Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean

17 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna © Thivagaranp/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna © Thivagaranp/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in the northern Indian Ocean off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia; known until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest. Sri Lanka has a documented history that spans over 3000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka is a diverse country, home to many religions, ethnicities and languages. It is the land of the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings were composed on the island. The country’s recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively but controversially ended in a military victory in 2009.   read more…

Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam

7 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

Hotel Majestic © flickr.com - calflier001/cc-by-sa-2.0

Hotel Majestic © flickr.com – calflier001/cc-by-sa-2.0

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly named Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer sea port prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent republic of South Vietnam from 1955–75. South Vietnam was a capitalist and anti-communist state which fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, with the assistance of the United States and other countries. On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell and the war ended with a Communist victory. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used). The metropolitan area, which consists of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area, Thủ Dầu Một, Dĩ An, Biên Hòa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9,000,000 people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam. The city’s population is expected to grow to 13.9 million in 2025.   read more…

Tsukiji fish market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world

1 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Ovc/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Ovc/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Tsukiji Market is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo, and was a major attraction for foreign visitors. Currently however, access is no longer permitted to the inner market, and the outer market is open to visitors only after 9:00 AM. While this regulating was in place for quite some time, recently it is enforced. There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The “inner market” (jōnai-shijō) is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The “outer market” (jōgai-shijō) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants. Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier.   read more…

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

9 August 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Pechristener/cc-by-sa-2.0

© Pechristener/cc-by-sa-2.0

Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is a 26.7 km (16.6 mi) long roadway bridge in eastern China’s Shandong province, which is part of the 41.58 km (25.84 mi) Jiaozhou Bay Connection Project. As of December 2012, Guinness World Records lists the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge as the world’s “longest bridge over water (aggregate length)” at 41.58 km (25.84 mi).   read more…

Shanghai World Financial Center

28 June 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and Jin Mao Tower © Mr.XY/cc-by-sa-3.0

Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and Jin Mao Tower © Mr.XY/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Shanghai World Financial Center is a supertall skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai in China. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by the Mori Building Company, with Leslie E. Robertson Associates as its structural engineer and China State Construction Engineering Corp and Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co. as its main contractor. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and ground-floor shopping malls. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the tower’s hotel component, comprising 174 rooms and suites. Occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, surpassing the Grand Hyatt Shanghai on the 53rd to 87th floors of the neighboring Jin Mao Tower. It is the second-highest hotel in the world after The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, which occupies floors 102 to 118 of the International Commerce Centre. The building has a floor area of about 380,000 m² (4,107,500 sq ft). The construction costs reached USD $ 1.20 billion.   read more…

Erbil in Iraq

10 May 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

City Park © Myararat83/cc-by-sa-3.0

City Park © Myararat83/cc-by-sa-3.0

Erbil, with a population of approximately 1.3 million (2009), the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. The city is located in Iraqi Kurdistan. It lies 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Mosul, and is the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city officially has been appointed Arab Tourism Capital 2014 by the Arab Council of Tourism.   read more…

Taipei 101, second tallest building of the world

2 April 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Green Buildings, Green Technologies, Intelligent Buildings Reading Time:  7 minutes

Taipei 101 - New Year's fireworks 2008 © Ukyo Hsieh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Taipei 101 – New Year’s fireworks 2008 © Ukyo Hsieh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District in Taipei. The building ranked officially as the world’s tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world. Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The construction was finished in 2004. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year’s Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media.   read more…

Taipei, capital of Taiwan

15 February 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Office of the President © Jiang

Office of the President © Jiang

Taipei, officially known as Taipei City, is the capital of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of Taiwan, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River; it is about 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Keelung, a port city on the Pacific Ocean. It lies in the Taipei Basin, an ancient lakebed bounded by the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city’s western border. The city proper is home to an estimated 2,619,000 people. Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung together form the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with a population of 6,900,000. They are administered under three municipal governing bodies. “Taipei” sometimes refers to the whole metropolitan area, while “Taipei City” refers to the city proper. Taipei City proper is surrounded on all sides by New Taipei.   read more…

Theme Week Singapore – Gardens by the Bay

1 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  5 minutes

Supertree Grove © flickr.com - Shiny Things/cc-by-2.0

Supertree Grove © flickr.com – Shiny Things/cc-by-2.0

Gardens by the Bay is a park spanning 101 hectares (1,010,000 m2) of reclaimed land in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. Gardens by the Bay is an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a “Garden City” to a “City in a Garden”. The stated aim is to raise the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top