Sacred Places - Girnar Hill , India

Mount Girnar ( Girnar Hill ) is situated in the Junagadh District of Gujarat, India. Girnar is known to be the “anthology of mountains” which contains about five mountains connected by a stone path - a pilgrimage route for Hindus and Jains. According to the legend there are 9,999 steps from the trailhead to the last temple.

It is believed by Hindus that if you climb the mountain barefooted you will be granted forgiveness and a place in Heaven. There are many legends attached to Girnar Hill. It is also said that if a person attempts suicide from the holy stone, he'll become one with Heaven. Another curious fact is that in the Gir Forest still can be seen the last remaining Asian lions.

The major temple is the Neminath temple built in the 11th century.The temple contains the deity of Lord Neminath, which is made of black granite and the eyes of the deity are made of precious jewels. According to Jain religion n, Neminath, the 22nd Tirthankar became an ascetic after he saw the slaughter of animals for food on his wedding. He rejected all worldly pleasures and went to Mount Girnar to attain salvation. There, Bhagwan Neminath reached the highest state of enlightenment, Keval Gyan and Moksha, after great austerities. His bride-to-be also followed his path and founded the 'Sandhvi Sangh', the organization of women ascetics.

In addition, there is another temple known as Mallinath temple within the Neminath temple which is devoted to Tirthankar (Jain god).

Another Jain temple in the region is the Parshwanath Temple. It was built in the 15th century and is also known as Meravasi. Besides this, there is a Goddess Ambe Temple at Grinar. The temple is visited by the newly married couples for good fortune and prosperous married life.

A mosque is situated near the Meravasi temple where childless women seek blessings. There are many more temples in Girnar worth seeing. It's a deeply spiritual place where people from many religions go to search for inner peace and harmony.

However, Girnar is a must-see for everyone interested in Indian culture.The outstanding architecture and the feeling of eternity floating in the air makes it an incredible place.

Travel tip: If you decide to go and explore India - do not trust online bookings and call to confirm your reservations. It might be pricey so use a call service which provides cheap calls to India .

Lost Cities - Memphis, Egypt

Memphis.
Jeremiah's prophecy that "Memphis shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant" certainly came true. With Alexandria's rise to glory the old city of Memphis was abandoned and left to the ravages of the desert and time' fulfilled itself. There is little left of the magnificent city once a capital of Egypt but some ruins.
Memphis is the Greek name for Inebou-Hedjou,the city on the border between Upper and Lower-Egypt. The city was founded by Menes ( Narmer ) after the unification of Egypt. Memphis was where the cult of the god Ptah was born. As a result there were numerous temples built for him , his wife Sekhmet and their son – Nefertem which now lie in ruins. It is from one of these temples, Hw.t-kA-PtH (Hut-Ka-Ptah) "the mansion of the Ka of Ptah" that the Greeks derived the name Aegyptos, hence the modern name Egypt.

According to the Shabaka Stone Ptah was the one who called the world into being after having dreamt of creation. His name means ' the opener of the mouth' and it's said that the 'mouth ceremony' , performed by priests at funerals in order to release souls from their corpses, have been created by Ptah himself.

Sekhmet was one of the two lioness-headed deities. She was created by the fire of Re's eye as representation of war and destruction. Re created her as a weapon of vengeance for mankind's disobedience. To placate Sekhmet Egyptians were required to perform a ritual twice a day (morning and afternoon) every day. This ritual revolved around more than 700 statues of the goddess. Sekhmet is also known as the Goddess of the West while her sister Bastet was known to be the Goddess of the East. The only difference in appereance between the two was that Sekhmet was said to wear red while Bastet wore green.

Nefertum was a blue lotusflower at the creation of the world. He represented the 'first sunlight'.He was the god of perfume and luck.

At Memphis once stood a series of colossal statues of the great Ramses II. Now only two remain. One is located in Cairo near the train station and the other here at Memphis laying on the ground in a covered pavilion. The red granite statue once measured almost 40 feet but has been damaged with its lower legs and feet missing.

Another magnificent statue that can be seen in Memphis is of a sphinx carved from a solid piece of alabaster. The sphinx measures approximately 13 feet high and 24 feet long and weighs an estimated 80 tons. It is believed to date to the era of Amon Ofis II and, with many others, once flanked the temple of Ptah.

Memphis is one of the most famous ancient lost cities. If you are already fascinated by it's passed glory and considering a trip – pick up the phone and make a tour reservation now. Online bookings can often fail you so I'd recommend using a call service that provides cheap calls to Egypt . Enjoy.

Love at the end of the world

Ancient China,Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC).

Goujian, the emperor of Yue was at war with Fuchai of Wu. He got defeated and therefore taken as a hostage. However he managed to escape and returned to Yue. Humiliated and in disgrace with only his companion Fan Li by his side , he decided to take out Fuchai by using his only weakness against him - beauty. He spent months in searching for the most beautiful girl in Yue until one day he saw Shi Yiguang. The poor girl from the west village whom everybody called Xishi was as delicate as a water lily. The emperor was struck by her beauty and happy that his efforts were not in vain. Xishi was the key to Fuchai's downfall and Goujian's only weapon. A weapon that Goujian put a lot of time in polishing and mastering. Xishi was being trained for 3 years in the art of seduction, etiquette and singing so she could fulfill the emperor's political ambitions by defeating his enemy with her charms.While held in the palace of Yue Xishi opened her heart to Fan Li who was her mentor. Their love was strong and all-consuming.

On the third spring Xishi was sent to Funchai. Her heart was breaking but she knew that the only way to be with Pan Li again is by accomplishing Goujian's plan for revenge. So Xishi was determined to subdue Fuchai who was overwhelmed by her beauty at first sight. The emperor was so devoted to the little Xishi , so blinded by love that he stopped caring about his province. Ten years passed and the emperor was still absolutely consumed by the charms of his wife. Then Goujian who was waiting patiently for the right moment to struck, gathered an army and attacked with all his might. Fuchai lost his country. But what really broke his heart was revealing Xishi's real face. Funchai could not stand the pain and put his life to an end.

Goujian won. Xishi although sad because of the dead of Funchai was impatient to be with Fan Li again after waiting for ten long years. Goujian had other plans though. He made her his empress. There was nothing that Fan Li could do but obey the order. Xishi was devastated once again. She finally realized that Goujian would never let her be happy and that Fan Li did not truly love her. Her heart died this very moment. The only man who had ever loved her killed himself because of her. Xishi did not wanted to be Goujian's pet anymore and did the only thing that would hurt him - threw herself in the Wu Li Lake and disappeared.

I miss China. I've been there several times now and it feels like I've left my heart there ( which actually is literally quite true because the person I love is there ). Thank God for briing.com and their cheap calls to China .

Spaghetti Sauce for Dummies

Ok. I'm definitely a disaster in the kitchen. But I'm trying! Unfortunately my friends do not really appreciate that. It has its plus side of course - nobody expects me to bring anything when we are having a dinner or something. I tried to console myself with the fact that I am an engineer and I am not supposed to know how to fix dinner but how to fix things,right? But it's not really working. I feel unfulfilled as a woman ( as dramatic as it sounds ). So I decided to expand my cooking abilities. Here it goes.
Chapter 1 : Spaghetti Sauce
Don't laugh. I thought that I should start with something simple and gradually upgrade.
I found this great recipe online : 'Kay's Spaghetti and Lasagna Sauce' ( http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kays-Spaghetti-and-Lasagna-Sauce/Detail.aspx ) which sounded quite yummy indeed so it deserved a try.

According to the original recipe those are the things you need:
* 1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 2 yellow onions, chopped
* 2 green bell peppers, chopped
* 5 cloves garlic, chopped
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 1 tablespoon dried basil
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* salt and pepper to taste

As I am vegetarian the thing that made me try this one was that the lady who posted it substitutes the beef with 2 spoons of olive oil. That works just fine for me.
As I was reading the directions that followed I thought that this would be piece of cake. Hopeful about the outcome and convincing myself that is not my cooking that s-u-x but the recipes I've tried before were written as if they were a part of 'Learning ROCKET SCIENCE' from Dr. Robert H. Goddard.
Directions:
'Blend the stewed tomatoes and crushed tomatoes in a blender. In a stock pot or large kettle, brown the ground beef with the onions, peppers, garlic. Pour in tomatoes, and reduce heat. Add sugar, basil and oregano, and simmer about 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper before serving. '
Pretty easy. No problem at all. I did as told and I was happy with the delicious smell coming from the kitchen. So far, so good.
Then my friend Jenny called to check if I've succeeded in blowing up the kitchen ( she's just that nice ). In the blink of an eye Todd, my fat Russian blue cat, got on top of the counter. Apparently it did smell good. My perfect spaghetti sauce was all over my white rug. Now that's what I call a proper mess. Jenny tried to fix my mood by telling me that at least this time around my dumb cat was willing to try my cooking which was new.
I was so pissed that Todd ruined my sauce at first that I hadn't realized that my rug is doomed. I had no hope left after 3 hrs of scrubbing but I decided not to give it up and called for some professional help - carpet cleaning London . I'm happy to inform you that my rug actually looks as good as new.
However, on the next day I tried the sauce again and it is amazing so I definitely recommend it. Even I, an engineer who is a handicap in the kitchen, was able to prepare it. Both, Todd and I, think that it was pretty great. You should try it yourself.

How to lose a guy in 10 days?

Dating. Such a stressful process.Especially if all your relatives and friends are trying to hook you up with someone when everything you want to do is have some time for yourself and enjoy the little things in life. Blind dates - even worse. Who does that anyway? Oh, wait, I do. I always end up regretting it. So what to do when you are stuck with some boring fellow who accidentally shows up on your front door every day or waits for you outside the office in the lunch break?
1. Go meet his family. Be nice. When the torture is over make some slightly negative but still polite remark about his relationship with his mother. Repeat it every time he gets on your nerves. This one always works,right girls?
2. When out with his friends and they are watching THE game ( any game would do ) - complain or play dumb and ask retarded questions. Cheer for the other team. Bad jokes are always welcome too.
3. Be demanding and make him do anything that comes to mind - your roof is leaking, there's a broken pipe or the bedroom needs to be repainted...
4. Don't you ever, remember this one , EVER cook for him! - in case you decide to make an exception to the rule invite his friends or mum for a dinner and say you've spent hours on this 'Basashi'. While explaining what that means don't forget to mention that it is raw horse meat dipped in soy sauce and often served with ginger and onions.
5. Make him go out with your girlfriends who loooove talking about diapers and poo.Don't forget to point out that you are allergic to baby powder so if you ever have kids together he'll be the one taking care of that.
6. Don't clean the house while 'seeing' him. Leave your clothes all over the place and inform him that vacuuming is not your thing because the sound gives you headaches.

If you follow these simple rules he'll be gone in a blink of an eye and you'll be free to do whatever you want to do in your spare time. Mission accomplished. Single and happy - enjoy.
P.S. Just one more thing though...after not cleaning the house for like 2 weeks you should consider calling professionals to take care of the mess. Make yourself a cup of coffee and search the web for cleaning services while waiting for your nail polish to dry out. *Sigh*. Now things are back to normal.