Water Sports
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Short weekend holiday at Beautiful heritage house in lake district of the Himalayas
Tired of the noise and pollution of Delhi, we were looking to spend a long weekend in hills. We decided to make a trip to our favorite weekend getaway - Nainital. Since it was a spontaneous plan and it being the Christmas weekend, all the good hotels were already booked. Moreover, we were looking to try something off the beaten path. So I started searching for holiday rental properties in and around Nainital. During my search, I came across a colonial time house by the name “Vienna Lodge, The Cottage by the Woods”.
The cottage looked beautiful in pictures and had excellent reviews online. I immediately called the owner and made a reservation for two nights. It was a family holiday and we were a gang of eight adults. We took the early morning Shatabdi train from Delhi to Kathgodam station. By noon we were at Kathgodam station, which is the closest rail head to Nainital. From there it was a 90 minute hilly drive to our cottage. The moment we arrived, I was in love with the cottage. It is a beautiful heritage property situated in the Ayarpatta Hill of Nainital.
The location is very tranquil and just a five minutes drive up the hill from the mall road. At the same time the cottage has the advantage of proximity to the town. Mall road is a nice 15 minute downhill walk from the cottage. The Cottage has three beautifully decorated Bedrooms with attached Bathrooms enough to house eight adults along with a cozy dining room and a Living Room. There is plenty of outdoor sitting space in the form of a Veranda and a Garden. We spent hours in the garden. The winter was perfect season to enjoy a bonfire for hours at a stretch. The cottage also has a fully equipped Kitchen in case one likes to cook during the holiday. Most surprisingly, even a cook was also available for hire for Rs 500/- per day (excluding cost of raw material).
We hired the cook and that proved to be an excellent decision as the cook was very good and prepared delicious breakfast and dinner for us, not to forget the delicious snacks during the evening bonfire. The staff is very nice and courteous at taking care of our needs. We would spend the warmer part of the day near the lake. Although the mall road can get annoyingly crowded during the day, there are few options to enjoy your time nearby.
One of them is obviously boating in the Naini lake and should definitely not be missed. Row boats are available for hire at reasonable prices. One of the days, we rented the paddle boat. Since the boat does not come with a rower, was bit tiring to operate yet a pleasant experience. Sailing boats are also available when the conditions are right. I also recommend spending an afternoon at the lake side boat club for its colonial charm. It is a lake side restaurant and bar with both open and covered seating with a breathtaking view to die for.
Back at the cottage, we were looking for easy hiking trails and short morning treks. The owner Vidyun is very knowledgeable about hiking trails in Nainital and guided us to the small forest behind the cottage, through which passes a small trail up the hill to the famous Dorothy's seat peak. We tried to trek to the peak in the morning; however had to return back halfway as the older folks felt exhausted. Nonetheless, it was a fun experience. I would recommend the cottage for nature lovers because of its scenic grandeur. There is an extra room outside the cottage available in case guests are travelling with personal drivers or other staff. The cottage also has a Wi-Fi but the coverage inside the cottage was sketchy.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience staying at the cottage. I highly recommend spending family holidays at Cottage by the Woods.
About Author:
Profession: Quantitative Researcher at TCS Innovation Labs
Passionate about: Passionate about travelling. I love all kinds of travelling experiences, be it adventures like trekking in the mountains, budget backpacking or luxury travel. I spend a lot of my time looking for my next travel escapade.
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Travelogue on Northern lakes of Italy
Coming to the Easter break, I decided that something had to be done with the ten days and spending the entire stretch inside my attic didn’t seem to be a good idea. It was decided to check out the Northern lakes of Italy. There were two of them in the list, Como and Maggiore. The deciding factors were ticket prices and weather forecast.
It was sulky weather everywhere in Italy that weekend. The only hopeful one seemed to be places surrounding Lake Maggiore where weather websites foretold the probability of precipitation to be just 20% which was better compared to 40-60% in Como.
Saturday morning. Turin was drenched in a steady drizzle from the previous day. Fine mist of a rain it was. Cars sped past with headlights peering into the fading misty darkness, a hesitant dawn. With merely an hour or so of sleep the night before, I doubted whether I would stay away during the journey. So we started off, 3 with one trailing behind from Porta Nuova at about 7 in the morning.
At Novara, where we had to change the train, rain displayed no signs of receding. Everything was damp, cold and gloomy. The journey from Novara to Arona was humdrum, with the sights of the northern villages and patches of desolate deciduous woods, which assume a depressing appearance in winter.
I must confess that despite my often declared dislike for the country, south of India still lives somewhere inside me, making me acutely aware of its influence on occasions like these. The train journeys back home, lashing merciless rains that seep in through the imperfect pull down shutters of rail coaches, one glass shutter and one metal shutter, the sight of swaying dark green foliage desperately fighting rain and thunderstorm. A bedlam of sounds from hawking cries of tea, raindrops pelleting train’s roof to the steady rhythm of sound made by metal wheels on metal rail.
A friend had commented long back, “It’s the inherent craving for chaos that lives inside Indians”. The lake started being visible by the time our train reached Arona. Blanketed with a heavy mist and the steady rain, it was just a part of the shore that we could figure out through the blurry windows.
It was not a crowded station. We ventured out braving the rain. Lake stretched before us, mild mist letting only a hazy view of its banks on the other side. There was a friendly girl at the local tourism office near the train station who suggested us to try the place Stressa if we wanted more stay options. Stresa too was on the shores of Lake Maggiore, and was about 20 minutes drive from Arona. She suggested that we take the bus instead of the train, which offered a better view and cost just about €2.5.
Wandering around Arona in the rain to pass time till our bus to Stresa started, froze the last bit of warmth out of me and that’s when I discovered the Italian magic portion that goes by the name of “Café Correto”. It is a normal espresso coffee spiced up with a shot of a grape based pomace brandy called grappa. As far as my taste was concerned, it was an agonizing drink to consume, but the moment it gets inside, you start thanking your stars for having discovered it. Strong coffee kills sleep, perking you up and grappa shoots heat into every cell of the body.
Journey in the bus was fascinating especially with just three of us as passengers. Meandering roads traced the shoreline of Maggiore which was still enveloped by mist. Bus sped past buildings along the shore most of which had piers and a couple of boats tied to them. It dropped us at the ferry point of Stresa. There was a trackless sightseeing train that took people on a city tour which I wanted to try out but had to give in to the group plan to go to the islands first by boat.
As we walked to the boats, a tall guy in a uniform (with a fancy naval cap) approached us and sternly asked us whether we were planning to go to the islands as there was a boat leaving in five minutes. Before we could agree upon it, he hurried off and directed us to follow him which we did, like a bunch of school kids. From a desk placed in a hole in the wall type structure, he tore down three tickets and demanded €60 (€20 each) for two islands. We obediently complied and he set us scuttling off to a boat which we promptly boarded. All this happened in about 5 minutes and by the time we realized that he made jackasses out of us, our boat was already on its way to the islands.
There were many operators and this boat was just one of them. It was not like the last boat to the islands. And cost of the ride was €18 but the guy had impressively managed to beat us off €2 each. I did, however, admire the way he did it. Maybe he had a whole repertoire of strategies from which he picked up one titled “authoritarian” and tried on us. And it worked.
The gloom of this setback was somewhat subdued with sight of our first island. Apparently, these islands, referred together as Borromean Islands, comprises of three small ones and two islets. Among these, we were to visit only Isola dei Pescatoriand Isola Bella as our €20 only covered them.
Isola dei Pescatori, which we stepped on first was a fishing island with a permanent population. It had beautiful narrow cobbled streets albeit being sandwiched by too many stalls selling fancy stuff to tourists. By dusk, we returned to Stresa and having nothing much to do, hunted around for a reasonable Bread and Breakfast place. We finally fixed on one run by an old lady somewhat a bit away from the main road and got out after a much needed nap to roam around the place in the night.
It was here that I saw the moon in its most outrageous size. Huge, yellow and spotted, it resembled a roughly cut lump of cheese illuminated by a dim bulb. But that was really a great night, walking aimlessly though the shores of Maggiorewith that huge yellow moon above, the sprawling lake beside and the snow capped Alps beyond.
About Author:
I am a lawyer by profession who has quit practicing law and presently engaged in teaching. Being a rolling stone, I keep drifting around focusing more on travelling and less on being riveted to any place. I save enough money every year to do a bit of mountaineering in the summer. I am passionate about mountaineering. I do a lot of climbing around Gharwal Himalayas. Love testing hi altitude gear. Last year, I tested a basic 2K Quechua tent high on Gharwal Himalayas in blizzard. I travel a lot. I also do a little bit of mountain biking. I have explored Ketam Mountain Biking Park (Singapore) just a month back. I am also a mechanical gadget freak. I love fixing mechanical things. This includes a long list of things from alarm clocks to cars. I collect outdated gadgets, mechanical and electronic. I read a lot, especially surreal stuff like Murakami.
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Amazing Andaman Trip
The holiday to Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a one in a lifetime experience. Andaman & Nicobar is full of amazing nature’s beauty and stunning marine life. I am eager to share my experience and thoughts about this lovely place. My experience may help others plan a better trip and help them to change their view to look at Andaman island as "Kaala-Pani"
Few details about Andaman Islands:
Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal and a Union Territory of India. There are total 572 islands but Inhabited Islands are 38. The name of the island has always been 'Andaman' and might represent Handuman, the Malay form of Hanuman. Capital of Andaman Island is Port Blair.
The history of the British in the Andaman and Nicobar islands began in 1788. British Government thought of establishing a penal settlement here. In March 1858, the first penal settlement was established, with 200 prisoners, mostly rebels of the Indian freedom fighters. Initially the convicts were kept in a jail at Viper Island. The foundation of the infamous Cellular Jail was laid in 1896. The building was completed in 1906. Place soon known as Kaala Pani because of Cellular Jail. This place becomes a favorite tourist place after 2000. Veer Savarkar International airport is the only airport in Andaman.
Our journey began on 14th February 2012 with a lot of enthusiasm.
Day 0 (14th– 15thFeb 2012): Pune – Chennai – Port Blair Flight
We started from Pune to Chennai by Spice Jet Airways at 11 PM. My friends (Anannya, Aditya and Vrishali) dropped us on airport. It was the first flight journey for my wife, Renuka and she was absolutely thrilled in anticipation of an exotic experience unfolding. After an hour journey to Chennai, we stayed at the airport about 3-4 hours and then boarded an Indian Airlines flight to Port Blair at 6 AM. Flight duration was of 2 hrs. After nice breakfast and movie, we witnessed some beautiful scattered islands. This view is never to be missed.
Simply Amazing
Costs:
Pune-Chennai-Pune – INR 4500/- per person
Chennai-Port Blair-Chennai – INR 10,000/- per person
Megapode Nest Resort - INR 4250/- per room per night (Bamboo cottage, Half Board)
Day 1 (15th Feb 2012): In Port Blair
We were welcomed by my friend from Andaman, Nawaz Hashmi, with a lovely flower bouquet. We moved to our hotel, “Megapode Resort”, also known as Megapode Nest Resort. A royal luxury Bamboo cottage was booked for us. Open Sea view from your balcony makes you feel fresh. After taking rest for a while, we planned to visit Corbyn’s Cove Beach. There is nothing special as such on this beach but the clam water and lovely view of the beach made us spend about an hour on beach. Road to this beach is very beautiful. You can see Ross island on the way.
Megapode Nest Resort - Bamboo Cottage
Corbyn’s Cove Beach
After visiting the beach, we decided to visit the cellular Jail. Wow!!! What a place to visit in Andaman. It takes you back in to the past of Indian history and talks a load about torturous British. We should know the value of our freedom. You need at least 2-3 hours to see the entire jail. It was a very proud moment for me to enter in the Veer savarkar’s cell. I remember the quotes of veer Savarkar when he was in cell as
“मला जर त्यांची भाषा समजली तर मी त्यांना देशभक्तीची गाणी शिकवीन. पुढं ती गाणी ते आपल्या मुलाबाळांना शिकवतील. स्वतंत्र भारताचे नागरिक जेव्हा माझ्या कोठडीला भेट द्यायला येतील तेव्हा हे बुलबुल पक्षी त्यांना देशभक्तीची गाणी ऐकवतील ”.
Light and sound show at the jail premises in evening was stunning. I was choked after hearing history of the Jail. That’s when I got to know why people call this jail as “Kaala-Pani”
Cellular Jail from Top
During my jail visit I saw some people making fun of this place. People were taking pictures in cell or in Phasi Ghar. There were acting as they are prisoner in this jail. I think we should respect this place. Quote by Ganesh Savarkar about jail is telling you everything.
“यह तीर्थ महारथियों का है, मात कहो इसे काला पानी, तुम सुनो, यहाँ की धरती के कण - कण से गाथा बलिदानी”
Cellular Jail Wing No 7
Entry fee: INR 20/-
Camera fee: INR 25/- and Video camera fee: INR 100/-
Day 2 (16th Feb 2012): Ross Island and Chidiya Tapu
Sun rose early and we were surprised by the weather condition. Average sun rise timing in Andaman is 5 AM and sunset by 5 PM. After a delicious breakfast from resort, we went to the Ross Island jetty. It’s a 10 min boat ride from jetty to the Island. This Island is the erstwhile capital of Port Blair during the British regime, and it presently houses the ruins of old buildings. It is well maintained by navy and local people. There are ruins building on islands and very interesting shapes made by tree + roots + ruin building. It’s Heaven for photographer and best to click black and white photos. To see the complete island you need to walk a lot so better to carry water and some snacks. There is a small beach which is completely destroyed by 2004 tsunami and you can see that. We spent nearly 3 hours on island and took the same boat to return to jetty
Ross Island
Me and Renu at Ross Island
Boat ride: INR 60/- Per person (Jetty – Ross Island – Jetty)
Entry fee on Island: INR 20/- Per person + camera charges (INR 20/-)
We had our lunch at Annapurna restaurant which is best vegetarian restaurant in Port Blair. Punjabi food cost us around INR 400/- along with ice cream. We roamed in port Blair by hired car. We found Port Blair city very clean and all the people here follow rules. In the evening we decided to take a road trip by bike so we asked our friend Hashmi for bike. He offered his own and that too without any cost. Our destination on bike was Chidiya Tapu.
Chidiya Tapu Island
it is around 25 – 28 km from Port Blair city. The road cuts through a dense forest and sometimes along a classic seaside. This place is famous for a variety of birds but you cannot expect to see them from the beach. You need to explore forest area. Forest is quite dense so it’s better to go inside with a local guide or a local person. Beach is very beautiful and calm and it tempts you for swimming. Do not miss classic view of sunset and keep your camera ready to capture it.After memorable sun set we came back to our resort for lovely candle light dinner which was a must for our honeymoon.
Lunch at Annapurna restaurant: INR 400 /- for both (Panjabi Food + Ice cream)
Auto (Megapode Resort to PB Market): INR 25/-
Auto (PB Market to Megapode Resort): INR 35/-
Day 3 (17th Feb 2012): Jolly Bouy Island
Early morning, we left the resort without breakfast as we wanted to see an aerial view of the Veer Savarkar Airport. Our driver Basir took us on a hilltop. From there, we were able to see the complete airport. We spent half an hour and saw the landing of an air India flight and the takeoff of kingfisher airline.
Port Blair Airport view from Nearby Hill
our today’s destination was Jolly Bouy Island. You will have to take a boat ride from Wandoor to reach the island. Wandoor jetty is 30 km away from Port Blair city. We got tickets for 9 AM boat. Boat’s name was Silver wind. By the same boat, you have to come back to Wandoor. That boat waits for us nearby the island for around 3 hrs. Jolly Bouy Island is in the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and has a nice beach to offer a spectacular breath taking underwater view of corals and marine life. This is the best beach I ever visited in India for corals and marine life.
Jolly Bouy Island - Crystal Clear Water
Jolly Bouy Island- A must visit place in PB
They offer you free snorkeling OR bottom glass boat ride. If you like it then you can pay extra INR for a longer ride. We did free snorkeling which was just a trailer of marine life. We liked it so much, that we paid extra INR per person and took a 20-25 min extra ride. This experience was simply amazing. I could see the underwater coral, fishes moving around my legs, different types of fishes like crown, large parrot, zebra, star fish, sea angelfish etc. and also 2 octopuses. My wife and I were so happy that we did snorkeling twice. Those who are scared of snorkeling they enjoy glass boat ride. By the way, for snorkeling, swimming is not a pre-requisite. But if you can swim, snorkeling guide takes you for long ride. We enjoyed our long and deep snorkeling rides.
Food stalls are not available on this island as it comes under marine national park. It is plastic free zone. Do not miss this island.
Boat Ride: INR 550/- per head (it includes 1 snorkeling or glass boat ride)
Snorkeling: INR 200/- to INR 500/- (we did INR 500/- per head and as we did twice we got discount of INR 250/-per head on last ride)
Water bottle: INR 5/- Rent and INR 100/- deposit (they provide non plastic water bags)
After spending quality time here, we were tired, tanned and dehydrated. We went back to Port Blair for lunch, and then rested till it was dark outside. In the evening we visited at anthropology museum. Best way to know the past and current state of tribal communities. We did some local market shopping in port Blair. There is “Sagarika” shop where you can buy shell items, Jute based items and Handicraft. This is a government owned shop. There are other local shops also nearby Sagarika. I found these other shops reasonable as compare to Sagarika. After a lot of shopping (thanks to my wife), we came back to hotel for Dinner. Now our luggage count became 5 from 4 due to shopping. We had to sleep early as next morning we had ship for Havelock Island.
Day 4 (18th Feb 2012): Havelock Island + Radhanagar Beach
We checked out early morning from the resort and kept the extra luggage in the resort’s luggage room. The Hotel was very near to Phoenix Bay Jetty (port). Our ship named Bambooka was waiting for us. It was our first voyage on a ship. Once the ship got sailing in the sea, we went on the deck. Guess what, it seems the world has no boundaries. View of open sea was refreshing. After an hour, my wife requested a crew member to show us the Captain’s cabin. We got to know that the ship’s captain is from Pune/Nasik. He was so happy to meet us, that we spend entire journey in the captain’s cabin. We told us how to sail the ship. We had snacks with the entire crew members. Captain gave us his contact no and invited us to meet him when he will be back on leave in Pune. After a royal 2 hour journey, we reached Havelock.
Ship ticket: INR 250/- per person (Port Blair to Havelock island only. 38km from port Blair Jetty)
SeaShell Resort Havelock: INR 4500/- per room per night (Andaman Chalet, Half board plan)
Sea Shell Resort - Lovely resort at Havelock Island. Havelock Island is very small in size with a very little population. Havelock Island provides idyllic resort in the lap of virgin beach and an unpolluted environment. Our driver was waiting for us on jetty. We moved into the sea shell resort which is approx. 2-3 km away from the jetty. Sea shell resort’s property is completely surrounded by tall coconut trees and green garden. Night bar is in the middle of the premise. Our private cottage was close to the beach. Beach is not at all good for swimming but you can relax on the wooden benches. We took rest in resort till 2.30 PM and then we headed towards a very romantic and famous Radhanagar Beach.
We at Radhanagar Beach - Perfect place for Honeymoon
Radhanagar Beach is one of the largest beaches in India; it is lonely, very clean, silver sand and breathtakingly beautiful. It has been ranked Asia’s 2nd most beautiful beach. Local people say soon it will be on rank 1. It was very difficult to stop ourselves from entering in the blue water. We did photography sessions. A sweet European lady came to us and took our photos (we didn’t request her to click, but she felt like taking our snaps. Thanks if you are reading this blog!). After spending a long time, we witnessed very romantic sunset from the beach. A perfect place for Honeymoon!!!
As we were very tried, we preferred to stay in the resort.
Coconut water: INR 35/- (Due to famous spot everything is costly outside Radhanagar beach)
Mineral water: INR 20 to 25/- per lit.
All most all items on Havelock are bit costly. Reason is simple as it is a small island away from Port Blair.
Day 5 (19th Feb 2012): our first Scuba Diving + Fishing game
We were waiting for this day since a long time. At 7.30 in the morning we left our resort and reached at Go Dive India center. It is paddy certified diving school. We took 1 day basic diving course. After wearing the wet suit, we left the diving area by boat for our training section. We both were too excited about our 1st dive. Instructor explained us how to dive and the do’s and don’ts. We had training for worst condition under water. As we were getting trained in the 6 – 8 ft. water, we were eager to go for our Dive. A Photographer which we hired to dive was covering us to take some good pictures. After 25 -30 min training we decided to enter in the fabulous underwater world.
Me, Renu and Diver during our Scuba Dive
Fish-fish and lots of fishes and Corals too!!!
Shark during our dive!!!
When I entered in the deep blue sea, my heartbeat increased their pace. It took us a few minutes to relax in the water. Me, Renuka and our Instructor were trying to focus on tasks which he explained us. After few minutes we were mentally ready to go deep. Scuba gives us the chance to unveil the mysteries and the wonders of the environment which covers the majority of our planet. We really tried hard not to panic as we and our instructor went deeper and deeper underwater. It was really a great experience, seeing the beauty of sea wildlife because of the presence of many varieties of reef fish, corals. It was totally a different world. It is so quiet out there. We were inside the water for about an hour. When we came back I got to the real meaning of the shayari from Movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
पिघले नीलम सा बहता ये समां,नीली नीली सी खामोशियाँ ,
न कहीं है ज़मीन न कहीं आसमान,सरसराती हुई टहनियां पट्टियां,
कह रहीं है बस एक तुम हो यहाँ, बस मैं हूँ ,
मेरी सांसें हैं और मेरी धडकनें,ऐसी गहराइयाँ, ऐसी तन्हैयाँ,
और मैं … सिर्फ मैं.
अपने होने पर मुझको यकीन आ गया !
Before and after our First Dive
Our day, till this point was mind-blowing and we decide to enjoy on full throttle. We booked a private boat for fishing game. Thanks to my friend Hashmi again, who arranged this from port Blair on a single call. Me, Renuka and 3 local Fisherman went in for fishing. We learned their local method. 3 hours on the boat, very quiet and away from land…..lovely experience. We were able to catch 7 medium - large size fish. I was the winner as I got 3 fish among 7. Sunset from our private boat was just perfect. After sun set it was dark. The return journey was again full of thrill and adventure.
Fishing Game with our catch
In dinner, I ate 2 fish (kokkari fish and kushari fish: Local names) which was served by sea shell resort chef. We celebrated our first dive with some drinks and fish. Today we tried few things first time in our life like scuba diving, Fishing game and drinks. It was a perfect day of our Honeymoon.
Catch of the Day!!!
Scuba diving: INR 4500/- per person per dive (45-60min dive) with photographer. (INR 1000/- extra for extra Dive)
Fishing game: INR 3500/- for both in private boat + Fish.
Lunch at B3 restaurant: INR 450/- for both.
Coconut water on jetty: INR 15/- per snap.
Day 6 (20th Feb 2012): Kala Pathar Beach + Port Blair
We decided that we will just roam around and explore the whole island. We rented a bike to roam on the island. We read about Kaala Pathar beach from internet so we decide to visit that place. It was a long drive and road quality is not good at all. The road was very lonely and we hardly saw any bike or person on the way. We could see the sea along the road. Finally we reached the beach. It is a small beach but very beautiful and an untouched one. There were 3 couples on this beach. It is very clean and has crystal clear water. Good place for couple’s photo session. Tripod is needed as you won’t get any one to take your snaps or you have to wait for someone to pass by. Luckily we had our tripod along with us. I don't know why people coming to Havelock miss this place.
Kaala Pathar beach
We returned to the resort to check out and had our lunch again on B3 restaurant. At 3 PM we boarded our ship Bambooka. After few minutes, a Vice Capt. came into the passenger compartment and took us to the cabin. Capt. Deshpande was aware that we were in the ship. (We told them about our return journey 2 days back). Other passenger were surprised that why were we taken out from compartment. But we were aware about real the reason. Ha ha ha… Again we got a royal treatment in the ship. After photo session with ship’s crew, we return to the Megapode Resort. Thanks Capt. Deshpande and his team for such a royal treatment. We are still in touch with each other and soon we are going to visit them in Pune.
This was our last evening in Port Blair so we went for shopping again for hour. Tonight Dinner was planned by my friend Hashmi in five-star fortune bay restaurant. That was a treat from my friend. We received a beautiful wedding gift from him. He made our honeymoon trip special by doing such a great arrangement in Andaman. We cannot forget this trip. When we returned to our hotel, we were sad. Next morning we were supposed to leave such a beautiful place. That night we decided to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in Andaman again. We will really miss this place.
Bike Rent: INR 250/- + INR 100/- Petrol.
Lunch at B3 restaurant: INR 320/-
Ship ticket: INR 250/- per person(Havelock to Port Blair)
Day 7 (21st Feb 2012): Port Blair to Chennai
We check out from hotel at 7.30 AM to catch our Indian airline flight at 8.50 AM. Basir dropped us on airport in the morning. We were not happy to check-in to the flight, but it was not possible to extend our stay in Andaman. We got a window seat and we said Goodbye to Andaman.
Bye Bye Andaman - Will miss U!!!
After 2 hours Flight, we landed at Chennai airport. We had our bookings done in the New Woodland hotel. Our next flight was on 22nd Feb so we got 1 day in Chennai for rest. We did some shopping in the evening.
Fast track taxi: INR 300/- (Airport to New Woodland Hotel)
Lunch in hotel: INR 350/- for Chinese food.
Dinner at Murugan idli: INR 160/- for both
Auto from T Nagar to New Woodland hotel: INR 100/-
New Woodland hotel: INR 1945/- for Std. A/C Room per night.
Day 8 (22nd Feb 2012): Pune
By early morning Spice Jet flight we reached at our sweet home.
Some pointers for Andaman trip:
Carry Sun cream, mosquito repellent for Havelock (only required if you are travelling through the forest or near Radhanagar beach after sun set)
Basic medical kit ( there are shops in Port Blair but you have to go to the main market)
Sunglass and Cap.
Camera and Tripod (you need tripod in Havelock)
There is lot of ATM in Port Blair and 2 ATMs (Axis and SBI) in Havelock so no need to carry cash.
Must visit Places which we miss due to lack of Time:
Baratang: Visit to the famous Lime stone caves and you can see Jarwa tribal people. Day trip begins early in the morning and ends after sun set.
Ross & Smith twin Islands: Though these are commonly referred to as twin islands, they are actually a single island separated by a sandy stretch which makes it appear like two separate islands.
Chatham saw mill: This Saw Mill is one of the biggest and oldest in Asia
Elephanta beach in Havelock: Water sports, Snorkeling and scuba Diving site.
In our next year visit, we are going to cover these places. Actually there are many more places which are hidden from us in Andaman. Let’s see how much we can cover in our next trip. I hope you liked my travel blog and you are planning to visit this place.
I will try to upload more and more travel blogs. Thanks for reading this Travel Blog.
About Author:
I am a self employed entrepreneur with a spring manufacturing factory and I am passionate about water sports
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