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I visited this site on a lovely Sunday afternoon in October 2008. Yes it has taken me this long to make the decision to write this review.

I must state from the outset that I have never experienced the terrible war. But I was born in a country that was invaded and occupied by the Japanese for more than 3 years. My parents and grandparents suffered during these 3 years. I believe my grandfather lost a cousin because the Japanese thought that he might have been some anti-Japanese element.

I can't say that I'm angry with anyone over the war. After all the war is to me merely something I hear about from people who survived it or read about in books. But walking through that park that afternoon, I couldn't help but think about all the multitudes of people in various countries who had suffered tremendously because of the Japanese invasion and who are still in pain today.

At the same time, to be very honest, I could not help but wonder what I would have become if that bomb had not been dropped.

I see the dome as a reminder not only that the world must work hard for peace but that people must respect other people too despite their differences. War is simply not right.

Having said that, I got quite a kick from seeing a copy of the history textbook I had studied from being exhibited in that section on what other countries say about the …

A partial marine protected area was declared in July 2009.

It is now June 2011 and we are STILL waiting for the management plan to be gazetted. During this time, the area is seeing the unsustainable growth of coastal tourism and there is fear of a Port Development within the reserve!

World Heritage Site Status would put a stop to the Port!

Would it not?

In July 2009, I took my son and two grandsons to tour the Normandy battlefields[my brother was in second wave at Omaha beach-three of us are navy veterans. We stayed in Ponterson and made a trip to Mt Saint Michels. The first view of it was awesome and the visit to the Abbey and surroundings was history firsthand; but the thing that we all remember about the visit was the number of people walking far out on the tidal flats, apparently they were experienced in the high tides period because we observed a picture of the island completely surrounded by water. The visit was one of the hightlights of our trip.

Equally to the National Theater, the National Monuement, located in the National Park in San Jose, represents the ideals of the liberal era, in this case nationalism. The monument was built to conmemorate the 1856-1857 National Campaign against the filibusters that invaded Nicaragua at that time and were planning to establish a puppet slave republic in Central America according to ideas prevailing at the time.

It was also built to ornate the park in front of the railway station that connected the city and the Central Valley to the Caribbean coast and thus allowed trade with the world at the time. It was the point of entrance to San Jose and was located in the area of San Jose where also the finest buildings and where the rich mainly settled, all in the northeastern side of the city.

As what to the monument concerns, it was encharged to the french sculptor Louis Carrier Belleuse, disciple of Rodin and even it is argued that the master participated in some of the parts of the monument. It was shipped to Limon port, transported to San Jose and assembled, its inauguration was celebrated in 1895 with the greatest honors to the heroes that parcipated in the campaign. It is made up of seven figures and a pedestal, five of them representing the five central american republics of the time, another is the invader being expelled and the last depicts a dead soldier from the costarrican army.

Finally and I have said in other …

In 1990 I was on the Joya de Ceren archaeological team of Andrea Gerstle. There were six of us and many wonderful locals who housed us and fed us and worked with us at the site. We found the third house, in fact Jose and I found it, 15 feet down when we scooped up a fragment of what turned out to be the wall of a rammed earth house.

Magnificent site. As noted it tells a tale of life among the 'common' people.

"Certainly the American continent was far better off before the journeys of Columbus and the European takeover." Andy, How do you know this? There is nothing in the record to suggest that pre-columbian America, anywhere, was paradise. Especially in this neck of the woods.

The Maya rulers where Kings and Gods at the same time. The Spanish Kings were no longer 'Gods' but might as well have been.

When you get into the mix of it all most of the world has evolved about the same way. Because Andy, 'WE ARE ALL HUMAN AND HUMAN NATURE DOES NOT CHANGE VERY MUCH IN THE SCHEME'.

Shakhrisyabz or Shakhrisabz is a small but lively town with many monuments related to the lives of Tamerlane, the national hero of Uzbekistan, and his family. Contradict to previous reviews; Shakhrisyabz is now a part of the main tourist route of this country as a lunch stopover between Bukhara and Samarkand with few hours for monuments sightseeing, so Shakhrisyabz is developing to serve tourism industry.

As mentioned Shakhrisyabz is related to Tamerlane as his birthplace, his home and hoped to be buried here, and the main tourist attractions are the ruins of Ak-Saray Palace, the mosaic here are the real jewel of Timurid art, Kuk-Gumbaz, which is the Friday mosque of the city with unique soft white tone interior, and Khazrati-Imam Complexes, planned to be a burial place of Tamerlane in the crypt. Shakhrisyabz is also the capital of Uzbekistan wedding, when I visited Shakhrisyabz in summer, the wedding season of Uzbek, the Tamerlane statue in front of the Ak-Saray Palace was the prime wedding photo shooting place of almost ten couples and the surrounding restaurants were in full swing of wedding parties, my guide informed me that the town catered at least 45 couples per day at the moment!

Going to Shakhrisyabz is a real rewarding as the town is the place to admire local Uzbek people and culture and its bazaar is just great. Also, the route from Samarkand is absolutely breathtaking along the Fan Mountain; however, Shakhrisyabz is not in the same …

As part of the old tentative list of Costa Rica, this is a monument-based approach to heritage. But in this case, while it may not have OUV for itself, as an institution lies in the heart of national identity, in the same way that it is located next to the Culture square, the heart of activity in downtown San Jose, and an area that improved after the square (with a subterranean building for museums underneath) and the boulevard in central avenue were built. As a building, it is one of the most important landmarks in San Jose, and a must-visit place, and represents the neo-classical movement in architecture. Built between 1890 and 1897, from taxes imposed on the coffee growers after the old theater was destroyed by an earthquake, and the lack of such venues in San Jose prevented quality activities to come to the country, it was seen as a national enterprise of the highest importance.

As the National Monument and buildings of the time, it represented the ideological interests of the liberal governments of the 2nd half of the 19th century to "civilise" the populace through the promotion of inmigration and adoption of european culture, the integration of the country in the global economy of the time through trade and the building of infrastructure.

It exists in Costa Rica the idea that the theater was a copy of the Opera in Paris, but this is not the case as the only similarity comes from the programatic similarities that …

As a monument of national importance, it´s clear that the ruins of the town de la Concepción del Rescate de Ujarrás are a valuable (and extremely rare) example of Costa Rica´s colonial times. It has to be considered that during those times, the province was the poorest of the american Spanish Empire because of the lack of metals, the little and bellicose indigenous population and the weather. Besides the fact that most of the colonial buildings were much more simple and built in fragile materials, the earthquakes have taken their share in making this country the one that has the least remainders of those times. Ujarrás has managed to stay to these days because of its abandonment in the final years of the XVIII century and first of the XIX century, because of diseases and famine, its population created what would become the city of Paraíso. What stands out of this ruins is definitively the church, recently restored and with a very interesant architecture in a construction system called calicanto, standing all the facades, the altar and other parts. From the rest of the town, it only remains here and there the foundations of the most important houses in the town. Another important fact is that the church housed what was the miraculous statue of the saint patron in colonial times: the Virgin of the Holy Conception of Ujarras, which allegedly protected the colony from the attacks of the pirate Morgan in the 17th century. The image, as the rest …

I visited Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines in February 2006 with my classmates in doctoral class. It was an exhausting trip from Bicol Region to Vigan. The ancestral houses were located in one block. The governor preserved the heritage houses. This site is frequented by the tourists. Coaches pulled by horses are used when strolling the area. It was really a good experience actually seeing the site.

Wonder when when we will wake up to our responsibilities in this nation, I can't imagine wonderful sites as this hill and other close sites as Erinjesha fall & Ikogosi warm spring given very little attention when it could be turned into a gold mine for the country and boost her economy and image before others. May God help us to recognize opportunities & utilize them appropriately.

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in my past life i used to climb the Mt. Sinai for living!

i did that almost 80 - 100 times .. for sunrise and such!

Nowadays, and after i realized what is best for me, i got myself i little house in here and i enjoy the magnificent healthy spiritual life in these mountains.

If you come around that far and high, its sad that you don't give yourselves the time to meet with yourselves! Spend few days and learn new experiences.

its summer it time!

On the long drive back from Hadrian's Wall I decided to make a quick detour to have a view of the UK's next prospective WHS. So on a very quiet Sunday morning I dove through the suburban streets of South Tyneside to arrive at St Paul's church in Jarrow, just after that day's service had started. This stopped me from exploring the interior, however I had really come to see what was outside.

The church itself is small, and pretty unremarkable if I am being honest, looking like many other churches across the country. It is set in a pleasant little park just away from the Tyne tunnel and industrial docklands beyond. The ruins of the monastery were actually a little more substantial than I had imagined they would be with several walls still standing. There are explanatory boards dotted around showing the evolution and importance of the remains, but on the whole I wouldn't say that it was a particularly remarkable place to visit.

I didn't make it down to St Peter's church in Sunderland which is the "Monkwearmouth" part of this site, preferring instead the more classical joys of nearby Durham. I must admit having looked at the pictures of the site I doubt I would go too far out of my way to visit, unless I had other reasons to be in Sunderland.

The importance of the two churches in this nomination is that they are the remnants of the twin monastery that once stood here. The …

I had previously resisted the temptation to tick off this site by visiting the remnants of Hadrian’s Wall in suburban Tyneside, so to do the site some justice I decided to walk a craggy 20km stretch of the wall between Once Brewed and Chollerford on an overcast Saturday in June.

This was an exceptionally rewarding walk taking in the wall at its scenic best. The first section from Once Brewed until Housesteads was particularly impressive, especially the dip down to Sycamore Gap. It was a fairly strenuous trek, but the wall was continuously visible on this stretch and viewing it meandering up and down the hills was really rewarding. It was surprising just how much archaeology there is at this site. We had a look at ruins at Houseteads and Chesters, both of which were large sets of ruins and would be worthy of inscription by themselves, however there were turrets, milecastles and remains of temples popping up consistently along the 20km we walked. It must be a real delight for archaeologist to know just how much information they can gain from these sites.

Like many others here we used the AD 122 bus which was a very useful way of getting to the start of our walk, and I imagine would be exceptionally useful if wanting explore the sites along the wall without your own transport. I runs from Newcastle which I think is one of England’s most interesting cities so gives you a chance to mix and urban …

I went to Sundarban World Heritage site with my son in a cruise named M.V.Paramhansha. It started from Millenium Park on Friday. Some Foreigners are there also. We enjoyed thoroughly our trip. It's 3 days trip. First day we stay near Namkhana. Next day we went to visit different Islands with a small boat. Food was really tasty and healthy. To see the different cricks and crevices you will be thrilled. The silence itself a beauty over there. Jungle birds like Cranes, Water ducks,Parrots,Titir,KingFishers are really interesting. If you see the different tributaries of River Hoogly it's amazing. Sundari plants are main vegetation overthere. 7 different rivers meet at different points. Like Hoogly, Matla, Saptaparni, Caning, Brahamaputra, Padma and Ganges are really worthwhile.

If you see the different flora and fauna over there by watch tower at different islands you can locate spotted deers, Cuckoo,mudskippers,moniter lizards, Crocodiles and turtles too. The people stays over there are very poor. Only they can avail fish and honey.

Agriculture is there like (Paddy and Sunflower). Some areas are covered with Solar power. Internal arrangement of cruse is really excellent.

Oeam village is a beautiful small village, whose inhabitants are largely in the 60+ range. The village is not really a tourist site, more being an actual old village which exhibits quite a few authentic structures. The unique aspect of Oeam is the artificial water system that goes through the entire village for gardens and agriculture. I enjoyed my visit, slightly disappointed at first, but after wandering the village for about an hour my enjoyment increased. There are no wow sights in the village, the atmosphere and setting is more what's on display. Very little tourist facilities. I doubt the site will be inscribed, many villagers have upgraded their quant homes, adding modern comfort improvements. Furthermore, the site lacks some of the exquisite Joseon era buildings found in other villages such as Hahoe, Yangdong, or even perhaps Naganeupseong. There are some central buildings in the village, however many were closed for restoration during my visit. Nevertheless, the peaceful atmosphere and fantastic layout of the village itself is striking.

I have been doing an exchange program for one semester here as an archaeologist, and truly I can say: "Gyeongju is a treasure paradise to any archaeologist!"

As a student in Dongguk University's Archaeology Department, I have been able to get a good look at the current excavations being done, as well as seeing all the sites that are to be seen in and around Gyeongju. What history! There are so many stories yet to be told from this city as the excavations will be going on until 2025. We think we know it all, but no, no, there's so much yet to be learned about the lives lived in the historical era of Silla.

In my personal opinion, people who expect too much miss out the little things which truly makes Gyeongju the exciting historical site it is being advertised as. I can take a walk along the riverside, in the mountains or by the farm roads and find small pieces of artefacts all over. In walking at the edge of the wall of Banweolseong fortress I even stumbled across a near complete earthenware from around AD. 500!! (It has been, as required by law, given to the National Museum of Gyeongju.) When walking in Gyeongju, you are literally walking on historical grounds filled with artefacts from its days. It is such an amasing experience! ...well, at least for anyone with historical/archaeological interest who fare with an open mind.

It is absolutely a place worth while taking your time …

Spis Castle and Levoca are probably Slovakia's finest and most impressive tourist attractions. Levoca is a very pretty town with a large main square featuring several very interesting buildings, including the large Church of St. James with the altar by Master Paul. The town is surrounded by well-preserved walls. Spis Castle, or Spissky Hrad, is a fascinating and very large castle about a 25-minute drive from Levoca, partly in ruins but still an impressive sight. It is set on a steep hill and overlooks the surrounding area for many kilometres around. The castle consists of several courtyards and distinct buildings, but you have to watch your step on the slippery walkways. Very close to the castle is Spisska Kapitula, a Gothic cathedral in a religious complex that is definitely worth adding to your visit. The WH site also includes the town of Spisske Podhradie (between the castle and the cathedral) and the church in Zehra (about 3 km away). I saw both of them from a bus, but I don't think they would add a lot to the experience. The castle, the cathedral, and the town of Levoca make this a great site.

The archipalego's around El Nido and Taytay are certainly of "outstanding universal value." Bacuit bay is an incredible panorama of pristine islands, teeming with biodiversity. Snorkeling anywhere in Bacuit bay and its countless islands is a rewarding experience. The islands around Taytay are also exquisite, though far less developed than El Nido, this is both a positive and negative. I loved every second I spent in the El Nido - Taytay area. Palawan is truly a paradise. The only factor that may or may not prevent this site from being inscribed is the Resorts. They certainly boast of their "green" credentials, but it is difficult to know how much is fact and fiction. Incredible place, at least the equavilant of Ha Long Bay, and from what I have heard far better preserved. Hopefully, it will not suffer the same fate.

I imagine the creation of a nomination dossier would take an enormous amount of effort and would be quite expensive. The research involved, categorizing the various islands, the creation of buffer zones and appropriate boundaries, while navigating around or cooperating with certain resorts might prevent this tentative site from reaching inscription.

I hope one day to return, Palawan is special. The landscapes of Palawan are very much like those surreal travel magazine cover photos that look too perfect for real life. In Palawan, the coastal areas are stunning and the people kind.

I visited Hahoe village in June. Hahoe is probably the best preserved Joseon dynasty village in Korea. I really enjoyed my visit here. I had just recently visited Oeam and Naganueopseong village, which are on Korea's tentative list. So it was useful contextually for me to analyze each village on its own merits. They are actually fairly different, and each provide a unique view into the traditional village life during the Joseon dynasty.

Hahoe is set in a beautiful location, nearly surrounded by the Nakdong river, while rice paddies surround the back of the village. Like many of Korea's WHS this site may not "wow" you, but it is a beautiful place with important historical value. Joseon's Confucian Aristocrats (Yangban) & the Royal Family did not seek to make enormous grand structures, instead they sought greater harmony with man and nature. In addition, one can view Joseon architecture through the lens of Confucianism which places a strong emphasis on elegant simplicity. This is evident in Hahoe, Jongmyo, Changdeokgung, and the Royal Tombs.

Preferably, arriving to Hahoe early or in the evening on a weekday would be ideal. Based on reports of very busy weekends, to experience the serenity of the village and not a bus load of fellow tourists, a bit of research may be fruitful. Some buses from Andong do stop at the nearby Byeongsan Seowon (part of this WHS) for a short time, but time restraints and infequent transportation made this too difficult during my visit.

Naganeup village has two defining characteristics. It is not a village of the aristocracy, but one of the common people, with thatched roofs and simple stone walls. The second important detail is the village is protected by a fortress that encloses the village built to protect the inhabitants from Japanese soldiers or pirates. People still live in the village, and some of the homes have been almost completely redone or refurbished, but numerous preserved homes remain. As well as some of the town government buildings.

There is a pretty good chance this village will be inscribed (eventually) because it is the only one if its kind left in Korea. A century ago there were dozens of such villages, but now there is only Naganeupseong. Strolling around the small alleyways within the village is a highlight, and to get a better sense of the layout of the town, walk around the relatively small fortress wall. If you enjoyed visiting Hahoe or Yangdong, you would also enjoy a visit to Naganeupseong, while appreciating the subtle differences.

Not being centered around an aristocratic clan makes this historic site very different from most well-preserved hanok villages in Korea. Its defensive fortifications are also a necessary precaution to its location in Jeollanam-do. Naganeupseong is actually closer to Fukuoka Island in Japan than Seoul.