Beautiful Places On Earth

The Algarve is the southernmost province in the mainland of Portugal. The region is the most popular tourist destination in Portugal since 1960s.

The Algarve is well known for its approximately 155 kilometers of coastline. Well known beaches on this coastline include Praia da Marinha and Armacao de Pera. Praia da Marinha is particularly famous, with its pictures always featuring in promotional materials of traveling in Portugal. The beach is famous for its picturesque limestone caves, grottoes, cliffs and of course the blue emerald water. If you are a golf enthusiast, you can try out on the golf courses in Tavira, a city in the south coast of the Algarve. There is also hot springs at Caldas de Monchique. Portuguese believes that waters there have healing properties, thus making it the famous spa town in Portugal.

Algarve, Portugal

This entry brings you to a very own Malaysian destination. Gunung Mulu National Park it is! This UNESCO World Heritage Site is located near Miri, Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Named after the 2,377-meter Mount Mulu, the national park is well known for its limestone karsts landforms as well as its incredible cave systems. Some of the notable caves here are the Deer Cave, the Wind Cave, the Clearwater Cave, the Langs Cave, the Turtle Cave and the Sarawak Chamber. The Sarawak Chamber is the world’s largest underground chamber. At 2,300 feet long, 1,300 feet wide and at least 230 feet high, the cave is said to be big enough to occupy up to 10 jumbo jets inside!

Deer Cave and Lang Cave are accessible via foot. Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave meanwhile, can be reached by a longboat trip up the Melinau River. You can see many stalactites and stalagmites inside all these caves. Deer Cave has the largest entrance passage than any other caves in the world while Lang Cave is relatively smaller. Inside the Deer Cave, one can see Abraham Lincoln face at one of the cliff walls! One of the most intriguing experiences in Gunung Mulu National Park is definitely witnessing the bat exodus from Deer Cave every evening.

Mulu is best accessed by taking a flight from Miri. The flight takes only 30 minutes. One can also travel to the area by boat, but it could take up to 12 hours from Miri! All visitors to the park must pay a RM10 park entry fee per person and engage the service of a licensed park guide. Visitors are not allowed to enter any of the caves without the licensed park guide mentioned above.

Caving at Mulu

I myself had been to Gunung Mulu National Park a couple of years back. You can read my travel journal here.

Blackpool is United Kingdom’s most popular seaside resort since 1900. This seaside town is located in Lancashire, England and is approximately 64 kilometers north west of Manchester.

Blackpool boasts many popular landmarks and places of interest. Situated along the South Shore area of Blackpool, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park home to a wide variety of rides and roller coasters. Among them is the Pepsi Max Big One opened on May 1994. It was once the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster in the world. A skating extravaganza show called the Hot Ice as well as a variety show called the Forbidden have also been running within the amusement park for many years.

Besides the Blackpool Pleasure Beach, another major attraction in Blackpool is the Blackpool Tower. Opened in 1894, the architecture of this tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Standing at approximately 158 meters in height, the Blackpool Tower has been a major landmark in Blackpool for more than a century. World famous Tower Ballroom and Tower Circus are beneath the tower. Experience the fun of Blackpool in the video clip below.

Blackpool

I had written on Mount Huang a couple of weeks ago. Another beautiful place situated within the Anhui Province, China is the Old Town of Tunxi. In fact, the old town is just located south of the Mount Huang scenic spot, and is always the first stop for those who want to travel to Mount Huang.

The Old Town of Tunxi is just made up of a street which is 1,273 meters in length and 5 to 8 meters in width. 895 meters of the street is of the pedestrian commercial street. This section is considered as the best preserved commercial street in China at the moment which embodies the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties architectural styles. On both sides of the street, there are long lines of houses. These houses are all made up of bricks and woods and mostly are of double storey. The front of the houses is used for doing business while the back is for living and serves as a workshop. You will find Chinese paintings, inks, ink stones, Chinese traditional medicines, teahouses, inscriptions and many more on this street.

Anhui, walking around Tunxi

Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of New Zealand. At 616 square kilometers, the lake is the largest lake in New Zealand. It is approximately 306 kilometers south of Auckland. Taupo Lake lies in a caldera created during a volcanic eruption some 26,500 years ago.

Taupo New Zealand

Tourism in Lake Taupo is very active. The lake attracts over 1.2 million tourists per year. It is known for trout fishery, especially rainbow trout. Rainbow trout is highly desirable food and game fish. The rainbow trout caught in Lake Taupo weighs an average of 4 pounds. It is very usual for someone to capture a 20-pound! Although people come here to fish throughout the year, but the best trout fishing season is from May to September every year. Another popular activity in the region is skydiving. This clip shows skydiving in Taupo, New Zealand.

Skydiving Taupo New Zealand