Travel Tips Advice Koh Samui Honeymoon

Things to Do and Know when Visiting Thailand Bangkok Kohsamui

Couple of weeks ago I got married here in New Delhi, India. The usual band, baaja (music/dj) and baraat (the horse ride/carriage ride leading to marriage place) as per Indian tradition. The next day I was out of India to visit Samui. My initial choice was Mauritius but then someone told me that during mid february there is high chance of rain so I chose Koh Samui, Thailand after doing a lot of research online and people I tell you MY DECISION was 101% correct! Me and my wife - The lovely Mrs Tanvi Khorana.... had the time of our lives. I have been to Thailand several times before but only to Pattaya never Samui...its a must must visit for Thailand visitor. Surprisingly it cost me about the same if I would have visited the exotic Mauritius but to tell you the truth I am quite confident that it wouldn't have been a fun place.

Private Pool Villa at the Akaryn Spa and Resort Koh Samui, Thailand

We stayed at the Akaryn Resort mainly because it was my honeymoon and this was a great choice cause I went all the way to get my private pool villa as depicted in the pic above. There are 2 types - the smaller one is just a Dip Pool villa and the one above is enough for an entire lap. 

Chaweng Beach Picture from my phone at Sunset. We went to a lot of bars but this particular - Ark Bar was pretty amazing. Beach parties on Wednesday and Fridays.

The beach is located on a 2-4km long strip with bars and restaurants all along. We went to Ark mostly because of all the nice crowd, music and activity. Their Satay Chicken and Curries are must to have and you also have the option to order a Seesha/Hookah of your choice when you are seated right at the beach front.

On one side of this strip is the beach as you see above and on the other side shopping places, massage parlours, and amazing italian restaurants. The food is to die for and you can practically enter anywhere to have a great meal of your choice. The thing I love about Thailand and the people is that they will do anything you want to make YOU HAPPY! That's in their genetics I think - to please people. A tip of 20-100bath depending upon situations is highly appreciated so always carry some change.

Night View from the Chaweng Beach

Ideally a 6 nights is must - keep 5 for samui and 1 for Bangkok to do your MBK and Siam Paragon Malls shopping and the 7th day back to your country. For staying in kohsamui just book any hotel of your choice at Chaweng beach and you will not regret it....all look amazing and have great proximity to the beach. Honeymoon-ers this is the BEST destination for you undoubtedly. 

Astrological Gems in USA, UK & Canada

Purchasing Gemstones from India with Free Worldwide Shipping

When you are looking to buy precious stones or birthstones online from a complete stranger and that too online you cannot be sure enough. There are lot of problems but I find these 3 problems to be the main one:

Purchasing Gems and Jewels online from bellojewelsonline.com is a safe and easy process. 14 Days no questions asked money back guarantee and doorstep delivery within 4-7 days. I am sure everyone can guess this movie (Confessions of Shopaholic).....wonder how many are true gem-aholics!

1. Payment Mode (PayPal , Credit Card Security, Bank Transfer to an Official Account)
2. Shipping and Delivery Timelines (Doorstep Shipping or not is a separate issue)
3. Authenticity and Return Policy Timelines (How many truly abide by 100% money back)

If you purchasing gemstone and jewellery  from a website for the very first time whether you are located in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Australia, European Union, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar or any other country please always check for above mentioned three points. Delivery has always been a concern even at our own gemstone website and we have re-assured are 75000+ customers worldwide of this and will reassure again if required that we guarantee doorstep delivery and that too at our own risk and expense.
If you cannot find this information on the website - ASK, ask and ask again. Check the website's social media profiles like facebook page, google plus, twitter etc and see other comments just to be super sure.

Birthstone Dealer Bello Jewels India caters to 190+ countries worldwide and guaranteed doorstep free shipping. Offering rudrakshas and certified gemstones.

Why I put up the title as Astrological Gemstones is because there are many of you looking to buy gems and stones for astrological and birthstone remedial reasons. There can be many reasons you want a gem for astrological benefits and it could be because you might have met some astrologer in your homeland who guided you to wear or you might just want to wear loose gemstones for reasons more than adornment.
Be it an reason you need to wear a certified and  real earth mined blue sapphire, opal, cat's eye emerald, garnet, topaz, yellow sapphire, diamond stone.
Several hundred more varieties obviously available and common hindi names for the gems are are pukhraj, manik, panna, neelam, gomedh, moti, lahsuniya etc.
The same problem for purchasing online also exists with Rudrakshas but if you know the source then you can buy with confidence x-ray certified 5 mukhi, 6 mukhi, ek mukhi, gauri shankar, 14 mukhi and 21 mukhi rudrakshas.

Remember always do your research and if you feel the company is right for you go ahead and buy with confidence.

The Best Lessons from Game of Thrones

What you can learn about your Life from Game of Thrones

I am a Television addict and any new or movie or television serial which involves either some comedy (friends, big bang theory etc) or violence, thriller, love and sex of course (breaking bad, teen wolf, lie to me etc) always intrigues me. Today, I decided to write about one of these TV series called "Game of Thrones" released by HBO some-time last year. I although am watching now after reading my brother's blog post.

After you are done with this reading and if you are a fan of this series then I would definitely recommend a reading. He needs to update after season 1 episode 7 though.

Game of Thrones is indeed a back-stabbing, political, primate story which you can relate to your life. Its not just a fantasy story about warlocks, brothels and dwarves.

Anyways, here is what I've learn and I want to share.....My Lessons and Advice:

1.) There are No shortcuts in life (unless you win a lottery and you know the chances): A lot of you want to be your own boss and think its an overnight process, but if you want to succeed, just like Jon Snow you have to learn the very basics and work your way up to the top. Never give up and learn to listen to others. The power of listening came at a very late stage in life for me and my best advice would be to get a hold of it and master the art. You will be a boss, you will be a leader surely but remember not to forget the building blocks and art of following.

2.) Your path to a life of Ultimate Fulfillment will not be accomplished even if you're a monk: Ned Stark is the perfect example for this..... hold on, I am not saying that he is a monk. He is though to some extent considering the plot of Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. What I am trying to say is that when you try to go high up the ladder and you see that there is no stopping you, you forget to watch your back and what's around you. Its important to keep a close eye on your colleagues, friends, family and their good+bad schemes they might be plotting at this very moment. Accept this hard truth and you will lead a more fulfilled life. Accept people for their good and their bad elements and learn to adjust yourself accordingly.

3.) When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die: If you remember the scene of Cersei Lanister with Ned stark she uses these words. When it comes to outcomes and decisions there is nothing such as 50-50 as I say. You have to choose one path and stick to it and focus on it, one way or the other then you will find closure. 
Take for example any large level sales deal. The greater the extent and amounts involved, the greater the politics and at any time any thing can happen. Either the client is with you for life or you'll never hear of him/her unless its with a competitors listing.

I have many more thoughts and I will continue writing more on this soon.... I promise.

A Brief History of Loose Gemstones

A Brief History of Loose Gemstones - A Very Beginners Guide

It is possible you have never heard of the term loose gemstones before. To you gemstones come set in jewellery – end of story. Often that changes when you decide to get married and the shopping for rings begins. For many this is the first exposure to the fact that like anything, rings get made from raw materials. It’s just their raw materials are precious metals and loose gemstones or diamonds. It is interesting to explore where they come from and how they get to your home town and the issues surround fair trade gems.

Unlike the diamond market which is well structured with centres of trading in Antwerp, New York and Tel Aviv, the market for coloured loose gemstones is far more fluid. 

Some Hard Working Gemstone Mines :) In the USA there a lot of fun places you and your loved ones can go to learned about precious and semi precious stones. A Hand's on experience in the process it will be great to get started. They cost around $ 5 per person and is really fun. (Image source marengo cave)

Given that many coloured gemstones are mined by small operators in various parts of the world it is more difficult to organise this market. The International Coloured Gemstone Association said that 80% of stones are coming from small scale mining, and of these 90% are located in developing countries.

For example the president of the Sri Lankan Gem merchants federation said in 2002 there were over five thousand mining sites registered in Sri Lanka. Most of them are bucket and spade operations where the mining pits are three metres square and go to depths of only about 25 metres.

The other factor that makes regulation of the industry hard is that loose gemstones are commonly sold at local markets. The miners want to turn their rough stones to cash as soon as possible and often do not have the means to travel far to go to central markets. Buyers and dealers in rough stones will purchase these offerings and offer them to wholesalers in foreign markets.

An Australian sapphire mine found that their stones would pass through a supply chain of up to six people from the mine door until it reached the retail purchaser.
Each time the stones changed hands someone was making a significant mark-up. The mark-ups can range from 1.5 - 150 times in many cases so take well informed decisions.

Real Hardworking Sri Lanka Miners. The GIA site and many other wesbites have pictures from Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand and they will tell actually show you how they come from the mines to the marketplaces.

Due to the location and small size of many of the coloured gemstone miners there has been an increased interest in the fair trade aspects of loose gemstones. With large proportions of the world stones coming from developing countries it is important to make sure the benefits are going back to the people. In situations like this corruption, child labour, working conditions, money laundering, terrorism (and the list goes on and on) become ethical considerations.

With the support of governments, and bodies such as the World Bank, initiatives such as gemstone bodies and education programs are improving the outlook for communities. Fair trade is a wonderful idea but a fine balance has to be maintained between sanctioning countries that are treating their workers exploitatively and the impact such sanctions have on the miners themselves. If we stop buying Burmese rubies, the miner in Burma will ultimately pay the price for factors outside his control. There is no easy answer on this.

The loose gemstones market is a fascinating and fraught one, but the gemstones themselves are pure works of beauty. Find your beauty at affordable prices on bellojewelsonline.com

The Big Fat Indian Wedding - India,USA

The Big Fat Indian Wedding - Know what its all about...


So you've heard this statement like a million times and you might have also bumped across some TV Shows with the same title and now you have stumbled here to understand what its all about....
The reason why I have been writing less over the past few weeks is because of "Big Fat Indian Weddings" (2 of my closest friends were getting married). In India a Wedding is not a SINGLE day event but its spread across 1-2 weeks.

You see the moment a girl is born in an Indian Family whether the location of the parents is in India, America, China, Japan, Russia, Germany ...... the father and mother opens a separate bank account, buys a piece of land and/or opens and new secret treasure locker to keep cash/gold/jewels for her wedding. Believe me, its the truth and the irrespective of the place in society and earning capacity of the parents, they will do this.

Horses and Elephants are common sights in an Indian wedding. The Groom comes on the wedding day riding one of them. In 99% cases its a group of horses and he sits on a carriage.

You may call this a tradition, mass hysteria, , love of the parents, showing off, whatever you feel like but I just have one comment..... "It happens only with Indian Weddings"....Irrespective of the Country.

What does a Bag Fat India comprises of:


1. The Bride and The Groom (Average Age of marriage for an Indian Boy and Girl is 26).... The parents of the future bride though start searching a suitable match when she is turns 21...90% marriages in India are arranged and they never lead to a divorce.
2. The most exotic bridal dress (Red is the color but in recent times the girls have started wearings gold, silver and pink also) and a Sherwani for the Groom.
3. Jewelry, more jewellery, and even more jewellery. Speciffically Gold, Gold and Diamond Jewelry, Precious Stones set in Gold and Diamonds and Uncut (Polki), Jewellery.

4. The Big Fat Wedding Parties - Unlike any tradition in the whole world, in India you have and average 3-4 functions (parties). It comprises of the engagement, a chowki(praising/thanking the lord), a mehendi(where-in the bride's hands/arms are applied with temporary Henna and obviously the wedding itself.

It is said that an average urban indian parent can spend his entire life savings on his daughter's marriage and I believe its out of love and no other reason....