Dallas Arboretum / Botanical Garden

I was recently in USA. While I was in Dallas I went to the Botanical Garden. The tulip festival was on. The Garden was full of mind blowing varieties of tulips and other beautiful flowers. The flamboyant colors and the vivid shades of the display was so exciting. My new camera was able to capture all the beauty of the flowers.

Waterfall Aviary, (the world's tallest waterfall)Singapore

The Jurong Bird Park is home for amazing 9,000 colorful birds of 600 species . The park is truly breathtaking and is the largest bird park in the Asia Pacific, covering over 50 acres (20 hectares). But I want to write in this Blog is the world’s highest man made waterfall- Waterfall Aviary. The way to the waterfall was like in the jungle . It is small pathway with trees arching over the head and birds eating the fruits and tweeting in complete harmony and peace. We could hear the gushing sound and melody of the water falling near by. We passed a Bridge to see from the trees the beautiful sight of the waterfall. It is 30 meters(98 feet) high and made in such a way that it is hard to digest that it is not natural in the first sight.
As a nature lover I was amazed by how Singapore , a city with lack of natural resources overcome its weakness by being the garden city and build the nature in a manner that it looks as if the city was always green. Singapore has capitalized on the energy, enterprise and human skills . This is a city where the first impression is that of man’s achievements .
While most countries are cutting trees and destroying the nature in the name of development and blaming each other for the pollution, Singapore is one place where without any natural resources where the people have made it a green place.

Batu caves ,Malaysia

Batu Caves is one of Malaysia's most famous tourist and holy pilgrimage destinations. The Batu Caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the capital of Malaysia- Kuala Lumpur. They are the sacred place for the Hindu's in Malaysia. They consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and 400 meters long and 100 meter high. Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old .

We took a taxi to reach Batu caves. It took us longer than we had estimated we had started to doze. Then we saw a tall mountain ahead of us. There was a huge gathering of tourist buses, taxis and a lot of vendors selling flowers , coconuts and garlands . Located outside Batu Caves stands the 42.7 meter high - the world's tallest statue of Lord Subramanya / Murugan . The statue is said to have cost approximately 24 million Rupees and is made of concrete,steeland gold paint. Just behind are the 272 steps to Batu Caves.Climbing the steep flight of 272 steps with an angle of almost 30degrees is quite exhausting. And also the climate so humid that we were bathed in sweat by the time we reached the cave . Did I tell you that there were monkeys on the stairs and also inside the cave. Monkeys near a temple are not new to me so I was not surprised to see a few (actually I was quite happy to see the familiar creatures :))

The biggest is the Temple Cave which has a 100 m-high ceiling .The natural opening in the ceiling allows the Sun to lit up the Cave and creates a mystic aura. On the left is the Ramayana Cave where reminiscent scenes of Indian epic myths are artistically painted along its walls.Dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate for thousands of years have created rock formations.Stalactites and the corresponding formation of Stalagmites on the floor underneath create intricate formations . They meet and fuse to create columns which look like pillars.


This massive limestone hill is also a popular spot for rock climbing.

Unicef's Buddy Bears in Sydney

I visited UNICEF’s Buddy Bear exhibition while I was in Sydney. I was strolling around when I saw a tall cute and colorful Bear standing with its hand in air . Just when I walked towards him .. I saw more Bears .. there were almost 142 bears with designs representing the culture and tradition of its country.
The motto of the exhibition was “WE HAVE TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER … it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more and live together more peacefully. “
The idea for this exhibition was created 2002 by the inventors of the Buddy Bears Eva and Klaus Herlitz, having three aspects in mind: Art, Message and charity.

The bear in the center is from India. On the right is bear from Hungary and the left one is from Indonesia.

Isn't that a unique art form for a wonderful cause !

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