Holidaying on treetops!

Rainforest Boutique Resort, Kerala

Treehouse Hideaway, Bhandavgarh

Vanya Treehouse, Thekaddy

Tree House Cottages, Manali

Tree House Resort, Jaipur

Holidaying on Treetops

A classmate of mine once  invited me to stay with him during school summer vacations in a sprawling tea estate. There it got it into our head to build a tree-house. After several days of sporadic attempts we managed a rickety platform on the tree. We were justifiably proud of our work. But it had two minor drawbacks. We both had to sit simultaneously at either end of the board to counterbalance each other. A wind of sub gale force could easily cause a major cataclysm to our tree-house. Several decades later I finally got to stay in a tree-house- as firm as a  rock of Gibraltar- as comfortable as any deluxe hotel and as spacious!

Spread over several acres, The Tree House Resort in Jaipur is located on the outskirts of Jaipur, on NH8. In a stark contrast to the surrounding area, the resort is a veritable jungle of trees and fauna.  There are over a dozen tree houses with attached washrooms and an extended balconies with easy chairs -all on tree treetops! That's what you call top level comforts!!

A dining room perched on a small hill overlooks the resort. Small canals of water wind through the place. The abundance of trees at the resort attract a variety of birds at all times of the day. Every night an owl would comes and sit on the same tree on the same branch and sureys the landscape and its occupants with the studied gravitas of a lord mayor.

Dinner is generally served alfresco, with a bonfire during winter nights.

At ground level, a large number of rabbits have been let loose. Throughout the day you could see them gamboling about with gay abandon. You need to be a little quick on the draw, if you want to catch them. A variety ducks busily strut around scraping the ground for food pausing only if you come a little close to them. 

A water hole close by is the home for frogs, almost the size of a Baseball! They would just sit under the shade of leaves with the phlegmatic nonchalance staring deep into space with bulbous eyes . No sooner you try to approach them to establish a more cordial relationship than they would, belying their size, swiftly scuttle back into the pond.

There is a mini bar nestled among the Bamboo shoots and trees for those bent on their daily rendezvous with Bacchus.

It also caters to the athletic and non athletic occupants. For the athletics there is a badminton and a tennis court, a mini golf course and a small swimming pool. For the non athletic types there are a variety of indoor games to indulge in.

It is an interesting and a unique place of entertainment. When you come away the picture that you take with you is that of dappled leaves swaying gently in the breeze as you look out from the window of your room; white balls of fur scurrying across the verdant lawn, the near continuous parleys among the avian population punctuated with occasional croaks from the pond area, as if letting you know 'Hey we are also here!'

But despite the  passage of time, like your first infatuation,  I still fondly remember my first tottering tree house in a remote tea plantation estate!

Luxury on trees

The Tree of Life in Pictures

Inside Hawa Mahal

I had been to Jaipur a number of times over the years and rode past the Hawa Mahal without bothering to stop by for a closer inspection. I was standing out the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur when a humble Rickshaw puller pointed to a narrow pathway and told me that led to the rear end of Hawa Mahal. Still I was not prepared to what I was expecting to see inside. This is what I saw.

The facade 

The quadrangle inside-its nice and spacious.

The viewing gallery of  maharanis

The Hawa Mahal is on three floors. 

View of the main road as seen from the viewing gallery

Spiked domes inside the Mahal

View from the third floor.

A wooden miniature window.

Ghost towns in India

 The Discovery Channel on a regular basis show haunted houses in the US. Some of the programmes give you goose pimples! Was browsing the internet for haunted places in India. Well discovered one  just next door to my house- well almost! Yike!! If you feel brave enough have a look at this link!  The mysterious Ajabgarh and Bhangarh. Between Jaipur and Sariska .

Rajasthan for some odd reason has one more place which is haunted. The ruins of Kuldhara were home to Paliwal Brahmins,in 1825. But after a threat from their Rajput king, they abandoned the village overnight and fled, not before cursing the king. The ruins are now said to be haunted.Have a look at this link,
Kuldhara: An Abandoned & Cursed Village of Rajasthan

Of Temples, Kings and curses!

1.A temple in Mysore district has an interesting tale to tell. It is the Sri Vasidyanatheswara temple.

In the midst of a fertile river valley, in a town called Talakad in Mysore district stands the Sri Vasidyanatheswara temple. But the temple stands in an island of sand dunes.

The present Maharajah, a titular head, is the caretaker of the temple. The Maharaja has no heir-a state of affairs  that has remained largely unchanged in last four centuries In  the absence of direct heirs the thrones had been occupied by adopted sons,cousins or nephews.

The legend goes that in the early 17th century when the ruling King died, his inexperienced wife was forced to occupy the throne. The Maharajah of  the neighboring kingdom saw this as an opportunity for annexation and promptly did so.

The defeated queen, rather than being taken prisoner jumped into the river. But before she took the fatal plunge she cursed the conqueror  prophesying that the place be turned into a desert and the future kings would not have any heirs.

The incident may be apocryphal but the fact remains that the temple is constructed in an area of sand dunes in an otherwise verdant countryside!

2. The abandoned City of Bhangarh. 

It is better known as the haunted kingdom of Bhangarh, spanning about 158 hectares. The inhabitants of the nearby villages fear to pass through the place at night, much less enter it.The kingdom was abandoned sometime in the 18th century, after a tantrik cursed it when his advances was spurned by the queen.

It now lies deserted save for the denizens of the jungle from the nearby Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary. The dilapidated temples inside the abandoned city, have no idols in them.

Once it was the medieval kingdom, built by Raja Bhagwant Das (1599) for his son Madho Singh- the younger brother of Akbar's general Man Singh of Amber. Around early 18 century it was abandoned by its people.

Far from the madding crowd- of a different kind!

1. Ayurvedagram -A unique way of de-stressing yourself without splurging yourself at exotic locations would be a visit to this Ayurvedic Centre. As confessed by a friend It promises to 'soothe, heal and to be at peace'. Location: Bengaluru

2. Karuna Farms- Want to harmonize with nature? Explore an alternative life style? If you are in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, have a look at this site. Worth exploring. Location: Kodaikanal

3. Tree of Life Near Jaipur. See Tree of Life in pictures.

Living in tree houses

Here are a list of 'locations' where you can stay .... well several feet above the ground- no not in flats but on trees. Is there any difference in staying in flats and tree houses? I can think of one. In case of fire, when on a tree house, you always have the option of slithering down a tree trunk!! 


1 The hermitage Guest House , Belgaum Karnataka. 
   Break in the branches

2. The Treehouse resort, Jaipur.

3. Green Magic Resort, Vythiri, (North Kerala)
    Location

4. Living on trees

Festivals, Fairs and Music in Indian.

Lo Sar festival- Heralding in year in the Himalayas.  Ladakh

Sikkim snow and cultural festival, Sikkim

Pushkar Camel Fair, Pushkar, Rajasthan.

Hornbill, Nagaland

Sunburn Goa

Rajasthan International folk Festival

NH7 Weekender Goa

Indian Art Fair New Delhi

Singhe Khababs Spring Festival - Sindhu Darshan, Leh Ladakh.

Festivals of Ladakh

Mountain echoes

Desert Festival Jaisalmer: A good article from Times Crest.
Held every year from February 23rd  to 25th.

Attractions:Camel polo, camel dressing, a turban tying competition, and 'Mr Desert' and 'Mr Moustache' contests, Camel race. The festival, however is the Jaisalmer festival is low on glamour quotient. . While Pushkar's Mela attracts about 5 lakh tourists every year, the Jaisalmer Desert festival attracts just about 50, 000 people.

The camel rides at Sam desert and safaris deep into the Thar are favorite with visitors.

For Rs 1, 000-1, 500 you can spend a night in the desert, under the starlit sky, with makeshift bedding and basic cooking. Some local hotels, like Suryagarh, take their guests out for dinner on the dunes. With bonfires blazing, the guests are entertained by Manganyaar singers and Kalbelia dancers even as the hotel staff feeds them the choicest grilled Rajasthani foods.

The walls of cubbyhole houses are painted a bright blue, green and even pink, and the narrow cobbled lanes are refreshingly cool, windy and winding. They are crammed with souvenir shops, cows, bikes and bicycles. If you want to buy something pick up a 'dahi' bowl made from 'fossil stone'. You can apparently curdle milk in it without adding curds.

A number of fossils have been unearthed from here. The collection which include sea shells tree trunks have been housed at a nearby village at Akal.

Music Festivals

Escape Festival: Music by the lake! It is a potpourri of music, art, comedy, photography and painting held in the cool environs of  The Lake Resort, Naukuchiatal, in the month of May.

India's largest festival for Bikers. It is a festival of bikes, bikers and music.

lShad Suk Mynsiem festiva- Shillong

A three day dance festival the  Shad Suk Mynsiem (Dance of Happy Hearts) takes place i n the month of April. This year was the 102nd anniversary of the festival which started in the year 1911.

Shad Suk Mynsiem is an annual thanksgiving dance festival performed by the people of the Khasi tribe. With the departure of winter the tribe offer prayer to God for a bumper harvest. Both men and women, in traditional dresses, dance to the beat of the drums and Tangmuri- a musical pipe popularly considered as a queen of musical instruments.

Enchanting Lal Mahal Palace, Rajasthan

Location: About 30 Kms from Jaipur.While coming from New Delhi you turn off left
towards Ramgarh lake, from NH8.There is a fork at NH8 just before Jaipur.
Take the left end of the fork and almost immediately turn left for
Ramgarh.
Travel time from Delhi: 4.5 hours.
Best time to visit: November to April.

A very convenient weekend get away from New Delhi is this place near Jaipur.

A hunting lodge of the erstwhile rulers of Jaipur it is now a Motel, built in the midst of fields. You have the option of staying  either in the rooms of the Motel or in the air conditioned tents (with attached bathrooms) pitched on the sprawling gardens surrounding the motel.

We obviously stayed in the tents. The garden has a swimming pool and a panoramic view of the surrounding Aravali mountains.

There is an ancient temple almost half way up the mountain to explore. The climb is a bit stiff, but the large concrete steps help you along. There is also an ancient dilapidated fort nearby. The quietude of the place, the crumbling walls  and the smell of the droppings of the bats, gives you an eerie feeling. It is difficult to imagine that this place, in the distant past, must have resonated with sounds of laughter and chatter; where men and women folks congregated to interact socially.

For people with strong legs there are the mountains to climb and explore. These look very steep from afar, but they are climbable. My 6 year old son climbed with us.At the summit again there are skeletons of ancient structures  and a temple which function on certain auspicious days. The place was deserted. The view of the rolling ridges all round made me think that I could be anywhere up north in the Himalayan ranges.

You have the choice of having your dinner either in the dining hall or in the dimly lit lawns next to the pool with the brooding silhouette of the mountains for company!

A place worth visiting for a weekend get away -for a little bit of adventure and wholesome mountain climbing!

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