Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Door to the Dead? Necromanteion in Greece.


This was an ancient temple of necromancy,devoted to Hades and Persephone.Devotees believed this site to be the door to Hades, realm of the dead!

It was located on the banks of the Acheron river in Epirus, near the ancient city of Ephyra. This site is the meeting point of three rivers, which were believed to flow through the kingdom of Hades.The names of these three rivers translate as, "joyless","burning coals", and "lament".....creepy!

Nekromanteion means,"Oracle of Death", and the faithful would gather and talk with their late ancestors.This site was discovered only in 1958.

I had never heard of this place before today, sounds really cool,even though there isn't much left here to see really. Would totally be a mind trip to play around with Ouija boards here at night!!! This is one place in Greece I probably won't be going to....or will I?

Dang That's One Big Buddha!




The Tian Tan Buddha was at one time the world's biggest Buddha. It is a large bronze statue of Buddha completed in 1993,located in Ngong Ping, Lantau Island in Hong Kong. It is 112 ft tall, weighs 250 Metric, 268 steps,and can be seen as far away as Macau on a clear day.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

So, you think you can do laps!??



The Guiness World Record for the world's largest pool is San Alfonso del Mar in Algarro, Chile. It is 1,000 meters long, 35 meters deep, covers an area of 19 acres, holds 66 million gallons, and cost 3.5 Million to build. I wonder how long it would take me to do a full lap? Hopefully, there is some swim up bars along the way!

Monday, September 20, 2010

A whole new meaning for Public Washroom!


This is a public washroom in Ephesus,Turkey. One time men could relax while listening to soothing live music while they did their thing! God help you if you farted, that would be embarrassing!

Great Whipped Cream Battle!


This sounds fun, a whip cream battle in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Riding the Wave


Hey there, here is a place that looks super cool....the Wavehouse San Diego. I was in San Diego for a day once, but unfortunately was so hungover that I didn't leave the vehicle! Next time however I will definately check out this place.

This Complex is in Belmont Park on Mission Beach boardwalk. It has four restaurants, multiple bars, Flow Rider Wave Machines, and a live Music Stage. I have seen these Flow Rider machines before, actually some cruise ships have them now, but I haven't seen one where it looks like it's in a club.

This video is really cool, it's a night event they had and looks like fun. Cool video except for the skanks bum grinding at the end!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Best Restaurant Ever......Ninja New York!

I found this and thought it was super cool....almost makes me want to come out of restaurant retirement! I love when they jump down from the celing!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

White Witch of Jamaica


Annie Palmer,"the white witch" was born in France in the 1700's. She was an orphan, who was so small she was barely 4 feet tall. She married a man in England, then moved to his sugar plantation in Jamaica, Rose Hall.

Every morning she would go out onto a small balcony where below all the slaves would be assembled. While having her breakfast, she would issue her orders..including punishments and executions. It is said she murdered her husband, and two other husbands after. She also had a habit of taking slaves into her bed, then murdering them when she tired of them. It is not known exactly how she got into Voodoo but can be from a nanny when she was young, or some of her slaves in order to earn her favor.

Her demise came by the hand of her Overseer, a slave who's daughter was to be married to a young man. Annie had called for him to her bed. The Overseer started preparations to try to protect the young man, thinking she would play with him for a couple of weeks like usual. For some reason, Annie killed him the first night, and the Overseer went on a rampage. He prepared a voodoo grave in the back of the house, confronted her killing her and sacrificing his own life. The slaves took her body and burried her, as well as destroying all pictures of her in a voodoo ritual.

When I took the tour of the plantation, it was really sad. They showed where the slaves were imprisioned in the basement waiting for execution. Also, on some of the walls in the bedrooms it is said that it still had bloodstains on it when it was renovated in the 1970's.

Johnny Cash had a house on the grounds, and it is said that it was one of his favorite places. He also wrote a song about Annie.

Look into the Abyss



This is just something I found kinda funny. It's an installation art peice from a Czech artist named David Cerny. You climb the ladder and stick your head in the arse. There you will see a video of two Czech politicians feeding eachother slop all to the music,"We are the Champions".

Monday, August 9, 2010

Kiss the Toe




In Dawson City, Yukon, there is a famous drink....the Sourtoe Cocktail. It is made from liquor spiked with a preserved human toe! The Downtown Hotel is home to the Sourtoe Cocktail club, to become a member your lips must touch the toe.

Started in 1973, the task is to drink a beerglass full of champagne with the toe, now you can have it with whatever drink you choose....yeah coolaid! The great thing is it is a steal of a deal....only five bucks to join! You get a certificate and everything, something interesting to add to your resume or school application!

The Club has used over eight toes, all donated. The first toe was from a miner named Louie Liken, a trapper who lost it because of exposure in 1920. He kept in a jar of alcohol, and a few years after his death it was aquired by the bar. Unfortunately, in 1980 a miner was trying for a Sourtoe record and on the 13th glass his chair tipped backwards and he swallowed the toe.

You definately have to check out their website: http://www.sourtoecocktailclub.com/members.html

Their online shop has some really cool things like chocolate sourtoes!!!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Turks&Caicos eh?


Just came across something kinda interesting, something about adding Turks and Caicos to Canada!

Apparently, at various times during the last 100 years various Canadian Politicians have suggested some form of union between Canada and Turks&Caicos. This is because of the large number of Canadian tourists to the islands,it's British colony roots,and historic trade links.

Surprisingly, the government was still looking at the possibility of this union March of last year! One of the earlier problems was how they were going to designate the islands because it wasn't a province. Nova Scotia voted to invite Turks&Caicos to join the province in 2004, should the islands ever become part of Canada.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Inside Ourselves




I saw this exhibit in Las Vegas a few years ago. It's hard to describe the different feelings you get while looking through it. You can easily spend a couple of hours going through it, especially if you stop to read the different information on what each body is displaying. Alot of the bodies are displayed in various active poses. The bodies are all donated by the people themselves with the understanding that the bodies are all anonomous.They use a ploymer preservation process developed in the 1970's. The most interesting thing I found was the blood vessels and the nerve's and such, and I admit the deformaties too. The grossest thing was definately seeing a person's entire skin by itself laying on a table...really discusting and amazing how much skin we have and how thick! I really had the urges to touch them, which is prohibited, but funny enough at the end they have a heart you can touch if you want and I was too grossed out.

By the way Bodies the Exhibition is held in cities all over the world!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Scorpions,Bugs, and Brains....OH MY!




If your a night snacker, this place is for you! The Donghua Men Night Market is located downtown area of Beijing,China. They pretty much skewer everything that moves and serves them on a stick. Sea Urchin,Sheep and Bull nuts,snakes,silk worms, and goat brains....yummy! Gotta say however, it's pretty creative! The funny thing though, is they also have fruit on a stick for dessert...ha!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Extremely Extreme Sport!

Is it hockey? Is it speedskating? Is it skiing? It's Ice Cross Downhill!

This is something a little crazy I came across. This is an extreme sport, and it's main event is called The RedBull Crushed Ice, which is held every year. This year it was held Quebec City.

The first race was held in Stockholm in 2000.Since then, there has been 14 races in eight countries. The terrain has varied from ski slopes in the mountains, or through urban cities and villages.

The race is a man vs. man battle down a 300 metre long ice track filled with gap jumps,ice steps, and razor sharp hairpin turns.

Check out this video below:
http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Video/Best-of-Crashed-Ice-021242828797709

Friday, July 23, 2010

Cabbages and Condoms




Cabbages and Condoms is a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. They are also a bar,internet cafe, and massage parlor. So basically, you can have a drink to work up your courage, get it on at the massage parlor, go online and tell everyone about it, then eat some cabbage. This is they sequence I would suggest because eating the cabbage first can lead to some pretty embarrassing situations. A portion of the restaurant's proceeds go to local family planning programs. My favorite thing about this place....it's motto: Our food is guarenteed not to cause pregnancy.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Tennis Anyone?




I don't know how anyone would be able to focus on actually playing tennis up there, but I guess it's still interesting that someone with a great imagination was able to get the support to build it.

This is the world's highest tennis court, located on Burj Al Arab building in Dubai(Arab Sail). The building itself is the second largest hotel at 690 feet high. They use the tennis court as a helicopter landing when not in use, I would recommend wearing orange just in case!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Don't Look Before You Leap!


This is the Stratosphere's newest thing....SKYJUMP!!!
Skyjump is the highest controlled free fall in the world. Before the jump riders are prepped and suited up in jumpsuits, and are also given a safety lesson (hard to remember a word of the safety lesson when your nervous, as Mike and I found out when skydiving for the first time!).
The Rider is connected to a high speed 'decender' (whatever that is) and led to the edge of the platform. Proceed to take a step and plummet through the sky 855 feet, the equivalent of 108 floors....sounds easy enough eh?!

Insane in the Membrane!!

Insanity the Ride....the craziest thing I have ever done. Thankfully there are no pictures (I hope) that captures truely one of the most scariest things I have ever done.

Picture it, your on top of the Stratosphere, the tallest building in Las Vegas! You step out from the Observation Room and viola
you find yourself 900 feet high over the lights and sounds of Las Vegas. You wait in line nervously, as you watch a mechanical arm extend 64 feet away from the building, as it opens up it tilts the seven bodies, so the people are facing strait down. Slowly it's getting faster, faster, eventually getting to speeds up to 3 'G's....people screaming, drunk people looking ill, and planes going over your head. Ride stops and.........your next!!

Twas crazy but fun!