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The world is a big place and it can seem even larger when you’re trying to choose a destination that is relaxing, affordable and most of all, romantic. There is no need to panic or even become overwhelmed when left to make such a choice. Millions before you have gone through the same dilemma and have made the following places top choices for their romantic air.

Tahitian Islands
Love can be romantic anywhere but the Tahitian Islands seem to be a top choice for love birds of all ages. Bora Bora has stolen the hearts of many for its laid-back atmosphere and magnificent ocean views. The fact that it’s so far away may be a positive factor as well.

Spain
A trip to Spain will often include sightseeing, festivals and feasts, which may not sound all that romantic however, a trip to Seville can be the romantic spot you’ve been searching for. It is in this Andalucian capital where extra enchantment can be enjoyed through visits to places like the Royal Palace of Seville. Seville is filled with heaps of stunning architecture and the streets are lined with quaint cafes and outstanding restaurants. For a little extra romance, book a room at the Hacienda Belaluza. Located in a sleepy village outside the city, this gorgeous accommodation has been converted from a Moorish household into a modern place of rest, luxury and lavishness.

Seychelles Islands
An enormously popular choice for amour is the Seychelles Islands. Located in the Indian Ocean,these islands have long been a popular choice for everyone who cares to make the trek. This area is also a favourite with many royals and is becoming an extremely trendy choice for honeymooners.

Desroches Island
Since you’re in the Seychelles Islands you may want to consider exploring a different island of pure exquisiteness. This would be the Desroches Island, which is referred to as an absolute couples paradise. Situated about 150 miles from the capital city of Mahe, this private island offers up the most pristine white, sandy beaches imaginable. Once you arrive via your 35-minute flight,you will notice there is only one accommodation on the entire island, so this may not be the best place for spontaneity. Make a reservation well in advance and enjoy the world’s most spectacular coral reefs, day spas, swimming pools and day-long naps under impressive palm trees.

Bali
If you want to head to southern Asia, book a flight for you and your sweetheart to the Indonesian Island of Bali. An island of pure romance, there is a lot to see and do that is sure to make your trip extra special. The island is filled with volcanic lakes, luxurious landscape and many cultural events that will always be remembered. The resort of Karma Kandara on the island’s southernmost tip is the best place to view classic Balinese architecture, which in reality, is pure luxury. Private villas can be rented here that are equipped with a private pool, tropical courtyard and private beach access.

Yang, is an Events Organiser at Chillisauce Ltd, who specialise in organising hen weekends and stag dos.  You can follow her on Twitter  and catch up with her on her FaceBook page.

bhang thandai festival festival of colours Holi holidays Indian holidays

Yup you read that right folks.  For those of you unfamiliar with ‘Holi’, it is a popular spring festival, also known as the 'Festival of Colour' which is celebrated across India as well as in countries across the globe that have an Indian population.

I’ve been in India for 3 years now – but only celebrated once back in 2009 and that turned out to be a bit of a colourfornication event ! Last year I decided to avoid the celebrations altogether as it turns out as much as it was fun to go let loose and go a bit mad with friends, I really didn’t like the part where I had to keep scrubbing myself raw to get the colours off my skin !!

This year a few of us decided that we were going to go out and celebrate.  Now I’ve never had bhang’ before and decided that I MUST try it this year.  Bhang is made out of the cannabis plant and normally mixed with cold milk and served.  My mate NB & I went off to this temple (yup it’s available at temples) in Babulnath and found ourselves walking into this lane (in tiny shorts mind you) to an old aunty who was selling them out of plastic bags !

Turned out to be a bit of a mental party at someone’s apartment garden in Worli.  For a house party event – it was fabulously done and the event planner in me couldn’t help but smile and congratulate the hostess for a really great party.

There was a ‘gola’ (flavoured ice) bar; a ‘bhang’ bar stocked with hash brownies (yes it’s the only time of the year that this is legal in India); the alcohol bar; the food station; a kick ass DJ;  a small wading pool filled with coloured water and a 15 x 15 flat tent to give shelter from the sun.

            

Now in all of the fun & merriment of the day – turns out that I was the only one who wasn’t ‘buzzing’ in any way from the copious amounts of ‘bhang thandai’ (a concoction of cold milk, almond, spices & cannabis) and  hash brownies that I had consumed.  How sad is that ??

Although I was told by my friends who were getting their buzz on that I should be grateful that I was not seeing my life unfold as a film reel and that I wasn’t seeing religious scriptures on the walls that eventually led to paranoia.

Hope you all had a Happy Holi if you were celebrating !!

Goa holidays reflections sand sun

Good Morning to all at Bloggerville !

I've been MIA for a few days ... there were some mental repair works that needed taking care of - and what better time to do that other than the long Easter weekend.

So I packed up with NC & SJ - and took an unearthly hour of a flight to Goa ! This tiny state is a paradise island compared to Mumbai. It's a little piece of heaven that serves as my haven and escape from the hustle & bustle of Mumbai. Not to mention it's a whole lot cleaner; open minded and has beaches that can actually be used for tanning and swimming - and not as a garbage disposal !!!

The sunsets in Goa are beautiful - it's a different vibe altogether whilst chilling out at a beach shack with a drink in hand; good company (or your own company); feeling the breeze against your skin; smelling the salt water mixed with sand; the sand grains nestled between your toes; and having the last of the suns' rays kissing your skin !

Goa - the destination of all ravers; the Ibiza of India; Goa - the beach paradise that locals and tourists alike flock to. All my trips to Goa have been more of a detoxing getaway (although drinking from noon to midnight doesn't exactly qualify for any form of detox!) - and it's ironic considering that I'm a party animal at heart !

I just go there to chill out ! Hang out on the beach ! Catch up with some reading; water sports - jet skiing and parasailing; lounge about at the pool side; get a massage on the beach (yes they have super cheap massages on the beach which the locals do for you - and its about Rs 450 for a full body massage = $8.90 / £6.05 !!)

This particular trip was one of my 3rd holidays where I've gone out with girlfriends ... normally NP is the only female that I go on holiday with (did Milan & Israel with her); so this was sort of a first for me - especially since I was going with my cousin & her best mate ! Wasn't quite sure how it would end up - and it went beyond my expectations or lack of them actually. I had decided well before the holiday - that I didn't quite care how it would be - I just wanted some non-judgemental company who could be fun as well =)

Considering my obsession with the camera - and their fear for inappropriate photos - they were great sports and let me take close to 750 pics and videos over the 3 days we hung out together - including some awesome underwater pics =) My camera is an Olympus which goes underwater up to 3m, and I had never really tested it out - so SJ devirginized it and just gave it a dunking on Day 2 of our trip ! Best decision ever !!!

Now I am unstoppable with the camera ! =)

colours dancing drinking festival festival of colours friends google holidays internet interpretations people reflections social thoughts vodka

Before starting this post, I must give credit where it's due. Over the past few weeks I had been looking at organizing a 'Holi Party' and had come across a post on UltraBrown which was aptly titled and I feel it captures the essence of my post.

For those of you that don't know what 'Holi' is a popular spring festival, also known as the 'Festival of Colour' which is celebrated across India as well as in countries across the globe that have an Indian population. (If you would like to know more then check out Wikipedia)

I have only ever celebrated the traditional Holi once before, in Dubai and that was years ago (feels like another lifetime ago) when I was barely 12 or 13 years old.

Here I am in Mumbai and have now experienced 2 days of 'Holi' and it's been a colourful journey. I had made plans to head out of town originally but due to lack of committment from some of the group - I cancelled those plans and headed to the Zoom TV Party which is apparently ranked quite high up on the social calender.

I must stress that Holi is not something that is played across in the evening; it is a 'day event' which means the music, the dancing, and throwing of colours, water guns, coloured-water balloons - all come out from about 10 a.m onwards !

Such is the popularity of this festival, it's the one day of the year, that the typically conservative Indian population shun away their inhibitions and just 'let go' ! The public goes a bit insane - people are pelting each other with water balloons; wetting each other's clothes to transparency (oh I forgot to mention, traditionally everyone wears white); smother coloured powder (nowadays it is organic) - the whole time getting drunk on 'bhang' which is a milky cocktail of hemp/cannabis and buttermilk !!! Everyone - uncles, aunties, kids, your neighbour even - are getting intoxicated on this day !

I was with a group of four friends, and we made our way to this stunning bungalow on the other side of the city and made our grand entry in 'all white ensembles' and 'water guns' for protection and sure enough, within a few minutes - we were sprinkled with coloured powder that was floating in the air. Luckily we decided to cross the threshold and just dab a handprint of each other on our outfits before any merry-men decided to do so instead !

The party was pretty good - there was make-shift dance area set up with trusses around that were sprinkling water - actually spraying would be the right word - on the masses of writhing bodies in the centre. The Dj was playing all the peppy hindi songs that are popular over Holi; and of course the bar was flowing !!! Imagine that - it's a Wednesday afternoon and everyone was drinking Vodka and Beer - not to mention the 'thandai' (minus the hemp)

My crew got themselves a mini-massages that was being offered at the party - good thing too as they were applying oil on everyone's head for the head-massage. I was smart - and had lathered myself with baby oil and coconut oil (yes even my hair ! I can't believe I went out like that!!)

We were actually really good sports - and doused ourselves in colour and even got under the water spray !! Lots of drinking, lots of dancing; and trekking across the mass mud-pits that kept forming and getting larger in size throughout the day. It was an afternoon of letting go of oneself; not caring a damn about how one looked; and just going a bit silly with the music and the madness all around !!

Thank the Lord for giving me Google which allowed me to find out how to protect myself from the colour stains !

2008 babies cousins family holidays life looking back memories nephews nieces people perceptions real life reflections vacations

As a pre-note, I must add that I had been meaning to post this prior to 31^st Dec '08 - obviously that didn't happen …. Now we can continue …

Wow – 2008 is at an end .. only a few more hours to go and the world shall be welcoming in 2009. I had thought about what I wanted to write today – and in my head – I saw the many things I wanted to talk about … after dilly-dallying on that for about an hour – I realized there was just SO much to pen down and that I'd probably not have the time to finish it off.

It's been a really interesting year so far for me … I have now been in Mumbai for just over a year – but I like to look at my stint here from Jan '08 till Dec '08 and just recap my experiences. (As an added FYI – I moved here Sept '07 but was working on a client wedding till Dec '07 and really had no life what-so-ever). January was a great month for me – I finally got relax after the wedding season got over – and I was going to be travelling to South India (first time!) for my current boss' wedding. I managed to wear a typical South Indian Sari, took a coach ride across cities, spent a blissful 24 hours on a house boat (the irony here is that I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat seafood, and my boat comprised of another colleague from work and me – who also happened to be a veggie – the poor chef on the houseboat didn't know what to do with all the lobsters & fish he had planned for our meals!) … Once we got off the houseboat it was followed by a getaway at the lovely Estuary Island. I never thought I would celebrate my 26^th Birthday in an unknown city with people who I had just come to know and were within my work environment. It was actually a lot of fun ! I got thrown in the swimming pool as the clock struck 12 and my birthday began.

The rest of the year has seen me travel a lot .. something I didn't get to do and that I was missing when I was in London (there's another whole background on that) … 2008 saw me visit : Kerala, Delhi – work related events – and the highlight of that trip had to be the 'oily food'; Bangalore – to visit my maasi, my cousin & his wife & my niece – and surprisingly also got reunited with a university friend from Montreal who I hadn't seen in about 6 years either; Goa (6 times !! and really it's a bit over rated but the only place in India where you can go and chill out on a good beach – that I know off!), Israel – now that was a craaaaaaaaazy trip with a girlfriend of mine (Ghulan, Rishon, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Caeseria, the Dead Sea) and then the to the island of Mauritius where I went twice – both times was work related. In one of my earlier blogs – you'll notice that I've written about a whale – yup that whale was spotted out in Mauritius. All of these travels in some way or form have seen me form relations with people and in some instances also come to value some of the relationships we take for granted.

Goa ..the first time I ever went there was earlier this year in February – with my younger sister – it was a time for both of us to do some sort of sibling bonding – how well that has worked out – you'd have to ask my sister – but it was a lot of fun – we actually didn't kill each other over 2 days ! The next few trips to Goa were a bit scattered – in May, I flew there for a day to meet a friend who I hadn't seen for 6 years which was really nice – however sadly this person has now been cut out from life.

In June – I was back – this time with my work colleagues for a bit of team brainstorming and a day full of presentations … Tongue of Fish is all I have to say to that trip !!!

I went back there towards the end of August for an events related conference – and my girlfriend had flown in from London and she joined me for it – it was one of the best conferences I have attended  My last trip to Goa for 2008 was with an old high school friend of mine who I hadn't seen in 10 years but have been talking to over the past year online – and that was quite a lot of fun as well.

Israel … I get goose bumps thinking about that trip … One thing about me is that I normally NEVER travel with people – I always make my journeys on my own and meet with friends in different parts of the world (the benefit of having attended an international school whilst growing up) … however there is a one young lady that I have travelled with to Italy back in 2007 and we linked up again to meet in her home town. The city is simply quite stunning – there are some fantastic beaches out there and it was just such a pleasure to sit out on the hot sands, watch the waves and then take a dip in the water to cool off.

Another thing is that the people – the bulk of them – are just so damn good looking !!! The women have near perfect bodies – and the men – oh lord help me – but the men are just FIT ! Everyone indulges in beach activities and sports – everyone has a tan – and they are just drooooooooool-worthy !!! Ok I must stop now otherwise my laptop will cease to work !

Mauritius … An island of pure relaxation … the lifestyle of the people here is so different to that of anywhere else in the world that I've noticed. It's nice to see such laid-back Asians – the predominant population of the country is Indian. The most amazing thing about the island is that there are barrier reefs surrounding the whole island which allows one to enjoy the waters without getting caught out too deep. There are some exciting things to do that I found out about – zip lining being one of them – where one is strapped onto a harness and just hangs off these lines between mountains and valleys. How wicked is that !!! I went snorkeling there for the first time – and the waters are just CLEAR and Blue – with a huge variety of fishes ! (oh and I'm super paranoid about fishes coming next to me!) My boss – yes – I mentioned this was a work related trip – threw breadcrumbs all around me whilst snorkeling so I was practically assaulted by these tiny fish and was pretty much jumping out of the water out of fear !!!

Just had a quick read of what I've written and damn it sounds like I had a complete blast all year around …. Then again I've not once mentioned any of the work related things that I have to get up to – so I rather you know just how much fun I had instead 

But seriously – it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride this past one year – new avenues at work have been explored; the people who I have interacted with – some more than others – and the impact they have had in my general outlook; gotten to spend more time at home (considering I didn't live at home for 8 years) and that has been a test in itself ! I got to spend a lot of time with various members of my family (believe you me when I say we are a BIG family !!! 25 odd cousins on both my paternal & maternal side !!). As I mentioned earlier – I went down to Bangalore to visit my eldest male cousin and got to hang out with his wife and daughter as well as his sister – that was a fun filled weekend.

As an FYI – the majority of my cousins are older than me and married with kids – and it's been a busy baby season for my family between 2007 and 2008 !! My cousin, PCH, in the States had a baby girl – and she's already 9 months old as of today. In September – my niece ZG turned a year old ! In October my two nieces in London turned 2 and 1 respectively! Then my other cousin RM and his wife BRM in Mumbai had a baby boy in November. For the duration of November – my cousin RC & wife SC from Spain were down with their three kids – and I just got to spend a fair amount of time with my nephews and baby niece. December was super exciting : my nieces AD and RC both turned 1 year old; my cousin MC & wife DC from New York had twin boys in December !

Not to mention that another cousin of mine got engaged in August – and another one got married in December ! In addition to all of this – I have gotten to hang out with another cousin NC for the past 1.5 months as she's recently started working with me. If it wasn't for her – I swear I would forget to eat every day ! And she also reminds me to constantly drink water as I barely get through a quarter bottle of water a day !! She's now helping me get back into yoga (I only got into because of this mad woman – she bugged me for 2 years to join a particular course and I finally did!) and hopefully get me back into shape in time for my birthday (ok so it's a bit farfetched since my b'day is in 3 weeks).

I've always believe that people are not what they seem to be – the way one might be within a work environment is completely different to the way they are in a social setting … so where's the brain wave in that thought you might ask …. Well over the year I have come to realize that the majority of people are just too damn scared to actually let others know who or what they really are and what makes them tick ! I've been a part of a predominantly expat society within the city – that doesn't go to say – I don't mingle with the locals either – in fact some of my best times have been with my more 'localized' friends – who just happen to be on the same sort of mind-set as me.

This city is a hub for millions – to come and make a name for themselves – from the local shop vendors, to aspiring models – people flock to Mumbai to explore opportunities. I'm fortunate enough to be here with my family – and have opportunities come to me on a plate as opposed to me hunting them down. As the opportunities grew – I saw the drawbacks to it all … the stress; the laid back work ethics; the inability to work to deadlines; the constant battle of egos within the same company; the 'motivational' talks that go nowhere; even those who aim for perfection start to show a 'whatever' attitude because the network of those around them can't understand perfection.

With all good things – the year 2008 also comes to an end – and as I wait for the clock to strike 12 and bring in the year 2009 – I can only look back at the past 365 days and smile - I've thoroughly enjoyed all that the year has brought me and can't wait to find out what 2009 has in store for me :)