Tag: Kaffeécino

Dhaka 2023!

Dear Bangladesh,

Dhaka! A foreign city that I visited more than any other city in the world!

First time about 5 years ago! It was all about being curious of one of our closest neighbourhood. 

And today after three visits, you realise it’s so much like India and Sri Lanka! People here are Warm, Hospitable, and Kind.

Some of the things Dhaka beats us in is the traffic, it’s faster to walk and travel than to use a public transport or vehicle. 

The Mosquitoes, Gosh! No amount of fumigation, odomos repelient, Odomos scent sticks, Odomos Roll on would stop the mosquitoes from sucking your blood!

And the language barrier- Bengali! If you know the language, you would not be lost in translation!

But, if you don’t know the language. 

You would struggle to get things right! 

The food it’s a non-vegetarians paradise!

And a vegetarian’s walk to hell!

You would need to keep looking until you find options!

Some of the chaat items too have egg in them! 

And an eggless cake is a mystery to them.

The roads are wide, but everyone has taken the sides. You can’t turn, you can’t run you are stuck.

Most of the best designer clothes are manufactured here! But, you won’t find a single store selling them. Rather you would need to just visit one store for all the original’s first copies Astorian!

A lot of African, Australian, Malaysian chains of restaurant are there! 

Surprisingly Coffee is big here too! A lot of small interesting coffee shops there! 

With one or two coffee roasters selling homegrown coffee that’s grown in Bangladesh!

They enjoy a lot of Music and Movies! One of the reasons Bollywood is a big craze here!

Bollywood movies don’t release as often and as much since they believe they loose money from local cultural entertainment. 

And if they are Die-Hard Bollywood fans they travel to Kolkata. a 40 minute journey by Air or about 7 Hrs by road. 

No! Bangladesh isn’t cheap! 

In fact it’s one of the most expensive cities in the world for expats living there! 

Facts about Dhaka:


The world’s least livable city.

Longest female-led government.

There are a lot of Bangladeshis who live out of the country.

Currently only the below flights go to Dhaka directly. 

Mumbai: Indigo – Tue, Thurs, Saturday, Sunday, ( 30 Kg allowance) 

Mumbai: Vistara – Tue, Thurs(30 Kg allowance) 

Delhi : Indigo – Mon- Saturday 

Delhi : Vistara – Daily 

Hotels to stay: 

  • Amari : Is Centrally located 
  • Sheraton : Is also in the heart of the city 
  • Westin : Westin & Amari are very close by. 
  • Intercontinental: The hotel is a little far away from the main city. 

Places to Eat: 

Premium Sweets: Misthi Doi, Chaat and local bengali food. 

Sajna: Indian food restaurant, that’s neatly done with indian food options for all specially vegetrains. 

O’Play: Italian Food Restaurant  

SOI 71 :  Thai Food Restaurant. 

Galitos: For Wraps and Salad 

Cafes: 

North End Roasters: Coffee Roasters which you would find across all over Dhaka City. 

Tabaaq Coffee: A cafe chain again from Bangladesh that you would find in select locations. 

Arabika Coffee: A coffee shop that serves coffee from beans that come from coffee regions. 

Butlers: Irish chocolate brand cafe that serves good milk shakes & Waffles 

Bookstore: 

The Reading Room: Here you will find a range of international books and interesting coffee table books. They also have a small cafe setup inside here. 

Here you will find books that are more in Bengali and a few bestsellers from around the world. 

Currency: 1 Taka = 0.80 INR

Visa: You need to apply for a visa before you visit. It’s not on arrival for indians yet.

Writing #7

Benelux 2022!!!

This trip to Europe! Was long overdue!
Not because it was another trip to Europe.
But, because of the countries, we were visiting. We have been planning this route for the last 3 years as I remember. Two years of travel were taken away by corona and the only thing we missed was travelling.
So, before we could plan a trip to any other European country. This had to be struck off my bucket list.
This trip was very unlike the trips we have taken before.
Starting with Antwerp we had a friend, Ambassador, An Artist and our local tour guide that was added into his profile as the day concluded since the way he showcased Antwerp. The cobbled streets, the Parks, the cafés and visiting Caffenation. Caffeination is a speciality coffee pioneer in Belgium.
Jeff Vervellen a barista from Caffenation has won the world championship a couple of times.
by giving us insights into the landmarks we were passing by walking around towards the centre of Antwerp by the end of the day our legs were crushed walking 30K steps on the 1st Day of our trip!
Little did we know it was just the beginning of the warm hospitality from the locals we were going to be meeting ahead of our trip.
Bruges & Gent felt light on the feet.
Exploring the canals and small stores while we walked around to get a feel of the place.
Bruges was beautiful the free shuttle service from the station to the centre of the city is another way of looking around the city before you start to explore on your own.
While gent had interesting graffiti street art and cafés it also had an interesting book store. Booze & Books! With some of the finest alcohol and Designer bottles, you wouldn’t have come across until you visited the store. It was also good to notice Paul John a whiskey from India that has gained an international recognition.
Gent & Bruges reminded me a lot about Scotland a lot with so many castles around.
One looked like the younger side of Scotland while the other seemed like the older side of Scotland.
Brussels on Sunday! Was zooming in with the Ferrari which was on display at the central square for the start of a perfect Sunday!
Sun & Ferraris!
Meeting the local person who we have known for a decade now and for someone who we make sure to visit Brussels. It was nice walking around the Sunday markets, Eating Belgium fries, and having Coffee & Waffles at the Galleria from Aksum Coffee house. Had some local Belgium food.
Luxembourg! We had initially planned to stay here for two days! But ended up doing a day trip from Antwerp.
Luxembourg’s view of the bridge from the centre was breathtaking. Two days would have been more than enough to enjoy the country.
The Netherlands journey began with a lot of delays & going in the wrong direction for us because of a train accident on the other tracks. So, we did explore Delft a small town in the Netherlands close to Antwerp & Amsterdam and known for its blue pottery. And tasted a lot of handmade cheese from the Netherlands while we explored Utrecht too on the same day having hot chocolate from Hop & Stork a popular Chocolate cafe in the Netherlands.
The next destination was Amsterdam!
We had a few local guides here! Giving us a tour of the city!
While we explored one thing with each of the guides!
One day! We took the canal cruise from Amsterdam central with one local guide,
Amsterdam is known as the North of Venice. As the water connects you to the other side of the city too. Quite a few people have started renting out boats since there isn’t enough housing space available.
And had local Dutch food in a restaurant while this day it had poured all day long.
With the other guide, we explored the Straat Museum. It’s a street art museum showcasing about 150 artists from the world and Europe.
We also visited Tony’s chocolate cafe a chocolate brand that’s popular in Amsterdam. While the United States have Hershey’s, Germany has Riter Sport, the UK has Cadbury’s. Amsterdam has Tony’s. Chocolate flowing on the taps at the cafés, chandelier made is tony chocolate wrappers and a store, where you can see the process of chocolate making, this was the sugar rush we needed with the variety of homemade fries we had on our trip! We were the typical tourist!
While walking the streets to get some coffee beans from screaming beans one of the popular speciality coffee that is gaining popularity across the globe!
While purchasing my beans I had an interesting conversation with James who was preparing a cup of V60 of the Guatemala beans I was planning to purchase. While the coffee was being brewed James was speaking about the backpacking trip 14 years ago to India! And the places he visited in India one city that he mentioned! I just couldn’t get over it! Nashik! Part of his cities Of Kumbh Mela! Since I am too from Nashik!
Oh! Wait!
The last local guide we met were schoolmates & classmates with whom we walked around the red light street of Amsterdam and caught up with life in the Netherlands.
While the bicycles were all over the Netherlands. We explored most of our cities by foot and trains to get there. Since with Europe, it’s all about the centre of the city, which can be covered by foot.

Travel to Brussels, Gent & Bruges from Antwerp one-way journey.

Antwerp to Brussels : 45 Min

Antwerp to Bruges: 90 Min

Antwerp to Ghent: 1 Hr.

Antwerp to Luxembourg: 4 Hrs.

Antwerp to Hague :45 Min

Antwerp to Amsterdam: 1 Hr 50 Min

Stay:

Artotel Amasterdam

NH Hotel Antwerp

Cafés:
screamingbeans
tonyschocolonely_nl
joeandthejuice

LoetjeCentraal

Waffles :
vanwonderenstroopwafels

Fries :
houseoffries
mannekenfriet

Chocolate:
tonyschocolonely
puccinibomboni_amsterdam

Bookstore:
waterstones

Visit:
straatmuseum

Experience:
Canalcruise
Bloemenmarkt: World’s only floating flower market

Belgium:
Cities to Visit: #Antwerp #Bruges #Gent #brussels

Travelling to these cities by @eurarail is easy.

Antwerp:

Sightseeing :

AntwerpRailwayStation
Grote Market
City Hall
Het Steen

Cafés:

caffenation_coffee

Gent:
Sightseeing
gravensteencastle
graffartistreet

Cafe:
waycoffeeroasters

mokabongent

Bookstore:
bookznboozegent

Bruges : * Free Shuttle Service available from the station to the Market every 10-15 minutes.

Sightseeing :

FriesMuseum
Belfrytower
Market Square
Groeninge Museum

Cafe:
ilovecoffeebrugge

Luxembourg:
Sightseeing

ViewfromOberstadt

Cafe:
knopescoffee

The Modern Jaipur!

Rajasthan! A side of India! That makes you feel Royal and Rich! A state that has the best Indian food and every hotel is a palace in its on way having an Modern or an old-world charm. This was a trip to Jaipur after a decade. And while the city did not seem to have changed much. The City surprising had quite a few cafes and restaurants opened up. The Patrika Gate, The Palace and the Hawa Mahal we’re so royal. The hotels we stayed at Raas Rajmahal were a modern luxury palace with interiors and architecture just like a palace.
While on our Visit we visited some of the cafes & restaurants that had their specialities.
Spice Court was our only stop for Laal Maas. Steam at Rambagh was an experience. Seated on a first-class coach in a train-shaped restaurant. The Indian platter were very good. They are also known for their pizzas.
We visited The Johri at the Johri Bazaar. They are a pure Veg restaurant with amazing food and interiors. They are also a boutique hotel with about five Suites rooms each named after a gem stone.

Manak (ruby) is hues of pink, Moti (pearl) is white, Sona (gold) is yellow, Neelam (sapphire) is light blue, and Panna (emerald) is pale greenThe Johri is managed by Honawar Hospitality group that has cafes like Pantry & woodside inn that are popular in Mumbai.
We also visited Bar Palladio & Shikaar Bagh restaurant & Bar that’s part of Naraian Niwas Palace an Instagramable destination and in recent times has gained popularity through web series. The interiors have been done up by Dutch designer Marie-Anne Oudejans has kept the essence of Rajasthan and Jaipur in the interiors. The space also has a few interesting designer stores in them that have a lot of Rajasthani elements to it.

Cafes that we enjoyed on our visit were The Curious Life Roasters, Half light Coffee Roaster and Town Coffee. Town Coffee also had a nice gourmet store to satisfy and to experience your home chefs skills.

Curious breakfast and coffee experience was something totally unexpected for Jaipur. Over the next two days we realised Coffee & cafe culture

Is huge here! Something that isn’t read or spoken about so much when you think about Jaipur! 

Another thing that was good to observe was the cafes & restaurants had plenty of books on their shelves to read Curious life Roaster by the owner has an interesting story Neeraj Sheoran the owner & roster While working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was introduced to coffee roasting and in 2015 began the Curious life Roaster in Jaipur. Half light by is a family-run neighbourhood coffee shop in Jaipur that has been there for the last couple of years..

Starting up!

The USA!
Most of the trends and innovations come from there! And that might be because they are trying to solve the sustainability issue’s with simple solutions. And it’s not just one category they are solving problems .They are solving most of the problems that they think matter.
A start-up ‘clove ‘had the idea of finding a solution for the healthcare to have comfort while being on their toes and launched a shoe that is easy to clean, fashionable, Stylish and you can stand with it for hours.
And then you have ‘stoggles’which are fashionable, Stylish frames that are anti Fogg and affordable again mainly targeting the healthcare sector.
Then you have’ Huue ‘a denim ware start-up brand that aims to make denim by converting sugar into indigo dye a sustainable way of making denim.
Another start up ‘Rothys ‘is a footwear start up that is making shoes by recycling single use of plastic bottles! One pairs of shoe takes about 20 odd plastic bottles.

Start up with great possibilities!

https://goclove.com/products/clove-shoe-mens-lunar-fade

https://www.huue.bio

https://stoggles.com

https://rothys.com/collections/mens-shoes