Wednesday 22 May 2013

Best Tour Operators - Only Global Vision Tours..!!

Best Tour Operators not means a well Standard Operator. Instead of it, They give great Assistance to us through out the Journey. Through that way they become Popular and get enough Standard. The tour operators that combines tours and travel  Requirements to create for an holiday with the user Configurations, and comments. The Main reason for the existence of tour operators due to the difficulty of making Trips in far places, with lot of problems of language, currency and communication. The way of internet has led to a rapid increase in Tour Packages and holidays. There are Many Packages Suits well for Family, Friends, Business And honeymooners with in our Budget and Requirements. However, tour operators still have their own talents in arranging tours for those who do not have time to have any holidays, and specialize in large group events and meetings such as conferences or seminars. Also, tour operators still have touch in suppliers, like Transportation, airlines, hotels, cruises and other land arrangements. They also have great influence over other departments like tourism boards and other government authorities in order to create packages and special departures for tourist destinations. otherwise its very difficult and also expensive to Travel.

Tours can give people an enjoyable mood in their lifestyle and anything that gets people up and on the road is something that most of them support. The truth is that we all take Most Suggested tour Operator. Whether it’s just for a day or a week or our whole holiday, organized trips are usually in our travel plans at some point. They can be especially great for first-time travelers unsure about setting out on their own.

Global Vision Tours have an exciting history in Tourism. Scheduling, Timing, Budget, well trained staffs and Experienced persons are the main attractions and this makes Global Vision Tours Special to Every one.

Friday 24 August 2012

Cambodian Temple - A Legend in the History

Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. The temple was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaivism tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.


Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early Dravidian Architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

History

The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; which comes from the Sanskrit word. Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres  north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.
The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as Holy Vishnu'-Location. After the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer.
In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.
One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of. In the mid 19th century the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:

Architecture


Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples, the later plan of concentric galleries, and influences from Orissa and the Chola of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level.


Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple. Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction—prasavya in Hindu terminology—as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse.  Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above."Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.

Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture  to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone rather than brick or laterite as the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime have been suggested. 

Angkor Wat has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design, which has been compared to the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style."

Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.
The Angkor Wat style was followed by that of the Bayon period, in which quality was often sacrificed to quantity. Other temples in the style are Banteay Samré, Thommanon, Chao Say Tevodaand the early temples of Preah Pithu at Angkor; outside Angkor, Beng Mealea and parts of Phanom Rung and Phimai.

Central structure

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.  Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.  North and south of the cloister are libraries.

Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.  Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods.  This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding four.  The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.

 


Saturday 11 August 2012

Beauty of Nature

I sometimes stare at the sky and wonder why we have made such a mess of things. I wonder how we can tear up the seas and use up the trees all in the name of progress. It is such a tragedy that we are damaging things so fast and they will soon be way beyond repair. It is very sad to think future generations will not have the natural things to enjoy as we have had, and that they will be paupers when it comes to the offerings of the natural world.


But, preserving nature is one thing ... appreciating it is quite another.  There is so very much beauty all around us to see, touch, and hear.  Nature is so miraculous because it is always changing.  No matter how many times you look at something, it is always different.
Nature can set a sky aflame at sunset or magically transform a familiar landscape into a snow-white wonderland.  It can paint a rainbow in the sky, paint beautiful autumn colors on trees, or paint a clump of daffodils in the grass with glow of soft sunlight

Nature can bring a lot of beauty into our lives.  Nature has a way of affecting our moods and it can force us to change our plans.  Nature is responsible for the sun, clouds, rain, and snow.  When it is sunny and bright outside, we feel cheerful inside.  When it is cloudy and rainy, we often feel gloomy.  When there is a beautiful and starry night, the moonlight makes us feel romantic.


When we see the leaves budding on a tree or when a timid flower pushes through the frozen ground, or when we smell the freshness of spring, new hope will always come to us.  Nature is truly an intrinsic part of our lives.
When we wake and see a sunrise, when we walk and feel a breeze, when we gaze at the mountains and the splendor of the seas, when we see the earth renew its beauty at each season of the year, and when the stars shine at night, we should be so very thankful to the Lord for giving us all these wonderful and miraculous things.  


Learning to become more aware of nature can truly have a good effect on our lives in the way we look at things and in the way we feel about ourselves.