Travel Blogs

Disneyland - Fun for All the Family

Disneyland - Fun for All the Family
Although some time ago now, I can still remember my visit to Disneyland Florida when I was a child. This is because of the enjoyment that I felt when I was there. It was almost as though this place was a fantasy and it really is a child's dream to go there. However this isn't to say that adults can not enjoy the visit, and in fact there are a number of attractions that can be enjoyed for people of all ages.

There is always something to see or do at Disneyland during the daytime, and there is also nightly entertainment during the peak season, and weekend entertainment during the off-season.

On Tom Sawyer's Island, a show called Fantasmic is held twice each night during the peak season and on off-season weekends. It features many Disneyland characters, fireworks, and music, and although seating is free, it is recommended to purchase tickets for the show in advance for the best seating possible.

Twice each day, The Parade of Dreams takes place and again includes many of the Disneyland characters, with choreographed shows featuring at various times throughout the parade.

Musical shows are available at many times throughout the day, including the Snow White musical in the Fantasyland Theater.

There is so much to see at Disneyland and so much going on that is impossible to get bored, and then to end the day you should not miss out on the fireworks display. The fireworks show is held late each night, before the park closes for the day.

If you are staying in a Disneyland hotel you will probably even be able to see the display from there if you can not stay for the fireworks! The firework display is a perfect opportunity to take some photo snaps to remember your time there, especially if you get to view the show from in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Most of the entertainment is included in the admission price. However, consider purchasing priority seating for some events that you are desperate to see, as being able to view shows from good seating makes them even more memorable.
Source: vacationtraveldestinations.blogspot.com

Yahoo does not exist anymore

They did not tell anyone, to keep them stocks floating high, but actually Yahoo does not exist anymore. It has become a virtual team of pre-teen hobbyists, working from their garage.
At least that is what I can tell from the (lack of) support for some of their products. Yahoo Pipes is one of them.

The Yahoo Pipes servers, previously running in a cloud-environment, have all been replaced by a single laptop owned by Johnny, a volunteer, in Santa Monica. When his mum cleans his room, and accidentally hits the power switch of his laptop, Yahoo Pipes goes down. Down until Johnny comes back from kindergarten. He is 5 years old, and mostly uses his laptop to play the "Musti" DVD.

The support for all their products is done by automated bots saying "Issue solved now, can you try it again, and report back if you experience more problems?".
They did consider to outsource the product support to a single call center in Bombay, which also caters for Johnny's Pizza Take-away, Rent-a-Girl Escort services and Gary's Route 66 Tow-away road service. It was too costly.

Yahoo apologizes for any possible inconvenience, but reminds its faithful clientele: "When reaching the bottom, there is only one way. Up!"

Market experts say this phrase has now shown up in several of Yahoo's press releases, which confirms the rumour all Yahoo services will soon be renamed as "Yahoo Up!", to distinguish from their current service level, which is now commonly referred to as "Yahoo Down!". It is said that the key to Yahoo's increased service level will be Sarah, the 6 year old girlfriend from Johnny. She just got her dad's old laptop for Xmas.

More satire on The Road.

Technorati ranking going down

From the Technorati Top 2,500, my blog's ranking is down to 3,800. My blog authority of 1000 plus also went down and now it's only blog authority

What actually happened is that I changed my blogspot url so that I can use http://www.cultureshiok.com.

Technorati is still the leading monitor of the world of weblogs. Linking is still important. A link from one weblog to another helps provide context around an argument or point, and it is essentially a "vote of attention" from one blogger to another. The relevance of a site on the web can be determined by how often a source is cited and therefore considered an authority.

Links in the world of weblogs are even more important since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, creating a sense of timeliness and back-and-forth one would have in a conversation.

Most of us already know how it works. For those who are still in the dark, Technorati tracks the number of links and the unique source of links to determine the breadth and readership of any author or site. Read more about Technorati and making money online.

Don't stop working on your blog. Favorites exchanges are fine. Getting readers is still the best.

The Christmas Tree is Up

Our little tree is up, the creche is lit, and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our house.

Molly and Will came over after church, we sent out for Pizza, and they helped decorate our tree. Just a small tree this year but it is the thought that counts eh?

longboarding!

Jannicke ready to try :)

Woohoooo!

Heading to St.Kilda beach :)

Source: destinationfaraway.blogspot.com

Hogenakkal Falls (Dharmapuri - Tamil Nadu)

It was another Friday in Dharmapuri with an upcoming boredom of weekend as 2 of our project-mates went off to meet their friends and relatives in Bangalore. Just 2 of us, we were trying to make something fruitful out of the otherwise boring weekend. Then came to our rescue, a friend from the local, who suggested Hogenakkal and other nearby temples.

Early in the morning, 3 of us started off to Hogenakkal. We took a local bus and as I reached there the high mountain filled completely with greens, captivated my senses. But what was not captivated was the cell phone signal, which went off completely. But that was blessing in disguise; I could enjoy the trip without any disturbance. The climate was great, the breeze was cool and there was water everywhere. As soon as we went towards the falls, we realized our big mistake – not getting a spare garment. If we got wet, we had return back with that only. So somehow, I tried to control the desire the jump into the water. But on seeing those several youngsters jumping and diving was so overwhelming, that I too jumped. All our cameras and wallets were on a rock above water level and we had a nice time in water.

A specialty here is that this place looks like a mini Niagara Falls. The height is not much. But the density of the water and the force is quite high. Being located in the junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, this place is an amazing tourist spot. The river Cauvery falls down here as Hogenakkal falls.

There are a few specialties inter twined with Hogenakkal. One is the Ayurvedic Massage. There are several massagers along the pathway that leads to the falls, but mainly men. It’s hard to find women massagers. There’s an overall herbal aroma all over the place. But the problem is, with all these massage oils all together have made the rocks and water pretty much oily. The water at the falls is great but as it flows down as a river, it’s oily.

The second specialty is the Parisil or Bamboo coracle that takes the visitors right under the falls for a good drench. The shrieks of the tourists with adrenalin rush of being just below the water falls was quite audible from above the rocks. Unfortunately we couldn’t venture into it as we were just 3 and couldn’t leave our cameras and other valuables anywhere.

The terrain was quite rocky and it was almost a good trek on those rocks. We reached this place to get a perfect view of the falls from an altitude. We sat there for quite some time and enjoyed the scenic beauty of Hogenakkal, or India's Niagara and then started back.

This is a haven for meat eaters esp. fish eaters, with the freshly captured fishes cooked as Bajji’s (fried fishes with wheat dough) and served hot on the spot. Being a vegetarian I couldn’t even tolerate the smell at times. But my friends had a great time. At the entrance/exit was this fine hotel. I was trying to find a decent vegetarian hotel but in vain. So, I too ended up in this hotel. But the hotel’s style was so good to help vegetarians to survive. The trick was having just a single non-veg dish – a fish curry, placed centrally on a huuuuge bowl. If you are a veggie, they spare that dish and serve the rest and if you’re not they serve it as well. Thank god. I survived. And we returned.

Next day, we opted to visit another friend’s house and farm in a tiny little village in Dharmapuri itself. It was around 6 am and the winter’s chill breeze was fierce. On a bike, 2 of us and our friend whose farm we were venturing to, started off, only to find myself sitting at the last and struggling to keep myself warm. Finally we reached his home and farm and there I was spellbound.

The whole place was green and fresh. The cows and calves lived in peace with the hens and roosters. There was a huge land of sugarcane vegetation. Their family was more than hospitable. All together, I enjoyed to my heart’s content.

TO GET THERE:

To Hogenakkal:

From Dharmapuri: 42 km

From Salem: 85 km

From Bangalore : 143 km

From Mysore: 194 km

From Kovai: 211 km

Dedicated to Devan 'cheta', Sankar, Arunachalam, Balakrishnan and family

PSF - Visiting My Old Dorm Room

PSF - Visiting My Old Dorm Room
On one of my days off to teach Hands on Small Business, I took the opportunity to wander through my old haunts at MIT. There have been quite a few changes since I graduated in 1987, but the nostalgia factor was still high. I lived in a dorm along the Charles River, and I always knew that it had the best view that I would ever experience in my lifetime. From my sophomore year on, I picked rooms on the top floor with this view.

I would watch the cars go through the underpass of Memorial Drive under Massachusetts Avenue all night instead of doing my problem sets.

I walked by my old room which I spent two years in.

Graduating in 2010? Wait, I lived in this room before this girl was even born! Way to feel really old.

The mailboxes were the same, but the front door and front desk were completely renovated. The only thing remaining was the old clock on the wall.