Fourteen I wont Forget

Despite having extensively travelled far and wide across this wonderful planet of ours for more than a decade and a half, I somehow never managed to find the time to come up with a personal bluelist of any kind until now. However, a recent article I read about how to spend your money for long-lasting happiness motivated me to create this blog. The most interesting point that the article called out was that in the constant pursuit of happiness, most people pursue material things. But unfortunately, the common misconception is that since a physical object will last longer, it will make us happier for a longer time than a one-off experience like a concert or vacation.

Au contraire, our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods. And if you were to view the world and definition of happiness through my lens, then travel experiences are much more long-lasting and fulfilling than physical objects that you acquire. I can't very easily recollect or list the various digital devices - or objects of other kinds - that I had acquired over the last two decades, that I was so thrilled to buy in the first place.  However, I will never forget any of the scintillating experiences that I have ‘earnt’ or collected over the course of the same period. That is why I finally joined the legion of folks who have created various bluelists across multiple digital and print media.

NOTE: I am not a big believer in Blue Lists and  Bucket Lists like ‘Top x things you should do before you die’  or ‘Top x under the radar destinations’, etc., as I strongly feel that these are very subjective to the author who created it. In my opinion, no one person can actually summarize this wonderful travelicious planet that we call home through simple lists. I have often found many of my favorite destinations/items to be missing from lists like ‘Top x Romantic destinations’ or ‘Top x Beach destinations in Asia’ etc,  Also, according to the article that inspired me to write this blog - You're also much less prone to negatively compare your own experiences to someone else's than you would with material purchases. That is the reason why I titled this blog as experiences that ‘I’ can't forget :-) So, if you are inspired by this, go ahead and create your own bluelist! Without much further ado, let us jump to the list now, shall we?!

1. Rafting the Mighty Zambezi

Rafting on the Zambezi is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and is the wildest one-day run in the world beneath one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the mighty Victoria Falls! Author Patricia Schultz, in her best-selling travel book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” remarks that the Zambezi River is one of the best rivers in the world for white water rafting, partially because it is one of only a few rivers where you can go down class V rapids - the most dangerous rapids. 

"Class V: Expert. Extremely long, obstructed or very violent rapids which expose a paddler to above average endangerment... swims are dangerous, and rescue is difficult, even for experts." - International Scale of River Difficulty

The night before rafting, we went on a fun Zambezi river cruise to ease the anxiety I was going through in expectation of what was waiting to greet me the morning after. However, I made a mistake of checking with a few folks on the cruise who had already done the run down the river about their experience. Bad idea!  The Zambezi River has a fearsome reputation, and it is almost impossible to run this river without flipping a raft. And the folks I spoke to confirmed that saying - ‘The question is not about flipping, but how many times you are going to flip!!’. Was not a very encouraging precursor. 

You know you’re in for a mindblowing experience when half of the safety briefing is on how to pull your fellow raft mates out of the river! There are 25 rapids in the Zambezi River, and 15 of them are either class IV or V rapids. This is the river equivalent of black diamond and double black diamond ski slopes, only the slopes move underneath you, and there is a chance you could drown, break your neck, crack your head open on a rock, bleed to death, and get bitten by a crocodile! And Rapid names like “Commercial Suicide”, “Devil’s Toilet Bowl”, “The 3 Ugly Sisters”, “The Muncher” only amplified the mortal fear!

In any case, what transpired through the course of the run was a truly unforgettable experience that any kind of superlative words will not do justice to. Of course, we did flip more than once and in a few situations had both Short Swimmers [a person who falls out of the raft, but manages to hang onto the boat] and Long Swimmers [a person who's separated from the raft is called a long swimmer]! The painful side of this exhilarating experience was the grueling, steep climb up the gorge to get to our transport. So we treated ourselves to more than a few crisp - and appropriately named-  Zambezi Pale Lagers as we traded stories back at our lodge! [Experienced in: 2006]

2. Gorilla Tracking in Uganda

To many people - including seasoned travellers - travelling to Africa means nothing more than luxury Safaris and days that are bookended by early morning game drives and sunset drinks around the bonfire outside a fancy tented camp/lodge. However, there is another side to Africa, which still involves encounters with the wilder kind of the dark continent,  but comes with a more demanding effort in locations off the beaten track.  Tracking gorillas on foot is one of those! Though you can do this in Rwanda or Congo also, we picked Uganda because the very mention of the name Bwindi Impenetrable Forest invoked some spine-tingling images in our head!

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda on the rim of the Rift Valley and is home to more than half the world’s population of Mountain Gorillas. The word “Bwindi” means “darkness” and a trek through this magnificent forest, which you have to endure if you have to track mountain gorillas, will certainly unveil to you the reason why the forest was named so and also why it is regarded as "impenetrable’ 

Seeing mountain gorillas can involve anywhere between 2-8 hours of hiking, depending on where the animals spent the night and which troop you are seeing. Unfortunately, the group we decided to track that day decided to play hard-to-get, and our trek lasted almost 8 hours[round trip] through the impenetrable forest filled with heavy vegetation that our guides were slashing their way through using their machetes! However, in the end, all the fatigue vaporized instantly when we found ourselves standing in such close quarters to an adoringly cute family of Gorillas - with a wary and watchful silverback - that we could notice every tiny expression on their faces! A very moving, and at the same time, life-changing moment that we relived again and again as we went through our pictures over drinks at the lovely Gorilla Forest Camp at the base of the mountain!

3. Ash-Boarding down the Volcanic slopes

Does careening down an active volcano at more than 60 kph on a narrow board sound like an insanely cool experience that will never pass through safety regulations to be offered on a travel itinerary? True- in most parts of the world, but not in Central America! Neither too large nor too small for careening down (roughly 2000 feet from peak to base), the smooth, denuded conditions on Cerro Negro - a volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua -  make it the ideal place for such madness, especially because the cone is primarily made up of small penny-sized grains of volcanic rocks

But before the pleasure comes the pain. To start this adventure, we strapped heavy boards to our backs and began to ascend the black mountain of loose rock. The climb up to the top of the mountain was not only gruelling but almost completely ‘warning-free’! Meaning, other than a couple of nearly unnoticeable signboards that mentioned ‘peligro’ [which means danger in Spanish], I never observed any signs warning the visitor about potential dangers like loose gravel or the edge of the cliff.

Once we made our way up to the top of the crate, we received a short technical ‘training’ from our guide, followed by a couple of chances to do short test runs inside the crater before heading to the steeper and outer rim for the real point of descent.  And that's it! Before I even managed to register what was going on and attempt to ask a question like ‘What to do if I cannot brake?!' etc., I was sliding down the scattering gravel. And much to my surprise, I managed to complete the course all the way down without crashing or tipping over to my side! There’s nothing quite like the sudden silence one experiences midway through the pebble-scraping & air-rushing descent down a volcanic slope  - not knowing whether you are going to make it all the way down still upright or land on your face and bite into the volcanic gravel for a rough ending!

4. Summiting a Glacial mountain

This one barely qualifies to be on this list, as I did this while I was still living in the state of Washington  in the West Coast of the U.S.  The North Cascades mountain range gets a lot of visitors every year since they use it as a training ground to prepare them for more advanced climb as Denali, Vinson, Aconcagua, and Everest, to name a few.  And most folks who have climbed the Cascade Volcanoes would probably choose Mt.Rainier as their best experience in Western Washington. But I felt - having summited both - that Baker was a more serene experience. Standing atop the summit of a mountain not just soaks you in a sense of fulfillment & accomplishment, but also rewards you with a breathtakingly brilliant and a truly ‘top-of-the-world’ experience that simple words cannot describe. But, in my case, what was more magical was actually what I experienced on the eve of the Summit!

Most folks who had trekked up the mountain had prepped me enough about the food scene. I had set my expectations so low and was not expecting anything more than a beef jerky, a roll of Oreos, or a bag of nuts to qualify as gourmet cuisine during our halt at the base camp. But as luck would have it, one of the guides in my group was from Scotland, and he ensured that food & beverage were not to be considered as second-class citizens on the slopes of this wonderful creation of nature. So, if hot cups of Darjeeling Tea we got to taste during our pit stops were to be labeled as a mild surprise, then the Hot steaming ‘Punjabi Rice & Stew’ that he cooked for us at the base camp cannot be categorized as anything less than a Culinary Coup! And that image of smoke coming out of the volcanic craters of Baker on a starry night while we were being treated to ‘fine’ Indian cuisine will never disappear from my memory!  [Experienced in: 2002]

5. An unforgettable African Sundowner

More than just a happy hour, this is a cherished and time-honored African tradition as well as an integral part of any safari experience. Typically, at dusk, everyone will gather around the fire, help themselves to a drink and some hors d’oeuvres, recollect the day’s sightings, all the while taking in the magnificent view and celebrating another spectacular sunset. But in our case, there was a bit of drama thrown into the mix, too!

We had just gone through a long, hot summer day - inside the South Luangwa national park in Zambia - tracking Elephants on foot and long drives searching for the elusive Leopards. As the sun was making its way down, suddenly our guide started arguing with the driver about something. When we enquired, he regretfully brought to our attention that they had forgotten to pack the most important item needed for a classic African sundowner - the icebox that contained the goodies! And much to our dismay, we were way too far from our camp/lodge! Since the staff was so friendly and sweet all through the trip, we couldn't even express our utter disappointment or anger. Nonetheless, this was our last day of the trip, and we had no other opportunities to experience a sundowner here!

As we were doing our best not to sulk, all of a sudden, our vehicle made a sharp right turn into a path that seemed like it was going to lead us to the edge of a cliff. And to our pleasant surprise, he pulled over near an open space, which was indeed at the edge of a plateau, where we were welcomed by another staff member of the camp, who had already laid out the perfect setting for us to enjoy the sundowner!  Words cannot explain this experience - the Purple sky, almost violet coloured hot ball called the sun, the pack of Hippos that were lounging at their watering hole nearby as we set up ours… It was so otherworldly and ethereal that even one of the teetotallers in our group decided to sip on a glass of wine - a truly sensational experience! [Experienced in: 2010]

6. Antarctic Expedition

Notwithstanding the touristy aspect of this experience, I have to add the Antarctic Expedition to this bluelist. The fact that it is the only experience that is actually an ‘expedition’ itself qualifies it to be on this list! Expedition travel is not for everyone and, by nature, is for curious travelers who would like to embrace the unexpected in their journeys. Especially, Polar expeditions are for global travelers who are thrilled by places far away and revel in the magical experience of exploring uncharted & uninhabited destinations that can be reached only by going through extreme & unfriendly conditions.

I have to admit that though I had a sense of adventure, it was not strong enough to make me withstand the most dreaded oceanic passage in the world, called the Drake's passage [fondly referred to as the 'Drake Shake’]. So we opted to go for the ‘Fly the Drake’ package, which would help us dodge Mr. Drake and start our journey to the icy seventh continent from King George Island.  During the course of expedition we were treated to various once-in-a-lifetime experiences like:  zodiac rides through million year old icebergs, glacier climbs, visiting frozen shipwrecks, passing through marching penguin armies, iceberg landings etc., But the most memorable images imprinted on my mind are the magical landscapes we woke up to every morning - icebergs as tall as cliffs smothered all around our ship. Each morning it was a different painting - one more breathtaking than the other -  portrayed by the mother nature’s mystical brush! And the fact that we were able to celebrate the accomplishments of every day over drinks mixed with billion-year-old ice blocks - now that was the icing on the cake, literally!! [Experienced in: 2013]

7. Partying in a 2000-year-old cave bar in Syria

When you query for  ‘Damascus Travel’ in Google or your favorite AI assistant, the first page of results is filled with all kinds of Travel advisory sites and pages like ‘27 tips on Damascus dangers’, etc.! These webpages warning you NOT to travel to this fabled city  - overwhelming the search engine into failing to bring up the encouraging articles published by the NY Times or Telegraph Travel sections - is enough proof of the reality of how far this region has gone off the travel radar! So, I am sure you would be shocked when I say that the most hopping and characterful nightclub that I have ever been to was located in this state, which has been marred by violence and unrest caused by religious fanatics! I visited the ravishing and extraordinary city of Damascus back in 2000 when Syria had still not been labelled as a ‘rogue’ state or a political pariah. A city with a storied past and wrapped in extraordinary history unequalled by its rivals - having been occupied by Greeks, Romans, Nabateans, Ottomans, French, among others - it claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, along with Byblos and Jericho. It was no wonder that the Nightclub that my local friends took me to was an embodiment of all this.

 Mar Mar - the bar I am talking about- was located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, behind the ancient walls and hidden at the back of a tiny lane. Not only did this place ooze charm and character, but it was wrapped in thousands of years of history - literally!  The walls of the club were multilayered and contained stones laid out way back from the time of Greek, Roman, and Nabatean occupation! However, the fact that the inner edifices were vintage beyond belief, enclosed by ancient stone walls that looked like they could crumble anytime, didn't stop the club-owners from packing them with pounding speakers and cranking up the volume! Gorgeous Damascenes packing the dancefloor, grooving to pulsating Arabic music mixed with house, r&b and pop inside a historic building - truly unforgettable travel experience [Experienced in: 2000]

8. Night Kayaking in Palau

PALAU an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, is inimitable and a diver’s dream. Most tourists who come here like to spend their time underwater, for Palau is among the world's most spectacular diving and snorkelling destinations. It features coral reefs, blue holes, wartime wrecks, hidden caves, and tunnels where fleeing Japanese soldiers found sanctuaries! However, there are equally interesting - if not more - things to do above the water in this remote succession of islets in Micronesia, like kayaking around the rock islands that dot the azure seas around the main islands. Sticking up out of the water like mushrooms, these limestone islets have been carved into sculptures by the sea. The best part about what I experienced was that it was done after the big fire went down.

The Kayaking tour started around dusk as we went through the rock islands before heading into narrow and claustrophobia-inducing groves where we were easily able to view wrecks and relics from World War II, right from our kayak without even having to dive/snorkel! As the sun completely disappeared for the day, the almost supernatural sky turned from purple to mystical black, smothered with a million stars. I had never witnessed this kind of glitter in the sky in all my life, and it was so otherworldly here purely because there was nothing close to an urban development anywhere in sight. Floating in the calm waters on a pitch dark night lit up only by the shimmering stars above and the glowing bioluminescent sea creatures under the water was surely the most dreamlike experience I have had in all my travels!  [Experienced in: 2012]

9. Dune bashing in Qatar

One of the attractions of a visit to any of the Gulf states is the proximity of pristine, empty desert to their glittering metropolises. The best way of appreciating this contrast is on a “safari” in a 4x4 vehicle. There is no better way to enjoy the shifting sands of the Arabian Desert than tearing through them in a large four-wheel-drive steered by a sandal-shod adrenaline pumped arabian driver! Welcome to dune bashing, a sport that lures thousands of tourists to the Gulf every year.

As we left behind the urban jungle and entered the wide open desert,  our driver pulled over to the side of the road, aired down the tires, and climbed back in, giving us a wink.  The first image of the desert was striking - the sand was all yellow, of course, but there were valleys of brown and black, too, lengthening as the golden sun dropped.  And all of a sudden, we surged over and through the dunes. It was like skiing or ‘snowploughing’. Some folks in my vehicle were yelling every time it seemed to be going down an incline far too steeply - and the car, thrillingly, was skidding sideways, throwing out a high spray of sand. And our driver only got more encouraged by their squawks of delight! I will never forget this stomach-dropping, heart-pumping adrenaline rush from a drive with the modern-day Bedouins on their 4WD vehicles across the soft, undulating sand dunes of the desert [Experienced in: 2007]

10. Visiting a Breakaway state

You might not have heard of the tiny country of Moldova - located in Eastern Europe to the northeast of Romania - let alone the Moldovan breakaway territory of Transnistria! Transnistria (also called Trans-Dniester or Transdniestria) is a breakaway state located mostly on a strip of land between the River Dniester and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine. The territory declared itself an independent state back in 1990 and has basically continued to operate as such despite not being recognized by any other country. It has its own President, its own Parliament, and even its own currency, Transnistrian rubles. It has its own flag, its own license plates, and all visitors to the region must pass through a heavily secured border, complete with an immigration and customs inspection.

Though by the time I was all too familiar with the risk involved when travelling to relatively unknown territories, there was no way I was going to turn down an opportunity to visit a breakaway region, wherever I may be in the world! So, I did this side-trip as a part of a visit to Chisinau in Moldova. I struck a deal with a friendly Moldovan Taxi driver - after a lot of others turned down the opportunity to earn a good long-distance taxi fare - to drive me across the border for a brief tour around Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway state.

Visitors to Transnistria coming from Moldova must complete all the formalities of a border crossing at a checkpoint manned by Russian, Transnistrian, and Moldovan soldiers, which, in my opinion, was the most intimidating part! Otherwise, Transnistria certainly didn’t feel dangerous, even though many travelers seem to be afraid to visit. The one thing I also noticed from the moment we crossed the border was that Transnistria is an exceptionally quiet place.  There were around half a million or so inhabitants in the entire territory, but walking around Tiraspol felt quite eerie at times, with not so many vehicles and not so many people in the street at all. I was stopped a couple of times by a few soldiers who wanted to know more about my ‘business’ in the territory, and some of them didn't even know where India was or had never seen a brown-skinned person before!  Thanks to my very social taxi driver - and his command over the Russian language - we were able to get past the random checks easily. 

The place practically felt like a Russian state, as they were still celebrating Communism and worshipping Lenin more than the Russians did, probably! The most interesting part of this experience was when I attempted to buy some snacks & drinks at a local store. Surprisingly(or not so), none of the shops accepted Moldovan currency. And there were no ATM’s, and I was not very inclined towards purchasing currency notes that would not work outside this small territory! Overall, though this entry might not be directly comparable to the other experiences in this bluelist, I still think it’s a fascinating place to spend a day for any traveler who visits Moldova, and hey, how many times do you get an opportunity to visit such a breakaway state! [Experienced in: 2010]

11. Landing on the Edge in Saba

The island of Saba, in the Dutch Antilles, is a volcanic outcrop only five miles square. It may not be big enough to get lost in, but still big enough to lose yourself in. This tiny volcanic island, only five miles square, is virtually all mountain and rises sheer, straight from the sea, as if placed there by some giant's hand.  This is a place that could have slipped from a child's toy box. There are clusters of wooden houses with red roofs and white picket fences; well-swept streets, window boxes hung with flowers; a sense of order and cleanliness.  But my most memorable experience was not contained in the list of things I did on this island, but part of how I arrived at this destination!

The landing in Saba is not for the Faint-hearted, surely not for someone like me [who hates flying!]. The Twin Otter flew straight at the mountainside, a wall of rock that grew suddenly huge before the windshield. Then at the last moment, it plunges into a sharp, low turn, giving you a glimpse of the airstrip, on a table of land between the sea and the mountain. We thumped down, the pilot slammed on the brakes, and the plane came to a halt a few yards from the edge. We had just landed on the world's shortest commercial runway - all 1,300ft of it! The half-dozen passengers limped off the plane in near disbelief. It was every bit as scary as I expected it to be! Landing on one of the world's most Extreme Airport Runways - Check! By far, this was way cooler than the Landing at Paro airport in Bhutan!! The runway is much shorter than an Aircraft carrier.

Even cooler was the tricky winding drive up to the city from the airport! If the landing of the plane was an adrenaline rush, this drive up the super steep and wickedly winding road pumped it up even further! The road runs from the airstrip up through a lush green landscape, snaking along cliffs, winding down into valleys, up again onto ridges, always with the blue sea glittering in the distance. The most ‘awesome arrival’ into a destination ever!  [Experienced in: 2014]

12. Full Moon Party in Thailand

Most people launch into a trip to visit an unfamiliar land, experience a foreign culture, check out historic sights, or just chill out to recharge themselves. However, sometimes there is no better way to understand how the locals have fun than to visit the destination when they immerse themselves in a festival or a traditional celebration - like the Carnival in Rio, the Mardi gras in New Orleans, the Songkran water festival in Thailand, or the Holi celebrations in India.  And I chose to do the most cliched, but easiest to execute option of the full moon party in Thailand! Koh Phangan, in the Gulf of Thailand near Koh Samui,  draws thousands of backpackers to its hedonistic full moon event, billed as one of the biggest beach parties in the world. The all-night party is the ultimate destination on south-east Asia's "banana pancake" trail; a mecca for footloose gap-year tourists. This party scene, right here on this beach, is arguably the epitome, the pinnacle, of the modern gap-year experience.

The feeling you get when you are right in the middle of Had Rin beach - where all the action happens - during peak party clock cannot be very easily described in words, but needs to be experienced in person! Up and down the beach, young revellers raving it up on the fine white sands. Behind them, under the light of the full moon, thousands more shirtless, shoeless Europeans are massed outside 14 beachside bars, their knees bending awkwardly to a soundtrack of the Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber, and generic drum'n'bass. And squeezed between the bars and the crowds are 35 wooden stalls, each selling plastic buckets filled with a liter's worth of vodka and Redbull. The stalls are daubed with deeply dubious slogans, ranging from the lurid to the moronic. "No Bucket No Boom Boom", "Fuck My Buckets", "Everybody Fuck My Strong Buckets" – that kind of thing. Ten thousand people condensed into one area where they can do every single thing they want to, without any regrets - it doesn't happen anywhere else, and an experience to try out at least once in a lifetime! [Experienced in: 2012]

13. Feeling Spiritual in Palestine

If you read only the headlines or strictly followed the travel advisory from the US/UK govt websites, a visit to the ‘Holy land’ - which Christians, Jews, and Muslims have struggled over for more than 1500 years - could come off as a scary experience. But make no mistake: a visit to this spiritual haven is so worth your time, as you would be rewarded with a variety of sights, ranging from biblical ruins to Crusader fortresses to World War II memorials. And the drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem[where I spent a wonderful night before heading off to Palestine] is an ugly reminder of the conflict in this zone, as you go past miles and miles of unattractive and imposing stretches of walls that divide Israel from Palestine. Once I reached Bethlehem, my Jewish tour guide - who had driven with me from a town not too far away - was not allowed to enter Bethlehem with me, but since I had an American Passport, I was welcomed with open arms!

The main reason why I visited Bethlehem was to check out The Church of the Nativity, which boasts the longest continual worship service in history (around 1,500 years and counting!) The cavern beneath the church — the Grotto of the Nativity — was the focal point of my visit and has been regarded since the second century as the site of Christ’s birth. A silver star on the floor marks the spot.  I have been to hundreds of places of worship that span across religions, beliefs, and continents in my travels. But believe me when I say this - no other place has ever stimulated me so much spiritually or roused me to be religious or invigorated my soul as much as this one compact and hauntingly pure chamber did! The most spiritual experience I had in my travel - hands down! [Experienced in: 2008]

14. Watching a game at an Epic Venue

The excitement of a live sporting spectacle is as unique an experience as possible, absorbing the palpable excitement of a restless crowd, the collective experiences of success and failure, and, most important of all, witnessing an exhibition of human motion being pushed to its outer limits. Millions find poetry right there at those moments, and I was one of them! There are a lot of examples that could fit into this category like the Superbowl, Tour de France, Olympics etc., But sometimes, what makes such experiences even more magical is watching such a popular sporting event in a legendary venue - like a soccer match at the famed Maracana stadium in Brazil, a tennis match at the Wimbledon, a F1 race at Monte Carlo etc,. So, watching a cricket World Cup final match inside an epic venue like the Melbourne Cricket Ground[MCG] - especially when the local rivals [Aussies & Kiwis] were playing against each other - totally qualified itself to be in this category, at least on paper! Though the match itself turned out to be a complete mismatch and a dud of a game, the spirit of a record-breaking crowd, free-flowing beer, a spectacular sunset, and great company  made this an extraordinary experience [Experienced in: 2014]