Abandoned Toilet becomes Cozy Little Home for the Chinese Family

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Many people who aren’t satisfied with their living conditions have probably never heard about this remarkable man from China. For the past six years, the 32-year-old, Zeng Lingjun and his family live in the closet of one of the hotels in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning Province. 

Zeng Lingjun was born in a small village, in the Jilin Province of Northeastern China. As a boy, he dreamed of one day attending college, but because his family was too poor was unable to pay 5000 yuan ($ 794) for school, he had to abandon his dream and settle for becoming a cobbler and repair shoes for a living.

But he had bigger plans for himself, so one day, with just 50 yuan ($8) in his pocket, he left for Shenyang, the biggest city in northeast China. Six years ago, a friend arranged him an abandoned hotel toilet was available for rent at a very low price. He immediately borrowed the money he needed and rented the deserted toilet as his new home. He took down the old door and all the wooden cubicles, and laid down some planks to cover up the toilet bowls and make room for a bed. The dismantled cubicles were converted to storage space.

In 2008 Zeng Lingjun met his current wife, also a migrant worker. They married in 2010 and had a baby shortly after. Now the three of them live in the abandoned toilet. At one point, they saved enough money to move into a normal 80 square meter apartment, but they found themselves coming back to their old home just days after they had moved out, unable to afford all the expenses.

So they moved to the toilet. Their new home area of ​​20 square meters. Already fully adapted to their needs.

Two years back, they had a son, whom they named Zeng Dei (translated as “lucky”), with the hope that he proves lucky for their parents.

Their wedding pictures.

According to ancient tradition, many Chinese newlyweds wear red wedding dresses because it is believed that the color red brings wealth and prosperity.

Although the smell never lets them forget they live in a toilet, Zeng and his family just flush the toilets whenever the stench becomes unbearable, and just enjoy their life together.

He repairs shoes, cleans and makes key chains for the passers-by. His workplace is right outside of the hotel where his family lives. Zeng`s conscientious attitude to his work attracted many regular customers, who often pay him a little more for his services. In a month he earns 2,000 yuan ($ 317), which equals the average wage of Chinese workers in the factory.

Picture Credits: izismile.com

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Vertical Limit: Lion cub saved by mom in a stiff rescue mission

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Cliffhanger! Lion cub saved by mom in dramatic scenes caught on camera as he cries out pitifully for help

       

 In the sequence the brave mother shows her strength as she lifts her cub to a safe refuge in a dramatic cliff-side rescue after the young male wandered off from the herd and became stranded above a deep valley.

His mother arrives at the edge of the ravine with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to climb down together but return back scared off by the sheer drop. Finally, one single factor determines which one of them will risk her life to save the youngster – the love of a mother. 

Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission. Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side. Facing an almost vertical climb and the prospect of a huge drop, the lioness carefully made her way to the ledge where the cub was stuck

 

One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine. Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws.  She then had to dive for him when he fell from the crumbling refuge. The lioness eventually clawed her way back to the top with the cub in her jaws.

           

Once back to safety, she gave the wayward youngster an affectionate lick of the head. The amazing rescue at Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve was captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot.

 Despite the presence of lawmen to dissuade poachers, day-to-day life for the lions is not without its dangers … as the cub learned the hard way.

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Inspirational story of One-Armed Surfer Bethany Hamilton

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22-year-old Bethany Hamilton lost her arm due to shark attack when she was just 13. But that didn't stop her, now Bethany is the most famous one-armed surfer in the world.

Bethany Hamilton has become a source of inspiration to millions through her story of faith, determination, and hope. She was born into a family of surfers on February 8, 1990, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. 

On October 31, 2003, at the age of 13, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing off Kauai’s North Shore. Bethany had to loose her left arm in the attack. After losing over 60% of her blood, and withstanding several surgeries without infection, Bethany was on her way to recovery with an unbelievably positive attitude. Lifeguards and doctors believe her strong water sense and faith in God helped get her through the traumatic ordeal.

Miraculously, just one month after the attack, Bethany returned to the water to continue pursuing her goal to become a professional surfer.

In October 2004, Bethany shared her life story in her autobiography entitled Soul Surfer. Seven years later, the book was made into a major motion picture bearing the same title which released theatrically in April, and for home entertainment in August, 2011.

Since losing her arm, Bethany’s story has been told in hundreds of media outlets and she has been recognized with numerous awards, public appearances, and various speaking engagements.

credits: bethanyhamilton.com/

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One-Armed Surfer Bethany Hamilton

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22-year-old Bethany Hamilton lost her arm due to shark attack when she was just 13. But that didn't stop her, now Bethany is the most famous one-armed surfer in the world.

Bethany Hamilton has become a source of inspiration to millions through her story of faith, determination, and hope. She was born into a family of surfers on February 8, 1990, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. 

On October 31, 2003, at the age of 13, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing off Kauai’s North Shore. Bethany had to loose her left arm in the attack. After losing over 60% of her blood, and withstanding several surgeries without infection, Bethany was on her way to recovery with an unbelievably positive attitude. Lifeguards and doctors believe her strong water sense and faith in God helped get her through the traumatic ordeal.

Miraculously, just one month after the attack, Bethany returned to the water to continue pursuing her goal to become a professional surfer.

In October 2004, Bethany shared her life story in her autobiography entitled Soul Surfer. Seven years later, the book was made into a major motion picture bearing the same title which released theatrically in April, and for home entertainment in August, 2011.

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Since losing her arm, Bethany’s story has been told in hundreds of media outlets and she has been recognized with numerous awards, public appearances, and various speaking engagements.

credits: bethanyhamilton.com/

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Rescued Baby Dolphin Being Nursed To Health

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After being washed ashore, apparently injured by a fishing net, the baby dolphin approximately 10 days old is nursed back to health. The baby dolphin was discovered by walkers on the banks of La Plata river near Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. They did not find the sign of a mother nearby. 

Below are the magnificent pictures of the tiny dolphin now named Nipper – and the concerned penguin who oversaw his care. The erect-crested penguin is an oil spill rescue who’s also recuperating at the reserve .

An erect-crested penguin watches as Richard Tesore, head of the NGO Rescate Fauna Marina, holds a baby La Plata river dolphin in Piriapolis, 100 km (62 miles) east of Montevideo, November 5, 2010. 

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28 Years in the Jungle: The Shoichi Yokoi Story

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Shoichi Yokoi, the Japanese soldier who held out in Guam

It’s exactly 40 years since a Japanese soldier was found in the jungles of Guam, having survived there for nearly three decades after the end of World War II. He was given a hero’s welcome on his return to Japan – but never quite felt at home in modern society.

For most of the 28 years that Shoichi Yokoi, a lance corporal in the Japanese Army of world War II, was hiding in the jungles of Guam, he firmly believed his former comrades would one day return for him.

And even when he was eventually discovered by local hunters on the Pacific island, on 24 January 1972, the 57-year-old former soldier still clung to the notion that his life was in danger.

“He really panicked,” says Omi Hatashin, Yokoi’s nephew.

Startled by the sight of other humans after so many years on his own, Yokoi tried to grab one of the hunter’s rifles, but weakened by years of poor diet, he was no match for the local men.

“He feared they would take him as a prisoner of war – that would have been the greatest shame for a Japanese soldier and for his family back home,” Hatashin says.

As they led him away through the jungle’s tall foxtail grass, Yokoi cried for them to kill him there and then.

Using Yokoi’s own memoirs, published in Japanese two years after his discovery, as well as the testimony of those who found him that day, Hatashin spent years piecing together his uncle’s dramatic story.

His book, Private Yokoi’s War and Life on Guam, 1944-1972, was published in English in 2009.

“I am very proud of him. He was a shy and quiet person, but with a great presence,” he says.

Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi Displays Clothes to Guam Police

Underground shelter

Yokoi’s long ordeal began in July 1944 when US forces stormed Guam as part of their offensive against the Japanese in the Pacific.

The fighting was fierce, casualties were high on both sides, but once the Japanese command was disrupted, soldiers such as Yokoi and others in his platoon were left to fend for themselves.

“From the outset they took enormous care not to be detected, erasing their footprints as they moved through the undergrowth,” Hatashin said.

In the early years the Japanese soldiers, soon reduced to a few dozen in number, caught and killed local cattle to feed off.

But fearing detection from US patrols and later from local hunters, they gradually withdrew deeper into the jungle.

There they ate poisonous toads, river eels and rats.

Yokoi made a trap from wild reeds for catching eels. He also dug himself an underground shelter, supported by strong bamboo canes.

“He was an extremely resourceful man,” Hatashin says.

Keeping himself busy also kept him from thinking too much about his predicament, or his family back home, his nephew said.

Return to Guam

Yokoi’s own memoirs of his time in hiding reveal his desperation not to give up hope, especially in the last eight years when he was totally alone – his last two surviving companions died in floods in 1964.

Turning his thoughts to his ageing mother back home, he at one point wrote: “It was pointless to cause my heart pain by dwelling on such things.”

And of another occasion, when he was desperately sick in the jungle, he wrote: “No! I cannot die here. I cannot expose my corpse to the enemy. I must go back to my hole to die. I have so far managed to survive but all is coming to nothing now.”

Two weeks after his discovery in the jungle, Yokoi returned home to Japan to a hero’s welcome.

He was besieged by the media, interviewed on radio and television, and was regularly invited to speak at universities and in schools across the country.

Hatashin, who was six when Yokoi married his aunt, said that the former soldier never really settled back into life in modern Japan.

He was unimpressed by the country’s rapid post-war economic development and once commented on seeing a new 10,000 yen bank note that the currency had now become “valueless”.

According to Hatashin, his uncle grew increasingly nostalgic about the past as he grew older, and before his death in 1997 he went back to Guam on several occasions with his wife.

Some of his prize possessions from those years in the jungle, including his eel traps, are still on show in a small museum on the island.

Source: Wikipedia

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