The Ajanta Caves

Two thousand two hundred years ago work began on an extensive series of cave monuments in Maharashtra, India. Over a period of hundreds of years, thirty one monuments were hewn piece by piece from the rock face. Then, some speculate around the year 1000 AD, they fell in to disuse. Dense jungle grew around, hiding the caves away from human eyes.

Image Credit Flickr User David S Lowry

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The Ajanta caves lay undisturbed for hundreds of years. Then, in April 1819, during the time of the British, Raj, an officer with the unassuming name of John Smith, came rediscovered a doorway to one of the temples. He had been hunting tigers – something of which many would disapprove today but his next step was disrespectful in the extreme. He vandalized one of the walls with his name and the date, something which is still visible today.

Image Credit Flickr User qiv

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

One can only imagine what went through Smith's head when he made his find. Such a rediscovery did not remain secret for very long. Soon, European and Indian tourists were thronging to the site – after extensive tidying up. After all, the caves had been home to bat, birds and larger animals for hundreds of years. The Ajanti Caves had been returned to the world of the living.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

The nearest human habitation is Ajinṭhā, a tiny village a few miles away from the caves. The sanctuaries, which are known as chaytia-girhas date from the second century before Christ. They were used primarily as prayer halls and are similar to an extent to the contemporary Roman designs of arch and column. However, these sanctuaries were carved from the immense rock face of the caves, with chisels and, indeed, bare hands.

Image Credit Flickr User danchitnis

Image Credit Flickr User Karmalize

The first caves were hewn from the bare rock at the time of The Sātavāhana Empire which started around 230BC. The Sātavāhanas brought peace to India after several foreign invasions and the decline of the previous, Mauryan Empire. It is not without irony, then, that they were rediscovered by a contemporary invader and representative of a foreign empire.

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Image Credit Flickr User slrasky

Image Credit Flickr User srlasky

Although there is widespread debate about the time at which the second period of building took place, most now agree that it was probably during the reign of Harishena, from 460AD and over a period of around twenty years. This architectural flowering saw the creation of twenty temples which were used as monasteries.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

Image Credit Wikimedia

Image Credit Wikimedia

There are paintings everywhere – literally. Every surface apart from the floor is festooned with narrative paintings. Time has taken a serious toll on these marvelous works with many parts simply just fragments of what they were when first created. The stories are almost wholly devoted to Jātakas – tales of the Buddha’s previous lives. These 547 poems were painstakingly and lovingly painted on to the walls by devotees.

Image Credit Flickr User kun0me

They were created using an ancient method. The surface was chiseled so it was rough and could hold plaster which was then spread across the surface. Then the master painter would, while the plaster was still wet, commence his work. The colors soaked in to the plaster and so became a part of the surface. Although this meant that it would not peel off as easily, perhaps not even the painters foresaw the temples persevering for over two thousand years.

Image Credit Flickr User nozomiiquel

Image Credit Flickr User nozmiiquel

No one knows for sure when and why the caves were abandoned – whether it was a gradual desertion of some event of political and social magnitude took place which precipitated the neglect and final vacation of the site.

Image Credit Flickr User tvangoethem

Yet for hundreds of years the place remained forsaken, to be rediscovered that fateful day in 1819 by John Smith.

AMAZING, ISN'T IT?!!!

Bionic Eye 'Enables Blind People To See'

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent | Sky News – 14 hours ago

http://youtu.be/bJstsHF5Z0U

• The retinal implant can help restore some visionSky video 1:55A bionic eye has enabled blind people to read letters and simple words.

Bionic Eye 'Enables Blind People To See'

A bionic eye has enabled blind people to read letters and simple words.

The implant converts images from an external camera into electronic signals that the brain can "see".

Tests on 21 patients with retinitis pigmentosa , a degenerative disease that destroys light-receiving cells at the back of the eye, showed that three quarters were able to correctly identify single letters.

More than half were able to read four-letter words, according to results published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology .

Before being fitted with the device Richard Barrett only had vague light perception in one eye.
Now he can locate objects and find his way around.

He said: "When I am indoors I can see where windows are. To go to a door you can scan and pick up where the door frame is.

"If you have a path and grass down one side, you can pick up the edge of the path. That's where the device comes into its own."

Lyndon da Cruz, consultant retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the Argus II device could "restore some meaningful vision in patients that otherwise would have been left blind".

He told Sky News: "At the best end of it they can start to read small 5cm letters formed into words. This was a huge change in perception of what we thought this device could do."

The Argus II is currently the only approved retinal prosthesis. A camera mounted on a pair of glasses feeds pictures along a cable to an electronic chip resting against the retina inside the eye.

The chip stimulates the optic nerve, which carries signals to the visual processing centre of the brain, giving the wearer a highly pixellated black and white view of the world.

Best of Yahoo! News

How to see comet PanSTARRS over the UK this week

Sky-watchers in Europe could catch a glimpse of a visitor from very deep space this week - the comet PanSTARRS will be bright and visible until March 18.

• This photo of PanSTARRS was taken by Markus Mugrauer in Santiago de Chile on March 6th using a Canon D10

Sky-watchers in Europe could catch a glimpse of a visitor from very deep space this week - the comet PanSTARRS will be bright and visible in our skies until March 18 this week.

Binoculars are recommended to catch the comet, which will be faintly visible on evenings this week, around sunset, according to Sky and Telescope magazine.

The comet will not return in our lifetimes - its orbit around the sun is thought to take 106,000 years.

PanSTARRS is now at its closest to Earth and being lit up brightly by the light of the Sun.

It was first detected in 2011, when it was 1.2 billion miles from Earth.

The comet - a lump of ancient ice - is thought to have come from the Oort Cloud, a cloud of icy objects the edge of our solar system, almost a light year from the sun.

Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere captured spectacular images from Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and New Zealand last week.

Comet Pan-Starrs as seen from Mount Dale, Western Australia (AP/Nasa)"Our good views should begin around March 13th, when the crescent Moon is there to point the way," says Alan MacRobert,senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.

"Before then the comet was too near the horizon. It will start fading later this week, so if the sky is clear, don't miss your chance."

“The best time to look is about 30 to 45 minutes after your local sunset time. This narrow window of viewing time comes after twilight fades enough for the comet to show through at all, but before it sinks too low and sets.”

“On Wednesday March 13th, you'll see a thicker crescent Moon higher up. Watchers in Europe should look below it by about the width of your fist at arm's length. On Thursday the 14th, look two fists below the Moon and perhaps a bit to the right. After that, the comet will gradually move to the right from evening to evening as it begins to fade.”

Dr Pedro Lacerda, of Queen’s University Belfast says that UK watchers may catch a glimpse at around 6.45: “The coma at the head of the comet should be visible to the naked eye but to see the tail may require the use of binoculars. The most visible features will be its tail and bright coma.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 12: The comet PanSTARRS, above and to the right, passes over the Stratosphere Casino Hotel …

“Those features originate in the nucleus of a comet, a solid lump of dirty ice which, heated by sunlight, sublimates and feeds the diffuse cloud of gas and dust that gives the comet its fuzzy appearance – the coma. Then, light and other particles from the sun push part of the coma away from the nucleus to form the tail which gives comets their spectacular appearance.”

“Comets are important as frozen relics of the formation of our solar system. Before plunging into the inner solar system they spend most of their lives beyond Neptune at temperatures below negative 220 C. For that reason comets retain ices of the ingredients that were present when the planets were born and that are long gone from the surfaces of the much warmer asteroids, for example.”

(NATIVE AMERICAN) IROQUOIS STRAWBERRY BREAD
Author Shayn Amber Wetherell

Origin UNITED STATES

No sugar! This is more like a moist cake than bread.

METHOD

Bake in the oven for 60 mins on 190c (American 274F) It goes in as a liquid.

The strawberries will rise to the top.

I sprinkle them on top when the mixture is in the baking pan.

Let it sit for a good while after it is baked (30 mins – 60 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal aka polenta
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup wild strawberries or sliced larger berries

http://www.tasteofharmony.org.au/recipes/view/402#commentarea

10 Strange Facts About Dreams

http://youtu.be/ByBdGvh5E08

(NATIVE AMERICAN) IROQUOIS STRAWBERRY BREAD
Author Shayn Amber Wetherell

Origin UNITED STATES

No sugar! This is more like a moist cake than bread.

METHOD

Bake in the oven for 60 mins on 190c (American 274F) It goes in as a liquid.

The strawberries will rise to the top.

I sprinkle them on top when the mixture is in the baking pan.

Let it sit for a good while after it is baked (30 mins – 60 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal aka polenta
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup wild strawberries or sliced larger berries

http://www.tasteofharmony.org.au/recipes/view/402#commentarea

'Black Death' Skeletons Found Under Crossrail
Sky News – 11 hours ago

Click link here for video
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/black-death-believed-killed-60-061605997.html

Archaeologists say 12 skeletons found beneath a building site in London could provide evidence of a Black Death burial ground.

The remains were found by teams working on Crossrail - a £15bn project to improve transport links in the capital, including at Farringdon where the bones were found.

Historical records indicate a hastily-built cemetery opened in the area in 1348 as the plague spread across the country.

Up to 50,000 people are thought to have been buried there in less than three years.

Jay Carver, lead Crossrail archaeologist, said: "This is a highly significant discovery and at the moment we are left with many questions that we hope to answer.

"We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were plague victims from the 14th century or later London residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were.

"However at this early stage, the depth of burials, the pottery found with the skeletons and the way they have been set out, all point towards this being part of the 14th century emergency burial ground."

The skeletons were found during excavations below a road in Charterhouse Square.

They were buried in two rows and laid out in a similar formation to skeletons discovered at a Black Death burial site in Smithfield in the 1980s.

Experts at the Museum of London Archaeology will now use DNA testing and carbon dating to determine both a cause of death and a burial date.

Charterhouse Square had previously been identified as a possible site for the lost burial ground, as it is one of few locations in Farringdon to remain undeveloped for the past 700 years.

John Stow, the 16th century historian, said more than 150,000 victims of the Black Death were buried in London, including 50,000 at a site in Farringdon known as 'No Man's Land'.

About 75 million people and up to 60% of the European population are said to have died in the four-year global pandemic.

Archaeologists working on Crossrail have already uncovered more than 300 skeletons near Liverpool Street station.

It is thought they were buried near the site of the Bedlam Hospital in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

'Black Death'

Pictures: Rio’s Olympic rowing lake filled with 65 tonnes of dead fish
By Eurosport | World of Sport – 4 hours ago

A huge clean-up has been launched in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon after 65 tonnes of dead fish filled the waters which are set to play host to the 2016 Olympic rowing events.

The lagoon, authorities say, became deoxygenated after heavy storms, which washed ‘a large amount of organic matter’ into the lake.

The clean-up is still underway, and is not the first time that the lagoon has suffered such misfortune. In 2009 an estimated 100 tonnes of dead fish, predominantly shad, had to be removed from the waters after a similar incident.

As you can see from the picture above, taken during the Pan-Am Games in 2007, the lagoon hosted rowing successfully.

But you can see the horrific pictures of the Lake as it is this week below:

 Releasing Preconceptions, the March Intensification and the Collective Lightworker Consciousness (Part 1)

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YxFntJ-sB5E?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

“I have known good and evil,
Sin and virtue, right and wrong;
I have judged and been judged;
I have passed through birth and death,
Joy and sorrow, heaven and hell;
And in the end I realized
That I am in everything
And everything is in me.”

(Hazrat Inayat Khan)

The words above tell a tale of life in this place of duality – where everything has its opposite. There is a sound of freedom, in Khan’srealization that, in the end, ‘I am in all and everything is in me.’

His awakening to the truth of oneness beyond duality and separation is the uncluttered awareness that lies open to all of us. This awareness is our liberation from the ‘wound of duality’; from the heaven and hell of living in the mind and time ruled world.

It is time that keeps us locked in the left-brain, mind dominated, egoic consciousness – and it is time that anchors us to the illusion of separateness – the source of so much of our pain.  We transcend the limitations of time when we are able to hold an awareness of  presence.  In the ‘now’ we are freed, for a ‘time’,  from the painful memories of the past and the imagined fears of the future. We are freed from the tyranny of the ego-mind. Our childhood traumas, and the wounding we sustained in past lives – dragged from lifetime to lifetime as energetic imprints on our emotional bodies –  can be healed in the timelessness of the eternal now. Beyond the mind and ego, in the here and now, there is no emotional charge, there is only non-vibrating stillness.

Mindfulness, paradoxically, is required, to take us beyond the mind.  Mindfulness is the taming of the mind.  As we tame the mind, as we pay attention to the present – we function through the higher mind.This is the mind we need to go beyond the ego and the emotions – and to the realization that we are not them. Emotions are the outward action or response to feelings and feelings are the fluctuating gauge of our response to life in this reality.  They are as unstable and changeable as the Moon (which, in astrology has ruler ship over our feeling nature). Our suffering is always connected to our identification – with a thought, a feeling, an emotion – and invariably it is to a transient state. Everything in the world of form is transient, and that includes our thoughts and emotions.  This identification is a trick of the ego. But it is a trick that is part of our evolutionary intent. We need this identification with emotional states in order to know them, and ultimately to grow beyond them.

Carl Jung said, there is no coming to consciousness without pain. We need, it seems, the experience of pain and suffering in order to go beyond it. Mindless creatures do not experience emotional suffering as we do… simply because they have no ego-mind with which to do so.  Many animals, of course, have a level of conscious awareness that allows them to experience a wide range of emotions – more than some (damaged) humans in fact.

When we experience suffering, it is the wake-up call that we are resisting something, we are denying something, we are not accepting something; we have taken up residence at one end of a polarity.  In Hazrat Inayat Khan’s poem above, he had to experience separateness, he had to taste  both sides of emotion, of birth and death, to know he was, all along, inseparable – from everything. He realized that he was in everything and everything was in him – but not before he had suffered.

As we all know, pain and suffering is a very real part of the human condition. We are not all enlightened spiritual masters. We are human. We have highly developed nervous systems and we feel physical pain. We form bonds of love and emotional ties with other people. Bonds we are later forced to sever, as we lose, one way or another, everyone we have loved. It is natural to try to avoid pain – whether it is physical or emotional – because it hurts. We are drawn to form intimate relationships with people who seem to have been beamed in to us to make us suffer. In truth, they come to help us heal our imbalances. Our lovers and betrayers, our soul mates, our parents and children and others we form relationships with are all showing us sides of ourselves, sides of human nature, which we couldn’t know without personally experiencing them in our bodies, in the form of feelings and emotions.

What can we do then, to at least minimize our ‘human condition’ suffering?  We can begin to pay attention to the present moment, at any moment through the day. Whatever we are feeling or experiencing, we can remind ourselves of the present moment.  Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh has a wonderful little mantra – say to yourself, whenever you remember:  “I have arrived. I am home, in the here and now.”   This mantra, he says, will take you immediately to your ‘ultimate nature’ – your infinite, timeless, self.

If we are experiencing stronger feelings, we can try to detach our awareness from the sensations and thoughts and take a birds’ eye view. We can, even if for a brief moment, observe ourselves having thoughts, having feelings, having emotions. We might realize how we have become so identified with our emotional state, that our whole body is involved with it.  If the suffering is too great, say we are grieving the loss of someone dear to us, we can breathe.  This is enough: to consciously breathe – in and out. Deep, slow, even breaths bring us, momentarily, into presence – as focus on the breath stills the mind and alters our vibrational frequency. Until another wave of pain surfs in, picking us up in its cold embrace, taking us beneath the surface where we cannot breathe, where our heart is squeezed so hard the pain radiates out and down through our entire body.  We go with it, feeling the pain, feeling the tears. Then, reminding ourselves to breathe again, we watch the wave begin to subside. We feel the vice grip in our heart-space begin to release. We soften a little, in the wake of the wave of pain – and rest, for a moment……..until the next wave comes.  The waves may continue for however long they may.  But as we allow our grief, as we meet the pain, from a place of non-resistance, we allow the process to move through us and out the other side. We don’t need to embrace it, we don’t need to welcome it. We simply need to feel it and allow it to flow.

Spiritual teacher and founder of the Light Institute, Chris Griscom, says:  “….We see that our body mirrors the same messages as our feelings and thoughts. In fact, if we do not express our feelings, the body will store them just as it stores biochemical substances such as glycogen. In other words, the body is a magnificent translator of matter to energy and energy to matter. It views emotions as energy and ultimately stores that energy as matter within the cells.  If the emotional energy is not subsequently released, it will condense into matter and create blockages within the body itself – leading to disease.”

We realize, if we are very conscious, that the emotion of pain flowing through us, is not really us. It is moving through our body, altering our biochemistry, causing physical sensations within our body – it feels intensely personal and we feel very alone in our pain – but if we can, even for a moment, detach our awareness from the sensations, we can glimpse a stillness behind the waves of pain.  This is who we are!  We are the stillness!  So we are experiencing pain but it is not us. And this is as it is, or as it needs to be.  Pain has a purpose. Its purpose is to create awareness. There is no coming to consciousness, said Jung, without pain. But, having said that, I would like to believe that as we evolve, we can learn to minimize pain.  In not identifying so completely with our pain, we realize that we are experiencing a temporary state, just as we are temporarily experiencing being in these bodies. And we come to the awareness that, in the end, we are much more than our passing feelings and emotions – we are infinite consciousness. And that is what will continue on – the oneness which is our true nature. As we release the energy of our emotions (grief, loss, fear, regret, bitterness, anger, sadness…..) through non-resistance and the power of presence, we free our oneness, our true self, to continue on, unencumbered. This is the mission we are all on here – to heal our emotions and move through the illusion of time, free and unencumbered – for we are in everything, and everything is in us.

About the Author

Linda George is a writer, yogi, and evolutionary astrologer living in New Zealand.  She has been deeply involved in astrology, alternative health, spirituality and metaphysics for 35 years.  Author of two books on consciousness and astrology – both finalists in the Ashton Wylie Mind/Body/Spirit book awards, she is committed to joining with others in ‘spreading the word’ in these waking times. Please join us.   Her blog is www.acosmicride.wordpress.com

Read other articles from Linda George, here.

www.wakeningtimes.com / link to original article

This is the link tot he video "The end of suffering" by Thich Nhat Hanh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wonQ2aIe9jo&feature=player_embedded

Of Suffering""> 

                                                        My compassion to all sentient beings

                                                            shall be like the limitless sky.

                                                         When released, Mind is freed from

                                                               clinging to worldly things.

                                                    Even though living in this world of illusion,

                                                  My meditations shall be like the Lotus flower,

                                                 Lovely and unstained, rising up from the mud.

                                                       With purified mind I offer my respects

                                                                       to the Buddha -

                                                                    The Enlightened One.

                                                                 Namaste   ~   Tara

http://www.shamballazen.blogspot.com.au/

CHANNELED ASCENSION MESSAGE FROM            THE HIGH COUNCIL OF ORION 13th March 2013.

Channeled by Holly Hawkins Marwood Transcribed by Paul Marwood

“Greetings Dear Ones, We are the High Council of Orion.

It is good to speak with each and every one of you once again through this channel, and we will hit the ground running with a topic that we feel is close to the top of everyone’s mind these days.

With all the changes that are seen and unseen felt and vaguely felt for some as a sense of disquietude or uneasiness, almost as if one is looking over their shoulder for some impending concern or disaster, because they seem to be so prevalent around.  Now is the time to stand in the place where you are and embrace your gifts and talents for who you are now, this is a time when many are feeling unsettled and insecure and in the midst of great changes.

And what we ask is that each one of you see and feel and know who you are in the moment, outside of the external reality that is perhaps real or perhaps your perceived reality.  What we mean by this is:

• Who are you in the here and now?
• What are the gifts that you can offer in any given day and any given moment?

For each of you are very abundant in the gifts you have to give, and while things could be different in your life, a better job a better relationship, more money different relationships with friends and family members, easier manifestation of what you believe to be your hearts desires. However in the here and now what are the gifts that you have? In the here and now, for without sounding like a cliché, that truly is all you have, in the here and now and now is your only reality.

• What are the gifts that you can stand in now that you have?
• Do you have a quick mind and compassionate heart?
• Are you easy with a smile and easy to laugh to allow those around you feel better?
• Do you have a positive outlook?
• Are you a considerate spouse, a loving parent, a loving and caring adult child for ailing aging parents?

What is it that your gifts right now, how can you fully stand in who you are now and fully embraced that?  Can you stand with your feet on the ground, chest and chin held high and say “This is me, this is who I am, this is what I embody and this is here and I am here to offer this to the world now, these are the gifts I bring, this is who I stand in now.”

Each one of you can make a list of those things, of who you are and what you have to offer.  For some it’s hard to do because it seems like an exercise of ego. Yet if you don’t know who you are and what you’re here to offer, then certainly nobody else will.  Be in your truth of who you are and the gifts you have, for each of you have many.

Make a list, it can be a private list, doesn’t have to be a list that you share with each other, but make a list of who you know yourself to be, and remind yourself of the things that you would’ve even taken for granted.  If you have a job where you clock in every day and need to be there at a particular time, and you are very punctual, add that to your list.  Add to the list that you are a fabulous cook, that you are a wonderful parent because you see and experience your children, as the beautiful beings they are on a moment-to-moment basis. Don’t underestimate the gifts that you have for the space you hold for those around you, and make that list and every morning and every evening allow yourself time to sit and feel your list.

Allow the truth in what you’re writing down to permeate the cells of your being, feel yourself standing on the Earth, tall and strong and proud, reiterating to yourself who you are, and as you do you more fully embody that and the world can respond accordingly.  It allows you to be connected to the truth of who you are, allows you to more easily give the gifts you are here to share, and allows you to honor who you are in the here and now, regardless of the circumstances that you are hoping will change, as the future time comes closer to your now.  Self-contentment, self-appreciation, self-love allows you to share your love more with others, and as you share that love it allows people to connect with their love more.

Just like that smile that you share with somebody and they smile back, everyone feels better. You standing in the truth of who you are allows you to feel better and allows everyone else around you, to feel better in their lives as well.  Stand in the love of who you are beautiful beings of light.

Be Blessed,

We are the high Council of Orion

                             Upon waking each morning and gently shaking off the sleepiness of the night,

                                                  Bring to your awareness who You really are -

                Waking up with this realization each day of the most beautiful Divine Self that resides within

                 will assist your spiritual Self to come forward within the physical vessel for You to be more

                          conscious of it as the real You who looks at life through the eyes of the Soul.

                 The physical vessel is your home for this Earth journey, but once the inner-light becomes

             more prominent, throughout your day your spiritual Self will be the One that you associate with.

                                          It is the Divine Self that is permanent, not the physical Self.

                          Think deeper than the physical and enjoy an illuminated Life each and every day.

                                                  *~*      N A M A S T E     ~     T A R A       *~*

Traditional Chinese Fujian Tulou House
Posted by rod - 16.07.2012

Fujian Tulou houses are a type of Chinese rural dwelling which can be found in the mountainous region of southeastern Fujian, China. Most of the buildings were erected between the 12th and 20th century.

Dutch photographer Iwan Baan traveled to the region to photograph these fascinating architectural structures and the people who live there.

Finished here? Then have a look at these.

http://creativeroots.org/2012/07/traditional-chinese-fujian-tulou-house/

http://forestofthefaie.ning.com/group/national-geographic/forum/topics/family-fortresses-ufo-fujian-tulou-hakka-earthen-fortress

FAMILY FORTRESSES In the mountains of south east China are nestled the Fujian Tulou – huge earthen buildings that appeared in their earliest form around 1000 years ago, and which were developed partly as defensive castles, partly as mini-villages for whole clans. These vast structures, which according to UNESCO were known as “a little kingdom for the family,” are still in use by people today – like this man brushing his teeth.

20 NOV 2012. NANJING, CHINA. REUTERS/SHENG LI.

UFO?Fujian Tulou- Hakka Earthen Fortress

Posted by China Odyssey Tours ⋅ August 19, 2011

Fujian Tulou, the splendid invention of dwelling houses, pearl-like disperses in the mountainous regions in the southwest of Fujian province, a province west to Taiwai. The 15th to 20th centuries constructed buildings, known as Hakka Earthen Fortress, represents the sophisticated building art of ancient Hakka Chinese. They have been well preserved to date, and were listed as a World Heritage Site in July, 2008. Tulou, in Hakka’s lives, means much more than a homely shelter.

fujian-tulou

Family Kingdom

Tulou architecture was first created by Hakka people for protecting themselves. During Jin Dynasty, dozens of wars were broke out between the ruthless warlords. Hundreds of people moved into hostile mountainous areas, settled down and began to conceive a kind of house which could fulfill their dreams. Then some earthen castles, Tulous, were built in round or square shape with a central open courtyard inside to protect their families and properties. Each Tulou has only one entrance, and all windows are outward above the second floor, which effectively prohibit bothers of bandits. Whenever the only entrance was shut, Tulou actually became an unconquerable strong hold. That is why Tulou is nicknamed “Family Kingdom”.

Hearth Home

Set amongst fertile fields vegetating rice, tea and tobacco, the World Heritage was made up of earth, stones and woods. Though constructed with the most common materials, Tulous were well-built and could stand against natural challenges even frightening earth quakes. It was rumored that Huanji Toulou was once stricken by a terrible earth quake, whose tiles were all shaken off. And dizzy large cracks appeared in the wall. Astonishingly, the
round earthen giant soon got recovery by itself.

fujian-tulou

Harmonious Community

The relationship of the massive buildings to their landscape also embodies both Feng Shui principles and ideas of landscape beauty and harmony. So residents could enjoy the enviable cool summer and warm winter.

The large architectures perfectly meet the settling needs of such a big communality. For instance, there are totally more than 384 rooms in Chengqi Tulou, which accommodates as many as 800 residents at that moment. It is said that it takes years for a kid to know all. It’s beneficial for the clan to live together, which will harmoniously enhance the close relations to each other. Children born in Tulou are not only educated by their parents but also by the whole community. This fosters a strong collective culture of Hakka people. They will unite as one when encountering with dangers.

Cluster of Hakka Cultures

Tulou is not merely a building but also a glorious cluster of Hakka Culture. In Hakka’s words, visitors are guests. Once you get there, Hakka people will hospitably show you around the brilliant fortress and present you the mouthwatering Hakka food. The exquisite interior decorations, which you possible never find in the most decorated 5 star plazas, appease both their communities’ physical and spiritual needs. Elderly could tell you their long but tasteful history as you step over the threshold. You just need to listen carefully, musing inspiring pictures that naturally appear in your mind. If you want get a clear idea of exotic Hakka cultures, Fujian Tulou is the must-go for you.

How to get to Fujian Tulou

From Xiamen City,
You can take a coach at Xiamen Hubin (Lakeside) Bus Station to Yongding County, in which many famous toulous are located. The travel takes you about three and a half hours, at the price of RMB 50 (USD 8).

Railway is also available. There are 2 train train traveling from Xiamen to Yongding County, leaving Xiamen at 15:36 and 16:18 respectively. The trip will take you 6 hours and 30 minutes or so to get the township, costing you RMB 60 (USD 9). Then you should make short transfers to visit the tulou in the mountainous countryside.

From Fuzhou City,
You could take an express bus at Fuzhou North Bus Station to Yongding. Travel time: about 7 hours; Price: RMB 123 (USD 19). Otherwise, you can take K 638 Train to Yongding. The train departs Fuzhou at 21:15 and arrives at Yongding Railway Station at 08:01 in the next day. Short transfers should also be made to reach the Hakka earthern castle.

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Kick your food waste habits

Are you shopping smart and getting portions under control? A new study says we're binning food even before it hits our plate

Oi, lady! If it won't fit in your fridge, stick it back on the shelf

Half the world’s food never makes it to our plate, with two billion tonnes binned due to bad storage, confusion over sell-by dates, supermarket bulk-buying offers and aesthetic imperfections.

Save money and the environment by shopping smart and buying just want you need ©Rex

A new study by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers highlights the shocking levels of food that are grown then discarded across the world.

Wastage in the developing world occurs early in the supply chain due to poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure. But in Europe, America and other developed nations, perfectly edible foods are discarded because of supermarket marketing strategies and consumer behaviour.

To put it simply, imperfect food is thrown away before it even makes it to the supermarket shelves, and shoppers are bad at making best use of the food we buy.

The report found that 30% of the UK’s vegetables don't make it into our stores simply because they don't look right.

Many farmers also over-produce to meet supply agreements with supermarkets. Dr Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, explains, ‘With the shift away from small shops on the High Street to large-scale supermarkets, we have lost the sense of value of food.’

Not only are throw-away levels a waste of food - the average household shells out £480 a year on groceries that are never eaten - but they are helping drain the world’s energy sources too. For example, 550 billion cubic metres of water are used to grow food that is never consumed.

Time to take action! By thinking carefully before you buy and also cooking smart, you can become more economic, efficient and help prevent global wastage - as well as save yourself money on your shopping bill.

‘Governments, development agencies and organisation must work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers,’ says Dr Fox.

How to avoid waste

1. Check sell-by dates: Plan your meals properly to avoid tossing away food that's past its sell-by date.

Make a list of meals for the week ahead and buy just what you need. If you live alone and find that multi-packs are simply too large for your needs, divide them and freeze what you don't need immediately.

2. Shop smart: Don’t be fooled by marketing ploys and stack your fridge with foods you won’t eat, just because you found a good deal. If you are tempted by a buy-one-get-one-freedeal, be sure it's something you will actually use and freeze the second item on the day you purchase it. Alternatively, go halves with a friend to split the cost - and the saving.

3. Control portions: Don’t let your eyes rule your belly. Plan to clear your plate without overeating. If you’ve made too much, think about packing it up and enjoying it at your desk for lunch the next day. Or freeze extra portions for days when you're too busy to cook from scratch. Left-over cooked veg can be the basis for a healthy homemade broth or add extra nutrition to a pasta sauce. Cut a loaf in half on the day you buy it and freeze the half you don't need immediately.

4. Go local: Getting your groceries from small independent stores will not only help you avoid tempting offers, you’ll also find they stock the misshapen squash and less-than-perfect pumpkins that supermarkets refuse to sell.