My Travel

[melvin]

I visit Machu Picchu, I am Peruvian and was incredible.
Machu Picchu was constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire, and was abandoned less than 100 years later, as the empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although the citadel is located only about 50 miles from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish, as were many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site, and few knew of its existence. It wasn’t until 1911 that Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the “lost� city to the world’s attention. Bingham and others hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca people or the spiritual center of the “virgins of the sun,� while curators of a recent exhibit have speculated that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat. Regardless, the presence of numerous temples and ritual structures proves that Machu Picchu held spiritual significance for the Inca.

[melvin]

More about Machu Picchu.... it is located in Cuzco, Peru.
All visits to Machu Picchu at some point leave from Cusco, which can be reached via a domestic flight from Lima, or international flight from La Paz, in Bolivia. Taking the tourist train from Cusco (which takes 3.5 hours to get to Machu Picchu), you have several options.
The most common way is to take the train to Machu Picchu in the morning, explore the ruins for a few hours and return to Cusco in the afternoon. The train terminates at Puente Ruinas station, where buses take tourists up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Strangely, Machu Picchu station is at Aguas Calientes (2km before Puente Ruinas station) but is not the station used by tourists on a day trip.

[melvin]

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As Peru’s most visited tourist attraction and major revenue generator, it is continually threatened by economic and commercial forces. In the late 1990s, the Peruvian government granted concessions to allow the construction of a cable car to the ruins and development of a luxury hotel, including a tourist complex with boutiques and restaurants. These plans were met with protests from scientists, academics and the Peruvian public, nearly half of which is indigenous. Critics worried that the proposed facilities would not only destroy the beauty of the site but would enable far greater numbers of visitors, which would pose tremendous physical burdens on the ruins.

[Perfection]

Hi melvin, Thank you for the interesting info. Do you really visited the place ?. Will you share some of your travel photos in the forum.

Machu Picchu, Peru : UNESCO World Heritage site - Inca empire in ruins.


Travel planning is like sex !. The foreplay and thinking it sometimes as pleasurable as the actual act.

[Perfection]

Alandi (near Pune)- Pandharpur Yatra, thousands of 'Warkaris' walk the 240 km route to Pandharpur near Sholapur in Maharashtra. The pilgrimmage takes 21 days of walk with the phalkis. Devotees come from all parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka to Alandi. The bullock driven chariot is followed by thousands of devout pilgrims all along the route.Pilgrims sing devotional songs all the way with their musical instruments - 'Veena' and 'Dhol'.

The Yartra started on 09 July 2007 from Alandi. Views of Pilgrim's progress from Alandi & Dehu .

Thousands of devotees come in trucks equipped with tents, cooking utensils, LPG, stove, fire wood, food items, berth to sleep. They camp all the way in tents, cook the food and walk daily with the phalki by singing songs. Hundreds of makeshift tents make the yatra comfortable to devotees.

Pandharpur is one of the most respected pilgrimage sites in Maharashtra. It is located on the banks of the Bhima river, which is also known as Chandrabhaga (fondly referred as it appears like a half-moon, actual Chandrabhaga river is now called Chenab and is in J&K). Pandharpur hosts the famous Vithoba temple, on the banks of the river. Vithoba is considered to be Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu; Vitthala is said to have been derived from the word Vishnu in Kannada. Vithoba's consort
is Rakhumai or Rukmini.

The worship of Vishnu - Vitthala - at Pandharpur is derived mainly from the puranas and has been augmented by the contribution of the great Vaishnava saints of Maharashtra and Karnataka from the 13th through the 17th centuries: Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Sant Eknath, Tukaram, Purandara Dasa, Vijaya Dasa, Gopala Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa.

This temple, covering a vast area, has a total of six gates. The eastern entrance to this temple is known as the Namdev gate. The sanctum enshrines a standing image of Vithoba also known as Panduranga, Pandhari or Vitthala. Vitthala is said to have been derived from the word Vishnu in Kannada.

Pandharpur hosts four "Yatras" in a year - of which "Aashadhi Yatra" attracts most (around 0.5 to 0.7 million) pilgrims to Pandharpur. Pilgrims take holy bath in river Bhima and usually stand in queues 3 km long in order to take "Darshana" of Lord Vitthala. The second most important yatra is Kartiki.

Warkaris do not leave Pandharpur on wednesday. Pandharpur, known as “Sourthern Kashi of India, proudly hosts the of Maharashtra. The Vitthal of Pandharpur is undoubtedly the premier deity of Maharashtra. It is, perhaps, the greatest centre of attraction for the masses as far as S. India. Sholapur (65 km).

Panduranga is a sanskritized form of Pandarga, the old name of Pandharpur. Pundalik, a saint was closely associated with this shrine, and hence this shrine is also known as Pundarika pura. Stylistically the image dates back to the 5th century AD.

There are inscriptions in this temple dating back to the 13th century. Namdev, the 13th century saint was closely associated with this temple. Copper plate inscriptions of the Rashtrakootas place this shrine in the 6th century AD. There is also a shrine to Pundalik at Pandharpur. Pandharpur is also the birth place of famous painter M.F. Hussain.

More than 1.5 million devotees had visited the Pandharpur temple in 2007 pilgrim season.

[Perfection]

Adventure road journey, Jammu Kashmir, India.

A road for adventure travel is from Jammu to Manali via Leh. It is a six day ardous road travel at high altitude and extreme weather conditions.Landslides and chances of road accidents are high on this route. Hair pin curves and a speed of 30 kmph with no overtaking.

No one is in a hurry on this road. Safety comes first.

Jammu - Srinagar highway is a good road which passes through the famous Jawahar tunnel.

Srinagar - Leh road is over Zoji la pass and Fotu la. Buses operate during the season with night halt at Kargil. Two day travel time is normal. Drass is the world's second coldest inhabited place. Kargil is near the Pakistan border and the highway is within the shelling range.

Srinagar - Sonmarg (87 km) - Zoji la pass - Drass (56 km) - Kargil (62 km) - Mulbekh (53 km) - Fotu la (4093 m) - Lamayuru (44 km) - Khulsi - Saspol - Leh (55 km).

Manali - Leh Jeep Safari

Manali (2050 m) - Kothi - Rohtang Pass (3985 m) - Gramphoo - Khoksar - Sissu (3130 m) - Tandi - Keylong (3350 m) - Jespa (3200 m) - Darcha - Patseo - Zingzingbar - Baralacha la (4880 m) - Sarchu - Lachulung la (5065 m) - Pang (4630 m) - Debring - Tanglang la (5370 m) - Rumtse - Upshi - Kharu - Thikse - Shey - Leh (3500 m).

Himachal Pradesh state bus operates in this route and the distance is covered in two days with a night halt at Sarchu or Keylong depending on the road conditions. Leh departure 0430 h daily, book one day in advance. The bus goes to New Delhi via Keylong, Manali and Chandigarh.

[Perfection]

Terrorist activities in Kashmir

The Jammu - Srinagar national highway (NH 1A), the only winter route to Kashmir, is frequently disrupted due to heavy accumulation of snow at Batot - Patni top, Banihal tunnel and Quazi gund. Numerous frequent landslides and hurtling down of small bridges on the valley makes the traffic difficult. Heavy snows generally commence in October and the falls carry till May. Zoji la (3980 m, pass) leading to Ladakh (Leh) from Srinagar remains closed for almost six months. Closing of Khardung la (5602 m, world's highest motorable road from Leh to Siachen glacier base at Panamik) causes the road movement and stocking schedules of Shyok and Siachen garrisons.

Thoise on the other side of Khardung la acts as an airfield for Siachen. Line of Control beyond the point NJ 9842 (Siachen) was undetermined and was captured by Indian Army in 1984.

Series of bomb blasts ripped through the Kashmir valley and on the national highways on both sides of Jawahar tunnel at Banihal, random bomb blasts near Srinagar club, detection of a powerful explosive device inside the Jawahar tunnel itself, frequented prolonged 'hartals' at Srinagar, unidentified gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at the sentry posts outside the residence of the sessions judge, firing near Inspector General office, killing of three terrorists in an encounter, a car was blown up in Lal Chowk and bombs were lobbed at a police piquet at Zaldagar bridge, two extremists fired at a CRPF post in the High court premises, several bomb blasts at various tourist complexes in the city, extremists lobbed a hand grenade on the roof of the TV transmission centre and at various police out posts.

A bus carrying CRPF 'jawans' were bombed by a remotely operated device killing more than 16, a powerful time bomb was detected at the Srinagar airport and was disarmed later, mob violence and protests, riots, military convoys were targeted by remotely operated bombs, grenades were lobbed at an ammunition depot, airfields of Avantipur and Badgam
were attacked using rockets in a commando style operation by terrorists and damaged a couple of parked aircrafts.

[Perfection]

Major fires : A major fire broke out in Army petrol depot and JKSRTC bus stand due to the firing of MZ A17 flame thrower. The staff of Radio Kashmir was held at pistol point and a programme was aired by the terrorists. The terrorists fled in a jeep after throwing two petrol bombs, power stations and transmission towers were regularly damaged in attacks, one tube of the Banihal tunnel was blocked for more than 24 hours when a truck blew up halfway, a number of houses (mainly made of wood) were set on fire by militants while escaping, two trucks in the up convoy were damaged by mines at Zoji la, frequent bank robberies, fire from automatic weapons were even directed to armed forces Head quarters and lots more.

The most disturbing feature in Kashmir was the total passivity of the police during 'bandhs' and strikes.

Large number of Kashmiri youths were trained in guerrilla warfare at Pak occupied Kashmir and send back to India with sophisticated automatic weapons to disrupt the peace in the valley. They are provided with automatic weapons, huge quantities of ammunition, hand grenades, plastic explosives and money. Training camps are located near the Line of Control and are run by experienced Afghan Mujahids. Batches of 500 Kashmiri youths were trained at a time here. The financial support for these caps were done by POK administration and from their donations of the businessmen of the area.

[Perfection]

Pawna dam to Lonavla : Monsoon trek

Pawnanagar to Lonavla via Shiv Khind pass (20 km trek in 7 hour). Pawna lake is one of the largest water bodies of the area which supplies water to places beyond Pune. The road is on the banks of the Pawna dam with views of Tung fort. Dam has long walls and an electric power station nearby. The lake has boating facility - water scooter, speed boat (Rs 50 for a round trip) and motor boats.

The road zigzags on the banks of the Pawna lake to Mantru temple of Sant Gyaneshwar. The two waterfalls nearby are a good place to visit. Lonavla is on the other side of the hill range at a distance of 9 km. The road climbs gently to Shiv Khind and the pass is a narrow one cut through solid rock. Just after the Shiv Khind, a road on right side goes to the upper plateau of Lohagad fort. The road further leads to Aundhe village and then to Khusgaon. Sinhagad educational institutions are nearby. The road further goes to Lonavla via Bhangarwadi.

Tung fort can be approached from Pawna dam by launch or from Tikona by a long march (road). On the left side of the massive rock face there is a Hanuman temple is located. From there approach the rock face and a small track leads to the top. A nice trekking experience with grand views of the surrounding hills and Pawna lake.

Lohagad fort is 10 km from Lonavla by this road. Visapur fort can also be easily trekked in a day. No shops on the way and the monsoon time (July - Aug) is the best time for a visit. The route is motorable and is popular with two wheelers.

[Perfection]

Panshet dam is 40 km from Pune connected by ST bus (Swargate station). Jeeps are also running on this route with a travel time of one hour. On the route, first comes Khadakwasla dam (11 km) and is a popular picnic spot. National Defence Academy, National Water Academy, Indian Armament Technology, Institute of Defence Studies etc are the prime national institutes located here. The road follows the Sinhagad fort road and takes right diversion to Khanapur. The area is scenic and a good road traces a curved path on the banks of Khadakwasla lake to reach Panshet. Two main dams - Panshet & Varasgaon - are located nearby.

Both dams can be visited and are at a distinace of 2 km each from Panshet ST stand. The flow of water from Panshet dam can be seen by following a road from dam site. It is frightening sight with deafening sound of the flowing water, a small Niagra flalls !. Don't beleive my words or the photographs, go to Panshet and experience it during monsoon months.

Varasgaon dam has a small electric power stsion is located at the base of the dam. There are two boating clubs are functioning - Varasgaon boating club and Dolphin boating club. Both has facilities of speed boat, water scooter and motor boat. Walking on both dams and photography are not permitted.