Scottish Highlands

Having been in the Glasgow for a week to visit my friend, I felt its good opportunity to get out of city and see some of the Scottish Highlands. We looked at our options, and decided a full day trip to the famous Loch Ness and Glen Coe was our best bet. We made an early start, getting a 7.30 AM bus from Glasgow.

Coach tours are something I'm not into, but it certainly provided us with our best opportunity of seeing as much as we could in such a short time. And so it was, shortly after 8am we left Glasgow. Scotland is the most mountainous county in United Kingdom, especially the northern and western parts known as the Highlands. As we pass across a belt of mountains, the terrain is abundant with lush green forests and farmlands. The gently rolling hills and lush greenery reminded me a little of Western Ghats back home. Our guide, a true Scottish patriot, told us a few stories of the history of the region as we travelled, which left me with a picture of what the place must have been centuries earlier. We travelled north, before making a coffee stop on the shores of Loch Lomond.

We continued on further towards Loch Ness through the Great Glen. This geological fault runs in a straight line across the Scottish mainland. The glaciers of the last Ice Age eroded a deep trough along the fault line, which is now filled by Lochs Linnhe, Oichy and Ness. The scenery was spectacular, passing 'the Monarch of the Glen,' ruined castles and beaches.

Lunch was taken at Fort Augustus, a small town on the shores of Loch Ness. Boats could be raised and lowered from Loch Oichy to Ness using the Caledonian Canal, a ladder of five locks. It would have been interesting to see, but the choppy winds meant there weren't too many boats on the water. After grabbing a light lunch, we made our way down to the shores of Loch Ness in search of a fleeting glimpse of the monster that had eluded millions before us. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, we didn't see any monsters. The tour guide explained the history of the lake as well as Nessie, and the fact that they monitored the lake all year around, using Sonar equipment, which has detected large mysterious movements beneath the surface of the lake, with no possible explanations.

Along Loch Ness we made our first major stop for the day to visit Urquhart Castle, on the shores of Loch Ness. Urquhart Castle was one on the largest medieval castles in Scotland, and was also nearby the location of the Nessie sightings. The castle today is a decent ruin at best, but has an impressive visitors centre and some interesting history. Not to mention it's glorious location overlooking the loch. After a good look around, we headed further north to Inverness, the capital of Highlands. Inverness was a really nice place, the town centre is really nice not all big chain shops but lots of little speciality shops.

We made our way south via the Great Glen, stopping briefly at a distillery to taste some whiskey. Continuing south beneath Great Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis (1344m), and the small town of Fort William, we found ourselves in the absolutely spectacular valley known as Glen Coe. The scenery was truly grand, with wild mountains and huge vast valleys.

Our last stop was in Pitlochry for a cup of coffee, a small town on the road north. It wasn't the most amazing place, just a small quaint town with a few cafes and souvenir shops.

The trip back to Glasgow was very relaxing, making our way out of the highlands, back into the lowlands. It was a good day, travelling around the countryside with a live historical commentary.

Buckingham Palace-Change of Guards

In my 3 years of stay in England, I have visited Buckingham palace couple of times but I didn't get a chance to see the Change of Guards. This time when my parents visited England, we took them to Buckingham Palace for the change of guards. It's the quintessential tourist thing to do here. We've been so lucky with the Spring weather here with beautiful sun shine.

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarchy. In a previous incarnation, the ground where Buckingham Palace now stands was a mulberry garden cultivated by King James I as food for silkworms. The silk industry he hoped to nurture never materialized, and eventually a roadhouse was built there, followed in due course by Buckingham House. Buckingham Palace was just a very big house called Buckingham House until 1837 when it became the official royal palace when Queen Victoria became the Queen of England.

When we arrived, there was a mass of people already at the gates of Buckingham Palace, so if you want a front row view, you need to arrive earlier than this. I thought that it was just a simple change of guards and I never really understood why there is so much fuzz about it. But I understand it now. First of all there was a “parade” of guards and a band that walked up to the palace. The bands played several times during the changing and then there was a parade of guards and band leaving the palace.

For those who are interested here is a synopsis of the ceremony.

It has been the duty of the British army for many years to monitor and protect the Royal palace. There are foot guards and guards that ride horses. They are known as The Guard and The Queen’s Life Guard. There are five foot guards. They are Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards. The Guard are the infantry soldiers and their duties are to watch and protect the royal family in St. James Palace and Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s Life Guard are the cavalry and they ride the horses. They are mounted at the gates. These horses guard the entrances of both the Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace. The Life Guard remain on their horses from 10pm until 4pm. The next four hours are the standing guards, they remain posted at the gate and from 8pm until 7am the gates are locked.

Change of Guards Parade occurs at 11am in the morning at the forecourt of the Buckingham Palace. In the summer, Guards are changed everyday and in the winter, the Guards are changed every other day. This 45 minute ceremony is free to watch. The New Guard marches with the Guard Band from the Wellington Barracks. After the Guard Band are inspected by the adjutant they play music while the new guard is then inspected. When the New Guard arrives to the Palace the old guard will take his place standing on the North side and the new Guard would stand on the South side. At that point, the old guard will hand over during ceremony and the sentries are changed as well. Then the Old Guard will march out of Buckingham’s Palace in a slow march with the Corps of the Band. The band is then given a command to now pick up the pace and head back to the Barracks.

There is no way you can position yourself so that you view the entire ceremony. The best thing to do is determine what aspects you really want to see and find a good spot to witness that portion.

This is a great event to witness in London and feel the essense of British Royalty.

Dazzling Dubai

En route to Bangalore from London I had originally planned to stop over in Mumbai, but a pretty low price from Emirates made me reschedule my itinerary to go through Dubai instead. We took advantage of Dubai stopover from Emirates and they helped me in getting out UAE visa which is valid for 72 hours. The Dubai airport looks amazing. It is almost like walking around in a huge nightclub. Clear glass elevators, 3 story waterfalls, lights everywhere. Emirates has got a tie up with Arabian Adventure tour agents and their office is just rite in the arrivals area of Dubai airport.

On arrival we booked Evening Desert safari tour and Dubai City sightseeing tour with Arabian Adventures. We were later transferred to Highland City hotel. The hotel was well located, good value and with pleasant staff. The room was all I expected. Clean, modern furniture, comfortable bed and a TV that worked. Dinner turned out as a costly affair as we ended up paying huge amount in the attached restaurant. Outside the hotel there were many Indian style restaurants including Udupi hotel and Kamat which served better food at cheaper prices.

Next day morning we hired a cab and went on our own to take a look of Dubai city. There are 1.5 million people living here and approximately 75% are foreign, mostly from India, Pakistan and Asia. Every kilometer or so there is a mosque, always beautifully built. There is so much building going on, it is literally growing 24 hours a day, although there is a rule that building contractors are not legally allowed to work between 12:30 and 3:30pm.

Everything is air-conditioned, even the bus stops.Taxi’s are everywhere, there is never a problem getting one, they all have meters and are quite cheap. We saw Madinat Jumeira shopping mall and walked along the Jumeira Public Beach. We then visited Palm Atlantis hotel. Atlantis is the majestic focal point of Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island that has captured the world's imagination with its magnificent scale and architecture.

We headed off in the afternoon for our Desert Safari. We are collected in a nice air-conditioned Toyota Land cruiser. We head off to a meeting point where all the vehicles from our company join up. There are a lot of companies all doing the same thing. Our company has all their vehicles set up the same. From there it’s a short drive to the desert meeting point, where all the drivers let their tires down and open bonnets to cool engines!

Then it’s off we go, it’s the most fun ride we've done to date. Once off road the tires were partially deflated and we began. It was great fun powering up the sand dunes and then tilting at the top before crashing back down again. We stopped off to take photos of the setting sun and found out how difficult it is to walk up these dunes. We go absolutely flat out through the enormous sand dunes in the desert. The sand is so powdery soft and the dunes are so steep.

Finally we get to the ‘Bedouin Camp’ that they have set up. There are camel rides and quad bikes out front and inside there is cushions and tables set up around a stage, a bar, henna painting and a bottle sand guy. There were also more shasha/hookah/hubba bubba pipes to try. When it gets dark enough a buffet dinner with huge variety of food is served. After dinner the belly dancer came on and was amazing how she could flex and dance.S o another funny trip back and then our day is suddenly over. We are tired, sandy but very happy. Definitely recommend anyone coming here to do this tour.

Next day after breakfast we are picked up for our tour of Dubai. Unsurprisingly it was a hot dry clear day about 40 degrees. At the start it is just the 2 of us but we are told there are 6 more people to pick up. We were shown just a handful of the palaces for the royal family. They are all beautiful, large and in the best of locations. We went to the air conditioned Dubai Mall. This is the biggest mall in the world.

The place has every shop and brand from around the world you can name. It was amazing to see so many shops. There was also the famous gold souk with rows of jewellers, watch manufacturers, a lot of the items cost a big fortune. The city skyline is a marvel of modern buildings, all of which were built since the year 2000. The Burj al Arab, shaped like a giant dhow approaching the city, is the world's largest hotel. We were awe struck by Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 808 meters or 2626 feet.

It dominates the skyline and resembles a glass needle.

In the afternoon we went to the Dubai museum. The Dubai Museum is located very near to Dubai Creek, the historic location of the heart of the emirate. The museum is exceptionally well done. It appears small from the outside, but has an extensive underground section that one to walk through examples of historic Bedouin camps, towns, etc.

In the evening we went through the packing drill and later picked up by the cab for airport.

Overall Dubai experience was amazing. If you have the option of having a stopover here, do it.

In The Mean Time

The reason we visited Greenwich has to do with Greenwich Mean Time. Only 20 minutes from Central London, Greenwich is easy to reach by Docklands Light Railway, tube, rail, bus or riverboat. Greenwich is a cute village and seems like a million miles away from London, a great place to come on the weekend and browse the town. We walked through Greenwich Park. Here there were many people enjoying the weather,having picnics, reading and relaxing. We slowly walked up the to the observatory, which meant the path gradually inclined.

Greenwich Mean Time was named after this place because this is where the Prime Meridian was established. And since no one seems to know what that is, I will try to explain it. It was easy enough to measure the Earth from the equator, horizontally, but there was no easy way to measure the Earth vertically. So, one astronomer divided the Earth into lines vertically and since he was based in Greenwich, the starting point, became Greenwich. So, the Prime Meridian is not nearly as cool as the equator. It's just a man made line.

From the observatory there is a great view of London. The Royal Observatory was built in 1675 by Charles II to solve the problem of longitude. It was originally designed by Christopher Wren. In the octagonal room, astronomers studied the stars and planets. The observatory was very interesting, but it was a bit too scientific for me, too much information that I could not comprehend.

All in all Greenwich was a nice experience.

Roman Bath

Being in Reading, Bath was the most easy weekend destination for us and we have visited this lovely English Countryside couple of times. Bath is most famous for it's historic spas and hot springs. The Romans founded this place when they invaded England and created a Roman Bath in town.
In our first visit to Bath, we explored the Roman Baths on the first day. Bath has some walking tours available around the city but we decided to go it on our own and just wander around the city itself isn't big at all. A five minute walk from the rail station we came upon Roman Baths and Bath Abbey. These baths are about 2000 years old and are the reason for the city name of Bath. The tickets cost about £12 and is definitely a must-go, after all that's what the city is most famous for. We toured the whole complex and it is amazing how big it is.

There is also a museum of Roman artifacts which were found at that site. We spent over 2 hours here and were not disappointed. We then went to Bath Abbey and saw one of the most beautiful churches. This is the church where the first King of England was crowned. It had a calming effect and we were rejuvenated. We bought some souvenirs at the Abbey shop and walked towards the circus. Circus is a series attached houses built in the late 18th century in a half-circle around a traffic circle. We walked around the Circus, admiring the building architecture and wondering at the prices of these famous homes. We then walked towards Royal crescent to have lunch. We sat in the grass and enjoyed a hearty meal. Then we took our walk along the Pultney bridge and the river Avon.
The next morning we woke up and had a full English breakfast which was pretty good. We then did two bus tours around the central part of Bath and then around the edges of Bath. Both of these were very informative and interesting.

The architecture and style of the buildings in Bath along with the sunshine makes it a beautiful city. There was also a huge green space and it was just so pretty.
All the buildings in Bath look old and a lot of the streets look like something from Rome. They also have a lot of pretty houses built on the hilly countryside surrounding the city, which makes it even more charming.

Late in the afternoon, we went to Prior Park, a 28 acre landscape garden which is set in a dramatic site running down a small steep valley, with fine views of the city of Bath. This park's major attraction is a picturesque Palladian bridge (one of only 4 left in the world)
In the evening we started walking back to Bath, got pictures of Bridge and Avon river before taking our train back to Reading.

Bath was simply stunning and sensational and a must-see for visitors in England.

Paris-City of Lights

I just can't believe that it has been three months since we took trip to Paris. It has definitely been one of the highlights of our life. We saw the obvious, the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées, the outside of the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral as well as Place de la Concorde in between and I must say Paris is a beautiful city.

Firstly, the Eiffel Tower which stands as the worldwide symbol of Paris. Eiffel tower is impressive, bigger than I thought to be fair and you just have to struggle to get up there. Yes, there are queues with no apparent beginning or end but it is just too good to miss out on. The views at each stage are mindblowing and worth getting over at any case. At night, it lights up every hour, twinkles and whispers in your ear, "Paris is Magic".

We ventured out to take "Paris By Night" to see the 3 major landmarks of Paris, The Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde, and it was worth the price. The Champs-Elysees was buzzing and Arc de Triomphe looks stunning in the Night. The eternal flame below the Arc burns more brightly at night and this adds to the spectical. The roundabout around the monument is awesome to see.

Paris is just splendid, certainly a beautiful city that is packed full of impressive architecture, monuments and sculptures. Yes now I understand the reason why Paris is the most visited city in the world.

Life is not about the number of years that you live but the amount of life you experience in those years.

Enchanting Egypt

One of my dreams finally came true, which was landing on the African continent for the first time. We spent around 6 days in Egypt and decided to use a tour guide service as we were informed that information at the sites were in arabic and its very difficult to commute the places on our own. Upon arrival in Cairo I was struck by the metropolitan atmosphere of the city. There are over 20 million people in Cairo…it is the largest city on the continent of Africa.

On day one, I was in front of the pyramids of Giza with Soumya, my wife. I lost my mind when I finally saw the pyramids (Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure) and the Sphinx. I just couldn’t believe that they have been there for thousands of years. The desire for eternity was the driving force behind the construction of the pyramids, its the technological mastery that makes it a true wonder. Built as tombs for kings and sometimes queens, these world-famous monuments did not stand in isolation, but were designed as part of funerary complexes that included shrines and temples, where priests would summon the spirits of the royalty and make offerings to ensure their immortality.

Next day we awoke disgustingly early, in order to catch our 5:30 flight from Cairo to Luxor. In case you don’t know what early is, that is 3:00 in the morning. We left for the airport, and arrived early enough to have to wait an hour and a half for the flight.

We arrived in Luxor and checked into our hotel. Luxor is indeed much nicer than Cairo. For one, it is far greener, and has much more agriculture. Secondly, the Nile plain looks better here. We checked into our hotel, and had a cup of tea, being able to catch the tail end of breakfast.

The first thing we went to see was the Karnak Temple. It has a total of 134 HUGE pillars, meant to represent papyrus flowers. It also has a couple of giant obelisks, and the obligatory statues and walls. We wandered around there for a while, then headed towards Luxor temple. A good portion of it is destroyed now, but there is still enough of it to see that it must have been very impressive in its day. There were large pillars and huge stone statues everywhere.

In the evening we sailed on a fairly traditional Felucca. Its canopy covers 3/4th of the boat. Felucca sailing was great and we experienced some beautiful sunsets over river Nile.

Next day we visited the Valley of the Kings. Its really incredible…unfortunately, no pictures were allowed. It is in a barren area of mountains of limestone and absolutely no vegetation. But in this valley there are thousands of tombs buried…most of which have not been discovered yet. Several of these tombs have been discovered by mistake. When a new King takes power one of the first things they do is commission the creation of their own tomb…life after death was an obsession. They take years to carve into the mountain and they vary in size…but all have a long passage way from the entrance and several small chambers off the passage way that leads to the burial chamber. It is difficult to imagine the amount of work that went into these as all along the long passage way and in each chamber the walls and ceilings are covered in hieroglyphics that tells the story of the person buried in that tomb.

There was only one queen who had a temple built so we stopped and saw Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple. She had an awful step son who had here killed so he could rule and then he defaced everything that honored her.

After an exhausting day exploring Luxor, we packed and went to the train station to get onto our transport to the Aswan. At last, at about 7:45 pm, the train pulled up and we on board, squeezing through the narrow seat with 20 kg bags in tow and Egyptian men smoking in rail bogies like chimneys. We arrived at Aswan around 11 and was transferred to the hotel. The tour guide here convinced us to drop Abu Simbel trip as it was planned very early next day morning. Instead he managed to squeeze in Nubian museum, Philae Temple and High dam in the schedule.

Next day morning, we visited Nubian museum where we could see lot of ancient egyptian monuments including a mummy. Next stop was to Agilika Island to see the Philae Temple. This temple, was relocated as part of the Aswan High Damn project. We took the flight back to Cairo and next day morning was our flight to London.

Overall, Egypt was incredibly interesting! They are simply the greatest monuments I have ever seen. I doubt whether anything my generation build will be left standing and be admired in the year 7500 AD.

Life is never dull…unless you let it be!