Bangalore Palace

I happen to visit this palace last month during Holi (A festival of colors) weekend. There is nothing much to do here other than exploring the palace and taking a walk in the palace garden, still when you need a small break from the daily routine you can visit this palace. Its good for post lunch visit.

Bangalore Palace

In old era, this palace was being bought by one of the Maharaj from Wodeyar Dynasty of Mysore and now it belongs to the royal family of Mysore. These days it is being made available for visitors to see. 

The palace is being divided into around 20 to 22 parts for visitors sake and an audio guide is provided to each visitor. The audio guide explain each of these parts and what is being displayed there. The audio guide is quite good to listen to and talks about the old era and how the royal family spent their time here. Following are the few of the things I remember form my visit (not in particular order)

• The audio starts with the Wodeyar Dynasty 's emblem Gandaberuna (a two headed mythological bird in Hindu Mythology) which is now the emblem of Karnataka State Government.
• Then takes you to ballroom & explains how royal parties are being arranged and done there during old times.
• Tells about the architectures being used in the palace.
• It does have the durbar but access to it is prohibited. You can just view if from far end window.
• Shows how men & women of royal family lived in old ear.
• How women has been differentiated from men & how it changed as the time passed. It also gives details about how parda prath was being discontinued from royal family.
• The hunting stories thorough pictures.

  

  Elephant Feet

• The paintings from old times. Stories around them and when they have been painted.
• One place had the painting which depicted how "Dasara Festival" was being celebrated in Mysore during old times and how this old age tradition has been evolved from then to now. The royal family is Mysore still follows this tradition during "Dasara Festival" with its own evolved way.
• One of the part explain about the Silk, how it has been used in royal family's clothing and how Mysore silk came into picture. This part was getting renovate during my visit to the palace. They had royal family clothes being put up in closed glass cupboards for visitors to see (I found this quite funny).
• Display of different kinds of furniture which was being used in that era by the royal family.
• Different kinds if weighing machines and how they have been used.
• Generation of Royal family through pictures. 
• The palace is maintained well and there are few more old stuffs available to see which I don't remember now :) 

Below are few notes to take from my experience: 

• The entry fee is 230 per person for Indians. They provide the audio guide with the entry ticket, which is quite informative, but I feel the cost is in bit expensive side.
• There is no option to not to take the audio guide, if you want to enter and see the place from inside.
• Sometimes it may happen that the audio device's battery may get drained out (I had experienced this), that time better get a new pair of it from reception. You can request for a new audio device in between the tour or they let you take the tour again if you inform them at the end of the tour.
• You should have at least 2 hours or more, if you want to explore the palace.
• Visit to this palace is good for history lovers.

How to Plan a Short Trip to Andaman

This post is for anyone who wants to visit Andaman for a short 6 days trip. The information provides here are based on my visit in Feb' 2016. Writing down here, as it may help someone plan his/her trip to beautiful Andaman ;) 

Well this was the last minute plan made by us so we didn't have much time to research to plan it our-self hence we decided to go through the travel agents. This turned out to be a bad idea, as there were hell lot of travel sites/agents to confuse us, but after talking to few of them we got the fair idea and decided to go through one of the them. 

Airport- Port Blair

The only way to enter Andaman is to go to Port Blair and there are no direct flight from Delhi or Bangalore to Port Blair. Anyone who wishes to visit has to take the connecting flight which goes either through Chennai or Calcutta. The minimum travel time is about 6 hours from Delhi.

In Andaman to go from one island to another one has to either take cruise or boat. There are cruise shuttles from Port Blair to Havelock which passes through Neil, if someone is visiting to Neil from Havelock they will have to show the return cruise tickets from Neil to Port Blair / Havelock, while check-in.

Port Blair 

Following are the must See places:

Cellular Jail

1. The Sound and Light show at Cellular jail. This takes you back to the Indian freedom struggle.

2. Chidiya Tapu (Munda Pahad) - This is about 30 kms from Port Blair and comes under the reserve Forrest area. This is the best point to see the sunset when you are in Port Blair.

Ross Island

3. Ross Island - It is just 2 kms from Port Blair and reached through the small/big boats from Water Sports Complex. This is managed by the Indian Navy so, one who wishes to visit has to fill a form with signature at the entrance. This small island has ruins from the past, seeing which one can say how well everything is being planned in the island. This is closed on Wednesday so plan your visit accordingly. They do have a light & sound show like Cellular jail, I have not seen it as I had the return flight to Delhi on the same day, but I think if one has time one must see this show. For more information about the island you can visit the wiki page. 

4. North Bay Island - Best place for Sea Walk.

5. Jollybouy - Best place for Snorkeling.

6. Corbyn's Cove Beach - Nothing special about this beach but drive to this beach is awesome

Havelock 

View from the Beach Resort we stayed in Havelock

Following are the must see places:

• Elephanta Beach
• Famous for water activity and picturesque views. 
• Snorkeling (do only if one is not planning to visit Jollybouy)
• Sea Walk (do only if one is not planning to visit North Bay)

• Radhanagar Beach - One can do Scuba diving here if one is not planing to visit Neil island

• Kalapathar Beach - To view Sunset

Neil

Following are the must see places:

• Natural Bridge 

  

  @ Natural Bridge

• Lakshmanpur Beach - Best place to see sunset

• Bharatput Beach - This is next to the Neil Jetty and must visit for water activities
• Best place to do Scuba diving in Andaman
• Glass Bottom boat ride - Best for people who are scared to do Scuba/snorkeling. as it does cover the Scuba point too. 
• Jet Skie
• Snorkeling

• Seetapur Beach - Sunrise point in Neil

Few Dos' and Don'ts ;) 

• I must say if you have time plan it yourself, you will save almost half the money what you pay to the travel agents.
• If you are planning yourself, make sure you first check the cruise availability and if booking is possible book the tickets too.
• In Havelock and Neil you don't need to hire a cab. You can rent scooter (Activa), which is the best way to roam around there.  
• Don't keep Ross Island and North Bay at the last day of trip because one full day is needed to cover both.
• Stay at Havelock for minimum of two days
• Stay at Neil for minimum of two days.
• If you don't have enough time you can skip Marina park, Gandhi park and Joggers Park in Port Blair.

@ Munda Pahar