Tag: Rajasthan

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..

Raffles Udaipur :Luxury in its true sense.

As soon as we reached the jetty Shore,

A team warmly received us and made us comfortable with refreshments at the waiting area until the boats were ready.

The 15 minutes journey in the boat was all about giving us a background of the place and of course, Ngambi who ferried us shot photograph videos with the best angles of the property and the landscape. 

The long walk from the bridge to the main entrance of the property ( Wet Towels,& Water bottles were offered) 

Well, This was just a teaser of our stay. The main highlights were the Welcome at the lobby with a refreshing cocktail made by Terai Gin. One of the things that I loved about the hotel was going Vocal for Local.

Bili Hu Coffee, Svami & Sepoy Co tonic water, The Whole Truth Bars and Chocolates like Paul & Mike and dessert made from Mason & Co chocolates. 

The F&B team was so involved with us, there wasn’t a moment when they did not let us go without food.

Shreyas, Max, Sanjeev, Ashwin, Bhavya, Alpa, Rubeg, Daksh were some of the best people who were so warm. Tea, Coffee, Cocktail, Mocktails or any recommendations of food, Dessert you wanted you could just take their word for it. 

Chef Prasad, Chef Ajinkya, Chef Pratik treated us to some memorable meals ( Tangerine Salad, Biryani, Fettuccine Truffle oil, and John Dory were some of the best things that were served) 

Vishrut, Vimi, Divi and the Captain of the team Abhishek Sharma were some of the warmest people we have come across during our stay. 

A special mention for the BirthdaySurprise Dinner by the Team.

Additional Information:

15-20 minutes drive from Airport

A sitting area for guests to wait and fill the health declaration form until the Jetty comes to take you to the main hotel property. Refreshments (Tea, Coffee, Beverages) are served here till we make it to the hotel.

Room:101

Suites : 18

Regular Rooms :83

3 Restaurant & 7 Gardens are part of the hotel.

Jodhpur

My first visit to Jodhpur was in 2018 and on my first visit I hardly had any time to absorb the place .it was a short Work trip and 2019 was back on the second visit- It was more or less the same but had visited more streets rather than the usual route hotel to venue and now on the third visit in 2020 I finally visited a tourist site and our venue for one of the wedding function (Mehrangarh Fort) The Venue the fort was fifteen to twenty minutes from any of the hotels out there and the walk up to the fort is “uphill task” Concreate steps with the structure around like the typically Rajasthan architecture, the small windows and curve and tomb designs framework when you walk up to the rampart. A Panoramic photography viewpoint – You can See the City from this point and see those Blue Houses Jodhpur is known as the Blue City of India.

You can also see Umaid Bhavan Palace from here and that’s not all if you climb and go to the concert area – This is where the sangeet function was held you will find another viewpoint – Where you can capture and experience the Sunset. There are only two things to see in Jodhpur, the Fort, Umaid Bhavan Palace and the local market for Traditional Rajasthan souvenirs and local Rajasthan Cuisine.

It wasn’t just the Mehrangarh fort that one of the only touristy outing, But witnessed a Polo match that was organised between Two teams (Bride & Groom ) 7 minutes each and there are four Chakkars – A Game last for Twenty Minutes with each team trying to score a goal by knocking the ball in the goal post that is placed on either side of the ground.

Must try the Janta Kachori – A Traditional snack fried stuffed with onion paste at one of the oldest places and Visit the Mehran Café at the Fort.

Jaisalmer: Rajasthan February 2020!!

After travelling to nearly most of the prominent cities of the state. (Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur ) Jaisalmer was one that I had not visited yet or hadn’t experienced yet.

But, a Weekend Gateway that was planned was the perfect chance to Witness the city in it’s truest sense. Immediately after coming back from Nagpur, The next morning, I had taken the flight for Jaisalmer- There was a huge excitement of going to a new place, and that was from the moment we took off to the moment we were landing, A total Desert area I hadn’t witnessed anything like this since a long time and THE Best place in Jaisalmer SURYAGHAR was my subject and venue for the weekend. And what a property- Sunrise point to a sunset point and the structure like a fort was like the perfect combination of the destination and property. The other most important highlight remains the Dunes journey – Photographing and recording the sunset until we reached the venue, where we going to experience a new “Dawn” We had a lively night with entertainment, Guest dancing to DJ Tunes Until a Guest Deejayed the party until the end. The party went all night and we called it a day at 6:30 am at the dunes, but captured and lived the sunrise on the journey back to our hotel.

Jaisalmer has museums and fort which one must visit on their visit to the city, But should also experience Sand Dunes when they are in the city.

#ARVINDDUBASH50TH

2018 Dairies !!

2018 has been a Journey filled with lots of travel Stories. Right From Jaipur to Jodhpur in India to Monoco and Morocco for Work. And not to forget the highlight –  Japan for Family Holiday. 
Culture
Experiencing the Rajasthan culture in India to experiencing the Japanese culture and living the  Moroccan life. 
All these places either had Food, lifestyle or architecture. And these  Culture  became another Journey in itself.
Books worth the Read In 2018. 
Journeys through the books. 
Starting from Exiting West to Landing at the port of Mokha and Many reads in between from open by Andre Agassi to “Killing Commendatore by Murakami  below are the top 5 reads of 2018.
1.Exit West – by Mohsin Hamid  stories of immigrants. 
2.Homo Deus – by Yuval Harari  How the Technology  is collecting data and using it. 
3.Born a Crime – by Trevor Noah A true story of a comedian born in South Africa with a mother being a black and father a white. 
4.Monk of Mokha –  by Dave  Eggers – Story of how The port of Mocha coffee travelled across the international waters.
5.Killing Commendatore – by Murakami
Noteworthy Movies of 2018 
1.Puzzle -How a simple gift of a puzzle changes the perspective of one individual 
2.Crazy Rich Asians – The Big fat Indian wedding going global 
3.Searching – How technology helps track down a father daughter and her murderer. 
4.Ben is Back – A  young drug addict and his mother’s story to come in terms with reality. 
And the Hindi film industry had many movies to choose to watch this year! 
But there a few out there you couldn’t miss at all . 
1.Pad Man by R.Balki was one of the great stories the year began with and continued till Raid, The income tax issue can sometime come as a surprise-Ajay Devgn needs to experiment.
2.Hichki -Though a inspiration from the west.Brought Rani Mukherji Back as a actor and the production house for their content. 
3.Missing the only missing from this psychology thriller was the audience who missed one of the best thrillers of the year.
4.October – Simple stories are the most difficult to tell.And October by Shoojit Sircar was one such story.
5.Beyond the cloud by Majid Majidi -Had the world  take notice of Ishan Khattar as an actor & performer 
Raazi,Soorma,Parmanu,Andhadhun,Badhaai Ho ! And Manmarziyaan were a few movies to watch out.