Rakhee Ghelani, Author at Rakhee Ghelani

New York City: My Favourites

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New York is considered to be one of the greatest cities on earth, and for good reason. I was fortunate to spend 4 weeks in the Big Apple recently, which gave me plenty of time to explore, visit different neighbourhoods and enjoy some of the best food one earth! Here’s a round-up of the best…

Day Trips from Antigua : Pacay & Chichicastenango

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While I loved spending time wandering the cobblestoned laneways of Antigua, it’s also a good base to do some day trips. I had only limited time, so unfortunately didn’t make it to the popular heights of Lake Atitlan, but I did manage to climb an active volcano and visit the largest market in Guatemala. These…

Exploring Antigua Guatemala

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Antigua Guatemala, not to be confused with Antigua and Barbuda (in the West Indies), is a charming colonial town about an hour from the capital, Guatemala City. I’d decided to skip the big city altogether, but caught a little glimpse when I arrived by bus from Flores at about 6am in morning and was glad…

Chilling out in Flores, Guatemala

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For most tourists, Flores is a launching pad to visit Tikal, the extraordinary Mayan ruins located deep within the jungle. While Tikal was my main reason for visiting Flores, for me it was also a great place to just chill out and really relax. After a rather tiring 32 hour journey, I was happy to…

Tikal: The Jewel of the Maya

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It’s 4.30am and pitch black. I stumble to find the torch app on my phone, but finally manage to shed some light onto the path ahead of me. Before me is a jungle. The path is muddy and slippery, my slide stopped only by the thick tree roots that snake their way across the ground.…

The Backpacking Mojo

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Sometimes when I’m sitting in front a computer for days on end I almost forget that feeling I get when I travel. The freedom, the challenge, the fear, the fascination, the sheer exhilaration. Sometimes I feel it all at the same time. Even when I’ve embarked on my next adventure, backpacking solo through undiscovered terrains,…

Exploring Mayan Ruins in Mexico: Ek Balam and Tulum

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Aside from Chichen Itza there are so many other Mayan ruins in Mexico, unfortunately limited time meant that I had to pick only a couple to see. The two I chose are not necessarily the most impressive, I’m told Palenque and Coba are definitely worth a visit, but they were both a little different. Rather…

One of the 7 Wonders of the World : Chichen Itza

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Chichen Itza was virtually unheard of on the mainstream tourist trail before 2007, when it was named as one of the 7 wonders of the world based on an online poll. The poll gave it status alongside India’s Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, Italy’s Colosseum and…

A Taste of Mexico: Valladolid

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My first taste of Mexico was in the small town of Valladolid. There’s nothing special about the town itself, except that it’s a charming Mexican town, but I chose it for it’s strategic position about half an hour away from Chichen Itza, the latest hotspot on the tourist track. I’d been travelling for about 18…

Sun, Friends and Wine: Visiting San Francisco

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I decided to take a little detour in San Francisco on my way from New York to Mexico. It wasn’t so much as a detour as a completely out of the way stop-over, but I felt it was worth it. I’ve got a client in Silicone Valley, so technically it was a business trip, but…

Discovering Italy in New York

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Mario Batali is a New York icon, even though he’s not actually from the Big Apple. He has built an international empire based around his love of classic Italian cuisine. After studying for a while underneath the inimitable Marco Pierre White and The Four Seasons Hotel chain, he chose to leave a promising career to…

Exploring Old London Town

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Old London town has to be one of my favourite cities in the world. I’ve been there so many times now, it feels like a second (or perhaps now third) home. I’ve always a had a lot of family there, and have a bedroom in one of my cousin’s homes, which always makes it such…

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

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At Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London’s fancy Knightsbridge, they offer a lunch special that is great value at 3 courses for GBP 38. I’m always a fan of a bargain and have long been fascinated by watching Blumenthal’s molecular gastronomy on Masterchef, so I wanted to see if his food lived up to its…

Bangla Affair : Kolkata

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I can’t believe it took me so long to visit Kolkata. Even though I’ve passed through the city on my way to Odisha, for some reason I’d never stepped out of the airport until now. By chance I managed to pick up a cheap flight about 6 months ago and forgot about it, so it…

India Travel Advice Part 2

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Following on from my last post providing India travel advice for women, I thought it would be worthwhile to provide a few more tips that I’ve found handy while travelling across India. These ones are relevant regardless of gender: Eating in India One of the most common questions I am asked about India is about…

India Travel Advice For Women

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As promised in this post, I’m writing a few posts with my advice on travelling to India. The advice is based on my experience, and that of other travellers whom I know and trust. There is a lot of bad and sugar coated advice out there, designed to please tourism boards and PR / Marketing…

Peace, Love & Mung Beans: Should You Believe that Travel Blog About India

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I’m pretty sure this post isn’t going to win me some friends in the travel blogging space, but something happened yesterday that just infuriated me so much I felt the need to write about it. I put a photo on my personal (private) FB page and one of my “friends” (although not now as I’ve…

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai: The Lalbagh Walk

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Ganpati or Ganesh Chaturthi would have to be one of the biggest festivals in Mumbai. The festival is in honour of Lord Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles. A Ganesh statue is traditionally installed in the home, or in the neighbourhood in many cases, and people worship it for 10 days. The statue is…

Eating Out in Japan : A Gourmand’s Delight

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I couldn’t possibly visit Japan and not write about it’s amazing cuisine. So much more than sushi and teriyaki, Japanese food has so many styles and flavours that it was impossible to try everything I wanted to in only ten days. Here’s a round up of what I did try, what surprised me and what…

Why #IndiaNeedsFeminism

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This week I participated in a campaign by BuzzFeed where people explained why they felt feminism was relevant to India. Now anyone who’s read my blog for a while knows that I believe feminism has a long way to go here. So when I saw a call-out for people willing to participate in this campaign…

Author: Rakhee Ghelani