VirtualGlobetrotting: zeke7: Maps

VirtualGlobetrotting Live View

Lake Manasarovar
zeke7 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: zeke7.
Read more...
A 4556m-high lake in western Tibet, 35km SSE of Mount Kailash, where the Sutlej, Brahmaputra, Indus, and Karnali rivers have their headwaters. Like Kailash, an important place of pilgrimage for Tibetan Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, and Bonpas (the native pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet). A kora or parikrama (circuit; circumambulation) of the lake takes about 4-5 days.

Kanchenjunga
zeke7 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: zeke7.
Read more...
The 3rd-highest mountain in the world (after Mount Everest and K2); altitude 8586m. Its name means "The Five Treasures of Snows", referring to its five peaks. On the Nepal-India border, 280km from Kathmandu and 570km from Kolkata.

Insein Prison
zeke7 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: zeke7.
Read more...
A notorious prison, where many of the country's arrested political dissidents are held.

Win Sein Taw Ya reclining Buddha
About 170m in length (making it one of the largest such in the world). Its partially finished hollow interior can be toured and is filled with rooms containing various statuary. Located at Yadana Taung, 20km south of Mawlamyine (Moulmein) in Myanmar (Burma).

Everest Base Camp Tibet
The 5200m base camp from which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine departed on their 1-way journey to nirvan-o-blivion in June 1924. Several Tibetan-style tents are set up to house and feed visitors today. Rongphu monastery lies 7km downvalley.

Banteay Srei
About 25 km NE of the main Angkor temple complex is the small red-sandstone temple of Banteay Srei, dedicated the Hindu god Shiva. It contains what many feel are the finest stone carvings in all of Angkor.

Mingun Paya
Originally planned to be 150m high, only the 72m-wide brick base was completed before King Bodawpaya, who ordered its construction in 1790, died in 1819 and further work was abandoned. An 1838 earthquake created a dramatic crack in its sides.
Just to the north of the paya hangs the Mingun Bell, said to be the world's largest uncracked, 5m wide at the base and about 4m high. Visitors are welcome to stand inside it while someone on the outside gives it a bonk or two.
Other Buddhist temples and shrines dot the area. Reachable by a short boat ride up the Irrawaddy from Mandalay, 10km away.

Karaweik Palace Restaurant
A unique restaurant built in the style of royal barge used by Myanmar’s former kings, over the waters of Kandawgyi Lake, a large park 2km east of Shwedagon Paya. The 'barge' is actually concrete and does not float; its two prows are in the shape of the mythical sacred hamsa bird, a goose / swan.

Lhotse
At 8516m, Lhotse is the 4th-highest mountain in the world. It is connected to Mount Everest (upper left-center in the Google map) via the South Col.

Manikaran Hot Springs
A famous hot springs in the Parvati Valley of Himachal Pradesh, about 25 aerial km from Kullu in northern India. According to legend, a serpent deity took an earing dropped by Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva, while they were strolling in the woods, whereupon Shiva performed the cosmic dance and the serpent snorted it out into the ground where the hot springs came bubbling forth. Manikaran is a pilgrimage center for Hindus and Sikhs.

Samye Monastery
The first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, established in the 8th century AD. On the banks of the Brahmaputra (Tsangpo in Tibetan) river.
The low satellite-photo resolution available for this area is unfortunate: Samye's overall design is a mandala, with its central temple representing Mount Meru, and the temples arranged concentrically around it representing the oceans & continents that surround Meru in Buddhist cosmology. At the center of the main temple is a pole the that represents the center of the universe.

Annapurna I
At 8091m, Annapurna I is the 10th highest mountain in the world. It was the first of the world's 14 8000m+ peaks to be climbed, by Maurice Herzog's French team in 1950. Annapurna I is a deadly mountain to climb due to its abundant avalanches: it has claimed about 1 life for every 2 successful summiters, including famed Russian climber Anatoli Boukreev (of J. Krakauer's Into Thin Air notoriety) on Christmas Day 1997.

Nuptse
2km from Mount Everest, the Nuptse ridge is the western extension of the Lhotse-Nuptse massif; its highest peak is 7849m.

Cho Oyu
At 8201m, Cho Oyu is the 6th highest mountain in the world. Cho Oyu has a massive breadth, and is considered to be the easiest of the 8000m peaks to climb. On the Nepal-Tibet border about 30km WNW of Mount Everest.

Jama Masjid
An important mosque in Srinagar, Kashmir. Built in the 13th century, more than 300 huge pillars support the roof, each the trunk of a single tree.

Mahamuni Paya
Houses the revered Mahamuni Buddha, seized in 1784 from Mrauk U in Rakhaing State (near current-day Bangladesh) by King Bodawpaya and carried to Mandalay. Cast in bronze, the 4m-high statue is continually being covered in gold leaf (by men only), reportedly now 15cm thick.

Makalu
At 8462m, Makalu is the 5th highest mountain in the world. About 20km SW of Mount Everest, on the Nepal-Tibet border. Makalu is considered one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb due to its steep pitches and exposed knife-edged ridges.

Nechung monastery
An eerie place, with murals of flayed human skins (see more-info link), scenes of torture, and a statue of Dorje Drakden in his wrathful aspect. Nechung is the former home of the State Oracle (the medium for Dorje Drakden), whom the Dalai Lamas consulted before making any important decision. The last State Oracle fled Tibet to India with the current Dalai Lama in 1959. About 1 km SE of Drepung monastery, outside Lhasa.
From the Lonely Planet Tibet guide:
"Every New Year in Lhasa until 1959, the Dalai Lama would consult the Nechung oracle on important matters of state. In preparation for the ordeal the oracle would strap on bracelets in the shape of a human eye and an elaborate headdress of feathers, so heavy that it had to be lifted onto his head by two men.
"The oracle would whip himself into a trance in an attempt to dislodge the spirit from his body. Eyewitness accounts describe how his eyeballs would swell and roll up into his sockets, and how his mouth would open wide, his tongue curl upward and his face redden. As he began to discern the future in a steel mirror the oracle answered questions in an anguished, tortured, hissing voice, which would then be translated for the court by a clerk. After the trance the oracle would faint and have to be carried away."

Shalimar Gardens
A classic example of Mughal gardens, on the shore of Dal Lake at Srinagar in the Vale of Kashmir. Influenced by Persian Gardens and Timurid gardens, they feature rectilinear layouts within walled enclosures, with pools, fountains and canals.

Kyauknalatt (Water Lake) Monastery
A small monastery built on an island in the middle of an artificial lake 8km south of Hpa'an in Kayin State. The highlight is a small pagoda dramatically perched atop a rocky karst crag. (See photo here:

Rongphu Monastery
At 4980m, Rongphu (alt. Rong Phuk, Rongbhuk, Rongbuk) is the highest monastery in the world. Directly up the Rongphu valley to the SSE and clearly visible from the monastery is the peak of Mt. Everest, 25km away. Just 7km upvalley is Everest Base Camp-Tibet.
The monastery was established in 1902; renovation work has been ongoing since 1983. Rongphu lies just to the left of the high-low rez divide in the center of the thumbnail picture.

Dhaulagiri
At 8167m, Dhaulagiri is the world's 7th highest mountain. Dhaulagiri's rise above the local terrain is tremendous: it shoots up 7000m above the Kali Gandaki gorge, 30 horizontal km away. The Annapurna massif rises on the other side of the Kali Gandaki, with 8091m Annapurna I just 17 horizontal km from the gorge and 35km from Dhaulagiri.

Manaslu
At 8156m, Manaslu is the 8th highest mountain in the world. In the Gurkha Himal, about 40km east of the Annapurna massif.

Gator Loops, Lachlung La
A dizzying 20km series of 21 switchback loops on the Leh-Manali Highway in the northern India Himalaya, dropping down from 5060m Lachlung La (pass) to the Lingti Chu River valley below.

Reclining Buddha in Bago
A newly constructed 75m-long reclining Buddha facing the famous 55m Shwethalyaung reclining Buddha, which is located about 300m to the north and covered with a roof. In the pagoda- and shrine-studded town of Bago east of Yangon.

Mahazedi Paya
"The Great Stupa". Originally constructed in 1560, it was destroyed during war in 1757and again later by earthquake in 1930; the current reconstruction was completed in 1982.

Shwemokhtaw Paya
The most dominant of the many pagodas that dot the riverside city of Pathein in the Irrawaddy delta, Shwemokhtaw stands 47m high; its topmost layer is made from 6.3kg of gold. One of several legends concerning its origin says it was founded by the great Indian king Asoka in 305 BCE.

Shwemawdaw Paya
At a height of 114m (375 ft), Shwemawdaw is the tallest pagoda in Myanmar (14m higher than the Shwedagon in Yangon). Said to have been originally built by the Mon over 1000 years ago to house two hairs of the Buddha, it was added to several times to increase its height; several earthquakes damaged it and one finally completely destroyed it in 1930. Reconstruction took 2 years and was completed in 1954.

Lamayuru Gompa
Founded in the 11th century. The largest and oldest known Tibetan Buddhist gompa (a fortified place of learning and worship) in Ladakh. Criminals could once claim sanctuary in the surrounding area. About halfway between Kargil and Leh near the India-Pakistan Line of Control.

Kyaikpun Paya
Four 30m-high seated Buddha statues facing outward from a central square pillar. Built in 1476 under King Dhammazedi.