Tagged With "mud building"
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Re: Herculaneum, 79 A.D.
Thanks for the trip, PortMoresby, it looks like a fascinating place to visit. Those Romans certainly knew how to build a city..
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Dec. 21, 2013: Fujian Life
Bamboo is used in so many ways it's impossible to know. My favorite use for the material is to build scaffolding on multi-story construction projects. Quite amazing.
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Re: Should Wi-Fi be free in all hotels?
Actually, privatized toll roads are the coming thing these days! Some states have sold off roads; others have allowed private companies to build from scratch. The road to Dulles Airport near Washington is a prime example. But the comparisons to WiFi here don't really work. No one charged extra for electric light in hotels when it was new; it simply replaced the gas lighting. It took 70 years of broadcasting to create a pay system. As for WiFi, or internet access in hotels generally, it's not...
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Wow, an interesting way of living, but people are still living there or is just a tourist attraction?
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
These are living communities. A few have been abandoned in favor of apartment blocks and are melting back into the earth, as mud-brick construction does, but most of the thousands scattered through the hills of the province continue to be villages in themselves, enjoyed and maintained by the Hakka communities that occupy them. A few of the largest individual tulous and clusters have become tourist attractions but if you hurry you'll likely be, as I was, one of the only western tourists for ...
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Ah i understand now, thank you for the information, nice topic btw
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Amazing!! As you said, ahead of the crowd.....what an adventure!
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Thanks, Dgems. When I wrote this piece, last year, I didn't have access to my own photos. In the next month or so I plan to post a gallery of my own pictures of the tulou so you'll have a better idea of the variety of structures and ambiance of the area.
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Thank you for bringing us back these wonderful photos of a secret splendor. (I still want to know what happened to you without easy communication. Those are the moments that challenge and expand us, and they must have for you. )
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
HistoryDigger, I'll explain. At the end of the first day of tulou visits, the large tour bus rendezvoused with a small van and it was indicated that I should bring my things and come with a young man. Since no one could explain, I had to simply trust and go along, an interesting sensation. I later realized that I was the only one who had opted for the second day. The young man drove me to a very basic village of mostly new buildings built, I suspect but of course don't know, for...
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
I'm amazed at seeing this. At first I was thinking, well, communal dwelling, sort of like pueblos, and then I realized that this is much bigger, since you said there are hundreds of these. Do you know if they are in other areas of China, too? Are people still building like that now?
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Sisyphus, not to nit-pick, but thousands of them according to everything I've read, not hundreds. They're built by the Hakka people so confined to Fujian and neighboring provinces. I suspect there may not be many under construction as efforts seem to be going toward maintaining the ones standing. When I was walking through the clusters I visited there were a few abandoned and in disrepair but not many, at least that I saw. There very well may be more unmaintained in remoter areas. Young...
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Fascinating piece, PortMoresby! Truly a stranger in a strange (but fascinating) lang. Thanks for sharing it with us!
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
Thanks PortMoresby! Do you remember where you saw the original Photo.Glad to hear the adventurous spirit is alive and well.
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
No, Rob. Sorry, I don't remember. I read a lot of publications, online and off, and the original picture got lost in the dust of enthusiasm to research logistics. I don't think there's any lack of enthusiasm in the world but that obscure places are getting less obscure every day. What I do think is lacking is imagination. We tend to read about places people have enjoyed, as here on TravelGumbo and follow, rather than setting out for parts unknown. I believe if a place is hard to get to it...
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Re: Venice's ban on huge cruise ships suspended
The only alternatives I can see are to build a new cruise port outside the lagoon. Chioggia might be too far, but perhaps just north of the main way into the lagoon, across the inlet from the Lido. That would provide land-based alternatives for other day trips from the boats, and could also be served by vaporetto-sized boats heading into Venice itself. Of course, I haven't consulted the folks who live there and run campgrounds there...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo #297
Friday's clues...two more days to go! Two brothers built mirror image houses side by side until one brother’s house was demolished so his other neighbor could expand their home and build a carriage house. This house has Italian and French Renaissance influences with a gothic window. The other house has a blend of Italianate and Georgian Revival which is currently a B&B.
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Re: New Orleans plans an "unplugged" airport
We're waiting to see them start to build this. Things move slow down here, but it could be the boost our city needs to bring in new business.
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Re: Memphis, Tennessee 3) The rest of the city
I love love LOVE Memphis, would go back in a heartbeat! Enjoyed reading your post! Global Mimi.
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Re: Memphis, Tennessee 3) The rest of the city
Thanks for your comment, Mimiadventures! Good food, great music, nice people -- always something great to return to. I really didn't get into the great local food very much, but Memphis is reknowned for its "soul" style cooking and, of course, its BBQ.
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Re: Russia to Open Up Gulags as "Tourist Camps"?
Oh, those Russians, ever the tricksters. Troop build-up on the Ukraine border = maneuvers. Summer in the gulag = fun in the sun. Yekaterina, you clever girl, you.
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Re: Norway's plea: Please pick up after our bears
Originally Posted by GarryRF: Did you know that if you felled all the trees in Canada and laid them end to end then .... the Bears would have nowhere to take a dump !! Garry -- the bears are smart and would use those millions of trees to build rafts they could float to England, where they could dump often and where ever they wanted!
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, February 25, 2015. St. Augustine, Florida
The dining hall at Flagler College(in your last photo) is really something to see. The Tiffany Windows are incredible.I also love the concrete used to build Flagler college , former Hotel Ponce de Leon , made from the local coquina stone.
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Re: Monterey Bay Aquarium: Oceans Apart
Thank you Lestertheinvestor for sharing. I love aquariums and haven't been to the Monterey Bay one yet. Can't wait to see it. I know aquariums are expensive to build and maintain but I wish there was some way to keep the admission prices down .
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Re: One 'Ghost Airport' in China Plans to Expand Again
Seems as if someone really believes "if you build it, they will come."
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Re: Longer Wait at Security? New TSA Leader Says They Will Focus on Screening
Reading the NY Times it appears the TSA still haven't got their act together. The most productive target is intelligence gathering and immediate action on it. No matter how high you build a fence - someone will crawl under it.
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Re: Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
While this report is interesting in one regard, I find myself disturbed by the discussion of Woodrow Wilson that leaves out so many negative aspects of Wilson's legacy. Negative enough that students at Princeton have been trying to get his name off buildings. Wilson was a racist. A member of the KKK, or at least a friend. He showed Birth of A Nation, a racist, pro-Klan movie in the White House. He segregated the civil service, which had been one of the ways that Black workers had been able...
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Re: Portland, Oregon - Part III - Escaping
Thanks again for a wonderful view of the Portland area. If you had continued East along the Columbia River you would have reached the Maryhill Museum . This fascinating collection of art started as the dream of Samuel Hill who was president of the Seattle Gas and Electric Company around the start of the 20th century. He hoped to build a Quaker farming community, but irrigation proved too difficult. Istead he was convinced to turn his mansion into an art museum. His collection was eclectic. I...
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Monish
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Re: When there are no more beaches, will we all head for the hills?
So many resorts truck in their "beaches", it may turn out to be more an excuse to build new fancier versions of themselves than the prospect of their disappearance. Where there's a will...and you know there is!
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Re: Help with Provence Itinerary
Nearest St-Remy: - Don't miss Les Baux . The village is touristy but the castle complex on top is fantastic and the views are to die for - you don't need to be a fan of scenery to appreciate them. - Roman ruins of Glanum , walking distance from St-Remy - Arles for more Roman ruins (but I think you've been already?) Farther away: - Day-trip to the Luberon for unmatched scenery and charming little villages full of vernacular architecture - what people build themselves, without an architect.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 18, 2014: Lower Manhattan's New Skyline
You may have noticed that NYC has 2 areas of very tall buildings - The Battery/Financial District and Midtown, separated by an large area where building height is limited. This was not just due to zoning. The reason is geological. The bedrock is very close to the surface in Midtown and Battery so there is support for very tall buildings. However, From 34th street down to Canal the bedrock is much deeper and the ground is more sandy/gravely, so it was unsafe to build tall buildings in area.
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For those who hate Heathrow, Gatwick plans new allure
London's Gatwick Airport, second only to Heathrow in British air traffic, is in a hot competition with Heathrow for the right to build an additional runway to accommodate growing air traffic in Southeast Britain. Part of its strategy is to line up a...
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Memphis, Tennessee 3) The rest of the city
There’s a lot more to Memphis than Graceland, although Graceland is by far the city’s most popular attraction (which I’ve previously discussed here ). A city of about 650,000, Memphis has a...
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Visiting Versailles
Among the many wonderful palaces of Europe, Versailles is said to be the greatest and grandest of them all. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and is on almost every traveler’s list of “must see”...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov. 3, 2013: Brandenburg Gate
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is surely one of the world’s most-recognized landmarks, and symbolizes Berlin in the way the Eiffel Tower means Paris and the Parthenon means Athens. It’s been the ceremonial center for marches and...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Feb 21, 2014: Hadrian's Wall, England
1,450 miles from Rome was the limit of the mighty Roman Empire in 122 AD when the Roman Emperor Hadrian came to Britain and took the decision to build this massive stone wall in order to consolidate his rule and the geographical extent of his Empire....
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Washington State’s Long Beach Peninsula
For most travelers, the southwestern corner of Washington state is easy to bypass. It lies well over an hour’s drive from the busy I-5 Interstate Freeway. The broad mouth of the Columbia River limits access from the Oregon...
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ET, Call Home: A visit to the Arecibo Observatory
On our recent visit to Puerto Rico, we took an unplanned side trip to what might be called ET’s phone booth—a vast radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory that “listens” to space both for astronomical information and any...
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Monterey Bay Aquarium: Oceans Apart
Located directly on the Monterey Bay just south of Santa Cruz is a sprawling complex of nearly 200 exhibits of more than 550 species in a 2 storey building nearly 30 years old: the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA). Started in 1978, and open to the...
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Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
I love visiting the state of Hawaii. Although I have enjoyed all the Hawaiian islands I have visited (Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii Island), my favorite island would be Hawaii Island (aka the Big Island). The diversity of the Hawaii...
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American adds DFW-Beijing and Asia mileage bonuses
Looking to build up its Asia business and partnerships, American Airlines is offering a double-miles promotion on its flights from the U.S. to Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong, as well as on many intra-Asia routes served with its partner, JAL. MORE...
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Old San Juan: Beautiful...and not all old
San Juan, Puerto Rico is a city of contrasts, of modern skyscrapers, crowded residential areas of different eras, resort hotels and casinos along Condado, and much more...but the image that usually comes to mind is really that of Old San Juan, the...
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Ambitious Plans Presented For High -Speed Train & Mega Road to Link Europe to Asia
In the future,will you be able to take a high speed train and or drive a modern road from Europe to Asia or even Europe to the US? Some ambitious plans were presented at the Russian Academy of Science. Vladimir Yakunin ,head of the Russian Railways ,...
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Controversy for New Concert Hall in Paris
Photo from Philharmonie of Paris / W. Beaucardet The €390 million Philharmonie of Paris opened in January of 2015, after delays and cost overruns with controversy. Its star...
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Airbnb's plans for business travelers
Airbnb has become so pervasive in the leisure travel market, you just know there must be business travelers using it, too. And not surprisingly, Airbnb would like to encourage that. In an interview with Business Travel News, Marc McCabe, the company's...
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Airbnb now open for business in Cuba
Jumping ahead of the airlines and hotel chains, Airbnb has opened its first list of lodgings available in Cuba, mostly rooms in existing "Casas Particulares," which are private rentals of rooms in homes. Airbnb, famous for "disrupting" the lodging...
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Airbnb's Cool Model Train Commercial
Airbnb is so happy with their complex Model Train commercial ,they are going to translate it into multiple languages and publish it worldwide. The set of this commercial took 30 people five weeks to build. The filming took 85 takes to get...
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Big Changes Coming to United Airport Lounges
Photo from United Airlines :United Club Bar- London Heathrow Lounge This coming year ,United will build two new lounges in Atlanta and San...