Travel: Top 25 World Landmarks

With travel still in my mind, here’s a Trip Advisor list of the top 25 landmarks in the world. How many of these have you visited or are in your bucket lists?

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Siam Reap, Cambodia

Plaza de Espana, Seville, Spain

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

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St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Italy

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Mezquita Cathedral de Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

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Taj Mahal, Agra, India

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Duomo di Milano, Milan, Italy

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Alcatraz Island, California, United States of America

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Golden Gate Bridge, San Fransisco, United States of America

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Parliament, Budapest, Hungary

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StaromEstske namEsti, Prague, Czech Republic

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Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris, France

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Corcovado Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

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Tower of London, London, United Kingdom

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Acropolis, Athens, Greece

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Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho), Bangkok, Thailand

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Mutianyu Great Wall, Beijing, China

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Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

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Santuario Historico de Machu Picchu, Machu Picchu, Peru

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El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

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Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

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Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar

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In My Hands Today…

Bone China – Roma Tearne

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Grace de Silva, the wife of the shiftless but charming Aloysius, has five children and a crumbling marriage. Her eldest son, Jacob, wants desperately to go to England. Thornton, the most beautiful of all the children and his mother’s favourite, dreams of becoming a poet. Alicia wants to be a concert pianist. Only Frieda has no ambition, other than to remain close to her family. But civil unrest is stirring in Sri Lanka and Christopher, the youngest and the rebel of the family, is soon caught up in the tragedy that follows. As the decade unfolds against a backdrop of increasing ethnic violence, Grace watches helplessly as the life she knows begins to crumble. Slowly, this once happy family is torn apart as four of her children each make the decision to leave their home. In London, the de Silvas are all caught in a clash between East and West …

In My Hands Today…

Coolie – Mulk Raj Anand

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Coolie portrays the picaresque adventures of Munoo, a young boy forced to leave his hill village to fend for himself and discover the world. His journey takes him far from home to towns and cities, to Bombay and Simla, sweating as servant, factory-worker and rickshaw driver. It is a fight for survival that illuminates, with raw immediacy, the grim fate of the masses in pre-Partition India.

Recipes: One Pot Coriander Rice

I was feeling very lazy to cook last week and didn’t want to make something complicated. I thought of making some kind of a pulao, then zeroed on to this coriander rice. This is a one pot meal and is super yummy and delicious! It’s also very easy to make, even if you are a novice in the kitchen.

One Pot Coriander Rice

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Basmati Rice, washed well and soaked in water for 20-30 minutes.
  • 2 medium sized onions, sliced finely
  • 1 small green bell pepper, cut into strips
  • 1 carrot, cut into 2-inch strips
  • 1 medium sized potato, cut into 2-inch strips
  • 1/4 cup green peas
  • 1/2 cup paneer, chopped into 2-inch strips
  • 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • 1-inch piece of ginger
  • 5-6 green chillies
  • 4 pieces of clove
  • 4 pieces of cardamom
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp ghee or oil

Method:

  • Drain the rice and keep aside.
  • Blend together the coriander leaves, garlic pods, ginger and green chillies to make it into a fine paste and keep aside.
  • In a pan, heat the ghee or oil and when warm, add the cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the cloves, cardamom pods and the bay leaf.
  • Then add the onions and sauté till it becomes translucent. Add the bell pepper and continue to sauté.
  • Add the remaining vegetables (except the paneer) and sauté for around 5 minutes.
  • Now add the blended paste and the paneer and stir well. Add salt to taste and when the mixture starts to bubble, add the drained rice and check for seasoning.
  • If using a rice cooker, pour this with around 1 to 1.5 cups of water and cook till done.
  • If using the stove top continue to cook using water as required. The rice should be separate and well done.

I served this with my Sweet Corn Sundal which I repurposed as a salad for today and a pineapple and onion raita.