What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaisalmer

This is not a desert... at least for food lover.. For me being in Jaisalmer was like being in Oasis & not in dessert.

When you are in Jaisalmer, along with beautiful Sand dunes & Haveli's & Fort , the most enjoyable thing is variety food served here.

Dont give miss to any of these as you wont find them in other part of country and more importantly they are very different.

Ker Sangri:
Ker sangri in its raw form looks like this. Its mostly found in desert and requires very less water to survive.

After preparation, the final dish looks something like this:

Apart from Ker sangri, you should also try Gatte ki sabzi, papad soup.

Ghotma Ladoo is another such delicacy from Jaisalmer, it is different type of Bundi laddu. You can enjoy this laddu  in a Bhatia Shop inside Jaisalmer fort. You can pack them with you as well as they will remain good for around 15 days even without refrigerator.

Rajasthani Kadhi is another interesting thing you can enjoy it across Rajasthan. and even in Jaisalmer most of restaurants serve Rajasthani Kadhi.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaipur

Travel and Food cannot be separated.
If you travel without trying local food and talking to local and taking a stroll in local market.. you better travel on google maps or google streetview. This is my belief please dont feel offended & at least dont stop reading.

I am starting this new segment in blog from Rajasthan as thats the place where I found dishes from different segments all together. So here I bring you step by step guide to eating in Rajasthan while you are travelling to Rajasthan.

Jaipur:
     Its a capital of Rajasthan and all famous cuisines here are really very very reach in all aspects. So if You are very cautious about calories, burn some extra fat before going on rajasthan trip.

    I will recommend Chokhi Dhani if you dont have much time to explore various places in Jaipur.
    Daal bati Churma is the must have when you are in jaipur .

  Bati is made in shuddh desi ghee and if that not enough, they pore some additional ghee when it is served. The real fun is, when you break the bati, then pour Daal & lots of ghee on it and enjoy.. Its amazing...

   Churma is sweet crushed form. You can enjoy it as a dessert after finishing your daal baati.
   If you have sufficient time, you can explore this dish in Dhabas near Sindhi Camp.

   and for those friends who think rajasthan is all veg... Laal Maans is must try. In Jaipur, On MI road, you can try Handi restaurant for amazing spicy laal maans.

You can enjoy this dish with Missi Roti. Missi roti is made of mixture of various flours and with added some ajwain.

If you are not visiting entire Rajasthan then you can try some Pyaaz kachori, Mirchi Pakoda, mawa kachori, ghevar, gajak, gatte ki sabji as well. but if you are visiting entire Rajasthan visit my individual city wise posts to know what to try wherever you go.
   

Aurangabad - Maharashtra

     Maharashtra has great history. Although Shivaji maharaj is the highest point of History of maharashtra there were many important events and places which belong to historical periods other than period of Shivaji maharaj. Aurangabad belongs to the historical period of Yadav's.
     Today's Daulatabad was capital of Yadav kingdom till 11th century. Yadav's ruled this part of India for many centuries and formed very stable rule in this region. As a result, this part became very rich culturally.
     This part was so well developed that Mohammed Bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.

     Today this place hosts many beautiful and historically important places, which makes aurangabad must visit. Here I am listing down some of the important places within or very close to Aurangabad city in details.

1> Deogiri (Daulatabad Fort): This is amazing fort and in very good condition still. Built by Yadav Kings back in 11th century. This fort is architectural marvel and those who are interested in Fort architecture cant afford to ignore visiting this Fort.

  The fort has very unique arrangement at entrance to fool the enemy attacking the fort, it has multiple levels for defence, it has maze to fool the attackers, it has pit dug from all the sides to protect the fort from enemy troops climbing the wall and it also had multi layer protection wall. Architecture of this fort is separate topic of discussion. but if you are planning Autrangabad keep at least 3-4 hours for this fort and see it with guide. It is very close to Aurangabad city, and you can visit by taxi or local public transport.

2> Ghrushneshwar:
      Maharashtra hosts 5 of the 12 jyotirlings of lord Shiva. Ghrushneshvar is one of those Jyotirlings. This temple is very close to Ellora caves. Its 30 Kms from Aurangabad city.

3> Ellora: Ajanta & ellora are one of the most famous caves in India. Ellora has 34 caves in total showcasing carving art of various beliefs. It has set of Hindu caves among which Kailas temple is most important as it is carved out of Single rock. It has buddhist caves as well as Jain caves.

4> Biwi Ka Makbara:
   This amazing place has a great resemblance with Taj Mahal in Agra. Constructed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 17th Century. This place though not as beautiful as Tajmahal, is a worth visiting when you are in Aurangabad.

Apart from the above mentioned things there are many interesting things around Aurangabad, which includes,
1> Ajanta Caves
2> Lonar crater
3> Paithan
4> Nathsagar lake
5> Panchakki
6> Sindkhedraja (Birthplace of Jijamata)

If you are planning a trip to Aurangabad from Mumbai or Pune, I will suggest 4 days trip. This place has really great attractions which are worth spending time. You can travel from Mumbai to Aurangabad by train or State transport run buses. Most of which run overnight. You start journey in the night and by morning 7 you reach Aurangabad.

It will take
1 day for local sightseeing including Ellora
1 day for Ajanta
1 day for paithan
1 day for Lonar

There are many hotels in Aurangabad including MTDC. You can also spend one night at Paithan.
Paithani saree is another attraction of Paithan and you can visit Paithani making factory and purchase a saree for yourself.

So visit Aurangabad, enjoy the places and write your experiences. Feel free to contact me if you need any help in planning this trip. you can reach me at 9820031162 or kaustubhkhare@gmail.com

A day around Dubai creek

First and very important point about this day around Dubai creek is, the day has to be between october to march. Dont even think of trying this schedule between June to September mid.

Many of Dubai attractions, especially those which are part of old Dubai, are placed around this creek.
Here are some interesting things to do / see around creek.

Dubai Museum: This is small but interesting museum near Al-fahidi metro station. You can spend around 2 hours in this place and you can visit in the morning after your breakfast. Its has many details and artifacts about Dubai.

Knife Road: From Dubai museum, you can take an Abra taxi in Dubai creek and go to opposite shore where you can visit knife road. This place has big gold souk & spice souk which are really interesting.

Knife road - Gold Souq

Everything that glitters is gold here

Deira city center. This is one of the oldest mall in Dubai, and its really interesting place to visit. You can catch metro from gold souk and reach here. You can spend two hours here, have your lunch and spend hot and humid part of the day indoors.

Dubai creek park: Reach Dubai creek park by 3 - 4 pm and you can enjoy cable car ride here. Then go to Dolphinarium at 6 pm. and you can enjoy amazing dolphin show. take a stroll around creek and enjoy your evening.

Cable car in creek park

Dhow cruise with dinner: If you dont want to roam around again for dinner you can take a Dhow cruise for enjoying beauty of Dubai creek at night. Dhow cruise is trip around Dubai creek for 2 hours, usually from 7:30 to 9:30, which includes, dinner, Tanura dance & magic show. So after

Dhow Cruise ride with dinner

Apart from these, you can also opt for RTA ferry which runs from Ghubaiba and takes you to Palm jumeirah, burj al arab & atlantis. This is one hour cruise and runs 5-6 times everyday. You can also spend time shopping in Meena bazar or Karama market. So enjoy your time in old Dubai, and especially around Dubai creek.

History of Left Hand vs. Right Hand Passage

  Today, I am not taking you to any place or not suggesting any itinerary. All of you must have heard the concepts like right hand drive and left hand drive.. or left hand passage vs right hand passage.

  If you observe, all british colonies, UK and Japan has left hand pasage, whereas USA, Europe & Arabic region etc. have right hand passage.. Left hand passage meaning vehicles run from left side of the road..

  Today, 75% countries in the world have right hand passage whereas 25% countries have left hand passage.

  There is a very interesting story behind why some part of the world drives on left and other on right side of the road.

 Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people. 

Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.
Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent. 
From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.
In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.
The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial pastOnce America drove on the right, left-side driving was ultimately doomed. If you wanted a good reliable vehicle, you bought American, for a period they only manufactured right-hand-drive cars.

From then on many countries changed out of necessity.
Today, the EC would like Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe, but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round.The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. While everyone was getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties.

This story is taken from http://able2know.org/topic/20745-1 forum. 

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/20745-1

Panchgani - Dala Rooster

   Hello all... We all are enjoying beautiful winter and many of you must have planned or are already travelling  in this amazing season. Today I am going to write about a specific accommodation and not about itinerary.

   Last month, I visited this fabulous place. A well furnished, well maintained, warm and welcoming bungalow near Panchgani market called Dala Rooster, owned by Capt. Vikas Gokhale from Pune.

Dala Rooster - Near Panchgani market

    Its a 6 BHK Bungalow with well maintained dining area, backyard garden, parking area, gazebo, camfire & BBQ area. Rooms are spread across 3 levels. 4 Bedrooms are self contained and others have toilet besides them.

    All amenities in this property right from televisions to crockery are in perfectly running, maintained & hygienic condition which is really commendable. All public area are guarded by CCTV cameras.

    The couple which stays there to take care of this bungalow is well trained under Mr. Gokhale and is very hospitable and welcoming. They will serve you very good food while you are staying there. Their charges are also very simple which are calculated as price for raw material + cooking charges per person.

    This bungalow can accommodate 12 to 16 people and charges are per person based. You will also get some discount if you are booking entire bungalow. If you are a single family or couple you can book a room as well. Booking entire bungalow is not mandatory.

    You can find booking information for this property on below link.
 
                               Dala Rooster all info

    If you are looking for relaxing weekend at home away from home this is the place to be and if you are going there in a group and booking entire bungalow, there is nothing like it.. Every penny you spend will be WASOOL..

   So, visit this beautiful property, enjoy your vacation and write your feedback about the property as well as whether this post was helpful.

   If you need any help planning your trip, dont hesitate to write me mailto:kaustubhkhare@gmail.com

Prakruti Resort @ Kashid, Maharashtra

      After a long time  I have started travelling again. This time my 6 months old daughter joined me in my first trip after entering fatherhood. Although it was a small trip, I will be writing two posts on it. This first post will as usual narrate about place, what to see, how to reach etc. and the second one, how we prepared ourselves to travel with our baby.

      Kashid is around 120 kms. from Mumbai (Chembur). You have to travel on Mumbai Goa highway till you reach Wadkhal (Chembur - Panvel - Karnala - Pen - Wadkhal). You can take a break at Palaspe or Wadkhal, try Amantran at Wadkhal for your breakfast. After Wadkhal, roads are not in good condition so It will take you another 60-90 minutes from Wadkhal.
  
     You have to take Murud road (Left turn before entering Alibaug) and travel another 25 kms from Alibag bypass to  reach Kashid. Beach at Kashid is very beautiful but "We the people" have made it look like any other beach in Mumbai by throwing all possible type of bags, bottles and stuff.. But, you can walk for 10-15 minutes and reach cleaner part of it and enjoy.

Me And My New travel partner @ Kashid Beach

      Apart from Kashid beach, you can plan to visit fort Janjira @ Murud, Fort Korlai, Kashid view point, and some other beaches like Kihim, Ashti, Nagav, Revdanda etc.

     But, if you have already seen all this and want to spend your weekend relaxing and just spending good time with your family or friends.. Here is one option which will give you some wonderful time.

    Prakruti Resort is just 5 minutes away from Kashid beach. This is excellent landscaped resort spread across 45 acres and has various options like studio apartments and 2/3/4 BHK villas to stay.

Restaurant @ Prakruti Resort

Scenic walkway inside resort

One of the villa inside resort

SPA @ Prakruti resort

Swimming Pool

Dining Hall

Studio Appartment @ Prakruti Resort

Bullock Cart

   There are lot of facilities at this resort to ensure you have good time without getting bored
      - You can take a dip in swimming pool with sip of wine or beer
      - Play Tennis
      - Play Table tennis
      - Bicycling
      - Play Pool
      - Enjoy massage at Spa
      - Enjoy a game of Golf
      - and most importantly enjoy a private beach, clean & away from crowded Kashid Beach.

  The food is included in package and its very good. All meals are buffet and you will get sufficient variety in Veg as well as Non-Veg. Apart from that they have pool-side cafe. You can also enjoy your beer relaxing at poolside or order tea and Pakoda.

  All the amenities are well maintained and you can enjoy them at reasonable rates. (Access to swimming pool is free, other activities are charged).

  Resort also has conference center, so if you want to plan outbound for your company, you can think of this option. You can access internet in their reception lobby.

  Rooms are good. Each room has garden facing balcony. All appliances, lights and amenities inside room were working. Room service was also good. Villas are spacious and if you are going with big family you should surely go for a Villa.

  When I visited this resort, rate for single night for studio apt. was 8300 but they gave some discount. Rate for 2BHK villa was 16000 & for 3BHK it was 24000.

  Overall it was amazing experience, if you have a kid ranging from 0-2 years and thats stopping you from travelling for weekends then this is very good option. I am sure you wont regret the money spent.

  If you need any help planning a trip, you can reach me @ kaustubhkhare@gmail.com