaying. But 4 days seemed too less. And I learned a lot about how could have I made better of these four days. So i am sharing some simple plan and some learning for my and your next trip to Goa. Remember, No one can visit Goa only once...and if you have not visited it again..you have not really got the feel of Goa....it just can't be.

North vs South Goa : well it's not that great of a confusion. North is full of crowd , always in a festival mode. If you want to stay on a calm beach, why would you visit Goa, you can go to Kerala as well. So to get the real spirit of Goa. I would recommend North Goa. If you have a plan for more than 4 days. Then may be you can take a car or taxi and go to Palolem beach.

In North Goa, Candolim and Calangute are the most popular beaches. Anjuna is also good but i could not get time for that. Better stay nearby a beach to enjoy morning and night there. But remember, the whole of coastline is beach but the real fun area is the main designated beach site. So follow the road signs. Try to cover the whole beach , and not just a corner of it. Initially I made this mistake assuming the beach was the area near my hotel while just a few hundred meters away the scene was totally different. And every beach is different. Don't assume a beach is just a beach. 

I was under the impression that morning and evening are the best time for the beach. In feb, when I visited, it was too hot in afternoon so i though of traveling instead of going to beach. And this turned out to be the most stupid decision and i wasted one day. Next day I accidentally visited the beach in afternoon and it was awesome. The cool breeze has made the sunshine's effect redundant. Beside, at Candolim beach, you get a bench for 200 Rs, you can bring your own food and drinks. Just lay down, get a massage, go for some water sport..have fun..you can spend whole afternoon on one beach.

The sunset is awesome at the Calangute beach. Try to be there between 6 to 7 pm . Water sports are available on all main beaches.

Aguada Fort is a must visit place. "Dil chahta hai" movie scenes were shot here. It's good place for photo-shoot. You can get cheap hats from here. Its hot there so be there at morning.

In South Goa, Palolem is the best beach. Colva, that is midway from north to south, is also a calm beach. Palolem is about 80 Km from Calangute and takes about 3 hours to get there. So you should start latest by 10 am so that you can have lunch at Palolem and come back by night. 

Panjim is famous for casino and wine shop. I could not visit but next time I plan to.

Now some tips:

Time to visit: Between October and February. Try to be there at the time of Carnival but make sure to have advance bookings in you are having a family trip. For bachelors, there is ample space in Goa.

Booking: you can  use websites www.booking.com  and www.airbnb.com . It would be better to make a call to hotel/Guest house to inquire in detail.

For bachelors, Book a guest house, you will get a place to sleep but no room service. In about 1500rs you can get a decent guest house.

For family, if you are a honeymoon couple, or have kids with you, go to a resort. you will get in around 5-6k. Rates depends on location and season.

Food: Goa is a non-vegetarian state. Now a lot of vegetarian restaurant have come up. Specially south Indian ones. Vegetarians,  Don't even think about vegetarian food from the beach shacks. Vegetarian is good only in proper restaurants on main part of beach or main road. In shacks, you will get smell of sea food in everything.

Traveling: Roads and traffic is good. You can easily get scooty or car. For car there are two types, private (illegal) renting with white plates and no bills. And yellow official rent a cab service. I took few numbers , try them. Make a call for proper details and do more google.

Private:http://gogoacarrentals.com/

Official: http://www.goa2u.com/carrental.htm

Mr.  Dev: his number is 96 eight nine 58 04 three one. ( He is a chauffeur at a taxi service).

Caution: Be careful, In case of accident you might have to pay full damage. Clearly talk about terms and conditions before booking.

Airport drop: From Calangute, Its Rs 1300. Try to book self-driven car that you can drop at airport. From airport you get a taxi for 900 rs to Colungate but if you are booking a self driven car, it would be better to get it at airport or at least you will a pickup from airport in Rs 500 by that guy.

Airport: Reach at least two hour before flight time. Goa airport is too crowded and poorly managed. It will take at least an hour from Baggage screening to check-in to security check before you can finally go for boarding.

Dress: Its beach..so always have beachwear and swimwear when go to beach. Keep one extra if you get too wet and its not too hot to try soon. You can easily get cheap short pants (200-400Rs) and swim suits (200-600Rs) and t-shirts there. Take a cover/polythene for you phone, purse and camera.

Itinerary : Try to land before 2 PM. It takes 2 hours from Dabolim airport to reach Calangute/Candolim. If you come late, you will miss your evening and no point in paying for night stay only. And on west coast , its the sunset that's more beautiful. Best time to swim at beach is morning and afternoon.

Come at least for 4 nights. Stay near Calangute or Candolim beach. Calangute residency is right at the main beach area, its owned by Goa Tourism.

At least one day, spend whole day at one beach . Chill out.

Second Day: visit second beache. Go to carnival. Visit Agauda fort.

Third day: Rest of beaches.

Fourth day: Go to Palolem. keep whole day for it. You can go to casino while coming back but you might need to arrange for stay and travel accordingly.

Fifth day and so on: do whatever you like.

There is something for everyone in Goa. For tourists (specially foreigners), they come to chill out with cheap stay and cheep beer and ample sunlight. Spend whole day idling at beach.

For Family/couples, beautiful beaches, water-sports and carnivals.

For lone travelers, lonely beaches to stay in a lap of nature with serenity of the sea.

When I left Goa..the feeling was Go ..Goa..Gone!!!

My Gujrat Trip

    For the first time, I became a bag-packer and started with Vishnu, The thinking particle on a trip which most would react with a surprise, GUJRAT. What on earth made me go to Gujrat...there are so many places. I thought when Amitabh Bachchhan is so passionately inviting us by saying, kuchh din to gujariye Gujarat me" (spent at least few days in Gujarat). So i thought lets go. It was a a two week trip, nothing like i ever did before. No tour package, no fixed destination. Just a book guide lonely planet's INDIA, and of course an experienced traveler. For the first time i realized that Traveling and Tourism are two different things. I used to tour and visit and spend holiday at lot of place but for the first time, I was traveling. All on my own, on a low budget, depending mostly on public transport and budget hotels. Exploring the places by interacting with locals rather than just visiting a fixed popular route. In those two weeks, I traveled for more than 2500 kilometers(excluding train distance from Delhi to Gujarat). And most it by public transport, i.e. state transport which was surprisingly cheap (about 50-60paise per KM). And almost always the buses were fully packed, which shows how crucial it is for common public. Here is an outline of my tour:

1. Bhuj
Day1: Reached Bhuj, the center of Kutch, the western most part of India, mostly marshy region called Kuchchh as the regions map is in inverted shape of a turtle (Kachchhap in Sanskrit). Kutch is the largest district of India. We hired a bike for a day and enjoyed full accelerator bike on empty roads, but in night it was cold.
Main attractions covered:
A. White desert: Near a place called Khavda, you will see a desert made of sea salt. imagine white fields till your eyes can see. You cant find out where the land ends and the sky begins. The sky here was not blue but white, may be by the reflection of light from the white salt. It was so perplexing yet beautiful.
B. India bridge: The northern most bridge in this region having last check post till civilians can go.
C. Kala dunger: A rock which gives excellent view of great run but we missed due to traffic jam, but on the way we discovered a place like canyons.
D. Bhuj District itself has few old places to see. The shooting of film Lagaan was done here.
Day 2
E. Mandavi beach: Probably the first beach from north-west and unique as you wont find coconut but cactus near it.
F. Lakhpat port: An ancient port before the Indus diverted further deep. It was a city of lakhpatis (millionaires). Majestic fort welcomes you.
G. Narayan Sarovar and Mata Nu Mandir: Religious places revered like Vaishno Devi of Gujart.
We missed few places in Bhuj like its museum and a place called Than due to paucity of time. You can go to Kachchh with one whole week in hand and 4 days only for Bhuj and nearby.
Day3: stay in Rapar
After spending 3 nights in Bhuj, we started to see little run. but before that, the biggest site of Indus valley civilisation in India, Dhalavira near a small but peaceful town Rapar was waiting for us.
And the best thing is just before entering the island of Dhaulavira, you get pure, virgin white desert. The most beautiful sight of white run.
Dhaulavira: Excavation site of Hadappa or Sindhu Ghati Sabhyata (Indua valley civilization). A very nice museum with a very cooperative staff of ASI. (but not so good at Lothal which was rather small as compared to Dhaulavira)
Day 4: Stay at Dhagandra
From there, Dhagandra, the small kingdom where the king still live in his palace.
Day 5: 
Little Run, which confuses you with its vast mirages where even forest officials are afraid to venture as its very difficult to find the way once you are in.
Day6:  After spending night in Jamnagar, we started to see a unique place where you can see marine life and mangrove forest by walking to it on your feet.
Narara Marine national park, reach there early morning or get to know the timing of tide by calling forest office at Jamnagar/Narara
Day 7: stay at Dwaraka
City tour of Dwarka's outskirt including old temples and Bet Dwarka. An amazing boat-ride accompanied by Seagulls flying just a hand away
 Day 8. Stay at Junagarh
Junagarh Fort.so vast and beautiful. So many places inside. most amazing was a 5 storey deep well,
 And an amazing museum nearby. A grand old but neglected Mosque. Ashoka's rock inscriptions.
Day9: Stay at Gir
Gir National Park: the only home of Asiatic tiger. Forest department has good and cheap lodging facility.
To see lion, no need to take safari, see lion in interpretation center in just 75 Rs.
To see forest, you can take Safari.

Somnath: Grand temple. A brief on the way visit to this grand temple. I didn't like rocks being painted in silver and gold and it took away its natural beauty.
Day10: holiday at Diu
Diu: little Goa. A peaceful calm island. Hardly 10km to walk. We discovered a lagoon like beach with clean water and spend hours in the water. (and got tanned a lot).
The diu fort is really amazing. And the Sea Shell museum is amazing, take 2-3 hours to spend here.

 Alang: the largest ship breaking industry of world. A port which can take even large ship on high tide and than anchor them for recycling. A ship is a city in itself and all kinds of things including sofa, furniture, fridge, washing machine, DG set, rescue boats, steel, and everything on a ship was on sale at a 5-6 kilometers long market beside the road.
Day 11 stay at Vadodara, big city but could manage to find a cheap guest house.
Champaner-Pavagarh: UNESCO world heritage site. will take a whole day to visit all placed of fort, beautiful mosques and a rope way ride to pavagarh shaktipeeth temple.
Day12:  stay at Ahmedabad 
Lothal, another indus valley excavation site but smaller than Dhaulavira. Nice brickwork here but not much and can be skipped if you have seen Dhaulavira. But if you have a car, you can go there to spend 15-20 minutes.
Day 13:
Sabarmati Ashram, history revisited
Adalaj vav, a beautiful 5 storey deep water body

Day 14: Stay at Patan:
Modhera: An ancient Sun temple, older than Konark. Demolished and looted by invaders. 3rd weekend of January is great dance festival.
Day 15:
A small but happening city which have its own museum, multiplex and a 200 year old handicarft tradtion, Patan ka patola, An ancient Saree making style without using any machine and making design on thread ,not on cloth. The saree starts with price 1.5 lakh Rs.
Rani ki Vav, another beautiful water body. and Patan ka Patola, a 2000 year old tradition of making saris from thread colouring. Sari cost starts from 1.5lakh Rs.
And now back to Palanpur, from where we started.
We used all kinds of road transport, bike, taxi, Khatara (a jugaad like tempo made from engine of bullet) which is ubiquitous in small cities and a life saver when there is no other means.

It was very nice experience, so many unique places, natural, archeological and cultural places. Every state in India is unique for its own kind of  landscape and diversity. It was all fun.
For detailed travelogue please visit thinking particle (Vishnu's) official blog page:

Trailing Gujarat Series: In Chronological Order

Trailing Gujarat: Train to Bhuj

Trailing Gujarat: Bhuj, Capital of Kutch
Trailing Gujarat: Northern Kutch, Dhordo and Kalo Dungar
Trailing Gujarat: Western Kutch, Lakhpat and Narayan Sarovar
Trailing Gujarat: Southern Kutch, Beachline of Mandvi
Trailing Gujarat: Eastern Kutch, Splendor of Rapar and Dholavira
Trailing Gujarat: Dhrangadhra, a lesser known delight of Gujarat
Trailing Gujarat: Little Rann of Kutch, Salt Plains and Heat Mirage
Trailing Gujarat: Jamnagar and Marine National Park, Narara
Trailing Gujarat: Dwarka, Where Pilgrims meet the end of earth (Read: Sea)
Trailing Gujarat: Junagadh, City of archaeological attractions
Trailing Gujarat: Gir National Park, last home of Asiatic Lions
Trailing Gujarat: Diu, Real thirst-quencher
Trailing Gujarat: Alang, Where Ships come to die
Trailing Gujarat: Champaner and Pavagadh
 Trailing Gujarat: Ahmedabad and Lothal Trailing Gujarat: Patan, Modhera and Separation
For More information on travel destination in India, You can see http://thinkingparticle.com/
Here is the outline of my two week 2500km journey. 

One night at Bangalore Airport

One night at Bangalore Airport

I have spent three years in Bangalore with cherishable moments of the very first years of my career as a software engineer. But on 24th December 2008,I spent my worst night in Bangalore. I was on my holiday visit to Singapore and at immigration check I was detained and was denied to board the flight. This incident was my worst encounter with regionalism and with the poor system of police and government my very own country.

Day: 24 December 2008, 10 PM Place: Bangalore International Airport

I reached airport before 9 to catch my flight to Singapore, Singapore airline’s Fight SQ502 at 11:10PM. After checking in my luggage with my friend, I reached immigration counter. When I presented my passport to the Immigration officer, he looked at me strangely and asked “Are you Punjabi?”. I clarified that not all “Singh”s are sardar/punjabi. Then he asked me do you have a nick name “Pitta”. Now I was puzzled what’s happening. Then he took me to the inspector to discuss the case without telling me what the matter is. Then they started talking in Kannada without bothering to tell me about why I am not being told anything. With my little knowledge of Kannada, I could make out that there is a person name “Pardeep Singh” whose name is of course similar but not same to my name Pradeep Singh. This person is a Punjabi with nick name Pitta and has a FIR against him in 2006. In Nov 2006, Punjab police has sent a LOC ( Look out circular)

The immigration officer named Mr. Vasu didn’t allow me to go on the basis of an LOC which was against Mr. Pardeep Singh alias Pitta who is a resident of Punjab. This LOC was more than 2 year old and was raised in November 2006. As per CBI guidelines, an LOC must be as per the Proforma and must have at least three parameters of identity other than name and is invalid after a year.

They didn't listen to any logic and told me that they will let me only when they get a written confirmation from Punjab police that I am a different person. Even after a confirmation on telephone by a senior police officer (SP) that the real convict Pitta was arrested in Nov 2006.

And as per the “smart” and “intelligent” officers and Bangalore airport, I had a match of three parameters with a criminal out of which, two were sex and Nationality. So according to them, all Indian males have a 50% probability of being a criminal.

There was no sufficient information provided in that LOC just the name and father name. Despite the spelling of my name was different and there was no other information like passport number, age or physical parameters were available, they detained me. And at worse, they literally trapped me. My fault was that I thought being innocent I will be freed soon and they are just doing formality as part of their duty. I didn’t realise the gravity of situation and took it lightly which cost me a whole night there at airport and ruined the very first day of Singapore visit!!!

They knew that I am not the same person. And i can’t believe and they didn’t know that they shouldn’t stop me on the basis of an LOC more than a year old, but they were too pro-kannada and didn’t like not just north Indians but all non kannadiga people.

I was stupidly thinking that mater will be resolved. But I was kept in dark. They didn’t tell me what was happening. And when I tried to ask any question or give any justification, they threatened me to put in jail with no body available to listen to me. I didn’t realize they have determined to trap me probably for two reasons, one being I was a north Indian and dint know kannada. And they were stubborn on their argument that I was a Punjabi and all people with surname “singh” are Punjabi. And they argued that anyways UP and Punjab are very close having same borders. ( I wish they would have ever seen India ‘s map). At an international airport there were people who didn’t understand their country’s geography and demographic diversity.

And they didn’t like me going from Bangalore, when i could have gone from New Delhi. I told them that i worked in Bangalore for 3 years and have lots of friends. And also flights are cheaper from Banaglore. But they were not listening any of my argument.

Till I could have realised their intention, I had missed my flight and I was completely shocked that they have actually detained me and I am being treated as a suspect criminal. They didn’t listen to any of my point. I had many proofs to tell that I was a different person but they didn’t bother. They were determined to harass me. I was in identity crisis. Every time I tried to say anything, they threatened me that they will put me in jail. They were very rude and uncooperative. Very soon I realised that they were “kattar” kannadiga as the officer was very often showing people that he sign in kannada language. They were talking in Kananda and didn’t tell me anything about what is happening. Anyone who was not talking in kannada was being treated as an alien and was being questioned rigorously and illogically. For example they just coudn't bear a girl from bangalore not knowing Kannada and tried their best to stop her and to ruin her honemoon plan.

Now I had no choice. When I tried to ask any question or give any justification, they threatened me to put in jail. I could not sleep whole night. I was very disturbed with this incident. My friend Akash who was also going to Singapore with me, also voluntarily disembarked from flight and chose to stay with me. There was a detention room where I and my friend could have stayed and taken some rest, but until 3 AM in morning (after 5 hours), they didn't let us move from the immigration counter.

Next day morning, the duty officer changed. He also told me that LOC was more than year old and was not renewed so I should have been allowed to go. In morning they got another confirmation call from Punjab Police that the real convict is in Punjab and is attending court for the case against him. Then they verified my passport again. After 11 AM, 25th Dec 2008, I was told that I can go. But I had to wait for the FAX from Punjab police as I knew that at every immigration check point in India, I was going to face this problem.

Punjab police is also responsible for this as they raised an LOC with insufficient information. Had there been complete information, I would have been saved from being humiliated and harassed. Punjab police had complete detail in FIR but still they dint put complete detail in LOC violating LOC proforma.

In my own country I was feeling like an alien. I was on a 10 days holiday plan and all my plan get ruined because of this. I have never faced such torture in my life. These officers behaved as brainless with complete disregard to civil rights.

I want to tell that during my visit to Singapore and Malaysia, I met other country's immigration officers. They were very polite, helpful and respected citizen. But my worst experience was in my own country. Every next moment those officers kept telling me that they are doing their duty, it's MY STATE's police which is delaying the process (by saying this they meant MY North Indian state Punjab) . Every time they were making me feel that India is not one. UP, Punjab and Karnataka etc are not the integral part of same country. I was complete shaken by such an opinion.

I was very much hurt by this incident. I later found that as per CBI guidelines, LOC must have at least 3 parameters other than name. An LOC is valid for a period of one year. However, in case the originating agency wants to extend the validity beyond one year it can ask for the extension before the expiry of the one year period. If no request is made for the extension of the LOC within the stipulated period of one year, the Immigration Officer concerned is authorized to suspend the LOC.

But still as it would have been clear, I was not stopped because of law but by corrupt regionalist narrow minded idiots.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

My suggestion to all international travelers to be aware about LOC and other processes at immigration checks. They are all idiots sitting there you assume. As soon as they try to trap you on some illogical basis, immediately contact your family or friend to get some help. Keep a close eye on your passport or someone may tamper it and may get you in trouble. Always keep 1 hour extra for immigration check if you are visiting that airport/country first time. Keep some proofs other than PAN and passport which have your address. If you are a working professional, its good to keep your visiting card and office id card with you.

I thank Singapore airlines for providing me a seat in next day's flight. Luckily on xmas day, flight was having lot of vacant seats so i could go finaly without having to buy ticket. I thanks my friend Akash who also waited with me there and provided moral support.

Now i want to teach a lesson to those unscrupulous people. I dont know what to do. I have already put my grievance on India's official grievance website http://pgportal.gov.in/ . Hope there would be some action.

--- 
NOW
----

That was in 2008, after that i literally started an RTI campaign to resolve this issue. 

In my RTI campaign, i gave some trouble to Bangalore Police and BIAL Airport Police. Thanks to Ministry of Home for taking care of my requests and to direct Immigration Bureau and IB for proper action.  This issue was handled at the level of principal secretary in MOH. Punjab police also sent RTI response with all details. I happen to contact Punjab Police, CBI, Ministry of Home, Bangalore Commissioner, Airport Police and Information bureau and also Public Grievance department. Its great to find that RTI has opened door for citizen to directly contact the government officials. 

in my further trips i discovered that now there is no such LOC. However, since my passport is old and is handwritten, it takes a minute more than others. I suggest old passport holders to get new digital mark passport.

AM PM confusion in train timings in India, Indian Railway website

This topic might seem very trivial in first glance but is a serious problem in India. We Indians have a mentality of day timing according to God Sun with sunrise and sunset. So the 24 hr clock creates lot of confusion there. We are used to of 12 Hr timings where 5 AM to 5 PM is day and 6 PM till next morning is night. And thats where the problem is.. as after 11:59 of midnight.. next day starts .. where we are in mindset of the night of the same day. I am putting this in blog because recently two of my friends missed there trains that were scheduled at 1:00 AM. That was the very early morning ( i.e. night of the previous day) but it was confused with the night of same day. Alas!! Even with a recent incident I let my 2nd friend do that .. (height of idiotism and ignorance) .
For example if train is scheduled to depart at 1:20 AM of 7th November, you need to get at station at the night of 6th November.
However, it's never too late. So I am sharing this with all. Be very very careful whenever you book a railway ticket and your train is at midnight or say between 00:00 to 04:00 hours. (As luckily for us 5 AM is morning of same day :-).
Always check detailed train schedule from eRail.in or www.trainenquiry.com to avoid any confusion.

Some websites for Indian Railway
Main website: www.indianrail.gov.in
Here are some tips to use this website of Indian Railway:
1. first click on Train between imp.stations : www.indianrail.gov.in/inet_metro_trns.html
2. If your city is not here, try other link at the bottom of the page TrainsBetween Stations :
You can explore more to get more options
3. online booking: www.irctc.co.in
TIP: Try booking from your mobile, but not from mobile application but from the browsers like opera mini in desktop version, not mobile version. it will be faster. ;) 
More websites:
quick search: www.erail.in
running status: http://www.trainenquiry.com/
If you dont like the GUI, try this html address and just update date and train number
http://www.trainenquiry.com/o/status.asp?lccp_trn_no=12055&lccp_day=9&lccp_month=12&lccp_year=2012&lccp_srcdest=NDLS
Good luck and happy journey for all travellers!!
--
Posted By Pradeep to pradeep singh's blog at 11/13/2007 03:08:00 PM

eRail.in better way to search Trains : Its google again

http://erail.in/

जीं हाँ भाईओ और सखियों !! एक बार पुनः गूगल देवता ने अपना नया चमत्कार दिखाया॥ google analytic and google map has made search for trains super fast. बस एक बार try करिये । ये अद्भुत पेज आपको मिनटों मे आपकी ट्रेन के बारे मे सब कुछ बता देगा॥ I really appreciate the way everything is organised. You can see it yourself.. i dont need to say anything. So whenever you want to know status, route (with map) and running status, no need to go to the slow on thats www.indianrail.gov.in or www.trainenquiry.com , just go to erail.in and its all there. :-)
हालांकि ये भी अपनी सूचना इन्ही सब वेबसाइट्स से देता है। but its really very quick!!
हाँ॥ लेकिन अगर आपको टिकेट बुक करना है तो आपको www.irctc.co.in पे ही जाना पड़ेगा! :-)
तो अब देर किस बात की॥ न कोई इंतजार ... न कोई ad.. just info about your train!!
तो एक बार फिर बोलो॥ गूगल बाबा की जय !

trip to Skandagiri and Nandi hills bangalore

(Panorama view from Skandgiri)
hi.. as i thought that his sep 2007 is going to be my last month in bangalore, i thought of going to the nearest places that i must have gone in my 3 years in bangalore. Nandi hills! We decided on friday that this saturday (8 sep) we ( me, ravi, manas and atul) will be going in morning. We cam to know that skandgiri is nearby nandi hills and good for tracking. So we decided to first go there. Skandagiri is good for night track.... u go there in night. do tracking for 2 hs and enjoy the beautiful morning .. with lovely clouds below the hill! but as it was our first experience, we decided to go in morning. We started well.. the 70 km long drive at speed of 100 km/hr from BTM -> Mekari circle -> Chikballapur was awesome. I strongly recommend helmet for security for both pillion and rider on bike as facing wind with so much speed will cause trouble.. and its better be safe !
So we reached there in 100 minutes. We were able to see beautiful clouds on both nandi hills and skandgiri on the way. We reached skandgiri and asked ppl about the way to go up. One way was simple tracking ( more of walking up actually) of 7 km and other way was tedious 3 km uphill climbing. And we ignorantly chose the tough way. our hard luck that as soon as we started, clouds started moving away and it became a very tedious climbing in a sunny day. I recommend at least 1 ltr water per person. We took lot of brakes in between and in two hours we reached up. It was beautiful there. But we missed the beautiful morning clouds :-(
But

Then we discovered the other way which was simpler We came back from the same way.
I have plan to go there again to enjoy sunrise।

Few suggestion for those who want to go Skandagiri:
Way: its straight on NH7 , 50 km from Mekari circle, Keep watching board at your left. Also local ppl will help you.
1. best time : go in night, start climbing at 2-3 AM. U will reach in 2-3 hours. There is a parking place, the starting point is less than 1km from there.Take long one 7 km simple path for night track. You can also reach early and get rest in tent ( u have to bring with u) up there. You can come back from same way. It will be at left while coming down.
2. take some food and enough drinking water. However you can get it up also on weekends at least.
3. If you like really tough climbing, take other uphill way of 3 km. That is suitable for day. Please note that it wil be difficult to come back from this way. You should take he first way.

After this we had lunch and started for nandi hills. There its more fun on the way. Those lovely curvy roads reminded me of nainital. It was amazing experience. Up there its same as Skandagiri. Reach early morning to see sun rise. The good thing is you don't have to climb. just enjoy that cool drive. This is complete commercialized picnic spot.
Returning was also fun. I had a race with a guy who was having her girlfriend at back seat. ( hee heee hee.. boys are boys )We were so close to them. We overtook them once than bade sayonara.
The whole day was very adventures. I enjoyed it lot.
For more photos please visit my public album at picasa. http://picasaweb.google.com/pradeep115

Airlines and train Travel online ticket booking websites

Hi,
Now Indian Air space is flooded with new low cost airlines. Here you find all the links for airlines (and train also to take you home) across India.
With so much of ticket booking experiance, I came across all these. the best window to find all is Google. its just a quick list !!!

Airlines In India: Flying was never as cheap!!!

Air deccan : they started revolution
http://www.airdeccan.net/airdeccan/home.asp
Now merged to Kingfisher
http://www.flykingfisher.com/

Indigo air : the latest low cost airline
http://book.goindigo.in/

Go Air :
http://www.goair.in/


Air Sahara : Coming down in fare
http://www.airsahara.net
http://www.saharaairlines.co.in/
Now merged to jet as jetlite
http://www.jetlite.com/in/default.aspx

Indian Airlines : the Indian govt Service, getting more economic
latest link: http://www.indianairlines.in/home.asp
old links:
http://indian-airlines.nic.in/
https://www.indian-airlines.org/

For international flights..go to Air india:
http://www.airindia.com/

Warning with Air india and IA flights: You may not be able to reschedule or change online, you have to go to their office for change in itinerary.


For small sectors
http://www.mdlrairlines.in/



online train ticket booking: we never imagined getting e-tickets for our trains!!!
http://www.irctc.co.in/


http://www.cleartrip.com/trains


All info about trains in India
http://www.indianrail.gov.in/


Online travel agents / fare search:
My fvrt
Eazeego1 : have good offers on cards
http://www.ezeego1.co.in/

Yatra
http://www.yatra.com/

Make My trip
http://india.makemytrip.com/

Cleartrip
http://www.cleartrip.com/

Rediff fare Search
http://faresearch.rediff.com/travel/domestic/farenchse.htm

Thomas Cook
http://www.thomascook.co.in

IndiaTimes Air ticket and travel
http://auctions.indiatimes.com/oneviewall.html

And dont forget to compare fare on these site with the actual airline website ;-)

And anyways Google is there to help all links!!

HAPPY TRAVELING!!!

snaps of shivanasamudram trip

Hi,
i am sharing some snaps of Shivanasamudram trip. My team went for this team outing when i was in Sasken. I guess it was in june 2005. It was a very good experiance of outskirts of Bangalore. Shivanasamudram is the oldest Hydel power plant of India having spectacular surroundings. My friend Sachin has took great snaps to make thi strip more memorable.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AZOHDVy4aMXEw