About amazing facts from all around the world: 12/20/09

Inside The Taj Mahal

The interior water well

Frontal view of the Taj Mahal and dome

Close up of the dome with pinnacle

Close up of the pinnacle

Inlaid pinnacle pattern in courtyard

Red lotus at apex of the entrance

Rear view of the Taj & 22 apartments

View of sealed doors & windows in back

Typical Vedic style corridors

The Music House–a contradiction

A marble apartment on ground floor

The OM in the flowers on the walls

Staircase that leads to the lower levels

300 foot long corridor inside apartments

One of the 22 rooms in the secret lower level

Interior of one of the 22 secret rooms

Interior of another of the locked rooms

Vedic design on ceiling of a locked room

Huge ventilator sealed shut with bricks

Secret walled door that leads to other rooms

Secret bricked door that hides more evidence

Palace in Barhanpur where Mumtaz died

Pavilion where Mumtaz is said to be buried

Unusual Playgrounds From Around the World

1. Nishi-Rokugo – Tokyo, Japan

2. The Fruit and Scent Playground –Liljeholmen, Sweden

3. Clemyjontri Park – Fairfax County, Virginia

4. Pruessen Park – Berlin, Germany

5. Zabeel Technology Park – Dubai

6. Takino Hillside Park – Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan

7. St. Kilda Adventure Playground – Adelaide, Australia

8. Teardrop Park – New York City, NY

9. Yerba Gardens – San Francisco, California

10. Playground – Boadilla del Monte, Spain

Outside the port of Nouadhibou there is sort of a cemetery for abandoned ships. Some of them have simply been left there by their Mauritanian owners, but some are said to have been stranded there since the Gulf War when many Iraqi ships allegedly were left there in order to escape the sanctions against Iraq.

When I was there, the last week in January 2007, people said that the Mauritanian government had contracted a German business to clean up the area. Remains to be seen if that is true.

It is both fascinating and sad that the ships are where they are today. Cleaned up the area could easily be turned into a wonderful beach for locals and tourists. Even today by the south end towards the suburb Cansado there are areas where you can take a bath in the ocean.