India

Elephanta Island, the Place of Caves

Elephanta Island, the Place of Caves

Mumbai, India, By Irene Butler, Published in Senior Living Magazine/ Check out Our India Photo Gallery/ Two colossal elephants once stood regally at the entrance of the island’s temple caves, hence the name coined by the Portuguese when they landed on its shores in the 1500s. In 1864, however, British attempts to take these elephants to England ended in disaster. While being hoisted onto a ship, the crane broke shattering them. One was eventually salvaged and stands reassembled outside the Bhau Daji Lad (formerly Victoria and Albert Museum) in Mumbai. An archaeologist friend says the cave sculptures on Elephanta...

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Diversity adds Allure to Chennai and Area

Diversity adds Allure to Chennai and Area

Published in Travellady.com E-Zine - by Irene Butler - Check out our India Photo Gallery/ - A beach is a beach is a beach…or so I thought. Something strikes me as peculiar about the13km of exceptionally wide Marina Beach in Chennai. No bikinis, or horizontal bodies slathered in tanning lotion, or swimmers in the Bay of Bengal. The thousand or so locals out for the evening breezes are fully clothed, and 90% are upright, either walking about or standing and chatting, with the remainder sitting for a picnic supper. As my husband Rick and I plod through the soft...

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Lord Shiva’s Domain

Lord Shiva’s Domain

by Irene Butler Published in BC travel Writers Varanasi. The holiest place on earth in the Hindu religion through recorded time. Shiva, the destroyer god, reigns. He resides in every inch of the city. Over 2000 temples are dedicated to him. Every Hindu tries to come at least once during their lifetime to bathe in his sacred River Ganges that flows alongside the city. The exuberance of life bursts forth, as the two million people who call Varanasi their home, are continually bombarded with tens of thousands of pilgrims and visitors. Cremations are auspicious here. The dead are transported...

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All Aboard The Indian Express

All Aboard The Indian Express

By Irene Butler Published in BC Travel Writers “Will you take a look at this?” asked my partner, Rick. “Wonder if they know the train schedules?” I shaded my eyes to have a look. “They don’t need a schedule. They have the right of way,” Rick added. “Well, I’ll be. You’re right.” The shrill whistle of an incoming train at the Gorakhpur station hardly budged the holy cows that wandered down the middle of an adjacent track. The scrawny bovines eventually veered off at a leisurely pace and allowed the locomotive to pass. Read the rest of this adventure:...

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