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Friday 29 April 2016

Langkawi - A Travel Guide to the Perfect Honeymoon Destination

Langkawi is a dream destination for anyone’s honeymoon. Clear crystal waters, white sandy beaches, secluded tourist spots, great sea food and everything one can dream of to chill out and relax when on a vacation. Langkawi in Malaysia is a group of 104 islands in the Andaman sea and is a duty free island. Langkawi island was just a sleepy backwater until 1987, when the island was granted tax-free status with the intention of promoting tourism and development in the island, so you can shop for your box of ferrero rochers and your bottle of Absolut Vodka for a much cheaper price. Langkawi means reddish brown eagle in colloquial Malay, hence the famous Eagle square in Langkawi has a red brown huge statue of an Eagle.

If you can splurge, you can take a cruise from Singapore, Thailand and from other Malaysian cities. However taking a light is a great time saving option.

When To Visit

Langkawi has a true dry season from December until February while March to November is a long raining season. August is the wettest month, so you can choose when to visit

Nearest Airport

Langkawi has an international airport and you can fly in post a connecting flight from Kualalumpur the Malaysian Capital, at a time time of only about an hour or so.

If you can Afford Luxury Where to Stay:-

Having visited Langkawi twice we fell in love with the island due to its laid back life style ideal to relax your mind, body and soul. We arrived by an early morning flight from Kualalumpur and checked intoRebak Island resort – A Taj Hotel. The hotel had arranged for airport transfers so the cab took us to Rebak island’s jetty point from where we had to take a jetty till the island resort. Oh my god! The boat ride was phenomenal, the sight of the clear endless sea was simply breathtaking and in about 20 mins or so we reached the resort. The entrance of the resort is a marina, where travellers from across the globe have parked their boats and have travelled to Langkawi from their country in that boat – How exciting.

The resort is such a delight, being managed by the Taj Group’s Management. The resort is spread on the rebak island and has both pool facing and sea facing rooms. Since we arrived before our check in time, the staff was so sweet to offer us a room for a wash and change till our room got ready. Finally we got our sea facing room, the view was simply divine. We could walk from our room to the hotel’s private beach. We were on cloud 9. The hotel gave us a complementary bottle of their finest merlot red wine, a fruit platter and a welcome cake, clubbed with some restaurant vouchers with some great deals.

The resort has a small departmental store selling alcohol and some basic items, if you are too fussy about using the 5 star resort’s expensive room service. The restaurants serve amazing seafood, the rooms are huge, the resort is simply divine with a grand pool and a great private beach. The resort never makes you want to go back home. It is truly a home away from home. When in Langkawi, stay at the Taj.

If you are on a budget Vacation Where to Stay

The second time we stayed at the Beach Garden Resort hotel on Pantai Cenang. The hotel is conveniently located on the main beach and has shops across where you can rent bikes or cars. There are way too many restaurants close by and finding any cuisine is not a problem. The resort is a budget hotel, so one cant expect any luxuries, and has all basic amenities and a small pool. The best part is that t he resort has an all day breakfast and opens on the beach. A decent place to say if you are travelling on a budget, and want a no frills accommodation.

Look around

Experience the beautiful countryside and peaceful landscapes of paddy fields by renting a car and taking a leisurely drive around the island. Renting a car or motorbike/scooter is highly recommended due to lack of public transport, and whatever transport there is, ie Taxi’s are slightly expensive. You can rent a vehicle at the airport, the port complex, or from shops on Pantai Cenang. While renting, make sure the licenses / permits / insurance / vehicle’s documents are in order. Refrain from renting from touts, as they could be operating illegally without permits and their vehicles are usually without insurance.

You can rent a bike or a scooter for a very low price and all hotels allow you to park the rented vehicles inside. We rented a bike a visited all beaches or pantai (beach is called Pantai in Malay). A self driven vehicle gives you the freedom to take off any time you want, and its fun.

The local attractions which are a must visit are:-

Ø You must take the Mangrove tours, they are breathtaking (you can contact local travel agents in all markets and get the best deal)

Ø Kuah Town for shopping, for night life

Ø Eagle square in Kuah Town

Ø Duty free malls on your way to Eagle point in the main city

Ø Under water world

Ø Pantai cenang (the most happening beach having great restaurants)

Ø Black Sand beach

Ø Makam Mahsuri

Ø Langkawi Cable car

Ø Crocodile farm

Ø Datai bay (not much of a beach but beautiful)

Ø Laman padi

Ø Water falls or the 7 wells near the cable car

Ø Legend garden near the eagle point

Ø Pantai tengah (pantai meaning beach)

Ø Pantai kok

Ø Tanjung Rhu Beach (the most breathtakingly beautiful beach and a must visit)

Noodle Bowl Dwarka - 4/5

One place you can absolutely not miss if you are a big fan of great Momos and great Thukpa.

I discovered this place quite accidentally 3 years ago since I stay pretty close to where this shop is located in Dwarka. And little did I know then that this place will not only become my emergency dinner hangout but also one of the places I will relish and cherish for all times to come.

I have been a Thukpa fan ever since I was in college and those days we would go to the erstwhile Chanakya complex or what we now call Yashwant place. And now since I work in Gurgaon and live in West Delhi South Delhi has become a distant dream, so enjoying the fresh Thukpa and yummy momos of Yashwant place sounds like a distant dream. So when I discovered the almost perfect thukpa and the great momos of this place I knew I was home. So have lost count of the number of times I have ordered Momos and Thukpa from here.

Even though Momos and Thukpa is pretty much my staple order from Noodle bowl yet I have also tried and equally relished the Chilli Paneer and Noodles and Chilli Chicken of this place. If you live in Dwarka and have not given this palce a try, you seriously have no idea what you are missing ladies and Gentleman.

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Saturday 16 April 2016

Cafe Gatherings - Gurgaon - 2/5

By copying the concept of Big Chill you cannot become Big Chill, the same way by Copying Amitabh Bachchan's voice no duplicate can become Amitabh Bachchan. This statement just holds true for this place.

From start to finish I see a copy cat. Framed pictures on walls minimal seating and a mixed European and American Fast Food menu and I am reminded of Big Chill. But Alas, if only this place was even 1% of what Big Chill stands for. The cafe is located on the back side at Supermart, so you can easily miss it. The place has minimal seating with wobbly chairs and tables, some houseflies (even though they have insect repellants, but they are not of much help) and an owner who sits right there at the cafe and does not take feedback very constructively.

I visited them in the month of Feb and the review comes slightly late, but I am certain nothing much would have changed in the past 2 months. We sat inside even though they have a couple of small tables outside. Changed our table since it was wobbly only to realise that the other table is wobbly too. Saw the menu, not many options but nonetheless seemed crisp and assumed that they have a focussed menu so may be that would ensure they do justice to the food. I ordered a veg ceaser salad and a Basil and tomato soup. My husband ordered a Veg Burger and a veg Penne in Arabbiatta sauce.

Service is ok, and I heard the owner say that they primarily thrive on Delivery (I guess their decent pricing is the only reason for that). My soup arrived (even though the bowl seemed pretty and colourful garnished with a leaf of spinach) and I realised that the seasoning was on the higher side, and I recommended to the owner who seemed least bothered that the soup should be lightly seasoned and a salt and pepper shaker must be placed on the table for people to use the seasoning as per personal preference. The only thing which was nice was the ceaser salad. Not overly overloaded with dressing and decent quantity wise. My husbands veg burger arrived and the moment he lifted the burger the patty disintegrated and broke into pieces. It had not been cooked properly. The patty seemed like a blob of mash coated with something and shallow fried. Disappointing. I told the owner that they must cook the patty well or try coating it with crumbs or missing some corn flour so that it holds, but I think I was asking for too much. He ignored whatever I said.

Then came the final nail in the coffin – the penne in red sauce. Oh my god, it has to be hands down the saltiest pasta I have exposed my taste buds to. I couldn’t stop myself from telling the owner again that the pasta is way too salty. May be the tomato sauce prepared for the pasta has been seasoned overtly. I think he had had enough of my feedback and recommendations. He got up and said Madam this is our highest selling dish and people really like our pasta. He did not even have the decency to offer a replacement. It seemed as though he was trying to tell me – Shut up lady, don’t teach me how to run my own restaurant. So I gave up, left the pasta, paid the bill and walked off with a pledge never to come back.

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