Hawai’i!

Pristine beaches, warm white sands, crystal clear blue green waters, lush green tropical rainforests and temperatures not soaring above 80 degrees F… Sounds like the ideal holiday ain’t it?

Hawai’i is a transcending Polynesian beauty, a celestial piece of the earth in the middle of nowhere.

Surrounded by heavy volcanic activity, that was responsible to create this island in the first place, continual magmatic eruptions under the Pacific ocean are responsible to create and add more fresh land, to this ever expanding island.

We planned our trip with much vacillation between Cancun, Mexico and Hawai’i; with the former being more financially plausible, as we were getting all inclusive deals for Cancun, as opposed to barely making a round-trip airfare to Hawaii in that amount. We arrived at a decision, when with a bit more of research into our miles account, we were able to cover the airfare for Hawai’i; and decided to thus venture into a more unconventional jaunt. Being big fans of the series “Lost” too aided our decision, which was btw shot almost entirely in Oahu 🙂

We started our week long vacation, by boarding a direct flight from Phoenix to Maui, that took about 6 hours to get there. Hawai’i Standard time or HST lags by 3 hours from PST, which gave us an early headstart when we landed, at 1pm HST.

A key thing to note while vacationing here, is to get up by 4:30 am and enjoy the day till about 7pm. The city is not well lit after dark and there are no skyscrapers as well 🙂

Exploring the city of Kihei: Maui

Kihei is the southern part of the island of Maui. We booked a condo on the beach, which was fully equipped with a kitchenette, cooking condiments, vessels et all… We were in for a surprise when we saw beach chairs, umbrellas, floating noodles, tennis racquets and a beach volleyball.

We stayed at the Kihei Bay Surf, right opposite the beach and a high priced Indian restaurant called Monsoon India, which had a stunning view facing the ocean.

Renting a car is a must in Maui, especially if you are self exploring wanderlust and haven’t booked guided tours. Ofcourse, guided tours are good, however it costs anything between $30-$50 extra, for them to pick you up from your choice of place. We rented a car from the airport, and it took us 15 minutes to get to our abode.

Our twitchy feet got us exploring the parts of Wailea and the posh golf resorts around after we freshened up; we were originally booked for a Luau at Grand Wailea resort, but due to a sudden downpour, the event was cancelled and it was rescheduled for us the following day…. and we’ll get to that part soon 🙂

After a tiresome exploration (6 hour flight, followed by jetlag with the 3 hour time difference), we shopped for groceries, to inaugurate our cute kitchen.

Spectacular sunset by our beach awaited us, followed by which we decided to head to Monsoon India for a rather expensive meal. Although the view is definitely breathtaking from the restaurant , my recommendation is to get your own beach chairs and food, or barbecue some hot food and enjoy a sumptuous meal besides the beach.

Snorkeling & Snuba diving in Molokini crater & Turtle town

Our day kick started early in the morning at 6am, where we reported at the harbour to take off on a day long cruise exploring the ocean, snorkeling in 150 feet deep blue waters, with a 100% visibility down till the ocean bed thriving with rich marine life and corals at the cresent shaped, partially submerged Molokini crater. The crater is infact a seabird sanctuary. The interesting part about rich coral reef here, is that there is no barrier reef supporting it.

Luau at Lahaina

We witnessed some of the best performances by the Hawaiians through the luau, followed by roasting a big boar, which is served as the feast for later in the evening. Don’t worry, there is plenty of vegetarian options to choose from, but this is truly a meat lovers paradise!

Surviving the Road to Hana

What a trip! I recount my experiences to Hana every second day, through the winding roads that challenge your attention at every nook and corner. We were advised to buy the CD that talks about your journey while on this road, and makes recommendations for pit-stops. I must say – the waters are the same, but every pit stop was unique in its own way!

I will never forget the black sand beach with rich blue waters sweeping you off your feet or the beautiful waterfalls that were a treacherous trek alright! But what a beauty!!!

Nature has its ways of making you feel like a small fry, in this large world, by amazing you with beautiful wonders. Hawai’i is the place to see new land being born, and I must say- it is awe-inspiring to say the least!

The black sand beach is nothing but the lava that just cooled down to form new land! What an array of contrasting colors to start with!

I will let my pictures speak for themselves.

Black Sand Beaches

Haleakala Crater

We drove to this mindblowingly breathtaking crater early in the morning at 4am; only to catch the first rays of the sun peeping and bursting through the clouds and painting the skies with spectacular colors. Now yet again, Hawai’i manages to surprise one, as imagine an island, having snow and ice on top of a crater! Snow, Ice, Heat all in once place!

We spent a few hours here before driving back to our resort and were left in amazement.

Island Hop: Big Island – Hilo and Hana, Oahu – Honolulu

First of all, the flight from Maui to Hilo is the most scenic ride ever! We were cruising at a low altitude, that gave us the privilege of watching beautiful waters, mountain ranges and volcanic craters over an hour’s ride. Upon reaching Hilo, we were taken to Kona, and served pure Kona coffee. If you are a coffee connoisseur, this one is a must-buy!

Then we had lunch and drove to Hawaii Volcanic National Park, to experience live volcanoes, see lava flow, steam vents, mind boggling volcanic activity at every nook and corner and lava glow. This has to be my be my best trip ever!

Live Lava flow, Ash Plumes, Steam Vents ands more…

Sunbathing & Swimming in the divine Beaches of Hawai’i

Kabini 2014

Having lived in Bangalore, albeit for a short period,  I look for opportunities to drive not too long, yet as remote as possible into the wild. Kabini happens to be one of them. This beautiful forest is about a 4 hour drive from Bangalore.

Kabini is home to a plethora of wildlife such as Tigers, Elephants, Foxes, Leopards and deer to name a few. Kabini forest reserve is part of the Nagarhole National park, which also encompasses Bandipur and Masinagudi forest reserves, alongside the banks of the Kabini River.

We stay-put at the spectacular Red Earth resort, the rooms of which were breathtaking. Each cottage was a room by itself, with rustic feel on the inside, and each having its own private Jacuzzi. What better way to enjoy a silent night while immersing yourself to the pleasures of warm water and aromatic bath salts, while appreciating the star studded sky!

The hosts and owners at Kabini are also very hospitable and go out of your way to make sure that you have an enjoyable stay. There is a swimming pool, coracle rides, birding safari, a vintage looking bar and a classy lotus pond, all in one campus! A unique performance would be hosted every evening at Red Earth – mostly performed by the locals; but what you see is sure to take your breath away!

In the morning, we took the early morning canter ride for our safari. The first thing we spotted was a tigress, who was coming to the watering hole to quench her thirst. Apart from the regular sightings of the deer, mongoose, foxes and elephants, we were very lucky to spot the elusive leopard!

This sly cat, left his scent mark on a tree and then went on to climb it. Quite an awesome sight to see, just a few meters from ourselves.

If you want a more exclusive jeep ride, you would have to request for the same in advance. Somehow, we were going with a laid-back holiday mood. It is only later we realized that maybe the jeep safari would have been better.

On the flip-side, none of the jeeps spotted the tiger or the leopard 🙂

So overall, we had an amazing trip! If you are on to quench your wildlife thirst, the lush green Kabini is the place more than Bandipur which on the other hand is quite dry and deserted.

Singapore 2015

I visited Singapore in December 2007 for the first time, and oh boy it was definitely love at first sight! Coming back to this beauty in 2015, it felt like a fresh trip, with so many changes this city had undergone.

I had already covered: Sentosa, Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and a few other conventional sight seeing places in my previous trip.  These attractions are a must see; however I highly recommend visiting the zoo in the day time. The night safari was not very worth the time and money.

Also- Jurong has the birds of paradise from Tahiti; so if you are a bird lover, DO visit this place and you won’t be disappointed.

Singapore is a very charming place even now, with so much to see, experience, eat and shop!

We stayed stones throw away from Orchard road, which is Singapore’s shopping district. It is always abuzz with beautiful people at any given time! In this trip, we decided to explore the city at our own pace.

We started off with some dinner and drinks at Orchard road and strolled around the place till midnight. We took a bus to Clarke Quay, enjoyed a couple of drinks while watching the spectacular laser show at Marina Bay in front of us, the beautiful array of lights at Esplanade and the magnificent Merlion on all sides surrounding us.

The views, were indeed breathtaking, and we couldn’t have asked for a better evening.

We bought a 2 day city pass the next day, to explore the following:

1. Singapore Flyer
2. Clarke Quay
3. Boat Quay
4. Esplanade
5. Gardens by the Bay – Marina Bay
6. China Town
7. Little India

If you want to let your hair down and have a good time in the evening with some good music, fun activities and surrounded by people with high energies- explore Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. Some of the best bars and restaurants are situated here; and there is no dearth of talent when it comes to listening to bands performing live music.

Singapore Flyer is an engineering marvel. We got into a ‘capsule’ and were also lucky since there was no rush that day; and hence had the whole capsule to ourselves 🙂 . One can see Indonesian islands, Johor and Malaysia from here on a clear day. Apart from the iconic views of Singapore such as Marina Bay, Esplanade, the Singapore Night Race Track and Empress Palace to name a few. Do not miss this!

Right below the Singapore Flyer is the F1 race track. If you are an avid F1 follower, do take a stroll on this one to experience a small fraction of percentage of what it feels like to be cruising at 200mph!

Gardens by the bay – Such a spectacular attraction with beautiful colorful lighting all over – this place is like  a ‘rainforest’ ! The cloud forest is a must see!

Take some cash handy for shopping at Funan – for electronics and Chinatown. Most of the shops here accept cash only, and make sure you bargain well! The local Chinese food is also quite mind blowing- and I state this as a vegetarian. The food is yummy; and the best part is that the chefs will customize your needs to make it memorable for you!

Little India is pretty much like India, lots of gold souks and authentic Indian food served. You can avoid this if you are an Indian, unless you crave for a scrumptious meal 🙂

I have purposely not mentioned Universal Studios – as I have experienced this in LA, and it is absolutely splendid! If you haven’t been to it before, this one is a MUST-GO too. The rides, 4d, 7d experiences are amazing here.

Make sure that you are sufficiently hydrated and carry a bottle of water, as the weather is quite humid throughout the year. Most of the time sunny, with an exception of haze for a few months.

Singapore is my favourite city after Berlin, and it is one of the safest, cleanest and best cities to work in. As a tourist IMO, it is better to experience local attractions, food and sightseeing  rather than sticking to a conventional plan such as: Madame Tussaud’s museum or Mall shopping.

Jungle Retreat, Masinagudi

Masinagudi, Mudumalai forest

If you are a nature lover, wildlife admirer and an enthusiastic birder looking for a relaxed getaway, Masinagudi is an idyllic place to be. I had heard of raving reviews of a resort called the Jungle Retreat, a family owned business, in the heart of the Mudumalai jungles, devoid of any fencing where animals come for a “retreat” in the true sense of the word and was very excited to experience this.

The drive to Masinagudi is about 5 hours if you go via the Mysore road from Bangalore.

A good time to start would be early – by 5:30am, stopover at Kamath for a hearty breakfast to reach in time for sumptuous lunch at the resort.

I could wax eloquent about this resort (so apt to its name) and the place, however here are a few of my best memories from Masinagudi.

• A rustic looking resort, we were welcomed by Rohan and Smriti, the owners of Jungle Retreat who explained about the resort to us in great detail.
• One can spot some beautiful birds and wildlife in the campus itself.
• If you are planning to venture out of your cottage after 6:30pm, you will be mandated to be escorted by one of the employees, lest you happen to encounter a bear or a leopard 😉
• The swimming pool looks like a natural emerald pool, facing the Nilgiris, adding only more oomph to the whole feel of it.
• What’s more? It doubles up as a watering hole for animals. So don’t be surprised to have deer and goats during the day time drinking water while you are busy doing laps 😉
• We were shown some captivating footage laid down by the camera traps in the resort, to show us the visitors at night 🙂
• Elephants, leopards, sloth bears are regulars apart from the thriving population of deer.
• The 32 acre campus has a plethora of colorful birds, which is a treat to the eyes to say the least!
• If you are an enthusiastic photographer, your fingers would eternally be locked to your camera shutters.
• The food is mouthwatering in terms of taste and spread.
• The inn before the pool has this charming appeal to it, with avant-garde wooden furniture, an ever-patient server in the company of some fantastic storytelling of the owners. Alcohol is not really served here, but you can buy your own from the local market.
• The resort is also home to plenty of friendly and playful tamed dogs and cats.

Tips:

• Go for the Birding walk early in the morning, to spot the best of the birds before it gets too hot.
• Opt for the evening Jeep safari ride. It is enthralling to say the least… if you are lucky, you may end up spotting leopards.
• We spotted some really cool chameleons in pitch darkness that glow like leaves. Camouflaged really well, they look really cool clinging on to branches and shrubs.
• Drive to the Singara coffee estate early morning at 6am, where you can spot beautiful Great Indian Malabar Hornbills in their habitat. Although, make sure you are inconspicuous in shooting a video/taking pictures so as to not disturb them.
• On your way, you might get lucky in spotting the elusive cats, elephants, bisons, civets, chameleons, deer and mongoose.
• Walk around the campus of Jungle Retreat to spot some really exotic birds like the colorful Indian Pitta, Brahminy Starlings, Tickles Blue Flycatcher, Red Vented Bulbuls, woodpeckers, shrikes and what not!
• If you are looking for a couple’s getaway, opt for Room #11, which is a rather large suite with beautiful outdoor sit outs.
• The tree house is also an experience not to be missed.

The drive back from Masinagudi is also quite enriching in the number of birds one can spot before hitting Mysore. We halted at Royal Orchid for a lunch buffet that closes sharp at 3.30pm. If you have some more energy left, you can stopby at the Ranganthitoo bird sanctuary and reserve to see beautiful birds in their habitat. In addition to birds, you will spot a number of crocodiles basking in the sun on the rocks.

If you have some time, opt for an hour long boat ride and ask for sightings of the baby crocs.

Washington DC

Home of the President of USA, this city is very unique with historical monuments, memorials and museums. We drove down from New Jersey, NJ which took us about 5 hours including multiple pit stops for coffee and bio breaks.

We stayed at a budget hotel here, which had access to the main city via shuttles plying every 15 mins. The main attraction of this place is the free museums, other than the Whitehouse of course.

Being the memorial day long weekend, the whole place was crowded with professional bikers, showcasing their cool custom made Harley Davidson bikes, and paraded the streets with their stunt biking.

We mostly walked around the main city, covering most of the memorials and museums. To get to places further away, the metro is pretty accessible and well connected.

The National monument looked spectacular by night, with flags hoisted and lights in the color of the US flag. America surely knows how to put up a show 😀

 

Also read: The funnier version of this blog here.

Fall colors- Door County, Wisconsin

Well the best fall foliage is experienced in the east coast, esp at New England, Connecticut in the US. The desiduous trees and shrubs exhibit this brilliance, with their leaves pigmenting in beautiful red, yellow and pink colors.

We drove down to Door county, due to the lack of vacation days to visit Connecticut and experienced the beautiful colors all around us.

To add to the beauty was the city of sparsely inhabited Kewaunee in Wisconsin (Kenosha county), excruciatingly quiet and gave us the vibes of being haunted,;)

We stayed at the Kewaunee inn, which is a beautiful old wooden resort, with creaking floors and old violins and pianos that were decorated in Halloween style.

The bartender took advantage of my vulnerability and narrated ghost stories, and also told me about ghosts in our neighboring room. I could barely bathe or brush in peace 😀

Another peculiarity about this inn is, all the rooms are left open – giving anyone the chills and added to that- sleepless nights!

But if you arent a coward like me, this is a beautiful place in the midwest to experience some very beautiful colors!

The windy city- Chicago

More popularly known as the windy city, it is by far the best city I have lived in, in the United States. We lived in the heart of downtown, stone’s throw away from the most popular attractions. This city is a mix of the hustle and bustle, yet there is tranquility and a laidback attitude, unlike New York or San Francisco.

We lived 2 blocks away from Magnificent Mile, which houses some of the top notch brands and is largely a shopping district. You would also get to see the fourth largest building in Chicago also known as the John Hancock tower, which has a signature lounge on the 96^th floor. One can enjoy drinks and appetizers aside a spectacular view, especially at night by the tall glass windows. The lights are stupendous and if you are a female, you will get to see more stunning panoramic beauty from the ladies washroom.

Chicago houses the popular Willis tower deck, formerly known as Sears tower, in the office downtown district. It is the tallest building in the US of A, and one can get on to the 103^rd floor and walk on glass skydeck. It is an enthralling experience to do so, and you can let your creative juices flow if you want to click some quirky snaps. The skywalk extends to about 5 feet from the tower and one can experience “walking in the air” with the city below you.

Another unique feature of this city is the Chicago river, which flows in between the city. The architecture boat tours are very famous and offer an educational tour with quite a few interesting facts, other than the fact that the city tour by boat is awe-inspiring, and especially during dusk, when the city begins to light up.

Check out the Merchandise mart below, which has its own zip code, due to the enormity of its structure- It encompasses a whopping 4.2 million square feet of space!

 

During the St. Patrick’s day, the Chicago river is organically dyed into green color, that signifies the Irish tradition. People are dressed up in green colored attire, and the irish pubs are flowing with green colored beer too J

Chicago is very famous for its architecture and has some of the very popular architects. Frank Lloyd Wright is a famous stalwart, who’s famous creations can be seen through a tour at Oak park.

Apart from the architecture, Theatre is very prominent here. There is no dearth of theatre artists here. Do not miss a show at a Chicago theatre or at second city, where one gets to uncover great artists or comedians.

Nothing Hill

I am talking about a town called “Nothing” …And no i am not in an inebriated state while penning this post down 😀

We have spotted this town on the way to Vegas a couple of times, on the US route 93 highway. It literally has nothing, which was at one time sparsely inhabited by just 4 people.

Town of Nothing Arizona. Founded 1977. Elevation 3269ft.
The staunch citizens of Nothing are full of Hope, Faith, and Believe in the work ethic. Thru-the-years-these dedicated people had faith in Nothing, hoped for Nothing, worked at Nothing, for Nothing. (Source-Google)

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Captain Morgan & the Carribean

The word “Carribean” has been at the top of my visit list since my childhood. I associated this word and the place to something whose exoticism was inversely proportional to it being cherry pie on the map. It was like the song I heard in my 10^th grade “We are going to Ibiza!” by Vengaboys; I thought that island was a made up name, till I discovered its coordinates on the a large world map in my dad’s study room and also learning about how atypically exotic this island too is (The next item on my bucketlist in Europe!)

For the Thanksgiving weekend, we planned to hit it off at these islands months in advance after zeroing down on a place. It was a challenge to decide where to go, since each country in the carribean is special in its own way. We chose Puerto Rico – because I love the way it sounds!

I was constantly pinching myself when the D-day arrived: right from O’hare to Charlotte which was our stopover before we landed in San-Juan. It was a mighty long journey before we set afoot at our destination and what we went on to experience was unreal, movie-like and implausible to the eyes!

Our hotel room was facing 2 swimming pools followed by the beach right next to it; surrounded by Palm trees overlooking talcum powder like sand and aquamarine waters. Waking up each morning to this sight was indeed a much unparalleled feeling.

The first night, we chose to spend our time and money frugally in our hotel casino. However, upon seeing the ultra low minimum dollar bets, we turned greedy and prodigal… We made some, lost like a truck loads and made pittance and turned in to our rooms.

Day2: El Yunque Rain forest tour and Luquillo Beach

We had to rise up a tad too early, to be driven into El Yunque (pronounced as ‘Joonkay’). This was a lush green and dense rainforest… where we went on to hike through a trail. Our tour guide Robert Sanchez was a rather hilarious and a very well informed individual; who kept us engrossed in discussions ranging from touristy stuff to do in PR to a rather controversial “Where does PR stand versus the USA”. Apparently, PR doesn’t want to be the 51^st state of the USA due to several reasons; the most amusing one of them being that:

There is no space on the US Flag to draw the 51^st star!!

So, we hiked on El Yunque which is at a height of approximately 3500 feet above sea level. The view of various islands from atop here was astonishing! Turquoise waters, blue skies and white clouds, dense green backdrop, old forts… I have never imagined being in a frame more picturesque that this. Each tree in the rainforest had a story to tell… There were almond seedlings lying around us, different types of orchids growing..free money! We saw the main ingredient for Chanel no. 5 – the flower smelt like jasmine, those trees grow in abundance in the Carribean.

We also came across an unusually carved concave bark of a tree, which was dark grey in color. Upon pouring water, on it, it turns into a royal bluish gray texture, which is one of the most commonly used base in facials! Ladies, you know now where to head for a natural spa treatment and of course the Chanel flower!

The palm trees in the forest grew in gravity defying ways; weird angles, a tree emanating from another tree – like conjoined twins, some growing horizontally for long stretches and then turning vertical; as if the tree was suffering from vertigo and almost all their roots grew  above the ground.

Most of the trees had beautiful natural creepers growing around them, and we saw sly camouflaging snails and walking sticks too!

This is probably as fresh and natural the air can get, so made the most of it by taking deep breaths. Very quaint.

There were quite a bit of natural waterfalls and it is probably like seeing nat geo coming to life out of the idiot box.

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After enjoying this beautiful bountiful tour of nature, we were taken to Luquillo beach, to spend about 4 hours.

Luquillo beach: Pronounced lookeeyo

Now this was the icing on the cake! More blue green crystal clear and clean water, soft white sand, umbrella, beach level patios, pina coladas, sun and loads of fun! It was the most serene, very low current; almost virgin beach we were at.

To top it all, the temperature was just fine, extremely pleasant.

If you are a vegetarian, expect to stay hungry or be fed well before your tryst with this beach. I ate a repulsive looking corn meal with much hesitation and had to sip infinite number of pina coladas to get rid of the feeling in my mouth. It was as if eating a fried sea anemone ugh!

I cannot describe in words the amount of fun we had at this beach, it was ideal, to be basking in the sun with such a beautiful sight.

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Robert dropped us all off at our respective hotels and we went back to freshen up and enjoy some local cuisine in the evening.  We splurged on their homemade Sanrgias and Mojitos – extremely well made drinks and binged on Rice and beans and Mofongo. The beans is the best I have had in my life, very close to our traditional “Rajma” but scores better than that!

Mofongo is a dish made out of green plantain baked like a wall, with stuffing inside… Again, mouthwateringly delicious.

local phoods

 

 

Day 3: Snorkeling with the Pirates at Culebra and La Parguera

As much as I was looking forward to this trip, I dreaded the part where we had to snorkel and swim amidst dangerously high currents in the ocean. We were ferried to a really small unexplored island, where we were made to practice snorkeling for first timers and then enjoy beach time for a while. This was one of the coolest boats I have been on; unlimited drinks and food on the house; with gasolina kind of music playing in the background.

The waters again, choppy yet gorgeous!

“Pirates of the Carribean” was shot here. No wonder, it was amazing, unreal and I never wanted to come back from there 😉

We enjoyed quite a bit of beach time and then went for a swim in deep waters with our snorkel equipment. Gorgeously vibrant corals, beautiful colorful fish took our attention off the depth we were swimming at. It was quite a struggle to swim back and forth from the shore. We were exhausted at this point and were wondering how the real snorkeling would be like!

When it was time to get back to our boat, we were so hungry due to all the swimming, we finished off all that was laid off for us before the next snorkeling. The boat went right in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, which also mixes with the Carribean sea, making the waters more choppy with dangerously high tide currents.

We were asked to “Jump” from the boat into the water to see more corals. That sounded fanatical to me. Jumping in the middle of the ocean, I was scared to death!!!! But then, we had the rescue team aboard, so I decided to not be a chicken and jump!

 

aboard heading out to Culebra!

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Los hombres locos

The scary part:

We had such a great time clicking pictures of different colored fish and the corals; it all seemed calm till we suddenly came to the surface and couldn’t find our boat!

The current had drifted us so further away from the boat; it was a challenge to swim against the motion of the current to get to our boat. At one point, we almost gave up hopes, as one stroke of ours forward threw us back with twice the thrust of the powerful current.

We somehow made it to our boat, alive and in one piece 😀

After getting onboard, we noticed that a couple we befriended on the boat, were getting drifted really far away into the hungry ocean. Ironically, neither of them knew swimming and were not even a tad bit scared. The rescue team went on to pull them off before any mishap occured. This was some experience – life threatening yet thrilling!

We then went on to enjoy more drinks, made merry, danced inebriated and were pooped by the time we reached San Juan.

The next mammoth of a task was to take off the sands from our clothes, and just chill by the Jacuzzi which ended brilliantly, as we were offered complimentary champagnes!

Later in the evening we went on to try some more local food and hit the casino.

The chow down:

It started like the graph of ‘e’, and ended as if an asteroid just hit the earth and created yet another grand canyon.

I obviously had beginners luck in the slot machine, by making $3 out of 1$. It was exhilarating I tell you! I was so full of it that I went on to play roulette. Boom! I made $80 :D. Then I heard my conscience calling me out, asking me to be parsimonious and wisely exit the hot seat.

We took a break and returned to play blackjack, not once; FOUR times! It was like Thrice bitten, still not shy!!!!

We lost and lost miserably. It was dead of the night 2 am and we lost count of how much we were betting. It only got hilarious for us at the pace at which we were turning paupers 😀

It was a great night nevertheless and we went on to turn in, only to wake up the next day – being our last day at PR.

Old San Juan: Last Day

Did I mention Johnny Depp earlier? Oh yes. We have a connection here, I would like to believe so atleast 😉 This is not a random rambling. I will explain how.

We got ready to visit the Old City and the old Fort which was a 10 minute ride from Condado.

The fort was very well maintained and was the dwelling hub of the sailors from World war 2. From dungeons to Observation points and the rooms, beds and clothing of the sailors, it was impeccable!

We went on to tour the Old city, narrow steep lanes, old houses…. It was exactly where “Rum Diaries” was shot. Johnny did it again 🙂 and thus the connection I was referring to.

It was very European – Spanish style, striking and exceptionally beautiful …

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After purchasing our souveniers, we headed back, toured around a little more concluded with more Mofongos and Ananas Mohitos(No it has nothing to do with being an Anti-corruption drink!!)

Ananas Mojito

It was dreary at 4pm for both of us to even think of leaving the place.. We wanted to settle down right there!!

Zonked!

 

Time to say bye to the beautiful view!

….. After hours of travel, we were back to bedlam in the cold windy city at 12 am.

Next on the list: St Maarten and Ibiza! 😉

Rainbow Bridge, Utah

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Rainbow bridge in Utah, is the one of the world’s largest natural bridge, formed by the River colorado. We took a cruise boat from Page, AZ to reach this place, which took us 3 hours to get there. The best part of the 3 hours is the changing landscapes one gets to see, while transitioning from Arizona to Utah. Lake Powell gradually merges into the river Colorado, once you reach the Rainbow Bridge.

One gets to uncover surreal colors against the beautiful hues of blue and green waters of lake powell cruising through narrow deep red and white canyons sculpted by wind and water during broad daylight that transform them into deeper exotic colors as sunset approaches.

You can see from the pictures, how gorgeous the water looks amidst the uninhabited narrow cave like structures.

The hike to Rainbow bridge is about one and a half mile long, with the difficulty level being beginner.

We spotted exotic colored chameleons, against the rust colored rocks and the bridge at the backdrop, making it an ideal paradise for photographers.

Legend has it, that it is bad omen to cross the bridge, as per the native red Indians, so as a mark of respect, people do not usually defy their beliefs.

After spending about 2 hours here, we got back onto our boat, to uncover the beautiful sunset on the rocks, glistening golden green waters and giant friendly fish!