Vegas baby!

Vegas, the Sin City! I did not find it so sinful though:). But it was an interesting experience nonetheless.This summer, we stayed a couple of days in Vegas before going off to the National Parks in Utah and Arizona, and to be frank, I did feel a bit letdown by Vegas. It wasn't really as good or out of this world as I had always imagined, especially given that we have been hearing and seeing and reading about this city for ages!

Venetian at night

When in Vegas, we stayed in the Venetian, which was on the strip itself. It was a good hotel, with well done up and huge rooms but the decor did feel a little garish with all the Venice based paintings and lighting everywhere in the hotel (but isn't that what Vegas stands for?).

Gondola on Grand Canal

The first day, we did some sightseeing within the Venetian itself which was grand. There is the canal with the gondolas and the gondoliers singing while rowing passengers along the canal (within the hotel itself!). There is a St Marks square and many other eating, shopping and sitting places just next to the canals, all covered with a fake blue roof.

Masks at the Venetian

There are performers everywhere around in the hotel and lot of people wearing Venetian masks, entertaining tourists and clicking pictures with them. The hotel was decorated with waterfalls and flower arrangements and stuff all over. There were lot of events also happening within the hotel, given that it was Carnevale time. In fact there is enough to see within the hotel itself for a couple of hours.

Grand Canal

St Marks Square at Venetian

Venetian from outside

Ceilings at Venetian

The Strip

The Venetian was at one end of the Strip, which is kind of the high street of Vegas. All the major hotels are located on this Strip itself and its the place to stay if you really want to explore the area. For a budget traveller, you can easily stay just off the strip too in very cheap places but if you can, do stay here. Its easy to get out and see the sights this way.

We walked a lot along the Strip to check out all the interesting hotels and sights it had to offer. Each hotel had some interesting architecture and characteristics based on its theme and was interesting to just walk around taking in the feel (and clicking pictures).

Mirage volcano

The Mirage has a fake volcano erupting regularly in the evenings. Bellagio has the famous musical fountains in front, going off every 15 minutes.

Paris

Paris is based on Paris; New York New York on (you guessed it!) New York, with a roller coaster taking you up and down its sights; Ceasars Palace is based on the Roman empire, with statues of their Gods and a Fontana de Trevi copy; Monte Carlo on its namesake; Hotel Luxor on Egypt and so on. You get to see all these famous places of the world without having to even go there! How American:). The MGM and the Wynn have a more sober look, not based on any city or theme. Then there are the low-end Flamingo and Ballys hotels and casinos.

Vegas at night

Its just fun to walk along the strip and see all these garish images. There are multiple performers in various costumes all along the road, dressed up in all characters you can imagine. At nights the whole area is lighted up brightly. Its fun to see it all actually, but somehow I did not find it warm or inviting at all!

And all along the road, there are all these high-end shops. In fact each of the hotels also have their own shopping arcades. I found that weird, who would shop on a vacation? But in fact that iss the standard template for all the big hotels. There is a hotel theme which defines its decor, and then loads of shops and eating places, casinos, gardens, bars, pools and clubs within each hotel. And the hotel rooms are relatively cheap given their quality. The hotels make all their money from gambling rather than room rent. Also, even though all the hotel themes are different but on the inside, they start looking the same after a point!

Flower garden at the Wynn

In terms of eating, Vegas is a haven. Each hotel has some 20-30 restaurants within; any cuisine you want, any rate you want it at and its all there! We went to a couple of places which were good. Most of the time though we ate at the Venetian, Sushi Samba was tasty as was Aria on Tao Beach, the restaurant next to the Venetian pool. Pearl at the MGM was a nice Chinese place and the Terrace Garden Cafe at the Wynn good for a nice breakfast. My favorite though was Jasmine, which was in the Bellagio next to the musical fountains. It was a Chinese food place but I loved it just for the view of the musical fountains outside! Other than that, apparently the breakfast buffet at Bellagio is supposed to be great, though we could not eat there. But a definite must try I would say!

Vegas at night

Of course there is gambling in Vegas (of course!), but to be honest, I did not feel as interested in that and we spent very less time in the casinos. But each of the hotels have casinos and even off the Strip, there are multiple other smaller casinos to lose your money in:).

If gambling is not your hobby, there are loads of other activities in Vegas to keep you busy . During the day lot of organised trips leave for Powell Dam, Grand Canyon etc, which are quite interesting places all located nearby. You can also take a trip to the Vegas downtown which apparently has lot of places playing good music in the evening, and a fun slightly non-Vegas place to go. We did not go there but have heard the experience is different.

One thing anyone going to Vegas must definitely do is check out one of the many stage shows that happen there. There are a couple which are popular, La rev, O etc. but the one we saw was 'Love', by Cirque de Soleil based on the Beatles at the Mirage and it was amazing. It was a well choreographed show, with many performers on the stage at once, beautifully choreographed and riveting and performing to Beatles music. Loved it!

After a day and a half in Vegas we had left for the National Parks and when we drove back, I got the feeling of an oasis looking at the city. It is surrounded by miles and miles of desert wastelands all around, and then suddenly you see this collection of high rise brightly lit high rises in the middle of the desert. Whoever thought of making Vegas must have been quite a visionary, thinking of creating such a world in the middle of nowhere is quite a brilliant idea!!

On the whole though, I found Vegas very weird. There are loads of tourists just walking around doing the same stuff in every hotel. The feel of Vegas wasnt as 'fun' as i thought it would be. It just felt too standard, the same everywhere.

Bellagio fountains

The one thing about Vegas which I just loved were the Bellagio fountains! They were the best part of the trip for me. Very well designed and executed, the huge streams of water flowing in tune with the music, and to a different song everytime. Just amazing to sit by it and take it all in. Its a definite multiple times must-do.

National Parks of US (2): Bryce and Zion

BRYCE NATIONAL PARK

Onwards on our trip of the US National Parks, we drove from Grand Canyon to Bryce National Park in about 6 hours, even though the direct distance between the two parks is only about 150 miles! That is because you have to drive all the way around the canyon for double this distance.

Once you cross from Arizona into Utah, you will realise why this state is famous for national parks. Everywhere you go, the landscape is different and you see various types of land formations. And even though Utah is a desert, you still see mountains everywhere in different shapes, sizes and colours. Its a real treat for the eyes and a very difficult experience to describe!

On the drive, you pass through some minor canyons like the one formed by the Little Colorado river and also there there is the city of Page where you can visit the Glen Canyon, Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. We did not get a chance to spend time there, but they are a nice place to spend some time. Also, on the way you will pass through many other National Parks, all tempting you with a visit. If you have a lot of time, you can definitely explore these other places too.

Anyways, once at the Bryce Park, we stayed at the only lodge inside the park, the Bryce Canyon Lodge. Its a nice wooden-rustic-feeling kind of lodge located within the forests. There is a dining room at the lodge itself, which offers decent meals as well as a Pizzeria next to the lodge which offers snacks in between times. We stayed one day at the Park, in the morning going on one of the trails and in the evening just spending time at the various viewpoints as well as watching the sunset from Sunset Point.

We did one trail in the canyon, the Fairyland trail. Its an 8 mile, 4.5 hour trek which takes you down in the canyon, while you walk around the hoodos (which is what the Bryce Park is famous for!). You walk up and down admiring these weird looking structures which are very soft and made of sand at some places and clay at others. So they alternate between being very soft and very hard at times. They are all around you, and its interesting to see shapes in them, the bridges, the arches, the standing army, the fairytale castle and anything else your mind wants to imagine!

The trek was interesting and at times tough since it was so hot throughout but once we were out of the canyon, and walking along the rim, it started raining out of the blue!! And raining really hard, with zero visibility and hails falling too. That was quite an interesting and surprising phenomenon, and then lo and behold, the rain clouds left as suddenly as they had appeared and it was hot and sunny again! The land around though looked satiated and green and happy:) just after the rain while the dry streamlets at the bottom of the canyon started gushing with water suddenly. Quite a wonderful view that was!

Apparently all these hoodoo structures were made over time by the wind as well as the Paria river which flows through the canyon. Except that the river is very tiny and at the time we went, non-existent! So its still very difficult to imagine how it could have made all these structures!

After the trek, we visited the viewpoints along the park, the Rainbow point, the Natural Bridge and Fairview points, Bryce point etc. The view from Bryce point was good, of the amphitheater which has the highest concentration of the hoodos in the canyon. We went to Sunset Point at sunset, but did not find anything interesting to see; maybe sunrise brings out better colours and shadows on the hoodos?

One thing would suggest is to take the horse riding tours in the canyon. They sound cool, are guided so a lot of fun and informative I guess and makes it a lot more easier to explore the canyon than walking around in the sun:).

ZION NATIONAL PARK

After Bryce, we stopped for half a day at the Zion National Park (in Utah itself) on the way back to Vegas. The park is just another canyon (by this time, we had had enough of the canyons!), this park had huge red mountains on both sides with the Virgin river flowing in between. It was again dry like a desert, and honestly other than having huge mountains with sheer cliff sides, it wasn't anything too new or exciting.


But we did one trek here, which is maybe one of the toughest and riskiest treks I have ever done. We did the Angels Landing trail which is about 5 miles round trip and takes about 4 hours. Initially it was a tough climb, very steep and hot. In between there was a portion called 'the Dark Canyon' which was shaded and hence relatively easier to walk through, but on the whole this was one of the tougher treks we did (or so we thought!)


Till we came to the last and the toughest part of the trek, which was the 0.5 miles one way trek up the Angels Landing. Honestly, we took a couple of minutes to decide whether we should even be doing this or not! This last part of the trek is along a ledge on this mountain, with sheer fall on both sides. There are railing on one side of the trek at some places for you to hold while you climb the mountain and sometimes there is none!


You walk up scrambling and sitting, holding tightly to the railing for your life, and if you look down, you can easily freeze! It was scary and I questioned many times why we are doing something so risky but somehow we did it! And what a feeling it was:). At the top of the mountain, there was a flat stretch and you get a view of the canyon below.

We felt safe though only once we had come back from this last stretch of the trek though! (and I still think it was too risky a trek to do and wonder why people do it still?). Anyways after the trek, we had a quick lunch at the Zion Lodge and drove back to Vegas and then back to NY after an amazing time at the National Parks.

We had driven about 900 miles during the last 5 days through some amazing sceneries and landscapes. We had trekked each day and found all the three treks to be unique in their own way. My favourite was definitely the Angels Landing trail, just for the sheer amount of risk we took. Something will definitely remember forever.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARKS

In terms of wildlife, the most common animals here were the Elk, mule deer, prairie dogs (which look like squirrels), chipmunks, big and small lizards and apparently mountain lions and bears which we did not see. There are many rare birds also which you will encounter here, including the famous condor at the Grand Canyon.

The fee is $25 for each of the national parks and $80 for a yearly pass to all US national parks. If you plan to travel regularly, the yearly pass definitely makes sense. And all the national parks give maps with details of the treks and trails that can be done there, as well as other events that they all have.

Another good thing about these national parks is the free shuttle bus they run within the park. The buses connect all the important view points, trail heads etc in the park and run pretty regularly. It makes exploring the parks quite easy without having to drive through these areas yourself. All these parks also have lodges within for people to stay and explore them from close.

Also, another point to note, even though we visited the Parks in summer and the trails though hot were still do-able, I would definitely recommend them to be visited in the spring. The weather will be a lot cooler and easier to walk and visit. Plus a lot of water bodies dry up in the summer, would definitely look a lot photogenic and inviting in the spring than in the hot sun!

Was really impressed with how well organised these Parks were, definitely makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable and convenient. Looking forward to exploring a couple of more such US Parks!

Pittsburgh sojourn

I spent a week in Pittsburgh this fall for an office training and just thought would put in my views on that stay. I did not see much of the city as most of my time was spent in the CMU campus. We stayed at the Omni hotel which is a tastefully done grand old place, with an old world charm and a different era ambiance. The weather in Pittsburgh was already cold by September and fall colours had started to show up. There isn't much to do in Pittsburgh though. Its an old steel mill town of the US, through which 3 rivers flow which provides it with some beauty. Its also a university town, with at least 5-6 universities based there!


I did one touristy thing though, took the cable car named Duquesne up Mount Washington from just next to the river to the top of the hill and ate at a seafood restaurant, called Monterey Bay. The cable car is made of wood and very rustic. It even makes creaking sounds as it goes up which makes it scary. Plus you get to see nice views of the city as you keep gaining height. And they run the cable car even for 2-3 people only!

The Monterey Bay restaurant is built on top of a high rise on top of Mount Washington and has glass walls all around which is great for a top view of the city. Pittsburgh looks dazzling at night, with the rivers merging and the downtown all lighted up with the lights.

The food at the Bay was very tasty, mostly seafood but yum and with great service. Would say its a must-do if you every land up in Pittsburgh!

National Parks of US (1) : Grand Canyon

This year, we did a driving trip to three US National Parks, Grand Canyon in Arizona and Bryce and Zion in Utah. The first park we visited was Grand Canyon. We drove there from Vegas, the drive was about 5 hours and my first experience with the desert landscape of South West US. It's an enchanting drive, the view on both side of the road looks just out of a painting. As you drive through this region, the landscape is mostly bare but still changes constantly.

You drive through vastlands with small bushy vegetation and then high mountains with high cliffs and rocks and then canyons with rivers meandering through them. The colours, the features, the contours of land changes constantly. Its tough to put it in words, the many shapes and colours you see on the drive.

On the way, you pass by many casinos too as gambling is legal in Nevada. You also get to see a glimpse of the other side of US, the mid-west and the southerners, who are quite different from the Americans in the north-east US definitely. The roads here are all well maintained, you can drive at good speeds (and cruise too!) and there are many patches in between where there are no cars and no people for miles at a go.

On the way to the Grand Canyon from Vegas is the Powell Dam and Lake Mead area. The lake looks like an emerald blue drop against the yellow and brown hungry looking land all around. I think there are a couple of activities to do here, but since we did not stop there, am not sure.

Anyways once in Grand Canyon, we stayed in one of the lodges on the south rim of the canyon, Yuvapai Lodge. There are 4 more lodges inside the park, and the other four overlook the canyon; so if you ever plan to go there, do book a room at one of those lodges. Its definitely worth it, staying right on top of the canyon, though it does require you to book way in advance.

The first evening we reached the park, we walked along the rim on the canyon, called the rim trail. It passes by all the lodges and is just a flat trail moving along the rim of the canyon giving views of the depths beneath. The first view of the canyon is mesmerizing, its like nothing else I had ever seen before.

The vastness and size of the canyon really amazes you. And its a photographers delight! The canyon from different angle looks even more view-worthy (though later on you can't distinguish between these views anymore:)!!). The Canyon looks ever more amazing during the sunset, with light falling on some of the peaks on the North rim bringing out many more bright colours as the sun sets.


We also saw some elk while in the park, eating away to glory unaware of all the crowds around them clicking pictures furiously!




The next morning we did a trail in the canyon, the Bright Angels trail. There are multiple points on the trail where you can stop and come back depending on how much time and energy you have. One negative point about the trails at the Canyon is that you go down first! So the first part is easy and then comes the tough part, coming back up!

Since we did not have much time, we trekked till after the 1.5 mile restplace (upto 2 miles). It was a good trek, slightly strenuous but we did descend a lot into the canyon. It looks a little different looking up, than looking down:). It was quite hot though, so is advisable to carry lots of water.

On the way back up, we also saw some cave paintings, apparently pre-historic men used to stay here!






If you have time, you should definitely go down into the canyon till you can see the river up close. Also if you have a couple of days, you can definitely do a trek to the Phantom Ranch which is just next to the river and is 9 hours one way. And if you have even more time than that, you can even trek from the North Rim to the South Rim, crossing the canyon. We met a group of people who had done just that, they had been trekking for 5 days. Surely something to look to do someday!!

After the trek, we just took the shuttle bus to look at the viewpoints while on the way to Hermits rest. We stopped at Powell, Hopi, Abyss, Pima viewpoints, each providing a different view of the canyon. The best of course was Hopi point, which provides a very expansive view of the Canyon, from east to west showing how the Colorado meanders through the Canyon. The Colorado water was brown currently but I guess when its blue, it must look divine; sapphire blue flowing water in the middle of the red and brown stone all around.

The colours in the canyon are truly amazing; the different layers of stone in the canyon are all from different periods of the earth's history, they all have a different structure and different colour. The Canyon is huge, the distance between the two opposite ends of the canyon being almost 10 miles! And the depth is about 1.6 miles! Its truly scary to look down, you don't even know how down it goes.

The Park has a couple of good eating places too. The Canyon Cafe at Yuvapai opens at 6, which is helpful for trekkers starting early to avoid the heat while trekking. The El Tovar restaurant has a rustic feel about it, made of wood, with a native American theme and giving a complete panoramic view of the Canyon outside the window. The Arizona Room at Bright Angels Lodge also offers decent South-west American food and a good view.

There is lot of stuff to do in the Park other than the treks. On the East side of the park, you can drive on the Desert Drive to see the other end of the canyon. There are activities conducted across the park to keep people busy. The amphitheater plays movies of the Canyon; there are native american programmes held at the Lodges; there is white water rafting conducted on the Colorado river; you can even take a helicopter tour of the Canyon. Basically, enough to keep you engaged while in the Park:).

I loved my experience at the Grand Canyon, because its so different than anything else I have seen. It makes me wonder how something so amazing could have been molded by nature. There are loads of explanations given but I still find it unimaginable.

I also wonder how the first person to stumble on it would have felt? The Canyon comes about so suddenly, you are passing through normal green forests and suddenly there is this fall before you. Not a small one, but one extending to 10 miles and 1.6 miles deep, with various shades of colours visible across the mountains. What a bewitching sight that would have been, what a feeling!

For people planning to visit it, just one point. I don't think there is that much to 'see' here, as after a point the canyon starts looking the same. The best way to enjoy the park is to trek there, go down and see the canyon from below. That is when you will feel a part of the park, rather than just visiting and clicking pictures!

Sentosa Islanding

One weekend while in Singapore, (and after 2 earlier visits here), I decided finally to go to the only touristy thing to do in Singapore (other than shopping that is!!) and went to Sentosa Island. Even though most of my friends advised me that its not really a place worth visiting,  I still thought of giving it a try. To be honest, I wasn't disappointed. I thought it was a fun place to go to, if you have spare time while in Singapore. Its easy to reach, you can take a cab or just take the MRT and then the monorail to the island.

There are multiple things to do there: sound and light shows, water activities, beach, resorts, theme parks etc. We just ended up going to the Universal Studios and what a fun day we had. For one, we were lucky that someone gave us the express pass which allowed us to go ahead of the line in each rides. Though surprisingly for a Sunday, there wasn't much crowd. Anyways we walked around, did most of the rides and it was fun. The Egypt based rides and the dinosaur rides were very enjoyable. The rollar coaster rides were also pretty scary! Plus there was the kids Disney section which was again the Disney castle along with some cartoon characters walking around, Here are some pictures of the park.

While coming back from the island, we took the cable car (themed on angry birds) which gave a lighted view of the city. Singapore does have a dazzling skyline at night, which I did not know earlier.  Anyways we had a great day, fun and enjoyable. I would definitely suggest going to Sentosa if you ever land up in Singapore. Its almost like a full day hi-fi mela, good for spending a long day outside.

A Balinese weekend

A couple of weeks back, I did a quick weekend trip to Bali, mostly because the tickets were cheap but also because it was a place I had enjoyed a lot the last time around and could see myself visit again. And of course, the fact that it has visa on arrival for Indians was a big factor! This trip was a bit different than the last one though, as it was to a more resort-ey part of Bali unlike the last time which had a more cultural flavour to it.

The moment I landed in Bali, even on a late Friday night, I felt a kind of calmness and purity in the air, and the feel of a slow pace of life in a different world altogether; and that is when I realized what it was that had drawn me to Bali again! It was this feeling of a different slow world, away from the city life we all live in and the feeling, that yes life can be like this too...

Anyways, so I was there for 2 days and stayed in Nusa Dua which is essentially the 'manicured lawns' kind of resort area of Bali, at a place called Kind Villa Bintang which though not the most upscale resorts around, was a very nice quiet beach hotel.

The pool at the resort looked sublime at night with the sound of the sea and the twinkling lights everywhere. The restaurant next to the pool had a good menu plus was open 24 hours, so quite comfortable and convenient.

The first day, I had a very laid back relaxed day. I went to the local shopping area called 'the Bali Collection' which has a western mall-like feeling, with shops selling tourist ware. Its good if you are really craving for a western experience, else I would definitely suggest not to spend time shopping at such kind of places when in Bali. The stuff is overpriced and the environ very touristy. Anyways since I was there, I had lunch at a place called 'the lounge' just because it was playing hindi music (even though it wasn't serving Indian food!)!

In the evening, I walked along the beach next to the hotel, which was not that great actually. The beach has lot of wild weeds scattered all along which during the low tide looked even worse. There are lot of water sports happening there though which is good. In the evening, I took a walk along the road crossing all the resorts on one side and cafes and restaurants and spas on the other. The highlight of the day for me was the visit to the spa: costs vary from exorbitant to dirt cheap! And you can totally pamper yourself by getting the Balinese massage which is very relaxing. An interesting thing I noticed was that it was not just tourists who were all massage crazy; looks like the locals also come in for massages regularly. Its just part of their daily life, which was a surprise to me.

The next day I took a tour of two of the famous temples on the Island, Tanah Lot and Uluwatu. Tanah Lot is a small temple on a rock in the sea, it has a great location and looks even better at sunset when most people visit it. I however went there during the day but it was graceful nevertheless; the small temple perched on top of a huge rock with water all around. The grounds all around are green and have cliffs overlooking the water making it a nice spot to spend some time (minus the crowds that is!)

One thing I was surprised about though, was there was an entry fee to go to the temple which feels very unlike a place of worship. I however got a 50% discount because for some reason, they thought I was a native Indonesian! And a letdown I felt was that you are not allowed to enter the temple unless you are a Hindu (which worked for me) and dressed in the traditional Balinese dress. I would have loved to spend some time there, just feeling the calm and quiet inside.

The other temple I visited was Uluwatu, at another strategic location on a cliff with green waters meters below lashing at the mountains. Its another calm and serene location except that again the temple is closed to outsiders and you can just see it from the outside which though interesting lacks the same charm as entering and praying inside the temple. Also you need to beware of monkeys here as they are said to be pretty aggressive.



I ended my stay at Bali with a lunch at the Intercontinental at Jimbaran beach. The beach was vast with good yellow sand, would suggest staying somewhere here rather than in Nusa Dua as its a lot better if you care about the water. Had lunch at the resort which was too pricey. But otherwise the resort looked rather luxurious and a fun place to hangout at!

What had struck me most about Bali the last time and even on this trip was the people on this little island; helpful, simple, mostly smiling and ready to help; and most of them understand English very well too which is good. They look very cute wearing the traditional dress and love conversing with Indians, talking about Hinduism and Hindi movies too! And although, this time around I did see an increase in commercialization here, I felt Bali still retains its old-world charm(and I just hope it doesn't get lost anytime)!


You see the Balinese culture all around you, whether it is the dances or the temples in each village of the stone structures everywhere. If you are fond of history and culture, this is definitely the place to go. So much to explore and learn and enjoy! I was also amazed by the different kinds of flowers all along the island, its really beautiful.

The weather this time of the year was quite warm, so I would suggest sleeping during the hot afternoons or at least staying indoors and venturing out only in the mornings or evenings. Tourism is still quite cheap here which makes it easy to do a wide variety of activities. I had a great time again here and wouldn't mind coming again, to explore more about this very different island which has a lot of variety to offer.