Vast Blue Skies

My     PANCHGANI    Diary THE IDEA - The rolling hills and silver oaks invited us to visit them at Panchgani. We had heard a lot about the breathtaking view from every corner of Panchgani and were intrigued. So finally, we decided to make the trip in December 2009. Yes! My mother and I are just back from the cozy town of Panchgani. THE PLACE - Panchgani is around 21 kms (30 mins) before the other more popular and populated sister hill station, Mahabaleshwar. It is in the state of Maharashtra, India and an ideal place for a quick getaway. The travel agents tried very hard persuading us to go to Mahabaleshwar instead but we were firm on our decision. http://www.indiatravels.org/panchgani.htm tells us About Panchgani Panchgani earned fame when John Chessen, a British Warrant Officer founded it in 1854 and formulated it with a grant from the Governer of Bombay. He chose the place to experiment and to create it into a European-style health resort. The ancien...

I finally managed to attach pix taken when I was in Panchgani. I recommend it to anyone who would like to get away from the urban jungle !!!! The pictures are in the "My Panchgani Diary" post.

SILVER PANCHGANI - My Panchgani Diary The rolling hills and silver oaks invited us to visit them at Panchgani. We had heard a lot about the breathtaking view from every corner of Panchgani and were intrigued. So finally, we decided to make the trip in December 2009. Yes! My mother and I are just back from the cozy town of Panchgani. Panchgani is around 21 kms (30 mins) before the other more popular and populated sister hill station, Mahabaleshwar. It is in the state of Maharashtra, India and an ideal place for a quick getaway. The travel agents tried very hard persuading us to go to Mahabaleshwar instead but we were firm on our decision. So we booked our bus tickets from Mumbai to Panchgani bus stand. That’s what I kept asking for as I had booked our stay at Hotel Summer Palace which was close to the bus stand and shopping area. The bus tickets were around Rs. 400 /- per seat in a Volvo AC bus. It seems that all buses plying to and fro to Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar are AC ones; they don’t...

CAPTIVATING KERALA Kerala – God’s own Country. A most sought after holiday destination for Indians and foreigners alike. Though small, this south Indian state boasts of all the necessary things to attract any earnest tourist. There may be so many others who have already made it their home! J and I were looking out for a honeymoon destination and we zeroed in on Kerala because we had heard so much about it. He wanted to visit Munnar and I have always dreamed of cruising down the backwaters. The Kerala Tourism Department’s green coconut palm-swaying logo beckoned. It brought about visions of tall, swaying coconut trees, blue backwaters, sandy beaches, lush green hills, blue-green sea. Putting aside the clichéd “Ayurvedic treatment packages” marketed all over, I wanted to know more about “Enchanting Kerala”. I was soon listing hotels, tour packages, train schedules, houseboat tariffs, sightseeing spots, how to get from one place to another, the best package deal, etc. etc. Whew!!! But it...

photo courtesy - Himanshu Sarpotdar Officials from UNESCO were recently in Matheran, a hill station outside of Mumbai, to consider one of India's latest nominees to the World Heritage list. Operating for over a century, save for yearly pauses during monsoon season, the Matheran Light Railway (MLR) runs only a short distance--approximately 12 miles--but has the kind of history and character to qualify for the UNESCO list. Read all about it at -http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/11/the-little-train-that-couldbec.html Read all about my trip to Matheran in this blog.

Nature’s Symphony in Matheran A serene, unpolluted, eco-sensitive “popular” hill station near Mumbai. Unbelievable! This was my reaction when my husband told me all about the tiniest hill station in the country and Asia’s only pedestrian hill station. Matheran. Surfing the internet for more information on this favorite holiday destination for tourists from all over the world got me interested in this “Forest on Top” located at an altitude of 800m above sea level. I learned that all fuel-driven vehicles, except for emergency vehicles, are banned from this little town. This is its USP. Horses, ponies and hand-pulled carts are the only means of transport. The architecture is typically colonial and civilization and economics haven’t mutilated the old world charm which is present everywhere. Thank God for that!! Eager to experience all this and since there was an upcoming extended weekend, we decided on spending it at this quaint place. It’s quite easy to get there actually as Matheran is ...

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