Author: Priyanka Dalal
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3 Solo Travel Stories: Getting Sick While Travelling
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It’s 1 AM and I am sitting awake in bed. I don’t think I can sleep as the tummy has a roller-coaster running inside. I am not entirely sure what caused this but maybe that Fried Rice I had last Sunday. It’s often inevitable to try out new places to eat and drink when traveling.…
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Why Learn Kalaripayattu?
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“I am going to learn kalaripayattu in Kerala.” What’s that? was the first response from most people. After explaining that it is the world’s oldest martial artform, people thought it was a cool thing to do. It is also unusual of course, but nothing new in that for me ;) As travellers and also as…
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Work Travel Balance: How I Fund My Travels
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People talk a lot about work life balance. But the real question here is work travel balance ;) How can we travel more and also earn satisfactorily through interesting work? Note that I said ‘interesting’ work. Because I greatly value the work I do – it is a way to contribute productively to the world…
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Day to Day Notes with Kalaripayattu in Kozhikode, Kerala
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Here I am in Kozhikode (pronounced Co-Li-co-Day), Kerala for a week of Kalaripayattu. As with Kalari, this is also my first experience with Kerala – I am staying at my teacher’s (respectfully called Gurakkal) homestay, getting vegetarian Malabar food (without onion and garlic) and everyone typically speaks only Malayalam sometimes with a smattering of Hindi…
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21 Mumbai City Photos : Black And White
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When I am not “on the road”, my base is Mumbai at my parents house. Naturally, when I am there, I wish to explore and uncover interesting stories. This implies heritage walks, chit-chatting with people from different strata of life, clicking photos and so on. ;) And here are some of these Mumbai city photos!…
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Isha Mahashivratri Celebrations at Adiyogi Coimbatore & Bangalore: A Complete Guide
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A detailed guide to attend the MOST WATCHED live webcast in the world – Isha Mahashivratri Celebrations!
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Vegetarian Hot Pots in Taiwan
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Just a few days back I felt like having a hot pot. It is one of those things that happen after we travel quite a bit, we start thinking of options and alternatives that otherwise may have never occurred to us. So, I have been muddling around about how to make a hot pot at…
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Hiking & Cycling Routes Near Córdoba, Spain
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Cordoba’s historic city center is a testament to the times of Roman settlements, Muslim domination of Europe and the later victorious re-conquest by the Christians. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. And the old town definitely exudes a character and charm not easily found. But this is not why I chose…
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Botanical Garden in Ajuda, Lisbon
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Lisbon has three botanical gardens as far as I know. Ajuda, Belem and the City Center. The one in the city center was under renovation when I was there. But I visited the one in Ajuda and Belem, they were very close to where I was staying. This post is about the botanical garden in Ajuda.…
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Solo Hiking Safety: Preparation Checklist
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I have been on a few solo hikes so far. Three solo hikes in the Himachal near Jibhi. One hike in the Subbetica Natural park in Andalucia, Spain. In general, it is a bit too soon for me to be putting a “Solo Hiking Safety” post. I like to be more experienced about a subject like this…
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I Got Lost On A Solo Hike & Had To Be Rescued
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I often wonder, I keep talking abt solo travel as being really awesome. And people around me get impressed, think it is so cool and all that. But what happens when a situation develops that is NOT awesome? Am I only rhapsodizing on the basis of all my positive experiences so far? In which case it…
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Vegetarian Girl in Lisbon
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In general, Lisbon isn’t considered very vegetarian-friendly. This is what the few people who had some idea about it told me. People generally don’t know much about Lisbon because it is not one of the top must-visit cities in Europe. But after spending over 3 weeks here, I wouldn’t really call Lisbon particularly difficult for vegetarian or…
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Places to Meditate in Salem, Tamil Nadu
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Places to MEDITATE. This is my favourite activity (or rather no-activity ? ;) ). Go somewhere awesome and sit and meditate or cycle. Kind of the same. Haha. And one podcast I heard from Swami Tyagananda of Ramakrishna Chapter in Boston, said that spiritual seekers notice a sense of familiarity when they do their practices…
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Lisbon Oceanarium
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I came to Lisbon for some work meetups. And everyone in this work team had to vote for one fun group activity. This is how I landed up at the Lisbon Oceanarium :) If you are wondering about the difference between Oceanarium and Aquarium (I was *geek alert*) – any aquarium that provides an ocean habitat for its marine life…
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Traveling in Vikram Samvat 2073 & Vir Samvat 2543, Year-end Post
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Are you wondering what’s Vikram Samvat and Vir Samvat? They are the traditional Indian calendars. You can read more about them here. I have shifted my year-end posts to this calendar. It is because the traditional year-end that happens after the Diwali celebrations and then wishing all friends and family alongwith some religious activities make for…
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Jibhi: A Month in the Mountains
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This Himalayan trip was easily one of my best – a week in the astounding desert of Spiti and then over a month in Jibhi – a beautiful, lush green mountain town at 7,000 ft. The idea was simple, leave the metropolis madness called Mumbai behind and be closer to nature. And so it happened.…
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Australian Bush Macro-Style Photographs
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Macro photography: producing photographs of small items in larger-than-life size. I don’t have professional macro photography setup, but here are some interesting photographs from the Australian bush, macro-style. :) But before you take a look at those, a quick note on – what is the Australian Bush? The ‘Australian bush’ loosely means any area outside the…
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Wandering In The Himalayas : 50 Days In Spiti, Jibhi and Shimla
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What is it about ‘a month’ of time, that makes it really exciting to spend ‘a month’ in a place? Wandering in the Himalayas for a month had been on my mind since a long time. Now that it has happened, I am thinking of spending a few more months next time around. :D I think a…
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Reflections: The People Of The Himachal Villages
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Small friendly gestures, quick laughs, a fleeting romance in the heart or a simple, resonating conversation on the road. Cherished by travellers, these interactions are unexpected and what makes them more special is that they are between complete strangers. You may not know the person’s name, background or any details at all. And yet those…
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Solo Travel Question: What Happens If Something Goes Wrong?
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The above image is during my solo trek to Serolsar Lake, Himachal. Conversations about the pros and cons of solo travel keeps happening around me. Naturally because I travel solo. And all sorts of random places I land up solo – religious events, cycling in the countryside and recently trekking the himalayas. A lot of people…
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Spiti Valley Travel Guide: Meeting The High Himalayas
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योगीश्वराय महादेवाय त्रयंबकाय त्रिपुरान्तकाय त्रिकाग्नि कालाय कालाग्नि रुद्राय नीलकण्ठाय मृत्युञ्जयाय सर्वेश्वराय सदाशिवाय महादेवाय नमः महादेवाय नमः महादेवाय नमः I have explored various parts of the Himalayas in India. The chardham in Uttarakhand, gardens and lakes of Kashmir, Buddhist ambience of Sikkim, amazing hospitality of Himachalis – the diversity and mountain environment make a rich experience. I have…
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My First Solo Cycling & Camping Trip Impact: Why Travel?
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I had jotted down this post after my first solo cycling and camping trip from Berlin to Copenhagen. This was after many months of that trip – so I am not talking about the euphoria right after the trip. In fact right after the trip, I was heartbroken because I didn’t want to stop the…
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Fun Ways To Learn A Language Like Mandarin for Taiwan
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In India, regional languages have taken second place to English wherever people have the option. This helps us tremendously in work fields and makes our working force internationally viable. But it does put us behind in retaining culture especially in urban areas, compared to a lot of these societies like Taiwan, Japan, China and even…
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Cycling In Taiwan: A Detailed Guide
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2016 was the year I flew East. And my first experience of the Oriental culture was a month in Taiwan! :D Delving into the Taiwanese culture was fascinating. So many similarities with the Indian culture and also so much difference. Exploring this new culture was a complete joy and that too on bicycle!
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13 Black And White Photos Of European Cities
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I recently have a new found love – Black and White photos! It started with an impromptu black and white Taiwan Street Photography series. And couple of weeks back I started a series on European cities on Instagram. The idea was to create vintage type shots of a common city scene. Not particularly landmarks or…
