Tumpak Sewu Waterfall, Malang Regency, in East Java, Indonesia.

Tumpak Sewu Waterfall is also known as Coban Sewu, is a tiered waterfall that is located between the Pronojiwo District, Lumajang Regency, and the Ampelgading District, Malang Regency, in East Java, Indonesia. The waterfall is overshadowed by Semeru, an active volcano and the highest mountain in Java. The Glidik River, which flows down Semeru, is the primary water source for the waterfall. Tumpak Sewu is loosely translated to mean "a thousand waterfalls" in the Javanese language. The name likely originated due to its appearance of many different waterfalls in one single, semi-circular area.

Tumpak Sewu is a highly-visited tourist destination, primarily on the weekends. Infrastructure built around and inside the main box canyon has allowed for easier access to the area, although the trip to enter or exit is still physically demanding and may take around an hour to complete.

 

 

It is part of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Indonesia and has been chosen as the pride of Pujong Sub-District in term of nature tourism. Sewu means “a thousand”, actually. The location of the falls is between cliffs and resides in paddy fields area. Due to its easy access, tourists keep coming to the site and enjoy numerous types of activities like photography, relaxing, getting in the natural pond, and many others. The locals are also proud of it as they can lure more people to visit both their village and such tourist spot.
 

From Malang City, it takes about 2-3 hours to reach Pujong Sub-District and the distance is 65 km. Tourists can take Nasional III Street as it is the fastest route to reach the site. Once they reach Bendosari Village, the next thing to do is to use the bamboo stairs and head to the waterfall right away. Be careful as it is quite slippery sometimes. 

As the name suggests, tourists might see many waterfalls in such location. The water is flowing downs from different spots of the cliff so it appears like a thousand of waterfalls go down beautifully. As for the information, it has the height of about 180 meters. The thing is that the landscape is a little bit challenging. Tourists must walk and pass through stairs made of bamboo. Despite the strategic location, everyone should watch their steps when approaching the site. It takes about 20-30 minutes in order to get near to the falls.

To reach the waterfall you need to follow the river up the canyon. There’s a kind of path that you can follow up and over the rocks towards the top of the ravine. At one point you will need to cross the river to reach Coban Sewu Waterfall. The water is not too deep, but it is fast.If you walk through the river stream, you will also find another waterfall named Goa Tetes. This waterfall is formed like steps with many small waterfall and ponds. The upper part of this waterfall formed like cave and creates a natural stalagtite. Goa Tetes has gained popularity long before Coban Sewu found, therefore the track is easier to reach than Coban Sewu. Both of the waterfall is maintained by local people. They maintain this new destination very well by preserving its cleanliness and being very friendly with every coming traveler

This waterfall has the same debit of water both in rainy and dry season. In rainy season, you have to be more carefull and watch out for landslide and flood. But the local guardian will warn you if its not safe to visit, so be worry-free.

The Cliffs of Moher, Southwestern Edge of the Burren Region in County Clare, Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher are sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They run for about 14 kilometres (9 miles). At their southern end, they rise 120 metres (390 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and, 8 kilometres (5 miles) to the north, they reach their maximum height of 214 metres (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, then continue at lower heights. The closest settlements are the villages of Liscannor 6 km (4 miles) to the south, and Doolin 7 km (4 miles) to the north.

From the cliffs, and from atop the tower, visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. The cliffs rank among the most visited tourist sites in Ireland, with around 1.5 million visits per annum.

The cliffs take their name from an old promontory fort called Mothar or Moher, which once stood on Hag's Head, the southernmost point of the cliffed coast, now the site of Moher Tower. The writer Thomas Johnson Westropp referred to it in 1905 as Moher Uí Ruis or Moher Uí Ruidhin. The fort still stood in 1780 and is mentioned in an account from John Lloyd's A Short Tour Of Clare (1780). It was demolished in 1808 to provide material for a lookout/telegraph tower that was intended to provide warning in case of a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars. 

The cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped a list of attractions in 2006 by drawing almost one million visitors (at the official visitor centre, with additional visitors accessing other locales); the total visit number is now around 1.5 million per annum. Since 2011, they have formed a part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, one of a family of geotourism destinations throughout Europe that are members of the European Geoparks Network and also recognized by UNESCO. The cliffs are also a "signature point" on the official Wild Atlantic Way tourist trail.

While the cliffs can be accessed at multiple points, and there is an 18 kilometres (11 miles) Cliff Walk, the majority of visitors come to the official visitor centre. In the 1990s the local authority, Clare County Council, initiated development plans to enable visitors to experience the cliffs without significant intrusive man-made amenities. In keeping with this approach, a modern visitor centre, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, was built into a hillside approaching the cliffs. The centre was planned to be environmentally sensitive in its use of renewable energy systems including geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, and grey water recycling.

The €32 million facility was planned and built over a 17-year period and officially opened in February 2007. Exhibits include interactive media displays covering the geology, history, flora and fauna of the cliffs. A large multimedia screen displays a bird's-eye view from the cliffs, as well as video from the underwater caves below the cliffs. There are also two cafés and several shops. Accessibility is a priority, and wheelchairs are available to borrow.As of 2018, the centre charges €8 per adult, with children under 16 admitted free. This covers parking, access to the visitor centre and Atlantic Edge exhibition, and a contribution towards conservation and safety at the cliffs.

The visitor experience recorded 1,427,000 visits in 2016, up 14% on 2015, and up 52% in off-peak December, for example. In 2017 the Cliffs of Moher was the second most popular 'fee charging' tourist attraction in the country with 1,527,000 visitors. This increased again by 3.8% in 2018 to 1,580,010 visitors. The nature and speed of increase in visitor numbers has led to some capacity problems at peak times and in peak season. To counter this, visitors are increasingly encouraged to come at other times, with discounts given to coach operators who book for off-peak slots, and late opening of the centre introduced for July and much of August. Later-arriving visitors have also been facilitated by the fitting of automatically opening exit gates from the official car parking facilities.

The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience won an award in the Interpret Britain & Ireland Awards 2007 awarded by the Association of Heritage Interpretation (AHI). Although the award was specifically for the Atlantic Edge exhibition, the AHI assessed the entire visitor centre and site. The citation stated that the entire visitor centre was "one of the best facilities that the judges had ever seen. The official Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk runs for 18 km, from Hag's Head to Doolin, passing the Visitor Centre and O'Brien's Tower, with good viewing throughout, subject to rain or sea fog.

There are two paths near the visitor centre, the official one being set back a little for safety, while an unofficial path runs closer to the edge. In July 2016 the so-called Cliff Walk, outside the official Cliffs of Moher amenities, was temporarily closed because of the risk of rock falls. People were warned to stay on the official path further off the cliff edge instead of the unofficial seaside trail. Separate ferry trips also allow tourists to view the cliffs from sea level, and at certain times fixed-wing aircraft from Connemara Airport also provide a viewing opportunity.

The cliffs consist mainly of beds of Namurian shale and sandstone, with the oldest rocks being found at the bottom of the cliffs. During the time of their formation between 313 and 326 million years ago, a river dumped sand, silt and clay into an ancient marine basin. Over millions of years, the sediments collecting at the mouth of this ancient delta were compacted and lithified into the sedimentary strata preserved in the now-exposed cliffs. The area is considered a geologic laboratory that preserves a record of deltaic deposition in deep water. Individual strata vary in thickness from just a few centimeters to several meters, each representing a specific depositional event in the history of the delta. In aggregate, up to 200 meters of sedimentary rocks are exposed in the Cliffs of Moher. Trace fossils are abundant, comprising two main types:

(1) Scolicia or worming trails, which are interpreted as feeding trails left by as-yet-unidentified invertebrates,

(2) Burrow marks, which are circular features preserved as casts of burrows once occupied by as-yet-unidentified marine creatures. Ripple marks are preserved in some stones.

Today the cliffs are subject to erosion by wave action, which undermines the base of support causing the cliff to collapse under its own weight. This process creates a variety of coastal landforms characteristic of erosional coasts such as sea caves, sea stack, and sea stumps. Branaunmore, a 67-meter high sea stack at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher below O'Brien's Tower, was once part of the cliffs, but coastal erosion gradually removed the layers of rock that joined it with the mainland. A large sea arch can also be seen at Hag's Head below the Napoleonic signal tower and many smaller sea arches can be seen from sea level.

It is possible to see 300-million-year-old river channels cutting through, forming unconformities at the base of the cliffs.At peak season, there are an estimated 30,000 pairs of birds living on the cliffs, representing more than 20 species. These include Atlantic puffins, which live in large colonies at isolated parts of the cliffs and on the small Goat Island, and razorbills. The site is an Important Bird Area.

A wide range of sea life can also be seen, from grey seals through porpoises, dolphins, minke whales and basking sharks, as well as, occasionally, sunfish. On land, feral goats, foxes, badgers and the Irish hare are found, along with various breeds of farm cattle.

The Cliffs of Moher have appeared in numerous media. In cinema, the cliffs have appeared in several films, including The Princess Bride (1987) , Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), and Leap Year (2010). The cliffs are mentioned in the Martin Scorsese film Bringing Out the Dead (1999) and are noted in the 2008 documentary Waveriders as the location of a large surfing wave known as "Aileens". In music, the cliffs have been the scene for music videos, including Maroon 5's "Runaway", Westlife's "My Love", and Rich Mullins' "The Color Green". Most of singer Dusty Springfield's ashes were scattered at the cliffs by her brother, Tom. There is also an Irish fiddle tune called The Cliffs Of Moher.

Bus Éireann route 350 links the Cliffs of Moher to several locations: Ennis, Ennistymon, Doolin, Lisdoonvarna, Kinvara and Galway. This service includes a number of journeys each way daily. There is also a privately operated shuttle bus that serves the site from Doolin.

Yungang Grottoes, Nanjiao, Datong, Shanxi, China

The Yungang Buddhist grottoes were cut from the mid-5th Century to early-6th Century AD.  Comprising 252 caves and niches and 51,000 statues within a carved area of 18,000 square meters, the Yungang Grottoes represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao are a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese art, with a strict unity of layout and design. The will of the State is reflected in Buddhist belief in China during the Northern Wei Dynasty since the Grottoes were built with Imperial instructions. While influenced by Buddhist cave art from South and Central Asia, Yungang Grottoes have also interpreted the Buddhist cave art with distinctive Chinese character and local spirit. As a result, Yungang Grottoes have played a vitally important role among early Oriental Buddhist grottoes and had a far-reaching impact on Buddhist cave art in China and East Asia.

The statues housed in the caves and niches are in good condition and all of the caves and statues have not suffered major damage from vandalism and/or natural disasters. Restoration and repair had been made on deficient parts of some statues in the past. All the necessary attributes demonstrating the Outstanding Universal Value of Yungang Grottoes are contained within the boundary of the property area. The buffer zone provides a necessary safe area for the conservation of the Grottoes, the setting and the historic environment. These measures have enabled the Yungang Grottoes to serve as one of the greatest ancient stone carving art treasure houses in the world.

The Yungang Grottoes, formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes, are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao.

The site is located about 16 km west of the city of Datong, in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. There are 53 major caves, along with 51,000 niches housing the same number of Buddha statues. Additionally, there are around 1,100 minor caves. A Ming Dynasty-era fort is still located on top of the cliff housing the Yungang Grottoes.

The grottoes were excavated in the south face of a sandstone cliff about 2600 feet long and 30 to 60 feet high. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Yungang Grottoes are considered by UNESCO to be a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art and represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices." It is classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration.

After the decline of the Jin Dynasty, the northern parts of China came under the control of the Tuoba-ruled Northern Wei. They made the city of Pingcheng, now known as Datong, their capital. Due to its promotion, Pingcheng saw an increase in construction work. The Northern Wei early adopted Buddhism as their state religion. Buddhism arrived in this location via travel on the ancient North Silk Road, the northernmost route of about 2600 kilometres in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.

The work on this first period of carving lasted until the year 465 AD, and the caves are now known as caves 16–20. Beginning around the year 471 AD, in a second construction phase that lasted until 494 AD, the twin caves 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10 as well as the caves 11, 12, and probably 13 were constructed under the supervision and support of the imperial court. The imperial patronage ended 494 AD with the move of the Wei court to the new capital of Luoyang. All other caves emerged under private patronage in a third construction period, lasting until 525, when the construction came to a final halt due to uprisings in the area.

Since the end of the works, the sandstone of the grottoes has been exposed to heavy weathering. Many of the grottoes are exposed to the open air, and are therefore vulnerable to various forms of pollution and deterioration.  Windblown dust and air pollution from the industrial city of Datong, as well as dust from mines and highways near the site pose a threat to the preservation of the ancient statues.  The site is also in proximity of the Gobi Desert, the storms of which can contribute to the decay of the statues. The ensuing centuries therefore saw several attempts to preserve the caves and to repair sustained damage. During the Liao Dynasty the caves saw some renewing of statues and the buildup of the "10 temples of Yungang" from 1049 to 1060, that were meant to protect the main caves. However, they were destroyed again just some 60 years later in a fire. The wooden buildings extant in front of caves 5 and 6 were constructed in 1621, during the early Qing Dynasty. Since the 1950s, cracks in the sandstone have been sealed by grouting, and forestation has been implemented in an effort to reduce the weathering due to sandstorms. During April and May 1991, Caltech personnel conducted air pollutant measurement experiments in the Yungang Grottoes. It was found that nearly all of the airborne matter was mineral dust or carbon particles, allowing a focus of attention on sources of these kinds of matter.

Cave 6 is one of the richest of the Yungang sites.  It was constructed between 465 and 494 C.E. by Emperor Xiao Wen.  The cave’s surface area is approximately 1,000 square meters.  The entire interior of the cave is carved and painted.  There is a stupa pillar in the center of the room extending from the floor to the ceiling.  The walls are divided into two stories.  The walls of the upper stories are host to carvings of standing Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and monks among other celestial figures.  All of the carvings were painted, but because the caves have been repainted evidently up to twelve times, determining the original scheme is difficult.

The Hanging Temple, Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China

The Hanging Temple, also Hengshan Hanging Temple, Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple is a temple built into a cliff (75 m or 246 ft above the ground) near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China. The closest city is Datong, 64 kilometres (40 mi) to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it is the only existing temple with the combination of three Chinese traditional religions: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock. The monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight. Coupled with the repair of the dynasties, the color tattoo in the temple is relatively well preserved. 

According to legend, construction of the temple was started at the end of the Northern Wei dynasty by only one man, a monk named Liaoran. Over the next 1,400 years, many repairs and extensions have led to its present-day scale.

The design and site selection of Hanging Temple is another important reason for its preservation. It's located at the inward concave of the cliff and the protruding part is like an umbrella, which makes the temple free from the impact of rain and falling rocks. The high position of the temple also avoids the risk of being flooded.

The entire 40 halls and pavilions are all built on cliffs which are over 30 metres (98 ft) from the ground. The distance from north to south is longer than from east to west and it becomes higher and higher from the gate in the south to north along the mountain. With brief layout, it includes the Qielan Hall (Hall of Sangharama), Sanguan Hall (Hall of Three Officials),  Chunyang Hall, Hall of Sakyamuni, Hall of Three Religions and Guanyin Hall.

The Hall of Three Religions mainly enshrines Buddhist deities as well as both Taoism and Confucianism. The statues of Sakyamuni (middle), Lao-Tze (left) and Confucius (right) are enshrined in the hall. This reflects the prevailed idea of Three Teaching Harmonious as One in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911).

Interestingly, this historical site enshrines not just one religion, but three: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are all practiced within the ancient monastery. In the Sanjiao or Three Religions Hall, a Buddha sits alongside statues of Lao Zi and Confucius, the founders of Taoism and Confucianism. This demonstrates that there was harmony among religions even centuries ago in China. As a transit station for people journeying through Datong's remote terrain, the temple catered to anyone, whatever their belief. With its historical impact and jaw-dropping scenery, the Hanging Temple of Datong is not only an engineering miracle, but also a beautiful testament to the ingenuity of our forefathers. 

As a historical site, the Hanging Temple is available to visit all year round. But considering Datong in winter is relatively cold and there will be more tourists in July and August, it is most recommended to travel here from March to mid-June and mid-September to November. Best time to visit in a day: To protect the temple, the number of visitors is limited at 80, which means when there are 80 people in the temple, you need to wait until someone comes down from the temple and then you are allowed to go up there. Therefore, it is recommended to visit the Hanging Temple in the morning and be one of the first batch of 80 people, or it is normal to wait in line for 1-2 hours.