Dec 022015
 

Travel Blog posts I enjoyed reading : desi Travel Digest November 2015

 

December is here and it is time to share the blog posts I enjoyed reading in November.  These are the posts that either I stumbled on internet in my pursuit to learn about new places or these are from travelers whose blog I regularly read and have compiled them for desi Travel Digest November 2015 . One thing is very clear from scouting through countless travel blogs in India and abroad ( though in this post all the authors are from India ) that we have some very talented travel writers out there. While I am nobody to certify anybody but one thing is clear, if we need to read good travel stories we need to expand our horizons and read a lot of work out there and go beyond the few travel blogger lists that keep on churning more or less same names. Now I have nothing against these lists as I too appear on some of these lists  but my point is that in the infinite travel blogging Universe there are a lot of wonderful travel writers, bloggers, photographers who write from heart and have no plans / dreams / aspiration to be become professional travel bloggers. They are happy doing what they are doing with the time they get, but still some of  them continuously come out with some really good work.

But where the professionals stand out is consistency in the quality of their work, you have to admire them for every single blog post or story they publish. Each picture is carefully chosen and they do not hesitate using pictures from others ( with credit )  if their own pictures are not that good for some reason.

So in no particular order let me give you some of the posts that I loved reading in November 2015 from different travel blogs. Some of these authors you will be well familiar with and some you may read for the first time here if I am able to introduce even one new travel blogger to you whose work we both like then the purpose of this travel digest is served.


Commercial Break: Participate in  desi Travel Calendar 2016 Contest I am giving  Ten 2016 Travel calendars to readers and followers of desi Traveler


1. Pondicherry Old World Charm :

Param and Shikha are a creative couple who make movies for a living, but at heart they are travelers or as they call themselves: The Untourists. Recently the did a road trip from Mumbai to Pondicherry and caputured the old world charm and heritage of Pondicherry in this blog post:  Pondicherry : A Gorgeous Town Full Of Heritage Beauty

Cafe Pondicherry

Plenty of Culture and Cafes!

The Untourists take us through the old french part of Pondicherry introducing us to its history, quaint cafes, and the also to a quiet visit to Auroville and Matrimandir.

2.  Traveling With Young Children

I am a father of two girls and we started traveling with them once they were 3 months old, by car, train and planes too. There are very few Indian travel writers who write about traveling with Kids. I started my blog earlier as a road trip blog with kids and old timers will remember it as : Kids and Car , but the blog evolved and I started writing about a lot of other things leading to desi Traveler. But wait this post is not about I, me and myself, let us go to this post: Traveling With Young Children by Ankita Bhatia Dhawan a working mom. She takes you through complete planning and precautions , the kind of food to pack etc. in the post. If you have kids, or plan to have kids then this post is for you. It will also not hurt to share it with your friends who have kids.

3. Journey Through South America with SandeepaChetan

Very few Indian Travel Bloggers have traveled in South America, a true dream destination for most of us. So I was truly excited when I read this post by wandering couple Sandeepa and Chetan about their Journey through South America.  Now Sandeepa and Chetan are true wanderers going from place to place as this comes to them naturally. Check the post for some gorgeous pictures from Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Peru.  As this is just a curtain raiser of a post by them, I plan to read more of the coming posts, what about you ?

Iguacu Brazil Iguazu Argentina

Iguazu Falls on Brazil Argentina Border pic by SandeepaChetan

4. Maldives Home Stay Experience

Svetlana has been a globetrotter for many years now, for her job and now for her passion of traveling.  In this beautiful post she takes us to the tropical paradise of Maldives and shares some colorful pictures that showcases the calmness and leisurely pace of life in the island nation  as she shares with us her experience of staying in Homestay in Maldives

Boat on Beach in Maldives

Colors and Calmness of Maldives pic by Maverick Bird aka Svetlana

5. Getting Robbed in Cambodia

Though Cambodia is a very safe to travel country like anywhere else one needs to be careful when traveling as you never know when you drop your guards and somebody takes advantage of your vulnerability.

tuk tuk in Phnom Penhn, Cambodia

A tuk tuk driver in Phnom Penhn, Cambodia

Read this travel story by Parinitha Urs better known as Knitha Urs how she got robbed in Cambodia , there is a lesson or two for all of them in the story.

6. 10 Things to do in Hong Kong by Anita Mathur Kumar

Well a list cannot be complete without a list in it. So in our list for desi Travel Digest for November 2015, here is a list of top 10 Things to do in Hong Kong by Aditi Mathur Kumar.

 

Hong Kong Harbor

Aditi Mathur Kumar in Hong Kong

From places to visit to things to do and the food that desi Travelers will enjoy, Aditi meticulously takes you though Hong Kong to make your trip enjoyable and memorable.

7.Chettinad – The Mansions Of Merchant Princes by Madhu Shetty

Most of us in North India have heard about Shekhawati where wealthy businessmen from Rajasthan have built palatial mansions that now lie abandoned in most cases. Well it seems building mansions was  a favorite pastime of wealthy merchants in Chettinad in Tamil Nadu also in last century.  Madhu Shetty takes us through this heritage journey to towns in Chettinad where palaces built by wealthy Chettiar merchants in last century can put most modern cities and houses to shame. Just like their Rajasthan counterparts most of these palaces now wait for the owners to visit on special occasions like marriages and festivals. Some of them are now heritage hotels carefully restored to welcome discerning guests who like their dose of heritage in luxury.

A Chettinad palace hotel

Bangala – Open dining hall in a Chettinad Palace now a heritage hotel – pic by Madhu Shetty

Over to Madhu as she takes us to the Mansions of Merchant Princes of Chettinad

8.   Night Cruise in Chao Phraya River by Manish Kumar 

Manish is a pioneer of  Hindi Travel Blogs in India and has blogged even before Hindi computerized typing was available.  His blog has been featured in countless newspapers, magazines, TV channels etc. Manish is a successful engineer from IIT Roorkee, just like our guest author Rohit Jain who wrote a post some days back for desi Traveler. In my visits to Thailand I have been on a cruise on Chao Phraya a few times, but never in night, hence I really liked reading this post on ” Musafir Hoon Yaron” by Manish Kumar about Night Cruise in Chao Phraya River.

Night Cruise Chao Phraya River Bangkok

A Ferry in night in Chao Phraya Bangkok

9.  Sunset In Labuan Bajo by Joshi Daniel

Joshi Daniel is one of the most popular travel photo blogger from India. In age of instagram he has succeed in keeping visitors glued to his blog where he posts just a single picture of places and captivating portraits of people he meets on his travels. In this post he captures a beautiful sunset in Indonesia in Labuan Bajo

Nicole Fung That Food Cray

Nicole Fung enjoying a sunset in Indonesia

The beauty of this post is that besides Sunset you are also introduced to Hong Kong based travel and food blogger Nicole Fung who is featured in this picture. As they say 2 birds with one stone. But check Joshi’s blog for some wonderful pictures that he has captured over the years with his unique style that captures beauty in very mundane situations that you are bound to say.. ” WOW ”

10. Memories From The Road Trip by Charukesi Ramadurai

Now to call Chaurkesi a travel blogger is like saying only a minuscule part of her story. She has more printed work than most of us have written on our blog. I regularly read her writings and keep visiting back for more. In this post that I am sharing she takes us to a whirlwind road trip in South India particularly Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. So we are ending this desi Travel digest with Pondicherry just like we started it with the same.  If you are an aspiring travel writer / blogger/ freelancer  may I suggest that you subscribe to her blog and read her awesome book :  EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FREELANCE JOURNALISM (BUT DIDN’T KNOW WHOM TO ASK )

Butter Croissant Pondicherry

Can you see the French Connection here ? pic by Charukesi Ramadurai 

But besides her blog post I also want to share this inspiring  video where Charukesi talks about her journeys as a travel writer and how most of our excuses to not travel are just excuses. She should know as she is the one who has Itchy Feet –   Check the post here: Memories of a Road Trip and watch the video below

 

So dear reader what do you have to say about desi Travel digest ? Do pay these bloggers a visit and leave a comment if you have time and follow them to read their future posts. Would you like to nominate any post  that you read in December anywhere on the net then please share it with me using the contact desi form or tag me on twitter.  

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  11 Responses to “desi Travel Digest November 2015”

Comments (11)
  1. I just saw this post and I am so glad I could dance.
    Hong Kong was amazing and I loved every bit of my trip. Thank you SO much for reading the post, and for featuring me here. Hope to meet you some day.
    Happy Travelling!

  2. I went to Maldives because of Svetlana’s blogs!

  3. Prasad, I am delighted that you enjoyed my post. Thank you very much for the shout out. Much appreciated.

  4. Nice collection of posts.. Especially liked the pics on South American trip of Sandeepa Chetan.Thx for including my post too.

  5. Thanks for the mention and the very kind words, Prasad 🙂

  6. Thank you for sharing these. I already follow some of them and it is nice to read more Indian travel bloggers. Do give my blog a read too. 🙂 I recently started travel blogging and it is always good to hear feedback.

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