Here is a list to help anyone heading off on a vacation. Instead of seeing the usual tourist attractions, why not check out some of this more offbeat ones? There is something for everyone and you may even end up making new friends with equally strange taste.
The Japanese do everything that other people do, but sometimes in very different ways. One day because somebody thought it was mundane to have a bath with water and soap, he decided to have bath in Noodles and soon enough other people wanted to do the same. Apparently, pepper collagen, the ingredient used in pork broth improves metabolism and clears your skin. Acne is also said to vanish after one session. This same bath previously filled their spas with beaujolais wine and chocolate.
It is not certain whether Fidel roped in Michael Crichton to oversee the construction of this experiment in anachronism, but even Jurassic Park’s creator would feel a little bizarre in the milieu of life-size prehistoric creatures completed by inmates from a nearby prison. Spread over an area of 11 hectares, the 200 life-sized prehistoric creatures in the Santiago de Cuba province range from the brontosaurus to cave men, creating a kind of Communist theme park with shades of the Flintstones thrown in.
Rajasthan, India. The land of Maharajas, palaces, deserts, camels and-the Karni Mata temple which not only serves as a refuge for rodents but a place where they are worshipped as well. Built in the early twentieth century by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner in reverence to Karni Mata, a female Hindu sage, the temples ostentation serves as no indication to the experience one is going to get. So high is the status of rats in this citadel of devotion that an accidental death of one of the inhabitants will require a replacement with a replica in solid gold.
In the city of Pyongyang, which one journalist described as being a ‘Stalinist theme park’, lies the International Friendship Exhibition Hall. In this structure are housed 90, 000 or more gifts accumulated over the years by the great leader Kim Il Sung. The list of admirers include former Soviet prime ministers Gregory Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. But the gifts themselves are most interesting-silver chopsticks from Mongolia, a gold cigarette case presented by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia, chess boards from Colonel Qaddafi and a grinning alligator offering drinks from a wooden tray sent all the way from Nicaragua. Surely, friendship has its rewards.
Julián Santana Barrera collected dolls which were discarded. Legend had it that he did it to appease the spirit of a girl who drowned in the river. The bizarre collection stares when you navigate through the canals of Xochimico and to make the story more interesting, Barrera succumbed to the same fate as that little girl for whom he labored so hard.
Ross Peroach, David Letteroach and Marlin Monroach are some of the characters you will acquaint yourself with when you visit Michael Bohdan’s Cockroaches Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas. A pioneering pest control specialist, he took it upon himself to impersonate famous characters in the most bizarre way possible: through the medium of deceased cockroaches. However, if you are not into dead ones, he has Madagascar hissing roaches as well… and they are alive and kicking.
Most travelers are not bored in Bangkok but if malaise sets in there is always the Bangkok prison to go to. Why? Because for a price you can interact with the inmates, some of them western travelers whose holiday went horribly wrong. Brought into the spotlight by the 1999 movie Brokedown Palace, this highly fortified bastion derives its allure from the possibility of actually showcasing 7000 specimens imprisoned for crimes ranging from drug smuggling to murder. Moreover, you quickly learn not to commit such crimes when you are in Thailand.
If you ever hazard to travel the silk route like the pioneering traders centuries ago, the city of Ashgabat in the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan will introduce you to one of its own great denizens: Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov (Turkmenistan’s leader after independence) etched his name onto everything in the country, but most famously he built for himself the Neutrality Arch. To secure his place in history as a megalomaniac, he ordered his statue to be placed at the top, revolving continuously such that he always faces the sun. And to top it all he called the structure ‘Neutrality Arch’, a word which you can hardly use for a man who ruled with an iron fist.
In Gifu prefecture lies an oddball theme park which recreates the great battle of Sekigahara. As if a solemn monument was not enough, an enterprising businessman recreated this epic battle replete with life size concrete structures of beheading, ritual suicides and hand to hand combat. If you are not satisfied with the gore, the song titled ‘Ah, the decisive battle of Sekigahara’ on an endless loop will soothe your ears.
Perhaps the unlikeliest of places to host an ossuary, the Karner Bone House in the bucolic Austrian town of Hallstrat would far more easily be associated with the ‘Sound of music’. However, it is more noted now for being host to painted skulls in decorations such as flowers, leaves and serpents. Why? Because of the acute lack of space and the urgent need to recycle graves. Very surprising when you consider only 2,100 skulls of the 30,000 known deaths and burials were documented. [Image Source]
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1 Aszsedr
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 am
That bone house is metal.
2 seneca
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:46 am
Dash!
The list is fascinating!
Regarding No. 8, the Rat Temple, words escape me.
You must have accidentally placed a Philipine monster photo in Item No. 6 “Isla de las Munecas”.
Well done and well -written!
Mike
3 .Choosilicious
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 am
This list is a bit too shallow, definitely not the weirdest ones I have ever seen.I remember watching on TV where you get to stay in a hotel for free if you do the household chores first. The owner stores the food first, then the visitor can cook them while the owner is out. In Japan they are so polite! They don’t even worry that other people would steal their food when they are not around.
4 El the erf
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 am
Hooboy, the masses don’t get clean water to drink, but Mickey sure does get creamy milk to fill his tumultous tummy! Only in India!
5 Darren
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:00 am
NERD ALERT: with regards to number 9, there hasn’t been a dinosaur recognized as brontosaurus for close to 20 years. The new name is apatosaurus (I think it’s a PC thing.)
6 Y
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 am
It would be way more bizarre…its a bit boring now, sorry.
7 atheists eat fish
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:06 am
I thought ‘first’ comments weren’t allowed. Is it only ok if you acknowledge your douchebaggery? I am confused.
Anyway, nice list. I love the lists that showcase the bizarre. I already knew about the rat temple, though. The best thing is, it is not controversial. At least not to me. I am not offended. Just thought I would let the creator of the list know. Also, it is not Eurocentric or America-centric. YEAH DASH. Unless you are trying to say that the rest of the world is completely *ucked up. If that is your point I must reconsider my previous kudos.
8 Kerschti
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:28 am
its called Hallstatt, not Hallstrat..
9 oouchan
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:01 am
Interesting list, Dash. I would love to visit that one in Japan when I go. Not too sure about that prison one, though.
10 Ninja_Wallaby
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 am
@atheists eat fish (8):the first comment will probably be deleted. this is a great list id heard of of the rat temple one but none of the others.
11 WiseMenSay
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:09 am
kind of puts the keswick pencil museum to shame…
12 David
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:39 am
Saparmurat Niyazov also liked to call himself Turkmenbashi- “Father of all Turkmen,” and his picture was ABSOLUTLELY everywhere in Turkmenistan. It was on “Terrible Tastes of Great Dictators,” and the book, “Dictator`s Homes.” On it, is Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Imelda Marcos, Kim Jong Il and other nutcases, are all there. Saddam Hussein`s art collection.. Words can`t describe it.
13 Kerry King
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 am
HELLO!
14 Phil
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:38 am
Ok list, well researched. However I am expecting a great list in the next couple of days to make up for the below par couple of lists there have been recently. I am not having a go, it’s just that there has been a lot more interesting and top quality lists than the ones in the last week or so.
15 Arsnl
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:57 am
Since Chuckie was the horror movie that impressed me the most as a child isla de las munecas would scare the hell out of me. If you put some crazy clowns it would become my worst nightmare. Instead of the statue id put lenin’s mausoleum.
@jfrater when will u post those submarine stories
16 Lauren
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:32 am
Number six is like something from my nightmares. Oh dear.
17 archangel
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:04 am
Ooooh… wouldn’t mind getting my skull painted. =]
18 fanella
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:17 am
Lol at WiseMenSay.
interesting list, was half expecting to see Mother Shipton’s Cave and it’s petrifying well:
http://www.mothershiptonscave.com/the_petrifying_well.htm
19 Lynne
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
Nice list, but North Korea isn’t that accessible to tourists, so calling it a ‘tourist attraction’ is perhaps a bit exaggerated?
20 Miss_Info
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:04 am
I’ve been to all these places!
21 chris
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:24 am
hey there. it’s called “Hallstatt”
and thx for the ad for austria
22 Cal
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 am
What about the Blarney stone. Thousands of tourists flock to Ireland just to kiss a stone for prosperity.
23 Ratface
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 am
I have read about the rat temple before and I would absolutely love to go visit it. However, as a rat owner I can easily imagine the smell of hundreds of thousands of rats worth of droppings. They’re quite clean animals usually, but when so many are condensed into such a small area.., eep!
24 General-Jake
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:05 am
This list rocked. Now i wanna go to Japan and have a noodle bath followed by the gore fest.
25 El the erf
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
@Miss_Info (20):
Liar!
26 ianz09
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
Awesome list Dash! This was a good one to wake up to
27 nuriko
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 am
nice! I wanna try the noodle bath! hehe!
28 El the erf
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 am
I wonder what Niyazov does when there is no sun. (in the pic there’s no sun)
Lo behold, like Rascar Capac with arms to the sky he already seems to be commanding the sun to show up.
These dictators…think they have control over everything.
29 ladysmurf
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:47 am
Number 9 looks interesting. I’d like to visit it sometime. xD
Number 6 scared the living crap out of me. @__@
30 get a clue
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
A clever and interesting list.
I would encourage the writer to read the “Weird NJ” and “Roadside America” books to gain a better grasp of writing ina style less simply declarative and more about grasping and holding the reader’s interest.
31 super junior
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 am
awesome list…
32 Miss_Info
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 am
@El the erf (28): When there is no sun, Niyazov turns into a swarm of bees and migrates to Philadelphia..(it’s always sunny there)
33 krypto092108
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Tourist Traps… You just gotta love’em all to crazy!
34 L’Economa Domestica
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Bones chapel are quite usual here in Italy, and one of the best known is in Palermo (there are also artificial mummies, here). In Urbania, a nice little town in Marche (centre Italy), there is a chapel with natural mummies, it’s awfully scary.
35 Nemiga
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Awesoomee List!!1
36 ChineapplePunk
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
The creepy dools remind me of Fallout 3, I can’t remember whee though!
Nice list!
37 segues
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 am
I think I’ll stick to Kauai.
38 Conando
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
hahah! the cockroaches! ADORABLE. great list btw!
39 GiantFlyingRobo
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Interesting list, Dash! I already knew about #10 and #6, but the rest were really bizarre.
40 timmar68
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:38 am
lol “Liberoachi”!
41 Dyzarktarzk
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Very interesting list!
Already knew some, but others are a big surprise o.o
42 samzilla
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I’m thinking the dog and all the neighbor’s dogs would absolutely love me if I came home after bathing in pork brot, but I’m sure my Jewish and Muslim friends would not approve.
43 samzilla
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
*broth, not brot, but I’m sure that would be delish too.
and I’m sure the Vegans would depise most.
44 redcaboose
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Interesting list,Dash. Not sure that i would want to visit them, but I enjoyed reading about them.
45 samzilla
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
@samzilla (43): Wow. *despise* Well correcting one mistake has lead to another. Nap time. I love Sundays.
46 deeeziner
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Item #6—(heard next to a campfire surrounded by terrified kids) “And then the little girl TOOK the man, so they could both play with all her little dollies….Forever!!!!”
OOOOOOooooooOOOOOHHHHHH!
47 joker
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
average.
48 wondersquid
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Geez, and I thought I had seen it all when I saw the giant tire along I-94 in Michigan!
49 Moonbeam
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
You inspired me to do a web research about list #4 Bang Kwang prison, “known as the ‘Bangkok Hilton’, Bang Kwang is understaffed, overcrowded, and filled with inmates who struggle with insanity as they spend the first months of their sentences chained in leg irons. The Thai culture doesn’t believe in coddling prisoners,…Poor medical care is standard at this prison, with sick inmates shackled to their beds as they wait for medicines they probably will never get. If you find yourself on Death Row …, you will have leg irons welded on until your execution, and you will be given only two hours notice before dying by lethal injection.” from bizarrestuff.com
Apparently there are many prisoners from around the world who receive harsh sentences for things like selling drugs.They sleep 20 to a room and have to pay for food if they want to eat more than once a day. The “bathroom” consists of a hole in the floor of the cell.
Fun times.
50 kris
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I’ve been to the rat templeit is freaky, the rats keep running all over the place and some people actually drink some of the milk meant for the rats after they have a taste.
51 evilk8
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
cockroaches and rats – yuk!
52 El the erf
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:27 pm
@Miss_Info (32): Well I dunno about Mr. Nazi-yov, but I can sure see herds of londoners flocking to Philadelphia. They love the sun!
53 ainsliemae
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Definately more interesting than the ‘world’s largest ball of string’ type things. (no offense intended to those who participated in the winding of said string attraction- I myself once attempted to create the world’s largest cotton candy ‘cone’ but was forced to give up because the world’s largest bee swarm booked the park for the same day I did)
54 mintzy
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
very bizarre indeed.
55 India_beast
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:45 am
No. 8 is in Rajasthan, India.
well there is there is place Mehandipur Balaji,temple of lord Hanuman, monkey face god(believed to be the best remedy against evil spirits).
There u will see hundred of people(mostly mentally challenged) tied up in iron chains…growling and making strange sounds. Lord Hanuman Suppose to cure them from evil spirit who possessed the patient…its like a mass exorcism.
spooky…
56 India_beast
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Tourist go there on their own risk..hi hi hi
57 Lucretia
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 am
Think I’ll just stay home…nice list – thanks!
58 Ribenaberry18
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:29 am
FYI the Brontosaurus never existed. The guy that discovered the Apatosaurus later discovered the Brontosaurus and didnt realise it was in fact the same creature. When they discovered his mistake they reverted to the first name. Although Brontosaurus appears to have stuck, it’s technically not right.
59 Chanchita
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:52 am
The cockroach one is gross…bleeuurrghh…
And, this may seem like a detail, but “muñeca” without the tilde is actually spelt wrong. It´s not an accent on the N, it´s a whole other letter.
And before you tell me you can´t get it on your keyboard, you could always try googling it?
Sorry to be pedantic. Other people corrected the Austrian thing so…yeah.
Cool list though. Can´t get over the disgusting cockroach thing.
60 anon
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
#6 is from the tv show Destination Truth. The crew stayed a night on the island to prove if it was haunted or not.
61 Marky B
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Can actually say ive been to that bone house in Halstatt, quiet little town with such an interesting building in the centre of the churches graveyard.
62 gabi319
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 am
The image of the doll here creeps me out more than the tiyanak in the other list.
63 Simone Benedict
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Reading this list really gave me some vacationing ideas. The Shrine of the Discarded Dolls will be my first stop, how delightful!
64 Wyssel
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
My sister recntly found the best museum ever somewhere in the depths of the Swiss Alps. It contains nothing but stuffed frogs in various human-like poses. I guess it would be similar to the Roach Hall of Fame. I think the best one would be the frog riding a squirrel.
65 felsputzer
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Wow, so that’s what “beat you with a wet noodle” means…
Fun article, thanks!
66 spart
November 24th, 2009 at 10:22 am
How about the Sedlec ossuary in Kutna Hora….?
http://www.ludd.luth.se/~silver_p/kutna.html
Check out the coat of arms…
67 Spacegrass
November 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I’m surprised the Sedlic Ossuary isn’t on here, it’s even more awesome than the #1 on this list. Also, the cockroach museum seems like something a serial killer would make.
68 Anstatt
November 24th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
The Bone House, or better still Bein Haus, in Hallstatt is absolutely fabulous! Forget the painted skulls. Imagine thinking this is no problem, and then entering a root cellar with floor to ceiling bones and finding that it is, indeed, a problem. Everyone should experience it at least once.
69 segues
November 24th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
@Anstatt (68): You know, I really did think, at first, this would be no problem…then my very active imagination took hold of your description and I got a serious case of the willies!
Thanks for that.
70 You missed
November 25th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
the hanging coffins of Philippines
71 mhazwanrashid
November 27th, 2009 at 1:03 am
do they serve foods for rats? i don’t know what to say,but is it real? oh my god..really open my eyes..
72 lynch
November 30th, 2009 at 2:08 am
they do…:)
73 GTT
November 30th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that but who in their right mind decides that it´s a good idea to worship/play with rats and roaches?? Yuck.
Though I think it would be very interesting (and extremely sad and not just a little scary) to visit Bang Kwang Prison…
74 Chamitart
November 30th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
In Costa Rica there is a tour to an island where the ugliest most dangerous jale of the country was located. It is called Isla San Lucas, the island of the lonely men. The most terrifying stories are told about that place.
http://www.bananaadventuretours.com
75 atpoker
January 14th, 2010 at 4:05 am
seriously how did you find this crazyness?
poker news
76 del
February 19th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
I’m speechless Mac Poker
77 xweeziex
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:56 am
ooh, love the rat temple =)
78 ally
May 10th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
wow…that movie broken down palace was a real eye opener, not to travel to certain countries on vacation. there's a show about people being imprisoned abroad, when ever they run out of cash instead of calling home and asking their friends or family a lot of them just smuggle drugs instead.
79 mikey
July 6th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
you forgot the beer spa in germany
80 fairil haniza
July 15th, 2010 at 7:45 am
there is one museum in Thailand which displays dead bodies of humans. one of the creepiest museum in the world
81 Belinda Forbes
August 9th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I want someone to paint my skull when I die…
82 listmaker556
August 24th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
i would be to