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| Wednesday, 11-Nov-2009 06:24 |
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Agra. India
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| Saturday, 26-Sep-2009 13:31 |
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Promthep Cape, phuket, Thailand
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Promthep Cape is a headland forming the extreme south end of Phuket. "Prom" is Thai for the Hindu term, "Brahma," signifying purity, and "Thep" means 'God.' Local villagers used to refer to the cape as "Leam Jao", or the God's Cape, and it was an easily recognisable landmark for the early seafarers traveling up the Malay Peninsula from the sub-continent.
On the weekend, tourists from far and near alike, would gather there to catch a breathtaking view of the sun setting on the horizon.
Busloads of people would make their stop at the square with locally made ice cream, wraped in white bread and topped with crushed peanuts, corn, chocolate rice or colourful rice flakes.
There is also a temple, dedicated to elephant god nearby. Devotees come and place elephant statues of all sizes and shapes there.
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| Sunday, 9-Aug-2009 09:33 |
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Kuala Gula, Taiping
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| Sunday, 12-Jul-2009 09:09 |
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Ban Bang Rong, Phuket, Thailand
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Fishing village on the east coast of Phuket island
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| Wednesday, 24-Jun-2009 09:59 |
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Hayama, Japan
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| Wednesday, 10-Jun-2009 08:01 |
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Liled sub-district, Suratthani, Thailand
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Liled Sub-district in Suratthani province, has a population of 4,500 with more than 900 households. The majority of the households within the area derive income from agriculture and fisheries.About 70% of the local people rely on mangrove resources and agricultural production. However, rapid resources depletionhas taken place and this has caused more an more conflict in the communities.A total of 51 species of mangrove have been recorded in the area. It provides habitat to a variety of shorebirds and other wild fauna. Villagers depends on the mangrove to support their livelihood through use and sale of fish, crustaceans, honey and bees wax production.
Indirectly, mangroves also provide spawning, nursery and feeding areas for offshore fisheries, export of organic matter to coastal waters which supports many coastal food chains and prevent shoreline erosion.
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| Thursday, 14-May-2009 01:08 |
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Kuraburi, Phang Nga province, Thailand
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| Monday, 20-Apr-2009 13:40 |
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Faces of Indonesia
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| Sunday, 19-Apr-2009 17:39 |
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The Dead among the Living in Tana Toraja
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As with their funerals, Torajan graves are also quite distinctive and sometimes quite elaborate. Where-ever you travel in Toraja, you will see these tombs, which are usually carved out of rock.
The Torajan landscape is littered with huge boulders, evidence of some cataclysmic volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. On close inspection, you'll find that many of these boulders have 'doors'. The doors are the entrances to vaults where the Torajan keep their dead. The tombs are chiseled out of the solid rock by hand. Generally, a tomb may be big enough to hold a dozen or more coffins. These rock tombs are for the ordinary people, or at least those that can afford them, since the chiseling out of the tombs may cost several buffaloes.
When asked why the Torajans spent so much on these tombs, which can cost much more than a house, my Torajan guide explained that their belief is that their family lives on in these tombs. They are, in effect, houses for the afterlife, like Egyptian tombs. Since the afterlife lasts a very long time, much longer than our earth-bound lives, the dead need much more substantial 'homes' than the living. There's also a practical aspect to using the boulders for tombs: Land free of the large stones is somewhat limited, so why waste valuable farm land on cemeteries?
The boulder tombs are just the simplest form of burial for the Torajans. Although the old Torajan royalty and upper classes no longer have any official roles, they still get star treatment in the afterlife. For one thing, instead of little boulders, royal tombs are carved into big cliff faces. But the really big difference are the tau tau. In addition to the tombs themselves, long balconies are carved into the solid rock. Along the balconies are placed wooden dolls called tau tau. The statues are about half life-size or a little bigger, and are dressed in clothes similar to the deceased person they represent. The arms of the statues are always outstretched, welcoming the descendents and others who come to visit. Originally, the tau tau were not intended to be exact representations of the dead, but the current trend is to make them look more like the dearly departed. Perhaps the most famous cliff tombs with tau tau are at Lemo, although there are also some interesting tombs at Buntao.
On the doors of some tombs, you'll see hats hanging, or perhaps there'll be a handbag or some other personal items left on the ledge in front of the door. As with the ancient Egyptians, the Torajans believe that their deceased loved ones 'need' these personal items to use in the afterlife.
There are even more variations on burial practices around Toraja. Near the woodworkers village at Ke'te Kesu is another cliff site, but instead of carving tombs into the rock, many of the coffins are placed on platforms suspended from the over-hanging face of the rock. The reasoning behind this practice is to prevent thieves from stealing precious items interred with the dead.
The cliff at Ke'te Kesu has clearly been used for a very long time. Some of the coffins have fallen down, and sit cracked open on the rubble beneath the cliff. To make space, descendants of the dead have collected their bones into big piles left exposed.
Down at Londa is what appears to be another cliff face tomb, but here there are also two caves which are also used to store coffins. At the front of the cliff is a huge pile of coffins. The coffins are simply left here to deteriorate and collapse, so that the base of the stack of coffins is nothing more than a deep pile of bones. Inside the caves, bones and coffins are stacked somewhat haphazardly in nooks and crannies. The same family has used these caves for more than 300 years, which is why there's such a large supply of coffins and bones.
On top of, or beside the boulders, you may see small structures shaped like the traditional tongkonan houses. These are biers used to transport the coffin from the place where the funeral is held to the burial place. A new bier is constructed for every person, and used only once, then left at the tomb site. Unlike the biers, the tombs may be used for more than one person. Generally, they're treated like family crypts and can be filled with dozens of coffins over many years.
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| Sunday, 19-Apr-2009 16:05 |
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R.I.P, gravestones in South Sulawesi,lndonesia
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Throughout the journey, we saw various designs of the grave stones. Unlike what most of us are familiar with, some of these stones do not have any names or any other infomation about the deceased buried within. Some of the designs also have influence from China, testimony of the claim that the South Sulawesi people are originated from China, especially from Hunan.
Some of the stones were made from stones, some concrete, carved wood or even plain wood for those who do not have the means for an expensive grave stone. These shots were taken throughout the South Sulawesi, from Makassar to Kajang to Toraja which is featured in the other segment.
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