PlanetOddity.com » Places

Afghanistan – A Broken Country That Was Full Of Hopes

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:18:44 +0000

Today’s prejudices about Afghanistan are a barbarian country that will never make it out of the Middle Ages. A country full of chaos, poverty and a huge difference between the rights for men and women. Still a lot of people don’t know that this has not always been the issue with this country. In the 1950s and ’60s women interacted freely with men and went to college where all the students wore Western-inspired clothes. Education and knowledge was valued, the country had a government that could deal with a lot of problems, and people were optimistic – they believed in a future.

Today women are all covered up with little rights that’s making them submissive, the population is poor and has little medical care and the country is suffering more and more every day. Who would have thought that the future would bring so much misery to Afghanistan? Nobody, but that kind of misery is what you’ll get after 30 years of war.

Via Foreign Policy.

Paris Beaches On The Streets

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:36:14 +0000

One of Paris’s several tourist attraction is this artificial beach called “Paris Beach”. The special thing about this beach is that it is built in a section of the pedestrian bank by the river Seine in the middle of Paris. It’s has become a huge success; more and more visitors are coming each year, and the record was in the summer of 2007 with 4 million beach visitors.

The beach contains tons of sand that gets imported, and there are full sized palm trees, chaise-lounges and beach chairs to create the feeling of a “real beach”. By the beach there is a walking passage where you also can ride a bike, and it looks kind of weird with such a narrow beach right by.

The only thing that is missing is the water, because the river is isolated from the beach so it is impossible for the visitors to take a swim to cool down.

Spectacular Crystal Cave 1000ft Under Mexican Desert

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:51:18 +0000

This cave under The Chihuahua Desert in Mexico is actually a working mine that is known for its amazing crystals. The name of the cave is Naica Mine, is located 1000ft under ground, and it was discovered by two miners that was also brothers when they were drilling into the Naica lead. The chamber of the crystals is known as Crystal Cave of Giants.

The biggest crystals weigh 55 tons and are measuring up to 36 feet long. Imagine what an incredible experience it would be to stand in the cave and experience the beauty of the crystals. One other attraction in Mexico is the Island of the Dolls, a rather dark and scary attraction.

They are blade-sharp and dangerous but awesome to look at. From the pictures you would suppose that it is icing cold in the cave, but to be honest it is about 112F, and the cavers need to bring cooled air in backpacks and be protected by special suits for the conditions.

Glowing Stars Under The Ground

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:10:02 +0000

We have all seen glowing stars on the sky at night, but what about seeing stars under the ground? You get the chance to do that in the Waitomo Glowworm Cave on the North Island of New Zealand. Of course the “stars” are not real; they are glowing worms that is hanging from the ceilings in the cave.

The worms are only to be found in New Zealand, and they are as tiny as an average mosquito. The lightning from the worms are the only remedy boats with tourist are having when they cruise around on the Waitomo River underground to see the mysterious glowworms.

A group of specialists are monitoring the quality of the air and the temperature to know how to manage the cave and how many tourists are allowed to visit the cave each time, so don’t worry, if you want to visit the cave and enjoy the sight of “glowing stars”, you are definitely in good hands.

Beautiful Underwater Caves in Bahamas Blue Holes

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:43:36 +0000

The Bahamas – known for its tropical islands, miles upon miles of sandy beaches, clear warm water and coral reefs. But it hides a little secret called the “blue holes” that are located under the water and look like beautiful blue vertical caves. Bahamas has quite a few blue holes that make up a whole underwater cave system. From the sky they look scary like dark blue holes in the ocean, and they are dangerous, so only professional divers can experience it. Still there is not much to see because there is almost no sea life there because of the poor water circulation. This also causes a large number of bacteria developing.

The deepest blue hole is located in Bahamas and is 202 meters deep (663 ft.) and is called Dean’s Blue Hole. Looking at the pictures the blue holes look like a fantasy underworld where the colors are beautifully mixed up. Too bad only professionals can explore it and enjoy the beauty of the blue underwater caves. Other beauties of the underwater that everyone can visit are the fabulous Red Sea Star restaurant in Israel, located 6 meters under the sea.

Via National Geographic.

Wells in India Made Out of Endless Steps

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:00:43 +0000

The endless steps on the walls seen in these pictures are big water reservoirs that go by many names like Baoli, Baori, Baudi, and so on, but are most known as India’s stepwells. It looks like the steps are made for other purposes than practical reasons, but that is not the case. The steps give rather efficient use of the water as they access the stored water, but they also work as a great and easy maintenance of the well.

Now people in India are coming to the steps on hot summer days to cool down in the shadows. It is said that the stepwells are more than 800 years old, and there have been several arguments about that, but most people believe that they can’t be that old after all. Another interesting fact about the wells is that they may have been used to holy baths and rituals because they are built right next to old temples. Today they are no longer in use, because they have been replaced by new systems.

Photos Giving a Look Into The Past

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:00:26 +0000

This interesting work of art is actually old photos superimposed on present day scenes. It shows how it was back in the days and how it is now. The brains behind the project are several photographers from a flickr group who have managed to cooperate and create an amusing art piece by only using photography as the main tool. There are some very cool transformations and you will be surprised how different it looked before. A transformation that is especially fun to check out is the one on Dubai. If you want to do the same as these members of the group did, you need lots of time, a bunch of old photographs of buildings, structures and locations, a photo camera, and last but not least creativity. It can make an interesting hobby.

The flickr group contains several hundreds of photos, but here are the best 25. Something that can remind of this project is these amazing drawings combined with photography.

The Replica of Las Vegas Made From 24 Million of LEGO Bricks

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:10:09 +0000

Las Vegas is one of the world’s most famous and in same most controversial cities. It is known by the gathering points for gamblers and rich people who do not know what to do with their money.

There are a few architectural features which are unique for this place and different from other buildings in it. The project called Legoland California where a team of LEGO artists conjoined to create small replica of Las Vegas from LEGO bricks.

They have recreated almost every significant building in Las Vegas especially those with unique style such as pyramid-like Las Vegas Luxor hotel or Paris Las Vegas. The team who made this replica has used more than 24 million of LEGO bricks to create the whole city. The Legoland California is made to be visitor-friendly and hundreds of visitors visit this place every day.

Inside Universal Studio’s Theme Parks

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:30:24 +0000

Sometimes creating a movie requires a very special environment which can’t be found anywhere in the world or filming on the real location is just too expensive. In that manner, filming companies are creating their own small towns or theme parks for most expensive movies.

Universal Studio is well known filming company which is part of NBC Universal and it owns a few of theme parks where fans of their most viewed movies can feel the atmosphere of the particular movie. Theme parks are mostly rearranged places where filming of particular movie or movies have took a place. After film is made, the place is rearranged so it can accept large number of visitors. Here you can see a collection of photos of Universal Studios Theme parks which are visited by hundreds of visitors every day.

Abandoned Soviet Nuclear Rocket Launch Silos

Mon, 31 May 2010 20:19:27 +0000

We are all aware of the fact that Cold War Soviet Union doesn’t exist anymore. But, once, it was real military machine which was eating the most of the tax income of all Soviet Union states. Military was on the very first place and everything other came after that. We can see that North Korea has very similar military-based politic today.

Soviet Union and the whole Cold War thing is pretty cold now (although there are some sparkles in relations between Russia and USA) but the trails of this pointless race in developing of weapons and military still remains.

The Dvina Complex in Lambarte, Latvia is one of numerous abandoned military complexes which cost a lot of money in time they were built. This complex contains four underground launch silos which were once full of rockets with nuclear heads. Here you can see a few of photos which are showing how this place which cost millions of dollars look now.

Via Flickr.