The Barahi Mandir, Pokhara, Nepal

Barahi Mandir

The Phewa Lake is the most beautiful attraction of Pokhara city, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the Barahi Mandir is the crown of Phewa Lake. A boat trip to Barahi Mandhir is certainly an excellent experience.

Boats to hire

Heading to Barahi Mandir

Thanks to Sunil Shresta, I enjoyed the boat trip by hiring and rowing a boat in our own, though we went in awkward directions at the beginning :-).

See also:

• Sunrise over Annapurna mountain range
• The Durbar Square, Kathmandu
  

Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

The Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, is a beautiful structure for photographers to enjoy both indoor and outdoor photography. This photo shows the control tower of the airport during an evening dusk time.

Sunset over Bangkok, Thailand

Sunsets give beautiful settings for photography whenever I get unhindered views. I captured this special lighting effect of a sunset from a flight as it approached Bangkok.

Si Racha Pier, Chonburi, Thailand

The Si-Chang Island (Koh Si Chang) is an island off Chonburi province of Thailand (where Pattaya city is located), less known among foreign tourists. This island offers a peaceful atmosphere with fresh air ideal for relaxing. The island has got fairly priced transport service (with the unique "skylab" tuk-tuks) and restaurants making it suitable for a low budget tour. A ferry service is operated from Si Racha Pier (also known as Choem Chumphon Pier) frequently at a nominal charge.

While I was waiting at the Si Racha Pier for the ferry to go to Si-Chang Island, the beauty of this Chinese temple attracted me.

The Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal

Durbar Square is a place filled with historic buildings, shrines and platform-sellers, just out side the old royal palace of Nepal, where I could feel "old is gold". I really loved the place, people and the food (especially Momo). Below photo shows the traditional handicraft sellers selling their excellent art work.

Thanks to Prabal Khanal and Sunil Shresta, I had one of my ever memorable trip around Kathmandu.

See also,

• Sunrise over Annapurna mountain range
• The Barahi Mandir, Pokhara
  

The Coops Shot Tower, Melbourne, Australia

The Coops Shot Tower and its conical glass roof is the first architecture to attract/distract me as I arrived in the city. This is a quick shot as I walked out from the Melbourne Central railway station.

Vallipura Aazhvaar Kovil, Point Pedro, Jaffna

வல்லிபுர ஆழ்வார் கோவில், பருத்தித்துறை, யாழ்ப்பாணம்

The main entrance of Vallipura Aazhvaar kOvil

Vallipura Aazhvaar Kovil is one of the famous Hindu temples of Sri Lanka, dedicated for God Vishnu, located near the northern tip of Jaffna peninsula, about 3 km off Point Pedro in the Eastern Coast. The sanctum sanctorum (prime holy room /"karuvaRai"/"garbha-griha") consists a "Chakram" (wheel) that is believed to be found at the near by KatkOvaLam beach where the famous annual sea side water cutting festival ("kadal theerththam") of the temple is celebrated, drawing thousands of devotees.

Naturally the temple's surrounding areas have got unique features such as a pond where holy white clay ('thiru maNN' or 'naamam') is found and many Palmyra palms with branches in the vicinity.

Branched Palmyra Palms

See also my blogs of Jaffna:

• Iconic "Thaddi-Van"s of Point Pedro - Kodikaamam route
• Naagapooshani amman kovil, Nainatheevu
• Islands off Jaffna peninsula
• King Sangiliyan's Palace

Amsterdam in night, the Netherlands

Amsterdam, the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe, is a beautiful city with well planned canal networks of four concentric half-circles of canals with their ends emerging at the IJ bay and interconnecting canals along radii. The city is well known for its openness, nightlife, museums, etc. The photo shows an inter-connecting canal in the city centre during a winter night.

Canal around Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, is a residential campus nurturing students from over 40 countries across the world by offering excellent postgraduate courses conducted by leading multinational academics. In addition, the green campus offers a rare opportunity to experience different cultures, and a beautiful and homely tropical living environment.

AIT provided me with excellent opportunities towards my career development, wonderful living experience of a global village, participating in cultural activities, good friends of different nationalities and especially an ideal environment for nature photography.

I am really proud of my Alma mater, AIT, celebrating its Golden Jubilee during this month, September 2009.

A Ladybird in Khao Kaeng Krachan, Thailand

Khao Kaeng Krachan is a beautiful reserve of Thailand, especially well known for bird watching among ornithologists. An early morning walk through the natural trails is a refreshing experience. This ladybird beetle attracted me on such a walk.

The Nagapooshani Amman Kovil, Jaffna, Sri Lanka

நாகபூஷணி அம்மன் கோவில், யாழ்ப்பாணம்

Naagapoosani Amman Kovil is an ancient temple in Naina-theevu ("theevu" means island), off Jaffna peninsula, famous for both its historical background as well as people's devotion. The above picture shows the view of the temple as you land at the jetty to enter the island.

According to historians, there stood a temple of magnificent stone structure at this site for several centuries worshiped by people from both Jaffna region and nearby Tamil kingdoms of Southern India, which was destroyed by the Portuguese colonial invaders (with the fall of Jaffna Kingdom) during the second decade of 17th century A.D. The present temple was built in stages by Hindus from Jaffna region after the successive Portuguese and Dutch Colonials powers, who deprived religious freedom of the local people, left the country.

The statues of 63 Tamil Saiva Saints (naayanmar / நாயன்மார்) is special feature of the temple.

To visit the temple, cross Pannai causeway to enter Mandai-theevu, then cross the second causeway to enter Punkudu-theevu and drive up to Kurikadduvan jetty on the opposite side of the island (also can take bus from Jaffna town to Kurikadduvan). Ferries/launches ply between Kurikadduvan and Naina-theevu for every 1 hour (or so, depending on the season) between 6 am and 6 pm. The voyage takes about 30 minutes.

See also my blogs of Jaffna:

• Islands off Jaffna peninsula
• Vallipura alvar kovil, Point Pedro
• King Sangiliyan's Palace
• Iconic "Thaddi-Van"s of Point Pedro - Kodikaamam route

PS: Some shameless people, including www.lankalibrary.com and kokuvilhindu.com, are displaying the third picture above (copied from my previous homepage hosted in geocities.com) on their websites after removing my name without my permission. These are the kind of people compel me to use watermark extensively distorting the beauty of the pictures.

Sunrise over Annapurna mountain range, Nepal

As the sun rises, sun rays sneak through the gaps between mountains to reach the mountain tops first, brilliantly colouring the ice covered mountain peaks, while the bottom of the mountains remain in dark. The beauty of Pokhara and the surrounding regions can not be written in words. I may try to say "simply superb!".

I had a life time experience of trekking through the mountainous villages of Myagdi district, Pokhara, for consecutive days. Though felt quite exhausted at that time, looking back at these photos, I am ready to set on again.

I also should mention the great hospitality of the humble people living in those villages. They are really rich by heart, no matter whatever they poses in monetary terms, in treating the people who visit them.

See also:

• The Barahi Mandir, Pokhara
• The Durbar Square, Kathmandu
  

The Merlion, Singapore

The Merlion is an icon of Singapore, located at the Marina bay. Even though there are few Merlion statues built around Singapore, including the giant 37 m replica at Santosa Island, the original statue of 8.6 m at the Merlion park retains the fame and attraction. Thanks to my friend K.Shivakanthan, I made a memorable flash trip around the city (country indeed).

The Kesava Temple, Somnathpur, Karnataka, India

Kesava Temple in Somnathpur is a serene place in a remote village of Karnataka, not frequented by many tourists. These stone carvings are the everlasting evident of the cultural richness of Hoysala Kingdon. Thanks to my friend Iyappan (Jeeves) who organized a memorable trip, I could visit many noteworthy places around Karnataka within my short stay.

Flower bunches of Khao Yai

Khao Yai National park of Thailand is blessed with nature's beauties, and this flower bunch is just one of them. I was lucky enough to get the glimpses of KhaoYai and capture these beauties.

Sunrise at Khao Sam-Roi-Yod, Thailand

Khao Sam-Roi-Yod is a place with fine sandy beaches, spectacular caves, mountain viewpoints, offshore islands, forest trails, boat trips, mangrove habitats, birds, animals, etc, etc. It has a variety of ecology systems, comprising of sea, beaches, mangrove forests, freshwater, marsh land and limestone mountains, which attract varieties of birds, especially shorebirds. September to November is the peak season for bird-watching which extends up to March.

Key attractions:

• Laem Sala Beach
  
• Phraya Nakhon Cave
  
• Kaeo Cave
  
• Sai Cave
  
• Sam Phraya Beach
  
• Mangrove Forest Nature Trail (behind HQ)
  
• Khao Daeng Viewpoint
  
• Khlong Khao Daeng (Canal)
  
• Thung Sam Roi Yot (Marsh)

We missed the caves and view points on hills due to rainy weather during July. But, it was really a blessing in disguise, as the rainy weather which disrupted our tour also gave this nice setting of a colourful sunrise.

The Eiffel Tower, France

The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), the single most visited place in the world, is one of my favourite spot to take photos. These photos were taken with my Sony DSC H7 point-and-shoot camera.

I thank Ronald Tourant for taking me to this place in a winter night so that I could photograph the tower without any people in the scene.

Review of digital camera reviews

Many photography enthusiasts with limited budget (like myself) would have come across the difficult task of deciding a suitable camera for themselves if they were serious in getting right value for the money spent and their requirements satisfied in medium to long term.

In this cyber-era, the Internet is filled with information on almost every topic. So, obviously those people search and browse for information about cameras on the Internet, where sites of digital-camera-reviews play a major role. Yet, there are few tricks to extract somewhat reliable information from the huge information bases.

The following are some of my observations about digital camera review sites on the web.

1. Many sites only reproduce the feature list provided by the manufacturer under the name "review", which does not satisfy viewers' expectations.
2. Some sites provide only the positive sides of particular products (probably biased or not written by experienced reviewer(s) )
3. A good review should include both the pros and cons of cameras, how they perform under different conditions or use-cases with sample outputs, ergonomics of the camera, important features, comparable models from the same or other brands, and comparisons. 

In my view there is no camera which is perfect in every sense and probably no single camera would provide all the features we expect. In most cases, the higher the price the lesser the short comings.

Therefore, I always look for at least few reviews which provide both positive and negative sides of products. Then I decide whether those negative sides would really affect my area of photography interest. After deciding one or few models with the knowledge gain from the web and the advices obtained from friends, I look for users' comments and criticisms about the product(s) from blogs and/or forums.

By doing all these researches, I satisfy myself that I do not spent my money arbitrarily just because I am crazy in photography.

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