Tree Of Life Tapestries & Rugs

1. MOUNT KILIMINJARO – TANZANIA
The highest mountain on the African continent, ‘Kili’ measures an astounding 19,340 feet at her highest point. The challenge to climb this majestic mountain has lured many to scale her heights, a demanding but worthwhile ascent by most accounts. Kili, which has five distinct ecological zones, is an extinct volcano.
2. OKAVANGO DELTA – BOTSWANA
The champagne-coloured waterways of this famous floodplain form the basis of a pristine Wetland of International Importance (RAMSAR). With some of the most fantastic birding globally and a wild dog population, the largest inland delta in the world is often called Africa’s most beautiful destination. The region can be explored by land, boat and air. Enjoy the spectacular diversity of flora and fauna species.
3. THE EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
Easily the most recognizable of the 7 Wonders of the World, the Egyptian Pyramids have long held fascination for thousands of people. Recent resurgence of interest Egyptology has made trips to this alluring destination more popular than ever. The majority of visitors view the pyramids at Giza. The origins of these majestic structures continue to be a source of lively debate, while the stories of ancient curses and grave robbers delight us all.
4. PONTA DO OURO – MOZAMBIQUE
With around 100 Bottlenose and Spinner dolphins making the sheltered waters of Ponta du Ouro their home, this region is definitely worth visiting. Dive the reefs to 40 metres in depth; they are teeming with a rainbow of marine life. Dolphin dives are a popular while in winter the haunting call of the humpback whale can be heard.
5. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK – SOUTH AFRICA
The oldest, most established reserve in Africa, the Kruger boasts an amazing variety of game and bird life throughout its numerous habitats. The fantastic opportunities to view the Big Five draw many visitors to the park, hoping to spot lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and black rhinoceros. Game drives and guided walking trails offer great animal watching opportunities in the African bush.
6. DJEMAA el FNAA SQUARE – MARRAKESH – MOROCCO
A tapestry of colours, smells, sites and wonderful local characters make a visit to this bustling marketplace an unforgettable experience. Be entertained by fortune tellers, street performers and henna women. The Municipal Market sells local fresh produce. Take a ride in a Horse-drawn carriage and enjoy the spectacular sunset. More performers come out in the evening and entertain till midnight. Enjoy the famous local orange juice or mint tea!
7. THE SERENGETI – TANZANIA
The Serengeti National Park, covering 14,763 sq. km, is named ‘endless plains’ in Masai. Here are 35 species of mammals, including wildebeest, zebra, lion, cheetah, leopard, elephant and giraffe, and over 200 species of birds.
The annual wildebeest migration is possibly the most spectacular natural event in Africa.
8. THE VICTORIA FALLS – ZIMBABWE
From either Zimbabwe or Zambia you can experience the world’s largest sheet of falling water. The spray can be seen up to 30 kilometres away – hence the local name ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ – “The smoke that thunders”.
Apart from the spectacular views including permanent rainbows arcing across the face of the falls, one can experience the waters along the river at closer quarters with white water rafting.
9. LAKE MALAWI
The 3rd largest lake in Africa is a tropical paradise. The tranquil waters lap against shores lined with palm, mango, banana and avocado trees. Here you can kayak, while snorkeling offers access to the colourful kaleidoscope of endemic cichlids found at this UNESCO world heritage site.
10. TABLE MOUNTAIN – SOUTH AFRICA
This iconic landmark stands in the centre of the beautiful city of Cape Town.
Climb, or experience the wonders of the revolving cable car. Either way a visit to one of the most recognizable mountains in the world is a must for your trip around the great African continent. And while you’re there, enjoy the wonders of Cape Town -beaches, winelands, Robben Island – each one a ‘Top 10′ in its own right!

Western India covers states like Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra

West India include the states like Goa and Gujarat in addition to Maharashtra. Western Part is popular because of Bombay, Goa (For its beaches), Rann of Katch (Gujarat), Temples of Ajanta & Ellora ( Aurangabad, Maharashtra) & Wildlife Santuaries in Gujarat. After the vibrant atmosphere of Bombay, allow the palm-fringed beaches of Goa to warm your spirit in the sun and relax your mind. Or meditate in cool and ancient Buddhist caves tunnelled out of solid rock on the craggy hillsides – a dramatic contrast from the colourful fairs and festivals in unspoiled Gujarat. The choice is once again tremendous in this land that offers everything Bombay – Gateway of India.

Variously known as “Rome of the East”, “Tourist Paradise” and “Pearl of the Orient”, the state of Goa is located on the western coast of India in the coastal belt known as Konkan. The magnificent scenic beauty and the architectural splendours of its temples, churches and old houses have made Goa a firm favourite with travellers around the world.

Panaji: The capital of Goa and headquarters of North Goa District, a small a charming city on the left bank of silvery Mandovi River, with beautiful red-roofed houses, built in Latin style, also boasts of many modern houses, well laid garden, statues and avenue’s lined with Gulmohar, Acassia and other trees. Enchantit panorama unfolds from atop Altinho (Hill Top).

The rugged western ghats make it an ideal haven for many species of birds and animals and also provide a corridor for migration. The western ghats called the Sahyadris in Goa, extend for a total of 600kms in Goa of their total length of 3702 kms. The widest belt of forests along the western ghats is in Goa and neighbouring Karnataka state. The high rainfall accounts for this because the elevation of the mountain range here is lower.

Visitors to Goa tend to think that food and drink in Goa means the famous fish, curry, rice and feni package. And for most Goans these are indeed the three basic necessities of life — fish, curry and rice. They combine to make a heavenly daily meal for the average Goan. But Goan cuisine, like the land itself, has many flavours and tastes with its vast treasure trove of culinary delicacies.

Goa’s isolation from the rest of India for more than four centuries under the Portuguese rule, its geographical borders in the form of the Sahyadri ranges and the tidal rivers have managed to give the people of Goa a unique and separate identity. The people of Goa prefer to call themselves Goans and not Goanese as mentioned in guidebooks and brochures. Goans are very much aware of this unique identity; they are proud of it and guard it fiercely.

GUAJARAT STATE

The most convenient entry point into Gujarat is through the metropolis of Ahmedabad. The city contains some very fine museums, the Calico Museum of Textiles being considered among the world’s finest. Ahmedabad’s walled city is a living testimony to its heritage of crafts as women walk by in dazzling embroidered garments and flashing ethnic silver jewellery. Traditional Ahmedabad combines mosques of inspired workmanship, wooden Jain temples, unique stone stepwells and houses with ornately carved wooden balconies and window screens.

Modern Ahmedabad, just across the River Sabarmati spanned by four bridges, is a showpiece of contemporary architecture with designs by Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn and the best known Indian architects. Ahmedabad is a convenient base for a number of excursions, Modhera being the best known. 106 km away, this is one of the very few sun temples in the country.

Gujarat’s loveliest beach – and the state is well endowed with them – is Ahmedpur Mandvi whose chief attraction is the ethnic beach resort. Cottages modelled on rural Gujarati architecture look out onto a secluded beach, one of the state’s chief centres for water sports:

Maharashtra, a state where a millennium of culture weaves a tapestry of myriad charms. The spiritual solace of centuries. The sylvan serenity of the countryside. The stillness of a thicket disturbed only by a tiger flashing past, or the symphony of tradition from its varied population. All abound in a unique togetherness. In Maharashtra, a state as vivid as vivacious.

Maharashtra, a state where a millennium of culture weaves a tapestry of myriad charms. The spiritual solace of centuries. The sylvan serenity of the countryside. By Air: There is an extensive network of flights from Mumbai’s Sahar (international) and Santa Cruz (domestic) airports. There are domestic flights to all the major cities of the country.

History

The Chinese pilgrim, Hiun Tsang, visited Maharashtra during AD 640-641 and was very impressed by the prosperity of the country, the efficiency of the administration and the character of the people. He called the land Mo-ho-lo-cha (Moholesh), and was perhaps the first person to discuss the region and its people.

Places to see

Mumbai (Bombay):  Mumbai was given by Portuguese as dowry to Charles II of England when he married Catherine. The group of seven island was leased to the East India Company who offered freedom of business and religion to persons who came and settled here. Initially a few Parsis and Gujarati came.

Bombay Natural History Society : This private institution was established in 1883, A unique centre, its activities are manifold and involve publications like the Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, regular newsletters and books on Indian animals, birds and nature. The exhibits include replicas and specimens of vertebrates and insects, mammals, birds, reptiles amphibians and fishes, all from the Indian subcontinent. However, the BNHS is not open to public and interested visitors should seek prior permission for admission.

Modern Festivals of Maharashtra : Every year, MTDC seeks to present the myriad facets of Maharashtra’s rich heritage of the performing arts through a series of festivals held at important cultural centres. The years have added a mesmerising allure to these events, now avidly awaited by lovers of Indian music, art and culture, who appreciate the artistry of India’s leading exponents of classical music and dance who come from all over the country to perform at the festivals.

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I never took the time to write this story down, so now that I am getting an itch for adventure again I figured I would recount my last great motoring adventure. It involved several countries, my cousin, and a Peugeot. 

The Route:

A few years back I got tired of the rat race, the everyday of being a drone in an office and while I loved the job and the industry, I needed some time off. I was making good money working as the Special Projects Director for a large restoration parts company here in Southern California. However, after four years it was time for a monumental vacation. So, I quit my job, kissed my fiancée (now wife) good bye, and set off for Europe. With little more than a rough plan, a road map, and a hastily arranged short term lease with Peugeot’s “Open Europe” program, I landed in London to meet my younger cousin Nathan that had recently finished a exchange student program in the UK and was not excited about coming home right away.

I spent a few days in London while we made arrangments to get to souther France where our new Peugeot was to be delivered. London is an amazing city so much history, from the Romans, to the Second World War every corner of London offers a glimpse of times lost, while the ultra modern buildings like the Gherkin give a foretaste of things to come. Coming from the Los Angeles area where everything is rebuilt about every 20 years it was interesting to see the old buildings of London still pockmarked from the German bombs. I could go on and on about the British Library, Tower of London, etc… but this is a story about motoring so back to that. We had decided to pick up our sparkling new Peugeot 206sw in Montpellier, in the south of France and after a quick flight on Ryan Air for around $50 we were in sunny Southern France.

This was a very good idea as there is nowhere on earth I could imagine being more beautiful than the French Riviera…Italy would prove me wrong. Landing in France, we get the typical customs hold ups, and make a phone call to the Peugeot Open Europe contact that was meeting us with the car. A very polite young man walked us to the car; I giving Nathan a very sinister look confirmed with the Peugeot representative that the lease included “unlimited mileage” he nodded yes, I think he knew that the resale on this car would be slightly dented by the amount of miles we were going to put on the car. In Europe, I had discovered the average car travels less than 8,000 kilometers a year that is just under 5,000 miles a year. In California my home state we drive on average 15,000 miles a year, that over 24,000 kilometers. Nathan and I had laid out an ambitious route that would allow us to cover almost 18,000 kilometers in just 21 days, seeing everything Europe had to offer before running out of money and retreating back to London.

We were off, since Nathan had been living in London and had done a bit of traveling in Europe already, so I had him make our arrangements for the first night. We had decided to head right to Barcelona (Spain), and when we got their, a street fair was going on, the road signs were mounted on the sides of the buildings far out of view, the Peugeot is hardly able to move amongst all the revelers crowding the streets. The hotel Nathan had selected has a strange Arabic sounding name for being in Spain, but right now, I am wondering why the car feels splashy. I can tell…we have a flat, there is nowhere to park, we don’t speak Spanish, and we can’t even find this hotel. I see a parking garage and pull in. A very nice parking attendant points us to a location where we can park for 12 Euros for 24 hours, he even pulls a floor jack out and helps us change a tire, perhaps Spain is a civilized country after all.

Nathan is attempting to find out where the hotel is (it’s a hostel), and by the grace of God it was just a few blocks away, we left our car in the parking garage and walked a few blocks following a map drawn up by the parking attendant. As we made our way to the hostel, I started to notice that many of the signs were in Arabic, and that men in traditional Arab clothing were standing in the doorways looking cross at us. The streets started to look worse and worse, and the hotel did not look much better. We checked in and we are shown to what the man at the front desk called rooms. “Nathan, where the hell did you find this place” I said, “booked it online” he replied, “it looked nice”. Our “rooms” were metal boxes stacked three high with a ladder, a curtain, a mattress (using that term lightly), and a small lockable box. “We are paying to go to prison,” I said to Nathan who laughed. I was convinced we would be killed, or at least robbed. Later on that night Nathan see’s a man peering into my box, and tells him to take a hike. The next morning we discovered that Nathan’s alarm clock had stolen…we packed, went back to the car and dropped off our bags, and wondered around Barcelona. It is a painfully beautiful city, and I could not help to snap away, at this point in my life I was still an aspiring photographer. You could tell the photos that Nathan took with me in them because they are not in focus, or the apature is set wrong. We went to seek out an internet café, and a real café for some e-mail and breakfast, what was really amazing is the shear amount of porn being sold out of special porn newsstands. The city market is made up of small booths, and every other one is selling porn. I was done with Spain, while I am sure there is much to see and do, how good could it be from a country that builds the SEAT Alhambra.

Back on the road and in my adopted home country of France I feel much better, I understand more of the language, and the food is amazing and cheap. Coming from the U.S. I was honestly expecting the French people to attempt to kill me every chance they got since we only hear stories of the rude French. But I found them to be some of themost engaging, friendly, and patient people on earth. The secret is to at least attempt to communicate as best you can in French and be respectful that their language, it is a source of pride for them, demanding that they speak English is rude and we saw plenty of American’s (mostly with fanny packs) getting upset at people at restaurants, hotels, and bars because they did not speak English. News flash you’re not in an English speaking country. As we passed through France on the way to Italy, I discovered my place. It is the place I would pick up and move to if given the opportunity in a hear beat, taking the wife and dogs along with me. This place is Cassis in Southern France; I would move to Cassis right now, if only I could find a way.

In Monaco I was in car lovers heaven, pulling up to a light the car in front of me is a Zonda, next to me a vintage Ferrari, and behind me a Bentley Continental. I however was behind the wheel of a mighty Peugeot. Now I had owned a Peugeot 405 here in the US and loved the car, it was fast, clean, reliable, and one of the best handling front wheel drive cars I have ever owned. I had been dreaming of owning a 206 for a daily driver for years, and even looked into buying one in Mexico and bringing it to the US, however, the smog and safety Nazis will not allow a French car in the US…yet we can buy a Daewoo??? The car we picked out was a manual, gas powered wagon, we figured we may not always be able to get a hotel so at least the station wagon would allow us to sleep in the car in our sleeping bags, we did do this a few nights, but we did it towards the end of the trip in the snow, not a good idea…. We passed into Italy and Nathan was excited and he had a long list of things we wanted to see from Pisa to Pompeii so we had a long drive ahead of us. We had made a deal that we would stay off the main roads, the car being a manual I had to drive the entire trip, but I did not mind much. I attempted while in Italy to teach Nathan stick shift driving, but it did not go well, and we could not afford to replace the clutch so I contunied to drive.

We drove through Rome and having learned our lesson in Barcelona found a nice quite village with a train station outside of the city parking was free and it only cost 2 Euros to ride the train into the city round trip. The advantage to having a car is you don’t have to carry your gear with you. Just take what you need and lock the rest up in the trunk. Words cannot describe the city of Rome, unless you have seen it, you can’t even comprehend the scale of it all. Spending the entire day in Rome was amazing, but there was much more to see, we hopped a train and got back to the car, where we set off south towards Pisa to see the leaning tower then on to Pompeii. Italy is much like Southern California many times while driving along the coast you could believe that you were driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, many of the similar plants, the only major difference is the buildings are a little older, and the food is slightly better.

The food is the best part of Europe they have the small café or street food down to an art, New York has hotdogs, L.A. as Tacos, but you can find amazing homemade treats any little town in Europe. Having driven down the coast of Italy as far south as Pompeii, we decided to take a road less traveled up the dead center of the country and head back towards France. The middle of Italy is much like the middle of America, farmland, ranches, open spaces, but unlike the Midwest of America, Italy’s interior is dramatic. Cities like Orvieto, Siena, Florence, and Turin are found here, and each has an amazing story and it’s own unique architecture and culture.

Gas stations in each country are different some have no attendants at all and have a strange gate system you have to use to get in, others are just closed on Sundays and good luck finding gas anywhere else, also it is very expensive, so if you are planning a European motoring getaway, bring lots and lots of extra cash. As we powered north towards Modena, I could feel the Ferrari’s calling me, and upon arriving I was not disappointed, they were everywhere, it was like being at the old Crystal Cove event in Malibu, but every day…there are also a lot of odd cars roaming the road, cars that make my classic MINI look like a massive SUV. (See photo)

Now there is a massive tunnel that connects Italy and France through the alps, however, it costs a lot of money to go through so we decided that we would attack the alps head on; in winter, in a Peugeot. The Italian side was cleared, but after turning a corner that took us to the French side of the mountain, we discovered that the French road workers did not feel like clearing the road from what we could tell, ever. We were firmly stuck, no chains, no cell phone, no village nearby…. But the Eagle Scout in me kicked in and I did have a small pocket knife and was able to cut some branches from a tree to stuff under the front wheels to get some traction. With Nathan pushing, I gunned it, only to get out, and hit ice, the car did some interesting maneuvers and came to rest about 20 feet down the road. So after almost dying in the snow at the top of the alps, we decided to take the tunnel.

Back on our adopted home soil, we headed north towards Paris, Le Mans, and the invasion beaches. We first headed west towards Le Mans, and then on to Bayeux, where we went to see the Bayeux tapestry. From there we drove to the invasion beaches and took some time to reflect upon the sheer size of them, just how far it was to make it to any form of cover, our great grandfather fought in the pacific and Nathan and I both reflected on the bravery that those men had to step off those boats. After a visit to the American cemetery to pay our respects we loaded up and set off for Paris. Having forgotten our lesson from Barcelona, we drove into Paris. Paris is everything they say it is and more, it is one of the worst cities on earth to drive. I have driven in some strange parts of the world Managua and Jakarta come to mind, and they were cakewalks when compared to Paris. Trust me; drive in Paris only if you have a good GPS, good knowledge of written French, and very good reflexes.

We were running out of time, we had to have the car in Belgium within a week so we headed or Germany, the only country with speed limits posted for army tanks. Passing through the German wine country, I have never seen grapes grown on hills like this before, it was a breath taking sight to see vineyards snaking their way on mountainsides, with small monorails that the farmers ride to collect their harvest. Pushing into the Germany, we discovered that they really do like David Hasselhoff, and we were greeted by a massive billboard promoting a drink of some kind. We soon discovered a gun/liquor/fireworks store in a small town and that has to be the best store ever, and the fact that beer is sold in the soda machines, made Germany one of our favorite countries.

Our little Peugeot was doing well as we cracked the 15,000-kilometer mark. We wanted to see the bridges from operation Market Garden so we went to the Netherlands, then pushed on to Belgium where we had to visit “Auto World” a massive museum that has just about every type of car you can imagine, as well as war museum that has items from Roman times to current. We found a nice little hotel, and spent the night, I was exhaust having just driven just over 17,800 kilometers, we had done it, came to see it all in a whirlwind and we did it averaging over 800 kilometers a day (526 miles), some days we would drive well into the night and sleep in the car just to make sure we could get to the next stop on our map. If I were to go back I would do it differently spend more time relaxing, and less time driving to every historically significant spot on the map, but I would not change one thing about this trip, because, we discovered so much fun.