Hongkong, Macau and China Travel has a beautiful way of weaving faith, family, culture, and discovery into one unforgettable tapestry. Our journey across Hong Kong, Macau, Chongqing, and Shanghai, spanning Christmas 2025 to New Year 2026, was exactly that, a blend of sacred moments, modern marvels, ancient history, and warm human connections. Day 1: Christmas in Hong Kong – Faith, Crowds & Comfort Food Christmas Day began on a deeply meaningful note at Rosary Church, Hong Kong. As an ardent Christian, attending Christmas Mass is non-negotiable, and the serenity of the church set the tone for the celebrations ahead. Christmas ...
Aloha from Honolulu: A Dream Hawaiian Adventure Honolulu Airport, Hawaii When our daughter Minerva and son-in-law Bram invited us to a holiday in Hawaii, I was all excited. Unfortunately, later the political climate became tense, which turned my excitement into worry. Every TV channel back home was bursting with news of uncertainty at the borders. However, with lots of assurance from my daughter and daughters-in-law, ultimately we decided that we had to seize the moment — it was now or perhaps never ...
A Vietnamese Story Christmas 2024 For our 2024 annual family vacation, we decided to visit the trending destination of Vietnam. So plans were made, hotels booked and tours were arranged. The plethora of online travel resources like Booking.com, Agoda, Viator and others have made life easier for tourists on the go. All you have to do is to look at the reviews of hotels, restaurants, tours, and you have made a great start. So the whole Pillai family of Vasudevan and Daphne, Priam, Mabel, Logan and Athena, Minerva and Bram, Franav, Munawira and Zayne started off on our Vietnam adventure ...
Road trips: Communing with nature and family Road trip 1 A cabin in the woods is a perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life and when Minerva and Bram invited us to their little slice of paradise, I put away all thoughts of city lights, crazy shopping and fancy dinners and hopped into their car with Leo and sis Gloria to live in the wooded wilderness of Tahoe ...
Spain and Morocco Family Reunion 2023 Family reunions are priceless. Covid had isolated us for a long period of time and we were planning a get-together somewhere out of the country. The opportunity came by when our good friend from Spain, Angela Abascal invited us all to her wedding in Pamplona, Spain. She was getting married to Vidit, an Indian boy. It seemed crazy at first to think that the whole family would congregate to Spain from different parts of the world. But Angela insisted that we should all come, approached us individually and convinced us that we were all ...
My younger son Franav invited us for the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Doha, Qatar. Post pandemic, both Vasu and I have had ups and downs with health issues, but Franav’s invitation was attractive and enticing, specially so as we had also witnessed several of the FIFA World Cup matches in St. Petersburg and Moscow in Russia in 2018 and had experienced the overwhelming welcome of the host nation wherever we went ...
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the largest annual gathering of the international women’s movement at the United Nations. It provides a unique opportunity for leaders in gender equality and women’s empowerment to come together on a common platform to influence the UN agenda. The CSW is the principal intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. It is instrumental in documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards of gender equality and the empowerment of women ...
‘The Glory that was Greece and the Grandeur that was Rome’ was the title of my History text book when I was studying for the Intermediate Arts at the Sophia College, Mumbai. The book fascinated me as I read all about the Roman Empire, it’s conquests, it’s architecture with it’s triumphal columns, it’s magnificent engravings and the valour of their warriors. It was then that the travel bug bit me badly, and year after year, we went to experience the ancient histories of Europe. So much so that the grandeur and glory of the civilisations in our own country got obscured ...
“As President of the IWFCI India National Chapter, Dr. Daphne Pillai was invited as a speaker at the ‘Global Women’s Trade Summit’ and ‘Global Leaders Leaders Forum’ held in South Korea from October 1-3, 2019 ...
Christmas and the famed Christmas markets of Europe are storybook tales which stir the imagination of the mind to visions of fantasy lands. These dreams became reality when this Christmas our family took a trip to Austria to witness and experience firsthand the magic of the nativity told in traditional folklore and tinseled creations ...
'When Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) come together, it can create an Economic Tsunami' were the words that set the momentumat the inauguration of the Global Women’s Trade Summit held in Ulaan Baater, Mongolia on 6th and 7th September, 2018 ...
I got a chance to visit Russia in the year 2003 when we participated in an exhibition in Moscow. It was in the month of March and freezing at - 15 degree centigrade temperatures ...
Woke up this morning to what I thought was a normal day and so I dressed normally and went to the restaurant for breakfast. A minute later I got a message from one of my friends living in New York. Daphne, it is snowing outside and there is a forecast of a snowstorm. So be prepared, wear your snow boots and warm wear before you step out. I looked at the high heel shoes that I was wearing and the light jacket and said ‘Oh No.’ This snowstorm is going to ruin my CSW experience. I had registered to go ...
Another day of excitement. After an early breakfast at the hotel, I rushed to the CCUN for the CSW62 orientation where we were briefed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations. Like me, most of the audience were first time participants at CSW. I then took a cab and braving the New York traffic just made it on time to the next event at 4 W 43rd St where a very different experience awaited me. When I arrived, the Blue Room was getting filled with eager participants. The topic was a ...
Thursday 15th March 2018 As a teacher of communication it’s a topic close to my heart. And so I took a New York Cab and rushed to 4W 43rd Street. In the crazy New York traffic, I made it just on time to my destination and to the venue the ‘Aqua Room’. My heart sank when I saw there was not a single seat available and people had crowded at the back. I pushed myself forward (not my usual style), but this was one event I could not miss. I squatted on the floor with others young and old. And ...
Woke up this morning to what I thought was a normal day and so I dressed normally and went to the restaurant for breakfast. A minute later I got a message from one of my friends living in New York. Daphne, it is snowing outside and there is a forecast of a snowstorm. So be prepared, wear your snow boots and warm wear before you step out. I looked at the high heel shoes that I was wearing and the light jacket and said ‘Oh No.’ This snowstorm is going to ruin my CSW experience. I had registered to go ...
A camaraderie of souls, the great sisterhood of UN Women got together on Consultation Day to launch the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 62). What a wonderful privilege it was to be a part of this great experience. I was representing Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland. Around 4000 UN Women from Nations across continents congregated at the TriBeCa Institute of Performing Arts. With one common goal in mind ‘Achieving Gender Equality and empowering rural girls and women’. The whole atmosphere was fraught with emotion. ‘Leave no one behind’ was the resounding theme as speakers talked about ...
