Pearl Farm Island Resort (Philippines)

The Barcelo Pearl Farm Island Resort is a precious gateway where guests can revel in tropical pleasures, relish life's flavors and feast on nature's bounties.The Barcelo Pearl Farm Island Resort  lies in a secluded cove on Samal Island off the coast of Davao City.

 It is located on Samal Island, of Davao City in the southern Philippines. Situated one and half hours from Manila by plane, the resort is surrounded by coconut palms and fringed with white beach. It boasts of 85 guest rooms, all of which are equipped with modern amenities.

 

Located in the southern part of the Philippines is the Samal group of islands, an archipelago consisting of nine islands which stretch out over a land area of 28,000 hectares. Samal is a beautiful, tranquil and exotic island with a coastline adorned with white sand beaches, abundant marine life, rock formations, mangroves, and landscape elements of coconut palms, flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees. The area is blessed with various natural attractions and flourishing flora and fauna.

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Salar de Uyuni (Southwest Bolivia)

  Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Potosí and Orurodepartments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above the mean sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves,which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites. The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos.

Salar is salt flat in Spanish and Uyuni originates from the Aymara language and means a pen (enclosure). Thus Salar de Uyuni can be loosely translated as a salt flat with enclosures, the latter possibly referring to the "islands" of the Salar. Uyuni is also the name for a town of 10,600 people, which serves as a gateway for tourists visiting the Salar.

Aymara legend tells that the mountains Tunupa, Kusku and Kusina, which surround the Salar, were giant people. Tunupa married Kusku, but Kusku ran away from her with Kusina. Grieving Tunupa started to cry while breast-feeding her son. Her tears mixed with milk and formed the Salar. Many locals consider the Tunupa an important deity and say that the place should be called Salar de Tunupa rather than Salar de Uyuni

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Leaning Tower (Italy)

Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower at Pisa, Italy. It is famous for leaning 4.4 meters out of line when measured from the seventh story. It was built to stand vertically but began leaning soon after construction started in August 1173. It tilts because its foundation was built on unstable soil. The ground beneath the tower first started to sink after the first three stories were built.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the low side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.

A popular tourist activity is to pose for photographs pretending to "hold up" the leaning tower and preventing it from falling. The illusion is created through the principle of forced perspective.

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