Earth Day Celebration

Kuwait Earth Day is being celebrated at Discovery Mall. I went there  this evening and we had a nice time. There were stalls set up with establishments and individuals promoting green concept services and awareness about protecting our environment in different ways. There were art and craft activities for children and they seemed to be really enjoying their time painting on different mediums. There were lots of crafts made of wood which children could paint. I wished I was kid and could sit along with the children and paint too! There were flower vases and pen holders and decorative items made with old magazine pages. It's important to protect our environment and create an awareness among the young children too. I took some pics at the exhibition. Hope you enjoy them. 

 Discovery Mall

  Discovery Mall Entrance

 Huge collection of Plastic Bottles

 Chair and Pen Holder from old magazine Papers

 Paper Swan

Pen Holder

Beautiful assortment of  flower and vegetable seeds

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Coorg - The Scotland of India

Starting Point : Kasaragod, Kerala.
Destination : Madikeri, Kushal Nagar.
Travelers : Salam,San,Gadfi,Faisal,Rouf,Tahsir,Arjun,Subin,Hegde & myself.
Travel Mode : Motor Bike.


Wow !!! What a trip it was...really fabulous..thrilled to see the golden temple, abbey falls and kicking green color hills while sun sets.... With five motor bikes we ten guys started from Kasaragod town around 4.30 pm to Coorg, “The Scotland of India”. On the way, we stopped near a small mobile kitchen (Tattukada) for dinner and tasted a special item called “chellam”. We started an eating competition and my friend Salam won the battle breaking all the records. After the heavy dinner we continued our ride. It was around midnight when we reached Madikeri. After an hour of search we found an affordable room to stay and we spent rest of the night there. My friend Gaddafi planned everything for the next day and we all were so happy as he knows the place well, so we decided to head out early to visit Abbey falls. With a time agreed, and the lack of sleep fast catching up on me it was time to retire for a goodnight sleep.

Early morning after breakfast we went to abbey falls. It is located 10 km from the town of Madikeri. Lush green paddy fields surrounded by coconut and Areca palm trees with clear sky welcomed us in the morning and all along the way. Though the road was little bumpy in some stretches, it didn't deteriorate our mood and excitement. This 10 km drive consists of beautiful narrow road with lot of curves and hollows surrounded by all sorts of trees, colorful grass and surprise appearance of some beautiful waterfalls adding to the excitement. Rain god has also boosted us with some sudden showers which turned the nature even more beautiful. Since the road was narrow and crowded, tourists are encouraged to maintain low speeds and use horn.

                                           

Around 9 am we reached near abbey falls. The waterfall is located between private coffee plantations with stocky coffee bushes and spice estates with trees entwined with pepper vines. The roar of the falls can be heard from the road. We parked our bikes and started walking slowly towards the falls. Suddenly the falls appeared, the water cascading over rocks into calm pools. A hanging bridge constructed just opposite the falls comes in handy for the Tourists. There is a Kali Mata temple on the other side of the bridge and Coffee and Black Pepper trees on the other side. Several streams combine, swelling with the monsoon rains and plunging down the mountain slope at enormous speed, hitting the huge boulders hard and forcing through the crevices and ravines. A misty cloud hangs over the falls. From here the water flows into the Kaveri River. During the monsoon season the water flow is very high. During the dry seasons the flow is considerably diminished. We had an open air bath in the calm pool below the falls. After spending two hours there, we moved to Kushalnagar which located in the east of Kodagu district.

We had a decent lunch from a small eatery just few kilometres before Kushalnagar, where these Buddhist Monasteries and golden temple were located. This temple has a very big and wide hall filled with silence and the walls are decorated with beautiful paintings of 25 disciples of Buddha who attained high realizations through the practice of the Dzogchen Teachings, along with the paintings depicting the life story of Lord Buddha and 12 teachers of Dzogchen. We spent considerable time in the premises and inside the temple.Since this is very well known, it'll be crowded generally, but there's one more temple just few kilometres away from this temple, nobody was there, may be due to heavy Honey Bee Hives in the premises. But it was worth visiting this temple amidst the honey bees flying around.The ‘Golden temple’ is just a spectacular place. The calm surroundings in the monastery transport us to another world. This temple has a huge complex, very well maintained and landscaped.  After taking in the beauty and tranquil atmosphere at The Golden Temple, we left for our next destination.

While coming back from Golden temple, we planned to drive through the beautiful and must see Harangi Reservoir which is roughly 9kms away from Kushalnagar, as my friends insisted to visit this and indeed its a lovely experience watching the reservoir and nature beauty so closely and colourful. It was scenic especially from the top of the reservoir as the water is flowing from the gates as the waves hit them. On the way return from the dam, we have spotted a beautiful flower garden just in front of a small house with tiny Ganesha idol in the middle of it. They have as many as 30+ different varieties of flowers.

 We enjoyed a lot and it’s already 6 in the evening so had to return home. At mid night we reached back to our home town and it was one of the best trips in my life.

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Liberation Tower

Liberation Tower

Towering high above the city of Kuwait, this is one monument you cannot miss while gazing at the city's skyline. Nor it is unknown to anyone staying in Kuwait. But do you know that this popular landmark measures 372 meters, which makes it about 40 meter’s taller than Paris' Eiffel Tower. It is a symbol of Kuwait's liberation from the Iraqi rule during the Gulf War. In addition it is also one of the tallest telecommunication towers around the world.  It is also the tallest structure in Kuwait. Construction of the tower started before Iraqi invasion on August 2, 1990. It was then meant to be called The Kuwait Telecommunication Tower. When the invasion took place, the construction was put on hold and resumed after Saddam Hussein’s forces were relegated. The tower was renamed as the Liberation Tower, in the year 1993; after the renovation was over.His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah inaugurated this telecommunications tower on March 10, 1996.

On your visit toLiberation Tower , you will see that the structure façade is made up of ceramic tiles on the frontage from the base to the first lowest level, which is about 308 meters above the ground. The tower and the telecommunication compound are divided into three working areas. They include, a public communication center, revolving observation level and a restaurant, and the adjoining plant and equipment structure. There are 18 elevators in this tower. These can carry you up and down in no time. Two of them are enclosed with glass and can accommodate 21 passengers. They are regarded as one of the fastest in the world at notching up speeds of about 6.3 meters per second. There are six floors of offices set up above the revolving mezzanine floor. It is also known as Tahreer Tower. The view of Kuwait you get to see from the observation platform is breathtaking.

The Liberation Tower of Kuwait, is similar to the C N Tower (a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.) since both contain a revolving restaurant, observation platform, telecommunications equipment and similar architecture. 

This is one must-visit destination when you are in Kuwait. It houses many government offices so it remains close for public. Only on Liberation Day from morning 7am to 12 noon, it remains open to general public. There are no entrance fees. And lots of activities are organized on this special day on the observation platform. You will surely enjoy if you visit it. So if you want to visit Liberation Tower, it has to be on this special day.

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Dream Cube

ESI Design worked with the Shanghai Corporate Community to create the Dream Cube, a 43,000 square foot Corporate Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo. Made from recycled cd cases, the Dream Cube is covered in LED lights which change color when people are interacting inside the building.

Visitors are invited to participate online and in-person in a visual composition of the city’s future by contributing thoughts and images of their city via the website. The words and photos of thousands of Shanghai residents will mingle throughout the pavilion to symbolize their co-creation of Shanghai’s future.

In addition to using recycled materials and LED lights, the roof collects rainwater before filtering and storing it for daily use. The pavilion also features a solar thermal tube screen on the roof, which collects solar energy for producing hot water. After the Expo, the building materials will be recycled again for other applications.

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Wild Life Photography by Nick Brandt..

Nick Brandt is one of those photographers who is, quite simply, impossible to pin down. Born in England, he moved to California where he became a high profile maker of music videos for stars such as Michael Jackson. It was actually while directing the video for Michael Jackson's Earth Song in Tanzania in 1996 that he first began his love affair with Africa. Having enjoyed a deep connection with animals since childhood, and sharing his Californian home with a menagerie of pets, it was the beautiful and graceful African creatures and the wild, sweeping landscape they inhabit that particularly appealed to Nick.

Around five years ago, he decided to leave behind the glamour of the music business to concentrate on becoming a photographer. He made his mind up from the outset, however, that he was not going to attempt to emulate the litany of wildlife photographers who had found themselves drawn to this charismatic continent, but that he would approach his Chosen subject in a highly individual manner.

The result was a decision to tackle wildlife in a way that was almost diametrically opposite to the norm: using a black & white fine art style, a medium-format camera and a portrait or wide-angle lens. In short, Nick set about photographing his subjects almost as though they were human, and he himself insists that he is not a wildlife photographer at all in the conventional sense of the word.

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