Monthly Archives: November 2012

Palace of Versailles: France

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 17 comments

France was the last stop in our Europe trip.

I realised during the tour that we were lucky we didn’t need to spend any time queuing up for tickets as all our tours were pre booked and we had a local guide. Otherwise there seemed to be hundreds of people waiting for tickets and to get in everywhere we went.

We started our trip with a tour of the Palace of Versailles. Versailles has been the capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. Nowadays it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 17 km away from the French capital, and remains an important administrative and judicial centre.

The first thing you must do is enter the golden gates. Once inside, the sheer size of the complex will leave you speechless.

This splendid and enormous palace was built in the mid-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV – the Roi Soleil (Sun King) – to project the absolute power of the French monarchy, which was then at the height of its glory. Its scale and decor also reflect Louis XIV’s taste for profligate luxury and his boundless appetite for self-glorification. Some 30,000 workers and soldiers toiled on the structure, the bills for which all but emptied the kingdom’s coffers. The château has undergone relatively few alterations since its construction, though almost all the interior furnishings disappeared during the Revolution and many of the rooms were rebuilt by Louis-Philippe (r 1830–48).

As you enter the Palace from the main entrance, you immediately realize that the Château de Versailles is all about extravagance and luxury. Gold accentuates everything from the gates to the statues ornamenting the exterior of the building, up to furnishings inside. Opulent chandeliers and loads of paintings, sculptures, and tapestries adorn the interiors. Each of the French kings who lived there until the French Revolution, added improvements to make it more beautiful. The major of these, were those by Louis XIV, who devoted many rooms and parts of the gardened to the sun – the monarch’s symbol – or one of the seven planets that revolve around the magical star.

Inside, you will see the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen that include the infamous Hall of Mirrors. It was here that the king crowed his royal power to visitors.

Once we finished with the Chateau, we went outside and start wandering through the garden. The garden is massive; it looked bigger that from Schönbrunn Palace , with flower beds to highlight the castle, statues, vases and busts decorated its paths.

The gardens are stunning and the music coming out from the hidden speakers made the ambience even better.

The section of the vast gardens nearest the palace, laid out between 1661 and 1700 in the formal French style, is famed for its geometrically aligned terraces, flowerbeds, tree-lined paths, ponds and fountains. The 400-odd statues of marble, bronze and lead were made by the most talented sculptors of the era. The English-style Jardins du Petit Trianon are more pastoral and have meandering, sheltered paths.

The gardens’ largest fountains are the 17th-century Bassin de Neptune (Neptune’s Fountain), a dazzling mirage of 99 spouting gushers 300m north of the palace, and the Bassin d’Apollon (Apollo’s Fountain) built in 1688 at the eastern end of the Grand Canal.

We couldn’t get over the size of the garden and the different hidden pathways you can find in it. Although we visited a small fraction of the gardens, you get a sense of their grandeur. While we were enjoying the romantic walk in the garden, out of nowhere it suddenly started raining heavily. There was nowhere to shelter so me and AS ran towards the palace, the way back was long and uphill. By the time we got to the shelter, we both were soaking wet. So we waited in the palace for the rain to stop before going back to our tour bus.

It looked really funny when we got to the bus as the sun was up again and we looked stupid to be soaking wet.

Please click here for more photos.

17 Comments

Posted in France, Travel

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Commercialisation of festivals: How much is too much?

Posted on November 29, 2012 | 22 comments

Last year, I did a post called “When is the right time to put up the Christmas tree?” and I want to talk some more about it today because all the malls and shops in Australia have had their Christmas lights and Christmas trees up for more than a month now.

I really think it is a bit too early to start the Christmas decorations but the business minded people don’t care about these at all. They think of all these festivals as a money making opportunity. The impact of commercialization has marred the real meaning of religious and traditional customs. The shops and malls here never followed the values but instead everywhere there’s a lot of hype. During festivals, malls attract you with discounts and people go mad shopping.

As soon as Christmas is up, the shops will be filled with Easter eggs and hot cross buns in January, almost 3 months before Easter.

No matter what religion we follow, any festival has significance and value but when one commercializes festivals, that basic aim is forgotten and everyone involved is thinking, “What am I going to get on this festival?” In fact, in some instances; the festivals have been commercialized so much, that kids do not even know the significance of the festival and consider it just another holiday or just another chance to increase their material possessions.

In this way, festivals lose their real significance since their aim was first, to spread love and peace and second, to celebrate the festival keeping in mind the reason why the festival was being celebrated.

It is not only in Australia, the commercialisation of festival’s happening in Nepal as well. Previously, festivals like Dashain and Tihar were family occasions. Dashain was all about family get together and family feast and Tihar was celebrated by lighting small diyos and candles, having a small puja and burning a few crackers to rejoice the homecoming of Lord Ram from his exile on this day. Nobody cared about what you wore or what you got as a present, but instead all that mattered was having fun and appreciating the day for what it symbolized.

But today, Dashain and Tihar is all about the show of money with what one has bought for the occasion or how big the party was in one’s house, what you got as a gift etc. If parents have their kids overseas, how much money children have sent for the festivals?

Children don’t even know why they have the day off from school to celebrate that day.

Festivals are not meant to be opportunities for financial gain for brands and companies. They are meant to be occasions for religious observance and for people to understand and respect the meaning behind them. I really think, children should be taught about traditional festivals in kindergarten and we should keep the valuable elements of the traditional festivals and preserve them for future generations.

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Posted in Social Issue

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Mt Titlis: Switzerland

Posted on November 28, 2012 | 9 comments

We woke up in the morning and were a little disappointed as it was not a sunny day. There was a little drizzle, but we had no choice but to continue on our trip to Mt. Titlis. The lady in the hotel told us that they have a good amount of snow in the mountains. We headed towards Mt. Titlis from Fluelen via Lucerne and Engelberg.

Mt Titlis is one of the most famous mountains in Switzerland which is located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Berne in Switzerland, overlooking Engelberg (Obwalden).

On our tour we were booked in to go to the top of the mountain and both me and AS were really excited. We knew there would be snow on the top so we were wearing our beanie , gloves with thick jackets.

So we took our tour bus to the bottom of the mountain. Once there, we were given tickets to the mountain. To reach the summit we needed to take a small ski gondola, change to a larger cable car and then onto the Titis ‘Rotair’ for the trip to the summit.

So we queued up to start the adventure. We got into the gondola with a Canadian family. The mum was a bit scared of the height so it was fun watching her reaction. The view was just awesome from the gondola and it was a great experience. I’ve never seen grass as green as those on the hills of Austria and Switzerland. The gondola first took us up to Trubsee, which is located at 1,800 meters.

Then we changed to another gondola to Stand which is at 2,428 was another thrilling experience.

Finally the first revolving Titlis Rotair cable car which rotates through a 360 degree view as it climbs towards the summit of the mountain giving a great view as it took us up to Mount Titlis.at 3020 m / 10’000 ft.

All together the journey took roughly 45 minutes from the valley below up to the summit. By that time both me and AS were very hungry so we decided to stop at the restaurant (which was as expensive as expected). A pizza the size of a small plate was nearly $30.00.

After lunch we went to the top of the mountain. It was too windy to ski and most of the slopes/lifts were closed. As with all mountains in Switzerland however, Mt Titlis is all about the views. The Swiss Alps are simply breathtaking and to even try to but their beauty and scenery into words does not even come close to doing them justice.

I am not too sure if a Bollywood movie was shot there but there was a cut-out figure of the Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and actress Kajol from movie Dilwale Dulhaneya Le Jayeng. I know who would have been very excited to see this, Tasha! (I have been getting all these updates from her Twitter, Facebook and Instagram about the new movie starring Shah Rukh Khan).

I really noticed that Switzerland had high volume of Indian tourist when they served Indian meals in the restaurant and the bus,  coaches, the ski lifts and the restaurants were filled with Indians. Most of them seemed to be travelling with family which had grandparents, parents and grandkids. That is so lovely.

Mt. Titlis is a must do for anyone visiting Switzerland.

Please click here for more photos.

9 Comments

Posted in Switerzland, Travel

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Bhogate Sadekoo

Posted on November 27, 2012 | 12 comments

One of the things widely eaten in Nepal after the festival of Tihar is, Bhogate Sandheko. Bhogate is called Pomelo (Chinese grapefruit) in English and is used in Nepal during Mha Puja and Bhai Tika. Bhogate Sandheko roughly translates to marinated pomelo in English.

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Pomelo is a crisp citrus fruit native to South and Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick albedo (rind pith).

Pomelo tastes a bit like grapefruit but is sweeter, less tart, and is not bitter. In Australia, we can’t find pomelo so the closest thing to Bhogate is grapefruit which is what I used in Bhai Tika during Tihar.

So like my mum used to, I tried to make Bhogate Sadekoo and am sharing my recipe here.

Ingredients:

  • 1 grapefruit/pomelo
  • 2  oranges  (I used oranges but you can use any fruit)
  • 4 tablespoons of  plain yogurt
  • 2 teaspoon of red chili powder (or to taste)
  • 2 tablespoon of sesame seeds, roasted and ground
  • Salt to taste
  • Sugar to taste (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons of mustard oil
  • 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric

Process

  • Peal grapefruit/pomelo and oranges and put it in a bowl .

  • Roast sesame seeds in a pan stirring constantly making sure it turns golden brown, not black.
  • Cool it and grind it.

  • Add yogurt, salt, sugar, sesame powder, red chili powder in the bowl with the pomelo and oranges and mix well

  • Heat a pan with mustard oil in it
  • When hot put fenugreek seeds in it
  • When the fenugreek seeds turn golden brown, take it off the heat and pour oil with fenugreek into the Bhogate mixture in the bowl

  • Mix it well

  • Bhogate Sandheko is ready to serve, yum yum yum 🙂

12 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali food, Recipe

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Loy Krathong in Parramatta

Posted on November 26, 2012 | 14 comments

Sydney is so multicultural that every weekend there is some traditional celebration going on in different parks across the city. Two weeks ago we went to Parramasala and last weekend we were able to attend another amazing cultural event called Loy Krathong.

Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. It is also called Thailand’s “festival of lights” and it is the time of year when the waters around the country come alive with candlelight and look not unlike a massive fairy ballrooms.

The history behind the festival is complex, and Thais celebrate for many reasons.  The main rice harvest season has ended and it’s time to thank the Water Goddess for a year’s worth of her abundant supply, as well as an apology for polluting the waters. Some believe that this is the time to symbolically ‘float away’ all the anger and grudges you have been holding onto, and including a fingernail or a lock of hair is seen as a way of letting go of the dark side of yourself, to start anew free of negative feelings. If your candle stays alight until your Krathong disappears out of sight, it means a year of good luck.

To celebrate this occasion, Sydney’s largest water festival, the Loy Krathong Festival, was held in Parramatta at the banks of the river by the same name. The festival attracted more than 12,000 people from Parramatta, Greater Western Sydney and Asian communities from all around Sydney.

The festival started at 5pm but we were there by 7 pm. By then, there were lots of people on both sides of the river.

We started our journey from the main stage where there was some dancing going on. We watched a few shows and then started to look around to find out what else was going on.

I was really drawn to the crowd where there were tables and chairs set up to make your own Krathong that you could put in the river later in the night.

There is no equivalent word in English for ‘krathong’. You may hear people referring to it as a small boat, vessel, receptacle or container. In the run up to the festival, many shops and market stalls will display ready-made Krathongs, or in parts so you can assemble and decorate as you wish. In the past, krathongs were made from natural materials – usually a section from a banana tree trunk, crafted into a lotus shape by using folded banana leaves, and these can still be found for sale around the main festival sites. More recently, Thais have become more creative in their craft and design the krathongs from coconut shells, flowers, baked bread, potato slices, some breaking with the conventional lotus leaf shape in favour of turtles and other sea creatures.

It was really fascinating to see kids and adults trying to make the Krathong. I joined the crowd and here are some of my photos AS took during the process. I really didn’t know what to do but I was happy to watch people and learn. It was fun and it took around 10 minutes to finish it.

I guess at the end it turned out great. What do you think? 🙂

From there we looked at the stalls and check out lots of traditional jewellery making, umbrella making, the art of painting umbrellas and masks, weaving, making a lotus lantern, as well as other stuffs where there were beautiful ladies in traditional dresses explaining what they were doing.

Then we moved on to the food stalls where there was a long queue. We did manage to get some curry puffs, spring rolls, taro spring rolls as well as duck salad and Thai green curry with rice.

With all this food we took a seat on the grass by the river and enjoyed the food and waited for the launching of Krathongs.

Once the official Krathongs were launched , I joined the queue and put mine into the water as well.

The river looked really beautiful with so many different designs and sizes of Krathongs floating on the water.

After that we went to the main stage where we watched Golden Lantern Dance, Candle Dance, Fighting Cock Dance as well as a Thai Puppet Show.  All of them were really interesting and fun.

After the show we went and crossed the bridge to go to the other side of the river where they had set up a Thai village as well as amusement rides for children.

At one corner there were fire dancers performing and there was also some free face painting going on. We also heard people singing Loy Karthongs songs in the competition.

Finally we finished the tour of all the stuffs and decided to sit at the top of a slotp on one side of the river and waited for the fireworks to start.

At 9.55, they started the fireworks and it went for more than 5 minutes. It was a really beautiful display. Finally we headed home after a good evening out.

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Posted in Australia, Thailand

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