International

Memorable trip to Virginia Beach

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Roads were descent rather better compared to Myrtle Beach. At some point I was sleepy but pretended to him as if I am wide awake and hooked to every detail. Clear skies, scenic beauty, greenery on every side delighted me . Finally we arrived in our destination , a moment of exhilaration for me. Virginia Beach is a resort city with miles of beaches and hundreds of hotels, motels, and restaurants along its oceanfront. It is also home to several state parks, several long-protected beach areas, three military bases, a number of large corporations, two universities, Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment, and numerous historic sites.

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बैंफ

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भारतवर्ष में हिमालय पर्वत विशाल है इसी तरह से नोर्थ अमेरिका में रोकी पर्वत है. अमेरिका और कैनेडा एक ही कॉंटिनेंट नोर्थ अमेरिका में है. जेसे अपना भारतवर्ष एशिया में है. हम सभी जानते हैं माउन्ट एवेरेस्ट सब से ऊँचा है, उसी तरह सब से ज्यादा लोग हिमालय पर्वत या उसकी तलहटी में निवास करते हैं. आज मैं आपको रोकी पर्वत के एक टूरिस्ट प्लेस पर ले के चलता हूँ. इस जगह का नाम बैंफ है और यह कैनेडा के अलबर्टा प्रान्त में है. यहाँ पहुँचने के लिए वॅनकूवर, कैलगरी या एडमंटन एयरपोर्ट का प्रयोग कर सकते हैं. निकटम हवाई अड्डा कैलगरी है. तब मैं एडमंटन में रहता था इसलिए मैं यह यात्रा एडमंटन से शुरू करूंगा.

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The Al Wabah crater

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I went in a private taxi, to see a natural geographic formation that is located near my place of work in Al Muwayh. This place is called the Al Wabah (Maqla Tamia in Arabic). It is a volcanic crater located on the western edge of the Hafer Kishb basaltic plateau that contains many volcanic cones.

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The Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque

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While driving along the airport highway, a massive, magnificent, multi-domed edifice springs up, seemingly out of nowhere from the stark desert environs . We are on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates and gazing in wondrous disbelief at what is arguably the most beautiful building this side of the Arabian Sea, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayyan Grand Mosque. It is purportedly the third largest mosque in the world, after the great mosques at Makkah and Madina.

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Everest Base Camp & Kalapatthar Expedition

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Many mountains like Thamsekru, Ama Dablam now accompanying is for next 4 -5 days. After lunch again it’s a tough climb till Tengobche. Huffing and puffing are part of life but have only one aim to reach EBC. As we reach Tengobche snowfall starts, kindly note at this height there would always be snowfall no rainfall. Tengboche have a world highest Buddhism monastery in the world. Good palce it was. Now feel some mild headache means altitude plays there game from here.

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Alluring Amsterdam – Part 3

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Since the weather wasn’t too favorable for cycling, we decided to opt for the guided tour. A 6 hour round trip with a visit to the cheese and clog factory plus walk tour in the fishing village of Amsterdam – cant get any better, can it?

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A Whiff of Paris

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We skipped the conventional and recommended “Lido” show and “The Moulin Rouge” on our trip to Paris. These were highly recommended night shows, presented aesthetically and were a huge crowd puller at Paris. We had to skip the energetic and spirited adventure bus. Our priority was to keep the young ones engaged, interested, while keeping our expectation about their energy levels strongly grounded. So we did take the hop in hop off bus to tour the grand city (Sacre Coeur, Champs Elysees etc) but planned on a 3 days stay at Disney World Paris.

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Madrid – Amsterdam in bonus !

Madrid – Amsterdam in bonus !

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The tram brought me back to Centrum and I still had about 1 hour to wander so I walked towards the Dam area, which is a famous touristic spot, with lot of fun, museums, shops etc. There was Madame Tussaud wax museum also, but before the wax museum of London, it is quite small,…but still there was long que before it.

I entered the shop and saw one dark niece of Cleopetra silently deep frying the Pakoras, which are stuffed in Falafel. I asked her to make one for me by stuffing with some onions and other things. She quite rudely told me that she will give the falafel and I have to fill the garnish myself. In Lebanon, the Falfel is wrapped in a thin roti, like mexican tortillas. But she took a bread like “बंद” cut it from half and put the pakoras inside and handed it over to me for filling it with other things. I put the garnishes inside and tried it. The taste was no where like Lebanese falafel, but it was sufficient for a poor veg animal like me. Seeing my face, she asked If I did not like it. I told her that it was ok, but not like the one I ate in Beirut.

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Madrid – tour of the city !–(part 2)

Madrid – tour of the city !–(part 2)

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Crossing one side of the garden and after walking for about 2 Kms, we came out of one side of the garden and found ourselves before another famous landmark of Madrid – La puerta da Alcala…. on in desi style the India Gate of Madrid.

The Alcala Gate is a National Monument and it was designed by famous Italian architect Fransesco Sabatini in 1764. It took 9 years to complete this 19 meter high granite monument. This was a real gate to enter the city of Madrid and was erected to welcome King Charles-III into the city of Madrid.

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MADRID — Bienvenido a España !!

MADRID — Bienvenido a España !!

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Hailing from southern Spain’s outcast populations, flamenco dance and music drew early influences from Greek and Roman and later from Indian, Moorish, and Jewish cultures. With the arrival of the Moorish and Jewish populations to the Iberian peninsula centuries ago, Andalusia’s already thriving music and dance inadvertently began extracting characteristics from the newly-arrived populations. The flamenco dance and music that we see today are the dazzling results of centuries of absorbing and flawlessly sewing together elements of this myriad of diverse cultures.

So due to some Indian connection and to watch beautiful girls, in place of fighting bulls or human animals, I opted for flamenco in a famous hotel nearby and was soon drowned into the dance. See a small clip of flamenco dance on youtube to know about this beautiful art :

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Edmonton: Capital City of Alberta, Canada

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Canada is dream destination in world. It has three time more land than India and its population is only 3.5 Crore. It has ten province (States) and three territories. 10 provinces (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward’s Island ,New Brunswick) and 3 Territories: NOT PROVINCES (Yukon, North West Territories and Nunavut).

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Alluring Amsterdam – Part 2

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The shuttle dropped us at Schiphol Airport and from there we took a train to the Centraal Station (20 mins train journey). “Tours and Tickets” is a famous agency which organizes city tours, canal cruises and other tours around Amsterdam city. We went to one of their counters in the Damrak region (5 mins walk from Centraal) and exchanged our Holland pass coupons for a city tour!

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