Skylines of the World cities

Where do our travels generally lead us? Towards high snow-caped mountains and deep lush green valleys. Into beautiful coastal sunsets and quaint country roads? Through historical towns and mystical monuments?

And on dozens of other explored and unexplored trails ... our travels can stretch far and near, into the landscapes of the earth.

But wherever you may travel to, you will hardly ever be too far away from one of the world's sparkling big cities filled with multitudes of people and the marvelous chaos that they call life!

The brightest lights and tallest buildings constitute a large part of the skyline of any such big city. Right here, is a peek into how some of these cities may look like by night fall. Almost like glittering constellations in the dark stretches of night!


Tokyo, Japan
A city that is filled with "high-tech visions of the future side by side with glimpses of old Japan ... This city has something for everyone!"
-- Wiki travel








Atlanta, Georgia, USA
A city that "balances southern traditions with sleek modernism ... boasts three skylines and the world’s busiest airport!"
-- Wiki travel









Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
A city that is "often called the cultural capital of Australia ... and one of the best destinations in the world for the culinary traveler."
-- Wiki travel







Manhattan, New York, USA
A "The City that Never Sleeps" can be no other than New york city... an indefinable confluence of anything and everything that can cross your imagination.
-- Wiki travel







Seattle, Washington, USA
"The Emerald City" is a damp green gem with an abundance of evergreen trees, spectacular views of mountains... a vibrant arts scene .. and of course, the home of the Space Needle.
-- Wiki travel







Miami Beach, Florida, USA
One of America's "pre-eminent beach resorts" has a rich history as an entertainment and cultural destination, from world-famous Art Deco architecture to renowned nightclubs to designer fashions.
-- Wiki travel





Coming up: more World cities..

Surreal Sunrise Drive

It is said to be the oldest man made attraction in the United States of America.

What is it: A road that leads atop one of the highest mountains in USA

Really? : Yes, New Hampshire's Mount Washington Auto Road is officially 148 years old this August 2009

The road: Auto Road

Where: Mount Washington, New Hampshire

The drive along the road: Miles of spectacular valley views and mountain panorama

Season: Summer

Best time to get there: Between 5:00am - 5:30am

Wait, are you kidding me? : Only if experiencing the surreal is a joke :)

What do I do when I get there so early in the morning? : Well, you can sip some morning coffee while watching the seductive red-orange sunrise glow from the top of the Northeast's highest peak!

OK! So is this Sunrise Drive open to the public any day?: The road is open on selected days of the year. The Sunrise Drive itself is doable about three times a summer. This year Mount Washington's winding Auto Road opens early (June 28 at 3:30 a.m., July 26 at 4 a.m., Aug. 30 at 4:30 a.m.), and fans get behind the wheel for a pre-dawn drive to the summit, where nature's curtain unveils everything from fickle fog to a sea of mountains.

- Mount Washington Auto Road, Route 16, Pinkham Notch, 603-466-3988,

Bombay ... meri Jaan, my life!

The Gateway of India

The city that never sleeps, where the lights never go out, the east meets the west, poverty confluences with affluence, energy lashes alongside power and all the ordinary walks of life suddenly seem so extraordinary! Step into the most populous place in the world, the hub of anything and everything India, the heart of millions - Bombay (मुंबई, Mumbaī ) - the Maximum City.

So what concoctions really make up this city called Bombay?

The Lonely Planet has attempted to compose Bombay's constitutions in the following words. In my opinion, these lines have captured almost an excellent view of the city's social, economic and cultural landscape:

"Measure out: one part Hollywood; six parts traffic; a bunch of rich power-moguls; stir in half a dozen colonial relics (use big ones); pour in six heaped cups of poverty; add a smattering of swish bars and restaurants (don’t skimp on quality here for best results); equal parts of mayhem and order; as many ancient bazaars as you have lying around; a handful of Hinduism; a dash of Islam; fold in your mixture with equal parts India; throw it all in a blender on high (adding generous helpings of pollution to taste) and presto: Mumbai.

"An inebriating mix of all the above and more, this mass of humanity is a frantic melange of Inida’s extremes. It is the country’s financial powerhouse and its vogue centre of fashion, film and after-dark frolics. Glistening skyscrapers and malls mushroom amid slums and grinding poverty, and Mumbai slowly marches towards a brave new (air-conditioned) world. But not everyone made the guest list: more than half of the population lives in slums, and religious-based social unrest tugs at the skirt of Mumbai’s financial excess.

Only once the initial shell shock of Mumbai’s chaos subsides, can one start to appreciate the city’s allure: a wealth of Art Deco and grand colonial relics; cacophonic temples; warrens of bazaars; and the odd spiritual bastion of tranquility. In Mumbai you can dine at some of the finest restaurants in the country, and work off the appetite gyrating at ultra chic bars alongside Bollywood starlets and wannabes. With a pinch of gumption, a dash of adventure, an open wallet and a running start, there’s no excuse not to dive into the Mumbai madness head-first. "

Words probably can never do enough justice to a city that is as lively and abundant as Bombay. But having lived away from this city (that at least 18 million people still call home) for several years now, words and memories are all I have to solace the heart.

But hey, a picture they say is worth a thousand words! Here's a few of those shots that make up the life, the people and the moods in the city of Bombay.

Cricket match - Azad Maidan, Fort, Mumbai

People relaxing in the evening along the waterfront - Marine Drive, Mumbai

Procession on the streets during the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival celebrations

Drummers leading the procession during the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival celebrations

Crowds swarming on the beach for a relief of the cool breeze from the Arabian sea - Juhu beach, Mumbai

Full of activity - the Sassoon docks, Mumbai

Human Pyramid being formed to the slogans of "Govinda ala re ala" - festival of Govinda, Mumbai

Source of photos : Lonely Planet Photographers

A scene from the 1988 Hindi film Salaam Bombay! directed by Mira Nair. Most of the young actors who appeared in the film were actual street children from Bombay.

A scene from the 2008 British film Slumdog millionaire directed by Danny Boyle. Some of the child actors that appear in the film are children currently living in real slums in Bombay

The World's largest Dump: Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Well, I am as baffled as can be to even start wondering what kind of stuff this garbage patch could contain. But it is definitely for real, it does exist and isn't just a few hundred square miles or something in area... it's almost twice as huge as Texas!
Read on through this excerpt from HowStuffWorks:

"In t­he broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents. The area is an oceanic desert, filled with tiny phytoplankton but few big fish or mammals. Due to its lack of large fish and gentle breezes, fishermen and­ s­ailors rarely travel through the gyre.

But the area is filled with something besides plankton: trash, millions of pounds of it, most of it plastic! It's the largest landfill in the world, and it floats in the middle of the ocean!

The gyre has actually given birth to two large masses of ever-accumulating trash, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches, sometimes collectively called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Eastern Garbage Patch floats between Hawaii and California; scientists estimate its size as two times bigger than Texas. The Western Garbage Patch forms east of Japan and west of Hawaii. Each swirling mass of refuse is massive and collects trash from all over the world. The patches are connected by a thin 6,000-mile long current called the Subtropical Convergence Zone. Research flights showed that significant amounts of trash also accumulate in the Convergence Zone.

The garbage patches present numerous hazards to marine life, fishing and tourism. But before we discuss those, it's important to look at the role of plastic. Plastic constitutes 90 percent of all trash floating in the world's oceans.
Sea turtles, like this one, that live in the warmer waters of this region of the Pacific, are endangered by such garbage pollution and the subsequent habitat loss that occurs.

The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. In some areas, the amount of plastic outweighs the amount of plankton by a ratio of six to one. Of the more than 200 billion pounds of plastic the world produces each year, about 10 percent ends up in the ocean. Seventy percent of that eventually sinks, damaging life on the ocean floor. The rest floats; much of it ends up in gyres and the massive garbage patches that form there, with some plastic eventually washing up on a distant shore"

Mind-numbingly astonishing right! Well, the garbage that we set free had to find a way to survive if not degradable. It's right here thriving in the oceans.

... just a bit on how you could Help Support the cause!