Himanshu Nagpal of New Delhi INDIA

35. Featured Traveller 

Himanshu Nagpal

Senior Business Analyst : Traveller 

(New Delhi, INDIA)

                               

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” 

― Gustave Flaubert

We are, indeed, lucky to have the opportunity to feature Himanshu from New Delhi. He works in a corporate world and spend Monday to Friday at his desk working to earn enough to live his travel dreams. You won't believe it. It took months for us to finalize this interview and publish his story. Understandably, my invitation came in time for his trip to the United Kingdom.

Flag of India

Being a traveller, he is keen on keeping his travel budget intact. "Budget and planning are the most important part of any trip and plays a very important role", he says. "It is necessary and quite helpful to keep an eye on the travel fares months before so you can capture the best deal. Also, it is best to plan so that money is not wasted on places which you do not want to visit or are over-hyped", he adds. Himanshu still believes that most of the beautiful places are natural and free to visit, so much so that one can reduce travel expenses.

Himanshu has been travelling to cities and towns of his country. Outside of India, he has travelled to Thailand and very recently explored England. It is his first time away from family during the Diwali festival. He spends most of the holiday season, including Christmas in the United Kingdom wandering the beautiful places in England.

Beach Shack in Goa INDIA

Just like most travellers, he believes that the beauty and happiness in travelling is just around his backyard. There are many places in India that is waiting to be discovered. Himanshu invites his fellow travellers and readers of this blog to re-discover India. He can tell you many stories about India in his own travel blog, Being Traveler.

Continue reading his story.....

When Is a Temple Not a Temple?

Written by D.R. Ransdell

When Is a Temple Not a Temple?

Answer: When it’s a mega-temple!

My friend and I decided to visit Thailand’s Wat Pho on the morning we were going to visit The Grand Palace because the two famous sites were close together. The descriptions in our guidebooks made it sound like the temple was famous because it was one of the oldest in Thailand and because it was closely associated with the Buddha. We didn’t think much past that. We took for granted it was on a must-see list.

            When we arrived at the temple, we were shocked to find that it wasn’t merely a temple but a whole temple complex. This was completely new to me. Up to that point I’d spent a lot of time traveling through Europe, which meant touring famous churches such as the Chartres Cathedral or the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Even though those two churches were examples of buildings that deserved a ninety-minute visit, I wasn’t prepared for Wat Pho, which was worth several hours!

Thailand: Touristy Tigers and Happy Elephants

Written by Cindy Chang

Travelling to Southeast Asia was my first big overseas holiday. I went to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with my boyfriend at the time, who I will call Mario for the purposes of this blog.  Having grown up watching movies like "The Lion King" at every possible chance I got (every day of the school holidays, until I could recite the whole movie line for line...), I loved animals.  I wanted to be Jasmine from Aladdin, and have a pet tiger.

18kg snake at the floating market

So my trip to Thailand, to me, was an opportunity to find me a tiger.  And an elephant.  In Thailand, there are two main places that you can go pat a tiger. In Bangkok there is the Tiger Temple, which is supposedly a 'temple' where Buddhist monks rescue tigers. It was an absolutely awful experience.  Overall, we spent about eight hours crammed in a tiny minivan and were herded through a number of other mediocre tourist attractions before finally stopping at the Tiger Temple.

Kwanruen Kanja of Bangkok THAILAND

17. Featured Traveller 

Kwanruen Kanja

Businesswoman  : Traveller

(Bangkok, Thailand)

                               

"The World is Wide"

Thailand Flag

I am back to my desk to feature a traveller who hails from the city of Bangkok in Thailand. A very good friend of our family, a very bubbly couple, Kwan & Denchai.  My family and Kwan's first met in Osaka, Japan when I was on my Asian tour.  It only took us few minutes to talk and exchange ideas and we all realized that we became comfortable to each other.  And because Bangkok is included in my itinerary, Kwan invited us to give her a call as soon as we arrive in Bangkok.  And we did!  I remember Kwan's few words when she came to our hotel with her very loving husband, Denchai. "We will be your tour guide for the whole day and whole night.... and don't worry, it is for free," she mused.  The gesture is very touching especially coming from new friends like Kwan and Denchai.  True to her word, the couple did not leave us during the tour until late at night.  We literally painted the town red. 

Denchai is a quiet guy. Obviously,  he lets Kwan do most of the talking.  He is a man of few words.

What Made Me Stay in Bangkok for Five Days

Arrived in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport one afternoon from Osaka.

I have cruised the Chao Phraya river, enjoyed the food in the Floating Restaurant, purchased souvenirs in the Floating Market, and wandered the city of Bangkok to see the temples and all things nice. These happened in just 5 days. Read on and find out how.

It was my second trip to Bangkok, the first being 6 years back, and just as exciting as the first. 

One of Bangkok's Military Formation

I will always cherish our time together with our new Thai friends Denchai and Kwan. A very pleasant and hospitable couple. I met them in Osaka which was the first leg of my Asian tour.