Lavasa, The Planned Hill City of India

For some Lavasa is a planned hill city near Pune, for some it's a good investment place and for others it's a place which violated the laws of Environment.

For me I would say who cares about the Lavasa City, personally I think Lavasa city is not as great as we see it on-line, also it's terribly expensive and they levy a 17% City tax on everything which is already over priced and heavily taxed.
The city is still under construction and not as well maintained as the road to Lavasa for whatever reasons.

What I loved the most is the route/road/drive to Lavasa city from Pune (after we cross the dam, that separates the whole area from Pune city), it is lush green with different shades of green and very beautiful and scenic. The pictures you see here in this blog are real and perhaps don't do the justice to the scene as it was taken from a mobile camera of 8 mg pixel.

Population in that area is relatively less and the whole place (not the Lavasa city) is so green and clean that I forgot for a while that I was in India. :| It was beautiful enough to take your breath away when you see those beautiful green mountains and river. For once I really thought that " really India is beautiful and not at all dirty and overpopulated".

The river and lakes are also very clean and very blue, the kind of blue that we used to paint and imagined how a river would be in our childhood. I still remember we all used to have a standard painting with mountains and river flowing from those mountains, birds flying above in the sky and a Sun (either setting or rising). Trust me once you visit Lavasa you would see exactly such scene and love it. One could also feel that we never did justice to drawings or paintings, in reality nature is much more pure and beautiful.

So if you want to visit this place do not bother to book a hotel in Lavasa city just hire a cab from Pune and go there for a day and return in the evening.

One can enjoy the water rides there which closes by 5 Pm, but I must admit water rides in Goa are way better and enjoyable than the ones in Lavasa, because water rides on sea/ocean is much more fun than on calm controlled lake as in Lavasa.

The Lavasa boulevard is also enjoyable in a good weather and one can try various food items (which is again over priced, but I think we can live with that for once). Something worth trying is the chips that they server in a swirl. chips with a twist :)

You can also catch a Lavasa tour bus which costs Rs.100/person but then you can take as many rides you want with the same ticket on that day. One can catch Lavasa tour bus near the boulevard or Lavasa Information centre.

One can also try the nature trail, perhaps if you want to go for a nature trail you need to go early or stay in the City but if you are not planning any trekking, its best you visit Lavasa for a day and return in the evening.
If you are planning to drive and are an experienced driver I feel Ghats are not that tricky and roads are good to return little late in the evening after you see all the lights reflecting in the lake at twilight.

I must say its worth visiting once. I had been to Lavasa in early September and it was really very green and pretty.

Love the green and clean India and wish that one day whole of India would be like that (without extra Tax :| ).
Cheers :)

Green Goa

Goa is one of the favorite vacation destinations equally amongst our Indian natives and foreign travelers.

Often I see people asking what is the right time to go to Goa and people say best time to go to Goa is from October to May but I say go Goa anytime and its fun.

Often you will find some good deals and many people say its cheaper in off season i.e. Between May to October. But I say take the deal and go to Goa. You may not be able to enjoy the water sports and some shops and Flea market might be close but you can still see some sunny days when you can go to beach and in this season i.e. between May to October Goa has a very different charm. You can enjoy a less crowded and laid back Goa and wonderful Goan people having their religions feasts and traditional mass prayers.

In this season all the waterfalls are at their best and look amazing and mesmerizing beautiful,  so much that I was ready to endure dirty, cockroaches and mosquitoes filled coaches of our Indian railways for just a glimpse of Doodh Sagar water fall. Trust me its one of a kind view when your train passes through the water fall and you can see the fall quite a after that for few minutes amidst the greenery so beautiful, that I really did not mind the roaches for a while.

You can visit spice gardens and ride elephants. You can visit beaches.

It was fun to take 2 wheeler and go around Goa ki galiyan (rambling streets), wait under a tree or a road side shelter when it rained, watching the peter patter rain drops and wishing when will it stop raining so I can continue exploring more of green Goa.  The whole fun is that you realize that you are on vacation, you have no time boundaries no meeting to reach in time to, no deadlines and you have all the time to yourself to enjoy the rain and being with yourself, friends and family. :)

I love Goa as its a kind of meditation for my soul, being a midst that greenery away from rushing and gushing life of city where we hardly have time to breath, it was like connecting to myself.

I also let my guards down and allowed myself to get some temporary Tattoos and loved it so much that I am actually thinking of getting permanent one (I have 0 tolerance for pain :| so I am just thinking) but it was fun to go wild for a while, play with waves on beach, collect sea shells, get scolded by lifeguards to go further inside the sea :|, make sand castles and walk from one end of beach to other, get completely drenched in water and then enter a plush restaurant with shoes in hands and sand in clothes and very little money in pocket (that also wet money :p) (they still welcome you with smiles on their face and remove their cushions from the chairs :| ). I loved every moment in Goa.

I don't say Goa in October to May is no fun, its fun too but all I say is Goa is fun round the clock and there is no particular time to go to Goa. During October to May you can see beautiful shack restaurants lined up on beaches with jingling lights and wonderful music that makes Goa even more beautiful. You can enjoy the mixed crowd of people from all over world and water sports and night clubs and casinos. Goa means fun guaranteed anytime of the year.

Go Goa!!!! :) Love Goa!!! Have fun. :)

Dubare Elephant Camp

This long weekend we thought of going to Dubare Elephant Camp and stay in Dubare Inn which is just opposite to the elephant camp on the other side of the river.

It looks quite promising place when you visit the website but there are things that you need to know before you go there.

The first thing is that though you may get to see Elephants there but you may not get a chance to ride them if its a festival day like "Ugadi" (Kannada New Year) or some national holiday so plan accordingly.

If you are interested in white water rafting the best time to go would be after July, i.e. after the rains.

If you go during summer when the water levels are low and you can not do rafting they charge you Rs.100 per head for going in a raft and after July which is the peak season for white water rafting they may charge you Rs.600 per head to Rs. 800 per head depending on the rush and time of your visit. rafting can be done anytime between 9.00 Am until 5.00 Pm in the evening. Last raft goes in the river at 4.30Pm.

Here you can see lot of elephants bathing and you can actually help the mahouts to bathe them and feed them at the minimal charges of Rs.100 + food (which can be bought at the site) for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 + food (which can be bought at the site) for foreign nationals.

These Elephants are tamed and trained. These Elephants are released in the forest at the end of the day after the days washing and riding the tourists. These are the same Elephants that are decorated and used for riding by the king of Mysore on the occasion of Dussera which is one of the biggest festivals of Mysore full of monarchical celebrations.

Elephants are washed or bathed every day starting from 10.00 Am, it is advised to reach there by 9.00 or 9.30 Am and cross the river to the place where Elephants are washed and bathed. Then you may get a chance to ride them again at the charge of Rs. 100 Per person for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 for foreign nationals.

Often these mahouts ask elephants to put their trunk on your head as a blessing for an extra tip (trust me it doesn't hurt at all, so no need to be scared). Elephants are considered to be a symbol of Lord Ganesh an Indian Deity worshiped for any new beginning. Watching the mischief and play of baby elephants is fun and worth the visit.

Dubare Inn is a good place if you compare it to a tent in a forest, it has private cottages and bathrooms but if you compare it with a resort with all urban comforts and ambiance probably you will be disappointed.
It still needs to work on hygiene and interiors. You may not like to visit their kitchen if you are planning to have food there. These cottages are old style house with older times flooring and all, but their service is good, people are courteous and nice. For a forest it provides all that one can need so it's good. They are expanding and probably coming up with new urban style rooms soon. Probably then it would be a more comfortable place to stay on your holidays.

One can see the open sky at night from the big open grounds in front of the cottages and spend night under the sky if you wish, it's the best experience of staying close to forest with all the basic facilities and safety.

Also as it is small place near the forest, be prepared with your gear to protect yourself from insects and other such stuff.

The Idli (steamed pan cakes made of rice) you get there for breakfast is very good and hot Idli should be preferred over anything else.

Dubare Inn has their own rafts but you can very well go ahead and take the other vendors who have booking offices just outside the Dubare Inn. on the bank of the river.

If you are staying in Dubare Inn then often you can see some Elephants in the evening who come to drink water or an untimely shower on the other side of the river, if you are adventurous and have swimming skills probably you can swim in the river but make sure you do not go to the part of the river where crocodiles dwell.

We spent a night there and it was fun to see all the starts in clear night sky during the summer and hear stories of insects, snakes and elephants from the locals. We also played games at night in the open grounds in front of the cottages and it was like being at one with the nature and it's galore.

Please note that it is not necessary to stay in Dubare Inn to see Elephants, you can stay in any good place of your comfort near Kushalnagar, Medikeri or any good hotel or resort near by and travel to Dubare Elephant camp to see Elephants in the morning. It's just that you need to be in time to have all the fun.

Enjoy! :)