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.