Beware, Black Ice Ahead!

 

Honestly, I can't determine exactly where this strange spot might be located. The best I can say is that it is somewhere very cold. Besides, icebergs don't really have permanent homes, do they? Anyway :).... did you know icebergs can be black?  Yep, black icebergs were most likely white before they flipped over, showing their underbelly or basal layer. It is highly dense and bubble free layer with the presence of rock material derived from the base of the parent glacier.  Love them :)!
  

 

 

 

 

the basal layer

Runway Train! hmmmm....

 

The Giborne Aiport is located in the outskirts of Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.  I really don't think there is much to say except for one minor detail.  It shares the main runway with a TRAIN!!!!   Looking for that perfect place to take your son (or daughter) to watch planes take off and trains run down the railway...  I've found it for you! The airport and the runway are operational from 6:30 am to 8:30pm.  The tracks seem to split the runway right down the middle and often airplanes or trains are stopped until one moves on.   The airport is very small yet busy with over 150,000 passengers using the airport each year.   It's odd, right?  The area isn't exactly urban...   hmmmm.

Frozen Waves!

 

 

I'm quite sure waves just don't freeze in place, but it's fun to imagine :).   These are images taken in Antarctica (or very near) of frozen structures of ice .. some appearing as if a massive wave just froze in an instant.   Antarctica is a strange spot in itself and can be an endless supply for this site :).  ENJOY 

 

 may not be frozen but it's a wave near Antarctica and looks ice cold!

 

frozen methane bubbles :)

Multi-generational Living.. an understatement!

 

A cemetery with 6,000 occupants is large,  but imagine, those are just the LIVING.   The North Manila Cemetary (Cementerio del Norte) is 140 acre massive cemetery home to generationsand generations of both the living and the long dead.  Many of the living had been here since there birth, up to 70 plus years ago and know no other life.  Due extreme poverty over 14% of all Phililpinos live in make-shift type shelters.  Many find their mausoleum homes in the cemetery safe and much better built that many shanty like residences found under bridges, alleys and along highways.  Visitors to the cemetery share will find children playing, laundry drying on lines strung between crosses, karaoke machines, instant noodles brewing, mausoleum cafes, gravesites doubling as beds and running TV sets.  Many earn as little as $400 US dollars a year and must provide for their entire families. Some families try to earn extra funds selling food to mourners.  It seems through photographs that they make the best of their lives. Some find comfort living near their deceased relatives.  City authorities threaten to evict the residents (sounds like the USA), but dwellers using deeds from their families whom graves they maintain, allows them to live and work at the cemetery.
Manila has a housing shortage and is not adequately addressing the housing needs of the urban poor.  People living in urban shanties are often forced to pay higher rates of electricity due to mafia syndicates that take over the area.  The poor have little rights and are easily evicted from their homes, their homes are often threatened by floods and the governments answer is often to send them away from their extended family to periphery provinces that are also not adequate.  Currently the government is working on ways to help over 1/2 million people living in make shift shelters in Manila alone to safer destinations, but those living in the graveyard feel this is a the strongest and safest home often they have at this time.  Sad, interesting yet never without hope.

 

 

Burning Hill

 

Yanar Dag (aka.. Burning Mountain, Pilpia, Bozdagh, Ahtarma, Gaynarja), located in Azerbaijan along a hillside near Baku and the Caspian Sea, is a never ending gas fire.   The hillside shoots out flames of almost 10 feet from it's thin, porous sandstone layer.  It has a steady stream of continuous gas that allows it to constantly burn. The hillside caught fire when it was accidently lit in the 1950s by a shepard and has yet to be extinguished.
Apparently the smell of gas (hydrocarbon gas) is found in the area and local streams nearby can literally be lit with a match.  These local springs are known as "burning springs".  These springs are used for curing ailments by the locals.  The hillside burns in colorful flames most prominently at dusk and is a obviously a unique tourist destination.

Hill of Crosses

 

The Hill of Crosses (Krziu Kalnas) is located in the small town of Siauliai in Lithuania.  Hundreds of thousands of crosses have been placed on this hill representing Christian devotion and a memorial to Lithuanian national idendity.  The hill as an amazingly rich and interesting history.  The town was founded in 1236 and shortly after that,  occupied by Teutonic Knights during the 14th century.  The crosses were initially placed on the hill during this time as a symbol of defiance to the foreign invaders.  Since the medieval period, the Hill of Crosses has represented a peaceful defiance of Lithuanian Catholicism to oppression.   During the period of 1944 until 1991, the town was part of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).  The Hill was used as a site of pilgrimage and served as a vital expression of Lithuanian nationalism.  The USSR repeatedly removed the crosses placed on the Hill by Lithuanians. The Hill was leveled by the USSR in 1961, 1973 and 1975 and the crosses were burned and turned to scrap metal.  The area was covered with sewage and waste material, however that didn't stop the Lithuanians from restoring there Hill of Crosses.  It wasn't until 1985 that their Hill was finally left in peace.

The reputation of the Hill's long history remains and Christians continue to pilgrimage to the site from all over the world. Even Pope John Paul II visited in 1993.  The size, the number and the variety of the crosses is amazing.  Apparently, on windy days, the rosaries and crosses make beautiful music on the hillside. Christian or not,  the Hill of Crosses is definitely an amazing display of the perseverance of the Lithuanian people.

Safe Crossing

 

I stumbled upon a beautiful photo of the Brahmaputra River a.k.a. the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra River (/ˌbrɑːməˈpuːtrə/; Assamese: ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰ, লুইত (Luit); Sanskrit: ब्रह्मपुत्र; Hindi: ब्रह्मपुत्र; Bengali: ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰ নদ; Tibetan: ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་) in Tibet and thought it deserved a bit of attention.  It is located on the north side of the Himalayas and is a major river in Asia. Extending primarily through Tibet, the river reaches to India and Bangladesh.  The Brahmaputra is about 1800 miles long and unfortunately prone to catastrophic flooding in the spring.   I decided to show a few ways to cross this majestic river :)! .. some more safe appearing than others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and for the insane!