Travel

I was looking for a quick weekend getaway and thanks to Kits, discovered the Hideout. I was really excited about the place and it proved to be all that its website promised and lots more!

Hideout (www.hideout.co.in) is an eco farm set up by Hemant Chabbra (yes, the one of the bicycle project fame!) in vikramgarh, some 2 ½ hours out of Mumbai. Set among hills, the hideout is a quaint little place done up beautifully, offering an experience of the simple farm life.

The first thing that struck me was the open air non permanent structure of the farm. Thatched roof, lanterns, cow dung leveled floors, earthenware pots and pans, wood fire stoves, fresh flower decorations, beds on swings and no walls… the place was beautifully rustic.

Gramma Chabbra was there to welcome us with some fresh carrot juice and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. Gramma Chabbra, definitely over 75, was as energetic as ever. She definitely knew how to welcome people to her home with warmth & absolutely awesome food! J

Hemant joined us later in the day and took us around the farm. The farm is spread over 5 acres and has different varieties of banana (he has 21 varieties at his farm!), various salad leaves (I even got to pick some fresh rocket leaves for a salad), mangoes, maize, fresh herbs, lemons, pineapples, chillies, brinjal and a host of other veggies. We got some much needed exercise and an interesting download on organic farming.

Our room, an extension of the theme of no barriers between nature and man, had no walls. To offer some privacy, there were curtains that one can pull around the four corners of the room. Tastefully done up, the room was comfortable and cool. The bathroom was a permanent structure and had all the modern amenities one would need. Well, it would have been nice to have something that would repel frogs… but I don’t think such a device has been invented yet. The frogs, not very threatening, looked scared themselves. And so after we had given in to the fact that there was no getting rid of them, Abhi and I would contest on how many frogs one can pee amongst!

The early evenings were spent in interesting conversations, drinking lemon grass flavored chai, eating freshly made banana chips (thanks to young Aditya Chabbra, who btw is a gifted chef) and listening to the natural passing of the day into twilight.

Mosquitoes were a little bit of a challenge and the ancient way of smoking them out by burning dried coconut shells had our eyes watering. Being a village, it also had its set of electricity cuts, but as long as the electricity stayed the afternoon (it got really hot and sweaty between 2:30 – 4:30), we were ok.

The next day, we decided to go check to local dam and waterfall out. A little bit of the disappointment (the pic on the website looked a lot more happening- apparently that is natural waterfall and on only till December), but we had fun none the less. And we finally wrapped up the day with a nice bon fire.

Hemant, who is one of the cofounders of the bicycle project (read about this interesting idea on Hemant blog – http://thebicycleproject.blogspot.com), made a wonderful host. We had a really great time at the hideout and would recommend it to everyone who wants to take a nice relaxing break, experience the simple life and meet the interesting and warm Chabbra family. J

So when we are finally settled in and ready for our first solo expedition into the city, we decided to go see the pride of the city, the CN tower.

The CN tower (CN being Canadian National) was built in 1974, and at 553.33 m (1,815 ft, 5 inches), it is the World’s Tallest Building. Besides being a broad casting tower and catering to 40 radio & TV networks, it is a huge tourist attraction with over 2 million people visiting it every year.

Our trip to the tower began one cold winter morning with us as usual takng a bit to figure our coordinates. Their is a sky walk one can take from the Union subway station to the Tower… a much better way to get to the tower without the winds lashing at you. But no…adventures that we are, we landed up getting out at the wrong end and walking around the whole block to the tower. See some snaps of us trying to figure a way to the tower!

Getting to the CN Tower

The tower itself is quite majestic. Slim and tall it’s quite awe inspiring. The elevators have glass walls, floor and ceiling. We could see our slow climb up the tower and watched the dity unfold in front of us. The Attendant explained that due to strong winds, the elevator speed was reduced and we covered the one minute journey in 4 minutes. The view is quite breath taking and the lake ontario spreads across in front of you endlessly. The Look out level at 1,136 feet allows one a 360 degree view of the city. We spent a wonderous hour watching the city go about it’s business and marvelling at the architectural brillaince of the building. One level below is the glass floor level. A beautiful christmas tree aside, the level has a large glass floor one can walk over, look right down onto the ground hundreds of feet below. Check come snaps below.

The Glass Floor at 345 Feet

Panoramic View from the Viewing Area of the CN Tower

Having had our fill of looking at tiny people, buildings and cars, we finished off our trip with a super fast descent (in under a minute! And totally not for the faint hearted ). A quick trip to the gift shop and a small detour via a simulator ride (that had absolutely nothing to do with the tower and was kind of confusing) we were done for the day!

More tomorrow as we venture deeper into this beutiful city. Keep tuned in….!

When we had to pick a day picnic destination for an office outing, we were looking for a place that would be within 2-3 hours of Mumbai and would give our group multiple options for fun activities. Someone suggested Saguna Baug and we were quite excited when we saw its website (www.sagunabaug.com) … A farming and fishing outfit, it promised to be a escape to nature. For the urbanized like us, it sounded like the perfect retreat.

It took us over 3 hours to get to the place. It might be a good option to take the train for people travelling from the central suburbs as it is a mere 30 mins from the Neral station. The place is quite rustic and if it weren’t for the uncharacteristic heat of early October, we would have had a good time trekking up the stony paths to our huts –cum – dorms. The dorms, a tad basic, were clean (that’s if you don’t take having frogs on the bed as a sign of uncleanliness!) Lolz… Apparently the place has many and we had quite a time watching the farm boys chasing the frogs all over the room and having to deal with a bunch of terrified loud women!

The owner of the place is a young foren returned types who inherited the farm and was really enthu to down load our large group with all the fun things his place had to offer. Fishing, swimming in the river, taking a tour of the rice fields, riding buffalos, milking cows, watching locals make wood products, he had a full day planned for his… but the heat was already getting the better of us and we decided to head for the bliss of cool waters.

Fishing and the river bathing were our choices and anything that required us to walk in the sun was straight out! Having never done fishing before, I was apprehensive about having to hook worms to lure the fish. But hey, these fish were vegetarian and were happy to be hooked for some wheat dough. The fishing lines were simple cane rods with a thin wire attached to them, at the end of which a small hook hung. One had to wrap some dough around the hook and throw in the line and watch intensively to spot the slightest tug on the wire, which indicated that the fish were nibbling on the dough. And wham, you jerked the line out and there, dangling and withering was the poor fish. The first and the only one I caught gave me quite a scare! I yanked the wire out and all the wriggling just scared the hell out of me! I couldn’t bear to watch and kept dipping it into the water until one of the farm boys rescued the poor fish, unhooked it and asked me whether I wanted to eat it. Jeez, after that show I was ready to become a vegetarian… so obviously I asked him to throw the fish back into the water.

After everyone had tried their hand at fishing…and surprisingly, almost everyone got a catch, we were happy to head to the river to cool off. The river was a narrow one and they had cordoned off a little area of the river for the bathing pleasures of the visitors. It was a weekend and there were multiple other groups at the baug, so it felt more like standing in a pool full of people. None the less, the water was cold and we could have stood in it for hours just to cool off. We actually did have a good time, until the buffalo decided to join us. Apparently the buffalo rides we were promised were to be with the buffalo in the water. The buffalo clearly was not a happy one… all the crowds and the happy shrieking was clearly pissing the poor chap off… so were asked the helpers to take him to dry land to save us the scare and him the pain.

Hunger finally got the better of the heat and we decided to head back to our dorms for a bit. Bathed in clean water, dressed and voraciously hungry, we were happy to sit in the sweltering heat to eat the simple village food. Dal, chawal, Sabzi, roti…the food was tasty and wholesome. A quick snooze and some group games later we were ready to leave for the long drive back home at 5.

All in all the place is worth a visit if you’re looking for a fun day out. It would be even better if you plan to do this during some pleasant weather. Also if you book in advance, you can book the beautiful lake house for your stay (it’s bang in the middle of a small lake and looked like fun to stay in).