Sun Moon Lake

Sent by: TW-373098, Taiwan

Sun Moon Lake, situated in Nantou County’s Yuchih Township, in the center of Taiwan, and is the island’s largest lake. It is a beautiful alpine lake, divided by the tiny Lalu Island; the eastern part of the lake is round like the sun and the western side is shaped like a crescent moon, hence the name “Sun Moon Lake”.

Its crystalline, emerald green waters reflect the hills and mountains which rise on all sides. Natural beauty is enhanced by numerous cultural and historical sites. Well-known both at home and abroad, the Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area has exceptional potential for further growth and recognition as a prime tourism destination.

Taiwan’s Sept. 21 earthquake, which struck the area in 1999, caused severe damage to the Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area, at the time under the administration of Taiwan’s provincial government. The park has since been reorganized as a National Scenic Area. Significant increases in human and capital investment inflows and the promotion of various special programs and events centered on the Scenic Area have been instrumental in attracting tourists, helping the area emerge from the shadow of the earthquake and setting Sun Moon Lake firmly back on the path to becoming an international tourist destination.

Tampere

Sent by: FI-1205640 Tampere, Finland

Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of 213,344, growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in Finland, after the Greater Helsinki municipalities of Helsinki and Espoo. In 2007, the entire Pirkanmaa region had around 470,000 residents, of which 230,000 were employed, and a turnover of 25 billion euros.

Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres (59 ft), the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity. Tampere is dubbed the "Manchester of Finland" for its industrial past as the former center of Finnish industry, and this has given rise to its Finnish nickname "Manse" and terms such as "Manserock".

Helsinki can be reached in 1.5 hours by train and 2 hours by car. The distance to Turku is approximately the same. Tampere Airport is the third-busiest airport in Finland, with 800,000 passengers annually.

University College Cork (UCC)

Sent by: Wendi Heffernan, Cork Ireland 15 September 2011

University College Cork (UCC) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. The university is located in Cork.

The university was founded as a college in 1845 under the original name of Queen's College, Cork. It became University College, Cork, under a charter issued after the Irish Universities Act, 1908 became law. The Universities Act, 1997 renamed the university as National University of Ireland, Cork, and a Ministerial Order of 1998 renamed the university as University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork.

The university was named the "Sunday Times Irish University of the Year 2003 - 2004", and again in 2005 - 2006. In 2011 the QS World University Rankings ranked the university 181, placing it amongst the top 2% of universities worldwide. The university also received a 5-star rating in the QS University Rankings 2011, making UCC the first and currently the only Irish University to hold this distinction. Dr. Michael B. Murphy has been president of the university since February 2007.

Toronto Rogers Center

Sent by: Mary Anne Augerman, Toronto Canada Sept 2011

 

Rogers Center (formerly known as SkyDome) is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. From 2008–2012, the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League are scheduled to play at the stadium for eight games (five regular-season and two pre-season) as part of the Bills Toronto Series. While it is primarily a sports venue, it also hosts other large-scale events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, funfairs, and monster truck shows.

The stadium was renamed "Rogers Center" following the purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, which also bought the Toronto Blue Jays, in 2005. The venue was noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the most recent North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball. The stadium will be the centrepiece of the 2015 Pan American Games as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

Hello from Michigan

Sent by: Tera Rowe, Michigan USA Sept 2011

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".

Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States, with the 2010 census placing its population at 9,883,640 residents. It has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (10 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.

Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "The U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km)-wide channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is economically important for tourism and natural resources.

Floating Market At Damnoen Saduak, Ratchaburi

Sent by: Joy Pornprapa, Thailand September 11, 2011

Damnernsaduak is believed to be one of a well-known and an attractuve travelling sites. Historically, Damnoenssaduak was actually the name of the canal dug in the reign of King Rama IV by the military men and the people of Rajburi, Samutsakorn and Samutsongkram Province directed by Phayasrisuriyawong, the minister of Defence. In those days without rivers and canals, transportation was almost motionless; King Rama IV with his great concern over the country's future economic growth, he finally had the canal dug to connect the Taachin River in Samutsakorn Province and Maklong River in Samutsongkram Province together.

Nowadays Damnoensaduak is one of a provincial district of Rajburi Province. Most people live densely along both sides of the canal from one end of the canal to another.The majority of this people are agriculturists. They grow several different kinds of fruit and vegetable for examples oranges, grapes, papayas, cabbages, bean, onion and etc. The land in this area is naturally fertile. Apart from providing transportation, Damnoensaduak Canal also provides farmers with adequate water for agricultural purposes for the whole year around. More than 200 small canals were dug by local peasants to connect with it to get water to splatter their land. Moreover; these small canals also become protitiouus ways of taking their agricultural products to the markets in neighbouring provinces and Bangkok.

Day in and day out from about 8 a.m. to about 11 a.m. the Floating Market is routinely crowded with hundrreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying or exchanging their goods. What they purchase are particularly food, fruit and vegetable which mostly brought from their own orchards. They usually travel on their small rowing boats. however; today the long-tailed boats pushing by engine become very popular. People tend to use them instead. Anyhow because of the shortage of fuel today long-tailed boats are quite unavailable compared to a few years ago.

Damnoen Saduak in Ratchaburi about 109 kilometres south of Bangkok or approximately 2 hours drive.

Taipei 101 Skycraper

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 (台北101/臺北101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest LEED building in the world.[3] Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening, and received the 2004 Emporis Skyscraper Award.[4] Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media.

Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. The building was architecturally created as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition (see Symbolism). Its postmodernist approach to style incorporates traditional design elements and gives them modern treatments. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs.

Taipei 101 is owned by the Taipei Financial Center Corporation (TFCC) and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago. The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, until 2003, was derived from the name of the owner. The original name in Chinese was literally, Taipei International Financial Center (臺北國際金融中心).


Tallest in the world from 2004 to 2010

Preceded by: Petronas Towers
Surpassed by: Burj Khalifa

Company B 2001

Company B 2001

Company B Belvoir's 2001 Season

Bootmen - A Film by Dein Terry

New Energetic Australian Film BOOTMEN

Starring Adam Garcia and Sophie Lee

Commences October 5, 2000

in Cinemas Everywhere

Bootmen

Born charmer Sean Okden gave up tap-dancing when he started working in the steel mill, but as that's going down the hill he grabs his chance being the only candidate in his coastal Australian home town Newcastle selected for a Sidney show.

Being sacked soon just for a row with the arrogant lead dancer, he returns to find his girlfriend in bed with his brother Mitchell, and decides to start his own tap-dance group wearing hardhats, which he soon gives an original edge when the steel mill inspires him to weld metal on their shoes and dance on industrial steel, so it the metallic acoustics fit well with a local rock group. Financing their local debut is so expensive, even when the mill allows them free us of its premises -opening some acrobatic perspectives- while even his father won't allow him to touch his mother's inheritance for the project, that the 'Bootmen' need to steal the cheerleaders' podium in a televised sports match to get media attention.

Sean generously helps his brother when attacked, at the price of their motorbikes, only to learn his assailant Huey and Mitch rival as car (part) thieves, but still allows him into the group - only to see his fatal fall during an attack by Huey's goons. Even when the mill announces phasing out Sean continues, now as a benefit for the sacked workers' retraining.

Taroko National Park

Taroko National Park

Taroko National Park

Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園) is one of the seven national parks in Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park. The park spans Taichung City, Nantou County, and Hualien County.

The park was originally established as the Tsugitaka-Taroko National Park (次高タロコ国立公園) by the Governor-General of Taiwan on December 12, 1937 when Taiwan was part of the Empire of Japan. After the Empire of Japan's defeat in World War II, the Republic of China assumed control of Taiwan. The ROC government subsequently abolished the park on August 15, 1945. It was not until November 28, 1986 that the park was reestablished.

Sights include:

Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞)
Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠)
Swallow Grotto (燕子口)
Jinheng Park (靳珩公園)
The Bridge of the Kind Mother (慈母橋)
Tiansiang (天祥)
Jhueilu Precipice (錐麓斷崖)
Lioufang Bridge (流芳橋)
Hill of Yu the Great (大禹嶺)
Buluowan (布洛灣)



Friends in Kuala Selangor Nature Park - 6 Educational Postcards

6 Educational Postcards by Malaysian Nature Society

Collared Kingfsher

The Collared Kingfisher is found around Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP). It feeds mainly on fish, crabs and other crustaceans and is commonly found along coastal areas. In KSNP the Collared Kingfisher can be seen along the mangrove belt adjacent to the mudflat area.

Silvered Leaf Monkey

The Silvered Leaf Monkey is a langur or a leaf eating monkey. It is commonly found in Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP). The monkeys live in a family troop grouping of five or six. Young Silvered Leaf Monkey are born with bright orange fur. They can be seen clinging to their mothers along the fig tree trail.

Fiddler Crab

The male Fiddler Crab has one pincer larger than the other. This is used during courtship and to defend its territory. The female Fiddler Crab does not have larger pincer. The Fiddler Crab is found closer to land away from the mudflats.

Malayan Box Turtle

The Malayan Box Turtle is a handsome looking non-marine turtle. It is an omnivorous animal surviving on plants and invertebrates. It can be found in wetland habitats such as Kuala Selangor Nature Park.

Mangrove

Mangrove are an important ecosystem as it protects the inner land from large waves act as a nursery for fish, prawns and crab, provide food for many types of birds, other fauna and mankind. It is also an important source for charcoal production. Kuala Selangor Nature Park has a good mangroove ecosystem where wildlife is abundant.



Smooth Otter

Smooth Otters are found in Kuala Selangor Nature Park. A quiet early morning walk bu the lake system may reward with a view of these playful creatures doing their antics in the water. Their diet consist of crustaceans, mollusks, fish and occasionally small snakes.



Map - Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Peta Shah Alam - Malaysia

Movie - Snatch

Snatch - Stealin' Stones And Breakin' Bones

From the Director of "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

...a new black comedy and a whole lotta trouble.

Snatch

Lcyra® - Enjoy The Difference

A Touch of LYCRA®

Adds Figure Flattering Fit, Comfort and Shape to Great Swimwear and Something More to You

Lycra®

The Australian Ballet - Trilogy

Three works from the giants of contemporary ballet

Kylian/Forsythe/Tharp

8 to 27 November

Opera Theatre - Sydney Opera House with the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra

Trilogy

Postcard Series - Zoo Negara, Malaysian Zoological Society

Zoo Negara, Malaysian Zoological Society

Spotted Leopard (Panthera pardus)

Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni)

Malayan Tapir (Tapirus Indicus)

Binturong (Arctictis binturong)

Lesser Mousedeer (Tragulus javanicus)

Serow (Naemorhedus sumatraensis)

Malay Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu)

Malayan Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)