Rahala Club

25 Amazing Things To Do in Bangkok, Thailand

2014-04-02T05:24:00.001-07:00

Hiking the Ihlara Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey

2014-04-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

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Backpacking India (Part 1: New Delhi) YouTube video

2014-04-02T04:27:00.001-07:00

Favorite Korean street food snacks Youtube Video

2014-04-02T04:08:00.001-07:00

Around the world for the 9th time starts now!

2014-04-01T16:50:00.001-07:00

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21 Photographers Share The Most Amazing Shot They Ever Captured

2014-04-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

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A Big Fish Tale: The Honolulu Fish Auction

2014-04-01T15:54:00.004-07:00

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Santa Maria Maggiore: Enduring Since The Fall Of Rome

2014-04-01T15:41:00.001-07:00

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Europe's Secret Beaches

2014-03-29T11:03:00.004-07:00

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Friday Travel Geography Quiz

2014-03-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

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Photo gallery: MUNNAR | KERALA, INDIA

2014-03-28T09:15:00.001-07:00

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Saschiz: The Unknown Transylvanian Saxon Village “Hidden” in Romania

2014-03-28T08:27:00.001-07:00

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What do you do in London if you have only 3 hrs before your train ?

2014-03-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

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Travel Tuesdays: Interview with Jameela of Diary of an Expat

2014-03-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

by Beth Williams on March 25, 2014 in Travel Tuesdays

On Tuesdays, Besudesu Abroad would like to feature another really awesome traveler in various forms. Some Tuesdays may be interviews, while other may feature guest posts, videos and more!

This week we would like to introduce Jameela of Diary of an Expat. Jameela likes to think of herself as a serial expat, not because she’s lived everywhere but because she just can’t live in the same place too long. A few years ago she would just jump in a plane and go but now she has a family so she needs more planning and security. Luckily her husband and children love traveling too. They all have the travel bug so they enjoy planning, moving, settling down and discovering new things together.

1. What inspires you to travel, and how would you define the word ‘traveler’?

I’m a bit restless, I get bored of my surroundings (people, places, routine…) very fast so I move. Do you know that impression that you’ve lost your marks when you arrive somewhere new? I crave that feeling, for me it’s a chance to start again from scratch, like a blank page.

A traveler is one who likes to go places (far or close) without prejudice, one who doesn’t believe in stereotypes and prefers to discover things for himself.

2. For those who don’t yet know you, can you explain your travel style?

I travel for 2 reasons: to visit family in France and Tunisia, or to move to a new country. My expat travels only have one direction though, forward! I don’t retrace my steps… a new place is only home long enough to plan the next move.

3. How do you afford your travels?

Click here to complete the 12 questions interview from Travel tuesday and more intersting articles from besudesuabroad.

قلعة ألموت Alamut Castle

2014-02-15T05:50:00.003-08:00

mountain fortress located in Alamut region in the South Caspian province of Daylam near theRudbar region in Iran, approximately 100 km (60 mi) from present-day Tehran. The name means "Eagle's Nest".^[1]^:23

Under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah, Alamut became the site of intense activity for the Shi'a Nizari Ismai'li, along with a smaller subgroup known as the Assassins, between 1090 and 1256 AD. During the medieval period, the castle functioned as the major stronghold of the Nizari Ismaili state. In 1256, Ismaili control of the fortress was lost to the invading Mongols, and its famous library holdings were destroyed when the castle’s library was condemned to be burned by Ata-Malik Juvayni, a servant of the Mongol court. Sources on the history and thought of the Ismailis in this period are therefore lacking and the majority extant are written by their detractors.

After the Mongol destruction, the castle was of only regional significance, passing through the hands of various local powers. Today, it lies in ruins, but because of its historical significance, it is being developed by the Iranian government as a tourist destination.

لم يعرف الباني الأساسي للقلعة، ويقال أن من بناها هو أحد ملوك الديلم القدماء وسمّاها (ألوه أموت) ومعناها عش النسر، ثم جددها حاكم

علوي عام 860، وبقيت في أيديهم حتى دخلتها طائفة من الإسماعيلية ويسمون الحشاشين بواسطة أميرهم حسن الصباح بتاريخ 7 رجب 483 هـ / 4 أيلول/سبتمبر 1090 فطرد الحاكم منها، وقيل أنه اشتراها منه ب 3000 دينار ذهبي. ويوجد منها الآن حوالي بقايا خرائب بالجوار ل23 مبنى كانت مكتبات وحدائق. بقيت تلك الطائفة موجودة حتى دمرها هولاكو وهو في طريقه لغزو بغداد بتاريخ 15 كانون الأولديسمبر 1256. كانت القلعة حصينة جداً، لكن ركن الدين خورشاه وهو آخر أمراء الحصن استسلم بدون قتال على أمل أن يرحمهم هولاكو وهو مالم يفعله، فقد دمرها بالكامل.

في عام 2004، حصل زلزال قوي في المنطقة فخرب ما تبقى من الجدران الآيلة من الحصن.

قلعة ألموت -ولها نفس المعنى بالفارسية-وكر العقاب هي حصن جبلي موجود بوسط جبال. تبعد حوالي 100كم عن العاصمة طهران. ما تبقى من الحصن هو الخراب فقط

بني الحصن حوالي عام 840 وعلى ارتفاع 2,100 متر. وبنيت بطريقة أن لا يكون لها إلا طريق واحد يصل من وإليها ويلف على المنحدر مصطنع (المنحدر الطبيعي صخوره شديدة الانحدار وخطرة), لذلك أي غزو للحصن يجب أن يحسب له لخطورة الإقدام لهذا العمل.

Around The World Photos

2014-02-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

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Palau Island

2012-08-22T16:05:00.002-07:00

Palau is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the country's population of around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Bora Bora Island - French Polynesia (Pacific Ocean)

2012-08-22T13:40:00.002-07:00

Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island, located about 230 kilometres (140 mi) northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 meters (2,385 ft).

Iguazu Falls

2012-08-19T06:48:00.001-07:00

Iguazu Falls, are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of Brazilian State Paraná and Argentine Province Misiones.

The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River originates near the city of Curitiba. It flows through Brazil for most of its course. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Argentina and Brazil.

The word "Iguazu" means:"water".

Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.

The first European to find the falls was the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541.

Jeju Island - South Korea

2012-08-19T06:31:00.004-07:00

Jeju Island, also known as the "Island of the Gods," is a popular vacation spot for Koreans and foreigners. It remains the top honeymoon destination for Korean newlyweds, and is also regarded as one of the top honeymoon destinations in the world.

Despite attempts to market the island as "the Hawaii of Korea," climatologically and geographically it bears little in similarity to the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities: hiking on Halla-san (South Korea's highest peak) or Olle-gil(routes), catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, riding horses, touring all the locales from a favorite television K-drama, or just lying around on the sandy beaches.

Amazon Rainforest

2012-08-19T06:16:00.002-07:00

The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.

This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

The rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rain forest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes at least until the current ice age, when the climate was drier and savanna more widespread.

Ha Long Bay - Vietnam

2012-08-19T05:57:00.005-07:00

Ha Long Bay (means: "descending dragon bay") is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, located in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Long City, Cẩm Phả town, and part of Van Don district.

The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.

Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km², including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km² with a high density of 775 islets.

The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate.

The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem.Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.

Saladin Castle - Red Sea (Pharaoh's Island)

2012-08-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Summary of the first meeting - Rahala Club Volunteers

2012-07-28T05:34:00.001-07:00

Summary of the first meeting:

First I would like to thank you all for attending the meeting:

Omnia Mohamed, Omnia's Mom, Maha Fouda, Rasha Said, Mohamed Halaby, Ahmed Abu Alam, Amal Saleh, Heba Ibrahim, Amr Ali, Mohamed Shibiny, Maha Abdel Hamid, Hend Sebaey , Reham Tallawi, Lamiaa Khadr, Omar Sherif, Naser EL Sayed & Mohamed Salah.

Thanks for your care

We started the meeting according to our Agenda:

- Rahala Club Introduction / volunteers ice breaking / Rahala Club Volunteers concept / Committees explanation /Committees updated with subcategories according to volunteers recommendations / Every volunteer chose 2 committees .

-Ramadan Projects:

a) Free Rice Egypt
play online, learn online, feed the hunger
Play this free educational game online, for each answer you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to help end the hunger in the Sahel

how to join the game:
1. go to: http://freerice.com/content-group/rahala-club-egypt
2. Sign up > enter your name & email > the game will send u an email with your password
3. Check your email for the password > login in the game using ur username
4. Go again to: http://freerice.com/content-group/rahala-club-egypt
5. Join the group " Rahala Club Egypt"
6. Make sure to play everytime from this link " http://freerice.com/content-group/rahala-club-egypt" to unite our efforts in one group

b) Sign Petition to End the crisis in the Sahel
Call on governments to support plans for long-term investment in farming to help end the cycle of crisis.
Request the petition link here:
http://rahalaclub.blogspot.com/p/end-crisis-in-sahel.html
the petition link will appear once you press SUBMIT

c) Sign Petition to Rescue Animals in Egypt Zoos
Request the petition link here:
http://rahalaclub.blogspot.com/p/rescue-animals-in-egypt-zoos.html
the petition link will appear once you press SUBMIT

================================

Read more about : The crises in the Sahel:
http://rahalaclub.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-crises-in-sahel.html

The Crises in the Sahel

2012-07-28T05:04:00.001-07:00

For the third time in a decade, drought in the Sahel region of Africa is threatening millions of people with hunger. But how do people survive in these situations and what are we doing to help them? Here are the answers to eight questions about the current hunger crisis in the Sahel and WFP's response to it.

The Sahel countries: Senegal , Mauritania, Mali ,Burkina Faso, Niger,Cameron, Chad

One million children are hungry, act now

1. Why are people going hungry in the Sahel?
The rains only come once per year in the African Sahel and last year, they were patchy and late. That’s a recipe for disaster in a part of the world where most people live on what they can grow. When the rains don’t come on time, harvests fail, animals die and people start going hungry.

2. Which countries have been hit by the drought?
The drought is affecting a huge swathe of territory that covers parts of Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Gambia, Cameroon and northern Nigeria.

3. In addition to drought, what other factors have led to a food crisis in the Sahel?
Bad harvests this year have driven up the price of food at a time of year when it’s usually more affordable. High fuel costs and pest infestations haven’t helped. Conflict in northern Mali has been a major factor, forcing 320,000 peeple to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere in Mali, or in neighbouring countries. Either the way, this puts strain on communities already struggling to find enough food.

4. How do small farmers survive when they don’t grow enough food?
During hard times, families will often sell land or animals in order to buy food. That’s called a “negative coping strategy” because it leaves them poorer and more likely to go hungry in the long-term. When they run out of things to sell, families have little choice but to move to the cities or abroad in search of work.

5. Are droughts common in the Sahel?
Yes and they’re becoming even more common with climate change. This is the third drought to hit the Sahel in less than a decade. Particularly in Niger, many families haven’t yet fully recovered from the last drought in 2010 and have even less to fall back on now than they did then.

6. How is the situation in the Sahel this year different from droughts in the past?
Whereas droughts in 2005 and 2010 were felt most in Niger and parts of Chad, the food crisis this year is unfolding across the entire region, from Chad in the east all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the conflict in Mali added a whole new layer of complexity. Food prices in the region are also much higher than they were in 2010.

7. If this crisis is different, how is WFP responding differently?
In countries like Niger where food markets are holding up, WFP is providing hungry people with vouchers and cash that they can use to buy food at local markets. This helps the local economy and gives people a greater variety of food to choose from. WFP will also be buying much of the food it distributes from countries near to the Sahel, to cut down on the amount of time it takes to get to the people who need it.

8. How can we prevent droughts in the Sahel from causing food crises in the future?
The Sahel is an arid place prone to frequent droughts and yet most of the people who live there depend on rain-fed agriculture. Teaching people how to harvest rainwater in ponds and grow drought-resistant crops can help them to get through bouts of dry weather. Another way to stave off hunger are village granaries where families can borrow grain during the lean season and then "repay" it at the next harvest.