Spring is here

I am back.. If you are wondering where I was.. I was enjoying the Sun, clear skies, Hot ..Ok..it was not that hot ..I will say pleasant weather, wearing the light jacket.. Sweating ( haha ..Some thing I do only in the gym in Zürich) and all the happiness Sunlight brings in our life.. Yes the spring is here ..officially.. there are flowers everywhere.. the bare trees have small leaves now …
Here is photo of the flowers in my garden..Aren’t they pretty?

P.S : The quality is because of my mobile and also my excitement :)

An Encounter with the African Elephant

‘A’ had the pleasure of going to private natural reserve within the Krugger National Park for an Offsite in South Africa.
Krugger National Park was a long drive along the scenic plains and forests from Johannesburg. Upon reaching Krugger we were boarded on a open Land rover. We were accompanied by experienced guides and trackers.
We had short game drives to see the flora and fauna around. One such memorable drives offered an exciting glimpse of the wild world of African Elephants.
African Elephant is different than an Asian Elephant. It could weigh between 4-6 tons and has a larger body and is very temperamental.
The guide was telling us “They live in a herd led by a matriarch. Elephant use their strong ears to catch sounds made by others from the herd ...” While he talking suddenly we saw an elephant crossing the rough road in front of us. We were about 50 meters from him. Our guide immediately stopped the engine and asked us to maintain silence and watch the event unfolding.
Within moments we saw almost an entire herd of elephants crossing the road .A few young bulls stopped by to checkout who were we – a strange looking animal. It was just beautiful. After 5 minutes all the elephants left that spot and went in deep bush.

Our guide started the Land Rover and commenced the drive. No sooner had we taken a difficult right turn with a wayward climb, than we ran into a cute baby elephant. Our guide realized the danger signal and immediately stopped the vehicle . And boy were we shocked to see a giant female elephant charging at us! Her size and aggression were very scary as she ran towards us indicating us to back off. She was a mere 10 meters away from us when our guide started the engine and began reversing. Very much mindful of possibility that the herd that just passed us could return in response to the sound of this female elephant.
The reversing was a sign of respect to the elephant who seemed to appreciate it and waited for a couple of minutes before disappearing in the thick bush herself!

Miniature Park , Switzerland

If you thought this is a aerial view of some swiss city then you are wrong . This is Swiss Miniature Park in Melide near Lugano .

It had entire Switzerland’s famous monuments , buildings , parks, alps , roads and railways etc etc .. I felt like a child in the land of toys.
In the entrance we saw a small train going round and round . I wished I was a child so that I would sit in the Train !The cars, boats , Railways and Cable cars all were working except the planes . All the places displayed in the park were exact replica of the original ones.
Truly a place in a child’s fantasy !

This photo is of typical swiss town with a procession/march of Swiss people in traditional clothes with thier cows

Lake Lugano, Switzerland

Lugano is the Italian speaking part of Switzerland .. And yes as you must have guessed it shares borders with Italy and yes the beauty too.. It is a different Switzerland all together . It is casual ,warm , relaxed compared to the rest of Switzerland.

We took a train from Zurich to Lugano. My first expression after coming out of the Railway station was "Are we still in Switzerland?"

These are some photos of Lake Lugano .

SwissLife

This is Wadenswil - a town on ZuriSee(Zurich Lake) . The speciality is the life here. You will see horses, horse carriages , farm lands , farmers , cows and sheeps and goats with jingling bells .
Most people own a horse carriage and it is a common scene here ! I happen to catch this farmer in his horse carriage with his dog on the main Highway !

Orchid Garden,Singapore

Today I am taking to Singapore. We lived there for quite a while and loved it too. On one weekend when I was homesick , ‘A’ took me out and kept the location a secret – He said you will love it . The taxi took us deep and deep in greenery .
In Singapore there is greenery everywhere amidst the concrete jungle . It is fondly known as the Garden city . And trust me when I say there is no city in this world as clean as Singapore –not even Zurich(here there are cigarette butts fallen everywhere on the ground)
Ok coming back to where I was .. the taxi took us into woods .. now woods are not common in Singapore . So I sat on the edge of my seat looking out of the window trying to figure out where ‘A’ is taking me .. And then finally I saw – Mandai Orchid Garden !!!

Orchid is the national flower of Singapore.

Mandai Orchid Garden is 2 hecters of vintage display in the garden showcases a large variety of orchids on an open hillside. There are over 200 varieties of orchids which are grouped into major families namely Mokara, Dendrobium, Vanda, Aranthera, Renantanda, Aranda and Garammatophyllum speciosum (Tiger Orchid).
A wide variety of orchids are displayed in massed beds out in the open. The sloping hillside on which the beds are laid out is a stunning view to behold when the plants are in full bloom. The garden also includes the famous Water Garden, organic herb and spice enclosure, a fruit orchard, and a hydroculture plant tour and propagation garden.
I was simply hypnotized by the beauty and the vibrant colours of the Orchid. The Management does lot of experimenting with the flowers and grow new varieties. No doubt there is a different Orchid named after a actor or a famous personality.
I saw Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan’s Orchids too…

‘A’ was really fascinated by my fascination for the Orchids and that’s how we have so many of my photos with the pretty flowers ..


I got a Candlestand from the gift shop which has 2 orchids embedded inside the glass as if they have frozen in time .. always fresh as the memories of the Orchid Garden I have…




For more info: http://www.mandai.com.sg/orchids_garden.html

Goat festival , Bern

Today I would like to take you to - Berne, Switzerland . It is the capital of Switzerland. It is a very small place to be a capital of a country :0 It is even possible to see the entire city by walk. You will instantly notice lots of bear statues around. It is said that it was bear kingdom earlier, before humans killed all of them and now there are none left here. So yes Berne/Bern is named after a bear. Legend has it that the founder of Bern, Berchtold V von Zähringen, killed a bear on the Aare peninsula and this led to the town being called Bern (from German "Bär").
The old town Bern is a old town charm- the charm of the covered arcades, cobbled streets and decorated facades.
Bern according to a Swiss friend is considered as villagers in posh zurich.
Some of the attractions of this place are:- Botanical Gardens
The Clock Tower (Zeitglockenturm) was Bern's first western city gate (1191 - 1256) and is now one of Bern's most important sights.
Munster Cathedral- most impressive example of Late Gothic architecture of the city.

But the most interesting part I thought was when we were taking a walk in Old city Berne . There was huge gathering of cows and goats . It was a competition of farmers .
It was like the Goat mela. I took the picture of the preety boy who came first . And he even posed for me !