Arts...Travels...Writing

Sharing my photo "Bridge Over Calm Water", which BBC Travel has picked for its Instagram feed: Bridge leading to Punakha Dzong - one of the oldest and most majestic dzongs of Bhutan, and very panoramic too sitting at the confluence of two great rivers. https://instagram.com/p/9NZpuTxwby/?taken-by=bbc_travel #PunakhaDzong #Bhutan #BBCTravelInstagram

Last May, I went with a group of photographers on a travel photography trip to Bhutan, one of the most scenic places I've ever been to. The place is such that it has inspired our team to come up with a travel photography coffee table book that will benefit one of the village schools we have visited. Collectively, we have hundreds and possibly thousands of beautiful photos. Unfortunately we cannot include all these in the book, and so we have invited a panel of photography experts to do the selection objectively - the photos were pooled together by theme, and without any identifying mark to keep the selection process unbiased. We are now close to launching the book, targeted in early October. More details of this coming soon... One of my favourite photos from the trip, below, is selected for the book :-) Stairway To Zen And here are a few more photos from that wonderful trip: The snow capped Tibetan peaks on touchdown A bridge in Paro Tasiccho Dzong in T

Travel Channel has recently shared one of my Grand Canal photos on their Instagram page: https://instagram.com/p/6oC4UiArqp/?taken-by=travelchannel I have a couple more from the same vantage point - the Accademia bridge: And this one from Arsenale: #TravelChannel #Venice #GrandCanal

For Flashback Friday, sharing here some snaps taken two summers ago in Paris. Sacre Coeur Urban sprawl - view from Sacre Coeur  the much talked about Seine River with a boatful of tourists! This side of Notre Dame - it celebrated its 800th year in 2013 when this was taken Somewhere in Saint Germain  My favourite bookstore. Kilometre 0 for Bibliophiles By chance, we stumbled into this interesting courtyard at Palais Royale One of those quiet gardens nearby The ticking of the clock at Musee D'Orsay Musee D'Orsay View from Musee D'Orsay Long queue at the Louvre...good thing I bought our tickets from the basement ticket vendor where there was no queue #Paris #Louvre #MuseeDorsay #NotreDame #SacreCoeur #ShakespeareAndCompany #Seine

This year's summer is a real scorcher for Europe, with temperatures hitting a high of 40 degrees Celsius in many European capitals, including Madrid. That has not stopped me though from going out and exploring the Spanish capital during a recent visit. In the mornings when the temperature was tolerable I would visit outdoor attractions, but when the mercury started rising, I would duck into the air-conditioned museums. After all, Madrid is known for its wonderful museums, with the three major ones Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and Museo Thyssen representing the best in Spanish art and European collection, from pre-Renaissance to modern era. Museo del Prado hosts the classics while Reina Sofia houses modern collections including Spain's most famous export Guernica by Picasso. Thyssen is a private museum, with a vast and rich collection from across the ages. A bonus: it has a nice cafeteria, where I indulged on Spain's sinful coffee bombon, espr