“Anna Rasclaa…. Minddd itt…”
Remember this dialogue of “Om Shanti Om”?????? Yeah the movie was “not-more-than-2 time” watch, but still the sets of movie must have left the impression on your mind. That’s just because it’s a real Film City. Almost whole movie’s shooting was done here, in Ramoji Film City.
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If u r planning to go to Hyderabad via railway, then board off at Secunderabad and from there take Hyderabad-Vijaywada highway. After a “small” drive of approx. 20 kms, u’ll see a HUUUUUGGGGGEEEEEEEE gate with big words written on in “RAMOJI FILM CITY”. And when u enter there, u’d feel like u’ve entered in an entirely new city…..
This is just beginning of this place….

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Ramoji Film City is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex at over 2,000 acres of land. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park. The authorities have arranged few RED BUSES (just like we see in some movies that shows London city) that take visitors around the studio. The visit usually includes:
a Japanese garden, the ETV planet (a multi-purpose editing suit), a pool, artificial waterfalls, an airport terminal, hospital set, railway station, churches, mosques and temples, shopping plazas, palace interiors, chateaus, rural complexes, urban dwellings, and a winding highway. Shops include Parade, a prop-shop, where costumes of actors can be ordered and Shangrila, a nursery that sells exotic plants. This Film city has also 'Ramoji Film Magic' which shows about the behind-the-scene activities involved in movie making.
RFC has a five star hotel and a three star hotel with an attached restaurant, besides one coffee house.

DO NOT MISS IT:
The “WILD WILD WEST” show… It’s stunt performance… In the beginning u might feel like ‘what’s going on……’ but later it’ll get interesting… & specially the Telugu commentary of the show will definitely give u a RAJNIKANTH effect to the whole show, which u’ll definitely enjoy as at one point or other we all love him for his crazy stunts…. M I right???? ;)

A TIP:
Don’t make it one day picnic, unless u live in Hyderabad. Please stay in either of these two hotels “TARA-SITARA”, & if possible plan ur vacation such way that u can spend 2 WHOLE days in this studio..

Hey People…back with my wandering…

Now u will think that what’s the connection of title to the wandering? But there is some connection…..

Well… Let’s first talk about Buddha & then we’ll discuss the title (I promise I won’t bore u…. :P)

Hyderabad has a really nice lake, named ‘Hussain Sagar’. It is famous as largest manmade lake in India. In the middle of this lake there is a huge statue of Lord Buddha.

The 16 meter tall, 350 tonne (approx.) monolithic Buddha statue is situated in the middle of the Hussain Sagar Lake, silhouetted against the sunset. It is made of white granite and is the largest statues in all over the world.

Apart from this statue, which indeed a great thing, Hussain Sagar has lots of amazing places. Like Lumbini Park, from where u catch the ferry ride to the statue, a really nice food court, etc.

Lumbini Park is just like some amusement park. They have this really beautiful Laser show, which was not working when we visited that because of the bomb blast which took place just 2 months before our visit. From here they have regular ferries to the middle of the lake which u can catch to visit the Buddha Statue.

So this is the story of Buddha… Now let’s have some coffee with him…


The cafeteria a.k.a. food court on the side of Lake has some really good places like Pizza Hut, Subway & my most favoutire Amore… Amore is a Gelato parlor & just like any other Gelato parlor this one too has some really nice flavors like cookie & cream, Ferraro Rocher, Dark Chocolate & some usual Sorebeto. Apart from that, they also serve really nice coffee. We visited this place twice, first day I just tried my usual flavor of Gelato (which I tried first time then) and on second day FIRST TIME IN MY WHOLE LIFE TILL THAT DAY, I tried a pure Espresso coffee. Yes (to those who know how crazy I get for an espresso) me too find it ‘YUCK’ on first sip & thought to give up. But I don’t know what was going on in my mind or in my heart I did finished that cup & that was the time I really got crazy for Espresso, which I still am…. May at that time Buddha was there, telling me go on it’s gonna be ur most favorite type of coffee… ;)

Yope…. First time in the ‘history’ of this blog I am writing about something other than travelling…. It’s about my one more passion, i.e. food (yeah, I live for food & not have food to live).
Well… This Sunday we (me, Ankita & Piyush) visited Not Just Jazz by the Bay for our lunch. No, we generally do not spend so much money for lunch every weekend, but this weekend was special for all of us, we all got internship (in fact I’ve already got my 1st salary), so it was celebration time & we decided to treat ourselves in a classy way.
We selected their buffet plan, which include a drink (beer/cocktail/mocktail/iced tea), a soup (veg/non veg), a sandwich, salad bar, pasta bar and dessert. With all these, for beginning they give you bread basket & hummus with Pita breads. The drinks were okey (we took 1 lemon iced tea, 1 peach iced tea & 1 peach flavored mocktail), then we had soup, Ankita & Piyush had Cream of Tomato soup, which was quite thick, for a sec I thought it’s not soup but chowder & I tried Chicken & Potato soup, which was though bland, one could make it tasty by adding some pepper & drops of lemon juice.
Their salad range was quite good, starting from bean sprouts salad to Russian salad to chilly potato to pasta salad (pastas prepared in different kind of sauces) & even sandwiches were good (we tried classic veg, Mediterranean veg and NJ’s lover). I didn’t try pastas but Piyush said it was okey, not so great. And since we have kind of same choices in food, I think even I would not like it.
Now it’s the turn of Desserts… The best part of whole lunch was dessert as usual. Today they had Orange Mousse, Black current Mousse, Mixed Fruit gautex , Fruit Salad(which is cut fruits) and Chocolate Mousse.. I wrote Chocolate mousse in the end just because that was the best chocolate mousse I have ever tried. It was not sweet like other choco. Mousse, but it was a li’l bit bitter. May not everyone like this; especially those who think chocolate should be sweet & not bitter. But fans of dark chocolate would love the taste.
Over all we spent almost 2 hrs there, with just food & talks & photography (yeah I’ve attached the pic of Choco mousse)

(P.S. : ‘m new as food critic, do lemme know how’s it)

Well…. I am going to start a li’l kind of history class over here…. :P… As we all know India got her independence in 1947 A.D.,ofcourse with a li’l bit of trouble created by Nawab Mohammad Mahabat Khanji III of Junagadh(under the pressure of his prime minister, Shah Nawaz Bhutto) & Nizaam of Hyderabad… and we also know how Sardar Patel negotiated with them and ‘convinced’ them not to join Pakistan…
Well, History class is over now & now it’s time to go for a trip to that very Hyderabad… Hyderabad is NOW divided into three sub-cities-which fondly called “triplet” city: Hyderabad, Secundrabad and CYBERABAD….But today we’ll talk about just historical part of this city….
Though there are many places that have quite important role in Indian History, I would like to mention 3 major places, i.e. Golconda Fort, Salarjang Museum & Chomahala palace.


Golconda Fort:
In the 16th century, Golconda was the capital and fortress city of the Qutb Shahi kingdom, near Hyderabad. According to a legend, the fort derives its name from Golla Konda, which is a Telugu word for Shepherd's Hill. It is believed that a shepherd boy came across an idol on the hill. This led to the construction of a mud fort by the then Kakatiya dynasty ruler of the kingdom around the site….
Well I’m not going too dip in the architecture & stories for about this fort, for that check out the “Sound & Light” show (in English ofcourse), the commentary is given by the great BigB, so don’t forget to check it out…. :D

Salarjang Museum:
Salarjung Museum is an art museum & might be the largest collection of artistic things by one single person. The whole collection is divided in more than 25 rooms, 2 floors (i.e. ground floor + 2 floors) & collection from all around the world… Must check out all the floors, may be u might get bored with usual stuff of ground floor,but then also go to first & second floor, otherwise u’ll miss the chance to see the collection on Salarjang ( it was a post in Hyderabad during Nizam’s rule)

Chowmahla Palace:
Chowmahalla Palace was a palace belonging to the Nizams of Hyderabad state. All ceremonial functions including the accession of the Nizams and receptions for the Governor-General were held at this palace.
Well, about the grandeur of this place, just check out the pics attached….

I know no one likes to say good bye to such a wonderful place, or say Heaven on the earth. But you can’t leave there forever… So, before saying good bye to Srinagar, here are some things u must do:

1)Visit Kshirbhavani:
KshirBhawani is a nice, quiet place near Srinagar (abt 20 kms). There stands a marble temple with gold plated dome houses here amidst a pool formed by spring waters, which is believed to change its colour from time to time. (They give really nice Kheer as “prasad” on special occasion, not always)

2)Visit Lal Chowk:
This area is “famous” with Indian News Channels because of frequent terrorist attacks. It’s the main square of Srinagar, like Time Square in NYC. This area is basically shopping area & has Posh to basic shops. Shopping not worth but visit for "Thrill" of Lalchowk name!!

3)For more shopping in Srinagar, check out local handicraft shops in Dal lake… Must buy some items made from Papier-mâché (Google it for the detail regarding the word… :P). They have so many things in this art, from small “dabbis” to big flower pot…

4)Prefer to stay in House boats than in any high rated hotels, It's kinda once-in a lifetime experience… Most of the house boats give Breakfast & Dinner; they are very safe in all ways.

5)High degree of security but mostly tourist safe but don’t argue, quarrel or get in bouts and Fix rates first & be clear

6)Foodies….this one is specially for u… :)
Don’t forget to enjoy Kashmiri local food in ur house boat
Do try the CHAAT opposite Shankaryacharya gate of Dal Lake


So this was Srinagar, the way I felt… More places of India from the way I enjoyed coming Soon…
Till then Have fun…..

After having a wonderful time at Sonmarg, it is time to heading for a bit green part of Kashnir- GulMarg or Valley of Flowers.

This valley is approx. 50 kms North-West to Srinagar. It is again a valley like Sonmarg but the difference over here is that This valley is greener than Sonmarg & due to that it was very much popular with Bollywood directors…. 1 example of that is the famous song of Rajesh Khanna-"Jay Jay Shiv Shankar". They have still kept that temple.

U might find this valley a bit sad… bcoz main fun is not in the valley, it is at a height. There you can have adventure sports like Skiing. The best thing about this place is that they give you instructions for skiing.

So to reach there, u have to take a Gondola, i.e. ropeway or cable car. The way from valley to Kangdoori, a part of Mt. Apherwat also has picturesque scenery, just like Sonmarg. It is world's highest & Asia's longest cable car. You have to take this cable car to reach the 1^st phase of Gulmarg, Kangdoori. When we visited Gulmarg, this was the only phase which has start working. Here u can enjoy Skiing.

We came to know from our "Guide" that on the other side of Mt. Apherwat is POK, which is known as "Aazad Kashmir" in the population over there.

 

One more tip for Gulmarg is,

Gulmarg has a high "Lookha" crowd.

अगर फिरदौस बर मे झमिनस्त,
हमिनस्तु हमिनस्तु हमिनस्त…
These lines were written by the famous Persian poet Firdaus, after his visit to Kashmir. The meaning of these lines is: If There is Heaven on Earth, It is here, It is here, It is here….
I’m sure you too will feel the same when u visit Kashmir, specially while going to Sonmarg. Sonmarg means Valley of Gold or Golden Valley.

Actually this place is nothing but a valley full of snow. It is called so because this valley is in the eastern side of Kashmir hence when the sun rays fall on the snow the whole valley glows like gold.
Ok, first I’ll tell u about the road trip from Srinagar to Sonmarg & after that I’ll tell you about Sonmarg….
So… the road from Srinagar to Sonmarg is almost 90 km long… Going through kashmiri villages, small climbing of Himalaya (not on ur foot of course… :P), passing through beautiful river Chenab u reach to Sonmarg… The whole way is really picturesque. U really feel like u r in heaven. The pictures over here show the beauty of this route.
Now, Sonmarg, as I told earlier, it’s a valley, a gorgeous valley carved by the river Sindh. It is famous for various adventures like Trekking, sledging, alpine skiing etc. But what we enjoyed the most is sledging over here… It’s really amazing thing I ever did.
What exactly Sledging is:
U r made to seat on a plaque of wood & they slide u from the slope & let u slide….
It was really fun…
& when we were playing with the snow (as it was something unusual for all of us), it started raining (the rain contained both water as well as snow flacks), which later on turned in heavy storm & rain I mentioned in my previous post. Actually though it was a bit frightening, we all enjoyed the weather that day…

A tip before u go for sledging:
Be sure for sledge rates. Ask twice & don’t take distance granted. What u feel "told" might be six time more than that!!