Goa - India

Goa is one of the most beautiful tourist spot in India. Panaji is the capital of Goa. It is mainly focused by beaches. Konkani is the language which is used to speak by the Goa people. Some people speaks Marathi also. Goa is visited by large number of International and Domestic Tourists every year. Tourists visit Goa in two different climate (Winter and Summer). International Tourists used to visit this place in Winter season, Whereas Domestic tourists from all over India used to visit in Summer season.

Goa is located in tropical zone and also near Arabian Sea, so the climate of Goa is hot and humid for most of the year. The month of summer will be hot and the monsoon rains arrives early June till September every year. Goa has very short winter season start from December to February.

Goa state is divided into two parts. South Goa and North Goa. The main river of Goa state are the Mandovi and the Zuari.



Goa is located between the border of Karnataka and Maharastra State. Tourism is generally focused into coastal area Goa. Every year, 2 million tourists visit Goa. Goa is situated in the coastal area of Arabian sea, so much sea foods will are available there. International tourists (especially from European countries) used to swim and take sun bath. beaches in Goa is around 125 kms. Colva beach is the famous beach in Goa. Sand of Colva beach will be in white colour and so it is known as White sand beach.



Rice with fish curry is the stable food in Goa. Goa people are using coconut and coconut oil for cooking usually. Because, Goa has rich coconut trees.



To reach Panaji, its around 1912 kms far away from New Delhi by roadways and railways. Flights also available to reach the city.



To know more about various cities and tourist spot and its details, click here

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The Himalayas - India

The Himalayas is the massive mountain system and it separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. In Sanskrit, the word Himalaya stands for Snow Home. Hima means Snow and Alaya means Home. The Himalayas which includes Mount Everest (1st Highest peak in the world) and K2 (2nd Highest Peak in the world). It stretches across six countries and they are India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan. And some of the worlds major rivers, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Yumuna, the Yangtz and the Indus are rises in the Himalayan mountain. The main Himalayan range runs, west to east, from the Indus river valley to the Brahmaputra river valley, forming an arc 2,400 km long and varies in width 400 km in western and 150 km in eastern. It plays major role in Tourism in India.
Apart from natural heritage, the Himalayas is the religious heritage for Hinduism and Buddhism. Amarnath and Badrinath temples are located in the Himalayas. Swami Vivekananda also founded Mayavathi Ashram nearby Almora in the Himalayas.

Some of the temples in Himalayan Range as follows:-

Amarnath - Natural Ice Shiva Linga Temple
Rishikesh - Lakshmana Temple
Badrinath - Vishnu Temple
Kedarnath - Jyotirlingas
Kailash - Lord Shiva Temple
Sri Hemkund Sahib - Sikh Temple

In Amarnath, Shiva Linga forms naturally in ice for few weeks once in a year. So many pilgrimages will visit this Linga at the time.
For More details about Naturals and Pilgrims in the Himalayas, visit http://www.himalayas.dk/

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Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam - Andhra Pradesh

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is a famous hindu temple of Lord Venkateswara located in Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh. The temple is build on venkatadri hill, one of the seven hills of tirumala, and hence it is known as "Temple of Seven Hills". The temple is the richest and most visited place of worship in the work. The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 10,000 pilgrims daily. At the time of Bhramotsavam and other special occasions, its about 5,00,000 pilgrims.

History of the Temple:

Thondaiman, a king, is a ruler of Thondaimangalam (South side of Chennai), is believed to have first bulit the temple after visualizing Lord Vishnu in his dream. He bulind the Gopuram and Prakhara, and then he arranged for regular prayers to be conducted in the temple. Later, the Chola dynasty vastly improved the temple and gave rich endowments.

Dharshan:

Tirumala Tirupati devasthanam made queue systems for Dharshan to control crowd. There are some types of queue systems as follows:-

1. Dharma Dharshan - Free of cost (average time takes about 10 hours for Dharshan)
2. Sudharshanam - Rs. 50 per head (average time takes about 3 hours for Dharshan)
3. Nija Pada Dharshanam - Rs. 100 per head (average time takes about 2 hours for Dharshan)
Apart for this, there are separate queue for senior citizens.
And for kalyanam in temple, Rs. 1000

Prasadham:

Tirupati Laddu is the world famous prasadham given by the temple. Recently the trust has taken copy rights Laddu prasadham. Hencu no one can prepare same type. Free meals given by the temple to the pilgrimages.

Travel Routes:

By roads and railways, its around 592 kms far away from hyderabad and from chennai, its around 120 kms. Airlines facilities also available for tirupati in daily basis.

For more details about Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanum and its Dharshan and booking visit http://www.tirumala.org/

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Tourism stereotypes

Quite often professionals of the tourism sector (for example, tour operators, travel agencies, etc) tend to resort to cultural stereotypes to promote their tourists products but cultural stereotypes can be dangerous because they are too general (they do not distinguish between the different cultures or regions within the same country) and therefore they simplify the cultural richness of any country.

There are many stereotypical images of Spain, the country where I live. I found this postcard in a tourist spot in Seville a couple of weeks ago and it made me reflect upon the cultural image tourism sometimes conveys. This postcard, using the letters of "Spain", summarizes many stereotypes that are associated with Spain: bullfighting, olives, sun, wine, the letter ñ and flamenco dancing.

Is this the way foreigners see Spain? Do you think stereotypes give an accurate portray of a country? Which cultural stereotypes are typically associated with your country? I hope to hear from all of you as I am very interested in your comments. Thanks for your participation.

Picture by Mikel Urmeneta for kukuxumusu

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Philippine Blog Awards

Finalist to the Philippine Blog Awards, SaGGAs made it to the travel Category along with Lemon Pie House of Business category.

The Awards night was held at PETA-PHINMA Theater New Manila Quezon City of October 9, 2009.

Not expecting the blog making it to the finals, my sisters skipped their Classes and Project activities to accompany me for the night.

mga feeling cool.. up for a picture before attending the event.

It was the first for all of us to join such event, an activity that is outrageously exciting, joyful, and totally awesome.

@left: Me & Debra out for pictures @right: Debra and Kimberly on suspended diet mode.

Making our way to the entrance, we were greeted by the organizers with warmth and offered with incredibly satisfying food. I wished we could have arrived there earlier... hahahaha

Owww Yeahh!!! that would be ever Wonderful Gareth

After eating, visiting booths, collecting freebies, and meeting other bloggers, the awards activity finally started.

@left: Checking the Goodies @right: Kim feel na feel

We totally enjoyed every bit of that evening as beautiful and handsome people hit the stage with humor and short presentations for the awards.

@left: amm i forgot her name but she rocks @right: mr. smith giving the awards.

SaGGAs and LPH did not make it to number 1 but the recognition to finals was enough to fuel the flame for improvement and continuation.

@left: the Awardees of PBA @right: our ride to the One Blogging Nation

We did not only attend the night for our blogs but represented the IGOROTS in Trends of the World wide web.

We dedicate this feature to our Kailyans who were victims of the Typhoon Pepeng.

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Mancing Ikan Silli di Sungai Silau

Mancing di alam mempunyai keasyikan dan tantangan tersendiri dibandingkan dengan mancing di kolam. Mancing di sungai bisa dilakukan dengan biaya yang lebih irit karena ngak perlu bayar tempat, umpan gak perlu beli bisa dicari dilokasi mancing dan bisa memakai peralatan mancing seadanya. Keuntungan lain mancing di sungai, bisa menikmati keindahan alam dan bisa pilih tempat yang gak terlalu panas sehingga gak perlu pake sun block kaya mancing di kolam atau di laut.

Berhubung ikan di sungai bermacam jenis biasanya sebelum mancing ke sungai pemancing akan menentukan target ikannya dulu supaya bisa dipersiapkan peralatan dan umpan yang sesuai dengan target. Umumnya untuk mancing di sungai tidak diperlukan pelampung dan karena air sungai mengalir tentunya pemberatnya disesuaikan dengan arus sungai. Semakin deras arusnya maka tentunya pemberatnya lebih berat supaya tidak terhempas ke permukaan. Untuk mancing ikan baung dan jenis ikan yang besar kailnya juga lebih besar bekisar ukuran 8 atau lebih dan senar juga harus kuat supaya bisa melawan kekuatan ikan dan arus sungai.


Senar halus juga bisa dipakai untuk memancing ikan kecil dan ikan Silli. Umpan bisa memakai cacing tanah atau udang sungai. Cacing bisa didapat di pinggiran sungai, lebih baik cacing air yang hidup di pinggir sungai yang basah. Ikan Silli biasanya hidup di pinggir sungai di bawah sampah-sampah sungai.


Ikan Silli bentuknya seperti belut hanya lebih pipih, berwarna coklat bermotiv batik di tengah badannya dan bersirip seperti ikan. Siripnya tajam, maka perlu hati-hati untuk memengangnya, gunakan kain atau alas tangan lain agar tidak terluka. Rasanya pun hampir sama seperti belut hanya aromanya sedikit berbeda. Kalau digoreng aromanya mirip ikan lele yang disale.

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Munnar - Kerala

Here is the another loveliest tourist spot in India, Munnar - kerala. Munnar is a town which is located in Idukki District in Kerala, situated in South Western Ghats of India. It is one of the famous tourist spot of kerala. Munnar is a malayalam words Muna and aaru (three and river). The strategic location at the confluence of Muthirappuzha river, Nallathanni river and Kundaly river is Munnar. The area of Munnar is surrounded by huge forests and the climate of the regions remains wet and cool throughout the year. The region of Munnar height varies from 6562 feet to 8530 feet from the sea level. Main cultivation of Munnar is Tea Plantation. These Tea Plants are exports to foreign countries.

Tourist Spots in Munnar as follows,

The Evarikulam National Park Marayoor Forest Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary Mudapetty Dam

To reach Munnar, its around 198 kms from Alleppey, via Thiruvankulam. We can take a separate cab to reach the destintion. From Coimbatore, its around 250 kms via Alleppey and Thiruvankulam.

For more details about Munnar visit www.munnar.org

Photo galleries of Munnar:
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