Trip to Niagara falls from Chicago

During the labor day holiday weekend, we made a road trip from Naperville, IL to Niagra Falls, NY and it was a wonderful experience.
The road trip was fantastic for a couple of reasons. It was going to be time out when I would get to plug off from my routine work which has been pretty packed. Secondly, I was travelling in from California, so there was this anticipation of completing a business trip and getting into a fun family trip.

Getting close to the falls from the boat tour

Some details on travel:

Distance between Naperville, IL to Niagra Falls,NY: approx 580 Miles.
Major routes:- Shortest is the one which goes north via Detroit through Canada. We took the one which keeps the journey through united states, crossing through Cleveland.
Time to destination(one way): 9 hrs
Number of breaks or minutes of stoppage: 3 breaks totalling to 45 mins.
Place of stay: used AirBnb to find a place, and stayed at the lavida cottage which was a good 20 mins drive from the niagra falls. We rented this place for 2 nights where we were 2 families living in. Excellent location to stay as long as you are not looking for good place to eat outside. the location was in a small town with not many options to eat, however, it was perfect for us.

My friend and me at the niagara falls. Side view.

Things to do at Niagra falls:

1. The small town we stayed at had tons of farms, lone beaches and countryside to see. if you stay in a vicinity of such a location, you need more time than a day to explore everything. We were pretty short on time.
2. With our situation, we focused on taking it easy. On our second day, we went to Niagara Falls and spent a full day there, without trying to cover different places etc. With kids, we took it pretty easy and had a big lunch followed by ice cream treat and looking through all the touristy shops selling souvenirs there.
1. Ticket to the boat tour of Niagara falls.
2. Enjoy the gushing water power from the side of the falls. I envy the view which you may get from the canadian side.
3. Enjoy helicopter ride and the bird's eye view.
4. A plethora of Indian food to feed yourself. I rate that food 2/5
5. A Couple of really good ice-cream parlours around.
6. Crowds and prepare for a long queue on holidays especially
7. Lots of souvenir shopping. 

Bridge between USA and Canada

Observations at the Niagara Falls:

1. There are a ton of hotels right beside the falls. If booked in advance that is a good spot too, however, you will miss living in nature or countryside feel for sure.
2. For some reason, it was a sea of Indians at this spot. where ever you see, there is an Indian restaurant (Punjabi, Gujarati, and whatnot). Never had this feeling other than oaktree road in NJ. I felt like I was somewhere in India.
3. I haven't traveled to Canada yet, however, I didn't realize before that Canada comes one bridge away at this place. you can literally see the Canada mainland, hotels, people, businesses right across from here. if you have authorization, you could literally walk your way into Canada or vice versa.

Overall it was pretty good trip for us. I wish we planned for additional 2 days to spend more time there. May be for the next time.

Trip to the mountains of Himachal Pradesh [lots of photos]

View from Naddi

Recently on my trip to India, from Chicago, I had an opportunity to spend longer than anticipated time. I traveled to the northern plains of Punjab, to a city called Nabha. The time during June-July-August timeframe is not the best time to be visiting this part of the country. In fact the whole of North India is going crazy through the summer heat, and then as the monsoons start to come in, the weather gets sticky and even worse. During my stay in the mid-july, the heat was not so bad as it was with the humidity factor. I digressed. 

Since we stayed longer, it was a good opportunity to plan a trip to the mountains. in the neighborhood, there were couple of good options to get some respite from the heat.

Either plan couple of days trip to Shimla-Kufri and further up region. second is to go towards Kangra-Dharamshala and up to mcleodganj. There was another option to head towards manali-leh but that is a trip which we planned and postponed for next trip. I want to do the leh trip properly and hence want to fully prepare and plan for it.

The family voted for the Dharamshala trip and since there are 4-5 devi temples on that way, it sounded like an awesome pilgrimage trip for the entire family.  We had done the exact same trip some 27 years ago, so we all were looking forward to the trip.

While i blog about our entire 4 day experience of this trip, you can scroll down to the summary section, for direct access to summary details on staying, expenses, planning etc. If you want to keep reading my commentary and how we spent time there, pls continue reading.

Pre-trip planning

Most of the pre-trip planning included packing, getting a good car on rental. My preference was for a Toyota Innova with captain seats, which makes it much more roomier and comfortable experience. Also the 3rd row gets much more comfortable. We were going to be 4 adults and 1 kid, so this configuration would work very well.
The other important thing for pre-trip planning was getting enough drinking water bottles for the journey. Potable water is a key item, and probably the only 'must' take item on my list anywhere during a travel.
With clothes and everything else packed, we were excited for the start of the trip.

Trip day 1

The plan for this day was to leave by 7 am. Our driver arrived just in time however he had not brought the car roof rack for luggage. It was going to be impossible to fit all the luggage in the car, without it so we let him go back and lost atleast 30 mins in overall. As the luggage was loaded, we were ready to roll by 8:15 am.
Our journey was going to be taking us through punjab and then straight into HP. the route was going to be via fatehgarh sahib- nangal-una and then into the 'devi' temples.

Since we started a little late, I was already feeling hungry. Part of travelling in Punjab is good quality food on the highways. I was expecting the same on the way. We made our first stop after crossing kiratpur sahib at the zamindara dhaba on the road. even though the family had taken breakfast from home, i still got a tandoori parantha, with butter here. The food is amazingly fresh and tastes amazing. The cardamom tea on top was just something. We spent around 40 mins here, finishing our breakfast, and topping off with cardamom tea.

Our next stop was going to be Chintapurani devi. Overall the length of this whole journey is around 300 kms one side, upto Mcleodganj. So, you comfortably reach Chintapurani devi temple in around 5 hrs. The roads are pretty good within the punjab region. once you enter HP, the roads are good but small towns coming across tend to slow you down. I was quite impressed by the overall road quality through out the trip, and especially in the mountains.

Arriving at Chintapurani temple

On this day, there was a long queue at the temple. we were travelling during 'sawaan' and were arriving just a day before the major day at the temple. so, it was fairly crowded, but everyone was talking about 'tomorrow' and its potential craze with devotees. it took us around 1 hr to be in the queue to get to the inner sanctum. The crowd was going crazy around the inner sanctum and it was a complete pushing, shoving, pressing of people going on. I was literally squished and it was hard to keep umika from getting squished too. THis is one thing about the temples and devotion in general which i have never understood. How do people get so desperate? what is the purpose of going to the temple if there too the same business has to be carried out? sorry, I digressed for a bit.

The temples inner sanctum was small, but beautiful. the weather was much nicer now, in comparison to punjab. soon after the 'darshan' [ the glimpse of the deity], everyone calms down and settles down to their own business. its amazing to see that. There are tonnes of people who come here for blessings, some wishing for things and some thanking for getting what they wanted. I came to click pictures, go to the cold weather of mcleodganj and have a family trip after may be 10 years. My mother told me that the rush of people which we witnessed here, will not be seen at all other devis as chintapurani devi's saavan is most popular one. I felt better as we headed back to our car, scouting for lunch and respite from the crowds.

At chintapurani temple, there is ample parking spaces which are dedicated, and charge a fee of around Rs 100. the walk from there to the temple is about 10 mins through a filled up market with restaurants, all the articles for sales, toys, kitchen items and what not. Its a pretty busy market. Near the temple, most of the shops sell Prasad. you can leave your shoes with the shopkeeper from where you buy your Prasad. that's their business model.

Travel from chintapurani to Jwala ji temple

The distance from chintapurani temple to jwalaji temple is not much. its approx 34 kms and taxes about 40-45 mins of driving by road. the road is busy but good. and the traffic dropped significantly on this route. Mom was right, and it felt like there were very many few people travelling on this route.
At the temple of jawalji, the parking was available in good numbers. it was crowded at all. infact it felt the very opposite. the walk from the parking to the temple is a good 10-15 mins walk, although it is a completely covered area so there is no worry of rains etc. secondly, it has market on both the side so there is interesting stuff to see, observe all the way.
The jwalaji temple is built beautifully and very open area. there were only a few people around so it gave a good opportunity to observe things closely. The temple is named after the 'jwala' or 'streak of fire' which have come out of stone and continue to be lit for years. In the inner sanctum, you can see that in at least 6 different portions. It's just amazing. You may believe the detailed stories behind, but you can't keep yourself from being fascinated by all of this.

After the darshans, we explored the different parts of the temple and then came out.

Chintapurani temple

Jwalaji temple to Kangra devi temple

It was around 5 pm now. we started from jwala ji, and headed towards kangra devi temple. the approx distance here is 38 kms and takes about 45 mins of driving. the roads are good and travel is pretty comfortable. by the time we arrived at kangra devi temple, and found the parking, the sun had started to go down. We were also tired but decided to complete visiting the 'kangra devi' temple and call it a day. the temple is in the middle of the city, and thronged by stores all around it. There was very little crowd at any of these places, and it was like direct walk-in without any waiting periods.

After this, we were all pretty tired. We decided to head back to the car, and look for a hotel. The driver already had some reiki of the place by talking to other drivers, and shopkeepers and had found out that the best hotel in the town was Hotel Grand Raj So we headed that way, to check it out.

upon arrival, true to its name the hotel looked great.  we looked at the rooms and were fairly satisfied. after booking two rooms, we checked in to freshen up and relax a bit. The hotel has an excellent restaurant on-suite and also a pretty large bar. It has enough parking for its purpose and can easily take in 100 cars. green lawns and a ton of breathing space makes this a great place to stay.

Trip day 2

on Day 2, we got up early but were in relaxed mood. We all sat in our balcony and got tea served there. The mountains were right in front of us from the balcony view, and it was amazing. It seemed it rained last night, so it was damn outside, but beautiful.

View from the balcony in the morning

Umika, my daughter near the reception of grand raj

The second day, we were going up to the chamunda devi temple, which is a short drive away[ approx 40 mins]. we started around 10 am after finishing our breakfast.
The day was beautiful. it was still not cool in the morning but not hot either as it was back in Punjab. I was longing for the 'cold' weather I was seeing on my apps back home.
As we arrived at the temple, and parked, I started taking walk by the bridge and my first grand glimpse of this place was breathtaking.I could see straight for miles, with white puffy clouds engulfing the mountain range and then the river flowing through, with gushing clear water among the huge rocks. A magnificient view.

My first view from chamunda devi temple bridge

We visited the temple, and it was reliving the experience. The last time we had visited this temple was approx 25 years ago when I was probably 8 years old or so. It was a great experience looking at how significantly some of the things had changed, and how much population has taken over the surroundings overall. We stayed at the temple for around 3 hours, looking at different things, playing a bit with the cold water and the gushing stream.

That's me, at the chamunda devi temple

Aghori sadhu- Chamunda devi temple

I was also excited because now we were going to finish our temple touring and head towards mcleodganj. This was much more exciting to me.
From chamunda devi temple, the ride is very beautiful and interesting. The ride to mcleodganj is not long[perhaps an hour] but its an ascent and you gain altitude very quickly. the roads well done, circle through the cantonment area and is very well gaurded. Through the serpant roads, you would also get a view of the HPCA cricket stadium here.

Summary of the trip

Vehicle: Toyota Innova with captain seat, best suitable for our family of 4 adults and i child with a driver.
Total distance: 650 kms up and down.

Itinerary & coverage

Day 1 journey: Nabha- Fatehgarh Sahib-Nangal- Una- ChinataPurani- Kangra- Hotel Grand Raj.
Places Covered: Chintapurani temple, Jwala ji temple, kangra ji temple.

Day 2 Journey: -Chamunda devi temple- dharamshala-Mcleodgang- Halt.
Places Covered: Chamunda devi temple, Dalai lama temple, Namgyal monastery, Markets

Day 3 journey: Mcleodgang- Dharamshala- Baglamukhi temple- halt
Places Covered: Dalai lama temple, naddi, bagsu falls, park

Day 4 journey: Dharamshala- Kangra fort (skipped)- Nabha
Places covered: HPCA cricket stadium at Dharamshala. We were told that we cant get access to it, but on some research found out that gate #2 is always open to visitors and there is no fee to go visit the stadium. Of course you cant go on the field but get a great view of the stadium.

Hotels where we stayed [costs included]:

1. Hotel Grand Raj, Kangra (1 Night). Priced around Rs 4500/night/room. Fantastic hotel. I will recommend everyone to consider this hotel in this area.
2. Hotel President Inn, Mcleodganj (1 Night) Priced around Rs 4300/night/room. Good hotel but nothing spectacular in terms of view. One major handicap is that this hotel doesn't have overnight parking place, so the driver had to park in the nearby parking which charges a steep price of Rs300/night. We settled for this as we search around and since it was a busy weekend we were finding only cheap and shady type rooms available. Hotel President Inn is pretty good in its amenities. Rooms are fantastic.
3. Hotel Pong View, Kangra (1 Night) Price around Rs 2500/night/room. Excellent hotel and right on the way back.Excellent location and beautiful views from the room. Good food and room service. Highly recommend. Walking distance to the main market of Kangra.

Some photos from my trip to West palm beach

West palm beach has always had a special place in my heart. This was my first destination in the states 7 years back, and played an important role in my professional and personal journey, both from travel, photography, learning, networking & making new friends.

Recently I traveled to West palm beach after a long time. after and before work, I did get the opportunity to get out of work and visit some of the cool places which I have a special liking. Juno beach and its pier, local restaurant (Yard house) are some of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy the photos. As I visit next time, I will capture more of my favorite places in west palm beach and share.

All the photos here are from my phone camera, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

This was a beautiful morning. the temperature, just right. As I walked along the shorelines, I wanted to see the beautiful sunrise. however there was a thick cloud cover, so it was doubtful. However the surrounding was so pretty and calm, that sunrise is not the only thing to be enjoyed. After a while, it became clear that we won't see the sunrise. however the 30 mins I spent sitting before the sunrise and little after, were some of the best times. Soulful, peaceful and mindful.

On my way back to my hotel, 

Standing Table: decision made

My Current Standing desk

I work from home mostly, or I travel. From the past two years, I have tried and tested many ways at home to adopt a standing desk approach.

It always works great. The days, I have used my standing desk hacks, are the best days overall. I may be super busy but it makes things so much faster for me, because I don't have to exert myself to stand up, and instead I am already on the move.

The problem in this whole equation for me has been finding a good solution for a standing desk.

Books I read during 2015 & 2016

here is a partial list of books I read in 2016, and a complete list of books I read in 2015. The two years have been extremely worthwhile in reading and listening to some of the greatest folks in the world, be it from the field of sales, motivation, athletes or army. the learnings from their lives have provided with so many lessons, that I can't thank them enough.

If you are interested do read about why i feel reading is such an important hobby for anyone looking to do better in life.

Belur- Temples which talk to you- part 3 (Final)

I hope you have followed my previous posts on Belur temples and our trip there. If you have missed those out, it should be worth checking out some amazing photos from there in my posts here, and here.  

Not much to talk in the last post of this series, however, I would ask you to visit my previous posts and read more about our experience. I would leave you with some more photos from this trip to relish. 

Do tell me what you think about the photos? Have you visited this place before? How has been your experience? what the most interesting temples which you have visited before. Love to hear your comments.

The Photos on this post should not be used for professional purposes. If you would like to use them without modification for blogging or informational reasons, linking back to this blog & mentioning credits is necessary. 

Things I love about Alpharetta, Georgia & will miss

After spending two years in Alpharetta, Georgia It's time for me to move out of here. I am moving to Naperville, IL which in my initial research should be a very similar and beautiful city. 

Major difference being the snowy Illinois weather compared to the extremely cold of 20 degrees down here in Alpharetta, GA [Pun intended]

I have really loved Alpharetta for many reasons. Although I have spent time in Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota and few other states but Alpharetta, Georgia has been really close to my heart. I want to share some reasons for why I love Alpharetta so much.

What I love about Alpharetta

1. Great schools: When I moved to states, my daughter who was 5 year at that time was going to be coming with us. Her school was a major factor in deciding where we would live. I would happily sacrifice being closer to the office for finding a place with better. Almost from the get-go in my research Alpharetta came on top in terms of school in Georgia. Naturally, it became the first choice for me. Other cities which I have found out by living here, and have good schools are Johns creek & Cummings. My daughter finished her Kindergarten from Creek View Elementary school and it was pretty good experience overall.
2. Green patch: I read about this some time back, but Alpharetta is known as the city of trees. that's pretty amazing. But you have to come down here to believe it. Alpharetta is heavily surrounded by trees. When I first moved here, it reminded me of those beautiful resorts of Karnataka or Kerala where you can sit by the window and hear birds chatter and there are expansive green covers everywhere. but, here we were not living for 1-2 days and driving back but it is the way of life. As I reconnected back to living in the green cover, I realised how much have a missed it in the concrete jungles of Bangalore. there are a ton of trails around here, however, my most favorite is been the greenway trail which is a huge one, beautifully maintained and thronged by walkers, runners, and cyclists.
3. Great location: Another aspect which you would love being in the Georgia region is its proximity to so much around you. Florida is 4 hours out. If you want to touch the beaches, you can drive towards Florida down south to Panama city beach or Pensacola or you could drive longer towards clearwater and its absolute delight. you could go towards savannah, charleston or Myrtle beach which are not too far as well. Up north, you have smokey mountains, Chattahoochee forest reserve and you are not out of options to go around.  Overall quite pleased with the location of Alpharetta.
4. Secure, safe and good neighbourhood: In my two years of being here, not even once I had to be bothered about going outside late in the night, or being concerned about any particular areas. I travelled a lot, and the neighbourhood has been pretty safe with a good mix of crowds around. 
5. Good food joints: if you are looking for Indian restaurants, you won't be disappointed. There are tonnes of those here. some of them are madras chettinad, Bombay flames, Chennai express but our all time favourite being Inchin Bamboo.

Things which are not in favor of Alpharetta:

1. Public transport: Like a typical suburb it is not crowded at all however, the public transport is really close to zero down here. Unless you are driving you living at apartments just by the food store, moving around will be a challenge. however, thanks to the weather here, it is normally not a problem. but if you are coming from place like NY, CA where you have used a ton of public transport, Alpharetta has its challenges.
2. Train connectivity to airport/downtown: Covered as above, but there isn't any train connectivity from Alpharetta. Marta only runs up to North Springs station which is good 5 miles from Alpharetta. See the Marta Station map here.
3. Night life: Alpharetta has some decent restaurant but is a typical suburb, with not too much going around late evenings. So if you are a bachelor and like to be near happening night life, Alpharetta is not the best place. You are better off being near the downtown for that.

Remembering Shore temple, mahabalipuram

Looking at my photos in the archive the photos from Shore temple caught my attention.  This was such a fantastic trip down to Mahabalipuram and such fascinating temples and artifacts to see, that i could not even explain the feeling. You truly get the sense when you visit the place. 

While you can appreciate the scale, the detail and the history on the internet, the realization only happens when you get there. When you see the infinite bay of Bengal on one side, and this ravishing marvel on the other.

Photo scape from Snow laden New Jersey

Most of us love snowfall. In India, people go to places especially during snowfall season to enjoy. But in parts of united states, snowfall is as part of seasons as is spring season full of sunny days.
During my trips to New Jersey and Minneapolis, i have encountered a strong surge of cold fronts, and snowfall seasons, with storms all over the place.
While, living in conditions like this in no fun lot of times, there is always something to be seen as a positive. My photos, though very few taken around hotel premises should give you some idea of how it snowed, and show the artistic side of things too, hopefully.

Do tell me what you think of these photos!

Ease of taking great photos with phone cameras

I am often amazed by the output quality of phone cameras. I love taking pictures on the move and I dont have my SLR [Canon 400d] all the time with me. However my Note 4 does a pretty good job at filling up that gap.
Also, the portraits dont have to be perfect in a way, and playful, random angles do add to the liveliness of the image.
here in this example, my daughter and i were in a shopping center and since she and I were having some fun, I found an opportunity to take few pictures.
How I love the output quality and ease of taking these pictures.

How I love the output of phone cameras. Love the portrait of umi in playful mood.

A photo posted by saurabh mittal (@isaurabhmittal) on May 25, 2016 at 7:29pm PDT

However without being too pompous, I would reemphasize that ultimately cameras and gears are just tools but the most important aspect of any art form is the beholder of that eye, that gear and that perspective. But nothing to take away from the fact that Phone cameras have really come a long way ahead.

Good Day!
Tell me what you think about this image? Your thoughts of taking photos with phone cameras? Would love to hear & interact about it with you.

Returning back to blogger

Friends, I am back on blogger.
After spending some time on self-hosted wordpress I decided to turn back to blogger. Self-hosted while gives you a ton of control, It also demands a lot of time to get into the nitty gritty of web development.
I simply couldnt afford that type of time. and it was coming in between being able to write at my will Vs making edits & getting technical.
My Photo import from blogger also didnt happen properly too and it was not worth the time to fix It.
So, we are back to blogger. Hopefully this means I will be able to write more frequently without excuses.


Wordpress Vs Blogger

There are tons of blog which talk about 'How to move from blogger to wordpress' or if blogger is better than wordpress. What Do i think after spending 1 year with Wordpress?

Moving to a new site

Dear Readers,
 My Blog has done well with all your support, readership, comments and suggestions!

Its time for me to move to a new platform and this can be a bit disruptive for all of us.
Apart from me spending some time and putting the chips in right place, you may have difficulty finding content. I apologize in advance for that.
Rest assured things should be alright.

As the blocks move around, do go and checkout my new http://www.saurabhmittalphotography.com/ which is in making.

I will move selective posts there and continue to work on my blog.

Question:
Pls do feel free to comment in the section below and i will get back to you.
Tell me what is the most important part of my blog if you have read from me before? what among photography tips, travel and general shots do you like the most? do you have a suggestion for me, or for other readers to make use of, while moving to a new blog?

I will wait for your suggestions!

Tips to Shoot better Portraits at home or anywhere else

Here is a portrait of my daughter, Umika. This was shot at my home in alpharetta, GA last week when the light was soft, cloudy weather and i was working from home.
I have always recommended people to use the natural lightening and make it work.
Here is a decent example of that.
You can see here that i didn't use any artificial lightening and instead shot this in my balcony.