Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho

The Lakshmana Temple is one of the oldest temple in Khajuraho (State: Madhya Pradesh). Belonging to Western Group of Temples it is the largest and beautifully carved temple at Khajuraho. It is built by King Yaovarman of Chandela dynasty between 930 and 950 A.D. (Click on the image for bigger view)

The main shrine of the temple has four subsidiary shrines at the corners of the temple platform. The temple has columned halls with balconies, an entrance porch, and the inner sanctum.

In the inner sanctum is the sacred image of Vaikuntha-Vishnu brought from Tibet.

Decorating the sides of the temple are numerous statues. It is exquisitely decorated, almost completely with images of over 600 gods in the Hindu Pantheon. Most of the sculptures have economy of drapery but are effusively patterned with ornaments and flower motifs.

The various carvings and sculptures at this temple.

On the base of the platform are beautifully carved carvings. One such band of carving is King sitting on the throne in the Royal Hall with his ministers. In front of the King dance and music is played.

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Mandwa Paintings

Shekhawati region in western India, is famous for its mural paintings. It is like a huge open air gallery of painted walls, havelis and palaces in the vast expanse of the desert of Rajasthan in India. Mandwa is one such place, where every nooks and corner of the town, street, home has been painted with frescoes. We had been to one such ancient home where the interiors are beautifully painted. (Click on the images for bigger picture)

Here the theme is based on royal army of Rajasthan Kings. The paintings show royal assembly.

Even the ceiling is painted with floral designs.

Lalbagh Flower Show August 2010, Bangalore

Every year in the month of January and August, the Lalbagh Gardens at Bangalore hosts Flower Show. If in Bangalore around this time one should not miss the event. (Click on the image for bigger picture)

In the month of August, it is usually organized for 10 days from August 6th to 15th. The theme for this year is to show respect to all the martyrs and freedom fighters of our country.

This year the main attraction is the monument India Gate, beautifully made from more than 250,000 roses, a fitting tribute to the Indian soldiers.

On display were around 260 varieties of Anthuriam, Orchids, Celosia and Dianthus among others.

Every day thousands people enjoy the beauty of these flowers on display. It is mostly crowded in the evening on the weekdays. Best time to be in this place is the early afternoon. I had been here on the weekend afternoon. Even though it was crowded I had enough space to take some snaps.

Very minimal entrance fee is charged for the show. No charges for camera.

Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho

The Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in Khajuraho (State: Madhya Pradesh) is the finest example of architecture of the medieval period in India. Belonging to Western Group of Temples it is the largest and most ornate Hindu temple at Khajuraho. It is built by King Vidyadhara of Chandela dynasty in 1050 A.D. (Click on the image for bigger view)

The main spire rises to a height of 31 m and is surrounded by 84 miniature spires. Other features of the temple are columned halls with balconies, an entrance porch, and the inner sanctum. Inside the sanctum is a marble linga representing Shiva.

Decorating the sides of the temple are numerous statues and the inner sanctum also has large number of ornate statues. Many of the side panels depict Shiva in the presence of apsaras, consorts, and other divinities. Most of the sculptures have economy of drapery but are effusively patterned with ornaments and flower motifs.

Its ornate gateway is very attractive with carvings on it.

Above is the front view of the temple when Sun rays fall on it. The people around it give us the sheer size of the temple.

Aircraft at Minsk Square, Bangalore

The aircraft, Ajeet, is a single-seater interceptor with a secondary ground-attack role. It was used by Air Force from 1975 to 1991. Ajeet was later shifted to Minsk Square, where it was stationed for nearly 20 years. (Click on the image for bigger image)

But owing to the construction of Metro train route this has been shifted out of this place to HAL Heritage Museum. The image above no longer is the common sight at this place.

Javeri Temple, Khajuraho

The Javeri Temple built between 950 - 1150 A.D belongs to the Eastern Group of Khajuraho Temples (State: Madhya Pradesh). This is one of the three Hindu Temples built by rulers of Chandel Dynasty in this group. (Click on the image for bigger view)

This temple is a architectural gem. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Its ornate gateway, the makara torana, and slender shikhara are especially noteworthy.

Like every other temple in Khajuraho, even this temple is also famous for the band of sculptures around the temple.

This is rear view of the temple.

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Popular Hill Stations of Tamil Nadu

Picturesque hill stations of Tamil Nadu beckons every visitor. Pleasant climate and rejuvenating atmosphere have made this place the most preferred tourist destination.

Ooty

Whenever people people talk about the hill stations of India, the first place strikes to them is Ooty. It is such a popular destination for the vacationers to spend their summer vacation in cool environment. The hill resort is nestled in misty blue valleys of the Nilgiris. It host several attractions including Governement Botanical Garden, Rose Garden, Ooty Lake, Doddabetta Peak, Deer Park, Government Museum and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. Shopaholics can shop for pure honey. Eucalyptus oil, Cinchona products, tea and coffee.

Kotagiri Hill

The Kotagiri hill is a favorite summer retreat for globetrotters. Perched amid the lush green tea estates, it is a small hill resort where people can spend peaceful holidays. It is a perfect place for the travelers who want to get rid of city hustle and bustle. Unwind and relax yourself in this beautiful hill station. Kotagiri hill boasts of several amazing places such as Kodanad view point, Rangaswamy pillar and rock, Elk falls and Longwood shola, which are not be missed.

Coonoor Hill

Coonoor is one of the most beautiful and serene hill station of Tamil Nadu. It derives its name from Coon hill tribe of the region. The natural charm of the Coonoor is characterized by grassy meadows, tea estates and profusion of marigolds, sunflowers and rhododendrons. Enjoy nature walking in lush green surrounding or indulge yourself in trekking and feat your eyes with breath taking view of Nilgiri hills.

Yercaud Hill

Yercaud is an explored tourist destination, blessed with immense scenic beauty. It is located the Shevaroy hills of eastern ghats. Visitors get mesmerized in salubrious climate and enjoys the beautiful surroundings. The enchanting hill station is bestowed with several worth visiting attractions such as Yercaud lake, Servarayan temple, Lad's Seat, Bear's cave, the Grange and Killiyur falls.

Velliangiri Hills

The Velliangiri hills is the lesser known hill station of Tamil Nadu. But it has a lot to offer for the visitors. The unmatched natural charm and picturesque location fascinates every visitor. The Shiva temple of Velliangiri is popular among the Hindu pilgrims. According to legends, Lord Shiva performed his cosmic dance on request of his consort Umadevi.

Plan Your Travel

Traveling, especially to places that one is visiting for the first time would always be exciting!! As exciting as it might sound, one has to do a lot of planning before traveling. There are quite a few things to plan for the trip, the most important of them being the mode of transport and lodging.

Thanks to the internet, planning for a long distance or long duration travel is just a couple of mouse clicks away. Online search for transport and lodging can fetch you a lot of cheap deals. These days, there are cheap packages available as well that takes care of transport, boarding and lodging.

Plethora of websites online that offers discount and special deals during the off-peak season. One major factor that we usually think of while choosing a hotel or lodge to stay is the hygiene factor. Once again, the websites gives us an insight of the accommodation by taking us a virtual tour of the rooms that are available.

Staying in a hotel during weekdays would be cheap affair compared to the weekends. Also, during the vacation period, the more number of days one plans to stay in a hotel, more the discount rate would be.

Though the hotels have their own website and it has all the required information regarding the facilities and the tariff, it would be wise to search for the cheap hotels on a booking website. The reason being that these sites give us the option of comparing the rates between different hotels in that area and also rates each hotel based on the experience of the people who stayed there.

Another benefit of planning a trip through these booking websites has attractive offers to their regular customers. A regular client might be given an offer for free breakfast and lunch or an extended day's stay for free!!

With such websites available online, there is no need for a travel agent's guidance or assistance to plan the trip. The procedure is straightforward and doesn't take much time as well to book the hotel accommodation.

Many of us might have a wrong notion about the very description of a "Cheap hotel". These cheap hotels do not compromise on customer service or quality of staying facility in anyways. In fact, some of the hotels that you might see under this category might even be star rated hotels. Moreover, the ratings that we can see online for each hotel are given by those people who regularly stay in such hotels.

Internet access and little time to search for the best deal is all that is required to plan for a comfortable trip at affordable rates. Booking in advance would fetch us the best deal for cheap hotels as well as cheap flights.

10 Easy Steps to Plan a Family Vacation

Trying to select the right vacation for your family can be a daunting task. Some want the sun, sand and sea while others want the dramatic scenery and history. How do you decide where to go that will satisfy the entire family with the least amount of conflict?

1. Make a list of the destinations that interest you. Keep the list to a maximum of four selections and to practical destinations. Most of us would love to travel to the wilds of Africa but logistically it might not be that practical. Keep in mind that small children and the elderly could be very uncomfortable traveling to destinations that have long travel times.

2. Ask family, friends, and co-workers if they have traveled to any of the choices you have selected. If not, ask where they have traveled to and what they enjoyed about it. Write down the locations that sound most interesting.

3. Make a list of the families must haves and nice to haves. Must haves could include such things as an all inclusive plan, good beach, and water sports. Nice to haves could include, private plunge pools, golf courses and hiking trails. Keep the locations that contain most of your must haves.

4. Cross off the choices that are almost impossible to have on one combined vacation. For example, if one family member wants go white water rafting and most destinations don't offer it then eliminate that choice, maybe you can do that next year.

5. Do your research. The Internet provides a wealth of information about almost every destination imaginable. Type in your destination choices and read up on what they have to offer. Also research the traditions and safety aspects of your selected destinations.

6. Research the hotel choices available. Remember that a foreign hotel's star rating may be different from yours at home. Sometimes a 5 star hotel in North America could be the equivalent to a 3 star hotel in South America.

7. Gather brochures from a travel agent and combine the information with what you found on the internet. The more knowledge you have the better off you will be.

8. Narrow your choices down to two destinations and two hotels in each destination. Discuss these options with your travel agent. They can usually give you first hand information on your selections.

9. Keep your price points in mind. Don't select a particular destination just because it seems to have a low price. Sometimes a low price is there for a reason that you will only find out about once you arrive in that destination. These could include a beach located across from a major roadway, a three hour drive to your hotel from the airport or limited running water during your stay.

10. Make your final choice by seeing how you feel about these destinations throughout the week. Which one keeps coming back into your mind? If one keeps appearing more than the others then that's your choice. Enjoy your vacation!!!

Best Way to Plan Your Vacation

Nowadays there is ample scope to try out experimental holidays such as around the world trips abroad. To look for new places at low prices and better booking avenues are some promise travel attraction. One can make the best use for planning the holidays the country and places to be visited during the holiday trip abroad should be befitting your activity/wishes and good mix of enjoying the night life, shopping, sightseeing, and visit to historical places, sea beaches, museums and monuments etc.

After having satisfied with guided tour of heritage sites and observing the local festival, weather condition the culture are keen on first hand experiences. These types of experimental tour for holiday based say developing a green thumb plantation approach the reputed agents who offers a packages tour on low prices offering number of days and nights, hotel arrangements free meals, visa fee and transport arrangement for sightseeing extra.

Alternatively try Google search engine to do the needful on your behalf. While the growing need of online travel facilities have made travel planning and booking more convenient, the search for the best deals is becoming more time consuming and pains staking as we are fast evolving into deal hunters and comparisons shoppers.

But emerges a glaring need to deal comparison travel portal. In fact it would make life much easier if there was a search engine that could simultaneously travel multiple airlines sites, hotels, bus and car service providers as well as all the leading OTA sites on you behalf. There is a one it is a called master search engine it make travel search easier, faster and more transparent and more comprehensive with the help of search engine. One only saves time and effort but it also ensure that you never miss a bargain.

Ibrahim Roza, Bijapur

This is located on the western outskirts of the Bijapur (State: Karnataka) city. Built sometime in 16th century, it is one of the most brilliant designs of Islamic architecture. (Click on the images for bigger picture)

Here there are two buildings on a common platform, surrounded by beautiful gardens on three sides. These buildings have perfect domes at the top with crescent moons, with symmetrical minarets at the four corners as can be seen from the images above. The huge doorways leads one into cool high-ceiling chambers. Between the two buildings is the place for water pool with fountains.

The building on the left is the tomb of ruler of Bijapur, Ibrahim Adil Shah II and his family. One can see inside this the tombs of he king, his queen, his daughter, two sons and his mother. It has minarets that rise to a height of 24 meters and are considered the inspiration for the minarets of the Taj Mahal.

The other building on the platform is the mosque.

Top 10 Vacation Rental Companies

We have compiled a list of the ten most popular vacation rental websites according to Alexa traffic, reader response, and expert industry analysis. While the vacation rental industry varies tremendously between simple listing sites to more robust vacation rental reservation services, this list is meant to provide a quick look into this rapidly growing industry and to provide readers a basis for future research into this industry. Please note that this list is not in any particular order and is meant merely as a guide.

1) Vacation Rentals By Owner

Perhaps one of the best know originators of the online vacation rental listing industry, Vacation Rentals By Owner has a huge database of private owner rental listings. Now owed by the behemoth mega-company, HomeAway.com, this is one of their many property rental brand websites. While best-known and extremely popular, the website is not without its faults. Constant criticism over listing security and property legitimacy are the primary complaints against this industry leader.

2) Vacation Rentals

Another one of Home Away's popular off-spring, Vacation Rentals.com usually places first on most major search engines for the Holy Grail of keyword terms, "vacation rentals". Basically the same premise as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a robust advertising site for individual property owners and property managers.

3) Cyber Rentals

Why stop now? Yes you are right, yet another Home Away spin-off. Again the same premise as both Cyber Rentals and Vacation Rentals By Owner, Cyber Rentals provides yet another avenue for rental owners to list their property and to manage inventory. A clean website which follows the same patterns and guidelines as their predecessors.

4) Home Away

We couldn't mention a few of the most popular vacation rental websites without mentioning the parent company that owns them now can we? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, "The Home Away portfolio of sites includes Home Away.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and Vacation Rentals.com in the United States; Home Away.co.uk and Owners Direct.co.uk in the United Kingdom; Home Away.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Home lidays.com in France; Home Away.es in Spain; and Alugue T emporada.com.br in Brazil. The company's portfolio also includes Home Away Real Estate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home's rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, Home Away operates Bed and Breakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels." Whatever is to be said about the future of the vacation industry it's a safe bet that Home Away will be at the center of it.

5) Always On Vacation

Always On Vacation is a listing service that offers click-thru payments for rentals. They offer owners an advertising guarantee stating that "if you do not receive a 10 times return on your investment during the first 12 months of your initial subscription, we will extend your subscription an additional 6 months free of charge!" Although yet another listing site amongst thousands of listings sites, Always On Vacation does have a rather large database of property listings.

6) Zonder

Zonder is an interesting twist on the vacation rental industry. Currently a partner with Orbitz, the long-serving hotel and flight reservation website, Zonder appears to be a solid option for vacation renters. Visitors are able to book online as well as contact owners who don't offer online booking. It will be interesting to see how long the two-tiered business approach will work, as many argue that it will only cause confusion as the industry gains popularity, but for now Zonder's future is looking strong.

7) Vacation-Renter, Inc.

We call this one the little engine that could. Extremely out-gunned on almost all levels, Vacation-Renter, Inc. has opted for a guerilla-style approach when trying to attack the vacation rental market. They do this by offering market-specific websites aimed at achieving high Google rankings and international markets. While they don't have nearly the inventory or operating capital behind them as the others do, they do offer online booking and live telephone reservation support with their market-specific websites and appear to have been growing steadily over the past 5 years. They also offer the only industry index available to vacation rental industry insiders. Here's rooting for the little guy!

8) Rentalo

Rentalo.com is a popular listing site based upon the pay-per-advertisement listing system. Just like the HomeAway family of websites, Rentalo is a simple advertising website. They have a good reputation and currently offer listings throughout the world.

9) Flip Key

One of the more recent vacation rental websites that have hit the web, Flip Key offers a great user interface and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, Flip Key has hit the ground running and appears to be gaining some serious leverage on the industry.

10) VacationRentals411

One of a few of the larger websites that is not currently owed by Home Away, VacationRentals411 is another advertising site that offers vacation rentals world-wide. Not quite as visually appealing as some of the other sites mentioned it still offers decent owner online support and an extensive inventory. This website is a good place to search for quality vacation listings.

Although this list cannot do the entire vacation rental industry complete justice, it does provide an interesting mix of size and type of company currently active in today's market. While it does appear that certain companies clearly hold an advantage when it comes to investment dollars and sheer size, there are a few quality sites that offer a different approach to marketing short-term rentals. Wherever you decide to travel, try doing some initial research on some of these websites and see for yourself.

Benefits of Finding Vacation Rentals Online

There are many different ways to look for a vacation rental or piece of property you wish to stay at during a vacation or business trip, or for whatever reason you need to rent something. People can either look at ads in the paper, or call travel agencies. The only other option for consumers, especially non-local consumers, is for them to go online to find their dream rental property to rent. The benefits of having the internet and informative websites at hand are endless.

The biggest benefit of all though with finding vacation rentals online is that this is the best way to save money on your rental. You will have the ability to look at every available option in the area you wish to go, and also get to see what costs what. Having all these different properties to choose from at given price ranges makes finding a rental very easy, and efficient. You want to make sure you are getting the best deal available period, so this is a huge plus for consumers to have the ability to literally weed through all the rentals.

Another large benefit is you get to see your options to what and where you can stay. Websites will show what is available for rent, and what is not available. This will save you a lot of time from calling up property owners and asking them if and when their unit is available, or calling a complex and inquiring about something they own. Finding vacation rentals online is easy, cost effective, and gives you the best chance of finding something, period.

Find Vacation Rentals From Home

Being at the comfort of your home while doing anything makes it that much better. People don't like to go places anymore for things they can simply find out on the computer. How awesome is it that you can have any vacation rental in the world at your fingertips all day long, and at any time. You also get the most information by using one of these rental-listing companies. All this information is also all at one location, making convenience the common denominator here.

People like options. Especially when it comes to things like rental properties for a vacation or business trip. As a consumer, they want to see many different properties at many different prices so they can pick and choose the best places to stay at, at the best price. Having all of these options inside their home, on their computer is something people did not have 30 years ago. This makes shopping around for properties so easy, that anyone can do it.

Another benefit of this is that you will be able to find out which properties are available at what given dates. No one wants to make a billion calls to different rental property owners or companies; just to find out the place is booked up. This is silly, and people simply don't have time for it anymore, so having complete listings with updated information like when exactly a unit is available makes for a very happy consumer sitting in their home surfing the internet for every option they could possibly need.

Vishwanatha Temple, Khajuraho

After visiting the other group of temples in the morning session, we visited the Western Group of Khajuraho Temples (State: Madhya Pradesh) after lunch. Most of the temples of this group are enclosed by a compound wall known as Western Group Khajurho temple complex. (Click on the image for bigger view)

One such temple is Vishwanatha Temple built in 1000 A.D located towards the northeastern corner of the complex. This magnificent temple is built by the rulers of Chandel Dynasty, is one of the largest temple in Khajuraho.

The external wall of temple has more than 3000 exquisite sculptures. The band of sculptures on the walls represent musicians, dancers and deities. Inside the garbha graha there is marble Shiv linga.

There are images of deities set into the outside walls. On one of the walls there is a four-armed dancing Lord Ganesh, holding an axe and broken tusk in his proper right hands, and with his proper left hands holding a laddu (sweet) and extended in a boon-granting gesture.

The above image is rear view of the temple.

Hampi World Heritage Site

Hampi, the Forgotten Empire (for more) once was the flourishing capital city of the Vijaynagar Empire in the 14th Century. The city spread across the rocky terrain of 26 sq.km had plenty of palaces, temples which exhibited its rich culture and wealth in its hay days.

For the same reason it was ransacked by Muslim Sultans. Today it is a site of splendid ruins of palaces, temples and gateways of the broken city, that silently narrate the story of once glorious past and the final senseless destruction. (Click on the image for bigger view)

In the above image rocky nature of the place and various temples can be seen.

Above is the carvings on the pillars of one of the many temples in the place.

On 5th December 1986, Hampi was inscribed on the World Heritage List for it represents a unique artistic creation. One can spend 2 to 3 days to cover each corners of this place.

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Vamana Temple, Khajuraho

The Vamana Temple built between 950 - 1150 A.D belongs to the Eastern Group of Khajuraho Temples (State: Madhya Pradesh). This is one of the three Hindu Temples built by rulers of Chandel Dynasty in this group. (Click on the image for bigger view)

It measures 19.1 meters in length and 13.9 meters in breath. This is a medium size temple. It consists of a mandap and garbha graha.

Around the temple are two band of sculptures with almost 3000 sculptures. This is less than half when compared to larger temples in Western Group of temples. The sculptures layout is a blend of gods, their consorts, female figures and mythical creatures.

In the garbha graha there is a dwarf image of Vamana, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.