Today, at Asia Gardens Hotel Luxury 5 Star we would like to approach the shores of one of the largest rivers of Asia, the Li River in China, also known as Lijiang River, a major tributary of the Pearl River.

This river has sparked the imagination of both artists and writers as well as tourists who currently visit it. They say of it  that its views and surrounding nature are spectacular, creating on every person who visits it  an idyllic memories of natural beauty.

Along all its way down, Li river homes small villages that multiply visitor’s interest adding the cultural studding to the stunning natural landscape.

One of those is Daxu, one of the main antique trade markets that takes you to another time.

The boat ride is usually the most common way to travel this crystalline and nice river, which shows several aspects of Chinese life and culture. The most common tourist cruises, perform a Li River cruise of 83 km between the cities of Guilin and Yangshuo.

Some of the offered type of cruises includes the visit to the Grotto of the Reed Flute; and amazing/impressive cave with a large number of stalactites and stalagmites, as well as the magic rock curtains for which river Li waters flows out.

On this journey down the river we find also one of the world’s oldest canals, the Lingqu Canal.  Visitor will be caught by the surprise of discover some mansion houses that stand out among the traditional landscape and vast natural setting.

Another feature of this tour is the mountains surrounding the river, with their unique shapes and assembled in different combinations between the meandering curves of the river.

The best way to enjoy completely the mountains  that surround the Li River, is to take a getaway and walk one of the routes by foot to observe the grandeur and extension of the way, and enjoy the mountain Yaoshan to which it is possible to climb also chairlift .

From this peak, the view is one of the most beautiful views of the whole journey and no one doubt:  it is one of the “must” visits.  The calm and peace that is breathed up there, with the silence only hampered by natural noises, make it one of the most beautiful experiences to be found in Asia.

All this peace and beauty that brings the Li River, is what we wanted to move to our natural areas and pools in Asia Gardens. The mix between tradition and modernity coexists among the different areas of the hotel, so you also could take a unique and idyllic experience. Come to Hotel Asia Gardens and live your own Asian cruise through our pools; we are looking forward to see you/we are waiting you.

At the 5-star hotel Asia Gardens we enjoy sharing all we know about Asia with you. In today’s post, we would like to tell you about the Perfume Pagoda, a magical place in Vietnam.

The Perfume Pagoda is located 70km from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. This place consists of Buddhist pagodas and temples at the top of Perfume Mountain from where you can delight yourself with some of the most unique and amazing views. Additionally, Perfume Pagoda is one of the most popular spiritual spots in Vietnam.

The Pagoda is located inside a cave on top of Perfume Mountain, and it can only be accessed by going up steps for 4km, or by cable car. In order to get there, you first need to get to the jetty of Lake Yen Vi, where small and quaint red boats sail for almost an hour to get to the mountain. Once there, the visit of the temples begins.

The first temples of Perfume Pagoda date back to the 17th Century and were built by a Buddhist monk who was trying to reach spiritual enlightment. In time, more and more temples were added, and there are now more than a thousand temples in the same area. After the Indochina war against the French, most temples were destroyed and there are just a few left that can now be visited.

When entering the Den Trinh Sanctuary, there is a tradition to do with the literal translation of its name: Presentation shrine, which requires incense to be burnt (we have already mentioned its history and origin in a previous blog) in order to warn the gods of our presence and be blessed for the rest of the way.

Perfume Pagoda in itself is inside the Huong Tich cave or perfume cave. You must walk down 120 stone steps in order to reach the incredible altar with Buddha statues and a more than 1-metre tall bronze bell. It is said that this walk symbolises the descent to hell to then find the way to heaven.

It is interesting to know that on the rock there is an engraved inscription which says “the most beautiful cave under the southeast sky”.

The cave is full of stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes that have been named by the locals, rice plants, children and trees can be found. Also, couples who still do not have any offspring go to this Pagoda to pray, as told by popular belief.

We look forward to seeing you at the Asia Gardens where you will find the best of Asian culture without leaving Spain. See you next week.

Today, from our 5-star luxury hotel Asia Gardens, we would like to visit Bhutan, a small country in Southeast Asia, between India and China.

This small kingdom in the Himalaya barely has 700,000 inhabitants.  The locals call it Druk Yul “The land of the dragon and thunder” and also “Mountain Land”, in Sanskrit Bhutan means “High lands”.

Currently, Bhutan is known for its National Happiness Index. This concept was created in the 70’s by the monarch Jigme Senge Wangchuk.

Ever since then, the government in Bhutan, through the National Happiness Commission, makes sure everything the government does is focused on increasing happiness.

Bhutan has many archaeological treasures, temples, dzongs and breath-taking landscapes. But today we would like to focus on the popular monastery Takshang or “Tiger’s Nest”, one of the most magical places in the country.

This monastery is located over a cliff on the beautiful Paro Valley, one of the most important sacred places in the region.

It started to be built in 1692, according to the legend the Guru Padmasambhava flew over from Tibet riding a tigress. It is believed that he meditated there for 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days and 3 hours in the 8^th Century.

Padmasambhava is the founder of the Nyingma Buddhism Tibetan School. He is commonly known as Guru Rinpoche or Precious Master. In Tibet and Bhutan he is known as the second Buddha.

We hope you have enjoyed this fascinating country. We invite you to come and spend a few days at the Asia Gardens, our fantastic luxury hotel in Alicante, Spain In our hotel you shall be as happy as if you went to the wonderful kingdom of Bhutan.

As you are aware of, at the 5-star luxury hotel Asia Gardens we enjoy telling you something new every week. Today, we are going to talk about one of the most important celebrations in the Buddhist religion, the Vesak, a key day for Buddhists which we are going to tell you about in detail.

Vesak is the most significant holy day in Buddhism. People commemorate the life of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), by making offerings to him inside the temples. It is said that Buddha was born, reached enlightment and died all in the one day, Vesak.

The exact day of Vesak varies according to the lunar calendar being used in each Asian country, and also according to the different traditions. But the word originates from the first month in the Hindu calendar. The name comes from Pali vesākha, the name of the lunar month between April and May.

In every country with a Buddhist influence, Vesak is the national holiday, and it is celebrated in all Buddhist countries. It wasn’t until 1950 that it was officially decided to celebrate Vesak worldwide. The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) decided at a conference that the holiday would be held in the month of May according to the Buddhist lunar calendar.

In 1999, this holiday was also recognised by the UN, being the first time that a holy day was commemorated in the UN headquarters, on 15^th May 2000.

Everyone in all Buddhist countries dresses up to the nines to celebrate a religion that started more than 2500 years ago. Although this holiday doesn’t only consist of making offerings, placing flowers, burn incense and celebrate, Buddha wanted this day to be celebrated according to his teachings. He wanted all Buddhists to feel determined to lead a noble life on that day, and to develop their minds, be kind and work towards reaching peace and harmony.

From a Buddhist point of view, the goal in life is to end suffering and achieve real peace and happiness, which is exactly what we want to make you feel in our Asian luxury setting. We look forward to welcoming you at the Asia Gardens surrounded by peace and quiet.

Today, from our 5-star luxury hotel Asia Gardens, we would like to celebrate with you yet another important festival from one of our favourite countries: the Ganesh Chaturthi in India.

The Ganesh Chaturthi festival is one of the most significant ones in India, especially in Maharashtra, in the mid-west. The festival lasts about 10 days and usually takes place between August 20^th and September 15^th. In the Hindu calendar, the month when the festival is held is called Bhaadrapada.

This festivity pays tribute to god Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati (whom we have mentioned in other posts before). Ganesha has a human body and an elephant head, something we will go into more detail later on. He is considered the patron of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. Before starting up a new project, Hindus invoke god Ganesha as they believe his blessing to be essential.

The legend says that the way in which Ganesha ended up with a human body and an elephant head was rather curious, like pretty much everything that takes place in Asia. Shiva was at war fighting and his wife, Parvati decided to take a bath but there was no guard to protect her door. That is why she created a child to watch over her bedroom, preventing anyone from entering. She created him with the same sandalwood paste she used to bathe with and she placed him outside her door.

Shortly afterwards, Shiva came back home and tried to get into his wife’s bedroom with no luck because the “guardian child” was following orders not to let anyone in. Shiva got very angry and cut the child’s head off, which enraged Parvati who threatened him by saying she’d destroy the world. The only idea Shiva could come up with was to ask for the head of the first living being coming from the north to be brought to him (the north is associated to wisdom) which turned out to be an elephant. The elephant’s head was placed over the child’s body bringing him back to life, and they then proceeded to call him Ganesha.

The festival draws crowds of people who start preparing for it months before it takes place. There are cultural activities available, such as recitals, plays, and music performances in addition to fundraising for the needy as well as blood donation points. There are also flower and fruit offerings, mainly coconuts, and they then traditionally submerge the statue of the god in water.

People also make a sweet unique to this country, the modak, a paste made of rice and wheat flour and filled with coconut and a special type of sugar used in Asia. Hindu people bond even more during this type of festival and they show their most patriotic side.

We hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about India as much as we have. We look forward to seeing you at theAsia Gardens to help you experience Asian culturesd first hand.

Today, from our 5-star luxury hotel Asia Gardens Hotel, we are going back to Thailand to show you one of their natural wonders that we are sure you will recognise, Ko Tapu, better known as James Bond Island.

This impressive island is located about 200 metres away from Phang Nga bay, near two islets called Ko Khao Phingkan which means “hills leaning against each other”. The group of islands is within the Ao Phang Nga National Park.

Ko Tapu is an almost 20-metre high rock, its name literally means “Nail Island” or “Nail Hill” due to its resemblance to a nail. It has been protected since 1981, for its uniqueness and need of protection.

In 1974, the island became very popular after featuring in the James Bond movie “The man with the golden gun” filmed there. The people behind the movie seem to have liked the area as in 1997 they filmed in that bay again, this time the movie was “Tomorrow never dies”, hence why the island is called James Bond Island.

Up until then, the island was practically virgin, inhabited only by a few indigenous settlements. Ever since the release of the movie, Ko Tapu became a tourist attraction and continues to welcome large numbers of tourists every year.

This island may only be accessed by a small boat, which makes it even more exclusive. It is surrounded by turquoise waters in which more than 80 different species live; reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Once on the island, you can stroll around its caves and limestone rocks.

As we have already mentioned, the island has become very popular. For that reason, it is perhaps not the ideal place to enjoy some peace and quiet. On the other hand, at the Asia Gardens there is always room for you. We will make sure that the time you spend here is unique and relaxing. We await your visit.

Today, from our 5-star luxury hotel Asia Gardens we would like to invite you to travel with us to a country that we have not visited yet.

This country has a wide range of hidden treasures, from wonderful beaches and islands to impressive buildings like the Petronas Towers. But today we would like to show you a place we have no words to describe: the Batu Caves.

This wonder of nature is located in the Gombak district, around 13 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and it is 400 years old. The caves were named after the river that flows in that area.

These wonders of nature are one of the most significant Hindu sanctuaries outside India dedicated to Murugan, whom we will tell you about a little later on. The Thaipusam Hindu festival is celebrated every year and it attracts Hindus not only from Malaysia but also from India, Singapore and Australia. In 2007, 1.5 million pilgrims came to the festival, and so it became one of the largest Hindu gatherings.

272 steps built in 1920 lead to the Temple. The steps had to be redone some years ago due to the large number of tourists that visit the caves each year. The most important temple is the one known as “Cathedral Cave” as it has several Hindu sanctuaries and a large domed roof typical of a cathedral.

As we mentioned earlier, this place is dedicated to the god Murugan represented by an almost 43-metre-tall statue, one of the tallest in the world. The statue can be seen guarding the entrance of the temple.

God Murugan is only known by that name in Malaysia, in Hindu religion he is called Karttiyeka. He is the son of god Shiva and goddess Parvati, the most important gods in India as we have said many a times before in our blog (links). He is known as the god of war as he defeated full armies of demons.

It is worth mentioning the fact that in this magical place there are plenty of monkeys who run free. They come close to greet tourists, although we have been advised to watch out as some of them have been trained to steal.

We hope you have learnt a little more about this country that we would like to bring to you more often. At the Asia Gardens we are delighted to be your own personal source of information when it comes to Asia. We hope to see you soon so we can teach you a little more.

At Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel, we won’t stop discovering surprises from the Asiatic continent. Today we want to tell you about fashion and India, more precisely about cashmere and the pattern equally named.

The cashmere has its origin at the Cashmere Valley, which finds its place in a group of mountains in the Indian states of Jamuu and Cashmere.  In this part of the world grows the Cashmere goat, so it is the animal that names this precious material.

The cold and the height of the zone, together with a good feeding, cause the wool to have a perfect shine and a unique touch. When spring comes, the goat sheds the wool and it has to be recollected in that exact moment. Unlike other processes, in this case the wool is carded instead of sheared, with a previous washing and combing to make it softer and without any imperfection.

It is funny that, despite the technological advances, this wool is still being collected as we just told you. Tradition is kept because it is the only way to get perfect cashmere. It has a very humble origin, but it is one of the most expensive materials used for sweaters, ties and scarves.

In the same Cashmere Valley, the inhabitants who couldn’t read or write had a very peculiar way of warning everyone that the harvest was about to start: they painted their fists with ink and stamped it everywhere for everyone to see. The shape that left this action was like a drop of water or an amoeba, a design that began to be woven.

Later, they began to stamp this design on cloths, getting a very original and unique effect. It became fashionable in the high classes, later they stamped it on carpets and shawls, and finally it was named paisley after a Scottish village. In the XVII century, the British Company of Orient India made the design popular and started selling it.

We love to research the origins of the simplest things that surround us, and we love it even more if it has to do with Asia. At Asia Gardens we invite you to know something else every week and to relax in a unique location while you keep learning. We are waiting for you.

Today from Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel  we speak of the another amazing web site that could not help but share with you. This is that Borobudur Temple, located in Central Java province, north of Indonesia.

Borobudur temple is not just temple, it’s the largest temple Buddhist in the world. It was built between 750 and 850 by rulers of the Sailendra dynasty. The exact name in Sanskrit Vihara Buddha Ur means, “the Buddhist Temple in the mountains”.

In XIV Century with the fall of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, the temple was abandoned and the inhabitants were converted to Islam. But 1814, the British governor of Java, Thomas Stamford Raffles discovered Borobudur and there began his splendor.

Between 1975 and 1982 a major restoration of the temple was conducted between the Indonesian government and UNESCO, after which it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Borobudur is the most visited tourist attraction in Indonesia. In addition, once a year Buddhists in Indonesia pilgrimage to this place to celebrate the Vesak, one of most important celebrations of Buddhism in which Budda is remembered.

The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path around it via stairs and corridors. In this way, the pilgrims are ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology. It is said that each platform represents a state of enlightenment.

In principle, the temple Borobudur was nothing but a pyramid-shaped stupa. When viewed from above, the shaped Buddhist mandala represents the cosmology of this religion. The monument has six square platforms topped by three circular and has over 504 Buddha statues, one inside each stupa.

Moreover, instead of being built on a flat surface, as is normal, it is on a natural hill, making it even more special. The Temple has a specific drainage system to prevent flooding, there are 100 pipes at each corner decorated with gargoyles to go unnoticed, a common view of the rain full in area.

We love to show you all that hides Asia. Do not hesitate to visit us for the best Asian atmosphere surround you in Spain. See you in Asia Gardens.