World’s Largest Radio Telescope

Image from Panoramio is by AMartinez

Image from Panoramio is by Talavan

View Larger Map   View in Google Earth   Wikipedia

This bizarre looking thing is the largest single-aperture radio-telescope ever constructed. It is part of the observatory complex known as Arecibo Observatory located near the town of Arecibo in Puerto Rico. The main collecting dish is 305 metres in diameter and is constructed inside the natural depression caused by a sinkhole.

The strange looking platform seen in the photographs and in the aerial view is basically the receiver, located on a 900-ton platform suspended 150 metres in the air above the dish by 18 cables running from three reinforced concrete towers, one of which is 110m high and the other two of which are 80 metres high so that the tops of the three towers are at the same elevation. The platform has a 93 metres long rotating bow-shaped track called the azimuth arm on which receiving antennas, secondary and tertiary reflectors are mounted.

The telescope is also a main part of SETI@home (Wikipedia) - The project for searching signals from Extra-terrestrial Intelligence.

Due to its distinctive and strange shape it has been used in man films/TV serials notably in the James Bond movie GoldenEye (as the villain's antenna),  Contact (based on Carl Sagan’s novel) and in the "X-Files" episode "Little Green Men".

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Can You Recognise This # 2

Here is #2. It is also an easy one. First few will be practice runs then more difficult ones will follow - so be ready

Guess what it is and send your answer through the comments link given below or to the E-mail ID given in the right hand column.

Correct answer and name and country of correct identifier(s) will be posted along with next ‘Can you recognise this?’ post. You may give your real name or pseudo name as you wish, but I would request that you atleast indicate the country. Thanks

Can You Recognise This # 1


Click on image for answer.
Well done Dawn, Anjum, Blaze, Joker, Syed, Abuaamir and James1. 
I must compliment Dawn who posted a very quick answer.

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Riding the Lion's Back

The Lion's Back is a sandstone ridge in Moab, Utah, USA and was very popular spot for adventurous drive up and down the the climb on a 25-65 degree slope.

Motorists used to climb several hundred feet, took a guided multi-point turn at the top of the rock and then slowly descended it.

There have been several crashes and now reportedly it is off limit for motorists.

Image from Panoramio is by Michael Goermann

View in Google Earth  Google Maps  More Images

Here is a video clip of a successful round trip

and this one rolled over

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Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro

The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire was completed in 1989 at a cost of US $300 million. It was consecrated on September 10, 1990, by Pope John Paul II. The design of its dome is inspired by the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican City, although it is not a replica.

While designing it after the Vatican Basilica, architect Pierre Fakhoury constructed the dome to be slightly lower than the Basilica of Saint Peter, but ornamented it with a larger cross on top. The finished height is 158 meters. The basilica is constructed with marble imported from Italy and is furnished with 7,000 square meters of contemporary stained glass from France. There is enough space to seat 7,000 people in the nave, with standing room for an additional 11,000 people.

As per http://www.churchesguide.com "There is debate over whether the Vatican's St Peter's Basilica is larger, however Yamoussoukro holds the record according to the Guinness World Records which lists it as the largest church in the world, having surpassed the previous recordholder, St. Peter's Basilica, upon completion."

Image from Panoramio is by SelimAzad

Image from http://fotki.yandex.ru is by m.y.

Image from http://fotki.yandex.ru is by m.y.    View Larger Image

View in Google Earth  Google Maps
Main Source of Info: Wikipedia

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Which is the World's Largest Church?

Strangely when I tried to find the answer to this I couldn’t get a clear cut answer because the term “Largest” is vague. As per Wikipedia-List of largest church buildings in the world;

"Largest" is at best a vague term, which is often not qualified by claimants. Accepted measures of largeness could include area, volume, length, width, height, and capacity (although the latter is far more subjective). It is important to note therefore that churches may claim to be "the largest" based on only one of these measurements; and thus that there may be several churches have equal claim to be the "nth largest church". Since there is no official body governing these claims, there is no generally accepted criteria for being "the largest church".

For many centuries St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican city was considered to be  largest Church in the World and it still is the “Greatest” but a search on the Internet yields names of three churches, two in Africa and one in South Korea, which are claimed to be largest.

These three churches are;

1. Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
   
2. Tabernacle, the headquarters of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (aka Winners' Chapel) in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria and
   
3. Yoido Full Gospel Church, Yeouido Island, Seoul, South Korea
   

Since this is a travelogue I will not go into the controversy as to which is largest.
St. Peter's Basilica is World famous and every one knows about it so I will not cover it here but will cover above three churches one by one in my subsequent posts (not necessarily consecutively). I also seek readers comments/opinion regarding this.

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Strokes of Nature - Black Dragon

Brush strokes of Nature has created some wonderful and beautiful surrealistic paintings on the Earth canvas. Here is "Black Dragon" near Holtnakatna Creek and Teethcanoe Lake at Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge, Yukon, Alaska.

View Larger Image   Google Earth   Google Maps

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Can You Recognise This - 1 - Hint

I have recieved two correct asnwers till now - A good beginning and thank you to both of you who have particiated in the quiz.

Hint for others - It is located in India.

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Can You Recognise This # 1

Change of perspective due to high altitude imagery presents a totally different view of the terrain/buildings. When seen from above, even the famous and well known landmarks, cannot be easily recognised. However with practice one can make out the shape and identify most of the buildings.

Starting from today, every 2nd/3rd day I will post a Google Earth view of some World famous building/landmark for the readers to guess what it is. Depending on the response I may from time to time give hints for easy identification.

Here is the first and an easy one;

Guess what it is and send your answer through the comments link given below or to the E-mail ID given in the right hand column.

Correct answer and name and country of correct identifier(s) will be posted along with next  ‘Can you recognise this?’ post. You may give your real name or pseudo name as you wish, but I would request that you atleast indicate the country. Thanks

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Town Which Twice Escaped Atom Bomb Annihilation

The town of Kokura in Japan twice escaped annihilation from 1945 atomic bombs.  It was one of the three target towns selected by the Americans. 

For the first bombing on August 6, Hiroshima was the primary target with Kokura, which had several big arms factories in western Japan, being second choice and Nagasaki as the third choice.

Mission directive was to proceed and Bomb Hiroshima and if it was under cloud cover then to proceed to Kokura and thereafter to Nagasaki, if Kokura was also under cloud.
On 6th August when the B-29 bomber aircraft "Enola Gay" arrived over the primary target - Hiroshima, it was in clear visibility. The first atom bomb code-named "Little Boy" was therefore released over the city resulting in massive destruction of life and property to a scale never witnessed before.

For the second Bombing Kokura was the first choice and Nagasaki was the second choice.

On the morning of August 9, 1945, when the B-29 bomber aircraft "Bockscar" carrying second atom bomb code-named "Fat Man" reached Kokura a 70% cloud cover plus smoke form nearby conventionally bombed city had obscured it, prohibiting the visual attack required by orders. After three runs over the city, and with fuel running low, the aircraft headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki. which was also initially under cloud cover but at 11:01, a last minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed Bockscar's bombardier, to visually sight the target as ordered and "Fat Man" was dropped over the city's industrial valley resulting again in massive damage to life and property.

Given below is an aerial view of present day Kokura which was saved by destiny or coincidence - who knows? In any case Japanese now frequently use the term 'Luck of Kokura'.

Image from Flickr is by T . J . M

View in Google Earth  Google Maps  Wikipedia

Main source of info - Wikipedia

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London Bridge has fallen down

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down....... is a very old and popular nursery rhyme.

This post is not about the famous London Bridge in London but is about its namesake natural bridge in the Port Campbell National Park, Australia.

Image (Circa 1988) from Panoramio is by atiiota

This natural bridge was formed by a continuous but slow of erosion of land by the sea and till 1990 it was a double-arch bridge leading upto the edge of the land mass. Because of its shape it was known as London Bridge.

On 15 January 1990 one arch collapsed leaving two persons stranded on the extreme end, who were later rescued by a helicopter.

Image from Panoramio is by Joe Gattuso
View more photos and Google Maps at Panoramio
View in Google Earth Credit: GEC post by LukiBester

After the collapse of one arch, it is now known as London Arch and is a big tourist attraction along the Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell in Victoria.

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How to post comments (in Blogger Blogs)

Some of my acquaintances who are not very well conversant with computers have asked me the procedure to write comments. For their benefit as well as for benefit of all novices I am explaining below the methodology which is specifically written for this travelogue but will generally be applicable to all Blogger (or blogspot) blogs. I am not a good teacher and I hope my explanation is understood by all. 

The comments link is given at the end of each post as pictured below. Click on this link to proceed (but please do not click on the image shown below)

The post will expand to show the Comment Box as pictured below. Now follow the steps as pictorially explained here-in-after.

The drop down menu

You are now back to main comment page

If your comment was posted successfully you will get following message;

Happy Commenting!

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Almost Perfect Cone - Mt. Taranaki

Image from Panoramio is by Rudi Walter

View in Google Earth     Google Maps and Street View     Wikipedia 

Mount Taranaki (aka Mount Egmont), New Zealand, is a volcano with almost perfect cone. It last erupted in 1755 and is located within Egmont National Park whose protected/reserved area is specified as a 9.6 km radius from the summit of Mt. Taranaki.

The almost unique circle shape seen in satellite imagery is due to contrast with the surrounding pasture lands which extend right upto the circular limits of the National Park.

As it's shape and the surroundings resemble Mount Fuji, it was used a locale for Tom Cruise's famous movie -  The Last Samurai.

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Unique Curling Bridge

Image source: Wikipedia

London is one of the biggest tourist destination but not many are aware about this Unique Curling Bridge (officially known as Rolling Bridge) located at Paddington Basin, London on the Grand Union Canal. It is the only bridge of its kind in the World.

Built in 2004, it is meant for pedestrians and every Friday at noon it is curled into an octagonal circle to allow passage of the boats. When fully opened, the bridge becomes a flat 12.9 metres long walkway spanning the 8.5 metres wide canal. It has eight sections hinged at the walkway level.

The bridge was designed by Thomas Heatherwick, who in 2006 won the "British Designer of the Year" award for this unique bridge.

Image from Panoramio is by cerea7681

Image from Panoramio is by trio

Image from Panoramio is by Andrew Royle

Info source: Wikipedia and South East London Meccano Club (Good source of technical information as well as a Mechano Model of Bridge.)

View in Google Earth   Google Maps

---

Update: March 01, 2009

Groovy23 a member of Google Earth Community visited the Bridge on January 25, 2009 and to his horror he found that the Unique Bridge is gone. Here is a latest photo taken by him.

In his own words;

"We went to a nearby information centre and asked about the bridges' fate. Apparently there was a problem with the arms of the bridge and it was removed 3 months ago for repairs. The man at the info centre said it should be back in around a months time."

Trio whose photo I had used has also informed by email;

"That photo was taken in summer 2007. When I returned to the same place in summer 2008, the bridge had been removed, and I had to advise some disappointed Dutch tourists of the fact when they asked me where the rolling bridge was located. I returned three months later and it still wasn't there. I have heard rumours that it's removal had something to do with persistent vandalism, which is sad, although not totally unsurprising given how some other landmarks in the area have suffered. I've seen it in operation and it's a great pity that it's not still there for the public to enjoy."

It is sad that the Bridge is gone. I hope it will be back in action soon.

I request readers who are visiting the area or live nearby area to let me know as soon it is functional so that I keen keep my readers up-to-date on the status. Thanks.

---

Update: April 20, 2009
Groovy23 was kind enough to visit the bridge again and he was happy to see that the Unique Curling Bridge has been re-installed and is back in action.

Thank you Groovy for all your efforts.

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Monasteries on the Rocks - Meteora, Greece

View all photos in meteora.html by Andy Carvin

Image from Panoramio is dimashoo

View more photos and Google Maps at Panoramio

View in Google Earth    More info at Wikipedia

These monasteries located on incredibly high and almost inaccessible sandstone peaks of Meteora in Central Greece were settled by Greek monks from the 11th century onwards. Out of original 24 only six have survived.
Till early 20th century access to the monasteries was extremely difficult. Initially long ladders lashed together or large nets were used to haul up, supplies and people, vertically alongside the 373-meter cliff. In 1920s steps were cut into the rock for access from a pedestrian bridge from the nearby plateau.
Being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a great tourist attraction cable car service has also been started now.

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Trestle Art - Converting Unsightly to Showpiece

In most of the towns, the railway over bridges (trestles) are generally an ugly sight. However an enterprising community in Cooper-Young, Memphis, USA has converted one such abandoned steel structure into a showpiece. 

At their initiative, Jill Turman, a local artist designed and built, on both sides, steel compositions which are based on actual buildings in the area thus transforming the unsightly structure into a piece of art.

Wish there were more such communities/civic authorities in the World.

(Click on image for larger view)

Image source:  http://theadventuresofpetebigbear.blogspot.com

Google Street View: South Face  North Face

View in Google Earth

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The Lighthouse Mosque - Oldest Mosque in China

Image from Panoramio is by æ½˜å¦‚刚

Image from Panoramio is by Samfu

View in Google Earth     Google Maps

More info at http://archnet.org/

The Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou is perhaps the oldest mosques in China. The mosque a blend of Chinese and Arabic architecture, was reportedly built in the 7th Century when Islam was introduced in China by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, who was an uncle of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Hence its name Huaisheng which in Chinese means 'remember the sage'. The mosque is also named Lighthouse Mosque because a lamp used to be hung from its 12 metre high tower to guide the boats in Pearl River.

Credits: Special thanks to tkhae for bringing this to my knowledge.

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Saxine - The Smiling Water Tower

Photo taken from Panoramio is by Jensendk

View in Google Earth   Google Maps

This is a 33 metres (108 ft) high water tower in the small Danish town of Sakskøbing. It was built in 1908 and later in 1982 on suggestion of architect Fleming Skude, the face was painted  - with two windows of the tower as eyes and the roof as a hat. It is now a very well known landmark in the town.

More info: http://www.eber.se/torn/ebers/2000-e.htm

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Strange Landscape

View Enlarged Image

Image from Panoramio is by JH_AF
View Google Maps  More info at Wikipedia

This fantastic looking landscape shows irrigation ditches and the adjoining crop fields in the pond of Montady, near the ancient Oppidum (hill-town) d'Enserune in France. 

The pond at Montady was originally a brackish marsh of stagnant water. In the 13th century, the swamp was drained by constructing several ditches which allowed water to flow to the centre of the circular depression, from where the water was conveyed through a subterranean gallery to the valley several kilometres to the south. This masterpiece of medieval drainage system which had created about 420 hectares of arable land, is still functional and remains in use.

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Sleeping on Bed of Ice

Image from Panoramio is by valentin_orlov

Above is a picture of a bed room in the 'Icehotel' in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.

Ice hotels are hotels made up entirely of snow and carved blocks of ice. Such hotels/resorts are created every winter in many countries including, but not limited to, Canada, Finland, Norway, Romania and Sweden. The hotels of ice are reconstructed every year and are dependent upon constant sub-zero temperatures during construction and operation.  With arrival of spring and onset of summer the hotels just melt away to be rebuild in the next winter.

The World’s first ice hotel aptly named as 'Icehotel' was created in 1989 in the village of Jukkasjärv, Sweden. Since then every year around March, 'Icehotel' stores tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and uses it for re-construction of a fresh building usually in mid-November. When completed, the hotel features a bar, church, main hall, reception area and rooms and suites for over 100 guests to sit and sleep on blocks of sculpted ice in the form of chairs and beds. The fixtures, fittings and decorations are all made entirely of ice. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is reportedly the biggest of all ice hotels. 

Since it is rebuilt every year its architecture also changes every year. Here are couple of images from the earlier years;

Picture from Panoramio is by sivrullirmiut

With arrival of summer everything melts away.

Picture from Panoramio is by Gerrit Holl

View more photos and Google Maps at Panoramio

More info at Wikipedia  and at 'Icehotel' Website

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World's Most Expensive Island

Image from Panoramio is by Brian Scattergood

View in Google Earth

This small Island named “Vatu Vara” in Fiji is the World's most expensive Island. It was reportedly bought by some private party in 2006 for a  record-setting sum of US $75 million.

There is also an interesting story associated with it. As per "South Sea Reminiscences, by T.R. St. Johnston, London 1932";

“The island was at one time bought and occupied by Joe Thompson, and American seaman to whose movements and affluence a great deal of mystery where attached. He seemingly had an endless supply of gold coins, the source of which he could never be induced to divulge; and as there was one part of the island which he would allow no one to approach, it was thought that he had buried the treasure there. The truth of the matter was never known. Thompson was insane at the time of his death, and the secret of his buried treasure, if it ever existed, died with him.”

Mel Gibson’s private island is a good 20 miles (32 Km) East from here (See map below).

More information and photos at Forbes Link

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Palace on the Rocks

Image from Panoramio is by S.Ichih

Image from Panoramio is by maremagna

View more photos and Google Maps at Panoramio

This beautiful 5 storeyed Palace  located atop a protruding rock formation in Wadi Dhahr, Near Sana, Yemen was the summer residence of Imam Yahya, who ruled Yemen from 1926-48. The Rock Palace (Dar al-Hajr) was built in the 1930s. Reportedly some of its parts were built much earlier and Imam Yahya added several section in 1930s. 

It is Sana’s most recognisable icon. A 1.6 x 2-meter wooden miniature depicting The Rock Palace (shown above) is on display at Culture House, Sana. More info about the model and Rock Palace at Yemen Times.

Credits: Special thanks to diane9247 for suggesting to include buildings from Yemen. Hopefully I will add more later.

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World's Largest Collection of Old Windmills

Kinderdijk a village in the Netherlands, boasts of the largest collection of old windmills in the world, where 19 of them can be found, nicely lined along waterlines, in an area of a couple of square kilometres. These windmills, included in UNESCO's  list of World Heritage Sites, were built around 1740 as a part of flood control in these parts of the Netherlands which are below sea level. 

View Larger Image More info at Wikipedia

The place is also very popular in cold winter when several thousands persons ice skate here in a day.

Image from Panoramio is by knsm.

View more images and Google Maps at Panoramio.

Credits: Special thanks to Peter (aka Piotr_H) for suggesting this place and giving information about it.

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World's Largest Island within a Lake on an Island within a Lake on an Island

This unique distinction goes to about 40 metres wide small volcanic island called - Vulcan Point Island

located in - Crater Lake (about 1.9 km across)

located in - Volcano Island (aka Taal Valcano - about 5-6 km wide)

located in - Taal Lake (about 16 km across)

located in - Taal Caldera on Luzon Island, Philippines.

Following image explains this complex location;

Here is another image which shows Vulcan Point, Crater Lake, Volcano Island, Taal Lake and Taal Caldera (a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption).

More info at Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Taal Volcano Web page and  Wikipedia.

View in Google Maps. (It is the small white blob in black lake).

Credits: Redeemed (GEC Link)

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Strokes of Nature - "Autumn Trees"

Brush strokes of Nature has created some wonderful and beautiful surrealistic paintings on the Earth canvas. Here is another painting at Borden Island, Canada which I have named as "Autumn Trees".

View Larger Image  Google Maps

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World's Largest Rehal

Rehal is small folding stand on which traditionally the Holy Qur’an is placed and looks like this;

World Largest Rehal is at the Makkah Gate on the road from Jeddah to Holy city of Makkah. This is the check point at the boundary of Holy Makkah  beyond which Non Muslims are not allowed proceed.

Image from Panoramio is by alshora

More Photos and Google Maps at Panoramio

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Sculptures in White Desert

Nature has shaped some fantastic massive chalk formations in the White Desert around the Farafra Oasis, Egypt. These were created as a result of erosion due to high velocity sandstorms in the area. Here are few great views;

Pyramids and Sphinx

Image from Panoramio is by OxyPhoto.ru - O x y

Budha in Desert

Image from Panoramio is by ahmadhegab

Giant Mushroom

Image from Panoramio is by OxyPhoto.ru - O x y

More Images/Google Maps at Panoramio  More info at Wikipedia

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Oldest Hanging Train

View in Google Maps More info at Wikipedia

Most of us have read or seen or even travelled on a modern day mono-rail system but few of us know that from as back as 1901 a mono-rail (German - Schwebebahn) has been functional at Wuppertal, Germany.

It is the oldest mono-rail system in the World and at one time, the most unique, because the carriages in this system are hung below the rails. Now a days few towns/theme parks have adopted this mode of transportation.

The suspended carriages travel along a route 13.3 kilometres long at a height 12 metres over the local river Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Straße and approximately 8 m above the city streets. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes. The Wuppertal Schwebebahn is considered one of the safest means of transport in the world and carries more than 75,000 passengers a day.

The town of Chiba, on outskirt of Tokyo Japan has now claimed the world record for the longest (15.2 km) suspended monorail system (pictured below).

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Tree Lockup

Image from Flickr is by Happy Little Nomad

View in Google Earth    Google Maps   More info at Wikipedia

This strange looking and huge Boab tree (Adansonia gregorii) near Derby, Australia is said to have been used by police in late 19th century as a lockup for Indigenous Australian prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. It is now a tourist attraction. The tree has a diameter of about 14 metres and is reportedly 1500 years old.

Such trees are one of the most strange tress in the World. The common name "boab" is a shortened form of the generic name "baobab" (genus Adansonia) native to Madagascar, African mainland and Australia. Baobab reach heights of 5 to 30 metres and diameter of 7 to 11 metres. Each tree can store up to whopping 120,000 litres of water inside the swollen trunk. The baobabs generally have life span few thousands of years.

Here is a tree in Madagascar and it is reportedly 1000 years old.

Image from Panoramio is by David Thyberg

Another African Baobab specimen has a circumference of 47 metres and an average diameter of 15 metres. It is reportedly 6000 years old. [More Info]

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Intricate Stepwell Near Jaipur

 Image from Flickr is by ♣ ℓ u m i è r e ♣

Image from Panoramio is by Nataligianni

Many tourist visit Jaipur and Agra but most of them are unaware or do not visit the intricate stepwell located about 95 kms from Jaipur, about 8 kms off the main Jaipur-Agra Highway, in the village of Abhaneri near Bandikui, Rajasthan. This step well is called Chand Baori (or Baoli). It is 30 meters deep, has 13 floors and 3,500 steps and was built in 10th century.

Stepwells are quite common in North-West India. Besides providing a source of water, the wells also had multilevel rooms sometimes going right upto the bottom to provide relief from daytime heat.

It was locale of 2005 Indian movie "Paheli" (meaning Puzzle) and also for 2006 English movie "The Fall". Here is a link to later's website which gives a remarkable view of the steps.

View in Google Earth  Google Maps

More info at Wikipedia

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Rocks on the Move

To see enlarged images and full album click on Panoramio Link

(This will also show the location in Google Maps)

View in  Google Earth  More info at Wikipedia

Strange as it may appear but many big (60-70 kg) boulders in Racetrack Playa (dry lakebed), Death Valley National Park, California, move (without human or animal intervention) across the surface of the playa, leaving a clearly visible track.

This phenomenon has never been witnessed in real time as these movements occur once every two or three years. There are many theories and the most plausible one is that the stones are moved by strong wind (upto 150 Kmph) which blows during winter and when the rain has made the clay slippery or the moist surface becomes ice, which is almost frictionless and helps in movement of stones during high wind conditions. The winds here generally blow from southwest to northeast and most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction, lending support to this hypothesis.

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Problem with Google Earth Links

It seems that there is some problem in Google Earth Community Website - http://bbs.keyhole.com

The "Google Earth Links" given in this travelogue are therefore not working.

Please be patient, as soon as the Website is restored these links will start working;

Good News the Links are working again!

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Car on Wall

View Original Image by Harry van Reeken

View Original Image by Harry van Reeken

View in Google Earth   Google Maps

A rather strange way to park in Hague, Netherlands. In fact it is work of artist Theo van Laar. The cars head lights are switched in the night.

Credits: caelestis (GEC Link)

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Painting in Field

View in  Google Earth    Google Maps

Some peasant painter in Italy has made this 100 metre wide remarkable piece of  art in his field.

Credits: Romagnolo (GEC Link)

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House on A Pole

Image from Panoramio is by artyfishal

View in Google Earth  Google Maps

The Pole House is actually a large room perched on a giant high concrete pedestal, anchored deep into the sand dunes. It is connected to the main house by an elevated walkway and is located at start (eastern end) of the Great Ocean Road, Australia.

It was built in 1978 by architect/engineer Frank Dixon and is supposedly the most photographed building on the Fairhaven beach.

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Pigeon Tower, Isfahan

Image from Panoramio is by IranPIX.com

Image from Panoramio is by IranPIX.com

View in Google Earth   Google Maps

These images of fantastic looking tower and its inside are of a pigeon tower located in Isfahan, Iran. It is one of the more than thousand pigeon towers, built mostly in 16th-17th century, in and around the town. Main purpose of these towers was to breed pigeons and collect their droppings, rich in phosphate, as source for manure. The pigeon were also a source of meat. Each tower contained thousands of honeycombed pigeon holes.

With advent of chemical fertilizers these towers were neglected and were damaged or destroyed. However few hundreds still remain and some of these are being restored.

A realistic 360 degree view of inside can be seen at
http://iran.360cities.net
(A must see if you have Java enabled).

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Where old planes go to die!

Such places are commonly referred as - Boneyard, because once a plane arrives there, it will usually not leave intact, but will be cannibalized for parts until nothing but scrap metal remains. There many such places around the World specially in South-West USA, due to the particular kind of climate and the chemical characteristics of the soil which helps to preserve the aircrafts.

View Google Earth     Google Maps     More info at  Wikipedia

Shown above is a part of the biggest Boneyard of all - Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), a USAF aircraft storage and maintenance facility in Tucson, Arizona, located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It takes care of more than 4,400 aircraft. The planes are generally sealed and can be harvested for parts or reactivated as needed.

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Oil Lake on Fire

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This burning oil pool (about 200 metres in diameter), in the Korpedje Oil Fields, Turkmenistan, is on fire, reportedly from early 2002. 

Credit: GEC Post by Barnstormer66

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Gun Shaped Lake

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Here is another odd shaped lake - This 2.5 km long lake is Schulensmeer, Belgium. It is the largest inland lake in Flanders region and is very popular for water sports - sailing, surfing and rowing.

However no information could be found regarding the reason for making such a shape, which is too perfect to be a co-incidence. May be some reader give some info about it.

I am thankful to Walter_V_R from Belgium for furnishing following information;

About the shape of Schulensmeer: it is really a coincidence.

The lake was created artificially in the 70's when they needed sand to construct the nearby highway. I suppose that the shape is only related to the parcels of land they could acquire for this purpose. (Belgium has lots of small parcels of land with different owners, so they have to negotiate a lot).

It now serves for watersport and fishing, but also as an overflow for the Demer river, in case of heavy rainfall.

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Strokes of Nature - Colours of Desert

Brush strokes of Nature has created some wonderful and beautiful surrealistic paintings on the Earth canvas. Here are two more views;

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View Larger Image   Google Earth

These strange small water pools amid the sand dunes in Saudi Arabia are called Sabkha (meaning salt flat). They are formed along arid coastlines and are flat and very saline areas of sand or silt lying just above the water-table in the sand. These are very dry and crusty in summer but after rain they are slippery and treacherous to drive on.

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World's Largest Mud-brick Building

Image from Panoramio is by Michal.Hugo.Kostal

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The Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali a World Heritage Site is the World's Largest Mud-brick Building. It was built around 1908, though a mosque existed at this site from early 13th century. Like the earlier mosque this mosque is also made entirely of mud-brick, mud mortar and mud based plaster. The covered hall is about 50 x 24 metres.

Although not very well known, but after the Sphinx and Pyramids, it is one of the most famous land marks in Africa. Its popularity can be gauged by the fact that two buildings across the world are its replica.

These are;

The Museum of African Art, Jeju-do, S. Korea - the biggest museum of African art in Asia, pictured below, is housed in a full-scale replica of the mud mosque.

Image from Panoramio is by Cho's         More Info on this building

Similarly the Missiri Mosque, Fréjus, France (pictured below) is also scaled down replica of  the mud Mosque. The Missiri Mosque was built around 1930 by the Senegalese infantry, when they were based in Fréjus, France.

Image from Panoramio is by deplane

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1:500 model of Aksai Chin area

Chinese have built in Huangyangtanzhan, a huge model of the terrain of Chinese occupied area of Aksai Chin, India.

View Larger Image    Google Earth (See Note)

A side-by-side comparison of the enlarged image reveals uncanny replication of terrain including those of lakes in the Aksai Chin area. No one knows why chinese spent time, effort and money to make this detailed and almost exact model of a very desolate, almost uninhabited area which has no permanent settlement. 

Note: Being large (4.96 MB) there may be problem in viewing directly in Google Earth.  Please use right click and save the the .kmz file on your disk then click on it to view it in Google Earth.

Credits: KenGrok for finding it and PriceCollins for side by side comparison overlay.  Click here for original post in Google Earth Community. 

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Snake Building, Berlin

My previous post was about snake shaped river created by nature but here is “The Snake” building in Moabit Island, Berlin. It houses apartments for Civil Servants.

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Strokes of Nature - White Snake

Brush strokes of Nature has created some wonderful and beautiful surrealistic paintings on the Earth canvas. Here is another example - A dry river bed in Baja California, Mexico which looks like a painting of a large white snake.

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Flying Saucer Shaped Church

Image from Wikipedia (see link below) is by Pertsaboy.
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This flying saucer shaped building is actually Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Church in the Rock), Helsinki. The church opened in 1969 and was designed by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen. It is built entirely underground inside an outcrop of enormous block of granite rock. The only part of the church visible from ground level is the domed ceiling made of copper wire and glass.

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3.2 Km long Slogan, Chile

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The image shows part of a huge 3.2 Km (nearly 10000 feet) long Spanish phrase "ni pena ni miedo" (meaning - NEITHER SHAME NOR FEAR). It was sculpted in the sands of Atacama desert by Chilean artist Raul Zurita using earth-moving equipment. To keep the letters from fading schoolchildren from nearby pueblo, frequently come to this place and clear the area inside the letters with shovels.

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Not A Mosque

Image from Flickr is by jazzlog
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This impressive mosque like building built around 1748 is not a mosque but an old steam driven pump house located on bay of the Havel River at Potsdam, Germany. It is reported that the king Frederick William IV was very impressed by Turkish architecture and wanted something similar in Potsdam also, The dome contains steam pump for fountains in nearby Sanssouci Park and the minaret is actually the smoke stack of the steam boiler. I made a post about this in Google Earth Community also and more details are available there.

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Locks of Love around the World!

I have made several posts on varied subjects in Google Earth Community. Here is the latest major post made by me which required lot of research;

Image from Panoramio is by mitrom

Locks of love are the padlocks fixed by loving couples, on to a fence or a pole or metallic chain/string alongside some wall etc at a public place, to symbolize their eternal love. Besides lovers, often family members and close friends also put such locks at these places, to lock their relationship forever. The tradition probably originated from China but has now spread to many locations around the World. Click here for the Photo Essay which got 5 globes (stars) in Google Earth Community.

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Ice which is not ice - Pamukkale, Turkey

This snow-white, landscape of iced terraced frozen pools and small waterfalls is NOT ICE - it is limestone and travertine. Earthquakes in the area resulted in emergence of a number of very hot springs having large mineral content, calcium bi-carbonate in particular. This has created an awesome and beautiful snow like terrain.

Image from Wikipedia is by Mila Zinkova

 Image from Flickr is by brainripper

 Image from Flickr is by Alaskan Dude

 Image from Panoramio is by gatunegru.

Image from Picasaweb is by Berka

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More info: Wikipedia

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Man Shaped Lake, Brazil

No details are available about this 140 metres tall man in a lake situated near Iacanga, São Paulo, Brazil, but it sure looks strange. May be some reader can throw more light on this.

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Strokes of Nature - Pink Galaxy

Brush strokes of Nature has created some wonderful and beautiful surrealistic paintings on the Earth canvas. Till now these works of arts were visible only to a select group of high altitude fliers or astronauts. However Google Earth and other similar applications have made it possible for most of us view these awesome pieces of art. Here is an example - I will add more later.

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Lake Natron in Tanzania is World’s most caustic body of water, where microorganisms such as Spirulina, a blue-green algae with red pigments, living on the water's salty crust create a palate of pink.

Note: This aerial imagery is part of "Africa Megaflyover" Photographs by J. Michael Fay and are included in National Geographic Layer of Google Earth.

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Roof of Water Reservoir, Mina

One of the earliest strange but beautiful object which I saw in Google Earth was the roof of Water Reservoir at Mina near holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

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The water reservoir caters to about 2 millions pilgrims who gather every year at Mina, during Hajj and it is covered by this huge reinforced concrete shell roof which has a diameter of 365 metres. It is one the largest cable-stayed concrete shell roofs in the world.

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