10 Biggest Shopping Malls in the World

Not in Asia, where land is cheap and labor costs is low. A building boom has been observed as shopping malls popping up in China, Malaysia and the Philippines, with India expected to jump into the fold soon. Based on gross leasable area, or the amount of space devoted to revenue-producing operations like stores, amusements and food, the continent is home to nine of the world’s 10 largest malls, six of which have been built since 2004.

So here are some of the biggest shopping malls in the world. I hope you will love to shop in one of those.

South China Mall, China

In the Chinese mall arms race, this facility opened a year after the Golden Resources Mall to displace it as the countries and the worlds largest. The space includes wind mills and theme parks, plus a replica of the Arc de Triomphe. It was open in 2005 and has an area of 7.1 million sq ft.

Golden Resources Shopping Mall, China

Approximately 1,000 stores, selling plenty of familiar global brands like Nike and DKNY. A truly ambitious real estate project, with new apartments and offices, surround the mall. It was opened in 2004 and has an area of 6 million sq ft.

SM Mall of Asia, Philippines

Includes the first Olympic-sized swimming pool and first IMAX Theater in the Philippines. Spread over four buildings, customers can get around on a 20-seat tram. It was opened in 2006 and has an area of 4.2 million sq ft.

Cevahir Istanbul

Europe’s largest shopping mall in Istanbul, Turkey has a roller coaster, wave pool and several IMAX theaters. It was opened in 2005 and has an area of about 3.8 million sq ft.

West Edmonton Mall, Canada

The biggest in North America, the West Edmonton Mall has over 800 stores, along with attractions like a water park, skating rink, casino and rides. It was opened back in 1981 and has an area of about 3.8 million sq ft.

SM Megamall, Philippines

Fun stuff includes bowling, ice skating and a 12-cinema movie theater, along with traditional mall fare like arcade games. Customers can also get a haircut or see a doctor at the Manila clinic. SM Mall was opened in 1991 and has an area of about 3.6 million sq ft.

Berjaya Times Square, Malaysia

Built with an adjacent hotel and convention center. In addition to over 1,000 retail shops, the mall includes a 12-story-high roller coaster, plus a pool, skating rink and “Cosmo’s World,” a children’s theme park. It was opened in 2005 and has an area of 3.4 million sq ft.

Beijing Mall, China

The first real suburban mall in China, located about an hour from downtown Beijing, this center has four levels with parking for 8,000 cars, plus a man-made beach. Bootlegged DVDs of American movies are a top seller. It was opened in 2005 and has a area of 3.4 million sq ft.Zhengjia Plaza, China

Has been known to attract over half a million shoppers on a good day. Another mixed-use space, the mall has a hotel and office tower in addition to retail stores. It has an area of 2 million sq ft.

SM City North Edsa, Philippines

The first major “mega mall” built by SM Prime Holdings, which now claims three of the largest 10 in the world. It’s a five-story complex that boasts over 100 retail outlets and restaurants, along with 12 cinemas, a bowling alley and skating rink. An IMAX theater could be added soon. It has an area of 3 million sq ft.

10 Most Remote Inhabited Places on Earth

Thanks to modern technology and air travel, the world is forever becoming a smaller place. Where journeys from one continent to another once took months, they now take hours, and sometimes it seems like there is nowhere left for a would-be adventurer to really get away from it all. Still, if you have the time, money, and know-how, there are still some places off the map or just barely on it that remain shrouded in mystery simply by virtue of being really difficult to reach.

From  mining camps at the top of the world, or tiny islands thousands of miles from civilization, Here are some of the most remote places left on planet Earth.

Tristan da Cunha

Tristan de Cunha is the most remote inhabited place in the world. It is in Atlantic Ocean and the nearest land to the island is South Africa, which is roughly 1,700 miles away. The island has a total population of 271 people.

Easter Island

Located some 2,000 miles west of the Chilean Coast, Easter Island, is a tiny island that has become famous for its remarkable massive rock sculptures called Moai.

La Rinconada, Peru

La Rinconada is a small mining town in Peru which is located nearly 17,000 feet above sea level is considered the “highest” city in the world, and it is this stunning geography that makes it so desolate. The city is located on a permanently frozen glacier, and can only be reached by truck via treacherous and winding mountain roads.

McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Located literally at the bottom of the world, Antarctica is easily one of the most remote places on the face of the Earth. There are no native inhabitants to the continent, but only 1200 scientists and researchers.

Cape York Peninsula, Australia

Cape York, Peninsula, a huge expanse of untouched wilderness located on the country’s northern tip. The region has a population of only 18,000 people, most of whom are part of the country’s aboriginal tribes, and it is considered to be one of the largest undeveloped places left in the world.

Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland

At 836,000 square miles in size, Greenland is the world’s largest island, but its tiny population of 57,000 people means that it’s also the most desolate. And of all the towns in Greenland, perhaps none is as remote as Ittoqqortoormiit.

Kerguelen Islands

Also known as the “Desolation Islands” for their sheer distance from any kind of civilization, the Kerguelen Islands are located in the southern Indian Ocean. The islands have no native population other than some scientists and engineers from France, which claims them as a territory.

Pitcairn Island

Pitcairn Island is a tiny speck of land located nearly dead in the center of the southern Pacific Ocean. It has a population of some fifty people. The nearest land to them is Tahiti which is several hundred miles away.

Alert, Nunavut, Canada

Located in Canada Alert is a small village that lies on the Arctic Ocean only 500 miles below the North Pole. It is widely considered to be the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. The nearest town to Alert is a small fishing village some 1,300 miles away.

Motuo County, China

Considered the last county in China without a road leading to it, Motuo is a small community in the Tibetan Autonomous Region that remains one of the few places in Asia still untouched by the modern world.

Great Ocean Road

Great Ocean Road is located in the south-eastern coast of Australia, it stretches for 243 km.

Some intersting facts:

- the road was built by the soldiers who had come from the war between 1919 and 1932 and thus it's considered the biggest memorial that is devoted to WWI. That's another reason it's called "Great".

- in the most part it goes along the coast (generally serpentine without rising or descending) and connects various picturesque places so much attracting tourists.

- smaller part of the road goes through the tropical forest.

- on the way one may see small settlements where tourists may stay and have a bite. 

The local

Koala sleeping right over the road

Cape Otway Lightstation - the second lighthouse built in Australia (1848) and now it's the oldest from the existing lighthouses on the continent.

Loch Ard Gorge.

12 apostles - the most famous tourist place on the entire road. Initially the place was called "A Pig and Piglets", but before the very opening it was renamed to "12 apostles" to attract tourists notwithstanding the fact that there were only 9 rocks standing there. Now there are 8 of them - one has recently fallen (2005). 

Spring In Niigata

Not all Japan is buried under high snow! In some majestic places spring has already come with all its beauty and charm.

Unfortunately beauty of sakura never stays for long and the first rain means the end of it...

By the way, in the shade of this big sakura tree, behind the fence, there hides a tree house of an oil kiloton Saito. Yes, in Niigata oil was produced too. Among the interests of the Saito clan were oil, banking business, commerce, politics etc.

The former residence of the Saito clan is preserved in the city too.

"Enkikan" is located in a picturesque park Hakusan. In spring around the park sakura is in blossom and in summer huge lotuses open in the pond of the park.

The most beautiful places under the wonderful trees are always occupied.

From the roof of the local art center there opens the view of this stunning white sakura carpet...

One may walk on that roof and enjoy flowers...

Or look at the city and the river Sinano.

In the background -  the football stadium "Big Swan" where Football Championship 2002 was held.

In the park

The Mediterranean Cruise

Two weeks, four South European countries. 2700 nautical miles astern. Clang of gulls, roaring anchor chains, broiling sun as if in summer, noice of the water cut by the liner bow, strong wind blowing you off the deck, Greek, Italian, Turkish cuisines... Paradise? 

The ocean liner voyage is a very dynamic way of travelling. Each new day - a new city. New emotions and impressions. New traditions and cultures. New sights. New mood.

Fresh sea wind quickly drives out and freshens your memory. The best you can do, restrain from the internet, telephone connections, try to keep the brightest moments in your head.

Nowhere without Venice

A bit of Croatia

Athens

Gorgeous Istanbul

Two stylish Greek islands so beloved by tourists. Mikonos

And Santorini

Museum of locomotives in Turkey.

Water taxi along the Venetian islands - Murano and Burano 

Brave enough to penetrate into the holy of the holies of the ocean liner - the captain's bridge.

More details in the following posts... Stay tuned!

Tibet: Homeland of Everest

If you happen to be in Tibet for the first time, you won't probably manage to escape so-called mountain disease. Any pills and natural adaptogens (weather it's ginger, garlic, bat wings and toad livers) won't surpass the chief doctor called time. Your mortal body itself must adapt to high altitude. 

During the first 7-10 days you'll have to live with terrible headache 24 hours a day trying to appease it with various vitamins. Sometimes it'll seem that you're like in jelly. Your mood will change at the speed of sound varying from pig squeals of delight caused by nonsense to old man's grumbling and a desire to tell each and all to go to hell.

But then it all will be OVER and you'll feel the pure pleasure of being in such a marvelous place.

Each of us has his own reasons for going to Tibet - someone looks for the wisdom and knowledge of local monks, while others dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world. Pictured: goats against a background of Mount Everest.

The road to Everest.

To reach its top (8.848 m) one must possess a considerable amount of money and health. An average person usually climbs a little higher than the base camp (it's about 5.200 m) and then knocks it off as the head is spinning wildly and the body is really exhausted.

This is a real MOUNTAIN, huge and impressive! Yaks, dark birds, wild mountain sheep (which are not that easy to frighten, by the way), biting wind, ice water and ancient Rombuk Monastery add even more charm to the place.

Darchen village is the place from which the kora around Kailash begins. It's a very interesting rite which consists in taking a circuit around sacred places, buildings or natural formations in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

The kora around Kailash improves karma, straightens chakra, heals hair loss and other diseases. There are two kinds of kora: external (the easier one) and inner (for the very tough pilgrims who has already made 12 external koras).

The view of the starting point from the plateau of sky burial, a grim but fascinating place we have already spoken about in one of the previous posts.

The kora is performed on foot or by the means of "spreads", i.e. a pilgrim measures the distance with his body spread out on the ground. It looks like this: he folds his hands, reads the mantra, flops down and stretches out, then gets up and repeats all this until he covers a 53 km route around the mountain.

The bright strip you can see in the picture is a so-called red corridor to Shambhala. It's kind of a shelf in the body of the mountain, serving as a place for worships. Here people pray for the health of the loved ones, success in business and everyday affairs, get rid of negativity, make wishes and wait for revelations. 

Tibetan Wild West pleases with its splendid cave cities and sandy temples. Most of them were created long before the Buddhist era. Even if you consider yourself a person who is difficult to surprise, you'll be probably shocked. This is just another planet! Absolutely fantastic landscapes and legends of kingdoms sometime flourishing here.

Despite all the magnificence of these places, people left them. The climate changed and the once blooming valleys turned into a grim mixture of deserts and mountains decorated with caves that are now visited only by rare pilgrims.

One Journey To Greenwich

Greenwich is a borough of South East of London. It gave its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. The establishments on the right bank of the Thames include Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich Observatory and Queen's House. From the hill where the observatory is located one can enjoy the lovely view of Canary Warf and the whole Greenwich park itself.

Royal Naval Hospital was founded in 1694 by Queen Mary II for injured sailors. It was based on the model of Les Invalides and the Chelsea Hospital. The hospital had existed till 1869. Following the year of 1873 it was turned into the Naval College. In 1998 the College ceased to exist as well and nowadays the establishment is owned by the Greenwich University and is used as a Museum.

Queen's House in the center is a two-storey mansion built in the beginning of the 17th century.

While constructing the Royal Hospital the palace occupied the most central position. This will be  the VIP center during the 2012 Olympic Games.

It is not allowed to take pictures inside the building and a huge number of custodians preserve peace and order here. In spite of the fact we managed to get a picture of an elegant and airy Tulip Staircase.

The view of the O2 Arena, one of the best entertainment complexes in the world. It will host the Olympic artistic gymnastics, trampoline gymnastics and the basketball final.

The Painted Hall and the Chapel are the two rooms available for visitors. The Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul was completed in 1751.

A disastrous fire that occurred in 1779 armed the internal part of the building and that's why there arose a need in construction works. The era of English Baroque was replaced by Classical Greek Renaissance.

The picture painted by Sir Benjamin West depicts St. Paul's shipwreck on Malta.

The organ was made in 1789 and is used for playing by an organist from the Trinity College of Music till now.

To reach the Painted Hall one needs to climb the stairs which gives a better view of the fresco on the ceiling.

This banquet hall was the most famous one in Europe. The body of Admiral Lord Nelson was brought here to lie and was buried in St. Paul's Chapel 3 days later.

Let's investigate some parts of the huge Naval Museum.

Britannia III is a boat that could develop the speed of 100 miles per hour.

The sea king is telling kids his fairy-tales.

The glass painting was made especially for the Baltic Exchange.

The rear part of the ship named Implacable which was known as Duguay-Trouin ship and was captured by the British after the battle of Trafalgar.