Vandy travels to Delhi and Uttarakand for OBT

If you're part of the corporate world like me,you must have heard of OBT - Outbound Training.It's an exercise that involves transporting the members of a team to a location outside of office,so that the informal atmosphere fosters team building. At least that's what the official tagline says it is!☺

This was on our planned agenda:
25th Jan - Leave for Delhi from Chennai via flight
26th Jan -Watch Republic Day parade in Chennai.Delhi sightseeing.Depart for Jim Corbett National Park,Ramnagar,Uttarakand
27th Jan -Reach Jim Corbett Park.Overnight Stay at La Perle Resort.
28th Jan -Team building.Jungle Safari.Overnight Stay at La Perle Resort.
29th Jan - Depart for Gurgaon via Delhi.Overnight Stay at Gurgaon.
30th Jan -Workshop in Gurgaon.Depart to Chennai

To really be honest,I'm not really a big fan of OBT's,but I never turn down a chance to travel free to someplace new☺ I had been to Delhi once,Gurgaon once,but I had never been to Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakand,a reserve forest for tiger conservation. I had read about it on some travel blogging sites,and I mentally marked it as a place I wanted to visit.And then voila ..this opportunity arrives!

I've visited Delhi once before, back when I was in college.And I remember falling in love with its streets riddled with ancient monuments and tombs at almost every corner.It's a pity that this beautiful city has the much 'deserved' reputation of being one of the most unsafe cities for women.It just reduces the freedom to get lost in a place and really enjoy it.

This time around I had a chance to fulfill a childhood dream ..that of watching the Republic Day Parade in Delhi.I was excited,but I didn't expect to be blown off,after several years of watching it live on TV.It didn't take much for me to lose my cynicism though ...the magic started right after the helicopters showered flowers on our stands at the start  of the event.I really enjoyed watching the colourful floats,dances and especially the airshow.The stunts pulled off by the multiple people on bikes was spectacular.I don't have any pictures of this event or Akshardham(which we also visited),as cameras,mobiles are banned here.A real pity!

Akshardham is a spectacular temple for tourists.It has its own food court and what not,but didn't really have that spiritual feeling that comes from a place of worship.Yeah,I am an atheist and I don't worship,but I do enjoy the calm that emanates from some holy places.I guess perceptions may differ,but that's just how I felt.It's a great place to visit if you wish to admire its architecture,eat good food or take part in its rides,which is still a pretty good deal.

We stayed in the La Perle Resort in Uttarakand,which had a spectacular view of the River Kosi. I will be using the pictures taken by my colleague Saravanan Subramanian* here,with his permission.

View of River Kosi from the resort

We did an elephant safari on a severely underfed elephant,and managed to spot the usual suspects ..birds,monkeys and deer. Till we happened upon a surprise ..no tiger ...but a python.It was in the process of digesting its last meal,and was sunning itself out in the sun.Apparently this takes quite a long time,as the snake was spotted at the same location the next day.

Python resting after consuming its prey

The  process of actually spotting tigers is apparently quite a time consuming process,if you plan to do it in the Jim Corbett National Park. The tigers are quite aware of the touristy trails,and make an effort to avoid them.It depends on luck and at least a week of jeep safari rides at the different entry points to the Park to actually spot tigers.But don't let that deter you.The Jim Corbett Park is  a beautiful national reserve,and is host to wide variety of birds,monkeys and deer ..which are quite luckily  used to the attention that they get from camera clicking tourists.

Animals spotted @Jim Corbett National Park

You can also spot tiger footprints and tiger shit which all the guides will claim is from a tiger which has just gone across ☺

Mysterious footprints in the sand

We managed to squeeze in a day trip to Nainital* as well,a beautiful hill station despite being highly commercialized.The high points of the touristy do's in Nainital include the beautiful lake and the admittedly awe-inspiring view points.

Views from Naintal

Vandy's Travel Tips:

• This was a completely touristy corporate trip.This particular travelogue is completely written from that perspective.
• Jim Corbett National Park,Uttarakand is a popular tourist attraction,especially as a weekend trip for Delhiites.However,don't expect to see tigers if you are just planning it as a weekend trip.And hey ..'Tiger pakkalena parvala',as they sell decent tiger t-shirts at the Park,which don't cost the earth as tourist souvenirs.Take those home,and add to the tiger conservation effort.
• Learn to speak basic Hindi,if you're travelling in the north .Not that many people comprehend English here even in the cities,compared to the south.Note to Self,especially!
• Delhi is chockfull of historical places to see,and with plenty of shopping to do - suiting all budgets.You can bet I'm going to be seeing all of them* ☺
• Nainital can be done as a   day trip from Delhi.Beautiful,but a very commercialized hill station.However on speaking to some locals,they told me that there are some spectacular trails that can be reached from Nainital by car,if you want to go to less commercialized places.
• Street food,the metro and shopping in Delhi* rocks! The metro has made most of Delhi easily accessible by public transport.
• Gurgaon* is full of high rises and malls,and is luckily connected to Delhi by metro.And,thus providing for my future weekend escapes.

*As a special footnote,Vandy will be relocating to Gurgaon* from Chennai  on Feb 18th 2012 and will be blogging about her travels in Delhi and Gurgaon quite a lot in this blog,and her comedic situations that are likely to arise from being a non-hindi speaker there in http://vandyuncensored.blogspot.in/

*Saravanan takes awesome pictures of landscapes and of people(err..if you beg him persistently ☺).You can view his facebook album at Jim Corbett,applicable only to those who are his facebook friends, of course
* I took the pictures in Nainital,evident by their amateurish look☺

Vandy travels to Yelagiri

I was itching to make a trip out of Chennai, after a planned trip with friends to Pondy fell apart.I was thinking about Tranquebar, but after I roped in my Mom into this impulse trip, she suggested Yelagiri. I researched both places , and it seemed like Yelagiri was a better choice for chillaxing, and so that’s where we finally went.


It took us about 4.5 hours of drive from Chennai,with a half-hour stop at Saravana Bhavan,Velur for breakfast. I booked a driver for our car, since I wasn’t used to driving highways or hills. He let me drive on the highways from Porur to Velur,teaching the zen like code of conduct followed by highway drivers, compared to rash city drivers.Somehow,my  mom managed to  maintain a facade of calm, while I learned to weave between tanker lorries and buses  at 100kmph:)

Views from the resort

 I booked the Taj Zeenat Resorts based on favourable net reviews and the reasonable prices they charged.And it ended up meeting all my expectations.The resort consists of  11 and a half acres of beautiful  garden and forest, with  basic cottages thrown in.Awesome food was also provided at the resort,which made it very convenient,since there are not too many  good restaurants in Yelagiri.The only negative would be the slow service,but that didn't bother me since I just came to Yelagiri to relax.


Yelagiri itself is a charming hill station,an unassuming poor cousin to the Queen(Ooty) and the Princess(Kodai).It luckily hasn’t yet fallen prey to over commercialisation found in the popular stations, making it a haven for people who just want to get away from the madding crowds.On the other end,you don’t even have a petrol  station or good food choices in Yelagiri,so be prepared for it.It’s just a place to go if you want some peace and calm among the beautiful hills.

@Puganoor Lake

 After a great lunch and some rest we headed out to the Puganoor Lake.The lake is a popular spot for boating,and is surrounded by a park with a separate play area for kids.If you have lots of time to kill,boating could be an option.It doesn’t cost much,and the place is mostly empty,except on weekends.

@Nature Park

We moved onto The Nature Park,just a few km from the lake.This spot definitely deserves a visit,and if you have time to see only one spot in Yelagiri,this is it.A very well maintained park,with scores of flowers,trees,rock gardens and fountains.The only minor irritant here would be the occasional ‘louu jodis’ in the park. They seemed quite restrained in their PDA in the park(compared to Chennai at least),but irritatingly felt the need to mark their love on plant leaves and rocks with eternal proclamations of love.I’d rather they have their PDA,and leave those poor plants alone!

The rest of the evening was spent in with pleasant chit chats with my Mom and reading Dork on the park swing of the garden in the resort.Total bliss! After an excellent dinner,I completed reading the rest of Dork and had a wonderful nap.

The next day was just spent lazing around in the resort,enjoying the pleasant weather,and stuffing ourselves with the awesome food. I also managed to squeeze in a short trek to the top of a nearby hillock with a guide,in midst of all this obvious decadence.

We left for Chennai at 12 pm,and made it in by 4 pm.A halt at Ambur for biriyani in between,just gave the finishing touches to a perfect day.

Vandy's Travel Tips:

• Yelagiri is a good choice for people from Chennai(250 km)/Bangalore(160 km)  who just want to be in the hills and enjoy the pleasant weather(18-25 degree C).Not too many places to see or things to do.
• Trekker’s delight with multiple trekking options.I enjoyed my short trek,and next time I’m taking the Swami Malai trek from Mangalam at sunrise.
• Food choices are not too many,so it might be better to eat in the hotel/resort that you stay in.
• I would definitely recommend Zeenat Taj Resorts as a mid-range accomodation option  with a price tag of Rs 1500(+12.5% tax) for a cottage.You can get yummy home cooked food for a decent price tag of around Rs 450(lunch,breakfast,dinner). Service will be slow,but who cares ..you have all the time in the world here :)
• If you’re planning on driving here,fill up your petrol/diesel before you climb up the Yelagiri hills.
• The forest honey and jack fruit sold here is a worthwhile buy.
• Recommended travel website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Yelagiri_Hills 

Hello World!

I've finally decided to get off my fat ass and start this travel blog.I've started reading this blog called zenhabits which really inspired me enough to just get started with this blog.So I did :)

I've travelled quite a bit already actually - Ireland,Greece,Sweden,Denmark,Poland,Finland,Netherlands, Belgium,Austria,Germany,U.S.A,Singapore and India.So all the material is already there ..it just needs to get out from my head and onto this blog.Here's to hoping I get to travel a lot more in 2012 and post in this blog!

Here's to good intentions and 'Living your Life with Passion'!

Cheers

Vandy