Giethoorn – A Rural Venice in the Netherlands
The tiny Dutch village of Giethoorn, located right in the middle of the De Wieden nature reserve, is fondly known as the Venice of Netherlands. Quite an apt name for the place, since it has distinct features that are reminiscent of the romantic Italian city – 7.5 km of canals, about 50 little wooden bridges, […]
Conquer Your Fears in China’s Snake Village
Nestled in the heart of a vast farmland in East China’s Zhejiang province, the small village of Zisiqiao has a pretty common look, but it hides a scary secret. The aptly names “snake village” is home to thousands of the most feared snaked species on Earth. Snakes are a vital ingredient in Chinese medicine, and are […]
Coober Pedy – Australia’s Underground Town
Coober Pedy is a small town that’s one of a kind – for being down under in the Land Down Under. Yes, it’s the world’s only underground town, and it’s in Australia. Located in South Australia, known for being the driest state on the driest continent on Earth, the town of Coober Pedy was established […]
Het Arresthuis – A Luxury Prison Hotel You Won’t Want to Escape from
After serving as one of the Netherlands most feared prisons for almost 150 years, Het Arresthuis, in Roermond, has been converted into a luxury hotel that no one wants to escape from anymore. Het Arresthuis opened its doors in 1862, as a prison. Obviously, no one came here to stay by their own accord, during the […]
Sleep as a Hobo at Sweden’s Homeless Experience Hotel
It costs money to be homeless in Sweden. Well, only for a night though, at the Faktum Hotels. Located in Gothenburg, the hotel has no rooms but instead offers the complete homeless experience. Once you make a booking online, the hotel will lead you to a pre-determined place where the real homeless might spend their […]
The Guinea Pig Festival of Huacho Has Rodents on the Menu
It’s funny how a cute and furry pet in one part of the world can be considered a delicacy in another. But that’s exactly what guinea pigs are in the small town of Huacho in Peru. In fact, they have a whole festival dedicated to dressing up and cooking the hairy rodents – The Festival […]
Women-Only Sleeping Cafe Opens in Tokyo
Power naps – those short periods of sleep during the day – have been known to boost brain activity and increase productivity at the work place. Now a sleeping cafe in Tokyo’s Akasaka business district is offering hard-working Japanese women the chance to enjoy the benefits of the power nap, for a fee. Stress and fatigue […]
Colomares Castle – An Enchanting Masterpiece Dedicated to Christopher Columbus
Boasting a combination of Byzantine, Roman, Gothic and Mudejar architectural styles, Colomares Castle, in the Spanish town of Benalmadena is a unique monument that pays homage to explorer Christopher Columbus. Looking at this fairy-tale castle with all its exquisite details, you could never guess it was built by a doctor with no architectural background, and two local […]
Japanese Restaurant Employs Masked Monkey Waiters
Are you running a restaurant and can’t afford to hire waiters? Well, you could take a cue from this Japanese restaurant that hired monkeys for the job. And in an attempt to make them look more human, they even strapped masks on their faces. Not that they really fooled anybody. The restaurant in question is […]
The Sacred Antogo Fishing Ritual, or How to Catch All the Fish in a Lake in 15 Minutes
Just beneath the village of Bamba, in the Northern part of Dogon country in Mali, lies a small, yet sacred lake, where fishing is permitted only once a year – during the unique ritual called Antogo. In the past, Bamba is said to have been covered in lush green forests. The lake, which is considered […]
The Floating Man-Made Islands of Lake Titicaca
The people of Uros, a small South American tribe in Peru, have made living arrangements for themselves that are so unique, they’re not found anywhere else in the world. These people live most of their lives on man-made floating islands? The islands were created on Lake Titicaca in Peru, for the protection against other stronger […]
World’s First Official Barbie Cafe Is as Pink as You’d Expect
As if Asians didn’t have enough pink in their lives, from all those crazy Hello-Kitty-themed venues, now there’s an official Barbie Cafe in Taipei, Taiwan. And yes, it has dolls, themed foods and more pink than most men can bare. January 30th witnessed the inauguration of the world’s first official Barbie Cafe, in one of […]
The Maeklong Railway Food Market – A Strange Wonder of Thailand
Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory loves trains, but I’m not too sure if he’d like this particular one. The Maeklong market railway passes right through the middle of a tightly packed market – so tight, that passengers can probably grab a few vegetables as they pass through. The market’s stalls are actually set […]
The Pain of Growing Up – Being Stung by Hundreds of Bullet Ants in the Amazon Rain-Forest
Among the most bizarre coming-of-age rites we’ve ever featured is the one followed by the Satere-Mawe Tribe, an indigenous tribe from the Amazon rain forest, Brazil. What a boy has to do to become a man in this tribal community is painful, to say the least – he has to withstand being stung by not […]
Friends in Real Life – Man Opens Iconic Sitcom Cafe in Beijing
If you were a fan of the hugely popular sitcom Friends, you surely remember their favorite meeting place, the Central Perk Cafe. Tired of just seeing the characters experience the coziness of that soft orange couch, one Chinese fan decided to create his own Friends cafe, in Beijing. Like so many of us, Du Xin loved […]