The 2019
2019 year was very special year for us, with so many travels, fun, surprises, family time, growth and challenges.
After a long time, we had set new year goals for ourselves. I am super proud that we hit almost 60-70% of them.
Travel had been one major part of our goal settings. So, catch a glimpse of our travel details. I will add more details about individual travel in separate blog posts(If I write them. 😉) meanwhile enjoy the summary!!
Summary of our trips throughout the year -
- February 2019 - Lalpania, Jharkhand
- April 2019 - Coonoor, The Nilgiris
- May 2019 - Leh - Ladhak
- August 2019 -Chikmagaluru
- August 2019 - Indore, MP
- October 2019 - Bali, Indonesia
- Nov 2019 - Goa
- December 2019 - Pondicherry
February 2019 - Lalpania
Place - Lalpania(Near Bokaro), Jharkhand, India
How to reach - Closest airport and Railvay station is Ranchi.
Duration of stay - 5 nights and 6 days
Jharkhand is my elder father-in-law's work place, he works as a Doctor in Lalpania @ Tenughat Thermal plant hospital. Since we travel a lot, they always insisted on us going to their place, Lalpania. They believed that I will love the place and I should visit them before he retired. February 2019 was the time when he was retiring, so we made our trip to attend his retirement party and have some relaxed family time together.
Things to do -
Dams - There are lot of dams in that area, like Tenughat dam, Konar Dam, Garga Dam, Kanke Dam. these are good picnic spots.
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| Konar Dam |
Water fall - Jharkhand is untouched beauty, there are waterfalls all over. There is waterfall just at walking distance from the house and one famous fall close to Ranchi, called as Hundru fall.
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| Hundru fall |
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| The path leads to temple through caves |
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| Ah. need some rest in between or waiting for elephant. :) |
Place - Coonoor(20 km form Ooty), Karnataka, India
How to reach - By road 350km from Bangalore
Place of stay - Full house
Days of stay - 2 nights and 3 days
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| View from the house |
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| Thoda pyar thoda magic |
I had come back from my US trip just the week before and we had a long weekend coming in a few days. Our dear friends Dj&Pal contacted us if we were game to have
a road trip. And of course, I was fine and quickly we closed the Coonoor trip. We booked a beautiful house middle of tea plantation for 2 families and planned to
have a relaxed time and enjoy the beauty.
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| Pal and Amber |
May 2019 - Leh - Ladhak
Places - Leh + Ladhak, Jammu & Kashmir, India
External blog link - https://traveltriangle.com/blog/leh-ladakh-with-kid-travelogue/
Best time to visit - May -August (check the mountain pass open dates)
Travel Duration - 7 night and 8 days
Places - Leh, Nubra valley, Turtuk village, Pangong
How to reach - There are frequent flight from Delhi to leh. One can travel via road as well.
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| Khardungla - World highest motorable pass |
Ladhak one place which we planned almost every year and dropped it due to some reason or the other. As I said earlier, 2019 had been a lucky year and we finally made this trip in real. My parents also joined me in this trip. Ladhak is located at a very high altitude and we had heard many stories of people getting altitude sickness in Ladhak. My husband was very worried as we had elderly parents(who are more fit than current young generation) and 6 year old son. Fortunately for us, no one fell sick during the trip and we all had great time together.
Sangam is one beautiful place one must cover during Leh trip. It's a confluence of Indus and Zanskar river. One can clearly identify the difference in color of water of both the rivers. This is the hightest rafting point. During winter the rivers freezes and that offers another adventure. This is the starting point of famous Chadar trek which is done on frozen river.
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| Sangam - Confluence of Zanskar and Indus |
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| Rafing at world's highest rafting point |
Another must visit place is Pangong Lake is must visit place. The beauty of this place is beyond explanation. Got more famous after 3 Idiots shooting. It's a 136km long lake, 30% is in India and 70% is in china.
We also covered a beautiful village named Farol in Turtuk nestled quietly in beautiful valley. This village was merged in India during 1971 war from Pakistan(google for more details). It's a very interesting and beautiful walk, almost 3 km long route. Met some mountain kids, they sung songs for us. 😊
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| The Group for Leh Ladhak trip |
August 2019 -Chikmagaluru
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| Belur Temple |
Place - Chikmagaluru, Karnataka, India
How to reach - By road from Bangalore
Distance from Banaglore - 300 Km
Place we stayed - Gubbachi goodu Homestay(full house with 2 rooms) - link is here
Closeby Places to visit - Halebeedu temple, Belur temple, Shettihalli church(ruined church)
Days of Stay - 3 night & 4 days
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| Trekking in Rain |
We planned this trip in August which is rainy season in India. In year 2019, there was flood alert in many parts of Karnataka and it was advised to cancel all the trips in flood effected areas. Chikamagalur was also in flood alert list and we were confused whether to carry on with the plan or not. But with 2019 special effect, we decided to start from Bangalore and return if we see any danger. This place was surrounded by coffee plantation but it was close to main tarred road(So I had more trust that it will not be impacted by rain). We also did small coffee plantation walk. Since it was raining most of the time so we spent a lot of time at homestay listening to many stories from my in-laws of their childhood days. I must say the food and service is amazing at this place. Everyone enjoyed finger-licking food and delicious coffee.
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| Shettihalli church |
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| Belur Temple |
On the way back we visited Belur temple and Shettihalli church. This was our second trip to both the places. I like old ruined structures both the places are must visit if you are going to Chikamagalur.
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| The group for Chikamaglur trip |
Place - Indore, MP, Inndia
Closest airport - Indore
Days of stay - 3 nights and 4 days
We visited Indore to attend by nephew's (brother's son) 1st birthday. Indore is famous for food. Either be it Chhappan (56 in english) which is famous for breakfast and snacks shops, I think it is called 56 as there are around 56 shops or be it Sarafa which is famous for mid night food stalls. Sarafa meant jewels shop and that road famous for jewel shops in day time while at night when all shops are closed the street turns into food street. People just talk about food here day and night. 😋It was short 3 night trip.
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| Indore trip gathering |
Place - Bali, Indonasia
How to reach - Flight to Denspar airport. To reach other islands you need to take boat/ships. for roaming around within city one can use Uber/Grab. To roam around between the cities independent cab is cheaper than Grab.
Days of stay- 7 nights 8 days
Places covered - Saminyak, Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida, Ubud, Kuta
Stay - Independent houses/Villas booked via Airbnb and direct website
Nusa lambogan - https://dcoinlembongan.com/
Ubud - Serenity Ubud Private Villa
Legian - https://alamkulkul.com/
This trip was also planned as family trip with my parents-in-laws but due to last minute issues they had to cancel. So my husband, my sister-in-law, my son and I made the trip Bali. Bali is very beautiful place which offers more than just beaches.
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| Dream beach at Nusa Lembogan |
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| Nusa penida |
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| Long Swings with the view of stepped rice fields |
Ubud has stepped rice fields, We stayed 2 nights in Ubud. One day we covered rice fields and tasted luwak coffee. Yes!!! tasted. You must google about this coffee, very interesting. 😉Second day we did half trek to Mount Batur. Mount Batur is second highest peak in Indonesia where one can trek to see the active volcano, Since we did not wake up in time, we did not had enough time to complete the trek. but whatever we did was great.
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| Mount Batur in the background |
After Ubud we spent 3 nights in Legian area - covered Saminyak and Kuta, Visited Tanah lot temple, The famous Hindu temple that stands on the Sea rock and Uluwatu temple. All offer outstanding views. Our final stop was Padang Padang Beach which is a hidden gem. You will thoroughly enjoy the way to beach and the small hidden beach itself.
Bali has lot to cover in short time. Kuta/Legian/Seminyak offer more sandy and kids friendly beaches. The sea have big waves so convenient place for surfing. Tatva tried his luck on surfing and WHOA he surfed successfully.
Nov 2019 - Goa
How to reach - Goa is well connected via flight and train both. But both of them are at-least 1 hour far from beach.
Stay - Ashvem Beach - This time we stayed in North Goa Ashvem beach next to Morjim beach.
Days of stay - 3 nights and 4 days
Another close to impossible trip. Every friends gathering we discuss about travelling together to Goa. Thanks to DJ who made this possible. She convinced everyone to celebrate Pal's 40th birthday at Goa. around 5 families i,e 15 people travelled to Goa. A fun filled trip which was just about Sea, beach food, talks and had great memorable time together.
Rest is secret. 😀
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| The birthday Boy!!! |
December 2019 - Pondicherry
Place - Puducherry, India
How to reach from Bangalore - We travelled via car it is around 350km from bangalore. Road via Vellore is good in you are planning to travel from Bangalore.
Days - We stayed for 3 nights
Promenade Beach
The year started with trips with parents, parents-in-laws, and in second half we did solo, family, and friends trips, So the year ended with well deserved trip with siblings. This Pondicherry trip was sibling trip with their spouses. Fun, masti, food, drama, games and never ending parties for whole 3 days. We reached Bangalore 31st night and celebrated new year in our home sweet home.
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| Pondicherry group |
Thanks for reading this.
- Chitra
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