Art IXPDX

Archive for the ‘Travel & Leisure’ Category

If one of your employees carries out his or her job perfectly and productively, you certainly want to give him or her corporate rewards. This reward is intended not only to compliment your achieving employees for the good job that they have done, but also to encourage them to maintain their work excellence and even to improve it. There are many things that you can give to your employees to be your reward for their achievement. You can give financial bonus, raised salary, admirable items, or anything that you consider favorable and worthy. Among various things that you can give to them, a vacation can be considered one of the most favorable gifts.

When you give your achieving employees a chance to do a vacation, it will be more favorable if you also plan their vacation arrangement. Your employees will certainly be glad if you not only let him free from their job for a while to do a vacation, but also let him conveniently and comfortably do their vacation without having to worry about their vacation’s budgets, itinerary, accommodation, and many other things that are considered necessary for a convenient traveling. Fortunately, you can actually do such planning conveniently and cost-effectively because there are many travel management companies that are eager to help you plan sophisticated traveling experiences that become your incentives for employees. By outsourcing your travel management planning, you don’t have to worry about choosing the hotels in which your employees will stay, transportation means which your employees will use, and other accommodations that your employees will employ. The travel management company with which you are working will make sure that all of those traveling requirements are perfectly met.

In fact, travel management companies can help you in organizing any kinds of traveling. They thus can become your trusted conference organisers if you want to do a conference in a distant city or country.

We do the same activities for almost everyday. We are working at the same place and meet the same people for almost everyday. It is something boring. We will have no more time to do all the fun activities because we spend almost all of our time for working. Even, we will have no time for our family. It can be something depressing too, spending almost all the day by doing many kinds of duties. We need to do the fun activities that will be good for refreshing our mind. All of the fun activities can be chosen. It depends on our own interest.

If we like playing games or gambling, we can choose to play online gambling for the good solution. We do not need to live the house or the office to get much fun. We only need to have an Internet connection to enable us playing the gambling.

It will give us much fun. It can also be played all the time when we have the leisure time. We will get much benefit by playing the online gambling. It can refresh our mind, so it can boost our spirit in working too. There are many online gambling games that we can choose, for example the poker, roulette, slots, and many others.

A backpacking adventure in the Middle East can be eye-opening, exciting, and at times challenging. As you explore sites of immense religious, cultural and historical significance, you will further your education and gain insights into other less familiar cultures and ways of life. Backpacking through the Middle East is never short of an adventure and you’re likely to experience some incredible hospitality, sample some delectable cuisine and meet some fascinating people along the way.

Fly into Istanbul in Turkey, a city at the crossroads of East and West. The perfect introduction to the Middle East, Istanbul is both westernised and familiar, while at the same time it’s exotic and enchanting. After a good few days haggling in the grand bazaar and marvelling at the architecture, head by comfortable overnight bus to Cappadocia.

Cappadocia: The natural beauty of Central Turkey is breathtaking. Goreme is a good base for a few days sampling delicious Turkish cuisine, walking through the spectacular landscape of “fairy chimney” rock formations and exploring churches cut in rock by the early Christians.

From Cappadocia, head to Antakya for your final night in Turkey before heading over the border by bus to Aleppo in Syria.

Aleppo: Syria probably contains almost everything that comes to mind when you think of the Middle East: Legendary Arabic hospitality, mouth-watering mezze, conservative Islam and rich history and culture. The people here are some of the friendliest in the world, and to really get a feel for the place, spend some time in the cafes and markets (souks). Around every corner, there seems to be a point of historical interest, but just observing the culture and chatting to the locals can be an experience in itself.

Damascus: A must on any Middle Eastern traveller’s itinerary. A few days can be spent in the coffee shops and souks of Damascus, sipping intense Arabic coffee to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. The Umayyad Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the world and the architectural beauty is awe-inspiring.

Palmyra: If you’re into ruins, you won’t want to skip Palmyra. These ruins of one of the ancient world’s most important centres of culture are located at an Oasis in the Syrian Desert, and you can get there by bus or taxi from Damascus.

From Damascus, head south and cross into Jordan. Sharing a taxi is relatively easy in Damascus and is a great opportunity to make friends with the locals. Catch a ride in Damascus heading for Amman in Jordan.

Amman: After a day or two exploring this fascinating, hospitable city of contrasts between old and new, continue south by bus to the UNESCO world heritage site of Petra.

Petra: Jordan’s greatest tourist attraction is the vast rock-carved Nabataean city of Petra. Marvel at the awe-inspiring carvings, dazzling red colours and beautiful rock formations as you explore the Petra valley on foot, or on horseback or by camel.

Aqaba: From Wadi Musa (the town to use as base for visiting Petra), head by bus to the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba. From here, you’ll have access to some of the best snorkelling and diving in the world and the timeless crimson beauty of the Wadi Rum natural landscape. Wadi Rum is virtually untouched by humanity and can be explored by 4×4 vehicle or camel. You can arrange to stay with the local Bedoiun people, spending a night in a tent after a traditional campfire meal.

Into Israel: Allow plenty of time for the border crossing into Israel. It can be helpful to have a clear idea of where you’re heading in Israel and what you hope to do there. Be patient and polite and once the border formalities are done, you’ll want to jump in a taxi and head to the Israeli resort of Eilat.

Eilat: After a couple of weeks in the Arabic countries of Jordan and Syria, Eilat will be a major culture shock. You can see the Jordanian flag and the town of Aqaba from the beach in downtown Eilat but it feels like a different world. Eilat is an Israeli beach resort, with westernised restaurants, bars and nightlife. If sun, sea, sand and partying is your thing, you’ll want to linger for a few days in Eilat.

Jerusalem: The centre of three major world religions, Jerusalem is like nowhere else on Earth. The old city contains sites of huge historic and cultural significance to Jews, Christians and Muslims. A visit to Jerusalem provides an opportunity to explore sites of historic and religious interest, while also gaining an understanding of the background and the issues surrounding the present-day conflict.

Dead Sea: Easily accessible from Jerusalem, Ein Gedi is an Oasis on the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth. Due to the salt content, the human body will float on the Dead Sea, an experience not to be missed.

Galilee: Travelling around Israel is comfortable and straightforward and a trip north to Galilee provides opportunity to explore the area where Jesus lived and taught, including the Mount of Beatitudes (where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount) and the Sea of Galilee.

Tel Aviv: Known as ‘the city that doesn’t stop’ because of its reputation for partying, Tel Aviv is the heart of secular Israel and the economic and commercial centre. The highlight is the sandy Mediterranean coastline and the fantastic beach scene where you can relax for a day or two before boarding your flight home.

Assuming you travel independently as a backpacker, this 4 week itinerary through the Middle East is likely to cost in the region of $1500-$2000 if you travel and share rooms with a partner and in the region of $2400-$2700 if you travel on your own.

The Nile is the longest river in the world, stretching north for approximately 4,000 miles from East Africa to the Mediterranean. Some people believe that the river Nile has its source at the Ripon Falls in Uganda where it leaves Lake Victoria. The Nile has been a source of contention between Egypt and the East African Countries namely Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Studies have shown that the River (Iteru, meaning, simply, River, as the Egyptians called it) gradually changed its location and size over millions of years. The Nile flows from the mountains in the south to the Mediterranean in the north. Egyptians travelling to other lands would comment on the “wrong” flow of other rivers. For example, a text of Tuthmosis I in Nubia describe the great Euphrates River as the “inverted water that goes downstream in going upstream.”

Three rivers flowed into the Nile from the south and thus served as its sources: the Blue Nile, the White Nile and the Arbara. Within the southern section between Aswan and Khartoum, land which was called Nubia, the River passes through formations of hard igneous rock, resulting in a series of rapids, or cataracts, which form a natural boundary to the south. Between the first and second cataracts lay Lower Nubia, and between the second and sixth cataracts lay upper Nubia.

Along most of its length through Egypt, the Nile has scoured a deep, wide gorge in the desert plateau. At Aswan North of the first cataract the Nile is deeper and its surface smoother. Downstream from Aswan the Nile flows northerly to Armant before taking a sharp bend, called the Qena. From Armant to Hu, the River extends about 180 kilometres and divides the narrow southern valley from the wider northern valley.

Southern Egypt, thus being upstream, is called Upper Egypt, and northern Egypt, being downstream and the Delta, is called Lower Egypt. In addition to the Valley and the Delta, the Nile also divided Egypt into the Eastern and Western Deserts.

The Nile Valley is a canyon running 660 miles long with a floodplain occupying 4,250 square miles. The Delta spans some 8,500 square miles and is fringed in its coastal regions by lagoons, wetlands, lakes and sand dunes.

The Delta represented 63 percent of the inhabited area of Egypt, extending about 200 kilometres from south to north and roughly 400 kilometres from east to west. While today the Nile flows through the Delta in only two principal branches, the Damietta and the Rosetta, in ancient times there were three principal channels, known as the water of Pre, the water of Ptah and the water of Amun. In classical or Graeco-Roman times, these were called the Pelusiac, the Sebennytic, and the Canopic branches. There were additionally subsidiary branches or artificially cut channels.

The most dominant features of the Delta as the sandy mounds of clay and silt that appear as islands rising 1-12 meters above the surrounding area. Since these mounds would not be submerged by the inundation, they were ideal sites for Pre-dynastic and Early Dynastic settlements, and indeed evidence of human habitation has been found. Perhaps these mounds rising above the water table inspired the ancient belief of creation as having begun on a mound of earth that emerged from the primordial waters of Nun.

There were several major oases of the Western desert, which comprised about 2/3 of Egypt: the Fayoum, where during the Middle Kingdom period the capital of all Egypt was situated, and which increasingly became one of the most densely populated and agriculturally productive area in Egypt, the Bahriya, where many sarcophagi of the Graeco-Roman period have been found, the so-called Golden Mummies, Kharga and Dakhla, which were known for their excellent wines, and Siwa, whose Oracle of Amun was consulted by Alexander the Great to demonstrate that he was the true successor to the kingship of Egypt.

The Eastern Desert was exploited in Pharaonic times for its rich minerals.

The mere mention of the name of the Nile evokes for modern man images of Pyramids, great temples, fantastic tales of mummies, and wondrous treasures. But the Nile represents life itself to the people of Egypt, ancient and modern. In fact, for thousands of years, the River has made life possible for hundreds of thousands of people and animals, and has shaped the culture we today are only beginning to truly understand.

The River filled all areas of life with symbolism. In religion, for example, the creator sun-god Ra (Re) was believed to be ferried across the sky daily in a boat (compare that to the Greeks and Romans whose non-creator sun-god rode across the sky in a chariot driven by fiery horses, and Hymns to Hapy (Hapi), the deity personifying the Nile, praise his bounty and offerings were left to him, and the creation myths, as mentioned earlier, revolve around the primordial mound rising from the floodwaters surrounding it; in ritual where Nile creatures such as the hippopotamus, whose shape the goddess Tawaret took, or the crocodile, called Sobek, or Heket (Heqet), the frog, deities deemed powerful in the processes of childbirth and fertility, were revered, in writing, where floral signs such as the lotus and papyrus figured prominently, in architecture, where the very structure of temples emulated the mounds of the Nile and its waves, from the bottom to the top of capital columns and the trim on walls, and in travel, where models of boats have been found dating from the fifth millennium BCE.

The god Hapy was earlier mentioned as being the personification of the floods and ensuing fertility. Two Hymns to the Nile, one probably composed in the Middle Kingdom, the second written later in the Ramesside period, praise Hapy and the river for its renewed life for Egypt.

“Hail to you Hapy, Sprung from earth, Come to nourish Egypt…Food provider, bounty maker, Who creates all that is good!…Conqueror of the Two Lands, He fills the stores, Makes bulge the barns, Gives bounty to the poor.” (from the Middle Kingdom hymn as translated by Lichtheim)

From the earliest times, the waters of the Nile, swollen by monsoon rains in Ethiopia, flooded over the surrounding valley every year between June and September of the modern calendar. A nilometer was used to measure the height of the Nile in ancient times. It usually consisted of a series of steps against which the increasing height of the Inundation, as well as the general level of the river, could be measured. Records of the maximum height were kept. Surviving nilometers exist connected with the temples at Philae, on the Nubian Egyptian border, Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo, and Dendera, as well as the best-known nilometer on the island of Elephantine at Aswan.

The ancient Egyptian calendar, made up of twelve months of 30 days each, was divided into three seasons, based upon the cycles of the Nile. The three seasons were: akhet, Inundation, peret, the growing season, and shemu, the drought or harvest season. During the season of the Inundation, layers of fertile soil were annually deposited on the flood-plain. Chemical analysis has shown how fertile the Nile mud is. It contains about 0.1 percent of combined nitrogen, 0.2 percent of phosphorus anhydrides and 0.6 percent of potassium.

Since most of the Egyptian people worked as farmers, when the Nile was at its highest and they could not plant, they were drafted by corvee into labor projects such as building Pyramids, repairing temples and other monuments and working on the king’s tomb.

Herodotus, the great Greek philosopher, wrote of the Nile: “the river rises of itself, waters the fields, and then sinks back again; thereupon each man sows his field and waits for the harvest.” The great historian also called Egypt the gift of the Nile. This description would lead the casual reader to imagine Egypt as being a great paradise where the people simply sat and waited for the sowing and harvesting to need be done. But the ancient Egyptians knew better. Too high a flood from their river, and villages would be destroyed; too low a flood and the land would turn to dust and bring famine. Indeed, one flood in five was either too low or too high.

The rock inscription called the Famine Stela, dated in its present form from the Ptolemaic period, recounts an incident, (whether real or fictitious is not currently known for certain), from the period of King Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty. The King writes to a governor in the south, describing himself as disheartened over the country’s seven-year famine. The King learns from a priest of Imhotep that if gifts are given to the temple of Khnum, the creator-god of the region, who it was believed had control over the Nile and it’s flooding, then the famine would be ended.

Many modern travellers to Egypt today take a Nile cruise as part of their package. And why not? To see the land as its people do, one must journey on the river. A felucca is often the water vehicle of choice.

The Nile flowed from south to north at an average speed of about four knots during inundation season. The water level was on average about 25-33 feet deep and navigation was fast. That made a river voyage from Thebes (modern Luxor) north to Memphis (near modern Cairo) lasting approximately two weeks. During the dryer season when the water level was lower, and speed slower, the same trip would last about two months. At the great bend near Qena, the Nile would flow from west to east and then back from east to west, slowing down travel. No sailing was done at night because of the danger of running aground on one of the many sandbank and low islands.

When one cruises on the Nile, one might pass by the ancient and significant sites of Karnak itself, Luxor, on the other side of the river from Karnak, Dendera, with its grand temple to the goddess Hathor, Abydos, with its marvelous temple built by Seti I as well as being the site of Earlier Dynastic tombs, Esna, with its temple to the potter and creator-god Khnum, lord of the region who was credited as having the power over the river and its richness, Edfu, with its temple to Horus, Kom Ombo, with its double temple to Sobek and a form of Horus called Haroeris, and Aswan itself, with its mighty modern dam. Truly, the Nile is the Heart of the ancient and modern land of Egypt.

A holiday to the Caribbean offers you the chance to visit some of the most spectacular beaches in the world. Virtually every island of the Caribbean will have beaches that amaze; with crystal clear blue seas, sugar white sand & palm trees.

To help you choose where to go and more importantly what beach to choose, we have compiled a list of the top 10 beaches in the Caribbean.

1/ Palm Beach (Aruba) – Idyllic beach setting with superb white sand.

2/ Grand Anse Beach (Grenada) – 3km beach with sugar-white sand, lots of space & shallow waters.

3/ Johnson’s Point (Antigua) – Made up of secluded coves; these white soft sand beaches are a must for snorkeling & swimming

4/ Pink Sand Beach ( Bahamas) – One of the world’s most photographed beaches, often voted world’s best by travel publications. 5km’s of salmon pink coloured sand, due to red plankton that has mixed with the fine white sand.

5/ Crane Beach (Barbados) – Often voted as Barbados’ most beautiful beach. Imposing cliffs, a natural coral reef and soft white sands make for a perfect beach.

6/ Negril Beach (Jamaica) – Laid back atmosphere and Jamaica’s prettiest beach. A lot quieter than Seven Mile beach.

7/ Englishman’s Bay (Tobago) – A sheltered beach with fine white sand, crystal waters & surrounded by a palm jungle.

8/ Grace Bay (Turks & Caicos) – Part of a national marine park, this beach has fine white sand, calm turquoise waters and is protected by a barrier reef.

9/ Trunk Bay (US Virgin Islands) – A beautiful beach with crystal clear waters, considered one of the best places for snorkeling in the Caribbean.

10/ Shoal Bay (Anguilla) – Put Angullia on the tourism map; sugar-white sand, crystal clear blue waters & coral reefs.