Collection of Asian's beauties!

[MissLT]

Asia is a collection of many beautiful sceneries, stories, traditions, et cetera. Why don't you introduce others the beauties of your country and probably, other places that you'd love to be there or know more about them once in your lifetime. Don't forget to give your introduction a title.

[daimy]

DALAT, VIETNAM
Hello Everybody
I'm Vietnamese I like to introduce you to many beautiful places in Vietnam
If anyone asks me where is the most beautiful place that I have visited to in Vietnam, Dalat is always my answer. Perhaps it is also the most beautiful city in Vietnam, located in mountains and hills, covered by cold climate nearly the whole year
Dalat is not too large but has too many wonderful landscapes that Natural has granted . Seeing Dalat from above, we feel impressive and dreamlike beauty completely. Poetic valleys , horizontal green - grass hills and peaceful streams … and even drizzling rains make the beauty of Dalat so wonderful that no word can express Dalat has not only romantic beauty but also mysterious beauty with unfathomable forests of high trees and full of obstacles and dangerous paths and we seem smaller when standing before superb waterfalls ,abysses or high and dangerous mountains I like the most to be looking Dalat in the sunrise .Seeing it from above , everything dimly loomed in the thin veil of morning with fresh and cold air and I was completely dumbfounded by its glamorous beauty
Dalat in Spring seems more beautiful and exciting by many kinds of flower, flowers are nearly in everywhere
At night , Dalat has a meek beauty with villas hidden after gardens, fond lakes with ranges of willow trees and sound of horse’s galloping. Walking to downtown Dalat, the apmostphere is more exciting with souvenir shops, restaurants…and nice coffee shops Enjoying a cup of hot coffee, listening to Trinh Cong Son songs and looking the view of Xuan Huong lake in the cold air also put strong impressions on tourists’ heart when visting Dalat highland

I'm sorry because I don't know how to post pictures to this forum from my compact disk. Can you give me some advices ? thank - you

[MissLT]

My sister and one of my cousin went to Dalat with my cousin's family after I and my extended relatives went back to the U.S, so I haven't gotten a chance to visit Dalat. It was a pity! They told me that Dalat's weather is like San Francisco Bay Area's weather, which also means the best weather on the planet-- not too hot, not too cold and you can distinguish four seasons easily. They aslo told me that Dalat has the best snails and jams they have ever tasted. Uhhhmmmm... I love them food. The next time I come back, I wll definitely visit Dalat.

[Chet Baker]

http://www.vietscape.com/travel/dalat

LennyeTran and daimy, thank you for sharing your experiences about visiting Dalat. I have visited the above website and seen some pictures of Dalat. This is a nice place and beautiful, although, I have never been there, but i can feel that it is a quiet place and good for hiking.

[MissLT]

So you're from Hong Kong huh Chet? Why don't you write something about Hong Kong and provide us a good link of it? I'd love to know as much as I could about Hong Kong. It's one of my dream places to visit in the future. It's because I'm a big fan of Hong Kong series movies. Although now Korean series movies are making a big storm in Asia, but Hong Kong's is still my favorite. I can name more Hong Kong actors and actresses than Vietnamese. And my biggest dream is to come to Hong Kong to visit Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung. I doubt I would get a chance to meet them, though.

[Chet Baker]

HONG KONG, CHINA

http://webserv2.discoverhongkong.com/eng/touring/index.jhtml

Hong Kong is one of the brightest cities in Asia, when you are in the plane at night, you can’t imagine how bright this city is. That’s why people usually call Hong Kong as a Pearl of East.

If you want to see the tourist side of Hong Kong, you may visit the above web-site, this is an official website established by Hong Kong Tourism Board. This website will tell you information about shopping, accommodation, restaurants, etc. These information are very useful when you come to Hong Kong without joining the travelling tour. However, comparing with Dalat in Vietnam, you may think that Hong Kong is too busy and only a material world. If you really think so, please visit the website below. You will find a lot of beautiful pictures of Hong Kong country side.

http://www.hknature.net/

The country side in Hong Kong are very beautiful and not dangerous, there are no dangerous animal and local people are very friendly. Camping in Hong Kong country side is very convenience and cheap. I hope you guy would like these Hong Kong websites.

[MissLT]

KASHMIR, SOUTH ASIA

I was reading an Asian magazine which showed some beautiful pictures of girls who were wearing traditional clothes in Kashmir. Those clothes were actractive so I went online to look for that place. This paragraph is a part of the article of the link below,

"Kashmir is a region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Kashmir historically described the valley just to the south of the westernmost end of the Himalayan range. Politically, however, the term 'Kashmir' describes a much larger area which includes the regions of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The region is currently divided amongst three countries: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir), and the People's Republic of China has occupied the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin). Though these regions are in practice administered by their respective claimants, India has never formally recognized the accession of the areas claimed by Pakistan and China. Pakistan views the entire Kashmir region as disputed territory, and does not consider India's claim to it to be valid......"

Please check here if you'd like to know more about the place,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir

And this is the website contains pictures of the place,
http://jammukashmir.nic.in/culture/welcome.html
http://jammukashmir.nic.in/profile/welcome.html
Those pictures are amazingly beautiful.

[MissLT]

To most people's belief there are six sets of seven wonders of the world: ancient, medieval, natural, underwater, modern and new. Since this is an Asian section I will introduce to you the Asian places in those sets only. First is the wonders of the ancient world. We have Turkey and Iraq. I know for sure Iraq is in Asia, but not quite sure about Turkey since it lies between Asia and Europe. Well, I'll just go ahead and count it as a part of Asia.

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON IN IRAQ
Location: On the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq.
History: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the walls of Babylon were both supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC to cheer up his homesick wife, Amyitis. However, there are doubts about the existence of the hanging gardens of Babylon because the founded gardens don't look completely like the ancient descriptions.

THE MAUSOLEUM OF MAUSSOLLOS IN TURKEY
Location: Halicarnassus, present Bodrum, Turkey.
History: was built between ca 353 and 351 BC to hold the remains of Mausolus, a provincial king in the Persian Empire, and his wife, Artemisia.
This is the description of the tomb in wikipedia,
"The tomb was erected on a hill overlooking the city. The whole structure sat in an enclosed courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb itself sat. A staircase, flanked by stone lions, led to the top of this platform. Along the outer wall of this were many statues depicting gods and goddess. At each corner stone warriors, mounted on horseback, guarded the tomb.

At the center of the platform was the tomb itself. Made mostly of marble, the structure rose as a square, tapering block to about one-third of the Mausoleum's 45-metre (135-foot) height. This section was covered with relief sculpture showing action scenes from Greek myth/history. One part showed the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapiths. Another depicted Greeks in combat with the Amazons, a race of warrior women.

On top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, nine per side, rose for another third of the height. Standing in between each column was another statue. Behind the columns was a solid block that carried the weight of the tomb's massive roof.

The roof, which comprised most of the final third of the height, was in the form of a stepped pyramid. Perched on top was a quadriga: four massive horses pulling a chariot in which images of Mausolus and Artemisia rode."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Halicarnassus

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA IN EGYPT
Location: on the island of Pharos off Alexandria, Egypt.
History: was built by Sostratus of Cnidus in the 3rd century BC and remained operational until it was largely destroyed by two earthquakes in the 14th century.
According to an article from wikipedia, "It was a tower that is estimated to have been 134 m (440 ft) high, at the time one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth. It was built of blocks of white stone. The tower was made up of three stages, a lower square with a central core, a middle octagonal section, and at the top a circular section. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night. As it can be seen from images of the Lighthouse on Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint, there were four statues of tritons blowing horns, one on every corner of the building. Also in the Roman period there was a statue atop the tower."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharos_of_Alexandria

PYRAMIDS OF GIZA/THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA IN EGYPT
Location: in the Giza necropolis on the outskirts of modern Cairo, Egypt.
History:
- were built during Egypt's 4th dynasty (ca 2575–ca 2465 BC) and serving as tombs for the Egyptian pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The Great Pyramid is a tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu; it's the tallest of all three pyramids.
- date of completion is 2570 BC.
- was constructed of limestone, basalt, and granite stones from two to four tonnes in weight each, adding up to a total estimated weight of some 7 million tonnes, and a volume of 2,600,600 cubic metres.
- The Great Pyramid differs in its internal arrangement from the other pyramids in the area. The greater number of passages and chambers, the high finish of parts of the work, and the accuracy of construction all distinguish it.
- labor force needed to construct was around 100,000 to 300,000 men.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS IN TURKEY
Location: was located in the ancient city of Ephesus, about 50 km south from modern port city of Izmir, in Turkey.
History: The Temple was designed by the Greek architect Chersiphron, and built around 550 BC at the expense of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia. Marshy ground was selected for the building site as a precaution against future earthquakes (Pliny). The temple became a tourist attraction, visited by merchants, kings, and sightseers, many of whom paid homage to Artemis in the form of jewelry and various goods. Its splendor also attracted many worshippers, many of whom formed the cult of Artemis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis

[MissLT]

KUMARI, THE LIVING GODDESS IN NEPAL
Practicing the Kumari worshipping, which is originally from India starting 2600 years ago, since the 6th or maybe 17th century, Nepalese Kumari is a Kumari goddess who is a prepubescent virgin girl getting selected and being taken away from her family since the age of four. She will leave the palace when she reaches her menstruation, which Nepalese believe the incarnated goddess Taleju has already left her body--she is no longer pure or carried the spirit of goddess Taleju.
Check out here to know more about the tradition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari#Life_of_the_Royal_Kumari

[MissLT]

POTALA PALACE, TIBET
“The Potala Palace, which stands 117 meters high atop the Red Hill in Lhasa, was built 1,300-odd years ago in the 7th century. The 13-story palace, the world's highest, is more than 3,700 meters above sea level and is a rare example of traditional Tibetan architecture.”

Potala is the Sanskrit pronunciation of Buddha's Mountain. In the Tibetan language, Potala Palace means residence of the Goddess of Mercy or the Holy Land of Buddhas. It was built on the side of Potala Hill and located in Lhasa, Tibet, and is a well-known tourist attraction and an UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its beauty and also because this is a residence of all past Dalai Lamas until the 14th Daila Lama escaped to India in 1959.
In Tibetan legend stated that in 614 the Tubo King Songtsan Gambo, a devout Buddhist, married the Tang Dynasty (618-907) Princess Wencheng. He then had the Potala Palace built for his wife. The palace had suffered from wars, thunderbolts and fire until the 17th century it was rebuilt for Dalai Lama’s personal used, political activities, and tombs of all past Dalai Lamas.
Architecture of Potala Palace is divided into two important sections: the seven-story White Palace where political activities were taken place, and the Red Palace where religious activities were taken place. Now it contains all the beauties of decorative painting, with jewelled work, carving, other ornaments, woolen rugs, canopy, religious objects, curtains, silk fabrics, gold and silver utensils, chinaware and ston artifacts often provoke wonder and amazement in visitors.
Check here to see pictures and more information,
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/picture/tibet/potala_palace/
http://www.china.org.cn/ch-xizang/tibet/picture_album/english/palace/palace.html