Andamans: The Heavenly Islands

While thinking of taking a holiday, one is always swayed by the beautiful pictures and tales of how some friend had enjoyed during their international vacations.

However, India too has a great deal to offer in terms of holiday destinations - snow-capped mountains, deserts of Rajasthan, great beaches, serene islands, jungle safaris, lot of historical monuments and a lot more. The destinations just need to be better promoted and they can compete with any global destination.

So, when in September of 2012, my family decided to go for a holiday, we were confused as to which part of this great country we wanted to pick. 

After some research and browsing the internet, we decided to travel to a place that people don't generally recall when they think of India - The Andaman islands. 

The Andaman and Nicobar islands is an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal with greater proximity to Myanmar and Thailand than India but a very important part of India. The British, during their rule used these islands as a place to deport political and criminal prisoners. The islands still retain a lot of their natural beauty because it still has not been over-exploited by the tourism industry.

Since my parents were also traveling who are not too comfortable with unplanned trips, my father decided to use a travel agent to plan out compete itinerary - my first such trip ever. 

Since there is no direct flight from Mumbai to Port Blair, the capital of the islands, I took a Jet Airways flight with a stopover at Chennai. After landing at Chennai airport at night and spending the night at my aunt's house, I caught a morning flight from Chennai to Port Blair. 

I had my brother and cousin sister for company and my parents were flying in from Delhi. We planned our flights in such a manner that all of us landed at approximately the same time. 

The airport is a nice, small and cozy airport nestled between the hills in the city. 

We landed at around lunch time and were taken to our hotel straight away. After having a nice lunch, we decided to head to the Corbyn's Cove beach. One of the first things we noticed after getting  there was a big signboard saying, " Beware of crocodiles". On inquiring, locals told us that a crocodile was spotted there a week before, hardly a comforting fact. 

View at Corbyn's Cove beach

The Sri Lanka trip - Old friends reconnecting

Now that I am in a mood to write, I think I should use this new-found enthusiasm to write as much as I can.

I was planning a holiday with my friends Puneet and Paras for a long time and we zeroed in on Sri Lanka as the destination. September was the month - not the tourist season, but we decided to go ahead to have a more relaxing trip.

The only things on our wishlist were beaches and Adam's peak - as there was no cricket in the country during out visit.

After some rescheduling to our flight schedules - courtesy the busy consultant Paras, me and Puneet left for Colombo, with Paras expected to join us a day later.

We took the Sri Lankan Airways flight from Mumbai to Colombo.

We had done some basic research on the train network in the country and zeroed in on the railways as our primary mode of transport (which was enough for the places we wanted to cover).

We got down at the airport at around 5.30 am and made our way towards Colombo Fort railway station. Taxis as well as public transport is available for the same but we preferred a taxi which cost us close to 3500-4000 LKR.

The railway network in Sri Lanka is reminiscent of what one would imagine the Indian railway network would have been in the 70s or 80s, though with a lot less crowd. Though, according to me, it still is the most efficient and cost-effective way of traveling in the country.

Colombo Railway station with its old trains

Still using old bulbs to light up the compartments