Wonder la Amusement Theme Park, Bangalore

** Checkout the six HD videos of Wonder la amusement park embedded in the blog **

Monsoon gave a skip to Bangalore this year, just clouds and wind but no trace of rains. I decided to try Wonder la amusement park, and play with water the whole day.

I took my car and a friend and in no time I was at toll gate of NICE (Bangalore-Mysore Expressway -Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd) road near Electronics city. Paid Rs 80/- toll (hefty) and started my journey towards Wonder la, which is around 30 kms. The expressway is wide and smooth but doesn't go all the way to Mysore yet. We covered the distance in 3/4 hr flat ( tested my car at 180 kmph on the expressway).

It was Saturday and I was aware that its going to be crowded. First glimpse of Wonder la was people everywhere and the demographic 10-25 yrs around 80%. There is ample parking space (no fee) and the surroundings are neat and clean. There is an ATM and a snacks restaurant outside - it was only 10.30 am, so we spent the time having snacks and strolling outside. [there is a restaurant inside as well and water bottles are allowed]

There are more than 1/2 a dozen ticket counters, well manned and managed. Took our tickets paying Rs 730/- per head and entered into the campus. At the ticket counter, do not forget to buy the Valet. Valet is a wrist-watch type electronic swipe-able  thing which can be wore on the wrist, substitute for cash to be used at various food counters.  So one doesn't need to carry purse and cash and ruin the trip with fear of losing it; it comes with various denominations with service charge of Rs 20/-. So pay Rs 500/-, they will give you the valet, use  it for various food items and in the end return back at the ticket counter, they will refund whatever is left deducting Rs 20/- as service charge.

There is a very big locker building near the entrance. One has to pay Rs 500/-to secure a big locker( three sizes). On returning the key, they will refund the amount deducting a service fee of Rs 50/-. The locker key has a band and can be wore on the wrist, no chance of losing in the water. Do remember to keep the Receipt in the locker itself, its required to get the refund (I lost mine but the lady at the counter was considerate).
                      Besides thousand of lockers, the building has toilets and showers in adjoining area. Women and Men have lockers on separate floors, men in the basement and women in the first floor. If the weather is good, keep your slippers/floaters as well in the locker, if its warm take it with you, as you need to walk on slabs and concrete path.

People generally approach the park with dry rides first, then wet rides and finally the wave pool. On weekend really long queues at each ride. I did the reverse to beat the crowd.

I have experienced the wave pools before in Water World Mumbai, it was really impressive. Wonder la has also architected the wave pool very well. Three different sections, really wide, lot of benches to sit and watch, plenty of surveillance guards and a lighthouse as well.
                   The intensity of wave is perfect, if one really wants to experience the aggression, he has to go near the start of the wave. Thats where I spent most of my time and it was amazing, around six feet and relentless, took every ounce of energy out of me.
   
The water looked clean with tolerable amount of chlorine and at comfortable temperature, advisable to keep your mouth above it and go to the pool early before it starts getting dirty. Pool was really crowed btw.

After spending over 1 hr in the pool, we went to rain Disco Dance building. Rain dance happens every 1hr and its really good. Good lighting, lasers and plenty of water showered. People really seem to be enjoying this artificial rain and were dancing like crazy. There is separate area for couples/families and singles.

After rain dance I decided to take the wet rides. There are over 1/2 a dozen wet rides for all kind of hearts- faint to strong. I tried quite a few, not all, Wavy Falls are really sick. Every time you slide down, one has to take the stairs again to reach the starting point. People also spend lot of time in Play Pools, just lazing around and playing with their small kids.

We had lunch at the open restaurant near the wave pool. One can get tandoori chicken items, south indian meal, biryani and some other stuff. Food is okay, fair priced and the place hygienic.

Next we moved towards the dry rides. Since we started in reverse, most of the rides were empty now. We started with the Wonder Splash and Hang Glider and moved on to some crazy high thrill rides. High thrill rides do all kinds of spinning- revolution, rotation, sideways- with varying speeds and height, not for the faint hearted.

After completing the dry rides, it was close to 4 pm in the evening and we said it was enough for the day. Yes, there are some items as well, like musical fountain and documentary, which we gave a skip.

We took our stuff from the locker and claimed the refund, same with valet and started our journey back.

About Wonder la: It is a very well managed park. Courteous and well trained staff, neat and clean surroundings, secure rides and every thing seemed to be in place. A must visit while in Bangalore even though its a bit far. It has everything for all age groups and the money spent is completely worth it.

The entire Wonder la amusement park tour in 20 minutes:

Trip to Rameshwaram and Madurai From Bangalore

**Checkout the 6 HD videos embedded in the blog for visuals of Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi and Madurai Meenakshi Temple**

After a rather stressful week, I decided to unwind by taking a weekend trip to Madurai and Rameshwaram. Getting train tickets at short notice is impossible so I booked a Volvo bus (Train{runs daily} is the best option {irctc.co.in} but one has to plan at least 3 weeks in advance). There are plenty of private buses plying on this route, fares vary from Rs 500-900. Expect mismanagement and lack of punctuality on these buses and only select the buses from top 3 travel companies. Its a overnight journey, takes around 8 hours and covers around 450 kms. My bus started at 11 PM and dropped me at 7 am near Periyar bus stand in Madurai.  

My itinary: (I wont change it for repeat visit as well)

Sat Morning: Reach Madurai in the morning and start immediately for Rameshwaram

Sat Evening: Overnight stay at Rameshwaram

Sun Afternoon: Leave for Madurai

Sun Evening: Visit Meenakshi Temple

Sun Night: Board the bus to Bangalore

A normal Indian traveler is interested in sightseeing and tries to cover as many places and as fast as possible. I don't like this idea, and I am more interested in soaking the place, taking in the ambiance and really relaxing and that means selected site visits only.

On reaching Madurai, I found out that the best mode of travel to Rameshwaram is train at 5 am and I missed that. They told me that govt bus stand is 8 kms away, so I opted for private bus to Rameshwaram-which is around 170 kms from Madurai. 

The auto rickshaw took me for a 1/2 km ride to a tour and travels company for private mini bus travel,  Rs 50/- snatched. The travel company was complete unorganized and mismanaged. One person taking bookings for over 20 people. He charged Rs 350/- for travel to Rameshwaram (Govt express buses charge somewhere around Rs200/-) . The old, filthy and uncomfortable minibus started at 9 am, 2 precious hour completely wasted; I wont repeat that experience. The travel company(unfortunately I forgot the name) was a cheat, I heard lot of people complaining about various tours that they mismanaged. And most of these people were from northern and eastern part of the country, traveling several thousand kms and have spent thousands of rupees and they were from lower middle class. Somebody should stop this rampant cheating. 

First Tip: The Madurai private bus stand is near the railway station (1/2 km) and Madurai govt bus stand is some 8 kms away. Always book the bus from Bangalore which claims to reach before 5 am. Never miss the local train to Rameshwaram, this is the best and hassle free mode of transport. Try to avoid private buses and private tours operators wherever possible.

                                            Rameshwaram

I reached Rameshwaram around 1 PM after 4 hours of journey. I had already booked a hotel, so I checked in. The town is really simple, laid back and completely reliant on the temple for its survival, the place has a religious feel to it. Most of the tourist do a day tour from Madurai to this place.

Took a cold bath and lunch and slept for 3 hours, somehow bus travel stresses me out. In evening I went to the sea shore to have a stroll. Pleasant breeze and beautiful view of the ocean, spent several hours there taking videos and enjoying all kind of eatables being sold. The town sleeps early as it rises early. I followed their routing.

I woke up at 4 am in the morning to do several things- a) Visit Ramanathaswamy Temple b) Take sunrise videos
Its really amazing to see how many people visit early mornings. There was 100s of vehicle lined up at the sea shore and town was abuzz with thousands of pilgrims. The sunrise is really breathtaking. It becomes even more beautiful with religious chants, buzz of pilgrims and people worshiping to the sun while taking the holy bath at the sea.

I took bath in the Kunds, took a dip in the sea and offered my prayer at the Ramanathaswamy temple. I opted express darshan for Rs 50/-.  One get a lot of time to see the idol at the temple, a welcome change from other religious places. 

At 8 am I decided to visit the confluence of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean en route the ghost town Dhanushkodi. Dhanuskodi is a town/village at the southern tip of the Rameswaram island, at the eastern coast of the Tamil Nadu state of India. Hindu scriptures says that at the request of Vibeeshana, brother of Ravan and ally of Ram, Rama broke the Sethu with one end of his bow and hence the name Dhanushkodi, Dhanush meaning Bow and Kodi meaning end.

                  A severe cyclone in 1964 completely destroyed the flourishing town killing over 1000 people. Since then it has been declared a ghost town. 


Just before start of Journey in sand to Dhanushkodi, 8 kms from town (Rs 5/- bus), is a long and pristine beach. Travelers usually enjoy this beach and spend more time here. One can really spend hours and hours , amazing view of wide expanse of ocean and crisp sound of relentless crashing waves. Beautiful!

I hired a Mahindra Jeep (1970s model) for Rs 1000/- for the tour. Total distance to the confluence of oceans in Gulf of Mannar is around 18 kms, 10kms in land and 8kms in sand. The land part of the distance was covered in no time, one can even reach till this point through buses, fare Rs 5/-. The journey in sand is bit troublesome, normal vehicles will get stuck here and are not allowed.

One can see the remnant of Dhanuskodi town enroute-platform, church, school, railway tracks.

The beach at the confluence of ocean is really wide, pristine and breathtaking. Its a pity that mostly religious tourist come here and is still virgin for others. One can spend hours and hours here-place completely devoid of crowds and is very beautiful.


         The two oceans are very different in character. The Bay of Bengal is really aggressive with really strong waves crashing the shores, while the Indian Ocean is very silent almost like a river. The beach here can put world's top tourist destinations to shame (Pattaya beach is 100 times worse). I spent two hours here and felt like spending some more. Amazing place, its pity people take it as another sightseeing place. One should keep aside at least 6 hours for the Dhanuskodi and beaches around it and that won't be possible in a day tour.

The deal with the Jeep driver was to show me some other sightseeing places as well, but the time constraint of 4 hrs meant that I have to skip those. The sea beach is breathtaking and its deserves that 4 hrs and more.

I went back to my hotel and checked out. Took a auto (town bus also available every 10 mts, Rs 5/-)  for the city bus stand(Rs 50/-) and boarded an express govt bus for Madurai at 1 PM. The fare was around Rs 200/-. The unclean bus running at 60 kmph took 4hrs to cover 170 kms to reach Madurai bus stand at outskirts of city.

The people in the town speak fluent Hindi. There are lot of hotels for stay and restaurants serving authentic south Indian food. There is even a cyber cafe near the temple.

Rameshwaram Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameswaram
Dhaushkodi Wiki/Cyclone Story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanushkodi

                                                      Madurai
Meenakshi temple is around 8 kms from the Madurai Govt Bus Stand. I paid Rs 60/- for an auto rickshaw to reach there. There are lot of lodges and hotels in and around Meenakshi temple. I checked into one and negotiated the tariff for 4 hours stay, cost me Rs 500/-. I think there is locker at the temple as well for keeping the luggage.

Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple is really huge, ideal for huge number of pilgrims who visit here. All Indian temples should match at least this scale keeping the huge hindu population in the country in mind. I took ticket for entrance and for photography (Rs 50/- for still and Rs 500/- for video). Guards at the temple do ask for camera tickets so one shouldn't cheat to avoid embarrassment but one can sure take videos using normal digital cameras (paying Rs 50/-) which I did.

You will be greeted by temple elephant at the entrance and one can see people even taking blessings from the animal. I formed the queue and took the darshan of the deity, completely hasslefree. Bought the prasad by paying Rs 100/-, really unadulterated and made using pure ghee, and extremely tasty. I spend lot of time appreciating and taking videos of hallways, stone sculptures, various deities and temple architecture in general.

There is 'Hall of Thousand Pillars' within the temple premises and is a must visit. There is separate entrance and photography ticket ( I used the same photography ticket bought before and it worked). The hall has 985 stone pillars and lot of engineering and artistic sculptures and statues. The hall also has a small museum displaying the 1200 years of temple history.

It took me over two hours to cover everything in the temple and the experience was really very good. At 8.30 pm (temple open till 10.30 pm), I went back to my hotel room, checked out , had dinner and boarded my bus for Bangalore at 10.30 pm. There was mayhem at the Periyar private bus stand and my journey back was very troublesome. I will plan in advance and take train for all my future journeys.

[Foreigners are not allowed beyond a certain point in Meenakshi temple]

Meenakshi Temple Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Amman_Temple

GOA - My Experience

Goa really is a branded tourist destination. It has everything for all kinds of tourist.No wonder foreigners just keep coming back time and again.The beaches calangute-baga-condolim are all good for enjoying the waves, the water temperature is also very comfortable, every other shop serves you liquor, place is always buzzing with happy tourists and there is not even a single dull moment in Goa.

Calangute is first stop for all Indian tourists, the number keeps increasing y-o-y. Scooter rides, para-sailing, banana ride keeps them excited and busy.In ten years time Goa will attract at-least four times as many tourist from India.With economy booming, middle-class population increasing by millions every year and people having started to spend money on travelling, Goa is going to get busier in coming years.The food is 20-30 % cheaper than other cities in India.Expect that to multiple at-least 3 times in next 10 yrs.As of now Goa as a whole is at least 30% cheaper than Phuket,Thailand with similar beaches & landscape minus the open sex elements.

I liked the beaches more during early morning around 6am and in the evenings after 6 pm. The tranquility and sounds of waves have therapeutic effect on your mind.Its like meditation, brings all your nerves to calm and you feel the joy within.Also, especially, in the morning there is hardly any one, so one can listen to sound waves without any interruptions or noise. No body seem to rise early in Goa, the localites work late in the night, and open their shops and shacks only after 9 am in the morning.Most of the tourists keep enjoying their Kingfisher late into the the night and very few can be found jogging early in the morning.The Yoga meditation sessions early mornings are like bliss.

Bikes/cars can be hired to visit other beaches & sightseeing.I hired a scooty for Rs200/- per day.One needs to pay advance and a photo identity and should have a driving license( random police checkings happens once in a week).These vehicles are generally in good condition, petrol costs Rs60/- a litre.

Several localites approached me for drugs & prostitutes.It means that drugs are still a big business there,though done in discreet manner.The guy gave me a complete list of narcotic drugs available on short notice with complete price list.They also mentioned Russian prostitutes available for Rs15,000/- per s... & Indian girls for over Rs 6000/- per night. The govt is trying to make Goa a clean tourist destination without drugs/prostitutions/massage par-lours. I think they need to cover some more distance in that front.

Several disco's have opened employing girls to lure you in, where entry charge ranges between Rs 200-500.These disco's are different from Tito. These are meant for single people, who go in there, buy drink for one of the lady dancers (one drink will cost between Rs 200-500 ) and then one can dance with her for sometime, its a money snatching scheme.When Dance Bars closed down in Mumbai, lot of people wondered whatever happened to those bar dancers.One can find them dancing on one of these Discos, playing with customers, making deals with them and talking in a way which is very typical of mumbai bar dancer.Heard they also double as escorts.

Kingfisher marketing team has done a fabulous marketing & branding exercise in Goa.Beer means Kingfisher in Goa, though I am fan of Budweiser and think its lot better than Kf premium & Kf strong beer tastes horrible. Kingfisher really have built a big brand by entering into F1 & airlines & the marketing exercise begins in England with direct flights from several cities there, that helps a lot in building the trust.The kingfisher villa in goa looks stupendous, liquor baron does have tons of money, though the airline biz is bleeding profusely. Its time other beer companies start reworking their strategy vis-a-vis Goa, good way to globalize the brand.

There is lot that can be said about Goa, the culture, friendly people, safe destination, opportunity for friendship, endless beaches, holiday spirit & atmosphere, die hard goa fans and unending beer drinking sessions.

Only sore sight for me was lack of cleanliness.Not even a single waste box in entire beach while lot of vendors selling eatable stuffs on paper bags and plastic cups.The sands in the beaches are mixed with paper ,plastic cups and other garbage.Either you provide waste bins every 20 meters or stop eatable vendors from selling things on beach.Action needs to be taken now.There is simply no arrangement for waste disposal.

        Taxi stands are too filled with waste strewn all over. How difficult is it to spend money on keeping city clean, where so much revenues are generated ever year ? Indians can create the worlds most sophisticated software but cant keep a city clean ? Make littering an offence and fine at least Rs 200 for each offence, discipline the shack owners and shopkeepers. Cleanliness is a culture, and responsibility should fall on everybody, handful of people cant be expected to clean mess created by millions of visitors.Its high time hygiene is taken very seriously with huge investment on waste management as well.