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Showing posts from November, 2013

Zhangye Danxia (Rainbow Mountains), China

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YANGTZE RIVER (Longest River in Asia)

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The Yangtze River (Chang Jiang in China), is the longest river in Asia and the 3rd longest on the earth. It is 3,988 miles (6,418 kilometers) long and flows from the glaciers on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau in Qinghai. Before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai the river flows eastward across southwest, central and eastern China. It is also considered as one of the biggest rivers by discharge volume in the world. The Yangtze drains one-fifth of the land area of China, and its river basin is home to one-third of the China's population. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as twenty percent of the People's Republic of China's Gross Domestic Product. The Yangtze River flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is the itself habitat to several endemic and endangered species including the Chinese alligator and the Yangtze sturgeon. For many years, people of China have used the river for transportation, water, irrigation, industry sanitation, bo

ANTONOV AN-225 MRIYA

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The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft, designed by the Soviet Union's Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s. The An-225's name, Mriya means "Dream" in Ukrainian. It is powered by 6 turbofan engines and is the biggest airplane in the world. It is the heaviest aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of six hundred and forty tonnes and the biggest heavier-than-air aircraft in terms of length and wingspan in operational service. The Antonov An-225, originally developed specifically to transport the Buran spaceplane. The first Antonov An-225 was completed in 1988, and a second Antonov An-225 has been partially completed. The completed Antonov An-225 is in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads. It holds the absolute world records for an airlifted single item payload of 418,834 pounds (189,980 kilograms), and an airlifted total payload of 559,577 pounds (253,820 kilograms). It has also transported a payload of 545

Swallow's Nest Castle, Ukraine

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The Swallow's Nest is a decorative castle located on the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine. It was built between 1911 and 1912 on top of the 130 feet (40-metre) high Aurora Cliff, to a Neo-Gothic design by the Russian architect Leonid Sherwood. The Swallow's Nest is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the Crimea, becoming the symbol of the Crimea's southern coastline. The building is only 66 feet (20 metre) long by 33 feet (10 metre) wide. Its original design envisioned a foyer, two bedrooms on two different levels within the tower, stairway to the tower and a guest room. The interior of the guest room is decorated with wooden panels. The walls of the rest of the rooms are stuccoed and painted. An observation deck rings the building, providing a view of the sea, and Yalta's distant shoreline.

GWRYCH CASTLE, WALES

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Gwrych Castle is a nineteenth century country house near Abergele, Wales. Gwrych Castle was build between 1819 and 1825 at the behest of Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh who was grandfather of Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald. When the Countess died, it remained the residence of the Dundonald family from 1894 to 1924. The Countess left the castle in her will to King George V and the then Prince of Wales. However, the gift was rejected and the castle passed to the Venerable Order of Saint John. In 1928, the Earl of Dundonald purchased this castle for £78,000, selling the contents to meet the cost. (Souece: Wikipedia)

CORVIN CASTLE, ROMANIA

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Corvin Castle, also known as Hunedoara Castle, Hunyad Castle or Corvins' Castle, is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, in the region of Transylvania, Romania.

NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE (Fairy Tale Castle)

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Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swanstone Castle) is a 19th century Romanesque Revival palace on a hill above the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a defeat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of huge borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

HOHENZOLLENRN CASTLE, GERMANY

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Hohenzollern Castle is a castle approximately 50 kilometres south of Stuttgart, Germany. It is known as the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, which emerged in the Middle Ages and eventually became German Emperors. This castle is located on top of Berg Mountain Hohenzollern, at an elevation of 2,805 ft (855 meters) above sea level; 768 ft (234 metres) above the towns of Hechingen and nearby Bisingen, to the south. The castle was first constructed in the early eleventh century.