Children's Day Special: My Favourite Holiday
On Children's Day, kids shares stories about their favourite holiday destinations
Name: Mark MascarenhasAge: 7 yearsSchool: Childrens Academy, Kandivali
This year during our summer holidays my family and I went to Singapore. We had lots of fun playing in the swimming pool at the beautiful hotel we were staying in. The hotel food was very tasty. We went around visiting different places and waterparks. We went to the museum at the Science centre and saw fossils of many dinosaurs. It was very scary, but interesting. We saw two Merlions, one was a waterfall and the other was a big one at Sentosa Island.We went on a long boat ride along the Singapore River. On the ride, we saw the water and light show, which was being played at Marina Bay. The boat went under the bridges and then I was tired after the long ride, so I went to sleep. Next day we woke up early and went to Jurong bird Park. I saw many exotic birds and I took many pictures. My best picture was of an eagle, which was just about to take off. We took the cable car ride to Sentosa Island and I got scared that I was going to fall from such a height. From there we went to Universal Studios and we saw so many movie characters. I was very happy to see my favourite transformer from the movie and he was real! It was Optimus Prime , he posed with us for pictures and he wouldn’t listen to my mom. We went for a 5D show of Transformers. It was awesome! We sat in a car and it looked as if we were moving in all directions and we escaped from Megatron. Thank God Megatron didn’t shoot a real bullet. Next we went to took the Madagascar river ride. I really thought the boxes were going to fall on my head. I saw the penguins, Alex the lion, Gloria and Melman. It was just like in the movie and I had so much fun with my family.I was sad when we left from Singapore, because I wanted to stay there and have some more fun but I had to come back because school was going to start soon.
Name: Eden MascarenhasAge: 11 yearsSchool: Childrens Academy, Kandivali
Goa is not only about beaches but also zoo, spice plantations and waterfalls. I asked my dad whether we could go to Goa. So when my dad agreed, my brother and I were very excited. We packed our bags and left for Goa at 12:15 am at night by car. On the way we passed through many forests and ghats, we saw many coconut trees and finally we reached our ancestral home at Asagao, close to Mapusa. My dad was tired from driving through the night and he said that we would go out the next day.We were ready the next morning. We packed our sand toys and swimsuits to go to the beach. It was fun swimming and making sand castles. After lunch we decided to go to the Bondla Animal Sanctuary close to Ponda. It is a place where some rescued animals are kept and taken care of. We saw many animals like the porcupines, monkeys, snakes, a cheetah and lions that were kept in large enclosures. We also saw a spotted deer grazing in the wild, so we stopped our car and took pictures; we even followed the deer wherever it went until it disappeared into the tall grass.The following day we went to the spice plantations. When we reached there, we were offered some hot lemongrass tea to drink. We were then divided us into many groups. A guide then showed us green and red chillies, the vanilla plant which is the most expensive spice. He told us about the uses of its extract. We also saw fresh turmeric, coffee beans and five spice plants. On returning, according to their tradition the guide poured cold lemongrass tea down our backs and it refreshed us. After that they served us tasty food.There was so much to do in Goa and we were having so much fun. We were not getting bored at all and after resting for a day we then went to the Dudhsagar waterfalls. To get to the waterfall our jeep had to cross through a flowing stream and we could nearly touch the water when we were in the jeep. On reaching we had to climb several rocks, I saw a lady wearing heels and trying to climb, we were wondering how she would reach up. As soon as we reached the top, we went into the water and we splashed around and swam. I was soaking wet and happy.When we were returning from the falls we saw a Jungle Book theme park. So we went in and there we went on elephant rides through banana and spice plantations. After that we went for an elephant shower bath. We sat on an elephant in the middle of a river and it sprayed water on us with its trunk. I was so scared at first, but later it was exciting and fun.I wrote down all these happy memories in my Goa diary, which we bought at the Reis Magos fort. Goa had so many fun things to do and I was very unhappy to go back home to Mumbai, but I had to because my school was about to begin and exams too.
Name: Natasha FranciscoAge: 11 yearsSchool: St. Teresa's Convent High School, Santa Cruz
Name: Madhav Godse,Age: 10School: BAPS Swaminarayan Vidyamandir, Silvassa
Last year in November, I travelled with my parents and friends to Hyderabad. I was very excited about my vacation and woke up quite early on the day we had to leave, although our train was at 10 in the night. I was all set with my backpack and we boarded the Hyderabad Express that night from Mumbai; the next day afternoon, we got off at a station called Begumpet. The bus we hired was already there to pick us up from the station to our hotel at Chirag Ali Lane. It was a crowded area and after we had freshened up and had lunch, we went to NTR Garden, an amusement park. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed a ride in a toy train as well as a space ride, which was sort of like a virtual time machine simulator. I was a little afraid of the ‘slippery ride’, where we had to sit in a raft, which was pushed down by the force of the water on a slide. But that was not as scary as when my friend Ishaan and I had a race and got lost in the crowd. By mistake we had gone past the gates of the park without our tickets and then the security guard did not allow us to enter the park. We were quite scared, but our parents were looking for us too and finally found us.
Our next stop was the Sudha Car Museum. There were lots of amazing cars. I was surprised to see vintage cars, a bat car, a ball car, the world’s largest tricycle, a mini bus, cycles, a laddoo car, a camera car and much more. It had received the Limca Book of World Records Award! I felt very very happy to visit this museum. We also visited the Golconda Fort, where we learnt all about the history of the fort; it was the second largest fort in India.
Another visit was Chowmahalla Palace, where I saw the king’s outfits, weapons and vintage cars as well as a Rolls Royce! A trip to Ramoji Film City was one of the best experiences ever, with exciting rides, a haunted house, a train ride and a chance to see all the sets. We also saw the beautiful Ramoji carnival and the parade!
On the last day we visited the Salar Jung Museum where we saw the family’s musical clock, one of the main attractions. A crowd had gathered to see the toy man coming out and ring the clock. Within no time it was time to say goodbye and leave for home, but it was a memorable trip and I would like to visit this city again!