#Indiatravel Archives — FORBABYNMOMMY

How to Plan a Trip to Dubai UAE

Travel trip to UAE

In this trip to UAE we visited 3 emirates out of 7 emirates:

Planning for the visit to 7 Emirates

We started the planning at least 2-3 months before. Planning includes various things like – length of visit, what to see, which time to visit, how to arrange etc.

We checked various travel partners/websites to get the quotation for a 6N/7D itinerary for 2 Adults and 1 kid to UaE. We were getting around 2.6L to 3.2L quotations. Cost of these packages depends on type of hotel and what all things you are including in it plus your bargain skills.

Finally, we checked if we could plan ourselves and if our friends are okay with that or not. Our friends were good with planning the whole trip by ourselves and had same thought that this provided us the freedom to plan as per our requirements.

Basically, with any tour package you get less tension, but you are stuck with them, they decide what to do when to leave where to go etc. With self-planning you have the freedom to decide what to do how much time to spend what to visit etc.

So, first we finalized what all places we want to visit in UAE and what all activities we want to do. Once we have that list, we checked the ticket prices on various websites. Then we checked the cab charges, hotel prices, flight prices and after all this we compared it with packages cost, and it was coming less only as this does not include their commission.

We booked better hotel, we decided what we want to visit, we decided the time when we want to visit, we decided in our leisure time what we want to do etc.

Cost for Trip to UAE

Our trip cost was around 3.2L for 2 Adults and 1 Kid (6 years age). This includes

Flights, we booked Emirates were little costly than other Indian carriers
Hotel, we stayed in 4* Marriott property that was not too far from Downtown
All the attractions
Taxi fares
Food we eat
Shopping including Duty Free
Visa
Travel Insurance
International Sim
Cab fare from home to Airport and back in India
Shopping for the trip

One can save some money on hotel and attractions. Like you can book something cheaper say a 3*, we choose to go to 148 Floor of Burj Khalifa which was costly then normal ticket, we booked a private 2-hour boat ride in Marina instead you can do a smaller tour or skip it, smaller tours of Abu Dhabi which were cheaper etc.

Attractions We Visited in UAE

After a lot of research and discussions with our friends we shortlisted:

Burj Khalifa
Burj Al Arab
Abu Dhabi
Dubai Frame
Dolphin Show
Dubai Mall
Ponte
The View At the Palm
Old Dubai Walking Tour
Boat ride in Dubai Marina
Miracle Garden
Ras Al Khaimah

We didn’t do the Desert Safari had done something similar in Jaisalmer so were not too keen on doing it. Our friends did it later in there stay with some of there relatives and said it was good one-time experience, if you have never experience something like that before.

Also, we missed visiting Museum of the Future as tickets were sold out, Dubai Eye as it was under maintenance.

There are a lot of other attractions/places to see in Dubai & around but you need time, so kept them for next visit.

Visa For UAE

We applied for Visa via MMT (Make My Trip). The process was quite simple and straight forwards. You don’t have to visit any place and can apply from the comfort of your home. We took 30 days Single entry Visa.

Document required:

Passport Scan – Front & Back
Coloured Visa photo

You can use MMT App for the same. Upload all the documents on there and pay. We paid INR 19,800 around for 2 Adults and 1 Kid. MMT say it will take around 10-12 days, but it takes around 3-4 working days to get the visa.

Flights

Do plan your trip well in advance to save some money. We were little late in finalizing the dates and doing the booking and due to this we paid around INR 20,000 extra. Initially same flight was costing us INR 57,000 and when we booked it 3-4 days later it was INR 77,000 around.

We choose Emirates because of the experience & service, even though we travelled economy but it’s different then Indigo and SpiceJet for sure. One can save some money here as well by choosing Indian Carriers.

If you have some Credit Card/Priority Pass that offer free lounge access, then you can plan your arrival at airport accordingly. We won’t recommend anyone to do this @Mumbai Airport as the Loyalty lounge here is pathetic. It’s so claustrophobic and smells of food all the time & you will feel like coming out of it immediately.

Food was also not good; we had few things there and were out of it in around 30 min. It was much better outside then sitting there. There are other lounges but as this Airport was taken over by Adani, I think they have converted them into but for Business/First class. There are much better lounges on Domestic then on International.

Do note that you’ll need separate cards for all the passengers even for kids above 5-6 years age.

Travel Insurance

We took this from Reliance General as this was the cheapest option. It costed us INR 1000 for 3 passengers with cover of USD100,000 and some add-on features which were common across all other providers.

Stay

For this trip we booked Aloft Al Mina which is a Marriott property. It’s a 4* property and it’s good. This property is situated right on Sheikh Rashid Road and has a hospital right adjacent to it. Marriott has their Elements property as well in the same compound so, 2 hotels in same compound.

The property is nice and clean with different options to eat and party. We have booked the room with B/F and they have good vegetarian options with good Indian options as well. Food was good, staff was good and helpful. We didn’t face any issue throughout the stay. Only drawback I would say is they don’t have any free pick and drop to the airport.

They do have free pick and drop to Dubai Mall and La Mer beach but that to is quite less, I think only 3 times a day.

Rooms were quite specious and had a great view of Dubai Downtown. We could see Burk Khalifa from one window and sunset in the evening from the other.

This property is near to Airport around 16-17 Km and nearest attraction is Dubai Frame and Dolphinarium. Farthest attraction was Miracle Garden, which was around 30 Km, but the beauty of Dubai is it will only take you 25-30 min max to reach there.

Attractions

We booked the above listed attractions mostly via there official websites and few via GetYourGuide. It’s best to book the tickets from the official websites as it’s cheapest there and there is guarantee that you won’t get cheated.

Only drawback of this is that you must pay in AED which will add some additional cost to your Credit Card, but you will earn points so kind of win-win.

We choose GetYourGuide as it has good reviews and packages, like Abu Dhabi tour, boat ride, walking tour. While booking this we paid in INR only and got a coupon code which gave us 10% discount but only on there App. Using this we saved at-least INR 8,000.

Taxi

We book all our travel within Dubai via Careem, this is the cheapest and most used app for booking taxi. In non-peak hours it starts from AED 5 around and in peak time which starts from 8 AM to 11 AM & evening 5 PM to 8 PM I think it starts from AED 12.5. For the farthest i.e. Miracle Garden which was 30 KM from our hotel we paid AED 64 which is quite reasonable and something similar we paid in Mumbai for Uber Prime ride to airport.

Uber is too costly there and is not for us mostly used by Europeans and Americans etc. for example same ride in Uber would cost anything above AED 150 easily.

One point to highlight is don’t get into any Black Cabs all Black Cabs are luxury cabs and will cost you way more then Careem. We took one from Miracle Garden to Dubai Mall and it costed us AED 94 this was at-least 9 KM less than what we travelled while coming to Miracle Garden.

International Sim

We purchased Matrix International sim from Mumbai airport for INR 33oo/- after 10% discount. We opted for E sim as our phones does not have duel physical sim options and our friends choose physical sim.

E sim calls were working fine but internet connectivity was a big issue. On the other hand physical sim was working fine. Also the number provided was UK number and not of UAE so our friends & other people in UAE were not able to call us on that number.

Adding to this, whatsapp calling is not allowed in DUBAI, it worked fine in Abu Dhabi.

Don’t take Matrix sim, at the immigration they handed us 2 Du sim for free with 24. hour validity and 1 Gb data. Then we can recharge it for AED 200 I think which will give validity, talktime and data. This is much better then Matrix but not sure how long this will be provided.
Even if they stop then better to buy a sim there only.

Stay tune for more details about the daily planning and attractions details.

For more travel blogs click here

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.

Deham wellness retreat

As a mother and women, I totally understand Our daily Marathon starting everyday running from kitchen to rooms and outdoor trying to manage everything in daily life and forgetting about personal health and wellness.

In this hustle we at times ignore our mental and physical Health, that we suffer daily but tend to ignore it. Back pain, anxiety, stress, join pain, depression and digestive issues the list goes on if we count. Your personal wellness is equally important.

But this year I made sure to give health priority and take a break from this busy schedule. We went to Deham, a luxury and wellness retreat is placed in the lap of breathtaking Sahyadri mountains located at just 1 hr drive from Pune.

Yoga, Naturopathy, 𝗔𝗬𝗨𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗗𝗔 and Satvik diet are the four ways they work in Deham for your wellness . Let’s discuss more about how it works for us.

Naturopathy or Nature cure (Wellness approach)

In this treatment they try to heal our body by itself with the help of nature forces. In naturopathy they work under the factors responsible for any particular disease or illness like the daily lifestyle, unnatural habits, sleeping schedule, food habits & work.

Understanding health

After understanding all the details a proper diet and treatment is suggested as it is believed our body is capable of self healing if proper care is taken. That’s how your wellness journey starts.

Treatment and wellness Therapy

At Deham before starting any therapy or treatment you need to take proper consultation with experienced doctor present at the resort. As per your health condition, history and any current concern doctor will suggest a proper diet with therapies to be taken.

During your wellness stay you need to follow the whole prescription and daily check up before starting the next day treatment.

Therapies that can be taken at Deham

Nature Retreat for Wellness

• Massage • Aqua tonic Therapy
• Mud Therapy • Foot Reflexology
• Acupuncture • Acupressure
• Physiotherapy • Diet and Nutrition

Balance of Mind Body and Soul

Yogasana
Kundalini
Therapeutic Yoga
Yog Nidra
Power Yoga
Aquatic Yoga

Oldest Holistic Healing System

Abhyanga
Udwarthanam
Dhaara
Basti
Swedan
Panchakarma

Farm to plate concept

At Deham Naturecure you will get wide range of health-supporting cuisines. They offers a variety in pure veg and authentic cuisine. They offer dishes that are made from vegetables and grains that are grown organically in their farm and crafted by the guidance of health experts.

Experience

It was a much needed break we needed. We had a nice family time together as we were disconnected from Gadget ( no Television in the rooms ) at the wellness resort . Has a rejuvenating experience following proper clean diet and required treatment under doctors assistance.

Experience with kids

Amazing experience for my daughter as well. She learned so much about farming and enjoyed plucking fresh fruits and vegetables from farm. Participated in meditation and yoga as well, relished the fresh produce direct from the field.

Staff at Deham

All the staff at Deham wellness resort was so friendly, we never felt we are at resort. We felt like family the moment we reached Deham, they welcomed with so much affection.

After becoming parents we rarely get free time even at the resorts, but here we enjoyed me time as well with the help of the staff.

I would surely recommend to all the parents, to have this experience.

Happy faces when we left Deham with so much love!

You can explore more my family travel experiences here.

Golden City of Rajasthan – Jaisalmer

After our 2 nights stay in Shekhawati Region we headed towards biggest district of Rajasthan, The Golden City – Jaisalmer.

Most of us know it is situated in the heart of Thar Desert. It got its name Golden City due to the yellow color sandstone architecture.

It’s around 9 hrs drive, 522 KM from Mandawa via NH 11.

We stopped @ Motel Haveli Resort for b/f and total bill was Rs 200 for veg sandwich, poha and tea. It’s a big place with stay options as well, washroom were clean and place was also clean. Food was ‘Ok’ took some time to come.

There are very less places to stop on this route so come prepared with snacks. For lunch we could not find any good place on the map then suddenly we came across a place called Hotel Shiv Villas. We asked them to pack some aloo pyaz parathas for lunch as we don’t want to waste time rather eat it while driving.

After this we directly stopped in Jaisalmer. We reached I think late afternoon.

We had planned 3 nights in Jaisalmer, I feel 3 nights are good if you want to see everything and visit Longewala.

On the first day we didn’t do much as we were little tired driving 522 KM, so we checked in into this small beautiful Boutique hotel – Garh Meera.

It’s new property, still work pending due to Covid they couldn’t complete the work. Their kitchen was also closed at that time.

It has a wonderful view of Jaisalmer Fort from the roof, which was obstructed (little bit) by a construction on the building in the front.

On this day after some relaxation we went to visit the nearby local market. We booked this place only for 1 day and rest 2 days @ Jaisalmer Marriot. After b/f we left to check in to Marriot. But our room was not ready, so we went to see original Handicraft place.

For Jaisalmer sightseeing we had booked one very experienced guide Mr. Harish Giri Ji. He is really informative and very good human being.

Mr. Harish helped us in doing all the bookings i.e. city tour, desert safari package, taxi service etc.

So, on our second day of Golden city tour, Harish Ji took us to one genuine place to see some of most beautiful Rajasthani handicraft items.

We can definitely see the price difference as we have visited few shops before coming to this place and this place as huge price difference (it was way cheaper).

Harish ji is working as a volunteer in the co-operative place which provides ways to earn to the women living in desert area and keep the real hand craft art alive in this machine era.

You can check the place on Instagram with name Jaisalmerhandicrafts. This shop has amazing products. This was the first time ever we did shop on our trip/holiday. Usually we buy some fridge magnets only.

After this we had some lunch/snacks at a local shop and then headed towards – Kuldhara.

Kuldhara is a haunted village which is 50 min drive i.e. 27 Km around from the main city. Roads are good, there is a diversion which is a single road but in decent condition which takes you to the village.

This village and some adjacent villages were abandoned over night for unknown reasons. As per local stories some say it was due to the persecution of Salim Singh minister of Jaisalmer state.

Before abandon Kuldhara was inhabited by ‘Paliwal Brahmins’ and it is said that they were very prosperous.

It is very fascinating to visit this village and listen to all the stories, now we can only see few feet walls of all the houses and nothing else.

Converted into a tourist spot and there is an entry fee which is Rs 20 pp and Rs 50 per vehicle.

After spending some time here max 30 min as it was hot and there is not much to see, we left for desert safari.

Ours booking was done by Harish Ji and it’s called – Desert Safari Camp Sam Sand Dunes, you can find it on Instagram as well – @desertsafarisamsanddunes

One thing I would suggest to everyone is either stay in the camp or reach little early to properly enjoy the desert.

We reached just on time to have enough time to enjoy the dune bashing by open Mahindra Thar and enjoy sun set in the desert.

After taking lot of pics we headed back to the camp on camels. It was quite thrilling going up and down on a camel. Few times I thought we will fall ?

Back at the camp we had High tea with some snacks post high tea. There was a live folk music and dance performance. We really liked the performance all the talented artists.

After all the enjoyment and fun filled day. We ended the day with a good dinner at the camp and then drive back to the city.

While driving back had amazing experience, watching clear sky full of stars & cold breeze.

This ends our 2^nd day in Golden City Jaisalmer. Stay tuned for our last day in Jaisalmer.

click here to know full details of this 10 day Rajasthan road trip .

Harish Ji’s contact details –

Company name – Jaisalmer Tour Guide

Website – http://www.jaisalmertourguide.com/#services

Instagram – @jaisalmertourguide

Cell # 9414761153 & 7014396051

Day 2 in Jaipur also knows as Pink City of India

Day 2 in Jaipur Pink City of India

After exploring the magnificent forts of Jaipur we started our second day after heavy b/f. For this day we have planned to visit the Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Amer Fort & Jal Mahal.

We started with Jantar Mantar as it’s totally open space with no shade, so if it’s hot then we have to bear the heat. In Jantar Mantar there are more than 15 astronomical instruments which were built by Sawai Jai Singh 2.

Jantar Mantar Jaipur — Worlds Largest working Sun Dial

Jantar Mantar is situated right beside City Palace and Hawa Mahal. The instruments created here allowed the astrologers to see the astronomical positions of different planets and stars with naked eyes. This was built by the king as he has keen interest in astrology, he used all the knowledge while constructing the Pink City.

There is a sun dials which tells the local time in which we need to add I think 38 min to get the IST. The biggest sun dial(vrihat Samrat yantra) in world shows the time to a precision of a second.

Witnessing all this live was an amazing experience and to know this all was created 200+ years ago by our astrologers and craftsman. Overall time spent here was maximum 1 hour. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and car parking is of Rs 80.

From here we went to City Palace which is situated right next to it. Ticket price is Rs 200 pp. There are other tickets as well like the one where you can visit it at night and then there is package in which you can even visit the place where the current royal family lives, as I remember the price of this ticket was Rs 3000 +.

City Palace was created at the same time as the Pink city itself. It consists of Museum and a part where the royal family lives. This palace houses many courtyards, buildings and pavilions and the most prominent are Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal.

There are many entry points to the palace, one is reserved for Royal Family i.e. Tripolia gate. Visitors can enter via Udai Pol and one other.

Mubarak Mahal was built as a guest house for foreign guests which is now converted to a museum. Chandra Mahal is one of the oldest building in the palace and has several floors.

Then there is a place which was used as a Diwan-e-khas, it’s an open hall which is now used by royal family to celebrate important festivals. There are 2 big Silver vessels kept on either side and these vessels hold the Guinness World Record as well.

These vessels are the largest silver vessels with height of 5.2 ft weighing 340 Ks and has a capacity of around 4000 liters. These vessels are used by the king Sawai Madho Singh 2 to carry Ganga Jal when he went to London for some function/play.

Another special thing about these vessels are they are created without any joint or soldering. It was a wonderful experience knowing our history and seeing how skillful our artisan were. We spent around 1.30 hr here.

From here we went straight to Amer(Amber) Palace. This is situated in the Amer town and was build by Man Singh and later by Sawai Jai Singh. It situated on the foot of Jaigarh Fort. Ticket price is Rs 100 pp and parking charges for car is Rs 50.

There are many options to reach the palace one of which is your own vehicle. There are electric vehicles which will take you right inside the palace and charges Rs 80 pp after your own vehicle this is the most economical and affordable option.

There is one main attraction here to reach the top is elephants, but they are there till 11 AM only after that you have rest of the options till 5 PM.

From down to the full tour it will be around 3 Km of walk. The fort is laid out in 4 levels starting from Diwan-e-aam which was used for public celebration, Diwan-e-khas used by King and his special council, Sheesh Mahal and finally the Sukh Niwas.

This palace and Jaigarh fort are situated in one complex as there is a passage which connects both and was used in case of war. This enables royal family to shift to the Fort which is situated on a height and much more secure.

In Jalebi chowk there is Ganesh pol/gate which is very beautiful. It leads us to the private palace of the Maharaja. Beside this gate there are steps which directly leads to the temple of ‘Sila Devi’ which was worshipped by the Maharajas.

Going up from here comes the Diwan-e-aam, this was used to address common public. Going further up comes the third level. This is the courtyard where the Maharaja his queens and attendants used to live. There are rooms for all.

There is a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ and a beautiful garden as well in this courtyard.

Sheesh Mahal and beautiful garden in front of it

Final courtyard is where the queens used to live. The king had 12 queens, so he constructed 12 rooms and there is a staircase which is connected to the Maharaj’s room, but the queens are not allowed to go up.

All the rooms open to a common area which has a Baradari in the middle. It is said that if any queen does some mistake then the king gives them the punishment and make them sit in this baradari which is then covered by curtains and the queen will do some hard work like ‘Chakki peesna’.

In front of this Palace situated a lake know as Maota Lake and in middle of it situated a garden also known as Kesar kyari(garden) and as informed it was built to harvest Kesar.

In the Amer town situated Jhodha Bai ki Haveli which is not maintained at all and no once can access it, we can only see it from the Palace or the Fort.

After this we stopped on the way to click some pics of Jal Mahal. It is situated in the middle of the lake ‘Man Sagar’

It is said that it was given on lease to someone big company to renovate it and make hotel in it like what we have in Udaipur. Someone said that there is a stay on the construction/renovation.

This Mahal is a 5 storied building of which 2-3 floors remain submerged all the time and when the lake is full 4 floors are submerged. The situation on the shore is not good, so much of garbage was present in the water that it was stinking.

This ends our second and final day in the Pink city. From here we went to the less explored region of Rajasthan which houses some of the most beautiful Havelis.

Do check my next blog for more details about this place.

Exploring the wonderful Pink City of Rajasthan – Day 1

Jaipur aka Pink City was formed by Sawai Jai Singh in 1700’s. It took around 4-5 years to complete the construction of the Pink City i.e. construction of main roads and main areas of the city. Present day it’s the largest city of Rajasthan.

Do check out my previous post where I have given details about different regions of Rajasthan we have visited and how we planned this trip.

After check-in to hotel and relaxing for some time we started our tour after lunch. We stayed in Jaipur Marriott. The property is quite big with 300+ rooms. We stayed in Executive room on the top floor and the view was quite good.

There is one restaurant ‘Okra’ which serves good and quality food. We had daily b/f and dinner at this restaurant. There is one more restaurant/bar where you can have high tea or drinks.

Service is very good; we missed our high tea on the first day and requested them if they can send at least tea to room as we were really tired after the tour. We were surprised when the room service came with a big tray.

The chef has sent fresh aloo bonda(aloo Vada) with a sandwich, some cake, cookies etc. Everything was tasty and fresh.

First day we have visited Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort. These forts are situated above Amber Palace and there is a way to reach Amber from Jaigarh fort which was used by the queens in case there is an attack.

First, we went to Jaigarh Fort and the main attraction in this fort is worlds biggest cannon named ‘Jaivana’. The weight of the cannon barrel is said to be around 50 tons and 4 elephants were used to turn the cannon from one direction to other.

It is said that the only time it was fired they have used around 100 kg of gun powder and 50 kg of cannon ball. When it was fired it travelled a distance of 30+ Km and a small lake was formed in ‘Chaksu’ were the cannon ball landed.

This fort has its own water harvesting system as well, as water scarcity is there in Rajasthan from long time so they use to clean and store a lot of water.

There are small museums inside the fort one displayed the swords, shields, guns, and also a 50kg, cannonball with other smaller cannonballs. Other one has photographs, stamps and other stuff of royal family.

There is a small garden which is quite well maintained but cannot be accessed by public, one can see that from fort walls.

Many movies were shot in this fort/garden area.

View from here is amazing you can see Amer palace and Maota Lake, we can also see the Nahargarh fort walls which are spread over several km. Roads to this fort is in good shape but it’s a single road broad enough that 2 cars can pass.

Timing of this is from morning 9 to 5 in the evening. Ticket price is Rs 100 per person. One good thing about this place is you can take your car inside the fort, ticket price for car is also Rs 100, driver fee is included in car fee but if you are driving then you have to take ticket as we were told that driver can not step out but our guide managed it for that time ?

From here we went to Nahargarh Fort. Opening time is same as Jaigarh but it opens till late in evening due to sunset point. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and Rs 50 is for car parking. There are 2 parking places one is inside, and one is outside so if you want to visit the sunset point and parking is available inside then do park inside else you have to walk extra.

Best time to visit this fort is in the evening time, you will witness amazing sunset and can click some amazing pics, when we were there a couple came for there pre wedding shoot.

There is one restaurant Padao as well which is operated by RTDC and they charge Rs 100 pp as entrance fee. Our guide said that the food quality is not that good, and we can get the pic from outside as well, so we didn’t went inside.

There is a wax museum at the entrance of the fort and the ticket price is Rs 500 pp, they have built a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ small palace made of different color glass and few other attractions.

We didn’t visit this as well as the price is more, and we don’t want to visit wax museum as we have seen Madame Tussaud’s in NL and Sheesh Mahal is there in City Palace as well.

Nahargarh Fort

In the main building of this fort there are around 9 rooms which are exactly same created for 9 Ranis(queens) of that time king.

We can even climb on the roof of this building and the view is just amazing.

While returning back from the fort to hotel in the evening we visited the Pink city. The city building are well maintained and are maintained by the government. No one is allowed to do any other color inside the Pink city.

Pink city has 7 gates to enter/exit, the wall of Pink city and the gates are still intact and well maintained. This city is well planned city and was constructed as per ‘Vastu’. There was no modification done with any of the buildings(there are new constructions but old is as it is).

We missed taking pics at night as our guide said that lights will be there till late night, so we went out around 11 PM one of the gates was closed so we have to take a de-tour and found that the lights are off.

I am not sure if they close some gates at night daily or it was due to Covid they closed it. There are lights which lit the full pink city at night and the lights are turned off by 10-10.30 PM daily.

This concludes our first day out of 10 days. Keep following my blog and Instagram for day by day trip details.

Paneer-Soya-Vegetables cutlet

soya recipe

Being a vegetarian and following particular diet, paneer & soya plays a very important role. I find it difficult to eat the chunks so was trying different versions to make it more appealing . Let’s see the recipe and it’s ingredients.

Nutrition facts for the recipe

Carbs:22gm Protien : 47 gm Fat -11gm

Macros change according to brand, above mentioned macro nutrients information are for Nutrela brand

Ingredients

60 gms soya chunks (Nutrela)
100gms paneer
10 gm olive oil/Ghee
Chopped Coriander
One onion finely chopped
2-3 green chilies finely chopped
Salt as per taste
1 tbsp Red chili flakes
Finely chopped/grated vegetables of your choice ( Capsicum, Carrot, cabbage, green chilli, zucchini, red yellow Bell pepper, cucumber)

Procedure

Instead of soaking soya we will directly grind it and make aata(fine powder)

Make sure there are no big pcs left

Add finely chopped onions, green chili, coriander, salt, red chili, ginger garlic paste.
Add finely chopped capsicum, carrot.
Mix properly until it’s combined to form a dough.

Make small equal sized balls and with the help of your palm flaten the top and bottom to form tikki.

Take a flat base big pan or tawa and spread one spoon oil on it.

Heat it on medium to low flame and put tikki gently on it.

Let it cook from one side, it will take around 5 to 10 minutes on low flame.
You can now cook without oil too with the help of frying pan foil by Asahi kasei.

Flip the tikkis gently and cook the other side.
Tikkis are ready to serve with coriander or tomato chatni.

Florence & Vatican City

After all the thrill to catch the train experiencing Paris evening traffic and finally finding that it is cancelled, we reached Florence. Do ready my previous blog about the journey here.

This blog is about a day in Florence, don’t be shocked I know its way… way… to less and a day in Vatican which is a country.

Pin it

After reaching the Florence station which is called as ‘Firenze Santa Maria Novella’ we tried to figure out how to reach our guest house ‘Affittacamere Benedetta’. It was Just 1 Km walking and 10 min via Tram, there is stop just outside the main station and the stop to get down is next one named ‘Porta Al Prato’ and from there it is around 300 mts.

We got little confused due to Google Maps directions and took us some time and few calls to reach there but we finally managed to reach.

It’s a small guest house which I think has around 4 rooms and our room was the last one and was quite specious or say huge as per normal room standards we have seen in India. It has all the basic facilities and as the owner did not provide any b/f he has arranged some ready to eat stuff which was complimentary ? and such a nice gesture.

Even though room was big but there was only one source of natural light and that was also covered with heavy grill and room was very dimly lit. Over all only drawback in this room was the bathroom and light, light I have already mentioned and bathroom was way too small. Just to compare we use to have bigger bathroom in our flat in Mumbai.

As we travelled for more than 10 hrs. (Bus + Train), so we decided to take some rest and then go out to explore. As this place is in the city so it is near to all the tourist places and market. He suggested one place to eat and that was good and not too costly was not a tourist trap.

Our luck was not that great as first we missed to book the ticket for the Dome which is top of Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. It has specific timing and slots as it’s a small space on the top and as per the pics the view is Amazing. Other thing that happened that day was rain.

As soon as we reach the main area of the Cathedral it started raining and we didn’t have any umbrella or rain coat, so after taking shelter in front of some shop for some time we finally return to our guest house and it continued to rain for rest of the day.

So, in all we stayed in our room and didn’t see much in Florence ☹ but what ever we saw was beautiful and we need to go again to explore more.

Next morning, we had a train to catch to reach Rome. Rome was 2-day trip and my brother in law and his family also joined us there. This was the first time we had planned something together and it was fun with all the kids.

They were supposed to come by evening, and we reached in the morning. Here we have booked an Airbnb. It was a 1 BHK flat with 2 beds, sofa, kitchen with utensils a washing machine etc. It was a good place with few drawbacks. This place was little far from the center, but tram/bus station was near by.

After taking the keys of the flat and fresh up we stepped out to go to Vatican via Bus. In Paris and here as well there is one good thing about the bus is there is space to park your stroller.

It was amazing seeing live what we have seen only in TV. Once again, we missed the opportunity to book the fast access tickets and on the spot were way to high to visit the museum and basilica ☹. For Basilica there was a huge line to enter and with my little one it was quite difficult to stand in one place for that long.

So, guys do book your tickets early and be there on time as everything work as per slots.

There were so many people that I was afraid to handle her alone otherwise we could have thought of standing one by one. So finally, we just clicked pics from outside and had some snacks at one of the local stalls then went back as my brother in law was about to reach the flat and we only had 1 key.

Rest of the day we spent with family chitchatting and relaxing as we were meeting after a long time.

This is how our first day ends in Rome.

Stay tuned for last 3 days of our trip, in which we covered Rome, Venice & Amsterdam.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa. You can read my other articles for this #MyFriendAlexa campaign here #forbabynmommyblogs.

Road trip Bangalore to Mumbai

Road trip to Bangalore to Mumbai

This blog is about our journey when we left Bangalore and shifted to Mumbai…. again ?

We had given lot of thought for choosing the best way to travel with our little one, considering the cost and time. After considering all the options like transporting the car through packers and then coming via flight or train or bus, I had good experience via bus from Bangalore to Mumbai, I have jotted it do read it here.

We finalized traveling around 1000 Km via road. This was due to 2 main reason first being safety of our vehicle as we have heard few bad instances with car transporting through packers. Second I love driving and finally cost as there was not much overall difference in transporting it or driving it.

Route – it’s a straight road means NH 48 via
Tumkur – Hubli – Belgaum – Kolhapur – Satara – Pune and then Mumbai.

After doing a lot of research, going through lot of travel logs of different people (on TeamBHP) we came to know that it is good to leave Bangalore as early as possible so that we can get ahead of all the heavy traffic and cover more distance. So, we decided to leave around 5 AM or before that.

As we are traveling with kid and we has never driven this long in a single day, so we decided to make it a break journey. We finalized Belgaum for our stay as we got a 5* property at a very good price and Belgaum is mid-way for this journey.

Our first stop was Shree Ratnam at Nelamangala at around 7 AM. It was around 1 hr 30 min drive from Bangalore, here had our b/f and it was cheap and good. Washrooms were also clean. Then we continued with our journey. We didn’t take many stops as our thought was to reach the hotel as early as possible and then rest as we didn’t have good sleep the night before due to packing.

In total we stopped 3 time till we reach Belgaum, our second stop was at some CCD and then finally we stopped for Lunch before Belgaum. For lunch we stopped at this place named Hotel The Cult

After traveling for around 500 Km and eating at all those different places we reached our hotel UK 27 The Fern. It’s a 5-star property and the check in was easy and completed timely. The room was quite big with all the facilities. We didn’t try the food here instead went to a place nearby, but yes, they have 2 restaurants right next to reception area which is quite big and nice.

The place we went was walking distance from the hotel named Wild Sugar. It’s a nice small shop with sitting inside and outside, the only drawback of outside sitting is people smoking there. The food was quite good, and we really liked the food, we had Veg pasta, tandoori momos(veg), and there most famous dish i.e. paneer stuffed kulcha.

After having a good night sleep and freshen up we started our rest of the journey towards Mumbai – City of Dreams ?. We started at around 6.30 AM again we want to beat all the bus and truck traffic on the highway.

This time we stopped just once for b/f at Hotel Amar and then directly in Pune at cousin house. We reached Pune at around lunch time i.e. 12.30 to 1 PM. Our initial thought was to directly go to Mumbai but then we thought to stop at there place and enjoy some time with them, also her daughter is of same age as of our daughter, so they enjoy playing with each other.

Overall it was a nice pleasant and memorable journey, one could complete it in a single day also in around 14-16hrs but if you have time then it’s always better to take rest.

Roads throughout the journey was amazing, just few diversions as they are creating some bridge’s/flyovers to bypass the diversion/traffic of small towns on the highway.

One main thing to tell about the rout is that – as you get such a nice highway to be prepared to pay heavy toll charges. In all there were 16 toll booths on this route, and we paid a total of Rs 1,185 as toll, this includes the Mumbai – Pune express way toll as well.

It took around one and half tank of fuel to reach Mumbai, ours is a diesel car so it was little cheap and good on mileage. Total fuel cost was around
Rs 4,000.

Total cost of trip –
Hotel – 3662
Fuel – 4000
Toll tax – 1185
Food – 1550, Total would be around Rs 10,500 with some misc. amount.

But yes, we had freedom to stop anywhere, take pics, enjoy the natural scenery on the way ? We really enjoyed this road trip.

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Yercaud – TGI Star Holiday Resort

This was our first holiday of 2019 and a much-needed break from the hectic city life. Yercaud is a small hill station situated in the state of Tamil Nadu. We came to know about this place while searching online for a place not that far from Bangalore. Yercaud is around 225 Km from Bangalore. The … Continue reading “Yercaud – TGI Star Holiday Resort”

This was our first holiday of 2019 and a much-needed break from the hectic city life. Yercaud is a small hill station situated in the state of Tamil Nadu.

We came to know about this place while searching online for a place not that far from Bangalore. Yercaud is around 225 Km from Bangalore. The roads are quite good throughout the journey.

Rout we took was via Hosur – Krishnagri – Selum. We started at around 6.20 AM on Saturday. After reaching the silk board junction we came to know that it is very late if one must go on this rout on a weekend.

There are tolls on this rout and total toll we paid was around Rs 600 in total i.e. for return journey. Plus Rs 90 on NICE Road, Bangalore from Electronic City to Clover Leaf.

There was traffic on silk board & a long queue on the toll plaza just after the Electronic city flyover. It took us around 10 min to clear the toll. Then after the toll there was traffic on the highway as it was kind of long weekend, Monday leave gives 4 days as Tuesday was holiday on the occasion of Sankranti.

Outside sitting area
Quite big car parking
Main hotel building

For b/f we stopped at Hotel Shri Krishna Inn, Shoolagiri. Food here is nice and priced reasonably. This was very crowded and that day and there was a waiting as well. There are 2 sitting option – inside and outside.

There’s a HP petrol pump, Mc Donald’s and Cafe Coffee day all located in the same complex.

After Selum the ghat section starts, Yercaud is around 30 Km from Selum. There are 20 Hairpin bends on this rout and the amazing thing is the roads are very well maintained and are quite broad.

There are mirrors installed but only few are in working condition, rest are either damaged or stolen.

TGI Star Holiday Resort, Yercaud — Entering the resort

This time we wanted to stay in a place where we can spend some quality & screen free time with family. So after googling for some time we came across TGI Star Holiday resort located just 1 Km before the main town or Yercaud.

Resort & list of what all things are there to do

Main reason for going with this property is its family friendliness. This is a 3-star property with some amazing features. There are 2 categories of rooms i.e. Deluxe/Superior cottage and Suit Cottage.

Living Room
Sofa in living area
Bed room with King size bed
Beautiful decoration with towels
Tea/Coffee maker
Sitting arrangement in Balcony
Bathroom
Toiletries
Towel arrangement in bathroom

The main difference in both the rooms is space, in Suit there is a living room with a sofa and one sofa cum bed plus the bedroom is also quite specious. Other one is normal size room. Both the categories have a private sitting space/balcony outside the room.

We stayed in Suit cottage as we need some space for our daughter to run around when we relax in the room ?. Other amenities include a welcome drink at reception, some snacks in the room, good quality toiletries in the bathroom.

In suit it was a king size bed and it was quite comfortable. Lenin and towels are also of good quality and soft to touch. This place is located on a hill slope so first to reach you must get down from the main road and after you enter you must climb up & both the time it’s a steep slope.

There is ample of parking, you can either park at the front of the resort or inside at the end. There are small gardens with different varieties of flowers/plats in front of each cottage, which makes the stay more pleasing.

Chess
Carrom & TT
Swimming pool
Bonfire
Bonfire at its peak

If we talk about the facilities of the resort, then there are a lot of things one can do with family. There is a spa, a restaurant which serves good and tasty food. An indoor games room with games like carrom, chess & Table tennis. A badminton court, swings for adults and kids, separate play area for kids and swimming pool.

Walking on rope
Walking on single rope side ways
Walking on planks
Crossing the net
Walking on sideways hanging planks
Activities for kids are also there

If you are a dare devil and like adventure sports, then there is facility for that too. Adventure activities are conducted inside the resort and the instructor is very good.

Adventure activities..it was really fun

Activities have different difficulty levels and finally there is a zip line. So, if you are planning to visit this place and want to do this then do carry sports shoes.

We took the spa after we were done with our first dose of adventure activities. Me and my husband both took the spa and we really felt good after it. All refreshed and recharged. The massage therapist for male and female are very good, and both were experienced.

Price wise it’s very reasonable starting from Rs 1500 for Kerala massage to Rs 2500 for their signature package. They do have facial and other stuff also.

One of the most interesting and unique thing that I like about this place is there open-air theatre. Yes, you read it correct, they show a movie once it is dark in the garden space b/w the games room and badminton court. That too with a Bonfire ?

First day it was an English movie and second day it was Tamil movie with English sub ?. There is light in the badminton court, so you can play even at night just make sure you don’t make too much of noise as there are rooms just adjacent to the court.

Food here was good, they have buffet for all 3 meals or if you want something else then you can order from the small AA-la-carte menu.

Sitting arrangement
Ambiance
Veg Buffet
Salad on First day Lunch
Salad in Dinner
Rice prepration
Starting with salad and starter
Ordered from menu
Noodles soup
Starting with salad and starter
Paneer 65

In buffet there are 3 veg dishes and 2 non veg dishes with 2 rice preparation and rasam. Chapatis are pre cooked and kept in hot case.

One more thing that I really like is in the evening/night time their housekeeping guys come to every room to refill the snacks, tea coffee and ask if you need any other thing. They also ask you to provide feedback about the room cleaning and their service which was something new to us.

There is free Wi-Fi, but the speed is not good, there is no issue with mobile signals at least with Airtel.

Whole staff of the resort is so courteous and friendly, we really like their hospitality.

We really like the time we have spent in this resort.

Small tour of the beautiful Property of TGI Hotels

There are quite a few things to see in Yercaud. Some of them are –

Kiliyur falls
Yercaud lake
Ladies seat
Gents seat
Rose garden
Few temples

We checked about the falls and came to know that there is no water in the falls so it’s not worth visiting it. Also, there are steep steps to reach to the falls, around 250 to 300. Going down is easy but climbing up is a tedious task. So if you are visiting in rains then only plan else you might regret.

Out of these we saw only few like rose garden, lake, ladies’ seat and while coming back from ladies’ seat I noticed a small aquarium just beside the lake.

Yercaud is a small town and the resort is located just 1 km from the lake. There is no proper or designated parking space at the lake, you have to park on the road side. Beware if you go on Sunday morning then there is a flea market on both the side of the road.

There is boating facility at the lake and one can choose from paddle boat, boat with oars or a motor boat. There are few good points to click pic with lake as background. Rose garden is 1.5 km around from lake.

Beautiful yello rose
Some buds ready to turn into beautiful flower

The road is not in good shape and just before the main entry of the garden it is a single lane. So, if some vehicle is coming from other direction then one must go reverse. One can park vehicle inside the gate of rose garden or on the road side, parking is free.

Rose Garden, Yercaud — Inside Rose garden

Ticket to enter garden is of Rs 30 and for us it was not worth as there were only few plants were, we could see some roses. The garden was maintained well. From rose garden you can either walk to ladies’ seat it’s just 100 mtr. Or you take your car and park it there.

Ladies seat is just a valley view point and nothing else. There is small shed from where you can see beautiful valley below. But what we feel is it will be worthier to visit in/after rains as the view will be clearer. This time it was all foggy/cloudy. But still it was beautiful.

Gents seat is located again some 100 mtr from ladies’ seat and it’s a valley view point. So, we skipped it. While coming back from ladies’ seat google maps leads us to a road which was closed at the point where is meets the main road. So, we have to take a U turn.

On the same road there is a small aquarium which has 17 varieties of fishes including ‘Piranha’. The entry ticket to this place is only Rs 10 pp but parking outside is Rs 30. It’s a good experience for kids.

Over all we really enjoyed our 2 days of stay @TGI Star Holiday Resort and in Yercaud.

Note -
All the pictures are from our trip taken by us.

Coorg – Scotland Of India

Coorg is also known as Scotland of India due to its vast natural beauty, hills and cold climate. Coorg was on our travel list from long time the time, the time when we came to know about Orange County Coorg, I remember it was in 2013. After we move to Bangalore it was our top … Continue reading “Coorg – Scotland Of India”

Coorg is also known as Scotland of India due to its vast natural beauty, hills and cold climate.

Coorg was on our travel list from long time the time, the time when we came to know about Orange County Coorg, I remember it was in 2013.

After we move to Bangalore it was our top most priority to visit Coorg but again delayed as I was pregnant ?. So, after delivery and baby is big enough to travel long distances & buying our first car it was time to visit Coorg.

Done some research online, trying to find some nice home stays and luckily, we found one in our budget on MMT(MakeMyTrip). It was Silver Brooks Estate; this home stay is run by a couple Revathi & Yogesh. Yogesh was in hospitality business for long, so these guys knows what all things are required and how to manage and maintain a property effectively.

Route we took was – via Mysore highway till a round about from where we need to take exit on KSR Road then Belagola – Yelwala – Mallinathpura – Hunsur – then on Mysure – Medikeri Road till Kushalnagar. Continue on same road via Suntikoppa – Kedakal – Boikeri.

It was around 250 Km from our home and took us 5.30 – 6 hours with 2 stops. Our first stop was at Kamat Lokaruchi – Ramanagara, it’s around 50-55 Km 1 hour drive, nice clean toilets and very good food.

Parking is on the road side. Second stop was Café County which is around 125 km from Kamat Lokaruchi and 70-75 Km from out stay. It’s café cum restaurant here you have snacks coffee or full lunch/dinner as per the time.

Service and cleanliness is not good, less staff and until you call them they won’t bother to come to your table, so better find some other place if you want a second stop.

We had one of the cakes with coffee (don’t remember the name) but it was delicious. Small but clean toilets 2 type of sitting options i.e. inside and outside.Other than these 2 stops we stopped at 2 attractions before Coorg.

1. Namdroling Monastery:

Namdroling Monastery is center of Tibetan Buddhism, it’s very calm and peace full place. There is a parking facility outside the monastery behind the shopping complex. Entry is free, there is large beautiful Buddha temple in the center of the complex. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens.

2. Nisargadhama:

Nisargadhama is an island formed by river Kaveri. This place is situated near Kushalnagar. There is ticket to enter the island, you have to cross an hanging bridge built over Kaveri.

The island has lots of bamboo trees and some activities like zip line, place to sit, small tree house kind of. The place is not maintained very well. There is boating facility as well but when we went the current in Kaveri was strong due to which boating was suspended for some time.

There are lots of shops here, all kind of shops like Gov. Silk shop, food shops, toys etc. The main entrance is little hard to find as it’s a small way b/w the shops which leads to the place to buy ticket.

After all the stops and soaking all the natural beauty on the way we reach out home stay Silver Brooks. Believe me it was amazing, exactly what was shown in the pics and the hospitality was just great. Revathi guided us very well and was available all the time for help.

The house is created from scratch inside their estate, look and feel was of old housed. Revathi informed us that they have used reused the old materials like the pillars, doors, swing, chairs. Means they bought the things from some old home and restored it to give more traditional and old age feeling.

This home stay has 5 rooms I think 2 in the main building 1 on the right side which has its own private entrance and site out area, room is also little big and 2 at the start near the parking which are smaller than the other 3.

Cost of room includes B/F and dinner which is home made by 2 talented cooks. Food was delicious, it was a buffet with authentic flavors. There is an open kitchen which means guests have access and can cook their food or snack.

It’s kids friendly place even for infants, the cooks cooked special food for our daughter, the staff is very friendly and help full.

For more detailed review please check my TripAdvisor.

We stayed for 2N/3D and felt that we could have stayed one more day. Most of the time we have spent in home stay relaxing, interacting with other guests. But we also went for some sightseeing to the places like Abbey falls, Raja’s seat & Madikeri Fort.

Abbey Falls:

Is around 14 km from the home stay and you have to pass the Madikeri city, but don’t worry there is not much of traffic like what we have in Bangalore ?. Route is beautiful as it’s a ghat/mountain road 2 lane.

There is a parking little ahead of the main entrance to the falls. There is toilet facility as well in the parking area. To reach to the main falls you have to decent some steps and slope.

The area in front of falls is quite small and in tourist season when the falls are at there peak it will be difficult to find a spot to click some good pics. Spent less time there as it was over crowded, took few pics and came back.

One main issue there is due to some stupid people which park their cars on the road side which leads to traffic jam, so be prepare for that.

Madikeri Fort:

It is around 8 Km from home stay and it is near to Raja’s seat. So, you can cover both the place in one go. You can either park your car in the parking area in front of Raja’s seat or inside fort and walk to one of the places. Distance b/w these places is around 1 Km.

Fort is old and now kind of Gov. office, there is one small museum inside the fort on the right side just after entering the fort. One can stroll on the fort walls, but there is nothing much to do here.

This place lacks proper sign boar, or any kind of guide like some printed material or some guided tour. Due to these reasons it’s very less time consuming.

Raja’s Seat:

Is a kind of valley view point or sunset point.

Kings of Kodagu use to sit here to relax and watch the mesmerizing sunset with beautiful valley view that’s why it is called as Raja’s seat. It has beautiful garden at the start with fountains. Safety measures are good with railing on stairs and on the edges.

There is bon fire facility available in the home stay but went there in after rainy season, but it still rained so couldn’t do it.

To shop from Coorg is special Coorg wine, which comes in different flavors like ginger, chilly, mixed fruit, dates and many more, price range from Rs 500-1000 also spices. There is one government shop on the road which leads to Raja’s seat.

We really enjoyed our stay in Silver Brooks and Coorg tourist spots and the long drive from Bangalore.

Visit Month – August

Note - All pics are from our trip and clicked by us.