Why medicinal plants and wild herbs on Ganesh Chaturti?

I have immense faith in some of the traditional practices and rituals followed by elders. Although i don't have belief in the way they have conveyed to us like some superstitions. Whenever, i have found the reasoning convincing, i have blogged about them here.  Today, i found an interesting article on why we do pooja with some unusual wild herbs and leaves on Lord Ganesha. I remember reading a story about this long back but am not able to recall, instead i will share this writeup i found on an organic grower's site. Hence this is my first cut pasting and  i am storing this as a post on my site.

Here goes the write up from 'Aiyor Bai' meaning  'Land and well(water)" in telugu.

The month of “Ganesh Utsav ” celebrations, that is “Bhadrapad” is basically  a month for collection of various plants of medicinal use. they are  available in plenty during this period. People in our country used to collect these medicinal plants and first offer them to Lord Ganesha and then make their medicinal use throughout the year. As the Ganesh Utsav celebration begin with  collection of medicinal plants that cure various diseases, the Lord of Wisdom is also called as “Vignaharta“. Unfortunately the offerings are thrown away after the pooja. People worship Lord Ganesha for prosperity and  success without any difficulty or hurdle in any kind of health problem.

Ganesha Chaturthi-21 patra

During Ganesh Pooja, each one  procures leaves and flowers of 21 different  plants for Pooja which are called as “Ekavinshati Patra Pooja“. All these leaves prescribed for offering to the God have medicinal values. thus, knowledge of hte prophylactic and therapeutic properties of these leaves was known to the people who penned the procedure for performing the pooja. The younger generation is expected to be trained to identify the plants and the methods of collecting them. Our ancestors had an unerring knowledge of plants and their medicinal values.

The importance and significance of the leaves used in performing the pooja. 21 types of leaves are offered to Lord Ganesha during the festival, and each leaf has an Ayurvedic significance.

1. Durva:Used a as blood purifier, keeps invisible microbes away, removes acidity, cures many skin disorders, Psoriasis, useful to remove  the troubles of the eyes due to continuous stress like computer waves.
2. Maka: Prevents decaying process, it is a good medicine for eye diseases, jaundice, eczema, oedema, obesity and also reduces the size of the tumor.
3. Aghada:  Best medicine for cough, asthama, helps in smooth passage of urine and relieves pain.
4. Dorli: Useful in asthama and cough
5. Tulsi: Helps avoid bacterial infection, such as cough, in fever due to cold  and cough, improves digestion, improves immunity, used in skin diseases like Psoriasis, ring worm which gives rise to itching, acts as a germicide.
6. Marva:  Cures skin diseases.
7. Jai: Cures mouth pustules, very useful in healing of wounds.
8. Malti:  is used for curing skin diseases like leprosy and leucoderma, nervous diseases and abdominal related diseases.
9. Dhotra: Cures or reduces  cough in the chest, reduces asthmatic attack, useful in rheumatic pain.
10. Vishnu Kranta: Vishnu Kranta patra is used for nervous related diseases and memory power
11. Kewda: Used to prevent  excessive bleeding during menses.
12. Kanher: Used in snake, scorpion bites and for curing of various types of fever.
13. Bor: Heat reliever, useful for relief from rheumatic diseases, soothing from burning heat due to fever and also bring down the temperature, gives relief from watering of eyes and shooting pain in eyes.
14. Dalimb:  is used for dysentery. Gives relief from bilious burning, semen enchancer, useful for dry cough, gives relief from bleeding from nose, used in conjunctivitis , a bilious reliever.
15. Shami: Prevents excessive discharge of urine, reduces body heat.
16. Bael or Bilva, which purifies water, is used for dysentery. Prevent loose motion, clearing of bowel, relieve griping pain, reduce the frequency of evacuation of feces, improves  function of the liver, a germicidal, removes bad odor from the body, increases the stamina and reduces excess heat from the body.
17. Hadga: cold medicine.
18. Arjun: Supreme Medicine of heart disease. useful  for setting of bones, useful for reducing the excess ft from the body.
19. Pipal: Improves articulation of small kids, improves heavy tongue and improves mental capabilities of slow learning children, used in many medicinal preparations.
20. Ashok: Keeps womb healthy, can remove sorrowful stat of mind in post natl condition.
21. Bramhi: It is a brain tonic, for sound sleep and relieves stress.
22. Jaswand: It gives mental peace, relief from headache due to biliousness.
    
    Source: http://www.astropeep.com/ayurveda-and-astrology/herbs-and-medicinal-plants-during-ganesh-chaturthi-bhadrapad-mahina-maas/

A mesmerizing evening with" Garden Rhapsody" and....

In continuation with my post on "gardens by the bay".......

We were the last to walk out of the flower dome when the supervisor locked gate and there were very few people in the garden outside. 

We were walking on the pathway watching the supertrees displaying the change of lights. We found a viewing deck a few metres away and with darkness and foliage for company, we watched the dazzling display of lights against the dark sky.

The beautiful swirls and patterns the lights were making in rhythm with the music was mesmerizing. This is called the "Garden rhapsody" or the sound and light show of the supertrees.

The show ended around 10, we followed the exit sign to MRT bay terminal and we were walking past the heritage gardens and through the Singapore river bridge connecting us to Marina bay sands.

Yet again,  another mesmerizing view struck us. We stood on the river bridge in awe looking at the magical view. Infront of us was the illuminated Singapore flyer, on one side was the lit supertrees and conservatories and on to my left was the illuminated marina bay sands hotel and the water below was shimmering in the reflection of those lights.  What a multi-sensory delight!!  I stood there for sometime and found difficult to pull myself out of the view. The sights made the evening memorable.

We reached the MRT terminal in Baysands hotel but we decided to take a taxi since my daughter’s leg pain had worsened. She had a bad landing at the luge at Sentosa.

We travelled down two escalators  to take a taxi and....... OMG!!

What do I see!!! I mean,  were’nt the beautiful sundown sights of Singapore enough to make the evening memorable?

But no,Here there were canals on which gondola’s were parked. On either side of the canal were pathways for the luxury brand stores and the lighting around the place made the place like a dream. Unfortunately, we had no time to go around the luxury stores in that gondola or click photos.

I went to the help desk  counter to find the route for the taxi stand. He told us to take back the same escalator with which we came down.

Finally, we took an MRT to the hotel 3kms away to call it a day. And, what a day it was!

Definitely a mesmerizing evening to remember till my memory lasts.

Check the Garden rhapsody shots below

The supertrees are uniquely designed vertical gardens upto 50 metres tall. 

                                                                They have large canopies that provide shade in the day.

The super trees are embedded with environmentally sustainable functions. Some have photovoltaic cells on their canopies to harvest solar energy for lighting up the supertrees.

                            The OCBC skyway connects one supertree to another and acts a pathway for the visitor to walk around and have an aerial view of the place.

OCBC is  the name of the bank that sponsored the Garden rhapsody and pathway(Some oriential chinese banking corporation?)

                                          Wow! This sight from river bank is indescribable for me.

The singapore flyer, in front  a few supertrees and the lit conservatory to the left( notice the reflection on the river)

to my right was the marina bay sands park hotel , The mesmerizing composition of sights sent me into a trance.

It looked as though we came all the way not to take a taxi but  to see the basement of the hotel  which had the  dream sight (venetian canal).  All along our stay there,  we had planned to see the terrace of the hotel which had infinity pool and park. (we missed seeing the canopy park but were glad to have found the venetian canal)

My next post: Changi airport

Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson's Private India - A book review

Private London, Private Games, Private Berlin, Private Down under, Private L.A., Private Vegas and now  it is Private India.

Private India  is the latest book in the ‘Private Series’ of the most popular thriller writer James Patterson.   Ashwin Sanghi , the author of "The Krishna key" who has a fascination for history and Indian mythology has added the Indian elements to the book and so this is a collaborative effort of the two authors. The result is a racy, unputdownable thriller book with some historical and mythological leanings set in Aamchi Mumbai.

Nine unconnected people belonging to various fields like medicine, journalism, a singer, school principal, a politician, Film director, the chief justice of Mumbai high court, a yoga guru etc.,  are killed/strangled with a  scarf. Although the people are unconnected, there are a few  common connection. All the victims are women and are strangled with a   yellow cotton scarf around their neck. Along with the scarf there are a few more strange objects left by the killer which forms the clues for the puzzle.  

Who is the killer? What is the motive and why does the killer tie them with yellow scarf? What do the strange objects signify? 

The murder mystery   solved by  Private India, the Mumbai Branch of the world’s finest investigation agency, which is also the target of a massive bomb attack,  forms the plot of the book.

  

 I found the initial chapters disconnected, but once I got into the groove  I turned page after page. I finished the  470 page book  in  4 hours spread over two days despite many work priorities.  That should speak for the racy pace of the book.

The clues and leads in the narration  made me  suspect so many characters in the book. One of them being the software decoder of the detective agency Hari Padhi, then after a few chapters I suspected  the Attorney General and so on.  This is what made the book interesting. Lots of twists and turns but ultimately the killer is  somebody whom the reader never suspects. The book ends in a cliffhanger.

There were many learnings for me in the book like the strange objects left by the killer were related to the nine avatars of Durga and so there are some mythological references in the book, the yellow cotton scarf is a signature of  the  ‘Thug’ cult of ancient india and so there are some historical information about the cult,  all of which are typical Sanghi style.

The best I liked about the book is the vivid description especially of Mumbai city.  A Mumbaikar will relate to the places in the book easily. It is the same vivid description at some places I disliked.  I found it spooky especially where the morgue is described. I skipped reading a few paragraphs describing it.

Overall,  I would label the book a racy page turner, worth giving a pick especially if you like thrillers.

That said, I found lot of grammatical and bad sentence formation. For instance on page 31 The para began

“ At the Regal Santosh turned toward Colaba causeway,………”

So many such sentences made me re-read the lines to connect the link properly.

A note to the proof readers and publishers:

I am no grammar Nazi or have no authority over the  English language. Even I do mistakes and found many errors in my old posts while re-reading. Of late, I have found  editing lapses in famous newspapers and other books too.

 Many  readers like me treat such written books and newspapers as reference for English spellings and learn from such books. Please take care to avoid such grammatical and spelling errors, people. Your work is   our reference. 

This review is a part of the biggest Book review program  for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!




Madras checks, Santhome stripes - A tribute to Madras

I found an interesting anecdote While reading S. Muthiah’s “Madras miscellany – A decade of People, places and potpourri”. It is full of anecdotes about the people & places and other potpourri of Madras . It appeared by the same name as a column in “The Hindu” for a decade.

In potpourri section, Journalist and Historian S. Muthiah relates an incident where a group of architecture students arrive from Chiba university near Tokyo to make a comprehensive study on the architecture and town planning of George town in Chennai. Their team leader Dr. Masao Ando had a gift for him and urged him to open the surprise gift. Inside, he narrates, were two lovely little porcelain white sauce bowl. The white of both were decorated with ribbon-like vertical stripes in varying colours.

                                                         Santhome stripes porcelain bowls which muthiah got as gift.

“Do they tell you something?” Dr. Ando seems to have asked Muthiah. Mr. Muthiah could only think about the splendid lunch they had ordered for them at an hotel “Dahlia” at Japan and asked if it was a reminder of that.

Dr. Ando seems to have laughed and said ‘No” and continues they are a popular design found on Kimonos. This only puzzled Muthiah more when Dr. Ando continued “They are the designs that used to be found on the cloth the Portuguese and Dutch brought from Nagapattinam,Pulicat and Machilipatnam in the 16th and 17th centuries. You call the cloth Madras checks or Madras Handkerchiefs and we in Japan call the design “Santhome stripes”( a place in Madras)

The madras checks, the cotton is soft  and fine that even though the color bleeds and gives a faded look, the the texture feels comfy to wear. I buy them still at tirupur cottons. 

                               Here is where i first came to know about Madras checks and madras handkerchiefs @ Dakshinchitra. this is my only click the rest are credited to  google

Historians claim that Madras cloth originates from 1200s and was made of yarn that had been spun from the tip-skin of ancient trees. This evolved in to a more refined cotton that was very light weight and airy making it perfect for sweltering Indian especially Tamilnadu summers and the colors used for dying were vegetable dyes. Infact, I have heard elders aged 70+ in my family talk about the quality of cotton in terms of 100x80 or 100x100 which refers to the ply. 100x100 ply cotton is supposed to be the best cotton.

The original technique of coloring involved dyeing hand woven white cotton fabric (called gada cloth) in a combination of aliziru (a rust red colour) indigo, (blue) and myrablum (yellow plus white) and all vegetable dyes. The warp and weft of the cloth would be hand woven in a combination of two colours, after which it was washed. With each wash, the colours would smudge and bleed, creating a faded effect( popular as stone wash) . This bleeding colors influenced ad guru David Ogilvy to advertise the Men’s shirts designed in US from this cloth as “Guaranteed to bleed” In 1960’s. The marketing technique led to a fashion statement of men’s checked shirt with a faded effect and the design came to be known as “Bleeding Madras” in the US.


Today madras checks does'nt fade since vegetable dyes are replaced with color fast dyes.

These versions of gada are renowned as Madras Check. Today Ralph Laurel comes out with Madras plaids called the checks in Chennai bleeding Madras in America..Also, the madras shirts, shorts or jackets became popular on the campuses of Ivy league schools in the United states.

The same  check designs that are immortalized in the famous lungi of the “Lungi dance”.

This humble “Madras checks” aka “ santhome stripes” or “Bleeding Madras” is Madras contribution to the sartorial world.

And this post is my tribute to my birth city “ Madras” which celebrates its birthday on Aug 22. This city is where Modern India began. Almost every institution in India from the Army to the Judiciary, from medicine to engineering has had its origin here.

                                    Happy Birthday Madras aka chennai

Ambegal Krishna @ Doddamallur

The Bangalore – Mysore route is one of my most travelled route. I love traveling this route by road and stopping at all those lovely river bank villages. Some of the towns are very popular like Ramnagram( silk city and also this is the famous Sholay’s Rampur) . chennapatna( toy city) , Mandya( sugar city), Maddur( famous for maddur vada), Bidadi( famous for thatte idli), T-narsipura( famous for sericulture and the looms of famous mysore silk).  I can go on and on about kokrebellur, ranganathittu, Sririrangapattana, Balmuri, Edimuri falls, KRS, etc. Some of the villages like T.Narsipura, malavalli, somanathpura still retain the old world charm and it feels nice to see those old kutcha houses with mildew/ mud walls, vegetable patches, paddy fields, people talking under trees or charpoy, by the river canals, children playing with old tyres etc. The innocent villagers also wave to you when you pass by and I too wave back. It gives a warm fuzzy feeling when I travel through such villages where people are'nt in a hurry. This route also has some of the ancient temples some of which are famous and some unsung and crying for upkeep.

                                                             River cauvery at Balmuri falls

It was to one such village after Channapatna that I visited during the may gone by. I was on my way to Balmuri near Mysore , enroute I took a detour 3 kms from Mysore road at channapatna to visit Doddamallur on the banks of River Kanva.

Passing through a kutcha road of swaying palms took me to a temple of Lord Krishna. The temple is not very famous but is very ancient and has a rich history. The main deity of the temple is Aprameya swamy(Lord Rama) but the temple is also known as Navaneeta Krishna temple or mostly as Ambegal Krishna temple( love the sound of ambegal). Ambegal in kannada means crawling so this is one of those few temples where the lord is found in that posture and also holds a ball of butter. (navaneeta)

Like any other ancient temple there is no dearth of legends and faith surrounding the temple. The 3000 year old temple is said to have been built by Chola kings. But more than the history and the legends about the temple, I want to share my state of mind that i experienced at the temple.

There are a few places where you can feel and sense God's subtle and tangible presence. The moment I stepped inside, past the massive wooden doors of the temple, I was cloaked with a sense of tranquility. The temple was not well maintained and I could find the huge corridors around the temple being used as a godown for scraps and iron bars. But beyond all that , the pillars, the seasoned granite flooring, the idols of the god , the sublime lighting of the oil lamps , the smell of tulsi, karpooram all gave me a sense of peace and contentment. For me only a few temples have such an aura around them.

Although not religious, i am  spiritual and so could sense the vibes of the place.   I  deeply inhaled and focused my attention on my breath( i was taught this breathing art in my yoga class). This is a practice i follow when i am feeling low or disappointed, a sense of calm descends on me and here the ancient ambience and the vibrations of the temple added to it. I could feel God's magical presence here.

During the aarti of the main deity Aprameya swami, the hereditary priest told us the legend behind the temple in the Mysore dialect of tamil. The temples were built by Chola kings and the temple foundation rests on sand and not on solid foundation. Infact, contrary to many stories about the town, his version went that the town’s name Mallur is from “Maralur” meaning land of sand in kannada. He also said, there were no funds allocated for the temple although the temple is a protected monument and his salary was a mere 3000 Rs and he stuck to the job due to the hereditary post.

After the aarti and prasadam, we went around the temple praharam where the carved pillars, walls and corridors smelt and felt ancient. The ambience  around the main mantapam  charmingly throws you back in time.                            
                                                (pc: google,) i was not allowed to click pic of the deity

At the Ambegal krishna sannidhi, i couldn't take my eyes off the cute little god in crawling position. A master piece in black stone which the purohit said is not seen elsewhere. Said to be installed by sage veda vyasa himself, the lord adorned with waistband, amulets, anklets and chains all carved in black stone holds a ball of butter in his hand. So calming and inspiring is the influence, that it influenced Purandaradasa to compose a song on the lord. For those of you who know or follow classical carnatic music, This idol was the inspiration for the famous purandara dasa kriti - "Jagodadarana adisidale yashode". It was here in this temple in front of the above lord, the kriti was composed by the composer.

A story goes that one of the Wodeyar king of Mysore was so besotted by the idol and had it displaced to his palace in mysore. Lord Krishna not pleased with the displacement is appeared to have said in his dreams to put him back at his original place in Mallur. The King ignored the dream and the very next day, the palace is said to have been on fire. The King immediately took his dream seriously and put the idol back in Mallur.

Another legend says that Lord Rama stayed here and conducted rituals and pooja and so this is also called Dakshina Ayodhya and so the the main deity is called Sriramaaprameya.

The tall and beautiful rajagopuram built in dravidian style( the way to the gopuram)

The base of the deepa sthambam 

The antique door of  the  maha dwaram about 30 feet high

Garuda vahanam taken during procession

Lord Hanuman

the corridors around the temple housing the remaining gods. 

The tulsi brindavan beside the main deity gopuram

The corridor beside is the one which houses the ambegal krishna 

Dasaavataram adorn the side walls of the gopuram 

                                                                And this board speaks

Gardens by the bay

Gardens by the bay - a beautiful garden designed with environmental sustainability as its design mantra and touted as the top 10 best gardens of the world was our next stop on our travel list. Built from reclaimed land, it has two conservatories, 18 super trees and nearly 700,000 plants from all over the world(except antartica). The park opened in 2012 to the public was built with the vision of converting Singapore to “City in a Garden” from garden city.

After alighting from the monorail we took the MRT to Marina bay, hoping to reach the gardens in half an hours time. Only after boarding did we realize we were in a route that would go around Singapore and stop at Marina bay after an hour. We immediately realized our folly, got down at Outram station to change over to a short line. Yet again, we ended up 3kms short from the gardens. Since time was now a premium and the gardens would close by 9 , we hired a taxi. The taxi driver dropped us at the Gardens and told it would be open till 2 midnight. When asked if it was safe to travel at midnight, he said there are undercover police and it was safe to travel at night.

Happy about the closing hours we leisure walked the long pathway towards the ticket counter to submit our tickets for the conservatories. The guy immediately discouraged us from entering and said “it is already quarter past 8. You need atleast one hour for each conservatory, utilize your tickets tomorrow and get full value”.

We told him we would manage to see whatever we can in 45 minutes since we would be flying out of the city the next day.

So, you see we were right the conservatories are open till 9.p.m only and the taxi driver was also right, the gardens around the conservatory are open till 2.a.m. The entry fee is only for the conservatory and not for gardens which is free.

We divided the 45 minutes between the two conservatories and tried to do maximum justice to the value of tickets and time. I will let the pictures speak about the garden. I will be dividing this into 2 photo posts since i don't want to miss sharing some of the photos. But at the same time,i must say our camera got tired in the cloud forest and conked off, one of the lenses refused to work and moreover we rushed through the place. Can't vouch for the clarity and quality. Still i will share them with you all:) 

                           

The two conservatories you see along with the super trees and lakes like Dragon fly lake  constitute "Gardens by the bay". Much efforts have gone to plan and design for sustainable cycles in energy and water throughout the garden. 

From the gate to the conservatory, we walked through the pathway under the ceiling, but did not forget to catch the super tree in our lens. 

As one enters "Cloud forest" conservatory,  this is what awaits you . You are veiled in mist and look up to a 35 metre tall mountain covered with plant life from tropical highlands and also this is  world's tallest indoor waterfall. 

One can ascent the mountain by lift or take the  walkway designed like a ramp. We went up the ramp and descended by llift. This is the cloud walk where you walk amongst artificial clouds. 

                                 A Design of the patagonian express, railway station in Argentina adorning the mountain side

                                 All along the pathway up you find vertical forest.........

It would have been a treat for a botanist or anybody interested deeply in the subject. 

We simply enjoyed the  cool greenery, write ups  and rushed up towards the peak. while the 3 of us rushed up, my dot who was clicking photos was left behind.   Our camera got tired and refused to take good pics and my dot refused to budge from the place. From then on our hand phone took care of some pics.and we crossed over to the flower dome.

The flower dome replicates the cool-dry climes of region like south africa, california, spain, italy etc and so you have nearly 9 replicas of gardens from all the above countries. 

At flower dome , we were totally there standing in awe of nature. 

fascinating succulents.......all through the rim

                   

 My daughter was fascinated by these flowers and clicked nearly 10 pics of these from different angles. She found them to be like fairies. 

                                                  An evening in Paris

 That is the flower field which keeps changing its theme, this time it was french gardens, the hotel you see in blue is captured in full below

The beautiful lights in the ceiling of the hotel caught my attention and made a pretty sight from across the french garden. The photo does not do justice.

Some more flowering plants 

That is the french lily

Some of the trees from countries like senegal were shipped to  fit here. Some were too large to come in a shipping container. 

                         And this is the super tree taken during the sound and light show and the OCBC skyway. The evening did'nt end here, i have some more to say and show , i will post more pics  later.

Movie ride at Universal Studios:)

* A long visual post alert*


Sentosa beckoned us the next day too, but this time our playground was Universal studios(US).

Universal studios,Singapore   is a mini replica of  Hollywood movies and brings you some of the movies alive. You get a real feel of  the movies that you have watched on celluloid screen by experiencing  the  cutting edge rides based on the famous Hollywood movies Transformers, Shrek, Madagascar, Jurassic park, revenge of the mummy,  far far away, sesame street(spaghetti space chase)  etc.  The rides bring out myriad emotions  fear, thrill, fun, anxiety etc.,.  

Also, There are  interactive live shows, hollywood parade, characters meet and greet, street entertainment, lots of shops selling merchandise, hotels and mini cafes , a mini replica of hollywood ,  New York avenue settings etc.

After  our breakfast, we left by MRT to VIVO city mall. We booked ourselves on the monorail to ResortsWorld Sentosa(RWS). After arriving at RWS, we followed the indicators to US. We did some homework the previous night and we learnt arriving early would not see us as a part of lengthy queue.

The place is pretty big and although there were  navigation indicators it was better to know the  happening rides and show timings.  So, the first thing we did was to find a map holder.  We picked up  the free maps and orientated ourselves about the place.

 We decided to start our route anti-clockwise since we wanted to ride the Sci-fi movies first.

 I will make this a visual post again.  I will  share my thoughts and experiences below the pics. Fasten yourseat belts and harnesses as i take you along plenty of fun  with unexpected tumbles, swerves, fast Zips, sudden whips! I find it difficult to replicate my experience but will try. 

That's the beginning, right after the entrance, you are greeted by this globe

As you pass along such stores, you enter.....

...the first attraction.  we visited in "NEW YORK" was  sesame street, a ride into spaghetti space chase

The ride was through such beautiful thorough fares and suddenly there is a space chase and.....

...... we are thrown into space where you are among millions of stars( LED's), space ships etc. It was an amazing leap and left a happy feeling. a beautiful experience.

The next attraction was Sci-fi city and the most talked about and famous ride Transformer where you are part of the ultimate 3D battle to save earth from autobots.The above is the entrance, you queue through......

a tunnel where you have a glimpse of all the missiles used in the movie .The queue as you see was sparse since we were early visitors. This ride was a bit scary, so i often removed the 3d glasses. . One moment you are outdoors and suddenly you crash through a building's glass wall to indoors of a skyscraper. The crash amplifies the sense of speed. the ride is filled with exciting and scary moments where you also feel the visual mayhem through the 3D glasses apart from the water, steam and heat effects. 

After sci-fi city, we moved into Ancient egypt, where we rode a roller coaster "revenge of the mummy"with frightening mummies and ghosts. The next ride was Treasure hunters where we drove in an open jeep on the deserty sand of ancient egypt . We passed through treasures and wild snakes, scorpions etc.( forgot to take pics here) 

Next was the Jurassic park rapids adventure. A crazy rapids water ride through jurassic park where you find many dinosaurs. This rapid makes you wet since you pass through falls and there are unexpected swerves which drop the rapid into great depths. Many buy plastic raincoats from a dispensing machine for 7$. But we never felt the need, An exciting experience:) 

Another attraction in "The lost world" is a scheduled show called " water world". We came back here at 3.15 but spent the next few hours at ......

"Far far away" This had a beautiful castle which served as a backdrop for photos. The attractions here were a Shrek 4d adventure movie, an interactive donkey (eeyore) show which was boring and enchanted airways a mini roller coaster.

This is the water world show which had amazing stunts,live fire works, and suddenly as you are watching from the gallery, you find an aeroplane landing in the water. Absolutely thrilling show.

You see the fire in the water immediately after an explosion. The same scene is used in the movie "Khambakt Ishq"

We went back to far far away to see the live donkey show at 4.30. We expected the show too be very lively.

but the show of eeyore was boring, still we sat through the show

There were beautiful merchandise, chocolate shops and restaurants everywhere. Drinking water was also not a problem as there were many water fountains. 

                                                  The next attraction was "Madagascar"

Here we had an adventure cruise on a crate boat through the rainforests where we passed through many talking zebras, lions, snakes, giraffes etc., An unique experience but nothing adventurous as the show claimed.

Next was the hollywood attractions. We missed the beginning of the parade but caught up the final lap of the parade. There were many hollywood characters walking on the street,

This was my children's favorite Minion from "despicable me". we checked the merchandise, a small minion about 1" costed 7$. 

                        We signed off after clicking the Universal studio version of Merlion.

 After a tiring but interesting day we walked to board our monorail to vivo city. We were behind our schedule for Gardens by the bay.