January 17, 2008

Reminiscing on 2007 Travels - Part II

Following Part I, here are the other places that I travelled to in the Year 2007. These are travels of last month to Agra and Jhansi of Uttar Pradesh, and the rest of the places in Madhya Pradesh.

I started off from the capital city of Delhi and then explored the wondrous medieval city of Agra;

An evening at the Taj Mahal

and then proceeded to the historically important Bundelkhand region of Jhansi.
A part of Jhansi Fort

After that, I proceeded to explore quite a few enchanting places of Madhya Pradesh including:-
  • intriguing Gwalior, with its magnificent Forts and rich culture;
Man Mandir Palace

  • the charming palaces of Datia;

Painting on the ceiling of the Datia palace

  • the romance of the enchanting palaces and temples of Orchha;
View from Sheesh Mahal

  • the delightful Alipura Palace now converted into a hotel;

Alipura

  • the awe-inspiring temples of Khajuraho;

Adinath Temple of the Eastern Group

  • the marvellous national park of Ken Ghariyal;

100 feet deep canyon of about 5 kms granite near seasonal Raneh Falls

  • the thrill of Panna national park and its tiger reserve;

A tree house near Ken River Lodge

  • the exciting Bandhavgarh and its wildlife sanctuary filled with exotic flora and fauna;

An elephant ride to explore the forest, also to seek the Royal Bengal Tiger

  • the beauty of Bedaghat where the River Narmada flows;

Tranquil Narmada along the marble rocks

  • the same Narmada cascading powerfully at another location of Bedaghat;

Dhuandhar Falls

  • the historically important cultural capital of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur;
Balancing rocks
  • the verdant jewel of the Satpura hills, Pachmarhi hill station;

A scene on the way to Pachmarhi

  • Religiously important to some, Bhojpur along the lovely river Betwa;

Incomplete Bhojeshwar temple

  • the historic rock-shelters and paintings of Bhimbetka;

On the way to view the rock paintings
  • the sunrise hills and rock-cut architectural caves of Udaygiri near Vidisha;

A cave cut from rocks on top of the mountain

  • the famous Buddhist monuments of Sanchi;
A section of the great Stupa through carved decorated gateway

  • and the romantic city of lakes, Bhopal.
Bada Talab just before sunrise during an early morning stroll


The Madhya Pradesh journey was followed by more travels, via Mumbai, to reach in time to celebrate Christmas with my extended family at two of my favourite places, Goa and Mangalore, and to ultimately board a flight back from the metropolitan city of my state, Bangalore.

A good year for a travel enthusiast. What do you think?

Now let me see what 2008 has in store.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, be careful, sitting at the edges of a cliff looks dangerous.

Celine, this particular series of photos is my favorite. The tree house, the waterfall, the sheer rock wall down into the water, cave paintings, the sculptural elements on the buildings.

And... ESPECIALLY the balancing rock!

I enjoy your travel photos immensely.

kent said...

Wow! You have some incredible pictures as well.

I love reminiscing about my time in India. It is definitely deserving of the "Incredible" tag.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Maybe if I'm ever in Kuwait, I'll stop in.

indicaspecies said...

chewy:

Thank you. Oh, the balancing rocks. I wish it inspired you in some way. I was in a mischievous mood while shooting that picture and had tilted the camera a miniscule bit. Did you notice that?

Darlene, this is just a glimpse of the travels. I have many more pictures to share of each place in this post, and I will do that in due course. I'm delighted that you like my travel pictures. :)

indicaspecies said...

kent:

Thank you for your visit and comments. Please let me know if you get a chance to pass by Kuwait.

I checked out some more of your pictures. Having been to some of those places including Shimla, Manali, Rohtang etc, I can very well confirm India is incredible indeed, and especially so around the Himalayan region. :)

Sameera Ansari said...

Wow!Is there any part of India you not been to yet ;)

Awesome pictures dear!You look so elegant in the one captioned "View from the Sheesh Mahal" :)

Hope this year brings lots more travel opportunities for you!

Suldog said...

The colors in the lake photograph are stunning.

Thanks for stopping by my place. Nice to catch up with you, also.

imac said...

Just beautiful shots, the colours, buildings,sceneary just great.

Jeff B said...

Stunning photographs!

You are very fortunate indeed to have seen so many interesting sites this year. Thank you as well for visiting today.

Anonymous said...

OH i love those pics :)

Unknown said...

Beautiful photographs - I agree with suldog, the lake picture is stunning.

Anonymous said...

Wow...some very beautiful pics there...so you had an wonderful time there in the heart of India...Excellent shots along with the documentary. It was wonderful viewing almost the entire state through your lens!

GMG said...

What I think? I'm speechless, being so envious... ;)) But one day I'll see the Taj Mahal and the other beauties shown! And wish you the best for 2008!
Have a great week!
Gil

Keshi said...

A great deal of beauty and grace in these pics WOW!

Keshi.

final_transit said...

Super pictures. Esp the balancing rock and the waterfall. Wishing you a even better 2008. BUT

Protest. Not fair. Each of these pictures needs justice. A separate blog for each one. We/I wanna know more. There are pictures available on internet, but its the stories that are rare to find... lol (Did you just wish that every day has 48 hours rather than 24?)

indicaspecies said...

Sameera,

I have not seen the face of the North-Eastern states of India, and seriously, can't wait to get there. You asked jokingly but I answered earnestly. :D

Thank you for your lovely compliments, and your good wishes. :)

indicaspecies said...

suldog:

Thank you very much for your visit and I am pleased that you liked the Bhopal Lake picture. :)

indicaspecies said...

imac:

Thank you very much and I'm delighted that you liked these. :)

indicaspecies said...

Jeff,

Thank you for your visit, and your compliments. Glad you liked the photographs. :)

indicaspecies said...

kaylee:

Thank you for visiting and your sweet comment. :)

indicaspecies said...

zathyn priest:

Welcome to my blog and thank you very much for the compliment. :)

indicaspecies said...

Kalyan,

These is just a glimpse. I've more pictures at each place and I'll try to post here in due course. Yes, I had a good time and thanks for your generous compliments. :)

indicaspecies said...

gmg:

Gil,

Haha! Thanks for the kind words and may all your dreams, especially those of the Taj Mahal, come true. :)

indicaspecies said...

Keshi,

Thank you very much. Delighted that you feel so. :)

indicaspecies said...

Priyank,

How can I say no to you? Thy will be done! ;)

I'll try to post on each place and will upload more pictures (however they have turned out to be). And yea, you are right, wish a day had more hours. So much to do and so little time. *sigh*

Thank you very much for the compliments and encouragement Puku. :)

Lakshmi said...

I loved all the photographs and the places..tried hard to pick a favourite..i like the one of you sitting on the cliff..that looks awesome ..Im sure 2008 will take you places

indicaspecies said...

backpakker:

I hope so Lakshmi, and thank you for your wishes for 2008. :)

That place you refer to is near Khajuraho and it has unique terrain but its Raneh waterfalls are seasonal as the water is being diverted to some dam nearby other times.

Amit Kulkarni said...

Wow you did nice justice to MP .. beautiful pics ... narmada pics were lovely

indicaspecies said...

Amit,

Getting those compliments from a photographer means much to me. Thank you for your visit.

The Narmada pictures are among my favourites as well. :)

munish said...

Beautiful!!

Great blog entries, about your visit to UP.

My question is , how come you didn't visit varanasi Ghats?

Munish Bhasin

www.varanasi-ganges.com

indicaspecies said...

Munish,

Thank you.

Well, Varanasi is a place I've kept aside to explore when I can give it more time. I wish that would be possible during the Dev Deepavali time.