My Travel Wishlist:3rd of Many

11.   Wish – list: Ukraine

Location: is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe and borders Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Poland on land and Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey on sea.

The territory of Ukraine is mostly a level, treeless plain, calls "steppe". There are the Crimean Mountains in the Crimean peninsula and the Carpathians in the west. 

Swallow’s Nest, the sea Castle in Crimea:  “Swallow’s Nest” is a castle, built in the late XIX century near Yalta, in the South of Crimea. Situated on the steep cliff right over the Black sea, it has become the symbol of the South coast of Crimea.

Kiev, Ukraine

Tunnel of Love - Kleven, Ukraine

12.   Wish – list: Turkey

Location: it is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.

Anatolian Seljuk Mosque, Turkey: This is part of the Great Seljuq Empire architecture. this can be found in a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. The homeland of the Seljuk architecture was Turkmenistan and Iran, where the first permanent Seljuk buildings were built. Unfortunately the Mongol invasions and earthquakes destroyed most of these buildings and only a few remain. The greatest number of surviving Seljuk monuments are in Anatolia.

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Natural Rock Pools, Pamukkale, Turkey: Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year. Pamukkale-Hierapolis is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ephesus, Turkey

To be continued…

My Travel Wishlist: 2nd of Many

7.       Wish-list: Czech Republic

Location: The Czech Republic is located in Central Europe. It is surrounded by Germany to the northwest, Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the southeast, and Austria to the south.

The true crown of the Czech lands is without a doubt the capital city of Prague. This city of a hundred spires, which has been paid homage by the greatest characters in world history over the centuries, is literally a living textbook of architecture.

Astronomical Clock, Prague, Czech Republic: This dates from the 15th century. The clock is extremely intricate and is displayed to a crowd in front of the tower to observe the procession of the Twelve Apostles: on the hour, every hour, a small trap door opens and Christ marches out ahead of his disciples, while the skeleton of death tolls the bell to a defiant statue of a Turk. Below the Astronomical Clock are 12 medallions with the signs of the zodiac, added by Josef Manes in 1865

Zelená hora: gates, 5 chapels, 5 altars and 5 stars. The Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora is one of the most original buildings in Europe, which still amazes people from all over the world to this very day. This UNESCO monument and work of the talented architect Jan Blažej Santini Aichel is a place which deserves to be visited by all those who appreciate its mysticism and unique architecture, interweaved with the powerful story of St. John of Nepomuk, the Czech saint.

8.       Wish-list: French Polynesia

Location: in the South Pacific Ocean, it is halfway between California and Australia

It is a set of islands that is an overseas country attached to France. I was surprised to know that Tahiti, Bora Bora  and Mangareva are part this…!

Bora Bora:

Tahiti:

9.       Wish-list: The Dead Sea

Location: It has Jordan to the east and Israel West Bank to the west

Actually, this is a salt lake and not a sea. The lowest point on the face of the earth, this vast stretch of water receives a number of incoming rivers, including the River Jordan. Once the waters reach the Dead Sea they are land-locked and have nowhere to go, so they evaporate, leaving behind a dense, rich, cocktail of salts and minerals that supply industry, agriculture and medicine with some of its finest products. Because of its extremely high content of salt and other minerals, the Dead Sea is devoid of plant and animal life.

10.   Wish- List: Lapland, Finland

Location: is situated in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north and Russia to the east, while Estonia lies to the south across the Gulf of Finland.

It was quite exciting to know that this is the home of Santa Clausand his reindeers! Lapland is renowned as being the land of the northern lights, a place with winters where there’s always snow and harsh temperatures. Lapland can also be described as the land of 8 seasons: deep winter, late winter, spring, early summer, summer, late summer, autumn, early winter. As hilarious as it sounds, the ‘changing’ seasons bring remarkable changes also into people's daily routines.

A natural phenomenon known as The Northern Lights can also be experienced from Finland. The northern lights are essentially shafts or curtains of colored light visible on occasion in the night sky.They are  found in both the northern and southern hemispheres and can be truly awe inspiring.

And Hotel Kakslauttanen in Finland offers you the possibility to to experience this through a glass igloo...!

To be continued…

My Travel Wishlist: 1st of Many

I haven’t traveled much in the last four years. Not that I was a travel freak prior to that, but it’s been a really long time since I took a break and went on a holiday.

Looking for inspiration, I started following travel boards on Pinterest. For those who do not use Pinterest: it is a photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more.

My reason to use Pinterest was simple: the photographs of a place are usually the deciding factor in selling a destination to me. It was not that I did not believe what my friends told me. Just that people may describe a place to the finest possible details – but the fact remains that everyone looks for a different set of details. Hence, I had realized that for me a travel recommendation would work usually when accompanied by photographs.

In my free time, I found myself spending more and more time on these travel boards. It is captivating and I never tire scrolling over to the next board. Some pictures just call out to you and then there are some which are so dramatic you wonder whether they are real.

I found myself crawling through the internet to find more about some of the places I discovered, as the photographs were plain unbelievable. I essentially wanted to confirm whether such places actually exist. Sharing some photographs below which blew my mind and are definitely on my wish-list:

1.       Wish - List: Ecuador

Location: In South America and is bordered by Columbia on the north, Peru on the east and south and by the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Staircase at Pailón del Diablo waterfall in Ecuador: this is a fairly large waterfall located on the Pastaza River. It is a mere 30 minutes away from the town of Baños in Ecuador. It is considered to be one of the most popular attractions in the area. The name of the waterfall in Spanish (Paílón del Diablo) means”Cauldron of the Devil” in English. You can view it from the suspension bridge and also walk the path so you can get a closer look at the amazing waterfall…!

2.       Wish - List: Iceland

Location: is a Nordic European island country situated at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Frozen waterfall Oxarafoss, National park Thingvellir, Iceland: this is a small waterfall which flows from the river Öxará. The base of the waterfall is filled with rocks and is often very icy in winter.

  

3.       Wish - List: Venezuela

Location: officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America.

Mt. Roraima, Venezuela: Roraima is the highest tepuy (spanish for table mountain) on the triple border of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. It is around 2,800 metres tall. Its name is derived from 'Roroi-ma,' which in Pemon means 'big blue-green.' The only way visitors can climb to the top is from the Gran Sabana side, in Venezuela.

4.       Wish - List: Norway

Location: It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The country shares a long border with Sweden; it is also bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark.

Fjord, Norway: The fjord is one of Norway's most visited tourist sites and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Lysefjord is located in Ryfylke in the county of Rogaland, near Haugesund and Stavanger, south in Fjord Norway.

5.       Wish - List:  Ladakh

Location:  in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south.

Phuktal-monastery, India: the monastery is a unique construction built into the cliffside like a honeycomb. It located on the mouth of a cave on the cliff face of a lateral gorge of a major tributary of the Lungnak (Lingti-Tsarap) River. A massive cave monastery located in Zanskar, Phuktal is located atop steep mountains, giving it a unique charm. Built in the 12th century, the foundation of the monastery is made of twigs and mud and serves as home to 70 monks. The main attraction of the monastery is the cave that has a hollow which holds what is believed to be healing water.

6  .   Wish - List: Jaipur

Location:in state of Rajashthan in India

Chand Baori - Abhaneri, India: Abhaneri is a small village in northern Rajasthan. 'Abhaneri', is believed to be a mispronunciation of 'Abha Nagri' or the 'city of brightness'. Though the village is in ruins now, tourists throng the village to see 
Chand Baori which is a huge step well, a unique idea conceived by the natives to work as a water reservoir.

 

To be continued…

Angry Birds: Part 2 of 2

Why this topic caught my fancy is that very recently I was involved in a little skirmish with ‘Fashion & You’ on twitter.

I had ordered a set of cushion covers for a birthday gift sometime in mid August. September came and went and there was no peep from them. No intimation about where the consignment was, whether the shipment had even been dispatched, nothing. When I followed up with them towards the end of September, they said four to five weeks delivery time was standard.

In this day and age of around 3 days delivery time from online shopping portals, four to five weeks seems criminal. But it was apparently mentioned somewhere in the fine print, so I had no cause to get annoyed with them.

Come mid October and I was still awaiting the cushions. After a few failed attempts to get a response from their customer service number, I was thoroughly peeved.

I had been hearing so much about consumer complaints getting a better response on social media, I decided to give it a try.Twitter worked. Although I had to keep chasing them for a response, my money was refunded back to me on the last day of October.

But after reading about the arrest of Mr Ravi Srinivasan, I went back and re-read my tweets!

I don’t think I was rude. I was irritated, disappointed and thoroughly pissed off. But I wasn’t rude. It was a pre-paid order and I really wanted to know what the heck was going on.

With the massive reach of social media, I can clearly see why resolving an issue on social media is important. But why would an organization respond to an irate customer on social media and not to a consumer complaint on another medium? Just doesn’t make business sense.

Though personally, I have not had much to complain to Vodafone but to my knowledge, the Vodafone India twitter handle is quite particular about resolving consumer complaints quickly. And even they were not so amenable to ‘social’ feedback till some time ago.

In June 2011, Vodafone India sent a legal notice to Dhaval Valia, who ranted about its 3G services on Facebook, asking him to take down the ‘defamatory’ posts. Dhaval, who used to be a Loop Mobile customer before, had switched to Vodafone in April to use its 3G services. However, it was not available where he lives, contradicting Vodafone’s claims.

The notice asked him to refrain from making any comments against the company and also remove the posts in 48 hours.

In reply, Dhaval had mentioned his plans to initiate consumer and criminal cases against the company, questioning the methods Vodafone had used to trace his updates, since he had posted them in a private environment.

Post this, Vodafone Essar withdrew the notice in good faith. They further went on to say something to the effect of - “Vodafone Essar would also like to take this opportunity to inform that as a customer obsessed organization, we have always welcomed critical feedback and suggestions from both direct and social media customers as it helps us to constantly improve ourselves to serve their discerning needs”.

I wonder who instilled this ‘good faith’.

Was it Facebook who realized the extent of access given to Vodafone was going to be open for all to see or was it Vodafone realized the PR nightmare this was about to become?

I understand the need to exploit this mine of personal information people so readily share on social media. There are marketing businesses built on top of the idea that third parties can get access to data on social networking websites. But what exactly is the extent of privacy that we are guaranteed when we post/tweet about something?

We all know that Facebook tracks our behavior while we are logged on the site. How many of us are aware that the tracking continued even when we log off?

In 2011, Facebook was involved in a scandal regarding this breach.

Facebook admitted that it had been watching the web pages its members visit even after logging out of the site.  The social networking site was forced to confirm that it has been constantly tracking its 750 million users, even when they are using other sites.

Facebook said that the huge privacy breach was simply a mistake - that software automatically downloaded to users' computers when they logged in to Facebook 'inadvertently' sent information to the company, whether or not they were logged in at the time.

Really? Inadvertently? I really don’t think so.

On checking the changes in ‘privacy policy’ made by Facebook on 11^th May 2012, I came across some rather interesting points:

• If you comment on something public, your comment will be public      
• All of the things you do and share on Facebook may be used to target you with ads
• Facebook may retain your data for extended periods if its subject to a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations" into violations of Facebook's policies

This is certainly a wakeup call to be cautious about the use of social-networking sites. It's more public than you may think at the time you signed up for the hype. 

It would be wise to remember that the Internet never forgets. I am surely going to be careful while exercising my freedom of speech and expression.

Angry Birds: Part 1 of 2

Once spoken, words can't be taken back.

We see the impact of thoughtlessly used words around us all the time. And we know from observations in our daily lives that when someone is hurt by words, they do not forget them easily.

Social media has provided people an additional platform to express themselves. And while ordinarily, the sense to be careful with your words should have extended to the social media, it does not seem to have.

And what surprises me is that there seems to be a quick punishment for expressing without any forethought or premeditation.

Very recently, I came across this case when a tweet from an Indian landed him in prison!

On 20 October, Ravi Srinivasan posted a tweet to his 16 followers saying that Karti Chidambaram, a politician belonging to India's ruling Congress party and son of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, had "amassed more wealth than Vadra".

Karti Chidambaram did not take the tweet in good humour and filed a police complaint on 29 October.

They arrested Mr Srinivasan early next morning, charged him under Section 66A of India's Information Technology [IT] Act, and demanded 15 days of police custody. Pondicherry's chief judicial magistrate declined remand and granted bail.

That was some quick reaction from the police!

While Rahul Gandhi is not on twitter yet, for all those tweeting, even in jest, about Robert Vadra and the Gandhi family, should really think twice henceforth…:D

This made me look back to a few more episodes caused by the twitterati.

Many people of international repute have been caught in the harsh light of twitter scandals. The types of scandals in which they have been involved, cover a wide range of types. They include nasty comments, intimate photos (mistakenly or otherwise) sent to the public.

The incidents affected the people involved in various ways. Apart from public humiliation, while some have been sued, some threatened with legal action, some have lost lucrative advertising deals simply by virtue of being careless with their words.

Take the case of the recent London Olympics help this year.

Greek triple-jumper Voula Papachristou made history July 25th, 2012 as the first Olympian to ever be banned from the games for a tweet.

She published a racist tweet, stating “So many Africans in Greece. At least, west Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food.”

Within 3 days the Greek Olympic committee issued a statement deeming her social media content “contrary to the values and ideals of the Olympic movement.”

The athlete was officially banned from competing in the upcoming Olympics due to her tasteless tweet. Papachristou even apologized but the 23 year-old athlete has not managed to win any sympathy since her open criticism for her punishment as “highly excessive.”

Michel Morganella, a Swiss soccer player, made an inappropriate statement and described South Koreans as a "bunch of mentally handicapped retards”. It was something he said in the heat of the moment. And though he apologized later, the damage had been done. The Swiss team sent Morganella home.

Morganella was the second athlete of these Games to cost himself a place on his team for his racist and unsportsmanlike tweets.

Stephanie Rice, an Australian swimming star found herself in deep trouble after a remark on Twitter after the Australian football team, the Wallabies, won a game against the Springboks in South Africa.  She called the South African team, ‘f**gots’. This is regarded by many as a term of abuse against homosexuals.

Rice lost a lucrative sponsorship deal with Jaguar. She also had to give up the Jaguar car that she was given by the brand…!

Does it occur to you that there is a steep price to pay for just a few loosely stated words? What we consider as a freedom of expression and our right to voice our opinion, could land us in trouble if we are not careful about just how are thoughts are communicated.

To be continued: