Skies across Uttarakand to Delhi and beyond...

Some gorgeous images of the sky while up in the air and during the safaris across Corbett & Panna....

Ethel M Chocolates' Botanical Cactus Garden, Nevada

On the way back from Vegas towards Los Angeles, the bus was to make few stops, one of which was Ethel M Chocolates' that included a visit to the Botanical Cactus Garden within their campus.. And this was supposed to be Nevada's largest and one of the world's largest collections of its kind.  So, the excitement levels were quite high. I am not a big fan of Chocolate, but always curious to know how it is made etc and so the walk through the factory was interesting, but nothing I hadn't seen before. After spending a few minutes exploring the store attached to the chocolate making unit, I walked outside towards the gardens.  

Spread across four acres, the Botanical Cactus Garden shows off the drought-tolerant ornamental, cacti, and other succulents. Apparently, the place contains over 300 species of plants, not sure how many I saw in the 45mins I wandered around. Many of the cacti and succulents are native to South West America while some are from South Western regions of USA, and from Australia and South America as well. They are all well suited for the weather here in Nevada and some cacti had pretty flowers on them as well... 

For more info, visit here

Skywatch Friday... Bhubaneshwar to Chennai I fly....

I love the window seat, and I make sure to grab it at every given opportunity. This time, while flying back from Bhubaneswar, I was allotted the aisle seating on the 2nd leg and well, I kept hoping praying none else would come and I could scoot over to the window. But lo behold, after a bit of juggling and people shifting about, since I was a lone traveller I got to move to the window seat.. Yabadabadooee 

And well, I had a blast clicking pictures, watching the plane do its magic the cities/clouds below pass by slowly...  Here are some shots and video in reverse order.... :-) 

For more beautiful skies, click here

Skywatch Friday... Above the city lines

If you know me, you will know how I love the window seat on an airplane and hog it at every given chance.. This time, during the 4 flights I took, I managed to get window seat at 3 of them. Here are a few shots from the last one, that brought me  back home to Chennai... [in reverse order]

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Skywatch Friday... A day in Pondicherry with me - 5- Soaking in the sun

Bharathi Park and Aayi Mandayam are places that I end up spending some time in every time I visit Pondicherry. Infact I have done a detailed blog post on this place sometime back.. This time, during my solo trip too I spent quite some time walking around the park, generally people watching and lost in thoughts...

Post on Aayi Mandayam

Thursday Challenge- A day in Pondicherry with me - 4- The Roads

It is a a 162-year-old heritage monument  situated right in the middle of Bharathi Park. The path leading to the monument are cobbled style and the place is quite beautiful. 

This historic monument, which was infact made the official emblem of Pondicherry, the  Union Territory, was erected during the period of French emperor Napoleon III as a tribute to commemorate the efforts of Aayi, a courtesan, who razed her house to build a tank thereby providing drinking water supply to this former French outpost.

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday ... 

Skywatch Friday... New kinda company!

It has been a few months since my last trip and this one was indeed a special one, with many firsts.. For the first time I actually announced to my friends where I was headed, when I was leaving...  :-) And this was also the first time I was traveling with a kid [friend's son-7yr old]

From the minute I picked him up at his grandparents house he was on a roll and I loved his company.. The journey was filled with word games, catching up on his life and yapping away dime a dozen.. hahaha... He clicked some pictures, kept pushing the phone right on the window and eventually would get mad when he saw the phone case reflection in the photograph.. Once he even dropped the phone, instantly his face froze till I reassured him it was alright... 

When the stewardess announced they would get the food and beverage cart out and we could buy what we wanted, he instantly picked up the magazine and pointed at the White single murukku asking me if I could get him that. But alas, it wasn't available.. 

He: ok, can i get the chocolate chip cookies then?

Me: Sure

Stewardess: Sorry, we are out of them. But we do have oatmeal honey cookies

Me: okay, can i get one please.

He: Sulked a bit and turned face to window [but not before mumbling, "i guess they forgot to load those on the flight"] 

Me to Stewardess: Can i also get a submarine sandwich please.

Picked it up, opened it and offered him a bite... and that was the last I saw of it.. 

He : It is yummy, can I eat the full ? 

Me: Ya baby sure thing.. go ahead... I also got him a glass of water that he drank like the good boy he is.

While he ate, we played with the box that had a story about the yellow submarine, few funny characters and how the sandwich came on board the flight.. 

We then resumed playing random games, looking out the flight and commenting on how the clouds looked like an island or maybe ice or snow... Gosh, those 2hours was such a new experience altogether.  As we landed, it was onto another barrage of questions "Has amma sent driver number, call him no, lets go get our bags..it is going to start raining in Bombay, if it rains a lot then I will get holidays.... la la la.."

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday ... 

Skywatch Friday. One among the many temples..

While exploring Karaikudi, we stumbled upon this temple, majestic and beautiful. it was closed and so we did not go inside. Did however spend some time in the Museum nearby and a book store of sorts adjacent to it.

In this region, people are classified based on which temple zone they are from. This temple falls into one of the nine zones.  The entire temple campus was empty but for a few guys who were enjoying a cool swim in the temple tank.

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday ...

Skywatch Friday.. Along the Galle Fort

We were on our last leg of the Srilankan holiday. We left Unawatuna that morning and drove towards Galle before heading down back to Colombo. Along the way, we decided to take a small detour and visit the Galle fort area. The cab driver also chimed in saying the place had some interesting architecture and quite a few shops as well. We drive inside the Fort entrance and stopped near the Fort wall. My friend and I hopped out and walked along the wall, watching the ocean, with calm waves and a man walking into the ocean to fish. The water was a beautiful emerald colour and seemed quite shallow as well.   

Located in the Bay of Galle along the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, the Fort was built back in 1588 by the Portuguese, but then over time it was fortified by the Dutch  when they ruled the region around the 17th Century. It has been over 423 years and even today the Fort stands tall and majestic. It is now protected by the Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka.

Within the Fort area we noticed the architecture was quite unique. The buildings were all pristine white and lined up in order neatly. There was also the Dutch Reformed Church and a temple we could see from the fort wall. We spotted a Roti stall and went over to check it out. Attached to it was a bed and breakfast, the owner who saw us gave us a quick tour of the place. We also picked up a cheese and onion roti from the stall [it was like a parantha and was quite good]  

What was amazing about the place was that quite a few buildings were still owned by the Dutch and the center has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  This very Fort has not only stood the test of time, but also survived the Boxing Day Tsunami.

As we drove around the place doing a full circle, we saw the Lighthouse, Court house and a Hospital. The day seemed to have been an auspicious day for we saw quite a few couples getting ready for marriage or newly married. And then along with them there was always a group of bridesmaids and best men, all dressed in matching outfits and traditional srilankan attire. The bride and groom were decked up, the bride in a white saree with jewellery that hung down her neck like curtain, while the groom in a beautifully embellished jacket studded with stones and what not [shall get the pic from friend and post it here]. 

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday ... 

Skywatch Friday- Madurai in all its glory

 Walking through the streets, I reminisced about our life in that town, crossing the road to get to school, the family that lived below in our house and  a whole host of other memories came flooding in. I was dragging my trolley bag and walking towards the Periyar Bus stand to receive my friend who was arriving from Kochi. 

After the initial hugs and smiles, we had breakfast, freshened up at a hotel nearby and made our way to the temple. As the auto rode through the narrow lanes, all I could think of was the last time I was here. It had been a good 4-5 years if not more. And every pillar and every sculpture was etched in memory. I narrated some of the memories with my friend and also told her of the Shiva- Parvathy wedding story that is described along the walls of the temple while we waited in line to get Darshan. We were inside the majestic & renowned Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai. 

Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvati (in the avatar of Meenakshi amman). There are 14 majestic Gopurams or towers including two golden Gopurams for the main deities.  There is also a Nandi sitting in a mandap that has been sculpted from one single stone. Apart from this, there is a hall with pillars where each one plays a different musical note. Unfortunately they have been closed off and public is not allowed to touch it these days. 

Unfortunately that day we had an hour and that went in waiting in lines and getting Darshan. Couldn't really wander through the entire temple campus. But a visit is such a heart warming thing, especially in a town that holds fond memories.. 

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