Family Travel
A country of amazing paradoxes, India floors everyone – worldly adults, eye-rolling teenagers, even i-pod addicted kids. From a cultural point of view, perhaps no other place on this earth has as much to offer like this. Interesting history and mythology are ready to reveal themselves in almost every part of India. Forts and palaces bring back the memories of Arabian Nights and fairy tales you read to your child. Bursting with colours, mind-spinning complexity, and exuberance it is a thrilling and wonderfully different travel destination. But it can also be intimidating, especially with a family in tow. Here we are to carefully design the programmes to reveal some of the most compelling urban sights and tucked away country-side treasures, all the while keeping you and your family well-fed and rested, happily entertained and, at ease.
Bhaktapur – Making of the Paper Mask
The Paper Mask making, a specialty of Thimi, is an ancient tradition of Nepal. The mask is made with wheat flour, cotton and black clay. It is around thirty minutes drive from Kathmandu on the way to Bhaktapur.
Learn the importance of these masks in the religious tradition of the Nepalese calendar. During festivals these masks are worn by holy men to perform the tantric dances and represent different tantric gods and goddesses of various sizes from small to very large (one meter high).
Meet Som and Radhika, whose family has been into the mask making for generations. The couple owns a shop on the main street of Thimi with a small workshop. They will explain all the steps of the traditional mask making – from how to make the dough which has to be carefully modelled, till the final design touch.
Mumbai – Bollywood Dance Session
Bollywood dance, a mixture of numerous styles, can be explained best as beautiful storytelling. Most loved by our guests, this workshop is an insight into how India celebrates. You’ll shake a leg with our instructors for a duration of one hour and fuse bhangra, hip hop, salsa and many more dance styles creatively to some popular Bollywood songs. The workshop will leave you a bit exhausted but definitely asking for more!
Jaipur – An Evening at Dera Mandawa
“Patangbaazi” Kite-flying has been popular in Jaipur since its very foundation. Enjoy this deeply engrossing and surprisingly challenging sport on the Chandni Terrace of Dera Mandawa. Many guests are reminded of the wonderful reading of Khaled Hosseini novel ‘The Kite Runner’. Here you get to fly kites with passionate in-house kite flyers all decked up Rajasthani Turbans and Scarves. And enjoy Indian style high tea, there is a constant supply of Indian snacks and the favourite Indian beverage – Chai.
