Colca Canyon, Peru

Colca Canyon

Spiraling trails

Colca Canyon in Peru is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States, but its walls are not as vertical. I went with a group to the bottom most part, stayed overnight and It took four hours of relentless climbing to reach back the top.

The area is not described as “beautiful” by general standards, but there is something about these massive, cold, rugged mountains that was attractive. Perhaps it was the strenuous hike or maybe the humbling experience, I found the place extremely beautiful and inspiring. Read more

Four? Nahh…

For practical reasons, summer is jokingly called the ‘Construction season’ …the other season, obviously, being Winter.

Pictures from Bloor Street at Avenue Road.

Holiest place of the Baha’i religion

Terraces of the Bahá’í Faith or the Hanging gardens of Haifa are garden terraces around the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel within Haifa, Israel.

The Baha’i faith was founded in Persia and Haifa hosts the world centre of the faith. The Baha’i faith is the latest religion churned out from the holy land (thanks Valerie). This grandiose structure, touted as the eighth wonder of the world, is a must visit place in Haifa, on the Mediterranean coast.

Last weekend, I biked to Port Credit, a little town located South West of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario. The name comes from its historical roots as a trading post where goods were bought or sold on credit. Today this place is a small tourist destination and the main stretch of road contains a number of restaurants and boutiques.

Port Credit is about 25km from Toronto downtown but the nice thing is that it is almost fully connected to the city by a cycling trail along the lake. Some parts of the trail are quite scenic.

Unfortunately we did not find much to do here as the day turned cold and dull, so a follow up visit might be required.

The Golden Temple, located in Amritsar, Punjab, North India, is one of the holiest and most sacred place of worship of the Sikhs.

सुवर्ण मंदिर, All that glitters IS gold.

Golden Temple, busy during the day.

The Golden Temple welcomes everyone, all regardless of religious affiliation and other man made distinctions. My most favorite part was eating in the free kitchens and relaxing on the edge of the water at night while the moon rose behind the domes.

Hiking to this monastery was among the most beautiful experiences I ever had.

Taktsang Lhakhang aka Tiger’s Nest Monastery is the holiest site in Bhutan. Perched miraculously on the side of a sheer cliff 900m above the base of Paro valley, the only sounds you can hear at the Taktshang Lhakhang are the murmurs of the wind and water and the chanting of mantras. The only way to reach up to the Tiger’s Nest is to walk, or fly on the back of a magic tiger. I picked the former…

I was in Montreal, Quebec a fortnight back and I found the city’s cycling infrastructure quite interesting. While four days are grossly insufficient to gauge the cycling culture of a city, it was quite evident that biking was a popular mode of transport.
Bikes parked outside the Mont Royal station.

Bike locked (illegally?) to a parking station which are quite interesting itself.

On several streets of Toronto, there are bike lanes, i.e. a reserved lane on the either side of the street. In Montreal, bike lanes are almost like little independent streets. Some intersections even had traffic signals dedicated to cyclists.

A bike stand on Rue St. Denis. “Bike with your head” – I like that message.

Bike Path, a street leading to Old Montreal

Bike path along Avenue du Parc

Bike rack

Bike path along Avenue Rachel E

Probably the next time I go to Montreal, I’d like to bike there.