World’s Smallest Park Measures Only 0.24 Square Meters
A tiny park roughly the size of a newspaper in the Japanese town of Nagaizumi currently holds the Guinness Record for ‘world’s smallest park’. A decade ago, we wrote about Mill Ends Park, the former world’s smallest park. At just two meters in diameter, it only had room for one tree and a few tiny […]
Unfixed Pothole on Cuban Street Turns into Urban Banana Plantation
What began as a broken water pipe in Havana’s El Cerro neighborhood is now a small banana plantation, after local authorities forgot to fix the pothole. Cuba’s infrastructure crisis is a well-known fact, with around 70% of the country’s roads deemed in “regular” or “poor” condition, but some streets are in such a bad state […]
The World’s Smallest Escalator Is a Useless Oddity
Located in the basement of a department store in Kawasaki, Japan, the world’s smallest escalator only has five steps and measures 83.4 centimeters (32.8 inches). The escalator is one of humanity’s most useful inventions, allowing people to effortlessly travel between floors in places where elevators would be impractical, but the world’s smallest escalator is actually […]
The Immortal – Ecuador’s Most Controversial Building
‘El Inmortal’ (The Immortal), is an iconic building in the Ecuadorian city of Machala famous for its precarious look due to having an unusually narrow ground floor. Located on the corner of Pichincha and Buenavista streets in the center of Machala, The Immortal has been defying earthquakes in Ecuador for more than 30 years. Looking […]
Yongwu Road – China’s Most Beautiful Flooded Road
Every year, during the rainy season, a scenic road winding through China’s Poyang Lake like a mythical dragon becomes flooded, offering a unique driving and visual experience. Yongwu Road is the only stretch of road connecting Wucheng, one of the oldest townships in China, to neighboring townships and counties. Part of the X219 county road, […]
World’s Saltiest Body of Water Is So Salty It Doesn’t Freeze at -50 Degrees Fahrenheit
Located in Antarctica’s McMurdo’s Dry Valleys, the shallow Don Juan Pond is the world’s saltiest body of water. With a salt content that puts the Dead Sea to shame, it remains liquid even at -58 degrees Celsius (-50 Fahrenheit). At four inches deep, Don Juan Pond looks more like a large puddle than an actual […]
New World’s Largest Office Building Surpasses the Pentagon
The newly-opened Surat Diamond Bourse in Gujarat, India, is a massive office complex made up of nine rectangular buildings interconnected through a central “spine”. For 80 years, the Pentagon held the title of the world’s largest building, but it was recently dethroned by the Surat Diamond Bourse, a massive diamond-cutting and trading hub, that exceeds […]
Man Plants 40,000 Trees Over Two Decades to Create Sao Paolo Park
Helio da Silva, a retired business executive from Brazil, single-handedly planted over 41,000 trees in his hometown of Sao Paolo over the last two decades. Flying over the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paolo, it’s tough to miss the 3.2-kilometers-long and 100-meter-wide green strip of trees wedged between two of the city’s busiest roads. It is […]
The Salt Shaker – A Freight Train That Passes Right Through a Pink Siberian Lake
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 […]
World’s Slowest Express Train Takes 8 Hours to Travel 181 Miles
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 […]
Lost Lake – Oregon’s Disappearing Body of Water
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 […]
Shiziguan Floating Road Bridge – A Terrifying Wonder of Engineering
The Shiziguan Floating Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Dreams, is an innovative 400-meter bridge that allows cars up to 2.8 tonnes to drive across the surface of the Qingjiang River in China. Nestled between the forest-covered mountains of Enshi Prefecture, in Hubei Province, the Shiziguan scenic spot is one of China’s most breathtaking […]
The Toothache Tree, a Unique Coin-Covered Shrine in Kathmandu
The Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu is home to a peculiar shrine to goddess Vaisha Dev, the patron saint of toothache, where people suffering from dental problems nail rupee coins on an old tree trunk as offerings. Located on a narrow street in Kathmandu, between Thamel and Kathmandu Durbar Square, the Toothache Tree is undoubtedly […]
Hymalayan Shrine Covered in Plastic Bottles Left as Offerings for Thirsty Ghost
A small shrine along the treacherous Gata Loops in India’s mountainous Ladakh region has become famous for the large number of plastic bottles left as offerings to a spirit known as the Ghost Of The Gata Loops. Bicycle and motorcycle racers traversing the Gata Loops as part of their Trans-Himalaya tours are often confused by […]
The World’s Largest Cashew Tree Covers an Area of Over 8,000 Square Meters
The Pirangi Cashew Tree in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte is considered the world’s largest cashew tree. It has a circumference of around 500 meters and covers an area of 8,400 square meters. Legend has it that the Pirangi Cashew Tree was planted in 1888 by a local fisherman who later died at the age […]