Travels and thoughts

A orange tunnel that winds itself on the mountain path... Fushimi Inari Shrine ( 伏見稲荷大社) We woke up to another cold and chilly morning at Kyoto. As we were leaving for Tokyo by Shinkansen at 1735 hours, we decided to start early before breakfast for a hike up Fushimi Inari.  The chill breeze of the morning air hit us as we stepped out of the warmth of our hotel. The brisk walk to the metro line was invigorating as the limbs eased themselves. Taking the Keihan line metro southwards,  we reached our station of Fushimi Inari - a pretty station on ground level with just 2 platforms and the lively air of festive place with people and shops already thronging the morning hours. The shrine gates with its distinct vermillion hue was just a few meters from the station with helpful hands pointing the way (quicker than the google map, we discovered!) The main Shinto shrine that greets you is a typical red and gold colored shrine - it is meant to commemorat...

- 京都市 The first view of Tokyo station The metro station was an imposing building with broad pavements leading up to the South Side entrance right opposite the way to the local metro (Marunochi line). Locating the Shinkansen platform was quite easy including purchasing one-way tickets for our destination and we boarded the train at platform 14. The platforms were clearly laid out for the cars with designated entry points where the swelling crowd waited patiently in orderly queues. What caught our eye were the remarkable neatness of the station and the lack of numerous dustbins. Finally, when we did sight the bins, we were quite taken aback at the waste segregation rules The train made a grand appearance into the station smoothly easing in. As the electronic doors opened to let alighting passengers out, we entered and settled ourselves on comfortable chairs. The train journey itself was a delight smoothly whizzing past the countryside offering first views of Pacific. Citie...

  A couple of hours past midday, two open top Maruti Gypsy jeeps landed at the entrance to Borgos resort where we were staying. We got in while the forest officer explained the rigmarole. A short drive of 5 mins and we were entering the central part of Kaziranga sanctuary spread over 430 sq km in Assam. The Forest officers examined our bags to ensure we carried no food. We drove into the forest at a slow speed keeping in the mind the speed limits so as not to disturb the animals. We stood on the open jeep which was a thrilling experience for us. There was dirt track to both our sides, the grounds were plain and we could see for stretches of miles. The shrubbery started growing taller and taller as we went deeper into the forest. The tree barks were brown in color with many branches that were bare of the leaves. The dense growth, dry now for several months without rain seemed to be waiting for the arrival of monsoon. Beyond the gnarled branches of the trees we could spot herds of...

Hunt for the one horned rhino The morning of Feb 12 2018, we were asked by Minto - our handy man for the 2 days at Kaziranga, to meet him at the entrance to the park at 5 am. The open Jungle land of Kaziranga lies in the flood plains of Brahmaputra river.  Lying between the latitudes of 26°30' N and 26°45' N, and longitudes 93°08' E to 93°36' E within two districts of Assam, Golaghat and Nagaon,  is sprawled over an area of 378 square km. It was a cold, misty winter morning when we looked out of our hotel window.  We woke up and reached at the appointed time for our morning safari at Kaziranga jungle.  We were in the Eastern part of India. As we reached the outskirts to the elephant safari.it seemed that  sun would be up soon. The morning fog was heavier in the open jungle. A vast blanket of gray, covered the forest. It swallowed the river flowing through the jungle. The tree leaves were smeared gray by the silvery fog. We could hear few birds chirpin...