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VPG-DVD-157 - YUNNAN Kunming is located in the Chinese province of Yunnan in south west China. The Buddhist temple of Ykan Ton Si dates back to the Tang Dynasty. The design of the city's largest temple complex was influenced by many diverse ethnic groups. The highlight of the complex is a lake in the middle of which a number of bridges lead to an octagonal pavilion. The Temple Of Total Penetration (yes, that's it's name!) is a tranquil and peaceful haven amid the busy alleys of Kunming's old town. In the west of Yunnan Province there are magnificent views from Xi Shan Mountain across Dian Lake and nestling among the rocks there are numerous temples that were once the scene of ritual sacrifice. On the downward journey the temples loom larger and larger while earthenware images of Buddha depict various stages of life. Yunnan's most famous site is the unique Stone Forest of Shi Lin. Its limestone rock originated from a long since dried--up ocean when the elements set to work on creating its fantastic and bizarre forms. The most amazing formations were given dramatic names such as The Sea Of Fire, Dragon's Tooth and Heavenly Sword. Pagodas, columns and strange flowers appear to rise from the rock and to facilitate access, tunnels and paths have been cut into the rock face. The Venice Of The Far East is the nickname of the ancient Chinese city of Lijiang in the northwest of Yunnan Province. The picturesque centre of the old town of Dayan is an architectural gem. Three rivers and several small creeks flow through the historic cit and there are various splendid stone bridges date back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Buy Shan is a typical village of the region. Just as it was hundreds of years ago with farmers slowly leading their ox wagons through the village. The houses were built over a period of more than two hundred year between the Ming and Qing Dynasties in 14 and 16 A.D. Yunnan Province - place of simplicity, exquisite culture and spectacular natural wonders!
Vista Point YUNNAN China
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m38s
Views: 27  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-203 - YANGON Yangon is a river city and the capital of Myanmar. A country surrounded by India, China, Laos and Thailand with a fascinating mêlée of tribes and cultures plus a tranquil harmony of churches, pagodas, Hindu temples and mosques. Here, contrast is all, and that makes Yangon unique! The Chaukhtatkyi Pagoda contains one of the largest prone Buddha statues in the world. Its length makes up for its lack of artistry as it is seventy metres long. Over six hundred monks live in the adjoining monastery that was founded in 1907 for the study of Buddhist scripts that are known as 'Palikanums'. Three seasons determine the climate of this subtropical country: the cool of winter, the heat of summer and the monsoons when it rains for most of the afternoon and entire regions are flooded. But then follows the lush green sight of endless paddy fields. In Yangon the early morning is the best time to travel to the nearby city of Bago which was once the capital of the Second Burmese Realm. It was thought by Europeans to be the most magnificent city in the East, a fact highlighted by its many splendid monuments. The city of Yangon is like travelling back in time to the colonial days of British Rangoon and hopefully this fascinating city will continue to be a golden fairy tale behind a tantalising bamboo curtain!
Vista Point YANGON Myanmar
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m27s
Views: 28  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-231 - VIENTIANE Since the sixteenth century Vientiane has been the capital of Laos and is situated in the heart of Indochina. The city originated at the point at which the first navigable section of the Mekong River joins with the Gulf Of Thailand. Vientiane was once a group of rural settlements and even today contains several village-like districts each with its own temple and traditional marketplace. At the end of the nineteenth century the French began to renovate the city's most important buildings and made Vientiane the administrative capital of their new colony and gave it a French look. There are some fascinating places to visit outside the city such as the Cultural Park Of The Laotian People, a large area on the banks of the Mekong River. Historic Vientiane also has some fine reconstructed buildings such as the Wat Impeng on the western bank of Pagoda Street. Artistic wooden carvings on the windows and doors, along with the paintings and stucco work on the walls, feature various legends from the life of Buddha. Some signs of affluence are beginning to appear and in future years Vientiane may become yet another Asian metropolis with skyscrapers, smog and manic rush hours. It is now poised to leap into contemporary times as it gradually emerges from its atmospheric curtain of bamboo.
Vista Point VIENTIANE Laos
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m29s
Views: 22  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-197 - SHAN STATE North of Burma's central plains is the exotic and fascinating Shan State, a beautiful landscape in South East Asia located on the eastern side of Myanmar. Once forty Shan monarchs ruled there but they lived in hostile times as Burmese kings and Chinese warlords fought against them to gain control of their fertile land. We begin our journey at Inlay Lake. The magical beauty of this body of water has attracted and fascinated people since time immemorial and this unique lake is home to the Intha people. The next leg of the journey leads to a far more tranquil section of the lake that features floating gardens that are around a hundred metres long and two metres wide and consist of a densely interwoven carpet of water hyancinths. Mandalay, 'The City Of Art', is located in the centre of Shan State. It was founded in 1857 and up until the British conquered it in 1885 it was the capital of the kingdom of Burma. The Mahamuni Pagoda is the centre of worship and is also where the Mahamuni Buddha is kept, the country's most highly worshipped Buddha statue. Around twelve kilometres beyond Hsipaw is the legendary Bagyo Pagoda. Surrounded by a magnificent wall it is thought that the sanctuary is more than seven hundred years old. An important festival takes place each year around Tabaung, the time of the full moon in February and March, and is the highlight of the town's cultural calendar. The Shan people in the north of Myanmar have most certainly retained their cultural heritage and Shan State is an exotic combination of both nature and culture and a land of beauty and joie de vivre!
Vista Point SHAN STATE...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m24s
Views: 18  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-187 - PATAN Patan is a city of a thousand golden rooftops. The former royal city is situated in the thirty kilometre long Kathmandu Valley, Nepal's national treasure. It is located to the south of Kathmandu and its official name is Lalitpur, 'The Beautiful City'. Around a hundred and sixty thousand people live in what is almost tantamount to an open-air museum that transfers all who travel there to another world. It is dominated by more than a hundred and fifty former monasteries that have since been transformed into family homes. Legend has it that the main image of worship, Shiva Linga, within the Kumbheshvara Temple was the point around which the city was built. The upper floors of the temple are more narrow and slender than is customary. They look like a delicate adornment of the roof rather than the more usual tapering tower structure. Due to its splendid carvings the Vishveshvara Temple is well treasured among the other pagoda temples in Durbar Square. In 1990 it collapsed during a monsoon but has since been completely restored along with its countless ornate wood carvings. The Bala Gopala Temple is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of Malla architecture. It is thought to be a replica of a sanctuary in the Indian Mathura. Here, the god Krishna spent his youth as a herdsman, thus the name of the temple contains the words Bala and Gopala that mean 'Child' and 'Herdsman'. Patan is the second largest and oldest city in Kathmandu Valley, the heart of the country's traditional arts and crafts and a truly atmospheric gem of evocative architecture.
Vista Point PATAN Nepal
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m32s
Views: 25  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-189 - MANDALAY Mandalay, 'The City Of Art', is located within the centre of Myanmar, that was formerly known as Burma. It was founded in 1857 and up until the British conquered it in 1885 it was the capital of the kingdom of Burma. Two thousand four hundred years after the death of Buddha , King Mindon ordered the one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants of Amarapura to relocate here. The well preserved Shwe Inbin Monastery is one of the last examples of the traditional monasteries whose splendour once made Mandalay famous. The complex has all the architectural elements of a typical Burmese monastery but it is its beautiful wood carvings that are the most striking. To the north of the city is the two hundred and thirty six metre high Mandalay Mountain that dominates the plains below. The tree covered mountain is dominated by the towers of many temples and as Buddha once lived on this mountain it is considered to be extremely sacred and thus contains several pagodas and shrines. Amarapura, the 'Immortal City', is situated in the south. It was the first of the country's royal cities and today it is a small town in which its inhabitants earn their living from weaving. On the western hills are some of the most elegant and splendid monastery complexes such as the Umin Thonzeh Pagoda where forty five Buddha figures stand in a semi-circle, dignified and benign. Once known as the Centre Of The World and today the religious and financial centre of the region, Mandalay lies at the heart of Burmese culture.
Vista Point MANDALAY Myanmar
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m24s
Views: 17  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-184 - KATHMANDU VALLEY Kathmandu is a melting pot of both race and religion, a metropolis in the heart of the Kingdom of Nepal, a country of snow-covered mountains inhabited by the gods. Kumari Chowk is the residence of the living goddess, Kumari. For this role a young girl is duly selected and is disallowed from leaving the palace until puberty. Her task is it to affirm the power of the king. Age old traditions are celebrated throughout the year such as the Festival Of The Children that symbolises fertility and sexuality. Patan is Nepal's second largest city and has retained much of its original character due to its three hundred monasteries and temples. This beautiful former centre of one of the earliest three kingdoms contains the Hindu Kumbeshwara Pagoda one of the country's oldest buildings dedicated to the god, Shiva. The tower-like Mahabuddha Temple is adorned with several terracotta figures and ornaments and is different to conventional Nepalese architecture. In earlier times the Kwa Bahal Monastery was the administrative centre of trade in Tibet. Its shining gilded copper plates soon gave it the name, The Golden Temple. Changu Narayan, the gem of Nepal, designated as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, is the oldest sanctuary in Kathmandu Valley. Situated 1,450 metres on a mountain north of Bhaktapur it is home to many skilful artists and wood carvers. Hidden in a canyon and located next to a mountain creek is the Dakshinkali Temple. Each year this sanctuary is visited by more than four hundred thousand pilgrims. This place of worship is dedicated to one of the mightiest goddesses of this region, the Southern Kali. The customs of the people in the Kingdom On The Roof Of The World may seem somewhat strange but this land of jungle and eternal snow has developed according to its own rich traditions and beliefs. Pure magic!
Vista Point KATHMANDU...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m25s
Views: 26  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-206 - HA NÔI Hanoi is North Vietnam's lively capital city located in the north of the country and set amid the delta plains of the Red River. Compared to other southeast Asian cities that have developed into modern metropolis' at breathtaking speed, Hanoi could be described as being a provincial city. In 1882 the French built their government offices around the city's large Ho Hoan Kiem Lake. The city became the capital of French Indo China. The lake is surrounded by splendid old villas and public buildings. In the early morning several of the city's inhabitants arrive to go about their traditional exercises. The Chua Mot Cot Pagoda is one of the oldest religious buildings in Hanoi, a temple built upon a single column in the centre of a small pond. Legend has it that the childless king, Ly Thai To, saw the goddess of mercy in a dream in which she presented him with a son. Soon afterwards an heir to the throne was born and thus the king ordered the construction of this pagoda and the future of the dynasty was assured. Den Dao Quan is one of the most beautiful Taoist temples in Vietnam and is located close to the national library south east of the Temple Of Literature. Inaugurated in 1993, the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre is one of the finest examples of its kind in Vietnam and is so popular that its twice daily performances are completely sold out. Den Quan Than is the richly adorned Temple Of The Great God that dates back to the 11th century and is dedicated to the Vietnamese god of war. Than Vu, who is also the patron saint of the north, has guarded the city for thousands of years. His temple is located on the banks of Lake West. Over the centuries Hanoi has frequently been conquered, lost its status as a capital city and also changed its name several times. But it has survived and is still full of timeless charm. It is most assuredly the pearl of North Vietnam!
Vista Point HÀ NÔI Vietnam
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m41s
Views: 27  | Comments: 0
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VPG-DVD-102 - BEIJING Entry to the Imperial City of Beijing is through the Gates Of Heavenly Peace and suddenly the largest square in the world becomes a contemporary symbol of the enormity of China and the irresistible fascination, both ancient and modern, of its people, history and culture. The Forbidden City, home to 24 Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is a supreme spectacle of power, and the enormous dimensions of the Emperor's Palace demonstrate the Emperor's time-honoured function as being mediator between Heaven and Earth. The Emperor's Garden, The Confucius Temple, The Garden of Harmonious Unity, The Perfumed Mountain and The Temple of the White Pagoda, are but a few of the enchanting names associated with China's most enigmatic, yet revealing, city.
Vista Point BEIJING China
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m12s
Views: 11  | Comments: 0
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OTT-DVD-119 - On Tour...  ROAD FROM MANDALAY Mandalay To Pagan By BoatROAD FROM MANDALAY Our journey on the legendary Ayeyarwady River travels from Mandalay to Bagan. In the heart of Myanmar is the city of Mandalay that has a population of around a million and is the centre of Burmese artistry. The teaching of Buddhism was given the utmost priority thus Mandalay was designed according to Buddhist tradition and the Mahamuni Pagoda is now one of Myanmar's main pilgrimage destinations. Mingun's Hsinbyume Pagoda became the architectural model for a number of further pagodas that were built at the beginning of the nineteenth century at the time of King Bagyidaw. The legendary Mingun bell that weighs around a hundred tons and is the heaviest bell in the world, dates back to his predecessor, King Bodwapaya. At the beginning of the twentieth century the River Ayeyarwady boasted the largest fleet of steam boats in the world and even today a good number of them still remain. The importance of this river is highlighted by the many small temple buildings and sanctuaries that are situated along its river bank. Bagan has become well known for its overwhelming number of magnificent temple buildings that reflect the importance of the former kingdom. The most comfortable way to experience the wide spread sanctuaries of this first major Burmese city is to travel by ox carriage. Close to Nyaung U, the largest town on the Bagan Plains, the Shwezigon Pagoda once served as the inspiration of Burmese pagoda architecture. Temples, monasteries and a wonderful river, the journey from Mandalay to Bagan is a truly captivating and memorable experience.
On Tour... ROAD FROM...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m27s
Views: 26  | Comments: 0
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OTT-DVD-109 - On Tour...  LIJIANG RIVER CRUISE LIJIANG RIVER CRUISE Jagdi, in the south of China, is the starting point for a journey on the Lijiang River. Like a green silk ribbon, the river winds eighty-three kilometres through lush countryside from which unusual cone-shaped mountains suddenly appear from the plains. The view scans across to Pagoda Mountain, lingers for a moment on Hole Mountain, and then moves across to Picture Mountain. Without warning, the vase-shaped cliffs and green rocks of the radiant Lotus Summit come into view. In the foreground, there are light green rice fields, extensive bamboo groves and lush orange plantations. During their lunch break, women sit at their noisy sewing machines while the men enjoy smoking their pipes. An idyllic, picturesque landscape in which the hands of time tick slowly by. Finally, Yangshou, in which numerous takeaways tempt with exotic delicacies and where, outside each establishment, pots and cages indicate what's on the menu! In spite of their arduous rural life, the local people are happy and contented, a feeling also experienced by those who visit this amazing region.
On Tour... LIJIANG RIVER...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m27s
Views: 9  | Comments: 0
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OTT-DVD-126 - The magical beauty of Inlay Lake has attracted and fascinated people since time immemorial and even today it is full of golden mystique and captivating allure. The Khaun Daing Hotel is an ideal starting point for various excursions on and around the lake. The hotel's accommodation includes a selection of land-based bungalows and also a range of comfortable bungalows situated on water. For those who wish to experience some of the local customs then one of the water bungalows is an absolute must. What could be more beautiful than to be woken up each morning by the rising sun and to witness the natural splendour of the lake from one's very own verandah? In recent years several Padaung families have also settled at Inlay Lake. This people has become famous for its Longnecked Women who wear striking, heavy spiral brass necklaces that press the nape of the neck downwards and gradually stretch it. Flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans are cultivated on Lake Inlay's remarkable floating plantations and the Intha people have fully adapted themselves to life on the water. Built on stilts their villages are usually located close to their floating farmland. The spectacular Phaun-Daw-U Pagoda Festival is now one of Burma's most impressive cultural events and attracts a growing number of foreign visitors. The villagers of this region are known for their weaving skills and this traditional work of the Intha people can be seen at close hand. Lake Inlay in Myanmar is most assuredly a unique and natural world full of warmth and magnificent beauty.
On Tour... INLAY LAKE...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 209 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m31s
Views: 21  | Comments: 0
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