Travel Tips

To take advantage of the surprise holiday in Feb., decided to take a drive north of Mumbai without any destination in mind. After an hour's drive, around 55 kms from Kandivali on Mumbai-Ahmadabad highway, saw this signpost on the left near Varai village showing "Kelva beach - 32 kms" ! With no specific plans in mind, decided to try this and unexpectedly turned out a good outing. The road from Varai to Kelva is in good condition barring initial patch of 3-4 kms. This journey off the highway towards Kelva would be more scenic in rainy season due to the trees and farms and ghat-a scenery typical of Konkan. After turning left at Varai on the highway, drove straight towards Kelva village with the help of posts.  On the way, around 18 kms from Varai, passed through the town called Saphale. One can stop here for a tea/snacks or small shopping like water bottle though you can get the same on Kelva beach as well. Before I reached Kelva, passed one creek which offered a nice vie...

Next stop on our long tour of Sri Lanka was Nuwara Eliya. Nuwara Eliya is a small town in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. There are a number of Tea Plantations here. The climate here is much cooler than the rest of Sri Lanka. It was founded by a British explorer and was called Little England in those days. A number of buildings in the town look like those from the colonial period. We stayed at The Glendower Hotel. Have put up a review of the hotel here . We visited the Mc Woods tea plantation. Here we were shown around the tea factory and the tea making process was explained to us by "guides". There were a number of "guides" here who were specifically assigned the work of showing the visitors around. At the end of the tour we were given complimentary tea which tasted great in that cool atmosphere. Nuwara Eliya is famous for another reason. The Seetha-Amman temple. This temple dedicated to Sita is believed to be built at the spot where Sita was held capti...

Visited Guhagar in the month of August. No other period can be at its best than monsoon to visit Konkan. At around 310 kms from Guhagar, it wont be an ideal location for a weekend outing but 3 to 4 days can be sufficient to explore the magics of Guhagar. Account for minimum of 7 hours journey including short breaks to reach Guhagar from Mumbai. The journey becomes more scenic once you cross Kashedi ghat. The trench of 41 kms from Chiplun to Guhagar is wonderful driving experience. We had earlier planned to stay in Modi Villa in Guhagar but dropped it and instead preferred a home stay, Shree Pooja ,  right in front of the beach. There are single bedroom cottages, not great rooms but location was perfect. There is no restaurant attached to it but caretaker prepares food on order if order is placed well in advance. Guhagar Beach As Guhagar is a bit far from Mumbai, there are no weekend crowds to disturb the nature and silence.  The beach is a long stretch of wh...

Next stop on our tour of Sri Lanka was Kandy, the last capital of the kings of Sri Lanka. We were put up at the Swiss Residence. Check the review of the same here . Kandy is on the UNESCO world heritage sites list. It home to the temple of Tooth Relic which is the most important place for all the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. It has been the belief in Sri Lanka, that whoever holds the tooth relic governs Sri Lanka. First stop in Kandy, though was to the Cultural centre in Kandy for a cultural show which show-   cased the difference dance forms of Sri Lanka. The 1 hour program culminated with the performance of fire-walkers. Walking distance from the Cultural Centre is the Temple of Tooth Relic. The entrance to the temple is guarded by armed guards and one needs to go through metal detectors. It seems these measures were put in place after a bombing attack by the LTTE. Dress code is strictly checked and we saw a couple of visitors being stopped for wearing shorts/sleeveless. ...

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress and palace which was built by King Kashyap in the 5th century. The complex has beautiful symmetrical gardens, the lion gate and the mirror wall half way to the summit and the remains of the kings palace at the summit. The rock walls of the mountain are sheer on all sides and makes one wonder on how the construction was managed in those time. One would need to spend at least 3-4 hours to see this site.  The story of King Kashyap who built this complex goes like this. Kashyap deposed his father, the king, through a coup and took control of the kingdom. He went on to kill his father, whom he walled-in alive and denied the claims of his brother who was the rightful heir to the throne. His brother, vowed revenge and fled to southern India to gather an army. King Kashyap, fearing a backlash, shifted the capital from Anuradhapura to Sigiriya. 18 years after the coup, his brother came back with and army and defeated him in battle. Kashyap committed ...