M AY 2 0 1 7 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 5 I S S U E 1 1 • N AT G E O T R AV E L L E R .

I N

MACAO COORG
A PROCESSION ZAC O’YEAH
OF COLOUR ON DASARA

MUMBAI MADHYA
INSIDE PRADESH
INDIA’S FIRST IN THE THICK
POD HOTEL OF A FOREST

It’s always
FESTIVE SEASON
AUSTRALIA CONSERVING KOALAS AND KANGAROOS • JAKARTA CAPITAL INVESTMENT
 n a t i o n a l g e o g r a p h i c t r av e l l e r i n d i a

MAY 2017

CONTENTS Vol 5 Issue 11

FESTIVE SPIRIT JOURNEYS

62 70 74 80 104
FANTASTIC DANCING IN MOVE WITH LIGHT AT MY FAMILY
BEASTS AND THE DARK THE MOVING THE END OF OF OTHER
WHERE TO Mythology gets crazy, PICTURES THE FUNNEL ANIMALS
colourful, and trippy
FIND THEM at Madikeri’s Dasara
Shrines for cinephiles, Celebrating From shy bandicoots
Macao’s vibrant film festivals also offer Loy Krathong in to adorable koalas,
float parade the rest of us a bit Sukhothai, Thailand Victoria brims with
Latin City parade is a Text by Zac O’Yeah of everything By Sugato Mukherjee stories of conservation
surreal introduction Illustrations by By Kalpana Nair and rehabilitation
to its history Charbak Dipta By Sonal Shah
By Diya Kohli

82
WHEN MAGIC
BECOMES
REALISM
A summer festival in
Denmark brings Hans
Christian Andersen’s
world of fantasy alive
By Saumya Ancheri
88 94 96 110
LENS AND PLAY WITH REACHING A THE JUNGLE
SENSIBILITY FIRE CRESCENDO BOOK
A masterclass on Follow the crowds From Kolkata to Coorg, Camping in Satpura
shooting festivals to these nocturnal jazz to Indian classical, Tiger Reserve reveals
around the world in all fire festivals around these music festivals wondrous landscapes
their vibrant glory the world around the country are and a new perspective
Text and photographs worth travelling for By Kareena Gianani
by Ashima Narain By Varun Desai

HIMANSHU ROHILLA

96
Alibaug, Maharashtra

6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 40 118

VOICES
M AY 2 0 1 7 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 5 I S S U E 1 1 • N AT G E O T R AV E L L E R . I N

46 Superstructures
Basaltic formations meet a minimal aesthetic in
Reykjavík’s Hallgrímskirkja church
14 Crew Cut
A traveller turns to art for fun and self-discovery 47 Heritage
Secrets on the ceiling of Thiruvananthapuram’s
16 Traveller’s Check
MACAO COORG
A PROCESSION ZAC O’YEAH
OF COLOUR ON DASARA

MUMBAI
INSIDE
MADHYA
PRADESH
Napier Museum
Can pit stops become destinations too?
INDIA’S FIRST IN THE THICK
POD HOTEL OF A FOREST

It’s always
18 Wayfaring FESTIVE SEASON 50 Smart Cities
Futuristic libraries, open-air museums, and avant-
AUSTRALIA CONSERVING KOALAS AND KANGAROOS • JAKARTA CAPITAL INVESTMENT

Exploring the foundations of faith at a cathedral

On The COver garde restaurants: the Danish city of Aarhus loves to
in Chennai
Every year in December, spring a surprise

N AV I G AT E
all of Macao hits the
streets for Desfile por
52 My City

RIDDHI MUKHERJEE (TIGER), PHOTO COURTESY: JAMTARA WILDERNESS CAMP (WOMAN)

Discovering traditional cuisine and hidden haunts
Macao, Cidade Latina
20 The Insider or Macao’s Latin City
in Moscow
Calm meets clamour in Thailand’s vibrant capital parade—a celebration of 54 Road Trip
its multicultural heritage.
28 The Quest Photographer Ashima
Coming around the bend in central Oregon, U.S.A.
On the trail of the Vikings from Newfoundland Narain captures a group
to Norway of dancers making S M A R T T R AV E L L E R
their way through an
32 The Concept
Europe’s first underwater museum throws us in
enthusiastic crowd that Checking In
the deep end, Museo Atlántico
has gathered at Tap Siac 56 Cosy up with tiger quolls at Australia’s Great
Square for the final leg of
Ocean Ecolodge
34 Off-Season Escape the vibrant parade.
Soaking in winter-time delights in Sydney 58 Spectacular lodges, romantic resorts, and
historic hotels that inspire us to travel
36 Urban Explorer
ASHIMA NARAIN (COVER)

Derided for being densely populated, Jakarta could SHORT BREAKS

well pull in a crowd REGULARS

40 National Park 12 Editor’s Note

Stay
A boat trip through the Sundarbans mangrove 122 Inspire 118 Camp in style at Jamtara Wilderness Camp
forests yields many secrets 128 Travel Quiz 120 Inside India’s first pod hotel in Mumbai

8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Editor-in-Chief SHREEVATSA NEVATIA
Deputy Editor LAKSHMI SANKARAN
Senior Associate Editor KAREENA GIANANI
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Art Director DEVANG H. MAKWANA
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NATIONAL GEOGRA PHI C TRAV EL ER U.S.
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FLORY, CINDY LEITNER, MARY BETH OELKERS-KEEGAN, ANN
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Editor, Adventure MARY ANNE POTTS
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Contributing Editors KATIE KNOROVSKY, MARGARET LOFTUS,
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Editor’s Note | S HR EEVATSA N EVATI A

OUT OF THE BOX

Y
ears ago, I heard a well-travelled
musician say that men are defined
by the manner in which they pack
their bags. I have since been
obsessive about my boxes. My
shirts are always neatly folded.
My several wires—chargers for iPods and iPads,
phones and Kindles—have their dedicated
pouch. Even my portable speakers have their own
compartment. When put through X-ray machines,
I hope their operators will be stunned by the
symmetry of my packing, but airport employees
Before unfortunately like keeping their wonderment
to themselves. When journeying to lands and
epiphanies countries that are unfamiliar, travel can sometimes
itinerary will be as neatly packed as our design.
That’s a promise we’ll always keep.
Since airlines are usually more exacting about
weight than gym instructors, our endeavour
will be to never carry any excess baggage, both
as travellers and journalists. Before epiphanies
and self-realisation, we believe travel should first
make real our ideas of fun. Going to a concert or
a film festival can be as rewarding as witnessing
Loy Krathong, a festival of light in Thailand, or
travelling to Macao for its Latin City parade. In this
month’s issue, one we have devoted to festivals
and festivities, we try and blend the traditional with
the contemporary. History fascinates us as much
as culture and it is our eclecticism that gives us

and self- seem unnerving, so a precisely packed

bag or case is assuring. You’ll
something to celebrate all year
round. More importantly, it
realisation, know where things are. helps us travel light.
Buying tickets and Hugh of St. Victor, a
we believe planning itineraries leaves 12th-century theologian,
me excited, but only when I knew how to stay
travel should empty my cupboard to make per tinent a thousand
first make its contents luggage do I
really start to inhabit two
years later. He had once
said, “The man who finds
real our places at once. While travel his homeland sweet is still
helps disrupt the ever y- a tender beginner; he to
ideas of fun day, breaking monotony whom every soil is as his
and habit, it also native one is already
makes discovery strong; but he is
possible. Being per fect to whom
foreign can help the entire world is as
us learn who we are a foreign land.” There
and being away often is more wisdom than
gives us a checklist of judgment in Hugh’s
what we miss and love assumption. It is, in
most about home. The the end, our capacity
transference of my belongings helps pre-empt this for wonder which makes travel replenishing and
transition. Departure makes imminent an arrival. joyful. We strive to continuously be surprised by
In the last month, we at National Geographic the world, but also by the several homes in which
Traveller India have found ourselves packing we live. Since souvenirs have regrettably gone out
our own little box. Members of a new team, we of fashion, we intend to bring back stories instead.
have chosen from the abundant experience of Stories that entertain and stories that make the
our predecessors their best and most proficient unknown a touch more accessible. For decades
editorial practices and intent. We have, however, now, National Geographic has delicately unpacked
left some room for the shopping we hope to do the world for us. Its yellow frame helps give the
once we dig in our heels. (We’re young. We like stories we find at Traveller a perfect box. Our task
things that are new.) In the pages of this magazine, is cut out. We’ll pack it with care.
you’ll continue to find maps to places that urgently
demand exploration. As we try and make your trips
more frequent, we’ll also ensure your experience
of reading us and our writers will be an escape
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in itself. You will get tips on where you can stay,

what you can eat, and what you should do. Your
MISSION

National Geographic Traveller India is about immersive travel and authentic storytelling, inspiring readers to create their own journeys and return with
OUR

amazing stories. Our distinctive yellow rectangle is a window into a world of unparalleled discovery.

12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Voices | CR EW CU T

Down to a
Kareena Gianani
is Senior Associate Editor at
National Geographic Traveller

Fine Art
India. She loves stumbling upon
hole-in-the-wall bookshops, old
towns, and owl souvenirs in all
shapes and sizes.
ART ASTONISHES AND ENTERTAINS.
SO DOES TRAVEL. TOGETHER, THEY LEAD
TO SELF-DISCOVERY

I
n 2015, I walked into the glass building of Toronto’s Art
Gallery of Ontario only because it coolly curved 600 feet
along a street I happened to pass. It was my first day in the
country, and entering some place that resembled a canoe or a
silvery spaceship seemed like the wise thing to do.
Inside, I looked at the works of Emily Carr, a trailblazing
Canadian artist I’d never heard of. But her dramatic paintings
of moist rainforests, brooding cedar trees, and old brave totem
poles told me stories of a Canada we rarely see: a land of rich but
fast disappearing indigenous cultures, way beyond its first-world
shininess. Carr’s fierce art protested against European settlers
erasing her homeland’s cultures. Slowly, Canada’s newness
slipped away and I didn’t feel as much of a stranger.
Until late last year, I’d travel for unforgettable places and
people. I savoured the getting away, and the arriving at a place
where foreign tongues fill a bistro during breakfast. I travelled
for boisterous cities, camped in wild forests, or followed a lover
to new lands. But things changed last October, when art began
ruling my itineraries in Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam.
From being quarter-day plans squished between long spells of
roaming a city, museums became delightful dawn-to-night
affairs in themselves.
I discovered, for instance, that being in the Louvre building
is like being all over the world at once. One never knows what
one might find. My interactive Nintendo guide took me to a
corner of a room where a marble
painter Frans Hals can ward off the greyest of moods.
Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, on the other hand, is a map of what the
city was like at various points in time. The nightlife and show
business of Paris in the 19th century are brought to life by the works
of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Edgar Degas’s “The Ballet Class”
is a window into the moods of Parisian ballerinas once they’re
off the stage. One scratches her back absentmindedly, others
only half-listen to their ballet master. Here, centuries collide and
Paris’s many histories move about freely. In the evening, strains
of waltz filled this railway-station-turned-museum and at least
80 dancers filled the atrium for a spectacular surprise.
Isn’t this what we travel for? To be astonished and entertained;
tickled and thrilled, mostly by people we will never meet? Given
the range of discoveries it entails, art doesn’t feel very different
from travel itself. And while it is a great way to see the world,
it is also a way to see myself. Being in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh
Museum, for instance, had the most cathartic effect on me. I went
chasing a teenage favourite and found myself wrapped in the life
stories of the artist’s hope, tragedy, and great perseverance. In
the Rijksmuseum, watching a local art student sketch Johannes
Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid” calmed me as much as the original
painting itself. I also discovered that artists who hang out in
museums make for great conversation: Louvre turned extra
special after I met a Portland-based artist and we sat on a bench
thumbing through his sketchbooks filled with Michelangelos, da
Vincis, and other works I’d never

PHOTO COURTESY: MAURIZIO CATTELAN, UNTITLED (MANHOLE), MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN
sculpture of a woman stretched have checked out if I were alone.
out on a mattress, a lone flimsy If you, like me, ever feel slightly
sheet wrapped around her left leg. daunted by museums, step into
She was dreaming. The eroticism, Room 19 of Rotterdam’s Museum
her sinuous grace was palpable; Boijmans Van Beuningen. There is
until I walked over to the other a man’s head poking from the floor.
side and realised that “she” wasn’t The life-size wax sculpture rises
a woman. It was the androgynous from a gaping hole in the ground,
figure of Hermaphroditos, carved looking inquisitively at a roomful
as if to half-shock, half-tease a of Dutch Romantics around him.
viewer. It was made between the Fifty-six-year-old Italian artist
third and first centuries B.C., yet Maurizio Cattelan created this
there I was, abashed and amused installation because he still feels
by the effect it was having on me. like an outsider in the art world.
Someplace else was a painting Yet he breaks new ground, literally.
of a man dressed in a frilly red- Travelling for art, above all, is a
and-black costume. He smiles reminder of what is most important
mischievously at someone we to me: to seek beauty and joy, and
cannot see; his eyes are crinkled, to be playful while I can. There is
and face flushed. The merriment no such thing as being too happy,
exuded by the “Buffoon Holding too emotional, or too moved by an
a Lute,” by Dutch Golden Age artwork. They are safe places.

14 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Voices | TRAV EL L ER’S C HEC K
Go Between
LEARNING TO SAVOUR HYPHENATED SPACES
DURING A TRYST WITH A MEDIEVAL ENGLISH TOWN
O
n my first and only visit to York a little more than a
year ago, I managed a cursory glance at its quaint
medieval magnificence. Ever since, I’ve been devising
plans of going back. The charm of these in-between
places—tiny towns, quiet cities—that you meet on your way to
longer, well-planned vacations, often linger long after you’ve
left. With York, the haunting has persisted.
More often than not a modern traveller’s itinerary is so
packed with these numerous stops to a carefully picked
destination that a thought is rarely spared about traversing
these sometimes prominent, sometimes nondescript worlds.
They often teem with stories, experiences, and secrets of their
own. In our case it was merely happenstance that led us to York.
We were headed to Scotland for a road trip after a brief stay in
London. York, which falls almost halfway between London and
Edinburgh, sounded like the perfect place to meet a friend who
was set to join us.
These resting places or stopovers rarely get a fair chance. One
checks out of the airport or train station, grabs dinner on the
way to the hotel, and succumbs to exhaustion only to chase that
early exit the next morning. But given a chance, or a few waking
hours, these hyphenated spaces could be mined for insight and
wonder into a world unknown.
The unfamiliar in York unspooled as we made our way to
our address for the night through its residential quarters. A
gust of cold wind and drizzle greeted us at the precincts of the
time-worn walled city. That night the sounds of a heaving river
York, U.K.
16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
Debashree MajuMDar
is a freelance writer and editor.
She can often be found plotting
yet another escape.
were evident. Parking lots lay submerged, a few abandoned
cars disappeared under water. It was November 2015, just
about a month before the Ouse would breach its banks and
wash the whole city away. It would be months before tourists
returned to marvel at its cathedrals and castles. York that
night seemed like a threatening place, its streets deserted,
the wind howling, and its residents visible only through
warmly lit glass windows. Its unique reputation for being
the most haunted European city, which it was awarded
in 2002 by the Ghost Research Foundation International,
seemed accurate.
Stormy weather and eerie warnings notwithstanding, we
stepped out for a peek into the microcosm that York packs
within itself. I hugged myself against the merciless, icy lashes
as we walked through the dimly-lit alleyways that criss-
crossed The Shambles, York’s and one of Britain’s most iconic
streets. Lined with half-timbered 15th-century dwellings, The
Shambles derives its name from the Saxon shamel, meaning
slaughterhouse. Before the chic boutiques, lace-lined tea
rooms, chocolatiers, and trendy pubs took over, the street used
to be home to butchers who hung their meat for display a couple
of hundred years ago.
It’s surprising what an hour’s rambling can reveal about a
town. If familiar, in an Indian town for instance, one could step
out for tea or samosa and return with a wealth of information
about life in the neighbourhood following an exchange with the
local chaiwallah. If unfamiliar, and away from home, one could
feel overwhelmed by the revelations of a place that one had
hardly considered including in one’s journey. I wandered along
the snickets around the imposing Gothic York Minster, whose
silhouette towered against the inky skies giving it a shadowy,
desolate air. I remember coming to sudden halts, my mouth
agape, staring at the crumbling Tudor dens that appeared to
close in over our heads, stirred with child-like curiosity. The
houses came closest to resembling the tattered lithograph
print-filled books from my girlhood.
On the wintry night we walked down its paths, York revealed
its essence in little bursts—a couple of still open pubs providing
shelter to locals and travellers, and homeless musicians playing
to an invisible audience in the the bitter cold outside. Like all
cities with an enduring character, York is marked by layers
of history and stark contrasts. It’s a place where it would
be right to want to “stop all the clocks,” much like how its native
W.H. Auden had once written. With its many ghosts of present
and past, it continues to haunt me for not staying, for having
G01XM/ISTOCK
resisted its singular charms. I’m impatient to return to it—
not to dash through it again as a halfway stop but to savour
it as a destination.
Voices | WAY FAR I N G
Room for Doubt
FAITH CAN GIVE A PLACE ITS FOUNDATION, BUT IT IS
CURIOSITY THAT BRINGS ALIVE ITS HISTORY
T
he best moments in a journey are always unplanned.
Those are the moments that get calligraphed in
travel memes.
After almost a decade I was back in Chennai on work.
I had a few hours to spare before my flight back home. While
bumming around in the hotel room, the leaflet on the night-
stand caught my eye. It was a tract on “sights to see” in the city.
Santhome Cathedral was on the list. On a whim, I got into an
auto and made my way to the Cathedral which stands on the
shores of Marina beach.
The last time I visited the Cathedral, my hair was black
and waist willow. The significance of the Cathedral was
completely lost on a 15-year-old who spent a chimerical summer
reading Thorn Birds. This time around, when I found myself
standing in front of the Cathedral, I was 15 twice over. The hair
was now dyed and the hips wide.
Santhome Cathedral stands atop the tomb of St. Thomas.
There are only three churches in the world that are built over
the tomb of an apostle of Christ, the other two being St. Peter’s
Basilica in Rome and the tomb of St. James in Spain.
Amongst all the apostles, St. Thomas, also known as Doubting
Thomas, is my favourite. He was intelligent enough to doubt
and Trojan enough to express those doubts. The search for
knowledge begins with a kernel of doubt. The latter Thomas had
in abundance. Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to
Santhome Cathedral, Chennai
18 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
Sudha Pillai
is an artist, photographer, and
writer. She writes about her
encounters with people, places,
art, and culture.
his disciples after his resurrection. Thomas refused to believe
that the Lord had risen; he would do so only after seeing the
marks of the nails in Jesus’s hands with his own eyes. During
his next apparition, Jesus invited Thomas to check His wounds,
which Thomas promptly did before falling to his knees and
crying, “My Lord and My God.”
Apostle Thomas came to India in A.D. 52. He was martyred
in then Madras in A.D. 72. When the Portugese arrived in
Mylapore in 1521, the chapel which contained the tomb of St.
Thomas was in ruins. The Portugese rebuilt the church in 1523,
which lasted until the end of the 19th century. The present-day
Cathedral was built in 1853.
The Gothic Cathedral looms large and is almost pastoral in
the middle of a raucous city. The wide teak doors are open to
people from all faiths and walks of life. Inside the 115-foot-
long nave, the harsh Chennai sun streams through 36 stained
glass windows creating a psychedelic display of colours. Under
the 155-foot-high steeple stands the statue of Christ with arms
wide open. It tickles me to see that standing on a lotus with two
peacocks for company, the Lord was doing a ‘when-in-Rome’.
The underground tomb-chapel, which is built above the place
where St. Thomas is believed to have been buried, is behind the
main Cathedral. This chapel contains a precious relic—a bone
from the tip of St. Thomas’s little finger. A caretaker-nun brings
out the relic once every month for a special mass. Looking at the
red and gold box that holds the relic I wonder
what it must be like, for the nun to hold a piece
of a man who walked alongside the Messiah
himself. “I get goose bumps just thinking about
it,” says the nun rubbing her arms. “I cannot
express the feeling in words, but it is something
… something …” She gropes for words and fails. I
think I get what she means, though my agnostic
brain cannot shape that feeling into words. The
nun has no doubts in her mind.
There’s a pole inside the compound. Locals
call it the Santhome pole. Some believe it was
erected by St. Thomas. But nobody knows for
sure. Legend has it that the sea never crosses
the pole. Even during the Tsunami the sea did
not defy the pole, leaving the church intact
and annihilating the rest in its wake. The place
where Doubting Thomas rests is but a testimony
to the aphorism: Be not faithless, but believing.
Delicious irony!
SUDHA PILLAI
A few hours later, mid-flight, a teeny-tiny
doubt rears in me: Can faith flourish without
the faithless? 
 NAVIGATE
28 40 46
the quest national park superstructures
On the trail of the Vikings from A boat trip through the Basaltic formations meet a
Newfoundland to Norway Sundarbans yields many secrets minimal aesthetic in Reykjavík

The Wat Arun temple

sparkles on the
Chao Phraya River.

Bangkok Beckons
CALM MEETS CLAMOUR IN THAILAND’S VIBRANT CAPITAL

B
angkok is two-faced. At once carries the peppery scents of fragrant and Bénédictine line the back bar at
JACK KURTZ, ZUMA WIRE

serene and spicy, frenzied
yet romantic, it is the best
of both worlds. The golden
tiles of the temples wink eternal, the
steam from Chinatown hawkers’ woks
herbs, and down alleys the twisted
arms of aged banyan trees wrap the
gates of rickety wooden homes. At the
same time, baristas hand over lattes
made with Thai coffee beans. Bitters
cocktail joints. And when the faded teak
doors of the shophouses roll open in the
morning, you’ll find tables stocked by
independent, young designers.
—Jenny Adams

20 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | THE I N S I D E R

BOOK I T

The infinity pool at GO WITH NAT GEO

Okura Prestige, offers
a stunning view of
Bangkok’s skyline.

FOR THE BEACH LOVER

Snorkel around sandy island
shores, kayak along the coast, and
discover watery caves aboard an
iconic long-tail boat on the eight-
day National Geographic Journeys
with G Adventures’ “Explore
Southern Thailand”
trip ($1,749/`1,12,504 per person
in double occupancy).

Hotel Chic: Thai

● Classic
● Trendy
● New

Rooms With a View

T
he majority of the rooms in
Siamotif (), a 70-year-old
wooden canal house turned
bohemian boutique hotel, were
hand-painted by a local artist. Amenities
here include balconies overlooking the
canal, bikes for exploring neighbouring
is Wat Arun, meaning Temple of Dawn,
even though it’s ironically best at sunset
when silhouetted against a bright pink
sky (www.snhotels.com; doubles from
THB3,160/`5,950). To feel like you’ve FOR THE HISTORY BUFF
fallen into a James Bond flick, head to Listen to Buddhist monks chant
Okura Prestige (). Each of the 240 at a traditional temple, visit World
FRANK HEUER/LAIF/VAULT ARCHIVES/REDUX

temples, and rotating Thai breakfast
offerings (siamotif.com; doubles from
THB2,800/`5,300). At the colonial-
chic Riva Arun (), opened in 2016, the
view steals the show, whether you’re
dining on larb ped salad (minced duck
salad) with foie gras on the rooftop or
parting the gauzy curtains of your suite’s
floor-to-ceiling windows. The backdrop
rooms features a Japanese bidet, rain
shower, and touchpad that controls the
room’s lighting. But the infinity pool is
what you’ll likely remember most. With
views of the city’s skyscrapers, it’s 82 feet
long and cantilevered off the 25th floor,
hanging high above the busy streets of
Bangkok (www.okurabangkok.com;
doubles from THB6,375/`12,000).
War II spots, and dine in a UNESCO
World Heritage city on National
Geographic Journeys with
G Adventures’ eight-day “Thailand
Journey” trip ($1,399/`89,990
per person in double occupancy).
NATGEOEXPEDITIONS.COM

22 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | THE I N S I D E R
Walk Bangkok Like a Local
CRUISE THROUGH THE CAPITAL BY BIKE, THEN TAKE A STROLL
THROUGH A VINTAGE NIGHT MARKET
SPAS
For a quick recharge, head to
Soi Rambuttri street in Old
Town, where kerbside chaise-
longue foot massages are
$5/`325 for half an hour. At
Ruen-Nuad Massage Studio,
inside an 80-year-old house
with gardens, and lemongrass-
scented rooms, request its
herbal compress massage,
where tamarind, makrut lime,
and salt are designed to relieve
inflammation (42 Convent
Road; www.facebook.com/
ruennuadmassage; open
10 a.m.-9 p.m.). A pampering
session at the Siam hotel’s
Opium Spa is more of an
expensive indulgence, but
includes free transport to
the spa via private boat
(3/2 Thanon Khao; www.
thesiamhotel.com; open
10 a.m.-10 p.m.).
24 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
SEE IT
ART GALLERIES
The Bangkok Art and Culture
Centre is home to an array
of contemporary arts, from
design to music, film to theatre
(www.bacc.or.th; Tue-Sun
10 a.m.-9 p.m.). At Dialogue
Coffee and Gallery (533
Phra Sumen Rd.; Tue-Sun
11 a.m.-10 p.m.), the eclectic
coffeehouse and gallery on
Phra Sumen Road, you can
enjoy the attic exhibitions and
also snag an art map of Old
Town Bangkok. It lists nearby
gems like the Foto United
Gallery (519 Phra Sumen
Rd; Tue-Sun 11 a.m.-7p.m.),
with work for sale by local
photographers, and the new
Pipit Banglamphu Museum
(Phra Sumen Rd; Tue-Sun 10
a.m.-6 p.m.), a former printing
facility now dedicated to the
neighbourhood’s history.
BIKE TOURS
Many hotels in the city provide
bikes for solo exploration,
but guided bike tour options
abound. Follow Me Bike
Tours has a four-and-a-half-
hour tour of Old Town along
the Chao Phraya River, which
threads through back streets
and includes temple stops and
ferry rides. You also get a link
to photos of your day (www.
followmebiketour.com; bike
tours from THB1,300/`2,430).
If you crave greenery,
Bangkok Bike Adventure will
take you to Bang Krachao,
nicknamed Bangkok’s Green
Lung. This thick swathe of
jungle is filled with towering
palms, tropical birds, reptiles,
and ancient canals (www.
bangkokbikeadventure.
com; bike tours from
THB1,300/`2,430).
Chatuchak market
is home to more
than 8,000 stalls.
MARKETS
Start with the sunrise at
Pak Khlong Talad, the city’s
premier flower market, where
locals purchase phuang
malai, or garlands made with
frangrant flowers like jasmine
or rose. These are a symbol
of good luck and are offered
at shrines or even given to
special guests. During the day,
the shops along the numerous
alleyways of Chatuchak
market sell everything from
spa products to knockoff
Ray-Bans. After 5 p.m. venture
just outside the city to Talad
Rot Fai, a sprawling, outdoor
night market that focuses on
the nostalgic, such as antique
FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI
lamps, vintage clothing, and
’57 Chevys. You can also get
a 10 p.m. shave in the garage
barbershop or sip a beer in a
converted VW-bus bar.
Navigate | THE I N S I D E R

E AT I T

IF YOU LIKE IF YOU LIKE IF YOU LIKE IF YOU LIKE

PAD THAI PAPAYA SALAD TOM YUM SOUP CHICKEN SATAY

THEN TRY THEN TRY THEN TRY THEN TRY

Pad Thai Omelette
At the Thipsamai restaurant,
Thailand’s most recognisable
dish is nearly unrecognisable
to visitors. A true pad thai
in Bangkok is actually an
omelette with dried shrimp,
tamarind-dressed noodles,
and soft tofu inside an egg
wrapper (313-315 Maha Chai
Rd, Khwaeng Samran Rat;
open 5 p.m.-2 a.m.).
Pomelo Salad
This salad hails from Nakhon
Pathom Province, but to have
Bangkok’s best, head to Issaya
Siamese Club. Its modern
adaptation has pomelo
wedges, hard-boiled eggs, and
fried shrimp in a chilli-lime
dressing (www.issaya.com;
lunch 11.30 a.m.-2.30 p.m.,
dinner 6-10.30 p.m.; bar
closes at 1 a.m.).
Kuay Teow Neau
Kuay teow neau is Thailand’s
rich beef noodle soup. Join
the communal tables at Kuay
Teow Neau Nai Soi on Phra
Athit Road, and dig into the
braised beef and gooey glass
noodles in a lightly spiced
broth with hints of vinegar,
cinnamon, and star anise
(100/2-3 Phra Arthit Road;
open daily 8 a.m.-6 p.m.).
Pork Satay
Even though chicken satay is
common in restaurants across
India, the pork version is the
norm in Bangkok. Try the
skewers, served upside down
in a plastic sack with spicy
dipping sauce splashed inside,
at the prime place for street
food: Chinatown’s vibrant
Yaowarat Road.

Skewers of satay (right) are a common sight on Bangkok’s streets; One of the special dishes to

CHRISTOPHER WISE (SALAD, SKEWERS), TAMER KOSELI (ILLUSTRATIONS)

try in the city is the beef larb salad (left), that has sticky rice and a fragrant mix of spices.

Three Drinks to Sip in Bangkok

T
oast this colourful capital city
at The Speakeasy, a rooftop bar
at the Hotel Muse, where the
Wasabi Martini (a mix of green
tea–infused gin, wasabi, elderflower,
and lime juice) comes accompanied
by a small plate of wasabi and grilled
salmon (hotelmusebangkok.com; open
daily 5.30 p.m.-1 a.m.). At the Thai
shophouse Smalls, you may fall for Love
Is In The Air, a frothy, hard-shaken blend
of strawberry-infused vodka, sauvignon
blanc, lemon, elderflower, bitters, and
an egg white. This three-storey spot has
an around-the-world menu of boutique
spirits, a penchant for absinthe, and a
menagerie of French antiques on display
(186/3 Suan phlu Soi 1; open daily
5.30 p.m.-2 a.m.). Quince is a warm and
casual space full of brick, dark wood,
candlelight, and opportunities to try
the locally produced Iron Balls gin. It’s
the perfect ingredient to the Spitcock
cocktail, which mixes gin with coconut
palm sugar, lime, celery leaves, and fresh
mint (www.quincebangkok.com; open
daily 11.30 a.m.-late ).

26 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | THE QU EST

Raiders of the Lost Arts

SAGAS, SWORDS, AND SURPRISES ON THE TRAIL OF ALL THINGS VIKING
FROM NEWFOUNDLAND TO NORWAY BY JUDITH FEIN

Flames consume a
Viking ship at the Up
Helly Aa festival in
Shetland, Scotland.

I
always believed that the Vikings
were a bunch of raiders and pillagers
whose only redeeming quality was
on rune stones, and learned that it’s the only authenticated Viking site
Vikings practiced a form of democracy in North America. There I saw my
and that their women had personal first longhouse, built with thick sod
DAVID GUTTENFELDER

that they built sophisticated ships
to carry out their murderous missions.
But one day, at an exhibit in Los
Angeles, I saw elegant jewellery by
Viking goldsmiths, encountered writing
and political power. That’s when my
fascination with the eighth-to-eleventh-
century culture began.
I planned a trip to L’Anse aux
Meadows, in Newfoundland, Canada;
walls and a sod-covered roof. Inside,
historical interpreters recreated
quotidian Viking chores such as
weaving, candle making, and cooking
over an open fire. But what made the

28 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | THE QU EST

deepest impression was learning that

Vikings suffered from lung disease,
caused by smoke from indoor fires. They
were no longer “the Vikings” but, rather,
humans who lived, loved, laughed,
worked, and had lung issues.
I wanted to know where the Vikings
hailed from, and if there were any left,
so I headed to Norway. And I developed
a sort of traveller’s tunnel vision. All I
wanted to see were places connected
to the Vikings. On the small island of
Vibrandsøy, I met a couple who were
constructing a 115-foot-long Viking ship
by using the exact building methods
and materials the Norse did.
Inspired by their passion for Viking
vessels, I set off for the Viking Ship
Museum in Oslo, where I saw three
beautiful ships that had carried Vikings
and then carried their bodies. It made
me long to encounter living,
breathing Vikings.
I went on Facebook and connected
to Georg Olafr Reydarsson Hansen,
the director of the annual Viking Ribe Viking Center, in Denmark, recreates a Viking manor farm circa A.D. 980.
Market in Gudvangen. I jumped on a
bus in Voss and rode to an encounter of medieval literature about—what dominated a large chunk of the globe a
that transformed my fascination into else?—the Vikings. By night I read and thousand years ago. I recently learned
an obsession. At the edge of a fjord, by day I planned a trip to Iceland. that archaeologist and National
Viking re-enactors came together It was at the National Museum of Geographic Fellow Sarah Parcak has
as blacksmiths, bards, cooks, rune- Iceland, in Reykjavík, that I saw my first used satellite imagery to try to locate
makers, and weavers to live the real Viking sword. A confirmed pacifist, new Viking sites, which I long to see.
ancient lifestyle. I was nonetheless mesmerised by a Those fearless ancient mariners speak
My Facebook friend Georg, in a fur- culture as sensitive as it was violent. to the traveller and explorer in me, and
trimmed hat, sailed up to the site on At Viking World I boarded a replica of they have become my mentors, guides,
a Viking ship. He greeted a gaggle of a ninth-century ship and then planted and inspiration as I set off once again in
buff, bare-chested young men who were myself in front of videos that explained their wake.
flinging each other around in the Viking the secrets of Viking shipbuilding
sport of glima wrestling. He introduced and the navigational technology that MORE EVENTS ON
me to their coach, Lars Magnar allowed them to raid, conquer, and sail THE VIKING TRAIL
Enoksen, who gleefully said to me that by dead reckoning.
even eye gouging was permitted. I Then I raced to Thingvellir National THE ICELANDIC SAGAS
was relieved when Lars explained that Park, the epicentre of the Viking Who said Vikings didn’t have a sense of
humour? “Icelandic Sagas: The
gouging actually meant pressing on an legal system, where the world’s oldest
Greatest Hits” is a 75-minute
opponent’s eyes—much more civilised. existing parliament first assembled in uproarious theatrical show (in
I was gobsmacked when Lars invited A.D. 930. English) in Reykjavík that surprisingly
me to attend his evening sorcery class. Everyone back then was invited to sums up the ancient tales really well
Inside a wooden cabin I sat around attend the annual event, where the laws (icelandicsagas.com; ISK4,900/`2,840;
a crackling fire with Lars’s students, of the land were proclaimed aloud by a check website for dates).
learning the fine art of galdurs, or lawspeaker, who stood at the still extant
Viking incantations. Several hours later Law Rock. Alas, there was no system in UP HELLY AA
we were outside, swilling from a mead- place to enforce the Vikings’ subtle and Dating from the 1880s, this annual
filled horn, cajoling the powerful forces brilliant legal decisions, so they literally Viking-themed community event in
Shetland, Scotland, takes place on
of nature with our alliterative galdur. took matters into their own hands and
the last Tuesday in January. The
Once back home, when I would give used their deadly swords. highlights are a torch-lit procession
public talks, I ended them with an Murderers. Sorcerers. Storytellers. and the burning of a replica Viking
ROBERT CLARK

Old Norse galdur. And the nightstand Farmers. Traders. Adventurers. galley (uphellyaa.org; next event on
next to my bed became a repository for Inventors. Artists. Lawyers. I am January 30, 2018).
Icelandic sagas, which are masterworks haunted by this complex culture that

30 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | THE CO N C EPT
Under Troubled Waters
EUROPE’S FIRST UNDERWATER MUSEUM THROWS US IN THE DEEP END BY RUMELA BASU
Since the installation of sculptures at Museo Atlántico in February 2016, there has been a 200 per cent increase in aquatic biomass in the
steadily growing artificial reef.
D
eep in the Atlantic Ocean, on
the southern coast of Canary
Islands’ Lanzarote island, lies
an artist’s creation amid the
waters’ aquatic inhabitants. The Museo
Atlántico is British sculptor Jason
deCaires Taylor’s brainchild, one that
took three years to complete. Its exhibits
made with pH-neutral cement are not
only a comment on worldly affairs
but in due time will also create an
artificial reef.
Visitors to this Bahía de Las
Coloradas (Colorados Bay) attraction
have the choice of snorkelling or diving
40 feet to view this underwater world.
Spread over 2,500 square feet, the
museum has 12 exhibits comprising
about 300 figures. Every installation,
from “Los Jolateros”, which shows small
boys on flimsy brass boats—a comment
on the fragile future of the world’s
children—to “Disconnected,” a portrayal
of our unhealthy connection with
gadgets, makes a strong statement.
Hidden within the poignant
works are little details that will aid
32 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
in bringing to life the artificial reef.
“The Portal” is an installation of a half-
human, half-animal figure looking into
a mirror-like surface that the artist
imagines to be an entry to a different
world. Holding up the mirror is a
platform created by supports that have
little nooks which can be home to sea
urchins, octopus, and small fish. It sits
in the middle of what is known as the
“Hybrid Garden,” a collection of cacti-
shaped sculptures. The pyre of sticks in
“Immortal,” also creates little pockets
making it suitable habitat for marine
biomass. The man lying atop the pyre is
made from the cast of a local fisherman.
The local community has been
closely involved in the making of
Museo Atlántico. Many volunteered to
have themselves used as casts for the
figures used in the artwork. In fact,
the centrepiece of the museum, an
installation of 35 figures, is made using
casts of locals. Named “Crossing the
Rubicón,” it shows this group of people
walking towards a wall in the middle
of the ocean. Another sculpture is a
XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX
circular pile of 200 life-size figures,
known as “The Human Gyre.” It is a
dramatic piece of work that evolves
from the idea that all life, including
humans, originated in the ocean. It
also embodies the vulnerability of the
human race when faced with the full
force and power of the ocean. To some, it
could also mean that in the conservation
of oceans they see life coming to a full
circle—you protect what gave you life.
Museo Atlántico leaves lasting images
in the mind of a visitor swimming away PHOTO COURTESY: JASON DECAIRES TAYLOR/CACT LANZAROTE
from this underwater world to the one
above the waves.
THE VITALS
Museo Atlántico is located off the
coast of Bahía de Las Coloradas
(Colorados Bay) in the Spanish
territory of Lanzarote in the Canary
Islands. To visit the underwater
museum, one must sign up with
a certified diving company (www.
cactlanzarote.com; diving hours
Mon-Fri 10 a.m.-6 p.m; snorkellers
€8/`550, divers €12/`825).
Navigate | OFF- S E ASO N ESCA PE

Sunny Sydney Up
DISCOVERING WINTER-TIME DELIGHTS IN THE AUSTRALIAN METROPOLIS BY ERIC ROSEN

850F 130
While many of the sights in Australia’s Harbour City are mm
outdoors, the country’s winter (May to September) can still
be a fabulous time to visit, thanks to generally mild weather 60 0
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
and that always-warm Aussie hospitality.
Average high temperature Average rainfall

Sydney’s emblematic
Harbour Bridge, as
seen from the water.

ACTIVITY DINING LODGING FRANK HEUER/LAIF/REDUX (BRIDGE), TAMER KOSELI (ILLUSTRATION)

See Sydney in a New Light
Part outdoor art exhibit, part music festival, and
part symposium, Vivid Sydney is an annual 23-day
event held in May and June that draws innovators
from all over the globe. During that time designers and
artists transform Sydney’s urban landscapes into
massive light installations. An extensive programme
of musical performances takes place in venues
across the city, ranging from the Opera House to
electric neighbourhood bars. Visitors can also
purchase tickets to public discussions among some of
the world’s top creative thinkers (previous speakers
include Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan
and Monocle founder Tyler Brûlé).
(www.vividsydney.com.)
Theatrical Treats
Inside the Sydney Opera House,
seasonal, local ingredients have the
leading role at Bennelong. “Seafood
is best during winter because it’s
plump and sweet from the cold
water,” says executive chef Peter
Gilmore. Frequently changing winter
tasting menus can include dishes
like roasted John Dory fish with
orache, turnips, native greens, and
umami butter; or quail with plum
jam and macadamia “rubble.”(www.
bennelong.com.au; three-course
meals from AUD130/`5,130.)
Starry Nights
At the Langham Sydney, which
reopened in 2015 following a
$30-million makeover, each of the
98 rooms blends antique touches,
such as original wooden doors,
with contemporary amenities like
ultra-luxe Dux beds. Be sure to take
a dip in the hotel’s subterranean
pool—its famous ceiling depicts
the Southern Hemisphere’s night
sky with twinkling fibre-optic
lights for constellations. (www.
langhamhotels.com; doubles from
AUD375/`18,300.)

34 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | UR BA N E XPLO R E R
Invest in this Capital
DERIDED FOR BEING DENSELY POPULATED, JAKARTA COULD WELL PULL IN A CROWD BY BHAVYA DORE
The city’s many rooftop bars offer the best
vantage points for a view of Jakarta shimmering
by night; A bronze statue of Barack Obama as a
child (bottom) stands in the yard of the school he
attended during his six-year stay in the city.
U
nder a bridge outside Glodok,
Jakarta’s Chinatown, I
spiritedly tried to bargain
with a taxi driver a little after
sundown. “Two hundred thousand
Indonesian Rupiah (IDR),” he said,
opening the proceedings. I pulled out
my notebook and began scribbling
on the last page. “Fifty thousand
rupiah,” I wrote. This went on for
five minutes as we parried using
fingers, ink, and notes of Indonesia’s
hyper-inflated currency to
express ourselves. Eventually we
settled on IDR70,000/`345.
The driver was a rider, and the
taxi a bike. In Jakarta they are
slender Bajaj-like bikes known
as ojeks. In the city’s famously
congested highways, where traffic
stalls for vast swathes of time,
the ojek is the best way to get
36 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
around. Clutching feverishly to the back
of the bike and snaking through waiting
cars, over bridges and through side
lanes—here was a bespoke adrenaline
rush in a sprawling East Asian
megapolis.
Jakarta is panned as an over-
crowded, hopelessly jam-packed
city, but it’s still possible to eke out
some good bits from Indonesia’s
capital. The beaches are in Bali and
the culture is in Jogjakarta, but if
you’re passing through Jakarta,
some fun can yet be had.
The bike is of course a means
of transport rather than a
tourist attraction, yet the ojek
for the ojek’s sake certainly has
its moments. (If you really want
to go native, you should buy
an anti-pollution face mask—
now available in dazzling
colours, cutting-edge patterns and often
embossed with movie characters.) The
reason I had needed one in the first
place was because I was just coming
from the city’s old town—Batavia—the
former Dutch centre. The hulking ships
lurk near the water’s edge, and a whiff of
colonial hangover still pervades the area.
To get to Sunda Kelapa, the old port,
I had to take a cycle taxi from the old
square, perched precariously as the old
HANAFICHI/ISTOCK (CITY), BHAVYA DORE (STATUE)
cyclist pulled my weight. I deboarded
and took a little ride around the harbour.
“Fifty-thousand rupiah,” began the
whiskery boatman, as he tried to lure me
into his little wooden vessel. The port
has none of the grandeur from times
past, but it has a certain gravitas and
character. It’s Jakarta’s faint nod to its
Dutch past. The boatman ultimately
prevailed, though I only parted with
IDR20,000/`100 for a quick tour of the
Navigate | UR BA N E XPLO R E R

very dark grey swampy waters.

The Fatahillah square in Batavia is
somewhat more appealing—it represents
the old settlement established by the
colonisers. The area was once the centre
of the Dutch East Indies and a lively
site of the bustling spice trade that
dominated the 17th and 18th centuries.
The 1.3 square kilometres of the heritage
quarter has a clutch of museums and
places to eat; though even simply
walking around is its own pleasure.
That apart, the city has a few
monuments, many are concentrated
in the centre. Monumen Nasional
(Monas), Jakarta’s national monument,
at the spiritual heart is a monument
commemorating the Indonesian
independence struggle, and is
determinedly minimalist. Visitors can
take an elevator to the observation
deck that offers grand views of the
city. Nearby is the impressive National
Museum of Indonesia; covering various
periods of history and showcasing
multiple cultural artefacts. (Monas,
daily 8.30 a.m.- 5 p.m.; closed last
Mon of the month; National Museum,
www.museumnasional.or.id; open
Tue-Fri 8.30 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat-Sun
8.30 a.m.-5 p.m.)
However, one of the things the city is
proudest of is its association with the

KZENON/SHUTTERSTOCK (BOAT), FIGHTBEGIN/ISTOCK (MEN), DIDIONA.SHUTTERSTOCK (MONEY)

former first citizen of the United States.
At a school in the posh Menteng area is
a statue erected in honour of its most
famous student; Barry to schoolmates,
President Obama to everyone else.
“A young boy named Barry,” says the
commemorative plaque, “played with his
mother Ann in Menteng area. He grew
up to be the 44th president of the United
States and Nobel peace prize winner
Barack Obama.” He spent four years
of his childhood in the country after
his mother married Lolo Sotero, her
Indonesian second husband.
By the time I had arrived at the Barry
pilgrimage halt, I had spent my third day
in the capital, and was ready to hit the
smaller towns outside. But not before
one last stop that evening: the Skye bar
and restaurant. This is one among other
bars in the city lording over everything
The Indonesian rupiah (top left) has been revalued several times due to periods of economic
inflation; The 500-year-old Sunda Kelapa harbour (top) was an important port for the
15th-century Pajajaran kingdom as well as the Portuguese; The best way to navigate Jakarta’s
bustling roads is on a motorcycle taxi or ojek (bottom).
from a suitably high vantage point. It’s off from the capital than with a beer in
on the 56th floor, and sits atop a mall. hand, from a vertiginously high rooftop?
At night, as the bright lights in the big (www.ismaya.com; daily 4 p.m.-1 a.m.;
city come on, what better way to sign beer from IDR60,000/`290.)
THE VITALS
Orientation Jakarta is a sprawling reasonable, air-conditioned, ply by meter,
megapolis in northwest Java, with a and can be hailed on the spot. Ojeks, the
population of 9.6 million. motorcycle taxis, are a speedy delight,
Getting There Singapore Airlines, and can be hailed on the spot as well.
Malindo, Air India, all fly to Jakarta Bargaining might get you a better price.
from Mumbai and Delhi with a stop at a Visa For Indian tourists, visas can be
Southeast Asian gateway. obtained on arrival. A 30-day single-
Getting Around Blue Bird Taxis are entry visa costs $35/`2,260.

38 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | NATI O N A L PA R K
In the Eye of the Tiger
A BOAT TRIP THROUGH THE SUNDARBANS MANGROVES YIELDS MANY SECRETS
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY RIDDHI MUKHERJEE
The lush mangroves of the Sundarbans
teem with creatures big and small,
like the rhesus macaques and the
brown-winged kingfisher (bottom).
E
ver since I read Amitav Ghosh’s
The Hungry Tide as a boy,
I’ve been fascinated with the
Sundarbans. I first visited the
national park in 2015, and have been
back many times since. On Google
Maps, the mangrove forest appears as
a small patch of green along the coast,
crisscrossed by veins of blue. But once
you get to Godkhali Ghat ferry point and
set off in a boat, the Sundarbans emerge
as an immense, mysterious jungle,
a birthplace of myths that is
ruled by tigers.
The boat trip I took
on my last visit to the
Sundarbans yielded
some amazing
wildlife encounters,
thanks to my crew,
40 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
especially my guide Mrityunjay Mondal.
On the second day, Mrityunjay
was scanning the forest from the
Sudhanyakhali watchtower with his
binoculars, when he spotted a rare and
elusive leopard cat. We watched the
graceful feline for a few seconds before
it vanished into the forest. I also
managed to photograph the seldom
seen green-bellied malkoha from the
same spot.
Another day, we heard a tiger
growling near the Panchamukhani
Zone while sitting down to lunch.
Ignoring our food, we scanned
every inch of the mangrove
thicket. Suddenly, another
tiger’s call pierced the air. My guide
guessed it might be a mating pair. The
tension grew as our boat cruised slowly
forward. Suddenly, about 30 feet away
from us, behind the scraggy trees, was
an immense male Bengal tiger. He let us
photograph him for a leisurely 10 to 15
minutes before ambling into the forest.
Sticking to the middle of the river, we
soon spotted a large female with a tawny
coat, who prowled along the banks
before disappearing into the thicket.
Their intermittent roars continued, and
later in the day we heard them chasing a
group of chital.
Another evening, just as we left
the protected area around teatime,
Mrityunjay spotted two huge saltwater
crocodiles swimming towards us at an
incredible pace. Soon, they were right
beside our boat, swimming behind each
other or side by side. Then, amazingly,
the trailing crocodile gained speed,
Navigate | NATI O N A L PA R K

catching the other one by surprise. All

hell broke loose and the river turned
turbulent as the titans engaged in a
dramatic fight. I teared up in gratitude
for having witnessed this when it came
time to say my goodbyes to the crew.

EXPLORE
Because of the muddy terrain, the only
way to explore the park is by boat. Due
to safety reasons walking in the forest
is prohibited, except for around the
watchtowers, with a guide as escort.
The forest department issues dawn-
to-dusk permits for the forest’s various
zones: Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali,
Pirkhali, Lebu Khali, Bonbibi Varani,
Panchamukhani, Netidhopani, Dobanki,
Sarakkhali, and Choragaji. It is common
to see many other boats as well in these
open parts of the forest.
The landscape—a blue sky reflected
on dark green waters—does not vary
much between these zones, but each
has its own charm. The Sudhanyakhali
Watchtower is a well-known vantage
point, located about 25 kilometres from
Canning and accessible by boat. Visitors
can catch the sunrise and then pray for
a tiger sighting to the forest goddess
Bonbibi at a shrine located at the tower’s
base. At the Dobanki Watchtower, a
canopy walk allows visitors a closer
look at the mangrove vegetation and
habitat. Guided village walks are also
recommended. At sunset, visitors must
return to their resorts or specified
spots where boats can drop anchor for
the night.

WILDLIFE
Though the Bengal tiger is king of the
Sundarbans, there are many other
species of beasts and birds in this rich
habitat. Others felines include the
leopard cat, fishing cat, and jungle cat.
Chital deer, rhesus macaques, and wild
boar hide among the trees, and water
animals include otters, water monitor
lizards, Irrawaddy dolphins, Gangetic
dolphins, and saltwater crocodiles.
There are also elusive snakes and
colourful birds of all sorts.
A dedicated naturalist and wildlife
photographer can make spotting animals
much more rewarding. Way2Wild
organises nature study and photography
tours with experienced trackers and A boat safari (top and middle right) in the Sundarbans gets you a front seat to all the action,
naturalists (www.way2wild.in; `13,500 be it spotting a red-tailed bamboo pit viper (middle left) at the Sudhanyakhali watchtower, or
per person for a 2-night/3-day photo watching a vicious fight between saltwater crocodiles (bottom).

42 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | NATI O N A L PA R K

Tigers are the main draw at the Sundarbans,

a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since a large
area of the mangroves is often underwater,
these big cats are expert swimmers and can
survive on fish, crab, and other crustaceans.

tour; includes all meals, jungle cruises,
and transfers to and from Kolkata).
SAFARI TIMINGS AND COSTS
The park is open throughout the year.
August to mid-February are the more
pleasant months to visit, and October
to January the most popular, with
perfect tidal conditions. The weather
gets temperamental from mid-March
to July. Permits can be obtained from
the Sajnekhali forest office. The safaris
usually take place from dawn to dusk.
Boat permit is `400 per person for
all other zones except the interior
Netidhopani zone, which is near the core
area and costs `800. Visitors pay `60-
120 depending on the season. All forest
permits can be obtained from Sajnekhali
forest office which is an hour and a half
from Godkhali.
GETTING THERE AND AROUND
The nearest airport is Kolkata, which
is about 100 km/3 hr north of the
Godkhali Ghat ferry point. From
Godkhali, the rest of the journey is by
boat. Boat charges range from `3,000-
10,000 per day depending on the craft
and the season (Nov-Jan are peak
months). Most resorts can arrange a
boat safari; I recommend Shuvarthi
Guha (98367 11148), Gouranga Mondal
(80177 38940), and Nitai Mondal
(97329 09545, 90910 36626) who have
travelled with many photographers and
understand their pace.
STAY
Boats The best way to enjoy the
Sundarbans is to sit on a boat in the
middle of the river with a hot cup of tea,
listening to the stories of the naturalists
and boatmen. Boats can be hired from
Godkhali Ghat, and most have kitchens,
beds, and bathrooms.
Resorts Besides boat stays, resorts,
too, provide packages that include
accommodation, food, boat safaris,
and village walks. Tora Camp situated
on Bali Island provides an authentic
village experience (www.toraresort.in;
doubles from `5,883). Sundarban Tiger
Camp, also in Dayapur, is an eco-friendly
resort with rooms decorated with locally
sourced materials (www.waxpolhotel.
com; doubles from `4,810). West Bengal
Government’s Sajnekhali Tourist Lodge
in Pakhiralaya village is a good budget
option (www.wbtdc.gov.in/Static_
Pages/sajnekhali_lodge.html; doubles
from `2,500).
SUNDARBANS TRIVIA
Sundarbans has been significant
ever since the Mughal era. It was first
surveyed under Akbar’s reign and has
since been an important place for
sourcing timber, honey, paraffin, salt
and fish. It was under the governance of
the East India Company since 1756 and
was declared a national park in 1984.
Around 14 per cent of its population
of four million subsists on agriculture.
The others live off the forest and
river and collect honey and fish for
their livelihood.
In the Sundarbans, the Hindus and
Muslims worship the same gods. The
cult of Bonbibi (the goddess of forests)
and Dakshin Rai, the tiger god, are
widely followed here.

44 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

Navigate | SU PERSTRUCTU R ES
Volcanic Passion
BASALTIC DESIGN FORMATIONS MEET A MINIMALIST AESTHETIC IN REYKJAVÍK BY RUMELA BASU
A
rchitect Guðjón Samuel
never saw the completion
of his iconic creation which
now adorns every postcard,
poster, and magnet in Reykjavík,
Iceland. The Hallgrímskirkja church,
at Hallgrímstorg 1, was built in honour
of the saint and poet Hallgrímur
Pétursson, well-known for his work
“Hymns of the Passion”, a collection that
is still played on the radio for Lent every
year. The building is not only the city’s
most recognisable structure but also the
tallest church in the country.
Samuel was fascinated with the
shapes that formed when lava cooled
down to basalt and envisioned a design
for the city inspired by basalt rocks.
Hallgrímskirkja’s facade embodies
this vision. Its long, dark central tower
and sloping sides resemble a gigantic
stalagmite of cooled lava residue, one
that is 245 feet tall.
When it was first proposed, the
unconventional design raised eyebrows.
46 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
However, after 40 years in the making
from 1945-1986, it is one of the city’s
landmark symbols. The church is visible
from almost every corner of Reykjavík
and hardly any visitor returns without
having visited it.
For its imposing grand exterior,
the interior is rather simple. Tall grey
columns flank the aisle leading to the
altar and seem to curve into pointed
arches creating a canopy punctuated
by large glass windows. In the long
rows of seats, wood and basalt-coloured
upholstery complement each other. The
most eye-catching feature inside is a
pipe organ added in December 1992,
about 50 feet tall and with 5,275 pipes.
The 25-tonne organ made by German
organ builder Johannes Klaishas
featured in pieces by international
concert organist Christopher Herrick.
Visitors enter through stained glass-
fitted doors to stand right below it and
then walk towards a small stage
beside which is the altar. The
minimalist interiors are all a reflec-
tion of the Lutheran roots of the
church and give it a distinctly Gothic
design aesthetic.
The Hallgrímskirkja offers an
unparalleled view of the city. And
elevator through its bell tower leads to
an open-air observation deck. From
that vantage point the Hallgrímskirkja
feels like a sentinel quietly watching
over Reykjavík.
A statue of Leifur Eiriksson, said to be
the first European to discover America,
looks out to rooftops of waterfront
homes in the distance. The houses and
lanes stretch out to meet the azure
waters of an inlet of the Norwegian
Sea and to the viewer atop the tower,
Reykjavík spreads out below like a
colourful carpet.
(www.hallgrimskirkja.is; Oct-May
9 a.m.-5 p.m., Jun-Sep 9 a.m.-9p.m.;
Sunday service 11 a.m.; tower entry
adults ISK900/`520, children 7-14
ISK100/`60.)
FOTOVOYAGER/ISTOCK
Every night, lights illuminate
the Hallgrímskirkja church and
the statue of Leifur Eiriksson,
credited for discovering
America almost 500 years
before Columbus.
Navigate | HER I TAGE

Culture is Looking Up
MORE THAN ITS ARTEFACTS, THE NAPIER MUSEUM IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM IS
WORTH VISITING FOR ITS MESMERISING CEILING BY SUDHA PILLAI

The 19th-century design of Thiruvananthapuram’s Napier Museum is an amalgam of Kerala, Chinese, Italian, and Mughal architecture.

S
ummers can be ‘hot as Hades’
in Thiruvananthapuram in
God’s Own Country, except
in one place in the city—the
Napier Museum with its natural air
conditioning. Right then, though,
standing in the middle of this landmark
building in the city, I could hear my
friend’s voice in my head: “Don’t forget
to look up at the ceiling,” he had said.
When you think of overwhelming
ceilings, you think of the Sistine Chapel
At Napier, I find myself with my mouth
agape at hand-painted frescoes on the
coffered ceiling of one of the oldest
museums in the country.
Situated inside a garden spread
over 55 acres, the Napier Museum
was established in 1857, and in 1880
the old building was demolished and
a new structure built by Ayilyam
Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore. It
I walked around the museum
was designed by the English architect
Robert Chisholm who was sent to
‘Trevendrum’ by Lord Napier,
the Governor General of the then
Madras Presidency.
Chisholm conceived a museum
based on the local architectural style.
However, Kerala’s native architecture
has for long been influenced by the
cultures of its trading partners—
Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, Europeans
and so on. Hence Chisholm’s ‘native
TSCREATIONZ/SHUTTERSTOCK

or the Blue Mosque in Istanbul or the
Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. Museums
usually do not feature on the list. The
only deviation is the National Gallery
of Victoria in Melbourne: its 200-foot-
long ceiling is made of 10,000 pieces of
hand-cut glass in 50 different colours.
and discovered art and history
in nooks and corners, roofs,
balconies, and ceilings. It was
like finding forgotten ancestral
treasures in the attic
design’ was, in fact, a combination of
Kerala, Chinese, Italian, and Mughal
architecture. It can be seen in the
Gothic roof, minarets, hand-painted
frescoes and extensive ornamentation
of the museum. This dreamy, romantic,
and fusionistic style is known as

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 47

Navigate | HER I TAGE

Napier museum’s facade features many interesting minute details like oriel windows that are supported by carved wooden horse corbels (left).
Inside, the historical artefacts (bottom right) battle for attention with the vaulted ceiling adorned with handpainted frescoes (top right).

Indo-Saracenic (Saracenic is derived
from the word Saracen, an archaic
name for Muslims given by the British).
Also known as Indo-Gothic, it was the
style of architecture used by British
architects in late 19th century India.
It drew elements from native Indian
architecture and combined it with
the Gothic revival style favoured in
Victorian Britain. But even with so
many styles and influences in play,
Napier Museum did not end up a
mish-mash of a museum. Only to the
destitute of vision, the museum might
be a garish amalgamation.
Aeons ago, a visitor told a curator
elegant object d’art and should be viewed
singularly without any distractions.” I
concur. For the next couple of hours,
the rare artefacts, idols, carvings, coins,
and paintings in the museum became
invisible to me. Craning my neck
upwards, I walk around the museum to
discover art and history in nooks and
corners, arches, balconies, and ceilings.
It was like finding forgotten ancestral
treasures in the attic. Riches wrapped
in fables and fantasies, waiting to reveal
themselves to those who come looking.
The museum has three massive halls
connected by long corridors. The walls
are striped—in pink, blue, yellow, and
a cornucopia of colours; as exciting
and eye-popping as a chilled glass of
falooda on a hot summer afternoon.
Wide balconies flank the central hall
at both ends, and they are supported
by wooden corbels that have intricately
carved yalis or dragons. Stained-glass
windows stipple the walls throwing
up magnificent play of light. The ledge
above the doors carries the statues and
carved figurines of goddesses. Floral
motifs embellish the friezes on the
walls. These are interspersed with the
design of Valmpuri shankhu or the
conch shell of Lord Vishnu—the deity
of the royal family of Travancore and
SUDHA PILLAI

of the Napier Museum: “I suggest cherry red. They augment the scalloped also the royal insignia.
you remove all the artefacts from this arches in banana yellow colour with By now, there should be a crick in
building. Because the building itself is an red, white and pink latticework. It is my neck. But I don’t feel it as I get

48 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

caught up in all the action above. The
museum’s vaulted ceiling has hand-
painted panels, beams, and cross-beams
in teakwood with muted gold-coloured
inlays that sparkle in the light. Oriental
frescoes of flowers and leaves in yellow,
red, green and earthy colours contrast
the wooden braggers of dragons
supporting the painted beams. The
colours on the frescoes seem to change
with the light of the day. The frescoes,
which have been painted using natural
vegetable dyes have withstood the test
of time and remain, one of the chief
attractions of the museum.
I wind my way up the dusty, neglected
narrow stairway to the top of one of
the four watchtowers. At the end of
it is a breathtaking aerial view of the
museum and the city beyond. The roof
resembles a well-constructed abstract
work or an exciting board game. A
closer look reveals the ornamental
stone projections of the gable roof. It
is truly an artisan’s labour of love.
Otherwise, how does one explain the
Despite soaring temperatures outside, the natural air-conditioning system of the museum ensures the interiors are always cool.
decorated railing or cresting along
the ridge of the roof where it is bound
to go unnoticed and unappreciated?
From this vantage point, I could see the
extensively decorated pediments of the
gable roof. There are also bargeboards
or decorative woodwork on the rafters
projecting from the roof. The soffits
are in terracotta, stone, and wood. The
building is dotted with oriel windows,
supported by richly carved corbels
and tassels in the form of mythical
horses. This is a characteristic feature
often seen in Victorian and Arab
(mashrabiyya) architecture.
It is blazing hot outside, but I am
yet to break a sweat while walking up
and down inside the museum. The
famed natural air cooling of Napier
Museum is at work. The museum has
double walls with ventilators, which
trap the hot air, tempering it before
allowing it to flow into the museum,
providing a cooling effect without any
modern air conditioners. Understan-
dably, footfalls to the museum increase
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA
during the summer season, I am told.
The Napier Museum with its Gothic
structure, high arches, intricately carved
balustrades, hand-painted frescos and
stone ornamentations stands testimony
to a cultural sharing from aeons ago. I
have always wondered why some of the
most famous artworks in the world were
high up on the ceilings of monumental
structures. What was the purpose? I
discovered that the act of looking up
could lead to an uplifting experience.
I am glad I listened to my friend and
“looked up”.
THE VITALS
Getting There The Napier Museum
is on L.M.S Vellayambalam Road
in Thiruvananthapuram’s Kanaka
Nagar. It is 3 km away from the
Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway
Station and 9 km from the airport.
Open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
Wednesdays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; closed
on Mondays.
SUDHA PILLAI
49
Navigate | S M A RT C I TI ES

Maximum City
FUTURISTIC LIBRARIES, OPEN-AIR MUSEUMS, AND AVANT-GARDE RESTAURANTS: THE DANISH CITY
OF AARHUS LOVES TO SPRING A SURPRISE BY ADAM H. GRAHAM

S
ituated about 160 kilometres
northwest of Copenhagen,
Aarhus has been designated
a 2017 European Capital
of Culture, and both the city and the
central Denmark region received the
title of the 2017 European Region of
Gastronomy. To see it now is to witness
a city undergoing a transformation,
as new food markets, light-rail links,
futuristic libraries, refurbed hotels,
and value-centric restaurants—an
alterna-tive to Copenhagen’s exorbi-
tant prices—have reinvigorated this
Danish city.
But Aarhus’s makeover has been in
the works for the past several years. In
2009 it announced plans to go carbon
neutral by 2030, and it has stayed on
track since. The city has evaluated
70-plus new technologies to determine
which will have the biggest impact on
carbon reduction.
Most of all, it’s presenting a variety of
ways to experience its charms, both new
and old.

EAT!
Food Fit for Vikings and Visitors
Last August, Aarhus Street Food
market opened in a former bus garage
with around 20 vendors offering options
such as grilled cheese with truffled
vesterhavsost (a Danish Gouda), bao buns
stuffed with beef and kimchi, and spicy
Nigerian stews (aarhusstreetfood.com;
open daily, check website for timings).
Bryggeriet Sct. Clemens restaurant and
brewery, located on the site of a Viking-
age combmaker’s workshop, serves
turbot with apple butter and fennel,
dry-aged steaks, and hoppy pilsners
(bryggeriet.dk; turbot DKK295/`2,710;
open daily; check website for timings).
Aarhus has three Michelin-starred spots,
but eco-bistro Pondus was one of two
to receive the Bib Gourmand, awarded
to restaurants serving quality food at
The 150-metre-long rainbow-coloured
reasonable costs. Daily specials include glass walkway known as “Your rainbow
goat cheese with lemon and walnut and panorama” is not only an architectural
JULIAN BROAD

silky cod soups (restaurantpondus.dk; feature but also a permanent art

set menu from DKK295/`2,710; open installation at the ARoS art museum.
daily 5.30-11 p.m.).

50 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 STAY!
Coastal Views, Modern Comforts
Rest up on a quiet beach along a stretch of
sandy Jutland coast at Marselis Hotel, a
mid-century Aarhus respite that faces the
calm Kattegat Sea (www.helnan.dk/en;
doubles from DKK1,250/`11,500). For
those who’d rather be downtown, try the
Hotel Oasia, near Rådhusparken (City Hall
Park), where 65 design-forward rooms are
fitted with custom furniture from Danish
makers like Montana and Kjærholm
(www.hoteloasia.com; doubles from
DKK895/`8,235). The newly revamped
First Hotel Atlantic overlooks the city’s
bustling harbour and the walled Aarhus
River (www.firsthotels.com; doubles from
DKK1,004/`9,235).

PLAY!
Architectural Amusement Park
Mounted atop a dock at the edge of the
harbour, Dokk1 is a heptagonal library
that opened in 2015. The mixed-use
facility is the largest public library in
Scandinavia and hosts cultural events
ranging from 3-D printing demos to table
tennis meet-ups (dokk1.dk; library open
Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat-Sun 10 a.m.-
4 p.m.). The wedge-shaped exterior of
Moesgaard, an archaeology museum,

JULIAN BROAD (WOMAN), QUINTIN LAKE (TOWER), JULIAN BROAD (RESTAURANT), CHRISTIAN GOUPI/AGE FOTOSTOCK/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (CARRIAGE).
protrudes from the ground like an
excavated relic. Its galleries house the
2,000-year-old Grauballe Man, a famed
bog body discovered in Denmark in 1952,
and interpretive displays on the Vikings
and the Bronze and Iron Ages (www.
moesgaardmuseum.dk; Monday closed;
check website for timings; entry 23 Oct-
7 Apr adults DKK120/`1,100, 8 Apr-
22 Oct adults DKK140/`1,290; visitors
under 17 free). And in 2017, ARoS,
Aarhus’s massive art museum, will receive
an open dome extension designed by
American artist James Turrell (en.aros.dk;
Monday closed; check website for timings;
entry adults over 28 DKK130/`1,195,
adults under 28 DKK100/`920, visitors
under 18 free).

SHOP!
Cultural and Creative Souvenirs
Den Gamle By is a living recreation of an
old town, playing up several of Denmark’s
historical periods. The 1864 Merchant’s
House still hawks timber and porcelain,
while 1920s chain store Schous Sæbehus
sells perfumes and washing flakes
(www.dengamleby.dk; open daily; check
website for timings; entry adults from
DKK110/`1,000, children under 17 free).
For one-off designs of divider screens,
The stairs of the Moesgaard Museum (top left) have seven hominin sculptures depicting the tea cozies, and pillows, head to 1+1 Textil,
origin of humans; Hotel Royal (top right), opened in 1838, is one Aarhus’s iconic landmarks; The which sells avant-garde Danish craftwork
Salling Tower (middle) offers a 360° view of the harbour and city; At Den Gamle By or The Old (www.1x1textil.dk; Sunday closed; check
Town, you can ride a horse-drawn carriage (bottom) and see buildings from the 16th century. website for timings).

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 51

Navigate | M Y C I TY

Like Russian Dolls

DISCOVERING TRADITIONAL CUISINE AND HIDDEN HAUNTS IN MOSCOW BY JEFFREY TAYLER

S
eeing the Kremlin at night
Built in the mid-1500s, always enthralls me, even
St. Basil’s Cathedral in after my 23 years in Moscow.
Red Square is one of
Moscow’s most iconic
The vista of brick towers and
structures; Delicatessen crenellated ramparts, so magnificent
(bottom right) is a cocktail as to appear unreal, calls to mind an
bar and restaurant popular illuminated print from an old book of
with young Muscovites.
fairy tales.
My sighting of Russia’s most famous
(or infamous) fortress comes as my cab
trundles over the Bolshoy Kamenny
Bridge, through air shimmering with a
fierce frost. Gusts of wind stir snowdrifts
along the banks of the Moskva River
below us. No less the seat of power
now, during the era of Vladimir Putin,
than it was in Ivan the Terrible’s day
(or Stalin’s), the Kremlin evokes, for
me, a mix of dread and majesty—the
emotions I experienced as a child of the
Cold War when I both feared Russia (I
lived in Washington, D.C., aka ground
zero) and marvelled at it. My fascination
led to graduate studies in Russian and
East European history, to my first visit
in 1985, and to a move here for good in
the summer of 1993. In 1999 I married a
Russian. Moscow is the city I call home.
The Kremlin, a walled citadel with five
palaces and five churches, looms on my
right as we shoot past vast Red Square,
presided over by St. Basil’s Cathedral,

NADIA ISAKOVA/AWL IMAGES (CATHEDRAL), CEDRIC ANGELES/INTERSECTION PHOTOS (WOMEN)

52 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

with its candy cane cupolas. We drive by
the State Duma (parliament), faceless
and modern (and totally subservient
to President Putin). Then comes
Lubyanka Square and another bunker
of a building, today housing the KGB’s
successor, the FSB. Here one August
night in 1991, crowds of Russians
cheered as cranes dismantled the statue
of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the blood-soaked
founder of the Soviet secret police.
Those were promising days, when
real democratic change in Russia
seemed possible. These days, Western
sanctions threaten the highest living
standard Russians have ever known.
For all but dollar- and euro-bearing
travellers (feeling blessed by the rouble’s
devaluation), now should be a cheerless
time in Moscow. But it’s not.
My cab leaves me at a restaurant near
Lubyanka, Ekspeditsiya (expedition).
It’s crowded, loud with folk songs sung
by a group of musicians and customers
clinking glasses and toasting. I have
come for lively conversation and
traditional Russian cuisine; since the
fall of the Soviet Union more than
two decades ago, Russian cooking has
become something of a rarity in Moscow,
at least outside people’s homes. (Most
top restaurants are international.)
I’m joined by Irina, a Muscovite
friend who staunchly defends Putin.
The evening promises to be interesting.
Over drinks and cedar nuts, Irina
enlightens me.
“Russians,” she says, “have always
been conquering wild country. We
are always ready to light out for the
wilderness, even in subzero frosts. We

JEREMY NICHOLL PHOTOGRAPHY (GIANT DOLLS), FRANK HEUER/LAIF/REDUX (STORE)

need difficulties to thrive. That is just
who we are.”
Settling wildernesses also meant eating
unpalatable things, including some
“delicacies” on our menus—marinated
moose with cabbage, grilled reindeer
tongue with cowberry sauce. I choose
a safe favourite, pelmeni (dumplings),
specifically Siberian pelmeni stuffed with
deer meat and smothered in delicious
smetana, or sour cream. We wash the
meal down with a half litre of vodka,
which we drink straight, the Russian way.
The next time we meet, it is at Club
Mayak, a restaurant in the middle of
“Old Moscow,” a web of lanes winding
between low stucco houses dating from a
century or two ago. Once the dining area
of the Mayakovsky theatre next door,
Supersize matryoshka dolls (top) at Afimall shopping centre are an example of the role art and
design play in this historic city; A temple to gourmet foods since 1901 (and renovated in 2004),
the neo-baroque Eliseevsky emporium (bottom) specializes in caviar and other delicacies.
Club Mayak now serves as a low-key official ban on such goods, I ask Irina
gathering place for some of Moscow’s what the future holds.
best known actors, writers, and “We went through World War II and
journalists. With a red-walled interior, we won,” she replies. “I am not worried.”
careworn furniture, and sepia-tinted I’m feeling a bit less sanguine. But
lighting, there are no pretensions here I do know this: Whatever happens in
(www.clubmayak.ru; glass of wine Russia, its fate will be decided, one
from RUB200/`230) way or another, here in Moscow—a
Over some wine and a plate of fact that continues to fuel this city’s
European cheeses, served despite an indomitable spirit.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 53

Navigate | ROAD TR I P

The Painted Hills of John

Day Fossil Beds National
Monument illuminate the
central Oregon landscape.

When High and Dry

COMING AROUND THE BEND IN CENTRAL OREGON, U.S.A BY JULIAN SMITH

O
regon in northwest U.S.A.
has more than its fair share
of craggy coastline and
dense, mossy forest. So it’s
and sparsely populated. This three-day
itinerary out of the city of Bend explores
Oregon’s sublime high desert country,
where the vistas are broad and the skies
Bend, as one of the birthplaces of
modern sport climbing in the United
States. Even if you’re a climbing novice,
it’s hard not to be impressed with
MARC ADAMUS

easy to forget that once you get east tell stories all their own. the cliffs of volcanic tuff and basalt
of the snow-capped Cascades Range, Rock climbers know Smith Rock soaring above the aptly named Crooked
a good chunk of the state is high, dry, State Park, 42 kilometres north of River. There’s a walk-in campsite

54 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017


10 Barrel Brewing Company in Bend, Oregon, serves six kinds of microbrews on tap.
and an extensive trail network, the
12.3-kilometre Summit Trail Loop,
open to hikers and bikers, that winds
along the river before climbing almost
a thousand feet. For a closer look
at climbers in action, take the 1.6-
kilometre-long trail up and over Misery
Ridge. Keep an eye out for river otters at
the bottom and golden eagles up high.
In the piny forest 13 kilometres south
of Bend, the High Desert Museum
offers a concise but in-depth overview
of central Oregon’s natural and human
history. Resident critters include
porcupines, a bobcat, a Gila monster,
and two river otters. Check the daily
schedule for raptor flight
demonstrations and
activities at the Miller
Family Ranch, where
re-enactors explain life on
the frontier at a model of
Deschutes
a 1904 homestead and an
authentic sawmill.
Oregon’s fiery origins
are etched in its jagged
Cascades skyline—and
also in an active Newberry
shield volcano that’s
a little smaller than Lava
Lands
Delhi. Start your visit Visitor
to Newberry National Center
Volcanic Monument at
the Lava Lands Visitor 97
Center, 13 kilometres
Oregon’s fiery origins are
etched in its jagged Cascades
skyline—and also in an active
Newberry shield volcano
that’s a little smaller
than Delhi
It’s a longer drive to the Painted Hills,
137 kilometres northeast of Bend, but
the sight of late-afternoon light on the
kaleidoscopically coloured slopes is
something you’ll never forget. They’re
one of three scattered units of the John
Day Fossil Beds National Monument,
where 40 million years of plant and
animal evolution have been preserved
in stone and soil. The nearby Thomas
Condon Paleontology Center houses
exhibits and a working lab where
researchers pore over one of the most
complete fossil records on Earth.
A cold brew may seem like a mirage
after the desert, but luckily Bend has
south of Bend, where you can drive to more craft breweries per capita than
the top of the perfect cinder cone of anywhere else in this beer-crazy state—
Lava Butte for views of a 7,000-year-old which is about one for every 4,500
lava flow. From there it’s a five-minute residents at last count, and that’s not
drive to Lava River Cave, where a 1.6 including distilleries or cideries. The
kilometre-long trail leads down into the Bend Ale Trail connects ten breweries
darkness. (Bring warm clothes for the within about a kilometre of downtown,
underground chill; you can rent lamps at including two by Deschutes Brewery,
the trailhead.) Another 45 minutes’ drive the granddaddy of them all. Most offer
south is the 44-square-kilometre caldera food on site, like the Crux Fermentation
itself, now filled with two large lakes Project, with a wide lawn, picnic tables,
instead of molten lava. Here you’ll find and a taco stand out back. (Their
trailheads to 7,984-foot Paulina Peak Doublecross Strong Dark Belgian Ale
and the Big Obsidian Flow, an under packs a tasty punch.) If you would rather
two-kilometres-long hike sprinkled with not drive, take a guided tour by bus
black volcanic glass. or “cycle pub,” a 14-passenger, pedal-
powered rolling bar.
With a full day of volcano
hiking and an evening of
THOMAS PATTERSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (BAR), NG MAPS (MAP)
Thomas
Painted Hills Condon sipping local suds, you’ll
Paleontology need to unwind in the hot
Center
tub at the Oxford Hotel, a
JOHN DAY 26 boutique eco-hotel in the
Smith Rock FOSSIL BEDS heart of historic downtown
26
State Park NATIONAL
MONUMENT Bend. All 59 rooms face
south for maximum
97 Cr sunlight, with French press
o oke
d
Bend
coffeemakers and cruiser
bikes available to guests—
High Desert Museum they even have loaner
Portland
AREA
guitars, if you’re feeling
NEWBERRY NATIONAL
VOLCANIC MONUMENT ENLARGED so inclined. Some suites
OREGON have kitchenettes, steam
Paulina Peak 10 mi
7,984 ft showers, and balconies with
2,434 m 10 km
views of the Cascades.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 55
 SMART TRAVELLER
56 58
checking in checking in
Exploring an Australian guest Spectacular lodges, romantic resorts,
house with a wild, green heart and historic hotels around the world

Built using mud brick and timber,

the Great Ocean Ecolodge is off the
grid, drawing energy from the sun,
and harvesting water from the rain.

Conserve Their Energy

COSY UP WITH TIGER QUOLLS AT THE GREAT OCEAN ECOLODGE IN AUSTRALIA | BY SONAL SHAH

I
woke up to sunlight streaming into
my room through large French
windows. Within minutes, a strong
wind buffeted the leaves of a gum
tree outside, bringing with it clouds
rolling in from the coast of Cape
Each room is named for an animal
home, and the ethos of the guest house
is that it should sit as lightly on its
165-acre surroundings as any burrow
or nest. In fact, for owners Lizzie Corke
and Shayne Neal, the rustic lodge is
habitat restoration programmes.
However, nothing about it felt like an
afterthought as I stepped into the cosy
main area full of books and bird’s nests.
A wood-stove heated the sitting room,
with a chimney that carried warmth
PHOTO COURTESY: MARK CHEW

Otway in southern Victoria, towards
the Otway mountains. Moments later,
the sky was overcast, then pouring.
I huddled into my blankets, feeling
as snug as a possum in a hollow—
appropriately the name of my room
at the Great Ocean Ecolodge.
secondary to the Conservation Ecology
Centre they founded here in 2000, as
recent graduates.
The lodge, which is solar-powered
and runs on rainwater, opened in
2004 to fund the conservation centre’s
research, wildlife rehabilitation, and
to other parts of the house. Resisting
the temptation to sit next to the fire, I
followed Shayne outside instead.
The sun shone briefly over a field
behind the lodge, where a mob of
eastern grey kangaroos grazed,
bounding silently towards the cover

56 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

of a stand of trees as we neared. At the trained dog-owners to gather data well as their herbaceous food sources.
entrance to a forested area, a koala related to sightings. “If you deal with the apex predator,”
slept, hugging a manna gum tree This also has the effect of spreading Shayne said, “there are follow-on effects
branch. As I followed Shayne into information about tiger quolls, which for other species.”
the forest, it began drizzling again, helps fundraising efforts. “It is human Leaving the animals to sleep in
the rain dripping off musty brown nature,” Shayne said, “people need peace, we turned towards the warmth
stringy bark and messmate trees, to be able to see them.” At the top of of the lodge. The fire was roaring, and
onto the lush undergrowth. Shayne the native food chain, the tiger quoll breakfast had been laid out, with flaky
described the burn cycle of this was once an important stabilising croissants, home-made cereals, and
ecosystem, and about the erstwhile force in the local ecosystem, and jams. If the tiger quolls feel even half
Aboriginal fire regime, which created could be key to understanding the as well provided for, they’ll hopefully
mosaics of new and old forest, population dynamics of its prey, as stick around a long time yet.
attracting different species.
The species at the heart of the
centre’s recent conservation work is
the tiger quoll, or spotted quoll. The
largest marsupial predator on main-
land Australia, it is a bit smaller than
its island cousin, the Tasmanian devil.
We circled back to an enclosure, which
houses two tiger quolls, both sheltering
from the rain when we arrived. Lifting
up a hollow log, Shayne revealed a large
brown marsupial, with its distinctive
white spots.
Once thought to be to locally extinct
in the Otways, this top apex predator
has been sighted a few times in the
region over the past couple of years.
Well camouflaged, solitary, and mostly
nocturnal, quolls are difficult to study
in the wild. Catching them requires
sedation, as their jaws, second in
strength only to the Tasmanian devil,
could take your fingers off. Instead,
the centre has trained local dogs to
scent quoll scat, using them to find
the animal’s communal pit-stops, and

THE VITALS
Accommodation The two-storey
Great Ocean Ecolodge has five country Conservation Ecology Centre - Conservation and Research Assistant
chic rooms, some of which have feeding orphaned Swamp Wallaby - credit Mark Watson.
sundecks. The en-suite bathrooms

PHOTO COURTESY: LUCIA GRIGGI (TIGER QUOLL), SONAL SHAH (BOOKS & JAM)
are simple but luxurious, and the
rooms have basic amenities like coffee
and tea, and desks (no televisions).
Meals incorporate produce from the
lodge’s kitchen gardens. Continental
breakfast is included and other meals
can be booked along with rooms
(greatoceanecolodge.com; doubles
from AUD380/`18,550, minimum
two-night stay; includes breakfast and a
guide walk at dusk).

Getting There The Great Ocean

Ecolodge is located just over 200 km
southwest of Melbourne, a 3.5-hr trip
via the scenic Great Ocean Road, along
the route to the iconic 12 Apostles.
The endangered tiger quoll (top) is distinguished by his spotted tail; Little jars of homemade
jams (bottom right) accompany breakfast at the Great Ocean Ecolodge; The guest house is full
of illustrated nature books and curios (bottom left).

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 57

Smart Traveller | C HEC KI N G I N

Making Room
THESE SPECTACULARLY SITUATED LODGES, ROMANTIC RESORTS, REVIVED HISTORIC HOTELS,
AND NEIGHBOURHOOD HUBS NOW INSPIRE US TO TRAVEL | BY ELAINE GLUSAC
EPIC VIEWS a perfect base for game drives to spot saturate the sea-to-sky views from
PANORAMIC WINDOWS ONTO elephants, buffalo, zebras, and leopards Le Barthélemy Hotel, on St. Barths’
THE WORLD (www.asiliaafrica.com; doubles from Grand Cul-de-Sac beach (www.
The canvas domed tents at Asilia’s The $430/`27,730; rates vary according lebarthelemyhotel.com; doubles from
Highlands perch on the forested slopes to season; includes all meals, selected €576/`39,450; includes breakfast, water
of a volcano in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro hikes, game drives, and transfers to/ sports, and transfers to/from airport or
Crater area. The sustainable lodge is from Manyara airstrip). Shades of blue harbour). At Amanemu, private terraces

Geodesic tents at Asilia’s

The Highlands, in Tanzania offer
ASILIA

the wildest views.

58 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017


and onsen hot baths overlook forested
islets and oyster rafts in Japan’s “Bay
of Pearls” (www.aman.com; doubles
from JPY1,10,000/`65,116; suites
have private onsen baths). Explora
Valle Sagrado, in Peru, looks up—and
around—to a ring of serrated Andean
peaks (www.explora.com; doubles from
$3,244/`2,10,000 for 3 nights; includes
meals, transfers to/from airport and
railway station, all exploration tours).
On the urban flip side, majestic Table
Mountain fills the floor-to-ceiling
windows at The Silo, in Cape Town,
South Africa (www.theroyalportfolio.
com; doubles from ZAR12,000/`57,500;
includes breakfast and entry to Zeitz
Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
opening September 2017).
REVIVED ROYALTY
GRAND HOTELS WITH
FRESH MAKEOVERS
Timber Cove, a 1963 Frank Lloyd
Wright–inspired lodge, features
new redwood-decked suites
overlooking California’s Sonoma coast
(www.timbercoveresort.com; doubles
from $255/`16,450). The Beekman
transformed a 19th-century building
into Lower Manhattan’s destination
hotel, thanks partly to the soaring nine-
story atrium lobby (www.thebeekman.
com; doubles from $399/`25,730).
The reopened Hotel Royal Savoy, in
Lausanne, restored its art nouveau
exterior and appended a state-of-the-
art Swiss spa (www.royalsavoy.ch;
doubles from CHF350/`22,450). The
historic Pulitzer Hotel, in Amsterdam,
added a courtyard sculpture garden,
giant swings, and themed suites (www.
pulitzeramsterdam.com; doubles from
€314/`21,500).
WHEN IN AMERICA
TRENDY SPOTS WHERE TRAVELLERS
AND LOCALS HANG OUT
The Tilden Hotel, in San Francisco’s
Tenderloin district, brings in local poets
and artists for rotating residencies
(www.tildenhotel.com; doubles
from$279/`18,000). Hotel Saint George
shares an address—and a clever vibe—
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA
Guests in the Great Room in
Timber Cove, California, can
kick back beside the fireplace
and enjoy their extensive vinyl
record collection.
with the indie Marfa Book Company
in Texas (doubles from $215/`13,900).
Local acts perform at the music club
at the Ace Hotel New Orleans, a
community magnet in the Warehouse
District (www.acehotel.com; doubles
from $112/`7,200). The Williamsburg
Hotel loans bikes for exploring
Brooklyn (www.thewilliamsburghotel.
com; doubles from $18,830 ), while
Chicago’s The Robey opens doors to
the arty Wicker Park neighbourhood
(www.therobey.com; doubles from
$195/`12,500). FOUND:RE Phoenix,
which doubles as a gallery for area
artists, embodies the Arizona city’s
downtown revival (www.foundrehotels.
com; doubles from $101/`6,500).
LOVERS’ CORNERS
HIDEAWAYS FOR ROMANCE
The barrel-vaulted, 16th-century chapel
at Masseria Trapanà, in southern Italy,
provides a cosy setting for making
STACI MARENGO
—or renewing—vows (www.trapana.
com; doubles from). Sandals Royal
Caribbean, in Jamaica, introduces
59
Smart Traveller | C HEC KI N G I N

OLIVIER LEROI/LE BARTHÉLEMY HOTEL & SPA (POOL), NICOLAS SCHUYBROEK ARCHITECTS & MARC MERCKS INTERIORS/COURTESY OF GRUPO HABITA (CITY)
luxury South Pacific–style over-the-
water villas—with outdoor showers
and glass floors for viewing marine
life—to the region (www.sandals.
com;doubles from $1025/`66,100).
Casa Laguna Hotel & Spa, in
California’s Laguna Beach, offers
colourful, intimate rooms at a 1920s
former artist colony dotted with
palm trees (www.casalaguna.com;
doubles from $229/`14,750; the
Garden rooms have a private curated
library). On an island located in
the Maldives’ Noonu Atoll, Soneva
Jani features over-the-water villas
with retractable roofs for stargazing
(www.soneva.com; villas from
$2,088/`1,35,000). In Mexico,
Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera
Maya fronts white sands ideal for
beachcombing, with sleek rooms
that look onto tropical gardens,
a clear lagoon, or the Caribbean
Sea (mayakoba.andaz.hyatt.com;
Stay cool at The Robey’s rooftop (bottom) in Chicago; Le Barthélemy’s pool in St. Barths (top) doubles from $350/`22,550).

60 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 IN FOCUS
62 70 82
macao karnataka denmark
The city’s Latin parade is a Mythology gets colourful and trippy The Hans Christian Andersen
surreal introduction to its history at Coorg’s Dasara float show festival brings fantasies to life

HIMANSHU ROHILLA

96
Alibaug, Maharashtra

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 61

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

FANTASTIC

Beasts
AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Macao’s vibrant Latin City parade is
a surreal introduction to its history

By Diya Kohli
XXXXXXXXXXXX (XXXXXXXXX)

62 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ M ACAO

XXXXXXXXXXXX (XXXXXXXXX)

Macao’s annual parade sees

VAKIL

over 50 crews from Macao,

mainland China, Latin America,
AMIT

as well as Europe.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 63

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

XXXXXXXXXXXX (XXXXXXXXX)

The Ruins of St. Paul includes a

Jesuit complex as well as the facade
of the 17th-century Mater Dei church,
one of the most iconic structures of
Macao. This forms an apt backdrop
for the theatrics of the parade.

64 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 A
■ M ACAO

Native American
chief complete with his feathered war
bonnet was standing two feet from
me posing for a selfie with a Chinese
grandma, beaming in spite of two missing
front teeth. Across him, two beautiful
boisterous ladies in their big hooped
skirts were bantering with a petite fellow
who had a giant Venezuelan flag draped
over his shoulders. I pinched my arm to
make sure that I was really wide awake
and standing in a hotel lobby in Macao. It
seemed like the perfect surreal beginning
to the day of Macao’s Latin City parade.
Macao is a Janus-faced city, with one face turned towards its
past and the other towards a glittering future. Since my arrival I
had done the regulation sightseeing tours, museum visits, even
an obligatory Cotai Strip casino tour. However, it was the parade
that brought it all together for me. The mixed crews with their
vibrant costumes and multitude of languages seemed to be in
sync with the city’s multifaceted identity. As the day unspooled
through colour and music, what amazed me the most was the
gusto with which the event celebrated the region’s cosmopoli-
tanism and its Portuguese, Chinese, and Macanese heritage.
A view from the top made the parade look like the sparkly
trail of a giant comet. And as I followed a train of strange and
beautiful creatures, from the ruins of St. Paul’s to Tap Siac
Square, I ended up collecting bits of Macao’s past like pieces of
confetti saved after the last wedding hurrah.

The Countdown
The Portuguese arrived on Macao’s shores in the 1550s and over
the centuries, they left an indelible impression on the region’s
cultural identity right up until they finally left in 1999. The
first Desfile Por Macao, Cidade Latina (Latin City parade), was
ASHIMA NARAIN

held in 2011, and has since continued as an annual event that

commemorates the city’s handover from Portugal to China.
Interestingly, what the parade celebrates is the melding of the

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 65

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
two cultures. Performers from Latin American countries as well
as Mainland China and Macao showcase an array of dances,
traditions, costumes, and art forms ranging from the traditional
to the wildly inventive.
I had landed in Macao three days before the event and the
place was already thrumming with impending festivities.
Distant drumbeats and clashing cymbals interrupted my single-
minded focus on food as I queued up for a pork chop bun at a
street kiosk. Exploring the narrow streets around the imposing
Ruins of St. Paul, I spotted girls in spangly costumes and boys
cradling traditional lion head masks like warrior helmets of
yore. There were men at work around Senado Square, setting
up a stage and decorations. This beautiful square with its iconic
Portuguese pavements, skin care boutiques with candy-coloured
displays, pastelarias selling traditional snacks, and fast food
kiosks is a vibrant pinwheel. It is part of the Historic Centre of
Macao which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here, ancient Chinese temples lie cheek by jowl with churches
and western custard-filled tarts get a local eggy spin. In this part
of downtown Macao, East and West do meet, and all around me
there are signs of this synergy between the cultures, right down
to the Portuguese-style mosaic pavement under my feet.
In the run up to the parade, there was a little bit of magic
thrown into the mix. Vividly coloured life-sized models of odd
little creatures graced street corners. These fantastical charac-
ters were drawn from the Chinese fantasy epic Shan Hai Jing
(Classic of Mountains and Seas)—the theme for this year’s pa-
There are numerous tableaux on
parade day and they reference
traditional as well as modern pop
culture. There is a whole gamut of
performances featuring everything
from a herd of zombies to this group
of characters from a Chinese opera.
66 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
rade. They were the brainchild of local artist Un Chi Wai, and
included the Mottled Flying Fish, the Torch Dragon, and the
towering Hairy People.
A post-dinner walk just the night before the parade turned
disastrous as my phone sputtered and died taking with it a
map back to my hotel. After an hour and a half of following my
instinct and limping from a bloody shoe bite, I realised that I
was irrevocably lost. After many wrong turns, it was another
parade icon, the daunting three-headed Qiyu Bird at the corner
of a public square, which helped me finally reorient and return
to my hotel room. And thereafter in my walks around Macao, it
was this motley crew from Shan Hai Jing’s universe that helped
guide my way.
Crossing the Time Gate
There are many marvellous places and all manner of imaginary
beasts listed in Shan Hai Jing and I join the thronging crowds at
the foot of the Ruins of St. Paul’s, waiting for them to appear. It is
one of those days where the sky is the shade of cornflowers, and
the light is dappled with sunrays streaming through the many
arched windows of the Madre de Deus church’s massive stone
facade. This is one of the most notable structures of Macao,
part of the 17th-century St. Paul’s Jesuit college complex which
was an important centre of western education and arts in this
part of the world. Although the complex was destroyed in a fire
in 1835, the baroque facade of the church and the stone steps
remained intact and continue to endure as Macao’s most iconic
RAJKUMAR MATHIALAGAN

“ And the quiet afternoon bursts around us like a
thousand piñatas as crew after crew in dazzling
costumes, dance their way down the steps to a
frenetic soundtrack of drums and cheers”
tourist spot. This complex is flanked by the Mount Fortress
which houses the Macao Museum, an excellent repository of the
life and culture of the diverse communities of the city.
The clock strikes four and VIVA, the mascot of the Macao
parade emerges at the top of the church steps. As he starts
descending, he literally crosses over a time gate—a portal from
21st century Macao to the magical world of Shan Hai Jin. In
his wake, come the paraders from far corners of the world. They
are the dragons, the goddesses, beasts from Africa’s savannah,
giant serpents, puppets, acrobats, clowns, robots, and more.
Thousands of onlookers including me are gathered at the head
of the city’s Rua de Sao Paulo to witness this moment. And the
quiet afternoon bursts around us like a thousand piñatas as crew
after crew in dazzling costumes, dance their way down the steps
to a frenetic soundtrack of drums and cheers.
The Lions of Senado Square
Meanwhile, there is another prong of the parade that starts at
Senado Square and joins up with St. Paul’s brigade. Not wanting
to miss a single moment, I tail a couple of intrepid photographers
who take it upon themselves to weave through the sea of heads
to make their way back to this point. I find myself behind a
line of whistle-tooting girl scouts who have been roped in for
crowd control. The majestic 18th-century Leal Senado building
towers above the stage that has been constructed for the event.
Originally the seat of the Portuguese government, today the
sprawling two-storey neoclassical structure houses a public
library specialising in foreign languages and Portuguese history,
and offices for the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macao.
This seems like a good vantage point. Just as I position myself
behind a very accommodating little girl with a smart blue beret,
Meet the magical characters from the Chinese epic Shan Hai Jing that formed the theme of the 2017 parade
MOTTLED FLYING FISH QIYU BIRD
It can fly as well as This bird with its three heads The hairy people have thick
swim and represents an and six tails has a booming fur covering every inch of
abundant harvest. laugh and can chase away
nightmares and evil.
■ M ACAO
the magnificent dance of the lions begins. They are green, black,
and white, tall, sinuous, and fierce. Each “lion” comprises two
dancers, the body and the head, who move as a single organism
to the beat of a gong and drums. These energetic band of
multicoloured cats lead the way down from Senado Square
through Rua de Sao Domingos past the cheery yellow baroque
church of St. Dominic, dating back to the late 16th century.
The parade snakes past a lovely little bookshop, the Livraria
Portuguesa, which has a wonderfully curated collection of books
on Macanese history, culture, food, and customs along with
some nifty maps, graphic novels, and souvenirs. I cross at least
ten outlets of the Koi Kei pastelaria and each one is milling with
crowds. This bakery specialises in traditional snacks, and beef
and pork jerky in myriad flavours. Enthusiastic attendants tempt
passers-by with generous samplers of their delicious products.
Case of the Drunken Dragons
Back near the ruins, the drama continues as characters from
a Chinese opera descend the stairs. Young girls dressed as
matadors twirling their red capes with panache follow a train of
adolescent boys carrying a giant serpent. Suddenly the air grows
dank with the sharp smell of rice wine. Old men stumble down
the stairs dancing, or rather reenacting an ancient myth where a
village is saved from the plague by a magical dragon. The group
comprises old men and young boys carrying wooden heads and
tails of dragons, and pots of wine. They drink and spit into the
air to ward off evil spirits and propitiate Lord Buddha. A lot of
the wine clearly makes its way into the gullet of the dancers and
as the parade progresses, their inebriation seems to increase
proportionally. Their dance is clumsy, but completely uninhibited.
I follow them, maintaining a safe distance from the alcohol
EPIC TALES
THE HAIRY PEOPLE THE TINY PEOPLE TORCH DRAGON
These people come from Half human, half snake, this
a land where everyone god controls weather and
them and come from is very short. the cycle of day and night.
a distant land.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 67
In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
Men intersperse their drunken dragon dance with large mouthfuls
of rice wine, which they then spit out creating a haze of alcohol
around them.
sprays, past St. Anthony’s church. The current baroque-style
building is on the site of the original wooden structure which
was built in 1558, and subsequently destroyed in a fire. Since
St. Anthony’s was a popular venue for Portuguese weddings, it
is also known as the Church of Flowers.
I trail the parade, sometimes on the sidelines, sometimes
joining its raggedy tail, and sometimes using my media access
pass to walk alongside performing groups that I love at first
sight. However, I have to be nimble so that I am not in the way
of photographers or security staff. I have to dodge projectile
props and save myself from being stampeded by energetic
troupes. Sandwiched between graceful Balinese dancers and a
nattily dressed jazz troupe, I make my way down narrow cobbled
lanes, flanked by elegant Portuguese-style manors, old Catholic
churches, and traditional Chinese apothecaries. I take a pause
from the parade to look around this charming historic quarter.
I notice that we pass manicured public squares lined with
heritage lamps, and brightly coloured shop fronts with intricate
Chinese motifs and lettering. Roads are signposted on beautiful
Portuguese azulejo tiles and these blue and white tiles help me
orient myself on the parade route.
We Are the Robots
One such sign informs me that I am in Calçada da Igreja de São
Lázaro. This is the area around the 16th-century St. Lazarus
Church. Among the oldest in Macao, this church was a beacon
of hope, built on the site of a hermitage providing care and
shelter to lepers. As the parade snakes up cobbled streets, I fall
in line with an eccentric looking group from Spain who call
68 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
themselves the Robots. Dressed in the motley garb of clowns,
they look straight out of a steampunk sci-fi film with Tin Man
hats, armour plates, and stilts and blades on which they walk,
hop, and jump. They are crowd pleasers and their silver painted
faces crinkle into broad grins as they oblige young ’uns with
selfies, and make little tots laugh with their antics. The moving
is sometimes pretty slow but I enjoy walking with the robots
as they come up with games to keep the crowds entertained.
Occasionally I take a pause from their antics and stop to take
in the neighbourhood. This very European part of Macao with
tree-lined streets has hidden courtyards, art galleries, graffiti
on the walls, a cemetery with marble angels, and a grand old
church presiding over it all. The parade also passes by the
Albergue da Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a set of beautifully
restored 400-year-old buildings set around a courtyard with
two massive camphor trees. Originally a charity and home for
old women, today this is an eclectic arts and entertainment
space: It has art galleries, a Portuguese restaurant, and a lovely
little boutique selling Portuguese crafts and food supplies.
The Great Gig in the Sky
From St. Lazarus, the parade crews take different routes,
finally converging at Tap Siac Square for one last blowout. This
is a fitting place for a finale. Paved with Portuguese tiles, this
erstwhile training ground for soldiers has been transformed into
a central public space in Macao where people gather to relax
and celebrate different cultural events through the year. Tap
Siac Square is where parade mascot VIVA has his “love, peace,
and cultural integration party” and where all the crews present
one last performance. It is a magnificent celebration and one
which all of Macao takes part in as giant inflatable puppets
float above the stage like strange and benevolent gods. Below,
under the strobe lights, fantastic beasts, and creatures big,
small, and weird come together and make merry. On this night in
Macao, history truly feels like a sum of its glorious differences.
Diya Kohli was until recently part of National Geograpic Traveller
India’s editorial team. She loves the many stories of big old cities.
For her, the best kind of travel experience involves long walks
through labyrinthine lanes with plenty of food stops along the way.
FACING PAGE: ASHIMA NARAIN (MAN & DANCERS), RAJKUMAR MATHIALAGAN (LION COSTUME)
The Vitals
Macao is a peninsular region in southern
China and was the last European colony in Asia,
governed by the Portuguese until the late 1990s.
The most convenient way to reach there is to fly
to Hong Kong, and get to Macao by ferry. Indian
RAJKUMAR MATHIALAGAN
travellers are eligible for a visa on arrival
in Macao, and must fill a pre-arrival
registration form on www.immd.gov.
hk/eng for a visa-free entry
to Hong Kong.
 ■ M ACAO

Macao’s parade is an unforgettable spectacle. The Spanish crew

called Robots perform at Tap Siac Square during the parade’s final
performance (top left); Two crew members make up each of the giant
multicoloured lions that perform their dance to drums and gongs
(top right); A group of young dancers form a riveting sight as they
gracefully swirl in their costumes down the streets of Macao (bottom).

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MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 69

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

MYTHOLOGY GETS CRAZY, COLOURFUL, AND TRIPPY AT

MADIKERI’S DASARA FLOAT PARADE

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70 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ K ARN ATAK A

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 71

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
t is late in the night. The hill town of Madikeri bops and
hops wildly around huge carnival floats that pump out
megawatts of eardrum-blasting disco from onboard sound
systems. Elaborately crafted polychrome superheroes and
heroines—some up to 15 feet tall—try to outdo each other.
This curious sight feels like a mixture of high heaven and the
world’s biggest non-alcoholic outdoor religious nightclub.
I’m totally into it. I’m mesmerised by the frenzied dancers and
start shaking my hairy legs to an enticing mix of Kannada pop
and Hindi rap. This must be what it feels like to do the carnival
rumba in Rio de Janeiro. But I’m not in Brazil. I’m in Madikeri,
in the serene and a tad conservative hill station of Coorg
(Kodagu). Not on vijayadashmi night though, when all citizens
head towards the hotspot of the festivities—near the old fort at
the centre of Madikeri. This is the culmination of Dasara, when
good wins over evil, and the gods succeed in their annual battle
against demons.
It is always the same story: morality cancels out immorality.
From a forensic point of view the mythical heroes exterminate
the netherworld baddies, like in the Clint Eastwood or
Amitabh Bachchan movies of yore. It also feels great to
jive all night, as it doesn’t get sweaty in the cool October
72 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
air and there are ample chilled drinks
and snacks in the stalls around. I’ve had some
delicious roadside chicken biriyani, spicy gobi
manchurian, and of course Coorgi coffee. That is what
keeps everyone going, because this all-night rave isn’t fuelled
by intoxicants—the police have shut down bars and liquor shops
for the day so there’s no public drunkenness or misbehaviour.
Instead there’s jolly energy in the air. He-hunks do their
ballyhoo ballet before all the young girls sitting on tiered
benches along the street. Even families with kids step out after
dinner and partake in merriment till well into the wee hours.
The main amusement is the grand floats. On one there’s a green
monster in yellow shorts, like a fiendish character from some
Xbox game, with guts spilling out of his tummy. On another,
Ganapati with four arms is busy juggling weapons of potential
mass destruction, while on the third Shiva meditates on his
throne, and on the next float Vishnu flies on his Garuda. A tiger
with Viking horns bares his fangs. Another elephant god swings
a sword—but this one has ten arms and rides a peacock—and a
Mother Goddess looks on calmly in the middle of the madness.
Somewhere in the throng there’s even a King Kong.
The figures are built on mechanical frames that make the
arms flex and heads turn. Pulled by tractors, the gods enact their
dramas based on various ancient plotlines involving gods and
goddesses, demons and goblins, while semi-epileptic lightshows
and bass-boosted sound effects accompanied by pyrotechnics
make the ground virtually tremble under the audience’s feet. A
total of ten floats participate each year, all very elaborately done
up, making the mythology come alive for one boisterous display
of heroic histrionics.
Each float costs between `10,00,000-20,00,000, so put toge-
 ■ K ARN ATAK A

ther their budget equals a Sandalwood action movie and yet
they feature only in a one-night, fully-free, sold-out show. The
float teams, all of whom are attached to various temples in town,
consist mainly of localites with creative ambitions, but for certain
hi-tech expertise like sound they bring in audio engineers from
Bengaluru. For fireworks there are pyrotechnical professionals
from Tamil Nadu. In some cases special effects men come from
as far away the U.S.A. to provide the onlookers with an earth-
shattering spectacle combining Amar Chitra Katha aesthetics
blended seamlessly with Harry Potter and Hollywood.
*****
adikeri used to be the capital of the erstwhile
princely state of Coorg ruled over by Mudduraja
of the Haleri dynasty, who had come down south
from northern Karnataka to carve out a kingdom
for himself. According to one sign that I find in
the hilltop fort, he named it Muddurajanakeri which was later
abbreviated to Madikeri, misspelled as Mercara by the Britishers.
Circa 1680, Mudduraja built the city’s fort from mud. His
descendants ruled for a hundred years until Tipu Sultan came
to conquer briefly. In 1790, Doddaveer Rajendra took over and
his family was in charge until 1834 when the somewhat loony
Chikkaveer Rajendra was exiled (and interestingly enough buried
in London’s Highgate cemetery not so far from Karl Marx). From
then on Coorg was developed by the East India Company into a
production centre for the best coffee in the world.
Before the British takeover, the rajas started a tradition of
celebrating Dasara in the early 1800s to purge the city from
plague. The practice of taking the shakthi devathas—or female
goddesses of the town’s four Mariamma temples—out for a
procession has continued to this day in order to protect the
people against illnesses. In those days, menfolk apparently
carried deities in palanquins through the streets accompanied by
traditional Kodava music and dance. The spectacle ended in the
market area on the tenth day of Navaratri at the Banni Mantap
with puja and worshipping of the banni (or Indian Mesquite)—a
ritually important tree for warriors and particularly significant to
the people of Coorg with their strong military traditions.
When it lost its royal patronage, rather than remaining a regal
affair like the annual Dasara in Mysuru, this Dasara turned into a
people’s party or a janutsava. Local legend has it that one Bheem
Singh came from Rajasthan in 1958 to tweak the festivities with
exotic colour and change it all from a purely religious ritual into
a folksy do. Bheem Singh started using tractors and building
bigger floats with wood instead of bamboo. So today there are ten
motorised hi-tech floats.
And while the majestic Mysuru Dasara is a tourist attraction
with the main events held in the daytime, the Madikeri Dasara
remains a homely all-night affair with no king in the picture and
is therefore perhaps much more fun. The people want innovative
displays every year, which challenges the temple committees to
come up with fresh spectacles.
After a long final Navaratri evening of joyous dancing and a
slow build-up of excitement, when midnight comes each float
will make what is called a “demonstration.” This means they will
crank the music up to full blast and ignite the fuses for whatever
bombs have been built into the carriages. This show continues till
around 4 a.m. while judges compare scores and announce prizes
for the most amazing creations.
The winner gets 24 grams of gold and the runners-up are also
awarded. And as the sun begins to colour the eastern horizon,
the floats—or whatever remains of them—reel around dizzily in
the city while the more zealous devotees shimmy in a climactic
delirium. By 10 a.m. or so the energy levels dip and the heat of the
sun hits with force and fells the last revellers.
The morning after the Dasara float parade, I walk about
looking at the residue. Most floats have ground to a halt. Disco
still blasts from a few speakers, but generators low on diesel are
hiccupping. People are sleeping by the roadside, napping on the
pavements and in ditches. They have, with their enthusiasm,
once again helped the gods save the world—and they deserve
quiet quality time now until next year’s Dasara.
Zac O’yeah is the author of crime novel Mr Majestic: The Tout of
Bengaluru (Hachette India, 2012). His latest novel is Hari, a Hero
for Hire (Pan Macmillan India, 2015).
charbak Dipta is a Delhi-based graphic storyteller. Reading about
about Faxian and Xuanzang in school fuelled his desire to see the
world. He now travels widely for his art exhibitions.

Getting There
The nearest airport to Madikeri is
Bengaluru Kempegowda International
Airport (280 km/6 hr by road; taxis
charge `6,450). The closest rail junction
is Mysuru (120 km/3hr). Regular buses
go from Mysuru to Madikeri (state
transport buses from `112).
It is possible to plan a trip from Mysuru
to spend the night at the festival and then
return by an early morning bus. Buses run
frequently throughout the night as well.
Stay
Thousands of people gather to
experience the event and Madikeri is a
very small town, so book accommodation
sufficiently in advance if you wish to stay
conveniently near the city centre.
KSTDC Mayura Valley View (www.kstdc.
co; doubles from `3,900) has the best
hilltop views and is near Gandhi Maidan
where the Dasara cultural programme
take place. Coorg International (www.
indoasia-hotels.com; doubles from
`5,000) located away from the main
town is one of the region’s oldest hotels.
The luxurious Vivanta (www.vivanta.
tajhotels.com; doubles from `14,000)
offers cooking classes, pottery work-
shops, as well as a traditional gudda
bath experience.
Festival
Madikeri’s float parade is on 30 Sept-
ember from 10-11 p.m. Floats pass
through the town’s Main Street around
midnight and are best viewed from the
Town Hall, in front of the fort, and near
the Kodava Samaja Shopping Complex.
The event is free and includes a week-
long programme of dance performances,
musical recitals, magic shows, and
martial art displays at a stage in Gandhi
Maidan. Reach early to grab good seats.
This is a family-friendly festival and
also includes a separate Makkala Dasara
which has a range of activities and
competitions especially for kids.
Many shops stay open later than usual,
so tourists can pick up spices, coffee
powder, honey, and other local produce.
Fast food stalls stay open until the wee
hours as well. The fare on offer includes
the usual churmuri, gobi manchurian,
bhajjis, and delicacies like the local style
non-veg biriyani.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 73

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

Move with the Moving Pictures

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SHRINES FOR CINEPHILES, FILM FESTIVALS ALSO OFFER THE REST OF US A BIT OF EVERYTHING

By Kalpana Nair
74 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
 ■ WO RLD

This month, I am off to Cannes. I like

throwing that phrase around casually.
For a second, it sounds oh-so-glamorous. Right now you are
probably thinking of a montage of scenes centred around yachts,
beaches, and champagne. Please allow me to derail that train of
thought. I am a programmer who attends the Cannes International
Film Festival to scout for films and meet the people who are in the
business of making and selling them. I have never come within
hugging distance of any major Hollywood star there (although last
year I did see the back of Ryan Gosling’s head, walking a mere 400
metres from me). The one time I got onto a yacht, I got seasick and
I may have had to get into a staring match with some doormen to
enter the many luxury brand stores that line the Croisette. So when
I say Cannes, the picture in my brain is nothing like the one in yours.
Film festivals are like that. Poised right at the intersection of
cinema, glamour, travel, and food, they are connected to the cities
they inhabit, yet they have their own energy, vibe, and ideology.
I highly recommend trekking to the ones listed here to experience
why thousands of people migrate to them every year, almost like
devotees who find themselves on a pilgrimage.
DENIS MAKARENKO/SHUTTERSTOCK

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 75

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
Cannes Film Festival Festival de Cannes
Cannes is the mother of all film festivals. Every
May, over thirty thousand directors, producers,
writers, journalists, sales agents, and assorted film
professionals descend upon the eponymous town
in French Riviera. They network, walk the red carpet,
Year of Inception pitch films, and try and watch some of the over 180
1946 films that are screened here as part of the official
selection. As a festival, Cannes is so exclusive—some
Month would say haughty—that you can attend it only if
May you’re connected to cinema professionally or are a
member of the press. But not to despair, the festival
Festival Hub also has some fantastic sidebars like the Director’s
Palais du Festivals Fortnight (which Anurag Kashyap regularly features
on) and Critic’s Week for which the general public can
Average no. of
buy tickets.
films screened
If you do manage to swing yourself an accreditation
180+
or place your faith in swinging some last minute film
Average no. of tickets, Cannes is a town that has much to offer.
people attending During the ten days of the festival, the sleepy town
30,000+ transforms itself and films take over. The weather is
76 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
usually perfect with just enough nip in the air to save
one from being broiled. The beach is only 10 minutes
away. But to experience Cannes in all its glory, one
must set aside hours to stargaze and people-watch.
The best places to do this is right outside the Palais
des Festivals where all the red carpets take place or
in the lobbies of hotels like the JW Marriott, Carlton,
or the Grand Martinez where all the A-listers stay. It’s
quite normal to see people dressed from head to toe
in couture, walking casually down the road as they
make their way from the red carpet to the first of many
parties of the night. You might also spot your favourite
art-house filmmaker in one of the many restaurants
TANIAVOLOBUEVA/SHUTTERSTOCK
opposite the two-kilometre long Croisette. Do try
out some authentic Provençal cuisine and pack your
walking shoes. Cannes is best covered on foot and
cars are prohibitively expensive. Although the Uber
in Cannes does have a helicopter option, so that’s
always there. If you’re a racing enthusiast, Monaco is
only an hour away. (www.festival-cannes.com/fr.)
 ■ WO RLD

Mumbai Film Festival Mami

The Mumbai Film Festival, or MAMI as its popularly
known, is the youngest on this list. Three years ago,
it was about to be discontinued due to lack of funds
when a team led by journalist Anupama Chopra and
filmmaker Kiran Rao stepped in to galvanise support
and money to keep it going. It has since grown by leaps
and bounds. MAMI starts the film festival calendar in
India and only screens India premieres. This means Year of Inception
that every cinephile, writer, actor, assistant director 1997
and filmmaker worth his or her salt in Mumbai takes
a few days off work and braves Mumbai traffic to cram Month
as many films as possible in one day. Regardless of October
what kind of cinema you veer towards, MAMI will have
a section for you. Indie, genre, world cinema, restored Festival Hub
classics, children’s films; it’s all there. For the more PVR Icon
populist palette there is the Movie Mela. You can also
Average no. of
catch masterclasses with stalwarts like Jia Jhangke,
films screened
Cary Fukanaga, and Catherine Deneuve. MAMI has
200+
venues all over the city. There’s nothing quite like
watching the latest Asghar Farhadi film with fellow Average no. of
movie fans in an art-deco theatre like the Regal in people attending
Colaba. (www.mumbaifilmfestival.com.) 10,000+

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF

Unanimously crowned the “happiest film festival”

PHOTO COURTESY: MAMI (MAMI), DOMINIC CHAN/WENN LTD/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (TIFF)
Toronto International Film Festival’s unpretentious
personality is first made obvious by its friendly
acronym—TIFF. Over the years, the festival has
become a hub for premiering American and Canadian
Year of Inception cinema. It is also one to reckon with come Oscar
1986 season. It’s attended by all leading Hollywood studios
and talent. Beyond the movies (which are excellent)
Month and the glitz (there is a lot of that), TIFF is a festival
September that genuinely wants to embrace everyone. That spirit
shines through in the hundreds of festival volunteers.
Festival Hub TIFF also has the coolest festival merchandise that
TIFF Bell Lightbox ranges from brooches to coffee cups to cameras.
While the festival is going on, TIFF converts a section
Average no. of
of King’s Street in Toronto to a pedestrian-only zone
films screened
called “Festival Street”, which is choc-a-bloc with
400+
buskers, pop up shops, and food trucks, and free
Average no. of concerts. Also recommended is a trip to the Toronto
people attending Islands, which is only a 15-minute ferry ride from
5,00,000+ downtown Toronto. (www.tiff.net.)

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 77

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale
The Berlinale is another leading film festival in Europe
that becomes a global agent for cinema each year.
Drawing on the legacy and baggage that comes
with Germany, it’s carved an identity for itself by
consistently curating cinema that is political and
Year of Inception addresses critical issues like migration, race, refugees
1951 and climate change. In 2015, Ai Weiwei festooned the
pillars of the Konserthauswith with 14,000 refugee
Month life vests. Last year, German politician Claudia Roth
February walked the red carpet wearing a gown that said
“Unpresidented”.
Festival Hub Berlin is a city that remembers history. So pieces of
Berlinale Palast the Berlin Wall which came down in 1989 are framed
all over the city. You can also visit Checkpoint Charlie
Average no. of
which was the most famous crossing point from East
films screened
to West Berlin and is still patrolled by actors dressed
400+
as border guards (€1/`70 for a selfie with them). Also
Average no. of spend some time visiting the Topography of Terror, a
people attending museum that is built on the site that used to be the
20,000+ headquarters of the Gestapo.
78 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
It’s not all grim though. Berlin is an affordable city
with a thriving cultural scene. One could spend a
whole day just viewing the incredible graffiti that is
everywhere. The food is cheap and comes from all
over the world. Once you’ve had the currywurst which
is almost the national dish, check out Johnny’s Bar
in Zimmerstraße for the Jamaican fare and Linh Linh
near MGB (Martin Gropius Bau) for some sumptuous
Vietnamese food.
The large Turkish community in Berlin also means
the falafel and the doner kebabs are delectable across
the board. If you’re in the mood for some pub hopping,
Berlin has an astounding selection of beer. Hop over
to the hip Kreuzberg district to drink the night away.
Also recommended is the flea market at Mauerpark
that takes place every Sunday. Independent German
artists set up stalls and sell everything from handmade
posters to jewellery at prices. The only downside to all
this is that it is freezing during the festival, so pack
your woollies. (www.berlinale.de.)
DENIS MAKARENKO/SHUTTERSTOCK
 ■ WO RLD

South by South West SXSW

The state of Texas does not immediately seem like
an ideal setting for a film festival. But over the last
30 years, its capital Austin has been countering that
notion successfully with SXSW (South By South West).
It has a unique format with three bifurcations that
focus on film, technology, and music. Led by the spirit
of discovery, SXSW is a great place to see upcoming
films, bands, and technology. The 2007 SXSW was a
a U.S. cultural fixture and former U.S. President Barack
Obama even gave a keynote interview here in 2016.
The festival is also the backdrop for Terrence Malick’s Year of Inception
latest film Song to Song. SXSW features sidebars like 1984
the Southwest Invasion which is a three-day concert
Month
series that takes place on the rooftop of a Whole Foods
March
Store. If you feel like partaking in some local flavour,
try the Tex Mex at Tamale House East and visit the
STOCK_PHOTO_WORLD/SHUTTERSTOCK (SXSW)

Festival Hub
turning point for Twitter which got a lot of traction and Rodeo Austin which comes to town during the festival Austin Convention
came into public awareness there. SXSW has become in March. (www.sxsw.com.) Centre

Average no. of
films screened
Kalpana nair coordinates the film programme at the Mumbai Film Festival. 150+
Her work takes her to film festivals all over the world and she moonlights
as a freelance writer when the urge strikes. Her travels are always
Average no. of
sprinkled with generous doses of cinema.
people attending
85,000

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 79

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

In parts of Sukhothai,
it is an age-old tradition to
release paper lanterns, known
as the khomloi, into the sky
during Loy Krathong.

LIGHT AT THE END OF

THE FUNNEL
CELEBRATING LOY KRATHONG IN SUKHOTHAI, THAILAND
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY SUGATO MUKHERJEE

L ast year, I visited Sukhothai, in north-central

Thailand, timing my trip to coincide with
the annual Loy Krathong festival in November,
a festival of light which celebrates the Buddha.
It is celebrated throughout the country, though it originated in
Sukhothai. Here it is associated with the commemoration of a
13th-century battle, during which a Buddha statue allegedly
spoke to the Siamese army, boosting their morale as they fended
off Burmese invaders.
On the advice of my Italian host Paulo, who runs a guesthouse
in Sukhothai with his Thai wife, I travelled to Wat Si Chum,
the temple where Buddhist monks worship the speaking
Buddha from the legend. Few people witness the ceremony
here, which takes place before the larger public procession.
The nondescript temple is located on the northern fringes of
the manicured gardens and old stone Buddhas of Sukhothai
Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site 10 kilometres
from the city.
I followed a group of orange-robed monks, who entered
through a narrow slit in the temple’s wall. Inside was one of the
largest and finest Buddha statues I had ever seen. As the chants
of the monks reverberated in the conical temple, sunrays filtered

80 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ THAILAN D

Traditional Thai clothing and headgear (top left) are sported during the festival parades; The buoyant, decorated baskets called krathongs are
released into water (bottom left) as an offering to Pra Mae Khongkha, the goddess of water. They are believed to carry away one’s hatred, anger,
and defilements; According to a Thai legend, the stuccoed Buddha statue (right) inside Wat Si Chum spoke to the Siamese army during a
13th-century battle against Burmese invaders.

through to light up the 13th-century statue’s golden fingers.
It was the fifth and climactic day of Loy Krathong. Festivities
had so far involved beauty pageants, basket-making competitions,
food stalls, and musical soirées. In the evening, the city’s main
boulevard brimmed with colour and music. A long parade inched
towards the historical park. Women in flowing costumes froze in
elegant poses atop elephants and on palanquins carried by other
revellers. Children darted in and out of the procession to grab
deep-fried delicacies from roadside food stalls.
At the park’s main gate, vendors sold incense sticks, candles,
and an array of ornate krathongs, floating baskets made of banana
stalks and meticulously-folded banana leaves and decorated with
flowers and candles. I purchased one, and lighting the candle,
floated the dainty vessel into a small moat along with the crowd.
Then it was time for the laser show, the high point of
Sukhothai’s Loy Krathong celebration. The full moon soared atop
Wat Mahathat, a 700-hundred-year-old shrine and the park’s
largest temple. The performance began with laser rays piercing
the darkness. The history of Sukhothai unfolded through
superbly choreographed performances by about 200 dancers and
actors. At the end of the extravaganza, thousands of khomloi or
sky lanterns filled the night sky, illuminating the majestic head
of the Buddha of Wat Mahathat, before gradually fading into
inky oblivion.
THE VITALS
Loy Krathong is on 4 November, 2017.
Getting There Sukhothai is 440 km/6.5 hr north of Bangkok.
Buses leave every 30 minutes from Bangkok’s Mo Chit Northern
Bus Station (www.sawadee.com/thailand/transfer/bus-north.html;
tickets THB324/`620). Another option is to take a short one-hour
flight (roundtrip from about `6,000).
Getting Around Renting a bicycle (THB50-60 per day) is a good
way to explore Sukhothai. Take a broad-brimmed hat, as it can be
uncomfortably hot even in the middle of November.
Sugato Mukherjee is a Kolkata-based writer and photographer
who loves travelling off the beaten path and experimenting
with local cuisines. His first coffee-table book An Antique Land:
A Visual Memoir of Ladakh was published in 2013.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 81

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

When
Magic
Becomes Realism

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 ■ DE N MARK

A festival in Denmark brings

Hans Christian Andersen’s
world of fantasy alive
By Saumya Ancheri

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MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 83

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

Growing
up in the
Bombay
of the 1980s
and ’90s,

my make-believe world included characters from Hans Christian

Andersen’s fairy tales: a girl so tiny that one of her suitors was
a frog, another girl who proved she was a princess because she
could sense a pea lodged beneath her bed of 20 mattresses.
Andersen’s world was ruled by whimsy and magic. I didn’t
realise how much of his stories had coloured my imagination
until I walked the streets where he lived in Odense, Denmark.
The first sign that our group of five journalists and our host
were in the 19th-century author’s hometown, was the traffic
signal outside the railway station of Odense. The traffic light’s
little green and red men resembled Andersen in profile, complete
with coat, top hat, and cane. On the pavement, footprints in the
author’s giant size 46 created a trail to Andersen attractions
across the city.
Around a corner marched golden-haired princesses with
wands and crowned princes with sceptres, all singing. Their
invisible pied piper was none other than Andersen, who is
celebrated for a week every August in his hometown. The
Hans Christian Andersen Festival, started in 2013 by a group
of local businesspeople, hosts parades, street performances,
ballet, theatre, and 3D light shows, all inspired by Andersen’s
magical world. In keeping with the festival theme of “anything
can happen”, drummers banging on trash cans would suddenly
fill up a square, or we’d turn down a street to find a canopy of
umbrellas swaying overhead.
Odense may be Denmark’s third-largest city, and just a two-
hour train ride from Copenhagen, but it exudes an air of the last
century. As we wandered lanes away from the festival bustle,
we passed pretty half-timbered houses, restaurants serving
traditional Danish food like fried pork belly with potatoes, and
quaint cottages with windowsills displaying porcelain figurines.
We paused by the museum to Odense’s other celebrated resident,
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Carl Nielsen, and peered down a narrow cobblestoned street

that looked the same 500 years ago. And yet for all its old world
charms, Odense was a hub for robotics, with the national test
centre for drone technology inside the Hans Christian Andersen
Airport. It was mind-boggling.
At 14, Andersen caught a bus to Copenhagen where he

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 ■ DE N MARK

PRIVIOUS SPREAD: PHOTO COURTESY: VISIT ODENSE (PERFORMER, STATUE, AUDIENCE & FOOD), PHOTO COURTESY: ODENSE BYS MUSEER (KIDS, MUSEUM, BUILDING)
JORDI SALAS/AGE FOTOSTOCK/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY

Every July, visitors to the Hans Christian Andersen

Museum can sprawl on its lawns and watch a free
performance of “24 Fairy Tales in 24 Minutes”.
Previous spread: With its lush parks, heritage
buildings, museums, and traditional cuisine,
Odense makes for a wonderful family day trip
from Copenhagen.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 85

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

Andersen’s fairy tales come alive all over Odense as grown-ups enact them for children (top) across the city; The island of Funen (bottom),
on which Odense is located, is called Denmark’s Garden Island for its rolling hills, apple orchards, and fresh farm produce.

PAOLO BONA/SHUTTERSTOCK (PERFORMES), PHOTO COURTESY: VISIT ODENSE (INSTALLATION)

86 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017


spent most of his adult life, but he never really left—we saw
his portrait drawn on a building facade, and his metal likeness
seated outside a hotel. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be
a kid in Odense, reading his stories in school and then walking
by sculptures from his tales on the street. At one street corner
was a larger-than-life statue of Andersen’s tin soldier toy, who
literally burned with love for a paper ballerina. As a child, the
melancholic tale made me pull faces, but looking at the soldier, I
couldn’t escape its grimness. Andersen’s life was far from easy, as
I was about to find out at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum
and Childhood Home.
Large-nosed and taller than average at around 6 feet,
Andersen was considered ungainly; in a way, his life paralleled
his story about an ugly duckling that turned into a swan. But
he loved having his portrait made. Little details like these were
turning a legendary author into a real human being for me. In
Copenhagen, he tried to be a ballet dancer, an actor, a singer,
but had made his mark as a writer. He was a prolific writer of
plays, stories, poetry, and travelogues, and became one of the
most translated authors of all time. But he was also terrified of
dentists, and was so scared of dying in a building fire—a real fear
in the 19th century—that he used to carry a rope with him on his
travels for a speedy escape.
And boy, did he love to travel—to Italy, Germany, the Czech
Republic, Scotland. On my first walk around Copenhagen, I’d
spied the last line of a favourite Andersen quote “To travel is to
live” on a signboard near our hotel in Nyhavn, now a gentrified
waterfront district. During Andersen’s time, Nyhavn’s charm
was its cheap rent; it used to be frequented by pub-goers, sail-
ors and women of pleasure. He lived in three different houses
on that waterfront, writing stories like “The Tinderbox”, about
a soldier with questionable morals and a bit of magic. Andersen
was so broke that he used to stroll with a dinner napkin in his
pocket, ready to be invited for a meal. At the Odense museum,
we saw his beautiful paper cut-outs of ballerinas, pirates, and
angels. Andersen was known to entertain friends by spinning
a story around his paper art as he worked, finally revealing an
intricate chain of paper figures that he would gift to his host.
Andersen was famous by 30, so much of the details of his life
remain. Even his birthplace is reconstructed at the museum; I
was quite struck by a short bed made for people to sit up and
sleep as a precaution against tuberculosis. A troubled man
emerged from Andersen’s correspondence and journals. He fell
for unattainable women, expressed unrequited love to men and
women, and was lonely though he was so well known. It is a side
that most of Andersen’s biographers ignore, but it made me bet-
ter understand the often unhappy endings of his stories.
It was at The Tinderbox, the children’s cultural centre next
door, that the fantasy of Andersen’s fairy tales came alive. A
huggable life-size soldier puppet waited by the entrance, while
enormous geese soared against the ceiling, and a tree curled
above us with paper leaves for kids to scrawl wishes on. There
was a large castle where kids could play dress-up, and a costume
room with racks of spangled mermaid tails, fluffy octopus
puppets, and royal costumes. We were tempted to join the kids.
The Andersen trail continued as we headed for lunch by the
River Odense, sipping on store-bought cans of potent Hans
Christian Andersen beer. Close to the museum, we passed the
spot where Andersen’s mother, a washerwoman, did laundry;
his shoemaker father died early. At Kramboden, a quaint shop
■ DE N MARK
whose premises were 450 years old, I sampled traditional tart
rhubarb candies. Outside, a wheelbarrow marked the spot where
the teenaged Andersen caught a bus to Copenhagen, a ride that
would change his life forever.
The author’s spirit was still alive in Copenhagen, I found
the next day, on a whirlwind Andersen tour with our guide
Richard Karpen. Dressed in a top hat and coat, with a cane in
hand, Karpen was quickly recognised as Andersen and warmly
greeted by locals and tourists. After all, Andersen had helped
put Denmark on the world map—and he was everywhere in
the city. Tivoli Gardens had an amusement park ride named
after him, his statue graced the royal gardens and the City
Hall square, his Little Mermaid character was the city’s most
photographed statue.
I had arrived in Denmark looking for a long-forgotten child-
hood companion. I had stood outside Andersen’s homes, shuf-
fled by his leafy grave in Assistens Cemetery, gazed up the
Round Tower where he wrote stories. Behind those timeless
tales, I found an intriguing person. At the airport the next day, I
couldn’t resist buying a beautifully illustrated copy of his work.
Andersen wrote his fairy tales as much for children as for adults,
I remembered Karpen say. I couldn’t wait to re-read them.
Saumya ancheri was until recently Assistant Web Editor at
National Geographic Traveller India. She loves places by the
sea, and travels to shift her own boundaries.
The Vitals
Orientation Odense is on Funen Island,
Denmark’s second largest island. The birthplace
of Hans Christian Andersen, it hosts a week-
long festival every August in his honour. The
Hans Christian Andersen Festival will run
from August 20-27 2017. Details and tickets
on www.hcafestivals.com.
For details on Richard Karpen’s Hans
Christian Andersen tour of the old city, see
www.copenhagenwalks.com.
Getting There & Visa Flights from India
to Copenhagen require a short layover in a
European city such as Munich, or a Middle
Eastern hub like Dubai. Travellers to Odense can
take a train, bus, or car for the roughly two-hour
journey from Copenhagen.
Indian travellers to Denmark require a
Schengen visa. A 90-day, multiple-entry visa
costs `5,641 including service charge. Applicants
must have a return ticket, a confirmed itinerary,
and travel medical insurance with a minimum
coverage of €30,000/`21,00,000 valid for
the duration of the visit across EU states. For
application forms and documentation details,
visit dk.vfsglobal.co.in. It is best to apply for
a visa at least 15 days before departure.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 87
In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

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88 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ WO RLD

IMAGE PARTNER

CANON EOS 5D MARK II

APERTURE: F/5.0 • SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 SEC • ISO: 200
In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

CANON EOS 5D MARK II

APERTURE: F/5.6 • SHUTTER SPEED: 1/1000 SEC • ISO: 400

90 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017


The shamanistic Lai-Haroba Festival is
led by a procession of Manipuri ponies.
The riders bathe the ponies to prepare
for the ritual. I find that these cultural
practices are important but often
neglected in visual documentation of
the festival.
When shooting in bright light and
with water, I like to use a fast shutter
speed, and shallow depth of field
as it helps to eliminate some of the
chaos prevalent when working in a
tight space. My Canon EOS 5D Mark II
shoots almost four frames a second,
so while throwing buckets of water, the
patterns were constantly changing, and
I needed to shoot a lot to get the most
interesting shape.
APERTURE: 6.3 • SHUTTER SPEED: 1/320 SEC • ISO: 100
Hola Mohalla is an annual Sikh festival
that marks the establishment of the
Khalsa Panth (the community’s martial
wing) by Guru Gobind Singh. During
the event, pilgrims from the world
over come to pay their respects at the
many gurdwaras of Anandpur Sahib.
The festival culminates in a martial arts
display by the Nihangs (Sikh warriors)
at a crowded stadium. While the per-
formances are perilous, it is almost as
risky to be a spectator.I wanted to show
the crowds lining the makeshift track
as the young boy gallops down on two
horses, holding the reins in his mouth.
It was important to have the sky as the
background for his arms as it highlights
how exposed he is.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA
■ WO RLD
CANON EOS 5D MARK II
Previous spread: The Latin City parade
was started in 2011 to promote Macao’s
multicultural heritage. The parade
moved faster than I expected, and I had
to run ahead to try to get my settings
done before the performers went by.
The AI SERVO auto focus mode on my
Canon EOS 5D Mark II ensured I could
track my subjects, as they moved. The
parade went through many narrow
lanes lined with high buildings, creating
“gorge” like lighting conditions, where
it is hard to balance exposure. Because
of the full-frame CMOS sensor, by
slightly underexposing the RAW
images, I was able to retain enough
information to create clean images
during post processing.
91
In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

The Maha Kumbh Mela happens

every 144 years, so it is safe to say
that you will only get one chance to
shoot it. At my first Kumbh Mela, I
was keen to shoot the famous sadhus.
Unfortunately before I reached, there
was rain—a signal for the Sadhus to
move. I was disappointed, but realised
I had an opportunity to create images
that reflected the faith of the people
I had shared space and time with.
The arrangements were thoughtful,
and the mela grounds remained
illuminated through the night, with
policemen on patrol on horses,
boats, and on foot to ensure safe
passage for everyone. As the sun set,
I shot on a tripod with long exposure
and a small aperture to get the star
effect of the lights.

Ashima Narain’s photography and

filmmaking has covered a diverse range
of topics that have allowed her to wade
through Mumbai’s mudflats in search
of flamingos, hide out in bear caves,
and document sari weavers in Varanasi.
As a former photo editor of National
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Geographic Traveller India, she covered

the Portuguese influence on the island
of Diu and an ex-reconnaissance pilot’s
solo circumnavigation of the earth by
sea, among other stories. Ashima is
part of National Geographic Creative.

92 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ WO RLD

KAUSHAL PARIKH (AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH)

CANON EOS 5D MARK II

APERTURE: 32 • SHUTTER SPEED: 4 SEC • ISO: 100

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 93

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

Fire-breathing dragons
come to life with fireworks
during China’s annual
Shangyuan festival.

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Play With Fire

Follow the crowds to these
nocturnal fire festivals
around the world

SHANGYUAN FESTIVAL, China

The Shangyuan festival, or the Spring Lantern
Festival, is celebrated on the 15th night of the
first month of the Chinese new year (February or
March). On this day, towns and villages across the
country bathe in the glow of lanterns. Red paper
globes fly among illuminated butterflies, dragons,
and birds, each written with a riddle—those who
solve them win a prize.

SUMMER SOLSTICE, Glastonbury,

England
Glastonbury Tor (or hill) has been sacred for
millennia, and on Midsummer Eve hundreds
gather on it. Children throw petals, holy water is
sprinkled, and the hill is blessed with fire. It marks
the important celebration of the beginning of
summer, the season of warmth and plenty.

FEAST OF SAN JUAN, Spain

At this June festival, revellers build bonfires that
blaze through the night to welcome summer.
According to tradition, jumping over a fire three
times on San Juan night burns your troubles away.

QUEMA DEL DIABLO, Guatemala

In early December, just before Christmas,
Guatemalans rid their homes and lives of the
devil. Garbage is cleared and homes cleaned, with
special attention paid to nooks and corners and
the area below the bed. All rubbish is then burnt
to celebrate Quema del Diablo or The Burning of
the Devil, and Christmas is welcomed with a clean
heart and home.

DAIZENJI TAMATAREGU SHRINE’S

“ONIYO”, Fukuoka, Japan
On the seventh day of the new year, after being
guarded at the temple for a week, the Oniyo or
fire devil is brought out to ward off evil spirits in
a ceremony at the Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine. As
part of a 1,600-year-old Shinto ritual, the flame is
CHI HUNG CHEUNG

transferred to six 45-foot-tall and three-foot-wide

torches, which are carried by men in loincloths.
Onlookers who have embers or ash fall on them
from the torches are believed to be blessed.
In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

ching a
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e
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96 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ IN DIA

scendo
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HIMANSHU (XXXXXXXXX)
ROHILLA

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 97

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

SOUTH

Go:Madras
Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu

S
ince the mid-1990s, Chennai has had a strong connec-
tion to techno music so it was inevitable that their biggest
festival would showcase this genre. Go:Madras began in
2008 on the beaches outside the city. But now it has moved to
the seaside town of Mahabalipuram. The clubbing culture of
the city has been amplified to create an outdoor music experi-
ence that unfolds through the day and moves indoors by night
into a giant reverberating room. Unlike the techno experiences
abroad, which are usually in warehouses and industrial spaces,
this fest is held within the confines of a five-star hotel property.
If you’re an energetic dancer Go:Madras promises you many
new friends, as the tempo picks up dramatically through the
evening. Some Chennai punters pride themselves on being on
the floor from start to finish. If you dance with them through the
night, you are promised good company, beautiful seaside spots,
and some of the best seafood in the world.

C
Dates September 2017; Final dates to be announced
BHUVNESH MUTHA

Festival tip Be prepared for both rain and shine as the weather in Mahabalipuram is notoriously unpredictable. Remember to
pack your swimming gear in case you want to take a few laps in the sea.
Website www.gomadras.in

98 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ IN DIA

EAST

Jazzfest
Kolkata, West Bengal

K
olkata welcomes the onset of winters with Jazzfest.
During its historic 40-year-old existence, the iconic
festival has moved around the city from venue to ven-
ue and has played host to jazz legends like Herbie Hancock,
Wayne Shorter, Jonas Hellborg, Kenny Garret, and Shawn Lane.
Currently, the event is held at the Dalhousie Insitute, a
downtown country club. The three days of evening outdoor
shows at the fest usually feature a line-up of six to eight
international bands. Over the last few years, this event has also
become a platform for Indian jazz bands to headline shows.
During the Jazzfest, Dalhousie’s grounds are packed with
serious music aficionados, often the most ardent ones taking
up seats in the front as families and groups enjoy the ongoings
from farther behind. Since the programme starts in the evening,
visitors can spend the day exploring the city’s cultural offer-
ings, taking in its bookstores, coffee houses, and restaurants.

C
Dates 8-10 December 2017
Festival tip The seating is open, so reach the venue early to grab a good spot. Also pick up your food and
drink coupons in one go to avoid long queues later.
SAYAN DUTTA

Website jazzfest.in

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In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T

NORTH

Magnetic Fields Alsisar, Rajasthan

S
tarted in 2013, Magnetic Fields has achieved a cult-like
status among festival die-hards. The 17th-century Alsisar
Mahal, a historical Indo-Islamic monument about four
hours north of Jaipur, serves as the backdrop for some far-out
futuristic music. Each day moves from sun scorched reggae
parties on the sands to laser and light-filled live concerts in the
evening, climaxing with sunrise sets on the roof of the palace.
The standout feature of Magnetic Fields is its well-curated
crossover music line-up. European acts rub shoulders with some
established and promising local electronic musicians and bands.
In its initial days, the roster was heavy on house and techno.
Those are still the big-ticket draws, but the festival slate has
become more diverse.
Last year saw the addition of a reggae/dub stage and a
dedicated jazz programme. Expect more musical diffractions
this year along with dazzling visual and light shows.

C
Dates 15-17 December 2017
Festival tip Plan a group trip and opt for a comfortable stay in the palace rooms. Rooms go on sale months in advance and sell out in a
REBECCA CONWAY

matter of hours leaving only tented accommodation for latecomers.

Website www.magneticfields.in

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 ■ IN DIA

WEST

Nariyal Paani Alibaug, Maharashtra

T
his festival is all about sunshine and music by the seashore.
Exuding a bohemian vibe, it is held at a secluded beach-
front, built to look like a bamboo and teepee village. The
playlist includes live musicians from all over the world, who start
the day with a drum circle under coconut trees, which is followed
by high energy ska and electro-jazz acts in the evening.
For urbanites looking for some respite from their daily grind,
Nariyal Paani offers a vision of community beach living without
them having to actually rough it out. The drinks and food
include both a coastal menu with thaalis and coconut water,
and snackier options like gourmet pizzas and craft beer. It’s a
welcome change from the assembly-line fast food and bottled
beer served at more commercially-oriented bigger festivals.
This is the smallest festival of the four, but the prospect of
watching spectacular sunsets while listening to good music
usually brings its fair share of loyal visitors every January.

C
Dates January 2018; Final dates to be announced
HIMANSHU ROHILLA

Festival tip Taking the boat to and from the festival and staying at the campsite is the easiest way of experiencing the event. If you do plan
to drive in and stay at a hotel be aware that it’s peak season so make bookings months in advance.
Website nariyal-paani.com

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 101

In Focus | FESTI VE S PI R I T
Get Ear Plugged
Other highlights worth making the journey for
The Big Gig
MUSSOORIE, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
The Himalayan music festival is
a blend of live shows (includ-
ing blues and jazz), trekking,
nature trail walks (organised
in Jabharkhet Nature Reserve
every year), heritage walks, and
open-air film screenings.
www.facebook.com/
biggigfestival
Ruhaniyat
ALL INDIA, NOVEMBER-MARCH
Spiritualists and artists
from all over the country get
together for a slice of serenity
at this sufi and mystic music
festival. Its next edition will be
held in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune,
Bengaluru, and Chennai.
ruhaniyat.com
Sunburn
GOA/PUNE, DECEMBER
India’s pre-eminent EDM
festival is the hottest musical
ticket of the year-end calendar,
often attracting international
superstars like Armin Van
Buuren, David Guetta, Afrojack,
and Axwell.
sunburn.in
102 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
Dover Lane
KOLKATA, JANUARY
A prestigious three-night
cultural do, it features lead-
ing classical exponents such
as Pandit Jasraj, Ayaan Ali
Bangash, Shivkumar Sharma,
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia,
and Ajoy Chakraborty.
www.doverlanemusicconfer-
ence.org/
Ziro Festival
ZIRO, SEPTEMBER
Featuring indie, rock and folk
acts, this festival immerses you
in the native Apatani culture.
The experience is enriched by
the breathtaking scenery of
the Ziro Valley.
www.facebook.com/
zirofestival
Hornbill
KISAMA HERITAGE VILLAGE,
DECEMBER
This event is a prominent
fixture on the North East
cultural circuit, showcasing
Nagaland’s inimitable heritage
through songs, food, art,
and dance.
hornbillfestival.com
RIFF
JODHPUR, OCTOBER
Timed to coincide with 'Sharad
Purnima', the brightest full
moon of the year in north India,
RIFF is a folk music extravagan-
za held in Jodhpur’s Maharaja
Fort. In the past, Mick Jagger
has made an appearance here.
www.jodhpurriff.org
Sula Fest
NASHIK, FEBRUARY
India’s wine capital throws
an elaborate party every
year, complete with indie
and electronic music acts,
delectable food (and lots of
vino), and an unforgettable
camping experience.
www.sulafest.net
Varun Desai is a director
of a Kolkata-based event
management company and
a music aficianado, who
loves touring the world as a
music producer and a DJ.
PHOTO COURTESY: BIG GIG (THE BIG GIG), IP-BLACK/INDIAPICTURES (DOVER LANE), PHOTO COURTESY: RUHANIYAT FESTIVAL (RUHANIYAT),
RAKESH DHARESHWAR/ALAMY/INDIAPICTURES (SUNBURN), VIKRAMJITK/SHUTTERSTOCK (HORNBILL),SULA FEST (SULA FEST),
SURUCHI MAIRA (ZIRO FESTIVAL ), IMAGES MART/INDIAPICTURES (RIFF), PHOTO COURTESY: STORM FESTIVAL (STORM FESTIVAL),
Storm Festival
COORG, FEBRUARY
A diverse range of artists,
domestic and international,
set the stage on fire at this
event. Along with the music,
visitors can also enjoy a
laidback camping experience
in picturesque Coorg.
www.stormfestivalindia.com
REDDEES/SHUTTERSTOCK (SANKAT MOCHAN)
Sankat Mochan Sangeet
Samaroh
VARANASI, APRIL/MAY
The classical music festival
has been celebrated for over
70 years on Hanuman Jayanti.
Past performers include
Birju Maharaj and Pandit
Hariprasad Chaurasia.
www.smssvaranasi.com
 JOURNEYS
104
australia madhya pradesh
From shy bandicoots to adorable koalas,
Victoria brims with stories of conservation 110 Camping in Satpura Tiger Reserve reveals
wondrous landscapes and a new perspective

PHOTO COURTESY: PUGDUNDEE SAFARIS

110
Satpura Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 103

Journeys | INTO THE WI L D

The “Penguin Parade” at Phillip Island

gathers a group of enthusiastic viewers
who wait at sunset for a glimpse of little
penguins returning to their burrows.

104 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ AUSTRALIA

MY FAMILY OF OTHER

From shy bandicoots to adorable koalas,

Victoria brims with heartwarming stories of
conservation and rehabilitation
BY SONAL SHAH

PHOTO COURTESY: PHILLIP ISLAND NATURE PARK/VISIT VICTORIA

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 105

Journeys | I N TO THE WI L D
As the plane descended, the moon rose, inching across
the sky like the bioluminescent tail of a giant glow-worm.
The land glistened with its light, reflecting off lakes, waterholes,
and muddy riverine slivers. The illuminated, striated hillocks
below, pocked with bush plants, echoed an observation in
the book on my lap—Bruce Chatwin’s classic travelogue,
The Songlines—that Australia’s “dotted” landscape inspired the
Aboriginal style of painting.
But as we turned towards Melbourne, the moonlight splashed
across the ocean, revealing the crenellated coastline of Victoria,
and the dots gave way to straight lines and squares. Here, unlike
the distant part of the continent Chatwin wrote about, the
scrub had been transformed into pasture and farmland by its
European settlers over the last 180-odd years.
This transformation appeared, complete, by the light of the
next morning, in the staid urban landscape of Melbourne.
Except for an abundance of eucalyptus trees, everything looked
startlingly familiar to me, like the eastern coast of America
transplanted, with elms and oaks, and precise road markers. Of
all the supposed strangeness of the land “down under”, there was
no obvious sign.
Yet Australia is still one of the strangest places on the planet,
particularly in terms of the biodiversity of its wildlife. One of
a handful of “megadiverse” countries, the continent has a high
percentage of endemic species. But it also has one of the world’s
highest rates of extinction; some scientists estimate a rate of
one or two land animals lost per decade. Climate change is a big
106 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
The seals at Melbourne Zoo have
become the symbol of its campaign,
“Seal the Loop”, that works towards
cleaning Victoria’s coastal areas.
FACING PAGE: PHOTO COURTESY: MARK WATSON/VISIT VICTORIA (PEOPLE), PHOTO COURTESY: ECHIDNA WALKABOUT NATURE TOURS/VISIT VICTORIA (KANGAROO)
factor, but so are invasive species, such as feral cats and foxes,
introduced by Europeans.
Now, as the descendants of the settlers who irrevocably altered
the landscape work to preserve its particularity, some of their
approaches involve bringing in tourists—typically an invasive
lot themselves—to help fund conservation efforts and raise
awareness. Over the week I spent in and around Melbourne,
discovering a range of these approaches and their effects, the
weirdness of Oz and its unique animal life slowly sunk in.
The Special Ks
“Wowie Kazowie!” yelled Janine Duffy, swerving and slamming
the van to a halt. “That was an eastern blue-tongued lizard!” By
the time I was out of the vehicle and peering into the long grass
PHOTO COURTESY: PAUL PHILIPSON/VISIT VICTORIA
that lined the road leading into You Yangs Regional Park, the
skink had slithered away. But Duffy’s Level Ten enthusiasm—and
the tenet of animal avoidance she had so forcefully just put into
practice—turned out to be hallmarks of my group day trip with
her company, Echidna Walkabout (www.echidnawalkabout.
com.au).
Founded in 1993, Duffy’s company was one of the first to offer
minimally invasive wildlife experiences in Australia. She and
her co-founder also set up a research foundation, specifically to
study koalas. Echidna’s guides and researchers are intimately
familiar with each koala around the granite You Yangs range,
 ■ AUSTRALIA

an hour southwest of Melbourne. In 1998, they discovered a new

way to tell koalas apart from the underside of their nostrils—a
testament to how much time they’ve spent staring up at them.
Once in the woods, Duffy led us to Winberry, a “dominant”
male, who she called the king of the forest. Despite the crunch of
our feet on the dry undergrowth, he slept peacefully, his cushion
of cartilage keeping him moored to his high perch. Duffy told us
that koalas prefer the moisture-rich new leaves from the tops of
trees, and that climate change, which causes dryer eucalyptus,
has affected their population.
Duffy explained that because Australia’s climate is already so
extreme, its flora and fauna are “superheroes”, uniquely adapted
to living on the edge. Kangaroos, for example, can survive
10 years of drought, even reproducing for the first six. But
because animals are so precisely calibrated to certain extremes,
their populations decline catastrophically when a larger change,
such as global warming, is introduced, making Australia a
bellwether of climatic disaster.
Duffy’s insistence on maintaining a strict distance from
Winberry was in stark contrast to the koala conservation
centre I visited on Phillip Island, about two hours southeast
of Melbourne, where the trees surrounding a boardwalk were
festooned with fresh eucalyptus boughs to draw the animals
to them. However, Echidna does encourage some hands-
on engagement, and Duffy soon had us hard at work, pulling
up boneseed, an invasive weed that was planted here about a
century ago to pack the soil after a forest fire.
This weeding project began when Echidna’s researchers
noticed that koalas avoided the trees that were surrounded by
boneseed, probably because they like a clear view of predators
when ambling from one trunk to another at dawn or dusk.
Partly through the weeding efforts of Echidna’s tour groups,
which resonate with traditional Aboriginal land management
practices, the koala population in the park has increased
fourfold in two years.
As the afternoon grew hotter, we ventured out of the shade
of the You Yangs’ eucalyptus groves to a field of dry long grass
in the nearby Serendip Sanctuary, which the state purchased
from farmers in the 1950s to breed endangered birds. Serendip’s Trails sheltered by Great Otway National Park’s rainforest canopy (top)
grazing ground for mobs of wild eastern grey kangaroos became are a popular option for hikers; The eastern grey kangaroo (bottom),
a stalking ground for us, as Duffy all but belly-crawled between Australia’s poster child for wildlife, reaches a speed of over 56 kmph.
sparse rows of trees, attempting to sneak up on the skittish
megapods.
Feeling a little foolish, and very sweaty, I was still thrilled
when a kangaroo bounded by, then melted ghost-like into the
grass. The experience surpassed the more up-close and personal
encounter I had with eastern greys at the Melbourne Zoo, where
one can pet the creatures while they feed. But as Duffy said,
“some people need zoos to form the connection.”

Hit Parade
If Australia’s animals are superheroes, nowhere are these
champions pressed into greater service than at Australia’s
oldest zoo. The Melbourne Zoo (www.zoo.org.au/melbourne),
though cosy and colonial, has come a long way from its mid-
19th-century origins. Besides areas like the kangaroo enclosure,
where humans are taught to respect animals within their
spaces, the zoo also runs several campaigns to change people’s
habits. One of these is “Seal the Loop”, an initiative to recycle
the zoo’s plastic into bins for collecting fishing line, which is

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 107

Journeys | I N TO THE WI L D
The elusive platypus can be spotted on a boating trip on Lake
Elizabeth (top) in Great Otway National Park; The 74-odd-acres of
You Yangs National Park are an ideal habitat for koalas (bottom).
108 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
harmful to marine animals. At the fur seal tank, these graceful,
intelligent animals, whose ancestors drew the earliest European
hunters to Victoria’s shores, now perform acrobatics while their
keepers talk about Seal the Loop: the grand finale involves a seal
dunking items into a bin.
The zoo’s star ambassador is a little penguin named
Miss Wing, who was abandoned by her parents and adopted
by the keepers. During a special backstage interview with the
diminutive bird, she allowed me to touch her iridescent teal
feathers, gargled out a few notes, pecked at my toes, and then
wandered off, wings straining, behind a shimmering dragonfly—
her aspirations towards humanity momentarily abandoned for
an attempt at flight.
Miss Wing’s relatives at the nature reserve on Phillip Island
(www.penguins.org.au) were far less tame, though just as
sociable amongst themselves. Since the 1920s, the island’s
Summerland Peninsula has hosted viewings of the “Penguin
Parade” at dusk, when little penguins return to their burrows
after a day of fishing. What began as a couple of guys with
flashlights is now a huge viewing area that can accommodate up
to 3,000 people per night.
In a process that involved the state’s purchase of a large
housing colony, the peninsula became a conservation and
tourism destination, and its penguin population has grown
steadily, from 6,000 birds in the late 1970s, to 35,000. The
viewing areas are designed to get you very close to the penguins
without disturbing them, and a great deal of work goes into
conditioning human behaviour here—no cameras are allowed,
for example. When a new section opened a year ago, only three
burrows were shifted, and the penguins, who follow the same
path home every night, were carefully taught their new routes.
Though the visitor centre has a regurgitated mass of penguin
merchandise in its gift shop, its informative displays show how
little penguins’ powers extend beyond cuteness. Among their
“superhero” skills is the ability to dive into the water up to
PHOTO COURTESY: MARK CHEW/GREAT OTWAY NATIONAL PARK/VISIT VICTORIA (LAKE), PHOTO COURTESY: ECHIDNA
1,300 times a day, sometimes to depths of 130 feet.
But as the sun went down, and the foot-high penguins
emerged from the ocean, cuteness was most definitely their
predominant feature. Appearing in small flocks, the penguins
waddled cautiously out of the water, scurried across the exposed
stretch of beach, then ambled slowly—stopping often to socialise
on the rocky shore—towards their burrows.
Unsexy Beasts
Penguins, koalas, and kangaroos are among Australia’s most
popular and recognisable animals, but they are not its most
threatened. A priority list of about 20 highly endangered
species includes such timorous beasties as the southern brown
bandicoot and long-nosed potoroo, and marsupial “mice” such
as dunnarts and antechinuses. The eastern barred bandicoot,
already extinct in the wild, is foremost on the list.
This small marsupial is the focus of conservation efforts on
WALKABOUT NATURE TOURS (KOALA)
Churchill Island (www.penguins.org.au/attractions/churchill-
island), a smaller island just next to Phillip Island. Churchill
has a preserved early settler “heritage” farm, complete with
livestock, but conservationists are trying to return the underlying
ecosystem of this island to its pre-European state, starting with
the eastern barred bandicoot. I visited Churchill during the
day—the wrong time to commune with this elusive, speedy,
and nocturnal marsupial, but I did meet Donald Sutherland,

The Open Vehicle Adventure at the
Werribee Open Range area in Melbourne
Zoo lets visitors witness the wildlife of the
African savannah up close.
a researcher involved in its rehabilitation. Sutherland talked
about how a small population of bandicoots was introduced to
Churchill, which has no foxes or cats. With Churchill’s bandicoots
now rapidly multiplying, Sutherland hopes the species can one
day be delisted as extinct in the wild.
Getting people to care about such reticent and visually
understated animals as bandicoots is a challenge, but
Sutherland explained that such efforts are key to broader
ecosystem restoration. And the myriad people and institutions
involved in bandicoot recovery—from citizen scientists, to zoos,
to a special fox management team—spells greater collaboration
in conservation efforts across the board.
Sutherland spoke of geographically isolated places like Phillip
and Churchill Islands as conservation hubs. Thanks to the
trapping, baiting, and hunting initiatives of the fox management
team, no foxes have been spotted on Phillip Island for almost
two years. This is good for the penguins there—a single fox can
kill up to 40 birds in a night—but also means that bandicoots
could be reintroduced on a larger scale. “People could go
to Philip Island to see what life could have been like,”
Sutherland said.
Hide-and-Seek
In the Great Otway National Park, along a southern tip of
Victoria’s coast, the landscape looked not only pre-European,
but primeval. A rainforest of tall tree ferns and hang-ing mosses
loomed over an enchanting trail at dusk. I followed guide
Bruce Jackson (www.platypustours.net.au), a man as quiet as
the animal he was taking a small group of us to see, down to
Lake Elizabeth for the subtlest wildlife experience of my trip.
■ AUSTRALIA
It was here that I saw—or did I?—the platypus.
Though the hidden lake looks ancient, it is actually only
about 50 years old. The trunks of dead trees stuck up from
its muddy green surface, casualties of its formation when the
valley flooded. As we paddled across the water in rowboats, the
lake seemed so devoid of life that we might as well have been
searching for the Loch Ness monster. Indeed, the platypus, a
mammal with a bizarre duck bill and habit of laying eggs, was
originally considered to be a hoax in Europe.
Each time Jackson murmured, “12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, to our
left,” we whipped our heads around, looking for the fascinating
creature, which not only uses electrolocution to hunt, but also
produces venom from an ankle spur. Was that the glimmer of
a fur-slicked back, or a wet log? The ripple of a swimming fish,
or a diving platypus? After several such ambiguous sightings,
Jackson, presumably deeming the outing a success, brought out
biscuits and a flask of coffee.
I sipped the warm drink, bemused at the capriciousness of
this sort of wildlife “encounter”. But even if the platypuses were
PHOTO COURTESY: ZOOS VICTORIA/VISIT VICTORIA
not forthcoming, it was enough to know that they were there,
and to drift a while longer, listening to the rustling trees, the
occasional splash of an oar, and the unfamiliar evening birdcalls.
As we rowed towards the shore, the soft, basso grunting of a
koala calling for its mate floated across the water. Its rumbling
gently receded behind me as I walked back through the dark
forest, along a path glittering with glow-worms. Everything was
strange and wonderful.
Sonal Shah is a freelance editor and writer. She formerly edited
Time Out Delhi, and was an associate editor at The Caravan.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 109
Journeys | THE ESS E N C E

THE
JUNGLE
BOOK
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CAMPING IN SATPURA TIGER RESERVE REVEALS WONDROUS

LANDSCAPES AND A NEW PERSPECTIVE
BY KAREENA GIANANI
110 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
 ■ MA DHYA PRADES H

Hiking in the territory of tigers

in Satpura is full of small joys,
like savouring silence amid dry
brown grasslands and making
pit stops by gurgling streams.

VERMA(XXXXXXXXX)
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PRABHAT

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 111

Journeys | THE ESS EN C E
Baked by the summer
sun, the leaves of sal
trees crunch like potato chips under my feet. Beyond me are armies
of these tall sentinels the Satpura Tiger Reserve is well known for.
Some trunks lean tipsily towards others. I have left my group behind
for a moment, but I’m far from alone: red ants scuttle up and down
tree trunks, the twitter of drongos and orioles blends with the happy
babble of brooks. Perhaps, I tell myself, I am being tracked by a
stealthy leopard and don’t even know it.
This is the core area of the tiger reserve and walking through
it plunges me into the wildest heart of a jungle—any jungle—
I’ve seen yet. None of that zipping across designated tracks in
the safety of a jeep or returning to a guest house after safaris. I
am here for a two-and-a-half-day camping trip across Satpura
reserve in the Satpura range. The jungle falls in the hill station
of Pachmarhi, which is a five-hour drive southeast of Bhopal.
Pachmarhi is a UNESCO biosphere reserve that boasts of a
variety of medicinal plants and stunning rocky landscapes. Day
1 of my hike begins with the Forsyth Trail, a 15-kilometre walk
that retraces the route British explorer James Forsyth took on
one of his explorations of Central India in the mid-1860s.
WILD SIDE
About 30 minutes into the walk, Chinmay, our tireless
naturalist, points to a large mound. It is unmistakably man-
made; the smoothest of pebbles, stones, and twigs are arranged
and placed on it is a rock “dressed” in red cloth fringed
with silver tinsel. The local Gond tribe has erected this
shrine for their goddess Banjari mata. “They believe she will
protect them from predators while they collect firewood,”
explains Chinmay. I feel a strange comfort in knowing that
these woods, which for me are an escape, a distraction from a
personal predicament, are somebody’s home. The Gonds have
long been relocated from the tiger reserve but still consider it
their spiritual abode.
Satpura’s landscape changes like a fast cutting montage.
The forest closes in thickly before suddenly opening up into
a yawning ravine. Rocky stretches lead to swathes of tawny
grassland, which then give way to startlingly clear streams. In
minutes, I feel like I’ve thumbed through Pantone’s swatches
112 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
of green, yellow, and brown. I relish the quiet, tuning in and
out of conversations. Sometimes my mind rolls to mundane
worries I have outside of this forest. I tell them to wait; perhaps
the wisdom of these trees is rubbing off on me. Inspired by
this centuries-old land that shapeshifts so much, I mentally
compose aphorisms about change (none to be shared publicly).
I watch a sambar in the distance coolly going about its day.
A few metres away, I spot a rhesus macaque peering at me
through leaves before whizzing from one branch to another as if
they were trapezes. In a jungle, spotting animals isn’t just about
looking at them in the eye. Ever so often, it is about joining the
dots with the traces they leave behind. Fresh scat of a sloth bear
tells me how it feasted on termites for lunch. Recent gashes
on trees mean that a tiger or leopard could have stood here
minutes ago.
“A nest of weaver ants! They make yummy chutney of them in
Chhatisgarh,” announces Chinmay, pointing to a football-sized
cluster of leaves hanging from a mahua tree. They are sewn
together with a white substance. This nest is just one of a few or
even a hundred other such homes which are part of one mega
construction, a seething city built by a weaver ant colony in this
part of the jungle.
I share Chinmay’s sense of astonishment when he points
out a tree dying a slow death after being attacked by relentless
termites; or picks up a beautiful beige-and-brown porcupine
quill and tells me how the boys of the local Baiga tribe gift it to
girls they fancy. To him, Satpura is a wild wonderland and his
own open-air botanical laboratory. It dawns on me that my time
in this jungle isn’t about keeping eyes peeled for the tiger, but
being attentive to every sigh and secret of this wilderness. And
hiking is also a good way to patrol the area so poachers remain
at bay, says Chinmay.
 ■ MA DHYA PRADES H

A typical day in Satpura Tiger Reserve is spent manoeuvring miles of boulders (top), but nights are reserved
for swapping stories under the star-spangled skies (bottom).

DHARMENDRA (TREKKERS), PHOTO COURTESY: PUGDUNDEE SAFARIS (TENTS)

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 113

Journeys | THE ESS E N C E

SATPURA’S LANDSCAPE
CHANGES LIKE A FAST CUTTING
MONTAGE. THE FOREST CLOSES
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IN THICKLY

114 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ■ MA DHYA PRADES H

Come dusk, campsites are set

up in the most picturesque parts
of the forest’s buffer zone, like
grasslands or clearings by brooks.

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DHARMENDRA

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 115

Journeys | THE ESS E N C E

The canopy of trees in the

tiger reserve brims with
birds of every imaginable
hue, like the green Jerdon’s
leafbird and sun-coloured
oriole (bottom right); It
is never too silly to grab
hanging roots and imitate
another Satpura resident,
the Rhesus macaque
(middle); A walk through
Satpura’s core area means
rare proximity to its grand-
est resident, the leopard (top
left). But the experience also
kindles an appreciation for
other creatures, such as the
swift and shy Malabar giant
squirrel (bottom left), and the
hard-working weaver ants
who build complex nests
(top right).

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A M OV E A B L E F E A S T
In the distance, I see a long wooden table and cushy chairs ar-
ranged at a clearing under a tree. It is lunchtime, and a small
team of staff from our lodge, Denwa Backwater Escape, meets
us near a cool shallow pool. We gratefully accept small luxuries:
hand sanitizer is slathered liberally, cold towels are pressed on to
grimy faces, chilled cola cans are popped right and left. I heap dal
and some rice flecked with coconut and raisins on to my plate,
feeling full only after my third helping of crispy bhindi tossed in
spices and aamchur.
The feast has no soporific effect on Chinmay. He tells us that
next up is a steep descent. I’m terrible at them, I want to beseech
shrilly. Yet I tell no one that the last time I trekked down a steep
descent, I rolled down like tumbleweed. I emerged covered in
muck, weeds in my hair, and my pants torn in strategic places.
“Don’t think. Don’t teeter between rocks. Keep going,” says
Manav, a fellow trekker who grew up scaling snowy mountains
in Uttarakhand. I peer at the path below: it’s not a trail but a
once-trodden path at best, amid rambling weeds and rocks slick
with wet mud. This, I think dramatically, is Planet Earth. And my
current spirit animal is the Nubian ibex getting down dizzyingly
steep slopes of the Arabian Peninsula’s mountains. I have none of
its soft cloven hoofs; one misstep and I’ll fall right into the belly
of the valley.
I start gingerly, but slowly I push at the limits of my nature and
try not to think; really not think. I keep my eyes open but don’t
linger looking for the best footholds. I wouldn’t say I descend with
ease, but I do develop a rhythm. The proof that there’s always a
way out is all around me. This jungle may be at the mercy of the
elements, but it puts up a hell of a fight and survives. So, up or
down, there’s a path. Always.
That evening, our home pops up at the foot of a hulking moun-
tain like a magic trick. Khaki tents are kitted out with soft beds.
Makeshift bathrooms are fitted with open-air showers—hot
showers!—for a bath under the skies.
Laltains are placed along this buffer zone campsite like fairy
lights. A bonfire sputters to life. Frogs croak throatily over the
concert of cicadas, and the aromas of seekh kebab and peppery
potato eddy in the air. My legs smart from all the hiking, and the
horror stories we exchange are spookier than the plot of Stranger
Things. But I can’t stop grinning every time I look up at the stars
blinking in the night sky like glittered confetti.
C LO S E C O N N E C T I O N S
There’s an unmistakable closeness among us when we set out
the next morning. D.K., a Delhi-based businessman, thought-
fully clears prickly bushes for the person walking behind
him; Manav offers to carry backpacks when he notices some-
one’s tired. And Chinmay reveals why he became a natural-
ist instead of an engineer. He fervently loves snakes, and
grew up spotting them in his hometown of Nashik. But a
few years ago, while rescuing a cobra, its bite almost killed
him. He decided life was too short to crack computer codes
■ MA DHYA PRADES H
instead of mating calls, so he came to Satpura. “What didn’t kill
me made me surer of how I wanted to spend the rest of my life,”
smiled Chinmay.
This day is full of startling discoveries. Or perhaps it is just me
who is more present, tasting every detail. I coo over the delicate
red sundews whose surface is covered in what look like dewdrops.
But these are badass carnivorous plants and the “dewdrops” are
deadly globules that lure insects. I spend some quality time mak-
ing faces at a Malabar giant squirrel perched on a tree branch. All
this while, the smallest of rustle tells me that a leviathan of the
Satpura range might be looming large.
And suddenly they are all around: boulders. Fifteen kilometres
of rocks that will put up a fight as we cross them. I am not daunted,
and attribute this cheeriness to the terrain; miles of stunning
pink and purple sedimentary rock that looks like swirling waves
frozen in stone. True, I cross some boulders in the most unladylike
ways: clambering over them on all fours, clutching at plants for
support, even spraining my ankle. But I learn that all that matters
right now is putting one foot after another; not the craggy cliffs I
leave behind, nor the emerald streams that lie ahead.
Our pace isn’t adequate, and we cross the jungle in semi-
darkness for a full 45 minutes. My mind turns trickster. Shadows
seem like lurking beasts and the quiet feels like a precursor to
doom. For the first time, I see the forest as a brutal place.
Later that night, we huddle around the bonfire for one last
time. We aren’t just co-travellers; we trust each other. We hauled
each other up every time someone froze among massive boulders
and steep cliffs. We speak of our childhoods, lost loves, and heal-
ing hearts until we run out of wood for the fire. We are vastly dif-
ferent people, but tonight in this forest we explored together, we
have the same stories.
Kareena Gianani is Senior Associate Editor at National
CHINMAY DESHPANDE (LEOPARD & SQUIRREL), DHARMENDRA (LEAVES & PEOPLE), PRABHAT VERMA (BIRD)
Geographic Traveller India. She loves stumbling upon hole-in-
the-wall bookshops, old towns, and collecting owl souvenirs in
all shapes and sizes.
THE VITALS
The best time to camp in Satpura Tiger Reserve is November
to March. The Denwa Backwater Escape lodge organizes
1-3-night luxury camping trips to Satpura. The trek traverses
through its core area, and camps are set up in the buffer
zone. Expect twin beds in roomy tents, hot showers and dry
pit toilets, and delicious meals made from local produce.
Stay The lodge lies in the Madhai area in south Madhya
Pradesh, 60 km/1.5 hr northwest from the entry point of the
Forsyth Trail. Overlooking the backwaters of the River Denwa,
the lodge’s 8 cottages and 2 treehouses offer memorable
views of grasslands. All accommodations have large sit-out
areas perfect for curling up with a book and watching the
sunset. (www.denwabackwaterescape.com; doubles from
`18,000; luxury camping from `20,000 per person per night).
Getting There The closest airport to Denwa is in Bhopal
(170 km/ 4 hr northwest). Itarsi railway station (70 km/
2 hr west) is well connected to major cities.
MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 117
 SHORT BREAKS
118
stay
Glamping and other perks near
Pench National Park
GROOVY GRASSLAND
ROUGH IT OUT IN STYLE AT JAMTARA WILDERNESS CAMP | BY NEHA DARA
S
ince I was a child, I’ve considered the
grasslands a sinister place. It’s probably
the result of dozens of trips to Jim Corbett
National Park, during which my mother told
stories of tigers and other dangers lurking
among the tall grasses. Unlike trees,
which very obviously have hiding spots,
grasslands are beguiling spaces. They
can usher an animal in with their soft
undulating movements in the breeze,
only to spring a nasty surprise.
So, I was a little taken aback when
my luxury tent at Jamtara Wilderness
Camp, near Pench National Park’s Jamtara
gate, turned out to be surrounded by a sea of beige
grasses as high as my waist. I swallowed back the
sudden uneasiness I felt, and followed my husband
down the snaking path that led to our home for
118 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
120
stay
Inside India’s first pod hotel
in Mumbai
Jamtara Wilderness
Camp’s Star Beds are a
glamorous twist on the
machans farmers sleep
on in the middle of their
fields at night.
two nights. Ignoring the grass brushing against
my sides, I focused instead on that tree in the
distance from which I could hear a bird whistling,
wildlife
and gurgle of the stream that ran just beside
the tent.
This was my first experience of
glamping, and I must confess I was
surprised by the number of comforts ``
PHOTO COURTESY: JAMTARA WILDERNESS CAMP
that can be crammed inside a
structure that, come monsoon, can be luxury
disassembled and packed away. In one
corner was a wooden desk, stocked with
writing paper and a stack of postcards
with colourful tiger motifs. Besides the bed,
the tent also has a sofa in a corner with an inviting
pile of soft cushions, an antique-style oval mirror, relaxation
and bright rugs covering the wooden floor. The
only permanent part of the set-up is the bathroom,
 ■ MA DHYA PRADES H

MADHYA
Jabalpur
PRADESH
Jamtara Wilderness
Camp ì

THE VITALS
Getting There Jamtara
Wilderness Camp is
located near Pench
National Park’s Jamtara
gate, a 1.5-hour drive
in which everything is stored during the monsoon. the jungle in the cover of the night, and prowl on from the park’s better
In the lethargy that crept up on us in the heat of rooftops and back alleys in search of easy prey like known Seoni entrance.
It is 208 km/4.5 hr
the afternoon, we flopped on the beds, not asleep poultry and cattle.
southwest of Jabalpur
but not quite awake. Small details flitted in and Back at the camp, we settled into chairs
and 150 km/3 hr
out of focus. The gleaming slimy underside of a around a bonfire that’s organised most winter north of Nagpur, the
snail creeping up the tent flap. The loud buzzing of evenings. Snacks and drinks made the rounds as nearest airport.
a bee somewhere beyond it, just out of sight. The we exchanged stories of animal sightings in the
tiny purple flower atop a nodding frond of grass. park with other guests in the light of the dancing Accommodation
A warm wind blew in, rustling through the grass flames. When we went in for dinner, the dining Jamtara Wilderness
and carrying indecipherable whispers to our ears. room’s rustic décor caught my eye. The floor is Camp has 10 tents
When I woke up in the early evening, the grassland made from scrap wood, the walls have a rough, on a 10-acre property
seemed like a less intimidating space. bumpy finish, and the dining table is fashioned bookended by two
Besides embarking on jeep safaris into from a long cross-section of a tree trunk, with all streams. The landscape
Pench, visitors to Jamtara can stroll through the its natural twists. is a mix of grassland
village the camp is named after. Plump gourds For a special experience, guests can opt for and trees. There’s
no television, Wi-Fi,
grew on vines that climbed up whitewashed walls a night on the Star Bed, and sleep on a raised
and limited phone
and onto tiled roofs of the single-storey cottages. platform under the stars. But honestly, it is not
signal, giving visitors
Their courtyards overflowed with corn cobs necessary to opt for anything extra to feel special. an opportunity to
turning into a shade of orange as they dried in the The camp’s staff made us feel that way all the time disconnect from their
sun. Our guide from the camp waved out to several with thoughtful little flourishes. Like the hot water routines. Tents are
people we passed; many of the men from the bottle tucked into the blankets that awaited us in bright and airy, with
village work as guides and drivers in the national the safari jeep, and the candlelit tea they surprised forest-facing porches.
park. They told us tales of tigers that creep out of us with when we returned from an evening walk. (91906 18805; www.
jamtarawilderness.com;
doubles from `39,501;
including all meals, two
safaris, buffer zone and
village walks; lodge
open mid-October to
mid-May).

Jamtara’s luxury tents

(bottom) are a great base
for safari excusions into
Pench National Park
(top left) and strolls into
the neighbouring village
PHOTO COURTESY: JAMTARA WILDERNESS CAMP

of Jamtara (top right),

after which the camp
is named.

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 119

Short Breaks | STAY
IN A COMFORTABLE SPACE-AGE COCOON AT INDIA’S FIRST POD HOTEL | BY RUMELA BASU
The 124 Classic Pods at Mumbai’s
Urbanpod are cosy, compact,
and equipped with everything a
traveller might need for a night
in. The fact that they resemble
the props of a sci-fi film is only
an added advantage.
I
am an astronaut. Not really, but I feel
like one as I look into the circular mirror
inside my little pod-room in Mumbai’s
Urbanpod. I left my shoes in the shoe locker as
soon as I entered the hotel and now I’m crawling
into my bed inside a capsule-like pod. I sit there
taking in my cosy surroundings. There is a lot
of white, from the sheets and the pillow to the
interiors of the pod. The lights are a bluish-
white, unlike the amber ones usually found in
hotel rooms. It gives an illusion of more space
and makes the pod look a little clinical. I touch
the tiny icon on the console-like set-up to my left
and the ceiling light flickers on. This console is
right below my mirror that looks like the peaceful
cousin of HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s
electronic antagonist. There are two USB ports,
a socket for plugging in my devices, another
120 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017
I,POD
for the headphones that are hanging on the far
left corner near my head, a digital clock, and
touch-operated controls for all the lights. Tucked URBAN
right under this edgy techie display is a small
Godrej locker.
The inner astronaut in me sighs wearily as I
settle back on the pillow and pick up my laptop.
Little blue LEDs along the panel indicate the `
brightness of the lights around the mirror and on
the ceiling. I fiddle with it to let my pod be bathed POCKET-FRIENDLY
in a mellow bluish-white glow.
The little world created inside is in sharp con-
PHOTO COURTESY: URBANPOD
trast with the one outside the hotel. Urbanpod’s
location—the busy area of SEEPZ Andheri, right
beside a bus depot—is as nondescript as can be.
Offices and shops line the bustling road in front
of the building where the hotel is housed. Only
after stepping off the elevator on the first floor
 ■ MAHARAS HTRA

and entering through the double glass doors does

the sense of being in a hotel kick in. And one floor
MAHARASHTRA
of a building is all that it occupies. The pods are
located in clusters of 12 to 18, most of them in a Urbanpod,
large room with one main door and some along Mumbai

the hallway. Travellers flitting in and out of the

city for work would probably find a comfortable
space here.
At around 7 p.m., I am asked to give my
THE VITALS
preference for dinner. The café outside serves
Getting There
packed meals that come from a kitchen located
Urbanpod is located
a few kilometres away. Simple Indian, Asian,
in SEEPZ in Andheri,
and European meals with vegetarian and non- Mumbai. The inter-
vegetarian options make up the menu. I am national airport is about
informed that my dinner will arrive in the next 15 min/5 km south of
hour and a half or so and I decide to make my way the hotel. The closest
to the shower. The bathrooms, separated from the railway stations are
pods, are located in one section at the end of a long Bandra railway station
corridor. Since I am put in a ladies special pod— (30 min/35 km south)
one in a cluster of 18—my bathroom is within the and Chhatrapati Shivaji
same room as my pod. Terminus (1.5 hr/35 km
While I have a lot of privacy, because the south).
ladies pod is relatively empty, a shared space
Accommodation
like the Urbanpod may not be the best fit for
Urbanpod has 140
every traveller. However, if you are a backpacker
pods and rooms.
and would return to your room only to find some The Classic Pod is a
peace and shut-eye, then the pod may be a good single-occupancy pod
idea. It also helps that this little cocoon looks located within a room
snazzy. Mulling over my next backpacking trip, with 12-18 other pods.
I head out to the café for dinner. My Asian meal Showers are separate.
of rice and chicken comes in a take-away box, There are 124 Classic
along with cutlery in a transparent pouch. If I Pods. Of these, 18 are
was airborne, this would feel like a lavish meal only for women and
on a flight. housed in one room.
As I crawl into my pod at the end of the day, I The bathrooms are also
accommodated within
think about whether I’d like to return to Urbanpod.
the same space. The
I live in Mumbai and often feel like getting away
second kind, the Private
from the din. Most times there is an urge to be
Pod, is not located in
closer to nature and get a room with a view that a shared space and
soothes the eyes, but once in a while I wouldn’t has some extra space
mind being left on my own. outside. There are six
However, this might not be an experience of these in all. The 10
suitable for everyone. If you are expecting suites are regular rooms
24-hour room service, or are over about 6’3”, then with a queen-size bed,
you might want to reconsider staying here. One television and locker.
of my main concerns when checking into Meals are served at
Urbanpod was claustrophobia but I didn’t need the café and guests
to worry as I have almost a foot of headspace are advised not to eat
inside the pods. (www.
and a lot more leg-space inside. In the beginning
theurbanpod.com;
I did consider checking into a private pod, which
pods from `1,800; suite
is located away from the cluster—a solitary pod in doubles `3,200.)
one room that also has some space outside its
sliding door. I was also given the option of a suite,
Urbanpod’s pods (top),
with a queen-size bed and a large window. It,
PHOTO COURTESY: URBANPOD

housed in clusters of
however, seemed only fitting that I give the pod 12-18 within a large
a shot. room, and 10 pod-suites
Turning in for the night, I find myself planning a (middle) are located
on one floor; Meals
getaway, or “podation” as I call it. I think about an packaged like take-aways
upgraded business-class flight experience. It looks are served in the hotel’s
a lot like my pod. sunny café (bottom).

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 121

 © d-maps
600 mi

Inspire | TUR KEY

UKRAINE

RUSSIA

Konya
TURKEY

SYRIA

IRAQ

RUMI FESTIVAL
KONYA, TURKEY

Every year more than a

million people from all around
the world, descend on the
Anatolian city of Konya in
Turkey, for the annual Rumi
festival held in December.
It was here that Mevlana
Celaleddin-i Rumi, a well
known 13th-century Sufi
poet and writer, breathed his
last. Despite the passage of
time, Rumi’s writings have
mesmerised people from all
walks of life. His philosophy
and thought which show no
bias towards any religion or
race has successfully mana-
ged to win the hearts of many,
including the likes of pop
icon, Madonna.
During the festival, the
brotherhood called Mevlevi,
or whirling dervishes formed
by his followers, dance to
connect with their philosopher
and to their inner selves. The
dervishes dance for several
days but put up the most
spectacular show at the grand
finale on 17 December—the
day that Rumi united with God,
considered to be his wedding
night. Wearing white long robes
meant to resemble shrouds,
black cloaks symbolising their
worldly tombs, and traditional
conical caps their tombstones;
the dervishes dance
themselves into a trancelike
state while onlookers soak in
the mystic atmosphere.
—Chaitali Patel

122 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 ©OLEKSANDR RUPETA/ ALAMY/INDIAPICTURE

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 123

Inspire | IR ELA ND

124 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

 IRELAND
Dublin
UNITED
KINGDOM

CELTIC SEA

BLOOMSDAY
DUBLIN, IRELAND

It was Russian literary

great, Vladimir Nabokov,
who remarked after reading
James Joyce’s Ulysses, “How
beautifully the man writes!”
Dubliners certainly echo that
sentiment during a month-long
celebration of Joyce’s seminal
work every year.
The festival, which kicks off
on 16 June, is called Bloomsday
after the protagonist of the
novel, Leopold Bloom. What
began as a small event in 1954
has grown into a nationwide
affair with the day now being
observed as a national holiday.
Ulysses follows advertising
professional Bloom’s life as it
played out on 16 June, 1904,
from 8 a. m. to the wee hours
the next morning. On the
day, Joyce devotees follow
the journey of Bloom in full
costume complete with straw
boater hats. Fans of the book
go through the streets of
Dublin and visit the places
referenced in the book, from
visiting Sweny’s Pharmacy for
lemon soap, to having a lunch
ZOONAR/P.CREAN/ ZOONAR GMBH RM/ALAMY/INDIAPICTURE

of gorgonzola sandwich with

burgundy just as Bloom did.
The streets come alive with
performances and readings
from the book. Such is the
popularity of the tome and its
characters, that Bloomsday is
celebrated around the world
from San Francisco to Tokyo.
—Chaitali Patel

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 125

Inspire | IND IA

AN
ST
KI
PA

Jaipur
RAJASTHAN

INDIA

JAIPUR
LITERATURE
FESTIVAL
JAIPUR, INDIA

If you want to catch some of

the biggest names in literature
congregate for an exhilarating
exchange of ideas, then
the place to be is Jaipur in
January. Despite its modest
beginnings, the five-day Jaipur
Literature Festival (JLF) is
now the premier destination
for authors, managing to snag
some elusive invitees like
J.M. Coetzee, Jonathan
Franzen, and Margaret Atwood.
As the sun beats down on the
green lawns and grounds, fans
pack different tents across the
majestic venues throughout
the city in the hope of catching
their favourite speakers. The
setting’s elegance and luxury
also attracts trendy socialites
and celebrities, who mingle
with the other guests in the
evenings over cocktails and
dinners. There is plenty to do
outside literature, too, with
music concerts, food stalls
that hawk both haute and local
cuisine and art installations on
offer. In the last few years,
JLF’s popularity has soared so
much that the festival has now
gone beyond Indian shores
with an annual event held in
London in May, and another
one held in Boulder, Colorado
every September.
—Chaitali Patel

126 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017

MAY 2017 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA
127
ZOONAR/P.CREAN /ZOONAR GMBH RM/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY
 TRAVEL QUIZ T E S T Y O U R T R AV E L I Q

NAME THE COUNTRY WHERE

HÁKARL, A DISH OF SHARK MEAT,
IS CONSIDERED A DELICACY.
IN WHICH COUNTRIES WAS ROGUE ONE — A
STAR WARS STORY FILMED?
3 HOW LONG IS THE GREAT BARRIER REEF?

1 2 3

THIS CITY SITTING BETWEEN THE
SANTA YNEZ MOUNTAINS AND THE
PACIFIC OCEAN IS ALSO KNOWN AS
THE AMERICAN RIVIERA.
ANDYKRAKOVSKI/ISTOCK (HÁKARL), DIN_EUGENIO/ISTOCK (FANS), GONZALO AZUMENDI/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (GREAT BARRIER REEF), MONTGOMERYGILCHRIST/
ISTOCK (LLAMAS), TOUCHINGPIXEL/SHUTTERSTOCK (BOATS), STEVEGEER/ISTOCK (DINOSAUR), DIRSCHERL REINHARD/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (PYRAMID), FUMIO
WHERE IS THE LARGEST DINOSAUR
FOSSIL SITE IN INDIA?

4
WHERE CAN YOU MEET WILD

OKADA/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (CHURCH), RAFAEL BEN-ARI/CHAMEL/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (CAMEL)

LLAMAS AND ALPACAS
WHILE TREKKING UP TO

6
RAINBOW MOUNTAIN?

5
8
HOW MANY OF THE SEVEN WONDERS WHICH ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, ALSO KNOWN
AS “ROSE CITY” OR “ROSE-RED CITY”, IS
OF THE ANCIENT WORLD STILL EXIST CARVED INTO SANDSTONE CLIFFS?
AND WHERE CAN WE SEE THEM?
WHICH IS THE WORLD’S
OLDEST CHINATOWN?

7 9
GIZA, EGYPT 8. BINONDO IN MANILA, PHILIPPINES. IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN THE 16TH CENTURY 9. PETRA, JORDAN
ANSWERS 1. ICELAND 2. U.K., U.A.E., JORDAN, MALDIVES, AND ICELAND 3. 2,300 KILOMETRES 4. PERU 5. SANTA BARBARA 6. GUJARAT 7. ONE. THE PYRAMIDS OF

128 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017