Monday, May 25, 2015

World Heritage Site Aspirations

Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃə/; also Capadocia; Turkish: Kapadokya) is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely covering the Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, and Niğde Provinces in Turkey.

Cappadocia is real old. The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia dates from the late 6th century BC. It appears in the biblical account given in the book of Acts 2:9. The Cappadocians were named as one group hearing the Gospel account from Galileans in their own language on the day of Pentecost.

Cappadocia is big. The relief consists of a high plateau exceeding 1000 m in altitude, an area approximately 400 km east–west and 250 km north–south. It is pierced by volcanic peaks, with Mount Erciyes (ancient Argaeus) being the tallest at 3916 m.

Cappadocia is awesome. Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes eroded into a fairy tale landscape of cones, pillars, pinnacles, mushrooms, and chimneys. People have long utilised the region's soft stone, seeking shelter underground and carving out living quarters, places of worship, stables, and storehouses.

Cappadocia is famous. The region was used for the 1989 science fiction film "Slipstream" to depict a cult of wind worshippers. In 2010 and early 2011, the film "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" was also filmed in the Cappadocia region. The panoramas of Cappadocia are featured prominently in the cinematography of "Winter Sleep" (Turkish: Kış Uykusu), the 2014 film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes film festival.

Cappadocia is a world heritage site. The Singappore Botanic Gardens, the picnic grounds of filipino domestics, also wants to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Liddat how to compete?

The best way to take in the spectacular panorama of Cappadocia is to go up in a hot air balloon. The only bitch is that wifi is not available at that altitude. Hence, blogging will have to take a backseat in the coming days.

9 comments:

  1. All the money wasted on gardens - soon on ewould hear that even the Bot Garden was the idea of our great leeder. But at least when the domestic helpers go home and the cleaners have done their job, we can use it on weekdays. That is more than one can say about the millions paid to all the PRC ping pong B team donning red dot colours, jet setting from city to city in the global circuit in style. And when the time comes, they will retire to Beijing like their predecessor, buy a few properties there and shake legs with their red dot passports. Fandi and Co, on the other hand, will of course head to Batam. Or maybe now he can ask for a pay hike and hope to buy something at Iskandar. And shame on Joker and the paper general, who never bothered to support Lions XII, and have the cheek to turn up at the airport holding the FA Cup as if they won it.

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  2. Indeed it is everything you described to be. Enjoy the pre dawn ascent and view of the rippled ravines. Sip the champagne thereafter and take comfort that at least we didn't have cancer villages like they do over there, while is true heritage wise, there is simply no contest which is the winner.

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  3. Actually hor.
    I think LKY's final resting place is a better candidate for a "world heritage site" than the The Singapore Botanic Gardens.
    If there was no LKY, would there have been The Singapore Botanic Gardens?
    If there was no LKY, there would have been no Raffles tio bo?
    LKY made Raffles possible tio bo?

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    1. But we all know that LKY made Temasek possible. Possible for his daughter-in-law; not the one that preceded Singapura, which he built from a rat infested swamp to become the billion$$$ Garden-by-the-Bay to become the Kingdom of Lanfang.

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  4. Natural wonders are beautiful, but truth be told their presence ain't impressive as they aren't built by anybody; they are there because they are there.

    On the other hand, on this tiny island with massively wasted homegrown potential thanks to PAP mis-policies we are supposed to feel grateful to 7-digits PRC imports for bringing us medals we don't need or deserve. Just what is so exactly wrong if we can't possibly have everything this world has to offer on this little rock?

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  5. Dang!
    Wish I was there too!

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  6. This blog looking very nice and the company good for business Form a Singapore Company

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  7. Melaka and George Town a also on the World Heritage List.

    If Malaysia boleh, Singhapura pun boleh.

    Aiyah, don't hit too hard a government that works very hard to do what's in the interest of the people and a has a good track record - so said Tharman.

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  8. Great share thanks for writing this

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