Choi Soon-hwa, an 80-year-old woman from South Korea, recently shocked the world by qualifying as a finalist in the annual Miss Universe Korea competition.

Choi, a grandmother of three who turns 81 next month, never dreamed of being in the running to represent her country in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, but thanks to changes made to the contest’s selection rules, she was able to do just that. Before this year, participants were required to be between the ages of 18 and 28, but due to growing pressure to become more inclusive, Miss Universe scraped the rule, thus allowing pretty much anyone to participate. Apart from the age ban lifting, pregnant women, and women who had children or had ever been married were also allowed to compete. Now, Choi hopes to inspire others by showing that health and vitality can be maintained well into old age.

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A Chinese woman went viral on social media last week after uploading a short clip of herself with her young granddaughter, leaving people gushing over her youthful appearance.

The Tianjin-based beauty caused such a stir on Chinese social media that multiple outlets sought her out for an interview about her incredibly youthful looks. The unnamed woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that she was shocked by the attention her short video got on Weibo and other social networks, claiming that she just wanted to show off her beloved granddaughter. She never imagined that her appearance would cause such a stir online. The woman said that she was in her 40s, and that she had her daughter at a very young age, which allowed her to become a grandma at an age when many women today are only starting to consider having a baby.

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A small stone cottage in the heart of the Scottish highland countryside has been labeled an introvert’s dream house because of its secluded location, miles from the nearest human settlement.

Nestled in the hills of Sutherland, Brae Cottage is a traditional stone-built cottage featuring a sitting room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom with water from a natural spring running to it. The property also includes two outbuildings – one for coal storage and one for general storage – and 2 acres of land, sufficient for self-sustainable living. The cottage is located close to a small stream and an infrequently used track road running between The Mound (A9) and Bonar Bridge. The closest village is 6 miles away, although aerial photos of this isolated certainly don’t show any nearby settlements. If you’re looking for a place to get away from it all and have £130,000 ($175,000) to spend, it’s certainly worth considering.

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Lake Burlinskoye, a salty lake located in Russia’s Altai region close to the border with Kazakhstan, is famous both for its pink color during the summer and the freight train passing through it every day.

Seeing an old freight train seemingly floating over a pink lake in Western Siberia is quite a bizarre experience, but somehow it all makes sense. Lake Burlinskoye is the largest single salt deposit in Siberia, with a saltiness that rivals that of the Dead Sea. It is precisely this exceptionally high saltiness that attracts a species of microscopic brine shrimp called Artemia salina which, as they multiply, end up turning the lake bright pink during the summer months. Siberia’s pink lake is a strange enough sight, but what really sets Burlinskoye apart from other bodies of water is the freight train traversing it several times per day.

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A 20-year-old Taiwanese man got so mad after his elderly mother threw away his prized manga collection without his consent that he took her to court and refused to reconcile with her.

A 64-year-old woman from Chiayi City, Taiwan, landed in hot water after throwing away her young son’s 32-volume ‘Attack on Titan’ manga collection. The two were living together, and the 64-year-old woman had become fed up with her son’s ever-growing comic collection, so when she stumbled over his Attack on Titan manga collection and determined that the volumes were a little damp, she decided to recycle them and free up some much-needed space. She never checked with her son if it was ok, and when he came home and learned that his 32 volumes were gone, he was extremely angry and ended up calling the police on his mother.

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An Indian woman recently filed for divorce from her husband of only 40 days, claiming that he only bathed once or twice per month.

The unnamed woman from Agra, in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, approached the local family counseling center to complain about her husband’s poor personal hygiene, claiming that he rarely ever bathed, wore dirty clothes, and suffered from bad breath. She could barely stand close to the man, let alone be intimate with him. As a result, after only 40 days of marriage, the woman asked for a divorce. When questioned by the counseling center, the husband, Rajash, admitted to bathing only once or twice a month and cleansing by sprinkling his body with Gangajal (holy water from the river Ganges) once a week.

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Kinmemai Premium is a selection of hand-picked artisanal rice that holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s most expensive rice ($109 per kilogram).

Rice is one of the most nutritious yet affordable foods on Earth, but if you’re looking for an exceptional selection of some of the world’s best rice varieties, look no further than Kinmemai Premium. Produced by Japan’s Toyo Rice Corporation, this exclusive rice selection features hand-picked grains from five varieties of award-winning Japanese rice varieties flavor-aged for six months using the company’s proprietary rice-buffing technology developed over 17 years ago. Kinmemay Premium rice is said to have superior nutritional values compared to conventional rice, as well as a delicious nutty flavor. The grains themselves also look like tiny diamonds thanks to the patented polishing process that removes only the inedible wax layer.

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Switzerland’s Glacier Express is known as the world’s slowest fast train, taking over 8 hours to travel 290 kilometers (181 miles) through the Swiss Alps.

The Glacier Express connecting the alpine resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz isn’t anything like the high-speed express train zipping across Europe. Moving at an average speed of 36 km per hour, it lives up to its reputation as the “world’s slowest express train”, but that laughable speed is by design. You see, taking the Glacier Express isn’t about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible; it’s a scenic journey through the heart of the Swiss Alps that allows travelers to take in all the natural wonders this beautiful region has to offer. The train itself features large panoramic windows designed to provide unobstructed views of the breathtaking scenery, allowing passengers to fully immerse themselves in the beauty of the Swiss Alps.

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European countries like Germany, France, and Switzerland are trying to contain an invasion of Tapinoma magnum ants, a species that experts say is “virtually impossible to get rid of”.

Usually found throughout the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, and North Africa, Tapinoma magnum ants have recently begun an invasion of Europe. Over the last couple of years, the tiny critters – no more than 3 mm in size – have been rampaging through some of the world’s most developed countries, teaching their residents the meaning of fear. Tapinoma ants are famous for their ability to rapidly expand over large areas, as well as for their resilience. Experts say that the tiny ants have hundreds of queens and can create several smaller colonies that, instead of attacking each other, unite to create one super colony with millions of individuals. They are relentless in their search for resources, eating through walls, pavement, and even internet or electricity cables.

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A 36-year-old Thai man who admitted to having only a Grade 9 education has been arrested for performing penis enlargement procedures for 20 years without a medical license.

Kittikorn Songsri, a 36-year-old man from the city of Samut Sakhon, in Central Thailand, was arrested last week following a sting operation at a townhouse where he had been conducting various penis enlargement procedures over the last two decades. Songsri admitted to advertising his services via social media and operating on at least two or three patients every month, despite having no medical training or license. He told police that he had taught himself how to do implants when he was 14, and he had been doing it ever since. Unfortunately, he was reported to the authorities by a disgruntled patient who suffered a serious infection following a silicone infection.

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Photos of white-yolk boiled eggs have gone viral on Japanese social media, with thousands of people asking whether they are real or just digitally altered.

It all started with an X (Twitter) post by Tsuda Junko, the editor-in-chief of the online magazine Design no Hikidashi, featuring a photo of a boiled egg cut in half. It doesn’t sound like the most exciting post ever, but it ended up going viral for a very intriguing reason – the cooked yolk was about as white as the egg white around it. Junko himself expressed his astonishment, claiming he had heard about this variety of Okinawa eggs with white yolk but never imagined it could be this white.

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Park Seo Jin, a young South Korean Trot singer, recently shocked his fans by revealing that he spent over $75,000 on facial cosmetic procedures, admitting that only his eyeballs and ears remain unenhanced.

Last week, Park Seo Jin was invited on MBC’s Radio Star variety show where he openly discussed the plastic surgery he had done to his face in order to enhance his appearance and boost his singing career. The 29-year-old, who burst onto South Korea’s Trot singing scene back in 2013, with his hit single ‘Dream’, had long been at the center of a heated online debate around the drastic change in appearance over the last decade. He was once included in an unofficial ‘Top 5 Trot Singers with the Most Plastic Surgery Enhancements,’ and even though his fans always defended him, claiming that he only had his teeth and eyes done, the young singer came out and said that he actually “fixed everything that needed to be fixed”.

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A 64-year-old woman was attacked by a large python while doing the dishes at her house in Samut Prakan, Thailand, and survived for about two hours with the reptile trying to suffocate her to death.

Arrom Arunroj had just come home from her job as a maid at a children’s hospital in Bangkok and was doing the dishes at the back of the house when she felt a sharp pain on her right thigh. At first, she thought she had been bitten by one of the many insects that call the reed forest behind her house home, but when she looked down she saw a huge snake climbing up her leg. She instinctively grabbed the snake’s head and tried to pull it off of her, but it was too strong. The python eventually brought the woman down, coiled around her midsection, and started squeezing the life out of her.

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An Austrian man who incited his 14-year-old son and his best friend to commit a series of armed robberies tried to pin the blame on the two teens in court after they were caught.

A 34-year-old man recently shocked the Judge and Jury in Courtroom 1 of the Vienna Regional Court after putting the blame on his 14-year-old son and his 17-year-old best friend for a series of robberies, claiming they had masterminded the crimes and he was only their getaway driver. The trio’s modus operandi was pretty much the same every time. The two minors were sent into tobacco shops and gas stations wearing balaclavas and wielding knives or pistols loaded with blank bullets, while the 34-year-old man waited outside behind the wheel of the getaway car. They carried out seven robberies before finally getting caught, but instead of taking responsibility for inciting the two boys, he claimed that they had convinced him to be their accomplice.

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Every summer, Oregon’s Lost Lake disappears down a couple of volcanic tunnels only to return in the fall, as a number of streams start flowing into what looks like a peaceful meadow.

Driving past Lost Lake in the late fall or in the winter, you may not pay much attention to the seemingly plain body of water, but making the same drive in late spring or in the summer, you’ll definitely do a double take as a peaceful meadow replaces the lake. This is the magic of Lost Lake, a special attraction located in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest, just off U.S. Highway 20. Starting in late autumn, a number of streams start flowing down from the surrounding mountains filling the meadow that soon becomes the bottom of the Lost Lake, and by mid-winter, the lake is at its fullest. The disappearing act begins in spring and is completed in the summer, as the contributing streams dry out, and all the water in the lake is drained via two holes that act like the drains of a bathtub.

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