On every second Saturday of July, people gather outside the Mugs Away Saloon, in Laguna Niguel, California, for the annual Mooning of the Amtrack.

Known also as the Mooning of the Train, this tradition dates back to 1979. Legend has it it all started when a rich person walked into the bar and promised free drinks to anyone with enough balls to show their naked behinds to the passing Amtrak train.

This year around 1,000 people attended the mooning and a great time doing so. there were no incidents, unlike last year, when many of the 8,000 mooners got intoxicated in public and the festivities had to be shut down.

The trains are mostly full when they pass by the Mugs Away Saloon and the conductors even slow down so the passengers can really enjoy the view.

An artistically designed pond that looks like it could be zipped up at any time.

Designed by renowned Taiwanese sculptor Ju Chun, the Zipper Pond has become one of the most popular attractions at the Juming Museum, outside Taipei.  It does look absolutely amazing…I mean I’ve seen some beautiful ponds in my time, but a zipper pond? That’s special.

via Crooked Brains

photos by JT

Spanish people really have a thing for bulls, don’t they. Bullfighting, the festival of Pamplona, they’re all centered around the bull.

During the Bous a la Mar Festival, in Denia, near the city of Alicante, people get chased by bulls through the streets and into the Mediterranean Sea. The brave participants plunge into the waters just before the bulls are about to catch them. The animals often fall into the sea as well, where they are taunted some more. Eventually, the bulls are caught with a lasso and towed back to shore by a boat.

via Telegraph.co.uk

What started as La Tomatina of Bunol, Spain, is now also a popular celebration in Sutamarchan, Colombia and even Dongguan, China.

On June 14, locals of Sutamarchan and many tourists gathered on an old football field to stage Colombia’s biggest food fight of the year. Around 15 tons of tomatoes were sacrificed in La Tomatina this year. The food fight, inspired by the much more famous Tomatina of Bunol, is part of a three day tomato celebration. A tomato-eating contest and a competition for the largest tomato, are also part of the celebration.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Why journey to Vulcan in a spaceship when you can just drive there?

The Canadian town of Vulcan, Alberta has become a true pilgrimage site for Star-Trek fans because of its coincidental link to the sci-fi series. Vulcan received its name in 1915, from a surveyor of the Canadian Pacific Railway who named it after the Roman God of Fire. It has no connection to Mister Spock’s home planet, but do trekkies care?

Of course not, anything that relates to the Star-Trek universe, accidentally or not, is worth a visit. So the people of Vulcan decided to capitalize on this great tourism opportunity and built a 5-ton replica of the USS Enterprise. And it paid out. This year trekkies gathered in Vulcan, Alberta for a celebration called Spock Days.

Photos show Klingons, Romulans, Tholians, Vulcans and even good old Captain Kirk had a great time in Vulcan this year.

via Telegraph.co.uk

The largest city of the Istrian Peninsula and an ancient Roman port, Croatia’s Pula takes tourists back to the days when Romans ruled the lands.

During the Antiquity festival, at the start of summer’s traveling season, people gather in the Forum and Small Roman theater, demanding “bread and games”. This year, on My 23rd, the members of the Hungarian Collegium Cladiatorium fighting club were only happy to oblige. They entertained the crowds just like the gladiators of old used to…minus the hurting and killing each other, of course.

Photos by Xianhua/Reuters

via big5.cri.cn

With 250 registered pairs of twins, the Indian village of Kodinhi, in Kerala, has six times more twins born than the world average.

Dr. Krishnan Sribiju has been studying the odd twin phenomenon in Kodhini, for the last six years and says that although 250 pairs have been registered, there may be up to 300-350 sets of twins. Villagers say an unusually high number of twins started being born three generations ago, and it’s been rising ever since.

Because the twins don’t present any deformities, Dr. Sribiju says the twin phenomenon isn’t caused by some pollutant, but by something the villagers of Kodinhi eat and drink. If that proves to be true, this magic element could turn into the next treatment for infertile couples.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Photos by Niklas Halle’n/BARCROFT MEDIA

Thrill-seekers have a new reason to be happy. Volcano-surfing, a new kind of extreme sport, is growing more and more popular.

Phillip Southan is the young owner of Green Pathways Tour, the company that organizes volcano surfing sessions on Cerro Negro, one of Nicaragua’s most active and dangerous volcanoes.

Dressed in protective gear, adrenalin-junkies climb 726 meters up Cerro Negro and slide down on specially-built plywood boards. Southan admits there is a chance the young volcano could erupt, but says the biggest danger is the volcano surfers might fall off the board and injure themselves.

The volcano surfing tour has only been around for 4 years, but 10, 000 people have already participated.

via Telegraph.co.uk

The Heidelberg Project began in 1986 when Tyree Guyton and his grandfather Sam Mackey started painting houses in Detroit’s McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, which began to fall apart after the riots of 1967.

Guyton and Mackey painted the abandoned houses in bright colors and decorated them with salvaged items, similar to those used by Bogdan Litniansky for his trash house and garden, transforming it from one of the city’s most dangerous places, into a regular local attraction. The Heidelberg Project attracts over 270,000 tourists every year, making it one of Detroit’s most popular tourist destination.

The Heidelberg outdoor art environment project faced demolition twice since it was started, but Tyree Guyton and his supporters filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Detroit and managed to protect it. This year The Heidelberg Project celebrates its 23rd anniversary.

Tim Burke’s studio gallery – Detroit Industrial Gallery

The Heidelberg Project official site

Who new toy-trains could be so useful.

These photos were taken in a bar somewhere in Brno, the Czech Republic. It might look like a nice decorative addition, but that train has a very specific purpose. Its rail passes through the bar, stops at customer tables, taking their orders. Then it goes back to the bartender, who sends the drinks in the train carts.

It’s a very ingenious system that spares the customers the trouble of having to tip the waitress. I wonder how quick it is though, do the customers have to wait a long time for the toy-train to bring them their drinks?

Angel Oak is one of the oldest organisms east of the Mississippi, believed to be over 1,500 years-old.

Before you start with the “It’s photoshoped” comments, check Wikipedia and you’ll see it’s very real. Angel Oak is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Charlestone, South Carolina. It has a height of 20 meters, measures 2.7 meters in diameter and it’s crown shades an area of 1,600 square meters. It’s longest limb stretches out 27 meters.

Its name comes from the Angel estate, but local legends say ghosts of former slaves sometimes appear around the tree, as angels.

Angel Oak has survived countless earthquakes and floods, as well as human interference. It was damaged by Hurricane Hugo, in 1989, but has since then recovered.

If you are afraid of flying, but want to spend a night in an airplane, then travel to Costa Rica and spend a night at the Costa Verde Hotel.

There are a lot of things you can do with an old jumbo-jet, some just cut it to pieces and sell it as scrap-metal, others transform it into a bar and call it El Avion, others make a plane-boat out of it, and others turn it into a airplane-hostel. So a plane-hotel shouldn’t seem that bizarre.

The plane hotel is an old Boeing 707 from 1965 that now has two bedrooms, two bathrooms. a dinningroom, a kitchen and a terrace overlooking the ocean. It’s definitely not your average vacation hotel, but if you’re into trying new things, the Costa Rica plane-hotel is worth $300-$350 per night.

via Inhabitat

One of the most iconic scenes your bound to see in Sri Lanka is stilt fishing.

An old tradition around Sri Lanka, stilt fishing had disappeared after the devastating tsunami that hit the country and other parts of the Indian Ocean, but soon the people returned to their customs, and now you can spot them sitting on their uncomfortable stilts, hoping to catch something.

Though they may be beautiful to look at, stilt fishermen have it rough. They spend hours sitting on a thin plank, hoping to catch one or two fish about 5 cm-long, that they sell for about 2 cents each. The rough waves keep the big fish away, so they sometimes have to settle for te smallest catch. But it’s a small price to pay in order to preserve centuries-old traditions.

Experience the locations and stories of the Bible, through a visit at the Holy Land Experience.

Sure, it would be fair of me to just  tell you all about this “wonderful place” and let you judge for yourself if it’s the kind of place you want to take your kid, on a family outing. But life isn’t fair so here is what I think: this is the craziest, creepiest theme-park I’ve ever seen photos of.

Granted, I haven’t actually been there (probably never will), but I can tell you it definitely looks like none of the places I’d like to take my children. Sure, the official Holy Land Experience site says it’s an educational, historical, inspirational, theatrical place where adults and children alike can be transported back to the times  and places of the Old Testament, and there are some good things they could learn from seeing something like that. But then we get to these photos…Clearly the torturing of Jesus is no joke, but a blood-covered man carrying a huge cross on his back could have a negative effect on a child brain.

Anyway, people are entitled to their opinions, I’m sure many feel The Holy Land Experience is a great…experience, and that’s ok. Let me know what you think. If you want to form an opinion first-hand, travel to Orlando, Florida and then get back to me.
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Nothing more than a garbage dump between 1950 and 1967, California’s Glass Beach is now quite the tourist attraction.

The Glass Beach used to be full of garbage, glass, broken china, rusted junk, all reduced by an ocasional fire or two. Fortunately the people realized the error of their ways and decided to clean up the beach and let nature turn it into the beauty it is today.

The elements did their job, transforming the glass shards into shiny, colorful jewels that you could spend hours collecting. The state bought this beautiful piece of the world in 2003, and now the Glass Beach is a part of MacKerricher State Park.

via Los Angeles Times

photos by Christopher Reynolds