My husband and I are two penny-pinchers who managed to save up and fly from San Francisco to Thailand. But what happened when we arrived in Chiang Mai and found that many of the city’s popular attractions were out of our budget? We went underground. Wiang Kum Kam is one of Chiang Mai’s hidden attractions, … Continued
JIPMER, my alma mater, is one of 3 Premier Institutes in India for Medicine. It is located in the quaint former French Colony of Pondicherry on the East coast of India. The acronym stands for Jawarhalal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research. I graduated from here in 1999 and throughout those five long years … Continued
With 8 dogs and 37 cats, Jeff’s house is not your typical couch surfing pad. We’d been couchsurfing in Australia and New Zealand, but this was only my second time trying it in Asia. I was a bit nervous because of the cultural differences, but wanted to try it anyway. It would be an adventure, … Continued
Whilst in Madurai, a heaving, working, shouting city of blackish earth streets and slow-moving buffalo, we take a rickshaw to Meenakshi Amman Temple. The thirty minute drive lasts for an eternity, and I disembark with a dam of unshed tears. Cycling through the slums, weaving in and out of sloppy wet mud and through rivulets … Continued
Curiosity, with certain scepticism, made me say yes, when asked if I would like to come along to the Kumbha Mela, the largest religious congregation of people in the world. Curious because over the years, I have seen innumerable photographs that have captured the Mela and wanted to see for myself its appeal. To see … Continued
Asante! xièxiè! Gracias! Tack så mycket! The first word any traveller learns in their new destination, Thank you! A phrase which shows humility, compassion, and a sincere gratitude used to acknowledge the new cultures, the diverse lifestyles, and the natural beauty of the place which you are exploring. The past few years have taken me … Continued
Rajasthan, Northern India. 2 hours away from the Pakistan border. Our location was Jailsalmer. I never imagined I would be in this territory in my life. I had made my way up from the southern parts of Kerala, through Goa, Mumbai, and Udaipur consisting of long train journeys, regularly awoken by the sound of ‘Chai’ … Continued
Japan: The Magic of Shirakawa Gō I once wrote a poem about the Shirakawa Gō (traditional) Village, that started like this; ‘In far away, almost forgotten land, among mountains and valleys, as if someone tried to hide it, from the world like a precious gem, there is a place, that tells us the story, of … Continued
Bhutan is a Buddhist country where religion is taken seriously, one sees monasteries, temples, chortens, and prayer flags, across the country. The most ubiquitous of these are the chortens. Stone or earthen square structures, with proportions about twice as tall as wide, a sloped stone roof, the shape much like a cupola, as small as … Continued
India: Absolute Relatives After living in India for the past month and a half and Indonesia earlier, we’d gotten pretty much used to power cuts. But not like this one. If it was any other day, the electricity would cut off every now and then, a few hours here, a few there. For that time, … Continued