Interesting Places From Around The World

Cathedral Made Ouf Human Remains

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:19:00 +0000

The Sedlec Ossuary a.k.a the Church of Bones is a small and the most unusual Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whom have had their bones artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.

Palau: Pamper Yourself Nature's Way

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:09:00 +0000

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 km) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of Tokyo. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and smallest sovereign states. In English, the name is sometimes spelled Belau in accordance with the native pronunciation. It was formerly also spelled Pelew.

Palau is blessed with one of nature's most coveted indigenous spas, the Milky Way. A tourist spot famous for its natural spa therapy. Location of the Milky Way is somewhat hidden in the Rock Islands are a little mysterious, but once you're there, you will find its own preoccupations to treat your skin smooth even for a moment in a natural SPA treatments. Milky Way is so called because the sea water in this area has a light blue color with a white mixture of milk, because the seabed there is not more than 20 feet, the mud contains natural sulfur milky white. Just dip into the water and put on the sand all over your body and treat yourself and your skin to the long lasting softness effect of it with proven moisturizers that can make skin and hair shiny and healthy. You can always see tourists with their skin white and shining as they apply the white mud from the lagoon all over their body. Try this for a relaxing and soothing experience.

Check out the video here.

Tanah Lot

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:05:00 +0000

Tanah Lot is a rock formation off the Indonesian island of Bali. It is home of a pilgrimage temple, the Pura Tanah Lot (literally "Tanah Lot temple") and a popular tourist and cultural icon for photography and general exoticism. Located in Tabanan, about 20 km from Denpasar, the temple sits on a large offshore rock which has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide.

Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

The Tanah Lot temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast. However, the temple had significant Hindu influence.

At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. A giant snake purportedly protects the temple, which was created from Nirata's scarf when he established the island.

The area leading to Tanah Lot is highly commercialized and people are required to pay to enter the area. To reach the temple, visitors must walk through a carefully planned set of Balinese market-format souvenir shops which cover each side of the path down to the sea. On the mainland cliff tops, restaurants have also been provided for tourists.

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RepairPal: Auto Repair Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:20:00 +0000

It is essential to double check your car's condition especially before going for a vacation. This is to avoid the car from breaking down while travelling outstation. It is important to perform car checking beforehand because after certain duration of time, your car will not perform as reliable as you first bought it.

Don't worry, if you're having hard time in finding car services, then RepairPal is what you look for. It provides car repairs, maintenance, extensive auto shop directory, expert advice and guidance from a reliable certified mechanics. RepairPal also helps consumers save money on their cars by providing fair service price estimates.

RepairPals presents a top rated San Diego auto repair and Mechanics not only in the city but all over the world that could provide quick, dependable service at a low price. You can also use RepairPal to check out the make and model of your favorite car like Ford F-150 you are considering to buy. It gives you detailed information about Q&A, recalls, and reviews.

Another good feature of the site is their encyclopedia. It allows you to search for how-to and helpful hints, for example, check engine light. It describes what it means and what to do.

Overall, RepairPal is a one-stop auto site, offering free info for all your automotive needs!

Kakadu National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 1,980,400 ha (4,894,000 acres), extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland. The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive Uranium mines in the world, is contained within the park.

Maguk

Gunlom

Kakadu National Park is a major tourist attraction in Australia's north. Visitation in 2005 was 202,000. Kakadu's dramatic landscape, Aboriginal cultural significance and diverse and abundant wildlife are what visitors are drawn to. There are many beautiful waterfalls and gorges within the Park that are popular with visitors such as Maguk, Gunlom, Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls.

Twin Falls

Jim Jim Falls

Kakadu National Park has some of the best examples of Aboriginal rock art in Australia. The sites of Nourlangie and Ubirr are among the most visited locations in the Park. It is possible to view some of Kakadu's diverse wildlife at places like Yellow Water Billabong, Cooinda on board a wildlife cruise or at Mamukala Wetlands or Anbangbang Billabong. The Kakadu region is one of the world's best for bird watching as approximately 30 percent of Australia's bird species can be seen here.

Aboriginal rock painting at Ubirr

Aboriginal rock painting of Mimi spirits in the Anbangbang gallery at Nourlangie Rock

Large saltwater crocodiles are also common place and visitors are likely to see them at Yellow Water and East Alligator River so it was no coincidence that the Crocodile Dundee films were shot here. Visitors are urged to exercise caution around crocodiles as they have been responsible for a number of fatal attacks. Recreational fishing is a popular activity inside Kakadu National Park. The main target species is Barramundi and the most popular locations are Yellow Water, the South Alligator and the East Alligator River. Hunting is not allowed in Kakadu National Park.

There are several accommodation options in the Park, mostly found in the town of Jabiru, as well as a range of services to cater to visitor's needs. Visitors can experience Kakadu National Park with a recognised tour operator or they can drive themselves. Many of the Park's sites are accessible by standard two wheel drive vehicles, but areas like Twin and Jim Jim Falls and Gunlom require four wheel drive vehicles. Visitors can experience Kakadu National Park via the Nature's Way tourism drive which is a loop from Darwin to Jabiru then onto Katherine and back to Darwin covering approximately 900km.

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Casa Batllo: House Of Bones

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:59:00 +0000

Casa Batlló is a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904-1906; located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia, part of the Illa de la Discòrdia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Spain. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Josep Canaleta y Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project.

The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.

The building looks very remarkable like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.

It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudi's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

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The Stone Forest of Madagascar

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:24:00 +0000

The Bemaraha National Park is situated in the west of Madagascar and covers 752 square kms of incredibly scenery. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 due to the unique geography, preserved mangrove forests, and wild bird and lemur populations, and is home to the truly amazing stone forest known as the Tsingy. The southern end of the protected area has subsequently been changed into the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, covering 666 square kilometres (257 sq mi). The northern end of the protected area remains as a strict nature reserve (Réserve Naturelle Intégrale) covering 853 square kilometres (329 sq mi).

Tourists can access the national park by road from Morondava, a town 150 km south of the park. Limited access is also possible from the town of Antsalova, which can be reached by plane from Antananarivo or Mahajanga.

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Antalya Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:34:00 +0000

Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey, and the capital city of Antalya Province. Situated on coastal cliffs, Antalya is surrounded by mountains. Development and investment, begun in the 1970s, have transformed the city into an international resort. Antalya is known for being the most popular holiday resort of Turkey. Situated in the Mediterranean region, it is a cheap holiday spot that has excellent restaurants, designer shops and other major attractions. It attracts tourists more due to the fact that it has incomparable natural beauty in addition to attractive tourist spots that must be visited once in lifetime.

Antalya travel guide

Beautiful Golden Gate Park

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:24:00 +0000

Japanese Tea Garden

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres (4.12 km2; 1.589 sq mi) of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles (5 km) long east to west, and about half a mile north to south. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most visited city park in the United States.

Stow Lake

San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum

Golden Gate Park provides you with the perfect backdrop: miles and miles of lush greenery. The park also includes the Japanese Tea Garden. Situated inside the Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden boasts well-manicured lawns and unique architecture. Golden Gate Park has over one million trees, nine lakes, several fly casting pools and a lily pond within its borders. Golden Gate National Parks chronicle two hundred years of history, from the Native American culture, the Spanish Empire frontier, and the growth of urban San Francisco. Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers and several museums are among its many attractions. Rent a boat and drift or paddle around circular Stow Lake with Strawberry Hill in the center.

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Lake Louise

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:38:00 +0000

Lake Louise is a lake in Alberta, Canada. The glacial lake is located in Banff National Park, 5 km (3 mi) from the hamlet of Lake Louise and the Trans-Canada Highway. Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of the Marquess of Lorne, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883.

The emerald colour of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake. The lake has a surface of 0.8 km2 (0.3 sq mi) and is drained through the 3 km long Louise Creek into the Bow River. The eastern shore of the lake is dominated by Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada's grand railway hotels, a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Moraine Lake and Lake Agnes are also accessible from Lake Louise.

A variety of hiking trails exist around the lake. Hiking trails include trips to Saddleback Pass, Fairview Mountain (2,744 m (9,003 ft)), Mirror Lake, Lake Agnes, Big Beehive, Little Beehive, Devils Thumb, Mount Whyte, and Mount Niblock. Some of these trails are open to mountain biking and horseback riding, and the surrounding mountain faces offer opportunities for rock climbing. Kayaking and canoeing are popular activities during summer, and a boat launch and rental facility are maintained on the north-eastern shore. The nearby Lake Louise Ski Area, formerly known as Lake Louise Mountain Resort, offers amenities for alpine and Cross-country skiing, as well as heli-skiing and snowboarding. The lake can be used for ice fishing and ice skating in winter, while the surrounding area offers settings for snowmobiling, dog sledding, snowshoeing and ice climbing.

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Deep Down The Well

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Chand Baori is a famous stepwell situated in the village of Abhaneri near Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan. This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in the 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps in 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.

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Atocha Train Station and Its Unique Greenhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:45:00 +0000

Madrid Atocha is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the primary station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), intercity and regional trains from the south, and the AVE high speed trains from Barcelona (Catalonia) and Seville (Andalusia). These train services are run by the Spanish national rail company, Renfe. The station is in the Atocha neighborhood of the district of Arganzuela. The original facade faces the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, a site at which a variety of streets converge, including the Calle de Atocha, Paseo del Prado, Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona, Calle de Méndez Álvaro, Paseo de las Delicias, Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza, and Ronda de Atocha.

The Atocha station is really a railway complex, formed by the Madrid Atocha Cercanías and Madrid Puerta de Atocha stations of the Spanish national railways and the Atocha Renfe station of the Madrid underground.

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The Biggest Tent In The World

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:20:00 +0000

This is Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center located in Astana. It is the biggest giant futuristic like transparent tent on our planet that became a sensation in the architecture world since the capital of Kazakhstan has a difficult environment to build such a brave project. The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 9 December 2006.

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The 150m-high (500 ft) tent has a 200m elliptical base covering 140,000 square meters. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, minigolf and indoor beach resort. The roof is constructed from ETFE suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating and cooling systems is designed to maintain an internal temperature between 15-30°C in the main space and 19-24°C in the retail units, while outside the temperature varies between -35 to +35°C across the year.

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Chal Nakhjir Cave

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:39:00 +0000

Chal Nakhjir is a rare geological phenomenon, discovered in 1989 and is located on the side of the road connecting Delijan to Naragh, Markazi province, Iran. The cave belongs to the Cenozoic period and has been formed as a result of tectonic factors and aerobic chemical reactions.

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Chal Nakhjir is known for its exceptional white dolomite sediments, covering the floor of major corridors of the cave. The speleothems are exceptional too, looking like white popcorn. Even regular stalactites and stalagmites have this pure white cover of calcite and aragonite crystals. The height of this cave in some places reaches over 20 m while having deep valleys in its divergent paths. A cave lake is located 140m inside the cave, 70m below the entrance.

The cave opened for public on March 2010.

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Marina Bay Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:26:00 +0000

Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion (US$5.7 billion), including cost of the prime land.

When complete, the resort will feature a 2,560-room hotel, a 120,000 sq.m. convention-exhibition center, The Shoppes mall, an Art-Science museum, two Sands Theatres, six "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating pavilions, a casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m. The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects. The local architect of record was Aedas Singapore, and engineering was provided by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP)

Originally set to open in 2009, Las Vegas Sands faced delays caused by escalating costs of material and labour shortages from the onset. The severe global financial crisis also pressured the company to delay its projects elsewhere to complete the integrated resort. Although Marina Bay Sands has been compared on scale and development costs to MGM's CityCenter, the latter is a mixed-use development, with condominium properties - comprising three of the seven main structures, being sold off.

The resort was officially opened with a two-day celebration on 23 June 2010 at 3.18 pm, after a partial opening earlier in April. The museum, theatres and floating pavilions are still being built and are expected to be fully completed by December 2010.

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The Crazy House

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:24:00 +0000

Hang Nga guesthouse, popularly known as The Crazy House, is an unconventional hotel building constructed from a project by Hang Viet Nga in Da Lat, Vietnam. The building conveys a distinctive fairy-tale-like mood, and comprises complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes, much in the spirit of Gaudi and Hundertwasser.

The Underground Waterfall

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:09:00 +0000

Ruby Falls is a 145-foot high underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain, near Rock City and Chattanooga, Tennessee in the United States. The cave which houses Ruby Falls was formed with the formation of Lookout Mountain. About 200 to 240 million years ago (in the Carboniferous period, at the end of the Paleozoic era) the eastern Tennessee area was covered with a shallow sea, the sediments of which eventually formed limestone rock. About 200 million years ago, this area was uplifted and subsequent erosion has created the current topography. The limestone in which the cave is formed is still relatively horizontal, just as it was deposited when it was below sea level. The Lookout Mountain Caverns, which includes Ruby Falls Cave, is a limestone cave. These caves occur when slightly acidic groundwater enters subterranean streams and eats away at the relatively soluble limestone, causing narrow cracks to widen into passages and caves in a process called chemical weathering. The stream which makes up the Falls entered the cave sometime after its formation.

Ruby Falls Cave features many of the more well-known types of cave formations (or speleothems) including stalactites and stalagmites, columns, drapery, and flowstone. The Falls are located at the end of the main passage of Ruby Falls Cave, in a large vertical shaft. The stream, 1120 feet underground, is fed both by rainwater and natural springs. It collects in a pool in the cave floor and then continues through the mountain until finally joining the Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain. While Ruby Falls Cave combines with Lookout Mountain Cave to form the Lookout Mountain Caverns, the two caves were not actually connected by any passage. Ruby Falls Cave is the upper of the two and contains a variety of geological formations and curiosities which Lookout Mountain Cave does not have.

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The 2010 FIFA World Cup Venues

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg A football-specific stadium, Soccer City is currently the largest stadium in Africa with a capacity of 94,700. Most of the largest football events in South Africa are played at Soccer City and the venue is better suited to these events than the Ellis Park Stadium, where the final for the Rugby World Cup in 1995 was held. Soweto and the National Exhibition Centre in Nasrec are nearby.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban is a stadium in Durban, South Africa, named after Moses Mabhida, a former General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. It is intended to be a world-class multi-use stadium. It will be one of the host stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The stadium has a planned capacity of 70,000 during the World Cup and 54,000 afterwards. The stadium is adjacent to the Kings Park Stadium, in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct, and the Durban street circuit used for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg is a rugby union, association football and athletics stadium in Phokeng near Rustenburg, South Africa. It was built and is managed by the Royal Bafokeng Nation. It is used as the home stadium for Premier Soccer League club Platinum Stars. The capacity of the stadium was increased from 38,000 to 44,530 to be able to host five first round matches and one second round match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Royal Bafokeng Stadium plays host to the round one Group C match between England and the United States on 12 June, 2010.

Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane is a football stadium in Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg), South Africa, that will be used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. When completed in 2010 it will have a capacity of 46,000. It was named after Peter Mokaba, a former leader of the ANC Youth League. It is located 5 kilometers from the city centre and is located just east of the existing Pietersburg Stadium. The stadium is one of five new stadiums that will be built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Initial plans to upgrade the current Peter Mokaba Stadium were abandoned in favour of the R1,245,000,000 (ZAR) new Peter Mokaba stadium.

Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein is a stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, used for rugby union, as well as football (soccer). It was originally built in 1995 for that year's Rugby World Cup.

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruits a newly built all seater 43,500-seat stadium and is one of the ten venues for the FIFA World Cup 2010. It is located on open land six kilometers west of Nelspruit, South Africa, with the stadium as the centrepiece of a proposed wider sports precinct with athletics and cricket as well as other sporting codes. The R1,050-million sports facility was ready for use well ahead of the June 2010 World Cup kickoff and has been made possible through taxpayer funding.

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria is a sports stadium situated in Pretoria, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,762 and is an all seater venue. Recently hosted the 2009 Currie Cup final.

Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg is a rugby union and association football stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the country's national team, the Springboks. The large stadium was the country's most modern when it was upgraded in 1982 to accommodate almost 60,000 people. Today, the stadium hosts both football and rugby.

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth is a 48,000-seater stadium in Port Elizabeth. The five-tier, R2 billion (approximately US$270million) Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was built overlooking the North End Lake, at the heart of the city. It is one of three coastal stadiums built in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It regularly hosts large scale football and rugby matches. The stadium has also been used as a concert venue.

Green Point Stadium, Cape Town is a newly built stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the planning stage it was known as the Green Point Stadium, which was the name of the previous stadium on the site. The stadium is located in Green Point, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, close to the Cape Town city center and to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a popular tourist and shopping venue. The stadium has a capacity of 69,070. The stadium is connected to the waterfront by a new road connection, Granger Bay Boulevard, and is surrounded by a 60 hectare urban park.

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Potala Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:22:00 +0000

The Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was named after Mount Potala, the abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, after an invasion and failed uprising in 1959. Today the Potala Palace has been converted into a museum by the Chinese government.

The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings – containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues – soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor. Before the first skyscrapers were built, the Potala Palace was the world's tallest building.

Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet." Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara.

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Yunak Evleri Hotel In Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:20:00 +0000

Yunak Evleri is a well known hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey. It is a combination of six cave houses with a total of 27 private cave rooms dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries and crowned with a 19th century Greek Mansion. Yunak Evleri is an inspiring hotel - an ideal base for exploring Cappadocia's elaborate underground cities, hidden cavernous churches and enchanting rock terrain.

The name of the neighbourhood "YUNAK" comes from the old days when women used to do all their washing and of course, socialising by the fountain located at the village square. Being by the fountain and at the Yunak was the center of daily life.

These exceptional cave houses are renovated and decorated with care and in their own distinct style with strictly respecting the local character. The decor is elegant and personalized with beautiful hand-crafted furnishings and antiques. With 27 rooms, Yunak Evleri is small enough to be intimate, yet large enough to offer you privacy.

Mont Saint-Michel

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:42:00 +0000

Mont Saint-Michel is a rocky tidal island and a commune in Normandy, France (Le Mont-Saint-Michel). Its pyramid-like outline has become famous the world over and thousands of tourist flock each year for a Mont St. Michel tour. It is located approximately one kilometer (just over a half-mile) off the country's north coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. The population of the island is 41. The mount is best known for the medieval Benedictine Abbey and steepled church that occupies most of the 1km-diameter clump of rocks jutting out of the waters of the English Channel. At high tide, Mont St Michel is almost entirely separated from the mainland. Only a narrow causeway, constructed in the 1880s preserves a link to the coast. (A bridge to replace the causeway and allow the circulation of tidal waters in the bay is scheduled for completion in 2012.) Beware: the tide comes in quickly (as swiftly as a galloping horse), as Victor Hugo claimed many tourists have drowned attempting to cross the sandy bay.

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Pink Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:56:00 +0000

Lake Retba or Lac Rose lies north of the Cap Vert peninsula of Senegal, north east of Dakar. It is so named for its pink waters, caused by cyanobacteria in the water. The color is particularly visible during the dry season. The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily. The lake also has a small salt collecting industry and is often the finishing point of the Dakar Rally.
Many salt collectors work 6-7 hours a day in the lake, which has a salt content close to 40%. In order to protect their skin, they rub their skin with "Beurre de Karité" (shea butter, produced from shea nuts obtained from the Shea nut tree), which is an emollient used to avoid tissue damage. This lake was used on a task of the Amazing Race 6 in which teams had to collect salt in a basket from the bottom of the lake floor.

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Boulders Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located in the Cape Peninsula, near Simon's Town towards Cape Point, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is also commonly known as Boulders Bay.

It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where newly-constructed boardwalks take visitors to within a few meters of the birds. It is also a popular swimming beach, although humans are restricted to beaches adjacent to the penguin colony.

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Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:12:00 +0000

The Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is a national park located in the African nation of Madagascar. The national park centers on two geological formations, the Great Tsingy and the Little Tsingy. Together with the adjacent Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, the National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the karst badlands of Madagascar. The word can be translated into English as where one cannot walk barefoot.

The Tsingys are karstic plateaus in which groundwater has undercut the elevated uplands, and has gouged caverns and fissures into the limestone. Because of local conditions, the erosion is patterned vertically as well as horizontally. In several regions on western Madgascar, centering on this National Park and adjacent Nature Reserve, the superposition of vertical and horizontal erosion patterns has created dramatic "forests" of limestone needles.

The unusual geomorphology of the Tsingy de Bemaraha World Heritage Site, which encompasses both the National Park and the adjacent Strict Nature Reserve, means that the Site is home to an exceptionally large number of endemic species of plants and animals that are found only within extremely small niches within the tsingys. For example, the summit, slope, and base of a tsingy's limestone needle form different ecosystems with different species clinging to their exceptionally steep slopes.

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Huacachina Village

noreply@blogger.com (Valerie Jessica Lim) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Huacachina is a village in the Ica Region, in southwestern Peru. It is located in the Ica Province, near the city of Ica in the Ica District. Huacachina has a population of 115 (1999). The oasis features on the back of the 50 Nuevo Sol note.

Huacachina is built around a small natural lake in the desert. Called the "oasis of America," it serves as a resort for local families from the nearby city of Ica, and increasingly as an attraction for tourists drawn by the sports of sandboarding and taking dune buggy rides on sand dunes that stretch several hundred feet high.

Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess was apprehended at her bath by a young hunter. She fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. And the woman herself is rumored to still live in the oasis as a mermaid.

Currently, private landowners near the oasis have installed wells, in order to access the groundwater. This has had the effect of drastically reducing the level of water in the oasis. To compensate for this water loss, and preserve the oasis as an aesthetically pleasing destination for tourists, the city began a process of artificially pumping water into the oasis.

The area is popular for both dune buggying and sandboarding; exhilarating and unusual sports which are popular with visitors and locals alike. However, injuries are not uncommon, and several people have been killed in recent years sand boarding into the buildings surrounding the oasis. Sadly the dunes around the town have been overtaken by crime. Many tourists have been mugged in broad daylight. It is not recommended that tourists climb the dunes alone or at night.