Page 33 - Masala Lite Issue 159 March 2024

TRAVELS ETCHED IN MEMORY

Dolly Koghar gives her generation’s

perspective on venturing out to see the world,
despite the aching bones.

I’ve travelled aplenty in my lifetime, although nowhere near as much as the
youngsters of today, who’re packed and ready to go at the drop of a hat. It’s all very
enviable; I may even have a case of sour grapes, but travelling just doesn’t hold the
appeal for the creaking bones and foggy brain anymore. By the time you squeeze
into your seat on flight, you’re already wishing you’d never left the comforts of
the sofa in front of the idiot box.
Firstly, in Bangkok, scheduled time is irrelevant – you could chance a day of super
traffic, only to find out later that your flight has landed at its destination without
you! In case you did make it to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in good time,
you need to scurry the million miles to join the snaking queue to check-in. Once
there, you hold your breath and hope those heavier-than-heavy bags didn’t, once
again, exceed the weight limit and won’t be embarrassingly impossible to heave
onto the conveyor belt. Then comes the daunting and exhausting security procedure
since 9/11: remove shoes and this and that; no liquids over 100ml, not even water,
which you’ll then buy at a ridiculous price. Then after being zapped by a weakened
X-ray, you’ll collect your things and despite knowing that the same ordeal awaits
us at the other end, we’ve learnt to tap into our Herculean valour, and made some
unique and interesting trips well worth retelling:
• It was way down memory lane, when she and her husband and her recently-
married brother took their parents to Bang Saen. Once there, the days passed
in easy camaraderie; everybody interacted without fuss or discord. It was a trip
from which her mother came back really happy, and recalling it still gives her a
rush of joy!
• While walking through the rooms of Çırağan Palace in Bosporus and Topkapı
Palace in Istanbul, enjoying the beauty and the antiquity, she experienced an
ethereal, unexplainable feeling of familiarity; a deja vu of sorts, to perhaps a
past life, which was calling out to her! Indulge in culinary delights with
• This gentleman from a continent far, far away, reminisces on the “tranquillity
of travel on water on the local ferry on Lake Geneva, on the numerous crossings Chef 's monthly menu
back and forth from France to Switzerland, with the backdrop of the natural
mountainous beauty and the numerous small villages.”
• On one visit to the zoo, and observing the animals in their cages, she pondered
how nice it would be to see them roaming free in their natural habitat, and she
was fortunate enough to experience that in Kenya! JOIN US
• The sweet and caring gesture of her parents on a visit long ago, when they broke
their staid routine and took her and her then lil’ toddler far from their Wongwian
Yai home to a newly-opened waterpark. Her mother’s pleasure at seeing her Explore new flavors
grandchild having a ball was unbounded.
• She loves trekking up the mountains and into the forests – to her, it’s heavenly
to breathe the fresh air with no pollution. But most recently, she did something in March
which she never thought she would or could do, and at 60! She ziplined in the lush,
fern-forested, 3,540ft quartzite and sandstone pinnacle of Avatar Hallelujah
Mountain (Southern Sky Column in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, prior
to inspiring James Cameron) to the cheers of her family, including her mother. Roti Pe Boti
The incredible dare made her feel like a bird, flying from one mountain to the
other!
• Although she lives in Japan, the recent trip to Hokkaido that her daughter and Pesto Murgh Tikka
son-in-law from far away took her and her unwell husband on, felt really special.
Being driven around amongst the unbounded nature of Niseko was heart-warming, Tandoori Pomfret
as it not only gave her a much-needed break, but renewed the meaning of being
alive and together with the family.
• Her best-ever trip was her 60th birthday celebration. She voyaged with her
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three gal-pals to her childhood friend’s place; that friend who thought of her
as special and always showered her with the utmost affection. She made the
birthday even more special by having an accompanying birthday song with a WhatsApp: 090-927-9494
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