I was going to a school !
I was both excited and nervous. What’s in store for me in this town of a new country where lack of a common language is a big problem for us. Last four days, I had difficulty in explaining what I wanted to eat or where I wanted to go. Then how am I going to communicate with teachers and students of the school?
So what if I am a volunteer teacher, I was feeling like a kid going to a new school.
All these emotions bothered …

Picture of the moment: Cambodian Riels
Picture of the moment is a weekly series exhibiting pictures, through which I show you a bit of my world.

100 Australian dollars were exchanged for 3,69,626 Riels !
Cambodian currency is very poor and one spends lakhs of them everyday on food, transport etc. One litre of mineral water of may cost you around 10,000 Riels. When compared to India,

Starting tomorrow morning I am off to South east Asia for over 2 months. Cambodia, Malaysia and probably Thailand or Singapore. Not yet decided, not yet planned.

That’s aerial view of Mumbai
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.. — Winston Churchill
As a responsible traveller, I strongly believe in giving back something to the society.
I have done this before and will do so in future also. This time I will be engaged in volunteer work with an NGO in Cambodia for about …

I Taut I taw a puddy tat !
Remember the cute little naughty golden canary named Tweety and the cat Sylvester? During my younger days I have read and watched this Cartoon and enjoyed them no end.
Then one day in school we “discovered” a group of islands named the Canary Islands. Since then I had always imagined this place to be exotic with canaries of every hue and was always reminded of Canary Islands every time I read or saw Tweetie.
As a child we always paint colorful and larger …

And so a fulfilled trip to Malaysia and Philippines came to an end. Or should I say a fun filled trip ?
It was majorly Philippines with Malaysia serving as a landing platform both ways. To start with, we had booked our air tickets to and fro Kuala Lumpur around 2 months back and that was it. No other plans or schedule were made or thought of…. the way I prefer to travel.
Why Kuala Lumpur ? Because Air-Asia, my favourite cost effective airlines for south Asian countries, doesn’t fly directly to …

For Aurangabad trip I had just a small backpack which was packed to its capacity. And since it was going to be mostly climbing steps either for caves or hilltops for forts, I had taken my good & comfortable pair of shoes.
Obviously while moving from one place to another I had to wear those shoes as there was no place to keep them in my bag. For general moving around in the city and in hotel, I had packed another pair of footwear (chappals), a slip on types.
Shoes served their …

So, it’s on.
The air tickets were booked more than 5 months back. And that was it. Travel insurance and other paperwork was done last week and I am off……
I have started my 48 day solo backpacking trip to two countries and am in first leg of the journey. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t a great start. I would call it risky. On this later,  if I feel like writing here.
But I am told I am the first Indian female to go solo backpacking abroad ! Is that so? Then Yayy!! …