TRAVEL SPECIAL...FLYING OVER THE NAZCA LINES

FLYING OVER THE NAZCA LINES

It was a good thing he skipped breakfast that morning, Vid thought as the tiny plane took another plunge sideways so that its four passengers could get a better view of the figures etched on the ground below.

“The oxygen supply wasn’t very good,” recalls Vid. “When we flew over the Nazca lines, the pilot made such drastic turns that my stomach started churning.”

The shallow white lines cutting through the reddish landscape of the Nazca desert turned out to be beautifully crafted figures of colossal proportions. The lines formed hundreds of geometric designs and creatures like a monkey, a hummingbird, a spider.

These geoglyphs were built by the ancient Nazca people between 500 BC and 500 AD. “None of the natural disasters have managed to erase the lines,” says Savi. “There is a lot of mystery surrounding the Nazca lines.”

PICNICKING IN THE BALTIC WOODLANDS

While driving to Estonia’s capital Tallin, during their road trip through the three Baltic states, Savi and Vid decided to explore the countryside and discovered a quaint picnic spot. “We randomly stopped our car in a clearing surrounded by tall pine trees,” says Savi. “We went picking wild berries, flowers and mushrooms.” The lack of crowds or tourists complimented the beauty of Estonia’s forests for the couple.

DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW...

Lapland, the land of Santa Claus, is a vast expanse of luminous white, scrawled with snow-covered pine trees, frozen lakes, reindeer farms and ski resorts. During a reindeer sleigh ride through its frosty forests, Savi and Vid met Pentti, a reindeer herder. “I had never seen such kind eyes in a face”, says Savi. “He took us to his farm and tepee. His wife passed away some years ago, so now he lives alone on his farm with 20 reindeer. He speaks to his reindeer like they are his kids.”

Vid adds, “His nearest neighbour is five miles away. So he has no human contact and these are his only friends.”

While they made pancakes over a fire inside Pentti’s tepee, he told them tales of the Northern Lights, and of his own travels.

RELISHING THE RITUAL OF HANAMI

As the bullet train makes its way deeper and deeper into the Japanese countryside, you see entire villages strewn with powder-pink petals. And be warned that hordes of tourists in Tokyo make it impossible to truly relish the ritual of hanami (read savouring the transient beauty of the flowers by meeting up with friends and family under the shadow of cherry blossom trees). But here, by the shores of Lake Kawaguchiko, the blooms, framed by the iconic Mt Fuji, are simply resplendent.

“Before this, we had only seen Japan’s cherry blossom season on TV or in pictures,” says Vid, of the time they took a three-week trip in Japan “I always thought it was overhyped, but it was on that day that I realised it wasn’t, it was worth every ounce of the effort,” adds Savi.

SAVOURING THE SOLITUDE OF ICELAND IN WINTER

While driving in Iceland in December, Savi and Vid decided to explore the countryside and discovered a quaint picnic spot on a rare sunny day. “We disobeyed the GPS and stopped our car in a clearing surrounded by waterfalls and snowcovered mountains” says Savi. “Amidst the snow-clad panorama we happily munched on a languorous lunch, and huddled in our car, watching a movie and waiting for the Northern Lights to show up.”

Before they knew it, the sky was coloured green with dancing lights, flitting from one end of the sky to the other.

NESTING IN BALI

The original plan of the couple was to spend a few days in the islands, a week by the beach and photograph its legendary sunrises and sunsets.

Bali, after all, is home to lush paddy fields, warm people and apart from being a convenient pit stop on the way to Australia. That’s how Savi and Vid landed there the first time. But they never made it to the beach on their first trip – Ubud, nestled in the highlands of Bali, had them smitten. Having spent over six months in Ubud over the past two years, they call it their second home now.

“It’s my version of Utopia, but find it hard to explain why I enjoy life in Ubud so much,” says Savi with the biggest smile on her face. Vid chimes in: “It’s the fluidity – our life in Ubud is a mish-mash of working online, relaxing massages, sumptuous organic meals, wellness programmes and bike-rides along dusty alleys. It truly gives our minds a chance to unravel”.

WALKING BY THE GREAT OCEAN

An 80- km, four-day hike through parts of the Great Ocean Walking Trail, along the Great Ocean Road on the south-west coast of Australia, is not as daunting as it sounds. Especially if the hikers are ferried back to their lodgings everyday and treated to gourmet food and foot spas .“It was more of a g lamping( glamorous+ camping) thing. We would come back to this tiny lodge in the middle of the forest and we reina small group accompanied by a professional bush walker ,” says V id. The walking trail took them through two national parks, through rugged forests, past rivers, high cliff sand beaches .“We saw kangaroos, koalas, even snake sand leeches, some stunning cliff-top and coastal panoramas along the way .” The trail ended at The Twelve Apostles, which are naturally formed limestone stack son the shore of the Port Campbell National Park.

DOING IN TAIWAN AS THE TAIWANESE DO

It is hard to experience a culture if you do not know the language. However, this was hardly an issue when S av ia nd Vid went to Taiwan to shoot a TV series with Discovery Channel .“Most of the crew grew up in Taiwan. So they showed us small villages, beach towns, and historical cities that wouldn’ t ordinarily feature on tourists’ radars ,” says Savi.“A lot of them would have been in accessible otherwise because English isn ’twidely spoken in Taiwan .”

I nonesuch little-known place, the Heng chun Township, they meta 94- year-old grandmother who is working to save the moon lu te, an old Taiwanese instrument that is slowly fading into obscurity .“She runs a school where kids can learn how to play the moon lute,” says Savi. “We visited this school and took as hot at learning it. The grandma sang traditional songs for us about everyday situations–guys tea sing girls, them other-of-the-bride advising her daughter–and the crew translated them for us .”

ZEBRA CROSSING

The first zebra sighting was unexpected. As their 4 X 4 made its way through the grass lands of Hluhluwe Im fol ozi National Park in Zululand, alone zebra ran out of the tall golden grass and jumped in fro n to fth eirc ar. “Befo re th is, we had only seen zebra son TV or in pictures ,” says V id, of the time they took a 4,400km roadtrip through South Africa.

“Over the next two days, we saw do zen so fzebr as in th e wild but each time was more special ,” says Savi. “They were just so pretty. Their coats were so bright and shiny, they looked like they h ad been fresh ly pain ted.”

They also spotted a number of other animals on this guided tour: elephants, lions, leopards, blue wildebeest, giraffes, warthogs, cheetahs and a hostile black rhino. “We also saw somer hinos and one of them was quite aggressive ,” recalls V id .“When it saw us, it walked towards our vehicle and stopped 10 metres away. Then it started peeing all over to mark its territory.”

FALLING IN LAVENDER LOVE

It was the 18 th day of their three and-a-half-week long road trip through New Zealand and Savi and Vid were headed to the Mt Cook National Park in the south of the island via Lake Tekapo. The road wound along the rugged terrain with the turquoise blue of the lake set against the sapphire sky, and the snowy peaks of southern Alps in the distance framing the picture perfect beauty of the region. Then out of nowhere, massive fields of purple lu pines rolled into their view, bringing their silver Hertz to a halt.

“We hadn’ t read about it anywhere,” says Vid “The Mt Cook area is famous for its lakes and panoramas but we loved the random fields of flowers along the way ,” says Savi.

HTBR22APR18