Manish – Page 2 – ManySharpBends.in

Incas, Machu Picchu, Amazon & more: The unforgettable Peruvian Odyssey

13.05.2016 & 14.05.2016

After a breathtaking 10 days in Galapagos Islands with sea lions, penguins, sharks, marine iguanas, land iguanas, blue-footed boobies and more, we embarked on our Peruvian journey with Machu Picchu and Amazon rainforest as the main bucket list items. 3 flights (Galapagos-Guayaquil, Guayaquil-Lima & Lima-Cusco) and 20 hours later, we landed in Cusco, the gateway to Inca ruins in Peru. We got a lovely glimpse of the Andean mountains from the plane.

To avoid a potential sickness due to Cusco’s height, we immediately took a taxi and descended to Ollantaytambo (2 hour ride from Cusco airport), a picturesque town situated in the sacred valley of the Incas. With a four day local Quechua festivities of dance and music in full-swing we truly lucked out. Ollanta (as the locals call it), is where the Incas retreated to after the Spanish conquered Cusco. It has a lovely small town relaxed feel with a cute town square, narrow cobble-stoned streets, lovely view of Inca ruins, street food and gorgeously dressed Quechua people.

The relaxed atmosphere just sucked us in so we decided to take it easy today and simply watched the festivities and enjoyed local food and beer at the town square. Oh, and Mika enjoyed the Choco museum where we learnt the fascinating process of how Chocolate products are made from.

15.05.2016

The morning was spent in exploring the beautiful ruins of Ollantaytambo. This is where Manco Inca, the valiant native leader who lead the resistance against Spanish conquistadors, defeated the Spanish by building high terraces and flooding the plains. We were reminded of our Rajasthani fortresses from where the valiant Rajputs fought the Mughals.

In the afternoon, we did a VERY steep but rewarding hike to Pinkuylunna, where the Incas built some remarkable storehouses. This hike is not for the faint-hearted and in the end we were rewarded with some breathtaking views of the Ollanta town and the valley as well as a fascinating meeting with a German couple (with 3 small children!) who were also on a 1-year world trip, just like us !! Our resolve grew stronger after meeting them – if they can do it with 3 SMALL ones, we surely can pull it off with a TEENAGER!

By evening, the anticipation of visiting Machu Picchu the next day was building up and we spent our time calming ourselves down, praying to God for a sunny weather and requested our hotel owner for a breakfast takeaway at 5 am.

16.05.2016

The 4:30 am alarm reminded us that the BIG day has arrived. After picking up our breakfast bags, we began our stroll to the Ollantaytambo train station at 5 am.

Getting to Machu Picchu is an logistical adventure in itself. First you have to take this train from Ollanta – this is a very busy gateway to Machu Picchu and train tickets are usually sold out months in advance. We had booked ours 4 months earlier so it was an easy boarding at 5:30 am in a VERY IMPRESSIVE compartment offering beautiful views over a short 90 minute journey. Wait a minute, you have only reached the foothill town called Aguas Callintes. We boarded a 30 minute bus from here to one of the top modern wonders of the world. The excitement of entering the monument means you are willing to forgive basic tourist facilities (water refill stations, toilets WITHIN the complex – there is one at the entrance only and eating options – there is ONLY ONE very expensive restaurant).

9:30 am: We had seen the picture post card view of Machu Picchu ruins against the Huayna Picchu backdrop, a million times but nothing prepared us for the first breathtaking view. As suggested (wrongly) by other bloggers we took a million useless pictures in the first 5 minutes (there were better pictures to come from higher viewpoints) but what the heck – this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip! As you walk to higher terraces, the views start to get exponentially better. Meha’s prayers had been answered as we had been rewarded with an embarrassingly gorgeous day 🙂 We spent most of our time sitting at various vantage points and gawking at the ruins (the best views are from the top) as well as analyzing and concluding that its the dramatic backdrop of Huyana Picchu mountains which gives Machu Picchu its awe-inspiring view, not the ruins itself. Mika loved playing with the llamas.

As the scorching sun blazed, our bodies and energy started drooping around noon. We were glad that we had spent most of our time at the higher view points, since coming down to the ACTUAL ruins can be bit of an anti climax as the views are not as gorgeous. We pulled ourselves to see the Inca architecture including the sun temple and it was all over by 2 pm.

Voraciously hungry (I could have killed and eaten a Llama), we immediately departed the complex and took the bus down to the foothills. Mika’s favorite pesto pasta was ordered and cold coca cola has never tasted better – I kid not. We utilized the free wifi and then argued with the restaurant over the astronomical 20% service charge which was immediately brought down to 10! It was difficult to believe that it was time to board the 6 pm train back for a day that we had been dreaming for years. The real adventure was yet to come. The train was delayed by 3 hours with a huge collateral advantage of befriending a bunch of Brazilians and Russians with whom we had animated discussions on politics, state of our nations, why we all are still underdeveloped nations and so on. Everyone was amazed that we as Indians had taken a year off to travel and we grinned. What fun. Anyway, we arrived back to Ollanta at 11:30 pm thanks to Peru Rail, and crashed.

In hindsight it sounds incredible that Machu Picchu went undiscovered till 20th century (till an intrepid American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it). So cool, otherwise the marauding Spanish conquistadors would have destroyed it. What makes Machu Picchu so special is how they chose the perfect site and built a city so high up amidst the mountains ???

17.05.2016

We bid good bye to the Sacred Valley and headed to Cusco, a 2 hour taxi ride. Our first stop was the salt mines of Maras . The Incas built hundreds of salt pans and harvested salt from spring water. It is quite a sight. Mika tasted and found the salt a tad too salty for her liking!

We then headed off to Moray where the Inca’s Agricultural laboratory is situated. They built concentric circles and planted different seeds at different levels in different micro-climates to evaluate the right developmental conditions of plants. Ahead of its times.

We decided to have our lunch in Chinchero which truly was a ghost town with everything being shut, today being a holiday. We managed to find a Sukhsagar-style local eatery which offered us the best Peruvian local food of the trip at a princely sum of $7 for the three of us. With our tummies full, we wandered through the beautiful town of Chinchero – the streets, ruins, weaving ladies and an old church being the highlights.

We reached Cuzco around 4 pm and called it a day. I also had to face Meha’s wrath as the hotel was the tiniest of the trip, our misery exacerbated by lack of windows and having to carry our suitcases over 2 floors.

18.05.2016 & 19.05.2016

After the laidback small town base of Ollanta, the big city feel of Cusco shocked and disappointed us. It was the capital of Inca empire from 13th to 16th centuries, so important enough to be explored. We visited the most famous inca ruin called Sacsaywaman (I know what you are thinking as all dirty minded folks do). Cusco was designed as the head of Puma with the Sacsaywaman being its head. The zigzag fortress walls of Sacsaywaman functions as Puma’s teeth. Very cool. Through readings and museums, we learnt that the Incas revered Puma. We were getting Inca overload by now, so we decided to skip Pisac.

We also visited the cool and artistic San Blas area as well as the main square Plaza de Aramas which has a bunch of lovely cathedrals. A visit to the cultural centre yielded some great ethic dance performances.

20.05.2016

To prep for our impending Amazonian jungle adventure, we decided to visit the famed Ccohahuasi Animal rescue center. We were fascinated by Condors, Macaws & Pumas to name a few.

It’s time for our flight to Iquitos via Lima.

21.05.2016 & 22.05.2016

Iquitos is one of few cities in the world which can only be reached by plane or boat (no roads!). It’s the gateway to Peruvian Amazon. The city taught us the underbelly of the illegal trading of Amazonian animals, in the world (in)famous Belen market. We did not have the heart to see it so we skipped and focused on visiting 2 animal rescue centers – Manatee center and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly farm. It is heartwarming to witness some good samaritans spending their lifetime in educating the local population about the ill effects of animal trading and nurturing the rescued animals. The museum of the Native Amazonian taught us about their costumes and cultures. Wait… Indian autorickshaw-style “mototaxis” were literally everywhere !

23.05.2016, 24.05.2016, 25.05.2016

Our Amazonian jungle adventure began with Geyner , the affable guide of Libertad Jungle Lodge, picking us up at Iquitos at 9 am. A taxi ride later (2 hours), we reach Nauta, a tiny village where we boarded our boat. 90 minutes on the Amazon, and we reach our lodge, a community run project run by the local villagers. This will be our home for the next 4 days while we explore the Amazon.

Amazon was truly an unforgettable adventure with some experiences we had only read in books – getting wowed by pink and grey dolphins, exploring and holding a Caiman in the dark of the night, getting frightened by Tarantula spider, spotting Macaws in the wild, eating a worm on the jungle trek, catching Piranha and then eating them, watching Amazonian waterlily (world’s largest leaf) and much more. The boat and guide were at our disposal all the time. Meha had, ironically, the best and freshest vegetarian food of the whole trip so far, here in the middle of Amazon jungle. We made friends with the villagers and felt completely at home.

Thanks for reading. We now head to San Francisco to meet dear friends Vipin, Jagdeep and their lovely children Riya and Sachi, for a much needed family down time. See you in YellowStone after a week.

Pyramids Galore : The Necropolis at Giza, Saqqara & Dahshur

As I was led to a corner interrogation room at Cairo airport surrounded by a bunch of hefty police officers, my first thought was that since Papa, Ma and Meha are devotees of Lord Ganesha, I would be saved. I also cursed myself for not going to temples frequently enough. The under-waist belt, which had been chosen after extensive research of best solutions to keep credit cards and money secure, was the culprit. Sweating profusely I tried to convince the police that there was no hidden bomb. My cute looks got me off the hook and out we were – what an adventurous start to the world trip – a fully avoidable type.

Before that, we had bidden farewell to folks in Chennai, enjoyed some interesting signage at Mumbai airport, endured a crazily-long immigration queue at Mumbai and wasted one hour in searching for the pre-departure lounge to relax.

While INR 20,000 looks like a hefty fee for a credit card, Citibank Prestige card is a beast for this kind of world-trip application, with privilege of 2 priority passes (free lounge access around the world!), Taj vouchers, a multitude of airmiles and what not. Anyway, at 1 am Mika and I fought in the lounge about whether the orange juice should be drunk straight off the 1-litre carton or a glass. As we boarded Egypt Air 969 to Cairo and I looked at the tiny 737-80o, my first thought was how will it fly 6 hours and prayed it should not run out of fuel mid-air !

A smooth flight later, we landed in Cairo safely and the reality that we were ACTUALLY on the road for a year, sank in.After the airport police adventure, as the taxi approached the pyramids, we felt in familiar territory in the midst of squalor of Giza village.

Even after reading Lonely Planet Egypt countless times, nothing prepared us for the breathtaking view that awaited us at breakfast from the rooftop of the lovely Pyramids View Inn (ranked #1 on TripAdvisor). We had complete “paisa vasool” for 2 nights, shamelessly staring at the Pyramids all the time. Arre bhai, we are Indians !

Quickly refreshed, we crossed the road and encountered the Sphinx first. He is supposed to be guarding the great pyramids. The Greeks named it thus as it resembled their mythical monster (man with haunches of a lion) who set riddles and killed the ones unable to answer. Bad at riddles, I tried to run away but Mika forced me to take the customary tourist poses.

A little primer: Egyptian kingdoms are divided into 3 phases. Old, Middle & New. The Giza pyramids fall into first lot – the enthu of the Pharaohs too was at its highest to allow such megalomania. The two main Pyramids are of Khufu and Khafre. While Khufu built the bigger one at 146m (in 2570 BC),

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I personally liked his son Khafre’s pyramid (136 m) better. First, it is perfectly aligned with the Sphinx. Second, the white limestone sandstone covering at the top gives it a really cooler look. Third, Meha likes it too!

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The tombs of Khafre and Khufu had been raided long back and their mummies never found. “India”. “Amitabh Bacchan is inside the tomb”. “Hey Maharaja”. The unbelievably never-ending persistence of the horse/camel/souveneir vendors is mind-boggling. We were also offered their wares in Indian Rupees! All this is harmless but can get on your nerved after 2 hours in scorching heat. Before they turned Mika into a mummy, we headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved nap. IMG_20160407_120701

At 7 pm, we are ready for the free light and sound show that you can watch from the hotel’s roof top. Paisa vassol (value for money) of the highest order! A lovely Kushari meal later, we snored with the eerie feeling that Khufu and Khafre’s spirits are just outside our hotel window.

Over our morning walk through the Giza village the next morning, we learnt where to head to if the Pyramids vendor assault makes you mad. IMG_20160408_060214

We saw some more authentic Giza morning scenes (some pretty and some not) that you won’t get to see if staying in downtown Cairo. It taught us that Taj Mahal or Pyramids – apathetic politicians are the same world over with regards to (non)maintenance of surroundings of their country’s prized monuments! IMG_20160408_060405

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After a lovely breakfast, and 1000 pictures later, we took one more snap and bid the Pharaohs a “bhaav-bheeni vidai” (heartfelt good bye) – notice the purple flowers in the foreground against the pale and weathered ancient monuments. Also notice sadness in Meha’s and Mika’s eyes.

At 7:30 am (8th April 2016), we headed off to Saqqara, Dahshur & Memphis – containing pyramids older than those at Giza. There are a total of 118 pyramids in and around Cairo! Our affable drive Abdullah tells us that Saqqara has 2 million date palm trees and a multitude of carpet schools

While the Giza pyramids get all the tourist glory, the other ones are mind-boggling nevertheless, and can be covered as a day trip. First up was Saqqara. It contains 11 major pyramids of the Old Kingdom Pharaohs.

As we entered Imhotep museum, we were greeted by these lovely Blue-cheeked Beeeaters.

The rock star of Saqqara is the Step Pyramid – commissioned by Pharaoh Zoser and architected by Imhotep (also considered world’s first physician). You enter through a hypostyle hall which has 40 pillars resembling a bundle of palm or papyrus stems.

This is followed by Great South Court featuring a bunch of cobras representing goddess Wadjet, who spat fire and represented destruction.

Then comes the step pyramid itself.

Saqqara also has Mastaba of Ti. Mastaba = Bench in Arabic. It was the benched stone structure directly above the actual tomb. Mika was thrilled to enter the tomb everywhere. Meha and I were scared and claustrophobic – kids now a days are fearless.

The last stop at Saqqara was Pyramid of Teti. Teti was a 6th dynasty pharaoh (2340 BC) and his tomb is one of the best preserved from inside. Again Mika enjoyed entering the tombs and posing for pictures ! The paranoid me kept thinking what if we get stuck underground here and escape strategies ….

Abdullah then whisked us to Dahshur, 10 Kms south of Saqqara. Khufu’s dad Pharaoh Sneferu built Egypt’s first TRUE pyramid here called the Red Pyramid and also the Bent pyramid. After Giza, these 2 are the biggest pyramids. Entering the Red pyramid was an adventure in itself – 125 steep stone steps followed by god knows how many more ups and downs, after which you reach three different 15 meter high burial chambers, each being an independent structure itself. Don’t forget to take your torch inside !

Bent pyramid is cooler looking than Red – because of its strange shape. They started ambitiously giving it a 54 degree angle but decided, “boss, ye to nahi hoga” (gosh, this is going no where) , and turned the incline to 43 degrees to finish it off. Phew ! Ho gaya khatam!!

Ok, take a deep breath and revise with me. The first pyramids EVER built were Step pyramids (2650 BC). THEN came the Bent Pyramid (2600 BC – a trial to build the real ones). THEN the Red Pyramid (same time frame as Bent – around 2600 BC – they figured out how to build a TRUE pyramid by now) . Then the REAL DEAL – the Great Pyramids at Giza (2560 BC) . Chalo ab paise nikaalo !

It is 1230 pm under scorching sun. We bid good bye to the best-mannered Abdullah who epitomized the best of Egypt tourism – carefree, humorous and understated grace.

Time to head off to Egyptian Museum where Tutankhamun’s Gold mask awaits us. The museum is off Tahrir Square, which in 40 degree summer heat, shows no signs of revolution.

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We meander through this amazing treasure cove of over 10,000 objects, including the special Tutankhamun galleries (alas no pictures allowed of his famed mask but boy it was ultra-special!).

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Unable to take a pictures of Tutankhamun’s mask, I got increasingly desperate and looked around to find his underwear which resembled the Indian “langoti” and looked sufficiently interesting to deserve a click. IMG_20160408_160309

The piece de resistance of the museum was the special mummy gallery which has an additional ticket. This gallery was worth the price – going back in time 3000 years and looking at those embalmed bodies, some with the curly hair befitting rock stars like Alice Cooper, was surreal. This time desperation truly got the better of me and when the attendant looked the other way, I clicked a REAL MUMMY ! Yahoo !!

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It is 4:30 pm. Dark clouds are gathering perhaps symbolizing the state of our sore feet. Meha insists on a coffee in the museum’s cafe after which we head back to Giza again. Bye Bye Cairo. See you Luxor , starting with Egyptian Railways train adventure tomorrow.

Thanks for reading our blog and we will be back soon with our Luxor adventures.

Meha, Manish & Mika

The World Trip begins at home : Bengaluru-Chennai Roadtrip!

So, the pre D-day finally arrived with Mika dressing up for the school carnival and then announcing that she was grown up and that we the old farts were not to attend her school function.

A few good samaritans helped finish last minute chores – Mahesh gave a quick photography lesson, Sangeeta agreed to store our mail, Suresh agreed to be the custodian of our 20 year old kinetic honda, Nitya lent a lovely pillow for Mika, Mike agreed to transport some last minute luggage and so on. The planet was conspiring to avoid last minute panic. The house handover to the landlord happened smoothly without a hitch. I started gulping my last bottle of Glenlivet and dozed off, waking up to a lovely day (3rd April 2016) realizing the D-day had actually arrived !

To avoid last minute panic, we had already rehearsed in advance to ensure that our luggage would fit into the hatchback for our drive to Chennai from where we would take off for Egypt. The loading went off smoothly.

An emotional good bye to our longtime household help Rajesh, customary selfie taken, and we are off at 7:30 am.

It is amazing how a different mind set can evoke different emotions, even in the same context. Bangalore-Chennai highway that we have driven dozens of times, suddenly started looking different with our tourist hats on. The outskirts of Kolar brought some lovely and interesting images.

Our first attempt at breakfast ended in failure as the restaurant was closed, in frustration I resorted to an unnecessary selfie.

Just as well. Fate had in store a kick-ass Paper Roast Masala dosa, Khara bath and piping hot south Indian filter coffee at Saravana Bhavan, 25 KMs ahead. SB, arguably is to Chennai what MTR is to Bangalore.

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I started dozing off after breakfast, as it was a nice substitute to my usually punishing morning gym schedule. Inspired by “Darling Electronics” in a small town immediately followed by a “sharp curves” signage, I made amorous advances towards Meha which she quickly rejected, so I handed over the wheels to her and dozed off !

We decided to focus on how enterprising our 2 wheelers can be.

But this is my favorite.

I rudely woke up when Meha pointed to this “prohibition” signage.

Since I was carrying my unfinished scotch and vodka bottles in the car, (hoping to convince my father in law to join in Chennai festivities) my mind started racing to calculate the amount of bribe in case I was arrested. No such mishap happened but wait a minute … isn’t the use of “Madras” now banned ? We backed a few hundred meters to take this shot.

In Bihar, I grew up reading Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s poetry but Meha points out that Thiruvalluvar was the rock-star poet & philosopher in this part of the world and this university at Vellore duly remembers him.

Next up was Kanchipuram- the silk saree mecca – this is where we will head to for Mika’s wedding shopping a decade or so later.

At this point of time (1:30 pm) , I am desparate for my Chettinad-style Parotta and Chicken Curry and lo and behold, the lord obliges.

21st May, 1991. It’s been 25 years but I have photographic images of that night. I have gone to sleep. Papa is shaking and waking me up with the horrible news – Rajiv Gandhi, the ex-prime minister who is expected to win the current election, has been assassinated at Sriperumbudur in Tamilnadu in the middle of an election rally. I am shocked beyond belief. Even though his first term was marred by mistakes and corruption charges, Rajiv was young and brought a breath of fresh air in the cesspool of Indian politics. As we approach Sriperumbudur, the mercury shows a scorching 38 degrees and today I am determined to see his memorial. Set in an expansive and poignant setting of where he was killed, it is definitely worth a look.

We arrived in Chennai in one piece at 330 pm and headed to Diff 42 Lounge bar for the world cup final with Thara, Meha’s vivacious sister. 6 beers quickly arrived. Thara and I played a game of who would finish their quota faster. We were rooting for England (Thara is a British citizen) and it was nice that we were sufficiently inebriated by the last over to forget the last minute West Indian assault !

The next morning arrived with the maid not turning up, setting us up nicely to take our in-laws to Taj Coromandel for lunch. It is amazing what a change in scene from the drudgery of life can do, to the spirits of even seemingly incapacitated senior citizens. What joy to see them enjoy and laugh like children. This world trip has gotten to a rocking start. Keep reading our blog at manysharpbends.in !

A year-full of adventures : Our upcoming Family World Trip !

There are multitude of ways of managing one’s mid-life crisis. I did not understand the enormity of this stage of life till I hit my 40’s. Instead of rushing and buying a yellow Ferrari, Meha and I decided to take a year off and do a family world trip. You read it right – you jealous DSC_3638 (2) sloggers- Meha, Mihika (our darling 12 year-old daughter) and I are embarking on a mother-of-all-“Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”-style adventures !! We wanted to remember a special year while on our death beds (far away still, hopefully) away from the traffic woes and mundane chores- admiring the 5000-year old Pyramids, experiencing the majestic sunrise and sunset at Grand Canyon, gasping at the waterfalls in Yosemite, gazing at the stars in Sedona, shaking hands with Marine Iguanas in Galapagos, getting awe-stuck in Machu Pichhu, encountering the grizzly bears in Yellowstone, gawking at world’s largest musical instrument museum in Phoenix, marveling at the Byzantian-turned-Ottoman Istanbul, and lots more ! How I managed to fool/convince (depending on one’s point of view) Meha to sign up to this absolutely crazy idea, will be detailed in another blog ! We wanted to take a path less trodden,to make our life more interesting. It’s an experiment at this stage of life we thought was worth every penny. Mihika will be parent-tutored for a year – what a fabulous principal who has given a year’s leave without losing a year – and she gets to learn the best lessons of life on the road immersed in various civilizations, peoples, cultures, museums and yes – studies too! Don’t be too jealous, wish us luck :). We have been overwhelmed (frankly I did not know we had so many friends!) by the encouragement and enthusiasm shown by friends and family. Casual acquaintances have accosted me and wished luck – leaving us totally overwhelmed. Now we feel, it’s “OUR” journey. ManySharpBends.Com is our blog where we capture our unforgettable adventures. Do follow us on the blog and facebook posts.