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Archive for October, 2009

Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom

Oct 28

Posted by admin in TRAVEL & LEASURE

The whole structure of Angkor Wat is laid out in a giant square measuring about 5 kilometers around. The complex was surrounded by high wall and a moat. To enter, one has to cross a bridge. The temple is built on a pyramid design. There are three courtyards, one rising on top of the other. Towers about 70 meters tall rise from the highest courtyard. On top of each tower is carved a lotus bud. Guarding the entrance are stone cobras poised to strike intruders and enemies of the Khmer kings. Angkor Thnom which is a little further away from Angkor Wat is even grander in design. It was built later. Like Angkor Wat, it is surrounded by high walls and a wide moat. Inside there are beautiful temples, palaces and courtyards. One of the most impressive temples has fifty tall towers, with four giant heads staring in every direction from the top of each tower. All the faces have the same smiling expression but it is not known whether they represent the face of a king.

The wall of the buildings tell the stories of life as it was. The carvings show war elephants, sacred animals such as monkeys, dancing maidens and people carrying different tasks like planting. It was possible to spend hours just staring at these picture-walls imagining what life was like in Angkor about eight hundred years ago.

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Main Features of Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom

Oct 25

Posted by admin in TRAVEL & LEASURE

Before my Canadian friend left Malaysia for good. He gave me a book on the temples of Cambodia. He made me promise that I would one day visit the temples. He was much traveled and had seen churches and temples all over the world but in his opinion the temple city of Angkor Wat is probably the most impressive.

The year after he left, I kept my promise. My friend and I flew to Phnom Penh and after an overnight stop, made our way to Siemreap where the temples are. According to the book I read, a French explorer discovered Angkor in the nineteenth century. His first glimpse was of Angkor Wat’s lotus towers rising above the Cambodian forests. As he walked around the ruin, he realized he had found not just large temple but a lost civilization. He could not get any information from the natives around the place. The jungle had crept in over the years to swallow the buildings. Fig trees sprouted through broken roofs. Families of monkeys made their homes in the palaces where Khmer kings once dwelt. The Khmers ruled over much of Indo-China for nearly a thousand years. Slaves from conquered lands were put to work to build monuments to the Khmer kings. Then the Khmers were defeated in a war with the Siamese and they fled Angkor leaving the cities empty for 500 years. When I visited Angkor nearly twenty years ago, the damage caused by the jungle was mostly repaired. It was possible to see what Angkor was once like.

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Coral Reefs in Danger

Oct 21

Posted by admin in ENVIRONMENT

The boats carrying the tourists pollute the waters and everything in it with petroleum products and sewage. Inexperienced boatmen crash into the reefs. The visitors litter the sea with plastic cups, aluminum cans, plastic bags, bottles and fishing lines. Almost all these products are non-biodegradable, which means they will remain in the sea for a very long time.

Thousands of swimmers bump, scrape and rest on the coral. To a tired swimmer, standing on coral is as harmless as standing on rocks. But the slightest contact with a shoe, paddle or foot can weaken a part of living coral. Algae will then overcome the weakened coral. If every visitor to a coral weakened one piece of coral, the total devastation by a large number is tremendous. Tourists are also fond of breaking off pieces of coral to take home as souvenirs. In addition, locals also break off pieces of coral to sell to visitors.

Factories spill pollutants that end up in the sea. The development of coastal areas, especially along the east coast of Terengganu (Malaysia), has also killed coastal vegetation that acts as filters for pollution. Onshore development is a continuing problem. Sewage runs directly into the sea in many areas and pollution of the waters eventually kills the coral.

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Dangers to the Coral Reefs

Oct 16

Posted by admin in ENVIRONMENT

There is magic in coral. What appears to be a large rock that resembles a human brain is actually a colony of millions of creatures. Each tiny polyp takes in water and nutrients and gives out calcium carbonate. After a polyp dies, it leaves behind deposits of calcium carbonate upon which live polyps build.

Coral reefs appear hardly but in actual fact they are very fragile. They survive only in the strictest conditions. The water temperature must be above 21 °C. The water should also contain a few nutrients and little toxins. It is not surprising that today many coral reefs are in danger. The chief causes of destruction are development and tourism. In the 1950s deep-sea diving became a fashionable sport. After the invention of the Aqualung, young and old entered the underwater frontier. There were no laws that limited spear fishing, or coral or shell collecting. Thoughtless divers speared tons of the most desirable game fish. A few divers might have caused little damage but improvements in diving equipment, making them cheaper and safer, have helped popularize scuba diving. Coral reefs and islands have become the most popular destination of tourists.

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My Experience Of Thai Boxing

Oct 12

Posted by admin in SPORTS & RECREATION

I knew this was going to be one of the more unusual experiences in my life but the evening was unforgettable. Before the bout proper began, the contestants did a kind of shadow-box dance. I found the music and the movements most pleasant. Boonlert told me that the seasoned spectators could tell by the movements which school the boxers came from. This prelude was thus a kind of public acknowledgment of one’s guru.

The music began to warm up and so did the crowd. Boonlert very helpfully informed me that the stirring music was to give the boxers a sense of rhythm and also to cheer them on. It was clear that the spectators got very aroused too. I had read in my guide book that it was not unusual for the crowds to get violent especially when angered by a referee’s decision. I hoped that would not happen. I was not keen on too much excitement.

Their bodies glistening with sweat, the two boxers leapt into action, punching and kicking one another. Fans yelled loudly, egging on their heroes while gamblers signaled their illegal bets to bookies hiding in the shadows. Gambling is very much a part of Thailand’s favorite sport-kick boxing.

The boxing ring looks like one everywhere else in the world. Thai boxers also use the familiar boxing gloves and shorts but here the similarity to Western boxing ends. The two men I was watching used their feet, elbows, legs, knees and shoulders – in short, nearly every part of their body! However, they attacked most with their bare feet. A boxer’s size is often not a good measure of his ability. The smaller man we were watching floored his much larger opponent with a well-aimed kick. Martial art training is part of the regimen. It is a well-known fact that a good Thai boxer is almost impossible to beat.

Boonlert could see I was not very comfortable with the amount of physical contact I was witnessing. With unconcealed glee, he told me that until fifty years ago, the boxers did not wear gloves. Their hands were covered with a kind of hemp to which ground glass was added. Fights went on until one boxer dropped. At least in the fight I was witnessing, the boxers wore gloves and the referee stopped the fight when one of the boxers was injured. I convinced Boonlert that in spite of these controls. Thai kick boxing was almost too thrilling a spectator sport for me.

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Relationships Formed By Animals

Oct 4

Posted by admin in PETS & WILDLIFE

Animals sometimes form deep and lasting partnerships. This may perhaps be fairly normal if they were of the same kind. Perhaps the most unusual friendship is that between the crocodile and the plover. The little bird is permitted to pick bits of food from the razor-sharp teeth of the crocodile without fear of being swallowed. In return for this free meal, the bird chirps a warning if danger approaches. The crocodile ends up with clean teeth and the plover, a full stomach.

Anyone who has been on a safari in Africa will remember the tick bird perched on the fearsome rhinoceros. The bird rids the rhinoceros of ticks and other insects. In return, it has a constant supply of food.

In India, a certain kind of crab carries a couple of stinging anemones around its claws to protect it. This is rather a curious sight. The anemone looks like a flower but it is really a poisonous animal. However, in this strange friendship it is not certain what the anemone benefits from the relationship. It looks like a one-sided relationship. Similarly, no one also knows what advantage the rattler or the armadillo gains by living together but they are often found sharing the same underground home. Another ‘deep’ friendship is that between the giant clams of the Australian coast and some tiny algae. The algae is offered comfortable accommodation in return for a service. The clams would not be so large but for the oxygen provided by their guests, the algae.

The three-toed sloth spends most of its lazy life hanging from the branches of a tree. It is so slow moving that its life would be in great danger from other animals. However, it is on the sloth’s fur and provides excellent camouflage because they are almost the same shade as the plants on which the sloth lives. In return, the sloth furnishes the algae with a good home.

These are just a few of the strange partnerships that occur in nature. For most of them the benefits are mutual but in some cases the reasons for the relationships are not so obvious.

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