Costa Rica: there is no such thing as a week long trip

As usual let me start with the trailer to this post: a few snapshots of Costa Rica. 

The first is what a friend has aptly called "insane propaganda among banana trees by the Danes"! The second is my favorite dinner and drinks spot, the garden chairs facing the sea in Montezuma Paradise, a tiny house-turned lodge in Montezuma.

Below is the most amazing Volnano Poas and its sulphur spewing out

Followed by Playa Grande and A fighting the waves at that beach

The last two snaps are of me taking a (brave) swim with snakes and fishes in the waterfall lake in Montezuma. And me chickening out and not taking a swim in the crater lake in Cerra Chato volcano!

Krabi, Thailand: Phish in the bluest waters!

Jan 13, 2008 we set off for our much deserved post marriage escape from all the dinners with aunty unclejis, to Krabi, Thailand. A and I had chosen this destination after a lot of reserach since we were sure about one thing - we don't want to land up in a place full of desi honeymooners in churhas (red bangles) and heels.. so we stayed as far away from Phuket as possible.  

Krabi seemed ideal because our lonely planet said that it was less inhabited and difficult to get to. We had decided this time we are allowed to splurge and booked a chintzy looking hotel in Ao Nang beach,  Cliff Ao Nang Resort. The resort was everything they claimed to be in their website, the most amazing outdoor pool facing the hills and a rising sun - right outside our room, bamboo, flowers and birs everywhere and a really funky outdoor bathroom. they had taken our "we are honeymooners" message seriously and equipped the room with dozens ad dozens of orchids, a bottle of champagne and lots of fruits.. so YIPPEE! The place was really well done up, all natural stuff and beautiful. Even the sink in the bathroom was worth taking half a dozen pics of.. it was filled with the most amazing colored orchids. (No wonder they were charging us 40 times the rest of the  resorts around Ao nang!) 

The other nice thing about the resort was the early morning breakfast they served right by the pool. Hog, get dressed and run. That was what we did every single day.. no "relaxing" for this odd couple! The first adventure was the long tail boat ride to railey beach.. a short and noisy trip down to the islands which are known for the most beautiful waters and exotic sun set.

Our first stop was at Railey west where we spent the better part of the morning scrambling up rocks to reach who-knows-where, giving up cos of the heat and the sheer pointlessness of the exercise, swimming non stop (complaining about the reefs and rocks scratching our feet) and then having the most fantastic meal (herbed fish, pina colada, Singha beer) at Flametree Restaurant by the sea. Post dinner stroll was to Railey East and Hat Phra Nang - the beach with white sands and non-rocky sea bed! It was absolutely made for swimming so that's what we did till evening. On way to Hat Phra our these scary looking limestone caves, which freaked the shit out of A especially since some of them had suspicious looking skulls strewn around. we managed to watch the most fantastic sunset (I have pics to prove that) and catch the long tail boat back to Ao nang.. I recommend Railey to anyone who cares to listen!

The next day we decided to try something non-beachy and instead hired a scooty and set off for Thao Phan Ben Jha national Park (or something which sounded like that!) The lady at the counter in our hotel was darn surprised that we are planning to go to a rainforest and said "oh there is nothing there, just trees, butterflies and waterfalls!".. ofcourse we decided WE HAVE TO GO to check out such beautiful nothings!  We meandered into a Wat (Wat Sai) on the way, and then singing happy (Sholay "Yeh Dosti") songs to avoid complaining about the dusty roads, reached the rain forest. The rainforest in Thailand is not as dense as ones you would see in Puerto Rico or Costa Rica (I am just showing off cos I just returned form a trip to CR!) but is definitely worth a visit esp since no one really goes there. I don' think we met anyone during our most fantastic hike through the forests, dip in the waterfall pool and picnic with the butterflies. 

On the way back we ventured into some even eerier looking stalagtite and stalagmite caves (I've always wanted to see this stalag stuff since I read about them in Enid Blyton, I think it was in the "mountain of adventure!).  But again the skulls and strange noises scared us off and we reached Ao Nang in time for a late lunch by the beach and a stop at a sun set beach. Noppharat Thara Bay is ideal in the evening when its low tide and you can practically walk to all the nearby rocky islands, and watch the sun setting behind others.  By the time we managed to click a zillion pics of the sun setting behind a two-humped rock, a storm was brewing so we ran to our treehouse bar (Upstairs Bar) and relaxed with out Pina Colada and Mojito. 

We had saved the last day for a tour to Phi Phi Islands.. I don't recommend a tour to anyone since you are the mercy of someone elses schedule and are stuck with people who might want to avoid in any other circumstance. But I did not mind this tour because it gave me a taste of something I enjoyed the MOST in this trip - snorkeling. Our first snorkeling stop was a disaster, I was too nervouse to breathe through the pipe and kept clutching on to the side of the boat at Monkey Bay. But my second attempt at Lohasamah Bay was a huge success and I managed to see such amazing reefs and  fishes that I was almost crying! The next stop - at Maya beach was a nightmare - the beach is absolutely fantastic (that's where the movie THE BEACH) was shot but it was us teeming with tourist boats on tours like ours.  The buffet lunch at Phi Phi Don (the ugliest islands in that area) was a disaster as well - teh food was bland and the water full of diesel.  I would have complained much more if it hadn;t been for the open sea snorkeling stop at hin Klanrng and the swim stop at Bamboo Islands ... whitest sands and the bluest waters... 

(Above) A long tail boat near Phi Phi Islands

(Above) Setting sun near an island we could walk to on low tide; (below) Setting sun in Railey

Hat Phra nang: Perfect for swimming

(below) Scrambling across rocks to a new hidden island in Railey 

Massaman Curry, Ping Pong and much much more

(Some images of Patpong bars, dried fish on roadsides of Bangkok and Wat po.)

I am back.. a lot happened since I last managed to write a post but.. that's for the other blog. For you, my dear travel diary, here's a post I've been dying to write.

Jan 10, 2008
Bangkok, Thailand is a strange place to be in. It's everything I've read about - flagrant examples of sex tourism in abundance, green curries in all corners, stinky oily street foods, malls, more malls and night markets. Unfortunately (or otherwise) we had just 3 days to taste it all. The highlight for me was definitely

Pat Pong: the night market where you can get it all.. whether it be fake Gucci for 200 Baht or real BEEPS shooting darts for 1200 bahts or playing ping pong for 1300 (excuse the censoring, I have some underage readers like my Mom!!) I confess I chickened out and didn't venture into the beep shooting dart zone, however much my academic curiosity pushed me! But I did observe the drag shows on the streets, the gay tourism (which I was not expecting), the 60-year old red faced, half-burnt German men in speedos with their 20 year old Thai women escorts in short skirts (I had read about this part so was not too surprised). The whole place was so open and unashamedly raunchy that the naked women seemed almost not-naked and the man selling a SM show beating a chair with a whip seemed as normal as the women selling pineapples..

Wat Po or the Temple of the reclining Budhdha was my second pick in the area. Just the size of the statue is worth a visit if not the inner courtyards and paintings.

Street food: If you are braver that I am and less fussy than my tummy is, you are sure to have a blast in bangkok, foodwise. As early as 7 am, the streets are filled with smell of fish, beef satays dipped in some sweet and spicy sauce and round balls made of who-knows-what dipped in who-knows-what. And the best is that they are so darn cheap. The only thing I tasted and enjoyed without any fuss was the papaya shrimp salad. HOT HOT but YUM

And how can I write a travel blog without a restaurant review?! My top pick would have to be the stylish Thanying restaurant in Silom serving "Genuine Royal Cuisine" ... The green curry with prawns and the way they serve their food made me go there for lunch at 4pm and return for dinner at 7! And if you are the type who looks around even when there is a fresh tiger prawn sitting on your plate, the ambience is charming.. lots of bamboo work and orchids.
Silom Village (yes yes I was staying in the silom area and by the end of the day was too hungry and tired to venture anywhere else for dinner!) was also surprisingly good, their fresj fish were HUGE and rather yum.

On a less foody front, Chatu Chak weekend market was quite an experience as well. If you are the mall type you would be happy with the dozen Macy's style establishments around town but if you are like me and hate malls but would still want to grab a fake Puma for 100 baht (2 dollars) then go ahead, push and shove against the zillion sweaty bodies in Chatuchak market. Plan to arrive at the market before 10, unless you love being squashed between sweaty bodies, and plan to leave by noon! I managed to grab half a dozen shoes (all, I must warn you, are darn good looking but a waste of money since they have no souls, oops soles!), and a couple of householdy things. All for less that 5 dollars...

That's pretty much it for my Bangkok story. I'll keep the real thing (Krabi) for my next rest hour!

Baking and frying in MA

Summer is here, almost full blast. A & I are (thankfully) very alike in our ADD - we can't stay still in one place - especially on a sunny weeekend. Since May there has not been a weekend when we haven't gone either hiking or beaching and so here's a post dedicated to all those great and not-so great destinations on the East Coast.

The no. 1 on my list Hot-MA destinations is Halibut Point State Park, a little north of Rockport. a friend once told A that a visit to Halibut will change his perception of MA vs. CA. (A is a die-hard California lover and often complains that everything in Massachusetts is too tiny and too developed. Bing, another CA loyal, feels exactly the same. I do too.) The friend was probably too optimistic but if there is any place in MA which can at least try make CA loyalists change sides (or at least hate MA less)I think it's Halibut. You step on to the first path and the view at the lookout point is absolutely breath taking. A clear blue quarry surrounded by big boulders surrounded by the blue blue Atlantic (!) Ocean. Blue quarry, blue skies and blue oceans. What else can you ask for in one shot? Well how about the waves crashing against the rocky cliffs which form the most amazing tide pools, the warm sun baking the rocks and the long sandy beach (Long beach) a couple of minutes away....Ofcourse, if you are like me you would also want a nice fresh fish lunch. Run down to the Rockport Fish Shack, Lobster Shack or the Award-winning fish shack "Woodman's" we discovered in Essex. All fish are deep fried, served wth even deeper fried fries and onion -rings. But hey, I didn't write this post for people on a detox diet :P

Crane beach remains my No 2. Though the fact that parking is free at the Singing Beach (while it's 20 bux at Crane) and the beach is "private" and really clean makes Singing a close competitor. The greatest part about Crane is its relatively long stretch. So if you feel like avoiding the babies and the tanning moms, you can. And ofcourse, the lagoon which magically pops up at low tide.

A close third is the small but extremely swim-friendly beach in Rockport (bang opposite the cemetary). I swear if I can swim out without panicking anyone in the world can. The water was cold (yes it's MA!) but not killing and the waves so gentle and sweet. I had the greatets half-hour long float looking at the screeching sea-gulls fly by in the blue blue sky... mmmmmmm....

For the less sunny days, Breakheart Reservation (yups that IS its real name!) in Saugus is another great option. Just 12 miles from Cambridge, with two really pretty and decent-sized
ponds, green uncrowded hikes along the ponds or through the pines - this place is ideal for the 60-70 F days. We picnicked by one of the lakes on rocks baking in the sun. For the family friendly and non-baby-hating types, the "beach" is a good stopover. There you find many lifeguards and ice creams, the water is swimmable and the babies plenty.

The pics will be uploaded once the memory card is sufficently full so hang on and keep baking!

Zooming across East Coast

Ma, go read my food post. You would like that better! Rest of the junta, a few pics till I get time to write about all the crazy places I visited in the last one month :

Another Provincetown, this one is the quaint town of Rockport in MA.



Below, don't miss the rainbow colors formed near the Maid of the Mist by the sprays of the Niagara Falls



The biggest and oldest hotel in another quaint but this time Canadian town - "Niagara by the Lake"

Last few weeks have been the craziest ever. I don't think there was a single day in the last two weeks when I was not on the move - either on a bus, a train, a plane or a ferry. The highlights are in pics on top. But as exciting as visiting new places was rediscovering the old - noticing the pretty flowering trees lining the paths I walk on everyday, noticing the chapels in Harvard Square and the bridges in NYC. In case you are interested my itinerary went something like this: Princeton, NJ - NYC - Cambridge - Rockport, MA - NYC - Toronto - Niagara - Kingston -Wolfe Island, Canada. Does NJ deserve a paragraph? I guess Princeton does.

The last few weeks has also been like a tour of schools on the East coast and Canada - from Princeton, to Yale (okay almost Yale), to Harvard, MIT, Univ of Toronto to Queens. I donnno who has the most money or ivy but Princeton definitely has the best buildings. Unlike the MASSIVE structures of harvard and the imposing pillars, Princeton has what I like from architecture, the "old" look and the quaint sculptures peeping out from the most unexpected places. Yaya, they are not a patch on the structures in Oxford Cambridge, UK but they are the best that US can give. MIT, is more diverse than Harvard, with its focus on the future, technology and steel. But not THAT impressive. Toronto... well I won't say I saw much of the Univ, but teh gradens were pretty green! Queens, with the lake and water all around it, it can't really go wrong. It doesn't, in most parts. Some of the buildings are quite plain but some have teh real cool Harry Pottery/Gryffindor look about them. That's it for the school experience. More travel stuff tomorrow.

Cape Cod: Sand dunes and Pine trees

I never thought these two could go together ... but near Provincetown, CapeCod, MA, they do! I had been hearing people rave and rant about Cape cod since I got to New England, and was always sceptical when they claimed that it was better than the west coast (I remain a die hard califirnia fan!). Last year's experince at Crane Beach made me less sceptical and Cape cod almost made me believe them! Yes, the water was freezing and dips were unthinkable (it IS after all barely spring) but the diversity in terrain was more breathtaking than I 've seen even on the Pacific coast line.



I am the official weekend planner and this time I decided we would choose quaintness over affordability and booked us a night at one of the cutest bed and breakfast possible - this place called Nauset House Inn, a few minute walk from the Nauset Beach. The inn is run by a friendly couple who serve a delicious breakfast (food always comes first in my travel blog!), have an ancient looking conservatory and hand-painted furniture ( the other high point for me was the little home-made cuddly toy on the rocking chair... but for the less mentally unstable, that may not be the high point.)



One of the big reasons I was so excited about cape cod was that it's full of light houses and since my enid blyton days I've always dreamt of visiting one. Since I was around 6 (Though I confess I still read them as soon as I step into my delhi house!) Enid Blyton has been my all time favorite no brainer read . All her racism sexism aside, she did create a great fantasy world and some of my favorites used to be the famous five adventures where Julian Dick George Anne and Timmy the dog (!) would go live in a light house with Tinker and his monkey (hehehehe I am so loony, I actually remember their names!). I desperately wanted to live in a light house but since none of them let you do that I chose the next best thing - go visit one. Nauset area has about 4 - one which was still operational and the Three sisters, which looked kind of abandoned.

Our first stop in Cape cod, was ofcourse these light houses. They weren't as old and quaint as I would have wanted them to.. but I was thrilled nonetheless. We had decided that we would explore Nauset beach the first evening but our friendly inn keeper John advised us to make most of the sun (a very rare commodity in New England) and check out Provincetown instead.
Apart from the fact that the Pilgrims first landed in P-town (which I didn't know and didnt much care about in any case), the town is known for being immensely gay-friendly, full of the most amazing book stores (check out the bizarro spanking monkeys pic), cafes, sea-food places, art exhibitions and craft stores and ofcourse for its sand dunes and beaches. We had the most wonderful time sliding down dunes, wondering into pine tree woods and then jogging on the beach. What more can you ask for? Ya, some good food!



P-town is full of great (but expenssive) places to eat. Everyone had recommended this place called Napis (portugese food) but we chickened out on seeing the prices (nothing less than $25) and chose a less fancy Hearth and Kettle instead. I was so hungry by the time they served me my special fish dish that even if they had served me beans I would have said they were great!

El Yunque, Puerto Rico: Of Coqui Frogs and hidden waterfalls

This time for spring break we decided to explore Puerto Rico a little beyond San Juan. A little trivia for you: Less than a century ago, Puerto Rico used to be the name of the city and San Juan the name of the island. Who knows why they decided to turn things around.
Our first stop was Old San Juan - the only spot I think is worth visiting in San Juan now that everything else has been taken over by Burger Kings, outlet malls and garish looking luxury apartments. Well, not to say that Old San Juan remains untouched by the evil powers of Macdy, but at least there are pockets which are pretty. The cobbled streets, the colorful houses lined one after the other with lovely iron doors and patios - for example. And El Morro by the night. Mmmmmm, I could just spend the week there, watching the sun rise, then set, the waves crashing against the fort walls and the flickering spooky lights lighting up the ancient cemetary. Not that I recommend this romantic nature watching for real, by the way, since its likely that the bugs and the stoned boys in the nooks and crannies of the fort will get you first
We had booked a room with a balcony (which is highly recommended for the people looking to get the authentic feel of San Juan night life but are too old to stay on the streets beyond 1 am) in the "Guest house on Tanca street". Yup, that's how everyone knows it (for those who need to get there for real - it's the yellow white building on 205 Tanca - between Fortaleza and San Francisco St). It's just across the street from the most happening local bars which plays pumping music till 5 am! And ofcourse since we had the room with the balcony we were forced to enjoy it till early morning - that's usually when the cops come in and line up all the drunk, stoned and wasted tourists from teh street. And the party stops at last
The guest house is not luxurious (that's why it's $50 a night for a room with abalcony or an AC, 45 without) . You have to share bathrooms (two for each floor), the manager knows no english (though his son does), the kitchen is filthy and the rooms can get stifling hot at night. But the size of the rooms are huge, the staircase, doors, balcony are pretty as hell - it all fits in so well in the Old San Juan ambience. Dinner was a problem for my veggie boy, I managed to survive on a beef burrito but all he got was tons of Pina Coladas, beer and a plate full of nachos. Ofcourse, if you are not traveling on a budget, San Juan has a lot more to offer - from Mediterranean, to fusion Indian, Spanish and whatever you can think of. But don't expect to get a meal for less than $30 or $ 40 if you pound drinks


Next stop was El Yunque - the rainforests about 2 hours drive from San Juan. We had reserved a "house" from a website . Since all the exotic sounding cabins were booked we got Ko's House instead. El Yunque is everything I expected it to be - okay, almost everything. I did not get to see as many birds (I swear they are invisible but SO loud!) or coqui frogs (ditto) but the vegetation, the waterfalls and the "house" was pefectly right.

Ko's house turned out to be a half-finished house in the middle of the rainforest with many locked doors leading to who knows where, a kitchen that barely functioned (with a refriderator which was probably bought in 1900) but a beautiful location. At night when we sat on the balcony we could barely hear ourselves speak becasue of all the bird and insect sounds, it was extraordinary.


For a change we had it all chalked out and had reserved a guided hike with Robin Phillips. And although his website says "about 4 hours easy hiking" don't believe him. It's more like a 8 hour hike, not that easy but out of this world. He delivers more than he promises - an educational tour of the forests, interesting facts about all the plants and trees, history of the area, taste of raspberries, edibles flowers and just his really quirky company (and if like us you have not eaten for two days his wife packs pretty yum sandwiches!).

Our hiking group was weird - a lesbian from the midwest who rejected all kind of help very aggressively, a 4-month pregnant woman having her 7th baby, her eldest son and us. The pregnant woman talked non -stop, the boy hardly did and i did not notice much else beyond a point! To be fair, maybe it IS actually a pretty easy hike for people who climb mountains everyday, do not get all weak-kneed with heights and are generally fitter than I am. The pregnant lady managed just fine till the end when we reached the bizarrest part of the hike.


So, there is this one point where to reach our next "hidden waterfall" we had to climb up from one level of the mountain to the next. Once upon a time there used to be a tall steep ladder to make that climb simple. But I guess some hikers fell and borke their bones and sued the govt or soemthing so now they don't want anyone to climb up the ladder and have chained the first rung. Ofcourse, our brilliantly crazy guide has decided (rightly) that if you take so many precautions you lose half the fun so he makes his hikers squueze through the side and climb up. It sounds simple but trust me it is not! The fat boy got stuck and had to give up, teh pregnant woman ofcourse didn't try and rest of us (except my brave lil thin boy) took quite a bit of cajoling. Robin literally lifted me up and planted my foot on the second rung and forced me to do it! But once you reach the top - the gushing waterfall makes it all worth it.

Tips for El Yunque visitors: Carry AND use a bug spray especially when you go on hikes. Wear long pants and carry some rain wear. I was bitten red and blue by a really sneaky group of fire ants, when they bit me I didn't even realize it but I was left scratching and crying for weeks after. definitely bathe in the waterfalls, and always carry your bathing suit in case you feel like jumping out of your car when you see the blue blue carribean waters while driving from one place to the next or going under a waterfall while hiking.

The only beach we spent much time in was Luquillo. We did stop at the beaches off route 3 in the Naguabo district, the beaches there were even prettier than Luquillo but the watre had too much sea weed. Luquillo, as the pic tells you, was amazing. I spent about 5 hours floating around and 2 hours devouring a 2-feet long red snaper all by myslef! The two days of eating out of tins and eating stale bread with banana on top (ya, we were a little unprepared for the no food scenario in the rain forest!) had taken its toll. Thank you for all the fish.