Thread Garden : A Miracle In Art Creation Of This Millenium

The Thread Garden in Ooty, Tamilnadu, is the first artificial garden in India. The flowers, plants and lawns in the garden are entirely fabricated from thread, canvas and wire.

The Thread Garden at Ooty is a popular tourst spot the most exquisite collection of artificial flowers and plants, all made by the expert hands of the skilful artist by using just thread. Antony Joseph, the mastermind behind this unique creation along with his 50 proficient helpers has worked constantly for 12 years, to create these marvels of thread. Approximately 6 crore meters of embroidery thread have been employed in the creation of this one-of-a-kind attraction in the world. Also be assured that not a stitch of a needle or any other machinery have been used in the production of these flowers.

Stiff cardboards for flowers and petals, steel and copper wires for stem were artistically used along with varied colours of threads to create these visual delights. Here you can find more than 150 barieties of artificially made flowers which promise to remain fresh for a long long time to come.

At the Thread Garden in Ooty you do not only get a chance to behold these beauties in your eyes, but you can carry these astounding crafts home as well. However, you need to be a little cautious and preserve theme well, in order to avoid discolouring. They should not be exposed to direct sunlight or even direct artificial lights. Since they are permanently fixed from the base it is important to cover them well and use only cotton to clean the outer glass surface.

Just visit at Thread Garden, North Lake Road, Opp. Boat House, Ooty, Tamilnadu, India. Ph. : +91 423 2445145.

If you need information please drop a mail at mail@threadgarden.com.

Hemis Festival 2014

The two day Hemis Festival commemorates the birth of Guru Padmasambhava, who founded Tantric Buddhism in Tibet. It's held in June or July every year at the 300-year-old Buddhist monastery of Hemis Jangchub Choling near Leh. This monastery is the biggest and richest Buddhist monastery in the Ladakh region.

The highlight of the Hemis Festival is teh Masked Dance, performed by the hlamas, that illustrates good prevailing over evil. The performers wear elaborate and bizarre costumes and brightly painted masks. These masks are the most vital part of the dance. The dance movements are slow, and the expressions grotesque. The music is characteristically punctuated with sounds of cymbais, frums, and unwiedly trumpets.

Each colourful mask depicts a different figure in the legend that's being portrayed. The Padmasambhava dance, which shows the conquest of the ruta demons, includes Yama - the God of death, and the black-hatted sorcerer, Guru Trakpo - the vanquisher of all demons.

How to Get There : Flights to Leh operate from Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu. Alternatively, it's possible to travel there by road from Manali and Srinagar. The Hemis Monastery is 45 kilometers from Leh and can be reached by car/jeep or bus.

Tamilnadu - Gulf of Mannar

The Gulf of Mannar marine National Park, about 10 km away from the east coast of Tamil Nadu, consists of 21 small islands (islets) and coral reefs in the Gulf of mannar in the Indian Ocean. The core area of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve lies between Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) and Dhanushkodi.

The national park is picturesque for its rich confluence of estuaries, mudflats, beaches and forests. The lush green islands are dominated by mangroves, though flowering herbs, sea grass and seaweeds are abundant.

The Dugong, a vulenrable marine mammal is the most important inmate of the park. The park is also home to Indo-Pacific hottlenose dolphin, finless porpoise, spinner dolphin and common dolphin. About 510 of the 2,200 fin fish species in Indian waters are found in the Gulf of Mannar, making it the most highly diverse fish habitat in India.

The islands in the Gulf of Mannar are uninhabited and access is prohibited. Tourists visiting the marine national park can use glass-bottomed boats to see the marine splendor abundant in this area.

Visiting the islands in dependent on permission received from the Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wild Life Warden. Accommodation and hotels are available both in Rameswaram and Ramanathapuram.

Switzerland pointed on young travellers

Home to some of the most scenic landscapes in the world, made popular here by Bollywood, Switzerland wants a larger share of the Indiain tourist pie and is therefore focusing on youngesters. And it is not only about the youth with high disposable incomes but the schools and college going kids as well who have the power to influence their parent's opinion when it comes to selecting a holday destination.

"The May-June holiday season is coming up and we are specially focusing on youth between 12 to 24 years who can influence theri parents," Stephan Heuberger, director of Switerland Tourism, said. Acknowledging that the destination is expensive Heuberger justified it by saying that the experience would be "unforgettable and value for money".

"Switzerland is expensive but it offers value for money. You won't regret spending the money as the experience is priceless," he said. As part of the marketing campaign, the board is training Indian tour and travel operators on selling Switzerland as an ideal destination to Indians apart from activities like customer reach out programmes, e-marketing and advertising campaigns.

The Kerala Backwaters

Kerala - the enchanting tourist destination offers exciting opportunity for the tourists to experience the rustic charm of the state cruising on the traditional houseboats called Kettuvallam. These backwaters of Kerala have loads of natural beauty featuring exotic waterways, riverine estuaries, and pristine lakes that form an intermeshed network of the along the coast of Kerala.

The Kerala backwaters are made up of 900km of interconnected waterways, rivers, lakes and inlets. This network is fed by 38 rivers and is made up of 5 large lakes that are connected by various canals which are both natural as well as manmade. This chain of lagoons lying parallel with the Arabian sea is also called the Malabar coast and extends across almost half of Kerala's coastline. The Kerala backwater offers visitors a quiet, tranquil getaway with the cozy houseboats for tourists to stay in and enjoy the beauty of the backwaters and the small towns near the backwaters.

Nature has showered Kerala with myriad of gifts and probably the best in India. And the scintillating backwaters are one them that sparkle like diamond on the face of this state. They have in fact become the greatest attraction due to their exceptional beauty and astounding tranquility. Backwaters of Kerala have played a major role in boosting up the tourism in the state hence contributing to the national income of India.

Not only these backwaters are the charming, but they also serve as a source of livelihood for the people of Kerala, as major population here depends on the marine life and vegetation. Backwater of Kerala are the series of interconnected waterways, rivers, lakes, inlets and riverine estuaries that form the enmeshed network along the Kerala coast. Some of the famous backwater destination in Kerala are the Alleppey, Kumarakom, Mararikulam, Cochin and Kozhikode.