The forbidden city is opening up

A visit abroad is something to look forward to but a visit to China is something else. Because one has heard so much about how the country used to be. Because of the language issues. Because of the rich cultural heritage China is known for. Because of the similarities the countries share. And the rivalry.

At first sight, the city is a lot of concrete and construction is happening all around. Not very different from the Indian cities one would think.But Beijing has one bigger reason to have so much construction activity happening than just real estate boom. It's hosting the 2008 Olympics and one can see the whole city is shaping up for it. And why not? It's not often that one gets to be the host to the best athletes of the world. And preparation for the Olympics also means that Beijing has to become increasingly world-friendly. And it is.

Visit to the Tianmen Square was definitely the highlight of my Beijing trip - memories of that young man standing against the gigantic tank during the student revolution of 1989 coming back again and again. The issue might have been taboo a few years back but my Chinese hosts seemed more open about it. The Square itself is a huge open area teeming with tourists – no signs of the restricted place it once used to be. While I couldn’t get inside the forbidden city (the palace of the Ming Dynasty) – it was very late when we went there – the majestic aura of the place was palpable.

My host told me that Beijing is definitely more traditional and has more cultural tales to narrate than Shanghai. And invited me to spend at least 5 days to look around Beijing, including the Great Wall. I would definitely like to be back. 2008 Olympics perhaps!

I love Bangalore

Any talk of Bangalore today is laced with mentions of traffic snarls, infrastructure problems and government apathy. If you ask me, Bangalore is Bangalore and nothing can take away what it is today. We are not being fair to the city which gave India its most famous industry. One must realise that with growth come the pangs.I love Bangalore because it continues to be so green despite all the attempts to disfigure the city.

Have we started to take the good things for granted? Recently, when I was on a short visit to Bangalore, I went around the city in the early hours of the morning. Green Bangalore greeted me all the way through. The pictures speak for themselves.

Have you seen the stretch of road between South End Circle and Sarakki Layout? It is possibly the greenest stretch of road in India. But unfortunately, people only talk of Bangalore's traffic problems but not of the gems that are all around us.

Or have you been to Cubbon Park in the morning? Did you know that on weekends, there's a live music (Indian music before you get ideas) concert that happens early in the morning?Have you seen the pigeons feeding right in front of the High Court? Or experienced the morning mist near Ulsoor lake? Or the service road on way to Commercial Street from MG Road? Or the magnificent Vidhana Soudha from behind the green trees that dot the road?

I would urge the true Bangalorean to look around for beautiul things and I am sure you will find more than what you are seeing today. It's all in your eyes.

Orange County rocks

It was quite a late decision to have a holiday in Coorg and since we had heard so much about the Orange County, that was an obvious choice subject to availability, which was confirmed after two days of suspense. What was supposed to be a dream summer destination turned out to be otherwise as the monsoons arrived early. A day before we left for Coorg, the rainfall in Mercara was 98 mm and expected to intensify in the coming days. It was an unexpected bonus as the hilly surroundings would now look more embellished with the rain drops. As we were going through Mercara, we stopped over in Raja's seat (it was drizzling, raining, pouring all through the day) and spent a good 15 minutes almost touching the clouds.

One of the best things of driving to a place like Coorg, which is already lush green is the feeling of being at the lap of nature every inch of the way. There are no traffic jams, no honking vehicles, no smoke and all green nature. The roads are good if one is going from Mercara to Orange County (barring the 3 kms with in the estate) but I hear the road from Mysore is quite bad. Orange County is a different world by itself - a decision by the owners of the estate to provide luxury accommodation to the city folks starved of natural surroundings has obviously filled a void going by the number of cars parked in the bay.

One gets a sense of the feel of the place as one enters the reception, which is an open one with tiled / hatched roof. One is greeted with sugar cane juice - while I was wondering at the choice of the juice, immediate realisation dawned that this was not just a coffee and pepper county but a sugarcane area as well.

While the County Cottage is a one-room accommodation, the Presidential Villas have a living room (with a nice little fireplace), a balcony with a view of the Cauvery (some of the lucky ones) and a bedroom. There are also Private Pool Villas - as the name suggests the family staying there also gets a small private pool!

One got a feeling that in terms of keeping its guests engaged, Orange County was following the 'Cruise Model' (guests on cruises like Star Cruise or Royal Caribbean Cruise) where there is something happening for the guests all the time - although the organisation is more desi in style.

Two star attractions at the Orange County are the forest trek and the Dubare Elephant camp. The forest trek is a 6-km (about 2 1/2 hours) activity that takes us into the thick of the Rajiv Gandhi National Park and to the banks of River Cauvery. The Dubare Elephant camp allows one to interact with the elephants (including washing them, taking a ride etc.,) close to River Cauvery. Due to incessant rains, the Dubare Elephant camp was called off, as it was termed dangerous.

But the forest trek was a revelation. My first. And Nirav's too. A good pair of shoes and trousers (not 3/4th but full) are essential as one gets to walk through virgin pathways and will have to contend with leeches. It was a group of about 16 that set out. On a normal day, I was told that one would come across elephant herds, King Cobras, rare birds etc., but given the monsoon, we were the only visible living beings in the expanse of the forest.

It was a great first experience - a mix of every little thing I did for the first time (after a long time!). Walking in the rains without care, sliding down a muddy downward path, watching the fresh elephant dung and looking around for signs of the mammoths, looking up into the sunlight from inside of a 100% hollow tree and ofcourse, the leech bites.

When we came back after 2 1/2 hours, I had a fashonably muddy pair of jeans and two leech bites to show off and an unforgettable experience to savour.

Orange County has 3 restuarants - The Granary, Plantain Leaf and Peppercorn. The food at The Granary (all meals buffet) was so good that we didn't feel the need to visit the other restaurants. Apart from a good spread, there was a theme counter every day - we got to see and taste the Kerala, Coorg and Hyderabad themes in two days.

For recreation, there is Pulper, the activity centre which the kids enjoyed a lot - the time they spent at the TT table, the biclycles and the PS2 of course were part of the reasons. The fact that they made new friends at the activity centre was the other. I (and Shobhana) particularly liked the concept of the Coffee Lounge (between The Granary and Pulper) which is a little library with the feel of a lounge bar with relaxing chairs and fresh free coffee on offer. Apart from the ambience, the Lounge also offers a good view of the fields below and the distant hillocks. It made a very pretty sight especially amidst the drizzle.

Of course, there is the Ayurveda Village with a variety of options for 'treatment' (read 'massage'). It's different from the other Ayurveda treatments in that it is done by two attendants as against the customary one.

One good thing I observed is that despite the fact that Orange County is so cut off from the city, the people are well oriented towards meeting the service expectations of the city folks. The people are very polite and always willing to help.

If you haven't been to Orange County and want to get away from the city, I would recommend that you spend atleast a couple of days instead of planning a holiday abroad. It's a great mind refresher - you will enjoy being away from it all.