Sterling’s Blog

Dana Nature Reserve is a reserve in southern Jordan. It has wooded highlands, rocky slopes, gravel plains, and sand dunes. There are many mountains and valleys and 4 distinct vegetation zones. Dana is 320 square kilometers. The reserve was established in 1993. Dana ranges from the top of Rift Valley to the bottom of Wadi Araba. The difference between these two heights is 1600 meters!

When we we went to Dana Nature Reserve, Gibson flipped a rock and found a Death Stalker Scorpion! We got really close to it but then a guide told us it was the most poisonous in the world so we backed off. We also saw an Nubian Ibex, which I spotted (and see picture at bottom) and lots of lizards.

Dana is home to: 2/5 of the amphibians of Jordan, 36/970 of the reptiles, 200/415 birds, and 45/77 mammals. There are also 25 endangered or vulnerable species,and over 600 plants. Dana has 200-300 invertebrates making it a home to 449 animal species!

There have been people living in Dana since 4000 B.C. Paleolithic people, Egyptians, Nabateans, and Romans have come to Dana because of the fertile soil and water springs leaving behind over 100 archeological sights.

Now Dana Nature Reserve is a camping and hiking area for tourist. The tourist pay to get in and rent tents to camp out in. The money from the tourists runs the park.

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Shopping in Asia is different from shopping in the United States. This is why.

In the United States in most cities people go to big supermarkets like Walmart and Stop and Shop but in Asia it is different. In Asia people go to the market every day because there are no refrigerators and they think the food is healthier and fresher. At the market there are tons of tiny stands with people selling stuff. It is often easy to get around in a market because it is usually in categories. Fish is in one section and vegetables are in another. There is also a bigger variety of things. These are the ways that Asian Markets are better than ones in the United States.

There are also some reasons that the stores in the United States are better than in Asia. In Asia you have to pay each individual person.  In the U.S. you can walk around a grocery store with a cart and only pay once.  We have cars in the United States and we can go to the grocery store once a week and store it in our refrigerator, too.  These are the ways the grocery stores in the United States are better than the ones in Asia.

I have been to both the markets in Asia and the markets in the United States but I like Asian markets better because they have the most interesting things like pig noses and tails, chicken heads, and other things.

Once upon a time there was a Baby elephant named Meea and her mother named Ella. There was a drought and the jungles were dry. Ella decided to take her baby to the nearest city, Bangkok. There were plenty of pipes of water coming in and it was near a river. The only thing they didn?t think about was that they would have to eat human food.

When they got to Bangkok they decided that since they were there anyway they should do some touring. First they went to their hotel, the Oriental. The Oriental is on the water so they took a long skinny boat out to feed the catfish. There were tons of catfish all squirming to get some bread. They splashed water all over the boat. Next they went to the Royal Barge Museum and saw all the king?s boats. On the way back their boat sank because they weighed too much. They swam back and then jumped into the hotel pool. The pool overflowed because they were enormous. When they finally got out, there was no water left in the pool. What a disaster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next day Meea and Ella did the buffet breakfast. Since they eat 450-650 pounds of food a day, they ate the whole buffet! After breakfast they went to see the Royal Palace. They had never seen so many colors and mirrors at the same time. They were shocked when they saw the huge temple guards. Meea had never seen anyone bigger then her mother. They relaxed when they found the guards were just statues. As they walked back they found themselves in the middle of the flower market. Meea and Ella loved to eat flowers. They bought a huge clump of flowers so they would not have to eat the whole buffet for dinner and have the hotel get mad at them again.

The next day they went to the China Museum and saw lots of ceramics and pots. Then they went to Thai Kick Boxing. They did not stay long because the people behind them could not see, since the elephants had front row seats .

Then the drought was over, Meea and Ella returned back to the jungle. It felt good to them to eat fresh fruit and leaves but sometimes they would come back to Bangkok to buy flowers and do other things . They always remembered the first time they went to Bangkok. But they never stayed long because they knew cities were a place for smaller things like people who don?t eat or weigh so much.

Once upon a time there was a family of Elephants. The baby was Sammy. Sammy and his family lived in a big jungle that had tons of leaves. One day they woke up and found every plant in the jungle was a fern. ?Yay!,? Sammy yelled. Ferns were their favorite food. Much to his surprise as soon as his little wobbly trunk (baby elephants can?t control their trunk) poked at the fern and it wilted. Soon all the other babies were poking the fern and killing it. The little ones thought it was fun but their parents were serious.

That afternoon the head elephant ordered every elephant to evacuate the jungle. They ran and ran and ran until they saw a river. They got a drink but then realized it was too deep to cross. Then Sammy grabbed a vine hanging from the sky and swung over the river and bumped into another vine and swung to the next vine and so on. The others followed. If you had seen them you would think they were big grey monkeys.

Then they reached a city. They did not know what to do. Luckily Sammy spotted a big building with scaffolding on it. They climbed up the building and then jumped to the roof of the next building. Soon, they were across the city. Finally they reached the end of the dead fern jungle. They were at a banana plantation. They munched on the bananas at the edge of the forest until a lady ran up and screamed at them. Then they continued to live in the jungle next to the banana plantation just in case the forest turned to ferns again but it never did.

Once there was a tiger named Bella. She lived in Beijing. She went to Beijing Academy for tigers age 6-10. She was 6. Then one day Bob B. Panda (The Emperor) got robbed by a tiger. He ordered every tiger in China to leave the country in 6 months. Bella and her family had no clue what to do.

Then her father did some research. They found out that Hong Kong is right near China and was a nice place to live but there are lots of differences. Bella and her parents got straight to work packing. After that they went to school. They had to learn a whole new language. When they reached Hong Kong she did not see a single ancient Chinese house or temple, only skyscrapers.

Suddenly, she thought of something! She would miss the Olympics. She had been waiting for years and she could not go. She would have to deal with it. As she drove down the street she thought of her new bike. What a waste! Hong Kong had no bikes at all. Just too many hills.

When they reached the grocery store they could not by anything because they did not have Hong Kong dollars. Fortunately there was a bank machine so they were OK. On the positive side she found a great tiger school that she loved. Hong Kong is also on the water so she could go to the beach every day! Bella missed Beijing but Hong Kong was a new adventure.

We went on a cruise in the Yangtze river. When we reached the dam it looked small but is really huge. It is the largest dam in the world and is 1.4 miles long. It was made to control flooding but also makes 40% of China?s electricity. It could power 4 or 5 New York Cities!!!!! It costs 25 billion dollars.

There are locks and a ship elevator. The ship elevator is not done yet and our boat was too big to go through it. It was a lot of fun going through the locks. First, you sail into the lock. Then they pull the plug and the water drains to the point where you can go to the next lock. There are five locks but we only went through four of them because the water level has not raised to its full height.

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Because the dam blocks water it will flood many waterfront towns and villages. That will cause 1.3 million people to move!!!! Some are unhappy but most are glad because the government gives them bigger houses with running water and other things.

It was really fun going on the cruise in the Yangtze River, and seeing the dam was a big highlight.

Cast

Elephant Head (Elly)

Horse (Thunder)

Demon

Elephant with Rider (Titto)

Prince (Hindu)

A group of friends are having a party. Thunder gives Titto a flower and Titto gives Thunder a lotus blossom. Hindu and Elly also dance at the party. Then Thunder and Titto got into a fight over whose flower was prettier. Soon, the other animals joined sides. They were Titto and Hindu versus Elly and Thunder. They fought all day. While they were fighting, a demon attacked. They forgot all about the war and helped each other fight the demon. After that they were good friends and continued to have parties and exchange gifts but this time no fighting.

Check out the video of this excellent shadow play!

The Oriental Express goes from Singapore to Bangkok.  In 1869 Malaysia’s first railroad station was built.   Before 1918 you had to switch trains and tracks halfway through.  Now you can go without stopping.

Many parts of Malaysia were hard to get to but trains made it much easier.  Many important people, like the king, used to own their own train car.  In 1923 a bridge was made from Singapore to Malaysia.  The Oriental Express goes 1,262 miles from Singapore to Bangkok.  It takes about 60 hours.  Even though the starting station is in Singapore, Malaysia owns all the tracks.  Singapore wants to buy the land to build a new station but Malaysia wants to preserve it.

Lots of people in Vietnam are farmers, 70%!!!!!!!!!!  That is why farming is so important in Vietnam.

One of the major crops grown in Vietnam is rice. This is how it grows . . . It takes about one month after planting for the rice to grow. While it grows the farmer prepares fields and builds low dikes around the fields. All day, the family hauls water to flood the field without rice. When the plants are big enough they are moved from the dry field into the wet, flooded field. While it grows the farmers weed and flood the fields. Soon the rice will become tall and green.

When the rice is golden it is time to harvest it. They drain the dikes. Then they cut with a carved knife. They bundle the stalks and let them dry. Farmers then beat out the rice from the plant on a bamboo pole. This is called threshing. If they live near a highway they will take the rice and spread it on the road to dry instead of in a bundle. This way it dries faster. When cars run over the rice it helps with the threshing.

After it dries farmers will collect the rice, put it in baskets and pound it. This is called milling. This separates the grain from its shell cover. Finally they throw the rice into the air so the wind takes the light shells of grain. After, the shells are fed to the farm animals and the stalks are woven into mats. Last they ship the rice to other countries.

Next time you eat rice think about how hard the farmers had to work to get that rice.

We went to a blind school for children in Tibet.  This is what it was like . . .

The children were blind. Some looked normal and some were staring into space or had white eyes. There were 40 boys and girls. They are from age 4 to 21. Actually, they are supposed to be from age 8 to 14 but their parents lied about some of their ages.

There are a lot of blind Tibetan people because of sand storms, little vitamin D, the altitude, ashes from fires, and poor healthcare. People thought they had done something wrong because they had a blind child.

The school has a really bad playground with lots of junk and trash in it including old bicycles, wheels, beds, a heap of metal, and broken cinder blocks. It was really dangerous, especially for blind people.  The school had two classrooms for 20 people each. There was also a kitchen, dining room, computer room, and two dorm rooms.  One dorm was for girls and one was for boys. They had three-story bunk beds and lockers.

They used a braille typewriter, a braille tracer, and a braille computer. The kids learned lots of subjects, including math, English, computer braille and life skills.  After they graduate they get to choose what they want to do.  Some of them learned to be farmers and some work at the Braille School.  A group of them decided to start a massage business.

Blind people can do almost everything that we can do. You should go to a blind school to visit. They do a really good job of teaching blind kids in Tibet at the Blind School.