Skies across Uttarakand to Delhi and beyond...

Some gorgeous images of the sky while up in the air and during the safaris across Corbett & Panna....

The blue blue skies in Leh

A few days back a friend pinged and asked how my Leh trip was, how much did it cost, how many days, etc etc.... She went on to ask if there was good wi-fi signal there, and that made me chuckle. Cos once you are up in the hills, mobile connectivity is dicey, leave alone wifi. Told her the same and she gasped, asking how we survived there for ten days with no connectivity...  

I told her the blue skies and long stretches of roads, the local people, food, activities kept us busy and we were all happy to be lost in the hills. Well, here are some of the blue blue skies that came along with us during the Leh trip... 

And then there is the other group of people who ask me "Why did you go to Leh, Ladakh?", "What is there to do there?" 

To them I say "If you are looking for botanical gardens or zoo or maybe a whole bunch of churches, temples or beaches like Goa, then dont go to Leh.. Leh is all about the hills, what you see beyond the horizon, the endless stretches of roads, the monestaries, the few palaces and the millions of other sights that will leave you breathless.. It is not a destination you go expecting a zillion fun activities, but then it is fun if you like being in the middle of nowhere, walking aimlessly following the snow capped mountains, or sitting by the river/lake freezing your butt off and clicking pictures... " 

For me it is the sheer joy of being away, away from the city, away from the craziness of daily routine, an opportunity to experience a new town, meet new people, try their local food, enjoy their culture and to just unwind ..

What is your kind of holiday? Have you been to the Hills? What did you think of them?

Skywatch Friday... Bhubaneshwar to Chennai I fly....

I love the window seat, and I make sure to grab it at every given opportunity. This time, while flying back from Bhubaneswar, I was allotted the aisle seating on the 2nd leg and well, I kept hoping praying none else would come and I could scoot over to the window. But lo behold, after a bit of juggling and people shifting about, since I was a lone traveller I got to move to the window seat.. Yabadabadooee 

And well, I had a blast clicking pictures, watching the plane do its magic the cities/clouds below pass by slowly...  Here are some shots and video in reverse order.... :-) 

For more beautiful skies, click here

Skywatch Friday... Beyond the planes

Had just landed at Bangalore Airport, walking towards the shuttle I spotted this beautiful sky and cloud formation....

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Skywatch Friday... Windmills

As we pulled out of the pick up point towards the highway and onwards to Yosemite National Park, these mountains and windmills was what we saw. They were all so majestic and beautiful in the morning sun. 

[Sorry for the blurry shots, clicked them through the bus window]

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Skywatch Friday ... Mountains meet the sky

What a feast on the eyes right? This was clicked as we headed out from Yosemite after the hike to see them giant red Sequoia  trees towards the village.. There was a view point from where you could get a glimpse of the entire vista including the beautiful waterfalls. The place was packed with tourists, standing, lying down and doing all kinds of poses, it took me quite a while and a short trek to find a spot to click the vista without any heads bobbing into the frame!! :D 

The one thing that baffles me when I travel is the love people have for clicking pictures. I like to savour the place, enjoy the scene, take it all in before I pull out my camera and more often than not I forget to click a picture of me in the location.  Yes, we all want memories, but then dont you feel we lose the experience cos we are more focused on clicking the right picture, the right angle, the right color, making sure the sun is not around, etc etc...!! 

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Skywatch Friday ... The clouds below

The first flight had me slightly anxious, but thereon I became a domestic flight ninja of sorts. I knew where to go, what to ask or what to look for when walking through the security lines. Infact, towards the end of my trip, it became a game with myself to see how many seconds it took me to put on my shoes after the security check. :-) I started spending lot more time walking around the airport, exploring the shops and not being too worried about departure time or how far the gate was...

 Here are a few photographs I captured when up in air...  The sight below was breathtaking.. Sometimes it was water, other times it was nothing but long stretches of mountains and once i saw snow capped mountains as well.. :-) Reasons why I love the window seat so much... 

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Skywatch Friday... A day in Pondicherry with me - 5- Soaking in the sun

Bharathi Park and Aayi Mandayam are places that I end up spending some time in every time I visit Pondicherry. Infact I have done a detailed blog post on this place sometime back.. This time, during my solo trip too I spent quite some time walking around the park, generally people watching and lost in thoughts...

Post on Aayi Mandayam

Thursday Challenge- A day in Pondicherry with me - 4- The Roads

It is a a 162-year-old heritage monument  situated right in the middle of Bharathi Park. The path leading to the monument are cobbled style and the place is quite beautiful. 

This historic monument, which was infact made the official emblem of Pondicherry, the  Union Territory, was erected during the period of French emperor Napoleon III as a tribute to commemorate the efforts of Aayi, a courtesan, who razed her house to build a tank thereby providing drinking water supply to this former French outpost.

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Skywatch Friday... New kinda company!

It has been a few months since my last trip and this one was indeed a special one, with many firsts.. For the first time I actually announced to my friends where I was headed, when I was leaving...  :-) And this was also the first time I was traveling with a kid [friend's son-7yr old]

From the minute I picked him up at his grandparents house he was on a roll and I loved his company.. The journey was filled with word games, catching up on his life and yapping away dime a dozen.. hahaha... He clicked some pictures, kept pushing the phone right on the window and eventually would get mad when he saw the phone case reflection in the photograph.. Once he even dropped the phone, instantly his face froze till I reassured him it was alright... 

When the stewardess announced they would get the food and beverage cart out and we could buy what we wanted, he instantly picked up the magazine and pointed at the White single murukku asking me if I could get him that. But alas, it wasn't available.. 

He: ok, can i get the chocolate chip cookies then?

Me: Sure

Stewardess: Sorry, we are out of them. But we do have oatmeal honey cookies

Me: okay, can i get one please.

He: Sulked a bit and turned face to window [but not before mumbling, "i guess they forgot to load those on the flight"] 

Me to Stewardess: Can i also get a submarine sandwich please.

Picked it up, opened it and offered him a bite... and that was the last I saw of it.. 

He : It is yummy, can I eat the full ? 

Me: Ya baby sure thing.. go ahead... I also got him a glass of water that he drank like the good boy he is.

While he ate, we played with the box that had a story about the yellow submarine, few funny characters and how the sandwich came on board the flight.. 

We then resumed playing random games, looking out the flight and commenting on how the clouds looked like an island or maybe ice or snow... Gosh, those 2hours was such a new experience altogether.  As we landed, it was onto another barrage of questions "Has amma sent driver number, call him no, lets go get our bags..it is going to start raining in Bombay, if it rains a lot then I will get holidays.... la la la.."

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Skywatch Friday- Sky coming alive at the break of dawn near Thailand...

I love travelling as most of you have guessed by now, even though I havent travelled as much as I would love to. And when it comes to flying, then I instantly gravitate towards the window seat. This time too, luckily friend wanted Aisle while I happily chose the window seat and we settled in. From Chennai, the flight took off at the unearthly hour of 1.45am and it was to reach Bangkok around 6.25 which became 6.35am finally. We boarded, got into our seats, got comfy, chit chatted a bit and that is when the stewardess came around asking all to shut the window. I wonder why they do that, there is nothing we can see anyways; it is pitch dark outside… Oh well! 

And then before I knew it, I had knocked off for about 4 hours, to wake up around 6 and see the sun rising above the clouds slowly. What a breath taking sight that was, the orange peeking into the white empty blue sky as we flew high above it all.  It was beautiful, for lack of better word..

A brand new day, a brand new destination awaited us on landing!!

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