Yours Consciously Sneha

Tag: travelblog

  • 7 Days of Serendipity in Sri Lanka!

    7 Days of Serendipity in Sri Lanka!

    Negombo!

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    Go cycling around this beautiful city, check out the huge fish market, swim in the ocean and witness the beautiful sunset.

    Galkadawala!

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    Get lost in the woods, experience the antique vibe in the modern era, chill around by the lake, show some love to your taste buds with the yummy vegetarian food served.

    Sigiriya & Kandy!

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    Climb over this lion rock which was once a palace and now one of the World Heritage Site, feast your eyes with greenery laid down like a bed. Later on, rest those eyes in the capsule sleepers in Kandy.

    Train Journey from Kandy to Ella!

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    Have seen fairyland only in dreams, well if you take this train your dreams will come true. You will be in a fairyland for 6 hours, I promise!

    Ella!

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    While you will be moving in the train to Ella in the fairyland, when you are in Ella you will be actually living in the Fairy Land.

    Also, read Unplanned Plans!

    Blooming…

    Wild Flower

  • Unplanned Plans!

    Unplanned Plans!

    When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it-Paulo Coelho

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    In my school days, I remember when we were asked to draw India Map; we would also draw Sri Lanka along. I use to wonder while drawing, what must be in this small place and how lucky those kids would be to draw such a simple map. Whenever I wanted to visit this place, there was always someone with a “meh” face stopping me saying it is similar to India. Guess this time, I wanted to get the answer myself that I had since my school days and I didn’t want others to stop me in doing what I want to do.

    I have never liked planned or packaged trips, I cannot adhere to plans made by others and that is why I prefer to travel solo. Over a conversation with my friend Eeshani is how I randomly booked flight tickets, from booking tickets to whatever I did there; nothing was planned. As this was my first time going to a different country alone, I was of course scared! I had caterpillars in my stomach crawling all around; after I booked my tickets I didn’t bother much with my plans. It was only when there were 2 weeks close, I thot I will make some plans. But all I did was stare at Sri Lanka map, read few blog posts, shut the laptop and go to bed.

    There was something in me stopping not to make the plan, I wasn’t feeling comfortable to make a plan, book a place to stay, check where to eat. I didn’t want to do any of these, all I wanted is to just go and see how things work. Everything else that happened on this trip, people I met, places I visited just worked out even better than it would have if I had planned.

    My earlier rough plan was Negombo->Galkadawala->Sigiriya->Polonnaruwa->Nilaveli->Kandy->Ella->Hikkaduwa->Colombo

    What happened there Negombo->Galkadawala->Sigiriya->Kandy->Ella->Colombo

    As I stepped out my feet from the plane I could feel the warm air entering through the pores of my skin. The sense of happiness on my face, Caterpillars I had in my stomach for the past few days had been going through Metamorphosis.

    Blooming…

    Wild Flower

  • Hidden Treasure: VALPARAI!

    Hidden Treasure: VALPARAI!

    Not all those who WANDER are LOST – J. R. R. Tolkien

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    This was more of an Instinctive decision to test my guts of traveling solo to an unknown, a place that I had never heard before. It happened on one of the long weekends in March, while I was wondering where to step out my brain reminded me of a cousin who collects articles about off beat travel destinations, there were many options but this place pulled me towards it. I immediately booked a place to stay, packed bags and hit the road!

    There were still knots in my stomach, and a little bit of fear in the head as it was my first time alone in an unknown place. From Pollachi which is the nearest town will have to take a bus to Valparai which is about one and a half hour journey in a local bus. Bus climbing up the hill, turning through the hair pin bends, watching the hills as sun was just opening the arms, clouds passing by as they were just waking up in the morning, an island that was like icing on the cake which later I figured out that it was Sholayar dam. As the view was quenching the thirst in my eyes, knots in my stomach were releasing and the fear in my head flew away in the air.

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    I stayed in River View Homestay and went around seeing the places in an auto. We were driving mostly through tea plantations and these tea plantations are covered by forest, had to walk for about 15 minutes to reach Nallamudi view point which has the rarest view of tea plantations on one side and forest on the other side.

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    Benny one of the hosts took me for a walk around tea plantations to see if we can spot elephants, they have even spotted leopards sometimes. Hard Luck, we couldn’t see elephants except for their dung but spotted few bison’s. It was a short trek; I have this dream to have snakes as pets. Benny was into Snake preserving and we had a long discussion about different snakes.

    They also do offer night jeep safaris, if you are lucky enough you can spot leopards. As I was alone, hosts offered to take me around for a drive to check if we can spot any animals. We packed our food and headed on the road in Ghats again with really cold weather and fog all around. Hard luck again, we didn’t really get to see animals.

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    The next day, I visited a tea factory. It’s amazing on how different varieties of teas are made from the leaves plucked at different stages of their growth. Not being more of a tea drinker, black tea that I tasted there was one of the best tea’s I have had till now. While my taste buds were dancing with happiness, we headed to see Nirar Dam. The view from the dam surrounded by forests was surreal.

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    A place like this in Tamil Nadu which I had always assumed to be having hot weather, it is purely a hidden treasure and I am glad that I was able to find! I would really want to visit this place again during monsoon.

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    Quest in search of unknown bought me here,

    with the tiny amount of fear.

    I was in Solitude and so were you,

    glad that I came to see you out of the blue.

    Hidden treasure you are locked in the wood,

    bidding adieu with a grin more than I thought I would!

    Blooming…

    Wild Flower

  • Slice of Heaven: Chikmagaluru!

    A Good Vibe leads to a Good Start!-Sneha Marappa

    Chikmagaluru has always been on the top list of my favorite places with the best of the climate that you can ask for, mountains stretching all around, waterfalls that you can see after every few meters on the road, the fog that hugs your body with the chill breeze where goosebumps too would feel good. I would never get bored to visit this place; my friend’s call it as my second home but I call it just like home. I have been going through a lot of blogs since many years and this travel blogger Shivya Nath is one of my favorites who had written about how to start solo traveling where she stated to start a solo trip with a known place that you are comfortable with and there you go, I knew which place to start with.

    Been wanting to share this post from a really long time but there was something holding me back, maybe my conscious somehow knew I would be visiting this place again and again.

    I have been to Chikmagaluru twice earlier so have pretty much seen most of the places around. As this was my first solo trip, I just wanted to feel comfortable in one place and come out of my hidden fears. I have always been scared of dark and staying alone, I really had to come out of that fear. One of my friends referred me to stay in this place, Devigiri Homestay, which had everything like I wanted. As comfortable as I want to be and as adventurous as I can be.

    This is the tree house that I stayed in where there is no electricity, solar lamp is used instead and is about few meters walk in the woods from the main area. It was luckily a full moon night; there was moonlight peeping through those tall silver oak trees. I managed to walk all through gazing at the moon by telling thanks for shedding the light while I walked!

    These pictures are from a short trek that I went through the estate I stayed in, got to witness the spectacular sunset amidst the mountains bidding goodbye for the day.

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    On the last day of any travels that I have gone so far, I have always felt wish I could stay longer. But on the last day of this one, I was very happy, there was a smile around me that kept saying this is not the last day, it is a beginning of many other travels in future. I made a promise to myself that I would never stop traveling and it will always or mostly be alone.

    Green on the ground and green all around,

    You made us swirl like a cloud.

    All our senses had its feast,

    You are a beauty and the beast.

    Slice from heaven that came through rain,

    You make us fall in love again & again!

    Blooming…

    WildFlower