Pangong Tso- Biggest lake of Asia

Review:arvindkatoch

It is a lake situated far away in barren land in Ladakh. This lake is known for its calm, clear and unending expanse. It is the one of biggest lake in Asia. Its area falls under both India and China. One third of it is in India and remaining in China. It is 130 km long and 7 km wide. It is located on the Changtang plateau in eastern Ladakh, around 140 km South-east of Leh, at an altitude of over 14000 feet. Pangong Tso is also known as hollow lake. It is clear symbol of natures craftsmanship. Its brackish water plays with sun light to produce different colour effect. This area falls under army control and requires pass from deputy commissioner of Leh. To reach this lake one has to travel 30 km down the Manali-leh highway to reach karu. From where the road splits, one goes to Manali and one 113 km long to Pangong tso. After the verification of paper at karu, one moves ahead through a green lush valley. This is very uncommon to see a green valley at this height. There are total five army check posts are on the road to Pangong Tso. The second check post is at Zingral (15,500 ft). Here army keeps a copy of the permit. This is rocky area and porn for land slide. This rocky terrain takes us to Chang La (at 17,350 ft), the third-highest motor able pass in the world. A traces of snow along the road welcome us. One crosses the valley on the sinking road. The mountains appeared to be painted in hue of green, violet and brown. A school of mountaineering is situated here, which imparts training in various degree of rock climbing Soon we found our self in pasture which is filled with yaks, mountain cows. The rocky mountain changes into sandy area. The road is full of causeway due water on the road.

Pangong appears suddenly while passing through this area. Just two km short of lake one passes through the gravelly terrain, which is open on the left side. One can see the tale of Pangong from here. The first sight of blue water of lake is refreshing. After crossing Lukung, the lake emerges out of its veil in right. This land lock lake stretches through the whole length of Ruthog region towards neighboring Chushul. Stretched towards indo-china border, it enters into china. Tourists are allowed to go up to Spangmik, a hamlet around 8 km from Lukung, inhabited by Khampa tribe. Most of the fresh water inlets that feed the lake are in Tibet. It is 100 metres deep at certain places. The sun plays a unique role in displaying the different colours in lake. Its crystal clear water plays with sun light to display the bands of blue, green, purple, violet, orange and red on the surface, like a rainbow. This present’s a very beautiful seeing. The lake looks like canvas painted in the different colours of nature. With no outlet, Lake Basin has deposited wealth of mineral, by the melting of snow. The lake is home to a wide range of fauna ranging from migratory birds to mammals of various species. The black-necked Siberian crane, bar-headed geese and waterfowl can be spotted at the lake. One can stay here in tents and enjoy the silence of water. www.geocities.com/arvindkatoch1
Pangong Tso- Biggest lake of Asia Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/f/travel/websites-online-communities/25781-pangong-tso-biggest-lake-asia/

TALACAUVERY—A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE AND POPULAR DESTINATION FOR LOVERS OF NATURE

Review:KVVenkataramana
In a span of two years, I had visited Talacauvery, the birthplace of river Cauvery twice. Cauvery evokes different feelings for different people. People in Coorg (now called Kodagu) district literally worship river Cauvery as goddess. They consider her the bestower of prosperity, plenty, and peace; others treat her as the symbol of sacrifice quenching the thirst of people, cattle, wild animals, birds, and cultivated crops all along the way from Brahmagiri to the Bay of Bengal. Many temples which lie on her banks as she flows through Karnataka and Tamilnadu have a special significance for devotees, as Cauvery’s waters wash the feet of gods in those temples.
Talacauvery is at the foot of Brahmagiri hills. It is about 44 kms from Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu. The road to Talacauvery passes through zigzag route on either side of which you can see coffee plantations interspersed with pepper and orange crops, paddy fields, banana and cardamom crops. On the way to Talacauvery, we come across another holy place, a small village, called Bhagamandala where Sri Bhagandeshwara temple is situated. According to Skanda Purana, this temple is named after Bhagandamuni who installed a Shivalinga at this site. This is also the place where Agastya Rishi is said to have meditated. The king Dodda Veerarajendra renovated this temple which had been partially damaged in a bitter battle in 1790. On the main door of the temple, ‘V’ in Kannada is found inscribed to indicate that the king Dodda Veerarajendra had renovated it.
Bhagamandala is also known for its famous ‘Triveni Sangam’ which is the confluence of three rivers, Cauvery, Kannike and the imaginary (invisible) Sujyothi. Cauvery is called the ‘Ganga of South’ and is one of the seven holy rivers of India, the others being Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada and Sindhu. A dip in the ‘Triveni Sangam’ completes the Hindu ‘shraddha’ (a ritual performed for the deceased parents) rites for the departed soul. It is a common sight to see people from various southern states coming to Bhagamandala for tonsuring of their heads as a part of ‘shraddha’ ritual and taking a dip in the holy sangam.
From Bhagamandala, the road to Talacauvery passes through steep hills with sharp curves. (Distance from Bhagamandala to Talacauvery is 8 kms.) Along the way, we encounter a spot called ‘viewpoint’ where one could enjoy the breathtaking view of overlapping hills and valleys. This spot is at a height of 3700’ from the mean sea level.

Talacauvery is the place where river Cauvery originates. Here, we see a ‘kundike’ (a perennial water-pot or a tiny pond) which is the source of the river, at the foot of the Brahmagiri hill. Every year, on October 17/18, (on the day of Tula or Kaveri Sankramana) at an auspicious moment, water from this ‘kundike’ gushes forth, and people in lakhs throng this place to witness this event. In front of the ‘kundike’, is a bigger pond where devotees dip their heads in water and move near the ‘kundike’ where a priest pours the sacred water from the ‘kundike’ in a copper tumbler on their heads. Then a puja is performed on behalf of the devotees by the priest to the ‘kundike’ (or Goddess Cauvery).
If we climb a few steps from one corner of the ‘kundike’, we can see two small shrines dedicated to Lord Ganapathi and Lord Agasthyeshwara. To the right of these shrines is Brahmagiri Dwara (Gateway to Brahmagiri hill) which leads to Brahmagiri hill. The peak of Brahmagiri hill (three hundred feet from the source of the river) can be reached by devotees by climbing steep stone steps. According to legend, seven sages had meditated at the peak ages ago.
One can enjoy the panoramic view of the blue hills, clouds and valleys from this peak. Cool, incessant breeze keeps company of the tourists as they savour the beauty of the distant horizon hugged by layers and layers of hills.
Talacauvery is not only a place of pilgrimage but also a popular destination for lovers of nature.
TALACAUVERY—A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE AND POPULAR DESTINATION FOR LOVERS OF NATURE Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1758890-talacauvery-place-pilgrimage-popular-destination/
 

Elizabeth carried me happily along with her on her year long journey to three countries - Italy, India and Indonesia

EAT, PRAY, LOVE One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

Review:Shail_India
Early on in "Eat, Pray, Love," her travelogue of spiritual seeking, the novelist and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert gives a characteristically frank rundown of her traveling skills: tall and blond, she doesn't blend well physically in most places; she's lazy about research and prone to digestive woes. "But my one mighty travel talent is that I can make friends with anybody," she writes. "I can make friends with the dead. . . . If there isn't anyone else around to talk to, I could probably make friends with a four-foot-tall pile of Sheetrock."Here, Gilbert's subject is herself. Reeling from a contentious divorce, a volatile rebound romance and a bout of depression, she decided at 34 to spend a year traveling in Italy, India and Indonesia. "I wanted to explore one aspect of myself set against the backdrop of each country, in a place that has traditionally done that one thing very well," she writes. "I wanted to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, the art of devotion in India and, in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two." Her trip was financed by an advance on the book she already planned to write, and "Eat, Pray, Love" is the mixed result.At its best, the book provides an occasion for Gilbert to unleash her fresh, oddball sensibility on an international stage. She describes Messina, Italy, as "a scary and suspicious Sicilian port town that seems to howl from behind barricaded doors, 'It's not my fault that I'm ugly! I've been earthquaked and carpet-bombed and raped by the Mafia, too!' " Later, she sees a Balinese mother "balancing on her head a three-tiered basket filled with fruit and flowers and a roasted duck — a headgear so magnificent and impressive that Carmen Miranda would have bowed down in humility before it." Gilbert also takes pleasure in poking fun at herself. At an Indian ashram, she winningly narrates the play of her thoughts while she tries to meditate: "I was wondering where I should live once this year of traveling has ended. . . . If I lived somewhere cheaper than New York, maybe I could afford an extra bedroom and then I could have a special meditation room! That'd be nice. I could paint it gold. Or maybe a rich blue. No, gold. No, blue. . . . Finally noticing this train of thought, I was aghast. I thought: . . . How about this, you spastic fool — how about you try to meditate right here, right now, right where you actually are?""Eat, Pray, Love" is built on the notion of a woman trying to heal herself from a severe emotional and spiritual crisis; Gilbert suggests more than once that she was at risk for suicide.

But where she movingly rendered up the tortured inner life of Eustace Conway, the gigantically flawed subject of "The Last American Man," Gilbert has a harder time when it comes to Gilbert. Often she short shrifts her own emotional state for the sake of keeping the reader entertained: "They come upon me all silent and menacing like Pinkerton detectives," she writes of feeling depressed and lonely in Italy, "and they flank me — Depression on my left, Loneliness on my right. They don't need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well. We've been playing a cat-and-mouse game for years now. . . . Then Loneliness starts interrogating me. . . . He asks why I can't get my act together, and why I'm not at home living in a nice house and raising nice children like any respectable woman my age should be."But wait a second — Gilbert is a New York journalist who has spent the prior several years traveling the world on assignment. In her chosen milieu, it would be unusual if she were married and raising kids in a house at age 34 — by her own account, she left her husband precisely to avoid those things. I'm willing to believe that Gilbert despaired over having failed at a more conventional life even as she sought out its opposite — complications like these are what make us human. But she doesn't tell thge the paradox. As a result, her crisis remains a shadowy thing, a mere platform for the actions she takes to alleviate it."Eat, Pray, Love" suffers from a case of low stakes; one reads for the small vicissitudes of Gilbert's journey — her struggle to accept the end of her failed rebound relationship; her ultimately successful efforts to meditate; her campaign to help a Balinese woman and her daughter buy a home — never really doubting that things will come right. But even Gilbert's sassy prose is flattened by the task of describing her approach to the divine, and the midsection of the book, at the ashram, drags.GET THIS BOOK FREE.BUY SELL RENT BOOKS FROM THE LINK BELOW.
EAT, PRAY, LOVE One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/f/books/1744008-eat-pray-love-woman-search/