About a white lion cub, Louis Vuitton and Flamenco outfits in Seville's April Fair

Just want to share a few pictures that caught my fancy from The Star gallery. You know Spring is here. Enjoy..

Doesn't he look just so adorable?
This picture taken on April 18, 2013 shows a white lion cub in his pen at the Pont-Scroff's zoo in Pont-Scorff, western France. Three lion cubs, two males and a female, were born on February 23 and were shown for the first time to the public on April 17. -AFP - 19 April, 2013
Source: The Star
A new Louis Vuitton store in Poland..

A view of a huge replica of a luggage designed by French design house Louis Vuitton decorates a facade of Vitkac department store in Warsaw, Poland, 17 April 2013. At the end of June, is scheduled to open the first store of Louis Vuitton in Poland. - EPA/Bartlomiej Zborowski - 18 April, 2013
Source

Two youngsters in flamenco outfits, enjoy April's Fair in Seville, southern Spain, 17 April 2013. The 166th edition of Sevilla's April Fair began last night at midnight with the 'Alumbrado' (the official lighting). April's Fair, also known as Seville's Fair, is a week long festival where visitors can enjoy food, drink, parades, traditional costumes, bullfighting and flamenco. - EPA/JOSE MANUEL VIDAL - 18 April, 2013
Source

Christmas at the London Zoo

I don't mean for Malaysia to be a copycat but then again, good things should be copied shamelessly as what a colleague used to say. Isn't there an idiom that goes something like to be copied is the best form of flattery?

I saw two pictures in The Star that capture the spirit of Christmas, of all places, at a zoo. It's the London Zoo and the animals even receive gifts. How sweet!

It got me wondering if our Zoo Negara (National Zoo) too celebrates our major festivals with the animals or create a festive atmosphere both for the animals as well as for visitors.

Maybe they do now. I'm guilty of not having visited the zoo in the last ten years or so even though I pass by it quite a bit. Come to think of it, anyone who commutes to work using the stretch of the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) in the Ulu Kelang area passes by the National Zoo at least once a day.

Here is the location of Zoo Negara. It is worth a visit when you visit Kuala Lumpur.


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And now a look at Christmas at the London Zoo..

A lion holds a "Christmas gift" during a photocall marking Christmas at the London Zoo on December 12, 2012. - AFP - 13 December, 2012

A penguin eats a fish next to a Christmas tree at London Zoo on December 12, 2012, during a photocall to mark Christmas. - AFP - 13 December, 2012
Merry Christmas, everyone! The End of the World has been postponed.

Bangkok flood situation Nov 7 Suvarnabhumi Airport is dry and fully operational

More on Bangkok flood situation - Nov 7 update

According to Bangkok Post, images of a Thai Airways International Airbus stranded in deep floodwater at Don Mueang airport have caused misconceptions among many people outside Thailand that Bangkok is closed to air traffic.

Images like this could be driving away visitors to other destinations according to an airport official. The reality is, the main airport, Suvarnabhumi, is functioning.

Strong 3.5-metre-high polder dykes surrounding the airport constructed in 1995 and completed in 2000 are capable of preventing penetration of water. The dykes have made the airport a closed area, whereby water cannot flow in from the outside.

In addition,there is in place a high-standard water-management system, with drainage canals all around the site to drain water into the reservoirs plus two main pump stations, each equipped with four water pumps, with ability to drain water at a rate of 12 cubic metres per second or 1 million cubic metres per day.

Also, travel to and from the airport is unaffected as the roads and the Airport Rail Link tracks are elevated above the dykes.

In any case, some locals are of the opinion that now is not the time for people to be going to Bangkok as there are far too many problems still related to the floods, including the high possibility of disease breaking out. Clean-up will take months after the flood has receded.

How about an all-around view of a flooded part of the city? Here is an interesting 360-degree panoramic view of Kaset Intersection Bangkok Flood 2011 in Bangkok




Meanwhile, another zoo in the Bangkok area has been hit as floodwaters continue to swamp the city.

The 500-acre complex, Safari World, is the second Bangkok animal park to come under threat in recent weeks, after the city’s popular Dusit Zoo was forced to relocate some of its animals when floodwaters got too close. Safari World is located in a particularly vulnerable place, east of Bangkok’s shuttered Don Muang airport in an area of the city that has faced serious, ongoing flooding.

Parts of the complex have been hit by knee-high water, but staff have pushed the animals farther inside the zoo onto higher ground. Nevertheless, “we’re not evacuating,” Mr. Litti, the executive vice-president said. In many ways that would present more challenges than staying, he said, due to the logistical issues.

More on Wall Street Journal.. Another Bangkok Zoo Gets Hit By Flooding

Image sources:
- Bangkok Post
- Wall Street Journal

Related posts:
Bangkok flood situation - Nov 14
Bangkok flood - Pictures
Bangkok flood situation Nov 5
Further updates on Bangkok flood situation, Nov 1
Bangkok flood situation update - October 29 2011
Should you cancel your trip to Bangkok?
Thailand flood situation and getting updates via social media