Thursday, January 13, 2011

Our 2010 Travel destinations

It already is 2011, and I'm posting about 2010 destinations. Seems a bit odd, till I declare that the destinations referred to are the places I visited in 2010 with my wife. It's 2+ years, and we are maintaining the momentum to go to new places with surprising frequency. So here are the destinations:

A) Kotdwar: My mother belongs to this lovely town in Himalayan foothills, and I attended a cousin's wedding in January 2010.
B) Nainital: A beautiful hill town in Uttarakhand. Spent 4 days in April 2010.
C) Ladakh: Week long vacation in beautiful Ladakh in June 2010. Visited highest and second highest motorable roads in world (Khardungla Pass and Changla Pass). Saw the mesmerizing Pangong Lake. Had a tent stay in Nubra valley. visited sand dunes of Hunder. Did biking in vast open roads and rafting in Zanskar and Indus River.
D) Weeklong official trip to USA: Made memorable by numerous walks I took in evenings. This was in September.
E) Hong Kong: Stayed there for a day while returning back to India. Peak Tram, bird park and amazing skyline. Did a lot of shopping. Hong Kong is a shopping paradise.
F) Udaipur: City of lakes and palaces. Liked the Crystal palace. This was in early November.
G) Nepal: Went to celebrate our second anniversary. Visited Kathmandu, Bhaktpur and Nagarkot. Amazing temples and really liked the tastefully decorated Narayanhiti Palace.
H) Munnar and Alleppey (Kerala): Rounded up the year with a weeklong Kerala holiday. Loved both Munnar and alleppey. We were fortunate in choice of hotels in both places. In Munnar, my hotel was on a hillside slope, and had cottages at various heights. In Alleppey, I stayed in a homestay at the intersection of Pamba River and Kollam Canal.

Whew... 2010 was hectic. Goal for 2011 will be to match it in number of places we visit.