Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Like everyone else out there, we also have a list of places in the world we wish to see with our own eyes – mix of common and not-so-common locations. And while most of those locations will very likely remain dreams, we were able to fulfil one of our desires – when we went to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia this June

For those who can't quite place the name, Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world (by area) and is considered by many to be one of the seven wonders of the world. Like some Inca and Aztec cities, the place was forgotten and covered up by the jungle, till French explorers rediscovered the place in the 1860s. Then Pol Pot and the civil war kept Cambodia out of bounds for the rest of the world till the 1990s. The temple and the adjoining capital city of Angkor Thom was built by the Khmer kings of Cambodia. Their style of architecture borrows a lot from South India and depicts mythology from Hinduism and Buddhism.

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Langkawi

After feasting our eyes on the magnificent Angkor Wat ruins, we joined another couple friend in Langkawi, Malaysia to enjoy a few days of azure seas and white sand beaches. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't the best and our visit coincided with the rainy season there. However, the island itself looked very green and beautiful - and the smaller islands around Langkawi lived up to their reputation of spectacular beaches and enchanting seas.

How to Get There
Langkawi is quite well connected to Kuala Lumpur (7-8 flights a day) as well as Singapore. We flew in on Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur, where the trip was an hour long and tickets for the round trip cost just Rs 3,000. The airport is small but very nice - and the runway lies right next to the sea, making for a very beautiful landing. At the airport, there are the usual regular duty free shops and Starbucks - and more importantly, car rental firms. The island is about 320 sq km, which is less than the size of Greater Mumbai (437 sq km), but large enough to make traveling around a pain. If you have a license and can drive, it is incredibly convenient to take a car on hire and drive around the island. Indian driving licenses work just fine and you can get a middle aged Proton Wira 1.5L manual (Proton is Malaysian national car company) for about RM 220 for two days. Petrol is really cheap - equivalent of Rs 25 per litre - and the roads are in fabulous shape.

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Udaipur & Mount Abu

Rajasthan is probably the most famous tourist destination in India along with Goa and it requires no introduction whatsoever. We spent a pleasant 5 days in Udaipur and Mount Abu in the beginning of March, just before the summer heat set in.

Mount Abu is an old-fashioned British-era hill station – one of the great honeymoon destinations for your parents’ generation, but quite rundown now. The only redeeming factor of Mount Abu are the wondrous Dilwara temples, which in our opinion is one of the most beautiful temples in India (and we have quite a few of those in India). Their plain and boring exterior hides a magnificently carved white-marble temple inside. Sadly, photography isn’t allowed inside the temples. We stayed overnight at the Jaipur House, which is the erstwhile Maharaja of Jaipur’s summer palace.

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Native Place resort

Among the many hidden retreats tucked away in the hills surrounding Bombay, the Native Place resort is probably the most serene and relaxing I have visited yet. It is situated on the banks of Vadivali lake in Uksan village, one of the countless dam-lakes in the Sahyadris. It is somewhat similar to Bhandardara, but on a smaller scale. What makes this place alluring is the emptiness around the lake (except for a couple of private bungalows next door) – the sound of water gently lapping at the shores, the stillness of the lake which makes the surface look like glass, the mind-blowingly beautiful sunsets – everything which makes it a detox destination for the city dweller (www.nativeplace.com)

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Tarkarli

India is blessed with a lot of beaches along its coastline. But Indian beaches are usually not what you'd call breathtakingly beautiful - the sand isnt usually white and the water can range from brown to grey, but never the beautiful blue-green or even plain blue. So when we reached Tarkarli, we were not prepared for the beautiful & empty white-powder-sand-beach that stretched off in both directions and the deep blue seas. Even with our limited travel experience, we would like to bet Tarkarli is probably the best beach you can find on the Indian mainland

Tarkarli is a jewel in the Konkan region of Mahashtra, less than 100 km from Goa and about 500 km from Bombay. The name Tarkarli means the bank of Karli river - the Karli river is more like a backwater, very tranquil and flows into the sea at Devbag, at one end of the Tarkali beach. It is just 8 km away from the town of Malwan - which lends its name to the spicy cuisine and is famous for its seafood as well. Its distance from Bombay means it is an extended-weekend destination rather than a overnight stay option. And Tarkarli has enough to offer to keep everyone involved for a couple of days

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