The Lake Retba

The Lake Retba

Less than an hour away from the capital city of Senegal there is an unusual lake that will surely catch the unsuspecting visitor’s eye because of its unusual yet vivid pink color. You see all in pink!!! Can you amazing that??

Lake Retba (or Lac Rose as it is known by locals) is separated only by some narrow dunes from the Atlantic Ocean and, as expected its salt content is very high. Its salinity content compares to that of the Dead Sea and during the dry season it exceeds it.

Its distinct pink colour is caused by the Dunaliella salina bacteria, which is attracted by the lake’s salt content. The bacteria produces a red pigment in order to absorb the sunlight, thus giving the lake its unique colour. Its colour is especially visible during the dry season (which lasts from November to June) and less during the rainy season (July-October).

Not many living organisms are able to survive in Lake Retba because of its high salt content, so it serves mainly as a tourist point and for salt production.



In fact, if you decide to visit the lake, you will constantly see salt collectors working at the lake and the shores of Lake Retba are full of piles of collected salt. This salt is extracted by locals from the bottom of the lake using their hands, then placed into baskets it is transported to the shore where it is used mainly to preserve fish.

The lake is only 3 square kilometers big (about 1,1 square miles) and there is no major town developed along its shores.

When visiting the lake, you will be amazed by the contrast of the mountains of salt packed up next to the lake’s shore, the pink color of the lake’s water and the gold sand dunes on the other side of the Lac Rose......



Go to explore it!

The Secret "Tunnel of Love" in Ukraine

After sharing a horrible place to visit!!!

Now, I am going to recommend a romantic trip for you guys, especially the couple......

The Secret “Tunnel of Love” in Ukraine

This is not a stage of any fantastic film. This amazing, dreamlike tunnel, called “Tunnel of Love” is located in the Ukraine, near Kleven. It’s like a “The Secret Garden”, only it is a tunnel passage for trains. Not just any train. Private trains are the only ones allowed in this exclusive passageway. 

India may have the Taj Mahal, and Paris is the city of love, but the Ukraine has this incredible, ethereal Tunnel of Love. Strolling hand-in-hand with someone special, these young lovers must be in one of the world’s most romantic spots!!! 

In addition to serving as a train route, the tunnel is used by lovers to make a wish – it is said that if they are sincere in their love, their wishes will come true......

The tunnel only measures just shy of 2 miles at 1.8, but it’s a breathtaking scene nonetheless. It was made over many years as the passing train molded the trees’ lines. The train turned a cluttered piece of woodland into a unique passageway as it traveled back and forth 3 times a day over several years.

If you are planning a trip to Ukraine, don’t forget to visit this magical ”Tunnel of love”! Also it definitely could be one of the most romantic places for weddings or betrothals......

The Beautiful Ending

The Island of the Dolls, the Creepiest Place in Mexico

The Island of the Dolls, the Creepiest Place in Mexico

"This is not a nightmare. It’s a real place outside of Mexico City, which for decades has been home to hundreds of decaying dolls"

Do you think dolls are creepy like Chucky of the Child's Play series?

XOCHIMILCO, MEXICO - The dolls are in the trees and on the ground, bunched together on wooden fence posts and hanging from clotheslines like laundry left to dry. Their dead eyes stare at you from half-empty sockets, their dirty hair hangs like cobwebs. Their skin is scabbed and peeling away, and their plump limbs are scattered everywhere—arms and legs strewn about haphazardly, decapitated heads impaled on stakes.

This is not a nightmare. It’s La Isla de las Muñecas, a real place located in a southern borough of Mexico City on a man-made island that for decades has been home to hundreds of dilapidated dolls.

The island was once the property of Don Julián Santana, a local farmer. Legend has it that in 1950 he saw a little girl drown in the canal and her spirit began haunting the place. Terrified, Don Julián started collecting dolls to protect himself from her ghost. He gathered them from trash heaps and hung them around the island like creepy Christmas ornaments. Over half a century, he collected more than 1,500 of these little horrors. The oldest is still there, hanging in a shed by the entrance. From afar, it looks like the decaying corpse of a child.



Santana died of a heart attack in 2001, and a small white cross near the water marks his grave. His cousin Anastasio now lives on the island, running it as a tourist attraction. “The spirit of the little girl is still here,” he says. “It’s important not to remove the dolls.”

At night, he says, they come alive. “They will move their heads and whisper to each other. It’s very spooky, but I have gotten used to it.”



Xochimilco is best known for its chinampas, artificial islands created by the Aztecs to serve as floating gardens where food was grown for the ancient city of Tenochtitlan. Tourists now flock to the islands, using gondolas to traverse the waters, eating, drinking and listening to mariachi music along the way.



A trip to the Island of the Dolls takes about two hours by boat and leads you through quiet green pastures where birds and farm animals graze. It’s a far cry from the smog and frenzy of Mexico City, a sprawling capital that’s home to roughly 9 million people.

Ghost stories and tales of the supernatural are part of the local lore here in Xochimilco. At Cuemanco, one of the docks from where the gondolas embark, there are numerous crosses and plaques dedicated to La Llorona, the “Weeping Woman.” Locals say she killed her children to be with the man she loved. When he rejected her, she drowned herself. When the islands are covered in fog, many claim the Weeping Woman haunts the area, crying out for her kids.



“Ghosts are very real,” Anastasio says. “Some of them are old, like La Llorona, others more recent, like my uncle’s dolls. It’s important to pay tribute to them.”

That tribute also makes for a nice tourist attraction—albeit one that will haunt you in your dreams!!!

Do you brave to challenge it?? 

Just finish jogging, my mind has come with a miracle place to share with you guys haha......

The Red Beach in Panjin, China

"In Panjin, China, folklore has it that a thousand warriors died fighting hordes of ninja zombies, spreading blood all over the ground and forever cursing whoever sun bathes there." Ok, I made that up, it is just my imagination. But that would make a pretty cool back story to Panjin’s Red Beach......

The Red Beach lies in the southwest of Panjin City and is about 30 kilometers from the urban area. At the Red Beach in Panjin are plants that are considered to be very hearty ones that flourish in the mud flats of the mouth of Liaohe River. It calls the seablite plants which grow every April or May. The color of the plant is green at beginning, and gradually becomes redder. By September, the plant is a vivid red, covering the whole alkaline beach. The stunning red beach scenery appears only at the mud flat in Panjin, northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The reeds and marsh here are the habitat of 236 kinds of birds. The most famous is the red-crowned cranes and Saunder's gull. Observing the cranes, gulls and other rare birds in the reeds sea is a tourism activity that is full of strong natural appeal. In this area, there is crane-observing platform. From midsummer to November the suaeda vegetation that is 26 km long and 1 km wide near the mouth of Liaohe River is fiery red and very spectacular, hence it is called "Red Beach".

In order to preserve this out-of-this-world beach, authorities made it a nature preserve in 1988. But you can still see it as a small section is open for tourists. SO, THIS COMING SEPTEMBER WOULD BE A NICE TRIP FOR YOU GUYS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS TO VERIFY THIS MIRACLE!!! 

The Cano Christales: The River of Five Colors

The Cano Cristales: The River of Five Colors

"If you are lucky enough, you might just be at the right place at the right time to bear witness to something that can only occur when all the elements involved are in perfect balance. Such is the wonder and magnificence of the Cano Cristales at a certain time of the year, because that’s when the Rainbow River comes to life."

Cano Cristales is a river of Colombia located in the Sierra de la Macarena. For most of the year, Cano Cristales is indistinguishable from any other river: a bed of rocks covered in dull green mosses are visible below a cool, clear current. However, for a brief period of time every year the most amazing transformation occurs - the river blossoms in a vibrant explosion of colors.

During the short span between the wet and dry seasons, the water level drops enough for the sun to warm the moss and algae on the river's bottom, and this warmth leads to an explosive growth of blooms. A unique species of plant that lines the river floor called Macarenia clavigera turns a brilliant red. It is offset by splotches of yellow and green sand, blue water, and a thousand shades in between. This only happens for a brief period in between seasons for a few weeks from September through November.

Cano Cristales has been called the river of five colors or even the most beautiful river in the world!!!

Cano Cristales is located in a remote, isolated area not easily accessible by road. The site was closed to tourists for several years because of terrorist activity in the region along with concerns about the environmental impact of tourism. It was reopened to visitors in 2009, and today there are several Colombian Tourist Agencies that will fly travelers to La Macarena. From there it is a short trip into "Serrania de la Macarena," the national park in which Cano Cristales is located.

SO, DON'T TRY TO MISS THIS AWESOME PLACE!! XD

Leshan Giant Buddha

Bonjour. Here, I wish you guys have a nice day!!!

Today I wanted to recommend another amazing place to travel, especially suit for Buddhist Leshan Giant Buddha 



The massive Leshan Giant Buddha is a stone statue of Buddha carved directly into a cliff. It is also the tallest statue of its kind in the world. Located in the southern part of the Sichuan province of China, the statue depicts a Maitreya Buddha sitting with his hands on his knees. 

According to the Buddhist faith, Maitreya is the future Buddha who will come to remind people about dharma after the teachings of Gautama Buddha have been forgotten......

"The mountain is a Buddha and the Buddha is a mountain".

Absolutely awe-inspiring, the Leshan Giant Buddha towers over the confluence of the rivers Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi and faces Mount Emei.

Size Does Matter

 

At 71-metre tall, the statue of Buddha is colossal indeed. The ears of the statue measure seven metres long, the shoulders stretch over 28 metres, each eyebrow is 18 feet long, each big toe measures eight and a half meters and the statue’s smallest toenail can comfortably seat an adult. Imagine that!!!

A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Also known as the Leshan Dafo, the construction of the Leshan Giant Buddha began in the year 713AD under the rule of the Tang Dynasty and took 90 years to be completed. The idea behind the construction of this grand statue was that of a Chinese monk called Haitong, who hoped that the construction of this statue would calm the choppy waters of the rivers. This eventually helped as the large amounts of rubble that was chiseled away from the cliff ultimately ended up in the river,which finally calmed the currents of the river.

Such is the opulence of the Leshan Giant Buddha that it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Deep inside the body of the Buddha statue is a complex drainage system to help prevent wear and tear caused by the elements. However, the statue has begun to show its age and has developed a layer of moss.

Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain

Hi, good afternoon everybody. A nice trip can be start with "Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain" sculpture in Germany. It is my first amazing place to share with you guys. Have you heard about it before? Lets start our "journey"......

Walking along this elevated pathway by German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth is like being on a roller coaster. Since 13th of November the large-scale sculpture “Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain” by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth is accessible for the public. 

This 21-metre-high sculptural walkway is named Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain and is positioned upon a hilltop in Duisburg, Germany. “Tiger and Turtle” actually refers with its immanent dialectic of speed and deadlock to the situation of change in the region and its turn towards renaturation and restructuring. 

Look at a staircase winds across the surface of the steel structure, which spirals around itself just like the fairground ride.

You guys can climb onto the sculpture where it meets the ground, but a loop-the-loop at the center prevents anyone being able to walk a full circuit. On top, at the highest point of the sculpture – 45 meters above ground – you can have an extraordinary view over the landscape of the Western Ruhr.

With 44 x 37 meters base and 21 meters construction height the sculpture is not only one of the largest in Germany, but also a masterpiece of engineering.