It is that time of the year...

An year has almost come to an end. And, it is only during the end, I begin to analyse what sort of an year it was, in hopes of making the next one better. 2014 is truly a remarkable year for me personally and travel-wise as well. (I intend to blog about the short trips I went in 2014 sometime soon.)

Now coming back to the year end (or optimistically beginning of a new year), New Year resolutions that I have taken over the past years have got little attention as days go by. At one point, I stopped having new year resolutions. However, this year I plan on having a few (lets call it, needs of the hour) and I hope to achieve them. So, here goes the list... 

• Start living my life to the fullest
• Get rid of my laziness 
• Eat healthy, Lose weight and be Fit
• Travel more
• Start reading more books

I intend to post updates to my blog as I achieve these things. And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year. 

List of visa free countries for Indians

Watching a video on facebook by ixigo.com about the list of visa free or visa-on-arrival countries for Indian nationals prompted me to write this post. Here I have compiled facts from Wikipedia and Wikitravel for easy reference. Below is a list of 25 countries providing visa-free travel to Indian nationals, thereby reducing one burden from the travel budget.

Country	Duration	Known For
Asia
Bhutan**		Himalayas, Buddhist Monasteries
Hong Kong**	14 days	City,Disney Land, Shopping
Nepal**		Himalayas, nature
Kish Island		Tourist resort island in Iran
Macau		Casinos, churches, forts

Enrique Iglesias's India Concert

The year 2012 - out of many important things happened in that year, attending Enrique Iglesias's music concert was one among the best. Having been introduced to Enrique's songs by a dear friend of mine, I soon became a fan. The lyrics, the music, the feeling and ofcourse the man himself - melt my heart. (Well, this was before he released these awful latest albums). 

We (me and my other dear friend) were so excited that Enrique was doing a concert in Bangalore!! Thus began the epic journey :P which would take us across Bangalore on a day trip to Somnathpur, hitch up a ride to railway junction with total strangers in the middle of the night, where our train derailed and general liberation of myself among other things. 

Pichavaram

When we talk of Mangrove forests in India, it is Sundarbans which comes to our mind immediately. But there is one such forest in Tamil Nadu - Pichavaram, Chidambaram. It can be reached from Chennai in about 4.5 hours. If you are travelling nearby Chidambaram or Kadalur, I would suggest adding Pichavaram to your plan. Otherwise, spending a whole day exclusively for it may be too much of a travel. 

Mangrove Forest of Pichavaram

Ristoranti Italiani in Chennai

I am not sure how I came to like Italian cuisine, me being a self-professed fan of this style of cooking and all. But, I simply love it!! As this post's title suggests, its all about Italian Restaurants I have been to in Chennai. The list isn't big as of now, but I intend to make it huge (Concerned person, please note :P). I will also update here if I try any other new restaurant. 

First, is my favourite one, Little Italy - in Nungambakkam. As I write this post, I realise it was exactly an year ago that we had dined there. The menu was so elaborate and we were spoilt for choice.

Let me get started!!

Blogging is quite new to me and I have promised myself to post at least once a week... After a few years, I hope it will be fun to read (if I continue to blog regularly) what was going through my mind week after week. Mostly, I intend to write about my travel tales, movies, food, environment related stuff etc... Forgive me, if my writing is not upto a certain level, for I haven't written anything in a very long time. 

And....... I think, this counts as one post for this week :) Yeah, you may have guessed it right! I am a bit lazy and I intend to break out of this habit along with a bunch of others from my previous years' new year resolutions. I will tell all about my new year's resolution in another post! 

Update - I am in the process of importing posts from my previous blog. Hence, this post might be little confusing. 

Wayanad - Day 3

You can read about

1. How we reached Wayanad
2. Day 1 - KuruwaDweep and Banasura Sagar Dam
3. Day 2 - Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Soochipara Waterfalls and Karapuzha Dam

Our vacation was coming to an end today and we still had few places to visit. So we started early from our home-stay around 9 am after having a volley of aapams with peas stew. We checked out from the home-stay, thanked our hosts for a lovely stay and proceeded towards Edakkal Caves.

Edakkal Caves is around 15 km from Meenangadi on the way to Ambalawayal. This pre-historic cave is at the top of a hill and requires a good amount of steep climbing (around 45 minutes). There are many souvenir shops on the way  selling crafts, home made chocolates, spices and what not. The caves are open from 9 am to 5 pm, but the last entry is restricted at 3:30 pm.

Wayanad - Day 2

You can read about how we reached Wayanad and the first day of our trip here. 

Our second day began with an early morning visit to Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Muthanga Range of the sanctuary is around 30 km from Meenangadi. We decided to do the Jeep Safari in the morning since the chance of spotting animals is more. Jeep safaris are open from 7 am – 10 am (40 vehicles) and 3 pm – 5 pm (20 vehicles)  and are charged INR 500 per jeep (maximum 4 people can comfortably seated).

Jeeps used for the forest safari

Wayanad - Day 1

You can read about how we reached Wayanad here. 

First day of our sight seeing began with Kuruwa Dweep, an island located around 40 km from Meenangadi. It  has an entry ticket of INR 50 (INR 100 for foreign nationals) and a camera ticket of INR 25. Entry is  restricted between 9 am – 3:30  pm. A bamboo raft takes us from the entry point to the opposite side.

Bamboo Raft @ Kuruwa Dweep

Wayanad - Wonderful 3 days trip...

We were looking for a weekend destination - that is easily accessible, peaceful, green place with less crowd and at the same time, which wouldn't burn a big hole into our pockets. After much of googling, we zeroed in on Wayanad, a place in Malabar region of Kerala well known for its mountains, forests, waterfalls etc.. The climate of Wayanad is  favorable for traveling all around the year except during monsoons. Even during monsoons (Jun-Aug), people travel and have an unique experience. We decided to make a 3 days trip late in the month of January. Jan is much cooler and less crowded due to limited holidays. We finalized the places to visit, home-stay, travel tickets and booked a taxi which would be our mode of transport once we reach there. This is a simple narration of our trip to Wayanad. A teaser of few photos from the trip... 

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street movie by Martin Scorsese takes us through the life of Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo Dicaprio), a person who made millions of dollars out of selling penny stocks in the late 1980s. We journey along with Jordan – from a man who interns at a stock firm to the man who builds an empire by himself and employs many such interns. We get a peek into the life of people at wall street – their intake of drugs like cocaine, their greed for money and their endless promiscuity. One good thing about this movie is, it is neither judgmental about any of these aspects in their life nor does it try to provide any justification for such behavior. It is just a narration of one's life.