Zonkey

Meet the Zonkey.

When "WTF" has more than one real meaning - (What and Who)

You can see this family in the Baku Zoo, Azerbaijan

Skiing at Shahdag, Azerbaijan

My wife and I tried skiing at Shahdag range of mountains at Azerbaijan.

We stayed at Hotel Zirve where there is a ski school with instructors.

A few details about skiing:

It is not as easy as it looks. It involves getting the physics right. Just like other things (trekking, scuba diving, helmet diving, archery, golf, shooting) 

There are a few things we learnt about the details and process of skiing doing it here for the first time overall.

The process involves a few steps:

1. Register your time slot for individual instructions. (Here they allow maximum 3 people per instructor)

2. You need to hire the following: Ski shoes, Skis, Ski sticks, Helmet, Goggles (optional), Jacket (optional if you already have one), Gloves (optional)

3. You need to pay the following: Equipment renting, Ski instructor fees and the Ski pass - for using the ski slopes (Like a green fee on golf courses)

Please be ready to spend at least 1-1.5 hr before the instruction time to get these 3 things done.

Post this, the live instructions of how to connect / Disconnect the skis with the ski-shoes on ice can start.

The instructor we were assigned was good in English and patient and helped us correct with the mistakes we made and took us (my wife and I) step by step.

At the end of the 2 hrs session, we asked him to video record our skiing and he did a marvellous job of it too.

Few new things to know for a first timer: The ski shoes are very different from all other shoes and are very heavy (maybe 3 kgs each leg). The ski shoe is meant to not break or let the leg slip out even when you put the maximum weight on the front and try to fall front (the ideal body position) when skiing.

Please do expect a few falls with the entire attire while trying to negotiate a curve or trying to stop, but be free to fall and prevent any injuries. I saw at least 2 other people fall in the 2 hrs apart from we falling off.

Skiing has significant costs:

Renting of 2 pairs of Skis, Ski sticks, Shoes, Helmet, Goggles and a locker for our shoes costed us about 132 Mannat or USD 78.

Ski instructor fees was 185 mannat or about USD 109

Ski pass for 2 was 66 Mannat or about USD 39

Tip to instructor of 15 Mannat or about USD 9

Total Skiing = 398 Mannat or about INR 19900

Happy Skiing!

Budget Trip to Bhutan

We (My wife and I) travelled to Bhutan during Apr 21 to Apr 28, 2014 from Hyderabad, India. The place had fascinated me ever since I heard about it from my two classmates in Philippines. The place has many unique things to its credit.
1. A place still ruled by the king and the queen and has democracy
2. A landlocked country
3. Beautiful clean places with its own unique culture of clothes, food, games, traditions and beliefs
4. A unique ecosystem of plants and animals
among other things.

I will give a brief of the plan followed by details to help you plan your trip.
Hyderabad --> Bagdogra --> Phuentsholing --> Thimphu --> Paro --> Phuentsholing --> Bagdogra --> Hyderabad

Day 1: Early morning flight from Hyd to Kolkata, Stopover for 2 hrs at Kolkata, Connecting Flight from Kolkatta to Bagdogra. Reach Bagdogra by afternoon, take a prepaid taxi to Phuentsholing and stay at Hotel Sinchula (http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g469428-d456013-Reviews-Hotel_Sinchula-Phuntsholing_Chukha_District.html).
Day 2: Get immigration formalities done, get a prepaid sim card, take a bus to Thimphu. Saw Buddha statue at night and night view of Thimphu from near Buddha statue. Stayed in Peaceful Resort (http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g293845-d1943683-Reviews-Peaceful_Resort-Thimphu_Thimphu_District.html) for the night.
Day 3: Saw the Takin preserve, roamed around Thimphu market (meant for tourists), Bought souvenirs, went to Choki Traditional Art School, Saw Thimphu Dzong (from outside), Visited the local football stadium and stayed at Peaceful resort.
Day 4: Travelled by taxi to Paro, enroute visited Tachogang temple (on a hill after crossing Paro river), Checked into Rema resort in Paro (http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g321541-d2166460-Reviews-Rema_Resort-Paro_Paro_District.html), Visited the Paro musuem, the Paro Dzong, did archery for an hour and rested at Rema resort for the night.
Day 5: Trekking Tiger's nest (Paro Taktsang), booked bus tickets for travel next day to Phuentsholing .
Day 6: Travelled to Phuentsholing, took Bhutanese bus from Phuentsholing to Siliguri and stayed at Sevoke Valley Residency (http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g659786-d4606812-Reviews-Sevoke_Valley_Recidency-Siliguri_West_Bengal.html) in Siliguri, West Bengal.
Day 7: Auto from hotel to Bagdogra airport and afternoon flight Bagdogra-Kolkata-Hyderabad with a layover at Kolkata. Reached home in Hyderabad at night.

The detailed plan of the above with associated costs, distances, mode of travel, review of places is hereunder:
Day 1: Reached Bagdogra at around 1 pm and took a prepaid taxi at a prepaid taxi stand to Phuentsholing. Enroute the driver stopped for lunch at a restaurant. The cost of the prepaid taxi was Rs.2,263 for an Indica. You can get Indicas and Innovas from the prepaid taxi stand with payment and receipt.

We reached Phuentsholing around 7 pm.
You know you are entering Bhutan when you see the welcome board:

We put our stuff at Hotel Sinchula and though we could have ordered food in the hotel, we walked back to India for dinner as we wanted to explore the border area. The hotel is 5-10 min walk from the border. We had dinner at a vegetarian hotel (tried their unique delicious Bhutanese dish called Kewa Datshi - A dish made of Potatoes, Cheese and chillies, Photo below)

There are restaurants around in the Indian side and food should not be a problem. They serve both Indian and Bhutanese dishes on both sides of the border.
Dzong next to Hotel Sinchula:

Night stay at Hotel Sinchula.

Day 2: We started at around 9 am for and went to the immigration centre after having breakfast. We filled up the application forms for visitor visa along with the 2 photographs and passport and submitted it. We had to wait for about 45 min to get our application processed along with our photo taken and get the permit. (You are only allowed to travel to some distance in Phuentsholing without the permit)
With the permit to enter Bhutan, we photocopied a couple of copies of the permit. We bought ourselves a local sim card (http://www.tashicell.com/prepaid-mobile for latest call rates) from the Tashi complex which is the office of Tashi (a popular mobile service provider) and is 5 min walk from the immigration office.
There is a park with a Dzong nearby which can be checked out if time permits.

We comfortably checked out of Hotel Sinchula (check out time is 12 pm or so) and took a cab to Phuentsholing bus stop (around a km away. We paid Rs.50 for taxi). We bought bus tickets to Thimphu (Rs.230 per head) and it took close to 6 hrs to reach thimphu. We reached Thimphu bus station around 6.15 pm. We took a taxi to take us to Peaceful resort (Taxi fare Rs.100 after bargaining. 5 km distance. Rs.20/km seems to be fair although they demand more). My friend came to the hotel and picked us up for dinner. Post dinner, we went to see a big Buddha statue in Thimphu and the night view of Thimphu from the same hilltop. It is advisable to see the Buddha statue during the day although the night view of the city from the hilltop is mesmerizing.

Day 3: My friend picked us up at the hotel and we visited the Takin preserve which is very close to the peaceful resort. The takins were unfortunately a little far away that day from the enclosure boundary and we didnt get a very good look at them. They are very lazy. After that we went to the tourist area with lots of souvenirs/handcrafts for tourists to buy. We then went to the Thimphu main post office where we bought a souvenir of the Taktsang monastry magnet which is the cheapest here (Rs.500). One can also get their photo taken in the post office and get custom stamps made with your photo at this place. Unlike in India where your customised stamp has a photo alongside the regular stamp, here your photo is the main part of the stamp. A set of 4 stamps can be done for around Rs.350. Later, we took leave of our friend and we had hired the same taxi of the previous night for the rest of the day (Rs.800 post negotiation). We went to Choki Traditional Art School (it is north of Thimphu and the route can be a little back breaking as there is no proper road in the last few kilometers). The entrance of the school is mesmerizing with the large art work:

Embroidery of Goddess White Tara being made. It takes close to 4 months to get this embroidery from start to finish.

 Wood carving being done at one of the classrooms.

En route you will crossing the Thimphu chu (Thimphu river) and you can get a few good photographs along the river front.

We saw the Thimphu Dzong in the evening and were late for the ceremony which starts at 4.30 pm or so. We later went to the nearby football stadium and went back to our hotel.

Day 4: We checked out of the hotel (Peaceful Resort) and travelled to Paro with the same taxi driver (Rs.2000 for the entire day). On the way, we visited Tamchogang temple. It is temple on top of a hill which can be reached after crossing the Paro river. There are 2 parallel river crossings - one metallic thrilling one and another less thrilling one.

The drive from Thimphu to Paro is around 1.5 hr excluding the small trek and river crossing to Tamchogang temple. We arrived at Rema resort which is 1.5-2km from central Paro and is situated alongside Paro river at around 1 pm. The view from the resort is good, but the service is the worst ever. We had lunch (with bugs in it - one of the many reasons for poor service of this hotel) and visited the Paro museum and Paro Dzong. The Paro museum has an entrance fees of Rs.50 for an Indian couple or so. The museum has a wide variety of things - masks used for festivities, stuffed animals (especially lots of birds) specific to Bhutan area, mineral samples with a small area on geology, Pottery, how to make buttered tea, etc. It is an interesting museum to see. Cameras and mobiles need to be submitted at the entrance.

Paro Dzong is situated along the Paro river and has a breathtaking panaromic view of the entire Paro valley.

Dzongs were once military areas but are now administrative areas of Buddhist temples and have paintings/sculptures and Buddha Statue/other gods inside.

Inside Paro Dzong:

We later went to an archery range in Paro and did archery. One side of this range has professionals and the other side is free for amateurs to try archery (Rs.100 per head/hr). 

We booked a driver with the help of the reception at the hotel for a hotel pick up and drop to the base of Taktsang monastry for the next day.

Day 5: It takes about 45 min to reach the base of the monastery from Paro (Taxi charge of Rs.700 for pick up and drop). There are two options: trekking or hiring a horse and trekking only the last part. We trekked the whole way. We were slow and it took us about 3 hrs to reach to the top. Almost 1 hr looking around and resting and about 2 hrs on the way down.

Photo of monastery from base. The little while thing in the mountain in the below photo is the monastery.

The real size is revealed as you get close to it.

There is a restaurant in the middle of the way to eat, but it is quite expensive at Rs.450 per head for a vegetarian buffet.

On the way back to the hotel, we bought bus tickets for the next day from Paro to Phuentsholing (Rs.220 per head) as there are only 2 morning buses daily. One is at 8.00 am which we took. Another costlier alternative is to hire a sharing taxi which can charge around Rs.600-Rs.800 per head (dont remember the exact figure) or hire a full cab for Rs.3200 or so.

We reached Phuentsholing bus station at 1 pm and booked the Bhutan bus to Siliguri from Phuentsholing for Rs.132 per head (yes, it is that cheap). The Bhutan bus is faster and reaches Siliguri in 3.5 hrs or so compared to Indian buses which start from Jaigoan (Indian side of Phuentsholing) and take over 5-6 hrs to reach Siliguri. Another costlier alternative is to hire prepaid taxis to Siliguri or Bagdogra. We had enquired on day 2 we while leaving Phuentsholing to Thimphu and they said the bus to Siliguri would start at 2pm. It was supposed to be a tight schedule from Paro but the departure bus timing (not sure if the time was revised) was 3 pm from Phuentsholing. We reached Siliguri at around 7 pm (post a tyre change enroute) and took a share auto to reach Sevoke Valley Residency hotel.

Day 7: Checked out of the hotel at around 12 pm, caught an auto (Rs.300) to Bagdogra airport and caught flight back to Hyderabad with layover at Kolkatta.

Some interesting things discovered about Bhutan:

There is only one traffic junction in Bhutan which is there in Thimphu. This is yet to have an automated traffic signal and there is a traffic police directing traffic at this one junction.

Television was introduced in Bhutan only in 1999.

Although notes above Rs.100 are forbidden to be taken or used in Bhutan, people arent against it as it helps them trade more easily with Indians across the border.

Indian currency works easily in Bhutan as the people want more of Indian currency and it costs the people to get Indian currency for buying things.

Archery is their national sport.

Terracotta Buddhist Vortive miniature stupas can be found a plenty in mountain crevices.

More on these here: http://papyri.tripod.com/buddhist/introsealings.html

The culture of Buddhism does not allow killing of animals. But, the modernisation of the country is expanding non-vegetarianism.

The various key costs of our trip are as follows:

Flight                  - 26248

Road transport   -   8933

Food and drinks -   3200 (We did pack in quite a lot of ready to eat items for the journey)

Hotel           - 15065 (Hotel Sinchula: Rs.1240 (1 Night); Peaceful resort: Rs.8385 (2 N); Rema Resort: Rs.3780 (Paid for 1 Night although stayed here for 2 nights as the service was so bad I demanded refund of 1 night and I got it); Sevoke Valley Residency: Rs.1610 (1 N); Remaining tips)

Misc                           -  1247

Gift/items/Souveneirs-  3478

Total                          - 58171 (door to door from Hyd)

Hope this information helps all of you to make your own travel plans to visit and enjoy beautiful Bhutan.

Cheers.

P.S: Updated on 1 Apr 2016:
A good post on travel to Bhutan is mentioned in the below link which I have not covered.
http://blog.byond.travel/index.php/cocks-kings-an-honest-travel-companys-guide-to-bhutan/byond/

5 ways to negotiate with a Hyderabadi autowala

1. Ask for sympathy (student, old age, lady, please, etc.)
2. Justify (small distance, no traffic, travelling to popular destination and hence sure another passenger, it is only day now, I travel daily at x costs)
3. Provoke/Insult them
4. Threaten (with policemen, act like a senior govt. bureaucrat, CBI officer, etc. - Anything to intimidate them to submission)
5. Default (after ride, pay what you think is right, not what they ask. Keep arguing with nothing to loose, they  understand the value of lost time in not transporting another passenger. Know that if things are going to get physical, there is that auto that can always be damaged with a stone throw.)

P.S: Do not use the methods in other places blindly. Each place has its own cultural norms, sensitivities and tolerances to things (like insults, default, etc.) Apply suitable method judiciously.

Aircraft Layout

How to drink coffee aboard a flight

Indigo:
Step 1: Order the cabin crew a coffee or a cappuchino.
Step 2: Pay Rs.60
Step 3: Receive hot Nescafe Cappuccino - Ready to drink in a paper cup stirred with hot water by the cabin crew herself.
Step 4: After drinking, give cup to cabin crew while they come to taken things to discard.

Jet Konnect:
Step 1: Order the cabin crew a coffee.
Step 2: Pay Rs.60
Step 3: Receive a (puzzle looking) box bigger than a pack of 52 playing cards.
Step 4: Receive a big paper cup with plenty of hot water (to drink or drown oneself?) and a stirrer.
Step 5: Struggle opening the cellophane tape on the box.
Step 6: Discover three small sachets inside - one everyday whitener costing Rs.1?, one sugar packet costing another Rs.1 perhaps and one nescafe instant coffee power definitely costing Rs.1.
Step 7: Open the sugar packet and pour into cup.
Step 8: Open the dairy whitener and pour into cup.
Step 9: Struggle opening the plastic pack of instant coffee at one end. Try another end. Finally, it opens.Pour into white solution.
Step 10: Stir, stir, stir!!!
Step 11: Drink extra-diluted warm by now coffee.
Step 12: After drinking, pick all the stuff and give back to cabin crew (total of ten items including pieces of sachets [3 sachets and their respective 3 opening bits], stirrer, the box top, box bottom and paper cup)

Differences:
1. A well known brand of Rs.15 worth superior 3 in 1 cappuccino sachet is being used by Indigo. Jet uses clearly evident Rs.3 worth of material for the same Rs.60 coffee. Premium feel to Indigo. Feel being looted by Jet Konnect.
2. User ordered to drink coffee in flight. Indigo served ready to drink coffee. Jet Konnect asked user to make his/her own coffee (with no real customization options) and then drink it.
3. "Order-Drink-Give cup" procedure of Indigo. "Order-Mmmaaaakkkkkeeeeeee-Drink-pick all pieces and give"  procedure of Jet Konnect.

How to get great discounts on SpiceJet

Spicejet is currently running an offer "Scan this code now and get discount of the day"

I just used this and got a Kool Rs.600 discount on each ticket booked.

And to make things sweeter, booked separate one way tickets to get twice the benefit = Rs.1,200/-

The code is what is called a QR code. The method mentioned in their website is complicated and doesn't work. Use the following method to get the benefit of the discount.

1. Printscreen the whole page with the small qr code.

2. paste in Microsoft Paint and cut only the code and save this cropped code.

3. Upload this code in this website http://www.onlinebarcodereader.com and get the code (which is something like SGDIS600)

4. Apply this alphanumeric phrase in the promotion code while paying for the ticket (just below the travel insurance section of the payment page) and voila! you get a nice discount. The discount could vary on a day to day basis, but it is actualy very much worth the effort.

Maybe soon, we can expect other websites also to give discounts based on this method.

In these cases, it is always better to book each passenger's ticket separately and each way separately too to maximise the discount on each person and each way.

For the high flyers

www.seatguru.com

This site id good for knowing the best, the broken and the bad seats in the plane. Choose your seat well, well in advance.

www.flightstats.com

This site is very good for telling the actual departure delays and weather info in departure and arrival airports.

Keep those flight tickets

When you get so much free spaces on emails, spare some space for those old emailed flight tickets in your inbox. You never know when it will come in handy.

Take for instance, my aunt's case. She has travelled to UK a few times to meet her son who lives there. And then one day, she lost her passport in India. She applied for a new passport and got it and applied for a new visa for seeing her son in UK. The UK visa team rejected her application on the basis that they were not sure whether she returned back to India during the vaildity of the visa term or stayed back as an illegal immigrant after the proposed visa duration stay as the new passport lacked the immigration check seal of departure from UK. Although the UK's immigration department has details of my aunt's checking out of UK, the country's system puts the onus on the foreigner to prove that they left the country in time and didnt violate any rules. This is one of the ways the government tries to permanently avoid other people coming into their country.

To top this, the British Airliner says they keep information of passengers for only three months and since the travel was beyond that period, they cant give them a copy of the ticket or the confirmation of travel. I wonder how these same airlines and airports would have all the required information and recorded video of the passengers if the enquiring people were some anti-terrorist detectives.

The saving grace was that my aunt's son had a email copy of the ticket lying somewhere in his inbox which he found out.

Moral of the stroy: Despite feeling sometimes that an email/document(air tickets, bank accoubnt closing letter, bank account statements after closing a bank account) is a piece of junk i have to live with, one may never know when it will be a life saviour and where.

What next?

Pampered pets can now have an enjoyable trip with the introduction of the first pet-only airline, lunched from a Long Island airport on July 14. PetAirways vows to provide kennel-in-the-sky service for pampered pets, and offers free in-flight pet treats, comfy crates, and a climate-controlled cabin. (AP Photo)

You have to read this to believe it:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowpics/4780179.cms

Another travel record

During my trip to India (first time to Kerala) in dec 2008, this was my record:

"On this trip, so far been on almost all modes of transportation - plane, train, car, bus, houseboat, speedboat, bicycle and walk. Spent a day and night in a houseboat, went through the most modern and one of the biggest shipyards of Asia, saw Viraat- the lone aircraft carrier of India on the dock, 8 different temples and watched the sunset from the southern most tip of India-Kanyakumari.

The body aches, but it is worth it..."

Travel record

A personal travel record.

(29th april) Manila -> Singapore -> Bangalore -> Mumbai -> Trivandrum -> Colombo -> Male -> London -> Male -> Colombo -> Delhi -> Baghdogra -> Kolkatta -> Chennai -> Bangalore -> Singapore -> Manila (29th June).

The last ten airports in 6 different countries were travelled in 10 days flat.

A total of 17 airports, 6 countries, 5 different time zones in 2 months.

Unless I get into marketing or on a world tour, this record of mine is going to be hard to break in the coming years.