The Safari World - Bangkok

The Safari world is Thailand's greatest open zoo and park that provides wide variety of entertainment for everyone. It is a full day excursion out of Bangkok, and really enjoyable with family and friends. The park timings are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. There are various entertaining shows. You get the show timings once you reach there.

Map of The Safari World, Bangkok

Show timings, The Safari World, Bangkok

It is better to reach early, so you do not miss a single show. The ticket fee for 1 person is 1000 Baht, which includes pick and drop facility, various shows, zoo, buffet lunch and the open safari ride. We booked the tickets through our tour manager. If you are going at your own then it is better to buy online tickets from www.hotels2thailand.com at the cheaper rate. 

For us the first show was Urang-Utang show, and as it was the first show we were quite surprised by the performance of the cute urang-utangs and their mentors.

The Urang-Utang show, Safari World, Bangkok

Then the Sea lion show, Dolphin show, Bird show, Cow boy stunt show, spy war show one after the other all the shows were so entertaining and enjoyable. All the shows are performed at different stages, so you need to reach before time to grab your seat at good place. I think the Dolphin show was the best among all. After each show you get a chance to take pictures with the animals, costs approx. 200 Baht per picture. 

Sea-lion show, Safari World, Bangkok

Cow boy stunt show, Safari World, Bangkok

Dolphin show, Safari World, Bangkok

Spy war show, Safari World, Bangkok

For the buffet lunch which is included in your ticket fee, there are 2 big theme based halls. You get the option to choose your lunch from Thai, Continental, Indian, etc. It is better to book your table in the morning, if you have a group guide, he will book the table. 

Buffet lunch hall, Safari World, Bangkok

There is an artificial River Safari near by the lunch halls. You have to pay extra 150 Baht per person, and it lasts for 20 mins. You sit in a boat and the boat moves slowly in the artificial river, showing you all the statues of wild animals roaring and staring at you. Personally, we didn't find it worth paying for the artificial ride. 

After watching all the shows, we started roaming around different cages. We could see seals, walrus, crocodiles, bears, white tigers and many more. 

White polar bear, Safari World, Bangkok

Crocodiles, Safari World, Bangkok

Flamingos, Safari World, Bangkok

There is a giraffe feeding terrace from where you can feed the grass to giraffes. Apart from the cages there is a small canal passing across the park, in which you can see colorful fishes, ducks and swans. 

Beautiful canal, Safari World, Bangkok

After enjoying all these things, at the end the fun doubles in the open zoo. You sit in your car or bus, and enter into the beautiful wild life discovery. The ride is for around 30 to 40 mins. We saw so many wild animals including giraffes, zebras, black bears, different types of deer,  rhinos and many more. 

Rhino, Safari World, Bangkok

Zebra and Giraffes, Safari World, Bangkok

There is a small lake in the center of the open zoo, where there are hundreds of big birds including flamingos, ostriches, peacocks and peahens, etc. 

Birds in the lake, Safari World, Bangkok

Ostrich and other birds at lake, Safari World, Bangkok

The most exciting part was to see tigers and lions roaming openly in their groups. 

Tigers at open safari, Safari World, Bangkok

Lions at open safari, Safari World, Bangkok

There are many food stalls and a restaurant, where you can get some testy food. Water is available freely near the buffet halls and few other places in the park.

Huge restaurent, Safari World, Bangkok

Bold and Beautiful Bangkok

My amazing trip to Thailand started at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok. It is huge, artistic and cultured. Bangkok is the capital city of Thailand and a royal city as his holiness king of the country lives here.

Bangkok Airport

Bangkok Airport

Bangkok is the city of skyscrapers, shopping malls and street food. There are so many Hotels for your comfortable stay at Bangkok, widely available for all kinds of budget and requirements.

Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Bangkok

One of the sky scrappers, Bangkok

Public Transport: You can roam around the city by all means of public transport. Mainly people travels by Bangkok bus, Metro trains or Sky trains. Tuktuks (Auto Rickshaw) are also available. We tried all these options in our 3 days of stay, and found that for Tuktuk, you should be aware of the distance and rates, otherwise you may get cheated. Sky trains are fastest option for long distance travel. City buses are good if you need more frequency for your route.

Sky train, Bangkok

Tuktuk, Bangkok

The curvy Chao Phraya river flows across the city, also so many canals from it makes the city beautiful. There is also a floating market in the canal.

Canal, Bangkok

Shopping Malls: Bangkok is the paradise for shopping lovers, as it has wide number of shopping malls to suit all kinds of lifestyles and budgets. Most popular shopping centres include, MBK, Siam paragon, Central world, Central Plaza Rama 9, Paradise Park, Indra wholesale shopping market. I just loved Siam Paragon mall because of all the branded showrooms, and The Indra market as you get the things at very low rate. Bangkok streets are also popular for shopping, but you have to bargain hard, otherwise you will get cheated.

Central world mall, Bangkok

Heart of the City: This is the royal area of Bangkok city. The roads are beautifully decorated by huge status of Thai culture and art. Various government buildings, Ministry offices, Army schools and buildings and also the famous tourist attractions like The Royal Palace, Wat Pho temple are situated in this area. The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Thailand since 1782 and it is the major architectural symbol of The Thai Royal Family.

Decorated cross roads in the heart of the city, Bangkok

Decorated road side in the heart of the city, Bangkok

Wat Pho Temple complex: The temple is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This temple complex was a centre of education for religion, science and literature, and there are statues created showing yoga and massage positions. The complex contains more than 1000 Buddha statues. There are many small and big temples of Buddha, and each statue inside is different from the other. The most elegant and beautiful one is the Emerald Buddha statue, that one can feel the spirituality emerging from the heart while looking at it.

Wat Pho temple

Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho temple

Emerald Buddha, Wat Pho temple

If you are a non vegetarian, Bangkok streets have all kinds of food you would love to have. If you are in Thailand, you should not miss the Thai massage. There is a huge number of massage parlors and price ranges from 200Baht to 1000Baht, depending on the parlor, duration and type of massage. You will find the famous 7-11 shops at many places, where you can buy some packed food, snacks, chocolates, drinking water bottles, etc. They also provide balance refill facility if you have a local SIM card. The people of Bangkok are very friendly and helpful to the tourists. You would face some language problems as not many people can speak good English, but they can understand you if you try it word by word.

Colorful bus, Bangkok

For our stay in Thailand, we chose to buy a local dtac mobile SIM card at the airport itself. The charges were fairly reasonable (local calls 1 baht per min, calls to India at 3 baht per min). For currency exchange, we preferred the local exchange shops and banks inside the city as we found that they give good rates compared to airport booths. You get better rates for 100$ notes compared to smaller notes. If you are traveling from India, it is advisable to buy USD and then convert them to Baht after reaching Thailand.

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Lovavala, Khandala

We visited Lonavala, the popular hill station of Maharashtra for a day. There are many hotels and resorts available for stay. You need to hire a taxi for sight seeing. They charge around 1500 to 2000 INR to show all the points including Khandala ghat.

The Ekveera Devi temple is about 6 kms from Lonavala and is located on a hill and next to the famous Karla Caves. You need to ascend around 500 steps to reach the temple. You get an excellent view of the surroundings from the hill top.

Ekveera Devi Temple Hill

After we visited the artistic Wax Museum. It contains around 32 celebrity wax idols. It is a real fun being here. The ticket is 100 INR per head. 

Wax idol of Mahatma Gandhi at Wax Museum

In Lonavala, there is a Botanical garden, having so many ancient trees. We saw one tree was reclining for about 15 feet in length, and the other had a hollow trunk and inside some other tree had started growing. 

Reclining tree

Tree inside of a tree

There is a beautiful Bushi Dam located a few kilometers from Lonavala. In monsoon this dam overflows and the water flows over a series of steps on which everyone can enjoy the flow of water.  

Way to Bushi Dam in rain

The Mumbai-Pune express highway passes through the very famous Khandala ghat.  There is a public garden on the top of the ghat, from this garden you can see an artistic view of hills, Highway and many small waterfalls. The highway actually passes beneath this garden, making a long tunnel.

View from Khandala Ghat

View from Khandala Ghat

Khandala and Lonavala both are famous for their seemingly innumerable varieties of chikki. There are many local shops, where you can taste and buy them.

Marvellous Monsoon at Goa

This time we planned the trip to Goa in monsoon. Goa is popular for its long and clean beaches and also churches. Goa turns really beautiful in monsoon. You can see the colors of dark clouds over the huge sea.

Goa beach covered by monsoon clouds

We stayed in Goa for 3 days and 2 nights. There are huge numbers of hotels and resorts ranging from budget to super deluxe rooms. On the first day we visited Calangute and Baga beaches. These both are the most crowded beaches among all. Still you get so much fun being here. Calangute beach has very good shopping market nearby. You can buy good swim wares and local handicraft items.

Calangute Beach, Goa

Baga beach, Goa

On the second day, we visited very old and famous lighthouse and fort. At this place, you feel like being on an island. The view of the sea is amazing from here.

Light house, Goa

View from Light House, Goa

We also visited Vagator beach and Anjuna beach. Both these beaches have their unique beauty and natural scenery, and they are favorite places for movie shootings. Miramaar beach is cool and calm, famous for various kinds of food stalls.

Vagatore beach, Goa

Anjuna beach, Goa

The Dona-Paula beach is also famous as suicide point, as lovers named Dona and Paula had committed suicide here. This place is very well developed now and has become a favorite tourist place. In the evening, we chose to go for dance party on cruise. The ticket is 150 INR per head. You can enjoy for 1 hour on the cruise boat. They also perform some local dance arts.

Dona - Paula statues, Goa

On the third day, we visited The Basilica of Bom Jesus church. It is famous for patron saint Francis Xavier's tomb. The Church is very big and beautiful from inside. After that we visited Municipal Market at Panjim to buy famous Goan Cashew nuts.

Saint Francis Xavier's tomb, Goa

The Basilica of Bom Jesus church, Goa

Panjim city

You cannot enjoy different water sports in monsoon, but it is the cost you pay to enjoy wet and green Goa!
More photos of Goa are at Marvellous Monsoon at Goa - Picasaweb

Monsoon at Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is a very famous hill station in Maharastra, India. It is situated on Sahyadri mountain range. Mahabaleshwar has beautiful natural surroundings and large number of tourist points. 

Hilly surroundings of Mahabaleshwar

We stayed in Mahabaleshwar for 2 days. There are many hotels available for stay, but it is good to select near the market or bus stand.

For sightseeing, we hired a taxi. The taxies have fix rate cards for different tours here. They show you the card and you need to select the tour accordingly. They have special tours only for monsoons also.

On the first day we visited Panchgani, which is famous for its strawberry gardens and Jam - Chocolate factories. We visited Manama and Mapro companies and their gardens. You can taste and buy the products like jams, syrups, squashes, fruit jelly and pulps, etc.

Strawberry garden, Panchgani

Panchgani is also famous for its Table Land point. The place is called table land because there is 4 KM wide flat area, on the top of the hill. 

Table land point, Panchgani

 Then we visited Parsi point, here you can get an excellent view of river Krishna flowing through the wide range of hills, and also its dam.

View from Parsi point, Panchgani

On the other day, we went for local Mahabaleshwar sightseeing. The main points we visited are:

Echo point - A fabulous point over the hill, the view of river and dam, you can hear echo of your voice if you shout loudly, amazing experience.

Echo point, Mahabaleshwar

Elephant's Head point - You can see an elephant's head and trunk shape in the hill, beautiful sight.

Elephant's Head point, Mahabaleshwar

Lingamala falls - You can totally enjoy this place if you be here in monsoon or after monsoon. There are 3 small waterfalls adjacent to each other, a good family picnic point.

Lingmala falls, Mahabaleshwar

Panchaganga Mandir - An ancient temple is dedicated to five sacred rivers namely Krishna, Savitri, Gayatri, Koyna and Venna. All the five rivers together flow out from the Gaumukh, the holy cow's head.

Mahabaleshwar temple - The very big and famous Shiv temple, the shivlinga is believed to be around 500 years old and Swayambhu (Self Oriented). It is in the shape of Rudraksha and it is honoured by the title ‘Mahalingam’. 

Venna lake - The Lake is surrounded by greenery, is a popular hang out at Mahabaleshwar. Numerous amusement activities like boating, fishing and horse riding are available here. Various food stalls and fruit stalls attract tourists.

Venna Lake, Mahabaleshwar

Connaught Peak - It is the second highest point of Sahyadri Mountain Ranges, from here we can get an amazing view of the whole Mahabaleshwar, the Krishna river and its surrounding mountains, and even the clouds running below you. 

View from Connaught Peak, Mahabaleshwar

Babington point - Here you get an excellent view of Koyna Valley and Chinaman's waterfall. 

View from Babington point, Mahabaleshwar

Sabarmati Ashram‏ - Peace in the simplicity !!

Sabarmati Ashram is the place where the father of the nation Mahatma Ghadhiji lived for around 12 years of his life. It is situated on the bank of river Sabarmati. It takes around 2-3 hours to visit the ashram. The ashram timings are 8 AM to 6:30 PM. It closes after the evening prayer. Camera is allowed here.

Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad

The center of the ashram is called Hriday Kunj, Gandhiji's cottage. It is very peaceful and simple. In the front part of it, there is a "Charkha", which is always loved by him. Apart from this, there are other small cottages of  Vinoba bhave, Miraben and Maganlal.

There is an open air Prayer place, where the daily prayer is performed. Anyone can join this prayer. It feels very peaceful in the mind during and after the prayer. 

There is a Museum and Painting gallery, displaying things and life size paintings of Gandhiji. There is also a library. You can read or purchase books and materials related to Gandhiji from here.

The ashram has many number of trees which are the home for thousands of birds. Therefor, the best time to visit the ashram is the evening time when these birds come back to their nests.