Travelling

Our office group wanted to plan an outing during the 1st monsoon after the office re-opened after covid. The entire team had changed during their covid with many having relocated to Pune for the first time.  We shortlisted a couple of places but finally zeroed in on "Aadrai Jungle Trail". We opted to go with a professional trek group. So the arrangements were done by them.  We were a group of 25+ and hence a 32-seater was hired. The bus started it's route from Kharadi with 3-4 pickup points.  We reached the base village "Khireshwar" at around 9:30am (in around 2.5 hours from Pune's last pickup point).  The bus was parked at Hotel Aishwarya where we got down to have our breakfast - kande pohe and tea.  After breakfast, we decked up in our raincoats as it was raining heavily.  Our trek guide advised us to cover our heads as well.  Most of us started without any baggage and it actually proved sensible.  We covered the trail, crossing the Aadrai river...

An impromptu plan on a monsoon sunday on kids' demand. We planned to visit the Kamshet waterfall right after waking up. Freshened up, packed in a set of clothes and we set off on our journey.  It was a 75-min drive from our home in Pune to the waterfall.  Google Maps locates the place as "Kamshet Waterfall Spot" and leaves you right the the point where you can start the short and easy 20-min trek to the waterfall.  We reached the base and stopped at "Hotel Mount View". As we were hungry without breakfast since morning, decided to have something at the hotel.  Only few available options like vada pav, maggi, kanda bhaji , misal pav and tea/coffee but the food was good.  After having food, we started the trek.  It's a narrow path with slippery Rocky spots, however most of the path was pretty easy. There were multiple waterfalls nearby so groups could carve their way on which one they wanted to reach. The trek was even comfortable to the kids.  The water ...

We were still not venturing out much owing to the covid 19 pandemic. It was my daughter's birthday and an extended weekend for us. The original plan was to visit Pu.La.Deshpande Gardens. I did not have a lot of time to really read about it while planning about it. At the last minute, I luckily went through some reviews on Google, called the authorities to verify and got the confirmation that the Garden was closed due to pandemic.  As shrubs everyone was set to go, We then zeroed in on Gram Sanskruti Udyan located near Baner in Pune.  It was a 20-minutes drive. Parking is just outside the place. It is a ticketed entry 50per adult and 30 per kid (3-12 years of age)  We started our tour inside. They have tried to depict typical villages from the older times. The dresing style, the works, time pass, agriculture, etc everything has been thoughtfully depicted with life size statues. They have also depicted a forest which have numerous animals' statues.  The depiction is ve...

Kondhana fort of the past now called as Sinhagad Fort(Lion's Fort) is 4300ft above the mean sea level. Many battles have been fought from here in the past. Though it's in ruins now, however still serves as a tourist spot for all ages of people. It's advisable to reach there as early in the morning to avoid a lot of rush. We were 2 families with kids between 3-7 years of age. The trekking wasn't much. We did take our eatables, seating mats, water, playing material, etc to enjoy the picnic with all safety measures. We covered the pune darwaza, kalyan darwaza, samadhi. We then found a peaceful and shady place to sit down and relax. The kids played and even their parents were able to enjoy a few games, along with delicious home made food.

Kondhana fort of the past now called as Sinhagad Fort(Lion's Fort) is 4300ft above the mean sea level. Many battles have been fought from here in the past. Though it's in ruins now, however still serves as a tourist spot for all ages of people. It's advisable to reach there as early in the morning to avoid a lot of rush. We were 2 families with kids between 3-7  years of age. The trekking wasn't much. We did take our eatables, seating mats, water, playing material, etc to enjoy the picnic with all safety measures. We covered the pune darwaza, kalyan darwaza, samadhi. We then found a peaceful and shady place to sit down and relax. The kids played and even their parents were able to enjoy a few games, along with delicious home made food.

We had to board the Goa express from Goa to Pune. We asked the taxi driver to drop us at Vasco da Gama Railway Station. After around 75min drive from Calangute, the taxi stopped outside a yellow coloured building. When we looked around, it was the railway station. It's quite a small station but very beautiful, colourful, properly managed, very neat and clean. The waiting rooms were absolutely clean and the washrooms way above the Indian railways' standards. I had seen such a station for the first time and was really stuck but he beauty and the cleanliness.

The better part of being in Goa is the cruise. We directly went to the mandovi bridge and found a few agents there. We booked our tickets with Paulo Cruise for 5.30pm We boarded the cruise well on time. The lower deck had filthy washrooms. There was also an air-conditioned enclosed room on the lower deck where the performances were conducted. They had a few local dances by their dancers and also had a few dance activities fort be guests. The upper deck had chairs to sit and have a good view of the sea, sunset, water, other ships and the natural beauty in general. There was a counter also to buy some food items and drinks while onboard. This was an average experience for us. While on our way back to the hotel, we saw a few more cruises on the way which looked better than what we had experienced. Anyways, we enjoyed and the kids had fun.