Rakhee Ghelani

Tag: Travel

  • Sun, Friends and Wine: Visiting San Francisco

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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…

  • Japan : Handy Hints and Travel Tips

    Japan : Handy Hints and Travel Tips

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    Visiting Japan had always been a dream of mine. I had imagined beautiful temples, sleek design and extraordinary food. I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what I found in Japan, but there were quite a few things that I didn’t expect. Here’s some of the things that surprised, some observations and some tips that others may…

  • Nagomi Visit : Eating Local in Tokyo

    Nagomi Visit : Eating Local in Tokyo

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    It’s no secret that I love food. I particularly like trying out local delicacies when I travel, which isn’t always easy when you’re in a new city only for a few days. Eating local in Tokyo was particularly challenging because of my language constraints. Aside from hello and goodbye, I didn’t know any Japanese and…

  • Bright Lights Big City : Tokyo

    Bright Lights Big City : Tokyo

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    I had always imagined Tokyo as a huge city of towering buildings and flashing neon signs. Something like this: But now that I’ve seen Tokyo I would describe it as green, peaceful and almost European. I spent a few days just wandering through different parts of the city, and was just amazed at how calm,…

  • The Toilets of Japan

    The Toilets of Japan

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    I know, I know, toilet humour really is the lowest common denominator. But this post isn’t about toilet humour I promise, but rather it’s about toilet etiquette in Japan. You see the Japanese are incredibly clean people, and their obsession with ensuring everything is pristine starts with themselves and in particular their toilets. From my…

  • Flying High : Paragliding Near Mumbai

    Flying High : Paragliding Near Mumbai

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    I will let you into one of my not so favourite secrets. As I get older I am becoming more and more scared of heights. I don’t have an issue going up, but when I have to look down or try to walk down a steep incline, I become paralysed with fear. Only a few…

  • My First Solo Trip : Malaysia

    My First Solo Trip : Malaysia

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    I am asked a lot about where I went for my first solo adventure. For me it was back in 1998, and I visited the region of Sabah in Malaysia. To be honest I had never even heard of Sabah before I chose to go there.  It was a spur of the moment decision, I…

  • A Step Back in Time: Yangon

    A Step Back in Time: Yangon

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    Yangon is the capital of Myanmar. Whilst it is a bustling city, it kind of looks and feels a bit like it is 40 years behind the times. It’s hard to put a finger on it exactly. Perhaps it’s the concrete buildings, the lack of internet and phone access or just the way everything is…

  • The Clayton’s Asia: Laos

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    Laos to me is Asia without really being Asia. It doesn’t have the high-tech feel of places like Singapore or Hong Kong, and isn’t an explosion of sights, taste and sound like Thailand or even Vietnam. To me it’s the Clayton’s Asia, or the Asia you have when you don’t have Asia (quoting a very…

  • Paradise Found: Inle Lake

    Paradise Found: Inle Lake

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    Just the mention of Inle Lake makes anyone who has been there sigh as they drift off dreamily remembering this region of Burma. It really is a paradise. What makes Inle Lake so lovely is that it’s relatively untouched. I fear in only a short while it will become just another tourist region, and all…

  • The Road to Mandalay : Burma

    The Road to Mandalay : Burma

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    I took the bus from Bagan to Mandalay, but rather than going on the brand new freeway, we took the scenic route through central Myanmar. While it may have cost me a couple of hours of my life, the journey gave me the time to really appreciate what it’s like to travel in Burma. We…

  • Dubai the City of Glamour: United Arab Emirates

    Dubai the City of Glamour: United Arab Emirates

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    After a little hiatus, I am getting back into writing about a different location a week I have visited. This week it’s the United Arab Emirates, and more specifically Dubai. Dubai has a special place in my heart, I spent about 6 months there on a rotating fly in fly out arrangement about ten years…

  • Slum Tourism: Dharavi

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    Slum tourism drums up all sorts of bad connotations. For this reason I avoided doing the tour of Dharavi, the biggest slum in Mumbai for a long time. Finally, after a little convincing by a friend I decided to see it for myself. I now think everyone, Mumbaikars born and bred and tourists alike should…