Flotilla of Gondolas in Venice Photographic Print

Flotilla of Gondolas Heading Toward Chiesa Di Santa Maria Della Salute in Early Evening

Christopher Groenhout

24 in. x 18 in.

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Sleeping Buddha Head in Laos Photographic Print

Sleeping Buddha Head with Frangipani Petals in Open Palm, Luang Prabang, Laos

Anthony Plummer

24 in. x 18 in.

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Overview: Buddha Park in Laos

Buddha Park, also known as Xieng Khuan (as well as other variations of the spelling), is a sculpture park located 25 km southeast from Vientiane, Laos in a meadow by the Mekong River. Although it is not a temple (Wat), the park may be referred to as Wat Xieng Khuan, since it contains numerous religious images. The name Xieng Khuan means Spirit City. The park contains over 200 Hindu and Buddhist statues. The socialist government operates Buddha Park as a tourist attraction and public park.

The park was started in 1958 by Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Sulilat. Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat was a priest-shaman who integrated Hinduism and Buddhism. His unique perspective was influenced by a Hindu rishi under whom he studied in Vietnam. After the revolution in 1975, he fled from Laos to Thailand where he built another sculpture park, Sala Keoku in Nong Khai. He fled because his anti-Communist beliefs conflicted with the views of the Pathet Lao. After Luang Pu Bunleua Sulitat left, the state took control of his garden and made it into a public park.

The statues are made of reinforced concrete and are ornate, and sometimes bizarre, in design. The statues appear to be centuries old, though they are not. There are sculptures of humans, gods, animals, and demons. There are numerous sculptures of Buddha, characters of Buddhist beliefs like Avalokiteśvara, and characters of Hindu lore, including Shiva, Vishnu, and Arjuna.

These sculptures were presumably cast by unskilled workers under the supervision of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. One notable sculpture resembles a giant pumpkin. It has three stories representing three levels - Hell, Earth and Heaven. Visitors can enter through an opening which is a mouth of a 3-metre-tall demon head (9.8 ft) and climb staircases from hell to heaven. Each story contains sculptures depicting the level. At the top, there is a vantage point where the entire park is visible. Another sculpture, an enormous 120-metre-long (390 ft) reclining Buddha, is also a park attraction.

Fishing Boats on Beach Photographic Print

Fishing Boats on Beach Photographic Print

Greg Johnston

24 in. x 18 in.

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Nyhavn Boats and Cafes, Copenhagen, Denmark

Nyhavn Boats and Cafes, Copenhagen, Denmark

Holger Leue

24 in. x 18 in.

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Nyhavn Waterfront Copenhagen

Nyhavn is a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants. Serving as a "heritage harbour", the canal has many historical wooden ships.

Nyhavn was constructed by King Christian V from 1670 to 1673, dug by Swedish war prisoners from the Dano-Swedish War 1658–1660. It is a gateway from the sea to the old inner city at Kongens Nytorv (King's Square), where ships handled cargo and fishermens' catch. It was notorious for beer, sailors, and prostitution. Danish author Hans Christian Andersen lived at Nyhavn for some 18 years.

The first bridge across Nyhavn opened on 6 February 1875. It was a temporary wooden footbridge. It was replaced by the current bridge in 1912. As ocean-going ships grew larger, Nyhavn was taken over by internal Danish small vessel freight traffic. After World War II land transport took over this role and small vessel traffic disappeared from the Port of Copenhagen, leaving Nyhavn largely deserted of ships.

In the mid-1960s, the Nyhavn Society (Danish: Nyhavnsforeningen) was founded with the aim of revitalising Nyhavn. In 1977, Nyhavn was inaugurated as a veteran ship and museum harbour by Overborgmester i København (Copenhagen’s Lord Mayor) Egon Weidekamp.

The Burj Al Arab of Jumeirah Beach Resort ir Dubai

The Burj Al Arab of Jumeirah Beach Resort ir Dubai

Neil Setchfield

24 in. x 18 in.

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The Burj al Arab or Arabian Tower

Burj Al Arab is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 321 m (1,053 ft), it is the fourth tallest hotel in the world. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. The Burj Al Arab is sometimes referred to as "the world's only seven-star hotel", however this term is often disputed as the hotel's official star rating is 5 stars.

The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers on the site.

The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name.

Blue Lagoon Resort Beach in Micronesia Photographic Print

Blue Lagoon Resort Beach, Weno Centre, Micronesia

John Elk III

24 in. x 18 in.

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About John Elk III

John Elk III’s photographs resonate with depth and personality because he not only photographs worldwide locales, he immerses himself in their cultures. With his wife and business partner, Elk heads a travel stock company that has amassed a library of 300,000 images from 30 U.S. states and more than 50 countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Spending half the year on photographic forays, he once took nearly 2,000 file images in Jordan. Elk’s insightful photographs are featured in numerous guidebooks, magazines, textbooks and catalogs.

Longtail Boats at Ao Lo Dalam in Thailand Photographic Print

Longtail Boats at Ao Lo Dalam, Ko Phi-Phi Don, Krabi, Thailand

Dallas Stribley

24 in. x 18 in.

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Ipenama Beach Photographic Print

Ipanema Beach Photographic Print

Micah Wright

24 in. x 18 in.

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Ipanema Beach is where the summer happens in Rio. This page is dedicated to showing you why. Get ready for your virtual tan with dozens of original photos, insider's tips, and local gossip.

The Beach Tour sequence starts on the West side of Ipanema Beach, at the border with Leblon (see map). We picked out some favorite spots of the beach to share with you. When you come to Rio in person, you may even run into a familiar face or two. We are walking East, towards Arpoador and Copacabana.

There's much more to do at the beach than just working on your tan. You may join locals on a match of beach soccer, or beach volleyball. Foot-volleyball is a little harder if you're a novice, but you could always try. If you never tried surfing, bodyboarding or skimboarding, you're welcome to watch. The day to see Capoeira is Sunday, when the beach lane is open for pedestrians only. The sports and action series features exciting sequences of photos.



More Pictours of Ipanema highlights like the main street, spots of interest, people, moods, and even pets that help give Ipanema its very special character. Watch children playing at squares, or go the Hippie Fair for Brazilian handicraft, art, and musical instruments, and original souvenirs. To see Ipanema in a party mode, don't miss our Street Carnival festivities with the hilarious Drags from Ipanema.

Ready for more? From the beach it's 10 minutes on foot to Lagoa Park. Go west past the Canal, and you are in Leblon - our charming beach neighbor. And out west after Arpoador it's only another 10 minutes on foot to Copacabana. Learn your way around Ipanema with the Clickable Street Map, and use the hotel map for reviews, rates and free reservations at the best hotels and flats.

Grand Canyon in Arizona Photographic Print

Grand Canyon from South Rim Near Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

David Tomlinson

24 in. x 18 in.

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The Great Canyon in Arizona

The Grand Canyon is a huge fissure in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, and is also one of the 19 distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province. It is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is far deeper), nor the widest (Capertee Valley in Australia is about 0.6 mi/1 km wider and longer than Grand Canyon); however, the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that is beautifully preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.

Uplift associated with mountain formation later moved these sediments thousands of feet upward and created the Colorado Plateau. The higher elevation has also resulted in greater precipitation in the Colorado River drainage area, but not enough to change the Grand Canyon area from being semi-arid. The uplift of the Colorado Plateau is uneven, and the Kaibab Plateau that Grand Canyon bisects is over a thousand feet higher at the North Rim (about 1,000 ft/300 m) than at the South Rim. Almost all runoff from the North Rim (which also gets more rain and snow) flows toward the Grand Canyon, while much of the runoff on the plateau behind the South Rim flows away from the canyon (following the general tilt). The result is deeper and longer tributary washes and canyons on the north side and shorter and steeper side canyons on the south side.

Temperatures on the North Rim are generally lower than the South Rim because of the greater elevation (averaging 8,000 ft/2,438 m above sea level).[10] Heavy rains are common on both rims during the summer months. Access to the North Rim via the primary route leading to the canyon (State Route 67) is limited during the winter season due to road closures.

The Origins of Western Civilization

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Photographic Print
Panoramic Images
24 in. x 8 in.

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The Development of western history occurred within a context shared by many other cultures: an economy and society based on agricultural production. Within this broad framework of agricultural society a host of differences might develop. In political organization, for example, it has been argued that where agriculture depends on irrigation, which in turn involves close coordination of human effort, authoritarian political systems are particularly likely--e.g., ancient Egypt or China.

Religions could vary widely. But there are certain broad similarities within all societies dependent on agriculture, and before turning to the western variants it is well to outline the basic context. Furthermore, since the first breakthrough in agricultural society occurred in the West with industrialization, an understanding of some of the normal limitations of agriculture gives us a realistic goal in an overview of the later evolution of western civilization. What particular set of quirks and values, for example, led the West into replacing agriculture and the countryside with industry and the city as the normal environment for human life?

The basic points about agricultural society may seem obvious, but we rarely examine their complex impact in forming an idea of what that society actually was. First, most people worked the land and did not live in cities. Civilizations around the Mediterranean, including ancient Greek and Roman but also recent Italian cultures, were more highly urbanized than most, for many farmers lived in towns and traveled out to their fields. They might thus maintain urban values. But as a general rule no more than twenty percent of a population in an agricultural society lived in cities, and the percentage was usually less than this.

Civilization, however, has an urban bias; the word derives from the ancient designation for the city. But here we face a dichotomy, which is our second main point about agricultural societies. The cities lived off the countryside economically, but the farmers were often remote from urban culture and might be regarded as positively uncivilized. This is not a fair judgment, though it is true that many key ideas began in cities and spread only slowly to the rural majority. A totally rural society had neither leisure nor enough diversity to produce the high culture we most readily identify with civilization--polished music, formal drama, and so on. So what we regard most readily as "civilized" typifies the minority. It may be more interesting and important to determine what the values of the rural majority were. Urban concepts rarely were adapted without some distinctively rural twists.