Ananda in the Himalayas
Uttaranchal, India

The location: This 100-acre estate in the foothills of the Himalayas, formerly home to the Maharajah of Tehri-Garhwal, is set at 3,000 feet and has sweeping views over the Ganges River and the nearby temple villages of Rishikesh and Haridwar. The facilities include a 21,000-square-foot spa, several meditation and yoga pavilions set among gardens, and the former maharajah’s palace—which now houses an elegant tea lounge and an antique billiards room.

The practice: One-on-one guided meditation sessions tailored to each guests’s individual needs. Sessions can incorporate Buddhist teachings or yogic breathing techniques, can be conducted indoors or out, and can last from an hour to an entire morning or afternoon at a stretch.

The accommodations: 78 posh rooms, suites, and villas with huge windows for taking in the mountain views (and, unusually for retreat destinations, minibars and televisions).

Be mindful: A not-especially-spiritual crowd frequents Ananda. Although serious peace-seekers will find what they want here, they’ll also be rubbing shoulders with jet-setting comfort hounds.

Shambhala Mountain Center
Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

The location: The 600 pristine acres of Shambhala spread across a Rocky Mountain valley in the northern part of Colorado. The property includes extensive botanical gardens, a bird sanctuary, several spacious meditation halls, and, most dramatically, the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, a traditional spired Buddhist shrine.

The practice: Buddhist meditation in a variety of forms. The program offerings at Shambhala range from week-long “Learn to Meditiate” retreats to multi-week intensive study for advanced practitioners; there are also specialized workshops for children, painters, and writers, and those who prefer to combine meditation with activities like canoeing and hiking.

The accommodations: 65 elegant, clean-lined single and double rooms, some of which have shared bathrooms. Single-sex dormitory-style rooms, and in the summer, platform tents with shared bathhouses, are also available.

Be mindful: The staff at Shambhala also leads “Sacred Journeys” several times a year in places like Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia.

The Middle Way Meditation Retreat
Loei, Thailand

The location: A compound surrounded by rolling green hills and lush tropical forest in northeastern Thailand (adjacent to Phu Ruea National Park, where the woodland-covered mountains are crisscrossed with hiking trails). The property encompasses several indoor and outdoor meditation spaces, waterfall-fed gardens, and an outdoor dining pavilion.

The practice: Dhammakaya meditation, a form of Tibetan Buddhist practice that focuses on the center of the body as both an energy center and a gateway to higher consciousness.

The accommodations: A cluster of spartan but immaculate wooden bungalows, with separate shared bathhouses. Fraternizing between sexes is discouraged, so men’s and women’s ungalows are in different areas.

Be mindful: Guests are expected to refrain from all destructive behavior while on the retreat, including telling lies and killing any living creature (including mosquitoes).

White Cloud Sanctuary
Santa Ana, Costa Rica

The location: Just west of San José in central Costa Rica, on a jungle mountainside that feels a world away from civilization. The 13-acre property includes a small organic vegetable farm; several outdoor practice areas; mango, banana, and papaya trees (which guests can pick from as they like); and lots of friendly resident animals, including horses, goats, ducks, and rabbits.

The practice: Only one guest at a time can stay at White Cloud, which allows for intense individual study in Tai Chi and QiGong—Chinese meditation-in-movement practices. Retreat participants adhere to a daily schedule of guided sessions and quiet seated meditation.

The accommodations: A one-person tile-roofed casita, set at the very top of the property and with glorious mountain views. It includes a single bed, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living area where, oddly, you can plug in your laptop.

Be mindful: The lodging rates don’t include meals, although meal-plan options can be arranged.

Osho Meditation Resort
Pune, India

The location: A slick, modern 40-acre “campus” just outside Mumbai that includes extensive, manicured Zen gardens, a soaring meditation auditorium, seminar spaces set inside a complex of black space-age pyramids, and a few other very unorthodox amenities: tennis courts, a nightclub, and a mini-mall.

The practice: “Active meditations” are the signatures at Osho. Although traditional silent, seated sessions are practiced here, they’re interspersed with meditative dancing, whirling, vocalizing, and power-breathing.

The accommodations: The Osho Guesthouse’s 60 minimalist-chic double rooms could easily be mistaken for W Hotel accommodations—that is, without the TVs.

Be mindful: All guests at Osho must wear dark red robes during meditation sessions. This has to do with the belief of the resort’s founder (also named Osho) that “the color maroon, when worn by many people meditating together, adds to the collective meditative energy.”

Valentine One Radar Detector

What’s a road trip if you can’t burn rubber and go foot-to-the-pedal fast? But to protect you from Boss Hogg’s police speed radar, you might want to invest in a Valentine One Radar Locator that, unlike most sensors, has front and rear antennae to locate every radar threat. Results are sent to an onboard computer that analyzes the precise location of the police in the area, allowing you to drive accordingly.

The 2006 DUXIANA Travel Pillow

Get comfy: Driver and passengers should invest in a 2006 Duxiana Travel Pillow from the luxury Swedish bed makers. The 16×20-inch pillow is made from the finest soft white goose down and covered in a white sateen pillow case. It comes in a waterproof carrier that can be folded to a third of its size, making it easy to transport. It offers great comfort and neck support in a car—headrests get sticky—but is even better on the bed of that roadside motel where the pillows are made of bricks.

GPS System: Garmin nüvi 350

Originally developed by the Department of Defense for use on military maneuvers, GPS is now used by millions of ordinary motorists just to help them get home at night. An essential tool on any road trip, there are dozens of systems to choose from, but the portable, pocket-sized Garmin nüvi 350 is among the best. Functional straight out of the box, it’s preloaded with street maps and a database of hotels, bars, restaurants and ATMs of foreign cities. Key in your destination and it will direct you with 2-D or 3-D maps and turn-by-turn voice direction as well as notify you about traffic jams or road construction ahead. Fun extras include an MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture viewer and currency converters. All-in-all the ideal personal travel assistant.

CarMD

The nifty hand-held “Car Doctor” helps avoid you from breaking down, or at least tells you what the problem is when you do. Winner of the 2007 Consumer Electronics Association “Innovation Award,” it’s a portable diagnostic tool that you plug into your car’s internal computer (it only works for vehicles made after 1996) and it tells you what certain flashing lights mean or what’s ailing your vehicle. It can give second opinions after a check-up and, after you download the results onto www.CarMD.com, suggest likely repairs and estimated costs—all for $89.99. You may never need a mechanic again.

Spy Camera Sunglasses with MP4

Ever felt shy about taking a picture of a Tuareg warrior as you motor through the Sahara, or the cute girl in the MG convertible you pass cruising through Provence? Now, like an undercover agent, you can film unnoticed with these Spy Camera Sunglasses created by Hong Kong company Deke. A hidden camera with a 92-degree field of vision is built into the bridge frame of the shades and connected by a small wire to an MP4 in your shirt or jacket pocket. It produces super-crisp digital video recordings which you can then download to your computer via a USB port. The future’s bright—and a bit Bond.

Globalstar Handheld Satellite Phone

We’re assuming you already have a cellphone, but for the parts of your trip when you’re without a signal—out of petrol in the Yukon Delta or lost in prairie Kansas, perhaps—you’d be wise to have a satellite phone with you. A Globalstar Hand Held has advantages over other sat phones in that it’s not much larger than a regular cellphone and operates on a standard U.S. dialing system. It also functions while on the move, so you can call for help while running away from a grizzly bear. It works virtually anywhere outside of cellular range and still operates when local telephone infrastructure is interrupted.

Sony’s Handycam Digital Video Camera

Even though your travel buddies are bound to have standard digital cameras with them, and you can already record film with your Spy Camera Sunglasses, there’s something unique about filming the road as you drive, and for this we recommend Sony’s DCR-DVD108 Handycam Camcorder. Equipped with Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization that controls shake and vibration, you can place the camera on your car dashboard as you drive and it will still produce smooth, clear footage. It also has a Super NightShot Infrared System that captures natural-looking video in low light up to 20 feet away. Best of all, the simple operating system records directly onto DVD, allowing you to immediately share the footage when you transfer discs to your laptop or hotel room’s DVD system.

Avalanche Picnic Cooler on Wheels

California-based company Picnic Time have been manufacturing high-quality picnic baskets since 1982, and this mobile rolling cooler with a 36-can capacity food section, waterproof lining, and thermoguard insulation to keep drinks cold is the best of the lot. It holds four eating plates, stainless-steel cutlery, cutting boards, corkscrew, cheese knife, and salt and pepper shakers. Plus, the wheels and telescopic handle make it easy to pack and carry as a suitcase. If short of space, pack this thing instead of a suitcase.

Panasonic Toughbook CF52 laptop computer

With its magnesium alloy casing, flexible internal connectors and shock-mounted hard drives and LCDs, the latest Panasonic Toughbook is so durable, you can throw it in the back of a pick-up truck and off-road over the Rockies, and it’ll still work fine. A spill-resistant keyboard also means that it’s OK when your kid accidentally drips her soda on it. The main attraction however is that it’s engineered for 3G (third-generation) wireless, so you can stay online in all the areas that the major cellphone networks cover. Opt for the improved video and Vista performance model that includes a faster CPU, 512MB dedicated VRAM, and a larger 120GB hard drive.

Dr Joseph Mulvehill, MD, a New York-based physician who specializes in travel medicine, notes that “people often transpose their own healthcare template onto that of the country they’re visiting.” In fundamental nature travelers assume things will be quick and easy — this is rarely the case. No one wants to waste precious time seeking out a suitable doctor, followed by hours holed up in a waiting room, just for the sake of an impromptu examination or prescription. “Travelers from comparatively clean countries like the US are far more likely to fall ill,” says Dr Mulvehill. “We live in a relatively germ-free world, so when we travel our bodies react far quicker to the different bacteria.”

Don’t Adjust Your Watch for Short Trips

It takes four to five days for East Coasters to adjust to West Coast time and vice versa. “Jet lag is the biggest travel health pitfall elite athletes’ face. When they head across time zones for just a couple of days, they don’t even try to adjust,” says Dr. Wroble. Changing routine for short trips can equal exhaustion in both directions. If your stay is brief—and only two or three time zones’ difference—schedule activities on your own time zone (lest an 8 a.m. breakfast meeting actually feel like five in the morning).

Don’t Test Your Meds on the Road

With your body as a testing ground for a fistful of unfamiliar medication the moment you board the plane is a recipe for disaster. “In the past one possible side effect of malaria prophylaxis was that it caused terrible nightmares. They were very vivid and sometimes quite horrific nightmares. People couldn’t tolerate them so they stop taking it,” says Dr. Mulvehill. Start taking your meds before you leave so you can seek alternatives if you suffer side effects.

Don’t Vaccinate Too Late

“Only about 30 to 40 percent of people who should be immunized actually are, ” states Dr. Coward. Also, don’t forget that many vaccines like hepatitis and yellow fever aren’t active for two weeks or more so don’t ask the doctor for a jab the morning of your flight. “What people need to realize is that most of the basic vaccinations, once you’ve had them, cover you for many years of future travel—yellow fever lasts ten years,” explains Dr. Mulvehill.

Coast residents swapping a surfboard for a snowboard should beware of vigorous sports after changing altitude. “No one listens,” says Dr. Wroble. “They say, ‘What are you telling me: not to ski?’ If you go from L.A. to Colorado your blood is not used to higher altitude and won’t be able to carry as much oxygen. Particular if you’re older or not in good health, you should take it easy for the first couple of days.”

Don’t Ignore Your Mother

At 40,000 feet above the earth you’re sharing recirculated air with 450 fellow passengers (even if, in theory, fresh air from outside can be brought in and reheated, in practice the cost of doing so means you can assume the cabin air isn’t the freshest). Says Dr. Jana, “It’s simply a numbers game—you’re more likely to catch cold. Of the 50 people before you who used that moving sidewalk in the airport, twelve probably blew their nose and didn’t wash the hands. For adults that means don’t touch it—and for kids, don’t touch or lick it. Wash your hands frequently to avoid transferring infection.

Don’t Get Dehydrated

“The most overlooked health pitfall while travelling is dehydration,” says Dr. Mulvehill. “In August most New Yorkers only go outside when they have to but tourists walk about all day in the heat. Make sure you drink bottled water, especially if you’re in direct sun like on safari or standing in long lines,” he says, adding that it’s important to crack the seal in suspect countries to make sure the bottle hasn’t just been filled with tap water.

Be Careful of Fruits And Vegetables

“After receiving vaccinations, people often make the mistake of feeling bullet-proof,” warns Dr. Coward. “I tell people that 20 percent of staying healthy is getting the vaccination and 80 percent is following good food handing techniques.” That means, for travelers heading to at-risk destinations, don’t swallow shower water, don’t brush in tap water, be wary of ice in drinks and (according to Dr. Mulvehill) whatever you do, watch out for fruits and vegetables, especially if you’ve bough it from a street vendor. “If you peel it yourself it’s probably clean. If it’s all cut up in a bowl it might easily have been contaminated by dirty knives and cutting board. No one considers fruit salad a danger, but it is.”

Don’t Forget a Doctor’s Note

By all means decant your meds into a SMTWTFS pillbox but don’t forget a note from your doctor describing exactly what differentiates the blue from the red ones. “If you’re taking Vicodin you had better be ready to answer why you have it. If possible, carry the pills in the bottle that has the prescription taped to it along with your physician’s number and address,” recommends Dr. Wroble

Never Mind Malaria, Avoid Dengue Fever

“I probably spend more time convincing people that they don’t need anti-malaria medication than convincing them that they do. For many travelers taking malaria tablets is almost a Rudyard Kipling-style rite of passage. In reality people are almost five times more likely to contract dengue fever,” says Dr. Coward, adding, “By far the most likely thing to injure a tourist overseas—and we’re talking 60-70 percent of all injuries and ailments—is a motor vehicle accident. Be very careful of traffic and make sure you’re adequately insured.”

It is a city that you will fall in love with. Friendly people, homely atmosphere and beautiful sea. Given a choice, you might want to stay here forever.

We are talking about Mangalore, coastal city of Karnataka, about 300 km from Bengaluru.

The city is changing rapidly and it is just a matter of time before Mangalore makes its mark on the world map. Today, it is rated as the second-fastest growing Indian city in terms of real estate boom, according to the global real estate consultant Knight Frank.

Investors targeted Mangalore rather late. First they explored Bengaluru and then moved on to Mysore.

Real estate prices have hit an unimaginable high in the past six months, thanks to various developers showing interest in the place. The advent of information technology units has contributed to the city’s rapid development.

Now with both cities having almost reached a saturation point, the next stop has to be Mangalore. The upgradation of the Bajpai Airport to an international one is one of the reasons for investors to show a keen interest in this city.

The revamp ensured that the city is now well connected by land, water and air. Moreover, unlike Bengaluru and Mysore, plenty of land is available, especially in the outskirts of Mangalore, drawing IT giants as well as other investors.

According to the Knight Frank report, Mangalore is among the eight tier-III and tier-IV cities in India that are emerging as big growth centres.

IT major Infosys has already set up base in the city. Several other IT majors, who have been cribbing about the lack of infrastructure in Bengaluru, are also expected to shift operations to the city soon. This would mean that BPOs (business process outsourcing units) too would come up in Mangalore leading to further growth.

Apart from IT and BPOs, Special Economic Zones would also play a major role in the development of Mangalore. Infosys is setting up a 300-acre facility at the IT SEZ in Konaje. Satyam and Wipro will also be setting up base at a 200-acre campus in Ganjimutt where an export promotion park is coming up.

ONGC is planning to invest Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) at the yet-to-come up SEZ in Mangalore. The city is already home to big companies like Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers, BASF, Nagarjuna Power, GMR Group, Suzlon, etc.

The change: These factors have had a straight impact on the prices of real estate. According to Ranjan Shetty, a leading real estate developer in Mangalore, there has been a drastic increase in the prices of land and it is going the Bengaluru way.

Land prices at Kadri, one of the best residential areas, stand at about Rs 700,000 per cent (1/100th of an acre or 435.6 sq ft). The ‘apartment culture’ — so far not too popular in Mangalore — too is on the rise. The prices of apartments (flats) in the city are steadily shooting up. Land that used to cost Rs 1,200 per sq ft is now available at Rs 2,500 per sq ft.

The prices of commercial property too have risen from Rs 500,000 a cent to Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million) in the past two years. In case of residential property, the prices have shot up from Rs 1,200 per sq ft to Rs 2,500 a sq ft in two years, Shetty added.

Mangalore’s situation is so much similar to Bengaluru where very expensive prices are being quoted, but in many cases there are no takers for the same. Shetty says there are several instances where a fancy price is quoted, but there are no buyers.

This is exactly what happened in Bengaluru too. Builders quoted fancy prices for their apartments and as of today almost half of them lie vacant.

Areas in Mangalore where prices are going up are Falnir and Ballal Bagh. The Lal Bagh area, which was more a blend of commercial and residential complexes, is gradually transforming into a pure commercial area and is competing with areas like Hampankatta and Balmatta in pricing.

Vikram Hegde, a leading advocate in Mangalore, says the city is growing very fast. In fact, it startles one to see so many new complexes and residential buildings coming up at such a rapid pace.

What will Mangalore be like in the years to come? Ten years ago, it used to be a quiet town. The major shopping hubs were Hampankatta and Balmatta. It had two pubs, one discotheque and a couple of ice-cream parlours. The only non-Mangalorean crowd that existed were college students. But the city’s scenario has changed over the years.

Mangalore is a popular tourist centre now. The Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, Kadri Sri Manjunatha Temple, Mangaladevi Temple and the Kudroli Mosque are few places of religious importance in Mangalore.

The New Mangalore Port, St Aloysius Chapel and Sulthan Battery are the other places of religious importance in Mangalore. Proximity to the temple city of Udupi make tourists flock this place.

It is worth mentioning that banks like Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank and Karnataka Bank were launched in the Mangalore. The city also houses the country’s most prestigious institutions like the Kasturba Medical College, SDM Law College and the St. Aloysius College.

All this is bound to change, says Hegde. There will be more people from outside coming into the city and that, in turn, will ring in rapid social change. Mangalore might soon get rid of its laid-back culture and become like Mumbai, where no one has any time for others, says Hegde.

A lot is being done to attract people from outside to invest in Mangalore. The airport upgradation is one of the major factors. Apart from this, the Mangalore Corniche project will soon become a reality and is expected to give the city a new feel altogether. The Corniche is a 31-km promenade along the sea.

Mangalore currently lacks in the hospitality sector. There are very few quality hotels in the city. However, now that seems to be changing too. There are proposals from the Hilton, Leela, and Intercontinental groups for setting up hotels in and around Mangalore.

Will Mangalore lead by example or will it go the chaotic Bengaluru way? Only the time will tell.

This is the Beijing Capital International Airport. It is the world’s largest airport building and the centerpiece of China’s multi-billion-dollar infrastructure boom and provides a glimpse into China’s vision of 21st-century air travel.

The futuristic airport has been built in preparation for the millions who are likely to visit China for the Olympic Games and to meet the country’s booming air traffic.

An airport employee cleans the floor at the new terminal building Terminal Three — T3 — at the Beijing Capital International Airport. This is the world’s largest terminal.

The roof of the swanky new terminal looks like a dragon from the air with its wing spread running 3.25 km. The giant dragon-shaped terminal is 100 hectares in size: that is as big as 170 soccer fields.

This makes the airport larger than the Pentagon and almost 20 per cent bigger than all five terminals of London’s Heathrow put together.

The terminal has walls of glass. The skylights of the terminal building are designed to look like scales on a dragon’s back and to let natural light into the building. The dragon is considered a sign of strength and luck in China.

Almost 50,000 workers toiled round the clock in 8-hour shifts and built the colossal $3.75-billion terminal in only four years. China wanted the airport to be ready before August 8, when the Beijing Olympic Games begin.

However, the construction of the airport involved the demolition of thousands of houses that rendered more than 10,000 Chinese peasants homeless. China’s autocratic Communist regime could thus manage to do something that democratic governments — like India’s — can hardly ever match.

The airport was designed by British architect Norman Foster, who has also designed Hong Kong’s famous Chep Lap Kok airport.

British firm Arup, which has provided engineering and architectural design services for the Hyderabad International Airport, built the airport.

The new terminal will have a capacity of 75 million passengers a year. It features an extremely high-tech passenger baggage system — on 50 km of conveyor belts — that can handle 19,800 bags per hour.

The size of the new Beijing airport can be gauged from the fact that it boasts of 64 restaurants, 80 retail stores, 175 escalators, 173 lifts, 437 travelators or moving footpaths, and 300 check-in counters.

The terminal has a 3-km long concourse, divided into three sections and connected by a shuttle train. The airport’s shuttle train service can ferry passengers around the mammoth airport.

According to Norman Foster, the airport’s architect, the airport is ’so big that under a certain amount of light you can’t see one end of the building from the other.’

Apart from the shuttle, a high-speed commuter train (subway as also elevated) service will carry passengers between the airport and Beijing in 15 minutes. Two Airport Lines, scheduled to open before July, on elevated lines connect the airport with the transport hub of Dongzhimen. The Olympic branch line has four stations, each with a theme.

The airport’s runway is capable of handling the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380.

The airport building has integrated environmental control systems to minimise energy consumption and carbon emissions, report say.

The airlines that will use airport initially include Air China, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Hong Kong’s Dragonair, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways, El Al Israel Airlines, Emirates and other Star Alliance members.