Round the World with Team Red: Stage 7 Quiz

Answer: Palace

Sirigiya is a giant rock which stand 660 feet high and is situated near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The "Culvamsa", which is a historical chronicle that covers the period between the fourth century and 1815 informs us that the king, who ruled from 477 to 495CE, chose this site for his lavish palace. The palace came complete with a series of landscaped gardens, water retention and hydraulic systems. The western face contained a series of frescoes and a mirror wall was created of highly polished white plaster. Halfway up the wall a giant gate, in the shape of a lion, was created.

The site was also proclaimed the capital by the king, however, upon his death both the castle and the capital were deserted. For a period of time it was used as a Buddhist monastery but they also departed in the fourteenth century.

Question by pollucci19.

Answer: Lotus Temple

The Lotus Temple is literally built in the shape of a lotus flower, with 27 marbled petals grouped in clusters of three. In Houses of Worship such as the Lotus Temple, people can read aloud sacred writings of their religion of choice, but are not allowed to preach or proselytise or read non-scriptural texts. Bahá'í literature also states that Houses of Worship should be surrounded by other humanitarian institutions such as universities or hospitals. A core tenet of the Bahá'í faith reflected in the Houses of Worship is that all religions have worth and that all people are equal and should live in unity.

Question by malik24.

Answer: Mumbai

Back in 1911, travel was made by ship so the King, accompanied by Queen Mary, set foot on Indian soil at Apollo Bunder (now Wellington Pier). The Royal couple saw only a model of the planned Gateway, as construction did not begin until 1913 with the official opening in 1924. Mumbai itself is one of India's largest cities, and is located on the western coast of India.

Question by rossian.

Answer: Yes

Indeed, at the time Goa was easily India's richest state. It had the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita of any state and it ran at almost double that of the entire country. It could also boast the fastest rate of growth in the country. The main source of Goa's revenue came from tourism. And it doesn't matter if it's summer or winter, people flock in droves to the area, so much so that Goa receives nearly 12% of the visitors to India. Second to tourism is mining, thanks to a coastline that is teeming in resources such as iron, bauxite and manganese.

Question by pollucci19

Answer: Hindu Kush

The Hindu Kush mountains run from the central area of Afghanistan into northern Pakistan and cover around 500 miles (800 kilometres). The highest point is Tirich Mir, which is found in Pakistan's Chitral District.

The Eastern Ghats are in India, the Taurus Mountains in Turkey and the Caucasus Mountains are found in several countries, including Russia and Armenia, but do not touch either Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Question by rossian.

Answer: Lut

Lut's full name is Dasht-e Lut, which means "Emptiness Plain". Set in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan, it is part of a belt of deserts that stretch from Cape Verde in West Africa all the way to Mongolia, and it is the twenty seventh largest desert in the world. And boy, is the Team Red sweltering? The sands here have been measured at temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (159 F), which makes it one of the hottest and driest deserts on the planet. (Note) Lut rhymes with "hut", which is where we should be rather than being outside. Need to make sure that we practice being sun-smart.

Question by pollucci19.

Answer: North Anatolian Fault Line

The North Anatolian Fault line is the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. It runs through the northern part of Turkey, loosely following the Black Sea coastline, in a general east to west direction. The first major recorded earthquake here was the 1939 Erzincan quake. Since then, while the quakes have been of a magnitude between six and seven, fatalities have been relatively low. That was until 1999 when Izmit was hit by a violent quake that killed 17,000 people and left half a million others homeless. It has been postulated by seismologists that each earthquake is a trigger for the next, and so they were able to successfully predict the Izmit quake. There has been rumblings in the scientific community that Istanbul may be next in line. As a consequence Team Red has decided to bypass Istanbul on this occasion.

Question by leith90.

Answer: Mount Ararat

We learned that people were not only killed in the initial blast from the volcano and its lava flow but, also, by a landslide triggered by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. The mountain is at the extreme east of Turkey, close to the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran, and the 'Greater' Ararat is the tallest peak in Turkey. We were given the option of scaling the mountain but thought better of it and headed for Lebanon.

Question by VegemiteKid.

Answer: Cedars

The cedar is the national tree of Lebanon and it appears on both its flag and coat of arms. There was a time when the cedar forests in the country were extensive. This patch of forest represents the last of those great belts of trees. The cedar has been prized by nations across the globe. The Egyptians and the Phoenicians found it the best timber for their vast fleets and the timber has also been exploited by the Persians, Assyrians, Romans and Turks, which led to systematic deforestation.

As stated above, the forest is now rigorously protected and access to this wondrous site can only be granted if the group is in the company of an authorized guide. To save the forest, in the early 1980s, a programme commenced to clear the sick and dying trees and any other detritus. With the ground fertilized, in 1985, a reforestation programme was put in place and the forest is making a recovery, albeit a slow one, due to the slow growing nature of the tree. In 1998 the forest was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Question by pollucci19.

Answer: Tel Aviv

Jaffa is also known as Yafo and is an ancient port with Biblical connections. Jonah, who ended up in the stomach of a large fish, is said to have set sail from here and the cedars used to build King Solomon's temple arrived via Jaffa. The expansion of Tel Aviv led to a related decline in the importance of Jaffa. The area is now known as the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, and is governed as one large conurbation.

Question by rossian.