From the World Heritage Inscription of the Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area: There are around 48 Buddhist monuments in the Horyu-ji area, in Nara Prefecture. Several date from the late 7th or early 8th century, making them some of the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. These masterpieces of wooden architecture are important …
Great Pyramids and Sphinx The very fist list of wonders created by Herodotus in the 5th Century BC had the pyramids on the list. In 2,500 years, not much has changed. The Great Pyramids and the Giza Complex are still one of the most impressive sights in the world. The pyramids are from the Upper …
Today I had the classroom part of my PADI Open Water Dive certification. I rocked. I’m good at test taking. I’m taking my instruction at Lahaina Divers, which seem like a pretty good outfit (the fact that they’re a block away from my hostel doesn’t hurt either). SCUBA is something I’ve never really given any …
From the World Heritage inscription for Gunung Mulu National Park: Gunung Mulu National Park, situated in the Malaysian State of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, is outstanding both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,376 m-high sandstone pinnacle and the property is the …
From the World Heritage inscription for Hoi An Ancient Town: Hoi An Ancient town is located in Viet Nam’s central Quang Nam Province, on the north bank near the mouth of the Thu Bon River. The inscribed property comprises 30 ha and it has a buffer zone of 280 ha. It is an exceptionally well-preserved …
From the World Heritage inscription for Ha Long Bay: Ha Long Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin, within Quang Ninh Province, in the northeast of Vietnam, is165 km from the capital of Ha Noi. Covering an area of 43,400 ha and including over 1600 islands and islets, most of which are uninhabited and unaffected …
From the World Heritage inscription for the Historic Centre of Florence: Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century …
On my swing through Western Australia, I made a stop at Purnululu National Park, home of the Bungle Bungle mountains. When I told people I was making the drive from Darwin to Perth, everyone told me I had to stop at the Bungle Bungles. I wasn’t really prepared for how remote and hard to get …
Podcast Transcript For most of human history, when a person’s heart stopped, that was considered the end. Then, through centuries of trial and error, strange experiments, and medical breakthroughs, doctors discovered that death was not always instantaneous. A stopped heart could sometimes be restarted, and ordinary people could be taught how to help save a …