travel tips | On My Canvas

Kalga to Kheerganga via Bunbuni Pass– Offbeat in Parvati Valley

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When I was in Kalga in Parvati valley, I had almost decided to not go for the famous Kheerganga trek because almost every local and traveler I met talked about Kheerganga. As you might already know I don’t like going to the most visited places. This arrogance to avoid the touristy destinations further deepens when it …

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From the Sun-Kissed Balcony of Kalga Village, Himachal Pradesh

Almost deaf from the loud music blasting from the speakers of travelers who visit Kasol to escape the Delhi heat, I ran out of Kasol after a night. A steep uphill walk took me to the village of Shilha, a tiny apple village pasted onto the slopes of a beautiful green hill. But I didn’t know that the speaker lovers from Delhi had discovered Shilha and were smoking away in its few guesthouses. On one starry night, I also gave up and joined the groups of Indian boys around a bonfire.

Stubborn about staying away from people who couldn’t appreciate the silence of Parvati valley, I strapped on my bag and walked towards Kalga in the morning.

Update 2022: As of now (mid-April), Himachal Pradesh (HP) doesn’t have any specific travel restrictions. Travelers don’t need to carry a negative RTPCR test but everyone is still supposed to wear a mask in public spaces. Read more regulations here on the HP government’s website.

The History of Yoga in India and Practising the Art in Dharamshala

When I went to Chile in 2016, many Chileans asked me if I knew yoga. While traveling around South America for nine months, I realized the popularity of yoga in the world.

Apprehending the vast influences of yoga and seeing the craze of the westerners towards India and yoga, I became a wanna be yoga learner.

In those immature years of my life, I wanted to be a solo female traveler who also did yoga. I wished to bend myself one-eighty-degrees on the sultry Goa beaches and the summits of the mighty Himalayas alike.

After all, the social media pictures of yoga teachers and practitioners over the internet kindle enough narcissism that you forget the real purpose of yoga (if you ever knew) and only admire the overwhelming curves on the trending photos.

Yoginis look like the epitomes of Urvashi from the Indra palace. Maybe we can compare the Yogi to Shiva who is said to be the first-yogi or the Adiyogi?

Those yoga pictures look as perfect as the postures held in the frame, but remember that pictures don’t tell the entire story.

Yoga is not about a few jazzy posts on Instagram or Facebook. And I kept this in mind when I traveled to Dharamshala and practiced yoga there.

Yoga, a word derived from the Sanskrit word Yuj meaning join, means union — of the mind, body, and soul.

Yoga is not only comprised of Hatha yoga and physical exercise but it is an ancient science which has various methods to amalgamate mind, body, and consciousness. Practicing wholesome yoga leads one towards personal awareness and development.

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From Bangalore to Coorg by Car – Rendezvous Through Wild Karnataka

I won’t tell you that Coorg is the Scotland of India, as every other Bangalore to Coorg travel guide must have already said this to you. I have not been to Scotland and don’t know its landscape. But I can say that Coorg, also known as Kodagu, is straight out of that movie in which fat cows graze on a grassy carpet while spinach-green hills pose in the background.

I’m not sure if I can call Coorg a quaint town. Everybody traveling in Karnataka go on a road trip from Bangalore to Coorg, at least once. I’ve been to Coorg so many times I now have a list of 15 stunning and secluded coffee estates, home stays, and hotels in Coorg.

A humble request: We overcrowd Venice, Paris, Coorg, Florence, Bangkok as if there is nowhere else to go. Meanwhile, the ecologies of these places suffer due to overcrowding and lack of care, obvious when tourists throng the destination. Let’s try to distribute ourselves through the lesser visited places which all hold, if not more, the similar richness of people, food, landscape, and history.

May I suggest Stuart hill in Coorg instead of Madikeri town, Mandi district instead of Manali, Kalga instead of Kasol, and Chile instead of London and Paris? But let us promise to respect these new places and not turn them into just hangouts to chill. Let’s chill in our backyards. But when we visit, let’s visit to see, know, and understand something unknown to us.

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Spiti Valley Images Showing the Real Spiti

Snow-capped peaks, inky sky, copper mountains, creamy cubicle homes, lean Spitians jostling around, and fat sheep and cows — this is Spiti Valley Himachal, one of the remotest valleys in the Indian Himalayas.

People have been clicking pictures of Spiti valley for decades. But since the advent of social media, Spiti Valley images have flocked to all Indians’ and foreigners’ Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Maroon-robed monks (mostly young) jumping on the swirling roads. Himalayan peaks standing tall and a river swiftly snaking in front of them. Icy summits with creamy Spitian villages in front. Selfies with Spitian women on the road. Key Monastery standing tall. Pictures in front of the dominant mountains. A few close-ups of flat-roofed Spiti homes.

We have seen all of the above Spiti images. But the more natural, unposed, and truthful Spiti valley photos don’t make it to Instagram. Perhaps the silence that envelops the stunning Spiti and the isolated Spitian life is too much to handle even in pictures.

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Update 2024: Malaysia opened its international borders on 1 April 2024. You can check out Malaysia’s official travel website before heading there. My guide to Malaysia e-visa for Indians will be helpful in planning a trip there.

An Adventure to the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Borneo

Once upon a time, there was a long river muddy,
Along the bank of the river lived the mama elephant Lily,
On the top of a Jamun tree lived a monkey funky with a long nosey,
A naughty crocodile waited under the tree to see the monkey fall loosey.

A talkative hornbill nested in the tree,
While her friend the orange orangutan visited her often for tea,
The village children played on the riverbank every day,
while their mothers shouted to them come home, otherwise the monkey will take you away.

If you hadn’t guessed, this is a story inspired by real characters. I wrote it on the Kinabatangan river cruise in Sabah, Borneo, while on my month-long trip to Malaysia.

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Update 2024: Malaysia reopened its international borders on 1 April 2022. Get Malaysian government’s complete rules for travelers planning to visit Malaysia on the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tourism website. I’ve also listed down the guidelines and compliances in this article on Kinabatangan river. My guide to Malaysia e-visa for Indians is recommended, too. My …

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Covid-Related Travel Update Jan 2024: India is now open to travelers. Find the application process for an e-visa to India on this official Indian government website.

Pushkar City and Pushkar Fair Photography Tour, Rajasthan

I went to Pushkar a few days before the Pushkar fair started.

Nearby villagers had arrived at the Pushkar fair ground with their cattle, and some were still on their way. Though the ground was still being set up, the animal trade had started.

A few hundred thousand tourists, photographers, and locals from nearby villages attend the Pushkar Mela every year (mela is fair in Hindi). But as the big influx of tourists was not to come until the camel fair started, the grounds were yet to fill up.

Even though I was only carrying a phone camera, I decided to treat my visit as a Pushkar photoshoot. While walking in the tiny streets of the Pushkar bazaar and wandering on the ghats of the Pushkar Lake, I not only clicked some Pushkar images I am happy with, but I also captured some deep-felt emotions.

Now without saying much, let me take you on this photo tour of Pushkar.

Related Read: Hampi, Karnataka in Pictures

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Covid Update Jan 2024: Indonesia is now open for all travelers. As per the latest regulations, visitors do not need COVID-19 vaccine certifications either. Do check the official tourism website of Indonesia at the time of travel for the most recent updates. The beautiful pictures of Bali and other islands of Indonesia that I had …

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Spiti Valley is every traveler’s dream.

Why? Because Spiti is stunning.

Have you traveled to the Himalayas yet? Maybe you went on to a travel trip to Dharamshala, explored the many places to visit near Manali, or hiked to the Chandrashila peak in Himachal Pradesh. Or perhaps you visited Uttarakhand: Mussoorie, Landour, Dehradun, or trekked in the valley of flowers.

Vast green pastures, sheep and cow grazing on lush grass, high vegetation-rich mountains, dense jungles, orchards, farms and villages, English houses, churches — this is the typical scene in Himachal and Uttarakhand.

Though Spiti is one of the many Himachal Pradesh valleys, it is nothing like this.

In this Spiti valley trip guide, we will see Spiti is one of the most bizarre and gorgeous places on this planet. The altitude of Spiti is at least 4,000 meters even in the lowest parts of the valley. And don’t forget that Spiti is a Himalayan valley. The high altitude and the Himalayas make Spiti a unique place to live.

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Visas for Indians

When I started traveling with my Indian passport, the first thing I realized was that Indians cannot travel easily without applying for a few visas, no matter wherever we go. Whether I went to Southeast Asia or Europe or the UK, I spent days and months aggregating the required documents for a visa, filling arduous application forms, contemplating if I should hire a travel agent, requesting my employer for a NOC, asking the photo studio to print my ridiculous passport size photos quickly, rushing to the banks to get account statements, and still fretting if I would get a visa or not – I did it all.

The process of getting visas for Indian citizens haven’t relaxed, but as I travel more, I understand the visa requirements for Indian citizens better. Also, I have figured out that Indians can go to many countries which give visa on arrival for Indian passport holders (Thailand, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and more). Indian citizens can also visit countries where Indians can go without visa – nations such as Indonesia, Bhutan, Nepal et cetera. Some countries also give either free entry or a visa on arrival for Indians holding a valid UK, US, or Schengen visa, and Indians should be able to see these countries with ease.

My years of solo travel has allowed me to understand how to cross countries on an Indian passport and the places we can travel to while not feeling burdened by the visa process. I wanted to share this information with other Indian travelers. So I aggregated my personal travel experiences and a lot of research into this guide to visa for Indians.

I promise you that by the end of this article, you will feel much more confident about traveling the world without much hassle.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s go.

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Covid Update Jan 2024 – Peru is now open to international travelers. Travelers must show proof of vaccination. Those who are unvaccinated have to show a negative covid-19 test issued up to 48 hours before boarding. Find the complete information on the official website of the Peru government. My guide to Peru tourist visa for Indians would be helpful, too.

If you are looking for how to visit Machu Picchu on your own, you have come to the right travel guide. As all you dear readers know, I hate the idea of arranging tours, booking trips, and getting into a group. I will be honest I didn’t even look at the options of going to Machu Picchu with a travel agency. But Machu Picchu was on my mind as it was on the best things to do in Cuzco Peru.

I hope you have read my big guide on traveling to Peru and this one on the Manu National park, the Amazon Rainforest. All these travelogues will help you plan your Peru itinerary.

Now if you are looking for the cheapest way to get to Machu Picchu on your own, then let us continue.

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I took a bus ride from Cusco to a town near Machu Picchu known as Hidroeléctrica and then walked and hiked the rest of the way — around 16 kilometers and more than 3000 stairs —to the top of the Incan royal city sitting at an altitude of 2,500 meters.

I wouldn’t have even taken the bus from Cusco to Hidroeléctrica if I knew I could have walked there all the way from Ollantaytambo, a UNESCO world heritage site and a village near Cusco. But I know now, and you, too.