RAAS Hotel Jodhpur: Peace within chaos and the Price of luxury.

Upon arrival at the Jodphur airport, I was welcomed with the scorching heat creeping within my skin. Fortunately, it was getting put of the airport was an ease. I was welcomed by my driver, Rishi, a middle-aged Delhi native man who drove all the way from New Delhi the day before in order to be my driver from Jodhpur to Jaipur then Agra back to New Delhi for the next 7 days. It took us about 20 minutes to reach Raas Hotel. This enchanting place, seemingly nestled within the Blue city, will be my home for the next 3 days. Inside the room, I was surprised with such a stunning view of the Mehngarhar Fort, a centuries old for which symbolized the prestige of the by-gone era of the royal Jodhpur families back then.

Going back to my room, the brick walls on one side is decorated with intricate circular carvings while on the other side is a painted cement wall. The balcony, which overlooks the fort and half of the Blue city, is quite spacious. The room is quite spacious as well with a king-sized bed and a two-seater sofa. It also has a walk-in closet good enough for two people. The whole room is embellished with decorations from a combination contemporary decors with a touch of terracotta bricks which are very common in the city of Jodhpur.

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, India

The Mehrangarh Fort at Day

For a semi-neophyte traveler like me, visiting India can be quite overwhelming. I could say I am confident and will survive any place in Southeast Asia but travelling to a country where you obviously look like a tourist will be quite challenging. Especially that India is known for its notorious harassment of tourists and travelers. So I embarked on a journey to experience the best things to see in India despite the forewarned chaos. The first city I visited is Jodhpur. Located ate the edge of Thar dessert in the state of Rajasthan, Jodhpur is the second larget city of this state. The city itself does not have many things to offer to travelers except dust and dirt but it is the location of one of the most well preserved and maintained fortifications in India, the Mehrangarh Fort. Situated on top of a rocky hilltop, this fort overlooks the entire city of Jodhpur. From up the fort, you can see the whole city. The Blue city, which are composed of houses painted in blue, is one of the most striking views from the fort. You can also see other iconic palaces and buildings around the city. But Mehrangarh is definitely the only place that will capture everyone living and visiting the city.

The Mehrangarh Fort at Night

From Temples to Temples: Returning to Yogyakarta Part 2

During my first attempt to visit Yogyakarta, my flight was cancelled due to the volcanic eruption of Gunung Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano situated just in the outskirts of Yogyakarta and Magelang (where Borobudur Temples is located) cities. Luckily, I got another chance to visit Yogyakarta in May of 2012. During that time, I managed to visit both Borobudur and Prambanan Temples. Both were spectacularly amazing and it's architecture and design were just stunning. Both of these temples are intricately carved with the story of Rama and Shinta, popularly known as the main characters of the epic book series of the Mahabharata, which originated from India.

3 years after, I have returned to this stunning, cultural-filled city of Yogyakarta with my family. I toured them around and I also tried to visit other temples which I missed during my first visit namely Ratu Boko and Candi Sewu.

Good morning Mount Merapi. Hello Yogyakarta City.

Lagani Coffee: Returning to Yogyakarta Part 1

Yogyakarta, or Jogja to locals, is famous for many things. Aside from being the cultural center of Indonesia, it is also the gateway to several heritage sites revered around the world. It is also close to Indonesia's most active volcano, Gunung Merapi. But Jogja, despite its rich cultural heritage, is also catching up to many hip and out of the mainstream places to hangout. On my research about other places to visit in Jogja, I found out about this quaint coffee shop called Lagani Coffee located Jalan Cendrawasih which is quite close to the city center.

When I reached the street, I was welcome with a lot of specialty shops and artisanal restaurants. If I will make comparisons, it is like the Bali Lane of Singapore or the Maginhawa Street of Quezon City, Philippines. And I told myself as I entered the street that I think I'm going to like this place but let me get myself first to my main agenda: LAGANI COFFEE.

Lagani Coffee is on the second floor of white building and you will be welcomed with an artistic doodles of different food and vintage-looking furniture. The ambiance inside is quite nice. Not very dark but not very bright. The design of the cafe inside gives you a homey feeling. You can literally see what is going on inside the kitchen as there are no windows. There were a lot of vintage stuff being used like the oven in the kitchen. There are also many vintage displays to look at while waiting for your coffee and meals.

Lagani Coffee serves different coffee, drinks and food. I ordered my usual cafe latte and oreo pancakes with ice cream (I forgot what it is called by the way). They served their latter with a cute art of a flower and pancakes were freshly made upon order. I literally saw how the cook made it since I have a good view of their kitchen. In general food and coffee were great and I love how the place was not super crowded on Saturday tea break time. Most probably because people prefer being in the malls which gives an advantage to people who prefer being on coffee shops outside and faraway from the overcrowded malls of Indonesia.

The Little Prince in the Dark

There have been a lot of different art and book exhibitions about The Little Prince all over the world but there has never been such a magnificent artwork ever done with the sole purpose of letting the visually-challenged people appreciate visual arts but in tactile way.

From the same artists who made the 10  art exhibit which premiered at The Fullerton in Singapore this May, Artheline, the signature of artists Arnaud and Adeline Nazare-Aga from Thailand, comes The Little Prince in the Dark. It's a tactile art installation specifically made for people with visual impairment. But this art installation is also accessible to all and can be touched by anyone.

The planets, which were all inspired by the artworks in the book, as well as the elephant inside a boa constrictor and the fox, seemed like floating in space inside a dark room filled with yellow blinking stars. It's visually stunning for those able to see it but it is also a great tactile experience to understand the characters and art works in the book for the visually impaired.

The Little Prince Art Exhibition by Artheline

This is the first time I have been to a Little Prince exhibition and it is such an honor to finally catch the works of Artheline. Artheline is the signature of artists Arnaud and Adeline Nazare-Aga. They are based in Thailand and they made these artworks just in time for the Singapore-France Voilah Festival in conjunction with the celebration of SG50, Singapore's fiftieth birthday. This is the world premiere of the exhibit.

The exhibit has been open since since May 6, 2015 and will be open for public viewing until June 1, 2015. I was just fortunate enough to manage to fly in to Singapore just to see the two exhibits about the Little Prince before it close. The other exhibit is an art installation for the visually-challenged people and will be posted later on.

There are 10 art installations for this exhibit and every thing was just mesmerizing for me. I particularly like how they made each planet as if they are floating in space.

The Transfiguration Chapel, Calaruega

It has been exactly 13 years ago when I was first mesmerized by this quaint chapel on a hill top just off the boundary of Tagaytay City and Nasugbu. During that time, we went there as part of our college retreat, a required undertaking before you graduate in a Catholic university. The place was mezmering indeed and during that time you can almost have the place on your own since it was not yet a popular place to go.

It is usually a place for events like wedding, birthdays and other religious events you can think of. It may not be a heritage site or an important Catholic destination but the place is just quite peaceful even though today, there is an influx of visitors.

The transfiguration chapel, which was formed in the same image of a place also called Calaruega, in Mexico or Spain I think, still stands astonishingly. If my memory serves me right, the entire place was patterned to a place of the same name in a Spanish county. That is what was told to us during our retreat and forgive me for not remembering all the details right.

I just hope that from what I saw in this place, tourist were very caring and cautious that they should not make a lot of noise and litter on the place because they are aware that this is a place of worship. But I have heard so many terrible stories about other places where tourist leave all their trash where ever their hands feel like doing so. I cannot believe that these tourists do not bother about taking care of tourists destination. I know I can't save the world by eriting about it here but there is only one thing I know that I have lost. And that if faith in humanity to take care of the earth. So I am very thankful to some small groups of people who always keep an eye in doing small things to make a big difference.