Thursday, September 28, 2006

My favourite things - 2

One other thing that I really love to do is travel – I love the anticipation of reaching your destination, of experiencing new ways of living, and of just ‘soaking in the atmosphere’ of new places. Top of mind recall for the countries I have visited shows up Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, China (Hong Kong), Australia, Mauritius, Kuwait.
I love visiting new places as long as I know where I will stay. I remember various nights backpacking in Europe with nary-an-idea of where I was going to sleep that night. Various railway stations (hauptbahnhof, as the Germans call them), a boathouse, assorted cafes and a biergarten have played host to me for the night (sometimes very reluctantly :-)). I did it when I had to, but don’t think I can do it again. Maybe that’s what they call ageing :-)
Within India, I don’t recall having visited too many places. One puzzling question I’ve been trying to answer for long is – what do I like more: the mountains or the sea? As I think about it now, the answer is very clear – I love the sea!! The mountains may be grand, but I will choose the sea any day.
I love walking along a seashore. I remember in Bombay, I often walked the 6 kms from my office to my residence in the evenings. I even used to get up early for an early morning stroll along the beach (if there is one thing I cannot do, it is to get up early!!)
Among all the beach places I’ve visited, I like (pre-tsunami) Phuket best. That’s because it has beautiful transparent water, and a very vibrant atmosphere. Multiple water sports and hang out places dot the place. Mauritius would come a distant second, and ironically enough, only because of memories of Jack Daniels with coke on the beach :-)
All this description has woken the wanderlust in me again. Time to dust off the trusty atlas? :-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

thoda India bhee dekho huzoor !!! you'll be surprised at how many breahtakingly beautiful and unique places there are to see .. me heading out to one of them tonight :))

Me

Alam said...

dude i agree with the anonymous
desh is not that bad... hit andanmans sometime for white sand and blue beaches

to get a better pictures of the hills you are most welcome our place at Srinagar anytime.

offer only for limited time (till dad is posted there)

Anonymous said...

I hope the 6 km stretch from work to home in Bombay was lined with some beautiful girls; else I'll start to doubt your sanity...

btw, you must check out the himalayas high up (try Ladakh, Auli or even Shillong) first before you put your foot down against the mountains...

Bland Spice said...

wow!
you really have a blog going here...
i am not commenting on the individual pieces here but all were pretty thot provoking.
will comment in detail at leisure.

The Invizible Man said...

nice piece... can't agree with you more on the anticipation of going and seeing the world. and the funny thing is there's nothing really stopping us, is there? except us, that is.

Anonymous said...

i reliased its going to take me more than a lifetime to absorb the beauty of the himalayas!

being in delhi does offer lots in travel especially in ur new santro...let goto Raj this winter..

A