Buddha Dordema Statue – Thimpu!

Welcome to Thimpu friends! After the 5 hour zig zag ride through hundreds of mountains ( it almost felt like hundreds ) we arrived in Thimpu. It was around 5 in the evening when we got there. The journey had exhausted us. We checked into out Hotel & spent the rest of the evening relaxing over some great food, tea & the cool Thimpu air.

The next morning, we were ready to greet the Capital city of Thimpu with open arms! And my! Were we amazed! Lets start from the first place we visited.

Buddha Dordenma Statue

The hugeee Buddha statue is built over looking the Thimpu valley & is built as a mark of celebration for the 60th anniversary of their fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuk. It is infact one of the largest Buddha statues in the world at 51.5 meters. In fact when we visited it, parts of it were still under construction & the work was finally completed on September 25th, 2015.

The construction of the statue is also a tribute to the monarchy of Bhutan which celebrates its centennial anniversary this year. Now here is the interesting part. This Buddha monument fulfills two prophecies. A renowned yogi called Sonam Zangpo prophesied that a large statue of either Padmasambhava, Buddha or a Purbha would be built in this region to bestow peace, happiness & blessings upon the whole world. The second being that the mention of a statue like that is present in the ancient terma of Guru Padmasambhava himself which dates almost back to the 8th century! Isn’t it something?

The one thing that I loved about this statue is how beautiful looking the face of the Buddha is! The people who worked on this masterpiece must have been so exceptionally talented!

Just to give you an idea of how huge the statue is I am sharing an image from the blog.voanews.com.

Isn’t the place where the statue stands absolutely beautiful? So serene, peaceful & gorgeous! You can almost get a view of a part of Thimpu town from up here.

Can you see the roads in the picture? They are the ones that lead us to this monument!

Now, whenever you are in Thimpu, make sure you start your Thimpu sight seeing from this point. Just stand where I was standing when I took the above picture ( you will know where, just look around)  Take in the sight of Thimpu town, & start on this wonderful adventure called Bhutan.

I hope you will love this place as much as I did when you visit! As always, I am looking forward to your comments ! Leave them in the section below!

Love,

A.

Nong Nooch Pottery Garden.

Nong Nooch is a beautiful tropical botanical garden spread across 500 acres of land in the Chonburi Province of Thailand. The area is like a theme park & is divided into various sections . You have species specific gardens like Cactus, Bonsai, Orchids Tropical Palms on one hand & on the other hand you have an area dedicated to performances like Traditional Thai dances, Elephant shows etc. You can spend an entire day in this place & really have a good time.

The place that stood out for me however & really fascinated me was the area right at the entrance of the Nong Nooch garden – The Pottery Garden. Thousands of clay pots & figurines are arranged together & they look very interesting. Have a look.

Raanwara Cottage Review

For our yearly Monsoon getaway this year, we choose the beach village of Nagaon. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we really wanted a place that was close to nature, relatively unexplored, peaceful & quiet. In short not your usual tourist destination. So instead of going for the popular beach town of Alibaug, we choose its shy cousin , Nagaon. The perfect cozy beach village in the lap of Nature.

For our stay we wanted something private instead of the usual hotel. So after lot of search, we came across this beautiful cottage called Raanwaara.

The entire process of booking the place was very smooth & the coordination was excellent. Right from our food preferences to offering directions right from the time we left from our place till we reached Raanwaara. A staff member from Raanwaara actually came up someway to lead us to the cottage, since we were unfamiliar with the area. Very impressive service indeed.

The Cottage itself is extremely beautiful. I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it. The area surrounding the cottage is plush green, with beautifully maintained lawns, flower trees, beautiful variety of Plants, coconut trees and more. Its like staying in the Lap of Nature.

The Rooms at Raanwaara are simple, not too made up like our usual hotel rooms, clean, and has all the required amenities . The ground floor has 2 non/Ac rooms , a dining room, kitchen, front porch & a swing & the first floor has 3 Ac rooms, so its up to what you prefer. The Rooms are pretty spacious and can accommodate a large family easily. Plus they provide extra bedding and pillows upon request.

Raanwaara offers both Veg & Non-Veg food as per your choice. Tea & Breakfast are provided upon request as well. The staff is extremely helpful and makes sure your stay is comfortable. The food is tasty especially the Non-Veg dishes. The Sea food prepared in typical Konkan style. So if you are a lover of Sea food, you will surely enjoy the preparations.

I found the rates for the accommodation as well as food pretty decent for the services they offer. As compared to the other available options I found this to be rightly priced.

The beach is located around 2-3 kms away. And it takes around 5-10 mins by car. It is advisable to have your own vehicle with you, cause there are a lot of places you can explore that are located in and around Nagaon.

Honestly this is a great place to stay if you want to relax and unwind. A perfect getaway for a weekend with family/ friends, or to celebrate a special occasion, which in my case was my moms birthday 🙂

The feel of this place was almost like home away from home. It was extremely comfortable & we enjoyed our stay tremendously.

So, Will I go back for another stay – Definitely. Do I recommend it – Absolutely. I was not paid to write this review, so I genuinely liked the place enough to say good things about it. I do recommend Raanwaara if you are ever visiting this area.

If you wish to visit this place, You can the details down below.

Website –        www.konkancottage.com

Contact No – +919987033326

Address – Raanwaara, Near Gaondevi mandir, Nagaon, Maharashtra, India.

Colorful Clarke Quay!

I have always been a lover of all things colorful! So I had to write about this beautiful & colorful area of Singapore – Clarke Quay. Named after  Sir Andrew Clarke, one of the very first governors of Singapore. Clarke Quay is a place where you can relax and enjoy a lazy afternoon, take a stroll along the banks of the Singapore river in the evening or have amazing food at the numerous restaurants and bars that the Clarke Quay is home to. It is a must visit for a beautiful view of Singapore River and area surrounding it.

Malaysia Photo Diaries

Hello Everyone,

I got the opportunity to visit Malaysia for two days recently. Did not get the opportunity to really explore the place well, but managed to visit a couple of beautiful places. Take a look.

Putrajaya – The Federal Administrative center of Malaysia.

One thing that I found really interesting about Malaysia is that the Seat of the King and Parliament along with the Commercial and Financial centre of Malaysia is located at Putrajaya, a city located around 25 kms away from Kuala lampur. The entire city is built only for Governmental activities. The Palace of the King, Residences the Prime minster & Deputy prime minister and other important government officials are located here. You will not find civilian housing here & Only certain areas like the mosque are accessible to civilians and tourists. Malaysia is one country where the weather cannot be trusted. it can rain really heavily one minute and the other minute you have the sun shinning brightly. So please bear an Umbrella with you at all times, just in case.

Kuala Lumpur Day 1

We visited the War memorial, National Monument, Cricket Field, High Court Building, Observatory Deck- K L Tower.

Merdaka Square, Kuala lumpur – the place where the High Court, Cricket ground , the pole where the National flag of Malaysia was first hoisted in 1957, and other important places are located.

High Court, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur Tower & View from the observatory deck.

Kuala Lumpur Day 2

Today we finally got to see the most popular attraction of Kuala Lumpur, The Petronas Towers! You have to see the twins during the evening even if you have seen it during the day! The towers look breathe taking at night. Also within the Petronas Tower you have certain fountain arrangements that are a must see. A good place to just sit and chill in the evening. and if you love shopping like I do, the ground floor of the Petronas Towers houses some really great stores where you can shop.

Malaysia is also famous for the amazing chocolates that they make. Do not forget to check out this amazing Cocoa Boutique. There are so many varieties of chocolates that they make. Its like visiting Willy Wonkas Chocolate factory!For all the chocolate lovers out there, this is place you cant miss.

Batu Caves is limestone hill that have a series of caves and is sacred to the Hindu community in Malaysia. The temple is dedicated to Lord Murugan and is considered a very sacred place. It is the focal point of Hindu festival called Thaipusum in Malaysia. The large 140 ft high gold painted statue of Lord Murugan is a major attraction, that should not be missed.

Evening at Petronas Towers.

Since my visit was a short one, I could not really explore the city well. But I did enjoy my time there. Might visit it again sometime in the near future at a more leisurely pace. Stay tuned for my next blog! Till next time then, Arpita xo