Archaelogists discover canopic jars

We all know for a fact that the ancient Egyptians were a bit weird and different from all other civilizations that ever existed on earth (if you can recall how they used to bury the dead bodies or the so called ‘mummies’). Canopic jars, one of their weirdo creations, therefore come as no surprise. These jars were used during the mummification process in which the dead bodies viscera were kept. Normally four jars were used for a single dead heiia and on each jar the following organs were kept: liver, lung, stomach and intestines.

Coming back, a group of Italian archaelogists have recently eektashafa four such jars after digging a cemetery in western Luxor, an Egyptian city renowned for the preservation of ancient monuments and artifacts. The cemetery that was excavated, included several graves, believed to be dating back between 1075-664 BC.

Local Language Terms (Arabic):

• heiia: body
• eektashafa: discovered

At a glance:

• Ancient Egyptians used Canopic jars to keep the organs of the dead body
• Luxor is the place to visit if you love to see mummies

DID YOU KNOW?

Luxor is often known as the world’s greatest open air museum!

Germans shift from Islamophobia to rejection

A new study in the research institute of interdisciplinary conflict and violence at Bielefeld University shows that Germans have moved on from the general dislike or fear of Muslims. Instead, there is a sense of growing rejection towards Islam among Germans. Wilhelm Heitmeyer, the head of the Insitute, feels that the results are very concerning for the government’s plan to integrate Islam as teil of the country.

Previous studies have also coincided with the new findings – research carried out by Münster university in 2010 showed that 66% of West Germans and 74% of East Germans had a negative view towards Muslims. Another recent study from Allensbach Institute found that only 22% Germans are willing to accept Islam as part of Germany. However the research might be a bit contradicting given many Germans are converting to Islam religion every year.

Are you a German? do you have the same negative sentiment towards Muslims in your country?

Local Language Terms (German):

• teil: part

At a glance:

Germans, in general, have a negative attitude towards Islam

DID YOU KNOW?

The large majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin!

Travel Guide: South Asia

Once known as East Pakistan, Bangladesh won its independence in 1971. The country is located in South Asia just beside India. Despite poiltical upheavels and impoverishment, the country is developing rapidly and is regarded as the Next 11 economies to watch out for. Here are some useful facts about the country:

• Shopping: Home to one of the largest shopping malls in Asia and plenty of bazaars or (‘bajar’ if you want to pronounce it perfectly in local voice with mixture of Local+English tone), the country is surely among the best places for bargaining and low price deals.



• Food: If you are a food lover and like spicy food such as biriyani, grilled chicken, tandoori, shik kabab then you are on for a feast



• Clothing: For some reason girls tend to be lot smarter here than guys in terms of dressing sense. However, strong conservative female clothing such as salwar kameez is part of the tradition here



• Communication: You might find English communication here a lot better here than compared to say China. However as a tourist, the trick is to spot the manoosh who looks a bit well dressed (chances are they are educated) and doesn’t look like any ordinary or poor person that are plenty in the street (look at the photo below; please note the purpose is not to discriminate anyone but provide insightful information). You might also be surprised to hear how often local people use English words while talking in their own language.



• Sight Seeing: The country has got quite a number of good places for visit and sight seeing that includes Cox’s Bazar deem to be the world’s longest natural sea beach and the hill tracts in Rangamati which is truly magnificent.



• Religion: Home to the worlds highest number of mosques, religion by far plays the biggest influence among people.
• Road and Crowdedness: A tiny nation with 160 million population no one can escape the congestion and density of the main capital Dhaka city, probably one of the worst aspects of the nation. A 10/15 minute drive can take you hours, so PATIENCE is the key for any traveler



• Gain Celebrity status: if you ever wanted to become famous and popular, then this is the perfect destination for you. But there is a pre condition: you need to have a skin color other than Brown (local ethnicity) like White, Black, Hispanic or Chinese, then chances are you will draw lot of people’s attention, which is kind of funny I guess. However the drawback is, taxi drivers and street side vendors might exploit you knowing you are not well acquainted with the local fare and prices of goods

Local Language Terms:

• bajar: A market consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls
• biriyani: Indian dishes made with rice, highly flavoured and coloured with saffron or turmeric, mixed with meat or fish
• tandoori chicken: is a popular Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani dish consisting of roasted chicken prepared with yogurt and spices.
• shik kabab: a dish consisting of small pieces of beef, mutton meat threaded onto skewers and grilled, generally over charcoal
• manoosh: person

At a glance:

A challenging travel destination, not for the faint hearted but fabulous for someone who loves to explore new culture and does not mind the dirt here and there

DID YOU KNOW?

Most people of older generation don’t even know gay or lesbian sexual orientation exists in modern world!