International

Visit to the Batu Caves

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For example, the rarest spider in the world – the Trapdoor spider (Liphistius batuensis, the scientific name). Even there are species still live in these caves since some 100 million years!

Of course, you cannot see of them, because of these species are mostly tiny, and the cave is literally dark. Because of the fragile ecological atmosphere inside the cave, you are bound to follow some important rules.

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Giraffe Centre and Nairobi Town

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One of the engaging and delightful thing you can do there is to feed those animals with your own hands. Of course you cannot just make them eat anything of your choice, the volunteers roaming around there distribute the food that are only allowed.

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Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang- Part 2

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I came back to hotel and joined my friends for our journey to Muktinath. Today we would pass through the village Kagbeni to reach Muktinath. Jomsom and Kagbeni is the main gateway of Muktinath. We drove only a few minutes and reached the riverbed of Kali Gandaki. Around that place Mr. Bachchan’s film “Khuda Ghawa’ was shot and our driver was more interested in showing us the shooting spots. But we were more excited to the adventurous drive over the riverbed. I peeped outside the window and saw wheels of our vehicle were rolling inside the river water. We crossed the river Kali Gandaki and started ascending through the rocky mountain road.

The climate and landscape all around looked like a rain shadow region of Himalaya, very similar to those of Ladakh region. It’s Mustang! A lost kingdom in Himalayas! We stopped and looked around. Far on the foothills of Mt. Dhaulagiri the view of tiny town Jomsom was awesome.

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Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang

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It is not a star category hotel but undoubtedly the best of the lot. Hotel owner endeavoured to preserve the past glory by hanging photographs of Mr Bachchan with him and some film shots of ‘Khuda Gawah’ on the walls. Staying in this hotel was comfortable; it had 24 hours hot water facility and free wifi. The foods were nice but they cost too high.

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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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