Mesmerizing Vanuatu

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Well it all started back in 2008 when for the first time I visited such a beautiful country which took my breath away the moment I looked out of the airplane window just before landing. Small Island surrounded with blue and green water filled my heart with thrill to explore it. 

 On this day unstoppable Ritz-Journey began!!

My love for water drove me to explore the life underwater which is amazingly incredible to experience. 

Now you will not be surprised to know why I am so deeply in love with this country and the simplicity of Ni-Vanuatu people. Local people of Vanuatu, called as Ni-Vanuatu, are the people with simplest life style.

Ripablik blong Vanuatu (Republic of Vanuatu) is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean .In 2006 the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth environmentalist group published the Happy Planet Index which analyzed data on levels of reported happiness, life expectancy and Ecological Footprint and estimated Vanuatu to be the most ecologically efficient country in the world in achieving high well-being.

 The traditional music of Vanuatu is still thriving in the rural areas of Vanuatu. Musical instruments consist mostly of idiophones: drums of various shape and size, slit gongs, as well as rattles, among others. Another musical genre that has become widely popular during the 20th century in all areas of Vanuatu is known as string band music. It combines guitars, ukulele, and popular songs.

Have never enjoyed any music as I enjoyed this wonderful and amazing String Band!!

The national dish of Vanuatu is Laplap. It is prepared by pounding taro or yam roots into a paste, which is then placed on taro or spinach leaves. They are then soaked in grated coconut mixed with water. Pieces of pork, beef, chicken, fish or banana for vegetarian (like me) are added and the mixture is tied in the leaves from the laplap plant. The small pieces are cooked in an underground oven. 

Kava an intoxicating liquid made from pounded or ground pepper root mixed with water. Most villages have a nakamal or village clubhouse which serves as a meeting point for men and as a place to drink kava. Villages also have male and female-only sections. These sections are situated all over the villages.

it’s an amazing place to enjoy cursing around the island and water adventures like water rappelling, water skiing and my favorite scuba diving.

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Nandi Hills

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I have always been in love with Mountains and their mystic magical powers. Because of this Nandi Hills was on top in my list to visit places around Bangalore. Fortunately after 8 years I got the chance to start off visiting places from my list...

Experience of Nandi Hills at Sunrise…

It was heard that, we should see the place early in the morning before sunrise to see magical clouds unfolding mystic mountains of Nandi Hills.

We planned to leave the resort on Sunday morning at 5:45 am and drive to the hill and reach there by 6:15 am to witness the sunrise. To the surprise at 6:00 Am road to Nandi Hill was packed with vehicle and instead of whistling from cool breeze of hills we were able to hear the hocking from bikes and cars.

It was too much of expectation and demand from a typical tourist destination to provide me with silence and serenity. As soon as we reached to the entrance we realized that we it’s not what we were looking for and we should be ready to be disappointed this time as we are in a long queue to cross the entrance and here also we have to struggle with parking issue as we do in the city.

Parking Area at the Top of the Hill..

Crowd waiting to see the sunrise, climbing the wall and posing for a picture.

At this point of time I asked myself that why dint I know it before. The only reason could think of is that of fascinating stories of Nandi Hills and its view which I heard from the people who have been there. But for the person like me it was a bad surprise...

Those fascinating stories seemed to be unrealistic

as there was an untold hidden reality behind it.

Echo of the wind blowing across the hills was lost in the shouting and screaming of the crowd while they were posing for the pictures. The magical clouds were unfolding the mountains but the magic was lost behind the wall of crowd and there was a small window to witness the magic.

Wall of crowd, busy making a small window for those who are left behind,

to witness the magic of could and Mountains.

Experience of Nandi Hills at Sunset…

With few friends we started on Saturday morning from Bangalore and reached to the resort located on the base of Nandi Hills. Driving away from the hustling bustling of the city had filled me with hope that now I would be experiencing the serenity and mystical powers of the mountains.

We reached resort, had lunch and relaxed for some time. Around 4 pm we started to Nandi Hills, it was a beautiful driveway with deadly yet thrilling curves. I was driving on such a road for the first time and that made me even more excited and thrilled.

We reached on the first entrance of Nandi Hills. After reaching on top I was very much disappointed as the road here was in such a bad state that I felt that no one cares if accident happens or even if anyone dies while driving on these roads crafted with pot holes and huge stones.

Anyways very soon this feeling of disappointment faded away as we reached to the second entrance with the view of mystical beauty of the mountains from the top of the hill. We parked the car, clicked some pictures. 

Thinking that we might capture this mystic beauty in a 4x6 frame

I guess A foolish thought...

Once we realized that the magic of these mountains can’t be captured, we started experiencing the cool breeze blowing from the mountains carrying its fragrance and allowed ourselves to be mesmerized by its mystic beauty. 

At that moment, nature was at its best of creativity and its beauty was marvelous.

It was the time of sunset and sky as filled up with all shades of red as if rejoicing and celebrating the end of day. Slowly slowly Sun was going below the horizon and hiding behind the red sky.After the soul enriching experience we set off for the walk.

A day ending

We heard the whistle while walking around the hill; security guard was warning everyone to leave the hill area as it was closing time. We drove back to the resort where we stayed with wonderful scenic memories of Nandi Hills.

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