No Reservations

Mumbai - Pondicherry and back of course....

It was the Independence day weekend and we finally took out our i-20 for a spur of the moment road trip. The husband was totally fried at work having turned an entrepreneur recently. He did not mind being the only driver as long as we got out of Mumbai for a few days. Somewhere....Anywhere....

Rushed home, threw in a few things into a bag and set out...No Reservations...

Pondicherry had been on my mind from a long time and August seemed to be a fairly decent time weather wise for the East Coast in India. The plan was fairly ambitious. Mumbai - Bangalore - Pondicherry and back in 5 days.

A total of just about 3000 kms. Phew...

We were blessed with absolutely brilliant weather throughout the trip except a couple of thunderstorms in and out of Bangalore. Azure blue skies, powder puff clouds and brilliant roads. The NH4 from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore is almost complete except a 100-200 km stretch in Karnataka. The incomplete stretch is pretty bad and needs to be covered in broad daylight with all eyes on the road. Otherwise the NH4 is a dream to drive on (or so says the husband).

The trip started with a fairly eventless drive from Mumbai - Kolhapur - Bangalore if you can cal getting lost in Kolhapur city at midnight with not a soul in sight as eventless. Bangalore was anything but that. Good wine, Home food, couple of converts for the next leg of the road trip and almost setting out for Pondicherry at 2 am in a pouring thunderstorm because the boys were convinced that they were sober.




Pondicherry was a different story with a hotel situation arising out of the occassion of Independence day and Aurobindo's birthday, something which we had completely unaware of. Apparently we were not the only ones who thought of Pondicherry that weekend. The city was jam packed with no hotel rooms to be had for any amount of money or anything else. It was either the car if it rained or the promenade if it didn't. We did happen to find a nice new hotel with brand new smelling rooms just before we gave up.

The next two days were spent gallivanting in and around Pondicherry, ECR and Mahabalipuram. Some great car games, one of which involved thinking of all Hindi words beginning with "Kh" for some reason. Two marvellous balmy days by the sea. Overall the food in Pondicherry was a letdown though. Nothing compared to the hype.







In fact the best meal we had was at this place along the ECR on the way to Mahabalipuram from Pondy. The yummiest south indian breakfast served very lovingly.

The drive back (We covered Bangalore - Mumbai, 1000Kms in 14 hours) was a zip.



We were told that we are crazy to attempt this trip in 5 days. 5days of being on the road, exhilarating speeds and vistas, beautiful beaches and sunrises and some great highway food. It took us more than 5 days to recover from the body aches and more than 5 days to convince my parents to take me back as their daughter. But it was worth every second.

Don't take my word for it. Try it yourself...

Wine tasting in Nashik

The trip to Nashik (or Nasik, as my 5th grade ICSE geography book would refer to it) was an unplanned one. It is one of those destinations which are so close that you keep putting them on the back-burner for one of those short weekends, just that the weekend never comes.


Well, in this case it did. Tempted by a couple of friends, their magnanimous offer of driving us down in their car, and this being the peak grape-growing season we decided to head to India’s wine country. The trip went very smoothly, except that we made the mistake of going via Pune, instead of travelling straight from Mumbai on the NH-3. the Pune-Nashik road is a narrow, pot-holed strip that is very uncomfortable and slow to travel on. They are widening the NH-3 and once it is done the travel time between Mumbai and Nashik should come down significantly.

We had a whale of a time in Nashik, but more importantly, I came back wiser. Here are 5 semi-beliefs I had which were completely trashed on this trip:

1. Nashik’s wine-growing is more hype than anything else

Wine-growing is big in Nashik. There are acres and acres of farms that are growing nothing else but grapes. All of them are headed to one of wineries nearby (The grapes that we eat are of a different variety than those grown for wines; you can’t eat these grapes as they are more bitter). If you think it’s all a media created hype more than anything else, I suggest you pack your bags and head to Nashik for the next grape season.

2. It will be a few decades before Indians take to wine

I always thought that it is too complicated a drink for Indians to enjoy, and urban Indians are drinking wine because it is the “in” thing to do. But after seeing the bus-loads of tourists, that descended on the Sula vineyard, gulping down wine as if there was no tomorrow I stand corrected. Women in Mahrashtrian saris stood next to those in capris, and men in Marathi phetas were rubbing shoulders with those that were dressed as if they had just stepped off their golf-carts. All thronging the bar, clamoring for wine. You could explain it if the wine-tasting would have been free of cost; but it wasn’t! Sula charges you around Rs. 150 for small swigs of 4-5 different type of wines – not bad, but not cheap too! Wikipedia tells me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_wine) that this semi-belief was anyways on thin ground.

3. Budget hotels have to be dirty & Five Star Hotel means good food

I am now a fan of Ginger hotels. I have always felt the need for such a hotel chain in India. The hotel we stayed in was clean, the rooms were nice and spacious, the amenities were adequate, the toilets looked hygienic, the staff was courteous, and the price was just right. The hotel had no pretensions about what it was, although the interiors were a bit too orange for everyone's liking. Well, experience tells me that if the worst thing you can complain about a hotel is the color of its interiors then the hotel should consider you amongst the "very satisfied" lot…
On the other hand, Taj has a great property in Nashik where we went for a dinner expecting some good food. But the food in their restaurant was bland, and looked more like what you would find in a middle-of-the-range obscure town restaurant.

4. Wine-makers have achieved min-celebrity status in India

Sula has a great facility in the middle of a small vineyard for wine-tasting and they conduct guided tours to familiarize the visitors with the history of wine, tell them about the making process and, ahem, some shameless self-promotion. The tour is really boring. Except a few interesting bits (like the types of grape bit I mentioned above), rest is a rendition of a very boring details. In the group we were a part of, no one showed any interest, except a kid who kept asking his dad why the fermentation machine smelt like it had his socks in it. Avoid. Head straight for the tasting room instead.

5. You don’t get good service in India

Well, this belief still holds strong but now I know how to work around it. You just have to order the most expensive item on the menu. We were getting frustrated with trying to get ourselves heard over the ambient noise at the bar. It all changed the moment we ordered the most expensive wine bottle that they had. We not only got served immediately, but we even had the guy hold our table while we went down for our wine education trip.

All in all, wine-tasting in Nashik is a great extended-weekend activity for people in Mumbai, Pune & around. Highly recommended.

Surf's Up

After a last minute decision to head out for a long weekend, a mad scramble for possible ideas and lack of hotel rooms at most places we finally ended up at Lotus Resorts, Harnai Beach.

And boy was it a brilliant idea.

Harnai is a part of a cluster of beaches in Northern Konkan between Srivardhan in the North and Harihareshwar in the South. The closest ‘town’ is Dapoli. There are four beaches which are very close to each other: Anjarle, Harnai, Karde and Ladhghar

The beaches are breathtaking in their vastness….One can easily fit multiple football grounds on them. Just the sheer length and breadth of the sand takes your breath away. Ideal for coming down with a bunch of friends and playing soccer/cricket on the beach. And unlike the Konkan soil which is Red and envelopes everything in its color the beaches are tinged with black. In fact if you ever dreamt of driving right by the edge of the sea, this is the place to do it….

Even though the beaches are all so close by, each one is a different experience, a different story to tell….



A pebbled beach tinging the sea with crimson...a lone machaan for sunburnt beachgoers...



Trying to catch the last few rays of a celestial show of colours...

The vastness of the black sands creates the illusion of almost being on a deserted beach. There are a few small resorts dotting all the beaches. These resorts are right on the beach offering unbelievable views, hammocks and mouth watering Malvani food.

Most resorts here throw in all three meals plus snacks into the price of your room. It might be a good idea to have the meals they provide because most of the resorts here cook only for the guests. We found this out the hard way after a long and sunny morning and being turned out of all the major resort restaurants.

Another great idea is to drive down to Dapoli and grab food at Jagdish Lunch Home. This tiny little place tucked away in one small bylane of Dapoli is as big a tourist attraction as the beaches. The fish fry is to die for but watch out for the fiery and red hot curries.

Taxi tales from China

All good travelers will tell you that you should try and experience a new city you are visiting as a local would. Which means taking a cab to see the city is usually frowned upon amongst serious travelers. I think it's a great sentiment. It just so happens that I am not the sentimental types.

I don't mind playing the comfortable traveler, and watch the world pass-by from the comfort of the backseat of my cab. Boring, you say? Hardly. There is limited scope to get bored as you watch the tarmac from a hole in the taxi floor (Bangkok), discuss world politics without knowing each other's language (Taiwan), or fight over the route to your destination (Mumbai). If you are lucky, you could also watch the taxi-driver eat his breakfast, turn left as he signals right, run over a few pedestrians, scratch his bum and give you an ugly look for making him do all this, when all he could be doing was something do with scratching and balls (China). Coincidentally, or maybe not, the three major cities in China that I have been to have all left me with stories from their cab-rides.

In Beijing, you will find that some of the old taxis have grills around the driver's seat, basically separating him from the rest of the car. My initial reaction on seeing this was that there must have been a lot of taxi-crime and therefore the government must have mandated the grills. I didn't realize that the grills were meant for the protection of drivers themselves. Allow me to explain.

Landing at the very chic, new Beijing Airport on a rainy day I took a cab to the city. I had become used to the over-competitive Beijing taxi drivers and I didn't pay much attention when my taxi driver started racing the other cab drivers as he got out of the airport. But then he suddenly stopped and told me in sign language that he had missed the expressway exit. Before I could shout at him, he promptly put the car in reverse and started backing up to go to the exit he had missed. So here we were: reversing on an expressway, experiencing poor visibility due to the heavy rain, in a car with no rear wipers, and with traffic speeding towards us at maddening speed. I literally jumped up from my seat and made for the driver's throat when I realized why they had installed the grills.

Shenzhen was where I decided to try out one of these latest VWs being used as taxis. I know, VWs are not that high on anyone's list of dream cars but the alternative was to take one of the old taxis which looked as if they were used as animal shelters during the night. After waiting for over an hour, I finally managed to hail one of these new taxis for my journey from the airport to the city center (around an hour's time). For the initial half of the journey, the taxi-driver kept looking at me in his rear mirror and mumbling something. I thought maybe the poor guy had had a fight with his wife before he left his house and was probably testing if he could spill out his heart to me. As time went by, he started gesticulating and speaking louder while staring at me in the rear mirror. I wanted to tell him that even though I sympathized with him, I couldn't comfort him much as I didn't understand Putonghua. I realized how serious the issues were at his home when he graduated to turning around in his seat, pointing at me, and shouting something. Wait a minute, I thought, how can he blame me? I didn't even know his wife! Before I could take this entire thought to its logical conclusion, he had stopped the car and was asked me to get down. My acute traveler sense suspected a flat tyre. Being my helpful self, I got down quickly and took out my luggage to make the tyre change easier. Promptly, the taxi driver closed his door and zoomed off. Leaving me on the expressway, luggage by my side, 15 kms from my hotel and shocked beyond belief. It took me another 3 hours to find a taxi and get to the hotel. I went to bed that evening thinking what I had done to piss off that guy so much. I still don't have an answer.

Shanghai, by comparison was far less life threatening. Five of us (3 foreigners, 2 locals) had gone to Pudong (the new Shanghai) for some sight-seeing and dinner. On our way back we were trying to find a cab to take us back to the hotel, but found it extremely difficult. Either the cabs were full, or were not ready to go to the other side of the river, or others got to the cab before we did. After letting us foreigners try and hail a cab for a good 20 mins, one of the locals with us decided to put us out of our misery. He walked to the middle of the road and stepped right in front of the next empty cab coming in his direction. The taxi driver stopped, we all rushed to the middle of the road, got inside the cab and we were off to our hotel. Simple.

Moral of the story being, life can hardly be uninteresting behind the rolled-up windows of a taxi. And China happens to be the perfect setting to cab-it. Their world is so different from whatever you may have seen elsewhere, and a cab-ride guarantees you a close interaction with at least one local. How you come out of it on the other side of the experience is your ingenuity. Or pure providence.

TOKYO: What the Guide Books don’t tell you…

As a tourist, Tokyo happens to be my favorite city in the world. I was fortunate enough to work in a firm which had one of its offices in Tokyo, and I ended up traveling frequently there. In my multiple trips to the city I saw so many different sights that I always felt I was visiting a new city. I am still amazed how one city can squeeze so much into itself.

There is plenty of information available on the net and in the tourist guides (and I went through several of them before I landed in Tokyo), but there are some things I thought should have found a mention somewhere but don’t.

The people in Japan are very friendly and they try their best to help you, but unfortunately a large majority of them don’t know how to speak English. In one particular instance, we stopped a guy on the road for asking directions to the ferry station. A mini-game of dumb-charades ensued where I made gestures which I later realized could be interpreted as anything from an airplane to a water buffalo. But, once he understood where we wanted to go, he actually walked with us to the ferry station, helped us buy the tickets, handed us a few extra brochures and then saw us off at the ferry like some old relative.

Thanks to Hollywood movies, for us Japanese food had always been synonymous with Sushi. If you are grossed out by the idea of eating raw fish wrapped in rice, I suggest you try Yakitori (literally means grilled chicken). The cooked-over-charcoal vegetables (and obviously, chicken) smeared with tare sauce is mouthwatering-ly good, and goes really well with some good old fashioned beer. For the more adventurous there is teppanyaki, where the food is cooked on your table – no guts, no glory, eh?

Then there are the Tokyo cab-drivers. Dressed in a suit, tie, white gloves and shiny black shoes to match, they seem better prepared to attend that business meeting that you have flown five hours to participate in. Unlike other cab-drivers around the world, there are no commentaries on the socio-political situation unfolding around them, no inputs on how you can improve your dress-sense, no tips on how to make quick money and certainly no attitude.

How do you judge the stage of a society’s development? My answer is Toilets. The logic is straightforward - if you can afford to spend time on making your ablutions more comfortable then you must have surely achieved the more important things in life. And Japan, I believe, is therefore the most developed society. A heated toilet seat that makes sure you can read that magazine in the loo without literally freezing your ass off? I say, “What an idea, sirjee!” My hotel toilet seat had more buttons than that on my TV remote, and even the adventurous-me could not risk pressing all of them. And while we are on topic of Toilets, I think all men should check out the Mandarin Oriental’s loo where you can actually take a piss at the world.

For so many of us Indians, Japan has been this country hidden in one corner of the world whose only point of reference for us has been Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More recently, Sony and Honda may have replaced those two as the two most famous Japanese proper-nouns, but the point is that a large majority of us don’t know too much about that country. Even the travel enthusiasts that I have met so far have rarely mentioned Tokyo as a destination they’d put on their places-to-go list – everyone seems to be planning a trip to Europe. I recommend Tokyo as a must-see city and one that you will want to come back to again & again.