Last weekend, Aarti and I holidayed in Dalat, a beautiful hill station established by the French more than a hundred years ago. Surrounded by extensive pine forests and flower plantations its great climate all year round makes it an ideal destination. On the trip, we were accompanied by our friends Abhijit, Shweta and the little man Ahaan.

My holidays with Aarti are invariable fun filled and packed with days of either physical or hobby indulging activities and chilled out evenings. So after exploring the very nice resort (Ana Mandara) we were staying in, we hit the mountain biking trail. Four gorgeous hours spent zipping down dirt tracks, trudging up inclines, negotiating mountain pathways with (of course!) a great picnic lunch thrown in among the dense pine forests. Our guide from Green Adventour looked straight out of the Tour De France. Agile, athletic and friendly he also effortlessly carried Aarti’s bike across difficult terrain when needed!

After a relaxed evening in town and around Shweta’s fireplace, next morning we discovered the joys of another type of cycling – tandem biking. Abhijit and i had a great time cyling around the lake at double speed and half the effort. We followed this with a very nice boating trip,the leftover wine from the previous night acting as an added catalyst of enjoyment and a blanket against some particularly tuneless singing by Abhijit.

That ended another nice little vacation. And since Aarti’s dreams are never constrained by limitations of current circumstance, I look forward to many more.