GO THERE! …or wait until it’s finished.
Monday, February 20, 2023
The Sanctuary of Truth is a temple in Pattaya, Thailand, visualized by Thai businessman Lek Viriyaphant in 1981. The sanctuary is an all-wood building filled with Visionary art carvings based on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs. A team of 250 carvers contribute to the project, which is technically not scheduled to be completed until 2025. But at this point we think it’s awesome enough to check out as is.
GO THERE! Chalk it up!
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Everybody knows about the Pyramids in Egypt but there are plenty of natural wonders to explore as well. Twenty-eight miles north of the village of Farafra lies the Sahara el Beyda, or White Desert, with its crazy chalk rock formations throughout, caused by sandstorms and low-level wind erosion.
-and frumpy schoolteachers who maintain stockpiles for their blackboards 🙂
Culture Buzz: Wax Off!
Monday, February 6, 2023
In the bustling cities of many Asian countries, including China, India and Japan, you are likely to run into an ear cleaning station here and there. Yes, the meticulous ear cleaners of Asia will, for a small fee, use an array of specially crafted instruments to clean the insides of your brain, (at least that’s what it feels like.) Don’t try it at home, you can really mess things up in there! America has not yet caught the street-side-ear-cleaning buzz, probably because they couldn’t hear it, -with all the wax up in there. But, who knows? Someday ear cleaning stands may become as common as taco trucks. Just so long as they never mix the two 😛
GO THERE! Hope you like stairs!
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
In central Burma, high atop Mount Popa, nestles the Popa Taungkalat Temple, a shrine to the 37 “Nats”, (spirits of the Burmese Buddhist faith.) It’s a popular place to check out during the full moon of Naylon, (May/June) when the Thingyan Festival is held.
Just be prepared; before ascending all 777 steps to the top, you will be asked to remove your socks and shoes. The Nats aren’t crazy about footwear. Also, don’t wear red. Or black. Or green. And definitely do NOT bring meat, especially pork. You don’t want to get the Nats all up in your face, do ya? Besides, the masses of local monkeys will harass you all the way up the mountain with that bacon in your pocket.
![By Ed Brambley (originally posted to Flickr as Mt Popa) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.teammarcopolo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/449px-Mt_Popa_Myanmar.jpg)
By Ed Brambley (originally posted to Flickr as Mt Popa) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
GO THERE! Desert getaway? Take your skis!
Monday, January 16, 2023
Curtis Palmer ‘Ski Dubai panorama’ June 20th 2007 via Flickr, creative commons attribution
If you’re going to build a mall in the desert, you must always include an indoor ski resort.
Well, that’s how they do it in Dubai anyway…
GO THERE! And take multiple sweaters!
Monday, January 2, 2023
Quebec’s Hôtel de Glace opens in 3 days. If, in these Wintery months, you find yourself in the mood for some icy opulence, this annual dwelling would be an excellent choice, albeit a chilly one!
GO THERE!
Monday, November 7, 2022
Craving some opulence? St. Petersburg, Russia has enough lavish palaces and cathedrals to keep you busy for a while.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/St.Petersburg_Russia_Summer_Palace-7.jpg
GO THERE! More monkey business…
Thursday, November 3, 2022
November 27th is the date for this year’s Monkey Buffet Festival  in Lopburi, Thailand, a Hindu festival where hundreds of free roaming long-tailed macaques are set loose on a mountainous smorgasbord of delectables. The offering symbolizes an ancient story from the Ramayana in which the hero, Rama, offers a gift of land, the very land on which Lopburi sits, to his friend Hanuman, the Monkey King. Perfect excuse to monkey around for a day.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Monkey_Buffet_Lopburi_02.jpg
GO THERE! Halloween in Jersey?
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Sure, there’s probably a “zombie walk” happening in a city near you, but the turnout in New Jersey for last year’s zombie walk in Asbury Park earned them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. So, if you want to spend Halloween with the most dedicated of zombies, you might finally have a reason to visit New Jersey.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asbury_Park_Zombie_Walk_2010_(5139059306).jpg
GO THERE! A Truly Haunted Mansion!
Thursday, October 27, 2022
We mentioned this place a while back, and if you haven’t been there yet, Halloween is your golden opportunity!!!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Winchester_House_910px.jpg
The Winchester Mystery House is the former home of widow Sarah Winchester, who in 1881, upon the death of her husband, inherited %50 of the Winchester Repeating Arms company. Mrs. Winchester believed her family was cursed and that her Northern California mansion was haunted by all the victims who died at the muzzle of a Winchester rifle. So she began adding rooms to the property in order to accommodate all of them. By the time she died in 1922 the house had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens, along with plenty of secret passageways, trap doors, and stairways leading to nowhere. Plenty of ghost stories up in this crib.
