Posts Tagged ‘Earth’

I’m back…. Down to Earth!

yay! so if you didn’t notice by this video, im back from my camping vacation! ahah! thank you sooo much marshienzana for watching my account, i appreciate it! ook. please no critique. and if you do have to critique, please keep in mind the following things: 1. this horse is sneakers. i haven’t ridden him for MONTHS. someone was leasing him, so i had to switch to stuart when he was leased out, although i adore sneakers. please cut me some slack, its hard to go from barely a 15 hand horse with a bouncy horrible stride to a almost 17 hand horse with a smooth stride. sneakers is also pretty physo… not that you can see in the video, but he has to be given ace before every ride, because otherwise he bucks, apparently. anyway. so not that you care, but he is more sensitive than stuart and i haven’t really been used to him lately, so dont comment things about my bond with the horse, my first time riding him in furrrever! 2. i was workilng on automatic releases. DID NOT WORK. i didn’t show the bad jumps. instead of putting my elbows down and forward, they went out like chicken wings. so i tried to do them again in a different lesson, and they’re a failure for me, so until i start jumping higher i will not be doing automatic releases. UNLESS…. GIVE ME SOME TIPS ON HOW TO DO AUTOMATIC RELEASES! that would seriously help soosoosoososo much! please tell me how to do them, how to reteach myself to do it, what to think of, bla bla bla. so yeah. i know my lowerleg was swinging alot …

Phuket is Truly a Paradise on Earth

Phuket is an incredible tourist destination, located in the sparkling waters of the Andaman Sea, on the south-west coast of Thailand. Acknowledged as the ‘Pearl of the South’ and the ‘Jewel of the Andaman Sea,’ Phuket is only an hour flying from Bangkok.

Phuket is also the largest island in Thailand, and is credited to be the only island in the country with status of a province. Formerly known as Talang, Phuket boasts of a rich as well as long history dating back to more than 500 years. Phuket once served as an important trade route between India and China.

The island also flourished as a center for tin manufacturing processes, which in turn attracted many Europeans including the Dutch and the British. Perhaps, the most important segment of Phuket’s history is the Battle of Thalang, during which Burmese invaders were defeated. Phuket still retain its old world charm, and provides gamut of attractions, covering impressive palm-fringed beaches, beautiful coves and bays, lush green mountains, cascading waterfalls, and ancient mansions reflecting Indo-Portuguese architecture.

The prime draw of Phuket is undoubtedly its gorgeous coastline, which is a fine blend of amazing white sandy beaches, rocky outcrops, and spectacular limestone cliffs. Many of the top beaches in the area are clustered around the western coastline, such as Patong Beach, Kamala Beach, and Karon Beach. Kata Beach, Surin Beach, Bang Tao Beach, Laem Sing Beach, Chalong Bay, Panwa Beach, Nai Ham Beach, Nai Yang Beach, Mai Khao Beach.

Rawai Beach are the other popular beaches in Phuket. With these scores of beaches, Phuket is truly a haven for water sport lovers. Just think of any of the water sport activities, it would be easily available in Phuket.

A range of tour operators and dive shops operate here to provide you excellent choices to enjoy a variety of water sport activities such as fishing, kayaking, diving, snorkeling, rafting, sailing, scuba diving, and more. Many of them even provide services of an expert guide in order to assist you in enjoying water sport activities. Phuket is not only a destination to enjoy water sport activities but also to enjoy a range of other activities such as golfing, trekking, and nature walks.

No visit to Phuket would be complete without touring its historical and cultural sites such as Old China Town, dotted with elegant Sino-Portuguese mansions. Also, take a tour to the elegant temples in the region, like, Wat Chalong – one of the biggest shrines in the region; Wat Phra Thong, whose highlight is a huge half buried image of the Buddha; and Wat Phranangsang, dedicated to two heroines who defeated the Burmese invaders in the Battle of Thalang. Equally worth mentioning are the interesting museums of the region, including, Phuket Sea Shell Museum and Thalang National Museum.

Covered with forested hills, the island is also home to such attractions as Khao Phra Thaeo National Park, which comes with dazzling waterfalls and unique as well as rich flora and fauna, apart from an eight-kilometer hiking path. Phuket’s attractions also include Butterfly Garden and Insectarium – a large open-air enclosure housing thousands of varied butterflies amid lush greenery; Marine Biological Research Centre – an aquarium featuring a variety of saltwater and freshwater fish; Promthep Cape – providing enchanting views of the sunsets; and Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre.

A specialty of Phuket is its fresh, authentic sea food cuisines, which is famed across the world. Likewise, after a day of adventure sports or sightseeing in Phuket, don’t forget to take a rejuvenating spa massage. A plethora of spa therapy centers and spa resorts are available across the island, providing relaxing spa treatments and massages. Along with other activities, Phuket provides superb options for shopping in the form of a multitude of stores and bazaars and night markets.

If you are looking for something different during your stay at Phuket, then head to Phuket Town to view Muay Thai, a kind of Thai boxing. There are even training centers to master this traditional discipline. Above all, a great attraction of the island is its exciting as well as vibrant nightlife, with a variety of pubs, bars, nightclubs, go go bars, and restaurants to choose from.

Greece – the Most Admired Land on Earth

Greece is widely regarded as the place where the western civilization was born many centuries ago. It is widely acknowledged as the guiding force that has driven the human civilization for over 2500 years now. It is also the place where three continents, namely Europe, Asia and Africa, and three varying climatic conditions submerge into one. These enthralling shades make it one of the most visited places on earth today. Roughly 16 million tourists walk on its soil every year, thus allowing several hundred thousand Greek nationals to be employed by its tourism industry. Located at the southeastern fringe of the European peninsula, Greece is spoken of highly for its world class beaches, lavish hotels and the level of hospitality it offers. Hotels in Greece are an integral part of its tourism infrastructure, which earns around 15% of the nation’s entire GDP in revenues.

Rich visuals may be recalled; if one began examining how the events of Greece had benefited the world we are part of. It was Greece that first gave the idea of democratic governance almost 2500 years ago. The word “democracy” itself stemmed out from the Greek language, meaning the rule of the people. In spite of its initial doubts, the Greek democracy survived on and was later followed by many other states. Modern states are often seen mimicking the same federal structure that Romans established around 2000 years ago. However, it should be noted down for academic reasons that Romans were more of an autocratic regime, as their later years suggest. Only parts in and around Athens had democratically elected councils to look after their people.

Greece also gets known for having gifted the world with Modern Olympic Games. It was Athens in 1896, where the first Olympic Games were organized after its modern-day revival. Olympic Games have since become a rallying point for the players and athletes from all over the world to compete and people from varying backgrounds to mingle with each other. Remains of the ancient Olympia stadium were excavated and restored in the middle of the 20th century. It is the same location from where the Olympic Flame starts its journey and gets carried to the game venues. These and many other exciting stories may suggest why Greece has been admired for ages now.

The world loves visiting Greece in huge numbers as a result, providing an immense boost to its tourism infrastructure. Its scenic Mediterranean coastline and the yearlong pleasing weather make holiday making fun and frolic. Athens, Peloponnese, Cyclades and Crete are some known cities carrying immense historic significance, where most travelers prefer heading on to. Hotels in Greece would be seen having high occupancy rates throughout the year, in this process, and one should plan their journeys in advance, for the same reason, to make their trips hassle free. Travelers can buy both cheap and high end accommodation from hotels in Greece, and also try to get best deals from tour operators, which include last minute holidays.

There is enough online support available for those who might be willing to book their accommodation from hotels in Greece. Sea-side resorts and self-catering apartments should also be taken into consideration apart from prime hotels in Greece for garnering accommodation. Planning out in advance should make your Greek journey memorable, since there were plenty of activities to be entertained from apart from visiting the usual heritage sites.

Is planet earth headed for a fate similar to the disaster on Easter Island?

Easter Island is comprised of an area of 64 square miles and is located in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean 2000 miles west of Chile. The climate is subtropical.

ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT – Archeologists surmise that the island was originally settled by Polynesians in around 400 A.D. The Polynesians, when they arrived, found an island made up largely of sub-tropical forest of trees and woody bushes. The Easter Island palm grew to up to 80 feet tall with a 6-foot diameter and could be used to make canoes as well as yielding nuts, and sap for syrups, sugar, and wine. Underneath the trees and bushes was other vegetation such as shrubs, herbs, ferns, and grasses. They found the island was home to many varieties of seabirds and land birds as well. The surrounding oceans were loaded with fish and porpoise-dolphins. The island was a pacific paradise.

THE GOOD YEARS ON EASTER ISLAND – From 400 to 800 A.D. were the good years for the people on Easter Island. Food was plentiful and living went well. They used the large palm trees for canoes and fished offshore for porpoise-dolphins. They raised the chickens, which they had brought with them; but sea birds provided additional fowl for their diet. The natural fruit was plentiful and the sap from the palm trees yielded syrups, sugar and wine. They had sufficient wood for their dwellings and winter fires. These were good years on Easter Island. Their numbers grew, but the environment sustained them and more importantly they sustained the environment.

THE YEARS OF SPLENDOR AND DRAWDOWN – From 800 to 1300 A.D. were the years for the people on Easter Island in which they became numerous and prosperous. The islanders possessed the only written language in Oceania, the Rongorongo Script. They erected the large rock carvings, called petroglyphs or monoliths, or Moai by the islanders. These are the huge crude statues, busts of stone with long faces and long pointed noses, for which Easter Island is most noted. In a very labor-intensive effort, these huge statues were quarried, carved and then transported, by being rolled on logs, to the coastal areas for display.

During this period the population increased substantially and was approaching the highest level to be reached on the island, estimated by archeologists to be seven thousand.

But also during this period the drawdown had begun. Drawdown is when the dominant species in the ecosystem begins to uses resources faster than they can be replaced. The islanders were using up the forests, for their canoes, houses, and the transporting of their statues, much faster than they were being re-grown.

If they had realized what they were doing to their environment and how it would impact their future, and if they would have had the will to make the necessary life style adjustments, they could have prevented what followed.

THE OVERSHOOT-From 1300 to1700 AD – Overshoot is when, environmentally, the point of no return has been reached, where the depletion of resources has reached that level where they cannot be regenerated to sustainable levels.

The islander’s population continued to grow and the forests disappeared at increasing rates. With the disappearing forests, springs and steams dried up and those plants and animals for which the forests provided cover, also disappeared. Land birds, snails, and many seabirds disappeared. Even the gardens suffered as deforestation allowed the winds and rains to erode the valuable topsoil.

In the 1400′s all the large palms were cut down and the palm became extinct. The consequences were terrible. Without the large palms, the fishing fleets of canoes were depleted. By 1500, porpoise-dolphins were no longer in the Islander’s diet and they soon ran completely out of all wood.

Politically chaos set in. In the 1600′s tribal warriors displaced the centralized government. Tribal wars and cannibalism became prevalent, as humans were the largest remaining meat source.

THE CRASH – 1700 and 1800 A.D. – The crash is the inevitable meltdown of the population that follows an overshoot.

In the early 1700′s, intense tribal warfare and cannibalism drove people into the caves. When the Island was discovered on Easter, April 15, 1773, by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, he found a small population of poor, impoverished people. When Captain Cook voyaged to Easter Island in 1775 there were only 600 Islanders left.

One hundred years later, 1885, only 155 Islanders remained. In less than 500 years the population of the Islanders went from 7000 to near extinction.

THUS PLANET EARTH – Globally, overall, although specific nations and areas may vary, planet earth is in the withdrawal stage, like Easter Island was between 800 and 1300 A.D. More trees from forests, more fish from fisheries, more fresh water from aquifers, and more area from grasslands are being consumed than are being replenished. All this is complicated by problems of waste disposal, pollution, global warming and related weather complications, and a growing world population, which will go from 6,000,000 to 9,000,000 in the next 50 years.

As there was with the Easter Islanders, within the withdrawal stage, there is a window of opportunity for us recover, to bring about ways of living that will sustain the world’s resources. If we do not make that recovery, the other stages as experienced by the Easter Islanders will surely follow, as night follows day.

REFERENCES – Easter Island Internet Home Page. Easter’s End by Jared Diamond.

Paradise on Earth- the Maldives

If your idea of paradise is a pristine tropical island with swaying palm trees and pure white beaches surrounded by crystalline lagoons of varying shades of blue – then the Maldives Islands will definitely fit the bill. Sunny, unique and unspoiled, the islands of Maldives offers you sunshine, no matter what time of the year you decide to visit the Maldives – islands that are truly heaven on Earth. Rising from the deep blue of the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean are more than a thousand islands and thousands more reefs that form the Maldives. You can choose any of the ninety resorts islands across the Maldives for your honeymoon or holiday stay; allowing yourself the freedom to explore everything is amazing tropical wonderland has to offer.

Islands & Atolls

Maldives is made up of a chain of 1190 small coral islands that are grouped into 26 atolls (80 islands resorts and 200 inhabited islands). ‘Faru’ or ring-shaped reef structures form the atolls and these provide natural defense against wind and wave action, on the delicate Maldives islands. The capital of Maldives – Male, the seat of government and the centre of trade, commerce, business, health and education, is located in the middle of the atoll chain, a small island buzzing with the sounds and activities of more than 150,000 people which is more than one third of the population. An indication of the perfection of Maldives atoll structure is the fact that the word ‘atoll’ in the English Language – meaning ‘ring-shaped coral reef enclosing a lagoon’, is a borrowing from the Maldivian language ‘Dhivehi’.

Island Resorts

Maldives tourism has been rapidly growing the number of tourist arrivals and resorts islands over the last ten year period. All new resorts are subject to a rigorous environmental impact study and developers are allowed to build on only 20% of the islands. Beautiful resorts offer facilities from thrill-seeking water-sports to revitalising spas and overwater villas, perfect for enjoying an Indian Ocean sunset. Many resorts feature private villas with glass bottom floors perched directly over the water. All the resorts are self contained so they have at least one restaurant, which generally serve the type of cuisine expected by their guests.

Diving

The diving ranks among the world’s best. A sunbather’s paradise, the Maldives offer some of the world’s best deserted beaches, while lagoons, filled with three quarters of the world’s reef fish species, provide spectacular diving and snorkelling. If you plan to go diving or engage in other water sports, you should check that your insurance policy covers these.

Conclusion

Regardless if you are on your honeymoon or taking a family vacation you can guarantee you will find a number of things to do while visiting the Maldives. It is no wonder that a large percentage of tourists who come to the Maldives Islands are repeat visitors – people who came once and fell so in love with the place that they simple had to come again. The beauty of Maldives is indeed addictive.