Lucknow Charbagh Railway Station, Uttar Pradesh, India

Hi guys,
So today, I am going to talk to you about the "Lucknow Charbagh Railway Station". Why a post about a railway station, you'd ask me ? Well, the "Lucknow Charbagh Railway Station" is one of the many landmarks in the city of Lucknow, and it's so beautiful, it would be a shame not to talk about it.

Lucknow has two railway stations, but the "Charbagh" one is the main one, its official name is "Lucknow NR" (NR stands for Northern Railway) and its code is LKO (very useful to know when you'll check your train tickets).

In hindi, Char Bagh means four gardens, the station is located in the area of Charbagh in the south of the city. In deed, it used to be an orchard till 1867, when the first station was built. The actual railway station was built in 1926. It has an indo-saracenic architecture to match the most important sites of the city, which is also known to be "The City of Nawabs".

The "Indo-Saracenic" architecture is also called Indo-Gothic, Hindoo or Hindu-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal. It's a mix between Indo-Islamic, Indian, Gothic Revival and Neo-Classical movements. It was used by the British at the end of the nineteenth century in British India.

The building is constructed in red brick and has a frontage of long verandahs adorned with Mughal arches. Apart from the "Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway Station", it's my favorite train station in India. Besides, architecturally, it is considered one of the most beautiful railway stations in India and we can say that trains are kind a big of a deal in India.

From the Lucknow Station, I took the train to go to Varanasi. You can take the train there and use the following lines :

• Varanasi - Lucknow line
• Varanasi - Rae Bareli - Lucknow line
• Varanasi - Sultanpur - Lucknow line
• Lucknow - Kanpur Suburban Railway
• Barabanki - Lucknow Suburban Railway
• Lucknow - Moradabad line
• Lucknow - Gorakhpur line

Taking the train in India, is something that YOU HAVE TO DO. It's an amazing and fun experience, you'll get the chance to meet the locals and to experience travelling as an indian. It will be even better if you're travelling in an overnight train.

It can be a real pain in the ass to understand how to book a train ticket though. The Indian railway system is really complex and demanding. Among other stuff, you'll face the "Foreign Tourist Train Ticket Quota", the different classes, etc... So every time I had to take the train in India, I asked to the terrific travel agency "India Someday" to book the tickets for me. I saved so much trouble and time thanks to them !

The inside of the train station is pretty but as not pretty as its outside though. It also has Mughal arches, but the colors used are white and lilac.

And not surprising at all in India : a guy mending the train at the last minute carrying his tools in a bag of indian snack (Navratan Mixture in case you're wondering) and lying on a train berth ! I still arrived safe and sound to Varanasi so I guess the Indian way is the only way as some of my friends would say.

Saint Peter's Church in Mumbai, India

Hi,

As it's still the holiday season, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to talk to you about a church. So here is Saint Peter's Church in the suburb of Bandra West in Mumbai.

To be honest when I came to India, I did not expect to see as many churches and very beautiful ones to crown it all ! I was sure expecting to see a lot of temples, gurdwaras and mosques but I never thought I would see so many churches !

Not every states have a lot of churches but we can find a lot especially in Goa (I haven't been to Goa yet), Maharashtra and Kerala. Christianism is actually the third biggest religion in India.

Like France, India is a secular country, but we can say that for every indian no matter in which god(s) they believe, faith and religion are really important and a huge part of their life.

One day, I was taking a stroll in Bandra in Mumbai, I was actually taking pictures of street art on Chapel Road. Then I wanted to go back to the train station by walking and I came upon the massive Church of Saint Peter. I then decided to go inside.

The church is really huge and beautiful inside and outside. It's a Jesuit parish, you can visit the website of the church over here to have more informations about it. I am not really a religious person, but I have to say that I've never been in so many churches than during my time in India. 

So I just sat a little bit, I think any religious place is a good place to think, so that's what I did. A mass then started so I even stayed during the mass. It's a great experience to participate to a mass in India, I really enjoyed it !

If you have the time, you should also definitely visit Mount Mary Church which is not very far, and which is a very lovely church.

How to go to Saint Peter's Church in Mumbai :

- You can take the Mumbai local train till Bandra's stop, then go to the west side and take a rickshaw (5/10 minutes depending on traffic),

- You can also walk from the station to the church, it's a 20 minutes walk. I really like to walk so that's what I did.

- If you're in the south of Mumbai, you can also take a cab, an ola or an uber.

One Day in Mumbai's Metro

While I was staying in Mumbai, I joined the community "Mumbai Instagrammers", you can find them on Instagram over here, or on Facebook over there. It's a group of people which enjoy photography. Anybody can join : amateurs and professionals. They organize Photowalks and Instameets allover Mumbai.

I joined this group because first of all I am very fond of photography. Then I thought it would be a great opportunity to discover new places (probably places where I would have never been by myself) and meet new people !

The first Instameet I joined was this one. It was organised by the "Mumbai Instagrammers" group and the Metro itself, it was called "Majhi Metro Festival" and you can find more info by clicking here if you are interested. It was actually a contest, the theme of this year for Majhi Metro 2016 Festival was "My Metro. My Story" where artists were asked to share their version of the Metro story. I took more than 700 pictures that day and these ones are my submissions.

I didn't win but I am really happy that I had the opportunity to join this Instameet because it is usually not allowed to take pictures inside of the metro, platforms, etc... Besides it was a Sunday, so mostly families were travelling that day, it gave me the chance to take great portraits.

Enough talk now. I hope you'll like my pictures and please follow me on Instagram by clicking right here, so you won't miss any of my shots in the future.

Ready, Steady, Go

Sumit, the Train's Pilot

Metro Journeys Are Exhausting

Dreams

A Very First Journey !

The Wait

Frozen

Shadows

Happy Family

Colorful Outfits, Dark Look 

Focus

Smiles :)

The Purple Lady

Hey, What's Up ?

Contrast

Tiger, the Sniffing Dog

What to do in Munnar, Kerala ?

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my blog ! Here is my first post and I hope you'll enjoy it as well as my blog. I've decided to write my first article about the beautiful Munnar which is one of my favorite places in India.

The city itself is not pretty at all, to not say ugly and has nothing special, you should not waste time there. But everywhere around is beautiful and magical. I stayed there for three days, I had just come out of the hospital after a terrible food poisoning, I was still a bit low, but I couldn't stop staring at the greenery and the landscapes and I really felt at peace surrounded by so much nature and tea fields as far as the eye can see. Let's not forget that the state of Kerala is also called "God Own's Country".

Munnar is located in the Idukki district of Kerala at an altitude of 6000 feet above the sea level. Munnar was a former british tea plantaion location since the end of the 19th century. The tea plantations were then bought by Tata, the famous indian group and finally bought by its farmer, they are now called after the name of the place : "Kanan Devan Hills Plantation". It is the largest and one of the highest tea-growing region in India. It is a honeymoon destination for Indians.

A hike in those pristine plantations is definitely worth doing. While walking across the tea fields I felt like I was in the Shire from the "Lord Of The Rings", and that I was going to bump into a hobbit anytime. Unfortunately, I never met Froddo or Bilbo but we were told that we might see some wild elephants. It also didn't happen, but I didn't care because I was already amazed by the landscape. Of course it would have been the icing on the cake but I am already happy that I had the opportunity to visit such a place. 

Before our stroll across the tea fields, we visited the "Tea Museum" located in city. It is small but interesting, you'll learn about the history of the area, how they produce tea, how beneficial it is for our health and body, and even bring back some tea or souvenirs from the shop. The museum is open from 09:00 to 17:00 and is closed on Mondays. The entrance fees are 125 rupees per person and 20 rupees for a camera pass. It was the perfect visit before exploring the tea plantations.

Not only tea is growing in the area, you'll surely be able to visit a spice farm and discover how grows : cocoa, cinnamon, cardamom, chilies, nutmeg, coffee, pepper, etc... Once again, you'll be able to buy some spices directly from the farmers which is kind of amazing, I got plenty for a song! Below, you can see some cocoa beans in an opened cocoa pod!

While I was in Munnar, I was staying at the stunning homestay "Mistletoe", it is a bit far from the city (19km) but it's definitely worth it. It's one of my favorite places where I stayed in India, I'll do a more detailed post about this homestay, because it really felt like a home and I fell in love with it. The two pics below are views on the valley from our balcony!

The best period to go to Munnar is between August and May, If you want to be sure to avoid the monsoon, you'd rather go from September only. I went in August, it didn't rain but as you can see on some pics, it was sometimes a bit cloudy, but sometimes it was the mist. I think the best months to go to Munnar are the months following the monsoon though, you'll then be able to admire the greenery of the place.

On our way to the city, we stopped to admire this beautiful waterfall, this one is the "Attukad Waterfall" but there are many more in the valley. Unfortunately when we were in Munnar, there was a major strike across the country, so for one day we were not able to do anything, we just chilled, enjoyed the property and visited the spice farm, but the good thing is that Munnar is the right place to do that.

The pic below is another sight on the way to Munnar, it's the "Pothamedu Viewpoint", it's in a small dhaba (roadside restaurant) where they'll charge you 10 rupees per head to admire the view. Not a big expanse but if you really want to admire the scenery you can go to "Echo Point" (15km away from Munnar) or "Top Station Viewpoint" (32km away from Munnar). Due to the strike I was not able to visit any of these places, so I can't really talk about them, but I'll try to go back for sure, they were and still are on my to-do-list. One can also visit the "Eravikulam National Park" to admire flora and fauna.

We also stopped at the place below, our rickshaw driver was very enthusiastic about these water pipes, so we just stopped wherever he guided us. You can use rickshaws or buses to move around Munnar. To go to Munnar, you can take a plane from Kochin and then an AC bus (probably two buses if you're going straight from the airport, one from the Kochin airport to the city of Kochin, then another bus from Kochin to Munnar) which will take you to Munnar. The journey from Kochin to Munnar lasts about 5 hours and the fees are really cheap. Don't hesitate to tell the name of your stay to the driver, he will drop you next to it if it's on the way.

Here it is, I hope you liked this first post and that it was useful. Please let me know if you have any questions about Munnar, I'd be more than happy to help you if I can! See you very soon.