Beautiful Places On Earth

Jiuzhaigou has long been lauded as “the heavenly scenery on earth” as well as “fairytale land”. Jiuzhaigou literally means “Nine Village Valley” in Chinese and takes its name from the 9 Tibetan villages in the region. Jiuzhaigou is located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province in south western China. It is located in the mountain range of Minshan, about 2,000 to 4,300 meters above the sea level.

Jiuzhaigou was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. The scenic region is well known for its 5 wonders, namely emerald lakes, layered waterfalls, colorful forests, snow peaks and Tibetan folk villages. Jiuzhaigou is composed of 3 valleys arranged in a Y shape. The 3 valleys are the Rize Valley, Zechawa Valley and Shuzheng Valley. Scenic spots in Jiuzhaigou are scattering around these 3 valleys. Some of the most popular scenic spots of Jiuzhaigou are the Arrow Bamboo Lake, Tiger Lake, Panda Lake, Mirror Lake, Long Lake, Five Colors Lake, Five Flowers Sea, Nourilang Waterfall, Pearl Shoal Waterfall, Shuzheng Waterfall and many more. Here is a music video shot in the beautiful Jiuzhaigou.

An MV shot in the scenic Jiuzhaigou Valley

You can read travel reports on Jiuzhaigou here. You can also plan your trip here!

Imagine an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns located in County Atrim, Northern Ireland. It is the Giant’s Causeway, one of the United Kingdom’s greatest natural wonders located on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, approximately 3 kilometers north of the town Bushmills. Legend said that the causeway was built by the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill so that he could walk to Scotland to fight another giant Benandonner.

Giant’s Causeway, Antrim, Northern Ireland

These basalt columns are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. The tops of the columns resemble stepping stones from the foot of the cliff and disappear under the sea. The height of these columns is irregular with the tallest being 12 meters. Most of the columns are hexagonal in shape, although some are quadrigonal, pentagonal and octagonal.

The Giant’s Causeway is today the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Some of the notable basalt structures in the area include the Organ, the Giant’s Boot, the Giants Eyes, the Shepherd’s Steps, the Honeycomb, the Giant’s Harp, the Chimney Stacks, the Giant’s Gate and the Camel’s Hump. The Giant’s Causeway was included as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Harbin is the 10th largest city in China and is the capital city of the Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. The city lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River. Harbin in Manchurian language literally means “a place for drying fishing nets”. The city is also known as “The Pearl on the swan’s neck” due to the shape of Heilongjiang resembling a swan. Harbin’s another nickname being “The Ice City” due to its long and cold winter, with winter temperature as low as -38 degree Celsius.

Harbin was occupied by western countries including the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Italy and Great Britain at the start of the 20th century. Harbin is a place where eastern and western cultures meet and is therefore known as the “Oriental Moscow” or “Oriental Paris”. It is not hard to see various European architectural styles such as Baroque, Byzantine and Gothic in Harbin especially along the Zhong Yang Street. For example, there are some 10 Russian Orthodox Churches in Harbin, with St. Sophia Cathedral the most famous among all.

Harbin

Harbin is also home to the world famous Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held every January since 1985. Check out the clip below, would ya?

Harbin Ice Festival

Have you watched Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy? I bet most of us have. Do you still remember Mount Doom, a fictional volcano located in the black land of Mordor? Well, Ngauruhoe Volcano was used as a stand in for Mount Doom back then.

Mount Ngauruhoe is an active stratovolcano located in North Island, New Zealand and is approximately 25 kilometers to the south of Lake Taupo. It stands at 2,291 meters above the sea level and is one of the youngest volcanoes in the Mount Tongariro volcanic complex. The name Ngauruhoe is believed to be derived from Maori language Nga Uru Hoe which literally means “throwing heated stones”.

Mount Ngauruhoe is located within the Tongariro National Park, which is the oldest national park in New Zealand as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. Hiking and climbing are popular activities in the national park during summer while skiing and snowboarding are popular during the winter. Some of the most popular tracks among worldwide trekkers in Tongariro National Park are the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and the Tongariro Northern Circuit. The track passes active volcanoes of Tongariro and Ngauruhoe and side trips to the summit of both volcanoes can be arranged.

Mount Ngauruhoe climb

In case if you do not know, Summer Palace refers to both the Old Summer Palace (also known as Yuanming Yuan) and the Summer Palace (also known as Yihe Yuan). Both the palaces are located next to each other northwest of Beijing city center. The Old Summer Palace had suffered 2 major invasions before, namely the Anglo-French allied invasion in 1860 and the 8 power allied force invasion in 1900. It survived and was rebuilt.

Today, the Summer Palace is widely referred to the former Garden of Clear Ripples constructed in 1750 during the Manchu Qing Dynasty by Emperor Qianlong. The garden was first built in celebration of the emperor mother’s 60th birthday. The Garden of Clear Ripples was renamed to Yihe Yuan by Emperor Guangxu in 1888. The Summer Palace has a total area of 2.9 square kilometers and consists of a 60-meter high Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. On the Longevity Hill, one could find Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Hall of the Sea of Wisdom, Tower of Buddhist Incense and many other structures of Qing Dynasty architectural styles. The Kunming Lake, meanwhile is a large man made lake built to resemble the West Lake in Hangzhouo.

Yihe Yuan – the Summer Palace in Beijing

The Summer Palace in Beijing was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.