IRONING OUT THE EXTREMESYou shall know them by the crease in their trousers: hangingfrom rocks, strapped to moving vehicles, and even underwater, these competitors iron clothes in unimaginable situa-tions. The Extreme Ironing World Championship has beenaround since 1997 when a British man named Phil Shaw com-bined his love of rock climbing with his job as a clothing factoryworker. www.keepingscore.blogs.time.com

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Star Trek fans, this one’s for you. Entries for the 13th Miss Klin-gon Empire Beauty Pageant are open till March end. Theannual pageant held at the Star Trek Convention at Drag-on*Con in Atlanta, aims to discover beauties who are ‘out of this world’ with the best that the Klingon Empire has to offer.

www.oddee.com

13

Wildlife filmmaker Jonathan Scottwas at Taipan in The Oberoi.

Continued from page 31

When in India, where his wife Angela getsmisty-eyed every time she sees the TajMahal, Jonathan prefers visiting Rantham-bore over Bandhavgarh. “People will tell youthat chances of sighting a tiger in Bandhav-garh are very good, but Ranthambore givesyou a sense of history which you can’tignore.” The Big Cat man continues to be fas-cinated by the Okavango Delta in Botswana,often known as the Jewel of the Kalahari.During the months of June and August, whenthis place swells to about thrice its size, it isbound to attract the wildlife the Scotts areso fond of. If you want to add a seventh tothe list, Jonathan suggests the Yala NationalPark in Sri Lanka.

Jonathan, just back from Jaipur’s DiggiPalace, is getting ready to pen down whattourists should expect from the Pink City,more particularly, how it is to study in theschools there. As he goes back to hisfavourite topic—wildlife, he stresses on reg-ulated tourism and smiles as he recalls how,once a cheetah literally heard the ‘call ofthe wild,’ as it stood on his jeep—the roofhatch was open, the rest is history. “Peoplecome up to me and ask, are you the blokethe cheetah pooped on? And I say yes.”

What does he do at home when therearen’t wild dogs, wildebeests or, big catsaround? “I have three dogs and a cat” —and,the cat, wait for it, is called ‘Little Cat.’ Butbefore you take decide to look down on the‘smaller’ creature, Jonathan tells you,“Once, as part of the many surprises that weget, the cat had dragged in a snake into thehouse — you never knowwhat you are going towake up to.”

As the Scotts hopand skip cities in thecountry, includingjumping into a tigersafari in Kanha, beforeheading out to partake inthe colourful Paro Fes-tival of Bhutan, theyhope that soon,India would allowthem to haveTiger Diaries,we don’t see why wewouldn’t lovethat!

Wild talesfrom the

diary of BigCat Couple

In Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, Asia’s largest freshwater lake , life

Where lifemoves on

stilts & silt

THE pale blue waters stretch outto the horizon as the sun shinesdown, creating glistening dia-monds on the waves. The motorboat whizzes past fishermen toss-ing nets in the water, as curious

children wave out from the shores. It’s a typical hot, muggy Cambodian morning

and we have trampled across the lost city ofAngkor Wat in the last few days — we have hadour fill of exquisite temples, statues of Hindu gods,bizarre faces etched in stone, and mind bogglingart and architecture. Then our guide decides toshow us a different side of Cambodia.

Imagine a life completely dictated by the seasons,the ebb and wane of the tides where you can uprootyourself and transplant your home to a differentplace. The Tonle Sap( a Khmer word which meansGreat Lake) is the largest freshwater lake in Asia; itlooks more like a virtual inland sea with its vastexpanse of water. For many years, this lake was aconflict zone with the KhmerRouge and the US forces wag-ing a war. Today there aremore than 5000 people acrossthe 160 floating villages—many of them refugees, illegalimmigrants and displacedoutcasts from neighbouringcountries like Vietnam.

The lake has a unique floodcycle. Fed by the Mekong

River which starts in theTibetan Plateau, the waterflows from the lake into theMekong in the dry season

and during the monsoons,the mighty Mekong forcesback the water down theTonle Sap. The lake expands

four- fold and its depthcan vary from onemetre to ninemetres! The peopleliving a nomadicexistence here thenmove inland excha-nging their boats forbikes, when the wat-er recedes the peoplemove back. The turn-

ing of the tides is cele-brated by the Khmer

water festival where thepeople compete in boat

races; the King of Cambo-dia even cuts a ribbon to cele-

brate the event. This uniqueeco system was declared aUNESCO biosphere reservebecause of its teeming marinelife and birds. The silt in theriver makes it fertile for agri-culture – Tonle Sap isthe richest source ofprotein here.

Lulled by thehumidity andthe gentlechug of theboat we cat-nap, as weare steered

towards the Chong Khneasfloating village where brightlypainted blue and orangemakeshift homes greet us, asthe flowered curtains sway inthe wind. Men sleep in their

hyacinth rope ham-mocks and women

wash babies in themurky waters as

children pad-dle aroundnonchalantlyin alu-minium andplastic tubs,

it seems as if these young oneslearnt how to swim before theylearnt how to walk.

This is a world where life isplayed out on a watery high-way. A gaudy blue Catholicchurch and a barber shop, avegetable market,a gas sta-tion, and health dispensarystand on stilts, just as the fruitand vegetable gardens. Wepeak into the faded tarpaulinson the small boats to see thewomen tending steaming potsof noodles and sea food as me-ticulously arranged shelvesstrut their stuff. Televisionantennas powered by car bat-teries catch your eye till youspot the perfect touristtrap—in the middle of the lakelies a restaurant with a bam-boo pen of lazy crocodiles! Ifyou watch the fisher folk, you’llsee them trying their best forthe Tiny Riel used to make fishpaste while crocodiles, in thispart of the world, replacechicken on many menus.

From the majestic temples ofAngkor Wat, to the killingfields; a day on the Tonle Sapoffers a peek into the quiet,aquatic lives in the land of sto-ries that Cambodia is.

By Kalpana Sunder

C A M B O D I AC A M B O D I A

Thailand

Vietnam

Gulf ofThailand

PhnomPenh

A WATERY WORLD

Tonle Sap

The localslead anomadiclife as theyare forcedto move tothe inlandduring themonsoons,when the lakeexpands.

Don’tbe surprised to

find chicken replacedby crocodiles on themenus of the floating

restaurants at Tonle Sap

QAMAR SIBTAIN

A leopard with her cub at Masai Mara.

Mail Today, New Delhi / Chandigarh, Sunday, March 25, 2012 Mail Today, New Delhi, Sunday, March 25, 2012

TRAVEL MAIL 33

BALANCINGACT THAT’S

GOING RIGHTIN ENGLAND

Teetering on the edge of a naturepreserve on the Suffolk Coast of England, the Balancing Barn wasdesigned by a Dutch architecturefirm called MVRDV. A good half of the place which can house eightguests is suspended in free space,with a glass floor providing views of the land below.

www.rookzone.com

CURSED STONESKo Hingham, a small island in Thailand, is said tohave ‘precious’ stones which can’t be taken offthe island. The god Turatao is said to curse anyvisitor who dares to take even a pebble fromhere. Each year the National Park office whichmanages the island, receives dozens of stonesreturned via mail, sent back by people whowant to lift the curse.

www.thailander.eu

The Leela Goa all dolled up

THE Leela Goa has completed its refur-bishment and announced a summerpackage starting from ` 8,500 for alagoon terrace room for a couple. Thenew lagoon suites can accommodatetwo adults and two children below theage of 12. The resort’s new dining desti-nation, The Restaurant, will have livekitchens serving Indian, Asian andWestern cuisines. The summer pack-ages include airport transfers, onebuffet breakfast per person, and com-plimentary use of the steam bath/sauna and swimming pool.

Heritage break in Sandur

WELCOMHERITAGE has announced theopening of a new hotel, ShivavilasPalace at Sandur in Karnataka. The des-tination is five hours away from Banga-lore. The palace has two floors with 12rooms, including two grand suites and aregular suite. The other amenities areregional and multi-cuisine dining andthe ‘Jungle Bar’, which serves drinksthat were popular in the early 1900s. Thesightseeing options include Daroji bearsanctuary, Tungabhadra Dam andKumaraswami Temple. For details, visitwww.welcomheritageho tels.com

SOTC has announced customisedNorth/South American holidays for

this summer to enable travellers to plantheir own routes and structure theirvacations, the way they want it. One canopt for one of these packages: threenights in Buenos Aires (starting price:$445, or `22,775, per person on twin-shar-ing basis); three nights in Honolulu($695, or `35,665); two nights in Las Vegas($345, or `17,691); two nights in Niagara($335, or `17,173); three nights in StLucia ($835, or `42,811); and six nights inAlaska ($2,226, or `11,587). It includesaccommodation with breakfast, arrivalairport transfer, and all must-do sight-seeing as per itinerary. To book, call1800-209-3344 or visit www.sotc.in EZEEGO1.com has a five-night, six-

day Russia package priced at ̀ 86,562per person on a twin-sharing basis. Itincludes accommodation for two nights atHotel Holiday Inn Lesnava in Moscowwith breakfast and three nights in StPetersburg at Hotel Crowne Plaza Ligov-sky, plus two Indian lunches in Moscowand St Petersburg, all sightseeing tours inMoscow and St Petersburg, and a daytrain from Moscow to St Petersburg. Formore, visit www.ezeego1.co.in

If you have a package to share or discounts and deals to publicise, email the details to adila.matra@mailtoday.in

CHECKLIST AADDIILLAA MMAATTRRAA checks out the best holiday deals and must-visit destinations

Amari’s Songkran packageEXPERIENCE the Thai New Year, the ‘festivalof water’ (or Songkran), at Amari Boule-vard Bangkok, Amari Watergate Bangkok,Amari Palm Reef Koh Samui and AmariOrchid Pattaya. Amari Boulevard Bangkokhas a package for two nights in a superiorroom, starting from Baht 6,699 ( ` 10,907),available from April 9 to 22 . You can partic-ipate in the Songkran activity at the lobbyduring April 13-15, shop around the city witha one-day BTS Sky travel pass, and have aThai set dinner at the Season Thai restau-rant. For details, visit www.amari.com

Irish visa waiver extendedIRELAND has announced the extension ofthe short-stay visa waiver programme fora further four years. The waiver, which wasoriginally due to continue until the end ofOctober 2012, lets you enter Ireland with-out a visa if you have a valid UK visa andhave first lawfully entered the UK, includingNorthern Ireland.

is played out on a watery highway

(Above) Riding a boat on Tonle Sap’s dirty water mass offers beautifulsights of villages on the banks. (Below) A church in the floating village.

FOR those of you who enjoy a fruity feel or enjoycinnamon undertones to your spirits pouringout of European or American oak casks, thenext time you come home from the airport, youmay have more than just bags strewn over yourtrolley. If you pick up a Balvenie 30-year-old orGlendfiddich 30-year-old from the capital’s dutyfree shops in April, you could treat 10 of yourfriends, in the intimacy and comfort of your ownwalls, to a single malt appreciation session andsink into the warmth that these golden andamber beauties promise.

India’s largest duty free retail space at Terminal-3 of the Delhi IGI Airport has tied up with WilliamGrant & Sons India Pvt. Ltd in a move that recog-nises that the Capital’s denizens have moved onfrom regular whisky and are eagerly stepping intothe world of single malts.

Abhijit Das, Head of Marketing, Delhi Duty FreeServices (DDFS), said, “There is a dramatic differ-ence between what people are picking uptoday – the ongoing trend shows thatsingle malts make up for the fastestgrowing category.” The responseto this trend is unique as theorganisers plan to customisethe sessions to suit not justyour palate, experts fromDDFS and William Grants willeven come home if you sodesire, with both history andtasting notes. So if you have

wondered about drinking etiquettes, or how to‘nose’ your drink right enough to get the flavourof the drink without numbing your olfactorysenses, this is your chance. And if you know theso-called ‘rules,’ this is the time to delve deeperinto the intricacies of taste and flavour – youdon’t have to be a Malt Master, but it doesn’thurt to know more.

"Consumer up-gradation has been a significanttrend at DDFS leading to premiumisation of busi-ness for both DDFS and William Grants. We havewitnessed a significant contribution from Glenfid-dich and Balvenie when compared to their higheraged variants. As consumers upgrade, they are get-ting more evolved and we feel educating con-sumers through appreciation sessions is the rightstep”, said Neeraj Sharma, Business DevelopmentManager – Indian sub continent, William Grant &Sons India.

This independent family-owned distiller, foundedby William Grant in 1886, happens to be in thehands of the fifth generation of his family.

Das, as he commented on the ongoing single malttrend in DDFS, said that Glenfiddich, Glen-

livet, Glenmorangie and Talisker werecurrently topping the charts. “It is very

common to see someone talking onthe phone and asking ‘What do youwant me to get,’ something thatwasn’t seen a few years ago.” So ifyou have had a taste of a 12, 15 oran 18 year old whisky, it’s time totry the 30-year-old which comes with perks as bright as your drink!

Good time to feel malt-ishon your way back home

Delhi Duty Free at T3 doesn’t only stock cosmetics. It also has one of Asia’s best single maltofferings, which it is now promoting in a big way in association with a leading Scotch company.

By Nikita Puri

Pickup a Balvenie

30-year-old or aGlendfiddich that’s as oldand treat 10 friends in the

comfort of your home

Mail Today, New Delhi / Chandigarh, Sunday, March 25, 2012 Mail Today, New Delhi, Sunday, March 25, 2012