Incredible Hotels with Altitude

1 – The Banyan Tree, Bangkok

The Banyan Tree boasts the best view of Thailand’s bustling capital from the aptly named Vertigo Grill & Moon Bar, just don’t go up there if you get a little dizzy when it comes to heights!

On the rooftop of the 61st floor, at 196 meters high, you can enjoy a simple drink in the al fresco bar or eat some grilled seafood in the restaurant and look over the edge at the twinkling lights of Bangkok below.

From the rooftop in the clouds you can see the Grand Palace, Wat Arun and the Chao Phraya River in the distance. It’s a must-see on every Bangkok itinerary, but make sure you don’t try and go when it’s raining though, as it is sure to be closed since it has no roof!

2 – Swissotel the Stamford, Singapore

At 73 storeys, the Swissotel is one of South East Asia’s loftiest hotels. Located in the Raffles City Complex, it is strategically situated in the heart of Singapore’s business, historical, cultural and shopping districts and now overlooks the new Formula 1 race course at turn 9.

For a high thrill, don some smart casual clothes and head to the cocktail bar on the 72nd floor, which offers birds-eye views of the harbour below. It has become a must see for any tourist visiting Asia and also a popular proposal venue.

The hotel has a grand total of 16 restaurants with exceptional cuisine catering for every appetite, from French and Swiss to Chinese and Japanese. If you’re up for it you can also take part in the Vertical Marathon. Those who put themselves to the challenge have to climb to the pinnacle up 1,336 steps up 73 storeys.

The tradition of the vertical marathon at Swissotel began in 1987 and a Guinness World Record was first set by Mr Balvinder Singh in 1989 in 6min 55secs. In 2008, world-class stair racer, Thomas Dold, broke the 20-year-old Swissôtel Vertical Marathon record, with his winning time of 6min 52secs.

3 – Burj Al Arab, Dubai

Dubai is home to some of the world’s most outrageously luxurious hotels and The Burj Al Arab is certainly one of the most opulent and iconic. Standing at 321 meters high, The Burj Al Arab is designed to resemble the billowing sail of an Arabian dhow and dominates the Dubai Skyline.

At night the building is illuminated by choreographed lighting to resemble water and fire. This hotel has attracted much international attention and is one of the most photographed contemporary structures in the world.

The hotel itself is set on its own private island off the shores of Jumeirah beach and the city of Dubai. The Al Mahara seafood restaurant is reached through an aquarium through a simulated submarine and the Al Falak Ballroom is designed to look like an 18th century Viennese Opera House.

Visitors can get an impressive view of the Arabian gulf through the hotel’s panoramic windows. If you win the lottery or you’re an Arabic prince you might be able to afford the 780 sq meter ‘Royal Suite’ with a rotating canopy bed, a private cinema and even your own private elevator. One can dream…

How many countries are there in the world?

This question is a little tricky, because it really depends on who you ask. Well, one may think that the number of countries would be the same as the number of United Nations members, 191, but not so fast. Vatican City which is actually a country decided not to join. Okay, well that makes it 192 then. Once again, some would argue with this, especially the people of Taiwan. Taiwan has basically every thing going for them to make them an independent country except for the fact that some of the major players do not agree (such as China and the USA). This is because China stakes a claim to Taiwan.

So the next time someone asks you the question, you are pretty safe sticking somewhere between 190 and 193. By the way, until recently that last statement would have read 189 and 192. This is because East Timor was recently introduced as the newest member

List the countries of the world

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democratic Republic of Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia

Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, North Korea, South Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic) Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger

Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia & Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Surinam Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom UK United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Nature makes us nicer, according to new study

By Trystan L. Bass

Posted Tue Oct 6, 2009 10:40am PDT

Not only can a walk in the park be relaxing, looking at greenery can actually improve your relationships and make you more generous. That's what a University of Rochester research team discovered in a series of studiespublished on October 1, 2009.Nearly 400 people looked at photos of either natural environments or man-made landscapes. Then these participants answered questions about the importance of personal relationships, community, wealth, and fame. In some of the studies, people were also given $5 to keep or pass along to another participant.

People who looked at pictures of nature in the study placed a high value on being connected to other people in their lives and community. These same people were more likely to share their money with others. The people who only looked at urban cityscapes didn't rate relationships or generosity as very important. They placed more emphasis on wealth and fame.

Study coauthor and professor of psychology, psychiatry, and education Richard Ryan said this shows how "stopping to experience our natural surroundings can have social as well as personal benefits."

Lead author Netta Weinstein agrees: "We are influenced by our environment in ways that we are not aware of." She suggests that this information points to the need for more green spaces in cities.

Father of Modern Geography

Alexander von Humboldt, painting byJoseph Stieler, 1843
Born	September 14, 1769 Berlin
Died	May 6, 1859 (aged 89) Berlin
Nationality	Prussian
Fields	naturalist
Known for	biogeography,Kosmos(1845)

Guru Kesayangan Kami

En. Anwar b. Zainol

Wow! So Cool

Interesting Facts > Geography

· Guinea has the wettest capital on Earth, with 3.7 metres of raina year.

· Clipperton Islandwins our prize for the most unusual looking country.

· Only two countries in the world are doublylandlocked:LiechtensteinandUzbekistan.

· Sick of crowds? Move to Greenland! Greenlanders have 38 square kilometres of land per person.

· If you thoughtAntartica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is onlyninety – eightpercent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".

· The Mall in Washington, D.C. is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City. The four largest nations areRussia, China,USA, and Canada

· Brazil takes up47.8% of South America.

· Canada lays claim to morewater than any other nation.

· Almost the entire Cook Islands are covered byforest.

· Contrary to the popular rhyme, the rain falls mainly onGuinea.

· Australia has more than 28 times the land area of New Zealand, but itscoastline is not even twice as long.

Branches of Geography

The field of geography is a vast and wondrous academic field with thousands of researchers working in dozens of interesting sub-disciplines or branches of geography. There is a branch of geography for just about any subject on earth. In an effort to acquaint the reader with the diversity of the branches of geography, I summarize

Regional Geography

Many geographers focus their time and energy on studying a specific region on the planet. Regional geographers focus on areas as large as a continent or as small as an urban area. Many geographers combine a regional specialty with a specialty in another branch of geography.

Applied Geography

Applied geographers use geographic knowledge, skills, and techniques to solve problems in everyday society. Applied geographers are often employed outside of academic environment and work for private firms or governmental agencies.

Cartography

It has often been said that geography is anything that can be mapped. While all geographers know how to display their research on maps, the branch ofcartographyfocuses on improving and developing technologies in map-making. Cartographers work to create useful high-quality maps to show geographic information in the most useful format possible.

Geographic Information Systems

Geographic Information Systems or GIS is the branch of geography that develops databases of geographic information and systems to display geographic data in a map-like format. Geographers in GIS work to create layers of geographic data and when layers are combined or utilized together in complex computerized systems, they can provide geographic solutions or sophisticated maps with the press of a few keys.

Geographic Education

Geographers working in the field ofgeographic educationseek to give teachers the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to help combat geographic illiteracy and to develop future generations of geographers.

Historical Geography

Historical geographers research the human and physical geography of the past.

History of Geography

Geographers working in the history of geography seek to maintain the history of the discipline by researching and documenting the biographies of geographers and the histories of geographic studies and geography departments and organizations.

Remote Sensing

Remote sensingutilizes satellites and sensors to examine features on or near the earth's surface from a distance. Geographers in remote sensing analyze data from remote sources to develop information about a place where direct observation is not possible or practical.

Quantitative Methods

This branch of geography uses mathematical techniques and models to test hypothesis. Quantitative methods are often used in many other branches of geography but some geographers specialize in quantitative methods specifically.

Human Geography

Many branches of geography are found withinhuman geography, a major branch of geography that studies people and their interaction with the earth and with their organization of space on the earth's surface.

Economic Geography

Economic geographers examine the distribution of production and distribution of goods, the distribution of wealth, and the spatial structure of economic conditions.

Population Geography

Population geography is often equated with demography but population geography is more than just patters of birth, death, and marriage. Population geographers are concerned with the distribution, migration, and growth of population in geographic areas.

Geography of Religions

This branch of geography studies the geographic distribution of religious groups, their cultures, and built environments.

Medical Geography

Medical geographers study the geographic distribution of disease (including epidemics and pandemics), illness, death and health care.

Recreation, Tourism, and Sport Geography

The study of leisure-time activities and their impact on local environments. As tourism is one of the world's largest industries, it involves a great number of people making very temporary migrations and is thus of great interest to geographers.

Military Geography

Practitioners of military geography are most often found within the military but the branch looks not only at the geographic distribution of military facilities and troops but also utilizes geographic tools to develop military solutions.

Political Geography

Political geographyinvestigates all aspects of boundaries, country, state, and nation development, international organizations, diplomacy, internal country subdivisions, voting, and more.

Agricultural and Rural Geography

Geographers in this branch study agriculture and rural settlement, the distribution of agriculture and the geographic movement and access to agricultural products, and land use in rural areas.

Transportation Geography

Transportation geographersresearch transportation networks (both private and public) and the use of those networks for moving people and goods.

Urban Geography

The branch of urban geography investigates the location, structure, development, and growth of cities -- from tiny village to huge megalopolis.

Physical Geography

Physical geography is another major branch of geography. It is concerned with the natural features on or near the surface of the earth.

Biogeography

Biographers study the geographic distribution of plants and animals on the earth in the subject known as biogeography.

Water Resources

Geographers working in the water resources branch of geography look at the distribution and use of water across the planet within the hydrologic cycleand of human-developed systems for water storage, distribution, and use.

Climate

Climate geographers investigate the distribution of long-term weather patterns and activities of the earth's atmosphere.

Global Change

Geographers researching global change explore the long term changes occurring to the plant earth based on human impacts on the environment.

Geomorphology

Geomorphologists study the landforms of the planet, from their development to their disappearance through erosion and other processes.

Hazards Geography

As with many branches of geography, hazards combines work in physical and human geography. Hazard geographers research extreme events known as hazards or disaster and explore the human interaction and response to these unusual natural or technological events.

Mountain Geography

Mountain geographers look at the development of mountain systems and at the humans who live in higher altitudes and their adaptations to these environments.

Cryosphere Geography

Cryosphere geography explores the ice of the earth, especially glaciers and ice sheets. Geographers look at the past distribution of ice on the planet and ice-cause features from glaciers and ice sheets.

Arid Regions

Geographers studying arid regions examine thedeserts and dry surfaces of the planet. The explore how humans, animals, and plants make their home in dry or arid regions and the use of resources in these regions.

Coastal and Marine Geography

Within coastal and marine geography, there are geographers researching the coastal environments of the planet and how humans, coastal life, and coastal physical features interact.

Soils Geography

Soil geographers study the upper layer of the lithosphere, the soil, of the earth and its categorization and patterns of distribution