Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang or Louangphrabang is the former capital of Laos and a UNESCO World Heritage city.

On a strip of land where the mighty Mekong and Khan rivers meet, lies the Loatian city of Luang Prabang, with its atmospheric backdrop of misty lush hills. This fascinating city was the royal capital from the fourteenth century until the Lao monarchy was overthrown by the communists in 1975. Luang Prabang is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 1995 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the best-preserved city in south-east Asia.

Luang Prabang is celebrated for its temples and monasteries. Distinctive golden temple roofs dominate the old city, prayer flags flutter in the breeze and evocative gongs echo around the town. This city is also known for its Royal Palace (Haw Kham). It was built near the river in 1904 for King Sisavang Vong and his family, so official visitors could disembark from their boats directly below the palace and be received there.

The Crown Prince Savang Vatthana and his family were the last to occupy the palace as the monarchy was overthrown in 1975 and the Royal Family were taken to re-education camps. The palace is now a museum, and makes a fascinating visit.

Xiang Thong is the main street of the city, lined with traditional Lao wooden houses mixed with European architecture, reminders of the French Colonial era. Gilded roofed temples, decorated with mosaics and murals of the Buddha, sit beside nineteenth century shuttered windows and decorative balconies.

Strolling around this atmospheric city is a peaceful and uplifting experience, with its pretty streets shaded with palms and flowering trees. When you tire of temples and palaces, climb up Phou Si Hill to watch the sunset or enjoy a cool drink on the banks of the river. Shop in the bustling markets or visit one of the many monasteries.

Wat Xiang Thong is the oldest monastery in town and one of the most beautiful, the perfect place to soak up the serene and spiritual atmosphere that still pervades here.Luang Prabang has both natural and historical sites. Among the natural tourism sites, there are the Kuang Si Falls and Pak Ou Caves.

Tourists may also ride elephants. At the end of the main street of Luang Prabang is a night market where stalls sell shirts, bracelets, tea - suitable souvenirs. The Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum and the Wat Xieng Thong temple are among the most well known historical sites.

If visitors travel two hours up the Mekong river, they can stay at the Kamu Eco lodge. Traditional Laotian activities (fishing, rice planting/harvesting, archery and gold-panning) can be tried there, as well as a visit to a model village of the Kamu people, who are originally from Cambodia.

Chittagong

Bangladesh's second-largest city, Chittagong, is also its principal seaport - with almost all the country's imports and exports passing through its busy harbour. The city is also a major commercial and manufacturing centre that generates vast revenues for a generally poor country that only came into existence in 1971 (the independence of former East Pakistan being declared in Chittagong).




It is perhaps unfortunate that one of those industries - the extraordinary ship-breaking operations that take place on the shores of the Bay of Bengal rather than in a proper shipyard - have given Chittagong something of a negative image, for this dangerous business is definitely not on the agenda for visitors, who are not welcome in the vicinity of this polluting activity.

Actually, Chittagong itself is relatively clean, with plenty of green hills within its boundaries to offer relief from the bustle of city life. The highest point within city limits is the Batali Hill, with panoramic views of sea, port and city. There are a number of interesting old buidings, such as the East India Company's massive 18th century Court Building standing on Fairy Hill with a commanding bird's-eye view of the city.

Chittagong College is one of the oldest and most prestigious academies in Bangladesh. Chandanpura Mosque in the old city is a multi-domed architectural wonder. Baitul Falah is the largest masjid (mosque) in Chittagong. But for all its visible history, this is a boom city, with rapid development completely transforming its traditional face as endless new buildings shoot up to join those but recently completed.

The streets are clogged with traffic - buses, cars, scooters and rickshaws - and the inevitable beggars and hawkers swarm everywhere. Many visitors are almost relieved to leave the city for nearby beaches, or to journey into the unspoiled hinterland.

Many Chittagong natives speak Chittagonian, an Indo-European language of the Eastern Indic group. Many speakers consider their language to be a dialect of standard Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh. However, the two languages are not mutually intelligible, meaning that those who only know how to speak Standard Bengali will not understand Chittagonian speakers, and vice versa - normally the metric for languagehood among linguists.

There is, however, a dialect continuum between Chittagonian and neighboring dialects of Bengali, meaning that speakers of each neighboring dialect can largely understand each other, while speakers of more distant dialects cannot. Chittagonian has approximately 14 million speakers.According to the status of Top 100 Languages by Population by Ethnologue, Chittagong ranked in 67th Language of the world.

Transport in Chittagong is similar to that of the country's capital Dhaka. There are various bus systems, taxis, and as well as smaller 'Baby' or 'CNG' taxis which are basically tricycle-structured motor vehicles. Also, there are the traditional manual rickshaws which are very common.

Lhasa

Sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel.


The holiest centre of Tibetan Buddhism, Lhasa is the traditional seat of the Dalai Lama. One of the highest cities in the world, it sits at the foot of Mount Gephel. The name means Land of the Gods. At the east of the city you will find the Barkhor Street Market and the Jokhang Temple (Tsuglagkhang), while the western part is where all the hotels, restaurants and other tourist infrastructure lies.

The city is part of a township-level prefecture, the Lhasa Prefecture consisting of 7 small counties: Lhünzhub County, Damxung County, Nyêmo County, Qüxü County, Doilungdêqên County, Dagzê County and Maizhokunggar County.


The Potala Palace (Podrang Potala) perches on Mount Marpo Ri. There has been a stronghold here for at least 1,400 years, but the current version is chiefly the work of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the 17th century and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in the 20th century. It is a steep climb up to the palace and it spreads over several floors, so visiting the museum here is not to be advised before you acclimatize to the altitude.


The Dalai Lama's main residence until 1755, and then the winter residence until the mid-20th century, the palace is now a museum with shrines, antiques and scriptures. The inner, Red Palace contains the tombs and shrines of the Lamas, while the outer, white palace contained residential areas and the administrative offices. The Norbulingka, a short distance to the south, was the summer residence and has been undergoing restoration.

Lhasa between 1987–1989 had major demonstrations against the Chinese occupation led by monks and nuns. As a result the Chinese government made life for monks and nuns more difficult by imposing restrictions and political re-educations in the monasteries.

Many had to go through these "re-education sessions to align themselves with the Communist views and denounce the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence." Many monks who refused were sent to prison, while others left the monasteries and many escaped into India to carry on with their studies.

The Jokhang Temple was first built in the 7th century to shelter statues of the Buddha, most importantly the Jowo Sakyamuni Buddha. It is traditional for pilgrims to perform the Koras by walking around the three concentric paths that encircle the temple. Although the city is at risk of becoming a theme park if care is not taken by the authorities, it still has the atmosphere of one of the holiest sites on Earth.

Despite this more and more people from every corner of the world are being attracted towards this vibrant city with its mysterious culture. Its unique scenery, long history, exotic culture, mystical religion and spectacular monuments will ensure your stay is unforgettable.

Colombo

Colombo being a model city in Asia, a caring organization looking after interests of citizens and users with an efficient quality service for creation of safe, healthy and wealthy life.

The Slave Island area of Colombo with the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in the background. Because of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Colombo has since Roman times been a major trading post for east-west trade.

The name Colombo, first used by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, is a possible corruption of the old Sinhalese name Kolon thota, meaning "Port on the river Kelani". By way of various treaties and alliances possession of the port passed from the Portuguese to the Dutch and then to the last colonizers, the British.

Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. However it was only made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.

This cultural diversity is reflected in the variety of names, faces, architecture and cuisine that is evident throughout the city. The 35-km (22-mi) taxi ride from the airport gives you an idea of the urban sprawl that is Colombo. Though the 15 districts of the city itself are officially home to around 650,000 people, the Greater Colombo area houses around 1.5 million more.

Like many cities, Colombo's urban area extends well beyond the boundaries of a single local authority, encompassing other Municipal and Urban Councils. The main city is home to a majority of the Sri Lanka's corporate offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. Famous landmarks in Colombo include the Galle Face Green, the Viharamahadevi Park as well as the National Museum.

Colombo's setting is a mixture of hills, marshes and flatlands. There is an extensive canal network and Beira Lake in the city centre can temper the heat of the tropical sun. The northern town border is formed by the Kelani River, which meets the ocean at the district of Modera.

To the north of Colombo is the Fort district, the city's business heart, full of bookshops, cafes and department stores as well as the modern high-rise World Trade Centre and the Bank of Ceylon. If you journey south you will enter Galle Face Green, Colombo's seaside.

Travel south again and you will reach Cinnamon Gardens, the city's most elegant district with its tree-lined streets and fashion-conscious residents - great for people watching. Colombo is undoubtedly the island's premier city for shopping - with numerous shopping malls and trendy boutiques, located within a few kilometres from one another.

The city is teeming with restaurants serving a variety of cuisine ranging from spicy local dishes to international favourites. As the day ends, Colombo's nightlife comes alive and party lovers are seen dancing till dawn.

Patan

Patan may refer to places in Afghanistan, India and Nepal. The City contains many Hindu and Jain temples as well as few mosques, dargahs and rojas. The city has many historical places also.

Patan, now often know by its original Sanscrit name of Lalitpur, is one of the major cities of Nepal and is generally considered to be the oldest and most beautiful of the three royal cities in the Kathmandu Valley (the others being Bhaktapur and Kathmandu itself).


Lying on high ground on the south side of the Bagmati River, it was originally built on a layer of deposited clay in the centre of an ancient dried lake called Nagdaha in the 3rd century BC by Emperor Ashoka of the Kirat Dynasty.

The city was first formed in the shape of the Buddhist Dharma Chakra (Wheel of Righteousness) and legend has it that Emperor Ashoka erected four thurs (mounds) or stupas on the perimeter and one in the centre: their size and shape giving the city a true sense and feeling of antiquity, enhanced by the more than 1,200 Buddhist monuments of different types that are scattered throughout the city.

Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of the city, contains the Royal Palace which consists of three main chowks (places where paths intersect), the Central Mul Chowk, Keshav Narayan Chowk and Sundaru Chowk, holding in its centre a masterpiece of stone architecture, the Royal Bath called Tushahity.

The fountain in the north of the square, Mani Dhari, is its oldest structure probably dating from the 10th century, being vast and sunken with its first gallery still 2 m (6.5 ft) below street level and descending a further 2 m (6.5 ft) to where water springs from three makara-(half animal, half fish) shaped spouts, all presided over by the goddess Lakshmi and two mythical beings, called barumes.

There are many festivals in Patan - and throughout Nepal during July and August, including Janai Purnima, a time of ritual bathing and changing of the sacred Janai threads, and Gaijatra, the Festival of the Holy Cows, when people parade wearing many kinds of hats, all with a picture of a cow pinned on them.

There are many Toursist Attractions including Forts, Vavs (Step Wells), Talavs(Lakes) and places of worships.

The Only Remain of Old City of Patan in the form of a very small portion of Old Fort near Kalka on the outskiets of the New City is of historical and archeological importance. So is the case with the remains of the walls of new fort and the Darwajas (Gates) of the new fort which are fast disappearing. Unfortunately Administration as well as a Majority of local People show little interest in preserving these heritage places which are shrinking at a rapid pace. Fortunately the inner fort of Bhadra with its Darwajas (Gates) is preserved well. However, with the transfer of all Government and Administrative machinery from Bhadra how long it will be preserved is unclear.

Step wells include Rani-ki-Vav and Trikam Barot ni Vav. Lakes include historically and acrheologically important Sahstraling Sarovar, Anand Sarovar (Khan Sarovar) and now revamped Gungadi Sarovar. There are many a Religious places of significance on religious, historical or architerctural grounds. These include Old Kalka Mandir, Panchmukhi Hanuman, Jasma Odan ni Deri, Old Mahalaxmi Mandir, Hingaraj Mandir, Panchasar Derasar and Sheikh Farid no Rojo.

Salvivad, a Place where Patolas are woven along with places where traditional Clay Toys are made are also worth visiting. Many annual religious fairs also act as tourist destination.

Thimphu

Thimphu is the capital of the Kingdom of Bhutan, and with a population of approximately 50 000 people

Prayer flags flutter in the wind as you reach Thimphu, the capital of a country with a style all of its own. At a height of 2,320 m (7,656 ft) Shangri-la, as it is sometimes known, is set in a long, wooded valley in the heart of the Himalayas, scrambling up the hillside from the Wang Chhu River.


A Tibetan monk made this country a Buddhist sanctuary in 1616, when the valley had already been settled for centuries. However, it was not until 1961, when the much-revered king named Thimphu as his new capital, that the city began to develop.

Until the late 1950s there were no roads, electricity, paper currency, or schools - indeed Bhutan was completely closed to outsiders until 1974, when the first Western visitors were invited to the coronation of the present Dragon King. The city consists of low-rise structures with large flat roofs, highly decorated wooden shutters and balconies, and paintings or Buddhist motifs on the white walls.

All new buildings must follow this traditional Bhutanese style. Lanes twist and twirl their way up the hill, all leading to the central Clock Tower Square, with its fountains and prayer wheels, restaurants and little shops. Alarge memorial shrine, containing religious paintings and tantric statues, dominates the town, busy with colourfully dressed people circling it, chanting mantras.

The most impressive building, the Trashicchoe Dzong, stands on the hill above - housing the throne room and the King's offices, it is also the summer residence of the Chief Abbott and his monks. It's expensive to visit Bhutan, and expensive to stay here - a deliberate policy to keep tourism at a low level.

Bhutan is poor in material goods, but boundlessly rich in other qualities contentment, inner peace and dignity. Children are taught in English, and many go on to foreign universities, bringing their learning back home.

A new plan for the city, called the Thimphu Structure Plan (TSP), was prepared and approved by the Council of Ministers in 2003, and subsequently by the elected Thimphu Municipal Corporation, that is implementing the plan.

The TSP is directed at protecting the fragile ecology of the valley, including its rivers and forests. Considering the rapid growth of automobiles and pressure on the public health infrastructure in the town centre, restrictions on plot coverage and building heights were imposed.

Critical to the plan are fifteen Urban Villages created through participatory land pooling, each having its own Village Square with amenities, garden, creche and an express bus link connected by the proposed Urban Corridor (under construction). The planning approach became widely known as the Principles of Intelligent Urbanism.

Thimphu’s weekend market is the biggest in Bhutan and well worth a stop. Although many of the crafts items are manufactured imports from India and Nepal the extensive area of fresh grains and vegetables is worth at least an hour’s walk-through.

This is still a world informed by Buddhist principles, and long may it last.

Kolkata

A guide to the city of Calcutta and the nearby urban areas.

The history of Kolkata is bound up with the British East India Company. The Company built the outpost of Fort William at the end of the 17th century as their main base in India. The city grew around it, and from 1772 until 1911, Kolkata (or Calcutta as it was then known) was the capital of British India.




These was constant tension with the Nawab of Bengal, the local ruler, which led to the legendary incident of the "Black Hole of Calcutta" in 1756, when British prisoners, held in one of the Nawab's dungeons, were suffocated from heat and overcroeding.


Kolkata is the cultural heart of modern India and has a long tradition of producing great writers, artists, musicians and political thinkers. In the 19th century it became the centre for the Indian Nationalist Movement seeking independence from colonial rule.




Today it is still renowned for its artistic and intellectual life as well as being the centre of the Bengali film industry. Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India and the northeastern states.

It is home to the Calcutta Stock Exchange — India's second-largest bourse. It is also a major commercial and military port, and the only city in the region to have an international airport.

Once India's leading city and Capital, Kolkata experienced a steady economic decline in the years following India's independence due to the prevalent unstabilised political condition and rise in trade-unionism. Between the 1960s to the mid 1990s, flight of capital was enormous as many large factories were closed or downsized and businesses relocated.



The lack of capital and resources coupled with a worldwide glut in demand in the city's traditional industries (e.g. jute) added to the depressed state of the city's economy. The liberalisation of the Indian economy in the 1990s has resulted in the improvement of the city's fortunes.

A traveller's first impressions of Kolkata are ones of utter confusion. The familiarity of English street names and Victorian architecture is immediately reassuring but the noise, traffic and squalor swamp you with sensory overload - roads packed with cars, cows, handcarts, rickshaws, pariah dogs and people all competing for space.

By the time you catch your first glimpse of a corpse floating down the River Hooghly, you are too numb to absorb it as anything abnormal - and so you adjust to this compelling place, called the "City of Joy".

Give yourself time explore the tall, narrow side streets, where the canopies of the trees meet to cast dappled pools of shade, and begin to feel something of the animated soul of this enigmatic, ramshackle city, the city of the great Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore:"I shall be born in India again and again. With all her poverty, misery and wretchedness, I love India best.

Love it or hate it, you can never ignore it’s enticing allure.

Tashkent

Tashkent -- Capital of Uzbekistan
Tashkent -- One of the oldest cities in the Central Asia
Tashkent -- The most beautiful city in the Central Asia

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and also of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2006 was 2.1 million. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million.




At first, you may be disappointed that Tashkent is not the Arabian Nights fantasia that its name suggests. But once you have got over the initial shock of the Soviet architecture, you realize that there is much more to this city than meets the eye, with plenty of its heritage still intact at the same time as being the cosmopolitan capital of 21st century Uzbekistan.

Tashkent started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the Golestan Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the Kangju confederacy.

Tashkent, like all the Silk Road cities, has a romantic and turbulent history. From the time of the 8th century Arab occupation, it grew to be an important trade and cultural centre The city was flattened by Ghengis Khan and his Mongol hordes but its fortunes revived under Tamerlane (Timur) and it went on to become the richest city in Central Asia.

In the 19th century, it fell into the hands of Tsarist Russia, and a European quarter was built to the east of the old city. However, almost the whole city was destroyed either in the 1917 Russian Revolution or in the devastating earthquake that shook the entire region in 1966.

Today the remnants of the eski shakhar (old town) in the west of the city are well worth seeing - a maze of mud brick houses with mosques and madrassahs (schools) that have been spared by Soviet planners. Khasret Imam is a 16th century square with the Bharak khan madrassah, the Kaffa Shashi mausoleum and two mosques.

The Eski Juva bazaar at the 9th century Chorsu (crossroads) is a huge, colourful market that has been operating from the same site for 2,000 years. The 15th century Djammi Mosque and 16th century Kukeldash madrassah are nearby.

The government has poured money into Tashkent's infrastructure and it is an impressive place to visit, with tree-lined streets, pleasant parks and fountains, and excellent public transport.

Kaifeng

Kaifeng is one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China

One of the ancient capitals of China, Kaifeng sits south of the Huang He (Yellow River), to which it is linked by the Grand Canal. Its most famous monument is the Iron Pagoda (Tie Ta), which is in fact built of bricks and covered with glazed brown tiles.

It was built in 1049 and has survived remarkably well. Po Ta is a six-sided pagoda, covered in tiles with images of the Buddha. It dates back to the Ming Dynasty. The Shanshangan Huiguan is an ornately decorated guildhall, built in the 18th century with stone carvings, brickwork and woodwork.



The Da Xiangguo Si is among China's most famous Buddhist shrines and is best known for its statue of Avalokitesvara. Longting Gongyuan (Dragon Pavilion Park) sits on the site of the former Imperial palaces. It has two beautiful lakes and a pavilion which dates back to the late 17th century.

The attraction destined to put Kaifeng on the tourist map is the Qingming Shanghe Yuan. It is based on a scroll in the Forbidden City in Beijing that depicts Kaifeng in the 12th century and is full of reconstructions of bridges, shops, restaurants and other buildings. Dancers and musicians perfrom rituals of that era and there are also embroidery demonstrations.

Another well-known sight was the astronomical clock tower of the engineer, scientist, and statesman Su Song (1020-1101 AD). It was crowned with a rotating armillary sphere that was hydraulic-powered (i.e. by waterwheel and clepsydra clock), yet it incorporated an escapement mechanism two hundred years before they were found in clockworks of Europe, and featured the first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.

Bukhara

Historically the holiest city of Central Asia, Bukhara is the fifth largest city in Uzbekistan, populated mainly by Tajiks. If you only go to one place on the Silk Road, it has to be the top of the Kalyan Minaret (Tower of Death) to gaze down on this mesmerizing city of subdued desert hues and sublime blue domes.

Bukhara has perhaps the most romantic past of any city of Central Asia. Originally founded in 500 BC, conquered by Alexander the Great, destroyed by Ghengis Khan, rebuilt by Tamerlane, and admired by Marco Polo, it became the intellectual and cultural heart of the Silk Road. Bukhara produced many of the world's greatest historians, scientists, writers and thinkers, including the great mystic Bahautdin Nakshbandi - the founder of the esoteric Sufi philosophy.






The city also has a history of violence - during the 19th century "Great Game" between Russia and Britain, Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly were forced to dig their own graves at the foot of the massive walls of the Ark Citadel brfore being executed as spies of the British Empire in 1842.

The winding mud streets of Bukhara were built around open pools which provided the water supply for both drinking and public washing. These were a terrible health hazard and most of them were filled in during the Soviet era. But Lyab-i Hauz has survived, a wonderfully romantic spot surrounded by mulberry trees, with a khanaka (Sufi lodging house), and madrassahs (school) at either end. Nearby is the 14th century Kukeldash madrassah - the largest Islamic centre of learning in Central Asia.

This city of browns and blues, with its dazzling markets and mosaics, has an unhurried, dreamy atmosphere about it, the new has been assimilated into the old with the relaxed ease of a city confident of its place in history.

The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia and the city itself has existed for half that time. Located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion.

Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital and the largest city of Nepal. The city is situated in Kathmandu Valley that also contains two other cities - Patan and Bhaktapur. Nepali is the lingua franca of the valley and is the most widely spoken language. Nepal Bhasa/Newari is the language spoken by native people, the Newars. The city stands at an elevation of approximately 4,500 ft (1,400 m) and is inhabited by about 700,000 people. Kathmandu is the most developed city in Nepal.



Kathmandu, the gateway to the Himalayas, is set high up in an emerald green valley, surrounded by terraced hills. The beating heart of Nepal and totally cosmopolitan, it was the home town of the Newars, the country's master craftsmen and super tradesmen.

Trade created Kathmandu - for a thousand years the city controlled the most important caravan route between Tibet and India, so not surprisingly it has easily embraced the tourist business.




In many ways the city is seemingly unchanged since the Middle ages and indeed it contains no less than four UNESCO World Heritage Site (Durbar Square, the Swayambhu and Bauddhanath Buddhist stupas and the Hindu temple of Pashupati).

Yet in some parts of the city it appears to be just another polluted concrete jungle. Kathmandu has one of the highest rates of inflation in Asia and although there is more money around than before, most of it remains with the upper class.

Popular with westerners since the 1960s as a key stop on the hippie trail, Kathmandu has an enchanting old town, the area between Kantipath (the main north/south road), west to the Vishnumati River - a visual feast of rose brick and ancient wood-carved temples and palaces.

Durbar Square is a non-stop carnival, with temples and monuments as well as the former Royal Palace, home of the ancient Malla kings.

Varanasi

Varanasi, the holy city of India


On the banks of the River Ganges in northern India, the colourful holy city of Varanasi (Benares), has been an important cultural, historic and religious center for more than 5,000 years.





Presided over by Shiva, Varanasi is the most important Hindu pilgrimage site in the world. Described by Mark Twain as older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together, this city offers a spectacle visitors never forget.

The ghats (stone steps) along the river banks are the main focus of religious activity. Here the pilgrims have a ritual bath in the water and perform puja to the rising sun, in accordance with centuries of tradition.

It is believed that bathing in the sacred waters results in the remission of sins and that dying here circumvents rebirth. This is why many old and sick Hindus come to the city to die, surviving their last days on alms given to them by the faithful. Their funerals take place on the river banks, their bodies are burnt on funeral pyres and the remains are tossed into the water.

One of the largest, the Dasashvamedh Ghat offers good views of the river and all the hustle and bustle along its banks. This is believed to be where Brahma sacrificed ten horses to pave the way for Shiva's return to Varanasi after a period of banishment. Other special ghats are the Asi, Barnasangam, Panchganga and Manikarnika.


The Kashi Vishwanath Yemple, on the banks of the sacred river, was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. Home to the shrine of Lord Kashi Vishwanath, it is one of the twelve revered Jyotirlingas of Shiva, the shrines where he is worshiped in the form of a phallus of light.




This temple is the place of pilgrimage for millions of Hindus every year, and is the most sacred shrine in Varanasi. Its original structure was destroyed by the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb. The gold plating of the dome was done during the nineteenth century by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab.

Close by this important Hindu pilgrimage site is Sarnath, a place of great meaning to Buddhists. Lying 12 km (7 mi) from Varanasi, Sarnath is where Buddha preached his first sermon and revealed the eigh-fold path that leads to the attainment of inner peace, enlightenment and the ultimate, nirvana.

Ashoka, the great Mauryan emperor, erected magnificent stupas here, including Dharmarajika Stupa at a staggering 33.5 m (109 ft) high, to honour Buddha's presence. Today, the Archeological Museum at Sarnath displays many ancient relics, among them countless images of Buddha and Bodhisatva.

Travel Guidebooks in India

Delhi

The crowded, colourful and unruly heart of India.

The capital of the largest democracy in the world is also one of the oldest cities in the world. There is evidence of continuous human habitation from at least 2000 BC, and the remains of seven major cities have been unearthed. Delhi has not only seen empires rise and fall but has been the capital of several of them.






Delhi is two entirely separate cities: the city of the Mughals - Old Delhi: and New Delhi - an inspired grand design by the great British architect, Lutyens. Two broad central boulevards bisect each other.

The Rajpath runs from the magnificent presidential palace, Rashtrapati Bhavan, to India Gate, a spectacular 42 m (140 ft) arch commemorating the 90,000 or more Indian soldiers who died fighting British wars.

The Janpath leads to the main shopping district, Connaught Place, a series of elegant colonnaded terraces in concentric circles, modelled on Royal Crescent in Bath. It is all splendid and indeed familiar, with the road congestion typical of all major cities.

Old Delhi is altogether another world. Chandni Chowk, the main thoroughfare, leads you into a compelling web of mysterious dark lanes and teeming bazaars, a maelstrom of traffic and people, and pariah dogs and flies, and everywhere the smell of dust and incense, spices and sewage.

After weaving your way through the street hawkers, mendicants, naked vagrants, wandering cows, bullock carts, snake charmers, cycle rickshaws, bedraggled women, waif-like children, the Red Fort is a soothing place to recover from sensory overload - a magnificent 17th century Mughal seat of power, with walls 2 km (1.25 mi) long, acres of garden and Chatta Chowk covered bazaar.



Nearby is Jama Masjid India's largest mosque with two 40 m (130 ft) tall minarets. The 13th century Qutab Minar is even taller at 72.5 m (238 ft). Delhi is a complex, challenging city - infuriating, fascinating, baffling, loathsome and wonderful in equal measure. It has to be seen to be believed. And having been once, you want to go back for more.

Mumbai

This megalopolitan monster - India's largest city - was originally an island archipelago, inhabited by fishermen and Buddhist monks. The islands were acquired by the Portuguese who gave them to Charles II as a dowry for marrying Catherine de Braganza. In 1668, the Crown offered the lease to the British East India Company for a mere $10 per annum.



They rapidly established their west coast headquarters here, carried out massive land reclamation and building projects, and transformed seven muddy islands into the colonial city of Bombay, the most important port on the Arabian Sea. Since then the city (which changed its name to Mumbai in 1995) has never stopped growing.

Traditionally, the first thing a visitor to Mumbai is shown is the Gateway of India, an Indo-Saracenic monument on the waterfront. The last British troops left India via this gateway in 1948 in a symbolic gesture of renunciation of this great city that had been the trading hub of their Empire.




Overlooking it is another of the city's most famous icons, the magnificent Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, built in 1903 by the "father of India industry", Jamsetji Tata, after he had been refused entry to a hotel because he was a native.

Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment centre of India, generating 5% of India's GDP and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 40% of maritime trade, and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. Mumbai is one of the world's top ten centres of commerce by global financial flow, home to such important financial institutions as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India and the corporate headquarters of many Indian companies and numerous multinational corporations.

The city also houses India's Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood. Mumbai's business opportunities, as well as its high standard of living, attract migrants from all over India and, in turn, make the city a potpourri of many communities and cultures.

Mumbai is the most westernised, cosmopolitan and frenetic city in India. Day and night, its streets teem with people of all complexions, cultures and creeds. It is a city of contradictions and extremes, where phenomenal wealth rubs shoulders with heart wrenching poverty. Migrants come from all over Asia, lured by dreams of Bollywood-the largest film industry in the world - and the promise of material success.

People continue to flock to this "city of gold", because whatever else about Mumbai, one thing is certain - it is a city of chance, where both dreams and nightmares are spun into reality.

Osh

Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош) is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "Capital of the South". It has served as the administrative center of Osh oblast since 1939. The city has an ethnically mixed population of about 220,000 (in 2003), comprising Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Russians, Tajiks, and other smaller ethnic groups.

The Fergana valley in the Tien Shan Mountains is the most fertile and densely populated region of Central Asia. Here, close to the Uzbek border, is the city of Osh-a modern town with a history going back at least 2,500 years. For hundreds of years it was a major intersection on the ancient trade route between China and the West, and a flourishing silk production centre.

Osh is a lively place, with the largest and most crowded outdoor market in all of Central Asia. The city's industrial base, established during the Soviet period, largely collapsed after the break-up of the Soviet Union and has started to revive only gradually.

The proximity of the Uzbek border, which artificially cuts through historically linked territories and settlements, deprives Osh of much of its former hinterland and presents a serious obstacle to trade and economic development. Daily flights link Osh - and hence the southern part of Kyrgyzstan - to Bishkek and the north, and the recent upgrading of the long and arduous road through the mountains to Bishkek has greatly improved communications.

The city centre is dominated by a 200 m (660 ft) hillock, the Takht-i-Suleyman, a 10th century Muslim shrine. At the top is a small 15th century mosque built by Baber - the founder of India's Mughul Dynasty.

The shrine is especially revered by childless women, who come here to pray for fertility, and the mountain is dotted with colourful prayer rags, tied to trees and bushes - a practice common all over the East. for the people of this region, the Takht - i - Suleyman is the holiest Muslim place after Macca and Madina.

Next to the bazaar is the Shahid Tepa - the largest mosque in Kyrgyzstan, originally built of wood in 1908. It has recently been renovated, with Saudi Arabian backing, to hold a congregation of 5,000.



And then there is the bazaar itself - the heart of Osh. The Jayma Bazaar is renowned as the largest, liveliest and most colourful open air market in the whole of Central Asia. It sells everything under the sun from spices and honey to bicycle parts and cloth.

The sight of Uzbek dealers recognizable by their tyubeteykas (traditional skullcaps) - waving wads of notes, peasant women in bold floral-print dresses picking over the vegetables, street vendors frenetically haggling and shouting, makes you forget for a moment that you are in one of the poorest places in Central Asia. This is, after all, still a city of traders.



Don't miss the Great Silk Road Museum. Statue of Kurmanjan Datka, "Queen of the South"- an incredible Kyrgyz woman who led the opposition to Russian expansion in the 19th century. Statue of lenin - one of the few remaining in Central Asia. The 16th century Rabat Abdul Khan Mosque.

Almaty

Almaty (Kazakh: Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata (Russian: Алма-Ата), also Verniy (Верный)) is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,226,000 (as of 1 August 2005),[2] which represents 8% of the population of the country.

It was the capital of Kazakhstan (and its predecessor, the Kazakh SSR) from 1929 to 1998. Despite losing its status as the capital, Almaty remains the major commercial center of Kazakhstan.


The name "Almaty" derives from the Kazakh word for "apple" (алма), and thus is often translated as a city "rich with apples". The older Soviet-era Russian version of its name, Alma-Ata, originates from a mistake (the name literally means "Grandfather of apples").

In the surrounding region, there is a great genetic diversity among the wild apples; the region is thought to be the ancestral home of the apple, and the wild Malus sieversii, is considered a likely candidate for the ancestor of the modern domestic apple.

Almaty is the former capital of Kazakhstan, and is still its largest city. Most countries with diplomatic representation in Kazakhstan have moved their embassies to Astana, the new capital, in the past year or two. Some maintain consulates in Almaty.

Almaty is the financial, economic, and cultural center of Central Asia. The city boasts a large tourist, student, and expat community, and includes a diverse citizen base of Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Germans, Poles, Chinese, and many more.

Bearings: a small mountain range borders the city to the east and in the far south on a clear day you can the snow capped mountains. The city, in general, slopes from south to north (i.e. you are going south if you are traveling uphill).

Almaty is dangerous for western travelers after dark (and somewhat before dark). Agree taxi fares prior to entering a taxi or hailed car. Criminals prey outside expat hangouts and traveling in groups is safer.

Almaty's rather rural-sounding name means "apple rich" - after the renowned quality and variety of the region's apples. The reality, however, is rather different. Almaty is the commercial and cultural hotspot of central Asia, ready to make its mark on the tourist map.

In 1911, a catastrophic earthquake flattened the city. Only the Svyato Voznesenskiy (Zenkov) Cathedral stayed standing. This 54 m (180ft) high edifice is one of the most extraordinary wooden buildings in the world - it was made entirely without nails! It stands, gaudily painted like a giant dolls' house and surrounded by rose, in the 28 Panfilov Heroes Memorial Park in the city centre.

The main Zelyoni Bazaar is more than just a market, it is a cultural hotchpotch of produce and people from all over Central Asia. Artists display their work in Zhybek Zholy (Silk Road), know locally as Arbat. For a superb view of the city and mountains, take the cable car up to Kok-tobe (Blue Hill), or walk up past the marijuana fields.

Look out for Hotel Kazakhstan, a 102 m (335 ft) high modernist tower, the tallest building in the city, and the Central Mosque, built in 1999, a wonderfully elegant marble building with a huge blue dome.

The traffic is terrible - ageing cars rattle past in a cloud of exhaust fumes. But change is happening fast and things are improving all the time. Almaty is a city of pride, ingenuity and ambition, with a vibrant Asian arts and fusion music scene and a cosmopolitan population, poised to play its part on the international stage.

Don't Miss
Medeu in the Tien Shan Mountains.Tourist centre with Olympic size ice stadium and mountain water swimming pool in the summer. Barakholka flea market. Central State Museum. Museum of National Musical Instruments-in The House of Officers on the edge of Panfilov Park.

Taking a tour to Charyn Canyon 200 km (125 mi) away-the second largest canyon in the world. Arasan Baths-5 storey bath centre with eastern and Russian baths and hydrotherapy in Tulebaeva Street.