A Year In Travel

Part 1

As another great year draws to an end, I could not help but look back at all of the new places that I have been to and the experiences garnered from a year in travel in 2017.

My favourite month of the year, also my birthday month – January, took me to Vibrant Vietnam. While exploring the length and breadth of this gorgeous country, I had many unique experiences. I paddled a hand woven bamboo boat in Halong Bay. It took some practice before it went in the right direction, luckily, the rest of my fellow passengers were rather supportive. Away from the floating village, I paddled us through a cave towards a huge water body land locked on all sides. There was a moment when we thought the boat was going to capsize!

Later on this trip, I cycled through rice fields and villages in Hoi An. A great experience overall, it was a bit of a pain as well. In my derrière to be precise! After cycling for 14 odd kilometers, I was ready to call it a day. But since it was my last night there, I dragged my sore self onto the lantern lit streets filled with merriment and awe, and revelled in the festivities.

A short distance from Ho Chi Minh city, I visited Cu Chi tunnels, an intricate network used by the Vietnamese as a hiding place during the Vietnam war. This is where I experienced the unimaginable - firing a few bullets from an AK47!  Out of a group of 40 people, me along with a couple of fellow Indians opted for this experience as it was expensive. My left arm hurt for a few days thereafter due to the sheer weight and impact of the firing but it was well worth it.

I further travelled down to Cambodia and got to witness the much talked about sunrise at Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world. While walking with my torch towards the main entrance of the famous temple under a carpet of stars, I could feel the magic and magnificence of this UNESCO heritage site. There were thousands of tourists waiting to capture the sunrise. My friend and I tried to find the perfect spot and waited patiently to capture it on our lenses. I have cropped out all the crowds in this shot.

As luck would have it, I got some beautiful shots of Angkor Wat after sunset when there was not even one person in sight. I went back to Angkor Wat in the afternoon to explore it at leisure. I got blessed by one of the monks in the temple complex and visited Bakan, the temple’s central sanctuary, for which people generally queue up for hours.

Visiting Angkor Wat was a dream come true, although looking back, it stills feels like a dream.

Snorkeling in the Gilis

At Gili Trawangan

I was really keen on seeing turtles hatch their young ones on a pristine beach, tucked away on one of the many Indonesian islands. It is a wonderful sight to behold and a memory to cherish forever, is what the many blogs and travel websites on the subject told me. Due to lack of time, this seemed difficult.

I chose to spend some time on the neighbouring Gili Islands instead. It was a great decision. On our snorkeling trip at IDR 100.000 or $7.50 per person there, I actually swam with an adult sea turtle!  The Gili Islands are known to be one of the best sites for diving and snorkeling in Indonesia. 

The tour was three hours long, taking us to each of the three Gili islands to experience snorkeling including the famous Turtle Point, off Gili Meno. It was my first ever snorkeling trip. Putting on the snorkel mask and breathing through it took a bit of practice; it felt suffocating at first. After selecting our snorkel mask and fins, we waited for further instructions on the beach along with the rest of the group. We were about 30 people, adults and kids, waiting to be seated onto a glass bottom boat.

Turtle Conservation Hatchery, Gili

I assumed that a life jacket would be provided on the boat. It is only when I jumped off the deck of the boat into the salty, deep blue waters did I realize that I needed one. I swam back to the boat only to learn that they were not carrying extra life jackets. Luckily, there was a spare one which the tour operator strapped onto me. It felt much better with a life jacket on; I swam a little, floated for some time, gazing at the multi-coloured varieties of fish and corals. We spotted clown fish (Nemo), butterfly fish, anemone fish, flying fish, bat fish amongst many others. The water was very clear and we could see the sea bed with ease. I tried to put my foot on a few of the corals while swimming in shallow waters. I felt calm and at ease, swimming in the Bali sea.

We got back onto the boat, took off our snorkeling equipment and sun bathed on the upper deck till the next stop. At Turtle Point, we excitedly jumped into the cold waters, hoping to catch a glimpse of this wondrous creature. Five minutes later, we spotted a turtle sleeping on the sea bed. There were schools of fish swimming around everywhere. Suddenly, we spotted an adult sea turtle swimming about four feet below us.  We followed him, swimming as fast as he was, in order to keep up. He seemed to be enjoying the attention and swam with us for at least five minutes, popping his head out of the water for a breather every now and then. It was the most magical experience ever. 

I am glad to have not opted for a go pro camera to capture the underwater activity as my attention would have been diverted by it. Some experiences are best captured as memories. This was certainly one of them. 

Eat. Pray. Ubud

We got into Ubud late evening. After checking into our garden home stay – D’Ubud House Homestay in the heart of town, we freshened up and grabbed some dinner at Ibu Rai restaurant. The atmosphere in the restaurant was relaxing; I ordered Ikan Babur Bambu Bali which was fresh, along with grilled fish cooked in mild Indonesian flavours. For dessert, I had tiramisu and wiped my plate clean. 

We were pretty tired and went off to sleep soon after. I had booked us on a very early morning trek to Mount Batur, Bali’s second highest volcano. I woke up with a start around 2.30 am; the alarm had not gone off. I ran out of the room towards the reception and then the road, but the minivan that was to pick us up was nowhere in sight. Thankfully, it pulled in two minutes later. The trek was challenging as the climb was very steep, full of loose volcanic rocks. Putu, our guide was of immense help along the way, motivating us and pulling me up at difficult stretches. We made it in time for the sunrise. It was a spectacular sight; the sun rose through the floating clouds and Batur lake at its bottom.

Sunrise at Mount Batur

We passed through sleepy villages, vegetable and fruit orchards as well as coffee plantations on our way back to Ubud. It was a very scenic drive, I tried to keep my eyes open while the others in the bus slept. Soon enough, the driver stopped at one of the coffee plantations where we sampled a variety of coffee. The world famous Kopi Luwak was available at Rp. 50000 a cup but we decided to avoid it.

Ubud Palace

The rest of our only day in Ubud was spent sightseeing. We went to the Palace for a quick tour, Ubud market for souvenir shopping, tried the famous Babi Guling at Ibuoka and finally to Elephant Cave, a 9^th century sanctuary full of bathing pools, fountains and rock wall carvings. I found the last sight to be the best one. We also got some good bargains on souvenirs and paintings in the market right outside this historical Hindu site.

Babi Guling

At Elephant Cave

After a hectic day, we decided to unwind with a relaxing massage before heading to Kuta, our final destination. The Balinese massage at Sari Spa at our home stay was the best way to end an exciting day.