THE JOY OF OFF-SEASON TRAVEL

 

I am a big proponent of off season travel. I love the monsoons just as much as the summers and winters. There is no such thing as bad weather, only a bad choice of clothing and bad attitude. If you love walking in the rain monsoon is a great time for travelling. Otherwise why would you gleefully accept the notoriously unpredictable London rains but frown when it pours in Kolkata?  Cold rains and heavy winds in Vancouver, Melbourne, Chicago and Wellington send chills right down to the bones of my tropically tuned body. Mumbai, Shillong, Chennai, Nainital and Mount Abu are any day more friendly. It’s all about setting the right expectations and making the best of the situation. I have written a blog about Monsoon Travel Plans which I invite you to read: https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2018/07/monsoon-travel-plans-love-them.html

 

Travelling when it is not peak season has many advantages. Choosing a weekday rather than a weekend is a very smart travel plan and avoiding school holidays is an excellent and intelligent option. My travel motto is ‘avoid the rush’. When I find a comfortable and nice seat in the departure lounge, when there are no lines at the gates or immigration and only a few people ahead of me going through security, I pat myself for choosing a good flight. When I ask a security official which was the Fast Track line and he says "They're all fast track today", I love it!

 

I'm lucky I don't have to build my life around school holidays anymore as many families do. The school year severely limits opportunities for travel, reducing it to a few narrow windows when the whole world seems to be travelling too, judging by lines and delays and frazzled tempers. It can be a whole different experience when you're not travelling with the pack.

 

Travellers out of season are a welcome presence in many communities, which appreciate the boost to their economy at a time when there's no other source of income. So whether it is the Alaskan ports in summer or Caribbean beaches in the winter you will see many jewellery shops that pop up like mushrooms only to disappear in the off-season! The tropics in wet season can be beautiful. "Wet" often means rain only at certain times of the day and there are plenty of periods of sunshine. The rain is welcome in the humidity, and you're wet anyway if you're swimming, so you can embrace and enjoy it. And the colour of leaves and flowers really pop after rain. Winter is not bad either no matter how bitter the cold is because, firstly, you dress for it and, secondly, everyone is living their normal lives and there's plenty happening indoors to keep the locals entertained, from theatre seasons to gallery openings and winter sports, if you're a sport fan.

 

What is off-season?

Off season is the time of year that the least amount of tourist activity takes place in a destination, usually due to weather conditions. Summer is almost always high season, while winter is almost always low season. Of course, there are always exceptions and things to consider, like what hemisphere the destination is in or what kind of activities you want to partake in. Winter in the Austrian Alps, for example, is considered high season due to the enormous influx of skiers and snowboarders. Oftentimes low season can start as early as October, and end as late as April for many European destinations. In Southeast Asia, off season runs from March to October, and in Mexico low-season is from May/June to mid-December.

Melbourne in rainy season is no less beautiful!

 

 

Advantages of off-season travel

Last minute bookings: Not only are fewer people travelling and therefore more opportunities for you to save money but it is possible to book flights and hotels in the last minute without paying premium price. Since hotels, rental cars and day trips aren't likely to sell out in the off-season, you can often wait until the last minute to make your bookings. This also means you can allow more flexibility in your itinerary plenty of room to be spontaneous and swap out one destination for another at the last minute.

More value for money: Travelling outside of high-season usually means being able to book things like accommodation and day tours at a reduced rate. Many popular locations across the world raise their prices during the high season as demand increases. Traveling in the shoulder- or off-season can often be a lot easier on your wallet. You can also sometimes find great package deals in the off-season at hotels that are trying to fill their rooms. All in all you can explore more destinations within your budget!

Fewer Tourists: Off-season always means smaller crowds. And yes, while this sometimes translates to fewer attractions/restaurants that are open, it also almost always means you will avoid long lines, crowded squares and sold-out tours, travel in the off-season. Places like Paris, Venice, Dubrovnik, Santorini suffer from a deluge of tourists during the tourist season and you can hardly experience the charm of these places jostling with the crowd.

 

This is St. Dominic Street in Dubrovnik in off season and in peak season

Off season uniqueness: We can all picture what the Colosseum looks like during the summer all: crowded and cacaphonic and what New England looks like in the autumn – again crowded with lots of colorful leaves. But do you know what Paris looks like under a soft blanket of snow, or how quiet the Trevi Fountain is at night in November? If you want to make your traveling friends jealous with really unique photos of their favorite places, don't go during high season when everyone else is there, too. You will never get the attraction all for yourself. But you and your partner can be the only two admiring the Sydney Opera House in a windy winter evening if you are there in June! 

Paris, in off season, covered with snow!

 

Easy befriending locals: Because there are fewer tourists and less frazzled service workers in the off-season, you can often take the time to slow down and get to know the locals. When there aren't hordes of people descending on a city or attraction, you'll find the locals tend to be much more relaxed and probably friendlier and open to having a chat or giving you some tips on their city. Can you imagine how harassed the locals in Santorini feel when tourists trespass into their private properties to make their Instagram video?

Off season is in no way bad season: It is just different to experience the off season. Some of the best off season vacation spots to enjoy a bounty of fall foliage include New England, USA, Edinburgh and the highlands Scotland, and Switzerland’s alpine valleys. From the alpine meadows of Switzerland to the rugged mountains of New England, USA, fall foliage is one of the best reasons to travel in the autumn. As the seasons turn, landscapes turn a magical crimson, offering up an unforgettable sea of color and warmth.

Piazza Novana, Rome in winter

 

Culinary delight: With different climates experience different seasonal foods, the off season is a great time to travel for foodies, with ever changing menus. If you are seeking a tantalizing culinary adventure, then travelling in the off season provides endless delights. Autumn offers up a harvest bounty, with grapes bursting from the vines and harvest festivals taking place all around. Travelling in winter gives you the chance to discover festive treats and traditional delicacies specific to your destination, along with heart-warming dishes and glühwein in colder climes. And with spring comes a burst of fresh, flavorsome produce to make your heart sing.

Rain or shine, summer or winter street food is always tasty!

 

 

So, except the FIFA World Cup semi finals and finals I am allergic to crowds and I love travelling off-season. With good protective clothing and plenty of me time in the tourist attractions, National Parks and art galleries you are bound to see something most tourists never will. The locals have more time for you to share their stories and off-season has its own culinary delights that await you! You have the freedom to change your schedule on a whim and not suffer the consequence of paying more for a bus ticket or a hotel room. I will sincerely urge you to give it a try. You will love it!!

LIBERALS CHOOSE UNREAL FICTION OVER REAL FACTS

Liberals by definition are ones who are open to the other point of view. They respect and accept an opinion other than their own. So naturally, you will start wondering who these people are? And how can the left and left of centre thinkdom qualify to call themselves liberal. After all they accept only one truth - their truth and respect only one opinion - their opinion. So how can they be liberal? This is what is at the root of all the troubles in the liberal world. They are not true to their own ideals and not open to the alternate point of view even when it stares glaringly at them. Time and again they have tried to prove that the facts are unreal and the fiction of their fantasy world is real. They behave predictably in herd like manner despite claiming to be free thinking intellectuals.

 

The National Herald case is a glaring example of unreal facts and real fiction. The case filed by Dr. Subramanian Swami alleges that Young Indian Ltd (YIL), a charitable company owned by Sonia, Rahul, Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandez has taken over the assets of the National Herald newspaper owned by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in a malicious way. AJL owed the Congress an accumulated debt of 900m rupees and so the Gandhis used Congress party funds and YIL banner and took over AJL including all its real estate, located in prime locations in Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and other cities, all worth more than 20bn rupees as a remittance of their 900m rupee loan. The accused are unable to tell the Enforcement Directorate (ED) how they suddenly became rich owners of property worth 20bn rupees ( 1 bl = 100 ml) and still they insist that they are innocent! Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have no proper answers to defend the indefensible to justify their grabbing of the properties of the National Herald and other newspapers under of the AJL. The agitation of Congress in Parliament and outside is only because a handful of party men feel their first family is above law. Unfortunately the not so loyal G23 even thinks otherwise and refuses to join their agitation.

 

After Congress the next Liberal stronghold is of TMC in Kolkata. They have no answer to the loads and loads of cash and gold that are tumbling out of the flats of one of the girlfriends of their respected leader – 540 million of rupee in cash and gold 56 million rupees to be exact. Besides this the lucky girlfriend has more than 10 flats in posh districts of Kolkata and several other bungalows and farm houses all over the state in rural Bengal! And the Enforcement Directorate is still digging not only this lady but chasing several other girlfriends of this minister. The TMC does not care to explain the obvious – the vulgar accumulation of ill-gotten wealth, but their concern is the misuse of the ED for political vendetta! Yet another liberal party ignoring real facts and harping on unreal fiction!

 

The Mahavikas Agadhi lead by Uddhav Thakrey is similarly not ready to explain why three of their senior ministers are languishing in jail following corruption charges, with no satisfactory answers to their misdeeds, but they too are gravely concerned about threat to federalism caused by misuse of ED by the central government! Again facts are unreal but fiction is real!!

 

The Chidambrums, the Muftis, the Abdullas, the Satyendra Jains, the Sorens are all neck deep in corruption and at various stage of drowning in legal quicksand. Their misdeeds are bright and obvious as daylight but instead of answering the questions of the ED they are unsuccessfully challenging the authority of the investigating agency and crying foul against the central government for investigating their corruption! They want us to believe their fiction – that they are squeaky clean and it is the central government which is harassing them out of political vendetta!  The liberal echo chamber with their loyal gang of former retired beurocrats, journalists, NGOs and activists are tweeting like mad trying to spin their fiction web.

 

A contemporary science writer Gary Zukar once said ‘Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is what is based on our precepts. What we perceive is what we look for. What we look for depends on what we perceive. What we perceive depends on what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what our reality is.’ So now you know why our Liberals are so damn sure of their fiction and why the obvious facts do not impress them. They will always believe their quixotic fiction. They are not prepared to abandon their world of false sense of perception and listen to the alternate point of view, something they ought to do if they are truly liberals!

 

Had it not been for this attitude of painting their corrupt facts as unreal and their liberal fiction as real, the Indian opposition does not seem to be in a crisis. If one considers all non-BJP coalition parties together, the opposition still controls twelve out of thirty state assemblies and comprises more than 55 percent of the national election vote share. Indeed, in almost one-third of parliamentary seats in the 2019 general election, the BJP was not even competitive i.e. it won less than 25 percent vote share or finished outside of the top two spots. These seats represent large parts of southern and eastern India, where the BJP—unlike the earlier dominant Congress—has struggled to break through. Still the opposition is in constant decline. This only suggests that our liberals have been fatally wounded by their corrupt practices, which are seeing the legal daylight now and painting their future even darker. In the last decade India has changed, talent is in demand and privilege matters less and even big political families are no more beyond the reach of law. What is further bad news for our liberals is the public is fully behind the law enforcement agencies because they feel that it was corruption in high places during liberal rule that kept India poor and ‘Garibi hatao’ merely an election slogan.

 

It’s time we admitted that not only the liberals but we humans are not rational creatures. What, then, motivates us, if not the cold hard facts? Our minds are driven by bias. Once an initial bias has been developed, it is extremely difficult to change one’s mind. Think of it like wearing reality-warping glasses: once a biased person reads or listens to facts, they will either use the information they receive as reinforcement of their beliefs or dismiss it as being bogus and condescending. This irrational behavior of the human mind was first noticed in studies conducted at Stanford University in the 1970s. Since then, countless other studies have shown that our irrationality is deeply embedded in our anatomy through evolution and that we act on emotion rather than rational facts. Our lack of logic stems from our evolutionary desire to belong. Straying too far away from the herd, even in search of shelter or food, immediately lowers your chances of survival in the wild. By sticking to our opinions, we subconsciously signal to our surroundings that we are an inherent part of the herd. We belong. And in this respect, trying to convince someone to change their mind is equivalent to trying to convince them to leave their tribe. How would they survive without a community?

 

Our brain has mechanisms that constantly work to protect our ego, worldview, and sense of identity. When our worldview is challenged, the same part of the brain in charge of processing physical danger is activated. Our voice of reason was also developed through evolution and this in turn helped us to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups. Our liberals also suffer from the “illusion of explanatory depth” - a term used to describe a situation in which a person who is relatively ignorant or un-knowledgeable in a certain field imagines himself as competent, masterful, and skillful- even though he is far from it. They see their warped world with their tinted glasses and then go about writing books justifying their fiction. Then again when we are processing information that supports our beliefs, it gives us a surge of dopamine – the happiness hormone. If you agree with me I am happy and you are my friend, if you disagree we are enemies. Democracy is the most evolved state of polity. In a democracy we argue to learn, not to win. And our liberals invariably argue to win. They are always right, come what may!

 

Our liberals have chained themselves to the wall of a dark cave in which fire burns in the middle and casts their dreadful shadows on the walls. They perceive this shadow to be reality and are not prepared to come out of the cave and face the glorious sun of truth. So long as they refuse to come out of this dark cave of falsehood voters will keep on ignoring them. Indians are not prepared to go back into that dark cave with them once they have experienced the benefits of sunshine.

 

MY ACCIDENTAL ENCOUNTER WITH GIANT PANDAS

 

Giant pandas are some of the most beloved animals to walk this earth. They are often seen in movies, advertisements, and coloring books. Adults and children alike own giant panda stuffed toys and rush to the panda exhibit whenever they visit a zoo. However, despite their popularity, giant pandas are incredibly endangered. Though they belong to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet. Giant pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food

 

My first encounter with these animals was purely accidental. So let me tell you the story.

 

We, a group of friends from the U.S, Canada, U.K and India planned a trip to Kailash and Mansarovar in September 2016. On September 16, 2016 we all reached Kathmandu. From Kathmandu we were to fly by a Sichuan Airlines commercial flight to Lhasa and then after acclimatizing in the higher altitude of Lhasa for two days we would proceed by road to Mansarovar. This route was much longer but we were thrilled with the prospect of staying two days in Lhasa as we wondered if we will ever be able to visit this city at a later date as it is not easy to obtain a visa for the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

 

Our plane left at around 2PM and it was a 1 hour 50 minutes flight to Lhasa. Lunch was served and consumed in no time and we were ready to land in Lhasa…………but something was not going right. We had been flying for more than two and a half hours and the flight had been quite turbulent and still there were no landing announcements! Suddenly the captain’s voice boomed in the public address system and he said something in Chinese which was followed by a huge cheer from the plane full of people. His subsequent announcement in English however was a huge disappointment to us – the climate in Lhasa was not conducive for safe landing and so the plane was going straight to its next destination Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan province and the hub of Sichuan Airlines. No wonder the Chengdu passengers were all thrilled, they would reach early!

 

We landed in Chengdu at around 7 PM. A bus transported us to a luxurious hotel- Haotian Guotai Hotel where we were treated to a delicious multi course Sichuan dinner. That was the good part, the bad part was that we were stranded till 4PM the next day! We had in Chengdu airport seen a large signboard saying ‘Welcome to Chengdu – the Giant Panda capital of the World’ and this was our chance to see some pandas. We expressed our desire to Lepka, our tour guide, and he arranged for a bus for all of us next day to visit Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

 

The giant panda is a rare and beloved animal that only inhabits the six major mountain ranges in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces of China. With a population of less than 2000, the species is included on the endangered list by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is protected by China’s Wildlife Protective Law as the special-class protected animal. In order to rescue and protect the endangered giant panda species, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was established in March 1987 with the mission to further the research and conservation carried out by the Chengdu Zoo. The Base’s geographic location and excellent technological and professional resources allow it to carry out the ex-situ (off-site) conservation efforts and to improve the artificial reproduction procedures to increase the giant panda population. Ours was a very well organized visit and with battery operated vehicles we had the privilege of viewing many pandas in their natural habitat as well as baby pandas in their nursery. This set up was involved in preservation of endangered wildlife, integrating scientific research and breeding of giant pandas, conservation education, tourism education, and panda cultural events. If you want to know about this centre please visit their official website: http://www.panda.org.cn/english/about/about/2013-09-11/2416.html

 

With lots of English leaflets and notice boards and a bunch of helpful guides trying best to converse in English our knowledge about this rare and elusive animal was augmented that day. So what did we learn about pandas that day?

 

1. The lifespan of pandas in the wild is approximately 20 years. However, in captivity, they can live to be 25-30 years old.

 

2. The giant panda has been on the endangered species list since 1990. The most significant threat to them are poaching and habitat destruction.

 

3. Pandas have always been a symbol of peace in China. For example, centuries ago, warring tribes would raise a flag with a panda on it to stop a battle or call a truce.

 

4. With just over 1,864 left in the world, giant pandas are vulnerable, if not on the brink of extinction. Scientists are hoping to increase the wild panda population to 5,000 by 2025.

 

5. Pandas can stand upright, but their short hind legs aren’t strong enough to support their hefty bodies. A panda’s bones are twice as heavy as the bones of other animals the same size.

 

6. Pandas cannot run fast – a slow trot is as fast as they go. (The fastest bear is the black bear, which can run at 35 miles per hour, which is just as fast as a horse or deer).

 

7. Female pandas ovulate once a year. They are fertile only two or three days of the year.

 

8. Mother pandas in captivity give birth to twins more often than mother pandas in the wild do.

 

9. More than half of newborn pandas die from diseases or from being accidentally crushed by their mother.

 

10. It takes five years for a female cub to become an adult and seven years for a male cub to do so.

 

11. Pandas have plantigrade feet, meaning their entire foot touches the ground when walking, which is similar to the way other bears, humans, and rodents walk. Other animals, such as cats, dogs, and horses walk with their weight on their toes.

 

12. Panda fur is worth $60,000-100,000 on the black market. This is a curse for the species.

 

13. Although a giant panda’s fur looks silky and soft, it’s actually quite thick and wiry. The hair of an adult panda can grow up to 4 inches (10 cm) long.

 

14. Under its fur, the skin of a giant panda is black where its fur is black, and pink where its fur is white.

 

15. Panda researchers have counted 11 different panda calls – and four of them are used only when searching for a mate.

 

16. Pandas have been on Earth from two to three million years.

 

17. A panda spends 14-16 hours a day eating bamboo.

 

18. A giant panda has 6 fingers and can peel and eat a bamboo shoot in about 40 seconds flat.

 

19. A panda’s throat has a special lining to protect it from bamboo splinters.

 

20. Giant pandas have a very good sense of smell. Even at night, they can find the best bamboo stalks by scent.

 

21. Giant pandas have evolved a unique thumb, which allows them to hold bamboo. This thumb is actually a modified wrist bone.

 

22. Most of the food that a giant panda eats is not digested. In the spring, an adult giant panda can produce about 28 kg of droppings in 24 hours.

 

23. Female giant pandas are in heat once a year for only two to three days each time, usually in March to May each year. In the wild, female giant pandas will emit special sounds such as baa, dog bark, or cow bark during their fertile period, while male giant pandas will leave scent markers as a sign to attract female giant pandas. The gestation period for pandas varies from 97-163 days. This wide range is due to delayed implantation, which means that after a giant panda has become pregnant, the cub will only start to grow if the mother gets enough food. Once the cub has started to develop, it will take about 45-60 days before it’s born.

 

24. It’s very rare to see more than one panda at a time in the wild. They cannot afford to use energy competing with others for territory, food, and mates.

 

25. Adult pandas are so large that they don’t actually have any natural enemies. However, snow leopards will prey on vulnerable panda cubs or old and sick adult pandas.

 

26. Keeping a single panda in a zoo is expensive. A panda costs five times more to keep than the next most expensive animal, an elephant.

 

27. Giant pandas have been the symbol of the international conservation organization WWF, or the World Wide Fund for Nature, since it was founded in 1961.

 

28. Giant pandas don’t hibernate as their bamboo diet doesn’t allow them to build up enough fat reserves for the winter.

 

29. Pandas have sometimes been seen rolling down hills. While they might just be playing, they might also be trying to dislodge twigs from their fur.

 

30. Giant pandas have 41 teeth. Like humans, they have two sets of teeth in their lifetime.

 

31. Pandas are loners and they even abandon one baby if the mother has twins.

 

32. Pandas can swim too.

 

33. A newborn panda cub weighs only 100 grams (3.5 oz). They are fur-less, pink, and blind. Their iconic black and white color coat grows after about three weeks. Pandas are usually born in August and so we were lucky to see many cubs in the nursery.

 

34. Pandas are not afraid of the cold. Even in temperatures as low as -4°C (25°F), they can still be found walking in groves of bamboo with thick snow. 

 

35. There are Sichuan giant pandas and Qinling giant pandas. Qinling pandas make up only 18.5 percent of the total giant panda population. The soil, climate, and vegetation of Sichuan are very different from that of the Qinling Mountains, so the appearance, colors, and body shape of the giant pandas in the two places are different. 

 

Despite their exalted status and relative lack of natural predators, pandas are still at risk. Thanks to conservation efforts to save giant pandas, their population is now over 2,200. Their wild population has increased to 1,864, and the number of captive-bred giant pandas has reached 422. Therefore, their threat level has been reduced from "endangered" to "vulnerable". 

 

Just in case you are interested in knowing about Kailash and Mansarovar, we have documented our experience in the following six blogs:

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travellogue-part-1-plane-that-couldnt.html

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travelogue-part-2-lhasa-crucible-of.html

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travelogue-par-t-3-by-road-mansarovar.html

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travelogue-part-4-pristine-mansarovar.html

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travelogue-part-5-kailash-parikrama.html

 

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/travelogue-part-6-return-journey-from.html