Kochi or Cochin as it was know in Colonial times is a vibrant city on India’s south west coast and home to one of the most beautiful harbors in the world. Being a harbor city the city forged its history on trading, fishing and spice. Today spice is still big business and no Cochin Spice Market or Bazaar has an aroma that you can smell for blocks. The market is amazing with both smell and colour. The flavors of chilli, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon even out smell the wandering goats. Cochi has been trading spices since the 1st century and has a quaint colonial style and plenty of history and a great place to visit for anyone planning a trip to India. Read the rest of this entry »
A lot of China’s zoos and animal parks have the visitor’s entertainment higher up their list of priorities than the animal’s welfare, well the Xiangjiang Safari Park is situated in Dashi Town of Panyu District, Guangzhou is an exception. It has world standards and is one of the very few zoo’s outside of Australia to have bred koalas and they have bread over half the white tigers left on Earth. The zoo is massive it covers 130 hectares is home to 10.000 animals from 300 species and gets over 10 million visitors a year. Sure the park is half theme park and there are animal shows but the zoo is a valuable research and centre wildlife conservation. The park is broken into two areas, one where you can visit the animals on foot and the other where you can board a trolley and to into the open savanna which has three themes Asian Plains, Predator Island and Africa Savanna. The zoo has an impressive list of animals including white tigers, white lions, polar bears, hippos and of course the beautiful and endangered Giant Panda, but the stars of the zoo seem to be the Koalas. The Zoo is located about 30mins from the heart of Guangzhou city don’t get this zoo confused with the city’s zoo- it just doesn’t compare. Read the rest of this entry »
The glitzy Surfers Paradise of Australia’s Gold Coast is home to the world’s tallest residental tower which is on of the tallest buildings in the world. Standing at a 322.5 metres above street level the Q1 is taller than both the Chrysler Building in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris and it is built less than 100 metres from the magnificent Surfers Paradise beach. The observation deck on the 77th and 78th floors offer specatcular views of the highrises of the Gold Coast and give views from Brisbane to Byron Bay and miles out to the Pacific Ocean. The tower also offers one of the world’s fastest elevators taking only 42.7 seconds to reach the top floors.
Cape Byron is the most easterly point of Austalia’s mainland and is home to the Cape Byron Lighthouse which is the most powerful lighthouse in Australia. Built in 1901 the beacon has a range of over 50 kilometers. Byron was named by Captain James Cook as he sailed passed after the circumnavigator John Byron. Byron Bay. Today Byron Bay is one of Australia’s most popular holiday destinations with all year round good weather, great beaches and plenty of getaways. The town is very popular with the young and has many festivals including the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival and Splendor in the Grass to attract them along with some great surf beaches. The area is also a very popular eco holiday destination with beautiful sandy shores, and an abundance of wildlife including the humpback whales who frequent the bay on their migration. Read the rest of this entry »
When you think of Taiwan you usually think of the huge manufacturing base the huge cities ,dense population and the home to the world’s current tallest building the Taipei 1001, but Taiwan is much more. This country has a rich heritage, friendly people and a beautiful landscape. The country has steep mountains, lush misty forests and huge cypress trees and some spectacular beaches. There’s much more to Taiwan than electronics manufacturing and might be well worth putting on your ‘want to go list’. Read the rest of this entry »
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the world’s most spectacular buildings, designed by Frank Gehry who also has designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain and the Dancing House in the Czech capital Prague to name a few of his exciting projects. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is wrapped in stainless steel sheeting which give of spectacular reflections of light. Inside the building is just as amazing with theatres being home to the Los Angeles Philharamonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The centre opened in 2003 after over ten years of construction and delays, the project was launched with a 50 million dollar cheque from Walt Disney’s widow Lillian and ended up costing $247 million to complete.
The Hall was spoofed in a Simpsons episode where the town of Springfield had Frank Gehry design a new Concert Hall for the town. The Concert Hall was then transformed into a jail by Mr. Burns. Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine a shopping mall as big as a small country, well the West Edmonton Mall in Canada is bigger than Vatican City- hows that. It’s huge with over 350,000 square metres of shopping and entertainment. The huge complex employs around 23,000 people and has anything up to 150,000 people shopping, dining or having fun there every day. Along with over 800 shops the centre has a monstrous entertainment zone which would rival any theme park with an icerink, waterpark with wave pool and huge waterslides. An aquarium which is home to sea lions, and a submarine ride which had more submarines than the Canadian Navy until recently. Roller coasters, golf, theatres, a casino and even a replica of Christopher Columbus’s ship the Santa Maria. There even a huge nightclub and restaurant district called Bourbon street which has comedy clubs, rib houses, bars and some great pizza. There’s a China town and even a flash new Europa Boulevard which sells the latest European fashion- and I must mention the flock of pink flamingos, the shooting range and the cinemas. The place is just amazing. You need at least 2 days if not an entire week to really absorb the place and you probably need just as long to find your car in the 20,000 car carpark. There are plans to make the place even bigger, they are not to happy about being knocked off as the biggest by a new centre in Dubai and another huge place being built in Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »
Valencia in Spain is home to the world’s largest aquarium in Europe, it is home to 45,000 animals and over 500 different species including sharks, penguins, dolphins, seals, walruses and these amazing beluga whales. The beluga whale comes from Arctic regions and grows to about 5 metres long. As you will see from today’s You Tube video its not hard to see why they are the aquarium’s star attraction. They are extremely intelligent and from the the centre is part of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies which is a huge complex with some amazing architecture and also features an opera house, Imax, planetarium, laserium and a huge science museum all set out in beautiful parklands and waterways. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ladies Market is one of Hong Kong’s best markets and a must for anyone looking for bargain priced clothing, bags, accessories or even toys, nick knacks and small electricals even fresh vegetables. It’s not only geared to women, there is stuff for everyone. The market is on Tung Choi street in Mong Kong and opens every day from noon to nearly midnight. Bargaining is the norm so don’t even think about paying full price and don’t be too surprised if some of those fancy brand names you have bought are not the real thing, there is a lot of counterfeit brand name products around. Many of the store holders don’t speak English too good, but don’t fear they can all use a calculator- money talks all languages. They just punch in the price and it comes up on the screen for you to start negotiating. While you are there, the market is only a short walk to the flower and the goldfish markets which are also well worth a visit.
Stephen Spielberg’s classic film Jurassic Park still holds the title of one of the world’s biggest grossing films of all time. In Florida, California and in Osaka Japan Jurassic Park has come to life in the form of a spectacular theme park adventure ride. Jump aboard a boat and travel 65 million years back in time and come face to face with some of the most amazing creatures that have ever walked this earth including the a scary encounter with a giant T Rex before dropping 85 feet down a waterfall. Universal Studios is going through a worldwide expansion and new parks are planned for Dubai, Singapore and South Korea it is hoped this great attraction will also be seen there soon. Read the rest of this entry »
