Dear lovely people,
Its 11 year anniversary of my blog. Something that started as result of a bad breakup has come a long way.
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| Spring Sun, Almere 2018 |
Let me tell you the story of our 2018. What an year!! When I look back, we are amazed at how much we managed to achieve this year. First new thing this year was Shan started her own jewellery business in Netherlands. She now runs a successful webshop
www.shanjewellery.com. It was a great learning experience for her, she went through all the hassles for starting a business: registering the company, making the website, opening an business bank account, hiring an accountant, learning to do bookkeeping, filing VAT return 4 times per year, finding wholesalers all across the globe etc. etc. And most of this information was only in dutch which only added to the complexity of things. But thats what makes it so exciting!
Another exciting thing that happened this year was that my brother got married in Patna. Sayantani and I were in India for few weeks in June this year for the wedding. As always, it was madness. So much fun, family and food. Every time I go back to India, I realize I am such a desi guy at heart. I miss my family and weddings are such great occasions to meet everyone.
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| The cool Bhawsinkas! What a great gang of brothers and sisters :) |
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| All the best brother! |
In the meantime, Shan managed to get her driving licence in Holland and we bought our first car - Toyota Auris Hybrid. It was sad to return our Citroen C4 Cactus but it was on a private lease and we had to give it back as the lease was ending.
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| Me and Auris ... |
Then in May, we went to Panama. I was attending a conference and Sayantani joined me there. It was our first time in South America. As Indian citizens, we need a Visa to enter Panama. When I enquired about it in the Panamanian embassy in Netherlands, they told me it will take months for them to issue my visa. They informed me that if I have a US visa and I have used it once to enter US, then I can enter Panama visa free. So we applied for a US visa in Netherlands and both of us got a 10 year US visa within 1 week. It was great!! So we booked our flights from Amsterdam to Miami, stayed overnight in Miami to use our US visa once, and then flew from Miami to Panama. We could pass the immigration in Panama City hassle free. It was hot and humid.
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| We stayed in Riu Plaza Hotel in Panama City |
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| Shan exploring the ruins at Museo de Panama Viejo |
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| Artisan market in Panama City |
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| Us with the backdrop of Panama City (somewhere along the Amador Causeway) |
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Panama!
The conference organizers had planned a trip for everyone to the Panama Canal locks. First we visited the Miraflores Locks on the pacific side of Panama and then the Agua Clara locks on the caribbean side of Panama. We took a train ride to cross the whole country alongside the man made lake which acts as canal for ships transiting from one side of panama to other. An impressive engineering marvel, the canals are lifeline of the panamanian economy.
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| Miraflores Locks on the pacific ocean side and Gatun locks on the caribbean sea side |
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| Me at the Miraflores Locks |
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| Us with local panamanian dancers at Miraflores Locks |
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| The one with the classic Panama Canal Railway |
Most of my time in Panama was spent attending the conference. So when the conference ended, we decided to go to an island in the middle of nowhere for a weekend. We went to San Blas islands!! Its a paradise archipelago on the caribbean coast of Panama and its totally controlled by native tribes called Gunas. We booked a package tour with one of the agents which included return transportation to the islands, overnight stay and boat tour of few islands. I have to say that San Blas islands was the most raw and beautiful place I have ever been to. The facilities on the islands are really basic, you stay in beach huts and you have shared toilets. The gunas cook food for tourists, mostly fish and plantain based meals. Basic but delicious. Rest is wild nature, sun and sand. We stayed overnight on Isla Diablo. You travel from Panama city in a licenced 4 by 4 vehicle of the travel agent. The crazy drive takes about 3 hours. I highly recommend the use of car sickness medication. Gravol literally saved my life. The road trip ends at the carribean coast where you will probably wait for an hour before taking the water taxi with the Gunas. In 30-40 minutes, the water taxi reaches Isla Diablo.
Isla Diablo, San Blas Islands, Panama
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| Basic beach huts on Isla Diablo |
Sand and waves, under her feet...
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| Fish and Rice for Sayantani |
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Plantain and veggies for me, yummy in my tummy! :P
Experience the thrill and freedom ... |
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| Ready for our island hopping day trip! |
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| Snorkeling @ Isla Perro |
Shan enjoying the warm caribbean breeze on a swing ...
After our weekend trip, we traveled back to Panama city, stayed another night in a hotel and then flew back to Amsterdam on the next day.
Then in end of July, we started our 3 weeks holiday in New York. We had planned this trip in great detail as we were going to cover a lot of ground in this trip. From New York, we flew to Toronto from where we travelled further to Quebec City, Montreal and Halifax before flying back to Amsterdam. We already had a US visa, so we only needed to apply for a Canadian visa which was also issued to us for 10 years. Great stuff! We stayed with Shan's aunt in New Jersey, met with old friends who now live in NYC, did all the cliche tourist trap things - Empire state building, wall street, times square, staten island ferry etc. etc. and ate a shit load of awesome food. I have to say, the variety of food available in US is way larger and the price is way cheaper than in Netherlands. I was drooling over all the Chinese and Indian food we ate!
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| Shan and the bull @ wall street ;) |
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| On top of Empire State Building |
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| With KGP friends in New York |
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| Munching in Chinatown in NYC |
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| Visiting Shans Family in New Jersey |
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| Us @ Times Square |
From New York, we flew to Toronto. Many old memories came back. Flying from New York to Toronto, you see the difference in wealth immediately. Travelling from Toronto Airport to the city center, you pass through various run down suburbs. City center of Toronto is nice, tidy and modern but suburbs are another story.
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| Shan at one of the streets in Yorkville neighbourhood in Toronto |
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| Distillery District in Toronto is very instagramable |
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| Tandem cycling on Toronto Island |
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| Us @ Niagara Falls |
From Toronto, we flew to Quebec City. Totally different from most cities in this part of the world, it has a charm of its own. And its surrounded by great nature.
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| We celebrated Shan's birthday @ Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City |
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| Roaming the beautiful streets of Quebec City |
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| The colourful sky over her head .... |
In Quebec city, we hired a car and went north for a road trip. The nature is pretty much untouched north of quebec city. We drove along the St. Lawrence river as far as we wanted, took multiple breaks and visited parks, waterfalls and lavender fields. The landscape is fantastic and driving is easy. Highly recommended if you are visiting Quebec city!
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| Me and Mooooose ;) |
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| Us @ Chute Sainte-Anne (waterfall is 'chute' in french) |
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| The intoxicating smell of lavender @ Azulee farm in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec |
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| The fresh cold water was refreshing in the august heat (Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec) |
From Quebec city, we took a train ride to reach Montreal. We spent a day in town meeting old friends from my university time in Canada.
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| Us with Cristy and Purna and their partners in Montreal ... chatting about good old days :) |
Next day, we rented a car and took a road trip to see 1000 islands. We drove to Gananoque and did a 2 hour cruise of the islands.
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| Shan posing at the Gananoque waterfront |
Next day, we went to see the international balloon festival in a nearby village. It was not as exciting as we had imagined but we had fun seeing all the colourful balloons in the sky.
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| International Balloon Festival, Montreal 2018 |
Our last stop of this trip was Halifax in Atlantic Canada. Here we stayed at the hotel in Dartmouth side. The largest canadian city on the Atlantic coast, Halifax is an beautiful coastal town in Canada. The waterfront is magical and filled with Lobster restaurants and souvenir shops. Here we had one of the best ice cream evers at COWS Halifax. Highly recommended!
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| Somewhere between Halifax and Peggy's Cove along the lighthouse route |
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| One of our stops during our drive to Lunenburg |
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| On our way to Peggy's Cove! |
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| One must experience the fury of the Atlantic ocean from Peggy's cove lighthouse |
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| Lobsters are omnipresent in this part of the world! |
As I write this blog, we are preparing for new challenges and experiences that 2019 will bring to us. We already have some trips for which we are planning. Every year we think that we will take the next year a bit easy but by the end of the year somehow we are always amazed at how much we managed to see, do and achieve.
I wish all my readers a very happy new year! See you all in 2019.
Cheers,
Karan
