ANKARA Ereck Flowers Giants Jersey , July 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday inaugurated its first high-speed train connecting the country's two metropolitans of Ankara and Istanbul, which is believed to be part of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts to modernize Turkey's infrastructure, one of his key presidential campaign promises.

Previously, the project has faced years of delays. Erdogan plans to head for Istanbul in the first train Friday evening.

The railway inauguration also comes ahead of presidential elections next week on August 10, and Erdogan promised constantly during his campaign that he would improve the nation's infrastructure.

Much of Turkey's current railway system was planned and built by foreign countries in the era of the Ottoman Empire, while high speed trains have already been running since 2009 between the capital city and Eskisehir.

However, weeks before the inauguration, a train crash occurred on the Ankara-Istanbul high speed rail track when a testing was being conducted.

The test train partially derailed after it collided with a maintenance vehicle around the town of Gebze in a Turkish province to the east of Istanbul, raising safety concerns in a country that sees frequent railway accidents. In July 2004, dozens of people were killed when a high-speed train derailed in the northwest.

The new railway express will shorten the journey time between the two metropolises to three hours and a half, Turkish Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan told reporters, adding that this railway is capable of reaching a speed as high as 250 km per hour.

The Ankara-Istanbul line has cost the Turkish government some 4. 25 billion U.S. dollars, and is expected to change the travelling habits of the Turkish countrymen, a vast majority of whom make their long-distance trips by bus or plane.

Are you so in love with the slopes that winter flies by much too fast leaving you with ski withdrawal symptoms long before you are ready to give it up? If you just can't get enough of winter skiing, you just might be interested in a relatively new phenomenon slowly sweeping the world - sand skiing.

What is sand skiing? It is simply the brand new extreme sport. From Palm Springs, California to Dubai, from Abu Dhab to Idaho, it's the latest extreme craze.

There are two types of sand skiing. Downhill and cross-country both of which more or less mirror their snow ski counterparts.

Downhill sand skiing involves finding a dune, hill, or mountain, climbing to the top of it and skiing down it. Is it fun? Lots - except for the part where you have to climb up the hill. You'll find no ski lifts, no trams, not even a rope tow. If you want to get up the hill, you have to climb it on your own. Nevertheless, the lack of these niceties doesn't seem to have prevented newcomers from being drawn to the sport.

Cross country sand skiing involves skiing finding a nice long scenic stretch of sand covered land, strapping on the ski boots and skis and having at it. Nothing strengthens the muscles and increases stamina like cross country sand skiing.

Whether you do downhill or cross country sand skiing, this is fantastic exercise. If you're not in shape, this sport will definitely get you in shape. If you're already in shape, sand skiing will keep you fit.

The Essentials of Sand Skiing

So what equipment does a sand skier need? Pretty much the same as a snow skier. You'll of course need skis, preferable older ones as sand, even fine sand, is an abrasive and over time can remove material from the ski's running surface.

Sand blindness, like snow blindness, can cause a temporary vision loss. To prevent it, you'll need a good pair of UV resistant sunglasses or goggles. You'll also need ski poles to push past some of the denser spots of sand.

Sand skiing is usually done in warmer environments - so dress accordingly. Wear light clothing and if the sun is intense, wear a hat to protect your head.

Finding the Perfect Sand

Snow skiers are very familiar with the different types of snow, for example skiing on powder is a much different experience than skiing on packed snow. It may surprise you that sand skiers have similar experiences. Coarse sand gives a much different experience than fine sand. Wet sand is much harder to traverse than dry sand.

As you get more into the culture of sand skiing, you're hear the terms "fast sand" and "slow sand". Fast sand is great, you'll feel as though you're gliding on glass. It's almost effortless. Slow sand can be a grind, like slogging through quicksand. And there are all sorts of gradients in between. Skiers looking for perfect sand is much like the prototypical surfer looking for the "perfect wave".

So skiers rejoice. No longer are you confined to the winter season. With sand skiing, you can not only enjoy your sport year round, you can enjoy it in almost any place in the world.

We all want to look good, gorgeous and simply irresistible. So when we look at ourselves in the mirror and notice those love handles bulging out like Santa s we all freak out, feel down and frustrated. Then we decide on losing weight. We declare that starting today no more carbs or we will go to the gym and workout . But then again, these are just declarations. When we get to see Mom s delicious home cooked beef casserole or Aunt s special pineapple upside down or we get to pass by McDonald s, we tend to say It can start tomorrow right? Others however, have more conviction and triumphantly wave the idea of pigging out.

Their problem however is that they find exercising hard and painful to endure. At the end they still don t get the results they wanted. People tend to want outcomes to show with the blink of an eye and if they don t get it overnight, they simply give up. Everybody wants things to go quick.