Word: floras
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...possible to hike entirely alone?without a guide or a porter?but it's a false economy. Kamal was a font of knowledge about local culture and the unique flora and fauna I would have otherwise overlooked. He showed me how to crack open a type of mud-color river stone to reveal ancient fossils. He also pointed out ragged scars on the mountain flanks caused by landslides that not only destroy villages but take out trekking parties as well. Altitude sickness is another potential killer. I chafed at Kamal's exhortations to go slower, but soon came to heed...
...Authors who stick with the Chinese language, such as Hong Ying and Ma Jian, are able to get Western exposure thanks to diligent translators. Ma's girlfriend, Flora Drew, and Hong's husband, Henry Zhao, are their avid advocates and translators. Ma stubbornly defends his unwillingness to read or write in English: "I believe one might benefit from reading great works in English. But I haven't tried to learn English at all. I'm a genius. I write because of my talents and inspiration. I don't need another language...
...days before the Sept. 2000 grand opening of a replica of Amsterdam's railway station at his Holland Village property development in the Chinese rust-belt city of Shenyang, agri-business tycoon Yang Bin decided he wanted the large greenhouses nearby filled with flora so visitors would get the impression the project was on track. Yang's farm experts protested there was no way to grow the requested tulip and orchid plants that quickly. Undeterred, Yang went out and bought them from local farmers, replanted them in the greenhouses and passed them off as his own. "If you work...
...Forestry Department offers tours by four-wheel-drive vehicles, but they are usually noisy, and the smell of diesel exhaust obliterates the rich scents of the flora. Thankfully, the drivers stall their engines at intervals. As the sounds of the forest fill in the silence, visitors may detect bison or deer in distant clearings or hear elephants trumpeting from afar. For a more organic transportation option, try a guided tour on the back of an elephant?the maharajas hunted in this style. You can also reserve an evening in a crude wooden watchtower called a machaan, where you can stealthily...
...reason Murcutt, whose family moved from Papua New Guinea to Australia when he was 5, sticks so close to home is that his houses are very site-specific. The architect doesn't know the site just by sight; he studies the prevailing breezes, the water drainage and the flora and fauna of each proposed building spot. Then he uses what nature offers to create a comfortable home, albeit one the homeowner has to adjust periodically. For example, Murcutt's houses usually have a long, multilayered side facing north. Adjustable louvers, insect screens, moving glass panels and even thermal blinds...