With Foodpanda – Delicious Food is just a click away

Foodpanda

Food 🙂  Mere mention of this word and there is a smile on my face and thoughts of tasty food on my mind. Hence it’s no surprise when I say that I am a total foodie and love my eating out time, especially for lunch. But sadly I work in a part of Mumbai where for some reason there is a serious dearth of eating options. And during one such frustrating search for neighborhood food options, I found an interesting website called Foodpanda.

Foodpanda is an online food ordering website that you can visit and order food and beverages in a few simple steps. Once you visit their website all you need to do type in your city, then your area and then a subarea – and lo and behold it shows you numerous options from where you can order. The website has tie-ups with all major restaurants in the city and across cuisines too. It also shows the online menu of the restaurant and the minimum order that needs to be placed for delivery.

A short stay at the Leela Kovalam, Kerala

A little bit of luxury doesn’t hurt anyone and every traveler, even a budget one such as myself, deserves a bit of luxury travel sometimes. Early this year I got my chance when we had our office offsite in Kerala and that too in one of the best luxury properties there i.e. The Leela Kovalam.

We flew into Cochin from Mumbai and then took the hotel coach for the short 20 – 30 minute ride to the property. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed in the traditional manner with tikkas (vermillion bindis), seashell necklaces and fresh coconut juices. Since our rooms were not ready and lunch was, the staff invited us to have lunch and then relax around the hotel till they could get the rooms arranged for all of us. So we had a sumptuous lunch and generally walked around the property to get a feel of it.

Views from the lobby

5 Must Visit Stores in Chennai

I love shopping and have to buy something from every place that I visit. Hence my trip to Chennai was no different. While Chennai was always known for its traditional sarees and gold ornaments, there is now a lot more to it’s shopping than just that. Chennai is evolving and has some interesting brands that you must definitely check out on your next visit here.

Naturally Auroville Boutique.Photo courtesy -http://naturallyaurovillechennai.com/.

Naturally Auroville Boutique – A visit to Auroville is a must for everyone visiting Chennai or Pondicherry. The Auroville boutique stocks products that are made in Auroville and are natural, artistically designed and ecologically sustainable. They have a wide variety of products in home décor, aroma & fragrance, handmade paper deco, organic food etc that make beautiful gifts for yourself and for everyone back at home. I bought a lot of cosmetics, essential oils, fragrant candles, organic food etc for my friends and family and each one of them loved their gifts.

You can check more on them at – http://naturallyaurovillechennai.com/

Top 10 Unique and Unusual Things to See and Try in Dubai

Writing about my Dubai visit (November 2012) has been a lot of fun, and with each of my posts’ I have kind of revisited my entire vacation. However as all good things come to end, this is my last post for that particular Dubai trip. Though I am sure I will travel there again, but for now I couldn’t think of a better way to end this series than with a post on some of the unusual things to see and do in Dubai.

So do read on for my list of the most unusual things that you must see or do in Dubai –

• Try flavored / normal camel milk – We saw this in a department store and just had to try it. It was slightly salty, very filling and is apparently very healthy. Though I must admit that I can’t drink this everyday. 🙂

Try Camel Milk

Top 10 Unique and Unusual Things to See and Try in Dubai

Writing about my Dubai visit (November 2012) has been a lot of fun, and with each of my posts’ I have kind of revisited my entire vacation. However as all good things come to end, this is my last post for that particular Dubai trip. Though I am sure I will travel there again, but for now I couldn’t think of a better way to end this series than with a post on some of the unusual things to see and do in Dubai.

So do read on for my list of the most unusual things that you must see or do in Dubai –

• Try flavored / normal camel milk – We saw this in a department store and just had to try it. It was slightly salty, very filling and is apparently very healthy. Though I must admit that I can’t drink this everyday. 🙂

Try Camel Milk

Top 5 Malls to visit in Dubai

Dubai is definitely the land of malls where you can’t drive for 10 minutes and not come across a mall. However malls here are not just for shopping, but they are more like an experience (including a cultural one). For some reason it seems like malls here intend to be a means of shopping cum entertainment cum sightseeing. Like the city, nearly every mall in Dubai has something unique to offer from ice rinks to skiing to themes to souks. And each one of them has its own unique charm and attraction.

As far as the actual shopping is concerned, while you find pretty much all the brands here (including the high-end ones) – nothing is cheaper. The only thing we found cheaper were TVs (as compared to India), rest everything was pretty much as it is in India.

The Dubai Mall

A chance to win a free trip to Switzerland :)

Ever since I have been bitten by the travel blog, I have dreamed about a chance to win a travel contest someday and visit a new country; that too absolutely free. And if you too think similarly, then Makemytrip has come up with a virtual game contest for the likes of us to win “wait for it” – “ A FREE  / ALL EXPENSES PAID SWISS TRIP” that too in a fun way 🙂

All that we need to participate and play the game is a computer and a webcam. Once that is ready just visit – http://switzerland.makemytrip.com/experience_adventure.php and ski along the icy slopes to score the maximum points. Play as many times and as long as possible as the top scorer wins the big prize. 🙂 This game uses augmented reality which makes the game quite close to an actual ski experience. And the whole activity, super fun.

Pic courtesy – makemytrip.com

Exploring Old Dubai – Bur Dubai and Diera

Contrary to a lot of misconceptions, Dubai is just not all about new construction, high-rise buildings and high-end malls. There is another part to this city which lends it a different character and according to Lonely Planet is the heart and soul of Dubai, well I am speaking about Old Dubai. Now Old Dubai mainly comprises of 2 parts, Deira and Bur Dubai which are separated by the old and historically important Dubai creek. Per my recommendation, whenever you are in Dubai, a visit to both these places is a must.

Bur Dubai

Dubai – A quick guide to planning your next trip here

Dubai. This is a name that immediately conjures a city in your mind which is full of Glitz, Glamor, Excess and Extravagance. A city which is traditional yet extremely accommodating of the modern. A city constantly under construction with more new and ground breaking ideas; be it The Palm or the World Islands. A city which has defied its geographic limitations (being a desert) and proved that it can have everything (including ice skating and skiing). A city that has something for everyone and will make you feel at home, no matter who you are.

We had a chance to explore Dubai (quite by chance) last November. We had actually been planning to visit numerous other places, but for one reason or the other everything kept getting cancelled. In the end, we gave all of it up and booked a ticket to the cheapest place available then, which was Dubai. A trip to this place made us realize that contrary to a lot of prior notions, there is a lot more to Dubai than shopping. And don’t get me wrong, we did shop a lot but we also saw numerous other beautiful sights and  experienced a different character of this city.

Dubai Skyline

Ladies Market, Mongkok, Hong Kong

Continuing my walking tour from my previous post, walking around wanchai and kowloon, I had two options – either to head towards the Temple Street Night Market or the Ladies Night Market. SInce I had already been once to the Temple Street Night Market (in one of my previous HK visits) I decided to head towards the Ladies Night Market in Mongkok. I took a quick metro and reached Mongkok in about 5 minutes. Now Mongkok is quite a mixture of residential and commercial establishments, where all buildings have shops at the bottom and residences above it. All along the way, you come across typical Hong Kong narrow lanes, crowds, food shops and signages, which I feel are uniquely Hong Kong.

The lanes of Mongkok, Hong Kong