Rock garden in Chandigarh

The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a 40-acre park full of plazas, waterfalls and thousands of unique creatures made from recycled materials. It’s a truly impressive sight, but even more so is the story of how Nek Chand spent four decades creating it and how he kept it a secret, for years.

In 1958, Nek Chand was a road inspector for the Public Works Department, and was making rafts and boats to be sail upon the recently created Sukhna Lake, but peddle boats were soon made available for rent by authorities, and his craft was banned. This allowed Nek to devote more time to his passion for rocks and stones, and he began gathering them from the nearby Shivalik Hills, and the Sukhna Cho, Patiala Rao and Ghaggar rivers. It was around this time that the Swiss architect Le Corbusier was asked to design the city of Chandigarh, the first planned city of India, and the small villages around the area were demolished. This provided Nek Chand with plenty of material for his increasing collection of rocks.

In 1965, after putting together an impressive collection of waste from the destroyed villages, Nek Chand began dreaming of a fairytale kingdom of his own. After all, he was working on creating the utopian city of Chandigarh, so he wondered if he couldn’t create a world of his own, out of the rabble he spent so much time gathering. He found a secluded gorge, in the forest on the outskirts of the city, and decided that’s where he was going to build his magical kingdom. At the end of each work day, he would disappear into the forest and tend to his vision, at the light of burning tires. Nek was afraid this dream of his would cost him his job, since it was very much an illegal project, but this didn’t stop him from expanding the Rock Garden with each passing day. Shards of broken pots and bottles, brick fragments and natural stones, these were the main ingredients used to create a unique world, inhabited by marvelous creatures.

Eventually, he built up the courage to see M.N. Sharma, Chandigarh’s chief architect about his marvelous project. Reluctant to accompany Nek Chand into the forest, this disciple of Le Corbusier eventually agreed. Although he should have had it demolished, Sharma later said the admiration for Nek Chand’s amazing Rock Garden and its creative potential was much stronger than his duty as chief architect, so he advised Nek to continue his work in secret, until he could convince the world that, though illegal and unauthorized, the Rock Garden is a masterpiece that should be preserved.

It took a year for M.N. Sharma to convince Indian authorities, but his efforts paid off, and Rock Garden finally got the recognition it deserved. Nek Chand received authorization to expand his project on another 25 acres, and the Rock Garden was open to the public, in 1976. Its creator worked under threat of imprisonment and the demolition of the project, for 18 years, but it all paid off, in the end. Ever since he first started working on it, recycling was a very important part, but after it was finally authorized, it became even more so. Nek set up waste collection centers across Chandigarh, at hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other big waste suppliers. He kept working on it, until just a few years ago.

Today, an estimated 5,000 people from all around India and abroad come to see Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, every day. It practically went from being a secret, unauthorized fantasy, to India’s second most popular tourist attraction, after the Taj Mahal. How is that for an incredible turn of events?

Top 10 American Cities with Most Attractive People

01. Charleston

This South Carolina city bumped off perennial winner Miami this year; have the good-looking people really migrated north? Charlestonians also score high for friendliness, rank second for their classic sense of style, and even make the top 10 for intelligence. To see if it’s all true, just stroll the streets of this quaint city, which also ranks No. 1 for its noteworthy neighborhoods.

What makes the people of one city so good-looking and the folks elsewhere…well, not so much? Do some cities become magnets for the Greek god and goddess types, or does the mere act of living in a certain area actually have a transformative effect? Whatever the reasons, in this year’s America’s Favorite Cities survey, voters told us that good weather and great shopping go hand-in-hand with attractiveness. San Diego and Miami, for example, did well in all three categories, ending up among the top five cities to find America’s most attractive people. 

02. San Diego

Maybe it’s all those sunny blondes in this SoCal city, or just the fact that everyone looks good when the forecast is perfect (its weather ranks No. 1), but San Diego maintains its No. 2 ranking in this category from last year. Certainly the locals take good care of themselves, jogging along the beaches: the city also ranks No. 2 for its athletic citizens.

03. Savannah

This newcomer to the America’s Favorite Cities survey makes a bold entrance into this category. The Georgia city also racks up a huge number of No. 2 berths in the survey, thanks in large part to its ever-so-appealing denizens.

04. Miami

Who cares if these Floridians don’t come off as brainy or even terribly nice? AFC readers ranked them near the bottom for both friendliness and smarts. But though they’ve lost their grip on the No. 1 ranking in this category, Miamians are still top-five material. Perhaps that’s because they seem to be out at the gym (No. 10 for athletic) or just out shopping. Miami ranks No. 9 for luxury boutiques and No. 3 for style.

05. Salt Lake City

Salt Lake is a survey newbie, but that didn’t stop it from cracking the upper echelon of this list. And the Utah natives rank about the same as an overall package: they’re top 10 for being physically active, friendly, and intelligent. They’re a pretty trustworthy bunch too—the city ranks No. 1 for safety.

06. Honolulu

Those island breezes toss the hair in a nice way—and no doubt all that hula dancing nicely tones the abs. The locals in the Hawaiian capital rank sixth for staying fit. And if you want to seize the moment, Honolulu is also the No. 1 city for romance.

07. San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is one of three newcomers to the survey that cracked the top 10 in this popular category. The locals here certainly know how to charm visitors in many ways: they also made it into the top 10 for friendliness and for dressing to the nines (No. 6 for style).

08. Austin

People in the Texas capital are smart (No. 5) and amiable (No. 8 for friendliness), and they stay in shape too (No. 4 for being active). Luckily, it’s fun finding them, too: Austin ranks No. 2 for both its live music and bar scene.

09. Denver

Even though the Mile High City ranks second for its microbrews, there’s no need to pack your beer goggles when coming for a visit. (The city did slip three spots from last year in this category, however.) Denver also ranks No. 2 for its parks and outdoor spaces, and the fit locals make the most of it, ranking No. 1 for being athletic.

10. Nashville

Something about those cowboy hats must flatter the face—and being able to sing doesn’t hurt either. Music City types don’t go for rhinestones as much as they used to, which maybe helped them land at No. 10 for style. But folks are still plenty country: they rank No. 10 for farmers’ markets and No. 3 for a howdy-there friendliness.

Top 10 Places to See Before Leaving Earth

Siberia

According to Ohio State University language specialists, Siberia comes from a Turkic word or Turkic-related word for "sleeping land." It is certain that the land is a land of contrasts of great beauty and great hardship. The winters suffer temperatures of -75 degrees F and colder and some residents have no heat in their homes. Entire villages are unheated, but relay on blankets, tapestries, bearskin rugs, shaggy oxen pelts, and sled dogs to keep them warm.

The City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Toronto is a wonderful metropolitan city that enjoys visitors every year in every season, from around the world. You will find languages spoken from many nations, including French, English, Spanish, Asian languages, Middle Eastern dialects, and more. One of the most interesting parts of Toronto is located along part of downtown Yonge Street.

The Magic of Yonge Street

One store on downtown Toronto's Yonge Street is an especially mysterious treat.. One of my friends, when he went to this shop for the first time, had deja vu. This friend of mine has visited Totonto several times more often than myself since his first visit to this special store -- Sam the Record Man. It is a very large place, but when he got to eh entrance door the first time, he knew what the entire store looked like, hwo it was designed, where all the selections were located, etc. He had never been thre before, and netiehr had his mother or is father. It was eey and, being a vinyl record afficionado, he loved it.

The place still offers vinyl recordings, as well as many other collectors' and vintage pieces on vinyl, 8-track, cassette and CD. It probably had DVDs by now. The store itself is three stories tall, much like the Chapters Books stores of the region.

However, the most famous book shop on Yonge Street is the World's Biggest Bookstore with miles and miles of book shelves and bins. You could spend a week in there alone.

Yonge Street covers about 1,200 miles in all, all the way from one of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, over to the Minnesota border. This fact makes Yonge Street most likely the longest street on earth. In America, Rt 40 is longer, but it is an inter-state highway and not a street. US Route 66 is also long, but it is also a highway and not a street.

While Yonge Street is interesting expressly for its great length, it is also interesting for the sites along its route. There is a section about a couple of dozen blocks blocks long that spans the length of the street from Lake Ontario to Bloor Street and visitors as well as locals have a high opinion of this stretch of road. There are many restaurants and some great electronics stores with new gadgets and good sales events. Some people line up the night before to be the first in to some of these events.

This downtown area has many stores and shops on Yonge Street.

Chinatown Toronto

Toronto's Chinatown is the biggest Chinatown outside of China, located along Spadina Avenue not for from Yonge Street. This tribute to China is full of immigrants and their descendants, making a good living in the various businesses here. There is a Chinese-themed shopping center, Chinese bakeries, sidewalk fruit and vegetable stands, gift shops, rice shops, medicine shops, import-export businesses, restaraunts and several other types of places to see. You can smell good Asian cooking and hear music in the streets, It is another world and one you won't want to leave.

CBC Television

CBC Television is the home of TV's Steve Smith, Patrick McKenna and the New Red Green Show, now in syndicated reruns.

Among CBC Television's first rate TV series are its comedies: Royal Canadian Air Farce (hilarious), This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Rick Mercer Report. Its great dramas are This is Wonderland and Da Vinci's Inquest. CBC also broadcasts British series, including Coronation Street and Doctor Who, along with a few American series: The Simpsons, Frasier, and Arrested Development.

Jerusalem, the Holy City

The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982. The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today-the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters-were only introduced in the early 19th century. Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile), the Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.

Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe

Any waterfall is a sight to behold, but this one is the leading waterfall of all nations. Victoria Falls is the English name for Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates as "the Smoke that Thunders." Some of my friends in Africa are actually offended by the English name, which suggests UK governance and dominion (form Queen Victoria). The smoke certainly does thunder here, because Mosi-oa-Tunya is the largest waterfall in the world and the massive amounts of water going over the edge booms like thunder in the uprising mists. Mosi-oa-Tunya is actually a mile wide and over 360 feet tall, twice as tall as Niagra Falls and twice the width of Horseshoe Falls. Mosi-oa-Tunya is particularly beautiful in the spring and summer.

The Grand Canyon

As a counselor, I was able to obtain a video that was shot from a helicopter ride up and down the length of the canyon. The film showed the colors and plant life that changed form one scene to the next. Backed by relaxing music, this video was quite a success with clients coming in for relaxation sessions.

I flew over the Grand Canyon twice and was dumbfounded by its size. The plane went over a smaller canyon first, which I mistook as the Grand Canyon on my first flight and that that canyon was huge. Then went over the Grand Canyon and I was speechless. The size of the canyon made it look as though half of the earth had been shoveled out. The colors and hues are gorgeous. ON trips down into the canyon, you can see the lines of demarcation of the different archaeological historic eras and learn about the fossils in each time period.

Petra

Petra is a famous location that is still not known to many people, but in 1985 it was recognized as a World Heritage Site and important part of world history. Just in the summer of 2007, Petra was named one of New Open World Corporation' s New Seven Wonders of the World. Moses reportedly struck a rock with his staff at Petra to bring forth water, so it is of religious historical importance as well. The stone carvings present in the tall rock are awe-inspiring in reds and pinks, depending on the angle of the sun.

The rock gospel group Petra derived its name from this famous location,

The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid is the leading pyramid in Giza near Cairo, Egypt. It is the earth's only existing structure remaining form the original Seven Wonders of the World. The Great Pyramid stands as a tomb for the Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. There is a long hallway passage inside that contains what have been said to be markings translated as predictions throughout history, up through about 2020 AD, at which point they stop abruptly. New excavations and discoveries are bringing more to light about ancient Egypt day by day.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is located in Australia and is the place where Steve Irwin died in an encounter with a sting ray. However, rays do not usually harm humans and the Great Barrier Reef is still a beautiful site to visit. It is the longest coral reef in existence, a composite of 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands in the Coral Sea, off Queensland. Coral is a living organism and 400 types live in the Great Barrier Reef. All of this coral makes a home for 30 different kinds of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, among others. There are actually 5,000 types of mollusks living there and 200 species of birds..

Shangri La

The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in Tibetan Buddhist folklore. Shambhala may be a mystic tradition or it may be a real place. Many people believe that Shangri La (Shambhala) actually exists, like the fictional story of Lorna Doone, in which a city appears one every 100 years.

Actually, many cities in northern India and in Tibet have claimed to be Shangri La.. The Tibetan Kun Lun Mountains certainly look like they could be hiding Shangri La. Another possibility is in the Hunza Valley of Pakistan - a verdant valley surrounded by the Himalayan Mountains. There is even a Shangri-la resort nearby. Hunza Valley. Whatever may be the truth, the region in and around the Himalayan Mountains is beautiful and must be seen.

A book and movie, Lost Horizon, are about Shangri La.

Summer Holydays Try Split Croatia

One Of The Best Place For Summer Holydays Try Split Croatia

Unravel the beauty, excitement and adventure of Croatia's favorite entry port called Split. One may find related facts like location, climate, and accommodation, time to visit, places to visit and things to do in Split.

Split happens to be the captivating tourist locations, not only for its beautiful surroundings, but also for its rich heritage. It is a good idea to plan your trip to this second largest city of Croatia to spend some quality moments. To facilitate your holidays at Split Croatia.