Incredible India

India Travel Blog with travel tips, stories, food and pictures of travel around India. There is so much to experience in Incredible India that one life time is just not enough. No wonder we Indians believe in reincarnation so that we can visit India again and again to cherish the billion things India has to offer from  Ghats of Varanasi to beaches of Goa and the Colors of Rajasthan to the fragrance of spices in Gods own country Kerala.  Even after visiting more than 22 states in India, I have not seen even the tip of iceberg. I continue to explore my country and share my experiences of Incredible India on my family travel blog from India as we explore one place at a time by road, by trains and by flying to the various corners of India. Come join me on this incredible Journey in Incredible India from the the snow clad Ladakh in Himalayas to the french enclave of Pondicherry in south as we go covering India from festivals to food and everything in between.

Incredible India

Tal Chapar-Rajasthan for Bird Watching

Oct 082012
 
Tal Chapar-Rajasthan for Bird Watching

  Tal Chapar: A Hidden Birding Paradise in  Rajasthan   Tal Chapar in Rajasthan a bird watching trip If you are ready to look beyond the forts, and palaces and tigers of Rajasthan then Tal Chapar ( also spelled Tal Chhapar) is for you. Tal what? You may ask an obvious question as Tal Chappar is still not an on the tourist circuit unless you are a raptor from Central Asia from countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,   Russia etc. Tal Chappar is to bird watching what Ranthambore and Jim Corbett are to tiger spotting. Situated in a hidden corner of [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Photography, Rajputana, Wildlife and Nature Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  38 Responses »

Pilgrims in Hampi-Following The Tradition

Oct 062012
 
Pilgrims in Hampi-Following The Tradition

Meeting Pilgrims in Hampi A Pilgrim Lost In Rhythm Divine Young Pilgrims at Sacred Center In last few weeks I have written about the monument, ruins, and temples of Hampi, but I had a feeling that the series is incomplete without mentioning the wonderful people I met in Hampi. Lakhs of tourists from Indian and abroad come to Hampi every year to look at the magnificent monuments left behind by the kings of the years gone by. History has taken its course and where armies used to guard now monkeys hold the fort. The path that queen used to [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples Tagged with: , , , ,  10 Responses »

Train To Rajasthan

Oct 052012
 
Train To Rajasthan

  As I mentioned in the previous post that I was traveling to Tal Chapar wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan. I had to travel to Ratangarh from Delhi in order to reach Chapar, so I decided to take a train and booked my tickets online using Indian Railways online ticket booking website. Now Rajasthan most people relate to three things Forts, Palaces and dunes in desert forgetting there are many more wonders that Rajasthan has to offer, and I will cover one such hidden gem of Rajasthan in this series. This Delhi-Bikaner route till about a decade ago used to [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Incredible India, Rajputana, Wildlife and Nature Tagged with: , ,  8 Responses »

The Sacred Center of Hampi Temple

Oct 032012
 
The Sacred Center of Hampi Temple

The Sacred Center of Hampi Temple – Where History and Mythology Live Together A Guide and Tourist at  Sacred Center of Hampi Temple   The sacred center of Hampi temple is where most of the religious and tourist action happens. Right in the middle of a Bazaar (crafts village like a flea market) you can see the main Virupaksha temple from miles. After passing through the bazaar, dodging the aggressive vendors trying to sell you things and more aggressive beggars trying to sell you heaven in both present and afterlife, you reach the sacred center. There is a small camera fee you need to [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples Tagged with: , , , , , ,  9 Responses »

A Rare Ganpati

Sep 272012
 
A Rare Ganpati

A New Beginning for desi Traveler- A family travel blog from India Desi Traveler has moved to own domain http://DesiTraveler.com from the earlier hosting on BlogSpot. I was convinced by various blogs and blogger friends that this is the way to go. I am also told that it will have some hiccups in the beginning but then everything will be OK. So I was wondering what to write for our first blog post on our own domain and then I remembered the beautiful post by Arti about Ganpati celebrations as this is Ganpati festival now.  So I thought what could [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples, Incredible India, Madhya Pradesh Tagged with: , , , ,  4 Responses »

Under The Mango Tree In Hampi

Sep 232012
 
Under The Mango Tree In Hampi

Under The Mango Tree: A unique Hampi Experience Many moons ago in the first 007 movie “Dr. No”, Ursula Andress, emerged from the Caribbean island lagoon, in a bikini so hot that the island burst into flames by the end of the movie. She was humming the lines…   “Underneath the mango tree Me honey and me can watch for the moon Underneath the mango tree Me honey and me make boolooloop soon Underneath the moonlit sky Me honey and I can sit hand in hand…..”   That my friends is our connection of the bond babe with Hampi’s most famous [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Gastronomy, Holy Towns and Temples Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  15 Responses »

Birthplace of Hanuman and Temples Of Hampi

Sep 212012
 
Birthplace of Hanuman and Temples Of Hampi

Hiking To The Birth Place of Hanuman Near Hampi The Birthplace of Hanuman Temple This is the third post on Hampi with TCPC As we were staying on the Kishkindha side of Tungabhadra, day one was dedicated to exploring the various temples in the area. This part is called Anegundi and is believed to be the capital of empire before Hampi rose to prominence.  Is it not amazing how many towns and cities have had their share of being the capital of a mighty empire and you had to fight mighty armies to reach them, and yet today they [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples, Trekking and Exploring Tagged with: , , , , , ,  14 Responses »

Exploring Hampi-Songs Written In Stone

Sep 182012
 
Exploring Hampi-Songs Written In Stone

A Visit to Hampi With my photographer friends  Ganapati Surrounded By Wishlist In Cloth Bundles Or Prayer Potlees This is the second episode of our visit to Hampi with TCPC. Swings In Veranda Even though we lost a good 2 hours in the traffic jam due to Coalgate scam our pilot still dropped us only 30 minutes late from the original ETA. Hey, we were happy to have arrived in a single piece, and soon started our journey towards Shanthi Guest house where we were to stay for the night. So this blog post can also be considered a brief review [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples, Karnataka, Resorts & Hotels Review Tagged with: , ,  5 Responses »

Life and Money: An Auto Ride In Kolkata

Sep 162012
 

An Auto Ride in Kolkata  From 2002 to 2004 we lived in Calcutta or Kolkata, as it was rechristened along with a lot of areas and streets in the city. I have lived  lived most of my life in Delhi but have worked in most of the Metros in India or traveled to them for work etc.  Each city has its own relationship with money and each has its own way of making and spending money. Here let me share a unique money experience I had in good old Kolkata. The year was end 2002 and I had just moved to Kolkata after working [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Incredible India Tagged with: ,  5 Responses »

A Bus Ride to Hampi For a Photography Trip

Sep 142012
 
A Bus Ride to Hampi For a Photography Trip

My Visit to Hampi in a Volvo Bus Travel and Photography are Siamese twins. I have not been able to figure out whether I started clicking pictures as I wanted to capture my travels or I started traveling so that I could capture pictures of distant lands. Anyways the debate is useless as you cannot separate the Siamese twins, and not that they want to be separated. The latest jaunt of desi Traveler was to the erstwhile capital of the Vijayanagaram empire in Hampi, in Karnataka a town that is more than 1000 years old on the banks of river Tungabhadra. [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

 Posted by  Holy Towns and Temples, Trekking and Exploring Tagged with: , , , ,  4 Responses »
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