When I got personalized cupcakes from a brand I am associated with
                                        #Ugly #Oily #Justwokeup #ButHappy Me.

I don't think a pretty picture makes me or does it? I am unlike girls who travel in high heels although I always keep one or get one.I am one of those gals who is not shy of her femininity. No,I don't consider myself an ultra feminine either.I love travel since childhood.It's in my genes - the change.I sometimes wonder "Will the pictures be same,if I wear a casual tee or will it add more color if I wear a frock".May be if I was in 40's things would have been different,priorities change.And no I have no savings and no apartments for future.I believe in now for the fun of it.I love change in my clothes.And no,I don't carry boxes of it when I travel.



                              Sometimes you have to take that "very leap of faith you hesitated"

 I look ridiculous here isn't it? Travelers do not have to sacrifice marriage to be able to travel,when people ask me how do you? "With my two feet" is the answer.Although I get "leaps and bounds" of mails in "My Others Folder" everyday.  I would say "Marriage is the best thing to happen". If you are intelligent enough to convince the world,you wouldn't need to sacrifice much.It all counts in the end
                                           And nothing beats stable companionship.

    "And no,I do not take money from my hubby,based on trip to trip basis when I feel like I save"
"I saw my hubby being on internet two and a half years back,and I fought on lack of time he has for me.Little did I know that one glimpse of his simple blog would change my world"

 "Blogging what is it I ask?So why don't you write on travel he says?And I said will anyone read?
                                       I have ideas,I want to help people Travel
                  But Why will anyone read?Because I am so technically challenged.
                                                          I'll open on Blogger 
                                                And that's how Blogging started"       
That's one of the stories.The inspiration came from so many such talks,incidents,travel,I wouldn't be less thankful about now in retro.Yes,I did quit my job,but only to pick another one.
                                                                                          
I remember myself to be super shabby when I was in school almost battling with my own self.Seems I never cared.But in those days,things were different.I have experimented with all the beauty products India has in stock,and although I do think that some have been complete waste,the rest has been me satisfying to some degree.I love the feel of applying cream on my face,though I completely hate heavy makeup.I hated myself when the red lipstick was part of my wedding makeup.Anything too heavy I believe is a drag.And I always get stuff when I am abroad.And no,I ain't traditional.But a little different traveler.



This two and a half year has been a fun roller coaster.Been to 13 countries,and this October the count will go on to 17 because I visit the country "Bang Bang" was shot on my own.#Greece,#Turkey,#France,#Italy it has to be and I am excited as hell! Although I would just be touching Paris for a day,I am excited for the next journey my life takes me to with friends and family.Yes,I am a family girl.I love people and the more I am with them,the more secure I feel.I believe as much as Blogging is my passion,so is my love for people who deserve my time.Over the
past 2 years,baring a few heartbreaks,trust issues,health issues and struggle,I have learnt to balance.Have outgrown the symptoms of rat race,and "I no longer chase the race for the travel blogger,there are so many!" though my achievements tell another story. I believe that God is looking for good things,and if you do good work you'd be rewarded no matter how many fish are there in the ocean.I hear politics all the time,yes,even in the field as personal as blogging,but I choose to stay off!What makes me different is that people trust me,the brands believe in me,the media loves me,people confide in me and that's what makes me going on and on.I don't believe in part of Social media 24*7,but what I need to convey I always do trusting on the time I have.I don't leave my friends to destiny,I have a life beyond internet and I love it!

Some of my friends asked me "Will I ever quit blogging" and to that I have an answer "When I find something more interesting,Blogging will be passe'" 

Yes.I dream.I take risks.But I am practical.


                                       You don't have to follow me if you don't like me :)
                                      But I guess I am quite likable at #Andalusia,Spain

It's sad yet fascinating how world works now.The offline is moving to online,the online is moving to a fish market.We compete,we fight,we shout,we downplay others,we choose to stick onto our contacts fearing if we give we would be less blogger,we are scared of our image,we create videos because we believe in 60 seconds of fame,we share cold vibes with journalists because some of them sense us from a league not parallel to them,we call ourselves solo women traveler to gain the audience,we collaborate even with brands we do not believe in,we follow twitter so that we can portray an image which is unlike us,we the so called bloggers are we for real.

                      Although I am super lazy at this now,I don't belong to today's 'yo yo' era
                   We instantly tend to relate "Travelers" as "Tomboyish".But that is not always.
                                This is me cooking 'Aloo paranthas' for couple of friends.
                      I believe if you balance well,you would never have the lack of time
                                                                          or love.        



"No I do not write everyday,but I write when I feel I have to"
"I do not want you to follow me everyday,but on days when you are planning a trip"
"I do not want you to call me a Superstar,I have my fears and insecurities,but I have managed it well with my adventure sports"
"I earn 10k per month and still manage to travel extensively"
"I love bringing out people who are hidden and who deserves the applauds even more than me"
"I love perfection in things I love,so much so that once I was making Chappatis to even as thin as possible when It was required.I hated when a single roti wouldn't be round.I would start again discarding the previous "a little off shaped" as non-edible. Now I do not love cooking as much.That too like everything else was a phase." 
"I create videos because I believe that the track I have been through must be more visual"
"I don't comment to comment,I comment when I like something really"
"I am yet to earn out of my blog,but I'd love to soon if I get opportunities I like"
"I love Style and Beauty too while I travel and only promote brands I like.Rest I reject.And no as most of us,I don't stand picture perfect on all days"
"And no I don't always talk business"

Having received awards for Travel and Sports and now gaining momentum in Style(recently was published in Elle),I love my work?Do you?Would you want me to improve,I'd love to know how?

The Fête de la Gastronomie is a nationwide celebration offering a series of official events that bring together chefs, businesses, craft workers, trade federations and local authorities. In 2013, the Fête was turned into a three-day event.

                                        All pictures in the Blogpost are by AtoutFrance
 
                             #Foodporn #Delicacy #Feasts at Fete de la Gastronomie 2013                                       

It offers a genuine opportunity for every stakeholder in France's gastronomy landscape to design ambitious and festive events – public feasts, tastings, special menus in restaurants, visits to businesses and farms, exhibitions, conferences and even street events.

                                                   Gastronomy that's mouth watering                                     

The Fête is a strategic project for France and for the highlighting of its heritage. The wide range of its stakeholders are well matched, and include those from the fields of gastronomy, farming, tourism,education, culture, the solidarity-based economy, training, local authorities, and more.


This major annual festival offers a convivial, heart-warming venue where French citizens and visitors to France can come together for moments of pleasure and discovery, and where they can share their common passion. For its 4th edition, the theme is "A passion for savoir-faire" to showcase how vital it is to transmit tradition. We are especially grateful to Guillaume Gomez, the head chef at the Elysée Palace, for lending his patronage to the event.

                                                           Made with much love

The Fête continues to grow in popularity. Last year, 7,650 events received official approval, 103 of which took place outside France. More than 230,000 professionals took part, serving a million visitors! Each year, the Fête highlights French gastronomy and helps the entire sector to grow. More information on events on the Fete can be found on: www.fete-gastronomie.fr (English version available on website).

This was my third time Thailand.How much I love this country,it would be hard to express.Because every time when I come here,I find something new about the place and that leaves me with just a question "How much can a country really offer?"I must admit,the first time I came to Bangkok I didn't like it so much,I thought the traffic was so similar to India.In fact it gave me a feel of the chaos of Mumbai in some ways and so every time I came,my only motive was to either explore the Islands or the Nightlife - The two genres I absolutely love in Thailand.But this time,I made up my mind to stay.Thanks to my friends,who refused to take Bangkok out of my itinerary this time yet again.


To read previous posts on Thailand click here:
To read my article on Huffington Post on Thailand "5 Reasons Why You Should Travel Thailand In Time Of Crisis"

Best Place To Stay Near Khaosan


Me and a couple of friends ,we stayed at a cute boutique hotel called Tara Place at Samsen Road,centrally located and walking distance to Wat Pho and Khaosan Road(the backpackers favorite).What I liked the most about Tara Place was that,it had a free shuttle to the Phra Athit pier,to Wat Pho,Grand Palace and Khaosan though we couldn't avail any because we were too lazy to get up on both days and be there on time and we were too lazy to wait for the next after one was gone!Although we missed the shuttle on both days,we could very well walk or take a tuk tuk because the places were very near.

This place though is my personal recommendation,its awesome,the staff is friendly,and you have amazing Thai food joints along the road.Even the malls aren't far if you take the pier route i.e by the ferry.The malls are around half an hour from Khaosan if you take a taxi.Another great place to stay as my friend Sankara suggested if you are alone and on a budget in Bangkok is 3Howw hostel.

Best Place To Stay Near Malls

But If your main aim is shopping over sightseeing,probably a place near MBK would be a better option,i.e either Ibis or Siam Kempinski.However my personal favorite in shopping is Platinum/Pratunum , both these malls are wholesale markets of 4-5 stories catering to everyone's need,and way cheaper than the much popular MBK we are used to hearing about.I would be writing a short post on shopping as well because for the first time we dedicated two days just for shopping and even then we couldn't buy all that we had wished for due to lack of time.I love Asiatic Riverfront too,because it is where you get selected stuff at cheap price and the ambiance is really nice.

Beware of Touts:To Wat Pho

Now the first time when I went,I was sponsored by Thailand Authority of Tourism.However,this time we were on our own.One word of caution for people who are walking to Wat Pho would be beware of people trying to join you midway and guide you in completely different directions.It happened with us many times along the route,that we were either told that the Wat Pho is closed or we were misguided in another direction where some other fellow joined to misguide us even further.Why this happens,I do not know.Bangkok is a beautiful place to be at,however these are small glitches we faced of which we would want you to be aware of.In fact Tara Place has a notice which says that beware of touts.

Khaosan: Amazing Place For Just Anything


My friend's search for a Mc. Donald came to an end at the Khaosan Road.Khaosan is one of the central areas of Bangkok and also one of the places where you have the flea market for mostly clothes,souvenirs,just anything along with the branded eatery shops lined up.However if you walk by the night,you would find the street completely transformed with road side food comprising of fried Insects to the basic Thai Food.If you are experimental in terms of food,you must come here.Another great place to have food is Chinatown which I have mentioned in previous post.

                 Luckily we did manage to take "pic a bit" from our cellphones @ Khaosan at Night

Along with that there is loud music,bars,street shopping and pubs and Thai Massage centers running till midnight.Sadly,we were not carrying our cameras that night,because it was a rare personal trip were we wanted to just enjoy :) and Khaosan surely is one of the happening places both to be visited during daylight or night.


There are lot of stay options in affordable rates to stay in this area,that is why it is called Backpackers paradise however Tara place for us worked,because we wanted to be little away from the noise and too many people and yet at a walk-able distance to everything.

Khaosan: Learning Muay Thai Boxing


Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, is the national sport of Thailand. Once a skill that was essential for survival in battle, Muay Thai is now one of the most popular fighting sports in the world. Sor Vorapin gym, run by former muay Thai boxer Tanomsak Ruangram, offers quick courses - some lasting just a week and others a month.Prices range from Bt300 per session to Bt6,000 per month. The classes are run twice daily, from 7.30am to 9.30am and from 3pm to 6pm.If my previous trip wasn't sponsored by TAT,I wouldn't have known this hideout.


"If in Thailand,then you must do Muay Thai"



After we had our cooking classes at Amita Cooking Class(yes,that's pending too but promise the recipes would be on the next post),we decided to burn the very fat we earned.So that is how we came to this place of kicking our sweat out,literally.What began as a warm up session with skipping graduated to kicking punches in the ring.And oh boy! This was the best thing I could have ever done in Thailand.From kicking under the belt to kicking with my legs and hands to the instructor,this is surely a must do in Thailand.Best part is its a quick walk from Khaosan. The advised clothes to wear are cotton in any form and shorts because you sweat a lot.

Khaosan:Eat Outs


We were mostly gorging on the street food most of the times,so the names obviously is not I remember so much,but I would highly recommend this restaurant called "De Osha",Samsen Road in front of Tara Place which we were so fond of,that for consecutive two days we didn't change our location to eat except from the occasional street food we had here and there.Everything about this place is really affordable and super yummy.


And it is also where I had the yummiest Pad Thai Egg Noodles.But the highlight of our trip was the fish we had at Phi Phi which we will know more about when we discuss islands.We will talk about food in the later posts,I know you guys are hungry,by now ! There are couple of eat outs in Khaosan as well as Phra Athit Road which you can try,if you have time.Also check these recommendations in Tripadvisor.

                 Bubble Soccer Being Played At Astro Turf Kamla Mills, Lower Parel  Mumbai
   And Inorbit Mall, Atrium where the audience is given the feel of Bubble Soccer Experience Zone 
                                                 To know more: Bubble Soccer India
                      
It was the players in the zorb ball on the big bold hoarding of Inorbit Mall that caught my eye.Based on the tagline of "Bounce and Roll" bubble soccer is new to India being just 3 weeks old.Bubble soccer though entirely isn't a new concept.Started in Norway around 2 years back,it is now played across 18 countries around the world.Kamlesh,who is associated with Bubble Soccer India,Mumbai says that currently we are spreading the word through Corporate events and events in in several Indian cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nasik, Nagpur, Pune, and Surat over the course of next 6-7 months.The plan is to launch the National Bubble Soccer Championship next year.


Did you know? Bubble Soccer has an upcoming world cup in 2016 in Germany. Watch the video of Zorb Soccer with Champion




And IBFA(International Bubble Football Association) is the regulatory body of the same.The IBFA is an official association under the German association law. Their goal is to inform people about bubble football and bring them together.Recently Hongkong is the new member of IFBA.

You too can participate 24th - 28th September (Inorbit Mall,Bangalore)


                                                              Pic Source:Inorbit Mall

Bubble Soccer:Rules and Why?


Bubble Soccer loosely follows the rules of traditional food ball where two teams compete to kick goals – without ever being allowed to touch the ball with their hands.The Difference between soccer and football in a bubble in this context Bubble Soccer and Bubble Football are one and the same.There are many advantages to this sport one being you don't get hurt when you hit the ground and its fun to watch! Hilarious to play yet good exercise.



 The five-a-side soccer game requires a minimum play area of 20m x 15m and can be played either indoor or outdoor. It is a 30-minute game with 5 minutes of Bubble ensconcing, 10 minutes each half and 5 minutes of break time.The wackier version of soccer is currently played in different countries of the world like Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Lebanon, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Spain, Poland and now in India.



Bubble soccer – game that will keep you bouncing in excitement. It’s about smashing into each other, bouncing and rolling on the field, in inflatable zorb light balls.To know more about other Sports click here

                       Chilling up at Mount Pilatus with AlpenDohle sharing screen space :)

High up in the mountains with the view of the snow covered valley below me and with the view of the Esel Peak(Donkey Peak) above, I gorgeously had my Alpine Macaroni(Älpler Magronen) with the apple sauce. Sipping on the local alpine wine together with Luzerner Chügelipastete ;I knew the answer as to why Bollywood chose Switzerland as their favorite.




The couple who despite the tricky wind paraglided to perfection in the fog that seem to have built a canvas of beauty around the mountains as another Indian couple and me in awe of the surrounding and the beautiful slow clad peaks had our moment of tranquility. Just then came the Alpendohles with a bright yellow bill and bright red legs , the black rude birds from the area which resembled the crow and the raven in search of their bite of food. Pointing towards the mist in the far, we were told that that is where the popular Mt Titlis lies. The Indian couple said that Titlis was cold and windy, so they couldn't do the cliff walk. Up here is perfect. In the mountains, it is said that the weather changes very fast, but today it was a good day. On a clear day the Pilatus Mountain offers a panoramic view of 73 Alpine peaks.Watch my video here for insiders view on Switzerland

Over the next few photo ops,I take you to the world’s steepest cogwheel, the longest summit toboggan run, the largest suspension rope park all not so far from Lucerne on an easy day trip to the spectacular Mount Pilatus.

Reaching Kriens



Take bus No.1 from Lucerne Bus Station to Linde Pilatus Stop (15 minutes) and then walk your way to the Gandola Station of Kriens. Alternatively, you can also reach Alpnachstad by boat or train and then take a cogwheel train to Mount Pilatus. Please find the current list of cost to reach Mount Pilatus here

Mount Pilatus :On The Way


Lucerne is a very small city of around 70000-75000 people. When we were on the Gandola that offered panoramic views, we could say bye to the nice little castle of Kriens also known as Schauensee castle(Schauen meaning look and see meaning lake ; which sums up to look at the lake).Pointing out towards the lake, Colette who lives in the area said that Swimming in the lake is their favorite pastime during Summers. The water is so clear that you can swim past the lake with your mouth open, yet it is cold.

At one of the stops Colette said that yesterday they had Peacock with its feathers dancing in full glory. It was indeed sad that today she didn't come to say me hi.

Krienseregg and Fräkmüntegg : Stop in Between Mount Pilatus

                                                   
Remember ‘K’ for kids. The first stop for the cable car is Krienseregg, perfect for families and children with hiking and play options.

The next stop is Fräkmüntegg.

Remember F for fun and possibly Action. There is a  self-service restaurant which offers a variety of delightful Swiss specialties. For example, there are four different types of Rösti, including the spicy house specialty “Dragon Rösti“, a generous salad buffet, home-made fruit cakes and a tempting array of desserts. They have a wonderful rope park (largest suspension rope park in Switzerland) with 10 different trails, and longest summit toboggan run (1350m).



The rope park is there since 2005 and they always keep on developing this rope park, and there are 10 different trails, all in woods sand they have it for young and the adult alike. For adults, it’s more like team building events and so on. It begins with some easy trails after we sign on the liability waiver and doing all the trails takes around 2 hours of your time. They have special packages for families with kids as well.

Colette continues “It’s interesting to see the Indian couples specially the honeymooners up in this area. As you know in India, the married girl is not always familiar to the guy, and the girls are beautiful with henna tattoos still on their hands and this is one of the nice way they get to know each other. The girl believes in her husband and follows him like a protector which is very cute to see and kind of nice little story brewing up inside”

Mount Pilatus - On Top - Esel Peak and The Lunch




At the top we have a small boutique hotel of 30 rooms called the Hotel Pilatus Kulm (Kulm meaning on top of something) where some people stay because they can’t resist the view limited them for few hours, some stay for wedding celebrations and some for meetings (I wonder what a place for meetings :P).


There are couple of short hikes from Mount Pilatus one such is Esel Peak also known as Donkey peak. We call it a donkey peak or Esel peak is because in the past the job of the farmers who were not so rich was to carry the rich tourists onto the top on the donkeys with their luggage. One of the first tourists was Queen Victoria from England in 1868 before the steepest cogwheel was there, and she was carried by the donkeys and the staff who took care of her. She was adventurous and brave.


In those days was the Bellevue hotel up here. Another great way to spend time on top is sip on the local wine with Luzerner Chügelipastete, a puff-pastry shell filled with diced veal and mushrooms in a creamy sauce. Yum.





A ride To World’s Steepest Cogwheel

Celebrating 125 years this June 4th,the world’s steepest cogwheel runs on the great Mount Pilatus. The journey is really spectacular as it takes you from the top to the bottom in the downward slope you wouldn't have imagined passing through even few short tunnels. It is also where I met two American tourists who I had a brief conversation with. It was great to know “that they have seen the Bollywood movie Lunchbox which is unusually very known to Swiss Locals as well”. From where the train stops, you can get another train to Lucerne or you can also take a boat.




With this lovely visit to Switzerland, my trip comes to an end. Loved it? Your comments make my day, and your stories will make me visit Switzerland once more, So open up dear readers, I’d be more than happy to listen! Yo.