Best World Heritage Sites of Asia

Our landscape is blessed with natural wonders but there are some created by man and we term them as monuments. Here is a small list of some of the important monuments of Asia.

Taj Mahal, India  :  A sheer monument of love is visited by travellers from all across the world. It is one of the most visited places of India. Taj Mahal took 22 years to complete and two thousand labourers were put to job to construct this stupendous monument.

Dambulla Cave Temple, Srilanka :  19 kms from Singriya, 80 caves lies on the roads of discovery, making them the famous World Heritage sites. One of the well preserved places of the earth and a Buddhist site,  Dambulla Caves are the most photographed travel hubs of Srilanka.

Potala Palace, Tibet:  Nestled on the Red Hill of central Lhasa, Potala Palace is the highest ancient palace of the world. It was also recently named one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World” by the television show Good Morning America and the newspaper USA Today.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia: A magnificent edifice of Cambodia spans over an area of 400 sq kms. It is an important archaeological site and is significant piece of Khamer architecture.  Angokar Wat is a temple complex and constructed by the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century.

Kiyomizu-dera, Japan :  It is one of the most celebrated Buddhist sites of Japan and was founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto. It derives its name from the fall’s pure waters and is an important part of tourist industry in Japan. Thousand of travellers throng this site to discover this intriguing site of yesteryears.

HelloTravel helped more than 2Lakhs travellers through online travel planning

Surpassing all benchmarks, HelloTravel.com helped more than 1 lakhs travellers within a year. This is in itself an achievement with makes HelloTravel.com goals more stringent and specific.

HelloTravel.com proudly announce of helping over 2 lakh travellers across the globe in planning their trip. The company has successfully achieved a milestone of processing its 200000 trip requests within the time span of three operative years and is moving ahead with vigour to achieve great heights in near future.

Launched in the year 2009, HelloTravel com accomplished a milestone last year by helping 1 Lakh travellers. And within a year, HelloTravel.com was able to cover yet another.

HelloTravel.com is a allows travelers to submit their travel request using Plan your Travel (http://www.hellotravel.com/plan-your-travel) form and in return they are connected to to four refined travel specialist who provide personalized suggestions to them.

HelloTravel.com recent achievement has boasted its morale and rolled out yet another plan to get it enlisted in the largest travel planning companies of the world.  “Though we have been slow, we see to it that we provide genuine travel services to travellers and complete satisfaction at both ends. We want to the largest online travel planner of the world and these are just small yardsticks that make ahead from others.” affirms Mayank Chowdhary, business head , HelloTravel.com

For travelers, HelloTravel is a best hub that provides content-rich online experience, trip ideas, destination research along with access to reputed travel planners & specialist for the personal attention and service they seek. HelloTravel.com has recently rolled out deals and packages on its platform ensuring great savings to travellers.

Thailand Plan For A Great Kick Off In The Year 2012

Thailand is all set for the coming year. The tourism authority of Thailand (TAT) is ready for aggressive promotion of  Pattaya in India, Turkey and Indonesia.  In a recent speech, TAT Pattaya office Director Athapol Vannakit, indicated decline in tourism arrivals as news of flood has spread around the world. In order to bring back normal inflow of travellers, the tourism office devised this marketing plan. He also indicated that the domestic market is stable and the major decline is observed from international market.

“The domestic tourism market is stable, but the international market is declining,” Athapol said. “There has been no serious short-term financial impact, but we shouldn’t relax and must continue to find a more-suitable marketing strategy.” He claimed.

There was no mention of promoting tourism in western countries.

Wildlife Reserves in Kenya

Masai Mara National Reserve:
One of the most popular national parks of Kenya, Masai Mara spans over 1510 sq kms and is Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves. It is primarily grassland and riverine forests and one of the highest lion densities of the world. Masai Mara is home to 95 species and 570 recorded species of birds.
Best Time to Visit: Year Round

Lake Nakuru National Park:
A UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the park was declared a Rhino sanctuary in the year 1983. The Lake is designated as the RAMSAR Site and was established a national park in 1961. It has approximately 300 species of birds and is a perfect place for bird lovers.
Best Time To Visit: January – February and July – October

Amboseli National Park:
Another wildlife sanctuary that fascinates travellers is Amboseli. It offers panoramic view of the world’s freestanding mountain and is situated 5 kms above the plains. It is also a park that amalgamates Tsavo national park, Kilmanjaro and Arusha national park.
Best Time To Visit: June – October.

Tsavo National Park:
One of the largest national park of Kenya and one of the largest in the world, Tsavo National Park is a notified wildlife reserve. Spanning over an area 2200 kms, Tsavo National Park is home to BIG FIVE.
Best Time To Visit: May – October.

Nairobi National Park
Locates 7 Kms away from Nairobi, this national park was established in the year 1946 and spans over an area of 117 kms. The park houses 80 species of mammals and is probably the first ever national park of Kenya.
Best Time To Visit : Year Round

Lions in Kenya

Fairs and Festivals of Bhutan

Festivals are the best way to drift away your mood from usual boring scheduled life and indulge in something that is different and interesting. Almost every country is enriched with flowery festivals which bring along colors, lights and lots of merry moments. Now, if we talk about the mountainous region of Bhutan then surely one doesn’t have to wait for long as every phase of the year is loaded with one of a kind festival. Lane of festal event is lined up with various occasions like Punakha Tshechu, Chhorten Kora, Paro Tshechu, Thimphu Drubchen, Thimphu Tshechu, Trongsa Tshechu and a lot more. All these celebrated days bring about a flare of festal light all around and connect Bhutanese to some fun and gay.

Every particular festival here is a replica of Bhutan’s religious and historical culture which is celebrated not only to rejoice but to honor the existence of sacred Gurus and their preaching’s.

Special Train For Dusherra

Festival seasons in India are on and the next major festivals falling in line are – Durga Puja and Dusherra. For the same purpose, a special train is going to be operated from Mysore to Kolkata. This would be a tourist train and its purpose is to pick and drop travellers from the two destinations.

The train is run by Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). It would start from Mysore on September 29 and would is an eleven day tour. Some of the famous tourist hotspots covered would be Darjeeling, Gangtok, Puri and Konark.

Priced at  Rs 11,750 per person, it would also cover Dusherra celebrations  and some other important destinations.

Are you ready for Srilanka With Goa ? Yes or NO

What connection do Goa and Srilanka holds? As of now, none but soon you would see a link between the two heritage abode . Prasad Kariyawasam, High Commissioner of Srilanka in India, is eaget to start an intra regional tourism promtion between Goa and Srilanka through joint ventures and initiatives at governmental and private sector levels

Goa and Sri Lanka are the stuff that dreams are made of-not only beautiful but believable, and yet no real effort has been made so far to try to sell this dream jointly.” Working together will help deliver this, he added.

He pointed the differences and the similarities of the two states and said that it could be used beneficially in promoting both destination to domestic and international travellers. “Goa and Sri Lanka are the stuff that dreams are made of-not only beautiful but believable, and yet no real effort has been made so far to try to sell this dream jointly.” Working together will help deliver this, he added. According to Prasad Kariyawasam, it could be a stepping stone in terms of intra-regional tourism promotion.

Goa- A perfect land for wedding celebration for US couples

According to the top official of tourism, Goa and Rajasthan are given priority on the list of wedding destinations in India. Goa being the center of attraction with its lovely rituals and eye-catching landscape has influenced many of the urban visitors from United States. Foreign visitors to India are mostly found spending a major part of their holiday in Goa. On return from a promotional tour to US, as said by the Goa tourism director, Swapnil Naik, the visitors are more influenced by India’s rich cultural and historical background rather than its natural or wildlife tourism.

Further supporting Goa’s tourism industry, Naik said that with confirmed number of tourists from European countries especially from Britain, Russia and Scandinavian, appealing US travelers will be a favorable addition to the appraisal of tourism in Goa. According to Sanjay Srivastava, Goa’s chief secretary, the country is on the verge of being promoted as the wedding destination by US tourism trade fraternity. Goa is usually looked upon as a perfect wedding land that has seas, beaches and palm trees accompanying the celebration, by many foreign organizations.

In addition to this, as informed by Sanjay Srivastava, Goa government has been invited to attend the annual convention and trade show at Las Vegas in Nevada in mid-June by the Asian American Hotel Owners Association(AAHOA). This is going to be the most profitable opportunity, as it will bring laurels in form of important contacts for tourism in state. Goa already falls in the list of most demanding wedding destination with the recent celebration of marriage of Lara Dutta, former Miss Universe and tennis wizard Mahesh Bhupathy.

Bhitarkanika National Park : An Awestruck Amazement for Eco-Tourists

Bhitarkanika National Park, India is a very famous hot spot of Bio Diversity. It is aforethought as one of the most impassioned wild life sanctuaries of Asia. Bhitarkanika is one among many such locations covering rich, lush green vibrant eco system which lies in the estuarine region of the the Brahmani – Baitrani in the North eastern corner of Kendrapara district of Orissa.

The Bhitarkanika wild life sanctuary is special for more than one reason as it houses the greatest of all dynamic and salt tolerant trees, mangroves, which generally grow in these tropical climate and sub tropical inter tidal regions. Bhitarkanika also boasts of having a exuberant rich and pulsating eco system.

The region between the meandering creeks and rivers , houses the second largest mangrove ecosystem in India. Bhitarkanika covers around 672 sq kms of of mangrove forests & wetland and provides home to well over 215 species of birds including winter migrants from central Asia and Europe . Giant salt water crocodiles and a variety of other wild life inhabitants are there in this eco system which makes Asia one of the most spectacular wild life area promoting wild life tourism to its best.

 

Apart from the Mangroves which are unique to the climate conditions ,another marvel to view are the Giant Salt water crocodiles and amazing eight variety of Kingfishers birds. Bhitarkanika is the second largest most viable Mangrove Eco-System in India which harbours more than 70 species of Mangrove . It is basically these rarities which command the arena that a vast expanse of the forest cover of 145 sq kms has been officially declared as the Bhitarkanika National Park.

The park which is a major tourist destination includes mangrove forests, estuaries, creeks,rivers, accumulated land , back water and mud flats which are significant making the ecological, geomorphological and biological arena of Orissa indispensable.

 

Adding more laurels to Bhitarkanika Wild life sanctuary are the rich avifauna, mammalian and the reptilian population. The Bhitarkanika Sanctuary is thought to be the best habitat for King Cobra, Indian Python, and the water monitor Lizard. The area is also frequented by a large number of water birds every year from June to October. The area near the Sujore Creek in the sanctuary is a also frequently visited by the Asian Open bills , Black Ibis, darters, Egrets etc.

 

Above all the best part of the season is the breeding of a record number of endangered gharials as per a report as on 20 August 2009.It is a bonanza breeding time going on in the Bhitarkanika National Park in Orissa as this year 63 of the 79 eggs have hatched laid by the Gharials .

 

Mr Prasanna Kumar Behera ,the divisional forest officer said that this is is a great achievement for the Forest department .The eggs of the Gharials which are the members of the crocodile family are collected from the wild and hatched artificially in the crocodile research farm in Bhitarkanika for their conservation and thereby promoting their growth. These Gharials are unique in their own way and are an endangered species.

The baby Gharials are reared for a couple of years then they are released in the wild. This project with a title of rear and release was launched in 1975 by the UN Development programme(UNDP).

Since its inception this place has become a delight for tourists and recently enough with the growing population of the Gharials it is getting promoted more for its eco tourist value. Plan Your Tour with hellotravel.com