Heaven in Delight

 

Queen Paola of Belgium needed a little something to spruce up her palace, so she hired Jan Fabre to redecorate her main reception room, known as the Hall of Mirrors.  Jan Fabre was an amazing artist with an affinity for animals and insects.  He finally decided the Thai Jewel Beetles were perfect, with their iridescent wings and graceful curves,  planned to covered the entire ceiling of the hall and it's chandelier.  He would only need about 1.4 of the amazing beetle wing's cases.  The bugs wing cases are of made of chitin, a durable material that does not degrade over time, nor will their color fade.  It took over 3 years to collect the beetles from restaurant kitchens in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.  The bug's meat is eaten in various cultures.   Today, the ceiling is known as 'Heaven of Delight'

 

 

 

The Sand Castle :)

 

I'm not so sure about spending a night at the Sand Hotel in Dorset, England on Weymouth Beach.   For about $13 US dollars you can sleep in beds made of sand and enjoy an evening on a public beach, but don't expect toilets or running water.  The roofless structure has both a double and twin bed.  It's as if you are sleeping in your own private sand castle. The structure took about 7 days with four sculptors working 14 hours a day.  The hotel was built by a hotel company to celebrate the resurgence of tourism along British beaches.  What do you suppose would happen if it rained during the night?  How about brushing your teeth :)?

 

 

He, She, Animal, Thing at the Zoo!

 

I'm feeling the need to visit the Karachi Zoo in Pakistan just to meet the Mumtaz Begum Africa Wali.  Basically this is a half fox, half women chimera, a mythical creature that has come to life and resides caged in the zoo.  Apparently, it.. she..? entertains the crowds with her humor, wit and her ability to foretell the future.  As she talk, you can see her fox body breathing :).   This top feature at the zoo shares it's life story.. being born in African 35 years ago and living in cakes, juices and fruits and so forth.  She engages with the crowd in several languages.. she's no dummies.  But the she is actually a he with all the fixins ;).  He, she, it?...  has regular visitors and is a big hit with the kids. Of course there are the folks that don't find humor in this exhibit.  Humor or not, it's definitely a strange spot.

 

 

Land Never to be Honored by These Little Toes!

 

Nepal is a beautiful and very spiritual country with many long standing traditions, some involving children.   One such tradition is that of the Kumaris.  The Kumaris is an incarnation of the Hindu Goddess of Power, Kali.  She protects Hindus and Buddhists from evil and peforms various blessings.  The Goddess  is sought out as infant to toddler, and is required to pass a 32 stage test.  Once she passes,  she is then transformed into Goddesses.  With this status, she is removed from her parents home to live full time in a temple, she is not permitted to attend school,  she is  to be carried at all times without herr feet ever touching the ground, and she is not to leave the confines of the temple unless it is related to her Goddess duties (13 times a years).  The Goddess child is carried or moved about in chariots she become women.  She is much too special for her feet to touch the ground.  Upon menstruation,  the Goddess transform back a girl and begins to live a 'normal' life.  She must first learn how to walk safely, then she may attend school.  She will once again move in with her parents, take her hair down, wash off her painted 3rd eye and will enjoy hopefully enjoy a typical life.  The girl is never compensated for her years of work.  Child advocacy agencies in Nepal believe this is a form of child abuse and the issue is being taken up in the courts.

                                                                    she's free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No MAN'S land?

 

Noiva do Cordeiro, Brazil is literally 'no man's land'.  It's definitely remote and there are definitely NO men :).  This unusual town dates back to the 1890s after a woman accused of adultery was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and cast out of her family and home.  She was relocated to Novia do Cordeiro to live out her days.  As more women were accused of adultery, they too were relocated to this town.  The women finally accepted there fate and refused all men to enter the town.
Today,  the women are there by choice and are mostly single young women under the age of 35.  Most are hoping to marry, but have few prospects as no men live in their town.  Today there are an estimated 600 beautiful and single women living in the town, many eager to marry and start families.  If they do marry and decide to continue living in the town, the husbands can only visit them on the weekends and adult male children must move out by the age of 18.  Many women want to continue living in the town and take pride in their accomplishments of running all aspects the town.  I'm thinking after the recent publicity, they might actually find their dream weekend husbands.

 

Cutting Corners or Building Them?

 

What do you do when you are running out of time to complete running track for a Communist Party Inspection? Well, you cut corners of course. But in this case, they decided to build corners. In Tonghe County of the Heilongjiang Province of China, a 10,000 sf stadium was due for refurbishment as was it's running track. Unfortunately, building the track got behind schedule leaving managers to decide to built the track in a rectangular shape instead of the traditional oval. Building a rectangular shape is much easier to measure and lay out than that of an oval track. Now the track has four awkward 90 degree angles to maneuver. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a new sport?!

 

Bike Escalator?

 

Located in Trondheim, Norway is something quite amazing..  a bike escalator! The CycloCable was built to promote cycling in the city as the city has a few very steep hills.   The system can manage 6 cyclists per minute at a speed of 2 miles per hour and is about 427 feet long.
It's been around since 1993 and it's a free service.  I find it odd this hasn't become a trend in places like San Francisco in which cable cars are already in use.. why not CycloCables?!