PACKED with museums,
galleries and monuments, the compact Danish capital is perfect for short
breaks. Despite the city’s pricey reputation, the savvy travelers can get the
best of history and culture on the cheap
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Highland Castles
#Eilean Donant is named after a Celtic saint martyred in 617
Scotland’s history has left a legacy of military strongholds
scattered across the highlands, from looming stone fortresses to majestic
castles towering over historic towns, each with a story to tell
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Classic Paris
GET to the heart
of the allure of Paris with a tour of five of its star sights, from the heights
of the Eiffel Tower to the depth of the catacombs, and a day trip to the splendor
of Versailles
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Views from Another Paradise
# Wondrous views from the top at Chela-La Pass, one of Bhutan’s highest
points
TUCKED between
valleys and soaring mountains, it’s not difficult to find high points in
admiring Bhutan’s natural splendor. A must-visit attraction in Bhutan and
plastered across postcards countrywide, the Tiger’s Nest perches precariously
10,000 feet above sea level in Paro, where legend has it that around th eighth
century, the reverend Guru Rimpoche flew across the mountains on the back of a
tigress, and made the Taktsang Lhakhang home.
However, the best views go to Chele-La Pass, one of the highest points in Bhutan at 3.988 metres.
The 90-minute ride up requires a driver’s experience and extreme skill across
sharp pins and narrow paths, the air getting progressively thinner but the
views achingly gorgeous. Spot the scenic Haa valley along the way, letting your
guides regale you with Bhutan’s colourful past, as you gape at your driver from
afar, who’ll make a jaw-dropping three-point-turn along the cliff’s edge to
take the bus back to Paro town.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Pizzas, Bazaars and Chortens
# The whitewashed National Memorial Chorten
AS unusual a
combination as this might sound, these were the top draws on a short day-trip
to capital Thimphu. One of the most
visited religious sites, the National
Memorial Chorten was built in 1974 in memory of “Bhutan’s late third king,
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. The young and old alike come to spin the large prayer
wheels for hours on end, devotees encircling the whitewashed chorten, adorned
with elaborate statues and mandalas. A short walk behind the five-stars Taj
Tashi is the Craft Bazaar, selling Bhutan-made souvenirs, textiles, masks and
more, this the best place for getting souvenirs. Finish off with dinner at The
Zone, located along Hong Kong street. Sogyal’s mixed special pizzas, expertly
cooked yak burgers, and thick butterscotch milkshakes slurped down amidst a
cosy café-pub setting was the perfect way to end the night.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
SEVEROBANIKALSK to TYNDA
LONG before 1984, things had started to go wrong on the BAM.
The free cars didn’t turn up (they still haven’t) and some volunteers were
disillusioned. There were reports of BAM officials disappearing with funds on ‘business
trips’ to the Philippines. Some history books paint a bleak picture of the
later days of BAM construction – a dangerous cocktail of daredevil engineering
and bathtub-brewed booze.
Meanwhile, the track itself was in a bad state. In some
parts the permafrost had warped the rails until they looked like roller-coaster
tracks; on others, train drivers instead on hanging out the doors so they could
jump if their engine crashed off the rails.
Contrary to propaganda, BAM was only completed (with
exquisite tragicomic timing ) in 1991, right after the collapse of the Soviet
Union. The mineral wealth it promised to untap has yet to materialize. Some utopian
cities along the route are now little more than ghost towns. BAM is seen by
many today as a railway to nowhere – the punch line to jokes about the USSR.
But for all the jokes, BAM remains a lifeline for those
still resident along the railway.
From Severobaikalsk, I join passengers bundling aboard a
lunchtime train eastwards; supply teachers and dentists commuting to isolated
villages, engineers on missions to set wonky rails straight. Everyone gathers
in the corridors as se skirt the shore of Lake Baikal-a vast inland sea, capped
by a six-foot-thick crust of ice during the winter months. In one doomed
episode, long ago, rails were laid on this ice-resulting in at least one steam
engine currently rusting in Baikal’s-mile deep waters. We pass fishing villages
of rickety timber cabins and frozen wharfs. In the distance are the pincprick
figures of fisherman drilling holes in the ice beside their cars.
Life on board quickly lapses into a lazy rhythm. The engineers
potter off to play cards in their compartment. A carriage attendant knits a red
scarf in her office. Day turns to night, cabin seats are converted into bunks
and clock hands are adjusted as we enter another time zone.
Living in a country of almighty distance, Russians are
accustomed to spending time on two rails. Trotsky plotted battle tactics in his
armoured train; tsars ate caviar in their palatial carriages (which housed
libraries, bathtubs and room for a cow to supply fresh milk). Space rockets,
mobile hospitals and even chapel carriages have all rattled along Russian
rails.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)