Daily Prompt: Tourist Trap

The below post was first published on June 5 , 2013. I stumbled upon this yesterday and was surprised to see that I completed two of the places that I had listed below.

• Spain was completed in 2014
• Angkor Wat was completed in 2015

🙂 I am usually not a person who gets these nostalgic feelings and such, but felt good reading the old post. It also reminded me of the places I am yet to visit.

[REPOST]

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I know I am a little late for this post which is in response to the daily prompt – Tourist Trap, but better late than never.

My dream tourist places that I have visited are

a) Singapore – Which was my first overseas tourist destination way back in 2009. I really enjoyed my trip for almost a week there (including Kuala Lumpur)

b) Venice – I have no idea why I liked this place, may be the lure of the gondola ride or the various movies that I have seen showing this amazing place. But whatever it was, I just loved this place and was very happy being there during my tour this year.

c) Grand Canyon – This place again was a dream come true in 2010. I was so awestruck with this place, I started recommending it to everyone who was going to U.S. I would go there without a second thought again and may be spend more than a weekend, which I did during my first time.  This is one place, where I felt I was at peace with myself.

I have a list of other places which I would like to visit. Some of them (outside of India) are

a) Niagara Falls

b) Angkor Wat

c) Manasarovar Lake

d) Andaman and Nicobar Islands

e) Srilanka

f) Spain

g) Egypt

I have no idea when I will be visiting these places, but I will make my best effort 🙂

WPC: Boundaries

The famous stone walls which act as boundaries between two fields in Scotland.

I am not sure if you can see the difference in the water but this is the place where Ganges and Yamuna meets in Allahabad. Even though they meet, they still retain their nature, one is calm and other is very wavy and that by itself looks like a boundary that they both dont want to cross.

Now for something which looks like there is no boundary to it at all. Yes, the great Grand Canyon.

“I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.”
― Brian Andreas

AWAW: Technology

For this week’s word challenge: Technology

The unattended automatic choreography of musical fountains, like this one in Bellagio, Las Vegas, is possible only because of the recent technological advancements.

FYI: This was designed by WET  and if you want to know how this works check this nice post here.

This product of technology helped me travel down to the Colorado River in Grand Canyon , West Rim for a leisure ride. What an experience.

and finally, a section of the Caledonian Canal near Fort Augustus

According to this article “Constructing a canal in the early 19th century was an immense undertaking and this one was difficult, not least for its remoteness, the aggressive ground conditions, the harsh climate and the largely unskilled itinerant labour force. However, canal engineering design and construction was significantly advanced with the Caledonian Canal through use of such technologies as horse-traction plateways and special wagons, and steam-powered pumping and dredging”.

Hope you enjoyed my take on the word challenge this week. 

A,B,C…here is something about me.

After Ger posted his A to Z about himself (which is a very nice and funny read), I was wondering if I could do it. Well, here is my try.

• A – Artistic. A little bit actually. Have you seen my drawing of Mickey Mouse ?
• B – Bookish. During my under and post graduation, if I am not in my class, people could find me in the library. I even knew which book was in which section. I love the feel of the books and library was my sanctuary. Disclaimer: Being in love with books doesn’t make me geeky or smart.
• C – Curious. Never get me curious about anything. I go to extreme lengths to at least know what they are. Sometimes it is good, but most times its bad. That is how I happened to read Fifty Shades of Grey. [sigh]
• D – Diary. The first time I ever wrote one, I got caught and I had written something in it when I was upset with my parents. The diary was confiscated and I got an earful. After that the only reason I owned a few diaries were to write the lyrics of the songs I wanted to learn and to write poems and stories I read & liked, total non personal stuff.
• E – Eldest. I am the eldest of the three and I am really happy about it, but sometimes it makes me pull my hair out because I have to be the most responsible one in the family. That really sucks.
• F – Flying. I love flying, even though I am afraid of heights. When the rates were cheaper like 1000 Rs per ticket between my current place and my home town , I used to always travel by flights, used it like a bus service to the next stop.
• G – Grand Canyon. I freaking love this place. I did the helicopter ride there to do the boat ride and it was just awesome. But I made a huge scene when I had to do the sky walk thing. Totally freaked out. But would go back there any time. Any time at all.
• H – Hufflepuff. This is the house Pottermore’s sorting hat put me in 😦 I so wanted to be part of Gryffindor. It goes without saying I am a Huge Harry Potter fan.
• I – Icecreams. I love them but can’t have them enough because of my allergies. But I do sneak in from time to time. Especially a butterscotch or vanilla with the chocolate sauce and some choco chips, almonds & tutti frutti sprinkled on it and some  honey dripping on top. And nope, I never share ice creams or chocolates. If I ever do, beware of my intentions 😉
• J – Jeeno. The name of our dog who is no more. He was named after a robot dog from a Tamil novel ‘En Iniya Iyandira‘ (meaning- My Dear Machine) I loved him to pieces and after him swore off pets because I cannot handle the heart ache of losing them.
• K – Klutz.  If you have followed my injuries over the past year, you would know that I am a total klutz. I broke the pinky finger of my leg in the sofa while trying to get up from it.
• L – Long Island Ice Tea. One of my favorite cocktail drinks. My friends always make sure they share mine because if I am buzzed, I get awfully quiet and calm and very boring and all Zen like (even though everyone thinks I am snoozing).
• M – Mobbish. My driving is considered lawless and rash by general consensus (of friends). My family still has some hope left. So I don’t have a choice other than to accept it. But (touch wood) so far I haven’t had caused or been in any accidents. Yet, no one gives me their new cars to drive 😦
• N – Noetic. I am attracted to people who have noetic sense, because I have none. Opposites attract right?
• O – Oz. A place that has been on my travel list along with Angkor Wat &  Ireland for quite sometime, which I am yet to cover.
• P – Photography. Easiest and coolest way to hide from everyone:  get behind the camera. I hate to stand for photographs but I love taking them.
• Q – Quirky. I have too many quirks to my list. One thing to list here. I say Good morning to ‘Sun’ every day I go out in the morning. Its like a thing between me and Sun. I was a little upset today because I didn’t see him.
• R – Romantic. Recently my friends said that I am the most romantic person in our group (and not because of the romance books I read). Am yet to find out why they came to that conclusion.
• S – Singer. I love singing and am a fairly good singer. Learnt classical for 6 months when I was very very young and left it. Classical is so not for me. But singing helped me in my stuttering a lot.
• T – Tea. My day doesn’t start at all until and unless I have had my morning cup of Tea. I won’t be grouchy but will not be too amicable either.
• U – Upbeat. I am a very upbeat and positive person. Might be because of my blood group too (b+ve).
• V – Vegetarian. “Muy soy vegetariano, no carne, no pescado, no huevo” – This is something I have learnt to say in Spanish when I was in Mexico for a month and recently in Spain. And I have had people look at me as if I am a poor being to eat only the veggies. Only three words: Elephants are vegetarians.
• W – Wonderment. I love to travel because it always makes me look at the world in wonder. Even the path we take daily, when we look closely gives you something to wonder every day.
• X – Xenial. Especially to people who are new to my environment, be it my team or my family. As much as I feel shy to start a conversation, if I feel that the other person is new and needs a helping hand, my mode automatically switches.
• Y – Yappy. My mother considers me a yappy person if I misplace something and am not able to find it. And sadly, mothers are always right, at least most of the times.
• Z – Zumba. I have been going to Zumba classes along with yoga for a few months now and since I like dancing , but am very shy about dancing before another person, Zumba gives me a way to do it camouflaged as workouts.

So, how did I do it? What do you think of me after reading this ? Can I use this in my About page or will it be too tacky?

WPC: Perspective

Weekly Photo Challenge topic for this week is Perspective ( post a photo which is not what it seems to be)

Here are my tries.

Can you guess what this man is doing ?

Rodeo!!!

Haunted Tree in a Haunted Place ?

Part of Hyde Park

House on top of a hill?

Bright Angel Lodge in Grand Canyon