The Grand Palace

    If there is one must-see sight without which no visit to Bangkok would be complete, it's the spectacular Grand Palace, undoubtedly the city's most famous landmark. Built in 1782 and for 150 years the home of the Thai King, the Royal court and the administrative seat of government, the Grand Palace of Bangkok continues to have visitors in awe of its beautiful architecture and complicated details, which is a proud salute(致敬) to the creativity and creativity and craftsmanship of Thai people. Within its walls were also the Thai war ministry, the state departments, and even the mint(铸币厂). Today, the complex remains the spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom.

Important Notes about the Grand Palace

    A strict dress code applies. The Grand Palace with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is Thailand's most sacred site. Visitors must be properly dressed before being allowed entry to the temple. Men must wear long pants and shirts with sleeves (no tank lops). If you're wearing sandals or flip-flops you must wear socks, in other words, no bare feet. Women must be similarly modestly dressed. No see-through clothes, bare shoulders, etc. If you show up at the front gate improperly dressed, there is a booth near the entrance that can provide clothes to cover you up properly (a deposit is required).

    Opening Hours: Daily 8:30-15:30

    Location: Na Phra Lan Road, Old City (Rattanakosin)

    Price Range: Tickets sold form 8:30-15:30 and cost 500 baht!One ticket includes entry to Vimanmek Palace and Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall.

    A story of a man who made the brave journey of love, cycling from India to Sweden to see his sweetheart, has gained the hearts of thousands online. A Facebook post, that has been linked more than 113,000 times, shares the tale of how Dr. Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia crossed eight countries to be reunited with his wife Charlotte Von Schedvin in her native country.

    The story began in 1975 when wealthy 19-year-old Charlotte Von Schedvin, who was a student in London at the time, travelled to India in 1975 to meet the poor but famous artist Mahanandia. The Indian was born in 1949 into a poor family in Odisha, Dhenkanal and was considered an untouchable in the society.

Although his family couldn't afford his education, he managed to gain a place at the College of Art in New Delhi where word of his talent quickly spread.

    In events that wouldn't be out of place in a romantic movie, when the young Charlotte Von Sledvin met with the painter, the two fell in love with one another. He was greatly impressed by her beauty and she, with his pure simplicity. Despite their contrasting backgrounds, the pair shortly married.

    In 1978, the time came for Charlotte to return to her native country, and she requested her husband join her back in Europe. However, Mahanandia was in the middle of his studies and said he would join her after these were completed. The couple stayed in touch through letters and despite Charlotte's offers to send flight tickets, Mahanandia was determined to meet her in his own way.

    Selling his belongings, he managed to get enough money to buy a second-hand bike and set out on the intrepid journey to be reunited. From New Delhi, the brave love-struck adventurer entered Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria and Denmark. It wasn't all easy sailing. His bike broke down a lot of times along the way and he had to go on without food for days.

    In total the trip took four months and three weeks before he finally reached Gothenburg, Sweden. Upon arrival, he was questioned by immigration officers, who were said to be amazed at his story of devotion after he shared photographs of his marriage.

    Her parents welcomed him with open arms and 40 years later, the pair are still happily married. Dr PK Mahanandia serves as the Odiya Cultural Ambassador of India to Sweden and lives with his wife and two children in Sweden. He has become well-known in Sweden as an artist and as an adviser of Art and Culture, under the Swedish Government too.

    It's comforting to think if you were somehow swallowed by a whale, you'd simply hang out in his stomach until he eventually spat you out, unharmed and whole. Unfortunately, your chance of ending up in this type of situation is pretty low.

    In 2012 reporter Ben Shattuck read the records at the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library. Despite his extensive research at one of the most comprehensive whaling archives(档案), he failed to find a single report of anyone ever being swallowed alive by a whale. He found plenty of reports of whalers who were bitten or injured by the creatures, and several who died after fighting with a whale, but none related to swallowing.

    With whales' large mouths, it certainly seems possible that a whale could swallow someone whole, so why is it so unlikely? Baleen whales, or whales without teeth, are some of the largest creatures on the planet. Despite their massive size, baleen whales could never get you into their bellies thanks to their relatively small esophagus(食道). These whales are designed to eat small sea creatures, and the opening in their throat is only about as large as a basketball, so you'd never make it that far.

    But what about toothed whales? Sperm whales eat whole seals, so you could easily fit down their throats and into their stomachs. However, once you reached the first of the sperm whale's four stomachs, your journey would probably end quickly. Not only would the whale's stomach acid make quick work of you, but you'd experience a distinct lack of air on the inside. Actually, you're more likely to get eaten or injured as you try to make it past the sperm whale's sharp teeth. Plenty of whalers, have fought with sperm whales and lost their hands or lives due to these mean teeth.

    Two hundred years ago the English poet William Wordsworth wrote "I wander'd Lonely as a Cloud", a poem that expresses a basic spirit of early English Romanticism.

    What makes this poem an example of Romantic thinking? It isn't just that Wordsworth chooses to write about natural scene：it is the way he describes the scene as if it had human emotions. For him, nature is not only a neutral (无感情色彩的) mixture of scenery, colours, plants, rocks, soil, water and air. It is a living force that feels joy and sadness, shares human pain and even tries to educate us human beings by showing us the beauty of life.

    Wordsworth's home, Dove Cottage, is now one of the most popular destinations in the Lake District. You can go on a tour of the garden which William planted with wild flowers and which survived in his backyard even after they disappeared from the area "He always said that if he hadn't been a poet, he would have been a wonderful scenery gardener," says Allan King of the Wordsworth Trust.

    The place near Ullswater, where Wordsworth saw the daffodils(水仙花), is at the southernmost end of the lake. The lake is wide and calm at this turning point. There's a bay where the trees have had their soil eroded(侵蚀)by lake water so that their roots are shockingly exposed. You walk along from tree to tree, hardly daring to breathe, because you are walking in the footprints of William from two centuries ago. The first group of daffodils appear, but they aren't tall yellow trumpets(小号状的花)proudly swinging in the gentle wind. They're tiny wild daffodils, most of them still green and unopened, in groups of six or seven. They're grouped around individual trees rather than collecting together.

    But as you look north, from beside a huge ancient oak, you realize this is what delighted Wordsworth: group after group of the things, spread out to left and right but coming together in your sight so that they form a beautiful, pale-yellow carpet. What you're seeing at last is nature transformed by human sight and imagination.

    I was ever bullied badly when I was in high school. One kid in particular would try to make me feel worse in every way he knew. For example, he would throw stuff at me constantly, hit me on the head, punch(殴打)me, call me ugly and stupid, make fun of me and, of course tell me he would beat me up if I ever fought back. It was like his daily mission.

    And it was my daily mission to just get through the day. What could I say? It made my world very small because that was my main focus- just surviving. Everything else fell by the wayside. Unfortunately, that included any form of social life. So not only was my world tiny, but it was very lonely

    Looking back to that time, which was about 11years ago, my biggest mistake was not bringing anyone into that world of mine. I was too proud (and embarrassed) to get help. I would rather not face the fact that I needed help because in my mind, that would mean that the bully won. It would also mean that I was weak.

    Let me just say this: bullying someone is a weak choice. The only reason why they come after you is that they think you won't do anything about it. Does that make anyone strong? Absolutely not. Be stronger-ask a parent, a teacher or a friend for help. Simply admit that you are struggling and need help.

    You can put it like this, "Somebody who is weak and trying to build himself or herself up has chosen to do that by putting me down. The only reason why they are doing that is that I am nice and I haven't done anything about it yet. Well I am through putting up with this. I have basic human rights that they are trying to take away to feel better and that is just not OK. How do I handle this? I don't want the pain cycle to continue and I don't want to become someone I don't want to be.

Grizzly bears,which may grow to about 2.5 m long and weigh over 400 kg,occupy a conflicted corner of the American psyche—we revere(敬畏) them even as they give us frightening dreams.Ask the tourists from around the world that flood into Yellowstone National Park what they most hope to see,and their answer is often the same:a grizzly bear.

"Grizzly bears are re-occupying large areas of their former range,"says bear biologist Chris Servheen.As grizzly bears expand their range into places where they haven't been seen in a century or more,they're increasingly being sighted by humans.

The western half of the U.S.was full of grizzlies when Europeans came,with a rough number of 50,000 or more living alongside Native Americans.By the early 1970s,after centuries of cruel and continuous hunting by settlers,600 to 800 grizzlies remained on a mere 2 percent of their former range in the Northern Rockies.In 1975,grizzlies were listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Today,there are about 2,000 or more grizzly bears in the U.S.Their recovery has been so successful that the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service has twice attempted to de-list grizzlies,which would loosen legal protections and allow them to be hunted.Both efforts were overturned due to lawsuits from conservation groups.For now,grizzlies remain listed.

Obviously,if precautions(预防) aren't taken,grizzlies can become troublesome,sometimes killing farm animals or walking through yards in search of food.If people remove food and attractants from their yards and campsites,grizzlies will typically pass by without trouble.Putting electric fencing around chicken houses and other farm animal quarters is also highly effective at getting grizzlies away."Our hope is to have a clean,attractant-free place where bears can pass through without learning bad habits,"says James Jonkel,longtime biologist who manages bears in and around Missoula.