02 Feb

Offbeat Tourism at Mangdechhu Hydro Electric Project in Bhutan

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The Mangdechhu hydroelectric project is a 720MW run-of-river power plant (4 units each of 180 MW capacity) being built in Trongsa district of central Bhutan on the Mangdechhu river (which is a tributary of Manas river – which is again a tributary of Brahmaputra river). Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority (MHPA), which is constituted by the Indian Government and the Royal Government of Bhutan, is developing the project. On completion, most of the electricity generated by the underground power house will be used to meet the energy requirement of Bhutan and the surplus electricity will be exported to India

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On The Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka

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The high point of our yatra was the visit to Sigiriya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sigiriya or Simha Giriya ( Lion Rock ) is a gigantic rock formation ( 660 ft high ) on top of which a complex capital city was built by one king Kashyap and which was said to have been later usurped by Ravana. Still later, it was used by Buddhists to promote their religion. The rock and its surroundings presents a unique concentration of urban planning, architecture, gardening, engineering, hydraulic technology and art.

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Chail – Nature’s true walk

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The resort was in middle of the Jungle area and surrounded by hills from 2 sides. Luckily our rooms are balcony one’s and it opens to the hills. What else anyone want a good resort with a hill facing balcony. We checked in to resort a little early and thanks to the manager who allowed us to check in before half an hour from scheduled time. We all were very tired after 11 hours long journey.

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Maharashtra Jyotirlings – Aundha Nagnath, Baijnath and Grhrineshwar

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धर्मशाला में रूम का पता किया तो कोई 700 कोई 500 मांग रहा था, हालांकि वहां मन्दिर ट्रस्ट का धर्मशाला भी है वो मन्दिर के पीछे की और है और किसी पण्डित ने बताया की वहां सिर्फ 100 रुपए ही रुकने का किराया है, उन्ही पण्डित जी से हमने अभिषेक करवाने के लिए बात की तो वो भी हमारे साथ हो लिए की चलिए पहले आपको रूम की व्यवस्था करवाता हूँ फिर आराम से अभिषेक और पूजा के लिए चलना क्योंकि सोमवार होने की वजह से बाबा का पूजा अभिषेक 7 बजे तक करने की इजाजत मन्दिर प्रबन्धन देता है,

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Delhi to Ramnagar : Jim Corbett National Park

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We started our journey from Delhi to Ramnagar for a two days weekend trip to visit Jim Corbett National Park.
Ramnagar is a small town located near famous Corbett National Park in Nainital districts of Uttarakhand. The city is said to be dream destination for wildlife traveler as this is the sole park in India where richest concentrations of wildlife occur.

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Jeddah: Discovering a mega-city

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Jeddah has cityscapes on a large scale. Not for this city the narrow crowded bylanes of Mumbai; here, every street is built on a grand scale. Most streets (barring streets in old Jeddah and inside residential areas) are at least 8-10 lanes in width, with broad footpaths. There are bridges and under-passes, service roads on the side, and so on, in addition to the main thoroughfare. During most visits, in spite of using Google Maps and Navigation, I ended up getting on to the wrong ramp, or driving past a turn or missing a U-turn and having to drive an extra 5-10 kms to get back to where I wished to go.

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A Journey as Magical as its Destinations

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They left every thing on me- planning entire route, night halts, bookings,
sight seeing, servicing of the Neerja’s diesel SUV up to the extent searching out 4
dumped sleeping bags from old cupboards for emergency. The final tight itenary
schedule was got finalised after endless mobile talks, smsing and emails, kind
courtesy Maj Gen Nawnit Kumar, SM Commandant, High Altitude Warfare
School(HAWS) ,Gulmarg and Lt Gen Bobby Mathews ,AVSM**, VSM ,the Colonel
of the Regiment (COR).

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कुर्ग या कोडागु – स्कॉटलैंड ऑफ़ साउथ इंडिया

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कोडगु या कुर्ग  कर्णाटक प्रान्त का एक जिला है। इसका मुख्यालय मडिकेरी में है। पश्चिमी घाट पर स्थित पहाड़ों और घाटियों का प्रदेश कुर्ग दक्षिण भारत का एक प्रमुख पर्यटक स्‍थल है। यह खूबसूरत पर्वतीय स्‍थल समुद्र तल से 1525 मीटर की ऊंचाई पर है। यहां की यात्रा एक न भूलने वाला अनुभव है। कुर्ग के पहाड़, हरे-भरे जंगल, चाय और कॉफी के बागान मन को लुभाते हैं। कावेरी नदी का उदगम स्‍थान कुर्ग अपनी प्राकृतिक खूबसूरती के अलावा रिवर राफ्टिंग, हाइकिंग, क्रॉस कंट्री और ट्रेल्‍स के लिए भी मशहूर है।

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Atla and Nalateswari

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Next day we have time in hand so we decided to visit a Shakti peetha called “Nalhateswari Devi” According to the mythologies it is here where the “nala” or throat of goddess Shakti had fallen and so the shrine came to be known as the Maa Nalateswari. It is located in Nalhati, a municipality in Birbhum District of West Bengal near the West Bengal – Jharkhand border.

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Doha: Bridging the Gulf

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Nevertheless, Doha’s a well-planned city for sure. The roads are wide and traffic is quite organised. The best thing about Doha’s roads is that pedestrians are always given right of way. Since I was not aware of this on the first day, I stood on the pavement, waiting for the traffic light to turn red. To my surprise, all the cars stopped to let me cross. For a moment, I hesitated. Only when one of the drivers signalled for me to pass did I realise what was happening. Guess our desi car-owners can pick up a tip or two from Doha’s drivers!

However, our hotel was a complete letdown. It was supposed to be a five-star hotel, but didn’t seem to be worth even two stars. For one, it was just an unassuming brick building, lacking the grandeur and polish usually associated with Indian five-star hotels. Second, the bathrooms didn’t even have a bar of soap, leave alone any toiletries. When we asked for some water, the bell-boy, who happened to be an Indian, advised us to buy a mineral water bottle from a general store, which would cost us 1 Qatar Riyal (QAR), while the hotel would charge us 5 QAR. Rs 70 for a glass of water? What a rip-off!

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Kolkata to Kumayon- at the holy city Varanasi

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We started at 0700 hrs from Lucknow, had our mobile breakfast on the way keeping in mind to cover the distance of 314 kms to Varanasi within midday or a bit more to enjoy the essence of the holy city “Varanasi”, as we only scheduled there for only a day. I purposely avoided the NH 30 and NH 19, which went through Allahabad, remembered the situation while we started through Allahabad in the beginning, though there was no special cause of traffic jam that time but didn’t take the risk.Hence took the NH 30 and to NH 31 after Raeberilley from “Modhupuri”. It took the clock 6 hours to stuck 1300 hrs when we reached at Varanasi.

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The legendary Tarapith temple

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 In next 30 mins we were at Rampurhat station, for going to Tarapith one needs to take means of transport from here only. There are numerous mode of transport starting from e-rickshaws, Van-rickshaws, Autos and maruti omni.We hired an  Auto rickshaw for INR 300 and dumping our luggage we sat in bliss and waiting to reach our destination as soon as possible. The entire way towards Tarapith is now becoming commercialized day by day due to increasing number of devotees and mostly its now a weekend getaway as it serves both spiritual and fun peaceful sojourn for travelers.

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