Wat Phra Kaeo, Thailand

Wat Phra Kaeo is one of the most sacred places of Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Phra Kaeo, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, is undoubtedly one of the most sacred places of Bangkok. It won’t be wrong to say that a tours to Bangkok is incomplete without paying a visit to Wat Phra Kaeo. It houses a dark green statue of Buddha with a height of 2 feet. According to a story, the Emerald Buddha was once kept covered in a plaster in a monument in Chiang Rai, which was uncovered by heavy lightening in 1434. Since then many kings tried transporting it to their own countries. After traveling in several countries, this statue finally rests at Wat Phra Kaeo.

King Rama I built Wat Phra Kaeo in order to enshrine the Emerald Buddha. Corresponding to different seasons, Emerald Buddha is covered in seasonal costumes, which are changed thrice a year. In summer the statue is adorned with crown and jewellery, in winters it is wrapped in a golden shawl and in the rainy season, you will see Emerald Buddha wearing gilt robe and headdress.

Do visit the three famous pagodas that are located on the temple grounds after paying a visit to Wat Phra Kaeo during Tours to Bangkok. Lying in the west of Wat Phra Kaeo is Phra Si Ratana Chedi that houses ashes of the Buddha. Phra Mondop, is a library that lies in the middle and towards the east side stands Royal Panthon that was built to commemorate the foundation of Chakri dynasty.

Grand Bazaar, Turkey

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul Turkey

One of the world’s first shopping malls, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey is also one of the largest covered markets today. With over 3,000 shops along more than 60 covered streets, it has grown over its long history, and now receives from 250,000 to 400,000 customers each day.

The Bazaar first started around 1455 when the Ottoman Empire took control of then Constantinople (now Istanbul), and the expansions to the shopping center were finished by the early seventeenth century. The strategic location of Istanbul helped make the hub of trade and commerce in the Mediterranean. There are four main gates to the Grand Bazaar – one at each of the two major streets, whose intersection is at the southwest corner of the shopping center.

The market’s streets are named for the items sold in their zones, like jewelry, furniture, carpets, leather goods, clothing, and books. The famous Bazaar is a social meeting place, where the community goes to interact, having discussions over coffee, though there were originally no restaurants at the market. Until the mid-nineteenth century, trade at the market was very different from today, with a lack of competition between sellers and a single fixed price for items.

Today, the structure is being renovated to upgrade its heating and lighting and other facilities. Some argue that has become too westernized in recent history, but there are still many traditional parts to be found.

Mesa Verde National Park in US

Mesa Verde National Park at Colorado , US

Mesa Verde National Park is a UNESCO Heritage Site and a US National Park. What makes this special? Spread over more than 52,000 acres in the Montezuma County in southern Colorado in the US, the park preserves the cliff dwellings of the ancestral Puebloan people known as the Anasazi.

Mesa Verde in Spanish translates into “green table”. The cliff dwellings constitute some of the best preserved archeological sites in the country. The Anasazi lived in the Mesa Verde region between 450 CE and 1300 CE. Over 600 of these dwellings are recorded in the national park including the famous Balcony House, Square Tower House, and Cliff House. In all the national park protects over 5,000 archeological sites and others are continually being discovered. The south-west Colorado plateau on which the Mesa Verde National Park is located is at an altitude of about 8,500 feet and over 572,000 visitors head to the national park each year.

The Mesa Verde villages were initially discovered in 1874. The rock-cut dwellings were soon pillaged by collectors and treasure hunters. By 1889, much of the artifacts in the region were sold – in 1889 collectors held a large pottery sale. At about this time, archeologists started to study and excavate the remains. By 1906, the site come under the protection of the Federal Antiquities Act and has been well-preserved ever since.

Amazon River in Brazil

The Amazon River – Second Largest River in the World

The Amazon River, located in South America, is the second longest river in the world. It flows through Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru traversing a distance of about 4,000 miles or about 6,400 kilometers. While for the major part, the river runs through dense rainforests, some populous and large cities have sprung up on its banks. The largest among these cities is Manaus in Brazil with a population of over 1.7 million people. The Central Amazon Conservation Complex along the Amazon Basin is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

The Amazon basin rainforest is one of the most bio diverse places on earth and is home to a number of freshwater species including over 3,000 different fish species. The world’s largest variety of electric fish, the Amazonian manatee, the black caiman, and Amazonian river dolphins live in the Amazon River. Going by drainage, the Amazon River is the largest in the world. It is so large that the river and its tributaries contain 20% of the planet’s freshwater supply. The river rises to about 30 feet during the monsoons, its rich alluvium settles in the surrounding floodplain soils, while the water fills up the lakes and lagoons through its course. The river drains over 7,381,000 cubic foot of water into the Atlantic Ocean each second.

During the monsoons, the width of the Amazon River can reach over 30 miles (50 kilometers). With over 1,100 tributaries, it comes as little wonder that the Amazon is called The River Sea. The Amazon basin rainforests are known for the various medicinal herbs and minerals available here. While the uses of many of these are known to the indigenous tribes, researchers from across the world are discovering more and more beneficial substances here.