Twenty Eleven

Twenty Ten is over and its another brand new year Twenty Eleven....reflecting back, I feel Twenty Ten  passed so fast and it was a year full of activities in terms of my traveling, I went on some amazing and thrilling trips...visited beautiful places....went on a soul trip ( Bhutan)....a backpacking tour ( North East India)....free foreign trips( Thailand)....self discovery (Bhutan again)....surprised official trips (Arunachal and Rural Andhra) in short I traveled like a true wanderlust and enjoyed every moment....I remember starting Twenty Ten  with a trip to Imphal and ended the year with a trip to Bangalore. 

Its been nearly 3 years since I started to blog and I have stuck to topics I wanted to write about and I wrote for myself but starting from this year as few more people read my blog I will add few more things in my post :

1. I will add details of places I visited info like accommodation: Hotels/Guesthouse etc with contact details, best time to visit, must eat and buy  and also mention a "Clean Loo Guide" just like my fav. travel guide and Magazine "The Lonely Planet" .

2. Video's of my latest food/recipes and inventions/innovations will be uploaded.
3. Safety from point of travelling alone.
4. Approx Budget.

I was surprised to see that alot of people visit my blog (all thanks to google) and I wish that whoever reads my blog should feel happy about getting the right information. Twenty Eleven will be exciting as I plan to travel a lot more, learn Italian cooking, stay fit & healthy, lose weight (ah thats a priority) , blog more, stay happier, love myself a lil more and yeah I am getting married :) :). Happy New Year to me and I hope to have a Great 2011.

Field and food Trip

When we talk about Biryani is India theirs only one city we all associate Biryani with and thats Hyderabad.... the city of  Nizam, Pearls and Biryani's of course. I was on a four day tour to Hyderabad and this trip sure was one of the best field (read official trip) trip I've done on a long time. Despite the hectic schedule I still managed to shop (pearls), eat (biryani & many other AP special dish) and meet friends (AB and cutiepie her son). Talking about shopping I bought myself a really sexy pearl necklace and earings set, which is so beautiful that I fell in love with it the first time I saw, it looks so khandani that I was joking with my colleagues saying  that the Pearl set looks like "Rani Ki Beti ka haar" and I sure will look like Rani ki beti wearing that. Alot of people might not know but the pearls available in Hyderabad are mostly chinese pearl, I found out from Wikipedia that 80-90% of world's cultured pearls comes from China and m really not surprised with that...China wale kuch bhi bana sakte hai.

We had Biryani at the famous "Paradise" restaurant located in Paradise circle, Secundrabad...the biryani's of course were really good and what was really cool about the restaurant was the orders were taken not on a note pad or some piece of paper but mind you on a PDA...thats the first ever Indian Restaurant I have seen using PDA to take orders...it was damn cool...the PDA was connected with the computer in the kitchen and the order gets registered directly to the kitchen. The biryani was followed by "Khubani ka Meetha" and I must admit that was the best Khubani ka meetha I had ever had till now, it was not so sweet and the apricots just melted in my mouth....I am looking fwd to many more trips to Hyderabad to enjoy not just the biryani's but the whole lot of other yummy things the city has to offer.




Paradise Biryani @ Secunderabad



Khubani ka Meetha @ Paradise

                                               

Dilli ke sardi

It's 18 degree celsius in Delhi and I am sure not enjoying it. I like coming to Delhi for all the food, frens and shopping but not in winter....its been 7 years since I left this city and have come many times since then but I always avoid travelling to delhi in winter...it gets super cold and with the thick fog or rather smog it get's too much to take ...air travel becomes a pain with delayed flights. I remember my hostel days in delhi when  sitting for hrs in the hostel lawn on sundays was one of few things we really enjoyed....the hostel evening tea tasted a lil better n bunking the 1st morning class was guilt free.

Saardi in Dilli is sure not pleasant but its also the time when you can wear/flaunt the best winter cloths :)...   

Enjoying winter

Sitting near a "Meiphu" (Traditional Meitei heater) and having roasted peas and aloo is what I like best about winter, winter in Manipur can be real fun but very, very cold too.  Its that time of the year when sleeping for 5 more mins always feels good and sunday feels like the best day.

Well  winter is also the season when we have runny nose, cough & fever to top it all. But its also the time of the year when the best and fresh green leafy vegetables are available at throw away prices....I associate winter with Hanggam (Musterd leaves) , Kobi lei (Cauliflower), Hawai Maton (Tender Peas leaves)& hawai tharak (Peas)  and also the best time to have " Nga ren" & Hawai Tharak ooti...which is an all time fav. For  a total foodie like me winter is all about having the best possible Meitei dish which taste best only in winter. I am enjoying winter and looking forward to having everything best that I can.

Meiphu- Traditional Meitei Heater

Visual Treat- Bhutan (Druk)

Memorial Chorten- Thimphu

Changangkha Lhakhang- One of the oldest temple in Thimphu

Town Square- I guess the most happening place in Thimphu

 Thimphu Valley view from Sangaygang Cross country track.

 Taktshang Monastry - Paro..I really wanted to climb till the monastry which is located at a height of 10240 ft formally build as a Monastry in 1692 but I realized I was physically not fit to climb...after climing for 15-20 mins I started feeling dizzy and breathless...and decided not to climb up...but this has motivated me to go back again and next time I sure will climb till the top.

 Random shoot on the way to Taktshang

 Modern yet traditional Bhutanese house-I fell in love with the houses from the moment I saw it.

Visual Treat-Thailand

 The night Market at Chaing Mai...the best place to shop while in Chaing Mai.

 Chon-Buri craft center, one of the best bamboo and rattan handicraft center I have ever visited. The craftsman ship was just out of this world.

Chaing Mai riverside restaurant. Indian Consulate at Chaing Mai and the Shangri La hotel at Chaing Mai.