Thursday Challenge -The Hemis Festival at Ladakh !

Today"s Thursday Challenge is "CULTURE" (Food, Dance, Clothing, Festivals,...) 

Last summer I had the opportunity to see the Hemis festival in Ladakh.
 It is one of the most visually enriching and vibrant festival I have ever seen. 

The Hemis monastery is one of the finest and richest in Ladakh. Situated on the outskirts of Leh – around 40 km from the city, Hemis monastery is most famous for the festival it holds annually for two days during the summer.

The monastery started getting crowded from early morning and it was choc a block with not only tourists but locals who had come from far flung villages to see the festival.We actually had to climb on the wall to get a clear view ! 

 Highlight of the festival are the masked dances called Chamm which are performed by the Lamas of the monastery. 

The costumes and masks are brightly coloured  and very elaborate. Since the faces of the lamas are hidden behind the masks, it’s their movements  as well as the elaborately decorated and painted masks that actually depict the nature of the character and the emotions the dancer is portraying.  

Most of the dances portrayed the victory of Good over evil ! 

Canada Snapshots - Thursday Challenge (Wood)

Today's Thursday Challenge is  WOODEN (Furniture, Buildings, Crafts, Trees,...)

I saw these in a shop in Canada and fell in love with them ! 

I guess you can call this wood craft :P
Cute aren't they ! 

Thursday Challenge: Food at Fortnum and Mason !

Today's Thursday Challenge is FOOD (Food Markets, Ingredients, Cooking, Baking, Pots, Pans,...)
For a foodie like me a visit to Fortnum and Mason was a must during my stay in London. Situated in an imposing building on London’s Piccadilly street, the store is magnificent with gilded furnishings, marble flooring and a beautiful atrium. It is also quintessentially English, with its staff still wearing top hats and frock coats.

It has a dazzling array of foods stuff and delicacies and is known for its very high quality and exquisitely wrapped goods.

It also has a very delectable Bread and Cheese section. 

But my favorite food stalls were obviously in the Confectionery area !

I loved the sweet crystallized veggies and fruits !

And I loved to watch  the figures of Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason make their appearance every hour :)

Thursday Challenge #7 - Doors !

Todays Thursday Challenge is Doors.

Here are some doors I captured during my travels:

 I love the way this door is decorated with flowers ! Specially since its a Fudgerie and had the most delicious assortment of chocolates inside !

Captured in Quebec City !



 This is a Pub in London - What vibrant colours ! 





And finally the gate to Hampton Court ! 

Travel does open a lot of doors doesnt it :P

Hard Rock (Thursday Challenge#6)

This week"s challenge is Hard (Rock, Ice, Brick, Steel, Cement,...)

This Rock near Gangotri really intrigued me .. its interesting the way its neatly sliced into two !

The mighy Ganges roars down from Gomukh into Gangotri here. The Rocks seem really hard, but look how over the many centuries, the River Ganga has managed to wear them down create so many crevices .....

 

And Finally ..... :P

Khajuraho - Poetry in Stone (A picture post)

This week's Thursday Challenge is CREATIVE (Fine Arts, Crafts, engineering, Music, Clothing,...)

I don't think I have seen a finer specimen of creativity and craftsmanship than the Khajuraho temples.

The temples are exquisitively carved ....... 

and have a symmetry and harmony to them that has to be seen to be believed ........

 The sculptures look so realistic that you almost expect them to start talking to you .....

Thursday Challange #4

This Week the Thursday Challenge is GOLDEN.
I can only think of the sun when someone says the word Gold ... Here are a few snaps that I clicked in the course of my travels ....



Sunset turns the St Lawerence River into molten gold



Rays of the rising sun like golden arrows over the River Ganges at Rishikesh



The sun turns the Eaton School into a Golden Yellow



Thursday Challenge # 3

This weeks thursday challenge is "EMPTY" (House, Room, Playground, Glass, Container, Chair,...)

My entry is the famed red telephone booths from London. I saw many of them scattered all over the city but I never saw anyne making a call from them. They were always empty !

Thursday Challenge# 2 (NaBloPoMo #10)

The theme for this thursday is "MANY" (Candies, Crowd, Paperclips, Coins, Collections,...)

My picture today shows prayer wheels from a buddhist temple in Japan. All buddhist temples have prayer wheels but I was amazed that this temple had so many and that too so colorful ! (click to enlarge the pic)
Even yesterdays pic was about Japan. Yeah I know I really miss that place !

Thursday Challenge #1

My first Thursday Challenge ! The theme for this week is "MOVEMENT" (Shaking, Falling, Bouncing, Jumping, Curling, Sagging,...)

What better way to describe movement than the swirling,lunging,whirling sea !

The following pics of whirlpools were taken at Awaji Island, that falls between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku. Its very famous for its huge and magnificent whirlpools known as the Naruto Whirlpools. These whirlpools are known to have a radius of 30 m at times.
We took a specially powered boat deep into the sea to see these whirlpools, and even though we were at a safe distance from them, it was scary and exhilarating at the same time!