Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary near Mysore, Karnataka,

India is comparatively one of the unexplored tourist destination in South of India. Its situated near Srirangapatnam or Mysore, Karnataka.
An ideal stop over after Kamat Lokaruchi while heading towards Mysore or Madumalai, TamilNadu. time I happened to visit this place during the Good Friday long weekend. Never heard of Bird Sanctuary, initially I was reluctant to visit the place.

The visit turned out to be a pleasant surprise. 

The place is full of different coloured birds specially during their mating season from February to June month of the year. Its basically a lake premises covered in midst of dense forest. The Government of Karnataka has declared it as protected area and is maintained by the forest department.


The sanctuary hosts boats in the Lakes. To protect the wildlife, the boats are peddled by the sanctuary men. Use of motor boats is prohibited. The ride lasts for 20-30 mins. It will cost you Rs 50 per person.
The entrance charges and parking are separate.

The various birds/animals spotted were as follows

• Painted Stork
• Open Bill
• Spoon Bills
• Storks
• Crocodiles
• Fishes in the Lake

Mysore Zoo

Mysore Zoo is one of my favourites of all time. The official website of the zoo is http://mysorezoo.info/
The article covers the following information

• Location
• Fees and Online booking
• Time 
• Blast in past
• Favourites
• Pictures

Location

Located in Mysore, Karnataka, India bank opposite the famous Mysore Palace. It has been added to our itenary whenever we cross Mysore just like the Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary.

Fees

Fees of the Zoo are available at the Mysore Zoo Webiste
The tickets are now also available online nowadays.

Time

The zoo opens at 9:00 am and its best time to see the animals.
The parking lot in front of the zoo is relatively empty and its easier to get slot.
If you reach the zoo later half of the day, its difficult to get parking. Then its advisable to park the car in your hotel and come by local transport - auto rickshaw preferably.
You cannot beat the nature, as the animals take a nap in afternoon. So chances of spotting animals active and in action is less.

Blast in past

I had chance to visit the Mysore Zoo while I was child along with my cousins way back in 1989. I always cherished fond memories of my Zoo visit. I was keen to take my son to the zoo when moved to Bangalore, India.

Back in 1989 - this zoo was one of the few zoos in India which had the concept of keeping the animals in open captivity and not in cage. It was and is treat to all kids. Its well kept and maintained zoo. Has lot of variety of animals.

For those who are not aware of the open captivity zoo concept.

The carnivorous and other huge animals are not kept in the cage bars. The animals are kept in open ground. This ground is surrounded by deep trench at least 10 feet wide. This protects the animals from escaping the open captivity.

Some of my favourites are

• Giraffes at the entrance
• Tigers followed by the giraffes - one can skip the birds section
• Monkeys sections - Gorilla forms major attraction for all
• Rhino and Zebras are placed opposite each other
• Elephants - post the Rhinos one can quickly skip the deer section and head towards the Elephants
• Lions / Cheetahs - these are however kept in the caged environment due to various safety reasons.
• Alligators / Crocodiles/ Storks - enclosed in the captivity in which you can walk through.

Sometimes pictures are more worth then words.

Mini Europe, Brussels

Mini Europe Park, Brussels, Belgium is an park located at the foot of the Atomium. The Park hosts miniature forms of famous monuments of European Union countries. The size of these monuments is drastically reduced to such and extent that I was able to stand in front of the Londons Big Ben.

Pictures of this place speak more then what words can do.

Also if one buys combined ticket of Atomium and Mini Europe then it turns out to be cheaper. I was not aware of this fact as Brussels was one of my unplanned trips abroad and I had not done research before visiting place. Luckily I traced the Mini Europe park from the binoculars of the Atomiums Gallery and then landed up in the park.

Toysrus Times Square NY

The Multistoried Toysrus Shop at Times Square New York, USA stands tall in midst of the bustling and crowded streets of Times Square. This shop not only attracts kids but also the adult tourist on the Times Square. The shop hosts Ferries Wheel, Jurasic Park Diansour, Chrysler Building replica, Barbie houses section etc.

If not shopping this place will certainly attract you for the various attractions hosted by it.

Last but not the least it gives you option of decent toilets on the Times Square Newyork.

Animal Encounter - 7

Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium sized rodents. I visited the Arboretum garden in Nottingham, UK, just before leaving UK for good. And I hastly managed to get a video of squirrel in the garden where nature and wildlife is preserved. Since I had a wierd thought in mind that I will not be able to spot squirrels in Mumbais dense concrete forest. However, my notion about squirrels was wrong. During pregnancy I was on bedrest and was able to study squirrels behaviour from Goregaons flat in Mumbai. There was a squirrel residing on the Coconut tree in the courtyard of Ganesh Nagar, Goregaon, Mumbai. This squirrel collected coconut flower tentacles to build its nest. Due to my delicate condition, I was not able to film this animal encounter.

Chatswoth House

Chatsworth House is a huge countryside house at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. It is must see tourist attraction for all the Jane Austin Fans while visiting Peak District in UK. This is the place where Mr Darcy and Elizabeth send their summer vacation together in the Film 'Pride and Prejudice'. Same house was used in the movie 'The Dutchess'.

The house is surrounded by huge garden famously known as Chatsworth Garden and the famous Cascade fountain. One should plan a full day trip to visit the Chattsworth house and the garden. The garden closes one hour for the visitors and later does the Chatsworth House. So ideally one should first visit the Garden and then enter the House. Like all other famous houses, there are few rooms of the Chatsworth House which are available for visitors.

Near the Exit of the Chatsworth House, there is an exibition which hosts some charaters of the movie Pride and Prejudice.

Central Park, NY

We wrapped up our first day on New York, USA at Grand Central Park. It is a huge Public Park in midst of Manhattan City. It covers around square mile of the Manhattan. Once you enter the park you get lost in midst of lush green leaves and you completely forget that you are walking in heart of the busy Manhattan city. Its good idea to have a summer day picnic in Central Park.

The Park has a few lakes and big reservior. One can spot the New York Skyline over the horizon of the Central Park Reservoir. Since we entered the park in evening, we were tierd and decided to cover few part of it and took exit. The Central Park Reservoir, Chinese house and China Garden were some of the parts of the Central Park which we explored.

Atlantic City

Atlantic City,New Jersy, USA is famous for its Casinos and gambling taking place within those casinos. A visit to one of these casinos can change your life and luck both forever. One can become millionaire or road side beggar after gambling in those Casinos. For more details about the Casinos please visit this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Atlantic_City_casinos

We visited Atlantic City with Abhis parents in July 2006. It was one night trip to these Atlantic City. Prime intention was to visit the casinos and not gambling. We took a map of all the casinos at information desk at entrance and then entered the Caesar Casino first. I am strictly against gambling, still we paid 5 USD and tried our luck on one of the machines. Photography is strictly prohibitted in the core area where gambling takes palce. Unknowing this fact we took one snap, pretending to play on these machines.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

On the second day of my weekend in San Jose, we visited Monterey, California, USA. After a hearty sea food meal at Ocean side restaurant, we reached the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The tickets to the Aquarium are bit costly, but if you are staying on the West coast of USA its worth visiting this tourist attraction. There are many sections in side the Aquarium which cover different variety of sea animals. I would recommend you to spare minimum four hours to visit this place. Each section has shows of various fish or sea animals with trainer giving valuable information of these animals. So if you are with kids be sure you grab copy of the show timings at the entrance and follow the map accordingly.

Universal Studio Dome

Before ending your day at the Universal Studio, LA, USA each visitor has task of holding the Universal Studio Dome in his or her hands. There is big line of tourist trying to take the picture of themselves with the Universal Studio Dome at the end of the day. Everyone tries to be picture perfect for life lasting memory of the Universal Studio, LA, USA.

Terminator Ride

Along with several other rides in Universal Studio, LA, USA, we had chance to visit the Terminator Ride inside the auditorium. The Ride consists of sets of famous Terminator Movie along with the 3 D effects. After enjoying the ride we came out of the auditorium and took some of our snaps on the Terminator Bike along with backdrop of the movie. Its once in life time opportunity for evey Arnie fan to seat on his bike and take snaps along with it.

Los Angeles

We decided to spend our first Christmas vacation together in Los Angeles, USA. Since I was based in Phoenix, Abhi flew to Phoenix from Richmond, VA. The trip was planned for 4 days along with our friends Pushpa and Nehal. The plan was to visit the following attractions.
1) Universal Studio, LA

2) Disney Land, LA
3) Hollywood Street
4) The LA Beach (Famous for Bay watch shooting)

Ranathambore National Park

After returning back to India from UK for good, I was keen in visiting National Park in India. During my trip to Jaipur in Feb 2009, I persuaded my father to plan trip to Ranthambore National Park. My father was reluctant to plan visit to National Park in Desert Area in February. Atlast I won the argument and we visited the Ranthambore National Park.

Our left Jaipur in evening and had one night stay at one of the resort. You need to call the ranger and book a jeep in advance for the National Park Trip. The jeeps leave from the Sanctuarys office at around 6 o clock in the morning. You need to carry warm clothes or blankets to protect your self from the strong chilly wind. The National Parks gate is around 3 km drive from the Sanctuarys office. There are check posts at several palces inside the national park to check the number of visitors the jeep is carrying in and out of the park. This is just formality to ensure that to animal poachers are left inside the reserved area.

Good Bye DisneyLand, LA, USA

The visit to Disney Land usually gets over around 7 o clock. As the Park closes for the day after the Disney Parade is over.
Sun has already set and it has already become dark in the Park.
The Park gets lit up with glittering lights all over place. And every one is in merry mood. Somewhere in the mind everyone is reluctant to leave the Park and go back to the hotel room.

All the Disney Land Cartoon Characters gather together at the Exit of the Park to bid a good bye to the visitors of the Park.
This is followed by small firework show. This is the last chance to see all your favourite
Disney Land Cartoon Characters at the
Disney Land Park, LA, USA.
Click here to watch video of Disney Charaters bidding Goodbye at Exit gate.

Disney Parade

The Diney Land hosts parade once a day in the Disney land Park. The timings of the Parade are fixed. The parade usually last for around one hour. So the visitors to the Park should check out the place and time of the parade and plan your visit in the park accordingly.
We had opportunity to watch the Disney Parade at Disney Land, LA, USA.
The Disney Parade usually consists of march of all major disney characters accompanied by the music of thier relevant film or character theme. Some times pictures speak more then words and Disney Parade is one of them.

Disney Land, LA, USA

We visited Disney Land, LA, USA on our second day of Los Angeles Trip. After parking the car in of the multi-storeyed car parks, you need to catch the Disney Lands bus heading towards the Entrance Gates. The Theme park does not allow you to carry food or water inside the park, so its advisable to eat your personal food items inside the car and then leave for the Theme Park visit.
After buying the tickets at the ticket counter you can enter the Theme park. The tickets are accompanied by fasttrack coupons and Theme parks maps. At Information counter, its advisable to check the rides of your intrest where the fast track passes can be used to avoid long queues.
The Disney land usually hosts Disney Parade at the end of the day. So its advisable to ask the destination of the Parade and plan your days visit accordingly.
The Theme park is divided in four or five parts according to the type of rides available.
Since we were group of four adults, we headed towards the Adventure Land first.

Shenandoah National Park

After reaching Richmond, USA on H4 visa, I was really tired of visiting the Indian Desi Birthday parties. On one weekend, we decided to visit Shenandoah National Park. The best time to visit Shenandoah National Park is during Fall time, to enjoy fall colors. We had already dicided to leave USA and move to UK. So planned small visit to Luray Caverns and Shenandoah National Park during weekend. Since it was too late for us to leave the home and reach the Caverns. We just had small ride throught the National Park. We were lucky enough to enjoy some lush greenry and couple of wild animals on our way through the park.

Wild Animals Spotted on the way :

Hollywood

The visit to LA is incomplete without taking a snap in front of the iconic HOLLYWOOD statue. While roaming the Universal Studio we had opportunity to take a closeup snap of the Hollywood statue immitation. On our third day of LA trip we had tried to catch glimpse of the real Hollywood statue or hoarding from one of the streets of LA. Its difficult to park the car and take your snap along with the Hollywood hoarding. So some how we managed to take full view snap of Hollywood from our cars window.