Researching the East: Other Real Locations

Ha Long Bay - Vietnam

Ha Long Bay's 2000 limestone islets, soaring from a deep emerald sea, create one of Asia’s most spectacular landscapes. The name ha long, translates as “descending dragon”. Vietnamese legend holds that the bay’s islets were created by a descending dragon’s lashing tail.

This could be a direct translation into our story, as soon as a dragon does actually exist in our story in ancient times. We could even just use it as a shipping port, a place the characters have selected due to its hard to infiltrate and blocks the from view from intruders. Or we could combine both ideas.

Kegon Falls - Japan

This 97m water fall is located in Nikko, Japan and easily one of the countries top 3 water falls. This I would use as more of a peaceful place. Perhaps where people can meditate, or a secluded space for lovers, or the home of a cave dwelling creature who resides behind the waterfall. It could be a space for where the dinosaurs collect fresh water for their system underground without being scene from enemy eyes.

                                                                                                                         

The Singing Sand dunes

"When Marco Polo heard it in China, he suspected evil spirits. When residents of Copiapo, Chile, heard it emanating from a sandy hill, they dubbed the peak El Bramador, for its roars and bellows. Scientists today call it "singing sand," but they're all referring to the same thing: As sand grains shuffle down the slopes of certain sand dunes, they produce a deep, groaning hum that reverberates for miles." Quoted by Shannon Fischer, National Geographic 

Much to as why some sand dunes sing is a mystry, but scientists believe it is to do with the size of sand grains falling down a dune, all making an unhearable noise, but when this noise is made millions of times by each individual grain, the noise is vibrated to the center of the dune where larger grains are, that r-bound the noise through the falling grains so we can hear it.

When using this is my story, I would either have what Marco polo believed, spirits in the sand, or have a tribe or colony of people living in cave systems underground, or even a magnificent beast or dinosoaur, snoring in slumber. There are so many opportunities for inspiration in our natural world that would make fantastic stories, its a wonder why man cares so little. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EzbGQXUL9vg

Shipwreck in the Aralkum Desert

These shipwrecks are scattered across a wide expanse of sand in Central Asia. They once sailed across the 26,000 sq mile Aral Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Now they lie in a vast, arid plain that was once lake the size of Scotland, that has shrank by 90% in the last 50 years. This no doubt ws the inspiration for the scene in Piates of the Caribbean 3, where the Black Peal is trapped in Davy Jones' locker.

These look so strangley misplaced they would be too good not to include in a vast desert landscape. What I would probably do using this to incorporate it in our story would use the King Bolon of the North's ice powers to clear room for his armies to travel, (or to defeat a great lake creature) leaving what was once a lake empty. Or another idea would be to say it emptied at the cost to prepare energy for making weapons for the war against the North, reflecting global warming. The ships could then be inhabited as homes for desert animals such as camels.

Rajasthan Chittorgarh Fort - India

This fort was built by various Maurya rulers in the 7th century. This huge fort covers an area of 700 acres, extending to 3 kms in length and 13 kms in length. Standing on an elevated hill of 180m, the fort has witnessed three battles and never lost.

This is a structure I would defiantly take influence from, perhaps being a city of Indian creatures who've had to retreat behind the Fort's walls after the Northern invasion.