Vancouver Highlights We visited Vancouver a long time ago, and now my recollection about it has become slightly foggy. But after all, that is the biggest advantage of writing blogs. When you start writing a blog, you willi-nilly find old photos, discuss with your travel partners and research the Net. This process automatically refreshes your memory of those happy moments, and once again you get the pleasure of the vacation that you have taken a long time ago. It is like remembering the smell of the Jasmine flowers in your hair and the sweet notes of the &l [View Full Entry]

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Chitwan National Park - Part I We had a wonderful stay of two days at the Chitwan National Park marred only by the perfidy of the Royal Nepal Travel Company (RNTC) through which we had booked the tour. We had booked an independent unit of two bedrooms because our daughter Bunny was also with us and we did not want to treat her as a child and make her sleep in our bedroom. She was past her teens at that time. However, we were forced to do so, because in the evening a very big group from Mumbai arrived and [View Full Entry]

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Chitwan - Part II Chitwan National Park of Nepal used to be the Royal hunting preserve of the kings of Nepal. While Nepal is more famous for its lofty mountains, the southern part of Nepal, which borders on India, is in the flat ‘Terai’ region, which is hardly 200 meters above sea level, and characterized by marshy grasslands, forests and savanna type land. Given these characteristics, it is no wonder that it supports diverse wildlife. It is mostly famous as the habitat of the Indian one-horned rhino. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terai The Rapti river demarcates the s [View Full Entry]

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Pokhara Pokhara is a beautiful city on the banks of the Phewa lake and surrounded by the snow peaks of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara On a clear day, perhaps, the snow peaks being reflected in the Phewa Lake would lend Pokhara an enchantment, which was lacking on the day we visited it, because the sky was overcast. Clear days at Pokhara are a rarity. Pokhara is always rainy, it seems. No wonder, with 400 cm/year precipitation, what else do you expect? However, we we [View Full Entry]

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Nepal Trip 1999 (Kathmandu) At several places, God has created paradises on earth and practically every paradise has been turned into Hell by the mankind. Whether it is Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kashmir or Cambodia or Bali, these beautiful spots have been ‘war zones’ or terrorist targets of late. However, there is still hope. Peace has returned to Cambodia. Hopefully, all the other regions also will return to normalcy sooner or later. The Maoists were still active in Nepal in 1999, but they were high up in their camps on the Him [View Full Entry]

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Bali Sojourn- Part II (Pura Besakih) This holy ‘mother temple’ of Bali is situated about one kilometer up the slope of the Mount Agung. The mountain rises for another two kilometers behind Pura Besakih, which is the largest temple in Bali. The height of the mountain is 9888 feet, (highest in Bali) and it is a volcano, which erupted in 1963 killing some 1600 people. Surprisingly, the temple did not suffer any damage. In the Hindu cosmology, the primordial ‘Sea of Milk’ was churned by Gods and Demons to get the ‘Necta [View Full Entry]

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Bali Sojourn - Part III (Various touristy spots) Tanha Lot We, i.e. Indian Hindus get special privileges in Balinese temples. Most of the Bali temples are open to the foreign tourists, but some are open only to Hindus, whether Balinese or Indian. Tanha Lot is one such temple, which is situated on the top of a rock in the sea and separated from the coast by a narrow channel, which is submerged under the sea water at high tide. However, one more condition should be satisfied before the devotees, whether Indian or Balinese Hi [View Full Entry]

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Borobudur, Indonesia (JavaScript in Stone) Don’t be scared, my friends. Though languages like Javascript, SQL, PERL are my bread and butter, I am not going to serve the same fare to you. I mean, why you should be tortured by statements like these? While (In Java, Indonesia) {See Borobudur ; See Prambanan; } If (Time permits) {See Ramayana Ballet; } Else {Take the flight to Bali; } End if; End; So, rest assured. I will try to tell you about Borobudur in dear old plain English language, hoping that she [View Full Entry]

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Java Sojourn - Part III (Indonesian volcanoes and cities) Why the center of power in the Indonesian history was always on the island of Java and not on Sumatra, which is a much bigger island? This has led to the result that most of the tourist attractions are also on Java, which is fortunate for the tourist. Saves them some money and body aches. There are more than 13000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago. (Some figures approach 17000) I do not know exactly how many volcanoes the country has, but the following map may help. http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes [View Full Entry]

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Our Indonesia trip (2002) I have written three blogs on the Island of Bali and three on the Island of Java in Indonesia. Indonesia has more than 13000 islands, so it is impossible to visit them all. Moreover, our own touristy interests were more than satisfied by these two islands. This trip was taken in 2002 and we did not have a digital camera that time, with the result that our photos of the trip are in the print form. I need Avi’s help in digitizing our photos, but he is sulking. (He is sulking because of the Uluwatu inci [View Full Entry]

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