Hotels are fine, but homestay is an ideal way to experience travel in IndiaHotels are fun, and even cheap hotels have their charms. But sometimes, you have to dig deeper. Indian hospitality is justifiably famous — captured by the slogan, Atithi Devo Bhava, which means The Guest is God. To fully experience this philosophy in action, and to really get to know the culture when you travel in India, you have to stay with an Indian family. But what do you do if you don’t know anyone?
Well, you could try booking through a company like Mahindra Homestays. They are India’s most well-known homestay company. I asked Japa Ghosh, head of marketing at Mahindra Homestays, to fill us in about the homestay option for travellers to India. Here’s what you need to know to find, book and enjoy a homestay, including etiquette tips. (more…)
At the Shopgirls boutique
Recently, I was walking along Queen St. W., in Parkdale, Toronto, when I discovered Shopgirls. I couldn’t believe it: a store in my neighbourhood, with a great atmosphere and staff, that has gorgeous, affordable women’s clothes that travel well and that you can buy online! And then I met the owner, Michelle Germain, and knew instantly that we were like-minded, and that she was the reason I like the clothes so much. So I asked Michelle if she would be willing to become the “official fashion clothing supplier” for Breathedreamgo — in other words for me! — and she said yes. She is totally cool.
I’ve been so busy travelling and writing the last few years, I stopped paying attention to my wardrobe and how I look. But now that Breathedreamgo and my travel career are both doing so well, and I am going to meetings and speaking at conferences, I felt it was time for a makeover and especially for new clothes. So Michelle spent a couple of hours with me and put me in some of Shopgirl’s most classic and fashionable women’s clothes. (more…)
Yoga Ashram India series on TravelWireAsiaI write a regular ‘column’ for the TravelWireAsia website about India, yoga and travel in Asia (my favourite continent for travel!). Recently, I published a three-part series on How to “do” a yoga ashram in India. Here’s a synopsis of each post — to read the full article click on the link provided.
HAVE you considered going to an ashram in India? This is a 3-part series on where to go, what you need to know and what to expect. (more…)
Travel to India is like going through the looking glassWHEN I TRAVEL, especially in India, I feel like Alice in Wonderland; I feel like I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole, or stepped through the looking glass. I lose my bearings and everything is challenged, including my sense of self in the world and my ideas about how life and people should be.
And the experience of being in the alternate universe of a foreign country has helped me become more aware of myself and of the role perception plays in shaping reality.
In India, I meet other foreigners who tell me they think Pahar Ganj in Delhi is “the real India,” and who say the only way to travel in India is by staying in 150-rupee-a-night hovels. I also meet Delhi-born Indians who tell me they think Pahar Ganj is a ghetto and wouldn’t go near it. They prefer Delhi’s five star hotels and the shopping malls of Gurgaon.
When I live with my partner’s Indian family in Delhi, I am accepted into the family and I live as an Indian. But when I travel, I am seen as a foreigner and as if I know nothing about the culture. What’s the truth? (more…)
In December 2011, I started writing a bi-monthly “column” for the Travel+Escape website — which complements the new Canadian TV channel — about immersive travel. To find out more, read my first round up, What is immersive travel? Here’s a synopsis of my most recent columns.
I’m lying on a heavy, teak table with my eyes shut, smelling herbal-tinged oil as it heats on a nearby burner and listening to the unfamiliar murmurs of two young women speaking Malayalam. Together, they slap the warmed oil onto my skin and, in perfect rhythm, massage both sides of my body at once. And as their voices begin to sound like Indian Ocean waves lapping the beach, I slip away into a South Indian version of paradise; an oily, wood-scented, tropical state of bliss. (more…)
Dublin is calling me!Why do I want to go to Dublin, Ireland? Many reasons of course, but mostly because my ancestry is largely Irish and I have never been there; and as a writer, I would love to walk in the footsteps of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeates and the many other literary giants who lived and wrote in Dublin. Plus … I would love to meet people who share my distinctive round Irish eye sockets and love of talking. My mother always said the Irish were the world’s greatest talkers. Oh, the talking I would do! Yes, I think I could enjoy being a digital nomad.
Go with Oh holiday rentals is currently running a contest for travel bloggers and this is my entry. I picked the city on their list that I most want to go to, and I am listing the top five things I want to do/see … and the more Tweets and shares I get, I guess the better my chances of being picked to actually Go with Oh to Dublin. Hope I have the luck ‘o the Irish on my side. Oh, and there’s something in it for you, too: readers can win fantastic prizes in the Facebook competition. Click the Go with Oh link to find out more, and to enter. Good luck to you, too, cheers.
Story telling and writing (and music) is intrinsic to the soul of Ireland and the Irish, and perhaps nowhere more so than Dublin — which is called the City of Literature. It should come as no surprise that the first place I want to visit is the Dublin Writer’s Museum to find out about Dublin sites associated with some of the city’s famous writers. In fact, Dublin was named a UNESCO City of Literature, the fourth city to be honoured with this distinction. Read on for the other four… (more…)
Lodhi Garden, New Delhi
When I was getting ready to travel to India the first time, back in 2005, I had several friends warn me: “You won’t like Delhi. It’s crowded, it’s polluted, the people are aggressive, you will be pestered to distraction.” I’d heard lots of stories about Pahar Ganj, the grubby “traveler’s ghetto;” the challenges of buying tickets and arranging any kind of transportation; the scams and the con artists; the crowds and chaos.
However, my first morning in Delhi, I walked out into the warm, December sunshine, on the big, white marble terrace of my friend’s home in South Delhi and was greeted by the family, who offered me breakfast. Later, a man arrived with a huge bundle of gorgeous shawls and fabrics, and I sat on the terrace drinking tea, with the ladies of the family and shopped. It was all very civilized and I felt I had arrived in heaven, not the hell that I was promised. (more…)
Photo courtesy San Sharma
Diwali means “rows of lighted lamps” and it is also called the Festival of Light. It is the most enthusiastically celebrated festival in India — which is saying a lot! Diwali is the equivalent of Christmas — a big, festive celebration that brings families together and is the highlight of the holiday season. There are five days of festivities, each marked with different pujas (prayers) and rituals.
I love Diwali, and though I have only spent one Diwali in India, I remember it fondly. I went shopping with Ajay’s mother for gifts, decorations, flowers and sweets a few days before, and on the morning of Diwali she had me decorating the family mandir before my eyes were completely open. Later, I helped fill hundreds of small diyas with oil and wicks, and then place and light them around the terrace and down the stairs, etc. In the early evening we had a puja in the mandir, which was my favourite part of the entire day. And at night, we joined the millions of other Delhi-ites blasting fireworks and firecrackers into the night sky. It was deafening and created hazardous smog, but I appreciated the gusto with which people were celebrating.
There are lots of other places to celebrate Diwali in India; read on for some suggestions culled from Breathedreamgo Twitter and Facebook friends. (more…)
If you want to learn how to use an Indian toilet, and have a good laugh too, watch this hilarious video from Wilbur Sargunaraj. If you travel in India, you may find you actually need this information: Aside from modern homes and high-end hotels, most of the toilets in India are holes-in-the-floor with water and no paper. This is a good skill to learn; trust me on this one.
By the way, Wilbur is actually a very talented musician, as well as a cultural ambassador extraordinaire. This is from his Wikipedia entry: “He is widely known as India’s first YouTube sensation. He has racked up nearly 3.1 million views for his unique music and instructional videos. And he comes with the added promise of ‘Quality, First Class, Sargunaraj Trademark.’ What his videos lack in production sheen, they make up for in unabashed entertainment.”
I will be profiling him on Breathedreamgo soon. We had a chance to meet while he was in Toronto and I found him to be a warm and wonderful person – and also very good-looking, behind his comic persona! Click more to watch the video. (more…)
Photo of Naga Sahdu, Kumbh Mela, Haridwar India 2010 by Jean-Pierre Muller
India deserves its reputation for being both the most potentially transformative travel destination on earth — and one of the most challenging to newbies. There is magic in learning how to be in India: how to deal with the chaos, crowds, seemingly inefficient methods, bizarre contradictions, extremes of every kind, lower hygienic standards, heat, dust, and feeling that you are a target for every con artist, tout, tuktuk driver and shyster in the country.
But if India was just a nuisance and a challenge, it wouldn’t be India. Because India is also full of joy, celebration, devotion, colour, spectacle, kindness, warmth, openness, trust and beauty. Many foreigners — myself included — go to India prepared for the difficulties, and then find themselves surprised by how much India moves them. If you let India affect you, as I did, you might “fall in love” with the people and the place. And you might find yourself radically transformed. Notions once held dear are abandoned. Fears once harboured set sail. Narrowness is replaced with perspective, and judgement with compassion.
The trick to being in India is to be prepared – but not TOO prepared! Read on to find out the number one thing you need to know before visiting India. And also about a free information session I am holding on September 14, 2011 in Toronto. (more…)
On the morning of April 14 approximately 10 million people streamed into the sacred town of Haridwar in north India to bathe in the Ganga on the most auspicious day during the 2010 Kumbh Mela. I was one of them. Find out how I found myself alone, and at home, at the world’s largest spiritual gathering.
In Varanasi, where the veil between life and death seems very thin, a boat ride on the river can become a journey to the other side. Come along with me on a boat ride on the Ganges River in India’s oldest, holiest city and pierce the veil.
The Ganges / Ganga River is the Mother of India. The River speaks in many voices as she travels from the high Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. At the source, her song is joyous, full of the the jubilance of youth, the rush of fresh mountain streams, the sincere chanting of pilgrims and the excitement of the onward journey.
