Year 2010 in travel

Warning: This is a colorful post. 🙂
Before I start writing about my recent trip of Philippines and Malaysia, I thought it better to recollect how was the year 2010 for me in terms of travel.
I think I will skip some of domestic travels since a few of them happened in a jiffy and I do not remember the details now. Also, I am not counting the local exploration of lesser known places of my town such as watching Flamingos at Sewri fort.

Flamingos enjoying their meals.

The year started with a trip to city of gardens, Bangalore in January.

Lal Baugh, Bangalore.

Next came Mauritius. V happened to go there several times and I accompanied him once. I have written very little about this beautiful country.

Who would not want to live here?

Then came my 48 days solo backpacking trip to Malaysia and Thailand which started in late February and ended sometime in April. Physically I was not at my best. It was tough and sometimes daunting being a woman and travelling alone in a new alien country. Wandering on roads with a backpack with no fixed destination or agenda was both fun and challenging.
Those readers who were following my posts at that time would definitely agree with me. 🙂

Majestic Petronas. You can’t go inside if you don’t plan a day ahead.

Everything about Thailand is amazing.

Month of May saw me in Delhi for a short trip and I could visit the Red fort. I had a great time there. I have noticed, when you are alone, your observation skills shoot up. 🙂

Majestic Red fort at Delhi.

Come June and July and I was in Bangalore and after that again a solo trip to interiors of Tamilnadu. Started from Chennai in sleeper class I travelled in local buses, rickshaws and on foot. The most common question I was asked by the locals (whenever they could speak English) was which country I belonged to. People even requested me to have a photo with them !!
Surprising enough, I do not look like a foreigner from any angle. Perhaps my cargoes, cap with a Kangaroo on it, a camera hanging from my neck and my solo status spoke otherwise.
BTW, this happened in Thailand as well.

Entrance of Bragatheeswara or Big temple, Thanjavur.

Towards the end of this trip, mosquito bites in Kumbakonam gifted me Dengue which I thought was a normal fever and kept suppressing it with Paracetamol pills.
Sriperambadur was my last stop before I flew back home from Chennai. Once home, tests revealed it was indeed Dengue and I was advised immediate hospitalization because of my condition. It took more than a month to recover with V taking full care of me.

But I could not restrict myself for long. August end, and I was at Aurangabad exploring the world famous caves and later at Lonar lake.

Sculptures at Ellora attract people of all ages.

Again travelled in local buses, had to stay in a dingy room in a very small place by compulsion … thanks to heavy rains which had washed away all roads of onward journey.
But at the end of it, this was what waiting for me. 😀

The emerald green was so inviting that I couldn’t resist myself from hiking down to it.

In the month of October I flew down to Sikkim on an invitation by Club Mahindra. One of the major achievements of this trip was visiting Nathu La Pass and first meeting with eight hitherto virtual people.

Near Kyongnosla, one of the check points at around 10000 ft.

In November it was again a Delhi trip to attend some family functions spread over 8 days but I made it a point to take a day off to visit Khurja, a small but well known place for its pottery industry. Again, I met another friend in Delhi who was virtual for me till then.

Bahai’s temple, Delhi.

In Khurja it was quite difficult to convince somebody to show me a factory and how things are made from scratch to finish. Here is a small video that I captured while coming back from one such factory.

In one of the factories in Khurja.

Come December and on 20th I flew down to Kuala Lumpur on way to Philippines to celebrate Christmas and new year in a new country.

View from my window at Batad, Philippines.

Sunset at Port Dickson beach, Malaysia.

And I bade farewell to year 2010….
This year I intend to do a different kind of travel, a kind of introspection. For doing that first I need to enhance my endurance level. Just one reason is good enough…. I am a traveller and not a tourist. 🙂

Lastly,
Dear Year 2010,
Goodbye. You gave me a lot of opportunities to travel and I am quite satisfied.
May I wish for more this year. 🙂

Greedy,
Me.
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