Friday, April 8, 2011

Excalibur: World's Tallest Climbing Wall

You can guess why they call it the tallest, I'm sure. I'm getting vertigo just looking at that thing, but man I'd love to attempt that. I'm nowhere near in good enough, shape though. They call this beast Excalibur, and it's located in the Netherlands.



Photo by Eric Kieboom (KAPturer)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Japanese Capsule Hotels

Welcome to the future. Capsule hotels are popping up everywhere in Japan, mostly in or near centers of mass transit. While they are becoming increasingly more popular in Japan, you might think it was a bizarre laundromat if you stumbled into a row of them unawares. These capsule hotels are stacked living compartments that allow space owners to turn a small room into a four story hotel for commuters and travelers. With only room for a bed, small beside table, a television mounted above you, and ample room to sit up, a traveler's luggage is stored in a nearby locker outside the capsules; and public restroom facilities are usually available to tenants of the hotel.





Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Mexico's Island of the Dolls

One chinampa (man made island for agricultural purposes) in the south of Mexico City (in the Xochimilco section) hold a dark tale and appear morbidly fascinating. Old, dirty dolls hang raggedly from trees scattered from bank to bank, hung there long ago by a man named Don Julián Santana. One day, Julián heard the cries of a woman drowning near his chinampa, and although he tried to save her, she perished. Although she had died, he continued hearing her wails each night, and so he begun to hang the talismans to ward off dead woman's spirit. As he continued to do so, he became a Xochimilco legend, and people brought him dolls from across the country.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Gunkanjima, Japan - Forbidden and Forgotten

Gunkanjima is a once thriving, now forgotten urban wasteland of an island. It used to be a lively coal mining city, but has lain in ruin since it was abandoned for the pursuit of petroleum. Visitors are explicitly denied access, so this urban explorer was lucky to make it in and snap some photos.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Disney World's Underground Tunnels

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Marina Bay Sands Resort, Singapore

You're in for the treat of a lifetime if you choose to vacation here, not only do they have an infinity pool, but it's 55 stories high, and spans the roofs of three skyscrapers! No, I'm not kidding, it's longer than three Olympic-sized pools lined up end to end.


Not only are the amenities lush with activities (casino, indoor canal, aforementioned infinity pool) but there is plenty of art, architectural and otherwise, to get lost gazing at as well. Marina Bay Sands own architect based the $6,160,400,000 building's plans off of a house of cards.


Monday, July 19, 2010

Giant's Causeway, Ireland

The Giant's Causeway is a grouping of about 40,000 interlocked basalt columns, fused together during a volcanic eruption in ancient times. This World Heritage Site is located about two miles north of the town of Bushmills, on the beautiful Irish coastline.

There are many tall yarns in Irish folklore about how the Giant's Causeway was formed, and most of them involve warring giants, which seem to be a common thing in their "historic tales" ... I'll let you dig through those on the wikipedia page concerning the legends of the Giant's Causeway.