May 18, 2012 | No Comments yet

Thimphu's memorial chorten, built in 1974 to honour the 3rd King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, is a prominent landmark in the city with its golden spires and bells. The best time to visit here is in the morning when devotees arrive to offer respects and pray. ...
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May 11, 2012 | 1 Comment

Downtown area of Detroit is quite interesting, with well kept buildings right next to a lot that's empty or being torn down. Back in the day, this automobile capital of USA had a bustling downtown. The city is slowly emerging from decay and I hope it regains its charm in the next decade or so....
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May 4, 2012 | 1 Comment

It seems that in Russian train there are these industrial water heating units called Samovar (Самовар / समोवर) in each compartment. As soon as my train departed Moscow, everyone, young and old, grabbed their mugs and lined up at the samovar for some hot water. It was very interesting to watch this!...
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April 20, 2012 | No Comments yet

The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C between the top and bottom. This large temperature difference was possibly used by the Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops...
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April 13, 2012 | No Comments yet

From cute little stalagmites along the path (I was so tempted to crush them) and gigantic ones about ten times my size, to thin stalactites that hung precariously over my head and mammoth ones that seemed like pillars supporting the mountain above, the caves were full of fascinating calcium carbonate structures...
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April 6, 2012 | No Comments yet

Acre or Akko as it is locally known, is a UNESCO world heritage city that played a significant role in shaping histories of several cultures: Israelites, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Arabs and the Bahá'í. The historic old city has a big Turkish market (souk) with many interesting stores including the ones selling made in China tourist knick-knacks...
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March 30, 2012 | 1 Comment

Almost like travelling in a time machine (which I hope becomes a reality sometime soon), but not quite, it is possible to experience sights and smells from two entirely different time periods in Quito. Quito’s old town, a UNESCO world heritage site, was built in the 16th century over a destroyed Inca capital. The area to the north of the historic centre, known as “La Mariscal”, is a late 20t...
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March 23, 2012 | No Comments yet

Located 330km north of Toronto, North Bay is a small city of 50,000 residents on the shores of Lake Nipissing. North Bay has a nice commercial district by the waterfront and is a compact and walkable. Besides the lake, there are neat coffee shops, bookstores and boutiques dotting small streets in the downtown area...
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