Day 1: We stayed just 1 day at the Neil Island (now renamed Shaheed Dweep). This island is much less tourist oriented compared to Havelock Island. After arriving late morning on a ferry ride from Havelock, we were driven by our transfer service to the resort (Seashell Samssara Neil Island). We only had the afternoon for sightseeing on the island and our first stop was Bharatpur Beach. It was low tide time and you could walk on knee deep water for close to 1/2 mile from the shore. Next stop was Laxmanpur Beach #2 that has the popular attraction, “Natural …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsNovember 2023: Neil Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Trip Report
Asia Destination Trip ReportsNovember 2023: Havelock Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Trip Report
Day 1: We started early in the morning from Port Blair to travel to Havelock Island on Makruzz Ferry. The journey takes about 1.5 hours and the ocean was not choppy so went by pretty quickly. I had already arranged private transport so the driver was waiting for us at the Havelock Ferry terminal and drove us to our resort (Tilar Siro Andamans, CGH Earth) where we were staying for 2 nights. We arrived around 10 AM and spent a couple of hours walking along the resort’s private beach. In the afternoon we had our driver take us to Radhanagar …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsNovember 2023: Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Trip Report
Day 1: Port Blair is the main island of the Andamans and your main point of entry and exit for all flights. We arrived at Veer Savarkar Airport just before noon and had our transport waiting to take us to our hotel (Lemon Tree Hotel Port Blair). The hotel is right outside the airport so pretty soon after checking-in we were ready for sightseeing. Our first stop was Corbyns Cove Beach. Its just 8 km from the airport on the south eastern part of the island. The beach had calm waters surrounded by beautiful greenery from 3 sides. The beach …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsMay 2023: Boracay, Philippines Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Caticlan International Airport on a short 1 hour Philippines Airlines flight from Cebu International Airport. I had already pre-booked a transfer package for seamless transfer for the trip. It included Bus transfer from Caticlan Airport to Jetty – ferry from Caticlan to Boracay – Bus transfer from Boracay Jetty to hotel and back in reverse order at the end of our trip. Total cost was 20 USD per person round-trip. It was late afternoon when we checked into Ambassador in Paradise hotel in Boracay (located in Station 1). We decided to have dinner at …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsDecember 2022: 3 Night in Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort
Day 1: Me and my parents arrived in Male International Airport in the morning from Kochi, India. Karen’s flight from London was delayed by 3 hours so I made the decision to send my parents to the resort so they did not have to wait with me at the airport. Hilton Amingiri representative at the airport assured me that my parents would not have to wait at the hotel to get a room even though both rooms were booked under my wife’s name and mine. After Karen arrived at the airport, we took the same speedboat to the resort. After …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsDecember 2019: Kandy and Colombo, Sri Lanka Trip Report
Earlier part of the Sri Lanka Trip involves sightseeing in Bentota, Weligama, Ella and Nuwara Eliya. Day 5: We left Nuwara Eliya after having breakfast at our hotel. After 30 minutes of driving towards Kandy, we arrived at Damro Labookellie Tea Centre and Tea garden. The tea factory here is actually running and the management offers complimentary 15 minute guided tour around the factory. We learned about various stages of processing of tea as well as about different varieties of tea. Finally we were treated with a variety of fine Ceylon tea. We ended up buying a good amount of …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsDecember 2019: Bentota, Weligama Bay and Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport late afternoon and after clearing immigration we met with our driver Nishanta from Ceylon Escapes in the arrival hall. Our first night stay was at Bentota, about 110 km from the airport. We reached Bentota in about 2 hours and checked into our homestay at Shangri-Lanka Villa. We were fairly tired after traveling since the morning that day and went to bed early Day 2: We left after having breakfast and made our way south. First up was Bentota Beach. The beach was very clean and the water quite warm for December. …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2019: Abu Dhabi Trip Report
We spent only about half a day in Abu Dhabi (compared to 3 days in Dubai). We took a cab to Dubai Ibn Batuta Mall Bus Station where we then took the E101 bus to Abu Dhabi. The trip takes 1.5 hours and costs 25 AED per person. This bus is the cheapest option to travel between Dubai & Abu Dhabi. After reaching Abu Dhabi bus station we took a cab to our hotel (Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi). After checking-in and freshening up we took a cab to #1 sightseeing spot in Abu Dhabi and that is the Sheikh Zayad …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2019: Dubai Trip Report
Day 1: We walked from our hotel (Doubletree Hilton Dubai Al Barsha) to Mall of Emirates and then took the Dubai Metro Red line to Al Ghubaiba station (with changing to Green line at Bur Juman station). The Dubai Ferry leaves just 2 minutes walk from Al Ghubaiba station. After reaching Dubai Marina we took a cab back to Mall of Emirates. Cabs are plentiful in Dubai and have pretty reasonable fares. One of the popular attractions in Mall of Emirates is Ski Dubai (yes skiing in the desert!!). We had lunch at one of the food courts in the …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2019: Jordan Trip Report (Dead Sea & Petra)
Day 1: We arrived in late afternoon at the Holiday Inn Resort Dead Sea after driving about 80 km from Jerash. It was pretty cold being January but I was not going to let that get in the way of my bucket list item – taking a dip in the dead sea. After checking-in in at the hotel and freshening up we made our way to the private hotel beach. The hotel kept 2 big tubs of Dead Sea mud by the beach. I had read about the beneficial qualities of Dead Sea mud and coming all this way I …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2019: Jordan Trip Report (Amman & Jerash)
We arrived on a late night flight to Amman via Muscat on Oman Air. Immigration was fairly easy as we had already purchased the Jordan pass. If you are going to be visiting Petra during your Jordan visit (and staying at least 3 nights in Jordan total), Jordan Pass is basically a no-brainer. Since we were staying more than 3 nights in Jordan and also visiting Petra, we had already purchased the Jordan Pass online (must be purchased online before arriving in the country). Jordan Pass waives the visa-on-arrival fees to Jordan ($40 JOD). After picking up our rental car from …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2017: Singapore Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Changi International Airport around noon. After clearing Immigration and Customs we headed for the MRT station which is located at the lower level. I bought a Singapore 3-Day Tourist Pass which gave us unlimited rides at the MRT and Bus Transit system. After getting the pass we headed to Little India MRT station where our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn Singapore Serangoon) was located. After checking-in and freshening up, we headed out for lunch at the Mavalli Tiffin Room, Singapore located about 10 minutes away on Serangoon Road. After lunch, we headed back towards our hotel …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2017: Hanoi Trip Report
Day 1: We took the complimentary hotel shuttle to Ho Chin Minh Complex where the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, The Presidential Palace, The One pillar pagoda are all located. There were some shops by the One Pillar Pagoda and we did some souvenir shopping there. We walked along the Ho Chin Minh mausoleum along the length of the street. After reaching the President Palace we turned back. It was time for lunch and we hailed a cab back to the hotel. Cabs are very cheap in Hanoi and a very good means of transportation in the city. Late afternoon we took …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2017: Siem Reap Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Siem Reap International Airport at around noon. We took an Airport taxi (although you can opt for a tuk-tuk but there were 3 of us with cabin baggage so we went with a taxi) to the hotel (Le Meridien Angkor). After freshening up, I got notified by the front desk that our tuk-tuk driver for the day was in the lobby. I had contacted Angkor Wat Driver Private Tours (after reading Tripadvisor Reviews) and had booked the following itinerary. Day 1: Tuk-Tuk transportation for the day (Lunch, Made in Cambodia Market and Night Market) – …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJune 2016: Hong Kong Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on our flight from Osaka around noon. After clearing immigration, we proceeded to the Airport Express counter and booked discount package of 4 tickets from airport to Kowloon. The train ride from airport to Kowloon took less than an hour. After reaching Kowloon we took the complimentary shuttle to our hotel (Hyatt Regency Hong Kong). In the evening we decided to walk from the hotel to Hong Kong Cultural Center along Nathan Road. We passed by the notorious Chung King Mansions and exchanged some US dollars for local Hong Kong dollars. …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJune 2016: Osaka Trip Report
Day 1: We planned on taking a day trip to Nara on our first day in Osaka. Karen wanted to go see the deer park and me and my parents wanted to see the Todaiji temple so there was something for everyone. We took subway to Tennoji station and then took the JR line to Nara. After arriving in Nara we took the bus to Todaiji temple. There are plenty of buses that run on a loop in the town. The first thing you see while riding the bus are the deer all around the city – in the parks, gardens and …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsMay 2016: Kyoto Trip Report
Day 1: We stayed the previous night at Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport after arriving late night in Osaka. In the morning I went to the JR Train station outside the airport and grabbed the ICAOCA + Haruka combo ticket. One of the best deals in getting to Kyoto from Osaka/Kansai is the ICAOCA + Haruka combo ticket which costs 3600 JPY (approximately $36 USD) per person. This includes one-way trip from Kansai JR station to Kyoto JR station and a reloadable ICAOCA card with 2000 JPY (including a refundable deposit of 500 JPY). The Haruka Express train takes about 1 hour 20 minutes …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsMay 2016: Tokyo Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Haneda International Airport on our flight from Beijing around 9 PM. After clearing immigration, we purchased Limobus tickets to Shinjuku area (where we were staying in Hilton Tokyo). Since there was not much traffic, so we reached our hotel within an hour. Day 2: It was raining and foggy early in the morning and we scrapped our plans to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Building because of poor visibility. Instead we took the subway to Asakusa. Arriving at Asakusa we walked towards Senso-ji Temple which is very close to the subway station. After leaving Exit 1 …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsMay 2016: Beijing Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport early evening. After a fairly quick immigration and customs check, we made our way to the airport taxi line. Our taxi driver did not speak any English at all but luckily I had requested our hotel concierge to email me a spelling of the hotel name and address in email which came very handy. After checking into the hotel, being very tired we went straight to bed. All the sightseeing was going to have to wait till next day !! Day 2: I had researched beforehand and found all the subway …
Asia Destination Trip ReportsJanuary 2015: 12 Hours in Taipei
After spending a month on our India – South East Asia trip, we started our journey back home from Bangkok. We had a long 12 hour layover in Taipei and I wanted to make a trip out of it. I had researched earlier that the Taiwan Tourism Bureau operates a free half-day tour out of Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) for passengers connecting through this airport. The morning tour covers the Sanxia and Suzhi Temple while the afternoon tour covers landmarks such as the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and Taipei 101 (Tallest building in the world from 2004 – 2010 and currently the 6th …