Flamingos enjoying their meals.

The year started with a trip to city of gardens, Bangalore in January.

Lal Baugh, Bangalore.

Next came Mauritius. V happened to go there several times and I accompanied him once. I have written very little about this beautiful country.

Who would not want to live here?

Then came my 48 days solo backpacking trip to Malaysia and Thailand which started in late February and ended sometime in April. Physically I was not at my best. It was tough and sometimes daunting being a woman and travelling alone in a new alien country. Wandering on roads with a backpack with no fixed destination or agenda was both fun and challenging.
Those readers who were following my posts at that time would definitely agree with me.

Majestic Petronas. You can’t visit it if you don’t plan a day ahead.

Everything about Thailand is amazing.

Month of May saw me in Delhi for a short trip and I could visit the Red fort. I had a great time there. I have noticed, when you are alone, your observation skills shoot up.

Majestic Red fort at Delhi.

Come June and July and I was in Bangalore and after that again a solo trip to interiors of Tamilnadu. Started from Chennai in sleeper class I travelled in local buses, rickshaws and on foot. The most common question I was asked by the locals (whenever they could speak English) was which country I belonged to. People even requested me to have a photo with them !!
Surprising enough, I do not look like a foreigner from any angle. Perhaps my cargoes, cap with a Kangaroo on it, a camera hanging from my neck and my solo status spoke otherwise.
BTW, this happened in Thailand as well.

Entrance of Bragatheeswara or Big temple, Thanjavur.

Towards the end of this trip, mosquito bites in Kumbakonam gifted me Dengue which I thought was a normal fever and kept suppressing it with Paracetamol pills.
Sriperambadur was my last stop before I flew back home from Chennai. Once home, tests revealed it was indeed Dengue and I was advised immediate hospitalization because of my condition. It took more than a month to recover with V taking full care of me.

But I could not restrict myself for long. August end, and I was at Aurangabad exploring the world famous caves and later at Lonar lake.

Sculptures at Ellora attract people of all ages.

Again travelled in local buses, had to stay in a dingy room in a very small place by compulsion … thanks to heavy rains which had washed away all roads of onward journey.
But at the end of it, this was what waiting for me.

The emerald green was so inviting that I couldn’t resist myself from hiking down to it.

In the month of October I flew down to Sikkim on an invitation by Club Mahindra. One of the major achievements of this trip was visiting Nathu La Pass and first meeting with eight hitherto virtual people.

Near Kyongnosla, one of the check points at around 10000 ft.

In November it was again a Delhi trip to attend some family functions spread over 8 days but I made it a point to take a day off to visit Khurja, a small but well known place for its pottery industry. Again, I met another friend in Delhi who was virtual for me till then.

Bahai’s temple, Delhi.

In Khurja it was quite difficult to convince somebody to show me a factory and how things are made from scratch to finish. Here is a small video that I captured while coming back from one such factory.

In one of the factories in Khurja.

Come December and on 20th I flew down to Kuala Lumpur on way to Philippines to celebrate Christmas and new year in a new country.

View from my window at Batad, Philippines.

Sunset at Port Dickson beach, Malaysia.

And I bade farewell to year 2010….
This year I intend to do a different kind of travel, a kind of introspection. For doing that first I need to enhance my endurance level. Just one reason is good enough…. I am a traveller and not a tourist.

Lastly,
Dear Year 2010,
Goodbye. You gave me a lot of opportunities to travel and I am quite satisfied.
May I wish for more this year.

Greedy,
Me.
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Posts related to this entry which might interest you :-

• The Year That Was 2011 (8)
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I was apprehensive about the place I was going to stay. I needed a budgeted, clean and safe place. On Googling I found, hotels near Trivandrum station were all of similar nature and class.
As soon as you put your foot on the ground, the touts swam you with offers to take you to a nice hotel. They get commission, hotel gets a customer and you pay the bill. To tell you the truth, I am susceptible to these pressure tactics, especially if I am traveling alone.
So, I wanted a place I could directly head for, shooing away these touts.

Entrance to International block.

Forums could not help me much. Then fortunately I got to know existence of YMCA in that city.
First, it took us days to contact them. Phone nos. were either wrong or busy. There was no other way to contact them. Links on their website were not working. On top of that, I needed to make a DD (demand draft) @ Rs 495/- per day and send them to confirm my booking.
But it suited my requirements. So I went ahead with my plan and I don’t regret doing that.

Once there, I found staff to be very courteous and co-operative. I could also take a short interview of general secretary, who said they were working towards making it a better customer friendly place. Do read this if you want to know the details. I also collected all correct phone nos & information from them.

The spacious room where I stayed.

Without much ado, I give you the details that you require in case you decide to stay there.

Contact persons – Mr Shaiju and Mr Selvin
Contact nos. -
Shaiju Alfi Ph. 9847508304
Ninan Ninan Ph. 9446353648
Office – 0471-2330059
The full list is here.

Distance from station – Around 1.2 Kms. An autorickshaw won’t take more than Rs 20/- For me it was Rs 16.00. Go directly to pre-paid auto stand.
Website – http://ymcatrivandrum.org/intrivandrum.html
Disadvantage - No good restaurants nearby.
Demand draft of Rs 495/- per day is a must though they say from 2nd time onwards phone calls suffice.
YMCA, Trivandrum is a part of Le Monde-A Poetic Travail
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For regular personal updates, subscribe to this website by e-mail or on your reader. For those small stories and tit-bits that don’t always make it to this place check out my Twitter or Facebook page accounts.

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Sunset at Kovalam.

Beach is as beautiful as you could think of. It reminds us of many beaches around the world. It has 2 curves and some rocks in between…. but not as separated as twin beaches of Goa – Palolem & Agonda.

Kovalam lights. You can see light house also.

It has bubbling, full of life sea side market akin to Batu ferrangi in Penang, Malaysia and it also has many small workshops cum shops like in Murano island in Venice.
The sand is very fine, white and pristine and any day cleaner than Goan beaches.

One can find nice sea side restaurants along this belt for fine dining. Many of them will give you option to choose from fresh catch of fish, lobster etc. to cater to your mouth watering taste buds.

If you want to stay there, plenty of choice for every pocket. From five star Hotel Leela to small shacks …everything is available.

How to reach
Three options.
Car, bus or auto-rickshaw.

Distance is around 15 Kms from station, so 3rd option is disadvantageous considering how they cheat any tourists. Car option is good but quite expensive.

Best way to go there is to take a KSRTC Volvo bus. Air-conditioned, clean and regular. They ply on every route to this place.
The fare from statue to beach is RS 30/- and from East-fort Rs 26/- per person. Most of bus drivers and conductors understand and speak English and Hindi both. The last Volvo bus from Kovalam beach is at 8:30 PM. But there are many other buses from East-Fort also. East-fort is a place near Trivandrum central station.

If you need to know more on this, comment section is all yours. Or else don’t hesitate to shoot a mail or contact me.
—-
For regular personal updates, subscribe to this website by e-mail or on your reader. For those small stories and tit-bits that don’t always make it to this place check out my Twitter or Facebook accounts.

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Thomas Abraham

Nisha Jha (NJ): I saw the website of YMCA, Trivandrum. First look is impressive but many of the links are not working. What are you doing for that?
Thomas Abraham(TA): We are currently working on the website and in a few weeks time you’ll find all links working.

NJ: For booking a room in YMCA, one has to compulsorily make a draft at the rate of Rs 495/- per day and send you across. Don’t you think in today’s world it is a tedious and time consuming job ?
TA: Many times it happens that people book a room and do not turn up or inform us to cancel the booking. In the process people in waiting have to turned down. The step is to discourage this practice.

NJ: In that case, do you think net transfer of booking amount or booking through net can be made possible in near future to facilitate the process?
TA: That’s a good suggestion; we will try to incorporate it here.

NJ: Is a woman allowed to stay here without accompanying any male?
TA: Earlier we had this problem and many people have asked us about this. Now, only women can also stay here.

NJ: There is no cafeteria or any eating place for guests.
TA: Currently the cafeteria we have is for house boys only. We found that opening a full time cafeteria for our guests is neither feasible nor economical.

NJ: Can it not be arranged with some nearby restaurants especially if it’s become a turn off for people who would like to stay here ?
TA: Yes, we have that arrangement.

NJ: But neither people are aware of this nor it is mentioned on your website?
TA: *smiles*. But you must have noticed a coffee wending machine at the reception.
NJ: Yes, I have and enjoyed the coffee as well.

In addition to asking questions, I gave some suggestions as well which I am sure he found useful enough to incorporate.

If you need to know more on this, comment section is all yours or you can shoot me a mail or contact me.
—-
For regular personal updates, subscribe to this website by e-mail or on your reader. For those small stories and tit-bits that don’t always make it to this place check out my Twitter or Facebook accounts.

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