India
3 Sep
Mankind has opted for monoculture, a desert of boredom. We travel to escape – vertically up a mountain or into the seas’ depths, horizontally across continents into remoteness. We look for adventure and magic, to discover our inner power awakened in survival. And while I know I am an agent of destruction of the very world...
20 May
In the narrow places of life, it is important to be still. In those precarious moments, we need a steady walk and an absence of noise. We need to seek a wider perspective and to stare our options squarely in the eye. There are places on earth that lend themselves to this. Photo: Rebecca MacGregor Kumaon, Indian Himalayas
24 Feb
The colors of India I have just returned from a two week trip to India and Bhutan, a trip that had as its focus the state of Madhya Pradesh, located in the center of the country and known for wonderful cultural sites, pretty countryside, a rich rural life, and tigers. I was there to find tigers and to visit some of the safari camps, most notably those...
9 Feb
It was a long trip – 26 hours from my frozen door in New York, via Dubai, New Delhi, and Dehradun – that ended with a nighttime arrival at Vana, a year-old wellness retreat secreted on 21 acres of sal forest and planted fruit trees in the Himalayan foothills. What a remarkable place! Built by the Singh family, it became the private passion...
15 Mar
“The Riviera of the East”, Pondicherry is a haven of French style located on the southeast coast of India. The city was designed on the French grid pattern, and is divided into two sections: the French Quarter, with streets that retain their French names and are lined with charming French colonial buildings, and the Indian Quarter, consisting...
9 Aug
I’m in my “small is beautiful” phase and Anopura, this charming 2 guest suite, 1 tent country house in Rajasthan’s Aravalli hills, takes small to a new level. Two suites, a Rajasthani tent, extraordinary local staff, aesthetic details that are pure eye candy, delicious food. What more can one ask for? Built by Belgium’s...
30 Mar
They speak of a numbing cultural sameness spreading inexorably across the world. It may be so. But there still persists the custom of the country, curious, frequently humorous to the traveler’s eye, and often intoxicating. Photo: Jonathan Blitz/South India
15 Mar
Drive south on the Coromandel Coast, passing the exquisite shore temples of Mahabalipuram, on down past Auroville, Aurobindo’s ashram, and pause at Pondicherry, a charming city of Indian French fusion. Turn west here and begin driving through the heartland of Tamil Nadu, a land of temples and villages, ancient, vibrant and enduring. Arrive...
25 Aug
Places, like people, have their auras. I have felt this power in the mountains of Mexico, the heart of Java, in the Himalayan foothills and mountains, on a desiccated Turkish coast. The numinous quality of these sacred sites comes from their geology and perhaps, even, from their geographical coordinates. Sages, attracted by their energy, by their...
8 Aug
A few months ago, Oberoi opened its newest hotel in Gurgaon, the increasingly sought after business and residential suburb of New Delhi. It’s great. With an interesting location just minutes from the new – and equally great – Indira Gandhi International Airport, The Oberoi Gurgaon is the obvious choice for the overnight before...
3 Aug
The three pillars of Ananda are Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta. This Himalayan environment is Ayuveda’s birthplace, and the age-old herbal medicines are still sourced here. The cardinal principle of Ayurveda is that there is no dividing line between body and mind and, at Ananda, drawing on the skills of qualified therapists and doctors trained in...
2 Aug
A vacation from daily decision-making can be a welcomed one. I have jokingly said that we are all inmates here, dressed as we are in our identical white kurta pyjama. There is much that is brilliant about this outfit which I found, upon arrival, sized appropriately, hanging in my closet. Every day thereafter, two freshly laundered outfits are given...
2 Aug
In spite of the fact that the majority of us adhere to some kind of daily schedule of treatments, exercise, lectures and diet, this is certainly no boot camp for the physically and spiritually flabby. Ananda is rather a safe haven, a remotely beautiful place and emotionally tender family that receives you with no preconceptions and no demands, that...
1 Aug
The journey begins in Dehradun, a 45 minute plane ride or 4+ hour rail journey from Delhi. The drive onwards to Ananda in the Himalayan foothills winds upward along an ever steepening road, trafficked by mud spattered Land Rovers, trucks, trishaws and bicycles, and slaloms around lingering cows and monkeys skittering from one verge to the other....
30 Jul
The newest addition to Delhi’s stylish hotel crop is Aman’s city center hotel resort located next to – and enhanced by the leafy green of – Delhi Golf Course. A new build, the two stone towers are remarkably graceful and light. The interiors, of wood, glass and stone, are the work of Kerry Hill, preferred designer of a...
25 Jul
This week I will be departing on a journey up to the Himalayan foothills and deep into the wisdom of the Vedas, India’s most ancient scriptures. For a week I will be nurtured by the quiet of the forested hills and the slow pace of the ancient Ganges, calmed with meditation practice and restored with yoga, long walks and Ayurvedic therapies...
25 Apr
The misconception is that you always think you will have time to see these places.
11 Feb
One of the great traps that travel designers fall in to when planning trips in countries with solid gold reputations is to do the same old, same old. India is a case in point. The vast majority of Americans head to Rajasthan while second-timers might feel intrepid enough to navigate the cities, plains and ghats of the South. But India is huge and...
Latest instagram posts