We travelled to Vietnam from December 25, 2019 to January 5, 2020 – a total of 12 days. We started researching about Vietnam two years prior to our trip and after multiple permutations and combinations we finally picked 3 locations each in North and South Vietnam. For North Vietnam we went with Tam Coc, Halong Bay and Hanoi. South Vietnam comprised Ninh Thuan, Phan Thiet and Saigon. In this blog we cover the planning and mapping out of our Vietnam trip.
Bhutan was one of our dream destinations and we wanted to visit there for quite some time. We first attempted to visit Bhutan in October 2018, but finally made it there in October 2019 after over one and half year’s planning. We traveled across Bhutan between October 2 and 8, 2019, traveling to Paro on the fifth day of our trip. In this blog we capture our trek to the Paro Taktsang, the wonderful time we spent with our friends and our sadness for having to leave this beautiful country.
On the morning of March 25, 2020, the first day of the nationwide lockdown that started in India to fight the COVID-19 global pandemic, we decided to start documenting the lives of people during the lockdown with one photograph shot daily in the morning, from our balcony on the second floor of our building. We have continued our endeavour of taking one photograph a day through the different phases of the lockdown, which is ending today, May 31, 2020. During the lockdown, on May 20, 2020, the state of West Bengal was also hit by super cyclone Amphan, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
With the Government slowly trying to exit the lockdown and normalise the situation, we have decided to close this series with the last post being made today. By trying to capture the lives of the people over these last 68 days, we got to observe the human behaviour closely – how people were initially scared of the lockdown, then started living with it and eventually came to mocking it. We even witnessed how life went on after the destruction of Amphan. And, we finally came across a lot of heroes – some with and many without a uniform.
Bhutan was one of our dream destinations and we wanted to visit there for quite some time. We first attempted to visit Bhutan in October 2018, but finally made it there in October 2019 after over one and half year’s planning. We traveled across Bhutan between October 2 and 8, 2019, traveling to Haa on the fourth day of our trip. In this blog we capture our journey from Thimphu to Haa, experience of attending a Tshechu, living with the locals in the lap of nature, having traditional home-cooked food and visiting the highest motorable pass in Bhutan.
Bhutan was one of our dream destinations and we wanted to visit there for quite some time. We first attempted to visit Bhutan in October 2018, but finally made it there in October 2019 after over one and half year’s planning. We traveled across Bhutan between October 2 and 8, 2019, traveling to Punakha on the third day of our trip. In this blog we capture our journey from Thimphu to Punakha, tasting authentic home-cooked food in Bhutan and living in a homestay with the locals.
Bhutan was one of our dream destinations and we wanted to visit there for quite some time. We first attempted to visit Bhutan in October 2018, but finally made it there in October 2019 after over one and half year’s planning. We traveled across Bhutan between October 2 and 8, 2019, spending the first two days in Thimphu – the capital of the mountain kingdom. In this blog we capture our first impressions of Bhutan’s hospitality, cuisine and culture, and the places that are a must visit when one is in Thimphu.
Bhutan was one of our dream destinations and we wanted to visit there for quite some time. We first attempted to visit Bhutan in October 2018 and looked for flight tickets in January 2018 but guess what…they were sold out! We shifted the plan to travel to Bhutan in October 2019, kept a close track on the flights and booked our seats as soon as the booking window opened 11 months in advance, in November 2018. This was a record even for us; though we sometimes plan our trips 1 or 2 years in advance, we had never booked flight tickets almost a year in advance. I hope you will now understand how badly we wanted to go to Bhutan!
In this blog we pen down our experience of planning our Bhutan trip.
We travelled to various locations of Northern and Southern Vietnam between December 25, 2019 and January 5, 2020. During these 12 days we fell in love with the country – the landscapes, the people, the culture and the flavours. We covered Tam Coc, Halong Bay and Hanoi in Northern Vietnam from December 25 to 31 and then travelled to Ninh Thuan, Phan Thiet and Saigon in Southern Vietnam from December 31 to January 5, for the rest of the trip. To travel between the two parts of the country we picked Vietnam’s youngest and only hybrid airline – Bamboo Airways – and flew in their business class cabin. This blog is an account of the entire experience of flying with Bamboo Airways – from ticketing to baggage claim.
August is the wettest month of the year in India. And, we decided to visit one of the wettest places in the world in this month to experience Indian monsoons at its best – Sohra (popularly known as Cherrapunji). We were in Sohra for 4 days from 15th to 18th August, 2019.
This trip was not a hastily planned one like our first trip to Meghalaya, earlier in June 2019, when we visited Shnongpdeng to celebrate my birthday. We planned this trip for about a year after we found an amazing place to stay. The accommodation was perfect indeed; set amidst greenery and far from town, it lives up to its name – Ibankordor Jungle Resort.
Deciding to visit Sohra in Monsoons was the best decision we made. The entire region was lush-green and there was not a day when we did not drive through clouds. In this blog we pen down our experience during our 4 days’ stay in Sohra.
There is something interesting about Vietnamese cuisine – they have multiple layers of flavours that are in complete harmony and they are a beauty to look at. While we were traveling in Vietnam we had the opportunity try various Vietnamese food both from street-side vendors and fancy restaurants. In this blog we capture our food journey through Vietnam and our most recommended foods.