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The world’s highest ATM: Pakistan’s mountaintop bank machine

The world’s highest ATM: Pakistan’s mountaintop bank machine

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Staff, 2022-10-03 16:48:14,

The Guinness World Record-holding machine works like any other; it can be used to withdraw cash, pay utility bills and make interbank fund transfers. But as my kids and I acclimated to the dip in oxygen, what struck me most was the unexpected festivity in the atmosphere: almost carnivalesque, with people FaceTiming relatives, posing for photos and orbiting the ATM to get the best selfie shot. 

Karachi school teacher Atiya Saeed had brought 39 of her secondary-school students – all girls – here to the Pakistan-China border. “It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve travelled in Pakistan,” she said.

Although they didn’t come for the ATM alone, the visit to the border was, she explained, an adventurous geography, history and economics lesson in the most hauntingly beautiful of “classrooms”.

Constructed by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in 2016, the solar- and wind-powered machine serves the small number of residents and staff at this border crossing – and the adventurous travellers who flock to it as a badge of honour, taking pictures while making a transaction that brings new meaning to the phrase “cold, hard cash”.

“My account is frozen!” joked another visitor, South African retired principal Ayesha Bayat, who was on holiday with her husband. “We’ve come from a country where we do have mountain ranges… but not like this. I’m finding the panoramic views absolutely beautiful,” she said.

“It’s important to have landmarks… like the Eiffel Tower,” said…

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The ancient remains of Great Zimbabwe

The ancient remains of Great Zimbabwe

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Staff, 2022-09-25 17:03:15,

Walking up to the towering walls of Great Zimbabwe was a humbling experience. The closer I got, the more they dwarfed me – and yet, there was something inviting about the archaeological site. It didn’t feel like an abandoned fortress or castle that one might see in Europe: Great Zimbabwe was a place where people lived and worked, a place where they came to worship – and still do. It felt alive. 

Great Zimbabwe is the name of the extensive stone remains of an ancient city built between 1100 and 1450 CE near modern-day Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Believed to be the work of the Shona (who today make up the majority of Zimbabwe’s population) and possibly other societies that were migrating back and forth across the area, the city was large and powerful, housing a population comparable to London at that time – somewhere around 20,000 people during its peak. Great Zimbabwe was part of a sophisticated trade network (Arab, Indian and Chinese trade goods were all found at the site), and its architectural design was astounding: made of enormous, mortarless stone walls and towers, most of which are still standing.

However, for close to a century, European colonisers of the late-19th and early-20th Centuries attributed the construction to outsiders and explorers, rather than to the Africans themselves.

Indeed, the author of the first written European record of Great Zimbabwe seemed to be staggered by the very idea that it could have been built at all. Portuguese explorer Joao de…

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The ‘walking’ statues of Easter Island

The ‘walking’ statues of Easter Island

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, 2022-09-07 02:00:00,

Why the Rapanui chose to walk the statues rather than drag them or roll them on logs came down to practicalities, according to Lipo. The weight of the sculptures would have crushed the logs, while dragging such huge moai would have demanded enormous manpower. On a remote, barren island bestowed with few resources, walking the statues would have been an efficient method. “You see the engineering that went into being able to make and move the moai with the least cost. The Rapanui people did it within the constraints of the island, basically by cooperation and ingenuity,” he said.

My walk from the Rano Raraku crater to Ahu Tongariki was just 800m in distance, but I wasn’t trying to guide an 88-ton moai with a few ropes. Other statues I visited stood on ahus up to 18km away from the quarry, making my bike ride there seem a breeze compared to the feats the ancient Rapanui civilisations accomplished.

Creating walking statues would have been a trial-and-error process. About 400 statues remain in and around the Rano Raraku quarry in various stages of completion, an indication that the stone carvers used the valley as an artistic laboratory to experiment with different prototypes before hitting on one that could be efficiently moved, said Lipo. “It really documents the history of craftsmanship, experiments, attempts and failures,” he added.

Once a statue was ready, it would be led out of the valley and guided towards its ahu. The ancient roads leading out of Rano Raraku were…

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Presidents Cup 2022: Inside Tom Kim’s journey from ‘the youngest one out there’ to PGA Tour winner | Golf News and Tour Information

Presidents Cup 2022: Inside Tom Kim’s journey from ‘the youngest one out there’ to PGA Tour winner | Golf News and Tour Information

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Staff, 2022-09-18 08:32:20,

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Bangladesh’s fiery, inventive spin on rice

Bangladesh’s fiery, inventive spin on rice

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Staff, 2022-06-16 18:03:17,

Dr Latiful Bari, a food safety and hygiene expert from the University of Dhaka, says love for the snack is etched deeply in the country’s collective identity: “Ask somebody what they’d like to have with their evening cup of tea, and if the answer is jhal muri, understand they are Bengali nationals.”

Locals also have developed unspoken rules of etiquette. Using a spoon is a cardinal sin and reveals amateur status, said Mitra. And, according to Hamilton, the gesture of tipping a small heap of jhal muri into one’s hands before tossing it into the mouth with fluidity, precision and a bit of abandon is hard for a non-Bangladeshi to master.

Like its resilient people, it’s gutsy and spirited food. Because when the muri-wallah gruffly asks, “How much jhal?”, it’s as if he’s asking whether one is game enough, daring enough – Bengali enough – to handle it.

While some vendors experiment with upscale ingredients, such as boiled egg or quail, for purists, jhal muri will always be a robust vegetarian (and vegan) dish, where unassuming ingredients are turned into a sublime and satiating symphony. “I think [this gentrification] is a fad,” said Mitra. “Jhal muri is eclectic, not some homogenous, Michelin star chef-approved mixture. In authentic jhal muri, no two bites – even from the same thonga – are the same. [Expensive meat add-ons] just don’t have that element of thrill.” 

Ultimately, Bangladesh’s spicy snack is an ode to ingenuity and finding mystique in the mundane through an artful balancing act. Too dry, and it tastes like cardboard, said Hamilton, and if you make it ahead of time or get the liquid ratio wrong, it runs the risk of becoming stale or soggy. But done right? “It’s a whole experience in itself,” she said, “You get a little bit of…

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Iceland’s unsung ‘herring girls’ – BBC Travel

Iceland’s unsung ‘herring girls’ – BBC Travel

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, 2022-03-30 02:00:00,

It wasn’t until the 1990s, when a group of volunteers (mainly teachers from the local high school) rallied together to restore the abandoned old salting station and create the museum, did the town start to rebound. And after winning a European Museum Award in 2004, it solidified Siglo’s position as a must-visit stop along North Iceland’s scenic Arctic Coast Way driving route.

Visitorship to the museum is steadily increasing. And with 2022 set to be its busiest year yet, according to Elefsen, Siglo is experiencing a second boom – this time because of tourism.

“Even though we don’t fish for herring anymore, preserving and sharing our history has made us capable of somehow rising again and turning into a popular destination,” she said. “People from all over the world now come here year-round.”

Icelanders see the value in it too, with many of the historical items on display in the museum – from record players to vintage dresses – arriving by way of donations from former herring girls’ families. More than 20 years later, the museum still receives at least one new item per week.

While Siglo was once difficult to access, a tunnel through mountains now connects it to the city of Akureyri and the rest of north-eastern Iceland, making it easier to reach. Meanwhile, expedition cruise ships bring in history lovers by the boatload.

New ventures in town are popping up to meet this growing interest in Icelandic history. Next door to the museum is Segull 67, a brewery located inside an old fish freezing plant that offers tastings among antique machinery. And in the restored marina village, brightly painted buildings house cafés like Hannes Boy, named after a local legend and fisherman, and the charming Siglo Hotel, whose nautical-themed rooms have views of the…

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The ‘can do’ attitude that defines Hong Kong

The ‘can do’ attitude that defines Hong Kong

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Staff, 2022-05-15 17:11:27,

“The hanging of a gigantic banner during the Umbrella Movement in 2014… as well as the forming of the glistening human chain to the top in the 2019 protest, are evidence of the symbolic significance of Lion Rock,” said Leung.

“We think the spirit of Lion Rock isn’t just about money,” one of the anonymous youths behind the banner said in video footage the group shared of the 2014 stunt, adding: “This kind of fighting against injustice, strength in the face of troubles, is the true Lion Rock Spirit.”

The dramatic growth of Hong Kong’s middle class in recent decades, and the increase in the number of young adults who’ve completed higher education, means the Lion Rock Spirit has evolved to become something new. “The socio-economic situation has changed [and] the 1970s concept of Lion Rock Spirit is no longer applicable,” said Hardy-Wong.

However – although few young adults have probably seen any of the 15-minute, black-and-white early episodes of Below the Lion Rock – one core concept has stayed the same.

In essence, the lyrics of the Below the Lion Rock theme say that while there will always be struggles in life, the people of Hong Kong can make their lives better by pushing their differences aside and being supportive of each other. Everyone is, after all, in the same boat, and that solidarity still holds for many.

“The conventional good professions such as doctor and lawyer are no longer the careers [the younger generation] pursue,” said Hardy-Wong. “Therefore, the Lion Rock Spirit is used more for social context now, especially after the social movement in 2019, when the people shared the same values, eager to voice their opinions and demands, to strive for a just and equal society.”

Why We Are What We Are is a BBC Travel series examining the…

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