It was Harold who had made it possible. A clever boy, and a wonderful son When it had become quite clear that she could no longer afford to keep the house up, that it would have to be sold, it was Harold who had persuaded his firm to buy it. Their interest, he had told her, lay not in the house, but in the site as would any buyers. The house itself was almost without value now, but the position was convenient. As a condition of sale, four rooms on the south side had been converted into a flat which was to be hers for life. The rest of the house had become a hostel housing some twenty young people who worked in the laboratiories and offices which now stood on the north side, on the site of the stables and part of the paddock. One day, she knew, the old house would come down, she had seen the plans, but for the present, for her time, both it and the garden to the south and west could remain unspoilt. Harold had assured her that they would not be required for fifteen or twenty years yet much longer than she would know the need of themJohn Wyndham,Stitch in time

Then stay in Istanbul, said Ipek. Ka looked at her carefully. Is Istanbul where you want to live? he asked in a whisper. His greatest wish just then was for Ipek to ask something of him. Ipek sensed this, too. I dont want anything. she said. Ka knew he was rushing. But something told him he wasnt going to be in Kars much longer, that soon he would be unable to breathe here so he had to rush, as if his life depended on it. For a few moments they listened to snatches of a distant conversation; then a horse and carriage passed under the window and they listened to the wheels rolling over the snow. Ipek was standing in the doorway slowly and meticulously removing the hair that had collected in the brush in her hand. Life here is so poor and hopeless that people, even people like you, forget what its like to want something, said Ka. One cannot think of life here, only death Are you coming with me? Ipek didnt answer. If youre going to say no, then dont answer me at all, added Ka. I dont know, said Ipek, her eyes on the brush. Theyre waiting for us in the other room.Orhan Pamuk,Snow; translated by Maureen Freely)The main attraction is Mangapu Cave, better known as the Lost World. The cave was first discovered in 1906, when two railway surveyors almost fell into it through a sinkhole. They described the sunlit, ferny gully 100m below as a fairy-land without the fairies, a lost world. The name stuck and 100 years later it has become the setting for one of the top adventure daytrips in a country famous for them: an exhilarating wild caving experience.Wild caving involves exploring caves without the aid of formed pathways and fixed lighting found in so-called show caves. An experienced guide leads the way and participants are supplied with wetsuits, helmets, head torches, climbing harnesses and gumboots. Wild caving also demands a reasonable level of fitness, agility and endurance.The trip starts with a 10-minute drive from Waitomo over rolling hills and through farm gates to the shed that is the base for the days expedition. Then its a short walk to a large, gaping hole.It takes about half an hour to reach the bottom, so theres plenty of time to enjoy the view of ferns wallpapering the cave walls and to notice a sound that begins as a whisper and grows into a rushing roar close to the cave floor. Like many of Waitomos caves, the Lost World has a river running through it.Luise Southerden,New ZealandI found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he answered my question exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means comforting.Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way: -Must you go? She was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all.Abraham (Bram) Stoker,Dracula