Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for Vietnam] 

VIA More Photos of Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, Asian Model Search 2011

VIA More Photos of Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, the winner of Asian Model Search 2011

The Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Preservation Centre and the Vietnam Archaeology Institute started excavating the Kinh Thien Palace site in February, 2014.

In recent years researchers have suggested restoring the palace, but they did not have enough information on the building's original architecture and measurements. Most of it was destroyed by the French in 1886. They left behind only the floor and a staircase bordered by two stone dragons.

Scientists said that if they received enough support from concerned agencies, the rebuilding could be started within five years, once enough information on the palace's architecture was gathered. Under the recently approved project, scientists will do more research, design a 3D building plan and submit it to the authority by 2016.

According to Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu (Complete Annals of Dai Viet), construction on Kinh Thien Palace began in 1428 under the reign of King Le Thai To and was completed under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong.

The palace is among the most important buildings in the citadel complex and was often used for Le kings' big diplomatic or political events.

After Oct 10, 1954, when anti-French resistance troops took over the city, the site was used as an office for the Ministry of Defence. In 2014 the Ministry gave part of the site to the city's administration.

The Kinh Thien Palace relic is an essential part of the citadel. Doan Mon (South Gate) and Hanoi Flag Pole are positioned in front of the palace. Behind the palace is the Hau Lau Building and Cua Bac (North Gate). The eastern and western sides of the palace are also bordered with walls and smaller gates.

The stone dragons at the palace's staircase are considered a special piece of architectural heritage, representing sculpture art of the Early Le period.

Source: Bernama [March 16, 2015]

Vulnerable: It is not known if the animals, a three-month old white-cheeked gibbon, left and a leopard cub, right, were to be sold or kept as exotic pets when they got to Dubai
Undercover anti-trafficking officers had been monitoring the suspect since he allegedly bought the rare and endangered baby animals on the black market, according to the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.
When authorities opened the suitcases they found two leopards, two panthers, and Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys - all about the size of puppies.
Steven Galster, director of FREELAND, who was present when the man was intercepted said that the animals yawned when the bags were opened.
'A virtual zoo': Four two-month-old leopard cubs look from inside a cage. Undercover anti-trafficking officers had been monitoring the suspect since he bought the rare and endangered baby animals on the black market
Let us out! A baby Malayan sun bear, left, looks out from his cage; right, a black tufted Marmoset monkey clutches the bars of his prison with a mournful expression on his face
Imprisoned: A three-month old white-cheeked gibbon reaches out from him cage
Baby: A three-month old Malayan sun bear looks from inside a cage. Authorities believe the man was part of a trafficking network and were searching for suspected accomplices
Slumber: The baby bear sleeps off his sedative. The animals had been drugged and were heading for Dubai
Let us out! A baby Malayan sun bear, left, looks out from his cage; right, a black tufted Marmoset monkey clutches the bars of his prison with a mournful expression on his face
Imprisoned: A three-month old white-cheeked gibbon looks from inside a cage
'It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn't move around much,' Mr Galster said. Some of the animals had been packed inside canisters punched with air holes.
Authorities believe the man was part of a trafficking network and were searching for suspected accomplices.
Mr Galster said: 'It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before.
'The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases.'
Baby: A three-month old Malayan sun bear looks from inside a cage. Authorities believe the man was part of a trafficking network and were searching for suspected accomplices.
Thailand is a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking, but authorities typically find rare turtles, tortoises, snakes and lizards that feed demand in China and Vietnam. Finding such an array of live mammals is unusual.
In Thailand, leopards and panthers fetch roughly $5,000 a piece on the black market, but their value in Dubai was presumably higher, Mr Galster said.
It was not known if the animals were destined to be resold or kept as exotic pets, a practice popular in the Middle East.
Slumber: A baby bear gets some rest. The animals had been drugged and were heading for Dubai
source:dailymail

VIA Baby bears, panthers and monkeys: The extraordinary menagerie smuggled in first class passenger's suitcases

The 1st runner-up was Miss Korea (Haemy Chung); 2nd runner-up was Australia (Danielle Byrnes); 3rd runner-up was Miss Russia (Natalia Chirkova) and the 4th runner-up was Caylene Marais of South Africa.

1st runner-up, Miss Korea (Haemy Chung)

2nd runner-up, Australia (Danielle Byrnes)

The beauties from Greece, India, Serbia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Estonia, Albania and Thailand completed the semifinalists.
This is the 2nd international title for Mariana Notarangelo. In 2010, she was crowned International Queen of Coffee in Manizales, Colombia.
Special thanks and credits to GlobalBeauties

VIA Mariana Notarangelo da Fonseca, Miss Brazil is the Miss Global Beauty Queen 2011

Conservationists have reintroduced the gibbons as part of an ambitious project for the "re-wilding" of Angkor Wat, a vast "temple city" that was once surrounded by forests teeming with deer, monkeys, birds and big cats before the arrival of commercial hunters with guns, traps and an appetite for money.

The re-wilding is being led by Nick Marx, a conservationist who believes the project could become a model for other parts of Southeast Asia hit by the trade in endangered wildlife.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on earth, was made a World Heritage Site to protect its sprawling network of temples. Now conservationists want to restore the surrounding forests of Angkor Archaeological Park to their former glory, Marx said.

"The area of forest is beautiful and mature. It's a unique site but it's devoid of wildlife now," he said. "We want to introduce different species that would be appropriate, such as a cross-selection of small carnivores, herbivores, primates and deer, to try to get a build-up of wildlife populations with sufficient genetic diversity."

Cambodia, like many countries in southeast Asia, has suffered from the illegal trade in wildlife. Large numbers of animals have been shot, trapped, butchered and skinned, or sold alive in one of the many Cambodian food markets.

Spiralling demand for traditional Chinese "medicine" has driven the trade to new heights.

"China has done a pretty good job of decimating its own wildlife and now it is moving into other countries," he said. "There is a certain amount of consumption within Cambodia, but most of the valuable items that can bring a high price such as pangolins and cat skins would be going out either to Vietnam or to China," he said. "With the opening of borders and trade, things are getting worse globally. That means we have to work harder to stop it."

Marx is director of a wildlife rescue service funded by Wildlife Alliance, a New York-based non-governmental organisation that specialises in protecting forests and wildlife. He runs Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team which tackles animal trafficking with undercover operations, armed raids on restaurants and markets, and a network of paid informants willing to provide tip-offs on illegal shipments of live animals and body parts.

"We are known throughout Cambodia. We are feared by wildlife traders. It would be foolish to say there is no risk. We're pissing people off and we are rescuing things like cobras, which often have their mouths stitched up and we have to unstitch them," he said.

Why cobras? "They cut their throats to drink their blood with wine and then eat the flesh. People eat everything, from spiders and grasshoppers up."

Many recovered animals are alive and the aim is to return them to the wild if possible.

"Almost everything we confiscate, about 90 per cent of it - provided it is in recent captivity and is fit and healthy, and of an age it can look after itself - is released back into a safe habitat," Marx said. "If they cannot take care of themselves, we look after them at a rescue centre."

Having established Cambodia's official task force to tackle wildlife crime, Marx said it was time to think about reintroducing species to areas where they once thrived such as Angkor Wat. "We were given permission to release animals back into Angkor last year and we released the first pair of pileated gibbons into this forest last December. This has gone really well. The pair had a baby in September. We've taken up another pair of gibbons and a trio of silver langurs, which are a kind of leaf-eating monkey, which we hope to release later."

Author: Steve Connor | Source: Independent via The New Zealand Herald [December 29, 2014]

The 1st runner-up was Miss Korea (Haemy Chung); 2nd runner-up was Australia (Danielle Byrnes); 3rd runner-up was Miss Russia (Natalia Chirkova) and the 4th runner-up was Caylene Marais of South Africa.

1st runner-up, Miss Korea (Haemy Chung)

2nd runner-up, Australia (Danielle Byrnes)

The beauties from Greece, India, Serbia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Estonia, Albania and Thailand completed the semifinalists.
This is the 2nd international title for Mariana Notarangelo. In 2010, she was crowned International Queen of Coffee in Manizales, Colombia.
Special thanks and credits to GlobalBeauties

source: (Thank you and credits to
http://freedom-guy.blogspot.com/
and all sources for the information and pictures)

VIA Mariana Notarangelo da Fonseca, Miss Brazil is the winner of Miss Global Beauty Queen 2011

Yesterday, the winners of the 2012 Newbery (MG) and Printz (YA) Awards were announced, along with the other ALA Award winners (Caldecott (illustrations) Morris (debut), Alex (adult w/ YA crossover appeal) etc).

I apologize for both being a bit absent from the online world lately and not getting this posted yesterday. I had every intention of posting yesterday, but had to be to work before they were even finished announcing the winners. ANYWAY

THE WINNERS!! (With commentary, of course: P)

Newbery Award Winner:

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: I'll be honest with this, and admit that I'm disappointed. I don't actually know anything about this book, but I've read all four of the Joey Pigza books (book 2, Joey Pigza Loses Control won a Newbery Honor) and I have read his memoir(ish) book, Hole in My Life, which won a Printz Honor and I was not impressed with any of them. I'll read this one, but if I feel for it the way I've felt for his previous novels, it will be my last Gantos no matter what new awards he's won.

Newbery Honors:

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai: This is one that I'm really excited to see. It has come highly recommended to me by Shannon at Books Devoured. It's also historical fiction, about the Vietnam era, which I think is very under mentioned in literature. And, it's a verse novel! I'm a huge fan of verse novels and love anything that gets them more attention! This has been on my TBR for a long time now, but knowing that it's won a Newbery Honor is going to push this to the very top of my TBR!

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin: I hadn't heard anything about this book prior to the announcement. But now, I've had a chance to look it over, and I'm definitely intrigued! It actually sounds like it could be really amazing!

I'll say that I'm quite surprised that out of three award/honors given., all are historical fiction. That's not something I think I've ever seen before and I find it very interesting. (In a good way, but interesting nonetheless).

Printz Award Winner:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: Ginger over at Greads raved about this one a little while ago and her review was just so awesome that I immediately added this to my TBR/close watch list. It sounds absolutely amazing and although I haven't read it, I'm thrilled that it won because from everything I've seen, it's exactly my kind of book.

Printz Honors:

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Holder: This is a book that I was really surprised to see on the Printz list. I haven't read it yet, but it is one that has been on my list to read. But everything I had seen about it made is sound like more of a fun read than anything really serious. But it shall be interesting to read it and see what I actually think of it!

The Returning by Christine Hinwood: This is another book that I knew nothing about prior to the announcement. Looking at Goodreads, it seems to be one of those books that you either REALLY like or you really... DON'T. But... umm... MELINA MARCHETTA BLURBED THIS BOOK. I WANT.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey: This makes three books I had never even heard of before the announcements. It looks like it's another Historical Fiction, and the summary sounds intensely amazing. It sounds like there is really a lot of room for that book to just Wow and amaze you. Definitely one I'm going to need to get my hands on as soon as possible.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: This is the only book on the list that I've actually read before and it is, sadly, not a book I was a fan of. I won't get too detailed, but basically it's 390 pages of absolutely nothing exciting (although some of it is interesting and beautifully described), with about 10 interesting pages scattered throughout the novel and 10 exciting and climactic pages right and the very end. I can, however (almost) see why some people really love this one, and do think Maggie is a talented writer, even if this one wasn't for me (because no amount of pretty writing is enough to make up for nearly 400 pages of extreme nothing.)

So there you have it! The winners of the Newbery & Printz awards as narrated by me!

What do you think?! Any of these books you are excited for/about!? Do you agree/disagree/dislike/like my commentary?! Do you even pay attention to or care at all about the awards? Let me know what you think & how you are feeling!!

AND — Stay tuned for tomorrow, because both Jacinda and I will be posting for the Award Winning Reads Challnege (have YOU signed up?!) and these books DO count!:)