Cave Temple

 

I love all caves :)..  This is the Dambulla Cave Temple ((Sinhala: දඹුලු ලෙන් විහාරය dam̆būlū len vihāraya, Tamil: தம்புள்ளை பொற்கோவில் tampuḷḷai poṟkōvil), also know as the Golden Temple of Dambulla.   It is now a World Heritage Site and is located in Sri Lanka.  The cave is located in a rock that towers 197 feet above the surrounding plains.  There are more than 80 caves in the area,  but only 5 of these caves are major tourist attractions.   The caves are adorned with statues and paintings, all related to Lord Buddha and his life.  In the caves, you will find 153 Buddha statues, 3 statues of Sri Lankan kings, and 4 statues of gods and goddesses such as Vishu and Ganesh.   There is also a massive mural of Buddha performing his first sermon.  The temple made of 5 caves that have been converted into shrine rooms.  They were build from 993 AD to 1250 AD.  It is believed that prehistoric Sri Lankans lives in these cave complexes before they were used as Buddhist temples.  The oldest skeleton found in the area is believed to be 2700 years old.  The  caves are also home to thousands of swallows that swoop into the cave at dusk each day :).

Stay with the Foxes!

 

Foxes Hotel in the seaside town of Minehead (United Kingdome) is one of a kind. This hotel employs intellectually challenged staff and is part of the Foxes Academy to provide career training for those with disabilities.  Here is a lovely review that I found on Hotels.com: "This is my 5th visit to Foxes and it just gets better and better. There really is nowhere like this in the world, it is such an inspiring place. The staff are totally dedicated to their job as trainers for the learners and are so very very good at their job. The learners are absolutely amazing and very efficient. The hotel is immaculate with lovely little touches in the spacious rooms. There is a nice choice of food (cooked to perfection) that suits all tastes and if you have any specific requests they are only too willing to cater for your needs. Once again, a very enjoyable stay and will be back soon."

All of the hotels reviews were scored "excellent"! Apparently these folks are doing an amazing job and running an amazing hotel :)!

 

Keep it Quiet and Simple :)

 

Tired of standard "Welcome to KFC!  Would you like to try our new BBQ chicken sandwich? How may I help you?".   Well,  Kentucky Fried Chicken in India is known for keeping it short and sweet.
In 2008,  India opened it's first specially-abled KFC restaurant and with it's success, has since opened 16 speech and hearing impaired stores in 9 cities and now employee over 300 specially abled employees. All employees, including those that take orders, are deaf, speech and/ or hearing impaired.  Customers place their orders by  pointing on a menu card.  Apparently the staff is very friendly and the service is quite even efficient, some say even more efficient than that in traditional KFCs.   Wonder if they have vegetarian options?