International

Bhutan : The Land of Thunder Dragon!

Bhutan : The Land of Thunder Dragon!

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Perched on a cliff-top, Bhutan’s Taktshang monastery, also known as the Tiger’s Nest, is one of the most breathtaking temples in the world. The Buddhist place of worship is built on a rock around 3,000m (10,000ft) above sea level and stands above a beautiful forest of blue pine and rhododendrons. The main temple complex was built in 1692 and is considered to be one of the holiest for the Bhutanese people. There are no proper roads and visitors have to trek for hours to reach the temple. Legend has it that Guru Rinpoche flew to this site on a tigress’ back to subdue a local demon. Thereafter, he meditated here for three months. It is blessed and sanctified as one of Bhutan’s most sacred religious sites.
Apart from monastry, we visited old fort of Paro and museum and then started for next destination, i.e. Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan Royal Kingdom and power centre of the country (around 50 K.m. away from Paro) taking with us wonderful memories of beautiful Paro. Again following the same pattern, we reached Thimphu in the evening and stayed in hotel to get ourselves recharged for next day’s tryst with the capital city.

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A Day in Nairobi National Park

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The park is built for people like us who cannot go to Masai Mara or Amboseli or to similar places. It is a small snapshot or trailer of what you could get in those places. This park is the only national park which is built inside or very nearby a metro city. It is home for black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, buffaloes, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, elands and diverse birdlife with over 400 species. Black rhinos are special attractions, they are declared as endangered species.

As soon as you enter the park, you enter into an altogether different world. Nairobi skylines are visible from a distance (the national park is about 7 kms from the city centre), no sound of any mechanical human devices, you surrender yourself to the inviting nature.

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My visit Utamaduni Craft Centre and Kazuri in Nairobi

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Utamaduni Craft Centre

My business schedule didn’t allow me to make a voyage to one of the ultimate destinations of Kenya – The Masai Mara. So I decided to explore nearby areas in the next Saturday. We took a taxi (booked by the hotel) and started off for a place named Utamaduni Craft Centre (http://utamaduni.com/). One of the specific reasons to go there because that place specializes in African native crafts and arts, and has a huge collection of all varieties. Reaching there I realized that was indeed a great decision to arrive here – the assortment is really so remarkable. Collected a few souvenirs from there as well.

After spending a couple of hours there, we headed to another nearby place Kazuri Bead and Pottery Factory (http://kazuri.com/). They are supposed to be one of the largest manufacturers of clay made beads and pottery works.

The place is really a heaven for ladies, specially who fancy the jeweleries made of beads and clays.

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Voyage to London from Bombay, via Sea and Road in 1958

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We were among the hundreds of hopeful Indians, boarding the ship, in search of better life and future. Since we had paid the lowest fare, we were directed to the lower deck. The cabin allotted to us had ten other passengers-all young, and we knew a couple of them. Some of them were going to Germany and France, while the rest of us were bound for London.

My wife was the only female in the lower deck. Being all of almost the same age, we got along famously. All of us first time travelers, feeling seasick. The sea was pretty rough, and the food on the ship was disappointing. But we didn’t mind. The prospect of getting to London kept us cheerful.
Aden was the first port of call. And we went around the town with other passengers. Every one wrote a postcard to their families


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A hike to Montellegro

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A few more photo-stops and we realized that by the time we would reach up, it would be well above three hours. The hike was relentlessly steep but we had no way out now. To aggravate the difficulty, path was paved with rough stones and we had to look where we put our feet.

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Kenya 2014 – 7 days (Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementaita,Masai Mara)

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Lake Nakuru was our next spot and we got to have lunch at the Lake Nakuru lodge, again a beautiful property and we set off towards the lake, a beautiful sight to see the flamingoes, though they were very far we did to see them flock away…. what a beautiful sight, lake nakuru was truly a beautiful lake….again Rain was a spoilsport and all the animals went hiding and hence missed the change of seeing any wild cats….we settled down early evening at the Lake Elementita Serena Camp, a very exclusive camp and so glad that we stayed here, we had the view of the lake from the lobby…..couldn’t ask for more…..an absolute heaven. Each tent tastefully furnished with its own private veranda and NO we did not leave this opportunity to toast a glass of wine! Had the most yummilious food of all the lodges that we had stayed so far…. peaceful dinner with some live music…..back in our cozy lodge we slept off listening to hyenas….
We had to leave early morning, which was crispy and clear,and we left left sighing and wishing we could have spent more time in this beautiful lodge. Local people did say “If a visitor comes to Africa and it rains it means that you are blessed”….hmmmm…..I think were blessed enough and prayed it did not rain…lolz….we were off on road to the most awaited destination of our Trip….the Masai Mara….

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Around London – Weymouth, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

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It’s been few months in UK (London) and was not sure what all things I can cover nearby outside London and I was constantly thinking about it. Few weeks back one after noon I along with my colleague somehow zeroed in on Weymouth which have few other places called Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove around it… I started exploring what all things we can cover in our three days trip and my colleague started exploring the options how to reach there … till evening we were all set to go on the Friday evening…

We boarded the train on Friday evening and were supposed to reach our Holiday Park in Weymouth by midnight and which we did after few delays….

Saturday Morning 1 st Day – exploring Weymouth — The view was awesome as the beach and the grasslands were visible from our Caravan and we were aware that it would be a long day walk ahead.  We spend couple of hours in our resort and headed towards the beach for which we came to Weymouth.  The sun was bright and penetrating and it took around 20 minutes to reach the sea shore. The moment we put our toes in the cold water all of us got refreshed… As it was a pebble beach there was no sticky feeling of sand and it was convenient going to and fro into the water …if you know what I meanJ. We spend few hours over there and then decided to walk along the shore which looks to be 3-4 miles

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Montreal City tour

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On Saturday we had started our journey.Our train departure time was 0645 from Toronto (Union station ).Business class coaches were quite good , spacious and clean . We were given warm welcome and assistance by VIA Rail friendly staff.The difference in Business class and Economy class here is only food.In Business class food is included where as in Economy class we have to buy food.As a usual routine we got our tea , biscuits and later breakfast in train.In the end they had served complimentary wine.It was a 05 hour journey and we reached Montreal at 1200 noon.As we were entering in the Montreal City we can feel just by looking at the road , houses and other infrastructure  that it is a completely different city not similar to Toronto.
When we were booking our Hotel we thought of two factors; one is cost/location i.e. distance from railway station as our return train was also early morning train.Secondly as were not able to decide on Hotels as per reviews posted in Google we decided to go for a chain and brand Hotels which are tried and tested.Thus we finally booked our room in Sheraton Hotel Montreal.Our decision of choosing a Hotel Near Central station and close to city centre helped us a lot as we have not used any public transport / Cab service in Montreal.So we walked from station to Hotel.It was a 06 minutes walk.

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Niagara Falls

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Over all Canada is peaceful.. full of chinese, desis and almost all nationalities.. How is Canada better than USA? well the rules are strict,…

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Toronto & Niagara

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We really enjoyed the colorful aquarium with so many different species of fishes, specially the sharks and the divers feeding the sharks and playing with sting rays. We came out and saw a Railway museum just opposite CNT. I have strong fascination for trains and it was free (The only free thing in Canada)… we went inside the park where different locomotives, trains and old stations were on display.

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