Interesting Tourist places and things

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Amber Fort, Rajasthan India



Amer Fort is located in Amber, 11 km from Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India. It was the ancient citadel of the ruling Kachhawa clan of Amber, before the capital was shifted to present day Jaipur. Amber Fort is known for its unique artistic style, blending both Hindu and Muslim (Mughal) elements, and its ornate and breathtaking artistic mastery. The fort borders the Maota Lake, and is a major tourist attraction in Rajasthan.




Today, tourists can ride up to the fort from the base of the hill on elephants. On the ride, one can see the skyline of Jaipur, Maotha lake, and the original city walls. The fort can be toured with a guide or on one's own. You also have audio guides available in various languages. The sound and light show in the evening is worth a view. One of the most striking parts of the fort is the Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors). Tour guides tell visitors that when the palace was occupied by royalty, the hall could be lit at night by a single candle because of all the tiny, intricate mirrors.

[emmahood]

What a lovely places!! thanks for sharing.. very nice pics and the places..

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Jantar Mantar Astronomy Park - Scientific Heritage


Jantar Mantar Park was built in 1724 under the orders of emperor Muhammad Shah to observe the Sun, Moon and the Stars and compile astronomical tables and charts. Jai Singh invented brass instruments for calculating astronomical values and later replaced them with instruments made of brick, lime and clay. Jantar Mantar is situated in Connaught Place, bang opposite Park Hotel and NDMC building, New Delhi.




It is part of a group of five stone astronomical observatories, the other ones being constructed at Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. The observatory gives a good insight into the technological innovations of the time and is an integral part of India's scientific heritage.



Jantar Mantar is constructed entirely of stone because Jai Singh hated metal observatories. It has six astrological instruments, namely: Samrat Yantra, Jai Prakash Yantra, Niyata Yantra, Ram Yantra, Misra Yantra and Agra Yantra. The one in Delhi is today the largest and most preserved observatory amongst others, though the one is Jaipur is built on a larger scale. Till date the instruments have predicted accurately with a 10 % error margin.

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Hanna Lake, Pakistan



Hanna Lake is a lake near Quetta city in Pakistan and is one of the main attractions in the city and a reservoir was Constructed by the British Empire.The turquoise waters of the lake provide a rich contrast to the sandy brown of the hills in the background. One can promenade on the terraces or hire a boat and paddle on the lake and round the island in the middle. Wagon service operates from city bus station side by the City District Government office. The transport can be hired through the PTDC Tourist Information Center, Muslim Hotel, Jinnah Road Quetta.



In 1894, a small action dam Surrpull (Red Bridge) was constructed on main Urak road for converting of water into Hanna Lake coming from the Zarghoon Mountains range, of streams, snow melting and rains through main channel. This channel nowadays needs repairs and is wasting water and recently the water level is deadly low, up to three feet, and thousands of fish are in danger. There is also a water channel which was constructed the same time by the British to convert the snow and rain water near spin kaarez coming from Murdar mount to surrpull for filling of water in this lake. This channel was destroyed by the heavy flood in 1976 and still not constructed and all the snow and rain water is going waste till now and resultant the Hanna Lake was fully dried in 1999 to January 2005. If Hanna Lake Development Authority (HLDA) the custodians of Hanna Lake did not perform any action to bring water through surrpull the lake will be soon dry again. The lake is located a little short of the place where the Urak Valley begins and 14 km from Quetta. The beautiful Hanna Lake was built in the time of British Empire in 1894.




Golden fish in the lake come swimming right up to the edge of the lake. There is a lakeside restaurant with picnic tables shaded by pine trees. At one end, the irrigation dam rises out of the depths like battlements of a fort, and on the eastern part the well known Hayat Durrani Water Sports Academy (HDWSA) the only rowing, canoeing, kayaking and sailing training center in Balochistan Province. Hanna Lake is very attractive for holidaymakers, and is crowded with hikers and campers in holidays. You can hire a boat and paddle on the lake and round the island in the middle. The HLDA / HDWSA and Merck has planted various trees for the beautification and protection of environment in Hanna Lake Mountains.
Kayaking in front of the historical Bridge wall of Hanna Lake constructed by Great Britain in 1894.

[theronalds]

Hi - I am from Australia - You should all come and vitit - I think it is a great place to travel!!

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Amboli-Hill station



Amboli is a hill station in south Maharashtra, India. At an altitude of 690 meters it is the last hill station before the coastal highlands of Goa and a relatively unexplored one. Amboli lies in the Sahayadri Hills of Western India, one of the world’s “Eco Hot-Spots” and it therefore abounds in a variety of fairly unique flora and fauna. However, as in the other parts of the Sahaydri Hills, denudation of the forest cover and unregulated government assisted “development” (read “hotels, resorts & highways”) are gradually ruining a once pristine environment. Historically, Amboli village came into being as one of the staging posts along the road from Vengurla port to the city of Belgaum, which was extensively used by the British to supply their garrisons in south and central India. The hills of Amboli village provide one of the sources of the Krishna river (The “Ganges” of south India) and an ancient Shiva temple (called Hiranyakeshi) exists at the cave where the water emerges. The main attraction for tourists is the incredibly high rainfall (7 meters average per year!)and the numerous waterfalls and mist during the monsoons. Legend has it that there are 108 Shiva temples in and around Amboli of which only a dozen have been uncovered, one as recently as 2005. There aren’t too many places to see or things to do but its quiet, unpolluted and the local residents are good natured and helpful.



Amboli is well connected by road to all the surrounding cities (Kolhapur 110 km, Belgaum 70 km, Panjim (Goa) 90 km) by road and the nearest airport is at Goa, about 2 hours drive away. All the roads are good and a new airport is expected to come up in north Goa shortly, reducing the travelling time to just over an hour. There are 5 decent (and relatively cheap) hotels at Amboli although, sadly, none of them offer any guided tours into the forests, the main attraction of this hill station. However, an organization called Yoga Republic conducts Jungle Yoga camps and retreats from October to March. The only local transport are motorised 3 wheeler rickshaws and a couple of private taxis. You’ll need them only for a day to check out the touristy places and can then depend upon your legs to take you the ones that interest you most.




A number of pristine beaches like Tarkarli, Malvan, Shiroda, Vengurla, Aarawali, Redi, Bhogave mark the coastline of the disctrict. The virgin beaches with long stretches of white sands, are usually crowdless. Following the footsteps of Kerala, even backwater tours including houseboats have also been initiated in recent times near Malvan. Tarkarli has also seen a rising activities in scuba diving as well.
Sawantwadi is a centre of tourist attraction in the south of the district. Many places like some beaches or hill station, Amboli are within a short reach from Sawantwadi. Amboli, a pristine hill station – unspoilt by manmade vagaries is a must-visit place during monsoon. It also hosts adventure sports academy which intermittently organises adventure camps which include activities such as Jungle Trail, Rock Climbing in Waterfalls and possibly paragliding.

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The Living Root Bridges of Cherrapunjee, India




The lower reaches of the southern slopes of Khasi and Jaintia hills, in Northeastern India, are humid, warm and streaked by many swift flowing rivers and mountain streams. On the slopes of this hill, among the dense undergrowth, a species of Indian Rubber tree – (Ficus Elastica) - thrives and flourishes. These trees shoot out many secondary roots from their trunks. The trees, supported by these secondary roots, can comfortably perch itself on huge boulders along side the riverbanks or in the middle of rivers and send its roots down to the riverbed.



The ancient War-Khasi people, a tribe in Meghalaya, had noticed these qualities of this tree and had adapted it to serve their need for building bridges across rivers and streams. In order to direct the roots in the desired direction, the Khasis sliced betel nut tree trunks half in the middle for their entire length, hollowed them out and passed the thin and long tender roots through them. The roots start growing towards other end of the stream and when they are reached they are allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced.



Some of these root bridges can carry fifty or more people at a time and can be over 100 feet long. These bridges take 10 to 15 years to become fully functional, and they keep growing in strength by the day. Some of these bridges are well over 500 years old.



These bridges are unique to Meghalaya only and are being used daily even today by people living in many villages around Cherrapunjee. One special bridge has two bridges stacked one over the other. The villagers of Nongriat where this bridge is located at the bottom of the valley call it 'Umshiang Double Decker Root Bridge’.

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Salmon Spawning at Kuril Lake in Kamchatka



The Kamchatka Peninsula is a 1,250-kilometer long peninsula in the Russian Far East. It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west.



Kamchatka contains probably the world's greatest diversity of salmonid fish, including all six species of anadromous Pacific salmon (chinook, chum, coho, seema, pink, and sockeye). Biologists estimate that a sixth to a quarter of all Pacific salmon originates in Kamchatka. Kuril Lake is recognized as the biggest spawning-ground for sockeye in Eurasia. In response to pressure from poaching and to worldwide decreases in salmon stocks, some 24,000 square kilometers (9,300 sq mi) along nine of the more productive salmon rivers are in the process of being set aside as a nature preserve.

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The Modern Ghost City of Ordos

The city of Ordos, in Inner Mongolia, China, was founded on February 26, 2001. It was designed to be home for one million people, yet, the Kangbashi district remains nearly empty five years after construction began.





Ordos means "palaces" in Mongolian, and it's richer than Beijing. In fact, with a $14,500 GDP per capita, it's one of the richest in the whole country. With 1,548,000 inhabitants, Ordos is not exactly empty. But much of its modern architecture, sometimes awesomely futuristic, sometimes nafftastically overdeveloped and underdesigned, remains completely empty. The density of this city is only 17.8 people per square kilometer. By comparison, New York City has 157.91 habitants per square kilometer, San Francisco has 6,688.4, and Madrid 5,293.69.




The Kangbashi district began as a public-works project in Ordos, a wealthy coal-mining town in Inner Mongolia. The area is filled with office towers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters and sports fields—not to mention acre on acre of subdivisions overflowing with middle-class duplexes and bungalows. The only problem: the district was originally designed to house, support and entertain 1 million people, yet hardly anyone lives there.



Though many of the properties in Kangbashi have been sold and a million people were projected to be living in Kangbashi by 2010, the city is still empty.



Mostly empty apartment buildings in Kangbashi, a half hour down the road is Dongsheng, where most of Ordos' 1.5 million resident call home.

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Zhangjiajie National Forest Park



The floating ‘Hallelujah Mountains’ you saw on the movie Avatar has been inspired by a real place on Earth – China.



The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in the Chinese province of Hunan features gigantic pillar like rocks, the kind you see throughout the movie. Only difference is they aren’t floating. They are the result of many years of erosion. The weather is moist year round, and as a result, the foliage is very dense. Much of the erosion which forms these pillars are the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants which grow on them. These formations are a distinct hallmark of Chinese landscape, and can be found in many ancient Chinese paintings.



The film's director and production designers said that they drew inspiration for the floating rocks from mountains from around the world, including those in the Hunan province.



One of the park's quartz-sandstone pillars, the 3,544-foot Southern Sky Column, had been officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" in honor of the eponymous film in January 2010.